Table of contents for January 2018 in Mania

OUT OF TUNE Miguel wants to be a famous musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz! There’s only one problem: music is banned in his family! SKELE-FUN! To make his way through the Land of the Dead, Miguel teams up with Hector, a prankster who wants to visit the Land of the Living! GHOST QUEST Miguel discovers a guitar that allows him to travel into the Land of the Dead! There he meets his ancestors and sets out to find De la Cruz himself! NO HAIR? DON’T CARE! In the Land of the Living, Miguel makes friends with Dante, a Xoloitzcuintle (Say it with us: show-loh-eets-kweent-lee). Don’t let the name fool you, Dante isn’t an undead beast – he’s a Xolo aka a Mexican hairless dog! DÍA DE MUERTOS…

UNEXPECTED HEROES! BO: A small donkey who wants to do something great… if only he could escape beyond the village’s mill. DAVE: Don’t let his size fool you; this dove is the biggest joker you’ll ever meet. HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF Thaddeus, a fierce wolf, and Rufus, a dog who’s more goofy than dangerous, are hot on the trail of Bo and his pals. There’ll be trouble if they manage to catch up! THE THREE WISE… CAMELS!? Along the way, Bo and pals meet three camels that are also following the star! How wise are they? Cyrus thinks he knows everything, Felix thinks he know nothing, and Deborah actually knows what’s up! ALL-STAR STAR FACTS Stars come in three different colours, depending on their temperature. Red: The coolest, which are…

BOONIE BEARS DVDS! DESPICABLE ME 3! GRIT ELITE SCOOTER! STRETCH ARMSTRONG! AQUA & SNOW RACING MOTO (Nintendo Switch)! SMIGGLE! GAZILLION BUBBLES! TONKA TINYS! GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS! CRASH BANDICOOT N. SANE TRILOGY (PS4)! TROLLS HOLIDAY! TAMAGOTCHI! HYPERTOSS + BOOM BLAST STIX! ZURU TOY BONANZA! KIDIZOOM SMARTWATCH DX2! KLASK! THE EMOJI MOVIE! BEN 10! BEN 10 + REGULAR SHOW + ADVENTURE TIME DVDS!…

Super Mario Odyssey Platform: Switch Style: Platformer Publisher: Nintendo Price: $79.95 Gameplay: Mario’s back! This time he’s joined by Cappy, a new hat that can transform and take over various Mushroom Kingdom characters – so you can control a T-Rex, a Goomba, a Bullet Bill, and HEAPS of other things by throwing your hat at them! This is the biggest Mario game EVER, with massive worlds to explore and HEAPS of collectables – instead of Stars Mario’s after ‘Power Moons’, and there are hundreds upon hundreds of them to find! Mario is just so fun to control, and the game is incredibly creative, with so many ideas in it that it’s shocking that they managed to get them all into one game! We have spent hours exploring every level, and…

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions Platform: 3DS Style: RPG Publisher: Nintendo Price: $59.95 Superstar Saga, a great Game Boy Advance game, is back for a cool remake! This awesome RPG now has new content and a new look, so if you missed the first version this is a great experience! Like the other Mario RPGs this one is super funny, full of hilarious enemies and moments that had us LOLing! The new stuff (where you play as Bowser’s minions on their own mission) isn’t as good as the original game, but we loved replaying this game! HOT! A great Mario RPG reborn! NOT! We kind of miss the old art style! MANIA SCORE  8 /10 FIFA 18  Platform: Xbox One/360, PS4/3, Switch, PC Style: Soccer Publisher: EA…

