Week: End Game: On 03.29.2014

Mario and Pokémon take up most of the staff’s time this weekend.

By Nintendojo Staff. Posted 03/29/2014 12:00 Comment on this     ShareThis

Welcome back to another edition of Week: End Game: On! What games are the Dojo staffers playing this weekend? Read on to find out!


Anthony Vigna

After finishing Pokémon Battle Trozei and writing up our review, I started to get an itch to play puzzle RPGs again! So, I went back to playing Puzzle Quest 2 on DS. It’s a surprisingly lengthy game, but I’m chipping away at it with every bit of spare time that I have, so hopefully I’ll reach the end soon! Speaking of puzzle games, I’m also getting into Renegade Kid’s Bomb Monkey after buying it for $2.00 during an eShop sale. It’s a really simple puzzler, but it can also be very challenging when you progress to faster levels. If you haven’t played it before, I highly recommend that you give it a shot.

Other than that, I tried the Conception II demo and was just left utterly baffled. I mean, I don’t know what I was expecting from a game in which high school students mate to create children that can save the world, but I figured out that the game isn’t for me after going through the demo. Awkward dating simulation elements aside, I felt like the demo could have been designed a whole lot better as well, since it was littered with instructional text blocks that made me lose interest fast. Not all games need demos, but if a company is going to release one, it must be structured properly and should refrain from throwing the player in headfirst.


Jake Shapiro

I didn’t buy a Wii U until a few months ago, so I’ve been slowly catching up on all the major releases. Today I bought Pikmin 3! The first two Pikmin games were some of Shigeru Miyamoto’s greatest creations of the last 20 years, so I’m excited for this one. Pikmin 3 might not get my full attention for long, though. Metroid Fusion hits the Virtual Console on Thursday. My body is ready.


Sam Stewart

I’m not really sure what I am going to end up playing this weekend. After spring break, my homework came back stronger than ever, forcing me to put my New Game+ plans for Dark Souls 2 on hold. After spending about 70 hours last week beating the game and finishing all the optional bosses, I wanted to start over again, and if I have the time, this will be priority number one.

Other than that, there’s always a chance of Dota 2. I recently decided to start playing ranked matches and it has been rough. After I finish up my placement matches, I’ll get my rank then hopefully get matched with more players on my level. Either way, I’m still enjoying every game even with nearly 500 hours played under my belt.


Anthony Pershkin

I’ve played through the entirety of InFamous: Second Son, which turned out to be great, but still lacking just a little bit. I felt the same way about its predecessors. They are all great games, yet not as special as they could truly be. With that being said, Second Son is the best one in the series by far. I hope Sucker Punch continues to move in the same direction with its next game.

At the moment of this writing, I’m having a huge dilemma. I can’t decide what I want to play next: The Wonderful 101, or Wario Land: Shake It! I’ve beaten The Wonderful 101 twice already, but I still can’t get enough of it. On the other hand, I’ve only played like 10 minutes of Wario Land: Shake It! and I would like to finish it. Getting rid of my backlog should be the top priority, but The Wonderful 101 is soooo good.


Marc Deschamps

Last night, I spent more time than I’ll actually admit trying to beat the World Six boss in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. I hated to do it, but I reached a point where it was time to call it an evening. I made solid progress, but it simply wasn’t going to happen that night. This weekend, I’ll rectify that and take that fat Walrus down!

Meanwhile, I’m still chugging along in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I just got a back room in my house, though I’m not quite sure what to do with it. Meanwhile, I’m still working to make Cobb’s house less creepy. He saw me with a lava lamp the other day and offered to trade me his anatomical model for it. I promptly sold that horrid model, and now I’m glad it’s out of his house. I’ve come to visit a couple times, and the house is definitely looking less weird!


Jon Stevens

I’ve started getting lost in Bejeweled 3 on PC recently. Zen Mode lets you chill out with all manner of relaxing noises in the background and even includes an on-screen aid to monitor your breathing. It also includes binaural sounds which can supposedly help you to sleep or get you pumped up for the day. Do they work? I can’t really tell, to be honest…

On the portable side of things, I’m finally ready to dive back into Pokémon Y. I’ve still only got two badges and am getting increasingly worried by that fact, so I really need to make some progress.

