Wednesday, December 31, 2014

NintendoCapriSun plays Mega Man 3 - Part 4 of 8

You thought you had it on easy street after beating the eight Robot Masters this time around? You thought wrong!

Needle Man


The porcupine robots shoot needles in five directions twice before they roll towards you. They'll fire twice again before giving chase again. Rinse and repeat. You can only damage them when their faces are exposed.

The cannons shoot balls that explode when they hit the ground. You can only damage them when the turret is exposed.

Watch out for the expanding spikes that come out of the floor and ceiling. They go in and out at regular intervals, but the quicker you get them all to come up, the more likely you are to disrupt the pattern you'll have to recognize to get past all of them without taking any damage.

To beat Needle Man, avoid the needles he shoots at you when he jumps into the air, and also avoid the close-range head attack. As he jumps from one side of the room to the other, he'll try to jump close to where you are every two needle salvos and try to hit you with his head.
The Gemini Laser can bounce off the walls when fired, and if you're lucky, you'll hit him with a back blast while he's in the air.

You can only fire one at a time, but if you can avoid his attacks with the greatest of ease, even that will be just a nagging flab on the way to beating him.

Beating Needle Man gives you the Needle Cannon. You'll also get Rush Jet.

When you beat all eight Robot Masters, you'll have to revisit four of the stages and beat two robots, both of whom have the attack patterns and abilities of the Robot Masters from the second game. Sure, it makes the game longer, but in my opinion it just makes the game seemingly long in the tooth, as the "Doc Robots" are harder than the eight Robot Masters in this game.

Needle Man Revisited


The stage here is amazingly different. Day is switched to night, and you have more of those extending spikes to contend with.

Use Rush Jet to get the Air Can. With Rush Jet, you can go anywhere you want as long as you have energy for it (in later games, you can only go to the right at blinding speeds).

The first Doc Robot fights like Air Man. Shoot at him with Spark Cannon while you contend with the Tornadoes.

Once you leave the first Doc Robot room, you'll have to use Rush Jet to get past that long, long bottomless pit. Avoid the enemies, and refill Rush Jet whenever you see a weapons pick-up.

For that long pit, the parachute guys are easy to avoid. It's the dragonflies that are a pain in the butt. Go up and down so that you can screw the dragonflies' tracking ability up.

The giant Mettaur with the rocket boosters on the bottom is dead simple. Shoot at the plus sign on the hard hat, and shoot down any of the small Mettaurs that it spits out.

Watch out with the Mettaurs after this point. They have little propellers that come out of their helmet, and they'll fly upwards and towards you, shoot three shots at you from above, then come back down and fly towards you. Once again, shoot at them while their faces are exposed.

The second Doc Robot fights like Crash Man. Jump up and shoot the Hard Knuckle when he's close to you, and when he jumps up and fires the exact instant you shoot it, he'll run straight into it. Be sure to bring an Energy Can or two, as you can risk dying here if you're not careful.

Shadow Man Revisited


Not only is the waterfall at the beginning gone, but the walls in that ever-so-familiar drop down are lined with spikes. Be careful as you make your through the beginning.


The red platforms separate and then give way under you in a heartbeat. You'll have to time your jumps so that you can jump from one to another before one of them drops you straight down. You can stand on them while they're still seperate, but it won't be for long, and when the floor underneath your feet goes straight down on these things, so will you.

NintendoCapriSun plays Mega Man 3 - Part 3 of 8

On...and on...and on.

Snake Man


The snake heads just spit fireballs in your direction. Avoid the shots, shoot them down and move on.

The bouncing robots make a high jump on the third jump. Use that to just run under them if you need to.

The big snake heads take multiple hits, and the firepower that they spit at you is much bigger. They also have moving body segments, and if one is higher than floor level, you can make a huge jump and get some extra shots on it whenever possible.

The upside-down dome-shaped robots drop a bomb when you're under it. They're really easy to take down, though.

The pole vaulting robots actually vault over you before they get near you. Hit them when they're behind you, as they'll wait for just a second before they charge at you. You can also shoot the poles down, which is something I've never tried to do.

The Energy Cans with the question marks on them can't be picked up, but you can shoot them. They'll contain a random power-up when you do.

The bugs that climb the ladders can be taken down with a mere Proto Buster shot.

The cloud robots are actually bullets. Hit them once to take out the cloud and unleash the bullet, then shoot it again to kill it. You'll be able to avoid it after you shoot the cloud down. It's not [b]that[/b] fast.

To beat Snake Man, avoid him as he moves from one side of the room to the other. Sometimes, he'll jump really high in the center and fire the Search Snakes at you. When you know how to jump over him, he's really easy to beat with the Proto Buster.

Beating Snake Man gives you the Search Snake.

Gemini Man


The flying eye robots swoop down and fire three fireballs that turn into fire pillars when they hit the ground. Then, they'll go up into the sky and disappear.

The penguin robots spit eggs at you. Both the eggs and the penguins are pretty easy.

When you make it to that grey column in the ground, Proto Man will appear and destroy it to help you make your way underground.

As you make your way underground, you'll see bubbles blocking your path. When you shoot one down, you'll cause a little ghost-like enemy to come out of them. Shoot them down, as you'll be able to get loads of power-ups out of them. You just might luck out and get an extra life.

The big penguin robots with the handles at the top shoot out penguin robots that dive at you out of their chests. Shoot down the handles to get rid of them.

Use Rush Marine in the part with the platforms above the water. The pirahna robots that dive up and hit you are really, really annoying.

To beat Gemini Man, use the Search Snake. The Search Snake not only damages the real one, but it immediately makes the fake Gemini Man disappear. He shoots the same time you do, but if you're in the air when he does this, it's no problem.

Beating Gemini Man gives you the Gemini Laser.

...

...and John Korrey shows us how it's really done.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

NintendoCapriSun plays Mega Man 3 - Part 2 of 8

In this entry, we get to hear some of the best music in the game. Also, Pete Burns.

Top Man


Celebrity Big Brother 4 UK in 2006, because I can. There, there's your reference to that song again.

The two bolts on a screw don't hit you until they're connected. By that point, they'll slowly fly towards you.

The little red frog robots are best taken down from either a lower platform or while they're in the air.

The robot with the top in his chest just stands there and shoots tops out. The tops disappear after a couple of seconds, but you still want to take the guy out as quickly as possible.

Remember those giant blue robot dogs from the second game? Well, now we're dealing with giant orange robot cats. Not only do these things shoot yarn balls at you, but they also sic robot fleas at you! At least the fleas are destroyable. Avoid the yarn balls, though.

The spinning platforms actually spin Mega Man around, which makes jumping from one to another a little more difficult than it should be. Thankfully, you aren't shaken around too much, so you can still time your jumps. You just have to think slightly harder.

To beat Top Man, shoot the Hard Knuckle at him from in close and slide to avoid the tops he shoots into the air, as they home in on your current position. When he spins around, jump over him, then hit him again when he stops. This is basically his entire attack pattern in a nutshell, which makes him the easiest boss in the game as well as the easiest to beat with the Proto Buster.

Beating Top Man gives you the Top Spin. You don't actually shoot tops at people like Top Man does. Instead, you have to be in the air to use it, and doing so lets you spin around in the air like a top. It's a silly weapon, and there doesn't seem to be many uses for it, but at least it makes you a human shield-battering ram combination (I guess) as long as you're airborne.

Shadow Man


Hey, I'm glad I actually did the You Spin Me Round thing after all! This song's really good. They made it even better on Mega Man III for Game Boy, amazingly. That reminds me, I really should cover the Game Boy series...

The first enemy robot you'll see is that little guy that shoots upwards, with the shot falling down towards you. Just move out of the way and shoot the guy.

The robots on the ceiling are some sort of holographic projectors. When you get close, you won't be able to see a thing, and the whole screen turns black with stars moving slowly towards the left side of the screen. If you shoot them down, this will stop, and you'll be able to see again.

The grenades try to follow you, and in case they can't reach you on a high platform after about two or three jumps, they'll just give up and move in the opposite direction. They take one hit to destroy, but don't be in close when you do that. They will explode.

The robots with the parachute go left and right as they slowly drop to the bottom, but they don't go to the side too much. They'll appear when you're on the edge of the platforms, so it's pretty easy to see them coming.

The dragonfly robots fly in the air until they're above you, then they drop down in their attempt to line up with you. After that, they'll fly towards you again. Once they've lowered, you're in prime position to shoot them down before they can run into you.

To beat Shadow Man, equip Top Spin and get below him when he does a high jump. That's your cue to jump into the air and hit him with Top Spin on his way down. He'll go down in a few hits, but you might want to use an Energy Can before you do this. It's still very, very possible to die while doing this. Shadow Man not only throws shurikens, he can also slide, which makes him doubly annoying.

Beating Shadow Man gives you the Shadow Blade. You'll also get Rush Marine.

Spark Man


Jump over the force field generators when they're not zapping a laser to block your path.

The flying plug monsters are easy to take down, but they can shoot sparks in eight directions when given the chance.

The chutes shoot down blocks of metal, which can crush you and cause instant death if you're not careful.

Be careful with the red platforms with the arrow pointing up. They'll rocket you into spikes and instantly kill you if you're not quick!

To get past the forming walls of metal blocks, just walk past them as soon as you see them, being careful not to get hit by the blocks when they fall from the chute in the ceiling.

To beat Spark Man, hit him with the Shadow Blade. Just like the Metal Blade in the second game, you can toss this weapon in eight directions. Just remember that you have a much shorter but still adequate shot range wih it. Spark Man has two attacks that he uses while leaping from one end of the room to the other: shooting sparks in eight directions, followed by throwing one big one at you.


Beating Spark Man gives you Spark Shock and Rush Jet.

NintendoCapriSun plays Mega Man 3 - Part 1 of 8

You knew it was coming, guys.

Well, we got eight more Robot Masters. What else is new? Oh, forgot. Rush and Proto Man...and sliding!

Magnet Man


The magnet robots that fly around in the air basically draw you in and take you backwards through the stage. You won't run into them, but you have to admit, you can tell that Capcom came a long way from the first Mega Man game from these guys alone.

