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I finished Shantae: Risky's Revenge a few days ago. I think the game is strongest in its first and third dungeons, which have more similarities to old Zelda and Metroid, and some of the X-4 and X-8 levels of Yoshi's Island, than they do to the Igavania games (which I imagine Risky's Revenge is at least perceived, if not conceived, to be in the style of). I was pleasantly surprised to find dungeons discrete from the overworld in the game, and think it is to the dungeons' benefit that the game does not provide maps of anything but the overworld. The overworld map functions like a Metrovania map, but is more vague, and there is a key difference: Many of the screens in Risky's Revenge's overworld overlap, and so the map is about denoting depth and width rather than height and width.

The overworld as a whole is not all that interesting in terms of level design, but there are some noteworthy moments. Some of the platforming to the left of the area that the game begins in is alright. The Tangled Woods is the most pronounced example of the overlapping-screens concept, and is also visually and aurally gorgeous. The placement, and frequency, of respawning enemies in the Pumpkin and Lilac Fields flirts with inducing NES-era frustration, but doesn't quite get there.

The game is not especially difficult, and there a couple of design choices regarding powering up that handle the challenge level well:

1. You can't upgrade your basic attack's strength, you can only increase its frequency.

2. It seemed like max health upgrades weren't obtainable until the final third of the game, when the more challenging enemies began to appear.

Selecting which magic spell or consumable item to assign to the R button is handled on the bottom screen using touch controls. This isn't too bad, because it can be done, to suit your speed, whether the game is running or paused.

Very decent game. I'd say it's notable in the DSiWare line (however, not the best on offer), but it's not so remarkable in the greater scheme of things.
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Which one are you playing?
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I thought that might be the case, but was curious if I'd misread you and that you were actually referring to just the first one, or other specific entry. I guess I don't have anything to add, I haven't really taken note of triggers, but then I've only played V (DS) and IX. IX I liked a lot despite some really annoying time-wasting aspects. V has very nice music (plus all the other positive things people say about it, though those didn't hold my interest).
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I've been playing Catrap on and off since summer, or maybe early fall. Several of the stages numbered in the late 80- and early 90 range each really had me stumped for quite a while. But just now, I managed to breeze through the last 6 or 7 stages with little difficulty. The last few stages really do a good job of preparing you to deal with the hundredth and final level, "??", which would otherwise be an intimidating and confusing mess. But, I was able to clear it in less than 3 minutes without using the rewind button.

Despite the outward appearance of a platformer, the game is turn-based, and really requires no manual skill beyond that which is required to operate its controls. Many of the puzzles can be solved easily by simply fiddling with the elements presented in each stage. However, what I appreciated most about Catrap were the more complicated puzzles, which almost demanded that I first formulate hypotheses, and then set out to prove them in order to clear those stages.

The game's ending might indicate that Ico is Catrap canon.
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If you ever get the chance, try playing Secret of Mana co-op.
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"In the video, Inafune describes his new game as an 'Inafune-like' game. He also describes it as an 'amazing' game, but would not share specifics."

EDIT: Sorry, thought I was in the news thread.
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If I hadn't sold my SNES games a few years back and replaced most of them with their respective GBA and DS ports, I'd totally get one of these.
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Well, let's hope he had little to do with solving my Chrono Trigger problems.
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It took me till the final phase of my Luigi run of the second W8-Castle level (almost third playthrough) to realise you can long jump through bricks in Super Mario 3D Land. Such a lovely game.
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What were they doing the first time around that you liked?
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That does sound neat, I'll have to give it another go.
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Just had a pretty dismal endurance run of Daytona USA's expert course. I only lasted 10 laps. I'm out of practice.

Spent 25 minutes after that with with Under Defeat HD's New Order Mode, which I've only tried a handful of times. Made it to the end of stage 4. I feel like enemies smashing into you from off the sides of the screen are more prevalent in this mode than arcade mode. That was a real problem for me tonight.
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Continue playing it.
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There are a lot of levels, the challenge picks up. Much of the moveset in unnecessary, but allows you to complete stages in unexpected ways.
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I'm also

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But you don't have to collect the bonus items, especially if you don't feel like you need the extra lives.

