http://megamatt.wordpress.com/
Because I just can't take Blogger any more.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Dilemma / Rant
So, most of you are probably familiar with the Wii Guitar Hero 3 fiasco. If you are, skip to the next paragraph. Turns out that the Wii version of GH3 outputs in 80's-tacular mono sound, so Activision is taking returns of the game, and they send you a fixed version.
Or...
Turns out that there's another option- a full refund. I'm actually contemplating the refund, primarily because, well, I hate GH3.
Why do I hate GH3, I hear you ask. It's because I can barely play the game any more because it keeps crashing on me, no one's ever on WFC, and there's terrible lag. And I don't mean console-to-TV lag. Have you ever watched a video where the video pauses momentarily and the sound keeps going, then the video jumps to where the sound is? That's what I'm talking about.
I once tried to play Devil Went Down to Georgia (great song, BTW) and it ended up hanging three times in the menu, not to mention another time in the actual song.
So the refund is $132 USD, which isn't bad by any means. I figure if I send this back, I'll sell my second PS2 guitar (anybody interested?) and make some room for other stuff. But I should probably do that before Flash gets the single battle chip section back online-- otherwise, that $132 is going to magically turn into a set of Link Gigas.
Or...
Turns out that there's another option- a full refund. I'm actually contemplating the refund, primarily because, well, I hate GH3.
Why do I hate GH3, I hear you ask. It's because I can barely play the game any more because it keeps crashing on me, no one's ever on WFC, and there's terrible lag. And I don't mean console-to-TV lag. Have you ever watched a video where the video pauses momentarily and the sound keeps going, then the video jumps to where the sound is? That's what I'm talking about.
I once tried to play Devil Went Down to Georgia (great song, BTW) and it ended up hanging three times in the menu, not to mention another time in the actual song.
So the refund is $132 USD, which isn't bad by any means. I figure if I send this back, I'll sell my second PS2 guitar (anybody interested?) and make some room for other stuff. But I should probably do that before Flash gets the single battle chip section back online-- otherwise, that $132 is going to magically turn into a set of Link Gigas.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
EM Wave Change! MegaMatt.EXE, On The Air!
http://radio.7chan.org:8000
I just got my own stream on 7chan Radio. Be forewarned, all streams on said site come with no warranty whatsoever, express or implied, for them or you, and Party Hard sometimes runs some R-rated songs. I run Rebirth Radio, so feel free to listen in. I usually play something techno or rock, but drop by at the right time and you might hear something from EXE or Classic.
So, does this mean I'm going to be cutting the cord on anything else? Nope. All I have to do is set up a playlist and let it play as I work on other stuff. The only problem is that my copy of Winamp seems to be just a teeny bit unstable, so as of tonight (the first ever broadcast of Rebirth Radio), the stream's been up and down more than my 360 controller's left thumbstick on Grifball Double EXP Weekends.
I just got my own stream on 7chan Radio. Be forewarned, all streams on said site come with no warranty whatsoever, express or implied, for them or you, and Party Hard sometimes runs some R-rated songs. I run Rebirth Radio, so feel free to listen in. I usually play something techno or rock, but drop by at the right time and you might hear something from EXE or Classic.
So, does this mean I'm going to be cutting the cord on anything else? Nope. All I have to do is set up a playlist and let it play as I work on other stuff. The only problem is that my copy of Winamp seems to be just a teeny bit unstable, so as of tonight (the first ever broadcast of Rebirth Radio), the stream's been up and down more than my 360 controller's left thumbstick on Grifball Double EXP Weekends.
Monday, April 7, 2008
LF2 Update, a Challenge, and Some Ramblings
Well, the levels are still in progress. I'm thinking the final game is probably going to be four levels then four more because I just don't have the time (or, more accurately, interest) to build seven more Robot Master levels and program seven more Robot Masters and Master Weapons. Or I suppose I could outsource all of it. I might do that. Get some levels from the community... I love it.
Okay, here's what we're going to do. Original Robot Master time. Submit in the comments your idea for a Robot Master and a stage design (though it'll be done in Spark Man's stage graphics because I'm far too lazy to get all the other graphics, get them animated correctly, etc). Not that this'll work, because no one is going to read this, but it was worth a shot, right? XD
Well, standardized testing tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to that. Actually, I'm not being sarcastic. I've been meaning to get around to finishing Phoenix Wright 3, and since I'm such a quick test taker... XD
I've contemplated trying to build a decent online EXE game using GML, but since there's VBA and whatever-the-heck-the-plugin-is-called-(and-I-can't-check-right-now-because-my-VBA-is-rotary-attachment-deviced-up)... Where was I? Anyway, I figure why reinvent the wheel?
I really should get some hosting space somewhere. Hey Flash, how much do you pay for RMS and how much do you think I'd have to pay for legendforce.com?
Okay, here's what we're going to do. Original Robot Master time. Submit in the comments your idea for a Robot Master and a stage design (though it'll be done in Spark Man's stage graphics because I'm far too lazy to get all the other graphics, get them animated correctly, etc). Not that this'll work, because no one is going to read this, but it was worth a shot, right? XD
Well, standardized testing tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to that. Actually, I'm not being sarcastic. I've been meaning to get around to finishing Phoenix Wright 3, and since I'm such a quick test taker... XD
I've contemplated trying to build a decent online EXE game using GML, but since there's VBA and whatever-the-heck-the-plugin-is-called-(and-I-can't-check-right-now-because-my-VBA-is-rotary-attachment-deviced-up)... Where was I? Anyway, I figure why reinvent the wheel?
I really should get some hosting space somewhere. Hey Flash, how much do you pay for RMS and how much do you think I'd have to pay for legendforce.com?
Friday, April 4, 2008
Rockman Fix: Battle Routine... Set?
On my almost-daily search for good EXE game hack videos, I found this. Perhaps I'll grab a copy of this game later- beating the crap out of people with a Paladin Sword sounds pretty fun.
April Fools Update
Go listen to this MIDI. NAO. If only it were in true 8-bit sound... ah well, MIDI's close enough.
So, you're wondering what's up with the obviously-fake MMNT2. It was just a sample of a project that I'm dubbing Legend Force II. It's a GML Mega Man game that will hopefully feature all sorts of people you know as bosses. I've also got a great little cutscene planned for the final boss, but you'll see that later.
What does this mean for the RPG? Quite simply, the RPG is (and has been for a long time) dead. There just wasn't enough interest. However, don't expect the universe to go away... You'll see it again eventually, though probably not in Legend Force II.
Feel free to leave any questions in the comments. The only reason I say that is because my ego feeds on comments (and the souls of noobs, but that's a story for another time).
On the road, helplessly lost in the EXE1 internet-
MegaMatt.EXE
So, you're wondering what's up with the obviously-fake MMNT2. It was just a sample of a project that I'm dubbing Legend Force II. It's a GML Mega Man game that will hopefully feature all sorts of people you know as bosses. I've also got a great little cutscene planned for the final boss, but you'll see that later.
What does this mean for the RPG? Quite simply, the RPG is (and has been for a long time) dead. There just wasn't enough interest. However, don't expect the universe to go away... You'll see it again eventually, though probably not in Legend Force II.
Feel free to leave any questions in the comments. The only reason I say that is because my ego feeds on comments (and the souls of noobs, but that's a story for another time).
On the road, helplessly lost in the EXE1 internet-
MegaMatt.EXE
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Shoop Da Doop(licate)
Rated PG-13 for *chan jokes and language.
*GeminiMan is sitting in his boss room at a computer. MegaMan enters.*
G: I've been waiting for you a long time.
M: Wait no longer!
G: A looooooooong time.
M: Well, I'm here, so-
G: Do you realize just how long it takes to read the entirety of /b/? A hell of a long time.
M: Can we just fi-
G: But I'm just about to finish it. Just one more post.
M: *shoots computer*
G: O.O You're going to PAY for that!
M: We'll see about that!
G: With ZENNY!
M: NOOOOOOOOO!
G: IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR! *fires Gemini Laser, Mega reflects it with the Wood Shield* What? That's from Mega Man 2!
M: I know. *flashback*
Light: Okay, Rock! Wily's at it again! Unfortunately, to power up the teleport system, you need to give me all your Master Weapons.
M: I don't believe that. Is it your gambling problem again?
L: Don't call it a problem!
M: I think I'll walk, thanks. */flashback*
G: So... I'm screwed, aren't I?
M: Yeah, pretty much. *switches to Metal Blade and pwns*
On the road, fighting to rename FlashMan's weapon the Flash Stopper and BrightMan's weapon the Time Stopper-
MegaMatt.EXE
*GeminiMan is sitting in his boss room at a computer. MegaMan enters.*
G: I've been waiting for you a long time.
M: Wait no longer!
G: A looooooooong time.
M: Well, I'm here, so-
G: Do you realize just how long it takes to read the entirety of /b/? A hell of a long time.
M: Can we just fi-
G: But I'm just about to finish it. Just one more post.
M: *shoots computer*
G: O.O You're going to PAY for that!
M: We'll see about that!
G: With ZENNY!
M: NOOOOOOOOO!
G: IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR! *fires Gemini Laser, Mega reflects it with the Wood Shield* What? That's from Mega Man 2!
M: I know. *flashback*
Light: Okay, Rock! Wily's at it again! Unfortunately, to power up the teleport system, you need to give me all your Master Weapons.
M: I don't believe that. Is it your gambling problem again?
L: Don't call it a problem!
M: I think I'll walk, thanks. */flashback*
G: So... I'm screwed, aren't I?
M: Yeah, pretty much. *switches to Metal Blade and pwns*
On the road, fighting to rename FlashMan's weapon the Flash Stopper and BrightMan's weapon the Time Stopper-
MegaMatt.EXE
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
BREAKING NEWS: MMNT2
My media contact's Capcom contact provided him (and thus me) with this more stable build of MMNT2. Download now, before Capcom cease-and-desists me into oblivion! Hurry! Download and put it on Bittorrent or something! Make sure the man (or robot master) doesn't silence this!
On the road, fighting for great peace, everlasting justice, and free movie tickets-
MegaMatt.EXE
On the road, fighting for great peace, everlasting justice, and free movie tickets-
MegaMatt.EXE
News Update Below
Due to a glitch in Blogger, today's *serious* article appeared below the April Fools one. Go read the BREAKING NEWS now!
Secret Mode in EXE3?
At the title screen:
Start, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, A, up, A, select x15, start, up, A, A, A
I am not responsible for any effects of this code. Use at your own risk.
Start, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, A, up, A, select x15, start, up, A, A, A
I am not responsible for any effects of this code. Use at your own risk.
Monday, March 31, 2008
BREAKING NEWS: You heard it here first!
My friend in the gaming news industry (you know, GameInformer and the like) recently confirmed for me something truly epic. This combined with a confirmed article on Kotaku (since removed due to copyright claims from the Church of Scientology claims of breaking an NDA) has convinced me, crazy as it is.
Rockman EXE: Network Transmission 2 is in the works for PC.
NT2 will be a side scroller directly adapted from Mega Man 2.
"Think of it more as a remake of Mega Man 2 and less of an EXE game," a programmer on the project said. "It's completely non-canon. All the characters will be replaced with their EXE counterparts, and chips will replace Master Weapons. Also, the game won't be nearly as short as Mega Man 2, but I can't say any more on that."
Later in the interview: "The game's been a bit hard to program. Capcom of America doesn't have a lot of the original resources anymore, and since there's still a lot of rivalry between CoA and CoJ, we can't exactly ask them, so we've been having to get stuff from the community. That's not to say that the final build is going to be using MIDIs like this one, but until we can get somebody here to talk to CoJ, it's going to be hell ripping stuff from the original roms. This project's going to be using stuff from everything on a new architecture... quite honestly, I'd be surprised if it ever sees the light of day."
A little digging uncovered a beta build of the game, which I have uploaded for all to see/play here.
The game runs a bit slowly, and it's clearly not on the original engine, but it's pretty good all around. A and S control Rock, space pauses. It has joypad support, but no title screen as of yet.
Also, be warned that the ending is a tad... anticlimactic.
Rockman EXE: Network Transmission 2 is in the works for PC.
NT2 will be a side scroller directly adapted from Mega Man 2.
"Think of it more as a remake of Mega Man 2 and less of an EXE game," a programmer on the project said. "It's completely non-canon. All the characters will be replaced with their EXE counterparts, and chips will replace Master Weapons. Also, the game won't be nearly as short as Mega Man 2, but I can't say any more on that."
Later in the interview: "The game's been a bit hard to program. Capcom of America doesn't have a lot of the original resources anymore, and since there's still a lot of rivalry between CoA and CoJ, we can't exactly ask them, so we've been having to get stuff from the community. That's not to say that the final build is going to be using MIDIs like this one, but until we can get somebody here to talk to CoJ, it's going to be hell ripping stuff from the original roms. This project's going to be using stuff from everything on a new architecture... quite honestly, I'd be surprised if it ever sees the light of day."
A little digging uncovered a beta build of the game, which I have uploaded for all to see/play here.
The game runs a bit slowly, and it's clearly not on the original engine, but it's pretty good all around. A and S control Rock, space pauses. It has joypad support, but no title screen as of yet.
Also, be warned that the ending is a tad... anticlimactic.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
You can haz n3tb477l3 gidez.
10-Step Guide to Tournament Netbattling
Step 1: Get enough friends, family, and/or complete strangers to have a tournament. This is probably the hardest part.
Step 2: Get two Gamecubes, two Game Boy Players, two TVs, a link cable, two Wavebirds, and two chairs.
Step 3: Either get two copies of the appropriate game or arrange for the contestants to bring their own.
Step 4: Get a REALLY big sheet of paper and draw a tournament bracket. Bonus points for witty comments.
Step 5: Pick some appropriate music.
Step 6: Give each contestant a Navi emblem, nickname, or something to identify them by as they advance in the bracket.
Step 7: Run out at the last minute and buy prizes.
Step 8: Teach the contestants about the game, if necessary and if you feel like it.
Step 9: Cheese out your folder.
Step 10: Pwn those n00bs.
5-Step Guide to Pwning at Otarockman
Step 1: Figure out which game they're using. THIS IS CRITICAL.
Step 2: Take a folder from the RFF. If the game is EXE2/6, pick Gater/USE THIS and skip to step 4.
Step 3: Throw in Recovery 300, Forte Another, Life Aura, and as many Program Advances as possible.
Step 4: Go to Otarockman.
