Gaming World Reviews: Yoshi's Story (Nintendo 64/Virtual Console)

Yoshi's Story (Nintendo 64/Virtual Console)

Video Game Console: Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance (Cancelled), Nintendo Wii (Via Virtual Console)

Release Date (North America): March 9, 1998 (Nintendo 64), September 17, 2007 (Virtual Console)
Publisher: Nintendo
Developers: Nintendo EAD
Genre: Platformers
Players: 1

"Does the baby Yoshis have what it takes to produce a decent video game?"

Yoshi's Story is the first of a series of reviews done by me called Gaming World Reviews. While it is the first, it is also my latest purchase for the Wii. I had fond memories of the game when I was very young, but I never owned the game myself. Now that I do, is Yoshi's Story worth the 1,000 Wii Points Nintendo force you to cough up for each and every non-import Nintendo 64 games currently available?

History: Yoshi originally appeared in the universally acclaimed Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which is in fact a launch title. In that game, Mario (Or Luigi, depending on who you choose), Yoshi comes out in an egg and you had the option on riding on him. In order for him to be able to eat most enemies, fruits, and even power-ups, you punch him in the neck and his long tounge so he would be able to eat plants. Yoshi's commonly appear on the game, in fact, with the exception of the first level, ghost houses, block switch levles and castles, he appears in nearly every level. This game was universally acclaimed, scoring a 96.75% at Game Ranking and going on to sell 20 million copies. It also made Yoshi the icon that he is today, spawning off a Mario spin-off that remains successful to this day. The game appeared on the North American Virtual Console on February 5, 2007.

The first of the Yoshi's spin-off series is called Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, also on the SNES. The game was released on October 4, 1995 in North America. Althought it featured Super Mario World and Mario was in the game, he appears as an helpless infant. In the game, the character you play as is Yoshi. Also, the gameplay is drasticilly different from it's predeccesor, as it is not in the main canon. Also, while games were starting to be more about how good the game can look, this game takes a different apporach. Why not let art direction determind how the game appealed to it's fans? The gamble payed off graphically, with critics, and in sales, selling four million copies during it's short lifespan

and has an fantastic 94% at Game Ranking.

That part was probably boring as ****, let's get to the review.

Story: In the Yoshi's World, their do exist a Super Happy Tree. Yoshi's are always happy to be around them, because it brings joy to their lives. Unfortunately, Baby Bowser does not like this and as a result, he steals the Super Happy Tree and turns the world into a storybook! As a result, the Yoshi's are sad. However, six baby Yoshi's hatch out of their eggs. Colors are red, blue, yellow, light blue, pink, and of course, green! When they realize that the Yoshi's are sad and that the Super Happy Tree is gone, the six baby Yoshi's get together and make a cunning plan. Remain happy and bring back the Super Happy Tree from Baby Bowser. The baby Yoshi's get together and goes to Baby Bowser's Castle to reclaim the Super Happy Trees.

Controls: I will be doing this for every reviews, even on the Virtual Console, since not everyone reads the manuals. Now the controls.
I'll be using the Classic Controller for this section (Since I do not have a Gamecube controller anymore). First off, to move left and right, move the analog stick left to move left and right to move right. Hold the analog stick left or right to run. To jump, press the A button. Hold the A button to jump higher. Press down on the analog stick to crouch. In order to make Yoshi look up, move the analog stick up. Yoshi can move while he's crouching and looking up, but you have to
gently move the analog stick up to move while looking up and down to move while crouching. While in mid-air, press the A button to perform a Flutter Jump. This can be help while moving the analog stick up while pressing A in mid-air. While in mid-air, you can also move the analog stick down to do a ground-pound. Move the D-pad up and down to move the fruit frame closer together or further away, depending on your preferences. You can move your screen closer to Yoshi by pressing and holding the R button down. When you're doing that, Yoshi will be smelling things. While holding the R button, move left or right with the analog stick to move. You can press the ZL and ZR button to make the fruit frame disappear or come back. To stick out your tounge to eat a fruit, enemy, etc, press the B button. You can stick out your tounge upward,
diagonally, or even down. Press the X or Y button to get one of your eggs to throw. But hold on to the X or Y button, because you are able to choose where you want to aim the egg. Release the X or Y button to throw an egg. If you were considering throwing the egg, but decided not to, press the B button to cancel throwing the egg. Press the Analog Stick up to enter a door and down to enter a pipe/vase. Press the Start button to pause the game (Or in Practice Mode), to take you back to the main menu. Other then the Practice Mode, you can choose to quit the level by pressing both Start and Z button (According the the Nintendo 64 version).

Gameplay: You play as one of six Yoshi's. Before picking your Yoshi's, you get to see which one of the four fruits (Watermelons, apple, grapes, and banana) will be one of your Lucky Fruits for the game. Before starting a level, you can pick one of six kinds. Green, Red, Blue, Yellow (Looks Orange to me), Light Blue, and Pink. Under certain circumstances, you can unlock White and Black Yoshi's (Something I have yet to do). Anyway, while choosing your Yoshi's, the characters that you're considering stays in the same areas waving to you in both hands. The others are just moving around. The Yoshi's that you choose is the Yoshi's you'll play with until you either complete the level or die.

