Back from Thanksgiving

Ah, the awkwardness of being home with the family... There were ups and downs as always, and I'll spare the internet the gory personal details. Instead, let's look at the fun stuff!

First off, multiplayer Mario gets even more insane with more people! Most times we had three people, and the head jumping was deadly until we learned the secret. You can voluntarily bubble without dying! A simple push of the A button saves your life. Of course, if everyone does so it still ends the level. We made it through all eight regular worlds and even started on the secret bonus levels thanks to this. I was happy to see that world 8 is genuinely difficult. I wonder if it will be harder with only one death between me and the map screen, or easier with fewer people to land on me.

Next up, five player Battle Load Runner! It's hard to believe that a TurboGrafx-16 game has held up over all these years, but it has. The massive digging melee just gets silly, especially when some players dedicate themselves to saving as many lives as possible rather than winning. Get the gold, get out, and get all three 8-bit songs stuck in your head. We were playing this on my brother's Wii, so I'll be needing to add it to my Virtual Console library soon.

Finally, the day after I got back was the usual Sunday anime night. This week's selection was Coyote Ragtime Show, a scifi adventure which doesn't take itself too seriously. If you liked Outlaw Star, then you'll probably enjoy this one as well. We follow the Robin Hood-esque "Mister" and his crew as they search for the lost treasure of Pirate King Bruce (he made up for the name in sheer awesomeness). Meanwhile, they've got both the cops and the Guild (essentially the space mob) on their tale. You may have already guessed, but wackiness ensues. Don't go looking for deep meaning here. It's just a fun little 12-episode ride.