Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Wii U)

 

Shouldn't it be Tripple Trouble?

Well, had to continue and Bananza didn't come to me on the Monday after release so I had one more evening. Didn't feel it as much in this game. On one hand from start to finish it is very close to the second game, but there is a lot more stuff to do, getting items to trade to find your way to the Secret Area and such compared to the second game where you just needed the money to pay. But at the same time it was straightforward. 

Story is that Donkey and Diddy disappeared in this new area so Dixie sets of to find them. Funky Kong gives you vehicles to traverse the area and Dixie Kong's cousin Kiddy Kong joins her. He's a stand in for Donkey. I liked the gameplay in the second game better for some reason. Maybe due to the things they tried was a bit more obnoxious like the area where you constantly gets shoot at or an area where you swim in poison water where your controls are reversed. I also feels that the stages from Donkey Kong Land 3 is rather different which also maybe gives me a pushback (or maybe since I played that game legit on my Game Boy Pocket I replayed the stages so much that it felt like they where more stages).

Maybe I'm fatigued after playing the whole series during a weekend or maybe that review in Super Play was right, it's not that good of a series. Or the fact that temperatures are reaching 30 degrees C might effect my enjoyment of the game.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Wii U)

 

The Revenge of King K. Rool.

Continued playing the second game. Basically Donkey Kong's been kidnapped by King K. Rool so Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie Kong sets out to save him. Cranky and Funky returns with them and some new Kongs like Wrinkly and Swanky. Pretty much returning animal buddies like Rambi, Enquarde, Sqwakes and new ones like the spider and snake. And I enjoy this game much more than the first game.

I think because they made it somewhat easier (still hard levels and such), but other things that helped the enjoyment. For one, every animal buddy can attack, compared to the ostrich in the first game. They made it more obvious where secrets are, both in the levels like with banana arrows or letters indicating what ability to use or hints you can get from Cranky. The bonus stage also had a title card for what you where supposed to do so it wasn't that obtuse. This allowed me get over 60 % this time around and my lives was at a full 99 (well, using the restore point I saved up on unnecessary deaths and such, but compare it to the first game when I only ended the game with something around 50 lives, you where supposed to grind for life I assume). 

On the other hand, since I've played Donkey Kong Land 2 a lot and actually finished that one I might have already learned some of the patterns it wasn't completely new to me. Don't like that you have to pay to save at certain points. Always made me stingy with the collectibles. It could also be that the duo Dixie and Diddy actually plays better. You switch characters with select this time around and can join up for some special move with A if both are in the party. 

So this is clearly a better sequel. Or it can be that I haven't gotten to play these games as much compared to the first one and I'm not good at the first one, meaning I never get past it. But we know that can't be the case.

Donkey Kong Country (Wii U)

Time for some monkey buisness!

I was gonna play Donkey Kong Bananza during my final weekend of my vacation, but yet again the postal services have betrayed me. So it will probably come when I started work again. Thanks for that. So what can I do to occupy myself these last days? Well, I got the whole Country-series on Wii U so that could be something. I got the game on GBA, Wii Virtual Console, 3DS, Wii U and SNES Mini and technically I got the Donkey Kong Land as well, but this is the first time I actually finish it for the first time. Only around 50 % since I haven't gotten all secrets and so on and I won't get them since I really don't like the game.

Story is that King K. Rool and his kremlings have stolen Donkey Kong's banana hoard so DK and Diddy sets out to get them back. Kranky Kong, Funky Kong and Candy Kong sets out to help our primate friends as they traverse all over DK Island in search for the golden bananas. It's rather hard and maybe why I don't like it. To often there is a new gimmick for the stage and you basically have to memorize the stages in order to get past them. I remember reading a review of... maybe the GBA game for the Swedish magazine Super Play where the reviewer apologized for ever thinking this game was good so it might have colored my perception as well. 

I got past the game mostly by abusing the save state function on the Wii U and in total the gameplay ended on less than 2 hours, but I assume that it maybe would have been a couple hours added since I restarted all the time. To finish it legit? Who knows how many hours I had to spend on it. Now, if I was a kid and played it as intended on SNES I might have forced myself to learn the patterns and such and have a completely different appreciation of the game. 

But to be more positive, it looks good with the graphics and the music is really good, but it plays a bit bad in my opinion. And the game is a bit evil with enemy placement, for example there is a couple of stages where before clearing a jump from moving platforms there is a big muscle guy you only can defeat with Donkey Kong since Diddy is to small, if you hit them as Diddy, they push you back into the pit, game over. And the bosses takes a lot of beating and with only two hits it's a question of pattern recognition. So you see, I'm not that impressed by the game.

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) (Wii U)

 

All Aboard the Crazy Train!

Thought about playing this after Phantom Hourglass, but other things got in the way and after playing through it again I can say I don't very much like the DS gameplay. Spirit Tracks is a direct sequel to Phantom Hourglass that followed Wind Waker. Story is that after getting his engineer degree to pilot a train, Zelda ask Link to take her to the Spirit Tower to investigate the disappearance of the spirit tracks across the land. Turns out that the chancellor Cole is a demon in disguise that kidnaps Zelda's body to use it for a vessel of the Demon King Malladus (meaning no Ganon in this story). Zelda's spirit follows Link around and after getting to the Spirit Tower they meet Anjean, a lokomo. Apparently the lokomos aided the spirits before the hylians arrived and trapped Malladus by using the Spirit Tracks, but after they eroded away the Chancellor saw his chance to release Malladus. So you set out to restore the spirit tracks by traversing the spirit tower itself and then finding the temples scattered around the land. 

