I've had a (financially limited) desire for Jungle Beat since its release, so imagine my delight on seeing a barely-used box - bongos included - for a measely $12! My delight was substantial. Perhaps surprisingly, the game itself is also more substantial so far than I had pictured it being.

You can play Jungle Beat with a normal Gamecube controller (if you're a loser), but the bongos make the game's unique experience even more refreshing, and are super-easy to use. Hit the left drum to go left, the right drum to go right; both at once to jump; and clap, or make some noise equivalent to clapping, e.g. hit the side of the drum, to activate Donkey Kong's heretofore underused Super Clap Attack. It is a relatively simple set of controls, which is the perfect formula for designing levels that challenge the player to pull them off in rapid sequence. DKJB is only as much of a rhythm game as Mario might be considered one, since if you miss a jump et al there is usually a way to climb your way back up, or find an alternate route.

Your score (and DK's health, though this is trivial) is measured in "beats," which are a rough reflection of your performance. In simplest terms, beats translate to the bananas you pick up in a level, but you can add multipliers to your Raw Banana Income by collecting several simultaneously and/or pulling off aerial moves, for instance jumping over a bunch of them and clapping instead of walking right through them.

Each kingdom (level) consists of two stages and a boss encounter, and the beats you collect in the stages will become DK's health in the coming boss battle. The beats you have left after the battle are used to earn crests (more beats = more crests), which are in turn used to unlock more kingdoms.

I've beaten the first four kingdoms (each one took about two to five minutes, though I did replay some for more crests), and so far haven't had any problem with the game's level of difficulty. The fourth kingdom boss, a ... mechanical elephant, was kind of a pain, but otherwise it has been great fun. I look forward to the rest of the game with drumming anticipation.

Progress: 9 crests

Aside from being the only upcoming Wii game to speak of for the next several months, Super Paper Mario is shaping up to be nothing short of an awesome game. Whereas previous Paper Marios were turn-based affairs, segueing to a battle screen on encountering an enemy, SPM is a real time, action RPG where your hit points and jumps will become more powerful as you trounce foes. There are a bevy of other features in here to be excited about, too, like more controllable characters, bizarre sidekicks, the dimension-change dynamic, and of course the wickedly humorous writing. I can't wait.

I was one of the crazy people who thought Boktai was cool, in spite of being chained to a rather clumsy physical object (the sun), so in theory a DS spiritual sequel with no solar sensor should be perfect. And on top of having the classical Boktai-style action and upgradeable weapons, it boasts two characters (one of whom has a sword), action-RPG style experience with levelling up, a ... weather system, and sweet animated cutscenes.

Unfortunately, the isometric overhead adventuring that seemed like a good idea four years ago now has its flaws highlighted. There are oversights in this design that should have been worked out as the game series progressed, but it seems largely untouched; things like enemies being hidden from view behind pillars, and awkward shooting angles.

Another thing that irks me is that there are very few stealth elements in this game - you can "whistle" (blow) into the microphone to distract an enemy, but there's no wall-tapping or slow walking to sneak around. I expected more from Mr. Kojima. Nonetheless Lunar Knights has a good deal of fun in it. The two characters (sword-swinging Lucian and gunslinging Aaron) both have a good selection of abilities, since the game is oriented wholly around combat. The space shooter levels for purifying a vampire are ... interesting, and fortunately, not frequent enough to bring the rest of the game down.

Fun fact: you can play the game without it, but, optionally, plug any Boktai cart into the GBA slot and Lunar Knights will read the accursed solar sensor for an extra boost to certain stats.

Progress: Chapter 3

Never got too hard, but as usual, Kirby is fun just rollicking around and trying out powers. Collectibles are fun; extra modes are kind of dull. Short and sweet.

Progress: 120/120

What surprised me the most starting into Squeak Squad was the awkwardness of the controls. B does not jump, it attacks! Y and A jump! SHEER MADNESS. There is also no option to change this configuration. I can get used to it after a few minutes, but it always gets me when I start the game up again.

I really like the treasure collecting system here. It's implemented very well: there's a count on each stage of how many treasures there are, and which you've gotten or haven't. The collection screen also organizes them really well, and there is a great variety of things to collect, from life-ups to new colors to music tracks to treasure maps to hidden stage keys. There are even thieving rats (squeaks) who attempt to steal treasure chests from you in-game, which is really cool.

There's nothing "wrong" with the stage structuring, e.g. there are several worlds and each one has several stages, which one proceeds through in a linear fashion. But I was really hoping they would stick with the Metroid map system from Amazing Mirror.

The touch-screen stomach system is pretty weak. It has limited space, only certain items - ones in bubbles - can be retained in the stomach, and the ability to combine items rarely pays off. Plus it empties out when you turn the game off. It's not detrimental to the game, but in execution it doesn't really add anything to it either, and what results is a fairly standard Kirby adventure with a cool collectible system.

Progress: Level 3-4, 35/120 treasures

TJ&E is one of the quirkiest games I've seen, which is only one of the reasons I think it would make an awesome DS remake. It's awkward at first, avoiding enemies rather than fighting them, and the movement seems slow. But it didn't take long for the game's general oddities to grow on me. This is one of only a few games that manages to successfully combine off-the-wall humor with working gameplay devices.

Co-op works really well, and there are some devices here that still seem ahead of their time. With one player as ToeJam and the second as Earl, if the two move more than one screen away from each other, it bisects and becomes split-screen play. When players are nearby they can also share items and health.

As an adventure game, TJ&E looks like it can be really hard and take forever (no form of game-saving here). But even if you never finish, it's worth playing just to witness the zany items and ToeJam and Earl's hilarious banter.

Progress: Gave Up -- Level 11

Some really cool side-scrolling shooter concepts are in here: neat weapon upgrades, a weird shield thing that can also dock to the ship as an offensive item, moving environments. Unfortunately, contrary to my belief before purchasing it, the two-player is not simultaneous (you take turns). Caveat emptor. Nevertheless, fairly fun for what it is.

Progress: Gave Up

Super hard, when I played this game by myself it totally kicked my ass. But with a second player it's marginally doable and really quite fun. If you want a two player challenge, this is it.

Progress: Gave Up -- Got to level 3

It's been a real trip. Aside from that one mission where I had to sneak Tassadar through a Terran installation (with all the retries it must have taken me nearly 3 hours), I never found the campaign frustratingly hard, but at the same time it was usually satisfyingly challenging. The final mission might actually be regarded as easy, but it was still way fun.

Props must be given to Blizzard for giving a strategy game a good story, when it would be just as easy for it not to have one at all. Granted, it doesn't have the full effect unless you read the supplemental material in the game manual, but the way it flows into the campaign missions is superbly done. When combined with never-ending online multiplayer fun, and a reasonably robust map editor, StarCraft is truly a classic game.

Progress: Finished campaign, no cheats!

Despite having a dangerous amount of homework and recently downloading a ton of Virtual Console games (best birthday ever), StarCraft's hook is lodged firmly in my gaping, bloody maw. I've spent a considerable portion of the past day nursing my love-hate relationship with the Zerg and exterminating their intelligent and attractive enemies. It has been a while since I played the game with this level of earnest, but now all the magic is flooding back. Splendid.

Progress: Protoss 1