Faction of Distraction

Kid Icarus Returns? Unknown concept art revealed

2008-05-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

Kid Icarus is a game that appeared on the NES and spawned a sequel for the gameboy called Kid Icarus: Of myths of monsters. Since then, The Kid Icarus series has been in the dark for a long time. It wasn't until the Wii, when Nintendo remembered the lost series. The folks even gave Pit, the main star of Kid Icarus a spot in Super Smash Brothers Brawl!

After Brawl, many began to wonder if this will mark the return of the lost series. On May 8th, Wii.Kombo.Com revealed some concept art. They claim that Factor 5 (Creators of games such as Pilot Wings for the Snes, and Star Wars Rouge squadron for the N64) a brand new Kid Icarus series.

I took a good look at them. All I could think was...WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?! >_<

What happened to Kid Icarus?! Why not use the Brawl design?! Granted, some people where not too fond of Pit's anime design, but still, That design used in Brawl screamed out Nintendo! It was perfect! Like I said, some people where not fond of it, but the majority of Kid Icarus fans loved his updated design. Why change it so suddenly?

Also, as if some of the designs weren't bad enough, how about the story?

"At the time of the document's writing, Factor 5 had imagined a plot starring a grown-up, adult Pit, who is "cursed for thousands of years for a crime and becomes a 'fallen angel.'" The pitch adds that "a tattoo on Pit's arm bears the inscription of Pit's crime.""

Pit? Staring as an anti hero?! Whaaat?! Pit just doesn't seem like a character to commit a crime, unless Pit is trying to prove his innocence in the game. but judging from the design I'm afraid that is very unlikely.

After Pit was announced for Brawl, I was very happy to see a long lost character return, and I used to love playing Kid Icarus for the NES. I even had hopes for a sequel, but come on! was this sudden re design necessary?

Well, I shouldn't worry, and you Kid Icarus fans shouldn't either. Remember, Nintendo has NOT announced a Kid Icarus game, so it's very possible that this concept art is fake. Even if it is true, remember, It's concept art. As horrible as it is, it may change. I'm just worried that one of these may end up being a final design.

Here's some more art work, and here are my thoughts on them.

Ugh... too Prince of Persia-like
No way.

This one's Seems to be a cross between Pit's Brawl and Original design. I this is one of the very few I like.

Uhhh... no... I don't really like the outfit, and what's with the hair?

Although I don't like the Idea of Pit being an adult though out the game, I like this design as well. It is also very close to Pit's Brawl design and kinda neat.

This one's okay. I like the cartoony feel of it. It kind of reminds me of Ben 10, a show on Cartoon Network.

This design reminds me of Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky. This one's not too bad...

I really, really Despise this design. He looks waaay to much like a DC comics super hero.

Like I said, this may be a Hoax, so you shouldn't take this credibly. However, IGN Journalist Matt Casamassina has said in recent IGN podcast that there is a Kid Icarus game in the works. What do you think? Is this art authentic and part of the said game? Or is this all just fan speculation and a hoax to get peoples hopes up or Irritate people? You never know..

That's all for now...

Mario and Sonic at the olympic games: I tried to like it, I really did...

2008-04-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

I remember first hearing the announcement about The two long time rivals, finally meeting and competing against each other! I could not believe my eyes, for this was the official Mario Vs. Sonic everyone was waiting for! I anxiously waited for the game to come out, even if it took place in the Olympics.

A few weeks ago, I rented the game with eagerness and high expectations. I started playing when I got home. Was it good? ummmm... I thought it stunk!

It wasn't horrendous but I was extremely disappointed... Although some where enjoyable, I just could not find it spectacular. Usually in Mario games, there are gimmicks that make the game very entertaining and fun, but in Mario and Sonic, you could just replace all the characters in the game with generic Olympic stars and it would not be different (Minus the Dream Events which I'll get to later.)

I would have liked to have seen Boxing (It's in the DS version but I haven't played it) and other various forms of fighting but alas, there's none.

The dream events are the most enjoyable part of the game and how I think the whole game should have been like. My personal favorite was the fencing where if you gained enough energy,
you could knock your opponent out of the ring.

My final verdict for the game? Disappointing. I expected better from a big name game like this. Hopefully Nintendo will make a Sonic and Mario platformer someday, seeing as how Nintendo and Sega are friends.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl

2008-03-16T17:16:00.001-07:00

After waiting practically two years for it to come out, I finally got my hands on Super Smash Bros. Brawl. All I can say is, it was definitely worth the wait. Smash Bros. Brawl it the third in the series of the famous Nintendo crossover fighting game.

When the trailer first came out in 2006, it was a very happy day for Nintendo fans everywhere. The trailer announced Meta Knight, a very popular character among Kirby fans, Pit, a long lost video game hero from Nintendo's classic, Kid Icarus, Zero suit Samus, Samus without her armor, Wario, who was surprisingly absent in Smash brothers melee after being one of the top three in the official character polls, and finally, Nintendo surprised everyone by announcing Snake, who hasn't been on a Nintendo console since 1990!

As the months passed, the game's director, Mashiro Sakurai, decided to open up a blog to explain the game as it was being made. Some were pleased by this while others were slightly disappointed. However, their minds changed as soon as the new stuff started churning in. One day, Sonic was even confirmed as a playable character!

After many delays, Brawl finally came out this month and I was able to work and get enough money to buy it!

What can I say? It's an excellent, well made game. Pretty much everything about it is good, aside from a few characters I have trouble using and a few annoying stages. But hey, you can't please everyone can you? Sakurai put a lot of effort into this game, even after he quit Nintendo.

