Video Game Music: Castlevania Series and Legend of Zelda Series

I was looking at some videos and came across these covers of songs from the Castlevania Series and the Legend of Zelda series. I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I did.

Castlevania Piano Medley

Another Castlevania Piano Medley (Most of these songs are from newer Castlevania games)

Zelda II: Adventures of Link Castle Theme - Guitar Duet

Legend of Zelda Piano Duet Medley

Game of the Day: Phantasy Star Zero

Today’s game of the day is Phantasy Star Zero for the DS.

If you have played Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast, Xbox or Gamecube and enjoyed it you will like this game. PS0 has the same unique battle style that PSO has. PS0 is more based on doing quests but the multiplayer is still there. You can play with your friend locally or online. You can choose from 3 different classes: Hunters (Close Range), Rangers (Long Range) or Forces (Mage). Along with this you can chose from 3 races Humans, Newmans, and Androids. Humans are well rounded and can be any of the 3 classes. The males usually have more strength and the females have better accuracy. Newmans are humanoids that have pointy ears like elves and aren’t as strong as humans but are very nimble and very good at evading attacks. They can either be hunters or forces and the same rules apply for males and females also females usually have better defense. Newmans excel at magic with higher technical points (TP). Androids are the strongest characters in the game. They can either be a hunter or a ranger. Their only weakness is that they can’t use magic because they don’t have any TP. Males have more strength while the females have better accuracy. If you are a fan of the series you will like this game. If you have played the original Phantasy Star games the experience will be different due to the fact Phantasy Star was a turn based RPG and Phantasy Star Zero is more of an action RPG. This game is worth a try if you’re fan of this series. This game wasn’t as big as Phantasy Star Online but it is a great game to add to the series. If you would like to see more of this game check out the game play video below.

Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man's Secret

Pac-Man is awesome and so is Ms. Pac-Man. The Pac-Man games are awesome games but Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man have a secret. Watch the video to see what the secret is.

After this Pac-Man makes his way to the bar at the Pixel Palace. Watch his Confession below.

Check out dorkly.com for more videos like the first video. To see more Video Game Confessions check out That Guy With the Glasses.

25 Memories for 25 great years with the NES

It was 25 years ago when the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in America. I have made a list of 25 memories not it any particular order I'm not really sure which memory is the best. This is just a list of 25 memories not a top 25 list.

1. Getting my NES – I remember having a NES when I was 3 but I bit the dust very fast. Then on my 5th birthday my parents took me to the store and bought me my own NES and I remember it having the Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt cartridge with it and I also got Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with it and I loved my NES and it still works.

2. Family Game Time - Playing Win, Lose, or Draw with my parents and older sister was always a blast even though couldn’t spell

3. Mega Man – Mega Man was and still is an awesome games series. Mega Man 3 is one of the first games I ever beat on my own and I beat it a lot.

4. Seeing Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time - The Wizard might have been a bad movie but when you saw a glimpse of Super Mario Bros. 3 it made it worthwhile.

5. Playing Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time – I remember seeing the game at the video store and grabbing it as fast as I could shows my older sister she got very excited too. I ran upstairs popped it in the NES and played it so much. I also remember my mom running a day care at our house and during playtime I would play with my Little People neighborhood with the other kids take my character I played with and put it in front of its TV and hummed the tune of World 1 and pretended his was playing Super Mario Bros. 3.

6. Beating Contra - You either had to use a game genie to beat this game or the Konami code and when you did that it felt more legit.

7. Playing Duck Hunt - For most of us that was the first time we got to use a gun and it was awesome.

8. Super Mario Bros. – The game that started it all with its awesome platforming, catchy tune and the famous quote “Thank you Mario! But out Princess is in another castle!

9. Getting mad when your games glitches up – Not all memories are good but this was what the NES did you had to play through the glitches and if that glitch reset your game your either walked away very mad or you just started over and if you were playing a game like Mega Man 2 or Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse you just put the password so not all hope was lost.

10. Renting Games – When renting games was cheep I used to rent games every weekend and I remember renting games multiple times just to beat them but times have changed and so has renting games.

11. Games being so hard – The American NES games we usually harder than Japanese NES games. In Japan they were able to rent games so you had to buy them. I don’t think they liked the fact Americans could rent games so they made them harder so that it couldn’t be beaten in a weekend and we would go out and buy the game. They did make these games hard cause its almost impossible to beat games like Battletoads, Double Dragon, Ninja Gaidan, Castlevania and Metroid in one setting. It took a lot of play throughs to learn how to beat these games.

12. The Game Genie – The tool that made it possible to beat any game no matter how hard.

13. The A, B, B, A Code – That is how you beat Ikari Warriors. A, B, B, A is what gave you infinite continues and it was only in the American version of the game because they said the Japanese was so hard they added the A, B, B, A code to the American version. The game is hard it took me a few hours to get through the first 2 levels as a kid so you got to have the A, B, B, A code.

14. Super Mario Bros. 2 – This game was fun it was only 1 player and very different from the first SMB game but not only could you use Mario and Luigi you could also use Toad and the Princess as well and it was a lots of fun.

15. The Track Pad – Playing world class track meet it was a way to get couch potato gamers off their butt and up and running even though most of them just hit the pad with their hands.

