Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy

Dungeon 6 has to be the hardest thing ever. The Wizzrobes were making me cry real actual tears. I died about 984759823745 more times, and progress was hampered somewhat by the fact that all of the baddies (aside from the three-headed dragon mid-boss) had come back to life overnight. Imagine my joy.

Thankfully, I had a bit of luck, and made it to the dungeon boss - a crab spider thing with a giant eye. Guess what I had to do, children? Exactly like every other Zelda game ever, you have to fire an arrow into it. OK, so it is excused since it's the first game, but then, it isn't since it only takes one arrow. ALL THEM BLOODY WIZZROBES, and then you throw in a feeble target like that? WHY?

Anyway. Dungeon 7 next, and after wandering round for a while I realised it was going to be much easier than Dungeon 6. The hardest baddie in there (aside from clones of previous simple bosses) was a boomerang-throwing thingy, which was easy to kill and 9 times out of 10 dropped a heart or a fairy upon death. I did have to leave the dungeon and come back though, as I needed some food for someone in there who wouldn't let me past.

The penultimate room contained Wall Masters, although I didn't realise in time, and was dragged back to the beginning again by one. Luckily, it wasn't difficult returning to the end. And the dungeon boss? The same one from Dungeon 1, only easier now as three hits from my magic rod thing (from a distance) and he was dead.

Two hearts and two pieces of triforce in one sitting! Gosh!

Hello Kitty Roller Rescue

A cute rocket firing, wheeled baddie thing to kill (who was easy), and onto another level of more cute stuff.

I've been asked, "Doesn't the cuteness in Hello Kitty Roller Rescue make you want to vomit your kidneys up?". And to that person, I say: "Yes. Yes it does. Through my eyes."

There was a car park level, and I rescued a cute toy car thing. Had to find it some cute batteries, but soon it was smashing through walls like cute toy cars do. You know. Like that. Then there was a sports level, with floating cylinders to kill and ninja blocks with cute shiruken to avoid. A giant baseball-in-a-waterslide Indiana Jones bit actually got me killed first time through, although I blame the stupid camera angle. A cute camera angle, mind.

Rescued some cute flying twins too. And Grandma. Go me!

Hello Kitty Roller Rescue

More cuteness, and rescued more cute animals and unlocked more cute dresses for cute Kitty. Blew up a cute train using cute pineapples shot from cute pineapple cannons, and then rescued a cute monkey from the cute frozen food section of a cute supermarket. Cute blocks on cute skis tried to beat me up (in a cute way), but I defeated them with my new cute toy hammer, which beats the living cuteness out of their cute faces. Then I cutely navigated a cute cold store and killed some cute blocks with cute periscopes, and switched off some cute switches which caused an explosion of cuteness.

Grow Cube

It's this thing here, in case you didn't know. I was crap at previous ones, as I had no idea what the hell was going on.

Admittedly, I had no idea for Grow Cube either, but some trial and error won out, and I managed it! Hurrah! Or something.

Hello Kitty Roller Rescue

I bought a game in a pink box! Hurrah! And it's so cute it makes you want to gouge your eyes out with a fork! BEST!

Played for about half an hour, which was long enough to complete the first 4 or 5 missions. Rescued Kitty's mother, her sister, Purin, a frog thing, and Lala. It's all very easy so far. And cute. Vomity-cute at that. I've even unlocked new costumes for Kitty - a denim one (complete with denim bow for her hair), a swimsuit, and a green "casual" costume. I've collected a load of coins, beaten up blocks, cylinders, blocks with periscopes, blocks that throw plates, and even blew up a tank (yes, a tank, in a Hello Kitty game) in the easiest boss level ever - all 36 seconds of it.

Have I mentioned how cute it is? Enough to make you sick.

I went to a fairground, and stopped the Coffee Cup Ride (I think Disney have trademarked Tea Cups), the ferris wheel, and a train. It was SUPARBEST. And cute. Bile-in-the-throat cute.

And Kitty arfs like a seal when she jumps, and squeaks when she skates. AND WAVES A WAND OF CUTENESS, that she beats people with. To kill them. In a cute way. Some of the people/animals/cute things that you rescue help you to, by being unbelievably cute at them. And throwing things.

It's cute. Very cute.

Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy

Well, I've managed to wipe out many of the rooms full of Wizzrobes now, in Dungeon 6. They don't seem to reappear if I don't exit the dungeon, which is helpful. I did leave for a short while, however, and tried pushing things all over the place now I have my Power Bracelet. This resulted in finding a better sword - the Master Sword, I suspect - in the Graveyard. That helped rather a lot in the dungeon...

