Much like when the Game Boy Micro and DSi were about to come out, I think I'm the only one who actually wants a Wii Mini.

The big difference of course is that the Game Boy Micro and DSi were vastly superior to their previous model, where the Wii Mini is cutting stuff out rather than adding. Even with that though, I'm still excited to get one for a few reasons.

For starters, it's exclusive to Canada which is something I've never once in my life been able to say as a video game fan. Usually things are exclusive to America, and Canada doesn't get them, but I think this is seriously a first. It may not be the most amazing exclusive, but I'd be a fool not to take advantage of it.

Second, it's a fantastic deal for me personally. I own two Wii-motes, but I don't own two nunchuks which I've been wanting so I can play certain games with my dad. I also don't own a Wii-remote plus or a wii-motion plus attachment, which I've been needing to play Skyward Sword. I could have easily bought one, but I couldn't justify buying a whole other controller for that one game. Lastly, my brother has been wanting a Wii for a long time, but has never been able to get one for various reasons.

With the Wii-Mini I can not only get a wii-remote plus and second nunchuk, but I can also keep the mini and give my old wii to my brother for Christmas. You see, the features that are being cut out of the wii mini are features I never EVER use. There's not a single wiiware game I care about, I own actual cartridges of the retro games I like, (Plus Kirby's Dream Collection lets me play all of the best kirby games on the Wii Mini anyways) I always have my Gamecube set up for the game boy player, and none of the games I own on wii use the gamecube controller. As for online multiplayer, back when I owned Brawl I played a few really laggy online matches and never played a wii game online after that.

So for me, I'm genuinely happy about the Wii Mini. It fits my needs so well right now that it's absolutely perfect. The Wii Mini is going to have a very limited audience, but there ARE people who genuinely don't care about the features they're removing. The other thing to keep in mind is that the people who buy a Wii Mini are people who either can't afford, or don't care about the games to buy online. These are also the same people who aren't going to go on ebay and buy old game cube games. Many articles have said "you can buy a fully functional wii for about 30 dollars more", but to a family on a tight budget, 30 dollars is a lot of money to spend on features you won't use.

If you recall, Matthew Razak wrote an editorial about how the New Super Mario Bros. series shouldn't be judged as harshly as other Mario platformers because they're spin-off titles rather than main entries in the series. Before you read this blog, I suggest you go read that one to catch up on what I'm talking about.

http://www.destructoid.com/the-truth-about-new-super-mario-bros--230937.phtml#ext

This statement alone is questionable for many reasons which I'll get into, but let's pretend for a moment that this makes perfect sense and say that the New Super Mario Bros. games are spin-offs, and we should lower our expectations because of it.

It doesn't change the fact that even by spin-off standards, the New Super Mario Bros. games are bad spin-offs.

I've never quite understood the logic behind setting our standards lower for a spin-off. Why? Because it's not like the games that we KNOW are good? Why do spin-offs have to be treated as something that's inferior to the originals? There are a lot of spin-offs that I really love that are either just as good as the main series, or even better. Pokemon Ranger, Super Mario RPG, Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime, Prinny Can I Really Be the Hero?, and Kirby Canvas Curse are all amazing spin-offs, and with the exception of Canvas Curse, those games are my favourite games in their respective series.

When we take a look at these spin-offs, there are two common elements among them. Either the main character is replaced with a supporting character from the original series, or it's a completely different genre than the original series. These are the two key elements in making a spin-off, and If you don't have either one, you're just left with a mediocre game in the main series. Calling New Super Mario Bros. a spin-off is like calling Kirby Squeak Squad or The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages a spin-off simply because they were mediocre and boring.

But even THOSE games have more of an excuse to be considered a spin-off than New Super Mario Bros. does. At least Kirby Squeak Squad and Oracle of Ages can try to claim they're spin-offs because they were made by Capcom. New Super Mario Bros. was not only made by Nintendo, but it's exactly like the old games, and stars the same main character. There is absolutely NOTHING about this game that gives it the right to call itself a spin-off.

But even if we WERE to accept them as spin-offs, and say that the amount of innovation put into it should only be on the standards of a sequel to a spin-off, it STILL isn't meeting current expectations.

Let's look at the Pokemon Ranger games. Pokemon Ranger Shadows of Almia added a lot of neat ideas to it, and even made BIG changes to the game's core mechanics due to fan feedback. Many people complained that the original Pokemon Ranger was overly difficult, so when The Pokemon Company took over the series after Hal jumped off after the first game, they tweaked the gameplay to make it easier, and it completely altered how the game was played. I personally didn't like how the game was dumbed down, nor did I even think the original game was that overly difficult. I thought the series was poorer for it, but they DID make some big changes to try and improve it, which is something a sequel should do.

