Super Paper Mario was the third game in the excellent Paper Mario series, which takes the characters from the Super Mario series and presents them in a ‘paper cut out’ kind of art style while also telling much deeper stories than the main series ever does. Controversially, this may just be my favourite Mario game, or, at very least, my favourite 2D Mario game.

This game starts in the same way as 99% of the other games in the series: Princess Peach has gone missing and Mario must head out to get her back. Naturally, he and Luigi head to Bowser’s castle to rescue her, only to find that, while he was planning to kidnap her, he hadn’t actually gotten around to doing so. The mysterious Count Bleck then shows up and warps them all to another world; Bowser and Peach are then forced to marry one another and then, after Luigi causes a commotion, they all get separated. Mario meets Tippi, a butterfly-like Pixl creature, and finds his way to the town of Flipside, where he discovers that the end of all universes is coming…

That took quite a while to explain and, really, I’m only giving the most basic of introductions because this game’s story really is rather complex. I only wish that more games in the series featured a stronger plot focus. Not only is the story filled with lots of humour (especially when it comes to Bowser) but also lots of emotions, and at times it is really rather sad, which is very unexpected but very welcome. I also liked the fact that it was dealing with the grim subject of the end of all worlds; I’m someone who likes to connect the dots and knowing that Mario has crossed over with virtually every other series around, it really made me feel that I was saving all universes.

But, anyway, this is a game and I am sure you’re keen to hear about how it plays, rather than just its story! Unlike the first two Paper Mario games, this one is actually a side scroller. Sure, you’re able to explore the world quite freely, but it is still 2D and has a lot in common with the older Mario games when it comes to gameplay. One particular part of the game seems to be especially dedicated to the past and, as well as being full of funny/clever references, it also features many attempts to replicate the feeling of those games too. Significantly, however, you are also given the ability to flip to a 3D perspective whenever you need to; I found this to be very innovative and at times, very fun. Occasionally, however, it did feel a little under-utilised, and, in some ways, frustratingly limited. There are also several RPG-elements; you can level up to increase your HP and strength; you also use money to buy items and so forth and there are several side-quests to do as well. Mario’s not the only playable character either; you’ll later get others with their own unique abilities, but I shan’t spoil it.

It’s just such a fun game with an excellent story. I’ll admit, the second Paper Mario comes very close, but I think this one edges it out. There’s something compelling about the story and the doom-filled tone of the game contrasted with the light-hearted humour of many of its characters. On top of all that, it’s fun too, which is just as important. It’s entirely standalone, story-wise, so don’t worry about getting it without playing the other Paper Mario games first.

Rating: 9.5/10

Buy it here.

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Back in the early days of their video game creations Nintendo made a couple of boxing games for arcades. These boxing games were called Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!! and they had you fighting against all kinds of comedic and strange opponents. Eventually, the time came for Punch-Out!! to make the transition to consoles, but rather than being a near identical recreation, like Donkey Kong, the NES Punch-Out!! was a unique experience distinct from its arcade predecessors.

In the game you play as Little Mac, a young and upcoming boxer who is much smaller than the other boxers he comes up against. Mac stands face to face with the rival fighters and you can punch upward, punch at stomach level, duck, block, dodge to the left or dodge to the right. It might not sound like you have much control over Mac, but this actually gives every fight a rather satisfying strategic feel. Every enemy boxer has his own fight pattern and as you go on you begin to identify them and figure out what exactly you need to do in order to respond to everything your opponent does. In some ways, it reminded me of learning a complex dance.

Every boxer is very memorable and many are quite funny. My personal favourite was one called King Hippo, who I thought looked hilarious. The problem is that each of the boxers is of a different nationality and the game always relies on some form of racial stereotypes. I found this a little uncomfortable at times and I am sure you may do as well. Nonetheless, I still found one or two of them rather loveable, like the aforementioned King Hippo. Also, on the subject of characters, Mario appears as the referee for every fight, which is nice. I just wanted to mention that somewhere.

I’m sure most people who play this game today will just download it from Nintendo’s eShop, but if you’re going for the original NES edition, you’ll find out that there are two distinct versions of this game. How are they distinct? Well, no more so than Pokémon games having a different legendary Pokémon at the end; the original version of the game is Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! and, at the end, Little Mac faces off against Mike Tyson. Nintendo later lost the rights to use him and released the game simply as Punch-Out!! with a different final boxer, but the original version with Mike Tyson will likely be an interesting curiosity to some fans!

Overall I liked this game quite a lot and enjoyed how different it was to the average fighting game. I must warn you, however, that the game becomes extremely difficult towards the end and I have to admit to making unfair use of save states in the final couple of fights! Nonetheless, there is a lot to be enjoyed about Punch-Out!!.

Rating: 8.1/10

Buy it here.

