Things I Like: Yoshi's Island DS

This was a really surprise sequel Nintendo came up with. Yoshi's Story was a failure and a joke of a game. This however wasn't bad at all. 

Unlike Yoshi's Story, this is more like the original game on SNES. 

Except that Yoshi can also work with other Baby characters such as Donkey Kong or Peach. Each one having a different power like super-sprint or hanging on vines. 

Even though it's not nearly as awesome as the first game, it's an acceptable apology after the Yoshi's Story disgrace. 

My Top Ten Mario Spin-Offs #1: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

One of my favorite games as a kid. As soon as I saw it on the back of my SNES box, I had to have it. I remember saving up at least $40 and being happy with every penny spent on it too. 

Even though it's not a hard platformer, there's plenty of chanllenge. Platforms are not your foe this time around, but other things are. But with Baby Mario, and some eggs you'll do just fine. 

I loved every single castle the game had to offer. Mini-Bosses were even epic in this game. 

Any gamer who hasn't played Yoshi's Island really needs to get their head out of the dirt and get a copy. One of Nintendo's finest masterpieces, and one of my favorite games ever made. 

My Top Ten Mario Spin-Offs #2: Super Mario Kart

Even though it's the least powerful, and has no online play, I really liked Super Mario Kart the best out of all the others. 

Plenty of tracks, powerful but not game-breaking items, and none of that rubber band racing crap. Pure skill, and you will need it to win some of these championships. 

Rainbow Road for example in it's original SNES form is harder than you could imagine. It looks like a simple track, but trust me you'll fall off more times than you can imagine. Kinda sad how easy the Rainbow Roads in the later games had become. 

Also worth nothing is that Super Mario Kart had the best battle mode for some reason. I can't stand the other game's battle modes so much that I didn't even try it out on Mario Kart Wii. 

My Top Ten Mario Spin-Offs #6: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

This was rather surprising move between Square and Nintendo before they went sour and parted ways. It didn't sell too hot from what I hear, which is a bit of a shame. I actually remember seeing the game being promoted at Walmart or Kmart back in the day. 

It was the first of the Mario RPG games and all them owes it some credit. 

Though I admit it's more Final Fantasy than Paper Mario when it comes to the battle system. Unlike Final Fantasy though, 

It truly is an epic masterpiece of a game though. Actually not my favorite Mario RPG, but such a good game that held up really well. 

My Top Five Mario Platformers #1: Super Mario Bros. 3

I think most gamers have a tough time choosing between Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. They're so good, it's really hard to pick favorites when both are in the top of their class. However I think the 3rd game has the edge just slightly. 

Though Super Mario World did a lot of things 3 did, I have to give the last game in the NES trilogy a lot of credit from being radically different (and better) from the original game, and the true Super Mario Bros. 2 which is known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in America. 

I loved the new map where you can pick the stages, and the bonus stages which made my brothers and I fight over who got what item or not. We even fought viciously over those stupid mini-game stages which offered a small chance to win something like a mushroom or a fire-flower. 

Each world in SMB3 was so much different from the last, and with tons of secrets in between it's not hard to believe how much fun you will have until you face King Bowser at the end. World 8 is one though cookie, don't dare say it isn't. 

In retrospect, the NES version is a bit outdated. The SNES remake version in Super Mario All-Stars is the superior version by far. Such a fresh coat of paint. 

My Top Five Mario Platformers #2: Super Mario World

Oh man such a childhood classic, Super Mario World is such a major part to so many childhoods not just mine. Your SNES wasn't complete unless you had a copy. 

It really did expand and make a lot of improvements over the Super Mario Bros. games on NES. It was bigger, better, and even more colorful. 

Plus you had a cute Dinosaur to ride as well. I love Yoshi! Though if I need to make a jump, I don't mind dropping him into a pit. Sorry bro. 

It's still one of the best games Nintendo has ever made, and writing this blog makes me want to bust out an old copy and play it again. 

Nintendo Downloads for August 11th 2011

My Asian Farm for DSiware

Kyotokei for Wiiware

Go! Go! Kokopolo for DSiware

Crazy Hamster for DSiware

Avenging Spirit for 3DS's E-shop. 

Super Adventure Island II for Virtual Console. 

My Top Five Zelda Games #3: A Link to the Past

This is easily the best of all the 2D Zeldas. A huge epic quest that often rivals Ocarina of Time in greatest game lists. 

