New Project

Hey guys,
Once again, due to exams and other things, I haven't been able to post as much as I would like,
And with Ocarina of Time 3D coming out tomorrow I doubt I'll get another done any time soon.
I just thought I'd make a post to tell you guys about a new project that I may be doing in the near future.

Hopefully, I'd like to start doing Video reviews, 'Top 10s' and maybe even 'Let's plays' on Youtube,
I've been inspired by many other people doing similar things and I think that it'd be fun to have a go at myself
But yeah, hopefully you'll see those in the near future

Toku-R

Pokémon Mini

Hey guys, I know I haven't exactly been active as of late, but I've had alot of things to do,
a new Youtube video, revision, and I've been getting out alot more recently, I just haven't had the
time nor energy to get this blog done.
So I decided, instead of one, how about three posts?
I'll start this with the Pokémon Mini.

Not alot of Franchises get their own console dedicated to them but Pokémon did!
The Pokemon Mini, despite it's looks, is not a virtual pet game or a console with only one game built into it.
It's actually an actual handheld console with interchangeable cartridges just like the Game Boy that came out in 2001.

Showing the comparison between Pokémon Mini and GBA cartridges,

It plays pretty simple, monochrome games similar to the look of the original Game Boy games.
This console is quite impressive because of it's hardware features,
the Pokémon Mini included a real-time internal clock, a vibration function, a shock detector for very basic motion control and an infra-red transmitter to play with up to 5 other players.
These some of these features were actually a first for handhelds and really impressive for a console of it's time, especially since this console only measured about 7.5cm to 5.8cm, about the size of a Game Boy Cartirdge!



This console pretty much went under the radar for many people and it wasn't a huge hit,
and that could be for a few reasons. Firstly, the price...
At launch the Pokémon Mini was going at £40 for the console with a game included,
now for a console of this size and the short nature of the games I think that £40 is a bit too much to ask,
and you're still expected to pay out £20 for each game!

A Pokémon Mini playing Pikachu's Rocket Start

The other reason that I think the console didn't do as well as it should've was the game library.
The total number of games released for the system was a measly 10! And that number was even smaller for Europe, who only got 5 games!
Some people did reverse engineer the system to allow the games to be played on other platforms,
some people even made their own games that were capable of being played on the console itself!

The Pokémon Mini is quite a cool and quirky console and, not having one myself, I hope to find one soon

Toku-R

Pokémon Mini Library

I decided to do this in a separate post, just so I keep things neat and  just so the Pokémon Mini post doesn't get too big.

The Games

1. Pokémon Party Mini

Was a collection of 8 mini games, this was included with the Pokémon Mini,
They varied from launching Pikachu to a finish line, to calling 'In or Out' in Tennis,
to Dribbling a ball with Chansey.

2. Pokémon Pinball Mini



Play as a Diglett or Pikachu, wasn't so much pinball, as you had to get the ball into various holes,
many levels of varying difficulty, lots to play.
Could also capture Pokémon like in the main Poké-Pinball series. 

3. Pokémon Puzzle Collection



My personal favourite, A collection of different styles of puzzle games.
Shadow Puzzle saw you fit shapes into a shadow to make a pokémon,
Motion Puzzle was a sliding puzzle game, making an image of a pokémon,
and Escape made you move block to help a pokémon escape into a hole.
You could also unlock a bonus game for completing your Mini-Dex, where you have to line up
pipes to complete the Pikachu circuit.

4. Pokémon Shock Tetris



Basically a Pokémon-Themed Tetris, you can also capture Pokémon by clearing lines,
adding them to your Mini-Dex

5. Pokémon Zany Cards



Was a collection of 4 Pokémon themed card games

The rest of the games on this list are Japanese only and is a shame since some of these are pretty good!

6. Pokémon Puzzle Collection 2 (JP)



Volume 2 of Pokémon Puzzle Collection was pretty much a remake of the original,
featured 80 new puzzles as well as some old ones.