In a level screen, the left-right corner of the screen is a face. Around it is petels, which are health for Yoshi's, which in turn, depending on the health, determinds the face mood. If all eight petels are alive and well, the face will be smiling. If their are no petels and Yoshi is fixing to die, the face turns sad. It'll be even sadder if you lose a Yoshi. When you have some, not all of the petels, the face mood is mixed. On the outer edge of the screen is the fruit frame. You can keep track of how many fruits you've eaten throughout the course of the levels with the fruit frame. The rest is the gameplay screen. When you pause the game, it'll reveil the number of Special Hearts you've collected, your current score for the level, your favorite fruit, your Lucky Fruits, and during Story Mode and Trial Mode, you can even quit the level if you wish.

You're goal in the game is to eat thirty Fruits in the game. To do that, just eat any fruits that comes into your sight. Their are five kinds of fruits. Watermelons, Banana, Apple, Grapes, and Melons. Yoshi will eat any kind, but depending on colors, they will pick favorites. For example, Green Yoshi's favor watermelons, while Red Yoshi prefers apples. Their favor colors depend on the skin of their color. Back to the gameplay, the fruits will retreive health for them that they lost. You can completely regain your health with Lucky Fruits, and partially with other fruits (Even Melons). Yoshi's mood is determind by the fruits he eat and how much petels is left on the face on the top-left corner. If all the petels are alive and well, Yoshi will be happily marching and humming. But the less petels the Yoshi has, the worse his mood is. Not grumpy or sad or something like that, but he'll get tired allright. Yoshi can ground-pound the floor to find hidden stuff in the level, like for example, melons and coins. Yoshi can collect coins, special hearts, and of course fruits. Coins are something you can collect that will be important to your score. Ground-pounding can There are tons of enemies in the game, the most common being the Shy-Guys. The Shy-Guys comes in the colors of the Yoshi's you play as and even black (Eating Black Shy-Guys is not recommend, as it will drain Yoshi's health). However, other Shy-Guys, depending if they match the color of your Yoshi, can actually increase health depending on your skin color and their skin color (They have to match). If you want the color of the Shy-Guy to match, ground-pound near him (But not on him) to change his color to your color. You can collect up to six eggs. Please look at the image above, at your right is an Yoshi egg-like square. Hit the bottom of the block to bring out eggs until you have about six eggs. You can use the eggs to aim at enimies, break open bubbles, and even break blue rocks! You can also use them for mini-bosses and mid-game bosses (There are only two in the entire game). When throwing an egg, you can change the distance at where you want to throw it. When it reach that destination, it will explode, thus providing no more usefullness. Jumping on an Message Block can give you advice on what's going on and what you need to know so when you find one of the Message Blocks, hit it for useful informations. White Shy-Guys are very helpful. If you beat the game with him and he's still following you, if you've lost a Yoshi, you can bring him back, so you can play as that particular Yoshi again. Ground-pounding on an blue/yellow ? block can brings coins and melons, so take advantage of that oppertunity every time you come near by one. You can also move it around to get to other places. You can become Suppy Happy by eating one of the Heart Fruits, which you can get by eating the same kind of fruits mutiple times in a row. When you're Super Happy, you're invincible, and when you ground-pound near a Shy-Guy, you can turn him into a Lucky Fruit, making the game easier. However, it only last for a short time, so take advantage of the limited time to eat as much fruit as possible. And before I forget, he has an endless amount of eggs during that time.

Sometime, their will be some kind of mini-challenge in the game. The two I know of is where you carry the melons to the end without dropping it and how fast can you finish a race to the other sides. Depending on if you complete the challenge and if so, when or with how many is the number of melons you'll earn (Up to seven).

You can get hit by enemies. If that continues, you'll lose a life, You can lose a life from falling into a pit or object that can kill you. If you lose all six Yoshi's, it's Game Over. Strangely, you don't get a second chance, you have to restart the entire game. No but's, if's, and why's.

When you finish a level, you'll go to the scoreboard who determind your score base on how many Hearts and coins you collected, how many Yoshi's remain, and how many fruits and melons you've eaten. They add up to the total score in the Story Mode and it becomes your high score.

There are two bosses in the game, one during Pg. 3 and one during the last page.

Features: There are four modes in the game. Story Mode, Trial Mode, Option, and Practice.

Practice is basicilly tutorial for the game, in case how I explained it confused you. I highly recommend taking this mode first to understand the control, unless you already have played the game and understand it fully.

The Option Mode is where you can adjust the Audio to Stereo, Mono, and Headphone. You can also change the language from English to Japanese and vice versa. Also, you can even erase your memories (Althought it's not recommended). When you're done with the Option Mode, you can exit.
Now the Story Mode. It follow the plot way back in the Story section of the review and goes with it. There are twenty-four levels in the game, six of which you will be playing (Quite litterally, you don't even get to play more levels!). The setting is different on each page of the storybook. Now if you haven't died yet and want to finish tommrow, you can. Also, the Special Hearts that you collect, you can find up to three in each stage. The more you get, the more levels that open up to you in the next world (Or page). It also tell parts of the story after you beat each level. At the end of the game, they tally up your score of all six pages, that you view at the very end.

The last mode that we're discussing is the Trial Mode. The Trial Mode is where you can replay previously beaten levels. Gameplay wise, it follow the same rules as the Story Book, but it's defindently a departure from the story, as the Special Hearts are only their for scoring purposes. When you beat the level, it tallys up your score for the game, but not the time. I think it's a weird decision that they only did scores and not time also. But oh well.

