Mario Forever Hack

Well even though I think I've been posting absolutely WAY too much lately, I guess I can do another.
(Note: that was sarcasm, if you didn't laugh read it again)

So for some reason even though I said I wanted to update more often I actually ended up doing the exact opposite. Well I mentioned priorities before and I'll mention them again. I never actually intended for my blog to become even semi-dedicated to reviewing video games, but that seems to be what has happened. I think I've been focusing too much on the reviews as they're not that important. Rest assured I'll still review games, but I'm not going to specifically try to find a good one to review. I intend to do more long posts that will let whoever reads get a little piece of what goes on inside my mind. A similar post like that can probably be expected shortly after Christmas. Now, I'm not saying that people should be getting in line to read all my wonderful thoughts, I personally think that it's always intriguing to watch (or rather listen) someones thought process, and through such observations I think we can all become a little more logical.

For now I'm just going to mention a ridiculous hack of Super Mario Bros. I've known about this for a while, but I've never found the ROM until now because I was using the incorrect keywords. So if you want to find it try searching for Super Mario Forever. I can't describe how fun and frustrating this game is, but let me just show you the first screen.
Yes, there's no floor, and that's not a poor jump, that's where you start, right in midair. I really thought this was funny, of course I'm not telling how to get it, just that you should.
Anyhow, I think I've been taking too long so merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, and all that jazz.

I'm Out

Star Wars Episode 1 Racer Review

Alright So as promised another review.
I played this game on the N64 a lot as a kid, but it is better known to be an arcade game. I don't feel like a long introduction so lets just dive in.

Gameplay: Well it won't take a genius to figure out this is a racing game. There are 25 courses and none of them feel repetitive, although many are similar. I hope I don't need to explain the basic premise of a racing game, and it's the same thing here. What is great here is the upgrading. In each race you can win drugnuts, which is money. You can spend this money in he parts shop to upgrade your pod racer. This ends up being an awesome gimmick as upgrading one pod will upgrade all of the pods you've unlocked. There's plenty of unlockable pods and none of them feel the same, since they differ in stats and how easily they explode. Coupled with this is the games speed. In this game 300 is considered slow and while 500 will be the norm, it's not too hard to get above 1000. Also there is a huge difficulty gap in the game, which is annoying. The beginning of the game is easy and hardly takes any effort to beat, but then about halfway through the game it becomes mind-numbingly difficult. I wouldn't actually care about this if the game wasn't so hard that after 6 years I still haven't beaten all the courses. So there's no items alla Mario kart, which is a blessing and a tragedy. Without items the entire game boils down to skill, which lowers the multiplayer value since newcomers will never want to play. However, having a racing game that's all skill and no luck isn't that bad, especially after playing Mario Kart Wii. While you may lose, it' not cheep in any way other than that the computers are horribly over skilled in the latter courses. So it's a fantastic, fast, and difficult racer.

Music: So, only a few gripes so far right? Well if I gave individual scores for each category like some people do this would unfortunately score low. What's the problem? The music, or rather the lack thereof. There is the music for the title screen and on the final lap you get a great a great song from the movie, but it's always the same song. But that's not even a problem compared to the fact that otherwise there is absolutely no music. I can't understand why that is, but this means that the only thing you ever hear are the sound effects which can be annoying (if I have to hear Anakin Skywaker call me a slimo again I'll puke). So this is just sad, moving on.

Story: You kidding me? It's a racing game! I don't even know why I left the category here. The only time I will ever complain about story is in an adventure, action, or RPG game. This has no, and needs no story. Nough' said.

Replayality: I said something about multiplayer, but multiplayer's main problem isn't that it's not newcomer-friendly, but that you can only play with two players. I can see why they did this, as sometimes it's hard to see what's on the screen with one player, let alone when you only get half the screen. But without 4-player action the multiplayer really suffers, especially when Mario Kart 64 is sitting nearby with 4-player compatibility and a much more friendly approach to newcomers. Also once you beat a course there's no reason to go back in single player because you won't get money. So replayability is only found in the fact that you will have to play this game over and over again to beat the latter courses.

Graphics: Alright, this section just might get a perfect score. It seems that what the developers didn't put in music, they put in graphics. Compared to today I'm sure most would shun what I say, but this game will literally push an N64 to it's limits. With the high speeds and great graphics the N64 can barley keep up and when your getting to the really high speeds the frame rate really drops, something I've never seen, even with smash brothers.

So in summary the game is fun it's even got more depth than a regular racer. However it gets a little boring on the easy tracks, especially with no music, and frustrating on the latter tracks. This game will be fun, but not for very long unless, like me, you refuse to let the computer win. Well I'm going to try to give the game an unbiased score (which is hard with all the memories I have as kid trying to beat this), but the final verdict is; 7.2/10. I think people should play this even if they don't like racing games (which I really don't) also I think if there was a sequel they could easily fix the problems with this one.

As a little PS, I'm sorry I didn't get this out sooner, but I had to paint my Grandma's house. So...

