Mario Kart 8 - Winning

I usually play with Wario but I've been doing very poor lately albeit I blame the randomness of the pick-ups for that because on many occasions I would go from 1st or 2nd to finish 6th or below because I've been smacked by Red or Blue shells.

I changed to try Toad and played pretty well in all the races to finish 1st, winning the trophy.

So let me take a moment to gloat :)

Mario Party 10 - Bowser Time

Sunday afternoon was family gaming, so time to dust off the WiiU & play Mario Party 10.

Mario Party 10 makes a change from the previous games in that the players work as a team instead of individuals to reach the  goal.

I've enjoyed playing the Bowser Mode where I was Bowser using the gamepad to chase down the other players via mini-games I tried to destroy hearts they own to eliminate them from the game & reaching the end goal.

We tried out the three maps which is a bit limited considering I remember previous games having 6+ maps but overall It's another good family Nintendo release.

Zelda Wind Waker - Tower of Gods

I got bored of exploring the map & dropped off the pearls at three locations to raise the Tower of Gods. Zelda Wind Waker is basically lots of dungeon areas laid out over a world map. These dungeons depending on locations will have different enemies & some puzzles. The frustrating aspect of the game comes in the save mechanism that let's you save anywhere in the game but when you load a game you will be at the beginning of the dungeon.

So you need to allow yourself some time so you can complete a dungeon before exiting the game. Tower of Gods is a HUGE dungeon !! which took me quite a few hours to complete. For my efforts I was awarded the Hero's Bow.

Next was a trip underwater to Hyrule to retrieve the Master Sword & then back to the Forsaken Fortress to save my sister & get a Skull Hammer. With so many items & equipment to use I can't help wishing that there was a better inventory change mechanism letting you quick choose whatever you needed.

After upgrading the arrows ability to use ice & fire I visited Fire Mountain to get the Power Bracelets & Ice Ring Isle for some Iron Boots. The Master Sword seems to have lost it's power so I need to visit two temples to restore it's power, this section has you controlling another character on occasions to use their ability. I've completed the earth temple and got the Mirror Shield next is a visit to the wind temple.

Managed to play quite a bit to progress along the main storyline, I have lots of sidequests which I have not yet done but will focus on the wind temple first next time & then take a look at the sidequests before I go searching for the Triforce shards.

With the Destiny Beta due this week & the next episode of Walking Dead Season 2 it may be a while before I am back playing Zelda Wind Waker.

Zelda Wind Waker - Pearls

Played quite a bit since my last post complaining about the ship telling me which way to go. I've now collected the grappling hook, deku leaf which allows me to glide & boomerang which is great for locking onto multiple targets.

I've collected all the pearls & have completed the second pirate ship challenge to unlock bombs.

I've now supposed to take the pearls to three locations on the map but I'm taking time out to explore other areas of the maps & discover the great fairies to receive upgrades.

Having not played a Zelda game since Link to the Past I am finding Wind Waker to be an enjoyable experience. My youngest son has managed to complete the game over the weekend, he enjoys using thee WiiU gamepad to play the game. "It's a giant DS machine, Dad"

Zelda Wind Waker - Open Seas

Managed a couple of hours over the weekend, really wish I could sail anywhere on the map but instead the stupid boat keeps directing me towards the main quest.

Also have a stupid 500 limit on the amount of rupees I can carry, found this out when I got a treasure chest & missed out on 200 rupees :(

Thanks to RLLMUK found out that to get info on an item you just press A on the item. Also Wii U digital games have a manual by pressing home you can access the manual icon on the gamepad.

Will be busy with E3 & World Cup football for a while now so gaming will take backstep.

Mario Kart 8 - I'm a Wario, I'm gonna WIN !!

Spending a lot of time enjoying Mario Kart 8 on local multiplayer with the kids. Need to get the hang of drifting but I can on a regular basis now win a race with Wario.

WiiU - Welcome back

WiiU - Thankfully turned up Friday, I tried to login with my gospvg NNID but it kept on coming up with error messages so I gave up to carry on with the system update. Once all updated we sat down to enjoy Mario Kart 8.

Nintendo do know how to make family consoles, the PS4/360 consoles are mainly used for single player experiences but nothing is better than a Nintendo machine for local multi-player fun. Experience shone through & I won the first Grand Prix against the kids. Alas that was not to last & once the boys & my eldest daughter got to grips it was a much tougher challenge.

Nintendoland (even with it's annoying presentation) especially Mario Chase & Luigi's Ghost Mansion are still great fun with the advantage of allowing a fifth player to join the fun. I'm surprised Mario Kart did not go the same route with one player on the gamepad & four split screen on the TV.

Saturday I had the frustrations with trying to get customer support to transfer my NNID to my new console. In the end I gave up & created a new NNID gospvguk (I've updated the ugvm page). I also had to create a new club Nintendo account because the old account was linked to the now defunct gospvg NNID. This had made me very wary about purchasing any content on the eshop because it is tied to an NNID which is tied to a WIIU.

The free game process however worked very smoothly, I registered Mario Kart 8 & after the survey it came up with a banner which I clicked on to choose my free game. I did think about going with Nintendoland or Wii Party U because it would save on the disc loading but in the end I opted for Zelda Wind Waker.

Luffers was connected so time to try out Mario Kart 8 on-line. I like that you could take two players on-line so Abbas joined me. Made it to the game lobby & connection failed. Luffers then created a room which I joined along with Choobs who was online. Thankfully this worked & we were able to enjoy quite a few races.

Game chat works but in an odd way only during the lobby & it did not recognise my headset. All the chat was coming out of the TV speakers?
I’ve tried various control methods over the weekend from GamePad, Wii Remote/Nunchuck but the Wii Remote/Classic Controller has become my preferred choice until the Pro Controller arrives. I still have not quite sussed the drifting style but after some races with Koopa I am now back with my usual character of Wario.

