The Next Best SNES Classics

You may recall that I did a sequel blogpost to my Top 10 Favorite NES Games List. So, to keep in that tradition, we are going to be having a look at another horde of classic SNES titles, the next series of SNES games that I feel deserve some spotlight. As I said before, the Super Nintendo Entertaiment System is my favorite gaming console of all, the reason is because it was the console I grew up and the one I have the most fond memories of playing in my youth. My cousins had a Super Nintendo, my uncle had a Super Nintendo, and I now have a Super Nintendo to call my own, because it is one of the greatest elements from my childhood and no other gaming system can compete with it, not even the mighty Nintendo Entertainment System or the SNES' mortal nemesis, the Sega Genesis.



GENESIS! I WANT IT!

So let's fire up the grill, shall we? Chewy, fasten your seatbelt, we're making the jump to lightspeed. This is the Next Best SNES Games ever grace the face of the Earth.

Super Adventure Island



Hudson Soft has brought Adventure Island to the SNES in a different, yet bitterswett manner. Super Adventure Island is one of the most whimsical titles ever to be shoved into the SNES' dusty slot, and it was one of the many games I got a glimpse of as a wee little lad. I remember seeing Master Higgins fly at the tv screen, and I was quite scared of the game ever since, fearing that I would have to see that terrifying sight once more. However, many, many, many moons later, when I developed into a hard core gaming guru, I found this game, gave it a go, and it is to this day one of my all time favorites. Sure it's nothing groundbreaking like Donkey Kong Country, but it had edge, edge like no other video game before. With that clunky, up beat Hudson Soft music playing in the background and enemies flying at you at 65 miles per hour, this game had a lot of tension, and as all this tension was going on, you had to make sure Master Higgins was getting his essential dosage of fruits and vegetables, because if he doesn't get his good, wholesome food, he kicks the bucket. How BLOODY unfortunate. Next thing you're going to tell me is that Pit turns into a giant eggplant with legs! But Super Adventure Island is a classic in it's own right, and helped the famous Adventure Island series progress into the 16-bit world, which was quite the craze in video gaming back in those days. While the game reached extremely difficult proportions, it was also a lot of fun at times, and you couldn't help but go back and play certain levels over and over and over again, getting better and better and better every time you played them. The challenge was reasonable, the characters are quite memorable in my eyes, and the enemies are just so darn funny! As a matter of fact, all the enemies in the Adventure Island games are quite hilarious! Pink snails, blue octopi, you might even encounter a couple anthropomorphic pigs every now and then. It's a lot better than the average koopa troopas and octorocs isn't it? Anywho, Super Adventure Island is a game I hold at such high levels, and I enjoy it's unique setup and gameplay everytime I plug it into the gray box, for it has an appeal like no other game I took part in. It's, oh, how do I put it, super mega awesome wow! That just about sums it up, right?

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest



Donkey Kong Country will always remain my all time favorite game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, for it's graphics and gameplay were unlike any other game in history. But Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest can go to the grave as an almost perfect sequel, a sequel that doesn't completely desecrate the grounds set before it. The game differs greatly from it's predecessor, kinda like how Super Mario Bros. 2 differed greatly from it's predecessor, featuring new gameplay enemies, and entirely new theme and setup, and new playable characters that could appeal to many boys and girls who were interested at the game at the time of it's release. The acclaimed Diddy Kong returns, this time with his girlfriend, Dixie Kong, as the two embark on a perillous journey to rescue Diddy's uncle, Donkey Kong, from the clutches of Kaptain K. Rool. The characters carry the classic attacks from the first game we are all familiar with, but they also have some new abilities. Diddy Kong can run a lot faster than he did in the first game, and Dixie Kong can glide in the air by using her ponytail. There are also a considerable amount of new Animal Buddies in this game as well, such as Glimmer the Anglerfish, Rattly the Rattlesnake, Clapper the Seal, and my personal favorite, Squitter the Spider. Rambi the Rhino also makes a triumphant return from the previous game, along with Enguarde the Swordfish and Squaks the Parrot, carrying their trademark powers along with them. And using these guys couldn't be more fun. Using the animals' abilities to get from beginning to end can really add to the challenge but also make things a heck of a lot easier, for you can take out enemies much quicker and get across dead ends faster and more efficiently. But it's without a doubt that Donkey Kong Country 2 is much better when you are playing with another person, for there are areas of the game where you wish you had a good buddy nearby to assist you, areas like treacherous pirate ships, gigantic bee hives, fierce volcanic pits, an life scarring roller coaster rides from HELL! I have many, many horrifying memories of playing through that roller coaster level as a child, and I think it's safe to say it's up there with the underwater level from the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game (Oh Ninja Turtles, we'll get to them soon enough). But when all is set in stone, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is one of the very few sequels that actually lives up to the original, the sequel taking everything that made the first game good and refreshing it, spicing it up a bit, making it something new and different, but also fun and enjoyable.

Prince of Persia



Of all the different variations of Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia, the SNES version, produced by Konami, has to be my favorite. A lot of people spit at the sight of this version, and to be honest, I don't really understand why. Maybe it's that this version has 20 levels when the original had 13 and that some of the boss battles require a significant amount of dodging, but in my humble opinion, this version of Prince of Persia enhanced the original by a milestone. The graphics were quite eye popping for a SNES game at that time, and even though they were 16-bit, they still captured the very essence, nature, and balance of the graphics from the original game, adding in a couple new and improved features every now and then to make this version of Persia the blacksheep of all the remakes. As I said earlier, this version of Persia took the original and ultrafied several times over. The game has the original 13 levels we all know and love with 7 new levels for the future prince to surpass in a matter of minutes, but do not worry your little behinds off, even though this version of Persia has 20 levels, it does not mean that you are limited to an hour to rescue the princess from her captivity. The people at Konami were nice enough to add an extra hour to the time slot of this game, meaning that you have exactly 120 minutes to escape deleterious dungeons, fight vicious skeleton warriors, take a twirl with the Vishnu God, dodge your way across boiling hot lava rivers and take on the Vizier Jaffar himself, now equipped with magical spells and a sword that spells trouble. Gee, this version of Jaffar makes Jaffar from Aladdin look like the Reluctant Dragon. But the thing that makes this version of Persia stick out the most is the incredible music. Konami has a reputation for making games with head banging music, but this has got to be one of the best. From the opening title screen to the closing credits, the music for this game is fitting for each level you play through, pumping you up to take on any enemy that stands in your way, for you can use your mighty sword to turn any of Jaffar's men into shish kabob. Jake Gyllenhaal can take lessons from the original Prince of Persia, for he surely knows how to work with a blade! Anyway, the SNES version of Prince of Persia is simply the best, the graphics are crisp, the music is phenomenal and the game still carries the embodiment of the original, making this one of the very few video game remakes that actually works!

Super Star Wars



Before there was Knights of the Old Republic, there was Super Star Wars. Before there was The Force Unleashed, there was Super Star Wars. Before there was Super Bombad Racing, there was Super Star Wars. And a very special game Super Star Wars is. It was perhaps one of the very first movie based video games to actually get it right, differentiating from the film greatly, but still capturing what made the film great, giving us all the elements, plot points and scenary that we love from the film as well as adding a couple twists. You can play as three characters in this game, the innocent farmboy, Luke Skywalker, the cocky smuggler, Han Solo and everybody's favorite furball from Kashyyyk, Chewbacca. Each characters' abilities differ greatly from each other, Han's shooting ability with the blaster pistol more effective and efficient than Luke's shooting ability with a blaster pistol, although Luke is much better at jumping and Chewy is a lot faster when dodging platforms and elevators. There are also a considerable amount of power ups and weapons you can retrieve throughout the game that can make things a heck of a lot easier, Luke even able to activate his daddy's classic blue lightsaber when the time is right, sending Stormtroopers to their doom. But hands down the best levels out of this game are the flight simulator like levels towards the end of the game. In these levels, you take control of an X-wing as you attempt to knock out the Death Star, blasting TIE Fighters to pieces and fighting off laser torrents along the way. In the game's final level, you find yourself traveling down the Death Star's trench, going up against the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader.After defeating Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi will tell you to "use the force" just like he did in the movie, and Luke will fire the ion torpedos that ultimately wipe out the Death Star. The ending ceremony of Yavin 4 is even at the end of the game, making this a truly authentic game that follows in the movie's footsteps smoothly. And the game was such a huge success that it spawned two sequels, Super Empire Strikes Back and Super Return of the Jedi. Super Empire Strikes Back is a considerably hard game, and I think everyone is with me when I say that it's the hardest of the Super Star Wars, particularly in the Cloud City stages that require to take out enemy troops and cloud cars in your path. But it's still a very good game and a worthy successor to the flawless Super Star Wars game, which ranks as one of the greatest Star Wars games ever made. Super Return of the Jedi is also very good as well, for you get to play as Princess Leia and even Wicket the Ewok, but not even that game can be considered as good as the first. Super Star Wars is a sight to behold, a great movie based game with intriguing graphics, sound, and challenge that motivates you to keep on playing. It very well might be my favorite Star Wars game of all time, maybe I'll be proven wrong when the long awaited Star Wars: The Old Republic hits store shelves in a few weeks. That surely looks like a masterpiece. My only wonder is how the Star Wars prequels would have turned out if they were made into Super Star Wars games. Jar Jar Binks as a playable character, anyone?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time



