Paper Mario: Sticker Star is out on the Nintendo 3DS today and tomorrow

"Paper Mario: Sticker Star" is released on the Nintendo 3DS in the UK, Europe and Australasia today and tomorrow, having already been released in North America earlier last month.

This is the fourth game in the "Paper Mario" series, and is the first Paper Mario game for the 3DS (or any handheld console for that matter).

Here are two superb free Flash online Paper Mario games (from MarioSonicGames.com) for you to play right here:

  Paper Mario World

  Paper Mario World 2

Nintendo Wii U and New Super Mario Bros. U are out today!

Nintendo's new gaming console, the Wii U, is released throughout the PAL zone today (i.e. Australia, New Zealand and most of Asia, Africa, South America and Europe). Hooray!

It is the replacement for the original Wii, and is the first eighth generation console - Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One will be the other ones, but they won't be launched for another year. See the excellent Wikipedia article about it for more information.

One of the most eagerly awaited launch games for the Wii U is "New Super Mario Bros. U", the fourth game in the "New Super Mario Bros." series, and the direct sequel to "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" that was released back in 2009. It is the first High Definition Mario game, and up to 5 players can play simultaneously, so it certainly sounds like it will be a true family game.

You don't need to rush out and buy yourself the new console and game to be able to enjoy some New Super Mario fun though. There are lots of brilliant free Flash online versions of the classic Super Mario Bros. games available in the MarioSonicGames.com site, and you can play five of them right here:

  New Super Mario Bros. Flash

  Super Flash Mario Bros.

  Monolith's Mario World

  Super Mario World Flash

  Classic Mario Bros.
(the last game above is a Flash version of the first ever Mario Bros. game)

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is released this month

"Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed" will be released worldwide on all the major consoles (except the Nintendo 3DS) during the course of this month. (The 3DS version will be out in February next year.)

It is the sequel to "Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing", the fourth installment in the "Sega Superstars" series, and the eighth racing game in the "Sonic the Hedgehog" series overall.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is out on the Nintendo 3DS in the UK today

"New Super Mario Bros. 2" for the Nintendo 3DS is released in the UK and the rest of Europe today, and will be released in Australasia and North America during the next two days.

The game, a traditional 2D side-scrolling Mario platformer, is a direct sequel to "New Super Mario Bros." released in 2006 on the Nintendo DS. It has a heavier emphasis on coin-collecting than other Super Mario games - the game's ultimate goal is to collect one million coins. Sounds like quite a challenge!

There is a brilliant free online version of a classic Super Mario Bros. game which you can play for free here: New Super Mario Bros. Flash Online Game. You can play as either Mario or Luigi, and there is also a level editor you can use to create and save your own levels.

There are hundreds more great free Super Mario Bros. online games for you to play in the MarioSonicGames.com website.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 2 is out today

"Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode II", the long-awaited sequel to 2010's Episode I, is out now and can be purchased and downloaded via PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. It should also be available for iOS and Android over the next few weeks.

As with Episode 1, the new game is a 2D platformer inspired by the original 1990s Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console. An additional episode, "Episode Metal", is available for those who purchase both episodes on the same system. That's very nice of Sega!

You can play some free Flash online versions of the classic 2D Sonic games over at the MarioSonicGames.com website.

Mario Party 9 is out today on the Nintendo Wii in the US

"Mario Party 9" for the Nintendo Wii is released in North America today, having already been released in Europe and Australasia last week.

It is the second Mario Party game for the Wii, the ninth on all Nintendo home consoles, and (slightly confusingly given the name of the new game) the twelfth overall.

As with all the previous games in the series, the new one features a variety of classic Mario franchise characters which two to four people can play as, competing in a virtual board game interspersed with minigames. There are 80 minigames in Mario Party 9, which have a larger focus on gameplay than they did in the previous game, divided into four categories: Free-for-all, 1-vs.-Rivals, Bowser Jr., and Boss.

Sounds like a lot of fun to me!

The 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympics is now out

Further to my post about the release of the Wii version of the game in November last year, the Nintendo 3DS version of "Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games" is now available in North America, Europe and Australasia.

Happy New Year for 2012!

That's 2011 over with then, the year that saw Mario's 30th Anniversary and Sonic's 20th. That was all a lot of fun. Here's to another happy and prosperous year this year!