My Top 5 Least Favorite Trends of Modern Gaming

Bare with me. This is my first time attempting to do a list...

The very first video game that I remember playing is Super Mario Brothers 3 on the NES. That was way back in the early 90s. Since then gaming has evolved and the same games that were popular back then are being put on the back burner for more modern games. So, without wasting any time, here are my top 5 least favorite trends in modern gaming.


#5. Voice Over Acting

That's right Professor Oak. Your nephew's name is Buttface.

I figure that this selection may come as a surprise to most of you and that is why it is at the bottom of my list. Some games do voice overs great (L.A. Noire) and others leave a lot to be desired (Enchanted Arms). Now, I do not hate the fact that a lot of games have voice overs now, but I do not like that it has taken away the ability to name my character. Character's can't be named now because the developers want to include their character's names so that the player feels more intact with the game. THQ did fix this somewhat with their WWE franchise of video games. After you create your wrestler, you can choose how you want the announcer to say their name as they come down to the ring during their entrance. You can only choose from a selection of sounds and words that are already in the programming. So, for example, my creation of Jeff Hardy now enters the ring as Chef Hard ee.

#4. Online Gaming

I know that this is another topic that will have people causing an uproar. I'll be the first to admit it, I am not a fan of online gaming. There is nothing better than getting a few of your closest friends and racing each other in Mario Kart or beating each other up in Super Smash Brothers. Online gaming has proven that society has gotten lazy. It is too much work to go over to my friends house and play a game with them, so we will both log in at home and not even see each other face-to-face. I also don't like the idea of playing with random strangers. I would rather play with my own group of friends and not worry about anyone leaving the game early. If they do, I know exactly where to find them. I would have a completely different opinion of a decent MMO would come out on the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. 

Give these kids a few more years and they will be arguing with 30-year-olds on Xbox Live

#3. Casual Gaming

Casual Gaming is an interesting topic. It lead to both the Wii's success and its demise. When the Wii first hit the market, it was a big innovation. A video game company has never before completely based a console around motion control. The Wii had some great first-party titles to start off its history, but soon it was overrun with third-party titles that appealed strictly to casual gamers. This lead Nintendo fans to start leaning towards buying Microsoft and Sony consoles. They even started advertising their big series towards casual gamers. This is evident with releases like New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns. Another reason for the casual gaming boom is the incorporation of mobile gaming. With the iPhone and other smartphones, the idea of video games are reaching a new group of people. People who just want to waste time while they are waiting in a doctor's office or trying not to fall asleep in class. If the only games you play regularly happen to be on your phone, I do not consider you a gamer.

#2. Motion Control

As I stated above, the Wii was a big innovation. I am not a huge fan of how much its games revolve around
motion control. I do not like that how good I am at a game is based around my athletic ability. When I play games it is because I want to do something that I never could dream of doing in real life. I play Madden Football because that is the only time I can be the star of the football team, not because I am an amazing quarterback. When I decide to play a game I want to sit back and relax. I am not planning on moving around a lot. Motion control has lead to a craze of dance games and a way for third party developers to go crazy with all the different games they can make. Whether it is the Nintendo Wii, the Playstation Move, or the Xbox 360 Kinect, I do not like them.

#1 First Person Shooters

The only first person shooter that matters.

Hold on as a duck as all of the Call of Duty fanboys throw something at me... Is it safe yet? I hate first person shooters. It may be because I am not good at them, but I loathe them. They seem to be flooding the
market all the time. You have Call of Duty, Halo, Borderlands, Fallout, Left 4 Dead, and the list goes on and on. I think the thing that bothers me the most about these games are their fans. All of a sudden I am the inferior gamer because I would rather play Mario or Pokemon than one of their games. I am not one of these people that say that playing violent video games leads to violence, but when violence is all that dictates a good game than there is a problem. I just cannot get into these games. I play games solely based on the singleplayer campaign and when there is a good multiplayer replayability that is a plus. I just do not see the need to release a new Call of Duty game every year. Sports games make sense, they need to update the rosters, but a game based around war does not. I understand what games like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem 3D did for the genre and video game history, but back then we weren't constantly having it thrown in our faces. That is why first person shooter is and will always be my least favorite trend of modern gaming.

What do you think of my list? Do you agree with some placements, disagree, or do you think that something else should have made it on the list? Leave your comments below. I will be happy to hear from you. Just please don't spam it with fights about what is better, Call of Duty or Halo.

Youtube finds

I have just recently found out some great Youtube channels that I have started following. Today I will be sharing three of these channels with you.

#1. Captain 8-bit

I "stumbled upon" this channel by using Stumbleupon (see what I did there). There main video series is called "The Game Chasers". This series follows two guys (Billy and Jay) and they go around to different flea markets, thrifts stores, pawn shops, and retro game stores trying to find games for good prices. If you are interested in buying old games this is a good series to watch. I get really jealous when I see some deals they make. They also have a series called "That's the Way Game Playin' Go". In this series they look at memories from their childhood based on a specific category such as Zelda or a console like the NES.

 

#2. DYKGaming

If you are interested in random trivia about gaming, then this channel is for you. Their videos are short 3-5 minute videos that cover interesting trivia from all of your favorite video game franchises. They have videos on Mario, Final Fantasy, Portal, and other popular video games. They also have another series called Easter Egg Hunting where they play through a game trying to find all the Easter eggs or they find as many Easter eggs as they can that pertain to a certain topic like South Park.

#3. The Game Theorists

This is one of the most interesting channels I have ever came across. This guy, Matthew Patrick, looks at all of your favorite video games and tries to research real world qualities about them. Have you ever wanted to know what type of frog Frogger is? How about diagnosing all of Batman's villians? They also figure out exactly where Adventure Island is located. This guy puts a lot of research into his videos and they are all very interesting. The video I am including is my favorite one so far. He determines that (spoiler alert if you have lived under a rock) maybe Sephiroth wasn't the one that killed Aerith.