This is the second time I play through it which makes it one of the Zelda games I've played the least. It came out in 2009 and I didn't finish it until I got a 3DS in 2011. Playing it again there is some really fun puzzles and it follows the Zelda-formula. I won't deny that it's quite interesting how they use all of the DS functions, you control Link with the stylus, you gotta use the microphone to play the pan pipes and tell this little girl if she is plain or cute... I don't have the heart to tell her she's plain so it was cute every time I interacted with her. But the stylus shows some real problems since it doesn't always correlate to what I try to do. The pan pipes is a nightmare to try to get working at times, especially the restoration song you need to time trice over each time. And it's even in the final battle with Malladus which makes it one of the harder parts. And the attacks with the stylus get's a bit weird at times when I don't draw the sword or when I try to roll but swing instead and so on. I prefer a normal control scheme thank you very much.

Also, like Phantom Hourglass you follow a set route, of course diminished in this game since you are restricted to the tracks that exists compared to the ocean, but no time limit in the main hub. Overall travel feels so slow compared to a traditional Zelda. There are teleportation points, but you have to pass through them and they are point A to point B. Wished the flute have had some teleportation songs like in the earlier games, but I assume that would be a problem with the transportation quests. Overall, it will probably still be one of the lesser played games in the series just by that. The Save Point on the Wii U at least helps with the minigames and traveling with people or transporting cargo.

On the other hand, music is a bit more distinct than Phantom Hourglass and I do like pan flute music after watching Mysterious Cities of Gold and listening to the Golden Sun Soundtrack.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Wii U)

 

The smallest of Links.

Thought I had written about this game, but apparently not. Been playing Bravely Default for the Switch 2, but just don't feel like finishing the end game and everyone that have played it knows what it is. So I watched Game Grumps playing the Minish Cap so just felt that it would be a nice break. Originally for the GBA and made by Capcom that also did the Oracle-games. I got it for the GBA, the 3DS ambassador program and the Wii U that I played here. Seems like I hadn't finished it before since the only save on the console was from even before Link leaves Hyrule town with the princess. Probably was bored at the time.

Story is that Link is the grandson to the smith and it's the Picori Festival when Hyrule celebrates the picori, pretty much gnomes that are really small and lives in peoples houses or in the forest. At the price ceremony the winner Vaati goes haywire and turns Zelda to stone, breaks the picori blade and releases evil upon the world. Link gets the mission to find the picori since he is a child and they only show themselves to children. On his way through the Minish Woods he finds a talking hat that is being attacked. He helps it and it tells him that he is Ezlo, a minish sage that was turned into a hat by his apprentice Vaati that stole the minish cap from Ezlo and intended to rule the world. So Ezlo joins Link and this is the origin of Link's green hat.

You need to find the four elements and fix the broken picori blade. Ezlo helps you by being able to shrink yourself to minish height. It is a fun concept especially when they take normal enemies and turn them into bosses, because now they are massive. The picori blade then turns into the four-sword that was introduced in the side-quest for the Link to the Past remake for the GBA (where Vaati also was the end boss). So it's a lot of origins here.

I finished it before, but the memory was that it was hard to fight the end boss. And it is, but I guess 20 years of video games actually improved my thinking. I never 100 % it though and as I played it I began to see why. You have the kinstone fusions where you fuse kinstones with people that you get in chest, or get from grass or enemies and so on. Which is fun since you get chests or enemies or open paths and so on. But several of the fusions are random, and people can be really picky on if they want to due a fusion or not. I actually was able to get all those, but the last one was a pain. Apparently a deku scrub that had it. And then it was the figurines. You collect shells (which I assume is a nod back to Link's Awakening) that you can gamble to get figurines of characters or enemies. There is 136 total and I got to something like 100, and I got that by abusing the save state while playing the rupee game to max the winnings. Maybe I should have bought more shells than kinstones. Too late now. And you need to get all figurines if you want to get all heart pieces. God dammit.

Overall, a fun game and I like the concept of the minish and such (having watched Gnomes as a kid). End boss was hard though and took me a minute to remember how to beat Vaati and there is three phases of the boss. Don't like that, especially when I'm forced to fight off 3 darknuts under a time limit. And then I spent 2 hours to get enough rupees to buy the shells to gamble on the figurens. All to get the final heart piece and 3 chests with 200 rupees each... what am I supposed to spend it on, the game is over?

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Wii U)

 

"I'm a captain of a ship

My ship is charmed, and called Plutonia."

After Ocarina of Time I got a bit tasty for another one, but which one to play? I just bought the Wii U virtual console versions of the DS Zelda games since the eshop was shutting down so I gotta play it? Released originally on the DS back in 2007 I got it first day and played through it twice if I recall and nothing after that. I have very few memories of this game, mostly about sailing and collecting ship parts. Nothing about the dungeons or bosses besides the final boss and the Temple of the Ocean King... helps a bit that you constantly travels to it. 

Story is a direct sequel to Wind Waker where Link and Tetra and her pirate crew are sailing across the sea in search of the Pirate Ship that terrorise the ocean. They find it, Tetra jumps on it, disappears, screams and Link follows after but ends falling into the water. He dreams about Tetra being captured and wakes up on an island where a fairy named Ceilia takes him to her grandpa that tells Link how to fight the evil of the ghost ship to rescue Tetra. Collect three fairies corresponding to the triforce, Courage, Wisdom and Strength. 

