Cyborg Haven Update

The following item has been added to my list of Video Games I Have Played:

• Street Fighter II ?? (arcade)

     I was still in elementary school when I played this game in the Family Fun Arcade near the Lassen/Devonshire streets.  I usually played in Street Fighter II as Chun-Li (because she was a girl and I was a girl, for some reason) but occasionally I played as Ryu or a few of the other characters.  I enjoyed using Chun-Li's super fast kick attack (what ever it was called...I forgot).

     I should count arcade games into this list.  I haven't lately.  But yes, I am not totally new to Street Fighter.  I experience it as a kid, but it wouldn't be something I'd get back into at present.

     Now I'm getting into the Mega Man X series.  <.<......>.>.....  :3 

VECTOR MAN on Feb. 25th

I returned to Vector Man from the SEGA Genesis Collection.  There were good results: I was able to get passed that train track level. I finally realized that Vector Man can still shoot while he is shaped like a train.  I was only jumping, avoiding the big robot’s hands.  But the controls screen reminded me that the square button and circle button both are the shooting actions.  So I tried it out, and it seemed like I was supposed to defeat that big metal thing within one minute by shooting at it.  Vector Man could shoot forward or to the left and the right in this train form (I love it when I figure things out on my own :] ).  I failed several times before I was able to defeat that, uh…boss?  So then the next level was called Tidal Surge (or Day 3) and that was sort of a fun level.  Vector Man got this ability that allowed him to swim, if only for a few moments.

     Oops, I forgot if I had a boss fight in that level. Damn, shoulda recorded some notes.  I remember the level names only because I reviewed my Saved Data Utility.

     The next level was an underwater one.  Vector Man had to keep jumping up to the top and shooting those brown things floating with a chain.  Those little white ball/circle objects, I try to collect as many of them as I can, because it gets me points.  Sometimes I’d miss a platform and then Vector Man would fall down, down, down and then I went Darn, he has to jump back up there again.  When I did get to the top, there was a power-up box that made Vector Man into a rocket that took him out of the water.  There ended up being two short boss fights.  As always, I wanted to keep some extra lives, so whenever I lost two lives, I reloaded the file.  The first boss was some sort of Pterodactyl, plane-like thing, and then the next one was some mechanical polar bear, which was more difficult to defeat.  Its attacks were not hard to avoid if I can see where the hell it’s shooting those little orange energy, uh, balls.

     The next level, the Arctic Surge, is fun, but it is easy to get lost. I like the graphics for this level too; lots of ice and water. That is the level I am stuck at now. It was this big mechanical guardian of a sort. It destroyed Vector Man over and over again, and the battery power was low on my PSP, so I had to give the game (and my right thumb) a rest. My thumb, there was so much button mashing in terms of Vector Man shooting (for the recent Mega Man X play, the button mashing came from making X jump all the time avoiding boss attacks =P ) .

Mega Man X Collection.......trying Mega Man X

The Mega Man X Collection arrived at my home on Wednesday afternoon!  Boy, that was fast.  I wanted to try it out on the same day so that I made sure it can play okay.  I was so nervous, I always get butterflies in my stomach before trying out a game I never played before.

     There was no instruction manual included, but that's okay.  The controls can't be too complex since the first half of the games included were on the Super NES, which doesn't have as many buttons as the PS2.  So,  around 6:15pm I put the disc in...yay, Capcom...1993?!!  Wow, all they way back in 1993, this first MMX game?  I had to be in third grade that time.  It's not exactly a blast from the past, but there is something different and special playing a video game released seventeen years ago.

