Mario Stats!
Story Mode Stats
58 Coins
25 Lives
2778650 Score
84 Star Coins
Minigame Records
Snowball Slalom 19m 16s
Lakitu Launch 10
Danger, Bob Omb Danger! 2408
Whack a Monty 51
Balloon Racing 15m 15s
Mario’s Slides 4
Sort of Splode 171
Bounce and Trounce 74
Trampoline Time 2
Bob Omb Squad 20000
Stats time!
Play Time 14h 55m
Adventures 97
Silver Rank 1085 Points
Money 0
Pokemon Stats
Terry!!!!!! Lv 32
Terry Lv 31
Nidoran Lv 5
Geodude Lv 6
Magnemite Lv 10
Ledyba Lv 9
Murkrow Lv 14
Elekid Lv 4
Zigzagoon Lv 5
Seedot Lv 16
Plusle Lv 3
Roselia Lv 16
Absol Lv 23
Pokemon is a massively popular franchise and continues to be the one part of Nintendo that even surpasses Mario. (Debatable I suppose..) Most people like to go with the main Pokemon games, (Red, Diamond, Ruby, Heartgold..etc) but the spinoffs can be pretty fun as well. Anyone remember Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Ranger, or Pokemon Colosseum? I’m not going to say that they’re better than the main games of the series, but they are still very good games in their own right. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon has spawned a whole sub-series of video games, but this is the first one that I’ve played.
From the start, you can tell that this is a very different Pokemon game. There are no humans (Not many humans anyway) to speak of and the Pokemon can speak in perfect English. (Via translator) The main character wakes up as a Charmander and he has no idea what has happened. Is he truly a pokemon? Is this all some kind of misunderstanding!? Well, Charmander has no time to think about such trivial matters as a Pikachu comes on the scene. One thing leads to another and they decide to form a team. They help those who are in need of help and they often do it for a modest reward.
For the most part, that’s the plot, but things get more dangerous as the game goes on. The world starts to turn against the heroes as they retreat into the mountains. Can Charmander prove that he’s a nice pokemon and save the world, Or will they track him down and watch as the planet is destroyed? Either way, you’ll want to see the conclusion!
Well, the story line may not be incredibly hardcore and epic, but considering that we don’t have cut scenes, I’d say that it does a nice job. The storyline was fun and didn’t drag on, this was largely because of the gameplay. The gameplay for this game is still turn based, but there are tactics involved. (Ever play Yu Yu Hakusho Tournament Tactics?) In case you haven’t played the game that I mentioned, you are essentially playing from an overhead perspective. Each move counts as a turn and likewise with an attack. It’s simple enough to learn, but making the most out of each situation can take some experience.
The story mode in itself is decently long, but the game has a Lot of replay value. After you complete the game, there are dozens upon dozens of missions left. (Maybe even Hundreds) One day I may go back and complete them all, but they just kept coming and coming and coming and coming! The missions never get boring, but I’ve always got more games to play, so I just didn’t have time. The mission’s Rank determines how tough it will be, but you probably knew that.
When you aren’t completing missions, you can go and spend your hard-earned cash. I found that it’s best to use the cash for new friend areas, but you can also buy some items. There’s even a bank where you can leave your money. (Because when you lose a mission, any money that you were holding goes Kapoot!) Leveling up to 100 and getting as many allies as you can, will also increase the replay value of this game. That’s one thing I’ve always loved about Pokemon, you get a lot of play time for you money!
This was a solid way to start the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. I am looking forward to the next one and I’m sure that it will be a blast. This is definitely a great game to get and I recommend it to just about anyone. The game is fun and as long as you keep on leveling up, it shouldn’t get to be extremely hard. There is also a certified planet destroyer near the end of the game, so you may want to keep an eye out for that. I wonder which Pokemon game I’ll get next! (Rangers 2, Mystery Dungeon 2, DS Remake 2)
Overall 8/10
Alright, The Grandmaster is a film that many of you may not have heard of. It is based off of a “True story”. Ever heard of Ip Man? Well, he’s Bruce Lee’s teacher and apparently he was extremely tough. The film likely exaggerated his strength, but that was the fun part, so we should definitely let it slide. Usually films that are based off of real life are pretty awful, but since this one is action oriented, maybe that won’t hold true.
