Wii Classic Controller Pro

   With the Wii now being discontinued by Nintendo and the Wii U on store shelves (which is still to hit any kind of stride though there is plenty of time yet,) some may think it a bit odd to be talking about the Wii’s Classic Controller Pro. But with so many great games in the Wii library (yes there are a great many of them,) there will ultimately come a point, at least there did for me anyway, when certain games will come along which will make you carefully consider whether to buy this particular controller or not?

   I like the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and don’t have a problem with using them because as a Wii owner, I know that not all games will make me wave my arms about nonstop all day long. I also believe that they (Wii Remote/Nunchuk) still have great potential as a control method, and when utilised properly they can really add to a game and make the overall gaming experience a whole lot better, the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 is a prime example. Unfortunately we all know that for every game that got the controls right, there are probably two or more that didn’t for one reason or another. One issue with the Wii Remote is that it was never as sensitive or precise enough than Nintendo would have us believe all those years ago, and for some genres it wasn’t the revolutionary control method it should have been. It seemed the Wii Remote, Nunchuk and the first person shooter genre were going to be a match made in heaven, surly this was the perfect control method for such a genre? I still believe it is, or at least it was, if only coders had worked their magic better, and it still could be in the future if the tech was redesigned and beefed up somewhat. But as time has shown, it has never really panned out all that well with the odd exception that is, with many games in the FPS genre feeling as though they had received ported mouse and keyboard controls.

   This is the point where you start lamenting the lack of a second control option (at least I did,) and wished there had of been one right from the very inception of the console itself. Eventually a more traditional controller did appear in the form of the weirdly shaped Classic Controller, and then later with the much better shaped Classic Controller Pro. But the question for any Wii owner is whether it is worth buying one considering how they still seem to hold their price like any coveted Nintendo product? The answer really lies in the number of games you want to play that actually support this controller and whether or not you frequently use a moded Wii for emulation. If there are enough retail, virtual console and WiiWare releases that will outweigh the cost of buying one and you do use the console for emulation, the Classic Controller Pro is essential. Its worth pointing out that any game which supports the Classic Controller also supports the Classic Controller Pro as they are essentially the same product in different shells. 

   As a general controller goes, or a traditional controller in Nintendo’s case, this is in my humble opinion, the best the company has ever produced. I have never been that struck on Nintendo controllers, even when I had a SNES when I was younger, I always preferred to use a third party pad instead of Ninty’s very own. As for their other controllers through the generations, I find the NES pad extremely uncomfortable to hold for any length of time, I didn’t like the feel of the N64 analog stick and found the general design of the GameCube pad just weird. So for me at least, I find the very by-the-numbers design and button layout very comfortable and pleasing, especially when playing a game for several hours.

   The grips sit neatly in the palm of each hand and the shape lets my fingers naturally curl around the top of the pad onto the shoulder buttons while I find the two analog sticks perfectly placed apart for the thumbs. The face buttons are quite large and have a nice pop to them, and thankfully the d-pad is rather large for a Nintendo controller which gets a big thumbs up from me. That’s another complaint I had with the N64 and GameCube controllers, the d-pads on them were tiny and felt just something awful, so I’m very pleased Ninty didn’t do the same on this pad.

   This pad isn’t without its quirks though, and while I understand the reasoning behind them, it would have been nice to have had a pad featuring the rest of the bells-and-whistles we have all generally become accustomed to over the last two generations. This controller is not wireless, so to pass its inputs onto the console it plugs into the bottom of the Wii Remote and piggybacks off its wireless signal. It’s better than plugging the pad into the console and stretching a lead across the room, but annoying all the same as going down this cost cutting route means it also lacks rumble and a built in speaker. I’m sure the mandate behind the Classic Controller Pro was to produce a traditional style controller that would meet the needs of the target consumer it was aimed at, yet be produced for significantly less by stripping its features back to the core basics.

   This controller is well worth getting even if it does feed off the Wii Remote and lack several features, especially if you can find one cheap enough, though they do tend to hold their price. If you plan on playing The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, Call of Duty games or the madcap No More Heroes 2 then you will find this controller a worthwhile investment and hard earned money well spent.

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Nintendo 3DS XL First Impressions

   I’m not going to bore you by listing of the specific spec’s of the 3DS XL as they are well known by now and anyone wanting to know these just needs to use a search engine, but I thought as I have recently bought the system I would do an overview and give my initial impressions of it.

