Pokémon – Page 12

Year of N64 Bonus Round Q2 – Pokémon Snap

It might surprise you to learn that I wasn’t overly kind to Pokémon Snap back in its day. I played the game obsessively to completion, and then dumped all over it for being too short and too easy if anyone asked. Of course, this was my professional Stupid Teenage Gamer opinion, trotted out mostly to save face in a harsh middle school world. Deep down inside, I knew that Pokémon Snap was something special. Something magical.

Pokémon Snap is a short game. There are six courses, which take around 5-8 minutes to traverse, and one shorter special course to cap it off. I dragged my wife along for the ride this time, and while the five hours it took us to clear the game 100% seemed like a leisurely afternoon gaming session to me, she was chomping at the bit to get moving onto something else at around the three-and-a-half hour mark. She did stick it out to the end for me, and the experience was all the more special to me for it. That’s why I love her!

So! Pokémon Snap. What is it? It’s a photography game, which is an unusual kind of game to make, but that’s kind of what Nintendo is all about. You choose a course (unless you’re just starting out) and then you’re plopped into a weird vehicle which guides you along the stage. Pokémon litter the environments, and your job is to take the best darn picture you can of each and every one of ’em.

What makes this more interesting is the way that you can interact with the pokémon. At first, you can’t do anything but take pictures, and you’re at the whims of the game to find opportunities for good shots. As you progress though, you’ll be given a few different items. Apples will draw the attention of pokémon, who will gravitate over to any apples thrown in their vicinity. Usually they’ll just eat the apple, but some pokémon may do a little happy dance afterward, or perhaps even fight over the foodstuffs. You can even throw apples right at pokémon to bonk them and provoke different reactions.

Pester balls are basically the opposite of apples. You toss one at a pokémon and it’ll run away or get angry at you. They probably do other things too, but I can’t be bothered to remember what. The poké flute is exactly what it sounds like, and when you play a tune on it, nearby pokémon will start dancing. As a reference to Pokémon Red and Blue, it also wakes up sleeping pokémon. The poké flute plays several different tunes, but I never experimented with them to see if they got different results.

Stages are all preset, and your movement through them is automatic. If you don’t throw anything at them, pokémon will always play out the same actions every time you visit a stage. The final item, the motor, increases the speed of your vehicle so that maybe you can see what pokémon are doing before you’re supposed to arrive at their point. It’s not overly useful, but it’s nice if you’re returning to a stage for a single pokémon and just want to zip past the rest.

Only 63 of the 151 original pokémon are featured in the game, and not all of them are just sitting around waiting to get their pictures taken. You’ll have to take full advantage of all the tools at your disposal if you want to snap ’em all. Some are easy enough to coax out of hiding, but some of the methods for making certain pokémon appear are totally inscrutable without a guide. You’ll probably make Starmie appear eventually if you keep playing the Valley course, but you’ll never guess what it was that triggered it.

It’s not a particularly beefy game, but what is there is really worth playing. It won’t take you too long to get to the end, but you’ll need to be clever and resourceful if you want to complete the pokémon report. Of course, hours upon hours can be added on if you enjoy trying to take the highest scoring pictures of every monster. Pokémon Snap is a great game, and the perfect way to spend a lazy weekend afternoon.

(If you’re interested, I wrote a thing about the Virtual Console release of Pokémon Snap a few years ago.)

Impressions on Nintendo’s E3 2014 Digital Event

I only ever watch Nintendo’s E3 presentations, because aside from maybe one or two specific games, I generally don’t give a flying fig about the other guys’ stuff. I always enjoy Nintendo’s shows, but to be quite frank, this year’s has got me the most excited I’ve been in a good long while. Let’s go over it point-by-point.

Oh, and here’s an embed of the full presentation, if you feel so inclined to watch it for yourself. I’ve embedded a few choice trailers later on, too.

The Presentation

The opening and a few little skits in between game-related segments were all done up Robot Chicken-style. And I don’t mean in a style reminiscent of Robot Chicken. I mean that I wouldn’t be surprised if Seth Green and company actually had a hand in creating the animated scenes. It was a dead-on likeness, and the skits used pretty much the exact same type of humour that the show is known for, albeit a little softer to keep it family-friendly.

