September's New Reviews

My crystal ball is in the shop, so I don't know if I'll get around to all of these. I'm searching for a second job to bring some more cash in for college. Enough about that though. These are the games I'm hoping to review for this month. There may be an unexpected surprise or two other than the games listed. I'm still thinking of the "big" game to review for this month. Do you have any ideas?

September Reviews
Mario Super Sluggers (Wii) - Completed
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All-Play (Wii) - 100th Review
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii) - Completed
Soul Bubbles (DS) - Next month
Nanostray 2 (DS) - Maybe not.
Madden NFL 09 All-Play (Wii) - Completed
Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii) - Maybe, depends on if I have enough time with it as it comes out near the end of the month. EDIT: Not this month.

That's what I personally have planned. A lot of Wii and DS stuff, but that's what I'm currently into. What do you guys think? Is this a decent enough list?

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS) - New Vids

Let's continue our Sonic-themed Saturday with some new videos/trailers from the upcoming DS RPG, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. The jury's still out on whether or not Sonic is a lost cause-- even with Bioware at the helm. We'll find out at the end of the month.

Direct Links (Each is a different vid)
http://www.gamershell.com/tv/14382.html
http://www.gamershell.com/tv/14384.html
http://www.gamershell.com/tv/14386.html
http://www.gamershell.com/tv/14388.html

Sonic's first ever RPG races onto the DS September 30th in North America.

SPC Mailbag - The Premiere Edition

Another week, another new segment it seems. Keeps things fresh, yes? I get asked certain questions more times than others, so for this first edition of the SPC Mailbag I'll be posted frequently asked questions from either my e-mail or message board posts. And to be considered frequently asked, a question needed to be answered more than... never. No, seriously. We're still small, so I'm glad nothing's too complicated to get many questions. Let's get started, shall we?

~ How many reviews have you done total? What's your highest rated review? What's your lowest rated?

I have currently written 97 reviews. I'm closing in on #100 obviously, so I have something small but special planned for that event. I don't quite know which game will be #100, but I'm not going to go out of my way to review a big game just as my 100th review.

There are actually two reviews that were rated 10/10. They are Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

My worst scored game was Ninjabread Man for the Wii. It was a free rental at Blockbuster, I wanted to see how bad it was, etc. ...Should have rented Gigli instead.

~ What was your first ever review?

Ah, you're making me feel old. I'm kidding, of course. ;)
I'll just let the cat out of the bag now since it's already suffocated due to a lack of oxygen. After my 100th review I'll be posting my first ever review to see myself how I've improved as a reviewer... or declined. hehe

~ What's your current favorite platform?

I'm playing a lot more games on my Wii, PSP, and DS than anything else. It's good to root for the underdog in the Wii. What? It's the number one selling console! Sure, but there's a wide variety of ignorant, bitter, and/or uninformed "HD" gamers who just don't get it. They always come up with silly ways to criticize the system. "Games don't sell!" then "Third party games don't sell" then "Only non-games sell!" then "Only games from well-known series sell!", etc. They constantly are proven wrong, but they continue to whine. NeoGAF is the worst. The mods will let Wii trolling fly, but if you dare derail a thread about a PS3 or 360 game, you're banned. Thankfully, I just lurk. ;)

~ When will your Top 100 Games be completed?

That's a tough one. I don't want to finish the list as quickly as possible because there's a lot of good gems that I've never had the time to play such as Goldeneye, Silent Hill 2, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, Sly Cooper, Zelda: Twilight Princess, God of War 2, etc. This backlog will kill me for sure. Sorry to keep you folks waiting though.

~ Will you ever be returning to Wi-Fi World?

For those unaware, I founded this Nintendo Wi-Fi gaming site in April 2006. Long story short, a year ago I got tired of some of the stereotypical rude internet mindset, closed down the site, and left. This didn't make most of the members to happy. Most are indifferent about me now but some are still upset. Do I care? No, since the ones still are upset are the ones I didn't like to begin with.

Now will I go back, no, I thought about it, but I just want to completely move on. It was fun, but now I have my blog which I love even more. I hope everybody has moved on and is happy too.

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Also, if anyone has the artistic touch, I'd love to have a logo for my various "bits" such as the VGMs, Top 100 Games, and the SPC Mailbag!

Finally, one of our new readers, Chief, thought up an excellent name for the Poll-- the Central City Census! Such alliteration, such brilliance! Methinks he's known me from Wi-Fi World. ;)

~ If you have a question you'd like to see answered (I imagine the mailbag will be a monthly occurence), feel free to drop a question into the c-box or by e-mailing me on my public e-mail at: superphillip32@hotmail.com

Fun! Fun! Mini Golf for Wiiware announced.

Does the developer Shinen ring any bells? Perhaps you've played one of their games on the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS? They're known for their Iridion and Nanostray games. Now they're entering a new genre and a new console with Fun! Fun! Mini Golf (what a pain in the ass game title to type imo) for Wiiware. I wouldn't normally take a look at a Wiiware game since: 1) I don't have room on my Wii to store it, and I'm too lazy to clean my fridge, and 2) Paying for points online is a pain since your credit card info isn't saved (security reasons). Nonetheless, this title has me intrigued. I love mini golf. I love Shinen's games. Two and two go together to make Fooooooore! Did you see what I did there with that golf joke? Ahem.

