StarTropics is a cool game I never finished. I picked this up for a reduced price after the Super Nintendo was launched and NES games were marked down signifigantly. I believe I never finished it because the graphics were not quite as good as the SNES RPG's that I was used to, like Final Fantasy 2, 3 and Secret of Mana. All told the game isn't in the category of square's "golden SNES catalog" but it was fun.

It was a quirky story and a unique backdrop as you were on a island and the characters and enemies had an island flavor. Still haven't seen much that has reminded me of this setting in recent memory. Its on my bucket list of games to return to and figure out if its a great game and I missed it or if it was just kind of forgettable.

Either way, ive been thinking about it lately because it stands out in my mind as being unique and something I didn't see a lot of back in the the day.

I have had many conversations with my friends about the "best video game cart of all time". Not the best game of all time, the best cart. The original Zelda is tossed around, The Link to the Past, Secret of Mana, Goldeneye, and Sonic. Super Mario All Stars generally wins because it has such an amazing line up. Its not just that it has Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros 3 & The Lost Levels... But that it adds things like saving whenever you want AND upgraded the graphics for the Super Nintendo.

For certain games like Super Mario Brothers 3 the save feature means the difference between warping directly to the end all the time and being able to play through the entire game reasonably. Super Mario Bros 3 was a great game on the NES but the lack of save really hampered what you could do with it. I know people that left their NES on a few nights to go through Mario 3 in its entirety. Plus, the Racoon tail suit was awesome.

My other fav of this cart is Super Mario Bros 2. Ill save most of my ravings about this game for another post about it directly. That said, Super Mario Bros 2 may very well be my most beloved of the series. So many great memories of playing this with @WhiteboySlim.

Didn't play too much of the lost levels, it was punishingly hard and to this day don't go wild for other hard titles like Nethack or various roguelikes. Not that the lost levels was a rougelike, it was just very hard.

One of my friends takes note with the "best video game cart of all time" for this cart as he has the Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World which came with a late packaging of the SNES. I agree with him, that one is MUCH more epic, thing is I never owned it :)

Really cool information on Borderlands 2:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/exclusive-robots-revamping-and-rearming-a-qa-with-the-developers-of-borderlands-2/

Tonight I Played online w @WhiteboySlim and his friends. I was the lowest level and gained 5 levels in an hour and some change. Finally maxed out my money to the point that a death costs 4 million.

Since we had four players the bad guys were really hard. One bullet practically killed me so I took i got a few shots off, mostly behind cover.

Very fun.

Taking a break from programming to play Borderlands. First time I am playing since I beat it and it asked me which play through to load.

Awesome it lets you jump between them. Starting out play through 2.

Awesome what people do with Minecraft. Id link to the texture pack but the author removed it for some reason. Ill post it in the comments when its back.

This game was a staple my LAN parties till multiplayer stopped working in Windows 7. So many civilizations and so many ways to play this game made us always come back for more.

I remember a few games where we focused on strip mining the map, where we essentially harvested everything for fun. Sometimes we would "box in" the computers by buildings walls around them to completely encase them and then do whatever to harass them.

Keep hoping GoG can rerelease it with a modern build that fixes muiltiplayer.

So in my second play through I'm changing up my play strategy a bit. Putting the sunflowers ahead of my peashooters as a natural defense in the beginning.

So in the first back 2 rows pea shooters, 2 two rows next sunflowers. Then(because it's still early game) mines and walnuts. I just unlocked the flytrap which is always fun :)

PvZ 2? Yes please.

I downloaded the free version from iTunes because I saw it in the top 10 free section on the App Store. I saw Disney as the creator and almost didn't buy it because, lately, I don't really identify with Disney games or movies.

First off the game feels like a Disney cartoon. They really bring a strong Animation effort to the table on this game in the direction of Swampy the Aligator main character. The gist of the game is that Swampy likes to take baths and you need to allow the water to fill his tub. Totally down with the premise and its actually fun to help him out!

Just beat the main "meet swampy" intro thingy and I was impressed that the puzzles were so varied. When Swampy was able to take a bath I found myself happy he was so happy.

Somehow, the animation and art REALLY remind me of "The Rescuers" the ol' Disney cartoon I loved as a wee pup.

Recently I beat Borderlands. What an amazing game! What a really anti-climactic ending. Haven't torn into the DLC on the PS3 yet, but I will soon.

Played through as the Siren. Focused on phasewalk damage and early on the game found a very over powered shotgun. I think I prefer playing the game with pistols or maybe I was just lucky and found a lot that dont have a lot of bullets but hit very very hard.

Today someone randomly found my town and gave me some coins. Thank you stranger, I couldnt find your town to reciprocate though.

Bummer.

I got this game as part of The Humble Bundle 4. In fact, I got the bundle just for Cave Story and Gratuitous Space Battles. If you loved old NES or SNES side scrollers you need to check out Cave Story. Playing through it with a USB SNES style controller is the way to go.

I technically have Cave Story+ but turned the settings to only show me the old graphics, those seem better to my eye.

I haven't beat it yet, just put a few hours into it here and there. So far, really really fun.

From the Hyrulecraft website:

Hyrulecraft is a 1:1 scale replica of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, in Minecraft! With the alpha map already available as a download, the project has now entered stage 2. The HC team hopes to have a completed server ready later this year which will include a unique Minecraft MMO experience including quests, NPCs, dungeons, free build zones, guilds, and more of the classic Minecraft stuff you know and love.

http://gengame.net/2012/01/hyrulecraft-goes-public-limited-time-sneak-peak/

A bit ago I heard about Plants VS Zombies and downloaded the demo. After playing the game for 2 hours I went to the store and bought the box copy. It was $20 and I could install it on my Mac and PC. A few weeks later I picked it up on the iPhone for $2.99 and proceeded to beat it on the iPhone. Plants VS Zombies is awesome on mobile. Recently installed it on my 4S and started playing it again.

PvZ is an awesome game. My only real complaints about the are a few fold.

1. I find it a bit too easy. I wish there was a hardness setting so it was more challenging. Occasionally you have to change up the strategy a bit but for the most part, its too easy. Hopefully in 2.0 they can make it a bit more difficult.

2. It sucked when they took out the dancing thriller zombie. Since I got the box copy no update took that away from me :)

3. Can't wait for 2.0

After I picked up my iPhone 4S one of my friends let me know about a game he played called My Town 2. Its kind of like Zinga's Cityville except to my eye less annoying.

My city is "Mos Eisley" and I am currently level 14. Its pretty fun to have a game on your phone where you can sink a few minutes a day on. I mostly spend my time collecting rent from buildings and do a few of the quests from time to time.

Saw another of my friends towns today and her town is WAY more elaborate than mine. She has a Casino and the Playboy Mansion. Its pretty cool to know you can at least keep it going to a certain point. She did mention that she hit the level cap I think it was 50.