To slide, just hold Down on the Control Pad and press A. This move debuted here, and it can be used not only to slip under narrow corridors but also get away from enemies when necessary.

You'll definitely be needing the slide against Proto Man. Slide over him when he jumps, and shoot him in the back. Avoid his firepower, then slide under him again and repeat until he teleports out of there. Why he's shooting at you, I don't know.

The spring monsters that went across from the floor in the second game are back, and this time they're not only giant-sized and stationary, they also shoot missiles. It's like they evolved or something. The missiles home in on you, but they're slow to turn, so you shouldn't have any problem shooting down the missiles - and the robot - with your regular weapon.

The one-eyed robots with the two legs just amble towards you. They're pretty easy to kill.

The turbines in the wall suck you in when you get close enough. They're harmless now, but a little later in the level, they can prove fatal if you're not careful.

Once you go down that second ladder, those stupid blocks in the wall that come in and out appear again. Yes, they return with a vengeance again. Once again, pattern repetition and recognition come into play. (Hey, that sounded pretty cool.)

To beat Magnet Man, stay away from him and keep on shooting with the Proto Buster. Run or slide under him when he jumps, and he'll leap over you easily. When he tries to draw you in with his magnetism powers, just keep running away from him. You'll slowly distance yourself away from him. When he jumps up high in the air, stay on the move to avoid the magnets that he fires at you. They'll miss you just like that.

Beating Magnet Man will give you the Magnet Missile.

Hard Man


Hey, Beavis. He said "hard."

Also...jeebus christ, he looks like a freakin' penis.

5:01 - FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

The bee robots toss down a cocoon, which unleashes five smaller bees upon impact with the ground. Shoot them down, and maybe, just maybe, you might be able to get some much-needed power-ups. Or you can can get extra lives...if they're not lodged into the ground that is.

Stay on the move with those green pipes on the ground, so you don't get snacked on by the pirahna robots inside.

You are equipped with Rush Coil at the beginning of the game. Meet Rush, Mega Man's rad red dog companion. He has many functions that you'll see not only in this game, but in other ones as well. Rush Coil lets you jump high into the air whenever you jump onto Rush's back. Just call Rush with the B button, then jump up and prepare to get some major hangtime.

The Sniper Joes are back, and this time they're throwing bolas. After they throw one, they leave themselves exposed by opening their one eye. Shoot them as you wait for them to start winding up faster just prior to their throw, then jump over their weapon and fire away again.

The gorillas from the Wood Man stage return with a vengeance. Sheesh, more returning enemies. These guys can be taken out much like in the second game: just shoot them from afar or take them out with one of your special weapons. Your Magnet Missile might be a good idea for the moment, but you're going to need it against Hard Man. They're easy to take down with the Proto Buster, provided you have enough distance and the means to actually reach them prior to firing.

Also, if you keep moving when you get close enough for them to drop down and hound you, they'll eventually hang on the ceiling again if you avoid them long enough.

The robot on the dozer is easy to kill. Just stay out of their way and shoot the guy controlling it in the head.

Unlike the last game, where you could only carry four Energy Tanks, you can carry as much as 99 this time around. This is very useful and is potentially game-breaking in case you farm them.

Yep, the Mettaurs are back again. Shoot them when they look out of their hats and avoid their firepower, which they always do when you get close enough to them.

When fighting Proto Man here, stay in the center and be prepared to both jump over his firepower and slide under him when he jumps.

The crushing robots are back, too. This time, shoot them when they open their eyes to take them out. At least you can slide under them now in case you can't kill them.

To beat Hard Man, jump over his fists. They have a rather short range and they'll return to him, so keep that in mind. You can shoot him with the Proto Buster as he's trying to punch you to death. When he gets into the air, you can hit him with the Magnet Missile if necessary. Don't be in his path when he plummets back into the ground after jumping.


Beating Hard Man gives you the Hard Knuckle.

Monday, December 29, 2014

The Music of Darkwing Duck


Bonus Stage


Boss Battle


Bushroot Stage


Cut Scene


Ending Theme


Job Well Done


Liquidator Stage


Megavolt Stage


Quackerjack Stage


Stage Clear


Steelbeak Stage


Title Screen


Wolfduck Stage

corona180 plays Darkwing Duck - Part 8 of 8

The final battle with Steelbeak begins now!

Steelbeak


Steelbeak has two forms, if you can even call the first form a form. For the first one, get on the top chandeliers and shoot at the protective window in front of Steelbeak. Use the left one you can also shoot down the ever-spawning flying robots that go down in one hit at the same time and not take damage.

For the second form, wait for him to throw the steel panel at you before you shoot him. He's pretty quick when he's not holding one, so hold on to one of the chandeliers and wait for him to throw it.

If you have the Heavy Gas, you can simply shoot it from the bottom chandelier after he throws the steel panel. Since he'll always stay on the ground, this makes the second form dreadfully easy.

When you beat Steelbeak, you'll stop him - for now - and save the city of St. Canard!


Sunday, December 28, 2014

corona180 plays Darkwing Duck - Part 7 of 8

It's time to face Steelbeak, but finding him won't be easy...

Floating Fortress - Stop Steelbeak!


This is it! The final fight! All of the enemies here are from other levels, but there are some new ones here too!

The guys standing on the cannons won't fire them unless you're close enough.

At the end of the first screen, jump up and shoot to the right to find the final bonus stage.

The slugs go down after one measly hit.

The knights on the hobby horses can be hit in the back as they move back and forth.

The ducks with the buzzcuts turn into robots and walk toward you after six hits. If you damage them after that, their heads will eventually bounce around before you destroy it for good. This is easily the most difficult (and most aggravating) enemy in the game.


To take care of the guys in the barrels, avoid the barrels, then shoot the guys that appear under them.

corona180 plays Darkwing Duck - Part 6 of 8

In this entry, we head to the forest and take down Bushroot!

Forest - Stop Bushroot!


Something strange is going on in the woods. It just might be the work of Bushroot.

The plants that climb up the trees send their flowers (with monstrous teeth) at you if you're close enough. Shoot at the vine part to take them out. Likewise, the dogs in the doghouses will come at you when you're in range. The dogs are obviously much easier to take out, as they'll just stand there if you're far enough away even if you're shooting at them.

The birds fly upwards when you get close, then they come at you. They're pretty slow on the draw, so you definitely have an opportunity to defeat them.

When you enter the cave, jump through the waterfalls so you don't fall into the hidden pits. You'll then be using logs going down the waterfall as platforms, a la Super Mario Bros 2/Doki Doki Panic. When you drop down to the screen with the two bats, go to the right. The bonus stage will be above the 1-Up Doll.

The fat birds deflate after you hit them once. Be prepared to shoot at them or jump over them when they do. Thankfully, they go down in two hits.

The green suits of armor take two hits to destroy. When you hit them once, the helmet falls off and there'll be a mouse at the controls.

Bushroot


Every time you hit Bushroot, he'll leap to the top and call a branch out of the tree to throw apples at you. Shoot at him, and keep shooting at him as he goes topside, and move around to avoid the apples.

He's easy like all of the other bosses, but he's hard to hit at times.


When you beat the second three stages, you'll open up one more stage. This is the final level of the game!

Saturday, December 27, 2014

corona180 plays Darkwing Duck - Part 5 of 8

As we close in on Steelbeak, the difficulty ramps up!

Wharf - Stop Megavolt!


Megavolt and his henchmen are robbing warehouses along the wharf, and it's up to you to stop them!

The hooks just after the beginning that lead to the platform also take you to a bonus stage. Just jump up and shoot to the left.

The magic lamps contain genies that breathe fire at you when you get too close. If you duck down and shoot at the lamps, you'll take them out easily. You'll have to get the genies to come out before you can destroy them, though.

The squirrels with the giant shoes try to leap at you, but you can destroy them as they rush at you.

The flying carpet guys fly around and shoot a fireball at you before they fly at you. They can go through walls as they do this, but they only take one hit before they go down.

Megavolt


Stay on the four platforms, and avoid the spark that whisks around the ground. Avoid the sparks he shoots out and shoot him down.

He may shoot a spark that goes upwards, which forces you to go left and right in order to avoid it.


Megavolt is easier to beat up than he is get to, believe it or not.

Darkwing Duck Theme

Sure, why not?

Friday, December 26, 2014

corona180 plays Darkwing Duck - Part 4 of 8

You knew that huge skyscraper was going to be a level in the game, admit it.

Tower - Stop Moliarty!


Moliarty is going to unleash a monstrous machine at the top of the tower in the center of St. Canard!

Hang on to the switches in order to uncover a ring, which you can jump up to, hang off of and continue on from. Don't take too long, or you'll have to hang on to the switch to uncover the ring again.

The basketball players toss basketballs at you after two or three dribbles. They're not that hard.

The bonus is stage is at the top of the screen after the first ring.

You'll have to duck and shoot to destroy the metal dogs. Jump over them when they charge at you.

Moliarty


If you destroy one of the machines, Moliarty will stop moving around and go immediately to it to fix it. Use this as an opportunity to get some extra damage on the guy. Be careful not to get burned by the flame bursts that the machines shoot at you, as they will home in on your current location at the time they fire.


Moliarty can also throw wrenches at you, but they're pretty easy to avoid.

corona180 plays Darkwing Duck - Part 3 of 8

The Liquidator is on the loose in the sewers! Of course, being a fully liquid human being, I'm not surprised he is on the loose over there at all!

Sewers - Stop Liquidator!


The eggs come down on parachutes. When they land on solid ground, they sprout legs and come straight at you. You're better off just jumping over them, as they're very quick.

If you have the Arrow Gas, you'll be able to get your hands on three extra lives at the start. Watch out for the guys with the hammers, as the debris that drops down after they pull their hammers away can damage you. There are also alligator guys that come at you.

The green platforms can be used one of two ways. You can either stand on them or hang onto them from underneath. Both will come into play as you'll be dodging spikes while you take a ride on them throughout this level.

In the next screen, the screen will go dark. There are switches you can hang onto to turn on the lights, but they go back off when you let go. The eyes you see will be blackbirds that fly up and come at you.

The kangaroos only throw bombs at you if you shoot at them. Otherwise, they'll just sit there.

