#i replayed 4's campaign and really wanted 2 draw them

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oly oly oxen free

[auburnfamilynews]

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Yikes.

Before you get any further than this, stop. Grab a beverage. You may need it.

Losing sucks. Losing is the House. The House always wins; your team will eventually lose. And the loss, the one loss, will hurt more than all the other wins, until you win again. The cycle resets. In your heart, you believe your team will never lose again. Losing is the inevitable outcome of sports. But losing is necessary. Losing is perspective. Pain, as a sports fan, is vital. Without 2012, 2013 isn’t quite as magical.

I’ve been on twitter long enough to know that Auburn fans love suffering, and love to argue about suffering, and love to compare bad experiences. We all believe we have it worse than the next fan. And Auburn fans? Well, Auburn fans have seen their share of suffering. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and visit some of the most brutal losses in Auburn football history.

Criteria:

To date (May, 2020), Auburn football has participated in 1,268 games. To make this super exclusive list, the Auburn team must qualify for all three of the following criteria:

Auburn Lost: this may seem obvious, but to make this list, Auburn must have lost the game in question. Otherwise, 2015 Jax State would definitely be making an appearance. That game was terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad. But Auburn won, technically, so we’ll move on. Games are weighted by margin of defeat. Games remaining: 445

Auburn must have been ranked: if you have ever visited twitter dot com, you are aware that everyone loves to dump on the AP poll. Myself included. However, they typically do a decent job at identifying the good teams from the bad. Being ranked does carry weight, especially among the fan base. Be honest, our own expectations are significantly increased when Auburn is a Top 10 team. This will eliminate games prior to 1936. Apologies to your great great grandparents. Games are weighted by rank: Top 10 Auburn teams will be weighted higher than Auburn teams ranked 11-25. Games remaining: 118

Auburn must have been a double digit favorite: This is the key. While the AP poll is somewhat good at evaluating strengths, Vegas is really, really good at evaluating strengths. Those casino high rises didn’t build themselves. In 2019, Vegas favorites went 540-184-11 (.742) straight up. Double digit favorites went 423-40 (.914) straight up. If Auburn was ranked as a double digit favorite, we were all confident at kickoff. This will eliminate games prior to the late 1980’s. I’m sure spreads existed back then, but it is very difficult to find them online. Games are weighted by spread: the larger the spread, the more brutal. Games remaining: 14

So here we are. Last chance to turn around. Maybe take a moment, top off that beverage. Hug a loved one. Take in some fresh air. Whatever it takes to get through the next few paragraphs.

The 14 most brutal Auburn losses, ranked from least brutal to most brutal:

14. 1986 Georgia

Final Score: L, 16-20

Auburn Rank: 9

Spread: Auburn -10.5

I’m putting this here for a couple of reasons.

Auburn’s undefeated 1986 campaign had already been ruined by Florida in Gainesville two weeks earlier. Still, a win would have given Auburn at least a share of the SEC title.

However, I was born a few years after this game was played. I can’t put this kind of loss into perspective. Sorry. Feel free to tell me all the reasons I’m wrong below, though!

13. 1991 Southern Miss

Final Score: L, 9-10

Auburn Rank: 16

Spread: Auburn -12.5

Similar to a couple of games below, this is an Auburn team that had no business being ranked. A flat Auburn team just couldn’t get it done.

12. 1990 Southern Miss

Final Score: L, 12-13

Auburn Rank: 15

Spread: Auburn -12

Is a loss to Brett Favre really that brutal? A winnable game that Auburn let slip through their fingers.

But really, how do you come back from a beating in the Swamp? Auburn was 7 days removed from a 48-7 bludgeoning by the Gators. I’m going to let this one slide.

11. 2005 Wisconsin (Capital One Bowl)

Final Score: L, 7-21

Auburn Rank: 7

Spread: Auburn -10

Another one that barely squeaks in. Fan expectations were high after an undefeated campaign in 2004, but a poor opening loss to Georgia Tech and an overtime loss to LSU (that included a hundred missed field goals) left the 2005 team with a feeling that they fell short, even after defeating Georgia and Alabama to close out the regular season.

