Zelda Week: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Who gave this clutz a sword?

Let's take you back 5 years, back to when this game was being hyped for a Christmas period release. I was lucky enough to go to an event called the Nintendo Connection tour, an event Nintendo used to hold, with this one being relatively near to me, in a shopping center. Here, members of the public could come and play upcoming Wii and 3DS games like Ocarina of Time 3D, Starfox 64 3D, Mario Kart 7, Kirby Return to Dream Land and, of course, Skyward Sword. I was fortunate enough to pick the demo that shows of the best part of the game, which I'll explain later. Combined with E3, and there was a lot of hope for this game... shame no one saw the signs. Let's see how the series celebrated the 25th anniversary, and one of the two games that took more of my interest then Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Zelda Week: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Download the original .mp3 here: http://adf.ly/1YiFcY
Welcome to a land in Twilight, a world where one must be the bridge between the light and the dark, the man, and the beast. Doth thou don your sword and shield again for this late Gamecube, early Wii and recently re released WiiU game?

The final image was made by Enigmarez
You can find it here: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Link-Midna-Wallpaper-503019504

Zelda Week: Hyrule Warriors: "Strength in numbers MEANS NOTHING TO ME!"

How do you like to relax? For me, it is something I can enjoy without needing to think too much about something. Whether that be a familiar book, movie or show, a video game franchise that I've been playing for so long that I don't need to think about the mechanics, or in this case, taking out red dots on my map by killing anything that moves, which is where Hyrule Warriors comes in. Because sometimes, it helps to have a relaxing game. And if you think that's cruel, do bare in mind, Pokemon and Kirby are also stress relieving games for me. So shall we build up that ko count?

Mediaholics Podcast Episode 3

MP3 download: http://adf.ly/1YcDLc

CJ joins the squad to help us discuss things like

The NX Controller leak
Ace Attorney 6 trailer
PlayStation VR
Hyrule Warroirs Legends
and more

Zelda Week: Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

And you thought Pokemon had too much water

In a convention called Space World in the year 2000, a few Gamecube tech demos were released. One of these showed Link and Ganondorf sword fighting. Fans speculated that this is a demo to a brand new Zelda title for the Gamecube. Not too long after, another tech demo was shown in Space World, 2001. It was shown with Link in a new cartoonish style. The fans were confused about the cute art style of Link in this tech demo, and not the darker tone of the Space World 2000 tech demo. Fans at the time were afraid that every proceeding Zelda title was going to be in this style.

Although some, as well as myself, don’t mind the different cell shaded cartoonish style. I find it rather refreshing. As with most new Gamecube titles, it showcases the power of the Gamecube, although does it pretty well. The water physics for the ocean move up and down simulating waves. The grass moves with the wind. Not to mention that the entire overworld map is just one expansive area with no walls. You can loop around the map as if it were on a globe.

The story of Wind Waker is you as Link setting off on a journey to save your sister Aryll from a demon bird. After you meet the pirate girl Tetra and her crew in a fateful encounter, you set off to save your sister as well as some other characters you meet along the way.

Wind Waker has you travelling on boat sailing from island to island, which is pretty cool. Although, I hear conflicting arguments saying whether or not the traveling in this game is tedious or not. I’d say it’s all depends on how you look at it, and how much patience you have. This game, as many Zelda games or even any RPG for that matter is about the journey. I feel like this game does a pretty good job on it’s theme of adventuring out. Even if it takes a while sailing to each individual island, and if you just don’t have the patience, the Wii U version has a faster sail to accommodate this. The real joy is finding little islands with treasure along the way of your quest. Even for the main story islands have really good atmospheres about them. Forsaken Fortress taking place at night. The lush green Forest Haven. My favorite is when you approach Greatfish Isle and the atmosphere becomes more gray and rainy as you approach it.

This game’s main mechanic besides seafaring is the titular wind waker. The main draw of the wind waker is, big surprise, that it controls the direction of the wind. Though it’s pretty fun to play with combined with the deku leaf item that lets you sail with the wind to reach places you wouldn't otherwise. Another small mechanic is that you can use enemy weapons against them which is really fun. It makes the first staple stealth section of this game more bearable.

The typical theme of sidequests are apparent in this game as with every Zelda title. Of course almost every island has a little sidequest, as well on main islands. Although, the biggest sidequest is the Triforce pieces. There are 8 Triforce pieces as well as 8 Triforce charts (3 charts in Wii U). It costs roughly 400 rupees each to get each chart deciphered. This and the sailing is why some people call this game very tedious. Again, Wii U version accommodates this for the fewer charts. Also considering the fact that this sidequest is only for 100% you’re not missing much if you are casually playing the game for the story.

Before we finish I should mention Tingle. Yes, that weird fairy guy, although he gives you something useful if you have a Gameboy linked to the Gamecube. The Tingle Tuner is a Gamecube exclusive item. It almost acts as a Wii U pad. You can spend rupees for small power ups that help you throughout your adventure. You can write on your map, drop bombs, get potions, ect. It’s basically a mobile shop, which is pretty nifty. Although this is exclusive if you have a Gameboy link cable with a Gameboy Advance, so not a lot of people actually use it. If you can get it, good for you since it’s a really helpful item. This feature was replaced in the Wii U version in favor of the Tingle Bottle, which is just Miiverse compatibility. Tingle Bottles wash up on random islands depending on where you post it which display Miiverse posts. Fun, although clearly not as useful as the Tingle Tuner.

