Table of contents for December 2016 in Mania

MANIA HQ   Wow that came around fast! It feels like only yesterday we were lining up to catch Star Wars: Force Awakens on the big screen - now we’re super pumped because the next awesome Star Wars flick Rogue One releases Dec 15. To celebrate we’ve got an awesome four page guide for you. Have fun MANIACs! CAPTION COMP! What do you think he’s saying? Cut out and send in your captions for your chance to win an awesome mystery prize! EMAIL Dom: dbayley@nextmedia.com.au LIKE US! FACEBOOK.COM/MANIAMAG MANIA 195 CAPTION COMP Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards NSW 1590…

Q1) Which do you prefer? A: Night B: Day Q2) On the weekend you are… A: Gaming B: Partying Q3) You would rather be: A: Smart B: Popular Q4) You are… A: Always prepared B: Care free Q5) At a party you’re: A: Busting a move B: Chatting with bros Q6) Favourite type of music: A: Disco B: Acoustic rock Q7) Which is better? A: High-fives B: Hugs Q8) Favourite videogame? A: Minecraft B: Just Dance Q9) Clothes are… A: Necessary for survival! B: Who needs them! Q10) Favourite superhero? A: Superman B: Wonder Woman Q11) How do you solve your problems? A: Thinking them through. B: Singing a song! A) BRANCH You’re prepared for anything and always on the lookout for danger. You prefer to do things your own…

PUNCH ON! Batman Gauntlet Stockists: All major retailers CATCH’EM ALL! POKEMON TCG Mythical Pokémon Collection – Genesect Stockists: EB Games, Toys R Us, Kmart, Target, Big W and all good independent game stores GET READY FOR BAT-TLE! Ultimate Bat-Mech Stockists: All major retailers SMELLS LIKE FUN! Stinky Pig Stockists: All leading toy retailers HOT STUFF! Finding Dory Coffee Pot Playset Stockists: Kmart, Big W, Target, Toys R Us, Myer SUPER THIRSTY? DC Stainless Steel Bottles Stockists: Aldi COOL OFF! Colour Change Slushy Maker Stockists: Big W MORPHIN’ TIME! Power Rangers: Legendary Rangers fgures Stockists: Toys R Us, Zing Pop Culture stores and speciality collectable stores DINO CHARGED! Rumble and Roar T-Rex Zord Stockists: Toys R Us…

STINK BOMB! It’s time to put your skills to the test. Can you pass the Stinky Pig before he lets one rip? Are you limber enough to crawl through a laser field and disarm the Chrono Bomb? If you’re not sure, then it’s time to find out! 10 lucky YAKs will get to test their skills with a board game prize pack containing Stinky Pig and Chrono Bomb. BUILD-A-MONSTER! It’s alive! It’s alive! This one is for all the mad scientists in-training, who dream of making their own little monsters! Use your imagination to build amazing 3D creations, with the WIKKID Ido3D Go! 18 monstrous MANIACs will score a prize pack containing a Ido3D Go! A DOGGONE GOOD TIME! We loved the original Red Dog movie, so we’re more excited…

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past Gameplay: If you’re a big RPG fan, this Dragon Quest remake is well worth a look – just make sure that you set aside 100 hours over the Christmas hols to beat it! Dragon Quest VII originally appeared on the original PlayStation, and had a reputation for being SO big that no one could finish it! This remake is a huge improvement – it’s still massive, but it’s also a lot harder to get lost now, and the game has been improved in several areas! The story is pretty simple, but well-told – you go on an epic journey that involves travelling through time to fix a broken world! This is a super old-fashioned game in a lot of ways – you…

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 This new Pac-Man game is a big change from every previous Pac-Man game: for instance, you can hit the ghosts now and survive! There are heaps of different levels to try and get a high-score in here, but Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is pretty weird, and it can be hard to figure out what’s going on sometimes because there’s so much going on at once! This is an interesting game, but we prefer the pure AWSM of Pac-Man 256! Platform: PS4, Xbox One Style: Arcade Publisher: Bandai Namco Price: $20 HOT! Heaps of variety! NOT! We prefer classic Pac-Man! MANIA SCORE 6/10 No Man’s Sky This is a great idea for a game, YAKs – explore the galaxy, landing on different planets and checking out all…

