Cleaning Out the Refridgerator (or How I Learned About Virtual Console Economics)

I've been having a problem as of late. Whenever I go to download a game off of the Wii Virtual Console, I look at an ever-shrinking number of artificial "blocks" that make up my Wii's Storage System.
I remember, a long time in the year of 2006, thinking to myself as I download Bomberman '93 and Sonic the Hedgehog, "Damn, that's a lot of room. I'm never going to fill this up."
I was wrong.
Dead wrong.

Right now my Virtual Console list stands at 24 strong:
NES (11): Adventures of Lolo, Bubble Bobble, Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden II, Ninja Gaiden III, Punch-Out!, Startropics, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros 3 and Wario's Woods
TG16 (2): Bomberman '93 and Chew Man Fu
Genesis (4): Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Gunstar Heroes, Kid Chameleon and Sonic the Hedgehog
SNES (3): Super Castlevania IV, Super Mario World and Super Metroid
N64 (5): F-Zero X, Kirby 64, Mario Kart 64, Pokemon Snap and Sin & Punishment

And, my fridge has almost filled up. Soon I'm going to have to make tough decisions for my Virtual Console future. What game on this list would be my first to go?
I have my thoughts. Some of these games aren't neccesarily classics and were perhaps accidental purchases made in a drunken stupor (only Chew Man Fu falls into that category. It was my birthday, I drank a few White Russians, I bought a racist video game) but I have a little bit of sentimental attachment to all of them. After all, I bought them and the amount of crap you have to go through to get this shit (connecting to the internet, buying points, downloading the game) means it wasn't exactly easy.

I guess the point of this could have been summed up in a small sentence:
Get off your ass, Nintendo, and make a fucking Wii harddrive!!!!!

Also, 6 days til Brawl.

UPDATED 3/4: I forgot Pokemon Snap. Also, I refrained from doing this earlier, but here is my grand total of Virtual Console expenditures (including NJ sales tax): $186.18
So, for the price of Rock Band, I bought the Wii rights to 25 games.
In a sadder post, I might go in depth into my Rock Band spending.

I think I have today's post figured out...

The Recurring Sakurai

I figure I'll keep up with the random musings until I decide what to do with writing in this blog. I might try to do focused articles or keep this up.
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West Virginia is not a real state. It is a vortex where people think they are in West Virginia, but they are really in Alabama.
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Professor Layton is truly like crack. I am in love with everything about this game and I've had fucked up puzzle dreams to prove it.
Coincidentally, these dreams are separate from the infamous dream I had last week where I dreamt that I was sick and went to my 11 AM class...and then realized I was still sleeping and woke up...and then didn't go to 11 AM class because I thought I already went. I was also very delirious and sick. (see two posts ago when I said I was 'sick and at work').
Anyway, Layton rocks the house and I just witnessed the most balls to the wall cut scene in a DS game since anything from Contra IV. It involves a top-hat-wearing professor, his apprentice, what appears to be a pier and a ferris wheel.
If you have a DS, buy this game.
If you don't have a DS, buy a DS and this game.
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Masahiro Sakurai has now become my favorite living video game developer. He sits at that throne just on top of Miyamoto (Mario, Zelda, Nintendo), Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Series) and the dude who made Rez. Naturally, my favorite video game developer is Gunpei Yokoi, but he died in a car accident, so what the fuck, world? The poor man was hit by a car shortly after he was let go by Nintendo because of Virtual Boy. It would have been so pimp if they had some big reunion and then he made Ultra Metroid or something with a better title and then we could all sing and dance and not have any more war.
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So anyway, I've been digging Sakurai lately mainly because of his work on Brawl and the Dojo blog. He also created Kirby at the age of 19, which is really an inspiring feat, or would be if I wasn't turning 20 in 3 weeks. So now I'm in the 'usually eschewed by sports players' feeling of failure because I haven't made my Kirby yet...
*sigh*
I think I'm going to play more of Kirby 64 when I get back to my room...
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Fuck the naysayers cuz they don't mean a thing!
Kirby 64 is surprisingly good. I remember playing it a long time ago and been a little underwhelmed...not sure why. It is definitely not as deep as Kirby Superstar, but it has its own charm that makes it better than your average game. What can I say, Kirby's adorable. You can't tell me you don't smile when he does his cute lil arm wave and says 'HIIIIIIII!' in Smash Bros.
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Sakurai also was a part of the team that made Adventures of Lolo, which is probably the Professor Layton of the NES.
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What the fuck happened to Jake Plummer? I know he's retired, but for fuck's sake. He grows one playoff beard and goes off the deep end.
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I think if I invite mc chris to one more Facebook event of group, he'll actually go....either that or he'll defriend me...
Also, does anyone remember how fucking awesome Adult Swim was back in the day? Old Sea Lab, ATHF and Brak Show are sadly unmatched these days. Venture Bros is the only show that hearkens back to that era.
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I wonder what games Sakurai will make after Brawl?
I think he's done with Nintendo and he's going to work with his new company, Sora. I very much anticipate his next venture.
Just like I anticipate the next Professor Layton game as I'm closing in on the end of the first one.
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I mentioned my favorite game developers (referring to singular people), and now I feel like mentioning my favorite development companies. Nintendo, HAL Labs, Intelligent Systems, Game Freak, Tecmo (circa Ninja Gaiden I,II and III and Tecmo Super Bowl), Silicon Knights (except Dyack is kind of a cocky prick), Harmonix, Square (circa FFVI, SMRPG and Chrono Trigger), Sonic Team (before whatever point they went insane), Next Level Games and Level 5.

