Paper Mario has always been a pretty solid spin off to the main Mario game series. They switched up the gameplay and also featured some pretty deep plots. They were a big step away from the casual Mario plots and I’d say that it was a good move to keep things fresh.

Super Paper Mario is a game that I’m pretty familiar with. A long time ago, I rented it from the library and was able to complete most of it. Unfortunately the game was due back before I could complete it and my Wii ended up breaking two to three years later. So it wasn’t until the other day, that I finally got to complete it.

This installment of the Paper Mario series changed the gameplay so that it was more like the traditional Mario games. I missed the turn based gameplay that the other games had, but this gameplay is still pretty fun. It’ll feel like you’re playing one of the retro Mario games, but you can also shift the gameplay into 3D temporarily. While in 3D, Mario will lose energy and eventually lose all of his health, so use this ability at your own risk. It is essential to shift to 3D throughout the game, so just keep an eye on your energy meter.

The plot involves Count Bleck attempting to use the legendary Chaos Heart to destroy all worlds. The only thing that can possibly stop him is the seven Pure Hearts. Mario and his new friend Tippi must gather them as quickly as possible before the Dark Void consumes everything. There is also a subplot involving Luigi. (Who foiled Count Bleck’s plans in the first place) Luigi looks pretty awesome in this game, but more on that later. Mario and Tippi must also locate Bowser and Peach because only the 4 legendary heroes teaming up can possibly stop Bleck and his group of…loyal followers. The best part of the story mode was when the villains would have a meeting. It was pretty epic and surprisingly intense for a Mario game. I definitely enjoyed each meeting and they felt like a true villain group. (Like the Espada, Spiders, or Akatsuki)

Mario makes for a pretty good protagonist and he never seems to back down from a fight. He’s definitely very brave and heroic, plus he gets the job done. Throughout the game people mention his mustache in a very positive light and it would appear that he may have one of the best mustaches of all time!

Luigi is the real star of this story and he performs better than Mario for a majority of the game. Not only is he the one to stop Count Bleck in the initial meetup, but his defense seems to be better than Mario’s. When the team are knocked out during the end of the game, Luigi wakes up before Mario. Luigi also takes on the powerful Dimentio and proves that he’s not to be messed with. Since Luigi can talk (unlike Mario) he steals all of the epic lines for himself. Unlike the main Mario games, Luigi is incredibly brave in this game and talks tough to all of the villains. Just about all of his lines are pretty epic.

Tippi was a pretty good helper to Mario, but I didn’t really care much for her back story. She talks to herself a lot, but luckily Mario and his friends never seem to notice. Otherwise she may have blown her cover a little too early. Princess Peach was a pretty solid character in this game and she’s tougher than you may have guessed. She can fight and doesn’t need anyone to save her for the most part. Bowser is as strong as always and he never fears the opponents. Next to Luigi, he definitely gives the villains the hardest time.

Mr. L is a mysterious figure who appears towards the end of the game. He bears a bit of a resemblance to Luigi, but we quickly dismiss the notion since Mario would probably have recognized him….right? He goes on to help Count Bleck and the gang, but he seems to have an ulterior motive. He’s very smart and he was even able to build a powerful machine known as the Brobot. Mr. L was easily the best villain in this game and he quickly stole the show with his epic lines and comebacks.

Count Bleck is the leader of the villains, but he’s not quite as interesting as the other characters. He gets some character development, but it’s pretty predictable (Once they start hinting at it) and he doesn’t strike me as a big villain. Once Mario and friends took him on, Count Bleck went down pretty quickly. His other minions O Chunks and Mimi were all right. O Chunks has some pretty impressive strength and he was actually keeping up with Bowser. Mimi has a very cool moment where she turns into a twisted spider like creature and terrorizes the heroes.

Dimentio is a pretty tricky villain and you can never guess what he’s thinking. He’s constantly goading the other villains into attacking Mario or hinting that he knows more than he’s letting on to Count Bleck. He can teleport around whenever he wishes and he was a pretty powerful opponent. His cube attack is deadly and he actually destroys several of the heroes…he DESTROYS them. Who knew that a Mario game would have so many fatalities. In one of the best scenes in the game, Dimentio and Mr. L have a climatic battle.