Uses four wing-mounted Taim & Bak KX12 laser cannons It shakes off enemy fire with an internal deflector shield generator It’s coated with a ferrosphere paint to throw off enemy sensors and help avoid detection The old T-65B X-wings had no rearward defences, so the T-70 was equipped with an underslung blaster cannon that can be rotated to fire backwards The ship’s four wings (known as S-foils) help lower the engine’s temperature and stop overheating. They can be closed to enter a cruise move that gives the ship higher mobility Equipped with a quick-change pod, which lets the pilot swap through different weapons: • Proton torpedoes • Mag-pulse warheads • Concussion missiles PRODUCTION: Incom-FreiTek CLASS: Starfighter TOP SPEED: 1,050 km/h (In atmosphere) ENGINE: 4x Incom-FreiTek 5L5 fusial thrust engines HYPERDRIVE: Yes LENGTH: 12.48m…

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM! In 1994 a group of thieves stole the famous “The Scream” painting from the National Gallery in Lillehammer, Norway. It was hanging by a window, so the men climbed up a ladder, smashed the glass and took the painting! They even left a note saying: “Thanks for the poor security!” COLOUR ME SURPRISED! Two robbers thought they could hide their identities by colouring in their faces with a black texta! Their plan failed spectacularly and they were caught red-handed! They didn’t even colour their whole faces in! CAKE IT AWAY! On December 26, 2009, driver Gary LaSalle parked his truck overnight near Orlando International Airport. When he awoke the next morning, he discovered that his truck and its precious cargo was gone! What was the cargo?…

Debbie, NSW “DO YOU MIND?” MY CAT POOPS FUNNY! Matt, NSW SCRATCH PLEASE! MATT’S CAT SADIE WANTS TUMMY RUBS! PETS FROM A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY! MAXIMUM CUTENESS These cute little sea birds can be found in the coastal areas of Ahch-To. They build their nests on and in the rocky cliff sides, and kept Luke Skywalker company during his exile. Baby porgs are called porglets! PIT PET Hailing from the planet Dathomir, this behemoth monster was kept in a pit below Jabba the Hutt’s palace. It was given to the Crime Lord as a birthday present and named Pateesa, which is Huttese for “friend.” LOL PETZ “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” “YOU CAN’T BE A HOT DOG WHEN YOU’RE THIS COOL.” “TELL THAT DOG TO GET OFF MY LAWN!” “DO…

Switch Gets Video Recording! You might not know this, but you can now record short video clips in some Switch games! In Nintendo published games, hold down the ‘share’ button for a moment and it will take a video of the last 30 seconds of gameplay, so you can hold onto those cool Mario Kart wins and epic Zelda fights forever! A Sony Game Coming…To Switch? This is interesting, YAKs – Tiny Metal, a little strategy game published by Sony Music-owned studio Unties, is coming to Switch! It’s also coming to PS4 and Vita, but we reckon it’s a perfect fit for Switch – it’s a strategy game that looks a lot like the classic Advance Wars series! Tetris Finally Playable On Truck Dashboards! This is pretty full-on, YAKs –…

BRIGHT LIGHTS, ULTRA CITY Prepare to boldly go where no trainer has gone before as you explore the mysterious Ultra Space! By travelling through an Ultra Wormhole you can enter the Ultra Megalopolis, a city built in this strange zone, and face the Ultra Recon Squad. Are they friend or foe? STICK IT TO ‘EM While exploring Alola keep an eye out for Totem Stickers! Collect as many as you can and you’ll be able to unlock strong Totem-Pokémon! PREPARE FOR TROUBLE The nefarious Giovanni has reformed Team Rocket as Team Rainbow Rocket! To make matters worse he’s recruited the villains from EVERY. SINGLE. POKÉMON. GAME. Team Aqua, Team Magma, Team Galactic, Team Plasma and Team Flare. They’re all here and they’re ready to battle! NEW ULTRA BEASTS! UB ADHESIVE…

STEP 1 Roll up to the quarter pipe with a really good amount of speed so you have enough air time. STEP 2 Keep your body facing forwards and your knees bent so you are well balanced. STEP 3 Take your feet off the deck and quickly flip the scooter over your head in a straight up circle, keeping the scooter to one side. STEP 4 When you flip the scooter, turn the bars 90 degrees towards your front foot so the scooter can come around easier. STEP 5 Pull the deck back under your feet and spot your landing. STEP 6 Bend your knees to take the full impact and roll away. FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT WWW.GRITSCOOTERS.COM.AU!…

