Got Me A Game Boy Advance SP

Just as the itch faded from playing the demo for the 3DS, I found myself in another Target for different reasons about a week later.  Then I found myself in the same predicament.  Another 3DS, another round of Star Fox.  This time I fared a little better, but I still couldn't get the directional controls embedded in my brain.  I was still thinking down went up and up went down.  I hit the ground a lot.

The point being, that I was jonesing for a 3DS now, but there was absolutely no room in the budget for one.  So I did what I figured I would end up doing anyway.  I fired up the internet, pulled up Craigslist and found a Game Boy Advance SP with a game for 20 buckaroos.  I jumped all over it and now, for the first time since I was a wee little lad, I have my very own portable gaming device.  (No, I don't count my phone.  As much as I love me some Angry Birds).  I'm seeing why this thing was considered so cool.  I have the purple one with the back light and it is just what I needed.  Keeping up with my tradition of getting the cool things years after they were initially cool.

Mine: Not So Shiny

Unfortunately, I don't have a charger.  I have one on order, but this one was charged up and I don't spend hours at a time on it, so I'm still good to go til it comes in the mail. For now though, I got some Metroid Fusion happening, and it is just perfect for those bite sized pieces of gaming I need when the kids are watching Mickey Mouse or whatever they do to take over my usual entertainment outlets. I've never played one of these things before, even though I have played some games (like the aforementioned Fusion) on the GameCube Game Boy player.  Portable is different somehow, it offers you a freedom being hooked to the TV doesn't.

And even more exciting, I got another game in the mail today that I found on the cheap that I have played before as well, but not getting very far.  Mario Golf: Advance Tour.  It's an addicting game that, once again, offers a nice little "here and there" type of play that I love so very, very much.  Like the Wii, it'll be slow going, but I look forward to building a small library of fun games that I've missed out on in the past for not owning one of these things.  Having had the GameCube player, I never really took much advantage of it, so now is my chance.  I'm jazzed about future rounds of Mario Kart Super Circuit and Minish Cap as well as some old SNES classics that are available.

Something I realized after I got it that I didn't think about beforehand is that I really will enjoy teaching my kids to play old school video games this way.  My three year old little girl already likes to make Samus run and jump (that's about all she can do with it, but she thinks it's awesome), so it'll be exciting to get her going on a Mario game sometime in the near future.

The 3DS will have to wait for now, until then I have a really nice substitute in my brand new used Game Boy Advance.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Skyview Temple Footage

With the Wii coming to the end of it's lifespan, there's no secret that with the lack of games being developed for the system, the biggest title on everyone's list is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  Even if the Wii had piles upon piles of new releases coming out over the next few months, this would still be the case.  No one can resist the green tighted one on his never ending quest to save Princess Zelda and Hyrule in the process.  As much as I'm digging Twilight Princess, I really liked the style of Wind Waker and I dig the way Skyward Sword seems to be combining them.  The realistic looking Link stylized to the colorful art direction that serves the Wii best.

Personally, I would also like to see them get away a bit from the formula of the 3D Zelda games and go for a Link to the Past type of groove.  The fact that it's got the same director as the Gameboy Advance's Minish Cap is a good sign, as I thought that game caught a pretty decent LTTP vibe.

I gotta say, though, this footage below kind of feels like yet another Zelda temple, so I don't know how far they're gonna get from the norm.  I'm sure it'll still be funner than any other game coming out, so I won't complain too much.  Once again, though, I do like the style of it.

Nintendo 3DS Demo

Must look... away...

I've tried not to think too much about the 3DS.  Due to the state of my finances, I get a little bit more broke even thinking about adding a new piece of gaming hardware to my collection (which basically consists of a Wii).  I never got on the DS wagon, though I always thought one would be kind of cool.  I'm not in that position where I have to wonder if it is worth it to update my DS to a 3DS, in other words.  If a 3DS plays DS games, which I'm sure they do, that would be the way I would go, no doubt.  So I was strolling about the local Target store over the weekend and there it sat, a shiny demo of the 3DS that no one had grabbed a hold of.  So I did.  This would be the first time I'd played anything with the letters DS in the title.  The game was Starfox 64, and boy did I suck.  I vaguely remember playing this game for the 64 what feels like a few decades ago, so the demo level was kinda familiar.  My biggest problem was that I wanted to push up to go down and down to go up, like a lot of old school flying games, so I kept going off target or even off screen.

It was like this, only prettier

But the game was fun, I could of sat there and played it and got familiar enough with it to blow through the couple of demo levels they had playing.  The 3D, well, it was neat.  I don't think it's the kind of thing that would sell me on a system, the games will do a better job than that, but I felt it gave a cool little extra effect to the game that added a little something to the experience.  It was enough to make me wish I could get myself a 3DS and blow through Ocarina of Time or Mario 3D Land 3D World or whatever the confusing wording of that title might be.  Even Starfox would be a nice little addition to the handheld.  Sigh.  Sometimes living on a budget truly sucks.  Unfortunately, Daycare costs money and not a little of it.

It occurred to me that I've only had one handheld my entire life, and that was the original Gameboy.  I remember hours of fun playing Metroid 2 or Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and it hit me that you don't have to plop down hundreds of dollars for a little portable fun.  There's a vast library of Gameboy Advance games I've never played, and some I've played while at someone else's house and never got to finish, that I could dig into until I get funds for a 3DS.  Gameboy Advances run pretty cheap on the internet or craigslist and after I save up a few bucks, I think I'll get one of those and start playing some stuff like Metroid Fusion or Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap.

That should tide me over.  At least until I run into a demo version of the 3DS in some store playing a copy of Mario Kart 7.  Then the pangs will begin again...I really want one now.