Avane

Why we're not Friends with the PS3

2012-01-29T19:41:00.000-06:00

I originally wrote this post for my personal blog, but thought a wider audience might enjoy commiserating. I also I added pretty pictures to this version.

For Christmas my mom bought us a Playstation Move in a bundle pack (the Mayhem Bundle for those who are curious) with 2 games and a gun as well as one additional game. We didn't particularly want a Move because we have a Wii that takes care of all our motion gaming needs, but we've been wanting to get the House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut that's PS3 only, and we like shooting digital things and it was already there, so we decided to keep it. We played the separate game, Everybody Dance, right away after Christmas and it was fun enough, but after that initial trial run though we've been ignoring it. My Mom has been asking me if we tried the 2 bundled games yet and I've been tired of telling her no, so today while everyone else in the household was occupied and I wasn't doing anything better I decided to try one. Only that's not at all what happened.

First I had to try to set up the little Move motion camera, as we'd kind of fudged it when we used it at first. The Move it doesn't work without that so it's sort of an important part. Unfortunately because of the aforementioned Wii we already have a little gaming doodad on top of our TV See hand Illustration:

My MSN Paint Skillz are AWESOME (though I didn't actually make this in paint)

Two gaming doodads trying to be in the center of the TV just wasn't working out. After several attempts of shifting, twist tying, and sticky thing-ing, I admitted defeat and just sort of fudged it again by wrapping it around the Wii bar and letting it sit a little bit precariously off the TV.

My Skills are still lacking but I used a nicer arrow this time.

Then, I got out the gun. The Move Gun we have is called the sharpshooter and it is a big ugly mess of a thing.

In spite of the name probably won't help you get a high score in Hogan's Alley

It might be fine for men with longer arms and no pesky breasts in the way, but for me just trying to hold it was difficult, and gaming with it seems like it might be borderline impossible. The Wii zapper is a much much better design. In any case, in spite of my disappointment with it's size and unruliness, I decided I'd still try it in game. I popped in the game disc and naturally because it's a PS3 game it had to update.

I was expecting this update because I think I've had maybe 1 PS3 game ever that hasn't wanted to update immediately when you put it in, it's one of my biggest peeves about the system as a whole. But this game (Resistance 3 if you're curious) had not one, not two, not even three updates it wanted, it had four mighty updates that we had to install to play the game. If you've never had to go through this experience on a PS3, one update is usually enough to make you give up any hope of playing the game you're interested in. They've take anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour in our experiences and that's just for one! So we decided to let it go ahead and do it's dirty downloading while we did other things. Approximately an hour and 15 minutes later, it was finally done. (Amazing that our XBOX360 also demands to update games but can do it in a fraction of the time)

Over and hour is a completely reasonable amount of time for an update download isn't it?

By this time Jen had finished the paper she was working on, and I was the one looking over it so I decided she could try the game. She wakes the controller/gun back up (they go to sleep after a period of inactivity) and navigates to the game start only to discover she has to calibrate the controller before she can start. This is normal with any motion controlled game and really a good idea, but most things let you point at the corners and center of the screen and call it a day. Not the Move, the Move wants you to swing the controller around your feet while standing on your head and facing due North...OK I may have embellished that part slightly, but it was much more involved than any other motion controller/console I've played with. So Jen tried unsuccessfully to complete calibration with the controller still strapped into the gun apparatus, naturally, it refused to work. So she took it out of the gun (not hard necessarily but still sort of involved) and finally got it to work.

So finally she starts the game again and it has to install...That's right it needs to download itself to the hard drive so we can play it which for some reason it didn't do when it was doing all that other downloading an installing. Back in my day console games ran from a disc or cartridge with very little of this crazy downloading business *shakes head*. In any case the little install bar took about 15 minutes to finish, but that alone wasn't enough then it also had to install it's trophies so we could rub in our friends faces exactly how many hours we spent killing an unreasonable amount of digital creatures in new and exciting ways and gaming isn't gaming without that! But after about 5 minutes of the trophy loading we realize the game has frozen and that was the last straw. Jen turned off the PS3 and played GTA IV on the XBOX360 instead.

This is all we've been able to see of Resistance 3

Whenever I hear someone talking about how much they LOOOOVVVEEE their PS3, I can't help but wonder if they've ever played another console.

~Stephanie

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Notes on Demise from Zelda Skyward Sword

2012-01-25T17:52:00.000-06:00

There are totally spoilery things in this entry, but if you've read anything about Skyward Sword you've probably seen anything that's going to be covered here as I don't plan on going into to much of the plot line.

I'm aware that I am totally late to the "my thoughts about Skyward Sword" Party. I had the game pre-ordered and got it right away and started playing it right away, so theoretically, I could have done this back whenever every other Nintendo fanboy/fangirl was doing it, but I didn't because I kept getting bored with the game and finding other things to do, I've gotten to the end finally so I feel like I can appropriately make my comments now. I'm not going to go into all my various grievances with the game as a whole (at least not right now), I just want to talk about one little element, Demise.

Demise is your main antagonist in the game and while he has the common decency to stay in one spot and start trouble rather than following you from temple to temple, it pretty much always comes back to demise. Not my problem with this is that demise starts off as The Imprisoned. As far as I'm concerned and it's cute, not terrifying. I mean look at this thing:

The Imprisoned

Sure he's got big pointy teeth, but they just add to the cuteness. I mean look at those little wiggly toes. My first encounter with him, was not upsetting, it just made me giggly. In spite of their obvious design differences his armless largely faceless appearance reminded me of the Mome Raths in Alice in Wonderland. While the Mome Rath thing might just be me, clearly it's not just me thinking it's cute, if this plushie and it's responses are any indication.

The imprisioned form of Demise does go through a few "upgrades" and while once is grows arms it does remind me less of a Mome Rath, it does not get any less cute. In fact it's arms are so gangly and silly looking it might actually be cuter.

The Imprisoned 2nd form

Later on it even flies, but it's basically as the same as the arm one only with a halo. In spite of the fact that each of these subsequent incarnations causes bigger and more annoying problems for Link, it was hard to take him seriously at any point. That being said I could live with demise being perfectly silly after all the game take great pains to let you know that he isn't at full power in any of those incarnations. So basically that it's an adorable big bumbling monster, is something to be thankful for, not mock.

However as one would expect that's not the final word on Demise. Eventually Demise gets all his unimaginable power and becomes Akuma from Street Fighter.

Demise from Skyward Sword

Now it's possible you've been living under a large rock for awhile and don't really know much about street fighter or Akuma. This is Akuma:

Akuma from Street Fighter

Still not convinced? Here's the handy split screen version:

Demise and Akuma are totally the same guy

I think the Split Screen version is pretty irrefutable evidence that Akuma got tired of being Dragon Punched and Cannon Drilled and decided to take out his demonic rage on what would become Hyrule. Which if it were the official story of the game, I personally would enjoy. But there's a whole contingent of people who argue, sure maybe he kind of looks like Akuma, but it's clearly supposed to be a precursor to Ganon/Ganondorf. I admit the game certainly makes it seem that way, except well, this is Ganon:

link to the Past Ganon

And if you're not as old school, this is Ganondorf (different from ganon if you buy into the human beast form having 2 different names thing):

Ocarina of Time Ganondorf

And this is Ganon, and this is Ganon even this is Ganon, and well I could go on for quite awhile, but I won't because the point is the Demise to Ganon thing doesn't work for me. Demise is clearly an Akuma who wandered into the wrong game universe.

So basically Nintendo brought me and the other Zelda fans an antagonist who starts off cute and becomes an escapee from another game franchise. This would be annoying in any game, but Skyward Sword was touted as the definitive back story of the whole Zelda saga, making it especially heinous. Would it really have been so hard to create a legitimate demon precursor to one of the most important and well known characters in all of gaming History?

I don't say this that often, but I'm really disappointed in you Nintendo. I feel like you've done a great disservice to the franchise.

~Stephanie

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Happy December!

2011-12-09T21:27:00.000-06:00

Happy December!

First up we've made an important update at Avane, we now take credit cards directly so you can use your Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express card directly on our site using our secure server. We do still accept Paypal and Google Checkout Payments for those who prefer them.

Because we are in the midst of the Holiday Season, we're seeing a lot of gift orders. If you're planning on buying a gift you should make sure to check out our Order Cut Off Dates for Holiday delivery:

	First Class	Parcel Post	Priority Mail	Express Mail
Domestic Mail	December 16	December 15	December 20	December 21
International Mail	December 7	N/A	December 9	December 12

International Customers will have to get their orders in ASAP to make delivery by December 24th, but there's still a lot of time for customers in the US to get in their orders. To help you mark everyone off your list we're offering a coupon code for 25% off on orders of $75 or more. It's: Holiday2011 this code expires on December 21st so don't miss it.

Additionally we offer Gift Certificates in any amount from $1 to $500. Gift Certificates don't expire and don't have any fees, they're the perfect gift for any hard to shop for fan of vintage geekery.

We have over 800 items in stock right now many of which would make excellent geeky gifts for friends and loved ones.

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Sailor Moon Fans are Everywhere

2011-11-21T14:07:00.002-06:00

In preparation for the Holiday shopping season we've been adding new items to our shop. This involves a lot of tedious prep work which means we spend a lot time watching various stuff on Netflix while we do it. This past weekend we decided it was a great time to watch documentaries about Drag Queens (hot on the heels of the previous week's household marathon of RuPaul's Drag Race). So while watching Wigstock: The Movie , Jen spotted what she assured me was a Sailor Moon wand. I wasn't looking up at the time and thought she may have just been suffering from a Sailor Moon obsession, which she is, but wasn't the cause this time. She backed it up and lo and behold a Spiral Heart wand:

Moonies, they can pop up anywhere at any time. Given that the documentary was filmed in 1994, this young lady was clearly ahead of her time as Sailor moon wasn't even airing in the US yet. Hats off to you random unnamed moonie, thanks for making our day a little more interesting.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: 1989 Mario Cheez Whiz Jar

2011-11-05T19:55:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since we've had time to do a collection oddities post, but this special item joined our collection a few weeks back and it's just too fantastically odd not to share. So I bring you The Official Mario Cheez Whiz Jar:

It looks upsetting but it's just water and food coloring

It was empty when got it so we filled it with colored water to help show the details. In retrospect yellow water may not have been the best choice, but ambiguously yellow water is markedly less horrifying than the 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of processed cheese that originally filled the jar, especially when you consider it would be 22 years old now. *shudder*

In spite of having this misfortune of being a promotion for what is quite possibly one of the least edible "foods" to ever be commercially available, this is actually a pretty cool item. Unlike most promotional food items that just have an image screen printed on them, the entire jar is fully molded into a portly princess saving plumber.

Without the yellow water he seems sort of cross eyed

Even the lid is interesting and features Mario and the Super Mario Brothers logo.


In English and French in case you need to know how to translate "Process cheese spread"

In spite of our opinion that it's great, there's no denying that it's weird. I mean the concept of an entire 1kg jar of Cheez Whiz is pretty odd in itself, who could possibly eat that much gooey plastic? Then, it's shaped like Mario for some sort of unclear promotion, "It's Mario, It's yellowish orange plastic, together at last! Buy it!" Does Mario love Cheez Whiz? Are the circuit boards in Mario 2 made of Cheez whiz? What?

Regardless of the mind boggling reasons such a thing exists, it does and it fabulous and no cracktastic Mario collection should be without one.

~Stephanie

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The Top Ten Scariest Video Game Monsters and Villians of All Time

2011-10-31T22:58:00.000-05:00

With the exception of initial input, this entire post was thought up and brought to life by regular contributor Richard.

Video games have an opportunity to provide us with horror in ways that television and film can not. A video game can put us in control, make us decide our fate and the best way to try and escape a deadly nightmare. And on that journey we will find monsters and villains that truly left an exclamation point. Here I have compiled a list of what I feel to the ten scariest video game monsters. For one reason or another, I believe that these characters have something to offer a true horror fan, even if sometimes you have to dig deep to see it. After all, horror is nothing without imagination, if newer horror films and fans are any indication. So with nothing else to say, let's get right into it. Don't lose your head.

The Top Ten Scariest Video Game Monsters and Villians of All Time

10. The W Star (Drahkken, SNES) - So to claim anything scary can happen in this particular title may seem odd at first, but there are a few moments that are noteworthy at least to nerds as big as me and my circle. Drahkken is an old RPG from the early nineties which tried to utilize a three-dimensional, first person environment. It wasn't exactly successful but did make the game unique for it's time. One thing the game would do is change the time of day as you were playing. Once nightfall hit is when some shit would really start to go down. The player would notice the many stars in the sky, shining quite brightly. As you trek forward you may notice a W-shaped set of stars in the sky. Thinking nothing of it, you continue on. And then suddenly, those stars start to move, flapping up and down like some kind of crazy bird while a creepy music tone on a downward scale begins to play. Then suddenly you hear a loud, low sounding "boom," and everything stops of a second. Then out of nowhere, a flying creature with a skulllike head comes careening out of the sky and attacks. You inevitable think "What the HELL is that?!" and proceed to fight this thing, hoping you're leveled up enough to take it on. This occurance actually happens with multiple sets of stars in this game but the very first time we saw it was with the W-set, earning the name we gave it, the W Star. No matter how much you get used to this, it's always bizarre and unexpected granting it a place on this list.

See The Rest After the jump

9. The Cyberdemon (DOOM, PC) - One of the greatest first-person bosses of all time in arguable the greatest first person shooter of all time. As you first enter his level, noting the dead Barons chained up on the wall (which, before this point you assume are the baddest thing on two legs), the Cyberdemon will likely first make his presence known to you once you open one of the four doors leading to the exterior of his arena-like stage, and see the flaming skulls known as lost souls. Inevitably, you will sneer at this relatively simple and weak monster, and take it out with your shotgun. However, upon the first shot of your rifle ringing out into the air, you'll hear a staggering and terrifying roar from an unknown source, followed by an unknown "crash-BOOM!" sound which continuously repeats. You realize something else is here with you. And it is big. And it is coming for you. What will likely happen next is that you will step out into the open area, turn a corner or two, and in the distance you'll see something. "What the fuck is - " will likely be all you have time to think before a missle comes flying right into your face, instantly splattering you all over Hell's floor. Although it's hard to get close enough for a look, the Cyberdemon gets his name from the steel, cybernetic right leg he sports and the rocket launcher which is inexplicably attached to his left arm. The rest of this towering hell beast includes a hooved left leg, huge black horns on the sides of his head, and all kinds of red, bloody wires sticking in and out of him. It's not good enough that all of Hell is trying to tear you apart, but now they're using human cybernetic technology to do it with. What makes the Cyberdemon so terrifying is that he's incredibly large, incredibly strong, and is essentially equipped with a one hit kill. I mean okay, if you have 200% health, Doom Guy might take the first hit, but he's probably not takin' that second hit. Only experienced players can go toe-to-toe with this behemoth, the rest of you will have to run for you life, taking it whatever shots become available to you. The goat-legged Cyberdemon's discouraging endurance, terrifying attack power and horrifying looks give him a sure position among scariest video game monsters.

8. Michael Myers (Halloween, Atari 2600) - It might seem laughably improbable that an Atari game could do anything in the way of scaring you, but here me out, here. In this game, you essentially wander a house which is a series of hallways, taking children to the safe rooms and looking for a weapon. Meanwhile, every time you enter a room (other than safe rooms) within seconds you'll be confronted by Michael Myers, with an Atari-appropriate version of the classic Halloween theme playing during his screen time, "Dee doo doo dee doo doo dee doo dee doo dee doo doo dee doo doo..." as the collection of pixels known as Michael Myers stalks towards you in a constant stabbing motion with the four or five white pixels that make up his "knife." If he gets you, you'll enjoy a rather humorous animation of your female character running frantically with her head cut off, red dots spewing from her neck. Michael will also decapitate the children if you let him, and I do mean "if you let him," as the game allows you to grab onto the children to take them to safe rooms for points, but you may also decide to use them as bait, as Michael seems more interested in killing them rather than you. So at first this isn't scary, just silly. But as levels progress, and you continue to stab Myers with the black knife you can't seem to hold on to, he gets faster and most aggressive until soon, you can barely outrun him. What's worse is that you'll enter rooms with faulty "wiring" causing the screen to flash from normal to pitch black while Michael's in the room with you. "Oh God, where am I?" you'll wonder and you hope to have run past the derranged mad man, only to find yourself headless once the lights come back on. With time, Michael Myers will make this one of your most stressful experiences in gaming.

7. Mr. Graves (Haunted House, Atari 2600) - And yet another Atari release. This time, you are in yes, a haunted house, trying to escape with all of the pieces of the urn of Mr. Graves. You enter said dead man's mansion and wander around, your character only being a part of eyes. You hit the button to light a match which will give you a small orb of visibility. Only with the match lit can you find items and realistically navigate the black squares and lines that make up this house. So when entering certain floors, you may hear an intimidating noise which could be either thunder or wind. Then suddenly, the ghost of Mr. Graves appears and he blows out your match as he chases you down! Sure, he may look like one of those sheet-wearing ghosts from the cartoons, but this guy's not playing around. Something about the speed and frantically waving arms of this character just gets you all high strung and desperate to escape. Should Mr. Graves, or any of his buddies such as the bat or spider touch you, your little eyes will violently roll around as thunder and lightning strike, costing you one life. This game is considered to be a classic and even prompted a remake on the Wii under the same name.

6. Jason (Friday the 13th, NES) - The Hockey Masked killer we all know and love would get his own video game back in the day, even if it wasn't EXACTLY the best piece of media you could own. One thing that couldn't be denied however is that this game could certainly get a cheap scare in on you. The main idea was that you wandered camp Crystal Lake, killing zombies, wolves, bats, and birds until an alarm would sound, indicating that Jason was attacking either the campers or a fellow counselor. You'd check the map to see which cabin was in distress and race to the location before time ran out. Upon reaching the cabin, the inhabitant(s) would thank you for coming, and then you'd search the cabin in pseudo-3D mode. This is where the scare would take place. As you turned corners and advanced forward, eerie but calm music would play as you found a lot of corners and spaces. And then without warning, a loud and horrifying noise would blare and boom, there's Jason, trying to punch, slice, or axe you to death. You'd use whatever projectile you have to try and defeat him while dodging his attacks, repeating this entire process once he's gone. But Jason doesn't only appear in cabins. Without warning, you can be walking along the dirt road, totally care-free (as the zombies are annoying but far from scary), and them BAM - it's Jason! Hurling axes at you will sporting his baby blue hockey mask and purple jogging suit. Look, I assure you, it IS scary, sometimes. Especially when Jason is randomly in a cabin that isn't even inhabited which DOES happen, which is sort of the genuis of this game. Even if he looks silly, Jason IS very unpredictable and can get the jump on you like he did so many randy teenagers in his classic films. This game will never be noted for it's quality but is noted for its intense difficulty. Taking down Jason is a slow, methodical process that spans three "days" and will likely be fruitless for you in the end.

YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD. GAME OVER.

5. Nemesis (Resident Evil III, Playstation) - This is a character that I myself have never met, but have heard much about. I have never played a Resident Evil game, save for the weird one on the Gameboy Color, so I'm going by what my sister has told me about this guy. In essence, as you play through this game, you are constantly being stalked by Nemesis, a mutated version of Tyrant, or in other words, a big fucking zombie. However, unlike Tyrant, Nemesis has a rocket launcher. How fun. Now when I say "constantly being stalked," I do mean that. At every point in the game you're essentially running from him, and he's never too far away. He'll bust through doors and crash through walls to get to you, all the while never quickening his step beyond a walk. There's nothing like the feeling of constantly being chased, and Nemesis will never allow you a moment of ease, making him a high ranking monster in the video game world and on this list, even if I myself have never met him.

4. Sae (Fatal Frame II, Playstation 2) - This is another example of a character and game I've never experienced, but just hearing about this awful child is chilling in and of itself. The idea of Fatal Frame is that you are attacked by ghosts and aparitions, but you cannot attack them, merely snap pictures of them to harm them. So when you take the powerlessness of that situation, tack on the detail of not having even your camera, and then include a demonic ghost child which will kill you instantly with just a touch, you've got yourself a game that even a horror fan such as myself is not necessarily eager to try and tackle. What happens is that you're in a labrynthine area full of dead ends and little hope. Sae, an evil 15 year old girl who was hung for ritual sacrifice, stalks you while eliciting horrifying laughs and a exhibiting a taste for death. Go ahead, run into a different, close the door behind you. Sae will open it up and follow you right in there. Hide in a closet, hope for the best, but if she thinks he knows where you are, she'll open that door right up. In the split second opportunity you'll have to run, you'd better hope you don't find a dead end, or you will indeed be finished. You can't kill her, you can't hurt her, you can only run. And in most instances, you'll only be delaying the inevitable. This very situation taps into my greatest type of fear when it comes to gaming, and for that reason, even if I am unfamiliar with this character and series, Sae ranks highly on this list.

3. Piggsy (Manhunt, Playstation 2) - "Holy Shit!" is the first thing I remember saying when I first encountered Piggsy at the end of what I often call my second favorite video game of all time, Manhunt. You get the Leatherface experience with this character in slightly different packaging. Piggsy is a crazed, naked man who wears a pig's head as a mask, starring in many snuff films by Lionel Starkweather, an ex direction who essentially owns the city of Carcer. Oh, and I forgot to mention, as you'll find while you're walking down the seemingly quiet hallway of a dilapidated attic-like area of Starkweather's mansion, Piggsy also has a loud, powerful and huge fucking chainsaw, which he introduces to you by running right at you from behind a corner, revving it up while screaming at you. Again, "Holy shit!" Instantly you'll run for the fucking hills while this obese man somehow manages to give you a frantic and brain-scrambling chase, the chainsaw roaring hungrily for your blood. With luck you'll find a shadowed area to hide in, while Piggsy stands just a few feet in front of you, searching the area as the motor of his massive-bladed chainsaw idles, intimidatingly. In fact, Piggsy may even try and trick you into dashing out into the open by revving up the chainsaw once again, even if he doesn't actually know where you are. In time, he'll lumber away to search elsewhere. You'll spend the first several moments of this time paralyzed with fear. When you can blink again, you may inch out of your hiding spot and take the nearby glass shard, trying to see if you can spot the location of the chainsaw-wielding maniac in the distance. You'll turn slightly, looking in a difference, direction, completely unaware than Piggsy has once again caught side of you from another angle until that saw revs up again and he charges you. As your brain and hands freeze in horror, you hope your mental capacity return in just enough enough for you to hold down that run button and get the hell out of there....