Characters that I found to be really fun to use where:
Meta Knight: Not only have I been dying to play as him since he was first announced, but he is now becoming my main character to play as.
Kirby: although I haven' been playing as him as much due to having so much fun with the newcomers, I still like to play as him.
King Dedede: The enemy from Kirby enters the roster as the only heavy weight in the kirby gang. He is a very fun and very interesting character. (Fun Fact: Kirby's creator and Smash bros. director, Mashurio Sakurai, provided the voice of the penguin king.)
Sonic: Yes, the long time rival of Mario is my one of my favorite characters to play as, along with Meta Knight.
Pit: I remember loving to play Kid Icarus as a youngster when my dad bought a NES. I like his new design, and I hope this may end up becoming a sign that Kid Icarus is returning.
R.O.B: ROB is an excellent and powerful character. Like Mr. Game-and-Watch in the last game,
he is supposed to be the unexpected joke character. He even plays a big and tragic role in adventure mode.

Speaking of adventure mode, This game actually has a story called, The Subspace Emissary. In the story, Mario and Kirby are in a stadium fighting, when Meta Knights airship, the Halberd, flies in, surrounded by a red cloud. Then it drops cute-yet-vicious Zombie like enemies called the Primids. And thus the adventure begins.
I found Subspace Emissary to be an awesome experience. According to an interview with Mashiro Sakurai, the writer of SSE also wrote the story for many Square Enix games such as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy 7.

All in all Smash brothers brawl is a definite must for all Nintendo fans and for those who own a Wii. I repeat, YOU MUST BUY THIS GAME!!!

Video game reviews: Rayman Raving Rabbids

2008-02-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's quite old, but hey, I want to review it.

So, the newest game from Ubisoft studios has been given both praise and haze in the media. This game stars Rayman, our Limbless french hero. So it starts off with Rayman and his friends, Globox babies (Globox is a friend of rayman in the past games.) when the Globoxes suddenly fall into the ground, only to be replaced by some bunnies. Although Rayman offers them some food, that doesn't save him from being carried off by a Giant Muzzled Rabbit. So that's when the game starts here. Rayman is taken to an arena, where he will have to take challenges to progress. When you win, you get a plunger. Yes it sounds crazy, but you soon discover how important it is later.

The minigames mostly involve torturing the rabbids various ways. One way is bashing a bandaged bunnies head as much as you can so that you will make his bump go really high.

My personal favorite mini games are the On-Rail first person shooter games. You see, throughout the game, after you beat three Minigames you will unlock the boss minigames. These boss minigames are either racing or first person shooters. In the first person shooters, you shoot plungers a bunnies who run up to attack you. Sometimes, they'll act really stupid and laugh at you, or they'll just stand there doing nothing for a few seconds. As for the racing games, you race rabbids and strange elephant monsters (Possibly enemies from the original platformer version?) on giant pigs around a course. It's pretty straight forward.

I thought that this game is a blast when you have some time to kill. But if you are a die hard Rayman fan, then this game may not be for you.

Kinda strange that a Rayman game may actually not be that appealing to a Rayman fan, but unfortunately, it's true. Rayman plays a small part in the game. Many Rayman fans were angry about this and refused to buy the sequel.

The bunnies steal the spotlight throughout the entire game, and leave very little spotlight for Rayman. So I repeat, If you absolutely love Rayman, Then don't buy this game! However, If you're a casual gamer or like a good party game, then I highly recommend it.

Final score: **** out of five stars

Super smash brothers

2008-01-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well, Super Smash Brothers has once again been delayed til March. Lets hope that it doesn't become the Next Twilight princess!

Anyway, although this game's been delayed, that does not mean that the news is going to stop! Keep checking out Super smash bros Dojo's updates! There can be some really great news there!

Also for those of you who like their characters spoiled, here's some accidentally leaked info, courtesy of Nintendo themselves!

Here it is!
Whats more, is that shortly after, The Icons where edited out. That's pretty much proof that Ness isn't dead, and we have more newcomer Pokemon.

It good to see Ness is still there and Jigglypuff is fun to experiment with...
As for Lucario, at first I was angry that he was replaceing Mewtwo, but now I'm over it, and I am going to have fun playing as him.

As for characters I wanted to have in the game, I have would liked to see Geno, from Super Mario RPG appear in it.
You all may be thinking Who? and He's too Obscure! Well, that's true, but he did appear on the final results on the poll.
Unfotunately, Like Wario on the last polls of melee, Geno is not set to appear. However, since he was ranked so high on the polls, I think he could end up in the next game. Who knows?

That's all for now...

Super Mario Galaxy

2007-12-24T16:21:00.000-08:00

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Wow, I haven't updated in a long time. Super Mario Galaxy is very addicting! How should I start off?

It plays like Super Mario 64 and Sunshine, except now you are sent to a different area to search for a star. Some of the levels will have you try out a new ability (That's right the power up suits are back!) some will require you to collect a certain amount of items and stars.

Some new characters in the game include the Lumas, baby stars who will eventually become planets, suns and comets. Also making a first appearance is Rosalina, a new Princess character who acts as the mother to all Lumas. However, she is more of a motherly figure rather than a princess and does not get kidnapped anytime during the game.

Surprisingly everyone's favorite green sidekick plumber, Luigi actually makes his first appearance in a non-spinoff 3-D Mario game! (Luigi's Mansion does not count, as it is a spinoff also.) It seems that ever since Luigi's Mansion, Our green hero always gets into trouble with those pesky Boos. You need to save him from a haunted galaxy (It just isn't a Mario game without a Haunted level!)

Are you Bowser fans disappointed about how he hasn't been to evil in recent games? Well you're in for a treat! Bowser is quite nasty and once again has his Intimidating roar! Bowser Kidnaps peach once again, and takes her out to outer space. What is his plan? You'll see when you get the game!

