It is nice that so many UMD games are available practically for free. It is hard to not buy more before I play through even just the best of what I have. I am still getting the feeling these are mostly watered down PS2 and PS3 titles but I am less disappointed by this fact now. The games might be small but they do feel big. I miss some of the more advanced modes but I was playing, for instance, Twisted Metal: Head On ovever the weekend and feel like it's a fully immersive gaming experience in a way that playing even my 3DS is not. I get sucked into the great little screen on that maybe even more than I do w/ my full consoles on the TV. In any case, I am quite looking forward to trying out some of the online options with a few of the titles I got so hopefully there's a few players left who still play these old games. I also got a demo of Patapon which seems like it's one of the most unique titles on any console. Stock in PSP is going up!

I am even thinking I might get a Vita at launch but that is another subject entirely.

There is nothing like a good final boss fight to get your blood warm. You start w/ an annoying fight w/ two magicians where you have to direct fireballs of varying colors into varyingly colored moving targets which, by the way, happen to be the things that are shooting the fireballs at you. That is followed by a second level fight w/ the same boss in which the background sometimes shifts to leave you standing in lava while some sort of evil red fairy shoots high-powered fire bats at you. This is when you're not sliding on while ice being chased by sentient spiked rocks. If you get through this, there is no point to save before you fight Ganon. He is not too tough once you've figured out the tricks to his porcine teleportation but by this point you are worn down from the previous fight that the cards are so stacked in his favor he doesn't really have to be. If you manage to survive being teleportationally chased down, having your controls reversed and avoiding the complex pyrotechnics unleashed by a magic pig, you are treated to a cut scene which you are in no kind of a frame of mind to enjoy. Now that is what I call a good time.

I am finding its best use is to read GameFAQ's FAQs while playing games on my GBA. I have a couple supposed classics of varying genres in the mail so I'll be really putting it through its paces in the coming weeks. Still though, do you ever get the feeling the games on your handheld are just watered down versions of the games for the full size consol? If you have a PSP, you probably do.

Two thoughts on this game: 1. It has been hilarious to me for well over a decade now how many adjectives and modifies are used in Street Fighter game titles. 2. I just popped this back in the card slot of my 3DS, making it the first time in months have actually played a 3DS game on the thing (aside from, I guess, 3D Excite Bike). I was getting OK at it before but, man, I am terrible once again. Gonna have to log on for some vs. matches to get back in shape.

It is obvious why it happens but it is a shame that these two games are so often seen as aspects of the same game rather than full games unto themselves. To me, Ages, is just so much more interesting and engaging to play. It focuses more on figuring paths through the dungeons and puzzle solving rather than fiddly button work. This makes it much better suited for handheld play and just a better game overall.