Tag Archives: Nintenerds

Digital Playground

A Noob’s Guide to Echoes of Wisdom

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Introduction

My history with Legend of Zelda goes back a long time. I remember going to my mother’s family’s house for Christmas one year. Surprisingly, even though , or perhaps because, they made me feel awkward and out of place, I remember a lot from those visits. They formed several core memories, to borrow a phrase from the Inside Out movies. In any case, whenever a new Zelda game comes out, I pay attention. While a bit late, I’m finally bringing you A Noob’s Guide to Echoes of Wisdom.

In this particular memory, I attempted to assuage some of the weirdness by walking through the house to find someplace that jibbed more with my vibe at the time. Like now, that generally means on the darker side, with few people, and hopefully a cat or dog or two. As I searched, I stumbled on a room with a Nintendo Entertainment System. The game? The original Legend of Zelda. Remember when I said that my parents eventually caved and bought us an NES? The seed for that planted on this day as I watched the person play the game and thought it the most beautiful game I’d ever seen.

Look at the colors. The sprites. The dungeons.

The Announcement Trailer

I will start with the TLDR.

Even though Noob’s Guide to Echoes of Wisdom comes three months too late, true to our style, we release within a week or so of the game coming out.

0:00 – We open on a dungeon with a blue cloaked figure and three guards wearing bat eared helmets. The figure approaches, draws his sword, and strikes at one of them. The guard deflects that blow, but the figure spins with his sword and defeats them all.

0:11 – A princess (Zelda) is trapped in a pink crystal, held captive my some monstrosity. Our hero enters and throws off his cloak. Link! To the rescue! The monster charges. Link leaps and counter attacks. The monster casts fireball! Link returns the flame for a second hit. Link closes, spins, and defeats the monster.

0:33 – The monster vanishes, leaving behind a magical staff. As Link approaches to save Zelda, a darkness spreads out from the staff. It quickly overtakes him and sucks him down into the ground. As a last resort, he pulls out a crossbow and strikes the crystal.

0:42: Link disappears into the floor completely and the crystal shatters. Zelda falls to the ground where the darkness hasn’t yet spread. After considering her freedom, she must run from the spreading darkness. It chases her out of the fortress.

0:50: Zelda falls. The darkness creeps closer. What now of our princess?! The darkness stops and we can breathe a sigh of relief. Away from the darkness, a wondrous land unfolds before Zelda. The title appears in the upper right hand corner at 1:10.

Introduction and Initial Gameplay Thoughts

1:15 – Fade to black and back in on Eiji Aonuma, producer of the series. He explains the concept of the game. Link has vanished and now Zelda is the protagonist of the series! Will she fight with a sword?

2:00 – Long story short. Let’s see what this video tells us about the game. Rifts appeared across the land. So, this is not an isolated event. Zelda meets a fairy named Tri, who gives her the “mysterious” Tri Rod. One of the powers of the Tri Rod gives Zelda the ability to create an imitation of objects. In this example, she learns the echo of a table. Big deal, right? Well, now she can place tables anywhere on the map. This allows her to build stairs to reach otherwise unreachable heights! Other echos include boxes, beds, and water blocks. Interesting one, that.

What About Battles?

3:14 – Well, they’ll look different. By creating an echo of a rock, you can throw it at the monsters.

3:25 – Wait, what?! You can also create echos of monsters that will fight by your side? Okay, that sounds and looks awesome. Each monster grants a different ability that helps depending on the situation.

3:44 – A series of short and quick videos showing other aspects of the game. Jumping, winding up some kind of bomb thing (?), throwing acorns (?), using a monster to fly across a river of lava, meeting (and defeating) friends (and enemies), and dungeon crawling.

4:00 – Back to Mr. Aonuma asking, “How was that?” followed by more vignettes of game play. He assures you that there will be plenty of puzzles that need to be solved in a variety of ways when the game launches September 26.

4:40: There’s a special edition Switch Lite for the game. Guess I should have waited to pick mine up. Oh well, that’s always the way for me.

The Verdict

Having not played the game yet, and watched no other game play videos, that’s all I have for Noob’s Guide to Echoes of Wisdom. From what I’ve seen there, I need to play this game as soon as possible. I love the graphic style. The addition of the echo system feels very much like Minecraft but with more of a purpose to how you use everything. As I saw some write recently, “it will be fun to finally play as Zelda, even in a chibi style.” I say, bring on the chibi. I loved Wind Waker and I’m sure to love this one, too.

