Animal Crossing Manga!

I’m sitting here typing this with one hand. Today I got one cortisone injection in my right wrist, and another cortisone injection in my right elbow, so my arm hurts REALLY BAD! Even the slightest movement causes me great discomfort, but hopefully in a day or two all the pain will be gone and I will get some relief!

With that being said, I did receive something fun in the mail today: my Animal Crossing manga books that I have been waiting for! I actually ordered them before the Kirby books, but they took a longer time since they were actually coming from Japan. 😉

The official name of the manga is どうぶつの森 ホヒンダ村だより, or Doubutsu no Mori: Hohinda Mura Dayori. This translates to Animal Forest: News From Hohinda Village. It is basically a series about a human villager named さよりん (Sayorin) and the adventures she has in the village of  ホヒンダ (Hohinda).

There are 11 volumes in this manga, and today I got 1-10! I thought I was getting the whole collection. Volume 11 was nowhere to be found on Amazon, Ebay or even play-asia, but I did find a copy on YesAsia! I purchased it for only $7, and it should be here in a few weeks. Then my collection will be complete! I’m so excited to begin reading and translating this series!

I Just Couldn’t Resist…

I was browsing around at Best Buy today, and I couldn’t help but buy myself a couple goodies. I’ve had a crappy couple of weeks with my hand hurting so much, so I decided to treat myself! 😉

The first game I came across was a game I had never even heard of: Fantasia: Music Evolved for XBox 360. It caught my eye because there was a sale sticker on it- the game was $27 off, which brought it down to the attractive price of $2.99! I couldn’t resist.

I’m still not really sure what this game entails, but this quote from the back of the box sounds very interesting: “Introducing a completely new way to play with music. Create your own versions of some of the world’s best-known songs…more than 30 songs, 60+ remixes, millions of possibilities. No two song creations will sound alike.” Sounds cool to me!

The second game I bought was Pokkén Tournament for Wii U. This game has intrigued me since it was announced, because it is like an awesome combination of Pokémon and Tekken! Seeing Pokémon come alive and kick each others’ asses is strangely appealing to me. With that being said, I decided to go ahead and purchase the game during its initial launch. This is because it comes with a Shadow Mewtwo Amiibo Card that I couldn’t pass up! This card allows you to unlock Shadow Mewtwo right away vs. having to fulfill certain game conditions. Plus, the card just looks cool. 🙂

Of course, while I was there I couldn’t help picking up a pack of Series 3 Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards. You know, because I’m a sucker for cards.

I’m so happy to have Cube, and Freckles is too adorable! I know I’ll probably never have a full set of these cards (I don’t really buy THAT many of them), but it’s fun to collect them anyway.

My Progress in Angry Birds!

Since the week is coming to a close, I wanted to post all the levels I’ve beaten thus far in Angry Birds. Below you will find screenshots of each chapter I’ve beaten, along with they date they were released.

First off, here’s the levels I had already beaten before making this game a priority to beat:

Poached Eggs- 12/11/2009

Mighty Hoax- 2/2010

Danger Above- 4/2010

The Big Set Up- 6/2010

Ham ‘Em High- 12/2010

Mine and Dine- 6/2011

Birdday Party (Part 1)- 12/2011

Surf and Turf- 3/20/2012

Bad Piggies (Part 1)- 10/09/2012

Now, here’s the levels I have completed this week:

Birdday Party (Part 2)- 12/11/2012

Bad Piggies (Part 2)- 12/11/2012

Bad Piggies (Part 3)- 5/07/2013

Red’s Mighty Feathers (Egg Defender)- 7/03/2013

I am currently on Red’s Mighty Feathers (actual levels) Level 3.

Whew! So many levels down, so many more to go. I’m inspired by my progress, though, so I think I’m going to continue playing Angry Birds this upcoming week to see how far I can get!

I’m A Big Fat Liar!

“Sure, it can get frustrating at times, but I’ve never encountered a level so hard I want to delete the game and never play it again.” -me, in a blog post a few days ago regarding the iOS game Angry Birds. Now, I am not usually a liar, and please understand- up until a couple days ago, I truly meant what I said. But… that was before I encountered the horrible atrocity that is known as Egg Defender Level 15.

Note: The following post is bound to be laced with profanity, so if that’s not your thing, do not read it! 😉

Let me explain these “Egg Defender” levels in Angry Birds. They are part of the Red’s Mighty Feathers world, and they are not ordinary levels. The screen holds a fixed position, and there are unlimited red birds to shoot at the pigs. The pigs come at you in waves, and they are all riding annoyingly shitty contraptions that you have to destroy to get to the pig. The pigs are trying to steal your egg, and if even one gets away with it, it’s game over for you.

