Monday Update: 9/29/14

Well this was a week
Super Smash Bros (3DS): Second Appearance, Last Appearance 9/15/14
This is the most I've ever played out of a demo. Seriously, I stopped writing for like 8 minutes trying to figure out what other demos I spent even a similar amount of time with and I can't think of anything other than Skate 3, which I spent far too much time on despite the fact that I was just trying to land a 720 off of a tiny kicker ramp.

Anyway the news here is that I placed a pre-order for Smash at a local Gamestop and I'm gonna pick it up Thursday evening

Duke Nukem 64 (N64): First Appearance
I'm kind of embarrassed that I played this at all. I guess Duke Nukem just doesn't work in 2014. At least, that's what I've drawn from playing the N64 port of Duke Nukem 3D. It's not hard, and it's never particularly memorable either. Duke's dialogue was probably funny to some people in 1997 when it came out, and the Nintendo censorship toned him (and the game's atmosphere) down even further (you can visit an "army video" store which happens to have private booths in the back for... military reasons).

I didn't need to write the above paragraph, you already knew Duke Nukem was an outdated character and series, that's all that needed to be said. People alive in the '90s will continue to consider him a great character and yearn for the days when the Nukem brand of humor ruled gaming, but I won't miss him.

Harvester (PC): First Appearance
October will happen this week. I will not disclose how I will spell it this year, however I will point out that I'm gonna play creepy games. Not quite "scary" games, because I typically don't care for horror games, but I've always been a fan of this sort of weird, slightly off-putting type of game. Harvester is about a man who wakes up in a strange town with no memory of who he or anyone else is. I won't spoil the story, but if you'd like to watch my favorite commentary on it, check it out here.

NBA 2K14 (XBONE): Seventh Appearance, Last Appearance 9/15/14
There is nothing left to say here, I've already placed a pre-order for 2K15 next week.

Monday Update: 9/15/14

Two weeks ago I forgot to do anything the whole week. I was in shock last Monday, honestly, I couldn't believe that I had actually gone a full week without any sort of game-based stimulation. So I went for the overkill this week.

Tetrisphere (N64): First Appearance

BOOM right out of the gate, here's the triumphant return of The Monday Update to the forefront of the blogging scene, all approximately 18 pageviews of you per post are gonna go nuts, that's right folks, it's Tetrisphere. Tetrisphere isn't even really Tetris, interestingly enough, it has basically nothing to do with Tetris. Sounds like another Tetris sequel that I played once. It's not even like The New Tetris, it's barely even related to the principle of Tetris at all, it's not even like Tetris were it upon a sphere, it's just a weird puzzle game. 

NBA 2K14 (XBONE): Sixth Appearance, Last Appearance 8/25/14

It felt like an eternity had passed between me playing 2K the day before I left for school and last Friday, when I fired it up again. I watch a lot of Chris Smoove videos, and (though I didn't notice it until recently) after you watch enough videos, you'll notice that every game seems to end up with a last second shot either to win or lose a game. We used to refer to that as "The EA Glitch," wherein if one team had too much of a lead in games like NBA Live 2005, one quarter (typically the third) would see the losing team break off a string of points and you'd have a close game by the end of it. I didn't have that happen with 2K14 until recently, but when it happened, it was noticeable.

I'm not saying a tense game of basketball is a bad thing. But you start to notice a pattern when three of four games end up on your player's shoulders in the final seconds. (I made two of the three shots, just by the way) It's just annoying because I can tell that it's happening because the game's making it happen, is all. Still the best basketball sim I've ever played.

RollerCoaster Tycoon (PC): Third Appearance, Last Appearance 4/28/14

This game has sat upon my PC seemingly forever, I don't remember when I downloaded it from GOG, and I've only beaten one scenario so far. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the second scenario now, but I figured out why I stopped playing it back on that fateful day in April: So much of RollerCoaster Tycoon is based around waiting. Sitting, waiting for the development team to think of a ride that people don't hate, and then finally pouncing, and making like six Go-Kart tracks with increasingly worse and worse names. In particular, "you fuckers love these karts," "NOW FOR THE RULES LETS GO TO MO," and "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T GO IN THE BLACK CAR."

I don't remember feeling like the waiting was that much of a toll back when I played RCT when I was 8 on the XBOX. I don't remember feeling like it was that much even back when I played it when I was in high school (Around age 15). But it feels like forever at 19. Maybe it's just that Neural Adaptation that we all go through. Note: Do not click that link because it'll prove me incorrect in that statement because Neural Adaptation actually works the opposite way.

The 7th Guest (PC): Second Appearance, Last Appearance 8/11/14

Oh yeah here's this game again. It's like MYST, except it's all in one mansion, and everything's told to you, and there's music, and cutscenes happen. I see what people complained about in MYST now, that many of the puzzles were too asinine and were wrapped in also asinine but far larger puzzles that didn't really require a walkthrough. My only complaint is that I think it'd be a better game if all of the characters were also butterflies. Well, that and the acting isn't exactly top of the line.

Super Smash Bros. (3DS): First Appearance
Alright well you waited six paragraphs for my opinions on this... and guess what: It's alright. I'm alright with Brawl, I like Melee a little more, and I also like the N64 game but not as much as Melee. I was never good at any of them. In 2007, I was absolutely taken over by the pre-release Brawl coverage. I went to summer camp for one week and nearly went insane, and when I got back, the only announcements were like "yeah Ness is in the game again yep, also the ray gun is in the game again."

