Over In Four Seconds

This game had Greg, Alex, and I cracking up to no end. It was over so fast, we couldn't believe it.

Bowser Remade

Normally we think of Bowser as a barely credible threat, a comic figure who is constantly stymied by Mario and Co. at every turn. While Mario and Peach can always be cute and soft, Bowser's art design typically straddles the line between silly and barely menacing. The Paper Mario series did little to bolster Bowser's standing, painting him in comic 2D and illustrating him as bumbling at best.

However, Bowser's portrayal in Super Smash Brothers Brawl allows Bowser to get a little pride back. In normal guise, he's a hulking, threatening beast, but when he gets a Smash Ball, well... See for yourself.



ROAR!



It feels good to smash Peach and Mario as a great, powerful, hulking beast once again.

Gaming Deluge

It's crazy just how many games I've been into lately, and not bothered to write a word about any of them.  With my situation at work and the new house, I've really wanted to relax rather than write more, but I certainly plan to put up some words about all the games I've been into recently.  Those include three DS titles (Pokemon: Platinum, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure), a couple PC titles (Demigod and Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor), plus a return to Super Smash Brothers Brawl!  All that and more in the next couple days.  And hopefully some form of gaming goodness this weekend, with a mini-LAN perhaps!

May Video Game Sales Figures; Nintendo on Top

As I once again lament my failure to invest in Nintendo stock nearly two years ago when I predicted the Wii would blow the competitors away, May 2008 video game sales information indicate Nintendo has massive leads over Sony and Microsoft. These sales data come at a time when most US economic factors indicate slowing growth, while video games buck the trend. Similar data from last month tell a similar but not as drastic tale.

According to ArsTechnica, for the month of May, the top two hardware items in terms of volume, the Wii and DS, combine to sell over one million units in May alone in the US. This in the face of the number one game released this month, Grand Theft Auto IV, which is not available on either platform. As a comparison, the PS3, PSP, and 360 sold just under six hundred thousand units combined.

Software sales tell a similar story. While GTA IV is tops, with the 360 version selling nearly nine hundred thousand copies, Nintendo rounds out the rest of the top ten with seven titles; second and third are Mario Kart Wii with just under eight hundred thousand sold and the pricy Wii Fit with nearly seven hundred thousand units shipped. Fourth is GTA IV for PS3, and the rest, six through ten, are all Nintendo titles; Wii Play, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Guitar Hero III for Wii, and the twin Pokemon Dungeon Explorer titles. It truly is a Nintendo renaissance.

With the exception of the recently released and excellent Metal Gear Solid 4, Sony and Microsoft may be having a tough time with pushing consoles in the next few months. Until the holiday season, Nintendo may rule the US markets, and likely overseas as well. But many titles, including Force Unleashed on Wii with lightsaber battles, the rumored Spore for Wii in the next year, COD:5 finding a home on the Wii along with Sonic Unleashed, the new Sonic RPG for the DS, Rock Band Wii, along with the very exciting The Conduit first-person shooter, make Nintendo's future bright.

I sure wish I had bought that stock...

Ganondorf Beatdown Away From Home

Last night the wife, son, and I went to see Greg and fiance to hang out and play a little Wii. We ended up playing some Super Smash Brothers Brawl, as my son just thinks Greg is probably the coolest guy ever and forever wants to play games with him, specifically Brawl.

We played a few matches, and just had everything go on random, courses and characters. I end up with Snake, the kid gets Ganondorf, and for the life of me I can't remember what Greg got. It doesn't matter. Alex just wipes the floor with us.

Now, I am not one who subscribes to the button mashing theory of Brawl. The theory states -- and I'm paraphrasing -- STUPID GAME how-can-you-just-mash-buttons-to-win BULL****!! I think a skilled player can always work around someone just mashing buttons without rhyme or reason, and exploit weaknesses and poor timing.

I don't think this rule applies to my son, or somehow he shows moments of brilliance in this game.

He just wrecked us. I mean there were times when he did Ganondorf specials or smashes and actually had all three other players -- two humans and one CPU -- flying through the air as a result. It was a massacre. In the end I think I had one KO, and he had four. It wasn't pretty.

I really need to ge tthat replay.

Tearing Up All-Star Mode With Peach

Been playing through some more Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I finally completed each of the Target Smash timed challenges. My replay of Sonic beating Level 3 Target Smash in 17.8 seconds is stellar.

