Monthly Archives: August 2020

Laharl vs Bass

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Bass has returned to prove who the real overlord of media is. Don’t get me wrong, Laharl is a pretty capable fighter in his own right. He’s certainly not the kind of guy to go down easy. That being said, he’s definitely out of his league in this round. Bass can reflect any energy blast Laharl tries to fire off and Laharl’s defense won’t be enough to block any of Bass’ attacks. Lets face it, the difference in firepower is absolutely crazy and that’s before Bass activates his hub style or beast out. Bass wins.

Mami Tomoe vs Caulifla

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Mami is a skilled fighter with her guns. She can fire at super speeds and in general is just not an opponent you want to deal with. Caulifla will have to tread carefully but once she turns into Kefla then this is all over. Caulifla can end the whole galaxy on a whim and Mami will have nowhere to go. Her speed is still impressive but it’s just not going to do a whole lot to Caulifla. Caulifia is just completely out of her league at this point and I don’t think there’s any way around that. Caulifla wins.

Miles Matheson vs Laharl

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Miles is a reasonably tough guy when he’s got his gun or sword on hand. He can hold his own and has quite a bit of combat experience. Neither one of those weapons will allow him to lay a hand on Laharl though. Laharl is a demon of pure power. Just by powering up and sending off a full powered energy blast he could likely decimate the planet. Is that really someone that you want to mess with? Miles should probably run as soon as the match begins but he can only delay the loss, not avoid it. Laharl wins.

Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01: A New Courage Review

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It’s time to look at a quick one shot that came out for Digimon a while back. It’s been ages since I read the original V-Tamer manga so I need to give that a re-read someday. Still, it’s nostalgic to see Tai and Zero once again. Those two definitely made for a good combo and the Veemon digievolution line is pretty fun. Since the Tai from the show is pretty early on his Agumon can’t quite compete but the story finds a way for them to be equals this time around.

The story starts with Tai (TV) suddenly falling into a parrallel world. He has entered the Digi World of the manga universe. Tai (Zero) quickly fills him in on what’s going on. After the world was saved, a new digimon has appeared. This Digimon is alive to an extent but effectively it’s a large portal that can spit out a bunch of other Digimon. Zero’s been holding them at bay but the Digimon appear to be endless. Also, an unfortunate side effect of saving the world is that Veemon can no longer access his Mega forms. As a result it’s an uphill battle. Agumon can only go to Greymon form so that doesn’t help either. Can these two really save the Digital Planet?

Since this is just a one shot at 30 pages they do have to find the answer to this pretty quick. It’s a solid team up though with both characters getting their respect. The Zero version is pretty serious as always and I still love the cape. He does a lot of the heavy lifting here. Meanwhile the TV version is very optimistic and ready for action. He’s able to compensate for being the weaker fighter here by showing his courage and allowing the Digimon to shatter their limits. We get a pretty solid final blow as well.

Most one shots have a fun enough story where I feel they could have been a whole series or at least a volume. This is one of them since they could have had a lot of cool interactions if it lasted longer. The writer did what he could with what he had to work with though and it works out well. It’d be nice if they ever licensed V-Tamer 01 in America someday. Then they could tack this on to the end of the volume or something.

The art is definitely solid. The artist does a good job of making the two Tais look a little different. Aside from the outfit, it’s worth noting that the manga version is a little older so he’s also drawn as being taller. This is done consistently during the chapter so the attention to detail is on point. This definitely isn’t a chapter that was just thrown together at the last second. It’s also a good way to tie in to the new show and raise a bit of hype. I can never turn down a crossover so that’s definitely a good thing.

Overall, A New Courage is an appropriate title as it ties in to what is going on here. Magna Angemon’s predictions ultimately ended up being right on the money. If you’re a Digimon fan or just like some good action then this is a good chapter to check out. It’s got that nostalgic beat to it which is always good and even without that it’s just a good story in general. Nothing to dislike here that’s for sure. Hopefully we get some more Digimon manga in the future. I feel like it’s definitely been way too long since we got another title.

Overall 7/10

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice Review

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This game has been waiting its turn for a very long time at this point. Well, I finally took the plunge and got it. Surprisingly the game doesn’t beat the originals though. Mainly this is due to the length being a lot shorter and the plot not being as interesting. I beat this game in around 2.5 hours compared to the Wii U one which took 7 and the 3DS original which I played for 14 hours although the story was more in line with 7. This one seems like they had to rush it out because otherwise I do feel like a lot of effort was put into it. There are a good amount of cutscenes and things of that nature.