It is no surprise that I am a huge fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and when it comes to the green teens, there are a slew of games that deserve some recognition. But the Ninja Turtles game that sticks out the most to me, sticks out even greater than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. Based upon the acclaimed arcade game of the same name, Turtles in Time showed how flawlessly an arcade game could be transferred over to a home console, delivering that same appeal and gameplay that was so very identical to the arcade version, it was like you were playing the arcade game right in the comfort of your own home. Now, don't get over excited, don't loose your head, the game does have many significant differences from the arcade version, particularly in some of the level designs and the gameplay, and some of the iconic animations from the arcade game are not present in the SNES version, replaced by a Mode 7 level called "Neon Night Riders". That doesn't mean the SNES version is inferior to the arcade version, for it is a very good game and would allow those who couldn't go to the arcade to experience the game, even without some of the arcade game's prominent features. As you would expect in a Ninja Turtles game, you get to play as the four principal turtles, Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and Donatello, each using their signature weapon and carrying the ability to launch a "super duper" attack every once and a while. They are also put up against classic TMNT foes such as Bebop and Rocksteady, the Rat King, Krang, even Tokka and Rahzar, straight from their appearance in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze. The gameplay is what you would expect if you have played TMNT 2 and 3 for the NES, althought it is much more fluent and proportioned in my opinion. Now, you can pull off attacks a lot easier and take out enemies more swiftly, using your weapons in a variety of new ways. It's quite interesting what you can do with the attacks in this game, you can even throw a foot clan soldier right at the television screen. Sure that was in the arcade game too, but for those of us who haven't played the arcade game, it was pretty mindblowing to see that in a SNES game, for it showed how badass the turtles could be towards theire enemies. They were kick butt on the television show, and they are kick butt in this game, and even though there are times where I just wanna hurl all over my SNES, I still love to play this game to the very end, because even the final battle with old Shred Head can be a whole lot of fun, and that's the key word for this game, fun, for that's what the original TMNT is all about, right? COWABUNGA! PIZZA TIME!

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars



I'm not an RPG kind of guy. Whether it's Final Fantasy or Pokemon, I really am not big on them just simply because I wasn't raised on those type of games. I am much more of a side-scrolling adventure video gamer, and I'm not saying that there isn't any adventure in RPGs, I just prefer the adventure of classic side-scrolling games like Super Mario Bros or Castlevania. But if there is one RPG that I have grown quite fascinated with in recent years, it's Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the first role playing game in the Mario series. Like most other RPGs, Super Mario RPG requires you to travel to certain areas, collect certain items, and battle different foes, all with a catch. They are all Mario themed, and very appropriate for a Mario Bros like atmosphere, showing that even though the game is an RPG, it can still be just as appealing as all the side-scrolling Mario classics that have come before it. It has the intensity quite common in a Mario game and requires you to take part in some somewhat jarring situations, however, if you are like Mario and his friends, you will always have a useful, yet hilarious way of getting out of it, gaining more power that can come in handy down the road ahead. The layout and overall design of this game is quite lovely. I love to look at the forests and the palaces of this game, for they surely have a lot of depth and dimension to them. It's almost like you are wearing 3-D glasses at times, and controlling Mario and his Mushroom Kingdom couldn't be any easier. You move them about just like you would any character in an RPG, and each one of them can unleash a certain attack or restore health with a certain object. You can find objects and useful material by looking just about everywhere, for just about every area of the game is bound to have something that can help you blow enemies to kingdom come. And believe it or not, the villain of the game is not Bowser, he is replaced by a new enemy, a cyborg named Smithy, who bids to do the casual bad guy routine of taking over the world. But do not fear, Bowser is not laid to waste in this game, for Bowser joins Mario in his quest to stop Smithy along with his previous hostage, Princess Peach, a tadpole named Mallow and a puppet named Geno. But wait, where's Luigi? Why is he always getting tossed aside like a year old rump roast? Other than Luigi's absence, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is as good as gold, and one of the RPGs I would love to play when I'm in that "RPGish" kind of mood. Samus Aran and Link also make cameo appearances in this game, and when Samus Aran and Link are in games, they are guranteed to be good.

Top Gear



This is one of the first games ever to hit the SNES, and a fine racing game it is. With controls and graphics similar to Mario Kart, and music that blows the ears right off your head, this game really rings of the 90s, rings of my early childhood, rings of the golden days of when I would play this game at my uncle's house early in my youth. You see, I didn't have a SNES back in the day, the only time I would get the chance to play it was when I would go to visit my cousins or my uncle, for they had a SNES for many years beforehand, and played the games until their fingers bled. One of the games I played for the SNES when I would come to visit was this game, Top Gear, a title quite suitable for this racing game masterpiece, based upon many of the acclaimed racing games that have come beforehand like the Lotus series, produced by Barry Leitch for the Commodore Amiga. As a matter of fact, a majority of the game's soundtrack consists of remixed tunes from the Lotus series, the title theme for Top Gear the ending theme for Lotus Turbo Challenge 2, although the tune sounds much better on the SNES in my opinion. The game is what you would expect from a racing game at the time, giving us easy grab and go controls that are easy to comprehend and methods that can make each race easier each time you play it. The game also has a bit of a catch, for like the Lotus series before it, it requires you to stop for gas in order to continue racing, for when you are out of gas, you are unable to continue with the race and you will most likely come in last place. That's quite creative actually, making it seem like a real race as opposed to a race with cars with an ultimated amount of gas. It adds to the challenge factor and really makes the game a whole lot worth wild, for you never know what might happen, You might be in first play and then all of a sudden, you run out of gas, and boo hoo, you come in last place. How crummy. Or, let's put it this way, let's say you haven't played this game before, and you play in one player mode. As the race starts, you look at the bottom screen, which is all the way up to sixth place. You think it's you, although in reality, you are the car at the top, and you haven't even started your car, so by the time you start the car, the race ends, and as you would expect, you come in last place, no surprise. It's quite hilarious if you think about it, but that all adds to the fun factor of Top Gear, for had it been just a average, generic racing game, it probably wouldn't have caught on the way it did. It did things no racing game had ever done before, and opened the gateway for many more Top Gear sequels to come in the future, sequels that would follow the first game in vain, although they would sometimes bring new and exciting features to the table, making the games far different from one another and much more worth wild! Buckle up your seatbelts, for my Sidewinder is libel to go through the roof!

