What a wierd time for a few choice TV shows. I just want to through in a quick blurb about the only shows I continue to care about on a regular basis. There are only three that remain: Heroes, Lost and Battlestar Galactica.

Heroes keeps getting better and better. But…come on, another hiatus? Seriously. This is ridiculous. On the plus side, it seems that the show has a clearly defined direction, and the entire series has delivered non-stop thrills and suspense throughout its run.

Lost has regained my respect after the episode ‘Enter 77’. It appears that the entire show has gone back to its roots, and people are exploring the island again. That was a problem I had with Season Two. It was all about the Hatch. And while the Henry Gale storyline was certainly intriguing, it didn’t make up for the fact that the Losties weren’t exploring and charting the vast reaches of the island. If they had any sense to them, they would have located all this stuff long ago. Fortunately, the show is redeeming itself.

Battlestar Galactica is amazing. Specifically Maelstrom, which had a surprising (and disappointing) ending. It was surprising because it was so epic…but disappointing because of how it alters the formula of the show. Nevertheless, Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama) had a truly memorable scene at the end of that episode…where he smashed the model ship…

Epic.

Don’t listen to the smut spread about the internet by the tabloids.

The Coin Op is very much alive.

As I explained in Binkle’s comments (which may or may not get through), I took down the initial post because the image was linked incorrectly, and it was being pushed to the back page. I figured that the whole ordeal deserved some actual front page exposure, so I removed it from the archives and will repost it when I get a better image.

Please be patient. The Coin Op is not dead. Binkle is corrupting your minds! Beware!!?!?!?

I will post the original image and a higher-res image when I can. The problem is…the higher res one needs a bit of tweaking, and Vic is away for March Break (you all remember March Break right?). So…yeah. That’s the scoop. I’m posting this to:

1. Counter Binkle’s false rumors.
2. Get Binkle to stop asking (I think I’ve seen three or four comments, and a post on his blog constantly asking about this. I only showed it to him a few days ago).

I’ve finished the game.

Now, I know I told you before that I had beaten the game. But this time, I have finished it.

Well…no. I didn’t catch all the fish…but I hate fishing at the best of times. Providing it to me in an extremely frustrating digital forum does not make it any easier. And I did not beat the Rollgoal game. Not even far enough to get the Frog Lure. Because, again, I loathe fishing. I do not enjoy trying to catch fish, nor do I enjoy trying to eat fish. It is a sad fact considering their role as “brain food”. But I am spinning off on a destructive tangent.

I did not catch all the fish because I loathe their kind. I did not beat rollgoal because I loathe the method of play despite the fact that the Wiimote would allow more control. It failed me.

Nevertheless, I scoured the lands of Hyrule in order to acquire sufficient atriums and ventricles to empower me to twenty times the circulatory power of a normal Hylian. Also, in order to appease Andrew’s horse-loving communist mentality, I began to use Epona (read: Marley) more to journey from place to place, despite the fact that warping via Midna’s supernatural might is much more satisfying and efficient.

Furthermore, I collected all 20 of those wretched golden bugs and brought them to that spoiled little girl in Castle Town. Where she acquired $1500 is beyond me, but she seems to be wealthy enough to pay for golden bugs as well as a two-story home on prime Castle Town real estate. Also, she seems to have a pedophile peeking in her front window 24/7. She should probably call the Hyrule Castle Guard.

I acquired all the necessary upgrades to bomb bags and quivers. But, in my most satisfying accomplishment to date, I acquired all 60 poes. I only had 52 in my possession when I completed the game the first time, but after a great deal of scouring (and an accidental encounter), I found them all. Victory was sweat and tasty.

For those who have not captured all of the Poes, let me tell you that the satisfaction of “catchin’ em all” is the only reward you shall receive from that bastard Jovani. Despite his vast riches, he sees fit to award you a single Silver rupee. A noble gesture - to be sure - but when your wallet is full such a gem falls unnoticed. Afterwards, he is found in Telma’s bar, weeping because his girlfriend took a fancy to someone else. Possibly the mail man. He certainly keeps trim and fit.

Certainly, this game was amazing. Stupendous. Better than Ocarina of Time? You bet. Initially, I was disappointed after the whole “Zant has taken the Fused Shadows” debacle, because I thought that the first three dungeons had merely been a pointless endeavour. However, they did come into play towards the end of the game. And I was happy. Also, Midna kicks ass.

The final moments though were amazing. When Ganondorf is preparing to attack, and Midna transports you out to Hyrule Field…it was epic. I have to say I was surprised that Hyrule Castle exploded shortly after, sending Ganondorf hurtling into the same field on a mighty steed…certainly an odd turn of events. Still, the charge on horseback was truly epic. And the way everyone reacted as he crushed the Fused Shadows in his hands. Fantastic.

The final sword duel with Ganondorf was lack lustre. He fought like a Dark Nut (those heavily armored guys who block everything), except he was curiously slow and undefended. While he trudged around the battlefield, I got in jabs and slices and ended the battle without losing a quarter of a heart. The ending was certainly exciting (Jacob particularly enjoyed the fact that Ganondorf dies standing up - because he is so hardcore), but the final lines of the game were…lame.

