Nintendo Announces ZombiU Deluxe Bundle

If you're still getting your gaming news from us, shame on you. However, this just happened and I felt like sharing the news and my thoughts.

Extra Joy #7 - Wii U Nintendo Direct

Yesterday, Nintendo announced a whole ton of stuff at their latest Nintendo Direct conference all about the Wii U. Things we haven't heard of before, things we wanted and things we didn't know we wanted until now. Bombs were dropped and we came from the battlefield cover in ash. So naturally, we decided to talk about it in podcast form. It might be shorter than our average Extra Joys but hey, if you want to know what we thought of all the news, it might be worth a listen.

You can check out the downloadable MP3 version here.

Review - Tokyo Crash Mobs

Japanese culture is a very peculiar thing. It’s something that so many people across the world have an affinity for, yet very few people actually understand. There’s a reason the US missed out on most of the Godzilla films throughout the 90’s. There’s a reason you don’t see very many Japanese game shows on TV except in parody form. And there’s a good reason a lot of games considered to be “too Japanese” don’t make it to the states. Which makes it all the more surprising that Nintendo’s latest eShop game, Tokyo Crash Mobs, did make it to the shores. It’s easily one of the strangest games I’ve ever played and it’s a part of a genre that’s never been known for its weirdness; the puzzle game.

Tokyo Crash Mobs was developed in part by Mitchell Corporation, the company responsible for the Magnetica games released on the DS and WiiWare, and they share a lot of the same gameplay mechanics. The big difference is instead of rolling colorful marbles at other colorful marbles, you’re two young women throwing Japanese people in colorful suits at other Japanese people in colorful suits to make chains and score points. Make sense? 

VGM of the Week #60

If you're reading this, then the world didn't end, and the Mayans were wrong! (Until someone moves the date again...). Anyway, if you're reading this, it also means it's time for my VGM of the Week!

I wanted to do something that fits in with the Christmas season...I had a few different ones planned, with the help of my fellow Adamant Dittos, of course...Ultimately, I decided against them all, and went with one that I felt better suited Christmas, Animal Crossing City Folk's Christmas Eve Music!

From me to you all, Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! And have a Safe and Happy New Year! I'll see you all in 2013!

Nintendo Reveals the Wii Mini for Canada

Hey, do you remember the Game Boy Micro? The new version of the Game Boy Advance released after the DS was already released and was a massive failure? Well, apparently Nintendo doesn't.

Should have been Mini Wii. Also, what?

What you're looking at is the Wii Mini, a miniature version of the the Wii being released in Canada next Tuesday, December 7th. It comes with a red Wii Remote and Nunchuck, cannot play Nintendo Gamecube games and isn't capable of going online, meaning even Virtual Console games are out of the question. Nintendo states that it's only going to be available through the holidays.

Now, if I may be so bold, wasn't a NEW Nintendo console just released all of 9 days ago? One that the average casual onlooker is likely to already confuse for the already existing Wii? If so, why would Nintendo ever go back to the original Wii and release a new model? Shouldn't they be focusing on getting people to buy their new hardware, not gimped versions of old hardware? I already mentioned that Nintendo pulled this same stunt before to no avail but I guess they feel confident enough in both the Wii U and the Wii Mini to still be able to pull in a profit from both this Christmas. Either it's going to overshadow the Wii U or it's going to become another oddity for collectors like the Micro or the NES-101. My guess is the latter.

Nintendo has yet to confirm if the Wii Mini will see release outside of Canada but I'd say it's a safe bet that it will at some point.

Review - Paper Mario: Sticker Star

I was very excited for Paper Mario: Sticker Star. But it seemed with every new detail and every new screenshot that found its way to me, I grew less and less excited. An RPG with no party members? An RPG with no experience points? I maintained faith that the fine folks at Intelligent Systems knew what they were doing, but... what were they doing? I couldn't fathom why they would bother to retain RPG elements at all if they were going to be so willing to discard the genre's most basic elements. It seemed to me that the latest and greatest Paper Mario adventure was shaping up to be quite an unfocused mess. I was worried. I wanted another Thousand-Year Door, not another Super Paper Mario.

