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