Grazza

I've just read in First Drop (sorry if you've mentioned this, Rez) that Krake has 6-across cars and standard B&M gauge. Just shows how my trainspotter-esque mind works, but this makes it more appealing to me, for some reason. I always felt Dive Machines were the odd ones out with their double gauge. I wonder if they can even do vertical loops now? As for the "scared of coasters" topic, I've never had a significant fear of roller coasters, but I've never been fearless either. I think some of them are more intimidating rather than actually scary to ride. When you leave the lift hill and start rolling at speed, you get a sense that you can do anything. For this reason, I used to call them "super hero simulators".

I very nearly mentioned Donkey Kong Country for that very reason, but didn't want to provoke its loyal following! Yep. Although I thought the weaknesses of Streets of Rage were evident at the time, all whilst my friends loved it. See, ever the critic!

Yeah, it's just how likely they are to go first. It's like in DQ IX, sometimes the bosses go before me, sometimes I go before them, even though I have the same Agility each time. However, it is consistent enough to be evident that the Agility-boosting gear is playing a part.

I agree with all that, but do you not think there was an extra thrill at the time, knowing the SNES was pretty much the best console available, and things like the sprite animation would be the best we'd seen at that point? But I agree with the sentiment. It's how I feel about Super Mario World. I've often thought that too, although I think OOT's immersion makes up for it. But yeah, I remember not being very impressed with the Kokiri Village bit, for reasons of both pacing and graphics. One thing I'll say about Ocarina of Time though is that, nostalgia or not, it is still the most well-balanced 3D Zelda. It's no secret that Wind Waker is my favourite, but I played the GameCube port of OOT afterwards and I was still impressed. There are still some things that OOT does better.

No, it's very difficult. I thought the difficulty was just about acceptable to complete the game (ie. get the credits), but there's no way I'd try to perfect it.

Yeah, keep going, H-o-T, I'm enjoying your updates too. I thought Agility did affect how quickly you act in this game.

I'm afraid I'm going to be a bit tight-fisted with this one. I can't see it being worth more than £20. Then again, they do become very collectable.

Yep, I agree with these points, although I think Ocarina is better than Twilight Princess. It's like when I played Super Metroid on the Wii - I could tell it was a great game, but there's no way it could impress me as much as it would have at the time. The good news for people who haven't played it is that they should enjoy the 3DS version as much as everyone else. After all, it's a remake, not a port, and it is a great game.

What don't you like, the price?

Nope. Nowhere is it explained properly at all. I've still only got five Miis. In the past three days, I have spent 30 coins on jigsaw pieces, got 1 new piece and 14 duplicates.

Went to Clacton today and photographed the new Pinfari Z40. It is named "Stella's Revenge" after the pier's old Steel Stella woodie, which I think is a lovely touch. The coaster isn't yet open, but I look forward to riding it when it is.

They've been pretty bold with some of the lighting and colouring changes, but overall I'd say it looks a lot better, especially the detail on Ganondorf's horse. Hyrule Castle looks greatly different to how I remember it...

And the better name, it seems.

I see your point, but I don't think it's going to be a big problem. Now we have a handheld that can do a Zelda to the technical quality of a spruced-up Ocarina of Time, there's very little reason to base a future Zelda on a lesser engine. Remember, the 3DS is really to accompany the Wii 2, not the Wii, so let's call the 3DS the equivalent of a generation 6 console (although probably not quite). That will contrast with Nintendo's next console, which should be generation 7 (eg. PS3), or could even be 8 (eg. PS4). If Link is running around a beautiful, complex, HD version of Hyrule), nothing on the 3DS will be able to trouble that. But still, I understand the concept of differentiation, so how about having Toon Link on handhelds (cel-shaded, of course) and Adult Link on consoles? I assume the 3DS has impressive cel-shading abilities built-in, so I look forward to seeing them used. The whole Toon Link style is too good not to use again, especially now we have a handheld that could probably depict it almost as well as Wind Waker. Furthermore, I'd like tight, neat games and overworlds. Pilotwings Resort shows us the 3DS can calculate quite an impressive island system with no trouble (and no loading times). I'd like the handheld Zeldas to match that sort of fluidity. The stories could also be more avant-garde, like Link's Awakening. Meanwhile, one of the best things about home consoles is that they are absolutely at the cutting edge, so whilst I don't ask that every game is the same, I must admit it's a thrill seeing how Ganon, Hyrule Castle etc can be improved each gen. After all, it was only one generation between Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. In fact, the relationship between Lttp and Link's Awakening is a good example of how you can have two Zeldas that are technically similar, even if one is on console and one is on handhelds. Anyway, I've rambled. In short: bring on Zelda 3DS!

I thought it was a cool new way to speak that I wasn't aware of!

Phew, I've beaten all the available Legacy bosses at level 99.

The funny thing is, I tested out Zelda: Spirit Tracks and I didn't think it looked blurry at all.

You can send a message when you StreetPass someone for the 2nd time. They'll receive it when you pass them a 3rd time. As for recommendations, Pilotwings is the best example of what sort of games the hardware can calculate (and I'm impressed!) Other than that, I would be confident Street Fighter IV and Ridge Racer are good, if you like those genres. Sorry, maybe I was mistaken and it was just her most recently played.

I take it that's a vertical mark on the top screen? I've got one myself and it was puzzling me, as I'm also very careful, but this explains everything. Hmm, not very impressive. ...Anyway, thanks for the list, darksnowman. Zelda is the only Day 1 purchase for me, although I'm very tempted by Puzzle Bobble too (although I wouldn't play it in 3D). Hopefully that'll get to £14.99 quite quickly.

Thanks very much for that. I'd never have worked it out myself, but it worked.

That's funny, the girl I levelled-up to 2 yesterday had her favourite game as Animal Crossing: Wild World. People are reverting to backwards compatibility!

It's developed by Grezzo? That's great, that's how remakes should be done. The more creative work has already been done in the original, so for the remake, you just need a good, competent team (and reading between the lines in Iwata Asks, it seems Miyamoto was genuinely impressed with them). I'm far more enthusiastic about getting a Majora's Mask remake now if Grezzo do that as well. Who knows what EAD2 are up to? Maybe Zelda 3DS is closer than we dared hope.

I took my 3DS out today - in my bag, but not in my Power A Executive case. It worked a treat, as I "strengthened" two of my Miis to level 2 and 3 respectively. But still, as nice as it was, they were game shop staff, so it's a shame there don't seem to be many on the street. I fear they need a price drop or a Mario Kart ASAP. Got to the 5th room of StreetPass Quest and completed the Zelda jigsaw!

I've done the Wind Waker ones, so PM me your email if you want them. It is not the simplest thing to do, I admit. If you try to open them, you'll get the option of searching the web for a program. I chose WinZip. Once you've got that set up, put all the files in there, select them all and unzip them. Like I say though, you're welcome to any that I do.