Recent purchases

Well I say recent but these games have been bought/traded over the past three months. Due to moving house I've only just had a chance to open most of them and check them all out.

Even though they are not that great I've been wanting a Super Scope for years and now finally I have a complete one. I'm also really pleased to finally pick up Skies of Arcadia as it's one of the last few 'big' games that I need to pick up to complete my Cube collection. Also really pleased to have picked up the Zelda game. Finally from this batch I'm extremely pleased to have finally picked up Chip n' Dale for the NES as I've always loved playing that game ever since I first played it.

In this batch I'm pleased to have picked up Donkey Kong Country Returns as the SNES games are some of my favourite games. Also pleased to have picked up Muramas: The Demon Blade as it's getting a little hard to find over here and also happy to have picked up Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Finaly I'm extremely happy to have picked up Ghost n' Goblins for the NES as it's rather difficult to find, shame it's cart only.

For this last batch of games a mention must go to the pleasing fact that I've finally managed to pick up the first Phoenix Wright game as it's tough to find it at a good price, only need two of the games now to complete the set. Must also mention how pleased I am to have finally picked up Mario Kart, Metroid Pinball and Kirby's Dream Land, three games that I have been after for a while now.

Well, that's the last of 2011's purchases/trades, hopefully 2012 will offer up just as many great games if not more.

Sale buys

So we ventured out to a couple of local towns (no big city for me during the sales) that had some gaming shops and despite only having a quick look around the shops I did manage to find some bargains that just had to be bought.


Dead Space 2 I was pleased with as I did really like the first game. Mirror's Edge was ridiculously cheap and I've heard decent things about it. Goldeneye* includes the golden controller and again I've heard decent things about it. The Skyward Sword guide looks great and is significant in that it's the first guide I've ever bought. Even in the days of pre-internet I never bought a guide but like I say, this looks great and who can turn down a bonus surface world cloth map.

*I cheated a little with this one as it was bought from the luxury of my sofa.

Christmas presents

This year from my loving Girlfriend I received three games that I've been wanting for a while which are Epic Mickey, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Tomb Raider: Underworld.

I've only managed to play some of Kirby so far and I have to say that I absolutely love it. I'm about four worlds in and it's such an innocent game but packed with things to do. I know that Mickey may have problems with the camera but it's still a game that I would really like to play. As for TR, I only played my first TR game earlier this year but enjoyed it so much I wanted to continue onto another game.

Finally, I also took part in the Retro Gamer forum Secret Santa where I received a big chocolate coin and the 'Arcade Mania! The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers' book. I haven't had a chance to read it yet but it certainly does look an interesting book.

Development pictures of Mario 3.

A Nintendo fan called Chris Covell has found and scanned a Japanese picture book that contains an early look at the development of Super Mario Bros. 3 which includes pictures of a very young looking Shigeru Miyamoto and Composer Koji Kondo.

The book also includes a look at Nintendo's headquarters and their distribution method.

Chris has taken the time to translate the book into English and has uploaded each and every page on his website which can be seen here:
http://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/weekly/Stars_of_the_Family_Computer.html

Take a look at a piece of Nintendo history.

Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Book

I really want this book. I really do. The only problem is that at the moment it's only being released in Japan.

For people who haven't read up on what the book is, it's 274 pages of official material showcasing concept art and sketches for the Zelda games, Manga art, an origin story, a complete history of Hyrule and reports also suggest the inclusion of a timeline. Yes, Nintendo may finally be laying to rest the numerous theories that have risen over the years regarding the official timeline.


For more information and pictures visit www.zeldauniverse.net here (http://www.zeldauniverse.net/zelda-news/hyrule-historia-the-zelda-25th-anniversary-encyclopaedia-art-book/#more-33452) or the Japanese Nintendo site here (http://www.nintendo.co.jp/zelda25th/guidebook/index.html)

I really do want this book.

NES-Bit Issue 2

After the success of Issue 1 of the NES-Bit magazine it brings me great pleasure to tell you that Issue 2 has been announced.

See the announcement here: http://www.nes-bit.com/NesBitForum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=513

There has been a change in designer and at time of writing people can still submit ideas and volunteer to write articles. I again will be writing articles and my cheats section has returned for another issue.

So what are you waiting for, click on the link and see what you can do.

*Issue 1 has (un)fortunately sold out at print level but the PDF can still be purchased from the main site.

What I've finished - November 2011

Nothing unfortunately.

Only the second time it's happened this year, a month without completing anything, but unfortunately life got in the way in November and gaming had to take a back seat. Hopefully normal service should be resumed in December.