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About this blog

My personal blog for covering video games, films, comics, and other media.

Entries in this blog

Where I Read ? Nintendo Power #52

It’s been almost a month since my last Where I Read, so to make up for it here’s my Where I Read for Nintendo Power issue #52 for September of 1993. This issue’s cover game is Super Mario All Stars, with Mario jumping and hitting a block. However, the inside includes guides for Final Fight 2, Rock & Roll Racing, and Enix’s RPG The 7th Saga. Let’s read on, shall we? Normally I don’t discuss the ads in the issues, because they’re generally for the magazine they’re in. However, I’m making an e

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Quality Control ? Super Star Wars (SNES)

I’m sorry, but I have to admit that I wasn’t able to get past the first level of this one. The game sends a never-ending string of enemies at you in the first level, and I wasn’t particularly able to figure out a pattern for the first boss, so I wasn’t able to get past it – at least not within my self assigned deadline. This is not a game I would have been happy to spend money on. Pass on this game unless you don’t have any problems regularly running into a brick wall. No, seriously – if you’re

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DVD Review ? Shawn Michaels: From The Vault

Get "Shawn Michaels: From the Vault" from Amazon.com Now, once again I have another wrestling DVD review this week, though this one takes a different tack from my other reviews, because I’m not doing a match-by-match recap this time. Why? Well, the review will explain. The Premise: The DVDs recap some of Shawn Michaels’ wrestling career, from his tag career, to the beginnings of his solo run, to his return to the WWE. The Good: Most of the matches on here are classics. Shawn Michaels’ ladde

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Quality Control ? Legend of the Mystical Ninja

Buy this from eBay The Legend of the Mystical Ninja series is a game series I’ve heard a fair amount about in the past. I’ve heard that it’s a good game series, and I’ve heard it’s got a tongue in cheek atmosphere. Despite all this, I’ve never taken the time to try any of the games in the series. Maybe it’s because many of the more lighthearted 16-bit games I’ve played haven’t been that good. Maybe it’s because of a certain degree of cognitive dissonance – for me the definitive ninja game serie

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Quality Control ? Raging Fighter

For this review of Raging Fighter for the Game Boy, I have to admit that I didn’t get into the game as much as I’d like. By “get into the game” I don’t mean get interested in the game, as much as I mean make progress in the game. For those unfamiliar with the title, and there probably are a lot of you, this game is a fighting game for the Game Boy, published by Konami. In the game you play one of several martial artists, who beat each other up in a martial arts tournament. I can’t really put a

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Movie Review ? Troy (Director?s Cut)

Get Troy from Amazon.com Ever since the dawn of cinema, people have aspired to adapt the great myths and legends of history. The tales of the Arabian Nights, the legends of Heracles, and most significantly, the Illiad and the Odyssey of Homer. However, the technology required to tell the second to last has been a little lacking. However, the Lord of the Rings films, with the technological development of the Massive Engine, when was used to show the massive battles of the books, now the time has

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DVD Review ? Bones: Season 1

Get Bones: Season 1 from Amazon.com I enjoy mysteries. I read Sherlock Holmes novels as a kid. I read pulp detective novels and Agatha Christie novels as a teen. As a grown up I’ve found myself drawn to the current trend of forensic detective TV series, like CSI on CBS. After missing the boat early on, I’ve picked up the first season of Bones, and have given it a watch. The show focuses on Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel), a woman with a doctorate in Forensic Anthropo

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Quality Control ? Super Ghouls & Ghosts

When I was a kid, I picked up a used copy of Ghouls & Ghosts for the NES. I picked it up after hearing Adam Sessler, a game critic I respect immensely, gush about the game on Extended Play (which might have still been “GameSpot TV” at the time). I played it, found it frustratingly hard, and turned it in. When I came to the last issue of Nintendo Power which I did a Where I Read for (Issue #26), I decided now, with the aid of emulation, to give the 16-bit version of Ghouls & Ghosts anothe

