Katawa Shoujo Question.

Hello folks, this thing is rather dusty isn't it? Time to fix that. Today I am here to talk about Katawa Shoujo. What is Katawa Shoujo, it's a visual novel created by a group of people on the internet called 4 Leaf Studios. I'm currently working on a review for Animation Revelation right now. I'd say it's 25% done. To clear my mind of that I decided to fill out this questionnaire I see on Katawa Shoujo Generals. These are basically questions about the game/story itself, so it goes without saying that there will be spoilers. Yes, that's right spoilers, if you want to avoid them, stop reading right now. If you don't give a damn, keep on reading. Without further ado, here we go...

1.What route did you connect with the most? Why?

Tough one, I'd say I connect with every route in it's own way. But if I had to pick one, I would say Hanako since I'm a really shy person in real life.

2.What is/are your favorite song(s) in the game? What comes to mind when you listen to it?

Red Velvet and Innocence. When I hear RV that I think about being in some jazz bar and I'm straight edge. As for Innocence, it really captures the mood of innocence of these characters and it reminds me of that slow instrumental of "We Are" that played in the early episodes of One Piece.

3.For those who didn't aim for a specific girl, what was your first route, and why do you think you got it?

Emi was my first. I think it might have something to do with how Emi felt like she wanted to fix Hisao or something after giving him a near fatal heart attack in the game and felt sorry for forcing that on him. Story wise, that's why I thought I got Emi since I thought that after that it would branch off to Hanako/Rin/Lilly/ since I pissed off the Shizune and Misha.

4.Which H-scene was the best? Describe what you liked about it the most (Ex. art, text, setting).

I loved the bath scene between Hisao and Lilly. Really emotional stuff and I just loved the interaction with those two during the scene. That and the art was pretty.

5.Who was your favorite bro/background character in the game? What did you like about them?

The Nurse. I just loved how much of a supporter he was during the Emi route and he had a nice sense of humor. That's right, The Nurse was a true bro as he tried to help you.

6.After this game, did you change anything about yourself? What did you change, and how do you think this game brought you to change it?

I work out more everyday, I try to draw more everyday, and I try to be more sociable as well. I was half way on working out, but slacked off every other day, but this game gave me determination to continue.

7.What scene in the game made you the happiest?

Hanako's good ending. I'm a sucker for happy endings and I just loved the kiss Hanako gave Hisao near the end. That and the bonding both of these two had after learning how much of a mistake their sex scene was.

8.What scene made you the angriest?

Probably learning how much of an ass Jigoro was to his kids. Face it, he tried to teach his deaf daughter how to talk. If you don't know what it's like listening to a deaf person talk, it's not fucking pretty, it's something that people can hear their own voices take advantage of. That and what use would her being able to talk on a phone accomplish if she can't hear you? Sure she can learn to read lips and all that, but on a phone, you really need an interpreter.

9.What scene made you the saddest?

You mean happy sad or sad sad? Happy sad was Lilly coming back to Hisao on his hospital bed while playing the jukebox Hisao got for her while shopping for Hanako's birthday gift. Sad sad would be Rin's "neutral" ending if you could call it that. The fact that she told Hisao to forget her made me depressed and I regretted doing that even though I got her good ending before getting that ending. That and "I have no arms to hug you with"

10.Was it rape? (Referring to the Hanako/Hisao sex scene)

NOOO! I stand by the theory that Hisao and Hanako weren't emotionally ready for sex with each other. Yes, to me sex is both physical and emotional. Besides, it was consensual on both ends. Hanako allowed Hisao to do so and even admitted that when Hisao questioned it later.

11.Assuming you all played to game, curious about cripple sex, at what point did you realize the game was nothing like you imagined? What is the game to you now?

I went into this game expecting to bang disabled girls and to see what a few friends on twitter were talking about. Now this game is something I play to either make myself feel better or sad depending on the girl I play. I would say that during the first act meeting all the girls and seeing fleshed out personalities for most of them is what changed it, and the lesson that a disability is only a problem if you make it one was a flag that made me notice that this wasn't a regular Hentai game.

12.What did this game lack, aside from other routes? What did this game excel at?

