From Aquamentus to the Calamity Ganon

For 35 years, The Legend of Zelda has been inspiring imaginations and captivating audiences with its sprawling adventures across a land of swords, shields, and skulltulas. For the next seven days, we're looking back at its three-and-a-half decades of entertainment, and I wanted to start off this retrospective week talking about one of the best aspects of every Zelda game: the boss battles.

From its humble beginnings on the Famicom Disk System to its most recent outing on Switch, The Legend of Zelda has managed to introduce outstanding dungeon boss battles that transcend their technological restraints and graft themselves onto the minds and hearts of its fans. Aquamentus may be just a simple 8-bit unicorn dragon, but as a ch??ild, my mind painted a far more elaborate picture of how daunting this creature actually ??was.

As technology improved, I didn't have to fill in the gaps as much as I used to, but Nintendo has used each and every jump in processing power to create more iconic boss battles that pushed the limits of what we expect from a Zelda game. I'll never forget how my jaw dropped when I first fought Koloktos in Skyward Sword.

We all have our favorites, and with so many amazing options worth mentioning, I asked the Destructoid staff and community to help me out with this post and answer the question: What is the best boss battle in The Legend of Zelda?

GoofierBrute: I'm going with the final battle with Ganondorf from Wind Waker. It isn't the flashiest fight, but its simplicity combined with its great music, the cutscene beforehand, the water level rising, and you and Zelda working together make it a really amazing send off to my favorite Zelda game.  

Also, ??the fact that Link stabs Ganondorf through the head with the Master Sword makes it all the more epic.

Mullon: The only thing that comes to mind is the Ganondorf fight in Wind Waker.

PatBateman17: Look, I can’t say it’s the best, but Ganondorf and final Ganon form in Ocarina of Time blew me away. That whole epic game is forever a part of my favorite childhood memories - the gold cartridge, that wonderful N64, playing Zelda in 3D! After putting who knows how many hour?s into it, scaling the castle and basically playing tennis with Ganond??orf ... to then escape the castle and still have one epic fight left. Man. That game was as close to perfect as possible. What a great fight.

welshmetalhippy: I don’t even know his name. But the horse dude from the first palace in Zelda 2 was a beast. You needed to use several spells like shield and jump to even have a go. He made Ornstein and Smough seem like childs play. (I’ve checked Wikipedia and his name is simply Horsehead).

taterchimp: Shadow Link in 2 and OoT are good. Trinexx is a great boss after a hard ass temple, and Blind always has a special place in my heart. Gohdan is so iconic that he appeared in NieR and a few other games. Militron is great, too.

Neronium: For me it's between Majora's Mask, Wind Waker Ganondorf, and Zant from Twilight Princess. Zant was a huge plus for me because of how upset and more erratic he gets the more the battle goes on. Wind Waker Ganondorf because he basically knows he's lost for good that time an??d thus wants to take everyone out with him. Majora's Mask is creepy and unsettling and also becomes erratic like a child not getting what they want.

CJ Andriessen: The debate over whether I like The Wind Waker or Breath of the Wild more is an argument that my head may never be able to settle. The former takes everything Nintendo got right with Ocarina of Time and gave it a nautical twist, while the latter reimagined the Zelda formula and redefined what we should expect from open-world games. It's tough to pick between the two, but once place Wind Waker easily rises above Breath is with its boss battles.

The power of the GameCube was put to good use with Link's first outing in the 128-bit generation. Everything Nintendo could do on the Nintendo 64, it did bigger with the 'Cube. There are a lot of great boss battles in this game, but for my money, nothing beats the penultimate battle when you stand opposite Puppet Ganon.?? I've always had a soft spot in my heart for puppetry, so to do battle with a gigant puppet was a real joy to my younger self. Fighting his second form as a giant tarantula puppet, that's anoth??er story.

It's not a terribly difficult battle as you just need ??to make l??ike Pinocchio and cut his strings to hit the orb on his tail. Pretty standard for a Zelda game, but it's the imagery, the scale, the spectacle, and the animation of this fight that endears it to me. It's a grand battle, one that fills me with awe and a great preview of how video games would find new ways to astound us as technology improved.

AtomicBanana: STALLORD MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRRRRR

Boxman214: The best boss I've encountered in a Zelda game is Argorok from Twilight Princess. It's a dark dragon that you fight atop a flying city, high in the clouds. You fight it after obtaining the double hookshot, which essentially turns you into Spider-Link. You swing aro??und the arena while fightin??g a large, flying beast. It doesn't get more epic.

maycausecancer: I always thought Bongo Bongo from Ocarina of Time was a very creative boss b??attle. Also the design of it ?is so weird which fits The Shadow Temple well.

Seymour: It's not necessarily a "boss fight" (more of a mid-boss than anything else), but I've always gotten a huge kick out of the simple joys of knocking back Phantom Ganon's energy balls in Wind Waker. The cherry on ??top being the amazing audio feedback.  

If they?? were common enemies throughout the overworld, I'd seek out every single one.

Adzuken: Do you not remember Dead Hand? It’s probably because your brain sealed it in a vault and buried it with the rest of your traumatic childhood experiences. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has quite a few unsettling moments to it, but I’d say nothing compare??s to the Bottom of the Well. The dank, gloomy sewer level undertaken as young Link is creepy enough, but it all caps off with a confrontation of Dead Hand.

Technically just a sub-boss, Dead Hand is a disgusting mass of bloodied flesh equipped with an impressive pair of dentures. His rope-like hands rise from the ground, trying to grope at you, and the only way to make Dead Hand vulnerable is t??????????????????????????o allow yourself to be grasped. He then gradually shimmies his way to you, biting your head if you’?re unable to free yourself in time. To add insult to injury, you’re then tasked with fighting him again as a more muscly adult link.

Dead Hand is not nearly the mo??st mechanically complex boss in the series, but he wins out for me by being straight-up terrifying.

Mamekuma: Majora's Mask is one of my favorite games of all time, despite not really caring for Zelda as a franchise. Just about every boss is unique and fun in their own right, but I've always loved the spectacle of Goht. He's a giant, robotic bull that charges straight ahead no matter what, and having to speed along beside him as Gor??on Link was incredibly fun and visceral, especially for a N64 game.

ScionVyse: Koloktos from Skyward Sword is a pretty easy pick for my favourite Zelda boss. Not only does it look really cool (being modeled after the hindu ?mythological Asura), and its theme is awesome, but it's such a well designed fight.  

The first phase is pretty standard Zelda fare, dodging attacks until its arm are vulnerable, then using the new Whip item to pull them off, and get hits on its weak point. Phase 2 is much more?? interesting. It stands up, pulls out six swords, and gets a whole new bunch of abilities. Once you pull of his arms again, he drops his swords, and you have?? to pick one up in order to damage it. You chop his legs off, then go to town on the weak point.  

And its death scream being a bunch of children?'s laughter adds a point of creepy on top.  

Such a great boss.

Tricerapops: Queen Ghoma is not only quintessential to the spirit of the series, that fight is what made me realize "Holy shit they actually pulled off this 3D Zelda thing."

Zelda has always been about secrets, discovery, and wonder. Childhood, for me. Traversing a legit creepy dungeon full of spiders set inside a giant, dying Deku Tree is the kind of playfully spooky stuff I lived for when I was a kid. Well...still do. Then you fight a fuck-off giant arachnid in it's own layer with a sling shot. That's some Zelda-ass Zelda.

Gimic300: The first thing that came to mind was Queen Gohma. Ocarina of Time really had a lot of bits that felt like straight up horror. I'll never forget fighting my way through a d?ying, sentient tree only to be trapped inside of a pitch dark arena with a giant one eyed spider that hung from the ceiling and shat spider babies at me. Stuff of nightmares for an 8-year-old.

Trevlyn: I won’t list best, but some memorable moments. The first time I saw Koloktos, thinking how hard of a battle it was going to be only to easily take it apart and then realizing it was just a practice run, and not the real f??ig??ht.  

There was the fight with the Pyroclastic Fiend Scaldara, yes it was a easy battle but I am a sucker for lava levels and the boss mu?sic was so good. If you haven’t heard it go check out the the pyroclastic fiend boss. The music changes depending on what you are doing in the fight.  

Stallord boss battle, with the undead soldiers. Felt like a pinball game using the spinner to break its back. Then in the second phase using the spinner to climb higher and higher?? and gaining more speed, dodging the fireballs was intense and so much fun.

Jonathan Holmes: Demise is the culmination of everything good about Skyward Sword. While the game is often gets maligned for its small scope and excessive hand-holding, this fight spits in the face of that criticism by throwing you into an endless arena with a brutally effective swordsman, then saying, "OK, figure it out." You'll need all the physical coordination, attention to tells, and strategic thinking that you've developed so fa??r to even survive.

He seems impossible to defeat at first, but with patience and practice, you'll eventually learn to get some hits in, and eventually, you make even learn to beat him without taking a hit. Then, if you're really into it, you may gain the speed and skill to beat him in less than a minute. At one point, the world record for getting through him was at around 25 seconds! 

If I'm being real, I'd say that deep combat systems are not generally the Zelda series's greatest strength, but Skyward Sword? is the exception to that rule, and this fight rules.

Exber: Demise from Skyward Sword, hands down. The fact that both this antagonist and our protagonist share similar abilities tied to the motion controls makes the fight even more personal than that of Ghirahim before him. Both swords serve their masters to the very end, and how quick thinking & reflexes help this battle feel fresh is a plus. Cole & Malladus from Spirit Tracks deserves an honorable mention, too. Zelda and Li?nk fighting together the WHOLE two consecutive fights? If controlling the princess wasn't great already throughout the campaign. Need I say more?

Silver the 3rd: Can I say Zant? I love Zant.

lokhe: I’ve always loved the Spirit Temple from Ocarina of Time and Twinrova is such a fun fight, with the oppo?site elements and the witches’ charm &l?t;3

RiffRaff: I don't have it in me to write a long comment, but beating Agahnim with the butterfly net is one of my favorite Zelda moments.  Majora and Wind Waker Ganon also get shout outs!

NeoTurbo: The beyblade battle in Twilight Princess.

Fuzunga: All the bosses from Breath of the Wild, because you can beat them any way you want. In other Zelda games you have to use an item you got in a dungeon to expose their giant glowing weak point which is the only way to damage them. It felt great coming up with my own strategies in Breath of the Wild.

CelicaCrazed: I can't think of any from the traditional games at the moment but I'm not sure any top the feeling of beating my first Lynel in BotW. I was so scared but I didn't run away.

Xabier: Majora, no contest. It has the best combination of build up, spectacle, and game design. It's the most satisfying, too. It taunts you the whole damn game and, unlike Ocarina of Time, this time is deeply? personal. You get to meet Majora and interact with it in a significant way before you know it's a real threat.

Zach Bennett: The Phantom Ganon fight from Ocarina of Time spooked the hell out of me as a child. After obtaining the Master Sword and becoming Adult Link, the Forest Temple that follows becomes a benchmark for your newly acquired power. Phantom Ganon lies in wait at the end and locks you in a small, circular room surrounded by paintings of the same ominous path leading out into some obscure, mountainous landscape. Where most bosses in the game demand center stage as Link locks on and revolves around them, Phantom Ganon immediately jumps into a painting ??on the wall, leaving Link alone in the middle of the room.

Surrounded by paintings, you have to ?figure out which one Phantom Ganon will reappear from and shoot an arrow at him as he emerges. He can show up on multiple walls at a time, and pulling out the bow changes the camera perspective to a sludgy first-person view, making the search for the real Phantom Gano?n all the more suffocating as you spin around the middle of the room. Finding the real one becomes a mini-horror game.

After a few hits, he ditches the horse and floats around the room throwing glowing balls of energy at you. Using your trusty new Master Sword, you hit it back at him and engage in one of my favorite Zelda boss tropes of all time: ??the pong war. Phantom G?anon embodies the darker parts of the series I love and, to this day, remains the most memorable boss I’ve fought as Link.

LaserPirate: The Phantom Ganondorf battle in Ocarina of Time is the most memorable for me. I thought th?e phantom running in and out of the portraits was the coolest thing ever as a 12 year old playing for the first time and still tense up every time I replay it.

Frostyflakes: Stalblind from A Link Between Worlds was always a fun fig?ht. It's mechanics were rather simple but melding with his shield so he got confused and opened himself up was always amusing and neat way to do a typical sword and shield boss.?? Solid 6.5/10.

cockaroach: From the actual Zelda's I've played and beaten, Lttp, OoT, MM, and WW, my favorite boss fight is a hard decision.

From LttP, definitely the Turtle Rock boss, it requires a certain amount of skill juggling between the ice and fire rods to kill the fire and ice heads effectively, and then you destroy his shell and becomes a gian??t snake.

OoT: this is a tough decision, bit I think it's Ganondorf?. The volleys back and forth in the first stage is a nice body to LttP, and kinda required proper aiming to work. Then the whole race to the bottom and Gannon retuning powdered up, ugh. Masterstroke.

MM: Each boss fight is so unique, it's hard to decide, but my favorite is more mini boss than anything. I loved the garo/ninja castle near the stone temple area, and fighting those two skeleton kings in the throne room was very memorable, especially doing all the mask rela?ted quests there too.

WW: The giant bird with the mask. It felt so satisfying cracking it's mask once you had the ham?mer. And i??t's a giant fucking bird. I love that shit.

Jetter Mars: Ook. This fight always makes me laugh.

beatlemaniaxx: Agorok - Twilight Princess : Eox - Phantom Hourglass : Ganon (Final Form) - Ocarina of Time

Roager: The Armogohma fight in Twilight Princess stands out for me. The Temple of Time was a really fun dungeon for two reasons: nostalgia and the gimmick item that let you control statues. Coming to the boss room capped off both, and instantly took me back to being a kid when I first did the Deku Tree dungeon in Ocarina of Time. It was exciting to see a version of the same boss in (relative) HD, and getting to hammer-thwam it this time around was really satisfying.

Deadgar64: Any version of the sand worms!

The post After 35 years we ask: What is the best boss battle in T??he Legend of Zelda? appeared first on Destructoid.

Destructoid Discusses

It's still a few years away, but the potential of Unreal Engine 5 to define the next generation of gaming is very real. The demonstrations for it so far have been impeccable, and with some talented art directors, we could se??e some truly astonishing looking games on the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Or, we'll see the same crap they're making with Unreal Engine 4.

Either way, a game's engine ??is a part of its identity. Sadly, some franchises are in the midst of an identity crisis. While I understand why it's ideal for developers to work with one engine over many years, there often comes a point where the age or limitations of an engine hinders the potential of the series. Sometimes?, to save a series, you have to make a change.

Thankfully, there are many options available for developers looking to revitalize a franchise. That's the basis of this Destructoid Discusses post was prompted by Brett Makedonski, who got the idea when Jordan Devore brought up the fantastical prospect of a new Dead Rising game made with the Resident Evil engine (Psst...Capcom, you should ??do this). That led me to ask the rest?? of the Destructoid staff to name a game they'd love to see made in another franchise's engine.

CJ Andriessen - Chibi-Robo made in Yakuza's Dragon Engine

I really don't know why I've never been able to get into the Yakuza franchise. I've made an honest attempt to do so with Yakuza Kiwami, but something?? about the gameplay just doesn't grab me.

What does grab me are the visuals, specifically, anytime I see screenshots of convenient store interiors. I'm a sucker for a 7-11, so when I see all the little details Yakuza artists put into these locations, I literally swoon over them. They look like every AM/PM or Circle-K I've ever been in. That's the type of attention to detail I love in games, and it's the type of attention I'd love to see in a new Chibi-Robo game.

Yes, I know the franchise is dead. Yes, I know the developer is probably dead as well. But this is a wish-fulfillment article, and dammit, I want to see a household recreated with the same level of polish and attention found in the Yakuza series. Hell, Chibi-Robo doesn't even have to clean up a house. He could work in one of those very convenient stores found in Kamurocho. And just imagine how much better it would feel to kick the shit out of Smoglings and Spydorz using Yakuza's signature brawler combat. 

Come on Nintendo. Open those purse strings, take out some of that Switch money?, and invest in a game that will look amazing and have zero chance of making back its b?udget.

Jonathan Holmes - Street Fighter Vs. Darkstalkers made in the River City Girls engine

The Darkstalkers series has been dormant for a long time now, but thanks to its legendary character design and intriguing mythos, it's still alive and well in other media. Udon, the comic's publisher, is largely to thank for that. Their passion for all things Capcom isn't always rational, but it's as pure as can be, leading them to produce stories about as many of the game publisher's characters as they can get their hands on, regardless of how little attention they get from Capcom proper. That's how we ended up with Street Fighter Vs. Darkstalkers a few years ago, a series t??hat I still reread a couple of times a year. 

WayForward is another company that has an intense enthusiasm for obscure, often-forgotten game franchises; Ducktales, Centipede, and River City Ransom, to name just a few. They found quite a hit with that last one. River City Girls is one o??f their most successful titles to date, fusing everything that made the classic games great with the 3 things that 2nd- and 3rd-party WayForward titles are best known for; brilliant artwork, cheeky humor, and unbridled passion for their material. 

It's a similar formula success that Udon has followed over the years. In fact, more than one artist from the Udon stable has done freelance work for WayForward as well. That's part of what gave me the idea for WayForward to take on the Darkstalkers brand. If they did half the job with it that they did with River City Girls, they'd end up making money hand over fist. Using that game's engine and from the art direction would bring Darkstalkers alive again in ways that would feel both fresh and familiar. Through a little Street Fighter on top, and you have a game that could become the greatest in the beat 'em up history. I know Capcom has WayForwa?rd's number. ??If they want to make this happen, all they'd have to do is call. 

Adzuken - ClayFighter made in the Mortal Kombat 11 engine

Is this cheating? Mortal Kombat 11 was made in the Unreal Engine 3, after all, rathe?r than its ow??n bespoke engine. However, this is more about how I want to see the game executed, rather than what graphical horsepower is under its hood.

ClayFighter is a somewhat contentious game. It was, in all of its iterations, never particularly good. Serviceable, sometimes, but certainly not something you'd see at EVO. It was largely a novelty first series, and, in my opinion, that novelty served it well. Except maybe in ClayFighter 63 1/3, because that game was n?ot just terrible, but also weirdly racist.

The core philosophy of ClayFighter is to poke fun at conventional fighting games, from Street Fighter to Killer Instinct. Mortal Kombat isn't safe from it its satire eit??her, as claytalities were tacked onto the N64 entries. They were disappointing, to say the least.

What I'm saying is that I'd like to see ClayFighter really reach its ridiculous potential: gooey x-rays, gobs of clay spraying everywhere, and cartoonishly gruesome claytalities. Then maybe tie in a story mode where, and I'm just spitballing here, the clay realm is being slowly taken over by a giant corporation seeking to reshape the world in its image, and you might possibly have the first decen??t clay-based fighter.

Now, ??if Warner Bros. could just wrestle the rights off of Interplay's shambling corpse, we'd be set.

Chris Moyse - Final Fight made in a Streets of Rage 4-style engine

This is an obvious choice, but it still bears mentioning. DotEmu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games brought Sega's 16-bit brawling franchise screaming into the modern era with Streets of Rage 4, which perfectly captures the style, tone and gameplay of the '90s classics while offering awesome new visuals, cool new characters, and utterly engaging combat. Streets of Rage 4 is a masterclass of marrying the past to the present, as demonstrated by its rave reviews and 1.5 million downloads to da??te.

But what I wouldn't give for the same team to work its magic on Capcom's 1989 hit Final Fight. I'm cheating a little as you couldn't use the exact same engine as SoR - Final Fight has?? its own gameplay identity, after all - but the same spirit of reinvention would definitely work wonders for Hagger, Cody, Andore and co.

With a lavishly redesigned Metro City, a superbly animated cast of heroes and villains, (all hand-picked from the original Final Fight trilogy), a deep, overhauled combat system, four-player action, and a few hidden surprises, I'm convinced you'd ??have another guaranteed smash hit on your hands.

Oh,? ??and make Poison playable this time around. I know she's a villain. Screw the lore.

Josh Tolentino - Star Trek Online and COBRA Engine 

"Engine" is a bit of a weird term in that it's far more expansive than it seems. To developers, an engine is functionally the infrastructure needed to make a game, while to most players, an e??ngine merely corresponds to "what the game looks like." The latter impression is a bit inaccurate since it essentially credits a game's art direction and aesthetic style with the capabilities of its renderer. 

That in mind, asking what a ga?me would look like in a different engine is essentially asking what a game would be like had it been made in an almost entirely different way. Chances are, you'd? have a pretty different game on your hands. 

But it's still an interesting question for games that do have engine-related difficulties. Imagine what Mass Effect: Andromeda or Dragon Age: Inquisition or Anthem might have been like had BioWare not opted to use Frostbite, an engine that was, at the time, entirely unsuite?d to the genres BioWare worked best in.

That leads me to wonder what one of my favorite MMOs, Star Trek Online would be like had it employed the COBRA Engine used by Frontier Developments for Elite Dangerous. The game we have was built by Cryptic Studios on its proprietary Genesis Engine was essentially a rush job, after the original Star Trek Online project led by Perpetual Games fell apart. The result, especially in those early days, was more Millenium Falcon than U.S.S. Enterprise, in that it looked like a pile of garbage. Even today, the game can't quite dodge the fact that it shares so much underlying tech with its sister title Champions Online, and stories of trying to patch the game lead to jokes about playing Vulcan Jenga.

What might have come of Star Trek Online if it were made with the same eye to expansiveness as Frontier displayed with Elite Dangerous' seemingly endless galaxy? How would the ground portions of STO turn out in light of the recent announcement of Elite Dangerous newest expansion? Star Trek Online is a much di?fferent place today than it was ten years ago, but I can't help wonder what could have been ha??d it been born different.

The post Which game would you like to see made in a different franchise’s engine? appeared first on Destructoid.

Square Enix has invented so many ways to massacre goblins that Goblin Slayer keeps asking for a crossover

The Final Fantasy VII remake is a perfect example of Square Enix’s core design philosophy when it comes to combat systems -- which is to say, there isn’t much of one. Sure, the series has its roots in “traditional” RPG battle systems, but this franchise has reinvented the foundation of its main gameplay challenges more times than any other JRPG. That’s at its most apparent looking with Final Fantasy VII, a turn-based game with a slight real-time twist, and its remake, a rea???l-time action game with a slight turn-based twist.

This combat overhaul has reignited a mild debate among FF fans, whether the mainline games should have stuck to turn-based combat or not. Personally, I believe that as long as Square's side teams continue to deliver solid new games that hit the same sweet spots as the Final Fantasy of old, it's great that this franchise keeps experimenting with new ideas! It's an accomplishment for a series to last over three decades and for its gameplay to never feel stale. It's not always a hit (there's a reason XIV fans don't glorify 1.0), but it's never stale.

This makes the Final Fantasy franchise an excellent case study of the countless ways games have reinvented the art of combat. Sure, there's a lot to love about these games other than reveling i??n wanton violence. But combat is extremely common in games (especially RPGs) because it makes an excellent excuse for testing various skills and creating narrative conflict. This franchise is effectively a Swiss Army knife of combat systems, with an answer to every warrior of light's very particular tastes for bloodlust.

It's a very poorly kept secret that I prefer action RPGs over turn-based RPGs, and I especially love hack-and-slash combat. I love combat systems that reward aggressive, impulsive, and reactive gameplay, putting the flow of battle into the player's hands. Out of all of Final Fantasy's games, nothing embodies that hack-and-slash ideology better than Kingdom Hearts III, despite Nomura's best efforts to not make it an FF game. Even though my honeymoon period with KH III is long over and I've come to admit it's a much more flawed game than I anticipated??, as far as sheer combat mechanics go, it's exactly w??hat I love most.

More than any other Kingdom Hearts game, KH III is packed with mechanics that enable and reward aggressive and proactive playstyles. Sora's moves are more robust than ever, allowing him to quickly dart around the field and sweep groups of enemies into quick, heavy-hitting combos. The more aggressively you fight, the more you are rewarded with additional firepower via Grand Magic and form changes. The ability to change weapons on the fly lets you switch between strengths to suit your whims. And his party members are far more interactive and helpful than any other action RPG AI I've fought alongside (which is a low bar, but credit where c?redit is due,?? teammate combo finishers are rad). I love this system for little reason other than shameless hack-and-slash power fantasy fulfillment, but these mechanics are fine-tuned for that fantasy.

My one main gripe with these battles is that KH III's enemies are so lacking that I never felt like this system gave me the chance to flex its muscles to the fullest. That's more of a criticism I have against the difficulty curve than the battle system itself, hence why I'm still naming it my favorite system. That said, I still have yet to play the Critical Mode DLC which may or may not have amended that. I would have played it by now, but I'm an information addict who loves to explore new and unusual systems as much as binge on my favorite gameplay styles. Yet Kingdom Hearts' gameplay is a huge departure from everything else Final Fantasy has done, even against the likes of FFXV and the FFVII rema??ke,?? so I asked the other guys on staff what they prefer...!

CJ Andriessen

The past several years of JRPGs have brought a lot of small innovations to the standard formulas developers have been working with for well over two decades. You're likely to find bits and pieces of experiments in the combat systems of many RPGs as developers tried to spice up turn-based battles that could often be thought of as archaic. One of my favorite developments in the genre from the past decade came from Square Enix and its Bravely Default series. Those titles introduced the tactical-thinking titular bravely and?? default options. Go bravely and you could spend more brave points than you had available, setting yourself up for danger if you weren't able to strike down your foes. Opt for default and you'll cower away, storing up to three brave points to use should the encounter draw itself out.

It's a great system that has its origins in a Final Fantasy game many people probably missed. Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light is the predecessor to the Bravely series, and one of the mechanics of the game is Boost System. Much like the default mechanic, Boost will grant a character an extra action point to use on their next turn, potentially allowing parties to unleash a hurricane o??f damage on their foes.

I know it's a small innovation and pales in comparison to some of what Final Fantasy has produced over its many years, but that Boost System set the stage for one of the most rewarding battle systems found on the 3DS, and for that, The Four Heroes of Light holds a dear place in my heart.

Marcel Hoang

The easiest thing any Square game can do to suck the time right out of my veins is implement their infamous job system. Being able to designate a character's power set regardless of their narrative intent is fun, like making the demure and petite girls in the party absolute damage dealers or big, bulky dudes agile rogues. But the hallmark of Final Fantasy's job system and probably any Square RPG that utilizes it is the ability to keep skills from one mastered job in order to use it in another. For example, in Bravely Second, one of my favorite combos was to combine the charioteer's quad wielding skill wit?h the ninja's dual wield skill, effectively allowing four consecutive attacks without any loss in damage output. Another favorite was using the swordmaster's free lunch skill to make all skills and spells used after it completely resource free, which was a boon for MP heavy jobs like black mages or wizards.

It doesn't even need to be extremely flashy or frivolous combinations either. In Octopath Traveler, the merchant has access to the SP Saver skill, halving all SP usage as long as it's equipped. Easily a ??must-have for any character who will be spending time as a caster type class such as the black mage.

Something in me has a real weakness for grinding for the sake of making the big number go up, as some people colloquially call it. Sometimes the game isn't nearly as hard as to require you to grind out tons of experience for a job you're not going to use, just to stick one of its signature abilities onto an entirely different class to optimize it slightly, ?but hey, sometimes people like me get a kick out of the grind.

Pixie The Fairy

Well, Strider spoke about the job system, though I prefer it in the context of X-2 and the MMOs more than other parts of the series. It's just a good feeling to be able to switch roles on the fly between a handful of heroines or myself. Since Shadowbringers landed I'?ve been leveling jobs like crazy again and Dark Knight and Samurai are at 80 with Machinist soon to follow. 

My other combat system choice is pr?obabl??y less popular. 

