I think I'm finally free of New Leaf's grasp

And all it took was the "triple combo" of Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale, the just-released Bravely Default demo and the four new-ish 3DS StreetPass Mii Plaza games.

Of course, I was heading down this path--to not checking in on my two Animal Crossing: New Leaf towns every single day, at least for a few minutes--before I nabbed all of the above from the 3DS eShop, but I'm not sure I would've done so as quickly as I have without their "help."

Illustration by leav

All that said, it's possible I'll slip back into my old, nasty ways once I've beaten both Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale and the Bravely Default demo, but I'm going to do my best to keep that from happening--mainly by booting up a few of the games I picked up in 2013 but have yet to actually play.

A couple of examples: Airu de Puzzle (PSP), Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (3DS) and Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS). And then there are a few older games that I've wanted to sink my teeth into for some time, like Contact (DS), Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii), Opoona (Wii) and Touch Detective (DS).

There's also the Feb. 7 release of Bravely Default to consider--because once that sucker's in my hands I probably won't even think of playing anything else until I've beaten it. (Assuming I don't falter at the very end like I did with its predecessor, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light.)

Anyway, all of this is just a really long-winded way of saying, "I'm finally free of New Leaf's grasp!"

I'm not entirely sure why I feel the need to share that here, but rather than overanalyze why that may be let's just celebrate the fact that it means I'll be playing--and, as a result, blogging about--a lot more games in the next six or so months than I did in the preceding ones.

Is that a copy of Airu de Puzzle (PSP) in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

OK, so the header above is kind of lame. I couldn't think of anything better, though, so I'm sticking with it.

I do have a copy of Airu de Puzzle, the Monster Hunter-themed match-three puzzler that Capcom released for the PSP some time ago.

I actually bought the copy seen in the photos above and below shortly after it was released (some while ago), but I haven't mentioned it here until now because, well, it took me a long time to snap some photos of it.

Would you believe that I've yet to play the damn thing? Yeah, I'll bet those of you who've been coming here for a while now would believe it.

Anyway, its cover illustration is pretty nice, don't you think? I also like the art that appears on the back of its instruction manual.



The illustrations that appear inside the manual are pretty cute, too. I wish there were more of them, especially since the manual as a whole isn't all that exciting.

I have a feeling the game itself is more exciting--or at least more interesting. I'll let you know one way or another after I've finally played it, which hopefully will happen shortly.