I'm Out

Zelda Philosophy

A friend and I have always said that you can find lots of great imagery and symbolic storytelling in video games, specifically Zelda. A prime example that we always point to is the three-part Triforce, is symbolic of God's three persons. I have never thought till now however, that anyone would actually create an in depth analysis of the Zelda series. Of course this means that I have seen someone who has, and he is Luke Cuddy. I read the first few pages, (the ones I got for free) and I think that it's hilarious that someone devoted their time to making this, but it does look like it actually has some philosophy in it, so it's not a nerdy fan fiction. Anyway, there's no way I'm buying this book and I don't actually take this seriously, I just thought I could post this as a little LOL.

Sorry I couldn't find something more appropriate for Turkey-Day, but this will just have to do. By the way if you want a link to that book it's right here

I'm Out

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards review

Alright so I recently whipped out the ol' N64 recently for no reason and I thought, "some of these games I have are worth a review." So I'll doubtlessly review more later, but today it's Kirby 64!
So that's the only picture this time since I don't play this with an emulator. Now, first up...

An Introduction: For those unfamiliar with the pink puff, I'll elaborate shortly. Kirby's main gimmick is that he can suck almost any enemy and swallow it into oblivion. The uniqueness of this (as if it wasn't already strange) is that when Kirby swallows certain enemies with special powers he will gain what power they had. In addition to this Kirby can fly, alright? So Kirby usually will go from the start point of each level to the end doing whatever it takes, simple right?

Gameplay: It is simple, but Kirby 64 adds a new twist which (sadly) has never appeared in any other game. When Kirby swallows an enemy he can spit them out, not new. But when pinkie swallows the enemy, that's it you can lose the power and get a new one, or just stick with the one you have. In Kirby 64, however, you can take the power out of your mouth at will, and if you want to, throw it at your enemies, but believe me there's a much better use. In this game, if you throw your power at another enemy that would give you a power, then the two powers will combine, giving you a combo power. So in this way, while this has the smallest number of powers compared to any other game, (Fire, Ice, Spark, Bomb, Rock, Cutter, and Spike) if you include the combos, it has a total of 37 powers, which is more than any of the other games. In fact one of the most enjoyable things in the game is just getting different combos and seeing what powers they give. You got the fire sword, a lightsaber, fireworks, a volcano, even a curling puck. In addition to the powers, you got 22 levels and 7 bosses, which could be thought of as levels. They all have a fantastic design and look exactly like they should. Lastly on the note of difficulty Kirby has always been centered towards little kids, probably due to the childish nature of the characters, and levels (when every world is named after a food such is the case). Since the game is centered on kids most of the series is made so that anyone with hands big enough to reach all the buttons can win. But make no mistake, Kirby 64 is easily beatable by an older gamer, but to get the final ending can be quite a task. To get the final ending requires getting all of the crystal shards (hence the name of the game). Some shards are just in the open and, more or less, hidden; others will require you to use a certain power on a part of the foreground that has cleverly masked itself as being part of the background. So in finality, it's a great platformer with clever powers; it's fairly short, but with great level designs; the difficulty is low, but not to be ignored. So overall, pretty good, could be better, but hey.

Music: The music here is bar none. I've always loved Kirby music and this is no exception. Kirby tunes are known for there bouncy happy feel, and there synth. In fact if I ever hear a Kirby song without the synth, it just wouldn't be Kirby. But the synth is there. There's a wide enough variety of songs that are all bouncity and happity that you won't get bored, but the boss battle music is able to bring the, final battle, get serious, feel. So I haven't said much other than that the music is awesome have I? Can I say anything bad?...I don't think so .

Story: Kirby was never meant to have a story, but we got a hint of one. Ripple star (which is heart shaped and for some reason is not the name of the water planet) is populated by fairies who get there power from a large crystal. The fairies are always happy and pleasant, so it's no surprise that they were attacked by Dark Matter, who tries to take their crystal. While Dark Matter is attacking, one fairy (who I just recently learned actually has a name, Ribbon) is chosen to take the crystal away to safety. As Ribbon jets off, three smaller versions of Dark Matter begin to follow here in hot pursuit. The three blobs destroy the crystal and send Ribbon plummeting to her death (or rather her soft fall on Pop Star). We all know that Pop Star is where Kirby is, so we all can probably guess that they meet up before the first level and then after one thing leads to another Kirby decides to help Ribbon because he wants to get out there and eat some enemies. So after the first few levels we come upon a waddle dee, then Adeleine, then finally King Dedede. All three we initially find possessed by tiny Dark Matters and promptly beat the snot out of all three, then they all decide to team up with Kirby in their successive order. Don't worry we still get to play as Kirby, but the other guys show up in the background for supportive reasons. So that it actually is the whole story, no summarizing or abbreviating, in fact when you play the game you might as well skip all of the opening sequences because I already told them to you. But I digress, anyway the story is there, even if it's pretty poor, but Kirby doesn't need a story, he just helps out because he wants to show off his awesome powers.

Replayability: Even though you wouldn't expect it from a Kirby game I give this game kudos here. The single player mode will have you coming back just straining to beat that Boss battles mode, and maybe to collect all the cards. So even for single player there's a reason to play more, but there's actually a decent multiplayer game, three even! I'm not going to bother describing them, but I'm going to say that it's like Mario Party with only the games, and only three games. You can play with anywhere between 1-4 players and the games are really the most fun with more people. So good replayability, but this reviews getting long, so you can find out about it on your own after you beat it the first time.

