Pickups! Metal Slug Anthology (Wii Version)

I picked up this fantastic haul on eBay this week. This Metal Slug Anthology was released for the Wii and PS2 and contains the following games.

Metal Slug

Metal Slug 2

Metal Slug X

Metal Slug 3

Metal Slug 4

Metal Slug 5

Metal Slug 6

That's a whole lotta slugs. For those unfamiliar with Metal Slug, it was a run-and-gun series of arcade games developed by SNK (also known their many-many fighting games). Metal Slug didn't necessarily re-invent the wheel when it came to shooters, but it had some amazing animation and wonderful attention to detail.

I was going to go for the PS2 version but it's over double the price of the Wii version, plus the PS2 version apparently suffers from poor controls. The Wii version boasts a number of different control schemes, some involving motion control (won't be using those), but for those with an earlier Wii model you can plug in a Gamecube controller and use that instead. 

I'm really pleased to have picked up the majority of the Metal Slug collection, and if you haven't played these arcade classics before you can download some of them on current generation consoles or PC (cough..or emulate them..cough).    

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 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 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 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! 

Day 54 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Project Zero II Crimson Butterfly

I finished Project Zero II (also known as Fatal Frame II) over the weekend and I have to say this game scared the bejeezus out of me. I found It much more terrifying than Silent Hill or Resident Evil.

The story revolves around twin sisters (Mio and Mayu) who return to a forest from their childhood, days before it's due to be destroyed with the construction of a new dam. While they reminisce Mayu is spirited away by a strange crimson butterfly so Mio goes after her. They're eventually led to a village that appears to have been abandoned; but the sisters soon discover the village is crawling with the tortured souls of the past who have brought the twins to the village for a terrifying purpose.

The game revolves around exorcising ghosts using the Camera Obscura, a device that allows the photographer to see and defend themselves against spirits. It's quite a unique mechanic and it makes a change from the standard pistol/shotgun/machine gun etc routine often found in survival horror titles. The camera can also be used to solve puzzles; for instance you may encounter a door that's been sealed shut, but photographing the door will reveal an objective that you need accomplish before proceeding.

I feel the key to a successful horror game is the audio, and clearly the developer has the same philosophy, as Project Zero II has some of the most chilling effects I've ever heard. When your camera locates a ghost for example, a distorted noise will wail about you and amplify when the spirit gets closer. I imagined I would find it annoying after a while, but even after 8 hours of playing I was still sufficiently freaked out.

I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't played this before, but for those looking for a  classic survival horror title they should certainly check out Project Zero II. The game was released for a number of systems, I played the Directors Cut version for the original Xbox (it also runs on 360), but it was also released on the Wii with all of the features from the Directors Cut version along with an extra ending. All in all it's exciting, terrifying and it gives you nightmares, exactly what a good horror game should do.

Day Three: Super Mario Bros Wii K'nex Figures

I think these figures are fantastic. They ooze quality and I'm looking forward to collecting all 9 in the set. I currently have the Blue Yoshi the Yellow Toad, I'm hoping to pick up Fire Mario next!

Day One, 100 Happy Days

Day One: Pikmin



I noticed my Facebook was being flooded with messages showing the hashtag: #100HappyDays. After taking a moment to find out what this was all about; it seems the challenge is to find one thing per day that brings you joy for 100 days in a row. So I thought I'd join in with 100 Happy Gaming Days.

For Day One we have Pikmin! A great series from Nintendo that sees you organising a band of adorable little alien critters and having them beat up monsters and gathering precious loot. The game's special because you do care about the safety of your Pikmin, and feeling your heart slowly breaking as they get gobbled up, or smushed, by one of the games many enemies and letting out a little whimper of sorrow as their ghost ascends to the sky. The level designs are fantastic as well with some beautifully designed foliage, along with a very unique soundtrack to match.

I'm currently playing through Pikmin 2 at the moment as I'm hoping to finally finish it before I get my mitts on Pikmin 3 plus a Wii U. If you have never played any games in the series I highly recommend that you give them a try.