The music in this game is amazing! 50% of the game is orchestrated by none other than the Video game composer legend, Koji Kondo, the creator of such as the Super Mario Brothers theme, and the Legend of Zelda theme. A lot of the Orchestra music has an epic feel to it and is used at very appropriate times of the game. The Midi Music is very good also, but is mostly done by another composer. While it has A Rare ware (Creators of Donkey Kong Country, Banjo Kazooie) feel to it, it's not as memorable as Koji Kondo's work.

This game is the first Mario 3-d game where I actually collected the stars! The reason? You unlock a second quest. The difference? Luigi himself is the star now! Nintendo finally decides to let Luigi have the spotlight and give him his own adventure! Luigi fans, if you badly want to see the little green man to have some glory he deserves, then go and buy this game! ( I know he played a big role in Super Paper Mario, but I was really disappointed by it.) The difference with Luigi, is that he runs faster and jumps higher than Mario. However, Luigi tends to skid a lot, making it easier to fall off the stage.

However there where some disappointments in this game. Although Luigi appears finally after two absences in two big Mario titles, Luigi is somewhat forgotten after he helps you find three stars. You don't even see the poor guy in the end of the game. However, the playable Luigi makes up for it. Also, the central level, where you walk around and find your next destination, is kind of small. What i liked about Sunshine and 64 was the central area was HUGE, and I could spend most of my game time walking around. Not much to be disappointed about, as it was a very fun game.

The final score? ***** out of five stars! Highly recommended to Mario and Nintendo fans alike!

Videogame hacks/Pirates The great and the not-so-great.

2007-11-24T15:47:00.000-08:00

Video game hacks/ Pirates are games that are not made by Nintendo/Sega but by ordinary computer geniuses. Some are very well put together while some are so horrible you cannot stand playing it at all. One Pirated game that seems it Could have been good is Super Mario brothers Deluxe

This game is basically the first game with Super Mario brothers 3/ Super Mario world engine.
Like Super Mario brothers, the creator even added a warp zone, Except it only takes you to world four. The creators also managed to incorporate the minus world glitch! not one, not two, but five minus worlds!. Bowser is not actually a real boss, but instead, it is a Bowser statue from Super Mario Brothers 3 colored in to look like a boss. It's kind of funny really. I guess you can't really blame the creator for trying his best.

Ah, here's one that Pirates made for the NES! Check it out for a good laugh!
Somari is an unofficial Mario and Sonic crossover. Actually, this is Mario impersonating Sonic! Takes Sonic's place in Sonic for the Game gear. However, for some reason, this game is A lot harder than the original Sonic the hedgehog game.

Here's some that are non- Mario Related.

Metal sonic the hedgehog
A game where Metal sonic replaces Sonic
Pokemon Adventure
This bizarre game is a Sonic hack
Sonic SNES
A Speedey Gonzales hack where Sonic has to save Mario. Quite funny, actually
Zelda: Parallel worlds
A neat looking game that's based off of Link to the past.

There are many more, but there's so much,I cannot list them all. You will just have to look for them yourself.

That's all...

Mario Madness

2007-11-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

Super Mario galaxy has recently been released and I am really eager to get my hands on it. If only I had enough money to afford it! I have played parts of this game in a Game store nearby, and it was not a demo, it was actually the full game! Man, I haven't played a 3-D Mario platformer this fun Since Super Mario 64! And this is only the third real 3-D platformer in the Mario series! Don't get me wrong, Super Mario Sunshine was not a bad game, but i am sure you all agree that it was a major disappointment.
Still, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine were games that had a very high replayablility value, and you could spend hours, days, weeks, and even months to collect all the stars.
Like every Mario game, there is always Nostalgic references to past Mario games. A couple of examples are, the return of the doomships from Super Mario Brothers 3, Bowser's apprentice from from Yoshi's Island, Kamek, makes an appearance as a boss, and many, many remixes from past Mario games. Mario's less appreciated brother,Luigi himself for the first time in a main series 3-D platformer makes an appearance in this game with, along with a special surprise for his supporters!
I wish to own this game, but I still need to earn some cash quick! Aw well, it I should get it sometime soon. I will post a review when I eventually get it.

Muscle Nes and other Related games

2007-11-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

In honor of the grand reopening of MPS, I am gonna go through time, and give you some information on the MUSCLE/Kinnikuman/Ultimate Muscle video Games. What are those things, you ask? Well, Muscle is a toy line of Little Rubber Guys who where the Pokemon of the 80's, except not as milked as those Little Monsters Nintendo made. Kinnikuman is the Original Japanese version of Kinnikuman, and Ultimate Muscle is the re-release of the series in 2002

First off, MUSCLE, for the NES was a wrestling game where you could play as some of the MUSCLE characters. This game ended up giving some of the wrestlers their names. One for example, is Terry man, who in the original Kinnikuman was the best friend of Kinnikuman(Muscleman in the USA) Anyway, Because of Terryman, Terribull had to be changed into his original Japanese name, Buffalo man. Did you know that in the original version of the MUSCLE game, there was a character that was replaced by Geronimo? You Kinnikuman fans may know him as Blocken man. Apparently, because of his relation to the Nazis, he had to be taken out in the American version. Geronimo and Blocken man both have the projectile special move, Geronimo throwing axes, and Blocken man throwing Strange blobs.

MUSCLE (sort of) made a return in America as Ultimate Muscle, Where Muscle man's/Kinnikuman's (Now known as King muscle) son takes his place on the wrestling ring. The Ultimate Muscle game, which plays like the original SNES game, but better, was released sometime during 2002. I remember playing a demo, and realizing that instead of translating it, the original Japanese voices where kept in! They probably thought it was not necessary, as it is only a demo.
I remember playing The game a few days ago, and getting credits to buy toys, both new and old. If you're a fan of Muscle then you may recognize a few of these little rubber guys. I gained my dad's childhood favorite, the Fox, and I realised that the name did not seem right. His name, rather than Fox man, was Forks man! That was quite a funny mistranslation If I say so myself. Also in the game, was recruit wrestlers, some created before they first appeared in the Anime! You use them as parts for the somewhat disappointing yet acually fun custom character mode.

