Author Archives: Joe

October 27, 2013

Ranking the Mario Games – Part 2

By Joe

It’s part two of The Nostalgia Spot’s look at Super Mario games. In this section, a couple of under-appreciated titles and a few too recent to benefit from the effects of nostalgia, but I’ll try not to hold that against them. Part one can be found here.

10. Super Mario Bros. 2/Super Mario USA (1988, Nintendo Entertainment System)

Mario throws vegetables now. Accept it!

The American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 has always been the black sheep of the Mario family. It was pretty weird going from the original Super Mario Bros. to this game. There were no fire flowers, no goombas, no koopas, no Bowser or green warp pipes. In their place were shy guys, flying carpets, vases, an egg-shooting bird-dinosaur thing, and Wart. By now, most people know that Super Mario Bros. 2 was so odd compared to the first game because it actually wasn’t a Mario game. Originally released as Doki Doki Panic in Japan, Nintendo re-skinned the characters and added a few Mario-type items to the game for the American audience after Nintendo of America rejected the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2. What most people didn’t know at the time, and what many still don’t realize, is that this Super Mario Bros. 2 is actually the REAL Super Mario Bros. 2! The game that would be released as Doki Doki Panic in Japan actually started off as Super Mario Bros. 2. Mario’s daddy, Shigeru Miyamoto, wanted to really change things up for the sequel with more characters and an emphasis on vertically scrolling levels. A prototype was developed by Kensuke Tanabe, but when the project became too ambitious Nintendo basically got cold feet so they put the brakes on it and went the safe route for the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2. Not wanting to waste the foundation of the game, it was re-dressed for release as Doki Doki Panic. By the time Nintendo of America was clamoring for a different sequel, Nintendo’s development techniques had improved enough to the point that it was comfortable going full speed ahead with this iteration of Super Mario Bros. 2. It was so successful that it would be released in Japan later as Super Mario USA, and today it’s pretty much considered the preferred Super Mario Bros. 2 in all territories. Even knowing that, it’s still a weird game and a lot of the sprites created for Doki Doki Panic were left in which is why there’s no familiar Mario enemies. Instead of jumping on enemies to destroy them, Mario can stand on top of them and lift them up and hurl them as projectiles or do the same with vegetables. The jumping and platforming is just as good as ever, and the soundtrack is beyond catchy. The game looks nice, and the additions of Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool as playable characters added variety. One thing Miyamoto really wanted to get into the game was simultaneous co-op, but that would end up needing another 20 years for refinement. Super Mario Bros. 2 is often overshadowed by the game that followed it, but it was an improvement on the original, albeit unconventional. It’s odd take on the Super Mario franchise is what makes it endearing decades later.

9. Super Mario Sunshine (2002, Gamecube)

Being a plumber is a stinky job.

I must confess, part of my placing Super Mario Sunshine immediately after Super Mario Bros. 2 is because it just seems so appropriate. The games are both great examples of their genre, but both find themselves some-what unloved among the other Mario titles. Super Mario Sunshine was a late arrival on the Gamecube, late in the sense that it wasn’t there for the system’s launch. Mario had been a fixture at every Nintendo system launch of any consequence before, so gamers kind of just assumed he’d always be there. With the Gamecube, Luigi got to bat lead-off for a change with his first solo outing leaving Mario to arrive a year later. Super Mario Sunshine is the sequel to Super Mario 64 and just the second 3D Mario title in the span of six years. 1996-2002 was kind of a dry spell for Mario, but Super Mario Sunshine is another superb outing for the venerable plumber. Unfortunately, Nintendo saw fit to saddle Mario with FLUDD, a water-powered jetpack type of thing that dominates a lot of the gameplay. FLUDD really wasn’t well-received by Mario fans (though reviewers seemed to enjoy it) even though it was a rather fine gameplay addition for the most part. With such an established star as Mario though, fans are often resistant to change. Super Mario Sunshine brought back a lot of the platforming elements of prior games with an emphasis on level exploration. It was well conceived, and using FLUDD as a means of propelling Mario along works quite well. It’s the more mundane actions that become tiresome, such as needing to spray the environment clean incessantly. As the player, you’ll do a lot of just standing around spraying water. There’s also the need to replenish the water supply that’s not much fun. Yoshi did make his return in Sunshine, and Bowser Jr. his official debut. Super Mario Sunshine is a game that’s likely better than most people remember, and is absolutely still worth checking out.

8. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009, Nintendo Wii)

New power-ups and co-op play; it’s all you really need to know about New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

New Super Mario Bros. brought the plumbers back to 2D in a way that was commercially very successful, though creatively felt more like a straight nostalgia trip and little else. Which was fine, but I’m not sure what people expected of the franchise going forward, or if it even would be a true franchise. New Super Mario Bros. Wii arrived three years later and for a home console this time, the Nintendo Wii. This is where the franchise really started to leave it’s mark, with more interesting power-ups and better level design. For the first time a Mario game was also able to be played cooperatively with up to four players all at once. This was something Nintendo wanted to do as early as Super Mario Bros. 2, but the technology just wasn’t there. To be fair, it’s not New Super Mario Bros. Wii’s strongest point as only two players of equal skill will be able to find much enjoyment in co-op. Otherwise, it feels more like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with one player controlling the action and the other frantically trying to keep up. The level design for the Wii game is much better though, after being mostly forgettable on the DS. The added power-ups of the propeller suit and ice flower/penguin suit also add to the experience. The propeller suit especially is one of the more fun power-ups to come along in a Mario game. With a flick of the wrist, the propeller on the player’s head spins sending Mario ever higher on the screen and allowing for a slow descent. Yoshi, again, is back but is limited only to certain stages which is kind of disappointing. The challenge is a bit better than the DS title, though it’s still a pretty easy game for Mario veterans. The final showdown with Bowser is both memorable and, if you’re aiming to collect all of the star coins, pretty tricky as well. The reintroduction of the Koopalings is also a welcome development after the many repetitive boss battles in the first game. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is another fun 2D Mario game, though it falls short of being a truly remarkable.

7. New Super Mario Bros. U (2012, Nintendo Wii U)

For the first time ever, Mario is in HD but the end result won’t knock your socks off.

It should be considered a good thing that the most recent entry in the New Super Mario Bros. franchise is the best. Though that does kind of ignore the fact that the edition released just a few months prior to New Super Mario Bros. U is the worst in the series. The console editions are the stronger games, and they’ve apparently had a little more love during their development cycles. New Super Mario Bros. U also has the distinction of being the first original Mario title to debut alongside new hardware since Super Mario 64 back in 1996. Unfortunately for the Wii U, while New Super Mario Bros. U is a good and enjoyable title it’s not the system-seller that Super Mario 64 was. Sales of the Wii U have been putrid, to put it nicely, so a lot of people still haven’t played this one. Admittedly, when I first played it last year I was feeling a little fatigue after just recently finishing New Super Mario Bros. 2 and it took me awhile to actually play through this one. That’s not the game’s fault, though I suppose it is a short-coming for the title that, despite being in HD, it still looks and plays more or less the same as the previous games. The game borrows conceptually from Super Mario World in how the map is laid out. There are several hidden paths and special levels to uncover throughout the game and each world has its own distinguishing features. They’re also controlled by one of the seven Koopalings once again, with the King of Koopas waiting at Peach’s castle for Mario to arrive and save his princess. All of the power-ups from New Super Mario Bros. Wii return though in a diminished capacity. The main new power-up is the flying squirrel suit, which makes too much sense for a Mario game. With it, Mario can glide and he knifes through the air rather quickly, as opposed to the slow descent of the super cape or tanooki suit. He gets a one-time hop in flight that does bring him to that slow descent we’re used to. He also has the ability to cling to walls, though he can’t move along them (which is what the new cat suit will allow in the upcoming Super Mario 3D World). I was a bit lukewarm on the suit initially, but after extended playing time I’ve actually come to enjoy it quite a bit. It’s different, and probably Mario’s best flying suit since the cape. The best thing I can say about New Super Mario Bros. U though is the difficulty. It’s still exceptionally easy to rack up 99 lives, but the levels in this game will actually force gamers to use those lives. The star coins are also better hidden, and like previous games extra levels are unlocked after defeating Bowser for the first time. If the main game isn’t challenging enough, there are extra challenge levels that are designed to bring about controller-smashing frustration. Lastly, the game also makes use of the Wii U gamepad by allowing it to function as a second screen, meaning you don’t even need your television on to play the game. I’ve said a lot about a game that basically feels like more of the same, but New Super Mario Bros. U is the best side-scrolling Mario game since Super Mario World, so I suppose it deserves all of these words.

6. Super Mario 3D Land (2011, Nintendo 3DS)

Many of the stages in 3D Land exist in a three-dimensional environment but force Mario to a 2D-like path.