The quest is pretty much the first Zelda but with everything so much better, defined, detailed, and expanded. It's not a remake by any means, but it was the 3rd Zelda, and defiantly a better sequel than Zelda II: Adventure of Link. 

I loved the Light World-Dark World element. It was so good that Nintendo shameless did it again in games like Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess. 

The dungeons were numerous and epic, and some of the best the series has ever seen. Plus the Ganon fight was probably the best the series has churned out so far as well. 

Super Noah's Ark 3D Review

Was this a real game? Yes it actually was. Back in the day, a company called Wisdom Tree sold Christian-themed video games to kids. However they were greedy capitalists who would rather see more profit that actually give Nintendo a proper royalty. 

So they invented a cartridge that worked by plugging into a Super Nintendo, and it could bypass the lock-out chip if a real SNES game was locked on the top of it. Think Game Genie or Sonic and Knuckles in a sense. Nintendo probably had full right to take action against them, but I doubt they wanted to be known as the company that sued Jesus....er Noah whatever. 

At least the game self-admits their piracy. Also ignore the cute animals on the cover-art. 

I say that because Super Noah's Ark is really just a FPS, and it's exactly like Wolfenstein 3D. Seriously the layout is 100% the same. 

Except instead of killing Nazis, you shoot feed at animals. Who somehow kick you for no apparent reason. I thought the animals on Noah's Ark liked Noah? Why do they want him dead? 

The game is almost as ugly as the SNES version of Wolfenstein 3D, and even more awful to play. The music is annoying, and the game-play is unforgiving. It also gave me serious motion sickness. 

The game is seriously not very fun to say the very least. It may even cause you mental pain. Do not play unless you just can't help not knowing what the game is like.

Score: 1 out of 10

Wolfenstein 3D (SNES version) Review

Before Doom, there was Wolfenstein 3D. It was a "Doom Clone" before there was a Doom to speak of. It's bascially the same game as Doom it just replaced Demons with Nazis. With all the controversy that surrounded Doom back in the day, why did no Congressmen or Senators ever speak of Wolfenstein 3D? Shooting demons from hell is evil, but damn if you hate on a game where you shoot Nazis, then you're Un-American. 

This is what the PC version looked like. Not exactly ground-breaking graphics today, but back then it was on the top of it's class. Kids were begging parents to buy them ultra-nice PCs or computer parts so they could play this alone. I've never played the PC version, and I never will. However I did play the SNES version of Doom, and even though I don't really like Doom I didn't think it was a bad port. 

This is what Wolfenstein 3D on SNES looks like. Muddy, blurry, and just plain hideous. They take out pretty much all the Nazi logos, and everything. Apparently they wanted to release it in Germany (which pretty much bans anything Nazi unless it's about history and education), and it still got canned in land of BMW, Beer, and Bratwurst. 

I really could not stand playing Wolfenstein 3D on SNES for more than a few minutes straight. It's incredibly awful in almost every way. It's an aging game even in perfect or upgraded form, and it doesn't help when the graphics and control are almost as bad as our former enemies. 

Score: 1 out of 10

Captain Novolin Review

Oh the 90's, takes me back to a distant day where parents actually cared about their children. Except when they cared, they had awful ways of taking care of our problems. One of the ways of "helping" was really awful video games based on education. This one is for kids with diabetes which makes me wonder how large of a target audience they were really trying to reach. 

Well anyway, the game is about Captain Novolin, who unlike other superheroes has a problem. He's got diabetes, and he has no idea how to treat it. 

Thankfully Captain Novolin has health insurance, so he has plenty of doctors willing to help in his time of need. 

There's a couple of mini-games trying to teach kids how to do stuff they would normally do in real life. Like they really needed a video game for this. 

Alas there is a real game in here somewhere. After all the nonsense, you get to play a platformer starring our favorite superhero who can't take any sugar. His superpower? Slightly high jumping! Yep all you do is collect good food to eat, and avoid the bad food that apparently will come out personally to kill you when you have diabetes. 

If Captain Novolin played like real-life, then you would have a hard time avoiding bad foods and die on the sidewalk before dinner-time. For a game where there's really no techincal problems, it's pretty bad. Probably one of the worst games of all time.

Score: 1 out of 10