So at this point you’re probably wondering which version do you want to play? Well, I personally play Wind Waker on the Gamecube just because I have it. Of course the Wii U version has gamepad functionality so it’s easier to swap items. The Wii U version fixes a lot of complaints, thus making the game easier to pick up. A full list of changes from Gamecube to Wii U can be found [here] if you are interested. Overall, I’d say get the Wii U one if you want an easier time. Get the Gamecube one if you want authenticity, and have access to the Tingle Tuner.

Overall this game is pretty amazing. The expansive Great Sea makes this game feel huge. Exploration is a key part, and they do this fantastically well. The game looks beautiful on both versions for their respective hardware. Even if you’re not a huge fan of the Zelda series, this is a great game to start out with.

-Marissa (keybug55)

Zelda Week: The Legend of Zelda: "Wouldn't it be a BiForce... DuoForce?"

Welcome to Zelda Week. 5 games, 2 reviewers (due to real life activities clashing), and in one week, we'll be taking a look at almost all sides of the spectrum that is The Legend of Zelda. So up first, why don't we take a look at the one that started it all, the original game on the NES, back when people had a better excuse to call Link by the name of Zelda. Sorry people, its like Samus' name not actually being Metroid, or Pit's not actually being Kid Icarus. So, shall we?

D.C.M.M.M: Man of Steel, also known as Jesus Symbolism and Bloom lighting, the movie

This, this movie, this product, is the reason why Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice has so much to prove. I'd personally like to just get to it, so here's Man of Steel.

Even the poster has bloom lighting?

Top 20 Bayformers bot predictions

While I am still working on Man Of Steel, suffice to say, that preparations for next week have been putting a toll on it. I'm delaying Man of Steel for a day, to bring it up to snuff. So in the mean time, something quick, something easy, a top X list... Yes I do still try to do those. For some reason I've had Bayformers on the mind, not enough to watch them again, wouldn't even if I had the time. But with 3 new movies already in the works, with release days, may as well do a bot prediction on them. The quota for these choices are

• Personal opinion
• How much attention they've gotten recently, from the TV shows, games, and comics
• How they could be used in the movies
• Do they fit Bay's quota, based on the last four movies

Would I like to be wrong about some of these following comments, yes, absolutely yes. But I am basing these off of the last four, and stories of his other films. This is going to be interesting...

D.C.M.M.M: The Dark Knight Rises: Wait, didn't he do that already?

The end of the Dark Knight Trilogy, at last. But, where do you go from the critically acclaimed "masterpiece" that is The Dark Knight? Well, for me, The Dark Knight wasn't flawless, still good, but not flawless, and this movie is seen as many to be worse... Primus help me...

First Impressions: Ghostbusters 2016

I know I said First Impressions will be videos, and that's technically still true, you can see why if you look at yesterday's Podcast. But this is one that I felt needed more detail. So consider this more of a "Second Impression" for the movie, mainly because its one that I've been seeing a lot of "mixed reactions" to the movie (as gently as I can put it). Some like it for what it represents to them, granted I've seen that with a bit of projection onto it, some like the trailer because its a new Ghostbusters trailer for a new Ghostbusters movie, and props to them for it. However, about 325,000 people, at time of writing, aren't so on board with the movie. So where do I stand?

Honestly, not a fan of these poster designs, they're just generic and some parts are overkill for the"All girls team" idea

Mediaholics Podcast: Episode 2

Download the mp3 here: https://mega.nz/#!5gdABBaQ
Episode 2 of the podcast, once again, sit back, relax, enjoy for we have new topics to discuss like:

The last two Nintendo Directs
Headmasters and Titans Return
Legends of Everfree
Reboots and the Powerpuff Girls
Critiquing the trailer for the new Ghostbusters, probably leading to one of us getting labeled a sexist
And more in detail.

Combiner Wars: Peace is but a brittle thing for them

Encase it might not be obvious, I have no intention on doing arcs in the order they were released, simply being because of how old some arcs are. I'd rather bounce between old and new arcs, as to me, it would be more interesting, and may shine a new light on older arcs. For now, we go back to Cybertron, and while there are many arcs between Autocracy and Combiner Wars I want to talk about, such as Dark Cybertron, Last Stand of the Wreckers and All Hail Megatron, let's see what the toy line has been up to lately, the Combiner Wars.

Mediaholics Review: Pokemon Generation 1 review

... /Episode 0 of the podcast... we're working on it...

We wanted to be, the very best, like no one ever was. To catch them was our real test, to train them was our cause. Now after 20 years, two critics, who are barely any older then the franchise, analyze Pokemon Red, Green, Blue, Yellow... Fire Red, Leaf Green, the tcg, the anime and pretty much anything Generation 1. How well does it hold up after 20 years, 16-18 main series games and more.