Get the game and a few others while you’re at it. Not an official partnership. Just love the games.

Digital Playground

Video Games of Present

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Introduction

While Chris and I mostly just talked during this latest visit, we still discussed our recent gaming adventures. I suggested D&D if the boys were home and maybe Warhammer, if not. I showed off my models and he thought they were cool, but we didn’t actually play. He’s been busy with other stuff, his gaming habits mirror mine lately. Nevertheless, we talked about video games of present.

You probably both know that our video game habits often rely on older games. Without question or shame, we consider ourselves retro video gamers. Every now and then, most recently with Skyrim (yeah, how’s that for a blast from the past), we buy a new title. Usually, though, we play old Street Fighter or a previous version of NHL or Madden.

Nintendo Switch

Because I am an adult with adult motivations, I promised myself a Nintendo Switch if I made it through the remainder of the school year. I mentioned to Chris that I bought myself a Switch Lite. He replied, “That’s what I play the most.” You may remember that the boys bought me Hades for Christmas a few years ago. Well, both Quinn and Liam use the main Switch. So, for me to progress in the game, I got myself a Switch. I told you, an adult with adult motivations.

I grabbed a few other games from the pile to add to my bag, too. Chris gave me Elliot Quest a few years ago because he bought a duplicate. I got addicted to the DS version of Luigi’s Mansion, so I picked the third installment of that. Also, PIkmin and Super Mario RPG to round out the games that I wanted to play. Note: I only booted up the Switch twice since buying it. But, winter is coming and I usually play more then.

Retroid 4 Pro (Video Games of Present?)

I also told Chris about the handheld emulator that I bought. “Handheld emulator, he asked?” So, I showed him the Retroid 4 Pro and some of the systems/games that I owned for it. To be honest, I played this quite often. Like I say, we are without question, retro gamers. Booting up Mario vs. Donkey Kong or Circus Convoy (hey, a relatively new game!) makes me happier than it probably should.

I always say that I rarely suffer nostalgia. That’s true for most things. But, games, for whatever reason, mean more to me than that. Comics, on some level, too. But, I like when they update comics and change the characters or stories. Because, otherwise, they get boring. Not so with video games. I play the same games numerous times and never tire of them. Note: Witness the 3 or 4 times that I played Portal 2 to completion.

Gaming with the Family

As you all know, we play Mario Kart on the Switch about once a month or so. A few months ago, we branched out into Mario Party and enjoyed ourselves then. Once or twice, we loaded up one of the Jackbox games as a family. Speaking of, we need to do that again. Along those same lines, I ordered a “Mystery Games” bundle from Humble Bundle. It simulates escape rooms and other puzzles. We always talked about doing an escape room, but never actually bite when given the chance.

8 days left if you’re interested! Note: Humble Bundle is not a partner. I simply like their product and want them to remain in business. I read a rumor the other day that they might be on the chopping block because of their managing company. I hope that’s not true. As an aside, I haven’t played any of the games yet, but I watched some videos and they look fun. Next family game night, I’ll have to suggest them.

The Verdict

No surprise, but video games of present look very much like video games of past for me. Other than the new games we try as a family, I find myself solidly in my teenage and young adult years when it comes to games. Granted, I try new games every now and again to make content for the page, but overall, I just like the retro games.

Digital Playground

Mario Top 10: 5 to 1

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Introduction

As I wrote in the previous two articles, the end of school kicked my ass this year. It probably did last year, too. But, this year is fresh in my mind, so the ass kicking feels fresher. That means that any videos related to Mario in May come next month. But, I wanted to keep the page active, I present Mario Top 10: 5 to 1. What’s going to be number one? Actually, you may be surprised by number 3.

5 – Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Lest you think from my low ranking of SMB2 that I shun them trying new things in the series, I present you with the first game in the top 5. This game took some big swings with what you can do in a 3D game and mostly hit. The main complaint is that the camera issues continue to plague the games, actually made worse by the high flying game play. But the fun of slingshotting Mario all over the galaxy more than makes up for that minor inconvenience.

4 – Super Mario 3 (First Played – SNES)

As we get closer to number one, it becomes more and more difficult to rank these games. I know number one, but the gap between 5 and 4 is greater than that between 4 and 2. Really, any ranking of these games is possible, depending on my mood on that particular day. This game topped my list for a few years until they took the game and improved it in every way. More on that in a bit.

