#I mean; knocked Sonic out of Super Mode SO you know...

[fastfists]

I love what I started cause the weights arn't an exercise things, it's just a bit of extra help to control his punches and such. They don't hinder him at all even with normal activities.

[player-1]

If anyone wants some move references for the Abyssals (cause I'm going to use them in the future for my fic and it's not like the wiki or Nexopedia is going to include it anytime soon), here you go! I put the lists in dark mode so they're easier to read, but I want to also put in my two cents on their potential battle style below (and any moves present in the main story or excluded from main moveset is marked with a +):

Venefelis: While being the "ringleader" in this whole mess, Venefelis sure knows how to throw down some pain in a pretty reckless manner; obviously after going through a crisis about why the Abyssals even exist if all they're meant to do is kick the bucket however they want to (and with Kroma failing...again). And yes, even if she kept using Psy Ray every chance she gets in the gauntlet battle, it made a bit of sense why she used the Ghost ultimate too (though Phantom Abyss is moreso speculative since every single time before she can use all four moves, she gets knocked out :'). Besides, she lived in super-undead limbo for a millennia so she must've tapped into that spooky power one way or another...Also fits the Schrodinger's Cat allegory all the way for me (fic-wise I mean, but that's going to come eventually 🙃).

Rotramus: A good chunk of his moves inflict status effects that could easily slow down anyone chasing after him (ie. The Guild); and even if he doesn't use it battle-wise, I like that his only healing move is Natural Heal that connects to his dex entry with just sleeping deep in the woods whenever he wants. Still, I'll try some other time on how similar his moves are to Nara if he's all about vibing with everything but betraying his mission/the other Abyssals.

Pluvean: First off, for someone so desperate to be killed, why in the world was he so tanky!? Nevermind being the first Abyssal you typically fight, those scales must've been a pain to get through before...-Anyway! Besides being really trigger happy with Tsunami in his battle, his moveset does connect to his desire not to fight and instead inflict status effects and/or absorbing or reflecting anything that comes his way (still ironic if his whole mission was to die). Other than that, I like the little touch of him also using Solar Charge despite being in a ice cave since it possibly connects to Palmaya (or even using Sonic Scream to get someone's attention and receive the axe too).

Inominox: So many Wind moves, so many...Which is an given since he's a petty vulture, and a good amount of his moves connect to slowing his enemy down w. ailments, ignoring defense and speed to make them more easier pickings while also making himself more agile and evasive against any stronger foes; also having a good chunk of Freeze status wind attacks since I hc that he made the Frozen Tundra his previous hunting grounds. The one thing I was confused about was him using Double Slash, but I guess it was a tiny filler move (or just to imply his wings are sharp enough to cut through earth/stone too).

Helevolk: He is angy all the time and it shows on both ends, which is fair for a giant blind lizard that does nothing but dig wherever he wants. But one thing I noticed while going through the roster was Helevolk knowing Conflagration (the Nexomon equivalent of Explosion/Self Destruct) which gives me the very interesting thought on if he used it when he was finally cornered by the Guild or Laterian hunters...If Nexomon 3 has the chance to finally explain his backstory or when he was killed, I'm all for it.

Caelesa: Ah yes, Caelesa "everything but the kitchen sink" Nexomon. For being a mystical deer that was literally born to run away from danger, I find it extra funny that your first (and only) battle with her has her throwing out purely offensive attacks at you that aren't even in her main moveset; especially when Rocknite Blast replaces Rock Wall and Thunder Blast replaces Dark Flow (increases enemy stamina use). Still, isn't it strange that the Normal-type Abyssal that knows nothing of her creator has almost all the hallmarks of using multiple elements like Metta? Other than that, I headcanon that she uses the crystals around her rings for her elemental moves, so I'm all for her creating a bullet hell or just making that giant patch of land in the game into a rodeo ring :).

Volcel: Volcel has a similar move scheme as Rotramus with status moves and Inominox's accuracy and evasion, but I was interested to see that all his main Electric moves that mostly use Puzzled instead of Paralysis for obvious reasons (especially when his story moveset uses Thunder Blast for paralysis and Blooming Spores for poison...Maybe his scales are poisonous in some way?). Besides also avoiding conflict and a Guild member mentioning offhand that Volcel actually vanishes from their radar for months at a time before they caught him (most likely exploring/resting on Precursor Mountain), his aversion to humans as a whole does make sense in not understanding their culture as a whole (since he sees a giant pot of soup/Tyrant bait as poison).

Braccus: It's already a given that Braccus is a walking bulldozer move-wise, though I was also surprised that he uses two ultimate moves like Venefelis (Solar Flare and Meteor Shower respectively), though the former could relate to his location in the depths of a molten-hot cave system (though the reason why that wasn't where Helevolk was or just switched the gimmick to that other cave is beyond me). Still, he also has a good amount of physical moves (which he has clear jock vibes to me) and even using Pummel in his story moves, though I doubt he's that fast since he's the slowest of the Abyssals in Speed but pure size and strength will do the talking for him.

Kroma: And finally, here's to the youngest Abyssal and the necromancer supreme of Immortal Citadel, with her moveset being pretty keen on the ghastly vibes of her powers to control ghosts and possible mind-control techniques (Haunting, Arcane Curse, Snake Eyes, Sleep Song, and such). With her story moves, I was honestly surprised that she doesn't naturally know Dark Mist (since she possibly uses it to kidnap Eliza to finally finish her goal); though EMP and Psy Field also fit the psychic/ghost theme too for obvious reasons. And even if it sucks that we don't get any additional info on Kroma's impact of the Citadel, I was pretty interesting on why she has Constrict in her main moveset (since it's a chance kill if the target is 15 levels lower)...Does she just use her ghost powers for it or what?

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Weekly Reviews: New Wartwood and Friend or Frobo?

Hello all you happy people! And welcome back to another week’s worth of Amphibia reviews! And we got two standout episodes today as Marcy tries to home improvement her way into people’s hearts, and Polly makes friends with a destructive but endearing robot. Find out what I thought about in full under the cut!

New Wartwood: Marcy episode! Wu-hoo! And true to the show’s current status quo, and I do love how it evolves, it’s her first day in Wartwood and she’s pumped. And true to the awkward, probably autistic like yours truly, nerd we’re dealing with.. she does not make a great impression or intergrate herself to the naturally suspcious of outsiders tow. So when questioned by Anne how her day went she gets into how the town’s carefully built on a swamp.. and how the townsfolk hate her, complete with Angry Mob. Anne disperses it but it’s still the funniest moment of the episode to me, both in how a small one sprouted up so quick.. and how polly’s there despite LIKING Marcy (”I go where the mob goes anne!”). ALso i’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Anne just.. casually blushing while talking to Marcy. There’s no catalyist or any reason she would for any other reason than being sweet on her. 

So Marcy, after fixing a statue she knocked over, decides she can earn their love faster as she dosen’t want to wait.  This does get to one of Marcy’s core issues.. while she has many, like any of us, it ties back to the fact she has trouble getting this isn’t a video game. I mean she does get the diffrence between real life and a game on an objective level, but she can’t get real life dosen’t WORK like fiction, something i’ve also struggled with and can massively relate to. So she assumes helping them, via fixing up the town a bit, will make them like her. It makes them warm up a little but they still don’t. 

So naturally, who should come in by blimp to give her a tempting offer that will end badly but Mayor Toadstool! He also has a blimp now but it keeps escaping... I think I know where it went. 

So THAT’S how he can afford those things. Naturally seeing how nice Marcy made things he has a plan to exploit the hell out of her gifts with masonry to pretty up the town as a tourist attraction to make him more money. Anne talks her out of it.. but she ends up caving in the middle of the night. I also love the touch of her staying in the Fwagon, not forgetting the plantars bought it and finding a practical use for it in and out of story now i’ts no longer needed. I also love the little signs she has on it. 

The next morning the town awakes to marble pillars in front of all of the shops to make them look fancy and Marcy and the Mayor promoting the town’s new effort,s including a golden founderss tatue and a horrifying golden clock of toadstool, with Anne warry of her girlfriend’s antics. Mostly becaue you can’t force people to like you or bribe them to. Otherwise you cause the entire town to sink into the water bellow... like now. But while Marcy is now convinced the town will never accept her she still dosen’t want them all to die, and summons Joe Sparrow.. who continues to be the best thing ever added to this cast I swear to god as he helps her save the day, removing the various new things to reduce weight, saving some villiagers from a pillar (as Croaker points out their frogs ending up in the water isn’t that deadly), and getting rid of the gold monstrosities. 

So the end result is that the town is rightfully liviid, though she does genuinely appologize.. and suprisingly.. TOADSTOOL actually tries to take all the blame. The town rightfully dosen’t let him, but it’s clear he’s somehow growing as a person. Even if anne’s assement of him as “What would happen if the Monopoly Man had a Baby with a PIece of Fried Chicken” is still 100% accurate. They do agree they’ll like her with time, just like Anne, and if supscious, will gladly give her another shot. So Marcy’s learned her lesson.. always listen to your girlfriend. And while she literally fixes her damage.. the mascot toadstool hired explodes as it’s full of bugs. 

Final Thoughts on New Wartwood: This was a fun episode. A fairly simple and predictable one, but sometimes that works perfectly and this one was just damn funny, charming and full of good character stuff. Top notch. 

Friend or Frobo?:

I have a confession to make: I fricking love robots. It’s something that really HASN’T come up before, but I love a good robot. There’s just tons of good stories to be had with artifical beings, their struggles to be recongized for who they are, their cool powers, their awkward but endearing attempts to fit in with us less than deserving humans. And ficton’s had TONS and TONS of awesome ones: The Vision (in both 616 and MCU flavors), who is one of my faviorite heroes period, Red Tornado, Jenny Wakeman, Shard the Metal Sonic, BOYD, Aya, Data, Crow, Tom Servo, Gypsy, Growler, Robo, Grimlock. the list really DOES go on into infinity for me. 

WEirdly though I didn’t pay much mind to Frobo before this episode.. but with no real personality other than endearlingly running into the same obstacle for hours, and no real background yet, I didn’t really have anything to attach to other than “Cool anne’s either going to nearly get killed by a robot or get one”. But this episode changed that using the oldest trick in the book: having a child befriend it. We’ve seen it before with Sentinels, Badniks, Autobots and Iron Giants. Now we get it again with largeish frog robot. And it is pretty damn good. 

