Mascot Edition

I originally intended to to post a review of Independence Day(1996) and Firefox.It keeps getting procrastinated.But I figure this is the perfect time to post an review of video game mascots to be thankful for and to be thankful for their demises. I shall post my top 5 and bottom 5 mascots of all time. I'll start with the the 5's and 4's

And since save the best for last is among my philosophies I shall start with the

5 WORST. I dunno if you could call this guy a mascot or not,I mean the guys only been in one game.But that one game is long,boring,tedious and the guys voice is sooo annoying you might want to commit climate change rather than prevent it just to smite this annoying environmentalist video game character. His name........

Awesome Possum(Mascot of Tengen)

First Appearence: Awesome Possum (Sega Genesis,1993)

Attitude: 5/20 (Sonic' s attitude was charming,this guy won't shut up and it's too much,not unlike Super Mario 64 soundtrack vs Super Mario Galaxy,unlike the next the only appeared in one game,so once you're done with that one game it's over.And for the record mascot attitude was what company's thought made Sonic great)

Plot Average: 0/20 (No plot whatsoever,the only plot is you have the save the forest)

Move-set: 0/20 (All he can do is glide and jump,just like all those other tried and failed clones)

Items: 0/20(I actually like the idea of collecting bottles,I have to give it a zero in order to give it the grade it deserves)

Aging: Never(After his only game he was never to be heard from again and few who remember those days will want to know his name)

Final:5/20

Number 5:BEST

Unlike most mascots in his era,this mascot was a human,not an anthropomorphic animal with attitude(that wasn't always bad though Earthworm Jim was great).the developers of this guy focused on making him fun and lovable. In a time when it was Genesis vs SNES,those dissatisfied with either flocked to TurboGrafx-16 and when Sonic and Mario fanboys fought they couldlaugh at both and use this one as the mascot to poke fun at both.This guy was

Bonk the Caveman(Mascot TurboGrafx-16)

First Appearence: Bonk's Adventure (TurboGrafx-16,1990)

Attitude: 15/20(I like how he's silent and doesn't talk but honestly no clear attitude is detectable,that's not all bad but I'd love a little at least you can tell Mario is humble,caring plumber. Sonic is at least seems hot-headed but willing to hepl when needed.Bonk just doesn't have that)

Plot Average: 20/20 (The plot works with his caveman past,in the first one he has to save a Princess from evil King Drool,a bit of a clone of Mario in plot terms but it's the first game that's a good starter.After that adventure he had to recover part of the moon from King Drool,see it's getting better.I don't remember the 3rd's plot)

Move-set: 20/20 (Mario jumps,Sonic spins,bad clones glide,Bonks bashes with his huge head,I wish I could do that)

Items: 12/20 (Mario has coins and Fire Flowers,Sonic has rings and Chaos Emeralds,Bonk has meat and hearts.Meat is original but hearts come on that's a stereotypical health item)

Aging: Mediocre(Few had the chance to play this series,but those that did would says he aged well)

Final:17/20

Number 4 WORST

A wise crackng Gecko who watches too much TV and has few family values.His name by

Gex the Gecko(Mascot of Crystal Dynamics)

First Appearence: Gex (3DO,1995)

Attitude:4/20 (Many loved his atitude at one point,some still do,I never have or will his wise cracks get on my nerves,but at least there witty unlike most)

Plot Average: 0/20 (Most would like a plot involving a TV,I who doesn't like TV and only uses it to hook up my video game console would otherwise love to see it dumped,I mean all the levels are TV channels)

Move-set: 0/20 (I actually like the move-set but giving it more than 0 would give it more credit than deserved)

Items:0/20 (Once again insects for items is original but more than o is too much credit)

Aging:Terrible

Final: 4/20

Number 4:BEST

This mascot is partnered up with a smart-alec bird,he himself is a bear willing to help all in need.He starred in my favorite video game of all time also he starred in my favorite game of all time.Banjo first starred in Diddy Kong Racing when Rare decided to do a game in Mario Kart and Super Mario 64 manner in order to introduce likely franchise characters,but only Titup the Turtle[who also went into Banjo-Kazooie],Banjo himself,Diddy Kong,Conker,and Krash the Kremling went on.