The message there in the end is that I haven't been paying attention to any coverage at all of the new Smash Bros and I'm feeling much better for it. In fact, I didn't even know that a demo was out until my sister gave the code to me on Saturday. Here's what I think:
-They changed Mario's down-smash to something I'm not used to, which is a problem. Also they kept FLUDD
-The Villager is alright
-Mega Man is not my favorite by any means. Any time I have the choice between "projectile" and "also projectile," I choose someone else. I'm sure someone else will enjoy having him.
-Link is the same
-I miss my C-Stick because I'm bad at Smash Bros. Hopefully it's there on the Wii U. (From what I'm reading, it'll be present on the new 3DS models that come out later, but not with the old Circle Pad Pro thing they made like two years ago and nobody bought)

I may sound cynical, but I thoroughly enjoyed this demo and I'm actually very excited to play this with friends once it comes out. Thanks. Video games.

Monday Update: 8/25/14

Last week was Band Camp, so there was no update, which was fine because there wasn't much that I did two weeks ago anyway. This update encompasses the past two weeks.

Trials Fusion (XBONE): Fourth Appearance, Second Straight Appearance
The developers behind Trials Fusion know how to create a difficult course. Granted, difficult doesn't have to mean that it isn't still fun. Even after 40+ faults in some cases (I'm really bad at this game), I've still been driven to at least finish courses, even if I won't get a great score on them. Also, I found out way too late in game that you can go backwards at the start of some courses:

NBA 2K14 (XBONE): Fifth Appearance, Fifth Straight Appearance
The original title for this video was "b'doop" but I felt that an impromptu Robin Williams almost-tribute was better (?)

 (Note: 2K14 would have missed the update if we only included the past 7 days)

Pilotwings 64 (N64): Second Appearance, Last Appearance 6/23/14
If you remember what I said last time about how I play weird games during the first few weeks of any venture (be it school, summer camp, etc.) this shouldn't be a surprise. I now live alone in a dorm room, and currently hooked up on my TV are an XBOX One and a Nintendo 64. The XBOX gets used mainly for TV purposes and Trials Fusion (as my Cable connection is grainy and some channels don't get sound) and the N64 gets used for trying to fly a person on a jetpack through multi-colored rings in a small scale replica of the United States.

Pilotwings 64 gets overlooked for being a flight simulator and not having much of an end-goal (as well as being released alongside Mario 64 and thus confined to being just a launch game with pretty graphics) but there's a solid game underneath it. I don't want to give away too many opinions here because you'll hear more of them in a video soon.

Doom 64 (N64): Second Appearance, Last Appearance 8/4/14
Sometimes critics will refer to Mature rated games with adult themes as "dark." This is generally used to describe a game's atmosphere and to tell possible customers that they'll be dealing with something more adult oriented than the typical affair. Doom 64 is just dark. Not that shooting demons isn't 'adult' and 'dark' as well, but Doom 64 just has a severe lighting problem and I had to turn up the brightness on my TV to figure out what was going on.

Monday Update: 8/11/14

So I worked just about every day last week, and the two that I didn't, I spent away from home, so I didn't play too many games this week. I thought this summer would be different because I'd have more time to play games, but I guess not. (Note, the Monday Update will probably be abridged next week and come on this coming Saturday due to camp)

NBA 2K14 (XBONE): Fourth Appearance, Fourth Straight Appearance
Oh wow, I'm getting a weird feeling from this game. It's almost like I'm good at it and I actually enjoy it or something along those lines. Let's look back at what I said about the 360 version:
March 17th, 2014: "I can understand why people have gone nuts for the series for the past few years"
March 24th, 2014: "Though I still think it's a solid game, I actually sort of wish that it was a bit less realistic"
April 14th, 2014: "I have finally figured out how to be successful in MyCareer"
April 28th, 2014: "2K's reign may end this week"
June 9th, 2014: "I'm never playing this dumb game again because I am too bad at it and it's too hard"
July 10th, 2014: "NOT AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. DO NOT PLAY THIS AGAIN YOU ARE NOT GOOD AT IT. TRY A DIFFERENT SPORT GAME THANK YOU VERY MUCH."

But hey I like the XBONE version, maybe it's because I was selected by a team that would adequately use my player's skills, maybe it's because I chose an archetypical player that wasn't like 6'9" and playing Shooting Guard, maybe it's because I didn't fuck around and just set screens all game, but actually the next gen game is actually just a better game, and that's all I can say. Now all they need to do is add back in all the extra fun stuff of the last generation games.

Trials Fusion (XBONE): Third Appearance, Last Appearance 7/21/14 
FUCK this looks good, I don't even care that I like the game, it looks really good. Also the tricks are poorly implemented and feel unnatural and I don't know why they were added because it wants you to have a level of precision that I can't come up with only using the right stick. Maybe they'll get it totally right next time. I hope they do because the rest of Trials Fusion is very good.

The 7th Guest (PC): First Appearance
School is starting back up again and that means I'm playing more PC games, and it'll probably continue that way until I get fully settled in, which I'm guessing will be early September. I bought The 7th Guest back a few months ago from GOG, it's a basic first-person point-and-click (FPPAC, pronounced 'efpee-pack' by the cool kids), and one of the first in that particular genre. I'm gonna hold off on critiquing the story until I get deeper.

Puzzles make up the bulk of The 7th Guest, much like MYST, which has been well documented as one of my favorite games. Unlike MYST, most of the puzzles in 7th Guest are not asinine and actually feel challenging and rewarding, and have a direct, immediately visible relationship to the plot. The former of those two points speaks better of the 7th Guest, but the latter can be a strength either way, as that feeling of confusion through a large part of MYST gives it a unique atmosphere.

At the moment, despite the fact that the acting is campy and the videos look grainy today (and the special effects look downright laughable sometimes), The 7th Guest seems like a promising adventure.

