AndrewTS

It's very sweet, but TGX had...Bonk and...? Considering Sega's utterly incompetent attempts at classic collections, it'll be nice to see, especially all of those rare imports that are hard to even find ROMs for.

credit to UYI for "discovering" it first, but anyway... (1up.com coverage of the GDC:) "GDC 2006: Zelda for DS Announced Phantom Hourglass coming this year! by Garnett Lee, 03/23/2006 In his keynote this morning Nintendo Co., Ltd President Satoru Iwata revealed something sure to thrill DS owners. A new Zelda game is coming to the handheld, and, better yet, it will be here by the end of the year. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass made its debut in a video that showed off the beautiful new game. Graphically, the game is fully 3D using the cartoon style from Wind Waker. While little is known of the gameplay yet, it was clear that the action moves across both of the DS's screens. There will be puzzles that can be solved by using the touch screen. Examples we saw were throwing a boomerang along a path you draw with the stylus, directing your Wind Waker-style ship using the stylus, and opening up sealed areas by pressing on the correct pressure plates (like how you would stand on them in other Zelda games). You can also put out a fire and make notes on the map using the stylus -- and then put the map back onto the top screen. And it wouldn't be Zelda without a fairy that looks just like Tingle. Yep, it's in there. " Awesomeness. EDIT for vidness. Fanfreakingtastic. It seems to be a Wind Waker sequel...with the ability to chart your own course with the stylus. The perspective looks excellent, too.

SOURCE PLEASE?!??! (EDIT: nevermind, thanks for the heads up) Wind waker art style, traditional top-down gameplay...I'm so freakin' there. When it was mentioned that a four swords style title was cancelled and started anew as something different, I wondered...

The GI article manages to throw in very little info with tons of packing peanuts of nothingness. Like several paragraphs detail that a sequel should keep what made the original appealing while not changing "too much." and losing things that made the first game good. Yeah, knew that. Jaffe has been promoted so isn't the director anymore. Kratos has been stripped of his throne, and so he's going to take it up with the 3 "Sisters of Fate," the gods' gods. There still will be buckets of gratuitous violence, and they claim they won't shy away from the sexual elements as some people may have feared. Movement on walls is quicker. Subweapons will be integratable into combos and combos will be a bit deeper. Magic will be quicker and more useful overall. Kratos can use the chains to swing around...which they swear will make you think of Bionic Commando (and totally not inspired by any more recent games, oh no.). Kratos will be able to fly/glide with the wings of Icarus, which you'll "acquire" from a boss battle with Icarus himself.

For a group that loved to molest children, they weren't exactly in a hurry to do it. That part when they were trying to get chef back...and the SAC was all "I'm going to have to ask you to leave" and calling security...I didn't get that. Maybe it's partly becuase they'd done a ridiculous pedophile/possible victims chase scene already in the NAMBLA ep, but it really dragged, whatever it was.

Oh, God yes. It's not even close, and ZM is a pretty good game. Everything in Fusion rocks. I'm still a little afraid to play it in the dark due to the awesomely eerie music and the basic concept of being the only one alive on the station. Then again, I have a seriously overactive imagination. I disliked Fusion at first, mainly because of the linearity/computer direction, but back-to-back play with SM, and playing ZM helped me put it all into perspective well. The graphics, gameplay, music, story--it all comes together so extremely well that I don't care if it's different or a bit more structured towards a narrative. However, opinions differ, and I've seen plenty of folks online still swear by ZM and often don't bring up Fusion. Ah well. "great stuff, thanks man!" You're welcome. There was a lot of info there, but I wanted to at least emphasize that some of those classics are free unlockables, so they're often a better value to get something like the Pac collection or Wario Ware.

