My Top Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC Choices for Fighters Pass 2

Geno from Super Mario RPG

Geno is not the most deserving, but he'd be an interesting character. His moves in his game are very unique and fun. 

Steve from Minecraft

Steve is a gaming icon on the level of Mario and Sonic. His moveset has extreme potential, and his stage would be amazing.

Crash Bandicoot

Crash would be fun to see in the game, as an icon of early Playstation gaming. Imagining him VS Banjo is really cool. I have a good feeling he'll happen!

Rayman

Ubisoft deserves a spot on the Ultimate roster! No character fits better into this world than Rayman. I'd like to see how they make him float for an amiibo.

Infested Kerrigan from Starcraft

This would be an extreme WTF character. I love playing as the bad guys... Ridley, Bowser, K Rool... Kerrigan is the icon of Starcraft, which was a game that appeared on a Nintendo system!

Dragonborn from Skyrim

To get an Elder Scrolls rep... would be awesome. Give him an axe instead of a sword... shouts, magic, and a dragon.

Dream ideas.... 

Skull Kid

Sackboy

Waluigi

Gengar
Cooking Mama
Maxwell
Chibi Robo

Dillion

Scorpion

Ganon (pig form)

The Last Two Months

a panel I went to

This is just a life update post.

The big thing going on is that I suddenly took on a bunch of new responsibilities at work. I was put into a position where I’m making almost all of the decisions for my classroom. I’m working on meeting goals for my students and restructuring a room. It’s been tough work, and I’ve been super busy lately.

 

met this dude

I went to Comic Con over the weekend, and I met a few cool people. Charles Martinet, Phil Lamar, Tara Reid, George Romero. It was fun, but I have been realizing that I don’t have many friends that are nerds like I am. Really. I mean, I’ve got friends. I like them a lot. We just don’t share the same interests. I went to Comic Con alone because of that, and it made me realize that I need more nerdy friends.

I dreamt that I figured out an online glitch to rig the Russian election, so I made myself the President of Russia. I got sworn in over Skype and they sent me a big desk to work behind. I dreamt that I wrote a facebook status about it, something like, "So, I'm the President of Russia, does that mean I can wear one of those ear-flap hats?" Then I began getting paranoid that the Russian government would take me out for the ruse, and that's when I woke up. It was an odd dream. 

saw this dude

I saved a raccoon’s life. Haha. It was trapped and hurting, and I lifted up a branch and let it run free. It seemed to be find once I got it un-stuck.

I suppose the last thing that was big for me the last few months has been Smash Bros.. I went to a tournament and didn’t lose. Also, I had two blog posts go semi-viral. Check them out, here and here! It was fun to create them, and I’ve gotten more views on those posts than on all of my other blogs combined. I had thousands of views a day for a while.

Looking forward, I have plans to go to a Renaissance Festival and the SOHO music fest. This is happening during my two week summer break, so it should be fun. My school is year round, but we do get two weeks off for summer between sessions. I’m looking forward to E3 and spending some time writing my book.

Mewtwo

I’m actually loving Mewtwo this time around. He feels like a much more powerful character in this game. Confusion has a larger area of effect. Disable needs more range, though. 

I have been using him pretty often; he might even be my second main, now. I just love that he has a reflect move and a way to spam projectiles against counter-characters.

Lately, I’ve been trying to learn Rosalina because I hate her. I’ve been doing For Glory One-on-one battles, and she’s always the character I lose to. So, I’m trying to learn her so that I know how to beat her. The only problem is that when I use her online I win. Rosalina needs to be nerfed. Either Luma needs to be easier to kill or else Luma needs to share a damage meter with Rosalina, because Luma’s absorption of hits is ridiculous.

I participated in my first tournament, and I’m happy to report that I didn’t come in last. I didn’t do well, either. Haha. I’m somewhere in the middle, and that’s good enough for me. The big problem is that I still haven’t found a main to replace my Ice Climbers, yet.

I am happy that they’re doing DLC, though. Lucas is awesome. Mii Fighter costumes are rad. I hope we get more of everything.

2014 Game of the Year

So, this list isn’t a list of my favorite games that released out in 2014… this is a list of my favorite games I played this year. Some are old games that I just finally got around to, some are new games.

Want to know who won in other years? Here’s the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2013 list.

2014 is THE YEAR OF NEW!
This past year has been about my new systems. I bought both a Wii U and a Playstation 4, so most of the games I played were on those systems.