2. Pyramid Head (Silent Hill 2, Playstation 2) - Pyramid head is easily one of the all time iconic video game villains, and also one of the most frightening. Admittedly, fans of this guy can prove to be irksome, especially if they are mainly familiar with the movie version of him. And sure, at times he may seem a bit overrated, but anyone who's truly played Silent Hill 2 knows that he didn't get his reputation for nothing. This bizarre character wields a huge knife that's so heavy, even he must drag it behind him. Sure, he may be slow, but if that knife does hit you...that's it. It's over. Not only that, but he follows you for the entirety of the game, the very embodiment of punishment. You may call him Pyramid Head, you may call him Crimson Pyramid, but you could also accurately call him the Executioner. No matter where you go, he's waiting for you, an unstoppable wraith hell bent on making you pay for your sins. The giant pyramid which makes up what you know to be his head conceals intentions and thought in a fortess of mystery, as he slowly approaches to put you down for all time. Encountering him in a tight space is the stuff of nightmares, and naturally is the way in which you will most often meet him. The battle you have with him early in the game in the stairwell will have you in a death drip of stress, as you are always no more than a foot or two out of the reach of his Great Knife, vieing for any position that may or may not be available. You'll put clip after clip of bullets in his head before he finally retreats, waiting to confront you again at a later time. And that's the truly horrifying part about Pyramid head. It's not so much having to see or fight him. It's that you KNOW he's going to come back. But you won't know where, and you won't know when. Pyramid Head would be a gross oversight if he were to be omitted from this collection, and although it may be a surprise to most that he doesn't make up the crown of this list, it is certainly expected of him to be positioned very high in the world of video game monsters.

1. Sinistar (Sinistar, Arcade Coin-Op) - "Run, Coward! Run Run Run!" There's only one thing worse than a giant, interstellar juggernaut chasing you down, hell bent on catching and devouring you. And that's hearing him tell you about it. Yes, Sinistar is the original badass of the video game world and with good reason. Never before had a video game villain had such personality and such charisma while being so unstoppable. The idea of Sinistar is that aliens are working to build a huge monster known as the Sinistar, a demonic face among a circular border which flies powerfully and without inhibition throughout the universe. To destroy this beast, you must take your tiny ship and shoot planetoids to mine crystals to make Sinibombs, made from the same crystals which are used to build Sinistar, himself. There is no time to fool around. The sounds of Sinistar's construction act as a ticking clock of sorts as you race to be ready for the monster once he is completed. "Beware, I live!" exclaims Sinistar from somewhere deep in space as he announces his own completion. You pray that you have enough bombs to smash the Sinistar as you race away, Sinistar hot in pursuit. "I hunger, coward!" He shouts, revealing his intentions. "Run, coward!" As the huge monster comes closer, you shoot off all of your Sinibombs. You hear his terrifying screams as the bombs connect. He has taken damage but a moment later you come to the heart-sinking realization that not all of the bombs connected, having been intercepted by planetoids and smaller aliens. And now Sinistar is after you, chasing you down with no distraction, no diversion, and no mercy, knocking planetoids out of his way as if they were mere marbles. He's right behind you, as you race as fast as you can into endless space, twisting and turning, unable to shake him. What will you do? The answer - nothing. You can do nothing now. Inevitably, Sinistar will catch up to you. "RAAAAAARGGHHH!" he roars as your ship spins out of control and is pulled to his mouth as if caught in a tractor beam. Finally, as you enter that terrible maw, his teeth snap snap down, shattering your ship into dozens of tiny pieces. Approximate play time: 35 seconds. It's hard to believe a game like this was available in 1982, and it's even harder to believe the cult following it still has, today. There is perhaps no game that imbodies a seemingly inescapable chase such as Midway's classic Sinistar. Perhaps no other game can instill this kind of stress and fear in the player, either. Sinistar was a game that was well ahead of its time, and Sinistar is a villain that simply can't be matched as a character or a villain. Sure, you can destroy him. But he'll be back. And one way or another...he's gonna get you. Although this character and game may not be expected by many comtempary gamers (better known as 'posers'), as a fan of classic gaming, I feel that Sinistar truly deserves to enjoy the top tier of the scariest video game monsters/villains of all time. He was groundbreaking, he was legendary, and most of all...he was terrifying.

~Richard

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Happy October and Vacation Shipping Schedule

2011-10-04T20:08:00.000-05:00

It's October and here in Minnesota we're seeing lovely leaf changes and getting some nice crisp fall days. Perfect weather for caramel apples and pumpkin pie. Hopefully wherever you are it's been just as nice.

Normally with the cooler weather it's the perfect time to do some store updates but due to an accidental drop our laptop is broken, so we've had limited internet access and haven't been able to add anything new. That being said though they are a bit delayed we have been able to process orders normally so if you're expecting something it's on it's way. :)We've ordered a new laptop so hopefully things will be back to normal in a few weeks.

On the note of shipping scheduling, we'll be going on vacation from the 9th to 15th we're leaving the shop open while gone, but our new computer won't be here until after we come back so we won't be able to answer questions or process orders until we return. We expect our first shipping day after we get back to be Tuesday the 18th so please keep that in mind when placing an order. All Orders placed by Thursday the 6th will be shipped before we leave for vacation so if you want something by next week be sure to get your order in sometime in the next two days.

We hope you all enjoy the lovely month of October and we look forward to being able to doing business with you soon.

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Sales Time!

2011-08-16T21:14:00.000-05:00

Here's a Sale, it never fails, it makes me wanna wag my tail when it comes I want to wail SAAALLEEE! (brought to you by the mail song from Blue's Clues)

So silly song aside, we really are having a sale, a few of them actually. First up is our manga sale.

We've already reduced our manga and comic prices drastically and most are less than $3 a volume with many at $1. On top of these already low prices we're currently offering 30% off on all our manga with coupon Code: Mangasale

This code works on any Manga, Comics, or Books in are our aptly named Comics Manga and Books section. So go find yourself some awesome reading material!

Next leg of our sale is the Clearance section. You know how sometimes you pu something in your closet and forget about it until leg warmers aren't cool anymore? Well that's happened in our stock room so we've been marking down a lot of stuff that's been sitting too long being unloved. Most of it's cooler than leg warmers have ever been too for example:

This super awesome promo poster for Kai Doh Maru. It's down from $5 to $2 and even if you've never seen it, it has gorgeous art!

Or there's this super adorable Magical Do Re Mi/ Ojamajo Doremi UFO Catcher of Momoko with a cookie, down to $5 from $9

Or if you're looking for something more vintage, there's this super cute Care Bears Warm Feelings board game. Down to $7 from $9

That's just a tiny sampling of our sale pages, so head on over to our clearance section and snag yourself a great deal before they're gone. For an even better deal you can combine clearance prices with the manga sale code, so go forth and shop cheaply!

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The Secret Life of our Sailor Moon Dolls

2011-08-07T13:26:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered what your dolls are up to while you're at work or sometimes just in the next room? Well I can't speak for all dolls, but with some careful investigation we discovered that our dolls, lead active, interesting lives when they're not posing on a shelf for us. These pictures are the result.

I originally did this as a series of picture posts on twitter, they've been recollected here with a bit of additional info. In case you're wondering why there's no Sailor chibimoon and no Sailor Saturn it's because they're secret lives are so secret, even we don't know about them. (or because we don't have 6inch Japanese dolls of those two) So with that out of the way,

Sailor Mercury is a world renowned Star Wars Model Builder. This AT-AT model is one of her finest accomplishments.

Sailor Venus is secretly a biker, we caught her on her way back from Sturgis.

Sailor Pluto is an accomplished equestrian, her horse is name Dusty.

Sailor Mars is a Trekkie and spends her weekends attending Star Trek conventions, this picture marks her fourth meet & greet with Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart.

Kino Makoto, AKA Sailor Jupiter, loves the movie Akira and started her own yearly convention.

Sailor Neptune uses intense training sessions with close personal friend Godzilla to keep her fighting edge.

Sailor Uranus Trained to be a Bounty Hunter on Spaceship Beebop in case this whole Sailor Senshi thing doesn't work out.

Usagi, AKA Sailor Moon, is really into the organic movement and grows all her own food.

And there you have it, you never know what your dolls might be up to when you're not looking.

~Stephanie
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Happy Birthday Sailor Moon! ( & coupon code)

2011-06-30T16:21:00.000-05:00

It's Usagi and Chibiusa's Birthday today!

If you're a Saior Moon lover like we are that means it's a cause for celebration! So for the rest of today only you can get 10% off your purchase of sailor moon items in our shop! Just use coupon code Usagi

But hurry about because it's only good until midnight tonight!

If you're not in a shopping mood, Join us for a celebration over on Twitter and help us and the other moonies make #Sailormoon a trending topic for her birthday!

(If for some crazy reason you aren't a Sailor Moon fan, we have the Inuyasha sale still going on as well)

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Store Stuff: Coupon Code on Inuyasha items

2011-06-24T13:12:00.001-05:00

Rumiko Takahasi had a number of successful anime and manga franchises including: Urusei Yatsura, Mermaid Saga and Ranma 1/2 . But none have been so popular (in the western world at least) as her feudal fairytale, InuYasha. With demons, magic, maidens, an enigmatic ancient setting and occasional appearances by Kagome's big fat cat, there's something for everyone to like in InuYasha. While Inuyasha fans aren't as numerous as they used to be, the series has stood the test admirably and with good reason, there's still quite fanbase. If you're part of this fanbase, we have a great coupon code for you! If you use coupon code SHIKON at checkout from now until ~~July 1st~~, Extended to July 15th! You'll get 15% off all the InuYasha items in your cart , whether it be one little cell charm or everything in the section!

If you need help chosing what to spend your discount on we have a few suggestons:

Sesshomaru Ani Statue

This Ani-Statue of Sesshomaru is very detailed and looks great on display. As a bonus since it's made out of high grade plastic instead of resin, it's lot harder to break if you've got mischievous cats or grabby handed little cousins. Still mint (but not new) n the box, this lovely demon is normally $30, but would be $25.50 with discount.

Inuyasha Gashapon

If the Dog boy yourself is more your speed. We recommend this just as detailed, though quite a bit smaller, Inuyasha gashapon. This is an original Japanese figure by Bandai, and comes with all his original parts and stand. (sadly no box or papers though) originally priced at a budget friendly $9, he's $7.65.

(though for the record if you still want bigger and better, we've got the Inuyasha Ani-Statue available as well)


Kikyo UFO Catcher Figure

If you like shrine maidens more than demons or half demons, there's this rare and lovely Kikyo UFO catcher figure. It's a really lovely detailed figure with a beautiful serene face. The previous owner glued it dowb to the wrong stand which kind of an unfortunate thing, but not a huge detractor. Kiyo herself in in great shape and looks beautiful on display and how much time do you really spend looking at a stand? This rare figure was already priced at only $10 due to the stand issue and with discount is $8.50.

If you don't like any of our selections we have over a dozen more Inuyasha goodies available right now, with the potentially for more before the coupon code ends. So if you're a fan you're band to see something that will look great in your collection. Happy shopping!

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The Top Ten Most Underrated Video Games (As told by Richard)

2011-06-12T20:33:00.001-05:00

Richard one of our regular contributors wrote this as a journal on another site, and while we're not all completely in agreement with this list we thought it well worth sharing here.

TOP TEN MOST UNDERRATED VIDEO GAMES

10. Pro Pinball: The Web (PC, Playstation) - As far as video pinball goes, you'll be hard pressed to find something competitive with this. It's incredibly fun, and high scoring so you feel really good about yourself. Aside from so-so sound effects, the game play here can get truly addicting and consuming. This game features super fun jackpot modes, great graphics and excellent physics, and this is especially true for its three sequels, Timeshock!, Big Race USA, and Fantastic Journey. I'd highly recommend this one for any pinball fan.

9. Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) - I have to admit, this one made it to the list as the arbitrary winner of a list of a few other games that were last to be selected, but that isn't to say I don't have fond memories of this one growing up. You and a partner should you have one wonder your once peaceful suburban neighborhood, destroying zombies and other monsters with weapons such as water pistols, tomatoes, silverware, soda cans and more. Along the way you want to save the still living neighbors from being killed by the monsters. You lose if every living person (or dog) in a level perishes. You may also encounter things such as a ten story tall baby, killer clones of you and your buddy, and a delightful little level simply known as Chainsaw Hedgemaze Mayhem. This is a solid SNES game that doesn't short out of the fun.

8. No One Can Stop Mr. Domino! (Playstation) - This hidden gem hearkens back to the days when early 3D games, especially in the Playstation era, were often these quaint, quirky, strange, arcade-ish, and most importantly, very fun titles. Mr. Domino was a unique game of notable difficulty in which the player would control and anthropomorphic, walking domino as it would leave behind a limited supply of other dominoes at it progressed, and as the title implies, your little domino can not be stopped. The most you can do is slow down but coming to a full stop only happens when your energy is depleted, and your walking domino turns back into an inanimate little dotted rectangle.

The goal is to leave dominoes in front of various buttons on a repeating course, and leave a trail of dominoes from a marked spot and lead them to yet another button, repeating this as well as you can. Upon coming back around the course, you now run into your initial domino which will trigger some kind of action in the level which in most cases leads to the marked spot being disturbed. If a domino is there, then it will fall, sending any and all dominoes lined up in front of it tumbling to the floor. Do this right and you can create a course-length domino effect that's both impressive to achieve and fun to watch. Also on the course are health pickups, speed ups, slow downs, and reset tiles which reset the level back to default. The darker the back of your walking domino becomes, the less energy you have and the more urgently you need to walk over a health tile. Your health depletes faster as you progress to later levels. Pushing all required buttons in a level clears you to enter the next. So if you can, I highly suggest you pop Mr. Domino into your Playstation. And go ahead. Just try to stop him. I dare you.

See the rest after the jump

7. Vegas Stakes (SNES) - Put your PokerStars and other douchey gambling sites away, none of them can outdo the beauty that is Nintendo's own gambling epic, Vegas Stakes. In this game you and four of your friends set out on the realistic goal of traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada, and not leaving until you've accumulated ten million dollars. Throughout this little (mis)adventure, you will play Slots, Craps, Roulette, BlackJack, and Seven Card Stud Poker. You can also travel to different casinos with differing minimums and limits. Once you've turned your initial $1,000 investment into $100,000, you will be given High Roller status and be invited to gamble at the prestigious Laurel Palace, where there are no limits and all non-slot minimums are $1,000. Classy, no? Also, as you play your little games of chance, other gamblers may engage you for one reason or another. Some of them may be wanting to get some pointers, others may be selling jewelry, and others yet may need money for their sick child. Beware, as some of these people may be pickpockets and con artist. However, an interaction with the right person could gain you any number of riches. These interactions are what sets Vegas Stakes apart from your run of the mill gambling games.

6. Super Punch-Out!! (SNES) - Although nothing can quite measure up to the classic boxing epic that was Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, this game had so much comical, zany fun packed into it that it's no wonder the word "Boxing" is never once found in the game. You are now controlling a new character whom you yourself will name. The gameplay is rather similar to the NES game, heavily based on dodging and counter punches. The main difference is better graphics, and you are no longer vertically challenged. When you gain enough momentum, you can unleash a powerful hook to the face, body, or a pummeling flurry of blows to either area. And, until you are hit again, this is unlimited. But remember, this is not a boxing simulation. This is an arcadey, cartoonish, fist-heavy (but not limited), brawling, ass-kick-a-thon. And your opponents may not-so-discretely sneak in a headbutt, kick to the face, spit in the eye, or even a large cane shot to the head. The game features fast and fun action, although admittedly repetitive, hilarious facial expressions and amazing if not slightly ridiculous knockdown animations. It's somewhat rare but a great play even for non-boxing fans.

5. Fire Pro Wrestling (GBA, Playstation 2) - Fire Pro Wrestling, especially in its later days, was a wrestling game that's always been well received in Japan but never properly loved here in the states. This could probably be attributed not only to stuff competition of WWE games, but also its cartoonish graphic style. Which is truly too bad because these games are amazing examples of in depth details, movesets, and especially customization. The Gameboy Advance version already offered character editing that was incredibly in depth, making each new character no less than a 30 minute project assuming you were as experienced with it as I was.

It offered over 70 characters to make in addition to the ones already there, and I managed to fill them all. But as much as I loved this, nothing could prepare me for the customization offered to you in Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on the Playstation 2, one of my recent acquisitions. Follow me on this. In this game, you can edit a character, including looks, moves (lots of moves...), gender, theme music, favorite weapon, nationality, and tons of other details, you can edit a wrestling organization, and a logo for your new organization, a referee, a title belt, and even a wrestling ring, which you can even put your logo in the center of. You can also choose a finishing move for your wrestling and rename it to whatever you want. And I shit you not, you can even make your character gay. Why is this important? Well...certain moves can only be done by people...willing to perform them. The game also includes moves and faces belonging to actual wrestlers, allowing you to recreate your favorite superstars. And the intense character editor makes it very possible to make other characters you love (just ask Solid Snake and Little Mac over there on my memory card). There is so much more to this game I could get into but I fear I must move on. But if you are a wrestling fan, this really is a must have. And what's more, the Playstation 2 version usually sells for around $5. Sometimes under appreciation pays off.

4. Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012 (Playstation) - It's like Twisted Metal. Only better. In fact, this game was made by the same team who did the first two Twisted Metal games, and the near identical graphics and controls prove this. But this title had a twist that made it infinitely more interesting. Your goal in this game was not only to destroy other vehicles with a huge arsenal of deadly, combustible weapons...

but also, to hijack (yes, hijack) a tourist, and bust into the privately owned last vacation spots on a post apocalyptic Earth, getting them to photo ops and most importantly, collecting cash to use on health and weapon upgrades. There is just one tourist per level, and every auto-mercenary wants him...sounds fun, right? Each level ends when you've "blasted all the competition." However, Big Daddy, owner of these vacation spots, is unhappy about you scoring profit off of his properties. In due time he will send Daddyland security to neutralize you. And should that fail, you will face off with Big Daddy, himself. And let's just say that's not just a name. This game is one I'll always hold close to my heart, existing as one of the first ever games I played on Playstation, and take it from me - it beats the shit out of Twisted Metal.

3. Incredible Crisis (Playstation) - I cannot tell you how much me and my siblings love this game. My sister first brought this home to us when she found it cheap in a store. Far as I know, she knew nothing about it. Its contents would prove to be something we would never forget and cherish forever. Incredible Crisis is a mini-game based title that follows a Japanese family as they go through a series of unlikely, comical, and strange, yes, crisis in order to get home on time for Grandma's birthday. The mini games may involve trying to stop a falling elevator by button mashing, getting a golden piggy bank from a secured room with a crushing, spiked ceiling by measuring grocery items' weight to replace it with, escaping a praying mantis after being shunk down to the size of an ant by running and avoiding obstacles, or our personal favorite, trying to give a pretty lady a satisfying back rub...off camera...on a ferris wheel...with only moans to tell you how you're doing...with fireworks going off upon completion. The goal of all of these games and the many more within is to complete the task at hand without blowing your top from stress. A head-shaped meter tells you how stressed you are, and lets you know how urgently you must keep your cool. It's one of the most fun games the Playstation has to offer, and is something that can only be properly explained by playing it.

2. Thrasher: Skate and Destroy (Playstation) - I'm just gonna say it. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater's got nothing on this. You want a game about straight up, dirty, gritty street skating? This is your game. This Rockstar classic is not an arcadey, ridiculous example of super hero-like skateboarding. And it's also not easy. It's a realistic, down to earth street-skating game that requires actual skill to master. There are no secret tapes, no silly letters to collect, no bums to ollie. Simply put, it's all about skating, and skating well. The only way to finish a level is to rack of a score with grinds, flips, grabs and other moves, which are improved by tricking over risky areas such as ramp transfers and over moving vehicles. When a level begins you're free to explore for as long as you want. Once you've got an idea of what you're doing, you can start your run, and you'll have 2 minutes to get the required score.

Once you've done it, head for the exit. If you do not leave the area in time, then at the end of your run (unless you're in an official competition), you'll be pursued by a cop, a mugger, or even a police dog. The screen switches to their view with you in the distance, making controlling quite a bit more difficult. Doing tricks in front of these guys is worth triple would they would be normally, giving you one final shot to break through the ceiling of the needed score. If you're caught, then you will have to start the level over. If you escape, you will only win if your score is high enough. What also makes this game great is fully "customizable" bails. That's right, unlike Tony Hawk's preloaded animations, once you leave your board, your character basically becomes a rag doll and what happens to him now is up to your environment and God. If you sustain too much damage during your run, your board will break, which is an automatic loss. Also, in two player mode, there are several games you can play. But one of those games stands head and shoulders above the rest: Sick Fix. Simply put, a contest on who can hurt their character the most. And believe you me, this can get interesting in the Subway level. There's so much more to discover in this skating classic (including the best old school rap soundtrack ever put together, yes rap, it IS cool you scrawny white bastards) and it's truly too bad there will never be another. But if you're a real skater, not just a Tony Hawk fan, then go find this game. If you don't love it, you suck.

1. Silent Hill (Playsation) - Yes, I'm sure at least some of you find this to be a surprising conclusion to the list, especially since the Silent Hill series has plenty of appreciation at this point but hear me out. For a long time, Silent Hill's release was followed with skeptics shrugging it off as a Resident Evil clone. And only when Silent Hill 2 came out did the original start to get the appreciation it had long since deserved. At yet, despite all of this, due to factors as trivial as graphics and the inclusion of Pyramid Head, Silent Hill 2 has long been hailed the superior game of the ever expending series. But here are the fact, from a guy who started from the beginning. The original Silent Hill was a genius game that offered things never before seen in video games and is the scariest piece of media you ever own, period.

When I first played this game, I couldn't believe how much it scared me, especially considering that I was long used to PS2/Xbox level graphics by the time I got to it. But despite that and the admittedly laughable voice acting, once the lights go out and the music starts up...you'll wish you never put this one in the machine. The atmosphere was never again matched, even in the sequels, likewise with the music. The music in this game is absolutely horrifying and is unparalleled by any other horror compositions. The bizarre story is gripping despite being nearly unfollowable, and by the time this one's over, you may truly never look at horror games the same again. It is the scariest game of all time, no arguments, and although Silent Hill 2 is a great game in its own right, it never comes close to achieving what this one did. And for that matter, the original Silent Hill takes its place as my pick for the #1 most underrated video game.

So there we have it, the first of perhaps many top ten lists to come. This one literally took me hours to write which is just how I like it.

-Richard

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Birthday Coupon Code

2011-06-06T23:18:00.000-05:00

The wonderful (but mostly silent) owner of Avane Shop, Jen is is turning 29 later this week, June 10th to be exact.:) In honor of this happy occasion we're giving away a few presents!

The next 10 orders get 29% off their total order at www.avaneshop.com Just use coupon Code: Birthday in the checkout screen. We have over a thousand items to browse through so there's bound to be something that strikes your fancy. Again this special gift is for the next 10 orders only so shop quickly or you'll miss out!

