The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

I want my Dream to Drop now, but the Distance is still too great.

...sorry.

The birth of the Zelda franchise font!

Super Mario World

Rewatching Once Upon A Time, I recall how fond I am of how it reminds me of a Western take on Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Kingdom Hearts. All the fairy tale crossovers make me happy, as I could watch Snow and Charming flirt all day. They're so adorable!

Seeing as how there's a month until the next 2D Mario game releases, time to return to one of his best adventures:

Colors! Colors everywhere!

NES Open Tournament Golf

Just catching up on Adventure Time. God, I love that show.
(PBxMarcie forevah!)

Now to review a freebie:

Can't find just the logo again. Old games, right?

Balloon Kid

It's always a joy just to go through the Metal Gear series for a combination of gameplay and story.

Say what you will for the balance between control and cutscene, Metal Gear is the second of two current on-going video game series to keep me entertained by their mix of gameplay, their polished production values and being emotionally invested in their characters. Playing as Solid Snake, then Raiden under Snake's guidance, then Snake's father, then a jaded Old Snake, then back to Big Boss forming Outer Heaven has given me a special story few series can even match in my heart.

Hopefully Kojima can return to grace us with the next Metal Gear. We need more Snake!

And I obviously mean Big Boss though I wouldn't mind a cameo or two with Snake.

Next up, a happy little arcade game:

No bigger size, I'm afraid.

Goodbye

"Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you, who transform into the Force."

~~Yoda

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Nick.com was nice enough to host all 10 episodes of The Legend of Korra for people like me who only saw the first two when they were released weeks early online and want to catch up before tomorrow's finale. I gotta say, I'm loving it immensely. I know the fanbase is crazy amped for it -as they were by the time I caught up for Book 3 of the original- and it hasn't disappointed me in any way. There's a few niggles I wanna find out (how did Team Avatar die? is the Fire Lord still important? WHAT HAPPENED TO ZUKO'S MOTHER?!) but nothing that detracts from the current experience.

I always felt that Avatar would've been even more amazing had it not taken almost half its length to get phenomenally fun. Don't get me wrong: I loved the first season. It set up their world rather nicely, they introduced how the world worked, what their goal was for the series and many of the important players were revealed by the halfway mark of the series. But I didn't get super into it until Book 1's finale at the Northern Water Tribe. From there, Book 2 got exciting: Earthbender joindeded Team Avatar, characters got a lot more depth, plot thickened, character clashes abounded, animation budget got better, everything.

But by Book 3, I was sold. They were telling a great story that worked on all levels, not just hints of greatness I saw in Book 1. It was very much a Nick show, meaning it inevitably was aimed at a younger demographic than mine. Not that this is a terribly bad thing: I still watch Pokemon, for cryin' out loud! It was the shift from the more episodic episodes of season 1, when they were hopping from the South Pole to the North Pole, to the focused nature of seasons 2 and 3, when there was a very clear goal in mind for each and the characters had a chance to push the plot themselves. Korra jumps right into that. Beginning as a 12 episode mini series and having the creators write all the episodes does wonders for the pacing and quality of the new show, though you don't get as much time to relax and learn about New Team Avatar as you did the old, how the world has progressed more than makes up for that. Not to mention there's still enough character moments to like each of the main and supporting cast.

By the time season 3 came around, their budget was as high as could be. The animation was smoother, the fight scenes more dynamic, the characters more well-rounded than before. The Last Airbender was all the proof they needed to give Korra a huge budget: it overflows with excellent production values. The animation is gorgeous (especially in HD!), they've perfected the mix between striking anime-looks and American-fluidity, the music is finally orchestrated and sounds gorgeous, and the tone is darker to reflect the slight upgrade in demographic and time skip. Korra, like it's predecessor, is a smart kids show: it entertains kids of all ages, as does the best of Disney.

Speaking of which, I shall begin (slowly) ranking another of my passions: Disney films! Beginning with the one that started it all:

Why was it so hard to find this logo!

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

Man, I forgot how demoralizing it is going through MGS2's VR Missions. I never completed them fully on my Essential Collection, but now I have to on my HD Collection, cuz that's the only thing preventing me from Platinuming the damn thing. There's so many of them..! Good thing I moved on to replay MGS3 and MGS4 (personal faves to play, as is Peace Walker) otherwise I'd be stuck in a bad lull before Raiden's game comes out next year (so long!). I get a feeling I still won't have all the VR done by the time Revengeance is out...

I've also decided that since I'm going through every interesting/big/favorite/recommended/acclaimed movie in existence using Netflix (there's quite a bit - I started last Fall and I'm only in 1955!), I can also rank certain series and whatevs that are relevant to my interests. Prolly do that next week, alternating between lists, because I like lists and ranking things! Makes me realize why I like certain aspects of something and whatnot.

Anyways, Turn-Based Strategy!

The start of a beautiful franchise.

E3 '12

E3 has come yet again, and I have thoughts! As does much of the Internet. Let's begin.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

LET'S DIVE INTO THIS THING.

Truly a fine title to a fine game.

Super Mario Bros. 3

One of my favorites!

The game that solidified Mario's presence.

Final Fantasy III

It's that weird crunch time when kids are finishing school and college finals are taking everyone's time and you're counting down the days to relative freedom unless you have a job that doesn't revolve around the typical 9 month school schedule, in which care you're S.O.L. and can enjoy the free time you have to yourself. It's also that time when I just want movies to come out, yet I know I won't even see 75% of them in theatres because I'm a mixture of lazy and cheap; plus I know the movies I go to theaters for, which are summer blockbusters, the occasional Disney flick and certain franchises. Movie-wise, I'm in a state of hype and hurry-up-and-get-on-disc-so-I-can-borrow-and-watch-them.

Game-wise, I'm currently running through five series is preparation for new installments in each. Final Fantasy got held up on VI due to other franchises and the final DLC releases of XIII-2 (which I heavily enjoyed) but I'm now reliving why I loved VI so much as a kid. Replaying through Kingdom Hearts for 3D's July release and because I convinced a friend to finally delve into all six games so someone else can be hyped for it. In my handheld Zelda run I've recently started Oracle of Seasons for the first time in what has to be a decade; the Oracle games are the two Zelda games I'm definitely most fuzzy on besides Spirit Tracks, which I've still yet to actually play despite owning. Playing through Metal Gear Solid 2 in the HD collection for Revengeance's eventual release, and I gotta say Platinuming MGS2 is a test in endurance - lookin' at you, VR Missions and Extreme Boss Battles. Playing the post-game in Pokemon White and going through the main story in Pokemon Black, cuz they finally revealed an anime trailer for Black and White 2 (!!!) and color me hyped; returning Gym Leaders, connected continuity to all other generations, continued focus on a story - these are all things that make me want to move to Unova until Gen VI is announced.

So yeah. Super-important stuff goin' on (yeah right). Once I kick Monday's Final I'm free to indulge in my pastimes in overdrive. Then I'll finally be able to focus on drawing decently again. It's been too long...

And so has this pointless opening. Onto the Retro Review!

All hail the nameless protag with the awesome swords!

Dr. Mario

So, The Avengers is worth all the hype the five films built up. Super fun, love Joss Whedon, great start to Summer '12. Glad that Brave looks fun, Prometheus looks phenomenal, and The Dark Knight Rises will obviously be fantastic.

On the drawing side of things, I'm slowly getting my sketches to be presentable. Helps that I'm running through Avatar: The Last Airbender again so I can appreciate The Legend of Korra (and move beyond the two episodes I've seen, which were good) and have more inspiration to actually draw stuff. Nothing like American/Korean animation, right? That reminds me: Nintendo needs to get on announcing Golden Sun: Mourning Moon for 3DS already. I needs me a new old-fashioned RPG!

Now for one of my favorite puzzle series:

Heh, medical humor.