     There was a short prelude to the game, a letter from Dr. Light, the creator of X.  Maybe there is info on the story of these games available in the internet, but I think I understand it better when I see the story for myself.  Dr. Light says something like... "He is dangerous and very powerful.  It is best to wait 30 years until it is safe for him to be independent and make his own choices.  Unfortunately I will not live to see that day."  (It is a rough and weak paraphrase of this Dr. Light quotation...I'll see it again and try to remember it better. =P)

     So cute.  Mega Man/X is this little guy.  Or at least that was what the 16-bit graphics allowed at the time.  He blinks when I don't move him; once, then twice, then once again :3 .  It is so fun to make him shoot from his arm-cannon thing ( know, I should really look up exactly what it is called, but I am just used to calling it his arm cannon.)  And it took me a while, but I learned that by holding the square button, I can charge a stronger attack equal to four or eight of those little, um, bullets.   When he destroys enemies, he gets either a small or big health-replenishing item.  Yay for those!  He can climb up ladders and jump up on walls too, which saves his ass because I don't want him falling to his death.  Ugh...now I know how it feels again to experience instant-death spikes and instant-death pits like other fans/critics talk about.  And the bosses!  Chill Penguin...does anyone remember that one?  I tried different stages and so far Chill Penguin is the easiest!!  But I didn't beat him yet!  [Sigh]  Man, I can't even touch the boss, because they take away a quarter of the health bar.  Godd----t, man.

     I let my sister try out the game too.  We were both so excited about it.  We both absolutely loooove the music in the game; in the "Launch" screen (the screen where you choose which MMX game you would like to play), the music samples during the screen are so damn cool, we just HAVE to know the composer for the MMX series (maybe an original soundtrack is available somewhere...?).  It's a nice break from the Sqare-Enix goodness I've been messing with.  Although, I do have to get back to Vector Man.  I know there is Mega Man X Maverick Hunter for the PSP, but I don't need that.

     We are really eager to get back to the game again.  Man, my thumb needs a good break after this.  Most of the button-mashing comes from pushing the X button (ha ha...the X button o.0 )  for making X jump all...the...damn...time.  The nice action music makes it fun and the colors are vivid.  And the controls are simple enough that we'll be fine without an instruction manual.  Although... it would be really helpful to know which stage to start with.  Either the snowy one with Chill Penguin, or the gold mine level.  Uh...what's it called...eh, I'll find out.  I'll say the names of the levels into the recorder next time.

    Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal!!!!  :3  Mega Man X (and Zero!!!) got two new Mega-fans!

Crazy about Mega Man X and Zero!!!

Crazy about Mega Man X!! And Zero!!!

I received my March 2010 issue of Nintendo Power, #252, and on page 11, there is news about a DS video game collection called Mega Man Zero Collection.

This is a picture of MMZero's Zero I scanned

from the March issue of Nintendo Power.  I thought it

was a cool pose Zero had.

     I have to say something:  my sister and I are loosely Mega Man fans. We knew of the games, and read about them in video game magazines in the early and mid-1990s, but we never played them. In fact, the Mega Man X series were on the Super NES and the first PlayStation, and then the last two, X7 and X8, were on the Playstation 2, and back then we didn’t have a PS2.  Furthermore, around the years 1995 and 1996 we knew of an animated Mega Man cartoon from ADV films, or DIC or something. "Super fighting robot...Mega Man!!"  If I remember correctly (or not), it used to air on Saturdays on channel 11 at 11 o’clock.  But we didn’t watch it.  Anime wasn’t new to us; we just weren’t used to it at the time. A video game character in an animated show?  Wow!

     So why am I talking about this? We've re-discovered Mega Man X because of the March issue of Nintendo Power, and Zero became a quick favorite.  On YouTube I looked at some tribute AMVs that used content from the MMX series and MMX Command Mission (they are here and here).  The animation looks cool, and I wouldn’t mind going back to side-scrolling again.  Just Friday night I decided to buy the Mega Man X Collection and maybe MMX Command Mission from GameStop.com.  The next morning I woke up, and decided to get both games.

     I ended up buying not only the MMX Collection (GameStop) and MMX Command Mission, but also MMX 8 (the last two from Amazon.com). I read the reviews for it in Amazon.com and I’m like, Hell yeah, I’ll get that too. MMX 7, I am not going to worry about. I KNOW that I don’t want to miss out on the MMX series, because if it weren’t for the other titles, like the Jak and Daxter series, Kingdom Hearts/II, Devil May Cry 3, Chaos Legion, Final Fantasy VII/X/XII, all these ….. It’s not like the Sonic Mega Collection Plus where I played five of the six SEGA Genesis games already.  I haven’t’ played any of the MMX games before.  They will all be new to me. And yay, unlockables!