The plot of the game is that Eggman is trying to build the Eggbot racers that can be even faster than Sonic. To this end he builds a robot that can attract the rare kind of metal he needs. The bot tries his best but Sonic and friends prove to be too much for him. Unfortunately this makes Eggman turn on him as well. The bot really wants to prove himself to Eggman so he’s going to continue to try and grab the metals. Meanwhile Sonic and friends are trying to stop the elemental geysers being produced as part of this and are forced to travel the globe. Can they save the planet from ecological disaster?

So there isn’t really much of a story here. Still, it’s very nostalgic to see the ole Sonic Boom cast once more. I did greatly enjoy the show and felt like it should have gotten another season. The cutscenes are really solid to the point where the cutscenes look like they could have been from the actual show. This is the level of detail I like to see and shows this was not some simple cash in. A real effort was made here and I definitely appreciate that. They should have found a way to squeeze Shadow into the story though. I think that would have been a really good idea to raise the stakes. We do get a fun climax though where Eggman is actually forced to ask Sonic for help. Sonic and Eggman is the big team up we’ve been waiting for so that was definitely pretty hype.

The gameplay is a 2D platformer like most Sonic games. You navigate your way through obstacles and grab collectibles as you make it to the goal. The new wrinkle to this game is that you now have the ability to use fire and ice thanks to the ecological phenomenons going on around the world. The fire ability allows you to melt ice while the ice power lets you freeze water. They’re fun little abilities. I wouldn’t say they change the gameplay experience all that much so it’s a pretty harmless gimmick which I can definitely roll with. This is the kind of experimentation that I’d say works rather well.

As I mentioned though, the game is really short. At a little over 2 hours that’s just not a whole lot of time. It has more replay value than Kirby though as each world has several bonus levels as opposed to just one. It’s part of why the game is so short though as you just don’t need to play most of the levels. That should add a good amount of play time in. Then you’ve also got the bonus racing mode where you can even play as an Egg bot. You use the gems you collect to buy more suits so that’s pretty fun. There are also 3 upgrades as well. It’ll probably take you a while to buy them all though. There are 6 upgrades and completing the game just gave me enough money to buy 1. Buying all 6 would definitely be difficult but maybe the bonus levels have more gems than the normal ones.

I already talked about how great the graphics are so I don’t need to go on that for very long. The in-game graphics are just as solid. There are a few different playable characters who all have their own strengths and abilities which is nice for variety. The soundtrack is less memorable though and in general you’ll probably forget it as soon as you finish the playthrough. I would have liked some remixed tracks or something to spice it up. There aren’t a lot of boss battles either which could be the reason. Surprisingly it would seem like not every world had a boss unless some of the bosses are optional.

The boss fights themselves are pretty fun although most of them play in a very similar way. I’d say that it’s just the gameplay not being able to change things up much but that’s not really true. I think there’s more they could have done with it. Each boss battle has 2 phases. One phase you use Sonic to home attack the enemy while the other has your partner use their signature skill. Since all of the partners are different that part is always unique but Sonic is the one where his gameplay is exactly the same all the time. Switching that one up a bit would definitely have gone a long way if you ask me. Still, I’ll give the game props for the tag system. I thought that was pretty fun.

Overall, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is a worthy sequel to the original Sonic Boom. that being said, I wouldn’t say it was particularly noteworthy or knocking it out of the park either. It’s a fun game that will keep you busy until you complete it. Afterwards even with the replay value you won’t have much to do though so this is definitely the kind of game you just playthrough once and keep it moving. If you like platformers then I recommend checking this one out. The cutscenes help make the game feel a little more special as well. A little more length would have been nice but I’ll take what we can get. Hopefully we get a new Sonic game soon because I miss that series.

Overall 7/10

Kirby Squeak Squad Review

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It’s time to look at a recent Kirby game for the DS. Kirby is one of those titles where I’ve lost track of how many portable games there are. There are just so many and then you have the remakes and ports to deal with as well. I figured I could at least get a little closer to being caught up with the series though and what better way than with this one? Squeak Squad is one of the shortest Kirby games out there as it’s barely over 2 hours. That means it is the perfect pick to blast through. The gameplay is pretty solid but the length is hard to ignore.