The Grandmaster starts off with an ambitious beginning. Ip Man has a big fight against a group of warriors and he skillfully makes short work of them. All of his opponents go down pretty quickly except for one warrior who manages to put up some resistance. There is never a question of who will win the battle, but I’m glad that at least one warrior tried to do something. The whole scene was very cool, but there was one problem with it….This scene completely destroyed the rest of the film. Sometimes, you should try not to start out so epic. This is one of those rare occasions. The problem is that the rest of the film doesn’t feature an abundance of fights and the ones that came up were cool…just not quite as cool. The first scene set the tone, but the rest of the film just dropped it.
The film stayed at a solid level for a while as Ip Man becomes the representative for the South. He faced various martial artists of the South who used different fighting styles, but Ip Man proved to be much better than the others. The fights did make for some pretty epic scenes. One of his opponents mixed different fighting styles together, which is a pretty good way to fight. Ip Man’s form of Kung Fu only uses three different signs, but they are sufficient to win battles.
Ip Man also took on Gong Er. She was a pretty skilled fighter and the first to “Defeat” Ip Man. It was decided that whoever broke a piece of furniture first, would be the loser. At one point Ip Man tries to save Gong Er, but she didn’t need his help and that’s what led to his downfall. With the exception of one scene, this was where the movie deteriorated quickly. Ip Man left the country and wars broke out. People died and the audience felt like snoozing.
Luckily, we still had one fight scene left (2 If you count Ip Man’s fight for the teaching position). Gong Er challenged Ma San to avenge her father. Ma San is a pretty skilled warrior and he was known as the strongest in the North. It’s a shame that he never got to challenge Ip Man. Gong Er and Ma San have a pretty solid fight and they both give it their all. The loser is humbled and the victor goes away feeling triumphant. After such a fight, I would expect nothing less!
The film should have ended there, but we get another half-hour of people talking, people dying, and people talking some more. You start to wonder what happened to Ip Man. Towards the end of the film, he vanished for a while and stopped being the main character. Gong Er replaced him in that regard and we got to see a little of her past. Gong Er and Ip Man were definitely the best main characters of the film. (Though I suppose that is not saying much.) Gong Er stayed strong to her vows and Ip Man beat up as many people as he could.
The Grandmaster is a film that suffered greatly from its length and lack of interesting characters. Had the film been cut down to around 70 minutes plus add some more fight scenes, this could have been one of the better films of 2013. I can’t say that I highly recommend this film, but if you like documentaries, then you should enjoy it. If you are willing to spend some money to see a good fight scene, you can also just come in and check the first few minutes. Of course, if you want a movie with real hand to hand fight scenes, check out Tekken Blood Vengeance!
Overall 3/10
Mario is/always will be a famous video game icon. When you think of the term “Video Game”, Mario will typically be the first thing that you think of. It’s just a reflex action at this point. Mario may not be in his height of popularity at the moment, but he still has quite a few games coming out every year. (Mario 3D World and Yoshi’s Island for starters.) I’m proud to say that I’ve played nearly all of Mario’s console games. (Starting from the GBA/GC era) Mario’s games are consistently good and you’ll rarely regret buying them. (Unless you got Mario Golf….It’s not awful, but definitely not one of the better ones) New Super Mario Bros was the beginning of Mario’s legacy for the new generation of DS gamers. Let’s see how well it turned out!
