It is a long time since I last mentioned New Super Mario Bros, but during the holiday I got back into it.
A week ago I completed the last level and my save got a second star (The first star was for rescuing Princess Peach).
Tonight I’ve got the last of the star coins (which didn’t give me a third star). I then noticed some warp cannons had flashing red circles; so I used the cannons and now have three stars.
Game Over!
I’ve found and completed all 135 puzzles (number 135 took the longest - a sliding block puzzle that had me stumped most of yesterday evening).
There are just the weekly puzzles left and from what I’ve seen they’re not going to be that stretching.
In the end it was fun, but short - it would have been more challenging when I was a teenager.
A combination of addiction to Professor Layton and the Curious Village and sciatica has stopped me writing. Unlike most console games, DS games are ideal for playing standing up or lying down and this arrived midweek, I’m around 11 hours in and have finished most of the puzzles.
Unfortunately a lot of the puzzles are traditional, positioning queens on a chess board, getting animals to cross rivers without eating each other (that sort of thing), but it is very well executed and the downloadable puzzle of the week is a good idea (even if I am a little suspicious of the download speed - the puzzles downloaded so fast part of me feels they were already on the cart).
Not that much progress, owing to the fact sitting down is extremely uncomfortable (I’ve got sciatica in my left leg), but I’ve just defeated a spider like creature in Tsuta ruins. True to the Zelda template it required using moves I’d only just learnt (in this case hooking objects from floating flowers).
I really do love this game, but at times using the celestial brush is extremely frustrating - I know the action required, but can’t quite get the precision.
It took a few attempts, some of which were pretty close, but I’ve finally defeated Lord Bane and seen the game credits. It was fun while it lasted, but I think I’ve completed all the side quests so I think it is over for now.
My new main game, but from what I’ve experienced so far I’m probably going to have to leave it until those days when I can give it my full attention. So far there has been a lot of exposition and I’ve only just got out of the village. The village start has given it a Zelda feel - much as I love Zelda I hope that feeling passes.
The celestial brush is fun with the remote, although I did find it frustrating repairing a water wheel since it appears it wanted me to be standing in just the right spot for it to work correctly. The artwork is, as promised, great.
I’m still playing puzzle quest, off and on, and am currently stuck on a battle against Lord Bane (who has vastly more hit points than me). I’m not sure if this is going to be the last battle or not, from the story so far it should be, but there is a lot of unexplored map which seems to indicate the opposite.
I want to have a rant about the Wii’s internal memory, but I think I’ll hold off until another day. My brother invited me to install the demo of Dr Mario, but I knew I’d like it and thought the kids might too. So I’ve been playing the odd game, unfortunately there seem to be very few people playing WFC. Anyway it looks good and is fine for a quick game - I think germbuster is probably better on “More Brain Training” on the DS.
I like Mario Kart Wii, but have found it a bit of a disappointment - not because I find it easier than previous versions, I don’t (maybe because I only use the wheel for control?), but because there is no mission mode.
I really enjoyed chasing the triple stars in mission mode on the DS and until today I didn’t think there was an equivalent, but the second online tournament is straight out of mission mode (“Clear the gates in order in GBA Battle Course 3. Look at the map carefully and clear the gates quickly”) and I’m pretty good at it (not in the top 10, but definitely the right end of the the bell curve.
Unfortunately I was slap bang in the middle of the curve for the first online tournament.
These are my links for April 30th through May 15th: