A few more photos of Touch Detective: Funghi's Big Breed (3DS)

I'm not sure any of you are interested in seeing more of or hearing more about Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku, the Touch Detective-themed puzzler I recently bought for my criminally underused (so far) Japanese 3DS, but just in case some of you are I thought I'd share a few additional photos of it today.

For starters, here's a better shot of the game's cover art, which I think is pretty nice--although I have to admit that I find the five-pronged thingamabob in the center of the logo to be ... curious. (I can't be the only one who think it looks like some sort of alien sex toy, can I?)



Sadly, the art that appears on Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku's cartridge (below) isn't as cool. In fact, I'm not even sure what it's supposed to depict. Anyone have any ideas?

Oh, and here's the little sheet of stickers that come with every copy of Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku (aka Touch Detective: Funghi's Big Breed). I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to do with them, but I like them all the same--the one featuring the burly mushroom especially.

Finally, here's a shot of the back of the game's case. Sorry it's kind of washed out--it's been gloomy here lately and quite a bit of post-processing had to be done on the photo for it to be presentable.



That's about all I can say about this import-only puzzler at the moment, I'm afraid, as I haven't played enough of it to talk about modes and options and such. I'm planning to put it through its paces shortly, though, and once I do I promise I'll do my best to shed some light on the situation here.

See also: 'I can't decide if I should hug my mailman or hit him' and 'Kind of embarrassing admission: Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku is my most-anticipated 3DS title at the moment'

Manual Stimulation: Engacho! (WonderSwan)

Can you believe it's been nearly a year since I bought a copy of Engacho!, NAC Geographic Products' amusingly gross WonderSwan puzzler? (A few photos of the game's packaging can be seen here.)

I can, but then again I've bought a lot of games in the last year (he says as his husband groans in the background).

More unbelievable, in my opinion, is that I've yet to play the damn thing. Of course, that would require me to buy a WonderSwan system of some sort, and for whatever reason I haven't been able to make myself do that yet.

While I ponder why that is, why don't all of you do something a bit more enjoyable--like take in the beauty that is this game's instruction manual.



OK, so it's clear from the cover of the Engacho! manual that "beauty" may not be the best word to use here. You have to admit, though, that it's pretty darn colorful--and the illustrations are quite amusing (if not exactly attractive).



Moving along to the interior of this title's surprisingly lengthy manual, right off the bat we get a glimpse of its nose-less protagonist. Sadly, I can't tell you his name--or the names of any of the characters highlighted on the next few pages--as I still don't know a lick of Japanese. (Don't worry, I'm working on it.)



Should any of you who understand Japanese be able and willing to lend a helping hand with this information, by the way, I'd greatly appreciate it.



Next up in the Engacho! manual: the ever-thrilling explanation of controls. It's a fairly necessary section in such booklets, of course, so I won't complain too much that it's lacking in excitement.



Here we get a look at the game's intro screens--which, sadly, are in black and white. Couldn't the folks at NAC Geographic Products have re-released this one after the WonderSwan Color hit the streets? I guess not. Oh, well, at least the sprites are worthy representations of the hand-drawn originals.

Flipnote Studio's coming to the 3DS, y'all!

One of the only reasons I seriously considered picking up a DSi back when the system was the new kid on the portable-gaming block was that it gave owners access to the gloriously creative app known in North America as Flipnote Studio.

Well, it appears an updated version of that piece of digital software will soon be made available to folks who have 3DSes and 3DS XLs.

According to yesterday's mini (Japanese) Nintendo Direct, below, Flipnote Studio 3D will hit the 3DS eShop as a free download sometime this summer.



Beyond that, the big news for me in regards to this release is that it will allow users to export their creations as animated GIFs, a series of GIFs or AVI movie files.

For more information about what's set to be included in this iteration of Flipnote Studio, check out neogaf.com and nintendoeverything.com.

UPDATE: for all of you who'd prefer to understand what's being said in this "Nintendo Direct mini," an English version (published by Nintendo of Europe, it seems) can be found here.

