Day 34 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Looney Tunes B-Ball

Looney Tunes B-Ball is a basket ball game for the SNES, starring all of your favourite Looney Tunes characters.

When the game starts you're treated to a little animation where Bugs and Daffy are wrapping up a set and for some reason challenge each other to a basket ball game. I thought Space Jam may have been released around the same time, but after doing some research I found Looney Tunes B-Ball had been released a year prior to Space Jam.



Either way it doesn't matter because basketball is great fun when some Looney Tunes branded insanity is injected into the mix. Each character has their own unique style and move-set, for example Bugs will reenact his classic drag act to distract the other players, while Yosemite Sam will attempt to riddle the opposing team with bullets.

You can use weapons as well such as cream pies, bombs and 16 ton weights that fall from the sky, but if using underhanded tactics to achieve victory isn't your thing you can simply turn down the 'Wacky-Meter' which prevents weapon availability. Personally, I can't see any point in doing this because if you don't want weapons you may as well play a regular basketball game, but the options there should you wish to use it.

Another thing about B-Ball is that the difficulty level is insanely hard! I think I've only ever made it through the first round of the tournament mode, and even then I was lucky, so if you're a glutton for humorous punishment then B-Ball is for you. There's also a multiplayer option available however, if you like to dish out hilarious punishment to your friends.

A great game for Looney Tunes and Basketball fans alike.

Day 33 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: The Firemen

The Firemen is an action game with a similar gameplay style to Link to the Past. You play as Pete, a fire fighter faced with an immense blaze that has broken out at a high-tech chemical facility. The object of the game is to work your way through the building and extinguish as much of the inferno as you can while rescuing survivors.

The only weapon you have is your fire hose and a limited supply of water grenades however, you also have the help of a young fireman, Danny, who will clear paths for you with his trusty axe and tried to protect you from incoming fire.

The 'enemies' vary from simple flames to huge robots sent haywire by the inferno. The Firemen can be pretty unforgiving in terms of difficulty as many enemies are quite tricky to defeat and you have a limited number of continues. When the game is finished you get graded on your performance, looking how much of the blaze you tackled and the number of people of rescued.

The Firemen is something of a hidden gem on the SNES and it commands high prices, with complete PAL versions costing at least £300, so unless you've got the cash to spare you'll have to look at emulation or perhaps a reproduction cart. It's certainly worthwhile tracking down however, as the Firemen is a challenging, but rewarding, experience and a game that every SNES enthusiast should play. 

Day 32 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Skies of Arcadia

You're flying through the open air to ransack an enemy battleship, you save a mysterious girl while you're at it and fight a hideous monster before you leave with the loot, and that's just the first 10 minutes of the game.

Skies of Arcadia is a beautiful RPG, and although I've mentioned in a previous blog that I'm not a fan of RPG's, I consider SoA to be one of the greatest games of all time.

The story is set in a Jules Verne inspired universe where you play as Vyse, a young air-pirate looking to make his mark on the world. His dream is to captain his own ship and search for treasure and adventure, something this game has in spades, unfortunately the only thing standing in the way of Vyse and everyone else being happy is the Valuan Empire.

The Valuan Empire are the evil overlords of the world, they're rich, powerful and seem to have the best ships and weapons, but that doesn't seem to be enough for them. It turns out they're hunting for an ancient weapon that could easily destroy their enemies, or anyone else standing in their way, so it's up to Vyse and his crew to sail the skies and find it before the bad guys do.

Arcadia is a beautifully crafted world and inhabited by a massive population of memorable characters, and finding them all is an adventure in itself. There's so much to explore you really are just spoiled, it's fun just to cruise the skies in your airship and look at the vast world ahead of you. There's tons of side-quests, unlockables, items, powers and heaven knows what else to uncover, I spent 48 hours on my first playthrough and I didn't even find everything. It was time well spent.

The Dreamcast version included Pinta's Quest, a VMU mini-game that allowed you to find rare items and weapons that otherwise couldn't be located. The Gamecube version however, had you catching 'moon-fish' hidden throughout the game that you would feed to a strange bird that would cough up items, since the Gamecube didn't have VMU's like the Dreamcast.

If you were to ask me which version I prefer, I couldn't really answer. While the Gamecube version (Skies of Arcadia Legends) has some great extra/alternative content the audio quality was actually of lower quality than the Dreamcast version, apparently a method used to cram Skies of Arcadia onto one Gamecube disk. It's a bit of a shame really, because the soundtrack is nothing short of incredible.

Skies of Arcadia will hold pride of place as not only one of the finest RPG's ever produced, but also one of Sega's greatest triumphs. Hopefully the possibility of Skies of Arcadia HD becomes a reality, because every gamer should at least have the opportunity to play this one.

Day 31 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Bonanza Bros

I first played this Sega arcade classic on the Amiga using a very awkward and unresponsive joystick, but thankfully it's since been ported to every system imaginable. It's a two-player platform/action game where you control burlgars Mobo and Robo; and your job is to ransack mansions, businesses and casino's of their belongings and escape with the loot. The only problem is these places are crawling with security in the form of security guards, riot police, dogs and humorous tubby gentlemen that throw explosives. There was even a bonus stage set during a prison break, where you have to avoid search lights until the time runs out.

Where Bonanza Bros. shines however, is the attention to detail. For example whenever a playe
r hides themselves away from enemies a fly will come to bother them, typical. It's only something small but I love idle animations and no-one could do them as well as Sega. There's also rubbish and items scattered around the levels that can alert enemies to your presence, the rake was one my favourites but also the bungling chefs that would drop plates and dash around in a panic whenever they saw you.