I'm not much of a sports gamer, but there's literally one basketball game on the entire system: NBA Jam 2002. And it sucks. Super Dodge Ball and Fire Pro are good, though. Super Mario Bros. is just the NES game in portable form, plus the ability to save after each world. Super Mario Advance (Super Mario Bros. 2) is a somewhat improved game, but it's a title I played to death on Mario All Stars, so I'd pass on it. Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World has some minor changes/enhancements (GameFAQs has a section detailing them all), but like SMB, nearly everyone has played this game. Super Mario Advance 3: Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island: If you've never played the original, you missed out on a great game. It's easier to find this than it is the original SNES game, IMO, so pick it up if you missed it. It's just a fantastic game and shouldn't be passed up. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3: I think it's one of one of the best games ever, so if you don't own it, get it. I was annoyed that it incorporated e-reader features, but it doesn't take away from the original game at all. Also, all of the "Advance" Super Mario titles (so not the NES Classics one, but the others) feature the original Mario Bros. arcade game. If you have a friend with any of those titles, you can play it with him/her. Not really exciting, but it's a bonus so what the heck. Yeah, there's plenty of other classic titles, but BE WARY, because not all of them are worth your money. Bomberman -- Good, but there's better, newer versions available. Castlevania -- Worth 10 bucks, since it's a bonafide classic and has a save feature, which makes it much easier to enjoy. You can only pick up where you left off if you save after a boss fight, though, but still a sweet feature. Donkey Kong -- Get the Game Boy version, which has all of the original levels (NES version was missing the arcade cement factory), plus after those initial stages there's like 90+ original platformer stages that are way fun. Mario vs Donkey Kong is a sequel of sorts to this version of DK (and is also a darn fine GBA game but one I haven't seen in a while). Excitebike -- good game, but wasn't really my bag. Ice Climber -- didn't like it personally. Metroid -- Another true classic, however, not only is Zero Mission a pretty good remake of the game, but Metroid Zero Mission has the original Metroid available as an unlockable. If you buy this game used it's a pretty good bet you'll even have the game unlocked already, too. So the NES Classic version is redundant unless you gotta have the retro box/instructions. Pac-Man -- Pac Man Collection has more and better versions of the classic game. Super Mario Bros. -- Good port overall, but only if you have to have it portable. Super Mario Bros. Deluxe actually has way more features, but the sprites are much larger so the original screen ratio in that title isn't true to the original like the GBA version. Dr. Mario -- Unnecessary, since it was inferior to Tetris, and Dr. Wario (Wario's OMGBOOTLEGVERSION) is available as an unlockable in the original Warioware, and is the same game minus multiplayer. So if you must play Dr. Mario linked up with another player, here's your game. The Legend of Zelda -- Good port, although it's also on the Collector's Edition bonus disc. But makes for a great portable title provided you're not going to need to shut it off frequently. Once you're in a dungeon you can save and it will pick you up from the dungeon entrance, however save on the overworld and you start out outside Old Man's cave. However, somebody needs a kick in the nuts for a black and white manual and a pathetic *grey* cartridge. There's not even a decent map in the manual. Some of the in-game Engrish is fixed up a bit. Xevious -- rather fun shooter, but I'm not a shooter nut so it's nothing I'd play extensively. Zelda II -- A spot-on port of the original love-it-or-leave-it side-scrolling action RPG. I'll probably be buying it just to try to complete it before TP ships. There's more of them that were Japan-only (Famicom Mini line), but only those titles made it to the US.

I heard lots of good review for Tekken Advance, although I guess it hasn't aged well at all. And I meant more for DR's overall playability due to having enough buttons to accomodate the game. Naturally, versus play against humans will vary, but the GBA is seen more as a "toy" while I see older gamers lug around their PSPs a lot, and wireless play is less cumbersome than using a link cable. MK Advance is total garbage. Even if you adore UMK it's a terrible port of it, graphically, sound-wise, control-wise, ai-wise, etc. I assume she was joking since it is so infamously bad.

I think the lesson is--never apologize to Vince for having a shitty match.

You know, Warrior may be shatbit insane, but at least people have heard of him. "Test" I wouldn't consider would be a ring name you'd go to such lengths to keep.

Fusion is much better than Zero Mission, IMO. Turbo Revival is okay (I liked the new art and new bgs), although it still hurts that the game was made for a 6-button system.

Good choices all. The kinstone-fusing involved in Minish Cap gets annoying, but the dungeons are great. They get very large and complex, but there's well-placed warps to different sections, and lots of new/modified gadgets. The cape > roc's feather Gust jar is awesome too, and I hope mole mitts return. Anything Warioware is a fine choice. I thought Gunstar Super was kind of weak, though. It is basically a 1P-only version of a game that played much better on 16-bit. CvDP--Aria is excellent, Harmony is...not so great. Circle of the Moon is better IMO if you got a backlit system like the SP. Astro Boy doesn't last long, but it's a blast while it does. MMZ games are fraggin' hard. Some general guidelines for buying GBA games. - The number of quality original (i.e. not a sequel, retrofit, or port) titles on GBA are slim. Those rare few would be: Racing Gears Advance Sigma Star Saga Rebelstar Tactics Wade Hixton's Counter Punch Ninja Five-O Konami Krazy Racers (Mario Kart clone, although somewhat pointless with MKDS out) ..and maybe a few here and there I haven't played. (Scourge: Hive is espected to be in this list as well, but it's not been released yet) - If they're a port of an SNES game, look at the screenshots. If it looks like your character's sprite is too large for the game to be playable, it probably isn't good (see: Disney's Magical Quest 3 Starring Mickey and Donald, Megaman and Bass, and in a rare example of a 32bit game, Rayman Advance). - Be wary of a licensed game. Twice as wary if it is based on a movie. If it is a license for something that is a really friggin' old IP, like Tiny Toons/Animaniacs, 3x as wary. - If it's Sega and doesn't say Puyo or Astroboy on the box, stay the hell away. (Also, if is a port/namesake of a genesis game like Revenge of Shinobi, the Smash Pack, etc. it probably really really sucks) - If it looks 8-bit with no graphic detail and apparently had a budget about 20 bucks, pass on it. - If you see this names on the box, avoid: Majesco (yes, even EWJ) Kemco Namco (aside from Tekken) THQ Bandai Vivendi Universal AKA VU games. - If it is a fighter, it probably sucks. It will look and sound worse, often is lacking in buttons, may have spotty/bad collision detection from a slip-shod port, and was done cheaply to cash in on the name. On top of that, it's much harder to get a human to play against you. Tekken DR on PSP may be the exception here, though.

