For years Mr. Pants was the loveable mascot of Rare’s website and he’d make little cameos in their games (such as being seen on television in Banjo-Tooie) but he never really took the centre stage. That is, until 2005 when It’s Mr. Pants came out and he got a game all to himself!

It’s a puzzle game and now that I come to do it, I realise that it’s really hard to describe what you do in it. In each level you’re presented with an image made up of several different coloured blocks, none of which will be squares or rectangles. You are then given several blocks of your own to add to the image, and you have to fit them together with the existing blocks to create complete squares or rectangles so that they can disappear. You can’t place two blocks of the same colour on top of each other, but you can cover a block of one colour with a block of another. You win once everything has vanished.

Does that make sense? It’s quite easy to grasp once you’re playing it, if not. Believe it or not, this game becomes very, very hard and would become downright frustrating with the later puzzles were it not for one thing: Mr. Pants himself. Throughout each level Mr. Pants chimes in with supportive comments like “Super!” and “Great!” and I found him very charming. Every time you lose a level, and this will happen a lot, he’ll say “Attempt two!” when you start again and on and on until he’s saying “Attempt forty-eight!” and “Attempt one hundred and three!” and if that’s not just hilarious I don’t know what is. If it ever gets too hard, a friendly lightbulb named Helpo will chime in and tell you the correct position to place your current block. You might think that spoils the game and never use it, but you also might consider him a lifesaver and use him often! I know I did.

What’s the incentive for completing puzzles? Well, every fifth puzzle completed you’ll be rewarded with a picture of some aspect of Mr. Pants’s life. You see his son Toby and his lover Mrs. Pie and several other characters who are all presented in the childish hand-drawn art style. The images show things like Mr. Pants become a super hero or visiting outer space and I love them all. Plus, as you go further, some of the puzzles make references to characters from the Banjo-Kazooie and Conker games, which is a nice treat for Rare fans.

Ultimately, this is a very simple game; there are a few variations on the main playstyle (like a marathon mode) and all of them yield different unlockables, but while there are literally hundreds of puzzles to solve, it’s still a fairly minimalistic title. Some may find it lacking, others may consider it a nice way to pass a few minutes (I enjoyed doing one puzzle every Sunday). Whatever you feel about it, the game is full of the classic Rare charm; Mr. Pants is hilarious and loveable and the whole game has a superb, jolly soundtrack. It’s not something to sit down and enjoy for hours, but it’s a curiosity that’s definitely worth your time.

Rating: 7/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is the fourth game in the Mario Kart series and it might just be the most innovative of the lot! However, while Double Dash!! may bring a lot of new features and changes to the series, does that equate to a high level of quality?

First, let’s look at the character selection. All the characters from the previous games return apart from Donkey Kong Jr. and right from the start you also have Diddy Kong, Bowser Jr., Birdo, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Daisy and Paratroopa. Also, for the first time, there are unlockable characters! Getting new characters gives a good motivation for getting all the cups. Strangely though, one of the unlockable characters is Toad; I tell you that now so that you’ll avoid disappointment when you get him. The others are good though!

I always love the selection of characters in Mario Kart games, but this time it actually has a strategic impact on the races; characters have their own unique items (which they can obtain through item boxes) and you also get two characters per kart! It’s fun choosing two different characters and it means you can mix and match people based on the items you want. Plus, on top of all that, you now have a selection of different karts which you can ride, and there are more to unlock too. This adds some welcome variation to the formula.

For the first time, all of the characters who appear have full 3D models and all of the levels are full 3D as well. This is a first for the series and in terms of graphics, the Gamecube helps the series to take a strong step forward. Seeing the characters reacting to what’s happening in the race is actually quite entertaining.

