Friday, April 30, 2010

Fabio Friday

The folks over at 1up.com posted a feature about Electronic Gaming Monthly's best and worst covers earlier today. Unsurprisingly, the following Fabio-centric cover was deemed one of the magazine's lesser efforts.


Thankfully, EGM's third issue wasn't a complete wash. After all, it included articles about two intriguing-but-ill-fated systems: The Atari Lynx and the Konix Multisystem.

Read: "The Best/Worst EGM Magazine Covers"

Thursday, April 29, 2010

It's that time of month again...

No, it's not that time of month, silly; it's the time of the month where I obsess over a game--or, more likely, a system--I wish I owned.

Which piece of gaming equipment is the object of my obsession this month? The PC Engine.

Sadly, this isn't the first time I've spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about NEC's little white wonder; in fact, I've  done it a number of times since I first became aware of the pocket-sized system in the late 1980s.

This is one of the best photos of a PC Engine I could find on line.

How exactly am I obsessing about the PC Engine? Oh, reading reviews of its games (TheBrothersDuomazov.com is current fave), searching for images of the system and its games on Flickr--that kind of (bat-shit crazy) thing.

Ironically, I bought a PC Engine CoreGrafx II and a slew of games on eBay a few years ago--only to turn around and sell the whole shebang when my husband and I moved to Seattle. It's just as well, I guess, since I've always preferred--and, as a result, wanted--the alabaster original.

See also: 'I hereby declare March 15 Hug Your PC Engine (or TurboGrafx-16) Day'

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Mario: 'Are you Mr. Gay?' Luigi: 'Yes I am. Are you?'

NeoGAFfer "lijik" shared the following in-the-works sketch in the popular gaming forum's main Super Mario Galaxy 2 thread this morning.


OK, so the way Luigi is leering at Mario in the last panel is a bit creepy. Still, I like the artist's style. (I'm especially enamored with Mario's hands and feet, for some strange reason.)

You had me at 'spiritual successor to Half-Minute Hero'

Although I've only played the demos of Half-Minute Hero that I downloaded from the PlayStation Store shortly after I purchased my PSP a few months ago, they were enough to assure me that I'd love the full experience.

As such, I'm sure I'd love Jikan de Phantasia too. After all, it's being made by the same folks--at Opus Studio--responsible for Half-Minute Hero. Also, it's being billed as a "spiritual successor" to that MMV-published title.


According to someone in the know (OK, it's just a NeoGAFfer), Jikan de Phantasia, which will hit the streets in Japan on July 8, is supposed to be the perfect RPG for the on-the-go gamer, as a full game session--including events, dungeons and boss battles--is generated based on the amount of time a player has to devote to it.

For more information (and images), check out this NeoGAF thread or this Famitsu.com article.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Betty White called; she wants her N64 back.

OK, so the N64 in the following image isn't Betty White's. In reality, it belongs to blogger James Wragg's girlfriend.


Wragg bought, painted and presented the system to his girlfriend as an anniversary gift earlier this year.

Although Wragg calls the Cath Kidston-inspired design "a travesty to mankind everywhere," I beg to differ. Kind of.

(Via kotaku.com)

The wait is over

You remember this post, right? It's the one in which I whined about waiting for my copy of Guru Logi Champ (aka the GameBoy Advance's Holy Grail).

Well, the wait is over--it arrived! Yesterday, actually. Unfortunately, I've been so busy with work the last two days that all I've done so far is snap a few photos of its outer box, cartridge and instruction manual. Here's one of them:



Isn't it pretty? The box is sweet, too.

Anyway, I probably won't be able to spend some quality time with the game until this weekend. After that, though, I'll let you know if it really is a mash-up of Picross, Puyo Puyo and Magical Drop.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Let's play: 'Which box art is better?' (PaRappa The Rapper edition)

I have had Rodney Greenblat on the brain ever since I wrote yesterday's post about Tsukatte Utau Saru Band (aka Make and Sing: Monkey Band). So, I decided funnel some of that energy into yet another edition of "which box art is better?"

Here are today's contestants:


The Japanese version of PaRappa the Rapper is on top, the North American version is in the middle and the European version is on the bottom.

I don't know about you, but I'm having a hard time picking a favorite. I mean, I like the energy and overall zaniness exhibited in the Japanese version, but I also like the pop-art simplicity showcased in the European and North American versions.

If I absolutely had to choose one over the others, though, I'd go with the North American version. Probably. How about you?

See also: 'Let's play: 'Which box art is better?' (Death Smiles edition)' and 'Let's play: 'Which box art is better?' (Heavy Rain edition)'