The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Part 2)

Adult Link’s quest continues (and ends) today. Part 1 is here.

You know, if I had been that committed to sparkle motion, I could have posted Part 1 seven years ago and Part 2 today, and have both parts interact in some ways with each other. ….Unfortunately, I would have had to have thought of that back in 2016. Too late!

The next medallions

Darunia called his own Goron kid the same name you called
Link on the main menu.

Time to drop the hammer.

Much like the Forest Temple, the first dungeons in the Hyrule visited by adult Link have elements similar to the ones he visited as a child. We visit the Gorons again in order to enter Death Mountain. Most of them have been captured and taken to the Fire Temple within the volcano’s crater, to be eaten by the mountain’s resident fire dragon Volvagia. In order to navigate the temple without burning to death, Link needs a fire-resistant tunic, which is given to him by Darunia’s son. (How the tunic protects him when his legs are still bare, that’s never explained.) Darunia himself is in the dungeon as well, trying to rescue his people.

C'm'ere, Volvagia. I have a hammer and your head looks
like a nail right now.

In this rescue mission, Link frees the Gorons one at a time, always getting a new key with each. Great concept. This eventually takes him to the high point, where he gets a special tool, the Megaton Hammer, which lets him smash down rusty switches and, of course, beat the boss. Link has to play whack-a-mole against the fire dragon Volvagia, smack its head real good with the Megaton Hammer in order to slash at it with the sword. It was a tough fight for me, until I figured out the pattern eventually.

The fire, then the ice... Man, all these temperature changes
are gonna give Link a nasty cold.

Next up is the Water Temple, hidden underneath Lake Hylia. We need a special song taught by Sheik to teleport to it, as one path is blocked by a fence and the other path, accessible from the Zoras’ domain, is frozen solid. So are most Zoras themselves, really. In fact, before we can access this major dungeon, we have to go through an ice-themed dungeon in order to obtain Iron Boots, which allow Link to walk underwater. The place has a gimmick that involves burning away mysterious red ice using blue fire that can be kept into bottles. The blue fire is also needed in the Zoras’ domain to free the King, also encased in that ice; and the King, as thanks, gives Link a blue tunic allowing him to breathe underwater.

Movie Review: Elemental

If the Internet is to be believed, Pixar is hitting a bit of a bump in recent years. Uncreative ideas, sequelitis... I am not saying I agree, I'm saying it's what is being said. In fact, I disagree; maybe not every film is a success for a studio that originally knocked it out of the park at every release, but their output is still really good. I haven't seen a lot of their newer films; none between Soul and this one, in fact. Soul is one of my favorite films ever while I actually like Onward quite a bit; and between them and now, with Luca, Turning Red and Lightyear, really only the last one got openly negative reception with critics saying that it wasn't up to par with their usual stuff.

I can't really say I was intrigued with the concept behind Elemental. That classic tale of two polar opposites learning to be together? Take away the element aspect, and we've seen that a thousand times. A million, even. It's been done, even kids can tell you. No wonder the studio struggled to market this film on anything else. Shame, too, as this film has a ton of style.

And, mind you, I actually dislike the expression "style over substance". People working behind a movie very rarely think that way, and I feel it's a disservice to throw that critique at the work done by hundreds of people who all put in their little something in the final product. Elemental's director, Peter Sohn, mentioned in interviews that this film is meant to represent his struggles as a second-generation Korean immigrant in New York. Nothing we couldn't see on our own as part of the plot, but it helps put some of those elements (no pun intended) into perspective.

Story

Ember Lumen's parents Bernie and Cinder come from a fire nation (stop your A:TLA jokes, everyone's done them already). They've gone across the ocean to live in Element City, where the four elements coexist. They learned English over time following their arrival while Ember, growing up, was already immersed in it. She lives in an ethnic neighborhood for the fire people, an area that's safe for them to be in while the remainder of the city is built to accomodate water, air and earth people living together. Bernie has set up a convenience store, the Fireplace, and expects his daughter to learn the ropes of retail work so that when he retires he can pass the torch on to her.