16. R.O.B. the Robot – You could only use him for 2 games Gyromite and Stack Up but he was the reason the NES sold in America. Nintendo used the selling point use R.O.B. to play with you and you can always have a gaming buddy. He was very slow but he got the NES to see and he is worth a lot on eBay.

17. The Power Glove – Everyone wanted this after they saw Lucas play Rad Racer with the Power Glove. Unfortunately it didn’t work very well. It worked ok with racing game and you could actually land the plane in Top Gun with it. In the words of Lucas “I love the Power Glove…It’s so bad.” Yeah it’s bad very bad.

18. Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! – It also intrigued me to see a tiny guy named Little Mac who was only 17 beat up adult boxers that were 5 times his size. I had so much fun playing this game as a kid and never landed a punch on Mike Tyson. I also remember them dropping Mike Tyson from the game and just called it Punch Out!! Mike Tyson was replaced by Mr. Dream from Dreamland.

19. NES RPGs – Most of theses I didn’t understand until I was older I remember renting Dragon Warrior and not getting anywhere because I didn’t know how to play. I also remember watching my friend’s dad play Final Fantasy and that game really intriguing me and when I got more gaming experience I started loving these RPG.

20. The Legend of Zelda – I loved this game as a kid and I love it now. It still holds up as one of the best action RPGs out there. This was such a fun game my sister and I used to play it together all the time.

21. The Nintendo Spin Offs – It’s still the same today people will do anything to make money and to do that they milked the Nintendo market. They made a few shows like: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, The Legend of Zelda and Captain N: The Game Master. These were some of the shows they made and there weren’t the best shows but we watched them. There were also made toys, clothes, snacks, cereals, and an awful movie. I watched all the shows no matter how bad they were it was Nintendo I also ate the cereals, played with the toys and wore the clothes.

22. Kirby’s Adventure – Kirby was awesome running around and sucking up enemies and taking their powers was awesome and this game was so awesome its one of the best Kirby games ever made

23. Castlevania – This is nothing more fun the tracking down Dracula and killing him and it was on heck of a journey the Castlevania games were so hard and as a kid I couldn’t get very far and as an adult I still haven’t beat the Castlevania on the NES but they are on my list.

24. Metroid – This was another hard game but the biggest memory is when you find out Samus was a girl and that wasn’t normal back in the day.

25. Kid Icarus – This was one of the first games I owned and it was the game my Dad played more than I did when I was a kid he was the best at this game.

I have so many memories and I’m still making new memories because I still play my NES and I will always play my NES. I also hope in you reading my memories that it brought back memories for you when you played your NES over the years. Happy 25th anniversary NES.

A Month with Halo Reach

It has been a Month since Halo Reach has come out and it has been a good month. This is an awesome edition to the series. The Multiplayer is better than ever with a new leveling system, new game modes and much more. Firefight have been enhanced so much the best part about Firefight is that you can use matchmaking to find people to play with. When Firefight came out on Halo 3: ODST you had to just play with your friends or hope online and find people playing Halo 3 and ask them if they want to play Firefight. You come for the single player and you stay for the multiplayer. The single player campaign is one of the best Halo campaigns in a while. It’s still not better than the original Halo but it’s very satisfying. Its action packed from start to finish and it’s so much fun. The main issues I have with campaign is that the character development is weak and the checkpoints were very random you either got them when you didn’t want them and when you wanted them you didn’t get them. Back to the character development it seemed that they didn’t put much into the Characters they were all different but you didn’t develop any type of relationship with the characters. Everyone that follows the series knows Reach is lost and pretty much everyone dies, but when as the characters die off you really don’t care too much about it. You know how you feel when you play some games and the character development is so deep that if a character you have grown to love dies it makes you up set I can name a couple of times where that have happened to me. Overall the Campaign is fun there is even an Easter egg close to the end of the game there is a dance club for the Covenant.

The multiplayer is the best multiplayer Bungie pull out all the stops for this one. They seem to have taken notes from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Even though it is similar to the COD: Modern Warfare it is still different. You can even gain credits/experience while playing the campaign as well. Bungie also has Daily and Weekly challenges that help you get even more credits/experience. There are so many different games types to play which include classics like: Team slayer, Firefight, and Capture the flag. Their new game types consist of: Headhunters, Invasion, and Elite slayer. Halo Reach is awesome and it it’s totally worth the buy even if you aren’t a fan of Halo. Halo was and is a revolution when Halo first came into the gaming world its changed how we saw and played first person shooters and it will set and hold its place in the past, present, and future. Angry Joe did a review of Halo Reach and it’s a good review. This video contains explicit language and content viewer discretion is advised.

The Power Glove

“I love the Power Glove. It’s so Bad.”

