20 for 20: My Favorite Pokemon

It wasn't easy picking my top 20 Pokemon, you know. I could have made an entire list out of generation two Pokemon alone! In the end, I three main factors determined my picks:

1. Nostalgia
2. Design
3. Usage

I added a few Pokemon on the list that served me well in battle, but my list mostly consists of designs I've always liked from older generations that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. So then, let's begin!

E3 2016, as Predicted by Amiibo

Every June when E3 rolls around, we gamers start getting really excited. Our hearts swell with anticipation and our minds race with the possibilities of what might be. It's a great time for every gamer because no matter what you play there's something new for you to be excited about.

Xbox Live Trials Could Have Changed Gaming for the Better

The year was 2006, about six months after the launch of the Xbox 360. I had gotten mine just in time for summer and was looking for something to play. None of the launch games really caught my eye, though the newly-released Ovlivion was on my list of games to get. Before that, though, I hooked up my system, logged into Xbox Live, and checked out the new and improved Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft had dabbled with downloadable arcade games on the original Xbox, even before Nintendo's Virtual Console was a thing. At this point, though, XBLA only had a few games including some of the arcade titles from the original Xbox, a free copy of Hexic, and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. I'd heard some good things about Geometry Wars leading up to the 360's launch and had a passing interest in it. When I navigated to the game page, I was met with a surprise: I could try the game for free. I could try all the games for free.

Kirby: Planet Robobot's Soundtrack Finally Gives My Favorite Kirby Games Some Love

Kirby: Planet Robobot came out recently in Japan, and I wanted to share how fucking awesome the sondtrack is. Why is it awesome, you ask? Because it's got so many great rearrangements of music from classic Kirby games that done't usually get any love. My favorite ones! I'm talking Dreamland 2, and 3, as well as Crystal Shards. They're all represented here, and it's glorious. I honestly kind of wish they'd gone all out and just filled the game with classic tunes because the new stuff, in my opinion, is mostly forgettable like the last two main-series games. But I'd say a good chunk of the music is a trip down nostalgia lane. Let's listen together, shall we?

The Platinum Demo has me worried about FFXV

About a year ago, Square-Enix released the first public demo of Final Fantasy 15 packaged along with Final Fantasy Typo HD. I bought Typo just so I could play it, and it was worth every penny. Episode Duscae, as it was called, was a demo in the classic sense. It excised a chunk of the main game that showed off nearly all of the systems coming to the final release. It was glorious. Perfect! Everything I'd hoped Final Fantasy XV would be after ten years of waiting. It raised my hype through the roof and left me chomping at the bit for more. 

The new Platinum Demo achieved none of those things. In fact, it might have undone them. Whereas Episode Duscae confirmed to me that Final Fantasy XV was going to be the amazing game I hoped it would be, the Platinum Demo has cast doubt on my eager anticipation. There's a few problems with it, starting with the fact that they'd make this objectively inferior taste of Final Fantasy XV the only taste available to the general public. 

Introducing Battle of Fate: Heroes of Championia

From the makers of makers of Puzzle Matcher Adventure and the publisher of Groovin' Hooves: Funky Bovine 2 comes a brand new competitive experience like any other: 

Battle of Fate Heroes of Championia

Battle of Fate is an exciting new multiplyer online tactical strategy class-based shooter role-playing competitive arena esports battle simulator, and your new favorite game. Here are just some of the exciting features awaiting you in Battle of Fate:

Seven of My Favorite Corny Game Themes

There's a lot of video game music out there, but every so often we get some lyrical themes. Sometimes these are awesome (like in Portal or Metal Gear) but other times they're incredibly cheesy or goofy. Deep down inside, though, we all know that's the best kind. The recently released Xenoblade Chronicles X is like a Mecca for this kind of music, with many of the games songs being so corny they're awesome. That got me thinking of other cheesy game themes, so I've compiled this list with some of my favorites.

Oh, and sorry about the weird formatting. I don't really want to attempt changing it.

The Xbox One Makes Me Want to Give Up on Video Games

I've been trying to express my feelings on the Xbox One for quite some time, and I've gone through maybe three or four different iterations. None of them felt right. My goal was not to sound like a whiny bitch, but you know what? Fuck that. I'm going to be a whiny bitch because that's what the Xbox One deserves. See, the Xbox One is a piece of shit. It's the worst console I've ever owned, and probably the worst ever made. Worse than the 3DO or the Virtual Boy or even the Gizmondo, which I'm pretty sure was a scam. Every time I try to play the Xbox One I'm filled with rage followed by a profound sadness. It's almost like the five stages of grief, where I start out in disbelief that a video game system can be so much of a hassle, then I'm pleading with the forces that be to make the damn thing work how I want it to, then I finally accept that it just sucks and give up. I used to own an Xbox and an Xbox 360. I loved them! I want to love the Xbox One too, but I just can’t.

A History of I04's April Fool Lies That Came True

Big-name websites have it rough for April Fools' Day. Sure they can make some silly gags, but it always has to clearly be a joke. On my dinky little blog that nobody reads, though, I can outright lie about things to trick everybody and I'll never get in trouble for it. Over the years, I have passed off many a fraudulent article as the truth. A lot of the time I ended up totally tricking my friends into believing these, which of course lead to disappointment that they weren't real. As it turns out, I guess I'm some sort of psychic because over the years many of my prank posts turned out to eventually be true. 

