Nintendo Tips and Tops, Season 2

Mario Party 7 for Nintendo Gamecube

Official site

Description: Some of you might be getting tired of all the sequels, but don't worry: This game breaks the formula in nearly a dozen places! For starters, only two boards in this game follow the traditional scheme of "pay 20 coins at the Star Space to get a Star". All other boards have unique methods of Star gathering, so you'll need to apply different strategies for each board. Bowser plays a much bigger role this time around: Among other things, Bowser hosts his own event every five turns (some of these events will make fundamental changes to how the board works), as well as the Last 4 Turns event. Koopa Kid spaces start mischief events that are quite amusing this game, and go beyond the typical "I'm gonna steal your coins" events that were used for past games. The items are more versatile in this game: You can use them claim spaces, set up roadblocks, or give yourself a boost. Each character also has a special item that only that character (and his/her counterpart) can use. Perhaps one of the most interesting new features in this game are the new 8-player games, where teams of two can share a controller. The mini-games aren't as imaginative this time around, but trust me: There's plenty to make up for it!

Free Hint: The Surprise/Magic Orb can guarantee that you won't be stepping on certain spaces. This can be good and bad! Analyze the board carefully before you use this orb! (Of course, if all you want to do is get somewhere fast, and you don't care what you'll be landing on, you can ignore this advice.)

Cookie Hint: In Windmillville, remember that you can lock out players from buying your windmill by putting much more that the required amount of coins into it. If you're rich, consider putting all of your coins into the center windmill. This will not only guarantee that you will have at least 3 Stars, but it also prevents you from being robbed by almost anything! (Bandits excluded, of course.) There is the slight possibility that Bowser will destroy your windmill, but this is a rather low risk.

Meteos for Nintendo DS

Official site

Description: In this action/puzzle game, you are presented with a stack of Meteos that you have to get off your planet before they stack too high and your planet goes KA-BLOOIE! So, what to do? Simple: Move the Meteos up and down to form a set of three Meteos, and they'll take off like rockets! It sounds simple, but there are a variety of tricks you can use, such as secondary ignitions, mid-air docking, and my favorite, the step jump. There are 32 different planets, each with their own graphics, sounds, and physics, adding a lot of replayability and strategy to this game.

Free Hint: Remember that most of the physics change from planet to planet, including the effect of the speeder on a falling stack of launched Meteos. On Meteo, the speeder causes stacks to fall at a great speed, but on Bavoom, the speeder will actually slow stacks down!

Cookie Hint: Clearing your screen of Meteos will give you lots of points and make it easier to win! You can achieve this by using mid-air docks and step jumps to form a planet-wide stack, then sending it out of the atmosphere! On some levels, such as Megadom, putting a planet-wide stack together and pushing it out of the atmosphere is too hard, so don't push your luck.

Mario Kart DS for Nintendo DS

Official site

Description: When it comes to handheld racing games, I highly doubt anything will ever top Mario Kart DS. (Unless there's a Mario Kart DS 2. ;-) ) The single player mode features a variety of activites to keep you busy, including a Grand Prix mode with 8 cups (4 classic, 4 new), a Battle mode in which you can fight computer characters, and a Mission mode. I know that "missions" in a racing game sounds kind of "off", but trust me, these make pretty good boredom busters. Those of you with friends, don't worry, because they haven't neglected multiplayer games. Together, you and your friends can go race each other, pop each other's baloons, or go hunting for Shine Sprites... even if your friends don't own the game! And there's a new Wi-Fi mode, so that somebody in Germany can thwock someone in Texas with a Koopa shell. Just be warned that it's quite common for one's hands to get sore playing this game!

Free Hint: There are many karts in this game. Try as many as you can to find one that suits your style. For example, I've found that I do well in Daisy's Light Dancer. It has above average speed and excellent drifting, which suits me quite well. Its Items and Weight stats aren't very good, but I typically don't need to rely on these stats.

Cookie Hint: In Battles, you can't just rely on brute force to win! Try some smart moves, such as: Place a Fake Item Box in the exact same place as a real one. Place lots of Bananas on a single ramp, making it hard to dodge them all. See if you can think up some other clever moves!

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