Also in the dungeon, there was a mid boss (the three headed dragon from earlier in the game), and I've now found the map, and also the Rod weapon too. It lets me shoot out magic bolts like the Wizzrobes do. Sadly, it doesn't hurt the Wizzrobes, which is a pain since it's a decent ranged weapon otherwise.

I may have made a mistake in saving and quitting, however, as I have a feeling all the killed baddies will come back to life if I reload the game. If not, I have an almost-clear path to the boss. I hope...

Nintendogs

After the usual stuff, I took Chris for the longest walk currently possible, past some of his favourite urinating spots, and let him have a play with Poppi and Casey. Although he doesn't like Casey. But he does like Poppi.

He found a new toy - a rubber bone - on the walk too. At least he isn't scared of that.

Tested him on his tricks again, and he simply refuses to Beg now. He'll do everything else, but I tell him to Beg, and he just yaps at me and runs around for a bit. Is there a way of nailing him down?

Entered the Expert Frisbee contest again, and won. Then the Master contest, and won that too. Finally, he had a go in the Championship Class for the Frisbee Contest, and failed to rank, with a rubbish 16 points. The winner got 48 or something.

Threw the Bark Ball at his head for a few minutes as punishment.

Nintendogs

More of the same, basically. Walking and feeding as all that rubbish. I did throw the Bark Ball he'd found for him a bit, but he's scared of it. He's scared of pretty much everything, actually, not least the big stick I throw at his head.

Entered him in the Open Class Frisbee Contest, where he came 3rd, but then on Expert he came first, getting me $350 in total. I then pushed him for Master, and although he managed a huge 32 points, it wasn't enough to even scrape third, and so he was dropped back down to Expert.

I did kick him a bit then. Well, I didn't as the game lacks a "kick dog" function, but the sentiment was there.

Nintendogs

Feed, water, wash, walk. Stupid animal. CAN'T YOU HUNT OR SOMETHING?

Entered Chris in the Frisbee Contest, on Expert level, only for him to fail miserably. Why is there no "Put Down" option? And why can't I take him to the vets to have him 'fixed'? He was getting far too friendly with Poppi on his walk.

Yoshi's Universal Gravitation

Gah. Cutesy Nintendo games are not supposed to be hard. Or irritating. So why should Yoshi be irritatingly hard?

I'm sure it wasn't when I was playing it a few weeks ago. But now, after finishing off Chapter 4, and then the Boss (who I had stupidly assumed was the end of game boss, but no), it was on to Chapter 5, which is hard. I hate these "Get 80 coins and finish in 60 seconds!!!!" missions, and the "new" mission type ("Don't kill more than X enemies!") is even more annoying. I've done six or seven levels in this chapter so far, but I'm losing the will to play through any more.

Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy

WARP WHISTLE GET!

With the added powaz of the Blue Ring, I managed to defeat all the Blue Dark Nuts, and get the Warp Whistle. This allowed me to kill the dungeon boss, and so I gained another heart and the fifth piece of Triforce.

Then it was off to Dungeon 6, after playing with the Warp Whistle for a bit and finding it entirely random. And Dungeon 6 is too hard. There's a screen with two orange Wizzrobes, two blue Wizzrobes, a spinny thing, some bats and three LikeLikes. And it's too hard. I did kill all bar the indestructable spinny thing, and one blue Wizzrobe, but it killed me. Pah.

Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy

Seems I haven't played this in a while, and, with Spider-Man 2, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Pac 'n Roll, and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan all out of the way, I thought I'd best return to it.

And it is still too hard. I managed, after several attempts, to get past the first lot of Blue Dark Nuts, only to find a second lot almost immediately afterwards. More, in fact. Spent ages regaining bombs and health, only to die again. And again.

Decided to have a wander instead, and found the Power Bracelet, and a shop selling a Blue Ring. I think the blue ring reduces my damage taken, but I'm currently 10 rupees short of the 250 rupee asking price, so I couldn't buy it.

Spider-Man 2: SPUN OUT!

Blimey. I played this so much today, I got to the end.