   The system comes packaged in a small unassuming box with less fanfare splashed across it than a supermarkets own brand of cheap biscuits, and I was surprised that it didn’t have better design work on it to be honest, but then its what’s inside that really counts. Included in the box with the system is a 4GB SDHC memory card which comes installed in the SD card slot and a pack of AR cards to use with the AR Games software on the system. There were two things however that immediately struck me before I even opened the box. Firstly the notice that the 3DS XL does not come packaged with an AC adapter to power and charge it, as these are sold separately. I have to say this is poor form on Nintendo’s part and is a small blight on what is an amazing system as it should come packaged with a power supply no arguments about it.

   When I was initially looking at buying the system I wasn’t sure if my DS or DSi XL charger would work with it, and its fortunate that I already owned these systems and had chargers for them as I discovered later on that my DS Lite charger should work with the 3DS XL. But at the outset it looked to me as if I would have to spend £169 on the system, plus another £20 for Nintendo’s official cradle and charger kit in one shop I happened to look in, plus extra for any games on top of that. So what initially looked to be a very competitive price point next to Sony’s PS Vita actually turned out to be less competitive than I first thought, even after shopping around a bit, though the PS Vita was always priced higher no matter where I looked, the price gap didn’t seem that huge after all. It was lucky I heard via the grapevine that DS chargers would work with the 3DS XL, though I wasn’t one hundred per cent sure, so I just bought the system and tried my luck. But if I didn’t own a DS/DSi XL, the added cost of a charger, even a cheap third party one would have put me off buying a 3DS XL, as the thought of forking out for a new games system that doesn’t come bundled with a mains AC charger as standard, like it should do, is a hard concept to fathom let alone stomach.

   Next thing that struck me was the information notice on the back about the systems backwards compatibility; it is backwards compatible with DS and DSi software but not GBA (Game Boy Advance) games. Also if like me you own DS imports, then it warns that some imports may not work on the 3DS so don’t get rid of those DS/DSi systems just yet. I tested Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor and Sands of Destruction, both NTSC American games, and both worked no problem. I did have a small problem playing the DS version of Lego Lord of the Rings on the 3DS XL though, as I reached the end of one section the game went to auto save and then froze up. I thought I had lost my progress up until that point as I had to reboot the system, but turns out it did save my progress even though it locked up, so again, I wouldn’t go discarding your DS/DSi just yet as the backwards compatibility might not be perfect for all DS games.

   With all that said and done it’s on to the system itself. The 3DS XL is a really well made high quality handheld gaming device, its not cheap at £169, but rest assured the end result is that its made to a high standard and looks the part rather than feeling cheap and tacky. At the top of the console there are the left and right shoulder buttons, the game card slot, mains adaptor socket and an infrared transceiver bar. On the XL’s left side, just below the left shoulder button is the volume slider, which is a really curious and silly place to put it as on many occasions now i have accidently moved the volume slider while playing a game, and I’m sure I'm not alone in this, it stands to reason that it would have been far better located next to the headphones jack at the bottom left of the console. On the right of the XL is the stylus holder, SD card slot, wireless on/off slider, and at the top outer surface of the clamshell are two (outer) cameras allowing for the capture of 2D/3D photos and videos.

   The two screens on the 3DS XL are not that much different from the ones on the DSi XL, better resolution and more pixels aside of course. The bottom screen is the same size as the DSi XL’s, the top is the same height but width wise is about 2cm longer, so while the DSi XL has two big screens of equal proportions, the 3DS XL only has a wider top screen. I like the fact that the top screen is wider, and although the bottom one is still pretty big in itself as well as being centrally aligned with the above screen, I do personally feel that both on the 3DS console should have been made the same width as each other, preferably that of the wider top screen, as this wouldn’t make the system all that much bigger. The clarity and crispness of both screens however are pin sharp and both deliver much more of a visual punch on everything from the home menu, games, through to video. The top screen is the main viewing screen, all videos will be viewed on it and games will utilise it as standard while the bottom one is used for secondary usage such as options, maps and other stuff. The only things I have found with this system, and this is something I found with the DSi XL as well, is that the screens have a glossy reflective surface, more so with the 3DS XL and this can cause some to get eyestrain much in the same vein as staring at a very reflective glossy computer monitor. The touchscreen will also become very scratched over time as well as becoming plastered in fingerprints, so it’s best to buy a screen protector as soon as possible.