Step 5: Pwn.
Step 1: Get enough friends, family, and/or complete strangers to have a tournament. This is probably the hardest part.
Step 2: Get two Gamecubes, two Game Boy Players, two TVs, a link cable, two Wavebirds, and two chairs.
Step 3: Either get two copies of the appropriate game or arrange for the contestants to bring their own.
Step 4: Get a REALLY big sheet of paper and draw a tournament bracket. Bonus points for witty comments.
Step 5: Pick some appropriate music.
Step 6: Give each contestant a Navi emblem, nickname, or something to identify them by as they advance in the bracket.
Step 7: Run out at the last minute and buy prizes.
Step 8: Teach the contestants about the game, if necessary and if you feel like it.
Step 9: Cheese out your folder.
Step 10: Pwn those n00bs.
5-Step Guide to Pwning at Otarockman
Step 1: Figure out which game they're using. THIS IS CRITICAL.
Step 2: Take a folder from the RFF. If the game is EXE2/6, pick Gater/USE THIS and skip to step 4.
Step 3: Throw in Recovery 300, Forte Another, Life Aura, and as many Program Advances as possible.
Step 4: Go to Otarockman.
Step 5: Pwn.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Rockman Fix: Network Transmission
I picked up a copy of MegaMan Network Transmission today... for five bucks. My thoughts: best value ever.
Why Network Transmission?
*flashback*
Oh, look, a new MMBN game! I love these games! Wait, is it? It has Network, but there's no Battle. Is this a more peaceful game? Dunno. I'll rent it later.
--later--
Oh, look, that new MMBN game! I love these games! *grabs, rents*
Okay, let's rock! Battle routine, set! Exe- *falls off cliff* Whuh?
*/flashback*
That's pretty much it. In fact, I couldn't even clear the first level. So, with one and a half classic games and the infinitely-more-valuable five dollar bill under my belt, I figured I'd give it another shot.
The first thing I noticed was the return of the good old EXE anthem. I hadn't realized just how much I'd missed it until it showed up again.
The second thing I noticed was that I had to flip the controls. I don't know if Control Types A and B are MMAC-flipped, but if they aren't and I have to play backwards, then I think that's grounds for revoking my Rockman Fan license.
Also, somebody flipped the internet to a vertically-structured sidescroller overnight. I wonder, is there a switch somewhere on a giant Internet server in SciLab labeled "RPG", "Sidescroller", and "However the heck you want to classify Battle Chip Challenge"?
Capcom must have reached three games into the future (timeline-wise- NT takes place between EXE1 and 2) to grab the MolassesShoes. Rock can jump, sure, but he can't grab on to ledges (yet another ebil plot by Dr. Hikari), and ALL of the platforms are a pixel too high to jump onto.
Rock also has downgraded the Rock Buster to the Personal Shooter. No charge or rapid for you. At least the P. Shooter let you have three shots on screen- no matter where they are, on-screen or otherwise, you still have the same long recoil time.
Also, if you thought MetWave was useless in the tic-tac-toe dance of death battle system, try using it in a freaking SIDESCROLLER. It doesn't go off ledges- no, that'd be too useful. It stops at ledges. Now, consider this. Most enemies are either flying/hovering, rendering it completely ineffective, or standing there shooting at you, hitting you and breaking the chip before you can use it.
Good news: The bomb series is extremely useful now. Got a virus below you? Bombs away!
Unfortunately, though they may be auto-pilot for awesome, swords are now useful only in an opposite-element-to-boss-death-run because their reach is pitiful, even LongSword.
So, what have I been using? In true anime fashion, the most useful chips are the Shotgun class. The most useful chip I've run into so far has been the chip 3-Way (bow chika wow wow), which is basically V-Gun on steroids. Serious steroids.
More impressions as I proceed.
Why Network Transmission?
*flashback*
Oh, look, a new MMBN game! I love these games! Wait, is it? It has Network, but there's no Battle. Is this a more peaceful game? Dunno. I'll rent it later.
--later--
Oh, look, that new MMBN game! I love these games! *grabs, rents*
Okay, let's rock! Battle routine, set! Exe- *falls off cliff* Whuh?
*/flashback*
That's pretty much it. In fact, I couldn't even clear the first level. So, with one and a half classic games and the infinitely-more-valuable five dollar bill under my belt, I figured I'd give it another shot.
The first thing I noticed was the return of the good old EXE anthem. I hadn't realized just how much I'd missed it until it showed up again.
The second thing I noticed was that I had to flip the controls. I don't know if Control Types A and B are MMAC-flipped, but if they aren't and I have to play backwards, then I think that's grounds for revoking my Rockman Fan license.
Also, somebody flipped the internet to a vertically-structured sidescroller overnight. I wonder, is there a switch somewhere on a giant Internet server in SciLab labeled "RPG", "Sidescroller", and "However the heck you want to classify Battle Chip Challenge"?
Capcom must have reached three games into the future (timeline-wise- NT takes place between EXE1 and 2) to grab the MolassesShoes. Rock can jump, sure, but he can't grab on to ledges (yet another ebil plot by Dr. Hikari), and ALL of the platforms are a pixel too high to jump onto.
Rock also has downgraded the Rock Buster to the Personal Shooter. No charge or rapid for you. At least the P. Shooter let you have three shots on screen- no matter where they are, on-screen or otherwise, you still have the same long recoil time.
Also, if you thought MetWave was useless in the tic-tac-toe dance of death battle system, try using it in a freaking SIDESCROLLER. It doesn't go off ledges- no, that'd be too useful. It stops at ledges. Now, consider this. Most enemies are either flying/hovering, rendering it completely ineffective, or standing there shooting at you, hitting you and breaking the chip before you can use it.
Good news: The bomb series is extremely useful now. Got a virus below you? Bombs away!
Unfortunately, though they may be auto-pilot for awesome, swords are now useful only in an opposite-element-to-boss-death-run because their reach is pitiful, even LongSword.
So, what have I been using? In true anime fashion, the most useful chips are the Shotgun class. The most useful chip I've run into so far has been the chip 3-Way (bow chika wow wow), which is basically V-Gun on steroids. Serious steroids.
More impressions as I proceed.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
What If: Newcomer!
Rated PG for minor Subspace Emissary spoilers and Smashtastic violence.
*black screen, SSBB Mario on Battlefield slowly fades in. Pikachu appears and they fight for a while... then, the camera zooms out and becomes all horizontal-line-y- we're watching someone watching them.*
Mysterious Female Voice: So, Admiral, what do you think?
Mysterious Rough Male Voice: I don't like it... but it's our best option. We don't want to break off diplomatic relations, especially not with them.
Female: Is that your approval?
Male: *pause* Yes. Send the order.
Female: Sending now. Oh, and Admiral?
Male: Yes?
Female: I'll be joining him.
Male: Do you really think that's wise? The Cole Protocol-
Female: I know what the Cole Protocol says, but this is five hundred years before first contact!
Male: *pause* You're right. Just try not to screw up your own creation, okay?
Female: Will do. Transferring now. Best of luck here, Admiral.
Male: Don't get in over your head.
Female: I won't have to worry about that.
*camera cuts to a squarish dark green ship the size of the Halberd warping in right next to the Halberd above the island with the Subspace Bomb factory, forcing both ships off course. Meta Knight zips onto the other ship, looking around. There are two ROBs planting a Subspace Bomb. Meta Knight sees the timer running out and jumps off the ship. As the timer runs down to thirty seconds, a humanoid blur dashes out of the ship and to the bomb, grabbing it and jumping off the ship with it.*
Female: What the hell are you doing?
*the camera cuts below the humanoid blur now crouching on top of the bomb. The distinctive guitar slide from "Rock Anthem for Saving the World" plays as time stops and we see who it is- Newcomer: Master Chief.*
Chief: Giving those robots back their bomb.
*the Chief pushes off, sending the bomb flying down as it explodes. He grabs onto the top of the sinking ship from which he emerged and dashes across, barely outrunning the explosion. He crosses onto the Halberd and comes face to face with Meta Knight. The Spartan takes out a plasma grenade, arming it.*
Female (Cortana): Bet you can't stick it.
Chief: You're on.
*the shrieking music from the Halo 2 trailer plays and we cut to black. "Super Smash Bros. Brawl". "Start a new fight". "March 2008".*
Notes: In case you didn't figure it out, the guy at the beginning was Admiral Hood. I tried to work in the "permission to leave the station" line, but it just didn't fit.
*black screen, SSBB Mario on Battlefield slowly fades in. Pikachu appears and they fight for a while... then, the camera zooms out and becomes all horizontal-line-y- we're watching someone watching them.*
Mysterious Female Voice: So, Admiral, what do you think?
Mysterious Rough Male Voice: I don't like it... but it's our best option. We don't want to break off diplomatic relations, especially not with them.
Female: Is that your approval?
Male: *pause* Yes. Send the order.
Female: Sending now. Oh, and Admiral?
Male: Yes?
Female: I'll be joining him.
Male: Do you really think that's wise? The Cole Protocol-
Female: I know what the Cole Protocol says, but this is five hundred years before first contact!
Male: *pause* You're right. Just try not to screw up your own creation, okay?
Female: Will do. Transferring now. Best of luck here, Admiral.
Male: Don't get in over your head.
Female: I won't have to worry about that.
*camera cuts to a squarish dark green ship the size of the Halberd warping in right next to the Halberd above the island with the Subspace Bomb factory, forcing both ships off course. Meta Knight zips onto the other ship, looking around. There are two ROBs planting a Subspace Bomb. Meta Knight sees the timer running out and jumps off the ship. As the timer runs down to thirty seconds, a humanoid blur dashes out of the ship and to the bomb, grabbing it and jumping off the ship with it.*
Female: What the hell are you doing?
*the camera cuts below the humanoid blur now crouching on top of the bomb. The distinctive guitar slide from "Rock Anthem for Saving the World" plays as time stops and we see who it is- Newcomer: Master Chief.*
Chief: Giving those robots back their bomb.
*the Chief pushes off, sending the bomb flying down as it explodes. He grabs onto the top of the sinking ship from which he emerged and dashes across, barely outrunning the explosion. He crosses onto the Halberd and comes face to face with Meta Knight. The Spartan takes out a plasma grenade, arming it.*
Female (Cortana): Bet you can't stick it.
Chief: You're on.
*the shrieking music from the Halo 2 trailer plays and we cut to black. "Super Smash Bros. Brawl". "Start a new fight". "March 2008".*
Notes: In case you didn't figure it out, the guy at the beginning was Admiral Hood. I tried to work in the "permission to leave the station" line, but it just didn't fit.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Catching Up: The Best Weapon Ever
When last we left MegaMatt, he had just barely emerged victorious over Air Man.
All right! Air Shooter GET! Wait, Air Shooter? I thought the weapons were all like "A. Fire" or "S. DaWhoop" or "E. Fail" and such... Now I don't get to make my joke about the Personal Shooter!
Oh, wait! Something else! I must get my weapons ready! And... Item 2? Don't you just /love/ these descriptive names? I mean, AIR Shooter? That sounds /really/ intimidating. Ah well. Hopefully Item-2 is an electromagnetic pulse bomb or something. Whatever. *gets password, goes to Metal Man's stage and opens up menu*
Okay, what's P? *selects* Okay, that's the Mega Buster. Wait... P? It really IS the Personal Shooter! XD
*gets to the boss*
All right, let's DO this! LEEEEROY MEGAMANZ!
*runs forward and into a Metal Blade, killing himself*
All right, let's do this again! LEEEEROY MEGA-
*gets killed again*
All right, that's it!
*gets the giant Covenant Space-Pickle-I-Mean-Bomb from Halo 2 in the Guardian Ship from ZX and re-enacts the incredibly awesome cutscene, only targeting Metal Man's boss room*
Now THAT's how you take out a boss. None of this epic fail P. Shooter business.
Get... equipped... with... m-... metal... bl-.. blade? Metal Blade? Looks more like a Rolling Cutter to me, but what do I know?
*goes to Heat Man's stage*
All right, let's give this Metal Thing a try. *equips and shoots a few enemies* Huh. Not bad at all. Great ammo use, pretty strong... If this thing could shoot up, it'd be epic awesome. Say, I never tried that Item-2 thing. *equips and creates a platform* Better remember this. This could be very useful later.
*later, at the disappearing blocks over insta-death lava*
I do NOT want to do this. But fear not, for there... is a CHEAT!
*uses Item-2 to fly over the lava and to the other side*
I love you, Item-2.
*gets to boss*
In retrospect, I probably should have stopped by Bubble Man's stage first. But then again, with a name like Bubble Man, how useful can his item be? *remembers EXE BubbleMan* Pretty darn useful, I'd imagine. *pwned by boss*
All right! Air Shooter GET! Wait, Air Shooter? I thought the weapons were all like "A. Fire" or "S. DaWhoop" or "E. Fail" and such... Now I don't get to make my joke about the Personal Shooter!
Oh, wait! Something else! I must get my weapons ready! And... Item 2? Don't you just /love/ these descriptive names? I mean, AIR Shooter? That sounds /really/ intimidating. Ah well. Hopefully Item-2 is an electromagnetic pulse bomb or something. Whatever. *gets password, goes to Metal Man's stage and opens up menu*
Okay, what's P? *selects* Okay, that's the Mega Buster. Wait... P? It really IS the Personal Shooter! XD
*gets to the boss*
All right, let's DO this! LEEEEROY MEGAMANZ!
*runs forward and into a Metal Blade, killing himself*
All right, let's do this again! LEEEEROY MEGA-
*gets killed again*
All right, that's it!
*gets the giant Covenant Space-Pickle-I-Mean-Bomb from Halo 2 in the Guardian Ship from ZX and re-enacts the incredibly awesome cutscene, only targeting Metal Man's boss room*
Now THAT's how you take out a boss. None of this epic fail P. Shooter business.
Get... equipped... with... m-... metal... bl-.. blade? Metal Blade? Looks more like a Rolling Cutter to me, but what do I know?
*goes to Heat Man's stage*
All right, let's give this Metal Thing a try. *equips and shoots a few enemies* Huh. Not bad at all. Great ammo use, pretty strong... If this thing could shoot up, it'd be epic awesome. Say, I never tried that Item-2 thing. *equips and creates a platform* Better remember this. This could be very useful later.
*later, at the disappearing blocks over insta-death lava*
I do NOT want to do this. But fear not, for there... is a CHEAT!
