Adamant

"Interestingly enough, a few countries in Europe will be getting one of two different game featuring puzzles from other newspapers in its place - Mehr Kreuzworträtsel Welt Edition features puzzles from German newspaper Die Welt, while Mots Croisés has puzzles from an unknown French newspaper."

So are non-English/French/German countries getting this at all? Crosswords in anything but your first language are near-impossible to solve, so there will be absolutely zero interest in this game in most countries.

@bro2dragons: No, much shorter. Kirby Super Star in its entirety is about as long as Kirby's Adventure, which was a pretty huge game in its own right.

@The Fox: No, but they're still speaking on behalf of "Nintendolife" rather than solely for themselves. Personal opinions is one thing, but "Nintendolife" is still saying "we're recommending (My Aquarium) highly; it really is a unique experience that will provide enjoyment for people of all ages and backgrounds.". Note the "we". My Fireplace HAS to be reviewed in a similar fashion (ie, not as a game, not criticized for "just being a screensaver"), otherwise neither review will have any meaning.

But i trust they will. It's not like they're IGN or anything.

I'll buy it. Been wondering why no one released something like this before. Sure, the log stacking sounds a bit corny, but it can be ignored.

It's also quite tacky to criticize something like this, when My Aquarium was quite well recieved, and even got an 8/10 review here. I'll take an atmospheric fireplace over boring fish any day.

Yes, "Ninja Gaiden Shadow" for the GB is Blue Shadow with Ryu tossed in and some minor plot changes.

Dear god, just leave it in. It's not the mid-90s anymore, America needs to grow up some time.

Awesome, Blue Shadow was one of my favorites back in the day. Can't wait.

Probably not, Picross is Picross, you can't really make any one title "better" or "worse" than others. Just toss in a wide variety of puzzles, and you're good.
Don't really care about stylus support either, too clunky and the squares are too small for it to work well. But it's probably a good title that does it's job well.

Battles get in the way in RPGs most of the time because battles are boring "press A to win" annoyances most of the time due to that "wah don't want to put any effort in anything" modern RPG fanbase.

The entire point to their existence is that they're a meaningful part of the game, and when they're reduced to "just press A a bit and move on", you might as well not even have them.
If goombas in a Mario game just froze Mario in his tracks for 5 seconds to annoy the player, there wouldn't be a point in having them, either.

The preferable point to your Zubat situation would be to walk through the cave without even entering a single battle. In FF1, however, the battles actually matter, because the group of "don't want to put any effort into the game" people hadn't gotten loud enough yet at the point.

If you don't like the type of battles that are in FF1, the answer isn't to want them dumbed down to mindless A-pressing annoyances, it's to play a straight adventure game that doesn't have battles in the first place.

Hey, at least it makes that Sokomania release worthless. Bet the developers of that are cursing Nintendo for releasing both games the same day. 30 puzzles for 200 points or 1001 for 500? Hmmm.

@WaltzElf: That's true, but it's still far closer to that than the recent "watch movie cutscenes and press A in battle a lot to win" games.

I don't see you giving a better explanation of what FF1 is like and how it differs from the modern FF games, either.

@edhe: "Epic"? Depends on your definition of the word - Final Fantasy is heavily grounded in AD&D-style adventure, where you "create" your own character and explore a world somewhat freely, making discoveries and fulfilling quests along the way. There's little in the way of movie-style storytelling like in the later entries, but there's a hell of a lot more gameplay, interaction and strategizing to be had - and in addition, it had tremendous replay value to to it's job system, where you create a non-changable gang of heroes at the start of the game and play through the entire game with those, rather than switching and changing according to the situation at hand. Opens for even more straegy, really, since you need to adapt to situations based on your team rather than adapt the team based on situation. it's my favorite entry in the series.
And contrary to "popular" belief, it does not require any grinding. It requires you to use your head and put more thought into battles than just hammer A and go fight imps for a month whenever you can't one-shot everything. Of course you CAN do that, but that's neither fun nor necessary. If you absolutely NEED to grind, you're just bad at the game.

Yeah, this seems kind of unnecessary. This really isn't a game suited for playing against a computer opponent, and if you're going to play against a friend... well, they're just cards. if you don't want to buy the actual game (how much can it be, anyway? 10$), you could always make your own.
Computer versions of board games generally have this problem - they're designed for being played by human players, and have a tendency to not be fun with computer-controlled opponents.

Shin Onigashima is decent enough.

TvC2 with Itadakiman on the roster now, please!

KoF95... Well, at least it's not Yoshi's Island. I mean, it might be alright if you like platform games, but do we really need another platform game on the VC?

SEE WHAT I DID THERE? EH? EH?

So yeah, will have to wait for reviews for those Wiiware games, but KoF95 would be an instant buy if I didn't already have the KoF collection (seriously, kiddies, one of the most critically acclaimed fighting series ever here. What the basement are YOU waiting for, anyway?)

Arguably deserves higher, too
But the same score as Vermin sounds about right. Those two games are the absolute best of G&W DSiWare

One thing it doesn't mention either is the game's playability if set to a language the child doesn't know, which will be the case for a whole ton of kids all across Europe. Only having the game available in what, 3 or 4 languages is really shortsighted.

I never liked this one - I'm absolutely horrible at it, and simply can't direct my brain to deduce where my dude has to be when. Not quite sure why, since I can handle games like Fire and Chef just fine, but this one just screws me completely over.