The bonus round is above the second kangaroo. Just shoot up into the air and you'll find it.

Liquidator


Liquidator hangs out on the surface of the water, because he is the surface of the water. Avoid him as he sinks down and moves across the screen. When he resurfaces, he'll blow a horn to call out some fish-shaped water droplets that rise up before coming down on you. Thankfully, they can be shot down easily with the regular gun. Shoot at Liquidator while he's blowing the horn, and get as many shots in before he sinks into the water again. It's not really that hard.


Once you beat the first three stage, three more will open up.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

corona180 plays Darkwing Duck - Part 2 of 8

Wolfduck was never in the show, but Capcom gives us one for the game. Meanwhile, Negaduck is not in the game. Why, Capcom, why?

City - Stop Wolfduck


There's a bonus stage at the beginning. Just get onto the first building in the level and shoot to the left to uncover it.

The guys that hide in the ground can be shot at when they expose their guns.

You'll have to keep moving while you're on the tires if you want to take a ride on them.

The small gas cloud is the Heavy Gas. For two Gas points, you can shoot a two-way shoot that goes both left and right. The arrow icon is the Arrow Gas. For three Gas points, you can shoot an arrow that can not only act as a little stepping stone on a wall, but also lets you do some major damage to enemies, including bosses.

The banana peels don't damage you, but they stun you for a second or two.

It should be noted that you can only carry one gun power-up at a time.

The turtles throw their shells at you like boomerangs. They take six hits to kill with the normal gun, and the only time you can damage them is after they've thrown their shells.

Once you inflate the balloons by stomping on the switch, you can hang on it and take a ride.

The two Darkwing Duck dolls can be easily obtained with the Arrow Gas.

The guys that bounce around have only one weak point - the blinking light on their heads. Keep shooting at them, as they'll keep on ducking your shots. You'll eventually get one in on them, though.

Wolfduck


When the moon is uncovered, you'll see Wolfduck's monstrous form. He'll throw crates at you. Just avoid them, and don't worry about damaging him here, as you won't be able to hit him here.

You can shoot down the crates, but be quick about it. The fragments of the crate will still hurt you when the crate splits into four.


When the clouds moves back to the moon and covers it, he'll be a regular duck and start running around like crazy. Avoid him as he runs around and shoot at him. He'll go down in no time.

corona180 plays Darkwing Duck - Part 1 of 8

This is the intro.

This is the game.

Welcome to another awesome Disney Afternoon favorite-to-video game transition! Guess what? This one is also really good. Surprised? Don't be.

Anyway, the evil Steelbeak is up to no good again. It's up to you to stop the crime wave that's swept the city thanks to him!

After getting your mission briefing from J. Gander Hoover, head honcho of S.H.U.S.H., you'll go to the map screen, and there will be three missions - one on the bridge, one in the center of the city, and one on the other side. Choose from one of them, and Launchpad will fly you over there. Guess what? We're starting with the bridge.

Bridge - Stop Quackerjack!


In this level, you have to stop the loony criminal jester Quackerjack before somebody gets hurt.

As you shoot down enemies, you'll get power-ups sometimes.

Diamonds and gold bars give you points.

Containers with hearts on them refill your health. You have a heart on the upper-left corner that shows how much health you have. You have four hits before you lose a life. If you see a briefcase with a heart on it, it will completely refill your life.

The Darkwing Duck doll gives you an extra life.

Sometimes, you'll find bonus stages if you shoot at certain spots. If the word "Go" appears with two stars circling around it, you've found one. Jump into it and you'll get the bonus stage. Shoot down the containers and collect the contents inside. You have 30 seconds to get as much as you can.

The first bonus stage is located in the air, to the right of the first 1-Up doll.

Containers with the letter G on them are ammo for your power-ups. The big ones give you more energy (ten Gas Points) than the small ones (only one).

The icon with the thunderbolt is the Thunder Gun. This lets you shoot two bolts diagonally at the expense of one Gas Point.

You can block attacks by holding Up on the Control Pad. Also, to hang on a hook, simply jump or fall into it.

The enemies here are pretty easy. The guys with the guns are vanilla enemies and go down after two hits. The turtles that zoom into you can be damaged when they stick their heads out. The green guys that throw daggers can only be damaged when they let their guard down to throw a dagger at you.

Quackerjack


Quackerjack isn't too hard. He runs back and forth across the screen and switches platforms whenever you're on his level. His puppet, Mr. Banana Brains, is another story. He's alive (which is weird, since he was actually possessed in one episode but never alive), and he throws banana peels at you from above. Pay attention to where both of them are going, and time your movements so the banana peels don't get you. Quackerjack is pretty easy, and he goes down in a couple of shots.

Controls


Control Pad:
- Left/Right: move
- Up: block
- Down: duck

A button: jump
B button: shoot (also performable in air and while ducking)
Start: Pause/sub-menu
Select: Toggle between default shot and gas weapon
Down+A: Jump off platforms (only possible on certain platforms)

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

PrinceWatercress plays Wheel of Fortune: Deluxe Edition - Part 1 of 2

Not much to this one. I mean, it's Wheel of Fortune.

Once you look at the brief intro sequence with a digitized photo of Vanna White, it's off to the gameplay screen, which you're going to be looking at about 90% of the time. You'll put in your name and choose one of six characters to represent you.

The aim of the game is simple. Spin the wheel, guess what letters are in there to get money, and solve the puzzle to keep the bounty you just scrounged up. The more times a letter appears in the puzzle, the more money you get when you correctly guess its appearance.

You can change puzzles before a round begins with Select, and choose with X. Before the beginning of the first round, you can also change the appearance of Vanna White's dress and shoes, which always match.

There are four rounds, followed by a speed-up round. In the speed round, Vanna spins the wheel, and whatever value the wheel lands on is how much a correctly guessed letter is worth per how many time it appears in the puzzle. Unlike the TV show, vowels are worth the same value as consonants in this game. Whoever has the most money at the end of the speed-run gets to go on to the final puzzle. After you pick your prize, and all R's, S's, T's, L's, N's and E's are revealed, you'll pick three consonants and a vowel, and then you have to solve the puzzle with the letters you have. Regardless of whether you win or lose, you'll see what prize you got (or could have gotten).

Press Y to spin, B to buy a vowel for $250 of your current score, or press A to solve. When you land on a cash value, select a consonant with X and, if you choose correctly, you'll get that cash value for every time the letter appears in the puzzle.


R, S, T, L, N and E are the most common letters. R and S are the consonants to start with, and E is the one to start with. If there's a single-letter word, start with A or I, then use E, as A and I are the only letters in the English language to have a meaning.

The ulillillia Epilogue


Here's the ending, which ulillillia left out (intentionally). Enjoy looking at the final battle again.



Fooling around in Chapter 11.


The jungle area is built for speed.


More high-speed falling in Chapter 13.

Monday, December 22, 2014

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 17 of 17

Well, here it is: the final battle!

Here's how to get through this place, courtesy of GavLuvsGA's walkthrough:

Go up the ramp and kill the Woolies (how come they need spacesuits and Bubsy doesn't???) There are a few overhead missiles watch out for. At the end of the corridor, go up and head left, entering the teleporter like you would a door. In the next room activate the restart point and jump over the flashing red chamber - its deadly. At the end of this corridor is the first bubble gun-toting Woolie. You need a well timed running jump to kill this one, then take out the spaceship and enter the teleporter. Jump over to the switch and immediately jump back. Enter the teleporter for the final special stage.

When you leave the stage, enter the teleporter again and return to the chamber you couldn't enter before. The red light is gone so you can go in. Continue on through the teleport again and drop down the hole; head left using springs for a Wool Gas Matron and then glide down to the next switch. Go right and use the spring to enter the next section of the spaceship and kill the Woolie and hit the next switch (on the left). This allows the next teleporter to be accessible. Run right and jump on the floating blue platform. Before it falls away, take out the spaceship and the Woolie and then collect all the yarn balls.Enter the teleporter after hitting the switch that opens the way ahead, but unfortunately brings three Woolies out of cryogenic suspension. They have lightning guns which they will attempt to kill you with. Once you've killed them collect all items and then head upwards, avoiding stray cheese and kill some more lightning gun Woolies.  Enter a teleporter, which takes you to a room containing a restart point. Re-enter and you will reach a room with some tacks and a yarn crate; the teleporter will then take you to a room with a Woolie and Wool Gas Matron. In the next room, head right and down, killing a Woolie with a lightning gun, then drop down. Kill the spaceship and jump on the moving platform, killing the Woolie with the bubble gun, and his companion and pulling another switch to allow you to progress.

Make your way along the corridor, taking a detour to get a 2 up, guarded by a Woolie with another bubble gun. Kill two more and enter the last teleporter, then hit the last restart point. Ahead are three Woolies, at different levels - two with bubble guns and one with a lightning gun, whom you must take out individually buy jumping just high enough, then gliding (to avoid being hit by the one above). Then run along the corridor, killing spaceships. Get the 1 up and face the final boss.

To beat the final boss, avoid the bananas, cheese wheels and oranges that the Two-headed Queen Woolie throws and jump on her head. Keep on gliding and you should be able to destroy her in no time.


ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 16 of 17

Finally, we're about to finish this game off!

Chapter 15: Lethal Woolie
(continued)


The two saucers are supposed to have a red yarn ball and a yellow yarn ball. Instead, we get more bronze. And train music. Damn you, Mega Drive.

Stay in the air and glide. If you're lucky, you'll take these guys down and you won't have to worry about the giant yarn balls they drop that roll across the ground like boulders (and sadly, you can't collect these yarn balls).

Chapter 16: A Farewell To Woolies


"Whoa! Are you still playing this thing?"

Here were are: the Woolie mothership!

The Woolies here wear space helmets. Some of them also stand still and fire bubbles out of a gun every few seconds.

The yarn ball UFOs fly in patterns other than back and forth here, so watch out.

The teleporters are used just like the tunnels. Just press Up to be zapped to the other end.

Any areas that are flashing red should not be entered. If you do enter them, Bubsy will melt (it's probably a laser field) and you'll lose a life.

8:47 - Infinite points trick...or at least an attempt at one. Nice.