But the real fun has been All-Star Mode. I just love all the fights that make up this mode. It plays so differently with each character you take through there. I had a lot of fun with Peach, she's a great fighter.

Peach taking on Mario and crew in Luigi's Mansion.

A funny pose after cracking some Legend of Zelda character heads on the Pirate Ship.

Apparently it's Movie Reference Monday or something...

Target Smash Events Cleared

I cleared out each Target Smash event on each level of difficulty from 1 through 5. I only have each of the timed challenges from level 1 and 2, but I'm attempting on those. The level 5 might be pretty tough, need to have it completed in under 30 seconds. Whew!

Greg's Bachelor Party Gaming Fun

We played a crazy gaming session yesterday. It was the day of Greg's bachelor party, and we spent much of the day at Splatterpark doing paintball. It was an experience, and a lot of fun. My first paintball shot ever tagged Greg right in the shoulder. He maintains it was the hardest hit of all day, and I believe it. He's quick and hard to hit when you aren't lining up Civil War style.

We played several game types, including Capture the Flag, Downed Pilot, and more. Mike's moment of glory came on the Alamo where after patiently sneaking down one side made a dash to the flag and captured victory for his team. I had several great shots, including the killing blow to the pilot's (Kyle) lens on Downed Pilot and another lens shot to Victor's face in our final Ironman bash. Had a great time and we definitely plan to go back.

Afterwards we indulged in pizza and beer and played some Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Both games are just made for big groups in mind, and it was a lot of fun to play with everyone, even on my stupid small TV. I guess to me it's a lot more important to have a group of friends to play with on a tiny TV than play all alone on a huge TV. Pretty easy choice there.

But it was a great day of gaming, got to meet lots of new people, and it was a proper celebration of Greg's last few days of bachelorhood. Let's hope the gaming experiences don't change too much when he's a married man!

Classic Mode Challenges Complete

Last night I managed to finish Classic mode on Super Smash Brother Brawl with all characters. The challenges are tricky, because you don't just have to finish the mode with each character displayed on the character screen; you also have to complete it with their alter egos. This is the case for Samus with and without suit, Zelda and Shiek, and each of the Pokemon Trainer's trio. But I finished them all off, with a couple challenge unlocks as a result.

I have very few challenges left to obtain, maybe 10 remaining. There are still some that may be above me; I hope I have sufficient Golden Hammers!

Gotta Catch Most of Them

My son has a fever, and the prescription is Pokemon. I can't help but help him out.

We have Pokemon Diamond, and have had it for a while. I played through the game quite a ways before getting bored -- almost every battle is the same. But I had to pick it up again because he just loves some of the legendary pokemon, specifically Dialga, whom he has named Whiskey. I managed to play through to where you can capture the legendary, and came to enjoy the game again.

While still quite a bit repetitive, getting your little monsters higher in levels is pretty satisfying. And because the game allows you to repeat instances earlier in the game, you can always go back with your lower-level guys and train them up a bit more.

The driving factor really has been Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Several of the Pokemon from Diamond and Pearl are in Brawl, so it just feels fun to catch those we're familiar with. I'm trying to get Lucario now, which is an involved process of procuring an egg, tending to that egg by walking with it all over Sinnoh, hatching it into Riolu, and then leveling him up to Lucario.

I tell myself that it's for my son, but in reality, the little monsters may have gotten their adorable and terrible hooks into me.

Smash Brothers Profiles: Peach

When not smacking the everloving crap out of other fighters, Peach enjoys tennis...



A few rounds of golf...




Or cooking smacking the everloving crap out of other fighters with cooking implements.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl Challenges

I've had a lot of fun going through large parts of Super Smash Brothers Brawl. There are so many things to do in the game, and the Challenges have been a great way to measure our collective progress.

There are three status mode for any challenge: hidden, revealed, or completed. If the challenge is hidden, it exists only as a blue block on the screen and you aren't sure what you need to do to complete it. The revealed status appears in red with an object silhouette and may give some or all details about how to get it and what becomes unlocked when you clear it. And, of course, when completed the item, or level, or music, or masterpiece becomes available.

I've cleared the vast majority of unlocks. There are a total of 128, and of those I've cleared probably 100, with under ten still blue. Some, such as clearing Boss Battles on intense, may simply be beyond my skill. Luckily, you have a selection of Golden Hammers you can use to break a challenge without having to complete said challenge. I can only hope I have enough -- I believe you have access only to five throughout your play, and once used they are gone forever.