   While on the subject of the 3DS XL screens I guess this is a perfect time to talk about the 3D feature incorporated into the system, something of which was used as a big selling point by Nintendo when the original system first launched. The bottom screen is just a bog standard touchscreen and does not have 3D implemented on it, only the top screen with the 3D adjustment slider next to it delivers the 3D feature. There are some things I would like to make the readers mindful of about the 3D feature. Firstly the 3D can and should be calibrated by using the calibration option in the settings menu; this will help adjust the 3D to a comfortable level that makes it work properly for you. As you calibrate the 3D you will adjust the 3D slider to increase or decrease the strength of the 3D, but this can still be done afterwards during gameplay if you find the strength or depth not to you liking. Lastly the 3DS XL as well as the 3DS for that matter comes with a warning that vision damage may be caused to children using the 3D feature on the system aged six and under, and therefor Nintendo recommends that only children aged over the age of six should use this feature. They also recommend locking this feature out using the parental controls which is a good idea. Once done every video, game and application will ask the user if they want to start it in 2D or 3D, if 3D is selected it will be locked out and a pin code will have to be entered that was set up within parental controls, so in short only a 2D experience will be available.

   This part is purely my opinion of course and my experience of the 3D feature on the system and I’m fully aware as I’m sure a lot of people are that 3D works differently for everyone, as it works for some better than others. I have tried the 3D feature, on the XL and the normal 3DS, and I have tried using it on different types of games as well as using the calibration option and adjusting the 3D slider to various strengths, and for me personally it just doesn’t work. That’s not to say the 3D doesn’t work, it just doesn’t work for me personally. For me the whole 3D thing is and has always been very much a non starter, whether it be 3D films or 3D games, glasses or non silly looking glasses, it just doesn’t work on me as all I get to see is a double blurry image. I have never been fussed about it either as I would much rather see a big push towards holograms and holographic technology as I find it much more of an interesting area of technology not yet fully explored. But I suspect 3D doesn’t work for me however because of two things, one being the fact I am short sighted and wear glasses, the other is that my eyesight is better in one eye than the other. These things are the likely causes why 3D does not work for me, and viewing any kind of 3D media gives me headaches and makes me feel cross-eyed in the extreme, but I have to say I’m not bothered by this fact, nor do I feel like I am missing out by not using the 3D feature. The main selling point of the 3DS is its increased power and graphical capability’s that allows for bigger more expansive and better looking games. The 3D element to the portable console is a cool additional feature that users can make use of, but is in no way part and parcel of the system that has to be used, and is certainly not the main selling point of the 3DS itself, so for me it will remain permanently switched off. 

   The system comes with some pre-installed software to get your hand on, none of which are particularly anything breath-taking, but a nice surprise all the same. The two main games are Face Raiders and AR Games, while the other free software titles are Nintendo Letter Box, Mii Maker, Mii Plaza, Nintendo 3DS Camera, Nintendo 3DS Sound. I also got Super Mario 3D Land for free via a download code via the Nintendo eShop, which I promptly downloaded to the SD Card. I’m not entirely sure whether this is a limited time offer or not, but I was only able to use the download code between the beginning and end of January, outside of this timeframe I would loose the chance of a free game so I didn’t hang about. If it wasn’t for deciding to register the XL with Club Nintendo to see what all that was about I honestly wouldn’t have known about the free game offer, and I only decided to check out Club Nintendo on a whim. To get your free game you have to register your 3DS XL and complete a survey, and then you will be given the option of choosing a game out of a selection of five, Professor Layton and Mario being the most notable of the games on offer. There was absolutely no advertising in the supermarket where I bought my 3DS XL about the free game offer, and I was not told about it by the cashier upon purchase of the system, that’s if he even knew about the offer which I highly doubt. There is also no mention of this offer on the box or in the manual, so I could have completely missed out on this entirely. It would surly be in Nintendo’s best interest to advertise this offer or any other future offer quite vigorously, on the system box, and at point of sale as this would encourage sales if anything, especially over holiday periods, but as it stands customers like myself have been left to stumble across this particular offer for themselves.

   At the moment I only have two games for the system, Super Mario 3D Land and Rayman Origins, but I have downloaded the Resident Evil: Revelations and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion demos. All demos are limited to a set amount of playthroughs so once your allocation is up for a certain game, then that’s your lot. I cant say what Rayman is like because I haven’t got around to playing it yet, but I have at least tried the first bunch of levels in Super Mario 3D Land, and I have to say that making the games levels truly 3D as opposed to traditional side-scrolling 2D platformer has made the game seem so much more interesting to play as well as making it highly addictive to. Graphics wise there is not much to shout about with Mario and Rayman other than they both look really great, same for Epic Mickey really, which was a game that had such a slow start to it I might add. But Resident Evil: Revelations at least gave me a snapshot of just what to expect out of the 3DS graphics and power wise, and I have to say I was very impressed by just how detailed and pin sharp everything looked. The graphics seemed to me on a par with later PS2 or equivalent, and I was more than pleased as its amazing just how graphically advanced handheld gaming systems such as the 3DS have become these days. The system still has a long life ahead of it so anyone wishing to get one can expect some real treats in the very immediate future. 

