2015 Gaming Wishlist

Red Dead Redemption sequel - One of finest open world games of the last generation. There was nothing better than roaming the old west, hunting down outlaws and generally just causing mayhem as anti-hero John Marston.

I imagine if my prayers are answered any follow up to RDR will be a console exclusive, so this will give me an excuse to buy a PS4 or Xbox One. ^_^

Skies of Arcadia HD Remaster- I'm sure this was announced or rumoured to be in development a couple of years ago, but nothing has been mentioned recently. One of the best RPGs of all time, it was originally released on the Dreamcast and later ported to GameCube as Skies of Arcadia Legends.

SoA has such a beautifully crafted universe that would certainly benefit from a high definition remaster. Some extra features would be nice too. ^_^

I've already posted about SoA before, so click the link if you want discover a little more about it. 

Captain Olimar amiibo- The big question is why hasn't this been announced already?! Captain Olimar is nowhere to be found in the next 2 waves of amiibos, which is quite surprising when Pikmin 3 has still been receiving updates, AND we were treated to the Pikmin shorts a couple of months ago.

Ideally I would like to see Olimar's amiibo with the red, yellow and blue Pikmin, perhaps with Captain Olimar wearing his helmet too.

Well, whatever 2015 brings. I hope you have a Happy New Year!

Super Mario Mug

Whilst on a trip to visit my Dad I discovered this rather marvellous mug hidden in his room.

The year stamped by the handle is 1993 and Mario yells 'One Lump or Two' on either side, pretty snazzy.

Blogging, Work, Gallifrey and 2015

100 Happy Gaming Days are finally over and to be honest I'm quite relieved. It wasn't that I wasn't enjoying writing it, it's just after a numerous delays I wanted to move on to something else. It was also difficult to keep up with posting on a daily basis when I already work 40 hours a week, plus I got hooked on watching Doctor Who and reading Batman comics so that set things back a bit.

If it wasn't for 100 Happy Gaming Days however, this blog may not have even lasted this long because when I started I had no idea what to write about. There's some things I could/should go back and fix, for instance the Strawberry Cheesecake Mochi on Day 5, so when I get some time I'll go back and get things into some sort of order ... although it is nice to see how things developed.

So, what's next?

I've got hundreds, if not thousands, of short recordings waiting to be turned into full songs. I have the necessary kit to compose the music, I just need somewhere permanent to mix/master the tracks. I ideally want to produce retro game inspired soundtracks, perhaps I'll finally pick up a Prosound Gameboy and use LSDJ. (^_^)

The Bobby and Jules comic is also waiting to be done, I haven't done much drawing since the summer so it'll be great to get started on that again.

And sometime in 2015 we'll be renewing our PC's and whatnot, so hopefully my YouTube channel will return. \ (^_^) /

Day 100 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Gaming Setup

FINALLY MADE IT TO DAY 100!!!

I thought I'd wrap things up by going through our gaming setup, each console one by one.

Wii U (currently at my parents house so it's not in the group shot)- we got the Wii U this year specifically for Mario Kart 8 and despite what people say, the Wii U is a great console. We had a terrible time just getting this delivered after Yodel, a dreadful package delivery company, messed up everyone's orders. When the Wii U finally turned up we had an absolute blast, MK8 is phenomenal, Super Mario 3D World provided some multiplayer platform fun, and Nintendo kindly threw in Nintendoland for free!

Since getting the console in May we've slowly built up our collection with Zombi U, Pikmin 3 and of course, Super Smash Bros. Not to mention the amiibo's making their way over on Christmas Day.

The Wii U however, is at its best with local multiplayer, an experience now becoming a thing of the past thanks to gaming online. Yet nothing beats having your friends and family over for a race on Mario Kart or a fight on Smash Bros.  

XBOX 360 (Star Wars edition)- the very first console I posted about back on May 4th, it seems like ages ago. I picked his up when my original 360 was showing signs of giving up, plus I'm also a big Star Wars fan, and the Star Wars edition has a bigger hard drive so it was an obvious choice.

