Earthbound Arrives on the Wii U Virtual Console

Yesterday Nintendo had a mini Nintendo Direct, where they were covering some of the games that are coming out in the next month or so. They covered Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, the new Mario & Luigi and some other little things related to the Mii Plaza on 3DS.

Then at the end they revealed that Earthbound was coming out on the Virtual Console that very day. Needless to say I lost my mind just a little bit, much like many a Nintendo fan. Earthbound first came out in 1995, and I remember taking it out of the local video store in my hometown and played it a great deal. Sadly I never owned it, and over the years it has increased in price on the secondary market. I really dislike downloading games, both from a moral viewpoint and also I just dislike playing ROMs on a keyboard. The fact that they have finally re-released this classic game and I can play it on the Wii U is fantastic. Also, I was under the impression that it wasn't coming out until the end of the year, so the fact that this is out now is great.

So recently Nintendo has put out Game & Wario, which is a decent game collection, and now Earthbound and then Pikmin 3 in a matter of weeks, as well as some other downloadable goods. Looks like there is some life on Nintendo's platform yet and hopefully things really start to pick up.

For now though, Earthbound!

Animal Crossing Impressions

I have had Animal Crossing: New Leaf now for a few weeks and have dumped plenty of hours into it. I still owe Tom Nook a ton of bells, I still haven't caught most of the bugs or fishes there are to fill up the museum, and I still don't have a ton of different public works projects done.

But I have had a wonderful time in my little town of DV (don't judge me for naming my town after my hometown).

Animal Crossing is as easy to pick up and play as ever before and there's so much to do. It seems like there really isn't a lot to the game but once you start going out and picking some shells or fishing or just chatting with the people in the town, the time just flies by. The biggest changes however are through the use of Streetpass. There is an area where all the people that you have met via Streetpass dwell, and their homes are stored in your town. You can then go in there, poke around, and even order furniture that you may need to track down for your own house. This is simply phenomenal. As well it is incredibly easy to visit other towns via the internets and see what other people have going on in their towns.

This game is a time sink. It's simple, charming and definitely should be played by everyone (and having sold over 500,000 copies in the month of June it seems a lot of people are playing it). If you are still contemplating getting a 3DS, or have one, this definitely is a must play and worth having a 3DS for. Plus you know, Fire Emblem, Shin Megami Tensei 4, Luigi's Mansion, Final Fantasy Theatrhythm, Ocarina 3D, etc.