Ronnie

Thanks, chuffed with it, but honestly not exactly a big difference from the standard one. And no I didn't hold it over my head and do the DE NE NE NEEEEHHHHH sound

It's here! I've decided to also order the standard edition and leave the LE one unopened and still shrink wrapped (they did a really good job of protecting it). So yeah, just a quick pic of the cover. The gold pages look lovely. Fantastic quality overall.

Not really embarrassing to lose to Italy any more. Wales have done it, Scotland, France two years ago etc... England games in Rome have had one score in them for a few years now.

You get the impression nothing phases Farrell, ice cool demeanor, starting to really run the show and yeah that pass was a beauty. Great hands from Parling too. Some serious confidence running through this team at the moment, really feels like we're building something special here, regardless of what happens next weekend.

England looked very impressive. Great to see us offloading the ball out of the tackle and playing heads up rugby. Huge step up required for next week though. Wales, lost 8 in a row now, ouch.

Just got an email from Forbidden Planet to say my LE copy has been dispatched

The Octopus dance sequences go up to 10!?

Metroid and Zelda in particular are fantastic experiences. The final battle in Metroid was heart-poundingly intense and Zelda's last level in the Advanced section was very tough. Those spiders!!!!!! Satisfying to complete though. Thanks. Is it anything decent. ie. not just that crappy fireworks animation?

This game is amazing. Like old-school arcade titles, tough as **** to get all the stamps as well. They've somehow made it appeal to the casual and hardcore Nintendo crowd. Anyway just wondering if anything special happens if we collect all gold stars / platinum trophies. No spoilers though please.

Feather is #1 on my wish list as well.

Can't remember anything like that but fair enough, must be remembering incorrectly. I'd love green and red shells to go back to being FAST and deadly like in the SNES game. The recent versions all have them being so slow and piss easy to avoid. Bring back the feather, was fantastic for evasion tactics. Simple Battle Mode tracks, that aren't city-sized. Again like the SNES/N64 games.

Reward skilled players and make it less of a party game like MK Wii. Back to basics like Super Mario Kart and MK64.

You're joking right?

Pre-ordered from Forbidden Planet online when they first put up the Limited Edition. Still not heard anything except that my order is 'Processing'. Anyone else in similar situation?

I thought some of the puzzles were fantastic, and surpassed what you'd find in Zelda on a number of occasions. I just found it to be a fun adventure game, with some great settings and nice gameplay variety. Loved it, had a really nice vibe IMO.

Assuming Nintendo are even planning on putting Gamecube games in the Virtual Console (have they confirmed this?), I imagine they'll put up the original Wind Waker, but not till a year or two after the remake's release. Why spend £40 when you can have pretty much the same game for 10ish quid.

I thought the final boss battle was pretty poor and uninspired. I recently finished 3D Land for the second time and I thought the final boss battle with Bowser, where you're basically running away from him and his incoming fireballs, was outstanding. Great adrenaline rush, great music, great camera angles. Likewise the 2D final battle in NSMBWii was also pretty decent, also running away from him.

Great post Sprout

I'd like to it to go back in the medieval direction. ie. no robots / trains !!

The game was fantastic, I seem to be in the minority who thinks so though.

At lot of these geeky comic strips aren't actually funny in the slightest, but this made me a chuckle:

A worthy adversary it seems Spending lots of time getting somewhere only to find a treasure chest with useless rupees and/or 'treasure' is a staple of most Zelda games though. And if random bits of money hiding in treasure chests makes sense in any Zelda game, it's this one. At least in WW, you need to collect lots of rupees to progress the story, which, admittedly isn't the height of watertight game-design. In terms of cracks in the story-telling I think a game like TP is far more guilty there. As for level design, the dungeons in WW are so intricately well constructed, and often open-ended, especially compared to the linear ones in later instalments. I suppose it'd be boring if we all liked the same instalments in the series.

Haha I assumed it was said in jest. See to me I find the recent games lack even a shred of all the charm that Wind Waker had. The Pirate theme, getting maps from the cartographer fish near each island, controlling seagulls, the grappling hook (and its use in defeating the second boss by tugging Valoo's tail causing the ceiling to drop). The game was filled with so many little bits of magic I personally find it impossible not to love. The fact that it has IMO the best soundtrack and is visually stunning is the icing on the cake. Music played a big part in the gameplay as well, particulalry later on, something I feel the series has seriously lacked recently (Spirit Tracks apart). As for your point re: sailing, surely that's the exploration though? Like on your way to your destination seeing a faint silhouette of an island and deciding to make a slight detour to check it out first.

Yes I do indeed, point still stands.

Remember hearing the faint sound of a violin playing whilst searching for Makar in the Forest Haven? The sound getting louder when you get close and then realising you have to grapple-hook your way through the waterfall to a secret cave to find him? Then moments later, gliding down to the Forbidden Forrest dungeon with the Deku leaf as your magic metre ominously pings away, with flying baddies in the distance and air currents to help you along. Pure magic. Cannot f-ing wait for this game.