I'd say it lacked immersion with there being few choices. To me the lack of choices for me felt flat during the Shizune route. Shit was dry as hell in that route. As for excel, I loved the story in most of the routes. Any story that can make me feel emotional and still remember the characters is awesome in my book.

13. Finally, which route was Hisao the most retarded?

Gotta go with Emi. This was a tough one, I was struggling with not understanding Rin, Him neglecting his meds during Lilly's route or white-knighting attitude during Hanako's, but I still say Emi since usually when someone says their so-and-so isn't around anymore, I take that as my cue that the person is dead and is either a bunch of ashes in an urn or 6 feet under. Seriously, how could he not understand what that meant? When Emi's mom said that I fully understood her. Did no one around him have anyone that died? I mean seriously, I learned that shit when I was a young boy.

With that, I feel a little better about filling this out.

AGENTS ARE GO!!!

HEEEAAALLLP! AGENTS ARE GO! Whenever you hear those words, the Elite Beat Agents will be on the scene helping you out.

Elite Beat Agents is without a doubt, one of my favorite Nintendo DS games ever made. At the time, I thought that the game sounded stupid and silly. But then I decided to check it out because of how I heard about the game play, and I fell in love with it. The history behind this game's creation is very interesting. You see, Elite Beat Agents was developed by a Japanese company called iNiS, which is an acyromn for "infinite Noise of the inner Soul." With a slogan like that, I guess it is safe to say that they're mostly a developer for music games. Their first game made for the DS was the Japan only, "Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan" or "Go! Fight! Cheer Squad" Which is basically what the game play of Elite Beat Agents was based on. The reason we got Elite Beat Agents was because of how many copies of Ouendan were imported outside of Japan, and Nintendo saw note of that and decided to bring the series over to the US. During one press release, they even referred to Elite Beat Agents as the American version of "the cult import hit Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan." When you mention the fact that this game is going to be the American version of a Japanese only game

The game play is pretty straight forward. You tap these balls known as Hit Markers that appear on the touch screen in numerical order. You get points based on how well timed they are. 300 for Perfect, 100 for Good, 50 for OK, and an X for Bad. Also, there are times where you then hit the number and follow a path, this path is known as a Phase Marker. Within this path, a ball appears and you have to keep your stylus on it at all times. They also follow the same mechanics as Hit Markers with the scoring system there is also random intervals where you have to spin a circle known as Spin Markers. You have to spin this and fill up the bars on the side before a circle closes in on it. Spinning it even long after you fill up the bars on the side is a good thing, considering that it does boost your score, I do recommend spinning it as fast as you can. For every consecutive note that you hit, there is a multiplier that will boost your score as well. Like most other music games like Guitar Hero and the like, you have a life bar. If you do well on a song, you get a positive scene in your scenario. If you do bad, but not fail the song completely, you'll get a failed, but hilarious scene. If you let that life bar drop to zero, you have to start all over again.

What does the scoring system do? Other than ranking your progress on the song, with the usual rankings of D, C, B, A and S, there is also a ranking system where you're given separate title and can be used to unlock 3 more songs in the story, which you can then used to rank up yet again. You can also check back on your progress of a song by hitting replay after finishing a song., and you can choose to save it for future reference or not.

The story in this game... well... uh... it's kind of hard to describe really, and that's OK, because every scenario is a standalone adventure until the final 2 songs/scenarios where everyone else bands together for the big bad. You can be helping someone like a babysitter trying to ask her boyfriend to go steady while trying to calm down these kids she has to babysit, to a movie director that's trying to finish his movie, to helping a white blood cell who is personified as a hot nurse fight a virus that is infecting this athlete, to helping a retired baseball player fight a lava golem at an amusement park. I think that's a perfect example of how the jobs can range from pretty mundane stuff to extraordinary, out of this world stuff.

As for the agents you control, they depend on the difficulty you're playing on. Easy gets Agent Spin, a rookie among the lowest ranks as his rank is even lower than the back-up dancers of Derek and Morris. He's sort of looks like Agent J from Men in Black, which would kind of it with his rookie motif. Agent J, he's the guy you play with on Normal and the one you see on all the promotional material. Think of him as the Mario, Link, Pikachu, Samus, Fox, etc. of the franchise. Agent Chieftan is the #1 agent. He looks more like a Blues Brother in appearance. Then for the very hard mode, you have the Elite Beat Divas, the only playable females in this game. They're basically a separate unit that dresses differently than the males. Instead of wearing suits like the males, they were very revealing clothing and wield pom-poms. There is also their Commander in Chief, Commander Kahn. Who watches for problems to send his agents to solve. You could also play as him after beating the game with everyone.

