Genesis Won't (also, last call on the Xbox Ultimate Sale)

"Okay, so the S-video mod was a fizzle. If I solder some wires to the A/V port of this Genesis and connect it to an old VGA monitor, it's got to give me a great picture then, right?"

Narrator: "It didn't."

Well, I'm out of ideas... and patience. With all the cheap solutions exhausted and the expensive ones too costly to seriously consider, it's probably time to throw in the towel on this misadventure. I mean, I guess I could get a monitor with a built in SCART connection, but such a beast is exceedingly rare in the United States, and it would cost way too much to have one shipped from Britain. So the Minigen HD it is, then!

Annnnyway. Since I'm done beating my head against this cement wall, I can turn my attention and my bloodied brow to the Xbox Ultimate Sale, which ends in a couple of days. I picked up Torchlight, Mini Ninjas, and the Xbox One version of Rayman Legends so far, but I feel like I should squeeze a few more deals out of this sale before it ends. What about the critical darling Ori and the Blind Forest? Or perhaps the less warmly received but steadily improving Recore? Perhaps I should grab a copy of Sleeping Dogs, which offers a ridiculous amount of gameplay for the price of a McDonald's Happy Meal? So many options, so little time...

Oh yeah! Since I brought it up, I'd like to take the time to recommend Mini Ninjas at its current "how the hell is this so cheap?" price. While it's true that Square-Enix was giving it away for the PC a few months ago, that version requires a lot of prep work, forcing you to install obscure patches before it will play music and recognize your favorite joystick. Mini Ninjas for the Xbox 360 works right out of the box, making it a more user-friendly experience.

Look out, it's a bear! I mean, sure, it's adorable,
but it's still a bear.

I'd say "friendly" was a good way to describe Mini Ninjas in general. It was designed by IO Interactive, but it's a kinder, gentler stealth game than the studio's Hitman series. Sure, you'll sneak up on big-headed samurai (who poof into cuddly woodland creatures after they've tasted your blade), but there's so much more to do, like racing along walls to reach distant platforms, harvesting plants for later use in potions, and riding down rivers in a giant soup bowl that doubles as an arrow-proof helmet. Mini Ninjas is fun for less skilled players and respectful of Asian culture... in other words, it's the kind of game I wish the endlessly re-released Legend of Kay would have been.