For the sake of brevity, and also to avoid spoilers, here is a condensed version of the events of the day:

Mysterio called me to his "underground lair", which was a funhouse. Killed deformed mirror versions of myself. Went to Octavius' presentation, machine went loopy, his wife died, arms got fused to him. Dr. Octopus attacks the bank, I chase him off, he takes Aunt May, I chase his helicoptor, etc. More Black Cat chases. Find Shocker, and fight him with Black Cat. He escapes, but find him later for another fight. Run into Mysterio again, but he was really easy this time. Some Peter-and-MJ stuff happens. Destroyed some mech things with Black Cat. Fight Dr. Octopus on a train, then in a warehouse. Final battle is bloody hard, then the game is over and the (very, very lengthy) credits roll. Hurrah!

Spider-Man 2

More photos to take, and met up with Black Cat again (for the third time, I think now). She's bloody irritating, as you have to chase her across the rooftops every time. After beating some crooks up, it was over to see Mary-Jane, and quickly off to the cinema.

Chapter 7, and Quentin Beck challenged Spider-Man to a duel-of-sorts, which was much like the TV programme Gladiators. Firstly, I had to catch criminals and throw them into holes, then I had to do an assault course. It was all very easy.

The next chapter involved getting to a theatre to see the "beginnings" of Mysterio, AKA Quentin Beck, again. He'd set fire to the place, and I had to rescue all the reporters who has been sent there, and blow up some UFOs. The best bit, was upon Mysterio's defeat, he says something about his "alien forces" coming to destroy the Statue of Liberty, and then says "You have no chance to survive, make your time!" - an All Your Base reference. Oh my - my first AYB mention in this diary.

So, off to the statue, swinging from (conveniently placed) UFO to UFO across to Liberty Island, and then destroyed some orbs stationed around the now deformed Lady Liberty.

Spider-Man 2

First task in this chapter was to take some photos from assorted areas of the city. For no real reason, it seemed. Then, it was time to defeat Rhino. This was pretty easy, but involved dodging and countering his attacks rather than just hitting him. After that, it was off to Octavius' lab for a quick visit. Spent a while afterwards doing hero-type-stuff to get Hero Points, so as to advance to the next chapter - Chapter 6.

Nintendogs

Chris still isn't dead, it seems. Hungry and thirsty again though, yes, but not dead. He wasn't even that dirty for some reason. Washed him anyway.

Took him for a long walk then, and he met Poppi the Labrador. They had a bit of a yap at each other, but I dragged them apart and we carried on to the discount shop. There wasn't anything new to buy there, though.

Entered Chris in the Open Class Flying Disc contest, where he picked up 9 points, but needed 12 to win. That dropped us back down to Beginner Class, but I entered him for that and walked off with $100 and first prize. BEST.

Taught Chris how to beg then, and re-taught him Shake as he'd forgotten it for some reason. Then I poked him in the face for a bit, but he wanted to sleep so I left him to it.

Spider-Man 2

More swinging. There's a lot of it in this game, it seems.

Ran up some more buildings, delivered a pizza, beat up more people who had stolen things, went into an art gallery and beat some people there up, chased a woman across the rooftops, rode a train for a bit, chased a balloon, was ambushed a couple of times, and generally did Spider-Man Type Stuff.

I'm on Chapter 4 now, it seems.

Spider-Man 2

Well. The web-swinginging bits are all very nice, if a little difficult to control, and the jump-when-you-release-jump (like in Tony Hawk's) is a little unusual for a platform beat-em-up, but my 30 minutes or so with it so far have been pretty good fun.

I swung around the city a bit, beat some people up, retrieved a purse, ran up some walls, leapt on a car and smashed the window, and swung around some more. I might actually have to do something else next time I play!

Rez

I played this for a bit. Attempted the first level twice before I completed it, managed the second level first go, and failed the third level twice.

I had to stop playing then, as my wrists hurt from the overly vibratative (if that is a word) nature of the controller while playing. That and the fact my eyes were burning.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Returned to this for a bit. Not to do any remaining missions, though - just to try and jump the canyon at Arco del Oueste, and fly some planes and play with the jetpack and stuff.

The canyon wasn't jumped, though. The go-kart really wasn't up to it, and the motorbike I found for my second attempt just didn't have the speed needed. Tch.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

Yes, yes, yes. I've already completed it. I know. And yes, I said it was now too hard for me. But I had a few goes anyway, and managed the racehorse level and one of the others. Pot Man was too hard. Far too hard. As in, not possible.

I really do need to complete this mode though. It unlocks cheerleaders...

Pac 'n Roll: ROLLED OVER!