*uses Item-2 to fly over the lava and to the other side*
I love you, Item-2.
*gets to boss*
In retrospect, I probably should have stopped by Bubble Man's stage first. But then again, with a name like Bubble Man, how useful can his item be? *remembers EXE BubbleMan* Pretty darn useful, I'd imagine. *pwned by boss*
Rockman Fix: EXE6 Beast Link
"What?" I hear you say. "This is madness!"
You're quite right.
However, for a short while, there was talk of a game not unlike this one being released, and, of all places, in the US.
Now, my extensive research (read: two Google searches) has not yielded any information as to whether or not this game ever existed, even in Japan. So, what do we know?
-It would include a Gate of some kind and use chips (presumably Link). The game may or may not have been contained in the Gate.
-It would require the Gate for play.
-The game would be a remake of EXE6, battles only.
-The release date was October '06, _only a month_ after it was announced.
So, what happened to it? My best guess is that Capcom realized that EXE6 and a Beast Link Gate did everything that this new game would do and more and that porting it to the US would be extremely cost-prohibitive. As such, they canned the project.
Now, the real question: what happened to the TGS demo and is it on Bittorrent yet? XD
You're quite right.
However, for a short while, there was talk of a game not unlike this one being released, and, of all places, in the US.
Now, my extensive research (read: two Google searches) has not yielded any information as to whether or not this game ever existed, even in Japan. So, what do we know?
-It would include a Gate of some kind and use chips (presumably Link). The game may or may not have been contained in the Gate.
-It would require the Gate for play.
-The game would be a remake of EXE6, battles only.
-The release date was October '06, _only a month_ after it was announced.
So, what happened to it? My best guess is that Capcom realized that EXE6 and a Beast Link Gate did everything that this new game would do and more and that porting it to the US would be extremely cost-prohibitive. As such, they canned the project.
Now, the real question: what happened to the TGS demo and is it on Bittorrent yet? XD
Saturday, March 22, 2008
A Shinigami walks into a bar...
I started reading the Death Note manga the other day. Spoilarz below.
-----
I want to like Light. I really do. He's such a genius, especially putting the piece of the notebook in his watch. His schemes can sometimes be a bit hard to follow, and I was a little confused when they flashed back to show Light setting everything up before going into jail. All in all, the translation is excellent (no incidents here XD) and it's a great story. I just have to get ahold of volumes 10 and 11 and then my collection shall be complete... *evil laughter*
I think the reason that I like (or at least want to like) Light so much is that his actions early on really hit home. Using the Death Note to kill criminals sounds _exactly_ like something I'd do. Only I'd be more ironic. And I'd probably end up messing up and getting caught. I'm a terrible liar. XD
I also identify with Misa a bit. It's all to easy to get caught up in the whole "me too" thing.
(Observation: "me too" is one space and one letter away from "metool".)
I really like how by about halfway through the series that Light is simultaneously L, Kira and Light. Must be a real expletive to keep his stories straight.
I think that's what I like most about Death Note: the way Light leads a double/triple/quadruple (if you count Watari) life. I think we all have a bit of that in our lives. Heck, I've got three lives just for the intarwebz.
Then again, maybe I'm just a freak.
Probably the second.
-----
I want to like Light. I really do. He's such a genius, especially putting the piece of the notebook in his watch. His schemes can sometimes be a bit hard to follow, and I was a little confused when they flashed back to show Light setting everything up before going into jail. All in all, the translation is excellent (no incidents here XD) and it's a great story. I just have to get ahold of volumes 10 and 11 and then my collection shall be complete... *evil laughter*
I think the reason that I like (or at least want to like) Light so much is that his actions early on really hit home. Using the Death Note to kill criminals sounds _exactly_ like something I'd do. Only I'd be more ironic. And I'd probably end up messing up and getting caught. I'm a terrible liar. XD
I also identify with Misa a bit. It's all to easy to get caught up in the whole "me too" thing.
(Observation: "me too" is one space and one letter away from "metool".)
I really like how by about halfway through the series that Light is simultaneously L, Kira and Light. Must be a real expletive to keep his stories straight.
I think that's what I like most about Death Note: the way Light leads a double/triple/quadruple (if you count Watari) life. I think we all have a bit of that in our lives. Heck, I've got three lives just for the intarwebz.
Then again, maybe I'm just a freak.
Probably the second.
Miscellaneous Observations II
I believe I have officially created the most hated SSBB stage ever. It's basically a whole bunch of falling blocks over spikes.
Also, one of my friends took my ego down two or twelve notches yesterday. Unfortunately, I am not the DigitalPh33r nor the Asakura Yoh of Brawl. Ah well.
Flash once said to me that Yoh gets way too much credit. I think he's probably right. Yoh can build some great folders, yeah, but for me, EXE (and every game, really) isn't about using what everyone else uses (I'm looking right at you, Gater). It's about finding what works for you. Take my experience with Crossed Blades. I just couldn't get that folder to work; it didn't mesh with me. So I changed it around a bit and we have Data Drain, the folder that got me second place at OtaRock. And no, I'm never going to let you guys forget that. (Please... I have so little to be proud of... )
Oh yeah, I beat Classic on Brawl on Intense. So nyah.
Got Geometry Wars for the DS the other day. Pretty good game overall, although a tad repetitive. And to anyone interested in it, get the Turret drone first. You _need_ the Turret for the higher levels.
I remember back when we had to use blanks from Pokemon Aaah! to make decent custom Pokemon cards. Now they've got Magic Set Editor and that stuff... Meh. Get off my Grass Stage.
It's really surreal playing through EXE6 in Japanese, because just when you think you know what's going on, it throws you a curveball. The maps are awesome and extremely useful, especially in the Ura Net, and I'm not used to the redrawn areas.
Ages ago, I remember someone on GFAQS (RykenInverse, I think his name was) extolling the superiority of the original Japanese versions. Maybe if you can read Japanese. The only thing that I like about the Japanese version is that it has BLG support. That's freaking _it_. I can't read anything, so I have to carry a guide around with me everywhere just to know which button breathes, which defeats the whole "portability" issue. Speaking of portability, who takes the ginormous BLG and a decent selection of chips with them on the road? Flash probably does, but I bet he has three complete Link sets (:P), and I can't afford to lose any of mine. Except WideBlade and LongBlade. Those chips are _awesome_. Three uses, one-hundred-something damage, and great area coverage, especially with Rock Beast Outed.
Back on topic, though, what does the Japanese version have going for it? Maps, which are useless if I don't know where I'm supposed to go; the Django chips, which are 180-something damage Moko Rushes; and the original area maps, which is such a big deal. ZOMG.
*sigh*
Sorry Japanese-version fans, I prefer being able to read what the heck I'm supposed to do over being hardcore.
Non sequitur: I wonder if I'll be able to come up with a rant like that if I ever get on ELB. Meh, they'd just have to mention EXE4. XD
Also, one of my friends took my ego down two or twelve notches yesterday. Unfortunately, I am not the DigitalPh33r nor the Asakura Yoh of Brawl. Ah well.
Flash once said to me that Yoh gets way too much credit. I think he's probably right. Yoh can build some great folders, yeah, but for me, EXE (and every game, really) isn't about using what everyone else uses (I'm looking right at you, Gater). It's about finding what works for you. Take my experience with Crossed Blades. I just couldn't get that folder to work; it didn't mesh with me. So I changed it around a bit and we have Data Drain, the folder that got me second place at OtaRock. And no, I'm never going to let you guys forget that. (Please... I have so little to be proud of... )
Oh yeah, I beat Classic on Brawl on Intense. So nyah.
Got Geometry Wars for the DS the other day. Pretty good game overall, although a tad repetitive. And to anyone interested in it, get the Turret drone first. You _need_ the Turret for the higher levels.
I remember back when we had to use blanks from Pokemon Aaah! to make decent custom Pokemon cards. Now they've got Magic Set Editor and that stuff... Meh. Get off my Grass Stage.
It's really surreal playing through EXE6 in Japanese, because just when you think you know what's going on, it throws you a curveball. The maps are awesome and extremely useful, especially in the Ura Net, and I'm not used to the redrawn areas.
Ages ago, I remember someone on GFAQS (RykenInverse, I think his name was) extolling the superiority of the original Japanese versions. Maybe if you can read Japanese. The only thing that I like about the Japanese version is that it has BLG support. That's freaking _it_. I can't read anything, so I have to carry a guide around with me everywhere just to know which button breathes, which defeats the whole "portability" issue. Speaking of portability, who takes the ginormous BLG and a decent selection of chips with them on the road? Flash probably does, but I bet he has three complete Link sets (:P), and I can't afford to lose any of mine. Except WideBlade and LongBlade. Those chips are _awesome_. Three uses, one-hundred-something damage, and great area coverage, especially with Rock Beast Outed.
Back on topic, though, what does the Japanese version have going for it? Maps, which are useless if I don't know where I'm supposed to go; the Django chips, which are 180-something damage Moko Rushes; and the original area maps, which is such a big deal. ZOMG.
*sigh*
Sorry Japanese-version fans, I prefer being able to read what the heck I'm supposed to do over being hardcore.
Non sequitur: I wonder if I'll be able to come up with a rant like that if I ever get on ELB. Meh, they'd just have to mention EXE4. XD
Friday, March 21, 2008
Beast Link Gate (and a few miscellaneous) Observations
I just discovered today that you can press L or R when you have a gauge of blue or higher to open the Custom Window. This is extremely useful because you can use it to combine your virtual folder with the chips you have lying around. Downside: no attaching virtual powerups to real chips. Don't know if it works the other way around, though.
Rock: Okay! Let's do this!
Lan: *car drives by, crushing all his chips* O.O WRYYYYYYYYY?!
Speaking of WRYYYY, doesn't Fox's Final Smash look like the steamroller move? And what about Meta Knight's? And Luigi's? Three characters (counting the Star Fox characters as one, since that's more or less what they are) have Final Smashes ripped off from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
And speaking of Brawl, the music in that game is phenomenal.
Back on topic, I've been barely using the real chips anymore. The virtual chips don't run out of energy and I barely need chips anyway. I just beat JudgeMan and, let me tell you, I could probably have done it with just the concentrated pwnage that is the Falzar BeastBuster.
Ugh, I hate how those chips run out of energy. I have to plug out every few minutes to get all my Navi chips back.
Back in the days of Style Changes, I was always a Guts man (lolpun) myself, but the BLG has changed that. Now I reach for a refreshing Colonel SP.
Colonel SP: better than MetReflect. Not that that says much. (Sorry, all you MetReflect lovers, but I only ever found one use for it: the ever-present Chip Trader.)
Back on topic, though, I've really become a Navi summon addict. I've used ProtoMan SP when I'm fighting like three Mets. I'm not kidding.
When do you unlock the Navi Change Table? Just looks like a table to me... I want to play as TenguMan! Well, not especially, since it'd mean giving up my Falzar Rock, but still...
Rock: Okay! Let's do this!
Lan: *car drives by, crushing all his chips* O.O WRYYYYYYYYY?!
Speaking of WRYYYY, doesn't Fox's Final Smash look like the steamroller move? And what about Meta Knight's? And Luigi's? Three characters (counting the Star Fox characters as one, since that's more or less what they are) have Final Smashes ripped off from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
And speaking of Brawl, the music in that game is phenomenal.
Back on topic, I've been barely using the real chips anymore. The virtual chips don't run out of energy and I barely need chips anyway. I just beat JudgeMan and, let me tell you, I could probably have done it with just the concentrated pwnage that is the Falzar BeastBuster.
Ugh, I hate how those chips run out of energy. I have to plug out every few minutes to get all my Navi chips back.
Back in the days of Style Changes, I was always a Guts man (lolpun) myself, but the BLG has changed that. Now I reach for a refreshing Colonel SP.
Colonel SP: better than MetReflect. Not that that says much. (Sorry, all you MetReflect lovers, but I only ever found one use for it: the ever-present Chip Trader.)
Back on topic, though, I've really become a Navi summon addict. I've used ProtoMan SP when I'm fighting like three Mets. I'm not kidding.
When do you unlock the Navi Change Table? Just looks like a table to me... I want to play as TenguMan! Well, not especially, since it'd mean giving up my Falzar Rock, but still...
Thursday, March 20, 2008
20-Step Guide to Using the Beast Link Gate
Step 1: Get an import copy of EXE6.
Step 2: Get a BLG.
Step 3: Play EXE6 until you get the Beast Out.
Step 4: Save, turn off your game, plug in the BLG, turn it back on.
Step 5: Plug into the intarwebz and get into a battle.
Step 6: Select your chips, wondering why Rock's already Beasted Out.
Step 7: Get hit repeatedly and subsequently deleted by a Met, expecting Rock to move out of the way like EXE4.5.
Step 8: Go back to the intrawebz and get into another battle.
Step 9: Select the highest powered chip you have.
Step 10: Wait for the custom bar to reach the appropriate level.
Step 11: Slot in your chip.
Step 12: Repeat steps 8-11 until either satisfied or your hand snaps off from trying to hold up a GBA and the BLG.
Step 13: There is no Step 13. Nor is there a spoon.
Step 14: Get into a battle with another Navi.
Step 15: Pause for three minutes while you find a chip with the right element.
Step 16: Unpause, slot in your chip, and fire it off.
Step 17: Repause while you get the next one ready.
Step 18: Repeat steps 15-17 until either happy or dead.
Step 19: ????
Step 20: Profit!
In all seriousness, my experience with the BLG has been very much what Flash said about Silver Bullet: "Just a few more minutes until your ultimate demise!" Can you imagine how anticlimactic this would have been in the anime?
Rock: Lan! We've got viruses in the traffic control system, which is why gigantic chunks are flying out of the road and killing people! And the author of this is mixing Japanese and American names!
Lan: Mixing Japanese and American names? OH NOES! I must save the day! PLUG-IN!
Rock: ZOMG GREEN SPARKMAN LOL
Lan: O.O He's not even in the anime!
Rock: Oh, did I say green SparkMan? I meant GravityMan lol.
Lan: *facepalm* Whatever. Battle routine, set!
Rock: We don't say that in the anime, moron.
Lan: We're fighting a Navi from Axess with the Beast Link Gate and you focus on _that_?
Rock: Point taken. Mind sending me some chips?
Lan: One sec. *opens up backpack and turns it upside down, spilling tons of chips on the ground. He starts shuffling them around*
Rock: *is getting pwned by GravityMan* Umm... Lan? I could really use a few chips now...