7. Pokémon Race Mini (JP)



This was an interesting one, you play as a Pikachu, racing other pokémon in a side-scrolling,
platformer, dodging obstacles and jumping ledges

8. Togepi's Great Adventure (JP)



Zelda style dungeon explorer, makes use of the
Pokémon Mini's motion detector, shake the Poké-mini to make Togepi
roll around stage and to the exit

9. Pokémon Breeder Mini (JP)



Take care of one of the Generation III starters,
play games with them and train them, similar to a tamagotchi.
Wish we'd got this here, this looks brill.

10. Pichu Bros. Mini (JP)



And finally, Pichu Bros. Mini, similar to Pokémon Party Mini,
this is a mini game collection which sees you playing games with the pokémon
featured in the Pichu Bros. specials.
Shake Trees with Tediursa, Skateboard with the Pichu's, play cath with Cubone
and jump with Hoppip. Great graphics with this one.


And there you have it, the ENTIRE library of Pokémon Mini games.
I hope to find and collect all of these one day as they seem really fun.

Toku-R

Hidden Gems: Dragon's Curse

Dragon's Curse

is a cute cartoony action adventure game released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16
It's quite a unique game for it's time due to the features and it's one of my favourite Retro Games.

You'll be exploring Deserts and all-sorts

You begin the game at the end of the previous Wonder Boy game (Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair)
with the best equipment you can get, you head towards the final boss' lair and defeat him,
then a flame appears from his body and curses you, transforming you into a Lizard-Man.
The story of the game is to travel the land, destroy the evil dragons and regain your human form.
As you destroy each dragon he curses you into a new form, each having their own abilities,
later on in the game you can resume old forms to solve later puzzles.

The first thing you'll notice about the game is it's bright, cheery, cartoony graphics and it's similar upbeat music, it's stuff like this in a game that I like and it was the reason I went for this game in the first place.

All the forms you take in Dragon's Curse

It's quite a simple Side-scrolling Action game on the surface but has some cool RPG elements beneath all of that. It's pretty similar to Zelda II, except without the annoying new screen for every enemy you bump into and without the Top-Down Overworld exploration.
For example, while there's no experience/level system, you power up by buying Armour, shields and swords which boost your AP (Attack Power), DP (Defense Power) and CP (Charisma Points)
Attack and Defence Power is pretty much typical and need no explanation, however, the Charisma Points system is quite a unique addition to this game.



The items that the Shopkeepers sell you depends entirely on Charisma points,
if you don't have a high enough charisma then they wont sell you a certain item.
Your Charisma points depend on your form and the armour you're wearing, so you're gonna wanna
wear your sharpest get-up if you wanna buy that Crystal Blade.

In my opinion, this game is a highly addictive, fun and interesting game that everyone (with a little patience)
can enjoy. But don't be fooled by it's child-like appearance, this game gets HARD later on.

Toku-R

Collection Update

I'm sorry, once again my new post hasn't been a review but another collection update,

I haven't really had the time to make posts despite being on my holiday and I can't seem to get into the right frame of mind to do a review, but anyways.

I was at another bootsale today and managed to find some pretty cool stuff,
got a couple of films, LOST season 1 for £2 but no anime this time.
What I did find was a bundle of N64 games, none in particular that I would've picked out
(the only 2 I would've I owned already) but for the price they were going at I couldn't have left them!

I picked up 11 games for just £4.50!

I was pretty chuffed to have found a Super Scope

(or a Nintendo Scope as it's known over here)

Not only that but it was CIB, Manual, pieces and everything!

It really is quite a cool peripheral and all of this pretty much mint for £5,

I couldn't go wrong!

The last thing I bought today is nothing really special but it means alot to me,

My older brother and I had this game when we were younger and it just disappeared one day.

I really enjoyed it and missed it quite a bit after we lost it so I was really happy to have found this today

Quest for Camelot

For a game based on a Disney Film you wouldn't expect it to be so good and, judging from reviews, you're probably right. It's nothing really special, just a basic game but the reason I like this game so much is because of the memories behind it.

