Nintendo Wii Fanboy

It's an odd pairing for the weekend for European gamers -- the punk-influenced Air Zonk and the classically adorable Paper Mario! What do they both have in common? A light-hearted approach to gaming and solid offerings for their respective genres. That's something we can get behind.

• Air Zonk -- Turbografx -- 600 Wii points
  
• Paper Mario -- Nintendo 64 -- 1000 Wii points
  

No new multiplayer games on Japan's Virtual Console this week. It's a perfect week to sit in your apartment alone all day playing role-playing games. Now, if only that apartment didn't have to be located in Japan for us to take advantage.

Normally, when an RPG shows up on the Virtual Console, it's big news. This week, Japan gets three, one of which is very big news indeed as the confluence of a good N64 game, an RPG, and a Mario game.

• Makai Hakkenden SHADA (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)
• Shining Force (Mega Drive, 1 player, 700 Wii Points)
• Militia (Super Famicom, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
• Mario Story (Nintendo 64, 1 player, 1000 Wii Points)

If you're lucky enough to have a Hastings store nearby, the entertainment retailer is offering to exchange your moth-eaten copies of Super Paper Mario or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for a waggle-fied edition of Resident Evil 4. They'll also accept Rainbow Six Vegas (360) and God of War II (PS2), but not without scowling at you first.

According to the rest of Hastings's weekly ad, there's a buy-1-get-2nd-for-free sale on body jewelry, so be on the look out for that deal too! Put away the other two RE4 games you've already bought for previous platforms, throw on a shirt that shows off your belly-button-ringed midriff, and check past the post break for the full flyer.

A Livejournal group called "Bento Challenge," which is devoted to making festive Japanese-style lunches in recognizable shapes, is doing a "game characters" theme this week. And, as you may expect, that means a lot of Nintendo. In Soviet Russia Japan, you eat Kirby!

We posted the Kirby because it's so adorable-- he's just SO HAPPY about being your lunch! But there is other stuff in the competition that must be seen to be believed, like a Paper Mario-style Bowser that is basically perfect. Forget waggling, devouring is the real Revolution.

We spend too much time on unimportant aspects of our food, like flavor. We should really be paying more attention to how much like a Nintendo character our meals look.

Hey, rumors are fun! We see two possibilities regarding this list of Wii games that "will be coming out" according to WiiYou.com. First: they scooped the entire world and got an exclusive look at a list of unannounced Wii games that nobody has heard anything at all about. Second, they didn't.

We're looking at the list, and it seems to be about half educated guessing and half dreaming. Call us cynics, but we're going to wait for verification before we go put our money down on F-Zero or Metroid Xterme.

Of course Sega Nerds latched on to the listing for Shadow the Hedgehog 2, but, in our minds, that's not the biggest news item on the list. We'd be more interested in hearing about the two Zelda games. Check after the post break for the full list.

The N64 version of Paper Mario is soon to hit the Virtual Console, according to a recent magazine article.

If you've just finished Super Paper Mario and are after some more dimension-shifting hyper-realism , then this is the place to get it. The 2001 classic is more of an RPG than its younger sibling, with turn based combat, so bear that in mind if you're thinking of shelling out the Wii points.

No news on release dates as yet -- we'll keep you posted.

The unreleased Gamecube Kirby looked to be running on the Super Smash Bros. Melee engine. Most of the character art in Super Paper Mario Iooks a whole lot like that of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and we don't think that's just consistency in style.

Nintendo seems to be reusing art and code from previous games. The advantages of such a practice are obvious: reduced cost, quicker development cycles, and less need for debugging.

But does it bother you to have a new game that isn't entirely new? Should Intelligent Systems have redrawn Mario for their new game? Or is there no reason to redo perfectly good work? What do you all think about the reuse of assets in new games?

Super Paper Mario might've been the happiest game at the Nintendo booth at GDC. This 2D/3D platformer features a lot of character and charm, something the Paper Mario series has been known for. This ex-Gamecube title gathered the largest crowds and lines at Nintendo's booth, and it's clear why: it's simply a lot of fun.

You hold the Wii Remote sideways, in classic NES form. Because the game plays homage to the early 2D Mario platformers, the Wii Remote may actually be superior than the Gamecube controller for this game. The D-Pad obviously moves the character, while 1 and 2 allow you to do the basics, like Jump. The game's unique feature, dimension changing, comes through the use of the A button. By simply hitting A, the game world rotates, revealing depth to Mario's once flat world.

Even without the dimension-shifting mechanic, Super Paper Mario would've been a fun and imaginative game. There are tons of environmental effects that take Mario to new, surprising places. Also, you'll finally be able to play as multiple characters, such as Peach. With her parasol in hand, you'll be able to go far distances, a la Super Mario Bros. 2. Also, although the game doesn't feature any significant Wii enhancements, it's nice to see the game running in widescreen and in 480p. The game might not feature any truly spectacular graphics, but the playful paper art style still looks great. Definitely keep an eye out for this one when it comes out in April.