Super Mario Odyssey Starter Pack

Well, I have to say today was a good day because Nintendo released Super Mario Odyssey with a starter pack.  The starter pack includes the original game and a traveller’s guide book.  The traveller’s guide is what I’m most excited for because (in my opinion) it acts like an “unofficial” manual.  While I love Switch games, one thing that I hate is their lack of physical manuals.  I’ve been a Nintendo fan since the 80’s so having a manual is part of the magic of owning a game.

The traveller’s guide book offers a simple overview of the game and the worlds to explore in beautiful colorful pages.  And just like a traditional manual it gives you a basic illustrated guide on how to use the controls.  I will definitely cherish this guide book and hopefully Nintendo keep’s doing this for their games (at least the popular ones).  Also included with this starter pack release is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2.

Nintendo:

https://www.nintendo.com/games/game-guide?pv=true#filter/switch|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|featured|des|starter%20pack|-|-

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTuLWcaRDBA

Sony PlayStation Classic

I am so excited to hear Sony is making a PlayStation Classic mini.  Obviously they’re copying Nintendo after their successful Classic mini series, but honestly who cares.  The fans are the winners here because we not only get to play classic games we all love, but we also get to discover new games we never played (especially the younger generation).

I was hoping Sony would do this for years, because I feel it necessary that classic games should be persevered.  It’s kind of like old TV shows and movies, where they were only shown once and then never seen again.  Can you imagine a world where Disney movies or Warner Bros. cartoons were only shown once and then disappeared?  But then thanks to the VCR, DVD’s, TV reruns, and the internet we all get to watch classic movies and TV shows.  And so the Classic mini series now allows us to re-play all those games from the past and also praise and study them for what they accomplished.  Fingers crossed that we get a PS2 Classic mini one day.

PlayStation:

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2018/09/18/introducing-playstation-classic-with-20-pre-loaded-games/

Adidas Stan Smith

The Adidas Stan Smith is a pair of sneakers I never thought I would own again.  I had them as a child and I use to hate them.  Maybe it was my fault because I would play soccer in them and they would hurt my feet.  So anytime I saw the Stan Smith in stores, I would refuse to even look at them from the fear of the pain they had caused me.  But it wasn’t until recently that I slowly started warming up to them.  Their recent popularity caused me to be interested in them once again.  I also decided to do a little research on them as well.  I read about its history and how popular they were in England.  In fact they were so popular that Adidas had to stop selling them for fear of oversaturation.  Little by little my hype for this sneaker started to grow, until I had to buy them.

So far the sneaker has been amazing.  Adidas has updated the insole and they definitely feel more comfortable than what I had as a child.  It’s funny how sneaker technology from the past can seem so archaic by today’s standards.  The leather is nice because it’s thick and still soft, though I’m sure it’s a mix of synthetic leather.  And of course the simple design of the all white sneaker with green highlight and perforated three stripes pairs nicely with jeans or khakis.  I really love this sneaker, and I’m glad I decided to give them another chance.

Adidas Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas_Stan_Smith

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdF2k3nZFR4

World of Nintendo vs. Amiibo

When Nintendo released the 30^th anniversary Legend of Zelda amiibo figures I was heartbroken when I found out that they had sold out and a second release wasn’t likely.  I was also upset because Nintendo was up to their old tricks of intentionally releasing hard to find figures in order to create hype.  To a certain point I’m okay with hunting for collectables, but in this case Nintendo made them difficult to find (releasing in separate stores), and pre-ordering was the only means of reserving them (meaning you couldn’t choose a mint condition package in-store).  While I was upset initially, I did eventually cave in and decided to buy the figures from resellers while the prices were still “reasonable.”

Buying a just released amiibo from a reseller left me with bitter sweet feelings (knowing that my money isn’t going to Nintendo directly).  Meanwhile at the same time I was also collecting World of Nintendo figures. Unlike the 30^th anniversary Zelda amiibo, World of Nintendo figures were much easier to find, and retailed for a great price.  This is why I believe it’s better to collect and support World of Nintendo figures made by Jakks Pacific.  Unless you’re a hardcore Zelda collector, I recommend you stick to buying World of Nintendo figures, and occasionally buying amiibo when there’s a figure you like.  The benefits of WoN figures is that there are plenty to go around, they’re toys that are highly detailed and poseable, and a variety of  characters continue to be released.  And while they lack the features that amiibo add to games, I recommend you just buy NFC enabled amiibo cards online instead.  That way you won’t miss out on those features when you’re playing games and you’ll still have an awesome World of Nintendo collection.

Jakks Pacific:

www.jakks.com

Nintendo Amiibo:

www.nintendo.com/en_CA/amiibo/line-up

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6I0VD_8CJU