Lucas – The Wizard

Yeah it’s bad …very bad why did they make the Power Glove? The easiest answer to that question is to make money and they did. People thought this was cool until they realized this thing hardly worked. Sure it worked with a couple of racing games but this thing cost $100 when it came out… COME ON Seriously? Well it’s not the only accessory that was released just to make money in fact still to this day things are released for the sake of only making money. I’m just going to focus on the Power Glove in this post. Lucky for me my Mom didn’t get me the Power Glove but I never asked for it either. My cousin had one so I had experience with it and it wasn’t very good. Oh well I didn’t miss out on much and if you did buy a Power Glove it’s all good it still holds its nostalgic value. The Angry Video Game Nerd did a review of the Power Glove and it was one of his first reviews when he did this review he was known as the Angry Nintendo Nerd. He changed his name to the Angry Video Game Nerd to avoid any copyright issues with Nintendo. The video below shows his review and I hope you enjoy the video. This video contains explicit language and content view discretion is advised.

Great Finds: Legend of Mana and a Case of Sega Genesis Games

The other day at my local thrift store I had some finds that were not just great finds they were awesome finds. First I found a pencil box with ten Sega Genesis games in it.
When I was the pencil box I saw a price tag of $15. I was like $15 for a pencil box? Then I opened it up there were 10 Sega Genesis games which were (Listed Alphabetically):


Barbie Super Model (Yeah I know a Barbie Game someone out they must want this game)
Disney’s Aladdin
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
The Pagemaster
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Spinball
Taz-Mania
Toy Story
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster’s Hidden Treasure
Vectorman 2

Ten games and a pencil box for $15 isn’t a bad deal so each game's average price was $1.40 so I did good.

That’s not all though while looking through the music cds because sometime I find Playstation games with the disk in the case if you are lucky. Well I saw Legend of Mana with a black labeled case.
I grabbed the case hoping and praying that the game was in there and sure enough it was in the case. Man I was very lucky this game goes for between $40 and $60 on eBay. There wasn’t a price tag on the game so the cashier rang it up for $2 and it’s in great shape. I was so happy to get this game it’s hard to find and it’s a game on my list so scratch one more game off my list (to view my list check out this blog post: (Games I've found and games I'm still looking for).

I made out great on this hunt I hope my luck continues for next week’s game hunt. Wish me luck everyone and I also wish everyone luck in their hunt for games.

Video Game Music: Castlevania SOTN, Mega Man X and Final Fantasy VII:

Music in video games in an essential thing to have. The music sets the mood and lets you know what's about to happen and what's going on at the moment. Here are are few songs from games I really like.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Dracula's Castle

Megaman X - Storm Eagle

Final Fantasy VII - Fighting

Modding your Super Nintendo to play Super Famicom games

Ever wanted to play a Super Famicom game but you didn’t have Super Famicom to play it on. Well there is an easy way to mod your Super Nintendo. First I want to compare an SNES cartridge with an SFC cartridge. In the image below you will see the two cartridges.

You will see the SNES cartridge is wider than the SFC cartridge. Now look at the pin connectors in the picture below.

You see that the pin connectors look the same. You show noticed there is something that sets these apart and it’s the slots on the on the SNES cartridge. If you look at the picture below you will see that the SFC cartridge doesn’t have the slots.

If you try to put the SFC cartridge in the SNES it won’t fit because it doesn't have the slots.

Now it’s time to make the SFC cartridge fit into the SNES. To mod you SNES all need is just needle nose pliers just like the pliers below.

Open the slot of the SNES and you will see two tab. Take a look at the picture below and you will see where they are located.

Take the needle nose pliers and brake off the tabs. They should break right off and you will have two tabs like the ones below.

Your SNES should look like this now.

Now the SFC cartridge will fit in the SNES.

Congratulations you have modded your SNES to play Japanese SFC games. You will only be able to play Japanese games. You will not be able to play European SNES games because its PAL not NTSC. This is easy to do and it doesn’t require you to mess with the circuit board on you SNES.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane: Final Fantasy VII Limit Break Montage

I was looking at videos on YouTube today and I came across this montage of Limit Breaks from Final Fantasy VII. This has all the Limit Breaks except for Cait Sith's Limit Breaks. This was a great trip down memory lane I hope you enjoy this video.

Happy 25th Anniversery Super Mario Bros.

Today is the 25th anniversary of the Super Mario Bros. This is the first game I remember playing ever and I loved it. The game was first released in Japan today 25 years ago and it made its way to North America March 1986. This game had has some great sequels including Super Mario 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Mario also made his way to RPGs like Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Paper Mario. Now let’s go back to where Mario got his start. Mario made his Debut in the game Donkey Kong at the time his name Jump Man. In Donkey Kong Jr. he took the roll of the antagonist and he tries to Keep DK JR. away from his Dad. Then there was the classic Mario Bros. Arcade game which brought in his brother Luigi. He has also made cameos in games like Mike Tyson’s Punch Out and Tennis on the Game Boy Mario is so iconic everyone knows what you are talking about when you say Super Mario regardless of Age. Super Mario Bros. has also been ported to Super Nintendo, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and can be downloaded on the Wii Virtual Console. In my opinion Super Mario is the king of platformers. I now leave you with a video of game play from Super Mario Bros. Enjoy.

