May Favorites: The Best Movies, TV Shows, and Videogames (Retro and New) I've Encountered

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A month of packing, moving, and unpacking has left me limited time for the finer things in life - like videogames, so this list is short - but here it is, my May favorites, both old and new.

Videogames

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for Gamecube (2002)
For some reason, this game has clicked really well with me.   It follows Link (of, course) a young elf on a quest to save his sister who has been kidnapped by a sinister bird-like creature.  While searching for his sister, he learns that he is in fact, the hero who has been prophesied to save the world from an evil villain trying to destroy it.  I'm enjoying the game because its story unfolds gradually - giving you just enough information to keep you asking questions.  The controls are also precise, flexible, and easy to master, which I like.  The puzzles, also, though sometimes frustrating, are incredibly satisfying to solve.

There is also a HD version available for Wii U here:
Nintendo Selects: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD - Wii U

April Favorites: The Best Movies, TV Shows, and Videogames (Retro and New) I've Encountered Recently

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I encounter a lot of media all the time, and I don't get to share all of it with you.  Some of it is too new, and some of it I just haven't worked into a post (yet), but it's all worth talking about.  I thought it would be fun to share my April favorites, some of the movies, TV shows, and videogames I've been into lately, and I'm hoping you'll use the comments to tell us what you're into, too. As always, I've included links to the products

Videogames

Need for Speed Underground (2006) for PS2

In this game, your goal is to dominate the underground street racing scene by defeating your rivals and upgrading your ride.    

This game has everything that I've come to expect from the Need for Speed franchise - intensity,  challenge, impressive cars with even more impressive customization options, and mediocre character development.  However, stand-out features include the ability to choose your difficulty level each time you choose a race (in other words, if you're struggling with a specific race, you can play it on a lower difficulty setting for less prize money) and the need to increase your reputation in the underground racing scene by customizing your car.




 Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (2009) for DS

This puzzle game sequel to Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Nintendo DS follows archeologist Hershel Layton and his apprentice, Luke, as they travel the countryside beating puzzles and solving mysteries, all in the name of locating an ancient box said to kill anyone who opens it.

I love that everything about this game is charming: the animated countryside, the soft background music, the incredibly British characters and their incredibly British dialogue (Incidentally, The developer, Level-5 Inc, is a Japanese company.)  I also like how low-pressure it is  It gives you plenty of opportunities to casually explore and interact with the NPC's as you wish, and very few puzzles or problems must be solved immediately.  Most of the time, if you get stuck, you can come back when your mind is fresher.

I do have to admit, though, that I can only play this game in small doses; After 30-60 minutes, even basic puzzles become difficult, and I have to quit.   



Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (2015) for 3DS

In this turn-based combat RPG, you play as Corrin, a young and isolated princess who has just completed her training and earned permission to leave the fortress and join the war raging in her kingdom. 

I borrowed this game and stinkin' fell in love with it.  I fell in love with the turn-based combat idea (which I have little experience with) because it gives me as much time as I need to plan out my strategy.  I fell in love with the absolutely gorgeous graphics.  I fell in love with the main character, Corrin, who is noble, strong, and a bit niave. And I fell in love with the narrative, which unfolds gradually, leaving you with questions you're dying to know the answer to. 




Pokémon Moon (2016) for 3DS

You and your mom have just moved to the tropical Alola region, home to the the famous Alola trials.  Your job is to travel the region's islands catching Pokemon, defeating the the strongest trainers the trials have to offer and standing up to the notorious Team Skull.

Now don't tell anyone, but...this the first regular Pokemon game I've ever played (I played Pokemon Snap a couple years back) because these games were banned while I was growing up.  I was stunned by Moon.  Was it a bit easy for someone in their 20s?  Yes, but it was still a blast.  I loved exploring the different islands, finding Pokemon I had never heard of before, and watching one of the most significant characters, Lilly, grow into a stronger, bolder personality.  I was also surprised at how attached I got to my Pokemon; when they evolved, I found myself torn between a maternal pride and the sense that I was losing my beloved child.




TV

Batman: The Animated Series

This 1990's interpretation of Batman relies on classic villains and a 1940's film aesthetic to produce a Gotham City that is as moody and unpredictable as he is.

I'm part way through the forth season of this show (which is good, since it's leaving Prime toward the end of the month), and its been an intense ride so far  I've watched the creation of a host of super villains, the adoption of two Robins, and the advent of Bat Girl.