3 – Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube)

I told you that I’d zig when you think I might Zag. Unlike the other games up here, I never considered this one my favorite in the series. But, I like it more than Galaxy. I know that’s not an opinion shared by many. What can I say? I appreciate the wackiness of this game and look forward to a similar game or a return on the virtual console.

2 – Super Mario World (SNES)

This game took everything great about Super Mario Bros 3 and improved upon it. For the longest time, this game topped my list. Even now, I pick it up and play it to relive all of the fun that it brought me as a teenager who bought my first console with my own money. Never underestimate that feeling.

1 – Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)

This game blew me away in a way that no other did before or has since. They took everything great about Mario and moved it into the 3D gaming world seamlessly. Okay, not seamlessly. The camera was janky as hell and I missed Luigi. But, I still had a ridiculous amount of fun with this game and it’s the first one that I pursued a 100% completion.

The Verdict

That’s my Mario Top 10: 5 to 1. What do you think? What did I get wrong? Which games would you include instead? With over 40 years of games to choose from, you can’t go wrong with many of them. How many entertainment franchises can say that?

Digital Playground

Mario Top 10: 10 to 6

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Introduction

As mentioned in the previous article in the series, I recorded the game play for the first video. Then, things (as they do) got crazy. So, I decided to put off finishing the videos until next month when school ends. As a result, this article for Mario Top 10: 10 to 6 will have its companion video next month as well. For now, enjoy this trip through Mario history with me. This time, with the added bonus of ranking the games.

10 – Super Mario Bros. 2 (First Played SNES)

After playing the masterpiece that was Super Mario Bros., I expected great things from this one, too. Then I played the game and, dear Lord, what the hell was that? I understand changing game play to suit a new game. Also, I get trying to keep things new and fresh. But, this game was neither of those. This was simply a reskin of another game with the Mario name. And, for me, it just didn’t work. In retrospect, I don’t hate the game as much, but in any top list, this one will always be at the bottom.

9 – Super Mario Land (Game Boy)

Honestly, this game is no better or worse than Super Mario Bros. 2. I flip flopped a bit between the two of them. This game only gets the edge because of the nostalgia of playing Super Mario Bros on the original Game Boy. The graphics are terrible. The controls are abysmal. Yeah, this should have been number 10.

8 – Super Mario Bros. (First Played Arcade)

I threw many a quarter away in this machine when the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter games were several players deep. Along with nearly everyone else, I died numerous times at that first Koopa. Eventually, I played it with tokens instead of quarters at the local Putt Putt arcade. I got a little bet better, but couldn’t get further than the 3rd or 4th level. Then, my parents got us an NES for Christmas and I played the game at home. It continued to surprise me into adulthood as I learned about the secret exits. Just a solid game overall.

7 – New Super Mario Bros (Wii)

This is the first game that my kids and I played together. The nostalgia of playing with my brothers combined with the new excitement of introducing the boys to the wonders of multiplayer Mario. Add to it all that the game allowed you to bounce off of your teammates and this offered hours of joy that I’d love to relive.

6 – Super Mario Wonder (Switch)

I got the chance to relive it some when Liam picked up Super Mario Wonder for the Switch. He and Quinn played through during Christmas break. One night, they invited me to play. But, I let them have their moment. Next time, we’ll have to play and get Aiden to play too.

The Verdict

Super Mario Top 10: 10 to 6 brings some old and some new. Join us next week for the top 5. Which game do you think will end up number one? If you know anything about me, it should be an easy answer.

Snap *censored* Pop Culture

The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Great, Good, Decent

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Introduction

I wrote in my previous article, a review of the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves move, that young me crelebrated the release of the movie and current me enjoyed the viewing immensely. It bears repeating. We grew up in a time when nerd culture got no respect from television and movie producers. They thought, just as with cartoons, that stuff is for kids and we should gear it towards kids. Granted, the animated entertainment provided us with something at least. Nothing at the time, though, came close to the production value of Honor Among Thieves or The Super Mario Bros Movie (click the “?” box).

It’s a me, a sexy smolder.