I know this has take forever, but opinion is the beginning of the end for the review.

Visuals: It is gorgeous. From beginning to end, everything looks like it was made for the Nintendo Gamecube! I'm dead serious, this would look fine on the console. Yes it's 2.5D, but still, it looks amazing! Nintendo really outdid themself in this category. Great art direction strikes again! 10/10!

Sound: The digital voices by Yoshi's are solid, and I think they're better then the original. Each Yoshi's have a different tone to their voice, depending on the color. In other areas, they are also well executed. However, it shouldn't have rip-off some sound from past Mario titles. 9/10.

Music: Sadly, the music does not live up to the high Nintendo expectation. I was very disappointed by the soundtrack. Why? Their are way too many remixes in the same game! Not to mention most of them from meh to flat-out suck (The two rapping songs are especially bad). Sure there are a few good soundtrack here and their, but it's a huge letdown. But what killed it for me is the horrible Yoshi's singing voice. Sure their normal acting is soild, but it could have been great had it not been for them singing so badly. I mute the TV every time now when the Yoshi's are singing, it's that bad. I'm actually surpraised that my ears aren't bleeding now. Even the current cast for Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't this bad. I was thinking on 4/10, but the nearly-ear bleeding Yoshi's singing drags this to 3/10.

Bad: My first complaint is the difficulty. It's way too easy. I beat the game in five days, two of which when I didn't even pick up this game! Another complaint is that the game is way too short. As a kids game, I don't expect it to force us to run throught all twenty-four levels, but just six not even nearly enough. We should be require to play twelve levels minimal with the option. I was also disappointed with the lack of bosses. We should have gotten one boss per world, but instead, we only have two in the entire game. Also, the two bosses you fight (There are different bosses that you fight in page 3, but it depends on the level you choose) are disappointing. Almost as soon as you fight them, you find their weakness, which makes them practically an normal enemy powered up who you fight at the end. Yes, this includes the final boss.

Good: As easy as the game is, it does have some good things going on it. The first thing that I would like to note is that the gameplay is fantastic. Their are tons of variety in the game, it seems that for every level, you see something new, something interesting. Also, it's something that you can replay over an over again. The replay value is great and you'll stock up many hours on this game. Also, despite being increabily easy, their is a lot going on.

Conclusion: This game is not for everyone. I wouldn't recommend this game unless you had noglista of this game or a newcomer to the gaming world. Even then to the long-time gamers with noglista of this game, beware of the increabily easy difficulty. You will get throught this in under a week and you will realize the game is not as good as you remember it to be. For every else, unless you're absolutely dying to play this game, skip this game. For the people who really need to play this game, just buy an Nintendo 64, find a friend who has the game and borrow it for a day or so. I will tell you again, unless you are a newcomer, have noglista of this game, or absolutely suck at gaming, buying this game will be a big mistake and a waste of 1,000 Wii Points.

Final Score: 55/100.

Edit: I'm actually quite surprise that I like the game, despite the realitively low score. I need to re-review the game.

Announcing that I will be doing a series of reviews.

Hello their to all of my fans. I would like to announce that I will be doing a series of reviews on videos games for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, DSiWare, WiiWare, Virtual Console, and of course, the Nintendo Wii. The series of review will be called Gaming World Reviews.

The very first review that I will be doing is Yoshi's Story for the Nintendo 64/Virtual Console.

With each review, I will go into full details about the controls, gaming, graphics, sound effects, and music, plus pointing out the good and the bad of each game.

Here is how each review will work. I give you the basic information and and discuss if the game is indeed worth it.

Next up is where we go back into the past with games with the said main character of the game until we get to the current installment of the said franchise. After that, we go into the controls, the gameplay, and then the features. After that, I will give out my opinion on the graphics, sound, and music of the game. Depending on how well each section is executed, I award from 0 to 10 points, no decimal included. Games without true voice acting but has voices will be in the sound/music section. If they have considerable amount of real voice acting however, they will be put in their own individual categories. After that, I discuss the flaws of the game and then talk about the positive, the things that are actually good aspects of the game. In the end, I go to my conclusion and award the score that each game deserves. The scores can be anywhere from 0 to 100, with decimal to the tenth if necessary.

On top of that, depending if I'm able to, I'll put in pictures for the reviews.

In case you don't understand my scoring system, here it is:

0-9.9 (Worst of the Worst): These games are so bad, that they make you want to rip your eyes off, and stab yourself in the back. I'm dead serious (Big Rig: Over the Road for the PC).

10-19.9 (Absymal): Complete garbage, if anyone recommend this, they are idiots (Ninjabread Man for the Nintendo Wii (Worldwide)/Playstation 2 (In Europe).

20-29.9 (Terrible): Their is probably just a couple good things about this game. Not even a die hard fan of the series should play this garbage (Leisure Suit Larry for the PC/Playstation 3/Xbox 360).

30-39.9 (Poor): Barely anything can be redeemable, unless you religously worship that series (Which would be creepy and even then, only a one-time rental), stay clear of this poorly execute product (Bomberman: Act Zero for the Xbox 360).

