TremorDeth Makes Mario - Easy Peasy

This the first course I made in Super Mario Maker.  The id is at the end of the video is you'd like to play is for yourself.

I'll see you fuckin' nerds later.

What's in the Box: Wario Amiibo

New episode of What's in the Box with my opening my new-ish Wario Amiibo!  Funny stuff.

I've been working on the new Sharknado episode of IntoxiNarration.  Haven't got as much done this weekend as I hoped, but I'm getting there.  More info as it comes.

I'll see you fuckin nerds later.

Sonic the Hedgehob Amiibo Unboxing

Next Video in my Unboxing video series.  Another Amiibo that might be hard to find in the future!  Here are my other two videos!

Review: Bayonetta 2

Hit me baby, one more time.

Review on Examiner

Review: Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)

Link's back and this time, he is not alone.

The Legend of Zelda series and I have a bit of a complicated relationship.  I tried playing the original a handful of times, but never went the distance and beat it.  The first LoZ game I took seriously was Twilight Princess and I loved that game.  The next Zelda game I finished was Skyward Sword.  I think about that now and am floored.  Since SS, I've beaten Wind Waker HD, Link to the Past, Link between Worlds and Ocarina of Time 3D.  I'm planning on playing Minish Cap as soon as I beat the original Metroid (I beat Super Metroid a few months ago for the first time).

Since Skyward, I've tried really hard to play new Zelda games when I can. Hyrule Warriors is NOT a traditional Zelda game.  Does this make it a bad game?  No, but let's get into the nuts and bolts of how HW works.

Hyrule Warriors was built by the team that gave us the Dynasty Warriors series, hence the name.  This is not a reskinned version of DW.  It is like they took the two series and melded them together.  Thematically it is 80% Zelda, but gameplay wise it's about 40% or so Zelda.  A Zelda oriented control scheme helps keep it familiar Zelda fans (like myself).  DW fans can choose a Warriors oriented control scheme if they wish.

The game is based on the concept of controlling battlefields.  There are keeps and outposts you have to conquer and claim for your army (which isn't always Hyrule's).  This is a huge departure from normal Zelda games.

Your attacks cause massive amounts of damage.  You can use one of many characters (the count is over a dozen with the new update).  All of the characters have different move sets and types of combos, super attacks, magic gauge attacks, etc.  You pick up new items as the story oriented Legend Mode progresses.  These items are occasionally used to solve puzzles, but mostly to kill enemies.  There are power ups for your items that cause even more damage.  You are taking out dozens of enemies at a time in some cases.  You are a god and they are bugs to be crushed (well you can create literal giant bugs with Agitha to crush your metaphorical bugs)

The fan service for Zelda is dripping out of every pore of this game.  From the items, to the weapons, to the characters, Zelda fans will love all of the references to other games (which includes the time hopping storyline).  For example, if you power up your hook shot, you shoot it into the air and pull the Majora's Mask Moon down onto your unsuspecting enemies.  Awesome.

There is a leveling up system to make your characters stronger.  You can use rupees to make your lower level characters stronger (the rupees automatically go into your pouch without the need to physically touch them).  The Training Dojo can only be used to level up to your highest ranked character's level. So you still have to do the leg work of leveling at least one of your characters up.

Your weapons can be replaced, upgraded and given new attributes.  New weapon categories for some characters allow them to play like a completely new character.  See Link's Ball and Chain for a good example.

The game's story is pretty good.  It's straight forward and it's new characters are welcome additions.  Cia, the main villain, is a little scantily clad for a Zelda game, but even she is an interesting character.

The Adventure mode looks like the original LoZ (even newer characters have 8-bit sprites to venture around the map).  Once you decide to fight on a square, you fight a Hyrule Warriors level with certain requirements to earn certain items.  These can be items to unlock other secrets in this mode, weapons or even characters (a few can only be unlocked in this mode).  This mode is a favorite of mine.  The newest DLC added another map to Adventure Mode (Yes!).

One thing I thought was funny is that in the new DLC, you can use Link's horse Epona as a weapon. Your weapons appear on the battlefield when you kill enemies.  Your weapons are in little bags.  So I found a giant 1,000 pound animal in a tiny sack!