Also, if you look in the Audience in certain levels, you may spot some familiar faces from the past and present series. Some of the characters included are Cubeman, a Rubik's cube like wrestler, Sgt. Kinnikuman, a brother Kinnikuman/King Muscle, Tape recorder man, whose name speaks for itself, and Monsieur cheeks, a disturbing wrestler with a butt for a face.

I know that there are Japanese releases that I have obviously never played, but if I ever find some way to play them, I will give out some info.

Well, that's all for now...

Sonic In Brawl?!

2007-11-03T16:18:00.001-07:00

Yes its true... Everyone's favorite blue hedgehog has been confirmed for Brawl. Here he is! Wow, I take a break and look what happens! I miss a big Mario Vs Sonic event!

Well, according to the playable demo in the E for All event in Los Angles We know that Sonic's "signature move" (My nickname for "Final smash") is obviously turning into "Super Sonic." Of course we Sonic fans all saw that coming didn't we? Anyway, other moves include spin dash, spring, and homing attack. (More info in the link I sent.)

Although most of us saw it coming, There were times where I had doubts. In a lot of interviews with the designers of super smash bros. brawl, they said that Sega has not responded for quite a while. What surprised me about sonic in brawl, is how soon they announced it. I thought that he would not be revealed until the game would come out.

Well, that's all for now.

I'm Back...

2007-11-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

Mannn... My short break ended up being a long one... For those of you who were actually reading my blog I apologize. (I don't think anyone knows of this actually...)
But I'm back. I'm gonna do more things than games. In other words, distractions, or anything you enjoy doing. I missed many big gameing events such as Halo's third game, and Sonic in brawl. I'm gonna put some things up right now.

a quick break

2007-08-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm not posting news today, I'm just informing you that I'm gonna take a quick break for a little while. I'm thinking of redesigning this blog a little bit, plus i'm thinking of putting more reviews of video games I own. Not much of an update, I know, but Ijust wanted to give you a heads up for those of you who arereading this.

Gaming article: The rise and fall of Sonic

2007-08-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

We all know who Sonic the Hedgehog is don't we? The rival to Mario, mascot of Nintendo? The speedy blue hedgehog? Well, let us go back through the years, on how Sonic, a video game hero became a video game zero. (Note: I'm not insulting the Sonic franchise, I'm just going to talk about how Sonics games have been put down by many fans.)

Before Sonic, Sega had a mascot named Alex Kidd. I've never played Alex Kidd in my entire life so I wouldn't know how it plays. Apparently, This mascot wasn't doing so hot, so Sega had to come up with a new character. After months and months of coming up with concepts Sega had finally come up with two furry characters. One was an armadillo and one was a hedgehog. It took awhile, but they finally made their decision. The hedgehog. From then on, that hedgehog was known as Sonic. As for the armadillo, he was named Mighty, and was used in two games before becoming a scrapped character, never to be used again. However, rumor has it, that Mighty may return someday, but I can not confirm this, due to lack of info.

Sonics first game was known as Sonic the hedgehog (obviously). The plot was nothing special, just sonic foiling his enemy, Dr. Eggman (Robotnik in the U.S.) The game was a hit! Sequels were planned for this game.

Out came Sonic 2, where the Luigi of the Sonic series was introduced, Tails. Tails was originally going to be Female, but after a debate, It was decided that he would be a boy.
The Beta of this Game Is very mysterious, as there are not one, not two, not three, but four scrapped levels! One was going to be a dessert theme, called Dust hill, another one which was a treetops themed level, (I can't remember the name.) The mystic cave, which was to introduce the Master Emerald (I'll explain more later..) and the most mysterious one of all, Genocide City. Although you can hack into the game and play through three of these levels, Genocide City is nothing but a mass of pixels, and as soon as you enter, you fall to your death. no platforms, no background, no nothing! Important items known as the Chaos Emeralds, although they were introduced in the first Sonic game, they actually gave you a little something extra if you collected them all in this game. you'd become Super Sonic, A beefed up, Golden sonic that cannot get hurt.

Then sonic 3 was introduced, along with Sonics first rival, Knuckles the Echidna. Also the plot was more In-depth than the previous two games where Eggman needed Chaos emeralds, so that he would be able to launch his fallen space base from the second game, the death egg (LOL star wars) and sonic goes off to stop him. the semi sequel to that game, sonic and knuckles, had a slot on top of the game, so that you could play as knuckles in sonic 2 and 3! Knuckles in this game is revealed to be a good guy.

As the ages passed, Sonic was Finally ready to take a step into the third dimension! Sonics first 3-D title, Sonic Adventure, was on the Dreamcast. Years later, Sonic adventure 2 was announced Where (I Think...) it was the first game where you could play as the antagonist in
Story mode. Plus, one of The Sonic franchises most popular character was introduced. His name was Shadow the hedgehog. This game, unlike the past sonic games had a dark theme, where Shadow the Hedgehog Is haunted by painful memories of his past.

WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED SONIC ADVENTURE 2 YET THEN DON'T READ THIS SPOILER!!! (Of course, you probably already knew this already, but I can't be too careful, you know?)

Shadow was considered a breakout character, (a secondary character who ends up becoming very popular, for example, Homer Simpson, of the Simpson's and Jack Sparrow, of Pirates of the Caribbean) But in the end, Shadow is seen sacrificing his life to save earth, then falling to his doom. Many fans were outraged and depressed after the ending to this game. Then Shadow makes a return in Sonic Heroes, which confused many fans.