After that you enter the Ghost Ship and finds Tetra, but she is now petrified into a stone statue, so you learn that grandpa is actually the mythical Ocean King that was sealed away by Bellum, the evil that controls the ghosts ship. To defeat it you need the Phantom Sword... which doesn't exist so you gotta get three ores that you then create the sword from. You get the sword, get to the bottom of the Temple of The Ocean King, defeats Bellum, Tetra awakens, Bellum merges with the ghost ship, you blast it open, Bellum possess Linebeck (the owner of the ship you have been using during the adventure), you stab him in the back and the games over, the end.

It was fun replaying it since it's probably 15 years since I played it so it feels like a completely new game. Problem was getting used to the controls again, but once I got a hang of it, it was kinda enjoyable. Interesting knowing that every gimmick the DS could hold was used for this game, you gotta use the microphone to talk to people, fight some monster (just like the original Legend of Zelda on the Famicom), the game is completely controlled with the stylus and the original at one point you had to close the lid on the DS to print a map onto your map, which they fixed by pushing the home-button on the Wii U. I played the screens separated for most of the time, except on the damn archery mini-game. Which I also used the save-function to get past it. Don't think I cleared the mini-game back in the day.

It might not have the amount of dungeons or such like the other Zelda's (just 7 dungeons, that's like Zelda II numbers), but it has a lot to do if you have time to spend. Collecting ship parts, salvage treasures, fishing, archery mini-game, cannon mini-game... mostly to get ship parts, but it can be fun to build your own ship, a bit disappointed to learn that the numbers of hearts only correlates to the numbers of parts from the same set. I also checked my old save and saw that I missed a heart and a couple of gems for the different fairies, but I had every single treasure collected through the game without selling it... cash bonanza!

Overall, a fun game. Is it in the bottom of the Zelda games? Maybe, the graphics are a bit rough and the music is pretty much just Wind Waker music recycled so it doesn't stand out in anyway. A bit small as mentioned with very few dungeons and such. But I like Linebeck so that is a plus. Was a bit worried when I realised that all items you had to change in real time against enemies, but since I just brute forced my way through the Temple of the Ocean King and defeated him even though badly hurt by the phantoms and such you can take some hits and being slow. So I should be able to play it again when I turn 50.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Wii U)

 

LINK! He Came to Town!

He came to save the Princess Zelda!

As of writing it has just been Halloween and I have my yearly autumn semester to recharge the batteries after been working for 3 months straight (besides the one sick day due to Covid I got after the Swedish election). I intended to play Bayonetta 3, but my copy didn't show on time, and maybe that was good enough so that the controversies around it got known (and solved as far as I know). So I went on to my other choice of game that was Ocarina of Time which I haven't played in ages and that was for the 3DS. So I played it on the Wii U version since I have it on the TV (gotta use those 65 '' for something). 

So it begins with Link being woken by a fairy and a summon to the Great Deku Tree. The Tree have been cursed by a man from the desert so Link enters the tree to fight Gohma which is a throwback to one of the bosses of the first game (and I assume the entering the tree is also a reference to the first dungeon of the first game). Leaving you get the Kokirik Emerald and the quest to seek Princess Zelda in Hyrule Castle before the Deku Tree dies. Link leaves and find Zelda that send him to find the other spiritual stones, one is the Goron Ruby that you get from Darunia after saving the Gorons from the Dodonga infestation in their food cave where it was sealed by Ganondorf from the Gerudo desert... I think we found the one responsible for the death of the Deku Tree. The third stone is in Zora Domain, the Zora Sapphire that you get from Ruto after rescuing her from Lord Jabu-Jabu's Belly after she got lost there. Returning with the stones to Hyrule Castle Link is almost run over by a fleeing Zelda and Impa (her nursemaid) that are being chased by Ganondorf, leaving you with the titular Ocarina of Time that you need to open the Gate of Time with the Song of Time in the Temple of Time to reach the Sacred Realm. But as you open the gate and find the Master Sword you are transported into the Sacred Realm and put to sleep for 7 years as Ganondorf followed you and take the Triforce and rules the land.

As you awake you are greeted by Rauru, the Light Sage and one of the Seven Sages who gives you the light medallion and sends you back to the Temple of Time, where you meet Shiek that instructs you to awaken the other 5 sages. You gotta travel to the Forest Temple to rescue Saria, your childhood friend of the kokiri, the fire temple where the Gorons have been abducted by Ganondorf to be feed to an ancient dragon if you and Darunia can't stop them. The Zoras meanwhile have been frozen in ice so you and Ruto gonna get to the Water Temple and restore Lake Hylia. After that you get back to Kakariko village that is under attack from the Shadow Demon Bongo Bongo that Impa sealed in the well, but now have escaped to the Shadow Temple. The last is the spirit temple that is beyond the Gerudo desert where you have to travel back and forth through time in order to save Naboro of the Gerudo from Twinrowa, the gerudo sisters that raised Ganondorf. After awakening all sages Shiek revels his true form as Zelda and the seventh sage. She gives you the light arrows and is immediately kidnapped by Ganondorf and taken to his castle. The sages creates a rainbow bridge that allows Link to enter where he once again destroy the six seals that allows the sages to destroy the barrier of darkness and allows Link to climb the tower where he face of against Ganondorf and rescues Zelda. After the battle the castle is collapsing so both of them flee and then Link has to face Ganondorf again, but this time as Ganon. In the end Ganon gets the Master Sword square into the head and Ganondorf is then sealed into the Sacred Realm by the sages. Everyone celebrates, Zelda sends Link back in time to live out the 7 years that was sacrificed so that he would defeat evil. The end!

