I’d completely forgotten all about Hill Top Zone and Oil Ocean. I don’t know how, but I had. And isn’t Sonic 2 so much bigger than the original? I remember being slightly disappointed when I first got it, since most zones only had two levels, rather than the three the first game did, but there are so many more zones it doesn’t really matter. I was really pleased with myself for making it as far as Death Egg without dying, …
Since I enjoyed replaying Sonic the Hedgehog on XBLA so much this week, I decided to buy the sequel on the Wii. Yes, I already own it a jijillion times, but since when did that matter? And, of course, it’s great. So far I’m up to the end of Aquatic Ruin. Not had any problems yet, and haven’t died either. Not that there’s an achievement for not dying, as I keep thinking there must be. Bloody Xbox 360-isms.
Just a brief play on this today, managing to complete another three or so levels. No real problems as yet, either.
Next week on ugvm (the newsgroup, not the magazine) is Retro Week. I’ve decided. So, in preparation, I downloaded this from the Wii VC library. I vaguely remember playing it once before, and, in fact, I thought I owned it for the NES, but perhaps not. It’s a bit like Sokoban, only with less pushing and more baddies. Sort of. The idea is to collect all the hearts on the screen, which activates a treasure chest, and you reach that …
I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the hardest game ever made. I played a few games online, and lost every since one by at least three goals. Not only that, but I’m incapable of finishing the second (novice!) challenge in Challenge Mode. Rubbish.
I’ve never really give this game much time before. I have it for the Megadrive, but having spent five minutes with it and realising it’s a platformer and not a proper sequel to the original, I didn’t play it again. But, apparently, it’s still great. According to lots of people on t’t’t’tinternet anyway. So I bought it. And they’re right. It’s different, but the humour from the original is still there. It is, however, waaaay harder, as I only reached …
One of the most underrated and ignored platformers of all time, and today it appeared on the Wii Virtual Console. I loved it, but my only gripe was it was really long, and there was no way of saving your progress. Well, now there is, thanks to the VC’s Save States! Sadly, though, all is not well. For some reason the screen flickers horribly. So much so that the game is virtually unplayable. As a result, I managed three levels …
OK. First up, it’s not really football. You have a ball, and you score goals, but there the similarity ends. You have powerups, special moves (some of which let you score six goals at once!) and it’s totally insane. Anyway. I played through the tutorial section, which actually took the best part of an hour, and then dived straight into some online games. I really should have practised offline a bit, though. I played two people, both in Best of …
Most of today’s levels (from 13-ish up to 29, the final one) took place in a theme park, with rides and stuff. And lots of giant biscuits, chess pieces and dice. No, really. I had two bosses to contend with too – a big fat one who kept collecting baubles off a Christmas tree to power up, and then bellyflop me, and then, after the last few levels (during which I managed to lift entire fairground rides!) it was the …
Out of the kitchen, and into the garden, and out of the garden and into the garage. And then back into the garden. And kitchen. Then everything started floating around, and I had to go back to the bedrooms and study, and then into a secret room. And then back in the garden and finally the street! After that, there was another boss battle, which was pretty easy once I’d figured out what to do.
It’s my birthday today, and one of my presents was this from my wife. And very most ace it is too. So ace, in fact, that I sat down and completed it. Of course, I haven’t even attempted the high scores or unlocked half of the minigames, but I did get the end sequence. I think I like this more than Touched, as there’s a lot more variety to the games. Some of them are totally inspired too, like the …
What what what? Eledees has boss levels? Clearly yes, yes it does. Thankfully, the first one I came across wasn’t actually too difficult. In fact, it was very easy and I caught all the Fantasia inspired splitting eledees with minutes to spare. Ace! And now I’ve progressed a bit further. It’s getting a bit difficult now with all the things I can’t do (make noise, drop things, get hit by tanks and guns – no, really – and accidently shoot …
More New Game fun and frolics today! I seem to have had a huge pile of new games arrive in the last few days. One of those that came today was this – Eledees. For some reason, it’s called Elebits everywhere else, but not in Europe. Strange. And it’s great. Really great. Although very different to Katamari, playing it feels remarkably the same. You point at things in a house, shake them, move them, etc. and find Eledees. These provide …
“Whaaat?” I hear you say, oh dedicated reader, “But you’ve never mentioned this game before – how could you possibly have completed it already?”. Well, you’re right. I haven’t mentioned it before, because I only bought it four hours ago. I started playing three hours ago, and completed it about half an hour ago. Oh yes. Firstly, impressions: it’s fun. The graphics aren’t great, but they’re not awful and are certainly functional. The controls are excellent, using just the remote …
Back in the day, I completed this zeventyfazillion times. I could do it with my eyes closed. I could do it upside down in a bucket of water. I could do it by shouting instructions over the phone to someone else holding the controller. Now? I can’t get from 8-1 to 8-4 without losing at least two lives, can’t get past the water bit on 8-4 at all, and am generally just crap at it. Clearly, Nintendo have hardified it …