Meaning I like the Junction System from Final Fantasy VIII. 

I think it's a grossly misunderstood system, a??s misunderstood as the game's protagonist, Squall. Junctioning an introverted system that revolves around bonding with summons and reprogramming your stats by plugging spells into them as though they were items. Now, you could just sit there in every random battle and Draw spells out of your enemies like some jilted vampire, but the system doesn't really want you walled up in random encounters doing that.

No, you have to get out of your shell, explore the world, do side quests. befriend Moombas, power-up your Guardian Forces, collect more Guardian Forces, and play Triple Triad with anyone that has a deck of cards. Triple Triad is the best minigame in the series, so good FFXIV has? it. Tetra Master can go rot in a pissed-on grav??e. 

Then when your GFs are powered up enough to process cards and items and convert them into other items and spells, only then can you really program your party into world-killing badasses. Some folks say that's a broken system, but look??, I had to go out into the world and socialize. I should get something for that. 

My HR lady insisted I go to the company dinner this month all? like "Nia, you don't even have to stay long, just come eat with us." I see enough of those people in the warehouse each week, now they want me to ?see them with alcohol. I should at least be fed for driving out to that on my free time.

I know some people get hung up on this Junctioning system really restricting you from summoning the GFs, but those summons take long enough for you to go to the bathroom and should really only be used if the doorbell rings or you need to get your Cup Noodles out of the microwave. Otherwise, those memory-leeching s GFs exist to give you po??wer because you put spells in them. 

And yeah, Squall never really changes. Just because you had him go around the world and open up a little doesn't mean he can't throw up his walls again after he let a few people i??n. I mean, y?ou can't leave Zell alone with the hot dogs or take your eyes off Selphie if you're near a train station. This is what he has to deal with now after he let people in. Lay off the guy.

Josh Tolentino

Is it a cheat if I cite the battle system that, of all the Final Fantasy battle systems, is the most arguably conventional? Final Fantasy XIV's system at its core is pretty similar to the one pioneered by major MMOs like Everquest and World of Warcraft, with its ability and class dynamics c??entered around the longstanding trinity of party rol?es.

Perhaps it's recency bias talking, but I do enjoy combat systems that emphasize a somewhat rigid-seeming specialization, where different party members take on specific scopes in a given encounter. That might seem limiting at first, but combined with the numerous jobs available in Final Fantasy XIV and the various gimmicks that distinguish them, there's a lot of room for variety within these ??carefully defined boundaries, making unique, "rule-breaking" departures stand out all the more. 

In a similar vein, I also greatly appreciate the way that Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age expanded from the original game's license/job board. Where the original PS2 release gave everyone the same set of options, the boards were varied in the International (and later Zodiac Age edition). It felt like just the right imposition of stru?cture that lets creativity and variance stand out, which is key when i?t comes to JRPGs.

Wes Tacos

I don't know why people sleep on FF X. Tidus can be a bit of a shit, sure, but every lead in Final Fantasy is. But Auron?? is cool, Wakka is a dopey stereotype, Lulu has really big magics, and als?o there's a lion. This game rules.

And the best part of the game is the battle system. The standout is definitely switching the game from the traditional ATB system to one that actually lays out the order in which everyone attacks. It's great because it allows you to strategize, think ahead, and prioritize offense/defense depending on who's coming up next. Adding to that, being able to switch ??party members in and out is one of my favorite features of the game. Not being stu?ck with the same three/four party members for each battle is great, not only for situational fighting but also for grinding it out and trying to farm some EXP.

And yo, the Sphere Grid allowing you to actively level up your characters was genius. Sure, it mostly amounts to you having to manually apply stat buffs the game would normally have, anyway, but it at least makes you feel like your EXP is going to something. Being able to hop into others' upgrade tracks to? learn their abilities is just icing on the cake. I? really love this system.

And before any of y'all fools @ me, don't even act like you don't love the idea of playing J-Pop Dressup with Yuna, her slutty niece, and her lesbian aunt. FF X-2 is straight fucking fire with that, and I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwi??se.

* * * * *

By Wes's own admission, X-2 is inferior to X because the lion is excluded from playing J-Pop Dressup with everyone else. Checkmake, Summoners. What is your favorite combat system in a Final Fantasy game, just relating to raw combat mechanics? How ??do its mechanics complement each other or enable your favorite ways to play games?

The post What is your favorite Final F??antasy combat system? appeared first on Destructoid.

The inverse of complaining about games you've never played

In an economy lush with information and scarce in disposable income, I often grow attached to games by observing them rather than playing them. We have access to online videos, walkthroughs, wikis, blogs, fan fiction, and so many more sources of information that we can pull up within 10 seconds via a Google search. I wish I ha??d the time and money to play every great game that I’ve ever looked up, but I'm too curious for my wish list's own good.

It’s also become an increasingly accepted norm to consume some games solely through derivative media. Heck, that’s a big reason the Let’s Play scene and streaming platforms rose to popularity. Overlooked gems become cult classics that countless fans wish they could find at a reasonable price. Many competitive games are fascinating spectator esports, but they can be extremely intimidating to play. Or sometimes we have a feeling we would love a game, but we have some personal excuse to wait on it… at least that's why I haven't played Rivals of Aether yet.

Super Smash Bros has always interested me more than any other fighting game, so when a Smash fangame creator revealed his Smash-inspired fighter with an original IP, I was already intrigued. Rivals of Aether’s colorful pixel art, elemental critter cast, and easily understood yet deep gameplay footage quickly impressed me. I gushed like a rabid fanboy over character reveals, and I used YouTube gameplay montages as rabies vaccines. And that was all before I saw that Marc Knelsen was hired to design Rivals’ DLC characters! Hyping up freelance artists like him is?? the whole reason I haven’t quit Twitter yet, so now this game also represents an overlap between my two biggest hobbies.

I would have bought Rivals of Aether in a heartbeat… except that it’s only available on PC and Xbox One. I’ve no interest in Microsoft’s other exclusives except for Sunset Overdrive and Cuphead, and the latter just got ported to Switch. I don't have enough reasons to buy an Xbox. On the other hand, I used to be into PC gaming, but I’ve dropped it long ago for various personal reasons. Excluding the fact that I only had a crappy lappy (which matters little to a low-requirement game like Rivals), I didn’t have a comfortable setup, and I already use my computer for so much work I’d rather play games b??y getting away from it. I simply enjoy consoles and handhe??lds far more, so I never think about buying PC games anymore.

With that said, when my old computer broke down a couple of years ago, I finally bought myself a half-decent PC. I still procrastinated on using it for games, but a few weeks ago, I finally reinstalled Steam… coincidentally, to play Lovers of Aether. Not really a PC benchmark, but the point is that I finally removed my self-imposed barrier against PC gaming again. I’ve also noticed my old Steam wallet is only one Steam Sale short of affording Rivals. So I may finally play it in the near future! Or I might wait for the Switch port that I'd prefer anyway. It’s gonna?? happen. Maybe.

In the meantime??, I’m going to sate my information addiction by asking the Destructoid staff if they have any such long-distance relationships with games…

CJ Andriessen

I remember the first time I played Sim City 2000 way back in the '90s. I was completely enamored by the possibilities. Having come off Sim City for the SNES, 2000 brought life and personality into the franchise. It allowed me to make my city exactly how I imagined it instead of just pretending it was more tha?n just a collection to static squares with the same houses, same businesses, and same polluting factories.

A few years ago, I discovered a community of YouTubers with channels dedicated to Sim City 4. Due to the poor reception of the title I ended up not picking it up, but became fascinated with the creations of others. Thus began my obsession with city-planning porn. A well-placed bridge, a sufficient railway system, and thoughtful connection of pipes could bring me to climax. Unfortunately, Sim City 4 was limited. The real good shit, the high-quality city porn, was in Cities: Skylines; something I discovered following game??s journa??list Nick Capozzoli.

He deleted his original Twitter account many months ago and has since started a new one, but on his old account, I lived vicariously through him, building that magnificent city of his, filling it with many sites of wonder. All those wonderful shots and the documentation of the city's changing face disappeared when he deleted that account. He is slowly getting back into the sharing ??mood on his new account and I've alre??ady found a reason to unzip.

Of course, I could just play this game myself and make my ow??n city-p?lanning porn -- much like I do with my regular porn -- but my Mac is too old to run it properly. So until I replace that, it's all on Nick. I mean, my computer could run it at its bare bones, but if that's all I wanted I would have bought the Switch port last year.

Jonathan Holmes

Seikama II is my pick just because I love the concept of a game about a satanic Japanese Kiss knock-off collecting bags of cash befor??e fighting the last battle against a Zeus/Jesus hybrid before playing a concert for a bunch of ghosts. I'd lick that up.

Peter Glagowski

I'm in somewhat of a rare position where I don't really have too many games I haven't played. Since I started writing for Destructoid, I made sure to catch up on the more important titles in my backlog so that I could properly critique games if the time came. I wouldn't want to hold a false opinion based on anecdotal evidence a??nd end up accidentally spouting it ?out, for instance.

There are some newer games I haven't played, though. Soulcalibur VI is probably what I'd put here. I love watching Maximilian Dood stream the game and the beta was neat, but I haven't made the plunge on the final version??. It seems like a game I'd really dig into, not to mention I like a few of the previous e?ntries.

I think the advent of streaming has kept me more aware of fighting games than I previously was. While I would have had to play a particular fighter to understand how it plays, I can now watch EVO champions from the comfort of my home and start forming tactics before I even start playing. Much like real martial arts, most of the battle is mental gymnastics. You need to know how to re??ad your opponent more than perfecting combo strings. 

I may never actually play this, but nothing I've seen leads me to believe Soulcalibur VI is a dud.

Josh Tolentino

If there's any extant game that should top a list of "Things people admire more than actually play", I'd say EVE Online would be strongly in the running. Live and ongoing since pretty much before I? even conceived of playing games over the internet (gasp!).

And, of every game that's ever laid claim to being a "Massive Multiplayer RPG", EVE might be one of the only ones with a truly credible claim to the genre. Every one of the hundreds of thousands of players in EVE lives on a single shared server, and their actions as individuals and player-run corporations reverber??ate over the whole space as groups of thousands of players go to war with each other. 

That sounds great, an??d it is, on an intellectual level, but I just don't have the personal bandwidth an?ymore to get into a game that demands as much as it does, particularly for folks that want to really get involved with the nitty-gritty of corp and alliance management. 

EVE is a great game, but it's the kind of game that, at least in my view, is at its greatest when it's your only game, and in ??light of that, I'll stick to reading new?s about it instead.

*****

What about you? Do you consider yourself an admirer of any games that you’ve never played? How do you interact with them?? Why haven’t you played them? And do you plan on act?ually playing them someday? 

The post What is your favorite game that you’ve never played? appeared first on Destructoid.

Does it flip or flop?

I've been playing the Dead or Alive 6 Deluxe Demo for the past few days and I've got to say, I'm quite surprised. The first beta didn't install any confidence in me and made me question what was going on with the once-proud fighter. It was riddled with connectivity issues and the game felt like it moved at a glacial pace. This was hardly the fast and furious fighter I played in?? m?y youth, not to mention it really didn't feel like a big budget title that could be taken seriously.

Now, though, I see the spark that once existed in the series. Matches move at sometimes lightning speeds and the online bouts are fairly smooth. While lag does still exist in some fights, the majority of connections are rock solid and the only thing stopping you from winning is your own lack of skill. The game retains most of the combos that were featured in previous games (Hayabusa's "Izuna Drop" makes for a great finisher) and it generally feels like a classic DOA title.

The only real complaint I've had is with the demo, itself. Why was story mode even featured when it was just going to be two less-than-a-minute-long cutscenes and a single round fight? That doesn't tell me anything about how story mode will play out unless Koei Tecmo is trying to tell me it will suck. Still, I can tak??e a crappy story mode when tradition?al fighting game options (Arcade, Training, Combo Challenges, Offline Versus) are present and accounted for. It also doesn't hurt that the game generally feels nice.

So, how are you all finding it? What thoughts do you have about the next generation of Dead or Alive? I want to know what the community thinks and if anyone has experienced some game crippling lag. I th??ought this demo was a far cry from the previous one, so I'm a bit more excited for when the game releases this Friday. Dtoid's resident fighting expert, Chris Moyse, will give us his verdict soon, so be sure to look out for that.

The post Are you enjoying the Dead or Alive 6 Deluxe Demo? appeared first on Destructoid.

Mario and Smash and Zelda, oh my!

Nintendo's Direct presentations either go one of two ways: they are chock full of surprises no one saw coming or kind of meander along until they reach the finish line. Thankfully, this week's Direct was full of a lot of good info and it led to some great banter between my?self and Dan. We figured talking about our highlights and dislikes fro??m the February presentation would make for some great discussion below.

Personally, I'm beyond stoked for that Link's Awakening remake. I know rumors had been passed around for years, but I didn't think Nintendo would be crazy enough to do it. The last few remakes have all been of 3D entries and I would have put money on Skyward Sword getting an HD release ahead of any of the Gameboy installments. With this absolute classic of a game getting the modern treatment, hopefully, this means Minish Cap won't be far behind.

Since this is a longer discussion (almost a full half hour!), I could understand not wanting to sit in front of your computer and listen to me and Dan prattle on about video games. Thankfully, Impulse is available on SoundCloud for your portable listening pleasure! You can even play this in the background while checking out those demos for Yoshi's Crafted World and Daemon X Machina.?????????????????????????? That sounds like a good companion to th??is episode.

The post Today’s Impulse is all about Nintendo’s surprise-filled Direct this week appeared first on Destructoid.

Respawn isn't done yet

From out of nowhere, Repsawn Entertainment released Apex Legends. Set in the Titanfall universe, this new take on battle royale has been doing exceptionally well for EA. After hitting a staggering 10 million players in just a few days, it starts to become silly when you think that Titanfall 2 almost sunk the company. Is this all just the hype train working its magic, or is Apex honestly good?

Well, Dan and I sat down to discuss our thoughts on the game and we've both walked away fairly impressed. You can read this review-in-progress to go really in-depth, but suffice to say, EA and Respawn might have a legitimate shot at stealing PUBG and Fortnite's thunder. Call of Duty, eat your heart out.

If you aren't keen to watch Dan's feeble attempts at winning a round, why not check out Impulse on SoundClou?d? It's all the same great discussion with less of the visual distractions. It's also perfect for your morning commute to work.

The post Today’s Impulse is all about the surprisingly good Apex Legends appeared first on Destructoid.

Whoever loses, we win!

Ever since launching its own storefront, Epic Games has been making a big push to corner some of the digital markets on PC. Clearly aiming some of Valve's pie, this push has seen Epic not only acquire some pretty big exclusive launches but poach others right from Valve. There's a lot to be said on the subject, so Dan and I sat down to discuss our thoughts on E??pic's move into Steam's backyard.

Ultimately, consumers will come out on top. Whether or not Valve actually learns anything, this is likely to get different publishers thinking about how they can c??lean up their own digital storefronts ??and provide more user accessibility. Steam didn't get to the place it is overnight, so hopefully, we'll see that same kind of growth happen for Epic.

If you aren't a fan of videos and don't like staring at Dan's Half-Life 2 footage, why not check out our SoundCloud page? You'll get ??the same great discussion minus the Gordon Freeman camera. You can even lull yourself to sleep w?ith our comatose voices. We're a great sleep aid.

The post Today’s Impulse is all about Epic Games’ push to steal Valve’s thunder appeared first on Destructoid.

Animal Crossing is life!

As a new year dawns, gamers have a lot to look forward to. The end of this month, alone, is a huge time for fans of Resident Evil and Kingdom Hearts. Two of the most requested games of all time are real and?? will be in our hands in less than three weeks! That is insane! What abou?t the rest of the year, though?

On today's episode of Impulse, Dan and I discuss which games we're most looking forward to in 2019. If you couldn't tell from our prior discussions on Impulse, we really love Animal Crossing, so expect to hear a bunch about that. As cruel ?of a ??master as Tom Nook may be, we're both beholden to him.

If you're more privy to an audio version of Impulse, then head on over to our SoundCloud page. The dreary??, slightly inebriated tones of me and Dan can follow you anywhere your heart desires. You can even get drunk, pass out and then wake up listening to us for an authentic experience of how the recording went down.

The post We discuss our most anticipated games of 2019 on today’s episode of Impulse appeared first on Destructoid.

This is basically a podcast

The Game Award?s happened this week and Dan and I have a lot to say about them! Going on for nearly as long as the actual show (not really), Dan and I talk about the aspects we enjoyed from the show, the games we're anxious to play and the slow moments that m?ade us roll our eyes. There was a lot to cover this week.

A big recurring theme was "Survival Games." Developers seem eager to jump into that sub-genre despite it starting to fade out of style. We also noticed that Epic Games has been making some strong waves in the realm of digital distribution, with a few announcements at T??he Game Awards having exclusivity on the new platform. This could be a great shake-up to Valve's domination of the PC space.

If you aren't a fan of Dan's lovely video editing skills (you cowards!), then be sure to check out Impulse over on SoundCloud. Now you can have the d??ulcet tones of me and Dan's voices in your ears wherever you may be. It could be a great way to put yourself to sleep, at least.

The post We discuss the Game Awards’ excruciating length on this week’s Impulse appeared first on Destructoid.

Can you master R.O.B., the video robot?

So we finally have a complete launch roster for Nintendo's final major release of the year (arguably their biggest release of the year) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Shantae didn't make the cut, the only character I was hoping for, but ?its fine. These things happen, and I'm not about to lose my mind on the internet about it. Life's too short and there's a thousand more serious? problems to address in the tapestry of existence.

I'll tell you who else I love, other than the half-genie hero, and that's R.O.B. the Robotic Operating Buddy. A big part of it comes from nostalgia, I remember R.O.B.'s launch and the really exciting commercials featuring the "video robot". It seemed like gaming was en?tering a whole new world, an age of technology that was going to blow our minds. ??It was gonna be all robots, all the time.

Ok, we know now that it didn't really work out that way at all. R.O.B. and his disc spinning skills were essentially good for one game, Gyromite (he was also compatible with Stack-Up, but I never came across that). Very quickly, R.O.B. was consigned to the museum of gaming, ??the little robot that could, but didn't.

Making spot cameos in the following years, R.O.B. eventually burst back onto the scene as a playable fighter in Smash Bros. Brawl, scoring his own amiibo and even featuring in the Subspace Emissary story mode. But what really mattered was that he hadn't been forgotten, he could still be relevant in the modern gaming wo??rld, despite his age, obsolescence, and lack of any practical use... Self-projection? Never heard of?? it, pal.

So, who is your favourite character in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launch roster? Let's see what some of o??ur beloved staff had to say on the matter.

Marcel Hoang

While there are a lot of new characters to consider, this list is about our favorites on the roster, and for me, it's Little Mac. The boxing underdog made of short stuff and iron fists plays unlike anyone else on the cast. Any regular character made for Smash has some ground game, some air game, and some recovery, with varying characteristics between those. But ??Little Mac goes all-in on ground game, to the point whe??re he's wildly unbalanced when it comes to any situation where his feet aren't planted on the floor.

Punch-Out!!, and all the games before it, are about playing as a tiny underdog who takes on a boxing championship's worth of racial caricatures and, aside from Mac's fairly well-informed boxing stance, his underdog status also translates to the game as well. Mac dominates on the ground but any time he's in the air, which is inevitable for Smash Bros, he's imm?ediately in trouble. More than half of your time fighting is spent in the air and Mac sucks at that. Thus, he's an underdog when it comes to competing in the ga??me.

Of course, I love Mac mechanically too. His ground attacks are so strong, I get a hoot applying basic spacing and footsies while walking in a game where most players will run and jump into melee range. Wacky combos like down tilt to side tilt or neutral normal to tornado uppercut against unsuspecting players. It'll be an exciting time in Ultimate for Littl??e Mac to have his side B buffed to allow for more recovery afterward instead of goi?ng into a helpless state.

Chris Hovermale

I’m probably cheating given that he’s not quite a launch character, but he'll be released for free to everyone who gets the game at launch, soooo I’m gonna see if I can stretch the definition. Besides, I can’t deny the fact that I am more excited t?o play as this boy than anyone else. I mean… he’s a freaking Piranha Plant. A Piranha Plant!

I’ve always had a soft spot for mooks and “generic” characters ascending to the same level as iconic heroes, if not above them. It’s something I love about Paper Mario partners, about Disgaea’s class system and limitless grinding, about collectible creature games like Pokémon, and so on. It’s a weird trope I love because I just think it’s awesome and inspiring, much like the classic tale of the underdog claiming victory over the frontrunners, or the not-so-classic tales of moths suplexing dragons. And while Smash unfortunately still lacks playable insect people, Piranha ??Plant h??appens to hit the almost-as-rare niche of playable plants!

His reveal trailer was the highlight of Sakurai’s trolling career. His moveset is full of long-reaching s?trikes in a fig??hting style, unlike most other characters. His animations are extremely expressive. He’s so happy to be here. He’s doing his best. He’s a good boy.

Not relevant to this question, but as a bonus -- now nobody can say that Bandana DeeLC is impossibl?e.

Jonathan Holmes

This is tough. The paternal side of me wants to pick Pichu, because I have nothing but love for a little kid who's brave enough to mix it up with the big boys. The old man in of me wants to pick Mr. Game & Watch, because I absolutely love that in the midst of one of gaming's most heated eras of tech competition, Sakurai decided to include a fighter in Melee that was monochrome, two-dimensional, and rendered with single-frame animations. My sentimental side wants to pick Lucas, who against all odds managed to make it to Brawl, despite the many forces (both in his ga??me and in the real world) that? were working against him. 

Since I have to pick just one, I'll go with Toon Link. Like Pichu, he's a child who's willing to go toe-to-toe with anyone, no matter their weight class. Like Mr. Game & Watch, he went boldly abstract when the rest of the in??dustry was pining to be more complex and realistic. Like Lucas, he's a commercial underdog who was misunderstood and even hated at first, but who's undeniable ?heart eventual won over even the most Grinch-y of curmudgeons. 

Also, in his last game, he could dress up like a cheerleader, Tingle, or even Zelda herself. I can only hope that some of those unique looks from Tri Force Heroes make their way into Ultimate in some form or another. 

Peter Glagowski

I will level with you all. The Legend of Zelda is my favorite series of all time and Link is the reason I discovered a lot of other games. I would have never gotten into Soulcalibur if Namco Bandai didn't think to include him in the Gamecube port of Soulcalibur II. I picked up Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate solely because there was a Link costume. When Nintendo added Link to Mario Kart 8, I was over the moon.

Ever since I played Ocarina of Time when I was 10 years old, Link has been my favorite character in all of gaming. If he is present in a game, chances are I'll pick him. In Hyrule Warriors, despite havi??ng an entire cast of characters to s??elect from, I go with Link. When I was a kid, I begged my mom to buy me that shitty Link figure at Toys R' Us just because I had to have it.

In every Smash Bros. game, I tinker with other fighters but always return to Link. He was my original main and he's still the one I'm the best with. He might suck in more than half of the series, but I've become so skilled with him that I can take out my friends with ease. At one point during our many battles in Brawl, I earne??d the nickname of "The Green Monster" for surviving completely insane odds.

It might be a little cliche since Zelda is a highly regarded Nintend?o franchise, but I just love Link. Whe??rever he goes, I'll follow.

CJ Andriessen

So if we’re talking characters then obviously the cha?racter I’m going to play as most would be Daisy. Peach is my current main and I want to see what types of changes she has as an Ech?o Fighter. I’m not exactly a huge Daisy fan – though I love her cruiser – but if she’s a better version of Peach, she’s my new go-to girl. I am a fan, however, of Chibi-Robo.

I’ve been stanning for the robot since before I even played one of his games because I’m that type of person. I own every Chibi-Robo title, at least the ones released in North America, and have been pretty sad and somber that he may never get another big adventure game. Seeing the character as a Spirit in Ultimate certainly raised my hopes, but when I found out he would also be a ?costume, well, suddenly my most anticipated ??character became the Mii.

As excited as I am to cosplay as Chibi-Robo in Smash, I’m not exactly looking forward to developing my skills with a brand of fighter I don’t particularly prefer. I don’t play as Samus, or Fox, or Falco, or really any of?? the shooter characters in the series. I’m more of a brawler type myself, so as happy as I am at the thought of wearing Chibi-Robo’s flesh over my own, I really wish he was either of the other two Mii Fighter types. Boy, now that I’m reading all this back to?? myself, I don’t sound much elated at all to play as Chibi-Robo.

Huh.

Well, nevermind then. Daisy it is!

Pixie The Fairy

As much as I might be looking forward to the return of Solid Snake, dancing as Bayonetta or whipping folks good as Simon and Richter Belmont, or Zero Suit Samus, fighting games are all about memorizing inputs and relearning the wheel, because characters get rebalanced over time and from one game to the next. Soulcalibur took that too far for a while and it put me off for three entries, now that Ivy has a some of her SCII moveset back in SCVI, I'm a happy camper. 

Thankfully in Smash 4, they added a guy that I never??, ever have to relearn, so my default will often be the classic World Warrior; Ryu.

Shoryuken, Hadoken, Hurricane kick -- these are things I know by heart and I'm going to try and unlock Ryu as soon as I can. After that, I can figure out all the other characters later. As a bonus, Ken is also in Ultimate as an echo fighter, so there's two characters I don't really have to r?elearn at all!

And really, the fact that Ryu and Ken have the inputs they are famous for is just one of those things I love about Smash - every character really is in-character, regardless of the game they hail from. That's a level of dedication that makes Smash a love letter to all video game fans.

The post R.O.B. is my favourite member of the Super?? Smash Bros. Ultimate roster, who is yours? appeared first on Destructoid.

Nightmares in a Damaged Game

Halloween is upon us. It's t?hat time of year where kids roam the street ??looking for candy, Michael Myers stands in people's laundry lines, and tabloids print stories about LSD-laced sweets and razor-blade filled apples that probably never actually happened.

Video games are also getting into the Halloween mood, with numerous titles running in-game events, or adding horror-themed loot, gear, and other aesthetics to celebrate the spoopy season. Horror and video games have always been a match made in hell (and, conveniently, a license to print money). There's a reason Capcom keep churning out Resident Evil games and why Five Nights at Freddy's fast became a household name;?? We have a morbid fascination with fear.

But all horror titles, old and new, tip their hat to a game released on the humble ZX81. That game is 3D Monster Maze. Developed in 1981 by the team of J.K. Greye and Malcom Evans, 3D Monster Maze has the player guide themselves silently through a first-person labyrinth, procedurally-generated back before that was even a term. There is only one other inhabitant, a hungry Ty??rannosaurus Rex, stomping around the maze in real-time. It is the sole goal of the player to escape the maze before they become carnivore chow, a task deceptively simple in its intens??ity.

Arguably the first ever survival horror title, 3DMM is overwhelmingly creepy, and in '81, it was practically coronary-inducing. The stark, blocky, black-and-white visuals somehow make the game more frightening, like a "cursed-game creepypasta" that actually existed. The whole concept of first-person games were ??at such an infancy, that slowly and tentatively turning a corner, just to see the T-Rex barrelling toward you was genuinely terrifying.

The game itself builds tension will simple on-screen statements like "Footsteps approaching" and the dreaded "RUN! He is behind you". 3D Monster Maze even opens with ominous warnings that the game is not for those of a nervous disposition, before giving the player one last chance to back out rather than face the fearful maze. That's showmansh?ip that would ma??ke P.T. Barnum proud.

Should the player evade Rex and make it to the exit, they are treated with a kaleidoscope of letters and warned that "Rex is very angry", before being transported to a new maze with a faster monster. All of this terror and technology was somehow crammed into 16K of memory. 16K! The header image of t?his article is three times that.