While the internet seems to have mixed feelings about it, I personally loved it. It was much more interesting than just having Reggie and whoever else up on stage bleating about business strategy or whatever. Reggie’s part was actually pretty short, too, and his animated double stepped aside less than halfway through the show to let the games and their developers do the talking.

Super Smash Bros

The first game up was Super Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U. It still doesn’t have a real title, and at this point I don’t think it ever will. Whatever. That’s hardly important.

What matter is that Miis have been revealed to join the fight, and they look awesome. There are three types of Miis to choose from: Brawlers, who are bare-handed; Swordfighters, who obviously carry a sword; and Gunners, who have a really cool gun-arm. Not only can you import your Miis into the game, but you can also dress them up in a variety of hats and different costumes. Oh, and they look like they’ll be a lot of fun to play as, too.

Masahiro Sakurai talked about the game for a bit, and then showed a very quick montage of clips, which I’m sure held plenty of new info, but I haven’t gone over it to pick it apart yet. It really doesn’t matter. It’s Smash Bros. The only thing that disappoints me is that the “summer” release date of the 3DS version is October 3rd. In what crazy fantasy world is that considered summer?

At the end of the show, Palutena from the Kid Icarus franchise was also confirmed as a new fighter, with a very anime intro video. I’m not totally sold on her yet, but hey, the more the merrier, right? Her trailer also suggested that Dark Pit will be in the game in some capacity. Whether he shows up as a playable character or just an assist trophy, we don’t yet know.

It wasn’t a part of the big presentation, but a Pac-Man intro trailer showed up overnight. I’m still in a little disbelief, but really, it makes perfect sense. You’ve got Mario, Mega Man, and Sonic all in the same game already. Pac-Man fits right in there with the big names of classic gaming. Of course, Bandai-Namco is also helping develop the games, so… Pac-Man seems like he’ll be a fun fighter to use. If nothing else, he’ll be fun to watch, with all his wacky moves and goofy sound effects. His trailer also confirmed Mr. Game & Watch’s return, which is just gravy at this point.

Amiibo

Nintendo’s entry into the world of selling plastic figures as add-ons to your video games. At first they seem like an evil scheme to bilk you out of even more money, but unlike Skylanders and Disney Infinity, they don’t seem to be necessary to enjoy the full content of the games they link to. Well, not for Smash Bros, anyway.

While Nintendo has plans to launch Amiibos for a handful of different games, they only showed what the figures will do in Smash. There, they will simply contain AI fighters that you can swipe into your game. These fighters will level-up and adjust their playstyles over time, which seems like a really cool feature. I might pick up one or two because they look neat. I’m just relieved that they’re an entirely optional thing.

Yoshi’s Woolly World

I’ve been waiting for more news on this one very patiently, and the wait finally paid off! There was a pretty big feature on the game and how it was conceived, which was a pretty interesting segment. I loved Kirby’s Epic Yarn to death, and I could not be more thrilled that Yoshi is getting a similar treatment.

The thing is that Kirby’s Epic Yarn was a pretty huge deviation from the normal Kirby formula. It was an entirely unique game with a beautiful visual style. Yoshi is even prettier, but seems to be hewing pretty close to the Yoshi’s Island style of gameplay that we’re very familiar with. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because Yoshi’s New Island turned out pretty darn well on that front. I would like to see Woolly World go in a different direction, but I’ll just have to put my faith in Tezuka.

I also really want a crochet Yoshi now.

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker

After playing Super Mario 3D World, I found that I wanted an entire game based on the Captain Toad stages really badly. I even made a Miiverse post or two to that effect.

Not once did I ever think that Nintendo would actually make that game.

But there it is, in all its glory. You know what? Not once have I ever thought that I’d be drooling over a game starring Toad, either. But here we are. I often don’t care about Nintendo’s weird little spin-off games, but the Captain toad levels in 3D World were just so much fun that this is going to be an absolute Day One purchase. I’m still not clear on whether it’s going to be a full retail release or a smaller eShop game, but either way, “Holiday 2014” can’t come fast enough.

The Legend of Zelda Wii U

It’s not even far enough into development to have a real name yet, but God damn did the teaser look gorgeous. And it’s in-engine, too! I love the idea of making the world more open so that you can tackle challenges in whichever way you like.