So, without further ado, my 2014 list of favorite plays (in no particular order):

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag

This game was one that I bought on a whim. I had a break from work (I’m a teacher, so I get off most holidays), and I wanted an open world to explore. I played this on PS3 (I didn’t have PS4 yet) and I was incredibly impressed. I doubt that there could even be a better pirate game. The ship sailing mechanics astounded me so much! MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Pikmin 3

This is a game I got for free with the Mario Kart 8 promotion. I loved both Pikmin 1 and 2, and so 3 was a natural get for me. While controlling 3 characters at a time and the inferior control scheme (as opposed to the Gamecube controller) makes me rank it the lowest in the series, Pikmin 3 was still a marvelous play and an absolute must-own for anyone with a Wii U. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Red Dead Redemption

This is a game that actually made an “honorable mention” in last year’s GOTY post from me. I got to Mexico and quit… well, I’m happy to report that I got the urge to play the other half. It was awesome, one of the best stories ever told in videogames. Much like Black Flag was the best pirate game, Red Dead is certainly the best cowboy game ever made. I cannot wait to see what’s next in the series! MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Mario Kart 8

Best is a word I use too much, I guess, but Mario Kart 8 is the best racing game I’ve ever played. The DLC that came out is great, too. My friends started a weekly tournament, which we played for many weeks after! I even won a good portion of them! I have, somehow, become extremely good at this game, to the point where I barely have anyone to compete with. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Skyrim

This is a game that made the same list last year. At that time, I hadn’t even beaten it yet. 2014 allowed me to do so, finally, after putting a million more hours into it. I also achieved the status of a platinum trophy. I will probably end up playing Skyrim again in 2015, since I have the goal to get all of the rest of the DLC trophies. I did a massive writeup about my thoughts on this game. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U

Smash is the game I obsess over every time it is announced. I watch videos, read blogs, I click on the smashbros.com site, I surf smashboards.com, and I OBSESS. Sometimes, I think my anticipation of the game is almost as fun as actually playing it. It’s so much fun to speculate over which characters and etc. will be in the game. I’m doing something really special for my inevitable blog post about Smash, but I’m going to take my time on it. It’s already the longest post I’ve ever made, and I’ve made TONS of new artwork specifically for my review. I’m thinking that the end of January/beginning of February will be when I post this, and when I do, I’ll update here, too.

Mass Effect 2 and 3

I didn’t play the first game, because I owned a PS3 and began with 2. 2 was a game I started when it first released, but I never finished it. 2014 was the year I took to beat the game, and the sequel, too. This game had amazing world building aspects. I loved the alien races and graphics. The dialog and dynamics of choice were cool, too. This was almost a tie to win my GOTY award, but I chose the other because this game’s ending was a little frustrating. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Honorable mentions: (still just games I played in 2013, not necessarily released)

Super Mario 3D World – Very fun but quite easy! I beat this within a few short play sessions and got most of the stars/unlockables!

Shadow of Mordor – A fun sandbox with an enemy system that created a personal story of my adventure

Assassin’s Creed 3 – I played half of this game after Black Flag, but it’s not as good. Still quite fun, though

Fallout: New Vegas – I revisited this game so that I could platinum it. I began a new playthrough to do some evil
Wii Fit U – An exercise game I put a lot of time into. I was hoping for DLC, but they never made any

NES Remix – I love retro Nintendo, so this was right up my alley. I hope they made 100 more of these, covering all the old systems
Sonic’s Sega Genesis Collection – A game I got with Christmas money last year. It was fun enough for me to platinum!

The Oxyborb Blog Game Of The Year for 2014

Infamous: Second Son & First Light

Strangely enough, I never wrote about this game on my blog. I suppose it’s because this game was so good that I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to say about it. I loved the past Infamous games, and guess what? I loved this one. I played Second Son twice! I got the platinum, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
 

a pic I took from the top of the Space Needle

Infamous has been a series that has helped me through extremely tough times. I beat the first two games after going through a divorce and leaving Seattle, a city where I learned so much. I learned how to make friends. I learned how to be alone. The first two Infamous games felt like the spirit of Seattle, they felt like the experiences I was going through. Loss. Anger. Sadness. Survival.

I loved Seattle. I loved being in motion, a place where things were happening. Seattle was a city I missed, and then Sucker Punch, the developers of Infamous, announced that Seattle would be the city setting for the next game. I was stoked. I saw the game and yearned for it because it was my way of going back. Of course, I realized that the game’s Seattle and real Seattle were not 1 to 1 or even nearly the same, but the spirit of the city is what made me feel at home again. I climbed the Space Needle. I walked into silly hipsters with their coffee. Second Son brought me back to Seattle at a time when I really was missing the city.