Monday Update: 8/4/14

Doom 64 (N64): First Appearance
Does it seem like I've been playing a lot of N64 games recently? Because I've been playing a bunch of N64 games recently. It's a secret mission, essentially. But hey, Doom 64 is a very good port of the PC game (but with new levels). I would've liked to see a direct port of the original Doom, but the levels in this port are very solid. Also, I bought it used on eBay and it came in immaculate condition (like almost new, and with the manual included).
The Doom series is one of the only games where I really care about the music, so IMAGINE MY DISAPPOINTMENT when I figured out that they dropped the old music, which was iconic, but most importantly melodic, in favor of the same type of music that was used on all of the 32-bit ports, which was sort of atmospheric but ultimately forgettable.
Compare this:

To this:



It was definitely more atmospheric, but in the end I don't care about the first one and I like the second one.

NBA 2K14 (XBONE): Third Appearance, Third Straight Appearance
My living room is getting re-painted so I couldn't get any time with 2K14 in until midnight last night when I placed the console downstairs. Fuck playing with the Kings we lose every game.
2K14 represents a new step forwards in the life of sports gaming - getting punished for staying out late and partying. That's my favorite part of the game, when it gets unnecessarily realistic and it asks you if you want to fund an independent movie. Next year they need to add a dating sim, ability to star in a film about being a magic genie, and give you a broadcast career after retirement.
Also please get me off the Kings thank you

Wave Race 64 (N64): First Appearance
Fuck, this game is good, and that's all I can really say. I ignored it for a long time, but I finally tried it and damn, this is good in the most unphenomenal way.

Blast Corps (N64): First Appearance
It's a game about breaking things and it's weird as hell trying it today. Nintendo needs to bring this series back (actually it's a Rare property so it wouldn't come back on the WiiU, but rather the XBone, so, again, I wanna see this return in FULL HD). It's a game about breaking things and exploding things. Also I bought it used and all the levels were beaten.

Monday Update: 7/28/14

NBA 2K14 (XBONE): Second Appearance, Second Straight Appearance
Well hey this is actually sort of enjoyable now... I've played it for two weeks now, so I figure I should talk about the differences between the XBOX 360 and XBOX One versions of 2K14. So here we go-

The XBOX One version is a much smoother basketball experience. At least on the floor, I find it much easier to score and especially to reach the basket than in the 360 game. Players move much more freely, and called plays are more successful (at least if feels) on the modern game.

Features-wise, the XBOX 360 version is far and away the better game. There's not very much customization on the modern generation game, and The Association mode, the sort of "franchise" mode equivalent (though MyGM mode is similar). The mode that focuses on LeBron is also nixed.

The 'MyCareer' mode was the most important reason that I bought the game, and the modern generation version is superior to the last generation version. On the XBOX One version, the gameplay is mixed in with a series of cutscenes featuring your player, and also features a few practice modes, which is a nice touch. Your team's star player helps guide you as a rookie to reach your potential, and you even have full animated meetings with your coach and GM. At the end of it all, I've enjoyed my XBOX One copy far more than the 360 game due to the improved MyCareer mode.

Wolfenstein: The New Order (XBONE): Second Appearance, Second Straight Appearance
So hey, this is at least a fairly standard World War II FPS only one hour in... That's about all I have to say about it, I got a little irritated by the dogs, which I had a hard time with, so I stopped playing it. Remember I am a child. I'll pick it back up later this week

Destiny (Beta Build) (XBONE): First Appearance
Well I'd love to talk about the online multiplayer for this game but apparently I haven't unlocked it and the single player barely interests me. I may cancel my pre-order.

Other games I played that don't warrant mention
Turok (N64) First Appearance Holy shit, the draw-distance fog in 1997 was nuts. I wonder what it would look like on technology that could actually handle it. Also: How did people deal with it? I get that it's a good game and a new idea for the era, but I mean, people had eyes back then.
Killer Instinct: Gold (N64) First Appearance I don't care for the Killer Instinct franchise all that much, but I might try out the new one that came out for free last year. I talk about how much I like Mortal Kombat 3 a lot, but it had a strong competitor in 1995 with Killer Instinct. The sequel, Killer Instinct 2 (called Killer Instinct Gold on the home port) was supposed to be a system seller for the N64 in the earliest years of the console, but I don't think it holds up too well today.

As a side note, Killer Instinct always had a better storyline (at least in my mind) than Mortal Kombat did. Though the characters could get a little generic (Guys like Glacius, a man made entirely of Ice), I thoroughly enjoyed watching all the end cutscenes on YouTube at 1 AM one night.
As another side note, apparently this bland ass game apparently did warrant mention somehow.

Monday Update: 7/21/14

Well alright here we are, back on Monday!

NBA Live 14 (XBONE): Second Appearance, Second Straight Appearance
I actually sorta like this game, specifically the Ultimate Team mode, which I tried out this week. I never really had tried a mode like this before, but (at least to me with my little experience) I enjoy it thoroughly. I don't have anything to compare it with, but the challenges you can play to earn more coins to buy more players are well executed. Not much more to say about that, I probably should wait until the next game to come out.

NBA 2K14 (XBONE): First Appearance
I'm counting this one as a different game than the one I've been playing since March. This port is far more playable and feels a little smoother than the XBOX 360 version. Also I think I've figured out how to play this game finally after trying this version, probably making this the longest time that I've spent before figuring out how to enjoy any game.
Here is a list of the things I did wrong:
1. Wrong position picked in MyCareer mode. I tried playing with both a 6'7" Shooting Guard and a 7'3" Center. Neither of those positions are good for a novice such as myself, because you can't call plays yourself and I'm not good at getting rebounds. Choosing to be a point guard is significantly easier than any other position at least offensively. I'm not good at defense though.
2. Picked by the wrong team each time - When I played on the 360, I was picked by the Mavericks when I was a shooting guard and picked by the Bulls as a center. You may notice that the best player on those teams are, respectively, a shooting guard (Monta Ellis) and a center (Joakim Noah) (Even though Derrick Rose exists as well, but that doesn't fit in to what I was saying)
3. Player was far too tall - It's basketball, right? Supposed to pick the tall guy. But I did exactly that. It's harder for tall guys to move around quickly in these games. Picking a short guy (I'm not sure how tall but like 6'1 I think is what I picked) allows for better mobility and a faster pick and roll so I've found myself being much more successful and effective with getting shots and assists. Still awful at getting rebounds, though.

