Each character has a uniquely designed target test level, but most involve lots of floating and/or moving platforms and randomly scattered targets to hit all hovering over a bottomless death pit. To tag all ten, you have to make use of each character's special abilities... resulting in difficult challenges like Young Link's level: trapped in a tall cylinder (wall jump to get out), targets surrounded by walls (use the boomerang or shoot arrows). I actually cleared quite a few of the screens - I had never given the mode much thought back when I first got the game - but I've lost the feather touch required to differentiate between a slow walk and a fast dash, so I wrecked a lot of attempts simply by jerking Ganondorf or Captain Falcon or whoever completely off the platform when I had intended to just inch closer to the edge.

And some for reason I had never noticed the special movie before. I don't know when I unlocked it, or if I did unlock it, but it was stinkin' awesome. The movie features each of the original SSBM characters in turn, as well as sequences spotlighting items and pokemon. It's a long movie. It's all done with in-game footage, showing various unusual animations, attacks and poses. Which leads me to imagine a single Japanese programmer in a darkened edit suite recording and re-editing hours of play footage. I can't believe it took me two years to find it.

As for Pikmin, I like it. (So in celebration today's weblog update has a Pikmin decor.) The original batch of screenshots do not do the game justice. For years I've had this vague impression of Pikmin as a high-concept title that looked like ass. I was half-right. All those muddy pictures showing the bubble-headed astronaut dude standing in a sea of N64 grass textures look much, much better right in front of you. The environment looks very realistic, all tree stumps and knots of weeds... in fact, I read somewhere that the lawn textures came from photographs taken in Shigeru Miyamoto's own garden! So if you're holding out on Pikmin because of terrible screenshots, do not be further misinformed.

My other game-of-the-moment is Boktai. I can't really say much about it, since I can't play it until this weekend. Thanks to a nifty sunlight sensor jutting out the top of the cartridge, you need a steady infusement of sun to fight the game's ghouls and vampires. The sun charges your weapon, so direct sunlight translates into almost infinite ammo. (The converse is that those seeking a more challenging adventure can play at night, when the forces of evil are at full strength.) I tried it out during my lunch break. I sat outside on the company lawn and kicked zombie ass for 15 minutes. I tried playing it later at home, but with the sun down the nasties were at full power. This weekend I'll reserve some precious daylight for a trip into bat-infested catacombs.

Boktai has some of the clearest voice samples I've ever heard in a GB game. Plus a very unique visual look, an arty pastel brush look that is uncommon in video games.

I know many gamers are going to scoff, slam and ignore Boktai for making actual natural sunlight a vital component to gameplay. I think it's great. Like the real-time of Animal Crossing or the Pikachu Pedometer of Pokemon Silver, Boktai has found a novel way to extend the game beyond the screen and into your life.