D.C.M.M.M: The Dark Knight: Simple isn't always easy

Regarded as the best in the trillogy, and has gone down in infamy thanks to their lead villain dying of depression thanks to his role in the movie, sufice to say, people were happy with how it turned out. At the time, I was too, though times change, so lets see if it still holds up.

Mediaholics Podcast Episode 1

Download the .mp3 here: http://adf.ly/1XMPna
Sit back as we talk about random things like
A lot of Legend of Zelda thanks to Zelda Week on the Mediaholics website
DLC and Microtransactions, along with other things in the gaming industry
Dumb change.org petitions
Fanart
Guardians of Harmony
And more

Images used in the call
Hoopa thinking with portals: http://img05.deviantart.net/248e/i/2015/107/b/5/now_you_re_thinking_with_portals__by_jmonkey2105-d8q3uxk.jpg

Guardians of Harmony promo image: http://sad.hasbro.com/b10b77f453fe5962fc27125f1ee152caa2ed10ff/2774ed922bfc33f601b5dcf59af3169a.png

Chrysalis riding into battle?: https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/2/10/1084769__safe_queen+chrysalis_changeling_hasbro_that+was+fast_artist-colon-klondike_wheel_wheelbarrow_guardians+of+harmony.png

#WTFU

On the Facebook page for the site, I posted my stance on this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVqFAMOtwaI

The following, is a direct copy from the page, I am sharing it here because... well there are only 12 people following the page.

I completely agree with this, speaking as a content creator. Right now, ignoring the Youtube side of future content, my reviews fall under Fair Use. As the site grows, with more and more content going up, I run the risk of these claims coming to me, and it'll become worse when I can do more video content. I've been paying attention to what happened with Youtube recently, and it is absolutely disgraceful how easily that system can be, has been, and will probably continue to be abused. To say that it's broken is an understatement, it barely worked in the first place.

I've seen channels almost taken down because of mistakes, and Youtube not responding to both the channel, and the one trying to remove the claim. I've seen the examples in this video as they were happening. That's on top of content creators trying to copyright words in the english dictionary, for the sake of taking down content, which they easily did because of how broken it is. I'm not kidding when I say I'm sitting on constant backups of content and a reserve site, just encase I have to deal with this shit, with it being on the verge of new video content coming soon, on a new channel. So yeah, I'm with them, I'm with the content creators, where is the fair use?

D.C.M.M.M: Batman Begins: Read at whatever volume you want

Welcome to the Detective Comics Mini Movie Marathon, or D.C.M.M.M for short. With DC now finally deciding to play catch up with Marvel in terms of a cinematic universe, I figure it might be interesting to see how they've gone with that concept previously. At first, we're covering the beloved Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, then the live action Green Lantern, and then the start of the DCCU, Man of Steel... This is going to be fun... oh yeah, it can't be, no comedy policy for these movies, dam.

Fire Emblem Awakening: Will you help defend their flock?

In one game, they went from a dying franchise, to one of the must have games on the 3DS, and a game that helped and continues to help sell the system. I won't lie, that's an achievement. Now with Fire Emblem Fates released in the US, and a release still unknown here (which gives me time to get the money for the special edition so that I have the three on the one cartridge), let's see the previous game in the series, Fire Emblem: Awakening.

Deadpool Killogy: Some want to see the world burn, others bathe in the world's blood

So with the Deadpool movie coming out this month, I thought it would be a good idea to look at a Deadpool arc, to get an idea of the character. Or in this case, what happens when the character breaks. Care to see your beloved and loathed characters, both in the Marvel comics and out of it? Well, this is the arc for you, the Deadpool killogy. Though to be warned, as the books themselves say, THIS IS NOT FOR YOUNG KIDS.

Blaster Rants: Localization vs Censorship

THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING! THEY DO NOT MEAN THE SAME THING! I could end this post right there, but even then I know people will still keep interchanging the two, so let me explain why.

Right now, the current punching bag for this is Fire Emblem Fates, all three versions of the game (that part is something I want to save for if I review it or not), specifically, how parts of games are being changed in localization for a western audience. I will say that Fates isn't the only game I'm using for this example, I have a few more, but for now, let's start with the recent one, the petting mini game. Now I don't mind a petting mini game in games, I've played one in Nintendogs, in Pokemon Generation 6, and it's something common in anything that has some form of pet, so I don't see a problem in those examples. Petting an anime girl? That's creepy, and many in the west see it as disgusting and objectifying. Me? A cheep stunt as I hadn't herd of it before, and from what I've sen, it does absolutely nothing. I should say, all I've been able to find is articles saying "Why it should be removed" or "Why it should stay", which is why my knowledge of it is limited. I'm not here to come on a side, what I will say though is "If it has no purpose, why is it there in the first place?". Now as for the point I'm going to make, the reason why it's being removed is, in simplest terms, gender roles between the two demographics. The views of gender differ between Japan and the western world, in japan, something like that is seen as appropriate, normal (to an extent). In the west however, views on gender are very different, and are changing every day, even to the point where many can't agree on gender portrayal, most of it thanks to the portrayal of the genders over history. In a perfect world, this wouldn't be a factor, however we don't live in a perfect world, we live in a scrap world, where objectification of women in anyway is going to have negative repercussions. Now again, to state my personal view on the matter, if you can provide an in story valid explanation for a character looking the way they are, then I don't have an issue with it, as it is there to serve the story. This from what I've seen, is not serving the story, its a way of cashing in on the Japan Pop Idol culture, something that isn't a thing in the western world. So why would they keep it if

1. There's no reason cuturally to keep it in thanks to a lack of Pop idol culture.
2. There's no reason in terms of sales to keep it in because the moment obnoxiously loud people find out about it, your PR manager is going to be in tears because of all the abuse it would have gotten.