40-49.9 (Bad): While a few things might work out, the majority of the game is so malfunction, it brings down the game as a whole. Avoid this at all cost unless you absolutely must play this, and even then, only a rental to prove my point that this game sucks (Sonic The Hedgehog for the Playstation 3/Xbox 360).

50-54.9 (So-So): Sure to disappoint anyone, even die-hard fans, it has a few things going for it, but sadly, the fun doesn't last. I stress to you not to buy this, rental at the very best (Baroque for the Nintendo Wii).

55-59.9 (Medicoric): A minority will actually enjoy this game, but most should avoid it anyway. Buying is highly not recommend and you must be catious with renting it (Carnival Games for the Nintendo Wii).

60-67.4 (Okay): It can be fun at some points and if you're that crazy, a buy. I may even recommend a rental if it's short. But it has it's fair share of issues, so I can't recommend a buy, althought if you really want it, it doesn't bother me (Saw for the Xbox 360/Playstation 3).

67.5-72.4 (Decent): It has some effort put into it, so you might enjoy it. However, some issues do keep it from being easily recommended, so if you're buying it, take percatious. Personally, I would wait for a price drop (Sonic & The Secret Rings for the Nintendo Wii).

72.5-75.4 (Good): This can be a very enjoyable game if you're really interests in this game, I can recommend getting it. But it is not perfect, as it does suffer from some issues, so others may want to rent this first (Dr. Mario Online RX for WiiWare).

75.5-82.4 (Solid): Not everyone will be a fan of this particular game, as their are a few issues to deal with, but for people who do play it, it offers a lot of fun and recommended to most people (Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Nintendo Wii).

82.5-84.9 (Very Good): Sure their are a few problems, but with the many great things going for it, I would suggest trying it out. At least give it a rent (WarioWare: Smooth Moves for the Nintendo Wii).

85-89.9 (Great): Most people should go out and buy this particular game and everyone should ahve least give it a try. Very few issues with the game and lots of great things about it, you should enjoy the game (Guitar Hero V for the Nintendo Wii/Playstation 3/Xbox 360).

90-94.9 (Excellent): These games are defindently are better then it's piers, most people would be crazy not to try this particular game (World of Goo for WiiWare).

95-99.9 (Outstanding): Almost no issues with the games, these elite games are begging to be bought. Do not miss out on these game, you will not regret purchasing it (The Legend of Zelda: Twlight Princess for the Nintendo Gamecube/Wii).

10 (Perfect): These games (If any) define what perfection is. The game is completely flawless, it's everything that we want out of that particular game. Their are no reasons to miss out, this game defines the gaming industry and the showcase of the video game history.

Look forward to my reviews and I hope you enjoy them.

An interestng theory about the gaming world.

I have been thinking about this for awhile. It's an interesting theory that I want to show you. It's about gaming.

No, I'm not going to predict if the gaming industry could turn out like this or that, but instead, I think gamers are from many different species. Weird yes, but you might enjoy it.

Let's face it. No matter how we view humans in the real world, we are always humans and no other species. That's a fact. However, let's take that view into a gaming perspective and you'll discover that there are tons of species out there. I'll go into details now:

First off, there are three main divisions, the non-gamers (People who don't play video games), the casual/new gamers, and the hardcore/long-time gamers. Non-gamers are one species, because they don't play video games, so I don't have to go into that detail. So are casual and new gamers, however, humans can be gaming for a long time, yet barely play video games, and still be a casual gamer. You can be new to gaming, yet play video games regularly and still be consider a new gamer. Casual/new gamers are just one species, yet they are two subspecies.
The want I really want to talk about is the long-time/hardcore gamers. There is lots to discuss here, so please pay attention:

Unlike the non-gamers and new/casual gamers, the long-time/hardcore gamers have many species and like new/casual gamers, most of the species have subspecies. Also, you can be part of more then one species. You may also choose to join a species or leave a species. Let's say I'm tired of Nintendo and want nothing else to deal with them. I would be leaving the Nintendo species. And let's say I want to join the Sony species. I would be joining them. That's an example of joining and leaving a species. However, you do not have to leave a species to join a species, nor do you have to join a species if you leave the species.

A gaming species, like in real life, can go extinct for two reasons:

1. If the company that make games goes out of business or leave the gaming scene.
2. If there are no more fans of that particular company/franchise.

If the #1 incident happen, you can no longer rejoin the species. However, if #2 happens, you can revive that particular species by becoming a fan of that company/franchise. Unlike in real life, gaming species are possible to revive. Think of the gaming species as to language, because
extinct language can be revived (Example is Cornish).

On top of that, unlike in real life, different gaming species are able to make intellectual arguments between each other and not just kill each other. They are humans of course. Only humans can be part of the gaming world, so other animals such as monkeys and elephants are
not part of the gaming world.

Please remember what I said in the beginning of this blog post. This is just when you just take it into the gaming perspective, not real life. In reality, humans are all one species are we have to accept that as fact. Also note that this is just my opinion and not widely believe, so please, whatever you do, please don't flame me for this.

Of course you'll probably ignore the last paragraph and flame me anyway. For those who don't flame my ass off, thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoy this post.

Cici's Pizza nologista.

