'Your friendly Neighbourhood Yoshi'

 I'm a professional when it comes to procrastinating when I need to be writing. For the last few nights I have come up with all manner of things to stop me doing the one thing I need to be getting on with. My favourite though has been playing Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, to say I am loving this game would be an understatement. Last night Mrs M wanted an early night and I should have been the perfect chance for some quiet time to get my head down and write, but I decided to join here and take my 3DS. I had planned to play a few more levels but found myself hooked when entering the 'Yoshi Hut' on the game. The game itself is AWESOME, but being able to create your own Woolly Yoshi's  is such a great addition to the game. 

It started with Wolverine Yoshi and then when I looked at my phone I realised I'd got a little carried away. It was 1am and I'd been creating marvel Yoshi's for a couple of hours. Anyway, I thought I'd share them with ya'll.

'Take it, One stitch at a time'

There are so many reasons why for me Nintendo have been the console of choice for most of my life. I could spend hours talking about why they have had such a huge impact in my life, but their latest 3ds release sums up the main reason why I adore them so much. Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World is everything I love about Nintendo, bright colourful graphics, adorable characters, a playful soundtrack and fun well thought out levels with hidden things to find. This is none threatening, none aggressive console gaming at its best. It is what I was brought up on and it is a valuable lesson that I have installed into the boys. you can be a gamer without all the realistic violence that you get from other consoles.

Sometimes I am surprised it has stuck, especially with Seth as he goes to school with a lot of children who's parents are happy with them playing the latest first-person shooter or violent action adventure game, but Seth and Opeie are both very intelligent and emotionally mature children who understand why, as parents me and Mrs M are the way we are about the games that they play. Plus there are so many educational values that can be taken from none offensive games like Super Maker Maker, Pokemon, Tomodachi Life and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World.

Anyway... a little more about the game. When I wrote about Super Mario Maker before Christmas, I wrote about how excited I was that the game had made the Wii U/3ds crossover. Most of my personal gaming time is on the handheld console and I absolutely adored Mario Maker on the Wii U so to have the game released on there was really awesome. I felt exactly the same about Yoshi's Woolly World, so when I read that Yoshi and his canine companion were getting the 3ds makeover I was overjoyed.

I love Nintendo's style of platform gaming, especially for the 3ds as they are the sort of games that you can pick up, progress a level or two and then put down to squeeze into short spaces of time you may have to game. This is how I play as I don't always have time to sit in front of the TV for extended gaming sessions and it is this style of gaming of mine that is getting me so excited about the release of the Nintendo Switch next month. A console that you can play at home and then continue on the go, to me, sounds like the perfect way of gaming and I honestly can't wait to get stuck in.

I've gone off course again... As expected Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World has been my game of choice for every spare moment I have, I'm shocked though that it has been played even more that Super Mario Maker and has been the game of choice most evenings in bed for an hour of play before I drop off. Apart from the Open world area in the Wii U version the game is very similar in game-play, but as you can tell from the title, Poochy is a much bigger part of this game. One of the things I love about the game is how quickly you can jump between a Poochy free mode where game play is a little more challenging and having a never ending supply of poochy pups who help sniff out hidden items and can be thrown like the yarn balls to help younger players progress through the levels (Opeie absolutely adores the game). There are also new Poochy Dash levels where you have to whizz through, collecting items while being timed.

Aside from the main game-play you can also design your own Yoshi to share via street pass and there are also animated shorts to watch at the scrapbook theatre. Making this game full on entertainment.

Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World is everything I want from a game and it reinforces everything I adore about Nintendo and their amazing gaming ethos.

"Man is a gaming animal. He must always be trying to get the better in something or other."

When I was younger around Christmas time there would always be at least one Nintendo game I was hoping for. I remember one year really wanting Super star Wars and Mario paint and another year desperate to get my hands on Zool the Ninja Ant. Playing our Nintendo console back then was fun time spent with my family and things haven't changed when it comes to me and the boys. With so many great Nintendo games released this year here's my top 5 that should be in any Nintendo fans Christmas stocking.

Although it isn't my favourite game of 2015 (It's my second), Super Mario Maker in my eyes is most definitely the biggest. This game is huge and rightly so. Being able to design your own courses is amazing and although the game is only single player, being able to create levels for your friends and family really makes this a great family game. With thousands of levels to play, created by other gamers all around the world, there is no end to the amount of fun you can have playing this game.

Yoshi's Woolly world was the game I was looking forward to playing the most. I love cute games and this one takes cuteness to the extreme. Woolly world is a colourful none threatening game but one that can take quite a lot of skill at times. For me personally, the best game of the year and one me and the boys will be playing a lot over the Christmas break.

I am all about the 3ds, as much as I love the Wii U, Handheld gaming fits in better with my days and The Legend of Zelda Tri Force Heroes has been entertaining me while I have been parked up waiting for Mrs M or passing the time waiting for Seth to come out of school. The 3 person multiplayer that can be played from one cartridge is the main attraction for me, with both of the boys having 2ds' but it is also great to take two random gamers from anywhere in the world on missions with me too.

I'll be honest, when I first played Splatoon it didn't really appeal to me, but the more I played it with the boys, the more they got in to it and that excitement is contagious. Splatoon is an amazing multiplayer rumble and I could happily sit with the boys for hours playing this as it is a really fun and competitive game. As far as family games go this is definitely one to be on your Christmas list or a great way to spend that festive cash you get from a distant relative.

I cheated a little on number 5 as it wasn't released this year but the game is still huge so Super Smash Brothers has made its way to my top 5. With an enormous selection of Nintendo characters spanning over many years of Nintendo's history this game really packs a punch. Ive not played the Wii U version of the game but I hear it is amazing. The 3DS game though has been great for me as I can fit a bit of brawling in here of there. I was always a huge fan of the fighting games when i was younger and being able to battle using many of the characters I grew up with is amazing.