My emotional reasons for loving the game are not the only reasons why I picked it. Truth is, I had a dilemma between picking Second Son and Mass Effect. ME has the better story, but SS has a great story too. SS has better characters, but Mordin is the best character.

The biggest reason why Second Son wins for me is gameplay. Being a conduit is FUN. I love all the powers in Second Son and First Light. Neon is ingenious. Concrete, smoke… video…  these are powers that were designed for an urban environment. They were extremely well thought out, and they were extremely fun to use. Second Son had an extreme variety of things to do and ways to play. It was impossible to get bored.

So, I guess that’s it for 2014. Thanks for a great year on my blog! Let me know what you think in the comments, in fact, tell me what your personal GOTY was!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!
UNRAVELSPACE UNRAVELTIME

BRING BACK THE ICE CLIMBERS! - a best-of Miiverse holiday Super Smash Bros. Special

So, I'm working on something BIG. If that large text didn't emphasize it enough, I'm working on what will probably be the biggest blog post I've ever done, and it's all about my thoughts on Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U. I'm going to cover everything ever on it, but I have a day job, which means it's going to take another month to finish. With that, I'm also doing a bunch of hand-drawn art to spice it all up, so watch out for that sometime after the holidays...

So, for this month, I thought my blog post would be a simpler one. It's another BEST OF MIIVERSE post (Part 1 is here), and it mostly has to do with Smash Bros. anyway, since that is what I have been gaming recently (also, Shadow of Mordor).

The biggest theme for these is that while playing Smash, I've really missed playing as the Ice Climbers, who were cut from the latest versions.

Here's my plea: Nintendo, please bring them back as DLC! I don't care if they're Wii U exclusive and cannot be played with during 8-player Smash. Just bring them back! Smash just doesn't feel the same without them!

Anyway, here goes:

I tried to draw Ridley....

First thing I drew upon realizing that the Ice Climbers were cut

...I was mad, bro...

Then I began my crusade

This was as positive as I got

Dolphin Shoals has always been one of my more challenging races in Mario Kart 8

Playing some Wii Fit U

Working on the new Mario Kart 8 DLC

Back on topic...

First post on the Smash Wii U

I used to love Garfield

Things got weird

We'll end with another one about Ridley and his size... I really love that you can post Smash screenshots to Miiverse!

Anyway, thanks for coming to my blog. [insert PLEASE UNDERSTAND meme] My next post will be HUGE and well worth the wait and ALL about Smash!

Best of Miiverse Part 1

Best Of Miiverse....

Miiverse is Nintendo's Twitter. You can draw pictures about your favorite games and upload them so everyone can see. Sometimes your pictures will even appear in other peoples' games. It's a really awesome idea, and I love contributing to Miiverse. Recently, Nintendo added a feature that allows people to post Miiverse posts to their blogs. So, this is that. My person, BEST OF MIIVERSE! The best of my drawings on Nintendo's social network. Enjoy!

I love MarioKart, so I post there often. This one is about the track Grumble Volcano.

I have a weird artistic obsession with Waluigi, apparently... I feel like he's some sort of rejected Dr. Seuss character or something

This one is from when I started my Wii Fit training. I joined a gym and posted the ideal body I wanted to have... OK, so it's a little ironic to have a video game company helping me to lose weight.

Editing the "Stamps" they allow you to use is fun

Ice Climbers are another reoccurring theme in my Miiverse.

Uhhh.... What if there was Wapeach and WaDaisy and WaYoshi...

kek

Me wishing that Geno was in Smash Bros....

WAAAA. Wario and Waluigi are just so gross, it's funny.

More wishing for the return of the Ice Climbers

This is interpretable. Waluigi is a strange man.

BEG BEG BEG. I really cannot wait to see them.

Playing through Nintendoland... Monita was so annoying...



Best of Miiverse Part 2

New Ice Climbers Game + Playable Demo!!!

That was not clickbait. I have created new concepts for an Ice Climbers game and there is a playable demo level that you can go try right now. Yes, I’m nuts.

Perhaps I’m the only person who still loves the original Ice Climber for NES. It’s hard, the controls are not modern, but somehow I still love how it plays. It was such a simple concept: Climb up a mountain, kill birds and monsters, get vegetables. Nintendo has an eye for taking simple concepts and weird premises and making them into games. It’s wonderful.

A condor takes the Climbers for a ride! Woo!

Unfortunately, there was never a followup to Ice Climber. Super Smash Bros. brought them back in a major way, reenvisioning the characters and pairing them as a team. Smash 64 had been my favorite game, and when they added my favorite retro game’s lead characters, it was like heaven.

