Video Review: The Munchables

Watch my latest video review for The Munchables for Wii. It’s a true hidden gem, through and through!

 

Laters,
Jsick

 

Top Ten Favorite Dance Dance Revolution Songs

Though its popularity has waned in recent years, Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution franchise has seen numerous entries on literally every platform on the market. It also seemingly single handedly saved arcades from total annilhilation: or at least it staved off their downfall for a few more years. For myself, DDR was a way of life in high school. A group of my friends and I would play every day (no exaggeration there, we’d literally play every day), oftentimes directly after a swim practice or other school event. We even had a small rivalry going with another group of DDR-players at the arcades and in school! While I deemed myself good at the game, I was never anywhere near a competitive level, with even my friends topping me at every corner. Regardless, Dance Dance Revolution made up a large part of my gaming years. I’ve been thinking about the game recently, after picking up a random game in the series, and that got me thinking about my all-time favorite songs from the series. Now, I’ve written a lot of articles on this blog about top tens and whatnot, but nothing has been as challenging to narrow down to just ten than this list! It was tough, but I managed to whittle down all the songs I’ve danced to to just ten, and here they are, my top ten favorite DDR songs!

 

Sunday Roundup: 2/22/15

Bomberman DS Release Date: June 21st, 2005 Purchased at: Craigslist (San Jose, CA – $5) A trio of games showed up on Craigslist last week, and of them I already owned one (Lock’s Quest for the DS), but I still thought the deal was too good to pass up. Though simple in concept, Bomberman remains one of my favorite party/strategy games out there. Being able to get eight Bombermen together is tough, but maybe with this game it’ll be possible: there’s Download Play available for multiplayer romps! The game, as with each of the Craigslist games this week, is in perfect condition as well.

Glory Days 2 DS Release Date: July 31st, 2007 Purchased at: Craigslist (San Jose, CA – $5) I think I first saw Glory Days 2 a week or two back while looking up games on eBay. It showed up with a lot of other DS games, and I didn’t know anything at all about the title. It’s the second, obviously, in the series, with the first being totally generically named Super Army War. From the back of the box the game looks kind of awful, but reviews praise the game for it’s strategy and fun gameplay. Here’s hoping.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate 3DS Release Date: February 13th, 2015 Purchased at: N/A (Gift!) My brother sent over this game from LA as they received a copy in their office no one was using! I happily said I’d take the game, and after the first few hours, I can say without a doubt I enjoy this game a lot more than Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for 3DS! The game looks and plays better, without so much downtime between quests. I also feel like the game just looks better, with more attention to HUDs and menus. It’s still a slow grind (because that’s the point), but taking on your first or second huge monster is really cool and fun!

Touch Mechanic DS Release Date: March 24th, 2009 Purchased at: Amazon (Online – $5) I’ve seen this game online for awhile now, and it usually comes in as more expensive than just $5. As a brand spanking new game, for that price I finally bit. Honestly, I’m vaguely interested in playing it: from the general idea of the game to what it looks like on the back of the box, it’s essentially a Trauma Center game, but with cars and mechanical terms. Seeing as I never really heard of this game before, however, I’m sure it’s far inferior to the renown Trauma Center series.

Laters,
Jsick

 

Rare and Obscure Video Game Peripherals

As long as there have been video games, there has been video game peripherals. Used to simulate, compliment, supplement, or straight up change the way we play a game, peripherals are one of the most hit or miss aspects of gaming culture. After the success of the Wii there were dozens upon dozens of totally useless peripherals to waste your money. While the onslaught of plastic is (hopefully) behind us, there are still game peripherals being released. While successes and failures are bound to happen across the board, the obscurity and rarity of some of these devices can fluctuate regardless of quality. Here are some of my favorite peripherals I’m still on the hunt for, as well as a few of the more obscure or bizarre entries into the gaming peripheral market.

 

Sunday Roundup: 2/15/15

DJ Star DS Release Date: November 10th, 2009 Purchased at: Amazon (Online – $4) While perusing games online this week, I stumbled upon this little game new for just $4. Normally I stay away from rhythm themed DS games because they don’t really compare to the genre on the consoles, but I saw this game was developed by Deep Silver (the folks behind Dead Island and Saints Row, to name a few). DS Star is a rhythm game where you use the turntables to lay down the tunes. Surprisingly, the game was listed as new on Amazon, and I’ve had bad luck with “New” games being so cheap on the site: they are either obviously repackaged, or not new games at all. This one, however, still appears to be sealed in the original factory sealed plastic. Cool!

Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland Wii Release Date: June 24th, 2008 Purchased at: eBay (Online – $3) They are all horrible games, but some part of me simply wants to endure the pain and collect all of the Wii’s Myth Makers series. Earlier I was able to pick up a complete, used copy of Orbs of Doom from GameStop for less than a dollar thanks to some discounts. This game is freaking premium comparatively, but it’s been hard to track down used copies of them otherwise. And frankly, I’ll go for most any game under five dollars. Here’s to crappy games!

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D 3DS Release Date: February 13th, 2015 Purchased at: Target (Sunnyvale, CA – $35) For the first time ever (Yes, ever) in my gaming life, I got up super early, waited outside of a store for it to open, and was one of the first people to buy The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D. But the game isn’t what I waited outside for: I actually bought the Majora’s Mask New Nintendo 3DS! They had just 10 in stock, so I got up at 5am, waited until they opened, and, along with nine other happy Nintendo fans, scored a limited edition New 3DS. Hooray for my gaming addiction now sapping sleep!

Hello Kitty Seasons Wii Release Date: November 16th, 2010 Purchased at: eBay (Online – $5) A small lot of games on eBay caught my eye on my feed this week, and, interestingly enough, the biggest draw to me was the Hello Kitty game. Essentially the same concept as Animal Crossing except with the Hello Kitty family of anthropomorphic animals, Hello Kitty Seasons was one of the first appearances of Sanrio’s mascot on the Wii. The game doesn’t look to be all that terrible, and seeing as Laura is a big fan of Animal Crossing (follow her blog on Tumblr!) and also enjoys some Hello Kitty plushies, this game is hers 🙂

Goosebumps: Horrorland Wii Release Date: October 30th, 2008 Purchased at: eBay (Online – $5) A few things about this one. When I was growing up, like many kids my age, I was really into the Goosebumps series of books. “Welcome to Horrorland” was actually one of my favorites! Enter Goosebumps: Horrorland for Wii. A collection of Horrorland-themed mini-games, it’s more of a nostalgia trip for me than anything else. The value of the game is above $5, so the price of admission (get it?) was right. But best of all, this game is still sealed! I’ll likely keep it in the packaging for the time being, but I actually do want to check it out to see what it’s even like. Haunted mini-golf seems like my thing, no?

Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 Wii Release Date: November 9th, 2008 Purchased at: eBay (Online – $5) Sometimes you get a collection of games for a cheap price, and sometimes there are games included that you otherwise have no business buying/playing. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 is one of those games. At least my favorite wrestler when I actually did watch wrestling, Shawn Michaels, is on the cover. So that’s good…

Laters,
Jsick

 

Persona Q is a Great Game! Persona Q is a Long Game. I’m Not Going to Finish Persona Q…

I’ve spent a great deal of time with Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and enjoyed every minute of it. I formed teams with my favorite characters from Persona 3 and made new friends from the lineup of Persona 4 characters. I’ve played cartographer and constructed 100% complete and perfect maps for over a dozen floors in the labyrinth. I’ve fused, sacrificed, and leveled up countless Personas, performed hundreds of all-out attacks, and helped Junpei Mr. X hit on girls. I’m not close to finishing the game, but I think I’m done. At least for now.

 

Sunday Roundup: 2/8/15

Good lord, when stores have sales I tend to go crazy! This time around, Space Cat, a local used game store, moved locations to a bigger yet somehow more cramped space, and to commemorate the transition offered 50% off their used games under $9.99! I’m sure you can tell I picked up a lot of titles. What was doubly great about this deal however was the fact that a lot of games I previously passed on during my past visits to the store were still there, and now they’re even cheaper! Those account for a lot of the pickups this week. There was also a random visit to a board game selling couple on Craigslist that lead to a new Wii Fit as well as a very successful trip to Mountain View’s GameStop! And any week I can scrounge up a Sega Saturn game is a good week, so throw that onto the pile for this post as well!

 

It’s Time to Spend Those Club Nintendo Points!

Nintendo announced a couple weeks back that the loyalty incentive program, Club Nintendo, would be closing down in Summer of 2015, to be followed by a yet-unannounced new program. The Big N also promised dozens of new rewards and games to spend your hard earned Club Nintendo Coins on before the program shuts its doors for good. The company came through on those promises on Monday, releasing a handful of new physical rewards to spend points on, as well as over 100 digital games across all of their current systems! These are the last items to be made available for the entire program, with nothing (assuming Nintendo sticks to what it has stated) being added until the discontinuation of the service in July.