Super Smash Bros Brawl Character Theories

Well, there is one week til the Japanese Brawl release...and 44 days til the American release.
*coughcough*BULLSHIT!*cough*
Anyway, I figure I'd throw my hat into the ring for the veritable character bonanza going on. It's almost like my NFL playoff predictions (where I am 7-3 this year) where I place my bets and get no monetary value...just self-satisfaction or demoralization.

Before I get into that, I'll make a brief comment on my NFL playoff predictions. I aced Wild Card weekend (even though I still rooted for the Redskins, I knew the Seahawks would win) and then I bombed in the AFC in the Divisional Round. Then the Packers loss made my record 7-3. If I pick the Super Bowl correctly, than I beat last year's record of 7-4.
My pick for the Super Bowl will be in similar fashion as my AFC Championship game pick. I'm picking the Patriots but will by no means be disappointed if the Giants win.

Alright...Brawl character speculation time...
I think there will be 35 characters. This rumor has circulated and while there could be some doubt, it is a number that makes sense.
Now for the list...

Confirmed
1. Mario
2. Link
3. Kirby
4. Pikachu
5. Yoshi
6. Bowser
7. Samus/Zero Suit Samus
8. Peach
9. Ice Climbers
10. Fox
11. Zelda/Shiek
12. Donkey Kong
13. Pit
14. Meta Knight
15. King Dedede
16. Ike
17. Olimar
18. Snake
19. Sonic
20. Lucas
21. Wario
22. Pokemon Trainer
23. Diddy Kong

These 23 are all confirmed by the wonderful Smash Blog

Practically Confirmed
24. Ness
25. Jigglypuff
26. Lucario

These are practically confirmed by a leaked Japanese video with a screenshot with their picture. Look it up, its on the internets.

27. Luigi
28. Captain Falcon

The final two unconfirmed originals. These guys will be in it.

My Thoughts
29. Ganondorf
30. Falco
31. Marth
32. Mr. Game & Watch

Ganondorf is close to the practically confirmed list. Falco makes too much sense to come back. Marth was a well liked character and I think we'll see two Fire Emblem characters and I think he is the only other logical choice. Sakurai loves crazy shit, so G&W is shoe-in...similarly to why we see 3 Kirby characters and a bunch of things that echo Kirby Air Ride.

33. Wolf
34. Wind Waker Link
35. R.O.B.

I am picking up these 3 mainly from speculation. Wolf would be cool as hell if and only if he is different from Fox and Falco in ways other than a different speed. He has potential to be a bad ass character. Wind Waker Link might be a pipe dream but I think it is a really cool idea to have a character that is done in a drastically different style and it seems something that is just crazy enough to work. Give the guy some Wind Waker abilities and you are not getting much of a Link clone. R.O.B. is a rumor but with his inclusion in Mario Kart DS, it doesn't seem too far enough. I have no fucking clue what his moveset would be though.

