You know how I said I'd buy Castle Crashers when the 'Pink Knight Pack' was available?

Well, it is, and I did ... last night!

I've been holding on to a bunch of Microsoft Points, waiting for this day to arrive, so when I saw (via NeoGAF) that the "Pink Knight Pack" was finally available for download--and for free, no less--I raced over to our TV, turned on the Xbox 360 and bought the sucker (Castle Crashers, that is) with nary a second thought.



I've barely scratched the surface of the game thus far, but the little I have, er, scratched has proven to be quite fun. Of course, how could it not be fun when you're controlling a little pink knight who wields a lollipop as a weapon and who unleashes a giant, Slinky-like rainbow as a magical attack?

See also: 'So, where's the Castle Crashers Pink Knight Pack for XBLA?' and 'I guess this means I'm going to have to get Castle Crashers soon'

Is Link more interested in finding rupees than he is in saving Zelda?

Artist Glen Brogan (aka Albino Raven) seems to think so, and after reading the story behind the piece, below (and here), he produced for the upcoming 8-Bit Champions show in Paris, I have to say I agree with him.



Here's the above-mentioned story, by the way: "I've been playing a lot of Zelda lately as I unwind in the evenings, so it was the game I chose to illustrate. There's a lot of funny stuff you can point out about Zelda games, and one of my favorites is how there's always an amazing amount of side quests to undertake while you're supposed to be saving the princess from imminent danger.

"The dialog in the game usually reflects this, with lines like 'Hurry, Link, was must head to the next temple! There is no time to waste!' And yet if you want to get a few extra goodies to aid you in that temple, you'll need to spend a couple hours at the pond leisurely fishing. All the while Princess Zelda is presumably suffering at the hands of Ganon.

"So, I tried to illustrate that idea, showing link more interested in finding money than saving the princess. I also tried to work in the fact that it's funny to me how Link goes around breaking stuff in people's houses and stealing what's inside."

To see more examples of Brogan's art, check out his blog and his store.

Here's how you make Final Fantasy IV fabulous

What's more fabulous than the "Boss Battle Theme" Nobuo Uematsu created for Final Fantasy IV? A choreographed dance routine set to said theme, that's what.



I highly doubt the dance routine above originally was set to Uematsu's undulating tune, of course, but who cares? It's wonderful all the same--especially those hip thrusts that start at the 11-second mark.

(Via dorkly.com by way of gonintendo.com)

Kirby's Angry Return to Dream Land

Nintendo of America revealed the art that will grace the cover of its upcoming Wii release, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, a few days ago, and guess what? It features yet another example of "Angry Kirby"!

How much do you want to bet that the Japanese box art for the game--it'll be known as Hoshi no Kirby Wii in the Land of the Rising Sun, by the way--will be exactly the same, minus Kirby's silly scowl? (Oh, and minus the English, too.)

Anyway, the much-anticipated--by me, at least--Kirby's Return to Dream Land will hit North American store shelves on Oct. 24. (Pre-order it here. Also, pre-order the little pink puffball's next DS outing, Kirby Mass Attack, here.)

Europeans, on the other hand, will gain access to the title--which will be called Kirby's Adventure Wii (confusing, right?)--sometime in December, while Japanese gamers will get it ... sometime between now and the end of the year, I guess.

See also: 'More like Angry Kirby Mass Attack, amirite?'

A somewhat gay review of Sugar Shooter (PC)

This downloadable (for Windows-enabled PCs) title, developed by the folks at Dudedle Studio, is/was my first run-in with a bullet-hell shoot 'em up, and you know what? I enjoyed it so much that I'm eagerly awaiting my second such experience. Granted, Sugar Shooter isn't a run-of-the-mill bullet-hell shoot 'em up (or shmup, as they're often called)--rather, it's a boss-rush, bullet-hell shmup that's squarely aimed at the bara-loving set.

To those of you scratching your heads at any or all of the aforementioned "b" words (bara, boss-rush and bullet-hell), hopefully the following infor- mation will straighten things out: Sugar Shooter stars a beefy, gay prince named Satan (hmmm), who is tasked with protecting his precious Sugar Kingdom from a quartet of similarly studly baddies. (They're where the bara, or "Men's Love," aspect of the game comes into play, by the way.)



One by one, these baddies--backed by a bombastic, guitar-laden soundtrack and led by a bloke named Lord Sugarless--assault Satan with wave after wave of beautiful bullets. (Hence the genre's name: bullet-hell.) Satan isn't powerless against said bullets thanks to his "Dessert Ring" (hmmm again), which transforms oncoming projectiles into candy and increases the prince's "Sugar Level." Increasing the prince's Sugar Level accomplishes two things: 1) It enhances his base attack and 2) It allows him to perform a "Sugar Burst," which not only destroys everything within a certain distance of the prince but destroys his opponent's armor, too. That's important because you have to destroy an opponent's armor before defeat- ing them in order to see the best (i.e., most X-rated) ending scenes.

All of this is controlled with the left button on your mouse, by the way. Click it once to unleash Satan's auto-firing "Chocolate Gun" (hmmm for a third time) and click it again to stop attacking and start using his "Dessert Ring." You also click, hold and then release your mouse's left button to enter "Sugar Rush" mode, and then click it one last time to use Satan's "Sugar Burst." It feels a little odd at first if you're used to playing shoot 'em ups with a directional pad and buttons, but it quickly becomes second nature.



Don't worry if all of the above sounds annoyingly confusing or convoluted; in action, it's surprisingly simple to understand. It's not so simple to master, though--as evidenced by the fact that it took me a good 20 tries to topple the fourth and final boss (Lord Sugarless) on the game's easiest setting.

I don't share that fairly embarrassing tidbit to scare folks away from giving Sugar Shooter a try. On the contrary, I think gaymers who enjoy shoot 'em ups--bullet-hell or otherwise--and have $14.99 to blow will get a kick out of this Dudedle Studio-developed title.

See also: Other 'somewhat gay' reviews