Here's how to get through this place, courtesy of GavLuvsGA's walkthrough:


Go up the ramp and kill the Woolies (how come they need spacesuits and Bubsy doesn't???) There are a few overhead missiles watch out for. At the end of the corridor, go up and head left, entering the teleporter like you would a door. In the next room activate the restart point and jump over the flashing red chamber - its deadly. At the end of this corridor is the first bubble gun-toting Woolie. You need a well timed running jump to kill this one, then take out the spaceship and enter the teleporter. Jump over to the switch and immediately jump back. Enter the teleporter for the final special stage.

When you leave the stage, enter the teleporter again and return to the chamber you couldn't enter before. The red light is gone so you can go in. Continue on through the teleport again and drop down the hole; head left using springs for a Wool Gas Matron and then glide down to the next switch. Go right and use the spring to enter the next section of the spaceship and kill the Woolie and hit the next switch (on the left). This allows the next teleporter to be accessible. Run right and jump on the floating blue platform. Before it falls away, take out the spaceship and the Woolie and then collect all the yarn balls. Enter the teleporter after hitting the switch that opens the way ahead, but unfortunately brings three Woolies out of cryogenic suspension. They have lightning guns which they will attempt to kill you with. Once you've killed them collect all items and then head upwards, avoiding stray cheese and kill some more lightning gun Woolies.  Enter a teleporter, which takes you to a room containing a restart point.

Re-enter and you will reach a room with some tacks and a yarn crate; the teleporter will then take you to a room with a Woolie and Wool Gas Matron. In the next room, head right and down, killing a Woolie with a lightning gun, then drop down. Kill the spaceship and jump on the moving platform, killing the Woolie with the bubble gun, and his companion and pulling another switch to allow you to progress. Make your way along the corridor, taking a detour to get a 2 up, guarded by a Woolie with another bubble gun. Kill two more and enter the last teleporter, then hit the last restart point. Ahead are three Woolies, at different levels - two with bubble guns and one with a lightning gun, whom you must take out individually buy jumping just high enough, then gliding (to avoid being hit by the one above). Then run along the corridor, killing spaceships. Get the 1 up and face the final boss.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 15 of 17

Oh, it becomes more beautiful at the same time? I certainly wasn't expecting this!

Chapter 14: No Time To Paws


Just like in the last chapter, keep in mind that if you see what looks like a hornets' nest, there are bees nearby. Also, a small dark grey spider web will indicate that there are spider(s) in the vicinity.

You may have to go down at times as well. Remember to use those bouncing yarn balls as a guide whenever necessary, and always look around!

When you see the bamboo in the foreground, you're getting close to the end.

The goal is in the center at the other end of the chapter.

Chapter 15: Lethal Woolie


"Somebody dial 911!"

Not only will you see less hornets and more spiders near a small web, you'll also see bamboo platforms strung around the level. They'll even make up a small, Woolie-infested maze that you'll have to ease your way through.


You'll also be seeing vine bridges. Talk about saving the best for last.

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 14 of 17

Just when you think the game couldn't get any harder, it does just that by simply changing from a Sonic knockoff to a regular platformer with Sonic-esque physics.

Chapter 13: Eye of the Bobcat
(continued)


I swear, the tree frogs look like they're derping whenever they walk. As a matter of fact, if you want to make your own tree frog .gif, go ahead and use this enemy sprite sheet by Dolphman. You're welcome.

Also, go left from the goal to find a 2-up.

Chapter 14: No Time To Paws


"What? And give up show business?"


You start at the bottom left corner of the level, in case you wondering. If you go past the lowest point, you will fall down a bottomless pit.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 13 of 17

You're in the jungle, baby! You're goin' dooooowwwwwnnnnnn...

Chapter 12: Claws For Alarm
(continued)


The boss here is a yarn ball saucer with a blue yarn ball (which is apparently yellow and bronze again here). Since you're fighting this thing on a raft (that you can't control), there's a giant chance that this will be the hardest boss fight in the game for you.

The raft will go from left to right, and all the while, the saucer will move around like normal, shooting out bombs that will slowly destroy your raft. You can destroy the bombs by jumping on them, but you're better off staying in the air with your glide and (hopefully) getting three hits on it in one quick swoop while you can.

When you defeat the boss, the raft will automatically home in on your position on the way down so you don't accidentally fall into the river. Next stop: the jungle!

Chapter 13: Eye of the Bobcat


"That's it! I'm out of here! You can't make me..."

Welcome to the Jungle, the last area before you finally take on the Woolie mothership.

Here, the goal isn't just to make it to the right, you'll also have to make it to the top, too. Finally, the game stops being like Sonic the Hedgehog...somewhat.

Enemies include Woolies on planes (which you can hijack once you unseat the pilots), spiders that jump around, light bulb bugs, tree frogs that are really fast, and bees that fly around in circles as if to say "Betcha can't hit a moving target."

The Woolies here are supposed to have safari hats on, but for some reason they're still wearing the little woodcutter hats here.


You can jump off the center of the spider webs to bounce higher.

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 12 of 17

...and this is where ulillillia starts dying quite a bit.

Chapter 11: Rock Around The Croc
(continued)


There is always going to be one switch that lowers the river. The rest give you extra time in the deeps in you run into them. The real one here has an arrow point left and down next to it.

Chapter 12: Claws For Alarm


"Is there a veterinarian in the audience?"

Please, if there were one reading this blog, then that'd be proof enough that he has too much time on his hands.


Also, there's so many deaths caused by bad luck on this vid that it's not even funny.

Friday, December 19, 2014

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 11 of 17

Okay, now that we have these gnarled trees every couple of feet, these levels are starting to look slightly uninviting...

Chapter 10: Beavery Careful
(continued)


The Woolies here wear those Elmer Fudd hats. I forgot what they're called.

Anyway, the sharpened tree stumps are obviously spikes.

Other enemies in the water include both more spikes and eels with a horn on their heads. The eels will ram your raft and try to knock you into the river. Destroy them before they can destroy you!

The skies aren't very friendly either. You'll be dealing with red flies (and their maggot offspring that come out whenever you jump on one) and flying fish.

If you're lucky, you'll be able to find the switch that drains the river. This is great, as you'll be able to run around wherever. Sadly, if you die, you'll have to hunt it down again to reclaim freedom of movement. Also, the water won't be drained for long, and it'll come back up after a few handfuls of seconds.

Chapter 11: Rock Around The Croc


"Next time, I get a stunt cat!"

This time around, there is more space between the ground level and the river. Of course, this also means that if you drown in the river, your screw-up is more magnanimous.


The dark, gnarled leafless trees will deflate Bubsy in a heartbeat, so don't even jump into them.

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 10 of 17

We finally finish off the Canyon and enter the River...or at least ride a raft across it. Prepare to be frustrated.

Chapter 9: Dances With Woolies
(continued)


My gosh, ulillillia Time Overs here a bunch of times just to get everything.

The boss here is an actual flying saucer. It's supposed to be grey with a green yarn ball for a visor, yet it's all bronze with a yellow one here. Weird.

Also, the boss music here is the train music, which is weird, because the Super Nintendo version never did this.

It moves back and forth in a half-circle, and holding the glide button down to stay on top of it is anything but easy. This thing spawns Woolies in space helmets, and if you fall to the bottom, you'll have the extraterrestrials to contend with.

It takes four hits to kill this thing, and if there's any Woolies onscreen afterward, you'll have to kill them, too.

Congratulations. You're about to tackle something even more taxing...the river stages.

Chapter 10: Beavery Careful


"Hey, I didn't write this stuff!"

Welcome to the River levels. Here, you'll be riding rafts, dealing with turtles in both the water and the air, playing with water slides (again), and praying that the crocodiles don't eat your ride.

First of all, don't land in the water. It's a long way down to the bottom where you'll drown and lose a life.

The turtles will push your raft back. This makes it easier for you to kill them.

You're seeing that right. There are geysers around here. You'll be taking rides on those things as well.

The trees with the eraser tops bounce you higher, much like the trees in the Village area.

While you're riding the raft, you'll also be dealing with starfish that jump up and float down.


The beavers chuck nuts at you. Wait for them to fire before taking them on.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

And now...game mastery.


Here's that falling glitch that lets you get 32+ pixels per frame.


How to fall through land in Chapter 8. This is hilarious.


Typical Village glitches.


More desert oddities, including that nasty glitch where the Woolie kills you if you hit the checkpoint to his left and die before you kill him.


The "double cheese wheel" glitch.

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 9 of 17

Another blog entry, another chapter.

Chapter 9: Dances With Woolies


"My contract does not mention paint!"

This is basically more of the same for the train section. Don't ask me why there's a prairie dog jumping around in the smokestack just like in the last chapter, because I obviously couldn't tell you.

There's really not much to mention in this chapter.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 8 of 17

We enter the canyon and collect a bazillion lives. This is a good place to farm on lives if you're trying to complete this game in one sitting.

Chapter 8: A Fistful Of Yarn


"Go ahead, make my day."

Once again, there's quite a few extra lives and yarn balls to get here.

The lizards that run around are fairly quick, but running is all that they do.

Be sure to look around the engine to find some hidden pick-ups.

Once you're in the canyon, go left at the start to get extra yarn balls, including a yarn ball crate. Be sure to look around while you're here, as there are a lot of extra lives to collect in this section (and I mean, a lot).

As you're running around in the canyon here, you'll meet a new enemy: sand sharks. Yes, we have sharks swimming in sand. They're pretty easy to defeat, though. They'll show they're face when they come close to you, making it easier to jump on them.

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 7 of 17

Now that we've seen the train section, let's check out the canyon section!

Chapter 7: The Good, The Bad and the Woolies
(continued)


When you trigger the switch to the train, you'll jump off the train and enter the canyon.

The Woolies wear pith helmets here.

The canyon areas are even more dangerous than the train levels for the extremely careless. There are prairie dogs with guns that jump around, spikes with faces that wait for you to get close, cow skulls and cacti that act like the thumbtacks.

The Grumbleweeds just tumble to the right, and they can hit you easily if you're not paying attention. They're pretty easy to take out if you wait for them to drop, though.

