Fortnightly Trivia!

This is basically a list of some interesting stuff you might wanna know. There’s going to be a list like this every fortnight, so there’ll always be something interesting!

·         Nintendo, before it became a huge gaming company, used to sell cards!

Yes, you read right. Playing cards.

·         Two of the new MapleStory classes are based off pop culture:

o   Evan is a copy of Eragon.

o   Aran is based off Avatar: The Last Airbender

·         Theresa (from Fable) and Kreia (from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II) are extremely similar in concept – both are old women with seer-like powers. And they’re both blind.

·         World of Warcraft isn’t actually the most played online game – Lineage II is the most played in actual fact.

And of course, a Korean MMORPG wins the most played online game!

·         Every Pokemon game gives you a choice out of a Fire, Water, or Grass type Pokemon. Bulbasaur is the only one that is a dual type at the start (it’s a Grass – Poison type.)

·         In the Dead or Alive series, upping your age in the Options will apparently make the female fighters’ boobs bounce even more! It does get ridiculous though...

Soooo true...

·         Skyward Sword is the first Zelda game to feature orchestrated music.

·         Panda in Tekken used to actually be one of Kuma’s old costumes, before she became an actual character.

Hope you now know a whole bunch of stuff you may/not know!

Good Game!

Want something to entertain you for the night? Preferably something about that game you conquered just yesterday, or that game you’re dying to get, but the fact that you’re broke is in your way? Well, take a try of Good Game; it’s a show about … well, games.

Basically, it’s a two-man reviewing show, and they go through some of the nitty-gritty of games, and give it a score out of ten. Because there’s two hosts, the scores will differ, and it does provide some good contrast, compared to reading/watching a review on Gamespot.

Of course, it’s not just about reviewing; gaming stuff in general is also another common thing to expect, so if you’re in that gaming mood, watching this will be very satisfying!

So, if you want games plus TV, Good Game is the way to go!

Note: It's an Australian show, just to say to those who are in other countries, so yeah...

Super Smash Bros - Fighter Origins: Part 3

So, onto the third part of this article! This part will show the origins of the secret characters in Super Smash Bros, and so here we go!

·        Ness

First Appearance: Mother (or Earthbound)

Shing! Awesome pose!

Back then, in the days of Mother (not the drink), Ness was just a 2D figure. Today, he’s another obscure Nintendo character. Oh, and interesting thing: his name is actually SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System – it’s an old console) rearranged – SNES = NESS.

·        Marth

First Appearance: Fire Emblem

Marth looks ... really gay.

Like Ike, they’re the pair from Fire Emblem – Marth also appeared in Melee, but with Roy, from Fire Emblem. Most of you may or may not have ever heard of Fire Emblem though…Anyway, Marth is the lighter/quicker/weaker one out of the pair; his sword also hurts more at the tip than near the base. And he wears a gay looking head band.

·        Ganondorf

First Appearance: Legend of Zelda

Evil glare power!

I’m pretty sure he used to be called Ganon/Gannon in the first Zelda game… Oh, and he didn’t look quite as imposing like in Twilight Princess. And you know, I think Ganondorf should have just asked to be the president of Hyrule. It'd solve a lot of "taking over the world" issues. That, and Hyrule's monarchy is pretty crap too. At least Ganondorf is there to take over when he forcibly makes everyone bow down to him.

·        Toon Link

First Appearance: Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

Awkward moment...

Technically, Toon Link first starred in Wind Waker, because all the other Zelda games don’t have Link looking like a weirdly proportioned kid with freaky cat eyes. Excepting Spirit Tracks. But I kinda like Toon Link; he's like Baby Mario or a Pichu. I like those types of characters, mostly because I relate with them best.

·        Captain Falcon

First Appearance: F-Zero

Stupid Captain Falcon...

Another obscure character, Captain Falcon is a racer character. And to me, he’s extremely annoying; my cousin loves to use this brute. Falcon .... PUNCH!!!!

·        Jigglypuff

First Appearance: Pokemon Red/Blue

Cuteness x 999999!!

You know, Jigglypuff’s been in the Super Smash Bros series ever since the first one. And it’s always been this useless, by the way. It's like a bad version of Kirby, just Pokemonised and just plain useless. Oh well. I sorta like Jigglypuff anyway. Just because it's been here for a while.

