Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Not Coming to WiiWare

Just a quick follow up to Don's article about the teaser trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, Sega representative Ken Balough confirmed in a recent interview that Episode 2 would not be hitting the WiiWare. I figured I'd share this as we here are pretty diehard Nintendo fanboys and chances are you are too if you're reading this. Here's what Balough had to say;

But no - the reason Episode I was on the Wii was because we wanted to bring the Sonic 4 saga to the widest possible audience. Episode II unfortunately will not be coming to the Wii - for reasons most people have probably guessed, but that doesn't mean the SEGA isn't supporting Nintendo platforms, we have a very strong partnership and will continue to do so.

While he never specifically mentions the reasoning behind this, it is quite obvious why. The WiiWare limitations are simply too strict. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 had to be dumbed down graphically and in terms of the music in order for it to even run on Wii. While most critics said the game still played almost the same, it was likely still pushing the WiiWare's limits. Since Episode 2 will likely feature more content and better graphics, it's unlikely the Wii would be able to handle it with it's given limitations. They could dumb it down but they probably don't want to have to do that and want to make an equal product all around. I don't really blame them but I do have to wonder why they would just shrug the Wii off. According to Sega's very own sales reports, Episode 1 sold the best on Wii. So again, I understand why they went this route but that doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea business wise.

Regardless, I picked up Episode 1 on the PS3 so I'll do the same here. Also and don't quote me on this but I'm sure once the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 saga is complete, Sega will package them all together for a retail release. Maybe then the Wii will see the missing episode.

Top 10 Songs in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

There are a ton of songs in Brawl. A ton. The sheer quantity vastly overshadows the quality. The amount of songs in conjunction with the ability to pick and choose which one plays on what stage and how often . It's arguably the best video game soundtrack even. Narrowing it down to a select few in order of how much I like them is incredibly hard. So I decided to set a rule. It has to be music that is rearranged specifically for Brawl. That means nothing like Dragon Roost Island or the remixes made for Melee. It can be a totally original piece made for Brawl. Just not something that they just brought over in it's original form. It's also kind of hard to explain in a lot of words why I like these tunes so I only included a little blurb with each entry.

With that, here's my list of ten favorite songs that are in Brawl...

Pokémon Sheet Remake: Lapras

My first ever remake on the Blog...Just give me a moment to let that sink in...It's kind of strange, considering the Bulk of this project in the past has been retooling my older sheets to look better...And yet here I am posting a remake for the first time...


Anyway, Lapras is by far my favorite Ice Type...I mean, just look at it, cute and awesome at the same time! I know it's probably based off of the Loch Ness Monster, but it reminds me of a Turtle, my favorite animal (The Ninja Turtles are completely to blame for this!)


Anyway, this took a lot of hard work, and I think it paid off...I at least hope it did...This is my Final sheet of 2011, and I hope you enjoyed the ride! Expect to see new Sheets in 2012!
What? Did you think I forgot the hint? Next up is the only Pokémon who has the Ability Magnet Pull, yet is not affected by it when encountered.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Teaser Trailer

I'll just leave this here...

New physics engine, new graphics engine, playable Tails, and the return of Metal Sonic. Fuckin' sign me up.

Interview with SEGA by Gamespot here

Nintendo's first Paid DLC is for 3DS Fire Emblem

 
It may come to you as a surprise but you heard right. Nintendo's doing paid DLC with microtransactions for the 3DS. They're aiming to start off this program in March 2012 with the 3DS Fire Emblem.

I was under the impression that Nintendo wasn't interested in doing paid DLC. The title on this article is very misleading. In fact, in the original interview they credited as a source, Reggie pretty much says that they're bring DLC to the 3DS and they were going to do it right.

I've had this conversation with a number of our key developers, and their mentality is, "Reggie, when we sell a game, we want the consumer to feel that they've had a complete experience." Now, in addition, if we want to make other things available, great, and we'll look at that.
But what we're unwilling to do is sell a piece of a game upfront and, if you will, force a consumer to buy more later. That's what they don't want to do, and I completely agree. I think the consumer wants to get, for their money, a complete experience, and then we have opportunities to provide more on top of that.