Review Redux: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Here's a review from way back in 2010, with the crazy convoluted review system I came up with at the time.

The Installation 04 BOOTY Awards 2015

What a dang year that was, huh? I mean really, 2015 was one for the history books. It was just 12 months of one excellent game being released after another. When I started the BOOTY awards, I used to pick my top three games. Some years, I even struggled to come up with that many. A few years back, I bumped it up to five because the quality of games was really beginning to increase. But 2015? I'm not sure if I can even even pick just five games because there were so many good ones. Will I? Won't I? Find out within, after a million other awards!

Game Critique Redux: Super Meat Boy

In December 2010, one of my all-time favorite games was released. I remember hearing little murmurs here and there about this game earlier that year. It was another one of those New Grounds flash games that was about to make it to the big time. I mostly dismissed it, but the game stayed in the back of my mind, if only because of its weirdness. Finally, towards the end of October it released, and at the promotional price of $10, no less. So I thought "What the hell, why not give it a try?" and I downloaded the demo. I nearly passed it up because I thought it would be too difficult for me to enjoy. I've never been more wrong. And so a game I almost didn't give a chance ended up becoming my Game of the Year pick for 2010. I am, of course, talking about Super Meat Boy.

Review Redux: SteamWorld Dig

These days, I typically avoid anything with "dig" in the title because that implies that the game has some sort of crafting component. Show me a guy with an axe and you basically show me the door. I saw SteamWorld Dig on the 3DS eShop last year and completely ignored it. In the interim, I actually read what the game was about and became pretty interested. When I heard there would be a cross-buy version for the PS4 and Vita, I jumped right on it and got a PS+ discount to boot!

Review Redux: Infamous Second Son

The transition from Xbox to PlayStaion has been weird. It’s a transition I think many of my fellow gamers have made. For me, as the last generation went on, I found myself finding the PlayStation exclusive games more and more appealing. So when I got a PS4 I almost felt obligated to jump right in to the system’s biggest franchises. Second Son is basically the first big release since the launch of the system in November 2013. Needless to say that most of us would buy anything at that point. I got my copy having seen a few bits of gameplay but not really knowing what to expect. It was Killzone, you see, that blew me away at the console’s announcement event. The first seconds of the game are off putting, but then everything changes.

Review Redux: Shovel Knight

The year was 198X. A small but dedicated development team was creating the ultimate NES game that drew from the most popular titles of the time while introducing some innovative new mechanics. Mere weeks away from shipping, the team came into work and their game was gone. Not a trace of it was found. No concept art, no music tracks, no design documents, no computer files. Nothing. Fast forward to 2013. New development studio Yacht Club Games asks for $75,000 to create a game called Shovel Knight. But Yacht Club held a dark secret. They didn't use the money to create Shovel Knight; they used the money to build a time machine. And with that time machine, they traveled back in time to 198X and stole the development materials for Shovel Knight, modified it to run on modern platforms, and took all the credit.

Impressions Redux: Hyper Light Drifter

When was the last time you played a game that didn't hold your hand? You're probably going to say Demon's Souls. But even Demon's Souls had tutorials. While I'm sure the final version of Hyper Light Drifter will have some sort of instructions on how to play the game, the Kickstarter alpha version does not.

Mario Galaxy 2 and the Lost Essence of Video Games

Playing through Super Mario 3D World really made me appreciate what makes a game good, which got me thinking about how fantastic the Super Mario Galaxy series is. Then I remembered a piece written by my good friend RaiderBear30 a few years back that was seemingly lost to the ages. Well, I found it. I think it's a great piece that really captures the meaning of what makes a quality gaming experience. I haven't been able to speak with my friend in almost a year, and I'd like to post this in honor of a recent birthday he had. It's too good to have been ripped from the clutches of the internet. Below the break, you will find the original article in its entirety. Here's to you, buddy!

Super Mario 3D World Review

I want to love this game. I really do. I can only assume it's for this reason that I picked up the game at all. See, 3D World is the sequel to 3D Land on the 3DS, a game which I also didn't care for. I guess a part of me wanted that game's problems to be fixed, because I really wanted to love 3D Land in the same way. Reading other reviews, you'd think Super Mario 3D World is one of the best games ever made. Sadly, this isn't the case. 3D World is, for lack of a more eloquent way to put it, not very good. Of course, I realize that I am in the minority with maybe about five other people on earth, but hear me out.

Building the Ultimate Smash Roster: Trimming the Fat

I literally finished writing this in June before any characters were announced, and never posted it. Well, here's what I thought would happen then. I'll update it shortly, and every time a character is announced. No, I'm not going to format it.

Brace yourselves, Smash Bros is coming. And with it come roster changes. But this new set of games may have the biggest shakeup yet. Previous installments built upon the old roster while cutting few characters and replacing those cut with new ones. This time around, Sakurai has confirmed that some old characters just won't make it. A while back, he stated something to the effect of the new roster having the same (or roughly so) amount of characters. With that in mind, I aim to build the ultimate roster. In the first part of this ongoing feature, to be updated until the final roster is confirmed, I will try and assess who of the current cast will stay and who will go.

Pikmin 3 Reveiw

Every so often, you play a game that reminds you why you love video games in the first place. Pikmin 3 is one of those games. Brimming with Nintendo magic, Pikmin 3 instills a sense of wonder and discovery into every moment that few games today can achieve. If you own a Wii U, you're going to want this game. If you don't, well maybe now's the time to buy one.