Nicolas' Favorite Game Songs

Hello, I was hoping to use today's article to discuss MORE video game songs that I really like, but

TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME.
Credit Matthew Taranto, Brawl in the Family

finally, I was manipulated into posting just about any songs that I like.

In other words, APRIL FOOLS!

(P.S. Yes, some of them are in French. Open your horizons a little. Maybe you'll discover a few songs thanks to me.)

Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time

Hello everyone! Let's start with these little questions: What happens when you combine cartoon characters, time travel, and comic mischief? What happens when a rabbit goes back and forth in time so that he can go home? Most of all, what happens when a Nintendo fan decides to review a PlayStation game?

Chaos, that's what happens!

April Fools! Today, in celebration of the day of mischief (even if I'm ahead of time, no need to remind me), I decided I'd post something that has absolutely nothing to do with what I usually review. I am a Nintendo fan, but once in a while I got the chance to test out other consoles when I'm visiting friends. As such, I was introduced to today's game when I was very young. Much later on, I actually bought this game as a gift for another friend, who also owned a PlayStation console. I always liked this Looney Tunes game, it's so zany and crazy. I might not have ever seen it completed, but I'm sure it's awesome. This is why, today, I review a game on a console other than Nintendo, for the first time ever, and probably the last!

This is Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time. Cue the Back to the Future theme, we're gonna go time traveling with Bugs and his enemies!

Do Video Games Encourage Creativity?

When you think of video games, you think of, well, playing games. Isn't it part of the name, after all? However, as time went on, it became clear that video games were becoming their own media. The times of Pong and Pac-Man were gone. More and more games were coming out. And with every game franchise, a fan base. It's normal; anything that knows some success, even moderate, will end up having fans who enjoy the product and the world that gets depicted within it. That's partly why the story aspect of many video games has been upped over time: Things get bigger, because the fans want to know more. They love what's presented, and as such they always want to see new elements.

I talked a lot about the fans' habits. Fan fiction, fan art, fan videos... All this kind of thing is sure to pop up when a franchise gets popular. All these things are made by people, and honor what they love. As such, some fans can get VERY creative. The question will seem odd, as the answer will be apparently obvious at first sight, but... do video games encourage creativity?

Puzzler Collection DS

This week, I played Pokémon HeartGold, trying to catch a Beldum in the Safari Zone. Here's my epic journey through this hard task, and I swear you don't want to miss a single bit of it. First, I placed the blocks in the Forest zone, then I waited seventy days, then I came back and-

Wait, what? I played another game for this review? ...The title says Puzzler Collection. I have a game like this? Really? I don't remember that... Wait, I'll go look in my collection. No... not this... neither... Ah! Wow, I didn't even know I had that game! Yet I've played it this week so that I could review it? Wow, it must be REALLY forgettable...

So, this game combines four types of paper puzzles. You know, the regular stuff: Crosswords, Word Searches, Sudokus and Fitword.

I guess that's all I can say as an introduction. This is Puzzler Collection, I guess. Enjoy this review.

Twitch Plays Pokémon

Yeah, yeah, HAD to talk about it... Though there's technically no point in talking about it. If you haven't heard of it, then either you don't have Internet or you aren't using it for entertainment... in which case you shouldn't be reading Planned All Along in the first place.

Twitch Plays Pokémon is one of the best things to have happened to the franchise since Pokémon Origins! ...Okay, for the fans, anyway. The concept started pretty simple. Put an early Pokémon game on Twitch and then let all users input their own commands. As a result, it used to be quite messy, as some mischievous users would often jump in and derail what had bee done so far, by, say, inputting lots of the wrong command. And causing events such as using the Master Ball on weak Pokémon... Or releasing lots of Pokémon from the PC, just to get the others very angry... But most of the time, it's petty stuff that still annoys a lot of Twitch players, like jumping off the wrong ledge.

Eventually, two modes were created in order to prevent this: Anarchy VS Democracy. As silly as it sounds, both sides were represented by the two Gen 1 fossils. The second mode was created to help get through the harder sections of the game, where devious players would inevitably show up and bring more annoyance.

Eventually, Pokémon Red was beaten, and Pokémon Crystal was put on Twitch. This one was beaten not very long ago, and now Pokémon Emerald will be up in a few days. This is clearly one of the most influential things to have happen for the Pokémon fandom. If not THE most influential thing. Pictures were drawn, stories were written cults were started- no, not that much. Though, to be fair, dozens of memes were created from this. All hail the Helix fossil!

You can see the Twitch here. As for me, I finally understood what was going on AFTER Pokémon Red had been beaten. Yeah, I suck. Before then, I even thought Twitch was a Let's Player. Hey, there are much weirder names out there, it very well could have been!

Looking For Artists!

Hello, readers!

Planned All Along began July 19th, 2013. I'm already looking forward to celebrating the blog's First Anniversary. And maybe it has to do with That Guy With The Glasses always celebrating the site's anniversary with something big (seriously, the fourth anniversary's movie was three hours and a half long). Maybe, just because they were partly my inspiration, I feel like celebrating as well. Maybe, since I don't think I'd be ready to make videos with a camera (I don't even have a camcorder, in fact), I'd find another way to thank the readers for encouraging me through the whole year. Hm, maybe avatars. Or wallpapers. I already created an Extras section for the occasion, and I'm looking forward to filling it up with stuff for my readers to download.