The horror games of today - particularly the glut of PC first-person jump scare titles -  owe a debt of gratitude to J.K Greye, Malcolm Evans and 3D Monster Maze. This simple little game was way ahead of its time and, regardless of its rudimentary design, still somehow manages to maintain a creepy air of unease, because of, not in spite of, its rudimentary visuals.

Chris Hovermale

Flashback to your first Kirby game. You’re making your way across Dreamland, fighting a few colorful foes who are trying to stop you from rescuing the world’s food supply, or restoring the fountain of dreams, or whatever the plot is. Your enemies might look cute, but they will still hurt Kirby when they aren’t provoked or even when you just touch them, so you don’t question the fact that they’re your enemies. But eventually, you stumble across this orange floaty thing. Let's call it Sca??rfy. Scarfy doesn’t move. Scarfy doesn’t attack.

Could it ??be that yo?u found a new friend? Perhaps it’s a good idea to greet Scarfy, maybe you’ll get a prompt to talk to it or it’ll give you a gift. Or maybe you know that Scarfy is evil because you’ve played this game enough to understand the rules of early platformers. If it’s in your way, it must want you dead, so you have to attack it first.

Whichever you chose, you were wrong. Your choice scarred yo?ur chil?dhood.

If you’re not familiar with Scarfies, the instant you do anything with them -- touch, inhale, anything -- they will transform into dark-skinned cyclopes with ravenous teeth, pursuing you relentlessly with their new horrifying visage. If they touch you, they EXPLODE IN A CIRCLE OF FIRE. Discovering this was my first experience with jump-scares, so go f??igure I’m a wuss who avoids actual horror games like the plague.

But having the knowledge of what they do is just as scary. Once you understand the true danger they present, you will always take caution to avoid provoking them, constantly dreading their true face even while it remains hidden. These t??hi??ngs gave impressionable six-year-olds a taste of horror, and even today, I’m skeptical of this adorable Scarfy plush. It probably plays a disturbing noise like Marx's death scream if you hug it. I ain’t finding that out.

Other people say that Zero is the most horrifying and disturbing creature in Kirby's history, and they aren't wrong. But Zero never threatened to give me nightmares, partially because I never actually fought him. This volatile demon in an angel's mask did. And his kind are everywhere in Kirby's games. Everywhere.

CJ Andriessen

In the 1942 film Cat People, there is a scene midway through where Alice Moore, played by Jane Randolph, is walking down the street alone at night when she hears footsteps behind her. She looks back and there’s nothing there. The footsteps come and go, but neither she nor the audience ever gets a glimpse at what is ma?king them. While not particularly frightening by modern horror standards, it’s an absolutely unnerving scene that plays upon what is perhaps the greatest fear there is: fear of the unknown.

Fear of the unknown is really a fear? of fear. It’s a fear that you expect to have something come along and frighten you, and the tension that builds inside you as you wait for what you fear is inevitable can sometimes be too much to take. Giant spiders, ghoulish monsters, and horrors of all kind eventually lose their ability to terrify, but a fear that relies on the user’s imagination for scares, that’s a monster that never gets old.

Maybe this is cheating for this week’s topic – no it most certainly is – but I’ve stared down zombies in Resident Evil, ghosts in Fatal Frame, and aliens in Dead Space; none of which bring the thrills like they used to. But the unknown continues to terrify, sometimes even transforming fairly standard games into something petrifying. The Metroid franchise isn’t a horror game but there is something absolutely unnerving about exploring the depths of Zebes in the first game and SR388 in Metroid II. Not knowing where your next death is going to come from in 1001 Spikes can ??turn the already edge-of-your-seat platformer into a heart racer. But both of those games have enemies that can kill you, so there is a slight reason to be anxious. Where the unknown, this fear of fear, truly shines is when it’s able to transform a game that gives you no real reason to be scared at all.

Gone Home is a game that I laugh about every time I think about it, because I remember the night I played it. It was around 12:30 in the morning and I, having blockaded any in??formation?? about the title to that point, decided to give it a whirl. I know now the game is basically a queer, high-school short story about a girl walking around her house, but that night I knew nothing of those empty hallways, nothing of those still rooms, nothing of those secret passages. I knew nothing about this game and that absolutely scared the fuck out of me.

I know I’m not the first person to describe Gone Home as an unintentional horror game, but I’ve yet to play another game that has scared me so much with so little. My imagination, fueled by this fear of fear, made the experience far scarier than it is. I love the work that ??goes into creating grotesque monsters in horror games or games of any sort, but I’ve seen my fair share of them to really not be disturbed by their appearance anymore. But that fear of the unknown, that’s a fear that’ll never cease to terrorize me.

Josh Tolentino

Like CJ said above, sometimes fear of nothing can be more frightening than any monster. And as a huge coward, I'd agree. Ever since my older sister forced me to watch 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula on laserdisc, I'd known horror as a genre isn't for me. I don't play horror games or read horror stories, and generally tune out when people are discussing? creepypa??sta and the like.

To this day one of the few exceptions to my horror aversion is Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a game that thrived on enforcing cowardice. You can't fight the monsters in Amnesia, and can barely even stand to look at them, and it's in that forced mode of reluctance that the fear takes hold. When you can see them at all, they're grotesque and inhuman, and sometimes you can't see them, period. It's a masterful example of "l?ess means more" in a game culture where more is almost always treated as better, also taking advantage of the fact that sometimes what we don't know can be even more distressing than what we do.

Bass

Adventure games, like those made by Humongous Entertainment, were my gateway into gaming. Their simplicity and focus on writing over mechanics make them a perfect fit for trying the medium out. But at such an impressionable age, not ever?y adve?nture game is a good idea.

So there's this hole in The Neverhood that tells you not to jump? in, otherwise you will die. I don't remember if I expected the game to be lying to me, or if I just wasn't able to read the signs at all. In any case, my curiosity got the better of me. I clicked on the drain, and Klaymen fell.

And fell.

And fell. Infinitely.

Ima?gining death after such a long fall was terrifying. Imag?ining myself falling forever, even more so. I will always remember this pit and its nightmarish implications.

Jonathan Holmes

There was definitely a time when I would have said Chiller, the arcade cabinet, was my vote for most nightmarish video game character. Just the fact that a game about shooting naked torture victims with a crossbow until the flesh was torn from their bones was allowed in a children's arcade told me more about the world than my 10 year-old-mind was prepared to know. The mere existence of that game made me queasy for years afterward. These days though, it doesn't hit me quite as hard. Maybe it's because I've since read all about the thinking that went into creating the game, and I know that the developers of Chiller were also disturbed by what they made. 

So what is the game that leaves me feeling the most traumatized in 2018? Like Chiller, it's another game where you, the player, are put in a position where you have to maim an innocent to progress. The psychological horror of controlling J.J. Macfield and walking her into a fire, only to have her scream "WHY!?!?" whil??e she crumples to a black husk on the ground, is the most unsettling sight in a game that I can think of at the moment.

Swery is great at making games where you play the part of an aspect of the protagonist's psyche that is not integrated into their greater ego space. In Deadly Premonition, you are Zach, guiding York around and talking to him in his head, while you control his hands at the wheel. You are a part of Agent York, but you are not York as he sees himself. You are a part ?of him that he sees as someone else. People I know who hear voices and carry on full conversations with people that their subconscious has created experience pretty much the exact same phenomena.

With The Missing, you don't play as a hallucinatory force, but instead take on the rol??e of J.J.'s self-destr?uctive urges, and more so, her feeling that sacrificing herself to save someone else is worth it. Even if that means being the victim of the world's anger, though it's often hard to tell where her world ends and her internal emotional conflicts begin.

Ughhh it i??s so real and sad. Swery?? really nailed it this time. 

Rich Meister

I tend not to frighten easily. As a kid this was not the case, a plastic skeleton could make me jump through the damn roof, but regardless of my childhood cowardice one nightmarish set of creatures still gives me the creeps as an adult. The family in Ocarina of Time's House of Skulltula. 

If you're unfamiliar with this particular side quest, there is a house in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time inhabited by a once very wealthy family. The family, cursed for their greed has been transformed into horrific giant Skulltula ??spiders. It's up to Link to destroy every Gold Skulltula in the game to free them. 

They don't look particularl?y frightening in the game itself, but the p??ure concept of these huge arachnids all mashed up with bits of human flesh still makes me shiver.

The post 3D Monster Ma??ze is 16K of pure nightmare fuel, b?ut what creeps you out in gaming? appeared first on Destructoid.

Let's reach the heights of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

_{[Header image: Sorceress (1982)]}

Video Game Movies. They rarely work out, right? Sometimes made as a quick straight-to-video cash-in, sometimes made with the best of intentions, either way they usually fail deliver an experience worthy of fan expectations, or their source material. Alone in the Dark, Dead or Alive, BloodRayne, Dead Rising, even Far Cry. It doesn't matter if you c??ast Kevin Nash as Ba??ss Armstrong, you probably should've just left well enough alone.

The problem here, all things considered, is that Hollywood isn't coming to me for ideas. 'Cos I got your pitch: Dragon's Crown. Give me a couple of million dollars, a mound of the white stuff, and send me back to the early 1980's and I'll give you a movie based on Vanillaware's RPG brawler that would've set the American box-office on fire.

We'll get in Sybil Danning as Amazon, ??Julian Sands as Wizard and Maggie Cheung as Elf, or the shopkeeper, or anybody (I just want her in the movie). Recently-discovered megastar Arnie can play Fighter, which will give the whole shitflick some Hollywood gloss. For the villains, we'll hire special effects genius Tom Savini to create a horrifying roster of beasts, monsters, and demons.

Roger Corman can executive produce, to guarantee Dragon's Crown wraps in two weeks, well under-budget and missing a ton of vitally-important scenes. Then all that's left is casting of the pivotal role of Sorceress... Hmm... I guess I gotta give it to Cassandra Peter?son, better known to Z-list movie fans as the incomparable Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.

Stick in a bucketful of gore and I reckon that'll make for a pretty sweet 75 minutes on the silver screen, wouldn't you agree?  Krull would be bricking it come the Summer blockbuster season. Can you do better? of course you can. Let us know below what video games you think should be up there on the big screen. In the meantime, here are some ideas?? f?rom the Destructoid crew.

Anthony Marzano

Yes I know they tried to make a movie based on BioShock the game but they were wrong right from the start. The story of Jack Ryan's return to Rapture is one that fits perfectly in the gaming medium as the whole "Would you kindly" twist wouldn't work as well if it was for a non-playable character. So you've lost one of the biggest hooks of the story due to using the wrong medium. Also, the good ending (which let's be honest would be the film one) to BioShock was ham-fisted and ended up in a bit too neat of a bow ?for my liking. So what do you do with the story ripe world of Rapture? Tell the tragic tale of how its creator so driven by his ambitions could gain so muc??h, then lose it all.

Like all good movies, the best story would come from a book and ever since reading the prequel book BioShock: Rapture it's the only version of the story I have wanted to been seen put to screen. It switches from character to character telling of how they all came down to the marvelous wonder under the sea and then shows how all of them died horrible deaths as their collective hubris came collapsing in around them. It also was published before BioShock: Infinite was allowed to come in and taint Rapture with its stink, so it has that going for it as well. Would it be a happy movie? No, but do you really want a happy ending to a BioShock movie? I think not.

Chris Hovermale

I enjoy a good movie, but I don’t enjoy them nearly as much as games, so I honestly can’t think of any game I’d enjoy more if it were simply adapted into a movie.  So instead of thinking of a traditional movie, I asked myself -- what would make for a great documentary? Sometimes the impact games have on people’s lives can be as fascinating as the stories in games themselves. And for all that they’ve done to bring us together and tear us apart, I’m surprised there aren’t more documentaries based around party games, most of all Mario Party.

Shockingly consistent dice rolls breeding skepticism. Bowser spaces wreaking havoc on everyone except, ironically, the person who landed on it. Purposefully thrown minigames putting short leashes on a "teammate’s" Star conquest. The explosive arguments. The remorseful nights on the couch. The heartfelt apologies and reunions. Mario Party would make for an e??xcellent film, not for its content itself, but how it molds our relationships with our loved ones.

Then first and last place swap stars from Chance Time and history repeats itself. They shoulda… shoulda maybe played Mouse Trap instead...

Occams Electric Toothbrush

Rule of Rose is a dark coming-of-age story involving a 19-year-old orphan named Jennifer as she recovers the forgotten memories of her childhood and remembers the people she knew at the Rose Garden Orphanage. Jumping back and forth between memory and reality, the game shifts into an almost dream-like state at times. Thematically, this game deals heavily in trauma. And guilt. And the evils perpetrated upon one another, especially how girls treat each other. I've always found this idea?? fascinating and the game did something with survival horror that I don't think has been matched.

I see the movie as Lord of the Flies set in a 1930’s British orphanage starring pre-teen girls. The entire movie, except for a few key flashbacks, takes place in the Rose Garden Orphanage. It is a twisting, dark place. Burgundy upholstered furniture and mahogany walls draped in pale electric lights that flicker and struggle to stay on, ??groaning with an audible hum as if the building itself was crying.  Her fellow orphans are cruel to the point of caricature, as Jennifer’s memories (much like our own) paint the story with such a specific brush. Before she was old enough to have the words of the trut??h, she created monsters to fill in the blanks. Representations of monsters and the monstrous acts she bore witness to that her young mind could process. These are the boogeymen that haunt the orphanage.

The whole story plays out as a phantasmagoria of horror and mystery. A soundtrack hea??vy on cello and pia?no to mimic the game’s incredible score. Ti West to direct.

Jonathan Holmes

There's a lot of good that can come from this week's theme. A Bad Dudes movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Rob Van Dam where Bam Margera plays the guy who is always on fire would be good. A Tomba movie where Brendan Fraser plays Tomba and the cast of Frasier plays the Evil Pigs would be even better. 

But all things considered, my bets on a BurgerTime movie directed by David Cage, starring Nicholas Cage as Pepper Pete, Channing Tatum as the Hot Dog, Debra Messing as the Fried Egg, and Michael Cera as the Pickle. Better yet, the classic BurgerTime theme music would play on loop? for the entirety of the film's 14?0 minute run time.

As if that we're enough bang for your buck, those who stick around for the post-credits scene will be treated to the sight of Karnov (played by Roman Burtsev, the man they dubbed "The Fat Russian Leonardo DiCaprio") entering the f??ray, officially kicking off the Data?? East Cinematic Universe. ;

CJ Andriessen

Some video games lend themselves well to the cinematic format. World of Warcraft, Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed, Hitman, Silent Hill; these are all gaming franchises that are absolutely ripe for a film adaptation and I hope one day some studio can turn those IPs into decent, or at the very least watchable, films. I’d also hope some studio -- perhaps Toho, Shochiku Co., or Toei Company – could find a way to fund a feature film adaptation of one of the wildest, most colorful and eternally joyous games ever created: The Wonderful 101.

If you haven’t played The Wonderful 101, you’re what’s wrong with the world. It’s a superhero game with 100 superheroes, each with their own abilities and backstories, that is filled to the brim with fine action set-pieces and engaging storyline. Think of the cinematic marve?l that wo?uld be seeing 100 distinct superheroes fighting against Operation 001-C. Or think of how cool the time-slowing mechanic of Wonder Black’s Unity Bomb would look on screen. Hell, think of the toys and spin-off potential.

The Wonderful 101 flew under too many radars, locked on a console that did as well. It was passed over and forgotten by the masses, d?espite being one of the most inventive titles of the past decade. If game??rs can’t appreciate its brilliance, maybe moviegoers will.

The post Dragon’s Crown would make for an amazing 80s movie, what games would you like to see on the big screen? appeared first on Destructoid.

'Sorry, no money, no ski'

We all, at some point, played our very first video g?ame. Maybe you remember it well, perhaps?? it's all a blur. You might've been six, or 16. In the '80s, the '90s or even just a few years back. We all started on this rocky road of time-sink titles somewhere.

I don't remember exactly when I played my first game, but I know for sure what it was. It was on the ZX Spectrum +2, the first computer I ever owned, and it was Horace Goes Skiing by developer Beam Software. The sequel to 1982 Pac-Man clone Hungry Horace, ...Goes Skiing was released the same year, back when you could bang a g??ame out in a matter of weeks.

So I began my journey to gaming infamy with this hard-as-nails title, which sees everyone's favorite amorphous blue blob, with holes for eyes, deciding to join the Aspen Elite. Unfortunately, Horace must first cross the world'?s busiest road just to make it to the ski shack, before crossing back over for his skiing "fun" (Why they didn't build the shack at the top of the slopes is neve??r asked.)

A straight Frogger clone, the road-crossing section is disproportionately t??ough, Horace cannot stand still, running like a madman until you change his direction, or a speeding vehicle changes his ability to walk. Horace also cannot die, with a game over occurring when his medical fees mean that he cannot afford ski rental. This is why we need the NHS. Fuck the Tories. Should Horace finally make it back to the slope, he enjoys a much less entertaining tree-dodging slalom down the mountain. Upon reaching the bottom of the slops, it starts all over again.

I still own my original cassette of Horace Goes Skiing. I have played literally thousands of video games? since, many of which have fallen out of my aging brain, but the memory of Horace and his death-wish love of skiing w??ill remain with me forever.

CJ Andriessen

My family bought our first NES when I was three-years-old. For the first few years, it was kept in my parents’ bedroom, sitting high atop their dress along with a small television. We didn’t have many games for it at first. The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man 2, and Contra would come later, but in the beginning, all we had was the pack-in game: Super Mario Bros. & Duck Hunt. It honestly a toss-up between which of those titles I played first, as I have ancient memories of playing them both, but I feel in my gut that Duck Hunt would have been the first game I tried. After all, we had the NES Zapper and??, a?s a child of America, I came out of the womb ready to hold a gun.

Duck Hunt was in the news a couple a weeks ago because Seth Rogen apparently blew people’s minds with the fact a second player could control the duck. Well guess what, Gre??en Hornet? I knew you could do that before I learned the multiplication table or who this guy Ronald Reagan was. How? It was all in the manual. Perhaps you should have listened to Kunta Kinte when he said to take a look because that information was in a book. #ReadingRainbow #TheMoreYouKnowShootingStar

Chris Carter

The first game I ever saw was Dig Dug. The first one I ever played was City Connection. It was a fairly simplistic driving romp from Jaleco that was sort of progenitor to the Cruis'n games, complete with wacky Mach Five-esque jumping cars. Amazingly, although Jaleco went defunct in 2014, the spirit of City Connection lives on through a company with the same moniker that holds Jaleco's old IPs.

As for my experience, I played them all in the same day actually: I was brought over to my cousin's house and marve?led at their shiny new NES and their Atari 2600. That was a weird day. Not because of anything my? family did, but due to the sheer state of confusion after looking at the moving pictures on-screen. You could...control them? From there on my life was changed.

According to legend (read: my mom) I badgered my parents for an NES and forwent any gifts until I had earned enough cash to get it on my own. Like CJ I immediately played Duck Hunt, then Super Mario Bros. as part of the two-pack cartridge (man that rocked), and sent away for a free Nintendo Power copy of Dragon Warrior.

The rest is history.

Peter Glagowski

My first video game is a pretty common one among players my age: Super Mario Bros. Since the NES was still relatively new when I was born, my parents still had one in the house when I was finally able to formulate memories. One day, my father decided to break out the NES and let me try it out. What I can remember is walking into t?he first Goomba and my da?d deeming me not worthy. After that, I started to gravitate towards video games and you know the rest.

I had a lot of fun with the NES in my youth. It always felt like a treat coming home from school and spending tons of time on it. I probably spent too much time playing games, but they always tickled a?? part of my childhood imagination that school never could. While that isn't necessarily true anymore, I do still enjoy video games for their ability to transport players to different lands made from pure imagination.

Still, Mario was the one that ushered me into this wonderful medium. I will always have a resp?ect for that series, even if it hits some weird low points.

Kevin Mersereau

It might not be the very first video game I ever played (Don’t get old, kids. Your brain will rot and turn against you…), but Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters for the original Game Boy is the earliest one that I can recall. I didn’t own a Game Boy, but my sister did, and I’d?? beg her to let me play constantly. I’m assuming our dad must have gotten this particular game on sale or something because ??there is no way he saw it and thought she’d love it.

She got a copy of Tetris too, but Kid Icarus had a dude with a bow and arrow on the cover, so?? that wa?s the one I was all about. I never read any instructions, so I was forced to guesswork my way through it. This was not an effective strategy for five-year-old Kevin, who was much too stubborn to ask anyone for help.

Instead, I’d just replay the very first level over and over again. Once all of the enemies were gone, I’d restart the console and do it all from the beginning. I did this for fucking hours. I was very easily amused. Months later, on a particularly long car trip, I finally made it to the second stage and, of course, immediately died. This was the first time I realized that there was actually more to this game. It was a revelation.

Unfortunately, I never did make it further than the third stage. That certainly didn’t stop me from trying though. If nothing else, this Destructoid Discusses prompt has reminded me that I’ve still got a grudge match on the b??ack burner. One that’s been 25 years in the making. It might take me the rest of ?my life, but I think it’s about time I finally knocked this one off my backlog.

Jonathan Holmes

This is a tough one to recall with clarity, as I was probably two or three when it happened. I know the console was the Atari 2600, and I know that it was dark, but I don't know exactly where I was or what I was doing there. Was t??his the home of friends of the family? Was I at a babystitter's house? Had I been kidnapped? Did my parents even know I was missing?

I'm not sure of the answer to any of those questions, but I do know that Combat was involved, and eve??n at my tender, inexperienced age, I knew that it was mediocre. 

Josh Tolentino

Memory can be a pretty fuzzy thing where what you remember vividly doesn't always match up wi??th what can actually be confirmed. 

As such, while the timelines don't quite add up on further examination, my earliest gaming memory is of playing two-player Battle City with my elder sister on our old Famicom. We would also play Bomber Man with my father (he was pretty good at boxing us in with the bombs), and Balloon Fight against each other.

Pixie The Fairy

Okay, this is really going to be showing my age but on my fifth birthd?ay, I got my parents to take me to an arcade for the first time. It was an Aladdin's Ca??stle at Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem, NC and that very spot in the mall is now a post office.

Anyway, it was that night I first met Pac-Man and his wife, as well as a giant ape that was giving an Italian plumber and his girlfriend some trouble. I also shot at some space bugs and one of them stole my ship. I'm pretty sure between those games it was Pac-Man that I played first. P??robably because I had heard so much about it and there was even a pop single. I later begged my parents to get that single for me and was the first record (yes, record) I ever owned. 

But it was that night I had found my passion. I loved the colors, shapes, interaction, and sounds of video games and I've not shut up about them ever since. It was also the first night I was dragged out of any place kicking and screaming. I really wanted to keep playing Pac-Man but the place just had to close.

It ??would be the first of many times I was dragged out of arcades li?ke that. 

Chris Seto

The very first game I owned and play would have been a very unknown amiga game called Fly Fighter! My games obsession really started there with v??arious games for the European powerhouse of a computer (at the time).

But for the very first video game I played, I would have to go back a little further, to a family friends residence and back to their Atari 2600, which was ancient even back then. And then I got to play one of the worst ports of a classic game ever made (though I didn't know that at the time). Yup, my first game was also Pac-Man!

Funnily enough, the game didn't really leave too much of an impa??ct on me. I thought it was super cool that I could control this thing on the screen in front of me but it didn't leave me clamoring for more. The Amiga 500 was the system that threw me into the rabbit hole and the Game Boy and NES later put me into free-fall. But we should never forget the firsts, even if they aren't significant in the long run.

The post Traffic-dodging title Horace Goes Skiing was my first ever v??ideo game, what w?as yours? appeared first on Destructoid.

Make some room for these games in your limited time on Earth

We live in the peak entertainment era. With unlimited access to movies, television shows, music, short comedy clips, music videos, video games, books, radio, trailers, poetry, art and more on a device small enough to fit into our pockets, the only time we are without some form of distraction is when our cell service or Wi-Fi decides to die for no good reason. It’s almost impossible not to be entertained in 2018, which is why we now live in what is the precursor to the nightmarish society found in Brave New World.

What’s unfortunate about living in the peak entertainment age is there is so much quality programming we will never see. I still haven’t found the time to watch Godless or Barry or The Handmaiden’s Tale or any of the several what-I’m-sure-are-high-quality Adam Sandler films on Netflix. There are also so many games – so, so many – that I’ve yet to take up and something tells me, with probably only 50 good years left in me (55 if I can actually change my diet), I’m not going to experience them all. I’ll probably never play the Breath of Fire series or D4 or Final Fantasy 14. I’ll probably never actually get around to watching True Blood or seeing the collective works of Tyler Perry.

So much art, or in the case of that last one, “art”, is going to pass me by, but I can’t say I’m sad about it. For every movie or television show I’ve missed there are probably two or three I have enjoyed thoroughly. It’s the same with video games. Sure, I’ve missed out on titles like Grand Theft Auto V, but in its place, I’ve played some absolute GOATs like Bayonetta 2 and Odin Sphere. Those are games I think all people should play and that’s the topic of our Destructoid Question of the Week. I asked our team of writers and the community the one game they think everybody should play at least once in their life. We have a lot of great answers below, but for my money, I’m going with The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

I've alwa?ys preferred handheld gaming over sticking with a console and I've made no effort to hide it. Ever since I first picked up a Game Boy Advance, it's been my preferred way to play video games. The beau??ty of handheld devices is is allows players to experience vast worlds of wonder no matter where they are. Those light up football games of the 70s led to the LED Game & Watch Games of the 80s which paved the road to the Game Boy. Keep tracing that line and you eventually end up at the iPhone.

The Game Boy is one of the greatest gaming devices ever and Link's Awakening is perhaps its most significant title. The device had seen big adventures prior to this game. Final Fantasy Adventure, another phenomenal title, came out in 1991, two years before Zelda would make its debut on the system. But Link's Awakening wasn't just about making a portable game, it was about making a game for the Game B?oy that felt like something you could ?play on the SNES.

Where other series made concessions when moving to simpler hardware, Link's Awakening made none. It took everything the series offered up in A Link to the Past and added a more fully fleshed out world with distinct characters. Driven by the development team's fascination with Twin Peaks, Link's Awakening fe??atures a cast of strange characters, odd moments, and a depth that future entries in the franchise would run with.

People will probably say that Ocarina of Time has had the biggest influence on the franchise, but I'd wager we wouldn't have even seen the likes of that game had it not been for the ambition and devil-may-care attitude that went into the development of Link's Awakening. If you're a Nintendo fan or just a human being, you ??owe it to y?ourself to play this game.

Chris Hovermale

When I thought of a “must-play” game other than the most obvious answers most people have already probably played like any Super Mario 3D platformer, I asked myself, "Have I ever played a game that dramatically broadened my appreciation of games?" Other than Paper Mario TTYD, which I've alr??eady gushed about many times in these segments, including last week.

For instance, as a stubborn child, I used to feel intense contempt for visual novels as a genre. I felt they were all bloated text boxes and jpegs with no interactivity beyond advancing text and selecting multiple choice answers, if even that, so I never cared about anything that was being said. But after playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney under ?the presumption it was a puzzle game or a point and click adventure (which… it kinda is, but it’s more of a VN?), I came to acknowledge the value of VNs as a genre.

Phoenix Wright is so commendable because it eschews most of the flaws that turned me away from VNs previously. Characters are emotive and animated, dialogue rarely prattles on excessively, and testimonies challenge players to constantly pay attention to case details in order to advance. The more I realized how dialogue-heavy Wright was, the more I realized that my preconceptions of the visual novel genre were overgeneralizations. True, I had seen many VNs with those flaws, but Wright taught me they weren&rsqu?o;t intrinsic to the genre’s design.