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers



Go Go Power Rangers! Dah nah nah nah nah!!!!! Oh, ah, sorry about that! I had to get that out of my system! The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are such a huge part of my childhood, and hands down my favorite MMPR video game is....the Game Boy game. Yeh, I'll be quite honest and say that that game is my all time favorite, but if I was to pick a second favorite, a game that is dangerous close to being my favorite MMPR video game, it would obviosly have to be the Super Nintendo game, released around the same time as the Game Boy game in 1994, the year I was born! Oh like you care. Unlike the Sega Genesis Power Rangers game, this game had no Tommy Oliver, aka the Green Ranger, which was a bit of a bummer, but the SNES is a quadrillion times better just for the simple fact that it is a side scrolling beat'em up game, the Sega Genesis version was a fighting game, similar to Street Fighter. In my opinion, I think the Power Rangers work a lot better in a side scrolling atmosphere, each ranger starting off as their respective alter ego and turning into their respective rangers half way through the level. And when you are a Power Ranger, you are powerful as all heck. You can unleash special attacks that can wipe out several enemies at a time, and each ranger can fight with their respective power weapon, using the weapon in a unique and different manner, although Kimberly the Pink Ranger uses her bow in quite an inappropriate way. I mean, how many archers do you know that use their bow like a sword? But what made this one of the best Power Rangers games ever is that it tat THEY GOT THE POWER RANGERS THEME RIGHT. The Power Rangers theme in the Sega game sounded OKAY, but the SNES version of the theme sounded all most like the original, well, in a clunky 16-bit kind of way. The fact that you can choose what Power Ranger you wanna play in each level can really make the game challenging and easy all at the same time, for some Power Rangers work a lot better than others in certain levels, and it might be just me, but I think that some of the rangers' "super duper" attacks are more effective than other rangers' "super duper" attacks. For example, Jason the Red Ranger's "super duper" attack is somewhat of a firely flame attack, while Zach the Black Ranger's "super duper" attack is a bunch of boulders falling from the sky and crushing the enemies into pulp. But hey, all the "super duper" attacks work just fine when taking on vicious villains of destruction, and this game is packed to the brim with bloodthirsty villains who want to eat the Power Rangers for dinner. There's Bones, the villain that takes on three different forms throughout the boss fight, the Gnarly Gnome, a teleporting little son of a gun that drove me nuts the first time I encountered him, the Eye Guy, who I always thought looked more like Michelin Man's deformed twin brother with one eye, Genie, who is exactly what the name amplies, and the Dark Warrior, a green ninja like dude that has some pretty swift moves with a sword and a chain with blade. You also take on the the adversaries that are Mutitus and Cyclopsis, IN MEGAZORD MODE! HOW FREAKIN AWESOME IS THAT! If I was not able to play as the Dino Megazord in this game, this game probably wouldn't have been on this list. You know what, screw it, it still would have been on this list, for even without the mea cool megazord stages, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for the SNES is a "morphinomenal" masterpiece with cool and unique playable characters, awesome side scrolling effects, and "super duper" attacks that turn Putty Patrollers into Muddy Patrollers! Get it? Okay, now I'm just being idiotic, let's just some this up before I start talking about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie for the SNES. MMPR is an incredible game, awesome graphics, awesome music, and ending credits that make you wanna get up and dance! I'm serious, check this game out yourself to see what I mean!

X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse



You take Mega Man and Street Fighter, mix it in with a little X-Men, and you get X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse for the SNES. I lot of people consider this game "tricky dicky" and I am proud to say that I am one of those people. Why else would I consider this one of the hardest games ever made in my Hard Games: X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse review? Yeh, this is a game that can not be beaten in a single shot, and to be honest, I was tempted to blast this game to smitereens quite a few times, right before I decided to calm down and try again, eventually getting a whole lot better at the game and even getting past levels I couldn't get past the first time, levels like the Apocalypse boss stage and the Brood Cave stage. Is it just me, or do Broods have quite an appetite for mutant blood? X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse is based off one of the most popular X-Men stories in the comic books at the time, the Genosha saga, a story in which Apocalyspe captures mutants and imprisons them on the island of Genosha,Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast, Psylocke, and Gambit having to infiltrate Genosha order to rescue them. As I said before, the gameplay is very reminiscent of Mega Man and Street Fighter, Wolverine's wall crawling ability similar to Mega Man's and Psylocke's cosmic punch somewhat identical to Guile's SONIC BOOM! Even the graphics are similar to Mega Man and Street Fighter in their own right, Magneto's lunar base, Avalon, looking somewhat identical to Sigma's evil base in Mega Man X and the Danger simulation level with Juggernaut and Omega Red bares a striking resemblance to the many fights found in the Street Fighters game. And who doesn't look at Beast and see Blanka, for the two share similar attacks and can walk on the ceiling! How resourceful! And like many of the Marvel games I have previously examined, this game features that uncanny style in the characters, similar to the artwork of the legendary Jack Kirby and Jim Lee. The characters look exactly like they did in the comics of the time, and the posture of each avatar is just remarkable. It's almost like you are watching an action packed episode of the hit X-Men television series, which was at the top of it's popularity at the time of the game's release. But it's the controls that really make this game a real gem, and Marvel Superheroes: War of the Gems would follow in this game's footsteps when it was released 2 years later. Although you might find yourself flying off the edge at times, the controls are managable and you can do some pretty sweet moves with each player, my personal favorites being Wolverine in Gambit, for Wolverine can do some pretty snazzy things with his adamantium claws and Gambit uses his stick like his life depends on it. And that makes things much more easier than they already are. X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse is surely up there with Konami's X-Men video game, for it had such a similar style and game features far more advanced than the dreadful style and game features in LJN's X-Men games for the NES. Don't even give those games a try, you'll wanna punch the Stay Puft Marshmallow right in his sweet spot! You can however try out X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse, for even though the game is hard as a rock, it still is a lot of fun and would glorify the X-Men's popularity even more, making each playable character favorites to many, characters that would signify the X-Men era of the 90s.

And the next best SNES Classic is....

Street Fighter 2



MY FAVORITE FIGHTING GAME OF ALL TIME, and for many reasons. Street Fighter 2 was not only one of the most popular arcade games of all time, it was also one of the greatest video games ever to grace the Super Nintendo, and remains to this day one of the highest grossing games for the console, selling several million copies and captivating the minds of those who love a good game where men shout HADOUKEN and throw killer power balls of death! Street Fighter 2, the many versions of the game released for the SNES, had all our favorites, from Ryu to Ken to Chun-Li, there was a character for everybody to play as and a character that the player can relate to, a character that can become the player's all time favorite. My personal favorites are Blanka, Vega, and Balrog, for they have the most prominent moves in my opinion and can really take a good chunk off the enemy's health bar. Ryu and the others are okay too, Ryu and Ken's HADOUKEN coming in handy in the battles against enemies like Zangief and M. Bison himself, who does this weird cosmic head butt attack which I find quite annoying at times. And the pure beauty of Street Fighter 2 is that you can set the difficultly. Sure, you may not get such good ending credits if you play the game on the easy mode, but if you are in a light-hearted kind of mood, you might wanna turn down the difficultly quite a bit, and if you are in the mood for some hard-core street fighting, turn the difficulty to sky rocketing high and you are in for a real treat. Each version of Street Fighter 2 is quite similar to one another, although they have quite a list of significant differences, particularly in the cut scenes and ending credits, although it was Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers that really took things in a different direction, introducing an onslaught of new characters like Dee Jay, T. Hawk, Fei Long, and M. Bison's dreamgirl, Cammy. I also find the new characters' abilities far more advanced than the old characters' abilities in many ways, the new characters' attacks much more swift and managable, although you can still find yourself playing as the older characters quite a lot in The New Challengers, I know I do. Street Fighter 2 was a major improvement over the first Street Fighter game, and introduced a lot of things that would become common in later Street Fighter titles, such as the most recent Street Fighter 4. Capcom even sold the Street Fighter rights to big movie companies who made quite a few Street Fighter films, such as the animated Street Fighter 2 movie from 1994, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li starring Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog, and the infamous Street Fighter movie starring John Claude Van Damme as Guile. I liked all of these films, even the film with Van Damme, although it's the Street Fighter games that remain superior. They have such a unique style and layout to them that really makes them different from other fighting games like the Mortal Combat series and Killer Instinct, although without a doubt, the best Street Fighter game of the bunch is Street Fighter 2. I thoroughly enjoy each version of the game, and even though some of the rereleases are just simple upgrades, they still have major appeal to them, and Street Fighter 2 remains one of the most famous games ever produced by Capcom, giving us cutting edge action and drama and story far beyond any game in the same genre. There is no game out there with a story like Street Fighter 2, it's surely something straight out of a great sci-fi/action thriller, and I really like it, I like it a lot.

All good things must come to an end, and this list has reached it's end. I hope you all enjoyed having a look at the Next Best SNES Classics, because it was surely a lot of fun analyzing and making this list, and do not fear, because I will be back to talk about even more video games in the not so distant future, so stick around, I don't know what I will talk about next or when I will get a chance to talk about it, all I can say is that it will be good, very good, super mega ultra good, for I just can't help but talk about some of my all time favorite pixelated electronic masterpieces. It's surely something I could talk about for hours and hours and hours without end, I love it that much.