Ape Escape is my Favorite Thing

Release Date: 1999

Developer: SCE Japan Studio

Genre: Platform

Ape Escape  is the first game that required the dual-analog controller for the Playstation. The premise of the game is that you run around as the human character, Spike, and try to collect all of the apes so that they cannot reshape history. The game uses a series of sneaking and gadgets to help collect the different monkeys that are located in the level. Each ape has light on his helmet that acknowledges how aware of you they are. 

One of the details that make Ape Escape one of my favorite games is how bright and colorful the graphics are. Some games have a bad habit of making bright games too childish, but Ape Escape is able to avoid that conflict. Since this game came out about five years after the Playstation's release, it utilizes it to the best of its abilities. 

Each level requires a specific amount of monkeys that need captured. There are always more monkeys in a level than you need to capture to complete the level. This is helpful so that if you are stuck on trying to capture a certain monkey, then you can look for another one. If fact, some cannot be captured until you receive a certain gadget later on in the game. This adds to the replayablitiy of the game. 

The gadgets also add some uniqueness to the game. They range from a remote-controlled car, a magic punch, and a sky flyer. After you receive each gadget, there is a practice level that you must complete to learn how to use the gadget. Ape Escape also has minigames that can be played. These are helpful for people who just want to get away from the main story of the game and wind down. After you have played the whole game and defeated the main boss, Specter, you must play the game again in order to capture all the monkeys. Even after you beat the game twice, you still must get a gold medal in all of the levels, plus beat each minigame. With all this, Ape Escape, can last a person a very long time, especially for those people who love to 100% games. 

Overall, I would recommend Ape Escape to anyone looking for something different. It is an innovative game that you can just relax to. It is a good way to get away from those mature rated games that seem to be all over the gaming community in this day in age. 

History of Pokemon (Generation 3)

Again, the introduction of a new generation of Pokemon came bout with the reveal of a new Pokemon in the anime. The Pokemon was introduced during episode 205, "The Kecleon Caper". Soon after Kecleon was revealed other Pokemon showed up in a Pikachu short. They were Wynaut, Azurill, Duskull, and Volbeat. Wailmer, Latios, and Latias had roles in the fifth Pokemon movie. During the Silver Conference at the end of the Johto season, Ash battles Harrison a trainer from Hoenn, the region from generation three. With all these introductions, fans started speculating about the new generation of Pokemon. 

Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire were released in Japan on November 21, 2002 on the Game Boy Advance system. There were more Pokemon revealed in this generation than there was in generation 2 with 135 new Pokemon added to the lineup. There were also many new features introduced on these games. They were contests, double battles, and that each Pokemon could have a specific ability and nature. Also, Team Rocket was not in this game. Instead two new teams were the antagonists for our main heroes. They were Team Aqua and Team Magma. This generation introduced specific weather conditions and it was the first set of games to not be compatible with the previous games due to the significant changes they made. 

The anime also started a new series. Instead of the show just being called Pokemon, it was called Pokemon: Advanced Generation. This series started in Japan on the same day that they released the games. This series introduced two new main characters, May and Max to Ash's journey. Brock also joined Ash, but Misty did not resume her role as a main character. Pokemon movies six and seven were released during this series of the anime. They were Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys. 

Pokemon may have been popular in the United States, but it was not nearly as popular here as it was in Japan. A show called Weekly Pokemon Broadcasting Station debuted October 15, 2002. Its stories, instead of focusing on Ash would focus on other characters of the anime such as Misty, Brock, and Tracey. Parts of this show were eventually dubbed into English in May 2005. The newly titled show was called Pokemon Chronicles.

This generation of Pokemon also introduced many spin-off games. The first of these was Pokemon Box Ruby and Sapphire. This was not really a game, but additional storage to be used with your Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. It could store an additional 1,500 Pokemon. Other games that came out were Pokemon Channel and Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire. Finally, fans could also get a taste of Pokemon in a 3D environment. Pokemon Colosseum. This game introduced players to a new region, Orre, and introduced shadow Pokemon to the growing Pokemon universe. This was also the first game to allow you to use an evolved Pokemon as a starter (when Pikachu was a starter, Pichu wasn't revealed yet). You could choose either to start with Espeon or Umbreon. 

The creators of Pokemon decided that they wanted to give newer fans of Pokemon a chance to replay some of the older classics. They released Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on the Game Boy Advance. This game revisited the original games and the Kanto region. It also introduced the Sevii Islands. Also, just like in previous generations, they made a third game in the Hoenn saga. Pokemon Emerald was released on September 16, 2004 in Japan and May 1, 2005 in North America. This game introduced the Hoenn Battle Frontier, the chance to rebattle gym leaders, and different animations for all the Pokemon.

To go along with these new games, the television show also traveled back to Kanto. Ash battled the Battle Frontier there. During this season, two new movies were produced. They were Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and Pokemon Ranger and they Temple of the Sea. They then released new spin-offs like Pokemon Dash, Pokemon Trozei!, and a sequel to Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. Players also got their chance to play as a Pokemon for the first time ever when Pokemon Red Rescue Team and Pokemon Blue Rescue Team on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Another new concept was introduced where players were Pokemon rangers instead of Pokemon trainers in the game Pokemon Ranger. 

In 2006, Pokemon celebrated its 10th anniversary. To celebrate, they released a CD titled Pokemon X: 10 Years of Pokemon and a traveling expo called Journey Across America. A special titled The Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon was introduced and the new Pokemon Trading Figure Game debuted. 

That is three generations down and two to go. Pokemon has lasted ten years and does not show any sign of stopping.

History of Pokemon (Generation 2)

 

 Last time when we left off, Pokemon was on its way to becoming Nintendo's second best selling franchise. It seems that the creators always knew that there were going to be more Pokemon games and that they were going to be a hit. This was relevant during the first episode of the anime where Ho-Oh was seen, but was not able to be identified by Ash Ketchum's Pokedex. Later on in the series during the episode "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon" the main characters find a Pokemon egg. This egg eventually hatches into Togepi in the episode "Who Gets to Keep Togepi." 