I know that other web sites surely have gone into the how and why this happened now. I’m not all that interested in any of that. I just enjoy the fact that they gave us good, quality entertainment that we can share with our kids. Ah, there it is. That just triggered something cynical in me. But, you know what? I’m going to ignore it and bring the usual (possibly toxic) positivity that we’re know for here at 2 Generations Gaming.

Decent

Training Montage: When Mario agrees to embark on the journey with Peach, she trains him in the ways of the Mushroom Kingdom. I appreciated the nod to other action movies and the tongue in cheek treatment. Even though it made little sense in the context of lore, I hope I proved in the D&D movie article that matters little to me.

Peaches, Peaches: All most people talked about (at least according to the article that stated, “After the Mario movie, this is all anyone is talking about!”) after the movie is the Jack Black song peaches. I heard about it before the movie because of just such an article. However, I saved the song until I actually saw the movie. It didn’t disappoint. After the movie, I made my family laugh by mentioning that it hit the top 100 and, therefore, qualified for Grammy status.

Good

Lumalee: This movie introduced us to nihilist Lumalee, the star companion from the Super Mario Galaxy series. I laughed and laughed with every line that came out of the adorable Nietzsche wannabe. Granted, I have a dark sense of humor as a optimistic pessimist. But, I think everyone can find something lovable in the darkness that is Lumalee’s attitude towards it all.

I know that! I also wrote about this phenomenon in the Honor Among Thieves article. However, being able to catch even a fraction of the easter eggs in the movie made me very happy. What brought me more joy was that my kids were all there to point them out either during the movie or after we left the theater.

Great

Donkey Kong: All of the characters lived up to expectations. I know some (probably literally nobody other than douche bags trying to make money with “content”) derided the movie as “woke” because they portrayed peach as a “strong independent woman who don’t need no man”. Other than that, every time a character appeared on screen, it put a smile on my face. In my opinion, one voice actor went above and beyond to bring his character to life. And, he basically just played himself like he does in nearly every movie. Like Robert Downey Jr. before as Iron Man before him, Seth Rogan was born to play DK.

Kids/Nostalgia: More and more I admit to being bit by the nostalgia bug. More and more I realize that it bites me because of my kids. We went to see this one while on vacation in the Berkshires for Quinn’s birthday. Unlike many family outings lately, every single one of our boys chose to join us without a fight. During the movie, Liam wore a smile on his face that indicated that some of his greatest memories came to life on that screen. I think I wrote in an earlier article that sometimes brings me pause that fictional characters mean so much to us. But, then I shut up that part of my brain and enjoy what I enjoy. Helping to bring that same joy to our kids makes everything else feel small by comparison.

The Verdict

Great super hero movies? For the most part, check. I give DC a pass and often turn off my brain enough to enjoy them even if I know they’re not very good. Plus, James Gunn? We’ll see. Live action (and CGI, of course) Dungeons and Dragons that delivers? Check. Amazing video game movies? Well, it remains to be seen if Nintendo can do it with other franchises, but they delivered with The Super Mario Bros movie.

Digital Playground

Losing My Dimension: Mario in March

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Introduction

Chris responded to my previous article (written a week or so ago, more on that in the next paragraph) with something along the lines of “Eff 3D Mario”. While I respect him and his opinions, I obviously respectfully disagree with that one. I think that the three dimension games have a place in Mario’s history. I explained why in that article. But, I assured him that we returned to Mario’s roots at 2D sidescroller in this article, “Losing my Dimension”.

Yes, that’s meant to invoke the REM song.

I looked up the date stamp on that article and I wrote it on the 16th, so over a week ago. I ignored our YouTube and my podcast “Noob’s Book Club” for just as long, if not longer. Those of you who follow the page might recognize that as a common theme in the past. I update regularly and furiously for a few months at a time and then life gets in the way and I fall off for just as long, if not longer. I promise to start working this weekend to get back on track and stay there. I’m committed to this page this time, no matter what.

New Super Mario Bros

Like comics, the Super Mario games grew up with me. They went from simple side scrollers to more complex 3D exploration games. Then, when I started to have kids, they became simpler again so that I could enjoy them with my kids. Looking it up now, though (thanks Google machine!), I see that the New Super Mario Bros series actually released before Galaxy. So, in the chronology of the actual games, this article makes no sense. Ha! You must be new here. We strive to make no sense at 2 Generations Gaming.

