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!

I'm not sure how on the radar Trails in the Sky is, but it really should be on people's play list. It's a PSP exclusive port of a beloved JRPG released on the PC in Japan in 2004. Yes, this is indeed another JRPG PSP port, but so far it's a damn good one. I went into this game knowing next to NOTHING about it except that it's long, it's a three part game that transfers data to future games; it has dialogue choices that affect the plot, it has turn based combat; and it doesn't have an overly complicated battle system. The game got bonus points when I started playing and found out that the battles are not random, and are instead on-screen like in the Mario RPGs and Earthbound.

The game has a ton of text and slow story segments, but it's one of the only cases where I don't mind a game taking a long time to get started since I really enjoy the characters. Estelle and Joshua are both likable in their own ways, (Estelle more than Joshua) and the people around them are interesting too. They do have a trace of JRPG character stereotypes in them, but that's not their ENTIRE personality like most of the recent Final Fantasy games, and JRPGs in general. Character development over action seems to be the approach they're taking with the story at this stage in the game, and I don't mind that at all. I'd rather have likable characters than constant action. (This is why Kiki's Delivery Service is one of my top five favourite movies)

So yeah, the game is great so far, and I must ask that you *bold for emphasis and also so you don't skip over it* do not spoil anything in the game. I have gone out of my way to not even look at the manual to see what characters join you, or any battle mechanics that may be introduced later. Please do not say anything regarding the game itself. I don't even want an "all I'll say is this..." or a "there's a certain part later I know you'll like..." or a "while I won't say EXACTLY what happens..." or a "this isn't really a spoiler but..." Usually the less one knows about a game before they play it the better, and this is one of those rare times where I know absolutely nothing about it. Now I will stop shouting like Christian Bale.

"Everybody got that?"

So what I'm really here to talk about is the Premium Edition that comes with all sorts of bonus goodies. This is another release under the Falcom/XSeed partnership, and just like the last three PSP titles they worked on, this game has a Premium Edition. I'm a big fan of these, but out of the five PSP Premium Edition sets I have, I'd only say that two of them are worth it. (The games themselves are worth it though) The Prinny Can I Really Be the Hero? set could maybe get a free pass since it was the first one for the PSP, but the Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys Book I and II Collection sets don't really deserve that free pass. I mean, collectors are the ones who are going to buy these, right? So what collector is really going to open up the 2011 calendar that came with the Felghana set and scribble notes on the squares? The Book I and II set's only extra was a soundtrack, and I don't feel the extra money was worth the purchase. The only two sets that were really worth it were the Ys Seven and Trails in the Sky sets. Ys Seven had the fanciest extras, coming with a big map of the Ys world which was made of this nice cloth material, it came with an AMAZING soundtrack, and it came with a little art book which was pretty cool, but the only really interesting pieces of art were the scenery pictures rather than the character drawings. There's just something cool about seeing the towns and cities in highly detailed, fully realized pictures. Despite the high quality of the box set, I think I like the Trails in the Sky set better because it has cooler extras instead of fancy ones.

Boy, I sure have a talent for dancing around a topic before finally getting to the point. No more delays! Let's get to some pictures!



Here's the front of the big box that holds all our fun stuff. If you wanted me to compare it's size to something, that's incredibly easy because it's the exact same size as a box to a Super Nintendo game. Seriously, it's almost suspicious. Makes me wonder if they just somehow modified a Super Nintendo game box for this one. It has this shiny "holographic" Pokemon Card-esque coat on the front, and while that looks cool at first, you later realize it makes it very difficult to take pictures of with the flash on, and you also realize that once you get your fingerprints all over it, it starts to lose it's shininess.



Here's the back cover. The blurb proudly boasts "Top 10 PSP Games of 2011" which makes me snicker every time I see it since that's really not much to brag about. I mean, even if it was any other year, I don't think it'd be much to brag about. Maybe if it said "Top 5 PSP Games of 2011" I could take it more seriously, because hey, there are a few big games for PSP in 2011, what with Patapon 3, Dissidia 2,and Valkyria Chronicles III. (well, in Japan at least. Who knows when that's coming over here if at all.) The back is also shiny, and just like the front it attracts fingerprints and smudges like Rockstar's press releases attract Fox News.