Overflow He can control most forms of moisture, which is great considering Earth is 2/3 water! Forget water pistols, Overflow is a water cannon! Grey Matter What he lacks in size, Grey Matter easily makes up for with his genius-level intellect! Give him any machine and he’ll know how to use it before you can say “Omnitrix” Upgrade A “mechamoprh” that can merge with any technology, allowing him to control and upgrade it. Diamondhead Diamond is the hardest substance known to man, so when Diamondhead brings the smackdown you know the bad guy is gonna feel it! He can change his organic crystal body into different shapes and can also crystallise matter. Four Arms The more arms you have, the more evil you can punch in the face. That’s just…

CATCH YOUR FAVOURITE POKÉMON You can grab a starter Pokémon like you would in normal Pokémon games, before setting out to find and capture some AWSM new monsters! It includes Pokémon up until the 6th generation (Black and White) but it doesn’t have every Pokémon from those games! BATTLE OTHER TRAINERS Train your team and go toe-to-toe with some trainers. There are NPC trainers and Gym Leaders you can battle, but if your bros are on the same server you can test the strength of their Pokémon team! It uses the same battle system as the Pokémon games! CRAFT YOUR GYM! It wouldn’t be Minecraft if you couldn’t, y’know, mine and craft! Collect your materials like usual and use them to craft yourself a gym! You can even use your…

LEVI MILLER BORN: 30 September 2002, aged 14 STAR SIGN: Libra SIBLINGS: 2 older sisters HOBBIES: Music (guitar) MIDDLE NAME: Zane FROM: Brisbane Australia FILMS: A Heartbeat A way (2011), P an (2015), Jasper Jones (2016) and more Levi learnt how to speak cockney English rhyming slang for his part in the movie Pan. THREE MUST KNOW FACTS ABOUT RED DOG: TRUE BLUE RED DOG: True Blue was filmed in the Aussie Outback on Karratha Station in the Pilbara, Western Australia. Levi Miller loved riding the motorbike so much that the production team gave it to him at the end of the shoot – although his mum wasn’t too happy about it. The filmmakers used wind machines and dust to mimic the cyclone that hits the cattle station when Mick…

Sonic Mania Gets Cool Retro Edition! Sonic Mania, the latest old-skool Sonic game, is getting an AWSM special edition! This edition comes with a cool tall statue, a collector’s card, and an AWSM cast based on an old Sega cartridge! This seems like a cool way for Sonic fans to celebrate their favourite blue hedgehog! Minecraft Gets Educational! Minecraft: Education Edition is out now, so let your teacher know as soon as you can! It features a classroom mode, which lets teachers track students in the world, and several new features. This version includes lesson plans, and lets you connect with other classes around the world. Imagine classes held inside Minecraft, YAKs! Pikmin comes to 3DS! Captain Olimar and his little Pikmin mates are coming to the 3DS for a…

Forza Horizon 3 Gameplay: If you live in or have visited Byron Bay, Surfer’s Paradise or the Yarra Valley, you’re going to really love Forza Horizon 3, because the game is set right on the east coast of Australia! We loved drifting around Surfers’ Paradise, hurtling through the rainforest near the Yarra Valley, and racing Ferraris through Byron Bay! You can even travel into the outback for that real Aussie feeling! We had a lot of fun working our way through this game, upgrading our cars and unlocking new, more powerful vehicles that were better suited for some of the events scattered around the country! We found that we mostly stuck to a few different cars, though – the map really favours super-fast rally cars! There’s LOADS to do in…

Maximum Car We were LOLing pretty hard while we played this crazy racing game, YAKs! You’re racing against other cars through traffic, and by drifting and driving well you can unlock speed boosts and missiles to get ahead of your opponents.The chunky graphics are super cool and driving is heaps of fun! iOS/Android, Racing, Free SCORE 9/10 Pumped BMX 3 The latest entry in the Pumped BMX series combines rad graphics with some cool stuntwork! You’ll have to work pretty hard to get good at this game, and land your tricks without crashing. If you don’t mind getting frustrated at a game sometimes though, this one is pretty challenging and very cool! iOS/Android, Sports/Racing, $5.99 SCORE 8/10 Sushi Go! Sushi Go! is a competitive online card game that requires some…

