Nintendo Switch Mario Kart Racing Wheel Pro Deluxe

 

I just saw that the Hori racing wheel for the Switch was on clearance at Best Buy (probably due to the upcoming launch of the Switch 2), so I went to my nearby store and purchased their last unit.  Although I already have the Joy-Con Wheels (the Switch 2 will have its own versions as well), not all games support those because they use the Joy-Con's gyros for tilt controls.  Quite a few racing games only support the analog stick, so a traditional steering wheel is the only way to still get wheel functionality.

Also, since the Switch 2 will support all Switch controllers, this wheel is guaranteed to work with the new system.  I'm not sure if I'll end up using this or the Joy-Con 2 wheels for Mario Kart World, but I'll at least give it a try and see which I like better.

In the mean time, I'm thinking of getting Monster Jam Showdown for Switch (that was what caused me to look into getting this wheel to begin with).

The wheel looks like it's built quite well, and I'm looking forward to trying it with various games.  The last time I bought one of these steering wheels was for my Nintendo 64 around 2013, and I had a blast playing old arcade racing games with it such as Off Road Challenge and Hydro Thunder.  Who knows, I may end up buying a bunch of racing games on Switch 2 now.

Christmas 2024

This post is a little late, but I only recently received the last item being shown here, so I suppose that's fine.

I haven't been an import gamer before (unless you count owning the Wii Virtual Console versions of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Sin and Punishment), so this is my first time owning a physical release of a Japan-only game.

The Aleste Collection has multiple Japan-only shmups for the Game Gear, and even the Master System.  The Game Gear surprisingly had some excellent vertical-scrolling shooters, which I'm definitely into.  Sadly, none of the Game Gear shmups made it to 3DS Virtual Console.

This collection includes the Aleste games, as well as a brand new title made just for the Game Gear in 2020.  While this compilation didn't get a U.S. release, the Switch is region free, and the menu screens aren't too difficult to navigate either.  I hope to post playthroughs in the near future (how many times have I promised that before?).

Next up, Keet gave me a nice copy of Kirby's Adventure for the NES, which really caught me off guard.

He also gave me Resident Evil Revelations for the Wii U, but the online multiplayer doesn't work anymore since the Wii U servers got shut down, plus the game is dual analog only, so maybe I'll need to trade it for the Switch version.

I also received a new Switch carrying case with a Tears of the Kingdom theme.  This is my actually third carrying case.  I already have a Breath of the Wild carrying case that came with the special edition, so I should probably keep this one to complement the other.

That wasn't the only Tears of the Kingdom merchandise I received though.  I also got a Japan-only Hawaiian shirt.

And a really cool coffee mug.

My friend Drew (featured in some of my multiplayer videos such as Super Mario World and Conker's Bad Fur Day) gave me this awesome Super Mario Bros. collector's box.  This one also caught me off guard.

I almost feel bad taking these items out of the box, but I might as well use them.  That's what they're for.

I'm hoping to visit Florida again later this year and record a ton of multiplayer footage, but we'll see what happens.  In the mean time, I'll work on posting new recordings on Youtube, Rumble and Odysee.  Don't forget that you can find me on all of those video platforms.

Contra: Operation Galuga (Switch)

 

I just received the Switch version of Contra: Operation Galuga.  Limited Run Games takes a while to produce and ship their products, but this one still arrived faster than my prior orders.  When I saw that a cartridge version was being made available, I decided to wait for that.

This is apparently a remake of the original game.  However, it has a four-player mode that I would really love to try some time.  Sadly, the Switch version is said to run at 30 fps, but I'm used to that by now with various Switch ports such as Friday the 13th and Doom.  I hope to post a playthrough of this game in the near future.

Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll

 

After I picked up the Wii Balance Board through Wii Fit Plus a few years ago, I started looking into other Balance Board games I could get.  I had played Super Monkey Ball on the GameCube back in the day with my friend Luke and I thought it was fun, especially the mini games.

I already knew about Step & Roll from when it was released, so that game instantly came to mind, especially since it wasn't just another fitness game.  However, I only now got around to buying a sealed copy off eBay (for dirt cheap) since there other items I was more focused on collecting.

I haven't played this one before, but I look forward to eventually posting a playthrough.  Who knows, maybe I'll record myself with the video camera, just like I did with the Power Glove.

Mario Kart Wii Prima Guide

 

After acquiring nearly all of the Nintendo Power Player's Guides that I would need for my collection, I noticed that I never purchased the Mario Kart Wii guide from Prima.  Nintendo stopped producing its own strategy guides around 2007 and handed off the reigns to Prima, so I have all sorts of Prima guides for various Wii and DS games.  However, I didn't have this one, so I went ahead and bought it.

Super Mario All-Stars and Mario Paint Player's Guides

 

I picked up a couple more Player's Guides last week.  Although I already owned the Super Mario All-Stars guide, I found a cleaner copy and decided to buy it.  Keet bought me the prior guide back in 2021, so when I got the replacement, I sent him the original one that he sent me, and he seemed quite happy with that.

Since I gave Keet a guide that he didn't have, he returned the favor by sending me a really clean Mario Paint guide.  There are still one or two guides left that I could pick up if I feel like it, but I'm certainly content with what I have now.

Wave Race: Blue Storm and Wario World Player's Guides

 

I don't have much to report on the new purchases front, but I did pick up a couple new Player's Guides in the past week that I was missing from my collection.  I'm actually surprised I never purchased the Wario World guide back when I got the game in 2003.  I certainly could have used it since I wasn't able to get 100% completion until years later when I learned you had to pile drive enemies through certain trap doors to open them.

The Wave Race: Blue Storm guide was fairly cheap, and since I picked up the Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Double Dash Player's Guides within the past few years, I decided I might as well get this one too.