New Super Mario Bros throws you into the thick of it, when Bowser Jr. decides to kidnap Peach. Mario attempts to stop him, but he’s quickly taken care of. Mario’s a pretty dependable hero, so even if he fails to save Peach over 10 times, he will continue to try and save her. That’s the basic plot, but there is a mild mystery? Why does Bowser wish to kidnap Peach? Does he want to rule the Mushroom Kingdom with an iron grip? Does he want to conquer the universe? At this point, he may just want to defeat Mario once and for all!
The story may be recycled, but how about the gameplay? Well, it’s more or less what you would expect, but there are subtle changes. The animation is drastically different from the previous installments of the Mario portable games. When I first turned the game on, I was pretty shocked by how ug-different the animation looked. This wasn’t the normal 2D that I was used to playing. The animation grew on me as I played the game, but part of me missed the nostalgia of the old look. The game is a lot easier than the classic Mario World/Land titles, but that’s to be expected. There are still some levels that may take you a few tries, (Especially if you are in a hurry and trying to fast blast through the stages) but nothing that will make you want to close the DS for the next few years. The game is very bright and playing in the Mushroom Kingdom is definitely a blast. It remains as my favorite world in the game.
There’s not much to say character wise. Mario might be an extremely brave hero, or he could be about as brave as he was in the animated movie. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that may be for the best!) Mario’s definitely not that strong or powerful, but he uses the items around him to get the job done! One saddening part of the game is that Luigi wasn’t around. Luigi always gets going when the going gets tough. If he had been around, Peach probably wouldn’t have been kidnapped. It also would have been nice if Princess Peach hadn’t let herself be kidnapped this time. Ah well, I’m sure Nintendo will fix that at some point. We desperately need a new plot. Have some aliens attack NYC or something like that. It would make for a nice change of scenery and I would buy that right away! (Since I took so long to buy this game)
Aside from the regular story mode, there is also a minigame mode. The disappointing part is that many of the mini games are the same as in Super Mario 64 DS. They are still fun to play, but it’s just not as fun as playing a minigame for the first time. The best minigame is sorting the bombs from one area to the other without mixing up the colors. It’s pretty intriguing and a nice way to test your skills.
New Super Mario Bros is definitely a solid Mario game. It’s a good way to pass the time by and it’s pure fun. There’s no part of the game that holds it back and every level is fun in its own way. The game may not be very long, but there is still some decent replay value. Getting all of the gold coins and beating all of the extra levels will help you get your money’s worth. I highly recommend this game to all gamers out there. Even non-gamers will get a kick out of playing this one. There’s just nothing to dislike about it. Buying this game was definitely an accomplishment! Now I just need to purchase that Super Mario 3DS game that I’ve heard so much about….
Overall 7/10
Rope is a classic film that was made by Alfred Hitchcock. You’ve probably heard of him and I’ve seen some of his other films. I believe that I already reviewed one or two, but if not, now you’ll get to witness one. Rope is a classic mystery where the main characters (Well, really only Brandon) decide to tempt fate and see if their “Perfect murder” will come out all right.
The film starts out with David dying. It’s too bad since I’m sure that he could have been a decent character…hopefully anyway. The two murderers are the main characters; Brandon and Phillip. Brandon decides that the murder won’t be perfect unless they invite some people over and make this a fair contest. Brandon wants to test his intelligence against theirs and he also wants to feel the thrills of danger. Phillip is mortified, but he’s never able to stop Brandon from doing whatever he wants. The guests start to come in and things are going well….until Rupert walks in!
Rupert quickly became the best character in the film as he proceeded to completely obliterate Brandon’s chances for success. Brandon’s pretty cunning, but Rupert is an inquisitive person and he won’t be stopped so easily. The irony of the matter is that David’s body is in the same room with everyone. They are using the box that he is in, as the dinner table for the party. There are a lot of close shaves, but can Rupert actually solve this mystery?