·        Sonic

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog

One of the first non-Nintendo characters to appear (Sonic’s from Sega), he’s shown in the modern Sonic form. Some fighting style are obviously different between the two companies, but in Super Smash Bros, it all works out nicely actually. The bad thing is, Sonic is so fast, I keep running off the stage; yes, I know, dumb but true.

·        Snake

First Appearance: Solid Snake

The second of the non-Nintendo fighters (Snake’s from Konami), Snake somehow fits into Super Smash Bros well. All of his techniques are actually a bit cheap and overpowered – probably why my brother plays as him. Like rocket-launchers, flying thingies, bombs, more rocket launchers, and guns. Yes, guns. Sigh.... 

·        Mr Game and Watch

First Appearance:

The Mr. Game and Watches are endless!

This guy is … obscure. Mr Game and Watch is actually pretty old now, and that’s probably why half of the people reading this will go “who the hell is Mr Game and Watch?”

·        ROB

First Appearance: Uh... it's not a game character.

Note: This is a controller accessory thingy. Not a game character.

Apparently, ROB stands for Robotic Operating Buddy. Or something like that. And sadly, he doesn’t have his own stage, because when you battle him in All-Star Mode, he gets pushed onto a Mario stage. So yeah. Poor ROB. It's actually a accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System (it's an old console) and there was this whole thing about video games and their falls. It's a long story. Interesting though; look it up.

Ok! So, we all clear on where all of these random guys came from, yeah? Interesting histories these brawlers have, right? Each and every one of these characters represent a long background of video gaming, and they distinctly show it and fight for it in the Super Smash Bros series. Ahhh, that was well written... *eye sparkle*

Anyway, hurry up and come, Super Smash Bros 4! I'll write some more Fighter Origins!

Super Smash Bros - Fighter Origins: Part 2

This is the second part of a three part article! So check out the previous one in case you missed it!

Time to introduce the backgrounds of the new fighters! The “new fighters” is basically a character who hasn’t brawled before in the Super Smash Bros. series.

·         Pit

First Appearance: Kid Icarus

OMG! It's Link with brown hair and in angel form! ... Oh, it's only Pit.

Ah, Pit. How long have you been asleep in the cold, cold corners of Nintendo’s archives? Well, actually, you’ve been asleep for 20 years or so, and apparently, you’re still quite alive in Kid Icarus: Uprising. Ah well.

·         Wario

First Appearance: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

Like a boss.

Wario’s come quite a bit from his debut; he’s got his own mini-series, and has a place in the Super Smash Bros world. Also, his outfit’s different in his first appearance; he had Mario’s outfit, but yellow and purple.

·         Zero Suit Samus

First Appearance: Metroid

You won't believe the number of porn images for Zero Suit Samus.

… Does anyone else think that Samus should wear something less skin-tight when she’s not in armor? Anyway, Zero Suit Samus and Samus are the same person obviously, but Zero Suit Samus isn’t quite so good at fighting. I mean, the lack of a cool spacesuit thingy, energy canons, bombs, and etc is a big loss in firepower.

·         Ike

First Appearance: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

+ 100 Coolness Points

Not too many people I hear of play Fire Emblem … actually, most people I know haven’t ever heard of Fire Emblem. But it’s not much of a surprise that he’s here – Marth’s going to get lonely without Roy (reference to Melee). Anyway, Ike is pretty cool.

·         Pokemon Trainer

First Appearance: Pokemon Red/Blue

Go! Pokemon Trainer! Use Throw Pokeball!

The Pokemon Trainer! Well, it’s more of a combination between Charizard, Ivysaur, and Squirtle, but the actual Trainer appears as well. He hasn’t appeared since Pokemon Colosseum, I believe, but he seems to have gone completely unchanged. Well, aside from the slight graphical updates, but yeah … just the same.

·         Diddy Kong

First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country

Ok, who let Diddy Kong eat chocolate?

Donkey Kong’s little version of himself, Diddy Kong appeared in Donkey Kong Country, as a companion. Funny, pretty much all the small fighters in Super Smash Bros. tend to be sidekicks…There was quite a history about Diddy Kong; Rare (a game company) got the rights to make a new Donkey Kong way back, and the concept of Diddy Kong came about; Nintendo didn’t exactly love it though. But good ol’ Miyamoto actually liked it and gave them some pointers; that’s how Diddy Kong came to be.