I don’t know for certain that the team didn’t care about the game. I don’t know for certain that the team might have had a little too much team-building the night before. I know a sleepy Auburn squad on New Year’s Day got run out of the building by a Wisconsin team that wanted to be there. Barry Alvarez had those boys ready to play.

10. 2008 Arkansas

Final Score: L, 22-25

Auburn Rank: 23

Spread: Auburn -16.5

This is such a bizarre game. 2008 was wild. Preseason expectations were quickly dashed with a typical crazy last-minute loss to LSU. Then, somehow, College Gameday was the Auburn/Vanderbilt game two weeks later? (side note: the worst Auburn teams always seem to draw the best Vanderbilt teams. See, 2008 and 2012). Did Auburn deserve to be ranked? Hindsight, no, but even in the moment, 23 felt generous. Should Auburn have beaten that Arkansas team? Definitely. Arkansas was 2-3 and had been outscored 139-31 in their previous 3 games. But Auburn was awful that day. Tony Franklin had just been dismissed, and football genius Steve Ensminger took over playcalling duties. Auburn stunk from start to finish, and Arkansas took a deliberate safety to seal the win.

9. 2018 Tennessee

Final Score: L, 24-30

Auburn Rank: 21

Spread: Auburn -14.5

This one that barely qualifies. At this point, Auburn had already gotten beaten pretty badly by Mississippi State (no thanks to two different instant replays, no, I’m not bitter at all) and lost a narrow one to LSU (patience, we’ll get to this one) but this pretty much ended any expectations for 2018. Not much else to say.

8. 2017 UCF (Peach Bowl)

Final Score: L, 27-34

Auburn Rank: 7

Spread: Auburn -10.5

Maybe it’s just me, but this loss wasn’t as brutal as some make it out to be. 2017 Auburn had a magical November, followed up by a poor performance in Atlanta against Georgia. Several players had suffered injuries (Kerryon Johnson) or had all but declared for the draft (Carlton Davis). UCF looked like they wanted to be there, Auburn didn’t. UCF would go on to claim a national championship.

7. 1996 Georgia

Final Score: L, 49-56 (4 OT)

Auburn Rank: 20

Spread: Auburn -10

The first overtime SEC game was especially painful. Georgia was aggressively mediocre at best in 1996, and Auburn led 28-7 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Even after surrendering two TDs, Auburn still got a fourth down stop with very little time remaining, and then they proceeded to fail to get a first down and run out the clock. No matter, they could still get a stop. Except on nearly the final play of the game, Auburn appeared to sack Mike Bobo with just 6 seconds remaining. For some reason, the clock was stopped and placed back at the 31 yard line, allowing UGA to spike the ball. They would throw a desperation TD pass on the next play, and hit the PAT to tie the game. Four overtimes later, Auburn finally couldn’t convert their opportunity.

6. 1997 Mississippi State

Final Score: L, 0-20

Auburn Rank: 11

Spread: -17

Some of the losses in this list make sense in hindsight (the 2018 team wasn’t as good as originally thought; the 2006 team had so little offensive firepower that if they started committing turnovers, or if the defense wasn’t lights-out that things could go south). This loss does not. This was not a particularly good Mississippi State team. They had been blown out by UGA, handled easily by LSU, and beat their 3 non-conference opponents (Memphis, ULM, and UCF) by a total of 24 points. The game was in Auburn, and the Tigers were coming off of a more-solid-than-it-looked win at Arkansas, and the only blemish was a hard-fought loss to one of Spurrier’s best Florida teams. For some reason, Auburn couldn’t do anything against Mississippi State on offense. In the previous 3 meetings, Auburn scored 42, 48, and 49 points against the Bulldogs. Then, somehow, on a rainy afternoon at Jordan-Hare, Terry Bowden’s offense lost the plot.