What’s most immediately interesting though, is that Aonuma suggested that the character in the teaser may not be Link. After seeing it, I immediately turned to the wife and asked “Is Link a girl this time?” The character is considerably more feminine than Link has ever been. It’d be quite a neat twist if Link were a girl this time. Or if Zelda turned out to be the hero!

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Remakes of the third generation Pokémon games. There isn’t really a lot to say about them yet, but I think I’m probably quite a bit more excited about these than most. Sapphire Version was my re-introduction to Pokémon after several years of having let the series pass me by, and I hold it quite dear to my heart because of that. Most people just seem to think that Gen III was trash though. Nuts to those guys. Gen III gave us Blaziken and Walrein and Altaria. I really like Gen III, is what I’m saying.

Also, Mega Swampert is a totally boss, Hulked-out monster. I love it!

Bayonetta 2

I had no interest in Bayonetta 2 at all until yesterday. I’ll admit that I was forcing myself to be indifferent to it because I didn’t play the first game at all. I still didn’t much care for it until they showed that the first game would be packaged in with retail copies, and that you can dress up Bayonetta as Princess Peach, Link, and Samus.

Two games for the price of one? Fun, sexy cosplay times?

This is why I only care about Nintendo’s presentations. They know how to push my buttons.

Hyrule Warriors

I’ve never played a game in the Dynasty Warriors series, and I plan to keep it that way. However, I will buy pretty much anything relating to Zelda, so I’ve been watchign this one with a keen eye. And a much keener eye now that Zelda has been confirmed to be a playable character. I honestly don’t know if I’d rather play as her or Impa, who is a major badass here. Honestly, Link just looks so plain and boring in comparison.

It might not be a big problem when the final product arrives though, as Aonuma said that the game will have tons of characters to choose from. There are four revealed now, and I’m pretty excited about what they’re still hiding up their sleeve.

Not having ever played a Warriors game of any description before, I also get the nice bonus of this being a totally new style of gameplay for me. Running around a battlefield, chopping hundreds of monsters to bits? Taking on huge Zelda bosses in a more fast-paced environment? Playing co-op with the wife? Yes, yes, and yes! Sign me up already!

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

Kirby: Canvas Curse remains one of my most beloved games on the original DS, and I nearly blew a gasket when I saw that there’s going to be a Wii U sequel.

That same gasket then succeeded in blowing when I realized that the graphics are all done in an adorable claymation style.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

I don’t much care for how gosh-darned anime it looks, but if it’s as engrossing to play as the first Xenoblade Chronicles, I’ll gladly plug another 150 hours into this one. And the Nopon are back, so hooray!

Ugh, but seriously. It’s so freaking anime. Gross.

And I hope the final title is something a little less… dumb.

Mario Maker

It’s exactly what it sounds like. A Nintendo-sanctioned program that lets you build, share, and play your very own Mario levels. It’s really nice to see an official version after the various illegitimate PC editors, but it’s kinda sad that it only includes assets from Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros. So none of the more interesting stuff. Oh well. I’m sure that assets from other games will become paid DLC, and I’m sure that I’ll be more than willing to fork over that cash when the time comes.

Splatoon

A wholly new game for Wii U, and a team-based online (third-person) shooter at that! It’s a goofy paintball game though, so it’s kid-friendly, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be any less fun. No, in fact, this is the first shooter in years that has my full attention.

The gimmick here is that you can cover the arena in you team’s colour of paint, and your avatar can turn into a squid to swim through and hide in that paint. It looks like there’s a certain level of strategy involved, and that just swimming and bouncing around the stages will be a whole lot of fun. Honestly, I think I could actually spend as much time playing this as I did Unreal Tournament. And let me tell you, I played a lot of Unreal Tournament back in the day. I think it probably still holds the record for PC game that I’ve put the most time into.

All of that was enough to take in, but there were plenty of other games that didn’t make the cut and were only seen on the show floor. Everything on 3DS that isn’t Pokémon, for example. Also a new Star Fox game and a couple new projects that Miyamoto is working on.

