Category Archives: video games

Easy Doesn’t Mean Boring

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After having beaten and reviewed Megaman 10 on its Normal difficulty, today I revisited the game on Easy Mode, playing alongside someone who doesn’t have quite as much experience with the series and so doesn’t quite have the same tolerance for abuse built in. What I discovered was that even for someone who had already finished the game on a more difficult setting, Megaman 10 is still a very fun game and having my mind somewhat at ease (though not entirely of course!) let me more fully appreciate the finer aspects of the gameplay, particularly the controls. It just really reminded me how Megaman is known for good controls despite the titular character’s sub-par leaping abilities.

I think it’s very easy to make the mistake of thinking that the fun of Megaman games is in its challenge when the NES-hard style only plays a partial role in the overall experience. It might be the one you remember the most, but it’s the rest of the game which keeps you coming back.

The fact that easy mode is fun to play with multiple people has gotten me to thinking about other games which have tried to encourage people of varying skill levels to play together without fear of reprisal, be it from those same friends or from the computer. A recent popular example is New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which allows for 4-player simultaneous action and a unique system which allows players to “skip” sections while other players handle a particularly troublesome area should they choose to do so. It’s not perfect, but it keeps things moving along, and you can tell that they put a lot of consideration into this mechanic. A more classic example is introducing luck into a game. With just the right amount, it can make things exciting, and cries of “unfair!” can sometimes just entice those same complainers to play even more. I should know, mahjong can have that effect.

One really good example of a game that fosters play between beginners and experts is the Smash Bros. series. With its 4-player simultaneous action, you can get a lot of people in on it at once. More importantly though, its “Time” setting, which has everyone fight until a preset time limit, allows everyone, win or lose, to play the same amount per match. Contrast this with “Stock,” where once you lose all of your lives you are unable to play anymore. For a new player, this can be very boring as you watch the better players continue to have fun while you just sit there unable to participate in any manner except verbally (or blocking the TV and knocking away controllers if you want your ass kicked).

What’s kind of funny though is that a good deal of people, particularly overly competitive individuals, seem to have trouble understanding this idea of having games and game modes which allow everyone to derive enjoyment in roughly equal portions, as if they don’t comprehend enjoying the game as anything but a bloody battle to the top. While there are games which take the balancing factor too far (recent Mario Kart games are kind of notorious for this), I think overall games can benefit from just having things everyone can enjoy, even if it’s having both COMPETITIVE PRO KOREA MAPS and BIG GAME HUNTERS for Starcraft.

Speaking of competitive gamers and such, it seems like almost every community makes the same mistakes, but I’ll leave that topic for another time.

10 Will Get You 10: Megaman 10

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Highly anticipating its arrival, I was quick to nab the newly-released Megaman 10 off of WiiWare. After some hard-fought battles, I have emerged victorious and I am now here to tell my tale and give what the fleshnoids call “impressions.”

Just like its immediate predecessor, the 10th game in the classic series is a retro remake, resembling the 8-bit, pixelated style that was once necessitated by technology limitations of the NES era but now exists as a stylistic choice. The wait between games wasn’t nearly as long as the period between games 8 and 9 (which is even longer if you’re counting from the last NES release, 6), so its arrival isn’t quite as impactful, but a welcome addition nonetheless.

What can be said about Megaman 10? Well it’s frustrating, for one, but you already knew that. So did Capcom. That’s why they put in an Easy Mode. But my foolish pride would not let me play Easy Mode, though it was still weak enough to make me succumb to purchasing Energy Tanks to make the trip through the game less aggravating at certain points.

One interesting feature of 10 is the range of playable characters available. Megaman of course is there, and this time Protoman is available from the start instead of being a $2 download. Megaman can’t slide or charge his shots, but has more health than Protoman who can use those techniques, who also sports a new, larger shield than in the previous game. Not content to let the whole “paid downloadable content” thing go, they’re providing a third character in the form of Megaman’s Dr. Wily-created rival, Bass. The angry, villainous Megaman counterpart apparently has the ability to rapid-fire in seven directions, and will be available for purchase on April 5th, 2010. It should be noted that this is the first time that Bass has made a full appearance in 8-bit form, and I must say that his design doesn’t exactly translate well to the NES graphics, especially because he was designed in the SNES era, possibly to take advantage of the technology of the time.

Speaking of which, Bass isn’t the only character to get a retro “downgrade,” but I won’t say anymore.