Well, Paper Mario: Sticker Star is actually neither of those, but now that I've had my hands on it, I can wipe my brow and breathe a sigh of relief. As it turned out, Intelligent Systems knew exactly what they were doing: taking some of the most interesting and exciting risks I've seen the genre take in years.

Review: Pokémon Black 2 and White 2

Like Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum versions before it, Game Freak has honored the fifth generation of Pokémon with an updated re-release. Only this time around, they asked themselves, "Why sell one updated re-release when we could sell two?"

Unlike all those just mentioned, however, Black 2 and White 2 feel much more like honest-to-goodness sequels than mere expansions. That much should have been obvious from the titles alone, I suppose, but I certainly can't say I was expecting this much new and exciting content.

VGM of the Week #47

So hey, as of a few days ago, summer is officially over. At least, the season is. It's still flippin' hot as all hell but hey, my calendar says it's true so it must be. Anyway, as a celebration of the end of summer, I figured I'd go with a song from a game that pretty much screams "summer;" Super Mario Sunshine.

Super Mario Sunshine has one of the finest soundtracks of any game, in my humble opinion, so coming up with just one was a bit hard. But, since it is the end of summer, I decided to go with the Staff Roll that plays as the credits roll. It's basically a more bombastic version of the Deflino Plaza theme but it sure is fun.


Though if I'm being 100% honest with you, the main reason I picked this track in particular is so I could share with you a live orchestrated version of it by the Big Band of Rogues. This group put together a whole CD of orchestrated versions of famous tracks from a bunch of Mario and Zelda games and to close it all out, they did the ending theme of Super Mario Sunshine and let me tell you, it is a piece of work. So hit the jump to take a listen to that because I promise you, you won't regret it.

Review - Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition

Two years ago, Nintendo celebrated Mario’s 25th anniversary by releasing a special edition of Super Mario All-Stars for the Wii. It was disappointing. All it was was the original Super Mario All-Stars ROM slapped on a Wii disc for 40 dollars and it wasn’t even the version of All-Stars that came with Super Mario World! The original Mario games are great but Nintendo could have put way more effort into celebrating their biggest character’s birthday.

Thankfully, HAL Labs and Nintendo have decided to do just that to celebrate the Kirby franchises 20th anniversary. Kirby’s Dream Collection is everything a fan of the series could want in a compilation. It has great games, great menus and some really cool bonus features. It’s everything Super Mario All-Stars wasn’t.

Extra Joy #1 - Wii U Expectations

MP3 Download (Mediafire)

We recorded this last week so all of the stuff we say has been made practically obsolete as they have announced pretty much every thing there is to announce about the Wii U's release and lineup just yesterday. We know Nintendo tore a rift through the internet with the announcement of Bayonetta 2 as an exclusive so don't jump down our throats about it. We felt like we still said some interesting stuff so we decided to put it up.

If you guys have any suggestions for topics to talk about. Let us know with a comment below!

Review - Nintendo 3DS XL

A few of you might remember that I wrote an Article on What I would like to see happen with the next 3DS. Well, this was before the XL was even announced, and after seeing the XL for the first time, I wanted it. Now, I have an XL in my hands, and I'd like to share my thoughts on it with you fine people.

Things I Would Like to see Happen with: The Wii U

So, I said I’d make this a thing, so it’s a thing...Not a thing that will happen very often, but a thing none the less (Yes, I realize that it’s been months since I last did one of these, and that was back before we knew that Black 2 & White 2 are a thing).

Wii would like to play with U!

 Now, I know that the Wii U will be out within the year, so, I’m sure we’ll hear stuff about this sooner or later...This is strictly based on the actual Console, so I’m just going to say now that I  won’t say things like “I’d like to see a Zelda on the Wii U!” The games are a given. ALL People want games on their consoles. It doesn’t need to be said, so again, this is strictly features I’d like to see on the console...

