Video Game Mom

My daughter just had a birthday, and she received her very own pink Nintendo DS. Along with the Nintendo DS, she was given several games, which she has enjoyed playing.

Playing Super Mario Bros 

Super Mario Bros is one of the games that was given to her. When she’s not playing it, I grab up that DS and play it for myself. It has been a long time since I played Super Mario Bros, and I’m enjoying it. 

Collecting the Goodies

My children and I used to play Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo and take turns going through the multiple stages and challenges, collecting the stars, coins, mushrooms and what is the funniest to me is the shrinking mushroom.

Mushrooms - Big or Small

The shrinking mushroom makes you so small you can go through the itty bitty tunnels. The giant mushroom does the opposite and allows you to grow, grow and grow as you stomp your way through and past your enemies.

Yea, Super Mario Bros. definitely brings back the memories of the simple gaming my family and I used to enjoy. I’m glad to know I can still play some of the many games I used to love to play.

Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360 is one of the five Burnout games available for video game consoles. There is currently a sixth Burnout game, but it’s still in the birthing stages, so it doesn’t have a title just yet.

I like Burnout Paradise, because you have challenges that seem to never end. Being able to feel that “need for speed” and race through the streets, search for and find a specific car for a take-down, jump over bridges, cliffs and high ramps for super jumps, barrel rolls (double), while boosting and challenging other cars to compete for first place is never-ending.

This is one game I could spend way too long playing with time escaping me. But I have to say, Burnout Paradise is loads of adventures with the more than 75 cars you can own by racing through the streets and completing the challenges.

Video games are for anyone, and anyone can learn to play — my sister can attest to that. You don’t have to have certain skills or an understanding of the “how to’s,” only the desire to play.

Parents Playing Video Games?

Video games seem to be increasing in popularity on a continual basis. Now, more than ever, I see parents buying video game consoles, such as the Wii, Xbox 360 or PS3 for themselves — the Wii being preferred among many of them.

Moms Love the Wii

The Wii has a way of attracting a lot of adults and parents because of the ability to physically participate in games like Dance Dance Revolution, fishing, bowling, baseball and others. Moms get right in there and have a blast playing those video games — they are so much fun!

My math instructor in college bought a Wii for herself and loves it. She said her husband prefers his Xbox 360, but she prefers the Wii with the Wii mote and Nunchuck.

Whatever or however you prefer playing a video game, there is something for everyone. You can play a hand-held video game, play on your PC or a video game console. If you don’t like the idea of sitting to play a video game, try the Wii and enjoy the challenge of participation. 

The other night, I was getting ready to play the Xbox 360 (shockingly) and saw a game I used to love to play — Bomberman. Out of all the games I’ve played, I almost forgot about this one.

Blast em’!

In Bomberman, you go through the levels blasting your way through walls, obstacles and enemies by laying down bombs (of course). As you blast them, there will be many walls, obstacles and enemies that leave a weapon behind. If they do, you can pick them up to increase your power, strength and abilities. The more you pick up, the more powerful the weapons. 

Grab the Weapons

Some of the weapons in Bomberman will the allow you to do specific things. Picking up a bomb will increase the amount of bombs you have to lay at one time, and you should collect as many as you can.

Fire causes the bombs to emit a fiery blast; a detonator will allow you to control when the bomb goes off, a life jacket/vest (silly, I know but sort of makes sense) and others. Don’t get caught, or you’ll have to begin collecting the power-ups and weapons all over again.

Bomberman not only allows you to play in adventure, but you can challenge others to see who is the last guy standing. You can play this game on basically any system or computer.  

Bowling is a sport that many take seriously, no matter how they play it — my brother is one who does. He is very good at it and can easily bowl a perfect game of 300. But, there is one bowling game that seems to yield a challenge — Rocket Bowl.

Level Up, If You Can

If you like bowling, you will enjoy Rocket Bowl for the Xbox 360. This game can get on your last nerve, because of the challenges in each level. The only way you can level up is to complete the challenges of each level in the game. Now, you might think this would be fairly simple to do, but it’s not. 

Bowling and Jumping — Phew!

You have to bowl and jump around hills, water and obstacles to guide your bowling ball to the pins and hopefully, knock them down. While you’re guiding your ball, you can collect money to purchase an upgrade on your bowling ball and use power-ups to help you jump higher and faster.