The plot involves Kirby getting ready to eat a nice slice of cake. Unfortunately the cake is snatched away right before his very eyes. It appears that the group known as the Squeaks have stolen it. Kirby makes it his mission to track all of these guys down so he can get his cake. He will have to travel across multiple lands in order to do this, but nothing is going to stop him from getting his meal. I know how good a solid slice of cake can be so it is definitely hard to pass that up. Meanwhile, is there something more sinister at play here?

The story doesn’t move much as you only get a quick cutscene at the start and then for the final few worlds. Still, I’m always glad to see a story of any sort. It may feel rather low stakes but this is Kirby so you know that something will change by the end. Kirby has come to be known as the title with all of the extremely high end cosmic villains by the end and the games do not disappoint with this. As they go on you can always count on some pretty big villains showing up to cause damage and take people down. The final boss here is enough hype being with a cool design. In general the boss fights are pretty solid.

I also expected them to be a walk in the park but 1 in particular was actually a real challenge where I lost some lives. A big thing in the Kirby games is to make sure you have the right power for each situation. If you lose a power then a boss or level can be a lot more difficult than it would have been otherwise. That’s exactly what happened here. I lose my boomerang power so that I could make a space for the chest. Then the cloud boss that showed up was hard to deal with. I kept falling or I would get stunned for a while. The boss design was actually pretty clever and worked quite well to be honest. This was a true threat that just wouldn’t go down very easy. The rest of the bosses were more standard but I was still reasonably impressed with this.

As for the gameplay, it’s your standard Kirby style. You run through a level as you try to get to the goal. A new wrinkle is that you can hold up to 5 items in storage in addition to the ability you already have. This can be pretty handy for sure. You’ll also need those spots because some levels can have up to 3 chests. They each take up a slot so this prevents you from holding more food or special abilities. You don’t actually need to collect all of the chests in this game to clear it, but I wasn’t taking any chances and grabbed half of them during the game. In particular the important ones appear to be the mega chests at the end of a level. These have the potential to carry the Star Brands and you will need those brands in order to access the final worlds. Most of the chests aren’t really hidden during the opening worlds and only get a little more difficult in the second half of the game. I’d say that’s the main thing to be aware of but otherwise you should be good to go.

The levels are a lot shorter than I expected which makes sense for why the game is so short. There are around 50 levels in the game and you don’t have to actually clear all of them. Each level comes with a bonus level that you can skip so most worlds just have 5 levels. Each level shouldn’t take you longer than around 2 minutes to complete if you’re looking for chests. I liked the pocket size of the levels. They’re part of the game’s charm and it makes this game very easy to just pick up and play. The level designs are quite excellent but that’s no surprise.

The graphics are definitely pretty good. I liked the little illustrations we would get to progress the story as well. The artwork was definitely on point and it helped to show that this game had a reasonable budget. The soundtrack is very good. That one has a lot of remixes from previous games and all of the tunes end up feeling pretty iconic. This is definitely more in line with what I would expect from a Nintendo title and they did not disappoint. These tunes are memorable and really get you into the spirit of things.

In terms of replay value there is some although not a whole lot. Completing the whole game with half of the collectibles only took a little over 2 hours. If you go back to get the rest of them then I guess you could maybe stretch this to 4 hours. That’s about it though so I can’t give the game a whole lot of credit for that. 4 hours for 100% completion rate is not really amazing at all but the sheer enjoyment factor of the game will keep this one operating at a positive level. If anything I would just say as a disclaimer that you shouldn’t buy this game for a high price. Make sure you get it for around 15 or something and then it’s a good deal.

Overall, Kirby Squeak Squad was pretty fun. It’s a brief experience but I certainly enjoyed the smooth gameplay and fun plot. This is a game I could recommend to anyone who likes platformers or wants to start the genre. Despite that one boss being a little tricky, the game is pretty easy so it works perfectly as an introduction. After clearing it you’ll be ready for some more adventures and slightly more difficult titles. I have another Kirby game coming up which is supposed to be tougher to complete so I look forward to seeing what challenges that one has in store for me.

Overall 7/10

The Lone Ranger vs Laharl

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This is a tribute to the Legend of the Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger may be a pretty good shot and a decent hand to hand fighter but neither one of those skills will mean anything in combat against the Overlord! Laharl is completely out of the Lone Ranger’s league and that will become more and more apparent as the match goes on. There just isn’t anything that the Ranger can hope to accomplish against a demon like Laharl. Laharl wins.