Over the years, Mario fans have become divided into two camps: the ones that prefer the 2D side-scrolling games and those that prefer the 3D titles. In truth, most fans like both but there are preferences. In general, those that grew up with the 8-bit NES tend to prefer the games that remind them of the old titles, while those who first experienced Mario via the Nintendo 64 tend to favor the 3D games. For the first time, Nintendo decided to try and please both with a single title: Super Mario 3D Land. This was not just Mario’s first 3D portable adventure, but also his first trek on Nintendo’s new 3DS handheld and Mario was expected to demonstrate the advantages of stereoscopic 3D gaming. I don’t know if Mario was able to sell audiences on that feature, but people in general seemed to love the game and with good reason. The style of the game is basically an open world concept for each stage, but with each level being a small level reminiscent of the old games. Some of these levels force Mario into more of a 2D plane that may allow Mario to hop in and out of the foreground and background. The use of stereoscopic 3D meant a few stages at a high camera angle and some platforms are nearly impossible to negotiate without the 3D effect enabled. For power-ups, the tanooki suit was brought back but in a diminished capacity as Mario could only slow his descent, not fly (the stone form ability from Super Mario Bros. 3 is only available after beating the game once), which was a shame. The boomerang bros. suit was the other hyped addition and it’s a good alternative to the traditional fire flower (and a nice homage to the hammer bros. suit from Super Mario Bros. 3). The layout of the map is as linear as it gets, but completing the game once opens up what amounts to a second game. The first set of stages are fairly painless for Mario veterans, but the bonus worlds are much tougher and contain a good amount of challenge. Mostly, the game works as designed, though I could do without the 3D effects. Mario controls well and the approach allows the developers to pick and choose from the best of Mario’s past and stuff it all into one game. Hopefully Nintendo is able to build off of this game and it ends up being the first game in another successful Mario franchise, the Wii U is banking on it.

2 Comments | tags: 3ds, bowser, luigi, mario, nintendo, peach, shigeru miyamoto, toad, wii, yoshi | posted in Video Games

October 20, 2013

Ranking the Mario Games – Part 1

By Joe

Super Mario, the portly plumber with the black moustache, is not just the mascot for Nintendo but the ambassador for all video games. Gamers are intimately familiar with Mario, his history, forays into pop culture, and of course his games. He was the nameless Jump Man before he was Mario and though early titles like Mario Bros., which introduced brother Luigi, kept true to the plumber occupation it was Super Mario Bros. that helped launch the Nintendo Entertainment System into video game legendary status. Since then, Mario, usually alongside Luigi, has appeared in a great many games in either a starring or supporting role. He’s dabbled in just about every genre save first-person shooter (don’t take that as a suggestion, Nintendo) and has done so successfully, for the most part. He’s been challenged along the way by other would-be mascots and felled them all.

Mario’s games are typically of a high quality, and while some are better than others, there really are no true lemons. These next few posts are going to attempt to distinguish the best from the not best, but in truth, all of the games to follow are still a good time, even today. This list only concerns itself with Mario’s starring platform adventures which began with Super Mario Bros. in 1985 and will continue this fall with Super Mario 3D World. Excluded are two titles which borrowed the Mario name for marketing purposes, namely Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. I think most would agree those two games are actually the first in new franchises for Wario and Yoshi, respectively. This also excludes those educational Mario titles that popped up on the Super Nintendo, and the few games starring Luigi. I considered excluding Mario’s 3D adventures and relegating them to a separate ranking but decided against it. They’re still Mario titles, and whether the game is a side-scroller or in 3D, they actually manage to play very similarly. Maybe it would just be easier to list the games about to be ranked, so here they are in chronological order of release: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2/The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2/Super Mario USA, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Land, Super Mario World, Super Mario Land 2, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. U. That’s 16 Mario titles in total, and if this thing drags on long enough, maybe I’ll do a 17th as a postscript for Super Mario 3D World, though the pile of dust that has collected on my Wii U suggests that won’t be happening. On to the rankings!

16. Super Mario Land (1989, Gameboy)

Different, but similar, Super Mario Land was a worthy first attempt at bringing Mario to the smallest of screens.

Perhaps it’s a bit unfair to immediately pick on the Mario title with the least amount of technological backing, but I’ll reiterate what I said in the intro which is that all of these games are worth playing and remain so. That said, Super Mario Land is basically a scaled-down version of the original Super Mario Bros. for the then recently released Nintendo Gameboy. Nintendo should be commended for actually not just porting Super Mario Bros. and actually giving Super Mario Land its own distinguishing characteristics. Set in Sarasaland, the game puts Mario in an Egyptian inspired setting with tried and true Mario gameplay. There are some noted differences from the console games, in that Mario’s fireballs shoot at an angle and bounce off walls and hearts are used for extra lives while coins function as a currency. There are also some scrolling levels where Mario pilots a spaceship or submarine which help break up the routine. Otherwise, it was a pretty basic platforming-side-scroller. The Gameboy’s display made it a little tough on the eyes, and Mario felt a little loose as a result. Gamers who had this title in 1989 mostly seemed to enjoy it, even though they knew they were getting a somewhat lesser experience than what they had on their home consoles, but considering the Gameboy’s main competition was Tiger handheld games, they were pretty content to have Super Mario Land.