This is a Polly episode. It’s Hop Pop’s faviorite day: Seed Store Day! Naturally Marcy has come along and naturlaly she’s just as geeked out about seeds as he is because she’s precious and I must protect her from the horrible trauma her trusted father figure is about to inflict on her. Polly naturally wants to get into some shenanigans but suprisingly.. Anne and Sprig don’t wanna anymore. THey’ve learned their lesson and decide to just play video games. So polly does the resonable thing.. and blames them for some shenanigans on her part and goes out to get into more shneanigans only to find it’s lonely without a friend. 

Enter Frobo, named that because he looks like a frog and she heard the term robo from anne’s game. And despite very limited programming... Frobo is VERY loveable. As Polly notes he’s essentially a baby: he starts by mimicing her, including his horrifying but endearing laugh, and even doing her spin dash she gained a few episodes back I didn’t mention because I forgot. That one’s on me. Sprig also did the Yooka Laylee thing on top of her spin dash then so there’s that. 

Point is it’s all fun, games and heartwarming bonding till Frobo accidently floods the city and gets mobbed and one of the mobbs makes the terrible mistake of accidently kicking polly. 

He goes into Red Eye Iron Giant HOmage mode and starts fighting everybody.. including Anne and Sprig who show up to contain things, but eventually Polly wins everyone over with a heartwarming speech as she stops him, pointing out it was her fault and while he is weird, he’s just an innocent> The town.. decides why not. As the mayor points out “We already have two freaks what’s a third”. And given Marcy nearly killed them all yesterday and they begrudginly acepted her and anne did it WAY more than once and they see her as one of them, yeah they give up. 

Naturally once they get back Marcy is an easy sell. Now she can do chrono trigger cosplay! Hop Pop is a bit till it’s shown that frobo can farm super fast, and he’s part of the family now. Sprig and Anne shrug off him having come from the factory, and this surely won’t backfire on them surely. 

Final Thoughts on Friend or Frobo:

This one was excellent. The idea of Polly having to learn repsonsiblity was a nice idea, and Frobo is as I said endearing: he’s simply an innocent being who knows nothing and is slowly learning and his friendship with polly is really fucking cute. And giving him an emotional attachment to the plantars means whatevers going on with him gets higher stakes.. and given how robots are treated in fiction i’m just counting the minutes till he tragically gets blowed up real good. But until then this episode was a standout for the season. While as I made clear the “Kid befriends death machine” trope is not NEW, the baby concept made it feel fresh. It also as usual had some good jokes. 

So all in all a top notch week, really great stuff and i’ts only going to get better next time!

Nexttime: Mayor Toadstool is tempted to leave. Kay. But more importantly MADDIE EPISODE AGAIN BITCHES. AND IT HAS MARCY IT. I’M READY. 

Next On This Blog: Final Space Yo! Quinn and Gary visit earth and Tribore leaves.. again. Be here or be... elsewhere I guess

If you liked this review, follow for more, join my patreon, and comission your own review if you want via my askbox, discord and dms. See you at the next rainbow. 

[hermitologist]

My 20 Favorite Records of 2019

Lists! Everyone loves them. Here’s another one.

These are the records I liked the most this year. That doesn’t mean they’re the *best*, that means I liked them. You might not. That’s fine! You might be livid that Porpoise Corpse’s neo-classical folk prog double LP isn’t on my list because it’s an easy top 5 record for you, but maybe electric mandolin solos, blast beats, and harpsichord runs aren’t my thing. That’s fine too! It’s infinitely cooler and far more productive to let people enjoy the art they enjoy rather than wasting precious minutes of your life trying to convince the entire internet to have the exact same taste in music.

That said ... 

This years list is chock full of the usual, if you’re familiar with my taste at all -- tons of super heavy bummer jams, a handful of Radiohead-adjacent mid-tempo rock of the indie or emo variety, some hearty post-rock, some tried-and-true vets doing the thing they do very well ... again, and a few outliers. The honorable mentions list gets considerably more eclectic if you’re looking for stuff that sounds less like a soundtrack to various stages of the apocalypse.

As always, I welcome your suggestions for records and podcasts I might’ve missed the boat on. There’s way too much good stuff out there to keep up with, so PLEASE help me out.

Also: When I am not being a lazy pile of crap, I try to haul my dadbod around town for a run a few days a week and will listen to/briefly review a record in the process. Almost every record on this list has been a part of one of those posts, so if you’re interested in such a thing, please check out my Instagram.

BONUS: I put together a playlist on Spotify of my favorite song from each of my top 20 records, and a separate one for the 51 other records I liked this year, so if you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, just needle drop a little and see if anything grabs you. And if anyone’s feeling productive and has time to do an Apple Music playlist, I’ll link and credit you.

Top 20 Spotify Playlist

Top 20 Apple Music Playlist -- Thanks, Austin!

Other Faves Spotify Playlist

But before we get to the Top 20, a couple of records that deserve a nod ... 

Record I Listened To The Most In 2019 Whether I Wanted To Or Not

Angel Du$t - Pretty Buff

This is my four-year-old son’s favorite record, and while I’m trying to round out his musical palate by throwing on all sorts of different bands while we’re hanging out, he insists on either “no music” or “The Basketball Song” (which is “Big Ass Love”). I have no idea how or why his little amazingly weird brain equates the song with basketball (a sport he doesn’t really play or watch or think about ever, to my knowledge), but it does. He LOVES IT. I’ve got to admit, I didn't care for the song all that much when I first heard it, but it’s an earworm, and some 3000 plays later, I love it, and I love the record. Funny how that works out.

Record That Came out in 2009, But I Didn’t Discover Until 2019

Self-Evident - Endings

Endings was neck-and-neck with my favorite record of 2019 for spins this year. Coincidentally, the it was recommended by someone from the band who made my #1 record, and it has moments where it sounds a whole hell of a lot like my #1 record. Blows my mind that a band that was/is so incredibly in my wheelhouse sonically, that has released nine LPs over an 18 year career, and operates in circles incredibly close to a ton of bands I love and respect and nerd out about music with somehow managed to elude me for the better part of two decades. At any rate I’m incredibly stoked to have finally found them, absolutely love them, and honestly might’ve listened to this LP 20 times in a matter of a few days when I got my first taste. It’s that good. 

And now for the list ... 

20) Remote Viewing - It’s Better This Way

Super nasty, dark, sludgy, well-crafted noise rock out of London that fits somewhere in between KEN Mode and early-Kowloon Walled City sonically. You’d think it was pretty crazy to have a band be so locked in and fully formed as early as LP2, but then you find out they’re ex-members of Palehorse, Million Dead, and I Want You Dead and it all kinda makes sense. Unfortunately, the song on the playlist is from a previous LP (because the new one is inexplicably not on Spotify), but you can and should get the new record on Bandcamp.

19) From Indian Lakes - Dimly Lit

I’ve been a big fan of FIL for years, but have always been at a bit of a loss when it comes time to describe them. It’s hazy and dreamy, but not quite shoegazey ... it’s insanely infectious and pleasing to the ear, but not really poppy ... it’s forward-thinking and experimental, but not quite art-rock or groggy at all. It’s just excellent. Full stop. If you dig anything from Tycho, to Radiohead, to The Cure, to Slowdive you’ll enjoy this.

18) Stray From The Path - Internal Atomics

Furious, mathy, riff-heavy hardcore from Long Island that sounds like a reformed Rage Against The Machine had spent the past two decades doing steroids, mainlining Red Bull, and studying the finer points of Moshology. The breakdowns are massive, the drumming absolutely mental, and the vocals pissed as hell. At my advanced age, it’s rare that a record makes me want to pit and/or try to deadlift cars, but this one’s got that magic.

17) Glassing - Spotted Horse

Mostly spazzy, occasionally dreamy, black-metal sprinkled post-hardcore that fits in very well with bands like Portrayal Of Guilt and Respire in the rebirth of traditional screamo. It’s fits and starts of chaos and beauty, and it all sounds and feels like it could completely go off the rails at any time which is what made bands like Orchid and Majority Rule and Saetia so great back in the day. 

16) La Dispute - Panorama

It’s no secret that I’m a big La Dispute fan (Thrice has toured the US with them twice in the past decade), and I love all of their records, but I’m pretty sure I can say with full confidence that this is the best record they’ve ever made. Everything is firing at peak performance, and the way the record is arranged and sequenced makes it feel more like a film score than a collection of songs. It’s a complete work -- meant to be listened to as such, which is a daunting artistic task, but they pulled it off in grand fashion.

15) Russian Circles - Blood Year

This band has been in the upper echelon of post-rock bands for as long as I can remember, and Blood Year is another incredible addition to their already stellar discography. These guys are all absolute monsters at their given instruments, and one of the best live rock bands on the planet, so getting to hear them do their thing on a record that manages to actually capture that live energy and ambience really does the trick for me. 

14) Greet Death - New Hell

This one kinda came outta nowhere for me, as I (ashamedly) was not familiar with them prior to giving New Hell a spin. It blew me away. I’m a total sucker for bummer jams, and this record is full of top-quality sludgy, sad, shoegazey goodness. If you dig Cloakroom, O’ Brother, or Pianos Become The Teeth this is gonna be right up your alley.  

13) Sleep Token - Sundowning

Another record that came out of nowhere to knock me on my ass. I downloaded it before a transatlantic flight on a whim (after hearing about 30 seconds of the opening track), hoping that it would be a nice, mellow companion to ease my in-flight anxiety. And it was, but whoa was it so much more than that. It kinda sounds like a collab between Active Child and Deftones -- poppy, melancholic piano ballads, brought to crushing crescendos via super heavy drop-tuned sludge -- which sounds like a mess, but it works so well. It’s a killer record and probably would’ve landed higher on this year’s list if it hadn’t come out so late in the year.

12) Big Thief - UFOF

This one’s a bit of an outlier, and a damn good one at that. I came across UFOF via a friend’s recommendation before the hype train had left the station, and honestly didn’t know what to expect. Said recommendation simply said that it was good and infectious and probably a few other things that I can’t recall, but didn’t mention the folk thing (which is great because I probably would have passed). The friend was right. It’s good (maybe even great), incredibly infectious, and gave me a nice reprieve from the heavy stuff I tend to listen to on the regular.

11) Cave In - Final Transmission

I’m beyond thankful we got any new music from Cave In after Caleb passed. They owed us nothing, and had every right to walk away, but managed to rally to release a killer record that is heavy both sonically and conceptually, and still manages to give me chills despite being live demos recorded in a rehearsal room. There are few bands on the planet who’ve inspired me like Cave In have, and seeing them pull together to grieve and forge ahead to continue to build their legacy is even more inspiring. What a band.

