Tackling those final two temples with an in-game partner was super fun. Too bad the game was so dungeon anemic.

I agree. But if it's any consolation Earthbound (SPOILERS) starts with your cowardly annoying sycophantic neighbor and ends with him too. (/SPOILERS)

If it helps, the original Earthbound came packaged with the strategy guide. Which, if you don't want to know exactly how to play through the game, is worth a read for entertainment value. Nintendo has the guide online: earthbound.nintendo.com/pla…

JRPG's (or RPG's in general) always tend to raise the stakes ridiculously high. You aren't winning the game by successfully paying off a mortgage or finishing your term paper. By the end, what starting as you looking for a missing cat inevitably has you saving the entire WORLD. This necessitates you ultimately…

Did you by chance get a Toad amiibo? I recently finished the find pixel Toad unlockable content for Captain Toad. Cute game somehow made cuter. I feel like that "Where's Waldo" aspect would cater perfectly to a little one watching the action.

Shovel Knight will need a replay here soon, especially with the (FREE!) Plague Knight expansion coming at any moment.

For me Earthbound perfected the strategy guide. Informative, entertaining; infotainment, if you will. It even had scratch n' sniff collectible cards! Have you ever found something as notable in your guide collecting?

Bastion is the perfect representation of the indie game movement: it's less expensive, nails a theme/aesthetic, has solid gameplay, and doesn't overstay its welcome.

My Wii U user name includes the words book and worm. Your warning is only stoking the hype fire.

Usually my wife will have her attention elsewhere when I'm playing videogames, but even Link's meow had her asking, "What was THAT?"

Yeah, I really noticed the Bill Watterson levels of exaggeration with any form of anger or irritation on the part of Link.

That sample track is good, but I don't know if a soundtrack alone is enough to entice me to play a boring game. My game time is precious and little enough as it is already.

I'm still chugging through The Count Of Monte Cristo. Only a third of the way through and I have no idea where it's headed, which is a good thing.

Re-reading the Game of Thrones series really helped me key into the history of the world. Since I knew the main plot I could pay attention to the background details and learned a great deal more as a result. A Feast for Crows jumped in my esteem during the second read through.

I don't own the proper platforms in which to play this game, but I'm very excited to the see the reception it garners. It will be a great insight into how people play games and what styles they gravitate towards.

Nintendo has done an admirable job of imbuing some pathos into it's supporting players. Revealing the motivations behind characters like Luigi, Bowser, and to a lesser extent Toad (Captain Toad) goes a longs ways towards making them distinct and their individual games memorable. I really hope they can one day extend…

I like to think of the Mario/Luigi dynamic as something akin to Superman/Batman. Mario is nearly all powerful with abilities such as strength (Mushrooms), invincibility (Super Stars), flight (Winged Cap, Cape, Super Leaf), heat vision (Fire Flowers). He is just and unstoppable. Like Superman it's never a matter of…

I'm intrigued by Earthbound Beginnings, but befuddled that Nintendo would choose to release it instead of Mother 3. Fans have been calling for a proper release of that one for years. This feels like Nintendo is fishing for interest, "Oh you want Mother 3? Buy this other one first, just so we can be sure." This is…

I recently started trying out the Ranked Battle mode in Splatoon and am also digging the Tower Control scenario. But why'd they take away the Splat Zone portion of ranked battle? I had just found a weapon and strategy that worked best for and now it's gone.

I just finished Guacamelee and particularly enjoyed the numerous background details paying homage to the old school Nintendo influences. That and the puns, I'm a sucker for silly puns. But I agree on the fighting, which sometime required a Street Fighter-esque combo memorization I had no patience for. I only beat…