I can't decide if I should hug my mailman or hit him

I say that because the pair of games seen in the following photo found their way into my mailbox over the weekend--and we all know I need more games like I need another migraine.

Just in case any of your eyes are as terrible as mine are, the games in question are Etrian Odyssey IV for the 3DS and the first  Touch Detective for the DS.

You may notice they're both still wrapped in plastic. That's because I know I'm not going to be able to play them for a while (thanks to EarthBound and Fire Emblem: Awakening).

I bought Touch Detective a few weeks back, by the way, in order to make the wait for my copy of the 3DS-based puzzler Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku (aka Touch Detective: Funghi's Big Breed) more bearable.

Little did I know it would make its way to my doorstep yesterday. (I assumed it wouldn't arrive until later in the month.)

You probably can't tell by looking at the photo above, but I actually opened Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku--mainly so I could check out its manual and see if it came with the adorable set of stickers I'd seen elsewhere.

Unfortunately, although the stickers are present, I'm not sure I can say the same for the manual. Sure, there's a piece of folded paper in there that explains the basics of the game, it's pretty disappointing when compared with the beauties that used to qualify as "instruction manuals."

Oh, well, I'm still happy I bought Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku and I'm very much looking forward to sinking my teeth into it soon.

I'm taking a rain check RE: this month's 'Bye-Bye, Backlog' selection

You may have noticed that I've yet to publish a "My Month with ..." post in March. That's because I've decided to step away from my backlogathon for the time being.

Don't worry, I plan to get back to it again in April, but for the next few weeks I'm going to focus on the small pile of 3DS games that either have already found their way to my doorstep (expect to read about one of them tomorrow, by the way) or will do so soon instead.

I'm also going to spend some quality time with a game I haven't played in ages--with that game being Shigesato Itoi's magnificent EarthBound (or Mother 2 to you purists).

Why have I decided to turn back the clock and play through this Americana-themed RPG like it's 1995 once again? To be painfully honest, it's because I've never actually seen this game's end credits (gasp!) and I'd finally like to do so.

All of you fellow EarthBound fans should be happy to hear that I'm already off to a good start. After playing the game for a few (four or five, maybe?) hours this weekend, I've reached Peaceful Rest Valley and I'm not too far away from rescuing Paula and putting my days as a lonesome adventurer behind me.

I have no idea how much more of the game I'll be able to play this week given my real-life workload and my desire to continue working my way through Fire Emblem: Awakening, but I think I'll be able to put at least a few additional hours into it.

In the meantime, do any of you consider yourself to be EarthBound fans? If so, what are some of your favorite memories as they relate to this charmingly humorous and heartwarming title?

See also: Previous 'Bye-Bye, Backlog' posts

Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition

Looking for a feel-good story to wrap up the weekend? You can't get much better than this one: someone calling himself "Mike Mika" (sorry, I'm not sure if that's his real name or not) recently shared on YouTube a video titled "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition," which features a hacked copy of Donkey Kong: Original Edition--the one that reinstated the previously MIA cement factory level into the NES version of Nintendo's classic quarter-muncher--that has Pauline save Mario rather than vice versa.

What prompted Mike to make "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition"? Here's the explanation he shared in the video's YouTube description: "My three-year-old daughter and I play a lot of old games together. Her favorite is Donkey Kong. Two days ago, she asked me if she could play as the girl and save Mario. She's played as Peach in Super Mario Bros. 2 and assumed she could do the same in Donkey Kong. I told her we couldn't in that particular Mario game [and] she seemed really bummed out by that."



Flash forward to Mike being "up at midnight, hacking the ROM [and] replacing Mario with Pauline" in order to produce the title seen above.

Although Mike and his daughter are the only gamers playing "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition" at the moment, last night he promised that he'd "figure out the best way to share a patch for anyone interested in playing the hack."

See also: 'So, you mean I can stop cursing Nintendo of America now?' and 'Donkey Kong: Original Edition ain't all that' and 'How badly do you want to play Donkey Kong: Original Edition?'