This game also comes with a fun story. Wednesday, I bought this game at GameStop, used, for 35 dollars. I took the game home and tried to install it on my XBOX. As I waited, it got to 14 percent and I couldn't get any more installed, for it gave me an error message stating that the disc was either dirty or damaged. It was scratched. So, I took it back the next day to the same Gamestop, and they were happy to take the return. 35 Dollars back.

I then took those 35 dollars downstairs to the Microsoft Store and bought a brand new copy of the same game for 29.99. I profited on it, and got it new. 2 extra dollars, spent upon a pretzel the next day.

Wolfenstein (XBONE): First Appearance
I raced home from the store (I picked the game up out of the basket where it sat for a few days) and I excitedly tore the case from its shrinkwrap (I had opened the game a few days earlier to enter in the code on Id's website so I could have access to the Beta for the new Doom game) and I popped the game in my XBOX and enjoyed several hours of World War II era shooting fun! (It took 2 hours to install and I had to go to bed and didn't get to start)

Trials Fusion (XBONE): Second Appearance, Second Straight Appearance
I don't have anything to say actually. I wish I did. I guess I could point out that I find the commentary from the A.I.s genuinely funny, and I have some sense of shame that comes from that. I don't know why I have that shame, but I guess I'm supposed to feel cooler than that or something? It doesn't matter. This is a good game

The Mid-Week Update because Joe hasn't had a solid Internet connection all week: 7/10/14

Well hey, it's July already, happy independence day and all that, get ready for Christmas, understand how hot it can truly get under the burning sun, and Share a Coke with Monique.

NBA 2K14 (X360): Eleventh Appearance, Last Appearance 6/9/14
NOT AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. DO NOT PLAY THIS AGAIN YOU ARE NOT GOOD AT IT. TRY A DIFFERENT SPORT GAME THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Another World: 20th Anniversary Edition (VITA): First Appearance
When I started doing these updates at the beginning of the year (back when they were on Sunday and not whenever the hell they wanted to be), I played a little game called Heart of Darkness. If you've stuck with me since then, you'll know that I enjoyed almost all of Heart of Darkness aside from the final level and the main character.

I never talked about it back then because the Sunday Update consisted of only about 3 sentences per game back in February, but I figured out what I liked about Heart of Darkness the most: Your character never really feels like they're ever that much stronger than the enemy. You have a weapon, sure, but most of the time it's unwieldy and unreliable.

Everything is trying to kill you, rather than in contemporaries like Doom, Duke Nukem, or even Super Mario 64, where often times the one making the first strike is the player. As Mario, there are many times when you feel like you're significantly stronger than your enemy, be it a Goomba or Bob-Omb or some low-level enemy of the sort. Along with that, in every game mentioned, it takes more than a couple of hits to kill you. I don't know that one single Goomba has ever killed me by itself in Super Mario 64. It may get two hits in at the most, but the player can punch the Goomba right in its fuckin face and then go get more coins if that's the case.

In Heart of Darkness, you die in one hit. You die instantly, and there's no recovery. On top of that, every enemy can kill you in one hit, and most enemies take more than one to kill. With those facts in place, you don't ever feel like your character is necessarily stronger than anything. Sure, you figure out how certain enemies work and how to defeat them easily, but even with that knowledge there's still no certainty in anything. Low level enemies will still overpower you even in later levels if you aren't putting enough effort in. That feeling is pervasive throughout the entire game: You're in over your head.

One-hit deaths aren't unheard of in games, in fact, many early games had your character perish with one hit, from the fairly innocuous Gumshoe on the NES to the infamous Transformers on the Famicom. What set Heart of Darkness apart from those was an incredibly simple tactic that I can't believe I haven't seen more: Checkpoints. Not even checkpoints that you can necessarily see, but just checkpoints where you can start getting through the next bit of the game without having to go back and replay the past 3 minutes. It works so simply, and keeps the player from wanting to quit playing. After a bit, at least for myself, running through the same 2 minute stretch to try one tricky section again is a waste of time.

Anyway, Heart of Darkness did both of those things perfectly. Another World (you'll notice I've gone through 5 paragraphs before bringing up the name of the game at hand, a new record) was created a few years before Heart of Darkness by the same man, Éric Chahi, a Frenchman. It does all of those things I talked about just as well, and features fully polygonal graphics which lend a certain style to the game that I've never seen anywhere else. It's cliché to say it, but that art style is linked with Another World and nothing else.

The remake is available for just about all major consoles, and I'd say it's a pretty solid remake. You have updated graphics and sounds, but you aren't forced to use them if you don't want, the controls are simple for modern consoles, and you can earn Trophies or Achievements if you'd like. I'm looking forward to finishing it, hopefully it doesn't disappoint like HoD did.