(Oh, yeah - if you're not bothered by an endless stream of puns with the four elements, you're gonna get far more than your share.)

In the middle of a stressful sales event, Ember hides in her house's basement to blow off some steam, but in her fiery outburst, the water pipes break and leak. Those had been blocked off by rocks since water can be a deadly hazard to her people. However, alongside the leak comes a waterman, a city inspector named Wade Ripple, who had been sucked into the pipes mere minutes earlier. Embarrassed, Wade nonetheless reports on the code violations in the place before running away from a very angry Ember. Unfortunately for her, despite her best attempts, she is unable to stop him from sending his report; as a result, her dad's store is now at risk of being shut down by the city.

Ember manages to find Wade and both try to get that decision repealed to the best of their abilities. The air woman in charge, noting that the presence of water in Fire Town is a risk, gives them a few days to find the problem and solve it. And there is, indeed, a problem: A dam near the Town is about to burst. However, the time the two spend together creates a spark between them... A spark that will be hard to work with, seeing as A) physical contact between them is risky, and B) there's a very strong current against elements mingling with each other... to the point where Bernie is predjudiced against water people and would never accept his daughter's relationship with one of them!

Review

There IS substance here! But story-wise, it's beats we have already seen. Like I said, the forbidden romance between characters who are extremely different from each other... It's been done! Even Disney has done non-romantic takes on it in relatively recent movies. That was basically Zootopia. Swap animals for elements, add romance, and there you go. Everything else is the same: Large city with inventive building designs and neighborhoods fitted to the various types of citizens. Oh, and racism between those various types.

My comparison to Zootopia ends here, though, if I want to discuss this film on its own merits. The Fire People having their own language, living in their own part of the city and facing prejudice is a clear allegory for immigrants and immigration. It's an issue in our world, I'm all for the lack of subtlety on that aspect. Some moments are on-the-nose, like when someone from Wade's watery family comments on Ember's lack of accent...

On the plus side, what the movie seems to lack in terms of story it at least tries to compensante in terms of creativity in presenting this world. How that society is structured, how it works, how everyone lives... Every element's skills and abilities, like how Ember can create and shape glass out of sand, or how both protagonists' non-solid forms allows them to fit into any space. Common personality traits for each element - Ember is hotheaded and prone to anger, while Wade is in touch with his emotions and cries a lot. Obvious roads to take, fair. More notable is the sheer number of element-based puns going on. It's kind of intense. It's slmost too much. Good thing I like puns.

That said, it's still Pixar, so the film is gorgeous. Perhaps much more importantly, the way the characters look. I keep staring at our two mains and wondering, "how did they do that??" The fire effects on Ember, including her face - I swear it looks like 2D, and yet, sometimes it doesn't... The water effects with Wade, whenever he's boiling inside, or anytime his body melts into a puddle or goes through a chain link fence or whatever else... And what about the effect of wind characters being blown apart and reforming? How?

Style over substance? I already said I don't like that descriptor. At the very least I wouldn't call it intentional. That the substance is something that's regularly described as "it's been done" doesn't change that it's still there, and I like the aspect added by Mr. Sohn that was missing from similar works. Still, the style is all its own, and the effects on these characters - as well as how those effects are used throughout the film's 109-minute runtime - are worth at least giving this one a chance. If not in theaters, then on streaming or home media when it's released there. It's good, but from Pixar, we normally expect better than good; we expect outstanding. I'd like to think that this one will be more appreciated years down the line than it currently is, during its theater run - as it pales in comparison to recent animated movies such as Across the Spider-Verse or last year's Puss in Boots sequel, and will benefit from hindsight.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Part 1)

More of me fighting my phobia of hype aversion! Yaay! It’ll be fun! And what a massive game it is that I’m covering today. One of the Titans of gaming. Needless to say, I’m a little worried.

From 8-bit open world to modern open world.

