My elementary school would let you write and illustrate your own "books" that the library would "publish" for you, and while digging through my closet over the holidays, I found a video game one I created back then: "The Super Koopa Brothers."

Read more...

"You ask very good questions!"

That's what Nintendo's lead designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, said to me near the end of our interview last week, before issuing a surprisingly frank explanation of what the wildly praised "Super Mario Galaxy" and "Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" could have done better.

Then, things got even more unusual. He put me on the spot and started interviewing me. He wanted to talk about hardcore games. (Guess which first-person game he lavished praise on?)

And he wrapped it all up with a tease about the new Wii "Punch-Out!".

Read about all of that and more in this third and final part of my interview with Mr. Miyamoto ... right below. Read more...

Who has the better platformer games? Sonic or Mario? It depends on whether you prefer running action or jumping action, I think. I lean toward Mario, because I've long felt  -- and seen -- that there are more possible gameplay variations with jumping mechanics than with running ones.

Now we've got a Sonic role-playing game to match against the Mario ones. I've been playing "Sonc Chronicles" on the DS the last few days. What it borrows from the other "Sonic" games are the diverse character abilities of Sonic's wide case of protagonists. It doesn't, however, do much with the core element of "Sonic" platformers: speed.

The "Mario" role-playing games -- ranging from "Paper Mario" to "Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time" -- aren't able to take advantage of as well-defined a set of gameplay character traits as the Sonic RPG. It's not like Mario should have obviously different abilities from Luigi, the way Sonic should from, say, Knuckles.

What the Mario RPGs do borrow from their platformer source material, however, is a style of action-first and ease-of-use. They translate their style of platform gameplay better than the Sonic RPG appears to. The Mario RPGs tend to be more streamlined than the average "Final Fantasy," giving players fewer items, fewer side-missions. And, most prominently, the Mario RPGs have usually included a lot of reflex-based gameplay. In some of them, you can even play them like Mario platformers, jumping on the heads of enemies and defeating them without even going into turn-based battles, if you're powerful enough.

The Mario RPGs feel more "Mario"-esque to me than the Sonic RPG feels like a "Sonic" game. But I do appreciate the "Sonic" RPG's successful use of a diverse set of characters, something the Mario games haven't ever managed that well. Gaming's two most famous mascots have found a new realm in which to be compared. I think they'll be richer for it.

Next: Over the weekend, I'm trying to play much more of "Lego Batman" and I'm finally starting my final copy of "Fracture." I hope I like it as much as I did the preview builds.

Of all the first party publishers, Nintendo is holding their cards closest to their chest in regards to what they have planned for next week's E3. Their secrecy has lead to a lot of rumors and conjectures across the internet of what they are planning on showing.

Their secrecy, mixed with a bit of potential, has lead to today's retro '120 Seconds.' I have a hope that my one prediction of what Nintendo may be unveiling will be dead on - the follow up to one of the most successful DS games to date. Hopefully, by this time next week the only thing that Nintendo fanboys will be able to talk about is "New Super Mario Bros. 2."

In hopes that "NSMB2" is one of the big announcements of next week, we are taking a look back at the first two minutes of Mario's first two portable adventures "Super Mario Land," and "Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins." Enjoy these classics courtesy of my Super Gameboy (and please excuse the colors).

"Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins" is after the jump.

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.)

Read more...

Last week, I interviewed the makers of the new, performance-enhancing pill for gamers called "FpsBrain."

I also spoke with a registered dietitian about it, and she likened the pill to most energy drinks out on the market.

Then yesterday, our friends at Kotaku published a pretty comprehensive feature on energy drinks, comparing the different brands' ingredients, tastes and effectiveness.

But there are two drinks that courageous (and no doubt bouncing-off-the-walls) feature writer Mike Fahey didn't try: the Nintendo-brand energy drinks Donkey Kong Jungle Juice and Power Up Energy Drink.

Granted, Fahey probably doesn't live near a Nintendo World Store, so I walked a few blocks from our Times Square office to Rockefeller Center, where I purchased the two drinks for $1.99 each.

Here's what I tasted...

Read more...