   I wanted a 3DS since its release, but not for the 3D feature, but for it being a more powerful system that would have bigger and better games on it, the 3D for me was never a real selling hook that would draw me in, and it shouldn’t be for anyone else. The 3D feature is a nice addition, but that’s all it is, an additional feature, the real draw of the system should be the bigger, better looking games the system will accumulate. The lack of a second analog stick (well its actually an analog slider, or circle pad as Nintendo call it) has been quite a contentious issue for the system since its initial release, and I’ll admit that I to have always thought Nintendo missed a trick and messed up by not adding another to the system. But to be honest, now I have played on one and a bunch of its games, I now think that it’s not really needed, as the 3DS was never to be a system for developers and publishers to clog its library up with FPS games. A second circle pad is not needed, and I can say this after playing on one, and it’s only through playing games on the system will you realise this. Take Resident Evil: Revelations as a perfect example, as some would have you believe its better with the second circle pad peripheral and is a must for the game, but this simply isn’t the case, playing with one circle pad is perfectly fine, perhaps even better as its like the tank controls of the first classic RE game of old.

   I was over the moon when Nintendo released the 3DS XL with its bigger screens as this was a revision I was waiting for, and I'm very pleased with the system overall, and at the moment there has never been a better time to pick one up as it has a lot going for it. There are a few niggles here and there, but certainly no show stoppers. The lack of a charger included with the system is a poor decision as is the lack of promotional advertising making potential customers aware of the free game download. The growth of the 3DS library of games is growing, albeit very slowly, and the release line up seems to be very quiet at the moment, but it should now pick up a bit of pace with the release of the Wii U. Its sad but a true fact that the 3DS library offers more variety and has far more games as well as looking far healthier at the moment than Sony’s PS Vita, good for 3DS owners, not so for PS Vita owners. Hopefully Sony will turn things around soon instead of releasing the system and then letting it die on its arse, but only time will tell.

   It’s a perfect time to get a 3DS or 3DS XL when all is said and done, the future looks bright for the system even with the onslaught of the smartphone gaming market, as some like me still prefer a gaming device to be just that rather than a do everything machine, and the 3DS XL is one hell of a handheld gaming device.

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AverMedia Game Capture HD

   If there was one thing that always bothered me about capturing screenshots and video footage of games from various different consoles and computers, it was just the sheer inconvenience of it all. With the need for screenshots and video footage of a particular game very much a necessity, I was always forced to laboriously disconnect a certain console or computer from its life support and haul it from its favoured spot to the floor beneath the aging behemoth that is my desktop PC. I would then have to connect it to the machine via EzCAP (yes it really is spelt that way!?) and use Windows Movie Maker (WMM) to capture the incoming video signal from whatever games machine I was playing on. This was all very laborious and inconvenient, not to mention time consuming in the extreme, complicated more by the fact that WMM would only let me view the video signal being captured in the smallest of windows (the size of which was unchangeable.) I also only had one double plug socket at my disposal which was already being used by the PC, which meant using an extension cable. Once I was done, I had the happy job of putting everything away afterwards, only to repeat the whole process a day or two later.

   Something clearly had to be done, something had to give way eventually, and I could only hope that there was a much simpler way of capturing video footage and screenshots from all my consoles and computers with minimal amount of hassle. The biggest part of this for me was cutting out the need to use a PC entirely from the equation altogether, and I was sure that a quick search of Amazon would bring up a myriad of different devices for me to choose from. But sadly I couldn’t have been more wrong.

   At the time there was only one standalone box on the market that didn’t require a PC to operate, and furthermore was specifically aimed at those who wanted to capture video from games consoles. I was disappointed at the complete lack of choice, and I found it rather perplexing that all the other manufacturers who had various capturing devices in the same marketplace all deemed it necessary to require a PC to function with their products. But therein lies the problem for me, all the other products are essentially dedicated external video cards, they are powerful which goes without saying, but they are just the hardware component. The software side of things, where you initiate the recording, processing and furthermore the storage of the video/picture files happens on the PC end, so a PC is always needed in the equation. What I wanted was an all-in-one external capturing device that was the capturing card, storage and software all under one hood that was totally independent of a PC and a self contained unit. I found what I was looking for in the AverMedia Game Capture HD; it was exactly the all-in-one box I wanted, though it wasn’t without a few small drawbacks.

