Wednesday, October 25, 2017

We Were Never Going Back To Kanto



     Sun and Moon came out during Pokemon's 20th Anniversary. With it's release we had a ton of call backs to the original Red and Blue games. We got to see a ton of generation 1 pokemon all throughout Alola along with Alolan forms of some of them, Alola, having its own variation of nugget bridge even re-enacting the time you had to fight trainers and a Team Rocket grunt at the end, and even fighting Red and Blue at Battle Tree. You even were treated a Machoke stomping the land flat in Sun and Moon's demo.
     So with all of these nods back to the gen 1 games, a trailer, a lot of fans were hopeful that with Sun and Moon's release we were going to take a journey back to the Kanto region a la Gold and Silver. Right? Wrong. Sun and Moon came out and it looks like *spoilers* the only one taking a trip to Kanto was Lillie in the game's ending. Ultra Moon and ultra Sun are on its way and Kanto journey hopefuls that wouldn't let the dream die got hopeful again with a screenshot where it looks like you would be back in Lt. Surge's gym and even Mega Sun and Mega Moon will be featuring Team Rocket grunts to name even more callbacks. Later it turns out it's just a new area in one of the towns in Alola. So, the dream died and people are sad that they won't be going back to the land that started it all. Should they?
     The only game that ever had you go back to a region from a previous game was Gold and Silver. And the only reason behind that was probably because Jhoto was a region literally across from Kanto. After Gold and Silver you only stayed in the current region and never went back to the previous one. You were treated however to some references to other regions and even some events that happened from past games. They've never broke away from this in the other generations so it wouldn't make sense to do it in this current generation even if it was the 20th anniversary. Nintendo and the Pokemon Company wants you to focus on Alola and there's nothing wrong with that.
     And even if they did decide to take you back to Kanto, it most likely wouldn't be the Kanto we all would remember. According to the timeline, yes there is a timeline, Sun and Moon takes place years after Red and Blue. Again, we see this now with Red and Blue being adults. We may not recognize towns and different places in Kanto if we ever went back. We may not even see the same characters and gym leaders. A lot has changed in Kanto during the events in Gold and Silver since we last been there three years ago. Cinnabar Island is gone, The Pokemon tower in Lavender town was changed from a spooky pokemon cemetery to not so spooky radio tower, and Blue and Janine took over gym leader duties in place of Koga and Giovanni (who is still on the run). It's maybe best to remember Kanto the way it was.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

What Games Should Be in the Game Boy Classic (If There is One)?


     So Nintendo has been conducting the Nostalgia train with not one but two emulators. First we got the NES Classic which gave us a wave of 8-bit games that we used to play during that era. Then we got the SNES Classic that not only up the ante with all of our favorite SNES games, but gave us the unreleased Star Fox 2. Both emulators have sold well so it's no sudden surprise that Nintendo MIGHT keep the trend going by giving us a Game Boy Classic as well, according to rumors.
     I, like a lot of you all remember pestering our moms for one. I for one drove my mom up the wall playing my Game Boy so much that I literally wore them out and she had to buy multiple ones for me. I like a lot of took them everywhere and that was the whole appeal. You can play your favorite games anywhere, as long as you had a good pair of double A batteries. Anyway, if they do make it official what games will make the cut? Here's a list of what I hope will:

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

So the first one must've been so good that they had to make another one right? SML2 was in every way bigger and grander than its predecessor even to its graphics. Who can't forget playing this game. How difficult the star maze level was. Fighting the three little pigs in the Mario zone. Also this game was the debut of our favorite garlic eating money grubbing schemer Wario.

Super Mario Land

The original. This was almost like a Super Mario Bros remix as instead of Princess Peach, you had to rescue Princess Daisy in the four different kingdoms of Sarassaland. It was portable fun with classic Mario gameplay and a couple of screen shooter elements in it via Mario's toypop plane.

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

This was an excellent debut for Wario as he was on a mission to get treasure and a giant statue of Princess Peach. I remember trying to find all the secrets of the game to get a 100% and get the best ending.

Kirby's Dreamland

This was the debut of everyone's favorite little pink marshmallow. It has all true classic Kirbyness so why shouldn't this make the cut.

Donkey Kong '94

This is almost a remix of the classic Donkey Kong arcade game. It introduces the classic levels but also gives you a bunch of platform-puzzle levels. I remember how fun it was playing this.

Bomberman GB

We didn't get this in the US, not in its original version. So if Nintendo can pull a Star Fox 2, then they can very well do it again with this game.

Castlevania: The Adventure

You think the early Castlevania games were hard and fun on the NES, try a portable version of it. It plays just like the classic Castlevania games that we love without the truly horror induced 3D games that we weren't fond of. Also nobody's dressed up in weird BDSM leather crap.

Donkey Kong Land

The SNES port was so awesome right? Why not make a Game Boy version of it. For the most part it played like a condensed version of DKC, and that's not a bad thing.

Final Fantasy Adventure

Putting Zelda in a Final Fantasy game? What more could you want? This was one of the first Final Fantasy spin-offs they made where they experimented and tweaked with gameplay along with Mystic Quest. As I stated earlier this game was unique as it gave us the series' traditional battle gameplay elements mixed with Zelda gameplay with an top-down overworld screen and dungeon puzzle solving. This spin-off also gave way to the Mana series.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

More Zelda is always good. So this was like mini Zelda in that you were not in Hyrule and solving classic Zelda dungeon puzzles in an island trying to wake a giant magic fish. It's more awesome than it sounds. More so that the Zelda team recently did a call back to the game with a quest in Breath of the Wild.

Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge

More Mega Man. More good.

X

Want to know where that cool song from Super Smash Bros Brawl? This where it came from. This game was giving us 16 bit 3D before Star Fox.

Metroid II: Return of Samus

I know. We got a enhanced remake with Samus Returns. So why not compare both games by putting this on the list. Both seem to be great games in the series.

Tetris

This is the game you've wasted countless hours on playing. So it would be a crime for Nintendo to put this in the Game Boy Classic. This came out at a time where everyone was obsessed with lining weird shaped block in order. Hell, putting Tetris on the Game Boy was responsible for the Game Boy being as big as it was.

Game and Watch Gallery

Classic minigames from the Game and Watch series remixed with Mario. You can even play the classic versions.