But just as importantly, Wright succeeds at what VNs are designed to do in the first place -- telling a story, and a fudging great one at that. I played games for stories before, but the original Ace Attorney is the first game I played where its writing is its primary driving force, and it’s a smooth drive despite its many twists and turns. I felt a personal attachment to characters I didn’t feel from other games or media. I cracked a smile laughing. I welled up tears. That is the value of visual novels as a medium, and the things I disdained about them previously don’t necessarily bar them from achieving that (even though Wright’s tools and tricks help it a lot).

It’s a bit more niche than most other responses here, but I believe playing this game can do a bit of good for anyone’s understanding of why people support games as a purely narrative medium. Or at the very least, anyone's heart. It’s available on everything except your toaster at this point, even your pho?ne. Unless your toaster is your pho??ne.

Occams Electric Toothbrush

Boy howdy, the question this week is daunting. I look at the games my compatriots are choosing. Iconic games. Templates for greatness. Foundational experiences. And there are a dozen games I thought about before deciding on Insomniac’s Spider-Man. However, as the fulfillment of the promise establishe?d by many of the games listed, I think? it can't be beaten.

I wanted to show a shining example of what games can do when they get it right on so many fronts. The web swinging feels great. Translating that sense of momentum and movement from the screen to your hands holding the controller is an achievement on its own. And what a fun way to e??xplore New York City, which is recreated in painstaking detail. Taking a break from fighting goons to explore Central Park and swing by the?? iconic Guggenheim building added a sense of immersion that takes the player from involved to invested.

You could argue that Spider-Man suffers from some of the same pitfalls a lot of open-world action games do with collect-a-thons and? the grocery list of tasks and I get that. But I never felt bored or burdened by them, only excited to explore New York City a??nd see how the story plays out. That’s another thing; what’s an open-world game without a compelling narrative? This has it. Peter Parker is a sweet kid, and the challenges of being a young adult weigh on him just as much as being a superhero. I treated the main story as a treat; a dessert to be savored after the main course of a few side missions that lead to a new ability or costume unlocked.

Spider-Man shines as an example of getting it right and delivers on cinematic experience that is just fun. Pure, unadulterated fun that is at the heart of what great gaming is about. It makes you smile and makes you feel like a kid again and ??I can’t think of a better game to show someone to know why we all love this medium so damn much.

Tian Ma

Thatgamecompany's Flower is a game everyone should play. Flower probably exited the pop culture consciousness long ago. I'm not sure if it influenced anything, and there's nothing noteworthy in terms of its game me?chanics. Its "game??-ness" isn't why it's special.

Flower is about feeling. It's a me?ditative, contemplative, introspective experience in a medium that is often bombastic and lacking in subtlety. There's no explicit conflict in the game, and only the framework of a story exists.

But this ??minimal approach somehow makes for a rich experience. You're pulled into a world, and suddenly you feel things: peace, freedom, wonder, joy, and even dread at times. You fill in that barebones story by drawing from ?your own experiences and perspective.

Flower is a statement about what games can do for us, and how deeply they can touch us. It shows us that games can be art, and do things that aren't possible in any other medium. I just think that's a beautiful idea, and Flower encapsulates it best.

Jordan Devore

No second-guessing. I'm going with my gut on this one, and my gut instantly told me to choose Resident Evil 4. It was one of the best video games ever made when it released i??n 2005, and it still is to this day.

The game continues to make the rounds with ports, so you'll have no trouble finding it on at least one platform you own, new and old. You don't need to have played any other Resident Evil titles to enjoy it. Heck, I'll do you one better: I don't even care if you play through the whole thing. I mean, you should, but it's much longer than your fir??st impression will probably imply and time is ??short these days.

All you need is a half hour or so to make it to the Spanish village. It's one of the finest moments of horror and tension in gaming. It's perfect. After scouting your surroundings with binoculars and taking mental note of the few infected townsfolk you can get your eyes on, you head in with trepidation. No matter which way yo??u go, you'll be overrun. No route is ideal. No building is completely safe. The villagers seem endless ?and your ammo so distressingly finite. It's an endurance test meant to check your reflexes and adaptability. Somehow, you manage. Then you hear a sputtering chainsaw...

Resident Evil 4's village sequence freaked me out the first time I played it. In the years since I've run through it dozens of times. It never quite plays out the same, but there are two constants: my heart always feels like it's going to burs??t, and the sense of relief after surviving the gaunt??let is unparalleled.

Anthony Marzano

While there are exceptions to this, writing in games as of the past few generations has been looked upon as low-brow and at times only there to get the player from point A to point B during times where your adrenaline needs to come down. Most of the stories are cliche and at times filled with plot holes the size of the sun but it's ok because most people don't play games for their story. I remember a time when technology didn't allow for such beautiful in-game graphics so designers had to do something more than just appeal to your visual senses, they had to appeal to your brain by telling a thought-provoking story. I miss those days, but it seems outside of CRPGs which are most assuredly not for everyone, stories take a backseat in most games. Thankfully The Talos Principle exists, and I love Croteam for what they b????rought into this world.

The Talos Principle, while beautiful in its own right, isn't going to impress you with dazzling visuals and searing action scenes. But it does harken back to the time where writing was more important. It balances puzzle gameplay w??ith a captivating story about what it means to? be human in the face of humanity's downfall. The story isn't some B-grade action movie script galavanting as a game, it's genuine science-fiction storytelling that grabs you by the ears and makes you think about your life and what it all means. It doesn't try to fool or trick you, it's too subdued for that, which is funny to think about considering it's from the people who made Serious Sam.

While the base games content is good as an introspective look at your?self, the expansion Road to Gehenna is where writers Tom Jubert and Jonas Kyratzes really start digging into the whole human experiment. Through the guise of different AI trapped in a prison world, you see how sentient beings cope with strife and it's one of the most human experiences I've ever ?had.

It's a beautiful experience of a game? that is personal and almost meditative. It's unlike anything I've ever played and I worry that there will?? never be another game like it again.

Josh Tolentino

If there's a game I want everyone to try playing regardless of who they are, without any consideration of whether or not they'll get anything out of the experience, it would have to be Fallout. Either of the two old ones will do, but the original would be best. 1997's best game feels like such a key piece for understanding not just where games were in that era but also seeing where they went in the decades since then. It's awkward, fussy, and parts o?f it are downright regressive, but I'll be damned if it still isn't one of the best games of all time and worth trying no matter who you are.

Like war, that's not gonna change.

Jonathan Holmes

The more years you have under your belt in the long, drawn out war known as "recommending video games to strangers who will be very angry at you if you do it wrong", the more you know that there is simply no telling what someone will or won't enjoy. I know people who say that Other M is their favorite Metroid game, while others say that it is utterly useless garbage. Similarly, I love Skyward Sword but was bored out of my skull for the majority of my time with Breath of the Wild, which sounds like sacrilege to a lot of Zelda fans in their 20s and 30s. Just as soon as these folks are ready to deem me problematic to the point of worthlessness, all of a sudden they'll praise me for saying that Splatoon 2 is one of the greatest multi-player shooters going today, or that Hyper Light Drifter is a new American Classic. 

Truly, there is no accounting for taste, and no way to say what games are objectively "good" or "bad" outside of focusing on technical issues like bugs, frame rates, and resolutions. So how the heck are you supposed to recommend one ??game, over all the others, to everyone on the planet? 

Easy. Just pick Tetris. 

If there is any good left in this world, then most of you have probably played Tetris before, but in this modern era of kids who would rather watch people play Minecraft than play it themselves, or have never paid for a game in there life because Candy Crush and Fortnite are free, I can't claim to guess what's real and what's not anymore. That said, I am confident that Tetris has the potential to make everyone happy. Like Art Hawk once said, it works the way the human brain works as it processes memory and anticipates the ??future. Without playable characters t?o identify with and move around, its impossible to struggle to relate to its protagonists or complain about its controls being stiff. There are no fetch quests or "filler" to gripe about either. It's just about the cleanest, direct, elegant, and rewarding game ever designed and everyone should check it out.

Then when you're done, read the comic book and buy the t-shirt.

Kevin Mersereau

Persona 4 Golden is “pure” in a way tha??t few games could ever hope to achieve. The ga??meplay is a mix of high school social sim and turn-based RPG, and it all feeds off each other in a way that is just insanely pleasurable. It flashes between the dark murder mystery of its main arc and the more personal, character-building side stories effortlessly. I cared about these characters. Years later, I still think about the 127 hours that I spent in Inaba constantly.

For newcomers, it works as a perfect gateway drug into the world of visual novels and RPGs alike. The next thing you know, you’ll find yourself diving into Danganronpa and Steins;Gate, forever pushing yourself to one day find something similar. You won’t. It’ll guide you towards plenty of other amazing experiences, but Persona 4 Golden is wholly unique in its appeal.

Also, it has Chie, who is clearly the best Persona girl.

Chris Moyse

When I first heard this question, the answer hit me in the head like a bullet (Bill) and was without question. Super Mario World. There's not a whole lot I can say about this 1990 SNES classic that hasn't been dissected in the ensuing decades since its release. SMW? encapsulates video games at their very core, in terms of imagination, control, challenge, fun, exploration, co-ordination.

Everyone can play it, you don't have to be able to read, numerate, strategize, follow lore or practice - you just hit Start and get moving. It has ti?meless aesthetics, which hold their appeal across all cultural or generational gaps. It's simplistic enough that you know how to play it within seconds, but it consistently shifts its own design and mechanics to keep things feeling fresh and challenging from level one through level 96.

Super Mario World is perfect, and it's for everyone. It's a masterpiece of design that should - and can - be experienced by all, whether video game fans or otherwise?. Yeah, it's an obvious answer, but these thing?s become cliche for a reason.

Pixie The Fairy

I guess this is more of an and/or kind of answer, but the games are practically married at this point anyway so you can play either or both! My picks are Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (the PSOne version, not the crap PSP/Saturn ones with flat voice overs). With games like Guacamelee, Hollow Knight, Chasm and so many more t?aking inspiration from them, it would be remiss for anyone to ski??p the two games that started it all. 

Super Metroid is nearing its 25th anniversary and people still play it to this day. Not many games can claim such a legacy, but it remains among the games that capitalize on a real sense of isolation and is also fully capable of ripping your heart out and stomping on it without conveying a single line of dialogue. On top of that, it was a game that gave you the tools from the sta?rt to break the expected flow of events if you chose to do so. Breaking the sequences of the game wasn't a cheat or exploit, the game was intentionally designed that way.

Symphony of the Night has a bit more of a campy and melodramatic atmosphere to it while its gameplay is rooted in action RPG mechanics. Like Samus, Alucard is a rather isolated character, but he gets more social opportunities to squander as he explores a vast and twisted castle full of spooky things just like Samus explores a vast, mostly subterranean alien world. He gets a rather expansive and overwhelming kit of ab??ilities when all is said and done, too.

You can become all the things a vampire is sai??d to do - become a bat, a wolf, mist and have all kinds of spells at your command. And water hurts you for a good part of the game, so no?? splish splash for Alucard.

It's also the first game I remember hiding 50% of the game behind obscure clues and a fake ending. That detail would become a recurring thing in subsequent (an??d excellent) GBA and DS entries headed up by Koji Igarashi,?? though with less content squirreled away from the core game. 

And both games have s?ome of the most kick??ass soundtracks of all time, so there is also that. 

*****

Because there are so many games that could be named for this question, I once again opened the topic u??p to the jbsgame.community to see what you had to say. 

dephoenix - Chrono Trigger. Easily one of the best ?JRPGs ever created. If you have not played it yet, you are doing yourself a disservice. The gameplay, the world, the characters, the story, all of it is fantastic. The fact that it was not on the SNES Classic is a travesty.

Derewolf - Final Fantasy XII. While not for everyone, it should be tried. The in depth Gambit system is outstanding and was ahead if it's time. And the new job system for Zodiac Age was phenomenal

Shoggoth2588 - I'm going with the obvious answer: Tetris. It's a simple enough game that just about any person between the ages of 2 and a hundred twenty-two can pick it up and understand the goal of the game. After spending even ten minutes with the game, I imagine people can more easily notice patterns in the real world around them and possibly even apply it to their daily lives. "Oh, these things can be better organized if I arrange them like this" I imagine an avid Tetris-player saying to themselves after a short session with the game. I work in a pseudo-warehouse environment and I firmly believe that my coworkers would be much, much less useless if they played Tetris so a big part of my suggestion is absolutely bitterness but I do strongly believe that Tetris is a game tha??t everybody should play at least once in their lives, if they haven't already.

Adzuken - Chibi-Robo. You can play hundreds of games that can't think past "blow everything up" as a way of conflict resolution, but there aren't that many out there where you're tasked with just making people happy. Chibi-Robo puts you in the middle of a family that is falling apart and it's up to you to confront everyone's problems. It's a stark rem?inder that even small, personal issues can?? be a whole lot bigger than you. And, yeah, I guess there are some other robots you blow up, but I'm pretty sure that was only put in there because someone higher up demanded there be something more than picking up trash and scrubbing floors.

Brad Majors - Tough one, and I imagine the answers will be filled with Marios and Zeldas (and Òkami) so how about I pass on that and go for the cleverest and funniest game ever made, Portal 2. Humor in games isn't easy but Portal 2? just make?s it seem so effortless. Pair with great puzzles and a terrific narrative I feel everyone needs to know who Cave Johnson is. He's the guy who's going to burn your house down! With the lemons!

Xeo - Final Fantasy Tactics. Others have said Chrono Trigger, and while that's my favorite game, it's pretty widely accepted a masterpiece if you're even remotely in the know about RPGs. FFT though I feel that while it's also regarded as a classic, doesn't have quite the same clout, if only because of it's actual genre, being a tactical RPG. Tactics came (mostly) before the time when Final Fantasy was all about a spiky haired emo kid's big adventure. The game features a pretty serious story. One invol??ving politics, religion and class and not shying away from the uglier side of each of these issues. It's a brilliant game from start to finish, offering an easy footing into the genre if it's your first time, but still offering plenty of depth and customization options for your as well. And it feature what in my opinion is the absolute best soundtrack out there. It'll keep you engaged for dozens of hours. I could go on for hours myself here, so just take my word on it.

Kerrik52 - God Hand. It's always the answer. You can Dragon Kick asses ?into the Milky Way in it.

Plaguemaniac1346 - DOOM 2016. Because everyone? deserves to see what the perfection of a genre looks like before they shuffle off this mortal coil. Its just so beautiful in its execution, from gameplay to soundtrack to visuals. Its just a damn good game thats so tig?ht and well made, that it probably belongs in a museum of some kind. Or all of them.

ZombieC0RPS - Megaman X! It is the perfect example of thoughtful game design. It has everything from exploration, beautiful art, an amazing soundtrack, lovable characters, Easter eggs AND Boba Fett Vile! X is still a classic that I revisit regularly. As a young Zombie my mind was blown when I defeated Chill Penguin to discover that his defeat lead to Flame Mamoth’s stage being frozen over. Those little details added so much character to the game. When Maverick Hunter X was released, my mind was blown again to learn that I could play as Boba Fett Vile! X is such a genuinely fun game that can be enjoyed by nearly anyone. I believe it is a must play for e??veryone.

LaTerror - Katamari Damacy is one of the most creative games I've ever played. It was l?ike nothing that had come before ?it and I think it paved the way for all the creativity that we see from indie developers today.

Destructoids Very Own Ein - Wow. I get a chance to talk about Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Where to even begin? The game box never really caught my attention but sometime around 2005..ish...I read an article on a gaming magazine...mayhaps Game Informer, that mentioned JRPGs that everyo?ne should play. It piqued my curiosity so I stopped by a local GameStop and picked it up. The early 1900s setting coupled with the characters and locations sold me immediately. By the time you think you're done with the game there is a serious twist and a lot more game. Not once does it feel too long, and you constantly want to play more and unlock more skills, items, etc. I can go more in details story and mechanics-wise if needed.

Punished Nietzsche - 999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors. Its an exceptionally well-written game, and its final?? twist will stay in your mind f??orever.

Voodoome - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze would be my suggestion. Pure platforming excellence that you don't have to think about too much. It has a perfect difficulty balance that frustrates, but still compels one to push forward. It doesn't have a compelling story o??r anything like that, but the art and music are inviting and the game pla??y isn't bogged down with complicated mechanics. Anyone can pick it up and understand what it is they have to do with a few button presses, but the longer they play the more they will appreciate it's mastery.

CelicaCrazed - Oh my god I'm going to die one day! Fuuuuuck T__T Does it matter? Does anything matter? Fuck it, let's go with Warhawk on PS3. You have less than a month to ??try it because it's also dying because everything? dies.

The post The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is a game everybody should play at least once in their life appeared first on Destructoid.

Time for that fifth mortgage

The next six months in video games is insane, no matter how you look at it. Even if you hate big budget games from major triple-A studios, there are still likely to be multiple titles that grab your interest. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Resident Evil 2, Kingdom Hearts III: now is both a won??derful time to be a gamer and an awful time to be an adult (??goodbye savings account).

Dan and I sat down for an extra ?long episode of Impulse and got to discussing which games we thought looked great and which ones seemed destined to bomb. You're bound to disagree with us somewhere, but even we can't deny how great it is to be gaming right now.

For those among you that would prefer an audio version of Impulse, fear not! Impulse is now available on Destructoid's own SoundCloud page! You can download it to listen as a podcast at your leisure! Let the dulcet tones of me and Dan's voices soothe you off to sleep right before we talk about how Crackdown 3 will probably g??et cancelled. That's sure to wake you right back up!

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The post Today on Impulse, we discuss how the next ?six m?onths in gaming are INSANE appeared first on Destructoid.

Those video game moments that made us say, "Wait, what?"

The internet ruins a lot of thing. People, relationships, children’s’ entertainment shows, governments; all have fallen victim to the scourge that is the world wide web. But worse than all that, the internet has also ruined storytelling, or at the very least, the ability to easily enjoy a story without it being completely spoiled for you. Because there is more entertainment than time available, there’s an entire industry of videos on YouTube where stories and plot twists are spoiled for all within hours of their debut.

That’s why Sakurai cut the story out of Smash 4 and why I can no longer follow GameXplain on YouTube. It’s also why I have about 9,000 muted words on Twitter. Too many crucial story elements have been ruined for me, but it wasn’t always like that. Before the prevalence of the social media, plot twists in games were absolutely still able to take me by surprise. Finding out Samus is a woman or that Super Mario Bros. 2 is all a dream blew my mind back in the day. Even finding out the princess is in another castle captivated a pre-school CJ (you mean this game is longer than 4 levels?!?!?!?!) But there was no more of an earth-shattering revelation than the one found at the end of Double Dragon.

We didn’t own Double Dragon growing up. If we had, I would have more than likely read the manual where all of this is spoiled. But we didn’t own it, we rented it ??on our NES and played it a few times in co-op on the arcade cabinet. Over the years, while this secret was already out in the open, I was kept out of the loop of the game’s true final boss until we got the Game Genie. Will unlimited lives, I was finally able to make it to the final boss in the NES version, and I couldn’t believe it when I saw the final boss was me. I say it was me because, as the younger brother, I was always the second player in co-op. So I was always Jimmy, and in this game, I was the villain. Mind…blown.

Peter Glagowski

You've likely heard all manner of praise for Konami's Silent Hill 2 at this point. I didn't actually play it until this past year and I was pretty blown away. The num??ber of forward-thinking design choices put into the game makes it highly approachable for a modern audience. It also is just plain well executed, with some truly incredible atmosphere and intriguing puzzles.

What really works, though, is its storyline. Maybe the acting is stiff and I think the horror elements haven't aged all that well, but the psychological terror of protagonist James Sunderland can be felt all over the place. There are subtle hints to the big twist strewn about the town of Silent Hill, but coming to the actual rev??elation is utterly devastating.

That James is actually the one who killed his wife, though more out of a desire to see her suffering end, is painful as hell. What makes it more effective is that his own personal trauma then becomes Silent Hill and p??uts him through the ultimate hell to show him he isn't to blame. Or maybe he is to blame, depending on your? choices. Also, dogs might be running the entire town.

Humor aside, the twist of Silent Hill 2 is one of the most depressing things I've ever seen in a game. It frames the journey ??in a completely different light and makes for a title that I??'d happily return to yearly if Konami could just release the game on modern platforms without screwing it up.

Chris Hovermale

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door might never have flipped my understanding of its own plot on its head, but it constantly challenged my understanding of where Mario games were willing to go if ?they stray out of their comfort zones. And I don&rs?quo;t think any plot twist nailed that as strongly as the Shadow Queen possessing Peach’s body for the final boss fight.

Technically, this is one of the most vanilla twists here. Big ominous evil spirit takes over an ally’s body, not a big surprise, especially considering that the X-Nauts nee??ded Peach specifically to resurrect her. But let’s take a step back from our current over-familiarity of plot cliches and look at this from the perspective of a naive 8-year old Nintendo fanboy who hadn’t seen this trope so often.

You’ve saved Peach several times, you’re used to her damsel-in-distress schtick, you saw her actually do cool stuff this time, and the Internet hasn’t even thought about turning Bowser into her yet. She might be Mario’s girlfriend. And she is taken over by an ultimate evil. Then, she gives you a choice. Either betray your heroic ideals and join her or fight against Peach’s body. And the choice to join her is legit -- an automatic bad-end game over wi??th nothing but a few text boxes, but still, one you can make.

The sheer notion of one of the most innocent characters in mainstream gaming being warped into a puppet for a barely known evil sent a chill through my spine. Even more, the fact that you must willingly decide to hurt her body, rather than wait for Mario to do it himself. Bear in mind that kids can be dumb and have no real life experience exorcising demons by pummeling the bodies of their loved ones, they don&rsq??uo;t want to do any permanent harm! This single act is really the only thing the Shadow Queen does outside of being a generic ancient evil, but it subverted my expectations hard enough to turn this moment into one of the most memorable set pieces out of all of Mario’s ??RPGs.

Chris Seto

Plot twists and I have traditionally never gotten along. Mostly because, due to the requirement of putting in clues, signs, and portents to build it up, I am able to see most twists from three miles away through a keyhole. This often had a negative effect on the game for me as I had to endure to the utter stupidity of the characters as they blindly walk around, oblivious to the obv??ious (to me) answer staring them in the face all the time!

Think FFX and the fate of the summoner, or the identity of the mecha pilots harassing you in the earlier parts of the game in Xenoblade Chronicles (though the later plot was done very well) or the clearly evil guy in your team who will ev?entually betray you (too many games to note) and you see where I'm coming from. 

But there wa??s one game in re?cent memory which completely flummoxed me. And you can tell from the pic above which one it was. Would you kindly?

It wasn't the act in itself which got me, it was the fact that the game wrenched control from you and forced you to watch your avatar do the deed. It was a no-brainer that regardless?? of what you wanted to do, Andrew Ryan was going to die, but I expected Atlas to appear from nowhere, kill him and leave you for dead, allowing you to recover and then take revenge. That's how 99% of these things work! But to see your character kill Andr??ew Ryan regardless of your intentions as the player AND showing that those little things you felt were a little off before were actual hints of things to come (I'm sure many of us kept wondering why Atlas kept saying those 3 words in the conversations but just thought it was a character quirk, like a catchphrase) made the reveal hit that much harder. The clues were right there, hidden in plain sight!

It was a masterful piece of writing and a twist which completely bowled me over. I doubt it will be ?equaled for a very long time still.

Jonathan Holmes

I know I've written about this at least once before at some point or another, probably on a list of best last bosses or last levels or something. But I don't care. The last stage of Mega Man 2 is so good that I could write about it again and again and again with no shame or fea??r of losing inspiration. I've been thinking about it for almost 30 years now and it still hasn't gotten old. 

It's probably hard for most of you kids out there to imagine a world where there are only two Mega Man games in existence, but that's where we were back in 1988. There were also only two Legend of Zelda games, and two properly numbered Super Mario games as well. In fact, the whole concept of a big name video game sequel was still in its infancy. Fleshing out the ongoing motivations of game protagonists and their arch-enemies was still largely uncharted ter?ritory.

Why did Gannon want to destroy the world? I dunno, because he is bad I guess. Why did Wart infest the world of Sub Con with evil? I'm not sure. Actually, wait a minute, did Wart even do anything wrong in Super Mario Bros. 2, or did you and your three friends just race across his kingdom, invade his castle, then?? force feed him vegetables until he died? While the game's instruction booklet may have?? a more detailed explanation of the game's story than that, the description I just provided for you is much more accurate in describing the actual events contained on the cartridge itself.

Yes indeed, the motives of video game characters in the 1980's were largely an anything-goes affair, where anything was possible and nothing exactly made sense. We all assumed that Dr. Wily wanted to use his evil robots to prove he is the one who deserves to rule the world, as that's what most mad scientists want to do. The last stage of Mega Man 2? showed us that we assumed wrong. First, it's revealed that Wily's UFO wasn't just a style choice. He was an alien all along. That's one mind-blo??wer right there. 

Then, in a second shocking turn of events, it's revealed that Wily just wanted to trick you into thinking he is an alien for the fuck of it. If his goal was to take over the planet, he would have just shot our blue hero in the back while he was distracted by his virtual reality extraterrestrial? life form. But that's not what he did. Instead, he just sat back and watched them battle. He likes to watch. 

That makes Wily more like Heath Ledger's Joker, or a jerk who spends weeks creating fake E3 leaks just to set everyone up for disappointment in the long run, than your average Bond villain or would-be world dictator. There is no end goal for Wily other than the process of putting Mega Man through a stressful series of near-fatal obstacle courses. It's the journey, not the des??tination, that he lives for. The fact that it's been 30 years since this all started and he still hasn't quit, despite consistent defeat, is further proof that he's got a fetish for fruitless conflict. For a 12-year-old kid like me, who was just beginning to understand how some people are evil-for-evil's-sake, that was quite a shocker.

Chris Moyse

There were many excellent character moments throughout the Batman: Arkham Trilogy. But one of the very best reveals of Rocksteady's magnum opus comes right before the final boss fight of the second title, Arkham City. And it's one of the?? best switcheroos pul?led in a video game narrative.

With both Batman and The Joker dying from TITAN, a virus caused by infected blood, The Dark Knight battles through Arkham City to get his hands on an antido??te developed by Mr. Freeze, only to have Harley Quinn steal it out for her puddin' from right under Bats' cowl. A newly-cured Mr. J. - looking sharp and back in top form - then mocks Batman repeatedly throughout the final third of the game. Arriving at the finale, held in the Monarch Theatre, an abducted Talia Al Ghul turns the tables on The Joker and kills him, running him through with her sword. It's here,? too late in the day, that The World's Greatest Detective puts the pieces together.

The Joker was never actually cured. The antidote had been intercepted from Quinn by Talia and thus never made it to the Clown Prince of Crime. The "healthy" Joker is revealed to be none other than Clayface, who has been portraying the renewed Joker all-along This was in order to "keep up appearances", providing strong leadership and morale for Harley and the Joker's other goons to ta??ke over Arkham City. Talia is then shot by the real (now at death's door) Joker and Batman battles Clayface, eventually freezing the thespian and chopping him to ribbons. Finally in possession of the antidote, Batman cu??res himself of TITAN. Suddenly stabbed by Joker, Bats drops and spills the remainder of the cure, which he had been saving for his nemesis. Joker, now beyond help, finds a final gasp of humour in the irony of the situation, before succumbing to the disease, dying a grisly death in front of his life-long rival.

As a swift one-two punch, this grim conclusion works well. The reveal of the fake Joker is an initial great twist (if a bit nonsensical) but to then follow this up with the legitimate on-screen death of The Joker, basically history's most recognisable comic book villain, drops the jaw. A lot of the time, piling shock upon shock results in overkill, but Arkham City gets the balance just righ?t, giving players one of video gaming's darkest and most mem?orable finales.

The post This was one twist ending I did not see coming appeared first on Destructoid.