It came with Star Wars Kinect, which is rubbish, a C-3PO controller, that broke despite barely being used or knocked around, and the kinect itself alongside some Star Wars related freebies. It makes R2-D2 sound effects when you switch it on or open the disk drive, adorable but it gets annoying after a while, and it has 'help me Obi-Wan Kenobi...' written along the disk tray.

Top memories from this machine include completing Red Dead Redemption 100% without a manual (oh, yeah!), waiting patiently for Minecraft to download when it was first released and staying up till 4am playing it, and watching helplessly as my nephew drove my motorbike into a river on GTAV.

Wii- these were near impossible to find when they first released, but one day I was going to a picnic in the city centre and nipped into Argos to see if they had any in stock. They did so I spent the entire picnic guarding the shopping bag, it wasn't my brightest move.

The Wii came with Warioware Smooth Moves and Wii Sports; my wife and I played for 7 hours straight leaving us with aching bones and creaking joints. Great fun though.

Memorable moments include playing through most of Skyward Sword with a broken sensor bar (I didn't realise until I was two thirds of the way through the game), and making inappropriate memes with Smash Bros. Brawl after 2 hours of playing it (we found it really boring).

PS2- I was late to the PS2 party, I think the PS3 was out by the time I bought one. I remember I bought it from HMV and I think it was bundled with Hitman Blood Money, Rampage World Tour and Canis Canem Edit (later renamed Bully). I played through CCE and it thought the hand to hand fighting was more violent than GTA: San Andreas, it was brutal landing punches and kicks, and launching bricks into your schoolmates faces.

There were some absolutely phenomenal games on PS2, but my all-time favourite has to be We Love Katamari. My wife and I would spend hours and hours together playing the co-operative mode, collecting all of the cousins and beating our high scores, go find the soundtrack if you haven't heard it because it's brilliant.

Dreamcast- Sega's last hurrah. The strangest thing was when I moved out of my parents house I found all of my Dreamcast controllers, including my memory card, went walk about. Luckily I found someone eBay selling 4 boxed controllers for £20! Memory cards are also easy to come by, except the PAL version, so I've got a nice clear blue memory card as a replacement.

The best game on the system for me has to be Skies of Arcadia. I played through the game until the final battle, realising I hadn't levelled up enough to defeat the final boss, so I started the entire game again. It was interesting summer. (^_^)

Nintendo 64- Where to begin. The Nintendo 64 saw me through my early high school years, a mate of mine used to come around every Sunday to play classics like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Pokemon Stadium and WWF No mercy. It was a great time to be a Nintendo fan as there were so many fantastic multiplayer titles available and they just kept coming ... Diddy Kong Racing, Conkers Bad Fur Day, etc etc.

There some great single player games as well of course. I don't even want to know the number of hours I've sunk into Super Mario 64 and Lylatwars. The Nintendo 64 is a testament to my misspent youth. (^_^)

Sega Mega Drive- I think I got a Mega Drive for my 5th or 6th birthday and it was bundled with Sonic the Hedgehog, awesome present. I remember I always had great difficulty getting past Dr Robotnik in the Green Hill Zone, but eventually I learned the infamous level select cheat so it wasn't a problem.
\ (^ v ^) /

It was great to follow the Sonic series through those early years with the introduction of new characters and killer soundtracks, but it was even better to see Sega inventing new IP's to compete with Nintendo as anything seemed possible. We had some funky beats and outlandish humour with Toejam & Earl, gorgeous and unique gameplay from Ecco the Dolphin, and amazing multiplayer brawls and battles with Streets of Rage and Golden Axe. One of the greatest times to be playing video games.

Super Nintendo- What a year it's been for old Snezzy; he's died, then been resurrected, and had a load of games bought for him that I'll have to set aside a 2 year holiday just to play through them all. It's starting to become my favourite console thanks to its superb back catalog and simplicity.

I remember getting my first SNES one Christmas, must have been at least 20 years ago (wow, that made me feel old), and it came bundled with Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars. A kid couldn't have asked for a more perfect Christmas present, a collection of some of the finest platform games of all time and a another that is arguably THE finest platform game of all time.

