Romancing SaGa III #1 - Ringwraith Avenue

Romancing SaGa is a venerable series in Japan, brought to us by Squaresoft. For the most part, it hasn't fared too well outside of Japan; in the U.S., the portable entries were renamed to become the Final Fantasy Legend trilogy, the Super NES trilogy wasn't even released, and we didn't really get an  unchanged SaGa game until 1998's SaGa Frontier.

Out of the three Super NES installments, Romancing SaGa III is the best... and, to my knowledge, the only one to get a full English translation at this point in time.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis, 1992)

This site exists primarily to amuse me and a small group of long-time readers... anyone else who enjoys it is icing. I try to cover things that are either popular enough to generate interest in this site (Contra) or unknown enough that maybe I'll create an interest in them (Lennus 2).

First and foremost, I do this for fun, not to meet existing standards. Given the abundance of positive responses, I have to conclude that for the most part I'm hitting the right spot for other people too. Comments are extremely welcome on here, whether positive or negative. Even if it's something as simple as "This post was rad to the max" / "This post was ass" or as complex as a page-long diatribe on how people who play WoW are actually all well-off, socially adjusted, successful people who aren't allergic to sunlight OR terrified of lady-parts.

Moving on, here's a game that prompted a great many people to buy a Sega Genesis. Kept the system competitive against the Super NES for a while, it did, as Sonic continued his battle with the nefarious Doctor Eggman. A lot of people... and I mean a LOT... say that this is the best Sonic game out there. So I'm going into this with some pretty high expectations. I'm also going into it while incredibly high. I am the Walrus. Coo coo cachoooo.

Best of Corona Jumper 2013

 Instead of a pop culture year in review, this time I'll be looking back at my own material. While in previous years my style evolved over the course of time, this year my writing basically ate its own tail like an Uroboros. Hard to see much difference between early in the year and late in the year, so this won't be in chronological order.

My posts this year ranged from mildly douchey to uber-dickitude, but I always had time to respect the material I was covering. I barely scratch the surface of the post volume from this year, but here's a special selection.

Highlander: The Series 1x17 - Saving Grace

Closing out 2013 with one more Highlander post. This episode is a good one, mainly because Darius gets a ton of screentime.

Highlander: The Series 1x16 - The Beast Below

A lot of people don't know it, but this is also what women call Richie's penis.

Highlander: The Series 1x15 - For Tomorrow We Die

What a menacing title. This episode is the debut of Xavier St. Cloud, one of the most memorable bad guys in this series. Though admittedly, he's a lot more interesting in his later episodes; between that and various inconsistencies in this episode, it seems like he was intended to be a one-off and got brought back due to fan demand.

Xavier is the only villain to appear in seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4... as far as I know.

Highlander: The Series 1x14 - For Evil's Sake

This is the killer mime episode. It's the first one to take place entirely in France, and it's better off for it. The dramatic tone shift continues!

Highlander: The Series 1x13 - Band of Brothers

Highlander returns with one of the series' high points. This episode is insanely good. Legend says that Adrian Paul himself went to the writers and told them that the Cop Show wasn't what fans wanted out of Highlander. From here on out, the Cop Show is almost entirely out the window. The writers would get it back with spin-off series The Raven, once Adrian Paul was out of the way. Yeah.

Mystic Ark Finale - Terminus

"I'm the King" says Remeer as he looks out from the empty castle. "King of allllll the land."

Mystic Ark, Part 10 - Hourglass

 CINDERELLA MAN! CINDERELLA MAN!

He went to the ball in his wife-beater, lost his Nike shoe.

Mystic Ark, Part 9 - Darkova

Next up is the Dark World. This is the shortest world in the game by a longshot. It's basically a haunted house. When I first heard "Dark World" I had all kinds of crazy ideas bouncing around, so this is a little bit disappointing.

Mystic Ark, Part 8 - Colossus

Plowing through the last dungeon of the Machine World, as things take a turn for the creepy. You'll never win, Skynet!

Mystic Ark, Part 7 - Pharaoh

 The Machines, Sarah.

Mystic Ark, Part 6 - Navajo

 Mystic Ark returns after an extended break. The rest of the game starts now, so sit down and have some Tea.

Alien 3 (Super NES, 1993)

 I was going to do a full post on this game next, but the game suuuuuuucks. I didn't get very far. I did take some shots, so I'm going to take a moment to talk about it. This game has always been intriguing to me, but now I'm glad I didn't bother with it.

The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (Super NES, 1992)

 Here's an old Super NES game that I'd like to highlight a bit. It's a surprisingly great game, and it's enjoyable in the Kirby's Dream Land sense: Short, easy, and fun. And really, I'm just glad to be playing something colorful and happy after playing The Last of Us.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Playstation 2, 2004)

With GTA5 hot off the presses, I figured this would be a good time to finally get around to San Andreas. This is the next game in the venerable series for me, as I played GTA3 and Vice City previously. San Andreas has a whirlwind of hype surrounding it, and I'm not sure if it can measure up.

Come on in. Punch and pie.

Dynasty Warriors (Playstation, 1997)

Today I'm looking at the genesis of one of the more popular beat-em-up series' of the past decade and a half or so. The very first Dynasty Warriors is a cult 2.5D Playstation fighter, and bears little resemblance to the badass 3D games that make up the rest of the series and are far more well-known. For this reason, it's worth taking a look at.

Nintendo Power, Volume 52 (September 1993)

 Today I'm going to be looking at a magical relic from September 1993: Issue 52 of Nintendo Power (RIP). I just picked up a used copy on Amazon, so I'm reading it for the first time.

This was nearly the first issue of Nintendo Power that I had as a kid; I subscribed in August, but it didn't get processed in time to get this issue. Instead, the first one I got was the fairly underwhelming October issue. That issue still blew my mind at the time, but I can only imagine the level of mind-blowing that would have occurred had THIS issue been my first. I was an absolute Mario fanatic.

Highlander: The Series 1x12 - Eyewitness

The last episode of season 1's first half, which might as well be a different show from the second half. This is it, the big conclusion to Highlander: Cop Show.