Immediate buzz is that Nintendo won E3 this year, and if I had seen anything from any of the competition, I’d be able to agree. If nothing else, the Wii U has a friggin’ excellent bunch of software in the pipe. Hopefully that’s what it needs to turn its lagging sales around. Mario Kart 8 was a massive shot in the arm, and a showing like this can only make things better.

Yeah, so. 2015 is going to be a pretty expensive year. If you start to see me hanging out on the streets in the seedier parts of town late at night, it’s probably because I need to bring in some extra income so that I can buy all these darned video games.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: April 2014

In March I tried to focus on fewer games, getting my count of beaten games up, and cleaving away a small portion of my backlog. But then April came along and I have just been all over the place with my gaming; playing on every platform, new games, old games, half-beaten games. I guess it’s like that rubber-band effect that happens to people who try to lose weight the wrong way.

This month’s list is huge, but at least I beat a lot of the games on it. Lately it seems like I’ve been favoring a system of working on one or two long games, while supplementing that with a bunch of smaller games that can be beaten over a couple evenings or a single afternoon. It’s a good system, and I wish I’d thought of it years ago. Maybe then my backlog wouldn’t be so enormous.

~ Now Playing ~

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate HD (360) – Unlike many, I quite liked the first Lords of Shadow game, but the 3DS sequel seemed so tepid that I skipped it. Luckily, Mercurysteam saw fit to release an HD version for $15 only a few months later, which then went on sale, and that sounded good enough to me. And, yeah, it’s pretty much as mediocre as the reviews make it out to be. Oh well.

Continue reading Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: April 2014

Applause for Pokémon

On one hand, I generally hate pop music mashups. They’re almost always stupid and more often than not I hate both of the songs they’re made out of.

On the other hand, I love it when two totally opposite things blend together absolutely beautifully.

That said, guess how I feel about the video embedded below. (Hint: I try to mostly only post about things I like.)

Pokémon Battle Trozei

It’s been many years, and many generations of Pokémon now, that I’ve said that all I want from the franchise is one Pokémon game where you can catch them all. Of course, by that, I mean where every single monster lives in that game, and you don’t have to worry about trading up from previous games or Nintendo’s event hullabaloo to get them all.

Well, I got what I wished for, though it’s not exactly the way I imagined it would be.

Pokémon Battle Trozei is a Pokémon game where you can, in fact, catch every existing species of Pokémon without having to jump through a bunch of silly hoops. But also it’s not really a Pokémon game in the traditional sense. It’s a block-matching game in the vein of Puzzle & Dragons or Puzzlecraft.

Unlike other popular mobile block-matching games, PBT is pretty simplistic. Other games have crafting and town-building and monster-fusing and all sorts of other fancy features that serve mostly to keep you addicted. PBT whittles it down to the basic puzzle game, where you drag the little Pokémon-shaped blocks around to match them up and clear them from the field. Outside of that, the only thing you’re doing is filling up your pokédex.

It’s not just a simple Bejeweled-alike though. Granted, it does seem to be when you first start playing, but gradually, more features will open up that make Pokémon Battle Trozei stand out in the sea of samey block-matchers.

Throughout the game’s many, many levels, your goal is to catch the Pokémon that inhabit each of them. Doing this is accomplished by matching blocks, which will deal damage to the target Pokémon’s HP. Combos of successive matches with add up more damage onto an attack, and when the target’s HP is depleted, they’re caught and added to your roster.

The Pokémon don’t just sit back and take it though. They will launch an attack of their own every once in a while, depleting your HP. Stronger Pokémon can even break through into your playfield, and they’ll zoom around in there, decreasing the space that you have to play in, and knocking out any blocks that they come in contact with. When you battle a strong Pokémon, or play a level that features a larg number of the creatures, things get frantic quickly and can really come down to the wire.

Being a Pokémon game, there are a few familiar gameplay features that make their way into this puzzle game. Type-matching is still a thing that happens, and you can score super-effective hits against your foes if you use the right type. If you use a type that isn’t very effective though, damage will be decreased. Once you progress a few stages into the game, it’ll let you choose a helper Pokémon from your roster of captured monsters to bring into a stage with you. Normally, the Pokémon blocks that appear in a stage are a random selection, but the ‘mon you choose as your helper is guaranteed to show up.