Only problem, I don't have the artistic talent to draw great nice pictures that could be used as wallpapers. I don't have any good coloring tools on the computer, either. I guess I'll have to rely on my readers for that. Or, at least, readers who have more talent in that field of competence than I do.

I don't really like to ask for so much to a community, but there's absolutely no obligation to participate. If you do participate, however, here are a few things to know.
-The image size in pixels will be 1680X1050.
-You will still rightfully own the image. You will have the right to put a copyright notice or a watermark on the picture.
-With each wallpaper, links to your accounts showcasing your art will be clickable.
-The subject of the picture will be either a game I've reviewed or another thing I discussed on any article of my blog. I may or may not be part of the picture; I'll post a picture of myself on the "Post Your Picture" Thread here, just to be sure. And have it available for anyone who participates and decides to include me in the picture. Though like I said, it's really not necessary.
-I'd say it's better if the picture is comedic. But in the end, the choice is yours.
-"Planned All Along" can be written somewhere, either in a corner or hidden in the picture, though it's not a requirement.
-More important than anything else, even if I say "participate", this is not a contest. All the pictures I receive as a result will be taken and put up as downloadable wallpapers on the blog.

You have plenty of time to give an answer. Like I said, there's no obligation, if you don't want to, then don't.

Where's this week's Fun Stuff article? ...I'm still looking for an idea. I'll find one at some point. Maybe tomorrow. Sorry for the delay, I'm very, very busy at the moment. Gonna find a subject and post q uick something tomorrow.

Rayman: Hoodlum's Revenge (Part 2)

Part 1 can be read here. I strongly suggest you do so.

Okay, I'm back for the second part of this review. What is it again? Rayman: Hoodlums' Revenge? NOOOOOOO-

...I think you get the point.

The last time, the review ended as Rayman and Globox got back together. They had been separated at the beginning of the game, as Globox had wandered off after a bad dream related to Andre the Black Lum. So, basically, Globox got easily captured, in a matter of minutes. He cannot jump, he will run away from enemies, and the only way he can attack back is by drinking from prune juice barrels.

He never ceases to impress me... BY HIS AWFULNESS! What a goddamn idiot!

Because THIS looks like a smart guy, right?

Okay, maybe I should continue the story instead of complaining like this...

UPDATE: Why Do I Dislike Mega Evolutions?

Hello to all my readers! In October, I held Poké-Month, a whole month dedicated to our favorite collecting and battling game. This month was made because of the sixth Generation of Pokémon that arrived, along with the new games, Pokémon X and Y.

During that month, I wrote an article titled "Why Do I Dislike Mega Evolutions?". Looking back, it wasn't my most solid article, especially considering I was discussing a subject that had been talked about a LOT in the fan community. Pokémon X and Y hadn't come out yet, so we didn't know everything there was to know about the aforementioned Mega Evolutions. We were working with the ones we knew about (such as Mawile, Lucario or Ampharos), but we did not have the full list. As a result, my arguments weren't quite accurate. Based solely on pre-release information... Yeah...

Anyway, I decided I'd take a look back at my preceding article and change my opinion, OR add more to what I had said previously. The sixtg Gen has come out five months ago, Pokémon Z is probably on the way, so I felt like it was the good time for that.

Rayman: Hoodlum's Revenge (Part 1)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Not this game! Not this darned game!

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I love the Rayman series. There's always been this sense of weirdness around it. The pre-Rabbid years had really great games, good ideas, nice plots and stories; it also had freaking Razorbeard, which is not only one of the most awesome names for a villain ever, but just one awesome concept. Imagine that. The Rabbid years, while controversial, had their fair share of fun, even if Rayman was slowly vanishing from his own series... Then, the post-Rabbid years, which began not so long ago, with Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends, which are just as awesome as the original installments, but also such a treat to watch... Long story short, I love the Rayman series.

However, I was introduced to this series through a little Game Boy Advance game called Rayman: Hoodlum's Revenge. Back then, I had an idea of who Rayman was, but there was no answer as to what a Hoodlum was, nor why it wanted revenge. I still bought the game, and... well... I'll refer you to the very first line of this review. The long “No”.

Is it really that bad? Am I making it worse than it really is? Come with me if you wish to find out! And try not to get lost on the way, it's really easy to lose yourself in isometric 3D.

Non-Stop

What? Yet another movie review? A second one in less than a month? Yep. I don't go to the theater that often, but when I do, you bet I'm going to write a post about it!

So, this week, I went to watch the film Non-Stop. Starring Liam Neeson, this movie is an airplane thriller in the vein of Flight Plan. Of course, being a thriller, it's action-packed and there's a lot of characters. The movie has a lot to do with technology, as most of the action is triggered by text discussions between Neeson's character and the terrorist. Another interesting detail about thrillers set in airplanes? There's usually over a hundred people sitting in a plane, and therefore it's very difficult to find the villain. Here, it's very special, as the film keeps you guessing all the way through. Is that passenger the terrorist? Is it that passenger? Is it one of the flight attendants? The co-pilot? Is it the protagonist himself? Seriously, your suspicions will continue to run amok until at least the last fourth. But, what's the story and how good is it? Let's find out.