Pokemon Gold and Silver

A new generation started to become real when MParill, Snubbull, and Donphan were introduced during Pokemon: The First Movie. Lugia, Slowking, and Elekid were then introduced in the second Pokemon movie, Pokemon The Movie 2000: The Power of One on July 17, 1999 in Japan. Finally, on November 21, 1999 Pokemon Gold and Silver were released for the Game Boy Color. In this game they introduced a new region, Johto, and 100 new Pokemon were introduced. These games introduced many new features, the most prominent and important being the idea that Pokemon can have different genders and can breed. A time system was also introduced where new different events can happen during the day and night. You could also catch certain Pokemon only a certain time of day. The friendship system was also introduced. Different events would happen based on how happy your Pokemon was and certain Pokemon evolved only when their happiness was at a certain level. This was also the first game to introduce shiny Pokemon. The most notable of these being the red Gyarados found in the Lake of Rage. Along with the Johto gym leaders players could also face all of their favorite gym leaders from Kanto. The game was released in North America on October 11, 2000. 

The anime also brought our favorite characters to Johto. After the Orange Archipelago series, Tracey leaves Ash and Misty and they are joined again by Brock who is finished with Valencia Island. During the Johto Journeys, Pokemon the Movie 3: Spell of the Unown is released on July 8, 2000 in Japan and April 6, 2001 in North America. This movie featured the legendary Pokemon, Entei. Two more movies were made during this generation. They are Pokemon 4ever: Celebi: Voice of the Forest and Pokemon Heroes: Latios and Latias. 

On December 10, 1999, the first trading cards with the new generation of Pokemon was revealed in Japan. On September 21, 2000 a sequel to Pokemon Puzzle League called Pokemon Puzzle Challenge was released on the Game Boy Color. Fans got their first look at the generation 2 Pokemon in 3D for the first time with Pokemon Stadium 2 was released on December 14, 2000. 

The two main characters from Pokemon Crystal

Just like in generation 1, a third game was made called Pokemon Crystal. This game had many changes from the original games. Suicine was featured on the cover and was a part of the main plot of the game. This was the first game to include animations for every single Pokemon and allow you to choose which gender you would like to play as.

Super Off Road is My Favorite Thing

Release Date: 1993
Developer:  The Leland Corporation
Genre: Racing
# of Players: 1-2


This is a game that I have fond memories of. My brother and I would go to my grandma's house and this was one of the few games that we could agree on and play. For a racing game during the 16-bit era it does an amazing job.

This games main premise is to race off road with trucks against three other drivers. You start the game by deciding whether there is going to be one or two players. My advice is to find a friend to play this game with because if there are two players, the game will never end and you do not have to deal with that awful game over screen and start with race one. Player one will get to be a red truck and player two will be the blue truck. Also racing are the yellow truck and that dreaded gray truck.

The gray racer usually always wins.

I call it the dreaded gray truck because if you are not going to win the race, you can be assured that he will. Before each race, you are allotted some cash to spend on nitros, tires, shocks, top speed, or wheels. After you spend your hard-earned cash you are sent to the beginning of the race. There are 99 races in all, but you race each one more than once. Each time you race a track it is a different experience. You may end up going through the track backwards or there may be a haystack in a place that it wasn't in a previous race. After the race is over you will get a championship scene with the top three racers and a valet.

I'm not a huge fan of racing games, but this is the first racing game that I can remember playing and enjoying. It is a fun game with pretty good graphics for the SNES. This game was originally an arcade game and released in 1989. It was not ported to the SNES until 1993. If you have an SNES or an SNES emulator I would recommend trying this game out.

History of Jax

Jax's character design was based on the character in the 1985 movie American Ninja. He was created for the original Mortal Kombat game and was supposed to have Sonya's story. Since there were no female characters in the original game, Jax was scrapped and they put Sonya in his place. Jax's original name was going to be Kurtis Stryker. That name was later reused in the making of Mortal Kombat 3. He also was originally supposed to be a kickboxer, but Midway thought that he would be too similar to Balrog and Sagat from Street Fighter. He was wearing a yellow martial arts gi and had metal hands. They then decided to make him shirtless because they felt that the gi covered up too much of his muscular physique. While filming footage for the game, his actor, John Parrish, ended up splitting the yellow pants.

Jax is a United States Special Forces major. He first appeared in Mortal Kombat II. His goal is to find and rescue his partner, Sonya Blade. He ultimately wants to bring Kano into custody. During Mortal Kombat 3 Shao Kahn invades the Earthrealm. To help fight him off, Jax gets bionic implants added to his arsenal. During this game, Sonya and Jax find the Outer World Investigation Agency (OIA) which specializes in exploring and creating maps for other worlds. During Mortal Kombat 4 he helps the Earthrealm group in stopping Shinnok from entering Earth. Jax then sees Jarek trying to kill Sonya and Jax saves her, killing Jarek in the process.

While they are returning to Earthrealm they see Cyrax malfunctioning in a desert. They bring him back to OIA  and return his humanity to him. In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance the OIA's underground base is destroyed by Hsu Hao. Jax has a score to settle with him, even though Hsu Hao was just sent there to kill Shang Tsung. Jax eventually kills him by ripping out his artificial heart implant. Jax and the other Earthrealm warriors end up being killed by Tarkartan warriors. The dragon king, Onaga defeats Raiden, but ends up resurrecting Raiden and the other Earthrealm heroes to be his slaves. Ermac and the spirit of Liu Kang are able to eventually break his mind control. During Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Sonya sends Jax in to find survivors on the destroyed warship, but they vanish and are captured.

Prince of Persia is My Favorite Thing

Release Date: 2008
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: Action-Adventure, Platformer
# of Players: 1

The game starts out with your main character, a nameless adventurer, looking for his donkey in the desert. The game is based on an area of Persia and around the  Zoroastrianism religion. While the main protagonist is looking for his donkey, he comes across an Ahura named Elika. The Ahura people have forsaken the god of light, Ormazd, and tried to release the god of darkness, Ahriman. Upon his escape, Ahriman wants to take over the entire universe.