Here's an angle shot, just to show that it is indeed a three dimensional object. Also it's nice to see the end label, which is something most people DON'T do when showing off collector's editions. Hey, end labels are important too! I'll be quick to harp on a game's presentation if the end label sucks. (I'm looking at you Kirby's Epic Yarn and Ace Attorney Apollo Justice. Just had to try and stand out and rearrange the logo to look different than all the other Ace Attorney games and screw up how cool they look lined up on the shelf) Is it just me, or does this look like the kind of angle you'd see on those ebay listings of sealed Super Nintendo games? You know, the ones that are priced at 700 bucks and never sell unless they happen to come across the world's richest nerd? Or at least a spoiled rotten nerd with rich parents? What the hell are you gonna do with it anyways? Put it on a shelf? Yeah, 700 bucks well spent.

Moving on.



Here's everything while still in the box. An important rule of collector's sets, and anything in general really is that the first time you open it, make sure you remember where everything was when you first opened it. Otherwise you may have a hard time figuring out how to put it all back together. Then again, if you're the kind of person who actually would open the calendar and use it, or poke holes/plaster tape on the poster and hang it on a wall, or draw a red X and a Family Circus-esque broken line trail behind it on the cloth map, it's probably not a big deal to you. By the way, if you are one of those people, make sure you don't go to any conventions, because you will be sure to get the shit beat out of you by furious collectors.



Here we have the soundtrack CD. This is basically required for any collector's edition, and is usually the best part of them. Granted it's not that exciting if the music sucks, but it's still a nice thing to have. I've only listened to the main theme of the game called "The Whereabouts of Light", which probably plays over the end credits, but oh well. Though you know what I instantly noticed? The first part of this song sounds VERY similar to the main theme of Castle in the Sky. I mean seriously, listen to the first verse of both songs and tell me they don't sound the same.





What, did they think nobody would notice that they basically copied the main theme to one of Studio Ghibli's most popular films? Hell, the titles of the game and movie are only one word away from being the exact same! Not going to make any conspiracy theories yet, but it's certainly something that can't be denied.

Anyways, what I really like about this soundtrack is the artwork on it. Sadly I had to shrink these pictures down a lot, so you can't see them as well as the huge pictures I have on my computer. Though even with this you can tell it's beautifully drawn. This is something I love about this box set as a whole. Gorgeous art is everywhere in this set, as I will continue to show you as I open up the jewel case.



Here's the disc itself. Again, gorgeous artwork. As a guy who is always extremely critical of a game's packaging, this soundtrack alone just makes me incredibly happy. Every part to this CD has art that isn't used anywhere else in the set, except maybe the manual. I don't know, I haven't checked it yet since I don't want to risk spoiling anything. What I love even more about this set is that they showed admirable restraint by not putting any fanservice shots into this entire set! I mean, Estelle is such a charming and likable character that I honestly don't WANT people to draw fanservice of her. Then again I wish people wouldn't draw fanservice in general, because that way people can focus on making completely awesome, regular fanart like this.



or this



or even this



Okay, maybe that Hatsune Miku one isn't the greatest example, but it's the highest ratio of tastefulness to awesomeness I've seen of the character. I mean, I'd like to see you try to find some art of Miku that's this awesome, but more tame. Oh, and it seems that all the best fanart according to me takes place in space. :/

Sorry, getting sidetracked again.



Here's the back of the insert art, and whoops, I guess I spoke too soon. Well, this IS a Japanese game, so I guess they couldn't resist at least one fanservice shot. I was initially annoyed, but it didn't take me long to realize that it's actually pretty tame. None of the characters are wearing JUST a bikini, and none of them are in an obviously seductive pose, so it's not as bad as it could have been. In fact, it doesn't really look like it's trying to BE fanservice. It just looks like a normal day at the beach. It adds to my argument that these characters are far more realistic than most other JRPG characters. It also goes to show just how well drawn this set is, that they can do a drawing like this and have it not be offensive. Now if there isn't a beach scene in the game itself, that confirms that this is just for eye-candy, but even if it is, I don't think any feminists out there should get too upset about it since it's pretty tame. I mean, the artbook for Ys Seven had far more blatant stuff than this. I mean, what the heck was up with this?



Dude, Aisha and Taya's characters do not pose or dress like that respectively. Not to mention this picture basically depicts them as Adol's slaves. Kinda messed up.