The soundtrack in this game is pretty good and I particularly like Count Bleck’s theme. It’s a fun piece to listen too and helps to elevate the anticipation to even greater levels. The final boss theme is also pretty exciting and I found the quiz theme to be catchy. Once again, Mario never disappoints with the music.

There is one thing that I wasn’t too fond of in this game. There was several puzzles and things to look for that just felt like time wasters. Locating the star pillars was a bit more work than it needed to be. It takes forever to walk across the town and look for them all. Of course, there weren’t too many of them so it’s not a huge negative. All right, there’s one more mildly negative thing in this game. They played up the romance a bit much towards the end and I don’t think that it was a needed subplot to add in this game.

Super Paper Mario was definitely a fun Mario game and it’s something that all Mario games should strive to be like. The plot was deep and there was a real sense of danger. The fatality count has never been so high and the fate of all planets was at stake. I’d definitely recommend this game to you gamers out there and it was pretty fun.

Overall 7/10

The World Championship titles have always been my personal favorite series from the Yugioh franchise. They are always pretty fun and there are many duels to be had. This is one of the few games in the series to actually have a concrete story mode which just makes the game all the better!

The game revolves around a kid named Terry (At least in my version!) who used to be pals with Yusei and the Enforcers. After that, he went on to become one of Sayer’s Arcadia grunts. Terry would never do such a thing willingly so they brainwashed him. Terry’s mind is too strong to be controlled for long so he starts to resist and gains back some of his memories. Will he gain all of his memories back and help the heroes save the day!? Or will he stay a villain forever?

Terry is a pretty solid protagonist and he’s definitely one of the better characters in the game. He isn’t afraid of anybody and he’s a very powerful duelist. He has no equal when it comes to dueling and not even Yusei or Director Goodwin could stop him. In the game Terry is unbeatable and there is literally no duelist who can take him down. Not to mention that Terry also has the best duel runner in the world (As it would seem anyway)

Yusei is a pretty good character, but he is never able to back up his tough talk. His Duel Runner also tends to break down at the worst times. Still, Yusei will never abandon a friend and he’s much more noble than most of today’s main characters. They could certainly learn a thing or two from Yusei.

Jack Atlas is a top notch duelist in his own right as well and he always gives it his all. He’s the only signer who is able to defeat his dark counterpart without Terry’s help. He’s also a pretty solid character and I don’t see why you wouldn’t like him. For the most part, he’s a dependable hero who gets the job done. (Of course none of the heroes were as fast as Terry and ended up missing part of the final battle)

Akiza is another signer and possibly the strongest. In a duel Yusei or Jack could probably defeat Akiza, but in a physical fight, she would definitely win. Akiza has psychic powers and she is very skilled at using them. Akiza has her share of evil moments and definitely does a lot of damage, but in the end she proves that she’s a hero.

Leo and Luna are the final main characters. Leo doesn’t really do anything for the entire battle and he’s way out of his league. He doesn’t get the mark of the signer and he’s not a really good duelist. Luna does all right as well, but her dueling abilities aren’t as good as the other signers. You can blame this on the fact that she’s still a kid.

The Dark Signers make for pretty good antagonists and they’re pretty mysterious. Kallen was definitely the best Dark Signer, but Rex Goodwin was also pretty good. Director Goodwin tricked most of the main cast for the majority of the game which earns him some points. With his sheer muscle power, he could probably have defeated them in a hand to hand fight if it had come down to that.

One thing that I wasn’t crazy about in this game was that they got rid of the traditional championship mode. In the other games, there were tiers where you would beat the other characters on the tier to unlock the next one. It was a very fun way to duel and advance through the rankings. I guess Story Mode was a good replacement, but I still miss that part.

The gameplay is as great as always and you’ll never get tired of dueling. It’s pretty fast paced and you’ll find yourself in a lot of tight situations. The computer’s AI is pretty good as well. This game also features Duel Runner races which are very fun. Once you’ve got a nicely customized Duel Runner, you’ll be ready to tackle anything! There are also turbo duels which are basically a mix of the two. I think it would be fun to control the duel runner while dueling, but maybe for a sequel.

Overall, this is another solid installment to the franchise and I highly recommend it to gamers everywhere. You won’t find this intense action in many games and the cast is easily one of the better ones. I know that I’ll be picking up the sequel at some point (And you can expect a review), but until then at least I have this game to pass the time by. There is always more to do in a Yugioh game and this one has a Lot of replay value. There are many more duelists to beat and races to conquer after all.