Games I've found and games I'm still looking for

This Labor Day weekend was a great weekend in games for me. Between going to Ed McKay and the Hillsville gun show over the weekend I made out well. Here are the games I was able to pick up that were on my list:

Donkey Kong 3 (NES)
Double Dragon III (NES)
Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (SNES)
Donkey Kong 64 (N64)
Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64)
Donkey Kong Land (GB/GBC)
Donkey Kong Land 2 (GB/GBC)
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)
Metroid Fusion (GBA)
Bushido Blade 2 (PS1 Black Label)
Mega Man X5 (PS1 Black Label)
Mega Man X6 (PS1 Black Label)
Mega Man X7 (PS2 Black Label)
Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox)
Shenmue II (Xbox)

Here are a few games I got the weren't on my list:

Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road (NES)
Marble Madness (NES)
Smash TV (NES)
Yoshi’s Story (N64)
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (PS1 Greatest Hits)
Croc 2 (PS1 Black Label)
David Beckham Soccer (PS1 Black Label)
Tenchu Stealth Assassins (PS1 Black Label)

Overall I picked up 23 Games. 15 of these games were on my list.

I have updated my list as well as added a couple of other games to the list that I’m looking for.

NES

Dragon Warrior II
Dragon Warrior IV
Dig Dug II
Mega Man
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Ninja Gaiden 3: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Pac-Mania
Tetris (Tengen)

SNES
Castlevania: Dracula X (Got the Japanese version)
E.V.O.: The Search for Eden
Earthbound
Kirby's Dreamland 3
Kirby's Super Star
Mega Man 7 (Got the Japanese version)
Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3 (Got the Japanese version)
Secret of Mana
Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

N64
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
Clayfighter 63 1/3
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards  
Mario Party 2
Mario Party 3

Game Boy/Game Boy Color
Castlevania: The Adventure
Castlevania: The Adventure II: Belmont’s Revenge
Castlevania Legends
Donkey Kong Land 3
Final Fantasy Adventure
Kirby’s Dream Land 2
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (Received a free digital copy for pre-ordering The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds)
Super Mario Land 2

Game Boy Advance
Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure (Got a free digital copy on 3DS)
Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Metroid Zero Mission

Sega Genesis
Mortal Kombat II
Power Base Converter (Plays Sega Master Systems games on the Sega Genesis)
Samurai Showdown
Sega 32x (With all the hook-ups)

Game Gear
Sonic Blast
 
Dreamcast
Shenmue
Power Stone
Power Stone 2

Playstation
Bushido Blade
Castlevania Chronicles
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Ehrgeiz
Fighting Force
Intelligence Cube
Legend of Dragoon
Legend of Mana
Legend of Legaia
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete
SaGa Frontier 2
Vagrant Story
Xenogears

Playstation 2
ICO
Mega Man X8
Romancing SaGa
Unlimited SaGa

GameCube
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Picked it up for the Wii)
Mario Kart Double Dash
Phantasy Star Episode 1 & 2
Super Mario Sunshine

Xbox
Ninja Gaiden Black

I had some good luck finding games and getting them at great prices. I hope to keep getting games and great prices. I will continue to update you as I get more games on my list.

Games I'm looking for

I started making a list of games I’m looking for the other day and it’s a pretty long list. My luck the Hillsville Gun Show is this weekend and sometimes you find some people selling all types of games. Here is a list of games I’m look for. Not all the games are listed but the games I want the most are listed below.

NES
Donkey Kong 3
Dragon Warrior II
Double Dragon III
Dragon Warrior IV
Dig Dug II
Mega Man
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Ninja Gaiden 3: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Tetris (Tengen)

SNES
Castlevania: Dracula X (Got the Japanese version)
E.V.O.: The Search for Eden
Earthbound
Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest
Mega Man 7 (Got the Japanese version)
Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3 (Got the Japanese version)
Secret of Mana
Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

Sega Genesis
Mortal Kombat II
Power Base Converter (Plays Sega Master Systems games on the Sega Genesis)
Samurai Showdown
Sega 32x (With all the hook-ups)

Game Boy/Game Boy Color
Castlevania: The Adventure
Castlevania: The Adventure II: Belmont’s Revenge
Castlevania Legends
Donkey Kong Land
Donkey Kong Land 2
Donkey Kong Land 3
Final Fantasy Adventure
Kirby’s Dream Land 2
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (Received a free digital copy for pre-ordering The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds)
Super Mario Land 2

Game Boy Advance
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure (Got a free digital copy on 3DS)
Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission

Game Gear
Sonic Blast

N64
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
Clayfighter 63 1/3
Donkey Kong 64
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Mario Party 2
Mario Party 3

Dreamcast
Shenmue

Playstation
Bushido Blade
Bushido Blade 2
Castlevania Chronicles
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Chrono Cross
Ehrgeiz
Fighting Force
Intelligence Cube
Legend of Dragoon
Legend of Mana
Legend of Legaia
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete
Mega Man X5
Mega Man X6
SaGa Frontier 2
Xenogears

Playstation 2
Mega Man X7
Mega Man X8
Romancing SaGa
Unlimited SaGa

GameCube
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Picked it up for Wii)
Mario Kart Double Dash
Phantasy Star Episode 1 & 2
Super Mario Sunshine

Xbox
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Shenmue II

There are a lot more games I would like to get, but these games are the games I want the most. Wish me luck on my hunt for all these games.

Video Games I need to beat

I own so many games and I love to buy games. The only thing is I buy so many games buy without beating the games I already own. What’s really bad is with some games I’m either at the end or very close to the end. So I’m going to make a list of some of the games I own that I need to beat.