Monday Update: 6/9/14

Hey there's an E3 going on and I've played some weird shit

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PSV): Second Appearance, Second Straight Appearance

So apparently I'm not supposed to play this one first, apparently it's "The Fourth game in the series"-Ben Higbee, bakosy.com and "You have to play the first ones first or else you're gonna be confused" -Ben Higbee, bakosy.com. But hey the next few levels were fun and it's a good game to have on the Vita because the objectives don't seem too long to get through. That's what I want out of a portable game, I'd rather finish something in 10 minutes than get partway through something and forget about it after the same amount of time. That was my issue with the Ocarina of Time game for the 3DS. So yeah, Sly Cooper, Platforming game for a Sony console, I'm on board, and I shouldn't have waited this long to try it out.

Tomb Raider 2 (PS1): First Appearance

I know it means a lot to a lot of people, but how the fuck did you guys in the mid 1990s play this game? The control's just so difficult for my small "born in 1995"-Shawnee Mission Medical Center brain, who thought pressing down on the controller should make you walk backwards and not turn you around? It's very clumsy and I was bad at it so instead of being an adult and figuring out how to play this properly, I'm just going to complain.

Mario Kart 8 (Wii U): Second Appearance, Second Straight Appearance

Yeah it's good. Now that Microsoft announced that Master Chief collection I want DLC Mario Kart tracks, I want to play all the old tracks, please, that would be great. Also I'm really genuinely excited for that Master Chief Collection and the Madden 15 defensive additions are either going to make or break the series because they had something okay going already, so if they mess this up the Madden series is going to have some issues.
Also Mario Kart 8 is fun

NBA 2K14 (X360): Tenth Appearance, Second Straight Appearance
NBA 2K14 has run away with the record for most appearances on the Monday Update. But I'm never playing this dumb game again because I am too bad at it and it's too hard. Why the fuck did I make my shooting guard character 6'10" that is too tall for a shooting guard but without the skillset built in for a small forward or power forward or center goddamn it Dalembert got hurt and they put my guy at CENTER 

Monday Update: 6/2/14

Another fairly small week for the Monday Update
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PSV): First Appearance
Sly Cooper was always one of those games that I was supposed to have played, but I never did. I have now. Rather, I played the epilogue and then had to go to work. It's pretty solid and I will try more, but I haven't played a good 3D platformer game in a long, long time, probably since the Mario 64 Incident of Summer 2013. I hear that the characters and dialogue are very unique in this game, so I might have to finally play a handheld game with the audio on, which I rarely ever do.

Mario Kart 8 (Wii U): First Appearance
So I'm never going to buy a Wii U, however my sister did and therefore sometimes I get to share a Wii U with the rest of my family. I have been known to call Mario Kart 7 my favorite game of all time, but I typically try not to get excited about games all that much so I actually knew very little about what to expect from MK8 beforehand. I wasn't disappointed with the quality of the game by any means, though i was pretty disappointed with my own performance against the rest of my family, only winning two races (though, to be fair, my sister won almost every race  and she had been practicing all afternoon so I don't feel bad, also I had to use the Wii remote and Nunchuck for controls which I wasn't used to [actually why am I making excuses for my poor performance that's not something good players do]).

I don't love the new tracks so much, but that's how I typically am with newer games. The remastered old tracks are great, though, and I hope they make use of the DLC possibilities, so we could maybe, theoretically, hopefully, in some universe, be able to use all of the tracks available in the history of Mario Kart. That would be perfect. Anyway, I like Mario Kart 8 and I get to use the Wii U all by myself now that my sister's off at Summer Camp (funny how that works).

NBA 2K14 (X360): Ninth Appearance, last appearance 5/19/14
What if Kansas City had an NBA team? I questioned this last week. There will be a post coming out sometime soon in which I consider this idea. This may be a mildly angry post for there are many things that need to be said by me that probably won't be entirely correct but eh, it's just a funny post about video games and also how did we lose the Kings to goddamn Sacramento?

Monday Update: 5/19/14

I had to pack up my room this week so I didn't have much access to anything until Thursday night, unfortunately. But this weekend I was able to turn that "unfortunately" into a FUNfortunately.

I'm ashamed of what I just said

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (SAT): First Appearance
I'll admit I've never been a huge fighting game fan, but Mortal Kombat 3 (and Ultimate MK3, and Trilogy) is always my favorite one to play against other people. There was last year during lunch at school when a friend brought a portable SNES. There was the one guy at camp who owned Mortal Kombat Trilogy for the N64. There was that random Ultimate MK3 machine in that tiny alcove in the mall in Alexandria, Minnesota. I've always had a strange history with MK3. It was one of the first games that I ever tried, oddly enough, as there was a SNES with a copy of it at my daycare. I played it last night against my girlfriend, and neither of us were particularly good at it. We still had fun with it.

NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (SAT): Third Appearance, Last on 2/2/14
If this game taught me one thing, it was that Sean Elliott wasn't all that good in NBA Jam. I have no idea how he was in actuality, but he couldn't make SHIT last night. Still won in overtime, though my opponent had never tried the game before and also chose the New Jersey Nets.

Gex (SAT): First Appearance
How have I not played Gex yet this year? But I love Gex! He's voiced by Dana Gould, the music is classic Saturn stuff, and it's actually a pretty solid platformer all things considered. If I had to describe the Saturn in one game, I'd choose Clockwork Knight or Bug! or Sonic R (mainly because Gex wasn't exclusive to the Saturn), but Gex is a great example of an era of gaming that has passed and will probably never return. Video Games were still relatively new, and things that were "cool" look absolutely ridiculous today. Granted, I don't think today is necessarily worse, but it's certainly different. In 18 years, people looking back at what was "cool" in 2014 might see something genuinely cool, like Titanfall. At the opposite end of that is the muddy Gears of War kinds of action games from 2007-2010 or so, which may have been "cool" then, but not the kind of cool that makes you laugh 14 years from now, like a talking gecko who gets sucked inside a television.

Well that's your "too much about Gex" update for the week.

