All I want for Christmas is ...

Well, it's that time of year again--if you celebrate Christmas or any of the other "winter holidays" in some form or fashion, of course.

I do, although not in a religious sense, which means I've been forced--yes, forced, I tell you!--to come up with a list of potential presents for a select few people in my life.

Here are the gaming-related gifts that made it onto my list this year, in case any of you are curious:

16GB memory card for Vita--When I bought my pink-and-white Vita early this year, I was so excited about it that I completely ignored the fact that the system comes with just one GB of internal storage memory. In other words, I've barely bought any digital titles since March. Or, rather, I've bought some, but I can't play them because I don't have enough room on my Vita to download them. So, this may be the present--game-related or not--that I want the most this holiday season.

Kiki Kaikai (PC Engine)--I have kind of a weird history with this Taito-made, Japanese-folklore-themed run-and-gun game. When I first played it a few years back, it made me turn up my nose in disgust. To say the game looks a bit bland is an understatement of nearly criminal proportions. Plus, it's tough as nails--and in this case, I don't mean that in a good way. Over time, though, Kiki Kaikai's grown on me--to the point that I'm now chomping at the bit to own a complete-in-box copy of it.

One of these Japanese 3DS cover plates--Full disclosure: I already own three cover plates for the New 3DS I imported a couple of months ago. I tend to think of these cover plates like I think of my precious baseball caps, though--in other words, I want one for every outfit and every occasion. Which should go a long way toward explaining why I long to own both this pink-and-white striped one and this watermelon-inspired one.

Pink Yarn Yoshi amiibo--Would you believe I don't own a single amiibo figure? Hell, I wouldn't believe it if I weren't me. (Does that even make sense?) After all, I just admitted that I'm gaga over Nintendo's New 3DS cover plates, and I admitted last week that I can't be trusted when it comes to that same company's Nintendo Badge Arcade app. For whatever reason, though, I've yet to be bitten by the amiibo bug. That said, I find the pink Yarn Yoshi ones to be the definition of adorable.

Steins;Gate (Vita)--It is with great shame that I reveal I never pre-ordered this game as I promised in the lead up to its release. Actually, that's not true. I did order it, but I later canceled it when I discovered I'd overextended my gaming budget a bit and had to scale things back a bit. I still very much want to experience this highly acclaimed visual novel, though, so even if my parents or husband fail to put a copy under the tree for me, I'll buy one for myself in the days or weeks that follow.

So, those are the gaming-related items I've included in my holiday wish list. What are all of you asking your loved ones for this season?

Christmas comes early thanks to Justin Difazzio

Remember how, a couple of weeks ago, I devoted an entire post to the game-related items on my holiday wish list? (If not, you can read it here.)

The first blurb in that post focused on the handful of Japanese and North American DS titles I'd love to get as gifts--with Okamiden being one of the games in question.

Long-time reader and commenter Justin Difazzio apparently decided that particular portion of my list was aimed at him, as he promptly mailed his completed-and-now-just-collecting-dust copy of Capcom's portable sequel to Okami to me.



The copy in question arrived on our doorstep on Friday afternoon. Justin even wrapped the darn thing (see above) in some snazzy paper and included a rather adorable card inside the same package.



Here's a shot of the game in its unwrapped state. I'd kind of forgotten how nice its box art is. (Its Japanese box art is nice, too.)

I haven't started playing it yet, but I'll get to it shortly. (As soon as I wrap up Fantasy Life, which should happen in the next few days.)

In the meantime, I'd like to offer a heartfelt "thank you" to Justin for sending this wonderful (early) Christmas present and for being an overall awesome guy.

Happy birthday to me!

Yep, not only is it Thanksgiving here in the U.S., but it's my birthday, too.

Which is kind of weird, to be honest, but I've never been big on celebrating my birthday, so that's OK.

It's especially OK now that I've opened the presents my parents gave to me this morning, one of which contained the copy of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call that can be seen in the photo to the right.

I'm kind of surprised Amazon et al still had copies of this game's limited edition, to tell you the truth--not that I'm complaining!

Anyway, it's a pretty safe bet that I'll spend some quality time with it tomorrow--along with Fantasy Life and Solitiba, of course. (Yes, I'm still putting a ton of time into both, especially Fantasy Life.)

My parents also gave me a nice chunk of change, I have to add. Would it surprise you to hear I've already spent a portion of it on Japanese 3DS games?

Don't worry, I'll write about all of them here after they finally arrive on my doorstep (and after I've spent at least a little time with them).

In the meantime, I hope all of you have a wonderful Thursday--whether it's Thanksgiving in your neck of the woods or not.

All I want after Christmas is ...