Super Mario Land

Finally caught up on all the Marvel films leading up to today's US premiere of The Avengers, the first bona fide hit of the summer. Gotta say, being a fan of continuity and cameos, this is one of my favorite moments in cinema. Granted, most of my knowledge comes from the various television shows and films and the rest comes from asking my more American comic-inclined friends.

These 'modern' version of comic book adaptations, beginning with Bryan Singer's X-Men, allowed the non-comics-reading audience such as myself to recognize and connect with these decades-old established characters in a more mainstream way. The production values are usually pleasing to my eye (always a fan of the bombastic-looking films, am I) and they get a surprising amount of actors fitting their characters like gloves. I do admit this view is due to my limited knowledge on the various lores.

Point is, I'm now officially excited to see The Avengers. Not to mention Joss Whedon directed it. Man, do I love that man. Man.
I love you, man.
STOP IT

Moving on to one of my earliest gaming memories:



Look at that old font! I miss the Game Boy.

Tetris

So turns out an E3 trailer internal video demonstration was leaked online, showcasing not only a sequel to Rayman Origins and its features but also footage of Rayman Legends running on Wii U and its exclusive features.

I came off impressed, having only briefly played a few Rayman games before. After playing for an hour or two of Rayman Origins with family a month ago, I can appreciate how much they're looking forward to the title, as it does look pretty good. Hopefully this also puts to rest the odd rumor that Wii U can't output graphics on par with the PS3/360. I don't know where this idea came from, but I suppose it stems from the erroneous belief that Nintendo's always sucked at graphics compared to the competition.

Lemme put that to rest: they weren't. The Nintendo Entertainment System was pretty decent back in '85, as were the games that accompanied it. Granted, it was an 8-bit system, and all of them had that charming blocky quality you either see as rosy or pixelated. The Super NES was also decent in comparison to the Sega Genesis, lack of "blast processing" or not; that generation's graphics hold up the most, since genuine care and personality were present in many of  those 16-bit sprites. While most know Sony's PlayStation won against all competition (including the Nintendo 64) by the widespread use of discs instead of cartridges, the N64 was a damn-powerful machine, worthy of the codename "Project Reality". It could produce true three-dimensional worlds, the most prominent being Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, that helped set the standard on how 3D games should work, yet it was limited by cartridge space and how difficult it was to program.

Entering the last decade was the Nintendo GameCube. The little cube was actually more capable than the PlayStation 2, contrary to popular belief. Nintendo made the conscious choice to make it much easier to develop for, stuck with mini-discs to combat piracy and other means, yet that didn't seem to diminish the quality of titles first- and second-party developers that managed to shine through the dark times of the early 2000's. However, the PS2 was again the undisputed winner of the sixth generation, where third-parties by and large deserted Nintendo's little purple lunchbox. When it was time for the seventh generation, Nintendo decided to take a gamble, not satisfied with the Console Wars' fixation on technical prowess and graphical limits: the first step came from their then-crazy gamble known as the Nintendo DS. The dual-screened wonder was a runaway success all things considered, and was followed up two years later by the Wii, with Nintendo's attempt to target a new audience to mingle with the current crowd with simpler controls and a mainstream push for motion controlled game play. Both the DS and Wii were technologically inferior to the opposition, Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Nintendo's only been the 'weakest' hardware since '05, but as the sales will show, there's more to gaming than graphics. The DS absolutely smashed the PSP and the Wii is now owned by practically everyone on the planet who's wanted one by now. While their technical limitations prevented them from having an even port of multi-platform releases and ignored by most third-parties, the DS was truly a unique experience, combining button and stylus control schemes for some truly exclusive experiences, including Squeenix's The World Ends With You and made established franchises more accessible, including Animal Crossing: Wild World and the Generation IV Pokémon games. Wii also brought in people of any age into gaming, albeit with the unfortunate labeling of the "hardcore vs. casual" nonsense that happens every week. As an unintended sideeffect of the new control scheme, many developers didn't know how to tackle the Wiimote's unique simplicity and instead created loads of broken and under produced shovelware and minigame collections. It didn't even get many large-scale games like Skyward Sword and Xenoblade Chronicles until its twilight years on the market.

Wow, I go on and on. Point is, the Wii U looks fine, it seems to be able to handle the two things the competition had over its predecessor: a decent online component and high-definition graphics. With its new tablet/classic hybrid controller, it can both handle current 'hardcore' games like Darksiders 2 and Assassin's Creed III while still being the home for Nintendo's iconic first-party efforts, which is where I end my argument: Nintendo makes hardware for their own ideas, and they know better than anyone how to use their own creation. As long as Nintendo games exist on Nintendo systems, said systems will always sell. As for their half a billion dollar loss, let's not forget what they gained from the Wii alone: they have around $10.5 billion in the bank. That billion with a capital B. They'll be fine; the 3DS is on a roll since Mario showed up last November and 3D Land sold over 5 million alone.

All this doom-and-gloom for Nintendo, all the "make cellphone games" or "stop making console" talk is ridiculous. I admit I'm a Nintendork, but you don't see me laughing at Sony's ridiculous initial $600 asking price for the PS3 (okay, I lied; we all mocked them at the 'you'll want to work more to save more for this obviously superior system' talk) or their more consistent losses as a company. It doesn't represent their gaming faction and I think they've been doing fine since '08. Competition's good, something Microsoft does a good job at doing. While they were first out of the gate, answered Nintendo with Kinect and still throw their money for advertising anything they wish, I'm sure they're also doing fine. I may not care for the Xbox line in general (I'm not a shooter fan, nor do their exclusives or controllers really feel 'right' in my hands) but I also don't spout the sheer bigotry and hatred you see on the Internet, which we all know is utter truth.Can't we be happy a Nintendo console can have HD graphics and decent third party support?

*sigh*

TETRIS.

Gotta love the logo.

Final Fantasy II

I've done odder things than typing up a review for Final Fantasy II whilst watching An American in Paris. I just can't think of any at the moment.

Turns out Pokémon Black and White 2 have been confirmed to be direct sequels taking two years after the originals. Both games follow the traditional Third Version additions, including animated Trainer sprites to match the active Pocket Monsters, some of which boast new animations. The addition of non-Unova Pokémon into the National Dex as well as new areas; a piece of artwork shows most of Unova covered in ice - a nice attempt at showcasing Kyurem's increased involvement as well as to possibly mask more changes and additions. The new protagonists will hopefully run into an older Hilbert/Hilda and/or Cheren and Blanca (love you!) in a similar vein to Gold and Silver's battle with Red and Blue.

I can't wait to dive further into Unova and lose hundreds of hours to Pokémon yet again. I will catch 'em all, dammit!

Now, onto a far older RPG:

Pink, cuz the Emperor is FABULOUS.

Metal Gear

Absolutely no lead in to:

Starring Kyle Reese! Wait...

Kid Icarus

Kid Icarus: Uprising is still amazing. The exhausting amount of content is certainly keeping me busy, though I am happy something's distracting me from the fact that Dream Drop Distance finally has a localized release date of July 31! On the bright side, there's only 115 days remaining! On the down side, there's still 115 days remaining. Now I await the English trailers.

I realize I talk about Kingdom Hearts more so than other series. Wish I didn't, cuz it isn't even my favorite series of all time (that honor goes to Zelda). It's just that KH is my ongoing series that builds hype in me more than others, mainly for it's involved plot. As much as I love my beloved Nintendo franchises, most of them aren't directly linked to each other by plot. I can be excited for New Super Mario Bros. 2 as much as I want, people aren't going to get that excited, especially for those who claim "it's the same damn game" and disregard that it's still the best pure platforming experience out there.

Onto a newly-revived classic:

Happy yet deadly.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Currently digging Kid Icarus: Uprising. The game's amazing. Definitely my favorite 3DS games next to Super Mario 3D Land. And it's packed to the brim with content, not surprising noting that Sakurai's behind the helm.

As anyone who's played any of his Super Smash Bros. games from Melee on knows, the man makes a living on stretching replay value to its limit, and Uprising is no exception. Idols are Trophies ripped straight from Melee and Brawl, three Treasure Hunt achievement lists will be familiar to anyone who appreciated the under-appreciated Kirby's Air Ride will recognize the verbatim accomplishment menu, and hundreds of semi-customizable weapons headline an insanely-addicting Together (read: Multiplayer) mode. Titled Light vs. Dark, they begin as basic Team matches that turn into Protect the VIP for that is essentially Super Smash Bros. in 3D.

Add to that a Solo mode that features a delightful and charming tongue-in-cheek story that pushes the player from set piece to set piece (a la Star Fox 64) with one of Nintendo's best localization efforts fleshing out witty and likable characters with undeniable Nintendo Charm rounds out the best 3DS game for sheer content and one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played. And I'm not even done with the story! Excellent production values, additively fun with an insane amount of content. Highly recommended for all 3DS owners. *obligatory warning about how the controls apparently suck and how I'm biased and a horrible judge of taste for liking the hand-cramping control scheme*

Now onto another sequel:

"YES! Now no one will ever mistake me for Zelda again!" -Link

Super Mario Bros. 2

The wait for Kid Icarus: Uprising is now over, though my love of Amazon means my copy won't arrive until Tuesday . That, coupled with the fact that Kingdom Hearts 3D is out next week in Japan -thus my self-imposed information blackout comes into effect to strictly English trailers and previews- means I can really use Uprising to distract me from my wait and dazzle me with that simple-but-deep Sakurai gameplay. That, and Together Mode looks ace.

Now onto an interesting classic:

I spy with my little eye a place where Mario's hat goes.

Final Fantasy

Just finished Journey for what must be the 10th time since I bought it on Tuesday. Even when I finished it under roughly two hours I knew it was one of my favorite games I've ever played.

I don't know how they constantly do it, but thatgamecompany has done it again. No game has managed to make me feel a gamut of emotions in two hours as easily as Journey since their last game, Flower. If you have a PS3, do yourself and everyone you know a favor and buy all their games: flOw, Flower and Journey. You won't be disappointed.

Now onto the start of one of my favorite franchises:

I've always loved how simple Final Fantasy's logos tend to be.

Donkey Kong Jr.

Mass Effect 3 came out this week and is basically the only thing that matters in gaming at the moment. But wow, how immature the vocal minority is being on certain aspects of it. Quick rant rundown of the current hullabaloo.

First off, Shepard Commander is you, in space, as the Galaxy's most important Mary Sue (Gary Stu for those who picked the boring poor-man's Kevin Conroy version). You select his or her appearance, somewhat select your backstory and can choose to be a Paragon (saintly hero) or a Renegade (devilish rogue) and everything inbetween, but with most things with a morality system you really should pick a side to have any real fun. A part of this character-making process is the ability to romance a few of the series' characters. As such, you can choose to be gay if you so desire, be hetero or just ignore romance entirely. Valid option, as there is a Galaxy to save, after all.

Pretty much this. Where's yer immesion now?!

For the record, my heroine, Sophie Shepard, is 100% Paragon with a 20% Renegade steak and is the most charming bitch that managed to save her entire crew in my first playthrough in ME2 and fell in love with Kelly (and eventual pity for Thane when I frustratingly realized Kelly didn't count as a 'real' romance option for mah Trophy completion).

Players are partly complaining about the 'forced gay romance' being presented by ME3. Now I've yet to play the game, instead waiting it out for the hopefully inevitable GOTY edition to save on all the DLC (oh boy, there's another complaint), but having Shepard Commander be the Galaxy's biggest Mary Sue/Gary Stu dictates that in ME1 the opposite human teammate (Kaiden fer gals and Ashley for guys) and the resident hot blue alien trope Liara be into you. Like, WAY into you. I didn't see anyone complaining about 'forced romance' then, though I recall Dragon Age 2 having a similar vein of controversy as ME3.