I haven't had much time to play through this game again but I will soon.

I'm really happy at all the stuff I managed to bag today, really lucky to have found it all.

Toku-R

Bootsale Swag

I realise that most of the posts I've been making recently have been about my collection rather than reviews of Retro Games, admittedly I haven't had alot of time on the computer as I've been going out alot more but still..
Is it a bad thing?

Anyway, I've been to another boot sale and picked up quite a bit of stuff,
I got 2 series of anime and a few manga too, I also found some Retro Items



Managed to find a Gameboy Colour for only £1 and a copy of Mulan inside
 and Advance Wars for £1.50



and F-Zero X and Jet Force Gemini £4 for the 2 :D

Pretty happy with what I found yesterday and pretty pleased with today too!

Rented Super Monkey Ball 3D and Rayman 3D for the week for just a fiver!
played em for a little bit and think they're both great, the 3D effect is pretty awkward on SMB3D though..

Anyways, will get back into the habit of reviewing pretty soon I hope..

Toku-R

Games from the Past and Duo Screen

Okay so this weekend, the creators of the anime/gaming blog Duo Screen and I decided to meet up!
We met in town and then shopped for a bit before coming back to my house to play video games and chat,
I had already met one of the creators (Caialn) before but it was my first time meeting Danwen so that was fun.

Back at mine we got to know each other more and played a few arcade games and then I watched while Caialn played Majora's Mask, we pretty much spent the whole day together and it was pretty fun!

Caialn playing my 3DS and Danwen reading my manga

Also, at another bootsale I managed to find another cool retro related item,
I picked up this Sega Mega Drive emulator console at the bootsale for only £1!
It's normally found at about £20 - £30 too so I saved quite a bit there.



It's quite a nifty console that also looks quite cool in my opinion,
It has 20 Mega Drive games on it such as Alex Kidd, Sonic and Knuckles, Golden Axe, Ecco and so forth.
Admittedly I have most of the titles on this console on other platforms like PS2 or those TV plug-in games theres only about 5 that I don't have but I don't mind a bit since it's still a cool find IMO

Toku-R

Hitting the Jackpot

Today, I got up at 12:00 after yesterday's long and fun night.

 I was told we were going to a farm, apparantly there was a rummage sale sort of thing so I agreed to come along, after all, you never know what you're going to find at these things.

I often dream about finding a person selling a pile of Anime or N64 Games but I could have never expected to find what I did there!

We looked over the whole place and picked up a Chinese Lacquer-ware Box for £2.50 which was really cool, I doubt that it's anything valuable but it's a nice find none the less!

After looking once, we were about to head off and I VERY NEARLY missed it..

I looked down and saw a black N64 and a Sega Master System II!

I asked the man who ran the stall how much it was and he said he'll give me the lot for a fiver!

What a result! 2 great retro consoles for £5!

But that wasn't the whole of it, I got home and on further inspection of the dusty, dirty box I found that there wasn't just 2 consoles in there but FOUR!

I found a black N64, a Sega Master System (1 and 2) and a Sega Mega Drive II!

And with them came a Master System game (Rampart) 3 Master System Controllers,

A Sega Mega Drive controller and the Sega Master System Light Phaser!

(and all the leads and plugs necessary to play)

Needless to say I was BEYOND chuffed, 4 consoles, 4 controllers, 1 light gun and a game for FIVE POUNDS. This has got to be the GREATEST thing I have ever found at any sale ever!

As the Consoles hadn't been touched in quite awhile they were caked in dust and other dirt so it took me a good 30 mins to clean up and get them all sorted out and imagine my surprise when I take a look inside my new Nintendo 64 and find that this console also had the Expansion Pak!

