Left Turn at Albuquerque

Platform: NES Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Publisher: Nintendo NA Release date: August, 1987 Genre: Action-Adventure Media: 1-megabit cartridge

Overview/Story:

Metroid is one of those games that over time never stops being entertaining. The player controls a space bounty hunter named Samus Aran in the year 20X5 C.C. as she is on a mission to stop the Space Pirates leader “Mother Brain. The Space Pirates have destroyed all lifeforms on planet SR388 and Samus must stop the Metroids from destroying Planet Zebes. Samus is ranked the best space hunter for the job and is after a big bonus from the Galactic Federation. It is the Federation’s job to make sure that the universe remains peaceful. Although the graphics are about average for a game of its time, the music and gameplay really shine.

Gameplay:

While trying to stop the Mother Brain, Samus must travel through a huge maze of caverns while collecting power-ups and special abilities. There are many enemies along the way that will want to stop Samus from destroying them. There are bosses like Kraid and Ridley that Samus will need to pass in order to destroy all Metroids. There are also hazards along the way that Samus can avoid by finding special power-ups.

Samus starts with just a weak canon shot but by the time the game is completed she has many weapons, bombs, suits and other ways of destroying the enemies. Some areas of the game won’t be accessible until other areas are passed or features are gained. In the end, Samus finds out that she must escape the planet before it self-destructs in a certain amount of time.

The game was released in Japan on the Famicon Disc Drive. Originally the North American Metroid was to have a battery backup system similar to Legend of Zelda’s but after poor sales in Japan, Nintendo decided to use the password system. The password system gives the player a password when Samus gets killed. The player then writes down the password and types it in when they restart the game so they don’t have to start from the very beginning. It was one of the first games to feature such a system. The game designer Gunpei Yokoi also designed Kid Icarus, which is very similar in design and presentation.

Passwords

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Platform: Wii Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo NA Release date: Nov. 19, 2006 Genre: Sports Media: Optical Wii Disc

Overview:

Welcome to Wii Sports, the game where players use the Wii-mote to mimic actions as they would be performed in the games which include baseball, tennis, boxing, golf and bowling. Wii Sports was first introduced at Nintendo’s press conference prior to E3 in 2006. Nintendo then announced that Wii Sports would be bundled with the Wii console. This was a smart move because it’s a great introductory game for Wii owners. With five different sports games, it gives players a chance to really test out the Nintendo Wii’s motion censored controller as well as the additional nunchuk controller. It was released on November 19, 2006 just in time for the holiday season, the time of the year that video games sell very well. Since release, the sales have been spectacular, selling nearly 20 million copies in just over two years.

Gameplay:

Players can choose the look of their characters in Wii Sports on Wii’s Mii channel located on its operating system. Mii’s can be fully customized from head to toe to look however the way the player chooses. Each one of the five games feature different play modes. In standard play, a basic game is played, in Training mode, players are trained how to play one of the five games, and in multiplayer mode, players can compete against each other in games. After a full game is played, the player is awarded points depending on performance. When the points reach a certain level, a pro mode in that sport will be unlocked.

Review:

Wii sports has received many positive reviews from gamers. The Wii-mote really makes this game work well and if controlled on a regular controller that was not motion censored, the gameplay wouldn’t be as fun or addictive. It really is the gameplay that makes this game successful as the graphics are nothing special. The game interaction in Wii Sports is revolutionary in the video game console world. It’s also nice to get a little exercise by swinging around the wii-mote while enjoying gaming. Let’s hope that this is a taste of things to come.

Secrets:

Bowling ball color:

As the screen fades to black in bowling, hold down the control pad in a direction to get the following colors:

• Control Pad Up.. Blue Ball
• Control Pad Right.. Gold Ball
• Control Pad Down.. Green Ball
• Control Pad Left.. Red Ball

Changing the tennis court:

You can change the tennis court to the blue practice court
Press and hold (2) at the warning screen that shows after selecting your characters.

Make golf more difficult:

Make golf harder by disabling the power meter, map, and the wind speed indicator.
Press and hold (2), then make a selection at the “Select a Course” screen.

