Day 82 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Nintendo Network Premium

Okay, Nintendo have too many reward schemes, but even I can't sneer at a free £5 to spend on the eShop.

If you've bought a Wii U Premium pack you may have been automatically included in the Nintendo Network Premium scheme.  

For every ounce of software you buy, amongst other things, you earn points; and once you have 500 points you get £5 (or your country's equivalent) to spend on eShop purchases.

You only have until 31st December 2014 to claim any unused points, I'm guessing they're ending the reward scheme after that, so here's a link for more information on how you can claim!

Day 81 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Electroplankton

One of the best things about the original Nintendo DS is the broad range of wonderfully eccentric titles. It was also plagued by shovelware however, in amongst all of the tripe was some hidden gems worth seeking out.

Electroplankton was released quite early in DS's life; it's a music synthesis game where you have to interact with a variety of aquatic creatures to produce sound. There's 10 different game modes to choose from with a different creature for each one: so let's take a look.

Tracy- this plankton is controlled by drawing lines with your stylus so Tracy can follow them. If you want any of the plankton to stop, just tap your stylus on the screen.

Hanenbow- these poor critters are constantly launched from the water to collide with a plant. When they bounce from the leaves, or the edge of the screen, they produce beautiful harp-like tones.

Luminaria- this plankton follows the path determined by the arrows on the screen. Tap the arrows to change Luminaria's direction and thus alter the sound.

Sun-animalcule- probably my favourite plankton. Tap your stylus at various points across the screen to place these little guys, as they grow they produce sound in harmony with one another.

Rec-Rec- While the fish swim by to a basic drum beat you can tap them to record your own sounds with the DS microphone.

Nano carp- This plankton forms various shapes to the sound of your voice or the clapping of your hands. After you've done that just run your stylus over the shapes to release the music.

Lumiloop- run your stylus around the Lumiloops to create some gorgeous atmospheric sounds. The sound reminds me of the original Halo theme.

Marine-Snow- there's stacks of these little fellows all over your screen. Slide your stylus over them to jumble them up and unearth some piano like tones.

Beatnes- now this one is just plain wierd. The invincibility music from Super Mario Bros plays in the background while you provide the sound effects by tapping the Beatnes with your stylus.

Volvoice- probably the most fun and possibly the most annoying when used in public places. Tap the Volvoice to record a sound and then change its shape with your stylus to discover some outlandish audio.

You can download every game mode individually on 3DS for £1.79 each. the original cartridge has retained its price tag, so buying each mode separately at this price is a pretty good deal.

A delightfully quirky game for when you're feeling creative.

Day 80 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Red Dwarf: Better Than Life

Only 20 more to go and then it's all over, so here's some more gaming related TV goodness.

Red Dwarf has covered gaming a couple of times, the most popular gaming episode was most likely Gunman of the Apocalypse from Series 6, but I'm going to write about my own personal favourite; Better Than Life from Series 2.

After being alone for 3 million years the crew receive a post pod containing letters from family and friends, news and sports broadcasts, and some video games. 

They turn out to be Total Immersion Video Games (TIV) that allow players to feel they are actually within the game by connecting to their brain via a strange headset.

While watching an old news broadcast Rimmer discovers one of the games known as Better Than Life, is an must-have title sweeping the solar system as it detects all of your desires and fantasies then makes them come true. 

Soon the crew find themselves playing Better Than Life where Lister is living a care-free wealthy lifestyle, Cat is dating Marilyn Monroe and has a wardrobe crossing international timezones, and Rimmer is enjoying being a respected officer whilst being reunited with an old flame.

I won't give away anymore of the episode because you should definitely watch it if you've never seen it before. Looking back it's great to see how everyone in the 80s thought the future was going to turn out, this episode features triangular video cassettes...it could still happen.

Day 79 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

Downloaded Donkey Kong Country 3 for Wii U as I hadn't played it in years. Every time I found an actual SNES copy it was being sold in a reproduction box without CLEARLY stating so, and the seller thinking they can charge above and beyond for it. Sadly for collectors this is becoming a huge problem as it's not difficult to produce a box closely resembling the original.