THE LAST JEDI? In Return of the Jedi, Yoda tells Luke: “When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be”. If Luke is the last Jedi, does that mean Kanan and Ezra won’t survive Rebels? If they do, where will they go? WHAT ABOUT ROGUE ONE? This season has a few connections to Rogue One, such as the Empire harvesting kyber crystal for Project: Stardust (AKA the Death Star). Hopefully we’ll also get to see more of the Rogue One crew helping the Rebels, like Cassian Andor or K-2SO. THE RETURN OF AHSOKA? The last time we saw Ahsoka Tano she was battling Darth Vader. It was never clear whether she survived the fight, so there’s a chance she could return! During a panel during Star Wars…

Kirby Star Allies Platform: Switch Style: 2D platformer Publisher: Nintendo Out: xMid 2018 Kirby’s coming to Switch! It’ll be like the 3DS games, letting Kirby travel into and out of the screen despite being a 2D platformer. Kirby can combine abilities by sucking up different enemies, and you’ll be able to throw hearts at enemies to turn them into helpers too! Helpers will travel with you and do your bidding, letting you pull off combo moves! You will also be able to play with your mates, teaming up together to suck up enemies and take on challenges! Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom Platform: PS4, PC Style: RPG Publisher: Bandai Namco Out: January 19 2018 The Ni No Kuni sequel is nearly with us after a long wait! You play…

Forza Motorsport 7 Platform: Xbox One, PC Style: Racing Publisher: Microsoft Price: $99.95 Gameplay: The best racing series on Xbox is pretty brilliant this year! There are 700 different cars to race with in this one, including some great Aussie classics, and heaps of tracks to slide around corners on! We love Forza because it presents a great mix of arcade fun and technical driving – you learn more about driving by playing, but you also don’t need to take it too seriously! If you really LOVE racing, though, you can crank the settings right up and race like the pros do! We got addicted to winning races and building up our car collection, so we could test out as many different models as possible – they all handle differently,…

TEAM MANIA Check out Team MANIA’s AWSM Gundam collection! Woah, that’s an EPIC collection, Campbell! Campbell, NZ “I like to collect marbles! I have 401! Some are my dad’s from when he was my age!” MORE SAUCE, PLEASE! Chris Harne always asks for extra sauce. Why? Because he collects condiment packets! Tomato sauce, mayo, mustard, vinegar – you name it, Chris has it. Since 2003, he’s collected sauces from around the world and even has vintage packets! HOT STUFF! Accidentally burnt your dinner? Good news, you’ve got yourself a collectable! Started in the late 1980’s, Deborah Henson-Conant has filled her Burnt Food Museum with blackened and overcooked breakfasts, dinners and everything in-between! YOU COULD WIN! This month’s winner scores a Tech Deck 96 mm Finger Board.To enter, send a pic…

BORN: 19/06/1989 FROM: Brisbane COMPS: • 2016 Blancpain G T Series Endurance Cup. • 2017 Blancpain G T Series Endurance Cup. NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3 COUNTRY : Japan TOP SPEED: 218 mph, (350 km/h) MAX POWER: 600 HP (447 kW) @ 6,500 rpm ENGINE: VR38DET T, a twin-turbocharged V6. GEARBOX: Six-speed sequential racing transmission. MANIA: How long have you been gaming? MATT: “Since I was a kid. When I was eight I was introduced to Gran T urismo 1 and I’ve been hooked ever since.” MANIA: Favourite games? MATT: “The Gran T urismo series, by far . I love the detail and the physics. It feels so real!” MANIA : Do they use simulators for motorsport training? MATT: “Yes! It’s become an essential part of training.” MANIA : What type…