Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin (Everything, 2015)

Time for one of the most hopeless, nihilistic, negative games I've ever played. But seriously, this game is quite gripping.

The Final Fantasy Series Retrospective

Today we're going to be taking a look at the Final Fantasy series in retrospective form. What are our memories of the series? Which chapters stand the test of time? Read on to find out.

The Legend of Zelda Retrospective

A while back I gathered up some friends to reflect on the Zelda series. This means a smorgasbord of guest writers for a smorgasboard of great games. Join us for this trip down memory lane as we look at what is arguably the greatest game series of all time.

Big shout-out and thank you to all of the contributors.

-JD

The Super Mario Retrospective

Today myself and a group of friends and fellow writers are going to take a retrospective look at what may be the most influential game series of all time: Mario. We'll be writing about our memories of these games and what they brought to the gaming world. Mario Party not included. Punch and pie.

Doom (Playstation 4 and XBox One, 2016)

This post will be a departure from the usual and be composed of videos. I'll be doing another image-based post shortly as Mega Mania resumes. In the meantime, gird your loins for DOOM.

The Top Seventeen Final Boss Themes in Gaming

Today I'm listing what I consider to be the seventeen best final boss themes of all time. There are many final boss themes that I've never heard, so your mileage may vary. Honorable mention goes to the final boss theme of Yoshi's Island for the SNES.

The Legend of Manpanda II

Someday, the world will look up and shout "save us". And he will whisper... "Manpanda."

The Legend of Manpanda

 MANPANDA: The World's Manliest Panda. 25% Man, 75% Panda, 100% Sexy.

Homefront: The Revolution Sux

Today I'm taking a look at the first half hour of Homefront: The Revolution in video form. The game takes place in Philly, so I brought along a couple of Philly natives. Did the game impress in the first half hour, or did it fall flat? Find out bel... oh, wait, I already spoiled it. Well, join us for a quick look at the game and why it Sux.

A Smorgasbord of Videos

As some of you guys know I've been working on a fair amount of Youtube videos lately for a new channel, which is the reason for the lack of new posts. I'm taking a moment now to invite any and all readers here to check out my new channel. More Mega Man is on the way this week (probably), and in the meantime I've got a smorgasbord of videos now posted on Youtube. Here are the best of the lot.

Playthroughs of Mega Man X, X2, and X3

Today I'm posting a trio of videos that I recorded while playing through the Super NES Mega Man X trilogy. These are full playthroughs with hella commentary, so enjoy.

Rockman and Forte (Super Famicom, 1998)

(Credit to RedGaijin1991 for the drawing)

Time to return to the Mega Man series and cover another classic. This one was released in Japan at the tail end of the SFC's lifespan, too late to get a localization here. It eventually got a portable release (as Mega Man and Bass) years later, but as far as I'm concerned the console version is the best.

For a long time this game was incorrectly labeled "Mega Man 9" on the internet, but this isn't the case. It's more of a Mega Man 8.5, a fusion of elements from the seventh and eighth games. ...maybe that makes it 7.5. It also features a surprise guest. You'll never guess who it is: Forte, aka Bass. In any case, let's check it out.

Rockman 8 FC (PC, 2010)

 Today I'm taking a very special look at a de-make of Mega Man 8. The original was released on the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn in 1996 and 1997 respectively, so this 8-bit styled de-make was likely even more difficult to make than the Rockman 7 FC de-make. At least that one only had to jump from 16-bit to 8-bit. This is also a very recent release, launching in 2010 and undergoing numerous revisions since then. I believe this is the third version of it. It's a lot of fun and worth checking out if you can get PC controller support to work, but be warned, it's SUPER difficult.

Rockman 7 FC (PC, 2008)

Not sure what that kanji says, but I'd like to think it says "bitch!"

That way it's "Rockman 7 bitch!"

Mega Man 7 was released in the mid 90's for the Super NES. It was the first original series game to make its presence felt on the 16-bit powerhouse. Due in part to the system jump, it looks and feels almost nothing like the earlier NES games that preceded it. As a result, Mega Man 7 was kind of an "odd man out". It was on the console known for Mega Man X  without being a part of that series, and by the time it came out I thought the original series was long over with.

In 2008 we got a retro version of the game (that brings it in line with the NES originals) when some intrepid fan-programmers created a version of Mega Man 7 with entirely NES-styled graphics and sound. Available for PCs as "Rockman 7 FC", this fan-creation very successfully integrates Mega Man 7 into an NES format...to awesome effect. We later got a Rockman 8 FC de-make as well, and it's pretty good too.

Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Sega Genesis)

One of the best games on the Sega Genesis, Mega Man: The Wily Wars includes the first three games in the series with revamped graphics and sound. When I heard that the game has additional content in the form of Wily Tower, I had to check it out. This post is all about Wily Tower; join me for a look at this exclusive and forgotten part of the Mega Man universe.

Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP, 2006)

Today I'm taking a look at something that I've never covered on here before. It's a PSP remake of the very first game in the series, and... it's pretty weird, to say the least. This had tons of potential to start a new franchise, giving us a Mega Man Powered-Up 2 and so on; unfortunately the problems with it likely doomed it to not continue as a series. That or Capcom just lost interest. Who knows with these companies these days.

In any case, this is a very easy game, especially for this series; it can be finished in two hours on a first go and one hour on a repeat run. It's essentially the Kirby's Dream Land of Mega Men. It's fun, though, and that's what matters.

Mega Man V (Game Boy, 1994)

This is it. The last Mega Man of the Game Boy exclusive series, the only one to have an entirely new cast of robot masters, and the only one to take advantage of the Super Game Boy to deliver its own color set.

Mega Man IV (Game Boy, 1993)

This game is RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. Capcom took everything that didn't work about the previous three games and fixed all of it, resulting in what may well be the perfect original series Mega Man game. The fact that it's on a portable system makes it even more of an achievement.

Mega Man III (Game Boy, 1992)

The next game in the Game Boy series is possibly the worst of the lot. How is that possible, when the first one is so barebones and difficult, and the second is ridiculously easy and shallow? Well, after the difficulty valley of the previous game, Capcom turned the difficulty back up for this one. Thing is, they cranked it. This game is HARD to the point of losing a lot of the fun factor. Add in poorly designed, frustrating stages, and the lamest selection of robot masters (at least in the second half) of any of the Game Boy series, and...well, this game just isn't that good, and Capcom missed the mark again.

Mega Man II (Game Boy, 1992)

Mega Man II! On the Game Boy! While the previous game was one of the harder games in the Mega Man pantheon, this one is probably the easiest out of all of them. Bar none. Yep, they went overboard when making difficulty adjustments for this one. This game makes the Whelk look like Ornstein and Smough.