10) Pedro The Lion - Phoenix

My favorite singer/songwriter of my generation decided to revive the project that made me a fan of his in the first place. That project put out a record for the first time in 15 years, and I had unreasonably high expectations for it. Phoenix delivered and then some. I remember sitting at my kitchen table, weeping into my cup of coffee the first time I heard Phoenix, the same way Control used to make it seem like the inside of the Thrice van was getting a little dusty during cross-country drives back in the early 00s. It blows my mind that David Bazan can be such a prolific artist, write such insanely powerful music, and seem incapable of writing a dud song. 

9) Coilguns - Watchwinders

This Swiss noise-rock band kicks unbelievable amounts of ass. Their Millenials LP made my favorites list last year, and when I heard they had a follow up coming out a little over a year later, my gut reaction was to worry they’d blow it with a new record that was either rushed and/or half-assed, or lose the plot and take a hard left turn and make something markedly un-Coilguns. They did neither. The made an absolute monster of an album, that was apparently written in the studio, and is full of live energy in rawness that is pretty tough to capture in a sterile atmosphere like a studio. Watchwinders dropped in late October, and if I’d had a bit more time with it, I could see it moving up to my Top 5. It’s that good. I find myself going back to it constantly.

8) Blessed - Salt

This record kinda defies description, but it reminds me of everything from Pile to Menomena to Interpol to La Dispute to Devo at times. As scatterbrained and incongruent as that might sound, I assure you it rules. It was in verrrry heavy rotation this year -- mostly for the utterly filthy drum groove on the final track. If you like your music catchy, but slathered in weird, this is definitely gonna do the thing for you. It’s an incredible record.

7) Herod - Sombre Dessein

I hadn’t heard of this band before they popped up on a Spotify playlist early this year, and when “Reckoning” hit, it absolutely flattened me. You know that nuclear apocalypse scene from Terminator 2? That’s what “Reckoning” did to me. It was undoubtedly my favorite ultra-heavy track of the year, and while it’s my favorite song on the record by a pretty large margin, the rest of Sombre Dessein kicks ass too. It’s 42 minutes of crushing heaviness that kinda sounds like a blend of Cult Of Luna, Meshuggah, and Gojira. Heavy. Pissed. Unrelenting. And Outstanding.

6) Pile - Green & Grey

Every time I try to describe Pile to someone I fail. On Wikipedia they’re described as “indie rock”, which ... sure, I suppose? There’s a little post-punk in there, a little post-rock, a little noise-rock, nods to classic rock (maybe?), a little of that southern magic that made Colour Revolt so great (but Pile’s from Boston so hmm ... ), some country even? Do you like weird guitars? Freakish musicians? Melancholic crooning? I dunno. It’s all over the place, but in the best ways possible. They’re a singular band, and so damn good. Green & Grey is stellar addition to a discography that is already full of incredible music ... even if the album cover gives makes me want to fold those blankets and put them away.

5) PUP - Morbid Stuff

Was this the year that PUP broke? Definitely seems like it, and rightfully so. Morbid Stuff is my favorite thing they’ve ever done, but I’ve absolutely loved everything they’ve ever put out, so that’s saying a lot. Per usual, it’s insanely infectious and anthemic without being traditionally poppy or relying on tropes to burrow into your skull and take up residence there. It’s uplifting musically, but kinda depressing lyrically, which does this weird push/pull thing in my brain that makes it impossible to stop listening to. The musicianship is fantastic, the guitar parts especially -- like the guitar line in “Scorpion Hill” wow. I really needed a record to fill the gaping void between the metal/sludge/noise and the ambient/downtempo electronica I listened to this year, and Morbid Stuff fit the bill perfectly.

4) Cult Of Luna - A Dawn To Fear

These guys belong on the Mount Rushmore of Post-Rock/Metal with Neurosis and Isis. Nobody has done it better than them over the past two decades, and A Dawn To Fear is arguably their best work to date. It, like any Cult Of Luna requires a great deal of patience, but man if they don’t make the wait worth it. They’re the masters of the slow build to an absolutely crushing climax, the dynamic shifts that leave you feeling like you got hit by a freight train, the nuanced instrumentation that tells a different story each time you listen to a certain section of a song. They’re absolute masters at their craft, and this record is them at their peak. 

3) Big|Brave - A Gaze Among Them

Another record that came out of nowhere to completely floor me. I hadn’t heard a single note from this band until a friend recommended I check out the opening track, “Muted Shifting Of Space”. I did ... and that plodding drum and bass pulse with dark, swirling, ethereal guitar swells/feedback and soaring vocals building into a huge release of sludgy, drop-tuned goodness checked off all the boxes for me. I was hooked. The atmosphere and dynamics Big|Brave have built their sound around give every song a cinematic feel -- if you close your eyes, can you see drone footage of landscapes too? . If you dig post-rock/metal that is experimental around the edges, moody, absurdly heavy, and has both feet firmly planted in sludge, this is a must-have record. 

2) Cloudkicker - Unending

If you’ve been following me on social media or reading these year-end lists for a while you’re probably pretty familiar with Cloudkicker by now because any time we get new music I can’t shut up about it and the record invariably ends up on this list. This instance is no different. Unending is the first LP we’ve gotten from Ben Sharp in four years, and it’s worth the wait and then some. He’s managed to pull from every era of CK and turn it into a masterpiece mash-up of styles without it ever feeling rehashed or uninspired. I’d go far as to say this tops Beacons and Fade for me, and comes awfully close to challenging Subsume for my favorite Cloudkicker record of all time and space. There’s soooo much progressive and djenty masturbatory metal garbage floating in the ether right now. Hearing the one of the kings do the damn thing properly is incredibly refreshing.

1) Town Portal - Of Violence

No surprise here. I’ve been crapping my pants about this band ever since my good friend Scott Evans shared their music with me a couple years ago. I’ve been unhealthily obsessed ever since. The magical progressive rock/metal these three guys are capable melts and massages my brain in a way few bands ever have. Of Violence is incredibly mathy without ever feeling awkward, it’s melodic without being conventional, it’s discordant without being abrasive, it’s heavy as shit without being overloaded with distortion, it’s progressive as hell without ever coming remotely close to devolving into a wankfest, and it’s damn near perfect in every way. Songwriting? Great. Tones? Phenomenal. Musicianship? Otherworldly. Execution? Flawless. Mix? Perfect. Replayability? (Not a word, but ... ) PUT THIS RECORD ON A GODDAMN LOOP AND NEVER TURN IT OFF. Can you tell I like it? You might too, so give it a listen. And if by chance you do not like it, please see a doctor. You’re broken.

OTHER STUFF I REALLY ENJOYED THIS YEAR

HEAVY JAMS

METZ - Automat

Buildings - Negative Sound

Helms Alee - Noctiluca

Minors - Abject Bodies

Periphery - Periphery 4: HAIL STAN

Employed To Serve - Eternal Forward Motion

Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Nocero

Defeater - S/T

Pelican - Nighttime Stories

Spotlights - Love And Decay

Great Falls - A Sense of Rest

Baroness - Gold & Grey

The End of the Ocean - -aire

Vous Autres - Champ du Sang

Brutus - Nest

Torche - Admission

Glose - The Second Best of Glose

Throes - In The Hands of an Angry God

Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind

meth. - Mother of Red Light

SECT - Blood of the Beasts

Kublai Khan TX - Absolute

Seizures - Reverie of the Revolving Diamond

Dead Kiwis - Systematic Home Run

Norma Jean - All Hail

Refused - War Music

Chamber - Ripping / Pulling / Tearing

MIDRANGE JAMS

Jimmy Eat World - Surviving

Elbow - Giants of All Sizes

Raketkanon - RKTKN #3

Bad Religion - Age of Unreason

The Appleseed Cast - The Fleeting Light of Impermanence

DIIV - Deceiver

Idiot Pilot - Blue Blood

Microwave - Death Is A Warm Blanket

Low Dose - S/T

SWMRS - Berkeley’s On Fire

Self-Evident - Lost Inside The Machinery

B. Hamilton - Nothing and Nowhere

MELLOW JAMS

Trade Wind - Certain Freedoms

Square Peg Round Hole - Branches

Great Grandpa - Four of Arrows

Local Natives - Violet Street

Rhone - Leaving State

Shlohmo - The End 

Tycho - Weather

Bon Iver - i,i

Drowse - Light Mirror

Bonniesongs - Energetic Mind

Telefon Tel Aviv - Dreams Are Not Enough

GoGo Penguin - Ocean In A Drop

Bent Knee - You Know What They Mean

THE PODCAST QUEUE

The Deadcast (RIP) - sports, culture

Chapo Trap House - politics

The Rich Roll Podcast - health, wellness, endurance sports

Hang Up & Listen - sports

Effectively Wild - baseball

The Gist - current events

The Downbeat - drums, humor

To Live & Die In LA - true crime

FilmDrunk Frotcast - movies, culture, humor

The Modern Drummer Podcast with Mike & Mike - drums (duh)

The Trap Set - also drums

Song Exploder - songwriting

[sparkylurkdragon]

Now’s my chance! Here are some of my favourite old Sonic headcanons/hills I will die on:

Sonic and Silver were both the result of research from Project Shadow, but they were not Intended Use of The Technology.

Gerald set up Sonic’s creation chamber before GUN caught him, and programmed it with a time delay. Sonic is the one he’s referring to in his diary entry talking about ‘I will leave everything to him / release and awaken it to the world’. However, something went wrong and Sonic was let out early: before he was done growing and, critically, before Gerald’s mental programming took effect.

(Gerald thought the original Shadow was dead at the time and intended to name Sonic after him)

(I legitimately think this was a reveal SEGA was building up to that they chickened out of)

Meanwhile, in the bad future, someone discovered Sonic’s old chamber and managed to get it working with some modifications to the end result, which is where Silver came from.

Yes this does mean that Shadow, Sonic, and Silver are all technically brothers, and some of the knock-on effects that implies like them all being ageless.

A lot of Shadow’s in-universe design was based on Gerald’s research on Angel Island, specifically the mural of Super Sonic fighting Eggman’s mech for the Master Emerald from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. 

We know Gerald was there at some point because the Eclipse Cannon’s core was based on the Master Emerald shrine from Sonic Adventure.

Shadow has the following qualities in common with Super Sonic: is a hedgehog, has red eyes, his spike configuration, his golden aura (at least in SA2, don’t know offhand if that’s been kept up - the little flash he gets when he spinjumps is gold), and flight (via the jet boots - it’s why he has them!).

Shadow was treated perfectly reasonably on the ARK, kind of like a gifted child, and that’s why he didn’t go into depressed angry bioweapon mode until after the shutdown. 

