I went back to this today, and surprised myself by completing it. I was really plowing through the levels, and didn’t realise how many I’d completed, and suddenly I was on the end boss. Excellent! Some of the levels today were pretty difficult, and I soon lost most of the 15-or-so lives I’d racked up earlier in the game. Specifically, there was a bit where you had to roll over a collapsing bridge, then back again, before it disappeared. At …

Mission 27 – FINAL BATTLETASTIC!! And… it was easy. Too easy. So easy, in fact, I was convinced there was going to be some surprise at the end. Well, there was, but it didn’t involve any more fighting or anything. There were two fronts. I just let Rachel get on with the second front on her own, and she did a good job of seeing it off. That allowed me to concentrate on taking over towers and stuff on the …

Chris still isn’t dead, it seems. Hungry, thirsty and dirty again, but not dead. Yet. Sorted all that out and took him for a walk. We went to the park and played with the frisbee for a bit. On the way there, Chris found some rubbish and ate his way through it. Stupid dog. With his new ubar-1337 phat frisbee mad skillz, I entered Chris into the Flying Disc competition. On his first go, he only managed 4 points, but …

Marathon session on this today, whipping through several missions without breaking a sweat. Missions 23 to 26 were actually pretty easy, and I managed to S-Rank them all on my first go on each. One of them was a strange concentric ring arrangement, with a moat then a mountain range separating each “ring”. This made it hard to run supplies around the place, as there were only factories on the outer ring. There was also a volcano in the middle …

Mission 22 was easy! Daunting at first, but when you realise the enemy can’t build any new units (nor can you though), and you’re separated by a pipe, you can damage them heavily before they break through then finish them off once they make it over your side. Which is what I did. And, despite some stupid mistakes on my part (one of which lost me my battleship), I S-Ranked it! BEST.

Mission 21 was a right pain. I’ve done it now (with a rubbish B), and my final attempt (of four or five) did seem a lot easier. There are so many things to keep an eye on – the timer, until you’ve launched all the missiles, enemy infantry getting to silos before you (especially if they’re a fair way away and Black Hole are about to Tag Team you – getting two goes in one), transport ‘copters taking infantry behind …

Bah. I was doing really well, had shot all the missiles at the satellite, and had destroyed the huge cannon thing. I had even managed to make inroads towards the Black Hole base, and was generally winning. I had a small army of Blue Moon Neotanks and artillery en-route to do some damage, and a Blue Moon Battleship was providing backup and cover. And then, I got sloppy and let one Black Hole soldier through to the Blue Moon base …

Mission 20 was a bit bizarre. Black Hole had five Black Crystals (that heal all units around them by 2 each move), but started with a load of assorted units on just 1 point. Of course, each turn they were repaired, so obviously a balance was stuck between blowing up dangerous-when-healthy units before they were repaired, and destroying the crystals to stop units being repaired. Wiped out most of the dangerous units before they really started fighting back, but was …

First thing for today, as every day, was feeding and watering. Then, I checked to make sure Chris could still remember all his tricks, only to find he’d forgotten “Sit” again, so I had to teach him it again. Well, taught him “Sit Down” as that seemed to be recognised more easily. Out for a walk then, and he found a red polka dot ribbon on the way. Gay-tastic! Found another pet shop, and this one sold milk and canned …

With Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan out of the way, it’s time to return to Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Mission 19 was easy. Really easy. At first, it seemed impossible, as there were about 20 Oozium thingies all spread out across the map. However, that’s pretty much all that I had to contend with, and they move only one square at a time, and can’t move and attack in the same turn. So, as long as I didn’t get surrounded, it was …

About another 20 tries this morning, and a few near misses, and I finally, finally, finished Normal Mode. Finally. Finished. Gibber. I only had ONE miss in the end, and only just managed to spin the final wheel before dying. My arm hurts. My index finger has a stylus-end shape gouged into it. My DS is relieved it hasn’t been snapped in half. And now, Hard mode with Impressive Chin and Hat Man has been unlocked. And oh, it’s hard …

NO. NO. NO. And NO. I’ve attempted the final level now more than 100 times. REALLY more than 100 times. I was even keeping count. I even got onto the LAST BLOODY WHEEL on it, but died before I got a chance to spin it. The end og the chorus bit keeps throwing me, and the change in chorus at the end of the song really threw me. Can’t be done. TRUFAX.

I don’t understand why the last few levels (the Cops vs Alien Robots one, and the Giant Rat one specifically) seem easier on Normal mode than they did on Easy. Bizarre. I made it through both of them without too much difficulty. The final level, however, is an ENTIRELY different story. It’s the hardest thing ever. I’ve managed to get onto the second stage of it three times, and the third stage (briefly!) just once – and that’s in over …

Oh Chris. Why must you be looked after every day? Why do you whine at me for food? Idiot dog. After feeding and watering, I took him for a walk. On the way, he found a stick. Hurrah! He then ran into Casey, who’s owner had a go at me for letting Chris poo on the floor and not cleaning it up, even though I didn’t actually see Chris do such a thing. And why would they have actual pooing …

MotoGP – Makes me feel sick. And digital controls + MotoGP == EVIL BADNESS. Puyo Pop – Too small. Eyes bleeding. Still too easy though. I win. BEST. Virtua Tennis – Rubbish. Slow, rubbish, slow and rubbish. And rubbish. AND SLOW. Super Monkey Ball – Played all of Easy. It was Easy. Controls were not. Medium will be too hard due to idiot controls. HATE. SMASH.