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Where I Read ? Electronic Gaming Monthly #81

So, this week, with our EGM recaps, we’re skipping ahead another few months, to issue #81 for April of 1996. Our cover story for this issue is Street Fighter Alpha II, and I have to say that the cover art isn’t very good. Frankly, the mid-90s have not been kind to EGM’s covers. Editorial This issue Ed Semrad is taking up the pen for the editorial column. It’s been almost a year since the last issue of EGM I recapped, and the Nintendo 64 still isn’t out. That said, at the very least they have d

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Movie Review ? Dear Zachary

Get "Dear Zachary" at Amazon.com There are 4 kinds of documentary that I like. There are nature documentaries, particularly of the bent of PBS’s Nature, and David Attenborough’s wildlife programs, as well as the work of the National Geographic Society. There are Historical documentaries, particularly stuff like the American Experience, as well as stuff like the Connections series and some documentaries like One Day in September. There are Journalistic documentaries, such as the material from PB

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Where I Read ? Electronic Gaming Monthly #98

We continue on with Electronic Gaming Monthly #98 for September of 1997. No, I still don’t have issue number #100 – I wish I did. Our cover story for this issue is Tomb Raider 2, and they’re playing up the game’s sex appeal pretty heavily. Right inside the cover we have a gorgeous two-page spread advertisement for Final Fantasy VII, of the big cutscene with Sephiroth removing the Jenova statue. While the graphics haven’t aged incredibly well, I still think it looks nice. It’s also one of the f

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Quality Control ? Road Runner?s Death Valley Rally

Get Road Runner's Death Valley Rally at eBay Now, while I did not beat this game, I did get considerably further than I could with Super Star Wars. The Premise: In a series of levels each designed to be their own Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner Cartoon, you, controlling the Road Runner, dash through the stages trying to reach the finish line of each stage. The Good: The game has an excellent sense of speed to it. Without exaggerating, I can say that this game is just as fast as the Sonic t

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Video Game Review ? Guitar Hero: Van Halen (PS3)

Just to get it out of the way. I love Van Halen in general. Both the David Lee Roth era and the Sammy Hagar eras of the band both had some amazing songs which I absolutely love… and let’s just pretend that the Gary Charone era didn’t happen. So, when I heard about this game, I was looking forward to the game with great anticipation. Then I learned that there wouldn’t be any representation of the Sammy Hagar era on the album because the band was currently touring with David Lee Roth, and my inter

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Quality Control ? Kendo Rage

Get Kendo Rage from eBay Kendo Rage is a bit of an odd duck, or perhaps rather an ugly duckling. The game takes the action-platforming style of the Valis series, gives the game the sense of humor (both in terms of tone and in terms of level and monster designs) of the Parodius series, and the persistent timer of Prince of Persia, and it kind of works. You play as Josephine, a girl living with her grandfather in rural Japan, at his kendo dojo, where she’d been training over summer break. Well,

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Building the Perfect Retro Game Podcast

With its next episode, one of the Internet’s best retro game podcasts, Retronauts, is coming to an end. This leaves a bit of a void, as I can’t think of a lot of truly great retro game podcasts out there. Destructoid’s Retro Game Podcast, which was okay, but not great, has ended. IGN’s retro game podcast is similarly over. However, I can still think of demand for podcasts in this field, and even material that the Retronauts themselves haven’t covered yet (if only retro Wrestling video games). So

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Where I Read ? Nintendo Power #49

After a far too long delay, I’m finally carrying on with my Nintendo Power Recaps with issue #49 for June of 1993. Our cover story for this issue is the crossover that nobody was really anticipating ? Battletoads and Double Dragon. It perhaps bears noting that it is the Battletoads which are hogging the spotlight here (no pun intended) while one of the Lee brothers is in the far background. The letters column this issue has a request of more reviews of alternate controllers. It does bear mentio