But, in the chronology of my life, I started playing the New Super Mario Bros series with my kids, so it came after my experiences in the third dimension. These games (along with the Mario Kart games, more on that in the next article) gave me a chance to game with my kids and doom them to the same nerdy lifestyle as me. It worked on two out of the three of them. Aiden inherited some dormant athlete gene that manifests in his passion for soccer. But, he still nerds out in his own way.

I don’t know if he actually watches soccer anime, but I know he watched a volleyball one.

Nevertheless, he still partakes in family Mario Kart nights and plays Minecraft with me during school vacations. So, like I say, I know the nerd is buried in there. Hey, kids these days. They’re like onions. They have layers.

Super Mario Maker

I played this one very little. I remember being impressed by the idea and possibilities. We might have even featured it on the web page at some point. Hey, it’s been almost 10 years and almost 500 articles. I’m bound to forget things. (Editor’s Note: We looked it up. There’s at least 2 other articles that mention the game.)

Independent of that, Liam and Quinn enjoyed the heck out of the game. Like they watched me play Portal 2 the second (or third) time around and enjoyed themselves, I watched them play this more than once with the end result always being smiles and eventually laughter.

The Verdict

Mario’s “return” to the second dimension and his cover of the REM song in the form of “Losing my Dimension” came at the perfect time in my life. Sometimes, confidentially, I think I died about 10 years ago and I now live in hell. Conversely, again confidentially, I often think that this might be purgatory and my second chance at redemption. What can I say? I watched a lot of science fiction and movies like The Matrix have a lasting effect on me. Whatever this is, things just seem to work out the way they’re supposed to when they’re supposed to and I wouldn’t choose any other life for myself.

Digital Playground

Into the 3rd Dimension: Mario in March

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Introduction

So far, I admit Mario in March has been a bit of a bust this year. The snow stopped just in time to interrupt my carefully laid plans. Admittedly, I still take pride in the fact that I updated the YouTube page regularly until last week and even uploaded a video with some game play that got almost 70 views. Even though the page is almost 10 years old, this is the first time that I focused this much on putting time into making it work as more than just a family page. And, so, we come to “Into the 3rd dimension.”

Uh hoi!

Every time I write that, I think of The Simpsons episode. We watched it last year as a family to celebrate Halloween and I must say, “It holds up.” I’m about to sound like a grumpy old man, but you write what you know. Those early seasons of The Simpsons are just pure magic and will never be surpassed. But, as I often do, I digress.

Super Mario 64

By the time we reach this generation of video games, I grew up. I worked at Yankee Candle (the local warehouse earlier mentioned in the introduction to this page before changed) and lived with my then girlfriend (and eventual wife and mother of my children). If you asked me now how I ended up purchasing a Nintendo 64, I’m sure that I would retcon (but it might be the truth) and give the ages old excuse of all Nintendo has to do is release a Mario, Zelda, and Metroid game and I’ll buy the console.

It’s-a-me!

Truth be told, I think the only one of those three franchises even rumored to be released for the system at the time was Mario. And, more truth be told, I never became a fan of Metroid until Metroid Prime and then Metroid Zero on the Game Boy Advance. Two truths and a lie? No, three embarrassing truths. You know this by now. We revel in our nerd shame around here. Final truth. I forgot all about Zelda and similarly rediscovered the games with Ocarina of Time and later A Link to the Past on the Game Boy Advance.

Not Mario. I played every Mario game available. Especially this one. I loved this game so much and it came at just the right time in my life. Old enough to afford it, but young enough to still have enough time to play until I beat it 100%. I even found Yoshi on the roof.

Super Mario Sunshine

I know that some consider the Nintendo Gamecube to be the weird red headed cousin in between the much more popular Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Wii. However, I have a soft spot for the weird purple cube that played the weird little discs.

Not a bad game. Just…not what I wanted.

That weird cousin gave birth to an equally weird child in Super Mario Sunshine. While much of the traditional Mario game play, and even the three dimensional elements introduced in Super Mario 64, persisted in this game, they also threw quite the wrinkle at us. Mario wore a water spray jet pack on his back that allowed for all kinds of new and cool stuff for him to do. If you watched my video, you know all about how I reacted to this development. While I found it intriguing, I treated it very much the same way I treated Super Mario Bros. 2. I ignored it for other games at the time. To this day, even though Liam picked up a Gamecube, I never went back to play it again. Perhaps this article will inspire me.