Lan: *impatient* Hang on. *shuffles some around and sends Sword*
Rock: *still getting pwned* Why Sword? I had enough Custom Gauge for a Giga!
Lan: Hold on one sec, Rock! We're gonna use a /Program Advance/!
Rock: *dies*
Lan: Okay, I'm sending WideSword now! Rock? Rock?
O.o Well, that was an interesting trip into my psyche.
Step 2: Get a BLG.
Step 3: Play EXE6 until you get the Beast Out.
Step 4: Save, turn off your game, plug in the BLG, turn it back on.
Step 5: Plug into the intarwebz and get into a battle.
Step 6: Select your chips, wondering why Rock's already Beasted Out.
Step 7: Get hit repeatedly and subsequently deleted by a Met, expecting Rock to move out of the way like EXE4.5.
Step 8: Go back to the intrawebz and get into another battle.
Step 9: Select the highest powered chip you have.
Step 10: Wait for the custom bar to reach the appropriate level.
Step 11: Slot in your chip.
Step 12: Repeat steps 8-11 until either satisfied or your hand snaps off from trying to hold up a GBA and the BLG.
Step 13: There is no Step 13. Nor is there a spoon.
Step 14: Get into a battle with another Navi.
Step 15: Pause for three minutes while you find a chip with the right element.
Step 16: Unpause, slot in your chip, and fire it off.
Step 17: Repause while you get the next one ready.
Step 18: Repeat steps 15-17 until either happy or dead.
Step 19: ????
Step 20: Profit!
In all seriousness, my experience with the BLG has been very much what Flash said about Silver Bullet: "Just a few more minutes until your ultimate demise!" Can you imagine how anticlimactic this would have been in the anime?
Rock: Lan! We've got viruses in the traffic control system, which is why gigantic chunks are flying out of the road and killing people! And the author of this is mixing Japanese and American names!
Lan: Mixing Japanese and American names? OH NOES! I must save the day! PLUG-IN!
Rock: ZOMG GREEN SPARKMAN LOL
Lan: O.O He's not even in the anime!
Rock: Oh, did I say green SparkMan? I meant GravityMan lol.
Lan: *facepalm* Whatever. Battle routine, set!
Rock: We don't say that in the anime, moron.
Lan: We're fighting a Navi from Axess with the Beast Link Gate and you focus on _that_?
Rock: Point taken. Mind sending me some chips?
Lan: One sec. *opens up backpack and turns it upside down, spilling tons of chips on the ground. He starts shuffling them around*
Rock: *is getting pwned by GravityMan* Umm... Lan? I could really use a few chips now...
Lan: *impatient* Hang on. *shuffles some around and sends Sword*
Rock: *still getting pwned* Why Sword? I had enough Custom Gauge for a Giga!
Lan: Hold on one sec, Rock! We're gonna use a /Program Advance/!
Rock: *dies*
Lan: Okay, I'm sending WideSword now! Rock? Rock?
O.o Well, that was an interesting trip into my psyche.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Get Equipped with Beast Link Gate!
Well, my package from FlashMan arrived today. Lurking inside?
A Beast Link Gate!
So that's why I'm probably going to vanish for the next few days.
Oh, and to Protodude, those codes you posted make my game hang on startup. XD
UPDATE FOR GREAT JUSTICE: Well, it doesn't work with my English EXE6, but it came with a Japanese copy of Falzar, so I'm not complaining. Also in the package: a manual (much longer than American ones and shaped differently to boot), a guide that presumably is to the use of the BLG, a few chips (Rockman Navi Data, Colonel Army, ProtoMan, and some snowball thing), and a Link PET skin that shows the two Beast Outs and all the Link Navis.
Also, after unpacking my loot, I had a whole bunch of these papers with a square PET-size screen of static with a few large squares in the corners and a whole bunch of Japanese text. Anybody know what these things are? They say "get" at the bottom, so I'm guessing they might be encrypted lotto numbers for the totally-not-the-NumberMan-trader-thing or something. (And, to Protodude, I won't hold it against you if you turn this into a PRC article.)
A Beast Link Gate!
So that's why I'm probably going to vanish for the next few days.
Oh, and to Protodude, those codes you posted make my game hang on startup. XD
UPDATE FOR GREAT JUSTICE: Well, it doesn't work with my English EXE6, but it came with a Japanese copy of Falzar, so I'm not complaining. Also in the package: a manual (much longer than American ones and shaped differently to boot), a guide that presumably is to the use of the BLG, a few chips (Rockman Navi Data, Colonel Army, ProtoMan, and some snowball thing), and a Link PET skin that shows the two Beast Outs and all the Link Navis.
Also, after unpacking my loot, I had a whole bunch of these papers with a square PET-size screen of static with a few large squares in the corners and a whole bunch of Japanese text. Anybody know what these things are? They say "get" at the bottom, so I'm guessing they might be encrypted lotto numbers for the totally-not-the-NumberMan-trader-thing or something. (And, to Protodude, I won't hold it against you if you turn this into a PRC article.)
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Catching Up: It Begins
This was originally intended to be a vidcast, but I really don't think that it's necessary. Rated PG for one bad word and off-screen cursing.
-----
I was born in the early 90's. As I was growing up, the Super Nintendo was winding down to make room for the 3D era.
My first MegaMan game was a demo of MegaMan Legends, played on my cousin's PS1. I hated the gameplay (primarily because I was [and still am] terrible at it), so it really turned me off MegaMan games.
Flash-forward a few years. I saw the coverage for EXE1 in my latest Nintendo Power and since there hadn't been a Kirby game in ages (I've always been a huge Kirby fan), I picked it up.
So began my introduction to the series that I would invest hundreds of dollars and countless hours in.
Flash-forward another few years. I've played all the EXE games that are out (1-5) and I need my fix. Not realizing what I'm doing, in the exact opposite of what I'm sure so many others did when EXE1 came out... I picked up MMXC, thinking it'll be just like EXE. (XD) To say the least, I was surprised. This put me off the older MegaMan games for even longer.
Flash-forward another two years. I had nothing to do in a room full of computers (long story), and, with the entire archive of Bob and George fresh in my mind, I searched for a web-based NES emulator. I found vNES (virtualnes.com) and browsed the catalog. I saw Mega Man 1-6.
MM's Mind: Mega Man. Mega Man X. Mega Man = Mega Man X. Mega Man X = hard. Therefore, Mega Man = hard.
I'll spare you the expletive-filled account of my brush with MM1.
MM's Mind: Mega Man hard. Try next one.
Mega Man 2 was, by far, the best game I'd ever played. (Of course, Brawl's taken that spot since then.)
That's not to say, however, that I was good at it. Or, for that matter, that the game's entirely fair.
Take, for example, Air Man. Let me ASCII something to show you what I mean.
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I__M______________A__I
M=MegaMan
A=Air Man
This is your hit radius.
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
IXXMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
This is Air Man's Tornado-Rape radius.
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXAXXI
This is your hit radius on Metal Blade.
I--X--------X--------I
I--X-------X---------I
I--X------X----------I
I--X-----X-----------I
I--X----X------------I
I--X---X-------------I
I--X--X--------------I
IX-X-X---------------I
I-XXX----------------I
IXXMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
This is your hit radius on Time Stopper.
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I__M_________________I
And this is your brain on drugs.
-----
I was born in the early 90's. As I was growing up, the Super Nintendo was winding down to make room for the 3D era.
My first MegaMan game was a demo of MegaMan Legends, played on my cousin's PS1. I hated the gameplay (primarily because I was [and still am] terrible at it), so it really turned me off MegaMan games.
Flash-forward a few years. I saw the coverage for EXE1 in my latest Nintendo Power and since there hadn't been a Kirby game in ages (I've always been a huge Kirby fan), I picked it up.
So began my introduction to the series that I would invest hundreds of dollars and countless hours in.
Flash-forward another few years. I've played all the EXE games that are out (1-5) and I need my fix. Not realizing what I'm doing, in the exact opposite of what I'm sure so many others did when EXE1 came out... I picked up MMXC, thinking it'll be just like EXE. (XD) To say the least, I was surprised. This put me off the older MegaMan games for even longer.
Flash-forward another two years. I had nothing to do in a room full of computers (long story), and, with the entire archive of Bob and George fresh in my mind, I searched for a web-based NES emulator. I found vNES (virtualnes.com) and browsed the catalog. I saw Mega Man 1-6.
MM's Mind: Mega Man. Mega Man X. Mega Man = Mega Man X. Mega Man X = hard. Therefore, Mega Man = hard.
I'll spare you the expletive-filled account of my brush with MM1.
MM's Mind: Mega Man hard. Try next one.
Mega Man 2 was, by far, the best game I'd ever played. (Of course, Brawl's taken that spot since then.)
That's not to say, however, that I was good at it. Or, for that matter, that the game's entirely fair.
Take, for example, Air Man. Let me ASCII something to show you what I mean.
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I__M______________A__I
M=MegaMan
A=Air Man
This is your hit radius.
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
IXXMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
This is Air Man's Tornado-Rape radius.
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
IXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXAXXI
This is your hit radius on Metal Blade.
I--X--------X--------I
I--X-------X---------I
I--X------X----------I
I--X-----X-----------I
I--X----X------------I
I--X---X-------------I
I--X--X--------------I
IX-X-X---------------I
I-XXX----------------I
IXXMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI
This is your hit radius on Time Stopper.
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I--------------------I
I__M_________________I
And this is your brain on drugs.
Friday, March 14, 2008
I can't beat Solid Snake!
(Parody lyrics of I Can't Beat Air Man, easily viewable on YouTube)
I come to realize
I find myself just standing at the start
Then I always fade away at the very same end
With belief in my heart
I try my best to use B-Up attack but
Can't help myself from falling down to death
If I only had the item named Smash Ball
It'd knock him off the stage short and easy
I fight him many times
Many, many times, but
Solid Snake just cannot be defeated, why?
No matter how I try, 'Nade Launcher is blocking my way
Go for a chance from in front, trap him next to wall
But sooner or later I'll be blown away
Went for the endless push, however forever
With his grenades there's NO WAY
To win the next fight, the next final one
So, Smash Ball is the last thing I'll hold on to
I can't beat Solid Snake!!
-----
What prompted this? Having to fight Snake four freaking times before I managed to beat him and unlock him. I did actually beat him, but not before writing this.
I come to realize
I find myself just standing at the start
Then I always fade away at the very same end
With belief in my heart
I try my best to use B-Up attack but
Can't help myself from falling down to death
If I only had the item named Smash Ball
It'd knock him off the stage short and easy
I fight him many times
Many, many times, but
Solid Snake just cannot be defeated, why?
No matter how I try, 'Nade Launcher is blocking my way
Go for a chance from in front, trap him next to wall
But sooner or later I'll be blown away
Went for the endless push, however forever
With his grenades there's NO WAY
To win the next fight, the next final one
So, Smash Ball is the last thing I'll hold on to
I can't beat Solid Snake!!
-----
What prompted this? Having to fight Snake four freaking times before I managed to beat him and unlock him. I did actually beat him, but not before writing this.
ARG Watch: The Lost Ring
thelostring.com
I found this rabbit hole through the video-montage-thing at the bottom of my MSN Messenger window, actually. XD
I have no idea what this is. It looks like an ARG, it sounds like an ARG, but it doesn't quite taste like an ARG. I dunno. Explore it for yourself, but make sure you have Babelfish open behind it. You're going to need it.
I found this rabbit hole through the video-montage-thing at the bottom of my MSN Messenger window, actually. XD
I have no idea what this is. It looks like an ARG, it sounds like an ARG, but it doesn't quite taste like an ARG. I dunno. Explore it for yourself, but make sure you have Babelfish open behind it. You're going to need it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Get Equipped with ARG Watch!
Warning! New challen- er, I mean, section!
In ARG Watch, I'll point out possible trailheads for Alternate Reality Games. Go wiki this stuff if you don't understand it or check out the guide at UnFiction.
What's behind this, you ask?
ARG Alert: Channel 51, Part 2?
Channel 51 was an ARG about, oh... four years ago or so. It was Nintendo's counter to ilovebees and it promoted Metroid Prime 2. It centered around a company called Orbis Labs creating Metroid-syle weaponry and using astronauts from a company called Athena Aeronautics (or Astronautics or something... it's been four freakin' years, gimme a break) to create Samus-esque bounty hunters. This was all reported through channel51.org, the website of one Samantha Manus (which is TOTALLY not Samus with an "antha Man" in the middle). Her contact was a character by the name of YX455, which later changed to KA054 when the YX455 AIM account was compromised.
The remarkable thing about Channel 51 was that even after Nintendo ended the game via some job postings on Monster.com, the players, including one who had gotten not only the YX455 AIM account but also the blog yx455.blogspot.com, actually extended the life of the game, the player assuming YX455's identity and keeping the game going for another few weeks.
I was always a big fan of Channel 51. Look at my profile, click on my interests and see who shares them. I use YX455 as my Brawl name. You can understand my surprise, then, when I saw that a user under the name of YX455 had posted in a Bungie.net topic.
You: HOLD IT! Couldn't this just be another fan of Channel 51?
*headshakes, tapping index finger on forehead* That's what I thought initially, but explain this. Later that day, the Wikipedia article for Metroid Prime 2 had a link added to the body of the page. It said only "it begins again" and linked to a Gamertag... that of YX455!
You: OBJECTION! This is just some lonely fan of Channel 51 trying to meet other fans or something!
*headshakes yet again* No. His profile links to http://echoesofthetruth.blogspot.com/ where it appears that he's posting in character as YX455. It also appears that he's traded Metroid for Halo. I mean, the posting on Bungie.net, "my fight to finish"...
Judge: Mr. SP, unless you can stay on topic, I'm going to have to penalize you.
No! Not the gavel of doom! Noooo! *loses 1/8 of HP bar* Why must this hurt with pain?!
*ahem* Back on topic, I've also been told that someone is trying to buy the channel51.org domain name. Also, this new person is not the original YX455. The original has an email address of yx455.truth A7 gmail DAW7 com, while this one uses yx455.echo at the same domain... which is also a valid MSN Messenger account.
Whatever's happening, something's happening. I've contacted him via email, and this is what convinced me something in the ARG alley is up.
-----
I know not this game of which you speak, but I rarely have time for games any more. The truth does not wait.
I am glad to hear that not all of the Seekers [Seekers of the Light, a Channel 51 community named after a recurring line from YX455 -MM] have given up hope. When the time comes, I will expect you to be ready to join us once more.