On that second point, let's bring out another game that isn't being sold in the west for that reason, Dead or Alive: Xtreme 3, I told you I'd be using a few examples. This one is a game not being sold in the west for a few reasons, but one that got the most attention was because they're afraid of the social backlash. What's the more realistic reason? The games probably haven't sold well here, as it is a very niche game made primarily for Japanese audiences because again, that's more acceptable there then it is here. The reason they gave, to put it in internet understanding terms, "they were afraid of Social Justice Warriors". I could probably go into a whole other rant on my views of that culture, but suffice to say, the one's I see get the most attention, don't deserve the attention as it comes off as more "doing this for personal gain". Most people, myself included, do see eye to eye with them on several points, however the culture has become so toxic, so overbearing that people stay away, see them as trolls, people just there to abuse people in the name of social justice. That community almost went to war with the companies involved by that statement, meanwhile all I could see was people who had no interest in getting the game or even caring about the game slamming it because of the game having girls in bikini's. My stance on that? "Wasn't going to get the game anyway, don't care, why bother getting angry about something like that?". Please note though its the same kind of people who got Target and K-Mart Australia to stop selling Grand Theft Auto 5, and in all the cases above, people called it censorship.

NONE OF THOSE ARE CENSORSHIP!!! And trust me, I can say that with a level of certainty as I live in a country THAT DOES CENSOR GAMES, its why I've been limiting my examples to games. Up until January 2013, three years ago, Australia didn't have an R18+ rating for games. For comparison, that means we didn't have an M or AO rating in comparison to the ESRB and a PEGI 18 for European readers. The most we had was MA15+, which as a base comparison would be about PEGI 12, maybe PEGI 16, and T by the ESRB. Anything higher was either censored, or not released here at all. Even games released after January 2013 were censored like Saint's Row 4 (which I think might be looking too deep but it was a simple change, changing drugs to caffeine) and South Park the Stick of Truth, yes there really are crying koala's. For more, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games_in_Australia and this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Australia yes I use Wikipedia, but I cross reference. Censorship is a government body saying "Either change this, or you cannot sell it here, at all"

• IT IS NOT a company changing aspects to help the product do better in other countries, which happens both ways, the only reason you don't hear it as much going from a western to eastern release is because the US can't stand not being the center of attention (that was a joke).
• IT IS NOT a company not selling a product in a country by their choice.
• IT IS NOT a store refusing to carry a specific product because some people signed a petition.

Before I close, there is actually a difference between censoring and censorship. I told you what censorship is, censoring is changing something by one's own accord in order to, basically protect themselves from people who are offended. For example, I do things like "f#!@%(%" that, that's me censoring myself, in order to not have to deal with parents sending me angry messages about how little Jimmy learned about words like that from my site. The bleep censor is another case of that. Nothing is stopping me from not using those, I choose to use those as the majority of my reviews are on child friendly things, and if something is for a more mature audience, I use more "mature" language as I'm assuming that little Jimmy wouldn't be reading my first impressions of the red band trailer for Deadpool, for example. I will always try to make the use of "mature" language obvious before it's used, to cover myself. Again, this ISN'T censorship, no one is making me do it, and right now, no one cares, people have actually been telling me not to do it. I do it of my own accord, its not being afraid of something, its saving me from a headache.

If you're going to call foul on censorship, MAKE SURE IT'S ACTUAL CENSORSHIP!!! Localization and censoring one's self is NOT CENSORSHIP. See you all on Wednesday, as I need to calm down after this.

Post release edit: the feature from Fire Emblem fates was not limited to female characters. I was unaware of this at the time of release as I have not been paying attention to spoilers, and the only information I could get was focused more on the objectifying women side of it. I am aware of this now.

Also, I am aware of times when localization and censorship are intertwined, and I should have brought that up. The reason I didn't was because I didn't have any solid examples that blured the two, instead of just either one or the other.

Spaceballs:... I genuinly can't come up with something to say here

The short version of this review could be summed up to that as well. I'll try to go into detail, but its the main reason why I don't really watch spoof movies. Let's see how well this goes, Spaceballs.