After the two main characters meet, they must work together to send Ahriman back to the Tree of Life. Elika informs the protagonist that they must return the areas of the land back to their former state. Now you must travel to the different areas of the land while fighting off the four main bad guys The Hunter, The Warrior, The Alchemist, and The Concubine. You must defeat each of these characters four times and then you have a final three part battle against each of them. After you have healed all the areas, you must go back to the temple and defeat Ahriman himself.

The game was alright, but I do have some issues with it. The game should have come up with more original characters. You have to fight each character of total of five times and only The Warrior's battles change more than just the surrounding. Another thing that bothered me was that the final showdown with Ahriman was just a simple sidescrolling platform level. Another issue is the length of the game. When I get a game I like to see what achievements there are for the game. There is an achievement for beating the game in under twelve hours. My initial thought is that you can only get this achievement if you know exactly where you are going and have played the game before. When I finally beat the game, I got the achievement. I am pretty sure that I even let the game sit for a while when I made a meal or had to go and do something. I am glad that I only ended up paying three dollars for this game due to its shortness.

Now for my biggest issue with the game. I will warn you that this contains spoilers about the ending. You spend all this time trying to heal the lands and throughout getting to know Elika, you learn that she died and her father gave Ahriman the land in order for her to be brought back to life. Elika keeps telling the main protagonist the importance of bringing the lands back together and healing them. After you go through the trouble of defeating Ahriman, Elika dies. The credits roll and it shows you taking Elika out of the temple and placing her on an altar. You then go to the four trees of light and destroy them, thus giving the land back to Ahriman so that Elika can live again. Therefore, the last twelve hours are pointless and everything is back to where it was at the beginning of the game.

Overall, I enjoyed the game for what it is. I am glad that it was only three dollars. I would not want to pay more than ten for this game due to how short it is. I will say that there is downloadable content, but I never played it. I do know that it is an epilogue to the game, so it may address the crappy ending. Also I would have liked a reuniting with his donkey, Farah at the end, but that is just being nit-picky.

History of Eddy Gordo

When it came time to start developing characters for the video game, Tekken 3, the developers wanted to include a Capoeira fighter. Capoeira is martial arts style that incorporates dance into its fighting moves. He was originally supposed to be a female character, but the artist that was in charge of creating her said that it was too difficult to create. Masahiro Kimoto stated in an interview that Eddy Gordo is his favorite character due to the complications they had during his development.

For the motion capture, Namco used Capoeira master, Marcelo Pereira, from Brazil. During production he was injured and was unable to do a majority of the moves that they wanted him to do. Pereira criticized the developers saying that Eddy Gordo is not a Brazilian name. He also stated that "gordo" means "fat" in Portuguese and that they did not use any of the traditional names of the moves he gave them for Eddy's move set.

Eddy with his replacement Christie

Eddy made his first appearance in Tekken 3 and the following title, Tekken Tag Tournament. When Tekken 4 was released, Eddy was replaced by Christie Monteiro, who also fought in the Capoeira style. The main reason for replacing Eddy was that the development team finally figured out how create a female character in the Capoeira style. Christie was again showcased in Tekken 5, but Eddy did appear as an alternate costume for her. In Tekken 5's update, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection he did appear as a separate character, but had the same move set as Christie. Eddy again appeared in Tekken 6 and its remake Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion.

Eddy was born into one of the richest families in Brazil. When he was nineteen years old, Eddy's father got killed while trying to bust up a drug cartel. Before his death, Eddy's father asked him to take responsibility for his death. Eddy ended up serving eight years in prison where he was taught Capoeira by an old man. While in prison, Eddy became a master. When Eddy was released he heard about the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 and the Mishima Financial Empire (MFE). He thought that if he could win the tournament he could either get MFE's help or gain control of the company so that he could avenge his father's death.

After the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Eddy looked for the old man's granddaughter, Christie Monteiro. He promised to teach her the Capoeira fighting style. After two years of training Eddy left to again avenge his father. Christie looked everywhere for Eddy, but could not find him. She entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 hoping that it would eventually lead her to Eddy.

Eddy then learns that his master is about to be released from prison. When Eddy returns to the prison to meet his mentor he learns that he has turned into a frail old man and is not the amazing fighter that he once knew. Eddy takes him to the hospital and learns that he has a disease and only six months to live. Eddy learns of Mishima Zaibatsu's Technology, which may be used to help cure the old man. He enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 to earn money for this technology. Christie also enters to help her grandfather.

After King of Iron Fist Tournament 5, Eddy speaks alone with Jin Kazama. Jin tells Eddy that he will help him save his master's life with money and resources. The only thing that Jin asks for in return is Eddy's allegiance to Mishima Zaibatsu. Eddy agrees since this could be the only way that he could save his master. Eddy enters King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 and does many illegal activities for Mishima Zaibatsu. After the tournament, Jin does not hold up his end of the bargain and Christie's grandfather and Eddy's mentor ends up dying. Eddy throws his Mishima Zaibatsu badge to the ground, ending his allegiance with them.

History of Barret Wallace

Barret was one of the original ideas to be included in Final Fantasy VII. The game only had three playable characters at first and he was one of those three. The other two characters were Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough. During early production it was decided that one of the player characters should die. The decision came down between Aerith and Barret. The producers ended up choosing
Aerith because they thought that Barret's death would be "too obvious".

Barret from the movie Advent Children

Barret's name is based on the Japanese pronunciation of the word bullet. That is why they chose the gunner as his character class. He is also the first black playable character in the Final Fantasy series. When the movie, Advent Children was being created, the movie animators decided to go with a different look because they thought he looked too much like Mr. T of Hogan's Heroes fame.

Barret is the leader of the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE. His group opposes the ruling company Shinra, and their idea of using "Mako" energy as a power source. AVALANCHE believes that it is killing the planet. AVALANCHE hires Cloud Strife as a mercenary and Barret follows Cloud in pursuit of the game's antagonist, Sephiroth.

