What are you playing/what have you purchased?

[R7038 XX]

I Started The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker from where i left off.

I have a nearly complete gallery, except for [spoiler]Knuckle[/spoiler] because i do not have a Game boy cable to find him.

[HYRUL3]

I Started The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker from where i left off.

I have a nearly complete gallery, except for [spoiler]Knuckle[/spoiler] because i do not have a Game boy cable to find him.

Great game, but since it's been out for ten years you really don't need spoiler tags. Especially for the name of a character that's not really important.

For my birthday my girlfriend surprised me and paid off my pre-order for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron which is out on Tuesday. Really excited, but I'm not sure if I should wait and finish Darksiders II first, or put Darksiders on hold and start Transformers, because I definitely can't beat Darksiders in that amount of time.

[Naner]

Bought Mario after a hassle this morning and am now four stages in.

It's... What you'd expect. With more coins.

[HYRUL3]

Bought Mario after a hassle this morning and am now four stages in.

It's... What you'd expect. With more coins.

That's not all that surprising. I'll probably rent it but that's it.

[Naner]

Well, at least Iwata stated there won't be another game like it on the 3DS. Meaning they'll probably have some focus on adding more stages to it via (hopefully free or cheap) DLC throughout most of the system's life.

It's a really fun game, though. I'm certainly going to work on completing 100% of it. Collecting Star Coins is still very entertaining.

[HYRUL3]

Well, at least Iwata stated there won't be another game like it on the 3DS. Meaning they'll probably have some focus on adding more stages to it via (hopefully free or cheap) DLC throughout most of the system's life.

It's a really fun game, though. I'm certainly going to work on completing 100% of it. Collecting Star Coins is still very entertaining.

That's good. I'll give it a shot. My girlfriend and I ended up getting the one for Wii today to play together, and we're having a blast. I guess playing it with someone else makes a huge difference.

[R7038 XX]

Brother just got 3DS and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dreams Drop Distance.
and AR cards!

[Chris]

Having a blast with Skyrim still, played almost 20 hours so far. I really hope the next zelda on Wiiu can have a gameworld just as vast and populated. TP was heading in the right direction in this regard but was empty for the most part and well SS was just pants. Saving a world with a population of 20 people doesn't really seem that epic.

I had quick go of CS:GO other day also, having never played a CS game before I wasn't sure what to expect, it was better than expected, really tense when you are down to one person on each team trying to find them and avoiding getting bum raped. Never was keen on 1 life per round modes in other shooters but think will give this one a go. The buying weapons thing after each round seems bit odd though. Going to need to tweak my settings a lot to get comfortable, the default ones just make me shoot the floor a lot ha.

[HYRUL3]

Saving a world with a population of 20 people doesn't really seem that epic.

This. Still waiting for a Zelda with a fully populated world. I would love an Assassin's Creed level of population... people everywhere.

Last night my girlfriend and I played New Super Mario Bros Wii until we got to World 3. Had an absolute blast.

[CapCom]

Yeah, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is definitely not a good game. It's harder than previous ones (good), feels a LOT like Super Mario Bros. 3 (nostalgia), but there hasn't been anything mindblowing and is really just more of the same (boring).

I honestly can't see myself trying to collect a million coins in this, and after clearing world 1 and getting about halfway through world 2, I honestly am not that excited about completing it. The whole 'collect every coin' thing seems more for people with ADD, and I was obsessive enough to unlock the final stage in Mario 3D Land.

The "story" elements are also really ridiculous. The designers spent a lot of time coding those into the game, but I found them completely retarded. It's like they put them in there just because they need them, but the game would be just fine without them. Same with the 3D features. Even Virtual Boy Wario Land showed you everything the system could do with 3D in the first couple of stages. Why is this even on this platform?

Ok, there are a couple things that I thought were good. There's the golden Mario powerup that turns shit into coins once you throw fireballs at it. And there's the coin hat (which you can get by hitting a multi-coin block 15 times), though this was from Super Mario 3D Land. And there were a lot of gameplay mechanics that referenced Super Mario Bros. 3. And Reznor. Other than that, more of the same.

In comparison, I have Jetpack Joyride on my iPhone. I downloaded the game for free through a promotion, and have put about 3x as much into it since I started playing it last week. That's just casually sitting down and waiting for stuff to happen. It's a simple game - you just fly a jetpack and avoid lasers and missiles and collect coins - but the game feels different enough each time you play because it gives a set of challenges you can try and do. So instead of trying to see how far you can get, maybe you have to collect a certain amount of items or just barely avoid the lasers, or pilot a vehicle for a certain distance. Yes, you're doing the same thing, but each game only lasts about 2 or 3 minutes max (at least for me), and you can immediately hit replay after the stats screen. It's got great humor, excellent use of micro-goals/achievements, and so it feels simple and fresh enough each time. This is basically what a next-gen Space Invaders would be.