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Retro Review: Syberia PC

2011-05-25T14:00:00.002-05:00

In spite of Syberia being a bit too new age wise (it came out in 2002) to really be considered it's old school point and click mentality made me think that it would be OK to sneak in.

Introduction

American lawyer, Kate Walker goes to France to sign some paperwork giving a large client control of an old toy factory. When she arrives she discovers a town full of strange but beautifully intricate automatons and a half century old secret. Suddenly a one day trip to take care of a few formalities becomes a life changing adventure aboard a clockwork train heading for the fabled island of Syberia.

Overview

Controls aren't bad it's a point and click so there's not a whole lot of guessing or wondering how something is done. However Kate can be kind of sluggish sometimes, watching her take the stairs was a particular annoyance to me but made me nostalgic for those old PS1 adventures games that suffered the same issue. Additionally sometimes finding the right sweet spot to make something work or pick up a necessary item is tiresome, but nothing any adventure game player shouldn't be very familiar with.

Graphically it's nice overall. The character designs are pretty consistent with the time period though their movements themselves are bit stiff. The environments are imaginative and beautifully rendered with gorgeous art-nouveau and steampunk styling throughout, even the menu is pretty. My small issue is while they're lovely, the environments are pretty flat there's usually not a lot of background activity happening and you usually only see everything from one angle.

Soundwise it's good, but not phenomenal. It's got full voice-overs which normally in a game of this type I
could take or leave, but other than a few botched accents the voice actors were very believable. Kate Walker has to be one of only a handful of female video game protagonists who's voice doesn't grate on me. The only issue there was that it was often delayed, making many conversations awkward sounding especially when one character broke into another's speech or was supposed to be startling.
The music, was well written and appropriate, but I had a problem with it's usage. Every single time you accomplished a task like turning something on or putting something together, you got a big swell of music. Which was ok the first time and maybe even the 10th time, but after that I was completely over it. It drowned out any background noise or conversation for those couple of minutes you were stuck listening to it. It at least had the decency change depending on your area, but it still got old quickly, which honestly is kind of a shame because the music was otherwise well written and well rendered.

Gameplay

As a point and click style adventure, your primary means of going through the game is talking to NPCs, finding important documents, finding random objects, using said random object with information obtained from NPCs and documents to complete a task and move on with your game. Simple classic stuff here, not too much different from the sort of things we were playing back in the eighties (King's Quest anyone?) it just looks nicer.

The exploration leaves a bit to be desired. The locations are lovely and pretty well realized, but as I noted above they're a bit flat. Most places you can only see from one angle and there isn't really a lot of room to wander around. You're always on a main path that will take you to a puzzle or objective, sightseeing off the beaten path isn't an option. Additionally, Kate often wouldn't speak to NPCs that weren't absolutely necessary, or examine and comment on her environment unless it was perfectly relevant to the story. This sort of thing is a huge pet peeve of mine in any adventure game, as I feel extraneous environmental details, while unimportant to storyline, add to the depth and overall feel of a game. However, in some ways this detraction is also a blessing, because as I mentioned briefly above, Kate walks painfully slowly even when running. I often found myself dreading any backtracking I had to do, so having full run of the land might not be so great. On the other hand, I'm playing an adventure game because I want an adventure I can feel connected to and immersed in, not a carnival haunted house style walkthrough on rails.

I can't discuss the puzzles in any detail without ruining things, but they're pretty easy for a veteran gamer, not so easy they insult your intelligence though. Even if you're not an experienced game adventurer, they're not so hard you find yourself wanting to send the programmers some less than complementary emails. Most solutions are either discussed somewhere or pretty logical once you have all the required items. I did find a few places where I got stuck because the next course of action wasn't exactly logical or ever discussed, but not really anything out of the ordinary for this type of game.

The storyline is interesting and compelling, Kate spends most of the game trying to track down the mysterious heir, master automaton maker and mammoth obsessee, Hans Voralburg. Tracking Hans is no easy task as by all accounts no one has seen him for years, and some think him long dead. Her only clues are his now dead sister's notes and some of Hans' creations including a clockwork train, and Oscar the amazing automaton train conductor who's AI tends toward the neurotic with special attention paid to needless bureaucracy. The two of them encounter a large cast of colorful NPCs ranging from hotel clerks to barge captains, a drunken astronaut to a world famous opera singer most with refreshingly non-archetypal personalities. Even the locations themselves also have interesting and complex histories.

Kate Walker's own personality comes through surprisingly natural character development. You learn about Kate's life via a series of cell phone conversations with her mother, best friend, fiancee, and boss. A nice change from the normal "my name is ___ and here's my life story" randomly blurted out in a cutscene found in many lesser quality games. By the end of the game I found myself thinking of Kate not quite as friend, bud fondly and familiarly, like an old high school acquaintance I was like to catch up with over coffee.

They only issue with the storyline is the ending. Without ruining any details, it's abrupt, anti-climatic and clearly a lead-in to a sequel. Personally I can't stand it when game publishers (or movie makers, or novel writers) do that instead of giving you a real ending, there are ways of both giving your story and end that won't make your players feel like they wasted hours for nothing and still leave your options open for a sequel. I didn't necessarily feel like I wasted my time at the end of Syberia, but I did feel a bit cheated.

Conclusion

Syberia is a good game, it's got a nice classic feel and a unique, compelling storyline. Visually it's treat, every single object, environment and menu has been clearly carefully and artfully designed and beautifully rendered. The game isn't without it's flaws, as discussed above, but the positives outweigh them. So, if you've got a few hours to spare and are looking for a unique adventure Syberia won't disappoint.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Bootleg Sailor Moon Car Pencil Box

2011-05-18T20:44:00.000-05:00

Our collection of weird Sailor Moon items isn't just limited to officially licensed crack, we have a wide variety of unofficial items as well. Now finding a crack bootleg item is like shooting fish in a barrel, but we try to get some of crackest of the crack items. That being said we present you with one of the worst offenders, A Car Shaped Pencil Box:

Who knew that Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibimoon rode around in such a flashy car? Though admittedly Usagi won't be driving it for much longer if she doesn't put more than one posing finger on the wheel. Stranger still who knew they hung out with other magical girls like Momoko from wedding peach? Though even though she looks like she's smiling in the back window, something much more sinister may be going on..

Instead of having a normal hood, this car is so fancy the whole top comes up for extra easy access, snazzy!

You've got to wonder how exactly they're getting around. I'm really not a car person, but I've seen a variety of engines none of which seem to resemble an unplayable race themed board game. On the plus side it seems like a pretty unique green environmentally friendly solution, a moon princess has to be socially conscious after all.

In all reality, this a tin pencil box with a hinged lid and single inner tray, it probably would hold your pencil, but wouldn't hold up to much wear and tear. We bought it online (for around $5 including shipping) but it almost certainly came out of some back alley Chinatown dollar store.However, in spite of it's many flaws and innaccuracies, this is a fun and unique piece for our collection and will serve us well holding wands, time keys and doll stands.

~Stephanie

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Legends of Murder 2: Grey Haven Download

2011-04-10T20:56:00.005-05:00

UPDATE 3: I couldn't figure out what file was causing the issue with just Greyhaven and really have been too busy for too much trial and error so I've now made a rar file of most of the contents of the Big Blue Disk Greyhaven was a part of I had it tested with a completely different computer and it should be working now.

UPDATE 2: We can download it and it works but others have been having issues. I'm trying to track down the source of that issue right now and hope to have it up again by Monday.

UPDATE: It appears this wasn't working for awhile due to hosting renewal, I thought it was a temp thing do to the change, but apparently renewing our hosting with the same company it was with before means they should nuke all our files. That annoyance aside, it's up again and available for download.

Strangely enough one of the most visited post on our blog is for our review of Legends of Murder 2: Greyhaven which we found strange as it's relatively unknown game. Checking the analytics it seems most people are coming to it looking to download the game itself and though it's taken us a while we finally have it available for anyone to download. Click the image below to get it:

The link takes you directly into downloading the game. We've most recently run this game on windows Vista using DosBox, but have also run it on various older OS's including XP, Windows98 & Windows 95 in the past. We aren't really equipped to provide tech support so if it doesn't work for you we're sorry, but there's not a lot we can do. We tested it before making it available so it shouldn't be an issue for most people though.

We hope that you'll thoroughly enjoy it, it's really a fabulous game.

~Jen & Stephanie

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Collection Update New Anime Cels

2011-03-31T16:51:00.003-05:00

It's been 6 months since our last cel gallery update, so we thought it was high time we shared our joy at acquiring new beauties with the world. We updated 19 new cels in our main gallery from several series. It's be a HUGE post if we reposted them all here, so here are just a few highlights. The biggest influx was new sailor moon cels, with 4 new pieces joining our collection. The highlight of that set is this gorgeous Tiger's Eye:

Tiger's eye urges you to look at his charming chapeau.

We had long admired this Tiger's eye in the original owner's gallery and immediately jumped at the chance to add him to our collection, but it almost didn't happen, read the story here. We added 3 other moon cels as well so check those and the rest of our moon cel collection out in our main gallery, Acetate Addiction.

Lots more after the jump:

Another section we added multiples to is CLAMP's X/1999 where we added 2 new lovlies. A lot of people don't like the film very much but most anime fans can't deny the the X movie cels are gorgeous.

Kanoe rarely looks so serene.

We'd Searched a long time for a great portrait shot of Kanoe with her head symbol fully visible. Luckily this one was updated during a dealer sale so we got this one at a significant discount too. ^_^ Visit her and our other new X cel (a Kamui) along with the rest of our X cel collection. (please be aware that this gallery, though not the ones we linked directly, maybe NSFW as there is some character nudity.)

We also added a super cute my little pony commercial cels including this one from the Dream Castle Commercial:

Is there anything cuter than unicorns in love?

This is pretty much a perfect shot of the two unicorns and I LOVE unicorn cels! We also got a new shot of Peachy from a commercial as well , check out that and the rest of our MLP cels here

The last section that we added multiples to is our Random Video Game Cels section with 2 new cels from Pac-Man!:

Looks like there's been a power pellet pick up recently.

Inky, Blinky, Pinky Clyde & Sue. As far as we're concerned Clyde and Sue are the same ghost just with fluid gender identity, so it's interesting to see 5 ghost in this shot. Our other new Pac Man cel is great shot of Pacman himself making a hilarious face very similar to some you see in Pac-Man2.

Finally a one cel Glory, a beautiful shot of Mephisto from the Anime Classic Demon City Shinjuku:

"If you want my body, and you think I'm sexy c'mon sugar let me Knooow"

Mephisto may not sing Rod Stewart lyrics normally, but he is pretty much the perfect manifestation of Kawajiri's chracter designs and we mean that in the possible way. It was added to our Miscellaneous section as we doubt we'll be adding more cels to this series but why not check out the whole section? It features cels from titles as diverse as Inuyasha and Perfect Blue with many more in between.

In addition to updating our own cel gallery we added several new cels to our shop as well. Check it out for a few new Sailor Moon cels for sale, like this lovely shot of Sailor Mars in her Shrine Priestess outfit:

We also added Magic Knights, and Slayers cels for sale among others, check them all out here.

We hope you've enjoyed this little tour of our newest paint and plastic additions. Be sure to go to our main Gallery at Acetate Addiction to see all our new additions and the rest of our collection. And, while we didn't feature any of them here ,if you love cats be sure to check out our Millions of Cats cel gallery as we recently added some lovely kitties there as well.

~Stephanie

Don't forget to stop by our shop:

The Sailor Moon Doll Spa

2011-03-22T18:46:00.000-05:00

We get a lot of dolls, usually sailor moon, but occasionally others too, in the mail on a fairly regular basis. Often these dolls come to us in loved, over loved, ignored or even downright abused condition. We think that it's a shame to see those little lovelies in such a state so we treat almost every doll we receive (except the few that come to us mint) to Avane's Special doll spa.

First we disrobe them and let them soak in our solid marble pool filled with heated water drawn from Lake Superior and the finest cleansing bubbles with what the french call La shampooing des enfants. They clearly seem to enjoy being pampered:

Note the censor bars are for your protection and ours, excepting the two Setsunas and perhaps the unknown bandai blonde doll, these girls are all jailbait don't want any unpleasant accusations after all.

After a couple of hours leisurely soaking in the bubbles, we drain the pool and treat the dolls to an intensive total immersion full body steam soak, twice. This insures all dirt and debris and left over bubbles are rinsed away.

After that each doll has their faces and bodies carefully exfoliated before having their hair carefully combed and styled by one of our highly trained doll hair specialists. Great care is taken to keep hair as original and undamaged as possible, so sometimes this process can take an hour or more for just one doll. No pictures due to fear of trade secrets getting out (or because usually it's hard to take a shot of yourself combing doll hair) During this time the previously removed clothing is soaked and then gently hand washed with Woolite in our exclusive marble wash basin (which looks strikingly similar to the main spa pool for some reason):

After each doll and her corresponding clothing have had time to dry, the dolls are redressed, re-accessorized and re-primped for their debut to the world. As evidenced by this lovely Japanese Sailor Pluto Doll, who's now a lovely member of our collection.

I hope you've enjoyed your vicarious trip to the doll spa.

~Stephanie

Don't forget to stop by our shop:

New Sailor Moon Italian Trading Figures Review

2011-03-18T20:49:00.001-05:00

We don't normally do reviews for things that aren't completely oddball, but we've seen precious little about these new Italian toys on English sites other than a smattering of pictures. So we thought we'd show off this collection cute little figures.

First up the box:

It came slightly less cute looking, but we set up as a display box, just how it would look if we were lucky enough to live near a store that sold them. The box comes with 24 blind figures sealed in individual bags so everyone you get is a surprise. each bag contains a figure, a puzzle card and a sheet showing the full line of figures.

The puzzle cards aren't really cards as such, they're printed on glossy card stock but they're about half the width of a normal trading card and have wavy edges. each card correspond to the figure they're packed with and one side has information about the character along with a small picture (all the info is in Italian so we have no idea what they say). The Back side of the card has part of a larger image on it and when you assemble them all correctly they look like this:

It's not the most exciting Sailor Moon image I've ever seen, but it's cute.

The figures themselves are like Japanese Gashapons. Most come in separate parts and require assembly. There are 12 figures in all (13 if you count luna and artemis as separate though they come together). Here they are in no particular order see them all after the jump:

Queen Beryl: It's always nice to see Beryl merchandise. I think like most people who started off with the first season of Sailor Moon, Beryl holds a special place in my heart. She was the first big baddie, the original arch nemesis. It's honestly a shame Beryl isn't better represented in moon merchandise. This figure could be cuter (but she's Beryl how cute should she be) but the details on her dress are nice. Her staff being bent seems a production problem, but we prefer to think she's using it as some sort of diving rod.

Princess Serenity: Usagi as Serenity is always a fan favorite. She's pretty she's sophisticated and she wears a great dress. For this figure she they gave her a very light purple dress instead of the standard white. Given that it's often depicted giving off a bit of color, we think it was a good choice, if an unconventional one. The proportions on this figure are a little weird, her arms seem a little too thin and her head a little too big, still she's a nice figure.

Tuxedo Mask: Tuxie is called Milord in Italy, that has no bearing on the figure but it's always amusing to think of calling him Milord. They decided to give him a mysterious pose, holding is trademark rose. We're not sure how we feel about it, but Tuxedo mask ends up looking not so great in most of his merch so this is certainly an improvement.

Luna & Artemis: Where would the senshi be without their guardian cats? You get both cats, no assembly required, both with adorable facial details. They come seprately but their two tails intertwine. In our opinion this the cutest figure of the twelve.

Usagi in School outfit: Usagi or Bunny as she's called in Italy, is in her School fuku with her bag. This is one of the cutest figures of the girls themselves,she has a really great expression. It's too bad they didn't do any of the other girls in their school clothes.

Sailor Moon with Wand: Moon showing off her crescent wand. She has a crystal stand to help hold her up because her legs are in a not so sturdy position. Outfit is detailed and pretty. Her face is detailed, but her eyes are a bit bigger than normal.

Sailor Moon Pose A: This is moon in her "In the name of the Moon I will punish you." Pose. Well detailed and really iconic recognizable pose. Her face is appropriate angry, but less cute than it could be.

Sailor Moon Pose B: This is another iconic moon pose, but this figure isn't as dynamic as the punishment pose. This one has a cuter face than the other though, the happy face figures seem to look better. You can move the right arm of the figure to slightly change where her hand sits either across her eyes, or across her chest, unfortunately both fall short of the top of the head where it should be.

Sailor Mars: Sailor Mars is holding one of her attack spell scrolls. Unfortunately the scroll is blank instead of having characters on it which is kind of a letdown. Her determined face looks little silly considering she has such large eyes, seems sort of a design flaw. Not a bad figure, but certainly one of the least good looking in this set.

Sailor Mercury: Mercury is standing with hands clasped in front of her and looking upwards with a cute expression. both her facial details and her fuku are well designed. One of the cutest senshi in this set.

Sailor Venus: Venus has a super cute face, but her position is sort of weird. I'm not sure why she both seems to have a pain in her arm and is pointing downward for no particular reason.(upon further inspection it looks like we might have just put her arm on wrong) Strange pose aside though she looks good.

Sailor Jupiter: Jupiter is also suffering from a a strange pose, she kind of looks like she's giving us all the finger. Aside from her vulgar hand gesture she's super cute, she'd got her head cocked to the side looking quite inquisitive.

As a whole this is a nice set though there are some things that are less than stellar. We're not big fans of the bigger rounder eyes, the smaller thinner bodies and bigger heads that more consistent with the newer girls dolls and figures. However there are a lot of nice things about them, their parts go together well, The plastic is high quality (not quite as nice as Japanese figures), they're well detailed and the crystal stands are a nice upgrade from the ugly white stands the Japanese gashapons have. The Japanese figures are still nicer, but these are still lovely and will look great in any moon collection.

We have a full set of extra figures available in our shop if you're interested they're here.

Retro Review: Winter Games NES edition

2011-03-16T22:18:00.004-05:00

I mostly finished this review way back at the beginning of January, but life is didn't allow my to finish tweaking it then. Here in Minnesota it's still winter and will be until around June, but in other place spring is approaching so I thought I'd better finish this up while it was still relevant.

Introduction

This was the follow-up to the successful Summer Games and in spite of Epyx not getting IOC liscensing, it couldn't reasonably be considered anything but an Olympic game. I absolutely love Olympic themed video games. For more evidence of this strange compulsion check out my review of Lillehammer 94 game on the Genesis. In any case, given my weird need to play Olympic games it's no surprise that winter games is in my collection and that I feel compelled to share it with others. It's worth noting that this game was released on several platforms each varying slightly in content and presentation. I choose to focus on the NES version because it's the one I think most people, myself included are the most familiar with.

Read more behind the jump

Overview

Controls vary from game to game, most of them are fairly easy and responsive. And then there's figure skating. If you don't have a booklet handy, there is no figure skating (much to my infinite dismay in my younger days). Luckily while playing this time around I found this handy guide to the controls and strategies. Incidentally knowing the controls helps very little in that case, but I'll get more into that later.

Graphically it's crap. Animation is choppy, sprites are undetailed and backgrounds are a mess. It looks 100 times better on the C64. A PC to NES port losing some graphic luster was pretty common, but in this case it doesn't make sense the C64 version isn't anything special in the graphics department and it's nothing the NES shouldn't have been able to handle. Very disappointing overall.

Musically there's very little going on, the only event that really has music while you're doing it is figure skating and while the 8-bit rendition of the dance of the sugarplum fairy isn't really that bad, it gets very, very grating very quickly. There's the music after you've completed speed skating and done the aerials but unless you really want to hear it you're not likely to sit on the results screen and wait for it to play so it's not very memorable. The best music is probably the snippets of each counties' national anthem and the fact that you're forced to listened to whichever one you've chosen before stating an individual event kind of takes away from any minute amount of enjoyment they could have given you. The other sounds are pretty appropriate there just aren't very many of them.

Gameplay

Once you've navigated past the title screen and the emotionally gripping opening ceremony you're brought to your main options screen. Here you can choose to participate in all events in order, Participate in one event at a time, practice the events, see the records or watch the delightful opening ceremony again. Participating in all the events or just one of the events doesn't really matter as in both cases you'll set a record if you don't fail completely. There's not a medal award ceremony or a closing ceremony, or even a congratulations for competing in them all at once. Though there is the distinct advantage of only having to listen to your chosen country's anthem snippet once instead of each time you select an event. Practice gives you the advantage of not having to bother with country selection at all, but you won't set any records and who doesn't want all their friends to know that they got perfect 10's in hot dog aerials (until the game is turned off or reset). In any case regardless of how you choose to compete in them, there are 4 events.

First Up Hot Dog Aerials.

Before we get into playing this event, we must first question the name, yes there was a type of freestyle skiing referred to as "Hot Dog" But the term had mostly died out by the end of the 70's so why they'd choose to use it in a game made in 1986 is anyone's guess. For me personally it brings to mind a guy in a hot dog suit doing ski tricks, which would be cool, but that's not what you get at all. This event is probably one of the most playable of the ones included in this port. You have three attempts to launch your skier off a hill do some fancy tricks and land on your skis instead of your face. You can do back flips, front flips, and splits. The right combination will get you a perfect 10 and a digital roar from the crowd as well as the world record. Though to be fair the world record can be gained by doing dismally as well so long as no one played before you after the game has been turned on.

Next up Speed Skating

Every game with mini games always has a button masher and that's speed skating in this collection. Once the "buzzer" goes of you mash the d pad back and forth like mad to get a good start and then ease up a bit to pick up the rhythm and if you're better than the AI you win. Once you get the hang of it you're all but guaranteed to win. This game is pretty much only fun if you've got a friend to play with, even then it's of limited entertainment. However there is some needlessly epic music that plays when the game concludes whether you're the winner or loser, which provides a modicum of entertainment.

Then Figure Skating.

Figure skating is just awful, not even good enough for me to bother coming up with some sort of silly analogy. It's just your good old fashioned terrible implementation pure and simple. Controls are needlessly complex and require very precise timing. You'd think finding out the controls and what exactly that timing is would fix the problem. Unfortunately it doesn't, the controls aren't responsive enough for the timing required. If that's not bad enough there's an element of "artistry" involved meaning you can't do the same trick twice (even if you fail the first attempt) and need to string together a variety of trick types to get a decent score. In all fairness you can teach yourself to play this game if you're really committed to doing so and even get a decent score or two, but really it's not worth the time and frustration involved.

And finally a big finish with Bobsled.

In spite of being my "big finish" and being a cool sport in general, the bobsled event is really boring. First problem is that for some unfathomable reason they developers choose to make the event itself take place in the upper right hand corner of the screen, while the map which is static save for your blinking position marker dominates the screen. Second the gameplay itself just isn't fun. You steer occasionally and you don't have to be particularly precise, steering away from the turns or into the turns nets about the same results. Which isn't of course to say that they event is easy, you flip over more often than you successfully get down the hill.