My enduring memory of this game: on almost every fourth down, Mississippi State would line up with their base offense and force Auburn’s defense to stay on the field. Then MSU QB Matt Wyatt would drop back a few yards and punt. Not a pooch punt. I’m talking a real two-step punt. Fearing MSU would go for it if given the opportunity, Auburn never sent anyone back to return the punt, so it would inevitably roll another 10-15 yards. Sports-reference.com tells me Wyatt punted 13 times in 1997, but I swear half of them were in this game.

5. 2018 LSU

Final Score: L, 21-22

Auburn Rank: 7

Spread: -10

We briefly talked about 2018 earlier. Expectations were high with returning starter Jarrett Stidham at quarterback. However, the future New England Patriot opened the game with a really, really poor interception, setting up transfer quarterback Joe Burrow with a very easy touchdown drive. Auburn regained control of the game and led 21-10 with 10 minutes left in the third quarter. FPI even gave Auburn a 90% chance of winning halfway through the fourth quarter. Auburn let a 71 yard touchdown pass slip through their fingers and committed several defensive pass interference penalties as Cole Tracy kicked the game winning field goal as time expired. The way this game played out was heartbreaking. Auburn had the team to win this game.

4. 2006 Arkansas

Final Score: L, 10-27

Auburn Rank: 2

Spread: Auburn -13.5

2006 Auburn entered the season with all sorts of crazy expectations, even on a national level. The AP had Auburn at #4 in the country in the preseason poll and was a near-consensus #2 behind Ohio State by the time the Arkansas game rolled around. Auburn had already beaten #6 LSU 7-3 in a nail-biter 3 weeks earlier. This team was good, and had the resume to prove it.

Enter Darren McFadden. A young play caller by the name of Gus Malzahn, equipped with the second-best football player I have ever seen with my own eyes, had his way against Auburn’s elite defense.

Arkansas was obviously underrated at the time. Malzahn had his typical “slow start to the season” game against USC, getting blown out 50-14, followed by 3 wins against unranked opponents. They would go on to win the SEC West in 2006. But in the moment, this one stung.

Oh, and this was the first loss I ever witnessed in person. That may explain why this one is so high.

3. 2016 Georgia

Final Score: L, 7-13

Auburn Rank: 9

Spread: Auburn -10

There was a stretch in 2016 where Auburn’s offense looked as dominant as they ever had. I fondly remember the 2016 Arkansas beatdown, or even the Mississippi State game. That team was clicking. Unfortunately, Pettway was hindered by injuries. Sean White likely lied to his coaches about the extent (or existence of) an injury in his throwing arm. By the time the Georgia game got around, the defense looked unbelievable, and the offense looked incompetent.

Still, Auburn’s defense was good enough to beat this Georgia team with one hand tied behind their back.

2. 2006 Georgia

Final Score: L, 15-37

Auburn Rank: 9

Spread: Auburn -11.5

This team could have contended for a national championship. HOWEVER, some huckster from Arkansas had to come in with his Wildcat and his gotdang trick plays and ruin us on a hungover Saturday morning when the Tigers were ranked 2nd in the country. Yes, Gus Malzahn hit the 2006 Auburn team with its first death blow, but Georgia provided the killshot.

If you were there on a rainy November morning, Auburn had rebounded from the loss to the Hogs, beaten Florida, and entered the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry ranked 5th in the land (the highest-ranked SEC team). Arkansas had the inside track to the SEC Championship game with the tiebreaker, but Auburn was in position for a BCS bowl game either way, if they could finish at 11-1 in the regular season. Nah.

This one started poorly with a Georgia drive to score five minutes in, but it was a 23-7 Bulldog second quarter that doomed Auburn. Down 30-7 at halftime, Brandon Cox and the offense were completely ineffective (Cox completed 4 passes to his own team and 4 passes to the other team), while chubby Matt Stafford ran the quarterback draw to perfection (7 carries, 83 yards, 1 touchdown). My memories include sitting in the rain under the press box in Section 5 and wondering why Georgia’s shell band was so much louder than our full band.