When I'm finished with this series, I plan on writing a dedicated post, so I'll keep my comments short, but suffice it to say, this show deserves to be as iconic as it is.


 Merlin

BBC's Merlin follows Merlin, the personal servant of Camelot's Prince Arthur, and one of the few magicians remaining despite the King's mission to destroy all magic.  He must protect the prince, who is prophesied to be a key play in the fate of the kingdom, all the while concealing his power from those who are closest to him.

You've probably watched this series already; it seems like most people have.  However, give it a shot if you haven't.  The character development is stellar (I swear, I would kill for anyone of the main characters), the plot keeps you on the edge of you seat, and in general, it is an fresh retelling of a story that can sometimes become stale because from overuse.

Movies


Saban's Power Rangers (2017)

The new Power Ranger's movie is an origin story.  Four troubled high school kids with next-to-nothing in common find themselves mysteriously transformed into superheros when they come into contact with alien artifacts.  They are charged with the job of defeated an intergalactic witch named Rita who is trying to destroy the earth, but find their abilities limited by their lack of trust in each other.

This movie is so excellent, that I had to bring it up.  It does an excellent job of maintaining everything that is memorable about the original Power Rangers series (namely, a lot of action, the theme song, and an easy-to-hate villain), while still growing the series up.   The characters, though young, are still easy to related to for a non-high school audience because they are well fleshed out.  The show also powerfully deals with heavy themes like death, Autism, and sexting.  


So, old or new, what have you been watching and playing lately?



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Retro Gaming Torture: Wild Thornberrys Chimp Chase for Gameboy Advance

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An Inside Look at Site that Hosts Black and White Movies, BnWMovies.com - Interview with Creator Yavor Milchev

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Twenty Unhappy Songs for When You're in a Miserable Mood (1995-2005 Retro Pop/Rock)

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I think there are two types of bad moods, the ones that melt when they come into contact with  sunshine or a couple upbeat songs and the ones that get worse the harder you try to be happy.  The second type of bad mood, at least for me, requires some time alone, some patience, and a little bit of music that gets me, that reminds me that I'm not the only one who feels that this way.  The playlist below is curated just for those moments.  Each of these pop and rock songs from the years 1995-2005 can be soothing because they openly recognize the reality that sometimes life hurts and we just have to learn to deal with that.

If you want to listen to any of these songs, you can find them in a Spotify playlist embedded at the end of the page.  In case you want to either look up more information about them or buy them, each song title and album cover is linked to the respective song's Amazon page.  

Also, I chose the 1995-2005 time range because it is rich with depressing music, and it is my go-to during bad moods of the second type.        

Finally, I am committed to recommending only clean media on Retro Reviews; all of the songs I've listed here are free of explicit language and sexual content. However, some of the other music that their respective artists produce is not.  I would especially suggest approaching Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Seether, Matchbox 20, and Green Day with caution.

By all means, do check out Skillet, Creed, Switchfoot, and 12 Stones, though.  They're awesome.    




Name (1995) by Goo Goo Dolls

This rock ballad deals with finding your identity and feeling invisible in a world of heartache.  It's perfect for those moments when you're not quite sure who you are.

Indiana Jones and the Magic Box: Why I Seriously Dislike Raiders of the Lost Ark

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I Can't Get Attached to the Characters, so I Can't Get Invested in the Story To be honest, I don't even like Indiana Jones.  He takes the unemotional, "tough guy" archetype so far that I can't relate to him at all.  For example, when he is forced to relinquish the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol to Belloq, he shows little emotional reaction, even though he just escaped death to procure it. (By the way, I'm pretty sure I'd be yelling or crying or both.)  Even during his "romantic" scene with Marion in the ship, he lacks tenderness.  He never tells her that he's been worried or that he's missed her or even that she looks beautiful, leaving him looking simply lustful, instead of caring.

I'm not too much fonder of Marion.  While I want to like her in Nepal, when she stands up to Major Toht's threats without giving away the headpiece that Indy needs, I get frustrated with her damsel in distress moments later.  In particular, I think of when she gets kidnapped and trapped helplessly in a basket being carried on someone's head.  For goodness sakes, it's a basket.  Punch it. Rock to unbalance it.  Do something other than yell, "Indy!"  Surely if she can run a bar in Nepal, she can escape a the clutches of a nefarious basket.

Because I can't get close to either of these characters, I get bored with the story.  I really don't care that Indy is clutching the front of a speeding car, about to be smashed to smithereens or that Marion is being held hostage in the Nazi camp; I'm just wondering how much longer the movie is.