In the world of video games, few franchises have such a long and storied legacy as The Legend of Zelda, one of the most beloved adventure series out there. Present since March 1986, the adventures of Link and his quests that usually involve rescuing Princess Zelda and kicking Ganon and/or Ganondorf’s teeth in have been a part of the pantheon of the Greats. Few games in the series have been treated as outright terrible, and those that have… well, I’ve never owned a CD-I console, so I don’t need to worry! Indeed, aside from the occasional mechanic introduced in a somewhat clunky manner (the finicky Wiimote controls in Skyward Sword being one oft-cited example), what we get when buying a TLoZ title is generally a strong product, offering solid gameplay backed by an enthralling story.

I’ve already covered a few titles in the series so far: I grew up with A Link to the Past, which I’ve owned on both SNES and Virtual Console (Wii), and that title is also frequently in fans’ Top 5 when it comes to ranking the games. Slightly lower on many lists but still an impressive title in its own right, Twilight Princess was covered in the early days of this blog. Today’s game, though, tends to top most of those hypothetical “Best of Zelda” lists, sometimes in a heated competition with a more modern entry in the series, Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch.

THE defining entry in the franchise: Ocarina of Time, released originally for the Nintendo 64 on November 23rd, 1998 in North America, with a remake available with stereoscopic 3D published for the Nintendo 3DS on June 19, 2011. The latter is the version I’m playing today. Maybe if I had hurried I would've finished this review to coincide with the release of Tears of the Kingdom...

I might take a little less time discussing the story, as though I’m actually discovering it now as I play the game, I assume most people know the main beats.

The fairyless Kokiri

The young Link is the only Kokiri, a group of elf-like people of the forest, without a fairy. He is plagued by nightmares of a man on horseback over a Hyrule on fire. One day, the protector of the forest, the Great Deku Elder, sends Navi, a little fairy, to retrieve Link and send him on a quest. The other Kokiris rejoice in seeing Link with a fairy, but he has no time to waste. He finds a sword and purchases a shield to go on his way, and leaves to meet the Elder.

Okay, okay, sheesh! Give me a minute!
I've got seven years to save the world...
P.S. Screenshots here come from the playthrough done by
Gamer's Little Playground.

Navi is useful as a living crosshair.
As an expositor, not so much.

The mustachioed tree explains to the young hero that it has been struck with a mysterious ill by a man on horseback. It asks Link to venture into it and defeat that ill. This is the first dungeon, and as is tradition for the series, feels very much like a tutorial showing the ropes and what to expect afterwards. You get your first projectile weapon (a slingshot and Deku Seeds) and the first enemies that you must defeat using those, including this dungeon’s boss, Gohma, a giant spider. It needs to be stunned with them before it can be wounded with the sword. Puzzles-wise, most here involve collecting wooden sticks from the monster plants, lighting them on fire and burning spider webs to open paths.

The Great Deku Tree is indeed a much better
expositor. Alas, he's not portable.

After defeating Gohma, Link gets the ever-present Heart Containers, adding one full heart to his life, and is teleported back outside the Great Deku Tree. The elder thus explains the mythos to him, about the three goddesses (Din, Nayru and Farore) who each had a hand in creating the world of Hyrule (the land, order, and life) and a trait (Power, Wisdom and Courage); and upon their departure, each one left behind a triangle containing the very essence of that trait. The three, put together, form the Triforce. The man on horseback, who seeks such might, must be stopped. The Deku Tree entrusts Link with the item it refused to hand over to the dark warrior, Kokiri’s Emerald, one of three spiritual stones that our hero will need to collect. The old tree tells Link, in its last breaths, to go see the Princess of Destiny… Zelda, at Hyrule Castle. Link leaves, obtaining the Fairy Ocarina from his best friend Saria on the bridge going to the outside world.

Search for the red stone

Man, those guards are bad at their job.

Hyrule Field is huge, and was an impressive sight when this game originally came out in 1998. Nowadays, it feels barren and empty. There’s a lot of places to go, but heading there takes a while. Seeing the skeletons pop out from the ground at night must’ve been scary at the time. Our first stop is the Castle Town Market, which leads to Hyrule Castle. Unfortunately, the royal guards are everywhere and will throw Link out on sight, so we go through a proto-stealth segment to reach the castle and, afterwards, the garden in which we meet Princess Zelda.