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Quality Control ? Mighty Final Fight

Get Mighty FInal Fight from eBay.com On multiple occasions, I’ve heard the expression mentioned that restrictions breed creativity. Sometimes that doesn’t hold true. My last Quality Control pick, Raging Fighter, was a great example of this. The game was a fighting game that just didn’t hold up well on what was essentially a 4-bit hand-held system. Such is the opposite with this Quality Control pick, Mighty Final Fight, from Capcom for the NES. Capcom was basically given the task of porting the

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Movie Review ? The Crimson Cult

Get The Crimson Cult from Ebay Occasionally a horror film comes about where the premise might be unimpressive, but the film’s cast commands attention. The Crimson Cult, originally titled ?The Curse of the Crimson Altar? in the UK, is one of such films. The film follows Robert Manning, an antique dealer who has come to the town of Graymarsh, in search of his brother ? another dealer who has failed to return from an antique buying expedition. In the town he arrives in time for a festival celebra

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Anime Review ? Area 88

Get Area 88 from Amazon.com In the anime portions of Gainax‘s OVA series Otaku No Video, there’s a sequence where the main character is being shown the various types of Otaku that the members of his friend’s club are part of. There’s the vehicle and mecha otaku, who is a geek about engines and how things work, and so on. One of the members of the club is an animation otaku, and he demonstrates his affinity for animation by pointing out the detail in an animated sequence (taken from the vide

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Quality Control ? Goof Troop

Capcom’s 16-bit Disney licensed games are widely regarded as being among the best platformers in the 16-bit console generation. However, of the successful titles, like Mickey Mousecapade, that they released, lurking in their shadow was a little game called Goof Troop, which has remained fairly obscure to this day. The reasons for the title’s obscurity are two-fold. It was based on a show that was only broadcast on cable (Goof Troop aired only on the Disney Channel). While all the other Disn

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Where I Read ? Computer Gaming World V. 1, #1

I’m taking a break from Analog Computing this week to instead take a look at the first issue of Computer Gaming World, for November-December of 1981. We start off with an ad from SSI, hyping their port of their Civil War Strategy game ?Battle of Shiloh? and the World War II game ?Battle of the Bulge: Tigers in the Snow.? It’s kind of interesting. Nowadays we’re used to strategy games which will take either larger battles or even campaigns and allow the player to control them from the strategic

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About Pricing, Anime, Manga, & Video Games, and Privilege

This is a thing that’s been bugging me for quite some time. There’s this mindset that’s been bugging me for quite some time among people who, well, make their living criticizing anime – people like Justin and Zac of Anime News Network for instance. The idea is, that because the anime industry has demonstrated the market cannot support the levels of cost for mass production of Anime DVDs, and manga as books through regular channels, to levels that will cover the costs that the Japanese rights-hol

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Legends of the Force: Episode IX – Dark Empire I

We continue with the launch of the classic EU with Dark Horse Comics first comic outing – Dark Empire I. Opening Credits: Star Wars Theme from Super Star Wars on the SNES. Closing Credits: Chiptune Cantina Band from Chiptune Inc. – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvJtiGFudFlvYMfjiU1NKJg Please support my Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/countzeroor Member of The Console Xplosion Network: http://www.theconsolexplosion.com/ Watch my Live-Streams on http://twitch.tv/countzeroor/ Filed und

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Comic Review: Tales of the Jedi (Part 1)

Before we return to Star Wars novels, we have one more comic series to take on, one which goes to the furthest reaches of the Star Wars universe – the Tales of the Jedi. Writer: Tom Veitch Art: (For Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon): Chris Gossett & Mike Barreiro (For the Saga of Nomi Sunrider): Janine Johnston & Mike Barreiro, and David Roach. Lettering: Willie Schubert Colors: Pamela Rambo Covers: Dave Dorman Publication dates: October 1st, 1993 – February 1st, 1994

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