Ultimately this is a classic game and I'm surprised Sega have never considered a sequel, given that the game has been ported to so many systems. If you've never played it before I urge you to give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Day 30 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Animal Crossing New Leaf

This game should come with a government health warning, something along the lines of...

CAUTION: This game will consume your very mind and soul until you believe you live in a world inhabited by freakishly adorable animals that persist on coming to your house for absolutely no reason.

I was able to break free of my Animal Crossing addiction some time ago but I returned to my town in order to write this blog. If you ever spent a considerable time away from your town in previous Animal Crossing games you would usually return to find the place in ruins, half your neighbours will have moved out and you would have to suffer the emotional trauma of listening to whoever remained cry on about how much they missed you.

Thankfully in Animal Crossing: New Leaf because you're playing the role of Mayor you have your assistant, Isabelle, who takes over the running of the town while your away so it's less hassle when you return. I was also lucky enough to have set the 'Beautiful town' ordinance before I vanished, so the place wasn't besieged by weeds and rubbish, but that still doesn't mean I was able to escape my neighbours.

I had only lost one neighbour (Phoebe), but those who remained wouldn't let me forget that I had deserted them. I had apparently left the game for 7 months, some thought I was a ghost and others tried to make me promise never to leave them again (scary), but that was the least of my problems. Pecan the Squirrel asked me if I could unearth a time-capsule that she made me bury 7 months ago.

Pecan - "Noggin, remember that time capsule I asked you to bury for me. Could you dig it up? You do know where it is, right?"

Me- "Sure, I remember where it is!" (Oh, %&£#, where the hell did I bury it?!!)

I was always unsure whether I liked the Animal Crossing series for certain, because I can't understand the purpose of games that have no ending, and while previous games in the series always felt like they required a lot of dedication, New Leaf is much more relaxing and even allows you time to reflect on certain aspects of your own life.

For instance New Leaf is packed with items to collect, the game is a hoarder's dream, but it's impossible to obtain every item and be able to store it in your home. So eventually you just have to face reality and to prevent yourself from being surrounded by crap; you have to be ruthless with your possessions. At least that's true in my case, I really need to have a clear out.

Now that I find returning to Animal Crossing is much less hassle than I thought it would be, I think I'll play it for a while. I must admit I've missed buying fortune cookies to get rare items, going to see K.K. play a gig on Saturday nights or visit the nearby island to play a bunch of mini-games with my friends.

So do not fear dear citizens, Mayor Noggin has returned.

Day 29 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Fix It Felix Jr.

Wreck It Ralph is naturally one of my most favourite movies of all time. The script was fantastic, the amount of fan service across so many different genres and franchises was astounding and the movie's soundtrack was nothing short of awesome...but what was the tie-in game like?

I saw the game that Activision shoved onto consoles via trailers and Let's Plays, and to be honest I have never again seen such an abysmal pile of crap. It seemed like such a wasted opportunity considering the movie was about video games, but all hope was not lost because in a surprising turn of events the mobile game proves to be the better offering.

The Wreck It Ralph game is actually made up of five titles based on various scenes in the movie and they're all great fun to play, but I'm going to focus on Fix It Felix Jr as this is clearly the centerpiece of the bundle.


Fix It Felix Jr. manages to not only capture the spirit of the movie but also of 1980's arcade games. It's simple, addictive and fun. Your job is to navigate Felix around an apartment building and repair whatever Ralph destroys. The further you progress the more difficult the game becomes with additional obstacles like birds, flower boxes and shutters being thrown into the mix. There is only one power-up in the form of a pie that will grant Felix invincibility for a few seconds, which can be invaluable during later levels.

The gameplay is accompanied by a charming 8-bit soundtrack, along with some great sound effects, and you even get treated to cutscenes of Ralph being thrown from the building into the mud below. I play the game on an iPhone 4 and the controls are very responsive and they don't clutter up the screen too much.

Fix It Felix Jr. is a brilliant mobile-game and proof that movie tie-in games don't always end up being terrible. I certainly hope we haven't seen the last of Felix and Ralph, here's hoping there'll be a worthwhile sequel before too long. ^_^

Day 28 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: EarthBound

When EarthBound was originally released on the SNES it never arrived in Europe. So unless you were prepared to pay £300 and upwards for a NTSC cart, or find a decent emulator, there was no way for us Brits to play the fabled RPG. That was until last year when Nintendo finally released the game on Wii U Virtual Console for the whole world to enjoy, and we finally got to see what all the fuss was about.

It's easy to see why the game has charmed so many with it's adorable characters, excellent Rock & Roll soundtrack, outlandish and occasionally racy humour, all set in a beautifully designed world. There really isn't another RPG like it, but all I knew about the game before the Wii U release was that it had a dedicated cult following and a profanity inducing difficulty level. 

The story follows a boy named Ness who late one night goes out to investigate a meteor that's crashed by his hometown of Onett. He then learns of an alien plot to take over the world and must embark on a grand adventure to save his planet from certain destruction.

I'm about an hour into the game now and although I have struggled with the games difficulty I'm still really enjoying it. Perhaps Nintendo might consider releasing Mother 1 and 3 fully translated for Europe, but if their Robot Chicken segment from E3 is anything to go by we might want to hold off as we risk getting fried by Reggie Fils-Aime.