I admit it, Cici's Pizza is my favorite resturant. Not just in terms of pizza, but of all-time. Today at lunch, I went to Cici's Pizza with my brother, my cousin, and their friends. I loved it there, I ate 10 pieces of pizza, two heated cinmmon roll (Doesn't look good, but trust me, you'll love it), and got three glasses of lemonade today. It's that good, you'll want to eat there until you're stuffed. It's amazing. And oh, I love the arcade. While very small in comparison to Mr. Gattis, the arcade is a lot of fun to play in. If you haven't been in there, I suggest checking it out.

However, my city didn't always have Cici's Pizza. In fact, until last year, the cities old Cici's Pizza closed in 2005. I was sadden, thinking that I would never experience a buffet like that again in the city. I had so many memories of the place. It was the best place to eat pizza and it was a buffet! Ah the good days, it's sad that it's all gone. But at least we have a new resturant, and that brought back so many memories of the place. So far, since August 16, 2009, I've been their four times. But each and every single time, it was an amazing experience.

Cici's Pizza is my favorite resturant for a reason. It's good to have it back.

My Video Game Collection

This is my video game collection for the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS/i (I also have a Nintendo Entertainment System, but I don't know all of my games, so I'm not listing it). Anyway, here is my collection:

Sega Genesis:
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Jurrassic Park
Sonic & Knuckles (Doesn't work much properly thought, only can play a level of Blue Sphere)
The Lion King

Super Nintendo Entertainment System:

Super Mario World
Cool Spot (Missing)
Donkey Kong Country
Toy Story

Nintendo Wii:

Wii Sport
Wii Play
Mario Party 8
Super Mario Galaxy
Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Mario Kart Wii
Tiger Wood PGA Tour '09: All-Play
Guitar Hero World Tour
Animal Crossing City Folk
Sonic Unleashed
Excitebots: Trick Racing
The Conduit

WiiWare:

Dr. Mario Online RX
Toki Tori
Megaman 9
Bomberman Blast
Tetris Party
Onslaught

Virtual Console:

Alex The Kidd In Miracle World (Sega Master System)
Mega Man (Nintendo Entertainment System)
River City Ransom (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Mega Man III (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
Super Mario World (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
Super Star Wars (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
Kirby's Adventure (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Bomberman '94 (TurboGrafx-16)
Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challenger (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)
Yoshi's Story (Nintendo 64)
F-zero X (Nintendo 64)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (Nintendo 64)
Pokemon Puzzle League (Nintendo 64)

Nintendo DS:

Super Mario 64 DS
Big Brain Academy
New Super Mario Bros.
Pokemon Diamond
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer of Darkness
Drawn To Life
Dragonball: Origins

DSiWare:

Birds & Beans
Art Style: AQUIA
Paper Airplane Chase
Flipnote Stuido

What do you think of my collection? Post here if you wish.

Xbox 360 Vs. Wii poll winner.

The first poll has officially ended. In the end, the winner of the poll is the Wii, taking a massive 85% lead. The Xbox 360 is in 2nd place, having just 10% of the vote. Last place goes to neither, which had 5% of the vote.

Thank you for voting and I'm glad you particapated.

Trying to decide between two Virtual Console games.

Hello there. At long last, after six and a half month, I've finally bought another Wii Point Card. So far, I have downloaded Super Star Wars, which is good so far.

However, I have 1,200 Wii Points left, but don't know what to do. I know I'm going to use it on a Virtual Console game, this time for the Nintendo 64. The two games I'm deciding between are Kirby 64: The Crystal Shard and Yoshi's Story. Sure they are known to be medicoric, but I'm deciding between those two in case nothing good comes out tommorow. So, in case the next update isn't something I would call "instant download" for me, should I get either Yoshi's Story or Kirby 64: The Crystal Shard?

If you have an opinion on this, please share it. I would greatly apperatice it.

Edit: I got Yoshi's Story.

Here's a funny story.

It's about a game that I used to own on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game is called Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challenger.

Here's the story. When I was a kid, I used to hate the game, but for only one reason. The introduction. That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life and I could not stand it. So after watching my brother play the game in summer of 2003, I decided to take the cartridge and
throw it away.

At first, I was glad that it was gone. But over the years, I felt sorry that I threw away a great game. Sure it came out on the Virtual Console last year, but I thought I was never going to be allowed to connect my Wii on-line, so I thought I was out of luck.

However, I did get my Wii on-line, so on July, 2008, I got a Wii Point Card, a Classic Controller, and downloaded both Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challenger for the SNES and F-zero X for the Nintendo 64.

By playing Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challenger, I finally got over my fear of the introduction (Think it's a pretty cool one now) and as a result, I find a great game that I recommend to retro fighting fans like me.

My official Mario Kart Wii Tournament

I am officially announcing a tournament for Mario Kart Wii. Mario Kart Wii is the latest installment in the Mario Kart sub-franchise, which is consider one of Mario's best spin-offs series.

There will be 12 players in the tournament. Remember to post your Friend Code for Mario Kart Wii, because you will be sharing it to everyone who joins, plus me (My Friend Code is 1375-8532-7365). As of now, there is no confirmed tournament date and will not be confirmed until twelve people have joined this tournament. People who have joined will be listed here:

The Host's Friend Code: 1375-8532-7365

1. bobbert33: 4210-8061-9106
2. Spax: ????-????-????
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

If you wish to join, please comment. You will automatically be added to the list, although you can choose to leave also if the tournament doesn't interest you anymore. Please note that I will be the spectator for all races.