Good day!

Captain America: The First Avenger Review

HOLY MACKEREL! WOW! GEE WILLIKERS! GOOD LORD! SWEET JIMINY CHRISTMAS! HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL! My most highly anticipated movie of the summer has finally arrived, and boy does it deliver. Captain America: The First Avenger might very well be the best film of the summer, not even Cowboys and Aliens can keep up with it, and that movie didn't even come out yet. It was perhaps one of the best action movies I have seen in recent years, and it is a million times better than the tripe that was the 1990 Captain America film starring Matt Salinger. What they were thinking when they made that movie I will never know, but good old Cap is finally redeemed in this superhero masterpiece, a great appetizer that will certainly hold us over until the grand slam Avengers movie hits theaters next summer. And I say superhero masterpiece because I think this might actually be up there with The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 2 as one of my favorite superhero flicks of all time. It was a lot better than Thor in terms of action and suspense, and if the rumors are true, and there are two more sequels on the way, they will have some gigantic shoes to fill, because this film had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I was blown away by just about everything this film had to offer, further increasing my deep desire for comics and comic book movies and the iconic tale of Steve Rogers and his struggles with Red Skull, which has been in existence for nearly 7 decades now. When I went in to see this movie, my expectations were mixed, to be honest, I really didn't know what to expect. I mean, it's a guy in a red, white and blue suit fighting a guy that looks like Skeletor's long lost brother. It's a really ridiculously cheesy story that was very popular in the days of WWII and campy, low budget sci-fi B movies, so in order for them to make this ridiculously cheesy story into something that could be taken seriously, they would have to work there heads off and make a script that was appropriate for today's movie consumers. Luckily, they have prevailed, and Captain America is a landmark in the superhero film genre, a really epic period piece with a lot of attitude, zest, and scenary that really sucks you into the 1940s time period, a time of terror and chaos as Adolf Hitler and his Nazis rise to power, and the Americans are thrown onto the battle fields to take out these evil forces. And if you ask me, it's up there with Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brother as one of the best WWII films ever made, I'm dead serious.

This film had a very Indiana Joneish feeling to it, if you know what I mean. It had the somewhat adventurous nature and humor of an Indiana Jones film at times, and I thought the character of Johann Schmidt aka Red Skull mirrored some of the over the top archaelogists and Nazi generals displayed in the Indiana Jones universe, power hungry and willing to go over the edge to get their hands on the artifact they are looking for, obsessed with the possibilites that could unfold if they retrieve the artifact. In this case, it was the all migthy Cosmic Cube, which briefly appeared in the after-credits scene in Thor, an object that can allow interdimensional travel from one dimension to another. It was very interesting to see how exactly Red Skull used the power of the cube, which was simply known as the tesseract in the film, using the power of the cube to build new and advanced laser cannons and blasters, which could be used turn the ally forces into a pile of blue gel. Red Skull even went as far as to plan an aerial attack on the United States using the cube, sound familiar? It somewhat reminds me of when Irina Spalko wanted to use the power of the crystal skull to enslave all humanity in the fourth Indiana Jones movie. And even if that film takes place in the 1950s when Cap takes place in the early 1940s, you can still point out the similarities between the two, and see the villains' desires to use mystical objects to take over the world, maybe even destroy the world. It's something that also parallels the action/adventure serials of the 30s and 40s, the villains planning a ghastly attack on worldly soil, and a brave, strappling hero has to figure out a way to stop the villains and send his plans down the crapper. Who doesn't look at Captain America and see a variation of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers or Indiana Jones himself, who was already based off several adventure serial heroes. And let's not forget the Captain America serials of the 1940s, which had Dick Purcell in the winged mask. I couldn't help watching this film and thinking of the campy, somewhat laughable plots and perils of the Cap serials, for the plot and design of this film mirrors the plot and designs of the classic serials perfectly, Chris Evans' Cap just as bold and gallant as Dick Purcell's Cap, who often took part in some ridiculously over the top fight sequences. But hey, it was the 1940s, what did you expect? You should see the fight sequences in the 40s Batman serials.

The acting is pretty much what you would expect from a Marvel movie, seriousness mixed in with a lot of humor and intrigue. Chris Evans was SUPERB as Steve Rogers, aptly name, Captain America, showing the character's determination to get into the army and join his friend James "Bucky" Barnes, played by Sebastian Stan, on the battlefields. I find it very interesting that Chris Evans has played two of Marvel's first ever superheros, Captain America and the Human Torch, although Evans played the Johnny Storm Human Torch as opposed to the android Human Torch created by Phineas Horton in the very first Marvel Comic, then called Timely Comics. It was a bit silly looking how Rogers' head was bigger than the rest of his body before he was turned into the Nazi butt kicking super soldier we all know and love him as, showing that Rogers was a bit frail, weak, and breakable before becoming unbreakable. He was very tenacious, never giving up on what he wants, and it ultimately pays off, Dr. Abraham Erskine, played by Stanley Tucci, taking his determination into effect and offering him the opportunity to become a bone crushing weapon of destruction. At first, it looks like Steve wouldn't survive the procedure that would turn him into a super soldier, but like he was before, he was relentless, never gave up, was determined to make it to the end, and he survives the experiment, ultimately becoming a muscular,"taller" fellow that puts He-Man and Conan the Barbarian to shame! Seeing Steve go from shrimp to jumbo shrimp in a matter of minutes was really one of the major highlights of the film, showing the US' plans of making an entire army of "super soldiers" and allowing even the tiniest of people to join the armed forces and serve their country proudly. It's another great example of how they can bring such a classic tale to the big screen without completely stripping the tale of it's prominency. In other words, it means that it wasn't rushed, choppy or incoherent, it was straight, to the point and made a lot of sense to both children and adults who watched the film, children able to see for the first time how Captain America became, well, Captain America!

Tommy Lee Jones and Hayley Atwell were also quite good as Chester Phillips and Peggy Carter respectively, Phillips not believing in Steve's strong abilities at first, but overtime, he is able to except Steve and respect him as Captain America, for he saved several of Phillips' men and found out about Red Skull's future plans as head of HYDRA, Hitler's advanced science division. Hugo Weaving as Red Skull was your average ordinary "conquer the world" villain, although he adds a bit of a twist to the whole matter. Red Skull believes himself to be a god, more powerful than all the Nazis and even Hitler himself, and he believes that he can do anything, anything he wants with the Cosmic Cube, build advanced weapons and even destroy parts of the world that he feels is a threat. I also think that they way the explained Red Skull's backstory was very well done, Johann Schmidt injecting himself with some sort of serum that mutates and mutilates his face, requiring him to wear a mask that hides his true form. And aren't all great comic book villains involved in some sort of histeria that transforms them into what we know them as? Take the Joker for example, it is said that he fell into a pool of chemicals that turned his skin white and gave him a permanent smile, or the Green Goblin, who drinks a strange green serum that causes him to go psychotic, calling himself the "Goblin". It's been done to death, but villains have to go through some sort of drama that turns them into what they are, whether it's experiments gone wrong, or parents shot dead by a smuggler, or even acid being thrown that scars half your face. You all know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? Another performance I must bring up is Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugen. He played Dugan just as I envisioned him to be, with his trademark mustache, bowler hat and all. He was very comical if you asked me, often making sarcastic remarks and jokes during fight scenes, just as his comic book counterpart did beforehand, and he could get quite intimidating at times, figting dirty alongside his fellow comrades who served gallantly under Cap's command. As a matter of fact, all the actors who played Cap's commandos did a fantastic job as their respective characters, often silly and slick as Dugen himself.

