Okay, I've covered Stafy, on to the next part. A disclaimer before I write anything: I have not played the original on SNES, so I'll be approaching this from a newbie's perspective.

Another cutie, and my favorite character of all time~

The box art was holographic and looked all black, so no box this time.

Compared to all those rosy-eyed retro gamers, I didn't think that much of Kirby Super Star. Quite contented with modern-day Kirby games(my personal favorite is KatAM). Anyway, I was still looking forward to play what many consider to be the best Kirby game ever(again, based on retro gamers' opinion) on my DS.

And what a game it is. From the beginning, a lavish opening video, a rarity for the graphically-challenged DS(though a bit blurry). Then you're pelted with that familiar looking corkboard filled with games galore. Only one was available from the start(Spring Breeze), so I went ahead and began. I don't know how much flexibility the SNES version offered with the copy powers, but there were at least 4 different moves for each in this version, some giving up to 8 or more attacks! For someone who liked finishing enemies in Kirby games with flair, this was a big surprise indeed. All the powers had a lot of depth and took some time to master.

Then there were helpers, enemies which Kirby can create as partners by giving up his own copy power. They're actually useful for once, and not as brain-dead as the CP-controlled Kirbys in Amazing Mirror(you had to force them to go through doors). The best part was having a Wheelie which you can ride on, thus creating yet another set of attacks only the both of them could handle. There's even a 2-player co-op mode so one player controls Kirby while the other as his helper. This deepness in Copy Powers nearly makes up for their relatively small number in KSSU (UFO, Needle, Ball and Hi Jump are missing, but of course I know they weren't in the original anyway), and makes the game all the more enjoyable.

The graphics(aside from the video scenes), are standard fare, with some upgrades here and there. Some of the backgrounds looked lovely and imaginative. Nintendo staff must dream up these things in their sleep :P. It's nothing noteworthy, but it's bright and colorful, and Kirby and his friends are as cute as ever.

Now to the games itself. At the beginning when you're playing Spring Breeze, you get the impression that this is just a short game with 6 modes. But then you unlock a 7th one. And then another. And another. Regular-sized games like Revenge of Meta Knight will last about 1/2 hour or so, but you'll want to unlock the longer, more challenging games to truly appeciate how much variety KSSU has. Some of the games have quite a lot of replay value(going back to the Great Cave Offensive to gather all 60 treasures, setting high scores in Gourmet Race), but some are too short and forgettable(Dynablade). The minigames aren't half bad either, although they should have been a bit less dependent on your reflexes.

Overall, a great experience, and made me finally understand why this game was so highly praised. It won't make me put down KatAM(I'm still hooked on the premise of its free-roaming platforming), but it stands along side it as another masterpiece in the Kirby series.

A 2-part series blog for 2 games I bought for my DS recently, which have both of my most favorite characters of all time, Kirby and Stafy! Their newest games in their respective series were released only 2 months apart, Stafy in July, and Kirby in September. I got both at the same time, and boy, am I overjoyed :D

Part one will be on Stafy, as I played through that first and thus have got enough done to write about.

Densetsu no Stafy: Taiketsu! Dairu Kaizokudan (will henceforth be shortened to Stafy 5 for convenience) was released in July 10 in Japan, 2 years after the radically different Stafy 4 was published. This 5th game in the series is nothing like its predecessor for the DS, but more back-to-basics simple platforming of Stafy 1,2 and 3. No flashy magic spells, no area map to talk to random people and run their fetch-quests, no HP bar(Stafy originally had 5 hearts which can be replenished with collected pearls). This is Stafy au traditionale

The first thing you'll notice is Stafy 5's completely revamped graphics. Most of the sprites and backgrounds use the same engine as Stafy 4, but the highlight are the cutscenes and dialogues that play out on the bottom screen. Stafy and all his friends are now given a cutesy, plush doll look. Cutscenes are done comic-book like, and Stafy even has voice-overs. Hearing Stafy say 'Fee!' every time he tumbles and toddles his way through the story is enough to make your heart melt. The Stafy series' main selling point has always been its cute factor, even more so than Kirby, and this takes it to the next level.

The gameplay is, like I said, back to basics. This is exactly the same game as Stafy for the GBA, and still retains the quality of the DS one. All the flaws of the DS Stafy has been addressed in this game(or, flaws in my opinion). The jarring, primitive sound effects have been refined a whole lot and are much more bearable, there are 5 touch-screen minigames, some with multiplayer support(compared to none in Stafy 4, and no, that pearl-grabbing bonus game doesn't count), and the fetch quests are much less. However, the bonuses have been scaled down, seeing that the number of costumes you can get are limited, and the full-fledged shop replaced with a cumbersome 'random item purchase' feature.

Speaking of multiplayer, you don't actually get to control both Stafy and Stapy together(which sux, because that adds a lot of depth to the gameplay). Still, for less experienced players and to get optional treasures, another player can link up and play as Stapy in certain stages. Stapy's moveset is different, and she is smaller and more agile(wall jumps and crawling are out of Stafy's league), so she can get to places that bumbling yellow star can't.