Awaken more of them from their slumber.
Our hour is at hand.
Seekers and Templars [users of Luminoth Temple, a now-closed forum revealed at the official end of the game -MM] will join together once more.
It is your duty to ensure that.
Seek the light.
--YX455.echo
-----
A rather heavy duty, yes, but something rather interesting nonetheless. Wonder what YX would say about this. Probably something roundabout and unhelpful, as always.
Well, that's all I know. More info as it comes in.
Until next time, remember, the Metal Blade can fire in eight directions.
MegaMatt SP, signing off.
In ARG Watch, I'll point out possible trailheads for Alternate Reality Games. Go wiki this stuff if you don't understand it or check out the guide at UnFiction.
What's behind this, you ask?
ARG Alert: Channel 51, Part 2?
Channel 51 was an ARG about, oh... four years ago or so. It was Nintendo's counter to ilovebees and it promoted Metroid Prime 2. It centered around a company called Orbis Labs creating Metroid-syle weaponry and using astronauts from a company called Athena Aeronautics (or Astronautics or something... it's been four freakin' years, gimme a break) to create Samus-esque bounty hunters. This was all reported through channel51.org, the website of one Samantha Manus (which is TOTALLY not Samus with an "antha Man" in the middle). Her contact was a character by the name of YX455, which later changed to KA054 when the YX455 AIM account was compromised.
The remarkable thing about Channel 51 was that even after Nintendo ended the game via some job postings on Monster.com, the players, including one who had gotten not only the YX455 AIM account but also the blog yx455.blogspot.com, actually extended the life of the game, the player assuming YX455's identity and keeping the game going for another few weeks.
I was always a big fan of Channel 51. Look at my profile, click on my interests and see who shares them. I use YX455 as my Brawl name. You can understand my surprise, then, when I saw that a user under the name of YX455 had posted in a Bungie.net topic.
You: HOLD IT! Couldn't this just be another fan of Channel 51?
*headshakes, tapping index finger on forehead* That's what I thought initially, but explain this. Later that day, the Wikipedia article for Metroid Prime 2 had a link added to the body of the page. It said only "it begins again" and linked to a Gamertag... that of YX455!
You: OBJECTION! This is just some lonely fan of Channel 51 trying to meet other fans or something!
*headshakes yet again* No. His profile links to http://echoesofthetruth.blogspot.com/ where it appears that he's posting in character as YX455. It also appears that he's traded Metroid for Halo. I mean, the posting on Bungie.net, "my fight to finish"...
Judge: Mr. SP, unless you can stay on topic, I'm going to have to penalize you.
No! Not the gavel of doom! Noooo! *loses 1/8 of HP bar* Why must this hurt with pain?!
*ahem* Back on topic, I've also been told that someone is trying to buy the channel51.org domain name. Also, this new person is not the original YX455. The original has an email address of yx455.truth A7 gmail DAW7 com, while this one uses yx455.echo at the same domain... which is also a valid MSN Messenger account.
Whatever's happening, something's happening. I've contacted him via email, and this is what convinced me something in the ARG alley is up.
-----
I know not this game of which you speak, but I rarely have time for games any more. The truth does not wait.
I am glad to hear that not all of the Seekers [Seekers of the Light, a Channel 51 community named after a recurring line from YX455 -MM] have given up hope. When the time comes, I will expect you to be ready to join us once more.
Awaken more of them from their slumber.
Our hour is at hand.
Seekers and Templars [users of Luminoth Temple, a now-closed forum revealed at the official end of the game -MM] will join together once more.
It is your duty to ensure that.
Seek the light.
--YX455.echo
-----
A rather heavy duty, yes, but something rather interesting nonetheless. Wonder what YX would say about this. Probably something roundabout and unhelpful, as always.
Well, that's all I know. More info as it comes in.
Until next time, remember, the Metal Blade can fire in eight directions.
MegaMatt SP, signing off.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
RPG Update: Character Class
Character Classes
As I mentioned before, every PC has a Combat Class and a Character Class. The Character Class grants bonuses to the four principal stats of the RPG--
Wait, what do you mean you don't know about the stats? Super-rare double update time, then!
-----
Stats
There are four primary stats in the RPG. These are power, defense, accuracy, and speed. Both Combat and Character Classes affect the first two, Combat affects accuracy, and speed is decided by the Character Class.
-----
Now then, back to our regularly-scheduled update.
The Character Classes are, as of this point in time:
Team: Medium power, high defense, low speed
Custom: Medium power, low defense, high speed
Guts: High power, medium defense, low speed
Shield: Low power, high defense, medium speed
Shadow: Low power, medium defense, high speed
Ground: High power, low defense, medium speed
The two Classes are often combined into one phrase, called a Style, such as BombGuts or SwordCustom.
-----
Triple-Update-Combooooo!!!
Calculating Your Style's Stats
For every 'high', give the stat 3 points. For 'medium', give the stat 2, and for 'low', give it 1 point. Do this for each stat, adding together the individual power and defense values. Then assign each number to a value on this chart:
6: OVER 9000- er, massively high
5: extremely high
4: very high
3: high
2: medium
1: low
For example, let's calculate out SwordShield Style.
Sword: Medium power, medium accuracy, low defense
So, that's 2P/2A/1D/0S, short for 2 power/2 accuracy/1 defense/0 speed.
Shield: Low power, high defense, medium speed
Adding in these values makes our final style's stats 3P/2A/4D/2S, which, if you so desire, can be converted to "high power, medium accuracy, very high defense, medium speed".
-----
Author's Notes
Never say I never update again. :D
Oh, and would you mind commenting if you read this? I'm not going to bother updating if nobody's reading the updates.
As I mentioned before, every PC has a Combat Class and a Character Class. The Character Class grants bonuses to the four principal stats of the RPG--
Wait, what do you mean you don't know about the stats? Super-rare double update time, then!
-----
Stats
There are four primary stats in the RPG. These are power, defense, accuracy, and speed. Both Combat and Character Classes affect the first two, Combat affects accuracy, and speed is decided by the Character Class.
-----
Now then, back to our regularly-scheduled update.
The Character Classes are, as of this point in time:
Team: Medium power, high defense, low speed
Custom: Medium power, low defense, high speed
Guts: High power, medium defense, low speed
Shield: Low power, high defense, medium speed
Shadow: Low power, medium defense, high speed
Ground: High power, low defense, medium speed
The two Classes are often combined into one phrase, called a Style, such as BombGuts or SwordCustom.
-----
Triple-Update-Combooooo!!!
Calculating Your Style's Stats
For every 'high', give the stat 3 points. For 'medium', give the stat 2, and for 'low', give it 1 point. Do this for each stat, adding together the individual power and defense values. Then assign each number to a value on this chart:
6: OVER 9000- er, massively high
5: extremely high
4: very high
3: high
2: medium
1: low
For example, let's calculate out SwordShield Style.
Sword: Medium power, medium accuracy, low defense
So, that's 2P/2A/1D/0S, short for 2 power/2 accuracy/1 defense/0 speed.
Shield: Low power, high defense, medium speed
Adding in these values makes our final style's stats 3P/2A/4D/2S, which, if you so desire, can be converted to "high power, medium accuracy, very high defense, medium speed".
-----
Author's Notes
Never say I never update again. :D
Oh, and would you mind commenting if you read this? I'm not going to bother updating if nobody's reading the updates.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
RPG Update: Combat Classes
In true Sakurai fashion, I'll be leaking information about the RPG update by update until it's ready.
-----
Combat Classes
Each player character will have a Combat Class and a Character Class.
A Combat Class describes what type of weapon the character carries.
Buster: Low power, high accuracy, medium defense
Bomb: High power, low accuracy, medium defense
Sword: Medium power, medium accuracy, low defense
This doesn't mean that this is all you can use, though. Just choose whatever is closest to what you want to use. Weapons like ZX-style energy guns fall into the Buster Class, most projectiles into the Bomb Class, and so forth.
Gotta wrap this up here, thunderstorm.
-----
Combat Classes
Each player character will have a Combat Class and a Character Class.
A Combat Class describes what type of weapon the character carries.
Buster: Low power, high accuracy, medium defense
Bomb: High power, low accuracy, medium defense
Sword: Medium power, medium accuracy, low defense
This doesn't mean that this is all you can use, though. Just choose whatever is closest to what you want to use. Weapons like ZX-style energy guns fall into the Buster Class, most projectiles into the Bomb Class, and so forth.
Gotta wrap this up here, thunderstorm.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Data Drain! The Reveal
I finally found my copy of EXE6, so I figured I'd share Data Drain with you guys. This folder won me second place at OtaRockman (and telling Asakura Yoh that shut him up to some degree :D).
Data Drain!
2 Sword *
3 WideBlade B
3 LongBlade B
2 StepSword B
2 Recovery 300 Y
3 AreaGrab *
1 FullCustom *
1 LifeAura U
1 AntiNavi *
2 AntiDamage * PRESET
1 AntiSword *
3 WhiteCapsule *
1 ProtoMan *
1 ProtoMan SP B
1 Colonel *
1 Colonel SP C
1 Forte Another F
PAs:
LifeSword
BodyGuard (or WhiteGuard)
DoubleHero
TwinLeaders (not recommended, as it can eat up chips needed for one or two of the other PAs)
Techniques:
Blow Me Away -- Use LifeAura to get the opponent to waste a turn using a wind chip or switch to TenguCross. Apply swords/WhiteGuard to TenguCross for massive damage.
WhiteGuard -- BodyGuard + WhiteCapsule. Pwned. Add ProtoMan/Colonel SP at the end to double the fun, or try Forte Another for a truly memorable experience.
AreaPwn -- AreaGrab + Area Grab + ProtoMan SP. You have no chance to dodge make your healing. Ha ha ha ha.
Well, that's it. Stay tuned for an experiment in multimedia, coming... eventually. And no, StenMan, not *that*.
Data Drain!
2 Sword *
3 WideBlade B
3 LongBlade B
2 StepSword B
2 Recovery 300 Y
3 AreaGrab *
1 FullCustom *
1 LifeAura U
1 AntiNavi *
2 AntiDamage * PRESET
1 AntiSword *
3 WhiteCapsule *
1 ProtoMan *
1 ProtoMan SP B
1 Colonel *
1 Colonel SP C
1 Forte Another F
PAs:
LifeSword
BodyGuard (or WhiteGuard)
DoubleHero
TwinLeaders (not recommended, as it can eat up chips needed for one or two of the other PAs)
Techniques:
Blow Me Away -- Use LifeAura to get the opponent to waste a turn using a wind chip or switch to TenguCross. Apply swords/WhiteGuard to TenguCross for massive damage.
WhiteGuard -- BodyGuard + WhiteCapsule. Pwned. Add ProtoMan/Colonel SP at the end to double the fun, or try Forte Another for a truly memorable experience.
AreaPwn -- AreaGrab + Area Grab + ProtoMan SP. You have no chance to dodge make your healing. Ha ha ha ha.
Well, that's it. Stay tuned for an experiment in multimedia, coming... eventually. And no, StenMan, not *that*.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Polls Have Spoken
The polls are closed, and they have spoken.
The RMS RPG will be recreated as a forum RPG, because none of you specified what you'd like under "other", like I said to. >_>
Also, we need a new name for it, since RMS is now down. Post any name suggestions in the comments of this post.
Stay tuned for some more updates on the RPG.
The RMS RPG will be recreated as a forum RPG, because none of you specified what you'd like under "other", like I said to. >_>
Also, we need a new name for it, since RMS is now down. Post any name suggestions in the comments of this post.
Stay tuned for some more updates on the RPG.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
LF: RockMan... the Guitar Hero? and miscellaneous comments
That's right, somebody sequenced a RockMan medley by the Acro-Brats. Well worth a listen and definitely worth a play, if you have the necessary equipment.
Take a look here.
Another song of note: MegaMan Brainsick Metal OC Remix. I've heard some good stuff on OCR before, but this is excellent.
Also, I have a surprise for you guys in the works. Don't expect it until, oh... about March. It's going to be EPIC!
To any of you wondering about the RPG's fate: I'm still figuring it out myself. Vote in the poll to decide its fate!
Take a look here.
Another song of note: MegaMan Brainsick Metal OC Remix. I've heard some good stuff on OCR before, but this is excellent.
Also, I have a surprise for you guys in the works. Don't expect it until, oh... about March. It's going to be EPIC!
To any of you wondering about the RPG's fate: I'm still figuring it out myself. Vote in the poll to decide its fate!
Legend Force Archive
The entirety of the original LF is archived below. Be warned, it's long.
Legend Force: A Legitimate Strategy
That's right! Only seven hours after the approval of my column!
A lot happened over my summer. I played Metroid, I beat Mega Man Star Force, and... oh yeah, I went to Otarockman. More on this after the jump.
[More:]
OtaRockman is a yearly gathering of Rockman fans organized by REO. We get together, do a photo shoot of the cosplayers, and then... there's the tournament. Everybody brings a copy of the chosen EXE game and a folder and we all beat the data out of each other. In-game, of course. The chosen game for OtaRockman 07 was EXE6. I went to work making a folder (read: customizing an RFF folder). It worked reasonably well, and I named it "Data Drain!" (mainly because I was cosplaying as Kite from .hack that year.) (Also, no, you can't see it. :P)
[[scriptmode]]
MegaMatt: Okay! Let's do this! A gamer is approaching! MM: Uhh... Attack? *cool pixel into-battle transition* MM: Okay then. What have I got here? *looks at chip selection* Hmm... Okay, that oughta do it. Opponent: IMMA GONNA PWNZOR JOO!111!1!1111!!!!1! SUNM00N!!11!! MM: Oh expletive. *pwned* 20 HP left. Let's see what we've got here... That'll work. O: H4MM4 T1M3! POI5ON 4NUBI5! MM: LifeAura! (I hate to do something so cheap, but it's all I've got.) BodyGuard + WhiteCapsule! O: O, ITS JUST BODYGUARD. ILL TAKE ONE HIT AND THEN BE BACK TO PWNI- WHY C4NT I MOVE?!!?!/1//1/?!1/1?1 HAX!1! H44444X!11!11! O NOES! *pwned* -Next Battle- Opponent V2: Hah! My grammar module was fixed! Now I can speak correctly! MM: BodyGuard + WhiteCapsule. O V2: *pwned* -Same thing happens next time- Opponent V4: Now is the timeth of thine pwnage! MM: This is getting ridiculous. BodyGuar- O V4: SunMoon. MM: Darn you and your shorter PA names, Opponent V4. *pwned*
The moral of the story? The cheapness of BodyGuard and WhiteCapsule is directly proportional to who's using it. And that I got second place! *huggles trophy*
Next time, on Legend Force:
"You know, I fail to see how a small plastic cone can stop two tons of metal traveling at over 100 miles per hour dead in its tracks."