Auburn lost 37-15, and over his final two games against Georgia, Brandon Cox would throw EIGHT interceptions. The Tigers finished the 2006 season at 10-2 after a super-boring and totally Tubervillian win over Alabama, then they’d beat Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl to reach 11 wins. In September/October, you would’ve thought this team could compete for a national championship. In November? The eleven wins would seem like an incredibly unrealistic total for an offense that could barely escape from a wet paper bag.

1. 2014 Texas A&M

Final Score: L, 38-41

Auburn Rank: 3

Spread: Auburn -23.5

I have some pretty strong feelings about the 2014 team. I believe that offense was actually better than 2013. I loved that team. The 2014 LSU game is the most fun game I’ve been too, and that list includes the Kick Six. 2014 Auburn rose all the way up to #2, stumbled against future Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, and made it back up to #3 in time for the game against A&M. Meanwhile, A&M’s last two games included a 59-0 beatdown by Alabama and a narrow win over La Monroe. Oh, and Auburn was a 23.5 point favorite. twenty three and a half points. In 2019, teams favored by at least 20 points went 224-10 (.957) straight up. You may recall South Carolina beating a Top 5 Georgia squad. Losses like this just don’t happen.

Auburn outplayed A&M that afternoon. Auburn trailed all game, but a comeback seemed like a foregone conclusion. We were that much better. CAP rushed for 220 and 2 touchdowns! Nick Marshall ran two touchdowns in and threw for another. The team was clicking. However, it wasn’t meant to be. A late fumble near the goal line, followed by a rather large blunder with a snap, gave the game away to the Aggies.

A 23.5 point spread remains the largest upset in Auburn history. I’d argue that this game, single-handily, knocked the magic out of Gus Malzahn until 2016, maybe even 2017. Darkest_Timeline.gif. If Auburn wins this game, they don’t sleepwalk through Georgia, they may play just a bit better against Alabama, and may even make a playoff. Am I reaching? Maybe. I was at Jordan Hare for this. Sitting in the same section, same row as I did for the Kick Six. This one stuck with me.

How did I do? What criteria would you use to rank the most brutal losses in Auburn history?

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/5/11/21246429/the-most-brutal-losses-in-auburn-football-history

[erictmason]

Top Ten: Non-Nintendo Nintendo Games

These days, when one thinks “Nintendo Game”, they’re likely thinking of a game developed by Nintendo. But back in the day, a “Nintendo Game” meant literally anything on a Nintendo system.  And there was quite a bit to offer in that respect, too.  See, before Nintendo’s near-monopoly-level dominance of the market began to break down thus forming a powerful rift between Nintendo and other third-party developers which has yet to fully heal to this day, there was basically no other place to turn BUT Nintendo if you really wanted to get your game out there.  As a result, the legacy of Nintendo’s older systems, and even some of its newer ones, is defined just as much by games developed by other studios as it is by the games Nintendo itself created.  I thus decided, thanks to some inspiration from the_moviebob and the recent revival of his “Game OverThinker” series in the form of Top 10 countdowns, to look at those games across all of Nintendo’s history, and pick my personal ten favorites of the bunch for you to see!

For the record, “non-Nintendo Nintendo game” here means two things:

1.)    The game cannot be developed by Nintendo, nor use any Nintendo-owned characters.

2.)    At the time of the game’s original release, it had to be exclusive to a Nintendo system; games that retroactively received multi-platform releases still qualify.

With that out of the way, here’s my personal picks for the Ten Best Non-Nintendo Nintendo games:

10.) Sonic Colors (SEGA, Nintendo Wii, 2010): Man, remember that brief, magical time from 2008 to 2012 where it looked like SEGA might actually be getting the "Sonic" series back on track?  Well, "Sonic Colors", to my mind at least, is one of the very best games to emerge from that all-too-brief cycle, taking the day-time segments from the previous year's "Sonic Unleashed" and expanding on them beautifully.  The new ways to traverse and explore the game's impressively-constructed stages added a nice amount of depth, collectible red rings lent the game a decent amount of replay value, and even the multiplayer mode managed to provide some amusing little distractions, as well as being cleverly integrated into the single-player campaign by playing a role in unlocking one of the game's big secrets.  Heck, it even featured the debut of a new, significantly less annoying vocal cast for the "Sonic" characters.  Sure, like a lot of Sonic games, it can be fairly rough around the edges, but isn't there something nicely poetic about one of the best things Sonic's done in the last decade being exclusive to a Nintendo console?