Overall Hyrule Warriors is a solid game.  Surprisingly the repetitive nature of the DW is down played with a lot of different modes with different objectives and an occasional puzzle.  The couch co-op increases the replayability of the game with friends and family.  Everyone will have their favorite character to play as.  The fact still remains that the game can get a little brainless sometimes and isn't as good as most of the mainstream Zelda games (despite actually being able to play as Zelda).  The game isn't earth shattering, but it IS a hell of a lot of fun.  If you're on the fence, give it a chance, I really enjoyed my time with this game.

8.3 out of 10 horses in a bag

Review: Shovel Knight

Its going to be one hell of a Knight.

Shovel Knight is a love letter to 8-bit gaming of the 80's.  From the graphics to the music, it is everything NES kids grew up with and love.  If you ever loved a game from that era, this game will be nothing but shear joy for you.

An indy company by the name of Yacht Club Games made a Kickstarter to get this project funded.  The KS was successful and a legend was born.  You can tell a lot of care was put into this game to make all of us feel like kids again.

This game is pretty new, but feels old in all of the right ways.  The graphics are blocky and nostalgic.  The music sounds like it was straight from an NES cartridge.  The soundtrack is for sale in case you like it was much as I do.

The story is about Shovel Knight, who takes on evil in the land with his partner, the lady, Shield Knight.  Shield Knight disappears when they find a relic, so Shovel Knight, being heart broken, leads a simple life of farming.  That is until an evil woman known as The Enchantress starts using other knights to sew chaos across the land.  The once brave knight has to steel his shovel once again.

The map reminds me of Super Mario Bros. 3, even down to the enemies wandering around the map.  Instead of something as unimportant as a Hammer Bro, the enemies have stories and motivations for wandering as well as seeking battle.

The towns are fun with people to talk to and upgrades to buy.  There are several secrets even in the towns, so keep a weather eye out.  The Troupple King (who is half trout, half apple) can fill your chalice with magical Icor once you find him and the chalices.  The Icor can fill your health or make you invincible (as well as other effects).  The Troupple King is hilarious, especially when you first meet him... you'll see.

The levels and enemies are difficult, but not as bad as Mega Man or Castlevania.  The game doesn't hold your hand, but let's you figure out how to proceed with experimentation.  When you die, you lose money, but you can retrieve it if you don't die before you reach the original money drop off.  My favorite level might be final stages. They are fun and difficult and I found myself dying several times to reach the final confrontation.  The Propeller Knight and Specter Knight are great stages too.  There isn't really a bad stage in the game and you may find yourself going back to stages to max your stats out before the final boss.  The checkpoints in the game are smashable to give you more gold at the risk of being sent back further when you die.

There are levels that have platforms that move when you hit them, but leave a very temporary trail for you to walk on.  There are blocks that don't let you bounce and send you falling to your possible death.  The lights cut out so you can only see the silhouette of your character, enemies and platforms.  There are a ton of variety in not only the themes of the stages, but how they're constructed.  Yacht Club should be commended on the level design alone.

Your relics are basically like your secondary items in Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden.  You can use your Wii U pad to select them on the go or bring up a separate menu if you are playing with another controller set up.  From fire balls to limited invincibility to a horn shockwave, there are abilities for all play styles.  You can upgrade your shovel/armor for extra attacks as well.

There are also a ton of secrets.  From walls that are dug away to fishing holes to areas and bosses that you don't expect.  Be sure to explore everywhere to find everything.  There are music sheets scattered around the game that you can sell for gold.  These also unlock all of the music in the game to be played during the main town section.

After beating the game there is a more challenging New Game Plus mode.  This let's you keep all of your items and upgrades, but it far more difficult with tougher enemies and fewer checkpoints.

There is also a diary in the Wii U version that let's you leave messages in rooms for others to see.  I didn't notice this until I was two thirds through the game.  The Wii U pad is great for item selection without the need to pause.  There is also off television play.

Shovel Knight is amazing.  I could go on at length about every aspect of the game.  From the music to the gameplay to the character design.  This game is perfect for all of us 80's and 90's kids.

