Saturday, May 7, 2016

I've been playing a lot of the Legend of Zelda.

In some ways I grew up with Zelda because I had Link's Awakening on Gameboy and Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64.  I only played them about once through and didn't remember too much about them, so replaying them has been really fun.

I played through the original Legend of Zelda on 3DS virtual console. For an NES game, it is really quite amazing! I did use a map to help get through the game, and I've been replaying it for my second time. It really is a classic, and it introduces a standard of gameplay that sets the bar for the rest of the series.

After beating the original, I went on to replay A Link Between Worlds and Phantom Hourglass. Hourglass has great control with the stylus. After all I get tired of pressing buttons with my thumb all day sometimes. The dungeon maps are very good in this game too.

A Link Between Worlds focuses on action, combat, and exploration. It also has a mechanic of wall walking where you merge and become a painting to traverse areas you couldn't otherwise. It shares the same world from A Link to the Past, and that's a game I want to play again sometime as well. Buying and renting items from a new character is how this game gives you equipment. I like it, and you do buy items in other Zelda games, but this takes it too a new level. However, you also find useful items in the dungeons as well. I like it a lot and like the original LoZ, I think it's very replayable.

Now that Ocarina of Time 3D has become a Nintendo Selects game I got it for a good price on the eShop. I've been enjoying re-visiting this game, but I haven't played for a few days. It's fun. Last time I played, I had just finished the Fire Temple. I'll get back to it soon.

On my replay of Link's Awakening, I am pretty far in the game. I'm playing with my original Gameboy cartridge on my GBA SP. I found it fun at the beginning, and I like how it shares some characteristics with the original NES Zelda game, such as the grid-based world and dungeon maps, and the inventory system. It's actually the hardest one I've played so far, and the areas are maze-like. I just beat the 5th dungeon today, and bought the bow and arrows, which was very expensive at 980 rupees. I found a good place to grind for money where the enemies respawn quickly and usually drop rupees.

Since I enjoyed my time with the games in April, I ordered two new to me games in May: The Minish Cap (GBA) and Spirit Tracks (DS).  The Minish Cap is a lot of fun so far, but I can't say much more about it than that yet since I have only beat two dungeons. The Spirit Tracks is like Phantom Hourglass, but instead of a boat, you ride a train. It's cool. The only thing I don't like is that you have to blow into the DS system's microphone a lot, to use a whirlwind item and to play your flute. It's very gimmicky in my opinion. But the pace of the game is pretty good so far.

I'm planning on playing through the ones I haven't finished in the next few months. I'm really enjoying going back to the Legend of Zelda games and playing both old and new ones.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Puzzler World and Word Games

I got Puzzler World 2013 on sale on 3DS eShop, and really have been enjoying it. It has wordsearches, crosswords, sudoku, and other logic, word, and number puzzles. Every time you complete a challenge puzzle, you play a bonus puzzle, and upon completing that, you get to spin the fruit machine. This gives you a chance to win tokens that can be used for hints while you play the game. It's very useful, and you can use tokens to keep spinning the wheel.

I enjoyed the puzzles and the presentation so much, that I found the older game called Puzzler World XL and downloaded that one too. The only difference is that was released to DSiWare, and instead of regular, you hold the system sideways. It has a few different puzzles, and some of them, like Fitwords and Silhouette, are very easy. The Link-a-pix are quite simpler in the earlier version of the game as well. Crosswords are the hardest generally, but you can always use hint tokens to get by if you need it.

Another game called Word Games by Powgi got released recently. It isn't as full-featured as Puzzler World, but it has six word games including word maze, circles, flowers, mix ups, one words, and one other that I'm forgetting. I just got it yesterday. It is fun, but its hints aren't as good as Puzzler World, so it is possible to get completely stuck on a puzzle if you just don't know a word. It's still pretty fun, and I'll keep playing all of these games in my free time.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

The Legend of Dark Witch 2

Dark Witch 2 is an excellent action platformer in the vein of Megaman. It's a ton of fun to play. It is a very competent sidescroller made by an indie team with clearly a passion for game design and art work.

You play as Zizou and upgrade your speed and shots with a Gradius style install bar. There is a shop with a lot of upgrades you can buy with the games' currency, Tres. Such as life, more attack power and magic abilities that can be used once per stage.

There are four difficulty settings, which vary from easy to very hard. Upon beating the game, you unlock several things, such as a new character, mini games such as poker and a rhythm game. There is also a museum you can use, playing levels which are achievements, and bonuses for your next new game.

All of these things make it an excellent game and my new favourite series. The first game was pretty good as well. It can be very addicting, so beware! I am really happy with this one!