Boy, does this piece of Pac-Land art (produced by madamluna) bring back memories...

Of all the games I've attached memories to over the years, Pac-Land has to be among the oddest. After all, it's not like this quarter-muncher from 1984 is one of Namco's most-loved releases. Hell, it's not even one of the company's most-loved Pac-Man spin-offs.

I guess Pac-Land just came into my life at the right place and time. The former is especially relevant to this story, I think, considering the setting of my earliest memory of the game is a shopping-mall arcade that was located a few hours away from where I grew up.

I'm sad to say I can't remember exactly how old I was when I first encountered the Pac-Land cabinet in the aforementioned arcade, but I'm pretty sure I was in my early teens. Regardless, I distinctly remember my incredulous reaction to it. After all, this was a Pac-Man game that looked and played like the original Super Mario Bros.

And don't forget: this was back when the Internet was but a gleam in Al Gore's eye. If you didn't read gaming mags at that time, you often didn't know which quarter-munchers were being released or when until you walked into your local arcade, bar, bowling alley and the like.

Anyway, I was blown away the first time I laid eyes on Pac-Land. Admittedly, its odd control scheme--one button moves Pac-Man to the right, one moves him to the left and one makes him jump--leaves something to be desired, as does the repetitive simplicity of its overall gameplay, but this platformer's vividly colorful, "Saturday morning cartoon" visuals do quite a bit to make up for those flaws--or at least that's the effect they've always had on me.

All of the above should help explain why the piece of art that serves as the focus of this post resonated with me as much as it did when I first came across it late last week. Actually, I'm pretty sure it would have resonated with me even if I weren't an unabashed Pac-Land fan thanks to the unmistakable look of innocence and wonder that's splashed across Pac-Man's face.

Artist Pauli Kohberger, aka madamluna, is responsible for this winsome illustration, by the way. If you'd like to see more examples of her work--and, really, why wouldn't you?--head over to madamluna.deviantart.com at your earliest convenience.

What kind of idiot buys a Wii Virtual Console title in 2015? This kind!

Which Virtual Console game did I buy via my too-long-ignored Wii, you ask? The SNES version of Harvest Moon.

I bought it because I've had the Harvest Moon series on the brain ever since I received a copy of The Lost Valley for Christmas. Specifically, I've been thinking about the trio of Harvest Moon titles I've wanted to play for some time now: the aforementioned original, Harvest Moon 64 and Harvest Moon: Magical Melody for GameCube.

I pulled the trigger on this long-running franchise's first game yesterday because, well, it was a lot easier to trade in $8 worth of "Wii Points" and then download the digital version of that title in a matter of seconds than hunt for physical copies of the Nintendo 64 or GameCube sequels on eBay and then wait a week or two for them to arrive on my doorstep.

(That's not to say I haven't also done some of the latter over the last few days, but let's save that discussion for another day.)

Sadly, but hardly shockingly, I've yet to put more than a few minutes into this delightful-looking farming sim. I'm planning to devote an adequate amount of time to it this weekend, though, so look for a few thoughts on it in the "Shall We Do It?" post that'll be published late next week.

In the meantime, do any of you have any experience with the SNES version of Harvest Moon--or Harvest Moon 64 or Magical Melody? If so, I'd love it if you'd share your opinions of them in the comments section below.

Introducing: #ADecadeofDS

A couple of weeks ago (in this post), I mentioned I was planning to start a new series in 2015 that would ape the #YearoftheGameBoy posts I published throughout 2014.

Well, I can tell you now that the series is going to be called #ADecadeofDS, and although it was inspired by the above-mentioned GameBoy-focused posts, it's also going to go in its own direction.

(On a related note, the #YearoftheGameBoy posts that I publish in 2015, which will utilize the updated hashtag #AnotherYearoftheGameBoy, will be altered to follow in the footsteps of these DS-centric ones. More on that in a couple of days.)

Specifically, for this series' posts, I'm going to do my best to play through all of the DS games I've bought in recent years but have not yet started or finished.

My goal isn't to finish or "beat" all of these games, by the way; my goal is just to spend as many hours as I can with them in a single week. For example, I'm going to play my recently acquired copy of Okamiden for as long as I'm able this week, and when the week is over, I'll work up a post that will detail how many hours I put into it, how far I got (if applicable), whether or not I'll continue playing it, whether or not I'd recommend it to others and more.

At the end of each of these #ADecadeofDS posts, I'll announce which game will serve as the focus of the following week's write-up.

Sound interesting? I hope so. And even if it doesn't, at least it'll prompt me to hack away at my mountainous backlog over the next 52 or so weeks.

Here's how I spent my 2014 (3DS edition)

In case any of you are wondering: no, I won't be publishing other editions of this "series," as none of the other systems I used in 2014 were capable of recording how many hours I spent playing games on them.

At any rate, here's how much time I spent playing various 3DS games in 2014 (as per the "Activity Log" files on my Japanese and North American systems):

• Tomodachi Life ... 127:43
• Bravely Default ... 99:45
• Fantasy Life ... 88:08
• Etrian Odyssey IV ... 59:20
• Solitiba ... 57:30
• THE "DENPA" MEN 3 ... 42:19
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds ... 20:30
• Yoshi's New Island ... 12:31
• Super Mario 3D Land ... 12:10
• Rusty's Real Deal Baseball ... 6:30

The only "results" that surprised me were Etrian Odyssey IV and Rusty's Real Deal Baseball, as I had no idea I spent so much time with either title. Also, I'm kind of shocked I've yet to put more than six hours and 30 minutes into Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 3. I guess that means I have to devote a bit more time to it in the coming days and weeks.