Along their journey, Barret encounters his former friend Dyne. Dyne forces Barret to fight him and Barret defeats him. After the battle, Dyne kills himself. Through a flashback you learn the history between Barret and Dyne. They were both fleeing Shinra, who destroyed their town and killed Barret's wife. Along the way Dyne slips off a cliff and Barret grabs his hand. A Shinra soldier who is pursuing them shoots and destroys Barret's right hand, and Dyne's left. This causes Dyne to fall and supposedly die. Barret adopts Dyne's daughter, who was also fleeing with them, and has someone create a gun to put in place of his lost hand.

After Dyne's death, Barret admits that his hatred for Shinra is solely for revenge and that he was using the "saving the planet" idea just as an excuse. Barret eventually gets his thoughts straight and switches his goal to saving the planet and helps Cloud defeat Sephiroth.

ClassRealm is my favorite thing

Today I am deciding to write about something that has not been released yet. It is a classroom management tool known as ClassRealm. ClassRealm was created by Ben Bertoli as a way to keep his students interested in his classroom. He theoretically turned his own classroom into a roleplaying game (RPG).

At the start of the year, each student can choose a race and an enhancer. The list of races are Mermaid/Merman, Vampire, Werewolf, Goblin, Troll, Witch, Wizard, Ogre, Elf, Ghost, Angel, Cyborg, Yeti, Zombie, Human, Fairy. The list of enhancers are Ninja, Pirate, Warrior, Samurai, Knight, Prince, Princess, Alchemist, Mystic, and Mage. After the students pick their race and enhancer they fill out a get to know you card with their character, a picture, and their strengths and weaknesses.

The students have different achievements that they are able to accomplish and they can earn experience points and try to gain levels. The achievements are level based, so there are easy and harder achievements. Sample achievements include anything from reading so many books to not getting in trouble. Some achievements have nothing to do with their normal schoolwork and may include extra credit items that are not done at school.

The creator has different awards for individual levels and team levels. They have to earn so many experience points to gain a level. Some awards may include extra points on a test of the person's choosing, extra recess for the whole class, and a class ice cream party. ClassRealm has been proven to help with classroom management. Ben Bertoli has noted that he noticed a significant decline in behavior problems and missing work. This idea has increased the attitude of his students in the classroom.

One of the achievements he does for his class includes the students writing a report or story that includes six paragraphs. In the first two weeks of the beta test, every student had turned in a paper. These were all done outside of the classroom.

When I get my own classroom, I am definitely going to incorporate this idea. I like the fact that I can bring my love of video games into the classroom. You can find more information about the idea at www.classrealm.com. I will also be putting a link in my sidebar.

History of Atari Basketball

I chose to start of Black History Month by giving the history of Atari Basketball. This was the first video game to include a black character.  It was released in 1979 around the time that Atari was releasing a series of sports titles. They were Atari Football, Atari Basketball, Atari Soccer, and Atari Baseball. The unique thing about all of these arcade cabinets is that Atari used its largest ever trackball at 4.5 inches. The basketball game was the only one of the four that was placed in an upright cabinet. The others were in what was known as a cocktail cabinet where you looked down on the screen instead of straight at it. The reason behind this was that unlike the other three games where you were looking down at the field, you watched the basketball game from the sidelines of the court. You were able to play one player versus the computer or against another human player in two-player mode. 

The first black character in a video game

Along with the trackball there is one button, which is used to shoot the ball. The game starts with each player choosing their team. You can either be on the white team or the black team. The ball drops to the center of the court and each player must run there and try to grab it. You may push the button for an extended period of time. Depending on how long you push it, your character will raise the ball over his head and lower it again. The higher it is over the player's head, the farther the ball will go. If you are on the defensive side of the ball, then you can push the button to jump up and block the shot. If you are directly in front of the player with the ball, then you will attempt to steal it. 

History of Pokemon (Generation 1)

Pokémon Across Japan:

Clefairy, One of the First
Pokemon Created

Pokémon started as an idea that Satoshi Tajiri wanted to base off of his favorite hobby, bug collecting. After coming up with this idea he got the help of his friend Ken Sugimori and they formed Game Freaks and a design studio called Creatures. When Tajiri saw the Game Boy and the Game Boy Link Cable he imagined the bugs traveling across the wire. Satoshi Tajiri created the game Capsule Monsters and pitched it to Nintendo, but was turned down. After other attempts were turned down he got the help of his friend Shigeru Miyamato, the creator of the Super Mario series and the Legend of Zelda series. After that Nintendo decided to fund the project.

For six years Satoshi Tajiri worked on the game and Ken Sugimori worked on the artwork. The first three Pokémon that were created were Rhyhorn, Lapras, and Clefairy. In 1995, sprites of Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Meowth, and Mew appeared in Game Boy Camera. They also decided to change the name of the game from Capsule Monsters to Pocket Monsters.

The first Pokemon games, Pokemon Red and Green, came out on February 27, 1996. This allowed children of all ages to catch and train the 150 different monsters that were available in the game. Shortly after Nintendo released Pokemon Blue with updated sound and graphics. Then the Pokemon Trading Card Game was created by Media Factory. It was released on October 20, 1996 and had 102 cards in its first set.

The popularity of the video game and trading card game led to an anime that came out on April 1, 1997. They named the main character of the anime Satoshi after Pokemon's creator, Satoshi Tajiri. The name was changed to Ash Ketchum in the English dub. Sathoshi's rival was named Shigeru, after Shigeru Miyamoto. In English he was named Gary Oak. Along with the anime, Pokémon also released several manga. The most popular being Pokémon Special, which was first published on August 8, 1997.

On April 25, 1998, Pokémon was able to open its own store in Tokyo. This led to other stores being open and there are now six stores in Japan. There was one in New York City, but it has since been shut down and turned into Nintendo World with a section devoted solely to Pokémon.

Pokémon Comes to America:

The United States got its first taste of Pokemon on September 7, 1998 when the first episode of the anime was dubbed into English and released. They also got Pokemon Red and Blue on September 30, 1998. With these releases they also revealed a new slogan, "Gotta Catch 'Em All!" They also released the Trading Card Game on January 9, 1999. It was created by Wizards of the Coast.

