The Gospel According To Rhys - Colwyn Bay North Wales Web blog About Sport Technology Web 2.0 Internet Life and Making Money Online

This weekend, I have been mostly been playing on the Wii.

First up was on Friday, when Nintendo announced that this week’s release on the Virtual Console included one of my favourite games ever, F Zero X.

Released in 1998 for the N64, F Zero X is a futuristic racing game. Your mission is to try and win the 5 cups that are on offer. Of course, there are 29 other drivers who will try and stop you.

It’s a clusterfuck of futuristic racing, with no weapons, only speed, and boy - is there speed. The tracks are not very technical, but the fact there are 29 other cars going at a blistering pace around the track at the same time means you have to keep your wits about you. It is far too easy to take a nudge and be knocked into a wall or even off the track. 30 cars, with 24 tracks (plus a X Cup full of randomly designed tracks), death race mode and oodles of replayability make this game essential.

If you’re a Wii owner, and want to play an amazing racing game, you can’t do much better than F Zero X.

Secondly, I used some gift tokens to purchase one of the most eagerly awaited games for the Wii - Mario Strikers Charged Football, which is the first Wii game you can play over the internet.

I admit, I heard people say it’s nothing like football, and it isn’t. Whilst I did expect that, a few times I am screaming at the keeper for being very indecisive, either come for the ball, or not! But after going through the training mode and picking up some basics, I thought I’d go online.

Four 6-0 tankings later, and I’m back to the drawing board. There are some very good players of this game online, and - whilst my initial favourite - Donkey Kong - picks me up a few wins, I’m still struggling to win consistantly, and can’t win a best of 3 series.

That being said, I’m enjoying every single minute of it. It’s bloody fantastic! It’s nothing like “proper football”, but who cares when it’s this fun? The graphics look good, there’s very little slowdown over the net (we have a pathetic 512kb connection split between that and 2 PC’s, and it does work well), and it’s bloody fun to play. When you win, you feel like you’ve achieved something (which the neighbours and my family know, due to my screams of “Fuck yeah!” on the rare occassion I win), beating some geek over the internet. It’s so satisfying.

Of course, you can play against people you know, I’ve played against Tom, who’s giving me a few dickings. He’s rather good at it. Should you wish to play against me, my Mario Strikers Friend Code is 279275 449152. Add me, and leave your friend code in the comments. I will add you and challenge you to a game at some point.

If you are to play against me, you’re banned from using Hammer Brothers as your sidekicks, and I will frown on you using Birdo. Okay, the three players practically guarentee you goals, but - by using them - you are hereby calling yourself Sammy Small Balls for the rest of your life.

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