Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=645https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3095DESIGN This game, as opposed to the original Super Smash for the N64, has dramatically improved graphics and gameplay, as well as a much wider variety of characters, levels, and special features. The one player game is also much more involved and now includes levels in which you must not only fight enemies, but also navigate maze platform stages. The premise for this game is also slightly modified. In the last game, It was a pair of master hands that controlled the gameplayer dolls to fight eachother. Although the final boss for this game is as in the last the Master hands, you play the role of fighting trophies come to life. Also, as an added twist, the final final boss ends up as a double giant "Giga Bowser." I like the quick reflex dynamics of this game. It allows you to rely on timing more. You also have to make a larger effort to pay attention to all the factors included in this game. It begins to get a little chaotic if you are unaware of everything going on at once. You must be more conscious of everything going on, which adds many more elements to the game. It takes longer to get tired of it, bottom line.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:24:36 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3095&iddiary=5906https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3095GAMEPLAY Returning to this addicting game after not too long of a reprieve, I started again all by my lonesome. This time I wanted to try some other characters after I realized that there are too many other Smashsketeers who enjoy Falco's quick and powerful moves as much as I do. I started with the character that I felt most embodied awesome badassness: Bowser, king of the Koopas and nemesis to Mario. At first his moves seemed sluggish and I felt like I was being hit by every attack that my opponents threw. With more practice, however, I was able to realize his powerful Smashing potential, and I especially began to appreciate his fire breath, with which I was able to rack up damage to my enemies quickly. I still wanted to try others though. So, appealing to my old favorite Link, I decided on his quicker counterpart, Young Link. All clad in red. Picking up his moves came easily to me with my previous experience. He had some nice added move too, including a powerful flaming arrow. I was even surprised at how able he was to knock other larger opponents off the edge. Soon I was ready to fight real people with my newfound players. Playing other people with my new guys proved slightly more difficult, but against my inexperienced opponents I eventually was able to regain my dominance. That is until another of my friends joined the game, with considerable more practice than even myself. And with my own original character's rival, Starfox himself. Fighting against him with Falco, I lost hands down. Afterwards, the game seemed to lose its luster and again I put the cntroller down.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:12:46 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3095&iddiary=5888https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3095SUMMARY This game is the ultimate Nintendo fighting game, and in my humble opinion is one of the greatest games I've ever played. You choose from a variety of classic Nintendo characters, including of course Mario and his whole crew as well as several characters from a wide variety of games like Link from the Legend of Zelda or Fox and Falco from Starfox. This is actually a sequel game to the original Super Smash Brothers from the N64, except updated with a host of new charaters and levels and a variety of new moves. The object of the game: do enough damage to your opponent so that they fly farther when you attack, resulting eventually in their falling off the edge of the level. GAMEPLAY I still remember my first experience with this updated version of the original Super Smash Brothers, and returning to this game after a couple years of rust brings back those memories. In the old game I used to play as Link, Hero of the Zelda series of games. Returning as him in my first play experience with Melee, I was quickly able to notice the considerable changes in the dynamic of the game. The fundementals are the same, as the object is still to deliver as powerful a smash move as possible to knock them off the edge of a precarious sky island of your choice, but there are many new techniques and the speed and timing of all of the attacks are much different. I later realized that Link was no longer my favorite character, and I moved on to give others a try. I eventually settled on Falco before I finally put the controller down for a while. But not for too long! I returned to the game for the specific purpose of giving it another look from a game maker's perspective. I started again with my go to guy, Falco, and soon I began to remember several of my old move sequences. I started by playing against several computer characters, namely Yoshi the Japanese Dinosaur and Samus from the Metroid series. But it seems as if I picked up a few of my old tricks a bit quickly and I was able to fling the "level 7" computers off the edge with relative ease. In five minutes the game was over and I came out on top. The scoring system takes a point off of your score every time you fall off the edge, and gives you a point every time you kill another player. This short game made me only want to find some human opponents to Smash, which adds a whole other level of richness to the experience. Finding a couple of friends from down the hall, I went head to head with them for a solid hour, where I began to solidly dominate my opponents. I began to get tired, but I still had the desire to compete with more advanced players. Not too much though.