Pokemon: Shades of Gray Version (An Exercise In Critical Thinking)

Pokémon. Many a video gamer has grown up on the series, whether the first Red and Blue games on the Game Boy back when Nintendo was king, or the contemporary fourth and fifth generation on the DS. And with the series still going, people will perhaps continue to do so into the future. Still, the classic Pokémon has a special place in our hearts.

Maybe that’s why we don’t think about the world of Pokémon that hard. It has a light-hearted atmosphere, an innocent charm that deflects concentrated attention from the fine details and encourages us to simply have fun playing through the games.

Let’s push aside the nostalgia and give it some scrutiny, shall we?

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Review – Super Mario 3D Land

It only took six months but Nintendo finally released their first original must-have 3DS game. Super Mario 3D Land is another solid entry into the Super Mario Bros. series. It fits into a space right between New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario 3D Land is the perfect mix between old and new to keep things familiar without feeling stale.

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Nintendo “Giving” Away Games as Club Nintendo Rewards

Do you have more Club Nintendo Rewards points than you know what to do with? Loaded up on posters, folders, and cards? Well then Club Nintendo has the cure. You can now download Virtual Console and eShop games for the Wii and 3DS.

The games available at this time are Super Mario Kart (Wii),  Fluidity (Wii),  Xevious (3DS), and Mario vs.  Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (3DS).  At 100-150 Club Nintendo coins each,  these games are a steal. Normally they sell for $5. 99 to $12 each so get them while you can.  They will be removed from Club Nintendo Rewards on January 10th.

https://club.nintendo.com

Review – Sonic Generations

I have avoided Sonic games for a good long time now. The last one I laid my hands on was Sonic Heroes, which was an overall broken experience. Since then I neglected to care about the blue hedgehog with attitude; the series had gone off the rails into being unimaginative and frustratingly flawed. I didn’t want my childhood memories to take any more hits, as I was one of the kids who held Sonic in high esteem and adopted the Genesis over the Super Nintendo. I still believe the four Sonics on the Genesis are some of the strongest platformers of that early generation. The years have not been kind to him however, and the third dimension has nearly destroyed the credibility of Sega’s mascot. The continued redevelopment of the franchise has only succeeded in hurting the franchise, and the new additions only proved to be a departure from what made it so damn fun in the first place. The Sonic franchise isn’t about riding around on skates and using guns, it isn’t about running around with a sword, it isn’t about turning into a werewolf, and it for damn sure isn’t about Sonic experiencing a blossoming social life with other random animals with attitude.

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7 Things the Wii Still Needs to Do

With the Nintendo Wii making its last gasps in the shadow of the Wii U, I felt that it would be appropriate to look back on the things that could have been. I came up with a list of 7 things that the Wii still needs to do before it rolls over and dies.

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Nintendo wants your money!

I almost never become an early adopter of technology, especially technology that even I’ll admit is kind of tacky most of the time. That wasn’t the case with the 3DS – I bought that shit right away. Seems I’m the only one though, because Nintendo of America is announcing a price drop in the 3DS.

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Review: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

As far back as I can remember, I’ve been playing Zelda games. Arguably one of my favorite gaming series, I must have spent ages traveling the fields of Hyrule and saving the day once again from the evil Ganon. The crème de la crème of those games in my opinion (and I’m not alone) has always been Ocarina of Time. There was just something inherently fantastic about the 3D environments and the dark way everything was presented. When I heard that Nintendo was re-releasing Ocarina of Time for the 3DS I was equally excited and hesitant. Always a fan favorite, OoT has been released several times over and has been played to death a million times by those who really want it on every system. Did the 3DS bring anything that warranted a re-release? That’s what I set out to discover. I was not disappointed.

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