Legend Force Extra: A Hedgehog Is Approaching!
Unless you've been under a rock since October 10th, you probably know who was recently confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. What does this mean for our beloved Blue Bomber?
[More:]
Yes, Sonic. Sonic was confirmed, making him third-party character number two (behind Solid Snake). So what's the probability of MegaMan?
Some people think that, with two third-party characters, MegaMan will never get in. However, most of these people said that Sonic wouldn't get in because we already had one third-party character, so I have my doubts. Who knows? Maybe he will get in.
Another thing: people seem to think it's MegaMan or X or EXE or Omega-Xis. Why not have all of them as alternate costumes?
Meh. I'm all outta rant-fuel. Discuss. Or don't. Whatever.
Legend Force: You Say Goodbye, and I Say Halo
SO I HERD U LIEK HALO?!?!??!?!11/ My friend tried to get me into Halo a while ago. Yeah, Halo. A first-person shooter with some survival-horror elements. I'm the kind of guy that likes Tetris and RPGs (Role-Playing Games, not Rocket Propelled Grenades). It was, to say the least, interesting.
[More:]
The conversation went something like this [with my friend denoted as L337 DUD3, his Gamertag] [and no, he's not accepting friend requests]: L337 DUD3: Hey, wanna play Halo 2??MegaMatt: Not especially.?LD: Cool! I'll set it up.?MM: What just happened? In his infinite wisdom, he also decided it would be a good idea to have us play Campaign, the single-player mode. The final level. On Legendary*. *Legendary is to Hard as Bubbleman V3 is to a Mettaur. After learning that I wasn't supposed to shoot the person with the green arrow over his head and that yes, you can stick plasma grenades to yourself, I was getting good. And by good, I mean absolutely, atrociously terrible. I confess, though, that I was addicted to the multiplayer. Being a mainly strategic mind, I was better at staying in a position with a good view of what was going on and commanding around teammates. Capture the Flag was my favorite game for a long time. Why, you may ask, am I posting this? Well, the Powers That Are (Powers That Be is gramatically incorrect, I believe) recently came out with a tabletop RPG called Halo ActionClix. Eager to get my revenge on him, I challenged him to a game. Or, more accurately: MM: Hey, wanna play Halo ActionClix??LD: Not especially.?MM: Cool! I'll set it up.?LD: What just happened? I completely obliterated him, just like he obliterated me in Halo 2 Multiplayer. This has lead to a weird symbiotic relationship: I pwn him at Halo ActionClix, and he pwns me at the Halo games. This does have a dark side, though. Since I beat him at something Halo-related, all that remains before Armageddon is for Duke Nukem Forever and Halo DS to be released.
Legend Force Reviews: Out Of Cake
Here's a new subsection of Legend Force I'll be trying out. [read: I spent all the time I should have been writing this article listening to music and playing games, so here's a cop-out article.] In this installment, I'll review whatever I want, and we'll take a look at a remix of Zero Wing music and one of my new, favorite songs: Still Aifvnfjvbc---*kvshhuhvvvssssh* SPOILER BARRIER ACTIVE. [musical spoilers for the game "Portal" have been contained behind break. spoiler barrier unstable: a RECLAIMER should proceed with containment protocol before the spoilers breach containment.]
[More:]
"Still Alive" -- Portal (PC)
"This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction."
So starts the ending theme to "Portal", Still Alive. The perfect example of the spirit of the song, however, occurs a few lines later: "But there's no sense crying over every mistake./You just keep on trying till you run out of cake./And the science gets done/And you make a neat gun/For the people who are still alive."
The song is a weird fusion of techno, a touch of "Weird Al," and possibly some hallucinogenic drugs (the lyrics are rather nonsensical). It's a funny song, though. Recommended with four physics-defying portals out of five.
"Zero Wing Medley" -- VGMusic.com
Invasion of the Gabber Robots. Those words may mean nothing to you, but if you Google it, you'll get the infamous "All Your Base" song (one of my personal favorite songs). A VGMusic user by the name of Mars Jenkar mixed together almost every (if not every) song in Zero Wing into one awesome MIDI. It's an excellent listen, and great for Game Maker placeholder music. A solid five "ZEEEELLLLOOOO!!!!!" Wings out of five.
"FEAR" -- Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, mostly
A very cheap technique. FEAR stands for "Focus sash, Endeavor, quick Attack, Rattata," and it's one of the cheapest techniques ever. Here's how it's usually deployed:
Red sent out Venusaur! [Level OVER 9000] Blue sent out Rattata! [Level 1] Red used PWN! [It takes away all but 1 HP, because...] Rattata hung onto its Focus Sash! Blue used Endeavor! [makes opponent HP = your HP if your HP is lower] Blue used Quick Attack! [it does 1 damage, but that's all Venusaur has left.] Venusaur fainted!
Five out of five for effectiveness, but one out of five for cheapness. Final verdict: Three loeved mudkipz out of fiev.
Legend Force Extra: Why I Should Never Be A Stockbroker
Hey! Sorry for the wait; it took me longer than I expected to find the newly-placed Admin button. So, what's with the title? Find out after the jump.
[More:]
My Personal Finance class started playing the Stock Market Game a few weeks ago (a simulation in which you must buy and sell stocks with virtual cash). Care to take a look at my team's portfolio?
Yeah. My luck is terrible, to put it delicately.
Legend Force: On Subtitles and Sequels
Not much to say, really. I'm going to review some anime and then I'm going to do a short little piece on the future of the ZX series.
[More:]
Hayate no Gotoku
The first undubbed anime I ever saw was Hayate no Gotoku, or as it was translated, Hayate the Combat Butler. (Side-note: Since Hayate's his name, and "no" means "the", does that mean the Japanese have a word for "Combat Butler?")
The story centers around Hayate, an unfortunate boy who tries to kidnap a rich girl because his irresponsible parents left him gigantic gambling debts to pay. The girl becomes smitten with him and pays his debts in exchange for Hayate's servitude. Each episode is freestanding (for the most part), so, if you've seen the first few episodes, you can really understand almost any of the later ones. There's a lot of fourth-wall breaking and references to other anime and manga in the series, and the fansub I watched (only if it's legal, of course) even explained a lot of the pop culture references (no wikipedia required!). There's not much action, but the humor more than makes up for that. I highly recommend this anime, and it wholeheartedly gets the Official Legend Force Walrus of Approval.
-----
MegaMan ZX 3
I love ZX as much as the next guy, but if what the previous post here said is true, then ZXA has until the end of the year to sell 2000 copies. How do we do this?
Get everyone you know to buy a Japanese copy of ZXA. Hopefully, the grassroots effect will take hold (i.e. they get two more people to buy, who get two more people...). Heck, if you don't already have ZXA, get a Japanese copy! Please! For those of us who love ZX! For sequels! For everlasting peace!
Legend Force Reviews: 11 Track 11
My friend recently gave me a CD of songs he wrote. A review of one of the tracks after the jump.
[More:]
This one's known only as "11 Track 11", as far as I know. It's a neat little trance-techno piece that sounds almost like background music to some trance puzzle game, like Lumines or something. I dunno. Anyways, download it here. I have more from the same album, so if you guys like this, I might review some more.
PLUSLE: A nice song, great for Halo 3 campaign. minun: Repetitive.
Also, this'll be my last update for a while because of Thanksgiving break. See ya later!
--Reminding you that the internet is not a big truck (it's a series of n00bs), MegaMatt (Gamertag: MegaMatt SP)
DISCLAIMER: I am posting this under the belief that my friend actually wrote this song. Should this turn out to be false, I'll gladly take it down.
Legend Force Reviews: Halo Cubed
In this special edition of Legend Force Reviews, we'll take a look at three Halo-related things: Halo 3, the Halo 3 soundtrack, and the Halo 3 Limited Edition Xbox 360. Judgement shall be issued after the jump!
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360 Degrees of Pwn
The Halo 3 360 is pretty nice. It comes with a special edition 360, hard drive, headset, controller, Gamer Pics, and a theme. The last two can only be acquired by exchanging a voucher code from inside the box via Xbox Live. Also note that this 360 has the newer, cooler processor (w00t!). Using a little trick I learned, you can also get a free month of Xbox Live Gold (the one that lets you play games online). (All you have to do is accept Silver and it gives you a free month of Gold.)
So what does it have that makes it so much better than the other 360s? First, it has awesome UNSC (the human force in Halo) stylings, so even if you're not crazy about Halo, it still looks awesome. The free headset is a nice touch, and the controller's rechargeable battery and free Play and Charge Kit together make for an excellent deal. The only real problem is the price ($400 US). This bundle gets a solid four sentient-life-destroying superweapons out of five.
Wearing The Helmet Does Not Make You Play Better
Let me be honest here: the only reason I bought Halo 3 was because my friend wanted to play online with me. I have to admit, though, that even though the Legendary Edition was a bit pricey, it was well worth the investment. The two supplemental discs contain all of the cinematics from Halo 1 and 2 remastered. This is a nice bonus for people like me who like the plotline of the games, but don't like the gameplay enough to actually play through the first two. Watching the cutscenes only takes about two hours, but it plays out like a cross between Star Wars and Aliens (which is is really what it is). The helmet is nice, but the price drops the final score down to a still-respectable four pwned n00bs out of five.
You Say Goodbye, and I Hear It In Surround Sound
The Halo 3 soundtrack is a two-disc set. The dynamic music from the game has been "frozen" to accommodate the format change. The CDs range from beat heavy techno-esque rock to piano pieces that sound like something from a concert hall, not a first-person shooter. Also included is a bonus rock piece entitled "Kill Your Friends" about multiplayer. It's a bit jarring from the rest of the CDs, but it's still a good listen. And who thought that (almost) all of this would come from the guy that wrote the Flintstone Kids theme? Five creepy, screeching violins during the Flood theme out of five.
Legend Force Preview: Fly High, FreeRice
I'll be posting an article on FreeRice later today (maybe tomorrow). Also on the schedule: Halo 3 OST Review, Director's Cut.
Legend Force: Why You Aren't Getting An Article
Vendorman's sale, plain and simple. Expect those two articles in the near future.
Legend Force: Article Schedule
Halo 3 OST Review: By Friday FreeRice: By Friday Special Bonus Article!!: Sometime this week Mega Special Bonus Article Mini Series!!!!: By the end of December
Legend Force: Always Bet on MegaMatt: Part One
Sorry it took forever, but here's the first of the two promised articles.
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Fly High, FreeRice
Every five seconds, a child dies from hunger. Almost eleven million children under the age of five die each year in developing countries. Sixty percent of those deaths are due to malnutrition or other hunger-related causes. About twenty-five thousand people die each day because of hunger or related causes. The United Nations estimates that the cost to completely eradicate world hunger is approximately $195 billion per year. FreeRice (www.freerice.com) promises to fight hunger for free through building vocabulary. The website displays a random vocabulary word from its database (SAT vocabulary words are included) and four possible meanings. If the user chooses the correct meaning, the website donates twenty grains of rice to fight world hunger. The website originally donated only ten grains per correct answer, but due to its popularity, FreeRice doubled the amount on November 28 in addition to promising that new words will be added to the database. Players earn the rice through the presence of small advertisements below the game. These advertisements earn money for FreeRice. The money is then used to buy the rice (near where it will be distributed, if at all possible) and distribute it. FreeRice has donated over six billion grains of rice since its creation on October 7. The website is a sister site to Poverty.org and is under the parent organization World Food Programme (www.wfp.org), an nonprofit organization that has fed over 1.4 billion people since its creation in 1962 and distributed almost 4.5 million tons of food last year. The organization has invested more than $30 billion to date in fighting hunger, malnutrition, HIV and AIDS, and emergencies in developing countries. With the holiday season fast approaching, websites like this can be a way to give something to someone who needs it. FreeRice stands out because it requests nothing more from people than their time and gives something to all involved: advertisers get the occasional bought product, the user gets an improved vocabulary, and the people in developing countries get a meal.
Legend Force: Always Bet on MegaMatt: Part Two
Soundtrack to blockbuster game lives up to expectations... mostly I can only imagine what other people do while playing Halo 3, but I like to occasionally stop and listen to the music. Of course, the “dynamic music” feature that changes the music depending on what you’re doing often makes me go back out into the fray to get the music playing again. When I heard that Bungie was to release the soundtrack to Halo 3, I was ecstatic, as I was getting tired of playing through the final level over and over just to hear my favorite piece of music.
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The soundtrack certainly does not disappoint. There are two discs and a total of thirty-two songs, all of which are available via the iTunes Music Store. Each level of the game is separated into as few as one and as many as four individual songs, depending on the length of the level and the number of different song snippets present in the game. Five bonus songs are also present: “Choose Wisely,” “Movement,” and “Never Forget,” the three different tracks from the menu screens of the Halo games; “Finish the Fight,” an arranged version of the music from the E3 announcement trailer; and “Love Your Friends,” a song about multiplayer. The composers used a twenty-four voice choir and a sixty-piece orchestra, a tremendous step up from the simple synthetic instruments used for some of the first game’s music. Don’t let this fool you into thinking that the soundtrack is all the standard rock-classical music, though. Although it is the majority of the soundtrack, there is plenty of style variety here. From the Halo theme remix and pounding techno beats of “To Kill a Demon” to the fast violins and drums of “Behold a Pale Horse,” the soundtrack excels in variety in styles. However, the variety really only is in styles. The entire soundtrack feels like the same few songs remixed over and over with minor variations. Although the remixes are rather different in style, there are only so many ways “One Final Effort,” “Gravemind,” “Keep What You Steal,” or “Farthest Outpost” can be remixed on different instruments or in different styles. Even though I say that, the soundtrack has successfully kept me coming back for just a few more minutes every so often. I’d say that this soundtrack certainly has something for everyone, although unless you’re either ready to purchase for $16 ($14 via Amazon not including shipping, $20 via the iTunes Music Store) what are, more or less, the same songs eight times over or a Halo junkie like I am, I wouldn’t purchase the entire album. If you can, I recommend using the iTunes Music Store to get the best of this album. If you absolutely need the Halo theme, try “One Final Effort” or “Finish the Fight,” my two personal favorite tracks. Final Judgement: 8.5 out of 10 Pros: Good variety in styles, remixes of classics and menu screen music are nice additions. Cons: Album is repetitive, a bit expensive.