As for the song selection, I will say that when it does come to music that I'm not really the paragon of good taste when it comes to that kind of stuff. However, I will say that most of the cover songs in this game were better than the original. This song made me like an Ashley Simpson song of all things. That song was called "La La" which was about how she wanted to be your sex slave. According to some research, I found out that Chicago's "You're the Inspiration" was one of the worst songs ever made. Really, I was shocked to learn that after the heartwarming segment it was paired with. I will also go on the record saying that the covers in this game had me singing the songs to myself, they were just that good.

The graphics, you have 2 different styles. On the top screen, there are some comic/manga inspired drawings. They are pretty high quality stuff. The details on certain characters are pretty amazing. From the strands of hair, to the muscle tone, these guys really had their work cut out for them. The bottom screen has the agents dancing. I will say that despite how blocky the Agents look on the DS, and I do keep in mind that when it comes to rendering 3D graphics, the DS isn't the king in that department, that were rendered pretty well. They have separate dance moves for every song, and it's not like that you'll see agents repeat all the same movements that they do during the songs chorus. You won't see the handstand they do in "Canned Heat" anywhere else, or even their funny dance in Material Girl repeated on any other songs. To that I say, kudos to all those guys that programmed the agent's models to do that. I wonder if they used reference or created them on the spot. But either way, I still like that nice touch.

I will say that when I did take the chance to listen to some of the songs, learn the meanings of their lyrics and such, and most of the time, it doesn't make sense. I mean one scenario is about a baseball player who feels all washed up, and tries to save one his fans from a fire breathing golem. The song that went with that scenario? "The Anthem" as made famous by Good Charlotte. Of course that's just one example, considering that this whole game is filled with it. In fact, I think it might be easier to just list the songs that actually fit the scenarios in question. The one off the top of my head has to go with the second to last stage, set to Hoobastank's Without a Fight. Considering that you're fighting what is considered the ultimate evil at this point, and the song is about fighting back, it is the most fitting song. I guess Chicago's "You're the Inspiration" can work as well. Seeing as how that song is about someone you love and hold dear to your heart, and the person in this song does have someone that they hold dear to their heart that is no longer with them. In fact, the song selection was one of the reasons as to why some friends of mine in High School gave this game a pass. Such a shame really, they were missing out.

All in all, this game had some decent game play and charm to it. You can find this game either at your used video game retailer, or on an online store. Since I think that Nintendo stopped manufacturing this game and sending major retailer’s new copy.

Favorite Pokémon of the Generations. GENERATION 1!

Anyone who knows me knows that Pokémon is one of my favorite Nintendo franchise made. I've been a fan of it since Day 1 when the anime came over and Red and Blue were all the rage. It's been a very long time since the Franchise has started out. We have had 4 Generations of Pokémon for each handheld system, having about 493 new monsters into the mix, and now with Black and White, we're looking at 649 of the little guys. With that I plan to look back at some of my favorite monsters from each Generation, leading up to Black and White release. That's right, ranging from Kanto to Johto to Hoenn to Sinnoh to Unova, I'll be listing my favorites of each type. How will I be handling this, well it will vary based on both design and battle prowess.

Let's start off with Generation 1. Keep in mind, that the Steel and Dark types weren't made official yet. I could give either Magnemite or Magneton the spot, but I'm going with Generation I setting with this list, so just expect the original 15 types, then when I get into Johto and beyond, all types will be covered.

Normal- Snorlax- As a kid, I always liked that big sleepy bear that would block my path. He was pretty strong for a Normal type, and could take a hit or two before going down. Sure he had low speed, but I didn't care due to how much payback that thing can deliver. As for it's design, it was pretty neat. It somewhat reminded me of Totoro.

Fighting- Hitmonchan- A fighting type with boxing gloves? That was pretty unique, considering that most of the Fighting types in were based on various forms of fighters, the Machop line reminded me of Pro-Wrestler, Hitmonlee was like more kicking related, and Hitmonchan is a boxer. I've always had a liking for Boxing, and Hitmonchan kind of had this charm in it that made me pick it above the rest.