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Similar to both the Playstation and the PS2, Sony has introduced greatest hits games for the PS3. The series features the full versions of the games we all know and love for the PS3, only in a special colored case and at a cheaper $29.99 price which is half as much as the games cost when they were first released. PS3 Greatest hits games can be found on store shelves starting this week.

The first batch of greatest hits games include: Warhawk, Motorstorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night Round 3, Need for Speed: Carbon, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas, Assassin’s Creed, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

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Just a few days ago I found an amazing looking Super Mario Bros. themed wedding cake and now I find this. See the artist here chose a much simpler way to characterize a Nintendo theme without losing the impact. The partially hidden chord in the back might even be made of Tootsie Roll. I need to get married.

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I was recently going through my closet and found my old Speak & Read, similar to Speak & Spell, the popular computerized electronic game that teaches you how to spell. I was curious on the history of the Speak & Spell and discovered that it was first made in 1978 where it was shown at CES (Consumer Electronics Show). It was a very popular toy in the 80’s, highlighted by an appearance in the Steven Spielberg classic: E.T. before slowly fading as computers became more popular. I then came across the Speak & Spell Simulator which accurately simulates the classic learning toy.

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I have the iPod Touch 2.0 update and downloaded a few free applications and games for it. Here are my favorite ones.

• AOL Radio: Listen to the radio on your iPod Touch.
• Google News: An easier way to view news stories through Google.
• Picasa Web Albums: View your Picasa album over your iPod touch.
• Remote: Control your iTunes through you iPod Touch.
• Jirbo Break: A breakout style game with decent graphics.
• Weatherbug: Similar to the Weather that comes on the iPod Touch but with more features like webcams and wind speeds.
• Wikipedia: An app that handles viewing Wikipedia much better than Safari.

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Platform: NES Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo NA Release date: October, 1988 Genre: Platformer Media: 2-megabit cartridge

Overview/History:

Super Mario Bros. 2 has always been the game that’s been a little different then the others in the series. Sure it has Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess but something always seemed different. The reason is that Super Mario Bros. 2 is a remake of the Japanese Famicom game “Yume K?j?: Doki Doki Panic”. Nintendo did release a true sequel to Super Mario Bros. in Japan but because it was very similar to the original and difficult, Nintendo decided to rebrand Doki Doki Panic as a Mario game in North America. It was released in October 1988, three years after the original Super Mario Bros. was released.

Gameplay:

Unlike any other Mario games, the player gets to choose which character he wants to play as. They get to choose between Mario, a well balance character, Luigi, a high jumper, Princess, a long jumper and Toad, who is very fast. In addition, the player may want to choose their character, keeping the level design in mind as different characters do better in different levels. The characters must regain the land from the evil Wart. Another thing unique to this Mario game are the enemies and weapons. The characters can pick up vegetables out of the ground and chuck them at the enemies. Also, jumping on characters doesn’t work in Super Mario Bros. 2.

Characters start out with two heart units. When they lose one they shrink down smaller as in the original Super Mario Bros. Additional hearts can be gained and found throughout the level. Potions can be pulled out of the ground. When a potion is found and the character throws it, a door appears. Inside the door lies a dark world where the character can uproot vegetables that turn into coins. The coins are exchanged for a chance at the bonus slot challenge after the level is complete. There is no time limit in the game. The levels that the characters travel through aren’t like other Mario games. Instead of castles and pipes to travel through there are more vases and palm trees. The game has an Egyptian feel to it.

The Story:

One evening, Mario had a strange dream. He dreamt of a long, long stairway leading up to a door. As soon as the door opened, he was confronted with a world he had never seen before, spreading out as far as his eyes could see. When he strained his ears to listen, he heard a faint voice saying “Welcome to Sub-Con, the land of dreams. We have been cursed by Wart and we are completely under his evil spell. We have been awaiting your arrival. Please defeat Wart and return Subcon to its natural state. The curse Wart has put on you in the real world will not have any effect upon you here. Remember, Wart hates vegetables. Please help us!”