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Eleven Songs from the 60's, 70's, and 80's that are Totally Relevant to the US's Political and Social Climate Right Now

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This post began when I was cooking dinner and listening to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changing" (which oddly enough didn't make the final list) a couple weeks ago.  Somewhere in the first or second chorus, (I think I was chopping green beans) I realized that it brilliantly describes the uncertainty, the tension, and the fear that the US has been facing, especially since President Trump's inauguration in January.  That sent me into a frenzy to find other classic songs that had already once captured the seemingly un-capturable moment that we're experiencing as a country, and compile them into a list for you all.  Below, you'll find my list, narrowed down to 11 songs and ordered by year.  Enjoy!  

A NOTE  ABOUT POLITICS AND MORALITY: I am not as liberal as this list is probably going to make me sound; in fact, I am quite conservative in many ways.  I do not endorse everything that each one of these songs says, nor do I endorse the behaviors of many of the groups of people that I bring up here. In this post, I bring up the potential safety and well-being of many groups of people I don't agree with because I fear that their God-given right to loving and respectful treatment (which has nothing to do with their choices or perspectives) is under threat at the moment.

A Note About Trigger Warnings:Some of these songs deal with sensitive and difficult material.  With those that are an obvious trigger danger, I've included a warning in red.

"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" (1962) By Bob Dylan Download from Amazon Here

Writer: Bob Dylan
Producer: John Hammond
Source 

To me, a person far too young to remember the 60's, this song represents the trepidation that the US experienced during that era. It captures a deep pain that, like a drum beat, is driving the country toward some impending change - a change that ultimately took many forms, including civil rights legislation and the country's withdrawal from the Vietnam War.  Watching the recent marches and living in a country that is as deeply divided over painful social and political issues as the US was over Vietnam, I feel too that "A hard rain's a-gonna fall."

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Best and Worst: Retro Sonic the Hedgehog Video Games

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Watching Game Informers Super Replay of Sonic the Hedgehog for Xbox 360 (aka Sonic 06) alerted me to a curious fact; both some of my most beloved and hated games have come from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.  Throughout his lifespan, Sonic has been the star of games of all different qualities.  This got me thinking that it would be fun to play (or in many cases replay) retro games from the franchise and recommend which ones to pick up and which ones to avoid.  So, below you'll find first a list of the games that I think are the best and then the games that I think are the worst.

As you're reading, keep in mind that I haven't played every game in the franchise (Sonic 06 is a notable example of something that probably would have ended up on the Worst list if I had had access to play it), but everything that I've written about I have played recently to see how they've held up.  The exception is Shadow the Hedgehog, which I neither had nor could justify purchasing to remind myself how much I hated it.  I also didn't test any Genesis, Gamegear, Saturn, or Dreamcast games on their original consoles.  Rather, I played the Genesis, Gamegear, and Saturn games via Sonic Gems Collection and Sonic Mega Collection on Gamecube.  Sonic Adventure for Dreamcast, which doesn't appear below, I actually played on Xbox 360 using Dreamcast Collection.

Here we go, folks.

BEST

Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis, 1991)
This game is a marvel to me. Despite relying on two basic movement mechanics - walking and jumping - it is more engaging than some far more complicated games.  This is due, in part, to the fact that each zone (a set of three acts, including a boss battle, set in the same area) is obviously unique, meaning that game play doesn't get stale.  For example, Marvel Zone is unmistakable in its focus on avoiding spiked falling weights (that look, to me, like chandeliers from a dinner party from hell) and spurts of lava.  While this sounds obvious, some platformers seem to trade sophisticated level design for a focus on creative mechanics or gimmicky power ups.  (I'm looking at you, Sonic the Hedgehog 3.)  The presence of sprawling, multilayered acts also means that players can traverse it multiple times in different ways, keeping us interested despite the fact that we have to play the same levels again every time we turn the game back on.  

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis, Gamegear, 1992) Buy this game from amazon Here I love this game for all of the reasons that I love Sonic 1, plus a couple, namely the addition of  both the spin dash mechanic and the character, Tails.  By adding the spin mechanic, creators solved a huge frustration that I had in the first - trying to get moving quickly enough to follow the loops.  They also provided an easy, strong attack that works on multiple enemies at once, making enemy-infested areas much more efficient to traverse.  Tails, however, I like for a less practical reason.  It's really entertaining to watch him die in random and uncalled for situations, probably because it makes me feel better about my own video gaming skills.

