Not sure if any of you heard already, but apparently pro wrestler "Captain" Lou Albano, who played the role of Mario in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, died today at age 76. Click here for more.

First off, you've probably noticed that I got a new avatar. It's Misty from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver (currently slated for a Spring 2010 release in the US). The animation doesn't quite match the way its animated in-game, but its close enough. Also, I have no idea why there's a black line at the bottom of the avatar during the "jump".

Also I've ranked up to Goombella. Ironic given that when I played Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door she was my least used character.

Now for the main event. As most of you have probably deduced by now, when it comes to video games, my loyalties lie with Nintendo and no one else (especially after the regretful purchase of Halo and Star Wars Battlefront 2, both for the PC). But that doesn't mean I like every game they create; to prove this, here are eleven of the games developed by Nintendo or one of their second-party developers that I really disliked. Why eleven instead of ten? Because, like the Nostalgia Critic, I like to go one step beyond. The games are listed in no particular order.

Note that originally this was going to be a lot more detailed than it is, but right now I have other commitments I got to attend to; for now, I'll just list the aspects of the game I disliked the most along with one aspect of the game that could be considered a "saving grace". And don't take any of these personally if you don't agree with them.

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1. Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (Wii)

• Lazy Game Cube to Wii port
• Bad and tiring use of the Wii Remote
• No real sense of speed

Saving Grace: Visuals stay true to Rare's Donkey Kong titles.

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2. DK King of Swing (Game Boy Advance)

• Overly simplistic controls
• Gameplay detracts from Rare's Donkey Kong titles
• Unbalanced difficulty
• Visuals take a major step back

Saving Grace: Not as difficult as its sequel.

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3. Diddy Kong Racing DS (Nintendo DS)

• Too much item collecting and pointless between race objectives
• Touch Screen controls felt tacked on and made virtually no sense
• Overly cute voices
• Overall inferior to Mario Kart DS

Saving Grace: Power-up distribution is more balanced than the Mario Kart games.

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4. Metroid Prime Hunters (Nintendo DS)

• Multiple control options, but none of them worked very well
• Single player mode is short and detracts from the Metroid formula too much
• Repeating boss battles
• Its called Metroid… so where are the Metroids?

Saving Grace: Decent multiplayer modes.

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5. Pokémon Battle Revolution (Wii)

• Essentially an expansion pack packaged as a full priced game
• Lacks the RPG mode featured in Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness
• No use to those without Diamond or Pearl (dunno if its compatible with Platinum)
• Online had too many hurtles to overcome

Saving Grace: 3D Mudkips.

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6. Pokémon Snap (Nintendo 64)

• Novelty wears off rather quickly
• Only seven courses, all of which are rather short
• Only features 63 of the original 151 Pokémon
• I'd rather catch the Pokémon than take their picture

Saving Grace: Does put a unique twist on the On-rail shooter genre.

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7. Kirby's Air Ride (Game Cube)

• Overly simplistic gameplay
• Lack of variety in characters and tracks
• Some machine statistics are lopsided, making them virtually useless
• Unclear objectives

Saving Grace: Good presentation.

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8. Mario Power Tennis (Game Cube, Wii)

• Power shots lead to cheating AI and some stalemates
• Some court gimmicks are too distracting
• Minigame objectives are difficult

Saving Grace: Humorous opening sequence.

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9. Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo 64)

• Very short single player mode
• Lacks variety
• Limited replay value
• Character models are so-so

Saving Grace: Unique gameplay that paved the way for superior sequels.

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10. Mario Pinball Land (Game Boy Advance)

• Awful pinball mechanics
• Difficult controls, especially when precision shots are required
• Table resetting leads to frustration
• Save data is lost if a soft reset is performed

Saving Grace: Good graphics for a GBA title.

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11. Yoshi's Topsy-Turvy (Game Boy Advance)

• Gyro sensor doesn't work well, especially when compared to Wario Ware: Twisted
• Very easy (most difficulty was working the gyro sensor)
• Boring storyline
• Childish presentation

Saving Grace: Really, I don't think there was any…

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That's about it. And again, don't take any of these personally if you don't agree with them.

Finally finished the Skies of Arcadia Legends Bestiary FAQ revamp and got it submitted to GameFAQs (it actually got accepted a lot quicker than usual). Click the link below to see it:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/game/537506.html

How long it took to finish I don't know specifically, but if anything, it was about several months of work.