EPISODE 14.5

Welcome once again, retro lovers! Played any good games lately? Perhaps some of these...?

I'm not sure if anyone's noticed, but the music playing in the background at the end of these "catch-up" episodes always gives a hint of what's to come next time. Any ideas, gamers...? (All I'll say is there'll be a couple of Super N.E.S. games in the next video)

I also just noticed a disturbing trend... Since I started these additional videos, they have been steadily getting longer... Yikes... Well, here's this week's results anyway...

I've got my WiiU all pre-ordered and my Wii-motes are all itching to go on the 30th! From what I've played at the demo store, the three "chasing" games in NintendoLand are going to be awesome for party group play. Not sure how long the other games will last, but eh, whatever. It comes free with the console.

EPISODE 12.5

And the catch-up continues!

Enjoy!!

Any memories of these games to share?

In other gaming news, I'm kinda being owned by a game that I really wasn't intending to play much; I saw a brand new copy of Super Mario 64DS on eBay for $17, so I thought "why not?" I never got the game originally, knowing that the game's controls really wouldn't work properly without an analogue stick. Well, now I've got a 3DS I can use an analogue stick, so I thought I'd give it a try. And hey, the price was right.

Ironically, this means that what's most likely my very last Nintendo DS game is the game that launched with the console!

So, even though I know Mario 64 practically back-to-front, I'm enjoying discovering all the subtle little changes that were made in this upgrade. It's cool having different characters instead of different hats, but unlocking them and swapping between them is pretty convoluted.

The controls are really driving me nuts though! Yes, I can use the analogue stick on the 3DS but it's still just digital controls. Having to hold down the Y button to run is so annoying! And I'm sure they've made the camera even worse than it was in the original, especially since it's now such a pain to adjust it!

Apart from my hatred of the controls, I'm still going back to it time and time again. I suppose that's a good indicator of a game that's stood the test of time.

Meanwhile...

That's me playing a WiiU yesterday! :-) I've already got mine pre-ordered. Bring on the 30th!!

EPISODE 11.5

This one was quite a long time coming, but... well, y'know, life gets in the way. But it's done, and here it is!

Any memories of these games to share?

So, in other news, I've bought 2 tickets for big events next year. I'm going up north to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform the Legend of Zelda Symphony in February, and then later on in the year I've got a ticket to the very first PAX Australia, here in sunny Melbourne!! Fingers crossed for that one!

Ciao for now!

You know something great about Solar Jetman? You can find it on eBay pretty darn cheap.

You wanna know something NOT cheap on eBay?

This...

I know what you're thinking. No, this game was NOT ever released in PAL. This isn't a real box. (From what I understand, the real NTSC box was massive like Mario Paint) Have you seen the prices on eBay for a complete boxed copy of Earthbound?? It's absolutely insane. Even the cost of a boxless cartridge is ridiculous. There's probably been more money spent buying used copies of this game on eBay than there was spent on the original run! Because I wasn't keen on emptying out my entire bank account, I just put two and two together. I bought a single cart, and also bought a "reproduction" box and manual, and voila! My own legitimate-looking copy of Earthbound! ^_^

I finished The Last Story last night. It's a good game, definitely one of the better RPGs I've played lately, but it's still not as good as I WANTED it to be. I never really enjoyed the combat system much, and while the plot and characters are pretty good (I loved Syrenne... never really seen a character like her in an RPG before) it still fell into so many cliches of the genre on a number of occasions, which had me rolling my eyes. Since Sakaguchi and co. left Square-Enix, neither the company or the man have managed to hit the heights that they used to hit when they were together. Perhaps the Final Fantasy VI -> IX "golden age" will forever be the height of that genre's achievements.

So now I'm on to Sonic Generations (only got a few more levels to go. It's decent, but still not as good as Sonic 1-3) and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (is the plot of this series supposed to make ANY sense? It's been a long time since I played Kingdom Hearts 2 and it feels like this game is speaking another language to me) with an additional smattering of Kameo. (I really can't say I've enjoyed this game much at all, but since I've only got one dungeon left to go, my OCD side is demanding that I slog through to the end)

I also JUST started playing the next couple of "missed" retro games today! Hooray! They both seem relatively short so hopefully there'll be a new episode up in the next week or two.

Stay cool! :-)

EPISODE 8.5

Here we are again! Enjoy a trip back to the forgotten past!

I went back and watched a few of the earlier episodes recently. It's weird, like I'm looking at a whole different era. It was only a year ago, right? Where on Earth did I find the time to pump out all of those videos?? There's 8 and a half hours of videos!!    :-o

In other news, I finished Epic Mickey. It was good, but it just couldn't quite reach the heights of being "great." I hope they come up with lots of cool level designs for the sequel. (That, and an entirely new camera system!) I'm playing The Last Story now. About half way through I think. I like the characters, and the story seems interesting enough. The battle system is really clunky though. I wonder if I'll like it by the time I reach the end of the game.

So here's the results from this week's games:

Ciao for now!

EPISODE 4.5

Holy jinjos! A whole new episode!!

Well, you asked for it, and here it is!

Wow, it felt a bit strange getting back into retro-gaming mode after all this time! Filming inside the Virtual Boy was pretty darn challenging! Holding the camera in one hand and trying to play the game with the other. If you're looking for a gaming challenge, try it some time!

In other news, I (FINALLY!!!) finished Xenoblade a couple of days ago. Only took me a bit over a YEAR! Excellent game, but man, it's huge! Something like 86 hours was my final playtime, and I didn't even come close to completing everything. Now I'm on to Epic Mickey, and contrary to my initial disappointment in the game last year, I'm actually enjoying it quite a lot. The camera SUCKS though.

Of course, I played through New Mario 2 on 3DS. Fun game and all that, but yeah, it just feels like Nintendo's going through the paces. After the upcoming Wii game I think it might be time to put the "New Mario" franchise to bed and think of something... eh... new"er"...

I'd also highly recommend Theatrhythm for any Final Fantasy fans out there. Lots of old-school nostalgia wrapped up in a fun little rhythm game. Kid Icarus is fun too, but I can't play more than a level at a time without my poor hand cramping up.

If anyone else is interested in where I got my Starfox cart from, check out the website

www.timewalkgames.com

They're doing a brilliant service to the retro gaming community! (A pricey service, to be sure, but a good one!)

So... Any ideas what games will be in the next episode? (There'll be 2 games) There is a little clue hidden in this week's video. ;-)

SOME MORE NEWS...

Check out that counter! (I love the massive spike on the diagram... Hilarious!) Over 5,000 hits in one day. Brilliant! Thank you Kotaku!

Sorry I haven't been very forthcoming with the news, but the delivery of my new goodies has taken a bit longer than anticipated. Good news is, the "items" have been shipped and will hopefully arrive in the next couple of weeks.

MEANWHILE... I've been beginning to put some thought into a new episode of the video series. ("OMG, has Irvy lost his mind???") Yeah, probby. But I would guess it might be coming sooner rather than later. Watch this space.

And in the meantime, enjoy some Brentalfloss...