Dave Beaudoin
So here we are again, another month gone by, and the impending joy of the holiday onslaught grows ever closer. For me, August marked the arrival of several of my most anticipated summer releases. Two for my Nintendo DS, Nintendogs: Dachshund & Friends and Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour, and one for my Xbox in the form of Metal Slug 4 & 5.
Ever since it arrived in the mail back on the 22nd, Nintendogs has made its way into my DS daily. I'm always eager to boot 'er up and see how my pup is doing. I check to see if he's hungry or thirsty, take him for a walk, play with him for a bit, and perhaps train him a new trick or two if time permits. At this point, I'm at "Pro Trainer" rank with a shade over 4000 trainer points, he knows five or six tricks, and we're nearly at the championship in all three trials. All in all, not doing too bad. I still haven't chosen to adopt another pup yet, but that's because I'm saving my trainer points 'til I can get a German Shephard. I know it took 12,000 in the import. Not sure 'bout in the US version, but I don't look it up because I want to be surprised when it suddenly becomes unlocked.
For a little while, I was doing a "Nintendog Blog" over at Nintendo's Kennel Club, but after getting a lukewarm reception -- nobody replied to my day 2 or day 3 posts -- I decided to call it quits. Besides, it was getting a little repetitive anyways; The same "I'm pretending this dog is real" routine only remains fresh for a times, then it's just beating a dead horse.
A couple of days ago (well, two weeks technically) ) I finally got my mits on Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour, which I had been looking forward to since it was announced. I've always been a big fan of the card game and GBA titles, so naturally I was amped about a DS rendition. Was I as pleased with the game as I was excited for its release? Check out my review and see for yourself.
Psst... Want to hear a secret? The answer is yes.
Although the third of the August releases has yet to make its way into my possession -- the budget's been kinda tight -- I do intend to snag Metal Slug 4 & 5 when I have some cash to spare. I've already played it on PS2 and dug it -- although 3 was better -- I just like to keep my Metal Slug games on the same system. Am I a little anal? Yeah, kinda.
With September on the horizon, there are several great games coming that I'm excited for. On the GameCube, there's Mario Superstar Baseball and Batallion Wars. The Nintendo DS has Trace Memory, Lost in Blue, Dig Dug: Digging Strike, Lunar: Dragon Song (Editor's Note: Read my Gamespy coverage, here), and Ultimate Spider-man. On the PlayStation 2, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin and Capcom Classics Collection make their grand debuts. And last but certainly not least, the Xbox will have Ninja Gaiden: Black (a Ninja Dog I will be!). All in all, not too bad...
Though I wish we could just skip to October; Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, anyone?