Then the third game came along and addressed several issues that the second game had. People complained that the second game recycled music from the original, was WAY too long, had really poor pacing, and was way too easy. Again, the series listened to fan response and changed it to have a lot more action, a MUCH better soundtrack that not only had better music, but much better audio quality, and they once again changed some core mechanics to make the game more difficult, but not to the point of the original. They even added an entirely new mechanic around the guardian signs, and riding on the legendary beast Pokemon.

Now, how many things have people been complaining about New Super Mario Bros., and how many of those issues have they fixed? The soundtrack is still uninspired, the gameplay is still exactly the same, the visual style is still ugly and doesn't take advantage of the hardware, all of the worlds are still the same environments, and it still has less features than even Super Mario Bros. 3 had. It also doesn't make a SINGLE change to the core mechanics that isn't ripping off something from other Mario games.

So in the end, theNew Super Mario Bros. games can not POSSIBLY be considered spin-offs. They are simply mediocre entries to the main series of games. One could argue that it's a separate series because of New Super Mario Bros. 2, but does that mean Super Mario Galaxy is not part of the main series because it had a direct sequel?

I think what it all boils down to in the end is that it doesn't matter if it's a "spin-off" or an entry of the "main series". What matters is that it's a Mario game made by Nintendo, and thus it should be held to the same standards they've set for their other Mario games. Be they spin-offs or not, it doesn't change the fact that they're boring, mediocre, uninspired Mario games, and we expect better from a company that has been making these games for over 20 years.

There are two questions on the minds of Nintendo fans everywhere. What is the Wii U controller going to do, and will there be a 3DS redesign? These are two very good questions that need answers, and it will all be revealed at E3. However I think I may already have the answer. I fully admit it doesn't make sense with all of the facts available to us, but here's my crazy theory.

The Wii U controller IS the 3DS redesign.

Like I said, I know this doesn't make a ton of sense from some very important factors, such as the fact that the 3DS and Wii U were being worked on simultaneously, but Nintendo has been known to pull out some quick thinking. After all, as recently as January 2012 Nintendo said the Wii U controller wasn't in its final form, so while it may not have originally been a 3DS redesign, they could have seen the trouble the 3DS was having, and reworked the Wii U controller to be the new 3DS. After all, the Wii-mote was originally going to be a Game Cube accessory, but they very quickly reworked it to be the whole focus of their next system. Who's to say that isn't the same with the Wii U controller being the new 3DS? Let's look at a few facts we DO have.

a) The Wii U controller has most of the same features as a 3DS last we heard, and it has a second circle pad which would be the main reason for a 3DS redesign.

b) Many people have complained about the fact that the last we saw, the Wii U has circle pads instead of analog sticks, and regular shoulder buttons instead of trigger buttons like on the Xbox360. These design choices could be in place to be consistent with how a 3DS would play.

c) Nintendo has made a point to tell us that the Wii U and 3DS will have a lot of connectivity. In slippery marketing language, one COULD say that to make people think it's the current 3DS they're talking about, but in fact they're referring to the Wii U controller/3DS redesign.

d) Nintendo has stated they want to do digital downloads more, and they COULD connect the Wii U controller/new 3DS to the Wii U eShop, and have you download games from there. If apple is making such a big dent into Nintendo's handheld market, selling the handheld WITH the home console and focusing on digital software for it could be the push in the right direction they need.

Now obviously there's the cost issue of selling the Wii U AND a 3DS together, so they will probably ditch the 3D to cut costs. This may seem crazy, but it also fits with what Nintendo themselves have said. Nintendo has said multiple times that they are going to be focusing less on the 3D aspect of the 3DS, and in an extreme case that could be interpreted as simply cutting it out entirely.

As for all of the games currently in development for the 3DS, they would probably still be released on the regular 3DS. This is a grey area I don't really have an answer for that puts a hole in my theory. Like I said, there are important aspects that screw this idea up.

In all honesty, I think this would be a brilliant move by Nintendo as their handheld market IS taking a hit by apple, so combining the handheld WITH the home console is something that even the apple crowd would have to admit is quite a deal. On the other hand, there's the problem of what to do with the millions of angry fans who bought a regular 3DS. If they put in place some sort of trade in deal, it would be a HUGE blow to their Wii U hardware sales, and it would piss off already angry inverters. However if they somehow pulled it off and made the transition, it could be just the thing they're looking for.