The slopes underground act like the water slides in the Village.

Later in the stage, you'll see boulders rolling up and down the half-pipe like sections of the canyon. Stand on the platforms in the center and stay out of their way.

You may have noticed this before, but whenever you save your progress with an Exclamation Point, you also save how much time you had left. This is true even if you run out of time and lose a life as a result. This is why ulillillia never touches that one Exclamation Point before he reaches the end.


The diligent player can find 900+ yarn balls in a single chapter in the three Canyon levels.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 6 of 17

We take on the second boss and enter the canyon!

Chapter 6: Our Furless Leader
(continued)


Believe it or not, the maze at the end isn't that hard. It should be noted that two of the doorways take you to a bonus area.

The boss here are two more yarn ball UFOs - one blue and one green. (Apparently, they're both yellow in the Genesis/Mega Drive version.) They'll fly around in an oval pattern, making it that much easier to beat them the same way you beat the last boss. Jump and hold the glide button, then take control of Bubsy from there and you'll eventually kill them.

Chapter 7: The Good, The Bad and the Woolies


"Well, it worked for Clint."

Well, the blue yarn balls look blue this time. Also, the Woolies wear Conductor Hats.

Welcome to the Canyon area! Here, the three levels are split off into two sections. First, there's the train, where you have to make it all the way to the front of the car, hit the switch and stop the train. You'll then enter the canyon and make your way to the goal from there.

Explore each car carefully as you explore. There'll be some extra pick-ups and yarn balls for those who scour the trains closely enough.

The horny toads are indestructible. Don't even jump on them, as they'll pop Bubsy like a safety pin.

The crates of dynamites rocket you up into the air when you jump on them. They're one use only, so don't mess up as you grab everything up above! Don't forget to glide on the way down!

The regular crates can be pushed just by walking into them to make jumping over thumbtacks and other obstacles easier.

Almost forgot...you can't land on the tracks, so if you fall in between the cars, you're going to go down a bottomless pit.

The giraffes cannot be defeated, but if you jump on their heads, you'll be able to jump a little higher and collect some yarn balls.

Yes, those things on the top of the steel gray train car are spikes.


Before you stop the train, head to the very front of the train for some extra enemies, yarn balls and a yarn ball crate.

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 5 of 17

More glitches abound, including one that involves a Cheese Wheel of Doom.

Chapter 5: Night of the Bobcat
(continued)


While on the roller coaster, you can hold Up on the Control Pad to reach stuff that's over your head. Be careful not to be on them when they roll off the track, as you'll go down with them and lose a life.

3:50 - Reaching the Continue.

6:17 - The Eggs Trick. Again.

Chapter 6: Our Furless Leader


"Shouldn't that be fearless? Uh, oh..."

Take the Strongman jump at the beginning and go left to get an easy 1-Up.

8:55 - Comedy cheese wheel death. I didn't even think the cheese wheels could bounce that high.


The shirt with the flashing exclamation point is temporary invincibility. Touching it will cause the exclamation point on Bubsy's shirt (and on the score counter) to flash. As long as it flashes (and the music plays), Bubsy can destroy any enemies just by touching them.

Monday, December 15, 2014

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 4 of 17

This is probably the most hilarious entry I've ever done, simply because ulillillia flaunts his knowledge of the game. Seriously, I wouldn't have thought of doing these things as a kid.

Chapter 4: Fair Conditioning
(continued)


Another glitch. Here, ulillillia takes advantage of the fact that the screen scrolls so fast that the pile of eggs can't even be registered as non-existant by the game, and he's able to soar far beyond the top of the screen. If he keeps this up, he could technically keep in the air indefinitely, and as long as he's in the air after the time runs out, Bubsy won't be able to lose a life, you could technically float all the way to the end if you had enough time. Don't worry. If you actually enjoyed seeing this, we'll see him doing this again.

Also, that door he flew up to leads to a bonus area. There are also spaceships in the air that fly around in circles, and you can use those to get the yarn balls with Up and Down on the Control Pad.

Another attempt at wackiness. This time, ulillillia takes advantage of enemy placement and farms points off of the cheese wheels. He does it with such ease like it's another day at the office. Interestingly, once he hits the 1500 point mark, it's 2000, then 3000, then 4000 and finally 5000 for every subsequent enemy until he finally decides to finish the job. You can almost picture ulillillia yawning and just ending it all because he's bored.

The firecrackers jump into the air and slowly float down. Other than that, that's all they do, and sometimes they're the only way to get past a long pit of thumbtacks.

Also, don't mind the little levers that some of the Woolies use to launch eggs at you. They can't hurt you if you touch them, and you also can't utilize them yourself. Poo.

Chapter 5: Night of the Bobcat


"Hey, I thought I saw Elvis back there!"

Nope. Sorry. You didn't.

When the level starts, the roller coaster goes without you. You're on your own at the beginning of the level.

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 3 of 17

We finish off the first area and watch the difficult ramp up...not very much at all.

Chapter 3: A Bridge Too Fur
(continued)


There are also boxes of thumb tacks. Hitting them, of course, triggers the thumbtacks coming out. Once again, don't step on the thumbtacks unless you have a death wish.

The piles of eggs that the Woolies use don't give you any points, but if you glide into the top of them, you'll rocket up into the air. It's a nice bonus that come along with that wacky squish sound the eggs make when you destroy them.

One of the sets of houses in this level has a cave underneath. Enter the opening, then go into the cave opening and hit the switch by simply running into it. When you re-enter the first part of the cave, the water will be drained. You'll get a 1-up on the other side for your efforts.

The boot launches you in the direction the toe is facing.

Really interesting fact: if you collect 500 yarn balls in a chapter, you'll get an extra life.

Every third chapter brings you a boss. The two bosses here are two large yarn ball UFOs. They're supposed to be red and yellow, but due to the graphical limitations on the Genesis/Mega Drive (hey, the red yarn balls look orange), they're both yellow here. You have to hit the yarn ball on the UFOs when the Woolie faces show up. Avoid the yarn balls that hang from the bottom of them, and hold the glide button down when you're in the air so you can destroy these guys with ease. After two hits each, they're gone!

Chapter 4: Fair Conditioning


"Hey, whatever blows your hair back!"

Now the blue yarn balls look purple.

Welcome to the fairgrounds, the second area of the game. You'll be wearing many hats in this game: roller coaster rider, merry-go-round enthusiast, strongman hammer, and all-out daredevil (you'll be running on roller coaster rails and jumping over huge pits of thumbtacks).

The Woolies have hair now, apparently. They have different stuff on their head as you enter new areas of the game.

The hot dog enemies are more or less generic, as they just jump back and forth. The ice cream cones freeze you temporarily if you touch them, and they are the only enemies in the game that won't kill you when you touch them.


To get the maximum height out of the strongman bells, jump from the top of either of the platforms next to the see-saw. Don't glide until after you've rocketed into the air.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 2 of 17

This video is more of the same, but at least ulillillia earns 100,000 points earlier than usual.

Chapter 2: Forbidden Plummet
(continued)


The yarn ball UFOs sound really weird in the Genesis/Mega Drive version. (Kinda like FM synthesis bass notes.) They fly around from left to right slightly quickly and can beat you up if you're not careful.

Stepping on thumb tacks littered on the ground is ill-advised. Bubsy will pop and then fly around in circles much like a punctured balloon.

The pianos are a pain in the butt unless you go down a slope with them and take them out on flat ground. If you land on them with the glide button, you'll get some hangtime. (They sound like synthesizers in the Genesis version. I blame the console's sound chip.)

The crates with the anvils on them are just platforms. Nothing more.

Chapter 3: A Bridge Too Fur


"More like 'A bridge too short...'"

The jumping flower pots are just background scenery.


To open the bridges up, just land on the gear and Bubsy will do the rest of the work.

ulillillia plays Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (Genesis) - Part 1 of 17

Yes, he has a Super Nintendo run. I'll do that one later. The only reason I chose the Genesis/Mega Drive version first was the flip of a coin.

Thanks, random associate of mine, for letting me borrow a 1976 Bicentennial Quarter that I felt weird for flipping.

Chapter 1: Cheese Wheels of Doom


"What could possibly go wrong?"

Everything, Bubsy. Everything.

A full game of "Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind" (Sega Genesis version) is played. Although I have roughly 4000 hours' play time for this particular game, almost all of that is spent playing around rather than playing the actual game in a normal way. One major thing I enjoy is that fact that some enemies when gliding upon landing on them, allow for extreme height and great speed due to speed falling. While I'd normally pause the game a lot to perform these stunts, I avoid it as much as possible. The few times it does happen are purely accidental. Despite not pausing the game frequently, I rack up tons of lives during the first 9 levels, then remain about the same (in the 60's) throughout the other 7 levels. There is a class 6 (severe) bug where, if you pass something around 79 or 80 lives, the game essentially "resets" - you have no score, 9 lives, and start at the beginning of the level. Because some levels are of little interest, I have more difficulties with these. The most familiar levels are 1 (all), 2 (first 1200 px), 4 (first 75%), 7 (all), 8 (all), 10 (first 80% especially), 11 (somewhat), and 13 (first 80%). For the unfamiliar areas, I'm more prone to making mistakes (and thus, losing lives).

Because this video spans over 2 1/2 hours, it is split into 17 segments of roughly 10 minutes each (to work around YouTube's 10-minute limitation).


Holy crap, I was kidding.

This is the first area of the game: the Village. This area is pretty easy overall, and you'll be able to get used to the Sonic-esque game mechanics here.

You can leap off the huge branch on the right side of the trees to jump super high. Don't forget to glide on the way down, or you're not going to survive the high jump. (You'll be gliding pretty often.) The first tree takes you to a T-shirt with a "1" on it, which signifies an extra life. You'll definitely be needing more than the nine lives you start the game with.

0:43 - The first of what might be a bunch of glitches ulillillia shows off in the game. Amazingly, this game is easy to glitch if you know what you're doing.

Defeating enemies is simple: just jump on top of their heads. If they have projectiles such as eggs, you'll want to avoid them as they will kill you in one hit.

