And to celebrate, God Bless ‘em he’s decided to embarrass himself on the internet! WHATAGUY.

Well, everyone. This is a post that has probably been coming for a while now. Ever since being offered the chance to write for Nintendorks a few months back, I’ve struggled with figuring out how to divide the limited writing time I have during the week between these two sites. My original intention was to cross post larger pieces (news, reviews, etc.) on both while posting exclusive random bits here on Slist. It was a nice theory and honestly doesn’t sound all that hard, but as I heard someone’s old man tell them a long time ago: “If you run around chasing 2 rabbits, you’ll wind up with neither.” I’m pretty sure he was talking about women, but I think it applies to a couple of Nintendo fansites just as well. Basically I’m deciding to put Shigeru’s List on hiatus for the foreseeable future so I can focus any and all of my writing to try and help make Nintendorks just that much closer to the site I loved reading in my early 20’s. Nintendorks as you may or may not be aware, has been around for about 15 years now and I stumbled across them in the late 90’s, just near the end of the N64 era. It birthed the only online community I’ve ever actively participated in (for better and worse) and was in every way the inspiration for what I attempted to accomplish with this site before you. It’s been a lot of fun just screwing around in an attempt to deliver their type of entertainment here, but now that I actually have the “keys to the car” so to speak, I don’t see how it’s fair to either page if my attention becomes so terribly divided that I end up writing less than I used to just on one site. Basically, Nintendorks just really means a lot to me and still has so much potential and I’d kick myself in the ass forever if I didn’t give it 100% now that I’ve actually got the gig. It was a huge moment seeing my first post appear under Mr. Face’s toothy grin and I don’t want to let that guy down, mostly because he’s kind of scary. In any case, I love Shigeru’s List and this has really been a great few years of sort of figuring out a rhythm for my own style of writing and learning what it was like to collaborate and have friends chip in from time to time. It’s a very satisfying feeling to have been able to offer a place for these guys who know what they’re talking about and are so funny and smart, a venue for their work.

We had our third birthday a couple of days ago on the tenth and it was a reminder to me of how grateful I am to everyone that has not only contributed their words (ANC, Matt, some other guys), images (Big Jim Slade) but also their time and attention (yep, that’s you reader person). Thanks for all of the support these past 36 months and if you’re worried you’ve seen the last of our particular brand of Nintendo ramblings here at Shigeru’s List don’t worry, there’s still more to come: You’ll just have to click on Nintendorks.net to read them.

<3 Sincerely,

Ray64

And I just did a quick write up of all the sweet Nintendo items I scored the other day! Hop on over to Nintendorks.net by clicking right here to take a look if you feel like it. Or don’t! More content on the way in the New Year!

Wooooooot!

Everyone here at Shigeru’s List would like to convey our most sincere gratitude for the support and readership.

“The right thing… what is it? I wonder, if you do the right thing, does it really make everyone happy?“

Batman Returns is a 3-Dimensionally challenged sidescrolling beat ‘em up where players assume the role of the Dark Knight as he attempts to murder hundreds of criminals before the Penguin steals Christmas. This is one of those games that as a kid I wanted more than anything but since I was never given Nintendo related gifts outside of my and the lord daddy Jesus’ birthday, it was one of many to slip through the cracks. Well I finally got my hands on a copy not long ago, played it and now I’m writing a little something.

This thing hit store shelves at a time when Konami was kicking some serious 16-bit behind. In addition to incredible entries in both the Castlevania and Contra franchises, they were also knocking out great games based on licensed properties like Tiny Toons and the Ninja Turtles (note to self: half ass review Turtles in Time at some point). All of them featuring fantastic graphics, sound and controls that still hold up to this day. So how does this SNES adaptation of the 1992 Tim Burton sequel to his movie based on Bob Kane’s creation fare? It’s incredibly shallow, mind-numbingly repetitious and a lot of fun.

If you’ve ever played a Final Fight game in your life then you know exactly what to expect here. You walk around from level to level administering every flavor of pain known to Earth upon anyone that walks on your side of the street. It sounds simplistic and it really is but these games have always had a visceral appeal that is probably pretty obvious. And while Batman Returns is a blatant clone of the dozens of entries in this genre that precede it, there’s one critically appealing difference it has going for it that none of the rest can offer: You’re the Goddamned BATMAN.

As stated before, the video/audio experience Konami delivers here is incredibly appealing. Even if old Bats himself comes off looking a bit, shall we say…”chunky,” the animation, color scheme and faithfulness to the production design of the movie (Bo Welch), really make for a pleasant atmosphere with which to beat up women dressed as Indians within an inch of their lives to. In addition to that feature (not listed on the box, mind you), Batman Returns makes the small but appreciated effort of including the occasional Mode-7 Batmobile stage that goes a long way toward mixing things up. How nice of it.

The game also does a really fine job of following the general plotline and locations established in the movie. Sure there isn’t a level that lets you tear your house apart and sew your own leather Catwoman costume from scratch but who hasn’t already done that in real life? There’s one really cool bit early on that I just love. When you’re confronted by the clown holding Selina Kyle at taser-point, you can actually shoot your bathook thing into the wall behind him and tear a chunk out that cracks him on the head. It doesn’t knock him out like in the movie or anything and you still have to fight him for a little while but I think it’s a nice touch.

