The Virtual Boy

In the life Nintendo I don't think they've ever had something fail as bad as the Virtual Boy. Released on Augest 14, 1995 and discontinued a mere seven months later with only 14 games in it's library, it's safe to say that it failed. Really bad. But is it really as awful as people say? Well yes and no. Also before I go any further I want to say that I actually own a Virtual Boy so I know what I'm talking about.

So what is the Virtual Boy? It was supposed to be a virtual reality helmet type deal. The problem was that most games were from a third person perspective, so basically it was just 3D. But thats just the tip of the failed iceberg. I think where they really went wrong was the fact that it was black and red. Thats all. Just black and red. I suppose you can make the argument that the original Gameboy was in Black and white, But I disagree with this for two reasons.

One. this was supposed to be Virtual Reality!!!!! Life isn't in black and Red!

Two. Gameboy had more of a greyscale effect whereas the virtual boy was just one shade of black and one shade of red. 

Still, It's not all bad. The 3D effects are pretty cool and I would say does have some retro appeal now. My final conclusion is it looks worse than it actually is and there are too many people saying how bad it is before they've actually tried it. I would say check it out. It's interesting.

Thanks for Reading :D

Princess Tomato In Salad Kingdom

Yes that is the real name. A few days ago I showed a few of my friends virtualnes.com. They weren't very interested until I clicked on the "P's" to show them the original Prince of Persia game. They didn't care about Prince of Persia, they cared about the game underneath. "Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom?! What kind of name is that? Click on it!" So I did. 

It's cheesy and obviously meant for seven year-olds or something, but it's actually a really well done game. Since then I've been playing it quite a bit. I haven't found an actual cartridge yet but I hope to find one soon. Apparently it's getting pretty rare.

Basically it's about some vegetable land where everyone lives happily... OR DO THEY?! Minister Pumpkin kidnaps Princess Tomato and steals the turnip emblem, then he takes them to a castle in Zucchini Mountain. Then sends he evil servants named "Farmies" to terrorize salad kingdom. Sir Cucumber must then save the Princess. That's the abridged version of the opening text.

The game plays kind of like a Text Adventure game, but you have a picture of where you are in the middle, and a list of commands on the sides like "MOVE" or "USE".  It works quite well. Basically the goal is to collect the right objects and use them at the right times. 

So in conclusion, I actually like this game. If you want to play it, click right
-->here<--. I also have a twitter now. If you want to follow me click
right
-->here<-- .

Thanks for reading :D

Nintendo's Portables Part 2

The Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS lite, Nintendo DSi, and Nintendo DSi XL. I am not going to write about all of them seperately since they're pretty similar.

At E3 2004 the Nintendo DS was revealed and it was a pretty big step up from the Gameboy Advance. It had two touch screens and much better graphics, it also... well, you've seen a nintendo DS before. I'ma big fan of the DS, it's definately one of Nintendo's better portable systems. The one thing I wish it had were better graphical capabilities. That's where the 3DS comes in.

The 3DS, I already talked about this in my Nintendo E3 post so I'll make this breif. I AM SO EXCITED! I think the first game I'll get for it is the Ocarina of Time game. Anyway, that's my post, hope you liked it, thanks for reading.

Nintendo's Portables

Nintendo has had a lot of portable systems. Starting with the game boy they were always pushing the envelope of what you could do with a system that fits in the palm of you're hand, and they always seemed to pull it off. Well, almost always... I'm looking at you Virtual Boy. So, today I'm going to write about all of Nintendo's portable systems.

The GameBoy.

The GameBoy is the grandfather of all gaming systems. There had been ones before it but none of them did it like GameBoy. The GameBoy was actually somewhat comparable to a game console and was a lot of fun. 

The GameBoy Color

This one is pretty self explanatory, it's a GameBoy... in color.

The GameBoy Advance (SP)

I like the gameboy advance and the Gameboy Advance, But I certainly don't think it's Nintendo's best system. Still, I got a GameBoy Advance for free and enjoy playing it a lot.           

Thats part one of Nintendo's Portables, check back soon for part two.

Get N or get out

So yesterday I went out and purchased a Nintendo 64. I now have the three must have (in my opinion) Nintendo consoles and rests proudly next to my SNES and NES. I got it mainly for Goldeneye, Ocarina of time, Super Mario 64, and Mario Kart 64. So far I'm liking it a lot. I feel like it was the biggest graphical leap Nintendo has ever taken. Don't get me wrong, NES to SNES is a pretty big leap. Same with N64 to Gamecube, but SNES to N64 seems to be the biggest.

The controllers... I think everyone has a strong
opinion about them. I personally love those messed up, three handled chunks of deformed plastic. Besides the cheap Joysticks, that is. There's really no right way, or wrong way to hold them, and the D-pad is the perfect size.

Anyway, that's all for my somewhat short post. Just felt like writing quickly about my N64. This also means I'll write about some N64 games.

Super Mario World

This game is really, really, really good. When I first tried it I didn't really like it. I was used to the NES versions and had a bit of trouble getting used to the 16-bit transition. After just thirty minutes of playing, however, I discovered it to be a great game. Once I beat it it became my favourite Mario title.