Other companies may cheat you with "DLC" that's data already on the disc. Nintendo understands that this is a problem and have said it themselves that they're not going to do that. I'm being biased but I'll take their word for it. Paid DLC can be a good thing. I honestly wouldn't mind paying a couple bucks for level pack in Super Mario 3D Land. So, I'm very interested in seeing what exactly they plan on putting out with Fire Emblem. For all we know, it could just be overpowered units you could recruit with real money. Here's hoping it's more like a side campaign with several maps and new units. An optional story arc, if you will. That would be neat.

VGM of the Week #8: Christmas

Hey everyone,

Yes I'm still alive. Work has just been a little crazy, what with Christmas and all. Anyways, it's my week for Video Game Music and I had something picked out, but decided to hold it off and do something special since it's... well, you know. I'll admit Rick helped me pick it since I had no idea what to do, but even though I never played but a little tiny bit of Banjo Kazooie, this still had fun winter whimsy. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas! And whatever else you celebrate if you're not into the whole birth of Jesus thing.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all of you loyal viewers (and first timers) out there, from all of us here at Adamant Ditto!

I don't have a new Pokémon sheet for you guys...Instead, I was hit with the Christmas Spirit, and decided to make something Special for the Holidays:

Making something like this has been a Tradition of mine since 2008, and I'm proud to bring you this years Christmas Scene!

I hope you all enjoy this, and have yourself a Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! I'll see you all in 2012! (Maybe a few days before, depending on if I finish Lapras before the ball drops on New Years Eve)

LTTA: Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Happy Holidays, folks. Sorry we've been kind of slow lately. It's the holiday season, everybody's busy with their families or shopping or working, not a lot of time to post stuff. Plus, the video game world has been kind of slow recently. So, sorry about that. We probably won't post anything tomorrow except Kyle does still plan to post the VGM of the Week so look forward to that.

For now though, I have begun finally uploading our Astro Boy: Omega Factor Let's Play. This is an interesting one because on one side, Ricky is very informative about the history of Astro Boy and all that stuff. On the other side, we can get rather boring and the technical aspects are kind of garbage, mostly the audio. Sorry about that. Regardless, the first four videos are up. You can find the first below and then a link to the playlist below that.

And again, Happy Holidays!

 

Let's Try That Again - Portal

Betcha didn't see this one coming! Matt and I were going to play Portal 2 Co-Op but we figured that we should get Portal 1 out of the way first. It wouldn't hurt to do it, it's a really short game. Most people can finish this game in one sitting. The runtime we have here is 2:16:12. It's actually been a while since I last played this game, so it's practically brand new to me again. It's almost a blind let's play.

Watch it all, right here, right now!

The Top Seven Gameboy Games That Should Be On the 3DS eShop

Alright, I promise this will be last 3DS focused list for a while but I figured I might as well cross all gaming options on the 3DS off so now I’m focusing on the Virtual Console. Nintendo really struck gold when they decided to enter the world of downloadable games by rereleasing many of their classics on the Wii’s Virtual Console service. However, as many gamers will tell you, Nintendo hasn’t exactly treated that service very well. It started out great but as time when on, less and less games were released. To this day, several big name Nintendo titles such as Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island and Earthbound have yet to see Virtual Console releases.

You all should download Balloon Kid.

This hasn’t stopped Nintendo from trying it again with the 3DS however but they’re going with sort of a different strategy this time. Instead of releasing several games a week every week, they’ve so far only been releasing one a week. While I’m sure many gamers aren’t okay with this, especially having to potentially wait for their favorites, but I personally think it’s a fine strategy. There’s tons of Gameboy and Gameboy Color games out there and releasing one a week is a good way to keep folks excited about what’s to come. Not to mention Nintendo has mentioned the possibility of releasing Gameboy Advance and Sega Game Gear games on the service in the future, so the Virtual Console on the 3DS is looking mighty bright right now.