Super Mario Galaxy

Okay, this is more like it. The game plays almost exactly like Super Mario 64. But, it adds some new mechanics, as well. Unlike Sunshine, though, those mechanics aren’t too weird. They take some getting used to, but they are more of an extension of the game instead of introducing all new and weird stuff like jet packs.

You fly, bro!

This game truly took Mario into the 3rd dimension. While Super Mario 64 emulated three dimensional game play very well, it wasn’t until Galaxy that you felt like you had full range of motion. I think I went back to finishing Mario games again with this one. As an added bonus, this is the first Mario game that I got to play with the boys.

The Verdict

Like many at the time, I wondered how three dimensional gaming might work with our favorite plumber. Yes, it’s true. Some will try to deny it now, but many people predicted Super Mario 64 as a flop among flops and that side scrolling is the only way to experience these games. As I always do, I will admit that I’m wrong and bringing Mario into the 3rd dimension was a wonderful choice and I’m glad to have seen what they were able to do with the games.

Digital Playground

Super Mario’s Teenage Rebellion

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Introduction

I wrote about my humble beginnings with Super Mario. As I planned to write this article, I realized that I forgot two formative games in that article. So, keep reading to the end to get that addendum. For this article, I want to write about the second phase of my Super Mario experience, which I called Super Mario’s Teenage Rebellion.

Honestly, this part cemented my enjoyment of the series and sent me on the journey that currently finds me on a mission to purchase every Nintendo console that features a Mario, Zelda, and Metroid game. The first such console that I purchased was the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Anyone who lived through that time knew the blood feud between Nintendo and Sega. Like most of you, though, I straddled the fence and played the hell out of both.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The first Mario game I played on the Super Nintendo was Super Mario All-Stars, the remake of Super Mario 1, “2”, and 3 along with The Lost Levels. Even though I played all the games on the NES, along with so many others, I still bought the new version. I also beat Super Mario 1 and 3 for the first time with this version of the game. And, I still refused to admit that Super Mario “2” existed outside of a loose commitment to also beat that game that remains unfinished to this day.

Nintendo started to branch out and try new things with the Super Nintendo. The additional memory allowed for different styles of games. One of those experiments was Super Mario RPG. What could go wrong? Super Mario? RPG? Two great tastes that taste great together? Honestly, for me, it was an okay game. But, not until Paper Mario (coming up next week) did I truly enjoy any sort of turn based Mario RPG experience.

No, all I wanted was Mario and more of it. Nintendo gave me that with Super Mario World. So, instead of branching out and expanding my horizons, I simply played more Mario. The game took what I liked about Super Mario Bros. 3 and made it more. More ways to travel through the world. More secret exits and areas. Different power ups and suits. I saw it as the epitome of Super Mario games.

An Addendum and a bit of Nerd Shame

First the bit of nerd shame. Not much because I think the good dad vibes will counteract the shame some. I never played the Mario Kart series until I had kids. We played the game together on the Wii and a couple of years ago we started a tradition of playing as a family once or twice a month. Then again, I almost burned down our house playing on the Wii all those years ago. Not sure how that all washes out.

I forgot two games in the 8-bit article. My friend and I played Dr. Mario every single day during lunch at school after one of us purchased a link cable for our Game Boys. And, even though Super Mario Land more resembled the graphics of the Atari 2600 because of the Game Boy’s limitations, I still played that game until I beat it. Maybe after I do the 16 bit video, I can have an addendum video where I play these two games and the SNES version of Mario Kart.

The Verdict

The series started to come into its own during the transition to 16-bit. Many of the game play styles and mechanics persist in the games to this day. Whenever I feel the need to play an older game, the first emulator that I load is Game Boy Advance and the first game that I load is Super Mario World. Super Mario’s Teenage Rebellion truly gives me the best of all things Mario.

Digital Playground

Hades is a Gift

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Introduction

Merry Christmas!

Welcome and Merry Christmas! Last year, my son bought me Hades for the Nintendo Switch on the recommendation of Chris. Therefore, truly Hades is a gift. I played the game some during the week of break. After that, I needed to concentrate on not losing my job, so I had little time for such frivolity. Then, I misplaced the game. Finally, I completely forgot about it until I realized break neared again.

I bought the game digitally in anticipation. Then, while putting my clothes away, I found the cartridge. So, if anyone wants a digital copy of Hades, I might be able to gift it to you. Send me an email and I’ll see what I can do.