Here's the inside of the insert art to the CD. At this point in the game this picture doesn't mean much to me, but I still dig it. Since I don't know if this guy is a good guy or a bad guy, (NOR DO I WISH TO BE TOLD!) I can get both a somber "my past sucks" kind of vibe to it, or an "I am so evil that I will make sure the heroes see me playing my evil piano when they walk in the room" type vibe to it. I hope it's the latter version, because nothing makes me crack up quite like seeing Ganondorf playing his evil organ when Link walks in the room, just so he can do his dramatic turn. You just know that he was standing by the doorway waiting to hear his footsteps, and ran over to his organ giggling as soon as he heard him coming.



This is part of what I meant by this set having "cooler" goodies than the Ys Seven set. I'm a sucker for little Club Nintendo-esque trinkets like this, so this immediately appealed to me. It's a replica of the Bracer's Guild badge from the game, which are given to people once they become a member of the Bracer's Guild. Since it's an actual pin, you can wear it on your shirt just like you would in the game, meaning that this is what all the cosplayers will be searching for like mad if they didn't buy this collector's edition. The only thing that sucks about it is that it took me a while to figure out how to get it back in the box and have everything else fit. You have to do something that you probably wouldn't think would make a difference, but it totally does somehow. Other than that, it's a cool toy. Too bad it's in a bag, cause now I can't ever open it. Not like I really have much need to anyways. Unless you're a cosplayer, it's really not something you'll use a lot, but even though it's mostly useless, it's still a really cool pin, and a neat bonus item.



Next we've got what is, in my opinion, the best bonus item of this set. It's a double sided poster, and on the one side we have a map of the Trails in the Sky world. It's like the Ys Seven map, but not made of cloth, which is actually better if you ask me, because now it won't attract my cat's fur like a magnet. So why is this the best part of the set you may ask? Well to know the answer, we simply turn the poster to the other side.



Holy crap is that poster beautiful. Again, this set has absolutely AMAZING artwork, and when I first unfolded this poster, I just stared at it for a good five minutes, just admiring how gorgeous it is. It's probably the nicest poster I own, and I own some pretty damn nice video game posters. What sucks about it though is that I don't want to poke thumb tacks in it, or plaster tape on it, so despite the fact that I REALLY want to hang this on my wall, I can't do that. It really annoys me, but once I get my next cheque I'm going to look into finding a frame for it, because I'm willing to pay the money just so I can safely hang it up. Though one thing this particular picture of Estelle shows off is just how much her outfit looks like it belongs on a Pokemon Ranger heroine, and that can only be a good thing. While the Ys Seven soundtrack is still by far the best bonus item out of my collector's editions, this poster easily takes second place, making me completely happy that I spent the extra money to get it.



Here's the UMD case. What a bizarre cover this is. You can't see Joshua's face, and Estelle has her back turned to the fourth wall. You can't see either main character! Yet that's what makes it so unique, and that's what's so striking about it. The point of any cover is to draw your attention to it and make you pick up the box, and the best way to do that is to do something that other covers don't do, even if it seems bizarre. Well this cover certainly grabs my attention every time I look at it. I haven't played far enough to see why the flying machines are important, but every time I look at this cover and see Estelle gazing at the aircraft, it makes me more and more excited to find out. (and I will find out by playing the game, not by having someone tell me!)



I'm eating some Panago Pizza as I type this. You know when you order a large pizza, you can get a small for 3 bucks? THREE BUCKS! Eight slices of cheesy heaven for that price seems like it would be some sort of scam, but no! This is freshly made pizza, for three bucks! Hell, at Pizza Hut you have to spend FIVE bucks just to get their tiny four slice personal pizzas! And even if you didn't get the three dollar deal, it's still only six bucks to get a small, which is just a dollar more than Pizza Hut's personal pizzas. Christ Pizza Hut is a rip-off.

Oh, as for the picture, it's the exact same back as the big box, and I already made fun of that. NEXT!