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After being a little underwhelmed by the third Animal Crossing game, I was a little cautious about this, the fourth in the series. I thought to myself that Animal Crossing might be one of those series which are always pretty much the same and, if you’ve played one, you’ve played them all. I was wrong.

Like previous games, you start the game on a train heading to a new home, but this time things take a somewhat odd direction. Rather than just arriving in the town and buying a home, you arrive and are mistaken for the town’s new mayor; this is a mistake which is never corrected and you then live in the town as mayor. This gives you the ability to customise your town by having various things constructed. This level of customisation had not really been available in the previous titles.

There is quite a wide range of other new features too: you can now buy a wet suit and go swimming in the ocean where you can dive to catch more ocean species. You now can rent rooms in the museum in order to create your own exhibits. A Dream Suite allows you to visit the towns of a huge number of other players via the world of dreams. Your town now has a ‘Main Street’ area where you’ll find a variety of shops and is essentially an improved version of the last game’s city. Fortune cookies are available to purchase for play coins and give you access to lots of very cool Nintendo-related items. The tropical island from the first game returns, but it now has much more extensive features, including a set of mini games. There are several new special characters and events. The game also features a very handy achievement system (in the form of badges) and offers some StreetPass functionality in that you get to see the houses of any person you pass on the street in real life.

All of these exciting new features are on top of all of the things I already love about Animal Crossing: having loads to collect, being able to catch a variety of fish and bugs to fill an encyclopaedia, having the seasons change along with the seasons of reality and just the general pleasure of maintaining your town and chatting with the crazy villagers. I will admit, however, that New Leaf is lacking in one area: in Wild World I really liked it when characters like Tom Nook or Pelly would open up and tell me a little about their private lives, but they never do this in New Leaf and as a result, they generally seem much less interesting. However, this was a minor blemish in what was otherwise an extremely addictive and satisfying game.

Rating: 9.5/10

Buy it here.

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I absolutely loved the first two Animal Crossing games and so it should be no surprise that I got myself pretty excited for the third game which was due for release on the Wii. I got the game and I enjoyed it, but, honestly, I have to say it was a bit of a disappointment. But does that mean it was bad? No.

You see, I loved the first game and then the second game felt like a unique experience which expanded on the first in exciting new ways… The third game, Let’s Go to the City, just felt like it was the second game, Wild World, again with only a few minor changes.

This game still has everything I love about the series: a real time day and night system, seasons that pass along with the seasons of reality, fish and bugs to catch and donate to a museum, loads of furniture to collect, loads of villagers to interact with, secrets to be found, holidays to be celebrated and so forth, but it’s not really been added to in any meaningful way.

The main new feature is the game’s city. Despite being called a city, which would suggest to me a very large area, it’s actually just a very small place with only a small handful of shops. As it takes a long bus ride and loading time to get there, I didn’t go too often. Other new features include voice chat when online (all online features are now discontinued), the ability to play as your Mii with Mii Masks, the ability to change the colour of your shoes, a few new holidays, new characters and new furniture but… That’s it and the new features didn’t feel very substantial.

So, for the first time, I don’t think I am in a position to fairly score this game. I can imagine that had I played it before I played any of the other Animal Crossing games, I’d have thought it was amazing, but I played it after having poured hundreds of hours into both of the two games that came before it and when I started Let’s Go to the City things just felt a bit stale. I think it’s important to keep this in mind before you play the game. For the sake of consistency, I will score the game, but I found it especially hard to do so.

Rating: 9/10

Buy it here.

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When Animal Crossing came out, I fell in love with the series and then, when it was followed by Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS a few years later, I married it. Essentially, it’s a case of “the same again, but different” but that didn’t stop Wild World from having its own unique value.

What was a huge step up for this game was the fact that it was on a handheld console. The Animal Crossing series is based around maintaining a virtual village; this is made up of tasks like picking the weeds, nurturing friendships with fellow villagers, paying off the debt on your house, going fishing and things like that. These are all little tasks which the game encourages you to do every single day, which is so much easier to do if you’re playing on a portable console. Now playing late into the night (as you need to do for some things) or finding a few minutes to play each day, is not too difficult.

What is a little sad about this game is the fact that it has a significantly smaller number holidays celebrated in the game (which had been a big part of the last game) but on the flip side, that’s made up for with the ability to play with your friends. You can now visit your friend’s town while they are also playing. I loved visiting other towns and looking in other people’s houses. Before the Nintendo Wi-Fi service was discontinued, you could even visit people’s towns over the internet; sadly, however, this was limited to the towns of people you knew.

Generally, though the reduced number of holidays is sad, I found that this game generally improved over the first in every way. There’s now a nice little database for all of the fish and bugs you catch, you can now buy hats in order to further customise your villagers, there are several new special characters, houses can now be bigger than ever and there are extra fish and bugs to catch. It’s an absolutely excellent game and one which you’ll easily pour hundreds of hours into.

Rating: 9.5/10

Buy it here.