Flying- Farfetch'd- Yes he is ultimately Pokémon's joke character. A joke I saw on Smogon sums his situation up right. Scroll down to the Opinions part of the page. It has the lowest base stats in the game for a Pokémon that doesn't evolve, can only be obtained in a trade in which you give up the potential to have an even better flying type, but man I just like ducks, especially one that holds an onion leek as a weapon. He reminds me of a samurai in a way. Because of that onion leek, and his semi samurai looks, he had a cool design that I put above the bird I use the most in Kanto, which is Fearow.

Poison- Arbok- It's a snake, and they're awesome. Well OK, I think the anime might be helping there since Arbok was Jessie's main mon, and Jessie was one of my favorite member on the team. I kind of like that mark on it's belly, and it's pretty cool how they do differ subtly from region to region. If you look really close enough, you'll notice that. My only complaint about it is, that I kind of wished that they kept the marking if they were from a different game. I mean, even though you couldn't see it from the back, I thought it would be pretty cool to see someone have an Arbok from the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions.

Ground- Nidoking- I was going to put down Nidoking as my favorite Poison type, but when I realized that back then the only Poison move it knew that could do damage was Poison Sting, and Toxic, and that other ground types weren't my cup of tea. But anyway, Nidoking is a pretty good mixed attacker, both back in the day, and now. Considering it's base Special Attack is only 7 points lower than attack, I don't feel like that giving it a special attack is a waste for a move.

Rock- Golem- For some reason, I don't remember a single trainer in the game that used Golem. Which is a shame, since Golem was pretty decent for the most part. While Rock types did kind of suck back in Generation I, with most of them having double weaknesses, like Onix, Kabuto, Omastar, etc. I thought that Golem was pretty decent, especially since I was able to use him after trading to my brother's Red version, then back to my Blue.

Bug- Scyther- Back then, Bug type was sort of like a joke. They really weren't that strong, didn't have that many powerful moves, which was kind of a shame, considering they were the only thing that were super effective against Psychic types. I am convinced that if Bugs weren't gimped in this gen, the likes of Scyther and Pinsir probably would have had a strong Bug Type move on them, and they would have been on teams to counter the likes of Alakazam, Mewtwo, Hypno, and most likely OHKO them. As for Scyther, I kind of like his design, I like the blades he has

Ghost- Gengar- Yeah, Generation only had 3 Ghost Types, all of which came from the same evolution family. But Gengar reigns supreme within his line with his neat shadow design, and being a pretty good special attacker with a nice speed stat as well. He's pretty much one of my favorites to use on my battling teams due to his hit hard and fast approach.

Fire: Arcanine- The noble beast of Arcanine was one of my favorites back in the day. As far as capture fire types goes, he was the best. With boasting high attack strength, decent speed, he was a pretty decent mix attacker. It also helps that he's pretty strong for a monster that only evolves once. His noble and regal appearance also set him apart from the likes of Nintales, Charizard, Magmar, Moltres

Water: Poliwrath- While Poliwhirl is a favorite of Satoshi Tajiri, I myself was a fan of it's evolution. It might be because it also contains one of my favorite types, Fighting. But Poliwrath weird Frog design puts it above the rest of the water types for me.

Grass: Bulbasaur- it's the nostalgia in me when I pick Bulbasaur, but really looking back, there really weren't that many Grass types that I liked in this Generation. I guess it also helps that Bulbasaur was the first Pokémon I ever picked in a Pokémon game and that he help me beat the Elite Four.

Electric- Jolteon- Jolteon takes the cake as my favorite. He is one of the fastest creatures alive, has impressive Special stat. the only downside for it was it's limited movepool back in Gen I, and lack of good special attacks, but it was one of the few monsters that was able to go toe to toe with Lance's Aerodactyl.

Psychic- Mr. Mime: Ah yes, the game breakers of Generation I. If you had a Psychic type on your team, mostly the likes of Alakazam, Hypno, Starmie, Exeggutor, and if you had early access to it, Mewtwo, you can pretty much breeze through the game. Though looking back, Mr. Mime was one of the fragile Psychics. Though, thanks to it looking like a mime/clown, it became my favorite.