Youtube

"WHY ISN'T THIS SPACEBALLS!!!?!" That's still coming later today, however I felt that I needed to let you know what's happening with Youtube, not the business, channels are being taken down, I have no idea what's going on there, but what's happening on this side, for this site. The current channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzfSzTanAeSCEsSjcBauzXA, is being phased out, to be replaced with a new channel, one that we can actually give it a proper name. Most of the content may not get carried over, those being the let's plays of Explorers of the Sky, Earthbound and the legacy kept part of Sonic Heroes along with the promotional videos I did because while I like the montage, the trailer sucks. I know it, you know it. The reviews and impressions will be carried over, and the old videos will stay on the channel unless something like what's happening now happens again, and the channel is affected.

Why are we doing this, well, a clean slate. You see while the current channel is in good standings, is a Youtube partner, can monetize ect, two videos are monetized, but the money doesn't go to the channel. Those are the Montage, and a part of Explorers of the Sky. Am I fighting them, no as those I am in the wrong for. You've got the Touch in the montage, which I'm fairly sure that one is a fan remake anyway, and the Trolololo song in the EOTS part, that one I had no idea was copyrighted. The money from those videos goes to them. Lessons learned. The channel hasn't been made yet, but when it is, I will be putting links to it on all the sites. PSA over, I'll see you for Spaceballs.

Tiny Toon Adventures: Back to school special

As I stated in the review, I really liked Animaniacs, so when I herd that a show prior to it by the same team, with inspiration from the Loony Toons, I had to give it a look. How was it? Well, one way to find out. Shall we head to school?

Star Wars Episode VI; Return of the Jedi, dumb characters, and a dumb plan

This week, we bring this marathon to a close. Two more movies left, as we come to the end of the original trilogy. When we last left our heroes, things had fallen apart, so now, it's time to put everything back together. Time to see the grand Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars Episode V; The Empire Strikes Back: Time to spoil the spoiler I and the internet already spoiled

So now we come to Episode 5. We're almost at the end of this. But first, we must come to the movie that, to my knowledge, is one of the most spoiled movies of all time. Chances are if you haven't seen this movie, you know what happens in it. So let's get to it, shall we?

Star Wars; Episode IV: A new hope for an end of the awful exposition

We're here, the original Trilogy, and I do mean it this time, although I could easily do a review of Star Wars Rebels, and here I will restate that I'm reviewing the Special Editions, and will do a retake review of the originals when I can do so legally and the majority of people can get it LEGALLY. For now, we do really have to go somewhere a long time ago, to the 70's in fact.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (and plotholes)

Rejoice, for we're at the last of the prequel movies. That's right, after this we'll be in the original trilogy. But first, we must review the movie that exists to act as a bridge between older fan's love of the original movies, and the prequel movies that everyone hates. I've delayed this once, let's get this done. Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith.

Freedom Planet: "What's this? AN INDIE GAME REVIEW?!"

Yes, it's true, contrary to what I've reviewed, I do play other games, and I play indie games. Granted not as much as I'd like for indies, but I am working on it. I was first introduced to this game via an event called SAGE, the Sonic Armature Games Expo back in 2012, where this game was first shown off, and I had a blast playing it. It was a great demo and is one of the kickstarter projects I wish I had the money at the time to endorse. However, it was released to the world recently, and even got a WiiU Port (Which is the version I used for this review, however I do have experience with the PC version, and will be getting said PC version to let's play soon).

First Imperssions: X-Men Apocalypse

Link to video: https://youtu.be/cJ4v_9TNvgA

Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters: This tutorial sucks

The joys of being a child in the 2000's, you couldn't escape anime. No, not the good ones, this was the era of 4-Kids, so this was the time when anime was like 80's cartoons in that they were there to sell products. Sometimes it worked, such as with Pokemon. Others... not so much. One of the reasons I started this site was an excuse to look back at my childhood, and see how well it holds up. Pokemon Emerald, that was rushed thanks to ORAS, as I was planning on reviewing it November last year, but that was one example of me doing this, another being Transformers Armada, Energon and Cybertron. So now we have another, being the Duel Monsters iteration of Yu-Gi-Oh. I have others that I'll  be getting to, but for now, let's take a look at the best example I have right now of what kids imagine when playing card games. Care to put your faith in the heart of the cards? (Of course I was going to have that somewhere).

First Impressions: Captain America Civil War

For those who'd prefer a link: https://youtu.be/oSs4eWkvdYk

Star Wars; The Clone Wars: Who needs a cast when you have CGI?

A common complaint people have with the prequels is the amount of CGI in use, barely any of the movie was actually on set. So a few years after the prequels had come out, and news of a new Star Wars movie was on the way excited people... until they herd that it was going to be all CG, and it was a prequel for a show by the same name, and that it was still during the prequels. Yeah, that went over well... Well, speaking from a more outsider perspective, as my knowledge of Star Wars is limited to the films, current shows, and The Force Awakens games, this was the first Star Wars movie I ever saw at the cinema, and at the time, I enjoyed it. Does it hold up? Well one way to find out. The focus of this review is the movie, however a lot of it can be applied to the show, and I will be covering aspects of the show, just not in as much detail.

Star Wars; Episode 2: Attack of the exposition... I mean Clones

Sorry for the major typo . I was tired, I don't know what I was thinking, even I know calling this movie "Star Wars: Revenge of the Clones" was stupid, and yet is probably the funniest thing about this.

