Yasawas

1) Not like them in terms of the bits you don't like thankfully, just like them in the sense of there being trials where you need to disprove testimony and that. Low goofiness volume throughout. 2) Woaft It was a fiver less from Amazon at launch but it's nearer £35 there now too.

I've done about eleven hours. If you enjoyed 999/Virtue's Last Reward and the Ace Attorney games you should be playing it now too, it's very good indeed. The only complaint I have is that there are these AA-esque trial sections every so often which are very well done overall and mix it up nicely but the tutorial text for them is so awful you only work it out by failing a bunch of times. It's an instant restart but it's a wee bit clumsy in a game that otherwise does more than most visual novels to remove the shite, frustrating bits. It's funny, there's no backtracking, it doesn't let you miss a clue then wander aimlessly around looking for it, it's pretty slick. I can't believe they put this and Toukiden out on the same day with Ys the following week, there have been no big retail Vita releases for ages then they shoot them all out together and expect me to fit them in before Dark Souls 2/Yoshi/Layton X Phoenix Wright.

Nice, just saw the Monster Hunter news. It's a shame it's so long away and Capcom might be bankrupt long before then but it's hope at least. Europe gets Layton vs Ace Attorney on 28th March, fast becoming an expensive month. It's a mystery why companies can take so long to put these games out when they've already been translated into more languages than your market requires, unless they're going to delay it to prevent it coming out too close to Azran Legacy which you must be due soon.

Korea did too but I can imagine there's a huge fanbase there for it. Is it too much to hope that this new version is why we haven't heard of an English localisation yet? I liked 3 Ultimate a lot Capcom and I want to give you money, help me out.

Touch! Kirby (DS). AKA Canvas Curse/Power Paintbrush. I've had this since Japanese release which I was horrified to discover was nine years ago. I decided to go back and try to finish it as a palette-cleanser after Bravely Default and before I start the next Ace Attorney. It's a kind of weird platformer entirely controlled by the touchscreen as you poke enemies to disable them then poke Kirby to roll into them to finish them off, you also use the stylus to draw platforms for him, block lasers/rockets and interact with the environment. It's short, it's adorable, it's fun and I have no desire to ever play it again.

Bravely Default (3DS). Not the true ending because 1) I really can't be fucked and 2) this actually feels like the direction I'd have gone if I didn't know the true ending was a thing. This is a frustrating game for me, someone who has doesn't really play JRPGs but has latched on to the big ones like FF7-9, Persona 4, and enjoyed them to varying degrees. The job system is fantastic and allows so many permutations of characters and abilities, the autobattle and speedup thing makes grinding quick not that it's really required, it's staggeringly beautiful in places, the music is great. It's soured by a twist halfway through that I can't believe anyone thought was a good idea for a game this long. I did get over it and got back on with it but if you're kind of casually interested in this style of game and you have a backlog I could easily understand putting it down and never coming back. I forced myself through now because I have so many 3DS games to start that have had to wait because of this but I didn't want to have this nagging away at me every time I saw it on the shelf. My meaningless JRPG-noob scale has this somewhere below Persona 4 but above any Final Fantasy, which means precisely fuck all as I've only played the PS1 titles that weren't ports and I loved Mystic Quest on the SNES. It's good, but don't go nuts over it because it's deeply flawed. I got my money's worth and look forward to a sequel though.

I meant the DS one! I've seen a lot of people bemoan and bewail it but the 90 seconds or so I gave it with unrepsonsive touchscreen controls on an emulator on my tablet it seemed alright. I'll probably buy the 3DS one blind because I'm a relentless optimist and post-Zelda I don't judge a anything visually until I've seen it for myself on that wee portal into magic. I have finished Bravely Default (over 73 hours!) which means I can play something else now and I'm relieved and delighted. I only play one game at a time generally so that was a bit sapping, I'll give it a week or two before I even think about starting Pokemon.

Why does everyone hate Yoshi's Island DS? I'm thinking about buying it.

I started that (on a Nexus 7) earlier this week and I was wondering how that came across on a PC. I've only just done that boss myself and I'm not in love with it either. It's a shame as the first twenty minutes or so are quite promising - I like how it looks, soundtrack is nice, seemed pretty interesting. Hold a thing and then tap or rub another thing does not make for a compelling game experience though, even with touchscreen controls.

I'm seriously considering buying a Japanese 3DS to go with my European one, I am part of the problem. Region lock is stupid, obviously, but I can't see them removing it and the good stuff that does get over is worth it on its own. It depends on your tastes of course but I think Europeans have had it a bit better than North Americans with the 3DS overall too. It isn't, and there's been no mention of it coming out here at all as far as I'm aware. I was interested for a while but I think my JRPG itch has been scratched.

I'm doing a dumb thing where I'm trying to finish 52 games in a year. It can be games I started earlier, and games I've beaten before, but I'm finding myself more drawn to mobile games and all of those Humble bundle things I've bought and never touched to make up the numbers as they tend to be shorter so it should be an interesting experience. I only have a 2009 OG MacBook and a laptop running Debian so I'm a bit limited in what I can play on them though. Anyway, The Room (Android). I've owned smartphones since the original terrible iPhone and this is the first mobile game I've ever got into enough to finish. I thought it was like 999 on the DS without the talking and the anime which was absolutely fine by me as (I loved that game btw) and eagerly await the sequel coming to Android. The puzzles are kind of dumb if you stop to think about them but when you're actually doing it it's really cool somehow and when you get past a bit you were stuck at it's up there with solving a Layton puzzle and having the man in the hat point at you and make you feel all special. Really enjoyed this and three hours or so play for 69 pence is a new one for someone who only ever really plays console games.