Midna, turned back to normal, turns around and asks Link - essentially - if he wants to bone her. And then the game ends. That part could have used a bit more work…but, I guess they wanted to cap off with something sexually blunt considering most of the game featured Midna riding Link pretty hard. Mmm…ennuendo.

All in all, the game was fantastic. I would have enjoyed a bit more meat towards the ending (although I guess Ganondorf will just be revived now…as opposed to sealed away and such), and a bit more of an expose as to what we can expect from the future. I have to say that I enjoyed the dungeon within the Temple of Time (very nostalgic), and the introduction of two new races - the Yeti and the Oocca. Hopefully we will see them in future games as well.

I was - however - disappointed with the absence of Koroks (they could have featured somewhere in the Lost Woods), and the Rito (which would have made for a cool dungeon/city setting). But…I guess I will have to wait. I’ve still got my fingers crossed that the Tokay, Subrosians, and Shiekah will make an appearance at some point.

Since beating Twilight Princess, I’ve gone on to pop in my Zelda: Collector’s Edition. I’ve beaten the first dungeon of the first Zelda, and I’m going to keep playing through LoZ, Adventure of Link, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. When I am done, I will need to complete Minish Cap to have fully experienced the series. I wish I could find my copy of Link’s Awakening DX…the first Zelda game that I beat more than once.

I’ve beaten it.

I’ll post my full opinion/review/whatever later. But for right now, I just wanted to say that I beat it:

• With all bomb bags/upgrades
• All quiver upgrades
• All Wallet Upgrades (i.e. All Golden Bugs caught)
• All 20 Hearts (Boo yah!)
• And 52 Poes to my name. I believe I know potential locations for two others…but they were in spots I visited during the day (to get some heart pieces), and so…I need to return in the night.
• All four bottles, 2 (Great Fairy’s Tears) and 2 (Rare Chu Jelly).

I am going to try and keep it like this because you aren’t supposed to be able to get more than one bottle of Great Fairy’s Tears at a time. But I had the one from Jovani and didn’t use it through most of the game, so now I have two bottles of it. And, for those of you who want a good healing device, warp to Death Mountain, and head down the mountain to where the Howling Stone is. There is an alcove on your right that you can Clawshot too, and in it is a Rare Chu. Go back as many times as you want to fill up on Rare Chu Jelly. And the best part is, it functions like Great Fairy’s Tears.

Booyah

Also, I’ve got to say, that ending battle with … was epic, although a tad easy.

EGM has been putting out these April Fools articles for years now, and there have been times where I was drawn in by their shiny allure. For example, the prank of two years ago, where they assured us that there was a realistic version of Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker available with a Twilight Princess pre-order.

Last year, they duped me with mention of the iGame to be released by Apple.

And this year…well…

I wasn’t fooled as much as I was horribly crushed by their lack of compassion for mankind. If you look here, you will see why. Mushroom Kingdom Hearts? The idea is tantalizing. Mystifying. Amazing. It would be an epic worthy of God himself. In fact, I can almost guarantee that God would pick up a Wii if this game were to be released.

But, of course, it is unlikely to happen.  Still, since the dawn of Kingdom Hearts, I have prayed and prayed for a similar concept executed across the vast library of Nintendo owned properties. Can you imagine an RPG where you fight as Mario, alongside Link and Samus, questing through the tropical forests of Yoshi’s Isle, climbing the treacherous heights of Death Mountain, and visiting the mystical reaches of Dreamland? It would be…it would be Nintendo’s opus…to be sure.

But I will continue to dream. Maybe I can have the opportunity to make it if I ever get into game design.

Backwards Compatibility - How Nintendo Was Forward Thinking

With all these news stories about how Sony is dropping the PS2 components out of the Playstation 3 and moving to software emulation, and how Microsoft is planning to decrease their attention to backwards compatibility on the XBox 360, it seems clear who was being the most logical about the past and future of gaming being able to mesh.

Nintendo and the Virtual Console have managed to easily avoid the problem of backwards compatibility in Nintendo systems. Someone has sold their Gamecube? No problem. The Nintendo Wii plays Gamecube games. Now, someone has broken their NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, or N64. Well, they can buy the games for a semi-reasonable cost on the Virtual Console.

What I think Nintendo will have to do though is somehow make it so that you can use the Nintendo Wii to store your Gamecube games in a registry to your name. That way, when Wii2 comes out five or ten years down the road, instead of having to make it backwards compatible, you can just offer Gamecube downloads for all the items on your game registry.

Now, I can see how there is the potential for the system to be exploited. For example, what is to stop me from borrowing some of Andrew’s games that I never had and adding them to my registry. However, I’m sure with a little clever programming, this can be worked around.

Still, I would hate to have to get rid of my Gamecube library (which is quite extensive). All things considered, perhaps the computer is the better gaming platform through clients like Steam. That way, you can re-download whatever programs are in your name to whichever computer you wish, but only one person can be logged on at a time.

Anyway, just thought I’d say that Nintendo was doing alright by my books in this regard.

Also, I’m tired, hungry and pennyless.