Later on down the line I would be having loads of fun racing against my Dad on Super Mario Kart, he was always annoyed when I used weapons. Then of course there's Street Fighter II, Donkey Kong Country, Starfox, A Link to the Past and so many others, ensuring the SNES was one of the greatest consoles of all time. 

Day 99 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

While Square Enix continued the main Final Fantasy series on PS2, Gamecube owners were treated to a spin-off title with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

The world has been covered in a deadly miasma, killing anyone who is exposed to it. The towns and villages throughout the world are protected from the miasma using the power of crystals to generate a shield around their homes. Only one problem; the crystals power drains over time so someone's got to and find more crystals. And that someone, is you.

In FF: Crystal Chronicles you must explore the world in a travelling caravan, either with a band of heroes or on your own, and seek out as many crystals as you can. Unlike traditional Final Fantasy titles you could fully customise your character; choosing their race, class and even a snazzy outfit.

The best part is FF: Crystal Chronicles supports 4 player multiplayer, it's a little messy as you need 4 Gameboy Advance consoles along with 4 GBA to GC cables so each of you can access your own inventories and menus without having to pause the game.

We've tried to complete Crystal Chronicles a few times but unfortunately our memory cards keep crashing EVERY time we play it. Maybe sometime in the New Year we'll dedicate a whole week to playing it. ^_^

Day 98 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Animal Crossing Soundtrack

Just before Christmas Nintendo were flogging this Animal Crossing OST for an astonishing £2!!! I think this CD was once a Club Nintendo exclusive, making it even more surprising they were selling it for such a low price, they must have had tons left.

There's a whopping 39 tracks on here from Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City, a game I didn't spend too much time playing so every track here is pretty new to me.

Glancing through the booklet the tunes have been divided into categories. You have the Main Themes from Animal Crossing, Happy Room Academy, Gracie Grace etc, then KK Sliders most requested songs (apparently there was a vote to determine which tracks would be included), and 3 bonus tracks have also been thrown in.

At this low price I'm certainly not complaining. I've got the CD on now and it's sounds brilliant, I'm going to keep it on while I tidy up the mess left over from Christmas.

Day 97 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Amiibo

Merry Christmas everybody!

As you see we got a whole bunch of amiibo's for Christmas; Mario, Luigi, Link, Zelda, Fox and Yoshi.

You scan amiibos into various games using your Wii U gamepad, or your 3DS, to access new features. Smash Bros imports a copy of your scanned character into the game for you to train and do battle against your mates, whereas Mario Kart 8 unlocks additional outfits for your Mii.

We've had a bit of a debate and Fox McCloud is arguably the best one here, there's so much detail on the figure in comparison to the others, Zelda and Link probably tie for second. The only figure leaving a little to be desired is Luigi, why not have him pose with his Poltergust rather than doing a planking meme, it would have looked so much better!

Well, I'm going to go back to stuffing my face with sweets and chocolate, and maybe play a little Smash Bros. Hope you're all having fun. \ (^_^) /  

Day 96 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Kingdom Hearts

When my wife and I first got together she introduced me to Kingdom Hearts, an adventure game starring a young boy named Sora, a host of Disney characters, a smattering of Final Fantasy characters and a bazillion monsters known as the Heartless. I'd never heard of it, I'd never played it, and seeing as it came from a developer I didn't particularly like, my expectations certainly weren't high.

On the surface it seemed like an obvious cash-in on FF fans and Disney fans alike, but what lay under the surface?

I agreed to try the game out, choosing the hardest difficulty setting and the Mage skill-set. My wife did warn me that this was going to be tough, but I scoffed, believing Kingdom Hearts to be a game for babies ... boy, was I wrong.

I discovered a wonderful adventure game allowing me to explore the Disney universe in a whole new way, armed with badass key-shaped sword that I can use to splat horrible creatures into nothingness. The hardest difficulty setting made Kingdom Hearts horrendously frustrating at times, but the challenge was worth every minute. It also introduced me to Disney movies I'd never even seen, Tarzan for example, it's a great movie and you're doing yourself a great disservice if you haven't seen it.