Now the Children don't play!

But they will when Link saves the day!

HALLELUJAH!

It isn't as majestic as playing it for the first time back in 1998. I recall that dad got a call from the video game store that they had a copy left since it hadn't been claimed and I assume we weren't one of those that had a sure way preorder. He of course went and got it and he started up the game and played the first part in getting the sword and shield. It took us weeks to get through the first dungeon. I recall I was the first one getting to Gohma, but my arachnophobia got the better of me (plus I didn't get how to use the slingshot so I couldn't stun lock him fast enough). My sister got in second and defeated him so that we finally could leaves Kokiri forest. Dad was able to get Dodonga Caverns and we got to Jabu-Jabu, but I couldn't stomach (haha) the weird claustrophobic feeling inside with the jellyfish and tentacle monsters. I think we got the guide after that and it still took a long time, but I was able to get through the dungeon with a lot of coaching. So we probably already had the game for half a year at this point. With a guide. Then dad beat the Forest temple and I was able to get through the Fire Temple and after a lot of time got through the Water Temple, and then I stopped since we got to the Well and Shadow Temple, the scared little child I was couldn't handle that. Took me what, 4-5 years to get through the game and that was going on a restart and reading the guide from cover to cover (which took away some surprises like Sheik being Zelda, but since it took me 5 years it might have been excused). I recall finishing it in the summer when I was home after getting some chemical pollution at my summer work that made me sick. 

I wish I had it on a N64 mini console with the right controller, cause even though modern controllers are a bit more comfortable the fact that the game is rigged with the c-stick instead of c-buttons make certain aspects of the game harder. It's a bit flimsy with using the c-weapons if you happened to stray only a little (so I changed everything to c-> since it appeared to be the least messing up). Why not activate the d-pad for the c-stick as well so I at least could play the ocarina a little bit better? I had to change every button for the frog mini game since it didn't work with the stick. It at least forced me to learn how to close the tablet since I wanted to use my pro-controller. Especially since the battery is 80 hours compared to the 3-6 hours for the tablet, plus since my charge died a couple of years ago I had to use a usb-charger with separated cord, but sadly the charger gets a bit fried if it is on at the same time. So now I ordered a new charger that can handle the voltage. 

Game still decent, got 100 %..., well, I did't do the race to get the cow, but it was nothing you really needed anyway. Graphics are a bit dated, but I'm used to them and I find them rather charming. Music is amazing. Nothing beats entering the Temple of Time and hear the song of Time by that chanting choir. The dungeon themes on the other hand are all really eery and haunting. I would like them to get the 3DS version on Switch so that we can get the graphical update as well as better control schemes (getting iron boots on the c-buttons is a godsend in the water temple), maybe in a Zelda 3D All-Star Collection with Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess? 

Duck Hunt (Wii U)

 

Duck Season!

Summer vacation and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time isn't going well in the heat, so let get off some steam by shooting some ducks. That's right, a couple of rounds of Duck Hunt, a classic game from the original NES that introduced most people to the Zapper, the Nintendo light gun. 

Weapon of choice for Captain N!

Didn't have it as a kid, but played it at my neighbours place. Didn't get any far since the zapper were kinda unreliable... and my aiming suck probably. So this version is perfect for someone like me, you use your wiimote and it has a pointer on screen so I can see what I'm shooting. So on the first game I could get up to round 12 and on the clay pigeons I got up to round 16. Two ducks on the other hand didn't get me further than round 4, but it was the last game I tried so my arm might have been a bit tired as well. 

Well, that was pretty much it. Nothing else to say, fun distraction and with another player the competition between who can go most rounds and highest score might be of interest, but beyond that there's hardly nothing special. 

Radar Mission (3DS)

 

OPEN FIRE! CALL WEAPONS!

Another game bought in wait of the Nintendo eshop purge, this time from the virtual console on the 3DS. This one I actually played as a child since my cousin had it for the original Game Boy. It's basically Battleship, or at least the game mode A. The other game mode is a sub-hunting game where you go back and forth destroying enemy ships. Not much to say actually. Battleship mode is probably the better one and the game was made by Gunpei Yokoi, the father of the game boy and Metroid. Played this one during easter with my niece hanging over me looking at it. It's really nice cutscenes they put in. Mode A has three stages and I think I might have gone to the end stage back in the day... today? Not a chance. I got to the second level and since it's stacked against you it's hard.

I had a small thing for submarines and naval fights as a kid, probably due to watching shows like Thundersub and Hornblower. I also recalled my cousin had the Hunt For Red October Game Boy game, but that is a license game so that's probably out of the question to get... especially now when it's ending... well that was short. Have a great week everybody and happy Christmas and holidays and all that to you all.

Mario's Super Picross (Wii U)

 

I'M MELTING! I'M MELTING!

So, 2023 Nintendo is gonna close the Wii U and 3DS eshops, so now with disposable income and a years knowledge in advance, I had to go through and buy games I was on the fence on to get my hand on the games. Especially since I don't want a repeat of Super Adventure Island 2 where I missed to get it on the Wii virtual console, forcing me to pay 100 $ or € instead of... I don't know, was there 15 €/$ for SNES games on the Wii? Doesn't matter, I will get the most out of my Wii U and 3DS. 