     I just hope the disc works very well. MMX Command Mission and MMX 8 I ordered through Amazon.com because I could choose the condition I wanted: Like New or Very Good. And it should have an instruction manual. I don’t care if it’s not in its original box.  Maybe the disc may be used, but should still be playable.  These games are available only as used copies, and if they are new, the price is up the roof.

     So, you’ll occasionally be reading about my experience playing the Mega Man X games. I guess it was a good idea to wait till there was a collection available on the PS2 so I can save money. I never had a Super NES or a PSone, so this collection is awesome. I won’t get it until the first half of March, but that is okay. I have other games to keep me busy in the meantime.

Link (To where I learned about Zero)
Link  (Another Zero webpage.  I should find some with Mega Man X himself...)
 
Link (Okay, here's plenty of main blue-bot Mega Man X...)

Dissidia (on Feb. 23, so it's a bit late)

This will be just a short update on my progress in Dissidia: Final Fantasy.

• Firion is level 10
• Warrior of Light is still level 22
• Onion Knight is level 2 (I played as him for the first time.  He runs fast!)
• Cloud is level 14
• Bartz is level 7
• Zidane is level 21
• Everyone else is level 1 (yeah, I know, I am terrible...)
• Unlocked Jecht as a playable character

     I fought Kuja versus Kuja, and I lost.  Huh, funny.  I'm still confused about his attacks.  I am not sure, but I think Kuja is very close to being level 2.  Oh, and Sephiroth is still a meany.

     Next for the PSP is Vector Man.  Hey, that is another side-scroller I enjoy (besides the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games for the SEGA Genesis).  Then when my unit's battery is fully charged, I will return to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.  I promise.  @,@

Reminisce: Yoshi the game

This is a true story of mine, about how I got the video game, Yoshi.
     Of course, I was just a kid, maybe eight or nine years old. I had a doctor appointment that day. I knew I was going to be given a shot, a vaccine or something. My mom told me that after the doctor, she’ll take us to Toy’s R Us to buy Sonic 3. I was so excited, and knowing that got me through the doctor visit. So my sister and I did get that shot, needless to say.

     I was really looking forward to getting Sonic 3. Unfortunately, that store didn’t have a copy; it probably it ran out of copies. We were disappointed, but we weren’t going to leave empty handed. We still wanted a game. So the replacement ended up being Yoshi. (Eventually we were given Sonic 3 as a birthday gift around two years later or so).

     I haven’t played the game forever. But what I remember is, it has one-player and two-player modes. I remember the song for the two-player mode because of course it played over and over. It was a fun game, as addictive as Dr. Mario was. It was sort of the same idea. But, I remember we have to match the bottom of an egg to the top half of the egg. The more bottoms of eggs there are underneath the top half of the egg, the egg gets bigger and Yoshi hatches bigger, and you get more points.

     Gee, I’m trying to remember what were the obstacles that got between the egg halves? I’ll have to YouTube it or Google search later. I have no idea where my copy of the game is for that matter, and I doubt my Nintendo works anymore.

Dissidia on Wednesday Feb. 10th

This post is quite late; it's a DFF update.

Zidayne?  Zidawn?  Zeedahneh? 

Last Wednesday I decided to try to finish Destiny Odyssey I and do some more leveling up. I would have played on Tuesday but I played in several Bonus Days in a row, and on that day I didn’t want to force myself to play it. I kept saying I want to get to another game soon. But I unlocked Kuja!!! =D He’s very fun to play because he glides. Heh heh, I have to get used to his attacks, since they’re so different compared to the others. Kuja doesn’t even use a sword (he can probably use a magic wand, though…0.-… -.0) And I learned that Zidane pronounces his name KOO- JUH.  But I think it's too late, because I call him Kuya now.  Been for some time.

     And I'm sorry, but I like to pronounce Zidane's name Zih-DAYNE, which forces me to smile :)   The spelling suggests that  particular pronunciation to me, but Squall and Bartz say it like Zih-DAWN. 

Zee-Dah-NEH?  Nahhh, I like Zih-DAYNE.