Super Mario Maker: "We give up, make your own"

So to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Brothers on the NES, we got what can be described as a dev kit. Actually it was a dev kit until the team decided to merge it with the plans for a sequel to Mario Paint. To be fair, to those who hate it, it could be worse. There could be no mention of an anniversary, let alone a game, and trust me when I say that there are a lot of games that get that treatment. So now that the game has been out for a while, let's see what the community can do.

Worlds Collide: What happens when you mix the Blue Blur with the Blue Bomber?

This is something I get the feeling was being worked on while Archie was getting the rights to do the comics. Think about it, you're going for the rights of two of gaming's most iconic characters (that isn't named Mario), one of whom holds the record for longest running comic series based on a video game. Why wouldn't you bring the two together? Because they did, we get Worlds Collide, so lets see how this goes, shall we?

Animal Crossing; Amiibo Festival: "So I herd you liked Mario Party 10"

"Honestly, we just wanted Animal Crossing Amiibo. We wanted the company to make Animal Crossing Amiibo, so that's why we made a game that works with them." I herd a lot of backlash for this statement, and I mean a lot. I'm not going to summarize it, but my view on it is more pleasant then others. This was said by the development team, and more often then not, the development team doesn't have dollar signs in their eyes, and they've shown that they love all the characters they've made, why wouldn't they, it's Animal Crossing. To say that the characters are cute does them a dis service, adorable doesn't even come close at times. With that push, Nintendo had the ability to print money before they ran out of fighters in Super Smash Brothers, and giving them enough time to build up the RFID chips to back log for the inevitable mass producing of Pokemon amiibo, my wallet is already dreading that day. So with Amiibo Festival and it's sister game, Happy Home Designer, how well does the Animal Crossing Team impliment Amiibo. I will come back to Happy Home Designer, but let's get this done first.

Star Wars; Episode 1: The Phantom Menace: Let's get these two out of the way first, shall we?

One thing I've been saying to people I know is that this month, I'm kinda setting myself up to shoot myself in the foot with this, purely because of what the subject is. Star Wars is one of the most talked about things on the internet, and most of it is aimed at how bad the prequel trilogy is and that the original trilogy is seen as a masterpiece. Do I agree with those statements? Well, you'll see by the end of the month. Now before we go into the reviews themselves, I'm going to say this here and now. I am reviewing the DVD releases that came out in 2004, which means that yes, I'll be reviewing the original trilogy based on the "Special editions". Sadly I have not seen the original edits of Episodes 4, 5 and 6, let alone own a copy of them. All three are versions I want to see someday, and I want the rumors of the movies being re released to be true, but until then, these will have to do. I will say in advance, it is really obvious what's been edited in. But before we get to that, we have these to do, so lets kick off the Star Wars Marathon with what some argue to be the worst of the movies: The Phantom Menace.

The 2015 summary and what's to come in 2016

As I write this on the last Monday of 2015, a nice breeze and a warm sun entering my room, I have to say, there's not a lot to talk about with this in terms of this year, unlike last year, there wasn't a lot that wasn't addressed earlier on. But at the same time, still a lot of exciting things to say. So gather round, as we cast of 2015, and talk about what's in store for 2016.

In terms of content, it was pretty solid. The Digimon Marathon had to be cut short, and the review of Batman Arkham Origins is still far away as I still don't have a copy, but I do believe enough has come out to supliment that, for the time being. We got all the episodes of Digimon up to the start of Digimon Fusion Season 2, a series I've honestly stopped following due to time. The review of almost the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe took up all of May, that was fun to work on until Twitter trolls started to latch their claws into what little free time I had post Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The funny thing is that they're still trying that pathetic "gag", I'm not even angry any more, I find the idea of them still trying is hilarious seven months after. The rest of the year was more smaller things like the week of opening impressions more because of burn out, and preparation for what's coming up. Not only has this site broken 200 posts with the release of the Undertale review, but recently the site has broken 25,000, with the Pokemon Zeta and Onicron (Omnicron is still a cooler name) and Digimon Adventure 02 breaking over 1,000 views on their own. Considering the site isn't even two years old, and yes to many those may not seem great, but to me that's amazing, and it's what keeps driving me to write more content, especially when this time last year we just broke 4,000. So to all who have been following this site in some form, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. That's probably going to become a reoccurring line as more milestones break, but it'll continue to be true.

If there's something specific you want to know about what has come out, ask me in either my Ask.fm, Twitter, Facebook, Retrospring (Which is something I really need to remember to check because I don't get email notifications on it) or any other way to get in contact with me, all the sites linked to this are on the side in the same place. I know this year wasn't very interesting in terms of back story, but there wasn't anything like last year that I didn't address in other posts. Before going into the planned reviews and impressions next year, a few changes are coming to the site itself and how it's managed.