He was very much not treated reasonably when GUN first captured him after the shutdown. Whether or not he retains/recovered those memories is up in the air.

Knuckles really is the last echidna because the Master Emerald created him. It needed a guardian and its previous guardian was too off the rails, so instead of a Chao-based one it created a Mobian-based one with the only template it had available: Tikal.

Mobians and Chao have a relationship similar to humans and chimpanzees: Chao are Mobians’ closest living cousins, evolutionarily, which explains a lot about Mobians.

Their basic body plan: two arms, two legs, sometimes wings.

Part of the split was that Chao retain morphing capabilities that Mobians usually lack - Mobians are basically ‘mode-locked’ morphers, with the mode locked before they’re born. They’re all the same species and can interbreed more or less freely (barring, like, the usual problems of say a Chihuahua and a Great Dane trying to produce puppies). Something about the genetics means that a Mobian with parents of two different ‘species’ eg a fox and a cat will generally be born as one or the other instead of a foxcat, though sometimes there’s odd bits.

It’s unclear if the ancestral not-quite-Mobians got their sapience from copying humans or if they convergently evolved sapience on their own.

Possibly this explains what the Wisps are doing - they’re temporarily un-mode-locking Sonic. I have limited experience with them since I haven’t played any games they’re in besides Generatons, though.

Also yes the planet is Mobius and they’re called Mobians, screw you

IT’S SO MUCH LESS OF A MOUTHFUL THAN SAYING ‘ANTHROS IN THE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG STYLE’ I MEAN COME ON

[mobius-prime]

148. Sonic Super Special #13 - Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure

Writers: Karl Bollers and Ken Penders Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Josh D. and Aimee Ray

This issue opens with a quick, double page recap of the previous events leading up to this special, before diving right in. Mayor Bullyani has just finished thanking Sonic for defeating the water monster from the previous issue, telling him it reminds him of an old legend his grandfather used to tell him about a water monster called Perfect Chaos which had something to do with the ruins outside the city's hiding place. Hmm, wonder if they're related? Nate interrupts, walking up to ask if anyone has seen Amy Rose lately, and when everyone realizes she's been missing for a while, Sally sends everyone out on various missions, starting with Bunnie and Antoine.

Quite aside from the image of Bunnie walking around with several-story-tall legs with Antoine on her shoulders being absolutely hilarious, this is basically just an excuse to get these two out of the way for the duration of the story, since they never had roles in the game the issue is adapting. Similarly, Sally, Nicole, and Nate take up their offscreen roles when they all head to the city's library to research Perfect Chaos, finding their answers in a book even older than the city itself which is written in "Old Echidnaese" according to Nicole, who provides a rough translation.

Well, that's certainly a big departure from the game's story. We're got chao turning into Super Emeralds, and apparently Amy was the robots' target after all due to being infused with their energy! Sonic and Tails, meanwhile, fly back out of the city to investigate the Mystic Ruins directly, unaware of the blob of living water creeping after them, and are surprised to encounter Knuckles just outside the entrance to the mountain. He tells them about how the Master Emerald was shattered and he's finding the pieces, but out of nowhere, Chaos reforms and attacks the three of them, eventually knocking Knuckles' two emerald shards out of his… wait, why are they colored like that?

So this is where I can only assume the poor colorists made a mistake. Perhaps Josh and Aimee were unfamiliar with the lore surrounding the Master Emerald up till now, or perhaps they were just misguidedly using the game's emerald colors as a guide, but for whatever reason, the gems that are supposed to be shards of the very green Master Emerald are instead colored various shades of the rainbow. This is never explained and never corrected, so just keep in mind that any time you see a bunch of colorful, ordinary-looking emeralds flying all over the place, they're supposed to be Master Emerald shards. I know, bizarre, but it's what we got.

Anyway, Chaos absorbs Knuckles' two shards while Tails notices two more shards randomly lying in the grass nearby. Where did those come from? Who knows! But Chaos sure wants them, and who shows up to make sure he gets them but Eggman himself! Powered up by the four shards, Chaos transforms into a new form resembling some kind of shark creature, and Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles do their best to reenact the Chaos 4 boss fight from the game, complete with jumping on lilypads in a lake while Eggman brags that he's going to destroy Station Square and build his own city on the ruins. Tails and Sonic work together at the culmination of the fight, with Tails kicking up sand and Sonic superheating it with his speed to encase Chaos in a shell of glass. That's… pretty creative, if unorthodox, but of course, we're talking about hastily-created, weak glass sitting on a patch of dirt, and Chaos is a pretty powerful creature.

Chaos disappears, and we cut to Big, who's on a boat in the middle of a nearby river, having managed to trace Froggy by scent to the middle of the waters before losing the trail. Suddenly, the water begins to roil underneath his tiny boat, and an airship emerges from under him.

Well, that's one way to end up aboard the Egg Carrier, I guess! Keep in mind that up until this point, Big has known absolutely nothing of what’s been happening so far. All he knows is that one moment a robot randomly grabbed his pet frog, and now he's on an airship run by a maniacal mustachioed man ranting about something called Chaos. Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails have hopped into a biplane… but it's not actually the Tornado from before. Instead of being red, it's blue, and - this is the important bit - it comes out of freaking nowhere. Literally, the comic doesn't even attempt to explain where this thing came from - Sonic just says "cool plane" and then they keep flying. I have no idea why they did this, aside from trying to keep consistent to some degree with the game, but unlike in the game there's no scene where the first plane gets destroyed and Tails unveils his second customized one - they just have this new plane out of nowhere and that's that. They dogfight with some missiles shot from the Egg Carrier, avoid the front laser that takes down the original Tornado in the game, and transform the plane into its new X-shaped form.

Wait, Tails, you transformed the plane into its alternate form, then immediately tried to land, knowing that that form doesn't have landing gear? Why the heck did you transform it in the first place then? Oh, right, game adaption. Carry on.

Meanwhile, Knuckles has a very one-sided discussion with the ball of light containing Tikal's spirit, ultimately deciding he should go back and warn Station Square of what's going on outside. Eggman tries to change the Egg Carrier into its "drill mode" so he can drill straight through the side of the mountain into the city, but it's barely halfway through its transformation when Sonic immediately hits some buttons and changes it back. However, upon exiting the room they find themselves confronted by Eggman himself, along with Gamma as backup.

Gamma, come on, didn't you just become sentient or something? As it follows its training protocol without a second thought, Knuckles, in the middle of gliding toward the city's entrance, is struck by a vision from Tikal once more, this time showing him Sonic and Tails in trouble aboard the Egg Carrier. More importantly, he realizes that Tails' new biplane is powered by the Super Emerald that Nate has used previously, meaning they're inadvertently delivering Eggman exactly what he needs to power Chaos up even further. When he comes out of the vision he finds he's already on the airship somehow, and, deciding not to question it, races off to find his friends, who are still embroiled in their fight with Gamma, with Eggman presumably having wandered off to take care of some other business. However, Amy rushes up and stops Sonic from destroying Gamma, telling him about how it saved her before and now they're friends. Somewhere on the other side of the ship, Big finds Froggy hopping about and scoops him up, and Froggy immediately coughs up another inexplicably-colorful Master Emerald shard, which Big is surprised to see looks just like another one he happened to find on the way here. Uh, when was any of this established, exactly?

Sonic tells Tails to take Amy off the ship to safety, and she says her goodbyes to Gamma, who flies off the ship of its own accord. Froggy leaps out of Big's hands and into Chaos as Sonic approaches, followed quickly by Knuckles. Neither of them recognize Big, and watch in bemusement as he pulls his classic fishing-for-Froggy move inside Chaos, running for his life once he retrieves his friend. Sonic and Knuckles then try to rush Chaos, only to have their feet frozen in place by an "ice-bot" from Eggman, who intends to let Chaos eat them as they're trapped there. Chaos begins to try to absorb Knuckles, but Sonic flings the ice-bot at Chaos, which lets go and then freezes in place.

They smash Chaos into pieces, which triggers some kind of chain reaction of energy that begins to destroy the Egg Carrier. Eggman panics and flies off in his Egg Mobile, leaving the rest of the living beings on the ship to find their own way to safety.

They cheerfully watch the ship crash and burn before heading back out. Knuckles continues searching for the remaining Master Emerald shards, and Sonic heads back to his friends in Station Square, who are happy to have Amy back safe and sound. Big crash lands back in the jungle, wrecking the plane but pleased to be reunited with Froggy at last, and Eggman escapes into the jungle, unaware of the patch of living water clinging ominously to the side of his Egg Mobile…

[blazehedgehog]

What would you say is your favorite part about the Sonic the Hedgehog series and why?

I mean to a certain degree that’s been hard to answer, because it’s changed over time.

At first, it was something new, different, and in a way, cutting edge. Sega gained a powerful foothold because those Sonic games were the perfect storm of everything the Genesis was good at, and in a way that really did make Mario look kind of like a dud by comparison.

It really can’t be stated enough, but before 1991, all of the uncreative people were trying to clone Mario. You had lots and lots of games that were trying to just do their version of Super Mario Bros. 3 or whatever. (Even Sega themselves was sort of doing this, with Alex Kidd)

Sonic was just… different. Good, and fast, and cool, and visually stunning. And it wasn’t Mario. Not that there was anything wrong with Mario, but it had been a lot of years of Mario setting the standard, so something like Sonic was a breath of fresh air. And after that, everyone trying to make their version of Super Mario Bros. 3 started to instead make their version of Sonic.

Once the 3D Sonic games hit, and they weren’t always super well received, you ended up doing a lot of self-examination as to why you liked these games. When it came to something like Sonic 3 & Knuckles, I loved how big the levels were. The sense of exploration you got was unlike anything any other games were doing at the time.

S3&K had some of the biggest, most smartly-designed levels of its era, I think. Most games gave you THE route. You followed the linear pathway through the stage and there were challenges along that. Sonic was always about having multiple routes, and you’d naturally move between those routes as you played. Some routes were for expert players, and if you weren’t an expert player, you’d get knocked down to a lower route.

That and that perfect blend of speedy gameplay but good platforming, too.

I think it was around 2001 or 2002, with the release of Sonic Advance 2, that things began to change for me. Sonic Advance 2 was the game where I really started playing around with time trial mode. And I distinctly remember in 2006 getting featured on the front page of Gametrailers.com because I uploaded a “Speed run” of Leaf Forest Act 1.

Later that same year, I won a Gametrailers video editing competition and ended up with $1000 in Gamestop gift cards, and part of what I spent that money on was a Nintendo DS with the first Sonic Rush (among other games).