Here's our list for the PS Classic must-haves

For most of my youth, the Andriessen household was a one-console home. We had an NES which we traded in for an SNES which we traded in for a PlayStation. Those first two consoles were hooked up to the living-room television, but when we got our PlayStation, we also got a TV set for my brother to hook it up to. I was supposed to be able to use it whenever, but it never really felt like our PlayStation so much as his. This feeling was only amplified by the games we bought for it. There was a lot of Madden in my youth and I learned to love it. I also recall a great number of racing games in those days, but the one title I think both he and I enjoyed immensely was Twisted Metal 2.

I cut my teeth on the first game not long before the sequel came out. Twisted Metal was absolute fire to a 10-year-old at the time, but it was Twisted Metal 2 that really taught me to appreciate the intricacies of the series and learn to love vehicle combat. I never enjoyed -- and still don’t to this day -- the battle mode in Mario Kart. Twisted Metal has just always done it better, and unlike other fighting games of the era, I actually got deep into the lore of the series. I knew the backstories and motivations for every character in that game, none of which would into my decision of who I played as because I always picked Mr. Grimm.

It’s baffling to me Twisted Metal isn’t one of the biggest properties for Sony right now. I don’t know what went wrong after Black, but I could use some Twisted Metal in my life. And if I can’t get a brand-spanking-new entry on my PS4, I’ll ha?ppily take?? the second one on the PlayStation Classic.

Occams Electric Toothbrush

Many of my fondest childhood memories involve video games. I’m sure that goes for many of us. The systems change but the feelings and bonding moments remain universal. Legend of Legaia is ??one of those memories for me. I have a buddy named Todd. Todd was the tech guy in our group. He was the first to have everything from the Nintendo 64 to a cd changer in his car. We’d all congregate at Todd’s house and dive into the game du jour, raiding his pantry and fighting for the good spot on the couch.

Todd and I had a special bond over RPG’s. Something like a new Final Fantasy was a group event that commanded a full audience. It was equal parts spectacle and ceremony and we collectively gushed. The smaller RPG's, however, were reserved for Todd and me to play on lazy Sunday afternoons when everyone else was doing homework and lamenting the death of the weekend. Legend of Legaia, with its unique martial arts-based combat system and fantasy setting, punched all the right buttons for us. It was smaller in scale and not as pretty as other games but it was unique and had heart and was a lot of fun. For Todd and I, ?it was a journey we took together every Sunday and the odd weeknight when time and school allowed and it’s a shared memory we celebra??te to this day.

The image I chose for this article is from Todd. That’s the copy. Our copy. He found it in a box while cleaning his studio and sent me this picture. I almost tea?red up seeing it. Happy tears. All these years later, it's still a great game with a lot of heart. I’d love for a new generati??on of gamers to have lazy Sunday afternoons to experience it the way we did.

Chris Seto

In all honesty, the news of the PlayStation Classic didn't really grab me in the same way as the Nintendo counterparts. Part of the reason is Sony has been relatively good at keeping many of the most popular games from that console available to purchase and play on more modern systems as part of their PS1 Classics line on PSN. Buy a game and then play it on one of 3 devices (4 if you count the PSTV as separate). The first games announced for the system hammer the point home. The five already announced games have been available on PSN?? for quite some time so there's not so much to make the PlayStation Classic stand out aside from owning a mini console. Now, this is something you can also complain about the S/NES mini but the Vir??tual Console was fractured between the various systems and there were at least 5 games which were not available to purchase on the eShop.

And that's where I would like the remaining PS Classic games to go. Sure, you can probably expect the likes of Resident Evil, Wipeout, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, etc on the list while they are still available to buy on PSN but there are so many games which are beloved on the PS1 which have never been re-released either as a PS1 Classic on PSN or even as a bonus in other games (SOTN, I'm lo??oking at you!) and I would like to see more of those.&??nbsp;

The PS1 era was a really experimental one with lots of companies just trying out a lot of stuff to see what would stick and the result was a number of games which truly do deserve a second chance. I could point towards Omega Boost from Polyphony Digital, before they became the pure Gran Turismo Factory they are now. Or Brave Fencer Musashi from Squaresoft before they doubled down on their JRPG juggernauts but instead, I'm going to go for one of their REALLY out there games, a small thing called Einhander.

Einhander is a shmup. Yes, you heard me right! Squaresoft made a shmup. Its the only one the??y ever made but it's also one of the best in the genre and original US disks can command quite the price tag due to its rarity (it never made it to Europe). It was available on the Japanese PSN store but not anymore (believe me, I tried to find it!) but it's definitely one game that deserves a spotlight and is not easy to purchase so I hope that Sony will surprise us with the names of the other 15 games to be announced.

Jonathan Holmes

Einhander is an amazing choice and I can't top it, but I do have a whole boatload of games that I think are equally deserving. I've been known as a Nintendo guy here at Destructoid for all ten of my years writing for the front page, but if asked to choose between the PS1 and N64, I'd pick the PS1 every day of the we??ek.

The biggest reason why it's one of my all-time favorite consoles comes down to the eclectic library. It had a bigger install base and was cheaper to develop for than its competition, encouraging developers to take a ton of interesting chances on it. Games like Incredible Crisis, No One Can Stop Mr. Domino, One Piece Mansion and even first-party hits like Jumping Flash, PaRappa the Rapper and UmJammer Lammy would likely be considered indie-style oddities by today's standards, but back in the 90's, you could pick them at the local K-Mart right alongside your Metal Gear Solids and Resident Evils. It was a magical time for PlayStation consoles that I don't think Sony wi?ll ever see again. 

But this isn't a post about how great the PS1 is. It's about the one game we most want to see on the new-small-fake version of the console, and if you know me at all, you know I'm going to pick Tobal 2. The only way Sony and Square-Enix can hope to outdo the SNES Classic's inclusion of Star Fox 2 is with the on?ly fighting game in history where a penguin can fight a Chocobo. It's the best 3D fighting game ever and I don't care if they skip translating it. It's worth payin?g $100 for on its own, even in Japanese. 

Wes Tacos

If you right click and Save As to my photo above, you'll notice that I named this file "blastosucks." That's because Blasto sucks. Big-t?ime. Hoover levels of suck. It's terrible and bad and stupid. Why would I want this hot steaming pile o??f a game to eat up one of the coveted 20 spots on the sexy little Nintendo ripoff Sony put together?

I have a very specific and fond memory tied to Blasto. I had rented the game for the weekend and knew about an hour into it that it was garbage. I wound up beating it like two hours later (if that) and had on my hands a?? game I sort of hated for the rest of the weekend. This was, however, the first time I can remember playing a game not to play the actual game, but to find other things to do wit??hin the game to make my own fun.

I found that dying animations were a whole lot more fun than anything else in the game, so I'd try to kill Blasto in fun ways. I discovered a magical perch high above some odd level architecture and spent the weekend jumping off to get the eponymous dope to hit this one specific metal juncture holding the level up. It was a tough target, but when you'd nail it Blasto would land on his back with a satisfying crunch. I eventually rummaged through my dad's CDs to find Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever and would play "Free Fallin'" on repeat as Blasto fell?? to his repeated doom.

I don't want to play Blasto again, but I do want to recreate this odd memory ??from my childhood.

Rich Meister

Blasto is a bold choice, but I think I have one even less likely. Konami has a number of masterpieces that are worthy of being on this Symphony of the Night, and Metal Gear Solid seem like a sure thing, but I'd really like to see two games that go hand i??n hand.&n??bsp;

Suikoden and Suikoden 2 are practically one long game so I'll go ahead and bundle them together.  Suikoden isn't a series I discovered until years after the fact but it's one hell of an underappreciated JRPG and there are so few places to play it. I'd love t??o be able to let my Vita rest and have access to the game on this little Sony box. 

Josh Tolentino

I recently replayed both Suikoden and Suikoden II, and II, in particular, remains one of my favorite games of all time. What's tough about the concept of a PlayStation mini-console is the fact that, as Jonathan mentioned, Sony's done a pretty good job so far of ensuring ?that a ton of the platform's most notable games are available on current platforms. It's ?actually easier to play old PS1 games these days than PS2 games! 

That in mind, for me this idea of the PS1 Classic isn't really about getting a game I couldn't get before or putting something I can't access elsewhere, but curating my faves so I have them all in one place, like? a weird little playable trophy, or a museum exhibit.&?nbsp;

That in mind (and acknowledging that a lot of my faves are already listed here), there's nothing like the original version of Final Fantasy Tactics. The objectively superior War of the Lions remake is available in all kinds of places, but having the first, slow-loading, poorly localized -- and for a time, extremely rare -- first edition of the best Final Fantasy spinoff would be a pretty cool thing.

Patrick Hancock

I legitimately contemplated adding Bubsy 3D to this ??list, just for its infamous reputation, but I think someone might actually hurt me if I did so.

So I'm going with Bust a Groove. I actually never played Bust a Groove until somewhat recently, when I moved in with my now-fiance. I didn't own a PlayStation until the "PS One," and played just about everything at a friend's house, so I was limited to what he had (it was mostly Dragon Ball Z games). When she booted Bust a Groove up for the fi??rst time and explained its rhythm mechanics, I completely fell in love. 

The characters are pure 90s, the music is varied and catchy, and the entire package just oozes style. I mean, I guess if I had to pick seven adverbs and an adjective to describe it, I'd u?se "very very very very?? very very good!"

The post You can’t call it the PlayStation Classic without these timeless PS1 games appeared first on Destructoid.

And is it better than moon gravity?

Cheat codes are a lost art in the modern era of gaming. Along with unlockable costumes and other cosmetics that used to be free, developers have monetized “cheating” with loot boxes, crates, and other microtransactions where instead of putting in a code to gain an upper hand, you pay money. Think about it, when was the last time you played a game with a bunch of cheat codes in it?

They’re a lost art, and a recent video of “Big Head” mode from GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64 that came across my YouTube feed got me nostalgic about the practice. Growing up, cheat codes were everything. My brother and I had a Game Genie for our NES and a Game Shark for our PlayStation. We’d beat the games, then go back and play them while messing with the graphics, gravity, and whatever else those devices allowed us to. Super Mario Bros. is fun, but Super Mario Bros. with endless star power? Now that's an all-time classic. That was a particular favorite cheat of mine, but my absolute favorite cheat code can be found in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2.

I tend to wax poetic about this era of gaming because it truly is something that’s completely vanished in the modern age. Arcade style sports game absolutely ruled the 90s, with games like NFL Blitz, NBA Jam, and Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey taking up entire weekends of my youth. All of those games had fantastic cheat codes themselves -- I still remember taking on my bother as Bill and Hillary Clinton -- but the one I most remember, the one I always entered before starting a game, was Double Moon Physics.

Tony Hawk games are all about racking up those high scores and on my Dreamcast, I wasn’t exactly the best at chaining together tricks. I got better at it as time went by, but for the early months of playing the game, if I wanted the digits to climb on my score, I paused the game, held down the L button and input the code a friend at school wrote down on a piece of paper for me. Years later I would discover Cheat Code Central and holy shit I did not know I could make my skater fat.

Double Moon Physics kept me coming back to that game for the year or so I actually owned my Dreamcast. A year later after I bought my GameCube, finding out the Moon Physics code for Pro Skater 3 was one of the first damn things I did.

Peter Glagowski

Despite owning a Game Genie and Game Shark when I was younger, I can't say I've been much of a cheater. I've always prided myself on being able to beat games with a stiff challenge, often bumping things up to max difficulty on a blind playthrough. I just like the idea that a game can destroy me (*cough* La-Mulana 2 *cough*). That being said, one code immediately sticks out to me: IDDQD from Doom. 

Not only is the code synonymous with id Software's eponymous classic, the history behind the code is really interesting. Dave Taylor, one of the newbie developers who worked with id Software from 1993-1996, added the code as a reference to his college days. During his schooling, he and a few other friends had convinced a teacher to give them a Q on their transcript when quitting a class to avoid receiving a failing grade. As such, they cre?ated a fraternity called "Delta-Quit-Delta," which is where the DQD bit comes from.

Even without that neato history, though, IDDQD gives you permanent invulnerability. If you suck at Doom, you likely put this code in before even moving. Cooler still, the code has been referenced in a ton of other games, but my favorite comes from its usage in Heretic. Putting in IDDQD will kill you instantly and display the message, "Trying to cheat, eh? Now you die!?" Brutal.

Chris Hovermale

While Shovel Knight's Butt Mode is the obvious cover image for any discussion revolving around Shovel Knight's cheat codes, I actually want to draw less attention to that and more to Shovel Knight's entire cheat code system. The simple fact that we got a plethora of cheats in a modern indie game is awesome enough, something I wish games did more often in general. But the part that makes me excited to use Shovel Knight cheats is the ridiculous variety of codes.

There are a lot of weirdly specific cheats for weirdly specific purposes. You can start a new game with one of a few dozen color palettes. You can start a new game with any single relic you want. You can start a new game as a GIANT Shovel Knight. You can reload a save with a code that defeats Baz on the world map. You can make yourself invincible to just spikes. You can make yourself invincible to everything except spikes. There's practically a code for every tiny thing you could imagine, a??nd then a few dozen things you wouldn't have. It's impra??ctically wild, but it's awesome to have so many options.

Jonathan Holmes

Chris makes a strong point. The Jar Jar "cheat code" for Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment is tough to beat. So is the Konami code, which is burned into the brains of everyone I know over 35 who loves video games. Then there is the _Lau: Tzu code for the original Animal Crossing which unlocked "the forbidden three" NES games (Super Mario Bros., Zelda, and Punch-Out!!). That was pretty mind-blowing at the time, as we were all on the edge of our seats wondering if Nintendo would ever release those games legitimately, then out of nowhere, a fellow player fou??nd a way to share them with all of us without any violation of the rules. 

These are all arguably superior to my choices in terms of pure utility, but when it comes to the thrill that comes from breaking into the game and pulling out something you never would have imagined was there, the Akuma code in X-Men: Children of the Atom is still my favorite. Generally speaking, ch??eat codes in Arcade games were a rare sight back then, partly because they were unattractive to competitive players. Most people wouldn't want to risk their quart??ers on entering a code wrong, then being stuck with a character they don't know how to play. More so, walling off content behind a secret did a lot to weaken a game in its fight to win your attention. Why create an awesome new character only to hide them away, when all the other games at the arcade are showing off their best at all times? 

Back then, only Capcom had the consistent confidence to lock one of their most marketable characters behind a difficult-to-perform code. First Akuma was secretly playable in Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, which was mindblowing as it was, then a little while later, he showed up in... X-Men: Children of the Atom?!?! This shocking cameo also kicked off the long-standing feud between Marvel superheroes and Capcom fighting all-stars, which recently came to a head in Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite. So Ak?uma punching Omega Red in the face for the first time may not be something that everyone has a use for, but it's still a significant moment in gaming?? history, and one of my all-time favorite arcade memories.

Marcel Hoang

Age Of Empires is probably a game old-school PC gamers love and respect for quaint historical battles but that's not something my 8-year-old mind cared to grasp. I wanted to smash together tiny armies and witness bloodshed as some bored, omnipotent god. So the easiest way to enjoy my shits and giggle?s was to input little codes that gave me not only free resources but chronologically incorrect units.

How could the ancient Romans ever hope to beat a single?? futuristic Cobra Car that could shoot lasers? Or a platoon of silver spaceme??n right out of an Imperial cruiser? I still remember the hilarity of watching ancient Egyptians get steamrolled by the most sensible of historically accessible myths, a flying warship courtesy of the "Flying Dutchman" code.

I didn't own a gaming PC. It was my neighbors. So enjoying the game the way it was designed was not something I cared about without ownership or access. I'd just spend my days after school after getting picked up by my neighbors booting up their copy of Age of Empires and lay?ing waste to the foolish armies of?? the past with steel and lasers.

Chris Moyse

Not so much my favourite cheat code, but an amusing story I always think of. So, I really liked Ocean's The Untouchables -- the game based on Brian De Palma's excellent 1987 m?ovie. But I thought the Spectrum version was hard as nails. The first two levels, in particula??r, were very tough and they drove me up the wall for weeks.

Then a friend told me if you entered your name into the high score table as "Humphrey Bogart" you could then press a certain combination of keys to skip a level. At last, I'd get past that damn bridge scene. So I rushed home after school and tried the cheat, but it didn't work. I was right furious. So I started the game and, in what I'll call a rage-driven focus, I complete?d the whole game that very sitting. After weeks of frustration it turns out I didn't need the cheat after all, I just needed to believe. That's the Chicago way.

The punc??hline comes when, afterward, I went to enter my name into the high score table. I had previously spelt "Humphrey" incorrectly. The cheat was legit, it was just my shitty spelling that had stopped i?t working. Life, eh?

*****

BRING BACK CHEAT CODES, YOU COWARDS!!!

The post What’s your favorite cheat code? appeared first on Destructoid.

What time in the past can measure up to September 2018

In a way, the entirety of 2018 has been building up to this very month. Hell, this past week has been one of the most exciting for gamers with two massive titles we've been watching develop for years finally released. Dragon Quest XI and Spider-Man are just two games in a month absolutely packed with heavy hitting titles. Throw in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Bard's Tale IV, Valkyria Chronicles 4, and a new season of Life is Strange, and you start wondering if this is the bes?t month of gaming the industry has ever seen.

It's certainly the best 2018 has seen and the idea of a great month of gaming had me looking back this week at the years before with one calendar month of releases that stood tall above the rest. In my 33 years, I've seen many great months for games dating all the way back to the SNES era, but there is one month in particular that has always stuck out to me as tru??ly memorable: May 2010.

The full extent of the gifts of that month wouldn't be apparent to me for some time after, but I remember in the weeks leading to it that May 2010 was going to be the best month. For one, this was the month Super Mario Galaxy 2 would release. Arguably one of the greatest games ever created, Mario or otherwise, it would be one of three games to devour my free time that month. The final entry in the Trauma Center franchise, Trauma Team, and DSiWare exclusive X-Scape also ended up in my collection, the latter capping off some ??great weeks of gaming.

Those three titles are still special to me, but it's the other games that released that month, the ones I didn't play for weeks and, in one case, years later that cement May 2010's status. Games like Alan Wake, Bit.Trip Runner, Skate 3, and 3D Dot Game Heroes. This is the month that saw three amazing racing games -- Split/Second, ModNation Racers, and Blur -- cancel each other, effectively ending any shot at a franchise. It's also the month that gave us Red Dead Redemption, which remains one of the best open-wo?rld games ever produced.

May 2010 was 31 days of Game of the Year potential and I'd love to s??ee what the Destructoid staff has to say that'll top it.

Peter Glagowski

Being the grumpy old man that I am, I was obviously going to go with a year from my childhood, but which exact one? Well, I happened to be alive in 1998, the year industry-defining classics were coming out left and right. Since the prompt asked us to limit it to one month, I figured November 1998 was the best answer. It not only saw the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but the original Half-Life as well.

Along with those two phenomena, Tomb Raider III hit the PlayStation, Starsiege: Tribes jetpacked its way to PCs, Thief: The Dark Project cemented Looking Glass Studios as a force to be reckoned with, Dance Dance Revolution finally transitioned to home consoles and StarCraft: Brood War came out and changed the lands?cape of RTS games forever. To this day, nearly all of these games are still looked back on with reverence and are emulated in nearly everything we play.

You really don't need to look further than the first two titles I mentioned, though. Ocarina of Time is so important that it almost every Zelda in its wake has tried to recapture that magic. Half-Life set the trend for how shooters would be created until its sequ??el came out six years later, after which Valve's second masterpiece continued to guide prospective creators. 1998's games can be felt everywhere.

We might be in a better industry now with substantial indie games coming out left and right, but very few periods have ever matched the paradigm shifts we saw from multiple titles in 1998. That one month can even be called better than another from that year is a little ridiculous, especially when classics like Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Unreal, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, Baldur's Gate and Banjo-Kazooie also released months apart. Until we see just as many industry defining games in ano?ther period, I don't think I'll ever sto?p believing 1998 was the best year for the industry.

Chris Carter

9/9/99.

No, that format isn't necessarily a "month" per se, but September 9, 1999 was a killer day for gaming that went beyond a marketing ploy. Most people who remember the day cite the release of the Sega Dreamcast -- which launched with Sonic Adventure and the first Soulcalibur -- as the chief reason for the blowout, but my eyes were on (ha) Final Fantasy VIII, which released the sam?e day. I took it home and basically didn't stop until I beat it.

I had been shoveling snow that prior winter almost every day and finding every odd job I could to save up for that September, which was especially killer as I would also go on to pick up Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, which arrived right at the end of the month (September 30). Prior to that, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Syphon Filter, and Gauntlet Legends launched on PlayStation in August and drained a lot of my funds (thank God for "Two for Tuesday" rentals at my loca??l non-Blockbuster video store).

That's an insane amount of genre-s??panning games to play in a one month period. There?? was something for everyone!

Darren Nakamura

It isn't often CJ gives a prompt for one of these and I have a response immediately, but this one is so clear in my mind, there's ??no other answer. The greatest month in gaming was November 2007. Let me just enumerate some of the titles? that showed up then.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Super Mario Galaxy. Contra 4. Assassin's Creed. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Mass Effect. Rock Band. Yes, these all released in the same month. (And there are more some might find notable, like Crysis, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men or Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings!)

It was the early stage of the console generation. The Xbox 360 had been out for two years, the PlayStation 3 and Wii only one. It was the perfect time to strike with a new, big IP. And plenty of studios took that opportunity for it. BioWare's Mass Effect would be the beginning of a huge sci-fi epic told over three games. Harmonix's Rock Band would basically define party games for the next five years. And though the first entries in each series may have been lackluster, Naughty Dog's Uncharted and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed became undeniably successful franchises.

Heck, even the sequels had huge impacts on gaming. Call of Duty 4 was the prototype for first-person shooters ever since. RPG-style progression and unlocks were previously unheard of until the first Modern Warfare title, but since they have become the standard. Super Mario Galaxy took the most famous character in gaming to such an inventive and engaging place that it got its own sequel later. Contra 4 revived a long-dead series and sho?wed it co??uld still be rad as heck.

In November 2007, so many studios brought their biggest new ideas to the table, and m?any changed the entire gaming la??ndscape since.

Salvador G-Rodiles

Sometimes in life, the interesting occasions are the ones where you can find something positive out of a moment where a negative thing occurred. June 2016 may be known as the time when Mighty No. 9 disappointed Mega Man lovers everywhere, but I felt that more good things came out of this period. During the month's early weeks, Guilty Gear Xrd Revalator, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, and Kirby: Planet Robobot launched in North A?merica. Compare to that one tragic incident, we had the sequel ??to a fighting game that did a great job in giving us 3D models that felt like hand-drawn characters, along with a remake of one of Vanillaware's amazing treasures. Then we saw Kirby pierce the heavens as he takes on bad guys and full course meals with his own trusty mech.

Even when the dreadful day arrived, a superior title came out and made us cry in a good way. Part of it was thanks to VA-11 HALL-A doing a phenomenal job in making us feel like a bartender in a cyberpunk setting. We saw the cast try to make the best out of each day, which made each work s??hift worthwhile.

Afterward, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE arrived to keep people occupied while they waited for Atlus to finish Persona 5. Also, it was neat that the final product w??as an unexpected result from two studios joining forces.

During the final moments, God Eater Resurrection provided us with another hunting game outside of Monster Hunter. From what I played of it, I wouldn't be surprised if Monster Hunter World's changes to its ranged weapon-related mechanics and areas were inspired by it. Then we reached the grand finale as Zero Time Dilemma brought the Zero Escape series to a close. While I haven't touched the trilogy, this served as a great moment for those who were yearning for a release after Virtue's Last Reward. Considering that this installment was on hiatus, it shows how a small glimmer of hope can turn th??ings around.

At the end of the day, this scenario shows that we can find a treasure trove of? great things if we look beyo?nd the bad stuff.

*****

Those are the months of gaming we think are the absolute tops, but surely the jbsgame.com??munity has some ideas of their own of which ones can top ours.

The post Can you name a better month of ga??ming than this one? appeared first on Destructoid.

Baka mitai

For nearly as long as I’ve been playing Yakuza games, I’ve always read comments from fans saying, “These games are like Shenmue”. At first glance, that definitely sounds accurate. I even remember making such a claim after playing the demo for Yakuza 3, which  remi?nded me a lot of what I had heard about Sega’s Dreamcast classic. It has taken me until now to see how wrong that statement is.

For those unaware, I’ve never personally owned a Dreamcast. My friend had one and I’ve played games on it, but the consumer distrust that Sega bred after the release of the Saturn got to me even in?????????????????????????? my youth. I absolutely loathed Sega’s 32-bit system and I didn’t want anything else to do with their consoles for the foreseeable future. Maybe it was just my nine-year-old self being hyperbolic, but I wrote off the Dreamcast long before it was even announced as coming west.

While that may or may not be a tragedy, it was how I felt at the time. That decision ended up causing me to miss out on some crazy and memorable games from Sega’s final console, most notably Shenmue. I’ve never had a frame of reference for properly comparing Yu Suzuki’s magnum opus to Yakuza, but after reviewing the two games this past week, I can finally make a? declarative statement.

Shenmue and Yakuza are really not that similar.

To an outsider, a cursory look might trick you into thinking both series are the same thing. Shenmue has you traveling around Japan and China in a semi open-world manner. You can talk to people, play mini-games, enter shops to buy items and even fight guys on the street. Yakuza is limited to Japan (with different cities), but everything else I mentioned above is accurate of Kiryu Kazuma’s journeys. The execution of these ideas is where the two series differ??.

The main goal with Shenmue was to create an environment and atmosphere that could be mistaken as real. The famous concept behind Yu Suzuki’s epic is an acronym known as “FREE”. This stands for “Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment,” and it was a core philosophy that Suzuki and his team worked to embed in everything Shenmue had. If you wanted to talk to a random person, that should be possible at all times (and even fully ??voiced). If you wanted to chill out and play some arcade games, that should be possible whenever? you felt the urge.

There was a story with main characters in Shenmue, but the real desire was to expand the possibilities of gaming by presenting entirely new dynamics not feasible on older hardware. This can be seen in how progressing through the main campaign of the first Shenmue puts more of an emphasis on mundane activities over bare-knuckle brawling with thugs. For a martial arts game, Shenmue features very little fighting and a weird focus on living out Ryo’s real life. It even culminate??s in him getting a job to pay for a ticket to China, which is the kind of? stuff kung-fu films gloss over.

Shenmue even presents different scenarios based on when you appear to specific locations or on what in-game day you’re finishing a main story sequence. There is a tremendous amount of missable cutscenes and content because real life has much the same thing. If you aren’t at a bar on Christmas Day, you might?? miss the chance to profess your undying love to your high school sweetheart.

For the Yakuza series, the main goal was to create a gaming experience geared more towards adults. At the time when Yakuza released in Japan, Sega was famously dealing with financial woes. The failure of the Dreamcast was still fresh (with Shenmue playing ??a huge ro?le in that) and market trends were showing Sony and Nintendo making pushes towards teenagers. Microsoft had also jumped into the console market and it seemed like the medium was starting to “grow up”.

Instead of trying to create a game with mass appeal, Yakuza series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi wanted to make a game specifically for the ?Japanese market. Sega wasn’t doing well in any regard and Nagoshi figured honing in on something only they could provide would resonate with a home audience. After some extensive research (a.k.a. drinking at dive bars in Tokyo) and hiring a famed Japanese crime novelist, Nagoshi’s team set out to properly replicate the Japanese underworld and show that gaming could move past being simply high scores or quarter munching.

With that, the very opening of the first Yakuza should show you how different both teams approached game design. Yakuza sets up a clear story, has intense cinematic direction and incredible voice acting and always guides the player through the journey to maintain proper pacing of its plotline. There are side distractions, sur?e, but you likely will never be without an idea of how to progress in Kiryu’s story.

