‘Twas Brillig*

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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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’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.

I’m not making much progress at ‘S’ grades in Super Excite mode so I’ve done a few of the challenges - I’ve got one ‘S’ in the gates, one in rings and two in crush (crush is pitifully easy), I’ve only got ‘B’ grades in the remaining challenges.

Amazingly fast super saver delivery from Amazon (ordered Friday, delivered Saturday and I thought there was a postal strike). So far it’s fun, but #1 is much better than me. I’ve had one try at online play (friends code 133249-209549) and, in a three match series, I won one game and lost two.

I spent an evening unlocking races in Super Excite Mode and got to the credits - the new Diamond level is weird and I found it much harder than it looks although there is a power up half way round which helps get through a good short cut. I now have to get all ‘S’ ranks (so far I only have two) to unlock Mirror Mode.

The picture quality is not too great - I’m sure this (the phone I really want) would have been better.

Super Excite Mode - got!

Platinum Canada is all about Tree Runs and Drifts - I got a new record for the longest drift.

I’ve got all the gold ‘S’ grades and all but one of the platinums - there’s just Canada to go and when I last did I only just scraped the 120 stars needed for a ‘B’.