Yet even as I typed all of this, I forgot one thing until now. The Wii U controller only has one screen. This is really the biggest problem with my theory as games that have already been in development aren't going to be able to adapt to that, so at least for a while they would have to keep both products on the market. In Nintendo's recent financial report they said that the 3DS would eventually go back to its original price of $250.00, so is this to discourage people from buying the old 3DS and adapting to the single screen Wii U controller?

If this theory is correct, the question on our minds would now be "Is Nintendo ready to have too many products available and take the same kind of massive gamble that killed Sega?"

Like I said, not all of my facts add up, and in all honesty, I'm pretty sure this isn't going to happen. However Nintendo is famous for their crazy ideas, so there is a possibility of this happening. What do you think? Is the Wii U controller the redesign of the 3DS? Or is that just wild speculation?

The Cooking Mama series gets a lot of hate from "hardcore gamers" or whatever from supposedly "ruining" gaming by fueling the casual crowd, but there are two things wrong with that. First of all is that casual gaming is a good thing. Have you ever been on a bus and seen an older man or woman playing Angry Birds or something similar, and hear them talk about how much they enjoy it? I have, and it makes me feel good. Finally the people who have long hated video games are starting to see what it's all about, and it brings a big smile to my face every time I see it. The other thing people don't quite see about the Cooking Mama series is that it's a highly entertaining game in a lot of ways, many of which come from outside the actual gameplay itself.

Cooking Mama isn't a series I'm loyal to or anything. I've only played a few of them, and it's something I rarely indulge in. However I really enjoy it whenever I play it, and this time more than ever I'm loving it now that I've realized one very important thing about it. I've learned that the Cooking Mama series is absolutely CRAZY.

There are several reasons as to why this game is so funny, and one of them is that the kitchen you and Mama cook in must be swarming with poltergeists throwing the food all over the place. There's one mini-game where kiwis are thrown into this chopper thing, and if you don't slice them quick enough, they go flying out of the chopper due to the evil spirits throwing them away. Let's also not forget about the mini-game where you're trying to spread jam on toast, but you have to get your timing right because the toast keeps JUMPING. No joke, the toast JUMPS. There are three explanations for this craziness. Either this is what the "magic" in the title is referring too, the kitchen is swarming with demonic food throwing spirits, or Mama is attaching strings to all the food and pulling it away just to to fuck around.

Another funny thing is that some of Mama's equipment is a little questionable. I can only think of one example off the top of my head, but her toaster might need to be looked at, because I don't think toast is supposed to fly five feet in the air when it pops out of the toaster. What's even weirder about that is if you fail to catch the toast, the evil spirits fling the toast at Mama and smack her in the head with it, making her eyes all swirly.

Another thing that makes this series, or at least this game so funny is that a lot of these tasks would be incredibly simple if Mama wasn't teaching you to be a show off. Take for example this machine that pokes the pits out of cherries. Any sane person would just place the cherry on the slot, and press the lever to poke the pit out. That's not how Mama teaches it though. The REAL way to do it is to shoot the cherries onto the slot like you'd shoot a marble, and time it so you press the lever when it's in the slot. Of course if you miss, the cherry falls on the ground and it counts as a screw up.

Another thing that can make this game unintentionally funny is only if you have a filthy mind, because there are a lot of great innuendos in the instructions for the mini-games. a few examples are...

"Move the corndogs upward and stick them in the fryer. Be careful of your timing!"

"Move the sausage left and right to cover it with batter."

and probably the best one...

"Touch the Mandarin to squeeze out the juice. If you squeeze too hard, the juice will go flying!"

And finally the other thing that makes this whole series so funny is how Mama can take such a simple thing like toast and jam or making a popsicle, and turn it into an incredibly complicated process. How complex can making a popsicle be? Take a popsicle tray, pour apple juice in the holes, stick it in the fridge. Somehow Mama finds a way to make it so we have to cut up several different fruits, all the while dealing with the demons in the kitchen and your teacher telling you to show off and make things overly difficult.

And this is the core joke of the series that I think most people miss, be it intentional or not. Mama is the character that holds the whole game together, being the adorable teacher who is kind and reassuring even when you screw up, but aside from her being a charming and nice person, she's really not a very good teacher. A good teacher would try to make things as simple as possible at first to ease you into the field they're teaching, but Mama makes things overly complex, and makes the tasks extra hard just for the sake of looking like a pro when you're really just learning. She's really quite an incompetent teacher, and that's what makes the whole game such a big joke.

