Monthly Archives: September 2007

Fall Sonic Challenge

My challenge for Fall is to beat one Sonic game per week. I’ll consider Monday morning to be the end of the week so that I can finish up on the weekend and Sunday nights.
Start
Sonic Chaos (GG) as Sonic in Sonic Mega Collection Plus
End of Week 0, 9/30: 1 Game Beat, On Schedule.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GG) in emulator
End of Week 1, 10/7: 2 Games Beat, On Schedule.
Sonic Rivals (PSP) as Sonic
End of Week 2, 10/14: 3 Games Beat, On Schedule.
Sonic Rivals (PSP) as Knuckles, Shadow, Silver (Already Counted)
End of Week 3, 10/21: 3 Games Beat, 1 Behind…

Sega Week

Sega week just ended! Sega Week is a week to commemorate Sega starting on September 9 in honor of 9/9/99, the American Dreamcast launch. I played some Dreamcast multiplayer with Edward and downloaded a new DC game, Rez. Rez is a very interesting on-rails shooter. I’ve been wanting to a play a new one for a while and happened to find Rez while searching for new DC games to try. It has a pretty psychedelic feel to it and has great music. Very fun! I also beat Sonic 3 & Knuckles as Knuckles for the first time ever. This morning, technically after Sega Week ended, I showed Edward SA2 because he had never seen it. The series may have gone downhill after S3&K, but I still think SA1 and 2 were great additions to the series!

Wario Land (GB)

My dad recently bought me Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. I own and have finished SML 1 and 2 but have never played Wario Land. Expecting it to be a short, badly made platformer with similar sprites to Super Mario Land 2 but much worse thought put into it, I put it in my Super Game Boy at the encouragement of my friend, Edward.
I was rather surprised. Wario Land really wasn’t like Super Mario Land 2 at all besides being a platformer set in the same universe. I don’t want to steal anyone’s bandwidth so click here to see a Google Image Search for screen shots. Unlike Mario, Wario starts big and only gets smaller when hit. The gameplay is drastically different between the two sizes. When big, one button jumps and the other causes Wario to bodyslam/headbutt his opponents or blocks. However, when small Wario can’t bodyslam. When he jumps on enemies, they get stunned, but without the ability to bodyslam, the only way little Wario can hurt enemies is by picking them up and throwing them at other enemies or off cliffs. While bodyslamming is pretty slammin’ (Duncan reference?), there are still a couple ways to power-up Wario even more. The first hat introduced gives Wario horns. With this hat, Wario’s bodyslams are about twice as powerful. This doesn’t really affect most enemies, but Wario can break blocks faster. It also allows Wario to hit the ceiling with his head and stick for a second. The next hat introduced is the dragon hat. This completely removes Wario’s ability to bodyslam/headbutt but gives him the ability to shoot fire. It comes out in a small stream, only hitting enemies near him. The big advantages of this hat are being able to strike enemies or blocks on the other sides of obstacles and being able to kill enemies that are in the water. How he can shoot fire under water is still a mystery. The final hat is some sort of jet hat that allows Wario to shoot forward through the air. Very useful for searching areas or skipping parts of levels!
Throughout levels Wario can collect both coins and hearts. Finding 100 hearts will earn Wario an extra life. Coins are used at checkpoints and to exit levels. When Wario reaches a checkpoint, holding up and pressing B will result in Wario pulling out 10 coins which can then be spent to activate the checkpoint. Some levels also require 10 coins to exit. Any extra coins are put into Wario’s treasure stash.
The graphics in this game are very pleasant and quite playable even in 2007, 13 years after its release. Everything is rather large, to be contrasted with the small sprites in the original Super Mario Land, which I find nice. While this forces there to be less on the screen than if the sprites were smaller, it allows for greater detail and fun graphics. The music and sound were also nice. I can’t say they were spectacular, but it is a Game Boy game. That’s not to say they were bad. Nice, just nothing special. The story was also surprising. While still only very slight, there was one. After Mario took his land back from Wario in Super Mario Land 2, Wario leaves to search for his own land. Finding out that Captain Syrup and the Brown Sugar Pirates (all the levels are food themed as well) have stolen Princess Peach’s statue, he sets off to find it himself, return it, collect the reward, and buy a kingdom.
If you’re relatively good (mediocre?) at platformers, this game won’t take longer than a few hours to complete. There is a little more to the game though for those inclined to explore. At the end of each level, all the coins that have been collected go into Wario’s treasure stash. In some levels, special treasures can be found that are also put into his treasure stash. For those of you who have played Kirby Super Star, Wario Land reminded me of the treasure finding game in that regard. At the end of the game, each treasure Wario has collected is given a coin value and added to the number of coins Wario has. His riches are then rated from 1 to 6, and he’s rewarded with a kingdom in proportion to the rating. Because my treasure was only rated 2, I was awarded a tree stump to live in. Awesome! But I’m definitely going to go explore for more treasure soon!
This game itself is a real treasure. I’m sad that it even has “Super Mario Land 3” as a subtitle. It’s drastically different, and in my opinion, more fun. Now, I really love platformers, but this is one that I haven’t seen before. There’s also a Wario Land on the Virtual Boy, two on the Game Boy Color, one on the Game Boy Advance, Wario World on the Game Cube, and Master of Disguise on the DS. Despite not hearing much about this series before, it seems to be doing okay. I can’t wait to play more of them!