Legend Force: Blast from the Past
I was doing some spring-I-mean-winter-cleaning the other day, and I found an old guide I made for PET World way back when.
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Ladies and gentlemen, I present... The Transer Visual Guide Version 1.1!
Legend Force: Update
Sorry guys, with the semester wrapping up, I've had a lot of projects to get done. Expect the next LF on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Legend Force: Requiem for an MMO
It's over.
On December 26th, as I discovered today, my favorite MMO will be shutting down.
I know almost nobody's probably even heard of it, but it was awesome while it was still up. [Warning: Depressing thoughts beyond the jump.]
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It was called Space Cowboy Online. It was basically World of Warcraft, Star Wars Rogue Squadron and Grand Theft Auto all mixed together. You could fly around and go to different cities where you could get new missions, which, although they were usually "kill x enemies and get x of these items," were usually pretty fun.
It's shutting down due to a rights issue. The way I understand it, a new publisher bought the rights to SCO and refuses to let US players play on the old servers or port over their characters. I'll really miss it.
Still, I suppose almost anybody who ever plays an MMO will eventually outlive it. Auto Assault, .hack//Fragment (even if it wasn't a true MMO), even Resident Evil: Outbreak... and, someday, World of Warcraft. All you've worked for... gone in a moment when the servers shut down.
Heheh... I once heard life compared to the largest-scale MMO ever. I suppose that's right. One day, the server's going to shut down (I'm betting on global-scale nuclear war) and we'll be the Forerunners- we'll leave behind our technology, but nobody will know who we were...
*MegaMatt goes over to the TV and plays some Portal*
My faith in humanity has been restored, but only to the extent that I have faith that they will do dumb things. Need more Portal.
Legend Force: Creation of an Avatar
You probably haven't noticed this, but I just finished a new avatar. The construction process is after the jump.
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Step 1: Idea First, I figured out what it was going to be. In my case, it would be AntiNavi, AntiSword, AntiDamage, WhiteCapsule, and then a slide reading "PWN3D".
Step 2: Pictures I grabbed the sprites shamelessly off Sprites Inc. I also downloaded an image editing program that I highly recommend for sprite editing, Pixen (Mac OS X only, AFAIK), which I used to create the "PWN3D" slide.
Step 3: Animate Pixen made this extremely easy. I just opened a new animation, put in the slides, entered the time for each, saved, and uploaded it as my avatar.
That's all there is to it, really.
-Wishing you a merry Christmas and a new year full of pwnage,
MegaMatt Reborn
RMS RPG Update
Update here.
Legend Force Reviews: Rocking On
Up for judgement today: Rock Band (360, PS3, PS2) and "Blue Valley" by Karsten Koch.
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Rock Band
I got the opportunity to play Rock Band a few days ago with three friends. It feels like a cross between a far more immersive version of Guitar Hero and, in a way, Final Fantasy (need Overdrive plz kthx). Star Power has been replaced with Overdrive and is now rechargeable during use, and if any of your bandmates fail out of the song, you can resurrect them up to three times by deploying Overdrive. Played alone, it's nothing more than glorified Guitar/Drum/Microphone Hero, but played with some friends, it's truly awesome. I give Rock Band five steampunk-goggled Blue Man Group members out of five.
"Blue Valley"
Don't worry if you've never heard this song. It's from the original soundtrack for a PC game called "Uplink." Uplink was an excellent game (still is- check it out, even if the community's long dead) that turned the player into a hacker. Behind this primarily text-based action was some of the best techno music I've ever heard. This is the first song that plays upon loading the game and the iconic Uplink song. This track and the rest of the soundtrack is a free legal download. This track makes great web surfing music. I give this four haxx0r3d n00bs out of five.
so i herd...
you lieked sco? do some legwork.
www.freewebs.com/m364m4773x3/5c0puzzl3tr41l
that's not the real url of course. think l33t.
Legend Force: Game On! Call for Beta Testers
Some of you who have been around for a while might remember that I used to program computer games.
Not "used to."
I've been working on this game off and on for ages, but I'm not ready to release it quite yet. What I need is a group of a few beta testers to help me figure out how this game works on other systems and to give me feedback in general.
I'm thinking about three or four testers, so leave a comment and a way to get in touch if you're interested.
Oh, and one last thing. This game was developed for Windows XP, so you can't be running anything below that or a Mac. I'd like to see how/if it runs on Vista, though.
RPG Staff Change
As of right now, I have officially been promoted to RPG Project Lead by FlashMan.
"I HAVE THE POWEEE-" er, nothing. >.>
So, guys, now that I'm project lead, well... Nothing's going to change, really. Rendan, PM me with times that work for you for meetings. Everybody else, keep waiting and we'll have that RPG done in no time!
Of course, that's a MegaMatt "no time"...
Unboxed: Blues DX
Here's the photo album (56K EPIC WARNING!!). Follow along.
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Sorry, but all of these are horizontally flipped. Just flip them in Paint or something.
Slide 1: Woot! Blues DX action figure GET!!
Slide 2: Back of the box.
Slide 3: The contents. Looks like we've got us some model frames, not unlike the FCR figure.
Slide 4: The main GigaCannon housing.
Slide 5: The figure. Pretty cool, but why's he looking down?
Slide 6: Ooh, shiny! The Boomer-rang.
Slide 7: The viruses, a BoysBomb and a Meteo.
Slide 8: Woot! Progress Muramasa GET!!
Slide 9: The BoysBomb's bomb. Explosives not included.
Slide 10: The cool background. Wait... what's that on the other side?
Slide 11: Ooh... This looks helpful.
Slide 12: Uhh... Something written in Japanese GET!!
Slide 13: Instructions GET!! Those would have been nice to find BEFORE putting the model together.... >.>
Slide 14: The Muramasa blade. Manga style, I see. Pretty cool.
All in all, this figure's pretty cool any way you pose him. The awesome display stand has room for all the weapons and the Boomer is really shiny... er, I mean, uh... Anyway, it's a good buy, even if the parts aren't interchangeable with the FCR models. I give it five "SHOOP DA WHOOP"s out of five.
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That's right! Only seven hours after the approval of my column!
A lot happened over my summer. I played Metroid, I beat Mega Man Star Force, and... oh yeah, I went to Otarockman. More on this after the jump.
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OtaRockman is a yearly gathering of Rockman fans organized by REO. We get together, do a photo shoot of the cosplayers, and then... there's the tournament. Everybody brings a copy of the chosen EXE game and a folder and we all beat the data out of each other. In-game, of course. The chosen game for OtaRockman 07 was EXE6. I went to work making a folder (read: customizing an RFF folder). It worked reasonably well, and I named it "Data Drain!" (mainly because I was cosplaying as Kite from .hack that year.) (Also, no, you can't see it. :P)
[[scriptmode]]
MegaMatt: Okay! Let's do this! A gamer is approaching! MM: Uhh... Attack? *cool pixel into-battle transition* MM: Okay then. What have I got here? *looks at chip selection* Hmm... Okay, that oughta do it. Opponent: IMMA GONNA PWNZOR JOO!111!1!1111!!!!1! SUNM00N!!11!! MM: Oh expletive. *pwned* 20 HP left. Let's see what we've got here... That'll work. O: H4MM4 T1M3! POI5ON 4NUBI5! MM: LifeAura! (I hate to do something so cheap, but it's all I've got.) BodyGuard + WhiteCapsule! O: O, ITS JUST BODYGUARD. ILL TAKE ONE HIT AND THEN BE BACK TO PWNI- WHY C4NT I MOVE?!!?!/1//1/?!1/1?1 HAX!1! H44444X!11!11! O NOES! *pwned* -Next Battle- Opponent V2: Hah! My grammar module was fixed! Now I can speak correctly! MM: BodyGuard + WhiteCapsule. O V2: *pwned* -Same thing happens next time- Opponent V4: Now is the timeth of thine pwnage! MM: This is getting ridiculous. BodyGuar- O V4: SunMoon. MM: Darn you and your shorter PA names, Opponent V4. *pwned*
The moral of the story? The cheapness of BodyGuard and WhiteCapsule is directly proportional to who's using it. And that I got second place! *huggles trophy*
Next time, on Legend Force:
"You know, I fail to see how a small plastic cone can stop two tons of metal traveling at over 100 miles per hour dead in its tracks."
Legend Force Extra: A Hedgehog Is Approaching!
Unless you've been under a rock since October 10th, you probably know who was recently confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. What does this mean for our beloved Blue Bomber?
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Yes, Sonic. Sonic was confirmed, making him third-party character number two (behind Solid Snake). So what's the probability of MegaMan?
Some people think that, with two third-party characters, MegaMan will never get in. However, most of these people said that Sonic wouldn't get in because we already had one third-party character, so I have my doubts. Who knows? Maybe he will get in.
Another thing: people seem to think it's MegaMan or X or EXE or Omega-Xis. Why not have all of them as alternate costumes?
Meh. I'm all outta rant-fuel. Discuss. Or don't. Whatever.
Legend Force: You Say Goodbye, and I Say Halo
SO I HERD U LIEK HALO?!?!??!?!11/ My friend tried to get me into Halo a while ago. Yeah, Halo. A first-person shooter with some survival-horror elements. I'm the kind of guy that likes Tetris and RPGs (Role-Playing Games, not Rocket Propelled Grenades). It was, to say the least, interesting.
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The conversation went something like this [with my friend denoted as L337 DUD3, his Gamertag] [and no, he's not accepting friend requests]: L337 DUD3: Hey, wanna play Halo 2??MegaMatt: Not especially.?LD: Cool! I'll set it up.?MM: What just happened? In his infinite wisdom, he also decided it would be a good idea to have us play Campaign, the single-player mode. The final level. On Legendary*. *Legendary is to Hard as Bubbleman V3 is to a Mettaur. After learning that I wasn't supposed to shoot the person with the green arrow over his head and that yes, you can stick plasma grenades to yourself, I was getting good. And by good, I mean absolutely, atrociously terrible. I confess, though, that I was addicted to the multiplayer. Being a mainly strategic mind, I was better at staying in a position with a good view of what was going on and commanding around teammates. Capture the Flag was my favorite game for a long time. Why, you may ask, am I posting this? Well, the Powers That Are (Powers That Be is gramatically incorrect, I believe) recently came out with a tabletop RPG called Halo ActionClix. Eager to get my revenge on him, I challenged him to a game. Or, more accurately: MM: Hey, wanna play Halo ActionClix??LD: Not especially.?MM: Cool! I'll set it up.?LD: What just happened? I completely obliterated him, just like he obliterated me in Halo 2 Multiplayer. This has lead to a weird symbiotic relationship: I pwn him at Halo ActionClix, and he pwns me at the Halo games. This does have a dark side, though. Since I beat him at something Halo-related, all that remains before Armageddon is for Duke Nukem Forever and Halo DS to be released.
Legend Force Reviews: Out Of Cake
Here's a new subsection of Legend Force I'll be trying out. [read: I spent all the time I should have been writing this article listening to music and playing games, so here's a cop-out article.] In this installment, I'll review whatever I want, and we'll take a look at a remix of Zero Wing music and one of my new, favorite songs: Still Aifvnfjvbc---*kvshhuhvvvssssh* SPOILER BARRIER ACTIVE. [musical spoilers for the game "Portal" have been contained behind break. spoiler barrier unstable: a RECLAIMER should proceed with containment protocol before the spoilers breach containment.]
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"Still Alive" -- Portal (PC)
"This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction."
So starts the ending theme to "Portal", Still Alive. The perfect example of the spirit of the song, however, occurs a few lines later: "But there's no sense crying over every mistake./You just keep on trying till you run out of cake./And the science gets done/And you make a neat gun/For the people who are still alive."
The song is a weird fusion of techno, a touch of "Weird Al," and possibly some hallucinogenic drugs (the lyrics are rather nonsensical). It's a funny song, though. Recommended with four physics-defying portals out of five.
"Zero Wing Medley" -- VGMusic.com
Invasion of the Gabber Robots. Those words may mean nothing to you, but if you Google it, you'll get the infamous "All Your Base" song (one of my personal favorite songs). A VGMusic user by the name of Mars Jenkar mixed together almost every (if not every) song in Zero Wing into one awesome MIDI. It's an excellent listen, and great for Game Maker placeholder music. A solid five "ZEEEELLLLOOOO!!!!!" Wings out of five.
"FEAR" -- Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, mostly
A very cheap technique. FEAR stands for "Focus sash, Endeavor, quick Attack, Rattata," and it's one of the cheapest techniques ever. Here's how it's usually deployed:
Red sent out Venusaur! [Level OVER 9000] Blue sent out Rattata! [Level 1] Red used PWN! [It takes away all but 1 HP, because...] Rattata hung onto its Focus Sash! Blue used Endeavor! [makes opponent HP = your HP if your HP is lower] Blue used Quick Attack! [it does 1 damage, but that's all Venusaur has left.] Venusaur fainted!
Five out of five for effectiveness, but one out of five for cheapness. Final verdict: Three loeved mudkipz out of fiev.
Legend Force Extra: Why I Should Never Be A Stockbroker
Hey! Sorry for the wait; it took me longer than I expected to find the newly-placed Admin button. So, what's with the title? Find out after the jump.
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My Personal Finance class started playing the Stock Market Game a few weeks ago (a simulation in which you must buy and sell stocks with virtual cash). Care to take a look at my team's portfolio?
Yeah. My luck is terrible, to put it delicately.
Legend Force: On Subtitles and Sequels
Not much to say, really. I'm going to review some anime and then I'm going to do a short little piece on the future of the ZX series.
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Hayate no Gotoku
The first undubbed anime I ever saw was Hayate no Gotoku, or as it was translated, Hayate the Combat Butler. (Side-note: Since Hayate's his name, and "no" means "the", does that mean the Japanese have a word for "Combat Butler?")
