’Twas Brillig*

Over in the corner sits another Mario game feeling all unloved (Super Paper Mario since you asked), since Super Mario Galaxy has taken over my gaming life. In one sense I’ve completed the game, Mario has rescued Princess Peach, but in another more real sense I’m not yet there. So far I have 106 stars, all that is left is a handful of hidden stars (two of which I’m completely unsure of) and several meteor stars (including the purple coin star in a toy galaxy and I swear it is impossible). So far I’ve avoided the lure of gamefaqs and I’m hoping that’s the way things will remain.

The Christmas gift token from work bought Zelda on the DS and it is really good - fairly easy (the puzzle quotient isn’t exactly high) - but fun. The game makes excellent use of the stylus and it is the first DS game where I have genuinely enjoyed using the stylus for navigation.

I completed the game after a couple of weeks of regular play, although I’m all too aware that somehow I missed out on getting a fishing rod for Link.

I’ve completed Paper Mario (just ahead of one of the kids), defeating Bowser wasn’t so much hard as time consuming. Despite being very linear I enjoyed myself (obviously! if I hadn’t I’d have given up a long time ago). The end of game credits seemed to go on forever.

Edit: somehow this post is being hacked, I guess I’d better keep an eye on things

Paper Mario is really good, good enough that I don’t normally notice the N64 era graphics and the extremely linear plot (although with its RPG elements - that is not entirely surprising). I’ve recently finished Chapter 6, I wasn’t really prepared (Mario didn’t have much in the way of HP, FP or stars) for the encounter with the boss Huff n Puff and consequently it was quite a tough battle.
I’m currently working my way through the sewers under toad town opening up warp pipes back to other areas, but Chapter 7 (and the final star) beckons.

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Over the summer I played this a lot with the kids, and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately I got stuck on the Pokémon League and it looked like I wasn’t going to get through without a lot of grindingtraining. Not so! Today I indulged in an old RPG trick and bought a 100 heal potions and 30 revives and got through by the skin of my teeth. Hopefully the remaining game will seem a little more fun.

At the end of the Pokémon League I had found (not caught) 148 Pokémon in the Sinnoh Pokédex, i.e. 2 are missing.

I may have been neglecting the blog, but needless to say I have been gaming.

Paper Mario is currently my main game on the Wii, and it is really good. I never played on an N64 so it is all new to me. I’ve just started Chapter 3 (having already defeated Goomba King, Koopa Bros and Tutankoopa), Mario is currently standing outside a haunted house, and if the preceding forest is anything to go by there should be the odd light fright.

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I completed story mode (without True Jedi) ages ago, but other games came along and I forgot about Lego Star Wars. Recently the eldest two have started playing and I picked up my save to have another bash. Last night I finally got the last red brick on “A New Hope” - annoyingly hidden at the end of chapter 6 in a fairly obvious place (so obvious I can’t believe I missed it), that leaves 24 gold bricks and 5 red bricks in the remaining episodes.

I’ve unlocked another couple of labs Electro and Geo, although I’m yet to make a start on either of them. Currently I’ve completed all of the levels in the Astro and Bio labs and half finished the Cryo lab levels (I’ve got to the end of most of the levels, but I’ve got several objectives left). I love the way the four objectives (beat the clock, save all the mercury, collect the bonuses and beat the high score) do not have to be completed together, although the way to get the best high scores is by attempting to complete all the objectives simultaneously (my usual technique for a high score is beating the clock with a high percentage of mercury and the odd bonus.

I got this as an anniversary present from R and it is good. It is a puzzle game with similarities to Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball and as such the fact the graphics don’t seem that good doesn’t really matter; what is important is the gameplay is suitably addictive, levels need to be cleared in a couple of minutes (often significantly less) and I’m constantly promising myself that I’ll stop after the next level.

The levels are divided into “labs”, so far each lab has 16 levels (plus a bonus level). I’ve completed Astro lab and unlocked Bio and Cryo labs; labs are slowly unlocked as levels are completed, but happily you don’t have to complete every level in a lab to unlock a new lab which means I shouldn’t suffer from the Monkey Ball trap where because I encounter a level I can’t do I can’t make any more progress and shelve the game.

I’ve also unlocked some “Party games”, but they’re not that impressive and I suspect were included because of the perception that Wii games should have party games.

Recently I’ve mostly been playing Pokémon Diamond, so far I’ve got 8 gym badges and need to train up my Pokémon to get through the Pokémon league (and beat #1 in battles - so far he has 240+ hours racked up against my 40+). Progress hasn’t been helped by #2’s DS breaking and my letting him borrow mine until it comes back from the Nintendo Service Centre.