Finishing off Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy and I'm really going to miss that guy. I say miss him, there's a ludicrous volume of additional and free downloadable content for it but I like the stories and characters tying everything together, it's a lovely wee world they've made. Having given the Ace Attorney series a third chance recently and quite enjoyed it I'm looking forward to this spinoff though. Edit - I didn't realise that was getting a physical release but it's listed on Amazon for 28th March. Hot madam.

Naya's Quest. I loved VVVVVV with all of my shitty heart and Terry Cavanagh apparently has so many great ideas for games he can just give them away for free like this. It's an initially awkward-feeling isometric environmental puzzle game where the perspective is constantly playing tricks on you, you have a button to flip between two views to help you work out where you can stand, and once you're a wee bit in and feeling cocky big Terry adds a number of twists on this to make it a bit more challenging. Some are a bit rubbish (the hexagon one, the one where the directions become straight compass points) but it never goes on long enough to drag the game down and the ones that do work, which is most of them, are fucking rad. I had a great time with this, and would happily chuck him a fiver for three or four hours worth of this on 3DS. It's like what I thought Echochrome was going to be before I bought it and found out it was boring and awful. Nice one Tel. http://terrycavanaghgames.com/nayasquest/

I didn't continue with it beyond about April but I started keeping a list of games I completed last year and was amazed to discover how much I preferred Japanese games, which was something I'd really never given any thought to, it was eight out of the first ten or something. I've been thinking about this today and my top five for last year is equally unWestern. Super Mario 3D World Persona 4 Golden The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Bravely Default Fire Emblem: Awakening Mario is utterly ludicrous. I thought the 3DS game was alright and that they couldn't top Galaxy 2, nothing prepared me for the shiny, lovely, polished joy of what they delivered. It's my favourite Mario 3D game, it's one of probably less than ten games in my life that I've continued playing in an effort to 100% once the credits had rolled as I can't let go and there's so much content in there. It's Pixar in game form and it's perfect.

Indeed. Some jobs are pretty weak damage wise but they all have a great support ability you can take advantage of somewhere down the line so it's worth experimenting. And I haven't bothered with shields at all except on my healer, the extra damage is more important. There's a job later on that comes with dual-wield by default and does such preposterous damage that for a while there I had three of them all maxed out before I thought better of it and started levelling up other jobs in case I regret it later. This is an odd game. I don't want to give too much away as I don't know if anyone else is near my bit yet but while chapter five is dogshit, six just did a really cool thing that totally redeemed it. A nice wee twist I did not see coming at all in a game so traditional.

I remember ordering the limited edition because we were promised a hardback book which sounded like the one that came with DeS and was actually good, then at the last minute they changed it to a PDF with a handful of pages about the opening area. Boo.

I had a glorious moment with Bravely Default on Friday where I got to the boss at the end of chapter 3 and got completely decimated three times in succession. I was fairly raging and thinking of quitting then I changed a couple of jobs around and ruined him. Once you get a good number of jobs opened up, start to see the later abilities they offer and get your head around the combinations you can cook up it gets really interesting I think.

Two votes for Super Star was pretty conclusive so I own this now, cheers! It's a real pain in the arse trying to keep on top of that series as a lot of the games seem to have different names in every region.

Are there any Kirby enthusiasts who can tell me which one I should get from the eShop next? I have the cart of the golfy SNES one already and Kirby's Adventure on 3DS but there are a few others that all look equally cute and fun.

I once passed up the chance to buy Doshin the Giant in favour of Capcom vs SNK 2 I'm not cut out to be a collector but one thing I have learned is never, ever sell Nintendo stuff. It's not worth it. Back in 3DS town does anyone have anything nice to say about Inazuma Eleven? I'd dismissed it as an anime thing for children but a football RPG sounds interesting and Level 5 make some fine products.

There was. It was a very late release and while the import version was readily available and cheap I only ever saw one PAl copy in a shop, optimistically priced at £49.99. A few years later when the Wii came out I knew a guy who'd bought a US one and we traded a bunch of GC games - my US stuff for his PAL - and I got Chibo Robo which I eventually sold like a chump along with Twin Snakes, Twilight Princess and Ikaruga and it still hurts man.

No, Atlus announced a date for it a couple of years ago but then reversed their decision before the date came around. The official word is they are now up "indefinitely".

I hope I'm wrong but I don't think Chibi-Robo has been announced for Europe at all, it wasn't in the last Direct. I think there's a new StreetPass puzzle for it in North America too but we didn't get that which I take as a poor omen. I too loved the GameCube version. I should never have given all that lot away, the PAL version is pretty rare now and I'd never pay what it goes for.

Sony foots the bill for the Demon's Souls servers as I understand it, it was only ever the US one they announced they were going to take down and that was an Atlus decision. Apparently they think the cost is worth having a unique exclusive, and it was not long after the US server fiasco that they put it out on PSN and subsequently PS+ in both regions so I can believe it. I'll be getting Dark Souls 2 on PS3 because I'm poor. I was thinking it's ages away but I realised earlier this week when I was booking leave for work that it's just two months. Two months! Two wee months until every other game becomes irrelevant until about November.

Super Mario 3D World done! Pure magic from start to finish and very possibly my favourite 3D Mario game.