There comes a time in everyone’s life, when they have been doing something for long enough, they need to take a step back, realize they have been doing said thing for long enough, and they move onto the next bigger and better thing. This was pretty much the process Capcom went through whenever they decided they were finished with Street Fighter II after SSFIIT, and while this certainly wouldn’t be the last time that we would see that specific iteration of the series (the ride never ends), it was clear that Capcom had exhausted everything they could from that game, and they needed to move onto other things. So they pressed on, making several other fighters, until ultimately deciding to return to the world of the Street Fighter universe for a new prequel game, and the start of a brand new sub-series for the franchise, which would all stem from one game known as Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors’ Dreams.

Not gonna lie, I was actually somewhat nervous to get into this game, because after constantly playing and talking about SFII for god knows how long, I figured I was gonna be in for a rude awakening whenever I tried out another title in this series. It also doesn’t help that, from this point on, I am tackling this series completely blind, because aside from some matches of SFIV here and there, I have never really played any other SF game. But hey, I do typically have a pretty good time with the fighting games I choose to play for this website, and SF hasn’t let me down (yet), so I was willing to jump into the game either way, and yeah, I did end up having a pretty good time. I wouldn’t say I prefer it over SSFIIT, but it still manages to be a fun, tough, and flashy fighting game that definitely shows promise for where this series is gonna be going later down the road.

The story is one that isn’t told to us in the game whatsoever, nor could I find any sort of summary of it online, but going off of what Alpha 2 says, it is essentially just another tournament story, most likely about M. Bison trying to fuck shit up again, so it is up to Ryu, Ken, and all the other fighters to step up to the plate, take him down, and triumph over the rest, which is as bland as you can get with a fighting game plot, but I’m pretty sure Street Fighter doesn’t care about story, so neither do I at this point. The graphics are absolutely wonderful, taking a page out of Darkstalkers book with wonderful designs for all of the different characters, with plenty of very impressive animations to go with them, even if the stage designs can be pretty lacking, the music is pretty good, having plenty of sweet tracks to accompany you as you kick the shit out of all of your opponents, but I for the life of me could not name you any tracks even if I tried, so uh… oops, and the gameplay/control is what you would expect from SF, feeling a little heavy, and it can take some getting used to (especially after previously playing King of Fighters), but it still manages to be fun and satisfying regardless of that.

The game is your typical 2D fighter, where you take control of one of ten different characters, which has most returning from previous Street Fighter games, two newcomers, and even two characters from Final Fight, which is pretty cool, take on many different opponents in fights that take place around the world, throw out plenty of different kicks, punches, and special moves to deplete your opponents’ health down to nothing while also making sure to dodge and block wisely, charge up your super meter to unleash some devastating attacks to get the upper hand on your opponent in many different cases, and rejoice as you stand victorious, proving that you are indeed the best street fighter to ever live…….. or at least, that’s what I hope I can achieve one day by getting good at one of these games. When it comes to Street Fighter, Capcom knew quite well from SFII that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, which is the mentality they stuck with when it came to this game, and it mostly worked out, because not only does it keep the same solid gameplay that we all know and love at this point, but it also adds onto it in several ways that makes it more interesting to tackle.

For starters, the super meter that was introduced in SSFIIT returns in this game, except now, it has been upgraded, making it a lot more useful and complex at the same time. Now, instead of just charging up the bar once and firing away whenever you need it, you can now charge it up to three times, with each different bar representing a different level of power for the super abilities you can use, each one requiring a different sequence of buttons you need to enter in order to pull them off. Of course, shit like this may seem like second nature for those that have played plenty of other fighting games later down the line, but with this being the first time we would see this kind of super meter mechanic for Street Fighter, as well as fighting games in general, it is not only a pretty sweet addition to your super arsenal, but it also adds another layer of strategy to any fight, making you wonder whether you should use a super right away to get an advantage over your foe, or try to build it up even more so you can unleash an absolutely DEVASTATING attack on them.

Alongside this, there are also plenty of new moves that you can pull off, such as air blocking, as well as being able to change up your fighting style between Normal or Auto, with Normal being exactly what it sounds like, and Auto being basically the handicap mode of the game, allowing the player to block things automatically up to ten times and allowing much easier inputs of super moves. I chose to stick with Normal the entire time, because I’m not a pussy-ass BITCH, but for what it’s worth, I do really like the idea of having an Auto mode in there, just in case you have players that are new to the series that want to be eased in while still having a great time. Mix all of that with the option to change your fighting speed, and you have a set-up here that is even more customizable than SSFIIT, able to give you just the right style of fight that you are looking for, which is definitely a plus in my book.

