Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

Great, he's once again facing left!

The sequel game starts of with Mario back from one of his adventures (or is it right after Super Mario Land 1?) and his castle has been taken over by his evil cousin Wario. So Mario had a castle? Didn't know saving the same princess over and over again was so lucrative so you could get a castle on an island. The 6 golden coins in the title are the reward for defeating the bosses in each are and are used to unlock the gate to the castle so you could defeat Wario. Oh, and one of the bosses is Tatanga.

Relegated to just a normal boss and you don't even defeat him with a plane this time, talk about humiliating.

The music feels a bit more Mario and just looking at the sprites I can tell that it is Mario. This wasn't my first Mario Land-game, but the second. I got Mario Land 3 first and frankly, it probably spoiled me a bit since while fun to play at times, I actually prefer that game. Not much else to say,

Super Mario Land

 

Well, best adventure might be overselling it

Seems I've stumbled from a Zelda-retrospective to my Game Boy collection instead. Let's get on with it. Super Mario Land was one of the first games for the Game Boy. It stars Mario ditching the hunt for a kidnapped Princess Peach/Toadstool by Bowser/King Koopa and instead focus on the hunt for the kidnapped Princess Daisy by the space alien Tatanga... and I thought the original games were weird. It's not much to say than that. You run and jump for 12 levels and try to stop Tatanga. The difference being that you don't have the fire flower, but the Super Ball... which ain't that super. It works well in areas with ceiling and floor, but other wise it's horrible. The thing is that Mario throws it down on the ground and then it bounces upwards. So in areas with both ceiling and floor it ricochets all over the place. More often then not you throw it to early and the ball flies over the intended target and you get hit and loses the ability. And we are not talking about trying to hit enemies above you with this mechanic. 

Whatever happened to Mario's plane?

Other mechanics is that they introduced Shoot-em-up stages, once in a submarine and another in a plane. Really fun segments. A bit strange for a Mario-game, but it is rather fun shooting down Tatanga in his space ship with your own plane. And then you rescue Daisy who was relegated to Luigis potential girlfriend and just a side-character in party games. Only played this game at my cousins and didn't get this game until the 3DS virtual console release. But... I read some of the comics in the swedish version of Nintendo Powers, the Nintendo Magazine. And as in the game, the most awesome one is using his plane. And decks it out with  military equipment like machine guns and missiles and blast the aliens of a tropical island. 

Highway through the Danger Zone!!! (Yeah I stole that joke from Linkara's review, but I would probably made the same joke if I've ever seen Top Gun or associated the song with planes other than references in reviews that went over my head. Catchy song though!)

Really, the comics made the game more awesome than it really is to play it. The graphics are not really that good and it's frankly hard to see that it is specifically Mario instead of some clump of pixels. Music is catchy, but maybe not as memorable as the main games. And why the Egyptian sound? Fun to play maybe once and afterwards I only find it funny to play the arcade sequences.

Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them

Best Harry Potter-movie ever!

Since it was my sisters birthday she wanted to see this movie so you have to participate in the family homecomings. And I gotta say, it was a good movie. Taking place in 1926 it follows Newt, a British wizard who arrives in New York with a suitcase filled with strange animals and beast as he tries to protect them from both the muggles and wizards. Unfortunately he arrives at a time when New York is gripped by attacks from an unseen monster which the wizards (looking like a 1920's FBI, but with magic) tries to hunt down when the muggles believed it to be some kind of gas leaks or unstable buildings. By accident a muggle named Jacob switches his own suitcase with Newts and unleashes some of the beasts inside and one even happens to bite him. Newt on the other hand is arrested by Tina, a discharged aurora for breaking the laws of the American wizard community and risk them being outed for the humans. These three tries to get the animals back (together with Tina's telepathic sister) as well as find what is causing the destruction in New York.

For me probably the better Harry Potter-movie. First, the characters felt competent. Not a single one did I feel did something stupid out of character just to continue the plot, not the good guys, not the villains. I really started to dislike Harry Potter after listening to the books several times over and  every time I begin to feel more and more how stupid he was, obnoxious and stubborn that caused more problems then saved them. My other sister might complain that the American auroras killed of the main bad guy for the movie and chalk it up to Americans being stupid, but I can rationalise it. An obvious threat, murdered two people and another bad guy was looking to take control of him and his actions are a direct threat to expose the wizarding world, so obviously that was the only rational course of action. The beast was nice to see, and many good scenes with the fantastical element. Jacobs character was really good as a surrogate for the audience and you really feel for him making the ending emotional. 

The bad guys then, they begin with mentioning Grindelwald, the wizard that Dumbledore fought before Voldemort. I didn't get the beginning first as newspapers shows up about his attacks in Europe and then suddenly we see some wizards walking toward a castle and a wall of light blows them away, and I bought it was supposed to be a beast, but no, looked like judge Doom from Roger Rabbit. And in the end of the movie it made more sense I believe since it was Grindelwald who I guessed took the place of the main aurora boss Graves. Most of the movie I believed Graves to be a supporter of Grindelwald due to the talisman he gives and the hints about tracking down the other villain (and probably use it for his interest). But no, he is Grindelwald and played by Colin Farrell that turns into Johnny Depp. The other main villain is someone under the influence of an obscura (sp?), that is when a wizard suppress their magic and that takes a life on its own causing destruction and as known kills its host at 10 years age at the latest. And they build it up to be this girl in the anti-witches congregation where they are all adopted by the matriarch and beaten if they misbehave. But in reality it's this older boy who is shown being beaten, and Graves uses to find himself, but it fail. The ones killed have wronged him and the ending destruction is when Graves throws him away since he believes it's the girl. I liked that twist.

The ending is that after the auroras kills the boy and Newt apprehends Graves and reveals Grindelwald he uses the giant "thunderbird" he was gonna release to distribute a forget me water in a raincloud that showers the city and that includes Jacob. And here it is the emotional part since you feel that moment. But it still ends good for him since Newt gives him some silver eggs to get his own bakery and then Tina's sister decide to join him as well and hinting that his memory might not be completely forgotten. Then again an oblivion spell doesn't really erase it, but lock it away since in the fourth book the ministry women that Barty Crouch sr. put a spell on to hide his son from her still hold the memory since Voldemort could dig it back and use the information to gain another ally. 

Liked this movie and would happily recommend, but if you haven't seen or read anything about Harry Potter it might be a tough sell, especially since Grindelwald is hardly explained within the movie and much you just have to make by face value. Still, an adequate film.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Original boxart, even though it follows the golden box and such I still prefer the black DX cover.

Well, let us just continue on the Zelda-game retrospective and we do it with Zelda 4, the first portable game in the series. Now, I never got the original black and white game since I didn't get a game boy until 1998 or something and just 2 years later I believe got the Game Boy Colour together with the newly released Link's Awakening DX. Basically an extra dungeon and the whole game in colour so it's obviously the supreme version, which is proven with the rerelease on the 3DS virtual console. Still, would have been nice if you could switch between B/W and Colour... that goes for all Game Boy-games. I played this game a lot as a child and it wasn't always easy. For example the 8th dungeon always make me lose my way in the labyrinth. The Eagle Tower (which is dungeon 6) is constantly annoying me. Doesn't help that the DX also gives me the choice of a blue or a red shirt which enhances defence or offence (a permanent acorn for either thing really) and I usually need the blue one for the dungeon since you already found sword-2 which doesn't add anything, but due to the nature of reaching the dungeon (resurrecting a chicken that follows you around) I can't enter the colour dungeon again to change. That really annoys me.

I really hate that boss

The story is that Link, after some adventure in foreign land gets into a storm in his ship and it sinks. He awakes on this mysterious Koholint Island in the care of Marin and starts his adventure to get out of here. It is a really interesting story since the island is overrun by creatures known as Nightmares and by defeating them they berate you for destroying this world. It turns out this is a dream world created by the Wind Fish, the creature sleeping in the egg at the highest mountain top on the island that the Nightmares keep in his sleep and only with the 8 instruments can you awaken him. The price for this is that the island will be destroyed. Including all it's inhabitants which you get to know during the course of the game. Now if you are good at the game and never actually get killed you will save one person, Marin. And of course I usually dies just once playing through this game, but I managed once to do the feat. And it felt rewarding.

She really deserved to appear again in Hyrule Warriors

Due to its portability its one of the more easier Zelda-games to play and bring with you (well, until Virtual console on the 3DS together with rereleases on the very same system). DX version had of course the extra dungeon with the two tunics that add defence or offence. Then we have the picture book that you could use with the Game Boy-camera, if it's unique for the DX version I don't know. Pity that one of the pictures is of Link stealing from the Item Shop meaning your name on the file gets changed to THIEF. It's a good game although the music have some noteworthy songs I actually think later Zelda portabel games have more memorable songs.

Kirby's Dream Land

Kirby looks a bit pale

Kirby is one of the Nintendo-series I never actually played as a child... or even was interested in playing. Didn't have much for him in Super Smash Bros either. But when you have a sale on most Kirby games on the 3DS and some cash to spare, why not try some out? So I got the Game Boy-game and played from start to finish. And it's not that big of a game with just 5 stages. Beating it unlocks a code for a hard mode so you get to play the game again, but harder. And I've had enough trouble getting why Kirby got so big. I find the game rather... boring. You go from A to B, fight a boss at the end and go to the next stage. Enemies are just obstacles that depletes your life and one of the more prominent features of Kirby is the ability to copy his enemies attacks to use and it isn't here. So why did it stand out so much to still to this day get new games released? 

Mech-suits? I can see that being interesting.

Maybe the story? *Starts reading the manual*. King Dedeede stole all the food and Kirby is out to get it back so that the people doesn't starve. That's it? You are stopping starvation? Is it a varied gameplay? No since it basically is dodge attacks, inhale enemies and shot them at other enemies. There isn't that many ways to play this game I feel. The copy ability might have extended gameplay to test the different abilities, but there's nothing here. So why did this become a classic? I don't know, but it might be since it was HAL Laboratories own creation they pushed him into relevance. One of the bossess become their own spin-off series, the Adventure of Lolo (which I've actually played the second game of). Or maybe the second game was so fantastic that it redefined Kirby into the superstar we know him of today. Well, I got that game as well so when I come round to it we will see.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past

Already wrote about 1 and 2 so let's continue.

The first Zelda-game I actually finished. Didn't play it until 1998 when we gave it together with a Super Nintendo and Yoshi's Island to my father for his 40 year birthday (in October). And the same christmas my oldest little sister got Madonna's Ray of Light-album. Which she listened to on the stereo. At that time I've had reached the Tower of Hera (I was 10 years old, I was bad at video games) so "The Power of Goodbye" is to me the soundtrack of the game. Took me probably around 2-3 years to finish. This is pretty much the game that standardised how a Zelda-game is structured as well as geographical with Hyrule Castle in the middle and Death Mountain to the north. And we get Kakoriko village, Lost Woods and Lake Hylia although they tend to shift placement between games.

Hyrule, in 16-bit!!!

So the game starts a rainy night when Link awakes to a telepathic message from princess Zelda that she is captured in the castle dungeon. Link's uncle apparently heard it to since he headed out first and told Link to stay home. Sweet, easiest game ever. They should have made an option for a bad ending directly like they did in Golden Sun if you declined the call to get the Emerald Stars back and left the sanctum. Since you have to you go up and heads out. Now, I've played several different versions of the game through the years, the original, Game Boy Advance version with added characters and the Four Sword-multiplayer game, and then virtual console release for Wii, Wii U and 3DS. The Advance version is pretty much the better version in the story department since it adds certain elements. For example, in the beginning the soldiers doesn't look like the soldiers you fight. They also gives a more creepy element to the overtake of Hyrule by Agahnim. Some of them have noted how the attitude of some soldiers have changed and they were actually afraid.  Really nice touches. Sorry for the side-track. So you go to the castle, find the uncle who give you your sword and shield, rescue Zelda, take her to a priest/sage that tells the story of the Master Sword, the Triforce and the Sealing wars that trapped Ganondorf in the Dark World. You set out and get 3 artifacts that lets you get the Master Sword. You confront Agahnim and surprise surprise he transports you to the aforementioned Dark World. So you get two worlds in one... which Nintendo have reused in several games.

Where have I seen this before?

The thing about the Dark World is that it transforms everyone who enters into what their heart really is. And Link is for some reason a rabbit. A pink rabbit. I have no idea why. Could be cultural differences of what a rabbit imply. So to counter this you picked up a mirror that transport you back to the light world and a pearl that negates the effect unless you get cursed. So you travel to 7 different dungeons and gathers the 7 crystals containing the descendants of the 7 sages that sealed Ganondorf and allowed Agahnim to get him out. The final one being princess Zelda and she instructs you to enter Ganon's Tower using the 7 sages. You fight Agahnim and again, surprise surprise Agahnim is actually Ganon who escapes to the pyramid you first entered the Dark World in and gets ready for the showdown. Now, I can't recall if any of the sages stated it, but you actually must have the silver arrows which you find in another opening of the pyramid that you blow up with a special bomb. I think some NPC's tells you about it, but that I see as a small fault of the game since it's easy to miss and that must be the reason in later games with the light arrows you either find in one of the final temples or Zelda pretty much gives you or uses it herself so you don't have to go on a scavenger hunt. You kill Ganon and makes your wish to the Triforce and restores Hyrule.

Well, until 2013 when they released A Link Between Worlds

This is probably my favourite Zelda-game since it was the first I finished, I like the graphics and playing this didn't overwhelm me as the 3D-games did to me in the beginning. Add great music and a rather new story... for its time and my age. And certain side-quest are actually gripping. You have the boy who lies sick and gives you the net (I actually thought he was dying), father who wishes to see his son again and the son actually is trapped as a bird in the Dark World where you get his ocarina back and he turns into a tree. There's a lot of those moments. The sage dies, kidnapped women and so on. It's a sad and dark world. And you have to save it. I'm really invested in this world and I actually dared entering it since I felt I had control of the world. Although it took me 2-3 years to finish it... and replaying it tops it out on 10 hours.