I went back to this today, and surprised myself by completing it. I was really plowing through the levels, and didn't realise how many I'd completed, and suddenly I was on the end boss. Excellent!

Some of the levels today were pretty difficult, and I soon lost most of the 15-or-so lives I'd racked up earlier in the game. Specifically, there was a bit where you had to roll over a collapsing bridge, then back again, before it disappeared. At least, that's what I thought you had to do. Turns out it reappears if you hang around for a bit. Ho hum.

The end boss battle was pretty hard too - mainly due to the number of times you actually had to kill him, and the difficulty in reaching power pellets. But I did it (on my last life), and he was deaded. TEH ENDAGE!

Advance Wars: Dual Strike: STRUCK DEAD!

Mission 27 - FINAL BATTLETASTIC!!

And... it was easy. Too easy. So easy, in fact, I was convinced there was going to be some surprise at the end. Well, there was, but it didn't involve any more fighting or anything.

There were two fronts. I just let Rachel get on with the second front on her own, and she did a good job of seeing it off. That allowed me to concentrate on taking over towers and stuff on the main front. There was a Super Huge Oozium at the top of the map, which every so many turns spat out smaller Oozium. Two factories up there produced infantry every turn. I started in the middle, and sent some infantry down to the bottom of the map, to take over the 8924698234 cities there, while four enemy infantry that started there did the same. I sent a few helicopters to kill them off too, and soon Black Hole (or rather, Lord Von Bolt alone, by then) was limited to producing just light tanks and mech units due to lack of funds.

I, on the other hand, was producing a couple of Neotanks almost every turn, and soon enough fought my way through the by-now-numerous Oozium to splat the giant blob's three weak points (exposed by the winning of the second front). With 7 days remaining on the clock, BANG. It was dead, and the game was WINNARRED!!!11! Got an S-Rank for that map, and an A-Rank for the entire campaign. Excelsior!

Nintendogs

Chris still isn't dead, it seems. Hungry, thirsty and dirty again, but not dead. Yet.

Sorted all that out and took him for a walk. We went to the park and played with the frisbee for a bit. On the way there, Chris found some rubbish and ate his way through it. Stupid dog.

With his new ubar-1337 phat frisbee mad skillz, I entered Chris into the Flying Disc competition. On his first go, he only managed 4 points, but on his second he got a huge 10 points - enough to make him joint winner of the Beginner Class, and net me $100 for fags and loose women. I then entered him into the Open Class of the agility contest, fully expecting to lose. He didn't - scraping into 3rd, and getting another $60 and promotion to Expert Class next time. Hurrah!

To celebrate, I threw the frisbee at his face for a bit.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Marathon session on this today, whipping through several missions without breaking a sweat.

Missions 23 to 26 were actually pretty easy, and I managed to S-Rank them all on my first go on each. One of them was a strange concentric ring arrangement, with a moat then a mountain range separating each "ring". This made it hard to run supplies around the place, as there were only factories on the outer ring. There was also a volcano in the middle of each of the two fronts. Despite losing the second front (none of my units on the first front could be "sent", and so my second front units perished without backup), I won overall dropping only 11 points, so S-Ranked anyway.

Another mission was far too easy, and involved capturing four towers in the corners of the map. Because I was quick, I managed to camp on the Black Hole factories, and the challenge in the end was to not let Black Hole die before I took over all the towers. Managed 300 points (the maximum) for that mission.

The final mission for today, and what seems to be the penultimate one in the game, was against Lord Von Bolt, who I am convinced is actually Sturm. We'll see. He has a nasty move called Ex Machina, which not only heavily damages all units in a large area, but prevents them from moving or firing for a whole turn. Luckily, I had three teams, and despite it looking initially like I was going to lose (he had loads of cannons, and "healing crystals"), due to not much in the way of funds, he simply couldn't build units as fast as I could blow them up. Some factory-sitting helped too, and soon I'd S-Ranked that one as well.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Mission 22 was easy! Daunting at first, but when you realise the enemy can't build any new units (nor can you though), and you're separated by a pipe, you can damage them heavily before they break through then finish them off once they make it over your side.