After she explains more lore regarding the Temple of Time (also accessible from Castle Town) and how it ties with the Triforce, she shows Link the man she feels is after the mighty artefact: Ganondorf, whose look screams “I am evil, don’t trust me”, yet the King seems to think this is a genteel, dapper fella! She asks Link to collect the other two spiritual stones, which will open the sacred realm. Link is then taken out of the castle by Impa, who trusts the Princess’s instinct and, as a bonus, teaches Link Zelda’s lullaby for his ocarina.

I arrived as fast as I could, but there was a middle-aged guy
blocking the way. Took a while to wake him up.

Dude's got some sick moves.

After a detour by Kokiri Forest to also learn Saria’s song, this quest takes us to Kakariko Village, next door to the castle. By showing proof that we’re on a quest, we have a guard open the path towards Goron Village, up in the mountains. The entrance to the second dungeon, Dodongo’s Cavern, is blocked by rocks, so we need to go through the Village. The Gorons are troubled because their source of food is in the Cavern. Wait; they eat rocks, and they can’t eat the rocks blocking the way? Whatever. The Gorons’ leader, at first grumpy, has his spirits lifted by hearing Saria’s song and gives Link a power glove that lets him pick up and throw Bomb Flowers.

Some Lizalfos in there, too.

Thanks to a Bomb Flower located higher on the mountains, we blast the dungeon’s blockade away and go in. Bombs and lava together in the same place sounds like a recipe for disaster. This time around, both the Deku seeds and the bombs are necessary. Bombs? Yeah, we find a bag to carry them. Turns out it’s better to use them against the boss, the King Dodongo, than the Bomb Flowers in his arena. Upon the giant beast’s defeat, we are yet again taken out of the dungeon, thanked by an authority (the leader of the Gorons, in this case), and given another spiritual stone. If things keep going this fast, I’ll be home before dinner!

How ‘bout that blue stone, now?

King of the Zoras: Large, in charge, and fishy.

Our third plot trinket is found in the domain of the Zoras. This opens a fair few number of new zones, including Lake Hylia, in which we find a message in a bottle. Ruto, the princess of the Zoras, is trapped inside Jabu-Jabu, a large yet peaceful creature living in their domain. This is enough to get Link to meet Jabu-Jabu on order of the King of the Zoras. Activities here involve fishing or diving for Rupees (which, for the latter, earns Link an upgrade allowing him to hold his breath longer, and dive deeper, as a result).

Not a particularly pleasant place.
Not a particularly pleasant company, either.

We bring a fish to Jabu-Jabu and get sucked in. Just the thought that we’ll actually be swimming in dirty belly water… Yuck! This third dungeon is peculiar in that we not only rescue Ruto, but also end up carrying her around, because Missus does not want to get out. Missus wants to be lifted and taken to various parts of the dungeon, where she’ll be used as a stone for pressure plate puzzles. Want a cushion for that royal entitled bum too, Missus? This is how we find out that a parasite has taken control of Jabu-Jabu, and Link needs to kill it. This involves killing the parasite’s tentacles, which are electrified; we find a boomerang to deal with that.

Nothing quite like beating up a parasite!
Though usually it's figurative, not literal.

Per Zelda tradition, the boomerang is mandatory to beat the mini-boss, Big Octo, which was a lot more bothersome to me than the actual boss, Barinade. If only Ruto wasn’t complaining the whole time, too! People like that character? She’s unbearable! On the plus side, we find the Zora’s Sapphire, which is what Ruto was also looking for within the beast, claiming it to be an item she would only give to her future husband. Well, she’s fallen in love with the hero who saved her, so I guess that counts. Well, too bad! We got a world to save here!

Link returns to Hyrule Castle only to see Impa fleeing with Zelda on horseback, with Zelda tossing an item in the moat. Following next is Ganondorf, who asks Link if he saw the two galloping away. He leaves, and Link retrieves the item; it’s the Ocarina of Time, a magical instrument! Sorry Saria, looks like I got a better musical instrument from someone else. With the item comes a vision of Zelda teaching Link the Song of Time.

