Mario Sports Superstars Review

Mario Sports Superstars is the latest title in the amazing Mario Sports series that gives players five sports to choose from to play solo or with friends near and far. If you’ve played and loved previous Mario Sports titles such as Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, or Mario Strikers, then you will love Mario Sports Superstars. Mario Sports Superstars allows gamers to play Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Baseball and for the first time in Mario history, Horse Racing. Gamers can choose between 16 Mushroom Kingdom characters to play as from Mario, Luigi, Yoshi to Peach, Daisy, Rosalina and more. Mario Sports Superstars also features amiibo integration, along with some new Mario Sports Superstars collectible amiibo cards. Physical copies of Mario Sports Superstars will come with a collectible amiibo card for a limited time. Mario Sports Superstars is available now for the Nintendo 3DS systems.

We absolutely love Mario Sports Superstars. I’ve been a fan of Mario Sports titles since I first took to the links with Yoshi in Mario Golf back in 1999. Mario Sports Superstars transported me back to 1999, but instead of one game on a console, I had five games in the palms of my hands. The graphics are what you expect out of a Mario title, amazing and seamless. The audio is fun and upbeat from the music to the voicing of the characters. The game mechanics are easy enough that J (age 5) could easily learn how to play the games without getting frustrated. One of the things that I really love about the game is that it is secretly teaching your kids things while they are playing. Baseball and tennis teach young players how to better their hand to eye coordination, soccer and golf teach young gamers about angles, and horse racing teaches the younglings that speed isn’t everything.

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We highly recommend Mario Sports Superstars. Fans old and young will love this game. If you (or your kids) own a 3DS or are thinking about getting one, make sure you put Mario Sports Superstars at the top of your “must have games” list. I am waiting for some friends to pick up the game so we can try out the online play, but i am sure it is amazing. Pick up your copy from your favorite shop for $39.99 today!

**Disclaimer- We received a digital copy of Mario Sports Superstars in exchange for our thoughts on the game. All thoughts are our own***

Play Pokémon GO With Family

Pokémon GO has been available for a few days now. People are getting out and accidentally exercising while doing something they’ve wanted to do for the past 20 years, feel like real life Pokémon trainers. With the release of this new interactive app, parents can take the opportunity to share something they loved from their childhood with their children.

Sometimes it’s hard to get up and just walk around the neighbor hood with your kids, especially if they are younger. Some kids lose focus, get tired (fast), and sometimes they just want their technology. Thanks to Pokémon GO, kids have a way to distract their kids on long walks.

In the past 3 days, J and I have walked 10 miles around the city. We have the app on “Battery Saver” mode, and I have an ear bud in so we can enjoy our walk together while still being notified when Pokémon are near. We set up lures when we are planning on being at our favorite coffee shop (Watchtower Cafe) for more than 30 minutes and hang out with friends while catching Pokémon.

Pokémon GO, for me, has brought back the feeling of community and comradery that the Pokémon trading card game had back in the day. While I understand that some people see Pokémon GO as a silly game meant for kids, but I see this as a way for people to come together. People are meeting up at parks, making friends, going out on Pokémon hunts and just having fun. In a time when there is so much sadness in the world, why wouldn’t you want your kids to see people coming together having fun and laughing together.

If you are not a fan of Pokémon, and you have young kids, I would highly recommend downloading the app and trying it out with your kids. It really is a way to get in some good walking time mixed in with some good old family fun. We have had a blast these last few days and we think that everyone who plays Pokémon GO will have an amazing time making new friendships and fun memories with your family.

Gaming for a Cause

Throughout the years we’ve been told that nothing good comes from gaming. We’ve heard that gaming leads to nothing but laziness, obesity, and violence. A group of gamers is out to prove that good can come from gaming, and this year I am joining them. Extra Life is an organization that puts together a fundraiser every year for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, in my case money raised by me will be going to Primary Children’s Hospital here in Salt Lake City. My goal is a big one, but my hope is that readers of my blog, and my social media followers will come in big and help me get to my $2500 goal. I have not yet decided which games I will be playing, although I know that I will be playing LEGO Marvel Super Heroes so J can join me if he wants to for an hour or so.

J had to go to Primary Children’s Hospital to do some brain scans when he was younger. Don’t worry all of his tests were negative, but the staff there gave him a toy car and a fleece blanket to keep him calm during the tests. After the tests were completed, they told him he could keep the car and the blanket. He still plays with the car (a Hot Wheels Batmobile) and cuddles with that blanket every night. We are one of the lucky families that got to walk out of Primary Children’s with good news and with our child. Some families are not so lucky. There are children with cancer, cystic fibrosis, broken bones, and other ailments. Primary Children’s has a philosophy “The Child First and Always®” and because of that philosophy they have created a financial assistance program to help families without insurance.

If you can, please click here and support/sponsor me and help me reach my $2500 donation goal so Primary Children’s can keep doing the amazing work that they are doing. Thank you Salt Lake Comic Con, the Utah Symphony, and Video Games Live for helping me find such an amazing opportunity to help my community.

Flappy…Bert?

In the same week that Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen yanked his highly successful smartphone game from app stores world wide, the wonderful people at Sesame Workshop have released their version of the game with their new title Flappy Bert on their Sesame Workshop site.

In this flash game you play as Bert’s pet pigeon Bernice. Your goal is to guide Bert through a maze of columns by clicking the mouse. If you run into a column you will hear Bert, in a somewhat disappointed tone, say the name of his long time friend/roommate Ernie. So I guess that means that in this game you are actually Ernie, who is controlling Bernice, who is guiding Bert through the maze.

Give the game a try and share your thoughts. You can find additional fun and educational at SesameStreet.org