·         Meta Knight

First Appearance: Kirby’s Adventure

Just saying, Meta Knight looks just like Kirby underneath all this.

Has anyone else noted that behind all of Meta Knight’s armour and accessories, he looks just like Kirby, only blue? Anyway, he appeared in Kirby’s Adventure, quite a few years ago as a rival for Kirby. To be more exact, Kirby/Meta Knight’s relationship is a bit … odd. Sometimes, they’re bitter rivals, best of comrades, or just plain normal. It … varies a lot.

·         King Dedede

First Appearance: Kirby’s Dreamland

A self-proclaimed king of Dreamland… Sounds like a great job. Well, at least, it sounded good to King Dedede, so he took up the position in Kirby’s Dreamland. And when I say that, I mean that he doesn’t actually do any king-like jobs, like knighting people, making taxes, or making kingdom-changing decisions. And even then the people don’t actually follow his orders anyway. So yeah … he’s just called himself a king. Kinda redundant.

·         Pikmin / Olimar

First Appearance: Pikmin

I was actually pretty surprised Olimar / Pikmin made it into Super Smash Bros – they’re not exactly fighter material in their own games. Pikmin had you doing strange and creative things … or both at the same time, while Super Smash Bros descends in a clutter of moves, and people flying away.

Next in the series, I’ll cover secret characters’ backgrounds! 

Fi vs Siri!

Out of all of my posts, this has got to be the most random; it’s Fi (as in, the sword spirit who plays the “robotic servant” act in Zelda: Skyward Sword) pitted against a very … interesting application known as Siri! Only on iPhone 4S and iPad 3^rd Generation, unfortunately.

Anyway, seeing how they are both robotic servants, (well, one’s a magical spirit residing in a sword, and the other is a series of knowledge navigation and language interface, blah blah blah) I thought, why not see who’s better? Now, I know, it’s not your normal post; this is quite a special article here, as an apology for not posting in a while!

So, it’s a random battle between the graceful and useful Fi, against the lovely and fun-to-talk-to Siri!

Usefulness

Fi:

Remember Midna from Twilight Princess? Well, as interesting and deep as she was, she wasn’t exactly the most helpful companion really. Fi fixes that bit. No, seriously, there are about a billion options you can select with Fi, it’s like working with a robot or something. Which Fi kinda is … but yeah, whatever. Her advice is always helpful, except when you’re in boss battles and she just repeats what she says. Which does get annoying. But her advice is always useful. Yup. And it’s designed to be perfectly balanced too; it doesn’t give everything away, but it helps too. Fi is really useful in general!

Siri:

The technology in Siri is really quite amazing … but then again, this isn’t a tech blog, so I won’t go off on a tangent here. But you can do quite a lot of interesting stuff with Siri, like setting reminders, calling people, playing music, etc (all this kinda stuff you’ve heard before), and even killing boredom. (only works once or twice before it gets old though.) Useful, but we kinda never use it anyway. Unfortunately, it is just a robot thingy, so it won’t be able to process everything and anything…

Personality

Fi:

Uh… There’s about zero moments where Fi shows a personality. I think Nintendo wasted all of their personality juices when they were designing Midna. And yes, I reference a lot to past games. But yeah … Fi is a robot. In the literal sense. Well, besides the fact she’s a magical sword spirit, but let’s not worry about details, yeah?

Siri:

Gotta love it when you ask dumb questions with Siri; she’s such a charmer. Just saying, she won’t ever accept marriage proposals; she’s like that. She’s just got this undeniable charisma about her, especially if you talk to her a lot. She’s cool, and never seems to be flustered. But then again, she’s a phone. It’s a bit hard to explain through words, but if you talk to her … you’ll see. It’s quite a subtle thing.

Funnyness

Fi:

Er… this is like saying Fi’s got a great personality. As she (read: it) would say, “According to my calculations, there is 90% chance that you will not be interested in what I say.” That’s how it goes. There’s about one funny moment where another robot falls in love with Fi. I don’t see what’s good in Fi … but yeah, whatever. Not saying that Fi’s bad though. Just … without a personality.

Siri:

Read the picture. It’s more than enough.

Coolness

Fi:

Well, Fi does do random dances … on walls, when you receive magical songs ... that’s cool, right? Nah, jokes. Anyway, her overall concept is pretty cool in general, and she looks damn good without arms. Oh, and the endgame. Fi has some fantastic moments. Really, she does.