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:48:05 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3095&iddiary=5843https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2934GAMEPLAY My second experience with this game, at least since I last played it when I was a kid, was even more crazy, and took me deeper into the strange yet almost sensically insane world of Mario. The world does follow a set of rules that seem ridiculous as compared to our perception of reality, but everything starts to almost make sense in you head as you play. You start to expect the most unlikely things, which makes the experience rich and stimulating. As I got into the third world of Mario, I entered an underground world that within it contained the stars. I found in one particular secret the portal to the first corner of star world. The star world contained strange levels each of which containing a different color of Yoshi with another power. The first Yoshi I met was blue, but I caught him underwater. One would think his power might have to do with water, but once you get out to other levels with turtles, You realize his power is correlated to the blue colored turtle shell. Whichever color turtle he eats, he grows wings with which you may fly around. Similarly there is a yellow and red Yoshi with powers equivalent to their color in turtle shell; earthquake stomp and fireballs respectively. With the flying abilities of Blue Yoshi, I was unable to unlock a whole other world within star world called simply "Special." It is just a series of the strangest levels the creators could think of, each named another colloquial term associated with hippies like "Gnarly' and "Tubular." I can honestly say I think this was my favorite part of the game. Between the levels of Star World are the warp stars at each corner of the star-shaped land mass. At one warp star, I was able to warp directly to Bowsers castle. After several tries, I was able to beat not only the difficult emergent style Castle level but Bowser himself beating the game. It was honestly very satisfying witnessing his defeat by my own hand. DESIGN This game is meant to be a visual trip and journey for the player. It takes you through and introduces you to the wacky world of Mario, which from the traditional sense would make no sense, but as you gain experience you realize that there is a method to the madness. You expect the least expected thing because at each moment the creators are trying to inspire a sense of wonder. It is a truly unique experience you can get nowhere else. This game also seems to have many other implications that are much more ambiguous to the player. If one see the game from the psychadelic perspective it makes an extraordinary amount of sense. Apparently, psychadelic psylocibin mushrooms are used often recreationally in Japan. The reoccuring use of mushrooms in this otherwise nonsensical world suggests that the creators may have been influenced by cultural understandings of mushrooms less understood in the United States. If the game is taken in this light many other correlations make themselves obvious. It almost seems as if the Koopas and Bowser are symbolic of power hungry characters, and Mario takes on the role of hero saving Peach, the innocent virgin princess.Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:01:17 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2934&iddiary=5531https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2934SUMMARY Super Mario World is a continuation or another rendition of the classic Mario adventure. Mario and Luigi the italian plumbers reside in a crazy nonsensical world of monsters and turtles and mushrooms, some of which attack them in the form of goombas, red ones make them grow big, and green ones give them lives. Together with their trusty dino pal Yoshi, they commit turtle genocide and progress from level to level in the hopes of saving the Princess Peach for evil Bowser, King of the Koopas. GAMEPLAY This game is about as strait-forward as games come. Jump on top of enemies heads to kill them, or grab their shells to kill many with one motion. There are tools to help you, such as a fire flower that allows you to shoot flaming balls of death at your menacing adversaries, or a cape that you may fly with or twirl to unleash an even more lethal blow on an opponent. As in every other Mario classic, you may transcend the ground in tubes and swim about with assasin fish. A level is one in most cases by jumping through two blue barber poles with a white stick in the middle, but it may also be won in secret by placing a key through a keyhole and discovering a secret level. Your trusty companion Yoshi joins you in many instances along the way. He may eat enemies with his long chameleon tongue or pulverise the monsters he jumps on. In addition, depending on the color of turtle shell he eats, he has various abilities. For a red turtle, he shoots fireballs, a yellow turtle yields an earthquake stomp, and a blue shell gives you wings. Together you progress through every level, except Yoshi is too scared to enter a ghost house or castle with you. These trials you must face alone, which usually includes laughing and insane ghosts in dark creepy maze-like ghost houses, and pits of lava and fireballs as well as stomping angry blocks in brick Castles. Castles always end with a boss, usually with one of the royal koopa family, or at least a roulette of triceratops called Renzor. I was easily and happily able to defeat the first two island worlds in my first sitting.Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:25:46 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2934&iddiary=5530https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2435GAMEPLAY My second gameplay experience was another enjoyable and engaging event. This time I tried connecting with several of my friends and the game in the multiplayer version. This proved successful. Although I have only one other control, going head to head with a person who enjoys the game as much as I do in several rounds was hysterical. There is something that is just that much funnier about beating another biker senseless and knowing that it is your friend, who in turn is laughing even harder. After some initial frustration with the loss of the Zen that I had felt previously with the game, once I was able to relax I was able to return to my previous ability level. Playing longer and attempting to collectively beat a two player arcade mode did even better to get me and my friend on the same page with the game. After some time, we began to beat each level one after the other finishing alternately first and second place. It was another entertaining and captivating experience. DESIGN This game does a very good job, as all games strive to do, at suckering me into thinking that I am the character in the game. When I enter the magic circle of this game, which is already easy enough to do, I master the abilities of the biker and I am able to follow the curves of the level with my movements. All the freedom that the game allows you, in choosing your pat, or your trick, or attack, or speed, you are given many options as you are in real life. This synchronizes your thoughts and feeling with those that the game intends to inspire, creating an incredibly enjoyable game experience. These elements that convince you of being your character are truly artistic techniques that come through on every level of the game. They are tools that transcend people's differences and appeal to the very fundamental desires of every person. Furthermore, they help connect us to others via the language of the game.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:23:39 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2435&iddiary=4623https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2435SUMMARY This is a truly captivating rendition of downhill bike riding. You play the role one of several bikers that represent various characters of different nationalities and walks of life. Once you choose the character that best suits you, you follow a career of downhill bike races in a series of of locations, competing for 1st place as well as tricks and cash flow as the ultimate motivation. This is also a multiplayer game, where you may go head to head against your friends in this truly enjoyable game. GAMEPLAY I am revisiting this game after years of neglect and having forgotten its true entertainment value. Even so, it was an incredibly refreshing experience that reminds me of why I loved it so much in the first place. When I play this game, I feel very connected with the spirit of the race. Coming out of the starting gates, I am quickly put in the position of my rider as he careens down the hill on his flimsy bike enduring harsh physical attack from my fellow racers. I chose this big Kahuna Hawaiian stereotype, and somehow this made me feel even more engaged in the game. I am given a wide scope of control over my character's actions, and I may jump, pedal, attack, and do tricks all while focusing on the ultimate goal; getting down the hill in one piece in first place. I completed the first group of races, each of which took place in various beautiful and crazy course locations. Starting in the mountains of Italy, in a new place I begin with the "Freeride" type race, which allows me to roam over a series of preset courses that end up feeling very open and broad as I explore new secrets and possible paths. The freeride is also the longest ride, often taking you to the bottom of a mountain map, such is the case in Hawaii where you ride all the way gown to the beach from a volcano top. After quickly getting into the groove of the game, I easily am able to score first place and I crave more difficulty and technicality. My wish is granted with the next two race types present at every geographical location. There is the TD (Technical Drive) where you must navigate through many obstacles to reach the finish line. There is also the MX, the short lived incredibly exciting motocross version of downhill biking. After progressing through many of these level groups, I after a while became satisfied by my biking abilities and quit just before attempting a snowy russian mining/army mountain.