Graphics: Kirby is a round ball with stubs for arms and legs, what do you expect? Well I think the graphics are great and well polished, and about as good as you can get on the N64.

Closing: So the game seems to be absolutely fantastic in every way. The only drawbacks are that the game is only moderately long and the difficulty only makes it seem shorter. So with that I'll give this game 8.4/10. That's that, check back on Saturday.

Mini Hiatus

Alright, one week without updates is bad enough, but two weeks? I'm sorry this is unacceptable. So, to try to make up I'm going to try to review two games this week, one tomorrow and one on Saturday.
I feel compelled to make some excuse though. So last weekend I was backpacking, I couldn't post if I wanted to. The weekend before that was my last weekend of work (i.e. I was too busy to do any thing). So since work is over that means I will be able to devote more time to my blog, of course I still have school, but my goal is to always try to get one review every other week and the week I don't review I will try to find something worth mentioning.
As a small side note I recently saw a movie and finished a book.
The movie was Madagascar 2 I'm just gonna say I thought it was funny, but slightly offensive at some parts. It's no that offensive just a little, so I say go and watch.
The book is Brisingr. This is the third book in the Inheritance Cycle (better known as the Eragon books) I will just shortly say that this book is better than the second and maybe the first. It's an excellent story with excellent writing, so read it (after the first two)
Dah-Dun Dun!!! (my reading rainbow sound effect, remember?)
Alright so I'm gonna work on those reviews.

I'm Out

Halloween Special

My goal is to update once a week and since Halloween falls in there I decided to do a Halloween Special (or rather that's the excuse I decided to use).

What's in the special? Nothing to fancy just...SOME AWESOME PUMPKINS!!!












The one on the Left I did this year, the one on the right I did last year.
What's that? You want a close up? Of course!
















I must at that I'm very proud of my Mega Man Pumpkin. While the Mario pumpkin has a much better and more skilled design, I didn't design it. I built the design for Mega Man on my own from scratch, and trust me it's harder then you might think to design stencils for anything that's multicolored.
What's that? You want me to stop pretending you're talking to me?
Okay, here's some pictures with the lights off.


















I wanted to include last years pumpkin simply because I had pictures and it its pretty awesome...oh yeah and relevant to the nerdy theme. There was another pumpkin that I did at a campout, but do to the fact that I had no time to plan or think of anything elaborate I just thought of the simplest, coolest, and most video game related thing, the Triforce. Unfortunately I don't have the pictures f that pumpkin, but I should get them, just in a while. So next year I'll probably have two pumpkins again.

So, hope you liked it.
I'm Out

Mother 3 notice

As of now I've gotten halfway through Mother 3. The game is supposedly subdivided into 8 chapters and I beat the fourth one. I recently realized something about the game that I decided I should note.
In Japan the game is approved for all ages. However the translators decided to add some cuss words. So if you are extremely offended by cusses then stay away from the game. I don't endorse cussing, but oftentimes I view cuss words as a way to express more extreme adjectives/emotions. Thus when I played the game I hardly noticed that the words were there. But maybe that's just me; I just wanted to put a disclaimer/warning up here before I mislead anyone.
Of course compared to many non-Nintendo games the cussing doesn't exist. For example Final Fantasy 7, even though I've only played a small part of both games I can say that FF7 has much more violent language then Mother 3.

Mother 3 has an emotional storyline, much more so than Earthbound. The cusses I feel help to better convey the emotion in the story. I'm saying all of this because I think the game is great, and while I will do a review later, I'm going to suggest the game to any RPG fan. I am just saying there are cusses, but only if you're very, very, offended by cusses should you worry.

Mother 3

Alright, the original reason I was going to review Earthbound was because I thought it was a good, and slightly obscure game. Now though it turns out a momentous occasion has occurred and I'm going to say my review is in tribute to this occasion.

MOTHER 3!!! Yes it's been out for about 2.5 years in JAPAN. The fans of the Mother series in America have begged Nintendo to translate this game and sell it to us. Nintendo has acknowledged our cries, but hasn't done anything about it. So almost 2 years ago two valiant guys started a translation project for Mother 3. A few days ago they finally released the final version of the patch, so get a ROM and download that patch. According to my save file I've already put 4 hours into this game and so far I think it's awesome. Of course I'll do a review, but that might take a while. For now, play Earthbound, then work on Mother 3.

That's it, but just in case people don't understand how Mother is related to Earthbound, here's how it goes. A long time ago Nintendo released, in Japan, a game called Mother on the NES. Nintendo obviously intended to release the game in America and there is even a ROM on the Internet that was an almost complete translation. Years later on the SNES Mother 2 was released in Japan. This game was actually released in the states and was called Earthbound. Fairly recently Mother 3 was released on the GBA and you know how it went. So if Mother 3 was released in America it probably would have been called Earthbound 2. The translators for whatever reason didn't mess with this, and it doesn't really matter, but I just wanted to clarify any confusion.