But hands down, hands down, the thing that stuck out the most for me in this film was the collaboration of scenes showing Rogers' stage career and promotion of war bonds. It's a very fish out of water set of scenes, similar to Spidey's dance number in Spider-Man 3, but since the scenes screw nicely into the plot, I really don't mind them that much, and to be honest, I kinda enjoyed them and was entertained by them. They were awkwardly silly, yes, Steve even sporting his classic Captain America costume and badge shaped shield from the Golden Age of Comics, but awkwardly silly to the point where you are not really annoyed that much and quite fascinated by the scenes, for they were a great homage to the classic bond promotion propoganda and war movies being shown at the movies during the 40s. Even the first Captain America comic makes an appearance in these scenes, the US citizens reading the comic at the hight of Cap's popularity. It's also interesting to note that the first Captain America comic also makes an appearance in Iron Man 2, when Tony Stark is rummaging through a pile of things. And I'm one of those people that just loves Easter Eggs like that, for they really make the Marvel movies worth wild and they help tie the Marvel Cinematic Universe together, showing that all the heroes and situations present in the films are all part of the same continuity, they are all part of the same reality. The action scenes of the film were also something worth talking about, after all, this is an action movie, is it not? The scene where Captain America breaks into a HYDRA facility to rescue Bucky Barnes and his men was one of my personal favorites, for it showed all the men working together to beat the living tar out of Red Skull's men and it further highlighted the relationship between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, the two working together to escape Red Skull's detonating base. It's also worth pointing out the 400 different ways Cap uses the shield. He uses it like a boomerang, he uses it to pry open doors, he even uses it to make pizza! Nah, just kidding, but he does use the shield in so many different ways. I could make a separate post talking about the many different ways Cap uses his circular shield, for I just can't describe each and every one of them in one sitting. It would be like trying to rewrite the Lord of the Rings trilogy within 24 hours!

The final fight between Cap and the Red Skull was another piece of candy for the eyes. Seeing the two beat the crap out of one another with their bare fists really made this a comic flick to behold. I really like how they pulled off the final fight, for it really highlighted the fact that the two don't like each other and they are willing to do anything to bring one another to a grateful end, Red Skull absorbing too much of the cosmic cube's power and getting sucked into what appeared to be outer space, or as John Hurt would say "The space between spaces!"And as you would suspect, Cap gets turned into a red, white and blue popsicle by the end of the film, being forced to crash the Red Skull's vessel into the arctic where he finds himself frozen in suspended animation for nearly 70 years. I thought out of all the things done perfectly in this film, this one was done the most flawlessly. Seeing the time period shift from the 1940s to present day, you can really feel the gap, you can really see how much has changed in those many years, and see how Steve Rogers is blown away by the present day as opposed to the 1940s, the time period in which he has grown up in. Then Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury pops out of nowhere, you know how he does that, and persuades Rogers to join him. Of coure we all know where this is leading too, and at the very end of the film, instead of a standard tie in to an upcoming superhero film or a nod to the upcoming Avengers movie, we actually get a teaser trailer for the Avengers movie! I'm not kidding. We see them all, Captain America, decked out in a new, modernized clad, Iron Man, who interacts quite humorous towards the other Avengers, Thor, NOW WITH LONGER HAIR, even Black Widow, NOW WITH SHORTER HAIR. Okay, now I'm just being ridiculous, but is anybody else as excited as I am. After years and years of waiting for a superhero team up film like this, the moment has finally arrived, and there is no doubt in my vivid, imaginative mind that The Avengers film will kick major rump, even if the third and final Batman movie comes along to blow both this and The Amazing Spider-Man out of the water.

When all is said and done, Captain America is a must see movie if you are a summer movie addict like I am. I loved the action, the excitement, the suspense, everything in this movie is spot on, even if there are a few things that come off as a bit rushed. Fans of the multi-colored patriot will not hesitate one bit to go see this awesome "bossanova" masterpiece, for it is one of my all time favorite Marvel Comics films, one of my all time favorite superhero films in general. No doubt Cap will lead all our favorites into battle in the Avengers movie, for he was fantastic in this film, and after seeing this movie, it has increased my love for Cap's character even more, to the point where I might actually like him better than Superman or the Green Lantern. Not only will superhero and comic fans love this film, but so will fans of period pieces and war films, for as I said earlier, Captain America: The First Avenger is up there with classics like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. As a matter of fact, the 6 Million Dollar Man also comes to mind when thinking about this film, for Steve Rogers undergoes experiments just as Steve Austin does. They even have the same first name, how weird is that! Anyway, Captain America: The First Avenger was a phenomenal movie and I highly recommend it to any TRUE BELIEVER! This is the Warp 8 Master signing out, Joe Simon, you have the bridge!

Hard Games: Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge

LJN was notorious for making video games that disgruntled video gamer players all over the globe, particularly games based upon the characters featured in Marvel Comics. Whether it would be X-Men for the NES or Wolverine Adamantium Rage for the SNES, these games have been ridiculed for their stiff gameplay, cheap, watered down representations of the characters and repetitive, choppy music that will make you jump out the nearest window. However, there is one LJN game out there that I actually think they got right, I game I have found memories of playing as a child and it is one of the many elements that lead to my love of comic books and superheroes. This game had some of the best controls out of any other LJN game and brought everybody's favorite wall crawler together with everybody's favorite team of mutants. I am of course talking about the 1992 action packed side scroller, Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, released for both the SNES and Sega Genesis. This game, as I mentioned earlier, is one of the many things that started up my deep fascination for superheroes and comic book literature, particularly the comic book literature produced by Marvel. This is one of the first times I ever saw Spider-Man and the X-Men and what powers they possessed, for this game did a fantastic job of capturing the essence, the nature of each playable character. This is also one of the first video games I ever played in my youth, and it further motivated me to play more video games, mostly side-scrollers and games with superhero related titles. I have many fond memories of playing this game as a wee little lad, but at the same time, I also have many horrifying memories that will haunt me for the rest of my life, for Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge isn't by any means a walk in the park, and if you wanna beat this game, you better be hard-core to the max, for this game will force you to bang your head against the wall repetitively until blood starts oozing out of your ears, it's that teeth grinding. If you thought the Super Star Wars games were hard, you haven't seen nothing yet, for Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge is one of the hardest video games I have ever played in my life, and I know I'm not the only one that thinks that way.



The game was released in 1992, two years before I was born, but I remember my cousins and my brother playing this game when we would go visit my relatives back in the late 90s. It wasn't until a few years later that I was finally able to put this game into my grasp and give it a go, and though I enjoyed the game and all it had to offer, I was also quite infuriated by it, for it's difficulty lifted high into the city in the clouds, and it caused me to throw a fit our even rip the game from the SNES and chuck it against the wall with fury. I am stilled shocked over Wolverine's "toyland" themed level and Storm's underwater maze and don't even get me started on Gambit's stage which requires you to run from a giant boulder that could squash Gambit into a human pancake. I don't know about you, but that level makes the boulder level in Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures look like the first level of Super Mario Bros. The game was based upon an X-Men mini-series from the 1970s, a mini-series about the X-Men getting captured by the evil genius Arcade, who imprisons them within his infamous "Murderland". Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is summoned to rescue them which results in a groundbreaking showdown between Spider-Man and the X-Men and Arcade and his evil minions of doom. Unlike the comics however, the game features Gambit, as opposed to the comics which featured Colossus and Nightcrawler. A lot of Spider-Man and X-Men villains have also been added into the game to give it a little more pep, because no game is complete without bosses that take 900,000 hits to defeat. The game features five playable characters, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, the claw slashing Wolverine, the card tossing Gambit, the optic blasting Cyclops, and the Mistress of the Elements, Storm. Some of the characters have better controls than than other characters and some of the characters' attack are more effective than other characters' attacks. This is perhaps the first game where they got Spider-Man's controls down to the teeth. His webs are easy to sling and blast at enemies, his wall crawling ability is so simply, a 2 and a half year old could do it, the game designers even gave him his Spider-Sense, that way, you can tell when enemies are near or when certain objects you need to collect are near. I would go as far to say that Spider-Man's controls in this game are a lot better than the character's controls in Konami's Spider-Man arcade game. They are that simple and easy to manipulate.