The film is pretty suspenseful and it goes by quickly. The film basically takes place in the main room and they just talk for a while. A movie with nonstop talking may seem boring at first, but you never feel bored. I’m not sure if this would work in a modern movie, but I enjoy the dialogue in really old movies. Brandon makes for a pretty likable antagonist, but Phillip can be pretty annoying. He’s a villain, but he’s always doubting himself. Phillip keeps on getting nervous, but it’s far too late since he already committed the deed. Phillip nearly jeopardizes the mission several times and he does crack towards the end. The rest of the characters were pretty uneventful and they were mostly there to add drama. They never seemed to piece together the clues, but I like to think that they would have at some point.
This is a pretty fun film and I’d recommend it. The film isn’t very long and it holds up well. There may not be a lot of action or special effects, but not all films need that sort of thing. A lot of action can’t hurt, but this film manages to pull through without it. The mystery isn’t for the audience, which may be disappointing for some people, but then this would be a completely different movie. If you want a mystery to solve, check out Sherlock Holmes.
Overall 6/10
The Transformer Films have been very saddening for Transformer fans around the world. The first film wasn’t very negatively received, but the 2nd film destroyed the movie franchise for many people. It was pretty hard to blame them, but maybe the comic adaption would be better right? I can safely say that it’s off to a much better beginning!
This collection covers the events of the movie, as well as a prequel and sequel (That takes place before Transformers 2) series. The Movie Collection definitely brings a nice amount of comics that give you extra value for your purchase.
The prequel comic shows a little bit of the war on Cybertron. The Autobots are on the losing end, (Like always) but they quickly think of a desperate plan of action. They launch the All Spark into space while Bumblebee distracts Megatron. Megatron gets most of the focus in the prequel comic and he does pretty well. He’s easily one of the more interesting Transformer characters and it’s always fun to see him take the opponents down. This comic may have not featured many Autobots, but at least we got to sympathize with the Decepticons.
Next up was the adaption of the Transformers Movie. It’s been ages since I watched the first one, but I could immediately tell that it was better. The humans were not as annoying as they had been in the movie and they stayed out of the way when the action got real. (Stabbing someone with an All Spark barely counts for beans anyway) Optimus Prime finally got to appear in this comic and he definitely did pretty good. His fire sword is always cool to look at and he can definitely deal some lethal damage with it. The other Decepticons aren’t able to lay a hand on him. The only problem with Optimus Prime is that we never get to see his leader skills. While reading the comic, you may wonder why he was chosen to be the leader. He just seems to be more of a solo act. Prime just beats up anyone who gets in his way and he makes sure that the mission gets completed. Still, he makes for a much better leader than the other Autobots.
We also get a comic that takes place after the movie. Ironically enough, this part of the graphic novel proceeds to take up nearly half of the book. Starscream is now the main character and he wants to show that he is a much better leader than Megatron. Unlike Megatron and Prime, Starscream decides that he won’t let anything cloud his judgement. If you believed everything that he says during the narration, you would quickly be glad that he became the leader. Starscream brings up a lot of valid points (Prime and Megatron destroying the very planet that they wanted to rule) and to be honest, he is a better leader than the other two. Maybe this isn’t the case in the other shows and comics, but I would definitely be on his side in this one. He seemed to be much smarter than the others and he has a lot of tactical experience. The plot of the comic was mostly Starscream bashing Megatron and learning from the humans. Eventually, Starscream will be able to take over the world!
This was a solid way to start off the movie adaptions. The comic was much more enjoyable than the film and eliminated most of my negatives that I had. The humans don’t really make you wince (Except for one scene) and the robots are decently good. One negative would be the character designs from the film. They are still pretty similar to each other and the overall art doesn’t help matters. The art wasn’t awful and I would even say that it was decently good, maybe just a little chaotic at times. The fight scenes were solid and I would recommend it to just about all comic fans. Whether you want an action comic or an aliens story, you’ll enjoy this one. Of course if you like Transformers a lot, you may want to check out Regeneration.