Overall 8/10

Achievements
Beat Game

Things to do
Get all cards
Defeat All Duelists
Win All Races

The Super Smash Bros. series is easily one of the most popular game series of all time. The concept of bringing together Nintendo’s most popular characters from various franchises into one game was definitely a genius move. The first two games became living legends right away so there was a lot of pressure on Brawl to deliver. I’d say that SSBB definitely did a solid job and delivered everything that I could have wanted in the game.

Brawl had a pretty solid array of game modes to play around with. Classic Mode has stayed true to formula and is definitely the most traditional mode for the series. All Star mode lets you challenge all 35 Smash characters in a long marathon of battles. Boss Battles mode is a new choice that debuted in this game. There are 10 bosses to challenge and completing this mode on intense difficulty is truly an impressive feat. There are many other modes including the Homerun Contest, Event Mode, Break the Targets, and Multiman Brawl, all of which have a co-op option as well as the normal single player version. SSBB is definitely rich in content and you will find yourself playing it for hours. If you want a break from brawling, there are now other modes to appease your gaming needs. Coin Launcher is a mode where you use your coins to shoot at trophies and objects that drop stickers. It’s a pretty fun minigame and definitely an improvement from the lottery machine in Melee. With 700 stickers and over 500 trophies, you’ll definitely be using this mode a lot! A unique feature that was added to this game was the stage builder. It is pretty fun for a while, but eventually you find yourself wishing that they had added more objects and background to customize with. Brawl is the first game in the series to add Challenges. Meeting the requirements for each challenge unlocks a trophy, stage, or CD. They’re definitely fun incentives to make sure that you play every facet of the game and none of them are outrageously long or difficult. (The 100 hour of vs mode gameplay may seem daunting, but you’ll likely have played that much by the end anyway)

Let’s get on to Brawl’s story mode: The Subspace Emissary. (Which you can play with a friend using the co-op feature) The other modes which I’ve already mentioned were great and very fun to play, but the Subspace definitely blows them out of the water. Brawl’s story mode is what earned the game it’s place as the 2nd greatest game of all time. The story mode was perfectly done, featuring many of the characters that were playable in the game. The characters all set about to stop the Ancient Minister and the Master Hand from destroying all of the worlds. The game did a good job of making the story into a very compelling and deep one that made you want to keep on playing without stop. Some subplots may have not been too exciting (Like Pokemon Trainer and Lucas’s) but others will keep you on the edge of your seat (Samus and Pikachu) Once the climax begins, the heroes all rally together to stop the ultimate enemy The Master H-Tabuu! Tabuu is a character made exclusively for Brawl’s story mode and I’d say that the game did a great job with him. Having the appearance of a cosmic entity and an aura of mystery, Tabuu quickly showed off his power as he managed to defeat Nintendo’s all stars. Things definitely appeared dire for the heroes, but to learn the ending you’ll need to buy the game for yourself.

The core gameplay of Brawl is pretty similar to Melee’s, but there have definitely been some changes. The gameplay has been slowed down and the characters are actually able to trip now. I’m not sure if I agree with either change, but I am glad that the developers took some initiative to make sure that it wasn’t just a copy of Melee. Brawl contains 10 more characters than Melee with the most notable of them being Sonic The Hedgehog. The characters are decently balanced (but good luck using a power type to take on someone quick like Fox or Captain Falcon) and all of them have their unique abilities. Many of the characters seem to be weaker than their melee incarnations, but it helps to balance out the game. The animation definitely holds up to this day, but I would say that it’s a bit of a step down from Melee.

In the end Super Smash Bros Brawl is definitely a solid addition to the Wii’s lineup and a must buy for any gamer. It is currently my 2nd favorite game of all time and it is unlikely to be passed by anything (Aside from future Smash Bros titles) anytime soon.

Overall 9/10 Replay Value 9/10

Achievements
Beat Game
Beat Classic Mode with everyone
Unlocked all characters
Unlocked all Stages
Got all music
Beat All Star Mode with everyone
Beat Boss Battle Mode
Beat Classic Mode, Story Mode, Allstar Mode, and Boss Battle Mode on all difficulties

Things to do
Get all stickers
Get all trophies