This is time is an assortment of role-play items and being a grown man, they’re not exactly designed with me in mind so I enlisted the help of my little sister, our resident toy-reviewer-in-training, to help!

First item is another Charmander Clip ‘N’ Carry Poké Ball. I reviewed this last time but Aimee thought it was pretty cool and couldn’t wait to crack it open and add it to the rest. She also liked the other figures in this assortment, especially Gogoat. The assorted Clip ‘N’ Carry Poké Balls retail for around £12.99 and include one Pokémon.

Now is where things get a little giddy for me personally. Growing up, I wish there was something as simple and awesome as the Clip ‘N’ Carry Poké Ball Belt. It’s such an obvious thing to produce but I don’t think this idea was implemented until Tomy was making the Black and White toys. Regardless, both Aimee and I had an immense amount of fun with this, even if I couldn’t wear it. Aimee was running around, shouting attacks and calling out her Pokémon. The two Pokémon included in this set are an adorable Pikachu and Noivern, one of the Pokémon from the new games, and you get both a regular Poké Ball and an Ultra Ball. These two, as well as the Balls from the two Charmander sets mean we can carry four Poké Balls at once! I was pretty surprised to see that the belt had alloted space for the traditional maximum of six Poké Balls. This amazing set retails for around £18.99 and is a must have for any would-be Pokémon trainer!

Lastly, we come to the Pokémon Trainer Gloves! Styled after Ash Ketchum’s signature gloves, they feature motion activated sound. Funny story, the package containing these samples was left outside my door so my awesome neighbours noticed and kept it with them until I got home. They told me they were kinda scared of the strange whooshing noises coming from the box! I find it strange that these don’t have a pull-tab that activates the electronics when you open the packaging. I could easily see many of these losing their battery power in stores because of the lack of that feature. Despite my issues with the packgaging, the gloves fit both Aimee and myself quite comfortably and we had a great time trying to figure out the best way to throw a Poké Ball and have the sounds activate. This role-play set retails for around £14.99

Overall, me and Aimee had lots of fun with these role-play items, from the perspective of both a Pokémon veteran and a relative newcomer. Aimee loved everything, especially the belt but for me, I don’t think the Trainer Gloves give you as much bang for your buck but are still a fun addition to line. The Pokémon XY toy line is available in most good toy retailers and is also available from Tomy’s website!

Pokémon is huge. There’s no two ways about it, it was huge 15 years ago and its still huge now. It’s a game of friendship, striving for greatness and becoming the very best like no one ever was. Recent events involving certain animal rights groups aside, this place has always been wholesome, welcoming and ultimately non-threatening. Or has it? Did you ever read a Pokédex entry and think it seemed a little off? Did you ever look at one of these creatures and think “How did you come to be?”

Well, my children, that’s what we’re here to do today as we look at the SCARIEST Pokémon to ever be discovered! To put you in the mood, play this little melody in the background. That’s right, the original Lavender Town music. Purported to have caused a rash of child suicides in the early days of the franchise, it is a shocking reminder that not only can your Pokémon not escape death, neither can you…

We’ll start with something from the first generation, the cute little bone-chucker, Cubone. Some of you might not be old enough to remember this but the tale of this poor little orphan is harrowing, especially in context of the Red/Blue games.

It pines for the mother it will never see again. Seeing a likeness of its mother in the full moon, it cries. The stains on the skull it wears are from its tears. It wears its mother’s skull, never revealing its true face.

In the course of the game, you come across a ghost that is revealed to be a Marowak murdered by Team Rocket. A truly horrible thought when you think about it but you’re not likely to read too deeply into it at a young age, you’re just trying to get to Cinnabar Island to use the Missingno cheat. Little orphan Cubone, you will always have a home in our hearts. And our storage boxes.

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I have arachnophobia but that doesn’t apply to this little cutie. Galvantula is one of my favourite of Gen5, and one of my favourite Electric types but its modus operandi is very sinister.

