Pokemon HeartGold Hard Mode Run: Ilex Forest to Route 36

Ilex Forest was the same old stuff, except the headbutt guy became a tutor instead of a TM giver (headbutt for Stoner and Madison, then). At Route 34, I put my Caterpie (Harvey) and Zubat (Nightwit) in the daycare.

At Goldenrod, I renamed my Ghastly as Frank as a reference to the Pokemon Gold Let's Play kuposan3 (YouTube channel) put up. The Underground gave some experience and a haircut for my just-hatched Togepi (named Todd). After getting the Radio Card, I plow through the Gym and prepare for Whitney.

Whitney was a serious problem, as usual. Stoner got crushed (RESTART). Somehow, her Miltank could stomp Frank and crushed Madison (RESTART). The third time went well; however, I don't remember it much.

Route 35 was the same old. Since it was Thanksgiving, I went to the Bug-Catching Contest and caught a Pinsir. I failed to catch Sudowoodo, though. Stinking tree monster kept kicking my team and wouldn't stay in a Pokeball.

By the way, I'm not having a lot of continuity with the titles. Meh.

Scott Pilgrim: The Game, The Movie

(The title is a reference to I Wanna Be The Guy: The Movie, The Game.)

I just saw Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, and I counted some of the references. I counted around 12 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past references. The most notable of course is the great fairy theme. I also counted a Super Mario All-Stars sound effect (and another reference if you count fireballs).

And since I'm typing about this movie, I'll state that the ending is too predictable. On a 10-scale of hotness, I'd put Ramona at 7 and Knives at 6. Still, Knives has great chemistry, so I think it evens out. In the end, the whole thing was a video game cliche...a well-done video game cliche.

Pokemon HeartGold Hard Mode: Part 3 (Union Cave to Azalea Town)

I don't remember much about Union Cave and the Slowpoke Well since it's been weeks since I played this game. I caught a Zubat in the well and mopped up the place.

Tonight, I beat the gym. The trainers were the same as ever, and I got most of my team (except for Bob) up to level 16. Bugsy wasn't too much of a problem, but I lost my two Rattatas to his U-turning Scyther. My other Pokemon took that attack well, though. Madison paralyzed it with thundershock and Stoner beat it with Rock Throw.

The rival was an easy fight. Peeves spammed Lick on his Ghastly and cursed his loud Zubat. Stoner, still tired from the Bugsy fight, beat his Quilava despite Smokescreens.

Nostalgia Generation

According to www.gamefaqs.com, there are only a few 2D action platformer games on the Gamecube (Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Megaman Anniversary Collection, and some Japan-only titles). Speaking of that collection, you can get it online for around $15 (sounds like a great Christmas gift!) instead of spending five-hundreds of Wii points on downloads. The Gamecube also has over 70 3D action platformer games. The Nintendo 64 has a similar number of Platformers, but half as many in 3D due to how new it was.

As for the Wii, the successor to the Gamecube with improved graphics and processing, there will be over 140 2D Platformers (mostly from the Virtual Console) and around 50 3D Platformers by the end of this year.

Now, this drastic change isn't much of a danger since Mario still has a monopoly on platformer purchases and has one leg in both kinds. Still, interesting factors must have come in to this situation for the 2D shift.

The Wii Virtual Console had its most popular titles released in 2007. After that, downloadable games such as the Lost Winds games, Cave Story, and (in the near future) Super Meat Boy went on WiiWare while on-disc games including Super Paper Mario, Wario Land: Shake It!, and New Super Mario Bros Wii came out (chronologically). It's disappointing to not find adventurous 3D games like Super Mario Sunshine coming out these days. At least the 3DS will bring portable systems closer to the hills, skyscrapers, and seas we have loved in 3D games as "retro" becomes the new "neo."