Video Game #21 (Mario)

Image result for nintendo ds mario edition

The iconic character in video game history made its mark in a Donkey Kong arcade game as the ID of Plumber. He became more than that in the decades to come. From Platformers, any sport in the books, RPG’s even, you name it and they have it in store for you to try.

Mario transcends in the world phenomenon to be engaging to video game goers alike including myself. One of many was Super Mario 64 that taught children how to learn basic instructions. A simple matter of review, using it to progress through the game to defeat a long stride video game bad guy Bowser to save the princess. Toadstool was its original which still is used from time to time, but now she is namely Peach as many of you know her by.

Super Mario RPG was the first RPG in the Mario series in my opinion to show off that part of the generation of traditional games such as Final Fantasy and various others. You get a sense that Bowser isn’t really a bad guy in this one, better yet he joins you to take out a sinister threat that made his castle not usable for his evil ways. To make matters more interesting, a non-Final Fantasy character to this day I am not sure where he came from goes by the name Culex. It ironically plays Final Fantasy music when being fought which at the time was really cool. Onto the next genre of the series.

Super Smash Bros. is accountable as one of the best things to happen in video game history. It brought characters from iconic to unknown individuals that would end up eventually in their own game to become popular for a time. Various companies competed with this with games such as Soul Calibur, Mortal Kombat, and more. A world phenomenon saw an even bigger picture on this given game that it made gaming communities to come together to create branches of various communities which is amazing.

Returning to RPG’s, Paper Mario really out done itself in its time. The 1st one is what you could expect: memorable Mario characters, areas, Bowser himself, and others. In the 2nd Paper Mario (known as Thousand Year Door), things took a very different turn which makes it the most intriguing thing in a Mario game. Very sinister plotting in this game was really something. When you come across something that is dangerous, they really mean it. When you successfully collect all seven relics known as Crystal Stars, the Thousand Year Door opens in a dark and disturbing matter. When entered, it plays a stinger that says you should not be here. Even your party members say something feels wrong and we probably shouldn’t be here. That means something in a video game, but you continue onward to see horrors that will transpire at the end of the tunnel. It turns out there was a being known as an Eldritch Abomination that came out of the tomb. It took over the host (that being Peach), and became the one thing Mario wanted to save only to see her as this thing taken over. For the first time in his hero career (and plumber), he lost. Eventually something remarkable happened. The people including his brother Luigi were encouraging him to not give up on the struggle against the ancient being known as the Shadow Queen. Mario did succeed but made it so he got help by others to guide through the fight. So it comes to show you that even Mario cannot always be on a winning streak and must call it quits from time to time.

I name many others but I would be ramble on and on so I made it clear that Mario became an icon in many ways in every video game goer’s view. To the question being what did you see when Mario came into the world of gaming? What is your favorite Mario genre and game thus far? Do you think it will continue to strife through more decades to come?

Thanks for your time and have a great week.

Video Game #20 (Final Fantasy)

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A franchise that is the true meaning of fantasy (literary). Final Fantasy is to be considered the most influential towards the world and myself included. I personally have not played all of them but I get a sense of what they represent in their own game.

Starting off with FFI (Final Fantasy (whatever the number)), my buddy showed it to me but wasn’t able to play it through its entirety. You got yourself a basic story to get a group of members together and rescue the princess from evil bad guy (sound familiar?). After completing the task, it turns out the credits begin to roll, BUT the game continues to something more unique afterward. Sadly I wasn’t able to see the rest of it, but I got a sense of what story would come through just the 1st game.

FFII is not what I played, so not much is known on my experience.

FFIII I was being observant when my brother played it, and he said it is a hard Final Fantasy alongside various others.

FFIV was a Final Fantasy that a remaster in the Nintendo DS to which I did play it when I had one. Here’s the thing about this one: at first you don’t succeed train harder and try again. Or in the case of having a lot of luck on your side. That’s the 4th installment in a nutshell, good game nonetheless.

FFV was only watching videos on and not playing it. My brother showed my a few clips from it such as Gilgamesh’s debut into the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole. He showed me the villain Exdeath and one of your party members refuses to die and stays at 1 HP for an crazy event that occurs during the fight. Moving onto the next installment…

FFVI was what made Final Fantasy really what it is today. You got a kingdom, government, a world, and a particular character by the name Kefka. This fellow did the impossible: destroy the world and become god. That’s saying a lot since he was the guy behind the guy sequence. His maniacal laugh is infamous in all ways of direction of this particular character. Considered to be the best video game villain of all time past various video game bad guys I’ve seen.

FFVII was my first Final Fantasy that I played (surprised?) Great nostalgia from start to finish as controlling Cloud for the most part. This FF is notifiable of its characters, places, gameplay, music, you name it. Sephiroth being another iconic character as second best to Kefka as being the first (there I said it!). The most awesome thing that happened in this Final Fantasy was a move called Super Nova. When this triggers, it is a 2:06 animation. Seeing for the first time is amazing, after a while you can go somewhere and come back to it when it finished.

FFVIII was a heard from case scenario. Saw it at my brothers old buddy’s house and showed the ending sequence that being the final boss. His buddy wanted to show us a super attack called Lionheart which was the coolest thing in this Final Fantasy game. An odd and yet interesting story I’ve heard too which I might come to play it in the near future. Also would like to end with if you intend to do the “trading card” side quest, you are up for many mistakes on the way and a lot of luck.

FFIX was the case that I played it and didn’t get very far which is quite a shame. I for the most part watched my brothers play it to which I enjoyed watching of course. This was also the case of doing the segment over and over again until you complete the task so that was annoying. This Final Fantasy holds the most unique and hardest bosses in the franchise: Ozma. Does level matter, yes. Does skill matter, yes. Do you need a lot of luck, absolutely. This Final Fantasy marked the end of your traditional aspect to the genre.

FFX was the second Final Fantasy I played. This Final Fantasy marked as the first of the genre to have voice acting, cinematic experience, a brand new battle system, and various other attributes. Very notable characters, story doesn’t pick up until the end to which was a bad thing however in this one it was still an excellent game nonetheless. That dang Blitzball is one of most annoying and hard minigame to this day. However, it holds the best overlimit ability to one of the party members Wakka so something to consider in your playthroughs for one day. If you so happen to love playing Blitzball, have at it.

FFXI is a Final Fantasy I have not played so moving on.

FFXII is a game that introduced another new system that would apply to future Final Fantasies: Real time combat. It was good while it started out in this particular one, I personally thought it would change this franchise as a whole (to which it did). I like to end this with a boss that is for the ages: Yiazmat. Grab food, drinks, cause it is going to be a long and hard encounter. Time is 30-35 minutes so good luck with that.

FFXIII, XIV and XV are only watchable in my time so not much to talk about. I’ve only heard of things too from my brother and a buddy of mine and that is it.

So the question is what is your favorite Final Fantasy? Character? Event? Boss? Music? Until then, see you next time.