And when I’ve got a few minutes here and there… there’s also Bejeweled Blitz— even if it doesn’t have a Zen Mode!


Nicolas Vestre

I vanquished World 6 in Super Mario 3D World, which means it’s intermission time! DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure is calling my name, and I’m looking forward to a change for a little while. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved 3D World so far, but I also want to tackle some Virtual Console backlog. Then it’s right back to collecting endless amounts of Green Stars and stamps!

Pokémon Battle Trozei is proving to be way more addictive than I thought. It’s so easy to get lost in the game and completely lose track of time. Those Pokémon aren’t going to catch themselves!

Besides that, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is seeing some changes. Kitty, who has been in my town for as long as I can remember, is moving out! Thankfully, there are no hard feelings. Maybe she’ll even give me her picture as a goodbye present! Hopefully the campground will now attract some ducks, because that would be awesome. Other than that, it’s business as usual: sell lots of Blue Roses, find every fossil, hit the money/gem rock, send tons of letters, and check the Emporium for new items. My town really needs some sprucing up, too…


Robert Marrujo

Well, I’m definitely going to be giving Sonic Lost World a spin (dash) this weekend, as I just downloaded the very interesting looking Zelda DLC. I really would love to see a proper Sonic X [insert Nintendo franchise here] game. This DLC is hopefully Nintendo and Sega testing the waters. On a separate note, anyone who’s into Sonic or comics should totally be reading Archie Comics’ Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe comics. They’re really, really fun! Not Watchmen-esque, clearly, but well-written, well-drawn, and entertaining.

So, Hello Kitty Kruisers has hit the Wii U eShop, and someone (co-Angela-ugh) made me watch the trailer for it. I kid you not, the trailer is just footage of an entire three-lap race. Footage, mind you, of someone who clearly doesn’t know how to play. They continuously miss power-ups the whole time, for crying out loud! I had to share this. Anyone who hasn’t watched this travesty should head to the eShop to check it out– AND LAUGH DERISIVELY.

Anyway, besides Sonic, I’ve been in the mood for some 3D World as of late. It’s such a gorgeous, fun game. I might also play some Okami HD on my PS3. That game needs another home console sequel. Frankly, Wii U would be perfect; HD graphics and the GamePad’s touch screen seem like a match made in heaven. What was fun on DS can be amazing on Wii U!


Kevin Knezevic

I haven’t had too much time to play video games recently, so my backlog has become woefully unmanageable. I finally completed Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch on PlayStation 3 the other week (that should prove just how far behind I am). I’ve had a mixed experience with the game overall. I certainly loved the attention that went into the setting and localization (leafing through the Wizard’s Companion was one of my favorite aspects of the game), and the music and visuals were wonderful, but the actual gameplay could be quite frustrating, which was surprising considering it was developed by Level-5, the studio that handled Dragon Quest IX (one of my favorite DS RPGs). The pacing was abysmal (it shouldn’t take 25 hours to learn a quick travel spell), and the dungeons were tedious to crawl through because they were littered with monsters that would charge if they so much as heard a footfall, which was only exacerbated by how far apart save points were spread out. Still, I’m glad I stuck with the game to the end. Perhaps now I’ll finally get to move on to something less frustrating, like Dark Souls.

On Wii U, I’m on the last leg of my journey through the Trilogy version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. It’s been a long time since I last visited Aether, so it’s been fun losing myself in its caverns all over again. The whole planet feels a lot less inviting than Tallon IV did, with its arid dunes and writhing plant life, which has made the experience a lot more foreboding than I remember it. I’ve also noticed that the level design isn’t quite as elegant as the first Prime’s thanks to the compartmentalized nature of Echoes’ environments, so backtracking doesn’t feel as organic as in some other Metroid games. Still, the title holds up remarkably well (especially its visuals, which are still stunning), and I’m glad I decided to revisit it, even if it means I had to put some of my newer purchases on hold for a little while!

Beyond that, I still have Bravely Default waiting on my shelf, but I likely won’t start that until I complete Yoshi’s New Island, which is proving to be a fun– if conservative– new installment in the series. And, of course, I’m still checking up on my town in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I finally commissioned a jungle gym the other day, so my little cliffside park is nearly complete. Why not come for a visit? My dream address is 5000-3713-8329!


What will you be playing this weekend? Let us know in the comments!

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