Assorted Others:
NBA 2K14 (X360): Eighth Appearance, Second Straight Appearance: I hate this game but I cannot stop
Tecmo Classic Arcade (XBOX): First Appearance: There may be a video that comes out of this
NBA Inside Drive (XBOX): First Appearance: There will definitely be a video that comes out of this

Monday Update: 5/12/14 - finals studying edition

I FINISHED WARIO LAND 4 Second Appearance, Second Straight Appearance IT WAS GOOD
I PLAYED A FEW GAMES OF COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE First Appearance IN A LULL ONE DAY
I PLAYED A FEW GAMES OF NBA 2K14 Seventh Appearance, Last Appearance 4/28/14 

Thanks. If you have any questions about the history of France please send them to me via twitter @joebush_joebush

Monday Update: 4/28/14

I turned 19 this week, for what that's worth.

MechAssault (XBOX): First Appearance

Remember this game? I do. I only had a chance to play it on one of the old "EXHIBITION" demo discs for the XBOX back in 2003. I had only been able to play about two missions from the game, but I never could beat either of them and never knew exactly what was going on. I enjoyed the hell out of it, more than anything else on any of those discs. (For the record, I had two of them, the March 2003 and July 2003 discs.) (Actually, I'm having a bit of a nostalgia trip looking at the list of what was on those. MX Superfly had this short 2:00 minute run mode, and I'd just try to do a double backflip for the whole time. All-Star Baseball 2004 had a home-run derby between modern players and legends. I would just accelerate on MotoGP 2 and crash into things.)

Anyway, MechAssault was one of the first games on XBOX Live (which I desperately desired despite the fact that I was only eight years old and my dad wouldn't let me have an account), and I never owned it until 2011. I played through about half of it then, until I had to stop myself from playing video games due to slipping grades. That XBOX died, then the next XBOX died, then we got to April 2014 and I've started playing MechAssault again. MechAssault is strange, being a part of the MechWarrior franchise, but being developed for the XBOX controller on a series that was already well known for mouse-keyboard controls. I imagine that this was an issue for some of the series' fans, but I didn't go online and look that sort of thing up at that time. But hey, it works on the controller, and it's actually genuinely enjoyable. I'd love to play the multiplayer sometime, though.

Pro Wrestling (NES): First Appearance

I don't really know why, just felt like it.

Ten-Yard Fight (NES): First Appearance

Dear god, this is the SLOWEST FOOTBALL GAME EVER. Why is it enjoyable, though? I can't put my finger on it, but I actually had a very good time with it.

Maniac Mansion (NES): Second Appearance, Last Appearance on 4/14/2014

I need a guide or something. Typically I'm not this dumb, but I'm so used to games that only use one protagonist, and the way that you switch characters throughout the game is really refreshing but still difficult to get used to.

NBA Live 2003 (GCN): First Appearance (I think)

TWO FUN GAMES OF NBA LIVE 2003

FIRST: Michael Jordan versus the Memphis Grizzlies. "Michael Jordan" is a game I invented at camp 2013, originally in NBA Courtside 2002 for the Gamecube. You pick Michael Jordan, and score every point with him. Nobody else puts up a shot. Nobody. Even if he fouls out. If he fouls out, you freeze after half court and wait for the game to end. Here's how it went:

SECOND: Shorts versus Talls 2003. The shortest players (Celtics) versus the tallest players (Hawks). It worked as you may expect. The shorts only had one really good player in Damon Stoudamire. The talls had two in Dikembe Mutombo and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. I might do a deeper look at this particular game in a little bit, actually.

Others That Don't Warrant Mention®

NBA 2K14 (X360): Sixth Appearance, Sixth Straight Appearance: Played nearly one game, but got bored. 2K's reign may end this week

RollerCoaster Tycoon (PC): Second Appearance, Last Appearance on 4/14/2014: It takes some time to get going sometimes, especially on Dynamite Dunes, so I didn't play too much.

Monday Update: 4/21/14

A very busy week for me, as I was writing everything that ended up on adsandgames.wordpress.com, so go check that out please. There were games, however.

F-Zero GX (GCN): Second Appearance, second straight week

I feel like F-Zero and Star Fox never get much respect when it comes to Nintendo franchises. I think they're in what I would consider the third tier (First tier being Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon, second being Metroid and Kirby, then third being Animal Crossing, Star Fox, and F-Zero amongst others and I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two somewhere). I have nothing more to say about the quality of F-Zero GX, though. It's simple racing at abnormally high speeds which is great, and it makes every movement important, because there's a very real possibility that you end up off of the track. The whole series is great with friends, and the Gamecube version is my favorite of all of them.

Also, there's an arcade game, though I've never seen it in person. I have seen the Mario Kart arcade game in person, though. I love the idea of having a camera for the player's face in multiplayer modes (although the machine I tried in tomorrowland at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom had a broken camera so the effect was lost). Apparently the full arcade game is present somewhere within the GameCube game as well.

Atari Anthology (XBOX): First Appearance
I purchased another original XBOX last weekend. I mainly own the original XBOX for three reasons:
1. Playing the exclusives, like TRON 2.0, MechAssault, or Halo
2. Old Sports Games, because I like this era of sports games
3. Compilations
I've always said that the PSP is the best console for compliations (Mainly because they're the only thing that I ever played on the PSP), but for whatever reason, the XBOX is great for them. Atari Anthology was actually a game I had for the PS2. Anyway, for me, the best compilation games are focused on quantity, not quality. If I can try the entire library from one specific company, I'd be happy with that rather than just cutting down to the hits (which is what most compilations on the PS1 are forced to do).