Spider-Man's webs are also pretty powerful. It only takes a few hits to knock out an enemy and the ability to dodge blasts or punches is just as easy as Spidey's other attacks. All these good things I have to say about Spidey makes him my favorite character to play as in this game, and when it is time to play Spidey in this game, I know I will be able to beat the level and knock out the opponents that stand in my way. The X-Men characters in my opinion are a little flawed. Wolverine's claws have to be extracted with the push of a button and to be honest, they are a bit slow and effective as a toothpick. It takes quite a few hits to take out an enemy and even when you take them on, you still get hit in the process. I also found Wolverine's jump to be quite jarring at times and it takes Wolverine an ETERNITY to slash through a wall or slash his way through an obstacle. What a pain in the rear! I also think it's quite odd that they chose Wolverine to be in the clown/toy themed level, filled with laughing clowns, buzz saws and jack ad the boxes armed with rifles. Wolverine would be driven to the brick of insanity if he was put up against those bozos in the comics. Just imagine! Cyclops probably has the worst controls out of any other character. He has his optic blasts as you would imagine, but at times, you are required to kneel or hunch down to blast enemies, and that requires you to do a weird button combination which I find very jaw dropping. I also think it's jaw dropping how you have to jump onto mine carts and avoid falling on the electrically charged tracks. If you fall on the tracks, Cyclops gets fried like a spinach omelet and if you are like me, you hate it when characters die, for you either go back to the beginning of the level or back to the very beginning of the game. Storm's stage is underwater, and I'm a BIG, BIG fan of underwater levels in games. Okay, I'm being sarcastic. Storm's stage is also a pain in the backside. At times, you are required to swim through a tiny space or up a drench, and at times, you need to give certain machinery a good dose of lightning blasts. Storm's lightning blasts aren't that bad, but it would be better if you were able to start whirlpools or blizzards, because Storm's powers are so mighty, she can do just about anything she wants with the weather and the elements, hence the aptly name, the Weather Witch or Mistress of the Elements.

Gambit is probably the best out of the X-Men. Although you are required to collect playing cards to chuck at henchmen, he has a pretty swift jump and his card blasting ability takes enemies out quicker than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The music in his stage is also very heart pumping, and every time I hear that hard rock theme, I also feel like getting up and rocking to the beat. But as I states earlier, Gambit's boulder stage can make you pitch a fit or yell at the TV screen. Sometimes, you can not surpass it in time, for Gambit is a little slow and frail at times, but other times, you can find yourself jumping from platform to platform at high altitudes and that can help you get past the boulder faster and more efficiently. At times, a character might be able to launch what I like to call a "super duper attack", which can come in handy when taking out enemies or clearing areas overcrowded with enemies. Getting back to the music, the music of the game is some of the greatest 16-bit rhapsody ever to hit my eardrums. I love the action liked feel to each tune, and each tune is fitter for each character you are required to play as. For example, Spider-Man's theme was city-like, very jingly and exhilarating, further illuminating the wall crawler's glory. Wolverine's funhouse like stage was very "clownish" and circus like, reminiscent to a tune you would hear at a carnival or a fair. And Storm's theme was very aquatic, illustrating the fact that the level takes place under the water and it is a very quiet, peaceful like environment. The music of Gambit's stage is undeniable my favorite, for it's very Gambit like and very punk rockish, very identical to a rock tune you would hear during the 90s time period. And what better to accompany the music than some awesome comic book like graphics. I adore the graphics of this game, they have such a prudent comic book like appeal and feeling to them, they surely jump out at me every time I look at them. And like a lot of the Marvel based games I have previously reviewed, I can't help but bring up the artwork of Jack Kirby and Jim Lee, the designs and look of each character of the game really mirrors that of the artwork and design of the characters done by both these iconic comic book artists. Wolverine looks almost identical to the way he looked in the comics Jim Lee illustrated, and to be honest, Spider-Man has a bit of a Todd MacFarlene kind of design to him, particularly on the screen that says "GET READY SPIDEY", which appears before each Spidey based level.

The enemies of this game are outlandish, but still hair pulling as a lot of video game enemies. As you play the game, you will be put up against classic villains like Apocalypse, Shocker, N'Astirh, Juggernaut, Carnage, Master Mold, the Black Queen, even a giant playing card, remember him from the comics? And as you would expect, the final level puts you up against Arcade himself, well, sort of. You fight off a giant cyborg version of Arcade that gets smaller and smaller as you defeat it more and more and after destroying the cyborg shell, you fight off a few of Arcade's clones, which Spidey can take out in no time with his flawless web shooting ability. But as I said before, the enemies of this game will make you put your head through the wall, particularly Juggernaut and Apocalypse. Apocalypse does this leaping attack, and when he lands near you, he will do this annoying punch attack that can take off a majority of the health bar, and Juggernaut comes charging at you from behind, requiring to cut down the giant weights from above, which will fall on him and take effect. Sometimes, the level can become so overcrowded with enemies, and their attacks can take away so much of your health, and it doesn't help for the fact that some of the characters' attack don't really do all that much. It's like Dr. Jekyll's stick in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the NES. Also, at times, you may end up doing a jump and land right on top of the enemy, draining a huge percentage of your health. Why does it seem like enemies always get the advantage in video games? The final battle with Arcade is okay, once you get the pattern right, otherwise, this big cybernetic buffoon can make Spidey stew out of you! By jumping from platform to platform and doing a slight jump when the time is right, you can surpass the erratic moving Arcade robot, and since Spidey's web blasting attack is spot on, you will have no problem shooting down the Arcade robot like there's no tomorrow. At the very end, the real Arcade shows up and attempts to blow up "Murderworld" with Spidey and the X-Men still imprisoned inside. Luckily, the five heroes are able to escape just in the nick of time, Spider-Man returning to his crime fighting in the city while the X-Men return to Xavier's Mansion. Sort of a bittersweet ending, but a pretty good pay off for all the mouth foaming "beating up" you had to do throughout the game. At some points, you will be able to surpass a level easily, but at other points, you'll wanna pull out your blaster pistol and blow the game cartridge into a billion little pieces. I have a whole list of games I would love to do that too.

Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge is flawed, but flawed to the point where it motivates you to keep on playing. If it weren't for the game difficulty and teeth grinding factor, I wouldn't care about this game in the slightest, but this game is one of those games where the difficulty plays a key role in the characters' progression and gameplay. You can be able to deal with the difficulty overtime and surpass each level every time you play it, just don't expect to get past each level right off the bat, it takes practice, lots and lots of practice, perseverance and believing in yourself, because you need to say to yourself "I CAN DO IT" in order to get to the very end of a video game. You also have to find many shortcuts and methods to beat certain levels of this game, otherwise you might get your gluteus maximus handed to you each time you play a certain level, particularly levels with lots of enemies to come by and bosses that do attacks that can hit you so hard your grandchildren will feel it. But as a hard, hard video game purist, I feel a lot of things in this game could have been done a whole lot better. Like in X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse, players should be able to select what character they would wanna play in each level, rather than being forced to play as a certain character, who's attacks and methods of assault might be a little inferior to the enemies they are put up against. I also think certain characters would work a lot better in other levels, for example, Spider-Man might work a lot better in Wolverine's funhouse stage, for there is a lot of dodging and attacking enemies that needs to be done, and Wolverine might work a lot better in Cyclops' stage, for his attacks are a lot better than Cyclops' and he could easily be able to jump upon the mine cart when the time is right. I also think that a single hit shouldn't take away a majority of your health, and that maybe the characters could get experience points overtime and  learn new attacks and powers to use against your opponents, it would surely make things a whole lot easier, imagine what it would be like if Spider-Man could imprison enemies in a web or tie them to the ceiling in a web like harness. Nevertheless, Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge is a pretty good game, it's just that some of the gameplay values and enemies can make playing this game as difficult as trying to solve Scotty's equation for teleportation. But I still like this game, and the way it was set up, it is just remarkable. I have never seen such a video game with such a comic book like look to it, it's almost like I reading a comic book rather than playing a video game, and you can really tell the people who worked on this game tried their hardest and gave us a game a quadrillion times better than some of the Marvel games released before. In my eyes, this is a LJN game anybody can pick up and play, they just need to practice and practice overtime in order to get things exactly the way they want t. But I love this game, and it is still to this day one of my all time favorite super hero video games. I hold it at a high level, and if you are looking for a super hero game with good replay value, kick butt side scrolling beat em up style, and incredible challenge, this might be your game, because even though it's difficult to get past some areas, it's still a lot of fun and no doubt you will find something enjoyable about this game, this game is filled to the brim with factors that will make you say "COOL". One of my favorite factors is the graphics of course, they are candy to my eyes.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review

I was 7 years old when the first Harry Potter film hits theaters back in 2001, but the images still hang clearly within my brain. Although it was a kids film, directed by Chris Columbus, the same director that brought us family films like Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire, it was a pretty big movie release and still to this day remains one of the highest grossing motion pictures of the decade.As a matter of fact, all the Harry Potter films lie on the list of highest grossing movies, the first film gaining an estimated $974,733,550 worldwide, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 coming in at a close one with $954,501,070 worldwide. Gee, imagine all the things I could do with that money,   I could surely get through college with that kind of moolah! But the magical, captivating Harry Potter film series that has touched the lives of millions, billions, has come to it's closure, and to be quite honest with you, I'm a tad bit down in the dumps. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, I never really was, I was much more intrigued by the universe of Lord of the Rings and of course Star Wars, but I hold a very special place for the lightning bolt headed wizard and the world he has put before us, the films and even the books having some of the most complex, yet brilliant stories ever told. The concept of the Deathly Hallows and the Elder Wand are my personal favorites because they remind me so much of the things I saw in Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and even mirrors some of the material covered in Greek, Roman and Norse mythology. And like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, they have somewhat created a mythology all of there own, with creatures beyond your wildest dreams and characters we can grow to love, for they have many interesting abilities and characteristics and have some very risky, yet resourceful ways of taking out an enemy or getting out of a fight.