• A name change will be happening shortly after this post goes live, including a change to the web address. With Marissa now writing for the site, I personally don't feel comfortable keeping the name as it feels like I'm writing her content, which some people may think if they don't notice the "keybug55's reviews:" or the fact that she tags her posts with "keybug55" and "marissa", which I'll be going through my posts and adding "blaster" and "liam" to mine when I get some free time, and you'll see why. The new name is Mediaholics.
• More of a focus will be put on my Patreon. I do want to start doing this with more of a focus but that requires the site having a budget. Sadly the world doesn't work for free. Now while I'm not going to be barring core content behind a unbroken paywall. What I will be doing is giving Patreon supporters access to my video content a week early when applicable (this doesn't really work for E3 and similar topics, but will be used for Let's Plays and other videos), will get to decide what gets to be covered every now and then, akin to the strawpolls for the Comic arc reviews, but not as limiting and will get to see my notes and other behind the scenes documentation. I'm also going to be doing other Patreon supporters exclusive content when I have the resources to do it.
• The site is going to become a more general content site, with videos from mine and maybe keybug's channels (depending on how things go), including lets plays along with the reviews site and the projects site to be merged.
• More video content is on the way. For the time being I will be putting Earthbound on more of a hiatus just due to time, but Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky will be returning very soon.
• First Impressions are going to become videos when possible. E3 conference summaries will probably stay as text, but Pre and Post E3 will return as videos, and impressions of trailers will be videos as well.
• No more comic arc polls for a while, as most of them didn't get a lot of votes, which defeats the purpose of a poll. However this does mean that arcs like Civil War and the Phoenix Saga will be covered in 2016.

Wakko's Wish: How much is a half penny worth anyway?

Tis the season to be merry, to sit around the fire and tell christmas stories... Unless you live where I do where fires have a strong chance of becoming bushfires, it is summer after all. But, on this christmas eve, let us return to 1999, travel to ACME Falls, for Wakko's Wish.

Undertale

keybug55's reviews:

Undertale

Take the bullet hell shoot 'em up games, mix them with some charming RPG elements, and make it so every character is lovable in some way or another. You get a game known as Undertale. I'll try my best to explain the game without giving too much spoilers.

The game's background is basically there's two races, humans and monsters. Monsters got sealed away into the underground, and you are a human child that fell down there. You explore the Underground meeting various interesting monsters with their own distinct personalities.

Every action you make can change the ending in one way or another, and I do mean EVERY action. Even if you restart without saving, the game will remember, and it will be sure to let you know it does. There is every possible outcome for almost every possible option. What I mainly love about this game is that everything is very well thought out. There are plenty of secrets and easter eggs to go back to, making this game highly replayable. Some secrets you have to find by closing and reopening the game.

If I had any complaint about this game, I would say that the beginning is a bit slow, but it's enough to get you immersed in the game. The first character you meet is Toreil that gives you the rundown of the game. You can say, she'll give you a...TuTORIEL?! Yeah this whole game is filled with lame puns.

One main thing I also love about this game are the characters. Each character no matter how nice, mean, annoying, or sadistic they are have a lot of charm and heart put into them. Mind you, if you play through genocide you'll have to eventually kill these characters. Especially if you do pacifist first, it might break your heart to see these characters die, but I think that just adds to the experience.

The battle system is pretty creative too. Basically you're a heart that has to dodge the attacks of various monsters, like a bullet hell game.  Sometimes it's simple, most times it's pretty crazy. Although I would say the difficulty overall is pretty fair. There are two options that change the game very drastically. You have a choice of killing an enemy, or sparing it. The more enemies you kill, you gain EXP and gain levels, this path is called Genocide. To reach the True Pacifist ending, you'll have to spare every enemy and boss. Arguably, it's easier to get though the game killing everything, though I would not recommend starting with it. You will have a bad time later on, and it will alter True Pacifist's ending even when you reset.

Overall this game is very well thought out, extremely charming, and a joy to go through even at the tough parts. It's not too long either, for this game only has seven areas. If you're a fan of RPGs like Earthbound, I'd recommend you try this game. Even if you aren't, it's a nice game to start with.

-Marissa (keybug55)

Writers talking about December gaming news

Meet the new writer for the site, who will be uploading their first review very soon.

Mario And Sonic at the Olympic Games: Wasted potential

Mario and Sonic, Nintendo and SEGA, the figure heads of the first major Console War. Bare in mind kids, this was in the time when there was actually a difference between hardware and devices weren't trying to see who could be the first outdated "not a PC". With such a legacy, to say that it was a big deal when it was confirmed that, for the first time ever, they were going to be in the same game is an understatement. People joke when they say that the day Sonic was confirmed for Super Smash Brothers Brawl was "the day the internet almost died", but it wouldn't be too far off... However that wasn't the first game. That title goes to... a Wii and DS collection of sport themed party games... oh joy... Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games...

Super Smash brothers for WiiU: It's time to "Settle it in Smash"... again...

