Just a quick go, and I finished the third track on the first “set” in first place. If you see what I mean. I unlocked “Car Attack” mode then, which I played, and won a car. The Pink Mappy one, in fact. It’s, er, great. I also noticed, while racing to win it, that you can do outrageous powerslides like those in Outrun 2. Which means Ridge Racer DS is now exactly 237% better than I’d thought previously. Hurrah, eh?

Hurrah! I finally won a game! I took on Serbia and Montenegro as England, and beat them 3-0. I’m BEST, I am.

I started a Cup today. In my group, my first match was me (as England) against the Czech Republic, which ended 1-1. Then followed Austria (0-0). and Nigeria (1-2). Bah. That meant I was kicked out of the competition. I suppose it is an improvement over yesterday, however.

My first Xbox Live games on this, against my brother. I was Germany, and he was England. He beat me in both games, 1-0. Not as bad as I’d expected, actually. I blame my wrist anyway.

Having not enjoyed a single football game since Sensible World of Soccer, I was unsure as to what I would think of this. I mean, everyone says it’s the best football game ever (except chavs, who think FIFA is because it is made by EA), but it looked a bit more complicated than SWOS. Anyway, I did some free training to start to get a feel for the controls, and then went into a match between England (me) and Belgium …

This arrived today, but I haven’t managed to spend long on it yet as my DS’s battery went flat. I did manage to come first on the first two races, however. Graphics are “OK”. I’m not really sure exactly what I was expecting there, but they’re nice enough to not distract from the game, anyway. Not in the same league as the PSP Ridge Racers though, obviously. I’ve only tried the d-pad control option so far. It’ll take a lot …

Had a quick go on one of the Endless modes, but it was too easy to stay alive, so I quit. I’m not really that keen on the Endless modes anyway, to be honest. Then I finished a few more puzzles – all of the 50s bar 57 and 59, which I can’t do.

Hurrah! I actually managed to win a game! I even ended up with a score of 28, compared to the -8, -12 and -14 of the opponents. I’m quite amazed at myself.

With the Mushroom doubles out of the way, all that was left for me to do was the Mushroom Singles. Needless to say, I won. With a staggering -12 score. Credits roll, Game Over!

With a bit more practicing out of the way, and my players bumped up a few notches, I tried the Doubles Mushroom tournament. And it’s hard. You see, you sometimes have to hit “Play Panels” by landing on them, which in turn alter the layout of the hole. Of course, you can ignore them, but then you also make birdies near impossible. I wasn’t looking forward to bailing Neil out as well as defeating some difficult players on some hard …

Something clicked today, and I not only managed to place highly on both the Challenge and Time Attack mode score tables, but I then went on to smash the highest scores already there. So, that’s it then. OK, I can go back and try for higher scores, but I have “beaten” the challenges set out. Technically then, I’ve completed it. I got 103 in the “hidden” bubble bursting game too. Shame there’s no high score table for that too.

Went and did some more training sessions to take my golfers up a few levels, mainly so that Neil stops being an idiot. Sadly, he still is, but my attempt at the Links Doubles was successful! I see that the Mushroom Tournament is now unlocked. Well, it was unlocked after the Singles, but I didn’t go and have a look.

Further attempts at getting anywhere near the top of the score tables for Challenge and Time Attack modes ended in failure today. I’m 5th on Challenge, and nowhere at all on Time Attack. The latter is plainly not possible and I put it to Nintendo that they are trying to drive us gamesplayers mad on purpose.

Finished off all of the Club Slots events first of all, and then did some of the Links training thingies. After that, it was onto the Links Singles proper, and it’s hard. Much harder than any of the previous tourneys, mainly due to the horrendous wind conditions. It took two attempts to best it. Had a go on the Doubles for it then, but Neil was playing his worst so gave up.

After some more practice sessions in the Palms and Dunes training areas, I entered the Palms Tournament. Tried Singles first, and once again trounced the opposition. I hope this game gets a bit more challenging soon. Well, it did in Doubles, as Neil is now even more retarded than previously. Stupid, stupid boy keeps aiming correctly, but then only swinging for 75% of the shot making every single shot fall short. And, invariably, into a water hazard or bunker. Or …