Hero of Time

The ancient legend, the sword in the stone... Fun fact, in some
alternate language editions, the Master Sword IS mistakenly
labeled with the name Excalibur.

This new song opens the Temple of Time’s secret room, containing the Master Sword. Link grabs the sword, is engulfed in light… and in comes the silhouette of Ganondorf, thanking him. Turns out, this was the worst thing to do, as it also opened the door to the Sacred Realm where the Triforce is hidden, allowing the Gerudo to walk in and achieve his evil goals!

I am old enough? I don't feel it!
I lost seven years of my goddarn life!

When Link comes to his senses, he’s in a room of the Temple of Light, inside the Sacred Realm, where a sage named Rauru is talking to him. Discussing Link’s screw-up, Rauru explains that there is still a way to stop Ganondorf – Link must find the other six sages and rescue them, and they in turn will seal Ganondorf away. There’s only one problem; he is too short to wield the Master Sword, the only weapon that cdould defeat this evil. As a result, time has jumped forward seven years. Link is no longer a scrawny ten years old Kokiri kid, he’s now a scrawny seventeen year old with enough force to actually use the magical sword. Those seven years, however, gave Ganondorf plenty of time to corrupt the land. This will make finding the Sages difficult.

Yeah, I'm aware. Thanks for telling me where they are, though!
The other guy in the temple forgot to tell me. Also, you look
really familiar for some reason.

After this discussion, when Link comes to in the Temple of Time, he encounters a mysterious ninja by the name of Sheik. I don’t need to say who this is, do I? It’s one of those open secrets of gaming, like Samus Aran’s identity under the armor. If you’ve played a Smash Bros game past the first, you already know. Some would say that the 3DS version hides the twist even less, since it’s so well-known. The ninja instructs Link on the location of the five temples he must free from evil in order to awaken the sages, and that he should first look in Kokiri Forest for a girl he knows… However, Sheik instructs him to seek some items in Kakariko Village beforehand, which he’ll need to even enter the temple.

An aside before we resume the quest

It took me a moment to get in the “groove”, so to speak, but now I’m sold, this game is fun. Really, the one downside is that since it’s on the Nintendo 3DS with its short battery life, the game is to be played in short spurts. Thankfully, you can always save when pressing Start, though you’ll respawn on restart depending on where you are. Hyrule as child Link? In your Kokiri home. Hyrule as an adult? In the Temple of Time. If you save in a dungeon, you’ll respawn at that dungeon’s entrance, so you don’t have to do the whole trek back to resume the exploration-, combat- and puzzle-heavy areas that dungeons already are.

Bonus, the Ocarina is always accessible.

I seldom played the original Ocarina of Time on an N64, but it feels to me as though the bottom screen’s functions in this version help make the game a little less of a headache, at least when we reach a point where we switch items in/out of our main buttons regularly. Here, A and B are used to attack with the sword and do acrobatics, X and Y are used for items set to those buttons like, say, the bombs or bow or whichever else, and there are two extra buttons on the touch screen for quick-access inventory items. I’ve always felt from personal experience with my GBA SP and prior DSes that the L and R buttons on handheld consoles were weaker and more prone to breaking, so I was worried in a game like OoT where targeting is frequent and necessary (with L), but there is an option in the menu to change how targeting works; by holding the button down or by just pressing it once.

Adult Link refuses to use Young Link's little toys,
even though some would save him some
headaches. Similarly, most tools found as Adult
Link are too big or heavy for Young Link to use.

On the plus side, a field this big means we get to ride Epona.

While I’ve always loved playing games for this blog, this first time into Ocarina of Time, I’m kind of speeding through because it’s taking me so long to write the review, and it’s unfortunate. The deeper into it I go, the more I realize the greatest quality of Zelda games; exploration shouldn’t be rushed, especially in these big worlds. I had already played through Twilight Princess before reporting on it, way back in 2014. And I grew up playing A Link to the Past, so covering it was no issue. I was well-acquainted with both games before writing about them. But with Ocarina of Time? I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of stuff. Further reading into the game reveals so many interesting elements, especially in regards to exploring both “eras” and how they interact… I intend to beat this game to properly report on it, but I can definitely see myself replaying through it someday at a slower pace in order to catch up on what I've missed.