I played Kingdom Hearts for weeks determined to see the end, and I also collected all 101 of the missing Dalmatians WITHOUT A WALKTHROUGH!!!

When I played through Kingdom Hearts I thought it could match The Legend of Zelda series in terms of quality. A wonderful sprawling adventure that was a joy to explore, with so much to see and do, and the Disney characters only added to magic. A truly fantastic game.

Bonus Blog: A Trip to the Lego Store

Yesterday's blog wasn't very substantial, so today is a DOUBLE UPLOAD DAY!!! 

Lego Pick 'n' Mix, how cool does this look?

On Sunday we took a trip to the Lego store at Metrocentre Gateshead, and it's bloody fantastic! There's buckets of Star Wars sets, Batman sets, Marvel, DC, exhibits from Lego's Master Builders, AND BEST OF ALL; a pick n mix Lego section! I felt like a big kid again wandering around the store, here's some photos of some of the highlights, particularly the Slave 1 due out his January.

Slave 1, absolutely love this.

X-Wing, I used to have one of these. ^_^

Snowspeeder and AT-AT, great for Christmas

Some weird Joker steam roller and a Bat-Plane

Palace Cinema (part of the Lego Creator series)

Sandcrawler, this one costs a bomb but it's bloody impressive

A Pirate Ship!!!

Batman's Tumbler from the Christopher Nolan movies, I wonder if I could make room for this...

Day 95 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: South Park (the game)

When I was at school it seemed South Park was the show everyone had to watch...because we weren't meant to watch it. The early episodes seem tame in comparison to recent offerings, but South Park was the most outrageous, daft and hilarious cartoon on television.

Naturally there was a video game thrown in to existence thanks to the show's success. Many do not have fond memories of it, as there were far superior first person shooters on the market (Goldeneye being one of them), but the game had the charm and humour of the show making it a must-play for many.

The story involves a diabolically evil comet heading towards the town of South Park. It causes several catastrophes including killer turkeys, cows, clones, robots and more, and of course it's up to you and your favourite South Park residents to stop them. There was a nice variety of weapons too; snow balls, Terence & Philip dolls (that expel fart gas), Cow launchers and Chicken's eggs (fired from the Chicken's backside, of course).

The South Park game also included a generous multiplayer mode allowing you play as a good variety of the shows characters, not just the 4 boys. The best part was hearing what the other characters had to say when you attacked them, I still remember being in a fit of hysterical laughter when Cartman called my Mam a bitch.

South Park is certainly not a 'must have' title, but if you're a fan of the show and retro gaming (and if you can bag it for reasonable price), then go check it out.

Day 94 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Controllers

I've really struggled to think of something to write about today, so I'm going to show you my nerdy assortment of controllers as I think it's fun to see how things have evolved over the years. Enjoy. (^_^)

Day 93 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Kotaku UK Gimme PS4 contest

Kotaku UK have three 20th Anniversary PS4's up for grabs, so my wife and I have just destroyed our home for the sole purpose of taking this photo for the contest. 

We tried locations all over our home to find the perfect snap, we then decided to pick out our top games and put them on display with the consoles (fairy lights also seem to be very important).

I'll provide a link to the contest page below so you can check out the rules and enter for yourself, deadline is 10am tomorrow so you'd best be quick. Good Luck!

Kotaku UK PS4 Contest

Day 92 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Minecraft Christmas

Bored of the old Christmas songs? This tune from the Area 11 and the Yogscast is just what you need to get into the Christmas spirit.

Here's a link to the music video: Minecraft Christmas

Day 91 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Transformers High Score 100

I picked up this little Transformer a couple of years ago at a flea market as I thought he looked pretty awesome.

After doing some research it turns out he's an Autobot named High Score 100, who transforms from a joypad into a gorilla. It's quite a nifty little design, his head lifts up by pushing the little lever between the D-Pad and Buttons, but unfortunately this one in particular appears to be missing his shoulder plates.