The story centers around Hayate, an unfortunate boy who tries to kidnap a rich girl because his irresponsible parents left him gigantic gambling debts to pay. The girl becomes smitten with him and pays his debts in exchange for Hayate's servitude. Each episode is freestanding (for the most part), so, if you've seen the first few episodes, you can really understand almost any of the later ones. There's a lot of fourth-wall breaking and references to other anime and manga in the series, and the fansub I watched (only if it's legal, of course) even explained a lot of the pop culture references (no wikipedia required!). There's not much action, but the humor more than makes up for that. I highly recommend this anime, and it wholeheartedly gets the Official Legend Force Walrus of Approval.
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MegaMan ZX 3
I love ZX as much as the next guy, but if what the previous post here said is true, then ZXA has until the end of the year to sell 2000 copies. How do we do this?
Get everyone you know to buy a Japanese copy of ZXA. Hopefully, the grassroots effect will take hold (i.e. they get two more people to buy, who get two more people...). Heck, if you don't already have ZXA, get a Japanese copy! Please! For those of us who love ZX! For sequels! For everlasting peace!
Legend Force Reviews: 11 Track 11
My friend recently gave me a CD of songs he wrote. A review of one of the tracks after the jump.
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This one's known only as "11 Track 11", as far as I know. It's a neat little trance-techno piece that sounds almost like background music to some trance puzzle game, like Lumines or something. I dunno. Anyways, download it here. I have more from the same album, so if you guys like this, I might review some more.
PLUSLE: A nice song, great for Halo 3 campaign. minun: Repetitive.
Also, this'll be my last update for a while because of Thanksgiving break. See ya later!
--Reminding you that the internet is not a big truck (it's a series of n00bs), MegaMatt (Gamertag: MegaMatt SP)
DISCLAIMER: I am posting this under the belief that my friend actually wrote this song. Should this turn out to be false, I'll gladly take it down.
Legend Force Reviews: Halo Cubed
In this special edition of Legend Force Reviews, we'll take a look at three Halo-related things: Halo 3, the Halo 3 soundtrack, and the Halo 3 Limited Edition Xbox 360. Judgement shall be issued after the jump!
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360 Degrees of Pwn
The Halo 3 360 is pretty nice. It comes with a special edition 360, hard drive, headset, controller, Gamer Pics, and a theme. The last two can only be acquired by exchanging a voucher code from inside the box via Xbox Live. Also note that this 360 has the newer, cooler processor (w00t!). Using a little trick I learned, you can also get a free month of Xbox Live Gold (the one that lets you play games online). (All you have to do is accept Silver and it gives you a free month of Gold.)
So what does it have that makes it so much better than the other 360s? First, it has awesome UNSC (the human force in Halo) stylings, so even if you're not crazy about Halo, it still looks awesome. The free headset is a nice touch, and the controller's rechargeable battery and free Play and Charge Kit together make for an excellent deal. The only real problem is the price ($400 US). This bundle gets a solid four sentient-life-destroying superweapons out of five.
Wearing The Helmet Does Not Make You Play Better
Let me be honest here: the only reason I bought Halo 3 was because my friend wanted to play online with me. I have to admit, though, that even though the Legendary Edition was a bit pricey, it was well worth the investment. The two supplemental discs contain all of the cinematics from Halo 1 and 2 remastered. This is a nice bonus for people like me who like the plotline of the games, but don't like the gameplay enough to actually play through the first two. Watching the cutscenes only takes about two hours, but it plays out like a cross between Star Wars and Aliens (which is is really what it is). The helmet is nice, but the price drops the final score down to a still-respectable four pwned n00bs out of five.
You Say Goodbye, and I Hear It In Surround Sound
The Halo 3 soundtrack is a two-disc set. The dynamic music from the game has been "frozen" to accommodate the format change. The CDs range from beat heavy techno-esque rock to piano pieces that sound like something from a concert hall, not a first-person shooter. Also included is a bonus rock piece entitled "Kill Your Friends" about multiplayer. It's a bit jarring from the rest of the CDs, but it's still a good listen. And who thought that (almost) all of this would come from the guy that wrote the Flintstone Kids theme? Five creepy, screeching violins during the Flood theme out of five.
Legend Force Preview: Fly High, FreeRice
I'll be posting an article on FreeRice later today (maybe tomorrow). Also on the schedule: Halo 3 OST Review, Director's Cut.
Legend Force: Why You Aren't Getting An Article
Vendorman's sale, plain and simple. Expect those two articles in the near future.
Legend Force: Article Schedule
Halo 3 OST Review: By Friday FreeRice: By Friday Special Bonus Article!!: Sometime this week Mega Special Bonus Article Mini Series!!!!: By the end of December
Legend Force: Always Bet on MegaMatt: Part One
Sorry it took forever, but here's the first of the two promised articles.
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Fly High, FreeRice
Every five seconds, a child dies from hunger. Almost eleven million children under the age of five die each year in developing countries. Sixty percent of those deaths are due to malnutrition or other hunger-related causes. About twenty-five thousand people die each day because of hunger or related causes. The United Nations estimates that the cost to completely eradicate world hunger is approximately $195 billion per year. FreeRice (www.freerice.com) promises to fight hunger for free through building vocabulary. The website displays a random vocabulary word from its database (SAT vocabulary words are included) and four possible meanings. If the user chooses the correct meaning, the website donates twenty grains of rice to fight world hunger. The website originally donated only ten grains per correct answer, but due to its popularity, FreeRice doubled the amount on November 28 in addition to promising that new words will be added to the database. Players earn the rice through the presence of small advertisements below the game. These advertisements earn money for FreeRice. The money is then used to buy the rice (near where it will be distributed, if at all possible) and distribute it. FreeRice has donated over six billion grains of rice since its creation on October 7. The website is a sister site to Poverty.org and is under the parent organization World Food Programme (www.wfp.org), an nonprofit organization that has fed over 1.4 billion people since its creation in 1962 and distributed almost 4.5 million tons of food last year. The organization has invested more than $30 billion to date in fighting hunger, malnutrition, HIV and AIDS, and emergencies in developing countries. With the holiday season fast approaching, websites like this can be a way to give something to someone who needs it. FreeRice stands out because it requests nothing more from people than their time and gives something to all involved: advertisers get the occasional bought product, the user gets an improved vocabulary, and the people in developing countries get a meal.
Legend Force: Always Bet on MegaMatt: Part Two
Soundtrack to blockbuster game lives up to expectations... mostly I can only imagine what other people do while playing Halo 3, but I like to occasionally stop and listen to the music. Of course, the “dynamic music” feature that changes the music depending on what you’re doing often makes me go back out into the fray to get the music playing again. When I heard that Bungie was to release the soundtrack to Halo 3, I was ecstatic, as I was getting tired of playing through the final level over and over just to hear my favorite piece of music.
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The soundtrack certainly does not disappoint. There are two discs and a total of thirty-two songs, all of which are available via the iTunes Music Store. Each level of the game is separated into as few as one and as many as four individual songs, depending on the length of the level and the number of different song snippets present in the game. Five bonus songs are also present: “Choose Wisely,” “Movement,” and “Never Forget,” the three different tracks from the menu screens of the Halo games; “Finish the Fight,” an arranged version of the music from the E3 announcement trailer; and “Love Your Friends,” a song about multiplayer. The composers used a twenty-four voice choir and a sixty-piece orchestra, a tremendous step up from the simple synthetic instruments used for some of the first game’s music. Don’t let this fool you into thinking that the soundtrack is all the standard rock-classical music, though. Although it is the majority of the soundtrack, there is plenty of style variety here. From the Halo theme remix and pounding techno beats of “To Kill a Demon” to the fast violins and drums of “Behold a Pale Horse,” the soundtrack excels in variety in styles. However, the variety really only is in styles. The entire soundtrack feels like the same few songs remixed over and over with minor variations. Although the remixes are rather different in style, there are only so many ways “One Final Effort,” “Gravemind,” “Keep What You Steal,” or “Farthest Outpost” can be remixed on different instruments or in different styles. Even though I say that, the soundtrack has successfully kept me coming back for just a few more minutes every so often. I’d say that this soundtrack certainly has something for everyone, although unless you’re either ready to purchase for $16 ($14 via Amazon not including shipping, $20 via the iTunes Music Store) what are, more or less, the same songs eight times over or a Halo junkie like I am, I wouldn’t purchase the entire album. If you can, I recommend using the iTunes Music Store to get the best of this album. If you absolutely need the Halo theme, try “One Final Effort” or “Finish the Fight,” my two personal favorite tracks. Final Judgement: 8.5 out of 10 Pros: Good variety in styles, remixes of classics and menu screen music are nice additions. Cons: Album is repetitive, a bit expensive.
Legend Force: Blast from the Past
I was doing some spring-I-mean-winter-cleaning the other day, and I found an old guide I made for PET World way back when.
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Ladies and gentlemen, I present... The Transer Visual Guide Version 1.1!
Legend Force: Update
Sorry guys, with the semester wrapping up, I've had a lot of projects to get done. Expect the next LF on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Legend Force: Requiem for an MMO
It's over.
On December 26th, as I discovered today, my favorite MMO will be shutting down.
I know almost nobody's probably even heard of it, but it was awesome while it was still up. [Warning: Depressing thoughts beyond the jump.]
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It was called Space Cowboy Online. It was basically World of Warcraft, Star Wars Rogue Squadron and Grand Theft Auto all mixed together. You could fly around and go to different cities where you could get new missions, which, although they were usually "kill x enemies and get x of these items," were usually pretty fun.
It's shutting down due to a rights issue. The way I understand it, a new publisher bought the rights to SCO and refuses to let US players play on the old servers or port over their characters. I'll really miss it.
Still, I suppose almost anybody who ever plays an MMO will eventually outlive it. Auto Assault, .hack//Fragment (even if it wasn't a true MMO), even Resident Evil: Outbreak... and, someday, World of Warcraft. All you've worked for... gone in a moment when the servers shut down.
Heheh... I once heard life compared to the largest-scale MMO ever. I suppose that's right. One day, the server's going to shut down (I'm betting on global-scale nuclear war) and we'll be the Forerunners- we'll leave behind our technology, but nobody will know who we were...
*MegaMatt goes over to the TV and plays some Portal*
My faith in humanity has been restored, but only to the extent that I have faith that they will do dumb things. Need more Portal.
Legend Force: Creation of an Avatar
You probably haven't noticed this, but I just finished a new avatar. The construction process is after the jump.
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Step 1: Idea First, I figured out what it was going to be. In my case, it would be AntiNavi, AntiSword, AntiDamage, WhiteCapsule, and then a slide reading "PWN3D".
Step 2: Pictures I grabbed the sprites shamelessly off Sprites Inc. I also downloaded an image editing program that I highly recommend for sprite editing, Pixen (Mac OS X only, AFAIK), which I used to create the "PWN3D" slide.
Step 3: Animate Pixen made this extremely easy. I just opened a new animation, put in the slides, entered the time for each, saved, and uploaded it as my avatar.
That's all there is to it, really.
-Wishing you a merry Christmas and a new year full of pwnage,
MegaMatt Reborn
RMS RPG Update
Update here.
Legend Force Reviews: Rocking On
Up for judgement today: Rock Band (360, PS3, PS2) and "Blue Valley" by Karsten Koch.
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Rock Band
I got the opportunity to play Rock Band a few days ago with three friends. It feels like a cross between a far more immersive version of Guitar Hero and, in a way, Final Fantasy (need Overdrive plz kthx). Star Power has been replaced with Overdrive and is now rechargeable during use, and if any of your bandmates fail out of the song, you can resurrect them up to three times by deploying Overdrive. Played alone, it's nothing more than glorified Guitar/Drum/Microphone Hero, but played with some friends, it's truly awesome. I give Rock Band five steampunk-goggled Blue Man Group members out of five.
"Blue Valley"
Don't worry if you've never heard this song. It's from the original soundtrack for a PC game called "Uplink." Uplink was an excellent game (still is- check it out, even if the community's long dead) that turned the player into a hacker. Behind this primarily text-based action was some of the best techno music I've ever heard. This is the first song that plays upon loading the game and the iconic Uplink song. This track and the rest of the soundtrack is a free legal download. This track makes great web surfing music. I give this four haxx0r3d n00bs out of five.
so i herd...
you lieked sco? do some legwork.
www.freewebs.com/m364m4773x3/5c0puzzl3tr41l
that's not the real url of course. think l33t.
Legend Force: Game On! Call for Beta Testers
Some of you who have been around for a while might remember that I used to program computer games.
Not "used to."
I've been working on this game off and on for ages, but I'm not ready to release it quite yet. What I need is a group of a few beta testers to help me figure out how this game works on other systems and to give me feedback in general.
I'm thinking about three or four testers, so leave a comment and a way to get in touch if you're interested.
Oh, and one last thing. This game was developed for Windows XP, so you can't be running anything below that or a Mac. I'd like to see how/if it runs on Vista, though.
RPG Staff Change
As of right now, I have officially been promoted to RPG Project Lead by FlashMan.
"I HAVE THE POWEEE-" er, nothing. >.>
So, guys, now that I'm project lead, well... Nothing's going to change, really. Rendan, PM me with times that work for you for meetings. Everybody else, keep waiting and we'll have that RPG done in no time!
Of course, that's a MegaMatt "no time"...
Unboxed: Blues DX
Here's the photo album (56K EPIC WARNING!!). Follow along.
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Sorry, but all of these are horizontally flipped. Just flip them in Paint or something.
Slide 1: Woot! Blues DX action figure GET!!
Slide 2: Back of the box.
Slide 3: The contents. Looks like we've got us some model frames, not unlike the FCR figure.
Slide 4: The main GigaCannon housing.
Slide 5: The figure. Pretty cool, but why's he looking down?
Slide 6: Ooh, shiny! The Boomer-rang.
Slide 7: The viruses, a BoysBomb and a Meteo.
Slide 8: Woot! Progress Muramasa GET!!
Slide 9: The BoysBomb's bomb. Explosives not included.
Slide 10: The cool background. Wait... what's that on the other side?
Slide 11: Ooh... This looks helpful.
Slide 12: Uhh... Something written in Japanese GET!!
Slide 13: Instructions GET!! Those would have been nice to find BEFORE putting the model together.... >.>
Slide 14: The Muramasa blade. Manga style, I see. Pretty cool.
All in all, this figure's pretty cool any way you pose him. The awesome display stand has room for all the weapons and the Boomer is really shiny... er, I mean, uh... Anyway, it's a good buy, even if the parts aren't interchangeable with the FCR models. I give it five "SHOOP DA WHOOP"s out of five.
Legend Force rises from the ashes!
That's right, not even RMS shutting down can stop me. It's Legend Force!
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