Super Smash Bros. Melee: Adventure Mode

Back yet again with another Melee blog, this time it is on the highly loved and played Adventure Mode! What you do in adventure mode is a cool idea that is highly looked upon by many players, what the mode is based upon is the idea of creating a legitimate story around why all the Nintendo characters all fighting one another in the game. The game is a parody on many games that have a campaign mode, but what makes this "campaign parody" so incredible is that it actually has it's own story that is revolved around all the Smash Bros. characters, and the thing that makes it neat is that there are no cutscenes to help further describe the game's story, instead you are to make up your own story until the ending when you realize who the real menace is. In Adventure Mode you are allowed to choose any characters that are playable in the game and that have been unlocked and with that character you take them on the adventure through many different Nintendo game realms until you get to the last level. In the game mode you have the options of choosing your character, changing the difficulty (which ranges from very easy- very hard), and finally you are allowed to customize how many stocks you have (and not the stocks on Bay St. or Wall St. but how many lives your character is allowed to lose before they are forced to restart or receive a game over. Although the travel through different gaming realms is cool, usually at the end of each level their is a "boss character" you are to face that resides over the level and doesn't take to kindly to your character being there. All these aspects of Adventure Mode make it a truly incredible game mode and one that is definetly something that can be played over and over again.

Super Smash Bros. Melee: Stages

Back again with another post about Melee, this time I'm talking about the Stages that are within the game, and the types of stages they are and how they separate the men from the boys. The stages in the game are based from many different famous battlegrounds and locales in different Nintendo games, including Hyrule Temple from the Legend of Zelda games to the Planet Brinstar from the Metroid Prime series, all of which have exotic graphics, detail and looks to them. Even though Smash Bros. Brawl consists of over 30 stages, Melee holds up it's end of the bargain by having at least 15-20 stages for players to show their might on, and the maps come in all sizes from small close quarters fighting based maps to large scale/all out brawl fest maps that are meant to have a lot of people fighting on it. What makes the stages in Melee different from N64 besides the graphics is the new mechanic of on going things in the background that can sometimes affect the stages or the stages themselves that could affect game play. The following video is an example of a how a moving stage can be a somewhat factor in a battle.

As you can see the game was changed quickly, even though the player was against A.I it can affect how you play when the stage is moving and different objects in the background can come to either aid you or work against you causing you to not only to watch your back against other players or A.I but also you need to watch the enviroment. Since many or most stages in Melee have this factor with them it makes it a somewhat challenging task for many of those that are veterans to the Smash Bros. series.

As you can see from the picture above, Melee offers players many different stages that players can choose to brawl on with places stretching from Starfox's Ship to Pokemon Stadium, and many in between Melee does not let players down with the amount of stages to select from. In Melee there are 32 stages fight on, and of those 32 stages, there are over 10 stages that have the "enviroment effect" to them that make them somewhat challenging. Even though some stages present a challenge to fight other players Melee proves with it's stages

 and characters that it is able to take the spot as the #1 Gamecube to ever be made.                                      

Super Smash Bros. Melee: Character Roster.

  After the release of the first Super Smash Bros. many of the gamers where demanding for more and more of their favorite characters to be put into the next game if they were to make one, and so when Melee was created and released, Nintendo had answered all the fans demands by adding in more characters then many could imagine for a fighting game! When you first boot up Melee you are greeted to a extensive roster with many familiar faces from the original game (which was about 12 characters) characters like: Fox, Mario and D.K return to have more face offs against other Nintendo characters but in Melee, Nintendo decided to be over generous and add an extra 13 characters to the game to make it an even better reason to own the game! Even though the game's sequel Super Smash Bros. Brawl boasts an even bigger roster than Melee, but the roster for Melee is a huge advancement from the original N64 game.

Original Roster for Melee

As you can see from the picture it isn't much of an improvement from the original Smash Bros.but it is a big enough addition to please many of SSB fans around the world, and oddly enough Nintendo decided to add the secret characters from the N64 as playable characters right from the start!

