So, I’ve been off on holiday this week and I’ve treated myself to a bit of quality game time. Entirely on the 3DS and Wii-U, now that Nintendo seem to be getting their act together. So without further ado, I’ve been playing:

Gunman Cliver (3DS). Oh Good God, this is good. It’s a side scrolling shooter with power ups, a western theme, and gorgeous ‘hand sketched’ visuals. It’s not a million miles from the less metroidy Castlevania games, and it’s just as unforgiving. On top of all that, it’s available for less than the price of a pint of beer. BUY!

Pikmin 3 (Wii-U). Well worth the wait – it takes everything that’s great about Pikmin and turns it up to eleven. The three new characters (who you can use to control squads) and the touchable map on the Wii-U controller make this every bit as much an RTS as Starcraft is. But with added cute. It’s also very pretty. For some inexplicable reason, there’s no online multiplayer, but I guess you can’t have everything. So far, I’m only about 8 days in, but loving it so far.

Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS). This is brutally hard. Very very good, but Jesus. Anyhoo, I’m not far into it, mainly because every single level seems to take me a million attempt to do. It does that really annoying thing where it’s incredibly hard but never feels unfair, whereby you have no excuse but to examine your own ineptness whenever you die. And you do. A lot.

Toki Tori 2 (Wii-U). SQUEEEE. Well, that’s what I said when I saw it on the shop. And it’s great – it’s pretty much perfect in every way. Looks, sound, entertainment, challenge, you get the idea. It’s also only 12.99, which I reckon is bargaintastic for puzzles that will make your BRANE ASPLODE.

Animal Crossing New Leaf (3DS). I don’t think I need to say much here because anyone who knows AC will know what I’ve been doing. News of the week, though, is that I made a serious killing on the Stalk Market, thanks to Zomoniac, and have enough filthy bells to make me comfortably well off. Still scouting the Happy Home Academy, still buying fortune cookies, still no banjo. I WANT A BSNJO DAMMIT! I have a stool and music stand already set up and a space where a banjo will go! There’d better be one or I won’t be amused.

Heroes of Ruin (3DS). This is great – it’s my go-to-when-I-have-a-spare-five-minutes game. Think Torchlight on the move and you’re pretty much there. It’s inclined to be a little ugly, but I can forgive that.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (3DS / Wii-U). Surprisingly, I’ve been playing this mostly on the 3DS because I like the controls better. I’m doing pretty well – just ganked my first Rathian (in this version of the game) and am ploughing my way through the four-star quests. I’d like to say I’d finished all the three star ones, but sadly it’s not true – I still have two capture quests (Qurupeco and Royal Ludroth) to do, but I totally suck at capture quests. That’s my job for tonight though – get those buggers done.

Where does Earthbound fit into this list, you ask? Um nowhere because I’d forgotten I had it until I started writing this post (blush). Now that my holidays are drawing to a close, I should really start focussing on playing fewer games at once. Trouble is, with the massive time sinks that are MH3U and ACNL on the go, that’s easier said than done.