108 in 2008 Completion: Part 3

Sorry for the late entrance, fair readers. I slept in. Until 2. Well, almost. Oh, and then Word decided to not actually save my document. So… here we go again…

The first game to be beaten in this quarter was… Gunstar Super Heroes for GBA! It's a classic remake of run-n-gun Metal Slug-style action. Yahoo! All in all, I must say it's a fun game. It's not too hard (with the exception of the stupid end boss), it looks great, and it's just plain crazy. Cool!

Speaking of guns and explosions, the next game was Metroid Fusion. It's a Metroid game, so it's pretty hard. But it's cool. It has all the classic Metroid elements. Big guns, huge bosses… but it's done in a way that's not just violent to be violent. Go go Samus!

Coming up next is Worms Blast! It's one part Bust A Move, one part Worms, and two parts crazy. You use classic worms weapons to destroy colored bubbles within the time limit. It's done quite well, but there are parts where you wonder how anyone could beat the game without being a nerd. One wonders indeed…

Alright, so enough with the violence! Our next game is Yoshi's Story. Instead of protecting Baby Mario like in Yoshi's Island, you're simply on a quest to stop Baby Bowser from turning everything into a storybook. Sounds lame. But it's not! The graphics are a neat pseudo-3D and the music is fun to listen to. Usually Yoshi annoys me (in Smash Bros, Mariokart, etc.) But I gotta admit. This game is fun.

Well, that's enough of the fun games for now. Next we have Sonic Battle for GBA. It's one of those games where the designers decided to make it double hard just so some people would enjoy it more. But really, all they're doing is making other people enjoy it less. It's like this: You play as Sonic. You have to fight a bunch of people, and then they join your team. But instead of beating them once, you have to beat them all twice… in a row. I kid you not. It's like making a football team win the [extremely copyrighted phrase goes here] twice in the same day. Dumb!

But anyways, on with the better games. Next up is Nitrobike, the highly under-rated extreme MotoX game. While I do agree that the game has a few large flaws, it's still a lot of fun, if nothing else for the bowling and online play. Plus, you can explode your bike! That's pretty cool.

Speaking of extreme, how about a little Mario Strikers Charged? That's soccer for those of you unfamiliar. Take Mario, add soccer, throw in a dash of awesome, and there ya go. My only complaint? Too hard. It's a lot of fun, especially multiplayer, but yeah, it's difficult.

Alright, so this quarter has an interesting stat: I beat 3 Wario games. I didn't even plan it that way. It just kinda happened. First, I played through Wario: Master of Disguise. It's a lot like the old Wario platformers, except that you can draw on new costumes that give Wario new powers, such as fire breath or low gravity. Then I played WarioWare Smooth Moves. It is by far the funniest game I have ever played. It is the wackiest, most ridiculous, retardedest, but hilariously awesome game you'll ever play. After that, I played the Gamecube Warioware. It is also highly hilarious. The main difference is that multiplayer on the GCN version is much better. All three of these games are fun, though. So yeah.

Alright, so there's another group of 'similar' games this quarter. These are the type of games that everyone needs to play. They help video games as a while branch out into new, creative markets. The first of these is Professor Layton and the Curious Village. You talk to villagers, solve their puzzles, get clues, unravel mysteries. Sounds strange, yes, but there are 150-some-odd puzzles and they use the touch screen brilliantly, such as circling the correct item out of a group, or drawing a line through a maze. Can't wait for a sequel! Next on cool unique games we have Boom Blox. It's Jenga mixed with explosions. And who doesn't love exploding Jenga, right? You use the Wii remote to throw bowling balls, bombs, or other random heavy items at teetering towers to make them fall. Sounds awesome, no? Trust me, it is. Ok, so moving right along… Trauma Center. Easily one of the best games on the DS. I got the sequel when it came out. And it did not disappoint! You get plenty more of the write-your-name-with-the-scalpel, inject-gallons-of-morphine, suture-nipples-to-belly-buttons action, plus you can do it the right way if you want! (You get further in the game if you do it right, I found out.) In any case, these games all show how awesome the DS and Wii can be with the right minds behind the controls. Here's hoping for more awesome new game types!

