May 17th, 2012

Going to try and get back into this, as well as adjust things a bit. From here out, I'm going to start with a journal-like opening describing the day, maybe even including screenshots and pictures once my equipment is set up, and follow it with a traditional game by game list!

Big day today! Inspired by recently playing Wii Punch-Out!! and a couple impulse Nintendo purchases from MicroCenter (Metroid: Other M and a BOSS: Big Oversized Super Shell controller shell that turns a Wiimote into something reminiscent of an SNES controller), I finally got my Wii up to date. I had done the system software fairly recently, but I downloaded all the available channels, as well as quite a few Virtual Console/WiiWare games.

This lead to a hard nostalgia trip that turned into some single-level playthroughs of a few of my very favorites. Before I managed to get everything updated, I had quite a scare: my SNES VC games were launching to a black screen, causing some initial heartbreak! I was trying everything, including switching to an interlaced mode that turned out to be a PAL solution only, before learning that, when using component cables, I needed to manually set the console to output to an HDTV. Oops!

Donkey Kong Country 2 (Wii - Virtual Console): Last on memory lane, just the first level. Another beautiful game, I have so many fond memories of DKC2, and this and SMW are, to me, the pinnacle of 2D platformers. Just did the first level, enjoyed the soundtrack and the graphics, got all the secrets, and called it a night.

Kyotokei (Wii - WiiWare): An impulse buy, and an interesting little shooter. You can swap polarities between red and blue, with each immune to bullets of their respective color. It reminds me a bit of Gundemonium, with quite a few scantily clad anime females as enemies that are a tragedy to kill! Still, the gameplay is fun, and it'll satiate any schmup urges I have while playing the Wii!

Punch-Out!! (Wii): First in the day, I practiced in Exhibition, then managed to beat Mr. Sandman! Really awesome feeling. I haven't played a game that required such quick reflexes in a while. Looking forward to getting knocked out by Glass Joe in the rematches.

Rift (PC): Just checked to see if I had sold any artifacts on the Auction House. I made a few plat, nothing too big.

Super Mario 64 (Wii - Virtual Console): This was the first step in my nostalgia kick, and very time I boot this game up, I feel like I'm thirteen or fourteen and gazing up this beautiful, amazing title for the first time in a kiosk in Target. I played it for a few minutes, and was simply blown away, enraptured and amazed at the future of gaming. This time, I only played up through the first star, but back in the day, this was the pinnacle of my gaming world, and I'd eventually go on to capture every single star and perform every secret in the game.

Super Mario World (Wii - Virtual Console): Second on the list, this playthrough was held up by some issues getting past the black screen. Once it was, yet again, those hard feelings of nostalgia kicking in as I played through the first stage (on the right, the first one with Yoshi!). I can remember playing it for the first time at my friend Clinton's back in the day, and just being enthralled. The game has held up, and although I flew through the first level after dying at the first Chargin' Chuck (just like back during my original plays!), I'm really feeling like I need to do a real playthrough sometime.