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:08:17 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2435&iddiary=4617https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1979GAMEPLAY My second bout with this game I decided to start with the boss I left for myself earlier. This turned out to be one of the most original bosses I have seen, at least from Donkey Kong. I had to battle a flaming lava bone sword by first running away from it jumping from hook to hook over a pool of lava, then throwing a cannonball at it. Winning this fight took me to the third world, which succeeded in actually thoroughly creeping me out. This Ship was sunken in a woodsy bog, and patrolled by strange creatures. I came across double-sworded kremling babies, purple porcupines, many disgusting insects and pole climbing lizards. The music kinda made me feel like I was in a voodoo swamp in Louisiana. The boss was probably the scariest part of the whole place. He was just a super buff hulk crocodile on steroids with a giant spike club bigger than Diddy and Dixie combined. The only way to hurt him was by flinging barrels full of TNT at his back as he jumped around from the trees. It was a pretty fair match but I managed to best him anyway. The fourth world is probably the weirdest part of this game. I think they were trying to freak out clown phobics, because that whole place was creepy carnival themed. The levels were some of the most fun, however. There are several roller coasters where you ride around on a skull and race crocodiles, which remind me a lot of the old mine cart rides from the prequel. Then there is this crazy bramble level where you shoot yourself around in barrels over razor sharp thorned vines. Possibly the weirdest and scariest is the giant beehive you must navigate, where you jump around, get stuck on honey, and avoid giant spiked bees that can only be killed via rhino or barrel. DESIGN From an impartial initial inspection, this game is a 1 hit KO platform jumper game. Every time one of your monkey charaters is touched by an enemy, in yelps and takes off down the path. You must rescue your friend before your second monkey is killed, or you lose the level and a life which is marked by the sound of a popping balloon. As like every other platform game you must collect 100 somethings to get a new life, golden bananas in this case, and strewn throughout the levels are other goodies such as big golden coins and the occasional life balloon. Even though the game seems incredibly cliche for today’s game world, there is no doubt that this game is definitely among the best of its class. Every level feels fresh and new as they vary the themes with the level type, colors, and backrounds. A level can have many platforms, be mostly ropes, be mostly barrels, or can be mostly on the ground; it can be in a cave, in a galleon, on a rollercoaster, or in a bees nest. But the favorite for this game is the pirate ship, fighting crocodile pirates. All of these factors make the gme incredibly versatile. This game has it all, and seems to oddly mirror the complications that arise from the simplicity at the root of our own lives. I am a primate , whose only objectives are to stay with his girfriend and find his friend, and in so doing recollect his food supply, the Banana Hoarde. They must rise to meet every wacky or creepy obstacle that stands in their way, trampling over and eliminating any enemies with whom they cross paths. I keep thinking that this game is based on the plastic toy “Monkeys in a Barrel.” These two monkeys can carry or throw each other to whatever destination they need to go, and a constant theme in every level is barrels. You bust your fallen friend out of a barrel, you save your level progress with a barrel, there are barrel enemys, rolling projectile barrels, barrel explosives, and of course you fly around in and are fired by barrels.Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:49:58 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1979&iddiary=3938https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1994GAMEPLAY My second bout with this game I decided to start with the boss I left for myself earlier. This turned out to be one of the most original bosses I have seen, at least from Donkey Kong. I had to battle a flaming lava bone sword by first running away from it jumping from hook to hook over a pool of lava, then throwing a cannonball at it. Winning this fight took me to the third world, which succeeded in actually thoroughly creeping me out. This Ship was sunken in a woodsy bog, and patrolled by strange creatures. I came across double-sworded kremling babies, purple porcupines, many disgusting insects and pole climbing lizards. The music kinda made me feel like I was in a voodoo swamp in Louisiana. The boss was probably the scariest part of the whole place. He was just a super buff hulk crocodile on steroids with a giant spike club bigger than Diddy and Dixie combined. The only way to hurt him was by flinging barrels full of TNT at his back as he jumped around from the trees. It was a pretty fair match but I managed to best him anyway. The fourth world is probably the weirdest part of this game. I think they were trying to freak out clown phobics, because that whole place was creepy carnival themed. The levels were some of the most fun, however. There are several roller coasters where you ride around on a skull and race crocodiles, which remind me a lot of the old mine cart rides from the prequel. Then