PixlBit

I'm not really a big Castlevania fan, but I do have a favorite game in the series.  And it never even came to the US (well, the Game Boy one did).  It's Kid Dracula.  It's a silly spinoff and is very cartoony and is kind of like the Parodius of the Castlevania series.  I wish Konami would revive Kid Dracula, but Konami hasn't done anything interesting lately.  I haven't really been pleased with them since they killed off Hudson Soft anyway.

HAL Labs has always been one of my favorite game developers.  Even before Kirby!  Before they made Kirby, one of their most popular game series was Adventures of Lolo, and I loved those on the NES.  Lolo was kind of their mascot back then.  I don't think HAL has ever made a bad game.  Well, Day Dreamin' Davey was awful.  And surprisingly, I wasn't big on EarthBound.  But otherwise, HAL is awesome!

Back when I was a kid and the NES was king, Nintendo hosted a "Nintendo World Championships."  You know those gold cartridges that sell for lots of money now that had bits of Mario, Rad Racer, and Tetris on them?  That was from that event.  Anyway, I went to the one in Dallas, and it was like a mini-E3 in that there were kiosks where game companies were showing off upcoming games.  It was very cool and really impacted me and my decision to write game reviews later.  Anyway, one of the companies there was HAL and they were showing off Lolo 2, which was about to come out.  The folks running the HAL booth were two Japanese guys who worked for the company: one could speak English, and one couldn't.  I hung out with them both days I was there and we all had fun and played jokes and they even bought ice cream for me!  Wouldn't it be cool if one of them were a young Sakurai or Iwata?  I guess we'll never know.

Anyway, after looking at that list you linked to, I might've played one of HAL's first games!  Our first computer was an Apple ][+, and it had many Pac-Man clones.  One of my favorites was Tax Man, and it looks like HAL made that game, too!  Wow!

Anyway, I'm glad HAL is still around.  I'll celebrate their birthday by playing lots of Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.

If Sony would make and release Loco Roco 3, I'd instantly buy a PS4 or Vita.

I have a Dreamcast, but never played this one.  Didn't sound too interesting, but I hear you could play arcade games and collection SEGA toys, so that's all I would do if I had this game.

I liked the Pac-Man stage because it reflects the feel of the original game.  You eat dots and fruit and go for power pellets.  The 16-bit F-Zero stage is neat, and I'm glad Nintendo used my Spirit Tracks train stage idea.  I like the coin Mario stage as well.

And the music in Legendia was fantastic (Yay Go Shiina), and I loved the characters, especially Grune.  Go Shiina is doing the music for Tales of Zestria supposedly, so I'm looking forward to that.

Because the game uses elemental advantages, if you are familiar with the Pokemon, it makes the game easier.  Familiarity breeds content.  That's just the Nintendo way.

I liked the first Jak & Daxter game.  Kind of reminded me of a more adventure-ish Crash Bandicoot.  I hated the sequels, though.  Did not like the darker direction they took.  And you forgot about the Jak & Daxter racing game.

I reviewed a lot of Beyblade games, but I can't remember if I reviewed one on the Wii.  None of them were very good.  They're just tops.

I don't really get into the Castlevania games, but I do have a favorite game in the series.  Can you guess what it is?  I'll tell you on your next blog!

Pokemon Shuffle really has a lot of annoyances that free-to-play iOS games have.  But I still downloaded it and I'll enjoy it for what it is.  I just won't succumb to paying any money for it.  That's why I didn't get into Rusty's Real Deal Baseball.  It looked like fun, but I'm not going to encourage Nintendo to nickel and dime us.  I do wish that Pokemon Shuffle and Rusty's Real Deal Baseball were full cartridge games with no in-game purchases.  I would've bought both of them that way.  At least we're getting a cartridge version of Puzzle & Dragon Z/Super Mario Edition. And at least Pokemon Shuffle doesn't have any in-game ads.

I try to keep as much of a positive attitude as I can, but I do have to say that right now, I'm not much of a happy gamer.  Nothing on the PS4 and Xbox One I want, only stuff on the 3DS and Wii U.  Things were a bit better a few years ago.  Oh well, I'm still going to enjoy the games I do like!