Having said all that though, if you were to ignore all of those new features entirely, then what you got here is just yet another basic arcade fighter from Capcom at the end of the day. Yes, it looks much nicer, still plays pretty well, and can be a lot of fun with the right people, but it is more or less what we have seen from many other fighters in the past, so how much you enjoy this game will not only be based on how well it does as a fighter in your own opinion, as well as whether or not you are sick of these games at this point. To drive that point home even further, the game also has fighting game syndrome, which comes in pretty brutally too, with a good number of the fights being pretty manageable, but then you get to the final boss, and good GOD, you will get completely destroyed if you don’t know what you are doing. Whether you are facing against Sagat, M. Bison, Akuma, it doesn’t matter who: they are all hungry for blood, and your sorry-ass is just what they are looking for, so you better bring your A-game and plenty of patience, otherwise you will just end up as a bloody corpse lying in the street that you chose to fight in.

Overall, despite not too much change to the formula and fighting syndrome being the evil that never dies, Street Fighter Alpha feels like a natural way to progress on from what Capcom had done with SFII, and is overall a pretty good game, still providing the same fast and fun gameplay you have come to love, having a gorgeous art style that is miles better than what came before it, and adding just enough changes to the gameplay to make fights that much more exciting and customizable for whatever makes you feel right at home with a game in this genre. I would recommend it for those who are big Street Fighter fans, as well as those who are big fighting game fans in general, because while this will definitely not live up to the later Alpha games (I’m calling it now), it is still fun regardless, and you can have a great time beating the fuck out of your friends with a smile on your face. Before we do end off this review though, there is one thing I forgot to mention about this game, which may just be the absolute best addition that this game brought to the entire Street Fighter franchise as a whole……….. it introduces Dan Hibiki, a character that is meant to be a parody of Ryo and Robert from Art of Fighting, who completely sucks at fighting, and is without a doubt the worst character to come from this series so far in terms of power and skill………. and we all love him for it.

Game #584

When it comes to discussing long forgotten Nintendo franchises, there are plenty of usual names that will pop up time and time again. Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, F-Zero, Chibi Robo, and the Mother series are just a few examples of franchises that have grown quite the following over the years, but don’t get any new games whatsoever when compared to Nintendo’s other money-makers like Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Kirby, and others. But when it comes to those games, at least they still get some recognition from Nintendo, such as with references in other games like WarioWare, and plenty of representation into Super Smash Bros. Some franchises don’t get that kind of recognition, and are forever stuck in the past as being a small series that Nintendo tried once or twice, and then never get brought back ever again for any kind of reference or new game. One such franchise that has had this fate would be with Zelda’s short-lived sister series, StarTropics.

I had wanted to check out StarTropics for a very long time, as I was wondering what the game was all about, and why Nintendo left it to die after only two installments. I had played it for a little bit in the past, but since I am a fucking idiot, I couldn’t even make it past the first town, as I didn’t know I had to talk to every NPC. But now that I am older, smarter, and much more stubborn, I decided to fully dive into StarTropics to see what it was all about, and now that I have fully finished the game, I can say that it is a pretty good time. There are several aspects about it that do bug me, and I definitely wouldn’t play this over something like Zelda, but I would definitely say that any fan of the NES should check it out at some point.

The story takes place after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where Jones has been abducted by the aliens at the end of that movie, and his long-lost nephew, Mike, has to go and save him… ok, no, not really, but that is basically exactly what happens in this game, the graphics are pretty charming, being very reminiscent of the original Zelda, while also having plenty of detail that gives it plenty of personality, even if a lot of the environments blend in together, the music is pretty good, but like with the original Legend of Zelda, there aren’t too many tracks, so expect to hear the same music tracks a lot, the control is good… but also pretty frustrating at points, especially when you are trying to walk around in dungeons, feeling incredibly restrictive and delayed, and the gameplay is inventive, yet familiar at the same time, combining different elements together to make a pretty unique package for the time.