Conclusion

Even my weird love for Olympic games can't make this game legitimately enjoyable. The best events are playable, maybe and the worst are a waste of perfectly good cartridge space. As whole it's not good enough to be good, it's not even good enough to be mediocre, nor is it bad enough to be notably bad. They only way I can see this being legitimately enjoyable is if you're playing with friends while drunk, and given I haven't tested that theory personally, it may prove just as disappointing.

Sailor Moon Oddities: GermanTattoo Armband

2011-01-16T13:29:00.002-06:00

Normally this would be a collection oddities post but we don't own this, nor do we plan to. However, we still thought it had to be shared. So here we have an official Sailor Moon Tattoo Armband:

Isn't that a nice trip back to the mid-nineties "Tattoo" jewelery craze. Back then, there were Tattoo chokers, bracelets, armbands and anklets in every drug store, accessory boutique and vending machine as far as the eye could see. Each made of the same cheap breaks-within-days stretchy plastic in a loopy weave made in a sweatshop somewhere to allow the rest of us a few fleeting moments of fashion bliss. It was a magical time. This particular specimen would have been among the creme de la creme of plastic tattoo jewelry with it's fancy bead embellishments.Though, in spite of it's awe inspiring beauty, it does have a small flaw, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with Sailor Moon.

Now here in North America when we wanted market some stupid crap that had nothing to do with Sailor Moon to the fans we slapped a logo, some crappy semi-related art or at the very least some crescent moons on the item itself. Not Germany though, why would they cheapen such a fantastic timeless piece of jewelry by forcing it to be even loosely moon themed? I imagine the conversation went something like this only in German:

German Marketer 1: Surely marketer 2 you realize that the tattoo jewelry craze completely missed Juban?
German Marketer 2: That hardly matters, have you seen the other items that have been manufactured for this series worldwide?
German Marketer 1: Well, that's an excellent point, but perhaps we should at least put a logo or some crescent moons on it So people know it's loosely affiliated with the Sailor Moon Series?
German Marketer 2: *Scoffs* It's thinking like that that keeps you a Junior Marketer, while I'm a Senior Marketer. Clearly there isn't room for a logo and everyone knows crescent moons are tacky. We want to make plastic jewelry the young women of Germany can appreciate for a lifetime. Clearly such a feat can only be achieved using a beaded flower pattern.
German Marketer 1: Then why are we even bothering to put it in sailor moon packaging instead selling it as just an armband?
German Marketer 2: Naturally so we can charge more for it.

Sure I completely made that up, but clearly given the evidence, something similar had to have taken place. It's the only explanation that makes sense.

Meanwhile, if you want this stunning piece for your own collection, it's currently available on German Ebay Here. I'm pretty sure that seller ships worldwide so for only 1 euro + shipping, you can purchase this fabulous Sailor Moon item and be mid-nintes fabulous no matter where in the world you are. For once I think we'll pass.

~Stephanie

Don't forget to stop by our shop:

Christmas Shipping Dates

2010-12-13T05:33:00.000-06:00

So it's 4:30 Monday morning and I'm furiously packing in the hopes of getting all of this weekends order sent out today to make sure everyone gets everything before Christmas. In light of this I thought it high time we addressed this years shipping Cut-off dates. We normally specify a a 5 business day handling time on orders but on orders made until December 21st we're specifying a 1-2 day time.

Below are the dates you'll have to place your order on and the service you'll have to use to ensure delivery before Christmas.

USA Domestic Mail:

Parcel Post: December 14th
First Class: December 19th
Priority: December 20th
Express: December 21st

Please note that many of our books are flat rate shipping for media mail which will not arrive in time for Christmas, if you're interested in ordering a book for a Christmas gift, please contact us about your shipping options prior to order, we'll be happy to send using another option.

International Mail (Excluding Centeral & South America and Africa):

Express Mail: December 15th

Express mail is the only service available that will arrive before Christmas for anyone outside the US.

So there's another week left for those of you in the US and another few days for international buyers. We currently have 615 items in stock, there's sure to be something for the geeky collector on your gift list!

Happy Black Friday!

2010-11-26T00:55:00.000-06:00

So if you're not one of those diehards who's already standing in line at your deal hosting shopping destination of choice, we're hope we can entice you with some Black Friday deals of our own, but since we know most of the Black Friday shopping happens in brick and mortar stores we're offering these special coupon codes until Monday. Also you get your choice for small spenders and not so small spenders:

Get $3 off any order with code: BFU2 (there are a number of items that come out to around $3 shipped in the US so you can end with something cool for only pennies or even FREE!)

Get $10 off any order over $50 with code: BFU5

Get $20 off any order over $100 with code: BFU20

So visit our shop:

And enjoy your shopping days.

Animation Meme

2010-11-21T16:13:00.003-06:00

So I don't post in forever and when I do it's a meme. But hey this meme is very relevant to my interests dang it!

- X what you saw
- O what you haven't finished/seen or saw sizable portions
- Bold what you loved
- Italicize what you disliked/hated
- Leave unchanged if neutral

CLASSIC DISNEY
-------------------------------
[X] 101 Dalmatians (1961)
[X] Alice in Wonderland (1951) - I really really like Alice, but I don't quite LOVE it.
[X] Bambi (1942) - So I don't love it but I cry every time
[X] Cinderella (1950) - Given that I'm a girl with a Princess complex, I enjoy Cinderella but less so as I age
[X] Dumbo (1941)
[X] Fantasia (1940)- One of my favorite movies ever. I love classical music and in my mind has some of the most beautiful animation ever created.
[X] Lady and the Tramp (1955)
[X] Mary Poppins (1964)
[X] Peter Pan (1953)
[X] Pinocchio (1940)
[X] Sleeping Beauty (1959) - Also with my princess problem I really Like sleeping beauty, but less so as I age
[X] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
[] Song of the South (1946)

More after the jump

DISNEY'S DARK AGE
-------------------------------
[X] The Aristocats (1970)
[X ] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[X] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[X] The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
[X] The Jungle Book (1967)
[X] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[X] Oliver and Company (1986)
[X] Pete's Dragon (1977)
[X] The Rescuers (1977)- So Boring
[X] Robin Hood (1973) - I haven't seen this is a long time but I HATED it as a child
[X] The Sword In The Stone (1963)

THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE
-------------------------------
[X] Aladdin (1992) - I used to really really love Aladdin, but kind of outgrew it
[X] Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[X] A Goofy Movie (1995)
[X] Hercules (1997)- My love of Greek mythology ruins most of the enjoyment I could get out of this movie, if there weren't a big silly animated Pegasus I'd probably hate it.
[X]The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
[X] The Lion King (1994) - I saw this in the theater 3 times when it came out and Once in IMAX as an adult. It's one of the first movies I really loved on it's own merits and not just because it had something I liked in it (like mythical creatures and pretty princesses)
[X] The Little Mermaid (1989)-LOVED this movie as a child and I still really like it, but Ariel is too stupid to let me still love it
[X] Mulan (1998) I haven't seen it in awhile but I hated it when I did and the art style annoys me
[X] Pocahontas (1995)-I really don't like this one, but I don't actively dislike it either, I'd just rather not watch it
[X] The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
[] Tarzan (1999)

DISNEY'S MODERN AGE
-------------------------------
[] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) Sort of a mess, but pretty looking
[] Bolt (2008)
[] Brother Bear (2003)
[] Chicken Little (2005) - but I wouldn't watch it again.
[] Dinosaur (2000)
[] The Emperor's New Groove (2000) - I think I love this one more than it deserves
[] Fantasia 2000 (2000)- I find it mind blowing I haven't seen this one yet, but I've been wanting to get the DVD for awhile.
[] Home on the Range (2004)
[X] Lilo & Stitch (2002)- This one disappointed me. I really liked Stitch, he was animated wonderfully but the rest of the movie didn't do much for me.
[] Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[] Treasure Planet (2002)

I clearly am not a modern Disney fan

PIXAR
-------------------------------
[X] A Bug's Life (1998)
[] Cars (2006)
[X] Finding Nemo (2003)- This was a cute move but way way overrated
[] The Incredibles (2004)
[] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[] Ratatouille (2007)
[X] Toy Story (1995)
[X] Toy Story 2 (1999)
[] Toy Story 3 (2010) Apparently a toy octopus plays a small role in this one meaning I'll be seeing it as soon as I get the chance
[] Wall-E (2008)
[] Up (2009)

DON BLUTH
-------------------------------
[X] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[X] An American Tail (1986)-Hated this as a kid, but haven't seen it since then so I don't know I'd still dislike it
[X] An American Tail: Fieval Goes West (1991)-Same at the other American Tail movie
[X] Anastasia (1997)
[X] The Land Before Time (1988)- it's really too bad they made so many sequels as it's tones down the greatness of the original
[X] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[X] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)- This movie is so annoying, I saw it several times and each time it grates more and more on my nerves
[X]The Secret of NIMH (1982)- I barely remember this one
[X] Thumbelina (1994)
[] Titan AE (2000)
[] A Troll in Central Park (1994)

CLAYMATION
-------------------------------
[o] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986) - I know I've seen part of this but I'm not sure if I've seen it all
[X] Chicken Run (2000)- I saw this in the theater and can not remember a thing about it
[X] Corpse Bride (2005)-Such a disappointment
[X] James and the Giant Peach (1996) - I double checked with my brother and the family watched this move, but I can't rember it. Too bad because I LOVED the book.
[X] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - I remeber seeing this in the theater when it came out and it blew my mind. I Still ADORE this movie I just wish it was so overexposed these days
[] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)- I really don't know how I didn't see this because I love Wallace and Gromit.
[] Coraline (2009)

CGI GLUT
-------------------------------
[X] Antz (1998) - Stupid, and forgettable
[] Happy Feet (2006)
[] Kung Fu Panda (2008)
[] Madagascar (2005)
[] Monster House (2006)
[] Over the Hedge (2006)
[] The Polar Express (2004) - I think this one will be too scary for me
[X] Shrek (2001)- Shrek didn't do much for me, I never understood why people liked it so much
[] Shrek 2 (2004)
[] Shrek The Third (2007)
[] Monsters vs. Aliens - Felt like I should've liked this movie better than I did

It's also obvious I don't like CG much.

IMPORTS
-------------------------------
[] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995)
[X] The Last Unicorn (1982)- Honestly this movie has issues, but I love it anyway I could watch it forever
[] Light Years (1988)
[] The Triplets of Belleville (2003)-I've been wanting to watch this for awhile I think it's in my Netflix que
[X] Persepolis (2007) - Not what I was expecting but a great move and one I'd highly reccomend
[] Waltz With Bashir (2008)- Netflix keeps suggesting this so I'm sure we'll get to it eventually
[X] Watership Down (1978) - I don't remember it at all, though I know I saw it
[] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[X] Yellow Submarine (1968) - You don't look bluish...

STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI
-------------------------------
[X] Grave of the Fireflies (1988)- one of the best animated films ever made, but I can only watched it every couple of years because it's so depressing. Just thinking about makes me kind of sad.
[X] Howl's Moving Castle (2004)- This was a disappointment overall there were parts I liked but it really didn't grab me
[X] Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
[X] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[] My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
[X] My Neighbor Totoro (1993) I love Totoro so much, it's such a cute heartwarming story and the animation is fantastic. I LOVE the Totoro's faces.
[] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)- I'm pretty sure it's some sort of crime that as a vintage anime fan I haven't seen this
[] Only Yesterday (1991)
[X] Pom Poko (Tanuki War)(1994) - Not as lovable as some of the other ghibli's but still great
[X] Porco Rosso (1992) - I surprisingly really liked this one
[X] Princess Mononoke (1999)- I don't love this like everyone else does, but it's great
[X] Spirited Away (2002) - I LOVE this movie, the bath house spirits and creatures have great designs
[X] Whisper of the Heart (1995)
[] Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (2009) - We really wanted to see this in the theater when it came out, but none of local theaters had it and we haven't gotten the dvd yet.

SATOSHI KON
-------------------------------
[X] Millennium Actress (2001)- really weird, but interesting
[X] Paprika (2006) - Really good but not up to the hype
[X] Perfect Blue (1999) - This is the perfect marriage of mindfuck, drama and great animation
[X] Tokyo Godfathers (2003)- Really really great story and surprising for Kon
[X] Memories - "Magnetic Rose" part (1995)- I loved all of Memories and Magnetic Rose was my favorite part

SHINKAI MAKOTO
-------------------------------
[X] She and Her Cat (1999)- This was packaged with voices of a distant star and was the better part
[X] Voices of a Distant Star (2001)- Ok but way overrated
[] The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
[] 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)

OTHER ANIME FILMS
-------------------------------
[X] Akira (1989)
[] Appleseed (2004)
[] Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
[] Arcadia of My Youth (U.S. Title - Vengeance of the Space Pirate) (1982)
[x] Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003)- This was my first introduction to Cowboy BeBop, I avoided it because it was so hyped but this film proved all the hype was worth it
[] The Dagger of Kamui (U.S. Title - Revenge of the Ninja Warrior) (1985)
[] Dirty Pair: Project Eden (1987)
[] End of Evangelion (1997)
[] Fist of the North Star (1986) Oh, god this was great nonsense!
[O]Galaxy Express 999 (1979)- I've seen a lot of this but not all even though I Love Galaxy Express
[x] Ghost in the Shell (1996)- Great Great SciFi Film and one of the few I prefer dubbed to subbed
[] The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
[] Lensman (1984)
[] Macross: Do You Remember Love (U.S. Title - Clash of the Bionoids) (1984)
[X] Metropolis (2001) - I LOVED the animation in this film, I thought it was a great presentation of Tezuka's story
[] Neo-Tokyo (1986)
[X] Ninja Scroll (1993)- I love this even though it's ridiculous blood and gore
[] Patlabor the Movie (1989)
[] The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983)-I really want to see this one
[] Project A-ko (1986)
[X] Robot Carnival (1987) - this is a great collection, some are better than others but as a whole it's fantastic and well worth the watch if you can scare up the VHS and still have a working VCR. The prescence segment is one of my all time favorites
[] Robotech: The Shadow Chronicle (2006)
[] Silent Möbius (1991)
[] Space Adventure Cobra (1982)
[X] Steamboy (2004) - My dad recorded this off TV for me and cut off the end, I really need to watch it again as I liked it
[] Sword of the Stranger (2007)
[X] Unico and the Island of Magic (1983)- I LOVE UNICO, but I can't quite bold it because really unico is super annoying. But I have this unicorn problem that blocks my annoyance receptors when watching it.
[] Urotsukidoji: The Movie (1987)
[X] Vampire Hunter D (1985) - I love D so much, Though in all honesty I wish this film had been done better.
[X] Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (2000) - More coherent story than the original and total amazing eye candy, but for some reason I like it less than the original
[] Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force (1987)

CARTOONS FOR GROWN-UPS
-------------------------------
[] American Pop (1981)
[X] The Animatrix (2003)
[x] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996).
[X] Cool World (1992)
[X] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
[X] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005)- I really do not know why so many people raved about this it was ok but nothing great
[] Fire & Ice (1983)
[0] Fritz the Cat (1972)- I've seen parts of this and it's currently in our Netflix queue
[X] Heavy Metal (1981)- I liked this when I was younger probably because it was so "naughty" and forbidden. Now I'm just ok with it.
[O] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)- for wahtever reason I never got to watching the end of this but I didn't like enough to really care
[] Hey Good Lookin' (1982)
[] Lady Death (2004)- have this dvd and even a repro cel from it, but haven't watched it.
[] A Scanner Darkly (2006) - really want to see this, currently in the netflix queue
[X] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[] Street Fight (Coonskin) (1975)
[] Waking Life (2001)

OTHER ANIMATED MOVIES
-------------------------------
[] Animal Farm (1954)
[] Animalympics (1980)
[] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie (2007)
[] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker - I'm not sure if I've seen this or not
[X] The Brave Little Toaster (1988) - so cute
[] Bravestarr: The Movie (1988)
[] Cats Don't Dance (1997)
[X] Care Bears: The Movie (1985)- Loved this as Kid, much less paltable as an adult
[X] Fern Gully (1992)- Tim Curry as Hexsus made this film, Though Robin William as Batty was pretty fantastic too
[] G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
[X] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)- I'm positive I've seen this but I don't remember it
[] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)- I probably saw this, but I'm not sure
[X] The Hobbit (1977)- Scared the crap out of me as a child
[X] The Iron Giant (1999) - I saw this and remeber liking it, but don't remember details so I'm gonna watch it again (also in the Netflix queue)
[] Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
[] Lord of the Rings (1978)
[X] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)- I saw this but only remember bits and pieces
[X] My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) - I love ponies
[o] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982)- I've seen parts of this and have the DVD but haven't seen it all
[] The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie (2002)
[] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[] Ringing Bell (1978) - i'd actually really like to see this one, it's tough to track down though
[] The Road to El Dorado (2000)
[X] Space Jam (1996)- I believe I can fly...
[] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
[] Superman: Doomsday (2007)
[X] The Swan Princess (1994)- There are parts I really like about this film and parts I don't
[] Transformers: The Movie (1986) - I've probably seen this but do not remember at all
[] Wizards (1977)
[X] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)- Whenever I see this I just think about what a licensing nightmare it must be
[] Wonder Woman (2009)
[O] Balto (1995)- I didn't like this from what I saw of it
[X] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)-I think this could have been soooo much better

Whew that was long

Collection oddities: Mario and Zelda II Halloween Decorations

2010-10-30T22:14:00.000-05:00

It's October 30th so it's quite and understatement to say we're a little behind on doing Halloween themed posts, but I've got a good one today: Some super vintage Mario and Zelda II Halloween decorations. We spotted these on auction a few weeks ago and HAD to have them.

This is an official set from 1989 with the official Nintendo seal of quality so you know you're getting only the finest crack approved by Nintendo. They're flocked too so you can finally fulfill your fantasies of stroking Mario's Velvet-Soft Pumpkin.

First up the Mario 2 side:

I'm a little disappointed that it's clearly just the same art we always see from Mario 2 merchandise stuck in with some Halloween themed stuff instead of new art. However, that being said Mario + Halloween=Happy Nerd , so I'm still thrilled with the concept enough that it's OK that it's old art.

Naturally there are some things I'm not as OK, like why doesn't even freaking Nintendo know that Bowser wasn't in Mario 2?

Dressing up Bowser like Wart does not make him Wart nor does it mean he was in the game. Wart was a frog if you played the game you know this, if you've forgotten here he is for reference:

Note how that's a frog and not the demon lizard turtle we've all come to love. The Bowser in Warts clothing problem plagued a lot of the merchandise from this period possibly due to Nintendo of America's inablity to make a frog character look like a frog instead of various other green creatures, but that's a long rant best left for another time.

Moving to more positive things, my favorite part is The Ninji with his little basket full of stars.

I never got stars for Halloween, but maybe it's because I never dressed as a Ninjii. I'll work on that for next year.

Next up the Zelda side:

As you can probably tell from many of my previous posts. I LOVE the Zelda series, I'm a little fanatical about it honestly. So I was even more excited about getting Zelda Halloween decorations than I was the Mario ones. That being said they're kind of a disappointment. They just used straight up Zelda art here they didn't even bother trying to incorporate random Halloween stuff. No I'm not saying that Stalfos aren't a creepy skeletons or that it's isn't an impressively rabid evil Goya.

But c'mon would it have been so hard to put Link in a pumpkin for me? Really? Also not that I'm sad it's there, but is the Zelda II logo/title really an appropriate Halloween decoration? What's that supposed to say to the trick-or-treaters? Don't bother stopping here, the occupant is to engrossed in Zelda to care about candy? I can't see that there's really one highlight to this set, they're all great and full of Zelda-y goodness. Though if there's one thing I must point out it's that Link's tights are flocked which naturally just invite stroking, our set of decorations is sealed so I can't partake, but I'm sure somewhere there's some fanfic which will allow me to live vicariously.

Mostly though this set just makes me wish that Nintendo still made decorations so we could happily display these for a festive mood rather fiercely keep them in the original packing intact like the nerds we are.

~Stephanie

Be sure to stop by our shop:

Collection update: Zelda stuff straight from Japan

2010-10-14T18:19:00.001-05:00

Just last week we got a box containing several months months worth of stuff purchased from Japanese auctions. There were lots of interesting things in it like some hand drawn shikishi and new cels. But what I was the most excited about was a bunch of cool Japanese Legend of Zelda items. Zelda was one of my earliest video game loves and while Mario is better represented in our collections (mostly due to availability) but the legend of Zelda is my favorite series of games so I'm always excited to add new things to my collection. So here's what I got:

Look at all that sweet wonderful Zelda loot. I was a very very happy fangirl the day all this stuff came in. Items in details after the jump

First up we have the Spirit Tracks clearfile:

One side has Link and Zelda the other has the full train map. I wish I'd had this when I was playing the game. It would have been quite useful I imagine.

Next up a Japanese pre-order bonus for Spirit Tracks:

A big green rupee with a feather stylus inside (kind of like the Phantom Hourglass feather stylus Club Nintendo members got) I can't imagine why Nintendo thought that we over here in the US wouldn't want a big green rupee, but they were wrong. I really, really wanted a big green rupee. I wanted it so much I paid a terrible exchange rate price, deputy fees and shipping twice over to get it, that being said it's awesome. I think it would make an awesome cosplay prop if you took the stylus out. Personally, I'm just going to enjoy the novelty of it.

Next up Playing cards in their original slip cases and hard plastic cases:

I love that the plastic cases say both family computer and Nintendo on them. Little details like that always tickle me. These are still sealed and the nerd me can't bear to open 20 year old sealing so I won't be using them. Also one set has some sort of stamp on the bottom, I don't read very much Japanese so I have no idea what it says, but I'd be very interested to know.

Next a sweet Link to the Past (called the Triforce of the Gods in Japan) Shitajiki(pencilboard):

There's hilarious Engirsh saying and awesome concept art on one side.
The Engirsh says:

The Myth

Long, long time ago. Before a human being come out, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. One day Gods appeared in this world, and made the orders and creatures with their power. Power of God had the mountains dyed red with fire, so made the ground. Wisdom of God made sciences and magic, and it ordered nature. And Mighty of God with the tender bravery heart created all kind of creatures; crawling in the ground, flying the sky and so on. After the Gods had done in creation and left this world, the left a golden holy triangle cone with the symbol of themselves, that cealled "Triforce". It rules over everything of this world.

(from preface of Genesis)

Somehow I missed that part of Genesis... In any Case the other side has the map from the light world and cool stickers.

I have a heck of an urge to affix those stickers to their proper locations on the map, but once again, my inner nerd can not allow me to screw with mint condition.

