🍨 Pang Man Part 37: A trip to the Kirby Café 🍨 #Kirby

On my previous visit to Japan in 2016 I was gutted when I missed out on going to the Kirby Café restaurant, so this time I was delighted to find out that the Kirby Café pop up was returning on dates which coincided with my own.

However, this excitement was short-lived when I discovered that the café had been booked up in for months in advance.

Undeterred I decided to visit the venue, anyway, have a quick look around and hopefully, take a few photos.

🐲 Pang Man Part 36: A trip to the Pokémon Center DX 🐲 #Pokemon

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to visit the two Pokémon Centers (one in Skytree Town and one in Sunshine City) in Tokyo. 

This year I wanted to make a return visit, so imagine my surprise when I found out that a third store had just opened!

The new store is called Pokémon Center Tokyo DX (I’m guessing the DX stands for deluxe) and is located next to Tokyo metro station.

🏎️💨 Pang Man Part 35: Review: Mario Kart VR 🏎️💨 #MarioKart

Pang Man Part 35: Review: Mario Kart VR  

Sometimes you read about a game released in Japan and you wish you could jump on a plane right then and there, just to go play it. For me that game was Mario Kart VR.  I love Mario Kart and the chance to experience it in the Virtual World was something unmissable.

🐢🐢 Pang Man Part 34: Cool Collectibles, The Pokémon Terrarium 🐢🐢 #Pokemon

Last month I went to a retro gaming exhibition in London called Play Expo.

It was a pretty cool event, there were loads of pinball machines, retro consoles, retro arcades (Afterburner, Time Crisis 2, Daytona etc) and even a DeLorean from Back the Future (which you could have a photo with!)

Apart from getting a chance to relive old memories, I was excited to purchase a few gaming collectibles.  

As usual I ended up spending more than my budget but nethertheless I was extremely happy with what I ended up with.

🌻🔥🌻 Pang Man Part 33: Cool Collectibles, Super Mario Fire Flower 🌻🔥🌻 #Retrogaming #SuperMarioBros

I am rubbish at swimming. If you ask me to go for a run, I can happily keep going for a solid 30 minutes at a reasonable pace. My swimming however sucks. After one length I am exhausted and I stretch in desperation when I get towards the end of the pool. Pretty embarrassing all round.

But anyhow on the odd occasion that I do go to the pool, I console myself knowing that the reception area has a decent selection of free magazines to read.

One of the free magazines that caught my eye is called Shortlist and one particular issue had a photo of a Mario fire flower in a plant pot!

☆ Pang Man Part 32: Cool Collectibles, Pokémon Soft Drinks - "Pang Man's Refreshing Trip To China Town" ☆ #Pokemon

Pang Man Part 32: Cool Collectibles, Pokémon Soft Drinks

Having had a tasty lunch in Soho on Christmas Eve, I decided I had best walk it off with a quick trip to Chinatown.

Unfortunately, it was at this point that the weather gods decided to bless us with a bit of heavy rain.

Seeking shelter, I huddled under a random shop canopy nearby. There was an internal debate in my mind over whether to wait out the rain or to brave the weather then and there, however, something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.

It was the window display of the small food shop I was next to. Piled up on top of each other were some familiar characters. “Holy shit”, I thought to myself, “Pokémon!”

☆ Pang Man Part 31. The Return of Super Play! ☆ #Retrogaming

A couple of weeks ago I got a text from Rich informing me that a new issue of Super Play was coming out. Needless to say, I was pretty damn excited.

Those who grew up with a SNES, will remember that Super Play was one of the best gaming magazines around. The magazine ran for 47 issues, and ended its run in 1996.

☆ Pang Man Part 30 - "The SNES Mini and Other Random Thoughts" ☆ #Retrogaming

When the NES mini came out last Christmas I admit I didn’t anticipate the demand. I didn’t pre-order and missed out. Before I knew it, they were all sold out and I was gutted.

Part of me is tempted to get one off eBay, but I just can’t justify to myself paying £150+ for something that was sold for £70 odd pounds a short time before!

☆ Pang Man Part 29 - The Top 10 Games at EGX Rezzed (5 to 1) ☆

In my previous article I covered numbers 10 to 6 of the Best Video Games that I played at EGX Rezzed 2017.

Today I will be counting down from 5 to 1, so here we go….

☆ Pang Man Part 28 - "The Top 10 Games of EGX Rezzed!" (10 to 6) ☆

Having spent a solid number of hours at the Video Games Expo known as EGX Rezzed, I thought it would be good to countdown the best games of the show.