The game is an 8-bit adventure game, where you take control of Mike Jones, the most bland and boring protagonist ever seen from Nintendo, travel to plenty of different islands and dungeons, take out plenty of enemies that will impede your progress, gather plenty of health items, tools, and additional weapons that you can use to help you out throughout your journey, and fight plenty of towering bosses that will put your movement and attacking skills to the test. For the most part, it is your typical adventure game for the era, and in many ways, it is pretty similar to the original Legend of Zelda, but in many other ways, it differs from that game, such as with the case of having multiple gameplay styles.

The first gameplay style is a top-down adventure perspective similar that of Final Fantasy, where you travel around to many different islands and villages, talk to people, gather information and items, and locate dungeons and caves. However, like with Gargoyle’s Quest, I feel like this perspective is unnecessary, as it only serves as a way to get you from Point A to Point B, and nothing more. Sure, there are optional things you can see and do in these sections, such as finding Big Hearts to increase your health, but that is about it, as it is mostly just about you reaching the next main point of the game. Despite this though, I will say I really like this style in this game, as it does have a lot of charm to it, and I like seeing all the different places you go and the characters you meet. Not to mention, I love how stereotypically American everything is, with all the islands having “cola” in their name, Mike being a baseball star that also plays with yo-yos, and having several phrases spoken throughout that you definitely wouldn’t hear anywhere else, such as “jamming bananas into your ears”. The only thing it is missing is about a dozen bald eagles, rifles firing off 24/7, and having all the characters being fat as fuck. If those things were in this, then it would be the true American experience.

The second gameplay style is found in the dungeons and caves, where the main meat of the game takes place. You traverse through plenty of these dungeons, using your yo-yo and plenty of other weapons to take out plenty of enemies, gather plenty of items to help you out, and either fight bosses at the end or activate something to solve puzzles in the overworld. That, or you just move onto the next section. Like with the overworld sections, I really liked these segments, and I found going through these dungeons and solving these puzzles to be pretty satisfying. With that being said though, I did find it to get pretty repetitive as I kept going, and while I do like the puzzles, a lot of them just involve hitting squares and buttons, with not too much variety in between. Then again, the original Zelda was mainly like this too when it came to dungeon designs, and I didn’t mind it there, so I don’t mind it too much here either.

Now, despite there being plenty to love and appreciate about this game, there are issues that do hold it back from being great. For one thing, the game is WAAAAAAAY too linear. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I don’t typically have a problem with linearity in video games, but for an adventure game, you would expect a world to explore, a sense of freedom, a taste of… well, adventure. But no, for the most part, you are just going about this linear path, having one destination to always travel to, with little to no side content in between. Secondly, this game gets pretty damn difficult as it goes on, and not even in a fair way. There will be times where you will be bombarded by enemies, with not too many options to move around or fight back, there will be plenty of rooms and pathways that will lead to traps and gimmicks that are meant to get you killed, and there are even signs that can take away the amount of lives you have! Because, you know, that is certainly fair.

And finally, one issue this game has that many not realize is that it is a guide game in the most literal sense. Most games can be beaten without the need of a guide if you just look around long enough, but with this game, you absolutely NEED one. For most of it, it is pretty linear, once again, so you won’t have that much trouble figuring out what to do, but in one part of the game, you do need a guide to get through. When you are talking with Dr. Jones’ assistant, he will tell you to “dip your letter in water”, and what he means by this is, if you bought a copy of this game when it came out, it came with a physical letter that you have to pour water on, and when you do, it will reveal coordinates you have to tell your navigation unit to proceed forward. This is pretty cool and all, and it makes you feel like you are part of the adventure, but let’s be honest here: you are most likely playing this game through one of its rereleases or an emulator, and even more likely then that, you probably don’t have that letter, so you need to look up the code in order to move on. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but come on, Nintendo, what kind of ass design is that? You all are better then this.

Overall, despite some poor design choices and some intense difficulty, I still found StarTropics to be a pretty enjoyable game, and definitely one of the more stand out titles from the NES library that I am glad I finally took the time to play. I would definitely recommend it for those who want to see what other games Nintendo has made throughout their career, as well as for those who wanna play an NES adventure game that is not Zelda, as it will definitely be the type of game you are looking for. I mean hell, it’s no wonder this game managed to get a sequel…… in 1994…… for the NES…….. yeah, they pretty much sent that game out to die.

