Upcoming Minecraft Server

I am helping to build a new, small Minecraft server. If you are an active player who would like to play on a multiverse/adventure/mcmmo/jobs leave a comment. The server is not yet public but it should be in a few days. Ill post the IP address when everything is ready.

We'll be running 10x and 20x McMMO experience, which is a great balance and very fun without the insane time-sink of default Mcmmo.

Also a Gods plugin, which is very cool. The best Jobs plugin I've seen with the option to choose 4 jobs. It's gonna be insane.

3-D NES Wallpapers

I stumbled about this awesome 3-D NES Wallpaper collection today by Justin Buonvino. You can download the full-sized wallpapers on his Deviant Art page I'm a big fan of the Ice Hockey scene, and it's always cool gaining a new perspective on familiar games.

The Top 5 Things Wrong with Mainstream RPGs of the Last 30 Years

Five: Having a stupid fucking "epic" story. 

General Fuckface just captured the courtly guard and is leading an airship rebellion in an attempt to control the flow of magical resources powering streampunk army robots while young white guy farmer learns about morals and philosophy 101 while fucking up a clichéd, emotional romance.  Giant ragtag bunch of heroes saves the world and learns exactly one thing about themselves, solving many of the psychological problems haunting the characters. There is twist, after twist, after twist in this "epic" plot, but by the end of it you just wish it was over.

Four: Being easy as hell. 

Pretty self explanatory--if you're not dying you're not playing a good game. Notable exceptions: Ultima, Roguelikes, Diablo 1, Diablo 2, Diablo 3, Quest 64.

Three: Lack of Scope. 

Seriously guys, Ultima I has 8 Castles, 32 towns, and 26 dungeons to explore. What the fuck. Notable exceptions: Ultima, Quest 64, World of Warcraft, Everquest.

Two: No Randomization. 

Why is it many games continue to drive the player through the same dungeons over and over? I'm looking at you, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy. Notable exceptions: Crawl, Nethack, all roguelikes, Diablo, Diablo 2, Diablo 3.

One: Having a party instead of one character.

Why do so many games have a party of adventurers? Are we so schizophrenic? Even Ultima eventually fell victim to this unfortunate trend. What seems like an avdance is actually a cleverly-designed artificial game extender. Battles take 4 times as long, and you need four times the supplies and gear. Things become watered down, and I don't even think game developers are aware of what a drag parties in RPGs can be. Notable exceptions: Roguelikes, Ultima 1 and 2, Moraff's World, Quest 64.

It's pretty simple when you look at it. Good RPGs will tend to have a single character, gigantic scope, and a lot of randomization. It almost seems like cheating, because any game made with this formula sounds pretty damn fun.

Instead, gamers get railroaded down a single boring path of 12-15 hours of time-destroying brainrot.

Pixel Art: Zelda Atari

Because I did Zelda II in Atari-style the other day, I decided to give the original a try as well. Atari mock-ups are great fun, and I expect to do more of these in the future.

The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past Nintendo Power Scans

What can one really say about such classics that hasn't already been said? I'll let these Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Nintendo Power scans speak instead.

These are from Nintendo Power Issue 34, 1992 - the same year Link got his 16-bit update on American shores.

I've been in a Link to the Past mood lately. Although this game takes a while to really get started, once you can explore the world it's a really great adventure. It would have been nice for less linearity, but the puzzle and dungeons were some of the best!

I think everyone got stuck at least once playing this game, if only for a few minutes.

Even though I didn't have the game as a kid, I had this Nintendo Power and I would read about the items and get a feel for the quest. Eventually I'd play it of course, as well as every other game I read about in Nintendo Power.

This was the very first game I emulated.

When I got a job at 16, it was also the first game I bought for my Super Nintendo.

Nintendo Power was filled with LttP curiosities, and as I track them all down, hopefully I can upload them for everyone. In particular, the Link to the Past comic book, which spanned 12 issues (or more?) should probably be my next project! It's over 100 pages so I'll have to think of something more clever than PNGs.

Enjoy the gallery!

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Epic Mural

The Legend of Zelda turned 25 on Sunday, and I didn't really have anything to post.

Then I found this on the internet. A huge painting of all the Zelda characters done in a Renaissance style. It's simply amazing. I'm not sure who painted it, but I bet they beat the Second Quest.

8-Bit City has a long history of Zelda-related articles. You should probably check out these other posts:

An awesome 1 and 2 Easter Egg that went overlooked for nearly 2 decades!

A detailed examination on the influence of Adventure 2600 on The Legend of Zelda.

And a look inside the first edition of Nintendo Power.

The Legend of Video Games

I was driving home, thinking about something Miyamoto said about Zelda. He said that his goal was to create a garden that people could keep in their dresser drawer. That resonated, because I saw Zelda from a different perspective, and it applied very well.

There are trees in the game, to be sure, but most of the local fauna are perfectly trimmed shrubs. The rocks are all neatly aligned. The lakes and rivers have been squared off... obviously because the programmers made it so. But is that no less a garden? It has all of the characteristics, except it is a digital construction.

Part of the world's interest in video games stems from the digital nature of video games. The ability to completely define rules to a smaller universe. It is life simulation in some cases, but in others it is purely abstract. They are the natural evolution from games played outside, or games played on a wooden board. The contradiction is understanding video games, and really understanding why they interest us so much. Some of the gaming universes are bigger than others, and it's weird to think that all of the place exist, in so many different consoles and computers, at different times.



This train of though has been completely derailed. I played Mega Man: Powered Up tonight (after dying on Proto Man's castle in Mega Man 5, what the fuck is up with the first boss, his strategy is to literally stand on top of you, and he moves about as fast, if not faster, than Mega Man) and it was pretty amazing. Along with Crisis Core, Dracula X, Valkyrie Profile, Lumines, Ghost and Goblins, Gradius... why don't I have a PSP? I'll always love climbing Elecman's tower and kicking his ass. One of the hardest stages in Mega Man, but oh so satisfying. Waltzing up this crazy Electric Wizard's tower and exploding him, and the best part is the music. But I didn't realize that MM:PU has two games, the original, and a remix. The remixed Elecman's stage was a mild letdown. To much horizontal, not enough vertical. I beat Elecman with the buster, and thus spared his life.

I noticed you could then fight Mega Man if you stared an Elecman game, but I didn't get a chance to see who the real boss was (the game displays his name as "Mega Man?")... Proto Man? Quint? a Doc Robot? Bass? Who knows? Not me.



On a final note, I've been playing Proto Man game in MM9, and it was great fun... up until Wily 4. I'll get it eventually, but let me say: fuck. Proto Man is not for the faint of heart or weak-willed warriors. Ironic that I'm having trouble both playing as and against Proto Man.

I managed to beat my Endless Level score as well... 137, which is pretty terrible considering the 3000+ score on the Wii leaderboard. I'll be satisfied if I can break 1000.