Next The Triforce of the Gods/A Link to the past for the Super Famicom complete in the box with all original inserts:

I'm the first to admit I don't need this. I've got the game in English on several platforms, but I wanted this one too. Besides I beat the game once a year, so I know just about everything that's going on/being said without having to actually be able to read it.

Finally, the items I was most excited to receive, a smattering of the "eraser" or Keshi style gashapons:

These feature a myriad of the original Zelda monsters with their booklet concept designs rendered in glorious little 3D packages. I'd been after these for a long time, pretty much from the time I'd heard they existed. But months of searching on Yahoo! Japan was proving fruitless, singles were listed, but I was too cheap to pay deputy service fees on every single figure I saw listed separately. So, I just about died when a few little collections were posted at the same time. Sadly this still isn't a complete set, but I'm a lot closer than I was before. And besides, I have the most important Zelda monster this is, the octorock! I'm pretty keen on Zora too. I liked it when Zora were just big mean head that shot crap at you. Rather than snotty little princesses who can't be bothered to walk their way out of freaking dungeon they walked into.

Maybe someday I'll actually get to adding my scores of weird US Zelda merchandise.

~Stephanie

Retro Review: Banjo Kazooie N64

2010-09-21T16:57:00.000-05:00

Today's retro review is a very special guest review by the surprisingly porous, retro game enthusiast, Dex. (good friend of regular contributor Richard/RM)

-Introduction-

Ah, Banjo-Kazooie. It isn’t possible for me to play this game and not feel waves of nostalgia for 1998 and being a mere 8 years old. A time where everything was simpler. Everything, except for the games. It seems the further back in time you go the more complex games seem to become. Are there games that are complex and difficult today? Sure, but they don’t seem to be in as much abundance as they are when you deal with consoles like the SNES or Genesis.

And even though our old games will often kick our asses if we aren’t fully prepared for them, we still look back on them with fondness. Maybe it’s because it reminds us of that simpler time? Maybe it’s those old school blocky graphics that remind us how things used to be. Who knows?

All I know is: I love Banjo-Kazooie

Full review after the Jump

-Overview-

The basic idea behind Banjo-Kazooie is simple, you run around and collect stuff. The more stuff you collect the further you progress into the game. This mixed with 3D platforming ensures a fun, head scratching, and often maddening journey through Banjo & Kazooie’s world. The story of the game is that you are on a mission to rescue your sister, Tooty, from the evil witch, Gruntilda, who kidnaps her because she is so much prettier than her and is going use a machine to transfer all of Tooty’s good looks to her ugly disproportionate body. I didn’t say it was going to make sense, but if you don’t question a bear who houses a bird in a backpack he wears that helps him to fly you’ll go along with the story.

The graphics are bright and colorful, and very blocky by today’s standards. Unfortunately this is a reoccurring thing in all N64 games, they just have this blocky edge to them that is endearing for me but if you were to show it to some ignorant little 14 year old who plays nothing but Call Of Duty he would likely tell me that “These graphics suck” and ask me “why would anyone want to play this game” to which I would reply “punch to the face Timmy, punch to the face.”

The Sound design and Music in this game are, as expected with Rareware N64 games, excellent. There isn’t a sound effect that seems out of place or unwanted, and the music is catchy and memorable. It was so catchy and memorable in fact that it made up 90% of the music on that new Banjo-Kazooie game on the Xbox 360. How do I feel about that? We’ll come to that later.

The controls are, admittedly, a little complex, and will often send our heroes plummeting to their imminent death.

Pushing the control stick will make Banjo run/walk. The C buttons move the camera, B attacks, A Jumps, Z crouches. The shoulder buttons? Nothing. Seriously, why are those even there?

Sound simple so far? Let me introduce you to the basic move set.

Z and A backflips, which will be used many a time to get to a place where a standard jump just doesn’t cut it.

Pressing A shortly after jumping will cause Kazooie to flap her wings a bit and give you some more air time.

Z and B does the “Beak Barge” which is a sliding attack.

Jumping and then pressing B directly afterward performs the “Rat-A-Tat” which is an airborne pecking move.

Pressing Z and then left C will make Kazooie do all the leg work and enable you to get up slippery surfaces Banjo just can’t.

Pressing Z and right C makes you invincible using Kazooie’s wings as a shield (it just does, okay?).

Pressing Z and up C will make Kazooie to fire eggs in front of you.

Pressing Z and down C causes her to drop and egg behind you, complete with it’s own fart sound effect.

I love this game.

- Gameplay-

In the beginning of the review I said that you collect “Stuff”. What I did not highlight is exactly how much “stuff” you will be collecting. The short answer? A shit-ton.

The long answer? Do I really have to? Okay. It works like this. The main “thing” you collect is called a Jiggy (aka Jigsaw Piece). You use the Jiggies to fill in puzzles you find in Gruntilda’s lair (the main hub of the game) that open up different worlds so you can collect more Jiggies. You’ll also have to collect Musical notes to break the Note doors that are scattered around the lair that guard more Jigsaw Puzzles and more worlds.

Those are the two “Main” things you have to collect. Other things include Eggs, Feathers (of the Red and Gold variety), Jinjo’s (of which there are 10 in each level. Collecting them all bags you another Jiggy), Silver Skulls (that you give to the resident shaman “Mumbo” who will turn you into some kind of animal that will help you collect a specific Jiggy), Honeycomb Pieces (the equivalent of Zelda’s hearts, or coins in Mario 64), and Empty Honeycombs (like pieces of heart in Zelda, except six honeycombs make up a whole).

As you can see, there is rather a lot to gather up in this game, and that’s not including the extra lives (which are statues of Banjo in a heroic pose MADE OF GOLD), and by the end of it you’ll wonder exactly where Banjo keeps it all.

It is easy to be horribly misled by this game in many ways. The first is seeing the vastness of things that must be collected and thinking “surely I don’t have to collect EVEYTHING on EVERY level?” Do you see that picture up there? That is the SECOND note door. Let me repeat that for you. The SECOND. To put it into even more perspective, there are 100 notes in every level. By the time I had taken this picture I had opened 3 levels, collected 30 Jiggies, and 185 Musical Notes.

The other thing that will happen to most people who begin to play this game (and naïve little 8 year old me) is to see the amount of Jiggies in each level, is not equal to the amount needed to complete the Jigsaw puzzles. Your brain draws the conclusion that the collection of all 10 Jiggies in all 9 worlds (and the 10 in the lair that are revealed by finding the Witch Switches. Do the math) is not necessary and that you will simply collect the most obvious and easiest to reach Jiggies and progress through the game without any trouble…..

The above outlines how wrong you are, and just how cruel and unfair this game can be. And once you think you’re ready to take on Grunty, you would do well to remember the above picture. Do you really think the cruelty ends because you are at the end of the game? If you said yes, you are sadly mistaken. And so was I.

- Rage-Worthy-

Overall this game is an enjoyable and fun experience. And once your journey is over you will reminisce about the time you had with this game. Yes, overall this game will leave you smiling, for the most part.

The above picture is the epitome of unfairness. It is Mr. Viles, Grumblie eating contest. As you can clearly see from the score, I won. What you don’t see is that this is my second attempt. Mr. Vile’s Grumblie eating contest comprises of 3 rounds. The first round simply has you eating more red Grumblies than him.

The second round has you doing the same thing but avoiding the yellow ones as they are “not ripe yet”. The third and final round is the same premise but you must eat only what is shown as it alternates between Red and Yellow varieties.

What Mr. Vile does not tell you is that, even if you make it to the 3rd round, if you lose you will have to start the whole thing over. From round one. The other thing Mr. Vile does is that when you lose, and on the first try it is more than likely; he comes over to you and bites you, causing to lose some health.

As a child I had never experienced rage until this moment in my life.

I hate Mr. Vile with every fiber of my being. You are literally on the edge of your seat, your palms sweating, heart racing, you must beat Mr. Vile because he annoys you, you want to win so you can get that Jiggy (and in my case it was the LAST JIGGY IN THE LEVEL) and then you either lose by ONE point or you draw with him, which apparently constitutes as a loss in this world.

If you’re quick you can GTFO before he comes over and OM NOM NOMS on your ass but on the first try it ain’t gonna happen. You are robbed of your dignity and of a piece of health. Cruel and unfair.

In fact the whole level where Mr. Vile is located is just as frustrating comprising of timed dashes for Jiggies and a memory mini-game that ALSO causes you to lose health when you get it wrong.

There ARE levels that are more difficult than this one (this being level FOUR out of NINE). Rusty Bucket Bay is probably the most unfair level in the whole game, and Click Clock Wood is probably the most complicated level of the bunch.

But the ONE thing that players will always remember is the final fight with Gruntilda. There is a word that sums this up perfectly, Cluster-Fuck.

The end boss is the most cruel and unfair of all. You have worked your ass off collecting notes, Jiggies, eggs, and everything in-between, not to mention you just had to go through the whole “Gruntys Furnace Fun” ordeal, which is a quiz with questions about the game, and when you FINALLY have the confrontation with Grunty the game kicks your ass harder than it has the whole game. That’s probably why it is the most cruel and unfair thing of all. It’s the VERY LAST thing that stands between you and a completed game. And it is BALLS hard and not at all cool.

Why is it so hard? She flies at you so fast you barely have time to dodge out of the way, she throws fireballs that are also difficult to dodge, you have to try and hit her with eggs that are already awkward enough to aim whilst she throws those fireballs, there’s a high probability you will fall off of the tower the battle takes place on, flying in this game is not an easy thing to do so when it asks you to perform the “Beak Bomb” attack you learn later on (press B whilst airborne) things get messy, the flying is already awkward, and the beak bomb attack causes you to shoot forward very fast and then drop a little and if you don’t press A in time at the end of the attack, say goodbye.

Yes, it is a difficult boss fight, but when you finally beat Grunty it just makes the victory all the sweeter.

- Conclusion -

Here’s the upshot of this review: this game is not for the faint of heart. What appears to be a cute and unassuming game is actually what I would consider a cruel and unusual form of torture designed by kleptomaniacs. That may be so but the fact of the matter is that once you start to play, the overall charm of the game captivates you, it presents you with a silly story and a silly premise. The game does not take itself seriously and it knows it and wants you to be in on the fun.

Once you start playing, you feel compelled to keep going until the very end. Yes it gets annoying, yes it gets tiresome, but once you’ve cooled off for a bit, you’ll always want to come back for more.

Banjo-Kazooie went on to be a series of 4 games. 2 on the N64, 1 on the GBA (and a racing game), and 1 on the Xbox 360. How do I feel about the 360 game?

Much the same way as I do about this one, It’s silly, 4th wall breaking humor that’s a lot of fun, and even though the key platforming aspect was removed (in favor of vehicle building) I still find something in it that I can enjoy. And who knows? Maybe somewhere down the line (after they’re done with all this “Kinect” silliness) Rare will make that 3rd true Banjo game fans are dying for.

All I know is: I love this game. But the sequel? There aren’t enough words in the dictionary that describe how much I love the sequel. But I’ll give it a shot in my next review.

~Dex

Retro Review: Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

2010-09-13T22:38:00.005-05:00

--Introduction--

The Legend of Zelda was a ground breaking game, offering a depth of adventure never before seen by gamers. As the years progressed several, equally as compelling sequels would spawn from the original classic. Those that would grace the heldheld genre proved to be some of the most unique spin-offs a video game series had seen. And as the first Legend of Zelda to be featured on Nintendo's own Gameboy system, Link's Awakening took the essentials that made The Legend of Zelda great with new, quaint features and gameplay that while not entirely traditional, were certainly not forgettable.

The story begins with our hero Link sailing across the sea for reasons not ever revealed, just presumably for another quest. A vicious storm brews and while Link struggles to keep control of his ship, a bolt of lightning strikes the mast, and Link blacks out. He washes up on the beach of a mysterious, unidentified island. He his found by Marin, a sweet young girl with a fondness for animals and an affinity for singing. She brings him to the house she and her brother, Tarin, share. Here, Link tosses and turns until his eyes snap open to see a worried Marin at his bedside. Relieved at Link's revival, Marin tells him that he has washed up on Koholint Island. Not only that, but monsters have appeared and are acting very violently ever since Link washed ashore.

Link hops out of bed, and regains his inscribed shield from Tarin. He leaves their home, and ventures out into Mabe Village, a small, peaceful place with fluttering butterflies, frolicking animals, and playing children. Link travels down the lane, to the beach where he came ashore. Nearing the splintered wood of the wreckage site, Link finds the resting site of his trusty sword. As he approaches, he is accosted by a mysterious owl, who stops him and tells him that he will be unable to leave this island until he can wake the Wind Fish. Giving link instruction to start in the Mysterious Woods, the owl takes off back into the sky, as Link emphatically retrieves his sword.

The adventure begins.

Read the rest after the jump.

-Overview-

The heart of Link's Awakening remains true to the great, classic Zelda games. Ninety percent of the game is played in a top-down view, while Link (or whatever name you've decided on) swipes his sword out at enemies, blocks spears and stones with his shield, and places bombs, shoots arrows, sprinkles magic powder, and uses a variety of other tools and abilities to see the end of his quest. The gameplay could best be described as a perfect crease between the original classic, and the SNES masterpiece, A Link to the Past, boasting some of the more advanced features of ALTTP while maintaining a lot of the simplicity and control of the NES original.

The same can fairly be said about the graphics and sound. The look of the DX version of the game is very beautiful for the Gameboy age, which can be greatly attributed to the lovely coloring. However, even the original, colorless version of the game was an impressive introduction to what Nintendo's Gameboy could do. The art of the game is quite nice, not something that will blow you away such as the first time you saw A Link to the Past, but the detail and cartooning is certainly a few steps up from the first game. Flowers bounce happily up and down much like those found in ALTTP, and also like that game, you can slice through bushes and tall grass, followed by the animation of leaves being strewn about.

Link's Awakening also features multi-level surfaces, such as standing on a ledge while your enemies cover the ground below, something that the original Zelda game did not have, making it a pretty impressive feature for an 8-bit hand-held system. Water is also animated in Link's Awakening, although it's not the best job you will see. Water at the shore line is a pretty good effort but everywhere else, it is a very basic graphic.

"Cut-scenes" can also be seen in the game, such as in the intro, during a photo sequence, the end, and in other areas. They boast higher detail and higher quality art that could maybe even stand up to simpler SNES games. However, the animation in these sequences is not complex by any means. Also, in some instances, the focus of the game will change from the normal view to a close up of a specific object or image. Once again, these sequences have very high art quality but are not animated. These changes in view and detail are one of the many features that sets this game apart from its NES and SNES cousins.

The game has little for flaws in the sound department when you consider that most gameboy games of the time generally featured little more than a series of thuds and beeps. Link's Awakening, however, feature a slew of distinct sounds and music. Link's sword makes a clear "swipe" noise, while touching your items to a wall makes a little "clink" noise. Tapping your blade against a thin, destroyable wall adds a quaint echo to that noise. Not every sound indeed sounds like what it is, treading water is a very basic "whoob" noise, setting something on fire makes a generic hand-held type noise, but the mere variety that this early Gameboy game offered in sound is what truly sets it apart from what would otherwise be par.

Musically, we're talking about something very impressive for what it was. Once again, the quality of it can be identified somewhere between the NES and SNES age. At its core, the music is a series of beeps and buzzes with very, very basic electronic percussion. But put into the hands of the musical genius known as Koji Kondo, these bare elements can be turned into the great, complex, and memorable compositions that you will find in Link's Awakening. The main theme you will hear during gameplay is an altered version of the classic Legend of Zelda theme, half of which is the theme we all know and love, and the other half being a new and interesting twist while not losing the sense of adventure the original score instilled in us. Music changes when you enter different areas, such as the village or the forest. The village's music is simple, sweet, and conveys the peaceful living that takes place in the area. The forest's music gives a feel of mysterious while also a bit sneaky, which seems par for the moblins that live within it. Dungeon music stands out the most, as each dungeon features its own unique, eerie music, something that not even A Link to the Past could say for itself. While a couple of the dungeons' music could be described as the cave-area music slightly altered, there is still a difference between each dungeon, giving these areas a sense of individualism, and helping each stop be a specialized experience. The Ballad of the Wind Fish, the theme song to the game's story, is arguably the most beautiful piece of music ever composed on an 8-bit Gameboy Game, boasting a tone of both sadness and hope, so impressively well put together that its reoccurring nature never becomes one of annoyance.

-Gameplay-

There are no unwanted changes here for the most part, and the mechanics of the gameplay are unchanged from the classic Legend of Zelda formats we know and love. You wander the map, swiping your sword at enemies and collecting rupees and other helpful supplies to aid you on your quest, while bombing through secret walls and talking to the occasional villager and other characters. The gameplay never changes much, but if you're familiar with Zelda then you know what you're getting into. You can at least be comforted knowing that the scenery does change quite a bit over the span of the game. There are some small, irking things that can start to wear just a bit on your nerves, a large example of this being the messages that appear every time you touch a rock or similar item before you can actually lift it. This goes for multiple obstacles in the game. Many of these messages cease to appear after you tackle the obstacles but it's not always an immediate thing.

There isn't any shortage of items in this game, though with the constantly changing obstacles and situations to overcome, the lack of buttons make frequent visits to your item screen both necessary and a little annoying. You'll find yourself cursing link for being unable to both wear a bracelet and carry a feather. Interestingly, this is the first and only early Zelda game that allows you to change the controls for your sword and other items. You can control your sword with either A or B, same with other controls. This is nice if you find yourself to be more of an A masher rather than a B, and vice-versa. In fact, you don't have to have your sword equipped at all.A con here would be that your shield isn't automatic and must be equipped to be used. You also have to push the button for Link to actually hold it in front of him. Due to the unending need to lift stones and jump gaps which require equipping other items, the shield will likely get very little use during your game.

While most of your special items will be discovered in dungeons, a few of these as well as basic items are available in the one and only supply shop in the entire game. Being the owner of the only shop available allows its purveyor to charge whatever we feels fit for an item, without fear of competition. It may not always seem fair, but there may be a way around it... .

Naturally every "chapter" of the game ends with a dungeon. The lack of on-screen scrolling is a throwback to the old days in these areas but the much more elaborate layout of the dungeons and multiple floors is yet another mirror of A Link to the Past. Each visit to a dungeon reaches its conclusion with a final battle with the "Nightmare" monster, and then retrieving the Siren Instrument hidden beyond the door of the Nightmare's lair. Some complaints about the dungeons would first touch on collecting the compass, which annoyingly tells you all about its special features every time to get it, regardless of how many times you acquire it. Additionally, dungeons are very confusing in this game for a variety of reasons, mostly stemming from a lack of direction provided for you. There are multiple instances where your only hope of completing a dungeon is to bomb through a wall that has no visible cracks or weaknesses. Without a walkthrough, some players may find themselves stuck in an area for months or maybe longer before they discover the solution. Hints as to what you must do are often provided by finding the owl's beak (stone tablet-piece in the original release) and reuniting it with the rest of the owl/tablet, which will then give you a helping message. However, these messages range from patronizingly clear to mind-bendingly cryptic. This game is not recommended for those who don't consider themselves inquisitive.

Sword play and dungeons are just one part of this very interesting and elaborate Nintendo title. There are several extra little fun things to partake in, such as...

fishing for prize money...

river rafting...

and even a claw machine...

One of many things that make a good game would be features like these to hinder productivity.

Other quirky additions to this game that make it an oddity of the Legend
of Zelda series would be things such as Phone Booths, hollowed out trees with an old-style telephone inside which you can use to call Old Man Ulrira to get help on what to do next in your adventure.

Next would be the Camera Shop, a little hut where you'll find an anthropomorphic rodent whom is an avid photographer and has chosen you as his new favorite subject. Throughout the game, you may find him waiting for you at strange and often hidden photo opportunities. All the photos he snaps of you will be stored in your Photo Album, available for viewing at his shop. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that you'll actually have the necessary accessories to print these photos but nonetheless, it's fun to try to find all of the often humorous photo ops throughout the game.

Unfortunately, there aren't much for side quests, as most of what seems like one actually turns out to be required for the game's completion. Some of these things can be done at different times but all and all, it eventually leads you to your main goal, which makes them less special. There are a few extra things to do/collect and the DX version of the game has one endeavor that could be considered a side quest but that would be the one and only example. More quests that lead to optional bonuses would make this game that much closer to perfect, but that's not to say it's not an exceptional title.

Interactions with Non-Playable Characters in Link's Awakening can be quite enjoyable if not a little repetitive at times. The things people say tend to be the same at any one time, but as the game progresses, so do their phrases and even actions. All of the characters in the game have distinctive personalities which boil down to their interest, lifestyle, and even style of speaking. At one point during gameplay, you are briefly joined on your quest by the game's main character (aside from yourself), Marin. During this time your interactions with her can be very deep but mostly just humorous and fun. Due to the new feature of item-trading in this game, some people you've already met will suddenly want the special item you're holding onto (do not worry, these items are useless to you for the most part). Giving them this item not only grants you a new one to trade, but can sometimes trigger a very amusing sequence with that character.

While we've already spent a lot of this review comparing Link's Awakening to the original Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past, it is worth mentioning, if not more with the following images, that this game in many ways could be called a Gameboy Color version of ALTTP (a better description before The Four Swords was released on the Gameboy Advance). Many of the same enemies, items, mechanics, and other aspects are straight out of the SNES classic. This isn't a negative thing, and is even a bit fun to see, again.

Now one thing that's immediately noticeable within Link's Awakening would be Nintendo's addition of perhaps...guest characters from past games? Rather than go into explicit detail, why don't you just take a look at the following images and ask yourself: does any of this look familiar to you?

Link's Awakening features very fun, classic-style gameplay that can keep you amused for hours. Along with this are graphics that are very pleasant to view, and sounds that are what all other hand-helds of the time should be measured against. Likable characters can offer a feeling of in-game companionship and compassion for their lives and fates. The story is one of mystery, discovery, and triumph over evil. As it unfolds, the tale manages to be exciting, funny, and even genuinely saddening. Once you've finished the entirety of this title you'll want to reset your Gameboy and start it all over again. And if only for that reason, this is why Link's Awakening is a truly genius part of the Legend of Zelda phenomenon.

It is just too bad that you have to eventually finish it.

~Richard

Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Shabonda Magic Bubble Blower

2010-08-21T10:34:00.006-05:00

Today I'm going to take an in depth look at a fun little item we acquired last year. I actually gave this to Jen as a present for surviving another year of college. She graduated this year with an accounting degree and what says "fiscal responsibility" like a ridiculous Japanese toy?

So here we have the Shabonda Magic Bubble Blower featuring Eternal Sailor Moon. Note the official Bandai logo so you can differentiate the licensed crack items from the bootleg crack items. The very existence of this brings up some important questions right off the bat.

First, why can't you just blow your own bubbles? Isn't the fun of bubbles blowing them?