9.) Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (Silicon Knights, Nintendo Gamecube, 2002): These days developer Silicon Knights feels a bit like the sad punchline to a bad joke after the one-two punch of the disappointing "Too Human" and the atrocious "X-Men: Destiny".  For a while there, though, their reputation was iron-clad, thanks in no small part to "Eternal Darkness", one of the most compelling games, not just for the Nintendo Gamecube, but indeed the entire console generation it was part of.  Mixing Lovecraftian horror with wide-spanning time travel, it's one of the few games to evoke a true sense of existential dread, with the very concept of sanity itself being built into the game's mechanics.  This forces you to witness the strain these incredible events really put on the player character's mind, and thus do your level best to wrestle against that ever present tide, only to find out how very difficult that fight is.  Combined with branching paths to keep you coming back and compelling horror imagery that remains exceptionally potent all these years later (indeed, some of the game's cruder graphics almost enhance the effect), it makes for a truly haunting requiem.    

  8.) The Wonderful 101 (Platinum Games, Nintendo Wii U, 2013): Even fewer games emerged to try to truly take advantage of the Wii U's unique game pad controller than did those which tried to really engage with the Wii's motion controls, but thankfully one of the ones which did was "The Wonderful 101", Hideki Kamiya's exuberant love letter to the Tokusatsu genre.  Basically an Action Game take on the "Pikmin" series, "101" puts you in control of a massive travelling army of superheroes who can unite into various giant constructs to fight evil, with the Game Pad's touch screen providing a quick, easy way to draw up the relevant formations, as well as amusing mini-game segments that use the game pad to show you the inside of a building while needing you to observe the effects it has on the outside up on the TV screen.  The design continuously finds clever ways to challenge the player, and like all Platinum game, it also has an airtight combat system that leans heavily on timing and reaction in the most viscerally satisfying way possible.  All that, and it wears its visual identity proudly up front at all times, an aesthetic that is simultaneously wonderfully unique, even as it is also steeped in obvious, affectionate homage.    

7.) Odama (Vivarium, Nintendo Gamecube, 2006): Here's a game few people have even heard of, let alone played.  This is because, like most games which fit that description, it's a truly bizarre cross-pollination of genres.  How bizarre?  It's a Feudal Japanese War Epic...played through via pinball mechanics.  If such a combination sounds impossible, all you need to do is give this truly one-of-a-kind experience a go, because once you do it'll make you wonder why more people haven't tried it.  Giving the player a bird's-eye-view of various battlefields, you are charged with using your pinball flippers to try and guide the "Ninten Ball" (a massive, wrecking-ball-like pinball stand-in) to hit specific targets, flatten enemies, and try to clear a path to allow your troops to overtake the enemy's territory.  Admittedly, the fact that this is a game of pinball, and thus often subject to as much luck as skill, can make even the early levels tricky to actually get through some times, and it does take a bit of time before the game's full, mythological tone takes hold.  But even so, "Odama" makes its eclectic mixture work, and work remarkably well, pulling you in and keeping you going all the way, revealing new and ever-deepening layers to its game play without ever changing its fundamentals.  If you can find a copy, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

6.) Goldeneye 007 (Rare, Nintendo 64, 1997): Everyone knows the old conventional wisdom: licensed games suck, and movie games suck even harder.  Yet the Nintendo 64 adaptation of the James Bond film "Goldeneye" doesn't just Not Suck, it's a stone-cold classic whose shadow still looms large over the entirety of the FPS genre.  These days, of course, that's primarily attributable to its exceptional multiplayer mode, which even by modern standards shows an absolutely dizzying degree of customization to fit just about any group's preferred style of play.  Want to keep certain stages off the rotation?  Want to play with only a certain kind of gun?  Want to change up how to win a particular kind of match?  "Goldeneye" lets you.  But the single-player shouldn't be taken for granted either, taking some of the movie's best moments and translating them perfectly into playable form.  All that, and it's filled to the brim with brilliant deep-dive references for long-time Bond fans.  No doubt about it, no one does it better than "Goldeneye 007".