Megaman 10 bears a lot of resemblance to Megaman 9 in terms of the way stages are laid out, which I think is both a good and a bad thing when compared to the original NES games. In the original games, stages were a series of hazards that came one after the other, getting more difficult along the way overall, but still providing the occasional run-and-gun moments. The recent remakes however, but especially 10, treat the level as almost a puzzle of sorts, where it introduces a basic gameplay concept earlier in the stage and then has you use it later. This is a welcome sophistication which would be all good except that the game is poor at giving moments of respite to you the player.

Let’s look back at (almost) everyone’s favorite, Megaman 2, particularly the Crashman level. The stage is well-designed, but it has no real “gimmicks” to it, and there’s not much danger of falling down a deadly pit. It’s mostly an empty stage but it’s still fun. Compare that to any of the levels in 10, which will consist of tons of enemies attacking, crazy traps, and other such obstacles, and 10 stands as a more exhausting game overall. Again, still fun though.

If you’re really masochistic, there’s a Hard Mode once you beat the game on Normal. I’d personally avoid it, but I hear that the bosses get new attacks in Hard Mode, so I’m highly tempted to work my way through it.

Speaking of the bosses, all of whom can be seen here, I consider them successes on both a gameplay and design level. The bosses are difficult opponents, some significantly moreso than others, but none of them seem outright unfair. Each of them has an effective strategy that can be broken down (or at least worn out via attrition, i.e. Energy Tanks), but it takes time to learn their patterns and tendencies. Some Robot Masters, such as Blademan, primarily fight by reacting to Megaman’s movements, while others such as Pumpman kind of do their own thing. What’s also a nice touch is that having the Robot Master’s weakness isn’t always enough; you have to know how to use it as well. For example, the boss weak to Commandoman’s Commando Bomb is not weak to the projectile itself, but the shockwaves it generates on impact, and in defeating Nitroman with the proper weapon you have to exploit his motorcycle form. It’s a really nice touch, I think. Better yet, once you engage each boss in battle, you get the ability to face them over and over again in the new “Challenge Mode.” As someone who loves bosses in video games but especially Megaman, this is a dream come true.

As for the visual design of the Robot Masters, I think they make perfect sense when you realize that they’re not designed to be Dr. Wily’s minions but rather just random robots that went berserk because of a virus. They’re mostly non-threatening because they’re supposed to seem harmless. Even the most dangerous-looking ones, Blademan and Commandoman, are a museum robot and a minesweeper, respectively.

9 has catchier tunes and better aesthetics overall I think, but Megaman 10 is overall a very fun game and no slouch in those categories either. It’s less difficult than its prequel in certain respects but also much more difficult than others. Again, it’s not quite as big a deal as 9, but it’s got that classic crisp Blue Bomber action, and the ability to fight just the bosses is a very welcome addition, in my opinion making Megaman 10 very much worth the $10, even if it makes you want to punch someone every-so-often.

I Went to Nintendo World and All I Got Was This Tatsunoko vs Capcom Autographed Poster

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On my way to  Nintendo World’s Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars I thought to myself, “Even though I’m getting there an hour after it started, there shouldn’t be too many people! I mean, who really knows about Tatsunoko vs Capcom anyway?” But never again will I underestimate fighting game fans.

Upon reaching the second floor, my friends and I noticed that it was packed. Not only was there a tournament about to commence with the prize on the line being an actual copy of TvC, but there was an autograph line snaking throughout the entire floor, and small groups crowded around each sample kiosk.

You could pretty much tell that almost everyone there was a fighting game fan, and in all likelihood weren’t really sure what “Tatsunoko” was. There’s something about the dress, the demeanor, the energy of the crowd that really made it obvious that they loved 1 on 1 fireball-throwing action and possibly yomi.

Another thing I noticed was that the event actually brought cosplayers. And it wasn’t even like all of them were relevant to the event at hand. While there was a Yatterman cosplayer walking around, I also spotted a Kakashi from Naruto with flack jacket and all, as well as a guy dressed as Kyon from Haruhi. Still, it wasn’t like the event was overwhelmed by anime fans in anime costume, but I was both a little nonplussed yet not surprised at all at this situation. It was an event celebrating anime characters after all.

All this time, I was on the line to get my autograph poster, and after an hour and change, I reached the signing. There, I asked the producers of the game an important question: Is Joe the Condor’s voice actor in TvC the original, Sasaki Isao, i.e. Joe’s original voice actor and famous anime singer responsible for shows such as Space Battleship Yamato, Neo-Human Casshern, Galaxy Express 999, UFO Robo Grendizer, and Getter Robo? They said “yes,” and were surprised that I even knew who Sasaki Isao was. Mission accomplished.