This was before I was making money on Youtube, Steam barely existed at this point, so, you know, those games I bought with my winnings were kind of… it. It was like stocking up on food for the winter. Here are the games I have, and it may be months or even years before I get new games for the DS.

So I ended up replaying those DS games a lot. Even games I didn’t necessarily love, like New Super Mario Bros. DS, I ended up getting a full 100% clear on just because I didn’t have anything better to do.

But what I loved doing, really loved doing, was playing Sonic Rush in time trial mode. I must’ve put hundreds of hours in to that game, slowly whittling my times down lower, and lower, and lower. I think the lowest time on my actual cartridge for Leaf Storm Act 1 is somewhere in the realm of 45 seconds? If I submitted that to Sonic Center, that’d put me in the top 40 players.

That really began in earnest my love of Sonic purely as a speed game. Sonic Rush, Sonic Rush Adventure, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Generations…  games that are focused primarily on going really, really fast. I was sort of in heaven.

And it was around this time I had a friend point out to me that I owned a lot of racing games in general. More than I can count, at this point. And it was almost like this sort of awakening that… yeah, I guess, in general, I just like to go fast. I grew up estranged from my Dad, but he was involved in drag racing. I have photos of his car. Even though I wasn’t ever really around him growing up, I like to think that’s something he passed along to me, the love of going fast. It’s part of my genetics.

Which, in retrospect, really puts my love of Sonic games in general in to sharp focus, I think.

[cutegirlmayra]

I know this is super unoriginal, but how about a boom!sonamy mistletoe story?

(x) Permission was given by artist! If you’re an artist or have artists friends who would be fine with letting me use their art for ‘Preview Images’ for my stories, please let me know! I would be very grateful!!!

I don’t think it’s unoriginal, I have done one before, but that was years ago… So I’ll try and write a new one this time XD

Prompt:

All was adorned with decorations and fun.

Leafs on trees had fallen off slowly, but Amy had excitedly waited for her perfect snow day.

That way…

Sonic couldn’t escape!

She squee’d as she pushed her muzzle up against the glass of her warm home, hearing that a mysterious wind had brought a great cold to the usual tropical island.

Excited about this change, she purchased a traditional tree and even… a silent, but hopeful mistletoe to work some holiday magic!

Eggman… on the other hand, hated this cold front.

Amy smiled and closed her eyes, feeling the cold of the window seep onto her nose and give her a thrilling chill of the freezing degree of the world outside…

Eggman huddled near a fire he man-made and coughed at the smoke, not able to open a window or having made plans to make a chimney. He was bundled up, but still freezing…

“Confound it all!” He threw his blanket down, looking fat with layers of clothes, stacked hats, and mittens all toppled over the other in a frantic attempt at staying warm. “This hunk of metal grows cold just by a sneeze! Now we’ve got this miserable weather abnormality… HA-CHU! -sniff-… Cold moves right through me too… What luck! I can’t even attack Sonic today like I planned without freezing half to death!”

Eggman imagined him in his icy eggpod, floating over the battlefield while rubbing his arms, his teeth chattering, and the team having a snowball fight to destroy his robots.

He shook his head, snapping out of it. “I HATE the cold…” His eyebrows dipped sinisterly down, before striding the best he could with a wedgie and so many layers that it was almost impossible to move right with them all on.

He moved over to his microwave, took it out, and examined it. “Hmm… If I could cause a huge heat wave to this cold front… I could create enough force to melt the snow and bring our warm weather back.” He planned out loud in his head, but Cubot and Orbot looked at each other.

Finally, Orbot boldly moved forward, meekly rubbing his hands together, “But… wouldn’t that cause a wind speed conflict? Something like a-“

“Tornado!!!” Cubot flung his arms up, spinning around frantically as Orbot looked away from him, spiraling off behind him, and shook his head with slanted, disapproving eyes.

“Hmm… still a good plan to take out the island’s inhabitants… And even Sonic!” He giddily yanked the cord out from the wall, not even giving it a second thought, “Boys! Get Steve on the line! We’re getting rid of this- winter. wonder. land.” He glared at each work spoken, moving slowly over the syllables as if to emphasise and stress his hatred for it.

Amy excitedly welcomed her friends in the door, looking up constantly at the mistletoe and moving them discreetly away from it as they came in.

“Hello, how are you-Woop! Watch out, ice puddle. Hello, Sticks- Ah! To your left more,… perfect! Welcome in~ Knuckles, happy to see you- Wah! Watch your step, buddy. SONIC!” after moving them in and dodging them standing under it, Amy happily blocked the entrance of her home from Sonic, who abruptly halted from the fast-paced line being suddenly interrupted in its flow and simply just waved.

“Oh, uh… Hiya, Amy! What’s up? It was really awesome of ya to open your house for us… less fortunate… haha.” He hunched down a little, putting his hands together as he smiled weakly up at her. His home was not ‘properly built’ for anything ‘cold’. So Amy’s ‘Snow Party’ was very much welcomed when she mentioned it would be hosted in her warm abode.

Amy giggled, thrilled to introduce him to a traditional Christmas gag, but waited for him to step under it.

“Umm…” he rubbed his arm, then shifted his eyes to the right. “M-may I come in?” He was freezing, and asking felt a little weird but Amy wouldn’t budge…

She blinked her eyes, expecting him to move closer. “Sure.” But she didn’t move.

He rose an eyebrow, before looking behind him and seeing the snows swirl with such power, the wind blasting them in its wake, and clearly, a horror-scene was waiting to happen…

A Sonic Snowman was about to be formed…

He gulped and looked back to Amy, “Hey! I’ll freeze to death out here!” He finally stated, trying to move past her but she blocked his way time and again.

“O-oh, I’ll just step backwards then..” She tried to not make it obvious… but stepped precisely behind the mistletoe.

“Phew, finally…” Sonic got one foot to the rim of the door’s bottom frame when Amy cried out in glee.

“You’re under the mistletoe!”

“The what?” Sonic felt his legs start buckling up from the cold, his back shivering, and finally… his ears growing numb along with his cheeks.

The gang inside, happy and warm, were taking off some layers of clothes before gasping and looking back at the door.

“You say you found the missing toe?” Sticks, completely intrigued, peered over from the couch.

“No, not a toe!” Amy looked disgusted by her misinterpretation, before pushing Sonic gently back out the door. “If a boy and a girl are under the mistletoe during a white snow day… that means… well, especially on Christmas anyway… actually, it’s a tradition that all started with-“

As Amy dragged on, explaining, Sticks started snoring, becoming absolutely uninvolved now that the topic was less to her liking. Sonic began to see ice forming on his nose, his teeth clattering as he held himself, his lips becoming blue.

“I really need to come in, can you tell me about it later?” He had no idea what she was talking about, nor why she was so passionate about it. But right now, his mind was in survival mode.

He needed to get in now!

“O-oh, right. So that means you have to-!” She lifted her arm and closed her eyes for a split second, and with that moment, Sonic dashed to the fire and skid on his frozen knees, swiping off his scarf and basking in its glow.

“WARM ME!” he cried out, demanding the fire to obey him as he bent his back all the way back and sighed out a long-winded breath at the immediate warmth he received.

“Ahhh… that’s it. Thank you.” He then turned to see Amy’s eye twitching.

She slammed the door shut. “You can’t get out of a Christmas tradition!” she complained.

“But I was dying! I still can’t really feel my lips!” Sonic pointed to them, before moving to the fire and rubbing them, making a silly sound with them.

“Ugh, I could have helped with that…” Amy groaned to herself, leaning on the door and folding her arms, pouting.

Her plan had failed… not surprisingly… but maybe she could get him before he left…

Suddenly, the snow was flooding the house through the cracks from the door frame and around the home, as a terrible heat wave was creating countless tornados and hurricanes!

After some Christmas fun, the team was ripe and ready to rumble but had to take off their extra layers, sweating from the new heat.

“I can’t believe… he’d ruin the island’s first real snow day.” Tails complained, wiping his forehead and taking off his heavy jacket.

“That fiend..! He’s killed Larry!” Knuckles mourned the loss of his crudely made snow-castle, having given it a smile, a carrot nose, and two bead eyes that stared into your soul.

It began to melt away… as he leaped towards him and carried to giant handfuls into Amy’s home, stuffing them in the freezer. “I won’t abandon you, Larry! Not now! Not ever!”

“My home!” Amy cried out, “Why is it you guys always trash it!?” She placed her hands on the sides of her cheek, before seeing a massive wave carry through her home, knocking her friends and her down.

But worst of all…

“The mistletoe!”

She rose up to see the stream of warm water carrying her precious tradition down to town.

She raced frantically after it, as Sonic was climbing dead trees to stay out of the water.

“Ah! Amy!” He saw her getting caught in the stream and glared at Eggman. “Hey! The snow isn’t all that bad, Egghead! Why’d you have to ruin everything!?”

Eggman sat with a long-bathing suit from older times and sipped some tropical drink with an umbrella in his Eggpod, soaking up the sun.

“Ah~ Nothing like a good tan, some sauna steam, and an annoying hedgehog complaining in your ear~”

“Grr…”

After taking down the machine, the team desperately looked for Amy, who had also taken out some water robots Eggman had sent to the village.

When she counteracted the tornado with her own hammer spinning, the other wind currents turned cold once more, and no more formed after that…

She reached desperately up to a roof for her mistletoe, having followed it with absolute faithfulness, but felt her foot slip on some melting ice and start falling.

“AHH!!!”

“Got’cha!” Sonic raced up and grabbed her, smiling cheekily, “Miss me?”

“My mistletoe!”

“What’s so special about that herb, anyway?”

“Ohhh! If you would have let me finish! It means we have to-!”

She reached out for it, before pulling back and frowning at him, but the plant toppled off from the winds and smacked Sonic right on the lips.

“ACK!” He hacked and spat it down to hit Amy’s lips, where she took it off and held it out.

“Tastes terrible!” he coughed, but Amy blushed, realizing…

She shifted her eyes to Sonic and blushed more as she held the mistletoe up. “Does this make one more?”

“One more what?”

Before she could, Sonic turned his head to the others calling, and Amy aborted the mission when she noticed he didn’t see her attempt at a kiss.

She hid the mistletoe after that… played in the newly falling snow, and enjoyed the rest of the day.

She even let him go without complaint.

But apparently,… Eggman heard Sonic complaining about the plant and mentioned what it meant, and then snickered at thinking they may have kissed.