So, basically this is a puzzle game. I think I saw the Game Boy version back in the 90's when looking for Game Boy-games. What I didn't get was that it was completely in Japanese. So I guess it was released on one of those festival releases where we could get some really interesting games, like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy and other games. Well, I don't speak Japanese, but does it stop me? No, the gameplay is pretty much like the puzzle portion of Murder by Numbers and fidgeting around in the choice at the start of Mario levels I get that it gives you hints in payment with lowered time. Should explain that there is two modes, either Mario levels or Wario levels. Mario gives you a 30 minute timer while Wario gives you endless time (as far as I know), which should make Mario harder, but I get that it is easier puzzles than Wario that gets you to guess at times and doesn't tell you if it's right or wrong.

There's cutscenes between certain levels, but I don't know what they said. I found out that there was 300 different puzzles. I think it overstayed i's welcome a bit since I wanted to get out of the game after 250 puzzles or something like that. I guess you at least got a rather long puzzle game, I had to play it over 4 weeks (might have been a bit faster if I hadn't to be social). Still, it was fun to play for a while, especially when I got things like Orion or the big dipper before the picture was finished. Well, guess there will be more of these reviews of odd games I pick up.

Dr. Mario (Wii U)

The Doctor is in the house!

Got a bit of urge to play some puzzle game and started up my Wii U again and found Dr. Mario. And the search function at the blog states that I haven't written on it before so, new game finished after 30 minutes!

We got it the first time for the NES back in the 90's and the most fun thing about it is its multiplayer action that me and my sister had going trying to beat it first or at least not die first since we were hardly any experts on it. Playing it on its own... I prefer Tetris actually. I will give it that the music is good and it is satisfying in defeating the viruses as they plop and then the big ones in the magnifying glass wriggles in pain until each of the colours are gone and they just... poff out of existence. Now, I can't recall if there ever was any story beyond that you have to destroy the viruses, but in one of the Nintendo Magazines we had I could read about this comic advertising the game:

Wish I had all of the comics since it's just campy fun.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (3DS)

Like There Can Be No More Black

Continuing my Zelda Easter and in preparedness for the remake of this game I had to play through it again. Never played the original Game Boy release, but got the DX version when I bought my Game Boy Colour in red (as that was the only colour left). Like A Link to the Past this took forever to finish and I remember hardest part was the 7th dungeon, the Eagle Tower since I never got the gimmick of the place. Now I run through it in 15 minutes (that might be an exaggeration, but it at least doesn't take a month or so). Coupled with that I got the red shirt which doubled my attack, while I really needed the blue shirt for the defence bonus, but the damn rooster you have to carry around until you beat the tower makes it impossible to get hold of. Thanks game.

Playing it again I feel that the game wants you to be slow with it, explore and go around with the new items you get all over the map before continuing with the next dungeon. So there are a lot of missable things if you don't do it slowly. For example some of the photographs are locked at certain points, especially those with Marin. And when you try to get seashells for upgrading you sword you got to stop what you do and go to the seashell mansions when you acquired 5 and 10 shells respectively to get the ones  from the mansion. 

Storywise it has some interesting twists and turns, like that the island is just the imagination of the Wind Fish and the nightmares are trying to preserve it that way. But it seems like Link the one that actually pushes them to be aggressive since they didn't do much until Link landed on the shore. All in all it was fine to play again and I can't wait until the remake comes along. The artstyle already sold me on it and it's gotta be fun to see what they've kept and what they got rid of (if they got rid of anything). The biggest change will probably be the fact that you have enough buttons now to not need to equip things like the bracelet and the pegasus boots. In A Link to the Past they were used with the action button, but since the original game boy line only had an A and a B button, that would be problematic since you needed them for the sword and other items (including the shield). So I get that decision, but I hope they don't keep it since it was a lot of back and forth to go anywhere since you need to change items a lot to get around on Koholint Island.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (3DS)

The Gold Standard

Seeing a lot of randomisers out there being played by the favourite pastime of youtubing I got a bit of craving for playing the original game. And since it's the time of easter while playing this I had nothing else to do while stuck at my parents place for the holiday besides eating. And I could have hooked up the family SNES, but then I would have to take a break for the news and movies on the TV, but I brought my trusty New 3DS with its new battery loaded with all the games I bought during the years and never played. Time to resolve that.

Nice with a long holiday to play some video games.

Now, this game set the standard for Zelda games for a long time. Gather 3 items to unlock the master sword and then several dungeons to get to Ganon and defeat him and get the triforce to set everything right. Today I can finish the game around 10 hours in a run, but back in 1998 when we got it for the first time it took years. Mostly due to my scaredy-cat attitude. The first three dungeons fine and all, but the dark world scared me for some reason. And the dungeons where really scary. Lost woods was probably the worst, and if it wasn't the gibdos it's probably the wall-masters and the damn shield eaters... I don't know if it was like likes, but it ate my shield non the less. The graphics are pleasant, the music fantastic and the story is gripping enough and sent my mind soaring as a kid. It's still my number 1 Zelda-game. Which maybe shows that we bought this game 5 times (including the Wii U upgrade cost if you got it for the Wii first). If we look at the Game Boy Advance remake, do I miss something from it? Not really. Maybe that Maple isn't the witch assistant since otherwise it looks like every other magic shop salesman. I don't need the blonde hair or Ocarina of Time screams to enjoy the game, but it was at least portable, but my 3DS handles that well enough.

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Greed is good!

