Categories
Games

The Minish Cap

My favorite video games series is The Legend of Zelda, but I do have a few blindspots, and they are mostly made up of portable releases (on home consoles, Skyward Sword is the only mainline Zelda game I’ve never played). Over the years I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Minish Cap — originally released on the Game Boy Advance — and it’s a wonder I never played it, since I did have that system. My friend Rekka was recently talking about playing it (while gushing about the aesthetics) and that inspired me to finally give it a shot — and since I’m currently on holiday break, it’s a perfect time to do so.

So far I’ve had a terrific time with it. I love the pixelized graphics, and the top-down gameplay is on the simple side but engrossing, as is the big-small mechanic. I haven’t played in the last few days because I picked up a few games on Switch that took over my attention (especially Night in the Woods, which I powered through and loved to death), but I definitely plan on continuing to play it to completion, playing short sessions here and there.

My only gripe is that I wish I could be playing this on Switch — in fact, I’d really love for all Zelda games to be available on Switch, so I could continue to address those blindspots I have (like the Oracle games).

Categories
Games Personal

Favorite 5 Games

There’s a tweet making the rounds right now encouraging you to share your favorite 5 games of all time. Narrowing down your favorites to a truly top 5 is of course an impossible task — I’d count pretty much every Legend of Zelda game as favorites — but I tried to do the exercise nonetheless, highlighting 5 games that had a strong enough impact on my gaming life that I would certainly count them among my favorites. Just below this I’d need to also include a Mario game (probably Super Mario World) and Ultima (especially Ultima 7), but for now, here are possibly/maybe my 5 favorite games (in no particular order).

Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus
SSI was better known for all of the games it produced under the Dungeons & Dragons license (Pool of Radiance being my favorite), but this pre-D&D era RPG was a highlight for me. It’s quite possibly not a great game if you revisit it now, but I remember spending countless hours playing it, and a lot of those hours were played side-by-side with a friend in front of the PC (a Commodore PC-10), our own version of couch co-op. Also, the names I used for my characters in this game are the same names I continue to use for any character I need to name in an RPG.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Zelda series in general is my favorite series in games, and so narrowing it down to 1 or 2 titles is tough, but it’s hard not to point to A Link to the Past as a milestone (and its modern 3DS sequel, Link Between Worlds, is fantastic as well). The Super Nintendo graphics were astounding at the time, and it was certainly the game that cemented the series as a classic for all time.

Wave Race 64
I love Wave Race so damn much, and I can say that I also love the GameCube sequel (Wave Race: Blue Storm). Experiencing those beautiful giant waves was a joy, and added a fun level of randomness to the racing experience. More than any other racing series, this is the one that I’d most like to see a proper sequel, and so I keep wishing that we’ll see one on Switch.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I was a huge fan of the Infocom library of text adventure games, and it all started with Zork, but the adaptation it produced of Hitchhiker’s is the title that is the most memorable to me. From the insanely convoluted Babel Fish puzzle (that you pretty much needed the hint book to help you through) to just the genuinely funny vibe throughout, it stuck with me.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Including a game that came out just a few months ago? What can I say, as someone who truly loves the Zelda series, this entry is as groundbreaking as it is fun as it is engaging. To see Nintendo produce such an amazing Zelda game thirty years after the first one is something I feel is pretty special.

Categories
Games Music

The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Concert

Patrick’s Tokyo’s Coolest Sound blog has all the details on the new CD/DVD compilation of the anniversary concert that was held for the Legend of Zelda series last year (which I know a few friends had the great luck to attend, bastards).

Categories
Art Books Games

Legends of Localization Book 2: EarthBound

I’m already in need of the first Legends of Localization book, covering The Legend of Zelda, and book 2, covering EarthBound, looks just as amazing. There’s plenty of photos to gawk at on the Fangamer order page, and here’s also very positive review on Tiny Cartridge.

Categories
Games Toys

The Legend of Zelda Shield Pin Badge Collection

I am so in need of these 6 shield pin badges, inspired by various titles in the Legend of Zelda series. Sold in Japan for 200 yen each, you can import them as a set from NCSX for a bit more (or via Amazon Japan).

Categories
Art Games

New Year 2017 Visuals

If you were to ask me what my favorite New Year images I’ve seen shared so far, first up would be the Mother-inspired illustrated piece by Amelicart (pictured above, via this tweet), and then the Legend of Zelda illustration shared by Nintendo, below, which pays tribute to classic imagery of the original game (both below).

Categories
Games

Ready for Zelda Year

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I’d had my eye on that Zelda calendar you see in the photo, and while at HMV yesterday I saw that they had it at 25% off, and so that was that, I had to grab it. I’m of course super excited for the release of Breath of the Wild next year, and so this helps 2017 get even more Zelda-y. A bit later in the afternoon I spotted the mug you also see in the photo at EB Games, and so grabbed that as well. Oh, and I also started playing the original The Legend of Zelda game on my NES Classic Edition this weekend.

Categories
Art Books Games

Famicom Manuals

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As I wrote earlier, I’m a very happy owner of an NES Classic Edition, and I find it pretty neat that Nintendo has put online the original printed manuals for all 30 of the games included in the set. Even better though I think are the manuals for the Famicom. Picture, the cover to Japan’s Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Categories
Anime Film Games

The Legend of Zelda Meets Ghibli

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The following trailer by Matt Vince for an imaginary The Legend of Zelda animated film by Studio Ghibli is borderline torture (while being fantastic at the same time). Oh to dream for such a thing to happen. He created the trailer following the popularity of a few posters he produced last year that imagined such a film happening.

Categories
Fashion Games

Hyrule Tease

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I’m loving the latest teeses — see what I did there — showing up in  Editmode‘s Instagram feed for new additions coming to its “The King of Games” collection of clothing.