It's not math, it's a dual offering of Simon and a reaction game.

By far the most boring G&W game out there.

I got 1000 points in game A on this back on G&WG2. Took forever, and never really got harder either.

Historial? Yep. Worth playing? Yep. Fun? For a bit. Worth buying as a standalone? Um... Going to see a lot of repeated play? No.

That sums it up, really. It's a game everyone with an interest in classic Nintendo games should play, but not one they're really going to keep playing very long.

No one actually seem to know exactly what triggers the different endings, so... "maybe".

And yeah, Darius Twin is pretty bleh. Got the 2-player co-op thing going for it, but not much else. The Darius series was never really that good.

Donkey Kong Jr. is one of the best G&W games ever. All of you go download that now.

"and the enthusiastic voiceover from series stalwart Richard Fields does help to inject some excitement."

You mean some guy 95% of Europeans have no idea who is? Brilllliant selling point there.

Fal in the Dark looks more Lode Runner-ish than Manic Miner-ish from the screenshots.

I'm glad I chose to import an American Wii.

Aw, it's not that bad. Sure it's a bit lacking in the challenge department, but so are nearly all games released these days

Yeah, this is one of my favorite G&W games. Simplistic, but oh so addictive.

@JamieO: Sorry, PSP and PS2 only, I believe.

The first Prehistoric Isle is supposed to be on SNK Arcade Classics vol 0, whenever that comes out. The lineup is supposedly Alpha Mission, Athena, Baseball Stars, Bermuda Triangle, Gold Medalist, Guerrilla War, HAL 21, Ikari Warriors, Ikari 3: The Rescue, Marvin's Maze, POW, Prehistoric Isle, Psycho Soldier, SAR: Search & Rescue, Sasuke vs Commander, Street Smart, Touchdown Fever, TNK 3, Vanguard 2 and Victory Road.

Alpha Mission II is getting a release soon, at least.

Fireworks fans might want to give Fantavision for the PS2 a go.
Not a fantastic game, but definitely better than what this thing sounds like.

I agree, this game is primarily a multiplayer game. To completely ignore that factor, and judge the game solely on how fun it is to compete against the provided CPU player is completely missing the point. He's just there because he's simple enough to program and there's no reason NOT to provide one, but he's definitely not the main point of the game.

@morphballer: It's the game a large amount of those who've played it prclaim the greatest game ever.
You're missing out. Do something with that.

@Ezekiel: Yeah, Cement Factory is on Game & Watch Gallery 4, and no, it's not a rare game.

Never liked Cement Factory much. It's so slow. Props for doing something more original than simply "be (or don't be) in position x when item y gets there", which most G&W games involved, though (see Chef for one of the better variations on that concept. Chef is good).

How does the simulation stack up with the one from G&W Gallery 4?

I do. I always thought the idea of the sensor was great, and it has amazing potential. What's with all the hate?

Sudoku doesn't involve math.

Hey, you got dozens of games Europeans would've killed for back in the day. No getting jealous.

Eh, depends on whether he found Secret of mana frustrating because of it's flaws or because of it's legitimate challenge. SD3 fixes most of those flaws, making it far less annoying to play.

@Bass X0: "That doesn't really sound like fun though. Its just a tedious waste of time. I have better things to do."

Well, with the first Zelda game, you'll have to spend a lot of time and bomb money walking around discovering secret caves by trial and error, and you don't see people calling that game an abomination. Milon requires far less investment of time spent simply trying random stuff until you find what you need.

Aw, Milon isn't that bad. You just have to know what you're going to (that is, trial and error, dying a lot, and figuring out how to do stuff without too high a risk of dying again by even more trial and error).

FF8 is available on the PC too, you know, and the version even comes with a bonus Triple Triad standalone program.

Seems an odd choice to release in Europe, though. No one outside the UK would even consider downloading this, so you've killed most of your market already.

So is this "Mahjong" game actually a Mahjong game, or just another Shanghai game?

@mellowshipslinky: "First off, they dumbed down the difficulty to the point where a 3-year old could get through most of it."

Heh, for someone who apparently likes "FF3" beter, I don't really see what you're complaining about - non-dumbed down FF6 is still an easier game than dumbed down FF4.

While Final Fantasy Legend is related to the FF series, it's not really a Final Fantasy game, but a SaGa game. It got the Final Fantasy title slapped on it in America to sell more copies, but that doesn't mean anything.

@TwilightV:
Quick review of Unlimited Cruise? "Adventure game with annoying battle mechanics and numerous overspecialized characters with very little use other than life bar extensions. Obsessed with trinket collecting, and can get annoying if you don't remember where to find a particular item you need. Bug catching is WAY too annoying at times, usually when it's mandatory (frost beetle, how I loathe thee). Tons of fun fanservice and enjoyable cutscenes and voice acting. Multiplayer is the least balanced fighting game ever. Worth getting if you're a fan, probably best avoided if you're not"

@StarBoy91: It was largely Germany, not Europe as a whole, but since we got the same releases, we got stuck with the censorship, too. Germany still gets horribly censored games nowadays, but they generally stay in that country so other Europeans don't have to suffer.

@Smileoscar: Can I reply and say the PS1 version is the only non-NES version that doesn't suck?