Sonic, embarrassed by the truth of Amy’s schemes, tried to avoid any plant that hung over his head for a full month! Still not really understanding what it truly meant…

(I’m not sure if the real show would mention ‘Christmas’ but if not- ‘snow day’ works too xD)

[droneseco]

The Tribit Stormbox Pro Speaker Brings the Thunder to Your Portable Party

Tribit StormBox Pro

9.00 / 10

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See on amazon

The Tribit Stormbox Pro speaker offers everything you need from a portable soundbox, from water resistance, through to long battery life and, of course, big sound (which can be made even bigger with the bass boost function). At such a comparatively low price point, the Stormbox Pro should be in everyone's party bag.

Key Features

Stereo Mode

Battery Life

Water Resistant

Portable

Bass Boost

Specifications

Brand: Tribit

Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0

Battery: ~24 hours

Water Resistance: IP67

Pros

Stereo mode is great

24-hour battery life

Bass boost feature is excellent

Easily portable even packing two speakers

Can reverse charge other devices via USB Type-A output

Cons

On occasion stereo mode can drop out briefly

Buy This Product

Tribit StormBox Pro amazon

Shop

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Let's be honest, Bluetooth speakers are ten-a-penny. But excellent quality Bluetooth speakers, with a low price tag and a big battery life, are harder to come by.

Fortunately, Tribit is on hand with the latest portable Bluetooth speaker to add to its Stormbox family; the Stormbox Pro. As I already own a Tribit Stormbox, I was excited to give the Pro version a try, and it hasn't disappointed me.

So, what makes the Tribit Stormbox Pro such an impressive device? Let's take a look.

A Familiar Form

In terms of form factor, the Tribit Stormbox Pro doesn't look drastically different from a lot of other portable Bluetooth speakers available on the market today.

First off, it is predominantly black, so not a great deal to report color-wise. Tribit crafts the chassis from rubber at the top and bottom, with the top of the speaker housing the controls in contrasting white and the bottom a non-slip grip.

A convenient carry handle made from a sturdy, thick, rubber strap also sits up top, fastened to the sides of the speaker. This allows the handle to pivot so you know you won't damage it just by carrying it.

The main body of the device features a familiar black mesh fabric wraparound, which hides the 360 degree speaker array beneath.

The front features the Tribit logo, and around the back we have the Type-C charging input and a handy Type-A charging output, meaning you can actually charge devices from the speaker, in a pinch. These are both covered by a rubber cap, which seals them off from moisture.

In terms of footprint, the base is only 3.7 inches square. The height of the speaker peaks at a lofty seven inches. It only tips the scales at 980 grams (34 oz), so it won't break your back carrying one or two of these to the beach with you.

And that is it! A nice, straightforward device, aesthetically.

Super-Simple Operation

To operate the speaker, Tribit has followed a similarly simple path to that of the Stormbox Pro's appearance. There is really nothing difficult here, nor is there anything that doesn't work properly.

As mentioned, the controls are up top. In the center of the upper face, you have a multi-function button (MFB). You can use this to control functions in the Stormbox's Music Mode and also in Conversation Mode.

In Music Mode, a quick press of the button will control play and pause. Double pressing skips the track forward, while a triple press skips back a track. Pressing and holding the MFB for one second will launch the voice assistant on your phone or connected playback device (if it has one).

Related: Gravastar Mars Is a Portable Speaker From Our Apocalyptic Future

In Conversation Mode (i.e. when you are taking a call from your phone via the speaker), you can control the call. So a short press will answer or hang up a call. Press and hold for one second and you can reject the call. Then, while a call is underway, a short press will answer a second call, with another short press allowing you to switch conversations.

To either side of the MFB is a plus and minus symbol. These allow you to increase or reduce the volume of the Stormbox Pro (which is independent of your phone's volume unless you mute the sound from your handset).

Below, you have three buttons. To the left is the Bluetooth pairing button with a blue backlight. This is also used to put two Stormbox Pro speakers into stereo mode or, as Tribit calls it, "Party Mode", by pressing and holding for five seconds. This means you can listen to music in stereo. We'll come to that when we discuss the device's performance.

The center of the three buttons is the power button, which is obviously to switch the Stormbox on and off. To the right, you have the button to toggle the X-Bass mode, which is also present on Tribit's other portable speakers and is designed to boost bass frequencies.

Again, very simple in terms of operation. This makes the Tribit Stormbox Pro an excellent first portable Bluetooth speaker; it is simple to operate with no dedicated app getting in the way and complicating matters.

So, How Well Do the Stormbox Speakers Work?

Looking familiar and operating simply are two things, but does the Stormbox Pro deliver in terms of sound and functionality? I'm pleased to report it does. In fact, it exceeds expectations for what most people would refer to as a budget option.

It may not break the bank, but turn the Stormbox Pro up loud enough and you may well break a few windows. Just one of these little monsters can pump out up to 40 W of sound, which is plenty loud.

I could hear the music I was playing perfectly during a recent day spent at my local park, which is always busy with people and families, so is generally quite noisy. Even at 40-50% volume, the Stormbox Pro coped well with loud conversation close to me and shouting children not much further away.

Said park trip lasted for around six hours and the battery hardly wavered. During testing, I have only had to charge the Stormbox Pro once, after multiple extended uses and with X-Bass active. Therefore, the 24-hour battery claim rings true.

Stereo mode works pretty well, although the Stormbox can occasionally drop in and out of stereo mode. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing why this has happened, as multiple factors may cause it.

Maybe other devices are interfering with the stereo connection. It is a Bluetooth stereo connection after all, so is subject to interference in a way that a wired stereo connection wouldn't be.

To be honest, the dropping in and out was infrequent, and I only noticed it happen a handful of times (three-four) during testing over several weeks and under different conditions. Any dropout is brief, so isn't a major issue. Pairing two of the devices for stereo mode is incredibly easy and presents no issues.

In terms of range, the Bluetooth extends for miles. Well, perhaps not miles, but you get 100 feet out of the range providing that is a clear run. This reduces slightly if the Bluetooth signal needs to pass through walls or people.

As for the water resistance, IP67 works perfectly. I left both Stormbox Pro speakers outside for several days and through several weather conditions, and neither showed any signs of deterioration. This included two days of fairly consistent drizzle (the UK's default weather) and there was no sign of water damage.

With that in mind, the Stormbox Pro is perfect for both indoor and outdoor use. You can even take them in the shower with you, if you really must!

Bringing the Thunder With the Stormbox Pro's Sound

In terms of sound quality, the Stormbox Pro performs well. Bass is obviously the focus, given that the unit houses a 25 Watt, 3.5 inch neodymium bass driver and two 7.5 Watt passive radiators. Two transducers take care of the mids and trebles.

In this case, the bass is clear and heavy. Even more so when you activate the X-Bass feature. There is no muddiness to speak of, so a very pleasant dub soundtrack accompanied my trip to the park, as deep bass reverberated around my ankles in stereo.

The mids and trebles are also very present and, despite the bass focus, bottom-end sounds don't overpower the mids and top end, so there is no sound congestion. Both are crisp and bright, with the treble free of those harsh, sibilant tones that can make listening to other lower-quality speakers an unpleasant listen.

In all, the Stormbox Pro provides a well-rounded sonic experience, particularly for a portable Bluetooth device in this price range. With a bass-oriented signature, this is a perfect portable party speaker, particularly in stereo mode.

Take the Party Everywhere, With Tribit's Stormbox Pro

So, there we have it. The Tribit Stormbox Pro is a refreshingly simple device. Despite this, it knocks spots off some of its similarly priced competition, with stereo mode and that tremendous 24-hour battery life being real boons for portable party-goers.

In the Stormbox's price range, you'd be hard-pushed to find a device that has this kind of stamina, can pair up for stereo mode, has an IP67 rating, and can function as a power bank. All while sounding great. If you're in the market for an inexpensive, portable, Bluetooth speaker, then the Tribit Stormbox Pro should be at the top of your list.

The Tribit Stormbox Pro Speaker Brings the Thunder to Your Portable Party published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Moffat Era Rewatch: Knock Knock

Bill and her friends go house hunting with deadly consequences... 

Warning: Spoilers Sweetie 

Here are Bill’s new roommates -  Shireen, Harry, Paul, Pavel, and Felicity. 

Don’t get attached. Not because they all die. Miraculously, they all survive, but none of them will be seen or heard from again after this episode. Which is disappointing because no companion has had friends before. Yes, they’ve mentioned mates and on rare occasions we’ve seen one in the flesh for all of five seconds, but none of them had a friend who was a recurring character, only family members and love interests. It would’ve been nice if Bill was the first one to have a regular group of friends.  

David Suchet as the Landlord, a role he could’ve done in his sleep. 

Creepy old man shows up out of nowhere and offer them a too good to be true house super cheap and that doesn’t set off any alarm bells? I know spacious, affordable housing is difficult to find for students, but I would’ve at least slept on it before signing the tenancy. 

This was the same house used for ‘Blink’. 

The music Pavel is playing is ‘Sonata No. 1 in G minor for solo violin’ by J. S. Bach. 

Bill in her bi flag shirt. 

“Time Lord? What's that, your job?”

“Saw the bedroom. Do you sleep here?” Hold on, has Bill found the Doctor’s room? Or was it a previous companions? Was it Clara’s? Does he keep her room exactly as it is and go there occasionally in hope it will jog his memory?  

“He's your grandad? That's awesome. Mine went greypacking on the Great Wall Of China with his boyfriend" I know that they cut out all references to Harry being Harry Sullivan’s grandson but I’m going to accept it as canon, or as canon as anything is in Doctor Who.  

“Here you go, Mum. My own place. You proud? Thanks!” Awww.

Thunder and lighting. Very original. 

How cheap is this place that they’d put up with no central heating, washing machine, and incompatible power sockets. That last one would be a deal breaker for me. If I can’t charge my devices I’m out of there. 

Bill is a Little Mix fan 

“Honestly, Doctor, there's nothing going on. Nothing weird, nothing alien. Just an old house and a dodgy landlord, which is pretty standard for students. I'll see you later for more exciting Tardis action, but, basically, this is the bit of my life that you're not in. Do you know what I mean?”

Now would be a good time for the sonic to work on wood. 

Looks like Pavel has grown attached to his new home. Geddit? I’ll get me coat.  

So every 20 years half a dozen people have moved into this house and disappeared without a trace and no one ever came looking for them? No one reported this to the police? I know they were students, but even students have families and more than a few of them would’ve passed on their new address. 

When I hear Eliza I instantly go into Hamilton mode. 

“No, wait. Doctor, that doesn't make sense.” Bill and I are on the same page. 

“That was it, no plan. Info dump, then busk.” 

“Yes, your friend. She's restoring them” If you don’t really want to kill your entire supporting cast then don’t fake kill them earlier on. It just make your climax look like a complete cop out.   