End Spoiler

Sonics downfall started with Sonic Heroes. Though it wasn't horrible, It was a considered major disappointment, with all the glitches, and cheesy diologue. but then came the infamous game, known as Shadow the hedgehog. this game was considered Horrible to many fans, due to Camera, Strange villains, bad use of Swearing, and Irritating missions. This game unfortunately ended up killing the Sonic franchise. Sonic was now seen as a horrible game character, who needed to shape up

In 2006, Sonic had a new game called Sonic the hedgehog (Sonic '06 to fans) This game had mixed reactions, mostly bad ones. some said this game was better than shadow the hedgehog, some said it was worse! Another hedgehog was introduced, his name was Silver. Also, Sonic pulled a super Mario and had to save a princess in this game. Interestingly enough, There were hints that sonic and the princess were attracted to each other! This disgusted many fans of the Sonic series.

Ironicaly, although people were speculating that '06 would be better than the Wii Sonic game that was announced, it ended up being reversed! Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii had some mildly positive reviews ranging from a 5 to a 7 out of ten. I personally didn't think the game was all that great, because the plot was horribly overused, it did not feel like a traditional sonic game, irritating missions, weird controls, and having to gain required upgrades in order to obtain a certain item. But the game wasn't a total loss, for some of the music was catchy, had some interesting characters, (Including the villain, Erazor, which I like for being interesting, yet hate for being unoriginal) and party mode, which is a pretty interesting take for the Sonic series.

Although Sonic has hit rough spots, will he be able to regain his popularity? Only time will tell...

Rayman Revolution

2007-08-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

Rayman Revolution is a PS2 remake of Rayman 2: The Great Escape. This is a review About it. that's all I'll say right now.

Rayman Revolution, is basically Rayman 2 after taking steroids. Of course that isn't a bad thing. the hall of doors, the map area of Rayman 2, has been replaced by a central hub area. think Sonic Adventure's adventure fields and any Rpg feild area.
The music's also been upgraded, where now it sounds more like a Danny Elfman-ish type score. The plot... it's pretty much the same as the original of course. A nice dark theme, but a slightly over used plot. some of the Characters Play a bigger role in this Special edition game, such as one of Rayman's friends, Clark, the Giant.

If you played the original Rayman 2 you see that Rayman talks about his powers being Disabled, and not being able to use it. but then you only get three upgrades through out the game.... not in this version! You can exchange yellow lums (Important item in the game.) for super powers, such as shots bouncing off enemies, and hitting other enemies, and shock waves.

In conclusion, Rayman Revolution is a very nice remake of Rayman 2 I give it 4/5

Positives+
-Exploring the world map is real fun!
- nice exclusive upgrades!
-extra bosses added (Rayman 2 lacked fun bosses)
-if you don't like the voices, you can switch them to the Raymanian language from the original Rayman 2
-Fun mini games
-minor characters get bigger roles
- Nice lengthy game

Negitives -
-Overused plot
-Sometimes hard to find certain Areas
-Some of the voices are a little strange

That's all for today...

Game heroes before you knew them!

2007-08-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

I don't really have any news today, so I decided to write an article on something interesting But first I would like to apologize about that remark about microsoft last post. I was just alittle frusterated about E3's stupid decision about being private. I didn't see much on TV, except for a price drop, and a newer version of the X-box 360.

Anyway, You may think that you know certain Game heros, but did you know that like Movie and tv characters, they go through various stages and designs before having a final design?

Mario, as you all know was once called Jumpman, But did you know, Jumpman was intended to be popeye and everyone else to be popeye characters? However, Nintendo could not get the rights, so they had to start from scratch. But if you look at early official art you can see Mario looks simular to popeye!

On the subject of Mario, Charles Martinet, the voice of the famous plumber, was thinking of a gruff brooklyn accent for Mario. In other words, he sounded like Bob Hoskins from the Mario movie. (Off topic fun fact: did you know Bob Hoskins hated acting in the Mario movie?) However he decided it would be strange to have a gruff voice in a kids game thus creating the world famous italian accent we all know and love today!

Sonic the sega mascot, went through even more stages than the Italian plumber!
A few of which i can remember was a mario rip off, an armidillo, and a rabbit like creature. The rabbit eventually became ristar, and the armidillo became a popular scrapped character, named Mighty.

The last one I can remember, is Rayman. The intended story was to be about a 10 year old child who creates a world on his computer, called Hereitscool (Here It's Cool?) he ends up getting sucked in, and becomes Rayman. The plot was (thankfully)scrapped and just became a world where A hero named Rayman lived.

That is all for now. I will post more details about game heroes before you knew them
when I find more info.

I finally got A Nintendo Wii!/ WORST E3 EVER!

2007-07-18T16:50:00.000-07:00

I Was Finally Able to Get a Wii, after months of searching! The first games I had gotten for my Wii were:

Wii Sports
Wii Play
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Rayman Raving Rabbids

I also rented two games, super paper mario and Sonic and the secret rings.

Super paper mario is really fun and does indeed play like an old school mario game, such as super mario bros 1,2 and 3. I highly recommend this game to any mario or Nintendo fan out there.

As for Sonic and the Secret Rings, It was fun, but i had some problems with the game, such as near impossible missions, and strange controls. not one of sega's memorable games, but still fun at times.

As for the games I own, Wii play and Wii sports are simular, but both equily fun. Not much to say about these two except that you can play as your Mii, characters you make on your Wii.

After about five or so years, Zelda: Twilight princess Finally came out. For the Wii and the game cube. I got it for the Wii. It's an amazing game. Better than Wind waker? yes. Better than Ocarina of time? Not sure... I'm still trying to decide.

Last but not least, Raving Rabbids. It's basiclly a party game. it was intended to be a platformer, But everything was droped. Ayway, If you're a dieard rayman fan, then you may not enjoy this game, but if you are just got your wii, then this is definatly a good choice to get you familiar to the wii's motion sesitive controls.

Now onto E3...

