Donkey Kong ’94 on the Game Boy is one of my favourite platformers. After the first four levels, which are the same as the original Donkey Kong arcade game, it becomes this massive puzzle platformer with a very agile Mario up against Donkey Kong. Mario vs. Donkey Kong, the Game Boy Advance sequel, was also great, but it introduced levels with mini Mario toys in it that you have to help to the exit in a very Troddlers/Krusty’s Super Fun …
Ah, the Game Boy Advance. To many, a portable SNES without enough buttons to effectively be a portable SNES, and one with a screen invisible in all but the glow of a 100W lightbulb. That didn’t stop it from having arguably the best catalogue of games of any system, however, and with the lit screen of the GBA SP (further refined in the GB Micro), it became and remains my favourite handheld ever. And I loved my DS and 3DS a lot. …
You know, this is the best platformer I’ve played in years. Lots and lots of years, in fact. Ten or more. Yeah, Sonic Rush was great, and some of the Sonic Advance games were pretty good, but this is fantastic. Everything about it is so right. Controls, level design, secrets, retro-ness and everything. ACES. So today I finished off the two “secret” worlds – 4 and 7. By “finished”, I of course mean “defeated the boss in the castle at …
Doesn’t the title of this post just fill you with thoughts of fun and excitement? Of things you love to do on warm, sunny days? Of course it does. On Friday evening, I thought (as you do), “I know! I’m going to create my own RSS feed in PHP!”. And promptly did. Hurrah! Thing is, it turned out to be a lot harder than I expected, due to the lack of full and/or correct information on the internet. Here then, …
Anyone who describes themselves as a gamer, or even those who read a lot of books, collect DVDs (remember them?) or are avid fans of various other arts, know about The Backlog. It is, as a gamer at least, a list of games that have been bought (or acquired – most games are “free” these days) under the full intent to play, but for whatever reason are Pushed on the stack and have not yet reached Pop. Why these games …
Since the release of the original Game Boy Advance, I’ve leapt on every Nintendo console on (or before!) launch. Why should this change with the release of Nintendo’s new 3D fancy DS followup? Answer: it shouldn’t. And here’s 5 reasons why I’ll be getting one on release day: 5. The games. If you believe, they will come. The same is always true of Nintendo consoles. New Super Mario Bros, Professor Layton, Ouendan, Hotel Dusk, Another Code, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. …
I’ve been gaming for a long time. This is obvious to anyone who has perused the rest of my site (the Gaming Diary and Museum both give clues to this). I’ve played a lot of games. Hundreds. Thousands, in fact. It would be naïve to assume that, having played so many games, gaming ideas are only ever used once, and so each game is an entirely unique experience. This is, of course, not true. Some things come up all the …
Pikmin 2(GC 12/01/2005) Zoo Keeper(DS 29/01/2005) Paper Mario 2(GC 30/01/2005) Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude(Xbox 07/02/2005) Sonic Adventure DX(GC 09/02/2005) Fable(Xbox 17/02/2005) Mr Driller: Drill Spirits(DS 17/02/2005) Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap(GBA 21/02/2005) Ribbit King(GC 27/02/2005) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas(PS2 06/03/2005) Gitaroo Man(PS2 12/03/2005) Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon(Xbox 19/03/2005) Yoshi Touch & Go(DS 27/03/2005) Mario Golf: Advance Tour(GBA 28/03/2005) Metroid Fusion(GBA 08/04/2005) Bubble Bobble: Old & New(GBA 15/04/2005) Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars(GBA 18/04/2005) …
Hey, Rare! You can keep your Nuts & Bolts rubbish. THIS is what you need to be doing. Proper, decent, fun platformers. Not confused drivey/flyey/jumpy/mini-gamey RUBBISH. Using the Super Secret Link to Xbox.com, I managed to buy this in advance of the real release date (the Wednesday after next, I think), and played it today. What is good: It’s the N64 game all over again. Only with slightly better graphics, no fogging, and a few nice Xbox 360 features like …