“Right, you lot, back to the estate agents. Better luck next time.” Doctor, all of Bill’s stuff was in that house. Her photos of her mum. At least try to pretend to be a little bit compassionate. 

Peter’s hair seems longer here. I imagine this scene was shot later. 

The piece she is playing is ‘Fur Elise’ by Beethoven.   

“Look, I know you miss it all, but I'm stuck here too, you know? We're both prisoners. So what do you say, dinner? And I've got a new story for you, too. There's a haunted house and woodlice from space. And lots of young people get eaten.”

Pop Goes The Weasel! It really couldn’t have been anyone else in that vault. 

Next Time: Oxygen

[sonic-nyoom]

so wait you dont like boom!sonamy because Boom!Amy is not the type of girl to really be all that encouraging as Modern Amy is to Modern Sonic, but are fine if Modern Amy swapped places with Boom Amy? Yet you dont like Modern Sonamy? I dont get that. I though what you wanted was for Amy to mature and ease up on her affection for Sonic. Which she does in Boom. She sill loves and supports him, but not to the point Modern would. So you want her to ease up, or to be super suppertive?

Okay, out of the multiple asks I’m guessing are mostly from you since they were sent in a very short timespan, this one I can actually follow and understand because I was admittedly very vague about it in my original post.

Gonna make three things abundantly clear right off the bat:

1 - Modern!Amy > Boom!Amy every time; that doesn’t mean I’m super fond of either of them, but if I had to choose, I’d immediately pick Modern!Amy.

2 - Modern!Sonic ≠ Boom!Sonic; they both have fairly different personalities, meaning how I’d fit them with other characters is also different. I might say that Modern!Amy is not good for Modern!Sonic, but that doesn’t mean I think the other way around as false. In fact, I firmly believe that Modern!Sonic is not good for Modern!Amy either.

3 - They are not swapping places; that would imply that Boom!Amy just has Modern!Amy’s personality, which is not what I’m going for here. This AU involves the two universes having some sort of portal to connect to each other and only the two Sonic being aware of it at first, so they decide to have a little fun.

The AU (which isn’t even supposed to be taken that seriously anyway) is about Modern!Amy developing as a character. Through the AU, she progresses as a character, because, while she DOES think Boom!Sonic is Modern!Sonic at first, she eventually realizes that this isn’t the case, which is where the AU actually takes off.

Now, firstly, let me point out the key differences between both Amy and both Sonic. Modern!Amy is extremely supportive, while Boom!Amy is more - I don’t agree with this word, but since you used it, I will too - “mature”. However, while Modern!Sonic gets enough support as it is, Boom!Sonic does not. Thus, ironically, the thing that the writers did to make Boom!Amy more compatible with Boom!Sonic actually makes her less compatible.

Modern!Sonic is constantly moving, always exploring new places and never staying in one place for very long. Boom!Sonic is more relaxed; he loves running, but doesn’t go exploring often and enjoys lounging in his hammock, away from all the noise and distress of the villagers. Those traits are key, because Modern!Amy hates it when Modern!Sonic goes off on his own. She wants someone who’s more there for her, and Boom!Sonic would actually have the time to give her that.

And, at the start of the AU, Boom!Sonic would actually take a bit of advantage of the situation. He’s a nice guy of course, but he’s a little selfish too since he’d like Modern!Amy’s attention, fearing ruining it by outing himself as being not-her-Sonic.

Through Modern!Amy, he stops feeling like he has to always be the ego guy; like he can actually be himself without needing to put himself on a pedestal just to make himself feel better, as there’s a girl who does seem to really like him. Even if he’s living a lie, what he does actually makes her smile.

But once the secret is out, Modern!Amy would start questioning herself. There would be two Sonic now; does she love them both? That would be shallow of her, loving a Sonic just because he’s Sonic, wouldn’t it? And yet, she enjoyed the time she had with Boom!Sonic, loving him like she would Modern!Sonic, even if she was mistaken.

Maybe part of her even knew that this wasn’t her Sonic; maybe part of her was certain of it, but didn’t want to believe it because this one was spending time with her and loved her company.

That’s where the development comes in. She would either move on from Modern!Sonic or become friends with Boom!Sonic which would then blossom into a legitimate crush. This makes her mature and supportive; something Boom!Amy is not.

Modern!Amy is a lot of things; she’s obsessive, she’s got a short fuse, and she doesn’t understand that Modern!Sonic is just not interested.

But, you know what? No matter what she did, I never for a moment thought that she didn’t care about him. Even if it was just his hero side, I at least got the impression that she legitimately cared.

For comparison’s sake, let’s look at two episodes that try to paint Sonic as a bad guy, “The Light is Ours!!” from Sonic X, and “Just a Guy” from Sonic Boom.

Now, before anyone says, “Just a Guy is a satire!”, that’s no excuse. The villagers are supposed to be the pawns for the writers to do whatever they want, not Sonic’s “friends”. Thus, I will judge them as such.

The light arc of Sonic X has Eggman as a “good guy” for giving all these people the lights they need, and Sonic as the “bad guy” for taking those away by knocking down the towers that power them.

Now, keep in mind that Amy doesn’t even know Sonic’s reasoning for doing this, yet, what’s her reaction to it?

She trusts him, because “she likes him”. She doesn’t know why he’s doing these things, but she has faith in him anyway.

In “Just a Guy”, Sonic is practically hated by everyone in the village because he didn’t want someone to get hurt. That’s literally it. He had no other way of conveying this and everyone got offended.

What does Amy do? She goes full-on lecture mode on him and tells him that he has to change, that he has to apologize.

And when Sonic loses his cool and storms off? Does she feel bad for pushing him? Nope! In fact, she tricks him by taking everyone else away from the village, leaving it thoroughly unprotected, so that Sonic is forced to step up because he’s a nice guy who can’t stand to see the village destroyed. And, she doesn’t even have a problem straight up admitting this right to his face when they come back down from the mountains after he’d saved the day.

That is not maturity. That is manipulation.

Sonic Boom likes to act like their Amy is better. Sonic Boom likes to act like she’s a better character, but she’s not.

Modern!Amy, despite her faults, at least cares. No matter what, her attraction is at least right out in the open. She’s immature in her obsessiveness, but she has a goal. She doesn’t dance around the problem; she actually goes for it.

If Boom!Amy was as mature as she’s claimed to be, why doesn’t she actually do something and confess to Boom!Sonic already? She’s definitely not shy, because she’s been very forward about literally everything else. If she doesn’t want to ruin their relationship, oh, yeah, that ship totally hasn’t sailed or anything. If she was really this touchy-feelsy type who’s always supposed to have the solution to everyone’s problem, then she needs to get off her high horse, buck up, and stop dancing around this apparent crush.

I know why she’s not saying anything. She’s not saying anything because she wants him to confess to her. She wants to sit her on her throne and not care how long it takes if it means not doing anything. She wants someone who’s romantic and will sweep her off her feet (going off of Tails’ Crush), and that’s not what Boom!Sonic is.

Either that, or the other option being that she has this fleeting attraction for him, which would more easily explain why she falls for every other guy introduced (e.g: Swifty, Tommy, alternate!Knuckles), thus negating this whole shipping argument anyway.

Modern!Amy doesn’t expect Modern!Sonic to be super romantic. Walks on the beach, a flower or date here and there, but that’s it. This is why the AU exists. Boom!Sonic gets the support he wants and deserves while Modern!Amy gets someone whose personality is similar to one she originally had her eyes on, but is actually better for her and is thus a more logical match. Plus, she gets to mature through the thought process of what it means to be in love and what someone being in love with her means.

[temporalduality-blog]

VIDEO GAMES: Sonic Riders

SUUPERRR SAAAWNIIKKKKK SPPPPEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDD!!!!!!

I don’t know about you guys, but it seems to me that whenever I hear someone talking about a Sonic racing game, they always refer to it as “SEGA’s version of Mario Kart”.

Okay, so maybe the more recent games HAVE been blatant knock-offs...

I mean, Mario Kart is a tremendously popular kart racer that has spawned dozens of clones, so who wouldn’t see Sonic racing games in that light?

The fact is that Mario Kart took the racing genre and flipped it on its head, basically defining the current state of the “casually unrealistic yet fiercely competitive” racing game. Items, for example, have appeared in just about every non-arcade/non-sim racing title since Super Mario Kart first hit SNES back in the early 90s.

But that’s not really what we’re talking about here.

Before I start sounding like a triggered fanboy...

Sonic Riders, released in 2006 for GameCube, PS2, Xbox, and PC, is quite different than your typical Mario Kart: Bootleg Edition. Capitalizing on the “extreme” lifestyle being pushed onto Sonic in recent games, Sonic Riders places Sonic and friends (including a few sub-series newcomers) onto Air Boards, which the game labels as Extreme Gear. There is a story behind the game, and it’s your standard Eggman’s-evil-plot-revolves-around-whatever-the-game-is-about. We’ve seen him create a Pinball Defense System before for Sonic Spinball, and, heck, this isn’t even the series’ first Eggman-hosted “World Grand Prix” (Sonic R gets that honor), so we’re used to this garbage by now. Regardless, the characters take things seriously and fall into his obvious traps. In the plot’s defense, one of the best parts of the Sonic series is watching Sonic accept any challenge thrown his way with full confidence, and then easily coming out with the victory, seeing through traps laid out for him as if he were Bugs Bunny (see the animated Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog TV series). So at least there’s some classic Sonic fun to it.

Also, I have to say that there are few games in which I enjoy the game-engine-rendered cutscenes more than the pre-rendered CGI cutscenes, and this is one of them. It doesn’t help that the CGI animation is just weird looking (especially when Shadow, released just a few months before, had first-rate animation), but what really helps is that the character models and animation in the real-time cutscenes are some of the best the series has ever seen. Characters are very expressive, making them enjoyable at times. It’s too bad that the voice acting and dialogue is so terrible. I mean, Jet the Hawk’s voice literally makes my ears want to bleed. Have a listen:

The other two newcomers, Storm and Wave, actually sound decent. Wow!

Plot and story nonsense out the way, let’s get to the actual game, which for the most part involves pretty standard fare: three lap races, multiple Sonic characters to choose from, tons of gear that can be purchased (some that even mod the game a little!), and, unfortunately, as seems to be the trend in Sonic-based racing games, only a handful of tracks and play modes, although the variety is FAR better than Sonic R’s!