If you want New Super Mario Bros. the Wii version is the way to go - four player and each level feels unique. If you want to play mobile games, a 3DS is not the platform you want. With just Kid Icarus, Pokemon, and Mario 3D Land as selling points, and hardly any major titles coming out for it over the next 6 months (Luigi's Mansion got delayed, and Castlevania won't be out until late next year), I can't really recommend this platform to anyone, unless maybe they never had a DS in the first place.

[Chris]

I'm starting to feel the same about the 3DS, I had hoped the games would come when I picked it up at a discounted price, this was before the official price cut, but alas they haven't arrived. Resident Evil was great, Mario 3D was fun but forgettable and OOT remake was a remake. Not sure I'd like Kid Icarus so not bought it. Afaik the DS had a slow start also, I picked it up really late and had lots to pick from, I'm hopeful that in time we will get some gems just like the DS.

[HYRUL3]

Chris, you should at the very least rent KI:U. I love it. You may also.

CapCom, thanks for posting about NSMB2. Everything I hear or read has me less and less enthusiastic.

[jacobe12]

I find it hard to get excited for any Mario title anymore. It's just more of the same to me. And the last one I played (New Super Mario Bros. Wii) just wasn't very fun to play. I'd rather see other new Nintendo titles besides a new Mario.

[HYRUL3]

I find it hard to get excited for any Mario title anymore. It's just more of the same to me. And the last one I played (New Super Mario Bros. Wii) just wasn't very fun to play. I'd rather see other new Nintendo titles besides a new Mario.

I'd rather see new titles too, but with NSMBWii, did you play alone?

My girlfriend and I played again tonight, got through worlds 3 and 4. This is an utter blast in co op. And it's a great gateway drug to get her to play with me often. I think once we beat this we'll tackle my other unfinished Wii games- Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (trading off every level/death)... meanwhile when I have my own free time while she's working and I'm not, I'll hit my solo backlog.

[Naner]

Honestly, the only thing I can seriously complain about is the game's price. $40 is a lot for a game at this level, especially when the same amount can get you bigger games like Kid Icarus Uprising or Resident Evil: Revelations. However, their decision to price it at this point is completely understandable: They knew very well the game would sell tons regardless of the price. $25 or $30 would've been a fair price, I believe, but I don't think it would've raised sales enough (particularly because they're already very high).

The game is simple, straight-forward fun. I've been enjoying it more than I remember enjoying the Wii game (multiplayer is not my thing in that game; stuff gets really ugly if the players' Mario skills are unbalanced) and, due to the portable and in-the-SD-card nature of this game, I'm sure I'll play it from time to time a lot in the next few years to get my 2D fix. Besides, the last time I played a new 2D Mario was three years ago. It was about time for some more.

The level design is pretty great - especially when you remember this game was mostly made by a team who had never made a Mario game before, but with direction and supervision of the seniors. Star Coins are often well-hidden and fun to find, and making your way through the maze-like Ghost Houses is as fun as in Super Mario World.

The only new power-up is the Golden Flower (which is extremely fun, BTW), but can you really complain about the inclusion of the Raccoon Suit or the Mega Mushroom? Maybe the only complaint I have in that department is that the really awesome power-ups don't appear as often as you'd like them to. But maybe I just haven't found enough hidden blocks containing said items.

Coin-collecting is indeed a gimmick. They could've worked on a slightly different storyline involving the coins and come on guys, where's Wario in the middle of all this gold? In any case, if you're playing Mario for the story, there's something fundamentally wrong with you. The coins are fun and give the game a slightly more competitive edge through Co-op and StreetPass.

The game isn't hard, but some stages do have a challenge to them that will make you lose a few lives. Not that it'll bother you: Due to the amount of coins in the game, you'll have hundreds of lives before you know it.

And yeah, the game is somewhat short. I'm at the fifth of the six main worlds. However, there are plenty of secret stages I haven't played and three hidden worlds that you can unlock by finding secret passages or collecting enough Star Coins and I'll have to go through most of the stages I've already beaten to collect remaining Star Coins. Still, it's probably the 2D Mario with the largest number of stages in total.

It's not a life-changing game, of course, but saying it's "not good" is an exaggeration. Do give it a shot. And again, there won't be another so soon... aside from NSMBU. And speaking of it, I believe NSMBU will be the better game in terms of pure quality, due to the developing team's experience, but I really prefer this type of game in my pocket.