After getting all this stuff for so cheap I was curious to see how much all of this would cost if I were to buy online. To save time, I just searched Amazon

Sega Master System - Used from £16

Sega Master System II - Used from £28

Sega Mega Drive II - Used from £23

Nintendo 64 - Used from £26

Rampart - Used from £3 

Sega Master System Controller - Used from £8 each
Light Phaser - Used from £5
(all prices include postage and packaging prices)

So without even adding all of this up you can see I saved an ASS-LOAD of money on this
and I added a ton of new (old) stuff to my Retro Collection :D

Toku-R

Nintendo 3DS

While not Retro, Today is the European Launch of the Nintendo 3DS!
I've been waiting for this for over a year now, since they announced the thing,
So I've been saving up nice and managed to pick it up today, the first day of launch!
Due to a slightly annoying mix up, I had to travel all the way back to town to swap the 3DSs over as mmy dad handed the wrong one... But as a result, I owned both colours of the 3DS!
Check it out.

Front of Both Boxes (Top - Cosmos Black / Bottom - Aqua Blue)

Dad brought home the Black one but I preordered the Blue one and the worker at the 

till mixed em up so I had to go all the way back into Town to pick up the right one..

When I opened the box and took out my Nintendo 3DS I was AMAZED, and I hadn't even switched the thing on!

The system has a GORGEOUS metallic body with a thin plastic coating which makes it looks just..wow.
Flip the lid and you can see the Circle Pad the Widescreen 3D Display and the 3D slider

I haven't got pics of me playing it but I even switching it on and seeing such simple things as Text Bubbles in 3D was astounding, it makes it seem as if there's no screen but instead, a window through which you can see everything inside. Even the little menu title screens were impressive!

I had a quick go at making a Mii and was impressed with the added hair styles and colours and the way you could look around your Mii in 3D. I then played 2 of the 6 AR games (AR Target and AR Shot)
they were really fun but I only had a quick go so I could probably get lots more out of it.
I also played a quick game of Face Raiders and I was REALLY impressed with that, It takes a photo of your face and then the photo jumps out at you in full 3D, dons a warlord-style helmet and rushes away, the aim of the game is to move your 3DS around, looking throughout the environment you are in through the Stereo 3DS outside cameras, you find small faces wearing Helmets and shoot them before they get a chance to kiss the screen and decrease your life bar. It's a very fun game for Score-Chasers.

All in all, I had HIGH expectation for the 3DS but I can still say that, now owning it, it surpasses all of them,
This console was well worth the wait and hopefully I can buy a game for it soon as I didn't have the money to buy one at Launch.

A pic of me holding the N3DS Box with my cat in the background

Toku-R

Mario & Yoshi

Mario & Yoshi...(also known as just Yoshi or Yoshi's Egg in some places)

Another Game Boy game I've had for a good 11-12 years.

It was originally a NES game but was ported to the Game Boy, which is the version I have

It's a puzzle game where you control Mario (Or Luigi in the NES version)

who contols 4 platforms on which objects and eggs fall on.

You have Goomba, Piranha Plants, Bloopers and Boos,

You also have a top and bottom half of an egg.

You can match up 2 of any of the objects (as long as they are the same type)

by moving the plates that Mario holds in his hands,

He holds on to 2 plates at a time and can switch them about to make sure the

object you want lands on the plate you want.

While you get points for matching the enemies up, the real objective lies with the egg shells,

You have to start off with the bottom half of an egg and then place the top half over it.

The egg with close, hatch and a Yoshi will pop out giving you +1 on the Yoshi score.

The more enemies you sandwich in between the two egg shells, the stronger the Yoshi will be.

You basically just have to try and get as high as you can, there's no real plot to this game.

Sandwiching 2 enemies between the eggs

The Game also has 2 modes,
In Game A you stack and match the objects while avoiding reaching the top, much like Tetris
and in Game B, there are 4 towers for you to match up and bring down, doing it as quick as possible.
You have 3 pieces of cheery music to listen to while you play as well, my favourite is Music C because it reminds me of Pokémon Red and Blue so much.

