With the advent of the internet, you’d expect every little secret, every hidden Easter Egg to be plastered all over GameFAQs within a few weeks of a game’s release. I’d really thought that the days of hearing about super secret codes long after a game’s release were long behind us. Yet, here we are, almost nine years after Wave Race: Blue Storm launched alongside the GameCube with a hidden gem that replaces the game’s announcer with a total jerk. On the up side, the standard turbo call is replaced with a cute “meow meow” call.

If you’re having a good day, but feel like being berated by a monotonous pit crew announcer, fire up your copy of Blue Storm and go to the audio settings in the Options menu. From there:

• Tap Z until the little waveform display shows a little rising fog.
• Using the D-pad, press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, X, Z. A chime should play if you did it correctly.
• Start a race as Ryota Hayami. (“You have chosen poorly.”)
• Race.
• Feel bad.

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Rainbow Road is a familiar staple of the Mario Kart series, and it’s arguable that its Super Nintendo incarnation — with narrow lanes, glowing thwomps that cause you to spin out just by touching them and no borders to protect you from falling off the track — may be the most difficult one of all.

This run by YouTube user MattMorden isn’t actually a world record time. Really, it isn’t even in the Top 20. However, it’s still damn impressive seeing Bowser whip around the track without slowing down.

It also helps that the cheap AI isn’t there to hog the road.

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Nyko’s Wii peripherals all seem to be made with the idea of improving on Nintendo’s originals: They took away the wires from the Nunchuk attachment with their wireless Kama attachment, their Wand remote introduced Trans-Port, which allowed Nyko controller shells to access all of the remote’s buttons without a physical trigger, and now their Wand+ builds on its predecessor and crams the Wii Remote and MotionPlus into one, two-toned controller.

The Wand+ is now in stores in black, gray and white/black(pictured) and retails for $39.99.

From what I’ve seen in reviews of the original Wand controller, the build quality has been questionable. Some people are having absolutely no problems with the third-party controller, while others are complaining about unresponsive buttons and short battery life. It’ll be interesting to see if Nyko’s taken care of some of those production bugs.

Press release after the break.

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Here’s a new trailer for Kirby’s Epic Yarn. In it, we get to see why Kirby looks the way he does in his latest adventure: he eats a Maxim Tomato belonging to some sort of yarn wizard, who then sucks the pink puffball into a sock. Yes, a sock.

I suppose on Pop Star, taking drastic actions against people who take your food is totally justified. After all, Kirby did beat on a gang of mice who stole his cake.

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Information coming out of a Japanese retailer meeting held earlier today says that Nintendo is planning on releasing Super Mario Collection Special Pack for the Wii.

As the name implies, Super Mario Collection is a compilation of Mario games. More specifically, the collection will include updated versions of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 (both U.S. and Japan) and Super Mario Bros. 3.

Sound familiar? We saw this same compilation back on the SNES as Super Mario All-Stars, or as it was known in Japan: Super Mario Collection (gasp!).

Yes, the Wii will, essentially, be getting a port of a remake made almost 17 years ago.

However, the Special Pack will come with a soundtrack CD containing music from the original Super Mario Bros. all the way to Mario Galaxy 2.

Not only that, but the pack will also include a “Super Mario History” booklet filled with tons of information dating all the way back to Mario’s early days.

The Super Mario Collection Special Pack has already been dated and priced for Japan. Expect the game in stores on October 21st, 2010 for ¥2,500 ($29 USD)

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Telltale Games, the makers of Sam & Max: Seasons 1 & 2 and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, have announced that they will be creating episodic series based on the Back to the Future and Jurassic Park movies.

The first Back to the Future episode will be out sometime this winter, with Jurassic Park set to follow shortly after.

Telltale hasn’t said much on what to expect on either game, but we do know that Christopher Lloyd will be reprising his role as Emmett “Doc” Brown for the entire series.

This really is some heavy stuff. For more, hit the break for the full press release.

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This bit of nightmare fuel(warning: TVtropes) is brought to you by deviantARTist ~7734-01.

If Nintendo ever decides to take a more realistic approach to the art style in Mario games, I hope they include propeller-wearing Shy Guy ninjas.

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The first trailer for Super Robot Wars L for the DS has gone up. I haven’t really followed the SRW games (I have dabbled in From Software/Banpresto’s other mecha series: Another Century’s Episode, though), but I am hearing some unfavorable comments concerning the general lack of originality in L. Most of it is about potential rehashing of sprites and animations. A valid concern, considering the fact that about half the roster is made up of anime series that have already made appearances in previous games.

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Just got back from picking up Metroid:Other M and the pre-order “Art Folio.” The bonus is stuffed with cards featuring character art, game screens and some cinematic stills.

Since the scanner doesn’t like to play nice with my computer, I had to resort to my iPhone for these pictures. So, please forgive the quality.

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Rumor stemming from an unsourced image from Twitter suggests that SEGA is working on a new Sakura Taisen game and it will be on the Wii.

It’s worth noting that Ohji Hiroi, the series’ creator, said that there would be “something interesting” in next month’s Famitsu. Could Sakura Wars VI be it?

The series, of which only one has seen release in Europe and North America (Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love), has a large following back in Japan, but judging from the sales numbers that fell below publisher NIS America’s expectations, a Western release is not likely.

… If this is even real, that is.

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