While this was going on Japan tried to release a Pokémon game on the Nintendo 64. This game was called Pokemon Stadium, but it only had 42 of the 151 original Pokémon. It was considered very unsuccessful. While this game was a huge flop, the anime was soaring to a huge success. On July 18, 1988, Pokémon: The First Movie was debuted in Japanese theaters. It was followed up with a United States release on November 10, 1999. It would hold the record shortly for highest-grossing opening for an animated film.

Soon, it was decided that they should release a game that was more closely corresponding with the anime. So, Pokémon Yellow Version was released on September 12, 1998 in Japan and October 25, 1999 in the United States. This was very similar to Red and Green/Blue except for that Pikachu is your starter and follows you around outside of his Pokéball. There were also changes to some of the gym leaders lineups and you were able to get all three original starters in the game.

On December 18, 1998, a Game Boy game based off of the Trading Card Game was created. It arrived in North America on April 10, 2000. A year later, in Japan, it was followed up with a sequel titled Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: Here Comes Team GR!. The creators realized that Pikachu was the brands most popular character and they decided to create their own game based off it called Hey You, Pikachu!. This game involved a microphone and allowed the player to interact with Pikachu through voice commands.

This is a picture of Aree and myself at Pokemon
World in Japan

After the anime finished the game's story, it started a spinoff season in the Orange Archipelago, and this sprung a new movie, Pokemon the Movie 2000. With a new take on the series, a game called Pokemon Snap was created on the Nintendo 64. In this game, the player takes control of Todd Snap, a character from the anime, and they go around and take pictures of different Pokémon. There was also another Pokémon spinoff game called Pokémon Pinball on the Game Boy Color. A sequel to Pokemon Stadium was also released. This time in both Japan and the United States. Unlike its predecessor, it had all 151 Pokemon. The stadium series was the first time that audiences could see the Pokémon characters in 3D. Also on the Nintendo 64, Pokémon Puzzle League was released. This was the first Pokémon game that was created strictly for the United States.

History of Mario

This is a new feature I will be trying on the web site. I will mostly be doing the history of a video game character, but may put a system or game history out once in a while. For the character histories my sections will be history, where I tell about the history of the character, Appearances and Storylines, where I tell about the storylines of their video game sereis, and Games, where I list the games that the character has been in. I explain the cameo appearances.  

First Appearance: Donkey Kong (1981)

History: Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to originally make a video game based on Popeye, Bluto, and Olive Oyl, but was not able to get the licensing to do so. Instead he decided on Donkey Kong, Pauline, and Jumpman. During the early stages of the game, Mario was unable to jump, but Miyamoto decided he should jump. Miyamoto stated, "If you had a barrel rolling towards you, what would you do?" Miyamato then started to refer to his character as "Mr. Video." He did not get the name Mario until Minoru Arakawa, the President of Nintendo of America, was confronted by Mario Segali demanding rent. They decided that since Jumpman looked so much like Segali that his new name would be Mario. 

Mario got his trademark look due to the graphical limitations of the video games of that era. He has a red shirt and blue overalls because it was easy to distinguish between those colors and the background. He was given a hat because Miyamoto did not want to have to worry about his hair style and animating it when he jumped. He also has a big nose and moustache so that they did not have to animate a mouth and all of the facial expressions. 

Miyamato never expected Mario to become as popular as he did. He expected him to be around a long time, but only to be used as cameos. He wanted a character that could be used for any instance. Also, Nintendo has never revealed Mario's full name. Many have declared that it is Mario Mario because of the title of the series being called "The Mario Brothers." The full name has only been used in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Prima's official Strategy Guide to Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. 

Mario Bros.

Appearances and Storyline History: Mario first appeared in Donkey Kong where he is a carpenter and mistreats the ape. The ape eventually escapes and kidnaps Mario (Jumpman's) girlfriend, Pauline. Next came Mario's only time as a bad guy. He was the antagonist during the game Donkey Kong Jr. After Mario's time fighting the apes, he decided that carpentry was too hard for him and decided that being a plumber would be a much simpler life. Thus he brought his younger brother Luigi into business with him and they defended the New York Sewers in the game Mario Bros.

Later on, Princess Toadstool is captured and he must go across the eight worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom and defeat the ruler of the castle and frees the Mushroom Retainer. On his next adventure Mario gets the help of Luigi, Toad, and Princess Peach to defeat Wart with vegetables. This involved going through the characters dreamworld called Subcon. After they get back from Subcon, Peach is again captured by Bowser and Mario and Luigi must save her. This time they have to fight through Bowser's seven children, Lemmy, Iggy, Roy, Morton Jr., Ludwig, Larry, and Wendy, before they finally reach Bowser. 

Super Mario World

In Super Mario Land, Mario must again save a princess. This time it is Princess Daisy of Sarasaland. She is being captured by the evil alien Tatanga. In Super Mario World it is decided that Mario, Luigi, and Peach are in need of some rest and relaxation, so they head to Dinosaur Land for a vacation. While they are there, Peach is again kidnapped, and Mario and Luigi must go and save her. They meet a dinosaur named Yoshi, who becomes there friend, and must battle Bowser's seven children again. In Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins a new antagonist of the Mario series is introduced. In this game, Wario puts an evil spell over the inhabitants of Mario Land and he renames it Wario Land while Mario is in Sarasaland during the first Super Mario Land game. Wario did this so that he could get Mario's castle because he wanted one of his own. Mario must find the six golden coins and take back his land. The next game, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, is a prequel to the rest of the series. In this game you learn that the stork that brought Mario and Luigi to their parents was attacked by Kamek and he steals Baby Luigi. Mario falls onto Yoshi Island and with the help of the Yoshi's he rescues Luigi.

Mario then made his 3D debut with the release of the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64. In this game Peach sends Mario a letter asking him to share a cake with her. Mario arrives at her castle and finds out that Princess Peach was kidnapped by Bowser (surprise, surprise). Instead of a world map, Mario goes to the different levels by jumping through the paintings in the castle. Unlike the other Mario games, Mario faces Bowser multiple times. He must defeat Bowser three times at different points during the game.