Game #364

We have covered many different fighters from SNK on this website so far, from the good to the bad, the iconic to the obscure, the stupid to the…. equally as stupid. You get the picture, we have covered a lot so far, but we have yet to cover… THE SNK fighter, the one that most people gravitate towards when they think of the company, the one that has managed to outlast every single other one and become the flagship franchise for the company. This wasn’t just any simple fighting game though, because we have already had too many of those to count from the company, but instead, it was gonna be a crossover event, one that takes two of the big fighting juggernauts from the company, along with several others, and bring them together for the first time to duke it out, not only to defeat a common enemy, but also to stand as the best of the best. This was the story… of The King of Fighters ‘94……………. or at least, that is what happened when it did get turned into a fighting game rather than a beat-’em-up.

Out of all of the fighting franchises from this company, this is the one that I had heard the most about before checking out for myself, not only because of how huge it had gotten ever since its inception, but because of its entire concept in general. At this point in time, there had never been a fighting game that’s primary focus was to be a full-on crossover game, taking two different universe and clashing them together, so seeing a game not only take Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting and having them duke it out, along with characters from Ikari Warriors and Athena because why the hell not, must’ve been really exciting for anyone who was fans of any of these games. And hey, it clearly paid off at the end of the day, because the game would go onto get yearly installments for quite some time, as well as plenty of spin-offs, side games, and other forms of media released right alongside it to this day. So, now that I am pretty familiar with every single franchise that is represented in this game, I figured it was about time I gave the series a shot with the first game, and to the surprise of nobody, I ended up really enjoying it. It most likely does not come even close to the quality of future titles, and it isn’t toooooooo different from their previous title, but it does manage to not only be a great introduction for the series as a whole, but also a really good fighting game all on its own that i am really happy to have checked out.

The story doesn’t try to be anything more than what you have come to expect, where a new face in town known as Rugal decides to host a brand new King of Fighters tournament after seeing Geese and Krauser do so in the events of Fatal Fury 1 and 2 (as well as Art of Fighting 2, but who cares), sending invitations all over the world which not only reaches the main characters from those games, but also plenty of other newcomers from around the world, so they all come together to form teams of three to take on the tournament, become the definitive King of the Fighters, and figure out what sinister intentions Rugal might be hiding. It’s an SNK fighting game, so it would feel weird for this to not be the plot, and I don’t wanna risk tearing a hole into the fabric of the universe, so I will just accept the generic plot and move along from there.

The graphics are wonderful, having some fantastic sprite work, animations, and designs for all of the characters, stages, and effects, although there are some parts like the drawings for the characters during the ending cutscenes that definitely do look rough around the edges, and is just… ugh, the music is great, having plenty of kick-ass tunes to go along with you kicking your opponent’s teeth in, but of course, you will barely be able to hear it over the sounds of the many sound effects that will be playing as you fight your opponent, and the gameplay/control is mostly what you would expect from a fighting game, but with several changes and gimmicks that would not only become a staple part of the franchise, but would make fights much more interesting as a whole.

The game is a somewhat-typical 2D fighter, where you take control of one of eight different teams, each consisting of three different fighters from other SNK games, or completely new faces that would become regulars in the series, take on plenty of other teams in locations fought all around the world, throw out plenty of different punches, kicks, and special moves to eliminate all members of the team while relying on your team’s special skills, block and dodge accordingly to sustain minimal damage to any member of your team at any time, and bask in the sweet glow of victory for those few moments…. only to then get pummeled by the next opponent who will come by. Most fighting game veterans would be able to comfortably settle into this game and have a great time with it, even with the apparent changes made to the formula, which one can easily adjust to if they know what they are doing, and still have a great time with it.

If you SOMEHOW haven’t caught onto this already, the one big change made in this game compared to every single fighting game before this is how you take control of a team of characters rather then just one solo character, and while this doesn’t affect the gameplay too heavily, it does make just enough of a change to where it does make you think about how to approach matches. Rather than the typical “three rounds and ya win/lose” formula that most fighting games have, each fighter can only be used once per match as long as they aren’t knocked out, and whenever a fighter is knocked out, they are then switched out for the next fighter on the team in the order that you selected. The only other time I have ever had experience with this style of fighting is with Marvel vs. Capcom, so I was fully aware of what this system was gonna be like going into it, and from what we have here, it works out pretty well.