So last year I did Super Smash Brothers for 3DS, and I get the feeling people were wondering why I didn't review Super Smash Brothers for WiiU at the same time. Well, there are two reasons for that decision (technically three). The first being that I didn't have Super Smash Brothers for WiiU at the time, as I only just got my WiiU at the time it was launched, combined with the fact that I like to give games a bit more time then a week. The other, more important reason is because I wanted to review Project M as they had announced that a PAL version was coming. The reason that's important is because if I were to review mods, which I want to, but I want to apply a rule of "It has to be simple to install with as little hard or soft modifications as possible. If I have to disable region lock, its a no go. Recently Project M was ceasing development, and with no PAL version for 3.6, take a guess at what's become a bit of a pipe dream... so with that out of the way, let's take a follow up look at Super Smash Brothers 4, now on the Nintendo WiiU.

Avengers: Age of Ultron: There aren't any strings on me either, what's your point?

Well, this film got a reputation didn't it? While the first film was praised all around, Age of Ultron got panned for a lot of things that were praised in the first film, has the reputation of it giving a selection of, rather loud, people an excuse to chase the film's director off Twitter, and... that's all that was really talked about the film. From what I saw, if the film being similar to The Avengers wasn't what people were talking about, it was the aftermath and how Joss Whedon was treated that was. I'm already dreading talking about why it happened, so let's just get this out of the way. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Batman: Arkham City: Because clearly the villains need a city and not an island

So what to do with two prisons ruined because of the Joker? You build a wall around a portion of the city and shove all the criminals into there. I can't imagine how much of a brilliant plan that is. Well, let's see how badly Batman comes to wreck this "ingenious plan" with Batman Arkham City.

Batman: Arkham Asylum: I swear there will be no bat gadget jokes in this

This was a long time coming. I was actually planning on doing this during my absence for the Comedy Festival, where I'd also cover Arkham Origins... that never happened. I wanted to do it before Arkham Knight, didn't happen. Then I tried to fit it in before the PC version re release... that didn't happen. So now consider this as the lead up for when WB Games get the PC version up to an actual standard deserving of its price tag. It's time for us to put on the cape and cowl and enter the Madhouse. Welcome, to Arkham Asylum.

Ignition & Battle of Karda Nui: Race against time. Race for Life

The Kanohi Ignika, the Mask of Life. Most who touch it are eternally cursed in some way, those who are destined to wear it... well... aren't much better off. We have 15 small comics from DC (yeah, how many people here knew that DC did the BIONICLE comics?), so let's not waste time, because the characters don't have a lot of time. Ignition, and the Battle of Karda Nui.

First Impressions: Five Nights at Freddy's World: ALREADY?!

I have three theories, concerning the FNAF series franchise. The first: Scott Cawthorn is actually a code name for 13+ people, the second, that he is a robot. The reason I say these is because I thought we wouldn't be seeing this trailer until next year, not a few hours ago. I will say though that the third theory is that this is a very, VERY early build of the game, but based on prior games I'm not buying a 2016 release until January 2nd comes (factoring in timezones, of course). But, we do have a trailer, so its time to look at FNAF World...

So not only have we ditched the Point and click gameplay (I hope as I don't want to direct a RPG party with a mouse), but we've ditched the horror gameplay entirely, "now... they're CUTE." See:

We have a traditional, old school RPG, which on the surface looks fun to play. The mechanics don't look too complicated, but my guess is that its because of the trailer, and hopefully it does have some depth. One problem I'm seeing at the moment, based on what little we know of it, the party members could be very "samey" if that makes sense. When you stop to look at it, there really aren't a lot of Animatronic characters in the series, just different interpretations of them, which could be the biggest problem with the game, "why should I pick Phantom Foxy over regular Foxy?" as an example. It looks like it may not be a problem for the Nightmare forms, but it might with some others.

Visuals wise, it looks nice, but some of the characters look scarier here then they did in the horror games, mainly The Puppet. As I said in my review of the four games last week, I don't find the animatronics scary, but here, there is an Uncanny Vally esque design to these. I can't really describe it based on just this picture, I need to see the characters in action, something I could say about the entire game itself. This is something I need more info on before I can form an opinion. I'll probably play it as I do like old school RPG's, but I will say. Scott, FOR THE LOVE OF PRIMUS, SLOW DOWN! I've seen RPG's rushed and they suffer for it, I'd rather not see this one suffer the same fate. I'll see you all for the Ignition and Battle for Karda Nui arcs tomorrow.

Ghostbusters: Anyone for Marshmallows?

When I started this site, it was because I was looking for an excuse to see, read, listen and play new things while looking at things I loved as a child. Sometimes its turned out great, others... not so much. Until recently, or to be more precise about half an hour at time of writing, I'd never seen Ghostbusters, I honestly had no interest in seeing it. But with this, I think the time is right, so, let's bust some ghosts.

It's the best I could find

Four games at Freddy's: I solomly swear that there will be no jump scares in this post. Besides, have you tried typing Jump scares?

Five Nights at Freddy's, chances are you've herd of these game if you've spent any time on Youtube this past year, that's what happens when one person puts out four well received horror games in under a year, which bugs me even of itself, as I feel that the quality of the games is diminished as a result. But, I did promise last year that I'd review the first game, and I'm doing one, I may as well do all four. So, here's my review of the four Five Nights at Freddy's games. As a forewarn, I'm reviewing the PC versions of all of these games, but iOS and android versions do exist.