Second, why on earth isn't it a Sailor Mercury branded bubble blower? She's the one who's got the bubble attacks.

Third, they really did slap sailor moon on to just every item imaginable didn't they?

Perhaps these questions can be answered by the box. Actually, I can just answer that third question, without the box. Yes, yes they did. I still think we should check out the box though so let's get to it.

The side of the box seems to show that this is indeed a bubble blower, just in case I was confused. Not much else there other than some stuff in Japanese I don't understand. My Japanese is basically limited to what appeared in the Utena game on the Saturn and what I need to know for cel buying. And this box doesn't say, Anthy, Kendo, Garden, Cel, Sketch, or Doujin. So I have no clue what any of this says.

The back of the box features even more Japanese text that I'm not smart enough to read. Luckily,though warning labels are pretty universal so perhaps I can decipher something out of that.

It seems to say:

Do not become Pac Man while using this item
Do not Face Palm while using this item.
Do not become Fry Guy while using this item.
This item will make children and adults happy.

So seems simple enough avoid video games and the Internet and you should be happy. This is our house so avoiding video games isn't really possible and I'm posting on the Internet so this is a dangerous proposition, but I'm going to tempt fate and open up the box anyway.

So here it is out of the box, isn't it cute with that little SD eternal moon on top? It came with an instruction sheet, which was naturally in Japanese so I don't have the faintest idea what any of it was saying. There were illustrations though, so I discovered the following:

1. You need to put two double AA batteries in the bottom of it or you'll be stuck blowing your own bubbles like a sucker.

2. In spite of it being in larger canister shaped object, you don't actually fill the can with bubbles at all. You fill a tiny cup bellow the wand with bubbles which will inevitably cause you to spill bubbles on yourself and your toy, every time you use it...

3. Above the bubble wand is a little lever you can adjust which will allow you to change the size of the bubble. In theory you could make fairly sizable bubbles with this, but we could never make them work no matter how hard we tried. Maybe it's just our inferior American bubble solution, but trying to set it to anything beyond the medium setting netted us zero bubbles.

Here it is in action:

It makes an absolutely ridiculous sum of bubbles and can be a lot of fun to play with. Especially fun if you sneak up behind someone sitting in a room and minding their own business. (Though it's a little bit noisy so they either have to be rather engrossed in what they're doing or listening to something). Additionally it could be great at raves or weddings any place where you want bubbles but can't be bothered to use your own breath. The small cup though means you've only got a solid 2 minutes or so before you have to refill. So, if taking it out in public it's best to bring a back up stash of bubble solution.

~Stephanie

August 2010 Coupon Code

2010-08-16T11:05:00.000-05:00

We haven't had a coupon code in awhile and with everyone wanting to save money for the back to school season, it seems August is the perfect time for one. So for the rest of this month you can get 20% of anything in the store. Not Sure what you want? Here are some of our top picks:

Vintage Donkey Kong Mario trading card sized sticker from 1982. This sticker is 28 years old and has Mario's old drastically different character design. This was before Mario was even named Mario and was instead simply Jumpman. This is an awesome collectible for the vintage nintendo fan. We' suggest sticking it to your favorite notebook, but it's very vintage so we're honestly not sure how well it would stick. ;-_- At $2.00 it was already not going to break the bank but with discount it's only $1.60, a tiny price for a collectible that's almost 30 years old.

Perhaps a littler more appropriate for back to School time a Sailor Moon Memo Pad:

This is an official Sailor Moon Japanese memo pad and even has to official Toei seal on the back. Each sheet has this same image of Usagi on it and lines on the back. The R season ran in Japan from 93 to 94 so it's 16 years old now, but still looks factory fresh. It's very cute for use (there's a large number of sheets 30+ approx., unlike most shaped memo pads) or great as a collection piece given it's age and fantastic condition. It's normally $7.50, but with discount would only be $6!

If you're college bound you're likely to moving into your own place be it a dorm, or an apartment and one of the things you're going to need is your own dishes. So for you pokemon fans we have this rare glass bowl.

This is a rare Japanese item featuring Manaphy from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. Bowl is heavy glass and features different cute images of Manaphy. It holds approximately 1 cup, so it's a little too small for ramen, but would be perfect for cereal or snacks. Because it's rare it's normally $28 but with discount it would only be $22.40.

Everyone knows that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy (or Jack Nicholson a crazy murderer, but it's not Halloween time yet so let's skip that for now) So why not take a little respite from text book reading with some book selections of your own?

Vampire Hunter D, the first in a series of novels about the mysterious sexy half vampire (Dhampir) who simply goes by D. This is the perfect distraction, it's got a little something for everyone, part sci fi, part fantasy, part drama and a wee bit of romance. Not to mention everyone's favorite fantasy is a sexy vampire these days, and the D novels offer you a more guilt free means of enjoying the genre with no sparkling and a lot less teenage angst than some other choices. This is usually only $1, but it's even cheaper at $0.80 with discount.

If you think maybe you've done too much reading already there's always artbooks:

Kaori Yuki, is most famous for her manga turned anime Angel Sanctuary and we've got two official Japanese print artbooks on hand from it right now. Lost Angel (seen at left) and Angel Cage. These are full of some of the most beautiful manga style illustrations you'll ever see. We really weren't big fans of Angel Sanctuary, but you don't need to be to enjoy this gorgeous artwork. If you like manga style art or fantasy art at all, these gorgeous books are worth owning. The scans are actually pretty readily available online for these, but they are nothing compared to the high quality image printings contained in the books. Lost Angel is in excellent condition and even comes with it's OBI. Normally a very reasonable $15, only $12 with discount.
Still not convinced you want to buy an artbook for any anime/manga you didn't like or are unfamiliar with? Here's a sample image:

And that's just a handful of the almost 100 items we've added just this month with more being added on pretty much a daily basis. Check out our full catalog to see much much more. And as always we can sometimes accommodate special requests we currently have 100's of items waiting to go on to the site, so feel free to ask, we might have what you're looking for.

Naturally by this time you just want to shop and use your code. So it's: August1020 simply enter that at checkout and you'll get 20% off everything in your cart prior to shipping, It's only good until September 1st so use it quickly!

~Stephanie

Manga Review: Return to Labyrinth

2010-08-15T20:17:00.000-05:00

So I know that only three volumes of this manga have been released thus far (as of when I read it), so this isn't technically a completed manga review, but given my love for Labyrinth I felt the needed to give this a proper looking at. First thing that I want to get off my chest is this is NOT a manga. With a few small exceptions, Americans do comics, not manga. It just irks me that they need to call this American comic a manga to get it to sell. Anyway, moving on.

I enjoy sequels to my favorite things as long as they are treated like sequels. This seems to me that the writer obviously loved the story of labyrinth and wanted to write a continuation. He seemed to have a few interesting ideas however seemed to get stuck quite often and reverted to reminding the reader of how much it was still trying to connect to the original movie. Which would have been fine of that connection was based on researching the original story, locations and character backgrounds instead of relying on quotes and irrelevant cameos.

This book was written by Jake T. Forbes, illustrated by Chris Lie, with the first three volume covers done by Kouyu Shurei. I felt compelled to pick this book up at some point as I love Labyrinth and this cover art actually does David Bowie a bit of justice ( in my sick Jareth loving little fan girl heart anyway). Now, I was highly disappointed to find that the cover art is just that. The art within the rest of the book looks nothing like this. I'm not sure how you get from

This to this

What is sad is this is one of the nicest shots of Jareth in the whole story and he's probably the best drawn character in the book. The rest of them look like they were done with the help of one of those scholastic "How to Draw Manga" books, you know the kind drawn by people who have never in their lives seen a manga. Had the art been done by the same person who did the cover, I wouldn't have felt so compelled to stab out my eyes. Thankfully they grew back in time for me to write this review. They also went on to ruin one of the best characters from the movie! What did they do to the worm?!

(credits for this image go to ToughPigs.com)

I have to agree with everything I have seen about this. The worm turned into a soul eating zombie! Seriously. One of the nicest goblin/muppet characters gets turned into this. I understand that he may have gotten a little older, but this is ridiculous. Anyway, getting beyond my hate for sub-par "manga" art, lets move on.

CHARACTERS:

Toby(Sarah's baby brother) - Toby is a rather unlikeable character. He has very little personality, is incredibly selfish, and has very little in the way of redemption. If you were like me you didn't like him in the movie either, but then again I have very little patience for babies, especially in movies. That being said whiny baby Toby is approximately 100 trillion times better than angsty teen Toby.

Sarah - She has turned into the adult every kid is scared they will grow up to be. She has forgotten anything and everything fun and become rather bland and uninspiring. I realize this is part of the story, but it still doesn't help me to like her or feel bad for her. Additionally her character desgn has degraded in to your basic sidekick quality nerd girl. A far cry from the Sarah every girl in the 80's aspired to be.

Jareth - Poor poor Jareth is a pathetic excuse for the witty and sly goblin king he once was. The author tries to portray him as just as cunning as he was before, but failed to capture the feeling of what made him Jareth. Now he's just a generic "sexy" bad guy type character with all the personality of a bowl of pudding who's become he's a whining, sniveling little emo boy because Sarah didn't want to stay in his incredibly awesome castle.

Mizumi - She is one of the more interesting characters. I thought her addition into the story was one of the few things that actually make this feel like a sequel and not just a poorly written rehash of the first story.

Hana - The usual sidekick. Not much to say about her. She is not exactly likable but not hate-able either. She is just kind of there.In spite of having a stock character personality, she's at least sort of a new creation.

There are others, but these are your main ~~annoyances~~ characters.

As the storyline goes, it was a relatively unique concept that could have been very interesting. Toby has grown up and has been sucked into the same Labyrinth his sister went through many years before. Jareth tricks Toby into tthe labyrinth because he wants him to become his successor as Goblin King. Toby has only mild weak whiny objections before agreeing. He then prepares to become the gobline King by spending a good deal of time within the Goblin City learning of it's history and the way of Goblin culture. Which honestly could have been made really interesting as there's a wealth of Goblin society underpinnings that were never discussed in the original movie. The author could have really ran with things here, but instead choose to stick with the bland mediocrity that characterizes the "manga".

I honestly wish this could have been if not a good book a least enjoyable one if more time was on the present than constantly and needlessly rehashing what happened 18 years ago. Surely in a society that's exisited for at least the last 1300 years, there'd be at least a few other things to discuss. Instead we get random quotes from the first movie that have no real bearing on anything, and what amount to walk on cameos of characters that were annoying and unimportant the first time. That almost completely lack of any original contents just reminds you that this is just some fan-boys' poorly thought out fan fiction.

Overall this is a poor excuse for $10 a book. The art inside is pathetic, the storyline might be interesting but relies too heavily on retelling the original story rather than expanding on it like it was supposed to.The whole thing has a high school notebook doodle feeling to it. If you have any love for this movie don't break your childhood memories with this poor excuse for writing.

~Jen

Collection Update: A Work in Progress Version 2

2010-08-12T21:50:00.001-05:00

So last month I posted that we had been spending a lot of time going through our collections and properly organizing/displaying/loving them and while we've been greatly delayed due to some family things that needed attending to we've gotten a lot of work done on our collection room. It still needs a lot of work, but we're getting there.

First up, the doorway, because well, it's a small room so even the doorway needs to be utilized to display stuff.

In this Picture is: A Mario Brothers 2 clock, The Mario Brothers TV tray, The Link Mask, A Mario Transitor Radio, Rare official Nintendo promo pixel graphics, A vintage (though unofficial) final fantasy 7 poster, Nintendo Power Backpack with Mario and link (there's also a matching folding inside), Metal Gear 2 complete set of McFarlane figures, Kyo plush from Fruits basket, a unicorn puffkin, Some random unicorns plushies, a stuffed octopus and Matel Legend figure set of Matel and Emeraldas. Off to the left side you can see the first shelf which I'll be describing next.

Now on to the first Shelf MWA HA HA HA!

A LOT more geekery after the jump

In this picture you can see: The Metal gear 2 Mc Farlane figures from earlier, More plush octopi, our Pokemon curtains, The Club Nintendo exclusive History of Link poster, The Twilight Princess Sword and Shield replica, the super rare and crazy Nintendo Shower Power Shower head, The NES GBA Classic Series Standee which Plays little melodies from Mario, Zelda, and donkey Kong, Mario Christmas ornaments, Ocarina of time Zelda figures, 2 sets of Mario band aids (one new set set and one vintage), 2 figures of Raziel from Soul Reaver, a Mario Mushroom coin bank, some Kirby toys, a Lego magikarp from a Japanese kit, a Resident Evil 5 Sand globe (like a snow globe, but with sand). There's probably stuff I forgot to mention, and that's just the top shelf.

On the Second Shelf we have a little tired figure holder (IE a plastic tiered spice rack) on the first tier are Stars wars action figures. Mostly of Tusken raiders and Darth Maul and Darth Vader, there's a Jango fett and Salve Lei hiding in there as well as a few Landos. Second Tier has diecast X-men and Street fighter figures as well as a few gashapons from fighting games. 3rd tier has more gaming figures, 2 PVC pacman figures, 2 windup pacman ghosts, 3 gashapons from Disgaea, and 2 doom pewter figures. You can't see the stuff on the third tier terribly well because in front of it are figures from Thunder cats and Star Trek The next generation, with a belldandy mixed in for fun. Off to the side are Godzilla, a Pacman mug, and some random plushies. Next shelf down has a standee for Growlanser Generations, a Metal Gear Solid variant figure of Psycho Mantis, and two vintage Punch Out!! toys in the back. In front of that are fighting game figures. Mostly Street Fighter, with an emphasis on Chun Li, But there are several from Soul Calibur, and Tekken as well. Below that are our Boxed N64 games with vintage Trophy figures sitting in front of them. Below that half our Sega Genesis games. Handing from the side are official Nintendo Promo Cameras, one pokemon camera, a Pikachu ornament and a vintage plastic Thundercats wind sock hanging of the other side is a Vega from Street Fighter UFO catcher doll. Off to the right you can see the second shelf which I'm coming to next.

Two! Two Shelves! AH AH AH AHHH! *Like the Sesame Street Count*

In this picture you can see: All of the Club Nintendo History of Link Poster, A Framed Sailor Moon Cel, a Fable Promo Lenticular poster (the reflection changes, to good evil or neutral depending on where you're standing) and the top part of a Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door Floor Standee. The top Shelf has another tiered stand on it, the top tier is mostly Pokemon, but there's also a full retail set of Vintage Nintendo enamel pins on their back board, and a Mario galaxy Promo Coin, Next tier down is more Pokemon and a few monster rancher figures, third tier is final fantasy coke figures, in front of those a bunch of Nintendo figures, mostly Mario. Off to the side is a Mario Kart Phone, a Mario Puppet Cooler, A Mario Dixie Cup Holder with a full set of Mario paper cups. Next shelf down in Card Captor Sakura dolls, and a few Magic Knights things thrown in for good measure. Behind them is the CLAMP Campus detectives VHS boxset and a full set of CLAMP no Kiseki in the Japanese file box. Next Shelf down has another tiered shelf, top tier has video game themed collector cars and a figure from DOA we need to move with the other fighting game figures. Second tier is all Mario 8-bit bottle caps, 3rd tier is a mix of new and old Mario brothers toys/figure. Off to the side are one large vintage Mario doll and several assorted Pokemon plush. Next shelf down has the CLAMP no Kiseki Chess set, next to it Nintendo Wall paper and 2 Kero Chan Plush. Just below that you can barley see the pony shelf which currently has them haphazardly thrown on there in a box. Hanging from that shelf are some Star Wars figures in package, a parachuting Mario figure, a Mario UFO catcher, and Winnie the Wario. Off to the side you can see a hint of a metal gear poster, Also the Yellow thing next to the shelf is a wicker whale he hold controllers and other accessories while we aren't using them.

The Poster currently hanging in our collection room, Metal gear 2 Pull out from a start guide, framed with a promo marquee for MGS3, Castlevania Chronicles, Japanese Promo Poster, Zelda Twilight Princess Club Nintendo exclusive, framed with promo marquee from the 4 swords. Also in this picture more of the Paper Mario Standee, A princess of Ireland Barbie, Rob the robot, some Garfield plushies on top of a CD holder filled with Dreamcast and Japanese Saturn games. On the table is part of a penguin bowling set and some care bears nesting dolls. You can also see part of our couch with nerdy linens. We're hoping to replace it with a daybed soon. As this room is also our guest room. If you ever have a occasion to stay with us and don't want to hang out on the couch, you'll get to hang out in here basking in the rays of extreme geekery.

Next up Bulletin Boards display our collection of small flat or almost flat items. I'm not going to bother listing everything on these, it's just too much. Additionally for the record, those things aren't being pieced by the tacks, just held in place with pressure.

The Sailor Moon boards need to be actually nailed up they're currently just resting there (the room has a high chair rail) off to the side you can see the TV Shelf/Sailor Moon collection. Which I'll get to next.

In this picture you can see: On the Top shelf, The Moon house (currently in need of repair), Japanese Toy's R Us exclusive PGSM black haired Usagi set, the magic mirror, the playdia game with wand, a musical crisis locket, a Moon cycle, an Italian doll with play vanity in the box, Dancing serenity Italian doll, a bunch of US and Japanese 6 inch dolls in the moon house, and the inner senshi petit soldier figures. On the second shelf there's a bunch of stuff I'm too lazy to list right now including a bunch of Japanese dolls a couple european dolls, some 17" inch US dolls, a Stars mini computer, the Pizza Bike and Pizza parlor, the Light up vanity, a moving music jewelry box, a play a sound book, a lunch bag, Luna and Artemis US plushies. Hanging from the shelf is a furoku bag with Usagi as a Mermaid holding korean SM wrapping paper, an inflatable moon doll, a StarS inner tube, a couple of keychain figures and a keychain fan. I Know I'm missing stuff, but I'm getting lazy at this point in the entry ;-_- Below all that moon stuff is our secondary TV, a tomb raider figure and some of our vintage game systems, hanging off that shelf is a light phoenix wright keychain and a shelf below that totally invisible in this picture is my collection of board games based on video games.

Most of the titles are pretty easy to read so I'm only going to list the hard to see ones at the top of the stack, Donkey Kong card game, Nintendo Uno, Mari party Card game, Mario educational card game, the crooked stack not in boxes is the Coleco Quiz Wiz and several trivia books for it.

And last but not least, more Sailor moon dolls:

Top of the shelf has some random stuff on it including the Pancake/omelet maker, a Sailor Annie Knock Off, Bootleg Diana coin purse, A Nakyoshi Luna Pencil case and a sitting sailor moon UFO. The rest of the shelf is almost all Irwin 11.5" dolls both the 2000 and 1995 versions. The exceptions being the German Queen Beryl and Japanese Chibiusa doll. There's also a "custom" super sailor moon, we dressed a Serena doll in an Ugly face Super Sailor Moon Fuku. The only Irwin dolls from this set we're missing are Prince Diamond and old style Neptune doll. If you know where we can find them(preferably out of box) let us know! fun fact, this shelf was $4 at the thrift store! I have no idea what it was originally supposed to hold but it's perfect for 11.5" dolls. We actually have he accessories for all the pretty face dolls and most of the others, but have been too lazy to put them with the dolls.

As I said in the beginning it's quite a work in progress. A lot of stuff still needs to be properly organized and/or put out. But we're a lot closer to having a lot of our collection in one space where we can enjoy it regularly. :)

Of course that's still not nearly all of our collections, there are figures games, books and DVDs spread throughout the house. :)

~Stephanie

Sailor Moon Surprise

2010-07-29T21:51:00.001-05:00

If you follow our twitter account you're aware that we've been out of town dealing with a family emergency. Which means we've been having packages pile up for over a week now. Today I went through them and found quite a surprise. In a lot of random sailor Moon Stuff we got a boxed Moon Cycle. If you're unfamiliar with the craziness that is the moon cycle, here's the front of the one I was examining today.

Sure the moon Cycle is a completely ridiculous item, but it's not something we're unfamiliar with as a matter of fact we already have 2 in our collection. They're essential for the Senshi Race Competitions. Besides I knew it was a part of the lot we purchased. So there's more to this surprise than half baked marketing ploys.

So in any case I picked up the box and noticed it was rattling, I didn't see anything from the front that Should be rattling so I flipped it over.

Pulled out the tray...and what's that sitting in the plastic tray of a childs toy from the mid-nineties?

Why it's a Bunch of expired condoms, and a few empty condom wrappers.

Yes, friends, there's the surprise. They've been sitting there for awhile as the expiration date in in 00...Seriously....WTF. I'm kind of at a loss now though, do I email the seller and complain or just let go? If I let it go what do I do with the moon cycle? I'm not sure I can look at it/sell* it in good conscience now.

~Stephanie

*For the record the one we currently have in the shop is a totally different non-condom holding moon cycle.

Retro Review: Legends of Murder 2: Greyhaven

2010-07-19T23:47:00.008-05:00

Greyhaven was one of my favorite games as a child, I was so happy to find that my old 3rd or 4th generation floppy of it still functions after 20 years, ~~especially as it's not available for download anywhere on the Internet.~~ We currently have this game available for download.

Introduction

Greyhaven is a fantasy murder mystery RPG published to Big Blue Disk magazine in 1991 (though the game itself was apparently made in 1990) which was a computing magazine solely for DOS games. It wasn't one of the most notable games to ever by published in Big Blue Disk (Like Apogees Kroz series, or ID Software's Catacomb series) But it is the one I remember most fondly from my childhood.

Rest of the review after the jump...

Overview

Controls are pretty simple keyboard controls arrows and simple keyboard controls (IE G brings up the game menus, S searches/looks etc.). They're pretty standard for a dos game of this type. However, the controls are clunky it's easy to get stuck on things and you sometimes have to search around a stationary object 10 times before you find an item you KNOW is there.

Graphics aren't great, graphics while you're moving around the map and interacting with things are quite sparse. graphics on the closeups are better, but really nothing fantastic. Honestly though the graphics are a bonus this game easily could have been a text only.

Sounds are nonexistent. I suggest listening to something like Midnight Syndicate to set your own mysterious murder fantasy mood.

Gameplay

You start the game with text explaining why you've come to the sleepy little town of Greyhaven which you've apparently been to before. You are the inspector, a crime solving mage, who's continuing mission is ~~to seek out new life and new civilizations~~, to investigate the murder of a wizardry School apprentice. You make your way to the local tavern to meet with the headmaster of the school. On the way there you can investigate the town or run straight to the Tavern. Honestly though if you just want to dash through and not read and/or explore this probably isn't the game for you, as it's pretty much the entire game play. When you do investigate you'll notice that things in the town are...a little off. Boarded up businesses, abandoned homes, deserted streets and naturally some unhappy creatures bent on killing you. Eerie! After you've gotten all of your exploring out of the way and hopefully not gotten yourself killed in the process you met up with Baswik the Wizard headmaster for more detailed info on the situation. You adopt the guise of a new apprentice so as not to arouse the suspicions of the other students (and likely murders) and start your investigation.