Afterwards I played the game a little, using Gold Lightan and seeing if he felt any different. I wasn’t that good at the game so I couldn’t really tell, but he’s still the Gold Finger Crashing Behemoth we know and love.

And then I ate udon. Mm mm.

This Gundam Mahjong Game Has a Really Long Title But It’s Still Really Fun

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Despite being a huge fan of video games in general, I haven’t bought very many video games as of late, so I think it’s all too fitting that the latest game I’m playing is something that pretty much doesn’t NEED to be a video game but sure enjoys being one. The game I’m referring to is (deep breath) Kidou Gekidan Haro Ichiza Gundam Mahjong + Zeta: Sara ni Dekiruyou ni Nattana! Or in short, Gundam + Zeta Mahjong for the DS. Being Gundam doesn’t really imply any gameplay functions and mahjong certainly doesn’t require any sort of electronics to play, but it’s got all sorts of fun touches that may have you playing it over regular mahjong (or free online mahjong).

Gundam Mahjong is essentially mahjong + super meter. Before the match itself you pick a character, each of whom have their own special abilities, as well as a  “figure” that gives it own unique bonuses.  Char for example has the ability to see an opponent’s winning tiles if they declare “reach,” as well as the ability to deplete every other super meter. Otherwise it’s just normal mahjong. And if you have trouble remembering the rules, there’s a handy built-in guide (though you’d have to know Japanese to use it).

The playable characters are Amuro, Kai, Bright, Sleggar, Char, Lalah, Ramba Ral, Garma, Dozzle, Kycilia, Gihren, Kamille, Emma, Quattro (yes, he’s considered separate from Char), Jerid, Yazan, Scirocco, and Haman. Other characters make cameos, with Frau Bow and Four Murasame being the most prominent. It’s interesting to note which characters in Gundam are considered “characters of action” in the greater consciousness of its fandom.

The selection of Mobile Suit and Mobile Armor figures (it’s implied in the story mode that everyone is a figure-collecting otaku) is much more broad, tapping not only into the two main series but all of the Mobile Suit Variations and side stories from both the One Year War and the Grypps War. You can even use Johnny Ridden’s Mobile Suits. There are certain Mobile Suits that can only be used by specific characters, like Amuro with the original Gundam, Jerid with the Baund Doc, Haman with the Qubeley, and so on. Part of the fun is in deciding which figures to use with which characters that best utilizes their super moves. Char’s Zaku II for example allows Char to gain meter at 3.5x normal speed, which goes well with his meter-killing super. If you’re a real romantic, I suggest pairing Kycilia Zabi with one of Johnny Ridden’s mobile suits.

There’s a free play mode, a story mode, and you can customize the rule set or use a pre-existing one. The game is packed with clever nods big and small to the Gundam franchise, particularly in the way characters talk to each other during the game. When Garma wins, he will comfort his opponents by telling them that it’s not that they were weak, but that he’s simply too strong. Then he’ll recite his winning hand. The best moments are probably when you declare reach, as the music changes accordingly. Nothing says Char’s about to win more than this song.

Even without the Gundam elements though it’s still a solid mahjong engine, and you can even battle people over wireless and wi-fi. About my only complaint is that sometimes the computer opponents are a bunch of cheaters, but that comes hand in hand with any sort of game like this. So, overall impressions are about as obvious as you can get. If you like Gundam and you like mahjong, then check it out, but don’t trip over yourself in trying to obtain it.

MMM… Megaman 10

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Megaman 10. That’s 10 Megamen. Actually, more like 50 or so, but hearing news that last year’s retro revisit of the classic franchise is getting a sequel brought joy and happiness to this anime blogger. There’s a lot of positivity and negativity floating around because of the announcement, and I want to just talk a little about it, go through some of the things that pop up in my head when I read these conversations.

The Megaman series is very special to me. If I had to pick a favorite classic NES series, the Blue Bomber’s exploits would be it. I even wrote an entire post about it  where I talked about the way its graphics affected me.

Two of the most frequent criticisms I saw leveled towards Megaman 9 were that its mode of play and concept of difficulty was a relic of older times that should have stayed buried and that it was a cheap cash grab that fell back on a tried-and-true formula with little innovation and a gimmick to tug at older player’s feelings of nostalgia. While there’s no way to play Megaman 10 at this point, it’s a fairly safe bet that the former complaint will resurface, while the latter’s already being tossed about.