Bioshock 2
Castlevania
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse
Castlevania IV (Super Castlevania IV) (On the next to last level)
Castlevania: Dracula X
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Warrior
Dragon Warrior III
Fable
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (I need 1 more crystal star then it’s on to the final boss)
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Final Fantasy IX (I’m on the final disc of the game)
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts II
Legend of Zelda
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 8
Mega Man X
Mega Man X4
Mega Man X5
Mega Man X6
Mega Man X7
Metroid
Metroid II: Return of Samus
Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (Just gotta beat level 5)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Ninja Gaidan (NES)
Ninja Gaidan II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES)
Saga Frontier (This game has 7 different missions and at least 1 of them has multiple ending and it depends on the actions you take in the mission)
Skies of Arcadia
Star Ocean: The Second Story (This game has two different characters with similar but different stories and it has about 80+ endings so to see them all you will be playing a long time)
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (one main character 80+ hours of game play not sure how may endings this one has)
Super Mario Bros. (I’ve come so close)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (I’ve come so close)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (I’ve come so close)
Super Metroid
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (At the last battle)
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider III
Zelda II: The Adventures of Link

Well as you can see this list is long and the list is actually longer then want you see listed. I know some of you might look at some of these games and wonder why I haven’t beaten some of them yet. The answer to that question is I don’t know but I’m going to work hard to beat these games. I have a lot of games to beat ill add to the list and hopefully move some of these games to beaten games list. Wish me luck I’m Going to need it with some of these games. I will update you as I beat these games and mark through the game. I will also let you know what games I’ll move to after I’ve beaten a few of these.

Video Game Movies The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

It’s very common to see video games based off of movies it’s a way to cash in on the market especially for kids movies because kids will play anything. Then from time to time you get a movie based on video games. I must ask this though why is it very rare that these movies suck? Well here is a list of reasons why:

1. The movie rarely follows the story line of the video game.

2. The makers of these movies love making so called creative changes

3. The main creative changes are changes to characters to make the movie more interesting and they always fail.

4. Most of these movies seem to be rushed

5. They know by making these movies gamers will watch and they can make a quick buck.

Those are a few reasons why these movies are bad there are many more but I couldn’t possibility list them all. Now there are a couple of video games movies that are good for example Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
This movie is a sequel to Final Fantasy VII the best game every made. This movie wasn’t rushed and it was made so well sticking to the story of the game and build up the characters even more than they already are. That movie was awesome and it was done the way video game movies should be made. It didn’t hurt that Square Enix was in control of this movie. I haven’t watched every single video game movie but do you blame me? You know when a video game movie is going to flop and if you never really played them game you aren’t interested anyway. Video game movies that I know suck: BloodRayne I never played the game so I never wanted to watch movie and the worst thing is they made a straight to DVD squeal. House of the Dead I’ve played this game and I don’t know many who haven’t played this game but when I saw the preview told me everything I needed to know. Alone in the Dark never played the game we all know the movie sucks and Wing Commander same story. Out of the video game movies I’ve watched I have made a top 5 list of the worst video game movies that I’ve watched:

5. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation – Now the first Mortal Kombat wasn’t that great either but I still enjoy watching it because they stuck to the games little bit of story line pretty well, but annihilation was horrible they killed off Johnny Cage at the beginning and the story felt to be all over the play. The only thing I liked about the movie was James Remar played a pretty good Raidan and I’m a far of James Remar he is a good Actor.

4. Double Dragon – Another movie thrown together to make a quick buck. There really wasn’t anything to do with the video games. At least they kept Billy and Jimmy Lee brothers. Mark Dacascos who played Jimmy Lee is doing pretty well for himself. He is the chairman on the show Iron Chef America and he is a very skilled martial artist.

3. Super Mario Bros. – This was so far from Super Mario Bros. They made Mario are Luigi father and son they are brothers. King Koopa was a human in the movie everything was wrong with this movie why did they have to do this to the Mario Brothers. There is nothing Super about this movie but again some of the actors in this movie have had good careers.

2. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within – This movie was such a letdown. This movie technically isn’t based off of any particular game but it has Final Fantasy in its name. This movie sucked so bad the guy in charge of making this movie was fired. So say if you dropped Final Fantasy from the name and just called it The Spirits Within it would have been a good movie because they wouldn’t have compared it to Final Fantasy. This movie would have sucked no matter the name and if it didn’t have Final Fantasy in the name not as many people would have gone to see this movie. The good thing about this movie is the CGI and Graphics were awesome and it was before its time. Too bad it didn’t help the story.

1. Silent Hill – This movie is the bane of my existence. The only thing this movie has in common with the game is its name. They had a couple of things to help kind of tie it to the game. But they changed so much they it wasn’t really Silent Hill. The main thing I hated was that they changed the main character to a woman and we all know in the first game the main character was a guy looking for his daughter. This to me is the worst video game movie ever made why couldn’t they just have stuck to the story line of the game. It beats me. I wish I had never seen this movie but if I had not seen this movie it wouldn’t be my number 1 worst video game movie of all time.