Ice- Lapras- This generation only had 5 of them, and most of them were dual types. But Lapras sort of stands out for me in a way. I always kind of liked this Loch Ness inspiried monster, and I thought it was perfect for traveling with. Also, there is something calming about Lapras design that I find relief in.

Dragon: Dragonite- Well like Ghost types, Generation I only had 3 Dragon types, all of which belonged in the same family. With this Dragonite was the first among the Psuedo-Legendary, which are fully evolved Pokémon with base stats totaling 600. While it's sprite was pretty derpy, and I'm still trying to figure out how Dragonair got wings, and turned a different color. I mean what the hell is this, and how did this become this? It's pretty much the only Dragon in the game, and I liked it for what it was worth.

Well, I encountered a list of new names for the Pokémon you can encounter in the Unova region, and here they are as followed, along with their Japanese names. Note, most of the romanizations come from Bulbapedia's listing of Pokémon obtained in the Unova dex. If you don't see one with a slash (/) next to their name, that means they retained their Japanese name. One more thing, this list doesn't give out the names for the 3 Event mons of Gen V, Keldeo, Meloetta, and Genesect, so they weren't included.

Victini

Snivy/Tsutarja

Servine/Janovy

Serperior/Jalorda

Tepig/Pokabu

Pignite/Chaoboo

Emboar/Embuoh

Oshawott/Mijumaru

Dewott/Futachimaru

Samurott/Daikenki

Patrat/Minezumi

Watchog/Miruhog

Lillipup/Yorterry

Herdier/Haderia

Stoutland/Murando

Purrloin/Choroneko

Liepard/Lepardas

Pansage/Yanappu

Simisage/Yanakkie

Pansear/Baoppu

Simisear/Baokkie

Panpour/Hiyappu

Simipour/Hiyakkie

Munna

Musharna

Pidove/Mamepato

Tranquill/Hatooboo

Unfezant/Kenhorou

Blitzle/Shimama

Zebstrika/Zeburaika

Roggenrola/Dangoro

Boldore/Gantoru

Gigalith/Gigaiath

Woobat/Koromori

Swoobat.Kokoromori

Drilbur/Mogurew

Excadrill/Doryuzu

Audino/Tabunne

Timburr/Dokkora

Gurdurr/Dotekkotsu

Conkeldurr/Roobushin

Tympole/Otamaro

Palpitoad/Gamagaru

Seismitoad/Gamageroge

Throh/Nageki

Sawk/Dageki

Sewaddle/Kurumiru

Swadloon/Kurumayu

Leavanny/Hahakomori

Venipede/Fushide

Whirlipede/Hoiiga

Scolipede/Pendra

Cottonee/Monmen

Whimsicott/Erufuun

Petilil/Churine

Lilligant/Doredia

Basculin/Basslao

Sandile/Meguroco

Krokorok/Waruvile

Krookodile/Waruvial

Darumaka

Darmanitan/Hihidaruma

Maractus/Marakacchi

Dwebble/Ishizumai

Crustle/Iwaparesu

Scraggy/Zuruggu

Scrafty/Zuruzukin

Sigilyph/Shinbora

Yamask/Desumasu

Cofagrigus/Desukam

Tirtouga/Purotoga

Carracosta/Abagoura

Archen/Aaken

Archeops/Acheos

Trubbish/Yabukuron

Garbodor/Dasutodasu

Zorua

Zoroark

Minccino/Chillarmy

Cinccino/Chillaccino

Gothita/Gothimu

Gothorita/Gochimiru

Gothitelle/Gothiruselle

Solosis/Yuniran

Duosion/Daburan

Reuniclus/ Ranculus

Ducklett/Koaruhie

Swanna

Vanillite/Vanipeti

Vanillish/Baniricchi

Vanilluxe/Baibanira

Deerling/Shikijika

Sawsbuck/Mebukijika

Emolga/Emonga

Karrablast/Kaburumo

Escavalier/Shubarugo

Foongus/Tamagetake

Amoonguss/Morobareru

Frillish/Pururiru

Jellicent/Burungel

Alomomola/Mamanbou

Joltik/Banchuru

Galvantula/Denchura

Ferroseed/Tesshido

Ferrothorn/Nattorei

Klink/Gear

Klang/Gigiaru

Klinklang/Gigigiaru

Tynamo/Shibishirasu

Eelektrik/Shibibiru

Eelektross/Shibirudon

Elgyem/Riguree

Beheeyem/Oobemu

Litwick/Hitomoshi

Lampent/Ranpuraa

Chandelure/Shandera

Axew/Kibago

Fraxure/Onondo

Haxorus/Ononokus

Cubchoo/Kumasyun

Beartic/Tsunbear

Cryogonal/Furiijio

Shelmet/Chobomaki

Accelgor/Agirudaa

Stunfisk/Maggyo

Mienfoo/Kojofu

Mienshao/Konjondo

Druddigon/Crimgan

Golett/Gobitto

Golurk/Boruggu

Pawniard/Komatana

Bisharp/Kirikizan

Bouffalant/Buffalon

Rufflet/Washibon

Braviary/Wargle

Vullaby/Baruchai

Mandibuzz/Barujiina