I may just have to get better at the game!

SSBB Online Test

Did a little online brawling with Mart yesterday evening, just as a test to see if the friend code exchange worked. It sure did! We had a quick 1v1 brawl on the Battlefield stage, and it was a close one.

I got into trouble when I was low on life and Mart (as Sheik) picked up a star wand and he started chasing me down.


I then got in between a Shiek and a soccer ball and got booted!


I got revenge later, although this pose seems slightly obscene...


In the end, it went to Sudden Death! I got him in the end -- lucky hit!

Beatings from Delfino Square

Finally got a working SD card, whew!

Have some screens of a match I played with Alex on Delfino Square. This map is from Super Mario Sunshine and has some great elements -- it transports you to several seperate areas consisting of aerial, pillars over water water, and beach-like settings.

I, as Captain Falcon, put the hurt on Pit.


The old-school Batman-style graphics crack me up.


A knee to the face and he goes flying.

The Smashing Continues

We finally unlocked all of the characters in the game. The last one was Wolf, picked up in a stage redo in The Subspace Emissary adventure mode. He's a fantastic fighter, very quick and hits hard. Greg used him to great advantage. Along with the last character unlocked there are several other game types and events that become available.

I'd love to post some screens of Wolf and new stages, but my SD card crapped out. Lost the replays that I had on there and can't transfer any new ones. I should pick another one up this weekend to replace the busted one.

Two Bowsers Done Right

Greg and I were doing some team matches versus random opponents in SSBB yesterday evening. We both picked Bowser and we were pitted against two very small opponents: Link and Olimar. Wow, it was a beating.

One hilarious moment. Previously I had grabbed ahold of Olimar while Greg breathed fire on the poor guy. Sensing an opening where I would either distract or grab Link as he flew back onto the stage from a prior smash, Greg attempted to smash pre-emptively. It worked like a charm.

Here I (as the lighter green Bowser) go to grab Link, with Greg already winding up.

Link is in my grasp just as Greg follows through with the smash and...

BOOM. KO.

You can also see Olimar winking out into the background as Link flies off. Cracked me up.

Ganondorf

Greg and I were doing a little team melee last night. We turned up the difficulty a little bit to 6 out of 9 on the CPU opponents, and I'm ashamed to say they gave us a run for our money. I broke out Ganondorf and started to choke the crap out of opponents.

Ganondorf's Flame Choke special move grabs an opponent...



And slams him down. While Falco (Greg) kicks him.



Luigi meets the same fate.

Legendary Pokemon in SSBB

Finally, a very exciting prospect for many, including my young, Pokemon-consumed son: A stage influenced by the legendary pokemon Dialga and Palkia. Alex actually has large-ish stuff animals that he as named Anne (Palkia) and Whiskey (Dialga). I am not making this up. I believe they have a child: Pikachu, naturally.

Dialga controls the flow of time in its area, allowing the level to slow down to a crawl. Time passes more slowly when its power is activated, allowing you more time to act but more time to your opponents to respond.



Palkia, able to manipulate the makeup of the matter around it, can reverse vertically and horizontally the very level itself. Practically, this turns the level on the screen upside-down or flips it as a mirror image, and the controls themselves stay relative to the previous nature of the level. If you aren't careful, you can walk right off the edge!



The Spears Pillar level itself is very simple but also has many dynamic elements that make it a blast to play. Besides the fact that Alex just goes nuts when a legendary pokemon appears.

The Pikachu Incident

In a match of retribution and competing successfully over the online service, Greg with Cam as co-conspirator attempt to combat me in what we shall dub "The Pikachu Incident."

Pikachu's sins are already well-documented, and the feelings against him strong. Greg and Cam attempt to trap me and execute smashes with abandon.



They finally manage to push me to the edge with Pikachu-induced stage-splitting lightning. The electrical charges kept pushing me off the edge for, like, twenty seconds, as I kept attempting to jump back up only to be knocked back again.



The opposite angle.



Ridiculous. But I couldn't stop laughing. But we will never mention this event again.

The Unceremonious Boot

I had to share this picture as I mentioned it in a recent Smash Brothers match from March 19. Below illustrates why I was laughing so hard:



And he falls to his doom.



It still brings tears to my eyes.