   The Game Capture HD is small and compact for what it is; it’s an unobtrusive box that can be easily found a place between your favourite consoles, as it’s almost half the height of a GameCube and only a few centimetres bigger width wise. It essentially acts as a pass through box by which the video output of a console is connected to the unit via a component lead, with the output from the box connected to a TV via component cable as well. The video signal from the console passes through the Game Capture HD where it can be recorded and stored on its way to the TV, but best of all, and most importantly, there are absolutely no lag or latency issues while you play, and no impact to the video quality (depending on which mode the box is set to.)

   The Game Capture HD has a compartment underneath it to fit a 2.5” SATA hard drive, which you can add one anywhere up to 500GB in size (500GB recommended by AverMedia,) or the unit has one USB port on the front if you wish to use an external USB storage device. Be warned though, like any media unit, if you do decide to fit a hdd internally, or use non-flash USB storage externally, then it is recommended that you use one that runs as fast as possible, preferably 7200rpm or above.

   The unit has two buttons on the front, a power button and a record button, which you can be used instead of the remote. The remote, like the unit, is small and compact, but is essential as it is used not only to initiate the unit and record function, but to set the video and picture (screenshot) quality (of which there are three different levels of quality and compression to choose from,) but to also jump between a full and minimal functionality mode. Full functionality mode gives you access to all the menu and preview options while you are playing a game, so you can play back what you have just recorded, or mess with the quality and compression options. The only downside to this is that full functionality does impact slightly on the video quality you see on the TV, but only by a barely noticeable degree, and only on the real-time TV image, this does not impact on the quality of the video being recorded. Minimal functionality has no impact on the TV image and gives you a flawless picture while you’re playing a game, but the menu and video/picture playback options are not available, you are only able to use the record and stop function.

   The quality of the screenshots and Video that the Game Capture HD records really speaks for itself, on the best quality settings this device records and captures some very high quality video and pictures. I have never had any complaints about the quality of any video I have recorded, and I have had nothing but a flawless user experience with this box. There are several drawbacks to the Game Capture HD however that are worth taking into consideration when buying one though, they are not show stoppers by any means, but rather features that would only have complemented the device and make it a more complete Game Capturing all-in-one box.

   First off then, as you might have spotted already, this is a HD video capture box, so it naturally captures video in HD quality. The initial firmware out of the box (firmware version 1.5) will capture video in AVI, but as of the latest firmware update (firmware version 2.0.6) it now captures video in MP4. I have tested the quality of both video types from both firmware versions and they are fantastic of course, and now that the system captures video in MP4 as of the latest update the video is more compatible and friendly with video editing software and other media playing devices.

  The downside is that as a HD capturing device it only accepts component HD video input, so in other words it only captures video from the current generation of consoles (Xbox360/PS3/Wii,) or at least anything through a component lead as low as 480i all the way up to 1080i at 50/60hz. The Game Capture HD can also capture video from an Original Xbox if you have one, as when used with a component lead and its HD video output enabled, games will run at 480p and the odd few at 720p. The Game Capture HD does not have a composite input so you’re really out of luck for older systems, which is a real shame for anyone like me that has a variety of different systems and computers from various decades past. Not being able to capture composite video signals is somewhat of a disappointment and a missed opportunity by AverMedia to make this box the all-in-one video capture box that any gamer could ever need. It also means anyone whishing to capture composite video from older systems will need to look elsewhere, and annoyingly find a place for another device.

   Another drawback that I have come across is that this particular box only accepts component, furthermore it only allows for one component input at a time. This is also another missed opportunity, AverMedia could have at least allowed for a HDMI input at the very least, which would allow for more than one console to be hooked up at any given time, albeit by different input cable types. Or they could have offered two HDMI inputs and a component as is the standard on most HD devices these days. But truth is there was a lot more they could have done really and as it stands, this oversight or lack of foresight makes for a lot of unnecessary cable swapping that could have been avoided.