:3 

I leveled up Warrior of Light to Level 22 first. I would have to anyway, since the last time I played Destiny Odyssey I had trouble. It was interesting watching the scenes with Warrior of Light and Garland, talking about the “cycle of conflict” or something like that. Then "this would be the fight to end it."  And other stuff. o.0  “I have the light, and that is all that I need.” Oooookay, what about your sword, and shield, and armor, and helmet, and other stuff you use to actually fight, WoL? 

I wanted to unlock the Museum function, but then I wondered why it didn’t unlock after finishing DO I.  I looked at the strategy guide for what unlocks the Museum, and it says “after finishing two Destiny Odysseys…” and I go like, “Ooooooh, okay, now I know. The next one I’ll be able to finish is Zidane’s DO IX.  I left off at the beginning of DO IX-5 (he leveled  up to 20).  His DO is easier to play than Warrior of Light’s (but I didn’t realize that until later).  Then I tried Kuja vs Sephiroth, and then the Chocobo "warked," so I had to fight as Cloud vs Sephiroth in the Quick Battles to gain some luck.   Next it might be either Firion or Cloud's Destiny Odyssey.

Back to SEGA Genesis Collection: Phantasy Star II and Vector Man

Ah, it actually feels good to take a break from Dissidia and Crisis Core, as cool and fun as those games are. I only had 37 % battery power left on the PSP, as my unit indicated. I'd want to play either of the two games of Square-Enix goodness if I had at least 50% battery power in there.  It was too soon to recharge, so I returned to the SEGA Genesis Collection to see what I can try out. I’ve wanted to start Phantasy Star II.  I started around 9:45pm. I learned that there is a narration in this story and that Rolf, the main character, is the narrator, a first person narration. Interesting. You know, I was given a chance to name my hero, and I wanted to name him Gilmur, just a made up stupid heroic-sounding name, but it turned out that only four letters would fit, and he ended up being named GILR. 0_____O Yikes, but I let it go because it would look funny during the conversations. Ha ha. Gilr. Funnnnny.

     Everyone’s name in that game is between three to five letters. It took me awhile, but I got Nei a steel bar as a weapon for 80 meseta, but I didn’t equip it (cuz I didn’t know how to until later), and then I did equip her with the steel bar and she proved herself useful in battle.  Oh, the battle.  The battles (random ones, mind you) are hideous and frustrating!!  I have no idea what is happening until Gilr loses HP.  Gosh, it is hard to make commands in this game.  Battles much easier in Final Fantasy VII.  I kinda half-panicked.  And then Gilr lost all his HP D:

"GILR is dead!"     What?  Dead?  Not KOed?  (Or pwned...? whatever that means...)

"Nei and friends run away…but they’re trapped!"

     There are places called Clone Labs in this game.  I wasn’t sure what they were for, but then I found out they brought back dead party members to life. Oooooh kay. I am too used to Final Fantasy, but little by little I figure out what to do.  It's not quite a Phoenix Down.  But it will have to do, for a price, of course.

Does the GILR clone retain any memories or anything?  Keep the same personality?  o.0 

Vector Man... I forgot how fun it is to play Vector Man.  Even though I was stuck for a while on the second level, I tried a different strategy because I know there is a way to get out of there.  Vector Man is a train in this level, and he has to avoid getting crushed by this big machine/robot that is climbing the tracks trying to destroy Vector Man.  I tried to jump and avoid the big machine/robot’s hands and move back and forth to slow down or go faster. The maneuvers are improving, and also I have to avoid those fire ball cannon thingies.

     I never passed that level, but I'll keep trying.  If I wasn't on a Sonic-Only diet during my SEGA Genesis days, I think I would have enjoyed playing Vector Man on a TV screen.  It looks great for an old game.  Ristar too.  Even Sparkster for the Genesis.  But apparently Sparkster wasn't good enough to be in the SEGA Genesis Collection.  Pooh.

IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Yes, it’s Valentine’s Day, and that means it’s also the anniversary of the release of the original soundtrack to Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (in Japan). Also, Vincent’s last name is Valentine, so I just thought I’d throw that in today.

So give Vincent Valentine your love. Because he’s sad and he needs love. Look at his face; he has lonely-looking eyes. Doesn’t it make you want to feel like giving him a big-ass hug? ^,^

The Don't Forget NiGHTS Campaign is still not over yet!