Orihime vs Silva

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Suggested by iKnowledge Orihime is a nice character but in some ways one of the most disappointing ones. Her ability to reject things from injuries to events seemed pretty fascinating and there should be a way to make that an offensive move. Surprisingly that never really happened though. She has some mild skills like shooting her energy spirits and such but nothing particularly impressive considering how strong the Bleach-verse is. Meanwhile Silva mainly just watched the fighters of Shaman King, but when it came time to fight he did deliver. His fight against Yoh was pretty good. His physical abilities are just too strong. Orihime can reject his attacks for a while but without pure offensive options her reflections can only buy her so much time. As long as Silva fights smart, he won’t get caught up in his own attacks. Silva wins.

Yoshi Touch & Go Review

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It’s time to look at a Yoshi game I didn’t know much about. Thanks to the Gamestop deal it was effectively one of the 3 free games so no harm either way. That being said…it’s just not very good. This game has no story and the 4 modes it has have identical gameplay. There’s really nothing to do here because it’s like playing a Mairo Party title that effectively only has 1 minigame. How long is that really going to last you when you think about it? A single game can work if there’s a lot of effort behind it or it’s simply addicting but I’m not sure if this one really seals the deal on that. At the very least I didn’t find it all that entertaining at all and grew bored of it pretty quickly. This is definitely one of Nintendo’s weakest games.

The gameplay is divided into two phases. The first phase has you falling through the air as Baby Mario. The idea here is to grab as many coins as possible while avoiding enemies. Once you’ve fallen 1000 feet then your stats are used to determine the equipment for Yoshi in the next phase. The way to stop yourself from bumping into enemies is to draw clouds in the sky that you use as borders to steer Baby Mario while also blocking off the enemies. That’s really the only controls you have but it can be tougher than it sounds. Due to how the DS has 2 screens and all, you have to time the blockades really well or they will flat out miss the target. If that happens then things aren’t going to go all that well for you. You can keep retrying until you succeed of course but the gameplay is rather slow so it takes a bit.

The second half has you riding a Yoshi who automatically walks forward. The idea here it to throw eggs at enemies in front of you before you bump into them. Remember, a single touch will result in your destruction so you really do need to keep away. Also remember to build a bridge of clouds underneath you so that you don’t fall to your doom. It can be tough to multi task on everything but this mode works pretty well. Every enemy you hit also extends the timer on the level. The idea is to get as far as possible as there is no end. The only level with an end is Time Attack where you get to save Baby Luigi.

So that’s it, this is the extent of the game. The modes here are Score Attack, Challenge, Survival, and Time Attack. They all have the exact same gameplay though so there’s just not much to this. Additionally there is no way to skip the Baby Mario stuff. I feel like that would have gone a long way to make the game more fun since the Yoshi gameplay, while not perfect, is a considerable improvement. I can at least see myself having a little more fun there. The game just feels incredible rushed though. Couldn’t they have at least given us more stages or different ways to play? A very quick story or arcade mode would have done the job just fine and then there would not have been any kind of issue. That would have been absolutely fantastic so it’s a shame that it didn’t work out.

The graphics are okay though. It does look about as good as a normal Nintendo game. There’s not a lot to base this on because the gameplay is so limited but what we do have is fine by me. The character models are on point and the enemies look like how they should appear. The backgrounds are nice and it’s pretty nostalgic to see the sprites everywhere. The soundtrack is pretty forgettable but I wouldn’t say it’s bad either. It just doesn’t have the pop you would see in a more mainstream Nintendo title.

Overall, I just feel like this game was incredibly lazy. I feel bad for anyone who bought this day 1 and then immediately ran out of things to do. You can “conquer” the game within an hour. By that I mean getting your name in the top 10 leaderboard for each minigame. At that point it just depends how much you like the game so you can replay the modes over and over. The point of a game like this is to have you constantly try to get better and better so that your score goes high but it depends on how much you like the game. Usually there are a ton of minigames so you have a lot of options but in this case there’s only one so if you don’t like it then you’re sunk. It’s kind of hard to see why Nintendo would phone in a game like this. I’m confident they could make a better version of it for mobile now if they really tried. Ah well, maybe next time. In the meanwhile I highly advise you not to get this game. Even if Yoshi’s the main character, it’s just not worth it.

Overall 3/10