Games - Punch-Out / Professor Layton vs Pheonix Wright

So after getting my 3DS I had a nice long flight home. I dug waaay deep into Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, now I had finished everything but the last boss months ago, and then the boss a week or so ago, but now its all about the Maiamais.

There are 100 Maiamai's in the game, roughly 50 in Hyrule and another 50 in Lorule. They are hidden all over the map, and your maps let you know how many are left in each area. When you are near one you can hear them crying. So you know to start looking all over the place when you hear that, turn over every rock/bush/pot, look on every wall. Since my guy is ready for the final battle I've got a lot of weapons and lots of hearts, so none of the enemies really could bother me. I had only maybe 40 of them that I found just by normally going through the game, so I had a lot to find. I actually really enjoyed going through that map again and even seeing some hidden corners of the map I hadn't noticed. Some of them were fun to find, had to do some problem solving. The other thing I didn't realize I could find was more Master Ore, in the game you need to find 2 pieces of master ore to make your sword stronger. I didn't realize there was 2 more ore I could find, and it can make your sword even another level stronger

. So I probably got another 4 hours out of that game, that I basically already finished, which is super cool. Its funny because getting more Maiamais let you upgrade your items for them to be stronger, and then the Master Ore making your sword ever more powerful...but I already beat the game so its a little useless, but still glad I did it. I have totally closed the book on A Link Between Worlds now, great damn game.

Once I got home, I started dabbling more with Punch-Out Wii, gotten through a couple more guys, before getting stuck at Bald Bull. Also started playing a bit of Punch-Out NES, and playing the newer one made me better at the NES one. I never had Punch-out as a kid so I never knew the appeal, and now I freaking love these games, totally respecting the twitch gameplay, and almost puzzle game aspect to it. Its the first game that was basically nothing but Boss fights. But yeah I've really been enjoying my time with it, then I used my Nintendo Club coins to get NES Punch-Out for the 3DS...so I can play it anytime. I even got really addicted to listening to the Wii's Punch-Out Theme, it makes me want to get work done. On the NES version I can now get to the 2nd Piston Honda fight consistently. But that is the game I'm playing when there isn't enough time for...

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright, its the first game I bought myself for my 2DS, and I have been meaning to play it for a while and what better time, now that I have my *new* Nintendo 3DS XL. This game is a mash-up of 2 or Capcom's popular mobile game series Ace Attorney(Visual Novel/Adventure Game) and Professor Layton(Adventure/Puzzle Game). The story is weird for a Phoenix Wright game but not as much for Layton, his games have had some supernatural elements before, but Phoenix Wright is mostly grounded. You play Phoenix fighting an odd case, and afterwards he gets transported away. Then we play as Layton uncovering a mystery that leads him in a similar direction, they both end up in a strange Medieval town called Labyrinthia that is on no map, run by a mysterious figure called The Storyteller. This place is full of puzzles for Layton, and Witch Trials for Phoenix. This game changes focus as the story demands, and swaps between the 2 play styles. Much of the game seems to be more Professor Layton, its going to different spots on the map asking people for clues and them making you solve puzzles, and uncovering the mystery of the town. Then when that stuff is done for the day, there is a Witch Trial at night. You have a new friend who is accused of being a witch and you must defend her in court from being burned in the fire pit. I had gotten through what seemed like the intro/tutorial section. They make you do some puzzles and move around as Layton, then have you have a little Court Room Case with Phoenix to get you re-acclimated to how those games play, as well as a tutorial if you hadn't played one or the other before. Now I've finished the 1st Day in Labyrinthia, so I finished my first Witch Trial, which was a doozy. In this last one you have 5 witnesses at once and you had to play them against each other, it was pretty nifty, but long. Its my current *main* game I'm trying to play. I like the story and the puzzles and the trials but there's so much in between. So I just finished Chapter 2, and I looked online to see that apparently there is 9 Chapters...so this game is gonna have some legs.

There is a good amount of voice acting during the bigger moments of the game, but I wish more was there, because it is enjoyable to hear all the colorful characters actually speak especially in Phoenix Wright. In addition to that, like Professor Layton there are a number of fully Animated sequences and they look fantastic, but again wish there was more because they are so good. So far its got everything I could want out a Layton Game with all I want out of the Phoenix Wright game. Lots of pointing, lots of objections, lots of gentlemanly headwear. Just making these characters come together is a silly idea, I almost got it just to see how it worked, but damn if they don't make it work, and even make it fun.

I was going to talk about Super Mario Bros. vs SMB Deluxe on the 3DS slightly but this went long, so I will get to it next time.