One last tidbit some of you may find interesting: apparently I spent just over 580 hours playing 62 "titles" (which includes the eShop, Activity Log and other apps, by the way) on my pair of 3DS systems in 2014.

Now that I've shared how I spent my 2014 (in regard to 3DS gaming, at least), please feel free to share how you spent yours in the comments section of this post.

My favorite games of 2014 (that were released before 2014)

As much as I enjoyed playing through the handful of titles discussed in yesterday's "favorite games of 2014" post, I found the ones addressed below--some of which were released in 2013 and some of which were released long ago--to be far more adventurous, unique and exciting experiences.

Attack of the Friday Monsters! (3DS)--One part "summer vacation sim" and one part rock-paper-scissors card game, this Kaz Ayabe-designed eShop title is the kind of release that causes some people to proclaim it the best thing since sliced bread (or the gaming equivalent, at least) and others to deride it as boring tripe. Can you guess which side I lean toward? Actually, I wouldn't call Attack of the Friday Monsters! a masterpiece, but it certainly deserves praise for providing the medium with a thoughtful and heartwarming story and for prompting feelings of nostalgia where they have no right to exist.

EarthBound (SNES)--Would you believe that I'd never "beaten" this classic RPG before this year? I'd played through bits and pieces of it before then, but none of those previous playthroughs got me even halfway through its story. I'm glad I finally got over that hurdle in 2014, as this is the rare digital adventure that somehow, someway gets more fascinating and thrilling with each and every step. In fact, I loved the time I put into Shigesato Itoi's second foray into the world of video games in 2014 so much that I'm considering devoting a similar amount of energy to it this year.

Final Fantasy Adventure (GameBoy)--Here's another game that I touched on as a teen but failed to complete until 2014. And just like the above-mentioned EarthBound, once I finally sunk my teeth into this portable endeavor I couldn't help but kick myself for not making my way through it earlier. Of course, it's kind of hard to believe I didn't make my way through it earlier, as it's basically a GameBoy-based precursor to Secret of Mana (which means it's equal parts Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda), a game that I all but offered my soul to in the early 1990s. Sadly, I still haven't seen Final Fantasy Adventure's credit roll, but I'm going to do my best to rectify that in 2015.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)--Speaking of games that have prompted me to kick myself in 2014, a good part of me wishes I could go back in time and purchase A Link Between Worlds earlier than I did, as it really should have been among my "favorite games of 2013 (that were released in 2013)." Oh, well, better later than never, right? Anyway, A Link Between Worlds is the best, most refreshing Zelda offering I've encountered since I first obsessed over Ocarina of Time back in 1998. The highlight of this tightly produced package, in the opinion of yours truly: the combat, which feels so good that it's easy to forget you're nudging a circle pad and pressing buttons rather than actually racing around and swinging a sword with all of your might.

Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 3 (3DS)--Considering how much I loved (more like frothed at the mouth over) Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 2, aka Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, it's almost unfathomable that I waited until just a few weeks ago to begin its 3DS-focused follow-up. That inexcusable feet-dragging can be blamed, at least in part, on this game's not-so-appealing aesthetics, although now that I've gotten used to them I can say without hesitation that they're less atrocious than they first appear to be. There are other flaws worth mentioning here, too, such as how Slime MoriMori 3's gameplay is nearly a mirror image of its predecessor, but none of them really matter thanks to the fact that the overall enterprise is just as fun as Square Enix's earlier effort.

Solitiba (3DS)--When I first heard that this Game Freak-developed eShop title would combine horse racing and solitaire, I was more than a bit disappointed. Granted, I was glad it wasn't going to be yet another Pokémon sequel or spin-off, but I wasn't sure this confounding mash-up would be a whole lot better. Boy, was I wrong. Every single element of Solitiba is so spot-on that the entire endeavor winds up being thoroughly entrancing. In fact, I've had a hard time putting it aside for other games since I started playing it a number of months ago--which goes a long way toward explaining how I could've put nearly 60 hours into it in such a short period of time.

Sweet Fuse: At Your Side (PSP)--To be honest, even after being convinced (by the overwhelmingly positive word of mouth attached to it) to pick up a copy of this portable visual novel, I wasn't at all sure I'd like it. My only prior experience with the genre involved playing through another PSP title, Hakuōki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom, and while I found that game to be surprisingly fascinating, I worried it would be difficult to replicate those feelings with this seemingly less serious counterpart. I needn't have fretted, of course, because Sweet Fuse is every bit as captivating as Hakuōki, if not more so. I'm still not a fan of how such games basically force players to use a walkthrough if they want to wind up with the men of their dreams, but even with that "requirement" in place Sweet Fuse is well worth a look if you find its premise at all intriguing.

Honorable mentions: Etrian Odyssey IV (3DS), Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe (GameBoy) and Zoo Keeper 3D (3DS)