So what I’m going to be counting down is the top seven games I want to see rereleased on the Virtual Console service for the 3DS. So far, a lot of the really great ones have been released like Super Mario Land 2, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and even some lesser known classics like Gargoyle’s Quest. But there’s still plenty left they can pick from. Now, I’m only going to be doing Gameboy and Gameboy Color games because so far that’s all the service has hit. This list is open to both Nintendo and third party developed games as both have been released so far. So without further delay, let’s get to it.

New Pokémon Sheet: Deerling

Deerling's a pretty cool Pokémon. It brings a few new things to the Table. It's the first to have the Unique Normal/Grass Typing, with it's evolution being the only other Normal/Grass Type Pokémon. It's also the first 'cute' Deer Pokémon, which is kind of strange to me...

This sheet concludes the New Pokémon Sheets for my Christmas Spectacular (You know, Ice Types and things semi-related to Christmas)...But there is one more Sheet coming your way, and I'll reveal it after you see these animations:

My final sheet for my Christmas Specatcular isn't new. In fact, it's a Remake of one of my all time favorite Ice Types, Lapras

Lapras will probably be my Last sheet of the year as well, so in case I don't have it done in time,

Merry Christmas! and Happy Holidays to everyone!

VGM of the Week #7

Back to me, huh? Well, last time I picked a song from Super Mario 3D Land, which was released that same day. This week, however, no major releases are coming out so I'm going with what could very well be my favorite piece of music ever in a video game.

Now, nobody can deny, Super Smash Bros. Brawl has the best soundtrack of all time. It's almost unfair, new and old compositions of over 300 songs from over 40 gaming franchises? It's insane. With all those tracks to choose from, you'd think my favorite would be from one of my all-time favorite game franchises like Mario or Pokémon but actually, no. One song blew me away more than any other; The Underworld from Kid Icarus.


This track is so catchy and upbeat, I can't help but love it. And when the drums kick in during the breakdown towards the end? It's soooooo good. Not to mention, it was composed by Shougo Sakai, who has worked on many other games such as Kirby Squeak Squad, Super Smash Bros. Melee and the entire Mother 3 soundtrack, as well as Hirokazu Tanaka, who worked on the original Kid Icarus soundtrack. It's a great tune from a great soundtrack and perhaps my very favorite of all time.

Retro Review - Sonic Heroes

Yes, after over a month without a new Sonic game review, I finally finished Sonic Heroes. I'm sorry it took so long it's just, this game hurt me. I couldn't bare playing it longer than one stage at a time so it really did take me forever to beat it. On the plus side, it's over and done with and I never have to play it again! Yay!




Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come but at least the next few games on my list are all smaller, BETTER Gameboy Advance games.

GBA Ambassador Games are out NOW!

North America finally got them. Go to your eShop's download history and download them.

Don's Streaming Portal RIGHT NOW!

Stop by our Twitch.tv account to watch Don do a LTTA of Portal!


Watch live video from Adamant Ditto LIVE! on www.twitch.tv

Custom Pushmo/Pullblox Puzzles

As you know if you've read our review of Pushmo, the 3DS puzzler gives you the ability to create and download custom puzzles. Included after the break are all the puzzles that I've created! Downloading these puzzles is as simple as pointing the 3DS camera at your computer screen, but to play them, you'll need to unlock the expanded level editor by completing the first 109 puzzles in the main game.

GBA Games for the 3DS Ambassador Program Revealed

Previously announced:
Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Nintendo Reveals Release Dates for First Quarter Line-Up

Following Don's post of the new Kid Icarus: Uprising trailer below, Nintendo has actually just announced the release dates/windows for some of their upcoming Wii and 3DS games for the first quarter. Many of these games were announced last E3 but Nintendo has been strangely silent about many of them. Well, now we know when some of them will be released. The release dates are as followed;

 Wii

Rhythm Heaven Fever - Feb. 13
Poképark 2: Wonders Beyond - Feb. 27
Mario Party 9 - March 11

3DS

Mario & Sonic At the London 2012 Olympic Games - Feb. 14
Kid Icarus: Uprising - March 23

They also confirmed that Dillon's Rolling Western will be hitting the 3DS eShop in Quarter 1, as will the Gameboy game Kirby's Block Ball. Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater was once again confirmed as coming out in Quarter 1 and Resident Evil: Revelations is being released on Feb. 7th. No release date has been set in stone for Xenoblade Chronicles as of yet but it is still confirmed as being released in April and they have revealed the final American Boxart.