The emphasis that Shenmue puts on fleshing out its setting of Yokosuka, Japan is not present in Yakuza’s fictionalized version of Tokyo. There is a layer of authenticity to how Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ created Kamurocho (Yakuza’s main setting), modeling it closely after Tokyo’s own Kabukicho district, but you never have the same level of interaction as present in Shenmue. Nagoshi&rsqu?o;s team certainly wanted to create an environment you felt connected to, but wisely stepped away? from detailing too much of it and focused more on fleshing out other aspects of the game.

Even the side activities in Yakuza don’t take center stage. You could make that same argument for Shenmue, but Yu Suzuki’s vision includes waiting around for multiple in-game hours while time passes and new events can occur. This necessitates doing something to kill time, which is where the arcade cabinets (or gacha dispensers) come in. In Yakuza, the only ??thing stopping you from progressing is walking to the ne?xt waypoint.

Beyond that, even the pedestrians present in Yakuza bear little resemblance to Shenmue’s obscene level of detail. Since there isn’t much story purpose in talking with random bums or little children in Yakuza, the game doesn’t allow you to do so. Some NPCs might give a single line of dialogue, but that is it and you’re on your way. In Shenmue, you’ll be talking to seemingly everyone since the game demands you piece clues together on your ?own.

The action sequences, as well, play out with entirely different design methodologies. Shenmue uses an engine repurposed from Virtua Fighter (of which the game originated as a prequel to the fighting series) whereas Yakuza could be more closely linked to Streets of Rage. Shenmue wants you to practice your martial arts, focus on skills that you find useful and execute them like a true master of kung fu. Yakuza just lets you smack dudes in a visceral manner with simplified inputs and combo strings. You even get RPG-lite systems that see Kiryu level-up, where Shenmue is mostly?? about your own journey with c??onquering its control scheme (though moves will get stronger as you use them).

What you prefer is entirely subjective, but each game feels nothing alike. I guess removing layers and layers of nuance will reveal the central idea of “Martial-arts action,” but the execution is key. Both games couldn’t feel less alike if Sega tried. Even the quick-time events play out differently, with Shenmue relegating entire sequences to them while Yakuza uses them to punctuate devastat??ing finishers? in combat.

Could one even say any a??spect of the two series' is similar? For sure: there is definitely some crossover between the two series. In action, though, you really don’t get ??the same thing playing one over the other. Both are targeted at a different audience and mindset and that is completely okay.

What drew me to falling in love with Yakuza was split between the writing of its characters and its mixture of old-school, arcade gameplay design with new technology. What I enjoyed from my time with Shenmue was how it made you feel organically connected to its game world and the respect it paid to martial arts philosophy. Any influence that is present is likely because Nagoshi worked as a supervisor to Suzuki while Shenmue was being made.

Really, though, just stop comparing the two series. Each does something totally different and it is really diminutive to try and say they are the same. If Yakuza is Shenmue, then Deadly Premonition is Shenmue. Resident Evil 4 is Shenmue. Heavy Rain is Shenmue. The impact of Sega’s legendary game can be fe?lt in so many titles th?at you can see it in even the most far removed of genres. That doesn’t suddenly mean that these games are similar to Yu Suzuki’s.

The post Shenmue and Yakuza are really not that similar appeared first on Destructoid.

All signs point to no

The Dragon Quest series is as popular as it is for a variety of reasons. Its dedication to tradition, impeccable artwork by Akira Toriyama, and an amazing soundtrack by Koichi Sugiyama combined for an experience that was unlike anything else in the era. Though the overworld sprites were nothing spectacular, it’s the details of the enemies in battle that really allowed the personality of the game to shine through. Toriyama used all the tools at his disposal to create an incredibly unique army of baddies that today remain some of the most recognizable in the industry. And there is no Dragon Quest enemy more familiar than the Slime.

The first time I saw a Slime I thought it looked like a blueberry Hershey’s Kiss. The character’s design was inspired by Wizardry, one of the early Western RPGs that influenced a great deal of what we know as Dragon Quest. The intent of?? the creature was to ease players into the RPG system with an enemy it was near impossible to lose to.

The Slime isn't as aggressive as enemies encountered in later parts of the game. In fact, it really doesn’t attack. It draws near. You really can’t hate a creature that doesn’t come at you full blast but instead sidles up next to you for a quick and prompt beating. Slimes are the dodo birds of the Dragon Quest universe?; expect it’s impossible to make these things go extinct.

Since that very first encounter, the Slime has become an international icon. It’s the mascot of the franchise, instantly recognizable by millions around the world, and the star of an absolutely wonderful spin-off called Rocket Slime. Plus, there’s that anecdote on how people in Japan will draw the Dragon Quest Slime if you ask any of them to just draw slime…which now that I think about it seems kind of leading. Either way, I don’t think any other punching bag in video gaming has catapulted itself into the limelight better than the Dragon Quest Slime. It truly is the iconic first enemy.

Peter Glagowski

This one might be cheating a little, but the opening battle in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the greatest first enemies in any game. It starts the game off with a kick to the face that never lets up. The cheesy ??dialogue sets up a Shakespearean atmosphere that is combined with some truly outstanding music. The dramatic tunes ramp up in intensity until Dracula transforms and you start to believe you're going to die.

Not only that but what the hell even was this kind of intro in 1997? Since when did video games start off with boss battles? Could you imagine a Mario game where you kill Bowser in the first minutes? It was a shock to the system that still sticks around because of how epic the sequence is. It also shows you how different Symphony of the Night is from traditional Castlevania games.

I know the trope has become old hat by now, but I still think about this scene from time to time. It left an impression on me even though I never played the game as a child. My fi?rst playthrough was in 2007 when the game released on Xbox Live Arcade and I thought it was just great. If that isn't a testament to how stellar this first enemy is, I'm not sure what else could be.

Josh Tolentino

This one is as much a "level" as an "encounter" in the usual sense, but Amnesia: The Dark Descent's infamous "water level" (you know the one) is one of my all-time favorite single sequences in any game. In it, you're stalked and chased by an invisib?le, invincible monster that navigates by the sound you make when you enter the water covering the floor. It's super dark and you can only detect the monster by watching the ripples it makes when it moves.

The level design, combined with the game's creepy atmosphere and the way the encounter forces you at times to just run for your frickin' life really cement it in my memory.

ShadeOfLight

Everyone remembers the first time they played Pokémon. If you are an attractive person with correct opinions, like me, you started with Pokémon Red way back when. You ??skipped through most of the text, you picked Bulbasaur, you beat up your rival named ASSWIPE, and finally, you set out on your gra??nd adventure. 

At last, you could enter the tall grass and go see the world. As you take your first steps, you encounter your very first wild Pokémon.
...
A Pidgey. 

We like to joke about it nowadays, but back in the day, this was a big deal. Sure, Pidgey are up there with Zubat, Tentacool, and Rattata as far as annoyingly common Pokémon go, but that wasn't the point. This was the first time you and your new Poké-buddy were confronted with the world out there. By the time you finally get some Pokéballs, the first thing you do is go back to Route 1 to catch one of your own, and it was the best feeling. Nobody gave this Pidgey to you: you caught it yourself. And if you can do that, then surely you can do the? same for all the other Pokémon that you're bou??nd to come across.

Pidgey was your first step towards that illustrious 151. Even if you never used it, even if you defeated the Elite Four with a team of all legendaries, even if you come across a thousand other Pidgey th?roughout your journey, one thing will always remain true: that first Pidgey was still a milestone.

Jonathan Holmes

The first Goomba in Super Mario Bros. is the Helen of Troy of video games. He's the face that launched a th??ousand Italian Plumbers into the air and on to war against an army of mildly aggressive turt??les. 

This unassuming little mushroom man offers no introduction on instruction. He could be a friend, a power-up, or a harmless were-fungus for all Mario knows, but first-time players will soon find that he can kill at will. That will cause them to fear the Goomba on their second life, likely inspiring their first terrifying jump. Its a jump could lead t?hem to spring to safety, to hit a block and reveal a Super Mushroom, to bump into the Goomba again and die anyway, or maybe even land on its head for a real surprise.

Discovering that supremely satisfying "pop" sound and Mario's act of murder (unless you count killing giant sentient flames with a hammer or ridding the sewers of various varmints like turtles and crabs as assassinations) for the first time is like none other in the world of gaming. Sephzilla wrote more about it here if you're in the mood for an even more impa??ssioned take on this iconic moment.

Salvador G-Rodiles

When it comes to encountering the first enemy in a video game, it's important for it to set the foundation for the rest of the adventure. If it teaches the player a lesson, then the moment will stick with them for the rest of their lives. One adversary that taught me these essentials is the Oakrot from Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished.

Even though my experience is through the remake in Ys I & II Chronicles+, the feeling should be the same in the other versions. The intriguing thing about this confrontation is that it's your first exposure to the title's Bump System. I spent a couple of minutes trying to defeat the wooden golem, but I failed each time. Eventually, I realized that my failure was due to the hero Adol Christin starting off unarmed. Sure??, I was able to kill it in one of my attempts, but it wasn't easy. If you go down this path, then the adversary's purpose is to have you understand the way how the angles work when you ram into a living target. That way, you're always dealing damage when you touch someone, instead ??of losing health while your target lives.

Because of this trial, I learned to adapt to the action RPG's mechanic and it helped me destroy things when ?I obtained my first weapon. Come to think of it, its goal might've been to?? cause fear to the person so they can focus on reaching the next town. Mind you, there is a trick that can give you a free weapon before you see this foe, which can make this segment easier than using your fists. Since I got to try both methods in two separate playthroughs, I found it neat how Nihon Falcom created a situation where your view on the starting foe is based on your actions before the confrontation.

Most important?ly, it helped me begin my quest to play a majority of the English Falcom releases. Seeing that they became part of my top ten favorite companies, I made the right choice in pursuing this path. At the same time, they're one of the factors that helped my love for Japanese role-playing titles remain the same as when I first started to appreciate the genre.

*****

No??w those are all some classic first encounters and also whatever Josh wrote about, but surely our community ha?s a dozen or so more we missed.

The post Is there a more iconic first encounter than the Dragon Que??st ??Slime? appeared first on Destructoid.

You can't all say the one from Gal*Gun

I have a nephew who, in two weeks time, will be starting his freshman year in high school. The thought of that makes me feel fucking old but it also gets me thinking about my time in school. I loved school, going to class and hitting the books. The only problem was there were always other people around. People are the worst and high schoolers are the worst of the worst. I wish my nephew luck. These are about to be the most awkward years of his life. We all know that from our own experiences and the many, many video games that have been released ove??r the years s?et in a high school.

Most of them are JRPGs, but for years gamers have had to endure the social constructs of high school while battling demons, exploring dungeons, or whatever other crazy quests developers tasked us with. In honor of back to school season, I asked my fellow Destructoid writers to name the video game school they wish they could have attended. Or maybe will be able to attend in some Never Been Kissed/21 Jump Street situation??. After spending a few days in my thinking spot, I realized the m??ost obvious answer to this question is Cool School High.

What? You’ve never heard of Cool School High? But it&rs?quo;s so cool, the word ‘cool’ is in its name and nothing says you’re cool like going out of your way to tell everyone that you’re cool. Cool School High is the setting of the forgotten NES...

What’s the opposite of gem? Dog?

Cool School High is the setting of the forgotten NES dog Ghoul School, where senior and punk rocker Spike O’Hara -- ??Ireland represent! -- has to save head cheerleader Samantha Pompom from demons and monsters that have taken over his school after Spike finds a haunt??ed skull and brings it school. You know, that old story. Seriously, Samantha Pompom, Cool School High; if this game were any more 90s it’d come in Day-Glo packaging and include a coupon for $1.00 off a bottle of Sunny Delight.

So why Cool School High? Well, that haunted skull turned all the teachers and the football team in monstr??ous beasts I get to club to death with a?? baseball bat while wearing spring shoes. That’s pretty much what I pictured myself doing anyway any time I got a B on a math test.

Chris Hovermale

So many video game schools are filled with students training to be adventurers or heroes, but not many exist for the other side of the fence. I'd normally jump on an opportunity to visit the former, but there is one example of a "villain" school I'd be happy to attend. Disgaea 3’s Evil Academy is dedicated to preparing its students to live in the Netherworld, which, given it kinda is a Netherworld itself, means that graduation is almost a guarantee?? that you’re set to succeed at that life. This already sounds way better than our American school system!

Evil Academy’s curriculum is also much more practical and less point?lessly strenuous than real school. In fact, it practically doesn’t even exist!  The teachers all know better than to waste their time on classes students will never apply in real life (and also being “evil” means being lazy or something), so attending cla??sses and doing homework is discouraged. Maybe that means studying has more appeal to punks, but I’m more interested in developing practical skills that will really shape my future. Like casting magic, or surviving gunshot wounds, or fulfilling my absurdly exaggerated power fantasies, or blogging about video games!

The one major downside -- aside from an abundance of bullies, which is a problem we’re still trying to solve in real schools any??way -- is only demons are allowed to attend. Meaning if I’m not born a demon, I’d have to die, get reincarnated into a Prinny, and swab a billion decks before I’d have the chance to enroll. But to drink the glass half full, that also means I’d eventually get a chance to reincarnate into a cool a??nime monster, like a mothman, or a dragon, or a mothman, or a wood golem, or maybe... a mothman. So, ya know what, it might still be a pretty cool opportunity in the end! I’d be in no hurry to start that process, though.

Peter Glagowski

I can't say I've ever really thought about schools in video games. I wasn't really a good student and I basically hate everything to do with lectures, so I tend to just plow through school levels without a second thought. They are boring and bring up bad memories of high school. Still, one school that I wouldn't mind attending would be the "Knight Academy" from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Not only do Link and Zelda both attend, but the rest of the student body is full of colorful characters. Groose becomes a loveable oaf, Fledge is a guy with confidence issues that hits very close to home, Karane is basically a reincarnation of Midna (from Twilight Princess) and Pipit is an asshole. There always needs t??o be an assho??le, right?

I think the other thing that gets me is how the school is on an island in the sky. You can stroll over to the edge and look down on the world. It must be ?awesome to have that view every single day of your life. It would definitely make me more interested in P.E, that's for sure.

Chris Moyse

Not too many schools in video games spring to mind, obviously save for the one in Rockstar's excellent Bully but to talk about the digital school I've spent the most time in, we gotta go back a couple of decades, to a popular ZX Spectrum title. Released in 1985, David Reidy's Back to Skool saw Eric, a trouble-causing ruffian needing? access to the safe of his headmaster, Mr. Whacker, so he can replace his less-than-gleaming school report with a fake. To do this, the player has to guide Eric through the world's longest school day, completing a series of lateral-thinking ta?sks in order to get into the staff room.

The mechanic in Back to Skool, pretty revolutionary for the time, was ??that Eric also had to manage all the requirements of The Happiest Days of Your Life, including following class timetables, dealing with bullies and hanging out with your? crush. Ducking classes, stealing bikes, dropping smoke bombs and unleashing critters in the girl's school were all part of Eric's master plan to avoid expulsion. In a fun touch, the game also allowed you to rename the entire cast, so kids could insert their own teachers and friends directly into the action.

Back to Skool was innocent fun, far from the sociopathic war zone that was my real school life. Do you know we invented a series of "hilarious" moves that we performed on each other almost daily? Moves like "Kidney Failure", where we kicked each other hard in the back through that little hole in the desk chairs, or "Take the Corner", where if you saw someone idly leaning back on?? their chair, it was then your duty to sweep the supporting legs out from under them.

Happiest Days of Your Life.

Jonathan Holmes

This one is a bit of a cheat because the game was never released, but we can catch a few glimpses of it in video form. Project A-Ko is pretty much my all-time absurd teen action comedy anime film. A-Ko, the presumed daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman, goes to school with a young woman who is physically identical to Kenshiro from Fight of the North Star, but that's no big deal. Things don't get really wild until B-Ko, a Lex Luthor-esque rich girl, brings giant robot suits of various sizes to battle A-Ko for the attention of C-Ko, A-Ko's brainle?ss-but-adorable best friend. 

It's almost en??tirely dude-free zone, filled with all the stuff that I loved as a teenage dude, and almost none of the stuff I didn't love (namely, other teenage dudes). A-Ko built my hotrod and if I were her, I'd go to school seven days a week without complaint. 

Josh Tolentino

If we're being honest, I wouldn't mind going to one of the Persona schools, if only for the way they perfectly capture the stereotype of a tranquil anime high school, but I'd also be down with attending Danganronpa's Hope's Peak Academy. 

This isn't to imply that I'd be any kind of "Ultimate" or something like that. If anything, I'd be one of the average kids in the general admissions section, but that would be alright, gi??ven that aside from the eugenics and other weird exp??erimentation, on balance Hope's Peak was an alright educational institution...at least until, well, everything happened.

Marcel Hoang

At first, I thought I was going to answer Bullworth Academy, home of such esteemed alumni as Jimmy Hopkins, and the center of creative school hijinks and borderland violent psychopaths. But I can't deny myself everything that I am currently feeling right now. I am knee deep in Monster Hunter hype, so what's available for me? The Hunter's Guild is more of an association for skilled laborers, but you know what's sti??ll left for me to flexibly adapt as a school? The Wycademy, that's what.

The Wycademy is an organization devoted to the study and understanding of ancient monsters, fossils, and extinct species. It's basically a school for paleontologists, and the discipline of course includes the study of currently living specimens as well. After all, what better way to study the past than by studying the present? And while the Wycademy is filled with proper students, its also staffed by properly licensed hunters who also happen to be Wycademy scholars. And while yes, it'd be cool to say I'm a licensed hunter, who is also apart of a unionize agreement between the guild and wild felynes to be carted to safet??y whenever knocked unconscious while on the job, the study and discovery of fascinating ecosystems and biology would be quite the fun lesson. With creatures as old and unchanged as elders dragons like Alatreon to new and undiscovered species like Xenoj'iiva, the great outdoors and ancient fossils would make for the greatest classroom really.

Plus think of the physical education regiment involved to get hunters to reliably carry a?? great sword around!

Salvador G-Rodiles

No matter how rough the books get, the greatest thing about going to school is the memories you make with the people around you. One place that stuck with me recently is Thors Military Academy from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel I and II.

Unlike the usual education facility that trains you to be a soldier, it doesn't feel like you're going through boot camp. Other than learning the ways of combat, you'll go through classes t?hat cover the history of the nation of Erebonia, along with the other general subjects. The thing that drew me to the place is its environment since the teach??ers aren't like your typical drill sergeants. Heck, one of them has a tendency to hit the bars frequently. On top of that, she's the best teacher in a video game of 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Aside from its teaching environment, the campus gives me many chances to create my own moments. Whether it's going on a grand fishing adventure with Kenneth Lakelord or encountering supernatural happenings in the Old School House, there's plenty of activities to keep me entertained. If I g??et assigned to Class VII, then I can go on field trips with Rean and his buddies as we learn about the true issues that affect the country. Best of all, I'll get my own cell phone that lets me cast spells and perform synchronized attacks with my party. During my downtim?e, I can play the card game called Blade with my senpai who goes by the name of Crow Armbrust. Of course, I’ll have to make sure that he doesn't take 50 Mira from me.

Thanks to Thors' faculty and students having colorful personalities, I felt at home in the vicinity after coming back from battling a boss in another part of ?the region. Let's just say that my attachment to the place resulted in certain story scenes hitting me hard since it put a ton of things at stake. Just like them, I felt that it was a place that's worth protecting.

Pixie The Fairy

I'd go to the Bala??mb Gardens mercenary school. 

Why?

All these are positives for me, plus I can tell every?one to piss off, go to my room and never have to change from my introverted ways.

The post It’s back to school season and we want to know which video game school you’d attend appeared first on Destructoid.

What's old is new

Capcom is on something of a roll right now. Its Monster Hunter: World is the bestselling title ever for the company,  the Mega Man revivals are doing a particularly great job of igniting interest in the upcoming Mega Man 11, Street Fighter continues to dominate the fighting game scene, and its 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake is set to be one of the biggest games of next year. I played it at E3 and it’s good. Very good. Capcom knows this, which is why it’s already looking forward to doing more remakes once RE2 releases.

I’m definitely the type of gamer who’d rather have a new title than a remake, but I can’t resist a top-to-bottom makeover of a classic title from eras passed. The amount of passion I see in the Resident Evil 2 remake shows me Capcom is serious about revisiting the games of its past and not content with simply upscaling one to 1080p and calling it a day. If it truly wants to continue down this path of wholeheartedly remaking games instead of just remastering them, I’m all for it. And thanks to suggestion by Brett Makedonski, that’s the topic of Destructoid Discusses Question of the Week. I want to know what games our staffers think Capcom should target next. For me, I think it should stay in the Resident Evil family and give us a complete reworking of Resident Evil Gaiden.

Taking a traditionally 3D game and turning into an 8-bit 2D Game Boy Color title, one that successfully captures the essence of the franchise, is a daunting task. It can be done -- look at Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Bable -- but it can also crash and burn. Resident Evil Gaiden is an example of the latter. Released in 2001, it features Barry Burton and Leon Kennedy infiltrating the cruise ship Starlight to investigate whether there is a new bio-organic weapon aboard.

The game was an absolute waste of money. It didn’t understand what it meant to be a portable game, offered none of the scares the franchise is known for, and changed combat to a weird, video-golf inspired shooting gallery. It’s a pretty goddamn pointless game, one that earns its Gaiden title well. But it has a good story, which is, at this point, the only thing keeping me playing RE games. Its story too many people missed before and one I think could be well told using the gorgeous Resident Evil VII engine.

Arguably one of the better-looking games of this generation, RE VII revitalized the franchise in a way nobody thought Capcom ever would. Its sales were lower than the action-packed atrocity that is Resident Evil 6, but Capcom doesn't seem to mind that. It just wants to make good games, and taking the story from Resident Evil Gaiden and telling it in that engine could make for a good,?? if not absolutely great game.

Too often, remakes are wasted on games that were good when they launched and are still good today. It's why we don't need a remake of A Link to the Past for instance. History is littered with bad games that could have been good if they didn't fall victim to either publisher demands, poor hardware, or simple mismanagement. Those are the games that need a remake most, a second chance to get things right. On the Dreamcast or GameCube or PlayStation 2, Resident Evil Gaiden could have been as memorable as Code Veronica. It's time to give this oft-forgotten entry in the RE franchise another shot.

Darren Nakamura

Is Zack & Wiki a "Capcom classic"? I will fight anybody who says it isn't. Looking at my Wii collection, it still stands as one of the best (if not the best) game on that weird console not developed by Nintendo. While the Wii became maligned for the waggle employed in many uninspired titles, Zack & Wiki stood out with its i??nventive use of the system's functionality. I can't think of another game that so effectively presented the remote as a series of physical objects in the game world, and especially none that used that presentation as the foundation for its puzzles.

What's even better about updating Zack & Wiki to current consoles is that because the Wii remote was so central to its design, it wo??uld have to see a substantial update to show up on the Switch, for instance. Things that made sense back then wouldn't work, and new interactions would have to take their place. I mean, that'd be better for us, the players, though it might not be better for Capcom, b??????????????????????????ecause it'd mean putting more work into it than a remake to a more standard game would be.

Still, think of the possibilities of Zack & Wiki on Switch! No really, thi?n??k about them, then write them down and send those ideas to Capcom, and maybe it'll spark something there for a new game in the series.

Peter Glagowski

While I wouldn't necessarily say that beat-em-ups are in vogue nowadays, the genre has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent years. Being kicked off by the excellent Castle Crashers, we've seen brand new entries in older series (Double Dragon Neon and River City Random Underground) and even completely new games based on older ideas (Scott Pilgrim). Why n??ot bring back the g?randdaddy of the entire genre?

Capcom's Final Fight may not have been the first of its kind, but it certainly set the groundwork for what a beat-em-up should be. Everything this snappy and well-paced game did has been copied by literally every game in its wake. The requisite elevator level, returning boss characters as standard enemies, wacky bonus stages, a heavy brawler character that can literally pick-up people. You can pick any number of '90s brawlers and find Final Fight's DNA in them.

The only real blemish on the series would be the horribly conceived Final Fight: Streetwise for PS2 and Xbox. Having released 12 years ago, I think Capcom is still trying to pay for its crime against humanity by not resurrecting Final Fight. Still, I would ?kill to see Mike Haggar come back into action alongside Cody and Gu?y. With the power of modern consoles, we could finally get a three-player version going, too.

Chris Seto

With all the talk about Resident Evil 2 remake going the rounds, talk of Dino Crisis is never too far behind. After all, the game started off as a RE clone with dinosaurs!

However, while a remake of the first game would be fun, I think Dino Crisis 2 would be more interesting as a remake subject. It was a game that went all-in on the action element while trying to keep the other RE elements intact and I think gamers would warm to a fully action based title in a similar style to Resident Evil 4 or maybe even 7. Capcom tried already with Resident Evil 6 and while that game got rightfully panned as a terrible RE game, it was a pretty decent action game for the most part so a Dino Crisis in a similar vein could work pretty well!

Also, one other game I would like to see a re-release but NOT a remake would be Alien vs Predator. Of course, license issues alone means that it will never happen but I would love to beat up hordes of aliens again? as Lynn Kurosawa. It's just that a full blown remake of a beat em up might not go so well so keeping it in ??its original state would be for the best.

Jonathan Holmes

Even now, ten years later, I still can't help but recommend Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop to anyone who's a fan of Resident Evil 4. It's basically a low budget, batshit insane RE4 mod with zombie parrots and skateboards and ravenous poodles. Also, like every good videogame, it has a balloon popping mode. This are just some of the ways it's more thought-provoking than the Xbox 360 original. Did I mention that you can also dress up like Roll from Mega Man Legends a?nd decapitate teleporting zombies with a chainsaw? Yes ind?eed, this is a video game. 

The game sold well enough for Capcom to deem it "OK", but it was panned by most critics, and we haven't seen a new Dead Rising on Nintendo consoles since. I assume that's because Microsoft has since bought into the franchise, but I don't care. If Nintendo and Microsoft can team up on getting Minecraft on the Switch, with bonus Mario content no less, then they can work something out to get Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop remade on Switch or even. The only reasons people pre-hated it before it was released came down to the Wii and its technical limitations. A hardware pi??ssing contest measured not in inches, but by how many zombies you can fit on a television screen at once? Yes indeed, this is video game culture. 

But I believe we can do better. We can put Dead Rising on Switch, with the graphics of the 360 original, but the RE4-style gameplay and all the other bonuses of Chop Till You Drop. It will sell in the tens of... hundreds. Mayb?e even a hundred of hundreds? I know it's hopeless folks, but please, just let me have this one dream. A bald 41-year-old boy like me has to cling to all the whimsy he can before the cold, white hand??s of Death come to take his soul away. 

Occams Electric Toothbrush

If Final Fight is the granddaddy of all beat ‘em ups, then Captain Commando would be the weird uncle. Maybe that’s why when this qu?estion came up, this was the first game that popped into my head. I remember seeing this in the arcade and being blown away. It reads like the best Saturday morning cartoon ever: A cyber warrior, an alien-mummy, a ninja and a baby genius piloting a mech team up to stop intergalactic super criminals. Baby Head, pictured above, is one of my favorite video game characters ever. You can play as a baby piloting a mech that can then pilot a larger mech. That is poetry for my soul and subsequently how I pitch the game to folks who have never played it.

In a world where Metal Wolf Chaos can once again see the light of day, I think its time to bring Captain Commando back. Go ahead and give it the Final Fight: Double Impact treatment. Have the scan lines and the cabinet art and stickers as the screen border. Remix the soundtrack, all that jazz. That would be amazing, and I’d buy it day one. But if they wanted to, they could go all in like Resident Evil 2 and remake it from the ground up. Imagine what Captain Commando would look like updated for modern consoles. Those bright, vibrant colors shining like some Japanese Cartoon Hell Ride. Maybe go full 3D with it. Honestly, given what video games have don?e lately, the sky’s the limit.

