Before and After Kid Icarus

Note: I have this blog posted on screwattack.com under the name MisterBo, so if this looks familiar that's probably why. If you want to see blog posts before I post them on blog spot, they will be on screwattack.com.

I thought I'd talk about this because of the recent announcement of Kid Icarus: Uprising and E3. The games I'm going to talk about are the original NES version and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters for the Game Boy. Until Kid Icarus: Uprising is released, the games I'm going to talk about are the only games in the series.

Before:
During the 80's, Nintendo was having lots of success with platformer games on the NES such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. To follow up this success, Nintendo released Metroid. I know I said I was going to talk about Kid Icarus, but just bare with me.


"Still can't believe Samus is a woman."

The game was released for the Famicom in 1986 and it was released for the NES a year later. Nintendo tried to separate Metroid from other games by making it a nonlinear adventure-based game. Along with The Legend of Zelda, Metroid helped pioneer the idea of permanent power-ups that are needed to complete the game. In The Legend of Zelda, it's the flute, and in Metroid it's the missile. Also, the game had a password system where typing in certain password, like JUSTIN BAILEY, can alter gameplay.


"Awesome. Just awesome."

Metroid was programmed alongside another game and shares certain elements with Metroid. Kid Icarus was developed as Metroid's sister game.


"Sister? Really?"

After:
Like Metroid, Kid Icarus was released for the Famicom in 1986 and was released for the NES a year later. The game is said to combine elements from Nintendo's three biggest franchises - Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. Pit is able to jump like Mario, he's object driven like Link, and is able to shoot like Samus. The backstory of the game is that Palutena, the Goddess of Light, gave light to the mortals to cultivate crops, but Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness, dispised the mortals and destroyed their crops and turned them into stone. Angered, Palutena transformed Medusa into a dark monster and banished her to the Underworld, but she didn't go quietly. While in the Underworld, Medusa formed and army to attack the Palace in the Sky, Palutena's home. Medusa's minions overwhelmed Palutena's army and eventually imprisoned the Goddess of Light and retrieved the Three Sacred Treasures, the Mirror Shield, the Arrow of Light, and the Wings of Pegasus entrusting one of these treasures to three of her strongest minions. Palutena's only hope was Pit, an angel trapped in the Underworld, and with the last of her strength, Palutena sent Pit a magical bow. Pit then set out on a quest to escape from the Underworld, retrieve the Three Sacred Treasures to defeat Medusa , rescue Palutena, and restore peace to the Angel Land.


"Why is it always one person who has to save
the world and not an army or at least two people!"

There are 5 different endings, the first three ending include normal sized Pit being given a helmet signifying a certain job. The fourth ending features Pit being transformed into a full-grown angel. The last ending is Pit being transformed into a full grown angel and is only achieved by having all power-ups and hearts.


"Why doesn't he have to go through puberty."

Also, like Metroid, Kid Icarus had a password system with pre-programmed passwords that could alter gameplay, like ICARUS FIGHTS MEDUSA ANGELS.
Which gives the player invincibility and unlimited feathers.


"Shout for help and get lots of items."

Using the same engine as Metroid II: The Return of Samus, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters was released for the Game Boy in 1991. Listen up kids, it backstory time! One night, the Goddess Palutena had a dream where Angel Land was attacked by an army of demons, again. She summons a soothsayer and he tells her that it was not just a dream, but it would soon come to pass that demons named Orcos would attack Angel Land. Pit was then summoned the Three Sacred Treasures, the Wings of Pegasus, the Silver Armor, and the Light Arrows, so that when the time comes, he's able to defeat the Orcos. Later, we find out that there is only one demon named Orcos, but the manual makes references to it being several demons. Also, Pit will run in to Zeus in the game who tests his strength and will grant Pit a special weapon if he passes the test of endurance. Also, the game doesn't have a password system, but a save system with continues or credits. If you run out of credits you're taken back to your last save point.


"It even worse than Medusa!"

It's been almost 20 years since the last Kid Icarus game and I with the announcement of Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS and the feature of Pit in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it's safe to say that Pit is making a comeback. Now, all we need is a Final Fantasy VII remake.


"Finally!"

Before and After Tetris

Note: I have this blog posted on screwattack.com under the name MisterBo, so if this looks familiar that's probably why. If you want to see blog posts before I post them on blog spot, they will be on screwattack.com.

Probably the only good thing to come out of Russia since Yakov Smirnoff, Tetris is probably the most popular puzzle game ever. There are two notable games I want to talk about, the Tengen version and the Game Boy version. As a quick note, I had to restart this from the ground up because my computer crashed trying to upload this blog, so if it seems rushed, this is why.

Before:
There isn't much of a before to Tetris. While Working at the Soviet Academy of Science, Alexey Pajitnov created a game called Tetris on an Elektronika 60.

"In all its Soviet glory."

After:
The game was eventually ported to the IBM computer and because Alexey couldn't sell the game for himself in Soviet Russia, he gave it away. The game was so widespread it eventually made its way to Budapest, Hungary where Robert Stein "discovered" (I can't even begin to show you how many sarcastic quotation marks I can put around that.) the game and decided to steal the rights and sell them illegally for profit instead of cutting through all the red tape. These "imaginary" rights were sold to Tengen, a side company of Atari, and Spectrum HoloByte. Tengen produced copies of their own version of Tetris for the NES and it was released in May of 1989. The game didn't last on the market for long because of court battles saying that Nintendo had the rights to the game (I'll talk about that in a little bit). The Tengen version of Tetris for the NES is considered the superior version of Tetris when compaired to Nintendo's version for the NES.