You can check that out, as well as a new trailer for Poképark 2: Wonders Beyond after the break.

New Kid Icarus Uprising Trailer

North American Boxart: 

The Top Six NES Games That Should Get 3D Classic Remakes

If you caught my Monday Top Picks last week, then you know I was focusing on the 3DS and what games I’d like to see Nintendo remake for it. Well, this week I’m listing the NES games I want to get the 3D Classic upgrade. 

Ugh. Seriously guys?

The 3D Classic games are enhanced version of classic NES games made to show off the 3D on the 3DS, though for the most part it isn’t very deep. I mean, it is a bunch of 8-bit sprites, how deep can it be? Whether you find the 3D interesting or not, it’s still a fun concept. However, the choices for games so far have been… questionable at best. The first was Excitebike, which was a fine choice, it’s a highly nostalgic and well remembered game for many gamers and the 3D was actually pretty cool. Then there was Xevious and Twinbee, two third party, shoot-em-up games that are okay but nothing I would imagine fans were demanding. Then there was Urban Champion. I will never understand Nintendo’s obsession with this game, it’s terrible. You could literally make a list of every other first party Nintendo game on the NES and every single other game on it would be a better choice than Urban Champion. The most recent 3D Classic was Kirby’s Adventure, which marks the first time a really great game got the treatment, as well as one that felt like a game by today’s standards. Gaming has come a long way since the NES days and games like Excitebike and Xevious might keep gamers entertained for a while, but they likely won’t hold their attention for long. It’s great to see a game like Kirby’s Adventure, and the upcoming Kid Icarus remake, get the treatment because, well, they can actually be beat.

So I’m going to take a look at the six NES games that should get 3D Classic remakes. Unlike the last list, I’m going to include third party games because, as I already mentioned, Xevious and Twinbee have gotten the treatment. I’m also not going to include any of the ten games Nintendo gave out for their 3DS ambassador program. While it would be great to get games like Super Mario Bros. or Metroid as a 3D Classic, a lot of people already have them plus, they seem like obvious choices at this point. So I’m looking at six games you can’t get on the 3DS at all yet. So let’s get started.

Review: Pushmo

Pushmo (or Pullblox, as it's known in Europe) is a deceptively simple puzzle game. The "Puzzle" genre has never been as mainstream as when Tetris first hit shelves, and likely never will be. But when done well (as in Tetris Attack, Meteos, Chu Chu Rocket, and Professor Layton, to name a few), the genre has proven time and time again to be one of my personal favorites.

If you'll excuse the pun, the question I'd like to answer for you today is this: How does Pushmo stack up?

Let me put it this way. As I write this, Pushmo has been out for three days. If my 3DS activity log is to be believed, I've already played the game for 25 hours. Of the time that has passed since this title became available, I've spent a full third of that playing this title. Consider that I also spent a third of it sleeping.

I'll just come out and say it. Gaming websites are billing Pushmo as the eShop's "killer app," and while that is hardly scarce praise, I think this humble game deserves even more. This is not just a killer app for the eShop, but for the 3DS in general.

New Pokémon Sheet: Cubchoo

I think it's safe to say that Cubchoo is the Cutest Bear Pokémon in the game, and I'm not just saying that because I love Ice Types.

In case you haven't caught on, I've been doing Ice Types all December long, and this Guy's the last one I'll be working on this month...By that I mean for the December Special...I'll obviously do more Ice Types throughout next year...

I'm done with the Ice Types for the December Special, but there's one more (Technically) 'Christmas themed' Pokémon I have planned, and here's the Hint for that:

Next up is a Pokémon who's Color Changes depending on the Season

VGM of the Week #6

It's Sunday, and to make sure Josh doesn't steal my thunder this week, I'm posting this at 4:30 AM.

Here is my personal favorite from Skyward Sword.