Atari Anthology perfectly embodies that "quantity before quality" idea, because you can play basically anything put out by Atari post-1975 or so (no Gotcha!, unfortunately, but I think I'm the only one who would be sad because that's an awful game that had breast controllers). That includes both arcade games and VCS games (none on the 5200 or 7800, sorry Ninja Golf fans). They leave almost no stone unturned for the VCS, down to the three infamous SwordQuest games, and even the VCS conversions of arcade games already playable in their original forms. I prefer this compilation to Intellivision Lives! and the Midway Arcade Treasures, though they're both great as well.

Knuckles Chaotix (32X): First Appearance
Sonic fans get upset about the mid to late 1990s because there were no "true" Sonic games for the Saturn after CD. Most of those people forget about Chaotix for a few reasons, mainly that there's no Sonic, it's for the 32X which nobody has but me, and the whole thing with the rubber-banding is weird and unnatural. All three of those things are completely true, but they don't make Chaotix a bad game by any means. I like how the stages are vertically constructed rather than the typical horizontal fare. I like how the characters interact, I like the kind of puzzle platforming, and I think it's a solid part of the 32X library.

For those wondering how I attained a copy, I got it from an eBay auction after this guy's house burnt down and he had to sell off some stuff. There was a warning that there may have been "possible smoke or water damage," but it has worked fine for me. I don't know why I wrote that anecdote out.

Others that don't warrant mention:
NBA 2K14 (360) Fifth Appearance, Fifth Straight Appearance: Played one game very late at night
NCAA Football 2004 (XBOX) First Appearance: Played 1 quarter to see if my new XBOX had a functioning disc drive
WWF: Wrestlemania (32X) First Appearance Sort of like that shot of vodka that the French take before eating dinner, I played this before I played Chaotix

Monday Update: 4/14/14

Well we're back, still sorry about last week, but it would have been literally one game because two weeks ago was unpredictably busy. Look out this week for the return of Old Sports Games, however.
Anyway,
RollerCoaster Tycoon (PC): First Appearance
I constantly forget about what RCT used to mean to me. It was always sort of a forbidden fruit when I was growing up, my friends had the original and RCT2 on their PCs, but I didn't know how to play games on a PC at that point, so I had to purchase it for the XBOX. Oddly enough, I was able to get into it easily despite the fact that it used the XBOX's controller rather than the traditional keyboard-and-mouse. I actually tried going back to the XBOX port a couple of years ago after playing the PC version and I couldn't figure it out at all. But that's a weird thing about playing games as a child: You can adapt to something weird much more easily.

I wrote that above paragraph so I wouldn't just gush about the game. I'm capable of doing that.

Maniac Mansion (NES): First Appearance
Everyone always told me to play the LucasArts games of old, and last year I played through The Secret of Monkey Island (Special Edition). That's one great aspect of the modern remaking trend, as I wouldn't have likely been able to try Monkey Island properly without the Special Edition remake. I know some purists didn't like the voice acting, but for a newcomer like myself, I was happy to have characters with voices, a great idea for 2009.

Anyway I bought Maniac Mansion for the NES is what I'm trying to get at. It's a good start, but I'm gonna need a while to get into it. The fact that I don't have regular access to my NES doesn't help

NBA 2K14 (XBOX 360): Fourth Appearance, Fourth Straight Appearance
I have very little to say other than the fact that I have finally figured out what to do to be successful in MyCareer. Gotta take shots and play good defense, also let other people shoot. I'm surprised by how well I'm doing in the season considering we're .500 even though Dirk and I think Devin Harris are out with injuries. Basketball.

F-Zero GX (GCN): First Appearance
Though I only played through one Cup, this is still an absolute masterpiece when it comes to racing games, especially on the Gamecube.

Monday Update: 3/31/14

Happy opening door everyone. Let's open that door and let the bass in. Thank you. Barry Bonds

Golf (NES): First Appearance
I wrote a post about this.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1): Second Appearance, last appearance on 2/24/2014
I love SOTN. I love the way that the castle is designed, I love fighting through the castle to get where I want to go and then gaining a higher level as a result of it, I even have figured out a way to enjoy boss fights to a certain extent. I can only think of a few games like it, that I recommend on almost every front. My only real regret is that I didn't try to get further in it when I first played it back a year ago

NBA 2K14 (XB360): Third Appearance, Third Straight Appearance
So now that I'm done fawning about the cool action-RPG here's me about a dumb sports game again. I think Sacramento's in a position to be good next year if they can get a solid player at Power Forward possibly coming out of the draft like Julius Randle maybe. I like how NBA 2K14 lets you download other people's draft classes and draft those players, so I don't have to draft some fake name guy from George Washington University or something like that. That's a good idea and I'm glad they did it. I've figured out how to be more successful in a 5-on-5 game situation as well. I have devised a system over the past few years called "The Joe Bush Video Basket Plan" and it works like this:
1. Steal the ball That's the most important thing, steal the ball and jump pass-lanes
2. Jam Jam the ball down the hole
3. Make quick passes in transition Do that
4. Get blocks and I don't mean LEGOs boy
6. Shoot the 3!!! Always have a good 3-Point shooter because 3's are worth more than 2's
7. Did you notice I left out the five? 2/5 Americans don't!!!
8. INBOUND BANDIT Whenever a team gets a chance at a sideline inbound pass, that's when they're at their most vulnerable. Pick that off. If you get that strategy going, you're going to be good
9. How many animals did Moses put on the ark? The answer might surprise you

Ninja Gaiden (LYNX)
Ah yes, the coup de grace. The ol' 1-2. The "why are you talking about anything for the Atari Lynx Mr. Bush?" Well, I'll tell you why: Morbid Curiosity. While the Ninja Gaiden games for the NES and SNES are fun, fast paced action games, the LYNX port opts for a traditional beat-em-up style. It doesn't work all that well, especially on the LYNX's blurry ass screen.