Some Pokémon also have a special ability that will activate when you match them, but these seem to be very few and far between so far. About a dozen stages in, I’ve only caught three: Serperior, Emboar, and Samurott; all of which have the same ability to deal more damage when your HP is low. The tutorial also shows that matching Chanseys will heal you instead of attacking, but I haven’t seen Chansey in regular play yet.

Ditto is a special block, in that it doesn’t invoke an ability, but you can use it as a wild card. It can be matched with any other block, and even multiple different blocks at once, but they only drop in under special conditions. What those conditions are, I’m not totally certain. All I can say for sure is that they seem to show up exactly when you need them.

To keep you playing even after you’ve caught every Pokémon in a stage, your performance is ranked by how many points you earn. Getting the elusive S Rank is deceptively tough, requiring some really top-notch skills to earn. To even dream of S Ranks, you’re going to have to get good at Trozei Chance, which is activated when you match 4 blocks, and then 3 other blocks right afterward. When you’re in Trozei Chance mode, the screen gets all flashy and you only need two like blocks to get a match. If you’re good, you can clear out the entire playfield, and earn big points as well as continue your combo chain.

The game world is divided into zones, with a handful of stages within each. Burning through each stage as quickly as possible isn’t the best way to proceed though, as extra stages with special Pokémon in them will open up if you complete certain requirements. So far, those requirements seem to be exclusively “catch all the Pokémon in the previous stages,” but they might grow more diverse later on.

Early on, you unlock a special zone known as the Safari Jungle. The Pokémon in these stages change daily, and they’re much longer than any of the regular stages. Simply getting to the end of these stages before the wild Pokémon deplete your HP can be a trial in itself, but it’s a quick way to fill out your Pokémon roster.

Pokémon Battle Trozei falls into the same trap that any block puzzle game does: it’s very repetitive and can get really boring if you’re just playing to get to the end. If you’re in it more to hone your skills and earn higher scores and better ranks, it can be just as addictive as any good puzzler. What’s even nicer is that it doesn’t have all the weird features of a mobile puzzle game that distract your from the core game. Also there’s no arbitrary play limit built in to soak more cash out of you. Once you pony up the $8 to download the game, Nintendo isn’t going to hit you up for a cent more.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: March 2014

I’d just like to point out that in no part of this post am I trying to fool you. Yeah, there are some really weird entries in here this month, but none of them are jokes. I legitimately spent some time trying to figure out the appeal of Freakyforms.

Note that the Now Playing list is shorter than usual. I’m proud of this, because it means that I’m focusing on completing games, rather than having a dozen on the go at once like a spaz.

~ Now Playing ~

Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) – It’s weird, because I claim Link’s Awakening to be my favourite Zelda, but I just can’t get into this one. I think it probably has less to do with the obtuse puzzles than the fact that it takes damn near forever to navigate the two world maps. Five dungeons down, three to go.

Yoshi’s New Island (3DS) – I’m only just starting World 3, but here’s what I can tell you so far: It’s almost as good as the original game, just with different graphics and worse music. So basically, yes, you want to play this, but do it with the volume off.

Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive! (3DS) – I bought this thing years ago and have barely touched it, picking it up recently only as something to do while on the can. It’s a lot like Drawn To Life in that it’s fun to turn everything into penises, but not actually very fun to play. Once you get your penis fix, it’s basically just collecting a zillion doodads that give you more customization options. I don’t know if I’ll bother seeing it through to the end, or if there even is an end.

Blowfish Meets Meteor (iOS) – I’ve trained myself to ignore my phone as a gaming device, but every few days I remember that this game is actually really good and pick it up for a few levels. Those cute little mermaids aren’t going to save themselves, you know! I’ve progressed to World 5 at this point, and I have no idea how much longer it goes on.

Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES) – I’ve beaten the other two DKC games multiple times each, but for some reason I never really got into this one. I want to finally scratch it off my list, but I don’t know if I can be bothered to complete it to the full 102%.

Snapdots (DSi) – This is where I’m getting my “a little like picross but not really” fix for now. All I have to say at the moment is that the difficulty is really uneven. The stupid-easy and retarded-hard puzzles are all intermixed seemingly at random. Fun, and most of the time makes you actually think.