The second sequel and instead of Mario we play as Wario, the final boss of the last game in our search for enough gold to buy our own castle. But since since we can't earn it the honest way we steal it from a pirate gang for our own selfish need. I played this game a lot and finished it almost 100 %, was one treasure I believe I couldn't find for some reason. Does this mean I'm super good at this game? No, I cheated the hell out of this game by pausing it, pressing the select-button 16 times and upgrade my hat and give me more time and gold. Nothing better than flying across the sky with the jet-bunny upgrade. 

How come Wario has the better looking villains?

So you battle the pirate gang until you defeat their female pirate captain (or rather her genie), the castle crumbles and you escape with the genies lamp and watch as the rubble reveals a giant golden statue of... Peach... or maybe Daisy? And who comes around if not Mario in a helicopter (where did he get that and where is it now?) and he steals the statue away from Wario who honestly got it... or maybe it was paying of the redecoration bill that Mario had commenced after booting Wario out of his castle. Wario summons the genie and depending on how much money and treasures you gathered the quality of  your castle will shift. Really, I really like playing through the game... with some help of course. Maybe I should play it legit sometime. This was also the final Mario land game since Wario apparently got so popular he took over the whole series and also the final Mario/Wario land game on the Game Boy, only colour from now on. And I still wish we could get the colour filter on the 3DS virtual console thank you very much.

Super Mario Land

 

Well, best adventure might be overselling it

Seems I've stumbled from a Zelda-retrospective to my Game Boy collection instead. Let's get on with it. Super Mario Land was one of the first games for the Game Boy. It stars Mario ditching the hunt for a kidnapped Princess Peach/Toadstool by Bowser/King Koopa and instead focus on the hunt for the kidnapped Princess Daisy by the space alien Tatanga... and I thought the original games were weird. It's not much to say than that. You run and jump for 12 levels and try to stop Tatanga. The difference being that you don't have the fire flower, but the Super Ball... which ain't that super. It works well in areas with ceiling and floor, but other wise it's horrible. The thing is that Mario throws it down on the ground and then it bounces upwards. So in areas with both ceiling and floor it ricochets all over the place. More often then not you throw it to early and the ball flies over the intended target and you get hit and loses the ability. And we are not talking about trying to hit enemies above you with this mechanic. 

Whatever happened to Mario's plane?

Other mechanics is that they introduced Shoot-em-up stages, once in a submarine and another in a plane. Really fun segments. A bit strange for a Mario-game, but it is rather fun shooting down Tatanga in his space ship with your own plane. And then you rescue Daisy who was relegated to Luigis potential girlfriend and just a side-character in party games. Only played this game at my cousins and didn't get this game until the 3DS virtual console release. But... I read some of the comics in the swedish version of Nintendo Powers, the Nintendo Magazine. And as in the game, the most awesome one is using his plane. And decks it out with  military equipment like machine guns and missiles and blast the aliens of a tropical island. 

Highway through the Danger Zone!!! (Yeah I stole that joke from Linkara's review, but I would probably made the same joke if I've ever seen Top Gun or associated the song with planes other than references in reviews that went over my head. Catchy song though!)

Really, the comics made the game more awesome than it really is to play it. The graphics are not really that good and it's frankly hard to see that it is specifically Mario instead of some clump of pixels. Music is catchy, but maybe not as memorable as the main games. And why the Egyptian sound? Fun to play maybe once and afterwards I only find it funny to play the arcade sequences.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Original boxart, even though it follows the golden box and such I still prefer the black DX cover.

Well, let us just continue on the Zelda-game retrospective and we do it with Zelda 4, the first portable game in the series. Now, I never got the original black and white game since I didn't get a game boy until 1998 or something and just 2 years later I believe got the Game Boy Colour together with the newly released Link's Awakening DX. Basically an extra dungeon and the whole game in colour so it's obviously the supreme version, which is proven with the rerelease on the 3DS virtual console. Still, would have been nice if you could switch between B/W and Colour... that goes for all Game Boy-games. I played this game a lot as a child and it wasn't always easy. For example the 8th dungeon always make me lose my way in the labyrinth. The Eagle Tower (which is dungeon 6) is constantly annoying me. Doesn't help that the DX also gives me the choice of a blue or a red shirt which enhances defence or offence (a permanent acorn for either thing really) and I usually need the blue one for the dungeon since you already found sword-2 which doesn't add anything, but due to the nature of reaching the dungeon (resurrecting a chicken that follows you around) I can't enter the colour dungeon again to change. That really annoys me.

I really hate that boss

The story is that Link, after some adventure in foreign land gets into a storm in his ship and it sinks. He awakes on this mysterious Koholint Island in the care of Marin and starts his adventure to get out of here. It is a really interesting story since the island is overrun by creatures known as Nightmares and by defeating them they berate you for destroying this world. It turns out this is a dream world created by the Wind Fish, the creature sleeping in the egg at the highest mountain top on the island that the Nightmares keep in his sleep and only with the 8 instruments can you awaken him. The price for this is that the island will be destroyed. Including all it's inhabitants which you get to know during the course of the game. Now if you are good at the game and never actually get killed you will save one person, Marin. And of course I usually dies just once playing through this game, but I managed once to do the feat. And it felt rewarding.

She really deserved to appear again in Hyrule Warriors

Due to its portability its one of the more easier Zelda-games to play and bring with you (well, until Virtual console on the 3DS together with rereleases on the very same system). DX version had of course the extra dungeon with the two tunics that add defence or offence. Then we have the picture book that you could use with the Game Boy-camera, if it's unique for the DX version I don't know. Pity that one of the pictures is of Link stealing from the Item Shop meaning your name on the file gets changed to THIEF. It's a good game although the music have some noteworthy songs I actually think later Zelda portabel games have more memorable songs.