Which is what I did. And, despite some stupid mistakes on my part (one of which lost me my battleship), I S-Ranked it! BEST.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Mission 21 was a right pain. I've done it now (with a rubbish B), and my final attempt (of four or five) did seem a lot easier. There are so many things to keep an eye on - the timer, until you've launched all the missiles, enemy infantry getting to silos before you (especially if they're a fair way away and Black Hole are about to Tag Team you - getting two goes in one), transport 'copters taking infantry behind your ranks and taking over your HQs, the Oozium (again, deadly in a Black Hole Tag Team) and the Black Hole Megatank. And you have to be careful where you park your units so they don't get shot to bits by the giant cannon.

No wonder I forgot one or more of these things. Anyway, done now. 22 next!

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Bah. I was doing really well, had shot all the missiles at the satellite, and had destroyed the huge cannon thing. I had even managed to make inroads towards the Black Hole base, and was generally winning. I had a small army of Blue Moon Neotanks and artillery en-route to do some damage, and a Blue Moon Battleship was providing backup and cover.

And then, I got sloppy and let one Black Hole soldier through to the Blue Moon base via helicopter. I couldn't get to him in the two moves before he took it over, meaning I lost all my Blue Moon units, a stack of money, and a stranglehold on Black Hole.

It all went downhill from there, especially when Black Hole tag-teamed on their next go and all but wiped out Orange Star. Decided to quit, as they were producing units faster than I could destroy them. Next time: eyes open, soldier!

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Mission 20 was a bit bizarre. Black Hole had five Black Crystals (that heal all units around them by 2 each move), but started with a load of assorted units on just 1 point. Of course, each turn they were repaired, so obviously a balance was stuck between blowing up dangerous-when-healthy units before they were repaired, and destroying the crystals to stop units being repaired. Wiped out most of the dangerous units before they really started fighting back, but was sloppy and lost many of my units in the process.

Luckily, there was a factory and an airport on the map, so I took them over and soon Neotanks and Stealth Bombers were on the attack and the final Crystal fell. Hurrah!

Mission 21, on the other hand, is a bit harder. Well, a lot harder. Not only is it against the clock, but Black Hole have loads of powerful units to start, and a giant Black Cannon which can fire at any unit in 1/3 of the map. I do have three teams, however, but they start off weak and there's a rush to get to nine missile silos to destroy a satellite, which detracts from the fighting somewhat. Anyway, I died. Bah.

Nintendogs

First thing for today, as every day, was feeding and watering. Then, I checked to make sure Chris could still remember all his tricks, only to find he'd forgotten "Sit" again, so I had to teach him it again. Well, taught him "Sit Down" as that seemed to be recognised more easily.

Out for a walk then, and he found a red polka dot ribbon on the way. Gay-tastic!

Found another pet shop, and this one sold milk and canned food, so picked up some of them. Chris seems better behaved on his walks now, and needs less strangling and kicking to actually walk places.

Entered him into a few contests. First up was the Beginner Agility one, which he won with ease. Then it was on to the Open Obedience contest, where he did really well up until being told to "Spin" for 5 seconds. No idea how to make him do that. He was knocked back down to Beginner Obedience as a result. Ah well, I got $100 from the Agility contest, so that was OK.

Gave him some milk then, as he was thirsty, and had to finish as my DS battery was on it's way out. I think Ouendan has overworked it somewhat these past couple of days.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

With Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan out of the way, it's time to return to Advance Wars: Dual Strike.

Mission 19 was easy. Really easy. At first, it seemed impossible, as there were about 20 Oozium thingies all spread out across the map. However, that's pretty much all that I had to contend with, and they move only one square at a time, and can't move and attack in the same turn. So, as long as I didn't get surrounded, it was easy. I also had to ensure that each Oozium was destroyed entirely in one turn, as my units couldn't run away after a direct attack! I did lose one unit, however - my stealth bomber. I didn't realise Oozium could destroy aire based units. It seems they can. Oops.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan: COMPLETED! AGAIN!

About another 20 tries this morning, and a few near misses, and I finally, finally, finished Normal Mode. Finally. Finished.

Gibber.

I only had ONE miss in the end, and only just managed to spin the final wheel before dying. My arm hurts. My index finger has a stylus-end shape gouged into it. My DS is relieved it hasn't been snapped in half. And now, Hard mode with Impressive Chin and Hat Man has been unlocked.

And oh, it's hard alright. I managed Exam Boy, but Horny Secretary was beyond me for today. This clearly marks the level of my game playing skillz. I'm all Ouendan'd out.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

NO. NO. NO.

And NO.

I've attempted the final level now more than 100 times. REALLY more than 100 times. I was even keeping count. I even got onto the LAST BLOODY WHEEL on it, but died before I got a chance to spin it.