In DKC3 both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have been captured by the Kremlins, so Dixie must take the lead and save our beloved monkeys before it's too late. Luckily she has her cousin, Kiddy Kong, to help her out with his ridiculous strength and adorable blue onesie.

The DKC series always had superb artwork, but what makes DKC3 so special is the beautifully designed hub-world. A tranquil paradise you can navigate by swimming, renting a motor boat, or even a hovercraft! You also had to be on the lookout for hidden areas containing secret items and levels, as there's no shortage of collectables in DKC3!

I'm not usually one for games where you have to spend a vast amount of time collecting items, especially with recent games only offering you an 'achievement' as reward, but DKC3 has a ton of gear for you to uncover and it's all worth it. There's banana birds to pass on to Wrinkly Kong to keep her company and unlock a hidden ending to the game, a variety of coins used to exchange for items and unlock new areas, and of course, there's bananas. ^_^

DKC3 may be almost 20 years old (wow), but it's just as fun now as it was then, and you can't complain at a wonderfully designed adventure costing a little over £5. 

Day 78 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Smash Bros 3DS

I picked up Super Smash Bros 3DS on release day and played it for the whole week pretty much non-stop. After returning to SSB 3DS today to gear up for the Wii U version arriving in the UK next week I thought I'd write a little blog.

SSB 3DS has a variety of ways to unlock it's many trophies and characters, so it's really up to you how you want to approach the game. I spent the majority of my time in classic mode, painstakingly playing through it with each character, so I made myself a bit sick constantly repeating the same game mode over and over. By the time I had unlocked every character, which was surprisingly easy, I guess I just grew tired of it; but SSB isn't a single player game by any means.

The most fun to be found in SSB 3DS is in the games multiplayer modes. Sadly the online multiplayer is still a lag ridden mess, but playing with friends only or local multiplayer is where this game truly shines.

Battling with friends is nothing short of fantastic, especially during those nail-biting sudden death moments, and there's more customisation options than you can shake a stick at. The best match I've played was with my wife and sister, a 25 stock match, hammers only with 1UPS available. It was 40 minutes of sheer hell but it was bloody exciting; I WON!!!!  

The Wii U version is looking incredibly promising with the introduction of 5-8 player game modes, plus it looks absolutely stunning in HD...if only I could decide which bundle to get???

Day 77 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: South Park Grounded Vindaloop

Just when I write about South Park gaming episodes they go and release some more, and this one (Grounded Vindaloop) was fantastic. SPOILERS!!!

The show opens with Butters playing on an obviously fake Oculus Rift headset, walking through the school being a nuisance as he thinks he's in virtual reality, with Cartman providing instructions.

Later Butters goes completely insane, exacting revenge on those who have wronged him and going on a Grand Theft Auto style rampage, with Butters ending up in hospital. Cartman, now worried he'll get into trouble because of Butters' rampage, tries to convince Butters he's trapped in virtual reality. 

Without giving anymore away, the episode goes on a complete trip with everyone trying to figure who is REALLY trapped in virtual reality. It's pretty bloody confusing but it's great to be kept guessing until the very end, one of the best South Park episodes in ages.

Day 76 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Rockman/Megaman dot.strap

Just a quick one for today. I thought I'd show you this Rockman/Megaman dot.strap I picked up a while ago.  They're just simple little things used to decorate bags, clothes and mobile phones etc, but I like these as they're made in a classic 8-bit style.

I picked Beat & Eddie as I thought having two characters for the price of one was a sweet deal, plus Beat and Eddie look so adorable. Check out the reverse box image for details of the others in the set.

Day 75 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Goldeneye 007

This is the 100th post for the blog! I honestly didn't think we'd make it this far, and thanks to everyone the world over for stopping by and checking out the site. Means a lot.

Goldeneye 007 introduced me to the world of James Bond. The game was a surprising success since it was based on a film released years prior, but what makes Goldeneye 007 a classic?