Kirby's Dream Land

Kirby looks a bit pale

Kirby is one of the Nintendo-series I never actually played as a child... or even was interested in playing. Didn't have much for him in Super Smash Bros either. But when you have a sale on most Kirby games on the 3DS and some cash to spare, why not try some out? So I got the Game Boy-game and played from start to finish. And it's not that big of a game with just 5 stages. Beating it unlocks a code for a hard mode so you get to play the game again, but harder. And I've had enough trouble getting why Kirby got so big. I find the game rather... boring. You go from A to B, fight a boss at the end and go to the next stage. Enemies are just obstacles that depletes your life and one of the more prominent features of Kirby is the ability to copy his enemies attacks to use and it isn't here. So why did it stand out so much to still to this day get new games released? 

Mech-suits? I can see that being interesting.

Maybe the story? *Starts reading the manual*. King Dedeede stole all the food and Kirby is out to get it back so that the people doesn't starve. That's it? You are stopping starvation? Is it a varied gameplay? No since it basically is dodge attacks, inhale enemies and shot them at other enemies. There isn't that many ways to play this game I feel. The copy ability might have extended gameplay to test the different abilities, but there's nothing here. So why did this become a classic? I don't know, but it might be since it was HAL Laboratories own creation they pushed him into relevance. One of the bossess become their own spin-off series, the Adventure of Lolo (which I've actually played the second game of). Or maybe the second game was so fantastic that it redefined Kirby into the superstar we know him of today. Well, I got that game as well so when I come round to it we will see.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past

Already wrote about 1 and 2 so let's continue.

The first Zelda-game I actually finished. Didn't play it until 1998 when we gave it together with a Super Nintendo and Yoshi's Island to my father for his 40 year birthday (in October). And the same christmas my oldest little sister got Madonna's Ray of Light-album. Which she listened to on the stereo. At that time I've had reached the Tower of Hera (I was 10 years old, I was bad at video games) so "The Power of Goodbye" is to me the soundtrack of the game. Took me probably around 2-3 years to finish. This is pretty much the game that standardised how a Zelda-game is structured as well as geographical with Hyrule Castle in the middle and Death Mountain to the north. And we get Kakoriko village, Lost Woods and Lake Hylia although they tend to shift placement between games.

Hyrule, in 16-bit!!!

So the game starts a rainy night when Link awakes to a telepathic message from princess Zelda that she is captured in the castle dungeon. Link's uncle apparently heard it to since he headed out first and told Link to stay home. Sweet, easiest game ever. They should have made an option for a bad ending directly like they did in Golden Sun if you declined the call to get the Emerald Stars back and left the sanctum. Since you have to you go up and heads out. Now, I've played several different versions of the game through the years, the original, Game Boy Advance version with added characters and the Four Sword-multiplayer game, and then virtual console release for Wii, Wii U and 3DS. The Advance version is pretty much the better version in the story department since it adds certain elements. For example, in the beginning the soldiers doesn't look like the soldiers you fight. They also gives a more creepy element to the overtake of Hyrule by Agahnim. Some of them have noted how the attitude of some soldiers have changed and they were actually afraid.  Really nice touches. Sorry for the side-track. So you go to the castle, find the uncle who give you your sword and shield, rescue Zelda, take her to a priest/sage that tells the story of the Master Sword, the Triforce and the Sealing wars that trapped Ganondorf in the Dark World. You set out and get 3 artifacts that lets you get the Master Sword. You confront Agahnim and surprise surprise he transports you to the aforementioned Dark World. So you get two worlds in one... which Nintendo have reused in several games.

Where have I seen this before?

The thing about the Dark World is that it transforms everyone who enters into what their heart really is. And Link is for some reason a rabbit. A pink rabbit. I have no idea why. Could be cultural differences of what a rabbit imply. So to counter this you picked up a mirror that transport you back to the light world and a pearl that negates the effect unless you get cursed. So you travel to 7 different dungeons and gathers the 7 crystals containing the descendants of the 7 sages that sealed Ganondorf and allowed Agahnim to get him out. The final one being princess Zelda and she instructs you to enter Ganon's Tower using the 7 sages. You fight Agahnim and again, surprise surprise Agahnim is actually Ganon who escapes to the pyramid you first entered the Dark World in and gets ready for the showdown. Now, I can't recall if any of the sages stated it, but you actually must have the silver arrows which you find in another opening of the pyramid that you blow up with a special bomb. I think some NPC's tells you about it, but that I see as a small fault of the game since it's easy to miss and that must be the reason in later games with the light arrows you either find in one of the final temples or Zelda pretty much gives you or uses it herself so you don't have to go on a scavenger hunt. You kill Ganon and makes your wish to the Triforce and restores Hyrule.

Well, until 2013 when they released A Link Between Worlds

This is probably my favourite Zelda-game since it was the first I finished, I like the graphics and playing this didn't overwhelm me as the 3D-games did to me in the beginning. Add great music and a rather new story... for its time and my age. And certain side-quest are actually gripping. You have the boy who lies sick and gives you the net (I actually thought he was dying), father who wishes to see his son again and the son actually is trapped as a bird in the Dark World where you get his ocarina back and he turns into a tree. There's a lot of those moments. The sage dies, kidnapped women and so on. It's a sad and dark world. And you have to save it. I'm really invested in this world and I actually dared entering it since I felt I had control of the world. Although it took me 2-3 years to finish it... and replaying it tops it out on 10 hours. 