Summer Accomplishments

My goal is to beat one game (or meet one goal) per week all through summer. Each Friday will have a bold entry indicating if I’m ahead, behind, or on schedule. Raw score will count multiple modes as multiple “beatings.” It will also count Super Mario Bros. even though I had already beaten it in an emulator. Adjusted score will count multiple modes simply as one game, and it will not count Super Mario Bros. A positive score indicates that I’m ahead, a negative score indicates that I’m behind, and a score of zero means I’m right on schedule!
Start

Friday of Vacation Week:
Raw: -1
Adjusted: -1

Super Mario Bros. on NES
Super Mario Bros. hard mode on NES
Friday of Session 1 Week 1:
Raw: 0
Adjusted: -2

Tetris DS, Standard Mode
Friday of Session 1 Week 2:
Raw: 0
Adjusted: -2

Tetris DS, Mission Mode
Tetris DS, Touch Mode
Tetris DS, Catch Mode
Tetris DS, Push Mode
Elite Beat Agents – Cruisin’
Friday of Session 1 Week 3:
Raw: +4
Adjusted: -2

Friday of Session 1 Week 4:
Raw: +3
Adjusted: -3

Elite Beat Agents – Breezin’
Elite Beat Agents – Sweatin’
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan – Normal
Friday of Session 1 Week 5:
Raw: +5
Adjusted: -3

Super Mario Bros. 3 – Two Players, No Flutes
Friday of Session 1 Finals Week:
Raw: +5
Adjusted: -3

Kirby’s Adventure
Contra III: The Alien Wars – Easy, 7 Lives, Two Players A
Contra III: The Alien Wars – Normal, 7 Lives, Two Players B
Ico
Mario Hoops 3-on-3 – Normal
Friday of Session 2 Week 1:
Raw: +9
Adjusted: 0

Friday of Session 2 Week 2:
Raw: +8
Adjusted: -1

Mario vs Donkey Kong
Friday of Session 2 Week 3:
Raw +8
Adjusted: -1

Big Brain Academy (Practice Mode)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Easy, 7 Lives)
Friday of Session 2 Week 4:
Raw: +9
Adjusted: +0

Super R-Type (SNES in SNEmulDS DS Emulator) – Novice
Friday of Session 2 Week 5:
Raw: +9
Adjusted: +0

R-Type III: The Third Lightning (SNES in SNEmulDS DS Emulator)
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB)
Friday of Session 2 Finals Week:
Raw: +10
Adjusted: +1

The Rub Rabbits (DS)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles – Knuckles (Genesis Emulator)
Mega Man: The Power Battle – 1-2 as Proto Man
Mega Man: The Power Battle – 3-6 as Mega Man, Two Player
Mega Man: The Power Battle – 7 as Bass, Two Player
Sonic Rush – Sonic, 0 Emeralds (DS)
Sonic Rush – Blaze (DS)
Friday of Vacation Week:
Raw: +16
Adjusted: +3

Summer Activities

Cool stuff I did this summer! (Not counting games)