Heatmor/Kuitaran

Durant/Aianto

Deino/Monozu

Zweilous/Jiheddo

Hydreigon/Sazandora

Larvesta/Meraruba

Volcarona/Ulgamoth

Cobalion/Cobalon

Terrakion

Virizion

Tornadus/Tornelos

Thundurus/Voltolos

Reshiram

Zekrom

Landorus/Landlos

Kyurem

While this list is speculative at best, there have been quite a few names on this list that have been confirmed recently, like Sewaddle, Excadrill, Alomomola, Deerling, Basuclin, and Watchog, getting new names and Swanna retaining it's Japanese names. With this mind, I am having more stock in that this leaked list might be true. I'm keeping tabs on them on a wordpad document, because I feel like it, and I find it better so that way I can have a personal list on hand so that way I can see what people are talking about on other message boards like Bulbagarden, since most Pokémon fansites do have a liking for calling Pokémon after their Japanese names, while some prefer the English. Myself, I prefer to use English names when possible, but I'll keep that as a topic for another post. With that said, I'll be keeping tabs when new names are announced, and up until either someone leaks the ROMs, or I get the game.

See ya next time.

Nuzlocke Challenge has begun!

I'm finally going through with my plan to do a Nuzlocke run in LeafGreen. As for my self imposed rules, especially since Nuzlocke doesn't have definitive rules, this is what I'll be doing for my run:

-The player may only catch the first Pokémon encountered in each area, and none else. If the first Pokémon encountered faints or flees, there are no second chances. However, I am ammending the rule so I don't end up with duplicates. Say I encounter a Rattata on Route 1, catch it, and encounter one again on Route 2. I will be under no obligation to catch that.

-Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead, and will be put in the Graveyard Box. I don't feel like releasing them, and them in a box makes for a great reminder for me saying that "Oh hey, I did capture on Route 4"

- I am nicknaming all my mons so they're not just some nameless mooks.

- I will only use the trading feature to evolve any the mons that require trading to evolve. Since I am doing Kanto for this one, that means I will only use it for Graveler, Machoke, Kadabra, or Haunter, provided I catch and decide to raise one on my team that is.

-A black out/white is a "game over," even if there are Pokémon left in the PC.

- I will log most of my progress on this board, though I will keep a back up of it elsewhere.

Right now, my journey starts with a Squirtle I named Daxdiv, the trainer is obviously named David, with the rival trainer being named Dhana, after a friend of mine from High School. I encountered a Rattata on Route 1, since I didn't catch it, Route 1 is meaningless to me except for grinding, even though I fought it near the point where you don't have any Pokéballs.

After delivering the Parcel to Prof. Oak, getting my Pokedex, and getting my 5 complimentary Pokéballs, it was about time to get Daxdiv, Level 8, some teammates. My first mission was to go to Route 22, the first Pokemon I encountered was a Rattata Level 3. Caught it and named it Joey, who knows, maybe it will top percentage like a certain trainer's Rattata in Johto. ;) Then I went to Route 2 and caught me a Pidgey, whom I named Squit, after one of the characters from GoodFeathers segments in Animaniacs. After grinding and hoping that none of my team dies, I decided to fight Dhana on Route 22. Squit was able to take down both is Pidgey and Bulbasaur with relative ease. After fighting Dhana, I decided it was about time to go into the Viridian Forest, but first I stocked up on some Potions, and some Antidotes. As for the first creature I encountered, it was a Caterpie, Female, Level 4. Caught it like the rest and named it Wormy.