So where's the link to that patch? right here

Earthbound review

Alright here's my new review and in case the title of this post doesn't totally give it away it is none other than...
Yes, there you go I think that a lot of my posts have had too much text and need more picture's and in this review I intend to have multiple pictures. But enough lets start reviewing!

So as an introduction, this was the very first game I have ever played on any emulator, it was the first because I couldn't find SMRPG on the Internet at the time. I actually picked it up as more of a joke since the only people I knew who played the game (not many) thought that it was absurd and the game itself was atrocious. Since this was the first game I played on an emulator (and it took me a while to get an emulator to run on my computer) I spent the entire time marveling at the graphics and how cool it was. Of course I didn't get very far before I found other games and completely dropped this one. My main problem at the time was the reading. But then about a half year later I picked it up again and I got over the reading and I found out that this was actually a game worth beating. Now, enough of me, to the review!

The game itself is an RPG. The battle system however is nothing like that of Final Fantasy, but if you've ever played Dragon Warrior you will be much more at home. The battle's are supposed to be from a first person perspective, this is a little awkward at first, but if you're discouraged keep playing after not too long this will feel much more natural and then the game will get much cooler. Now, in the overworld there are no random battles, you will see the enemy and said enemy will either run away, or toward you. If you touch the enemy you enter a battle, but only with the enemy that touched you unless a nearby enemy is able to get to you as well during the battle intro sequence. Now whether the enemy runs away or toward you is based on your level, pretty simple. The only other remark I have about the battle system is the strikes. If you enter a battle and you are touching the back or side of an enemy you will get a "first strike" because you snuck up on them. If the enemy does this to you then they will get the first strike for the same reason. This means that running away from enemies is often a bad idea since if your back is turned you'll be "caught off guard". If the strikes and everything seems like Paper Mario it's because it is. So entering a battle is like Paper Mario and the battles themselves are like Dragon Warrior, if you've played these games before, then this should seem natural. If you haven't then don't worry it only takes a little bit of adjusting from traditional RPGs.

Now how about the music? The battle themes are, mostly, not exiting like I would expect battle themes to be. But APE gets a sticker for making multiple (I dunno, like 8 or so) battle themes. Also the town themes make up or this by being very lovely. Each town has it's own song and they are all good. So it's also worthwhile to mention that the songs are all very distinct and (though the battle themes could use some help) you will never get bored with the music. This makes it very unfortunate that mot of the time in the overworld you will not hear music. When you get in the overworld the music suffers. There's some music, but there' only like 4 and it gets very boring when they play the cave music. This song is just a bunch of sounds bunched together it's probably meant to be spooky and it works for this, but the song is played so often in the game, and I don't even think it qualifies as a song. Overall the music is mediocre, (except the town themes and final battle) and the only songs that are good (except final battle) are nice flowy songs. This is all nice and I can listen to these songs, but if you really want more Rock in your diet you will be disappointed. So the music is mediocre with some gems mixed in, and the it gets a little boring, but no more so then say FF6.

How's about the story? You play Ness (yes the one from Smash Brothers). The game starts out in your hometown, Onett. You awake to a large crash. You want to investigate and you're mom says alright after you change out of your Jammie's. You put on some clothes and adventure out to find that a meteor crashed nearby. The police won't let you through and your neighbor says you should go home and he will tell you about it in the morning. So you head home, you sleep for a bit and then your woken up again to a persistent knocking at your door. The knocker is none other than Pokey, who tells you he lost his brother and YOU need to help him. This is not the main conflict, but I just felt like giving the very beginning of the story. A little while after this you find your true purpose is to defeat Giygas before he grows stronger (your told this by someone from the future, a bee [just roll with it]). To do this you must collect 8 melodies from 8 "your sanctuary" locations. Why melodies? I don't know, I think their supposed to enlighten Ness or something to make him realize his true power, but it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to spoil any of the story that matters, but I'm going to say that it is very well done. The story makes many pop culture references and has random humor punched into numerous places. The game has a funny story and even makes fun of itself, so you know not to take it seriously. For example, something weird and totally random will happen, such as a statue of a pencil blocking your way. A friend then calls you and tells you he made an invention that makes pencils disappear "I don't know how it could ever be useful, but you should have it." This and things like Ness' mom's logic (see right) I just find funny. Yet somehow the story still somehow maneges to mean something. Despite the humor, by the end of the game you might feel a little touched (compared to other games it's nothing, but I think it's cool that a game can be funny, serious, and have nether of those qualities effect the other. Something I should mention here is that the game is easy. APE did this for a reason though; they obviously put a lot of work into the story and the humor, and they don't want anyone to miss out on this, so the made it easy so there's no reason to stop playing. Lastly, the game is long for a SNES game, it took me 2 years to beat this game (of course there were multiple hiatus') so it's not short by any means. So the story is awesome and could probably be the main reason you play the game.

Something I never mentioned in my other reviews is replayability. I forgot about this other times, but it is important. Still, it's brief; one word: low. The game is great, but since the main point in playing it is the storyline, after you beat it, there's not much point in playing the game.