The end og the chorus bit keeps throwing me, and the change in chorus at the end of the song really threw me. Can't be done. TRUFAX.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

I don't understand why the last few levels (the Cops vs Alien Robots one, and the Giant Rat one specifically) seem easier on Normal mode than they did on Easy. Bizarre. I made it through both of them without too much difficulty.

The final level, however, is an ENTIRELY different story. It's the hardest thing ever. I've managed to get onto the second stage of it three times, and the third stage (briefly!) just once - and that's in over an hour of trying. Even though I managed to get past the first stage, I didn't actually "win" it, as missing just ONE circle is enough to prevent you from winning it, and even getting them all isn't a guarantee - you need almost entirely "300" scores - "100" and "50" just won't cut it. Bah.

Nintendogs

Oh Chris. Why must you be looked after every day? Why do you whine at me for food? Idiot dog.

After feeding and watering, I took him for a walk. On the way, he found a stick. Hurrah! He then ran into Casey, who's owner had a go at me for letting Chris poo on the floor and not cleaning it up, even though I didn't actually see Chris do such a thing. And why would they have actual pooing in a game? BAN THIS SICK FILTH, etc. We then walked to the gym and he jumped some fences and ran though some blue pipes.

After we got home, I entered him into an agility tournament. Which was all fences and pipes. He stormed it, came first, and WOOO! $100 is min^H^H^Hours! Sadly, there was no booze and hookers to spend it on.

Entered him into the next class up in the agility contest ("open class"), and he was rubbish. He was doing really well, until he got to the seesaw and was petrified by it. Stupid animal.

When we returned from to contest, I gave him some water, and then threw the stick at him a bit. I intended to throw it for him, but he just ran away from it like it was going to kill him or something, so I threw it at him instead.

Assorted N-Gage Games

MotoGP - Makes me feel sick. And digital controls + MotoGP == EVIL BADNESS.

Puyo Pop - Too small. Eyes bleeding. Still too easy though. I win. BEST.

Virtua Tennis - Rubbish. Slow, rubbish, slow and rubbish. And rubbish. AND SLOW.

Super Monkey Ball - Played all of Easy. It was Easy. Controls were not. Medium will be too hard due to idiot controls. HATE. SMASH.

Nintendogs

Poor Chris. I leave him alone for two days and he becomes flea infested and dirty. And hungry. And thirsty. Again.

What the hell would dogs do in the wild? They'd bloody die without me there to clean them and feed them and throw balls at^H^Hfor them.

Anyway, I sorted him out and spruced him up a bit, and checked to make sure he could still Lie Down, Roll Over, Spin, Jump and Sit (only to find he's forgotten 'Sit' again - stupid animal), and petted him a bit. Why doesn't he yelp when you stab him in the face with the stylus? He doesn't even bleed! Rubbish.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

Potter? Potter-schmotter. EASY.

Well, compared to the next few, anyway. Managed that and three more stages, including Diahorrea Violinist On The Train, and the 234252 times attempted Political Candidate Vs Evil Purple Afro Guy. Hurrah for me!

I seem to be "in the zone" some of the time, and actually hit numbers before I've really realised they're even there. Which is good. And then, sometimes, I just go loopy and completely miss everything and die. Which is bad. It seems if I think too much about what is actually going on, it all goes horribly wrong far too quickly. I did, however, on my Afro Guy winning attempt, bring it back from the brink twice using wikkid mad skillz. Or luck.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

Normal Mode is hard. Like, really hard. I managed to do the Ramen Resturant stage, but the Potter one is driving me nuts. I know it is possible, and I am improving, but succeeding still seems a long way off.

The music is ACEBEST though. Is there a soundtrack album available anywhere?

Sonic N

YES. I BOUGHT AN N-GAGE AND GOT SONIC N WITH IT.

Stop mocking me.

It's just Sonic Advance. With either a squashed screen, or a chopped off screen - depending on your preference. And it's jerky. And the sound is awful.

And it's not as good as Sonic Advance.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan: COMPLETED!

Well, that didn't take long. Not in number of days, anyway. In number of attempts, somewhat more.

The last few levels were somewhat difficult (especially the Cops vs Alien Robots one), but the actual last level was pretty easy, requiring only a couple of tries.

Very enjoyable game though. Much better than Gitaroo Man. I just need to go through it again now, on one of the harder modes. Possibly. Or not.