Marcel Hoang

Do Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts you cowards!

In the current day and age of everything being compared to Dark Souls, you'd think someone would take a second look at this infamous ball stomping hell game that goes by such interchangeable names that I'm never quite sure if I got it right until I Google it. But damn if I don't always have fond memories of the aesthetic design of Ghouls 'n Ghosts, from the visuals of Arthur constantly grabbing and losing armor, to even the stiff but consistent jump arc. Believe it or not, I love Arthur's jump. the fact that it's so stiff and rigid makes me appreciate it's consistency and the level design. Seeing carefully placed jumps helps me imagine just how I'm supposed to approach the jump and when to double-jump since arcs this rigid demand ev?ery inch of a level to be immaculately placed and spaced.

Would I want anything changed to make concessions for modern game design? Maybe something regarding the infamous Goddess Bracelet second run, but even that has it's own unique charm. Besides, plenty of games nowadays will let you do an entire game as a run, like Bloodborne.

Well, mine is purely in the realms of fantasy. Not only is this not ever happening, but obviously the licensing (and relevance) is long gone by now, but I just want a new game based on '80s comic book Xenozoic Tales or, to give it its better-known moniker, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.

Capcom's '90s scrolling fighter, set in Marc Schultz classic universe, was created as part of a new wave of interest in the brand, helped by a short-lived cartoon series that we never got over here in the UK. Xenozoic Tales blends a Mad Max-like dystopia with a cool-as-hell '50s aesthetic, oh and populates it with dinosaurs for good measure. Capcom's brawler is a pretty neat standout in the genre - even if it is way too long - but, other than an abysmal driving title for the 3DO, this brand has never been revisite??d by video game??s.

I think a GTA-style open-world adventure, feature ??quests, grim post-apocalyptic vistas, sweet motor ve?hicles, scumbag raiders and, of course, the bacon-sizzling badass Hannah Dundee, would be right up my prehistoric alley. It'll never, ever happen, but that's why we dream, kids.

*****

That's our li??st. Which titles do you think Capcom should remake next?

The post If Capcom wants more remakes afte?r Re?sident Evil 2, it should focus on these classic titles appeared first on Destructoid.

The games we gave up on

Between my DS, my 3DS, Wii, Wii U, Switch, PlayStation 4, Vita, Steam, NES Classic, SNES Classic, and the three Xbox 360 Burger King games I just bought off eBay, I have a backlog of roughly 350 titles. I don’t want to know how many hours of play that translates into because it’ll only remind me I’m in the ??waning years of my life and death steps closer to me every day. I know that’s not the biggest backlog you’ve heard of, but for me, it’s certainly close to insurmountable. Unless I have a drastic increase in free time, I don’t see how I’m ever? going to finish all those games.

It’s completely my fault it’s grown this big. Not only do I keep buying games I really have no intention of playing – why the hell did I buy Xenoverse 2 – but I also have a nasty habit of quitting games the moment something better comes along. As I’m sure many of you do. People just don’t finish games anymore. There are, however, a few franchises I insist I complete every game I start. Mario, Dragon Quest, Kirby, God of War, Splatoon, and The Legend of Zelda. I may not do it all at once – I’ve been working on Dragon Quest VII for 3DS since it launched – but I play the games on a regular enough basis to see them to the end in a timely manner. That’s been true of those series with one exception: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

I know I’ve bitched about this game before, but when I thought up the concept of this week’s Destructoid Discusses question, I figured it would be a great opportunity for me to get it all out on the table. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is, all things considered, the greatest video game I’ve ever played. It’s difficult to keep saying that year after year with all the great new titles being released, but every time I boot it up my mind, body, and soul are instantly transported to the Great Sea. That’s how it’s alwa??ys been for me.

To say I was excited for Phantom Hourglass is an understatement. I was champing at the bit, foaming at the mouth, absolutely, totally driving myself crazy in anticipation in the lead-up to that game. I g??et to sail the sea as Link…on a handheld? Yes, please and thank you. You bet your ass I pre-ordered that bitch and on October 1, 2007, I dropped everything else I was doing at the time for another trip to a flooded Hyrule.

The first hour of th?e game was everything I’d hoped it would be. The graphics were colorful, the controls were tight, and the picture book recap of the adventures of Toon Link and Tetra was outstanding. Even my firs??t run through the Temple of the Ocean King to save Linebeck was great fun.

Then came the second trip.

And then the third.

And then the fourth.

Yes, I do understand how tired this argument is, how many people hate the execution of this dungeon. This temple is no bueno. But back in 2007, I did everything I could to get past my deep seeded hatred of the Ocean King and just complete the game. After all, I’ve played lousy Zelda temples before. Twilight Princess’s Temple of Time, Zelda 2’s Great Palace, Oracle of Ages’ Jabu Jabu’s Belly; all mediocre in their e?xecution. The big difference is I didn’t have to return to any of those dungeons.

I made it through three full trips to the Temple of the Ocean King before I had my fill of it. When faced with yet another go, roughly three weeks after I first started playing the game, I closed my Nintendo DS and gave up out of pure frustr??ation. I couldn’t take it anymore, couldn’t take one single step into that goddamn dungeon. So I stopped playing.

Did I eventually beat it? Yeah. After two years, though I was still annoyed at the whole experience, I picked up where my save file left off to complete it in time for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Turns out, I was roughly 30 minutes away from th??e end of the game.

Spirit Tracks did the concept much better and is, overall, a superior title, though its dungeon themes are largely rote compared to other games in the series. Phantom Hourglass remains the only Zelda game I’ve never bothered returning to for a second run. I may, someday, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over the fact the Temple of the Ocean King frustrated me so much I actually stopped playing a Zelda game.

Chris Hovermale

Final Fantasy XIV is the best MMO I’ve ever played. It’s built a stable and growing player base despite its catastrophic launch because 2.0 transformed it into something extraordinary. I can’t name any MMO that has impressed me more on a technical or design level, at least out of the ones I've touched myself. I’ve simply never played any MMO that I’d consider to be objectively better than FFXIV. And yet I’ve dropped it long ago, even ??though I had time to spare?? and most of my best friends still play it.

I was in love with FFXIV during 2.0’s main story. Despite feeling overwhelmed by everything, I found a groove in traveling to new regions, test??ing out new Black Magic in combat, and leveling mining/goldsmithing on the side. Yet a few quest chains? after the first credits roll, my enthusiasm took a nosedive. I didn’t enjoy the battle system as much as I used to. Everything seemed to revolve around memorization and optimization rather than impulse and reaction, and I prefer the latter by far. I think that didn’t bother me earlier because constantly unlocking new spells kept me guessing and changed up my strategies constantly.

The emphasis on memory games only magnified the further I dipped my toes into the endgame. I could have leveled other classes, but I doubted I’d enjoy a repeat trek through old haunts the same way I did playing blind. I wanted to keep playing with friends because, well, that’s kinda the point of a massive online game, but I was bad at lining up our playtimes. Eventually, I was?? spending $15 a month on subscriptions when I’d only play two days. I started to feel as if I had an obligation, not a desire, to play more days and make better use of that money. It was healthier for me to cut the cord, at least with my current mindset and play habits.

Granted, I was playing a DPS class, and Black Mages have more simplistic and repetitive rotations than other 2.0 DPS jobs. Now I think my playstyle might have been closer to my preferences if I chose a healer or a tank. From my limited understanding of Stormblood’s Red Mages, I might also have more fun if I try one of the??m out. Unfortu?nately, I now have less time than I did back then and I don't want to risk another poorly budgeted subscription, not now at least. But I'll always consider it an experience worth trying out and a game worth playing. Eorzeans, I salute thee.

Peter Glagowski

Very few games cause me to stop playing them. I'm typically able to sit through even the banalest nonsense just to reach the conclusion and give myself a sense of closure. Sometimes, though, a game goes too far with its length and even I have to throw in the towel. Mercenary Kings is one such game.

I got the title free from PS Plus a few years back and gave it a shot. The art style (done by Paul Robertson of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game fame) is absolutely excellent and the soundtrack is very catchy, but everything else about?? the?? game is a slog. The characters move ridiculously slow, the mission objectives repeat in basically every tier and the guns you collect take far too much grinding to be upgraded.

Worse still, the sheer number of missions given to you is ridiculous. I believe the reason for this was that Mercenary Kings originally launched in Early-Access on PC. B?ringing updates every few months, developer Tribute Games probably didn't expect anyone to play through the entire game in a few sittings. When you remove all the periods where you would have been waiting for new content to release, it just adds up to a game that never manages to excite past the third boss.

To make matters worse, I'm actually in the final tier of the game and can go straight for the final boss. Because of my completionist nature of wanting to finis??h everything, though, I burned myself out way too quickly and have no desire to pick it back up. I just don't see the appeal of doing the same crap again only to have some limp boss fall before me and me adding another checkmark on my list of completed games.

Chris Moyse

When I think of BioWare's Mass Effect -- and particularly its sequel, Mass Effect 2 -- I'm flooded with wonderful memories of great times, amazing characters, intense dialogue, and hours upon hours spent wandering the Normandy, chatting to all the crewmates over and over again. It's truly one of my favourite RPGs, and video game universes, of all time. I basically 100% completed ME2, got all the upgrades, did all the side-quests, maxed out conversations (though no romance, oddly enough) and even all the DLC content. I then c??ame out of the suicide mission with a full crew. No man, woman, nor Turian left behind.

I then proceeded to never play Mass Effect 3.

It wasn't the furore of the fans, it wasn't the pissy cupcake PR stunts. I didn't care that it had a wack multiplayer mode, or that it was "better with Kinect". I just didn't buy it and didn't play it. Now, as time goes on, my life gets busier and the ME3's already-clunky mechanics become more dated, I don't know if I will. I'm not quite sure what happened. Actually, scratch that. I do know what happened. Diablo III happened, and by the time I'd put several thousand hours into that, ME3 seemed like 50 years prior. Despite all this, I still have my save file, as Alex ??Shepard and her crew eagerly await the oncoming Reapers. Never say never.

Jonathan Holmes

When it comes to generating excitement in my weird little brain, the Final Fantasy series used to be top dog. I loved Mario, Mega Man, Metroid, and all the other staples of the NES and SNES generations, but Final Fantasy existed on another level. The release of a new game in the series signified a step forward for the entire?? medium. With each new numbered entry in the franchise, the bar for excellence in graphics, music, storytelling, mechanics, world-building were all elevated to levels we'd never seen before. 

That is, until Final Fantasy VIII. 

This came as a nasty surprise to me, as I thought I knew what I was getting into with the game. A special demo for Final Fantasy VIII came packed in with the underappreciated masterpiece Brave Fencer Musashi, and I had played through it several times without issue. I loved the new gunblade battle mechanics. I was impressed with the improved visual fidelity and realistic-but-stylized character designs. I liked Zell's JNCO style shorts (which were pretty cutting edge in the late 90's). I wasn't quite as blown away with it as I was with the Final Fantasy VII demo a few years prior, but hey, you can only make the jump to "CD-ROM power 3D graphics!" once, right? All things considered, there was no reason to think that Final Fantasy VIII would let me down. 

That is, until I got the full game, and had to experience the ever-increasing levels of drudgery that lay in wait for me. In prior Final Fantasy games, you had new characters and mechanics to discover along nearly all of you 50-70 hour journey. In Final Fantasy VIII, you meet the entirety of your party by the end of your first d?isc, and they all play pretty much the same. The story was uninspiring, something about a flying school and a sulking, handsome, mean-spirited teen who doesn't seem to notice that a Tifa-looking popular girl wants to make out with him? I can't remember anymore. I couldn't relate with any of these kids, except maybe for Zell and his shorts, but ultimately, the similarities between this spunky tattooed comic relief character and myself were not flattering f??or either of us. 

Worst of all, everything took so long. Load times were long, battles were long, dialogue cutaways were long, and very little of it felt worth it. There was a lot of hinting that something important would happen or was secretly happening somewhere else, but those carrots were too small and the stick was too long to get me to ever move past the second disc. I'd end up buying Final Fantasy IX on day one, eventually playing through it twice while loving every second of it, but after that, I never beat another numbered Final Fantasy game again. They all reminded me too much of Final Fantasy VIII.

Anthony Marzano

I loved Kingdom Hearts from the moment the first game came out on PS2. It actually helped drag me into the world of Final Fantasy games through my love of the Disney worlds being connected. I also loved my Game Boy Advance SP, it helped long rides on the bus for marching band trips pass a little bit easier. So when the spin-off Chain of Memories was announced for the GBA, I was ecstatic because I could finally take my beloved Kingdom Hearts on the go.

At first, it was OK, the card battle system was a little weird but it didn't matter, there were new characters and lore expansion! Then came the hardware issues. The GBA SP was not known for having reliable shoulder buttons, and Chain of Memories used the shoulder buttons to shuffle through the cards you had to play with. So as my shoulder buttons started to lose their responsiveness, I also lost the ability to play because without my shoulder buttons I was just spamming cards in the order of which they came in my deck. Not reliable when you need to heal or exploit weaknesses. Thankfully though?? I was able to employ the help of my friend who cleaned my shoulder button ports for ??me and I was back in business after a delay of a few months.

Then came the Riku battle. I can't remember exactl??????????????????????????y which of the six times you had to face him that ended up spelling my demise but my god I almost threw my cartridge out the bus window. I must have tried the battle at least 50 times and just couldn't get past him. Couple the difficulty spike with my shoulder buttons beginning to fail again and that was enough for me. I read a GameFAQs about what happened in the story and never went back to the game, or any other of th??e spin-offs for that matter. Which is a shame as Marluxia was the best part of that convoluted mess called Organization XIII.

Wes Tacos

Arkham Asylum is quite possibly the single greatest licensed superhero game ever. Arkham City is in contention for that title, even if I found it a bit too big and unfocused for its own good. Like m?ost people writing in? this feature, I was super, duper pumped for a game that totally broke me.

Arkham Knight is simply too much. Way, way too much. It's huge, and it's bloated, and it's full of great things and full of horrible, ??un-great things. The most un-greatest thing is by far the Bat-?Tank, which led to what finally made me quit playing this game: Riddler Trophies. At my best estimation, there are 11.2 billion of those goddamn things to collect throughout the city. Most are manageable enough, but dude, those Batmobile ones are downright terrible in every single way.

I started Arkham Knight. I played through the main story, all the while collecting trophies and clearing side missions, up until the last story mission. Like I usually do with these types of games, I decided to 100% the rest of the game so I wouldn't have to go back and play it again. Two weeks later, when I had cleared the final abysmal Batmobile Riddler Challenge, I hated Arkham Knight so much that I never, ever wanted to play it ag??ain. So I didn't??.

I 99%ed the game?, and quit it forever. I hate the goddamn Batmobile.

Rich Meister

Sometimes just walking away from a game is the best decision you can make. On more than one occasion I've felt that uninstalling World of Warcraft was the best thing for me.

I love the game, there are few things in life that can feel quite as cathartic as grin?ding out some quests in Azeroth while you wind down for the evening. I would senselessly plug away hours into the game across multiple characters on both factions, but eventual??ly, I had to stop myself.

When I started essentially losing track of time and losing entire weekends to the WoW grind I knew it was time to end my subscription. I won't lie, I tend to briefly bounce back for each expansion, but thankfully I keep myself in check enough to know when to call it quits. I still haven't pre-ordered Battle for Azeroth, but the day isn't over yet.  

Josh Tolentino

I don't quit games nearly as ?often as simply drift away from them, forces of circumstance or habit just leading me to lose contact with them the way one might lose touch of classmates from elementary school over time. I've got a ton of amazing games in my backlog that I've simply moved on from, with plans to come back someday...someday.

Mobile games, by contrast, are designed to avoid this precise phenomenon, by demanding little of most players and rewarding them just for showing up. They never seem like a burden - until you start to get serious about progression or competition. That happened to me with Star Wars: Commander, a Clash of Clans-like mobile game based on (duh) Star Wars. You built a base, manufactured units, and chucked armi?es at other bases trying to conquer them. Like other games in the field, it had a competitive component, where you targeted the bases of other players, a??nd vice-versa. 

It was alright while it lasted, and I got plenty out of the game without ever spending a cent, but my breaking point with the game came around the time it ran a competitive event. Players would raid bases to gain points on a leaderboard, an??d be rewarded with new units or other goodies based on their placement. That's when I got serious because I wanted to get some rocke??t troopers or something. I played almost constantly to keep my position on the board, to the point I was staying up late and waking up at weird hours to run battles.

But it wasn't to be. In the last minutes of the event, I was knocked out of my bracket and missed the chance to get my rocket troopers. I was incredibly salty about the whole thing, and after r??ealizing the lengths I had gone to get that thing, vowed never again to succumb. I still play mobile games, but I've since taken care never to get too involved in anything with that sort of? competitive element again. 

Marcel Hoang

All this is coming from someone who platinumed Nioh, but for the longest time, I left Bloodborne behind. In fact, I beat Nioh’s primary campaign before even coming back to Bloodborne.

When I first booted up Bloodborne, I had an embarrassing start. Crazy villagers gave me a little trouble, but the whole crowd at the start with the bonfire was a brick wall. After exploring detours like the sewers, and figuring grinding would be a waste of time, I put Bloodborne away. Only after truly seeing how the game could be experienced through Nioh did I decide to come back to the game that was heavily praised by friends like Occams and Gameman?iac. The timing of the dodges, the back and forth of combat, and a sense o?f true fear/self-preservation.

I bought Bloodborne in December of 2016 for a PS+ sale for $10. One year later, in 2017, I went back in. After beating the game, probably a month later, I platinumed it. Never let it be known that Bloodborne broke me entirely.

The post Phantom Hourg?lass is the only Zelda game I quit all because of that darn Temple ??of the Ocean King appeared first on Destructoid.

I dig these chibi toys

Unlike some of my fellow writers on Destructoid, I’m not much of a toy collector. I have several Zelda collectibles, some Funko POP! figures, and a few LEGO sets I hav??en’t bothered to put together, but that’s the extent of it. Most of my video game collectibles are books, puzzle??s, board games, and the such. I don’t have anything against collecting toys, I just hate having to dust small, intricate pieces. But that’s changing because of Good Smile Company and its line of Nendoroids.

Very recently, after having it in storage for more than a year, I took my Majora’s Mask Link Nendoroid out of the box and was blown away by the quality of the figure. I was so impressed, I immediately went to Amazon to finally buy the Breath of the Wild Link with Horse figure, but stopped when I saw the asking price. These things are expensive, and despite my love for Breath, I couldn’t bring myself to spend more than $70 on the figure. But I would spend that much money and p??robably more for Ness.

I’m one of those terrible gamers who claim Earthbound is one of their favorite games without ever having completed it. I played it for the first time not long after it launched on my uncle’s SNES, but only had about an hour with it. Last year I started playing it for real and am very slowly making the march towards the end. I do very much enjoy the game, but my adoration for Ness doesn’t originate from Earthbound. I love him because of Smash.

Among my group of friends, nobody wanted to be Ness in Super Smash Bros. They wanted Mario, Donkey Kong, and Fox. I started as a Link main, but when Ness was unlocked I gravitated towards him. I loved his playing style and how it was so unique from the re?st of the cast. I loved the fact that he was just a kid like me. Mostly, I loved sniping people with PK Thunder.

That move is just one of many that could be made into accessories for a Ness Nendoroid. PK Fire is also a possibility, as are the various weapons he equips himself with throughout his adventure. His cracked bat, his yo-yo, his robot body, his pajama body, hatless Nes?s head, his hands holding a pea??ce sign; there is an enormous amount of accessory possibilities.

There may or may not be a line of Earthbound POP! figures coming, but my Ness amiibo is better than most anything Fun?ko is putting out. For the price they’re okay, but I’m ready and willing to spend more than necessary to procure myself a Ness Nendoroid. Hopefully, Good Smile Company can make it happen.

Chris Hovermale

Now that I'm personally familiar with the best video game to be dedicated to bugkind, I can confidently say I'd love a figure of best girl Hornet. It might be a stretch to suggest an indie game character for a Nendoroid, but Hollow Knight has made enough waves to hit many a mainstream radar. Team Cherry also seems open to the realm of figures, as evident by their own custom $200 Hollow Knight fig. I'm sure most of us assumed they were limited to Japanese properties until we saw Overwatch hit their lineup, so who knows...?

As for why Hornet, the Knight has plenty of great moves that wo??uld translate into excellent Nendo accessories, so I think either would work excellently. But Hornet doesn't have quite as much official merch, so I'm rooting for the underbug. Her needle and thread are dynamic enough weapons to weave into plenty of stylish dramatic and acrobatic poses. Also, I can only imagine how adorable her stoic chibi face might be.

Tian Ma

Here's the thing: these days merchandising has become part of a well-oiled machine. It's hard to find a recent game property that I'd like toys for that doesn't already have such. On top ?of that, the games I like already belong to popular franchises that are heavily merchandised.

My pick goes to the fairies of Kantai Collection. I don't actually play KanColle because a browser-based RNG driven game doesn't sound that appealing. But I really enjoyed the anime and the genre of military-hardware-anthropomorphized-into-cute-girls, so here we are. In KanColle there are these chibi-fied characters known as fairies who fly the fighter planes, work the guns, and even blow the winds. They'd be perfect subjects for Nendoroids or even some gashapon figures. They're so damn cute, but to my knowledge, there aren't any toys of them out there. I'm putting this in as a plea. I have money here in my hands. Somebody m??ake this! Take my money!

Salvador G-Rodiles

If there's a character who deserves the rite of passage into the realm of Nendoroids, it's Marina Liteyears from Mischief Makers. Other than her starring in one of my favorite Nintendo 64 games, the Ultra Intergalactic Cybot G’s adorable appearance makes her the perfect candidate for Goodsmile's ?chibi figure toy line.

Her accessories can include a ra??ndom Clancer for her to do her signature “Shake Shake” action while sporting a cute facial attachment. Then again, they coul?d go the extra mile and have it come with the cluster of enemies that she's holding in the Japanese cover of the game. That way, it can capture her ridiculous side. Thanks to the special ending from obtaining all of the gold gems, they could make Nendos of her two human forms as well. In other words, they can triple the cuteness.

Come to think of it, none of Treasure's heroes and heroines received this treatment, which shows that she needs to become one soon. While we're at it, we might as well have them focus on their other games since the big-eyed style featured in the likes of Guardian Heroes and Radiant Silvergun mak??es them perfect for this super-deformed brand.

Chris Moyse

Nendoroids have been good to me, with characters like Persona 5's Makoto and Overwatch's Sombra already confirmed. To be honest, I could probably come up with a hundred other answers for this, such as Final Fight's Poison and KoF's Leona Heidern.

But what would be really rad, would be a Nendo of Faith Connors from Mirror's Edge, one of my favourite game gals. The intrepid courier could sit by me and inspire me through my wo?rk and play, as well as make daring parkour runs to the kitchen to fetch my lazy ass another donut. Of course, her stumpy legs might make some of those leaps a little tricky,

Accessories could include a little runner's satchel, a gun - that you never ever use because you're playing the game properly - and a stopwatch for all those tool-assisted speedruns. A selection of faceplates could be in??cluded to convey Faith's wide range of dynamic emotions, from studious, to serious, to super-duper serious. While there are plenty of characters I'd like to see immortalised as Nendos, as the man once said, I gotta have Faith.

*****

W?e haven't done it in a while, but we opened this week's ?question to the community to find out which figures they want Nendoroized:

RottySiets: That chick from Gravity Rush 2. Never played the game, but she always looked kinda cute. Kat I think her na?me was.

Agent9: I would love to see a skull kid Majora's Mask nendoroid which would go well with the Majora's Mask Link nendoroid. As a matter of fact I'd take a whole series of Majora's Mask nendoroids.

Something like Gehrman the first hunter would also be a great choice. It would be interesting to see their take on such a grisly characte?r.

DeScruff (Sypran): Dunno who I would choose...
Obviously they would need to be cute
Reaaaaaalllly cute.
Overflowing with being purely adorable no matter what.
Then the figure would essentially multiply that 1000x.
How it would happen I dunno, but man if it did... I'd insta buy.
Yeaaahh you guys know who I'm talkin about.

Aht from Radiant Historia! ... What... Who did you think I was taking about?

sp testure: Terra Branford from Final Fantasy 6

siddartha85: This is tough. You know what's an unpredictable choice? Cutesy Alan Wake. Also, Barry from Alan Wake, with the Christmas lights.

Batthink: My first choice would be a Morrigan Aensland (Darkstalkers) one. This'll give people at Good Smile the opportunity to be able to add parts, so you can swap her face/hair?/clothing like she does in her victory poses. Removable? wings, everything.

My second choice would be Yangus from Dragon Quest VIII. The body would probably be a bit wider than most Nendoroids, but having one of my other favourite charac??ters in?? games would give me a big smile. Also, lots of battle-axe posing.

King Kaiser: Maya Fey! That'd be ??one adorable Nendoroid, plus you could have a standard version with ramen, and a special American version with burgers!

dephoenix: Honestly I am surprised that 2B doesn't have? a n??endoroid figure yet. As popular as she is, you'd think it would exist already.

Also Ridley.

Cygnus Rush 961: I might be interested in a Nendoroid version of Sigma from Mega Man X if only to complim??ent the X and Zero Nendoroids?? already released.

SrChurros: That dick chariot from SMT.

NakedBigBoss: This cute little guy from Majora's Mask.

The post I would pay big bucks for a Nendoroid of Earthbound’s Ness appeared first on Destructoid.

I need a few weeks to get my beach body ready

It has been one hot-ass summer and every day th?e temperatures hit triple digits, I sit back and soak in sweat as I imagine I'm any place but here. Antarctica, New Zealand, the northern tip of Greenland; they're all much more desirable places to be when it's hot this many days in a row. I would go to all three of those places?? and more if I were made or money -- or was that clueless New York girl who gets thousands of dollars every month from her parents -- but I'm not so the best I can do is the occasional weekend trip to the beach.

There's nothing like the feeling of blistering hot sand beneath your feet as you make a b-line for the water to cool your ass ??off before rem??embering you forgot to put on your SPF 80. I enjoy a nice trip to the beach so much that it became my topic for this week's Destructoid Discusses. The only problem is I had a difficult time coming up with an answer.

There are obvious beaches I could have gone with. Wind Waker, my favorite game, is nothing but islands so its full of beaches. But none of them stick out, and after some back and forth with online searches, a lightbulb clicked. Obviously, the best beach is Emerald Coast from Sonic Adventure. 

This was the first Sonic game I saw through to the end and one I have no desire to replay because I know my rose-tinted view of the slick-looking launch title for my beloved Dreamcast would be ruined if I booted it up today. But watching this level, it has all of the things I love about the coast: sun, sand, water, fancy hotels, a boardwalk, cabanas, lighthouses, and a kick-ass Orca, which as a Washingtonian was a massive part of my upbringing. Free Willy anyone?

So yeah, this was a tough question, but I'm absolutely resolute in my assertion Emerald Coast is the best beach level in gaming and I'm sure all the examples below from my fellow Destructoid write??rs will stink on ice!

Chris Hovermale

As great as the beach is, I personally prefer the thrills and chills of a seaside water park. I like to stay cool rather than sunbathe. I prefer swimming over running, and a park gives so much more to do in the water than a shore. Sure, I’m not?? a great swimmer (maybe not even a good one), but having the freedom to swim up and down and everywhere within a pool makes me feel more flexible and mobile than I am on land. In my eyes, swimming in a pool is a magical way to expand my abilities, not unlike Mario donning a Wing Cap.