   Another feature that the Game Capture HD lacks is the ability to adjust the brightness and contrast of the video being recorded, and although it’s nothing major, it should really have been a standard feature in the box’s settings. While the box does record a crisp image that quality wise is great, the video and the screenshots do turn out to be pretty dark compared to the image being viewed on the TV. Whether AverMedia never thought to add brightness and contrast settings, or whether they thought the user could adjust these in game or even on the console end, who the hell knows? But the fact remains that the video does turn out way too dark, and this is another thing that could have easily been addressed, and it could still be addressed in a future firmware update. The only way at the moment to remedy this is to post process the video or screenshots via video editing software for the former (or Youtube if you plan on uploading) and something like Paint.NET for the latter, all of which will fix the brightness issues and make the image as it should be.

Otagi - Xbox - Post render using Paint.NET

Otagi - Xbox - Original Screenshot pre-render

   It’s a shame that the Game Capture HD has the small issues that it has, if AverMedia could only have gone that extra mile, it would make all other capturing devices on the market worthless, it really could have been the all conquering solution. But having said that using this all-in-one video capture box is a far better solution to capturing current gen gaming footage in my opinion, as there is nothing worse than having the major headache of setting up your console next to the PC just to capture some video. What the Game Capture HD is in essence is pure convenience as opposed to other devices that require a PC, which are quite honestly the total opposite. The Game Capture HD is definitely worth purchasing even with its small faults, and I am certainly happier and better off using it over the cumbersome irritation of other devices period.

Otagi - Xbox - Original Screenshot pre-render

Otagi - Xbox - Post render using Paint.NET

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Nintendo Gamer Magazine

   This is the second time I have started writing this, the first time I went off on a complete tangent about how current gen gaming (at least on the Xbox 360,) has lost me, and how I’m looking for my games and gaming experience elsewhere. But I was really going off topic to be honest as all I really want to talk about is Nintendo Gamer Magazine and what’s made me pick this fine issue up.

   Firstly, as you can probably tell from the front cover, it has a great article about the Wii U, a console I'm eagerly awaiting and shall be making my next gen system, so this was the magazines first draw for me. This article is great because it aims at looking through all the speculative and rumour mill bullshit to read between the lines based upon actual fact’s given by either Nintendo themselves, or actual reliable sources that are in the spotlight, as opposed to those that remain hidden in the shadows of secrecy and can offer up any load of old tosh as god given fact. This was a very interesting read, one that laid out the facts, read between the lines, and aimed to keep an open mind at where the Wii U might be in terms of its graphics, power, price and features when  its released.

   The second thing about this magazine that attracted me to it was all the retro goodness within its pages. Now I love the Nintendo of old, the days of the 8-bit and 16-bit Nintendo, those were magical times, and when I was young nobody could seperate me away from my Game Boy or SNES, it just wasn’t going to happen. I can fondly remember taking my Game Boy everywhere with me, no matter where I went, the classic handheld was by my side in an all encompassing carry case. But I have to admit, the newer Nintendo, that from at least the N64 onwards (although I wouldn’t class the N64 as new,) I could never seem to connect with. I gave the Wii a major try when I bought one 6 months after launch, and I'm still impressed with the system, and still think even now that the motion controls have huge potential. But I was waiting for games for what seemed like forever, so I sadly and regrettably sold it, in hindsight, I wish I hadn’t as there are some amazing games on the system now, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

   Anyway, going way off topic again. But at the back of Nintendo Gamer you will find an epic best of list, each full of a sizable amount of games, with each given a short sentence or two as to why it was chosen. All Nintendo’s main systems are there, from the NES, right the way through to the 3DS, it even gives a best of games list for the Wiiware and Nintendo’s eshop, and for those of you that were wondering, no the Virtual Boy is not listed.

   But for us retro gamers the goodness doesn’t stop there, they have a great many other article’s, reviews and tip-bits on games from the past that graced Nintendo’s many systems. They cover the N64’s Glover, Viewtiful Joe, Freedom Fighters (one of my personal favourites that I loved on the PS2, though not retro, ) Aliens 3, Micro Machines for the NES and much more. One aspect of the retro content in this magazine that I really like is that it starts to creep in from the centre-fold onwards, and instead of being bunched up into its own retro section, it is cleverly mixed together alongside all the modern games.

   I’ll really be looking out for the next issue, and I hope that Nintendo Gamer will continue the great mixture of new and old together that feels quite refreshing. So if you’re a retro gamer like me, and you like Nintendo’s classic systems and games, as well as their modern stuff, Nintendo Gamer is a worthy buy, I gave it a go, and found it to be a surprisingly enjoyable read.

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