What is Hades?

I never reviewed the game last year. I thought I did, but maybe I just included it in one of my Game of the Year articles at the end of the year. Hades follows your character, the son of Hades, through the land of the gods as he hacks and slashes his way to more power.

It resembles Diablo in game play. That alone gave me reason to try. I enjoyed all of the Diablo clones I played. Torchlight II became my favorite game for several months about 5 or 6 years ago. It was the subject of the lost episode 2 of the original run of the podcast.

Why is Hades a Gift?

Hades sweetens the deal with unique gameplay that follows the lore of the pantheon. One of the ways that you advance in the game is by dying. You come back and increase your abilities before plunging again into the dungeon of the Underworld. I like that wrinkle to the game. It takes a frustrating part of other games (dying and having to start over) and removes that frustration. Further, it almost makes dying an incentive. You die to take a breather from the dungeon crawling.

The game also has a unique, cartoon graphics engine that works seamlessly with the cut scenes to build a living, breathing world. The characters add to that with their own personalities based also on the lore of the gods if available. Some characters are specific to the game, but they still made me laugh more than once with their antics.

The Verdict

I played Hades again some last week. I managed to pull the Switch away from Quinn and Liam (they’ve been playing the new Pokemon game) to get a couple of games in. I still enjoyed playing even though it took me some time to get used to the controls again. In between games of Mario Party, Mario Kart, and them playing Pokemon, I hope to play more during this break. I also bought new controllers for the XBox, so I’m sure Quinn, Aiden, and I will get some Minecraft in, too. Be prepared for reports on all of it.

Digital Playground

Thankful for Multiplayer Mario Games

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Prologue

On my other page (currently defunct with no ETA on a return), I structure my posts like stories with a prologue, a story, and an end. As I drove to work this morning, I got the inspiration to do a similar thing with this post. Originally, I only wrote Mario Kart on my schedule, but then expanded it to include other multiplayer Mario Games like Mario Party. Let’s begin.

Once upon a time, a young man of 12 or 13 sat in an uncomfortable bench in front of a video game. The marquee read “Vs. Super Mario Bros” and featured a man clad from head to toe in red. Our intrepid young hero placed a quarter into the coin slot and the game began. As I remember, I only lasted to the first Goomba before dying. Okay, another quarter and then another and I’m going to be honest. I doubt that I even cleared the first level of that game after five dollars.

Leveling Up

We went without the new hotness video game system for quite a while. My parents never saw a reason to upgrade from our old Atari systems. Eventually, they relented and bought us a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. Finally, I owned a copy of the game. No more quarters. I used this newfound power to finally beat that first level and, in due time, the entire game.

If I’m being honest, it wasn’t until we owned a Super Nintendo (that I purchased for myself and my brothers) that I beat the game. If my parents noticed little difference between Atari and Nintendo, then putting a Super in front of that Nintendo did little to persuade them to upgrade. That notwithstanding, my brothers and I playing together finally defeated the evil of Bowser.

And, y’all, we are always pissed every single time this happens, even today.

A Reason to be Thankful

Unfortunately, as you all know, our victory was short lived and Bowser returned again and again. I often say that all Nintendo has to do is release a new Mario, Zelda, and Metroid game on their console for me to buy it. I thought having kids might give me a built in play group for the various games that I play. While that proved mostly untrue for things like Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, they all quickly became Nintenerds.

I took what life dealt me and cultivated their love of video games. We almost burned down our hose playing Mario Kart. And, so, began our enjoyment of multiplayer Mario games. Okay, time to come clean. I admit to taking some creative license with this article. I don’t remember my parents’ exact attitudes towards video games. I remember my father played Atari with us and even watched when we played Nintendo. Also, Christine and I hosted a few Mario Party get togethers with friends and roommates over the years.

Epilogue

With all of that being said, we found great joy in the most recent Mario Kart on Switch last year during Christmas. We may or may not have made some inappropriate comments during those play sessions. But, it was all in good fun and we’ve been meaning to do it again. Perhaps over Christmas break during this year. An annual tradition?

Who knows? It might happen earlier. Liam bought Mario Party a couple of weeks ago and he and Quinn played a round. He asked me to bring home some joycons from our school’s Nintendo club so we could play as a family. I told him I would over Veteran’s day this weekend and then again over Thanksgiving break. Here’s to hoping that it leads to some Mario Kart, too.