Here is how the the tournament will work. In the 1st Round, there will be four groups of three players. The winner of each round will advance to the Semi-Final, where there are two groups of two players. The Final Round has one group of two players.

In the 1st Round, here are the courses you will run on:
1. Luigi Circuit
2. N64 Mario Raceway
3. Coconut Mall
4. Toad's Factory

During the Semi-Final:
1. Mario Circuit
2. DS Delfino Square
3. N64 Sherbet Land
4. Daisy Circuit

During the Final Round:
1. Moonview Highway
2. Dry Dry Ruins
3. Grumble Volcano
4. Bowser's Castle

Each round has four separate courses to race on, since we'll be playing with friends during this time. Please note that when I speculate, I will be racing also, but not competing, thus, I will in last at all times.

If you would like to join, just comment.
However, this is just for fun, so their will be no prize. It's just to see who is the best out of the bunch.

I will keep updating the tournament to it's recent state. Please look forward to it.

Edit: Finally, someone joins. Let's hope I can get started on this.

Judgement Day: The Swine Flu

Hello there. The Swine Flu Rant is the first of a series of rants called Judgement Day. I'll rant on anything that I plan on discussing, just to let you know. You may request rants if you wish. Without further ado, let the rant being.

I will admit, I was once scared of the H1N1. However, when I saw Darknessthecurse (Or TheSaneRevelation as he's known by his You Tube channel currently), I realize that the Swine Flu was way overblown. While it is a issue now, it is not the end of the world.

With all the media coverage saying it's a pandemic, I call that ridiculous. It's just a flu, it's not going to destroy the planet. We are more then capable to stopping the flu and soon enough, it will be gone. Why? We actually took the time to develop a vaccine, therefore in the U.S.A., the Swine Flu will be forgotten in a year, I can guarantee that. And this isn't the first time. First it was the Mad Cow disease, the the Bird Flu, and now the Swine Flu. All of these should not have been made a big deal in the first place! There are far more serious disease that we need to focus on. HIV/AIDS, heart disease, cancer, diabetes. These disease are dead serious and could kill you. In fact, the HIV/AIDS virus = Guarantee death within 25 years. Yet people don't take this seriously. Nobody is talking about them. I don't see underage couples wearing condoms during sex.

But the Swine Flu, people are wearing face mask because of a flu. A ******* FLU! How is that going to kill you? Most people only get the mild case. If you get a mild case, it's just a week, then you'll be fine. So why be afraid of the “Swine Flu”?

In fact, some scientist said that the Swine Flu might be even less harmful then a regular flu. Wow, so people are freaking out about something that is potentially more mild then a regular flu? That's epic fail in my book.

On top of that, I go as far as to say that in March/April of this year, discussing if Nintendo has abandon the core audience or not was a more important discussion then the Swine Flu. I'm dead serious with that opinion. Sadly, one person found out about this flu, everyone went into shock. That's totally uncalled for and they should have kept it a secret. In fact, guess what happens when you freak out over something not important? You get sick. And what happens when you get sick? Your immune system weakens. My point is, we shouldn't be going crazy over this issue. Save that for HIV/AIDS, that's a killer.

And about the vaccine, not everyone needs it. The only three groups that needs it to be safe from the flu are the elderly, very young children, and people with poor immunity system. That it. Sure I'm a teen and all, but I don't care if I get the shot or not. In fact, I don't even care if I get a Swine Flu. I can guarantee that I will be healthy again in a week.

Which reminds me. I dare that someone injects me a mild Swine Flu virus into my body and get me sick. I will prove to the world that are overreacting over a flu.

Now people who freak out about the Swine Flu will point to the Flu pandemic of 1919/1920. That example is bull. Why? It was ninety years ago, people then didn't have the technology to guarantee the survival of the patience with the Spanish Flu. Now we do and if the Spanish Flu ever comes again, it will not cause nearly as much problems as it did ninety years ago. In fact, I think it would have a similar faith with the Swine Flu.

I'm very disappointed in the majority of the United State of America with their behavior towards the Swine Flu. How they not care for something that they need to take cautious in yet are hiding from a potentially less dangerous flu is a huge mystery. That I can solve in five words:

Sometime, Americans act like idiots.

I'm done, have a nice day. My judgment have been put into place.

Why Nintendo is special to me.

The world gets worse every day. Even in entertainment. Micheal Jackson is dead, Cartoon Network has gone into the nut-house and abandon it's audiences, Disney has turned greedy and even hurt people, musics are diving in quality, TV shows are not worth seeing on TV anymore, and neither are movies. All of this makes me want to cry and never get off my computer. Because I love to nostalgia good memories so much. It's too bad we'd had to be so restricted in terms of entertainment. And don't get me started on other areas.

But there's one thing that's keeping me from having nothing but stay on the computer all day and have no life whatsoever. It has kept me on and it deserve all the thanks it has gotten and a million times more so.

That is Nintendo. Out of all of my childhood memories, Nintendo is the only company that I believe that has sticked with it's audiences throughout generation and has not forgotten about them. Sure they aren't perfect, but they are amazing. Sure Cartoon Network and Disney were great childhood memories, but if anything has impact me for the rest of my life, it is Nintendo.

They have so many great games for the Wii and DS, it makes you wonder how they manage not to have a loyal audiences unlike last generation. Both systems do a great job of entertaining me and there are so many games from both platforms that I want, but most of which I will never be able to get sadly.