Super Mario Sunshine&r??squo;s Pinna Park is more of a theme park than a water park, but F.L.U.D.D. has more than enough water to keep things cool! The rides and structures of the park make an excellent playground for F.L.U.D.D.’s abilities. It offers a very similar level of freedom and playfulness as any water park attraction. It’s one of my favorite levels to explore and mess around with in Sunshine thanks to its colorful attractions. And bonus, it’s on its own island with a couple of lovely beaches to relax on too!

Peter Glagowski

Call me predictable all you want, but I am absolutely in love with the Okinawan beach setting that Yakuza 3 starts with. The location of Kiryu's Morning Glory orphanage, this beach looks like an absolute dream to live near for the short time we see it in the Yakuza series. It thankfully makes one last return in Yakuza 6, but I'm?? already making myself sad knowing I wo??n't be able to go back.

Some of the best character moments for Kiryu ha??ppen on this beach and it makes me pine for the kind of fam??ily he cultivates. Giving orphans a chance to live the life he couldn't, Kiryu puts on a wrestling match, plays baseball, goes fishing and even collects trash to make the world a better place. He really is just the best guy around.

Jonathan Holmes

I hate the beach. It's a place where people often go to forget about their real problems. I don't like that. I like knowing what my problems are. It keeps me ahead ??of them, o??r at the very least, it keeps them from being as quick to sneak up on me. 

Make no mistake about it, a lot can sneak up on you at the beach. Sunburns, dehydration, jellyfish, o??verpriced pizza, the list goes on. And don't ??even get me started on the sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere. 

Not like things in No More Heroes beach stage, featuring Holly Summers. There, everything is soft and smooth, especially Holly. She epitomizes the smiling, mask-like face of a ??trauma victim who has compartmentalized her damage with mechanical precision. The parts of herself she has lost to violence have them?selves been replaced with tools of violence; cold, robotic and numb. She's smooth and serene on the outside, right up until the point where she puts a grenade in her mouth, and her head explodes. It's just a guess, but I think on the inside, she wasn't doing so well. Maybe, like so many others, she was at the beach, trying to forget about her problems. Eventually, her problems caught up with her, so she checked out.  

Don't go to the beach. 

Rich Meister

While I agree with Peter's sentimental attachment to Okinawan beach and Chris's love of seaside theme parks, my favorite video game beach comes from Halo of all places. 

"The Silent Cartographer" is the fourth level of the original Halo, and it ?starts with a Pelican transport dropping the Chief and a Warthog off on?? a scenic beach front. While there are plenty of grunts and elites to blast on the sandy shores, it's a hell of a lot more fun to do sweet donuts on the beach, or see just how far you can drive that Warthog into the water without sinking it. 

Josh Tolentino

Being a watcher of anime and player of JRPGs, I am no stranger to beach escapades. Frolicking in the sun and d?ressing in revealing swimwear is a time-honored tradition of most of ??my favorite types of media.

That said, though, the beach level I've probably spent the most time on by volume isn't from any JRPG or anime, but from Star Trek. I am, of course, referring to the pleasure planet of Risa. First highlighted in The Next Generation as a planet with weather control so advanced its civilization could devote itself entirely to galactic tropical tourism, it's featured in Star Trek Online as the main zone for its yearly summer event, with players congregating for a month or so ea?ch ye??ar to run hoverboard races, hold dance contests, and buy up zone-exclusive swimwear costumes.

The zone has grown year by year, with more easter eggs, attractions, and little doo-dads added by the developers at Cryptic, and the giveaways -- which include decent, playable starships -- are nothing to scoff at either. In fact, this year's event is ongoing right now, and when I log in, I make sure to play Final Fantasy VII's "Costa del Sol" theme on loop.

Salvador G-Rodiles

In order for a video game beach to win my heart, it has to give me relaxing feeling. All it takes is for it to show me an area with gorgeous sand and clear blue seas. Whether it's Chrono Cross' Opassa Beach or the Canaan Islands in Ys VI: The Arc of Napishtim, I?? enjoy being reminded of the setting. I guess it has to do with my fond memories of visiting ??the keys in Venezuela.

If there's one thing that can top an area with a beach, it's a whole region that gives you the full vacation experience. One area that fulfilled this element is Liberl's Ruan Province from The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. As you enter the area, you come across the Manoria Byroad, which lets you see the ocean from its cliffs. During the walk, you get to experience the ocean sounds while you make your way through the rest of the region. Before you arrive in the first town, you have the option to take a turn to visit the Varenne Lighthouse. Old man Vogt lives there and he's known for treating those with good manners well. That said, you may bec?ome a better person if you help him with his requests.

Once you hit Manoria Village, you can enjoy some great seafood and sandwiches as you sit on a bench where you can see the relaxing waters. Then there's the Gull Seaside Way, wh?ich is filled with many beaches. Even though the place has land sharks and other dangerous aquatic creatures, a person with good fighting experience can defeat them before he/she goes for a relaxing swim.

At the end of the stop, we hit the City of Ruan (a.k.a the Seaside City). The place gives off a Venice vibe as it shares its space with the sea. From the luxurious Hotel Blanche to its restaurants, there are many activities for those who want to take a break from the beach. With the NPCs being one of the Trails/Kiseki series' great aspects, the locals manage to make you feel welcomed. When I reached this area for the first time, it reminded me of the times I got to go on tropical adventures during my childhood. It helped that the place feature a track that us??es the same beats found in songs with island and summer themes.

Marcel Hoang

Before we got Pokemon Sun and Moon with the islands of Alola, the original Pokemon beach and island was Cinnabar Island. This small, charming, quaint, and some may say dead looking island barely has any life on it. When you first arrive, it's a tiny habitat with a Pokemon Ce?nter, a Pokemon gym, and an abandoned mansion/research facility. It's home to Blaine, the ??fire-specialist of the gym, and not only do you get a dose of fire and poison-types throughout your time there, it's apparently home to a volcano.

Cut a return in Silver/Gold and the entire island is in ruins because that volcano has erupted. While there are textures and landscapes in these older Pokemon games for sandy beaches, Cinnabar Island doesn't have any sand, le??aving the impression that its shoreline is more a barren, ??craggy shore than a beach.

Still, reaching Cinnabar Island is your first major experience after Pokemon's now standard Surf f?unction introduces itself. It's a brief but abrupt respite after a long, watery journey across the sea. Even if it's not as relaxing or sandy as most proper beaches??, Cinnabar Island is still a fun little oasis in the middle of the ocean for travelers.

Chris Moyse

There has been an abundance of great video game beaches, but for me, one of the quintessential coasts has to be the opening stage of Yu Suzuki's 1986 classic, Out Run. The glorious coastline from which our nameless driver and his gal with a death wish begin their cross-country race is not only? a beautiful vista of warm sands, palm trees, and cool ocean waves, it's the typification of Summer itself.

Out Run is a game that was played more often that not in the arcade, back in an era where the best place to find arcades was, indeed, while on vacation. As such, Out Run's beach opening is tied in with childhood memories of being at the beach yourself, playing sand-filled sit-in cabs in tacky Bermuda shorts, letting the salty sea air and the blissful tones of Magical Sound Shower carry you away from school and homelife, placing you in a sun-soaked boulevard by the bay where all that mattered was impressing your girl by recklessly risking both your lives, and never taking your foot off the accelerator beca??use that time limit was bullshit.

*****

Everybody point and boo at Holmes for the Attack of the Clones reference.

The post ?Emerald Co??ast is the only video game beach worthy of a summer vacation appeared first on Destructoid.

Reimagine your life as something far more adventurous

On Friday, the highly anticipated Octopath Traveler for Nintendo Switch finally launched, capping off what has been a long and exhaustive road from reveal to release. The game has a lot going for it, much of which ties it to the JRPGs of our youth. Its HD-2D presentation is absolutely stunning, and the focus on the different jobs of the playable characters is one of the reasons I keep coming back to this genre. I love a good job system and we touched on the topic late last year when I ask the staff to name their favorite RPG class.

Because of Octopath, classes and jobs have been on my mind all week and I thought it’d be fun to approach the subject once more from a different angle. Most of us who write for Destructoid don’t do it full time. We have other jobs, some have careers, which bring home the bacon and allow us to dabble in this charade we call games journalism. I myself work in state government. I don’t particularly care for it, but it’s better than being flat broke all the time.

Perhaps I would enjoy it more if my job was more like something I’d find in one of those JRPGs. After all, if my career were more like the jobs and classes of Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy, I wouldn’t be stuck in an office all day replying to emails, pushing papers, and placing orders for more Wite-Out. I’d be out on an adventure, playing second fiddle to whatever warrior-class barbarian is leading my team. That’s where my head has been, so I asked the rest of the Destructoid staff to get there as wel??l for this week’s question.

CJ Andriessen
Actual Job: Office Technician
JRPG Job: Parchment Pusher
Role: Assist/Support

Office Technician is a non-sexist way of saying secretary. I’m a secretary, but not one of those cool secretaries from Mad Men who wear tight skirts, read ?magazines all day, and get impregnated by Pete Campbell only to gi?ve up the child and have it mentioned like two more times in the series.

Oh Peggy…

As an Office Technician, I am the support staff for my entire dep?artment. I order supplies, send faxes, make copies, mail reports, compile expenses, and other simplistic duties that really put that Bachelor’s Degree to good use. As such, if my job were one in a JRPG, I would be a support character. When a tank, warrior, rogue, or any other class gets hurt in battle, I’ll be there with an STT-146 form to order some healing supplies for them. When morale gets low during a boss battle, I’d be there to send an email reminding everyone of the vegan-friendly barbecue we’re having on Friday between the hours of 12:00 and 2:00. If another character has a sleep spell cast on them, I can smack them awake the same way I do the copier each morning. I can even do summons. When the party is on the verge of death, you can rely on me to summon the Alhambra ??Water lady to replenish the party and keep on fighting.

I get that playing secretary, or what I’ll be referring to as Parchment Pusher from now on, isn’t sexy. But you need us. Because once everyone el?se in the party falls, it’ll be up to me to bring them back to life with a proper stamped and notarized equipment refurbishment form. Just don’t ask me to fight as I’m incredibly frail due to severe vitamin D deficiency having spent the last 10 years working in an office with no direct contact to sunlight.

Darren Nakamura
Actual Job: Analytical Chemist
JRPG Job: Royal Taster
Role: Support/Status Effects

On a day-to-day basis, I'm wearing a lab coat, handling boiling acids, and playing with complex instruments to let you know just?? h?ow much toxic lead is in your children's playground soil (spoiler: it's in there, but not much, don't worry about it).

While the obvious JRPG job for a Chemist would be, well, a Chemist, as an Analytical Chemist I'm more often looking for bad stuff in places you don't want it than synthesizing and administering good stuff to heal the party. In that way, I'm more like a modern-day Royal Taster, taking a sample of your food and making sure it's safe for you to eat. Except I do it wi?th science instead of by ingesting poison.

Of course, I do still have access to all sorts of nasty reagents, so if you need me ??to set the battlefield on fire, throw some corrosive solution on a renegade automaton, or even slyly poison your enemies, I can do that too. Just don't put me on the front lines; most of my weapons are made of glass, so while they can do some de??cent piercing damage, they're generally one-time use for that.

Occams Electric Toothbrush
Actual Job: Archivist
JRPG Job: Sage
Role: Assist/Caster

An Archivist is like a specialty class for a librarian. I’m still technically considered a librarian, but I deal almost exclusively with the old stuff. As an Archivist, my job is to catalog, preserve, maintain? and make available the historical repository of an institution. I basically hang out in a room surrounded by manuscripts, books, papers and stuff that ranges from days old to hundreds of years old and make sure it sticks aroun??d for a while. It’s awesome.

A very important aspect of my job beyond preservation is making the materials accessible to people. That can mean providing in-house access within the institution or making materials available digitally to folks across the globe. Digital archives are arguably going to be the way of the future, with more and more archives digitizing their collections to make them ??available in ways only dreamed of in the past. I help provide a window in the past and keep the history of a place alive and well in the present.

Along those lines, in a JRPG, I am a Sage. I have the knowledge and we all know that knowledge is power. Need to know which magic is most effective against the Emerald Dragon of the Great Forest? Maybe you’re looking for the Six Secret Names of the Void Watcher? I got you covered, boo. And while knowledge is power, it helps that I have all kinds of nift?y tricks up my sleeve. Having the right scroll or ring could mean the difference between life and death after all!

ShadeOfLight
Actual Job: Ph.D. Researcher
JRPG Job: Pretend Scholar
Role: Buffs/Debuffs

You'd think that floating somewhere in between being a student and having an actual job would be the cushiest position imaginable. You set your own hours, don't have a boss, do everything in your own way, and yet you get paid at the end of the month. To a certain extent that's entirely true. Although on the flipside there is also a lot of insecurity that comes with that: "Am I smart enough for this?", "How do I stay motivated?", "Am I doing it right?", "Is this chapter good enough; have I overlooked something?", "What if I can't meet everyone's expectation??s of me?"

While spending four years learning everything there is to know ab??out something that intrigues you is a blast, those insecurities are a very real and integral part of doing a Ph.D. My JRPG self takes all the good parts of doing a Ph.D to buff the party, while turning the doubts and uncertainties around on our enemies as debuffs.

I can use 'Wall of Text' to up our defense for a few turns while using 'Citation Needed' to make enemies waste a turn double-checking something they wrote last year (and have already double-checked twice since then). The 'Eureka!' skill ups our speed by 50% due to a sudden flash of inspiration. Meanwhile, 'Impostor Syndrome' p?revents enemies from using m?agic because they're convinced they're probably not that great of a mage anyway; they're just waiting for the moment people will finally call them out on faking it this whole time.

If all goes well I'll eventually reach level 99 when I'll learn ??'All Worth It.' I'll let you know what it does when I get there.   

Chris Hovermale
Actual Job: Underemployed
JRPG Job: Freelancer
Role: Jack-of-all-trades

Job searching fresh out of college is rough, especially if you make the same mistake I did and assume you can easily get into a new career just because you have a degree. That’s like grinding on a bunch of weirdly balanced mobs that drop a lot of money to upgrade your gear, but not enough EXP to be on par with the recommended lev??el. And you’re playing an MMO that refuses to let you play a quest until you meet that level. I learned this the hard way through the past t??wo years, and it’s hard to get anywhere like that. Yet because I was only tethered to a part-time supermarket gig, I had the freedom and opportunity to learn new things and mix and match my skills. Much like the classic Freelancer, the lack of a job can be both a blessing and a curse.

Having the time to do whatever you want is an excellent way to get a feeling for how you want to proceed and how you don’t. Being able to try out different weapons and learn all low-level spells without restrictions breathing down your neck ca?n be libera?ting. It even led me here to Destructoid! But unfortunately, most lives aren’t that simple. We have bigger challenges ahead of us. Debts to repay. Retirement savings to build. Dark lords to slay.

Even if they impose new limitations on us, we often need real jobs to give us the strength to accompli??sh those goals. It’s a trade-off for developing more specific skills. Theoretically, you can get a happy ending without ever changing to a proper job, but it’ll take a lot more grinding than otherwise. More time than most people enjoy wasting on ove??rly simplistic roles, anyway.

Still, if used properly (and with luck), one’s time without a true job can open up many doors for the future. I tried out new skills, I experimented with my options, I searched all over for opportunities, I practiced and practiced and practiced, and eventual??ly…

JOB CHANGE! (Going into effect July 23rd)

Actual Job: Web Developer
JRPG Job: Technomancer
Role: Magic (electric) damage, lesser support magic

… I gained that new job I’ve been looking for. It is not easy being a “noob” job such as a student or an underemployed job seeker. But it’s always a necessary step towards whatever you really want to do for ?the rest of your playthrough. The important (and sometimes hard) thing is training?? to meet those prerequisites.

Rich Meister
Actual Job: Automotive Service Writer
JRPG Job: Mediator/Thief
Role: Support

Much like everyone else this whole games journalism thing doesn't quite pay my bills yet. During the day I wor??k as a Service Writer at an auto shop that I won't name drop here. My job is simple. I serve as the middleman between folks having their cars repaired and the mechanics doing the work (really p??utting my audio engineer schooling to good use).

It's my job to inform people?? about the condition their vehicle is in and encourage them to have the repairs recommended by our te?chnicians performed, but in a JRPG I'd part people from their coin in other ways.

As the groups? smooth talking Thief/Mediator, I'd convince guards to let us come and go as we pleased, and I'd have enemies parting with their coin without even having to pick their pockets.

Josh Tolentino
Actual Job: HR Analyst
JRPG Job: The little fairy that updates your quest log
Role: User interface element

I  actually work i?n outsourcing, so if CJ is something of a secretary, I'm one o??f the people who is paid so someone like CJ doesn't have to get up early in the morning to fill out a spreadsheet before the weekly meeting.

Most of my job involves managing schedules and sending reminders, and if there's anything in JRPGs that handles that sort of task, it's the UI. In a game like Zelda I'd be a text version of Navi (maybe the Sheikah Slate?), and in a Persona game, I'm your phone (but much less stylish).

Patrick Hancock
Actual Job: History Teacher
JRPG Job: Scholar
Role: Buff/Debuff

There's actually a Scholar role in a few RPGs, Octopath Traveler included! Naturally, I picked him right away. I found it weird that he could like, you know, use magic like Lightning and Fireball. Geopolitical professor by day, black mage by night? I guess he reads the books and knows how to cast them? Even in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn&nbs??p;there's a Scholar class who...summons fairies to h??eal the team. Ok, let me tell you how Scholars should work.

Now if I was a math teacher, I'd be a Calculator from Final Fantasy Tactics and call it a day. But I teach History. So I'm thinking a buff and debuff character. Things like 'Lecture' that put the enemy to sleep. 'Inspire' coul??d encourage party members when they're down on their luck. The skill 'Extra Credit' could ?allow someone to take a second turn. 'The Teacher Look' could lower the attack of the enemy. That's how a "Scholar" role should play out -- using things that are actually used in the classroom!

To get a bit magical, I could summon in figures from the past as powerful attacks. Imagine a summon with all the pomp and circumstance of Final Fantasy summons, and then seeing Alexander the Great and a huge phalanx come rushing in for a major damage attack. So freaking cool!

Pixie The Fairy
Actual Job: Warehouse minion that packs medicine and vaccines
JRPG Job: Apothecary Supplier
Role: Supporter of Healers

People might want to be medics or chemists, but where do you think they get that stuff? NPCs don't just make it from thin air, it's not just found on ?the floor of a dun?geon. Someone made it and then realized to make money they needed a good distribution channel and that is where I come in. 

I'm a few steps ahead of where a pharmacist or doctor comes in and gives you the goods. The key stat for this job is endurance, though, because the hours are ??long a??nd tiring and people are sick or injured everywhere all the time. Adding to this, some medicine is perishable, so I have to pack it with that in mind and sometimes use ice. 

So endurance is key. You also need a high Mind stat because the job is monotonous. You also must have dexterity because you have to ship things out consistently and accurately. A meticulous personality is required as well so those medical goods are packed with care because you have seen what those FedEx people will do and you kn??ow that box with glass vials or syringes in it might be thrown at some point. Things must be packed with paper, bubble wrap or foam to ensure safety. ;

The Apothecary Supplier wil?l not rez you,?? they will not directly tend to every minor scrape a cyborg ninja may experience, but in the end, they know every invoice has a pharmacist or doctor's patient on the other end of it and what they need must arrive safely regardless of who touches that box along the way. It is a serious role that totally doesn't sometimes pick the hardest names to pronounce off the invoice when they're placed on the shipping label. 

The post What if your real-life career was a JRPG job? appeared first on Destructoid.

These are the songs that touched our souls

Good lord is it a scorcher out there or what? All week long, I've been doing everything in my power to move a little as possible so as not douse my clothing in sweat from the near triple-dig??it temperatures I have to endure. With no end to the heat in sight, it seems I'll be spending the next month or so the same way I spent this weekend: listening to music.

I haven't done many music posts for the Destructoid Discusses weekend posts. Not because I don't enjoy game music but because most of the tunes I know come from three or four franchises that get talked about all the time in this series. And today is no exception. I wanted to know what game music my fellow writers felt moved by, the music that takes an already extraordinary scene and amps up the emotion to David Cage levels. Easily, the song for me that fits that bill is "Midna's Lament" from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

It may not be my favorite game in the series, but this is no doubt my favorite scene from a Zelda game. Midna, the imp-cat who's been guiding me along on my adventure so far, is hurt. Close to death. I, as Link as a dog, must rush her to find help. To save her life. And while? I ru??n through this pouring rain, this is the song I hear.

Absolutely breathtaking. It's one of the best compositions you'll hear at the Zelda orchestral concert and is the "yin" to the visual's "yang" that combine to create one of the most memorable set pieces in all of Zelda. 

Peter Glagowski

The Zelda series has always had some incredible music and side quests (unless you're Breath of the Wild), so I can't even refute CJ's entry. That is one of the greatest moments in Twilight Princess, so I'm on board with his answer. As far as I'm concerned, though, Majora's Mask has the most emotional punch of the entire series. Basically every side quest is the entire scene with Midna's Lament, so you're on an emo??tional rollercoaster the entire time.

The most poignant scene, for me, is the one with Pamela's father. You enter Ikana Canyon and walk into the first building you see and there is no one there. Since Link just loves invading people's homes, you continue to press through in typical Zelda fashion looking for pots to smash or chests to open. This leads you ?to the basemen?t where, upon stepping close to the closet, a deformed creature pops out. When you step closer, his daughter jumps in front of you and berates you for breaking into their home.

Since Majora's Mask is all about curing everyone's sadness, you whip out the Ocarina of time and play the majestic "Song of Healing" and the man returns to his normal self. His daughter runs up to him ??in a loving embrace and cries about how he hasn't been doing anything bad. The man, looking dejected into the distance, realizes the pain he has caused her and the two hold each other as the song quietly plays in the background.

I can get pretty emotional when good music starts to kick in, but that scene really gets the waterworks going for me. I mean, a lot of other moments in Majora's Mask do the same thing, but that one is just pa?rticularly dramatic.

Chris Carter

I don't think a song has been stuck in my mind as long as "The Lost Painting [Portrait]" from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I hear it in my head at least twice a week, and when I do, I vividly envision the zon?es it plays in.

It's haunting and beautiful in one breath, the exact qualities I want out of a Castlevania tune. I really hope Bloodstained comes even close.

Chris Hovermale

I love video game music so much it's difficult to pin down my most important piece. Or it would be if this song didn't leave such a strong impression in me at an early age. As you may remember from my first promoted cblog, Paper Mario TTYD means? a lot to me because it broadened my perception of?? what games were. And "Sadness and Happiness" was handcrafted to show me what else games could be.

Unlike every other busy and master-crafted theme in this soundtrack, "Sadness and Happiness" is a very minimalistic song. It's just a mu?sic box, and it sounds slightly off. There are clear moments of complete silence. My first impulse was that it feels "wrong" and out of place compared to the rest of the soundtrack, but in reality, it's one of the least synthetic and most natural-sounding pieces this game has.

As its title suggests, it somehow works on both sides of the coin, perhaps because of its strange tone. It invokes tears of joy after a hard-fought battle leads to a well-earned miracle. It wells up tears of sadness when one of Mario's friends has to deal with the lack of such a miracle. It challenged me to feel something other than "fun" when I played video games, and I lacked the ability to fail that challenge. "Sadness and Happiness" still gives me goo?sebumps without fail almost two decades later. It's embedded that deep into my childhood memories.

Chris Seto

When it comes to video game music, one OST always comes up first in my mind and that is Xenogears. It's one of my favourite games of all time and the music plays a hug????e part in why. 

It's one of the earliest games I played where hearing the tracks at certain points enhances the moment because you know what is about to happen and there are a lot of memorable tracks from the game. For me, there's one which stands out. Yes, "Soaring" is a great track to get you pumped up, which is why it's used in the action scenes a lot. "Stage of De??ath" is still a fantastic battle theme but the one that always gets to me is "The Treasure that Cannot be Stolen." 

It just fits so well into every scene it's used and pulls at your heart strings just enough to add to the scene without taking you away from it. Whenever I want to listen to Xenogears music, this is the track I always play first.

Tian Ma

I'm going with "Snowflakes" from Persona 4 Golden, a song that is the very definition of "the feels." I was already a huge Persona 4 fan when Golden came ?out, so I had gone through the social links and built up friendships in the original game. The track "Snowflakes" hits as the story is winding down, signaling your impending departure from the town of Inaba.

It hits hard. It felt like I had to leave my real life friends because I had invested so much time in befriending these characters, learning about their personal struggles, and helping them. When all the dust had settled?? from our adventures, all that was left was to run out the school year.

A melancholy intro leads into these lyrics: "Snowflakes falling on your face/a cold wind blows away/the laughter from t??his treasured place/but in our memories it st??ays." Even writing about it, I'm getting a bit teary-eyed. The song is telling you, get your shit done because it'll be time to say goodbye soon. Ah... can I just get one more day?

Josh Tolentino

I was about to cite Persona 3's "Burn My Dread Last Battle" for my entry (because it's great, honestly) when I thought a bit more about what I wanted it to mean when music "moves" me. Honestly speaking, I don't listen to music very often outside the context of other media, making most of my favorite pieces par?t of a soundtrack of some kind. That's all well and good, but as a result, I don't listen to a ton of music once I'm done playing the game or watching the movie or show it's attached to. Can I really say it "moved" me when I let it sit by the wayside until the time come??s for me to throw in an entry to a Destructoid Discusses installment?

By those criteria, one piece I've listened to consistently no matter where I've ended up is the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, specifically its "Radio Espantoso" station. Of those pieces, "Maracaibo Oriental" by Cuban legend Benny Moré is the one that does the trick, which is to say, whenever I hear it, I'm instantly transported to my high school days, remembering the times I skipped out on math tutorials to play Counter-Strike with my? friends at a nearby internet cafe. If that's not movement, I do??n't know what is.

Pixie The Fairy

Before Link ever picked up an ocarina, he was mostly playing flutes but there was a journey in which he had to obtain and play several instruments to end a nightmare and awaken a mys?terious being he had begun to share a dream with. 

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening has remained one of my favorite games in the Zelda series and Zelda wasn't even in it. Ganon and the Triforce were not in it, either, and it didn't take place in? Hyrule at all! No, this was a game where Link had to prove his mettle on the mysterious Kohlint Island where he meets Marin, Tarin and its several odd inhabitants.

Marin's song,"The Ballad of the Wind Fish," quickly became a memorable tune? even through Game Boy's tinny little speaker and is one of those tunes that still affects me a lot like Final Fantasy X's "To Zana??rkand" does and for the same reasons.

All dreams must come to an end, but it doesn't mean they can't affect us or hold meaning or that who we met in them were not important. Though I'm still curious how Link came to dream of Goombas and saw a Chain-Chomp as a dog, which Mario only later viewed them as in Super Mario 64. Maybe the Wind Fish made a stop in the Mushro??om K?ingdom once?

Chris Moyse

Someone had to call it, right? In the decades I've spent playing games, there's an abundance of amazing, amazing music that makes me feel happy, content, melancholic or like an absolute badass. But, sometimes, you gotta go with the classics. So I've chosen a piece of music I find so beautiful, but so incredibly sad, that just ??its opening notes get my chest fluttering.

"Aerith's Theme" is used sparingly over the course of Square Enix revolutionary RPG Final Fantasy VII. While it starts out as just a piec?e of music used to identify a character of pure innocence, a gentle flower grown out of a world of dirt, the theme ultimately becomes the soundtrack for one of the most memorable and heartbreaking scenes in video game history, expertly directed to sync-up with the ?on-screen tragedy.

Beginning with 16 of the saddest notes ever, before blossoming into a melody of lost innocence, sad memories but eternal and undying hope, "Aerith's Theme" is a composition crafted to draw tears, and for many, including myself, it did, retaining the power to do so today, some 21 years later. 

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