The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii U

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Every so often a gem of a game comes along for a console.  The biggest problem is, that console will eventually be replaced by a newer better one, so how does one share a great game with a younger generation?  With a remake, of course.  Shinier graphics, updated character designs, improved game play, throw in a few extras and you have yourself a fun new-ish game to share with everyone.  This is exactly what The Twilight Princess is.  A great game from the beginning of the Wii now remastered for the Wii U.

Twilight Princess has the familiar Link hero character in an action adventure game where he must fight, solve puzzles, and explore his way through his adventure.  This time, the story line and art is a bit darker, but this doesn’t distract from the same Legend of Zelda formula we all know and love.  Link must find a way to save his world from the Twilight dimension and its evil king, Zant.  In order to do this, we meed some new characters like Midna, who teaches Link to change into his Twilight Wolf form as well as familiar ones like Zelda and Ganondorf.

As this is a remaster, you may be wondering what was added to make this a must buy.  Well, there is added Amiibo support which opens up a new Wii U exclusive dungeon as well as power up abilities with other Legend of Zelda Amiibos.  Your Amiibo also has the ability to carry over data into the next Legend of Zelda release planned for later this year.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD is available now for the price of $59.99 and includes an exclusive Wolf Link / Midna Amiibo.  It is also available for download from the eShop for $49.99 but this version obviously will not include the Amiibo.

eShop Fun for the Wii U and 3DS starring Noitu Love Devolution and Rhythm Heaven

Check out these two eShop games for the 3DS and Wii U.

First up is a throw back to the 16 bit era of gaming with Noitu Love Devolution which is available for both the 3DS and Wii U.  This game looks and has the feel of the intense enemy battles of Gunstar Heroes and Metal Slug but throw in a  novel control scheme which gives the player a fresh perspective on the touch screen and motion on a game in general.  The story of the game revolves around a police force called the Xoda Rap who are sent to protect the city from the evil robotic aliens the Darns.  These enemies are smiley faced robots bent on destruction.  They do so by also throwing in time issues which in turn throw the player into new locales like feudal Japan and the wild west all while destroying plethora of enemies and gigantic bosses.  The game play in Noitu is one where instead of controlling your hero with direct button bashing you control where the hero is going to attack, by using a target on screen.  This target acts as a guide for the hero and his/her attacks.  This may not sound like an intuitive way to play a game but it works surprisingly well and is a fresh paint job on a fun genre of games.

Next up is the newest addition to the Rhythm Heaven series, Rhythm Heaven Megamix.  In this game you do various in game actions via button presses to the rhythm of the game to on screen zaniness like chopping wood as a bear, plucking hairs from an onion, and shaking your bottom as a frog dancer.  These are all set to some toe tapping songs and have a frenetic pace to them much like other collections of mini games like Wario Ware, but all of these are rhythm based.  The main story follows a boy trying to reach Rhythm Heaven by helping those along the way find their flow in rhythmic ways the cast of characters include a bee costume wearing bear, a car headed man, and a doughnut enthusiast.  In total there are over 70 mini games each unique to themselves.  This game features hits from previous games in the series as well as new ones we well as some not seen in the USA as of yet.

Overall both games offer a unique gaming experience and are a must for fans of action adventure or rhythm based games.

Hyrule Warriors: Legends for Nintendo 3DS

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Hyrule Warriors is a fun hack and slash game, mixing the familiar game characters from the Legend of Zelda with the game play and mechanics of the Dynasty Warriors series to make a fun beat ’em up style game with the rich character design and story line of Legend of Zelda.

The story involves Link and some new friends, Lana and Sheik, helping to restore the Tri-Force and save Princess Zelda while defeating the evil Cia.  In doing this, our heroes must travel through eras in the Hyrule time line ranging from Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword  and now Wind Waker as well.

Each level has tons of enemies to mow down using your hero, and now also allows you to switch characters on the fly so you can further develop an attack plan and strategy without leaving too much responsibility to an AI character.

Included in these tons of enemies are also big bosses who have weaknesses and special techniques in order to be defeated.  This keeps alive the puzzle solving aspect of the Legend of Zelda series.  There are tons of characters to play as in Warriors and with this new version there are five more, Tetra, King of Hyrule, Toon Link, Skull Kid and Linkle.  All of these are usable in addition to other favorites like Link and Sheik.

Hyrule Warriors is a good pick up and play game, and is a great game to play on the go or pause and come back to at a later time.  The action being intense and fun while ,still being playable by gamers of all skill sets.

Included with the 3DS game is a download code to bring the new characters now included in the 3DS version of Hyrule Warriors to the Wii U version, further expanding the fun.