Developed by Rareware (now Rare) for the Nintendo 64, Goldenye 007 was a huge leap forward for first person shooters on console. It was visually stunning, the multiplayer was impeccable and overall the game was superb, pretty much defying all logic at the time, considering it was a licensed title and they usually carried a reputation for being terrible.

Goldeneye 007 was incredibly faithful to the source material, beginning with the prologue at the Chemical Weapons Facility, moving on to Severnaya, St Petersburg, Cuba and ending with Antenna Cradle scene. There were a handful of levels unique to the game but they aren't detrimental to the story in any way, and they're bloody great fun. For the completionist there's even two unlockable levels based on past Bond movies (Moonraker and Live and Let Die), providing you can beat the game on its hardest difficulty (no easy task, I assure you).

Still not enough? Goldeneye 007 had unlockable cheats and game modes only obtainable by completing a certain level in a certain time and on a specific difficulty. Some examples include DK mode (gives all characters a huge head and arms), all guns, paintball mode and for the truly insane, enemy rockets.

The single player was absolutely phenomenal however, the multiplayer was just as brilliant. Up to four players could duke out it out in split-screen action with a variety of game modes including Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and a Golden Gun themed match (you only earn points for kills with the Golden Gun).

Yes, Goldeneye 007 had everything a first person shooter fan could ask for and captured the unique atmosphere of the Bond universe. Due to legal matters it's unlikely the game will ever truly be remade, or even released as a download. So if you have a Nintendo 64 and for some reason have never played Goldeneye, buy it, you won't be disappointed.

Day 74 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Edition

Okay I know I've already included Super Mario All-Stars in 100 Happy Gaming Days, but I wanted to focus on the 25th Anniversary Edition released on Wii for today's blog. I'm also aware many people didn't like the 25th Anniversary Edition because the game was a direct port of the SNES, Nintendo hadn't even bothered to remove images of the SNES controller from the menu screens, but I like this set for two reasons.

1. This was a much appreciated Christmas present from my Wife.

2. The extra goodies in this set (pictured below) are a must have for any Mario fan.  

This set contains contains a Soundtrack CD with tunes from all of the games featured in Super Mario All-Stars, plus a number of later games (e.g. Super Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy etc), AND it even has 10 sound effects bundled on to the disk as well (they make great text tones for your mobile).

Alongside the CD comes a neat little booklet detailing the history of everyone's favourite Italian plumber, with comments from Mario's creators (Mr. Miyamoto, Koji Kondo and Takashi Tezuka). The best of the book is that it includes some of the original concept designs for Super Mario Bros. 

It's great to see how the Super Mario developed into one of the most beloved gaming characters of all time.

Day 73 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: The Legend of Zelda

On New Years Eve 2013 I made a number of resolutions. One of those was to finish every game in the Zelda franchise...suffice to say I've failed, but I did play through a few of them. Let's see, I've finished...

The Legend of Zelda
A Link to the Past
Ocarina of Time
Four Swords (GC)
Four Swords (GBA)
Minish Cap
A Link Between Worlds
Skyward Sword

I've still got a few to go but for today's blog however, I want to focus on the first of the series.

The Legend of Zelda was released on NES in the UK in 1987, and was regarded as an absolute masterpiece, thanks to its grand scale and allowing players the freedom to approach the game in whatever way they wanted. You could tackle the dungeons in any order, explore Hyrule till your heart's content or perhaps increase the challenge by not allowing yourself to use the sword.

I on the other hand didn't need to increase the challenge because the game drove me utterly mad! I was constantly getting killed, I never had a clue where to go, a walkthrough was never more than a few inches from my face and those Keese/Bat things have to be the most hated characters in gaming, ever!

...so why is this a happy gaming day?

When you gather the scattered fragments of the triforce, make your way to the enemies lair, defeat Ganon and save the Princess...it feels so rewarding. The Legend of Zelda rewards exploration, experimentation, and overcoming seemingly impossible odds. Yes, the game is horrendously difficult, but it laid the foundations for an entire franchise that generations have come to enjoy, and thankfully the principle of rewarding a players curiosity and ingenuity has lasted the entire series.