Siri:

Well, you ARE talking to your iPhone. That’s pretty neat, yeah? Anyway, Siri is cool. Everything about her is cold and calculated. Even her great sense of humour. Only problem is, I want to know what she looks like… but Siri’s not answering. Boo! Hiss!

Interestingness

Fi:

There is some amount of interest you’ll get by obtaining a sword spirit. Fi does have a backstory in all of this, but you get over it. She’s not extremely deep, but there is a bit on how “she’s learning emotions” instead of being Miss Calculator of Obviousness. But still, not much.

Siri:

Well… kinda like Fi. Siri isn’t a human/robotical sword spirit so she isn’t meant to be really deep; she has some interesting statements to make … but neither one wins this section.

So … here we are!

Fi = 2 points

Siri = 2 points

It’s a draw! First time too! The two characters are pretty similar, so not surprising. Personally, I kinda like Siri more … but yeah, whatever.

Super Smash Bros - Fighter Origins: Part 1

We all know about the brawling fest of Nintendo’s that is Super Smash Bros. What the majority of us don’t know is the origins of the more obscure characters, or even the pasts of the more popular characters. And trust me, they had some pretty darn weird pasts...

This is the first part of 3 articles, and this article covers the origins of fighters who starred in at least two games of the series; basically, the veteran fighters.

Well then, here’s a list of Super Smash Bros. characters and their origins!

·         Mario

First Appearance: Donkey Kong

Yes, the famous mascot of Nintendo somehow appeared in an entirely different game to the games we see today. Apparently, Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong plays the same role as Bowser; the bad guy basically. And Mario was called Jumpman. A humble beginning, for a gaming celebrity.

... Oh god, Peach looks really ... Well, it could be taken badly, just saying...

·         Link

First Appearance: Legend of Zelda

It’s kinda weird that a game is named after the damsel in distress, and not named after the little oddball in a green outfit who’s busy saving her. Zelda’s probably thankful for that. The very first game is your basic Zelda game. You have to save Zelda, who despite being a mage herself, can’t seem to defend herself, and kill Ganon in a really cool way. Typical Zelda formula.

·         Samus

First Appearance: Metroid

Back in the day of Metroid, we didn’t know Samus was a girl. Well, those of us who don't actually pay attention anyway. And now, we just realised that Samus looks like she’s wearing a fish bowl over her head in the first Metroid. Obviously, her suit’s undergone quite a few changes.

·         Pikachu

First Appearance: Pokemon Red/Blue

Even as a bundle of random pixels, Pikachu was still undeniably cute and attractive in Pokemon Red and Blue. For a funny looking electric mouse, Pikachu’s gotten quite a bit of attention. And of course, Pikachu has it's own game to it, in the picture above. Where you obviously get Pikachu as a starter.

·         Kirby

      First Appearance: Kirby’s Dream Land

Most of the elements in the current Kirby games are present in the very first Kirby game; Kirby’s Dream Land. Weirdly, Kirby looks more like a spherical ghost than a pink ball of cuteness.

Seriously ... Kirby looks so weird in his first debut... Thank god Nintendo was good and turned him pink and cute!

·         Bowser

First Appearance: Super Mario Bros

 

Ironically, Bowser isn’t actually Mario’s first arch enemy; rather, he took up the position in 1985. In Super Mario Bros, Bowser took his usual role; capture Peach and wait for Mario to defeat him... or something like that.

Oh, and the image to the right was the initial design for Bowser, drawn by Miyamoto himself. 


... Yes, I know it looks kinda weird. They must've done A LOT of editing.

·         Peach

First Appearance: Super Mario Bros.

Like her constant captor Bowser, she didn’t appear in the first Mario game, and the first damsel in distress in the Mario series was actually called Pauline. A pretty big step from “Princess Peach.” Just saying, she did get her own game once, called Super Princess Peach. 

·         Fox

First Appearance: Star Fox

Fox is probably one of the more obscurer characters in Super Smash Bros, though hardcore fans may know him for Star Fox, the first 3D rendered game from Nintendo.


Star Fox was actually quite technologically advanced, and for Nintendo, it tried some new things the company had never done previously.