Super Mario Sunshine

In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario, Toadsworth, and Princess Peach go on a vacation to Isle Delfino. They soon find out that the area is being vandalized by a Mario lookalike known as Shadow Mario. Mario is blamed for the vandalism and upon his arrival to the island is promptly arrested by the authorities. His punishment is community service and he is ordered to clean up the island. He is given a Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Machine, also known as FLUDD. This was invented by Professor E. Gadd and is used to clean up the island and collect shine sprites. Shadow Mario eventually kidnaps Peach and reveals himself to be Bowser Jr., Bowser's eighth child.

In Super Mario Galaxy, Mario is invited to the centennial Star Festival by Princess Peach. When Mario arrives, Bowser lifts Peach's castle off of its foundation and hurls it into outer space. Failing to protect Peach, Mario meets starlike creatures called Lumas and their caretaker, Rosalina. Rosalina tells Mario that Bowser has stolen the power stars and he has taken Peach to the center of the Universe. Mario then travels to different galaxies to get the power stars and save Princess Peach. In Mario's most recent game, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Bowser turns himself into a giant with the power stars and kidnaps Princess Peach and takes her to the center of the universe again. With the help of the Lumas, Mario pilots the Starship Mario, a planet in the shape of Mario's head, to travel to various galaxies and collect power stars to fuel the ship. He eventually arrives at Bowser's lair and defeats him for the eighth time (not counting the New Super Mario Bros. series.)

Besides helping protect the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser Mario likes to race go-karts, play tennis, golf, play soccer, play baseball, paint, and various other activities. Some of those activities he even lets Bowser and his minions join in on the fun.

Games: Mario has appeared in 163 Games!
1981-Donkey Kong (Arcade)
1982-Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade)
1983-Mario's Cement Factory (Game and Watch)
1983-Mario's Bombs Away (Game and Watch)
1983-Pinball (Arcade), Mario and Pauline show up in the bonus stage
1983-Mario Bros. (Arcade)
1984-Mario Bros. Special (NEC PC-8801)
1984-Punch Ball Mario Bros. (NEC PC-8801)
1984-Donkey Kong Hockey (Game and Watch), Mario plays against Donkey Kong
1984-F1 Race (NES), Mario appears at the end of a race circuit
1985-Tennis (NES), Mario is the referee
1985-Baseball (NES),  Mario is the pitcher for one of the teams
1985-Super Mario Bros. (NES)
1985-Wrecking Crew (NES)
1985-Golf (NES, Mario is the golfer
1986-Super Mario Bros. Special (NEC PC-8801)
1986-Super Mario Bros. 2 (Famicom Disk System)
1986-All Night Nipon Super Mario Bros. (Famicom Disk System)
1987-Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race (Famicom Disk System), Mario is the Player 1 racer
1987-Mario Bros. II (Commodore 64)
1987-Punch-Out!! (NES), Mario is the referee
1988-Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
1988-Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally (Famicom Disk System), Mario is the driver
1988-Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
1988-I am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater (Famicom Disk System)
1989-Tetris (NES), Mario appears during the game end screen
1989-Alleyway (Game Boy), Levels modeled after Mario's head and body
1989-Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
1990-Dr. Mario (NES)
1990-Qix (Game Boy), Mario is seen during a cutscene
1990-Super Mario World (SNES)
1991-NES Open Tournament Golf (NES), Mario is the first player golfer
1991-Mario Teaches Typing (PC)
1991-Super Mario Bros. and Friends: When I Grow Up (PC)
1991-Mario the Juggler (Game and Watch)
1991-Yoshi (Game Boy)
1992-Mario is Missing! (SNES)
1992-Supe Mario Kart (SNES)
1992-Super Scope 6 (SNES), Mario appears in a mini game
1992-Mario Paint (SNES)
1992-Yoshi's Cookie (NES)
1992-Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy)
1992-The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES), Mario appears in some pictures
1993-Mario's Time Machine (SNES)
1993-Mario and Wario (SNES)
1993-Super Mario All Stars (SNES)
1993-Mario's Early Years: Fun with Letters (SNES)
1993-Mario's Early Years: Fun with Numbers (SNES)
1993-Mario's Early Years: Preschool Fun (SNES)
1993-Yoshi's Safari (SNES)
1994-Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy)
1994-Mario's Playschool (PC)
1994-Hotel Mario (CD-i)
1995-Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (SNES), Mario appears in first or second place
1995-Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
1995-Mario's Game Gallery (PC)
1995-Undake 30 Same Game (Satellaview), Mario's head appears as an icon
1995-Mario Excite Bike (Satellaview)
1995-BS Super Mario USA Powr Challenge (Satellaview)
1995-Mario's Picross (Game Boy)
1995-Mario's Super Picross (SNES)
1995-Mario's Tennis (Virtual Boy)
1995-Mario Clash (Virtual Boy)
1996-Mario Teaches Typing 2 (PC)
1996-Super Mario 64 (N64)
1996-Mario Kart 64 (N64)
1996-Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
1996-Kirby Super Star (SNES), Mario is in the crowd
1997-BS Mario Paint: Yuu Shou Naizou Ban (Satellaview)
1997-Game and Watch Gallery (Game Boy), Appears in mini games
1997-Game and Watch Gallery 2 (Game Boy), Appears in mini games
1998-Mario no Photopi (N64)
1998-Wrecking Crew '98 (Satellaview)
1998-Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (Game Boy Color)
1998-Mario Golf (N64)
1998-Mario Party (N64)
1998-The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), Mario appears in a picture
1999-Mario Party 2 (N64)
1999-Super Smash Bros. (N64)
1999-Game and Watch Gallery 3 (Game Boy Color)
1999-Mario Artist: Paint Studio (N64 DD)
1999-Donkey Kong 64 (N64), Unlock original Donkey Kong arcade game
2000-Mario Artist: Talent Studio (N64 DD)
2000-Mario Artist: Communication Kit (N64 DD)
2000-Mario Artist: Polygon Studio (N64 DD)
2000-Mario Tennis (N64)
2000-Paper Mario (N64)
2000-Mario Party 3 (N64)
2000-The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64), Mario's face is one of the masks
2001-Animal Crossing (Gamecube), You can buy a Mario statue
2001-Dr. Mario 64 (N64)
2001-Luigi's Mansion (Gamecube), Mario is kidnapped
2001-Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube)
2001-Mario Kart: Super Circuit (Game Boy Advance)
2001-Super Mario Advance (Game Boy Advance)
2001-Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World (Game Boy Advance)
2002-Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube)
2002-Mario Party 4 (Gamecube)
2002-Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (Game Boy Advance)
2002-Game and Watch Gallery 4 (Game Boy Advance)
2003-Mario Party 5 (Gamecube)
2003-Mario Kart: Double Dash (Gamecube)
2003-Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (Gamecube)
2003-Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Gamecube)
2003-Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Game Boy Advance)
2003-Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga (Game Boy Advance)
2004-Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (Gamecube)
2004-Mario Party 6 (Gamecube)
2004-Mario Power Tennis (Gamecube)
2004-Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Game Boy Advance)
2004-Mario Golf: Advance Tour (Game Boy Advance)
2004-Mario Pinball Land (Game Boy Advance)
2004-Super Mario 64 DS (DS)
2004-Yakuman DS (DS), Mario is a playable character
2004-Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Gamecube), Mario appears as a toy on a computer
2005-NBA Street V3 (Gamecube), Mario is a playable character
2005-Mario Superstar Baseball (Gamecube)
2005-Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix (Gamecube)
2005-SSX on Tour (Gamecube), Mario is a playable character
2005-Mario Kart DS (DS)
2005-Mario Party 7 (Gamecube)
2005-Super Mario Strikers (Gamecube)
2005-Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)
2005-Yoshi's Touch and Go (DS)
2005-Mario Party Advance (Game Boy Advance)
2005-Mario Tennis: Power Tour (Game Boy Advance)
2005-Mario Kart Arcade GP (Arcade)
2006-Super Princess Peach (DS)
2006-New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
2006-Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (DS)
2006-Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (DS)
2006-Yoshi's Island DS (DS)
2006-Tetris DS (DS), Mario is in the backdrops
2007-Super Paper Mario (Wii)
2007-Mario Party 8 (Wii)
2007-Mario Strikers Charged (Wii)
2007-Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)
2007-Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
2007-Mario Party DS (DS)
2007-Itadeki Street DS (DS), Mario is a playable character
2007-Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (Arcade)
2008-Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
2008-Dr. Mario Express (DSi)
2008-Dr. Mario Online RX (Wii)
2008-Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2008-Mario Super Sluggers (Wii)
2008-Mario Power Tennis (Wii)
2009-Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games (Wii)
2009-New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
2009-Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS)
2010-Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
2010-Mario vs. Donkey Kong Mini-Land Mayham (DS)
2010-Mario Sports Mix (Wii)
2011-Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
2011-Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii)
2011-Mario Kart 7 (3DS)
2011-Fortune Street (Wii), Mario is a playable character
2012-Mario Party 9 (Wii)
2012-Mario Tennis Open (3DS)
2012-New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
2012-Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)
2012-New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)
2012-Nintendo Land (Wii U)