Overall 7/10
It’s been a while since I read the last Batman chapter book so this one had a lot to live up too. The other books may not have been award winners, but they were pretty fun and made for some happy reading. This book has a little disadvantage since the main villain is Hugo Strange, but maybe we can get past that. After all, the important part is that Batman gets his props and shows off his detective skills.
The plot involves Hugo Strange kidnapping people and turning them into monsters. This is a very brief summary of the book, but that’s the general plot. Bruce Wayne decides to fake an injury and investigate this…which was a pretty risky plan. Mr. Wayne didn’t go prepared and he ends up getting kidnapped rather easily. I guess Bruce was confident, but that was still disappointing. Batman is not the type to go down so easily. Can Robin save the day!?
I am glad that Robin got his share of screen time for once and he was a major character in this book. Unfortunately, he doesn’t look particularly good and Batman is still forced to do most of the work. Robin may not be as tough as Batman, but he’s still a threat in his own right. Maybe he will look better in future novels. As I suspected, Hugo Strange doesn’t make for a very good villain. I suppose that he is aimed to be like the Joker or Lex Luthor, but he’s just not as interesting.
Overall, this was a good addition to the Batman chapter books, but it was my least favorite so far. It was pretty short as per usual and it was fun to read, but it lacked something. It just wasn’t as engaging as the other books and Batman looked pretty bad. Of course, it was still good and if you like reading about superhero books, then this you will enjoy it. (I also give the book extra props for the cool cover) Of course, if you want a true superhero story, check out the novel adaption of Marvel’s Civil War!
Overall 6/10
Scooby Doo has had many films in the past. For the most part they’ve all been good, but has this one jumped the shark? The film has a nice scene pizza design and there’s more action than usual, but the character portrayals make this a close fight. Time to go into more detail about this film.
Fred and Daphne have made it through the elimination rounds and will be competing in the finals for Talent Star! It’s a pretty big feat (Except for the fact that the ratings have been getting lower for the event/show) and they’re pretty excited. Shaggy and Scooby are confident that they can convince the head spokesmen for Talent Star to throw them into the finals. They find out that the building where Talent Star will be held…is haunted! Time for the gang’s latest mystery.
Just about everyone is a pretty big suspect. There’s a really mean singer, a nice violinist, a kid, and many other folks. At this point, the film has basically given up on trying to help you guess who the culprit is, so all of the characters act pretty suspiciously. The main cop was favorite character, but the others had their moments. For the most part, this film follows the standard formula. You could swear that at least 10 of the lines you have already heard before, but the dialogue is still pretty strong. (For the most part)
One negative aspect of this film is the character portrayals. Daphne was very out of character and hopefully this won’t affect future films. Most of her lines will make you wince. Fred is pretty solid for the majority of the film and actually gets a fight scene! Yep, this film actually includes a fight scene and a pretty good chase scene with the old/classic van. Shaggy and Scooby are decently good, but not as brave as they should be. The pizza was definitely intense and a good showing of how pizza should look. Unfortunately, the scene wasn’t handled so well, as Shaggy and Scooby wasted a lot of the food. Velma is pretty much non existent for this film and wasn’t a good or bad character.
The villain may look intriguing at first, but he’s not as cool as previous villains. (I’ll never forget the classic Cyber Chase villain) This villain has no powers, but he actually makes Velma consider the possibility of him being a ghost. It’s a pretty good feat considering how many fakes they’ve uncovered over the years.
This Scooby Doo film was decent, but definitely one of the weaker ones. The singing wasn’t very good and there is actual romance in the film. Those two things ensured that this would not be one of the greatest Scooby Doo films. The song that plays during the credits was pretty good and we did get some decent action, which helps to balance everything out. I recommend this film if you want some light, popcorn fun. Of course, it would be better to go check out Yugioh 3D Bonds Beyond Time for that!
Overall 4/10
With such a title, one would think that this is a very uplifting book that shows us the true meaning of friendship and joy right? The Age of Miracles got some pretty decent recognition and even became a required reading at one point. After reading the book, I can safely say I do not enjoy it. If you want to read a very depressing book where nothing goes the way that the main character wants it to, then enjoy! Be warned that there may be some spoilers in this review, but I’ll try to keep the review vague.