Now even with all the praise to the other aspects, is Cooking Mama 4 fun to play? Well the previous DS titles frustrated me with some mini-games that I had no idea what to do on, but Mama 4 seems to be pretty good about that so far, and it's much more fun because of it. It's also a lot more forgiving with the scoring as it will now let you make certain types of mistakes without it affecting your final grade, which makes the process a lot less infuriating when you actually do screw up enough to have it dock your score. But really, this game seems to play on the craziness of it all rather than making it about the actual cooking, and I'd say that's a good thing. Mama herself has always been one of the cutest and most lovable game characters ever created, but she's always been a bit loopy. Making it so everything around her is also crazy really benefits the game, and makes Mama that much more lovable.

I don't know if the whole series has been like this since I never really payed attention to that when I played previous games, but Cooking Mama 4 is definitely a silly game when you look into it, and is much more than just a girly casual game. It's certainly an acquired taste since you'd have to be one of those "kid at heart" type of people to really notice and appreciate it's zaniness, but if you like that sort of thing, this game is certainly for you. It may not be the most invigorating gameplay in the world, but picking it up and making a recipe is a great way to kill some time before putting it down and doing something else. It's a great once-in-a-while-game that is sure to bring a smile to your face, and add a fun, silly game to your 3DS library.

Again, since I rarely have original ideas of my own, I'll continue to rip-off Funktastic and show off my recent game purchases. I realize that acknowledging you're ripping someone off doesn't make it any better, but I figured I'd say it anyways. We have a bunch of really significant ones this time around, so let's get on with it!



Starting off we have Fire Emblem, Phoenix Wright Justice for All, and Trace Memory. The back of the Fire Emblem box has a somewhat large tear in it, but it's such a perfect tear that I wasn't able to spot it until I got home, even after carefully looking it over in the store. Getting Justice for All has finally completed my collection of the five Ace Attorney games released in North America, though I must say it's my least favourite in the series. Trace Memory I don't know anything about the story, but I have heard it's entirely possible to get the bad ending without really knowing what caused it, so I'll be following a spoiler free walk through for that one.

By the way, Lyn is by far the most attractive woman in Nintendo's library of characters. Just thought I'd throw that out there.



Just because I've found two awesome game stores doesn't mean I should stop going to the thrift shops, because I would miss out on incredible finds like these two items. A brand new, SEALED Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Printer! How much did they cost? 10 dollars each. This is why thrift shops are so great. You can occasionally find really rare shit there, and they don't take collector's value into account when they price things. Oh, and that weird part on the left side of the Game Boy Printer box isn't the box being banged up. It looks like a rip from this angle, but that's just part of the picture on the side that overlaps to the top a bit.



Both the top and bottom of both boxes have that little Nintendo seal sticker, which shows they have never been opened. I've been wanting a Game Boy Printer for a long time to play with my Game Boy Camera and Link's Awakening DX, but I guess I'll have to keep waiting since the one I finally ended up getting was brand new in the box. Is this a blessing, or a curse? Either way, I'm absolutely thrilled with these purchases, and they were one of the best deals I ever got at a thrift shop, if not THE best.



Speaking of the thrift shop, I found these two games at the thrift shop just the other day for 8 bucks each. I had played through most of Sonic 3 before and didn't really see what people found so great about it, but I heard it gets better with the Sonic and Knuckles cart attached to it, as it gives you the full game. Seeing both of these side by side gave me the perfect oppurtunity to give it a second chance. Plus now I can play Sonic 2 as Knuckles! Not to mention they're great to have as an addition to the final thing in this post.



While not so much a "gaming" purchase, it is something game related I've wanted to get back for a long time. When I was younger I collected the Gym Heroes set of Pokemon cards, and I still have them to this day. I'm only a handful of cards away from having a complete set actually. I had this Misty card when I was younger, but when I kicked yet another kid's ass with my incredible Gym Heroes decks in a duel, the jerk grabbed a bunch of my cards and ripped them up. Thankfully the Misty card was the only really rare one he got a hold of, but I never spoke the guy again, and that's when I stopped playing the card game. Now I finally have the card again, and I'm not letting this one get into the hands of some dumb kid.