Oh, and that “3D” part in the title? Well, like most titles on the 3DS, you can toggle on/off the stereoscopic 3D in the top screen, but, much like most games from the console, I just play it without the function. It’s distracting. Especially while discovering a game for the first time. I mean, the effect is cool, I won’t knock the console for that – but not my thing, as far as gaming is involved.

New temples as an adult

Waking up in the Temple of Time to see the lively Market
infested with ReDeads... that's a huge shock.
I hate this future, I want my money back.

Stupid wolves, always in the way of dungeons!
....Okay, they're the first ones I see, but whatever.

Five temples to find across the land? Sure. We can do that. The Hookshot, obtained in the Kakariko Village graveyard, is needed to even enter the Forest Temple in search for the second Sage. And what a trip that temple is. A bad trip, I would dare say. At least we get the bow and arrows out of it. The temple is made more difficult in that we have to find and defeat the four Poe Sisters, whose lights are needed to call an elevator towards the floor where the boss resides. My enduring memory of this dungeon is the presence of Stalfos, skeletal knights with shields and some actual knightly tactics in combat… as well as a room in which three have to be defeated. Yeah, we’re in the tougher part alright; this game isn’t pulling punches anymore.

These knights are a real pain in the ass.
No joke here, they just are. I freaking hate them.

Painting Traveller VS Hylian Sniper with Bow.

Anyhow, with the boss’s key in hand and the four Poes beaten, we step down towards the end of this cursed dungeon and fight the boss, Phantom Ganon, a ghostly Ganondorf on horseback who attacks by coming out of paintings, and who must be sniped with the bow (or, like in my case, if you run out, there’s also the Hookshot). In the second half, the phantom ditches the horse for a Zelda classic: A wizard playing tennis with balls of energy against a Link equipped with the Master Sword, and being noticeably worse than the hero at parring the shots. Ganondorf isn’t joining Wimbledon anytime soon.

With Phantom Ganon defeated, Link rescues the second Sage, who happens to be… Saria! And she gives him the second medallion. We also get some additional reveals that Link is not actually a Kokiri but a Hylian, explaining why he grew up while all the Kokiris, Saria included, remained children, elves of the forest that they are.

Guess I should expect other people I've known as a kid
to turn out to be Sages, then. ....Malon, maybe?

Well, I know what to expect now. The quest is on!

…Let’s continue this in Part 2, shall we?

Gaming Memories: TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

One of the games I remember playing the most back on my physical NES. In part because I always wanted to see if I could go further than I did before.

The TMNT game for the NES home console is somewhat infamous for its high difficulty. Then again, a lot of games at the time were, though I always felt this one stood out in that discourse, as one of the examples being frequently given. The concept here is fairly simple: You play as Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphaello and Donatello as they attempt to stop another dastardly attack on New York City helmed by their forever enemy, Shredder, and his Foot Clan.

The Turtles wield their favorite weapons - katana, nunchakus, sai and bō, respectively. You can swap between brothers at will, but be careful - each one has a life bar and few ways to refill it. If a Turtle is down, good luck getting him back. There's also an obvious issue here regarding range; the turtles can only attack with their favorite weapon. Don and his bō are thus the best offensive option, just because you don't have to come into direct contact with an enemy to damage it. Next is Leo and his dual katana. Then come Mike and his pitiful nunchucks, and Raph and his even worse sai.

The game is famous for being difficult, but it bears noting that it's hard from the start. Sink or swim. Especially when the second mission comes around and there's the infamous underwater dam level with its electric seaweed. Every person who's played this game up to that point will rage, "Yes, the fucking seaweed level". And things don't let up in the third mission, a massive city with a labyrinthine sewer system and Foot tanks in the streets, which the Turtles' own tank cannot destroy except with missiles.

