nastybun

Hoi all.. I’n not neglecting you, ’sjust that nothing much is happening. Here’s a few words, anyway.

I read this and was reminded about why it is that I love that game so much. It’s a tiny masterpiece.. that’s not actually very tiny at all. They managed to distill The Legend of Zelda down to the Game Boy, yet give it its own unique character and whimsy that shines through wonderfully, even to this day. It’s regarded by some as the best Zelda game, and by many as at least the best 2D one. I reckon it’s the one that I look back at most fondly, and if I had the DX version here I’d probably play it again.. again. I have the original one, but I like the additions made in the colour one. Aye, I bought it twice.. and if Nintendo do what we all want and have a Virtual Console on the DSi for GB games.. I’ll buy it a third time. Read the article anyway.. it explains things far better than I could.

This is how I transport things on my bike:

Anyone want a table? Anyone at all?

Happiness is garlic, chilli and olive oil…

My desk is complete!

Yay!

There’d be more, but I ran out of battery and Elsie is damn hard to photograph…

I filled up the bike.. with the most expensive option (cleaner, cos it’d been sitting around).

I’m gonna enjoy this.

Ahh, felicitations, salutations, and… hi. Yes, it’s that time again.. more words from the wise. Unfortunately though, the wise men are on a holiday, so you’re stuck with me. I’m not sorry.

Bike things are moving apace, the bossman has his scooter now so we’re been getting out and about a lot. Getting the boss’s scooter home on thursday was fun.. rather like me, it was his first trip on public roads. Unlike me, he’s never had a car license, so hasn’t really done any driving. Needless to say, we got back safe.. and he’s been getting much more confident and stable since then. Friday produced a failed attempt at getting a new spark plug for the postie… seems it’s a somewhat special part, but I have a source in town from where to get one. At that point I can find out about some new tubes for the tyres too.. there’s a not all that slow leak going on with them. Today we went a few suburbs away and I bought a basket for the back. It’s actually a wire cage drawer from a set designed for putting in wardrobes and whatnot, but it works well.. I grossly underestimated the size at first.. instead of the smallest option, I ended up with the biggest one. I reckon I could carry a case of beer in there quite easily now! Sweet. On the down side, the headlight doesn’t work on low beam anymore.. and it was starting to get dark by the time I got home. Tomorrow shall contain some investigation of that…

As the gamers out there will well know, it’s been a big week for games.. E3 happened, so much game info is at hand. Left4Dead 2, Metroid: Other M, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Mario Galaxy 2, Forza Motorsports 3, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Scribblenauts.. and a whole pile involving killing people! The amazing thing is that for the first time since Mario Galaxy 1 came out, there’s forthcoming Wii games that I’ll probably buy! Zounds! Also, it’s funny seeing people whine about L4D2 coming out so soon after the original. It is somewhat justified, but still.. the arguments they come up with are ridiculous.

In other gaming news, I’ve been playing Bit.Trip Beat and Super Metroid recently. I’ll leave you to read the Bit.Trip Beat review in that link there if you want to know more about it, but it’s essentially a rythm game with chiptunes that seems to have been inspired by Pong. It’s a WiiWare game, so you non Wii owners will miss out.. but it’s excellent, so Wii owners should go get it. Super Metroid is Super Metroid.. if you’ve not played it, it’s one of the best SNES games made, and usually appears in top X games ever lists. The first Metroid game on NES essentially coined a new genre, along with Castlevania. The Metroidvania genre was born, and Super Metroid arguably perfected it. The other contender is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but I’ve not had a chance to play that. Maybe I should… later. For now it’s all Super Metroid.. all its moody, lonely action. Find it and play it anyway.. it’s on Virtual Console, ebay.. and other, more nefarious places.

Beethoven’s Fifth was the first symphony to include trombones.

It’s also probably one of the most recognisable tunes ever.. ba ba ba buuuuum… ba ba ba buuuuum… Genius.

In slightly belatedly keeping with it being the 20th anniversary of the Game Boy’s japanese launch, I’ve been playing Donkey Kong. Commonlly known as Donkey Kong ‘94 to set it apart from its Kong related peers, it’s was actually the very first Game Boy game I owned.. and I think I’m right in saying it’s the first game I ever bought with my own monies. Purely on spec I might add, I wanted into.. Games ‘R Us (remember them?) in Midland, not long after they’d opened their new store there. I bought my clear Limited Edition! Game Boy.. those in the know will realised that a while I bought it, they took the Limited Edition! labels off the cases and just kept selling all the colours. I guess they were too popular to give up. Anyhoo, the game..

It starts out as the Donkey Kong we all vaguely remember from seeing bits and pieces of the arcade version.. or know and love, if you’ve ever actually played it. At first it seems rather samey.. unless you read the instruction booklet first. As a wee lad, it was something I used to do.. so I knew that Mario can now backflip, handstand, spin on ropes.. all sorts of new acrobatic abilities. On the flip side, he has a rather weedy little jump.. just like in the original. Once the first four levels have been cleared, the game opens up into a whole new world filled with new levels, new enemies and all sorts of devious little puzzles. This game is the very essense of platforming.. levels are no more than two screens in size, either vertical or horizontal (they scroll smoothly along, no janky screen transitions at all here) yet are constructed in such a way that there are no wasted surfaces. All of the limited space is used as you grab the key and make your way to the level finish door. The game is broken up into 10 worlds (including the original levels) which are segmented into groups of four levels, three standard ones and one where you must either reach Pauline or defeat Donkey Kong. After these levels, there’s a short cut scene that will introduce or reinforce the more advanced techniques at your disposal

It all varies around the same themes, but there’s no two levels the same.. there’s switch puzzles, there’s crumbling blocks, there’s enemies in the way, simple premises honed and combined to perfection to produce a game that should be on every platformer fan’s must-play list. I was going to go super old school and play it on my Game Boy (I still have it, and it still works!) but the light in here’s not great and I couldn’t see much.. so I whipped out the Super Game Boy, chucked it all into the SNES and off I went! It was one of the game paks especially enhanced for SGB play too, so I figured it was appropriate. Also, I could see what I was doing!

It puts a snazzy border around the game play area for extra nostalgia. Fun! Another funky touch is that on the Game Boy, when Pauline shrieks out for Help! it’s a high pitched trill from the speakers. In the SGB there’s actually a little sample voice that is heard. Nice. These little touches really show how much the team that created the game enjoyed what they were doing. They created a joyous little platformer that’s definately one of the best games produced on the Game Boy, and deserves a spot in any best games ever list. It’s that good.