Hopefully this will still be the case when the new open-world Legend of Zelda title hits the shelves in 2015.

Day 72 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: ZombiU

ZombiU is a fantastic first-person survival horror game for Wii U, and the closest thing Wii U owners have to popular survival games like DayZ.

You play as a survivor negotiating their way through zombie infected London, gathering supplies and trying to find a way to escape the ruined city. Every time your character perishes you take on the role of another, quite a unique feature, emphasising the sense of survival required to beat the game. Not only that, but if you want all of your loot back you have to seek out your previously deceased character, now a zombie, and put them out of their misery to reclaim what was yours.

When ZombiU is connected online you will be kept updated of other player's progress throughout the game, and if they ever fall victim to the zombie apocalypse, their character will be downloaded to your version of the game so you can snag their loot for yourself. It gives the impression of multiple survivors making their own way through the disaster, naturally it would have been more fun to team up and physically play together, but I think Ubisoft have done a great job working with Wii U's limited tech to provide the most immersive experience possible.

The zombies are nothing short of terrifying and allowing yourself to be surrounded generally means you're stuffed. They'll haul you from ladders as you try to escape, relentlessly chase you along corridors and occasionally they lay siege to your safe house, which results in you desperately trying to defend yourself and what's yours.

ZombiU is probably the best survival horror title in a long time and a must have for any Wii U owner. Now you can pick it up for as little as £7 so there's no excuse as to why ZombiU isn't in your Wii U collection.

Day 71 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Majora's Mask 3DS Special Edition

The biggest announcement from Wednesday's Nintendo direct, without question, was Majora's Mask for 3DS.

I must admit I never played MM the first time around, despite having sunk a ridiculous number of hours into Ocarina of Time, so when Zelda fans began pleading with Nintendo to remake MM for 3DS, I had to see what all the fuss was about. I had the game on the Zelda Collectors Disk for GameCube and I was surprised to find a much darker Zelda adventure. There's a somewhat foreboding undertone making MM a standout entry in the long running franchise.

Nintendo are releasing a special edition version of MM for 3DS, but what's going to be included??? 

The special edition includes a copy of the game, a SteelBook case, a pin badge in the shape of the mask itself (with an attractive collectors box), and a double sided poster.

It's not a bad little haul for the extra £5 you splash out on the special edition release, the only criticism I could make is why hasn't the badge been painted?! It would have been so much more visually striking, then again you could probably find something similar on etsy, so it's not the end of the world.

Majora's Mask is set to be released on 30th June 2015, better pre-order this one, folks. It's going to sell out fast.

Day 70 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Pikmin Short Movies

Announced during the fantastic Nintendo Direct yesterday, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed he had been working on a number of Pikmin Short Movies which would be made available on Wii U and 3DS after the presentation.

As you may know I'm a huge Pikmin fan, but sadly I didn't have enough moolah to buy them on the Nintendo eShop last night so I had to wait until this evening. (; _ ;) The wait was certainly worth it however, as these animations are fantastic, but what exactly do you get for the £4.49 price tag?

I'll try and keep spoilers to a minimum, but no promises. (^ _ < )

The bundle includes 3 short movies, altogether they last around 30 minutes, and you get a few little bonuses including two idents for Toho Cinemas starring our favourite critters and the original storyboards for 2 of the short movies.

The first short (The Night Juicer) is pretty brief, which was a bit alarming at first, but I assume this was the short that was unveiled during Tokyo Game Show (mentioned by Mr Miyamoto during Nintendo Direct). Captain Olimar is playing with a blender while 3 nosey Pikmin come along to find out what he's up to.

The second short (Treasure in a Bottle) follows a Red Pikmin's journey to retrieve a marble from an empty bottle. Unfortunately he gets stuck in the bottle and has to rely on his buddies to bail him out, with some hilarious consequences. Also on the base of the bottle Nintendo NT 4 is stamped, does this mean anything???

The final short (Occupational Hazards), sees Captain Olimar on a typical Pikmin day gathering treasure. Things start to horribly wrong thanks to a short tempered White Pikmin, a fiery Blowhog, and of course, Bulborbs.

