Mailtoad

I chose the name 'Mailtoad' since I am a big fan of the toad of this name in Super Mario Galaxy. I mean, how can you not like a mushroom that delivers mail?!

Enjoyment

I often find pleasure in playing video games. I'm a big fan of the Legend of Zelda series. I own titles such as Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I love the Super Mario series and have a group of games in that series ranging from Super Mario 64 to Super Mario Galaxy.

Progression in Video Games

I've managed to almost complete Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (all spiritual stones, three sage medallions), in Twilight Princess I've still got a way to go - I've just beaten Fyrus - and in Phantom Hourglass I'm finding the third Spirit. On the Mario front, Mario 64 is practically completed, Super Mario Bros. Delux I've given up hope on, Mario Kart Wii is almost complete and Super Mario Galaxy has been completed in Mario mode - I've beaten the story, still have loads more stars to go!

Other Interests

I also find interest in art - by that I mean drawing, painting, making not looking at it! My favourite artist is probably Vincent Van Gogh, simply because of all of his fantastic swirls of colour. I love listening to music, especially to the great voice of Sarah Bareilles and her great hit, Love Song.

Random Things You Ought To Know

I know loads about Doctor Who.

I own over 45 of the DVDs.

I sometimes create CDs for my family.

I adore Nutella.

Did you know that there's a day known as Nutella Day?

Updates

Saturday 5th July

Received Super Smash Bros. Brawl from my mum. Very, very good fun. 18% of the way through Subspace Emissary.

Tuesday 5th Novemeber

88% of the way through the Subspace Emissary. Found a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker limited edition gold case, two disc for £17.99 in Gamestation. Started the story and am on the island with Valoo. Bought Animal Crossing Wild World on Monday. Great game. Also got F-ZERO GX which has to be one of the hardest games of all time. I've now completed Phantom Hourglass. A bit of advice for those Wii gamers out there: If you are looking for a new game, a great investment is getting a gamecube controller and a memory card as gamecube games can be bought for around £7.99 in Gamestation.

Monday 30th March

Got No More Heroes. Fantastic.

Blogs

Are Video Games Getting Easier?

In the general slope of things, yes. Games like The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past are hard as nails. This seems to be the case for many of the SNES and NES games. N64 games seemed to be a bit in-betweeny with tough games like "Super Mario 64" but also easy games such as Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. The Gamecube games seemed to offer more easy than hard, such as Pokemon Channel but then these were appearing alongside games like F ZERO GX. It is probably true that the Wii seems to be an easier gaming console than its predessecors with a rate of easy:hard games at about 3:1. I'm not saying that these easy games aren't fun, but sometimes we could do with a nice big challenge that roars at us 'go on - try me!'

Are Sandbox Games Good For the Industry?

Sandbox games are the new regular appearence on the shelves in video game shops. They offer a load of free roam but do they have much of a story. Some - like Endless Ocean do. For example in this game, you see yourself as a proffesional diver with the ultimate goal to complete your sea-life book, but also another objective is to track down the White Mother. This game is a high for the genre, offering a unique explore and play feature. However, there are some games - here's looking at you the Animalz series - that offer a cheap - for the producers, not for you - rip-off of the Nintendogs games. Now, these offer - unlike Nintendogs no real story and you are left with a little shop in which you can buy toys. So with a real mix of quality out there, are sandbox games really good for the industry? Well, even though there is some real trash out there - here's loooking at you again Animalz series - sandbox games are selling like hot cakes. Catz along with Dogz - damn you - have both had remakes - I'd like to say they are still crap - which means that they must be doing alright. The most successful games in the genre however, have to be the two - soon to be three - Animal Crossing games. There are other great games for the sandbox genre these include the new Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. So sandbox games must be good for the industry.

What is the best Nintendo series?

Nintendo have launched many legendary video game series, but which one is best? The logical and obvious answer would be the Mario series, but is it really? There are loads of other hit Nintendo franchises out there, such as Metroid, The Legend of Zelda and Kirby. F-ZERO is a franchise that has had a group of games in it's series, F-ZERO, F-ZERO GX and the other two that no-one ever remembers. So, is F-ZERO a good, fun series? Yes it is. Why isn't it as memorable as the others then? We can only assume that this is because that the last console that one of these games was on was the Gamecube. Okay then, we've looked at F-Zero, so how about Kirby? He's had good games - Kirby's Dream Land, some bad games - Kirby Air Ride and he's also had some seriously overlooked games - Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Okay, the bad games probably weigh him down a little to much to be the best. So now we turn our heads to Metroid. The sharpest and most graphically impressive FPS/Adventure game on a Nintendo system. It has tons of great exploration stages, as well as loads of options to go backtracking - looking for new nooks and crannies that you may have prieviously overlooked. However, the game series is probably let down slightly by its Everest-height difficulty level. Mario. Gaming's biggest celebrity. But does he deserve this spotlight more than any other Nintendo character? No, he does not! He has good games, such as Super Mario Galaxy, but he has also had games that aren't so good - Mario Party Series. Who can overlook the rubbish Super Mario Strikers Charged? Well, for me, after ruling all of the other contestants out, The Legend of Zelda has to top the tables. Which games will have you going back to them again and again so that you can try to get past that temple for the umpteenth time! The Legend Of Zelda - of course! There's nothing more addictive than controlling Link with his little sword, and there's nothing more staisfying than pulling the Master Sword out of it's plinth! So, suffice to say - the Zelda series is the pick o' the bunch!

Mailtoad, the everlasting, mail delivering mushroom.