At the same time this was heard, a bolt of lightning flashed before Mario’s eyes. Stunned, Mario lost his footing and tumbled upside down. He awoke with a start to find himself sitting up in his bed. To clear his head, Mario talked to Luigi, Toad and the Princess about the strange dream he had. They decide to go to a nearby mountain for a picnic. After arriving at the picnic area and looking at the scenery, they see a small cave nearby. When they enter this cave, to their great surprise, there’s a stairway leading up, up and up. It is exactly like the one Mario saw in his dream. They all walk together up the stairs and at the top, find a door just like the one in Mario’s dream. When Mario and his friends, in fear, open the door, to their surprise, the world that he saw in his dream spreads out before them!

In the end, Mario and his friends trounce Wart and open a secret room containing one of Sub-Con’s characteristic vases. After pulling a stubborn cork from the mouth of the vase, eight red fairies spring out. The four heroes are lauded for defeating Wart, whose beaten body is passed over the crowd and tossed aside. Immediately after, the screen shows Mario snoring, indicating that the entire adventure had been a dream.

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Platform: Gamecube Developer: Nintendo EAD Publisher: Nintendo NA Release date: Sept. 15, 2002 Genre: Communication game Media: 1 optical game disc

History:

Before Animal Crossing hit the states it was popular in Japan as a Nintendo 64 game. The reason it wasn’t brought out in the states was because of the declining sales of the N64 at the time. It made more sense for Nintendo to wait and bring it out for Gamecube. It was released on Gamecube in Japan on December 14, 2001. Nintendo of America had a huge job in translating the thousands of lines of text in the game from Japanese to English. The game was finally ready and released in North America on September 15, 2002.

Overview:

Animal Crossing’s genre is considered to be a “communication game” according to Nintendo. There are no real finishing goals to the game. The only goals in the game are the ones that you set. In the game you play the role of a new character in a new town. You get to choose the gender of your character as well as what they look like before the actual gameplay begins. Animal Crossing takes advantage of the Gamecube’s built-in clock feature to keep track of time. The date and time in your everyday life is the date and time in the game. If it’s 3:00 AM on a cold January morning and you’re in the mood to play, in the game it will be dark and there will probably be snow on the ground. The game also observes holidays.

Gameplay:

Early on in the game you will be introduced to Tom Nook. Your first task is to pay off Tom for the money you bought your house with. He’ll ask you to run around town doing different chores while earning Bells. Bells are Animal Crossing’s monetary system. Running around town will help you get to know your neighbors. Each town usually has around 15 residents that live there. You can interact with your neighbors, trade things with them, write them letters and much more. You can buy your goods at Tom Nook’s store. He sells a lot of furniture and goods you’ll need around town. You can furnish your house and make it feel like home. Your house is expandable when enough Bells are earned. The bigger your house, the more goods will fit in it.

There many things that can be done in the game including fishing, butterfly collecting, digging for treasures, traveling to other towns, planting, furniture collecting and much more. There are a few easter eggs in the game as well. For one thing you are able to play original NES games including some of Nintendo’s great classics. They are awarded by finding rare packages and by using the E-Reader. The games can also be played on the Game Boy Advance when it’s hooked up to the Gamecube during play.

Review:

My favorite element of the game is the randomness of everything. In your town, there are just a few characters out of over 200. Neighbors move in and out all the time so you will get to meet a bunch of them. Each character has a personality all of their own. Some can be funny while others can be rude, creepy and friendly. Their personalities come out really well and you may actually start to grow feelings for your neighbors. How often you interact with your neighbors will have something to do with if they leave your town or not. On top of all the different characters, there are different towns and no two towns are the same. They always have different layouts and usually carry different types of fruits. Fruits from other towns are rare in your town and can be sold for a lot of money. The graphics in the game are a bit blocky and average but the gameplay really makes up for it. The sound and music is simple and elegant and does the job. Overall, it’s the gameplay and re-playability that really shine here. You may want to clear your calendar because you can expect to be addicted to Animal Crossing for a while.