But, unlike Pit with Kid Icarus, the Ice Climbers never got a new game. Well, I changed that over the past month with my new demo….

 

ICE CLIMBERS: DAWN OF THE EGGPLANT!

It uses the LittleBIGPlanet 2 engine for Playstation 3. I wired sackbots to become playable Ice Climbers that function as a team (like in Smash). It’s pretty neat, so I hope that you check it out! In LBP2, search for “Ice Climbers: Dawn of the Eggplant” or search for my PSN username, which is “oxyborb” to try it out! Also, if you play my demo, you get the assets I've made to make your own Ice Climbers level! No joke! Go make more and leave a comment so I can try it too!

Click here to see my level's page!

I created this to bring fresh ideas and attempt to modernize Ice Climbers a bit for a new game. I hoped someday, maybe, someone at Nintendo might see it or play it and realize the potential for a new game. There are multiple powers you can choose from as you navigate the level.

 The Ice Shot from Smash is in, and, as you can see, it launches a freezie along the ground. Other ideas from Smash I’ve brought over are the ability to throw tethers from Nana to Popo so that you can scale mountains. I imagine if Nintendo made a new Ice Climbers game, you might see more of the duel hammer twirling and stuff, but I didn’t include that due to the limitations of LBP2’s engine.

 

Of course, you can use your basic mallet swing to break ice blocks and fight. Here is a

picture of Popo fighting a Topi enemy. In my level, you can also choose to throw mallets into the air.

New ideas I came up with include a freeze gun that you can use to build bridges across gaps, the ability to grab your following ice climber and throw her, and a giant iceberg attack to flatten enemies. You can also use the iceberg to get across water, since polar water is too cold to swim in. It’s pretty neat to hop from island to island like this.

The art style for a true sequel to the game could be very well done in a Paper Mario cartoon look, as can be seen here, but my fantasy is that the new game would be developed by the same people that made Castle Crashers, The Behemoth games studio. That art style mixed with frantic mallet mashing would be awesome! I actually talked to one of the developers when I went to PAX Prime about that idea, but he seemed disinterested. Oh well.

I’ve also thought about how cool a 3D game would be, like… what if the first level from Super Mario 64, that one with the giant mountain, were like an Ice Climbers game. Climbing to the top to win. That would rule. However, I feel like a downloadable game might be more of a good first step to bring them back and make them popular again.

Anyway, that’s my concept, go play my demo! Nintendo, if you’re listening, feel free to email me, oxyborb@gmail.com. I got more ideas in my head for you! Hahaha, as if. I also made a killer Pikminlevel in LBP2 where you control an army of pikmin in a sidescroller. It’s awesome!

For a grand finale, here’s a sneak peak of the demo’s boss!

My List of Favorite Games I Played in 2013 (and my GOTY)

So, this list isn’t a list of my favorite games that came out in 2013… this is a list of my favorite games I played this year. This year has been…

Want to know who won in other years? Here’s the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014 list.

THE YEAR OF CATCHING UP!!!

My gaming backlog was pretty heavy coming into 2013, and so I mostly worked on finishing and playing games from before this year. Actually, there weren’t too many games from 2013 I wanted to play, which was sort of nice with so many old games I had yet to beat.

So, without further ado, my 2013 list of favorite plays (in no particular order):

Project M – Smash Bros Brawl

Project M is a mod for Brawl that changes how the game is played. It rebalances characters and speeds them up to be more like Melee for Gamecube. It adds costumes, tournament-ready stages, and extra options. It also added back awesome characters like Mewtwo and Roy. Finally, with 3.0, I can now play as my main, which are the Ice Climbers, so now Project M has become relevant to me. It’s fantastic. The best way to play Smash. You don't even need to install any mods to play it. Find it here: http://projectmgame.com

Infamous 1 + 2 + Festival of Blood

Right after I knew I was getting a divorce, I blasted through the three Infamous games for PS3. I have to say, they were very special to me, because of the difficulty I was going through in my life at that moment. Because of the divorce, I was forced to move away from Seattle back to a cornfield in the middle of Southern Illinois. I missed the city very badly, but the cities from the Infamous games brought me back. That developer is from Seattle-area, and so the worlds in those games feel like walking the streets of Seattle. I got all of the trophies on those games, I loved them so much. Anyway, thank you, Sucker Punch, for making such special, meaningful games. I cannot wait to play Second Son for PS4. It’s the reason why I want PS4 over Xbox One.