there is this crazy bramble level where you shoot yourself around in barrels over razor sharp thorned vines. Possibly the weirdest and scariest is the giant beehive you must navigate, where you jump around, get stuck on honey, and avoid giant spiked bees that can only be killed via rhino or barrel. DESIGN From an impartial initial inspection, this game is a 1 hit KO platform jumper game. Every time one of your monkey charaters is touched by an enemy, in yelps and takes off down the path. You must rescue your friend before your second monkey is killed, or you lose the level and a life which is marked by the sound of a popping balloon. As like every other platform game you must collect 100 somethings to get a new life, golden bananas in this case, and strewn throughout the levels are other goodies such as big golden coins and the occasional life balloon. Even though the game seems incredibly cliche for today’s game world, there is no doubt that this game is definitely among the best of its class. Every level feels fresh and new as they vary the themes with the level type, colors, and backrounds. A level can have many platforms, be mostly ropes, be mostly barrels, or can be mostly on the ground; it can be in a cave, in a galleon, on a rollercoaster, or in a bees nest. But the favorite for this game is the pirate ship, fighting crocodile pirates. All of these factors make the gme incredibly versatile. This game has it all, and seems to oddly mirror the complications that arise from the simplicity at the root of our own lives. I am a primate , whose only objectives are to stay with his girfriend and find his friend, and in so doing recollect his food supply, the Banana Hoarde. They must rise to meet every wacky or creepy obstacle that stands in their way, trampling over and eliminating any enemies with whom they cross paths. I keep thinking that this game is based on the plastic toy “Monkeys in a Barrel.” These two monkeys can carry or throw each other to whatever destination they need to go, and a constant theme in every level is barrels. You bust your fallen friend out of a barrel, you save your level progress with a barrel, there are barrel enemys, rolling projectile barrels, barrel explosives, and of course you fly around in and are fired by barrels.Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:48:16 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1994&iddiary=3937https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1979SUMMARY: Donkey Kong Country 2, much like its predecessor is a classically simple approach to video game play. In this pirate themed adventure the Kong Banana hoard is on the line again, except the stakes are much greater as Donkey Kong himself is kidnapped this time. In his stead, Diddy Kong fights alongside his ditsy blond monkey girlfriend clad in all pink, Dixie Kong. Together they make the ascent the mountain island traversing from one beached pirate ship to another, battling mutant alligators, rats, and a wide assortment of generally unfriendly looking beasts all the way on their way to defeat King K. Rool. GAMEPLAY In general terms, I feel really good deep down playing this game. It reminds me of my childhood Super Nintentdo days and is very reminiscent of the original Donkey Kong Country. To add to that, I am a monkey that is on a mission to exterminate rats and alligators alike in the most logical way possible, simply by jumping on their heads or flinging myself at them in a spinning cartwheel of doom.. I as I could have guessed, I start out on a pirate ship, only to discover a ransom not note for Donkey Kong. From then on, I get into the groove of the excellent musical selection for this game, and basically run and jump through the level discovering bananas, banana coins, kremcoins, DK coins, and bonus games. My partner in crime, Dixie Kong, is a kind of slutty looking blond monkey this a muscular ponytail. With it she can lift cannonballs, barrels, and hold herself up on a hook, not to mention helicopter glide across large distances. I even come upon a box containing a friendly rhino, and I ride around on his back, trampling and impaling enemys in my way and busting down walls. And before I know it, I jump on this big monkey target and tag up this flag, and Im bouncin’ to a boombox and singing a song, signaling the end of the level. It was exhilarating. As I progress across the first world, which is none other than a pirate ship, I keep coming across different kinds of levels. The second takes place on precarious sail rigging high in the air , where I clamber around on a series of ropes. And the next takes me to the bottom of the sunken gallows where I ride around on a swordfish killing even m ore malicious fish. The boss battle, which takes place on the crows nest on the top of the mast, is against none other than a giant crow-vulture thing. Like all classic first bosses, this freak only took four hearty blows from his own eggs before he toppled over. This took me to a whole other world—a pirate ship that had sunken in a volcano. This gave way to new levels, such as lava caves and diamond mines. Coconut shooting parrots, hot air balloons, and web spinning spiders even came to my aid to help me ascend to the caldera of the volcano, and the boss fight.Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:28:43 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1979&iddiary=3934