The entire game is basically you wandering around the map searching for clues, fighting in encounters, leveling up, and reading a lot of text. Without actually going into to everything you do in the game and how you solve the crime, there's not too much to discuss here. Though there are some things for better or worse that set Greyhaven apart from other games from this period.

First you can examine just about everything. Personally this is a big bonus for me. If there's painting on the wall (in this case a couple of blue pixels) I want to know what it looks like, if there's a shelf I want to know whats on it even if it's not useful. However this can get you in to trouble because you figure out the crime pretty organically, you don't take special note of the things that are important (or take notes at all) so actual clues can get a little muddled with random information.

Second the encounters are completely set. You can walk up and down the same patch of empty street 500 times and you're never going to encounter an enemy. But if you walk into the same rigger corner of a house and you haven't killed the enemy there it will pop up with the same text every single time. this kind of convenient in that when you're week or simply don't feel like fighting anything you can avoid the encounters until you're ready for them. But annoying because later in the game you'll find that you're too weak to take on the enemies that are left to trigger, but you've already killed the ones you were capable of killing. Very frustrating.

Third you can only carry a 9 items, this seems like it ought to be enough but it's really not. You find way more stuff than you can carry and have no real way of knowing what you're going to need to hold on to and what you won't and when you drop something it's gone forever. Not being able to pick-up stuff you've dropped is probably the biggest issue with the game play.

Third as I said earlier you figure out the crime in an organic manner, the game doesn't hand you anything. This is both awesome and annoying. The clues aren't obvious and unless you have a completely photographic memory of everything you read, examine, say when you walk in a room and/or hear from someone, you're going to have to write some stuff down and sift through it. Even then though it's tough, when I got to the final showdown it was some trial and error for me to guess the name of the killer (which is a necessity). On the other hand, it's nice not to be treated like you're stupid and makes things more of a surprise at the end. Which is way better than other games where blatant clues often tell you the whole story from the beginning.

Once you've gotten all your information and drawn successful conclusions you'll have your necessary items, and can find the killer. Assuming you're strong enough take them out and not only solve a murder, but save a town in the process.

Conclusion
I love Greyhaven, I really do but it does have a few flaws. It's short, I'll say generously an hour of gameplay if you know what you're doing. It's got very limited replay value, encounters only happen in specific areas under specific circumstances and there isn't a lot you can do to alter or change your conversations in anyway. Pretty much the only time it's worth playing again is once you've totally forgotten everything that happens. That being said it's really a shame more people haven't played this game. It's really a great game considering the time period and that it was a 1 man effort. If you're a fan of the genre Greyhaven is definitely a game worth seeking out.

Collection: Cel Gallery Update!

2010-07-17T23:57:00.048-05:00

We've recently updated a LOAD of cels to our cel galleries so I thought it was time for another cel gallery update post. As always if you want to see our full collections you can stop in at Acetate Addiction for our full cel collection encompassing various series and genres or Millions of Cats for Jen's cats only cel collection.

Meanwhile if you're not into browsing, here are the highlights from our most recent adds:

Sailor Venus Henshin! It's always a treat to get a hold of Sailor Moon bank footage cel as they're some of the most recognizable and memorable shots from any series. Venus has one of the most lovely transformation sequences and for basically as long as we've been collecting animation cels, we've wanted one of these. We're very happy to have her in our collection.

Last unicorn Wishlist cel. The last unicorn is my favorite animated film so I am always excited to add ANYTHING from this film to my collection. But this piece is really, really special. I always loved the scene of the unicorns crossing horns, it's such a beautiful iconic image of them, but given the rarity and expense of last unicorn cels I was sure I'd never get to own one. Luckily for me a few months ago I was proven wrong. One of my favorite pieces in the whole collection.

Balloon Mario. I ridiculously hardcore loved the awfulness that was the Super Mario brothers super show as a child. I still obviously haven't given up my love of Mario even in adulthood so naturally I'm always thrilled to add cels of Mario to my collection. I mean he's a big round ball here, what's not to love?

She-Ra Princess of Power, Swiftwind. In case it isn't clear, I've got a unicorn problem, I had an insanely huge collection of them as a kid and it was always my dream to be one of those crazy people you see articles about that have like 1 million of one item. I changed my collecting focus a lot since then. But sometimes my unicorn hoarding problem rears it's ugly head. My She-Ra cel section is a a really obvious example of this, there's nothing but unicorns and probably never will be, But c'mon Swiftwind is awesome, he's a rainbow winged unicorn, that alone makes him cooler than pretty much anyone you know.

Keith Harrington Seasame Street cel. The end of a short animation designed by Keith Harrington about about counting to 10. This was Jen's graduation Present for getting her accounting degree, so now she can officially tell me how much money we've wasted on silly geeky stuff over the years and charge me for the privilege.

One of the Lee Brothers from the double Dragon Cartoon show. I don't remember which Lee brother this is because in the cartoon show because they look nothing like their video game counterparts. In fact NOTHING in the cartoon show is anything like the series. We pretty much enjoy this show on a so awful it's funny basis. Seriously the Super Mario Brothers Super Show is serious film making comparatively. But, hey they're video game characters so naturally we have to add them to the collection.

Charmeleon! Pokemon cels are a lot less common than they should be so it's always exciting to add one to the collection.This cel epitomizes Charmeleon's short stint in the series before evolving to Charizard. He was basically in insolent teenager mode the entire time he was on screen, which made for some very amusingly awful situations for Ash.

So that is just a little taste of our recent acquisitions (recent being a relative term as these were all acquired sometime in the last six months) If you're interested enough, going to our galleries will net you a lot more cat cels, and tons more cels from various series including: Utena, Tenshi Ni Narumon, Frogger, Donkey Kong, Patalliro, A Kite, more Sailor Moon and others I'm probably ignoring right now.

Additionally if you're looking to add cels to your own collection we've recently updated a few for sale including this Gorgeous shot of mamoru.You can find him, more cels and lots of other fun stuff in our shop.

~Stephanie

Retro Review: Princess Maker 2

2010-07-11T23:41:00.032-05:00

Unlike the majority of game reviews I do I don't actually own Princess Maker 2. It was briefly licensed in English, but was never actually brought to the market. It's largely considered to be abandon-ware, though the English translation/conversion company says that it's not, though they no longer retain any rights. We don't generally condone anything that remotes resembles piracy, but given that there is not a way to own the English translation and no one is profiting off having it, nor could I go out and buy it, we've made peace with the download. You can make your own decisions on it's nebulous legal status, but if you're interested it's pretty easy to find and download.

Introduction

The Princess Maker series of games, shuns convenient categorizations. It is many things a life sim, a strategy game, a dating sim, an RPG, and a dress up game. It all depends on how you play it.

Overview

The premise is simple if not a little crazy. You play the part of a famous swordsman who is granted a child from the heavens, and it's your duty to raise her until the age of 18. You choose her activities, her lessons, her jobs, and her clothes. Your choices will determine how her life will go. Will she be a famous warrior, a magician, a homemaker, the princess of darkness or any of the other dozens of final occupations.

Controls are simple, it's a classic point and click. The only time it's different is in the Adventure Mode, where you can either use the mouse or the arrow keys, she moves a bit stiffly and awkwardly in this mode, but for the most part it doesn't cause problems as it's turned based fighting and random encounters. They only time it presents an issue is when you get hung up on rock or something and waste a bit of time.

Graphics are surprisingly good for a game that first came out in 1993. They're very lovely high quality manga style images that still stand up very well. They still have that early 90's VGA look to them, but they're detailed and look better than plenty of modern anime style games I've seen.

Sound is what you'd expect from a sim game from 1993, repetitive midi songs which eventually just fade in the background. They're not great and they're not terrible. There isn't a whole lot else going on sound wise, a few noises during special events but that's about it. So if uninspired repetitive music bothers you, it's probably just best to turn all the game sounds off and listen to whatever it is you want.

Sexism

I can't talk about this game and not talk about sexism. This game is flagrant in your face stereotypical "girl game". Your best ending means you marry the prince, and even if you don't marry the prince you need to marry someone. In endings where you don't get married at all even if otherwise successful are often viewed as failures. You've also got your required girl game dress-up features and your daughter can wear a variety of different outfits, several of which are quite questionable for a young girl. And even if the skimpiness didn't bother you, unless you spend a lot of time making her diet, she'll often be" too fat" to fit into them. Not exactly a positive message for women and girls everywhere. On that note in her stats screen you see her, height weight, bust size, waist size and hip size, because I mean that's exactly what I'd want to know about my 12 year old, that wouldn't make me a creepy freak. Sheesh.

There are also some questionable job choices, which include sleazy bar, and cabaret. Though other than the moral objections involved, I honestly think it's probably better for your daughter than doing masonry or working in a graveyard.

The worst offender in my mind (other than the nude patch, but that's not unlocked in the game through any normal means) is that, if you're an especially sleazy kind of parent you can even pick up the buxomize pill from a wandering merchant which, as you'd guess from the name increases her chest size. Which as far as I know does nothing other serve as eye candy for lolita fans...

However, as I'll say a number of times in this review, this game is almost completely changed by how you personally decide to play it so you can avoid focusing on having her cook, clean and be pretty. You can have a scholarly lumberjack or an artistic warrior and you won't have to worry too much about a lot of the more offensive stuff. However, it's not without it's pratfalls too. I specifically tried to go down the warrior path with one incarnation of my daughter, but when she lost the annual combat festival the family butler, Cube couldn't resist pointing out that "Girls are cuter if they aren't incredibly tough."

On the whole, I think the positives of the game outweigh the negative sexist overtones, but maybe I'm just repressed enough by the patriarchy into not being bothered.

Gameplay

You start off the game by setting your family name, your daughters name, your name, her birthday, your birthday and you daughter's blood type. This information does affect the game. Your daughter's birth-date determines her guardian deity, who in turn effects her stats, and her blood type determines her personality.

For example my daughter Lily had a birthday of June 20th and Blood type O. Which meant her deity was mercury, she got an intelligence stat boost and she didn't gain or lose extra stress at the end of the month. There are loads of informative guides about choosing the optimum combination depending on the ending you're trying for but I think part of the fun of Princess Maker is the experimentation. With the initial stuff out of the way you get some brief barely coherent storyline and then you're ready to start raising a little girl.

When you start the game she's 10 and has whatever stats are determined by her birthday. The individual deity stat boosts aren't particularly generous so no matter how you start off it's possible to lead your daughter into a path you want. You decide what she eats, what she wears, where she goes, who she talks to and most importantly, her schedule. Her schedule consists of work, school, adventure or free time. You choose the subjects you want her to study and/or the part time job you want her to take and charge the family's butler with carrying out these plans. Why you can't carry it out yourself since all you seem to do is sit at home, I don't know. Perhaps it because dictating all that down to the letter and then pushing it on her too would be just be crossing the line. Using the butler as a buffer naturally means you're not a crazy control freak, just a dedicated father.

Your laziness and control problems as a father aside for the most part all you do is watch a small animation of her days spent on the schedule and see how well she did, how much stats changed and how much money she made, you're not in direct control over any of it. It's all ruled by your daughters stats. Except when you send her out adventuring, then the game works like a very basic RPG, which can get surprisingly addictive. I often felt sad when my 9 days were at an end and she has to go home.

Whatever you choose to schedule for her, should be thought out carefully. Just about everything you do in this game will effect your daughter's destiny in one way or another.Again there are several guides online which will tell you detailed information, but experimentation is more fun, this game has over 50 endings (I've seen conflicting reports on what exactly the number is ranging from 56 to 70+) I've played it through multiple times and didn't' get the same ending twice. One thing to be aware of though is that school is expensive. When you start the game you can pay for one period of class and that's it, you can schedule her for more, but the instructors will just complain about her not having enough money and you won't be able to afford to feed her for the following months. So while it seems like pretty bad parenting to send your 10 year old off to work, it's a necessity.

In any case regardless of what you choose for her, even though you have almost complete control over every aspect of her life there some limits. If you don't give her time off ans she ends the month with stress she's like to become delinquent, refusing to work or do schoolwork and potentially sneaking off to do unsavory things during free time. If you make her do too many things she doesn't like and she'll run away from home for a month wasting precious skill building time and not bringing in any family income. Similarly being too lenient with her nets similar results, you'll have to experiment before you find just the right balance with your particular daughter.

After you've hit your groove in terms of scheduling your daughter will eventually be visited by deities that give her stat boosts depending on what she's been excelling in. Additionally if she does particularly well at the harvest festival at the end of every year she can gain a rival. These have different effects depending on your daughters stats. Additionally there are a few other random events as the result of adventuring, winning a contest or buying a special item that will give you random effects.

After 8 game years of working, adventuring, networking, festivals and education your daughter will turn 18 and you'll see what your choices have lead to. Will you have been a good father and pleased the deity with their decision to grant you a child? You'll have to find that out for yourself.

Conclusion

Princess Maker 2 one of the most sexist stereotype driven games I've ever played that's still PG. That being said it's also a lot of fun. This game is what you make of it and has tons of little surprises (like all the different paintings your daughter can make and hang in your home) to keep you interested and make playing through it again and again worth your while. If you don't like sim games or games with very little action, this isn't a game for you. But just about anyone else could have a lot of fun with this.

Collection Update: A Work in Progress

2010-07-08T23:36:00.000-05:00

Haven't done a collection update (or much of anything else in a long while. Mostly because we've been pulling our old geeky stuff out of storage and sorting through it. It's a work in progress.

So far it's gone from making things that look like this:

Into things that look more like this:

This is a large portion of our sailor moon collection. Though still not all of it.Of particular interest to other collectors is probably the Moon House, Our full set of Irwin pretty face dolls including super moon and Saturn, The lovely German Queen Beryl, Dancing Princess Serenity, Dream Pocket Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eternal Sailor Moon, A super rare Furoku bag of Usagi as Mermaid (currently holding sailor moon wrapping paper), and a music playing crisis locket. We've got a whole host of other stuff including some really weird things including a inflatable ring, a travel toothbrush set and an omelet maker. But if I cataloged it all I could be here for hours (and that's still not all of it).

And into things that look like this:

This is much more multifandom, but with a heavy emphasis on vintage Mario. Of particular interest in this picture is probably: The rare 1-up mushroom Japanese coin bank, The Mario Kart Phone, The Mario Puppet Cooler, an almost complete set of Japanese Pepsi Mario Brothers caps, and naturally more sailor moon stuff (it's everywhere!) including a materials artbook. In addition that that there's a bunch of diecast X-men figures, some sonic the hedgehog stuff, more Pokemon than you can shake a stick and other geeky stuff we like(which is a lot).

And to a slightly Lesser extent, we've been making things that look like This:

We clearly can't be allowed to have figures. I mean sure it's hilarious that Picard and Warf are sharing a dance in front of a video game convention. But things are clearly gonna turn ugly as soon as Godzilla tried to cut in for the next dance. And you can't see it in that picture, but a little ways away Dr. Crusher has Stolen Epona and the master Sword, which can't be good for Hyrule.

Like I said before, it's been a work in progress. We've gone through 9 bins of our stuff, and there's still some more we haven't touched. So it's going to be awhile, but we're both looking forward to proudly displaying our years of ~~wasted money~~, awesome collections of nerdy stuff.

Oh and by the way, the room that house our collection is also our guest room. So if you ever have occasion to visit, you know what you're in for. ;)

~Stephanie

Retro Review Tuesday on a Friday?

2010-07-06T22:40:00.000-05:00

We've decided to still aim for one Retro Review a week, but instead of posting them on Tuesday we'll do them whenever we have time. We first set them for Tuesday when we were working with a different Work/Life/Education schedule. So instead of constantly not posting them because we can't match our own deadline.

So sometime this week you've got a Review of the PC Sim Classic Princess Maker 2 to look forward to.

A little Silent Hill with your Sims 3?

2010-06-14T15:58:00.000-05:00

Just a few days ago I was Browsing gaiaonline because I'm a grown woman who still likes to play dressup (which is a lot less inappropriate than it sounds) and they are running a promotion for the sims 3 ambitions expansions complete with big banner ads. So I spotted this one.

Well not actually this one, I forgot to screen shot the entirety of the Gaia one before it was changed with something else. But an ad strikingly similar to this one nevertheless. So can you spot the insidious influence of that quite little resort town?

How about now? (this one was taken from the orignal banner I saw which prompted this entry)

Doesn't this young Sims Doctor holding a disturbingly large injection bare a striking resemblance to a Certain Silent Hill physician? A Certain evil, pretty much half responsible for bringing about the torture of a young girl, the birth of an impure god and twisted "nightmarish delusions come to life"? A Certain Dr. Michael Kaufman?

Here's our good friend Dr. K as he was shown in the first Silent Hill game if you don't recall. So what's Dr. Kaufman doing running around the Sims' Sunset Valley? Dealing White Claudia? Starting new cults? Just generally being a sleazeball? What? Given that it's the Sims I'm sure you could honestly make him do whatever the heck you wanted.

I have to admit though that looking at more pictures of the promotional Doctor, he looks less like Kaufman and more like a generic doctor (who also happens to be black which Kaufman clearly is not). But I still think it could just be clever disguise and real Dr. Kaufman could be the catalyst any untold manner of horror in your Sim town. Though if you just stash some Aglaophotis somewhere in the Sim house and keep those pesky robbers away from it, you should avoid any Unwanted demonic possessions or god birthing.

~Stephanie

Retro Review Tuesday: Burgertime for Atari 2600

2010-06-08T22:46:00.003-05:00

Introduction

I have to start of by saying I love Burgertime. It's one of those games that you can't fathom why anyone would come up with, let alone actually make it and successfully sell it. Just in case you've lived under a rock since the eighties, the concept is this: You're a chef who exclusively makes giant burgers, Burgers so giant that they can only be assembled by placing the pieces including: lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and buns, on a large scaffolding, and must be walked on, (presumably by special sanitary chef shoes) to make them drop. While being chased by sentient wieners, eggs, cheese, and bread sticks. Now you might be wondering how on earth that could be fun and possibly where the heck tomatoes and lettuce that big could be grown. But, it's one of those things it's best to just accept, A game about a plumber in a parallel universe doesn't sound fun either but we all know it is. However, sometimes a Port to a different console goes horribly awry sucking all the good out of an otherwise fantastic game and unfortunately that's what we're about to see here.

Overview

Controls are very simple, you use the joystick to move around, and the button to toss pepper. Unfortunately they're extremely sluggish and unresponsive. The ladders are very easy to get stuck getting on and off of and using the pepper freezes the entire game for a little while.

Graphics are terrible, even by Atari standards. Peter (your chef) is the only thing that looks remotely like what he's supposed to be. The wiener/sausage is strangely shaped blob, the eggs and cheese are simply flickering squares and the breadstick is just a colored line. When the power-ups show up on the screen they're pretty indistinguishable (the coffee is the closest to looking like a real item) and cause all the sprites on the screen the flicker terribly.

Soundwise, it's surprisingly good. It's a pretty solid rendition of the original arcade music. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. The other sounds are pretty good as well. The burger ingredients make a pretty satisfying thud when they hit the bottom.

Gameplay

Generally you start off an Atari game by choosing your difficulty. This one doesn't have difficulty options, if you play with the difficulty selector you just choose more players. Next up you'd normally have to push start, not here though. Why bother Kids with a pesky title screen or even the classic Atari stopped first screen, jus\instant action, so you better hope you're ready.

So you've turned on the game and have prepared yourself to hit the ground running for some fast paced

Burgertime action!YEAH! *fist pump* Well..not so much. In reality this is the slowest game of burger time you'll ever play. Your chef moves at the speed of an extremely depressed snail, and the horrendously animated food enemies move just tiny bit slower. So you walk slowly from ingredient to ingredient, knocking them from one level to the next. However, you have to be careful otherwise you can get caught by a flickering cube (the egg or cheese), a bouncing line (a breadstick) or perhaps even an indistinct blob(the sausage)! Luckily even if you found yourself trapped behind a dubious looking square, there's always the pepper which

traditionally freezes enemies for a few seconds. allowing you to get away. Naturally this pepper has to be a
little different this time around. In order to use this "pepper" you have to be directly facing and enemy who's practically on top of you. Simple in theory, crappy in practice. Making matters worse, it's apparently super pepper as in addition to freezing the badies it freezes the entire game for a few seconds...rendering just a little better than useless. But hey, at least you can get more of it by "rushing" to the second tier down and grabbing some random collection of pixels that's supposed to represent ice cream, french fries or coffee.

So if you can make you way past bad graphics, sluggish controls and poor execution in the first level you're rewarded with four more levels of the same thing. When you finish up the fifth level, normally you'd expect a frozen screen, a points countdown or some of those cool seizure inducing Atari graphics we've all come to know and love. Sadly there is none of that to be had in this Burgertime, instead the game simply restarts from level one.

Conclusion

This version of Burgertime is playable, and by playable I mean it has the barest elements of a video game. It's honestly the worst port of any game I've every played. You can suffer through it if you feel real determined to see all five levels, it's better than playing the ET game, but not by much. And Really it's not even something you can accuse of being a product of the fabled problems of arcade to home porting as the Intellevision version is great. This is just some lazy programmer's plague upon Atari owners.

~Stephanie

Retro Review Tuesday: Operation C

2010-05-04T22:15:00.001-05:00

-Introduction-

As a long time Contra fan, finding out it could be made portable for me was quite exciting news. And unlike the disappointing Gameboy port of Contra III, the MOSTLY original Gameboy title Operation C proved to be a fun and compact Contra experience, exhibiting both familiar features and charming little new ones. With pleasure, I now wish to share it with the rest of the gaming world who may be unaware of its very existence.

-Overview-

The basic idea of the game remains the same as the good old days (Not that this game could be considered new...). Run the side-scrolling course of the level, and if it moves, shoot it. And if it doesn't...try anyway. At the end of each level you will face a boss. Destroy it, and you will move on to the next area.

Rest of the review after the Jump

Graphically it is quite an impressive piece of work considering it is an early Gameboy game. There is an animation for aiming forward, upward, and in all diagonal directions (Shooting downward in normal levels is only possible when doing so during a spin jump). Enemy sprites are rather detailed and mostly easy to distinguish the identity of. Backgrounds aren't too terribly detailed in come areas but are still pretty good in others. The game is colorless played on a normal gameboy, and on a Gameboy Color or Gameboy Advance it is very basically colored.

Operation C's controls are responsive and easy to get the hang of. Their simplicity remains the same as the Nintendo originals. You jump with A and shoot with B. Using the Directional buttons is what aims, and you can aim in eight different directions. If you are used to the classic Contra games, you will certainly notice the lack of speed your character boasts, most likely in an effort of stretch out the course of the 5-level game. Along with low speed, your character's jumping is far from impressive, making several jumps in this game quite nerve-racking situations. These are the only real issues with controls.