*Disclaimer* PekoponTAS is in no way affiliated with Panago Pizza



Here's the end label to the UMD case. Like I said, it annoys me that it's so hard to find pictures of a game's end label. The end labels are what you're going to see most of the time anyways since a case will usually be on it's side on a shelf, so having a nice end label is actually quite important. It's actually a big reason why I'm kind of down on the 3DS right now. You know, aside from the fact that there's nothing out for it. I hate the Wii's crappy white end labels, but the DS end labels are all colourful and different, and look awesome on a shelf. Now the 3DS end labels are going to screw it all up and not only be thinner and have less room for a proper logo, but they're also going to be all white end labels like the Wii ones. I know it's petty to hate on a system because it's game's end labels suck, but remember, presentation is everything. You want your product to stand out and sell? Then make it look nice! People who don't do research and just want to browse a game shop aren't going to be interested in looking through a shelf of generic white cases when they could look at a shelf of eye catching colourful ones. It may not seem important to most people, but let me tell you that it's more important than you might think.

Wow, did I just make a separate blog post within a blog post?



Here's the inside of the UMD case with the manual, and everyone's favourite Universal Media Disc that only works in one thing. I have to wonder if by "universal" they meant that it could play games, movies, and music, rather than being used in everything. Seems to be the only thing that makes any sense, because if that wasn't the intention, I'd sure like to know what they were thinking when they came up with the name. Those PSP manuals are pretty weird too. They're super tall, but really narrow, so the layouts in them are usually pretty weird. Also the front and back covers usually have a more cardboardy feeling to them, whereas the rest of the pages are your typical glossy paper manual pages. Much like the DS manuals, these things have some of the stinkiest new manual smell you'll ever smell. It's not as bad as most DS manuals, but just make sure to hold them far from your nose the first time you open them. And to those who enjoy sniffing new manual smell, you wanna know something? That smell is actually glue, so by intentionally sniffing new manual smell, you are essentially snorting glue.



Here's the artwork that's on the opposite side of the case's insert art. I've only ever seen this with the Falcom/Xseed games, and to be honest it feels like it should be a requirement for ALL PSP games. It just makes sense. I mean, you've got a clear case, so this is a great place to show off some official art of the game you're about to play! Then again, companies these days are too cheap to print their manuals in colour, so I imagine companies wouldn't be too interested in printing extra artwork. As for the picture itself, it's a very nice drawing, but I don't really know what's significant about it yet. I know the character, and I know she sits at that desk, but is there something more to it than that? I like to think that this picture takes place the evening after Estelle and Joshua got accepted into the Bracer's Guild, and she's sitting there deep in thought about if it was a good idea or not to let them join. I don't know, maybe that's just me. If you've read my previous post about the Etrian Odyssey box art, you already know my imagination can run pretty wild when I look at pictures. We're almost done folks!



And here's everything in the set. A gorgeous poster, a neat pin, a CD filled with beautiful artwork, and of course the game itself. Overall it's a really good collector's set, and it's easily my favourite out of the five I own. As I said before, presentation is everything. This box set may not have the best extras in the world, but it looks so nice that it's hard not to be impressed by it. Believe me, everything looks even nicer in person, especially that amazing poster, so I highly suggest you try and find one of these before they're gone. Unlike the Ys collector's sets which I'm sure won't be too hard to get later down the line, I have a gut feeling that this one will indeed become quite difficult to locate in the future. Besides, it's a great game so far, so you should get the collector's edition to begin with, because trust me, if you buy the game in the solo UMD and end up loving it, you'll be kicking yourself for not picking up this beautiful collector's set. If you're lucky you might still be able to find the unsold pre-order copies on EBGames/Gamestop shelves at time of writing, so if you're a PSP owner searching for something to play, go out and hunt down this collector's edition, because this is one you won't want to miss.

I don’t know about you, but one of my favourite things to do with a new game is to just stare at the cover and really look it over. When you use your imagination, this can be really enjoyable to do, as you may find yourself thinking up funny things about what you’re seeing

When you over think things, video game boxes can be a lot of fun. However rather than talk about some stupid, funny box art, I want to instead talk about a certain box art that I really love. The box art to Etrian Odyssey.



The first thing I gotta say is that the cover is beautifully drawn, and full of colour. The forest is drawn with a lot of detail, and a lot of effort was put into the border which surrounds the main picture. You’ll also notice that the space outside of the main picture is made to look like an aged book, and it too looks really good. I think one of the most impressive things about the artwork is that the more flatly coloured anime characters and the more realistic looking forest actually fit together perfectly. One would think the two styles would clash, but instead they fit together like a glove.