Sonic CD (PC, 1993)
Buy this game from amazon Here
This game is very much in the pattern of Sonic 1. However, what sets it apart is that it allows players to travel in time, swapping between versions of the acts that exist in the past and future.  Because the two different versions of each act are legitimately different, that means that there are, again, multiple ways to play the same act.  The game always provides the Spin Dash mechanic and allows players to save their progress.  

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (Gamecube, 2001)  Buy this game from amazon Here Sixteen years after its release, this game is still my favorite in the franchise.  Chiefly, I'm impressed with the sense of control over your character that it provides.  Especially when playing as Sonic or Shadow, movement is smooth and precise, in fact, enjoyable at high speeds. I also really enjoy the ease and accuracy of using the homing attacks.  Ease of use is important because fully completing the game is a long process: it involves beating two major campaigns and one optional campaign that may require replay of earlier levels, as well as as the hatching and raising of small creatures called chao. - all of which would be tortuous if you were fighting the game the whole time   That being said, I also appreciate the fact that the game is split into hero and villain campaigns, which provides opportunities to flesh out the villains and make them relatable.

WORST 

Sonic 3D Blast (Sega Genesis, Saturn, PC 1996)
Buy this game from amazon Here
While I have to commend Sonic Team for attempting something new and difficult when they made
this game in 3D, it gives me a headache every time I play.  It's also frustrating to navigate; for some reason I cannot seem to jump where I want to in the air and am perpetually trying over and over again to collect rings or other items.  Innovation aside, I also dislike the whole premise of the game.  It asks you to defeat robots and liberate the cuddly woodland creatures (flickies) within them, which you then must lead to designated goals throughout the level.  This is frustrating because leading a group of tiny animals around forces you to move slowly and precisely around obstacles that might hurt the flickies, (causing them to leave your group and wander off) when all I want to do when I play a sonic game is move quickly.  Sonic games are supposed to be about speed.  Another frustration of mine with this game is that when you drop rings from getting injured, they disappear so quickly that they are very difficult to recollect.

Sonic R (Sega Saturn, PC 1997) Buy this game from amazon Here This is the worst game I tried, which is unfortunate, because the premise had potential.  It simply asks players to choose a Sonic character and then race the others on foot.  However, character handling is a mess.  Even though I played this game with a joy stick on a Gamecube controller, which, in theory, should have been more precise than the originally intended Sega Saturn D-pad, I still failed to keep my characters on the easiest track.  And weirdly enough, this is all happening at snail-like speeds.  In fact, Amy, the one character who actually drives a car and so you'd think would move more quickly, moves more slowly than the rest.

Shadow the Hedgehog (Xbox, PS2, Gamecube, 2005)  Buy this game from amazon Here I didn't have to play much of this game to know that I am fundamentally against it.  They took a family-friendly character that I very much liked after Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and made him the star of a third-person-shooter, requiring players to kill humans.  This goes against almost everything that I like about Sonic games - especially their traditional focus on robot violence instead of human violence.  While I suspect that Sonic Team was hoping to grow their games up for a maturing audience, in my opinion it was a stupid move because it risked alienating players who don't appreciate violence against humans.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii, 2007). Buy this game from amazon Here At 10 years old, this game was the newest that I tested and one of the worst.  (FYI, I consider 10 years old and older to be retro for this blog.)  The story was terrible; it asks you to enter into an adaptation of Arabian Nights and save the story before it is erased by a villain named Erazor Djinn (the pun, oh my goodness).  The game mechanics are even worse; by default you are propelled forward and must use imprecise side-to-side movement, as well as labored backwards movement and a very picky homing attack (which actually makes my arms tired to use) to endlessly replay a series of forgettable worlds.  While Sonic does get easier to control as you unlock upgrades, I think it's wrong to have to earn the right to a decent playing experience.

Final Thoughts
With a few exceptions, the older games are far superior to the newer ones.  If you're looking to invest in some retro games, I'd focus my attention on the Genesis games.

Also, Sonic games have an inexplicable liking for ancient ruins and casinos.  They seem to appear in almost every game.

And finally, don't try this experiment at home, folks.  Rapid Fire testing all of those Sonic games just about destroyed my decades-long love for the franchise.  In fact, I don't want to play another Sonic game for at least ten years...

Note: Game launch years are from respective Wikipedia pages.

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