·         Zelda

First Appearance: Legend of Zelda

How wonderful it is to have a legendary series named after the constant damsel in distress. It’d be like having “Super Peach Bros,” or something like that. Zelda’s look has altered over the years, going from blonde to brunette and back to blonde. Her roles have consistently differed as well, especially in Ocarina of Time, where she also acted as Sheik. And just to let you know, I really like Zelda's look in Twilight Princess; just beautiful! But I think I like her character more in Skyward Sword, but I'm being nitpicky, aren't I?

·         Donkey Kong

First Appearance: Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong’s origin was actually as a villain in his own game; a bit strange actually. He basically played out to be the equivalent of Bowser, except he actually looked more like an ape than Bowser looks like a turtle. And as for the kidnapping Peach part ... well, she's got a predecessor who was kidnapped by Donkey Kong as the motivation for Jumpman (read: Mario) to rescue her.

·         Yoshi

First Appearance: Super Mario World

Like Mario, Yoshi didn’t star in his own game; rather he ended up being Mario’s sidekick, though with vastly different concepts. Although, Yoshi would later get his own games, he still plays as a companion to Mario. And the above is concept art ... again. Yoshi .. doesn't look like Yoshi in that.

·         Ice Climbers

First Appearance: Ice Climber

The Ice Climbers consist of Popo and Nana, two nearly identical looking kids in blue and pink Inuit anoraks, and their first appearance seemed to be their last as well. Ice Climbers isn’t well known, and is one of the more obscurer games in Nintendo’s history.

Yay! You've reached the end of the post! Congrats! Next in this series, we’ll cover the backgrounds of Super Smash Bros Brawl’s newcomers!

Z-Target vs Free Camera

Remember Ocarina of Time, where it introduced the awesomely useful Z-Target? And I’m pretty sure everyone’s played a game where the camera is adjustable. Now, a couple of days ago, I had a little argument with my brother on how the Z-Target is better.

And he didn’t quite agree.

Apparently, the Z-Target was just plain annoying, and kept snapping back to bad places, and you had to go through a whole lot of trouble to use it.

So, I thought, IT'S ON!

Me:

Z-Target was possibly one of the most revolutionary concepts in all of gaming – introduced by Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it was part of the reason why the combat in Ocarina of Time worked out so well. And then, after Ocarina of Time, people actually got a better idea of how combat in games like Zelda should work – they’re all variations of the Z-Target!

Onto explaining how it works – basically, you hold Z … and that’s it. It targets the enemy just like that. You can strafe around the enemy with ease, simply by pushing the Control Stick in a direction and pressing A. Just repeat that, and you’ll be sitting pretty in all Zelda battles, making stuff a lot less complicated, compared to games where you run and the camera snaps to bad positions. Also, the camera is always focused on the enemy, so the before mentioned dodging is easy to do. Basically, every aspect of combat is streamlined so everything comes out naturally and intuitively – that’s what Z-Target is all about.

Brother:

How the hell is Z-Target useful? It might have been great ten years ago, but face it, it’s problematic. Even if you are Z-Targeting, the targeting will drop out when you need to be further away from the enemy. And what happened to the skill and prowess you had to master Free Camera battle systems? Z-Target can be a starter for casual gamers, but the true skill lies in Free Camera, where everything isn’t done for you.

Free Camera is also pretty explanatory – you can adjust the camera as you like it to be, and that’s it. It’s complete freedom in how you use it – not like the Z-Target, where it’s strictly set out for you to use it in one particular way. Also, with Z-Target, when you want to sprint away, (in Skyward Sword) the camera moves awkwardly between sprinting and Z-Targeting. Z-Target is for beginners – Free Camera systems are for the truly skilled, and it’s just better.


So who do you think is right?

BannedStory!

If you like playing MapleStory, then you should try using BannedStory at least once!

Basically, it’s a MapleStory simulator, and you can create a character from the ground up, and customise it, using literally every item in MapleStory. Better still, you can add maps, save animations, and you can make your own little story, by using the animations and stuff!

Awesome, huh?

Uh... Random stuff happens too...

Just as a bit of trivia, BannedStory was actually banned once, by Nexon Korea. They sent a “cease and desist” letter to the makers of BannedStory … but Nexon America fixed it up, and now it’s accessible again!

So if you’re bored, and wanna kill some time, or you like playing MapleStory, try out BannedStory!