I took the INCREDIBLY long transit trip to Gamedeals' other location in Gastown, and while it wasn't as good of a store as the New Westminster location, I did walk away with two of the holy grails of handheld game systems. The first of which is this one, the highly sought after Game Boy Light.

The Game Boy Light was only released in Japan, and it's pretty much just a Game Boy Pocket with a backlight. It's a pretty good machine though, and the screen is in REALLY good shape. The Game Boy itself is a bit banged up at places, but I don't really care since it's such an elusive item. The backlight is quite good, though it gives it a green tint that makes it look like an original Game Boy Wonder Brick. It's in black and white like the Game Boy Pocket, and is slightly taller than a Game Boy Pocket. It runs on two AA batteries rather than the Pocket's AAA batteries, and I might be spewing nonsense when I say this, but I think even without the backlight, the screen technology is a tad better than a Game Boy Pocket.



The backlight is brighter in person, and the green tint is more vibrant in person, but you can get the jist of it in this picture that I took in a pitch dark room. It works really well, and I would have LOVED to have one of these as a kid to play Pokemon under the covers without that stupid glow worm. While these days it's very much just a novelty system, it's still a pretty cool device that I'm definitely going to play around with a bit more.



Here's the big one. The thing I've been searching for over SIX YEARS to find. The Sega Nomad. I've wanted one of these ever since I first heard about it, and I finally saw one in person for the first time when I went to Gamedeals in Gastown. It cost me a hefty 75 bucks, but in my eyes it was worth it. You see, the Nomad makes the Genesis completely obsolete. If you own a Nomad, you can throw out your Genesis because unless you absolutely NEED to play your Sega CD and 32X games, there's nothing the Genesis can do that the Nomad can't do. (except let you finish the X-Men Genesis game cause there's no reset button, but frankly who gives a shit.)

Anyways, what I mean by this is not only can you play your Genesis games on the handheld itself, but you can also use a cable to hook your Nomad to a TV, and play the Genesis games on the TV, using the Nomad as the controller. To add to that, you can plug a Genesis controller into the bottom of the Nomad, and a second person can use that controller to play as player two. So you see, you can use the Nomad as a regular Genesis, even with two players. To add to that, using the Nomad like that doesn't cause any extra framerate dips, or input lag. It's just as good as a Genesis, if not better due to the Nomad's superior D-Pad.



Also, the screen technology for the time is absolutely outstanding as it looks just about as clear as it would look on a TV, and the sound quality is also really amazing, and with headphones it's one of the best quality sounding handhelds ever. All in all, it was well worth the painfully long wait to find one, and it's one of my new favourite handhelds.

Now the only question is do I put my Genesis games on my shelf dedicated to handheld games? Because that's essentially what Genesis games are now.



Hardcore.

See ya next time!

I've been a fan of Funktastic's collector blogs for a long time now, and I've always wanted to do one of my own, but never had enough material since I don't buy as many games as him. (Though I still buy a lot) Well fortunately for me I've found two really great game stores in British Columbia that have helped me further my handheld gaming collection. I'm a big handheld gamer, so boxed Game Boy, GBA, and DS games are my kind of thing. Though I usually don't buy just any old game for the sole purpose of increasing my collection. (Key word being "usually") It has to be a game I genuinely want, which is another reason why I've had a hard time getting enough material for one of these blogs. Well thanks to Gamedeals and MostlyMusic, I've gotten enough stuff for a somewhat small version of one of these blogs. So let's take a look at my most recent purchases, shall we?



This was my first trip to MostlyMusic, which is the store I prefer less of the two stores I go to. It's harder to get to, the staff aren't as friendly, and it's really freaking expensive. However it has a FAR superior selection to Gamedeals, so that's the reason I still go there. This trip was mainly to get Land of Illusion for the Sega Game Gear I bought at the thrift shop, but as I wandered around I saw a boxed copy of Kirby's Dream Land 2, and simply HAD to get it. Kirby is my favourite video game franchise, and Dream Land 2 is one of his best games, so I really wanted it boxed. It stinks that it's the Player's Choice box, but I wasn't going to let it go just because of that.

That Mega Man Game Gear cartridge was a total accident that I found it. While the staff were searching for their Game Gear games cause they couldn't remember where they put them, the guy opened random Game Gear carrying cases that had a few games in each. MegaMan just happened to be in one of them, and I HAD to get it since it's one of the more rare Game Gear games. It wasn't listed on their site either, so they must not have even known they had it. They actually had to call up someone and ask how much they should charge for it. I ended up paying 40 bucks for it, but I was still pleased with the purchase since it's a hard to get collector's item, and I got it cheaper than what I'd have to pay for it on ebay.