Now; graphics. I view graphics as icing on a cake. If the cake is bad, no amount of icing will help. If the cake is good then the icing only acts to leave it where it is, or improve it. So that means that graphics won't make a score go down, only up. The only exception to this is if the graphics are so bad that you can't tell what certain sprites are supposed to be. So that's my stand on graphics. Now from the few pictures I've given you, you should be able to see that the graphics are acceptable, but aren't the best even on the SNES. So in that large space all I'm saying is the graphics are okay, but could be better.

I think I've covered everything so I'll wrap it all up. The game is a good RPG with a great storyline. It often goes for quantity over quality so while it's nothing to fall in love with, you won't get bored and it's quite enjoyable. So the final score for Earthbound is......7/10. 6 felt too low, and 8 felt too high, 7 is good number in the middle.

Status Update

Well even though I know I do not yet have an audience I still feel obliged to explain why I haven't updated anything. Well it's just that I've been busy, I've been studying for the PSAT all week and school isn't exactly getting easier. Also the only video game I've really been playing is Mega Man 9 and since I already gave a fairly fleshed out review it seems to me like posting anything else would be pointless. I could talk about tips and tricks that I've discovered on my own, but a quick look on the Internet shows I wasn't the first to do them. So I doubt I can talk any more about Mega Man 9 and since that's the only game I've been playing I haven't updated.
So that's just a lame excuse for my not updating. I want to be able to post about once a week or possibly more often, but I keep finding lame excuses not to.
So to my as-of-now imaginary audience I'm sorry, but if I manage to squeeze some blogging in on he weekend you can all expect my next video game review.
Till then (assuming I actually do it) I don't want to leave a good for nothing post so I'm just going to post a link to a youtube video of an awesome some I found that is about none other the Mega Man (mega man 2 to be specific). So here's Airman ga Taosenai enjoy!

I'm Out

Books

I just thought I'd give a status update and a small opinion on books I'm reading.
So during the weekends I've been trying to read books for pleasure. This week I finally finished the third book in the death gate cycle, "Fire Sea". I'm not saying much, just that the series is terrific and I think any and all who enjoy fantasy novels should read it.
Dah-Dun Dun!!! (my reading rainbow sound effect)
Seriously though check it out. As for me I will probably not read the next 4 book in the series until I finish two other books on my list. The first is "Brisingr" it came out a week or so ago and my brother told e he'd give it to me when he got it and finished it. I assume that will be soon, or at least I hope so because I have been waiting for the third book in this trilogy (yes I'm aware it is no longer a trilogy) for a while now. If it does take a while I have another book hat I can read at any time, "Queste". This is the fourth book in a series I could have sworn was a trilogy; it's not as good as the other series I have mentioned, but I find it enjoyable, especially for car trips.
So thse are the kind of things I read for plesure. Of course I also read books for pleasure and believe me, it was difficlt to read "Fire Sea" and Shakespeare at the same time. To be honest I'm still chuggin' more hours into Mega Man 9 then I am into any book, but that's a small status update on me, as well as my short opinion on books.

TTFN

Mega Man 9 - Full Review

I just beat Mega Man 9 a few minuets ago and I can't wait to spell out my opinion of this game, so as promised a full review of Mega Man 9.

To start out the game is made to be 8-bit and replicate nearly all the nostalgia that one gets from playing old games, yet this game is completely new, so Capcom obviously did some things right. The game is able to deliver a ton of nostalgia from the old days despite the game having a good share of its own new flair. When you play the game some things stand out and remind you that, while is similar, your not playing on a good 'ol NES. Most of these are minor however and don't subtract from the whole experiance. I want to write one more thing here because I've heard people say the don't like Capcom's decision to make this like an NES game. I think they are horrably wrong, if there is one thing Capcom knows it's that if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Capcom made this for the fans, and Capcom knows that the way to make the fans happiest is to make this game as simmilar as possible to the game's that the fans most like in the series. According to all the polls, reviews, and conversations I've been in, it would seem that the most loved games are the first three. This is why Capcom tried to make 9 as simmilar as it could to the first three. Also this is of lesser importance, but downgrading everything to NES quality allowed Capcom more memory space to make their game (after all there's a limit to how big a Wiiware title can be).
With that said I'll talk about the core gameplay which is...the same. As I said Capcom doesn't want to mess with a perfect blend, Mega Man will shoot, run, and jump..nothing new. In keeping with what I said this is not a problem and is actually fantastic. Capcom does keep things interesting though, by making this game as almoast harder (if not actually harder) than the first Mega Man. So gameplay is the same and very difficult.
Now, sound. The music is like the NES you will hear three voices in every song. The only difference is that when a sound effect is played none of the voices will be cut off. So the music replicates NES music, but with a higher quality. How does the music sound though? The music is top notch and can easily rival the music of any mega man game even 2 (I'm not sure which I favor, but 9 might be an unofficial winner). So high quality and awesome blood pumping music.
Now, stroyline. This game does have a story, but it is simple and you can skip any cutscenes. So I think that it will appease both those who want more of a storyline and those who want less. (by the way anyone who thinks they will be dissapionted by the lack of a character that was previously in the series should get over it, I beat the game, and no spiolers or anything, but I think you can get over it.)
Now, everything I've said about the game is good, is there anything I can think of that I was dissapionted with, or I thought could be better. No, perhaps I'm a little biased, but there is nothing I would change. Throughout the entire game I screamed about the difficulty of the game and how it frustrated me, but if the difficulty weren't so high I would have beaten this game a while ago. So there's a review that I've puposly tried to keep short, but flush and organized (I'm trying to aviod reviews as long as my last one). So final verdict. If you love mega man you should have already bought this game, if you love giving yourself a challenge get this game, if the only thing you play is those easy FPS games that are for "hardcore" only, then get this game and call me when you run from the TV screaming. I think that this game is good for all truly hardcore gamers as well as classic gamers, the only one who would want this game is your grandpa.
Mega Man 9: 9.5/10

