Month: August 2013

Zelda LTTP: Desert Palace

Once again, it’s time to play some Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on SNES. Last time, I made my way through the East Palace to grab the first of three pendants. The elder also gave me the pegasus shoes, which let me run real fast.

This time, I had to journey west into the desert…of mystery!

lttp-desert of mysteryOf course, everything has to be mysterious or dangerous. When’s the last time you visited the Desert of Sand or Joe’s Desert? But once I got to the dungeon entrance, I couldn’t go inside. It’s apparently because there was a book written in another language, and Link can’t read squiggly.

lttp-squigglySo I had to go back up to the village. The library had a mysterious book on top of the bookshelf, but poor little Link can’t reach it! He’s just a little elf, you know. But fortunately, Link knows how to use his head. So I had him charge up using the pegasus shoes and ram his head into the bookshelf at full speed. Now that’s a smart guy! The book fell to the floor and Link picked it up.

lttp-bookofmudoraWith the book in hand, I was able to return to the dungeon. I translated the text, made a wish, and then I was inside. I made my way through the sandy rooms, eventually finding the power glove! It lets me play NES pick up and carry rocks.

lttp-powergloveTo proceed, I actually needed to go outdoors and use my new gloves to lift some rocks that were blocking a door. I was then able to advance to the boss room, where three large sand worms for waiting for me.

lttp-sand wormsI don’t understand why three big worms needed a pendant when they were happy to just play in the sand, but I had to defeat them anyway. They weren’t very hard to beat, so I grabbed the Pendant of Power without a problem.

lttp-popI still need one more pendant, and it’s up on Death Mountain. So that’s where I’ll be headed next time!

Pikmin 3 – Rock Pikmin & Brittany

It’s day 3 in the world of Pikmin 3, and I blasted off to the Garden of Hope. Playing as Alph, I walked past an electric fence I can’t get past yet. I only have red Pikmin at this point; they’re immune to fire, but not electricity. I soon found where my fellow space explorer Brittany was trapped, but I couldn’t reach her due to a crystal wall in the way. I had no choice but to continue exploring.

I soon came across a strange flying creature that appeared to have something inside of it. I threw my red Pikmin up at it, eventually defeating it. Its contents fell out…they’re rock Pikmin! They’re strong and heavy enough to break through crystal. So I returned to where Brittany was trapped and used the rock Pikmin to break through and free her.

p3-crystalWith Brittany free, I was now able to split up into separate groups. By having Alph throw Brittany and some Pikmin onto a ledge, she was in turn able to throw Pikmin up even higher to reach a lemon. Us aliens really like the fruit juice, you see. To advance further, I needed my Pikmin to assemble a bridge. Some of the pieces were in plain sight, while others were trapped inside a crystal. Naturally, I needed to use rock Pikmin to break through the crystal to reach them. After the bridge was assembled, I then came across some enemies that spew fire. I knew I had to bring only my red Pikmin into this battle.

p3-fireAfter that, I spotted some new pieces that needed to be assembled to make another bridge. Unfortunately, the day was starting to come to a close, so I had to round up all my Pikmin before the sun went down.

I am slowly getting accustomed to the controls and I’m having a lot of fun with the game. Next time, I need to give it a longer play session. But for now, here is a gameplay video showing most of today’s action:

Animal Crossing Plaza – Wii U

In today’s Nintendo Direct video, Nintendo announced Animal Crossing Plaza. It’s a free eShop download for Wii U that is much like the WaraWara plaza, but instead of Miis, the plaza is populated with Animal Crossing characters.

Download Animal Crossing PlazaFrom here, you can access a new Animal Crossing news community on Miiverse, where you can post about the Animal Crossing games and view others’ comments as well. For unknown reasons, the Animal Crossing Plaza will only be available through the end of 2014. Here is a video showing what it’s like. At the end of the video, I take a look at the new Animal Crossing message boards on Miiverse as well.

You can set up your profile to display your Animal Crossing New Leaf name, town, and dream address. You can also choose your favorite character to represent yourself. Unfortunately, not all of the characters will be in the plaza every time, so you may need to load up the plaza several times before you’re able to find your favorite. You can also upload your pictures taken in ACNL by putting your 3DS SD card into your Wii U, and attach those pictures to messages you post. Here, I posted about how I was happy when the character Katt moved out of my town, and I attached a picture I took of me dancing in her house.

acplaza-kattWhile the plaza is essentially just a glorified message board, it’s definitely something Animal Crossing fans will want to check out and enjoy. And it’s a free download, so why not?

Animal Crossing Plaza screenshotAnimal Crossing fans, also remember to check out Jeff’s New Leaf Blog, which I update regularly. And if you’d like to follow me on Miiverse, my Nintendo Network ID is jvgsjeff.

UPDATE: I just wanted to mention that since this blog entry was written, Nintendo has added the ability to register your town residents. This way, they will appear every time you load up the plaza. Pretty cool.