Hyrule Warriors is available now for the Nintendo 3DS both in retail stores and in the eShop online for $39.99.

Fun New Video Games

Disclosure- We received the below in order to facilitate this review.  All opinions are our own and honest.

If you are looking for fun new video games, here is what is in our systems right now.  Check them out, they are great picks for kids of all ages.

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The Pokemon games have been known the world around for their fun role playing and Pokemon collecting fun.  The action is more directed via third person through a trainer.  There is a series of RPG Pokemon games where you play not as the human trainer, but as Pokemon exploring a dungeon filled with other Pokemon to battle, adventures to have, and lots of action and treasures.  This game is called Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and the most recent game in that series is Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon for the Nintendo 3DS.

In this game you pick your character as well as your “friend” Pokemon, and are transformed into a young Pokemon who must explore dungeons to help solve a mystery which is effecting Pokemon in a terrible way- by turning them to stone.

Throughout Mystery Dungeon, it is possible to meet all 720 known Pokemon -even rare ones and mega evolved Pokemon.  There also many ways in to interact with this game as well, with Wonder Mail players can receive special items via code of QR cods.  Street Pass is also available in Mystery Dungeon, where when you pass another player their Pokemon assist in the next adventure.Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon for the Nintendo 3DS is available now for $39.99 in the e Shop as well is at retailers everywhere.

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A little something for the dads- Fire Emblem is the long running RPG with tactical movements on a grid environment.  Each environment has various obstacles and story line elements from Dragon Veins to deep canyons.  The series spans over 15 games and often refers to a weapon or shield, seen as the power of war and dragons.  Each character has a turn in your party, and then the enemy gets a turn for each of their characters.  There are also ally characters which you help and defend throughout the course of the game.  The most striking element of this game is the story line.  It starts out as many role playing games do, with a lost main character just trying to fit in.  From there is spins out of control and an important decision must be made, stay with the family that raised you, side with you biological family or choose neither.  Depending on your pick is which game you will play each with its own unique story which weaves your player into some interesting adventures and situations.  There are some “interesting” situations, like stroking your loved one’s face and blowing on them to “cool them off”, which make me say that this game is for mature players only.

Fire Emblem Fates Birthright and Fire Emblem Fates Conquest retail for $39.99 each and the Special Edition with all three games retails for $79.99.  And will be available 02/19/16.  While Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation will be available for download on 03/10/16 for $19.99  or on 02/19/16 with the Special Edition.

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Mario and the crew are back for a brand new adventure that pairs the 3 dimensional Mario with his Paper version. Paper Mario and his world of characters in the new Mario and Luigi Paper Jam.  The story of the game involves Paper Mario pages that come out of a book which exists in the world of Mario and Luigi.  The characters brought over are both friendly and not, ranging from Paper Mario to Paper Bowser.

The action in this game is played out in role playing style where the player takes turns attacking with various skills to defeat the enemy.  Battles are action based rather then waiting for your next turn.  This makes the game accessible to both younger players as well as more experienced players.  The 3DS is the perfect console for this type of game, because with it you can just put your game to sleep and come back to it at any time.  I do have this word of warning- once you start playing you are not going to want to stop.  With funny dialogue and silly interactions, the game is accessible to all levels of player.

Paper Jam also supports Amiibo’s as special power ups that can be used in battle.  Each Amiibo can store character cards and during battle, the player can call upon these cards to get powers. Amiibo’s definitely make the game more interesting and are highly suggested as they are used across multiple current generation Nintendo systems from the new 3DS XL to the Wii U.

Mario and Luigi Paper Jam is available now for the Nintendo 3DS retailing for $39.99 and available at both the eShop and retail locations.

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Mario Tennis has been an evolving franchise since the Nintendo 64, and with each iteration the game gets prettier with slicker graphics and tighter game play, as well as a few new bells and whistles.  Mario Tennis Ultra Smash is the newest iteration in the series.

The most prominent addition the Ultra Smash is the Mega Mushroom, which makes your character explode in size to tower over everything at least triple your original size.  This can be both a blessing or a curse depending on how well good you are in the game.  There are a total of 16 characters available in Ultra Smash, some of which are unlocked through playing the game and completing specific tasks.  The game also sports the ability to level up your Amiibo to the best tennis partner ever, improving both their stats and giving them new skills.

Mario Tennis Ultra Smash is available now for the WiiU from both retail stores and in the eShop.  The game retails for $49.99.