You may disagree with my choices in my list but the movies in my top 5 only have a difference of .001 of suckage between them. There are so many other video game movies that suck out there but are somewhat entertaining. Street Fighter with Jean Claude Van Damme he was the American Guile with a French accent. And since when was Guile the main character Ryu and Ken are the ones the animated movies follows the closest. But they had to highlight Van Damme. This movie offers some entertainment with Kylie Minogue as Cammy and it’s not that bad. The Resident Evil movies these movies get mixed reviews in my opinion the first Resident Evil movie was good it was a prequel to the games but they should have killed off Alice and followed Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield for the 2nd movie but they had to change things like they always do in video game movies. Doom that movie was entertaining and it had the BFG 9000. It was based on Doom 3 more than anything and they did well with the enemies. Even though they did some things right there was very much wrong so the movie still falls short. There is also The Wizard this movie is a movie about video games. Pretty much everyone knows its a giant Nintendo Commercial. I still like to watch this movie because it was the first time I saw Super Mario Bros. 3 and it was a great feeling and I still love reliving the feeling over and over again. They will never stop making bad movies based on video games so we should just get used to it but there is some hope. They are going to make a movie based of Mass Effect and if they pick the right people and stick to the story they should do fine. The games are like movies already so they really don’t have any excuse to mess up the movie.

LordKaT - Until We Win

A few weeks ago I came across a web show on the website thatguywiththeglasses.com. The show was called Until We Win. This show is a about a guy named Jason "LordKaT" Pullara and he plays very hard games until he beats them. He has beaten games like Ninja Gaiden, Dragons Lair, Castlevania: Dracula X for SNES, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Battletoads. He has beaten many more games and continues to beat this incredibly hard games. Not only does he beat them he teaches you how to beat these games. Its a great series and it always great to see the endings of games you never thought you would the endings of. Here is LordKaT's video of Until We Win - Ninja Gaiden.


If you want to see more you can go to thatguywiththeglasses.com or LordKaT.com. LordKaT is a trooper sitting down and beating this incredibly hard games. I tip my hat to you LordKaT keep up the good work and keep on beating those games. Every time you beat a game it bring me one step closer to beating a hard game. You give gamers all around the world hope that all games no matter how hard they are can be beaten.

Great Finds: Where should I start?

A week ago I went with my wife, my friend Bobby of the Video Game View and his girlfriend and we went to the beach. While we where at the beach we went to a used game store called Player’s Choice. We were able to visit 2 different locations, one in Whiteville and one in Shallotte. I was able to clean up on games that I wanted at these stores. With games at great prices who could argue. These stores were awesome. I was able to get games like Dragon Warrior III for NES, Star Fox for SNES, Metroid II: Return of Samus for Game Boy, Super Mario 64 for N64 and Star Wars: Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles for PS1. I also ventured into a random thrift shop while on vacation and they had a complete copy of Eternal Champion for the Sega Genesis for only $3 in great shape. Those were a few of the games I purchased but it didn’t stop there. On my way back home I stopped by the store Ed McKay in Winston-Salem. I picked up Final Fantasy for the NES with the box for $12. It didn’t have the instruction booklet but the box and game looked like they were untouched. I also picked up Donkey Kong for the Game Boy and I picked up Mega Man X4 for the PS1 for only $2. I also picked up a used player’s handbook for Dungeons and Dragons for half the retail value. It didn’t stop there either, the next day I came across Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for Game Boy Advance. Over all I found so many games I want to thank my lovely wife for buying me Dragon Warrior 3 which cost $30. It was my birthday gift. Some would say $30 is kind of steep for a Nintendo game but that game alone on eBay goes for between $40 and $50. Over all I pick up 23 games and 1 book (about a game). Here is a picture and a list of all the games I got:

NES
Bionic Commando
Dragon Warrior III
Final Fantasy w/box
Legendary Wings
Micro Machines
Spy vs. Spy
Strider
Trojan

SNES
Clay Fighter 2: Judgment Clay
Kirby’s Dream Course
Star Fox
World Heroes 2

Game Boy
Donkey Kong
Metroid II: Return of Samus

GBA
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

N64
Super Mario 64

Genesis
Eternal Champions w/case and instruction booklet

Playstation
Mega Man X4
Star Wars: Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles
Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider III
Vigilante 8

Playstation 2
Activision Anthology

I was so happy to get to go to these game stores while I was on vacation. Holden Beach will probably be a regular vacation spot for me and my wife and our friends not just for the games but the Beach is pretty awesome and sometimes taking a break from games is a good thing. Well the vacation is over now so back to gaming.

The first week impressions of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

It’s been a week since the release of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and I have to say it’s awesome. This is what we have been waiting for a Blizzard has delivered just like they always do. The game play is similar to the Original with much better Graphics. This game is everything I thought it would be and while I was installing it I was recapped during the install process on what has happened that good for those who haven’t play the first Starcraft they can learn the background of this game. This is probably the best real time strategy game out there right now. The game has awesome multi-player and a great single player campaign I haven’t beat the game yet but from what I’ve played I’ve it’s an awesome game. The game has in cons though you only get a Terran single player campaign you get a special Protoss campaign but it’s very short and you don’t even get a Zerg campaign at all. Another thing is you must have or create a battle.net account to play the game and there is no LAN support for multi player if you want to play multiplayer you have to play on battle.net and you can't spawn copies to play with buddies who don’t have the game either so if you have multiple family members that want to play at the same time they are must spend $60 and buy their own copy of Starcraft II. This game may have cons but these cons don’t affect the game play it’s still a 10 out of 10 for me. If you don’t own this game go out and buy it’s amazing and you don’t even have to be an RTS fan to like this game. Angry Joe did a review of this game and he touched on everything that needed to be touched on and I agree with his review. Check out his review below. This video contains explicit language and content view discretion is advised.