I’ve not played any of the Mario games (NSMBU/3D World) or Zombi U but I did start Zelda Wind Waker. This looks truly gorgeous & is a joy to play, I spent quite a bit of time with the game yesterday completing various quests & taking down my first boss fight. The girls are enjoying watching me play & keep asking “Have you saved your sister yet?”

It is a triumphant return for Nintendo that none of the kids wanted to turn on any of the other consoles but all wanted to play Mario Kart or Nintendo Land. On hindsight maybe I should not have gotten rid of the purchased WiiU last year (at least I would not have lost my NNID).

History Update - Wii U is back !!

With the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8, I have decided to give the Wii U another chance.

Nintendo's offer of a free game with Mario Kart 8 is a very good deal & I will be going for Zelda Wind Waker. I have also purchased New Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 3D Land & Zombi U.

Will look at also purchasing Nintendo Land & Wii Party U which I know the kids will enjoy.

Lego City Undercover - Completed

Lego City Undercover is oozing fun by the bucket load, whether you are driving around the city, fighting bad guys, smashing lego buildings or collecting bricks. The memorable characters from Chase, Rex, Natalia & of course Honey. The script will have you laughing all the way through whilst you explore the vast map to complete various missions & drive any number of vehicles.

It has for me, been a great introduction to the Wii U as a new gaming console & goes into my Top32.

Lego City Undercover - SPOILERS !!

THIS IS GAME OF THE YEAR material so much fun diving down a mine shaft, riding a t-rex, trains, boats, skateboards, nintendo easter eggs, red brick power-ups, the humour, TRAINS (I said that already), horses, space centre, mini games and so much more.  I so can’t wait to unlock planes.

I’m on chapter 10 at the moment & loving every minute.

This game is reason why you need to buy a Wii U !!

Wii U - Family Time

I have never completed a game on the Wii, the only time I would play any games would be with the kids. So either Wii Sports or one of the Mario Party games.

Time to test out the Wii U in the same capacity, firstly you will need wii remote controllers. Ideally the motionplus variant because Metroid Blast & Zelda do not work without them, so I could not test those two games.

Mario Chase has the tablet player running around the map with the other players chasing him down. A simple game which after a few plays loses interest.

Luigi's Ghost Mansion is great fun, the tablet player is the ghost & the others Luigi playing ghostbusters trying to capture the ghost. It's easily the most fun game on Ninendoland.

Animal Crossing Sweet Day has the tablet player whacking the other players who are trying to gobble sweets. You can have two players on the tablet each controlling one stick, it has a nice team-play element, this might grow on us the more we play it.

Pikmin Adventure is very enjoyable team based quest adventure, quite a surprise really & could easily be a full game release with more content, one that I look forward to playing when we have more time.

The first few days of the console were disappointing mainly due to NSMBU but I am now starting to enjoy it more, I love that you can turn the tablet on without needing the television to access certain features of the OS. It feels like a XXL DS console but not too heavy to hold, just wished the battery life would last a bit longer. 

Lego City Undercover - New Game

I have not played a Lego game since the first Lego Star Wars on the PS2 because to me they have all just seemed the same with a different movie license attached to them.

Lego City Undercover however takes the GTA open-world style, adds a mission structure & give it a lick of Lego paint.

I have only completed the first mission which has you capturing bank robbers, driving around, building, smashing & collecting. The game has full voice acting with a Lego sense of humour that will make you smile & laugh whilst playing Chase McCain.
I like the way the game interacts with the gamepad using it for a sat nav when driving, mobile for communication & many more features.

Best of all you get 4 saves per user (You listening Nintendo, PER USER !!) which means I can sit down & enjoy playing. From the games I have purchased with the console Lego City Undercover is a reason to own the Wii U.

Forza may have to take a backseat for a while, I have a mission to complete !!
Chase McCain to the rescue !!

Wii U - 3 into 5?

My son transferred his mii from the 3DS to the Wii U this morning to play Super Mario U, when he loaded up the game it came up with my save file?!

The Wii U does not lock down save files to profiles?!

Upon further searching on google, my worst fears confirmed. New Super Mario Bros U only has THREE save files per console & not per user profile.

What a f@@&ing joke !!

How do Nintendo expect my family to play NSMBU with only 3 game saves per console when we have five players that want to play ?!

I had over 100+ on Fallout New Vegas & 200+ on Skyrim on the 360 !!

Thankfully the same issue does not apply to Zombi U or Nintendoland but so far I have been disappointed with the Wii U with the three games purchased. Mario U does look lovely in HD but due to the save file issue I have lost any interest for this game. I really really hate the Nintendoland presentation, annoying floating TV presenter. Zombi U is interesting to play but I'm still getting used to playing with the supersized DS gamepad & not enjoying it.

Hopefully Lego City Undercover will be here soon to change my mind on the console but so far very disappointed. I will also try some of the multi-player games on Nintendoland if I can get pass the annoying Mario Partyesque graphics & presentation.

Wii U - Initial thoughts

The OS seems really sluggish, the game pad too big & do I look at the TV or the game pad to play?!

After fighting with the wifi settings, running the system update & creating my mii. Two hours later I finally got to play with the console. Whatever happen to the open the box, plug & play experience of the cartridge generation?

I browsed the mii verse, added some friends, signed up to some notifications & visited the eshop to download Street U which was fun for two minutes.

Only got a brief chance to try Mario U before the Sugar commanded the TV. It looks lovely in HD but really the game pad is TOO big.

Will spend more time tomorrow because I've got the kids mii accounts to create.

Hopefully also get a chance to try Zombi U & Nintendoland.