After trekking through the Viridian Forests and killing various Caterpies, Weedles, and one Pikachu (Why couldn't I encountered that first.) I was able to make it to Pewter City without any casualities, and oh yeah, Wormy evolved into a Metapod. I healed up at the Pokemon Center, and decided to go for my first badge. Daxdiv took the front lines and fought against the trainer with the Geodude and Sandshrew, thanks to that fight, he was able to learn Water Gun, which he used to OHKO Geodude and Onix, also Daxdiv activating Torrent might have been a bit of an overkill. With that, I have one badge and seven more to go before the league. How long will my team survive? Tune in to find out.

Strange, Funny, Heartrending!

Strange, Funny, and Heartrending, 3 words that perfectly describe one of my favorite video games of all time. What's this game you ask? Pokemon? No, surprisingly. It's Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance. Mother 3 is the 3rd game in the Mother or Earthbound series as it is commonly known as outside of Asia.

This game actually has quite a bit of history behind it, while other sites like Starmen.net have documented it, I'll give you a brief rundown. It started off life as a game for the Nintendo 64, more specifically, it was made for the Disk Drive they planned on adding. However, when the N64DD was proven to be a failure, the decided to make Mother 3 a regular N64 game. Then came the fact that this game came in late during the N64's life cycle, and the developers were having trouble making a game with 3D graphics, as a result, the game was cancelled as the Nintendo Gamecube was launched. However, during an ad campaign for the release of the Mother 1+2 compliation on the GBA, an ad announced that they're making Mother 3. After years of news, Mother 3 was released for the GBA in Japan as the GBA's final game. Unfortunally, everyone else outside of Japan didn't get it, and were mostly likely exposed to events that happened in Mother 3 via Super Smash Bros Brawl, considering that Lucas' Trophy does mention certain parts of the game, two bosses from the Subspace Emissary, Porky Minch and the King P Statue are bosses in the game of Mother 3, and New Pork City, the game's final location, is one of the playable stages. There is a fantranslation done by devoted Mother fans, and as a result of their hardwork, people are able to play the game as they wish.

The story in Mother 3 is broken up into 8 chapters. While Lucas is the main protagonist throughout the game, the first 3 chapters of the game stars different characters. Chapter 1 stars his Father, Flint trying to save his family. Chapter 2 stars Duster, the town theif that walks around with a limp stealing the Humming Bird Egg from Osohe Castle, and Chapter 3 stars Salsa, a monkey that will do anything to protect his love, even if that means being with douchebag like Yokuba. When Chapter 4 kicks in, there is a 3 year timeskip from the events of the first 3 chapters and that's when you control Lucas for the rest of the game, as he tries to fight the power of the Pigmask Army, pull the Seven Needles before the Masked Man does and tries to save the world.. As far as the story in the game goes, I will admit, there were parts in the game where I found myself in tears over what happened in the game. Ranging from the reveal of Hinawa's death, to Duster leaving the DCMC, to the final boss fight in the game. There is also a good share of funny moments like in Chapter 2 where Wess opens a door through the most funniest dance you'll ever see in a sprite based game, and a part where Lucas and the gang ride in a Refridgerator to get down from a moutain. (Trust me, this will make sense when you get to that part.) This game can invoke practically every human emotion, and I like it when a game does that. Makes me feel human.

The character themselves are pretty memorable, ranging from my favorite character in the game, Duster, Lucas, Salsa, Kumatora, Boney, Flint, Hinawa, Claus, the Magypsies, the DCMC Issac, Yokuba/Fassad, and even the big bad of the game, I could go on and on, that's how good the characters in this game are. I actually care for what happens to them. For example, in the case of Salsa, who is the game weakest playable character, he doesn't have any special items of his own. his attack stats are weak, you have to rely on the NPC character to do damage for you and let's just say that the person he's team up with, treats him like crap to the point that he doesn't attack for some turns. You may want to hate him, but due to his backstory of being a tool used by the Pigmask Army, and the abuse he goes through during that chapter, I just can't help but feel sorry for Salsa, I just can't hate him. Along with Duster, in a weird way, he sort of reminds me of myself, having a disability, the world rejects him, but he was able to find a good amount of friends in the band of the DCMC, Lucas, Kumatora, Flint, and Boney. Sort of like my life in a weird twisted way. I also see fragments of myself in Lucas as well. This is what I like about the main cast, I can see parts of myself within them, and they also remind me of people that I know in real life.

