About two and a half years ago, a wonderous little thing called Super Mario Galaxy happened. It was magical, and I hastily labeled it my very favourite Wii game. That title had not fallen, even though I've finished the game but once, until now. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is quite possibly the most direct sequel that Nintendo has ever made. It's the exact same game, just crammed with boatloads of new ideas. All the fat has been trimmed, leaving a very polished, very intense gaming experience behind.
But maybe there's something you didn't know about Mario Galaxy 2. It's got a thing about colours. To this you might say "Oh of course, Ryan. Both Mario Galaxy games have very vibrant and extensive colour palettes. They are indeed quite colourful!" But I'm not talking about the graphics, or the art style. What I've noticed, is that many of the outstanding elements in the game are all tied around a single colour, and it's ain't Mario Cap Red. Nope, the little bro gets his dues here because this game is all about green.
That's right. It's called Super Mario Galaxy, but the recurring theme of green in the game is undeniable and screams Luigi. And there's no better way to present this theory than with the element of gameplay that Nintendo is pushing more than anything: Yoshi.
Because there were a total of four - count them, four - blog posts between January and March, I updated the news archive with a "1st Quarter 2010" page instead of one for each month. It's quite sad. I used to love this blog... Oh well. Check this out! Crazy adventure time!
I never used to get sick, but since about November or something I've barely been able to go two weeks without contracting a cold or worse, and as a result, I've been drinking a lot of tea. Supposed to soothe the aches and throat and whatnot. It works okay at best, but I've actually grown quite fond of the stuff, and because my parents have a unexpectedly large collection of different teas, I've been able to be pretty adventurous with it too.
Now, brewing tea is pretty easy, and the process of selecting which flavour I'll be drinking each night is left mostly up to sticking my hand in the baggie they are contained in and picking one at random. I've had all sorts of fun stuff, from exotic-sounding things like "Jasmine and Herbs" and "Moroccan Mint" to more mainstream selections like raspberry and english breakfast. When the situation calls for it, I'll usually even add a glop of honey, as it's supposed to help with the soothing of sore throats. Today though, I'll be adding something a little more unusual.
Oh yes, that's right. I'm gonna put Kool-Aid in my tea.
If you're not familiar with Kool-Aid singles, they're little packets that you pour into a glass or water bottle, instantly creating a single serving of Kool-Aid, removing the need for both sugar and a pitcher. This one is strawberry-Kiwi flavoured. They work really well, providing a possibly even stronger taste than traditional Kool-Aid, and given the fact that the orange tea has a pretty strong flavour itself, I'm a little apprehensive about how these are going to taste when they mix. I predict badly.
Once I poured the Kool-Aid packet in, the tea instantly turned a swampy brown, but when it all settled, it turned a much more appealing orange. I took this as a good sign. It smelled exactly like the Kool-Aid would if it had been on its own, another good sign. After letting the tea cool down a bit (because I'm a big pussy and can't take the heat), I took my first sip, and was very surprisd. Initially it tasted just like strawberry-kiwi Kool-Aid, but after a while the orange taste broke through, creating an awesome evolving taste.
There's really not much else to say. Both flavours stood out on their own somehow, and didn't make an awful monstery taste like I'd predicted. I'm very satisfied with these results, and am anxious to try it out with other flavours of tea. Hopefully this is a universal trait of tea, and it's not just this particular brand of teas that can withstand melding flavous with the Kool-Aid.
Let me offer one bit of advice to you: never attept to roll a massive amount of coins by yourself, or in one sitting. It is the most tedious work ever. And it makes your hands smell like pennies and taste like awful.
Yeah, I only got thirty rolls in before I couldn't take it anymore. And that's still just a small fraction of the amount of pennies I inherited when young Zachary cleaned out his room. At the very least I was also able to sort out all the nickels and dimes from the pennies, which is satisfying enough for tonight. I still have a big margarine tub worth of pennies to roll, and I'm thinking when I get back to them I'm definitely gonna have to enlist some help.
It sure doesn't help that it feels like I'm bringing work home with me. I don't do a ton of coin rolling at work, but it's still giving me those chills. Blah. And the fifteen dollars I've made for myself probably won't feel quite worth it. But it's still free money I guess.