I remember eventually getting past that dam level, but never actually getting beyond the third mission. Its sheer length, coupled with the state my Turtles would normally be in by that point (again, DAM LEVEL), meant that I was never able to keep the four heroes alive long enough. Never saw what the fourth mission looked like. Not for lack of trying! But pizza slices (which heal the Turtles) get rare by then. On the plus side, it means Rocksteady and Bebop always got the beating they deserved. Shredder, that's a different story, alas.

Can't say TMNT is one of those franchises that I feel a lot for, but this game was a fine introduction. Probably would have enjoyed it more if I could have gotten further through. On the plus side, that I came back to it regularly to try and go a little further in means it did a couple of things right.

Quick Review: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

If the first blew your mind...

I unfortunately missed out on seeing the original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in theaters back in 2018, only getting to it on home media after the film's success at the Oscars. And I loved it when I saw it. I swore to myself that I wouldn't miss this one. Saw it yesterday.

In our current cultural media zeitgeist where so many works (especially but not exclusively superhero stuff) focus on the multiverse as THE popular topic, any movie that comes out has to find a way to stand out from the others. If the film that precedes this one was an excellent entrance into the subject, especially with the MCU moving on to focusing on it from Phases 4 to 6... with varying degrees of success. For the MCU alone there's Loki, which I haven't seen; Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is great in all the ways its fanservice needed to be; and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which... eh, it's middling, does a lot of things right, but doesn't actually go as deep into the topic as it could have with its premise.

And of course, in that paragraph, there's a big Everything Everywhere All At Once-shaped hole. I also saw EEAAO once it got a physical release, and I enjoy it a lot as well for actually going as deep into the topic as it could, and delivering on all its ideas, which makes for a hilarious and awesome ride at the cost of making the film feel crowded with plot points and loose ends to tie together towards the resolution. To be fair, that's the risk of every story about the multiverse. It's hard otherwise to get an actual feel of the scope of the subject matter.

I mean, literally all of these movies could have a discussion that goes, "the multiverse is infinite", "okay but that means how many of me are there?", "which part of INFINITE didn't you understand??" But I digress.

Gaming Memories - Super Mario Bros.

The big one!

Super Mario Bros.

NES

Release Date: October 18th, 1985

The game that kickstarted many a gamer, the game that's THE classic among a sea of classics. One of the original NES' most famous games, even packaged with it - a title that held, for a long time, the record of most-selling game of all time!

With the gift of hindsight and about 38 years since the release of this legend, Mario's first full platform game is... well, almost laughable. It's easy, fairly short as well, a ton of people know this one like the back of their hand. From the perspective of a child discovering gaming, like I was... Hell, this was pretty challenging! But because something is the first means it set the foundation for everything that came afterwards, so that Super Mario Bros. is simple is to its benefit. Built upon those very foundations would be the next Mario platformers. ....well... an extra-hard identical sequel, a reskin of a completely different game, and finally some new with SMB3, but still. It's to a point where we think more of this game for its mark on gaming history than as a game proper.

A small set of enemies, all of which have become mainstays of the Mario series - seriously, I can name them that easily. Goombas, Koopa Troopas and Paratroopas, Bullet Bills, Piranha Plants, Spinies, Lakitus, Buzzy Beetles, Hammer Bros., Cheep-Cheep, Bloopers, Fire Bars and Podoboos if you wanna include 'em, and of course big ol' Bowser. All icons in their own right. Mario AND Luigi playable, for those folks competing in two-player... Significant differences in the brothers' abilities wouldn't appear until The Lost Levels.

I played it every so often. I think it was a favorite of mine. Even at my young age at the time, this game's reputation preceded it. I think I actually had a version that had only this game on the cartridge, and a second version that included Duck Hunt. (I'll get to that one eventually.) Did I actually beat the game back when I owned it on a physical NES? ...I genuinely don't remember, to be entirely honest. Keep in mind that several of these memories are one to two decades old, so my memory may be hazy at times. But yeah, I can at least say that I experienced Mario's big outing, the game that made him famous in households after he was already famous in arcades.