PixlBit

So just as I begin playing Disney Infinity 3.0, they cancel the whole series. In fact, Disney is cancelling their whole games division. That's just crazy! D.I. was beating Skylanders for Pete's sake! Well, it seems toys-to-life stuff is dipping in sales across the board and they're getting out before it gets worse. I for one, am still crazy for toys-to-life stuff, so here's what I picked up today:

Started off with Metal Slug 2 on Monday. This one has an Egyptian theme. It's also about twice as long as the first one. It's full of fun stuff like getting turned into a mummy in the early stages. You fly a plane, drive a tank and the screens scroll up sometimes; lots of little improvements and the same great music and graphics. It also has the same great difficulty. This one has continues but they are not infinite. At some point you get a game over screen (I never counted the deaths), but the game does save your progress but only up to the beginning of the chapter you are on when you died. So if you have a tough time with the level end boss, you may find yourself repeating the whole level several times. This is what happened to me in chapter 5 (I think there's 8 chapters). I just wasn't up for any more today. I tried using the classic controller, it's suported, but I went back to the Wiimote for somet reason I forget why right now. My mind is completely blotted out with the next game I played all the rest of the day. 

Played through the whole of Metal Slug 1. I love it except I don't love the arcade, quarter munching, game mechanics. They throw at you impossible waves of bullets and bombs so you die and have to put in another quarter to continue. I don't have to put the money in, but it's still frustrating to die so much. I never did get really comfortable with the Wiimote ( the classic controller wasn't supported) but it was ok. I downloaded Metal Slug 2 on virtual console for Monday. I can use the classic controller for that. 

I saw Captain America: Civil War on Friday with Mark. I'm not a huge fan of the Avenger's movies but they're fun. This one was pretty good. I liked Bucky, Winter Soldier, the best. He has the best look and fights very agressively. I liked every fight he was in. Yea, he's troubled, being partially mind controlled and all (not a spoiler if you know the comics) but I actually like him better for it because he's more human than these mostly pristine do-gooders (Iron Man has his flaws, sure, but he basically has good intentions). I didn't like how they left Bucky though. No spoilers, but it was a boring wrap-up. I wanted to see more of him riding motorcyles. 

Went to Jay Street Video Games as is becoming my habit early in the week. Traded a few and bought a few. Here's a pic:

I hooked up my slim PS2 today to play Neo Contra. This is a top down twin-stick shooter. I suppose it's in the Contra series. The best thing about it was the opening cutscene which was so full of over-the-top action that made me laugh.

Started off Sunday with Scrabble for PSOne. This is a good TV version of the board game. Everything works fine. You have a tournament mode to play against A.I. characters and solitare in case you don't have anyone to play with. I played some tournament mode for a while before I got kind of bored of it. Get it, board? Yea, that's dumb. Anyway this was good to have way back when but now I have Scrabble on Xbox Live where I can play online. Yea, I don't need this anymore. 

I was looking for the Metal Slug Anthology on PS2 or Wii today at Jay Street Video Games but all they had was 4 and 5 on Xbox, so I got that with some discount for trade-ins. Here's a pic:

Started early yesterday with River City Random on NES. This is a brawler, but unlike most brawlers of the time, you feel surprisingly free to do what you want. I think it's from the variety of things you can do and places you can go. You can kick, punch and throw enemies; pick up items and use them as melee weapons or throw them. There's the usual street fighting stuff like sticks and chains, but there are also every day items like baseballs and just blocks of stone or building matterial. You move in a 2D side-scrolling world but you can open doors or enter passageways in the background and enter a park or shopping district. This gives the game a good illusion of being in a 3D world.

Tested out my replacement Genesis controler on Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side today. Eternal Champions is a fine 1v1 fighting game. The graphics are nice and the music too. I just don't go for the 1v1 fighting games that much. I'd rather scroll through environments while I fight ala Final Fight. So onward.