---
Keep your eyes peeled for any suspicious characters tomorrow... they might... fool you

Monday Update: 3/24/14

I had Spring Break last week, so we're going to get into some sort of a greatest hits of last week here on the Monday Update
NBA 2K14 (X360): Second Appearance, Second Straight
I continued with my single character, but I figured out it's really hard to defend any good player only controlling one player. It's really hard to defend LeBron James or Kevin Durant, and the game gives you lower grades for being unable to stop players from scoring, even if your individual offensive play is solid. Though I still think it's a solid game, I actually sort of wish that it was a bit less realistic. In many games, especially when playing as a team with a lottery pick, you'll find yourself losing, and since my player has to come off the bench, you feel sort of helpless. I've found that you almost always lose to the teams you're supposed to lose to, which is realistic, and expected, but not exactly what I prefer when I'm playing games.

Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis): First Appearance
I played this for way too long yesterday because it was the only game I wanted to try on my Genesis. I've never been a fan of the Shinobi series, for no real reason other than the fact that I have not tried any of them up until this point. I believe I will remain not a fan of the Shinobi series after trying Revenge of Shinobi. The fact that I associate ninja-action games with Ninja Gaiden is probably the cause of why I don't like Shinobi very much, I'd rather hit things with a sword than throw shurikens at them and my tiny baby brain can't accept anything else.

Tetris (NES): First Appearance
Interestingly enough, I've never had a copy of Tetris for the NES in my possession until this week. It's just about everything I expected.

Dr. Mario (NES): First Appearance
Why have I gone for NES games recently? Beats me. Dr. Mario is vastly overlooked when it comes to puzzle games, probably because it's so much different than other games like Tetris or Columns, where the pieces falling from the top of the screen are the only pieces in the game. Having a second aspect to rid from the screen is a smart idea, and unlike in Tetris 2, it's done well because the pieces are all the same aside from colors. My only real complaint is steeply the difficulty curves: the jump between the fourth and fifth screen is a wee bit too much for my likes.

Dr. Mario's soundtrack may be the best soundtrack on the NES in terms of saturation. Since there are only two themes, Fever and Chill, fittingly enough, and they're both classics, there's a 100 percent chance that you're going to end up with a good song. I like those odds, and I like this game. Also the little viruses are cute. Also I like the idea that Nintendo found the best idea to make this game work was making Mario a physician, because there's a little more flair to it than in most other puzzle games. Nintendo could have made this emotionless like Tetris 2, but they chose to give it a personality of sorts, and people remember the characters, music, and atmosphere of Dr. Mario (It takes place in a giant pill bottle! I don't think there are any other games that can boast that.) more than Columns, which is of similar quality game-wise but absolutely forgettable in terms of atmosphere. At least Tetris had that Russian vibe with the music and graphics going on.

---
Well, Rest In Peace Spring Break, and also my school's basketball team lost in the second round so we have two stupid dumb weekends until the Masters take place. I am ready. I don't even like golf that much but I get really jazzed for the Masters.

Monday Update: 3/3/2014

Oh god, it's already the THIRD! What can we do? RUN

NBA 2K13: something something Jay-Z (PC) First Appearance
Let me let you guys in on a little secret: I don't have a PC that can even sort of run NBA 2K13 at a decent level. I have everything set to as low as possible, my framerate is terrible (literally in single digits FPS at some points), and I don't own a controller so I'm using WASD and a variety of keyboard keys to attempt to maneuver Chris Paul into driving down the lane and not out of bounds. But I got through three games of it because I was really,
really,
really bored on Saturday morning. I lost all three of them, but I blame that more on the playing on a Keyboard than anything and I'll probably buy NBA 2K14 for the XBOX 360 sometime soon (whatever happened to companies developing games for handheld consoles? I know for a fact I'd play the Arvydas Sabonis out of NBA 2K14 for the Vita if it were ever released there) (actually I'm going to e-mail 2K games or Sega or Left Field or whoever makes those games anymore and ask if they're planning on putting 2K15 on the Vita) (Scratch that, I'm sending them a postcard)

But anyway even though I lost all three games and my experience was on an outdated piece of technology, I definitely recommend NBA 2K13.

Pinball Arcade (PSV) First Appearance
I forget how much I love pinball every once in a while (I'm like that with Futurama, Asobi Seksu, and the Silversun Pickups to a certain extent as well) but I was introduced to Pinball Arcade, an emulation of classic tables, by Jeff Gerstmann from GiantBomb.com and I purchased the first four tables earlier today. I'm really impressed by it, because the physics feel very realistic, and though the Vita's shoulder buttons leave a little to be desired in terms of using flippers, everything went very smoothly. The standalone game on the Vita comes with four games included, but you can purchase more. It's like Game Room for the XBOX 360 to a certain extent. The makers of Pinball Arcade seem to have more investment in Pinball Arcade than Microsoft did with Game Room, however; which is to say that they care at all and hopefully will get to tables like RollerCoaster Tycoon sometime (the Chuck E Cheese that I used to go to had that one and I'm sorta nostalgic for it)

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1) First Appearance
The PlayStation original version of THPS2 was the first version of THPS2 I ever played, but also the one I've played the least probably. I never owned this version of THPS2 until I obtained it in the Great PSone Deal of 2013 (My friend Christian gave me his old PSone that he didn't want with a few games, one of which was this, along with Tomb Raider II, Madden 2002, and Medal of Honor). Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is admittedly one of my least favorite entries in the Tony Hawk series, and I absolutely prefer the Dreamcast port. That didn't stop me from completing the game 100%, however; so I still clearly enjoy it.

---
That was a pretty eclectic mix for one week if I do say so myself