STEP 1: Roll into the ramp and make sure you’re going as fast as you can. STEP 2: When you hit the lip of the ramp, do a big bunny hop up to get as much air as possible. IF YOU’RE LEFT- HANDED, TRY SPINNING THE BARS ANTI-CLOCKWISE! STEP 3: While up in the air start to spin the bars. Using your right hand turn the bars towards your body. Then with your left hand grab the bars underneath by crossing them underneath the other hand. Continue to spin the bars clockwise until they are straight again. STEP 4: As you come down, land the back wheel on the ground before the front wheel. THERE’S TWO TYPES OF BAR SPINS: - THE 180, WHERE YOU SPIN AND CATCH THE OPPOSITE…

THE MOULINET STEP 1) Hold your hand straight out in front. STEP 2) Pinch the saber hilt with your thumb STEP 3) Turn your fingers to the left and let it roll with your wrist. STEP 4) Make sure the saber remains pinched when it’s upside down so you don’t drop it. STEP 5) Continue spinning and grasp the saber firmly when it returns to the starting position. WANT TO ENROL IN AUSTRALIA’S VERY OWN JEDI ACADEMY? CHECK OUT SONSOFOBIWAN.COM FOR MORE INFO!…

STATS BORN: Wollongong, NSW TEAM: Sydney Blue Sox POSITION: Catcher BATS: Left-handed THROWS: Right-handed FAVOURITES MOVIE: The Dark Knight Rises TV SHOW: How I Met Your Mother FOOD: Italian VIDEOGAME: Pokémon MLB TEAM: LA Dodgers MANIA: How did you get into baseball? TRENT: “I didn't have a choice, really. My dad played baseball, my grandfather played baseball and my mum played softball. I was born with a glove and catcher’s mask on!" MANIA: Do you prefer fielding or batting? TRENT: “Hitting. But when I’m fielding catcher is my favourite position." MANIA: When fielding, you play in different positions. Being good at everything is a bit of a chore, so how do you do it? TRENT: “It's definitely a lot harder, because you've got the full amount of workload for every…

RISK IT FOR THE BISCUIT Leave a note saying: “I’ve licked two biscuits. Good luck!” on the side of the biscuit tin or packet. NOTE: Don’t actually lick any biscuits. That’s super gross, dude. TOILET TIED Attach a cable-tie to the current toilet roll. To be extra mean make sure there are no other rolls available either! TOAST TEST 1. Get your victim to spell toast. 2. Now get them to say it 5 times. 3. Now get them to say it 3 more times really fast. 4. Now ask them: “What do you put in a toaster?” 5. Chances are they’ll say toast, not bread! SALT ‘N’ PEPA Step 1) Take the lid off your saltshaker. Step 2) Get a small piece of tissue or paper towel and place…

STEP 1 Draw a circle conected to an oval but slightly to the left of it. Now add in guidelines for the circle. STEP 2 Make an indent in your circle for Squirtle’s right eye. Now sketch his arms and legs. STEP 3 Add in Squirtle’s eyes and mouth. Draw a line from his arm to his leg to outline his shell. Now add a bulbous tail! STEP 4 Now sketch in the fine details of his eyes, body, arms, tail and shell. STEP 5 Colour your Squirtle light blue for his head, arms, legs and tail, cream or light yellow for his body and brown and white for his shell. His eyes are a light purple. NOW DRAW YOUR OWN!…

Digimon World: Next Order Next Order has been out in Japan since earlier this year, but next year we’ll be able to check it out in English! This open-world RPG was originally released for the PS Vita, but it’s getting an expanded PS4 release with improved graphics! You’ll be exploring the game’s huge version of the Digital World while raising two Digimon, and when they fight other monsters you’ll be able to issue them orders from the sidelines! This got AWSM reviews in Japan, so we’re keen! Platform: PS4 Style: RPG Publisher: Bandai Namco Out: Early 2017 Mario Sports Superstars The last Mario sports title is going to feature more games than ever! Sports Superstars will offer soccer, golf, tennis, baseball and horse-riding – there have been full Mario games…

Worms WMD Gameplay: The latest Worms game is the biggest, craziest game in the series’ history! The Worms series, in which teams of worms fight each other across 2D battlefields with all kinds of wacky weapons, has always been pretty over-the-top, but WMD cranks it up several notches! You can get into vehicles now, use mounted weapons, and even craft new weapons and items in-between turns to really kick your enemy’s butt! None of these are gimmicks, either - there are heaps of different ways to take down your opponents now, although the old favourites, like the bazooka, are still super satisfying! We were impressed by the single-player campaign, but this game really comes alive in multiplayer – get some mates in on it and you’ll have a blast! This…