This was my first trip to Gamedeals in New West Minster. I was still looking for Game Gear games, one in particular called "Defenders of Oasis", which is also pretty tough to find. I didn't find it, but I ended up buying these three games. The Lion King has a few issues with it that make it more difficult than it should be, Chaken I had heard was really hard, and that always calls out as a challenge to my pride, and Ecco the Dolphin is surprisingly enjoyable for all the hate it gets. Though the controls really are a bucket of balls on the Game Gear's dumb circle pad.



On this trip to Mostlt Music I traded in a bunch of games for store credit, (Which they totally ripped me off on, so never trade stuff in there) and I bought a few more things. I went there to get Ace Attorney 1 and 2 which I saw were there on their site, but when I got there I found out that Justice for all had already been sold. So I bought these other two Game Boy games I saw the last time I was there. Final Fantasy Legend II was one of the biggest rip-offs ever, because the box looks like crap, the cartridge looks like crap, and it didn't have the manual, (which I only found out after I had gotten home) and it cost 40 dollars. Oh well, at least Ace Attorney 1 was worth it. Oh, and that's the original grey cartridge release of Wario Land II, not the colour updated one that came out later.



Going back to Gamedeals, I only knew about Lagoon for SNES because I stumbled upon its awesome soundtrack on youtube, (Elf Field in particular), and I had been curious about it ever since. Turns out it's a VERY mediocre action RPG where you have, and I'm not kidding here, the WORST weapon in the history of video games. You start out with this horrible sword that only hits the enemy if you're literally like, two pixels away from it. It's the absolute worst weapon I've ever used in a game. I still give Lagoon some credit though because it feels like a great game to pull out at a "bad video game" night. Even though there was nobody else in the room, I couldn't help but mock it out loud, and I even cracked myself up a couple times.

As for Trax, it's a game by Hal before they created Kirby, and while it's so short that you can literally beat it in a half hour lunch break, (seriously, I actully did that once) it's still a fun game. I only paid five bucks for it, so the shortness factor really isn't much of an issue for me. Plus it's a game I've replayed many times already.



You gotta give Gamedeals some credit, most of their Game Boy Advance/Game Boy boxes are in REALLY nice condition. WarioWare Inc Mega MicroGame$, Mario Party Advance, and Yggrda Union: We'll Never Fight Alone, all in BEAUTIFUL condition, and at dirt cheap prices. Yggrda was 15 bucks, and WarioWare and Mario Party were both 20 bucks. The only game I went there to buy was WarioWare, but for reasons still unclear to me, I bought Mario Party Advance.

Yggrda Union on the other hand was completely intentional, because I had heard of the PSP version, but I never knew that it was originally a GBA exclusive. I figured it must be pretty hard to get if I had never heard of the GBA version, and sure enough when I got home I found out it's pretty tough to get. Not as rare as certain other games I bought for dirt cheap at the thrift shop that turned out to be extremely rare, like my six dollar copy of Bonk's Adventure for NES, and my six dollar copy of Bust a Groove for PS1, (both of which I traded in at MostlyMusic and somewhat regret now) and my six dollar copy of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo for PS1, but still a pretty good price to rareness ratio.

When I got home and found out it was made in 2006, my interest suddenly spiked in actually playing it because a lot of the best handheld games ever were all released in 2006. I really love the boxart too. Atlus has a few games with boxart that I pull the game off the shelf just to look at. The game seems way too complicated for my brain though, so I probably won't ever really play it too much. Tried the first mission and understood it well enough, but the manual shows that it gets REALLY complicated down the road. Not to mention in the PSP version they added an easy mode which was the default game, and the hard mode you can unlock is the original GBA version, which goes to show how hard the game would be. Oh well, I still like having it in the same way I like having the Etrian Odyssey trilogy and Electroplankton. They're just cool to have.

And that's all I've got for ya. This was pretty fun to do, but I doubt I'll get to do any more of these any time soon, what with me not being filthy rich, and having to buy food and shit. Though if I ever get another chance, I'll do another. Oh, and I guess I'll end this by telling you to go check out Gamedeals and MostlyMusic in British Columbia. Both stores have issues, but whatever flaws one store has, the other fixes, so they're pretty balanced in that aspect. Though really, I recommend GameDeals over Mostly music, if not just for the prices. See ya later!