Julia is the main character in the novel. She lives on the Planet Earth and leads a normal life. Everything is going well, but then things start to deteriorate. The days start to grow longer and there doesn’t seem to be anything that the Government can do to stop it. Eventually, the days grow to be longer than 48 hours. One could go to sleep and wake up to find that the Moon still hasn’t come up. The citizens separate themselves into two groups. One group decides to follow “Clock Time” and continue to live by 24 hour days, ignoring the Sun and Moon. The other group decides to adjust and just stay up for however long the Sun rises and then go to sleep for however long the Moon stays up.
Professionals call this the “Slowing” and claim that we will eventually be destroyed. Humans won’t be able to live in this new environment, since crops can’t grow anymore. Not to mention that we’ve already witnessed this event happen to Mars in the past. Julia isn’t really affected at first, but The Slowing also affects a person’s mind. Julia is no exception and everyone makes some pretty iffy decisions.
Julia’s best friend decides to stop being her friend. If this isn’t the worst thing that could happen to her, Julia gets picked on at school. Did I mention that her next door neighbor’s house keeps getting vandalized? Also, Julia’s Father has started to lie and go somewhere else instead of work….Julia’s Mother runs over someone with a car and gets the “Slowing” disease. Julia decides to get a boyfriend, but is this kid all right, or has the Slowing started to affect him? Julia also had a nice grandfather who was nice to her…..so you don’t think that he’ll live through the whole book right? That would be far too happy for Julia!
Those are just some of the things that happen to the main character. Seriously, nothing ever goes right for her. She definitely didn’t have a very enjoyable time throughout the book. The Slowing continues to grow worse and worse as the book goes on and we realize that it is only a matter of time until the extinction of the humans is complete. Knowing this, the characters decide to move on with their lives and enjoy what’s left of their lives.
By the end of the book, the body count is pretty high, but you never end up liking any of the characters. One thing that helped to make this book even worse was the high body count of animals. Many of them die throughout the book and they’re pretty tragic. I had to put down the novel for a few days after the “Thrown in the Mountain” scene. I only finished the novel because I needed to do so, plus now I can fully give it a negative review without saying that I only read most of the book.
This novel also features a lot of excessive language and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for kids….actually, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. If you have time to read, then read just about anything else. I dare say that even Twilight could be a more fulfilling read. At least you get fights in that series, but for the record, I haven’t read that series. (And don’t plan too) The novel crams in some last second romance during the final part of the novel, but it falls flat (Like always) and just brings your hopes for a happy ending up, just to smash them down again.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Julia is only 11 in the book. (Until near the end and the big time skip) These kids do not act like 11 year olds At All. I forgot that they were so young for most of the book. It makes you wince when they’re all drinking beer and even the main character relents. Peer Pressure completely overwhelms her for the entire book and she never defends herself. At least she didn’t go completely insane, but she came very close to cracking by the end of the book. Running into a field of radiation is definitely not recommended, but her friend thought it was a good idea. Naturally she went with it, but later blamed that on the “Slowing”. I never bought that, but I guess it’s up to interpretation.
I could go on and on and on. This book was definitely a chore to read and it wasn’t enjoyable in the slightest. I would never recommend this book and I highly recommend avoiding this book. It’s not for the faint of heart or for the people who want a nice adventure. This is only a good book if you want to read something pretty awful. (No offense to those who like the book…which there are a lot of you) The worst part is that the book had potential. The idea of the “Slowing” is a good one and should have been explored more. Had we seen things from the scientists point of view, then this would have been epic. A nice Apocalyptic, Horror/Thriller book! Ah well, that’s one big opportunity that was missed. On the bright side, I doubt any book that I read in the future will be nearly as bad!
Overall 1/10
DReager1.com 