During the week, while my created fighter was having his face pummelled by a superior opponent in UFC 2009 Undisputed, I couldn’t help but think about how much busier this May has been. In years past, many writers have been starved for work in May – this year I’m struggling to get on top of it. Such a thing is not made any easier by the fact I can’t stop buying games for my personal gaming, particularly imports.

In a vain attempt to justify the time and money spent on these games, I thought we’d take a look at a few games that are currently big on the import scene.

Now Playing on Import

In recent years, we’ve been through peaks and troughs when it comes to importing video games. Anything half decent in Japan was being picked up for localisation, so the only justification for importing was cost. That’s all been turned on its head; some games aren’t being picked up for localisation, others are simply not coming to Australia (or taking their sweet time), and the drop in the dollar made grey importing less viable. With the Australian dollar having recovered a bit of lost ground in recent weeks, I felt it was time to get back into the importing scene, so this week we’ll look at a few things I’ve picked up recently.

The Tea Sipping Mech Pilot

When one thinks of EA Tiburon, they think Madden NFL – it is, after all, the product that represents their bread and butter. However, in March, the House of Madden came up with something a little different – Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure for the Nintendo DS.

Henry’s stuffy British attitude and mumbly voice are ridiculously charming

Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure puts you in the role of the titular hero, a stuffy old British type with a safari suit, monocle and a distinct love of tea, and current holder of the #1 position at the Pompous Adventurer’s Club. Henry is on a quest to find the Gentleman’s Suit, a suit of armour which gives the wearer the ability to control the Puzzle Realm, a parallel world filled with treasure. The suit was created by The Gentleman, but hidden after nobody proved worthy of wielding its power. Henry finds the first part of the suit, a golden bowler hat, while on an adventure, and sets out to find the rest of the suit. He is challenged in his quest by the Leopold Charles Anthony Weasleby the Third, another old coot who holds the #2 position at the club.

The game is a mix of puzzle and action/platforming, think Puzzle Quest as a platformer, using the puzzle mechanics of Tetris Attack and the action gameplay of Mega Man X. Each enemy you defeat on the top screen (the action screen) is banished to the bottom screen (the puzzle screen). Rows of puzzle pieces are continually stacking, and you need to match three of each colour to completely defeat enemies (they respawn back into the world if they reach the top of the puzzle screen) and build your energy meter. When the energy meter is filled twice, it’s Tea Time, during which Henry gets to pilot a large mecha that’s impervious to damage and packing giant lasers. It’s one of the best DS releases this year; the gameplay is fast and frantic, stages are large and challenging, and it’s extremely charming.

Sadly, Electronic Arts has no plans to release Henry Hatsworth in Australia, but American and European copies of the game can be found for around $AU50.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I’m sure the number of GON readers who give a damn about baseball will fit into a compact European car, but indifference to baseball shouldn’t be enough to prevent you from enjoying Sony’s latest baseball release, MLB 09: The Show.

You need talent, not steroids, to make the big leagues in MLB 09

After EA was eliminated from the baseball game arena in 2005 by 2K Sports’ MLB third party exclusivity, Sony used the opportunity to polish the heck out of its seemingly ignored MLB series. The result was MLB 06: The Show, which brought new levels of depth and realism to baseball – and in the three years since, they’ve focused on adding further depth and refinement. Of particular note are the game’s career and franchise modes, where you can live the life of a single player from the minors to the majors, or run every aspect of your favourite team. MLB 09: The Show is one of the best showcases of the PlayStation 3’s power, with insanely detailed players with freakishly natural animation, all running in high definition at 60 frames per second. The game can be a bit tough to break into – new players will need to drop the difficulty and move the gameplay sliders in their favour, but once MLB 09 sinks its teeth in, it doesn’t let go.

There’s little (if any) chance of Sony releasing MLB 09: The Show in Australia; if it’s not arcade style baseball, it typically won’t be released here. If you’re curious to discover the PS3 rendition of America’s favourite past-time, it’ll set you back around $AU85.

The D List (for game characters)

There are tonnes of bizarre Japanese games that never leave the shores of the Land of the Rising Sun. One such game is Captain Rainbow, released in the latter half of 2008 by Skip Ltd. (Chibi Robo) and Nintendo. Captain Rainbow puts you in the role of Nick, a man who can turn into the titular hero, a Power Rangers-style super hero who wields a yo-yo. The captain’s popularity is in decline, so Nick travels to Mimin Island with the hope of restoring his status.

Birdo’s always seemed a bit suss - now you know the truth

Also inhabiting Mimin Island is a cast of “forgotten” Nintendo characters. The cast includes Catherine (better known as Birdo), a male who wishes to become female and be popular with all of the boys, Little Mac, who’s lost his World Video Boxing Association title and wants to get it back (but is hilariously out of shape) and the Famicom Wars soldiers, who want to be good at volleyball. Not all characters’ desires are so wholesome; Tracy (from The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening) wants to enslave all of the men in the world, and the Devil (from Devil World) wants to become the top villain in the underworld.

Captain Rainbow is split into two sections. The lion’s share of the game is an Animal Crossing-style simulation part where you can fish, catch bugs and help out the other islanders with various mini-game based tasks. Completion of these tasks yields crystal shards which are used in the action portion of the game, where you exchange these shards for a star, which you take to an islander to grant their wish, or use it to increase your own popularity. However, the evil Shadow will try to steal the star, so you’ve got to fend him off. It’s all pretty amusing.

There were some murmurs that Captain Rainbow would receive a PAL release, but these have since gone silent. The game is pretty text heavy, so you’ll need a good translation guide to help you through it. The game typically goes for about $AU80, but has sunk as low as $AU25 in recent weeks. You’ll also need a method of playing Japanese games on your Wii, due to the system’s region protection.