While in Wal-Mart the other day, I found N+ for $10. Remembering it was in IGN’s Top 25, I picked it up with excitement, removed Spirit Tracks from its well-deserved place in my card slot, and popped in this simplistic platformer.  Let me say, if any of you have not picked up this game, DO IT.

In N+, the N stands for Ninja, and all you do is run and jump (see gameplay footage). There are HUNDREDS of levels, plus a level editor and online access to a community of players. After playing it for a couple of hours, I am realizing how incredibly challenging this game is. I can’t tell you how many times my little guy has exploded as he hit the explosives scattered throughout the levels. Just recently I screamed in a room of friends and family when a barely missed passing a level. Its intense.  I love this game.

A lot can change in a decade. Just ask Nintendo.

In Apr. 2003, with the month’s rains at their dreariest, the company reported fiscal GameCube sales of 5.6 million units, less than half the total forecast in 2002.

Six Aprils later, Nintendo closed another fiscal year with sales of 25.95 million Wii systems, nearly a five-fold increase over 2003, as the company famous for the power-up evidently dipped into its own stash.

For Nintendo enthusiasts, however, the story of the last decade is much richer than the dull tales of fiscal sales and record-setting profits. Even as the company was struggling at retail, Nintendo published some of the most memorable games in its history, giving us familiar faces, strange new places and of course, plumbers in outer spaces.

From its darkest days to its brightest, this was an erratic decade for Nintendo. But through it all, fantastic games were a constant. Join us as we remember the best.

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In the summer of 1983, the original Famicom was unleashed on the Japanese market – a small, affordable home computer system with just three launch titles: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong 2, and Popeye – each nearly dead ringers for their arcade counterparts.  The console was an instant hit, and it wasn’t long before Nintendo started to look to the west, eventually releasing the legendary Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985 – but before the NES, Nintendo had something very different in mind, something that could been the difference between success and failure in the North American market.  This is the story of the Nintendo “Advanced Video System”

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Did you own a Game Boy Player? I don’t, but I wish I did. So much that I’m thinking of picking one up, especially if the much-desired Virtual Handheld service never comes to fruition.

As a non-owner, answer me this, kind reader. 1) What’s the best way to play the Game Boy Player on an HD TV? Do you use the default game borders or scale the 3×2 Game Boy Advance perspective flush with your TV edges? 2) What do you like most about the attachment? The least? 3) Should I buy one?

Okay, break!

Recently during my gaming exploits I heard some talk about a Mother 3 game for Garry’s Mod. For those of you who don’t know Garry’s mod is a game on steam that runs off the source engine where people can create their own applications or games using the source engine in conjunction with their own code built in Lua.

Yet, what is truly amazing about this Mother 3 game mod, called Chimera Hunt, is that it features fully rendered characters and a stage from the game.

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With the exception of the occasional odd project, not a lot of games come out for the original Nintendo Entertainment System anymore – but you can always count on RetroZone to provide the goods.  Best known for RetroPorts connectors, RetroZone also sells a modest library of both original and reproduction NES cartridges – and a new game joins their library next month.

“Battle Kid” looks a lot like Megaman – and while it may not be the most original idea to come recently out for a 20 year old console, it’s the only game in town. Battle kid should land sometime in January, to the tune of somewhere between $30 and $50.  Available only on a reproduction NES cartridge.   Hit the jump for gameplay footage.

[via Joystiq]

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Rumors, and Leaks are always subject to question when they first hit the net. Yet, for some reason, judging from recent Nintendo releases… I can see them trying to release Mario Teaches Typing again. What do you guys think, real or fake?

If you find usability boring, skip to next post

Failure in video games, such as temporary death or restarts, is a good thing. Always has been. It keeps the player going, gives him another chance, and encourages him to finish the game. But the more I think about it, the more the designer in me dislikes “game over” screens, especially premature ones.

The reason: they’re a lie.

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There are no physical releases for the Wii and DS this week. The big releases this week are Castlevania: The Adventure: ReBirth and the SNES version of Pilotwings. Anyone get a Nintendo Points Card for Christmas?  Click on in for the full list, including many more WiiWare and DSiWare games, plus Rock Band and Guitar Hero DLC.

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Infendo reader and commenter srkelley noticed something interesting on his Wii Weather Channel.  Compared to the rest of the world, Japan has different weather icons.  [Check out the cute snowman icon at around one minute in.]  Does anyone know why?