Grazza

Amazing! That is actually my favourite ever Mario level, as I love the sunset and relaxing Hawaiian music.

Thanks Retro. For some reason, 3rd-person battles are my sort of thing. On the other hand, I can tell some of the obstacle courses are going to be a nightmare under a time limit.

I've got 45 Stars now and am onto Gusty Gardens. I beat Bouldergeist (normal + Daredevil) - hugely satisfying to swing those bombs into him! Also got the chance to do the Dino Piranha Speed Run, which showed me how much I'd picked up the gameplay since I first started playing. Is it just me, or are those octopus things actually Octoroks from the Zelda series? I don't remember seeing them in a Mario game before.

Hmm, Prehisteria or Prehysteria? I'll try and think up some more overnight.

I tried to draw her for you, Dazz, but I can't capture the face. Also, it'd take an age for me to memorise all the tattoos and accessories. It's something I'll keep having a bash at over the next few months, but it'd certainly be worse than Capcom's art anyway.

Can someone tell me what Retro Link said, please? My eyes can only read a certain font size. It's OK though, I think he said there's no more bombing the rubbish to come!

I see what you mean, but at anything under £10, it's probably the retailer taking the hit, getting rid of their stock. I'm sure they wouldn't order it to sell that cheaply. I paid £17, but the extra money probably went to the retailer, not the publisher. You selfish chap! I was hoping you were going to send me some too, but you had them all to yourself!!

Last night I bashed Bowser and "bombed the rubbish" in Space Junk Galaxy. Please tell me there's not a more difficult version of that to come! I'm finding the difficulty of this game just right. It's not too easy at all. In reality, you're calling upon years of gaming experience when you play it. It's not frustrating, but that's a good thing. Beach Bowl Galaxy is my favourite so far, with the lovely water and cute penguins "Ask us - we're friendly!" I love the way slightly translucent speech bubbles appear above most characters, so you don't have to press "A". I love the textures, the lighting, the fur, the animation, the scaling... It's joy after joy. If the next Zelda is anything like this, we're in for a treat!

Oh yeah, I remember that. What happened afterwards though was that they made a new, official Wii Sports + Wii Sports Resort pack for £180. Retailers also typically threw in two decent games, such as Mario Kart, Mario Strikers etc.

That's the only one of the main four I haven't completed either. I've completed all these with the Chaos Emeralds: Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic 3 Sonic 3 + Knuckles But Sonic 2 is too long to play in one sitting, and it never used to have a save feature (even on Sonic Mega Collection), so I still haven't completed it. Also, I find the Chaos Emeralds mini game the hardest of the four. I find Sonic and Knuckles too hard to complete on its own too.

The other day I foolishly said I didn't really like this, but 14 Stars in and I love it, I genuinely do. Like many Wii games, it took me a long time to learn the gameplay/controls, but once the gameplay takes hold, it doesn't let go! I can't stop playing it. The music and graphics are brilliant, that goes without saying. It feels like I've stepped into a cartoon (a really good one.) The colour palette is amazingly gorgeous, pitch perfect, best I've ever seen. I'm particularly impressed by the motion controls. They are genuinely flawless, which surprised me for a pre-MotionPlus game. Mario really feels like a super hero, saving the Toads who are stuck in space, and taking on Bowser's scary and intimidating armada. I loved Mario 64 and Sunshine, but I didn't realise how little they really capture the Mario universe (Mario 64 is basically an experiment in 3D with Mario stuck on! Sunshine is more about the tropical theme.) In Galaxy, Bowser's vast army is rendered perfectly, with characters like Kamek and those octopus guys as part of the battleship's weaponry. There are loads of impressive changes in scale, such as when the giant robot appears. The thing that really made me say "whoa!" though, was the manta ray race. The way the water surges up really gave me my first "wow" moment of this gen. It's even better than Sunshine, and it's not just visual, it affects the gameplay.

That's funny, I had all the Game Boys but my favourite was the Pocket (silver). I bought a turquoise Color, which was a nice colour, but it was that much more bulky than the Pocket and the screen didn't seem to have the clarity. That's what I was going to say. It's lovely to hold in your palm, with the red and blue lights.

I'm not really into crossovers, but as others have said, a "Mushroom Kingdom Hearts" might be good. Mario, Link and Samus could take on Bowser, Ganon and Ridley. It'd be interesting to see how their different personalities affected their relationships. For example, Bowser is not truly evil, Ganondorf is evil, but with a human side, and Ridley doesn't have any sympathetic qualities at all. Am I taking this too seriously? Yes, I am!

Shield Invincibility (stars) Sonic Sneakers (just run faster) I think that was it. It was such a well-balanced game. But yes, it does sound like you've played the original game. The coin-op versions of it were literally the Megadrive version, not to be confused with "Sonic Arcade", which was isometric and used a trackball.

I agree. Take Super Mario World - one of the best games of all time, and yet the bosses are all slightly different turtles. It suits the game, but I wouldn't call it memorable. And I love Bowser in the hot tub! There's something so adrenaline-filled and cathartic about boosting up with the rocket, then slamming down on a target! A great game, Super Mario Sunshine. I genuinely loved it at the time, no complaints.

Couldn't agree more. That's the best piece of design I've ever seen, and I keep mine purely to play Metroid: Zero Mission and Metroid Fusion. Oh, by the way, the new hardware is definitely meant to be the DS2. Apparently the Pokemon people are working on it: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=235077

Thanks Dude. I recognised her from Resident Evil 5, but I didn't know about those costumes. I'm actually doing a tribal design for someone at the moment, and I genuinely thought you meant that.

Just out of interest, why do you call her Sheva Tribal? Do you mean you want something done in the tribal tattoo style? That wouldn't match your Resident Evil signature, would it? Not meaning to be rude, I'm obviously misunderstanding something at the moment.

LOL, Spring Yard Zone. I'll never forget the first time I got to Zone 3 and that funky music played. I was staying in London and I loved my Megadrive so much I took it with me. I don't think anything will ever match the vibe I got then playing Sonic, Streets of Rage etc in London, with Canary Wharf in the background.

Oh, that's not weird. The soundtrack to every Zone in the original Sonic was a work of genius. I can still hear them now - Scrap Yard Zone and Starlight Zone are probably my favourites.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Monster Hunter series, for one thing.

Excellent point. Sony must be feeling the pressure from the iPhone/iPod Touch, especially as the PSP never took off properly, and the PSP Go was even worse. They must surely be preparing the PSP 2. Also, I thought Nintendo actually planned to release the DS 2 a while ago, but the DS was still too popular, so they made the DSi as a stop-gap.

I loved it yesterday when I missed a programme (my VCR finally broke) and watched it on iPlayer. It's amazing to think I can just turn on my games console and watch a programme I missed.

In my opinion, it's better to perfect genius rather than just do a different style for the sake of it. People draw in a certain style because they're aiming for one specific thing. (That said, I am doing some drawings in a different style at the moment for a friend, and I'm enjoying it.)

I finished this last night after about 25 hours and I have to say...great game, couldn't fault it at all. Not that I look for faults, but often they stick out. I really did enjoy this much more than Superstar Saga. The graphics were big, clear and colourful. As for playing as Bowser, well, he was a revelation, surely the best villain ever. The script was charming, especially the way he spoke to "Chippy". Something about that tickled me greatly. Also, I found the relationship between Bowser and his minions greatly touching. I often felt sorry for him as he was having the ultimate "Bad Hair Day", and I felt very aggressive towards the enemies who would dare encroach on his territory and minions. The final image on the end credits was also lovely. The two words that keep coming back to me about this game are "charming" and "touching".