Free-Ebooks.net now has a ranking system for their top 10 most popular books. And now...the sad part...The Judge is falling off the chart. Barely hanging on at the 10th spot. And we were so close to 18,000 too.... But I suppose all good things must come to an end (I feel like I've said this a million times).
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Anyway, things have been pretty crazy with the snow. I mean...we only had ONE snow storm...and that caused the whole county (not country) to not have school for a week! That's crazy. I've never heard of skipping school for a week because of snow.
Everything got messed up. Postal service got held up for three days. Trash guys haven't even showed up at all.
A little snow and all society falls.
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At the moment, I don't know how I feel. I don't want to think about it. I try to blot out all thoughts, feelings, worries and concerns from my mind.
Am I sad that Coranite Chronicles was not as good as I had hoped? Yeah.
I don't really care about Awake, so it has exceeded my expectations in that regard and I'm satisfied with it.
But Coranite Chronicles...was kind of like a child...my child...even if that sounds totally weird.
But with the fall of Coranite Chronicles...I feel...that I really must give it my all in order to, at least, make it to the final round of the ABNA contest.
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With that said, I'm just going to move on. I don't want to go to bed full of worry.
I'll finish this SLMP with a talk about video games.
Let's see.... What should I talk about? Something recent? Something old? Something popular? Or perhaps something...lesser known?
Maybe I'll start with...my favorite game(s) of all time.
That's right. Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 are my favorites games of all time. Now, of course, that's a bit silly to say isn't, it? After all...Galaxy 2 only just came out last year in...May. But I stand by the "of all time" statement...because quite frankly, you just know these things.
Now...for some people...there shouldn't be a need to explain my choice. It's not some obscure hidden gem or anything. It's a popular game...widely known...a big seller (though not as big as the 2D mario titles). But for those who don't quite understand the appeal of these games...I shall start...from the...beginning.
I grew up...in the age of Mario (the age of NES really). Got my first NES (Nintendo Entertainment System for those of you...who really have no idea what I'm talking about) when I was about four or five. Splendid games they were, those Mario games. I mean...just look at all the other games in those times! Most of them...we're pretty much badly designed or super hard for no reason.
But not Mario. No. They were hard...but fair. And they worked to bring tons of creativity in a genre where people just slapped their hands together and said, "We made a game!"
Honestly, if you gave me a NES today (due to your supreme generosity), there are very few games I would even bother to play on it. Many licensed games, games based on movies or cartoons...they were absolutely HORRIBLE. They rarely, if ever, made any sense. And...they were usually just simple run-attack-die type of games. Pointlessly hard, completely ridiculous goals and objectives, impossible to find secrets...the list goes on and on. Even flash games today are probably more fun than most NES titles. (And just think...those NES games cost over $50! And that was in the 90's!)
But I'm not here to complain about the NES (even though I will at any given moment). I'm here to explain about Galaxy!
And before I continue, let me add that I had never played a 3D Mario platformer before Galaxy. That's right. I've never played Mario 64 and I've never played Sunshine. And quite frankly, I don't really have much of an urge to play them. I mean, I would play them--if you strapped me in a chair, tossed me a controller, threw me in front of a tv, and turned it on for me. SURE! I'd play it. But...at the moment, I'm already super satisfied by what Super Mario Galaxy has to offer me.
When I first heard that Super Mario Galaxy was coming out, I wasn't sure what to think. I had never played a 3D Mario game, but the concept seemed tempting. However, what really sold me on the game...was nostalgia. A pretty lame reason, for sure, but I can't deny it.
Nintendo really can sell you your childhood.
The reason I remotely cared about buying/playing Super Mario Galaxy was really due to the mario games of old. Hearing those wonderful tunes that had been stuck in my head for twenty years...in a glorious orchestral remix...is really an experience hard to describe. Candy to my ears? Pure bliss in my head? I don't know what to call it. All I know is...that it works.
Every time I turn on the game and hop into a level...the soundtrack gets in my head...and lets all the little fairies prance on my brain cells. It is delight. It is sweet. It is...obsessive. How can music be this good? Nostalgia. Sometimes I wonder...if I had never heard those songs over and over again when I was a child...would it have the same effect? I can never find out.
But aside from the music...the design of the game is quite amazing as well. There is an incredible amount of variety. There are levels where you clumsily ride a manta ray down a huge roller-coaster of water suspended in midair. Then there's a little segment with fire and ice. Spin Mario around...and he skates along the ice like he's a gold medalist. Spin Mario around...and he shoots fireballs from his BARE HANDS(I've never seen any plumber do that before). There are even levels where Mario rides a giant ball (yeah...I didn't want to write it either) and learning to steer with the motion control is half the fun! On top of that...you never really have to play the game any specific way. Through tricks, you can find secret areas and shortcuts. You can go to places you never even thought were part of the game. You can try to challenge yourself because of how flexible Mario can be (again...I feel like everything can be worded better).
There are a million things I can say about this game--from the gorgeous environments, to the delightfully cute designs of the characters.
But there can be no easier way to sum up my feelings than this:
I can never get bored of the games.
Super Mario Galaxy 1/2 are quite literally...
the only games in existence...
that I can never get bored of.
And that's it for today. I still don't get why I have a blog. But sometimes it feels...relieving (almost like...going to the bathroom) to just write thoughts on something. It's a bit of a break from writing a story.
