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Duck Hunt (Wii U)

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Perfect.It’s Duck Hunt. What more do you need to know?

I bought it on Christmas Day, when it was released on the Wii U Virtual Console, but only got round to playing it today. It plays pretty well, but it’s harder than I recall. I’m going to blame that on the Wii remote though, rather than my faded skills.

Once nice touch is how the speaker in the Wii remote makes the clicking and echo-y spring crunchy clangy noises of the original Zapper. Totally unnecessary, but pleasing to the ear. Sadly missed, though, is the lack of flashing screen when you pull the trigger. Yes, I know it’s because that’s how lightguns needed to work on a CRT screen, but it still feels like it should have been there.

Fantasy Life (3DS): COMPLETED!

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Erm._Does_the_bread_look_like_this_intentionally__t__3DS_httpt.coTVtoMUQaJjAnd so it came to pass that my first completed game in the grand old year of 2015, was Fantasy Life. Do not be of the mind that just because I got it for Christmas, it’s somewhat short. No, somehow in just over a week I’ve crammed more than 27 hours into it. In fact, since my last post about it just 5 days have passed and 25 hours of game have been played. And that’s just on one of the many lives available to play.

First_life_mastered___t__3DS_httpt.coXwNgr0LAlUThat’s the story complete, then. The world saved, every region of the planet united, and The Power of Wishes realised. Thankfully, you can still continue playing after the end, so I did for a bit in order to become a Master Paladin and level my character up to 31. Clearly there is a lot more levelling still to do, as most of the dragons roaming the map would appear to still be indestructible. With two able fighters as companions, I barely managed to scratch the blue one on the snowy mountain before my healing items were severely depleted and I had to run away with my tail between my legs.

Clash_of_titans__t__3DS_httpt.coGOSwRmOgO5On I went then, picking a new role for myself – a tailor. It could not be more different to being a Paladin. Instead of wandering round finding monsters to smack and performing deeds of derring do for a tall man with a ridiculous moustache and the shiniest of armour, you pick flowers and buy material to sew together and make clothes in a Cooking Mama style mini-game. It isn’t as fun as being a soldier, but then, how exciting could they have made tailoring, realistically? It’s impressive how totally distinct two game styles have been used in the same game, though. I wonder how the other lives fare?

10 Gaming Years

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10years10 years ago today, on the 1st January 2005, I posted my very first Gaming Diary post. Back then, I was using Blogger and it uploaded posts via FTP to my own server when I published. After a few years, Google decided to discontinue this ability, leaving me with three options: give my domain name to Google and continue with Blogger, change to a Blogger or Blogspot URL and continue with Blogger, or cut the  cord and import the lot into a shiny new blogging platform called WordPress, which I had installed on my own server.

I chose the latter, pressed the import button, and crossed my fingers.

It worked! After a very long and somewhat scary few minutes, my Gaming Diary was copied over to WordPress. Then I realised I’d made a mistake in the configuration and the post formats or something were not correct, so I deleted it and tried again, this time with the correct settings. Then it was all working how I want it, and, some wonky upgrades notwithstanding, it has remained that way ever since.

Unfortunately, my very first two posts on the old Blogger were lost to the internet aetherial plane during testing (I accidentally told it to move, not copy or something) before the import, but I do remember they were both about Anarchy Online. Remember that? It was my first – and only – foray into that sort of MMORPG, and signalled pretty much the end of my time playing any sort of PC games. Still, my third ever post still exists here, about the lovely Pikmin 2 on the Gamecube. Back when Pikmin 2 was a current title. That’s two whole generations ago! How time flies.

Over the years I’ve blogged about so many games. Hundreds of them. Just taking into account those I’ve completed takes the number up to 474. That’s over 47 games a year! There are countless more I never completed, including Anarchy Online, and so many demos. I’d be surprised if I hadn’t covered over 1000 titles, probably much more than 1000.

In recent years I’ve posted less frequently, and included more “roundup” posts. Perhaps this was due to lack of time, but I’ve tried to make up for it by writing in more detail about games in the “completed” posts. So quantity of posts may have dropped, but quality and length have hopefully increased. F’nar.

Thanks for reading, and, if you managed to do so for the full ten years, blimey. What the hell is wrong with you? Here’s to another ten!

Pop’n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures (Wii U): COMPLETED!

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What_do_these_3_Deadmau5_heads_actually_doIn a (very) late entry into completed games in the year 2014, I give you Pop’n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures! It’s not a shoot ‘em up like the other Pop’n TwinBee games – instead being a platformer with some elements borrowed from the likes of Castle of Illusion, Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario World, but somehow totally different from all of them.

RistarWhereas in the shooter games in the series you pilot a cute spacecraft and take down other cute spacecraft (like a chibi-1941), you pilot a cute spacecraft who runs and jumps around levels punching things and hitting foes with a big hammer. No, really.

I have played it before, a long time ago in an incomprehensible Japanese form, but something made me want to buy the Wii U English eShop version a couple of days ago. I never got very far previously, but made an effort to complete it this time.

ReznorAnd it was great! I did find it pretty easy, most of the bosses especially so, but there were a couple of levels I was stuck on for ages. They were both maze-like and I just couldn’t find the right exit. One of them involved lots of pipes, none of which seemed to take me to the exit which I’d clearly seen but was unable to reach. Another was made up almost entirely of destructible blocks, and although I could locate the exit without much issue, the key on that stage (which you can use to open doors to bonus areas on other stages) was apparently inaccessible. After 20 minutes I gave up looking for a way in.

Death_Egg_ZoneWhich means I finished without collecting all the keys. I don’t think they’re necessary for anything special, though, so I’m not too bothered.

In all, it’s a strange but enjoyable (and very Japanese) game, with varied levels, and it’s a shame I missed it first time round and never paid it much attention until now. Perhaps it’s the way it’s a spin-off, as they often don’t fare too well, but in TwinBee’s case, it’s well worth a look.

Pop’n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures (Wii U): COMPLETED!

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What_do_these_3_Deadmau5_heads_actually_doIn a (very) late entry into completed games in the year 2014, I give you Pop’n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures! It’s not a shoot ‘em up like the other Pop’n TwinBee games – instead being a platformer with some elements borrowed from the likes of Castle of Illusion, Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario World, but somehow totally different from all of them.

RistarWhereas in the shooter games in the series you pilot a cute spacecraft and take down other cute spacecraft (like a chibi-1941), you pilot a cute spacecraft who runs and jumps around levels punching things and hitting foes with a big hammer. No, really.

I have played it before, a long time ago in an incomprehensible Japanese form, but something made me want to buy the Wii U English eShop version a couple of days ago. I never got very far previously, but made an effort to complete it this time.

ReznorAnd it was great! I did find it pretty easy, most of the bosses especially so, but there were a couple of levels I was stuck on for ages. They were both maze-like and I just couldn’t find the right exit. One of them involved lots of pipes, none of which seemed to take me to the exit which I’d clearly seen but was unable to reach. Another was made up almost entirely of destructible blocks, and although I could locate the exit without much issue, the key on that stage (which you can use to open doors to bonus areas on other stages) was apparently inaccessible. After 20 minutes I gave up looking for a way in.

Death_Egg_ZoneWhich means I finished without collecting all the keys. I don’t think they’re necessary for anything special, though, so I’m not too bothered.

In all, it’s a strange but enjoyable (and very Japanese) game, with varied levels, and it’s a shame I missed it first time round and never paid it much attention until now. Perhaps it’s the way it’s a spin-off, as they often don’t fare too well, but in TwinBee’s case, it’s well worth a look.