List of NES games available:

• Balloon Fight
• Baseball
• Clu Clu Land
• Clu Clu Land D
• Donkey Kong
• Donkey Kong Jr.
• Donkey Kong Jr. Math
• Donkey Kong 3
• Excitebike
• Golf
• Pinball
• Punch-Out!!
• Soccer
• Super Tortimer (Not an original NES game)
• Tennis
• Wario’s Woods

Tools available:

• Axe — 400 bells — used for cutting down trees
• Golden Axe — an axe that never breaks
• Fishing Rod — 500 bells — used to catch fish
• Golden Fishing Rod — catches fish more often
• Net — 500 bells — used to catch bugs
• Golden Net — catches bugs more often
• Shovel — 500 bells — used to dig things up
• Golden Shovel — digs more things

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Platform: SNES Developer: Nintendo EAD Publisher: Nintendo NA Release date: August 13, 1991 Genre: Flight simulator Media: 4-megabit cartridge

Overview/History

When Pilotwings was originally shown by Nintendo in 1988 it was called Dragonfly and involved controlling a shooting dragonfly. It was then changed and was one of the three games that launched with Super Nintendo in America. Originally released in 1990, it is a flight simulator style game where the player is assigned a series of different lessons and tasks involving plane flight, a rocket belt, hang gliding, and skydiving. There are also bonus games awarded when landing on certain platforms.

Gameplay:

Graphically the game is strong because it takes advantage of Super Nintendo’s Mode 7 chip. Mode 7 allows the game to look three-dimensional through rotation, scaling and other effects. In the game there are a number of training areas each with a number of tasks that must be completed within a certain time. When completed, a score will be given for the players performance. If the score is high enough then the next area will open up to the player. Also, the player is assigned a guide who will give the player tips on what they’re doing wrong and how to improve.

Vehicles:

The Plane has always been my favorite vehicle because the controls are very accurate. In the plane, the player will fly through rings that light up if done properly. The player also take-offs and lands the plane in certain missions. In the rocket belt missions, the player must propel through circular areas and land in a target area. This vehicle has an overhead perspective making it a little more difficult to control. Hang gliding is the most difficult task. The player must glide to a designated location and try to land directly in a designated area in the lowest amount of time possible. In skydiving, the player falls from a plane and must fall through designated circular areas. When an altitude of 1,000 yards or under is hit then the player must deploy the parachute and land in a designated area.

Mini Review:

The formula in Pilotwings is a bit repetitive for the different games but it still works well. It is recommended as a fun game if you are into flight-simulator action. Graphically the game is very strong for its time and is still fun to look at today. Definitely one of the best flight-simulator games for the 16-bit era of video game consoles.

Passcodes for the levels of the game

985206: Area 2
394391: Area 3
520771: Area 4
108048: First helicopter mission
400718: Area 5
773224: Area 6
165411: Area 7
760357: Area 8
882943: Second helicopter mission

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I got an e-mail last night that select games from the PlayStation Store are on sale for $4.99 including PAIN, PixelJunk Monsters, High Velocity Bowling, High Stakes, on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition and Rocketmen: Axis of Evil. I’ve heard good things about Pixel Junk Monsters so for $4.99 I figured it was worth the download. I was unsure if I’d like it because I’m not usually into strategy games but I couldn’t put this game down. I played it for two hours straight last night and 20 minutes this morning.

In Pixel Junk Monsters you control a character who builds weapons from trees to destroy enemies that try to attack your base. There are three weapons to choose from the beginning of each level but upgrades can be bought by destroying monsters and collecting gems and coins. If the monsters make it to your base, they will destroy one of the people guarding the base. When all the people guarding your base are gone you lose but if you make it through ten rounds of attacks, you unlock the next level. I believe there are 20 levels in the game.

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I’m not sure if there’s a good way to preserve cake and keep it on display but this cake is too beautiful to eat. Despite this cake probably costing more than some whole weddings would, dining with this much style would almost be worth it. The great thing about this cake is that the mushrooms which look to be made of pure sugar, really would give you a ton of power. More pics of this awesome cake can be found here.