Banjo Bear and Kazooie Bird(Mascot of Rare)

First Appearence:Diddy Kong Racing[Banjo](Nintendo 64,1997) and Banjo-Kazooie[Kazooie] (Nintendo 64,1998)

Attitude:20/20 (Kazooie is like Sonic has an attitude but a charming character,Banjo is like Mario humble and helpful)

Plot Average: 15/20 (The first one was a stereotypical damsel-in-distress type,the damsel is his little sister rather than his love,the 2nd one is stop Gruntilda from coming alive again,the mid-quel is stop Grunty)

Move-set: 13/20(The move-set is cloned off Super Mario 64,good,excellent,lovable,but unoriginal but I don''t recall Mario being able to super jump)

Items: 20/20 (I like the items,you havemusical notes and jigsaws all being unusual.Honestly I'd rather Banjo-jigsaws over mario's stars any-day)

Aging: Great (Banjo has aged well,only so well because the 3rd game was left for 8 years after Banjo-Tooie)

Final:17/20

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter

Not to long ago,the computer had a virus problem it was fixed and Firefox was installed thus replacing Opera and Netscape as the Browser and on my hike on Mt. St. Helena Greg and I were talking a little about Harry Potter. I have often voiced my opinion for the series and the series the talk until Twilight came along.Unlike Twilight,Harry Potter wasn't all bad. Why I put it as I did

Now honestly I used to have respect for J.K. Rowling's work,I actually didn't mind the Half-Blood Prince or Order of the Phoenix but the Prisoner of Azkaban and Deathly Hallows were atrocious.At first I decided Deathly Hallows wasn't that bad but then I read it again and decided ech! how did I convince myself it was ok?

Ok enough rambling.Oh and I'm critiquing the books not the movies


Harry Potter(J.K. Rowling)

Year(s):(1997-2007)
Publisher:Scholastic


Plot: 10/20 (Unlike Fablehaven which continued to have a good plot as my opinion went down,the plot got worse and worse in 1:It was catch the robber of an important stone which would help Voldemort[I guess that's a little bit like The Fellowship of the Stone,but that's good] 2: Save Ron's siter and stop Tom Riddle from coming to life[Quite original] 3: Help a framed guy[where's Voldemort huh? that's very unoriginal] 4: Find out how you got into a death tournament[Ech! getting worse] 5: Find out about Sirius' past and become a secret teacher to stop a bratty teacher [Sounds more like Harry Potter quality] 6: Stop Malfoy from killing Dumbledore [Unoriginal but well written] 7: Traverse through the forest to kill Voldemort and dawdle aorund doing nothing but complain [Oh please what kind of crap is this!]so as you can see the plot slowly drains to nothing)

Characters: 17/20 (Except for Harry and Hermione,most of the characters seem human and realistic. Hermione starts off as a stuck- up nerd but softens up,at the same time she looses a certain muggle gift:Common Sense(Asm would sometimes say "Why couldn't Hermione just shoot Voldemort in the head with a gun I mean Voldemort wouldn't expect that,and why didn't she think of that"[or at least something that implies that],Ron is my favorite character I like how he is smart,a little cocky,funny, and the jealous type,Malfoy is a good rival,Dumbledore was the perfect wise-person who had a dark side[Why J.K. Rowling made him gay idk why,it's not that I hate gays it's just I never imagined him to be gay and I think J.K. Rowling liked the attention,Ginny was so-so)

Setting:20/20(I love the descriptions of everything,well except the forest roamed in 7,the Dark Forest,Hogwarts,Privet Drive,Hogsmeade,Diagon Alley,the Chamber of Secrets,I could go on)

Writing:11/20(Ok the first 2 had 18/20 and 19/20,the 3rd and,4th had 15/20,the 5th and 6th,13/20,the 7th 0/20,so I can give the writing a respectable score,the final book had 200 pages in the forest dawdling the other part was Neville pleaing for help at Hogwarts,I found they were all written prettty well except that one)

Final:15/20(Harry Potter wasn't actually as bad as Asm says not remotley the series was ok until JK Rowling let the fame go to her head,the series overall is great,some of the books simply failed,I enjoyed the majority of them unlike the movies)

Up Next

Chonologically:Firefox and Independence Day(1996)(Dual-Purpose)
Books: C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia

Mario and Luigi:Partners in Time and Mario Hoops 3-On-3

Well it's about time I reviewed some video games. I thought I'd review some Nintendo DS I've good times with. Here we go and I'll review em' in the order I encountered them.


Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time(Nintendo DS)

Year: 2005
Developer:AlphaDream
Publisher:Nintendo

I first came across this game at Leffler's house he had 2 new games one was Super Princess Peach (16/20) and this one.I beat Super Princess Peach in one sitting and moved onto this one. I was quite impressed with it

Plot: 14/20 (Not my kind of plot time traveling has been used in video games such as Chrono Trigger for SNES and Sonic CD(20/20) for SEGA CD and Princess Peach is always a damsel except once in Super Princess Peach and sports games.However combine them both add a plot to replace the Mushroom Kingdom with Shroobs and you've got a pretty kickass plot. Not to mention working with your baby selves.Still time traveling is not very original for a series of originalness)

Concept: 20/20 (Basically you work wth your baby selves and do all sorts of cool moves. the babies form a ball and Mario and Luigi can Spin Jump to name a few, and you can solve a lot of puzzles)

Graphics:18/20 (Practically all good graphics for 2005 in 2D but I've still seen better offerings,namely Kirby Canvass Curse and Advance Wars: Dual Strike still the Shroobs and the Marios look good,the Luigis well maybe the green coulda' used a bit of work)

Levels:10/20 (The levels coulda' used a bit of work,Toad Town sucked as did that beginning level,Vim Factory was cool,Thowmp Volcano was noce but mostly unimpressive and leaving much to be desired)

Challenge: 19/20 (That game was hard,the Vim Factory was a nightmare, defeating Yoob was even harder, the firs level was intense, and it kept me busy....until Lefller gave it away to his friend claiming he had nightmares of Shroobs and I haven't been able to find it again)

Music: 9/20 (Leaves too much to be desired,I didn't like it)

Final:16/20(A pretty damn solid RPG,narrowly beating out Superstar Saga,but not quite comparable Legend of the Seven Stars for SNES,the levels and music coulda' used a bit of work but hey for someone who's picky about RPG's this one goes)

Mario Hoops 3-on-3(Nintendo DS)

Year:2006
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher:Nintendo


Unlike White Men Can't Jump,this is actually a good basketball game and good video game.Anyway I remember hearing much about it I wanted it for Christmas along with Yoshi's Island DS(20/20) and being the good guy I eventually got it.It was a bit of a let down for a Mario sports game(In the same league as Mario Tennis and Mario Golf).Still it wasn't atrocious.I enjoyed for quite a while,then I beat it,lent it out to a pal at school never saw it again,claims to have returned but I'm not inclined to believe so,oh well I beat it anyway.

There is no plot I'l go straight to concept

Concept: 20/20 (Basically Mario and co. join up with Final Fantasy characters to play some basketball,with item boxes and and special moves it gets even better,my personal favorite was Diddy Kong and his Jet Shot with a Freezie item.Oh and you were on a team of 3)

Character Score:20/20 (I like the character selection,unlike Sonic R there is variety not clones and it has cool Final Fantasy characters like Moogle or Cactuar.I personally being codenamed as Diddy Kong Lover on Wii's World obviously use Diddy Kong when I can.This is also one of the few games Bowser Jr, and Dixie Kong both appear in,it buigs me why she isn't in Mario Kart Wii or Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

Graphics: 20/20 (At DS' 3D best,these graphics make Super Mario 64 DS' graphics look dated and that was the graphic marvel for quite some time)

Challenge:4/20 (Terrible easily worse than Super Princess Peach,but it was fun while it lasted)

Courts: 20/20(I liked most of courts,my favorite was Wario Factory where you could pick up Bomb-ombs and throw them at opponents)

Battle:12/20(Mediocre at best honestly I prefered the battle without the basketball where you gather items and send them over to opponents,like Mario Kart only without the kart.Dribble Race was terrible)

Music:11/20(Very mediocre,but Luigi's Mansion was pretty good much better than the court itself)

Final:14/20(I'm sorry but it was too easy,the battle didn't feel finished and the music left a bit to be desired,it deserves a sequel,certainly playable Square and Nintendo simply coulda' added more to it)

