It's not easy being one of the world's premiere Nintendo journalists. I had to drive through the worst traffic in the nation in order to get to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, home of the 1962 World's Fair, and the host to the Annual "Toy Test."

With your paid admission to the Science Center, you get to play all the latest (and in the case of GameCube, unreleased) games. Once you've played at least 10 minutes (up to a maximum of 20), you fill out your form. Subjects included how you liked the game, how you felt about the graphics (no other categories), whether you'd buy it (or ask for it as a present) and rating the game on a scale of 1-9 (9 being best).

The catch is, you play the game that the volunteers select you for, anything you haven't already played. While I was extremely lucky, playing different GameCube titles three out of my four times (Jak and Daxter for PS2 my second play), it's possible for someone to not get to play a GameCube title at all. My impressions of the three titles on test today are below.

(Reports that Rick sucked up to the hostess and flaunted his journalistic credentials in order to play what he wanted are baseless lies.)

Super Monkey Ball, Sega

Super Monkey Ball is a very unique (read: very Japanese) title. You control a little monkey in a ball (go figure) around a maze. More specifically, you tilt the maze to guide the monkey around the turns. There is also a four player race mode, very reminiscent of Mario Kart (including weapon boxes), and a battle mode similar to a simple Smash Bros.

The graphics were exactly what you've seen in E3 screengrabs. Just enough to make the game playable. Nothing over the top, but this type of game doesn't need it. It's a

Japanese build ... luckily one person in my group knew Japanese and told us what all the settings meant. The room was too loud to make out much of the sound effects. There was one small touch of graphic slowdown during a four-person race, but no one besides my own critical eye noticed. Certainly nothing to ruin the game.

Monkey Ball is a MUST-BUY. Period. It's a ton of fun, simple yet challenging, and a teriffic party game. The playing field is very level, and there's different types of games to play in groups. If you've got a list of games to buy, make sure Monkey Ball is on it.

Star Wars: Rogue Leader (Rogue Squadron II)

This is a slightly updated version of Rogue Leader from E3. The highly vaunted new lighting and self-shadowing effects didn't seem to be present, but there was an additional playable level from the E3 build. The Death Star battle, Hoth, Yavin, and a B-Wing mission called "Razor Rendevous".

Hoth is mighty impressive. Graphics were crystal clear, very little shimmer along edges and the draw distance is right out to the horizon. You can see Storm Troopers on the ground from quite a distance. The other levels were equally stunning, sporting lots of laser crossfire and hoards of high-poly ships.

Disappointingly, the game locked up on me loading a level (Hoth) at one point, and had some fairly lengthy load times (though still clearly faster than many PlayStation or PS2 games).

Despite these small flaws, the game is just as outstanding as I remember playing it at E3, and is another one of those titles on my must-buy list. However, I can easily recommend that non-Star Wars fans take a pass on it unless you want something to show off to your friends. The game is great, but very much like its predecessor.

Wave Race: Blue Storm

What a change a new build makes. Wave Race is nearly finished, and it appears that they are simply tweaking difficulty and control. (At one point, I mentioned to a Nintendo representative that the control was looser than the E3 build, to which he responded, "That's the kind of feedback we need to hear.")

All the tracks were in place, but the weather was not selectable in this version. Playing through the single player race mode as far as I could in one 20-minute session, it was clear that they've played with the control and difficulty since E3. Control was a little "floatier", and the other riders were VERY aggressive. Menus were in Japanese, so I couldn't tell if I was on a harder difficulty setting. Some of the buoys are placed in ridiculously hard areas to reach, and that will possibly be changed for the final game.

Besides all of that, it's still the Wave Race we all know and love. Many of the Wave Racers have the names of the 1080 Snowboarding crew, and the weather and water effects are simply beautiful. (The Fog on "Aspen Lake" at the start is so thick you can barely see through it ... and it's volumetric to boot.)

Every fan of Wave Race is going to pick this up at launch, and who am I to stop you? Wave Race is definitely going to be one of the marquee titles, and while not a system-seller like Rogue Leader, it's a blast and definitely worth the $50.

Other Impressions

I was quite thrilled to step up to play Monkey Ball and have the final GameCube controller placed in my hands. The C-Stick and Control Stick are both very rubbery feeling now, and the Z-Button has a little nub on it to let you know when you've placed a finger on it. The back of the controller has the Nintendo logo on one of the bottom circular areas, and GameCube info on the other.

The handles are ever so slightly longer now, better fitting my palms but still small enough to be portable and comfortable.

The booths were the EXACT same units at E3.

For any of you in the Seattle area, the games change again on Saturday, and again on Wednesday. A little Nintendo birdie told me that Saturday it was going to be Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Pikmin. He said he wasn't sure, but he was told that's what it was going to be. The Toy Test goes until 6PM daily, opening up to a chaotic "free play" time at 5:30.

I may attempt to get down to the Toy Test again when the games rotate to see if anything else has changed from the E3 builds we've seen. Stay Tuned!