Certain Death? Getting a bit bored of it now..

Well, that’s that. According to the news Swine Flu has hit Britain and we’re all going to be dead by next Tuesday. A pity really, because my Super Nintendo arrived yesterday.

I should probably have posted this before, but I’ve been very busy recently with exams and the like. I know, common webmaster excuse but we’re people too, y’know.

Anyway, with a very generous £20 from my father, we ordered one off eBay Saturday evening and by Tuesday night – Alakazam! – There it was, sitting in my dining room.. although it had been parcelled in the most amazing way possible. I should have got a photo of it.. it was literally mummified in parcel tape, which was incredibly difficult to open because I didn’t want to accidentally cut any wires.

Once it was freed from this mess, it looked mighty fine. It’s a fully working unit, with a single control pad and all the required wires. Apart from some gunk in the power switch and a bit of yellowing on the case – which is fine because research tells me that SNES’s have a habit of turning all sorts of funny colours – it’s in perfect condition.

One thing that does mystify me slightly is the game included.. Now, the eBay listing’s title included the phrase “ALL STAR” leading me to think it was Super Mario All-Stars..

..It wasn’t, it turns out.

What arrived in the package was “NBA All-Star Challenge”. Well, first things first. It’s basketball. A sport I have absolutely no interest or knowledge of and no idea of any of the rules, conventions or even any famous players, with the exception of Michael Jordan – only because he was in Space Jam – and some chap called Shaq, who appears to be the American equivalent of Brand Beckham over here.

This game makes no sense to me. Basically, you run around, another guy runs around with you, and then you jump and put the ball through the hoop. There’s one mode which you quite literally just walk up and press a button to score. Over and over again.

Possibly magnifying this problem is that I have no idea who any of these people are, or even the teams they’re from. Why did Nintendo even publish this in the PAL region? I can’t think of anyone I know who has even the remotest interest in basketball. It’s just not that popular over here.

Anyway, the system itself is lovely, and I can do a proper write-up on it once I actually get a decent game for it.

Now, is anybody selling Starwing?

-James

TmSd is still alive, don’tcha know..

Well, I was clearly speaking out of my arse last time I said it wouldn’t be that long between updates. This is post #50 – hooray! – and I was planning something special.. although clearly it isn’t going to be available within the forseeable future so I decided to give up on it for the time being.

So here we go with a nice regular post for you.

So yes, today is the day I get some money. What do I do with the money? I spend it on Wii software, of course. Gah, did you not see that coming?

Well, I had £7 to hand, so I bought 1000 Wii points on the shop channel. And, well, I had a little idea. To those who don’t know, games on the Wii Virtual Console are games from past systems which you buy, then you can play them in their full glory on your Wii. Now I know what you’re probably thinking. Couldn’t I just get NESticle and a load of ROMs for exactly the same thing but without having to pay? Well, yes. But number one, that’s inherently illegal and number two, it’s just not the same to be playing it on a computer screen. Now, I bought two NES games, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Mega Man. Being slightly too young, I didn’t grow up with the NES so I’m sure I’m missing a trick here.

For one, why is Mega Man so damned hard!? I know it’s a classic and all, but wow. I’ve played some of the first level so far and I can assume either of two things:

1) It’s too damn hard

OR

2) I’m rubbish at it

..Probably the latter, knowing how these things turn out.

I just wish you could fire up or diagonally. Those grinning helicopter things are the Devil incarnate. Look at them. Grinning at me. Mocking me.

SCREW YOU BLUE GRINNING HELICOPTER BASTARD!

Well, I haven’t actually got very far on Mega Man, so that’s all I can really say.

I also bought Super Mario Bros. 3, on recommendation of the Angry Video Game Nerd in one of his videos. It’s an okay game. Okay as in okay to someone who grew up with, and is fundamentally rooted to Sonic the Hedgehog. For one, why does Mario move so damn slowly? And why, for that matter, when I hold down one of the buttons does he move so damn quickly? Is there no middle ground? It’s either you wait a week to jump on the Goomba or you hold down the button and plough into it at three times the speed of sound. Now I understand how Mario keeps up with Sonic in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

Well, all in all, I’m quite pleased with my purchases. I now have two classic games I have wanted for a while – legally – without having to spend £40 on an NES. I’m rather chuffed.

-James