Is there any merit to these criticisms? Well sure, Megaman‘s idea of difficulty falls under the banner of “NES-difficult,” an unofficial term which describes the days where games could be brutal and unforgiving and would often require you to play many times over before you started to get the hang of it. Megaman was particularly cruel. Whereas a game like Super Mario Bros. would place an item somewhere in order to give you some respite, Megaman had a somewhat frequent tendency to deceive, placing items as bait to lure you into inescapable death traps. That’s how Dr. Wily rolled, and whether you could handle that or not was key to whether or not you enjoyed those games.

As for the whole cash-grab thing, I can totally believe that, but that doesn’t diminish the amount of effort that was put into 9 and that I assume will be put into 10. It’s also easy to attack the use of 8-bit sprites as a “gimmick,” but when you actually sit down with a Megaman game you realize just how significant the graphics are towards the gameplay. Yes, what I’m saying is that in this case graphics matter, just not the advancement of graphics. And this is coming from someone who played the hell out of Megaman 8 on his Sega Saturn. I loved how bright and lush that game was, I loved how hitting the bosses with their weaknesses would cause unique effects and animations. I even tolerated the JUMP JUMP SLIDE SLIDE rocketboard sections. But when I went back to the NES Megaman games and Megaman 9, I could really feel the difference that those simple (yet still very good-looking) 8-bit graphics made. They were graphics that assisted the gameplay immensely. Same goes for the music. Try as they might, I’ve never heard a remix of an NES Megaman song that I liked more than the original, and that includes live bands like “The Advantage.” They’re songs that work best as video game music.

Megaman 9 was a look back at things that the series did right. While constantly moving forward in the name of progress is great and all, sometimes a look backwards can be just as important, as it can teach you what to keep and what to discard. Many people called it the best Megaman since 2 and I’m inclined to agree.

So yeah, I’m looking forward to Megaman 10. I hope they make Protoman more unique, rather than just him being the “challenge” character, and I’m eager to see who the third playable character will be. Maybe it’ll be Roll, hot off her victory over Gold Lightan. Or maybe it’ll be Bass making his first non-cameo 8-bit appearance. Better yet, let’s get some multiplayer up in here. If New Super Mario Bros. Wii can do it, why not?

Miyamoto Shigeru Continues to Amaze Me

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I recently wrote a post about “Mr. Mario” and his interview regarding New Super Mario Bros. Wii. I decided to take a look at other interviews he’s given, particularly the ones on the Wii’s Nintendo Channel, and as I watched them I realized just how different his mindset is compared to everyone else in the industry at this point. Yes, the fact that he’s a genius who has given birth to many of the great franchises of video game history isn’t anything new, but when you listen to him talk about games, it’s like he’s discussing an entirely foreign subject compared to his peers and contemporaries.

Everyone else is working from the mindset of “how do I foster competition,” or “how do I make this a more enjoyable experience,” or even “what is interactivity and what does it mean,” and they’re all valid questions worth answering, but in contrast the most important question that seems to pop up in Miyamoto’s head is “how do I make life better?” It’s not a matter of him being “better” than anyone else in game design so much as the fact that he’s playing another game entirely.

It’s as if when everyone else is trying to bring guns to a sword fight, Miyamoto brings a cup of tea.

Through the Looking Glass (Translator’s Note: Looking Glass Means Mirror)

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Here in the English-speaking anime and gaming internet communities, analyses of translations are never uncommon. Whether it’s to praise a localization or to condemn for whatever reasons such as inaccuracies or censorship, it’s something that comes packaged with media coming from other countries.

One thing we do not see as often though is how Japan reacts to localizations of our cartoons and video games. As such, I’ve compiled a list of some interesting posts, blogs, etc. which look at the world of Japanese-English adaptations from various angles.

Adventures in Localization, MW2 Edition

The most recent thing to come up, apparently the Japanese release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is marred by poor translations overall, which are leading some Japanese games swearing that they will buy the Asian English-language version of the game before this. Sound familiar?

Sakae Moon Street

See this Japanese fan discuss those wild and crazy cartoons from America such as Ben 10, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Code Lyoko! He mostly posts plot summaries and information on voice actors and such, but also posts fanart sometimes, and has a gallery full of his older works. He also speaks some English and has even translated a few posts, such as in his review of the Avatar episode, “The Blind Bandit.”