These animations are a must for any Pikmin fan and I think they're well worth the £4.49 asking price. I would recommend the Wii U version over the 3DS version, as I don't think the 3DS's resolution will do these short movies justice.

Day 69 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: The Simpsons

It's not just South Park who have produced great episodes concerning video games. This Simpsons episode from Season 7 entitled 'Marge Be Not Proud', centres on Bart as he desperately tries to get his hands on the latest video game sensation, Bonestorm. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

After Marge refuses to buy Bonestorm for him, claiming games are noisy and they distract you from school work, Bart sees if he can play the game some other way. 

He tries to rent it but all of the copies are out, and Milhouse won't share his copy, so after witnessing a gang of kids shoplifting from a local supermarket Bart decides to do the same.

Favourite Bit: Where Bart is standing by the video games and his conscience takes on the form of famous characters. Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong and Sonic all agree he should steal the game, claiming it's the video games companies fault for making him want it so much. 

Day 68 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: South Park

When a new console or highly anticipated game is on the horizon you're pretty much guaranteed South Park will put on a great episode. I thought I'd share 3 of my favourite gaming related episodes for this Happy Gaming Day, and just in case you haven't watched these before...SPOILER ALERT!!! 

Go God Go- in this two part episode the Nintendo Wii is due out within a matter of weeks, but Cartman would rather risk death than wait, so he freezes himself to make the passage of time seem instantaneous. Unfortunately he ends up frozen for over 500 years, so begins an epic quest across time to play Nintendo Wii.

Best Friends Forever- A war is looming between heaven and hell, so to ensure victory God searches for 'the one' to help heaven in its hour of need. Behold! The PSP has just been released and is running a heaven and hell battle sim, who will the one to guide heavens forces and defeat the armies of darkness?!

Tooth Fairy Tats- The tooth fairy has suddenly been leaving Cartman ridiculous amounts of cash for any tooth he puts under his pillow. So the boys plot a ridiculous scheme to raise money using the tooth fairy, all for a SEGA DREAMCAST! 

BOO!!!

After a holiday, illness, and some personal stuff to take care of, I'm back. So what's been happening this last month?

Disney on Ice- The child in me wanted to go to Disney on Ice, and the adult in me was dragged there by the child in me, so we both enjoyed a night of whimsy, wonder and grossly overpriced merchandise.

The majority of the show is made up of re-enactments of your favourite Disney movies. While the performers skate around on the ice, audio samples from the movies accompany their performance. It's pretty good but during these segments I couldn't help but ask myself...why don't I just go home and watch the movies? The segments made exclusively for Disney on Ice however, were fantastic and certainly worth any Disney fans time.

One thing that surprised me though, there was no Frozen segment! I was also relieved as I'm sick of hearing 'Let It Go' but I was very shocked to find it wasn't included.

Play Expo- I went to Play Expo Manchester and sadly there wasn't much to report.

There was a lack of major developers this year (e.g. Nintendo, Ubisoft etc.), instead they were replaced with 100 PS4's which didn't offer the same amount of intrigue. I did get to try PT at long last, and it's still scary even in a room filled with hundreds of people, but it's not enough to make me want a new console.

Oddworld New and Tasty was also being demoed, and it wasn't too bad but I felt as though the magic of the original was missing, I miss the detailed backgrounds of the original Playstation release.

I also finally got to try the Virtual Boy, the only Nintendo console I had never even seen let alone played, and everyone's right...it is a piece of crap. I had a headache inside of two minutes and I can't imagine what it must have been like for those who actually bought one and persevered with it.

I don't think I'll be returning to Play Expo next year so I'll be looking for a new a place for my holidays.

Clear out- Some excellent progress was made clearing out some stuff and the possibility of getting a PC in the next few months has now become more of a reality. Don't get me wrong, there's still lots to do, but hopefully my Youtube channel will be up and running again soon.

And that's pretty much it. I'm determined to finish the 100 Happy Gaming Days feature, I think there's 33 days to go, so keep an eye out as I'll be cracking on with those. TTFN.