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Robert Marrujo
3D World is going to dominate my life starting at midnight on November 22. What Microsoft doesn’t realize is that everyone in line right now outside of their local GameStops and Walmarts are actually just using the system launch as an excuse to pick up Mario and Zelda as soon as possible. At least, that’s what I’m doing! Everyone is going nuts over Mario’s latest, and I can’t wait to be one of them. It’s amazing how much has changed since that underwhelming E3 trailer. Every glimpse at the game since has ramped my hype meter up to 11!
A Link Between Worlds can’t be forgotten, of course, as it’s equally compelling. When I’m using the bathroom or eating a sandwich, my 3DS will be fired up with Link’s latest adventure. Of course, who knows, I might end up getting hooked on Zelda, instead; this is a really full week of Nintendo goodness, folks. Mario Party… I pity you. Any other week, I’d be more enthused, but it’s flying in under the radar against its two AAA bros. Except for the worker I saw at GameStop today; he seriously is most excited about MP over the other two games! To each his own, I suppose.
Anthony Vigna
Ah, everyone’s probably going to be playing Super Mario 3D World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds this week, and I’m not going to even get a chance to play them! I’m getting them for Christmas, because my family insists that they have to get me something, so I’ll have to wait a whole month to touch them. Which means, I’ll have to watch those that have it in envy!
But it’s not all bad, I suppose. After all, I do have the new Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies DLC, which I’ve been patiently waiting for since the game’s release! I’m just starting to get into it, but so far it’s reaching all of my expectations. Defending a killer whale that is accused of murder in court has to win some kind of DLC of the year award!
Also, if you haven’t already checked it out, look at my review for Ohno Odyssey! This unique indie game will probably be overlooked due to the big releases this week, but I highly recommend you give it a shot. I played it this week, and it was highly enjoyable despite its short length. The eShop is definitely still full of surprises, and I can’t wait to see what comes out on it next!
Sam Stewart
Mario. Zelda. Not much else to say. Tomorrow is gonna be the biggest gaming day of the year for me, with my two most anticipated games of the year coming out on the same day. How will I decide what to play first!? I’m thinking Mario because it is a little more laid back, but Zelda will constantly be calling me… I could honestly see myself finishing them both this weekend but I’m going to try and hold back.
Other than that, Teraway seems like a good reason to finally bust out my Vita again, though as a 3D platformer can it compete with Mario? I’m excited to find out. Also there will probably be some Dota 2 like always!
Nicolas Vestre
Life in Animal Crossing: New Leaf has had some interesting developments lately. Between my mom’s Blue Rose and my own, I now have four of the rare flowers! Now I can continue making a huge army of them and display them prominently in my town. Actually, my town needs some serious landscaping when it comes to flowers. My villagers plant flowers faster than I can dig them up, and it’s high time for some organization. It doesn’t help that I have the Beautiful Town ordinance, either.
Somehow, I missed both Biff and Tom telling me that they were moving out of Duckburg! It wasn’t the end of the world to lose Biff, but I really liked Tom! He gave me his picture as a goodbye present, which is actually the second one he’s given me. So at least I have plenty to remember him by. I wonder who will move in next? Here’s hoping for a duck (my town is called Duckburg, after all)! In the meantime I’ll definitely be monitoring my campsite for potential new villagers.
I’ve finally made more progress in Pokémon X, netting the third Badge by defeating Korrina in battle. Also, I’ve been able to Mega Evolve my Venusaur! With the increased stats and Petal Dance, I can see Venusaur mowing down all sorts of Team Flare grunts. And hey, some guy gave me a free Lapras! That hasn’t happened to me since Gen 1! As a side note, finding a Pachirisu on Route 12 took way longer than it should have.
My Wii U came back this week! This was both a happy and a sad occasion. It’s great to have my console up and running again, but it’s heartbreaking that, in replacing my Wii U, Nintendo wasn’t able to save any of my save data at all. That means seven years of Wii content has all gone down the drain; the only place it remains is in my memory. Now if I want to get the Green Stars from Super Mario Galaxy 2, I’ll have to collect all 120 Power Stars again, which takes away all of my drive to play that game ever again. At least I can go give Super Mario 3D World a try real soon.
In addition to losing my save data, I had to re-download everything again (which will take some more time). Much to my dismay, several of my Wii Virtual Console games were corrupted during download, appearing as ? marks in the Channels Menu. I called Nintendo and got a very nice fellow who referred me to a department that deals with this kind of thing. I’m hoping to receive a phone call or an email any day now.
At least Donkey Kong Country 3 downloaded without corruption. But all the Super Mario Bros. games for NES are corrupted. Come on, Nintendo! Make things right!
Jason Strong
Much as it shames me to say it, I won’t be picking up A Link Between Worlds or Mario 3D World this weekend. I’m afraid that last weeks PS4 purchase still has my gaming budget a little bit tapped out. The boy in green and my favorite mustachioed plumber will have to wait until at least Black Friday, if not Christmas itself, before joining the ranks of my vast games collection. With the reviews these two games have been getting, however, I might end up resorting to something more drastic (anyone looking to buy a kidney?) if my desperation grows strong enough.
This Saturday and Sunday will likely find my hands firmly wrapped around my Dual Shock 4 (which, allow me to say, is a vast improvement over Sony’s previous controllers) and playing unhealthy amounts of both Assassin’s Creed 4 and Resogun. Though I’ve dabbled with the series in the past, this is the first time I’ve spent a decent amount of time with any of the Assasin’s games and, as expected, there are a few things I like about it, and a few things that have left me a bit cold. The graphics are a definite high point, with environments and cloth effects that are so gorgeous it sometimes brings tears to my eyes. Likewise, the terrain traversal is very impressive; sprinting through a city and over the tops of buildings is smooth and feels great. I do, however, find the game’s combat to be clunky and repetitive; to be fair to Ubisoft, it may be because I just finished Wind Waker, which has one of the most intuitive fighting systems of all time.
Speaking of things that are intuitive, Resogun has me a lot more impressed than I expected to be (especially considering the fact that I got it for free with my PS Plus subscription). Just like Geometry Wars, the controls in this game are simple to learn and difficult to master, which has made the hours I’ve spent flying around its gorgeous vistas and leaving nothing but destruction in my wake a true delight. Titles like this make me wish that Nintendo would offer a similar subscription service to Sony’s, maybe granting members access to its vast catalog of classic games. Five bucks a month for access to every SNES, NES, and N64 game perhaps? Yes, please.
If I find myself burnt out on PlayStation, I did also pick up the Humble WB Bundle over the past week, adding even more titles to my ever growing backlog… Heck, I haven’t even finished all of the games I got for being a “3DS Ambassador”… *sigh* a gamer’s work is never done.
What about you? Will you also be playing Super Mario 3D World and A Link Between Worlds this weekend, or do you have other games you’d like to finish up first? Let us know in the comments!