I've just thinked of this recently, but my memories with Nintendo strech ten years.

In Christmas of 1999, I've receive my very own Nintendo 64. Along with it was the spectacular Super Mario 64, the game that changed my life. It was a revolution not to be forgotten by not just me, but millions of others. Who could forget seeing Mario jumping out of a 3-D pipe for the first time? Who could forget running around the Mushroom Kingdom? Who could forget earning there first Star on their own and so much more. That game is filled with memroies and has single-handly influenced me for the rest of my life. Actually, just parts of me.

Fast forward to today and I just played the increablie Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii. I got that game for Christmas two years ago and I enjoy this game today. Anyone who has not experience this must get there hands on it. Don't just look at the boxart, think of how awesome the game will be, play the game, or even rent it. Don't think about it and buy it as soon as possible. It shows the masterpiece that Nintendo was way before I was born and how amazing Nintendo is today I dare say this, but this is the showcase title for this generation for me. In fact, I go as far as to say it's flat-out flawless, 10 out of 10, polish to perfection, and perfect. That game will forever remain in my heart, just like Nintendo and their games.

That isn't the only good game for the Wii. I can name almost 140 solid games for the Wii. Nintendo are genius at not just quality games, but fiancial instead. Why? Don't you see how fast the Wii and DS sold off shelfs? It was like they flew off into customer hands. What they got was a high-quality, unique system that does things that it's compeatitor up until now wouldn't or couldn't do. They made the motion controls successful and improve gameplay. They also proved that graphics and online isn't every, it all boils down to the gameplay. Nintendo took quality before quanity apporach years ago and they still do. That's the reason why unlike with Disney and Cartoon Network, I am far from fed up with them. I'm not saying that they haven't messed up a few times (Points to E3 2008 and the hugely dissapointing Gamecube), but in the end, they have deliever to there fans, it's a shame that most people don't take advantage of the offer, especially long-time fans.

Nintendo has always innovated themself and especially this generation. That's why the Wii and DS are consider by me some of the best systems of all time, even thought I don't buy games regularly, due to fiancial issues.

As a love letter to it's fans, they open us a downloadable service where you can get classic games for cheap price, and they update every week. That's right, I'm talking about the Virtual Console and it is awesome. So many classic games that I have to get, yet not enough time. I cannot wait for my next Wii Point Card purchase to get my hands on new "old" games, something I should have done months ago. Sure it has gone downhill in the few months, but Nintendo is still keeping it alive. Not to mention that it has a huge potential which I think will someday meet.

Nintendo, if you're reading this, I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much for catering to the fans for years and not giving up on us. Thank you for the great games you shower us with. Thank you for staying alive and giving us a reason why we game at all. And most importantly, thank you for saving the video gaming industry. We should seriously do special for you.

Christmas in October?

We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, holiday season starts today!

Seriously? It's a month from Haloween and people are getting ready for Christmas? I can understand after Thanksgiving, but this is ridiculous!

Why start the holiday season in the beginning of October? It's unecessary and when December comes around, nobody will be making holiday shopping. And that's pretty sad.

On top of that, Haloween and maybe even Thanksgiving will be neglected in favor of Christmas.

Expect those holiday ads coming soon, and yes, I mean before Haloween.

When did Christmas become a yearly-round thing? My suggestion, Christmas season starts no later then after the fourth Thursday of November because until December 1st, I am in no mood for the holiday season.

My planned Christmas Wishlist.

As a 10th grader, I shouldn't be doing this, but I don't really care. I also apoligize for being self-centered here, which I do not intend on being. Strangely, it's not even October and I'm doing my wishlist already!

With all that said, here is what I'm planning on getting for Christmas:

Nintendo Wii:

NHL 2K10 (Released already)
Tiger Wood PGA Tour '10 (Released already)
Tatsunko Vs. Capcom (Depending if it's going to be released this holiday, which sounds likely according to IGN) or Muramasa: The Demon Blade. (Available now)
A Wii Point Card (For my Virtual Console games)

Nintendo DS/i:

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Suggested by SuperSonic1990, thanks!)
A Wii Point Card (For my DSiWare games. Did you know that Wii Point Card will work with a DSi?)

That depends if I remain a Wii-only owner this year. If I do receive my brother's 360 (Which I can defindently live without), my wishlist could be like this:

Xbox 360:

Forza Motorsport 3
An Xbox Live Gold subscription (If necessary)

Nintendo Wii:

Tiger Wood PGA Tour '10
A Wii Point Card (For the Virtual Console)

Nintendo DS/i:

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

I'm most likely remaining a Wii-only owner this season, so expect the first possible wishlist. Also, once again, I apoligize for being self-centered about this.

Thanks for reading.

First poll in this blog.

Hello there. In case you haven't notice, I have put up a poll in the bottom of my blog. In that poll, you vote to see if you prefer the Wii, the Xbox 360, or neither.

You have four days to vote in this poll, if you wish to vote, please hurry.

Also, after you are done voting, if you wish, you may comment in this section on why you voted for one of the three choices. However, even after the poll ends, you may give out your opinion on why you prefer either the Wii, Xbox 360, or neither.

Thank you for voting if you choose so, I will be looking up on them regularly.

Nintendo references in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts And Bolts. So Nintendo and Rare aren't completely seperated after all?