They employ an electrically charged web to trap their prey. While it is immobilized by shock, they leisurely consume it.

You think you were scared of spiders before, how about one that throws LIGHTNING? How about if it’s 2ft tall and 30lbs? Yeah, it’s pretty big and it will devour you. But despite how sinister and horrifying the motives of this creature, I can’t help but love his fuzzy design and over all cuteness and that, dear readers, is frightening.

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Here’s another cutie that can kill you (I’m starting to see a pattern with these Pokémon) Litwick is an adorable little sentient candle THAT WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL! It’s true! You look at him and make all the noise you’re supposed to, namely “D’awwww!” but take a look at it’s Pokédex entry.

Litwick appear to be helping to guide the way of people by illuminating areas that are darkened, but in reality they are actually leading them to the Ghost World. They feed off the life energy of people and Pokémon, and use it as fuel for the flames on their heads.

He tricks you into following him and slowly saps your soul! Geez, all this fire and brimstone from such an adorable little object. And that’s another thing, he’s like a little poltergeist thing, possessing an inanimate object and all. Weird. Cute, but weird.

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Gengar is arguably the most well known Ghost Pokémon. Namely because he looks like a ghostly version of Clefairy. Now if these Ghosts are indeed the souls of other dead Pokemon, can the same be applied to humans? When we die, are we also able to become Ghost Pokémon? The truth may surprise you…

These Pokémon arose from the spirits of people interred in graves in past ages. Each retains memories of its former life. Each of them carries a mask that used to be its face when it was human. Sometimes they look at it and cry.

Hoo-boy, Yamask‘s entry is a doozy. Human spirits becoming Pokémon, fine, I can let that slide but having them retain their memories? Having a little mask based on their face and crying at what they have lost and what they have ultimately become? Christ, this is some existential nightmare fuel, right here! It doesn’t help that these appear in an area rife with Cofagrigus, Yamask’s evolved form is known for trapping people inside itself and mummifying them. It’s a vicious cycle: Humans die, become Yamask, evolve into Cofagrigus and then consume more humans.

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So what do you think, folks? Are these entries spine-tingling or lacking bite? What are your favourite Pokédex entries, creepy or not. Let us know in the comments below!

JJ and his amazing friend Jason are back for a nice chat. Jason shares with us where the heck he was last week. JJ shares a rare manly moment he had earlier in the day. Also, the pair talk retro games and wonder just what the heck was up with G.I. Joe anyway?

And dear listener, may I apologize if I introduce you to a new term right before the show ends. Jason had not heard it before, and it just about killed him.

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I take a look at Bandai’s current Pokemon figurine collection!

Hey hey check out those mechanical wonders! Jon and Dan Kelly sit down to enjoy some well-deserved dinner. After heartily consuming some meat and potatoes, they dive into the meat and potatoes of the episode. In this one we battle ogres, chill in BeanWick castle, and try to reprogram some weird robots. Stick to it!

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After battling schedules and sicknesses, the Kelly brothers are back to jam game reviews down your faces! With us this week is a special guest, and we could barely get a word in edgewise. Somehow we manage to sneak in reviews of a few games in a unique style. Hope you enjoy!

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Nintendo does seem to be giving the DS a pretty good send off.  Two of the final games for the system are Professor Layton and a new Kirby. Professor Layton and the Last Specter is as fantastic as all the other installments but not much is actually new to the gameplay.  Although, really, I can’t begin to imagine how they could change it without ruining the game. Kirby on the other hand seems to be a new take on the series.  This installment takes the platform to a new level by mixing in what they have deemed realtime strategy.  What it looks like to me is more using the new powers at the right time. The new power is the ability for Kirby to split into multiple Kirbys.  Basically the idea is very similar to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure but on a larger level.