Here's some initial information of the game from the good folks at Wiiware World!

• 1-4 Players.
• Fun! Fun! features Golf courses in America, Europe and Asia.
• There are 27 different holes to play.
• We expect to release the game very soon on Wii Ware.
• We will announce the release date in the next weeks.
• It will be released in Europe and the US
• The game runs fully at 60fps (NTSC) or 50fps (PAL).
• The game does support 16:9 and 4:3 TV screens.
• Some graphical specs. Fun! Fun! features:
  -HDR Lightning
  -Image Based Lightning
  -Soft Shadows
  -Normal Mapping
  -Environment Mapping
  -Bump Mapping
  -Blooming

Take a gander at these very impressive (for Wiiware at least) screens!

Click for a larger screen!

SuperPhillip's Most Anticipated Games of the Holiday Season

Wednesday Update note: It seems this darned Blast Works review doesn't want to be seen. The first time, I posted the blog title as a reminder to post the review. That obviously did not happen and I forgot anyway! This time the review is posted, but apparently only I can see it! I'll tinker with Blogger's settings to see what the heck's up. Thanks for being patient. I'll post a blog entry tomorrow for when the review can be seen by all! Now... onto the main article!

Hello. SuperPhillip here as you probably already know. Tonight I'm listing my most anticipated games of this holiday season for all platforms: Wii, PS3, 360, PC, DS, and PSP. I'll also be sharing some runners-up for each category. Perhaps you'll discover a game here that you didn't know about! Feel free to list your own games that you are looking forward to, folks!

- Nintendo Wii
Most Anticipated: Wario Land: Shake It!



Wario feels that he's partied enough with his WarioWare company, so now he's returning to his platforming roots with an all-new adventure. With beautiful 2D graphics and animation done by the excellent Production I.G. anime team, this game looks great and previews state that it plays even better. Shake the Wii remote to shake an enemy into submission or tilt the remote to control various vehicles to help Wario find his sought-after treasure. This game should be hitting most Wiis at the end of this month.

Runners-Up: Animal Crossing: City Folk, de Blob, Call of Duty: World at War

- Playstation 3
Most Anticipated: LittleBigPlanet


There's nothing I love more than creating my own levels. I have no intention of becoming a game developer or anything of that sort, so games like this where I can really be creative and share my works worldwide with friends and strangers alike is something very compelling to me. In LittleBigPlanet your creativity is your boundary. Create levels down to the finest detail with the interesting physics engine. I very much hope this title sells. THIS is what I look for in the ever-stagnant world of "bloody shooter #666". LittleBigPlanet (all one word) parades onto the PS3 a bit before Halloween.

Runners-Up: Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, Far Cry 2, Bioshock

- Xbox 360
Most Anticipated: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts



Bear and bird are back, and they look better than ever. The worlds are expansive, but Banjo need not traverse them on foot alone. The main draw of the game is the ability to create your own vehicles from either blueprints to your own imagination. You use a different type of vehicle for a different type of challenge. There will be online races as well as other competitions that Rare is still tight-lipped about. All I know is that Banjo-Kazooie is one of my favorite series period, and I'll be there day one! By the way, if you pre-order the game you'll get a code around the game's launch to download the original B-K for Xbox Live Arcade for free. Did I mention that this is all just for $39.99? 11/11/08 Banjo and Kazooie make their next gen debut.

Runners-Up: Gears of War 2, Saints Row 2, The Last Remnant

- PC
Most Anticipated: Spore

From the creative mind of Will Wright, creator of SimCity and The Sims, comes a brand new venture. Create your own organism, watch it grow from cell to galactic god! The beauty is that you can completely design your creature and interact with it. Have it fight others, inhabit new areas with it, etc. The choices are yours for an experience unlike any other. Spore spawns onto retail shelves next week.

Runners-Up: Grand Theft Auto IV

- Nintendo DS
Most Anticipated: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia



There's just too much I'm interested in for the DS. It's simply insane! Regardless, my pick is the newest Castlevania, Order of Ecclesia. It's the good old Castlevania action that we've grown to love, and that's a good thing! Keep it simple, Igarashi-- no 3D, no spin-offs-- just simple action-platforming, RPG style leveling up, exploration, great music, and gorgeous 2D graphics. I really loved Dawn of Sorrow as its appearance on my Top 100 games proves. Portrait of Ruin was too segmented to my liking, but it was still up-to-par. We'll see how Order of Ecclesia fares ten days before Halloween.

Runners-Up: Kirby Super Star Ultra, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Chrono Trigger DS, Away: Shuffle Dungeon, Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, Dragon Ball: Origins

- PSP
Most Anticipated: Star Ocean: The First Departure



Sadly, there's not much for PSP owners this holiday season. Regardless of the quality of releases, a game I've been eyeing for the longest while is Star Ocean: The First Departure-- a remake of the original SNES Star Ocean game that never made it to North American shores. Enix is correcting this by releasing this title October 21st.

Runner-Up: Valhalla Knights 2 (Eh, I felt bad not having a runner-up for the PSP, so I added this RPG that probably won't do well...)

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Well, there you have it. You might be wondering why certain multi-platform games are on one system and not another. It's just my personal preference of the version that intrigues me the most. I wouldn't give another Call of Duty a chance if not for new Wii controls. We'll see how those work out. Again, I encourage you to post your own list in my comment sections. Don't worry. I DO read them.