Full/Final Roster for Melee

In this pic it shows the true reason of why Melee is a game that is different from it's predecessor, with an extra 13 characters that span over 6 famous Nintendo games, although it is a good amount of characters they also certain requirements that the player is made to meet in order to unlock and play as those characters, which makes Melee a game that's definitely worth playing over and over.

"You say you want a revolution?", well The Beatles: Rock Band creates one for all music games!

Game Info/Structure:

WOW. That's all I can say to describe this genius creation of a music game, being a Beatles fan I was excited to hear they were creating a Rock band that was devoted just to the music archives of The Beatles, and once I heard it was being released I made it my mission to have on my game shelf, and a good decision it was to have it! Let me start off with things that I dislike about the game, and believe the list is very, very short. The only problem with the The Beatles: Rock Band was that the company didn't continue to release more song (DLC) after a month or so when many fans were demanding more song from the "Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" albums instead the flow of DLC's just stopped at the end of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album, but besides that small issue there is nothing I dislike about the game. Now to begin the long list of stuff I like about this game, I will start with the amount of songs included with the game; spanning over a decade of Beatles songs, the game includes over 45 songs to start and over 20 more that available as downloadable content. Also another aspect about the game that I like is the fact that the developers highly detailed each one of the Beatles to match their looks during that year or time period! The set of the game is really simple, you play each note as it floats down a "guitar highway" towards the bottom of your screen, with the ultimate goal of achieving 100% notes played by the end of the song chosen. The characters are also very simple: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, the four members of the famous rock group: The Beatles.  The storyline is easy to follow, even easier if you know the group insides and out! You are thrust into being a "member" of the group and travel throughout the world playing songs at many famous venues and almost experiencing it as they did, the animation of the game is somewhat simple and is an exact reflection of the original Rock Band's, but with a little more detail added to the characters to give it more creativity to it. The sound and music of this game are truly awe-inspiring for it is you playing all of the "Fab Four's" classic's again in your home!

What Others Think:

"The Beatles bleed from every asset in the game. Along with the new vocal harmonization, the art direction is specifically meant to convey what the Beatles were all about. The models themselves are distinctly recognizable, but keep that cartoony flair that we love from Rock Band. You can play through all their famous venues (and “dreamscapes” reflecting their songs during their recording career, such as retro russian imagery during “Back In The USSR”). Their movements are spot-on, the screaming girls are there, and they even have the pre-performance banter built into the songs themselves.

But the real showstopper for me was how markedly different the game is from other music and rhythm games. Though the formula is the same, and you can play with up to six people, this is the first game that really emphasizes you playing an instrument and singing at the same time. It’s a different kind of challenge, and for me, it was far more satisfying than the typical wankery of over-the-top guitar tracks and challenges.

Not to say the game isn’t tough, of course. On expert difficulty, you don’t get Dragonforce levels of ridiculousness, but all the members of the beatles were amazingly techncal players in their own right (hell, check out Ringo’s drumming on “A Day in the Life” or “Rain”). If you’re coming into this game looking for pretzel-fingered mind benders or endurance challenges, this is not a game for you. If you’re looking for some of the best songs ever written in rock and roll and a good time playing them, I would venture to say that this is a better investment than even the other Rock Band games.

And besides, it’s the fricking Beatles. This is the consummate party game. Everyone knows their songs. Plus, all songs are unlocked from the get-go in Quick Play, and the Easy difficulty is defaulted to no-fail, so even Beatles fans unfamiliar with Rock Band can drop in with minimal learning curve." - Alex Lifschitz, Gear Live: Playfeed.

My Point of View:

Since I got the game on 9.9.09, I have beaten the main storyline and achieved the highest level of being a guitar and bass player for the band (which isn't really hard to begin with). My highest score ever on the game was over 1.5 mill with a 4 player band (which isn't full seeing as the max is 6 players) on the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" which is well over a 7 minute song, but easy enough to get over a million on as long as the people that are in the band have had enough experience in playing the game before. Since I've beaten the game I've helped people get to higher ranks by joining their "band" and assisting them in getting a really high score for their own band  Besides that I drop in to play a few jam sessions with some buddies that I met while playing online, and so far until I get more messages for help or to play with friends I just jam solo with the Fab Four. In my own personal opinion I give The Beatles: Rock Band, a definite 100% and well deserved and well earned 10/10. 