5.) Viewtiful Joe/Resident Evil 4 (Capcom, Nintendo Gamecube, 2003/2005) : The entire premise of this list rests upon Nintendo's relationship with third-party developers, and nothing is more emblematic of how poor said relationship has grown in the last two decades than the notorious "Capcom Five", a highly-promoted batch of five games from developer and long-time Nintendo collaborators Capcom, meant to be exclusive to the then-struggling Nintendo Gamecube...one of which was cancelled outright ("Dead Phoenix"),  two of which were Gamecube exclusives that sold poorly ("P.N.03" and "Killer 7"), and then there were "Viewtiful Joe" and "Resident Evil 4", both of which proved popular enough to warrant Playstation 2 ports within a couple years of their respective releases.  But even setting that contentious history aside, these two are indeed both fantastic games, one the stirring debut of a great new franchise from future "Wonderful 101" creator Hideki Kamiya (and steeped even further in his love of Tokusatsu, if you can believe it), the other quite handily the best of its notorious franchise, amping up its action elements while still delivering the shock and gore.  Neither one could save the Gamecube from its premature demise, but both demonstrate a remarkable level of polish, innovation, and engagement.  From "Joe"'s endearing sense of humor and fantastic fighting mechanics capturing the unique charm of the Super Sentai Hero, to "RE7"'s over-the-shoulder camera allowing the game to come at you full-throttle exactly when it counts most, they both prove themselves essentials for any Gamecube library, and a fitting last hurrah for that faded period of time when Nintendo and Capcom basically went hand in hand.  

4.) Mischief Makers (Treasure, Nintendo 64, 1997):  The release of "Super Mario 64" in 1996 revolutionized the world of video games in general, and the platformer genre in particular.  Suddenly, everyone, from long-time favorites like Donkey Kong to lowly also-rans like Bubsy were pumping out 3D platformers in "64"'s image, and the genre's 2D roots seemed destined for extinction.  It would take a lot of guts to put out a "traditional" 2D platformer in that environment, but sure enough, "Mischief Makers" had guts to spare, providing not only a refreshing alternative to the 3D glut but doing so with one of the most unique, best-constructed entries in the entire genre.  See, rather than the usual hop-and-bop strategy, platforming in "Mischief Makers" instead centers on using special dash boosts to make your way to where you need to be, and shake-shake-shaking every last item you can get your hands on.  It's not only a compellingly visceral new layer to things, but one the game explores thoroughly and creatively across its vast, well-varied selection of levels.  Shake an object to transform it, or make it drop an important item, or get it to move in the direction you want; the game finds every angle it can, and each one succeeds.  The Boss Battles are some of the  most satisfying and challenging I've ever played, too.  Even its story, loaded with sharp-witted humor and fantastically memorable characters, adds an extra layer of flavor to the whole experience.  "Mischief Makers" was sadly underappreciated in its day, and hard to find nowadays, but even so, it's an absolutely great game. 