Now let me caveat this with the fact that although I did manage to play a lot of games there were still quite a few titles that I didn't get a chance experience.

So these aren't necessarily the best 10 games of the show but the 10 best (or most intriguing) ones of those that I did get some hands on time with.

So let's get cracking: 

☆ Pang Man Part 27 - Persona 5, Hands On first impressions at EGX Rezzed! ☆

On Thursday I took the day off work to check out the Video Games Exhibition known as EGX Rezzed. Located in Tobacco Dock near Wapping in London, it was pretty easy to get to, just a short journey on the DLR.

I was super excited to go. A day of playing new unreleased games, I mean what's not to like!

The sensible thing, of course, would have been for me to plan what I was going to see in some sort of strategic fashion. However, instead, I kind of ambled around trying out video games that caught my eye. 

☆ Pang Man’s ZBOX, Subscription Box Review (Jan 2017) ☆ @jawarlock, @The_ZBOX , @TwistedNeil, @TPubComics

I am one of those people who never wins anything good. Over the last 20 plus years, I have entered numerous competitions, prize draws and raffles with no success.

I didn’t even win at Pass the Parcel at school!

☆ Pang Man’s 1Up Box, Subscription Box Review (Jan 2017) ☆

Information:

https://1upbox.com

@1UP_Box

1Up Box is a monthly subscription box containing 5 or more mystery geek/gaming goodies.

It costs around £24 a month (due to international shipping from the US to the UK).

Subscriptions can be on a 1 month re-occurring basis or on a longer term if you prefer. The longer term options (3 months, 6 months) mean you pay less for each box, but are tied down for a bit longer.

☆ Pang Man’s Geek Fuel Subscription Box Review (Feb 2017) ☆ @TheGeekFuel

Information:

www.geekfuel.com

@TheGeekFuel

Geek Fuel is a monthly subscription box containing 5 or more mystery geek/gaming goodies.

It costs around £24 a month (due to international shipping from the US to the UK).

Subscriptions can be on a 1-month re-occurring basis or on a longer term if you prefer. The longer term options (3 months, 6 months and 1 year) mean you pay less for each box but are tied down for a bit longer.

☆ Pang Man’s Geek Fuel Subscription Box Review (Jan 2017) ☆ @TheGeekFuel

For those who are unfamiliar with Subscription Boxes, essentially the concept is that you pay a monthly fee (usually around £20) and in return every month you get delivered to your doorstep, a large mystery box full of geek/gaming related goodies inside. These may include things such as figurines, games, clothing, posters, key chains, and mugs.

☆ Pang Man Part 26, Cool Collectibles- McDonalds Super Mario Happy Meal Toys! ☆ #Nintendo

I am a big fan of gaming collectibles so anything gaming related will appeal instantly grab my attention. A few weeks ago I was driving to pick up some Vietnamese takeaway when I spotted a big billboard with Yoshi on it.

A closer look revealed that the 2017 range of Super Mario toys were now available at McDonald's.

☆ Pang Man Part 25: Cool Video Game Places: “The Kirby Café”- a missed opportunity! ☆ #GamersUnite

On my final day in Tokyo, I was feeling a bit peckish and so I decided to see if any gaming related restaurants were nearby. After a bit of digging, I found the perfect place to eat.

It was an official Kirby-themed restaurant called the Kirby Café which looked amazing.

☆ Pang Man Part 24 - Cool Video Game Places: “GameBar A-Button” (A Retro-gaming bar) ☆ #Retrogaming #GamersUnite

Although my trip to Japan was coming to an end, I managed to squeeze in a visit to one final retro-gaming bar called GameBar A-Button.

(address: Taitou-Ku Taitou 1-13-9)

http://a-button.jp/

☆ Pang Man Part 23 – Cool Stores: The Pokémon Centre (Mega Tokyo) ☆ #Retrogaming #GamersUnite

In a previous article, I covered a visit to the Pokémon Centre in Skytree, 

(Pang Man Part 17) however for completeness, I thought it best to pay a quick visit to the only other Pokémon store in the city; the Pokémon Centre Mega Tokyo branch.

☆ Pang Man Reviews: "Exiles End" Inspired By 2D Side Scrollers Of Old ☆ #Retrogaming #WiiU

Exiles End is a 2D side scrolling platform adventure game, reminiscent of the Commodore 64 games of old. The story begins when your spaceship crash lands on a distant planet and a battle of survival begins.