Mega Man 9

Alright so I've got Mega Man 9 and even though I still havn't beaten the game I want to do a brief review. As a side note I should maybe mention that I've only played mega man 1-3 and I never actually beat any of them except 2. So I don't have much to compare this game with so take my words for what their worth. Since I intend to do a more fleshed out review when I beat the game this might not even be worth your time, but here goes. Anyway, the first thing you will notice about the game is that it is incredibly difficult I can't really say if it's harder than the first mega man, but it is WAY harder than 2 so it's a real challenge. Second, the music is awesome, it is at least on par with 2 and some of the tracks go beyond that, they all have that retro feel that's different, yet still mega man, and awesome. Third, there's no power slide or mega buster, that's fine with me as the only mega man game I've really played is 2, but it again adds to the challenge and I can imagine some people throwing fits (speaking of which proto man isn't there either). Well I've sucked 4 hours into this game already and haven't gotten to Wily's castle (oh wait I don't even know for sure if it excists ;). The game is awesome and if your a fan of mega man get it now. I'll say more when I beat the game.

New Games

There has recently been a new flow of games to come out. normally summer and winter is when the big titles hit, but this summers' games, for the most part, didn't interest me. Now it seems like there's a big list I can't keep up with. So to get organization, and to let people know whats out if they don't already know. (By the way these are in no order whatsoever except when I thought of them)

Spore: When I first saw this game I thought it was cool, now I can't think of a word to describe how awesome this game is. This game covers multiple scopes and is very grandiose, unfortunately neither my computer, nor my parents computer will be able to play it :( So I will probably get spore creatures, and maybe spore origins until I can afford to get a new laptop. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you should seriously check it out. If any Sid Meyers game has appealed to you this is most likely the greatest game you will want.

Kirby Super Star Ultra: I just found out about this game yesterday, but I already am seriously thinking of buying it. It's a remake of Kirby Super Star with some upgrades, like new minigames, modes, and perhaps others. If you've never been a fan of the pink puff you'll probably not be interested, but if you're like me and never experienced Kirby Super Star (often acclaimed as the best Kirby game) and you love that pink vacuum, then think about this game.

Mega Man 9: If you like Mega Man I shouldn't need to talk about this one. If you don't like Mega Man, this might not make you change your mind.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: I am not a big Star Wars junkie, but that will probably make this game better. The only shortcomings I can see this game having is plotholes, lack of familiar characters, and bad controls. The controls I'm not worried about to much though. This is probably one of those games where if it doesn't make you want to buy it you shouldn't, but I was intrigued by this game since I first saw it and I'm excited.

Dr. Mario Online Rx: You can probably accurately guess what this is by the title, so there's not much explaining to do. My only though is that 1000 Wii points seems steep, just a little, but still...

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: I love the cartoons on homestarrunner.com and I've been playing point and click adventures since I was little (pajama Sam...ah the memories) However, while these games are not in order of most wanted, if they were this game would probably be at the bottom or close to it. I don't know why, but I've played the demo and something isn't right and I can't put my finger on it. Something about the game is just boring although I don't know why. Now that I think of it, it's been years since I've played a point and click adventure, and maybe they just don't appeal to me anymore, although I don't see why they shouldn't.

Sonic Unleashed: As far as I know, this (and the game I intend to list next) is the only game on my list that is not released yet. It looks awesome, if you've lost interest in the franchise, then maybe this might bring you back. If you've ever love the 3D sonic games this should be no different. My only worry for the game is the werehog mode which could be bad, or good, I can't make up my mind.

Sonic Chronicles: This is a Sonic RPG manufactured by bioware. Personally I'd feel more reassured if Square-Enix did the game (they made maRPGio), but bioware has done some decent RPG's and I think that no matter what I'll probably get it, I love RPG's and who doesn't love that blue blur?

That's it (at least the ones I haven't forgotten). Maybe next time I can talk about how awesome Mega Man 9 is.

Anger

I have been very angry today.
I have spent a lot of time talking to myself asking questions and I explained in all in a very over detailed and long post. I have deleted that and replaced it with a more condensed form that focus' more on the points of value I'm trying to make and less on venting my anger.