Being a series so high about choices, how about this: Can't you hetero players choose to not accept any advances you do not care for, like I did for ME1 and ME2? The vocal minority (and I believe most of the backlash for popular games with relatively high critical reviews getting bashed to high heaven -see FFXIII- are indeed written by the vocal minority with very gut-reactionary responses and too much time on their hands) are definitely playing up this aspect way. too. much. for me not to frankly think of them as being childish, immature and not too confident in their sexuality and/or open-minded in a game series that's supposedly about choice.

Which brings me quickly to the last two hot-spots of complaint: the DLC and ending(s?).There's Day 1 downloadable content that is ruffling the hardcore and practical folks' feathers. It's a crew member, similar to Zaeed, as an incentive to combat used game sales, but unlike Zaeed this crewmate is much more interesting lore-wise that makes this a deal-breaker to the hardcore fans. The new teammate, a Prothean, is a huge deal to the lore of the franchise and it is being argued the mission should've been included on the disc as it was finished early enough to become Day 1 DLC and date is supposedly on the disc itself. I have no opinion on how this character is or how important he is to the overall story besides looking like a space alien samurai and being a Prothean, but there's definitely something to say about $10 Day 1 DLC (a reason I like waiting for GOTY to prevent myself from getting killed by my inner completionist).

Sad but apparently true.

The ending(s?) is also a point of contention, seemingly falling into Love It or Hate It category, if the internet is to be believed. SPOILERS: I did some non-spoiler research (hard to find any, and a rare occasion to where I thank GameFAQs's forums) on how the mechanics of the endings work, and found out the following. There seems to be three endings that are determined by the last choice in ME2 and how 'ready' you are for the final controntation. I don't know how the math works (evidently, nor does anyone else if the forums are to be believed), but achieving the best endings require a readiness score of at least 4000 and 5000 for a guaranteed 'perfect' ending. Lower scores fall into six other endings of supposedly 'worse' endings under the three various endings. Which of the three endings that occurs is up to slight differences in play choices that supposedly don't take into account any previous choices in the three games and instead all endings revolve around a couple Matrix-style pill choices, which could explain all the unrest. Some have argued it's the cumulative experience that really matters instead of the mechanics, but diff'rent strokes and whatnot. I have no idea how accurate this is and don't intend to find out until I play the game somtime next year for myself, but it's worth pointing out that many feel cheated by the ending(s?), moreso than any other ending lately aside from XIII-2 (though XIII-2 talk has died down until the Lightning DLC rears its pretty head). The allegories between those two games continues to amuse me.

/rant

BEGUN, THE RR HAS:

BEHOLD: a rare occurance of Mario acting the villain!

Ice Climber

Pokemon Black and White 2.

That is all.

...oh wait, Ice Climber!

Show that chillin' polar bear who's the real bipolar bear!!!

Mario Bros.

Flood of Kingdom Hearts 3D info inbound, not surprising since the Japanese release is a little over a month away. The best thing about this is that we've found hints of localization happening certainly quicker than it was for BBS (which took 9 months for a superb localization and Final Mix-esque features but still hurt to wait that long). Definitely my most anticipated 3DS game aside from Kid Icarus: Uprising and Luigi's Mansion 2.

Now for a classic arcade game:

If you've played a GBA Mario port, you've prolly played this before.

Punch-Out!!

Been addicted to Pushmo and got sucked back into Pokémon White. My 3DS is sure feeling the love lately, and I haven't even truly delved into serious sessions in Metal Gear Solid 3D. I feel kinda bad ignoring it (especially since it controls so nice and snug into my Circle Pad Pro) but when an addicting series calls you gotta respond or lose your mind! Knowing me I'll be back into Harvest Moon sooner than later...

Crap.

Onward to Punch-Out!!

Never fought against Mike Tyson, but I imagine my hatred towards Mr. Dream is just as valid.