I think that “Colosseum”, “Macho” and “Sumo wrestler” are loved particularly in the American cartoon. The picture of this film is wonderful. And there are a lot of highlights as for the action scene. I think this action scene is rivaled to “Matrix” or “Ghost in the shell”.

Toph’s character is like a princess more than I had thought. She is keeping the weakness secret on the other side of strength of vender power. I like it. However, of course, she is tough too. And I am surprised because Katara grew up tougher. The director of Avatar wants to show that Katara looks senior compared with Toph, isn’t it?

Dekadenbiyori

In the blogger’s own words, “I don’t know why, but translated Japanese things attract me.” Dekadenbiyori is quite unusual though in that it reviews the English translations of Japanese works FOR Japanese readers, something which I imagine doesn’t have the largest audience but is still a fascinating subject. See here as he tears apart the poor localization of the Shakugan no Shana light novel and its inability to not make the main character sound “special.” You don’t need to know Japanese in order to understand his disdain for this translation.

Burning Becky Review

Japanese Super Blogger and Mitsudomoe fan Tamagomago writes a review of a most unusual manga called Burning Becky. The comic’s style is heavily based on American super hero comics, right down to the cover with a logo in the upper left corner as well as English sound effects and the very fact that it’s a manga about a super hero. Tamagomago himself wrote the post as if he were an American speaking Japanese. This one isn’t so easy to read so I’ll provide a little sample. I had planned on translating the entire article here for English-speaking readers to enjoy, but that hasn’t happened. At least not yet.

アメコミのいいところの一つは、ダイナミックで豪快な、まるでイラストレーションのような描写力があるかな？少ないページ数にたくさんのキャラクターが出てくるために洗練された方法かもしれないね。もちろん、それは作家さん次第なので、全部ではないよ。

One of the good points about American Comics is that they’re so dynamic and exciting, one might say that they’re practically illustrations in their descriptive power. This is likely the result of  refining techniques for the sake of including so many characters on so few pages. Of course that’s dependent on the individual artist and so it’s not universal.

Let’s Over-Analyze the Subspace Emissary

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This post is really, really late, seeing as how Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been out for a long time now, but I was thinking about the story mode recently and my theories on it back when the game first came out. As such, I want to record them here for all of you.

Warning, spoilers follow.

The basic plot of the “Subspace Emissary,” or the story mode in Smash Bros. Brawl, is that a mysterious being called the Ancient Minister is detonating Subspace Bombs and destroying parts of the Smash Bros. universe for some diabolical scheme. We later learn that the Ancient Minister is actually the Robot Operating Buddy that was originally released with the Nintendo Entertainment System, and that R.O.B. is being controlled by Master Hand, a gigantic disembodied right hand that is like a “god” of sorts. However, it also turns out that Master Hand is being controlled by a being who rules Subspace named Tabuu, who is also the ultimate opponent in Subspace Emissary.

Looking back at the original Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64, the game’s cinematic opening implies to us the true identity of Master Hand (and by extension the left “Crazy Hand” from Melee on). Master Hand’s domain is a room which contains a desk, a chair, and a toy chest from which he pulls out dolls of his favorite Nintendo characters. In other words, Master Hand is a kid who is just having fun with his toys and his video games, and that is why he is the default final boss in the series.

Who is Tabuu, then? Well, he is a being more powerful than Master Hand, who controls and restrains Master Hand against the hand’s will. He is capable of attacking with “Off Waves,” which renders the Nintendo (and Sega and Konami) heroes lifeless. He is described in the game as “having been born in a vastly foreign realm” and also “possess[ing] great leadership powers.” If you look more closely, you will see that the true identity of Tabuu is Master Hand’s father, or specifically the father of the kid playing with his video game toys. He rules subspace as a great leader and he is capable of turning “off” the child’s games.

The greatest evidence towards Tabuu being a child’s imaginary representation of his dad comes in the form of R.O.B. Prior to the start of the Subspace Emissary, Tabuu attacks R.O.B. and forces it and its loyal followers to do his bidding or risk further destruction. Why is R.O.B. of all characters the titular subspace emissary? Why is he the border between the Smash world and Subspace? If you look at what R.O.B. actually is, then the answer becomes clear.

R.O.B. was originally released as a toy to go along with the NES to play R.O.B.-specific games, and was instrumental in tricking convincing parents to buy a video game entertainment system for their kids. R.O.B., to those parents and even some kids, was the most visible part of the NES. More importantly, R.O.B. in his original games exists as both a character on-screen and as a physical object in the real world, making R.O.B.s the ideal messengers between Subspace (the real world) and the Smash world (video games and imagination).