NiGHTS still needs out help!!!!

So NiGHTS is the flagman in Sonic and SEGA Allstar Racing, but there is still hope that NiGHTS as a playable character by Downloadable Content will be possible.

He/She just needs a little more help from us, and Trippy, DiGi Valentine and the other good people at NiGHTSintoDreams.com are asking for one last wave of support for NiGHTS.  There is still time—actually less than a month—for us fans to communicate to SEGA that NiGHTS should still be as playable as the other characters in ASR, even if he/she is not in the immediate roster of the game.

Trippy and DiGi Valentine have a plan how to do this. They want us NiGHTS fans to send an email to them directly so that they’ll be all included in one file to send to SEGA, instead of everyone sending separate e-mails.

Here is the link directly to the forum topic: The Last Wave. The directions are clearly explained by DiGi Valentine, including the due date. I definitely will participate in this last wave of support for NiGHTS to be DLC in ASR, though I’m not too keen on downloading content for videogames on the Wii. I hope to. But if I am not able to download on the Wii, then at least the others who are able to download content for the Wii will be able to if NiGHTS is made into DLC. Within the next few days I will send my e-mail to NiGHTSintoDreams.com.  As a loyal NiGHTS fan, I don’t want to let the fandom down by not participating this time. Trippy, DiGi Valentine, and NiGHTS need all the support they can get.

My Interpretation of my Crisis Core poster

Back in January 8-10, I went to the Anime Los Angeles 6 convention. This was my third anime convention, and I didn’t get a regular poster yet (I got wall scrolls in the past, though) until this third time. This time, one poster I did pick up was one with three characters from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII: Cloud Strife, Zack Fair, and Sephiroth. I thought I’d never have this image as a poster. But now I do. ^,^ Here’s a LINK to what it looks like (even though this image is from the cover of an import book in Anime Castle and there is Japanese text on it).

After some time passed, I started to look at the poster in a different way. I have it placed on the back of my bedroom door so I see it every morning and every night. Then at some point, I came up with some sort of interpretation of the way the characters are standing and positioned in the poster.  They are each looking at a different direction, and I believe this has a significant meaning, which I will get to little by little.

Let’s start with the lighting. The light source seems to be coming from the left side. It doesn’t seem that there are other main light sources. It doesn’t seem to be sunlight, but it can be seen that way.

Now let’s look at the positions of the characters. Sephiroth is standing facing the right, behind Zack and Cloud. He is holding his Masamune sword. Zack stands closer, holding his Buster sword behind his back, facing the left, and Cloud is in the foreground looking the other way.

After deducing where the light is coming from, I looked at what Sephiroth is doing. He is facing away from the light. He is facing the darker side. He is holding his sword, ready to kill anyone who gets in his way.  He has his mind on fulfilling Jenova's goal.

Now let’s look at Zack Fair. He is fully facing the lighter side with confidence.. He is holding the Buster Sword (honor sword) behind him and has a serious expression on his face, a proud expression, perhaps reflecting on his SOLDIER Honor. Though his heart is heavy with the loss of his mentor Angeal, it is also light with the desire to reach his dream of becoming a hero, and being successful in the world.

Last but not least, let’s look at Cloud Strife. Cloud is in the foreground, with his body facing the left, but his head turned to the right. His eyes are downcast; he is reluctant to face the light. He is looking back at the times he was weak and not able to be his best whenever it was his time to fight. Also, this is Cloud after he and Zack escaped from Nibelhiem on their way to Midgar (he is wearing his FFVII outfit, not the FFVII:AC outfit). He is reluctant to face this light because he is full of guilt for not being able to be strong enough to protect Zack in the past. He feels guilty because of this weakness. Cloud worries if he will ever be strong enough. He is in between the light and the darkness (implied by the left side of his face in the shadow), and his facial expression is that of sadness, as he is lost in thought.  So saaaad...