Lillian is stuck on repeat. Somebody give her a good hit.

Why is Torrie a face? She just got her ass kicked, that was all.

I have a hard time believing the Mandible would bother Lita.

But without BB, XBL isn't really an option either. And without XBL, it is a vastly less appealing system. XBL Arcade sounds great.

Is there anyone who honestly thinks Dam(o)nYankees is a new poster? Can you get much more obvious?

No. Not there. Not ordering on PPV. Not for free. They'd have to pay me.

Who reads manuals anyway?

Thanks for commenting, Scroby. I've yet to actually see a non-display 360, so I have no freakin' idea how valid those concerns were or were not.

This'll sell some Japanese 360s... http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/cosplay/rumbl...taku-158485.php

8-10. Yeah, I was thinking it replaced SNL too, since that's what it did back in the day and I didn't take note of any announcement for 8 EST on the advertising. I knew the day it was on, that was it.

And that rushing led to fetch quests which probably took about as much time to program as they do to play. And those fetch quests basically include a LOT of sailing. Yeah, that's what I meant. I didn't mind the sections where you had to kill every freakin' thing that would be thrown at you, though. However, Wizzrobes are even worse in 3D. L-targeting seems clunkier when it comes to switching targets than Z targeting. And it doesn't auto-target a new enemy when the current one dies...and sometimes you gotta hold L a couple of times before it does target. Only an issue in intense battles though. TP is basically using a more polished version of that engine, so it should be addressed. Peach ain't Samus, though. Plus, the Yoshi platformers after Yoshi's Island suffered from the same problems, except that they sucked. That's because he's typically more childlike, but TP, Zelda II, and OOT all had older, more serious Links. He's a 1P Nintendo character, though. He's not Guts. He's always been male, though. If they want a female hero, fine, but it wouldn't/shouldn't be Link with boobs. If you look at WW Link from just the right angle he kind of looks like the animated Huey in the Boondocks... Somebody should photoshop him with dark skin and a fro. Since each player-controlled character can hold a different weapon, it adds more incentive, yeah. Each person can have a speciality. Plus if somebody ticks you off, you can toss him into a pit, chuck a bomb into him, etc. But even if you don't have a full party of players, you can steal partners.

Link wouldn't be Link if he were female. Different timelines/realities sure, but Peach in SPP isn't a female Mario, she's a female character in a game with Mario-style play mechanics. (Doesn't get what the crack about SPP's sales means.) Now, if you're thinking Nintendo should do a spinoff with a female lead, or even with Zelda as a fully playable (only good, not like the above), that's an entirely different matter. Nintendo's done a LoZ game that was a parallel universe and another that was a dream sequence. Malon got an extra sister and occupations changed, but had stayed fairly consistent with genders/personalities. Anywho, possible covers for the game Google turned up.... Based off a Nintendo Power cover: http://pheniciasanctuary.blogstation.fr/im...01.lzzzzzzz.jpg Haven't seen this one before: http://www.gamers.fr/jeux/zelda2_ngc/jack.jpg Although, this one is most likely for the US: http://www.ownage.nl/images/content/19158.jpg Likely we'll get the traditional logo + gold bg. Japan had sometimes gotten different colors (Wind Waker).

This is true. The BOXers are mostly a different demo for one. There was a point in time when TP would have meant lots of GC sales (WW sold plenty of Cubes), but not at that point. Nintendo is obviously banking more on it selling Revs. This is ridiculous, though. (However, there's some fanarts which do make him one, ranging from "cute" to utterly horrifying.) On a related note, just about anyone who likes the Zelda game has heard of/seen/screamed at Wand of Gamelon/Faces of Evil and their horrible animated sequences, but there's another CD-i that rarely gets seen... http://www.ganonstower.com/zldadv.shtml Screenshots: http://www.ganonstower.com/scr131.shtml Surprisingly, a more traditional Zelda game, but one where you play as Zelda. It still sucks, but it's a more interesting product at least.