The Woolies are those yellow guys that blow their nose at you (hey, it's what it looks like they're doing). They're the main enemies of the game and they're central to the storyline (or what passes as the storyline for this game: save the Earth's yarn supply from being claimed by the Woolies of the planet Rayon). Their appearances change mildly throughout the game.

The ducks with the googly eyes that fly around appear throughout the game, and sometimes they act like stepping stones to a higher platform (you'll be seeing this more often later in the game). Sometimes, they spit an egg out of their mouths like bombs. The eggs act as projectiles, and being hit by just one will kill you.

The yarn balls act like more than coins than rings. They also give you points (Ten to forty, depending on the color) which are just there for show more than anything. Some of them cycle through the four colors (and obviously, the four different point values). Yarn ball crates hold 25 yarn balls.

You should definitely avoid water. If Bubsy is soaked in it, he'll drown and lose a life.

The exclamation points are continue points. Hit one and you'll restart there if you lose a life.

The crates with bananas on them reveal banana peels when broken. Be careful when you run into the peels, as you'll be sliding around in the direction you're going for a second or two.

The manholes rise really high in the air. If you're standing on them when they're about to rise up, you'll go up into the air. I wouldn't jump into the underside of them, though. You will get hurt.

The water slides are quick, one way shortcuts to yarn balls and points, and the occasional extra life. You can still jump to collect stuff, but you're basically forced into the direction that the water on the water slide segments flows.

If you couldn't already tell, there's a ten-minute time limit to each and every stage.

The gumball machines cannot be defeated. Just stay away from them and the gumballs they shoot out.

The orb with the orange stuff inside is a Wool Gas Matron. It's worth 50 yarn balls and gives you a random amount of points from a range of 1000 to 7777.

Cave entrances whisk you to a different part of the level. Some of them, however, take you to secret areas that take place on what appears to be a Woolie mothership. Collect everything, then fall to the bottomless pit to return to the level.

Speaking of cave entrances, there are some with train tracks coming out of them. You can jump on the trains when they come out of the cave to destroy them.

There are two kinds of cars in the Village: the yellow ones and the red ones. You can jump on the yellow ones to get some serious hangtime, but if you jump into the seats of the red ones, you'll be trapped by the convertible roof and lose a life. If you jump on the hoods of the red ones, you'll be able to destroy them.

The black T-shirt turns Bubsy completely black, allowing him to go through enemies without being touched. You also get some pretty nifty "sneaking around" music to go along with it until the effect wears off.

The red circular arrow is a Continue. Collect one to, well, get a continue.

When you hit the big red yarn ball at the end of the stage, be sure you're going as fast as you can. The faster you hit, the more yarn balls that will come out of it. Collect as many as you can, then enjoy your bonus points for every second on the clock you have left as well as the number of yarn balls you've collect in the chapter.

Chapter 2: Forbidden Plummet


"Did I mention I don't like heights?"

No.

You'll be starting at the top of the level in this chapter. The very bottom is nothing but deep water, and you don't want to land there. Flying platforms abound, as do extra lives (if you go down at the upper-left corner - and start - of the chapter, you'll find two).


The cheese wheels that the Woolies kick (the Cheese Wheels of Doom which strangely don't show up until Chpater 2) give you considerable hangtime when you jump onto them with the glide button.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

It's finally here: The 2011 Year In Review Blog from GameTrailers!

Here it is: The one thing from the original GameTrailers blog that I have yet to post. It's the Best of 2011 blog entry that I made, unedited and uncensored. Enjoy.

2011: The Year In Review


I. Introduction


You're probably asking yourself, "Why am I reading this? This isn't one of PrinceWatercress's game guides."

You're right. It's not.

Welcome to the 2011 Review blog. In this series, I mention my thoughts on the year that was just spread out before us, from real life to the video game industry to everything in-between.

So, what will be covered? Awesome games, crazy memories, GT happenings, the history behind the PrinceWatercress blog, and more!

Sit tight. This is one huge blog.

II. Best of 2011


In this section, I recollect the ten best things I liked about 2011 in no particular order. For those not paying attention, this is 2011 according to me.

Those amongst you on my friends list who are curious as to what my non-video game interests are; prepare to have your tastes satisfied somewhat in this entry.

CM Punk and Triple H duke it out at Night of Champions
(WWE Universe)


Triple H was barely filling the shoes of kayfabe COO when CM Punk called him out on being no different than Vince McMahon. With Kevin Nash not only having a friendship with Triple H (that he'd later destroy) but also being the one to screw Punk out of the WWE Championship at SummerSlam, CM Punk was under the belief that Nash was sent to cheat him of the belt by Triple H when it wasn't even true (which was later uncovered, leading to Nash's firing by Triple H). CM Punk then made fun of Triple H's manhood as well as his wife prior to Nash's firing, setting the stage for an interesting battle - especially since this was Triple H's first match since his loss to the Undertaker at WrestleMania 27. Triple H would put his COO position on the line and forfeit it if he lost - and eventually win it all - but it was the events leading up to that win (as well as CM Punk eating a bit of humble pie afterwards) that make this match one we'll never forget.

¡Mucha Lucha! Sin Cara, the Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara storyline, Hunico
(WWE Universe)


Back in April, Sin Cara debuted to a full crowd on WWE Raw and decimated Primo, putting him in some sort of moonsault-style slam off the top rope. He got transferred to SmackDown in the draft, then got busted for recreational drug use thanks to the WWE Wellness Policy. While he was out for 30 days for his first offense, WWE brought out another Sin Cara under our noses. For anyone who didn't know about the Wellness Policy violation, it looked like Sin Cara was alive and well and still with us the whole time...turning heel in the process. When the 30-day suspension was up, though, the real Sin Cara showed up as the fake one was causing mayhem, setting the stage for a storyline in which the fake Sin Cara said that the real one stole his identity from him. The faker would also show up in a black outfit, with the real one being known as Sin Cara Azul and the fake one Sin Cara Negro. They finally fought it out in a mask vs. mask match in which Azul won, and the unmasked Sin Cara Negro would soon return as Hunico and attack Sin Cara from out of nowhere. Sin Cara is now injured due to a patella injury suffered during Survivor Series (where he'll be out six to nine months), leaving Hunico free to cause as much trouble as he can. How will this turn out? Stay tuned!

Project Café aka Wii-U
(Gaming)


This time around, Nintendo made the first move and not Microsoft. Even though they gave their console a new name that pales compared to the original (again), the fact that the new controller is a tablet-sized slab with its own screen makes for some pretty interesting ideas. If Nintendo makes the right moves (and games that take good advantage of the new controller from both first- and third-party developers come out), they could overtake Sony...

The "Super Empire Strikes Back" blog series
(PrinceWatercress Blog/GT)


Allow me to toot my own horn for a moment.

It's pretty hard to pick which one guide form the PrinceWatercress blog is the best of them all, since they all covered good games so far (as well as those that are yet to come). Success-wise, it was the guide for Super Empire Strikes Back for Super Nintendo that outshined them all.

I was currently working on the guide for ActRaiser when I found out that the entire Star Wars saga was coming to DVD. I immediately dropped all that I was doing and made plans for a guide Super Empire Strikes Back. I had originally created a guide for Super Star Wars based on a Let's Play by YouTube user lukenuetzmann, and the tips he had mentioned in those videos were very helpful. Heck, I even learned some stuff from those videos and felt a bit enlightened at the end. So it was only natural that I consulted his channel again for the sequel.

I was still working on the guide for the game when I posted the first entry for it. The results made it all worth it - not only did one of the first entries get 100  views in less than a week, two of the first entries achieved over 100 positive thumbs - both a first for the blog.

Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to win Super Bowl XLV
(Sports)


This one was a bit of a nail biter. Green Bay was able to get ahead by only a few points near the end, thanks to Aaron Rodgers's seemingly robot-accurate laser arm. There was still hope that the Steelers would win a seventh Super Bowl on the last drive of the game, but alas, they could not. After that it wasn't odd to look up Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow on YouTube and see a bunch of "Green and yellow! Green and yellow!" messages in the comments.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
(Television)


Who would have thought that one of the best shows of the past year would be a cartoon for young girls? When Lauren Faust, the wife of Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken, rebooted My Little Pony for a fourth generation, she pulled no punches with the writing and did not even talk down to her intended audience for a minute. The smart, witty presentation of the show caused it to be a cross-generation smash, with even '90s kids going so far as to say that the cartoon had balls and was reminiscent of the early Cartoon Network shows. Nice job, Lauren.

Mark Henry beats Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Title; becomes the most dangerous heel in WWE
(WWE Universe)


Laugh or question this if you want. While Alberto Del Rio clearly showed weaknesses such as faking injuries or running from challenges between pay-per-views, Mark Henry did no such thing. Instead, he put Big Show, Sheamus, Kane and Randy Orton through tables. He even went so far as to injure Big Show's ankle and put him out of action for four months! And even though everyone seems to hate him, even that fact alone made his reign of terror interesting to watch.

Big Show had some interesting matches against him - the first one ending with the ring collapsing in a superplex, the second ending in disqualification when Mark Henry kicked him in the crotch - and Daniel Bryan even gave him a hard time. Can anyone bring this giant - who has finally won a major title after fifteen years at Night of Champions - off his pedestal?

John Cena wins the WWE Title for a record tenth time
(WWE Universe)


World Wrestling Entertainment must have a lot of faith in John Cena. At Night of Champions, he took on Alberto Del Rio and won. With this re-retrieval of the title, John Cena won the title for the tenth time in about ten years' worth of service in the WWE. Combine that with his reign as United States Champion, his four reigns as Tag Team Champion, and his three reigns as World Heavyweight Champion, and he's not just a battle-hardened veteran - he's a WWE Legend in his own time, regardless of what the haters say.

Osama bin Laden and Moammar Gadhafi get got; Egypt ousts Mubarak's regime
(Politics)


Well, it was bound to happen. The Middle East decides it's had enough and very gradually breaks down the four walls around them that defined themselves for so long. Egypt and Libya rebelled against their governments; the former forcing the corrupt President out of office and into exile, the latter fought its way into Gadhafi's domain via a rebellion and ended up finding and killing him. In the meantime, American troops (still stuck in the middle of a long, unpopular war) somehow got a break and found Osama bin Laden, bringing an end to his reign as Hide and Seek Champion. America finally got what it wanted.