 I always liked to compare Harry Potter to Frodo or Luke Skywalker, and am I the only one that looks at Dobby and sees the Gollem and Yoda? He may not be green or chant "My precious" over and over again, but he surely is wise and believes in himself, particularly in Deathly Hallows Part 1 when he rescues Harry and the others from the Malfoy household, unfortunately loosing his life in the process. But the two characters I like to compare the most are Lord Voldemort and Emperor Palpatine. They are two heartless, merciless souls out for domination, stopping at nothing to make sure they get what the want and that their enemies, the good guys are dealt with, thrown out of the picture, so they can continue with their evil tyranny and make the world, the galaxy a miserable place. The tale of Harry Potter, like many tales before it, is an unforgettable story of good vs. evil, the main character growing stronger and stronger throughout their journey and eventually gaining enough ability to overpower their enemy and restore order to his or her surroundings. Like Luke Skywalker and Frodo, Harry Potter is able to overcome evil, do the ultimate task that no one has ever done beforehand and make the ultimate sacrifices, loosing loved ones, friends, a beloved pet along the path. It's heartbreaking and epic and it's far beyond any opera I have ever seen before, the characters, the settings, THE MAGIC, all feeling symbolic, having a meaning and a purpose for being there. The main theme of the series, in JK Rowling's eyes is death, Harry learning to cope with the matter and move on with his adventurous life, for he has experienced so much bloodshed, murder, and deception in his youth, and that can have a critical effect on a character's growth and development. 

So yeh, as you would have noticed, Harry Potter has left somewhat of an impact on me, for it was very different, very unique, very, shall we say OUT OF THIS WORLD and displayed a common story thread within a different shell. With the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the Harry Potter cinematic story comes full circle, all the loose ends are finally tied up, and the power of good and hardship is able to spark once more. This is the best of the series, and for so many reasons. I feel like I can't establish all the good things about this film in one sitting, but like many things I do, I will surely put my best foot forward and do my best to keep this all in one piece. Deathly Hallows Part 2 is like the feature presentation of the Harry Potter saga, the previous films like the previews shown before a film in the theater. Like Return of the King, it is the moment we all have been waiting for, the final battle, the big kahuna, the epic, epic showdown between all that is good and all that is not so good. For the last film of the series, they don't fool around, they throw as much out there as possible. There's gore, blood, violent death scenes, betrayal, silvery flashbacks that make you choke up, light humor, CGI flight sequences, giant trolls with bats, knights in shining armor, ghosts that scream which I found kinda freaky, smooching, Helena Bonham Carter exploding, and Ralph Fiennes screaming nonstop. Why? Because he's the bad guy and bad guys love their screaming. Deathly Hallows Part 2 might very well be the greatest conclusion to any film series I have ever seen, even greater than Return of the Jedi, although Return of the Jedi was a pretty jarring conclusion to the Star Wars saga in it's    own right. Ewoks anybody? 

Like all the other Potter flicks, the acting of this film is pretty top notch, although I found the screaming ghost I mentioned earlier to be a bit disturbing. The three main actors of the film, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson have done a fantastic job embodying the characters of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger not only in this film, but the entire Harry Potter film series as a whole. 100 years from now, they will still be know for the characters they have played in the film series, Radcliffe especially, for I couldn't picture anybody else portraying the Boy Who Lived as well as he did. He surely has the personality, the posture and the overall zest of Harry Potter, Radcliffe representing what Harry Potter would be like if he actually existed in our world. Grint and Watson are awesome as well, and I think it was quite interesting seeing their chemistry throughout all eight films leading up to their big wet one, and I MEAN wet one within the Chamber of Secrets in this film. All three of these fine actors have grown up to become bright, intelligent, intellectuals, ready to explore the world and move on to other things beside Potter, and seeing them in the very first Potter flick, you can really see how far they have come throughout the decade, going from cute little kiddies with wondering eyes to brave, gallant, prominent young adults that are ready to take on things bigger than themselves. They really are the dynamic trio of the series and further go on to symbolize friendship and working together, even when one gets jealous of another. But the actor that steals the show, well at least in my opinion, is, ready for this, Warwick Davis. Yeh, I thought this was one of Davis' best roles, up there with his portrayal of Willow Ufgood, Professor Flitwick, even Wicket the Ewok. But if there is one character of Davis' that I like to compare Griphook the Goblin to, it's Leprechaun from the cheesy, critically panned Leprechaun movies. Griphook has the Leprechaun's mannerisms, his voice, he even has those sharp teeth the Leprechaun is infamously known for, and the fact that Griphook is cunning and ruthless makes him parallel the Leprechaun in many ways. He was willing to do anything to get to the sword, the sword that Harry and the others were using to eliminate the Horcruxes, the keys to Voldemort's immortality, and didn't care if Harry and the others died in the process, leaving them in a bank vault overcrowding with multiplying silver and gold. And Davis portrays Griphook's villainy quite chillingly, quite menacingly, even giving off an evil smile once in a while and making Griphook seem in many ways, psychotic. What would have made it better is if Davis said "I WANT ME SWORD!" in a similar way the Leprechaun says "I WANT ME GOLD!". That certainly would have been my pot of gold! Warwick is one of my all time favorites, and seeing him in these Harry Potter films as humorous yet compelling characters really makes me jump with glee.

Another actor that gives it all his best is Allen Rickman. Those who have not read the Potter books might be a bit stunned to learn some shocking things about Severus Snape in this film, some shockingly GOOD things if you know what I mean. Rickman, who is already a fine devoted actor, starring as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, really makes the character of Snape a sympathetic character, a character the audience can feel sorry for. We can really feel his struggle in the flashback scenes, seeing his rough childhood and love for Harry's mother, Lily Potter, and we see that Snape really did care for Harry, even though he was a callous, bitter potions professor to Harry and many other students. He, along with Dumbledore, did everything in there power to make sure Harry was safe and secure and shielded from the Dark Lord's tyranny, and Snape did this because he loved Harry's mother, and was trying to honor her memory. Rickman hits the nail on the head, really conquering the role of Severus Snape, making him a tragic figure, a person who was constantly made to look like a villain, but he was really a good guy trying to overcome evil just like Harry was. Rickman makes the character of Snape an individual of several emotions, not just bitterness and hate for the world, but sadness, worry, and grief, regretting several things he has done in his life and doing everything in his power to make up for them. We can now be attached to Snape and his struggle, for it is so real, so very saddening, so very tearful, however it's good to know that the character didn't ultimately die in vain, he died for something instead of nothing at all.

If I had to some up this movie in one word, it would be epic. From beginning to end, this movie screams epicness not only to me, but everybody else who has grown attached to this series throughout the years. Like Return of the King's climax, this film has an epic showdown between good wizards and bad wizards on the very grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the place we have seen Harry grow up at and learn his magic from throughout the previous films. And don't think this is just some cheesy sci-fi battle with people just dropping dead for no apparent reason at all, no this is an extremely violent, life-threatening fight with fire, debris and rubble flying all over the place, harming and even killing some of our favorite characters in the most gruesome, bloody ways. I was deeply saddened to see one of the Weasley twins kick the bucket, although I am aware that occurs in the book, and the characters of Lupin and Tonks also perish in the battle, the two giving birth to a child shortly before their death and making Harry the Godfather. Even Neville Longbottom is grievously injured in the battle, however, he gets several triumphant moments in the film, actually standing up against Lord Voldemort and killing his pet snake Nagini, with the Sword of Gryffindor, the sword only appearing to a true Gryffindor, which Neville has surely become over the course of the films. He went from a timid, cowardly child to a gallant fighter and brave man, proving to Voldemort that anyone can take him out, even someone that's not as powerful as he is, because they have heart, they can form bonds with one another, something Voldemort could never do nor care about because he was too wrapped up in his own obsessions and delusions. He ultimately gets it at the end in a quite satisfying final duel between Harry and himself. After Voldemort attempts to kill Harry, Harry is taken to the bridge between life and death where he meets the spirit of his mentor, Albus Dumbledore, as well as the form Voldemort will take after his death. Talking with his headmaster for a while, Harry is able to come back to life and Voldemort actually chases him through the broken castle, the two duking it out at the top of a bell tower as Voldemort actually starts beating up Harry and strangling him with his robe. Than Harry says enough's enough and actually takes Voldemort by the neck, hurling him off the side of the tower as Harry and Voldemort go soaring across the shattered Hogwarts palace, Harry actually slashing Voldemort across the face as the two come tumbling to the surface of the Hogwarts courtyard.