~ Game Over ~

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (360) – I am terribly fond of this one, and like the two other FFXIIIs that came before it, it’s pretty much dominated my gaming time. I even wrote a whole thing about it, I like it so much. So read that for thoughts more in-depth than “I think it’s neat.” I finished the game, and I’m playing through again on new game+, just destroying everything in my way.

Pokémon Battle Trozei (3DS) – It’s a Pokémon block-matching game. If you want to know more, check back in on Sunday when my full review goes live. I’ve “cleared the game” but still have roughly half the Pokémon list to fill in.

Jet Force Gemini (N64) – Hey, come on. You should know by now that I’ve been writing big spiels about any N64 games I play this year. Get with the program. TLDR: It’s was pretty alright until the end, when it turned into poop from a butt.

Soul of Darkness (DSi) – A crappy-looking Castlevania wannabe. It’s actually a decent effort, but there’s still no reason that you should play it over an actual Castlevania game. The one fun thing about it is that like all of Gameloft’s DSi games, it uses the camera to replace art assets with photos you take. This game in particular lets you replace the three main characters’ faces with whatever you choose.

Tappingo (3DS) – A puzzle game that people keep comparing to picross, but really it isn’t all that much like picross. You assemble a picture with a group of square tiles, and that’s about all they have in common. Tappingo is significantly easier than picross, and is definitely more of a thing you zone out with while you’re listening to the TV in the background. Not something you play for a deep intellectual challenge. It was brief, but fun.

Jett Rocket II: The Wrath of Taikai (3DS) – The sequel to a goofy 2010 WiiWare platformer that I inexplicably loved. More than half of the levels are side-scrolling now, and the overall game isn’t quite as enjoyable as the first one, but it’s still good enough that I’m looking forward to the third game that the ending teases. Also the collectable solar cells are just money now, so that’s nice.

Pokémon Y (3DS) – I think I counted this in Game Over before, but this time it’s really game over. The Pokédex is complete. 718/718. This is where I would drop the mic if I were inclined to do a thing like that.

Altered Beast (PC) – I got the recent SEGA Humble Bundle, and it came with a collection of ten Genesis/Mega Drive games. This is the first of those. It’s kinda butt, and I’m not even ashamed to say that I had to give myself infinite lives to beat it. Whatever, it’s an old-school brawler; it’s not supposed to be beaten.

~ Reruns ~

Donkey Kong Country (SNES) – Picked it up on a whim and nearly finished it in one sitting. Or so I thought. Turns out that I had forgotten that the last world is a thing that exists, so I wasn’t actually that close after all. One thing I noted is that it’s an awful lot harder than I remember.

3D Classics: Kid Icarus (3DS) – It doesn’t get a lot of respect, but I love Kid Icarus to pieces. It’s challenging, but not actually as hard as you may have heard. Or maybe it’s just because I’ve played it enough times over the past couple years to get really good at it. It just makes me sad that the 3D Classics version doesn’t have a new game+ mode like the NES original, because…

3D Classics: Kid Icarus (3DS) – I had so much fun the first time that I played it over again. This is the first time this kind of thing has happened, so I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. And thus, I listed it twice.

Super Mario Bros 2 (NES) – I bought the Virtual Console version of this on 3DS on a whim, and plowed through it in one go. Using all the shortcuts, of course. I’m a little shocked at how much harder it is than I was expecting. I had a lot of trouble making through the final stage. I suppose there’s a reason that I was never able to finish it as a wee one.

Big Plans -OR- Fairly Transparent Filler

You know, maybe that post title is a little too harsh. I don’t really do filler these days, so it’s not like I need to poke fun at it the way I used to back when basically every post was filler.

As for the subject at hand, I wanted to take a moment to check in and talk about how the Year of Nintendo 64 is going. It’s largely a personal project, so it’s not like I’m taking notes and sharing this stuff with everyone I know. I’m not even committed to writing a full article about every game I play. That said, I still want to sort of chart a course for the rest of the year here, as a reminder to keep me on task, if nothing else.

I spent January rounding up a few new games that I’ll be mixing into the lineup of games that I already own. Truth be told, I didn’t actually own enough “beatable” 64 games to get me through the year, so making some acquisitions was a must. I reserve the right to change this at any time, but here’s the breakdown of what I’ll be playing each month:

January – Goldeneye 007
February – Body Harvest
March – Jet Force Gemini
April – Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
May – Quest 64
June – Doom 64
July – Gauntlet Legends
August – Bomberman 64
September – Donkey Kong 64
October – Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes
November – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
December – ?????