Hello there. After a tiring day at school, two tests, and homeworks that seems to last forever (One is incomplete, due on Thursday), I've decided to retire to the computer and search around it.

However, I remember something. At lunch, my friend (Who is a huge fan, maybe even more so then the Wii) were discussing Nintendo related thing and his plans to make Nintendo-type games in college. However, what sparked my interest was that while he has not played Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts And Bolts, he does know a few things that I want to share with you.

First off, he knows that there are Nintendo-related elements in this game, very strange when you think about it, especially since Rare is owned by Microsoft. Now to the point.

Here is some quotes from the game Kazooie said, "Failures? We've been in several games already!"
Log (Lord of Games) said "Oh, ho. But nowhere near as that Italian gentleman, correct?"

In case you don't notice immediately, Kazooie is refering to the previous games he's been in. Lord of Games in his quote is refering to the famous Italian plumber Mario, which is Nintendo's flagship franchise!

More references includes the famous ? block in the Jiggoseum.

On top of that, in a interview, Rare said that despite being owned by Microsoft, they are still friends with Nintendo.

Guys, take this blog serious. This isn't some person rambling out the facts, this could mean something. Maybe Rare doesn't hate Nintendo. Maybe they were friends all this time.

But that's not even the point. The point is that from reading this post, Rare did have a good reason why they hinted a possibility of Virtual Console games coming from there backlog of SNES and N64 titles. What I'm saying is that we should not give up hope for Rare games coming to the Virtual Console. If we're really luck, we may even see Rare making games for Nintendo consoles again, even if just a third-party company.

I have hopes that someday, we can see a non-Donkey Kong Rare game on the Virtual Console. Just a few evidences bumps this from "nearly impossible" to "a slight chance". Don't give up hope for Rare games coming up for the Virtual Console. Prehaps if we do, we'll see them.

Nintendo and Sega, I call bull**** on this Virtual Console week.

This move was not expected and it was complete bull**** made by Nintendo and Sega. Today, the Virtual Console release just the poorly aged Altered Beast on the Virtual Console Arcade. I knew this week was poorly executed. But especially insulting was the fact that it cost 1,000 Wii Points, the same amount as a Nintendo 64 game! All I have to say was what the hell? Why couldn't they release Super Smash Bros. instead?

While the WiiWare and DSiWare week is good, how poorly they treated the Virtual Console this week makes me wish when they put a sub-par game on the Virtual Console, they compliment it with a good game.

And you know what? I was actually looking forward to it. Today after a long day of getting a flu shot and visiting my great-grandmother (Amazing that she's still alive, wouldn't you agree?), I got on my Wii and when the Wii Shop Channel told me to update, I was so excited that it must be something nice that Nintendo is doing. I was so anticapating the update. And guess what we got? Nothing, all we got for the Virtual Console was a sub-par arcade game that really needed a good game with it. I was going to sell four of my Wii games to get a Wii Point Card, but if I do get my brother's Xbox 360, I'll be selling those four Wii games on Burnout Paradise instead.

Shame on you Nintendo and Sega, shame on you.

Thinking of getting rid of four Wii games.

Hello there. Since I'm planning on getting my brother's Xbox 360 (Still haven't told my grandmother yet), I think that's the best time to get rid of four Wii games I have. The four Wii games I'm planning on selling are:

Mario Party 8: Fun for a few weeks, then lost interest.
Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games: Sequel coming up soon, plus it was a dissapointment.
Tiger Wood PGA Tour '09: All-Play: A dumb-down version of an old game.
Guitar Hero World Tour: Old, plus I'm boycotting Activision.

The main reason why I want to get rid of those four games so I can pay for Burnout Paradise on the Xbox 360. Why do I want a new game shortly after I get my brother's console? Because Halo 3 is rated M (Not sure if my grandmother will let me play, plus it has lots of junk on the disc) and UFC Undisputed 2009 is not from my favorite genre. If I get my brother's Xbox 360, I want to make it into my own, not just my brother's console handed down to me.

If you have any objection on one, two, three, or even all of those games and say that I should keep them, please reply. If you're in favor of me selling all four games mentioned, also reply.

Thank you for reading this.

An introduction to my blog, plus help if I should get my brother's Xbox 360.

Hello there. This is Super Smash Bros. Fan here and I just signed up for this blog. Thank you all for people who see my blog and comment.

The first thing that I want to discuss is if I should get my brother's Xbox 360. I really wanted to go muti-platform this year with the Playstation 3, but it is unaffordable this year, due to the bad economic climate that my family is enduring. Today after church, I brought up that topic again to my grandmother that I would save up for a Playstation 3. However, she had a better suggestion. Why not claim my brother's Xbox 360 as my own? He doesn't play it anymore and I'm really dying to go muti-platform this generation. But there's one thing preventing me from getting an Xbox 360 and that is having to pay for online. The first time my grandmother suggested to have my brother's Xbox 360, I told her that we would have to pay for online and I was sure as hell that I'm not going to do that. But knowing that this could finally be the oppertunity to own my brother's Xbox 360, I really want to get one and know of the risk of owning the system.

In case your wondering, my brother Xbox 360 is the Elite version. He also has only two games for the system, which if possible and high enough, sell for Burnout Paradise. So despite having to pay for online play, is it worth having?