Up Next

Chronologically: Harry Potter (Books)
Video Games: Wave Race 64

The Current Generation: Xbox 360 vs PlayStation 3 vs Wii

For any of you who actually read this blog and play video games,I bet you were wondering when I was going to review and compare Wii ,Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.We'll here they are.I'm probably bash PlayStation to the bone because it is among the worst console franchises ever and only saw the light of day because SEGA saturn was too expensive and because N64 games were too expensive.Seriously who in there right minds would spend $400 on a games console or $70 on game.Oh wait dim-witted SONY and Microsoft fanboys,currently PS3 is $400 and Xbox 360 well,it's gone down yes but at launch it was $400,alright,alright I'll get to the actual review

I think I'll go by launch order

Xbox 360

I usually in my Nintega fanboy crazed state award this console names like ExBox 360 because it usually overheats,sometimes melts and then it was a box but is no more or Xbox Please Fix Me because of it's red ring of death which is notorious on that system.I've taken to Wii's World names to like Xbroke 360.But now I must try to be unbiased

Games:14/20 (This system actually has some pretty good games.Some well received ones are BioShock, Halo 3,Call of Duty 4,and I could go on but no I shall move on after all it'd probably take a good week to finish up the games,stil lit's hard to find any RPGS or kid games it's actually kind of facing the problem most people thought N64 had,as an N64 purist I can't agree.I'm looking most forward to the new Banjo-Kazooie.)

Graphics:18/20 (Great graphics sometimes it looks too real,an idiot might forget it's not real all.Burnout Paradise looked so detailed it looked a bit too mcuh like an actual race.Midnight Club Los Angeles failed,why because LA is smoggy the cars looked great but if really want LA's graphics you might as well put the game on an Atari Jaguar)

Design:4/20(Terrible design worse than it's predessecor,first of all it's off white in color then it often overheats and destroys games and the red ring of death which happens too often.I fear even putting in game into the system)

Technology:14/20 (Mediocre at best,it has Xbox Live which is currently the best online service,it had an HD-DVD add-on but it didn't sell and now it has no playback,the media it uses is simply just dual-layer disc it currently has a detchable hard-drive which I like but that's it)

Final:13/20(You'd think Xbox 360 would actually be better than Xbox,well...it still has a genre problem like Xbox add that with design problems and uh there ya' go)

I might make a fool of myself and I might be ignorant but I try to keep up.I still hate the franchise for killing SEGA and making N64 look bad.But of course it's still a console I've played so I must here we go

PlayStation 3

I still can't believe I'm reviewing this terrible console,the franchise sucks it has no real 1st party and it has more crap than good and the good isn't so good that crap doesn't matter as seen with N64 or Dreamcast

Games:8/20 (Bigger selection than Jaguar yes,but still it faces the same problem plagued by bad games.I can name all the good games now.Assain's Creed,Heavenly Sword,Call of Duty 4,Uncharted:Drake's Fortune,Motorstorm, and Ratchet and Clank Future:Tools of Destruction ok that it the rest sucks)

Graphics:20/20 (Sony actually made this machine have the best garphics after it's best sellers had terrible graphics,but a better game selection,only die0hard Son-ists will actually want sucj a system,other dissatisfied with Wii will get a 360,graphically it makes 360 look like last gen,a real idiot might look outside and think it's a game after looking at such graphics)

Desgin: 9/20 (Much better than 360,it tends to have lens problem and sometimes might have hard ware drive problems,still it's too big I think it could rival Xbox in size and it's ugl looking and carrying it is a nightmare)

Technology:20/20 (Currently has better technology than most computers it's amazing actually,it's cell processor CPU,120 GB Hard Drive I could go on I hate to admit BS3 actually has anything good,not to mention Blu-ray)

Final:14/20(I really don't want to give it such a high score,if technology didn't matter I'd give it a 5/20 like the garbage it really is stupid Piece of Sh#t 3 you got lucky,had Xbox 360 had a better design this crap wouldn't have seen it look better)

Finally onto the one I call best console of genration and staunchly defend against fanboys

Wii

After finally getting through those jokers I can move onto Nintendo's entry.Rather than being a technology beat it's game beast.After seeing it's last to consoles not make despite having better graphics than Sony and more real worth it decided to just steal Sony's idea of having mostly crap and no graphics which apparently wins console wars.Only there's a twist the controller idea is changed and it has real 1st party

Games: 16/20(It faces a serious crap problem,analysts think Wii might hurt Nintendo because of it's lack of real 3rd Party,but hey look at Sony which only had Konami and Rockstar and still only has those 2,Wii has real goodies unlike BS3 I mean lets see Mario Party 8,Super Mario Galaxy,Mario Kart Wii,Resident Evil 4,Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess,Metroid Prime 3,Manhunt 2,No More Heroes,Fatal Frame IV it goes on,I can't give it a full 20 because once again it has embarrasments like Anibus 2,The Golden Compass, and High School Musical)

Graphics:14/20 (It looks more like late Xbox gmaes graphics wise,developers aren't really pushing it though,most games look to cartoony it's kind of depressing)

Design:17/20 (It's small,lightweight and quite reliable,a famous Nintendo feature that's quite lovable,but it's too damn white,sorta dorky to)

Technology: 17/20(The motion sensing controller was a great idea as was the Wii Wheel and Brawl is dual-layer,Need I say more?)

Final:17/20(A step up from GameCube but nowhere near N64 or SNES or NES,but unlike GameCube it's original)

Favorite Games

Xbox 360: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon:Advanced Warfighter

PlayStation 3: Ratchet and Clank Future:Tools of Destruction

Wii: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Up Next:

Chronologically: Mario and Luigi:Partner's in Time and Mario Hoops 3-on-3(Video Games)
Consoles: NES, SNES,and PSX

Silver Post Complete

Batman Begins

I'm not a real fan of Batman,if DC Comics and Marvel comics are 2 evils,I'd pick MARVEL as the lesser.Marvel always made better comics(The Avengers suck though) but,however Marvel usually hasn't had good movie adaptation(with the exception of Spiderman that movie was good). DC has always usually had good adaptations of movies especially Batman. Eventually the Batman series of movies went down hill until it got so bad the only point to watch Batman and Robin was to hear Schwarzennegar(Better actor than governor times alot).Eventually it got so bad one director decided to change and recreate Batman into something good,the product.........


Batman Begins which was sooo good they made a sequel,THE Dark Knight.I,know,I know of the craze that's probably the first thing anyone who reads this would suggest me to review.One problem folks,I haven't seen The Dark Knight.Will this appease ya' Huh HUh,HUUUUUHHHHH?!?!?!

I came across this movie on the way up to a sledding activity in the mountains and uh yeah I liked it. WHY? Here's why

Batman Begins

Presentation: 20/20 (Good presentation,best presentation off all comic book based movies,sorry SPIDEY you out)

Plot:20/20 (Basically after going to an opera house,he sees bats and gets so scared the 2 parents decide to exit,unfortunatley they exit out into a dark ally where Joe Chill awaits to get they're money he demands they refuse,we all know who dies.Years later he gets a gun and is about to shoot and avenge his parents when a guy working for Crime Boss Carmine Falcone shoots Joe Chill.As he confronts Falcone,Falcone dismisses him. Sensing Falcone is right he seeks mentor ship in the mountains with a sinister mentor.After returning and a few events Ra's al Ghul shows up(Liam Neeson) and reveals a plot to destroy Gotham City in order to cleanse the rest of the Earth he claims to have been responsible for the London Fire and the Sacking of Rome.The plot to use crazy gas made by Dr.Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow which will go into the water supply wiping everybody out)

Characters: 18/20 ( I like the main character I just wish the real him was his non-superhero identity,his non superhero identity is a selfish, obnoxious,bratty,and spoiled jerk who has a benevolent side which is what most heroes start off as and most regular humans at that. His hero side is caring and goes out of the way to save lives.I like the villains they were excellent,Ra's al Ghul shoulda' lived longer.Rachel Dawes was good new character introduced as a childhood)

Bale's Role:20/20 (Beyond superb pretty good at being both the selfish side and the hero side,while I have to admit his Batman growl does get old,it's the dialogue that has my attention)

Neeson's Role:20/20 (Best at the part in the whole movie,seriously Bale is so overrated I'd say Neeson has a slight edge. His quiet,cold voice made my shiver like a good villain should)

Set: 20/20(Good set it looks extremely expensive,like more expensive than National Treasure expensive and National Treasure set was not cheap.The City was very much detailed and realistic)

Execution:15/20 (Leaves a bit to be desired but hey it's mostly pretty damn well executed)

Final:19/20(Good movie certainly a must watch until my eyes droop kind of movie but well it could've been executed a little better,not that I could do so)

Up Next

Movies: Independence Day(1996)
Chronologically: Wii vs Xbox 360 vs PlayStation 3 (Consoles)