In terms of control and gameplay mechanics, the game itself is actually fairly complex and takes a lot of time to master. Players advance automatically, and every single action they perform requires air, whether that be basic acceleration, boosting, power-sliding, etc. Boards can only hold air in limited supply, so a core part of the game is moderating your air usage so that you can maintain good speed, never letting the board run out of air, in which case the player will begin running on-foot. Throughout the race, players can pick up items, use gimmicks, or successfully perform tricks off of ramps to not refill their air gauge, but also gain speed, and if players get desperate, they can make a pit stop at one of the many refueling locations scattered around any given race course to refill their air tank. Players can also collect rings scattered around the course to upgrade their boards mid-race, refilling the air supply, allowing players to take in more air, and increasing players’ speeds. It’s just another thing for players to do during a race, keeping things action-packed and busy.

There’s far more to this game than I mentioned above. When introdcuing the game to new players, I reccommend going to the game’s “Extras” menu and showing them this video. They’re going to need it...

Adding to the variety of the game is the fact is each character has one of three “types”: Speed, Fly, or Power, like in Sonic Heroes. Character type determines special moves available to you as a player: Speed characters can grind, Fly characters can fly through boost rings, and Power characters can smash obstacles. Each type gets access to unique shortcuts, and performing their special action replenishes some of their air supply, so it’s important to take advantage of those gimmicks when you can. 

The part of the game that’s going to keep players busy the most is probably just learning how to master everything. Finding hidden routes and items in races, perfecting missions, getting perfect scores in the Grand Prix mode, and playing as characters of different types to try all of the game’s various shortcuts. The Story Mode is essentially nothing more than an introduction to the game, while the Mission Mode is a great way to hone your skills and learn how to actually perform tricks properly, which is probably the most difficult part of the game, since it involves numerous factors like your speed when approaching the ramp, how much you’ve charged your jump, when on the ramp you release the jump, and even the direction of the joystick determines whether you go further or jump higher: it’s really complex and part of the fun of mastering the game, although, since every ramp seems to be a little different in terms of what speed you need, what direction you need to press, and where to let go of the jump button to get an X-Ranking and land on the higher part of the course, it can take a lot of time and be really frustrating when you have no idea what you’re doing wrong. Make no mistake, the game is pretty picky about things and isn’t simple.

Smaller screens = more fun, right?

Unfortunately, this is also the game’s biggest problem. As unique and fresh as it is, not everybody will be willing to give the game’s steep learning curve a solid chance, meaning that most of your time playing this game will be spent in single-player. The game is fun, so definitely pick it up (I tested it on GameCube, but I haven’t heard of significant problems with the other versions of the game), and if you do, try to get your friends into it, because that will add a lot of replay value to the game. Just don’t be disappointed when your friends say they’d rather play something else.

If you want to compare it Mario Kart, here are the facts: Mario Kart is a simpler game, and it’s easier to hook people into it. This game, however, has far more variety than Mario Kart, keeping players busier and more engaged, even though it sacrifices simplicity to achieve that.

And yes, the game has battle modes, but I’ve never touched them due to nobody wanting to play the game with me. I should try introducing the game to more people...

Overall, I give the game 4 out of 5 stars. It’s fun! If you have a GameCube, PS2, Xbox, or PC and are looking for a fresh, yet challenging experience, give this one a try.

[tomoneofakind]

**In this post, I talk about the game Super Mario World.  Although I feel the Mario story of Mario saves Princess Peach is quite common, there maybe things I mention that are considered spoilers to others.**

In this game, Bowser has taken over Dinosaur Land and kidnapped Princess Peach. and it’s up to Mario, Luigi and their new friend Yoshi to save the Princess from Bowser and his Koopalings.

I missed out of this game when I was a kid.  The Super Nintendo had just came out and I couldn’t convince my parents to buy one since it’s was too expensive for the time.  The original price of the console was $200 in 1990, which, adjusted for inflation, by 2018 is pretty much double that price.  So I decided to go with the Sega Genesis instead.  Like some other gamers of the 1990’s, I got swept up in the console wars and went to Sega after playing Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, and Kid Chameleon.  Genesis does what Nintendon’t, I believed.  I didn’t own a Nintendo system until the Gamecube came out in November 2001.  Looking back, I felt kind of foolish about getting swept up in fanboyism.  I missed out on a lot of great games for all systems.

I was a sucker for that Blast Processing

I’ve been playing this game on the SNES Classic.  Super Mario World has been released originally on the Super Nintendo and ported on several different consoles like the Wii, Wii U, New Nintendo 3DS, and a ported, sort of remade for the Game Boy Advance under the Super Mario Advance Series.  I’ve been using the rewind feature and save states a lot.  You are able to save, but only after you have taken down a castle or find a new exit to the level.  The controls and jumping in the game aren’t bad, but I find myself rocking the D-Pad left and right when I make a jump to land on a platform.  Even on longer platforms or solid ground I still find myself doing this.  Mario just feels like he is slipping around a lot in the game and controls like Luigi. By that, I mean how Luigi has a faster sprint and higher jump, but takes a longer time to stop. Not sure if I’m just experiencing lag with the system, but I do feel a slight delay in Mario’s controls.  Mario also has a spin jump, but I only seem to find myself using this to break bricks when I’m Super Mario to get below to another area.

What I seem to have problems with the controls, at least I can say that this game is still fun.  The sprites, backgrounds and enemies all look great.  The music is great and catchy and sets the mood for each level.  Whether it’s the haunting sound of the ghost house, or the cheerfulness of the over worlds, Koji Kondo, the composer did a great job.  I keep wanting to go back to it and beat a level that I was having a problem with.   Not, I want to rage quit and not play again.  Well, that is until I got to the World 9 Special Zone.  You get here after you find the secret exits in World 8 Star Road.  I did get past the first three levels of 90’s saying (tubular and Gnarly sounds really dated to me), the rest are just rather difficult for me with the controls.  While the levels are a challenge, the mini bosses and bosses are rather easy for me.

Dinosaur Land Overworld minus Star and Special road

The overworld has a nice layout.  It’s the layout of you can’t progress until you defeat a level and goes kind of non linear unless you find another way out from a level.  This is indicated by a red dot on the level.  It gives a good amount of replay as there are 96 different exits to find in the game.  I like the addition of Ghost Houses.  Primary filled with Boos and other types of “dead” enemies like Dry Bones, eeries, and boo buddies.  I like the challenge and the redirect of these levels to find hidden exits with the use of a P-block for example.

Some screen grabs of the battles with the various Bosses in the game.

The Koopalings all have different attacks than the shoot the magic wand and charge at you from Super Mario Bros 3.  But they are Mario platform boss standard; jump on them three times, or knock them off of the platform to defeat them.  Bowser is the Final Boss, and he is pretty difficult to defeat.  I need to say that I found this battle pretty intense, even today.  The lightning flashing in the back ground, Bowser flying around in the Koopa Clown Car with a seemingly endless cannonballs. It’s insanely spacious inside for the amount of cannonballs he throws at you.  I still can’t figure out how he filled so many cannonballs inside that thing unless he modded a TARDIS from Dr. Who or something to that extent.  The first use of mode 7 graphic as he charges the screen after a few hits was, and still is, awesome.  I also liked how the countdown timer is gone from the battle.  Almost giving you no excuse that you can run away saying the timer won’t let me beat this final boss.

A lot of Mario enemies made their debut here.  Some of my more notable enemies to first appear for me are Wiggers, a caterpillar like foe who turns red and angry when you stomp on Wigger’s head (minus the train whistle Wiggler has in later games).  Banzai Bills, a larger version of Bullet Bill, that seems to take up nearly half the screen whenever he is fired towards Mario.  Big Boo, a larger version of Boo and one of the mini bosses you face, but still retains the Boos trait of chasing you when you look away.  Chucks, the sports themed enemy who attacks you various ways, such as throwing baseballs/footballs at you, charging after you, and punting footballs at you.   Finally Magikoopas, Koopas that can cast spells and change objects into enemies.  What I found is that the Goomba’s were removed in favor of Glaoombas and Cheep Cheeps had a strange redesign that both came off as odd to me.

Reznor, a triceratops mini boss in the game is named after Nine Inch Nails member Trent Reznor.  A very cool fact I think.

Mario has a couple of new powers.  Grabbing a feather, turns him into a Cape Mario. He can fly for a short time, then use his parachute to glide back down to safety.  It’s tricky to do at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a rather useful power up.  This game also introduced the power balloon.  It puffs up Mario like a balloon and can fly/float for a short time.  The biggest power-up or rather friend that Mario comes across is Yoshi.  I like you can switch power ups on the fly if you have one saved in your inventory, but a pain if you aren’t center to catch the power up and run the risk of losing it.  I prefer the Super Mario Bros 3 style and chose the power up before you enter a level.

Mario and Yoshi at Yoshi’s House located at the beginning of the game

Yoshis are one of the main residents of Dinosaur Island. There are green dinosaur that Mario rides like a horse and adds a bongo drum to the soundtrack whenever Mario rides him.  They are eat practically every enemy you come across.  Yoshi can also eat berries scattered across the game.  Each berry can vary from type to type from power up to more time for your counter.  When Yoshi also eats a Koopa Shell, he can do three different attacks.  Eating a red shell, Yoshi spits out three fireballs, yellow allows him to do a ground pound, and blue makes Yoshi grow wings and fly temporary.  Primary, you have a green Yoshi’s throughout the game but later on in the game you can get three different colored baby Yoshi’s which have different powers depending on what color Yoshi you have.  The are babies until they eat 5 enemies.  The color of the Yoshi follows what shell color it parallels if the green Yoshi eats (Ex red Yoshi spits out three fireballs despite the shell color that it eats but still retains the other effects of the other color shells as well).  The only place Yoshi doesn’t enter are ghost houses and castles.  Overall, I feel Yoshi’s are one of the best way to experiment with gameplay and discover new ways to play and exit level.

Mario gets Yoshi to eat the enemies by punching his head?!? Sounds very cruel

In terms of Mario games that I like, I think that Super Mario Bros 3 is better than this game, but I still enjoy Super Mario World.  Maybe it’s due to it being the easiest Mario game at the time until the New Super Mario Brother series.  When you take a hit in Super Mario Bros 3, if you have a power up like a Fire Flower, your revert to Super Mario.  In Super Mario World, if you are Cape Mario and get hit by an enemy, you revert to small Mario.  It was a level of difficulty that I wasn’t too fond off until I got older.  Although I wish Super Mario 3 had a save feature but that will be for another time.

If you have any good Super Mario facts, things I left out, or any fond memories that you had of Super Mario World, let me know in the comments and thank you for reading.

Super Mario World **In this post, I talk about the game Super Mario World.  Although I feel the Mario story of Mario saves Princess Peach is quite common, there maybe things I mention that are considered spoilers to others.**