"Why" it is a question I am fond of asking, but I do not ask it to question the intelligence of the one I'm asking of, but so that I can understand the process of reasoning behind things that way I will be able to decide for myself weather something is correct. So is it, or is it not, correct for me to look down on people who never ask that question, and more importantly never answer that question?

Also what good is believing in something without evidence? If there is no sufficient evidence for something is there any reason why I or anyone should believe it? And how can one find evidence for a point without asking the fabled question "why"? Is it correct for me to look down on those who do not see the need for evidence?

Nay we should not look down on anyone. However I have an iron will that is not prone to changing, and I can't help but be angered by those who are too close-minded to listen to any opinion other than there own, as well as those who can't see the need for evidence. God, however, told us to love all even our enemies, but I suppose that is just something I still have trouble with. I suppose that all have faults and since people must deal with mine, I should deal with others.

This is why I started blogging. I often times talk to myself even at long length and sometimes I feel that anything I come to is worthless as no one hears them, but me. Of course sometimes the points I come to might not do good for any one but me. I'm am not saying that my words are jewels and should be treasured, but that sometimes I feel like my thoughts only are sucked to a black whole. If one person heard or read my thoughts and at least considered them, not necessarily agreed, I would feel as if my useless rambles to myself are at least dust in the wind, to be seen by many, instead of shadows in the dark, to be seen by none. I don't want to be understood, just heard.

Caramelldansen

I found out about an Internet meme just recently and thought I'd share my feelings. The "Caramel Dance" has apparently bean around for a while and I only just recently found out about it. I just want to shortly say that no one should make the same mistake I did. At first I thought the song was annoying and gay, but after listening a bit I figured in was catchy, jumpy, and wasn't too bad, so I got the song. Now I've had the song stuck in my head all day, including when I was writing my previous post. It's way to much, my feelings for the song have been adjusted to what they were before, the song, while at first catchy, is just an annoying piece of garbage. I want to warn everyone of this and tell them not to make the same mistake I have.
So why did I put a link below that will send people to a place where they can easily hear the tune for themselves? Well I know people enough that I know that if you tell them not to do something they will usually do it in spite. So think of it not as me being a hypocrite by giving you the link to what I'm telling you not to go to, but as a someone who wishes to warn you and then decides that they probably won't listen unless they find out "the hard way". So I'm merely allowing you to choose take my warnings please do, but if you gotta do it the hard way that's where you go.

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Now playing: Caramell - Caramelldansen 「Speedycake Remix」
via FoxyTunes

Lord of the Rings-The Two Towers

In order to attract an audience I'm going to talk about games I play. One game that I recently picked up again is Lord of the Pings: The Two Towers for the GBA.