Just look! There’s that annoying ice princess that is about to paint the pavement in a few seconds pictured above and the oddly endearing Duck-boat thing that the Penguin pilots around below. Man, this was one seriously weird movie.

As you can tell, I’m pretty fond of this game and am yapping about it because we are now resting comfortably in the loving arms of the Christmas season. Batman Returns is a movie that I…uh, return to every December and thanks to Konami, have a great game to play alongside it each year.

Um yeah I’m pretty sure with that getup every mode is hard there, sweetheart.

Mr. Face say this game GOOD.
Mr. Face never wrong!

Batman Returns for the Super Nintendo will be released in April of 1993 at a suggested retail price of $69.99.

Club Nintendo has had this sweet deal going for a while that allows members to use coins earned registering Nintendo product codes on actual video games rather than the type of paraphernalia more commonly found in Chinatown. For the most part selected titles have been restricted to stuff the majority of long time players wouldn’t bat an eyelash at but as you can tell from the headline and screenshot above, this isn’t the case at the moment. The N64 classic 1080 Snowboarding is up for grabs for a mere 150 coins as are three other selections each worth looking into. 1080 is a game that I spent a ridiculous amount of my un-prescribed medicinally medicated marijuana years playing as a teenager and it’s a lot of fun. Especially now since you can enjoy it in a higher resolution while your hands are wrapped around the asscheeksofthewomanyoulove GameCube controller. Also, if you burn some Nag Champa and listen to this track as you tear through the Golden Forest stage over and over again, shit gets really far ou-sorry? Oh right, what else is currently up for grabs:

Not bad, eh? Metroid II is one of those dark experiences in life that can obviously benefit from the inclusion of a 3DS save state. I understand Mario Party games are a lot of fun for some people and I’ve already downloaded and played through some of 3D Classics TwinBee which this site is currently pregnant with my opinion of and is due anytime now. Go buy some cigars.

Well Nintendo’s certainly feeling generous with this week’s top notch roundup of eShop downloads. The 3DS is now home to the full retail version of Adventure Time: Hey Ice King? Why’d You Steal Our Garbage? at $29.99 and the 8-bit Ninja Gaiden slashes its way onto the Virtual Console for five bucks. The former of course, is a game based on the popular children’s cartoon whose charms I am apparently immune to and the latter is a stone cold classic action platformer that I will never be good enough to complete but still love to death. The Ninja Gaiden games for the NES were some of my favorites to play as a kid despite their sadistic challenge level. The gorgeous graphics, revolutionary (at the time) cut-scenes and airtight controls made them incredibly fun and they still totally hold up. Still, I’ll probably pass because I really don’t want to be one of those guys who screams obscenities on public transportation. However if by some chance you’ve never had a go with this series before, I strongly recommend the experience.

And wait, what’s this?

The Wii’s Virtual Console refuses to stay down for the count as the Neo Geo’s Real Bout Fatal Fury makes its long awaited (to someone, I’m sure) debut at a fairly tall order of 900 points to purchase. What a fighter. Last but certainly not least, the Wii U is now offering the full retail version of Batman: Arkham City as well as free demos for both Rayman Legends and Sonic the All Star Racing Transformer. I had just enough time to install these two before leaving for work this morning so I’ll be checking them out very soon. Reviews for the Sonic game have been surprisingly kind and I thoroughly enjoyed Rayman Origins so I’m looking forward to taking them for a test spin and maybe even writing about my feelings toward them somewhere down the line. Begin holding your breath.

For more information about today’s other downloads option’s click right here for more information about today’s other download options.

A lot of very cool info in today’s Nintendo Direct including more concrete approximations of release dates for plenty of highly desirable games including Luigi’s Mansion (3DS), Pikmin 3 (Wii U), Wii U Fit (Guess) and some Lego thing. It’s a very fun watch but I can’t be the only one that audibly gasped when that crab thing started trapping all of those sweet little pikmin in floaty bubbles. Right?

These are only impressions and not a full on review due to the fact that I haven’t made much actual progress since I’m constantly wiping drool off of my gamepad. Christ, this game is gorgeous. The background lighting and details make Muramasa’s own look like some autistic 6-year old fucking around in flipnote. The basic setup is this: You control a trio of characters consisting of Gandalf, some chick archer and an armored knight (that looks a lot like the ones Link fights in Wind Waker) on a puzzle-ridden sidescrolling quest to do something or other. Like I said, I haven’t really made it that far. What’s really cool is that you can toggle between each of these guys on the fly. Tear apart some oncoming enemies using the knight’s sword, shoot open some ropes holding up a critical beam with that broad’s bow and arrow or use the force with the wizard to create and strategically maneuver blocks that help you jump across chasms and whatnot. It’s really fun and clever but I can’t keep myself from starting my file over and over again to savor every visual detail because again, this is one of the most flatout beautiful games I have ever seen. Here, have a look for yourself while I go hit a cold shower.