Skyrim

I’ve put nearly 200 hours into Skyrim. Let me tell you, when you get divorced, nothing is more satisfying than immersing yourself into a fantasy world with nothing to think about but killing giants and leveling up your blacksmithing. I believe that Bethesda is the best game developer in the world, hands down. I cannot believe how deep I fell into this game. The music. The landscape. The creatures… Everything just comes together to feel like fantasy is reality. I still have so much to do in this game, but I get distracted just running around killing deer. Sometimes I just walk around and explore the fields, no particular mission to do. It’s just so much fun. I haven’t even beaten it yet. I plan on putting another hundred hours into it soon.

Mario 3D Land for 3DS

Note, I do not mean the new Mario 3D World for Wii U. That game looks awesome, but I don’t own a Wii U. I had already beaten 3D Land coming into 2013. In fact, I’m pretty sure I had beaten it in 2011 when it was released, but it’s such an amazing game that I replayed the entire thing again this year. Honestly, I believe that 3D Land is the perfect Mario game. I liked it better than Mario Galaxy, even. Just the way that the foundational mechanics work (shrinking and growing instead of a life meter, flagpole grabbing instead of touching the star, shorter levels rather than giant worlds to explore) makes the game better, overall.

Minecraft

How much did I pay for Minecraft again? 13 bucks? I got it during alpha. This is the one game I’ve spent the most time with more than any other. It’s the best money I’ve ever spent on a game. I used to run a sever, and I made tons of friends with random players from around the world. I can’t even begin to say the amount of crap I’ve built. It’s almost embarrassing. I’m still loving Minecraft in 2014, though less than I used to, it’s still fun. I just love the “go out and do anything” mentality in games like these.

Honorable mentions: (still just games I played in 2013, not necessarily released)

Batman: Arkham City - Great fun, but the hand-to-hand combat is not fun. When your stealth is given up, you lose the fun factor.
Diablo 3 for PS3 - The best Gauntlet Legends-type game, but not the greatest Diablo game
Kid Icarus: Uprising - Hilarious voice acting, amazing Sakurai-style gameplay. Controls aren't the best, though

Little Big Planet 2 - Still the best logic-game toy out there. I hope they make a 3D version so I can make my own Banjo-Kazooie!
Red Dead Redemption - Fantastic western. Best horseback riding ever. I'll probably go back and finish it, but I stopped playing at Mexico.

My Game of the Year for 2013

This is my choice for the best game I played that was released in 2013. This has nothing to do with the list above, since hardly any of those were released in 2013. This is just the best game that was released this year, in my opinion:

Streetpass Mii Plaza’s DLC

No, I’m not joking. In 2013, Nintendo came out with new games for Mii Plaza for 3DS. As someone who frequents conventions and nerdy events, new Streetpass games were exactly what I was craving. The original Puzzle Swap and Find Mii were excellent, and the new games (Mii Force, Warrior’s Way, and Monster Manor) are awesome, too. I love getting “hits” on my 3DS, which get me fun puzzle pieces and fighters for my games. Out of all the games released in 2013 that I played, Mii Plaza’s DLC is my favorite. It doesn’t beat Infamous, but for a Game of the Year, you’ve got to pick one released in the actual year, so Mii Plaza’s DLC gets the gold from me. The one exception is Flower Town. That game is awful. I tried to get into it, but I ended up skipping the dialogue as quickly as possible.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!
UNRAVELSPACE UNRAVELTIME

Game Idea: Super Smash Kart

When I first saw the Smash Bros. trailer that revealed Rosalina as a playable character, I honestly thought it was a Kirby reveal for Mario Kart. And, why not? I thought. Kirby would be a very cool unlockable character for the racer. 

I’m not the first person to say that the concept of Super Smash Bros. should translate to other genres of games, but I really want to expand on the idea here on my blog.

How cool would it be if the various Nintendo franchises in Smash Bros. made up the world for the next Mario Kart-type game?

My ideas for standard weapons:

I think that green koopa shells, bananas, and lightning bolts should remain as is.

Red koopa shells should be replaced by Homing Missiles from the Metroid franchise.

The OBVIOUS reason why the Playstation Vita isn't selling... but nobody is talking about it

I haven’t seen a single person speak about what I think is the obvious, glaring reason that the Playstation Vita is not doing well. Sony has got it all backwards in their direction. This entire generation of handhelds, Sony has said that the Vita is the #1 spot for the home-console experience on the go. They’ve touted “cross-play” and “cross-buy” games, which are playable on both the Playstation 3 and the Vita, just to emphasize the point.

But that’s the HUGE, GLARING, OBVIOUS problem, and I haven’t seen one single Playstation gaming site talking about it: People don’t want the home-console experience on the go; they want the portable experience on the go.