It does make you think more about how you go about winning a fight, based on what character you are playing as, what moves they can pull off, their speed, their attacks, all of that shit, and seeing how you can be using a completely new character on the fly if you fuck up, it adds another level of strategy and complexity that was simple to grasp and incredibly satisfying to master. Not to mention, given how you don’t get a full health bar back whenever you beat an opponent, the game encourages you, more than ever, to play smart, and not just constantly spam the same move over and over again, or just button mash, in the vein hope of winning (even though, with some of these games, I have no choice but to do that).

Other then that though, not too much has changed if you compare this to other SNK fighters, as it is mostly your standard romp. The only real other differences I can see is that there are no bonus stages to take on, and the way that you use special moves is a bit different, but otherwise, you know what you are getting into with this, and as someone who has now played more of these then I can count, I can safely say that this was one really fun. Of course, the combat was rough around the edges, but the flow of fights still felt pretty satisfying, the energy that was there made a lot of the game feel exciting and fun, the little extra story bits here and there were very interesting, and with the fact that you essentially have 24 different characters to mess around with, there is plenty of things to do that will leave you busy, especially if you are going for all the endings.

However, as is traditional with fighting games, we gotta talk about the elephant in the room, and that elephant’s name is Fighting Game Syndrome, where the game’s CPU will not hesitate to pummel your ass to the ground before you even have a chance to comprehend what was going on in the first place. Although, with that being said, I didn’t actually find the difficulty of the game to be that bad when playing through it……. THAT IS, until I reached the final battle with Rugal, who takes on your entire team by himself, and that right there is a dirty, rotten trick. It lures you into a false sense of security, with you thinking “PFFT, three against one? This will be a total cakewalk!”, but then you actually fight him, and you will learn to never trust one of these games again. His first phase is pretty standard, nothing too bad that you can just easily get through if you know what you are doing, but then he throws off his coat, and that is when SHIT GETS REAL. He will be throwing out all these crazy attacks, comboing you before you can do anything to stop it, push you across the screen and slam you into the walls, and it is an absolute nightmare of a fight at this point. Of course, he is beatable, but you need to be pretty skilled at these games in order to take him down, and while I wouldn’t say this boss is as hard as, say, Geese Howard in Fatal Fury 1, he will still have you begging for mercy if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Overall, despite fighting game syndrome being in effect and Rugal needing to go fuck himself in every way possible, this was a great way to start off an ambitious franchise like this, and an overall really good game, having plenty of what SNK fighters had that make them so fun to try out and beat, a gameplay gimmick that shakes things up to where it is much more interesting without sacrificing what makes these games work, and having plenty of fan service from plenty of points in SNK’s history with the characters that you can’t help but appreciate if you have been playing all of these games like I have. I would definitely recommend it for those who are big fighting game fans, as well as those who love the other fighters from the company like Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, because this game manages to blow both of those out of the water in every single way, and I can’t wait to see what the next installments have in store. But if there is one thing I will ask for, it would be to PLEASE tone down the final boss of the next game so that they won’t be as much of a pain to fight?....... who am I kidding, it’s SNK, they’re not gonna do that. And given what played at the end of the game there, looks like I am gonna have double the fun with it in the next game, so YAY FOR ME!....................... help

Game #572

Over the many years that they have been a company, Nintendo has created many franchises, with them still making entries for a good number of them to this very day. However, there have been plenty of franchises they have made that they let slowly die over the years with a major lack of releases, such as F-Zero, Earthbound, and Advance Wa- wait a minute, that last one is getting a remake soon, never mind on that one. Anyway, you get the point, there are many dead Nintendo franchises, and one of the ones that has been treated more poorly than most of the others would be Kid Icarus.

Whenever people bring this series up, they mainly talk about Kid Icarus: Uprising (as they should, because that game is fucking amazing), but in terms of the original Kid Icarus, the one that started it all, it still holds up pretty well, and I had a pretty good time with it overall. I wouldn't consider it perfect by any means, but it does still hold up quite a bit after all this time.

The story is simple, yet it is enough to get you engaged (at least for me), the graphics are good, even if they don't look as good as other NES games at the time, the music is very catchy and iconic, the control is pretty good, although I wish Pit's movement was a little less floaty, and the gameplay is simple, yet diverse enough to where you won't get bored with the game easily.

