I must admit that the King of Dtoiders 2009 really sapped me. But I'm back on the wagon, putting in more time with KoF XII and a few other games. Here are some impressions.

A Boy and His Blob
This game is beautiful and the mechanics are quite enjoyable. It's also very old-school in difficulty and its lack of tutorial. At the beginning of the game, you're dropped in with no real clue of what to do. After some exploring and a few enemy encounters, you'll meet the boy's best friend, Blob. There are 4 worlds in the game, each with 10 levels. There are also a ton of bonus stages which are unlocked by collecting 3 treasure chests from each level. The hand-drawn graphics are amazing and the puzzles are very challenging. My problem with the game is the control set up. As a note, I'm using the Classic Controller. The d-pad is used to hug the blob, switch to the blob cam or scold the blob. The boy is moved using the analog stick. Analog control is not good for 2D platformers and aiming the jellybeans is often an exercise in frustration. I'm still debating whether I will continue playing when the controls are so unwieldy. Dear 2D develpers, use the god damned D-pad; it's your friend.

Half Minute Hero
It's a frantic RPG for the PSP built on 30 second chapters. This game is brilliant. Each stage starts with a few paragraphs of story and then you're dropped in to the scenario with 30 seconds to complete the quest. That's right, you have to grind levels, buy equipment, heal and defeat the boss in 30 seconds. The Goddess of Time works with you so you can rewind time back to 30 seconds but it's going to cost you. After all, time is money. The downside to her help is that at the beginning of each chapter, your level is reset to 1. The developers used an interesting art style. Basically, everything is an 8-bit sprite but using effects that were not possible in that time period. It's fast, frantic, brilliantly hilarious and fun. This may very well be the greatest RPG ever made.

Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki Record U.C. 0081
I love Gundam and this game is one of the best. The player chooses either Zeon or Federation and then completes squad based missions. You'll earn money, parts and more mobile suits to use as you play through the story. I'm pretty deep into the Federation side and I'm loving it. It's basically Rise from the Ashes, but with better controls and graphics, combined with the customization from the SD G Generation games. It doesn't get better than this. Pro tip: When buying import games, go for the Asian version, as it's cheaper than the Japanese version and comes with a card explaining the game basics in English. This game has online play, so if you like Gundam, get it and let's start a Dtoid group.

King of Fighters Ranbats
I am planning this for November. I'll get the word out as soon as I have the plan figured out.

Final note on King of Dtoiders
Work has been very busy so I haven't had a chance to get the certificates out yet. I have the PDFs at home but I have not been able to find a good way to send them out. If you want your certificate in PDF format, PM me with your email. Otherwise, I plan on converting these to JPEG, uploading to photobucket and sending out direct links.