Sometimes, the past makes me sad. I look back at years that have gone by, and I notice that there were once so many great games back then, of series that are no longer around or have since gone bad. Like cheese. Old cheese. One such series that greatly saddens me is “Banjo-Kazooie”, which held a place of utmost glory during the Nintendo 64 era and has since become…old cheese. Fuzzy, old cheese.
Continue reading Banjo-Kazooie, When a Great Series Has Fallen
Not long ago, I published a post discussing what I like and dislike about the Wii, and seeing as the next console of this particular generation that I bought was the XBox 360, it makes sense for Microsoft’s console to be the subject of the second post in this series. It’s a funny thing, though, how I got this console in the first place, because I am more of a PlayStation fan than an XBox fan, so it would stand to reason that I would have been much more inclined to purchase a console made by Sony over one made by Microsoft. Unfortunately, at the time, the PS3 was much too expensive, and it didn’t have any games I really cared for yet that weren’t already on the 360 (this was obviously before I became a “Ratchet and Clank” fan…). Since the games I wanted at that time were all on the 360, plus that console would also allow me to play any new “Halo” games, this became the next console I added to my gaming family.
And when I first started playing the 360, I was immediately impressed with the graphics, which were way ahead of the Wii, and even though the first two games I played were not as good as I was expecting (“Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts” and “Sonic the Hedgehog”, the 2006 version, shudder, gag, shiver), I did have a good time playing “Halo 3” (even though it was short) and “Final Fantasy XIII” (despite its flaws), the latter of which came with my console. (I even got this little waste of time thing on one end of the console that says “Final Fantasy XIII” on it. Jealous?) Plus, I was just pretty thrilled that this new XBox had “Final Fantasy” games as part of its library now, as during the last generation, only the PS2 had such an honor. My game collection was further improved with the addition of “Halo: Reach” and “Halo 4”, which were awesome, and I even had the pleasure of expanding my game library with over 40 Sega Genesis games on “Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection”. In the end, I ended up really enjoying my 360, and I loved it way more than the original XBox. And now, anymore of my thoughts on this console will be listed below. (As usual, my main focus is on gaming, not the other features the 360 has to offer, and extra info was found on Wikipedia.) Continue reading The Duck Discusses the Wii, 360, and PS3 Generation: Part 2-360 Boxes
The original two “Banjo-Kazooie” games can be rather mysterious, filled with references to the series’ early development and features that were never used in the final versions of the games, but never removed, either. In fact, I find these two games (the first one, especially) to be some of the most mysterious games I have ever played. Hands down. For one thing, who is Captain Blackeye, and why does he appear in a portrait in Mad MonsterMansion? And what is Bottles’ Revenge? And then there’s Stop ‘n’ Swop, the subject of this post, a most famous secret if there ever was one (and there was, and it was this one).
Since I actually played “Banjo-Tooie” before “Banjo-Kazooie”, I didn’t yet know of Stop ‘n’ Swop when I first played the series. Sure, I collected those secret eggs and the Ice Key, having no idea that these related to the previous game, and I saw those pictures in Jolly Roger’s Lagoon (in the same room as Captain Blackeye, as a matter of fact), not being able to figure out what these images were supposed to be showing. A location from the previous game perhaps? But, why? What was the significance of these images in particular? Continue reading Community Post: The Elusive Stop ‘n’ Swop
I have been hearing rather often over the years a lot of people saying that a game is terrible because it is different from other games in its respective series, such as the belief that “Final Fantasy XIII” and “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” are bad games because they stray from the expected. I am here to challenge that.
In some ways, I understand this notion. When we grow to love a series, it can be disappointing when a game comes along that is different. I love the “Rayman” series, particularly the gameplay of the second and third main installments, but now they’ve decided to make the next few games side-scrolling like the original. This does upset me quite a bit, as I loved “Rayman 2” and “3” (while at the same time tolerating the exceeding silliness of the latter), and I want more like them. At the same time, the side-scrolling “Rayman Origins” from a couple years ago was a really fantastic game, and I’m sure the upcoming “Legends” will be, as well, but at the risk of being very corny, my heart yearns for another “Rayman 2”. It yearns, people. I don’t like these recent changes, even if they are not bad, because I like what I have grown accustomed to. At the same time, in no way can I say “Origins” was a bad game, despite its differences from my favorite version of “Rayman” gameplay. It saddens me in some ways, while also providing me with a whole new way to have good, old “Rayman” joy. Continue reading Is a Game Bad Just Because It’s Different?