One of my blogging buds, Minee, recently published her holiday wish list on her site, Vast Sea of Games, and then asked her readers to share theirs in its comments section. I liked the idea and thought it might be nice to do something similar here--and then I realized I'm not really asking for anything gaming-related for Christmas.

I'm sure that sounds kind of strange given my usual proclivities, but there's a good reason for it: the only people in my life who give me Christmas presents at this point are my parents, and they tend to give me (along with my brother and our spouses) small gifts and a nice amount of cash rather than larger gifts such as game systems and the like.

Will I be buying any systems or games with this impending holiday haul? Of course! In fact, I've already got my eyes on a few potential purchases, including the following:

Zoo Keeper 3D--I have a feeling I'm a member of a very small (and, let's face it, very odd) club of gamers thanks to my interest in this Japan-only 3DS title. What can I say? I love the GameBoy Advance version of the game (called Zooo, strangely enough) and also quite like the DS iteration, so I'd like to try this one, too.

Possibly one or more import-only DS games--Which ones, you ask? 7th Dragon (above) is one. Nora to Koku no Koubou: Kiri no Mori no Majo (aka Noora and the Time Studio: The Witch of the Misty Forest) is another. Oh, and Maestro! Jump in Music, too--which is a Europe-only DS release, strangely enough.

Definitely an obscure GameBoy title or two--In fact, it's extremely possible I'll forego all of the above and blow my entire wad on obscure (and mostly Japanese) GameBoy titles, like the one pictured above. That is how obsessed I am with this 24-year-old handheld at the moment.

Although there's a chance I'll spend my Christmas cash on something else--don't be too shocked if a Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color or PSP game enter the fray, for example--the best bet is that you'll see a few posts focused on one or more of the above once the holidays are over.

Now that I've had my say, what gaming-related presents are all of you hoping to receive from your loved ones (or, like me, buy for yourself) this gift-giving season?

Happy birthday to me :)

Sorry, no "real" post today. It's my birthday!

The day's already off to a great start, by the way, as one of the presents my parents sent me was a copy of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, a game I've been admiring at a distance for some time now.



That's the only gaming gift I'm likely to receive this year, but that's OK--I bought a few games for myself earlier this week, including (but limited to) the three Namco Gallery titles I mentioned in yesterday's post. (I also purchased a Japanese copy of Crush Roller for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, despite the fact that I have nothing to play it on at the moment.)

While I wait for them to arrive, I'll do my best to put Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate through its paces--although maybe I should finally pick up a digital copy of Culty's Monster Hunter Beginner's Guide before I jump in.

Happy birthday to me!

I know it's a bit uncouth to wish oneself a happy birthday, but don't judge me too harshly. There's a point to this, er, self-celebratory post, after all.

As for what that is: Well, it's to point out that I recently bought myself (using birthday money from my parents) one of those pink-and-white 3DS XLs I've been fawning over since the Japanese version was announced in late August.

Here are two photos of the system's rather stylish packaging:

And here's a snapshot of the system itself:

Oh, and here's how it looks when it's open and about to play a game:

Don't fret too much over that yellow-ish bottom screen, by the way; in reality, it isn't noticeable (or at least it isn't to me).

What do I think of it so far, you ask? Let's just say I have a feeling that, from now on, I'll only pick up my original 3DS when I want to play it while I'm out on the town. In every other situation, though, I'll be reaching for the beauty you see in the photos above.

What gaming-related gifts did you get?

With Christmas and the rest of the season's gift-giving holidays now behind us (or nearly behind us, since Kwanzaa just started) what gaming-related presents did all of you get?

I received just two gaming-related gifts this year, but one of them was a doozy: A "flame red" 3DS. (The other was a copy of Super Mario 3D Land. Read about it and the 3DS in yesterday's final "12 Games of Christmas" post.) You can bet I'll be spending some quality time with both of them today as the hubs and I fly back to Seattle.

I'll share all of my 3DS details--mainly my friend code, or whatever Nintendo's calling it this time around--shortly after we get home.

In the meantime, tell me in the comments section below what gaming-related gifts, if any, you received from your loved ones!

A pixelated present

My sister-in-law, Jan Schowengerdt, made me and my husband (her brother, duh) the following painting--which she calls "Digital Cherries," appropriately enough--for Christmas:

At first I thought she had pulled a sprite from Mickey Mousecapade, à la Ashley Anderson, but it seems that's not the case. Rather, she found an image of two cherries on line, altered it, pixelated it and then used it as a reference while she recreated it (using acrylic paint) on a pencil-drawn grid.

Anyway, isn't it cool? We're going to hang it in our kitchen as soon as my husband can get around to it. (He's handy like that.)

Go here (and here) for a clearer and closer look at these "Digital Cherries."