Despite the missing pieces I think High Score 100 looks great, even the joysticks move, and he takes pride of place on our shelves next to the Playstation games. Now they just need to release a version of High Score 100 that actually connects to consoles, THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!!!

Day 90 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Chrono Trigger

Only 10 days to go!!! Lets take a look at a classic RPG (or JRPG as they're now called), that I've recently returned to...

Chrono Trigger was originally released for the SNES, alongside Secret of Mana, but this DS remake returned with intuitive touch screen controls and beautifully animated cutscenes from Akira Toriyama (creator of the Dragonball saga).

You play as Chrono, the silent hero who attends the Millennial fair to celebrate 1000 years since his country was first conceived. While there he meets a mysterious girl who gets zapped into the past by a strange contraption, and so begins an epic journey across time to save her and the world from total destruction.

I've never really been a fan of games from Square Enix (formerly known as Squaresoft/Square etc), as I rarely understand what's going on with their stories, but Chrono Trigger is easy enough to follow, simple to play and an all round excellent adventure!

Chrono Trigger was also on my Top Ten Games I Still Have to Finish list, so I'm going play a little bit of the game every morning on the way to work...I should be finished it this time next year. (; _ ;)

Day 89 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Hogs of war

FINALLY! I have a copy of Hogs of War, I've waited 14 years for this day... apparently.

When Hogs of War was originally released I remember picking up a copy on PC, and sadly the bloody thing didn't work. Sometime later I bought a copy of the game on Playstation...that didn't work either. Opportunities to buy the game came and went and then all of a sudden my wife comes home with a copy. 

I tried the game out just before I wrote this and thankfully it works! It's similar to Worms where teams take it turns to defeat their enemies in comedic ways until there's only one team remaining. There's a number of weapons available including bayonets, pistols, rifles, grenades and the classic bazooka. You can also improve your squad via the promotion system; every time you finish a mission you are awarded coins to spend on your team to improve their weaponry, skills and increase their default health.

Hogs of War is also accompanied by some brilliant voice acting provided by the superbly talented comedian, Rik Mayall, who sadly passed away earlier this year. He gives a great performance as the General Pig, and he also provides regional accents for members of your squad (there's a Geordie one)!

After all of this time Hogs of War was certainly worth the wait. It's crude, funny and it supports multitap so I can rope 3 more people into playing. Truly a Happy Gaming Day. (^_^) 

Day 88 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Mario Kart 7 RC Cars

I've seen these Mario Kart 7 RC cars before, but I've never seen the full set (and I've never put them on the blerg), so let's take a look.

These RC cars can reach speeds of 20 km/h and can run for 40 minutes on an 80 minute charge. It looks as though you need a couple of AA batteries for the remote, and there's a battery pack included to go in the car.

Each of the 4 characters look pretty sweet, although Bowser's face could have been modelled better, and they lean from side to side as you race around turns.

I'll probably pick one up when the weather improves (it's far too cold to be outside at the moment), but I still can't decide which one...maybe DK. :)

Day 87 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Zelda Wii U

Another sneak peak from the game awards; Mr Miyamoto and Mr Aonuma decided to bring along some early gameplay footage of Zelda Wii U! Unfortunately we could only look at the footage from a distance, most likely because this is an early build of the game, but anything is better than nothing I suppose.

We got to see the size of the map and it's looking bloody enormous, perhaps not on the scale of an Elder Scrolls title, but certainly big enough to get lost in. Thankfully Epona returns to help us traverse this world and Nintendo have made some significant improvements to her behaviour. For instance horses generally don't run in to trees and smash their brains in, so now Epona automatically avoids such obstacles allowing ranged attacks from horseback to be much easier.

The only issue I had with the footage was the use of sound effects. When an enemy has been hit successfully you hear a sharp metallic sound, but I usually associate this noise with an arrow or sword repelling from a shield, meaning no damage would have been dealt.

It was also mentioned Majoras mask will be released first, then Starfox on Wii U (YAY), and finally Zelda Wii U, so I imagine Zelda will be with us around Nov/Dec 2015.

