There’s a certain charm in the way that life is determined to slowly dismantle all my fond childhood memories. The latest victim? The ending to Super Mario Bros. 2.
Man, that was such a great ending, you know? A big ol’ animated cartoon-like Mario snoozing quietly as he dreamed of his journey through SubCon. The graphics were impressive for the NES, and the adventure-within-a-dream made perfect sense within the context of the plot, so it wasn’t one of those insulting Dallas-like “everything was just fake” cop-outs.
But alas, all good things must come to a grimly deconstructed end. In this case, the damage has been done by my upstairs neighbor, a totally nice dude in his fifties by the name of Glen. Having Glen for a neighbor is great, because he’s one of those rare souls who rents but is still conscientious and thoughtful about it. The problem is that he looks exactly like Mario, to the point where Ron Jeremy in overalls is just an embarrassingly poor imitation. In fact, Glen wears overalls all the time. White overalls! Sometimes with red shirts! Granted, he curses like a sailor, but otherwise it’s totally uncanny.
Unfortunately, he snores. Snores like you wouldn’t believe. Every night I sit in my room and can actually hear his snores coming from the apartment upstairs. Hear them over the sound of whatever video I’m watching or game I’m playing. It’s pretty intense.
And it means that whenever I see the ending of SMB2, I imagine Mario shaking the walls with adenoidal fury. Somehow, the charm is rather lost.
But enough of me struggling to pad a minor anecdote into a full update! In more exciting news — no, wait, I mean indescribably unexciting news — I’ve reviewed both Lunar Knights and Capcom Puzzle World. I’m sure the disparity in scores will do nothing to dissuade people who are convinced that I have it out for PSP games. Because of course scores are determined entirely by perceived personal biases and have nothing to do with the fact that Puzzle World is probably the lamest classics compilation I’ve seen in years.
Good Lunar Knights review.
I really like the direction this one took.
As for that puzzle collection for PSP… well… people need to learn that Tetris Attack is the best puzzle game ever.
Compilations I’d think are inherently tricky to rate. Does one with quite a few good to great titles dragged down by junk? How about one with no really bad or lame titles, but nothing even remotely above average?
I can’t help but see this as “Puzzle Fighter + some other stuff!” and hope it’s marketed as such. Bundling *puzzle games* together in a compilation seems like such a silly and lame idea I’d swear Sega came up with it.
Ah hell, now that I’ve said it, I’ve probably doomed you at some point to be playing a compilation of Columns, Sega Swirl, Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Flickey and Chu Chu Rocket.
To be honest, the Lunar Knights review sorta left more questions than it answered. Much of what I’d heard so far about it said that there was far less stealth this time around — was that your experience? There were also concerns that it was short, but so was Boktai, and that didn’t really stop me.
Overall, you seemed to spend more time gushing than usual. It’s Boktai, so I can’t really blame you, but you’re also one of the few reviewers I expected to actually give straight dope on the game.
Hm, I’m not really sure what more I could have said. I feel like I’ve covered all those points in various previews and other discussions, and I prefer to write more holistic reviews rather than tear into things point-by-point. There’s still a decent amount of stealth, although that aspect has been downplayed ever since Boktai 2, and the length varies wildly depending on how much of the side content you pursue. Some people have finished the game in less than 12 hours, but I clocked about 25 and still had plenty of extra missions and quests left.
This might be my favorite thing I’ve read from you in ages. You may have a place in an upcoming Game Time after all! “My Life Under Mario” by Toastyfrog, guest contributer.
“people need to learn that Tetris Attack is the best puzzle game ever.”
TA is awesome and all, but needs a DS version for stylus control. Getting cut off by sets of tiles in the middle of disappearing always annoyed me.
Anyways, that review was spot on. (Besides, PSP owners will still have the Drac X Chronicles to look forward to.) Speaking of puzzlers, I wish Puyo Pop 15th Anniversary for the DS were to be brought over.
Glad to hear that Lunar Knights turned out so well.
I don’t know, I find the thought of Mario snoring loudly to be rather charming. Of course, I don’t have to live with it.
Glen reads GameSpite
“TA is awesome and all, but needs a DS version for stylus control”
Tetris Attack with stylus control would make the game even better. Way better, if that’s even possible.
you should write about lufia. there’s no love for lufia on the internet
Ah, I had a feeling the other games in Capcom Puzzle.. whatever… would be lame. Maybe when it goes down in price tremendously I can pick it up for puzzle fighter. I have some really great nostalgic memories of playing the demo repeatedly.
I didn’t get “Sub-Con” back in 2nd grade. I didn’t get it until maybe last year. Psychonautical!
Puzzle Fighter is one of the most addicting puzzle games ever, even my non-gamer older sister loves it! ^^ Too bad I dun have a PSP though >> Maybe when I’m finished paying off my car. XD
Um, guys… I know this is off topic, but I need a technical answer from sentient beings with teh g00d grammar.
Can I save GC games in the internal memory or an SD card? I ask, because I bought a second-hand copy of Metroid Prime to play on my yet-to-be-bought Wii. I know I’ll need a Gamecube pad, but will I also need a memory card?
Thanks.
Yep, you’re gonna need GC card.
That was not g00d grammar :(
Curses!
According to the Gamespot review, the version of SPF2T on Puzzle World includes the bonus modes from the Dreamcast Matching Service version. Too bad there’s none of the online matching service.