Frogger: The Great Quest (Throwback Thursday)

Throwback Thursday...On Friday? Let's just go with it.

Oh Nostalgia Lane, I walk down your path again...And is there a better way to prance merrily down Nostalgia Lane if it isn't with the iconic Frogger? Oh, you're thinking of the "Can't cross the road" PC Frogger, aren't you?

YOU'RE WRONG.

I'm talking the incredibly epic, RPG Frogger. Yes, there was such a thing. And it was epic.

 

 

In the beginning you join Frogger at his home swamp. Like any other frog Mister Frogger wants to go on an adventure...But after overhearing two boys, he wants to go on an adventure to find a princess, to kiss him and turn him into a prince.

Yeah, it's a total Princess and The Frog rip-off. But you can easily forgive it.

Firstly, the thing I was somewhat scared off when revisiting this game was the graphics. For some reason I feared the worst. And because of that, I was severely surprised. The graphics are actually really great, so I sat back and enjoyed the opening cut-scene.

After of course giving myself a name.

Yeah! I like how it says "Enter Your Game Name" I find that pretty awesome.

Anyways, on with it!

One kinda "downfall" is the storyline. It's something someone with really little creativity wrote. In the first cut-scene not only is The Princess and The Frog rip-off mentioned, but Froggers Fairy Frog Mother comes into the picture. Basically everything in the storyline is ripped off something else or not creative in any way, but it's still whimsy and strangely entertaining. I ain't complaining.

So you're thrown into action. Fairy Frog Mother shows you all the controls, things are easy, life is good, and then...You have to jump.

UHG.

Anybody play Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Did you play as Link? Did you fail miserably because the boy can't jump? This is the opposite. Frogger is such a good jumper, it's extremely difficult to land on small platforms; he over-jumps. And all you have to land on (For most of the game) are small platforms! Nostalgia Lane quickly turned into Aggravation Boulevard.

Actually, I remembered vividly how aggravating that game was form my childhood. Do you know how many times I raged quit back in the day? DO YOU KNOW? If you played Frogger, you know.

So after you really get used to the controls and move on, you no longer need to jump. You can guess how pleased I was.

In fact, minus the horrible jumping skills, everything else is really easy. To some of you that might take all the fun away, but for me it made it fun and relaxing almost. You can figure out a way to "Cheat" (that's not really cheating) to kill off enemies without getting harmed and there really isn't strategy put into it. It's one of those games where someone asks you to go get this for them, then this for them, then they'll do exactly what you need them to do, then you have to get the next stuff and do this for the next person...That sort of thing. There's really little challenge in the whole thing.

You might be thinking "So the game is boring and repetitive...Yeah, good call on a game."

WRONG SIR.

They change things up every time, so it is not repetitive. And I somehow or another played for five hours today and found myself really enjoying myself, so it is not boring. There's something about gliding through a game that was extremely difficult to you during your childhood that's super rewarding. I didn't beat the game, but I got just a few levels away. I officially feel accomplished.

I distinctively remember HATING with EVERY BEING IN MY BODY this one part, where you had to jump (Remember horrible jumping skills?) up and spit a froggy spitball at a bell to ring it...But you didn't just have to jump, you had to balance on the railing, jump up and spit at the right angle to hit the dern bell. Here's a pic for those of you who may have played the game: (Excuse the bad quality)

But guess who did it on her second try? THIS GAMER. I kicked my childhood problems in the butt today...This Throwback Thursday has been a success.

So yeah, apart from the jumping thing and the really uncreative storyline, this game is really fun. I was glued to my television for five hours. It's been a long time since I've gamed for that long. I really wish my Memory Card wasn't full and I could have saved it to finish it one day...But oh well.

I definitely encourage you all to go down Nostalgia Lane and Aggravation Boulevard once more and revisit this game. I give it four frogs out of seven.

Have great weekend dudes!

Nuzlocke Challenge! Episode 1

 



Greetings! Now, before you go judging me on how I titled this blog post episode one, I urge you all to scroll down and read PG: Summer Challenges! That will tell you all what a Nuzlocke challenge is, if you don't already know. If you do already know, congratulations, you've just wasted your time reading this paragraph. Foot licks.

What?

I don't know either. It's late. I get...Weird.

Aaaaanyways, on with the challenge.