As for the characters that are cut...
Roy is the Fire Emblem character that time will forget.
Mewtwo had his movie and now he is old news. Lucario 'replaces' him in my mind.
Pichu was a pile of shit anyway.
I loved Dr. Mario, but there's no point for him as he is a clone.

There you have it. My picks for the remaining characters in Super Smash Bros Brawl. I'll review these before the American launch mainly because there is a FUCKING MONTH AND A HALF GAP!!!
Fucking Nintendo...

On the 6th day of Rock Band

On the 6th day of Rock Band my bandmates gave to me 6 handjobs a-coming, 5 Star Pieces, Super Mario Galaxy, 3 TVs, Super Mario Bros 3 and an announcement on DLC.

Pardon the filthy handjob comment, I watched Rushmore tonight and basically that movie is all about handjobs. Its really an amazing film and I recommend everyone watches it...and then talk to me about the significance of handjobs in the movie. It actually does seem to have some thematic correlation to the entire story.

Anyway, Super Mario Galaxy is still pimp. I've got 37 stars currently (in a row?!?) and Lauren is currently playing and she has 18 stars. It is simply amazing. I was mesmerized by jumping around a little spaceship and flying through the gravity around it for about 10 minutes and then I blew up some trash. Its the shit.
I'm kind of glad Brawl was delayed so I had the opportunity to bask in this perfect successor to Super Mario 64.

Now for an addendum to my Metroid Prime 3 review. The entire game was fucking fantastic up until I realized it suffers from the occasional Nintendo plight of "Well, the game's almost over, I guess you have to backtrack and find some random items." Needless to say, the game has been shelved until I get bored and decide to find the 5 (out of 9) energy cells I need to get to get to the final area. It obviously suffers from Metroid Prime syndrome. Basically, keep the player occupied until he gets near end game and than throw some arbitrary collection at him. Consider my original Metroid Prime 3 review docked a half point.

Seemingly Random Musings

Video Game Program tomorrow at the Hopewell Library at 12 Noon - 4 PM. Be there!
It'll probably be focused on Halo 3, but Wii will be present and so Melee will probably be played.
However, the Guitar Hero Playing Device (PS2) is not making the trip. Hopefully Steve Rock will bring his guitar for the 360 version so GH will be made available.
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I still really want to buy Skate (360). The demo will occasionally pop up in my fucked up Halo dreams and then like, I'll be doing kickflips and grinds with Master Chief and Elites. I liked it better when I'd play some puzzle game a lot and then go to sleep dreaming of playing Dr. Mario or Mean Bean Machine. Well...at least I'm not dreaming about Bioshock...
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Bioshock is fucking fucked up. Fuck.
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I hope NiGHTs 2 (Wii) doesn't suck. I've always wanted to play more of the game but never thought the entry fee of an entire Sega Saturn was worth it.
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Mario and Sonic Olympics should salvage the crap that Sega's been putting together. Fencing excites me and so does the fact that its both mascots in the same freaking game. If this game can get to half-Warioware proportions, I'll be content.
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After playing a lot more 360 in recent weeks, Nintendo really needs to get their internet shit together. Virtual Console is hot shit but online play? downloadable content?
I've been having a ball with my 360 because of those two things. I've been downloading demos, playing games online, downloading content...
Albeit this will overturn as Halo 3 wears out, I've played a lot more 360 in the past month. My Wii playing has been delegated to these things:
1. Melee (Gamecube game)
2. Sin and Punishment and F-Zero X (Nintendo 64 games)
3. The occasional drunken Warioware game (alcohol influence)
4. Metroid Prime 3, which got shoved aside once Halo 3 came out and appeared to outMetroid Metroid in its second level with all the fucking backtracking. Although MPrime3 outHalo'd Halo with its opening scene with the spaceship getting attacked.

So my Wii playing has been older games and drunkeness primarily.
My 360 playing has been generally new and sober.
With the advent of GHIII (which 360 won my purchase) and Rock Band, there will be a veritable brawl...
waitwaitwaitwait
Super Smash Bros Brawl is coming out for Wii.

Oh fuck, Nintendo wins.
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Go Yankees.
Packers are still the best team in the NFL.
Woo!