Psst, Bowser

Why hasn't Bowser, oh I don't know, ever used the axe behind him to cut the bridge? I mean, he's fallen for the same trick 8 times!

Dr. Light is an Evil Man

Who would have thought that such evil, such vile deeds could come from one of gaming's most recognizable scientist. Don't believe me? Read it for yourself.

FFIV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption

Final Fantasy IV, even by today's standards has an incredible soundtrack that has seen numerous remix and arrange albums. It was only a matter of time before OverClocked ReMix took a stab at arranging the game's tracks. More than one year in the making, 46 tracks, spanning 3 discs, and over 30 remixers make up Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption. Just seeing the trailer for this baby got me stoked.

Like all good things from OCR, this one is 100% free. A lot of effort went into this digital release so give it a listen and post some comments on OCR's YouTube page or on the OCR site.

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Yet Another Customer Cover

The Itch: Super Mario Games

Every now and then I get what I like to call "The Itch." The Itch is simply an urge to play through a series of games, usually something old-school. In the past, The Itch has come in the form of Sonic games and Mega Man games. Over the last week and a half, I've been scratching my Mario itch.

I decided to begin with the first Mario game I ever played: Super Mario Bros. I was pretty rusty. Lost a lot of lives. Wanting to finish the game in a hurry so I could move on to Super Mario Bros. 2, I warped to World 4 the first chance I got. After hat, I warped to World 5. And after that I lost all my lives and saw the Game Over screen. Maybe I've become too attached to the save system in the Super Mario All-Stars remake version because I do remember finishing that one when I played it last. Perhaps I've become too soft with the all the luxuries modern day gaming has provided. Whatever the case, not being able to finish the NES version of Super Mario Bros. was quiet the blow to my gaming manhood.

Super Mario Bros. 2. I don't care if this is the black sheep of the series. I'd much rather play this altered character sprite version of Doki Doki Panic than the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2, AKA, Satan's Super Mario Bros. 1.5. Similar to my play of Super Mario Bros. I warped to World 4, then to World 5 (or was it World 6? I can't recall), lost all my lives, saw the Game Over screen. But since Super Mario Bros. 2 actually gives you continues, I thought I'd give it another shot. When it became obvious I was not gonna see that ending where Mario dreamed the whole thing up, I knew it was time to call it quits.

I LOVE Super Mario Bros. 3. This one is my all-time favorite Mario game, without question. The level design, the power-ups; everything about it just screams brilliance. Though I did die a lot, I did much better with Super Mario Bros. 3 than I did the previous two titles. Nearly 20 years later, Pipe Land still annoyes me. One thing I did find very interesting is that in World 8, I was able to zip past every single Hand Trap on the map. This was the first time I'd ever done that. I didn't even know it could be done. Go figure.

Right now I'm working my way through Super Mario World. Great game, but in my opinion, not the best Mario platformer. One of the best, for sure, but if you're still reading, you already know what Mario platformer I think is the best. *Ahem* I just made it to World 6. I'm a bit surprised that I cleared three worlds in one night, this includes finding all the secret exits. I'll probably finish the game up tomorrow.

At the rate I'm going, I'll probably fire up the Nintendo 64 and see how many stars I can collect on Super Mario 64.

It's a Mii!

Yes, Virginia, that is what I look like in Mii form. One of the best features on the Wii is the ability to create a digitized version of yourself, dubbed a Mii. This nifty tool has become so popular that you don't even need a Wii to make use of it. There are various programs on the net that allow you to create a Mii, but the best one I've seen isn My Avatar Editor. It's super simple easy to use, fun and free. Give it a whirl!

Good Friends Rocks!

So my birthday was Thursday, July 2 and buddy of mine had just found out via facebook. He called me up and wanted to take to any place of my choosing to eat. Much to his surprise, I picked McDonald's because I had no desire to eat any place fancy. (You should have seen the look on his face. He told me he was expecting to drop $40.) It had been forever since I had a Big Mac. I'd almost forgotten what they tasted like.

After that, he asked me what PS2 or DS game I'd buy if I were getting one. I already have a ton of games I've yet to play and I actually had to stop and think what was the last game I purchased. I don't remember the exact conversation we had, but I really couldn't think of any one game I'd buy. So we drove for a while and we pulled up to a mini mall. He said "Guess where we're going?" I jokingly said UPS because it was one of the stores at the complex but I already knew where we were headed. Among the stores was a GameStop and I'd already deduced what we were doing there.

Lots of games to choose from and he was gonna buy me whatever I wanted. Of course I already knew I wasn't gonna go overboard on price. A good 20$-$30 game would more than make me happy. Since I already had a stupid amount of PS2 games to play, I setteled on a DS title. In the end, I setteled on Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen. Despite having only played the first two games and the demo of VIII (I actually own the first Dragon Quest as Dragon Warrior on NES, Dragon Quest VII and Dragon Quest VIII. VII hasn't even been opened and I haven't even started VIII), I've always been a fan of the DQ games. I plan to make DQIV the first DQ game I actually beat and I'll eventually work my way through the rest of the games.

I'd like to thank my friend Justin Sivak for buying the game for me and more, for being a good friend.