I didn't think most of the tracks in Skyward Sword were really memorable but this stood out to me. Right as you land on the Isle of Songs, this very calm and soothing melody begins to play as you try solve the puzzle to get inside the place. It was like no one had been there for a really long time. I felt at peace.

I believe this also plays when you're at the big goddess statue on Skyloft.

What's the Deal with Miyamoto?

In case you haven’t been on, quite literally, any website on the internet lately, then you probably don’t have the internet but just in case you do and this is the first site you choose to visit after going for days without it, let me fill you in on a little story flooding the web right now. That story is about Nintendo developer and creater of Mario himself, Shigeru Miyamoto and whether or not he is retiring.

According to a new report released by Wired magazine earlier this week, Miyamoto said he was planning on “stepping down” from his current position in favor of helping train younger developers as well as work on independent projects. See also; not retiring. Then Nintendo followed up the report (after their stocks took a pretty big plummet) by saying Miyamoto wasn’t going anywhere. Wired responded by saying they stand by their interview. So great, we have two separate parties saying two very different things. Well, finally, the man himself stepped in and said he wasn’t stepping down just yet, that it was more him having a hard time getting his words across during the interview. But he did mention that in order to better train younger developers, it would make sense for him to step down. So you can make of that what you will. Regardless, he isn’t stepping down or retiring just yet.

Things that I would like to see happen with the next Iteration of the 3DS

Yes, I know it's still pretty early in it's life to be thinking about this, but I think that enough has presented itself to warrant this. I didn't put this in any kind of order, I just wrote things as they came to mind. If this was Top 5 or Top 10, I would put them in order, but it's not

Adamant Ditto Radio

Okay, so for those of you who don't know, recently I've been streaming a bunch of video game music on our Twitch.tv account during the day as "Adamant Ditto Radio." So far it's been going pretty well, I post about it on Twitter and whatnot and we've gotten a few fans, mostly our regulars like Serious Stick, PerpetualDaydreamer and ZombieFobby, to show up and chat with us and just enjoy the music. It's been a lot of fun but it's always at random. I never know when I'm going to be busy or not and have time to do it. But I'm posting this here because I haven't ever officially announced it or anything so now I am. Stop by every now and then and see if it's going on. I mean, it is right now! Subscribe to us on Twitch.tv if you haven't already and maybe you can hear some of your favorite video game tunes! The playlist I made is over 4,000 songs big so chances are, I have something you like.


Watch live video from Adamant Ditto LIVE! on www.twitch.tv

LTTA - Mega Man X

Right after Don finished his Aladdin Let's Play, Ricky jumped in and played Mega Man X! Yes, Adamant Ditto was super productive that night and filmed two Let's Plays in just a few hours. Yeah, we're awesome.

This is the first Mega Man LTTA we've done that wasn't one of the classic series and who knows if we'll do anymore but there's a lot of laughs throughout. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

The first part is below and below that is a link to the playlist so you can view the rest of the videos.

New Pokémon Sheet: Froslass

Froslass is definitley one of my favorite Ice type Pokémon. I mean, she's so cool!
Terrible puns aside, I really like her design, far better than Glalie, the unfortunate other evolution of Snorunt.

I really would like to make one to use in my Pokémon White, but due to awful Wi-Fi, it would be pretty pointless
Time for the Hint!:

Next up is the only Fifth Generation Pokémon who can have the ability 'Rattled'

Quirky Ditto - Mega Man X with Don

Immediately after finishing the Aladdin LTTA, I played Mega Man X very briefly before we had Ricky do the real LTTA. Here's the footage taken from the stream.

Let's Try That Again - Aladdin (SNES)

Hey look, it's my first Let's Try That Again solo! I decided to take on Aladdin for the Super Nintendo, a great licensed game made by the once great Capcom. We managed to finish this one much quicker than I thought, just a little over an hour but it was fun anyway. The first video is below, check out the playlist for the rest of the playthrough. Be sure to leave comments and let us know what you think!




Click here for the playlist.

