Squishy Tank: Already in the running for most 'awww-inspiring' title of 2010

My pun-loving mom would get a major kick out of the headline above, by the way.

Anyway, Squishy Tank. Here's the 411, in case you've never heard of this cute and cuddly DS title (and I'm guessing you haven't):

It's a basic match-three puzzler (developed by Success Corp. and published by Natsume) based on characters from "Yawaraka Sensha" ("Soft Tank"), a series of Flash animations (here's one of them, thanks to tinycartridge.com) about "adorable baby tanks who are simply too cuddly and delicate for war" (according to JC Fletcher over at joystiq.com).

Squishy Tank will hit store shelves in North America with a rather reasonable $19.99 price tag on March 31. I doubt you'll find it at your local Target (you don't go to Wal-Mart, do you?), so head over to Amazon if you're at all interested.

If you need a bit more information before making your decision, check out Francesca DiMola's impressions over at NintendoWorldReport.com.

They ship to Seattle, right?

I think I just found my next gaming-related-but-not-an-actual-game purchase: The Space Invaders tights at blackmilkclothing.com.

These snazzy leggings were designed by James Lillis and are made of elastane and polyester. Oh, and they'll cost you $80 before shipping. (You can order a pair here.)

New Toyota hybrid inspired by Contra, Mega Man and Super Mario Bros.

When the folks at Toyota unveiled a new hybrid concept car at the Detroit Auto Show yesterday, they mentioned that its design was inspired by video games popular during the 1980s--namely Contra, Mega Man and Super Mario Bros.

The car, known as the FT-CH Concept, is a "downstream version of the small hybrid Lexus LF-CH Concept" that was unveiled during the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, according to green.autoblog.com.

Should it make it to production, the two-door, four-seat FT-CH (which is just 153 inches long and 68.5 inches wide) likely will be marketed as an entry-level version of the automaker's popular Prius.

Can't get you (or this damn game tune) out of my head

Earlier today, John Teti counted down the top ten game tunes that have been "chiseled into [his] gray matter for life" in Crispy Gamer's creatively titled, "Earworms I Have Known and Loved But Mostly Hated."

I agree with quite a few of the entries on his list--especially Yu Miyake's "Katamari Nah-Nah" (from Katamari Damacy) and Tomohito Nishiura's "Puzzles" (from Professor Layton and the Curious Village).

If I were to make my own list, it would have to include Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka's "Balloon Trip" tune (from Balloon Fight):

Actually, my list would have to include a lot of songs from NES classics--namely the overworld themes from Kid Icarus, The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. Oh, and of course the battle theme from the original Final Fantasy.

Which game tunes have wormed their way into your brain over the years?

On this week's episode of 'Why I Want a Japanese Wii' ...

Japanese Wii owners will be treated to two Virtual Console releases this week: The MSX version of Parodius and the MSX version of Salamander.

(No worries if you've never heard of the MSX. Basically, it was a standardized computer platform that was developed by Microsoft in the early 1980s. Although it became quite popular in Japan, it was all but ignored in Europe and the U.S.)

I'd buy the MSX version of Parodius in a heartbeat if I owned a Japanese Wii. It's hardly the best iteration of Parodius, a series I've loved since the release of Parodius Da! in the early 1990s, but it is the most unique (in my opinion, of course). It's also the hardest--and "cheapest."

Here's a video that shows off the game's (fan-translated) first stage. (Which, I hate to admit, I have yet to clear. Yeah, I'm weaksauce.)



If you're lucky enough to own a Japanese Wii--and you decide to plop down 800 Nintendo points for this title--but you can't tell your hiragana from your katakana, go here to download an English version of the manual.