Day ONE:

Well...I didn't start out too great. I started a new game (After trading my super awesome Pokémon to Diamond, that is), names myself Pure since there wasn't enough room for Pure Gamer, named my rival/friend LULZ, and chose a Piplup. Now, I thought about my next move carefully. I thought: I need to train...Yet, one of the rules is "You can only catch one Pokémon per area; it must be the first one you encounter" but I had no Pokeballs. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???!!!

I'll tell you. It means, I went to Valor Lakefront and trained my super awesome Piplup. But I can't catch a Pokémon there now. Get what I mean? ...Yeah, I'm a little too proud of myself for doing that. Anywho, then I go back to my abode, only to learn that I can't save my game...Since I didn't properly delete my old saved game...So that was just peachy.

And so, I properly deleted my saved game, (Up + Select + B...The more you know.) and started again. I did the exact same thing and progressed all the way to Jubilife. By now, I had my super awesome Piplup, extremely nifty Starly, and outrageously spectacular Bidoof. Let me tell you, the one Pokémon per area crap is ANNOYING. I didn't think that would be as bad as releasing Pokémon when they faint, but it is that bad! I won't say worse, but yeah, it's bad. Here is where I had my first tragedy. I lost extremely nifty Starly and outrageously spectacular Bidoof.

You really do treat battling differently when the cost of losing your Pokémon for good is on the line. Like you count how many XP's a move is worth, you strategize, and you go to the Center A LOT. And you hoard A LOT of Potions.

Moving on, I caught not as nifty Starly and mofo Magikarp. I haven't moved on to Oreburgh because I'm trying to get my newbies up in levels, but I am NOT looking forward to it. I mean, I have Piplup so I'll be fine, but the fear of Pokémon death just adds a whole new element to the game. I applaud whoever came up with this challenge. It's fun, anger, fear, aggravation and adrenaline wrapped up in one. Who wouldn't love that?!

Day TWO:

Not as exciting. I spent mostly the whole time training. In the process I caught and lost stupid Zubat. Also, I caught ponytail Ponyta. So as of now I have a somewhat promising team. The last thing I did was beat the gym, otherwise, I only trained. You train WAY MORE in a Nuzlocke challenge then you EVER would.

Star Captain (Opponent) Stats:

Day ONE:

He didn't do much. He caught a Starly, and lost the Starly (KO'd by a Bidoof, what a jerkface Pokémon), and caught another Starly. He made it to Jubilife, saved his game, put it down, picked it up the next day, and it has mysteriously disappeared. Let's just say, Star Captain was not a happy Pokémon Trainer...Needless to say, he's not very far in the game...

SO I'M WINNING. HAH.

Watch for Nuzlocke "episodes" every Monday! Stay classy.

Crash Nitro Kart (Throwback Thursday)

Hey yall! Welcome to the first ever Throwback Thursday segment!!!

 

 

Crash Bandicoot is arguably the BEST racing franchise in existence. Although this blog post is about Crash Nitro Kart, not CTR (Crash Team Racing) which is the best the best racer, as far as I'm concerned. Originally I wanted to play CTR, but unfortunately, it has died. It lived a long life. RIP CTR.

 

One reason why I love the Crash Bandicoot franchise is because of its characters. It has all original characters (Crash, Coco and Crunch Bandicoot, to name some famous ones), the controls are simple, the items are randomized so unlike Mario Kart you can get the best item (Oogla Boogla, basically an invincibility star) even if you're in first place, and (also unlike Mario Kart) you don't have to worry about matching the right wheels with the right kart and whatever because every character has the same kart. Granted, some of the characters are faster, but the fastest one is the hardest to control, and vice versa. I dunno, I guess I find it more challenging than Mario Kart, and other racers haven't impressed me. Add the nostalgia factor, and you've got a freaking awesome game.

 

I grew up playing Crash Bandicoot, so I have fond memories of kicking butt and being awesome. Of course when I put the game in, I wasn't very good. It's a pretty intense transition back to PlayStation 2, believe me. But after I got the hang of it, I started Adventure Mode. In Adventure Mode, your world is basically being attacked by some other world, so you have to go to various worlds and race many races to progress. This is how you unlock other characters. It's actually really challenging and incredibly fun.

 

I had such a great time revisiting this game. If you have a Crash game lying around, definitely go play it and engross yourself in the best racer ever.