Make Your Score Count!
The courses in this game can be a pain, that’s for sure! You have to complete each one with a certain score. If you don’t complete each course with a certain score, you won’t get to play on the next level, because it will be locked. But, if you’re fortunate to bowl a good enough game, you may be able to continue your way to the next level, only to go through the same process all over again — phew!

If you enjoy playing sports games, try Rocket Bowl. It is fun, and it does give you a good challenge with the difficult courses you have to complete. If you find yourself having trouble, it’s okay — keep trying, and you’ll eventually make it.

I love to play a variety of games that are fun and offer a good challenge for me. Dynomite is a game for my PC that is challenging enough and is so much fun to play. 

If you like games like Bejeweled and Luxor, you will most definitely like Dynomite. You match the eggs instead of gems in this game and have to do it before the eggs get to the bottom. There is a big foot of a dinosaur that pushes the eggs down from above, so you better match those eggs pretty fast.

One of the things I enjoy about Dynomite is the cute dinosaur that uses his slingshot to hit the colorful eggs and a pterodactyl named Whirley when he comes around. The other dinosaur will blast the eggs when you match at least three of them. The two dinosaurs work together to match them quickly.

Have you ever seen a monkey who can race and be good at it? If you have ever heard of the Nintendo 64 and Diddy Kong Racing, I am sure you’ve seen him — Diddy.

Diddy Kong — Some Racer!

The Nintendo 64 had many games for you to play, and Diddy Kong Racing was one of the most popular with my family. We could race and race for hours with this game, because it was so much fun.

The weapons for Diddy Kong brought a lot of laughs for my kids and me. We would hit each other with oil spills to make the character slide and lose control, use magnets to pull yourself a bit closer and drift behind the others, boosts for your speed, shields to protect you and other weapons to be used for your advantage.

Diddy Kong and His Pals

In the game Diddy Kong Racing, Diddy races against some of his pals. There are about 10 of Diddy’s pals you can race with, but you will have to race, complete and beat the time trials of two of the characters before you can use them.

Krunch the gator, Tiptup the cute little turtle who is pretty and green and the chicken by the name of Drumstick are a few of them. My favorite to race with was T.T. the clock, which was one of the ones you have to race and beat his time. When you do, he is all yours!

If you have a Nintendo 64 or get the opportunity to have one, make sure Diddy Kong Racing is one of the games you choose. You will have a lot of fun racing against all his pals.

As I was writing about the Atari 2600, I immediately went back to some of the games I played that were so much fun. Kaboom is one of them.

Simpler But Fun

Now, I know Kaboom is an older video game, but I don’t care! Some of the older games are simpler but lots of fun! Oh … the memories of Atari!

Catch the Bombs

I really enjoyed playing Kaboom, because it offered a challenge, while trying to go back and forth to try and catch the black bombs as they are dropped from above by a guy wearing stripes — watch out!

Don’t Miss!

The so-called striped villain who sits above you starts out dropping a few bombs at a time. The the more you catch, the more he drops at
a faster pace — look out! Whatever you do, don’t drop the bombs!

Kaboom is unique in its own way and is one video game I would love to find for myself to play again — and will. Kaboom, I look forward to another match!

I remember the first video game system I purchased was the Atari 2600. Standing in line at the local Target with my video game system was intense for me, because I couldn’t wait to get home and play the games. 

There were many popular games for the Atari 2600. Some of the games I played on the Atari 2600 were Joust, River Raid, Pit Fall, Pac Man and of course, Breakout and Pong. Even Wall-e played Pong.

When the Xbox Live Arcade made some of these games available for the Xbox 360, I was happy — Joust was first on the list. The more they add, the more I will buy.

Duck Hunt was a game my family played on the first Nintendo entertainment system. This game was a lot of fun to play and gave us plenty of laughs, especially with the snickering dog.

Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt were two games in one. In Duck Hunt, you had to aim at the ducks that flew over you. You could choose to shoot one or two ducks at a time. When you missed, your very own hunting dog would laugh at you with the Mutley snicker. You could also choose the clay shooter, which I didn’t like. 

Video games have changed so much since the first Nintendo and Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt, unfortunately. I wish the games could be simpler like they used to be and safer for kids but …