Mario and Luigi Sofubi Figures

I don't think I've posted pictures of these Mario & Luigi Sofubi figures before; my wife got them for me for Christmas a few years ago. 

From what I can gather, Sofubi is a kind of soft vinyl toy produced in Japan. I've kept them in their packaging, as I don't have anywhere to stand them, so they're hung up on the shelves next to the SNES games.

Day 25 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Nintendo Land

Spent a majority of the night playing this one so this blog is a little late.

This was the free game we chose from the Mario Kart 8 promotion, and if you haven't claimed yours yet what on earth on are you waiting for?! We chose Nintendo Land as we wanted to boost our library of offline multiplayer titles, and the Wii U has plenty, but we were heading over to my parents and thought this had a great selection of mini-games that everyone could enjoy.

You can tell the game has been purely designed to show off the capabilities of the Wii U, something that Nintendo Land does very well however, a lot of the time games like these are fun for five minutes then left to gather to dust. Nintendo have really pushed the boat out in the hope that Nintendo Land has the same level of re-playability as Wii Sports, and while I don't think they've succeeded to that extent, I'm certain this is a game that will always be considered whenever you're playing multiplayer with your friends and family.

I'm going to detail some of the mini-games that we played last night but in total there are 12 games, with 6 supporting simultaneous multiplayer, and the other 6 having alternate multiplayer.

Luigi's Ghost Mansion- A great little ghostbusting game that will have many players shrieking with terror, quite surprising when you consider how adorable this game is. One player controls a ghost via the Gamepad and has to hunt down the 'busters before they can fry him with their torches. The only clue that the 'busters have of a nearby spectre is the chilling rumble of their Wii Remotes, so better be quick with those torches or your ghost busting days are over.

Animal Crossing Sweet Days- There's trouble in the world of Animal Crossing and only the Gamepad controlled police officers can sort things out. Players have to work together to capture a set number of sweeties before the local constabulary can come and throw them in jail. The only problem is pigging out on all those sweets diminishes your ability to run, so consider your diet otherwise the fuzz will put you away.

Mario Chase- This was by far our most favourite game of the night as it's completely bonkers. The player with the Gamepad controls Mario and has to elude a group of Toads until the timer runs out. It's a simple hide 'n' seek affair but Nintendo have applied some great level design to make this one a big hit. There are areas where the Toads can gain higher ground so they can seek out Mario and guide their team to victory, but Mario can use power-ups to evade his mushroom shaped captors, so the Toads have to work together. And best of all when the game is over you get to see a little replay of how close the Toads came to snaring a little Italian plumber.  

Day 24 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Mario Kart 8

You can expect a lot of Nintendo posts from here on out as I now have my Wii U along with Mario Kart 8, which is arguably the most talked about game available at the moment. I'll try and keep spoilers to a minimum but no promises, you have been warned.

I first got to play Mario Kart 8 at Play Expo Manchester in October 2013 and I thought it was absolutely fantastic, still a lot has changed since then. The level they let us race around was Mario Circuit and since Play Expo they've redesigned a lot of that track, thrown in a bunch of new weapons and greatly improved the handling of the vehicles. Mario Kart 8's most distinguishing aspect however, is the newly introduced anti-gravity feature which has literally turned the series upside down.

When your vehicle crosses over a glowing blue strip you'll be able to race across walls and ceilings, offering a whole new dimension to Mario Kart and allowing for some sneaky yet inventive shortcuts. It is truly a sight to behold seeing anti-gravity in action for the first time, I even felt a little travel sick as the scenery twisted before my eyes, but it was still awesome and proved that Nintendo aren't afraid to be creative with their old franchises.

The game has 16 brand new tracks, plus redesigns of 16 retro favourites, and there's some memorable gems in amongst them. Mount Wario finds you and your rivals dropped from a plane and racing down a snow covered mountain, dashing through caves and ski-slopes, it's probably the best constructed track of any in the whole series. The track that caught my attention though, was Bowser's Castle. The castle of the dreaded King of Koopa's was always my treasured theme as a kid, and Nintendo left me in awe of the truly bonkers yet terrifying version that appears in Mario Kart 8. I'm not saying any more on that, I urge you to try it for yourself.

The biggest upset for many fans however, is the Battle mode. This was the main reason why I enjoy Mario Kart games because this is what sets them apart from other racing titles, but the battle mode in Mario Kart 8 feels cheap, lazy and tacked on. There are no dedicated arenas for battling in as Nintendo have simply recycled the tracks from the Grand Prix mode, which are nowhere near as enjoyable as having dedicated arena levels. It feels like a wasted opportunity as the battle mode could have really made use of the anti-gravity feature, a huge sphere-like structure would have been excellent where everyone could have had an apocalyptic green shell duel, but alas it's not there, so hopefully Nintendo will create some appropriate Battle Mode levels in an update.

The multiplayer however, is just as fun as ever with support for up to four players locally and twelve players online. Mario Kart 8 also includes a great tournament mode where you can compete with players across the globe. Caution: tournaments are extremely competitive and not for the faint of heart, unless you're prepared to be ruthless you'll be tasting the bittersweet red shell of defeat.  

There's also the opportunity to share your glories, or failures, with the world using MKTV. At the end of each race you'll be shown a 30 second highlight reel that you can upload to Miiverse, Youtube or both. It's a nice little feature that's proving very popular with fans, you can find my first of many Mario Kart 8 highlights on my Youtube channel.