There have been loads of new titles released this year, these are just my personal top 5. To find out about other titles and future releases head over to Nintendo.co.uk. I hope you all have an amazing game filled Christmas, I'll be using the quiet time to work on completing these 5.

"I hear the pitter patter of a dinosaur"

There will probably be a few short posts pop up over the next couple of days as Opeie has declared it 'Dinosaur week'. It seems that the new Jurassic World LEGO kits kick started something laying dormant that we thought was extinct. Then a great surprise delivery from Nintendo just got this week of dino appreciation started. 

To celebrate the release of Yoshi's Wooly world on Wii U, Nintendo have created these adorable knitted Amiibo's which started the conversation of 'what other Dinosaurs do you think Yoshi would be friends with?' Opeie informed me that as Triceratops (his favourite dinosaur) is a Herbivore, so they would be great friends as they wouldn't eat each other! So as the package came full of craft items also we decided to kick of 'Dinosaur week' with a Triceratops mask.

After creating our masks we had lunch while watching Walking with Dinosaurs on Netflix. I had to turn it off after one episode though when a dinosaur stuck its nose in another Dinosaurs nest and ate its baby. There was a genuine look of distress on Opeie's face, luckily there was a great selection of dinosaur themed shows so we replaced that bleak (but interesting) look at the prehistoric era with Jim Hensons 'Dinosaur Train' (much more appropriate for a four year old).

All that was left then of  'Dinosaur week' day 1, was to strap a Triceratops puppet to front of his Micro Scooter and head out on a Dino hunting adventure.

Note: While watching walking with Dinosaurs Opeie asked " where are they filming this? because we don't have dinosaurs in this country!!

Love that innocent little angel.

Yoshi's woolly world is out now and we can't wait to give it a play, until then though Roooooaaaarrrr!!!

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary."

This great weather we have been having makes all the difference to how we plan and spend our days. When the weather is bleak we can easily waste an hour or two in the morning deciding whether to venture out or not. When the sun is out though as soon as we've dropped Mrs M and Seth off we either head out on our adventures or we're making the most of the garden.

A couple of weeks back we met up with Opeie's friend at Cosford air museum. While we were waiting for our friends we filled our pockets up with stones from the rockery, oops. Opeie had been asking to paint rocks for a couple of days and these were just the sort of rocks we were looking for. So by 9am yesterday we were in the garden and all set up for a morning of painting and craft. I asked Opeie if there was going to be a theme and he said 'Mario'. The little Picasso knew exactly what he was doing and began to flick paint around everywhere.

I on the other hand was guided by Opeie explaining exactly what he wanted out of me (he's a very demanding artist). The weather was glorious and it was such a lovely creative morning. Opeie painted a Yoshi rock and I painted Mario's overalls on a rock.

Opeie then told me I needed to paint Mario's head while he painted a rock white to create Drybones. Ever since working with Nintendo Opeie has become a proper little Mario nut. It's always lovely to see the things I love rubbing off onto him, he's a real mini me.

“Tis hatched and shall be so”

Since becoming part of the Nintendo family bloggers network we've been so excited about receiving our first item to review. So when our first game arrived last week with a huge chocolate Yoshi egg attached the boys were all smiles and ready for a bit of gaming. Seth was the first to play so only fair that it was up to him to take the lead on the post...

"hi its Seth, i was so happy when Pauly said our first game had come from Nintendo, i love my 2ds and really wanted to try a new game. I love writing the blog and being able to play with cool things. We have Yoshi's island for the Ds so i couldn't wait to try out the new one.

I really like Yoshi, he's one of my favourite characters, i like toad too. Yoshi's New island has baby Mario and Luigi in which is cute and Opeie really likes the baby Mario characters. I haven't got far in to the game but i love it when Yoshi eats the really big baddies."

"Opeie is really good at playing the game too, actually Opeie is really good at playing most games. I can't even beat him sword fighting on Sports resort. I'm really looking forward to playing the rest of the game".

The boys have been having so much fun playing and as with all the Mario based games i was hooked from the get go. The game follows suit with the previous releases but the graphics as expected have much better definition. I'm only a few worlds in myself but i love the colourful creative themed levels using different art styles. I'm thinking i might take full advantage of some quiet gaming time in the bath again tonight to catch up.

The game is easy to pick up and play and is great for younger children, Opeie being almost 3 picked it up and played it like he had been playing it for months which i think is great when you have younger gamers in the house who want to get involved in the games their older brothers and sisters are playing.

For me the thing that stands out most about this game are the fun graphics but i also love the new additions from the old game like the giant eggs to throw that destroy pipes and walls and the in level mini games where you can take your fingers off the buttons and use the motion sensors in the console to move around. Its a really great touch to the game and gives it a real edge.

(Apologies for the video quality its difficult filming yourself while playing!)
 
When the game arrived we downloaded it on to our 2ds so i cant really write about how good the 3ds compatibility is but I'm sure as its a game released by Nintendo it would be amazing.

Blogging for Nintendo is great and I'm in geek heaven. Stay tuned for all our up and coming gaming posts.

"Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good."

Ive been meaning to write this post for a week but haven't got round to it till now. Gifts from the Pirates has been asked to join the Nintendo parent bloggers and we can't wait to get stuck in. I'm a big Nintendo geek and the boys have gone Mario crazy since being introduced, so we're really excited to be reviewing products for a company we love so much. All that's left to do now is pop our feet up, hit the tea and biscuits (courtesy of Nintendo) and switch our consoles on.

Our first Nintendo review will be up in the next few days and the boys have been having a good play of our first game Yoshi's New Island and its a good one. Stay tuned for more gaming fun.