3.) Castlevania (Konami, Nintendo Entertainment System, 1986): Did you see that awesome trailer for the new "Castlevania" series coming to Netflix?  Not only does it make the show look like it is going to be seriously great, it also serves as a stark reminder that, while it may have found renewed success and vitality as a Playstation game thanks to the iconic "Symphony of the Night", "Castlevania" began as, and is primarily associated with being, an NES game.  And what an NES game it was, too.  Throwing basically every last Horror Monster you could think of-Dracula naturally, but also the Frankenstein Monster, Medusa, and no less than the Grim goddammed Reaper-together into one place, mixed well with a unique take on the Gothic Horror aesthetic, and brought to life with some of the best graphics on the system, as well as some of its very best music, the original "Castlevania" offered up a compelling, challenging experience.  Some of that challenge can be more than a bit cheap at times, it's true; like "Ninja Gaiden" (a game which just barely missed this list, for the record), the occasional clunkiness of the controls can lead to deaths that feel unfair.  But for the most part, difficulty in "Castlevania" is earned by way of enemies equipped with tricky patterns, platforming designed to lead you right into the thick of danger, and managing your resources as best you can to insure they achieve the best effect.  There's a lot of depth to the action here, with the wide variety of sub-weapons available to you and the situations you'll encounter.  It all adds up into one of the best, most bizarre, most fascinating games to grace a Nintendo system.

2.) Final Fantasy VI (Square, Super Nintendo, 1994): Like "Castlevania", "Final Fantasy" is a series that, once upon a time, was primarily associated with Nintendo.  But much like their relationship with Capcom, the Nintendo/Square (at-the-time-enix-less) partnership fell apart after the end of the Super NES, and "Final Fantasy" would go on to be much more a Playstation franchise from that point on.  The good news, then, is that the last "Final Fantasy" game to come of that partnership is also one of the very best games in the entire franchise.  It features one of "Final Fantasy"'s most memorable villains in the form of the genocidal mad-clown Kefka Palazzo.  It features one of the series' most memorable, at-once-humorous-but-also-heartwarming sequences in the form of the notorious Opera performance.  And it features one of the franchise's most ambitious narratives, one that takes you to the very literal End of the World and back again.  Meanwhile, the aesthetic, the last time series mainstay Yoshitaka Amano would act as the primary character designer for the franchise, is gorgeously realized, pushing the Sci-Fi/Fantasy angle the series had been refining over the last several years to all-new places, and its soundtrack, composed by another FF veteran, Nobuo Uematsu, is justifiably legendary among fans.  Most of all, though, it's just a gripping RPG from start to finish, taking all the things that had made prior "Final Fantasy" games work and polishing them to an absolute mirror shine.  The combat, the travel, the customization options for your characters..."VI" marked the end of an era.  But what an ending it turned out to be. 

1.) Mega Man 2 (Capcom, Nintendo Entertainment System, 1988): It would seem nearly impossible to believe today, given the relative disarray into which Capcom has allowed him to fall, but once upon a time, Mega Man was one of the true stars of the video game world.  And if you ever need to remind yourself of why, all you need to do is play "Mega Man 2" for the NES.  It is here that the "Mega Man" series as we know it today truly begins, taking the rougher look, feel, and build of its predecessor and granting it a greater degree of polish, depth, and outright fun.  The new Slide mechanic, for example, changes up the pace of the game's platforming considerably, while the more nuanced take on the previous game's rock-paper-scissors system for the various new weapons Mega Man can acquire provides the game with many of its most memorable moments (you ever try to use Metal Man's own weapon against him?  You should!).  The stages are all significantly better designed, too, with sharp, challenging traps mixing with pin-point precise run-and-jump segments, as well as some great new enemies to blast along the way.  The music and graphics are aces too, finally fully realizing the Anime Sci-Fi Kid's Book aesthetic the series is now so well known for, and creating some of the most memorable music ever heard on the system (Dr. Wily's Castle is still an all-time great track).  It even introduced Mega Man's iconic sidekick Rush the robo-dog, giving the character himself that much greater a sense of being a complete character by virtue of having a partner and friend to (literally) bounce off of.  "Mega Man II" is one of Capcom's very best games ever, and it's the single best non-Nintendo game to hit a Nintendo console.

[crbrickey]

My 2 Cents....

This post will be noting about MD. I hate that I’m typing about this but since its all anybody can talk about right now, I figured I would give my point of view. Not that it means anything, because I am no expert by any means. 

Let me preface this by saying I love AMERICA, the flag, the National Anthem and I would stand every time if I could. So, do not think my views are anti-America. They aren’t! 

So, here we go...