But yeah, 1ups – lives, even – in Nintendo games have been really redundant for a long while now. Most perplexing for me are the ones in Yoshi's Island and Super Mario 64. Both games save your progress after you complete each objective, and in Super Mario 64 your extra lives aren't even saved to your file. Though, in Super Mario 3D Land I feel like extra lives replace the absent score counter, especially since the game gives you many opportunities chain bounces off enemies.
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I looked at a YouTube video of Mirror Stage, but wasn't really sure what was going on. What's it all about?
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Saw a new copy of Dog Days on 360 for 5 bucks. Walking to a friend's house with it and a six pack right now.
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I had two revelations about jars of holding recently:

1. You can use items that are inside the jar without having to waste a turn removing them first.

2. If you hold B down when stepping onto a gitan bag, you can use the menu to place the bag in a jar of holding. From there you can later throw the gitan bag at an enemy, dealing damage 10% of the bag's monetary value.
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I've been playing a bunch of DoDonPachi Blissful Death on my iPod. On novice, because I suck. Although I think I'll crank it up to normal – or whatever the next step in difficulty is – soon. I can't figure out why it is that sometimes when I blow up the big ones their shots turn into star tokens, but sometimes they don't.
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ghetto jumping?
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I've played a whole a bunch of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy recently, and while I've enjoyed it, I can't help but think that I could be doing something else instead while listening to my Final Fantasy MP3s.
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I can now reliably 1cc DoDonPachi Blissful Death on novice, so it's time I graduate to normal.
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Back in September I went on a trip, and there was a guy on one of my flights seated a few rows ahead and across the aisle from me. He had a GBA SP and played Super Mario Bros. till he got a game over, Kid Icarus until he got a game over, Street Fighter II until he got a game over, and then he turned the GBA SP off and put it back in his bag. This struck me as a completely sane way to play video games. Since then I've made it a habit of firing up only one of my things that plays video games when I get home from work in the early evening, and choosing a game that has you start from the beginning every time and takes less than an hour to complete (if I'm good enough at it), and playing until I either 1cc it or lose. When I'm finished the game, I'll start up a different one if I have the time for it. And so, if I turn on my:

DS Lite, I will play:

1. Umihara Kawase (I learn something new about how to play almost every time)
2. Gradius Galaxies (On the easiest difficulty, where almost nothing fires a shot a you, I rarely make it past stage 2)

3DS, I will play:

1. Ninja Karakuri Den
2. Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword (Not the story mode, but the 30-, 50-, or 100 Thug Challenges)

iPod Touch, I will play:

1. DoDonPachi: Blissful Death (I'm about ready to turn the difficulty up to hard now)
2. Ziggurat


Occasionally, I'll also race a course or two in Trackmania DS, try to beat dark level 8 in PiCTOBiTS, get a medal on a level in Trajectile, or try to 100% a level in the GBA version of Yoshi's Island.

On the weekends when I have a bit more time, I do sometimes play other things with more persistent progression. I recently finished my fourth playthrough of Final Fantasy III DS (which could probably be my sacred cow), and found a secret area in Falgabard I'd never seen before. I'm keeping at Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. Haven't made it past floor 20 or 21 yet, but a whole bunch of sidequest plotlines are coming together nicely now. I've also been switching between Maxim and Julius modes on my Castlevania Double Pack. So far I think that playing as Maxim in Harmony of Dissonance is way more fun than playing as Julius in Aria of Sorrow.

I'm going to post about the 30-, 50-, and 100 Thug Challenges in Sakura Samurai real soon, because despite being unlockable extra modes, they make for my favourite video game right now.
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Felix, I still see new copies of Shiren all over Vancouver for less than $10.
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Right, I guess I saw it in those stores a couple months ago. Glad you tracked a copy down in the end.
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I held a Wii U tablet today in a shop and thought the buttons and joysticks felt sloppy. Also in that same shop I played a level of New Super Mario Bros. 2, and it was not very different from a level of New Super Mario Bros.
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Drawing & writing, mostly.