As you can see, I’ve come up slightly short. I do have a few other games that I could pop in there, but they’re either so short (Pokémon Snap) or I’ve played them recently enough (Banjo-Tooie) that I don’t feel like they’re a good fit for the project. They may still get some play, but they won’t be the main games. What really differentiates them? Nothing, I guess. My goal is one a month, I suppose that doesn’t mean I couldn’t play two in a month.

You know what? Nuts to it. I’mma pop some quarterly titles in there, because it’s an excuse to make another list. I know that the first quarter is almost up, but I just completed Super Mario 64 DS, and I’m willing to count that. Maybe I’ll play the original again anyway.

Q1 Bonus Round – Super Mario 64
Q2 Bonus Round – Pokémon Snap
Q3 Bonus Round – Mario Party 2
Q4 Bonus Round – Perfect Dark

There we go. Now if only I had social media’d this thing it might be more than me just concocting a weird excuse to play old games. I guess it’s still not too late, but I mean, we’re already in March. The hype phase is over. Whatever. My compulsion is to put words on a page, not to try to force people to read those words.

Top 13 Games I Played in 2013

Hey look, another year’s passed, so you know the drill. Let’s look at a selection of the games I played throughout 2013 that I thought stood out from the rest.

This year, the only criterion that I’m going by is that I have to have beaten the game in question for the first time in 2013. Anything that fits into that criterion is fair game. So, for example, there are a few games that weren’t released in 2013, but that I only finally played last year.

There were just over 50 eligible titles, but I found that whittling that number down to 13 was actually very easy. The ones that I picked were just so much better than the ones I left behind. You can check out a full list of the games I beat in 2013 (including replays) here.

Continue reading Top 13 Games I Played in 2013

Monthend Video Game Wrap-up: November 2013

The good news is that winter is here and I no longer have to feel bad about spending all my time inside playing video games. The bad news is that… well, there isn’t any bad news at the moment. It’s December that’s got all that holiday business to it; November is fairly smooth sailing as far as having free time goes.

That said, real life tried its best to get in the way, but November was still a fairly productive month for gaming. This month, I continued my recent trend of finding games that I could finish in an afternoon, and I think I’ll be keeping that up for a while. It’s fun to dive into epic games that take the better part of a year to finish, but sometimes the thing that really hits the spot is a game that I can start and finish in one sitting.

I don’t have any new categories for this feature this month, so that’s good. I figured that my tendency to obsessively categorize things would have me introducing a new one each month. But that doesn’t seem to be the case… yet.

~ Now Playing ~

Adventure Time: Explore The Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW! (Wii U) – It was a small pain in the butt to actually secure a copy, but it was worth it. Between the abundance of Adventure Time charm and having another game that The Wife will play with me, I’m pretty happy with this game. It’s also a lot of fun too, being a dungeon crawler that hearkens back to old-school fare like Gauntlet. Games like this aren’t really made any more, which is too bad because I quite enjoy them. We’re currently 50 floors down.

Continue reading Monthend Video Game Wrap-up: November 2013

Monthend Video Game Wrap-up: October 2013

Hey! It’s this thing again! Now it’s officially a recurring feature! That was my plan all along, of course, but I’m kind of a flake so who even knew if I was going to even get around to writing up a second entry. That said, I’ll probably stop caring about this stupid thing by the time 2014 rolls around.

In the interest of further categorizing and complicating things, I’ve decided that MVGW needs a third header. I felt like “Now Playing” and “Game Over” were pretty self-explanatory, but you might wonder about what exactly the new “Reruns” header is for. It, my friends, is reserved for short games which I have played before and which were started and finished within the month. You can think of it as a subsection of “Game Over” if you’d like.

~ Now Playing ~

Pokémon Y (3DS) – Just assume that this is the only game I played after the 11th. Aside from short breaks to collect the Spooky furniture series in Animal Crossing. I have, of course, beaten the story, but I still have a bunch of post-game stuff to do and plenty of empty pokédex entries.

Continue reading Monthend Video Game Wrap-up: October 2013