At first, the levels were kind of fun. It got harder as I progressed, and I would even say that a few of them were somewhat annoying. Nothing I couldn’t handle! Then came Level fucking 15.

The first asshole pig flew in on a contraption held afloat by a propeller, some fans, and a lovely thing that looked like a vase. The vase thing sucked me up if I got to close to it, so I aimed my bird behind the propeller to blow up the TNT box. No problem. Bye bye piggy!

 

The next little bastard dropped down from the sky, and I had a little trouble with him. I finally figured out that if I just bombarded him enough, I could eventually blow him to pieces.

The next two pigs were a major pain in my ass. Their contraption was held up by fans, which sounds and looks ridiculous. Two vase things were ready to suck me up, something else was shooting oranges at me every time I aimed my bird anywhere, and there were two balloons that couldn’t be popped thrown in for good measure. It took me a bit to figure out how to bring this one down, but finally I destroyed the damn thing.

 

Now the part that really pissed me off! Pigs 4, 5 and 6 were riding some crazy ass contraption I can’t even really explain. Just look at the screenshot below!

 

Anyway, the pig up front was the most annoying little asshole I’ve ever encountered. Over and over, he detached from his friends, sucked up my egg, and flew away faster than I could shoot him down. Over and over, I. Lost. To. That. Fucking. Pig! Aiming is a little slow in these levels, and you can’t shoot another bird until the one you shot makes contact with something. I was just too slow most of the time. Finally, I got lucky and managed to shoot that bastard out of the sky right as he was about to leave with my egg. After I got rid of him, his buddies were easy to destroy.

As for the final pig? It happened so fast, I don’t even remember what really happened. He swooped down on me, then crashed. I managed to pop him right before he escaped offscreen. Finally, this hellish level was over!

 

Whew. This is not a level I EVER want to repeat. I must have played it 30 times! Now it’s back to regular levels in Angry Birds, and I’m very happy about that. I applaud Rovio for making different types of levels, but I’d rather stab my eyeballs out than play them again.

Kirby of the Stars Manga!

I recently had the fortune of stumbling across Volumes 1-6 of the Japanese manga 星のカービィ (Hoshi no Kirby, or Kirby of the Stars.) This manga series was never released in English, which I was pretty bummed about. I love everything to do with Kirby, after all! Now that I’m (slowly) learning Japanese, I decided that I wanted to go ahead and get the books! My husband purchased them for me, and they came in the mail today. I was so excited!

I cannot wait to read these and start translating them. It’s pretty difficult to find much information about any Kirby manga online- Wikia has an excellent page here, but be forwarned- it’s all in Japanese.

Even the spines of the books are adorable! 

There are 12 Volumes total in this series, so I’m happy that I already have half of them. I’ll be on the lookout for the rest, and I hope to complete my collection one day!

Time To Finally Beat Angry Birds!

…you know, at least until there is another update! I’ve been a fan of the original Angry Birds game since it was first released back in 2009. At its core, it really is a great game. Sure, it can get frustrating at times, but I’ve never encountered a level so hard I want to delete the game and never play it again. My problem is this: I haven’t kept up with the game very well. As a result, there are SO MANY levels I haven’t played.

I’m sick of this being the case, so I thought now would be the perfect time to get back into the game! I fully updated it, and it seems I left off on Part 2 of the BirdDay Party, which was released for the game’s 3rd anniversary.

The latest update was in December 2015, when Part 6 of the BirdDay Party was released to honor the game’s 6th anniversary! I am very far behind. 😦 No matter. I’m determined to start popping those piggies again and finally catch up with the game! I also am way far behind on all the Angry Birds spinoffs as well, but I can only worry about one thing at a time here!

Happy Birthday, Animal Crossing!

Ok, so I’m a day late, but yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the release of Doubutsu no Mori, the very first game in the Animal Crossing series. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get this game since it was only released in Japan, but I’ve had the pleasure of owning this game since November 2015, and it has been an absolute treasure to play! In honor of the day, I thought I’d put together a little slideshow of some of the pictures I’ve taken during gameplay. Enjoy!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Note: The slideshow requires JavaScript to play. If you don’t have JavaScript enabled, you won’t be able to see any pictures. If you still want to see the pictures, just click on the “Select Category” section on the left side of the page and choose Doubutsu no Mori. You’ll then see all the posts I’ve done about the game! 🙂

First Impressions: Fish Frenzy Mania!