E3 this year? STUNK. HORRIBLY. Unfortanatly, Nntendo was the worse of the three, as they did not show much except Wii fit, Mario kart, and Mario galaxy. (All looked cool but I wanted more games to be shown.)

Uexpectedly, Sony made a comeback, by Lowering the price of their console (In my opinion, it's still too expenseive.) But they did reveal Rtchet and Cank which looks awsome so far. Microsoft... I could care less.

that's all for today.

Gaming News Article: They're back, and Rayman fans are not pleased

2007-06-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

This Is my first Gaming news Article, Where I will give news about the gaming Community, or gaming news in general. Expect more in the future!

You remember the Game, Rayman Raving rabbids, right? You remember how well it did right? Well, In Rayman themed message boards such as Rayman zone, and Pirate community, there has been an uproar going on. Apparently, The Spotlight stealing Rabbits are getting a sequel and Rayman Fans are ANGRY! There are protests going on and clubs starting. people are making banners that say, "Go Rayman! Down with Rabbids!"

Here are just a few quotes from various message boards just to show how angry fans are.

******

"Ill join. Rayman rabbids, what a waste.
they tried to make it funny, it wasn't.
I didn't even get the plot."

"What's so great about them? All they do is shout ''Dahhh!'' and act real stupid all the time. I don't see how that makes them lovely. Not to mention they're ugly, too."

"Their game play, character design, and plotlines are all worse-than-mediocre, and they in no way fit in with any of the other Rayman characters or worlds."

"They ruined the Rayman franchise.
I mean, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2?! You got to be kidding me. The original Rabbids fitted more into the hit, Rayman 2: The Great Escape.
I hereby claim the original Rabbids official Rayman creatures and the new Rabbids a piece of crud. I would've loved Rayman 4: Raving Rabbids. If it was stated the same way it first was. A free-traveling platformer. (NOW THAT WOULD'VE BEEN AWESOME! It's kind of like the Spider-Man games but with a more Raymany twist)
So, I join your club as long as you will appoint the original Rabbids within the Rayman world. Not the new "Raving Rabbids"."

******

Just a few quotes to show what kind of chaos is going on.

Personaly, I Don't blame them for getting all Hot headed and all that, But COME ON!!!
These Guys are acting like stereotypical Sonic the hedgehog fans (No Offense To those people) Anyone who Says they like the rabbids are called noobs, Which angers me. I really hate it when people make fun of other people for enjoying something that's hated by many people.

For now, I'm staying away from the Rayman Community until some good news comes out.
(I'm not giving up Rayman all together, just the message boards I browse around in.)

If you want to Go against Raving Rabbids 2, Fine by me. I don't care. I respect peoples opinions Unless it has to do with liking the Avatar cartoon on nick. XD just kidding.

Well, That's all for My article on Gaming news, until next time...

Games I have recently played.... (Plus SSBB Blog.

2007-05-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

I was able to play the Nintendo Wii at my local gamestop. The game I played was Super Paper Mario. It was great! Though I was dissapointed that I was not able to play a Motion sensitive game, It was still very fun and easy to get into. I would love to have one, but they are very hard to come by around here where I live. Almost every one wants one.

I also played Guitar Hero II for the PS2, for the first time, and I enjoyed it alot. What surprises me is that Sony's still makeing games for the PS2. Maybe it's because The PS3 is doing so poorly?

Anyway, A surprise in that game, was that the Trogdor song, From a very popular website called Homestar Runner, was a selectable song! It's pretty entertaining to play the guitar to it. Some of the music was very easy to play, while some were so fast, I was booed off the stage, and on easy mode too! As I went on, I got better.

This is a bit late, But the countdown was revealed to be a blog, explaining about SSBB. This week, it's the Items That trigger your signature moves (Final smash as it is known as) I'm glad they finally shedded some light about this, because Signature moves (I can call it whatever I want!) Was in one of my wishlists for the next super smash bros. (Before the game was announced mind you.) So I was afraid that was dumped after all these months of no news. Of course, what was I thinking? This is Nintendo We're talking about, Not Sonic Team, or Ubisoft!

That's all for today. Until next time...

Super smash bros. brawl

2007-05-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Admit it, you knew that a post about this would happen sooner or later!

SSBB Is the next hyped nintendo game since Zelda:twilight princess. It was a very exciteing day for every nintendo fan when the trailer was released, whether they were Mario fans Kirby fans, Metroid fans, Kid icarus fans, or even Metal Gear fans, the first trailer had gotten many hyped up.

The second trailer was nothing special, it just showed off gameplay. But it did introduce Fox's new design, and showed off new levels. The graphics shown in the trailer were very impressive, even more impressive than other Wii titles!

Just last week, The SSBB page was replaced by a mysterious countdown. Fans were baffled by this, and were hyped once again. This morning, it was revealed that it was a blog to show the game's progress. Good thing, or Bad thing? Personally, I think that it is a sign that the game will be comeing soon this year! Plus there may be some more characters revealed someday!

That's all for now. Until next time.

Ape Escape: Underrated PlayStation Game

2007-05-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I've made a goal to mention my favorite game franchises at least once for a while, so I'm gonna go to one of my favorite PlayStation games, Ape Escape. If you hate Ape Escape, then you hate me! Because of the Stinking Halo lovin' citizens of America, Ape Escape even less noticed than Kirby! Anyway I'll start off with my first Ape Escape game, Ape Escape 2. Ape Escape 2 involves a kid named Jimmy, (cousin of the first ape escape hero) Who accidentally releases a bunch of Helmets to make Monkeys smarter. Eventually, The antagonist of the first ape escape game, Specter, grabs ahold of one of these helmets, and regains control of all the monkeys. Jimmy being the one responsible for all this mess, must go around the world. Pipochi, Jimmy's pet baby monkey, Is a character that accompanies Jimmy on his quest. When ever Jimmy ends up dying, Pipochi will refill your health, depending on how many health items you collected. It's a Fun game, you'll get gadgets and inventions to solve puzzles and capture monkeys. Monkeys are the key enemies, but you cannot kill them. They are indestructible. You're basically capturing them with a net.

