Donkey Kong Country Returns

"How dare he have teeth" say the hardcore Donkey Kong squad. "DK should not have teeth - he should suck his way through life like in 1994. These new bones have ruined the franchise!"

And the Squirrel says, heed not what these simpletons speak of. And that's not just because you can see Donkey Kong's toothy grin in his 1980 arcade debut, but because teethy Donkey Kong Country Returns, despite not being born in Leicestershire and despite it's unhealthy obsession with Wii Remote waggle, is a great game. It's a welcome change from bongos and shoulder buttons, and one of the few Wii games worth bothering about in the near future.

Super Meat Boy

It's as if Newgrounds are making new grounds in the world of gaming. This is Super Meat Boy, released a few weeks ago on Xbox Live Arcade, PC, and Mac. A frighteningly difficult platformer that's seen nothing but critical acclaim from the press. And for good reason I suppose.

The SHPDMBGWL4 Christmas Special, 2010

Because everyone's Christmas needs to be spoiled

Look, it's another SHPMDBGWL4 Christmas special which you can download. It's an unfinished mess of a game built within about five days with very little gameplay value at all, but it's something.... I think.

Anyway, Merry Christmas. Might not be wise to spend it reading this blog though.

Sexy Parodius

Sounds sexy

Say, what's better than Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius? Lots of things, actually, but you can count on Sexy Parodius being one of them. The last in the series worth caring about, Sexy Parodius goes that extra mile to make sure it could never be sold in the west by cramming the game full of women in swimsuits to extract your revenge against feminism on. But don't be put off by its title - this isn't filled with intensive bedroom fun. In fact... there's no nudity at all.

Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius

Sounds... chatting

Say what's better than Gokujō Parodius?.. I'm not too sure. Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, or "Chatting Parodius Live" is the fourth game in the series and gives it a go. This one has a running commentary... in Japanese. Perhaps you can see why I'm not as thrilled with this one.

Gokujō Parodius (Fantastic Journey)

Sounds fantastic

Say, what's better than Parodius Da!? The sequel, Gokujō Parodius of course. Those in the know know that its English title is "Fantastic Journey", but I'm not one for breaking naming conventions for the sake of one game.

Gokujō Parodius comes from a time where new entries in the Gradius series were nonexistent, and so on a technical level, it stands out as being a hundred times better than the game it set out to parody. Basically that means in 1994, the best Gradius game wasn't even a Gradius game at all.

Mission in Snowdriftland

My favourite advent calandar is back this year - Mission in Snowdriftland. It's wonderful.

Developed by a group named Extra Toxic, this online flash platformer was originally attached to Nintendo as a way of plugging DS and Wii games for the Christmas season. That was a couple of years ago, and during that time fans (including myself) wanted to see this thing become a commercial product.

That has yet to happen (though the Easter-based cousin, Chick Chick Boom is apparently on WiiWare these days), but it has returned in its original form for 2009 with an non-Nintedo indie games theme. Play it while you can.

Parodius Da!

Konami are an interesting group of developers. They make an extremely popular horizontal shoot-'em-up (Gradius) and then seek to parody it with Parodius. Parodius Da! is the second in the series, following an MSX game that nobody has played and hasn't stood the test of time. It's brilliant, and you should play it.