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I’m guilty of ordering things online but the packaging of the material can be a bit bizarre. You can get a huge box the size of a toaster oven with nothing but a thumbdrive and a ton of bubble wrap in it. The first time you get a package like this you think they just ran out of the small boxes but it seems like retailers consistently over box. Not great for the environment. More pictures here.

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Everyone loves Mii’s. They’re adorble little characters you create and then play as in Wii games. So the news of a Wii music game is exciting! Players will be able to control one of up to six different band members and over 50 different instruments to play. A variety of songs will be included in the purchase of Wii Music but who needs variety as long as Nintendo adds classic Nintendo game theme songs.

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Platform: N64 Developer: Nintendo EAD Publisher: Nintendo NA Release date: Nov. 23, 1998 Genre: Action Media: 256Mb cartridge

Overview/History:

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was first shown as a watchable demo at Nintendo’s SpaceWorld tradeshow in December 1995. It was originally designed to be a game for Nintendo’s 64DD (Nintendo’s N64 add-on Disk Drive which never made it to the states) but was then changed to cartridge format. In The game, once again Link goes on a quest to stop the evil Ganondorf. In order to prevent Ganondorf from reigning in Hyrule, Link needs to travel back and forth between a period of seven years.

I consider it more of an action game then a Role Playing game but I think Zelda games have always fallen into that category. Ocarina of Time is set in Hyrule, the setting of most Zelda games. The Hyrule Kingdom consists of Hyrule field and Hyrule Castle as well as different regions with races such as Hylians, Gorons, Zoras, Kokiri, and Gerudo. There are many items to be found, songs to be learned and levels to be fought. There are also some fun puzzle elements in the game that can be rather difficult at first.

The game is deep and takes a decent amount of time to find everything. Along Link’s quests, Navi the fairy helps Link with hints of what needs to be done. After the Ocarina of time is found, it can be played to make link transition to different times seven years apart. The time traveling in the game is mandatory if you want to finish it. The time travel element adds a lot to the game because you will see how the things have changed over the seven years which adds a level of excitement.

Reception:

Nintendo came out with a special Ocarina of Time Collector’s Edition gold cartridge for those who pre-ordered the game. The game box came with a special card that could be pulled off and saved. It was Nintendo’s biggest game at the time at 32 megabytes and involved some 120 people to develop. Overall it has sold over 7.6 million copies, and was the best-selling video game in 1998. It is ranked #1 based on reviews with a rating of 97.613% on the popular video game site GameRankings.com.

The beginning speech made from the Great Deku Tree:

“Oh, Navi The Fairy …”

“Listen To My Words, The Words Of The Great Deku Tree …”

“Dost Thou Sense It?”

“The Climate Of Evil Descending Upon This Realm …”

Secrets:

Arrows

• Fire Arrow: Shoot the sun after the Water Temple
• Ice Arrow: Complete the Gerudo Training Ground
• Light Arrow: Beat all the temples and talk to Shiek

Cow in tree house

After beating the race at Lon Lon ranch for Epona, race again and get 49 seconds or below to unlock a cow for Link’s tree house.

Skulltula tokens

After you kill the skulltulas spiders they leave a token behind. Go to the Skulltula House in Kakariko Village to get your prize.

• Adult Wallet: 10 Tokens
• Stone of Agony: 20 tokens
• Giant’s Wallet: 30 tokens
• Bombchus: 40 tokens
• Piece of Heart: 50 tokens
• Huge Rupee: 100 tokens

Ocarina songs:

• Bolero of Fire
• Epona’s Song
• Minuet of Forest
• Nocturne of Shadow
• Prelude of Light
• Requiem of Spirit
• Saria’s Song
• Scarecrow’s Song
• Serenade of Water
• Song of Storms
• Song of Time
• Sun’s Song
• Zelda’s Lullaby

Bottle locations:

• Lake Hylia, at the bottom of the water.
• Talon at Lon Lon Ranch.
• Collecting the 7 Cuccos that are wandering around Kakariko Village.
• Catch the 10 Super Poes as an adult then roam Hyrule Field and give them back to the Poe Dealer.

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