  1. Hung out with Edward, Herbert, Carrie, and Carrie’s friends!
  2. Had BBQ with my roommates and Edward
  3. Went to AX with gem, Edward, Antonio and stayed for three nights at a hotel
  4. Read AOI House volume 1
  5. Read Tea Club
  6. Had 4th of July bbq with gem, Jon, Gabby, Edward, Tony
  7. Watched fireworks and left car in traffic with gem, Edward, Tony
  8. Drank with Jon, Gabby, gem, Edward, Diana, and roommates
  9. Drank with gem’s roommates at party, got wasted with gem and Joann and had Andrew and Allison take care of us
  10. Had potluck with gem’s roommates
  11. Went swimming with gem and Allison Santos
  12. Went swimming with gem
  13. Saw Order of the Phoenix in IMAX 3D with gem, Gabby, and Jon
  14. Read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  15. Lots of eating and hanging out with gem’s roommates
  16. Went swimming with gem
  17. BBQ with gem, Duncan, Collin, Mike, Edward, Gabby, Jon, and others at my place
  18. Played Nintendo Monopoly
  19. Played with Jon and Gabby’s kitty
  20. Watched Chrono Crusade
  21. Hung out with gem’s roommates a lot
  22. Spent all day reading in Jon’s and Gabby’s bed
  23. Read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  24. Read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  25. Read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  26. Got a new bike
  27. Watched Blades of Glory
  28. Watched Disturbia
  29. Read Storm Front: Book 1 of the Dresden Files
  30. Had BBQ with gem, Jon, Gabby, Diana, Edward, Duncan, Jon Lam, and Anthony
  31. Celebrated Harry Potter’s birthday by watching all 5 movies over 5 nights, one per night starting on his birthday
  32. Shopped for new shoes with gem for her
  33. Watched Saving Face with gem, Gabby, and Jon
  34. Went bike riding with gem
  35. Watched Saving Face again with gem, Gabby, Jon, Duncan, and Diana
  36. Had a wonderful steak at Claim Jumper with gem, Gabby, and Diana
  37. Bought Dresden season 1
  38. Went bike riding with gem
  39. Hooked up all my consoles
  40. Rode with gem again
  41. Had dinner with gem, Alex, Darnell, Dev, and Kim
  42. Swam with gem
  43. Bike rode with gem
  44. Went to D&B’s with Joann and her friends and got wasted
  45. Pool party for Duncan and Diana
  46. Drinking party for Duncan and Diana
  47. Hookah with Jon and Gabby
  48. Went out to dinner and a bar with Diana for her birthday
  49. Helped Jon and Gabby move
  50. Saw Lisa Loeb and the 80z All-Stars
  51. More birthday dinner for Diana and Duncan at The Cheesecake Factory
  52. Talked with Duncan and Diana a lot
  53. Went to Tofu Festival with gem, Diana, Duncan, Jon, Gabby, Tony, and William
  54. William came over
  55. Lots of eating with Jon, Gabby, Diana, Duncan
  56. Lots of eating with Diana and Duncan and even a little Collin
  57. Got sick
  58. Went bike riding
  59. Saw Rise of the Silver Surfer with Diana and Duncan
  60. Went bike riding through nature preserve and to park
  61. Had vegetarian lunch of pasta and fajitas made by Duncan, Diana, and Gabby
  62. Went to Boomer’s with gem, Duncan, Collin, Diana, and Gabby
  63. Had dinner cooked by gem of pot roast, meat and veggies over pasta, pork chops, broccoli and cheese, and mashed potatoes with Duncan, Diana, Jackie, Collin, Joann, Gabby, and Jon
  64. Completed Wailing Cavern
  65. Ate at a vegan restaurant
  66. Lucille’s with Joann and gem
  67. Really fun party for Jin’s birthday
  68. Got to level 19 in WoW
  69. Had big scare
  70. Played video games with Andrew
  71. Went to D&B’s with Joann, Allison Santos and her cousin
  72. Disneyland
  73. Got macho nachos with shredded beef with fries instead of nachos!
  74. Had another big scare, lol
  75. Got my laptop back
  76. Saw Weatherbox, The Honorary Title, and Cartel at the House of Blues
  77. Annoyingly had the power go out for ~15 hours
  78. Got freaked out with Mike and Edward
  79. Fixed the genre of my entire iTunes library

Deadmines Secret

It’s old news now, but I saw a video showing the “secret place” in the Deadmines. Kind of interesting!
http://www.warcraftcinema.com/00920061007121444/TheDeadminesBigSecret.movie?u=c