The Wii titles this year were also pretty scarce.  I don’t think this is a sign of the Wii coming to an early end but it does make me think the transition is going to be very abrupt when the time comes. The big game was still The new Legend of Zelda title, but three other games caught my eye just as much. The first is Kirby and maybe it isn’t well known but Kirby is a powerhouse in my book.  This installment seems to revert back to the older style of inhaling enemies and stealing their powers. The addition of extra powers is also very exciting. The more exciting news is the multiplayer to the extent of having four players at once.  The only thing is the non-Kirby players most likely function in a different way. I wish that there had been more shown in this regard. The other two exciting games are Mario Party 9 and Fortune Street. Both games are board game style games. The announcement of Mario Party 9  surprised me as Wii Party seemed to be the new direction.  I’m actually happy this isn’t the case.  The other game Fortune Street is Square Enix’s take on the board game using Dragon Quest and Mario characters. This one has potential for the Monopoly fan and plenty of opportunities to annoy others.  The game seems to focus on real-estate and stock style strategy.

Overall, the main game news seems to have been saved for the 3DS.  At the same time the news on the DS and Wii are nothing to laugh at or ignore. Though at the same time it is probably safe to assume that next year’s E3 will have few, if any games for the Wii and almost no chance for DS games.

The most surprising and interesting of these was the virtual space. Because the controller seems to be a game centric iPad, this allows developers to place things off screen that can be viewed with out changing the main camera angle. I especially like this for the golf demo they showed, even though this use seemed entirely for novelty use.

The only true game shown using the controller was Super Mario Bros. Mii. This alone seemed to be a good selling point, since you can leave the TV and still play the game directly on the controller. I am totally sure parents will love this functionality especially.

However, this leads me to the main problem I see coming up with the Wii U. In the Mario demo the kid playing switches from the Wii Remote to the Wii U’s tablet controller. The other demos were either an individual using the tablet or one person on the tablet while anyone else playing was always on the Wii remote. This harkens back to what was said earlier in the presentation, that the system won’t be cheap. In fairness, since it is superior graphics to all current consoles I was expecting this. However, with the only one person using the controller at any given time makes me think the controller alone costs a small fortune. In the case of the Wii, the controllers were expensive enough if you wanted remotes and nunchuks but this may be even more expensive then those two combined.

The graphics that the system showed seemed promising but the price point may be what drives people away. The saving grace to this potential cost issue is that all the Wii’s peripherals will carry over to the new system, so maybe we can save money there. Overall, we won’t know until the price has been announced and even then more games showing the tablet’s real value need to be shown.

Story wise, there is one but it’s weak and really just superfluous.  This game is clearly all about playing with some friends at a party.  The games are easy to pick up for this reason and somewhat addictive. Now on the flip side, the one player game is just as easy to pick up but super repetitive.  You just play through the same tournament, same games, over-and-over with minimal difficulty increase.  The only reward to doing this is unlocking additional characters.  The most of these characters are colour variations of Toad or Yoshi.  However, the gems among these unlocks are characters from Square Enix games including the ninja, white mage, black mage, and moogle from the Final Fantasy series.

The levels are probably what add the most to the game.  Each level has its quirks and fun but once you get use to them they only add so much.  The areas are rather compact so there is only so much to add in this way.  Like the characters, more of these locales are added as you play through the one player game.

Unfortunately, these unlockable characters are barely enough to hold out for.  Once you’ve played the games once, there really isn’t a huge reason to go back.  Now to avoid this lack of change there is an online mode, for those lacking local friends. The good news is that simply by playing enough games you can also unlock the extra characters.  So really just let the good times roll and just play with friends.

Now the controls are incredibly simple.  For the most part you could play the entire game just flicking your wrist.  Now there are two options, which is to either hold the remote like a classic controller or use the nunchuk.  I suggest the nunchuk as at this point it seems more natural but that’s up to the player.  The nunchuk style lends itself to a lot more variety but the weird thing is there isn’t much.  In fact, once you learn to play one you pretty much know how to play them all.  In fact this really only adds to the redundancy that is already there.

In the end, this is a really weak Mario offshoot. I guess till one of the classic sports games comes out then we’re stuck with this one, but it is probably better to skip this one.