Nintendogs

Stupid sleeping Chris had to be woken again today. I'm sure I'll wake him one day and he'll bite off my face or something.

Trained him for a bit, and taught him Jump and Spin. I also had to re-teach him Sit, as he refused to understand what I was saying to him.

Then I took him for a walk, which went on for ages as he stopped every five seconds and refused to move any further. Shouting his name and prodding him with the stylus didn't seem to make any difference either. Walked to the Discount Shop, which sadly wasn't a haven of exciting doggie treats and toys, but was just the pet shop again, only with slightly cheaper prices.

Entered Chris into the Flying Disc contest again, where he racked up a massive nil points. Excellent. Moved on to the Obedience Contest then, twice, getting about 6.50 points the first go, and 8.60 (and second place) in his second attempt. The judges were clearly impressed with his jumping and spinning mad skillz. That netted me a whopping $50.

Nintendogs

Even though I haven't paid him any attention in a few days, Chris hadn't died or run away or anything. He was, however, somewhat dirty, thirsty, and hungry. Anyone would think I didn't look after him properly or something.

So, bought some shampoo and a brush suitable for long-haired dogs, and gave him a wash. Of course, I had to wake him up as he seems to go to sleep at 8pm. Fed and watered him, and then he was wide awake and running round. Make him "shake" and "roll over" a few times, and played with a frisbee. Decided to enter him into the "Flying Disc Beginner Competition", in which he got 3 points. One point for catching the frisbee, and two for jump-catching it. Sadly, he needed 6 points to even rank, and 12 to win. Stupid dog.

As punishment, I made him wear a stupid red bow. He looks a bit gay now.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

Played through loads of levels on this this evening. Managed to get as far the the potter who can't find inspiration for unusual pots, which is clearly impossible. Luckily, I was still playing on Normal, so dropped down to Easy and started again. 11 levels later (after saving a ramen resturant from closure, making Cleopatra slim and building her a pyramid, allowing a ghost to say goodbye to his girlfriend in a very Ghost-type way, and curing a concert violinist's stomach upset) and I'm stuck on a couple of hard-ish levels again.

They're do-able, it's just I get almost to the end and die in the same place each time.

I love the way this game pronounces "Osu!" as "Arse!", and shouts it at me all the time. BEST.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

Yes, yes. Another new DS game. But this one is ACE! Just like the last few. Ahem.

It's a rhythm game, like Dance Dance Revolution or Gitaroo Man. More like the latter, in fact, since it's by the same people. And yes, I did hate Gitaroo Man more than anything else ever, but Ouendan is better. And not as impossible (yet, anyway).

You basically just circled tap numbers as they appear, as close as possible to the decreasing-in-size ring around them becoming the size of the circle. If you see what I mean. There's some dragging-a-ball-along-a-path bits, and some spinning-a-wheel bits too, but it's all far less complicated than Gitaroo Man so far. Each level has you, as three male cheerleaders, trying to help assorted characters with problems they have. Such as, a kid who can't revise for his exams because his family keep disturbing him. Completed the first few levels, and then realised I'd not been playing it on Easy. Which explains why the horse race thing level was somewhat not possible.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Mission 18. A long narrow map, with two armies under my control - one on the bottom half of the map, one on the top - separated by a mountain range. On the far right (cloaked in Fog of War nastiness) was the Black Hole HQ. It was MUCH easier than I expected it to be, however. They did introduce another enemy unit (Oozium, which eats any ground unit in one go and is virtually indestructable), but it could only move one space at a time and was easily avoided. I found an airport to command, and some missile silos, but didn't actually need either in the end. I didn't even need the Megatank I started with. Since there were no factories at all and only the one airport, it was lucky I didn't lose all my foot soldiers otherwise I'd have not been able to storm the HQ. I suppose I could have built bombers to destroy the remaining Oozium, but that would have taken ages.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

I won! It took some 40-odd days, but I won! I kept him locked down with a load of ranged units fronted and protected by some Neotanks, and then, after another Tag Team CO Power, stormed in for the kill and sat units on top of his factories. Suddenly, he only had a couple of light tanks and some infantry, although he could still build aerial units (and so built a bomber). It didn't do any major damage, and was seen off by some SAMs and stuff, whilst I mopped up the weak units with my Megatank and Neotanks. I HAEV TEH POWAR.

Created my own map then - a really small one with only a few cities and just one factory each. And I won when I played it against the CPU player. Hurrah!