Nintendo’s Yo Kai Watch

The world of Yo Kai Watch is a strange one which centers around the city of Spingdale, where you take on the role of Nate.  Nate is an average kid trying to collect bugs, when he meets a Yo Kai named Whisper.  Yo Kai are mischievous creatures who love to cause problems for humans.  Whisper gives Nate a special watch which gives him the ability to see Yo Kai that are usually invisible.  Nate then has the ability to befriend Yo Kai wherever they may be hiding or causing hi-jinks. As Nate makes friends, they join his team of Yo Kai and help him uncover a mysterious force in town.  With the help of the strongest and best team of Yo Kai, you and Nate can help the town.

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The game play of Yo Kai is quite different then other “capturing creatures” games, instead of directly controlling the action, you act in the role of an assistant, directing Yo Kai in where to attack, when to use special moves, and giving them items as well.  As you battle more, your Yo Kai can evolve into stronger versions of themselves or can be fused with each or other items to make different or stronger Yo Kai.  There are many Yo Kai to befriend and each of them has their own unique powers and personalities.  The town is full of both people and Yo Kai to help, and with each new quest there is another chance to gain experience as well as gain more Yo Kai.

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The little guy loves this game because he thinks the Yo Kai are cute and interesting, so kids should love this game while more experienced players can appreciated the ability to fuse characters together to make new, stronger Yo Kai.

Yo Kai watch is available now for the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS retailing for $39.99 at retailers everywhere and in the eShop on the 3DS.

Super Mario Maker has a GameTruck

After providing a truckload of ink-flying action to parties across the country this summer with the Splatoon game, GameTruck is once again partnering with Nintendo to bring the Super Mario Maker game to its fleet of game trucks. Starting on Sept. 18, more than 100 GameTruck vehicles will feature the upcoming game, launching exclusively for Wii U consoles on the 11th of September. Super Mario Maker lets players create their own Super Mario Bros. levels, share them online and play a near-limitless number of levels from people all over the world.

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GameTruck delivers a fun video game experience to major metropolitan areas in 27 states around the country. The trucks bring gaming experiences directly to private consumer events and parties with more than 100 trucks fully equipped with the latest video games. There are even game experts on board to give tips, tricks and training. The trucks roll right up to the location of the party to provide a no-hassle way for party planners to give their attendees a fun experience they’ll never forget. To date, GameTruck has brought the Splatoon game in all of its inky glory to more than 5,000 parties and nearly 1,500 large events, while entertaining a total of over 600,000 guests.

Party guests who play Super Mario Maker in the trucks will experience a variety of imaginative levels created by people all over the world – even some created by Nintendo! GameTruck’s onboard experts will guide party guests through the level-creation process so they can get a taste of how easy and fun it is to create the Super Mario Bros. levels of their dreams. Attendees will even be able to submit their best levels to GameTruck at the end of their party, for a chance to have their level shared across the country. Once a month, GameTruck and Nintendo will select the best created level and feature it on http://play.nintendo.com.

The trucks with Super Mario Maker won’t hit the road until Sept. 18, but party planners can start reserving them now. For more information about how to reserve a GameTruck featuring Super Mario Maker, please visit http://gametruckparty.com. For more information about Super Mario Maker, visit http://supermariomaker.nintendo.com/.

Stretchmo and Puzzles and Dragons

Available now for the 3DS system is a fun new free-mium game in the -mo series which started with Pushmo, then Crashmo and Pushmo world.  The newest in the series is Stretchmo.  This game starts out as a free download where a minimum of levels and the tutorial stages are available giving the player just enough game to want more and more is indeed available in the form of 4 new sections.  These sections are Playtime Plaza, Sculpture Square, Fortress of Fun and NES Expo.  All unlock a total of 250 Stretchmo puzzles ranging from animals to shapes and even familiar NES characters from their 8bit days.  In total, this game is a blast once you get the hang of it.  Getting into the proper state of mind to solve each puzzle can take some time, but once you figure it out, it is quite fulfilling. My son, who might not figure out each puzzle as quickly as Daddy,thoroughly enjoy the game because the controls are easy and the main characters are cute little creatures.

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Swords and Soldiers 2 for Wii U

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As Real Time Strategy games go, there are lots of options available today.  There are quite a few of these fun games on the new Wii U system.  Today we are looking at one such game that takes the familiar real time gaming style and adds a 2D art direction.  This art direction also leaks out into a 2D way of playing a classic 3D game style.  Is that enough Ds for you?

Swords and Soldiers 2 picks up where the first leaves off, with an army of unique characters going after another army of unique characters who move toward your opponent until either the enemy loses or you do.  The game play sounds simple, but as your characters start to pile up and strategy start to rear its head in the from of different units with different abilities (such as flight) the game starts to shine.
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