To see more of Angry Joe’s review you can go to AngryJoeShow.com or ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com.

Your First Weekend With Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

This is a great video that is on G4tv.com and it shows you all the gear you need for your first weekend with Starcraft II.

Game Reviews - E3 2011

Wow! The Darkmoon Faire!... Is Bad

Billy has decided to visit the Darkmoon Faire and he doesn't seem to be impressed check out this video to see he experience at the faire.

This video was made by wowcrendor to see more of his video's click here.

World of Warcraft 101: The City Life

Billy has reached his first city and its time for him to learn about City Life in World of Warcraft.

This video was made by wowcrendor to see more of his video's click here.

Happy 10th Birthday Diablo II

Today June 29, 2010 it the day 10 year ago that the highly anticipated game Diablo II came out. It was the sequel to the great game Diablo. Diablo II Improved on Diablo is so many ways added 5 character classes which are totally unique to each other. These Characters were: The Barbarian, The Paladin, The Amazon, and The Necromancer (my favorite character).

This game have very high replay value for example you could play as The Paladin and beat the game then play through as the Necromancer and beat the game and it’s a different experience each time because each character is unique in the fact that you need a different strategy to beat the game. The online play was phenomenal you could save your only characters on battle.net and play from any computer with Diablo II installed. You also had another option you can play offline then log into open battle.net and use your single play character online which was cool also because they also let you play on a LAN if you didn’t have internet access. The plus to playing online is that you can show off you characters in the chat rooms/lobbies. When you use open battle.net it only showed someone in a robe but either way playing only was lots of fun.

Exactly a year later on June 29, 2001 the expansion Diablo II: Lord of Destruction which added so much more to the game including two new characters: The Assassin and The Druid.

It also came with a bigger stash to hold more gold and items. It’s also added another act to the game Act V which gave you 6 more quests and the final quest where you fight Baal the Lord of Destruction. This gave the game so much more and Blizzard new exactly what to do with this game. Another thing that is gave Diablo II was that it gave the game very high replay value was when you beat the game it gave you more difficulties which help you level up your characters. When you beat the game with a certain character the first time you play the game on Normal. After you beat it you unlock Nightmare difficulty which is much more challenging you also get to go in the secret cow level as long as you have a full tomb of town portal and wirt’s leg and you put them in the Horadric Cube and the hit the transmute button and it opens the portal to the secret cow level. Make sure you are in the Rogue Encampment form the Act I. Diablo II is a awesome game and if you play World of Warcraft there is a lot of Diablo influence on the game but that’s my opinion of that game. Diablo II is an awesome game that so many including myself play this game people still play Diablo I these games haven’t lost their steam and I doubt they ever will. Happy Birthday Diablo II it’s been ten great years and we hope for many more years.

Great Finds: Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis

The other day I was looking through Goodwill and I came across a Super Nintendo. The SNES came with 1 controller and 2 games in great shape. The games are Zombies ate my Neighbors and Fatal Fury 2.

The SNES didn’t have any hook up but lucky for me I picked up an extra set of SNES av cables for only $1. The SNES with the controller and 2 games only cost me $5 so even though I need an ac adapter everything cost me $6 for the system. Also the system works where I have a SNES I was able to use the hook ups from my 1st SNES and it worked just fine.

A week before finding the SNES I found another Model 1 Sega Genesis. It had the hook ups and the system works but no controllers.

The Genesis only cost $7 so again it was a great deal even without controllers. It’s easy to find controllers and AC adapters without breaking the bank. I have been getting lucky and my local Goodwill store I just hope I my luck continues and I find some more great systems, games and accessories.

Game(s) of the Day: Michael Jackson's Monnwalker

In Memory of the late great King of Pop Michael Jackson


Today’s game(s) of the day Is Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker for the Arcade and the Sega Genesis.

These games were based on the movie Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.
The Arcade game was made first and it was a multiplayer adventure where you could be Michael Jackson in a White Suit or a Red Suit it all depended on which slot you put your quarter in. Some versions let you play with three players which had Michael Jackson in a Black Suit. The point of the game was to go around and save children and defeat the bosses. You could dance to wipe out all the enemies and you can also receive the Robo-Michael power up. He was a metal Machine that shot lasers from his arms. This was a great game and it was very fun to play. Here is video of the game play of the arcade game.