5 out of 5 Shovels

Favorite song in the game^^^

Wii U Review: Mario Kart 8

This is the shit right here...

Mario Kart 8 is the sequel to either Mario Kart Wii or Mario Kart 7, depending on who you ask.  Yes, Wii is technically the sixth entry (not counting the arcade games), but Mario Kart 7 was on a portable system, though the underwater and gliding sections return.  In either case, Mario Kart 8 is by far the best the series has to offer (as far as the racing goes) and is definitely the reason to buy a Wii U.

Yoshi is pretty mad that Space Princess there cut him off.

I'll start with the obvious.  The game looks amazing.  It runs at 60 frames per second on up to two players (three to four drops the speed down to 30fps) and is as good looking as many Xbone and PS4 games I've played/seen.  Yes, the art style is not photo realistic, but it was never meant to be.  The detail is great.  The lighting is gorgeous.  The characters are expressive and responsive to their surroundings.  

Speaking of responsive, I'm sure you've seen this:

You don't fuck with Luigi.

Joking aside, that brings up another aspect of the game.  The highlight reels.  You can watch preselected sections of the game, based on everything, items, big hits or view the entire race.  It would have been nice to have some sort of video editing program.  You can load there highlights to YouTube, which also show up on Miiverse.  Here is an example of mine:

Oh, Ludwig, that blue shell must sting.  This is a perfect example on how down to the wire some of these races can be. Though some would also argue that my first place was unearned and luck game me that placement, but.... eh.

The balancing of the items is a lot better this time around.  The Wii version of item balancing make a return in the Frantic Mode setting, which means that default works a lot differently.  Powerful items are lessened in frequency and there is a counter to the blue shell...

BIATCH!

...The Super Horn!

Speaking of new items, there are several.  Coins that increase your overall speed return from Mario Kart 7 (as well as the original Super Mario Kart), the Piranha Plant (Super Mario 3D World), the Fire Flower and the Boomerang (which you can throw up to three times, unless you grab an item in between throws).

The hook of this game is the antigravity sections.  When you run over a blue strip you can drive on walls and ceilings, which is awesome.  Your driving mechanics change to where you can get boosts off of hitting the other drivers as well as strategically placed bumpers.  This changes the dynamics of the race in ways you wouldn't expect (see Rainbow Road - MK8).

The online is great.  Frankly it has worked better for me than Halo 4 lately.  The tournaments and custom modes give it lots of replay value.  I recently knocked out the time trials, which gave me the final stamps.  Speaking of stamps, I wish that the stamps were available to use in any post, rather than the stamp option in the main menus of the games that support them (which I think need to become all of the games, at least all of the first party Nintendo games).  Chat works with friends list members in the lobby, but not in the game.

The only weaknesses in Mario Kart 8 are the Battle Mode and the character roster.  Battle Mode no longer has arenas, so you have to have non race.... races on tracks, while trying to hit find your opponents and pop their three balloons.  It is occasionally fun, but no substitute for a real battle arena.

The roster has the seven Koopalings from Super Mario Bros. 3 fame, but is missing Diddy Kong and Dry Bones (some would say Bowser Jr., but the seven Koopalings are cooler anyway).  I would have liked to see Nabbit as a welcome addition to the cast, but instead we have five baby characters.  Five?

So many damn babies, this isn't even all of them.

Baby Mario is fine, because he basically has his own game series.  B. Rosalina had no reason to be introduced at all.  Metal Mario may be the third version of Mario in the game, but he is really cool to play as.  Pink Gold Peach is... yes a third version of Princess Peach... but to be honest, she is my jam.  I really like playing as PGP, her weight, handling and size really play to my strengths.

 

Screw it, Pink Gold Peach is okay with me.  5 babies suck though.

Despite the negatives, which are mostly trivial, Mario Kart 8 is the reason to get a Wii U.  The online is great, the local multiplayer is just as good.  The roster may be a little lacking, but the kart selection is great.  The customization helps you forge an identity and define your play style.  Plus until the end of July, you get a free game (I got Wii Party U as I already had two of the games).  This game didn't sell 1.2 million in its first weekend for no reason.

9 out of 10 Luigi Death Stares