What made it so great? First, The sixteen bit graphics. Not just the way it looked, but it could also handle more enemies on the screen without blinking like crazy. Second, the controller. With A, B, X, and Y there were a lot more things you could do. Like Mario's spinnie move. The shoulder buttons also served there small, but useful purpose of allowing you to move the camera angle ahead of you and behind you. Third. YOSHI!! He is a great addition to the Mario series. I don't think the game would have been half as good if it wasn't for him. It was a brilliant way to keep the gameplay fresh while still maintaining the classic Mario stile.

As for the plot... There really isn't one. Bowser captures princess, Mario saves her. That's it. Zero creativity points but you don't play a Mario game for it's story line. If I felt like playing a game with a story line I would pop Final Fantasy VII into my playstation.

So in conclusion... buy this game. Honestly. Buy it. If you don't have an SNES the buy one and this game. It's also on Wii's virtual console if you want to do that. Honestly though. I don't care if you've never played a 2-D sidescrolling platformer before. You will love this game.

Thanks for reading!

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past

This game is EPIC! Honestly, it is a fantastic video game. It remains one the best games of all time in my opinion. It started the classic Zelda formula (Get three things, then unlock seven dungeons). It also brought back the top-looking-down perspective to for those who were mad about the second game switching to a side scroller.

So what happens in A Link To The Past? The real question is really what doesn't happen in a link to the past? This plot is all over the place. But, basically you start as young Link. You get three pendulums, then the master sword, then princess Zelda get's kidnapped. You then get sucked into the Dark world and need to find seven christals.

Thats a breif summary, but so much other stuff happens. I can't even begin to explain all of the other twists and turns, in conclusion, this game is a lot of fun and I think it's the best release for SNES I've played so far.

Thanks for Reading!

The iPad

Yesterday I tried out an iPad for the first time. I know it came out like two months ago in the States but I'm from Canada so it just came out for us. Now that we have that out of the way, I will continue.

When I heard Apple was coming out with a touch screen tablet I was really excited, reeeally excited. I was hoping it would look something like these.

Then they presented it and it was... a big iPod touch. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I wish my ipod touch had a bigger screen but really? This was supposed to be epic! I really didn't see the point in getting one. Still, like I said, yesterday I tried one, and it was decent. No more no less. I loved the web browser, I though the e-book reader was alright but I would need to test it for more than ten minutes to really see how much it would strain your eyes, but over all I liked it. I wouldn't buy one, but I liked it. It someone walked up to me and said "Want a free iPad?" I would definitely say yes.

As for gaming on the iPad... well, I didn't love it. I believe I played RealRacing HD and Touch Grind. Now once again, I'm only writing this on about a ten minute test but it was not very good in my opinion. First of all, that whole tilt to steer thing works fine on an iPod, but on the iPad it's just awkward. Touch Grind wasn't bad, quite good actually. That being said, not at one point in playing did I think "This is almost as good as playing a Nintendo DS or PSP!". Puzzle games I imagine could be good, but that is about all I would actually like playing. 

Well that's all I felt like writing today, thanks for reading!

The NES

So. Today I'll talk about the beginning. Well, kind of the beginning. The NES. I have a collection of NES games and like playing them just as much as any newer generation consoles. If you don't know what the NES is, it was Nintendo's first real gaming console to be released in North America. It single handedly revived the gaming industry. It was accompanied by some accessories like R.O.B. and the Light gun. R.O.B. Stands for Robotic Operating Buddy.

It was a robot that played video games with you. And no. It is not as awesome as it sounds. You press a button, the screen flashes, and you wait for your slow buddy to rotate, and finally press a button. The light gun was a gun (obviously) that you pointed at your T.V. to shoot things like Ducks, if you're playing duck hunt. It actually works quite well.

There were some fantastic games that were released too. First you have good games like Super Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda, and Bad games like Hydlide or Back to the Future. You have great games that weren't made by Nintendo like Blades of Steel, the Castlevania series, or Ninja Gaiden. Then there are games that didn't have Nintendo's seal of approval like Tengen's version of Tetris or Sunday Funday by Wisdom tree. Usually these games were horrible.

In my opinion, the NES is one of the best video game consoles of all time. I feel like it's the Beatles of gaming. Anyway. That's all I feel like writing about.

Thanks for reading!

Hello...

Hello! My name is Micah and I am fourteen years old and this is my first post.

So yesterday I was googling E3 and getting pretty excited. Mainly to see what Nintendo has up it's sleeve. I mean, 3DS, vitality sensor, AND a new Zelda game?! I'm definitely expecting an awesome overload.

There is also Metroid: Other M That there going to show a bit more of. I've never really liked Metroid games that much but this one looks pretty good. I'm interested how to see if they can really pull off a first person shooter and side scroller in the same game.

Of course there are some pretty awesome things by Microsoft and Sony. Obviously Natal and Move. I am a little skeptical about Project Natal though, I mean, if it works the way they say it will I'll be blown away. If it turns out to be like the eye-toy, well, then let's just say I won't be blown away. As for the Move, I think it should be pretty cool. 

Sure it obviously copy's the Wii but once you can get over that it'll probably be like having a Wii with 1080p capabilities. You still wouldn't have any of the awesome Nintendo exclusive titles though.

In conclusion, I've started writing this blog because, maybe one day, if this blog becomes kind of popular-ish, I will be able to go to E3. I know that's crazy but hey, I can dream right?