Than comes the moment I'm sure all you Potter fans have been waiting for. Harry and Voldemort grabs their respective wands. Voldemort casts Avada Kadavra, Harry Expelliarmus. In a clash of red and green light, the spells cause serious damage to the surrounding area, as Neville finishes the last horcrux, the snake Nagini. Voldemort, realizing what has happened, stops and loathes, just before unleashing yet another blast of Death Spell at Harry, Harry casting his trademark spell to protect himself. But because Harry is the master of Voldemort's wand, the Elder Wand, the wand refuses to kill him, sending the Death Spell right back at Voldemort, the Dark Lord stuck with pain and inner torture just before fading away into a cloud of dust in the skies above. The ending of the film is bittersweet as many people have put it, emotional to many Potter purists but still very satisfying to a common movie goer like myself, who has seen the first film when it first came out back in 2001, ten years ago. Hearing John Williams' fantastic score once more really sent a flutter to my heart, as we see Harry, Ron and Hermione send their children off to Hogwarts for the first time. Harry's son, Albus Severus is afraid he will get sorting into Slytherin, just as Harry was when he arrived at Hogwarts in the first film. Harry tells his son that he was named for two headmasters of Hogwarts, one of them was a Slytherin and he was the bravest man I ever knew. Of course we all know who Harry is talking about, and we can go to our graves knowing that both the movie and the book ended on such a triumphant note, Harry realizing that his years at Hogwarts wouldn't have been any different if he was sorted into Slytherin, and that his son would make a fine Slytherin if he was sorted into that house. However, as a homage to the first film, Harry tells his son that if it means that much to him, he can always tell the Sorting Hat what house he wants to be sorted into, for the hat takes his choice into account. So his children get onto the Hogwarts Express, and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny look on as the train rolls by, their children waving to them just as Harry waved to Hagrid in the first film, as Harry knows that everything will be just fine, everything has been restored to it's original mode, everything is at peace. And he never ever, ever, ever has to worry about Voldemort for the rest of his days, for the power of love and friendship blows Voldemort out of the water any day.

What a treat this movie was. Like I said, it was probably the best "wrap up" to any movie series I have ever seen, and closed out the motion picture series that has captivated a generation. Goodbye childhood a lot of people are saying, people who have grown attached to these films throughout the years, people who have seen these movies the whole way through, growing attached to the characters and the Wizarding World in general. There is no question in my mind that these films will still be beloved by our children and our children's children for many years to come, and that the films will capture their minds just as they did ours, taking us to a far away land where just about anything is possible. There are three headed dogs, giant snakes, giant spiders, killer trees, every flavored jellybeans and a boy wizard with a lighting bolt on his head that is looking forward to an adventure beyond his wildest dreams. The entire Harry Potter film series is full of adventure, enthusiasm, comedy, and excitement to last 10,000 years....or more. It surely is the next Star Wars, a series with a complex mythology and a passionate look at character development, but the Harry Potter series is a series we can remember as the big thing of our time. When we are old, old, old crones in wheelchairs 150 years from now, we can think back at Harry Potter and remember how phenomenal it was, how big the premieres for each film were, and how crazy people were to get themselves some Potter, because Potter is awesome. I'm not the biggest fan, I'm not even at the level of a big fan, but I still appreciate these films, I still enjoy watching them, and every time I watch them, I see things I didn't see the first time, things that make we say to myself "HOW INCREDIBLE IS THAT!" Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is surely the Potter film I will watch more than the others, because it's just that darn good, and probably the best film of the entire summer. X-Men: First Class, eat your heart out, because this my friends is where it is at.This is what true blockbuster films are made of. Pure, hardcore action, excitement and wonder all rolled into one finished cookie.

Thank you Harry, for an unforgettable ride of enchantment and exhilaration. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD!  I will never forget it, not even when another blockbuster series comes along to take the spotlight! Thank you Harry, thank all of you who worked on this powerful film series for taking me, taking a lot of us to the Wizarding World and the castle of Hogwarts, places like no other! Not even Castle Grayskull can keep up with the mystical wonders and enchanted occurances of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

Several days ago, I was fortunate enough to see the film that is considered to be the greatest in the Harry Potter film series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince . Now, before I begin, I must start off by saying that I am not the biggest Harry Potter fan. I am not even at that level of being a decent Harry Potter fan. I never read any of the books, nor collected any of the action figures, and I didn’t even see most of the films when they were first released. But I saw this latest film and finally concluded that there is not that much to say about it. It was fun, entertaining, and whimsical, but I just can’t help feeling that it is simply not that good as the past 3 films. It surely passes the Sorcerer’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets, but it just doesn’t go that far as the Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, or the Order of the Phoenix.

I am a huge Star Wars fan, as you all know, and I feel that this film is somewhat the Empire Strikes Back. It was somewhat dark, climatic, and filled with many surprises, but still had them silly and charming points. One of the funniest scenes in this film in my opinion is when Harry flirts with this African-American waitress at a restaurant. This scene somewhat cracked me up. There are also many scenes in this film that involve love. Ron Weasley falls in love with this somewhat rambunctious and lunatic girl called Lavender. Hermione Granger, who seems to be developing feelings for Ron, gets very jealous, resulting with many arguments with Ron. Harry himself also begins to develope feelings for Ron’s sister, Ginny, but is afraid it will interfere with Harry’s relationship with Ron.

Also in this film, we are introduced to a new potions teacher, Professor Slughorn, played by Jim Broadbent, who ironically played the Duke in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (I felt that I should point that out). He is described as yet another charming yet silly character, for in one part, he disguised himself as a chair, and scared the daylights out of Harry. Though funny, Broadbent did a fantastic job playing the character, and I consider him a highlight of the entire film.

We also draw attention to Draco Malfoy, Harry’s rabbling rival from the past 5 films, who had been given a mission from the magical baddy himself, Lord Voldemort. Though seeing him as sort of a snotty, ignorant, adolescent in the last films, he has really developed into a major badass Death Eater in this film, and he’s another highlight in this film.Though most of the film revolves around certain characters, we can not forget about Harry Potter. In this film, Santa Claus, I mean, Albus Dumbledore is training Harry for what he is going to have to do to end the rule of Voldemort. This includes battling Gollems, drinking vulgar potions, and going back in time to see why Lord Voldemort is the bad guy we all know him as today.

Now, I will not spoil anything for any of you that have not seen the movie yet, but something terrible happens at the end of this film. Those who read the books and those who saw the film or some clairvoyance person probably know exactly what I am talking about. But rather then spill the beans for all of you, I will not reveal any of this information. So overall, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a good film, despite it’s controversal elements like the floating screaming girl, or the Wolf Man's appearance, or the chopped up and brewed battle at that end. I wouldn’t consider one of the last of the series, but a pilot of the upcoming two films. It is intended to set up the events on the films, and explains all that will occur. I guess you can say this is the Phantom Menace of the Harry Potter series from a certain perspective, but overall a pretty good film. It gave us a good book that was exterminated and slaughtered, but it was still a good film, I am sure you all agree with me.

But now, let me bring up the fact on why people must shorten movies based off of books, especially the Harry Potter series. If it had everything from the book, the movie would take 10,000 years to end (again, I speak in hyperbole) and we would all be bored out of our minds. Luckily, the brave and couragous men and women that make book based movies find a way to shorten them up, but still give us a good film that is not only entertaining, but a hell of a lot of fun!