Sony unleashes the PlayStation Vita
(Gaming)


Earlier in the year, Sony unleashed the Vita, the long-awaited successor to the PlayStation Portable. The specs for the new "PSP2" were pretty powerful, and a right analog stick was added, making the Vita a PS2 for your pocket. Even though we Yanks won't get our hands on it until February 2012, Japan got it recently this year. With some AAA titles confirmed for it, will Sony hit a handheld home run and knock Nintendo down in the portable department? Only time will tell.

III. The Worst of 2011


Of course, what would a memorable year be without...I dunno...bullcrap?!?

Here's the top ten worst things about 2011, in no particular order. Once again, just like the Top Ten Best, this is according to me.

Mega Man Legends 3 gets cancelled; the 3DS Resident Evil game gets "one save for life;" Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 released mere months after the original; Capcom becomes a pile of cash-happy PHAIL
(Gaming)


Oh, dear. For a developer known for some quality games as well as a few classic franchises, Capcom sure has been sucking lately. For starters, the long-awaited Mega Man Legends 3 was cancelled, according to Capcom Europe, not as many people supported the game. Note to Capcom: do you ever go to GameTrailers? GameFAQs? NeoGAF? GiantBomb? GameSpot? The Internet?!?

Before that, though, Capcom announced that their upcoming Resident Evil game for the 3DS would have one, non-removable save file "for life" in order to combat the lack of decent royalties from used game sales. Gamestop, defiant to the last, said they'd sell the game used anyway. I have two words for you: ROM dumps.

Meanwhile, four months after the release of the long-awaited Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Capcom released Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which had not only characters that should have been in the original (ahem, Strider Hiryu) as well as characters that wouldn't fit in with the game's idea but somehow made it in after all thanks to the fans (ahem, Phoenix Wright), but also a lot of overpriced DLC that should have been in the game as unlockables (ahem, alternate costumes). I understand Super Street Fighter IV because of Super Street Fighter II and everything, but this is making the "one save for life" thing with the new Resident Evil 3DS game both superfluous and unnecessary. To quote the Mega Man 6 ROM hack known as Mega Fag: CRAPCOM SHOVES IT.

Nintendo 3DS
(Gaming)


Oh, boy. The fifth incarnation of the DS in five years. Where do I start?

For starters, we had to wait until later for quality first-party stuff. Not surprisingly, sales of the portable weren't as superb as Nintendo hoped. Then there's the issue of region lock chips being in the Japanese version when it came out as well as in the upcoming American released, meaning that JRPG buffs will have to import another 3DS to get all the good stuff that won't show up here along with the Japanese games. Then came the release of a second analog that was attachable and ran off its own separate battery (read: an alkaline battery). In Japan. Congratulations, Nintendo, you just created an afterthought so bad it actually makes the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive 6-Button Controller look like the greatest game controller on planet Earth.

At least we have the Ambassador Program, which lets us download classic titles onto out 3DS units, but come on. We could just as easily play them on the Wii or on Game Boy Advance. C'mon, Nintendo.

id Software punishes those who buy used; Rage locks out single-player campaign stuff in used copies
(Gaming)


Good lord, id. Not you, too. We know you have an interesting history in the FPS genre, and we know you push some awesome stuff out. But locking us out of the sewers in single-player mode because we bought the game used, among other things. That's how you make history for the worse.

GameStop removes coupons for rival Internet video game download service out of copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution upon street date; gaming world throws a fucking cow
(Gaming)


Well, so much for bitching about buying used. When GameStop started selling Deus Ex: Human Revolution, word was leaked that the company sent out an internal memo to all its stores telling them to remove the coupons for a rival Internet video game download service to keep more money in their annual earnings, using that as an excuse to circumvent their definitions of "new game" and "used game." The gaming world was once again cheese off at GameStop, and GameStop eventually apologized for doing such a thing. The fact that GameStop thought they could actually get away with it is bizarrely hilarious, to say the least.

The heel turns of R-Truth and Christian
(WWE Universe)


It really sucks when a crowd favorite becomes a total jerk (it's also a regular occurrence), but two instances really stood out this year - R-Truth and Christian.

R-Truth had it made - the crowd loved it when he sang and danced, he had some agile moves, and he was one of two Number One contenders for the WWE Championship. He was addressing the crowd when John Morrison showed up and challenged him for his spot in the Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules. John Morrison beat him, causing R-Truth to snap, beat up Morrison and smoke a cigarette at ringside. He ended up turning on the crowd the following week, and he would later join up with The Miz and form Awesome Truth, who both believed there was a conspiracy that somebody was holding them back from what they "deserved." Even though they went for the WWE Tag Team Championship against Air Boom and tried to take down John Cena, CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio, none of that worked for them. The only win of any importance that they had was against Triple H and CM Punk at Vengeance. After Survivor Series, when they lost to John Cena and his surprise tag team partner - The Rock! - John Cena tricked them into turning against each other...and it worked, as Miz put him in the Skull Crushing Finale on the steel entrance ramp. He turned face again and came back after a 30 day suspension due to breaking WWE Wellness Policy.

Christian, on the other hand, is just something else entirely. After winning his friend Edge's vacated World Heavyweight Title in a fight against Alberto Del Rio at Over The Limit, he lost it three days later on SmackDown to the recently drafted Randy Orton. Christian finally snapped, turned on the crowd, and blamed everybody else but himself for the loss before attacking Randy Orton, all on the following week, turning into a whiny bitch that kept asking for shots for the title, getting them somehow, and losing at just about every single one of them - and incurring the verbal wrath of Bret "The Hit Man" Hart and his now-retired friend Edge, among others. What a waste, indeed.

Michael Rosen bitches about his material being used in YouTube Poops; gets three YouTube accounts terminated before he realizes he can't win
(Teh Internets)


Oh, YouTube. Never has somebody trashed the short legacy of Mashup 2.0 so heavily...until now. After the uploading of cult favorites using British children's litterateur Michael Rosen as a source such as "The Michael Rosen Rape" and "The Babyshitter," Rosen caught wind of everything thanks to stupid people who didn't get the point of YouTube Poop and started throwing around copyright claims to the point that three accounts were banned permanently for this combined with previous offenses. When he realized that there were more videos with him in it than he could eal with, he called a truce. Colgate-Palmolive couldn't stop WalrusGuy, why did Michael Rosen think he had a chance?

Evan Emory becomes a target for a lynch mob of overreacting, retarded parents; gets trashed by the American legal system as a result
(Teh Internets)


It was hilarious at first - YouTube musician Evan Emory filmed himself singing to a classroom of first graders, recorded himself singing naughty songs in an empty classroom, spliced parts of it together with a clip of him singing to a bunch of preschoolers, and posted it on YouTube. And everything went fine until the parents of the kids in said video saw it and reacted - by thinking that their children participating in something both dirty and doctored would ruin their lives forever - and that's where it turned fatal. Emory was arrested and indicted on trumped-up child pornography charges that brought up to twenty years of prison time while YouTube removed the video. Evan Emory was eventually sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation (during which he is forced to stay away from minors), and the video was ruled by the judge as contraband. Wow, either I missed the memo, or West Michigan (where Emory is from) is part of the Bible Belt. Even worse, he's charged with a felony because of everybody's gross overreaction - and he's only 21. Thanks for screwing up Evan Emory's life, America. I hope you're happy.

LulzSec hacks PlayStation Network amongst other sites before getting arrested; numerous thousands of accounts put at risk
(Teh Internets)


In the summer, the security of numerous websites - PayPal, the government, Netflix - were put to the test. Unfortunately, they all sucked. None were more far-reaching than the cyber-attack on Sony, which crippled the PlayStation Network and compromised the info and credit card numbers of thousands of PSN accounts. What, they couldn't hack XBox Live?

GameTrailers announces the removal of Factions in the site revamp
(Teh Internets)


GameTrailers has had people leaving the site left and right due to the quality of the community (and the site itself) going in a downward slope, but a migration of sorts was started when a conversation in a mods-only forum was leaked by an unnamed mod. The result sparked a huge controversy in which members that only participated in Factions protested the removal and many people who ran their own Factions banded together in an attempt to get staff to reconsider. Even Luna created a "Save Our Factions" blog that received over 1000 positive thumbs in a very short time and even more views and comments.

The staff have said that they still won't recommission Factions because of legal issues as well as their current unfinished state. We'll see.

Netflix makes...and un-makes...Qwikster
(Gaming)


Netflix is one of the best services for movies online. They know it. So how do they make it better? By pulling a Scumbag Steve, that's how...and by that, I mean making a separate site called Qwikster for gaming, which would have required a second password and a whole new website, as it wasn't tied to Netflix. Even worse, Netflix announced a huge price hike. A lot of people not only complained, but also left, and it hurt: 850,000 cancelled their Netflix subscriptions, and Netflix's profits went down 35% in the third quarter. Netflix found out the hard way that what they did with both the price hike and the de-streamlining of the service was a mistake, and Qwikster was axed.

IV. Personal Memories of GT


Gaming Blog


Back on December 20, 2010, I posted the first of what would be over 300 entries of what would be a really big blog.

It was pretty short and simple, really. It was a link to the overworld music from Super Mario Bros. as remixed by silentzorah aka Jay Reichard and shown on VGMusic.com, and converted to MP3 from MIDI format by the man himself. I already had a nonsense drivel blog on Gaia Online, so having another one on GT really didn't make sense from my standpoint.

After posting that and the two videos of me failing at Raphael at Soul Calibur III, I was running out of ideas and I really wanted to do something that made the 50 XP from each entry more than worth it yet still keep the blog game-related. The first thing that came to my mind was DeceasedCrab's LP of a freeware game available on the Internet called 6 Days a Sacrifice. I posted one video a day for fourteen days, posting an intermission related to the game after the seventh entry and an epilogue after the very last one. This intermission and epilogue pattern would soon become a recurring theme.

These first "YouTube link" entries didn't have a lot to them. They were just a clickable hyperlink to the video followed by a one-sentence description. They didn't get a lot of views, save for Part 1, which got more views than all my other blog entries combined and still has more views than the rest of my 300  blog entries. (I blame a freak snowstorm that passed through the area the day after I posted it. Go figure.)