Super Mario Crossover FTW? (PC Only)

Game Info/Structure:

Since being released in 1985, Mario has conquered the gaming world for many years on almost every platform from SNES to the Wii, and finally it has found a way to dominate on the PC. At first it started out as a gaming sensation and revolution, allowing players to play as both Mario and a new character (his brother Luigi), but it didn't stop there Mario continued to wow players in his many sequels with his bro. Many have tried to recreate this game as a flash on the computer but all have failed, for they have only created simple "clones" of the original, but one game enthusiast has done the unthinkable! Jay Pavlina or "Exploding Rabbit" (username and site name) has been able to recreate a flash version of Mario with a few extra add-ons to maximize the gameplay of Mario on a whole new level. The structure of the game stays true to the original Super Mario Bros. the level's are the same, the graphics and even the music, somewhat. A few new aspects have been introduced into the "crossover" edition of Super Mario Bros. including a difficulty system with levels of "Super Easy" to "Extremely Hard", so the game can offer a challenge or just be fun to those inexperienced with the game! But what makes this game different from the original is that you only had 2 characters to choose from: Mario & Luigi, but in crossover you have over 8 characters to choose from! the roster is as follows: Mario- from the original.
                              Link- from the Legend of Zelda Series.
                              Samus- from the Metroid Prime Series.
                              Simon- from the Castlevania Series.
                              Mega Man- from the Mega Man Series.
                              Bill Rizer- from the Neo Contra Series.
                              Ryu Hayabusa- from Ninja Gaiden.
                              Jason/Sophia- from the Master Blaster games.
Included in the new crossover over flash game is the ability to activate cheats that you can unlock by meeting or completing certain hidden challenges throughout the entire game. The storyline is also the exact same as the original: you play as one for the 8 characters and have to rescue your princess that has been taken to Bowser's Castle, along the way you enter many other castles defeating many Bowser's only to discover your princess is in another castle. The sound and the music is the same also, if you play as Mario, the game is uniquely designed to play music from the game of whatever character your playing as which overall makes the game so much better.

What Others Think/Game Link:

"What’s impressive about Super Mario Crossover, aside from the painstaking recreation of the original game, are how these six disparate characters all feel like they were ripped from their own classic NES titles, but fit in perfectly to the Mario levels. I’m impressed with the amount of tweaking this must have taken, to keep the integrity of the original characters but also make them work with the enemy behaviors and level designs of Super Mario Bros." - Chris Kohler, Wired Magazine.


"Super Mario Bros. Crossover is, really, nothing short of genius. The game’s remixer, Jay Pavlina has done an excellent job of combing our childhood faves into a game that feels less like a mashup and more like one that was organically made." - Chris Gampat, 2d-x.com

Link to play game: http://www.explodingrabbit.com/games/super-mario-bros-crossover

My Point of View: 

When I first played crossover I thought it was only a flash similar to the original, but once I started it up and noticed all the characters entering the main menu I was amazed. Players will love the new difficulty system along with the ability to choose characters from classic and favorite Nintendo games, there is absolutely nothing that I dislike about this game, Jay Pavlina is a genius for creating the game like he did there is no glitches or bugs in the game and every few months he adds a new character to the game roster. So far since I have started playing at home, I have reached world 4-2 using Link as my main character and my current score is 382, 931 with over 10 lives.  I have began to notice that the easiest way to beat Bowser is to use Jason/Sophia as the character for every stage that has "-4" in it because he can grab onto the roof and drive so it makes it easier for you not to get hit by the obstacles or the flames Bowser shoots at you. In my opinion I believe that Super Mario Crossover is a definite game to play a lot and have in the bookmarks section of your computer and so I give Super Mario Crossover a 100% and a 10/10.