This may all sound well and good, and for 50cc and 100cc it is, but if you play at 150cc this game is awful. Why? Because the CPU cheating becomes so grating; you’ll be constantly barraged with shells (and blue shells blow you up now!) and whether or not you win a race seems entirely down to luck. I know the first game had this too, but at least there the items weren’t so bad and you didn’t need to win the high up cups to unlock everything. What makes this even worse is the fact that there is an added All-Cup Tour where you have to play every single one of the game’s race tracks; with such a high level of luck involved, I really hated this. I found it stressful. More stressful than my real life driving exam. To make matters even worse, at 150cc the controls feel really, really bad and I never really felt in control.  It makes me anxious when Double Dash!! tracks return in later games because I am reminded of the chaos. I’m not even joking.

So on the whole, while Double Dash!! added some good things to the series, has the same top of the range multiplayer and at it’s core has a lot in common with the games I like, the 150cc cups left me with such a hugely negative impression that it soured my whole perception of the game. I’m really not sure that any other game has ever had such a bad effect on me.

Rating: 6.5/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

Super Punch-Out!! is the second console game in the Punch-Out!! series (or third, depending on your perspective) and I actually think it’s a significant step up from the first game.

Once again you play as Little Mac as he tries to fight his way up the W.B.V.A. Championships. The gameplay is essentially identical to the first game; you stand in one spot and can punch upward or downward at your foes, while also being able to duck and dodge left and right. You are also able to charge up attacks, which you should incorporate into your fighting strategies.

What I like about this one, though, is the fact that the enhanced capabilities of the SNES compared to the NES, mean that the characters are really brought to life this time. There are short voice samples for everyone and the improved graphics really emphasise their quirky personalities. What’s more is that the game is a little less overt with its racial stereotypes; sure, they’re still there, but they’re just a bit less uncomfortable than they were in the last game. I was sad that King Hippo (my favourite fighter in the first game) did not return, but at the same time I was very fond of the new fighter Bear Hugger. There is a nice mixture of new and returning characters.

A small thing I didn’t like is that Little Mac has undergone a redesign and his coach Doc Louis does not appear. For me, the change in Mac’s design made it a little harder to connect to the first title. In most respects though, this is just an all-round improved version of the first game; it’s the exact same formula, but they’ve managed to keep it fresh. Much like the first game it does get very hard towards the end though, but it is generally a little easier.

Rating: 8.7/10

Buy it here.

Battletoads is often remembered as one of the most difficult NES games, which earned it quite a cult following. Since it was so popular, it was followed up with a Game Boy game as well, but while it may have the same title, this Battletoads game is completely different from the original.

You play only as the Battletoad Zitz as the other two have been kidnapped by the Dark Queen; he is on a quest to rescue his friends and to take down the Dark Queen’s forces as he does so.

What is especially appealing is that each level of this game is very distinct; the first has you moving along through a semi-3D area and fighting all the enemies you come across; the second area has you flying through the sky and avoiding obstacles and a later area has you riding through a swamp on a jet ski. This variety is something I appreciated a lot.

However, there are only really eight levels, which might make the game seem very short. The thing is, it’s designed to be very hard and so you are encouraged to try many times until you are able to get all the way to the end. What I like is that, while it can be very tricky, the difficulty always seems fair; it feels like there’s a pattern to learn for each level and I felt a great sense of satisfaction when I finally managed to get to the end. Although, having said that, a couple of the later levels didn’t feel fair at all and, when I won, I certainly felt it had been down to luck rather than skill.

Taking a step back from the game and looking at it in the context of what came later, I liked how much of it felt like a prototype to Rare’s work with the Donkey Kong series. It felt especially similar to the Donkey Kong Land series at times (both having a David Wise soundtrack and having that similar monochrome aesthetic) which was something I enjoyed; I even noticed that there’s a strange tornado enemy that appears in this game and also in the first Donkey Kong Land (or at least a near identical one, I’m not 100% sure.) That’s the kind of thing I get quite excited about.

So if you want a tough but charming game, with excellent levels and some silly, over the top fighting, then give this Battletoads a try. It’s hard, but fair and, most importantly, enjoyable.

Rating: 8/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)