The Top Six Nintendo Games That Should Get 3DS Remakes

If there’s one company in the gaming world that has always been in favor of remakes, it’s Nintendo. It feels like Nintendo is always remaking or porting it’s classic games onto newer consoles and handhelds. The Super Mario Advance games, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, The Metroid Prime Trilogy and of course the most recent efforts, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Star Fox 64 3D. For better or worse, Nintendo has a way with getting away with remakes. Maybe it’s because their games are just that timeless. Or maybe it’s the fact that they seem to go the extra mile when remaking their games, including better graphics, new features and just all around upgrading what is likely already a great game.

Also, they made the Water Temple suck less, so there's that.

Just like the DS before it, the 3DS is looking to be a great home for remakes of older Nintendo games, specifically from the Nintendo 64 era. Just look at Ocarina of Time. It’s one of the most beloved and important games in gaming history and Nintendo went back and updated it for a new market and guess what? It may actually be even better now. Only Nintendo could take what many consider to be the best game ever made and actually improve it.

So what am I counting down today? Well, I’m taking a look at six Nintendo games I want remade for the 3DS. I was originally going to make it ten but after going over the list, I felt many of them were either a bit of a stretch or I just didn’t really see a purpose for them to remade, so I changed it to six. Without any more delay, let’s get started.

Review: Mario Kart 7

Those of us at Adamant Ditto have a long-standing appreciation for Mario Kart, as our group Wii outings can attest to. Most people would call Mario Kart DS the best entry in the series, and while I have a profound appreciation for that title, I'm afraid I'm the only person I've ever had contact with who keeps fonder memories of Double Dash. 

Still, it's hard to deny that Mario Kart DS was a tremendous leap forward for the franchise. It was the first game to feature an online mode as well as to include retro tracks, and even its original tracks are some of the best in the series. It featured a robust Mission Mode with actual boss battles (!) and, hands-down, the best single-cart multiplayer on the DS.

So how does Mario Kart's next portable title hold up?

VGM of the Week #5

Josh here, with my choice of VGM this week!

I've decided to go with a tune from a game that's being released and sold as I type this, Mario Kart 7!

Now, keep in mind that I haven't played this game yet, so this may not be the best Music Track in the game, but here it is, my choice this week:


Mario Kart has a Special place in Adamant Ditto's Heart, especially since the addition of Wi-Fi in Mario Kart DS. Since Mario Kart DS' release, we've been racing together, and I know that will continue with the release of Mario Kart 7.

Xenoblade Chronicles Announced for America!

Believe it or not, it's official! Monolith Soft's expansive RPG, Xenoblade Chonicles, is coming to North America. I've heard fans of the game claim that it's the "greatest JRPG [they've] played in the last decade" on multiple accounts. That's saying something. Based on the trailer they have on Nintendo's website, the English dub is the same one they added to the European release. On one hand, I think it's lazy. On the other hand, I think it's great because it adds a little flavor to each character and the world as a whole. On top of that, the voice actors do a pretty stellar job of being believable characters. In any case, I'm glad Nintendo's giving this game a chance despite how niche I feel JRPGs are nowadays.

Here's the trailer:

More after the jump.

New Pokémon Sheet: Glalie

I'm on Fire! At this rate, I'll have 31 total new sheets done by the end of the year (Except for the fact that I know I won't, I'll get lazy at around 15, and slack off)

Glalie the Hailstone...Hockey Mask...Oni...Thing made of Ice

There's really not much to sat about this guy...I have no idea what the hell it's supposed to be
Time for the Hint!

Next up is one of the two Ghost type Pokémon who evolved from a Pokémon that didn't already have the Ghost type

Password, please.

So after I've been ragging on game shows for two weeks in a row and I'm still saving the big one for later. I think I need to give myself a little credibility and balance, so let's talk about a great show that tried to come back a while ago: Password.

Man, what a simple game. Two teams, each made of a contestant and a celebrity compete at a word conveyance game. One team member is given the word, the "password" if you will. and must give one-word clues and get the other member to guess the password. Failure to do so would result in the word getting passed over to the other team and they get a shot at it. Getting the password with the fewest clues got you more points and first to 25 wins $100. It was the 60's, that was a lot of money! Eventually it gets bumped to $250 for a win. This is then followed by one of the first Lightning rounds in Game Show history: sixty seconds, five passwords, $250.  I'm telling you, this set up was brilliant, and if I needed any evidence, the show ran for over 1,000 episodes and won the first ever Daytime Emmy for Outstanding game show. 