My second Ape Escape game was Ape escape 3. This time, you can Play as a girl character, and a boy character. The story this time is about Specter getting his hands on the Helmet again, and teaming up with a scientist who is against Humanity, and helps the Monkeys. together, they create a TV station to hypnotize the viewers. So the hero's, Kei and Yumi go off to save the world. The girl character, Yumi, is a famous singer, and there are some fan boy monkey's out there that will faint when they see her, sightly changing the game play this time, you can change into different costumes, changing your ability, like Ninja, and Knight. This time, there is alot more more parodies than the previous ape escape games, Such as Spider man, the Terminator, Beauty and the Beast, Grease, and Star Wars. This game is an example of when translators get lazy. The first two ape escape games had clever names where monkeys were named after famous actors and characters.

Recently I was able to find Ape Escape Pumped and Primed. It's pretty much a party game where ape escape's first hero, Spike returns. The game takes place in scyber space, where a competition is being held. Four newcomers are introduced in this game. One is a Girl Named Helga (LOL)who is a long time champion. Her true purpouse is unknown until the second half of the game. Also introduced are Monkeys that look like they came straight from a Gorillaz music video, The Pipotron. One is Red, who Looks like an evil, yet overused badguy, Blue, who has a large mouth with razor sharp teeth showing, and yellow, who's mouth is missing, and has only two beady eyes. These guys are awsome! I can't play as them without thinking of Gorillaz>, not that thats a bad thing anyway. As you progess through story mode, depending on how good you do, you will gain prizes from monkey fanclubs such as Weapons, movies, and (My favorite) alternate costumes. You may be thinking "APE ESCAPE IS TO KIDDY LAWL!!1!!" But don't judge a book by it's cover. Pumped and primed is a dark game, and its sequal, Million monkeys is even darker.

I want Million Monkeys. BAD! But thanks to the American Halo boys, Me, along with other American Ape Escape fans, probobly wont see it. Some are saying it will be on the PS3. DANGIT! I DON'T WANT TO SPEND 9 MILLION BUCKS SO I CAN PLAY THE GAME!!! No offense Sony fans, but i lost all faith in Sony ever since they made the price $600-$800 bucks. I'd be great If ape escape moved to 3rd party, but unfortinatly, i'd be like makeing Mario 3rd party. The apes are practaclly Lord Sony in Japan Like Mario is Lord Nintendo around the world.

Enough ranting, Million Monkeys Is the sequel to Pumped and Primed, where the monkeys Go mad and use not only military weapons, but also giant mechs and Flying battleships. This time Specter is a playable character (YEA!) along with his team of monkeys, to find out what's gotten into the monkeys. Also, the human characters play a big role in this, where they are once again captureing monkeys. From watching the movies, I was surprised how dark this game was. Ironicly, the style of the game is a lot more cutesy than the main series games.

There is even an ape escape anime on the air. Like the Kirby anime, it is a combination of computer animation with 2-d animation. However, the show uses more comp. animation than Kirby's series. The series is good, but my only dissipointment was that the Pipotron were different from the games. Insted of their Awsome superpowered sinister selves, they are Klutzy Team Rocket-esce Dum-Dums. Still, I think the yellow pipotron's hilarious.

Thats all for Ape Escape today. I haven't played the first game, but someday I will, and expect a reveiw

NOW, Kirby's 15!

2007-04-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

Today's Kirby's 15th anniversary! Fifteen years, and the pink puff still lives on! I remember my first Kirby game, Kirby's Adventure. Dad bought it for me when I was just three years old. I used to make stories about Kirby ( I still do today!) I was Obsessed. I soon got Kirby's dreamland 2 and Kirby's dreamland 1. Today, I have all three, now with Kirby's super star, Kirby's dream course, Kirby's super star, And the Kirby's Adventure remake for the GBA. A game I really want is Kirby's Dreamland 3, for the SNES. I've only found one on eBay. I want it. I'm Sure my parents would LOVE to spend 65 bucks for an SNES game. ( I'm being sarcastic by the way.) Really, It's 65 big ones! Man, that game is rare. Is the game really that good?

I am such a fan of the series, I even got my self grounded from it once. Dunno if that's a good thing or a bad thing... <_< class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">anime in Japan. It eventually got dubbed. It dubbed by a corporation that alot, and I mean ALOT of anime nerds and snobs hate. Seriously, They love it as much as I love Avatar: the last air bender. Yea, that bad. Me, I couldn't care less. Unfortunately, the Anime was not like I imagined my fantasy cartoon. Kirby was not much of a talker, and got beaten up alot. Plus the constant switching of 3-D animation to 2-D animation kinda hurt my brain... But still It had some great moments. There was going to be a second series, however, because Kirby's creator, Mashuro(?) Sakurai was being bothered by the co-workers constant begging for sequels. this caused him to leave Nintendo to create his own company ( He's currently helping Nintendo on Super Smash Bros Brawl, so he's not against Nintendo now.) This hurt the shows chances for another season, as Sakurai had a big part on the show.

I remember the time when after super smash bros melee, Nintendo of America noticed Kirby's popularity rose slightly. NoA had a (rather devious) plan to make Kirby the next Pikachu! Thank goodness that didn't work out, because In my school, Kirby is rather popular, and if kirby had been pikachu-ized then instead of people going, "Hey! you like Kirby? He's cool!" they would go, "Hey! You like Kirby? What the heck is wrong with you?!?!" That's what's happening with the people who got the latest Pokemon games. Heck the people who got the Pokemon games are saying "Why did we waste our money on this trash!?"