Blue Dragon is My Favorite Thing

Today for my post on a video game I am going to be using a format from Five Penny Reviews (you can find the link in my blog list on the righthand side). Five Penny Reviews is written by my friend from college, Lucas. You should definitely check it out!

Release Date: 2007

Developer: Mistwalker, Artoon

Genre: Role-playing game

Platform: Xbox 360

# of Players: 1

What sets this game apart?

This is a typical JRPG (for non-gamers, that is a Japanese Role Playing Game). Just like most games of this genre, it has a turn-based combat system. In this case, the order that the characters can do an action is determined by their speed stat. What makes this game different than other JRPGs is that you also have shadows on your side. Each shadow has its own upgrades and type of class it benefits the best. You can change the shadow's class at anytime other than when you are in combat. The shadow will gain ranks in a particular class and be able to do new skills depending on the class. There are five types of shadows. They are dragon, phoenix, bat, minotaur, or a saber-toothed-tiger.

What is the difficulty factor?

I actually found this game to have a pretty easy difficulty. I played through the normal difficulty and did not have too much of a problem. I am a person who does not care how hard the game is as long as the story can captivate me. This game's story is not the greatest, but you will find out why it is on my list at the bottom of the review. Towards the end of the game there is a steep difficulty curve in my opinion. When I was playing, I easily went through the entire game until I came to the final boss and was quickly defeated. This was easily remedied by going and defeating some of the optional bosses. I went back to the boss and eventually beat him.

Does it use media effectively?

This game came out during the early days of the Xbox 360. Therefore, you will not get the stunning visuals that you get on games that are coming out currently. I think the game does a good job at sticking to its particular art style. Since this game was developed in Japan, you get a lot of the Japanese animation style, which explains why this game was later adapted into an anime and manga. It definitely is not the greatest graphics on the Xbox 360, but in my opinion, a game does not have to have amazing graphics to be considered a good game.

Best moment in the Game?

It has been a while since I have played this game, but there is one moment that sticks in my mind from when I played this game for the first time. The epic boss battle music! The music comes as a huge surprise. All the other scores in the game do not have words and are your typical JRPG music styles. When you fight the first boss that all changes. The song that is played is called "Eternity" by Ian Gillan. Here is a video of the music:

Who needs to play this game?

I think that if you are a fan of JRPGs you will enjoy this game. Also if you love the games where you can completely customize your character's classes you will also enjoy this game. I will admit that this is not the best RPG around. The story is typical (evil bad guy wants to take over the world) and I will admit that it is not very captivating. The main reason I decided to start off a video game post was so that I could mention the amazing boss battle music. I think using this music was risky and there are definitely people who love it and people who hate it. I am one of those who love it.