The Sega Genesis version is a bit different then the arcade version. This game is a side scrolling adventure. The point of this game is you go around and save the same little girl in the red dress with a teddy bear and there are a lot of those little girls. You are armed with glitter to throw on the enemies and you are armed with your special moves including: Michael Jackson’s signature hat throw, you can spin around and the make everyone on the stage dance with you and wipe them out which should only be used in boss battles, and last but not least you get the Robo-Michael power up its pretty rare but its way different and way cooler then Robo-Michael‘s in the arcade version. In the Genesis version he is a giant robot that flies around and shoots lasers and rockets it also reveals the location on all the little girls but you can rescue them. This games weren’t the best games and there were pretty repetitious, but when this game came out there weren’t many games like this that were based on a celebrity. It’s still a fun game and no matter what you say about MJ remember what Dave Chappelle said, “He made Thriller…THRILLER”. The Angry Video Game Nerd did a review on this game and he was brutally honest as usual but he didn’t rip on it as bad as most game he reviews. It’s a great video you can check it out below. This video was made before while Michael Jackson was still alive and it contains explicit language and content viewer discretion is advised.

To see more of the Anger Video Game Nerd's reviews click here.

My friend also wrote a blog post about Moonwalker in memory of Michael Jackson click here to check it out.

Michael Jackson was an amazing artist and no one can compare to him he was the King of Pop and will forever be missed.

E3 '10 - The Wrap Up

E3 has been over for about a week and I’ve finally had time to absorb all that I saw.

There were a lot of game and gadgets I saw (via G4tv and G4tv.com) that got me very excited. I can’t talk about everything I saw so I will talk about what I really liked.

Microsoft

Microsoft has made some partner ships with Activision and ESPN. That mean with Activision any add-ons for their games come out first for Microsoft. With ESPN you will be able to watch all sports on ESPN on your Xbox 360 and it’s free for Xbox Live gold members. This was a great move on Microsoft’s part I think this will be a great thing for them. With Games of course Halo Reach and Gears of War 3 caught my eye but I have already talked about these games. Call of Duty: Black Ops looks awesome but the best game I saw for the Xbox 360 was Metal Gear Solid: Rising. This game looks so awesome you are a ninja and it strays from the traditional game play of the MGS series, but the game play looks awesome with a game engine that lets you cut anything into pieces. This includes cutting people into pieces and cutting random things like tables and fruits. Also the Microsoft Kinect looks awesome with the ability to recognize you and log you in just by waving at it. My problem with this gadget is that the price is going to be $150 which is way too much, but there is a chance they may change the price and hopefully make it cheaper. The Kinect looks cool but a price tag of $150 is way too much for this. They have also released the Xbox 360 Slim which looks awesome as well hopefully solving the Red Ring of Death once and for all.

Nintendo

Nintendo had announced The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. This is a Zelda game design just for the Wii and it will use the Wii Motion Plus which will give the sword a more realistic feel along with Link’s other weapons. They also announced a new Goldeneye 007 game for the Wii. Fans have been waiting for this game for a long time and it looks amazing. I’m not a big fan of FPS games on the Wii, but this one should be different and maybe they will use the Wii Motion Plus as well. They also announced some other great game like a new NBA Jam game with controls exclusive for the Wii (a new NBA Jam for the the 360 and PS3 as well). Nintendo has also announced the Mario Sports Mix, Wii Party, Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Epic Mickey. They also announced the Nintendo 3DS which looks really cool and they have announced Kid Icarus Uprising and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. The game I’m most excited about for the Wii is Donkey Kong County Returns. It’s going to be like the old school Donkey Kong Country and it will have game play like the New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Sony

I don’t own a Playstation 3 but the Playstation Move look very cool. I saw 2 games that look really cool Infamous 2 is one of those games. I would get the first one if I buy a PS3. The next game is the new Twisted Metal and this game look awesome I still play Twisted Metal 2 on the PS1 and this new Twisted Metal is making me want to buy a PS3.

That covers the Big 3 now on to the software developing companies. Bioware is coming one with the Star Wars: The Old Republic. This game look amazing but I’m still not sure if it will pull me away from World of Warcraft only time will tell. EA games is coming out with a new Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. This game looks so freakin’ awesome. You can play are the racer or the cops. The online system they have in place for this game is awesome. You will have people on your list you are running from and people who you are chasing. You will also have a most wanted and when they log on to play and you can initiate the change. I’m not a big racing game fan but I and really thinking about getting this game when it comes out. Konomi is coming out with a 2 new Castlevania games. The fist is Castlevania: Lord of Shadows which will be for Xbox 360 and PS3. I’m a huge Castlevania fan and I am really looking forward to a brand new Castlevania and it’s not the only one that’s coming. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair which looks to be a 2D style Symphony of the Night style of Castlevania for the Xbox Live Arcade and maybe for the Playstation Network I can’t wait to try these games out. Capcom is coming out with a highly anticipated sequal Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. I’m again stoke because Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is probably one of the best fighting games out there and there are going to have tons of new characters and it will most likely be set up like Street Fighter 4/Super Street Fighter 4 and they are great games as well so Marvel vs. Capcom 3 should deliver another great experience. Last but not least Ubisoft has obtained the license to make Michael Jackson games and I’m hoping there re-release Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker the game on XBLA, PSN, and Wii Virtural Console. There were so many games I saw this year while watching coverage of E3 and all I know is there is a bright future for the gaming world there is something for everyone and all the companies are doing what they can to go over the top.