So if you have Club Nintendo points, now is the time to use them!

Now that the rewards catalog has been fully updated, there are still two more important dates to remember:

3/31/2015: Last day to register products with Club Nintendo to earn coins
6/30/2015: Last day to spend Coins on Club Nintendo

Keep in mind these dates and the fact that what’s there now is what’s going to be there through June. Assuming some of those physical rewards don’t get swooped up first, since it is a first come first served basis. Speaking of those physical rewards, there are some cool ones!

Leading the charge is easily the 800-Coin The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Messenger Bag. Big enough to hold a standard or smaller sized laptop, the sweet bag comes stitched with the Majora’s Mask logo, the Club Nintendo Logo, and a cool rendering of the Skull Kid and the titular Mask. It’s pricey, coming in as the second most expensive item on the entire list, digital or otherwise (for some reason Nintendo thinks Wii Party U is worth 850 Coins. Great game, but really?)., but it’s also a cool item, and one that will surely have huge collector’s value in the future. Also, unique Zelda swag, especially officially licensed from Nintendo swag, is hard to come by that doesn’t also come with a Hot Topic price tag.

The only other new physical items added that I think are worthwhile are the 2016 desktop calendar, which sounds kind of lame but if it’s like the one they’re showing off from 2015 is actually pretty awesome, and the Majora’s Mask Fierce Deity puzzle. I’m not a huge puzzle fan, otherwise I’d fork over the Coins for that too. As far as other physical items go, Club Nintendo has had a nice string of those “Card Case 18” cases that can store your loose DS/3DS games, but this new one isn’t as neat as the others in my opinion.

If you’re like me though, you’ll really want to take a look at those digital games you can download. And man, take a look indeed, because there are over 100 games to download with your Coins. Virtual Console games, eShop games, and even full-blown retail games for the Wii U, 3DS, and the good ol’ Wii are included. Here’s a few highlights:

Nintendo 3DS:

Super Mario 3D Land – 600 Coins
Paper Mario: Sticker Star – 700 Coins
Star Fox 64 3D – 700 Coins
HarmoKnight – 300 Coins (By the creators of the Pokemon series)
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX – 200 Coins
Ketzal’s Corridors – 200 Coins (A fun puzzle game exclusive on the 3DS)
A few dozen other eShop exclusives and Virtual Console games

Wii U:

Golden Sun – 200 Coins
Super Metroid – 200 Coins
EarthBound – 250 Coins
NES Remix – 300 Coins
The Wonderful 101 – 600 Coins
Wii Party U – 850 Coins (Pricey, but if you have 4 friends to play with this is an absolute blast!)

Wii:

Doc Louis’s Punch-Out – 250 Coins (A huge collector’s item which will now plummet in price)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – 250 Coins
Super Smash Bros. – 250 Coins (The Nintendo 64 original)
Excitebike: World Rally – 250 Coins (an eShop exclusive sequel to the Excitebike series)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 250 Coins

Those are the games that caught my eye at first, but looking through the list again there are some other really great titles! You should have no problem spending your points between now and July, because there’s both quantity and quality included.

Nintendo really outdid themselves with this final lineup of Club Nintendo content. It makes me wish Club Nintendo was like this all the time: a few dozen games to choose from each month, instead of just six, which were starting to be repeats.

While I’m sad to see Club Nintendo leave (I actually kind of did enjoy doing those silly surveys), I am hoping for bigger and way better things with the next program Nintendo will roll out. I hope to hear some details about it soon since the old program is now terminal. I’m pulling for more physical rewards, but I bet Nintendo will go with a money-incentive based program, meaning if you spend so much/register so much, you’ll get kicked back some spending cash on the eShop. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, but not my cup of tea.

So don’t forget to spend those points! Pick up something nice for yourself and wait for the next (hopefully) great thing to come out later this year!

Laters,
Jsick

 

Sunday Roundup: 2/1/15

It’s been a long time since I picked up some games on Craigslist, but this week was too good for me to pass up. Making it even better were three (!) successful trips to three different GameStops. I picked up Wii games, DS games, and even a couple PSP games. Whenever I can get three consoles or more in one week’s Roundup I feel a little bad: maybe I’m spreading myself too thin with all these consoles to possibly buy for, but then I look at the actual games, remember why I want to play/own them, and justify the purchase.