It's first revival, Password Plus, was almost identical. It brought the same host back and everything. It did add the Password Puzzle, where every password given during a round's duration was in itself a clue to another password. Figure that out and it's big points and big money. the second revival, Super Password, was almost identical to that, but added the Cashword, a quick little side-game for extra money for a very difficult password.

But what I really want to talk about is Million Dollar Password. Man, this show was a great prime time revival for this show. Format-wise it's more like $50,000 Pyramid. Two teams make a go at rapid passwords. They take turns with celebrities and take turns as the giver and receiver of clues. The person with the most points gets a go with the celebrity with whom they earned the most points at the Million Dollar Password. Shift to format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? where the team is given a set list of words, decreasing in number every time; get five passwords to finish the round and earn raising increments of money. Considering it was hosted by Regis Philbin, it never felt weird. The other thing about Philbin and why he's a great game show host is his concentrated energy. He's got a lot, but he's not wild; he's very focused and it helps convey how genuinely excited he is to host a show that could win you $1,000,000. I mean, this guy hosted Millionaire; he knows how to make a show which was 90% people thinking into prime time t.v., a show about fast-paced thinking and teamwork should be no problem! 

I know I complained about Lingo's new open stage, but Million Dollar Password doesn't really have this problem since distance from the playing board is overshadowed by the the relationship with the teams. No matter how much playing space you're given, this game requires focus and concentration on what your partner is trying to convey, which you can only do if you keep close quarters. 

So why did this show not last? It was great, right? Well, a few things brought it down. Some of the celebrities weren't exactly shining lights of intellect. Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race, being the first example that comes to my mind blew it for a contestant being too nervous to stop, think, and use all three clues he'd been given to figure out his password and jumped on a word that only really fit the third clue. (Although, sometimes it was inverted. It was a good laugh when a contestant paired with Craig Ferguson was given Dallas as a clue and gave "Texas" and Capital" as clues. Ferguson freaked for a second but correctly called "Austin.") Other celebrities, and definitely some contestants didn't really know how to use inflection to convey synonym vs opposite. It was a shame, but we can't all be Betty White, right? (Although, even though I can totally hate her as a person, Rosie O'Donnell was a wizard at game shows in her own right. Frankly, if I were on the show I'd want to be paired with her.) And, I dunno, I guess nobody watched it. That's the big thing for prime time shows, especially if we're putting this much money into it, we've gotta draw in the viewers.

Oh well. I liked it. I wish it were back. I wish there were more. But that's not gonna happen. Woe is me. I've never been good at concluding paragraphs.

LTTA: Kirby's Dream Land 3 Parts 13 & 14

And with this, children, our visit to Dream Land is concluded. Thanks for stickin' with us. It was a fun, if not totally frustrating, trip and it just goes to prove that every game we Let's Play turns out to be worse than we remember.


Part 14 is over an hour long because Don recorded it after I had some technical problems and I guess editing isn't something he enjoys doing. So be sure to take lots of breaks when watching that one.

New Pokémon Sheet: Cryogonal

Maybe I should pace myself a little bit...Not too much, I mean, I'm just about halfway done...Yup, that's right, in 10.5 sheets, I'll be exactly Halfway done (Stupid ending on 649 Pokémon instead of 650)


Not much to say about this guy...I mean, There's not much you can really do with this guy...He's so...Static...I thought that he could close the parts around the Black, but nope, he's always like that...The only thing is that he learns Rapid Spin, so...Yeah, I did that (I think he looks like a Coin when he spins, haha)...Also, in Pokedex 3D, he spins like that as his Special Attack, so I have that as the Special Attack on this sheet as well!

Hint Time!

According to one of it's Pokédex entries, this next Pokémon has a body made of Rock, but is not a Rock Type, instead it is just an Ice Type