It's a good game, but it's nothing special really, it's not bad in anyway but it can get repetitive after awhile.
However, like Tetris, this can be an extremely addictive game too, it's well worth a try and it's good for killing 5-10 minutes

P.S. Sorry for the shoddy picture, it's almost impossible to find good screenies of this game.
and yes.. My GBA SP has been damaged as you can tell by the black ink leak on the bottom and sides,
Oh well..

Toku-R

Majora's Mask + More N64 Stuff

, --

Today was a good day, it was warm, the sun was out and there was not a single cloud in the sky..

More importantly I managed to bag another N64 Controller, a Rumble Pak and
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask! All of that for only £17.00 too!

Getting Majora's Mask completes my Zelda N64 collection and brings me one step close to my Childhood collection. (I'm trying to collect every N64 game I had when I was a kid)

Majora's Mask was, like Ocarina of Time, a huge part of my childhood and one of the games I have most memories of and playing it again has brought back most of the feelings I had when I was young.
The main selling point of the game was the power of transformation given to you through the 4 masks you collect on your Journey
(one for each of the three main races and another special one)
You also collect 20 other masks throughout the game too and while it isn't necessary to collect them all, they are essential in the last part of the game if you want to receive the final, special mask.

Link receiving the Blast Mask

Other than the usage of masks, this game added quite a few other things since OoT.

First of all the Sound is clearly better, music is more detailed and has alot more going on in it and most, if not all, of the NPC's have voices when they speak which really adds to their character.

 Secondly the textures have been improved making everything look alot nicer.

Thirdly, and the one I like the most, is the addition of new animations for Link and other NPC's which, like the voices, gives them more character and makes them more life-like than before. I also love the fact that no matter how small the NPC is, they always seem to have a story behind them of some sort.

Link talking to Anju, the NPC who has, arguably, the longest and most indepth Sidequest 

However, even though MM improved on OoT in many ways, in my opinion it still can't stand up to Ocarina.

I can't quite put my finger on what it is, perhaps it's because I had stronger feelings towards Oot when I was younger? While I will admit that Majora's Mask's Storyline was alot deeper and more emotionally engaging, I don't think it was quite as epic as Ocarina of Time's, I know there will be people that disagree but that's just my personal opinion.

The other thing about MM vs Oot is the fact that Majora's Mask only has 4 Temples while Ocarina has 9.

Now I know that Majora's mask has alot more to do to get to the temples but I just don't think it justifies the drop in number.

Stone Tower Temple in Majora's Mask

Even though I'm only at the Woodfall Temple at the moment, playing through Majora's Mask has been IMMENSELY fun again.

One other thing, I thought I'd share a pic I took of my copy of Majora's Mask,

The Gold Cartridge is sexy..

I think this picture captures the dark theme of the game while still showing what fun it is to play :D


ALSO: My friends have a blog about Games, Anime and other stuff that has been going on,
It's called Duo Screen, please check it out!

http://duoscreen.blogspot.com/

Toku-R

Kirby's Dream Land

To kick off my Nintendo Game Boy Reviews, I thought I'd review not only the first Game Boy game I got, but one of the FIRST video games I got.

Kirby's Dream Land (which I got with my first Game Boy Colour and Pokémon Red), is still a game I pick up and play from time to time because of how it reminds me of my childhood, the music, the sound effects and the graphics are all very dear to me in that way and I pretty much love everything about this game save a few small points.

KDL, like all of the other Kirby games, is a simple, side-scrolling platformer.

You play as Kirby who sucks up enemies and either spits 'em out or swallows 'em,

one thing that did disappoint me about KDL was that it was slightly different from previous Kirby titles.

Normally you can find an enemy, swallow him and gain his powers but in this game you can't gain ANY powers from ANY enemies. Sure you can pick up the Microphone like last time, or even grab the Superspicy Curry or the Mint Leaf but it doesn't feel the same without the enemy powers and it also gives the swallow function no use what-so-ever. It may be disappointing but it's a small gripe and it doesn't affect the gameplay too much.