Not only did the Big game heroes such as Link, Mario, And Sonic change when the millenium came, Kirby changed too! actually, they just changed his cheeks and eyes, to make him more cute looking. Kirby's logo changed also, the bubble letters where changed to look more actionish.

Well, that's all today, but Kirby's Rainbow Resort opened up a new Wikipedia type website called Kirbypedia! Check it out !

Who knows what the future of Kirby will await us? time will tell. Plus there's always kirby's 20th anniversary!

Until next time!

OOPS! Kirby's not 15 yet.

2007-04-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, It's true. I miscalculated and Thought Kirby's anniversary was the 14th of April. it's actually the 27th. My bad, I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, A NES that was ordered not too long ago arrived yesterday. This is one weird NES, where instead of having a slot where you put the game face up, you have to put it in like a SNES cartridge. It lasts longer than an ordinary NES. Plus it's alot smaller than an ordinary NES It's practicacly the size of a portible system!
I was able to play some of my old games I saved over the years such as Kid Icarus, Kirby's adventure, ECT. It Brought back memories back when I was just a kid, and back when games where entertainment, and not Industry. I love the 8-bit and 16-bit generations the best. They where always simple.

I do not really have much to say today, I'm saving the big stuff for later.

Mario stuff today

2007-04-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been in the mood for some Mario games lately, so i'm just going to Post some Info here

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WARNING!!! THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!! THESE ARE JUST INFO I'VE GATHERED FROM MESSAGE BOARDS. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SPOILERS THEN DO NOT LOOK AT THIS!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super Paper Mario was released a few days ago. This game looks great, It's like the previous Paper Mario games, However, with a classic Super Mario Bros twist. It's classic side scrolling with some great extras. For example Mario can temperaraly change simple Super Mario Bros. side scrolling mode to Crash bandicoot style (that's the best I could think of at the moment.) 3-D Platforming.

This game stars Mario (of course)who goes to save Princess Peach, Who is beleved to have been captured By Bowser. When Mario and his brother Luigi arrive, they learn that Bowser didn't capture the princess (though he was about to.) But a newcomer named Count Bleck (Remember, Peach is kidnapped by Bowser in every ordinary platformer, but in every RPG type game, she's always captured by a nastier villan. Repetitive huh?) Mario tries to free Peach but fails and get's knocked out by Bleck, who soon after, sucks Luigi, Bowser, and all his troops into his dimension, leaveing Mario to die. Or so he thought. Mario is awakened by Tippi, A creature exclusive to the game called a Pixil. The Pixil's role in this game is very simular to the partners in the past mario games. Here's the first 34 min. of the game.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
END SPOILERS
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, Kirby's fifteenth aniversery is this weekend. Will anything big happen? probobly not, but expect a post here.

Rayman 2 is Awsome!!!

2007-04-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the weekend playing my Rayman 2 game that just arrived in the mail on saturday, And it's Awsome! I remember first Playing this game and having lots of fun.

This game is the sequel to famous Rayman game ps1. This game was created by famous french game designer, Michel Ancel. One of Michel's famous works is King Kong: The official video game which did Pretty well,l for a game based off of a movie. Anyway, the Game's storyline is nothing too creative, Rayman is captured by Robot Pirates. Rayman escapes, but needs to save not only his friends, but pieces of of the world's core also. As kiddie as the plot sounds, this game is actually somewhat dark. An example of the dark theme is that the pirates have captured almost every being on the planet, and forcing them to be slaves. It's the last Rayman game to use a dark theme, since Rayman 3 is humor filled, and as for Raving Rabbids... Well the bad guys are Rabbits!! You think Psycho rabbits and a dark plot mix?!!? Didn't think so.

The Rayman series is well known for it's unique and twisted villains. The game's villains is considered second best by fans. (since Raving Rabbids came out, the psychotic bunnies became number one on the list of baddies.) The robot pirates in this game have a good AI. This game was intended to be a 2-D platformer, like the original Rayman. If I ever find the video, I'll post it here. There are people out there who be leave that Rayman should have stayed with his 2-D roots. unlike the 2-D sonic fans, There are not as much.

The only problem I discovered with my Rayman game was that It required a save pack (I have the N64 version) So every time i start it up, it's a new game. I spent all Saturday from 1:15pm to 8:00pm to beat the game. Stinks really. I'll probably never stay on that long again. Ah well, it's fun any way. So that's it for today, until next time...

First Post Here

2007-04-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a blog now. To introduce myself, I am Gaming Fanatic. I'll be posting reviews, thoughts, and other strange stuff I found out in games. Although I won't always post things about video games, there will be alot of game stuff. That's enough with the intro, i'll be explainig my thoughts today.

I am expecting a game to come in the mail. One had come not to long ago. It's the Blues Brothers for the NES. Now, i've heard some negitive things about this game. However, as long as it's a old Platforming game, I can tolorate any game. I tried to put it in my NES, but It badly needs a new Pin. Man.. I hate it when I have a new game and I can't play it as soon as I get it. I'll talk about it when I get my NES working some day.

The game I am waiting for is Rayman 2: The Great Escape. This game, my friends, is a classic. It involves Rayman escapeing from robot pirates and during the process, he has to collect an important item in the game called Lums. It's an awsome Platformer, I'll give it that, and the villans in this game are far more awsome than our new spotlight stealing antagonists in the Rayman series(I'm looking at you, Raving Rabbids.*) Strange thing though, I got it earlier than Blues Brothers, yet it still hasn't arrived. Must be having some delays. Aw well, I'm sure it'll show up eventually.

As for news in gaming, Since nobody said "April Fools," It's safe to assume that the Mario Vs. Sonic game is real. This is a big event in gameing history, as this is the match almost every gaming fan has been waiting for.

That's all that I have to say. Until next time...