Far too often do games not give a crap about their logo, but Etrian Odyssey cares, and it’s one hell of a nice logo. The cover is very much like those fairytale books they had at the start of early Disney films, what with similar page texture, borders, and of course the font. However the silly side of my imagination has sort of spoiled this logo, since all I can think of is that the guy just drew it with his left hand, and as he was finishing the Y he sneezed and caused that somewhat ridiculous swoop.

Let’s talk about the characters shall we? My favourite character on this box is the girl, because in just this one still picture, you can get so much out of her. First of all, Atlus gets some points for not making her a scantily clad character which would make her completely vulnerable to enemy attacks, and instead gives her a full suit of armour, with the exception of a helmet. It’s interesting because normally in RPGs female characters can’t wear this type of heavy armour, which just makes her all the more cool. When you add the fact that she wields a sword unlike most female RPG characters, she’s turned into a badass heroine. Naysayers may claim that it’s sexist that she has a full suit of armour and the men don’t, thus implying that women are physically weaker than men and need to be more heavily protected, but I call bullshit. If anything, this just proves that the men are being dumbasses for not wearing protective clothing, just so they can wear their ninja outfits.

Now before I go any further, I need to explain a bit about how the actual game plays. The game is a first person dungeon crawler, but unlike most recent dungeon crawlers that have randomly generated maps, the Etrian Odyssey games always contain the same maps. The gimmick here is that there aren’t any maps to find to see where you’re going, which means that you have to draw your own map on the touch screen. It’s intended to be a throwback to the really old school dungeon crawling RPGs on the PC where you DID have to draw your own maps on paper to know where you’re going. Later in the game they introduce enemies called F.O.Es that are visible enemies on the maps, and should you encounter one, you’re basically instantly dead. You need to carefully plan your route to avoid these things, otherwise it’s game over.

Now that you know all of that, I can go back to talking about the cover. Using the power of imagination, one can piece together a whole story based on this picture. The characters are leaning out from the side of the picture, and they’re all in a fighting stance. The girl’s mouth is open as if saying something to the others, and judging from their poses, we can easily assume that she is saying “stay on guard!”. That would explain their fighting stances, what with the girl having her sword at the ready, the archer with an arrow set into his bow, and the ninja doing….whatever it is ninjas do when they’re preparing for a fight. It captures the feeling of the game very well, because it gives off the feeling that they’re being cautious because they don’t know anything about the area they’re in, and it gives off the feeling of tension that the characters have that every time they turn a corner they could run into a monster, which is exactly how you feel while playing the game.

Back to the characters, when you assume the girl is saying “stay on guard”, one might then think “why would she say that to the others?” Well if you were to ask me, it’s because they came out of a shrub into a new area, (which is something you do often in the games) and they heard the sounds of a F.O.E wandering nearby. Because of this, they ran behind a nearby tree, and that’s when she told them to “stay on guard”. Because if the F.O.E does end up finding them, they had at least better be prepared to launch the first attack.

By now you’ve realized that since she’s the one giving the orders, this girl is the commander of the group, and you may wonder to yourself why the young girl is the commander rather than the two older male characters. It’s at this point that you can imagine whatever you want that lead up to this event, and then progress the story in your mind from after the point on the box. In my mind I like to think that the girl was a highly skilled commander despite her age, and was thus put in command of the two guys. The guys aren’t happy about this, and when they are sent on their first mission with her, they give her a hard time and don’t listen. However once shit hits the fan and they encounter the F.O.E that lead up to the point on the box, they start listening to her since they’ve got no choice. The F.O.E passes by them, and after that the two guys start to take things more seriously and follow their commander’s orders.

From this one simple image my brain managed to piece together a whole story, and THAT is what a great image can do. A lot of the most famous pieces of art ever created are praised because they tell a story in a single image. If you go by this logic, the cover to Etrian Odyssey is indeed a great piece of art, and not just some random group shot they slapped onto it. Now admittedly I DID have to play a bit of the game to GET that story, so it’s not exactly something you can think of from just looking at it on its own, but in a way, that just makes it even more outstanding. The box art compliments the game, and the game compliments the box art. I’ve never seen any other video game box art that does and says as much as this one, and even without all the stuff I just mentioned, the picture itself is just really cool. With all of these qualities contributing to it, the Etrian Odyssey box art, in my opinion, is the best video game box art ever created.