As I mentioned a couple days ago, I am playing two iPad games this week: The Sims FreePlay and Fish Frenzy Mania. I had played The Sims FreePlay previously, but Fish Frenzy Mania was a game I had downloaded and hadn’t yet played- until the other day, that is! 😉

The World Map.

Fish Frenzy Mania is (another) match-3 type game created by Team Lava. In this game, you match cute little ocean/ beach themed bubbles. What’s interesting about this game is you actually have to match the bubbles several times before they “pop,” and they get bigger and bigger each time you match them. You’ll know they are about to pop when they start quivering like jello on the screen!

The levels start out pretty simple, presenting you with the task of popping the bubbles to win. As you progress, you may have to pop bubbles near sand to clear it, near statues to break them or near treasure to collect it.

The first time I died was on Level 12. That’s when I realized that, just like most games like this, you only have a certain number of lives! In this case, that number is 5. It doesn’t really bother me, though. I’m not impatient- I’ll just go do something else while I wait for my lives to fill back up.

Well, I knew there had to be a catch somewhere…

The ONLY thing that bugs me about this game are the “challenges.” Look at the screenshot below:

What the hell!

Yes, a “challenge” is nothing more than blatant advertisement to try to get you to download other games. How annoying! Luckily, this doesn’t really pop up very often. I also haven’t been bothered to connect to social media, so I’m glad about that.

All it all, Fish Frenzy Mania is a cute, fun game. I love the beachy vibe! It’s not exactly a groundbreaking game or anything, but it’s fun to play when you have a few minutes to spare. I’m on Level 22 right now, and there are currently 252 levels in the game. I’m not sure if Team Lava will add more on or not. Either way, it’s a fun game that’s worth a download if you want to pass a little time!

Week of iPad Gaming!

I decided to show my iPad games some love this week, as it has been sorely neglected lately. I do have an older iPad, so some of the games and apps I downloaded no longer work on them or will not update any further. Many of them still work just fine, though- and it’s a good thing, because I am pretty stubborn and see no need to shell out money for a new iPad just yet! 😉

With that being said, I chose two games to focus on this week: The Sims FreePlay and Fish Frenzy Mania. I initially picked The Sims FreePlay, then decided to pick a secondary game since some actions in The Sims can literally take HOURS to complete.

I have had this game for quite some time, but never got very far with it. I had created characters based on myself, my husband, and my best friend. In the game, my best friend still had her maiden name as her last name, and she got married two years ago- has it really been that long since I played this game?!?

Anyway, I’m still trying to figure all the game mechanics out. Like I said, it differs from the other Sims games in the fact that each action actually takes up chunks of real time vs. Sims time. So, if you put your Sim to bed with the “deep sleep” action, for example, he or she will actually sleep for 7 to 8 hours! This makes The Sims FreePlay a great game to play for a few minutes at a time, then check back on it several hours later.

I attended first to Brandi, the Sim I created after myself. My Sim has a dog running around in her yard for whatever reason, which makes her very happy! It makes the real-life me happy too- I love dogs! 😉

After hanging out with the dog, I sent her off to work. She’s on her way to becoming a scientist!

Since Michael and Crissy do not have jobs, I set them with the task of growing crops. Hey, they have to make money for me somehow!

That’s it for The Sims FreePlay for right now. I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next!

 

More Games I Bought But Probably Can’t Play For Awhile!

I went to GameStop the other day and of course could not resist the calling to buy more games! The first one I picked up was Epic Mickey for the Wii.

Now, when this game came out 10 years ago, I wasn’t really that interested in it. I’m not a  huge Disney fan, after all. That doesn’t mean I won’t give a Disney game a fair shot, as I’ve done with Disney Magical World for the 3DS. (I LOVE that game!) I’ve read and heard good things about this game, and it was only $3, so how could I resist?!

I normally only buy really cheap games at GameStop, but when I saw a copy of Story of Seasons for the 3DS, I quickly snatched it up. For whatever reason, I haven’t been able to find this game in stores, and I’ve been wanting it for awhile.

The last game I purchased was also for the 3DS, called Return to Popolocrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale. The is the next entry in the Story of Seasons series, so I decided to just dive right in and purchase it!

I’ve cataloged these new games into my Backloggery, where it’s possible they may stay for awhile. Hopefully I will get to them sooner rather than later! 😉