So in actuality, the “Subspace Emissary” is an allegory for a father telling his child to stop playing with toys because they have to go do something away from the realm of video games and fun, like go visit grandma. The child, i.e. “Master Hand,” is thus captured by the evil “Tabuu,” who seeks to turn everything “off” and control everything. The father destroys and enslaves the R.O.B.s first because they are the easiest targets and the only ones to truly be both physical and imaginary. The child/Master Hand in turn must be saved by his own creations, the characters of Smash Bros. Whether the “defeat” of “Tabuu” happened in reality or purely in the mind of the child is sadly unknown.

Miyamoto Shigeru Agrees with Me

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I previously made a post positing that one of the big changes that occurred in video game graphics around the NES era was that character’s began to have faces. Their eyes and mouths (or approximations thereof) made the characters more relatable.

While I thought it made perfect sense, I realize that aside from my visual analysis there wasn’t a whole lot of record and evidence to back it up. But then recently while reading the New Super Mario Bros. Wii interview, the creator of Mario himself Miyamoto Shigeru said something which helped support my theory immensely.

Iwata
Mario’s trademarks are his moustache, his hat and his overalls. Why did you decide to give him this look? I have no doubt you’ve spoken about this many times before, but I’d like to take this opportunity to ask you to tell us about it one more time.

Miyamoto
Certainly. The original Mario was a 16 X 16 pixilated image. At that time, when games made overseas used human characters, they were always rendered with life-like proportions.

Iwata
It felt as if the developers weren’t happy unless they’d drawn a figure that was eight-heads tall.

Miyamoto
Or sometimes it would be six-heads tall. But actually, the number of pixels we were able to use was so limited that, if we did that, we’d only have had a couple of pixels for the face.

Iwata
With two pixels, you wouldn’t even have been able to draw eyes. You’d basically have ended up with a matchstick figure. In early video games from overseas, that kind of figure often featured.

Miyamoto
And as they just didn’t resemble human figures, I was absolutely convinced that they’d been designed by people who couldn’t draw!

Iwata
(laughs)

Miyamoto
I thought it was most likely that it was the programmer who was drawing these figures. But I thought: “I know how to draw!” I mean, I’m not saying I can draw as well as an artist, but I was confident that I was better at drawing than a programmer. That’s why I started by saying: “Right, let’s draw something that actually looks like a person’s face!” So I drew the eyes, the nose, the mouth and…
Miyamoto goes on to talk about how in creating the face, it left him with very few pixels to actually design a body, and that Mario’s look was essentially dictated by function (Mario has a mustache so that they didn’t have to draw a mouth). What’s important in Miyamoto’s words is that he saw how most of the characters in games abroad were attempts to replicate a “realistic” human figure, and he still made an effort to give his character Mario some semblance of a personality by giving him facial features, even if those features were the result of limitations.
Certainly it wasn’t impossible or uncommon for games prior to Donkey Kong to have personality of their own, and Miyamoto certainly wasn’t the first to give facial features to his characters (Pac-Man being the most obvious example), it does show the kind of thinking that would go on to implicitly influence generations of gamers.

Like Casting Pearls Before Artificial Intelligence

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If you’ll allow me a moment, I am going to rant about them there video games.

I’ve been playing Jump Ultimate Stars recently, trying to finally unlock all the characters and such, and in order to do so you need to collect these gems that appear when you break open containers or you defeat enemies. A simple, if tedious process, gem collection is made five times worse when you find out that your computer opponents collect the gems as well.

Now keep in mind that unlike other items which might cause status effects or buffs/de-buffs, the gems serve no function other than as currency, and so serve no use to the computer opponents who will occasionally go out of their way to collect them. It just slows down the grinding process unnecessarily and can make you want to punch Yugi in the face when he grabs your damn knowledge gem for the umpteenth time. Fortunately with this game you can do exactly that.

If you’ve played Super Smash Bros. Brawl, then you probably know what I’m talking about. In Brawl, you get additional background music by collecting CDs which will randomly pop up in the middle of a fight. Again, if a computer-controlled opponent picks that CD up it means that you’re going to have to wait another day for that disc to reappear.

Why, Nintendo? Why, Ganbarion? Why put this into your games? It just leads to annoyance and frustration, and not the good kind either.

Oh yeah, if you do reply, please don’t turn this into an argument about tripping or whatever.