Also... I don't know. I forgot what I really meant to write about tonight. Well, whatever it was couldn't have been that important. Um, maybe Song Summoner? If you're out of the loop, Apple has only recently allowed us to use iTunes cards on the app store, and being without a credit card, I'm a little late to the dance on this one. It's cool though! A simple turn-based strategy game that's influenced by your music library? I love the concept anyway. The fact that the only way to power up your troops is to listen to the songs you created them with is a little annoying though. I don't want to be restricted to only a handful of songs! Give me at least a little bonus for listening to a greater variety of tunes!
So yeah, that's me reaching for a blog post. I sure am boring these days. Next time we talk about... tea! Wait, tea? What?
So things are getting better around here. I think I've finally got Torrential Equilibrium back to where it was pre-crash. Not that I'd been adding much lately, but the archive of old stuff is still all there for you to browse. I'll take this opportunity to point out some of my personal favourite articles for you, in case you're newish and need somewhere to start. Me, I just like going back to some of the better ones and appreciating how much love I used to put into this site. Maybe they're not the most eloquent or best written articles, but they all hold a special place in my heart for one reason or another.
Nintendo Surprise - Unbeknownst to us at the time, this would start a long-running chain of surprise bag articles. Also, it's summertime and I'm getting all nostalgic about that particular summer, like I always do.
Animal Crossing - It's not really new games journalism, per se, but it is an article about a game that isn't a true review. More of a short story written with the help of a video game. Oh fuck, I wrote a fanfic and didn't even realize it.
World's biggest McDonald's - Maybe this is outdated now, but it was the biggest in 2004. And it had both an F-Zero arcade machine and a Bill Cosby standee. I hope it hasn't changed a bit.
Dick Turtle surprise bag - Dick turtle is kind of a celebrity here at TE. I know I scour every dollar store I see in hopes of one day meeting him again. The day I do will be commemorated with a parade and fireworks. And cheerleaders.
Mickey's Ultimate Challenge - I honestly believe this is one of the best articles on the site. It's not often that I'm proud of my work, but I think this one is really great.
Makin' pancakes with Shadowman - Another one I really love. There are lots of food-related articles on the site, and this is the standout one for me. Mostly because it was something I could just have fun and be creative with, as opposed to the others which were mostly reviews with lots of fluff.
Chat Radio - Of all my featurettes, Chat Radio is my favourite. It's too bad that it can sometimes be boring and hard to understand. It's the format's fault. I really hope to do another one soon. That or get with the times and make a podcast.
So actually, looking back through the archives, there's a lot of stuff in there that I really like. Almost wish I had more drive to create more crazy stuff like this. It's just a shame I don't do anything out of the ordinary anymore. I can only justify so many game reviews in a row. Anyway, back to my point, consider this "Ryan's favourite articles Part 1" because I'm definitely gonna have to point out more, but all in one blog post seems excessive. Maybe next week or something. Oh! And now I have an even better idea! But I'll keep it a secret for now...
You may have noticed that everything was blown up here for most of May. You may not have. I'm suspecting most are in the second category. Anyway, yeah. Host exploded in the most awful way, and only now are the pieces being picked up. I'll slowly be restoring the blog and articles portion, but Coozy For Hire, well it doesn't look like it'll be quite as easy to pick up where we left off over there. For now, all we've got here on TE is this index page and the 404. I'm lazy, what can I say? But things should be back to normal around next week. And by that, I mean all the old content will be back and I won't be posting anything new for weeks at a time.
I must say though, that it was nice to have a real excuse for not paying any attention to my website. Like a little vacation from feeling bad about not working on my little pet project.
Pokémon is not a regular occurrence in my life. Most of the time my interaction with the series will max out at thinking fondly of time spend playing the games, or choosing Lucario in Super Smash Bros Brawl. However, when the planets align and the fates conspire, I will take DS in hand and become one of the most indefinable gamer types in existence: The Pokémaniac.
There are many reasons that one might take up the task of being a Pokémon Master. Hell, some might not even care so much to be a master of the monsters, but rather just get in to enjoy a light-hearted RPG. I fall somewhere in between the two extremes. Me, I play Pokémon mostly because I've always played Pokémon. It's more tradition than compulsion, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
I take the game fairly lightly, mostly enjoying mastery of the two basic gameplay elements, battling and collecting. I don't even properly understand what EV points are, nevermind how to make use of them and turn my monsters into fighting machines. I just like re-memorizing the different strenghts and weaknesses of each Pokémon type every couple years, and then using that knowledge to lead my avatar (who is a 10-year-old girl) to victory over everyone else in my game card's virtual world. It's a very simple kind of satisfaction, but it's one that I've yet to tire of.