Seven Things I Want Announced At E3

Yes my friends, it’s that time of the year again. A time for us to all huddle around our computer screens for four whole days and watch as our favorite developers and studios go up on stage to either embarrass themselves or blow us all away. I’m of course talking about E3. When it comes to the gaming world, nothing is bigger than E3. All the developers get together and announce all kinds of new stuff to knock our nerdy little socks off. Well, unless you’re Valve.

You're a wizard, Eric...

This year’s E3 is already underway, with Microsoft’s conference already taking place, offering little fanfare and nothing interesting except Halo 4 and a South Park RPG. However, all the other companies have still yet to go so might as well get some last minute speculation in there. Here are seven things I’d love to see announce at E3. Now, I tried to be a little realistic here. No ridiculous pipedreams like an Elite Beat Agents sequel or even a Smash Bros. announcement. Just going with things that seem plausible. (For the most part.)

VGM of the Week #30

Hey there Party People, Are you ready for some Music? No? Well TOO BAD! 'Cause I have some Music that's straight outta a Video Game!

Going with a True Classic this time...One that should be embedded in our memories until the end of time



That's right, the Super Mario Bros. Theme! I'm surprised noone has used this yet, it's a True Classic. This song has probably been done with every instrument out there, remixed to death, but the Original is still the best version in my eyes. You have to love the Chiptune-y goodness of this amazing Classic.

So, enjoy this glimpse into the Red Plumber's Humble Beginnings

Retro Review: Kirby's Dream Land

This year is Kirby's 20th birthday, so I'll be following in Matt's footsteps and doing a series of Kirby reviews. Where else to start but at the very beginning? Since I tend to ramble, these reviews will generally run longer than Matt's, as evidenced by this 10 minute review of a 25-minute game. And since they'll tend to run longer, I can't say how frequently they'll be released, so we might as well not wait 'til August to get started. So sit back and enjoy my first Kirby review!

First Pokémon Black/White 2 Details Revealed

We haven't posted much this week so I figure now is as good a time as any as some details about Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 have been released and that's kind of our thing.

Corocoro, the magazine responsible for many Pokémon related leaks of the past, as well as being responsible for hyping fans up just to shoot them down with lame announcements like Poképark 2, has revealed the first details and screenshots of the game. You can check out the first artwork of the two playable characters as well as the rival on the right there and I'll put the rest after the jump. Here's some bullet points on the actual details.

- set in Unova
- set 2 years later than Black/White
- Unova is partially frozen
- has 300 Pokémon within it
- various new areas in Unova
- this includes Hiougi City, where you begin your journey
- another area has a gym leader who focuses upon Poison; Homika and another gym leader is Shizui, the Water-type leader
- new researcher called Akuroma who researches Pokémon Strength
- Hiougi City has a Pokémon Centre and a Trainer School
- it also has areas where you can look upon the other areas
- Black Kyurem will know the move Freeze Shock
- White Kyurem knows the move Ice Burn
- the Unova Pokédex contains a combination of old and new Pokémon
- Psyduck is #026, Riolu is #033 and Metagross is #254
- June 24rd Japanese release date reconfirmed

The original Black and White games decided to try to "start fresh" by not including the ability to catch or battle any of the first four generations of Pokémon until after you finished the game. It's good to see they're going back to the ways of pretty much every Pokémon game since by allowing you to catch a mix of old and new from the get-go. Not to sound old fashion, but I prefer it that way. It's nice to get to know new Pokémon but it's also comforting to know there's old favorites you already know pretty well to fall back on if needed. But the real question is, who will annoy us in all the caves? Woobat or Zubat?