Super Mario Bros. 1-3

Closest thing to capture all three games in one image

Since it's Mario's 30 years anniversary (while writing this that is) and me skipping over Mario Maker (since creating my own courses is gonna fail, no stable internet access and me not want to play other people's hellish nightmares) I will instead look on the classics, the first three games for the NES that I played as a kid. Even though the picture at the top is from the SNES All-Stars I'm gonna speak from the perspective of the original games since those are the ones I most recently played (due to having them on my 3DS... and Wii U). So lets start from the beginning.

Ah, the classic look of a time-less classic

So we got it to the NES back in the early 90's. Best thing was that you could play as two players so either me and my dad could play or me and my sister. I think I used to be Mario, although I wanted to be Luigi since he was green. Never finished this as a kid. The closest I got as a kid was 8-1. I got pretty close when the browser based game with several different 8-bit heroes like Simon Belmont, the Contra guy, Mega Man and some others. The Contra guy being the best since every enemy or block gets destroyed before it can even hit me. I got to the final level and... failed the damn platforming maze. I  never reached Bowser. So when I finally got them on the newest systems with save state function, I play through them, compensating my lowered reactions and patience to relearn every single enemy pattern. Alright I might be pushing 30, but in video game years that must be in the late 50's. I need every help I can get. Of course the sense of beating it is of course lost and really, what is the point playing games if you have to cheat to beat it? Well, since most of my childhood was spent on learning these games, I think I put enough time on them to deserve to see the end screen. Also, there was a lot of secrets in the game like the warp pipes at the end of 1-2 or those at 3-2 (?, the first Lakkittu stage or whatever), but I can't in my life get how we found it out. This is pre-internet days so how did we know? Did we stumble upon them?

The Mario game that isn't a Mario game, and yet is a Mario game

The second game in the series and as we all know isn't the real 2nd game, but a reskin of another game that Miyamoto worked on, and later he took many of the enemies and put them in other Mario games, effectively adopting the game into the series. First time I played it was with my cousins game and when we travelled from Gothenburg one summer we found it in a store and bought it as well. This was the last of the first Mario games we bought. Then I got it again for the GBA as the first game as well. The fun thing with this game is you could choose between four different characters. Sadly I think the longest I got was past the first boss, the 3-headed snake at the bottom of the pyramid. The least played of the originals for me.

Interesting that in 2-3 Mario goes toward the right while in the first game it went to the left... which you couldn't do in that game

The biggest game of the three. And we actually got to the last world, but that was that. Easiest way was getting the two first flutes and enter world 2 and then warp forward. As the first game, how did we know how to get those two flutes as kids? I guess I saw my cousins play it and they got it, but how did they know? I don't think they saw the Wizard that let everyone else know. Maybe there is something in those Nintendo magazine we got from them. Again, me and my sister played this game over and over, if nothing else just so we could fight each other for the special cards you get at the end of each stage. And as always, we didn't finish it. I finished it on my 3DS and Wii U with save state support. How people could finish these games as kids I don't know.

So that's my memories from my childhood. coupled with some reflections as I replayed the games again. Didn't focus much on story because....  well 1 and 3 was Bowser or King Koopa kidnapped princess Toadstool later known as Peach and Mario and Luigi had to get her back. The second game was Mario dreaming about a door where he and his friends entered and they appeared in a world where some people asked for their help in stopping Wart. Music in all 3 games are rather good and are classics used over again... maybe not the second game, but the others as late of Paper Mario had many of the songs reused and remixed. Graphics are of it's time, but they are nostalgic and I prefer them over the vamped up sprites of the All-Star compilation and one reason I skipped buying the 25th anniversary game... especially since it didn't have anything else to show like Super Mario World or some other Mario games. Why get it, when I have all games on Virtual Console?

Paper Mario

Decided to play some lightweight game

So I finally played through Paper Mario for the third time. This time with the convenience of the Wii U and all that it entails. So what can I say about this game? I both like it and find it rather tedious. The story is rather fun and doesn't take itself serious. Nice characters and the musical nods to the previous games are fantastic. The mechanics are also well done with the badge system, the levelling up system and mostly the battle system. What is annoying is that Mario walks so damn slow. Really, the first two times playing I almost fell asleep before the tutorial was over and I reached Toad Town. The battle also drags a bit due to waiting to execute the command attacks and defences that are relaying on timed action presses. I did think it slowed down Magical Starsign and it does the same here. Also, could the timed button presses be more clarified when it's a hit or a miss? Especially the multi bounce attacks seems to change the hitbox window every time I try it and it doesn't help that I have to relearn it every time Mario changes shoes or a new companion is added.

A cheap-cheap? Great 4 new timed actions to keep in mind!

So the story is basically that after Mario gets an invitation to Princess Peach's castle Bowser crash the party and with the stolen Star Rod makes himself invincible so Mario has to gather the 7 star sprites so that they can stop the power of the star rod that grants wishes. Wow 3 lines, that is the story summed up? I could probably add that you will encounter and recruit different people like the cheap-cheap, a koopa, a gomba, a para-koopa, a bomb-om and so on. They basically are used to solve different puzzles in order to reach the end of a stage were a boss awaits and after that a star sprite.

Interestingly it's the one with glasses that are the only one that escaped on his own AND has the best offensive attack

Not much else to say then that it is a fun game, albeit with minor issues that can affect people differently. At least it's better than Sticker Star.