Day 67 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: SNES Game Fest

Ugh, the whole afternoon has been a blur of Irn-Bru, Wotsits and Super Nintendo games. We decided to play the SNES since Snezzy decided to come back to life, starting with Goof Troop.

Goof Troop is a Capcom/Disney title which we've never gotten around to finishing it before. It's similar to A Link to the Past with the added bonus of co-op multiplayer. Surprisingly there's only 5 levels or so and you can have the whole thing finished in under 2 hours, but like many of the Capcom/Disney games the animation's wonderful, and it's nice if you just want something quick to play through.

We then decided to go through some of the Super Famicom games we picked up at NERG last year. One of them turned out to be a mahjong game, so that's going straight to the charity shop, but then we tried a fighting game called Ranma 1/2...

It's based on an anime that I've never watched so I didn't have a clue who I was playing as or fighting against. There was Ranma who is apparently male and female, some other guy who transforms into a pig, a Panda, and another fellow with candles on his head. The animation was fun but it was essentially a Street Fighter clone, good for a giggle.

Super Bomberman provided some more co-op related mayhem, just for the record I'm crap at Bomberman, so we didn't get very far. Thankfully someone and sellotaped a piece of paper to the cartridge with a level code on, so we jumped to world 4-7... and died almost instantly. (; _ ;)

Finally some Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest to round off the day. I forgot how amazing the soundtrack to this game is, and while the 'DKC Returns' series on Wii/Wii U is great, I prefer the originals as the level design is amazing and Kremlins make the perfect enemies.

Now I'm going to go see if I can find something more nutritious than Irn-Bru and cheese flavoured crisps ... where oh where did I put those vouchers for Domino's Pizza??? 

Day 66 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Mario 3D Land Gachapons

Since it was Nintendo's 125th birthday this week I thought something Nintendo related would be appropriate. Let's face it we haven't seen much Nintendo content here for a while have we? 

We found these Super Mario gachapons (or icon danglers?) in Sainsburys oddly enough, and they really are quite nice. There's 10 in the set and they're based on power ups from Super Mario 3D Land.

The only problem is Sainsbury's recently replaced the Super Mario gachapons with terrible DC Universe gachapons, for the record I like DC but the toys pale in comparison to these Mario ones, so I'm going to have to shop around to see if I can complete the set.

Happy 125th Birthday Nintendo!   

Day 65 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Clear Out

Sometimes you've just got to get rid of some stuff.

We decided to be ruthless and go through every last game we own because our shelves were overflowing with games. The games you see in the photograph are the games we're 'potentially' getting rid of, but what makes this a happy gaming day?

We didn't just look at getting rid of the games we'll probably never play again, along with the games we think are downright terrible, we also thought we would get rid of the games we can/will buy on PC.

We've been on about getting a new PC for ages and now we're finally starting to make space for it, and most importantly, put some bloody money towards it. Hopefully the new PC will arrive in the next few months and I'll be building it myself (first time trying), and I'm also looking forward to rebooting my YouTube channel with it as well.

It's a happy gaming day as we're finally moving on to pastures new and I'll be keeping a little journal here to let you all know how things are coming along.

And don't worry I won't be going off my nut yelling "PC Master Race!" because consoles kick arse.

 

Day 64 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Smash Bros 3DS

Super Smash Bros is one of the most anticipated titles of the year, but will it be the knock-out title that Nintendo hopes it will be?

Luckily for me I got the demo last week and I think it's bloody brilliant, so let's go into a few details.

SPOILERS AHEAD

There's 5 characters on offer in the demo; Mario, Link, Animal Crossing Villager, Pikachu and Mega Man, with one basic stage to duke it out.

The controls are solid and simple to grasp, allowing even newcomers to the series to quickly join in the fun with Smash Bros veterans. The game oozes the nostalgic Nintendo charm and the soundtrack is absolutely wonderful as well, but it wasn't any of this stuff that impressed me.

The Super Smash Bros series has always been known for having a ridiculous number of great items and pickups, but this latest installment is bordering on bonkers. There's just so much to experiment with like fire swords, laser guns, turrets, new Pokemon, drills, Bombs (from Star Fox), jet packs and the best of all, trophies.

Trophies unleash a classic character/weapon against your enemies and the results are fantastic. Samus may arrive and shoot down foes with her gun, a game of Pong might suddenly surround the stage and you have avoid getting hit by the ball, Elec Man may arrive with a spark, while Nintendogs lick your 3DS screen (cute but annoying).

Super Smash Bros is going to be huge and we've still got the Wii U version to look forward to! Truly this is a happy gaming day.

Day 63 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Back from the Dead

SNEZZY RETURNS!!!

Back in July our beloved console Snezzy appeared to have played his last game as his video output stopped working.

But call it a miracle, a stroke of good luck, or the simple matter of putting the plug in, Snezzy returned in a blaze of glory and ready for classic gaming once more.

Who knows what powerful forces came together to give Snezzy a new lease of life. One thing's for sure though, Super Nintendo's last a hell of lot longer than PS3's and 360's. :-P

Day 62 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Smashing Soundtrack

Great news for Nintendo fans!

If you pick up Super Smash Bros on 3DS and Wii U, and then register them on Club Nintendo within a specific timeframe, Nintendo will send you a free copy of the Super Smash Bros soundtrack in the post.

It's not often that freebies appear on Club Nintendo in the UK, at least not to my knowledge, and considering this a double soundtrack I think this is a pretty sweet deal.

If you want to hear some samples of the soundtrack just follow this link.

Day 61 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Amiibo

I am determined to finish 100 Happy Gaming Days challenge even if it kills me, so let's jump right back in with Nintendo's new Amiibo figures as they're now available for pre-order.

I wrote a little bit about Amiibo for my Nintendo at E3 blog back in June, and since then Nintendo has unveiled the 12 figures that will be available in their launch line-up (to be released conveniently in time for Christmas). ^_^

Mario
Samus
Link
Pikachu
Marth
Fox
Yoshi
Kirby
Peach
Villager (Animal Crossing)
Donkey Kong
Wii Fit Trainer

Not a bad line-up (although I can't see many people dashing out to buy a Wii Fit Trainer), but the figures are beautifully detailed and Nintendo are planning to use them with a number of Wii U titles (Smash Bros, Mario Kart 8 and Captain Toads Treasure Tracker to name a few).

They're going to cost £11 each, which is roughly the standard price for new gaming figures, so if you want the whole set you better be prepared to set down £132 of your hard earned cash.

The best part is however, unlike Disney Infinity and Skylanders that require figures in order to play the game, the Amiibo's are not essential but merely add-ons, so you don't have to break your bank if you don't want to.

As I mentioned back in June every Nintendo fan who played Super Smash Bros Melee has dreamed of owning actual figurines similar to the trophies in the classic Gamecube title. Now they're finally here and they look fantastic, a couple of them will certainly be on my letter to Santa, and my advice would be to order quick if you want them to place under the Christmas tree.
 

Penguin SWAT Team Member

Inspired by the recent swatting incident I decided to add a penguin SWAT team member to the Bobby and Jules universe.

I haven't given him a name as yet but I've enjoyed adding all the little details to make him appear more authentic. I'll be adding colour shortly when I've got the right shades.

More facial expressions with Bobby and Jules

Artwork created and owned by Andrew Gardner © 2014