Pokémon + Nobunaga's Ambition Coming Stateside

In a quite bizarre move, Nintendo announced last year that Pokémon would be crossing paths with the Japanese strategy RPG series, Nobunaga's Ambition, last year. The game is all about Japanese warlords, some of which are based on real people, duking it out with a number of different Pokémon. It was released last month and due to the obscurity of the series Pokémon was crossing paths with, many people, myself included, doubted it would ever come stateside.

Well, I was wrong because Nintendo announced today that the game will be coming to the states on June 18th for the original Nintendo DS under the title Pokémon Conquest. Which makes sense, it's more likely to sell copies with a generic name rather than attached "Nobunaga's Ambition" on the end.

Still, it just goes to show where NoA's priorities are when it comes to localization. If this game involved, say, Fire Emblem, rather than Pokémon, it's likely it wouldn't have gotten localized. But since it's Pokémon, and will likely sell because of it, it's localized without question. We have to fight tooth and nail for games like Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story but if an obscure Pokémon game comes out in Japan that not nearly as many people care about, it's no big deal to localize it. Ah well. At least we are getting all three of these games. Hopefully Nintendo will announce a US release for Fire Emblem: Awakening next.

The Top Five Nintendo NES Games that Deserve the Kid Icarus Treatment

So hey, Kid Icarus: Uprising was just released and it’s kind of a big deal. Nintendo fans the world over are rejoicing in victory because this once dead franchise has finally come back to life and you know what, it’s actually really good. They’ve managed to take the relatively simple and undeveloped world of the original Kid Icarus and has turned it into something epic and fun. I haven’t played it yet but it got reviews and apparently has about 40+ hours of content. That’s insane. Hopefully it’ll catch on and this franchise will live again.

"Sorry to keep you waiting for 20 years."

So, in keeping with tradition, let’s talk about other NES games by Nintendo that could potentially make a comeback into something epic. Nintendo has a very strong wealth of a backlog of franchises and very rarely utilizes all of them. They like to stick to the tried and true like Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Kirby, etc. which is fine, those are all great franchises but sometimes it’s nice to see some of the classics get revived. Punch-Out!! For the Wii was a great return to form for the long dormant franchise but unfortunately wasn’t as well received by consumers as Nintendo would have hoped. Hopefully Kid Icarus can change that and Nintendo will try with another franchise. So let’s take a look at the five I’d like to see the most.

Review - Kid Icarus: Uprising

The original Kid Icarus is an NES classic, sure, but playing it today is like pulling teeth. Its meandering pace, frustrating difficulty, and seemingly endless verticality are... well, let's just say there are quite literally hundreds of platformers more worthy of your time and efforts, many of them on the NES itself. But after 20 years and a playable inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kid Icarus re-asserts itself as a franchise with Kid Icarus: Uprising. How does it hold up? Well, rest assured, it's loads better than the original, though it's not without it's share of problems either.

The Ten Best Mario Party Mini-Games

So hey, Mario Party 9 for the Wii was released yesterday and I find that crazy. There are nine Mario Party games! No, there are 11 because of DS and Advance. ELEVEN! That is some insane stuff right there. Too bad the quality seemed to be on a constant downhill slide ever since 4. Regardless of how the quality in later games have been, there are very few multiplayer experiences out there quite like Mario Party. I remember plenty of great memories spent playing with friends and family, even some of the lesser ones like Mario Party 6. Mario Party is a lot of fun when you have a group to play with.

Go die, Domination.

But what makes Mario Party Mario Party? Well, the mini-games of course! Each game packs what seems like 60+ and they always make for a good time. That is unless they’re luck based or require you to tap A furiously for 10 seconds like Domination, those games are awful. But hey, we’re not here to talk about the bad, we’re talking about the good. The ten best, in fact. Yes, in honor of Mario Party 9’s release I’m looking at what I consider to be the ten best Mario Party mini-games. But before I begin, keep in mind that I don’t own Mario Party 7 or Advace, so none of those will be on here. Technically I don’t own 1 or 5 either but I’ve played those plenty with friends so I know of them. Anyway, let’s get started.