I haven't finished the whole game yet, but from what I hear, it's not as short and simple as it looks. As it stands, I'm playing a fine addition to the Stafy series, and it makes me very happy indeed.

Well, this HAD to be on my 100th blog post *struts around doing a little dance*

Alright, I'm sending in my comp to repairs, so you all won't be seeing me for the next 2 or 3 days.

Stay cool 8)

I bought another set of Pokemon promo cards off eBay, just like I did late last year! This time it's a 9-card set, made in conjunction with the 11th Pokemon movie, starring Shaymin. The Shaymin featured in the card is the Sky Form, while Giratina is in its Origin Form(I refuse to add that extra 'e'). Here are the card scans

Dialga, Reverse World Giratina, Magnezone, Shieldon, Icy Sky Shaymin, Mamoswine

Pikachu, Piplup, Regigigas

Since I don't really have a ton of time, I'll post their attack translations on a seperate post. Catch ya on my 100th blog next time.

If you're a)British, b) read old Nintendo magazines, and c) collect old Nintendo magazines and/or d) live in the US or somewhere and import British Nintendo magazines, chances are you've read a mag called Total Gameboy/ Total Advance 5 years back or so. It's a nice ol' thing that brought the scoop on Nintendo's handhelds(mostly GBA) before the DS swept the world.

On October 2001, they previewed Super Smash Bros. Melee. Here's an excerpt from that article(don't expect me to be correct down to the last word, perfectionists):

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.....but we rather like Kirby! He has the ability to eat his opponents and start to look and act like them. Check out the screenshot at the top of this page!(picture of Kirby wearing a Pikachu hat) Is that a new Pokemon? Is it Pikaby or Kirbachu? Regardless, this game can only mean one thing: fun, fun, FUN! And a little bit of violence. Bet you can't wait....
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Thank god I didn't choose the 2nd name :P

A 2-day camp at another school, and will be sleeping there overnight(scouts activity). Will be back Monday

To johnny139: If I don't join VGS Challenge 5, well excuse me

It looks like a regular social networking site to me, kinda like Friendster or Myspace. So why is everyone here joining in? I don't get what the fuss is all about :?

Now they've done it. They went and wiped out EVERY SINGLE ONE of my pictures I uploaded to the site and I'm unable to use them at all on the Internet. Reason? They think all my pictures are pr0n! This is absurd! Just like CRAZ1ah, this is the last straw for me. I've completely lost faith in Imageshack.

**** you Imageshack, I'm backing up what I can save from your bloody site to Photobucket.

After indulging in 20 hours of this game, finally I take a breather from playing to tell you guys about it. Don't listen to professional reviews, this Wii RPG is gold, better than most other games of a similar genre on this console. Not that there are many RPGs on Wii to begin with :P

First off, gameplay. Combat is intuitive, using only the Nunchuk for throwing your energy bonbon in various directions to hit enemy weak points ans dodge bombs. It never feels too difficult as your partners back you up most times. Battles are random, and can get a little irritating at times, but it's balanced out with combat-lite exploring of the huge overworld cities(called domes) and the side jobs you can take. Some are pretty drab, but others, like the fishing minigame, are solid. The one thing that grinds my gears here is the sheer amount of red tape you have to wade through. Yes. RED TAPE. In a videogame. You have to APPLY for citizenship as soon as you land, you APPLY at a registration counter to go to school, and all the jobs you take require licenses, which again, you have to APPLY for. Even a job as a janitor needs a license. It's by no means game breaking, but the fact that the whole planet is so bureaucratic makes it feel like you're in a part of some government agency than playing a game.

Next, the graphics. Being the cute-lover that I am, I was instantly drawn to the character designs. Opoona, Copoona and Poleena are all adorably cel-shaded and animate smoothly. The environments are not as detailed and look like it's been ripped off a Gamecube game, but that's still forgivable. The domes are the one in which the most effort has gone into. They're friggin huge, you can get lost easily, and each of them are well-designed and detailed down to the bathrooms in each residential area you visit(And we wondered if RPG characters ever needed to pee :lol: )

Music is great too. They sound abstract and otherworldly, especially the theme music. Some of them can get pretty annoying though, like the battle music. I won't delve too much into the storyline, but it's standard convention with a few twists and a interesting concept. Opoona is a child seperated from his parents in a spaceship crash, and has to adapt to his new life on an unfamiliar planet. The story would have been presented better, if the game didn't have such lousy JP to US translation work, which sometimes made me wish I had the original JP version. This can detract from Opoona's overall quality. Wonder if any of the guys at Koei ever applied for a language translator license? Or a game-making license? Did I even apply for a license to blog?*runs away*

And I only noticed this after the 10,001th post....Graphical evidence above ^^^!

Isn't the number beautiful?? :P