Here's a link so you can check out the footage for yourself. ^_^ 

Day 86 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Mario Maker Trailer

Last week at The Game Awards, Nintendo unveiled a new trailer for Mario Maker; a Wii U title that allows you to create your own levels in the Mario universe.

Earlier at E3 we were told you could design levels with Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros graphics, now Nintendo have thrown in SMB 3 and Super Mario World graphics too! Plus it seems you can actually change the graphical style mid-game as well.

It appears we'll have a vast choice in the kind of levels we can create as well. Aside from the simple above ground platform world we'll also have underground, castle and for the sadist/masochist, underwater levels.

The level customisation in Mario Maker also appears to be spectacular, as we were treated to cannons firing spinys and coins, huge Goombas and Koopa Troopas (a la Super Mario Bros 3), 

All I want for Mario Maker now is Yoshi and a place where created levels can be uploaded for everyone to play, hopefully this will added to Miiverse. ^_^

Here's a link so you can check out the trailer for yourself.

Day 85 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Smash Bros Soundtrack

One of the best things about Nintendo's games over the last few years is their superb soundtracks, and SSB is no exception.

There's over 300 tracks in the game, with more to unlock by completing challenges, and they cover the entire SSB roster. A broad range of music from the Legend of Zelda has been provided, with several mixes of the main theme, along with my favourite; Gerudo Valley. The music from Sonic the Hedgehog spans decades starting with the memorable Green Hill zone theme, Live and Learn from  Sonic Adventure 2, with the latest tunes coming from Sonic Lost World.

It's not just remixes and rehashes of course, SSB has it's own unique orchestral soundtrack which is certainly phenomenal as well. 

After hearing all of this I'm pretty excited for the CD soundtrack due to arrive soon from Club Nintendo, at least I can manage my favourites list in the game before it arrives.

Day 84 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: 24 Days of Christmas Sale from Nintendo

Nintendo's UK store is having a 24 days of Christmas sale and there's up to 80% off!

There's plenty of goodies on offer such as T-shirts, protective skins for your Wii U gamepad, MK8 steering wheels and a load of other stuff. I managed to nab an Animal Crossing soundtrack for £2! HOORAY!!!

Day 83 to 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Smash Bros for Wii U

No blogs over the weekend. Why? BECAUSE SUPER SMASH BROS CAME OUT FOR WII U!!! Suffice to say I was very excited and I picked up my copy on launch day, so let's go over my experience with the game so far.

Like I mentioned in the SSB 3DS blog, the Wii U version of the game has a variety of methods to unlock it's many characters and trophies etc, so how you play is up to you.

Playing the game solo doesn't do SSB justice, it's a multiplayer game through and through, and there's nothing better than going through SSB's many game modes with a friend. After you've done that you can beat the holy hell out of each other in one of the games dedicated multiplayer modes, to determine who is the greatest of all!

This is only true of local multiplayer however, as online is still leaving a lot to be desired, but it's the local multiplayer that's kept the series alive since it's debut on the Nintendo 64. Perhaps if SSB offered a greater range of online features (as only basic matches can be played online), then maybe Nintendo could succeed in replicating the same fun found in local multiplayer.

One of the most hyped features of the Wii U version is the 8-player multiplayer and unfortunately I couldn't really get into it. The camera pulls back so far it's difficult to tell what's going on, and even your name tag above your character doesn't solve the problem, but it can be fun to completely turn the tide of a match by unleashing a powerful move (if you're lucky enough to find your opponents huddled together). I think 8 player mode is a bit of Marmite thing (you either love it or hate it), it does have the potential for some great matches but some crappy ones too. 

The big question is if you already have the 3DS version, is it vital to get the Wii U version?

In my opinion, no. I think it completes the experience Nintendo wanted you to have with SSB however, for the sake of some new features (like the HD presentation and some levels), it's hard to justify the full retail price when you already own the 3DS version. Don't get me wrong, the game is awesome and SSB has never been better, but if you can wait for a price drop or if you don't have the 3DS version, then get the Wii U version.