The sounds are rather complex for a Gameboy game. A lot sounds for games of this period were basically a series of "thuds" and what not. This one however has nice, large explosion sounds, the sounds of motors in attack vehicles, the high-pitched bullet-ricochet sound indicating a hit target, a notably nice machine-gun sound effect, and many other distinct sounds.

Not only is the music none-too-repetitive, but if you're a Contra fan, you should find it familiar. All the levels play Gameboy-modified versions of the music heard in the original classic. This is with exception to Area 2, which seems to exhibit an original but energetic musical composition. Additionally, the music that plays during Boss battles is a modified version of the great music that played during the Base Boss battles of the first Contra.

-Your Operation C Experience-

The gameplay of Operation C is quite easy compared to the classic Contra and Super C games. This in mind, it is still a Contra game, and should not be taken
lightly. You are always busy as enemies are constantly running at you from every direction, a common nuisance. Like usual, you also have to destroy gun turrets, tanks, and other machinery, which take multiple shots. This makes the game more interesting, and keeps you a little more off balance. Gunshots coming at you are

reasonably slow which is good as you yourself are rather slow. However, some move very quickly and are very hard to avoid. A different array of battle styles from level to level ensure the
gameplay never gets too stale. Battle takes place sometimes on flat ground, and other times as you jump from ledge to ledge, or even on rising and lowering elevators. The occasional mini boss or just rather large vehicle make their appearances throughout gameplay and certainly add to excitement and breaking up the usual flow of things. The slightly slower pace of this game doesn't really allow for the death-defying jumps and evasion maneuvers the classic games turned into necessity. This is good or bad, depending on how you look at it. As was said earlier, jumps ARE dramatic only because you can't jump far in Operation: C so getting over certain crevasses takes some thought and timing, but this isn't necessarily a high intensity moment.

If you're well acquainted with the second Contra installment, Super C, then these levels may seem a bit familiar, as the whole game seems based on it. Respectively, levels 2, 3, and 4 in Operation C bear notable resemblance to Super C's second, third, and sixth area. Also, parts of Op-C's fifth and final level could be compared to Super C's Area 4. And as these levels were fun in Super C, that tells a good tale for this one's performance. Along with these similar features, the classic Konami way of changing view modes is in effect here as well, so a couple of the stages (two and four) are played in a top-down mode. This limits your maneuverability and evasion tactics to just simply walking in a different direction. You can, however, wander the screen freely in all directions adding more interest to the gameplay.

Your boss battles can still prove as epic as those found in the classic games. They are still many, many times the size of your character and are loaded with weaponry. Level 4's boss is especially notable, as its alien qualities and stressful difficulty start to really remind you just what game you are playing. Of course, you can expect the end of a Boss's life to be signified with plenty of explosions and sound. None of the Operation C bosses are exactly what you'd call classic, and aside from Boss 4, aren't terribly memorable, but they still tack on the difficulty and bring a decent enough conclusion to an area.

As with the original games, this one allows you to pick up different weapons, each with different abilities and uses. The gun selection is not as plentiful as the other games but it's still enough to make it interesting for you, especially considering how different the weapons that are here are. Along with that, all the guns are now fully automatic, meaning you can just hold the button for continued fire. And of course, the everlasting salvation that is the Spread Shot is present and more alive than ever.

Your default gun has been upgraded to a Machine Gun, which obviously is rather nice. It generally shoots in 5-bullet bursts and has enough speed to be its own best option for some situations.

Heat-Seekers or Homing Rounds are new to this game and are a very useful weapon. Basically, the gun's bullets seek out targets without you having to aim and in addition to that, have a slight Spread-Shot like quality, shooting three at a time.

Fireballs are just as they were in Super C, large balls that disperse into four others when they hit their target. Taking out multiple enemies is made easier with these. However unlike the Super C version of this gun, you can't charge it for a huge blast.

The Spread Shot is amped up in this game and is quite amazing the first time you see it. Interestingly, you have to sort of level it up first. When you first collect the universally beloved S-marked falcon, your Spread Shot shoots in 3-round belts, mildly useful. But if you collect a second Spread Shot while you still have the first, it turns into a nearly unstoppable weapon of Mass Destruction (The kind you're already aware of that doesn't act a cover story for the securement of foreign oil). It shoots the full, big, bad 5-round belts with an added rapid-fire feature that just obliterates all opposition. As it was in the early days, not all the belts are full but the initial few that are tend to take care of any issue that would cause. It's certainly worth your time to see this weapon in action.

So is portable Contra fun? Why yes it is. All the elements are there, and the difficulty is enough to keep you on edge but not too overbearing, allowing the average Joe to pick it up and enjoy it, something that can't necessarily be said for the original Contra and Super C. The action is a bit slower than its NES

predecessors but it's still a pretty fast paced game for an early hand-held. You will still find yourself taking out the triple-barrel tanks, alien pods, and huge bosses just like you love. You get the classic Contra feel with the strange after taste that comes with all Gameboy versions of video games. The downfalls of this game will probably be how slowly you move and how poorly you jump, which accounts for about half of its difficulty. I personally could stand to see this game be a bit longer but I suppose I understand that it's merely a handheld. Now while the first four levels are pretty tame compared to the Contra you are accustomed to but worry not. The final level, five, comes roaring at you in true Contra spirit, with fast guns, dangerous aliens, and plenty of player death. If you wanted Contra, you're getting it now.

-Conclusion-

Your Contra experience isn't going to be exactly the same as the classic play through you may be familiar with upon turning on this game. However, as a long time Contra veteran, I can personally vouch for the quality of this game as a hand-held version of possibly the most popular shooter ever crafted. Operation C is sure to be an exciting addition to your hand-held collection and possibly your entire video game collection if you are a Contra fan like I am. It's small, it's different, it's quaint, it's Contra. Pop it into your Gameboy and love it like I do.

~Richard M.

*Scan of Operation C Box art from giantbomb.com

Perfect Woman Or Perfect Monstrosity?

2010-04-22T11:42:00.002-05:00

So looking for something completely unrelated I came across and ebay seller's store that features Poker guards/Markers. Hoenstly I have no use for the things, but I scrolled through their inventory anyway when I came upon this one. It's probably not safe for work so I'm putting it after the jump.

This lovely item is listed under the title of "the perfect woman" and while I've got some objections to that based on concept alone. My primary objection is that, IT'S COMPLETELY A MANNEQUIN MONSTER FROM SILENT HILL! Here's one of our little leggy friends for reference just in case you haven't played SH2:

Now I admit that the Mannequins weren't particularly problematic or all that scary in Silent Hill 2, but still. The last thing I want to think about when considering the perfect ANYTHING, is Silent Hill. I mean I personally find this sort of thing less than sexy:

Though some people obviously have different tastes than I do, as according to that listing 3 of those have sold. Apparently $7.99 is a small price to pay for your daily brush with horror.

~Stephanie

Notes:
I'm hosting it myself but, the Mannequin Monster image is from Silent Hill Heaven.

If you're a super SH2 fan and like to purchase the chip as a fun novelty the listing is here.

This is not a review

2010-04-20T22:50:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately it's also not a picture of a review and it's not a pipe. The simple fact of the matter is that I've been unhealthy lately and haven't been doing pretty much any gaming and I just realized this morning what day it was. So no review for you. In lieu of a review I haven't really got anything else special either. We'll be back for more fun and games when there isn't a general household plague happening.

~Stephanie

Retro Review Tuesday: Wolfenstein 3D

2010-04-13T18:48:00.001-05:00

We've been expanding our horizons reviewwise last week I finally did an import game and this week Richard has tackled our first PC title, Wolfenstein 3d. Most people think of the Wolfenstein series as "the game where you kill Hitler" and well it is, but there's a lot more to it than that. It was one of those titles that changed the world of gaming forever.

-Introduction-

With all of our past reviews in mind, this time around we now look back at arguably the most influential game we have done, to date. Back in the early 90s this MS-DOS game would prove to be beginning of the popularity synonymous with the First-Person Shooter genre. In time, it would lead to the immensely popular battle through hell itself known as DOOM. Without this game, the entire genre might have been buried until the only well known ones in existence would be the far sub-par shameless war games we've got now. Its difficulty made it, in any significant gamer's opinion, the most "hardcore" FPS ever to have hit the gaming world. So without further ado, Id's brainchild, Wolfenstein 3D.

Rest of the review after the jump...

-Overview-

Before discussing the graphics and sound, it's important to remember the date of this game, which predates Windows 95 by three years. Graphically, the game ranges from could be better to really quite nice. The sprites tend to look very pixelated, especially your weapons, but the environments aren't too bad and are sometimes rather interesting. You may notice there are no stairs or other changes in floor or ceiling height in

this game, another indication of how ID managed to make it run and render as well
as it did at the time. There are some pretty nice wall decorations in this game, considering its pixel-heavy nature. You can easily distinguish images of Adolf Hitler, Swastika-displaying banners, and signs that say things like VERBOTEN and ACHTUNG. While the walls are nicely textured, the floors and ceilings are notably simplistic. They do change color, but they are always colored solidly, with no texture or graphics at all. For reasons probably related to a limited color palette, a few objects that should be metallic colored are colored blue such as doors and guns or parts of guns.

Movement is very smooth and if on the right system, creates no graphical complications. Normal enemies are actually drawn from eight angles, allowing their sprites to physically change directions when they were to move sideways, backwards, or even diagonally in those directions, something that was quite impressive for the time. This allows the player to sneak up on enemies and pick them off, easier. One thing that was also quite different at the time was that enemies would sometimes even be walking around on their own while not actually alerted of the player's presence. The player's interaction with items and other non-active sprites is not as impressive, as these objects are only drawn from one angle, likewise with an enemy's corpse. Bosses are also only drawn from a single angle, so you can not sneak up on them.

The sounds are pretty crisp and clean, assuming you're using Sound Blaster to hear them. The metal doors indeed make metallic sounds when opening and a heavy thud when closing. Gunshot sounds range in quality but as a whole sound fine. This game also has speaking in it. It is hard to judge the clarity of it as almost all of it is in German, but it seems to sound alright. The music sounds very MIDI but it's not too repetitive and is different depending on the level or screen. One particular track * even features some subtle Morse code being tapped in the background.

The controls are responsive and simple enough. They are customizable so there's no need to specify what they are on the keyboard/mouse/whatever else. Their functions are shooting, of course, opening/activating, running, and strafing. If unedited, you'll find them similar to the controls of DOOM (you DID play that, right...?). By default, in relation to each other the controls shouldn't be too hard to master.

The characters range from being forgettable to a-defining-moment. B.J., the protagonist, is obviously always in mind, and is certainly a classic video game hero by this point. You don't hear much if his personality, as he says only one word in two instances throughout the game. Boss characters are the only other named characters. While the bosses seen in episodes 4-6 don't exactly leave an impression (The final episode's boss's level is a lot more significant than the boss himself), the original three bosses are classic and can easily become favorite boss characters of yours. Hans Grosse, the first boss, is one of the most classic boss battles video games have to offer, as he and his level are very distinctive in appearance. Dr. Schabbs, the second boss, is also pretty memorable in his own way, what with his unique way of battle and his look. And of course, we cannot forget Hitler. Nothing else needs to be said, there.

-The Story-

Story wise, it seems pretty average for what you need in an FPS. It's not laughably ridiculous though certainly not what you'd call plausable at times. Not counting the fact that they've sent in one man to bring down the entire Third Reich. In episode 1, B.J. Blazkowics (Pronounced Blazz-Ka-Vitch) must escape from the Nazi prison castle, Wolfenstein, to continue with his main mission of putting a stop to Operation: Eisenfaust. Using a knife and pistol he aquires from a guard he's overpowered, B.J. escapes his cell and fights his way out of the castle, acquiring stronger weapons and keys on his way to freedom. By episode 2, B.J. has escaped castle Wolfenstein and heads to Castle Hollehammer to stop Operation: Eisenfaust and assassinate its head scientist, Dr. Schabbs from plaguing the world with his undead, mutant soldiers. Come episode 3, it is time to put a stop to the entire Nazi madness once and for all. B.J. heads to Hitler's titanic bunker for a final showdown with the evil Fuhrer, himself.

(Episodes 4-6 are prequels to the first three episodes.)

In Episode 4, B.J. has been sent to put a stop to the Nazi's plans of waging Chemical War in the form of the Giftkrieg (Poison War). He must kill the head scientist, Otto Giftmacher. But his mission isn't over,yet. B.J. must then travel to the fortress of Erlangen to secure the Nazi's secret plans for the Giftkrieg. Once he has retrieved them, he can locate the
military installation at Offenbach, assassinate General Fettgesicht, and put a stop to the upcoming pain and suffering before it begins.

-Gameplay-

The gameplay is, like states, A First Person Shooter. You run around a 3D interactive environment and shoot hostiles while gathering the supplies you need to make it to the end. It's the standard formula and there's nothing wrong with it. Upon starting the game, you'll be taken to a few interesting little screens. Past the title screen, you'll see the options menu. From here you can start a new game, load an old one (saving is only available once you're actually playing), change the screen size, change the controls, change your sound settings, read some game directions and other things, view the high scores, go back to the demo, or quit. If you start a new game, you must first choose your episode from one of the following:

1. Escape from Castle Wolfenstein

2. Operation: Eisenfaust

3. Die, Furher, Die!

4. A Dark Secret

5. Trail of the Madman

6. Confrontation

After that, the game will ask - how tough are you? And you will answer:

Can I play, Daddy?

Don't Hurt Me.

Bring 'em on!

I am Death incarnate!

Choose your difficulty, and you are now playing Wolfenstein 3D.

Upon beginning, you start with just a knife and a pistol with 8 bullets inside. Your basic goal in every level is to shoot down your enemies while maintaining your health and ammo and find an elevator to take you to the next floor (why you can't use the same elevator, who knows, guess then there would be little game involved). You will encounter locked doors so you will also need to find one or two keys hidden somewhere in the level. If you die during a level then you will be taken back to its beginning and stripped of all items except for the default. Upon reaching the end of the level, you are told your time spent in the level and are shown the percentage of enemies you've killed, secrets you've found, and treasure items you've picked up. In all episodes you will meet a boss character at floor 9 and must eliminate them to finish the episode.

You are also scored based on the enemies you kill, the items you pick up, and how well you do in each level. Scoring high enough awards you extra lives, though generally speaking it's best to just save frequently and load from there if you die. To be honest, score was mostly important during the days when Id planned on holding contests based on score but now you'll probably just be interested in completing levels, fighting bosses, and finishing the game.

Your display is located at the bottom of your screen, and gives you your vital information such as remaining health, ammo, lives, your score, the keys you've found, the level you are currently in, and the gun you are using. And one of the signatures of Id's FPS games, your face, which changes depending on how much punishment you're taking. Aside from your numeric health status, it's a fun alternate to gauge how you're doing.

You might find the gameplay of Wolfenstein 3D annoyingly difficult at times (it's difficult at all times, whether or not it's annoying you), as a single shot can ruin all of your momentum. This game was before the time of all game characters being super-human, and closer to the time of single shots to the toe killing you, so as little as two shots can kill you even at full health. 50% remaining health is well within the mortal range.

Enemies: You will encounter several types of enemies during your mission, all quite dangerous and generally needing to be put down as soon as you see them, as you do not want any of them to surprise you. The variety of enemies isn't immense, though it's easy not to notice as the ones that are present tend to be quite a problem. Frankly, you won't care if you only see one kind of enemy until the end of the game so long as you don't have to deal with any more of the mutants in episode 2. They also speak German phrases which is quite amusing, especially so if you know what they're saying.

Guards - The most basic enemy, they have pistols and shoot rather slowly, pausing before doing so. Still, when up close they can shoot a huge chunk of your life away. They are pretty weak and can be taken down in as little as one shot.

Speech: Sees you - Achtung! (Attention!/Warning!)

Dies - (Series of screams)

Schutzstaffel - Also called the S.S., these large, armored soldiers carry machine guns and prove quite dangerous in groups or even on their own. They take many shots before falling, and drop their machine gun for you when they do.

Speech: Sees you - Schutzstaffel!

Dies - Mein Leben! (My life!)

Officers: Officers are very quick both on their feet and with their trigger finger. They are especially dangerous when hiding behind corners as you often have no time to react before getting shot. Shoot them without hesitation, as they only need a fraction OF a fraction of a second to fire.

Speech: Sees you - Spion! (Spy!)

Dies - Nein, so was! (Well, I never!)

Mutants: Undead soldiers with guns surgically attached to their chests and blades (for show) in their hands. They are arguably the deadliest enemy in the game, as they can somewhat rapid fire and are totally silent as far as when they "activate." When you know they are around, it's important not to take corners too quickly as they could be waiting for you and you won't know it until, frankly, you're dead.

Speech: Sees you - (Silence)

Dies- Aagghhrrr...

Dogs: Seeming to be German Shepherds, they are quick, and run up to you to bite you right in the face. Despite this, it is quite harsh to have to kill them but a necessity. They are the weakest enemy in the game, and can be killed with one hit from anything.

Speech: Sees you - Bark!
Dies: (Whimper)

Bosses: Once you've made it to the ninth floor or level of an episode, you will battle a Boss character. Boss characters are always very large individuals compared to normal enemies and carry vicious firepower, able to put you down in a single second. They can sustain nearly all of your ammo before finally falling. Once they do, either the episode will end, or you will be given a key to find the end of the level.

Weapons: Of course, you'll need firepower to get the job done. Wolfenstein does not offer the amount of weaponry that we're used to these days and at first it can, admittedly, be a little disappointing. But to be fair, this was before First Person Shooter was an established genre. In time, you should learn to appreciate the arsenal that you are given. Here is a list of the weapons you can find and use in Wolfenstein 3D.

Knife - This is there for you should you run out of ammo or possibly just have a death wish. You have to go right up to an enemy to use it so it's not really ideal for any situation. But if it's all you've got then it's all you've got. Repeatedly tap the attack button to keep stabbing, and hope for the best.

Pistol - You start off with this as well as eight bullets. This is not meant to get you through the entire mission, what with its slow rate of fire and what not so try to find a better weapon as soon as possible.

Machine Gun - These can be found laying around a level or can be taken from a killed S.S. They allow you to just hold down the attack button for rapid fire. It's still not the best weapon but compared to the pistol it makes a galaxy of difference.

Chaingun - Large and Loud, this weapon is the strongest in the game, often hidden in secret areas. It shoots a minimum of two bullets at a time (unless shooting your last), and quickly takes care of any normal enemy, and is certainly ideal for boss battles (seeing as how many bosses carry this same weapon, and often in pairs.) Needless to say it eats up ammo pretty quickly so don't get too "happy" with it unless you have to.

Once you've gotten a handle on all the enemy types and building up your arsenal, you may think you're well on the road to mastering the game, but you'd be wrong. You'll start to really hate your life as a one-man attack team for the allies in the several Wolfenstein 3D levels that are designed, at least in part, like a labyrinth. Beyond every corner could be another hostile or even worse, you could be in the maze with an unknown amount of active enemies that may either ambush you from the front or sneak up on you from behind. Without patience you will not make it far. Many players with over-active testosterone will think that all problems can be solved by non-stop chaingun fire. But with so little ammo that can be held at once, they will find themselves only with a knife and seconds later, dead. Just because it's an FPS does not mean you don't have to be strategic.

Items: Along with firepower, you will need ammo for that firepower, as well as keys to locked doors, health, and treasure if score means that much to you.

Ammo Clip - These are how you renew your ammo supply. How you get them dictates how much one holds. If taken from an enemy they hold 4 bullets. If found new, 8. You can only hold 99 bullets at one time which is rather annoying since you'd think with the rapid-fire guns you carry they could have at least given you a 199 bullet capacity, but you'll just have to deal.

Keys - Some levels hide a Gold Key, a Silver Key, or both. While keys and locked doors come in two different colors, they are in no way color coded, and you don't know which key opens which door until you try.

Chicken - A plate of chicken here and there is just what you need to keep going. They are worth 10 percent health.

Medkit - A slightly more legitimate source of health and will replenish it by 25 percent.

Dog Food - Usually located, you guessed it, where you find dogs. You can munch on that and gain 4 percent health back.

Blood and Bones - Drastic times call for drastic measures. If your health drops to 10 percent or lower, B.J. will drink the blood and chew on the bones of the deceased just to survive. It will replenish 1 percent of your health.

Treasure - There only for points, these come in various forms such as chests or chalices. You are rated after each level on how much out of 100 percent you've collected.

Extra Life - Usually found in a secret area, these award you an extra life, but more importantly, replenish all of your health and give you a cool addition of 25 bullets.

Item-wise, what you need isn't generally covered in the normal part of the levels and often you will find yourself seeking out the secret rooms.A big part of Wolfenstein is would be the many secret rooms that it holds. Secret rooms are discovered by pushing on certain walls. If you push on the right one, you will hear a "crunching" noise and the wall will audibly slide backwards, usually revealing a secret room. Secret rooms are often filled with weapons, ammo, health, treasure, or even more.Still, don't be surprised if the inside is disappointing. Sometimes secrets are entirely pointless.

Starting the game from any episode will at first make it quite difficult to get on your feet. You have just a pistol and a very small amount of ammo to get started with. How you start pretty much sets the tone for how the rest is going to go, and if you start off poorly, you may consider just retrying it until you do better. Assuming you're playing it chronologically, the first few levels of episode one have a very introductory feel. You just cruise around shooting some weak, helmeted Nazi guards while trying to get a feel for the game. So far, you don't need keys or all that much firepower. But soon enough, around the time the S.S. start to appear in large groups, you need to get better weapons and a better sense of survival. The game starts to get more challenging and aggravating when you start to encounter locked doors. Keys are often hidden in the worst places. Most notably, more than one level puts a key in a large room with a "patsy" guard in there to kill. Of course, doing this will alert about a dozen other enemies to your presence, just outside the large room. It becomes a bloody fight to the death, all for that one little key. Situations like this explain a lot of what you're in for during your play through of Wolfenstein 3D.

-Conclusion-

Wolfenstein 3D is an extremely important piece of work in the history of video games. It popularized First-Person Shooters in ways that would eventually lead to other greats such as Id's own DOOM or 3D Realms' Duke Nukem. Playing it is a very special feeling if you are a person that can appreciate this. With its many levels, hundreds of secrets, and prestigious difficulty, this classic shows that even almost twenty years later it can still entertain if you're lucky enough to have the means to play it. We are very excited to be able to review it and would certainly recommend that you find a way to try out this truly great game.

~Richard M.

*Music courtesy of the video game music preservation foundation.

Avane

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This is not a review

Retro Review Tuesday: Wolfenstein 3D