"Which one looks better to you?"

Nintendo decided that they wanted to get on the Tetris bandwagon, so they originally approached Robert Stein to give them rights to produce Tetris on the Game Boy. After several months, Nintendo never got their rights, so they went to Russia to visit the company ELORG, a company set up in Soviet Russia to sell the rights of Tetris, and Nintendo showed ELORG the game they made and they had not approved this. To make it up, Nintendo gave ELORG the royalties and in return ELORG gave Nintendo rights to produce the game. When Robert Stein showed up at ELORG he was only given rights to produce Tetris on computers, computers being anything with a monitor and keyboard. This screwed Robert in the ass because already sold those rights to Spectrum HoloByte and the game was widely popular.

- Are you bored?
+ Yeah. Got any ideas?
- Wanna play Tetris?
+ TETRIS! I LOVE TETRIS! YAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!

Later after the Cold War, all the rights of Tetris were given back to Alexey Pajitnov and he founded The Tetris Company in 1996 in the US. This allows Alexey Pajitnov to distribute the rights of Tetris in the US.

"Three cheers for beard man!"

Before and After Pokemon Red and Blue

Note: I have this blog posted on screwattack.com under the name MisterBo, so if this looks famliar that's probably why. If you want to see blog posts before I post them on blog spot, they will be on screwattack.com.

Finally! I get to talk about my first ever video game. This is somewhat important because I am somewhat of a pokefan, but not so much of a pokefan that I go to tournaments and preorder the anime movies on DVD. Between the ages of four and ten everything having to do with Pokemon was my life. Now, I only play the video games. As a side note, my first ever game, Pokemon Blue, and my first game system, Game Boy Color, was stolen by one of friends. You know who you are, DYLAN, asshole.

Before:
In 1989, the company Game Freak was founded. One of the first games the company produced was Mendel Palace for the NES.


“What the fuck is going on?”

A notable game Game Freak produced is Yoshi which is a puzzle game like a combination between Tetris and Puzzle Bobble where the goal of the game is to get rid of lines of enemy blocks while Mario and Luigi move the columns.


"It must suck being Yoshi's Bitch."

Another notable game the company produced is Pulseman, a game only released for the Sega Genesis in Japan. The game is similar to Megaman X, but there's more free range of movement and the game is much more fast paced.


"He looks Alfalfa from Little Rascals."

In 1996, game programmer, Satoshi Tajiri, was inspired by to create a game from his favorite hobby as a kid, insect collecting. Satoshi Tajiri noticed that kids weren't playing outside as much and stayed home. So, he created the battling and collecting Game Boy games known as Pokemon Red, Blue, and Green.


"What language is the menu in, German?"

After:
The Japanese initially released Pokemon Red and Green on the same day in 1996 and Pokemon Blue was released six months later as a more improved version of the two games. As Game Freak translated the games for the western localization, they realized it was impossible to just replace the Japanese text with English because of the fragile state of the source code. In order to translate the game, it had to be built from the ground up. Also, Nintendo thought that "cute monsters" wouldn't appeal to an American audience, so they suggested the game programmers "beef up" the sprites thinking it would make the game more appealing. In addition to the American release of the Pokemon games, they decided to release only Pokemon Red and Blue in the US and leave out Pokemon Green.


"We get Game Boy and they get SUPER Game Boy! NO FAIR!"

In attempts to sell the game, Nintendo spent over 50 MILLION (that's million with an m) dollars just to promote the games. Despite all setbacks in development, the game were received extremely well in the US. In 2009, The Guiness Book of World Records stated that Pokemon Red and Blue is the best selling RPG for the Game Boy and the best selling RPG of all time. (HOLY SHIT! I didn't know it was that good.) To follow up Pokemon Red and Blue, the game, Pokemon Yellow, was released. The game has your starter Pokemon, pikachu, follow your character making the game like the anime. Also like the anime, the game features anime characters, Jesse, James, and Meowth.


"The rest of the text says, if you know what I mean."

The sequals to Pokemon Red and Blue were Pokemon Gold and Silver for the Game Boy Color. The games are basically the same game as their predecessors, but have more pokemon, better graphics, and different characters.


"Watch out! It's Clefairyzilla!"

The maps of Pokemon Gold and Silver are built upon the original maps of Pokemon Red and Blue with many differences. The trainers are different and there are different Pokemon in different areas.


"There really isn't anything I can make fun of here."

I can ramble on and on about all the different Pokemon sequels and remakes that have been made like Pokemon Sapphire. If you want me to get technical, I talk about the remakes, pinball games, puzzle games, home console games, trading card video games, and the Super Smash Bros. series, but that's way too much, so I'll only talk about the remakes. Pokemon Red and Green got remakes for the Game Boy Advanced in America called Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green. They follow the same story line as the original games, but with added features such as the sevii islands.


"Those island are as small as your dick."

Pokemon Gold and Silver got remakes for the Nintendo DS in 2010 called Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Just like the other remakes, they follow the same storyline as the original, but have added features such as the Pokethlon.


"In Japan, the captions aren't edited in, they actually occur in real life there."

The Pokemon series is still going strong today. The recent announcement of Pokemon Black and White, it has Pokefans like me excited and ready to go on the new journey.


I'm pretty disappointed that they didn't talk about this at E3."