Excitebike

Just found out that the PS3's Backup Utility doesn't save PS1 and PS2 data and instead needs to be separately saved on USBs. Kinda bummed out, since I'd just finished replaying Final Fantasy VII and VIII and was nearing the last stretch of IX. Seems like I'm gonna hafta play through them again. I'm not as disappointed that I'm replaying them again than the fact that PS1/2 saves aren't covered in the bloomin' backup utility!

*sigh*

Anyways, on to another NES classic:

An oft-remembered classic arcade racer.

Wrecking Crew

Loving my Collector's Edition of Final Fantasy XIII-2! So much awesome in the sequel to a game I already loved (which places me squarely in the minority, but more on that on the Final Fantasy reviews) and I can't wait for things beyond the DLC its ultimate resolution!

Now, onto the review:

Classic old-school puzzles with plumber carpenter Mario.

Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels



Just rewatched Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie, signaling the halfway mark through the series run. One of my favorite anime series ever, which prompts an annual session every Spring. Little early this year, but with the PS3 MIA I'm hitting the Netflix and TV series discs hard.

Now on to a cop-out of a review brief mention on an expansion:



Such a kind smile for a soul-crushing game...



SOPA

"Sometimes, it takes a crazy person to see the truth. If so, than I'm a freaking lunatic."
-Stephen Colbert



She wants you to click on her. Now that we've got your attention:



One of the reasons I love the Internet is that it's a digital Wild West: Anything goes, limitless possibilities, all kinds of people. You can find out something about anything if you search hard enough and no matter how screwed up you think you are, there's always someone somewhere in the depths of the Internet that will agree with you, will listen to your ideas, to appreciate whatever you've posted online.
That place is here, the Internet - our digital frontier.

Here, you and I are free to be ourselves.
Here, you and I are not alone.
Here, you and I are not censored.

Please don't let them take that away.

Balloon Fight

I'm so glad my 3DS is back from Nintendo! The L button got busted during an online Mario Kart 7 match right when my Ambassador Games arrived back in December and I find it semi-frustrating to defeat online opponents with items using X instead of L (read: personal preferences = comfort zone). I've missed playing two of the GBA games offered, Metroid Fusion and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, since a friend has had them since '05. Still waitin' on those!

Now my Metroid and Fire Emblem collection is  complete! Now announce an international release of that new 3DS Fire Emblem...

Of course, earlier this week my PS3 decided to die on me right as I was finishing the Final Fantasy XIII-2 demo (which I was thoroughly enjoying), so I'm without a convenient entertainment hub for Hulu Plus, Netflix and my first -technically second- Final Fantasy IX playthrough. I had put my first time off back in '10 around the end of disc 3 when other new game had arrived and I'd forgotten how much fun and charming IX is and was quite eager to finish it before getting to XIII (lost track of time when Christmas rolled around - came and went far too quickly this year, methinks).

But now my PS3 has my disc 3 hostage, dammit!! Looks like I'll only have time to go through XIII again when my system gets back for "internal damage repairs" and I assume I'm one of the few 1% (semi-toopical!) who're lucky enough to essentially get screwed by YLOD'd (Yellow Light of Death-ed). I had wanted to get through Final Fantasy X, X-2, XII and XIII before my Collector's Edition of XIII-2 arrives in early February, but now I know I'll only get time for one game before that arrives. One gets fixed, another decides to break it seems...

Enough of my personal misery! Now, on to another cultish Nintendo game:

A lotta NES Nintendo games that didn't quite became popular franchises are harder to find simple logos for.

Mach Rider

Happy New Year an' all that jazz!

Social schedule got a bit of a busy week, with a Downtown Disney stroll doubling as a B-Day dinner, some friends coming over more often for games, shows and movies, a random get-together with best friends to eat ox tail (tasty and a bit bony), play Munchkin and watch all three Robot Chicken Star Wars specials. Good week, and more eventful than I'm used to.

Now, on to a cult classic Nintendo game of sorts, known to many by its cameos in various other Nintendo compilations such as Smash Bros.

Difficult to find a large logo for this one, so here's the American box art.