Nevertheless, I posted videos of other people's LPs for other games in the same fashion: Super Back to the Future II for Super Famicom (caused by nothing other than watching an Angry Video Game Nerd episode) and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for Game Boy (caused by me wondering if I passed up a decent game as a kid - I didn't). It was at the pilogue for the latter that I actually got comments from two people: Scratch-N-Sniff, who would become one of my first blog regulars, and waldekzone, who said that my blog was good but needed more content. I had a list compiled of what I wanted to show off next, and the next I had planned with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie for Super Nintendo, as played by evilaj2010. Knowing that I had a handful of minutes to type something (the fact I had also played it didn't hurt, either), I put down what I knew about the first level (which was a lot), threw in a little bit of humor and published it, making a mental note that I would have to write all the entries up in advance. LP watching would take up a bit of my time.

Back then, I didn't take the blog scene - or my blog, for that matter - very seriously. I was only a low-level user, around Level 2 or 3 at the time. I just wanted 50 extra XP for the day.

As time passed, though, I found a few more games that had some decent playthroughs. There was the Thunder Force IV run on Mania difficulty by Japanese YouTuber Succulla, more stuff by DeceasedCrab whenever it happened to turn up, the really informative LP of Super Star Wars by lukenuetzmann. Amongst the first twenty games or so that I covered, there were some guides I had seen long before I had started blogging on GT that made for some good FAQ material.

As I started making guides for even more games, I gained some confidence in my writing abilities and decided the first three games I covered didn't get the justice they deserved. I actually took the time to watch those series again, and made real guides for them. There were a few (okay, two) delays - the Karate Kid guide that was made because Ralph Macchio was confirmed for Dancing With The Stars (he did very well, but he eventually got eliminated just before Hines Ward won) and the Super Empire Strikes Back that was made because the complete Star Wars saga was coming to DVD (once again, I used lukenuetzmann for this. Just like last time, he failed to disappoint), but the re-makes (or "RE-LOADED" guides), were finally released that summer.

All the while, my thumb total was leaping by the week. When 2011 started, I only had a few hundred thumbs, and I was only...what? Level 2? Now I'm beyond the first half of the leveling system, almost three-quarters, and I have almost 40K, and it all wouldn't hav e been possible without the GT community's support.

As time went on, other games would be covered in the blog. Sometimes, with the release of movies on Blu-Ray and other special events, I would deviate from the order in which game guides were written and insert another game in or after the current area in the "timeline." [i]Super Return of the Jedi[/i] was immediately written and published because the complete [i]Star Wars[/i] saga was released on Blu-Ray format. As of this writing (as of October, which means the guide I'm about to mention is already done and published and everything), a new guide for Jurassic Park on Super Nintendo is being made because the Jurassic Park trilogy came out on Blu-Ray on October 25th. There's been a few deviations from the writing order - the same order that the guides are completed - so far this year, but they definitely won't be the last.

Even though the blog has gotten bigger, there have been regulars both in the comments section and the videos themselves (it's not my fault DeceasedCrab covers a good amount of my favorites), and I've now kept all my sig images on Photobucket for a little over six or seven months just to see how the rest of my work here is doing (good news, it's healthy), one thing hasn't changed: classic games as well as independent games on XBLA/PSN/WiiWare/PC that are 2D or classic-style by choice will still be covered.

It'll still be a while, but once I get the resources to do so, you'll see (or at least, hear) myself in the mix with other LPers. I've already got a few details on how I'm going to do this:

Once I get a computer, blog entries will be posted twice a day instead of once. You will also get blog entries on Sundays as well. This is going to be a big deal. I can just feel lit. Not only does this mean more views, more reasons to be thumbed, more to look forward to, more videos to watch, more to catch up on, and more fun, this also means a bigger blog and the fact that larger blog series will be covered in less time than before. Add all of the points that are about to be mentioned and you definitely have not just something to be excited about, but also the biggest something to be excited about on GameTrailers.

The videos will be posted on an alternate YouTube channel (whose name will be kept under wraps for now) and on this GameTrailers account at the same time. Unlike other LPers, who I've only seen post their material on YouTube, I'll be pulling double duty on this site and YouTube. Once that happens, not only will there be the usual YouTube link, the GT embed codes for user movies will also come into play, allowing those who may prefer the GT video over YouTube to get into the action as well. Sure, it'll create two separate "subscriber lists," but with this I'll be able to take more advantage of what I can do on GameTrailers.

A mixture of games that have already been covered in the GameTrailers blog as well as games that have yet to be covered will get LPs by PrinceWatercress. Yes. You heard that right. You'll see some of my favorites...according to me. Sure, I may have covered some favorites already, such as Monster In My Pocket and ActRaiser, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to play them. If anything, you'll see me putting the stuff I've written in the guides in action. I have to admit, I don't have a list of what I'd really love to cover myself, but judging from the 40  games I've made guides for (not counting the repeats of the first three and also counting the stuff I haven't even published yet), there's a few I've looked at and enjoyed that I either want to replay for old times' sake, because I've finally gotten my hands on them, or because the guides have gotten me past a part of the game I've been stuck in forever. (Yeah, that's happened.)

I'd like a decent microphone, a decent capture card that does 60 FPS, and I'd like to get some accessories on the cheap. Since I'm going to get a new laptop (with Vista!) when I actually get the funds, I might as well get a PS3 controller, emulators and maybe FRAPS, I'd like some on input on what exactly I should get on the hardware and video-capturing side of things. A GameBridge sounds pretty nice, but sometimes there's a weird pitch shift problem prevalent (it's most noticeable in the music) and I have no idea if the split-second delay is worth it. A little help here, guys?

*looks at everything written so far* I've covered as much as I can, haven't I? Oh...wait...forgot. If anyone's wondering when I took the blog series seriously, it's Super Empires Strikes Back, if simply because of the accomplishments I pulled with it.

GT Happenings


Man, have there ever been things going on in GameTrailers. Besides all the silly threads in General Discussion that seemingly echoed a lack of quality control, a general sense of sarcasm throughout the forums, people abandoning ship because of the phasing out of Factions, but there were some pretty interesting things happening from my viewpoint.

DEM GLITCHES


If there's one thing that's going to be remembered from this year, it's how broken this site has been. If notifications and updates on games and friends were working, it was more than likely that we were supposedly logged in on the front page - which was as hilarious as it was annoying. Even when there was a temporary workaround found, people were still going to the main forums to see who they were "logged in as" as well as to point and laugh at the people who got banned. Heck, I got ZippingMeteor. Twice.

WWE Diva Michelle McCool retires after a "Loser Leaves WWE" match; wwedivaschampionmichelle discontinues the WWE Update Blog


Well, we sure didn't see this happen, did we? At WWE Extreme Rules back in May, the feud Michelle McCool and her former "bestie" and tag team partner Layla hit an all-time high when they finally fought each other at a pay-per-view event after weeks of not cooperating and general tearing each other's heads off. When it became known that the match would be "Loser Leaves WWE," nobody really knew what was going to happen.

Just as the match was about to get interesting, this huge block woman with big muscles that was clad in dreadlocks and all black came into the ring. Turns out, this was Kharma, who happened to be teased the last couple of weeks on Raw and Smackdown. Any of you TNA fans remember Awesome Kong? Same chick, different name.

Anyway, she performed the Awesome Bomb (now renamed the Kharma Buster in WWE) on Michelle McCool, letting Layla get the pinfall on Michelle, causing McCool to leave the WWE.

For those who didn't see Extreme Rules, however, the loss was nothing less than a shock to those who frequented the blog of GT user wwedivaschampionmichelle (Flawless Gang, represent). Not only did Michelle lose, but it was the last blog by the leader of Team Flawless herself, wwedivaschampionmichelle. The final blog has served as a shrine of sorts, and I still miss the days of going to my updates and getting my regular WWE recaps.

FelmanX gets Perma'd


A few of my regular commenters might remember FelmanX. Every so often (which was almost every day) he'd post a regular feature called "Funnies and Hunnies." Each entry would consist of two imgur links. The first one showed the "funnies," which consisted of a bunch of memegenerator material, some of which usually involved Socially Awkward Penguin, Insanity Wolf, Forever Alone Guy and Scumbag Steve among others. The other link showed the "Hunnies," which was...you guessed it...hot girls. Some were imaginary. Others were not. Fun times were had by all.

A couple months ago, however, he was permabanned and I have yet to see FelmanX resurface. FelmanX, where are you now? FELMANX, Y U NO COME BACK?

The end of the Subjectless Thread


For years, the ever closing and ever re-opening Subjectless Thread in General Discussion was like a staple of awesomeness in the forums. It was never an odd sight to see a few regulars - Sameh, LiquidSnack, ComradeStalin, God, HappyMaskSalesman, Wek (now Apollo), Miha, Pikajew, rederoin and a few others - talking about anything and everything.

As time passed, however, the Subjectless Thread became more like an exclusive thread, post were made soely to fill the thread up, and rules were quickly circumvented. In May, the mods finally decided to close down the Subjectless Thread...for good. By this time, the Subjectless regulars had their own faction, which is now facing a wipe-out itself thanks to the new site revamp. What's next in the wacky history of the Subjectless? Stay tuned!

DAT BAN


I got banned July 29th for one day for answering questions in "Ask The Mods." Lulz were had. My only regret about it is that I never took screenshots of my profile and GamePad with the little yellow strip under the user slogan. That would've been awesome.

Not surprisingly, the entry in the Turok blog series I posted when I was officially back in action was subtitled "SPECIAL BANHAMMER EDITION" and explained everything. It got 100 positive thumbs easily. It just seemed the natural response.

V. Outroduction


I have to admit this was a pretty interesting year. In between all the mentioning of Batman: Arkham City, Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3, Crysis 2, and a whole slew of other Game of the Year nominees, there was a lot of interesting stuff going on. If this is any indication, 2012 is going to be pretty nuts.

I wish you all a good rest of the year, and I hope that you don't get drunk, take the wheel of a car and kill yourself. I'll see you all in 2012!