The gameplay in Kid Icarus is pretty varied, with three separate gameplay styles seen throughout. The first is a 2D platformer mixed with adventure elements, where you traverse up and to the right of stages, shooting enemies, gathering hearts and hammers, while also exploring the various doors that you find along the way, where you can defeat enemies for even more hearts, buy plenty of items to aid you on your quest, gather upgrades to your bow, and face off against endurance tests to gain upgrades to your arsenal. Even after the my second time playing through it, I had a lot of fun with these levels, as it does feel pretty satisfying to conquer these stages and their challenges, with the upgrades and items also being extremely helpful for what you have to deal with throughout.

The second gameplay style would be with the fortresses at the end of each world, where you go through a dungeon-like labyrinth, freeing Centurions, buying more items that help you out, and fighting bosses to get the three Sacred Treasures. To be completely honest, I don't like these parts of the game. A lot of the rooms in these labyrinths look incredibly samey, meaning that it is incredibly easy to get lost, and it can take a long while to find the boss to get a move on. Not to mention, there's also those times when you get turned into an eggplant, and you gotta go to a hospital to take care of that, which can be a hassle.

The third and final gameplay section (also, spoilers for a 35+ year old game or whatever) is when you collect all three of the Sacred Treasures and you then enter a side scrolling shooter segment, where you also fight Medusa to beat the game. This section is also pretty good, and can be fun at times, although I wish you had a much higher firing rate for your projectiles.

In terms of overall complaints I would have with this game, I would say the difficulty could be a little too much at points, with enemy spawn points and rates can be pretty unpredictable at times, along with enemy movement being very erratic at points. In addition, in order to use several of the upgrades you get, you need to have a bigger, full health bar, which is kind of a hassle, but it isn't too hard to get there. And finally, the boss fights SUCK. Seriously, they just walk, float, or jump around, and you shoot them, that's it. There is no variety in their strategies, except for maybe a fireball or two. Hell, even with the final boss, you can literally just sit there and spam the attack button, and you won't get hit.

Overall, while it does certainly have plenty of problems, I still find the original Kid Icarus to be pretty fun and different compared to other Nintendo games at the time, and I would definitely consider it a classic of the NES library.

Game #85

With all the usual Kunio-kun charm and a new set of wacky sports it'd seem that this game is a nice follow up to its predecessor, Downtown Nekketsu March: Super-Awesome Field Day!. Sadly I find the structure of the previous game far more appealing, so this game ends up being a bit of a dissapointment.
Not only did having all the events based on the same control scheme make DNMSFD (lovely acronym) far more cohesive, but it also made for a far more unique experience. There have been lots of sport based minigame compilations released both before and after this game came out, and I feel like the minigames themselves end up lacking against other games like Track & Field, being far too complicated to have fun with friends who aren't already invested and too chaotic to try and sweat it with Kunio experts.
I still like the game, but I understand why Field Day is the one that has been endlessly remade and homaged.

In 1996, I was six years old and lived in Florida. Wario Land had been released two years prior-- though I loved Super Mario Land 2 and replayed it regularly on my og/fat Game Boy.. I had no idea this game existed. On a particular weekend, I stayed over at my great grandmother's apartment.

I played MANY games in front of them while they sat in a rocking chair. She always encouraged me and my interest in games. Her favorite thing was seeing Crash Bandicoot die in a myriad of ways-- took pure pleasure in it. A very kind and cool person.

My family has always been deeply religious, unfortunately it came with a severe demonizing of secular media. This was bad for me, to say the least. Despite this, my great grandma would do things like rent Splatterhouse 2 for me. We even had lookout schemes where I would quickly switch to a "friendly" game when she saw another family member arrive to pick me up, or etc.

On this aforementioned weekend in 1996, my great grandmother took me to a Sunday service at a very old-fashioned, musty, southern baptist church. She handed me 5$ and instructed me to tithe it when the donation plate was passed around. I did. After the service, she told me "I'm very proud of you"-- and then took me to Toys "R" Us to pick out a NEW game that I could OWN (rare for me). She was the one that pointed out Wario Land. I vividly remember falling in love with the color scheming on the front cover. I was blown away with this game.

The moral of the story is that money is my god now, and I am now a slime ball rat fuck.

Just kidding. Everything that Wario in is so good. They are often a beautiful design and mechanical antithesis to Nintendo games. I loved my Great Grandmother very much, she never judged me or the things that I liked superficially. Unfortunately I do not still have that copy of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3.. but her funeral service pamphlet has made its way into various video game collage designs that I've made for my creative outlets (bands, social media design, youtube, etc). Wario rules. Love you, Nanny.

https://imgur.com/UEz3Jbh