Well, this year had a seemingly endless supply of great games, and the downloadable games on Wii were no exception. Particularly entertaining is Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. I played the first episode. Classic Homestar Runner humor? Check. Endless witty lines from Strong Bad? Check. Ability to insult and embarrass citizens of Free Country USA? Check, check, check. Here's looking forward to later episodes!

Well, another game I beat was Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Again! Just kidding. This time I beat the DS one. It's still fun, but it's not quite as fun as the Wii version. The Wii one seems more accurate, probably because you actually swing your arms to swim and run. It does have some cool events, though. Like cycling. And ping-pong. But if you do play this game, make for dang sure you have a screen protector. And use a good stylus. This game's a screen breaker.

Next on the itinerary is Sonic Gems Collection. It's a compilation of some old Game Gear Sonic games, plus a couple of extras thrown in for good measure. I used to own most of the games for the Game Gear back in the day, so this was a good dose of nostalgia for me. Some of the ones I hadn't played are pretty hard, but the game does let you save and load at any point, so that's nice.

This year, something awesome happened. I managed to get my paws on a Virtual Boy, Nintendo's highly underrated, but very, very fun gaming device. You put your head up the visor and everything looks 3D. It's all very cool. I also got a bunch of games with it. The first one that I beat was Galactic Pinball. It is, in my humble yet correct opinion, the best pinball video game ever, and the best game for the Virtual Boy. Enough said. The next game is Mario's Tennis. It's a fun little tennis game, and you can play as Toad! Yay! It does lack multiplayer, and it does get old after a while, but it's cool.

VB game #3 is nester's Funky Bowling. It looks pretty cool, but I've played better bowling games on my phone. Seriously. But, you can take turns in multiplayer. That's pretty cool. Anyways, next we have Panic Bomber, a puzzle game starring Bomberman. This is one of the more fun VB games, plus it looks extra cool. It's kind of like Wario's Woods, for those familiar.

So, getting to the bottom of the VB games… Virtual League Baseball and T&E Golf. Both cool-looking sports games. And both of them too hard. Virtual League Baseball looks amazing. But the computer obviously spends all its time playing in its mom's basement, cause it's too good to beat. And T&E Golf requires about 10 button presses each time you swing. Yeah… that can get annoying. In any case, the last VB game is Vertical Force, a space shooter that looks really cool, but can get old after a while. But I don't feel bad that these games aren't that fun. They were cheap and they're in 3D! Isn't that all games needs nowadays anyways?

Well, there were a couple of GBA games in the latter part of this quarter. The first was Jazz Jackrabbit. The original Jazz games for DOS were tons of fun. They were a lot like Sonic games, but you had guns. Double win. This GBA version is quite a bit different, but it's still fun. It's like if someone asks you if you like to eat at Wendy's and at Dairy Queen. Of course you say both! The other GBA game is Worms World Party. Obviously, it can't compare to the PC version. But still, they did a decent job of getting classic worms gameplay onto the tiny, but doable GBA hardware. I enjoyed it.

Ok, so finishing up here, we have Mario Super Sluggers. It takes the awesome gameplay of the GCN version and adds pretty good motion controls. And, it's not too terribly hard. It's way over-the-top, too, which makes it really fun. I would highly recommend it.

Then, to finish up, we have Kirby Super Star Ultra. It's like the original, only better. Basically, it's a mix of some short versions of Kirby games all rolled into one. Plus, if a friend has the game you can play at the same time. How cool is that? Additionally, it has some of the classic mini-games built in. I submit that this game is coolness!

Ok, so there you go! Only a few more to go and my documentation of my goal has been completed. Feel free to leave comments or compliments. Also feel free to send Wii points or gift certificates. Or candy. Candy is good, too.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Trauma Center New Blood, Wario Land Shake It!, Line Rider 2 Unbound