I've owned this game for quite some time, but never really played it. I first played it when I was 10 and I viewed the game as crazy complex and I hated it. I played it a bit more around the age of 12, and my views were the same, just not as liberal. Since then the game has spent a lonely life never leaving it's box until the recent power outage when the only games I could play were portables, yet it seemed I had beaten every one I owned. That is until I saw in that box the dusty cartridge of LotR:tTT.
So that's the introduction. The actual game itself is an action RPG (probably the main reason I didn't like it as a kid). It's pretty straightforward, simple, but with just enough depth for you to pay attention to what's going on. There's 5 playable characters that are played individually: Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, and Eowun. Aragorn is the swordsman he has abilities that a swordsman would have in most RPG's; high attack, high HP, low defence, low magic. Gandalf is obviously the wizard; low attack, below average HP, average defence, and magics through the roof. Frodo I haven't played much, but he seems to be the character who is just average, everything about him is just average, never the best, or worst. Legolas is the character I've used the most, he is the archer which has obvious advantages; attack is deficient, but you can make him a fairly strong character, decent HP and defence, and despite being an elf he's a bit lacking in the magic department. Eowun is the character made for the players who want more of a challenge, she's not horrible, but she's easily the worst character. However, Eowun has a totally unique storyline that is completely different from the other characters.
in which case you just have to be facing the right direction). You can also press A to unleash various "magic" attacks, which I will talk about later. Your character's attack power is random, but will be in between the minimum and maximum attack power set. This means if your attack power is 5-10 every time you attack the damage you deal will be somewhere in between those numbers. Now a slightly annoying part of the game is that there virtually is no defence, for you or the enemy. Instead there is accuracy and dodge. The way this works is that you will have a set accuracy (e.g. 30%), and set dodge (e.g. 25%). This means that every time you attack there is a 60% chance it will just not work at all, now an the flip side there is a 25% chance that you won't get hit. It just seems like the game is stacked slightly against you (after all 35% is the average accuracy), however if you upgrade your accuracy enough, or use Now the game itself has you play the one character you chose. The main goal is to get to the end of the level, but in between the beginning and the end is lots of monsters and occasional puzzles. The puzzles are however of a very basic type were you just find a switch to open a door and now you can continue. So it would seem that most of the game involves killing the said monsters, which is exactly the case, the only thing you will do in the game is kill the monsters. The way you do that is you press the B button when your next to an enemy (unless your LegolasLegolas it's not too big of a problem.
Now as with most RPG's there's a leveling system. If you kill a monster you will get a set amount of experience points. Get enough exp. and you will level up; not very different. However leveling up will actually do nothing to your character. You must go to the menu screen and do the leveling yourself. What happens is that every time you level up you get 5 attribute points that you use to pick which of your 5 attributes you would like to upgrade. Your attributes are; Strength (raises min. and max. attack power), Accuracy (raises chance of hitting), Defence (raises dodge), Courage (greatly increases spirit points [MP] and slightly increases HP), and Health (greatly increases HP). Now since you get to choose which attributes you upgrade and how much, you can customize your character to your playing style. The customization gets even greater when you look into the "magic" that your character unlocks. On another screen in your menu there's spirit powers. Upon every level up, in addition to the attribute points you also get one spirit point (not to be confused with spirit points which are the MP of the game) which you put into any power that you choose. Now every character has a different set of powers, although some powers are very similar. The powers are separated into to categories, passive and active, as you might guess passive powers are done automatically or all the time, and active powers need to be activated. This adds more customization and re playability to the game since your character might be totally different the next time you play.
Now comes the part about armor and weapons. On a third (and don't worry it's the last one) screen in your menu is the backpack screen. This screen shows the armor and weapons you have equipped as well as the eight other objects you have in your inventory. This is where an important game mechanic comes into play, when you kill a monster there is a chance it will drop an item. While I'm not sure it seems that the level your on and the type of enemy it is determines what it can drop. Sometimes it's gems (currency), sometimes it's nothing, and sometimes it will drop food or herbs(you don't carry those you use them there and then or not at all), and lastly they can drop equipment. This is the main way to upgrade your character and the most effective. When a monster drops something you pick it up by pressing R, gems don't take up space (their use will come later), food and herbs as I said are not carried, so you inventory is solely for equipment. Every character is capable of wearing eight pieces of equipment, but only one in each category. I won't bother going into detail of the categories this time you just have to figure it out yourself, but it is once again something that adds depth.
The last thing I will mention before my summary is the "cities". Instead of cities the game uses, forges, wells, and shrines. This is where the gems become important since this is the only place they are used. to enter these places you merely walk next to them and then press R. Once in you will see what your holding and what is in these "stores". At all of these places you can sell what your holding for a low price and the only other thing is that they all allow you to buy different things. Forges allow you to buy a random piece of equipment (could be good or bad) as well as whetstones. Whetstones are a piece of equipment found only in the forges that give your character an instant upgrade in attack power. Wells allow you to buy Ent water, which will restore all your life if you die with no penalties (except taking up one of your precious slots in the inventory). Shrines, lastly, let you buy points for upgrading attributes and powers, however, they aren't cheap, but they eventually become the only way to upgrade so it's important.
That is basically the game in a very large nutshell. It's what I've been playing recently and my rating would have to be 6.8/10. While the game is excellent I would never be able to recommend it to anyone other than serous RPGers since the game lacks any explanations and expects you to already know everything about the game (except for what the powers do). this is the sole reason I kept it back from the 7's after all the graphics are terrific for the GBA and the sound is fairly nice, but while I hate games that treat you like an idiot and tell you every little thing, this game hardly tells you anything and gets a little confusing for me at times. However if you are a serous RPGer and you really like Lord of the Rings, you will probably love this game.

So this was my first video game review on my blog, I intend to do more reviews like this and not just with video games (although that will be the bulk of it). I might review books I read in school as well as the ones I read for pleasure. Of course I might occasionally throw a movie in there. Now if you read all of this I thank you and feel free to tell me what you think, I'm always open to criticism of the constructive kind.

First Post - Ike

My first post. I decided I'd start blogging for the same reasons a friend did (he also recently started blogging). I'll probably talk about my opinions on things and oftentimes pretend to know what I'm talking about to see how many people give a care.

In my first post I would just like to say that Hurricane Ike certainly took it's time leaving. Where I live there were winds in excess of a class 1 hurricane, although there wasn't much rain. We had three tree's in our backyard fall down which we spent much of yesterday tacking care of. Also on Sunday when the power initially went out everything seemed in chaos, Kings Island was evacuated, barrels were scattered over the roads, not to mention the constant overshadowing thoughts of if things could get worse. Monday was the day, completely without power, from sun-up till sun-down. As I said we spent a lot of that day cleaning up the trees that fell, which would've been even more of a pain if it wasn't for the small handful of neighbors that helped. They weren't many, but they did triple the number of workers and helped greatly so I deeply thank them (although they'll probably never read this).
At approximately 2:30 this morning I got power back. I know some people still don't have power and all I gotta say is Duke had better get a move on. Although things calmed down from Sunday there's still small pockets of chaos, mostly pertaining to the huge lines at gas stations and the overcrowded shopping marts and restaurants.

That's my first post. If you liked it don't stick around many of my latter posts will probably pertain to video games as well as complaints I make behind my teachers backs. However while I'm not blogging solely for popularity I don't want to feel like I'm talking to no one. Therefore I'd like to say, that anyone who reads please comment. I love compliments, and if you give reasons for displeasure, then hate mail will be considered helpful in making me better at blogging and help me to talk more about what my audience is interested in.

But listen to me talk, I don't even have an audience yet.