Final Fantasy VI: Strago Solo Game (Balance Edition)

I'm feeling ultra-nostalgic as of late. Know what I'd like to do? Play FFVI solo... as Strago. Nowadays, Final Fantasy games just aren't what they used to be. They have titles like Fabulous Nova Whispering Dawn of Ladyparts that sound more like feminine hygiene products than video games. Once upon a time, though, the series was pretty damn great. And FFVI might have been the highest point. Maybe. It's also noteworthy for having a female main character.

Then again, compared to most of the men in later Final Fantasy games, Terra is one of the less feminine Final Fantasy main characters. But this isn't about her; it's about Strago, the spell-slinging hip wunderkind from the upper east side of Thamasa. Can I beat this game with just one character? Read on.

Altered Beast (Sega Genesis, 1988)

This is a game that got requested a while ago. I'd seen glimpses of it previously, and it definitely wasn't on my agenda. However, in this case I'm glad that I gave it a shot, because it's RAD TO THE MAX. I'll put it out there that if you have any games you'd like to see looked at here, go ahead and let me know in any given comments section.

In any case, this game is responsible for more emergency calls to Animal Control than any other game in history.

Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland (Game Boy Advance, 2002)

In today's MAN-SIZED post, I cover the super-cool Kirby's Adventure remake.

Kirby's Adventure (NES, 1993)

Today we're looking at a very special game. It's his console debut, as well as the birth of Kirby in his power-absorbing incarnation. It's not a literal birth, though, 'cause...that'd be gross, and I already covered Bloodborne.

Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Super NES, 1997)

 One of the last Super NES games.

Kirby's Dream Land 2 (Game Boy, 1995)

Here's a game I was dying to play for a while in 1995. As the sequel to my first game, this had me super-hyped. I beat the game in a day once I finally had it, though it took me a week or so to unlock the true final boss.

I think it'd be something else if one of these Kirby games pulled a Metroid and revealed that Kirby is a woman at the end.

Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy, 1992)

Kirby's Dream Land was the first game I ever owned, and as a result it has a special place in my memory. I can still remember perusing game shelves for my first game and choosing Kirby mainly based on the colorful, eye-catching box art.

I'd have certainly gone with Mario, but the store didn't have either of the Mario Land games that existed at the time. It's probably for the best; this is one of the easiest games I've ever played, making it perfect as a first game. It's a short (15 minutes or so if you're familiar with it), unassuming game, but little did anyone know that it would spawn a whole series of Kirby games that would catapult the "tough cream puff" into the pantheon of legendary Nintendo characters.

Superman 64 (Nintendo 64, 1999)

Today I'm going to take a quick look at one of the shittiest fucking games that Nintendo ever put the Seal of Quality on. And I thought Bebe's Kids was bad. What we have here is a textbook example of what NOT to do in video game design.

Final Fantasy: Record Keeper (iOS/Android, 2015)

Today I'm looking at a very cool phone game from Square Enix. ...did I just type those words? I believe I did.

Life Force (NES, 1988)

Time for another NES classique. Man, Konami was AMAZING back in the day. They gave us Metal Gear, Contra, Gradius, Suikoden, Castlevania, and lots of other good stuff. Nowadays they're firing Hideo Kojima and just generally being the worst.

This game is licensed by Nintend. Get the O out.

Dragon Warrior III Finale - The Odyssey

Bud Fox has used all his ill-gotten earnings on Wall Street to turn New Town into the towering metropolis of Budville. But will this, like all great empires, collapse under its own excesses?

Also, I kill Baramos and Zoma. Today on the JUMBO-SIZED finale of Dragon Warrior III.

Dragon Warrior III #2 - Andhra Pradesh

The queen tosses her handkerchief in the air and laments the harsh life that is being beautiful and well-liked by everyone. Loto nods.

Today in Dragon Warrior III, I traverse the desert portion of the game and do some class-changing. And a whole lot more!

The Last of Us (Playstation 3, 2013)

Today I'm going in the opposite direction from retro and looking at one of the biggest games of 2013. For a while, I didn't even consider playing this game. It looked depressing and boring, I was sick of seeing Ellen Page in modern games, and survival-horror simply isn't my genre. I didn't even like Resident Evil 4 all that much and that's probably the best survival-horror game of all time. However, after I played Bioshock Infinite, my need to continue with 2013's GOTY contenders drove me to get ahold of the game. Here are my thoughts on it, or at least the first couple hours. Spoilers will abound for said intro.

Dragon Warrior III (NES, 1991)

Time for what might be my favorite RPG on the NES. It's either this or the original Final Fantasy.

I put the SFC version of this on here a year ago, and I've been wanting to cover the original ever since. It'll be less Buffy-ized this time, as we see the real story of Erdrick.

EVO: Search for Eden Finale - Evolution is a Mystery

The meteor has fallen, wiping out the dinosaurs. Now, Chapter 4 takes us to an eastern hemisphere that looks pretty modern. We're leaping through eras like a champ now, and the Ice Age is fully underway. But why is there a flying castle over Mt. Kilimanjaro, and why is Mt. Kilimanjaro in completely the wrong spot?

EVO: Search for Eden (Super NES, 1992)

Time to look at a true classic from Enix. ...and by classic I mean a somewhat overrated grind-fest that is hard to play now. Despite that, there's something appealing and cool about this game that made it a lot of fun back in the day, and today I'm going to show you what that is.

Lufia: Ruins of Lore Finale - But The Fall Is Short

Time for the grand finale of Ruins of Lore, the only game whose developers furiously masturbate every time a player has to replay a dungeon that they've already finished.

Lufia: Ruins of Lore #5 - The Tower Is Tall

Wait a second... an underwater utopia that is destined to collapse under its own excesses? Did we step into Bioshock? Find out, on the next painstaking chapter of Ruins of Lore.

Lufia: Ruins of Lore #4 - The Horror

Back to the horrific dungeons. I'd rather get a root canal than do a dungeon from this game, and that's no exaggeration. This one has a creepy stone head as an entrance, so at least that's kind of cool.

The following takes place in an incredibly boring game with characters you want to set on fire.

Lufia: Ruins of Lore #3 - Save Us

............

::holds ears:: THE SOUNDS! THEY DON'T STOP.