1. How is sitting or kneeling during the Anthem disrespectful to our troops and our flag? Our troops fought for our “Freedom of Speech” and I’ve been told, thats what the flag stands for. Now, something I learned in public speaking-- that body language aka:the way you sit, the smile on your face, the way your arms are folded etc., are part of speaking. So, simple road map, part of your speech is body language, therefor body language should be free to do as you want as long as you don’t hurt others. I feel our troops and our flag should actually support people sitting or kneeling because thats what they stand for. I don't think its fair to draw a connection to kneeling equals you hate America. Now, burning the flag is a lot more disrespectful, but it is protected under freedom of speech. How about we spend time talking about people who do that as opposed to someone who just sits or kneels during the National Anthem. 

2. Another point on the disrespectful conversation: this point will really piss people off but I love to pull out the craziest ideas and roll with them for two reasons. A-humor and B-to prove how stupid the whole thing is. We can all agree that motor vehicle is the best form of local transportation in most of the world.(yes there are exceptions like New York etc.) So we owe tons of respect to Ford and everybody associated with making cars. Honestly we see more cars a day than American flags. So when we see someone out jogging or walking- are they disrespecting Mr. Ford? How Dare Them!! We better go take every car they own away from them! Is it stupid? YES! But this whole thing is stupid! Who gives a crap if someone wants to sit? Does it effect you? NO!! How do I know? I would guess I have been to over 1,000 such events that do the National Anthem. Do you know how many I have stood up for? ZERO! Do you know how many people have been effected? ZERO! I never saw an ambulance have to come and pick anybody up. So, let people do what they want. 

3. Probably the most important. Especially if you are against a certain President. (I’m not saying I am, I’m neutral, I’m just trying to point something out.) There is a movie called “Our Brand is Crisis” and it is about a Bolivian Presidential election. Sandra Bullock’s character is a campaign manager for one of the candidates who is losing badly. They decide the only way to win is create chaos. Convince everybody that Bolivia is broken and he can fix it. Does that sound familiar or is it just me? Listen, all the media is doing is making chaos. If you go to social media, its about all you see. They are winning, we are becoming a country divided. Hell, there is national disasters all over this area, our territory-Puerto Rico got decimated by a hurricane and no one is talking about it. The country to our south, Mexico- had a horrible earthquake and no one is talking about it. We have people in SouthEast Texas and Florida still recovering from hurricanes, nothing! Everything is about this stupid protest and its not even a protest. A protest is what happened in the 60′s. People would go to restaurants and sit so other people couldn’t get in. People marched the streets to block traffic. All we have here is people sitting during a 3 minute song. Is it worth all the chaos? I don't think so. 

4. This is ruining the NFL. Really? I think this week we had some of the best games we have had in a long time. We had a couple of huge upsets. Broncos, Raiders, we had an incredible last second catch to win a game,Patriots. We had another comeback fall a half a foot short via replay, Lions. We had 2 overtime games, Bears and Packers. We had the most bone headed play I have seen in my life, refer to the Bears game and Marcus Cooper. We had a game on a 62yard field goal, Eagles. We had a team come out and dominate only to almost lose it at he end, Chiefs. Yesterday was entertaining, this hasn’t ruined the game. Now, I will hear the argument I’m tired of hearing the commentators talking about it and I’m right there with you. So, lets tell these stations- stop talking about it and lets focus on the game. And I ask ESPN to start it tonight with Monday Night Football. I would love to revert back to the days where unless you are at the game, you do not hear the National Anthem, instead, I spend those 3 minutes why I need to go to McDonalds and order a BigMac while driving on my Run Flat Goodyears. 

Once again, I would stand if I could, I love our country but I am not naive, it is not perfect. But nobody, no country is perfect! Things need to be better, but I don't think blowing up this sitting/kneeling crap is going to solve anything. I hope I don't lose any friends on this topic because I love everybody. However if you love what I am saying, please share this. I think I have a few good points. 

Tomorrow I’ll be back with a new blog, until then God Bless America and please Chris Johnson out perform Dan Bailey tonight.