Yep, it's almost Christmas, a holiday that where people celebrating this season with bunch of Christmas related stuff like decorations, trees, building snowman, dressing up as Santa, singing Christmas Carol, watching Christmas films, preparing special dinner and of course unwrapping the present from the family and friends is what the Christmas is all about, but I wanted to focus on the things that I considering getting it on this holiday as I'm looking forward to see what kind of my gifts that I end up getting, so I decided to make my own wishlist that I wanted to have on the day of Christmas.
Here is my 5 Christmas Wish List of 2018.
1 - Nintendo Classic Mini
Despite the success of the original NES console from the 80's, Nintendo had finally revealed the smaller version of NES which is a Nintendo Classic Mini (AKA NES Classic Edition in US and Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer in Japan) was released in year November 2016 and then got discontinued in April 2017. Due to high demands of NES Classic Mini console, it got re-released in June 2018. This dedicated system helps the gamers of 80's era by re-visiting back to their childhood favourites featuring a 30 games titles built-in such as Ninja Gaiden, Megaman 2, Castlevania, Super Contra, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros and many more great titles to play on.
I felt that the price of this system is very reasonable which made me want to pick it up for less than £50 because I just really wanted to play these old-school gaming, so if I don't buy this on time before it went out of stock again then the NES Classic Mini goes really expensive for more than the original price cost.
2 - Shantae: Half Genie Hero - Ultimate Edition (PS4)
I was super impressed with the past Shantae titles such as Shantae: Risky's Revenge, and Shantae and the Pirate's Curse which is the 2D metroidvania games where you take control of half-genie girl named Shantae sets her quest to save her homeland from the evil Pirate leader named Risky Boots. During her quest, Shantae has her ability to use her hair as whip attack and using her magic items as well as unlocking her new abilities and discovering new locations which leading her to battle against her nemesis in whereabouts.
While I finding these games are quite entertaining, I'm considering to pick the physical copy of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero - Ultimate Edition which comes with official soundtrack, artbook, and all DLCs pack are included on the actual completed game disc. I'm looking forward to play a newer titles filled with brand new adventures with story and gameplay, cartoon style graphics, and more game modes with extra content.
3 - Sonic Mania Plus (PS4)
Back in my old days of 90's where the Blue Hedgehog named Sonic had becoming one of a SEGA's most lovable mascot that really made SEGA's 16-bit hardware quite successful. The very first Sonic game that came out in year 1991 for SEGA Genesis/Megadrive to complete with their rivalry such as Nintendo's memorable mascot Mario with the SNES. It sold over 15 million copies worldwide that led into SEGA's success which spawned numerous of sequels, spin-offs, toy merchandises, cartoon shows, comic books and etc.
Despite the success of the franchise, it went go down the drain with shitty Sonic later titles in around mid-2000s and nowadays. SEGA had learned their lesson from their horrible titles from the past (such as Sonic 06 and Unleashed) which led the team to work on the project called Sonic Mania which is a 2D platformer game that finally brings back the original 16-bit root of the classic Sonic titles that we all love.
It filled with enhancement 2D graphics resembling the classic 16-bit era, 12 levels including eight redesigned stages from the past games, speedy 2D platforming gameplay, and three playable characters. The plus edition comes with two newer characters, new game mode with remixed levels and four-player competition mode.
As a fan of Sonic franchises, I'm very glad that SEGA are going back to this classic root of Sonic titles which got me excited to play this type of game.
4 - Megaman 11 (PS4)
The blue bomber is finally back for its 30th anniversary of beloved franchise by Capcom. Megaman is a action-platform game where you take control of Megaman to battle against his nemesis Dr.Wily and the Robot Masters. It was known for its unique levels filled with hazardous objects and enemies, gaining newer weapon ability, cool presentation with great story intro and characters, and amazing 2D gameplay.
It's been for like a 8 years since after the release of Megaman 10 where Capcom did a shitty move of cancelling their recent projects such as Megaman Legends 3 and Megaman Universe that really got the fans excited for the announcements, but got badly outraged at the end after finding out the cancellation of these bigger two projects. Capcom had finally opened their ears to the fans and give them what they wanted with the newer Megaman title released in year 2018. It retains the classic Megaman 2D gameplay with newer weapons and abilities, newer robot masters to fight against, modern style graphics with classic style 2D environments, and additional features including Time Trials, Missions, Concept Art Gallery and more.
I'm definitely to look forward to see a new Megaman game which got me hyped to see a return of the classic franchise.
5 - Action Replay Plus (SEGA Saturn)
Back in our retro gaming days where some of the third-party companies wanted to make their own kinds of gaming accessories like game controllers, universal game adaptors and other weird technologies. I remember the time that I had the Action Replay for the Nintendo Gamecube and Game Genie for the SEGA Genesis/Megadrive which I am using these for not just for the actual cheats system like unlocking stuff, infinite mode and other weird stuff, but I just wanted to use it to bypass the system region code which allows me to play any of US and JP NTSC games on my PAL game system.
I'm considering to get a Action Replay Plus for SEGA Saturn because I just wanted to play any of US and JP exclusive titles that never got made in PAL releases like Radiant Slivergun, X-Men vs Street Fighter, Astal and other kinds of titles. The price of this adaptor are quite expensive on Ebay which mean I had to wait for while until it goes down cheaper for like less than £20 in the right future. I just wanted to have a fun experiment of having this thing tested on my game console to see if its actually works well when attempting to play JP games on my PAL system.
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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
