Animal Crossing reviewed! How does Nintendo’s original life simulator hold up after 12 years and two sequels? PAGE 13 Fourth Quarter 2011 THE USUAL SUSPECTS The Borderlands Experience 25 11 15 MK II tourney — Round 4 Top 5 on The Strip contents contents Marvel vs. Capcom 3 reviewed! usual suspects otaku retro game corner animal crossing chronicles GAMING INSURRECTION staff staff GAMING INSURRECTION REVIEW POLICY editorial Borderlands W Inside 5 6 6 7 8 ‘I AM BECOME DEATH’ ‘MAKE THEIR BRAIN HURT’ About the editors GUNS OF PANDORA OUR SETUPS FOR OUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS ROLAND — LEVEL 69 LILITH — LEVEL 69 * WHAT IS FIND RARE ITEMS? SHOTGUNS REPEATERS SMGS REVOLVERS SNIPER RIFLES ERIDIAN COMBAT RIFLES ROCKET LAUNCHERS GRENADE MODES special thanks to The Gun Show for the gun cards. ABOUT THAT 2.5 UPDATE AND LEVEL CAP 13 ANIMAL CROSSING Call of Duty: Black Ops Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Shinobi PAGE 10 PAGE 11 PAGE 12 ready, set, begin! MORTAL Sonya takes on Jax in the tutorial mode of Mortal Kombat, released in 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3./ KOMBAT photo courtesy of Gamefaqs.com Established canon may or may 2UP EVALUATION not make it through this, so don’t hold onto whatever you think you know about the Mortal Kombat storyline. See 2UP EVALUATION, PAGE 14 See MK REBOOT, PAGE 14 Call of Duty: Black Ops was released by Treyarch in 2010. Treyarch took over series after the implosion of co-developer Infinity Ward. PAINT IT BLACK MOVING FORWARD THE ONLINE EXPERIENCE See BLACK OPS, PAGE 14 Ryu takes on Spider-Man in Asgard in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 /Photos courtesy of the official Marvel vs. Capcom 3 website See MVC3, PAGE 14 2UP EVALUATION Photos courtesy of Moby Games Sega released a version of Shinobi for the Play- Station 2 in 2002. Animal Crossing Chronicles Animal Crossing was first released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan as Animal Forest. The North American GameCube ver- sion, released in 2002, is an update. PLAYING NES IN ANIMAL CROSSING Nintendo SHAPING YOUR LIFE TOWN TUNING 2UP EVALUATION from PAGE 9 Photo courtesy of Gamefaqs.com Johnny Cage attempts the Test Your Strike minigame in Mortal Kombat. MK REBOOT from PAGE 9 MVC3 from PAGE 11 BLACK OPS from PAGE 10 MODE OF OPERATION GI’SGI’S MORTALMORTALIIII KOMBATKOMBAT TTOURNAMENTOURNAMENT INSIDE feature feature * Thank you to MKsecrets.net for the MKII advertisement. * Thank you to Gamepro, MK Warehouse and Retromags.com FIGHTER ROUND 1 ROUND 2 ROUND 3 ROUND 4 ROUND 5 FINALS WHERE WE STAND MATCH 13— Kitana vs. Mileena LYNDSEY JAMIE WINNER MATCH 14— Baraka vs. Reptile LYNDSEY JAMIE WINNER MATCH 15— Scorpion vs. Liu Kang LYNDSEY JAMIE WINNER MATCH 16— Jax vs. Johnny Cage LYNDSEY JAMIE WINNER UPCOMING MATCHES GAMING INSURRECTION’S MKII BRACKETS WINNER’S BRACKET LOSER’S BRACKET VIDEO AND PODCAST ENABLED Barbie Final Fantasy Double Dragon PAGE 21 PAGE 22 PAGE 23 retrograde Final Fantasy is literally one of the best games ever made despite its predilection for bugs. MARVEL CHARACTER HIGHLIGHT: MARROW HOW WE GRADE 9.0 TOP 5 ON THE STRIP — UNKNOWN BLACK SUPERHEROES EDITION JOHN STEWART JILL CARLYLE JAMES RHODES THE FIRST SLAYER MISTY KNIGHT tech geeks ESPN 360 APP Photos by Lyndsey Mosley/ Gaming Insurrection The ESPN 360 app launched Nov. 1, 2010, and features full games and highlights from the cable channel. SAMSUNG STRIVE TECH BITS See HA NDH ELD GAM ING, P AGE 30 ON TAP THIS QUARTER: ATTACK TYPE LEVEL ATTACK TYPE LEVEL ATTACK TYPE LEVEL TACKLE NORMAL — HARDEN NORMAL — CONFUSION PSYCHIC 12 STRING SHOT BUG — POISON POWDER POISON 15 STUN SPORE GRASS 16 SLEEP POWDER GRASS 17 SUPERSONIC NORMAL 21 WHIRLWIND NORMAL 26 PSYBEAM PSYCHIC 32 EDITOR’S NOTES: WHAT TO KEEP AND DELETE A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HANDHELD MARKET ATARI NINTENDO SEGA BANDAI SNK SONY NOKIA HANDHELD GAMING from PAGE 28 online this quarter GI TV VIDEO IT’S KOMBAT TIME This quarter, we decided to show and tell about life in Tokyo. enjoy our photo album ending Summer 2011! July 2011 Jamie has awesome green Jamie has Mario Bros. in his wallpaper upstairs. living room so I went to play. I managed to catch a I visited with Ellie before she coelacanth while at the beach left town. Tom Nook was willing to pay I made a payment on my loan a lot for fish and fossils. at the post office. Jamie snapped a photo of me before I left his house. My upstairs bedroom has yellow furniture until fall. August 2011 Buzz came to visit Tokyo I was lucky to dig up this on a camping trip. treasure. My basement is full of shirts, I usually search for fossils and my fall clothes in storage. during the day. Catching grasshoppers is hard Catching red snappers is easy work! and nets me 3,000 Bells. A rainbow appeared over the waterfall after summer storms. I made sure to get a picture near it! I decided to take a leisurely stroll in town. September 2011 Mailing out fossils to the The Moon Viewing Festival Faraway Museum. was held Sept. 1 in Tokyo. Paying off the massive debt I My remodeled master bedroom owe on my house. upstairs with fall brown paint! Talking with my neighbor, Rio I caught a grasshopper, which after a long spell. isn’t easy to do! The Icy Shirt goes well with the upstairs décor, don’t you think? The brown wallpaper is available as a pattern in the Able Sisters shop. Now all I need is a pond for the bathroom! Outside on the prowl for insects to catch. .