[Now Playing| Metroid Prime - GC]

Here is a site my brother found that has scans of GBA boxes. I love to see how the box art gets totally raped when it comes over to the US. Either the person making the decisions has no taste, or they feel that Americans arent sophisticated enough for good design. Bah.

GBA Box Scans

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime - GC]

Ever lost a manual and then needed it? Ever bought a used game that didnt come with a manual? Like to look at the pretty artwork in the manual but your little brother ate it? Fear no more!

There are many sites like this out there, but HQScans is the best Ive found. People contribute their own scans to the site and they are hosted for everyone to download. They even include maps and other things if available. You can find out more info at the site.

If you download the SNES file, check out Secret of Mana. There are some awesome pictures of little clay figures they made for the game in it. Oh, and same for Earthbound if its in there!

HQScans

UPDATE: HQScans has since closed. Thanks to GunZeroX for pointing out this site:

Replacement Docs

2004 Year in Review: Part One

2004 was a very entertaining host. From comic books to movies, music and novels I was never bored. In part one of my year in review (gaming and living to come) Id like to share some of the more memorable ways that I wasted away my days.

More…

[Now Playing| Donkey Konga - GC]

Finally a place to see trailers and gameplay footage without some stupid watermark. I really like Game Trailers, especially since the site is easy to use, has fairly high quality vids, and lets you download with ease. Check em out.

Take this new trailer of Minish Cap for example:
Japanese Minish Cap Commercial

Game Trailers

IGNore! - full listing

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime - GC]

Here are the first screen shots of Castlevania for the DS. Looks like the top screen will be a map and the bottom will be where the gameplay occurs. Im not sure of all the ways the touch screen is being used, but it looks like you will at least have control over spells with it. The graphics appear better than the GBA games, but until I see it running I cant tell how good they are.

Castlevania DS 01
Castlevania DS 02
Castlevania DS 03

[Now Playing| Donkey Konga - GC]

My girlfriend was gone all Xmas break visiting her family. She got back today and we exchanged belated Xmas presents…and one of mine was Donkey Konga.

So far we only have one set of bongos, but we ordered another pair from Nintendo’s online store. We played the game for hours though. There arent many games that my girlfriend likes (pikmin, animal crossing and mario) but she loves Donkey Konga now.
The cool part is that she had played it at Toys R Us and liked it, but it was her sisters recommendation that pushed her over the edge. Her little sisters friend has the game and they are addicted to it and they thought we would like it too.

So, not only am I happy that its a good game (well, the graphics kinda suck, but you never even look at them while your playing) but now I also have a multiplayer game to play with my girl. And for the record, she is much better than I am! I have no rhythm. Stupid white boy.

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime - GC]

More Metroid goodness! Darkfader has hacked the DS and here is a video to prove it:

Darkfader Hack Video
(You may need VLC if you cant get the video to work.)

And here are some pics I took of the levels and characters from the dumped rom:

Hunters Dump 1
Hunters Dump 2
Hunters Dump 3

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime - GC]

Well, the Christmas break has come and gone and there really hasnt been any gaming news. Theres been a bit of progress on tunneling the DS over at XLink, but other than its been pretty quiet.

I bought myself Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for Xmas but I havent played it much. I started it up and got through the intro and realized that I never beat MP 1. So, now Im going back and beating Prime before I move on. Both of these games are so good that after seeing them my brother decided to get a Gamecube.

Anyway, Id have to declare this xmas the holiday of Metroid for me. My brother and I have played a ton of Hunters on the DS, I beat Zero Mission, playing Prime (and soon Prime 2) and even given Samus lots of love in Super Smash Bros.

Here are some links to Nintendo’s Metoid sites and some wallpapers I have:

More…

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime Hunters - DS]

Im signed up for the Nintendo Power email newsletter, so I always get emails from Nintendo announcing new games or deals. The other day I got a link to a Mario mini site. It has a section on the history of Mario, Wallpapers and some info about all the new Mario related games coming out. Hop on over and check it out.

Mario Site

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime Hunters - DS]

Today my two brothers and I went out shopping for christmas presents. We brought our two DS’s and played 3 player multiplayer at Best Buy. It was pretty sweet and there was no lag at all. We did notice that the level geometry is reduced a little the more players you have, but I didnt think it was a big deal. After playing a lot of multiplayer DS I love my DS even more and Im much more excited about future multiplayer games. Plus, being white Samus rocks!

And in the holiday spirit, here is a Mario Xmas song we found on ocremix.

Mario Xmas Song

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime Hunters - DS]

According to a translation of the Brownie Brown website, it looks like the company will be bringing two RPG’s to the DS and one to the Gamecube. Secret of Mana DS was already announced and now Magical Vacation DS has been revealed. The Gamecube RPG is still a mystery though. This news bodes very well for RPG fans, as Brownie Brown is home to some of the best creators around. I just hope that all of the games get translated for the US.

Brownie Brown Hompage

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime Hunters - DS]

Edge Magazine has posted reviews for Jam With The Band and Nintendo One Line Puzzle. Both look pretty sweet. Check out the link below.

On another note, I finally played multiplayer DS with my brother. Metroid is awesome, but I got my ass kicked every time. Mario is pretty fun, and I actually beat him at that, but I wouldnt say it was worth more than a few plays.

Edge Reviews

[Now Playing| Mario & Luigi - DS]

Nintendorks is probably the funniest Nintendo related site out there. They hardly ever update the main site, but they have a mailbag almost everyday of the week. It doesnt always stay on topic, but its always funny. You can check it out by clicking on ‘DRCs‘ on the sidebar. With that I will leave you with their chat conversation that occured this past E3 with the unveiling of the DS and the new GC Zelda game. I almost pissed my pants when I was reading this. Hilarious!
E3 Chat Log

Nintendorks Homepage

IGNore! - full listing

[Now Avoiding| Customers at Work]

In recent weeks I have seen a lot of independent media coverage of the Nintendo DS. Usually the mass media is completely uninformed when it comes to video games, but most of the articles I have read have been pretty on point.

Ive seen two articles in the Atlanta Journal Constitution; one on the DS itself and then one praising Feel the Magic. Ive also noticed that the DS is on the frontpage of Ebay and is one of the most popular searches on Yahoo! this season.

To me this says two things; Nintendo is getting the word out and people are excited about the DS. So, more good news for the DS. Now I just want some more games to come out!

MSN’s Top Gadgets

[Now Reading| Sweating Bullets - Comic]

In case you didnt know, Zelda: The Minish Cap is coming out for the GBA on Jan. 10th. Its already been released in Japan obviously, but somehow even Europe got it before us. However, apparently with the extra time they took to bring it to the US the translation is much better than the European version. People are claiming that not only is it the best portable Zelda game ever, but possibly the best Zelda game period. This will certainly be the next game I get for my DS. Check out Nintendo’s mini site, which at this time doesnt have anything up, but will once the game is released.

Minish Cap Mini Site

And here are a few wallpapers. Soon Ill have to start a wallpaper section on this site, cuz I have tons of this stuff.

Minish Cap Wallpaper
Badass Wind Waker Wallpaper