Latest Purchases #54: Birthday Edition

Last week was my birthday, July 2 to be precise. How old am I? 32 if you're wondering. It's a little bit scary to think about the fact that I'm getting older, but it happens to all of us and I really am amazed that I've been around for this many years. I would have posted my birthday purchases last week but some of them were ordered online and I wanted to wait for all of them to arrive.

Last year Project X Zone was brought to my attention thanks to Alpha Omega Sin. This tactical RPG has tons of characters I'm familiar with as well as those I've never heard of. Namco Bandai had no plans to publish the game outside of Japan and there was a petition to get the game localize, which I signed. I have no idea how whether the petition swayed the big wigs opinions or not, but Namco Bandai decided to bring Project X Zone to American and European shores this summer. I picked up my copy at Target and scored the Limited Edition version. I had considered waiting until I went to GameStop, but I figured I'd grab it since I was in there. Good thing I did, too because GameStop was out of the limited edition copies. I didn't know this version came with so many goods. A poster, an artbook and the game's soundtrack. All for the regular price. Score!

In K-Mart I brought Pilotwings Resort for $14.96 and The Legend of Zelda: Spirits Tracks for $19.99. Even though I've never been terribly good at the Pilotwings games, I've always gotten a kick out of them and after seeing portions of Wuhu Island in Mario Kart 7, I'm itching to explore more of that local.

My trip to GameSpot was done with good timing. The two games I picked up, WarioWare: Smooth Moves and the 3DS Shinobi were both traded in on the same. Since Smooth Moves is an early Wii first party game and not one that stars Mario, this is one you don't see in stores too often. So when I laid eyes on it and saw that $14.99 price tag, I immediately took it off the shelf to claim it as my own. It isn't complete but the disc is in excellent condition.

In the 3DS thread at the Shoryuken.com forums I heard a few posters talking about Shinobi. I've always liked this series but this was one of those titles that was in the back of my mind. Not really high on my to purchase 3DS games list. But when I saw it in GameStop and for less than $20 and complete, I didn't think there would be a better time to grab it.

My keys are a bit bland so an 8-bit Mega Man key chain is just the thing to spice them up. Unfortunately these key chains aren't made of the more sturdy plastic I thought they'd be. In fact, this thing is surprisingly bendable, meaning I'd ruin that thing pretty quickly if I attached it to my keys and carried it around in my pockets. So I've opted to hang Rock on my wall above my computer desk next to my 1988-2012 Nintendo Power poster.

Speaking of said poster, a mini figurine from Super Mario 3D Land is hanging on the right hand corner of it. I came across these while I was going for the checkout registers in Target. Propeller Block Mario was easy to distinguish from all the others since he felt, well, blocky. The other five in the set could prove more difficult to collect.

Lastly, the book you see is what took me so long to get this post up. The History of Sonic the Hedgehog is a book I've coveted for quite some time. This near 300 page hardcover book is filled with screen shoots, artwork, sketches and interviews from the fine folks that helped shape the blue streak into the hero that he is. It's an incredibly awesome book, one I ordered from Amazon for $34.99, which certainly beats the original $49.99 asking price. I just may tackle this book before I even touch The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia.