Deadliest Ninja!

• 4Oct 08

  Just stopping buy for ol' times sake....plus some other stuff....

  Well, hello TV.com friends. If you remember from my last blog, I left TV.com over a month ago, but said that I would try and stop by from time to time, when I got the chance, to see how everyone was doing. To be honest, I didn't plan to stop by so soon, but I am also really bored right now, and have been studying my ass off for my upcoming Biology exam, as well as doing a bunch of work for other c-l-a-s-s-e-s, so I think that I deserve a break, for right now . Also, BTW, I'm typing this blog up from my profile on GameSpot, so I'm still technically not on TV.com .

  So, yeah, I have actually been going to the GameSpot forum more often. No, its not for their reviews or game coverage, because I'm fed-up with most of GameSpot's biased editors (although, to be fair, not all of them are bad, and some still actually write pretty good reviews). At any rate, I'm only going on the Ninja Gaiden forum of GS (and I may also visit the SC4 forum), because I really need some tips on how to get through some of the tougher challenges of Ninja Gaiden 2's Path of the Mentor mode (which is frustratingly difficult, but also extremely rewarding whenever you master just 1 of its many challenges). What scares me, though, is that I'm having a ton of trouble on Mentor mode right now, but according to more experienced Ninja Gaiden fans, this is only a joke compared to Path of the Master Ninja (NG2's hardest difficulty setting). So, as you can see, I need to put up with some of gameboy's fanboys (which there, at least, thankfully isn't much of, on the NG2 board).

  But, enough of that, for right now. How is everyone else doing?

  Alright, now that I have asked that, back to the subject of me .

  I have been rewatching a some c-l-a-s-s-i-c Disney movies (for a top 10 movie list that we will be doing on AR's blog), as well as other shows (including anime). I am also going to write a review of Yu Yu Hakusho season 2 for AR's blog, which I should post up by the end of the week. In addition to that, we (and by we, I really mean me) are working on a list of the top 10 baddest animated bad guys (influenced by AVGN's list of the top 10 baddest movie bad guys). We have some pretty insane villains in there, including some of my personal favorites, like Elder Toguro and Scar (from The Lion King). The rest are secret for now, though, and you'll have to check out the list when its posted up, to see who made it on there.

  Oh yeah, going back to the subject of gaming, I just played a little bit of Meg Man 9 (the latest installment in the series, which is made in 8-bit graphics and feels JUST like any of the originals, despite being brand new, for those of you who complain about new games being all about graphics and less about gameplay, which is really far from the truth). Its really hard, and I know that its just as hard as the original Mega Man games, because I've played bits and pieces of those, but never actually had one long enough to actually beat it.

  As for games that I'm looking forward too, to be perfectly honest, Gears of War 2 is really the only thing that excites me at the moment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Sonic Unleashed to actually be good, and not totally bomb like the other games in the franchise have been doing, for the past few years, but one can only hope.

  I also feel like listing some stuff, so here are some games/series which I NEED TO GET INTO:

  Mega Man- I've always been drawn in by games with good and fair challenges, and I really want to play more of the original Mega Man series.

  Max Payne- I actually played the 1st one when I was younger, and I loved it, but I hardly remember it now. I need to replay it, and also play the sequel, which looks truly awesome.

  Resident Evil- I've heard great things about this series, especially RE4. And I really want to play RE4, because it has influenced so many games in many ways, including Gears of War, which is a great game (even though its core gameplay is very different from RE4's).

  Devil May Cry- Just because I like hacking things up .

  And here are the games/series that YOU NEED TO GET INTO (for any of you who are gamers):

  Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden, NINJA GAIDEN- Sorry, but I can't stress this enough. Its a fantastic series, with great gameplay throughout almost all of its installments. The original NES ones were c-l-a-s-s-i-c-s (well, except for maybe the 3rd one; and the one for the Sega Master System, as well as the one for the Game Boy, weren't too great, IMO). The original arcade version of the game is also very good, especially for its time. Ninja Gaiden on the XBOX, however, which was a new installment of the series that really had very little to do with the NES ones (but is chronologically considered to be a prequel to them) is absolutely AMAZING! I don't often call games amazing, but I cannot stress the fact of this game's greatness enough. Many games are great, sure, but this game is not just fun with a fair amount of challenge to it, but it also has the best and most satisfying melee combat system that I have ever seen (well, actually its sequel NG2 made it even better, but the combat for this game is still great). I even prefer the combat in this game to those of any fighting games, since, while I love fighting games, they don't feel as fast and responsive as NG does with its simple, yet deep, control scheme.

  With Ninja Gaiden 2, the combat has been improved to be even more amazing, although the difficulty isn't as balanced, and the overall game isn't as polished as in the 1st game. But, having said that, the game is still tons of fun, and comes close to surpassing its predecessor at many points, but just isn't quite as good in other aspects. It still easily makes my top 10 list, though . Also, while their are great games out there that people love these days, like Gears of War, God of War, Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Galaxy, and others, how many of them are games which you can actually say that you would like to master, and how many of them give you a rewarding feeling for getting the hang of them. With Ninja Gaiden, even after beating it, I don't feel done, because I must come back to finish it on its higher difficulty settings, which have lots of new intense challenges that will be frustrating to get through, but will keep me coming back for more, just so that I can get the satisfaction of having overcome them. Also, how many game do you know (that are non-multiplayer, but rather about points), where people debate upon who is the best player of the game. As for Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden 2, most people feel that Shinobier is the best player, due to his leaderboard rankings, but NOS and other gamers are also top quality at that game. I'm far from being that good, and I'm even doing a weapon run on Warrior mode (but I doubt that I'll get anywhere near the top 50 on my 1st try), in addition to trying to make my way through Mentor mode, which I'm taking slowly, but am progressing through, and improving my skills a lot, as I do so.

  The only thing that people might not like about Ninja Gaiden, is its lack of story, but NG games have never been strong on story, not even the NES ones, and I don't usually play games for story, anways. I play games for great gameplay, and if they have both a great story and great gameplay, then that's fantastic, but if they only have great gameplay, then that's also fantastic, for me.

  Well, sorry about all of that, I'll shut up about Ninja Gaiden now. Here are some othe games that I recommend:

  BioShock- Great gameplay....And Great Story !

  Soul Calbiur (series)- Great fighting game series.

  Dead or Alive (series)- Also great, and with a much deeper combat system than most fighting games, requiring tons of timing and skill, in terms of having fast reflexes.

  There are some othe games that I would recommend, but I'm running out of time, here, so I'll save those for another blog, on another day, if I ever come back to gamespot, or TV.com .

  The last thing that I wanted to address, is the ending of Toonami. Man was I shocked when I watched that. I know that it had gone downhill, but I was still sad to see it go, and that Cowboy Bebop reference at the end, by good ol' Steve, only made me feel sadder. Toonami was actually a big part of my life, as its something that I grew up with. I wouldn't even be a fan of anime, or animation in general, were it not for Toonami, and the great programming that it used to have. I suppose all good things must come to an end, and I'm not really angry that Toonami has ended, but I do still feel sad. But, I will always remember it for how great of an influence it was on me, and how much I enjoyed coming home to it afterschool, as well as viewing it on the weekends.

  1997-2008

  From Moltar to Tom to Tom 2 to that crappy version of Tom 2 without the helmet

  R.I.P. Toonami

  Well, that ends my long-ass blog which I'm sure that almost nobody will read. "So, until we meet again, stay gold."

  P.S. BTW, I hate TV.com's new layout....Sorry, but I just had to throw that out there .

  • Posted Oct 4, 2008 10:59 pm GMT
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• 21Aug 08

  I'm leaving TV.com....

  Well, its been fun, but I must go now. I was considering staying on this site, even during college, but this site has steadily been going downhill for me, with many of my friends from the earlier days of this site, having either been banned, or having left. Its not like I have anything against the TV.com community, as it is now, but there are really just no more interesting topics to talk about, over here, anymore.

  I do miss the golden days of this site (at least, they were that way to me), especially on the YYH forum, but in a way, its actually a good thing that those days are gone, because back then, I was way too addicted to this site to really focus on my school work, and I can't afford something like that, when I'm in college. To be honest, I really won't have too many time constraints to go online (at least not as much as I thought), during my 1st year of college, but I really have no reason to be coming back here, anyways.

  Now, I may end up stopping by on rare occasions (probably during Holiday), to see how my friends here (if any of you are still remaining by then ), are doing, but I won't really have much to comment on.

  With that said, I'm sure most of you don't even give a crap that I won't be here anymore, come Monday, but in case any of you guys actually do still want me around, you can find me at this site, which I will actually still be coming to, every now and then, during the school year. So, we can still have some discussions over there, and there are already many more interesting topics on that site, then there currently are over here, so you should all join, if you're interested .

  • Posted Aug 21, 2008 8:57 pm GMT
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• 9Aug 08

  007: Quantum of Solace

  Well, I'm sure that we have all seen are fair share of James Bond movies at one time or another. I myself am not really a big fan of the franchise, as its movies are really either hit or miss for me (and I haven't ever read any of the novels), but I have found some of its movies to be really good, and even downright classic. Anyways, as you probably remember, we were treated to a new 007, a couple of years ago, played by Daniel Craig, in Casino Royale. I personally thought that the movie was pretty good, and it was the best James Bond movie that I had seen in quite a while. One thing that I liked about this one, is how its more emotional than more of its predecessors, with a bit more heart to its story line and characters, but at the same time, it has the 007 feel to it, and Daniel Craig also turns out to be a surprisingly bad-ass version of our favorite British agent .

  

  So, even though its old news now, Quantum of Solace has been announced to be releasing this November, and a trailer for it also came out a while ago. I thought that the trailer looked pretty good, and overall, I'm pretty excited about this movie. I hope that it turns out to be at least as good as the previous movie, Casino Royale, and for those of you who have not yet seen the trailer, check it out, here.

  Anyways, for those of you who actually give a sh!t about anything 007 related, what are your thoughts on this upcoming film?

  • Posted Aug 9, 2008 11:19 am GMT
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