As for the gameplay, it's a simplistic RPG. You beat up enemies, earn EXP, and learn new PSI moves along the way, thoug provided, only 2 party members learn PSI moves, Lucas and Kumatora, and everyone else is practically stuck with the abilities they have since the beginning of the game. Duster relies on theif tools, which are pretty helpful in various way, while Boney has a technique that can tell you the weakness of any enemy. Though a new feature for the series is an action command when you're doing melee attacks to rack up damage. To do this, your attacks must be in sync with the music that's playing in the background. Pretty innovated in that regard, and the graphics themselves are pretty good, especially the battle sprites for your opponents, and the overworld as well. Also, during my other playthrough, I tend to notice certain things a little bit more, which kind of shows you that the developers of this game thought of everything.

The music, dear god, the music, it's like crack. I love every bit of music in this song from His Highness' Theme, Isn't It Utopia, Flying Whatchamacallit, all the songs by the DCMC, Mom's Hometown. I could go on and on about it, but man, if I had to listen to every song on a CD in an endless loop, I would do it.

Overall, the game is pretty good adventure, and worth a playthrough, my only advice would be is to have a box of tissues handy during the final parts of the game, and talk to everyone and explore everything. This game thrives on that, and you'll enjoy it more.

I have an Isshu!

OK, had to get out that lame pun. In case you didn't notice the starters and the region of the 5th generation of Pokémon have been revealed. Instead of Isshu, the region of Generation V will be called Unova in American release. While the starters will be referred to as Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott, instead of Tsutarja, Pokabu, and Mijumaru. Well, I will admit that expecting the Japanese names of the Pokémon to be used in an English product is a very high expectation, since there are only a handful of them that manage to retain their names in every generation, but the fact that the region got a major name change is very jarring if you consider the fact that most regions in the games are retained for the most part. It's just that with Japanese pronunciation and accenting their letters, they're really minor. I mean Johto is known as Joto in Japan, Hoenn is Hoen, and Sinnoh is known as Shin'o.

But how did they get from Isshu to Unova? Well from what I can recall, I know that "Nova" is an adjective of "Novus" which means "New." Which fits with the theme of Pokémon Black and White pretty well, since the game is based on a whole new region that is far away compared to where the likes of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh are located, since the former 4 were based off places in Japan, while Unova is based off of New York City. While I can go into detail on why a whole city, rather than state gets it's own region, I think I'll save that for later. As for U in Unova, it's basically the Un part where it comes from the Latin word unum, meaning one. So I guess the pun is that Isshu is one new place. It's going to take a while to get used to it, since Unova sounds like something from the Ranger games in my book, but I guess by the time the games come out in English, I'll be used to the name of the region.

Now, as for the starters, I'm looking at their puns and seeing how I like their names.

Snivy- I get the joke with this one, considering it was one of many fannames for Tsutarja like Smugleaf. Snivy also manages to keep the same pun that Tsutarja had, since both of their names had a reference to the Ivy plant, and the fact that they're both snakes.

Tepig- from what I understand it's a play on the word Tepid, and Pig. With tepid meaning lukewarm, it does kind of fit with how Pokabu references the heat that travels through the body.

Oshawott- Yeah, I'm still trying to figure this one out. According to Bulbapedia's article about Oshawott, it's name is supposed to be either a pun on "Ocean Water" or George Ohsawa. Even then' that kind of a stretch. Still, I find it funny that part of it's fanname of Wotter managed sneak into his official name.

As for how I rank the names, this is how it goes, Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig. Why, Snivy is pretty strong name, and thinking about it, it's pretty close compared to Smugleaf. As for Oshawott, I just love how out there the name is. It's radically different than anyone else, so I do give credit for how unique it is. As for Tepig, yeah, I find it to be a weak pun overall.