Playing through Kirby's Dream Land again brought back some serious memories,

The Green Greens level, the beach one, the cloud one, all remind me of when I was 3 again...

As I played through it for this review I tried to pick out my favourite piece of music and it was pretty hard but I settled for the Float Islands theme for it's tropical sound :D

I remembered all the bosses and how to beat them, all the tunes (I was whistling along to most of them)

and what I found interesting was the fact that Lolo from the NES game Adventure of Lolo made a cameo appearance with his girlfriend Lala as the 2nd stage's boss. When I was a child I hadn't known this as I had never played Adventures of Lolo but now noticing it for the first time was pretty cool.

If I had anything bad to say about this game other than the lack of abilities, would be that it is too short. This game can easily be beaten in 20 minutes if you know what you're doing and it's really a shame because it has so much charm and it seems like a waste because of it's length. There are only 4 stages with a boss ad mini boss each which still only takes 5 mins max to beat, You then have a stage which you have to replay small sections of previous levels and then beat their boss, after that you fight King Dedede and beat the game, so it is pretty short.

Either way, Kirby was a part of my child-hood and I still love it now,

It got me into gaming and for that I'm grateful to it

If you haven't played this game, try to pick it up somewhere you're sure to enjoy it

Toku-R

Nintendo Game Boy

This Generation would look at Nintendo and say that their handhold is the Nintendo DS,
they wouldn't be wrong but way back before I was born there was the Nintendo Game and Watch, the original Nintendo Hand-held. This, however, I did not have as it was way before my time, the first Nintendo hand-held console I ever got was the successor to the Game and Watch.
The Nintendo Game Boy, Developed by Gunpei Yokoi

The Nintendo Game Boy showing Tetris

This chunky console was about the same same as the original Nintendo DS and quite a bit thicker and the cartridges were roughly 4 times the size of a normal DS cartridge. It came out over here in Europe in 1990 and since then has sold 118.69 units worldwide and if you thought that the DS had lots of version and upgrades... you're wrong!
 The Game Boy actually went on to have a total of 7 different models and over 80 different colours and styles between them!
You had the:
Game Boy - The Original
Game Boy Pocket - Which was a smaller edition
Game Boy Light - An edition that had a backlight for the screen
And then you had the Game Boy Colour which came which new games that were in full colour.
The next upgrade was the jump from 8-bit to 32-bit with the Game Boy Advance which was capable of giving you Graphics akin to the SNES but portable!

Upgrades to the Game Boy Advance were:
Game Boy Advance SP - Which was a stylish Flip-top edition of the GBA
and the Game Boy Micro which was a MUCH smaller edition with a clearer and brighter screen.

As you can tell the Game Boy was massively popular and sold MILLIONS of each of the different versions of it, it was the console that started and lead portable gaming into where it is now

Toku-R

My Weekend and N64 Update

Okay, so on the weekend I managed to pick up 2 more N64 games, 

Wave Race 64 and Blast Corps only for £4!

I've only played Wave Race for a little bit but, I think it's quite cool, it feels very realistic the way you race across the ocean, Blast Corps on the other hand I've played for quite a bit.

The basic objective of the game is to smash, blow up and destroy everything, and boy does it feel good.

With a huge variety of vehicles and robots to smash things with (each with their own unique control) Blast Corps is a very deep game that will keep your interest.

The other thing that was cool about the weekend was the fact that I got to play on a genuine six-button, joystick Arcade Cabinet! I know this sounds a bit odd considering how big a fan of Retro Gaming I am but I was born in the mid-nineties and never got the chance to go to many arcades, so for that I am ashamed.

The game itself was Metal Slug, what better game to experience on an AC?

I had a good play, though not as long as I would've liked as I had parents waiting,

but it was a brilliant experience.

I also got to have a quick go at the 3DS when I was in Game,

brilliant stuff as this was the first time I'd seen the console in person.

I had a quick go at the AR Target Shooting and I was very impressed.

Check it out on Youtube or something.

Toku-R