Calling all Monster Hunters

I don't know much about past games in Capcom's Monster Hunter series, but I'm thrilled to be a part of its present with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. For those of you who feel the same way, checking out Capcom Unity might be worth your while. And if you like what you see, sign up and click here to join my Monster Hunting group, The Rulers.

To join me online any time, friend me on your Wii U (NNID: Aeroweth), and if I'm hosting a room with a password, use "hfel". Every time.

Can't wait to join you on the battlefield! We rule!

Pokemon Battle Trozei is out now on the Nintendo 3DS eShop

On February 13, 2014, Nintendo surprised us with the announcement of a sequel to 2006's DS title Pokemon Trozei. The new game would release for the Nintendo 3DS with the title Pokemon Battle Trozei.

Well, the game has arrived, and you can now download the E-rated title from the Nintendo 3DS eShop for $7.99. I've put a little bit of time into the game, and my thoughts are mixed. I never played the original, so I had a lot to learn about the fast-paced puzzle gameplay when I began. As I mentioned on Miiverse, I'm having a difficult time grasping the gameplay. I played the first stage 3 times over, only achieving a mediocre B-rank (for the first stage, that's probably pretty sorry) by the end.

I'm not an expert on the puzzle genre, by any means, but I do expect games in the genre to be simple to learn (but with depth) and really addictive. Pokemon Battle Trozei has a simple enough concept: use the touch screen to match 3 or more Pokemon heads to attack and capture (or "Trozei") wild Pokemon. However, performing advanced techniques and setting up combos has me at a complete loss. When you clear a line of Pokemon, the rest start falling down to fill in the spaces, and more lines may match up. This is how combos work, but I can't predict them, and they happen so quick, my brain can't keep up with the madness.

So the addictive quality I look for in puzzle games is not apparent in Battle Trozei. However, I do plan on giving the game a few more chances...just in small chunks, maybe once a day, as it's rather maddening to play a video game I can't fully understand.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong, thoughts on a series and a possible Wii U release

When I started this blog in 2011, I hadn't experienced the number of gaming franchises I've got under my belt now, 3 years later. In those 3 years, I played games in the Kirby, Star Fox, Metroid, Ace Attorney, and Professor Layton series I hardly knew existed prior to 2011.

Even so, there are still many franchises I have little to no experience with. One of those is the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series. The first game in the series was Mario vs. Donkey Kong on the GameBoy Advance. The game was a sort of spiritual successor to Donkey Kong, Shigeru Miyamoto's classic arcade game that introduced both Mario (known as Jumpman at the time) and Donkey Kong to the world. Mario vs. Donkey Kong revived the rivalry between the two iconic characters, this time in a puzzle-platforming game.

I have a solid understanding up to that point, but as far as the game's sequels go, my knowledge falters mightily. I'm sure there were at least two sequels to the game, but I'm not sure what systems they were released on or what they're called. I played the original, thanks to the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program, but my time with it was very limited: I basically skimmed through it, just as I skimmed through most of the Ambassador games, and now I don't even own my Ambassador system.

As a gamer, properties that I have or have not played crop up all the time for various reasons, prompting me to wonder about past and future games alike. A Mario vs. Donkey Kong Wii U demo was recently playable on the show floor at this year's Game Developers Conference. The sole purpose of the demo was to show off Nintendo Web Framework, a Wii U development tool for eShop developers. The demo does not harken an official announcement of a full game in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, but it suggests the possibility of such.

 Check out some of the gameplay footage right here.

Given my history, I can't get overly excited about a possible Wii U entry in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong franchise. But what does it mean to you?

Diddy Kong confirmed for Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS in time for Tropical Freeze release

Donkey Kong's certainly pleased to be joined by Diddy.

I know Diddy Kong in Super Smash Bros. Brawl had at least one fan: my brother. Undoubtedly, there are many other Diddy fans out there. I'm talking to you when I say, "Diddy Kong is returning to the fray!" The adorable simian has been confirmed as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4 via the usual Miiverse screenshot of the day from Sakurai, the games' director.

Strangely, this announcement was made at the exact moment Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze released for Wii U. I'm kidding about the "strangely" part, obviously. It's not strange at all, though I didn't even think to predict it myself. Did anyone out there make the guess before it came true? Leave an answer in the comments below. Also, feel free to leave any other thoughts you may have concerning Tropical Freeze itself or Diddy Kong's return to Smash Bros.

Bravely Default Collector's Edition Unboxing Photos

The front of the box.

Well, the delivery estimate for my Collector's Edition of Bravely Default was almost a week ago. After 6 extra days of painful anticipation, it finally showed up at the post office. I must say, the wait was worth it. This thing is the nicest collector's anything I've ever gotten. But instead of listening to me blab on, you probably want to get to the actual meat of this post.

...That would be the photos.

The back of the box.

The opened box.

The Collector's Edition comes with a pack of 34 AR cards.

The back of the card box.

I spread out all 34 cards as best I could.

Here's a close look at the first six cards in the deck.

The soundtrack CD is nestled comfortably on the right side of the box.

A look at the back side of the CD case reveals the names of the 10 tracks.

The CD itself has a beautiful graphic of a praying Agnes.

The deluxe art book slides out of its secret compartment under the soundtrack.

Each main character has a few pages of the art book dedicated to them.