Now everyone go: AWWWWWW.  :3

So how does that sound? I may be over-doing the interpretation, and also I could be wrong. It’s just my personal thoughts on how to see these three characters in the poster. Let me know what you think.  Or don't.  I just thought it would be interesting to share.  :) 

A NiGHTS Victory !! :D

It is time to celebrate a NiGHTS Victory!!  ^,^

According to sources at NiGHTSintodreams.com, NiGHTS is revealed to have become the flagman for Sonic and SEGA All-Star Racing!! I squeeeeeeeeeeeealed with sheer delight at the news. Read even more about it here:

Link (to the first time I found out about this wonderful news!)

Link (more on it from one of the developers of ASR)

That is not all the good NiGHTSy news I have. This next piece of  NiGHTS-related good news is personal. My sister was so nice. Way back during the holidays, I gave her the .Hack Game Music Perfect Collection as a gift. She listened to it pretty soon afterwards.

Sometime before that, I asked her for something, and I felt like I was asking for the world. I asked her to buy for me the NiGHTS into Dreams Perfect Album CD, and I knew it was going to take a while to get home since its store was overseas, in Japan. So I said, “It doesn’t have to arrive before Christmas. I just want it to get here.” There were other things I wanted (like Dissidia, which she gave me after all), but the one thing I couldn’t put off asking for was this NiGHTS soundtrack.

It arrived yesterday, Wednesday morning. Safe and sound, new and untouched, just for me (=^,^=) and I think this was the most I’ve smiled and screamed in DAYS. I hugged my sister again and again, saying thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou!! For you NiGHTS fans, that song “Message from Nightopia”…I screamed ten times! I could not believe this same song from Sonic Adventure’s NiGHTS Pinball game was in this very soundtrack. Then I’m happy. I’m ecstatic! I can listen to it as many times as I want without having to go to YouTube to listen to it there. My SEGA Dreamcast may still work, but it’s not connected to the TV. Other stuff is, like the PS2 and the Wii. Oh pooh.

But I am a very happy NiGHTS fan now, heeheeeee… ;3

Dissidia on Bonus Day, Feb. 2nd

On Tuesday Feb. 2nd, I played Dissidia Final Fantasy as it was my Bonus Day. Here is a summary: I leveled up Cloud and Bartz, and then I played an Arcade Mode round as Bartz. Then it was too late to finish a Destiny Odyssey, so I played as Zidane in a couple of Quick Battles and leveled him up as well.

The details:

     I started playing at 3:45pm. After leveling up Cloud and Bartz for nearly an hour, I played Bartz in Arcade Mode and his first opponent was Terra. I won that first battle. My second opponent was Cloud. (sniffle) I kept saying “Sorry Cloud, but it’s for the PP. Sorry, sorry!” I lost the first battle against him, but then Bartz won the retry fight. Then next the third opponent was Zidane. Gosh, he’s hard to fight when he’s controlled by the computer. He’s fast, and when I miss he says, “Slow!” cuz I wasn’t fast enough to get him. I lost the first battle against him too. I retried the battle and won. Yay? “Sorry Zidane, it’s for the PP!”

     My fourth opponent was Golbez. I lost the first battle, won the retry. Are these arcade battles getting harder or am I not timing my attacks the best way? <.<;;; … >.>;; Anyway, my fifth and final opponent was Kefka. Not only is he one of my least favorite villains…um, do I have a favorite, oh yeah, it’s Kuja (sorry Sephiroth, you’re a close second). Bartz had to fight Kefka in the Planet’s Core stage. As much as I admire the stage for it’s homage to Final Fantasy VII, the separated bits of ground are a problem, unless I am locked onto an EX Core or the opponent. Kefka has a funny laugh o.O And when he says, “Don’t mess with me!” he does this powerful attack that I can never seem to avoid, because he does it when I am in midair.

     My Warrior of Light is still Level 19. Bartz is level 2 now. Cloud is currently at level 12 ^,^ and Zidane is now level 16, up from 14. He leveled up twice in one fight because I changed him into his EX Mode form three times and got a lot of critical hits out of Squall. Some attacks got 1,000 EXP each; one was +6,000 EXP, another was +3,400 EXP. It was Bonus Day, after all! It was the first time I had a character level up twice in one fight. Zidane got lucky!

Sonic Unleashed, or Jak TLF…Sonic Rivals 2? I need to take a Sonic or Jak break. Hah, I had all that Squeenix goodness.