Mario Kart 8 is certainly a fine entry in the longstanding series, while providing a much needed boost to the Wii U's game catalogue. There's plenty of content available here to keep you and your friends entertained for hours...then again, after a few races and spiked shells you may not be friends for much longer, but it won't stop you from wanting to race just one more time.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I've had a very busy schedule over the last few days, meaning I haven't had a chance to write any blogs, but I thought I'd give you little recap of the gaming side of things and I'll get back to the 100 Happy Gaming Days feature tomorrow. :)

Last weekend I was one of many caught up in the Nintendo UK/Yodel Mario Kart 8 launch fiasco. Yodel was the courier responsible for delivering Mario Kart 8 pre-orders with many being delayed and damaged in the process.

I didn't receive my copy until 31/05/2014 (a day late) and the outer packaging looked as though it had been savaged by Wolverines, whilst the presentation box had suffered a blow and had been squashed, with nothing to protect it other than some inflated contraceptives and a Bullet Bill T-Shirt. The disk however was perfectly fine and the Blue Shell figurine also survived so I'm not complaining too much.

The big problem was I was also waiting for my Wii U to be delivered which I ordered on 30/05/2014 (for next day delivery via Yodel) but it didn't arrive until 02/06/2014, so I got to spend the whole weekend looking at the box for Mario Kart when I could have been playing it.

The wait however, was certainly worth it as Mario Kart 8 is a fantastic game which seems to have turned the Wii U's fortunes around for the time being. And since I ordered the Mario Mega Bundle from Nintendo UK I also have Super Mario 3D World, New Super Mario Bros U + Super Luigi U, an extra controller and a Mario Hat.

I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from ordering anything from Nintendo UK, as they have a great catalogue of exclusive products, just don't arrange for special delivery as the courier will be Yodel and they're notoriously unreliable.

I've been very impressed with the Wii U so far, especially the Miiverse which gives you the opportunity to discuss your favourite Nintendo games with gamers from all over the world. There's a healthy selection of games available on the Nintendo eShop as well and I'm wondering how long I can hold out before I get Pikmin 3...

Check back tomorrow as 100 Happy Gaming Days continues.

Day 16 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Mario Kart

With only 7 days remaining until the release of Mario Kart 8 (I've got my pre-order), I thought it would be a good idea to look at the game that started it all; Super Mario Kart for SNES.

Super Mario Kart set the standard for the future of the series introducing imaginative track design, multiplayer fun and showing what Nintendo's Seal of Quality really meant. The game had a total of 8 playable characters; Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool/Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Koopa Trooper, Bowser and Donkey Kong Jr. There are a total of 20 tracks on offer from all over the Mario universe; Donut Plains, Bowsers Castle, Choco Island and the now notorious Rainbow Road.

Players could compete for various cups in the Mario Kart GP mode racing solely against the computer across 5 tracks in each competition, or they could have a friend join in too. There were two difficulty options available, 50cc and 100cc, and if you managed to earn gold in the first three tournaments you'll gain access to the Special Cup with the remaining 5 tracks. If you reached the top spot in a tournament you would see a wonderful animation showing your character with their trophy, with a different animation depending on the character you chose.

You could also race one-on-one against your friends or compete in a Time Trial across any of the 20 tracks, but my favourite has always been the Battle Mode. In Battle Mode you and a friend could fight it out across 4 arena-type stages, firing weapons at your opponent to burst the 3 balloons attached to their kart. Unfortunately you're unable to get any AI controlled opponents to fight in Battle Mode, but the arenas were just the right size for 2 players.

Super Mario Kart, as previously mentioned, also had a selection of weapons available. Thankfully the Blue Shell was yet to make an appearance, but banana skins, green/red shells, mushrooms and many more were there to make or break your race. The computer also had their own weapons to use against you, for instance Yoshi is able to leave Eggs around the track for you to crash into, but as far as I'm aware a player controlled racer is unable to access these exclusive weapons (which was a bit strange but it kept things interesting as you didn't know what was going to attack you next).

Super Mario Kart was a fantastic game and the hype for Mario Kart 8 has built to ridiculous levels, and with an amazing series behind it it certainly has a lot to live up to.
         

Day 13 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Nintendo Playing Cards

Long before Nintendo became a video games company they manufactured playing cards, and since we had over 3000 points on Club Nintendo, we decided to choose these Premium Mario Playing Cards to see what all the fuss was about.  

The first thing you notice when you open the pack is that they're not even made of card, they're a strange reflective plastic, and the second thing you notice is the care and attention to detail that's gone into making these things. Each suit has a different image of Mario (King), Peach (Queen), Luigi (Jack), while Bowser takes his place on the Joker cards. The numbered cards and Ace cards have pictures of Mushrooms and Coins on them, and I love the way they printed the design so only part of the reflective surface is visible. I'm also glad they decided to use the Super Nintendo-era designs, rather than the more modern designs, as the bolder outlines and colours really make them stand out. 

We're thinking of taking them out of the pack and fitting them into a big frame to go up on the wall, which is going to look pretty amazing with the light reflecting from them. And since Nintendo has been the main focus of the last couple of days I'll if I can find something a little more unusual for tomorrow's blog. :)