15. Super Mario Bros. 2/The Lost Levels (Nintendo Entertainment System, 1986)

One of the defining characteristics of Super Mario Bros. 2 was the emphasis on making the Luigi experience different from the Mario one.

By now, anyone with an interest in video games is well aware of the story of the “original” Super Mario Bros. 2. It was a Japan only release for a couple of reasons. The main reason was the difficulty which Nintendo of America thought would prove too frustrating for US gamers. Also, Nintendo of America wasn’t very impressed with the title simply because it was too similar to the original Super Mario Bros. For that, we should be thankful as NOA was absolutely right with that stance. Super Mario Bros. 2 would eventually be released as The Lost Levels in the US alongside the other NES Mario titles in the Super Mario All-Stars compilation released on the Super Nintendo. The game basically plays like a set of add-on levels for the original title. The original was such a massive success, that Nintendo of Japan felt it had to strike quick with a sequel. When early attempts at a sequel proved too ambitious (more on that to follow), this game was created in its stead. It’s basically just a harder version of the original, with the addition of poison mushrooms and Luigi being given his own characteristics (higher jumps but slippery feet) to make him play different from Mario for the first time. Needless to say, when the game was eventually released in the US, few American gamers felt like they had really been missing out on anything.

14. Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1985)

Where it all began.

The original, but not still the best, Super Mario Bros. set the standard for all Mario games to follow. These types of lists are always a little tricky because one is forced to weigh present value against past value. My take is always to just judge the games as they are. Perhaps that gives the modern titles a huge advantage but a good game is a good game, regardless of era or graphical horse power. Plus, games should be better today than they were 20 years ago as I’d like to think we’re always moving forward. With that out of the way, it should be said that Super Mario Bros. still holds up today as a fun and challenging game, just one notably simplified. It’s the classic “go right” game and the player is expected to run and bounce along to each stage’s flag pole in an attempt to rescue the princess. The clock actually plays a role in this game, as opposed to the more recent games, and later levels force the player to hold the run button throughout. The game’s challenge is mostly found in negotiating jumps and platforms that become smaller as the game goes along while dodging classic Mario enemies like koopa troopas and Lakitu. It’s true that it may be hard to impress a young gamer today with the original Super Mario Bros., but it is a textbook take on the genre it launched even if its sequels have improved upon it immensely.

13. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Gameboy, 1992)

New bunny ears and a new villain are the defining characteristics of Super Mario Land 2.

Super Mario Land 2 was a huge improvement over its predecessor. It borrowed heavily from the the current console games in terms of defining Mario’s look and power-ups and pushed the Gameboy to produce one if its best looking and best playing titles. This game also introduced Wario, who served as the primary antagonist for Mario for basically the only time before becoming a playable character in his own line of games. Super Mario Land 2 held onto the first game’s quirks while giving Mario some new power-ups, most notably the bunny ears. Mario being able to fly had been a big deal since Super Mario Bros. 3 so it’s no surprise he was able to do the same in this game. Keeping things weird, as they were with a raccoon tail bestowing flying powers in SMB 3, the bunny ears let Mario fly by rapidly pressing the jump button. Mario didn’t gradually descend, like he did with the cape and tail, so it gave Land 2 a unique feature. The fireballs had their angled shot replaced with traditional fire power, and the game had a map layout like Super Mario World. The worlds the map is segregated into can be played in any order, giving this game a less linear feel, and secrets abound which help the replay factor. Which is a good thing, because the 32 levels will be breezed through by Mario veterans making Super Mario Land 2’s biggest weakness its short duration. This is a fun game though, and it was the first Gameboy experience that came close to matching the console one where Mario titles are concerned.

12. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo 3DS, 2012)

I did a big write-up on this one around the time it was released, so I won’t go into too much detail here. Suffice to say, if anything my opinion of the game has lessened since. It’s a fun experience, but in general it did little to nothing as far as advancing the series goes. The focus on coin collection was a mistake as it didn’t add to the experience. The much publicized street pass functionality and downloadable content was basically a dud, and the game’s difficulty was basically non-existant. This is a by-the-numbers Mario game, and its sister-title New Super Mario Bros. U is the far superior game, and not just because it’s on the more powerful console and in HD. I did enjoy the return of the super leaf power-up as well as the inclusion of the Koopa Kids and the game does not have a shortage of levels.

11. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS, 2006)

New Super Mario Bros. was a welcome return to the side-scrolling genre for Mario and Luigi.

New Super Mario Bros. was a supremely refreshing title when it was first released in 2006. A new side-scrolling Mario game had not been released since 1992’s Super Mario Land 2, unless you count the Wario and Yoshi games in between. New Super Mario Bros. was a like a kid’s dream of what the original Super Mario Bros. could have been with mega mushroom power-ups and the mini mushroom, letting Mario shrink to a microscopic size. Of the two, the mini mushroom was actually the better as controlling a lightning quick Mario was a lot of fun. Not that it wasn’t fun to control the Godzilla-like Mega Mario, but it got old after a few experiences. Mario also retained some of his 3D controls like the ability to double and triple jump. Not very useful, but a lot of fun. The game is also massive with 80 levels to explore, some of them only unlocked after finding the various star coins hidden in each stage. Like its sequel, the game’s biggest drawback was its lack of challenge. Notably trickier than the follow-up, but still lacking compared with the well-balanced Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario 64. This is a good game though, and as you can probably guess from these rankings, I actually recommend it over New Super Mario Bros. 2 for its tighter gameplay and better level design, though the level design is actually a weakness for the game when compared to other Mario titles. This one was a nice nostalgia trip in 2006, and even though the New Super Mario Bros. franchise has had a hard time living up to the classics, I still think we’re better off for having it.

6 Comments | tags: bowser, gameboy, luigi, mario, miyamoto, mushroom kingdom, nintendo, peach, toad | posted in Video Games

October 5, 2013

Disney’s The Little Mermaid

By Joe

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Come 1989, Disney was back on top both critically and financially as a movie studio. Oliver & Company, while not wowing many movie buffs, was a commercial success and one of Disney’s biggest in years while Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was able to secure near universal praise for its combination of animation and live-action. Even considering the successes enjoyed by those two films, it’s 1989’s The Little Mermaid that is often credited with launching the Disney Renaissance; a new period of creative and commercial success for the venerable studio that utilized a combination of animation and broadway. After 1989, there was no question who was the king of animation and family entertainment. While it could be argued that Disney was never truly dethroned, it was certainly challenged and the studio struggled to prove that it was still the best at what it did. There would be challengers in the 90’s, but none that would prove to be worthy adversaries. Of course, by the close of the decade hand-drawn animation is practically dead and Pixar is a new household name, but the end of the 80’s through to the mid 90’s proved to be traditional animation’s last gasp and one of its finest eras.

The Little Mermaid represents a first for the company, and also a last. The previously mentioned Oliver & Company, made regular use of music and the broadway element, but it was The Little Mermaid that truly committed to this format. The music directors for the picture, the late Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, are both veterans of broadway and are credited with steering the The Little Mermaid in this direction. The film, particularly the first act, is driven by the songs contained within as the film moves from one to another with often little traditional dialogue in between. This proved so successful that future films adapted this style, but arguably none were as artistically successful as The Little Mermaid in doing so.

The Little Mermaid was the beneficiary of a huge budget, and it shows when compared with the animated films that preceded it. It was also the first feature-length production to benefit from Disney’s new studio in Lake Buena Vista, FL, then known as Disney MGM Studios (with a theme park to follow, now called Disney’s Hollywood Studios). It was the last picture to use traditionally drawn animation cells for Disney. There were numerous amounts of FX added to the picture due to its undersea setting, and some computer effects were used as well here and there.

The Little Mermaid tells the story of Ariel, who finds herself unhappy living under the sea.

The Little Mermaid, based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, tells the story of the young princess, Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson). Ariel is the seventh, and youngest, daughter of King Triton (Kenneth Mars), ruler of the seas. Ariel is a free spirit who is fascinated with the world above which her father forbids her from interacting with. She is able to sate her curiosity through human artifacts and items found in shipwrecks scattered across the ocean floor until her exploits bring her face to face with a living, breathing human. Ariel soon finds herself in love with the prince, Eric (Christopher Daniel Barnes), and knowing her father will never allow such a romance to continue, in desperation she turns to the sea witch, Ursula (Pat Carroll), to make her human. The story is predictable, but satisfying, and Ariel exhibits a lot of the same emotions most sixteen-year-olds are known for which helps make the unbelievable seem believable. There are several memorable supporting characters to the story. Flounder (Jason Marin), who does not resemble an actual flounder at all, is Ariel’s companion and the foil to her care-free spirit. He’s cautious and kind of a worry-wart. The film makes it seem like he’ll play a large role at first, but he soon fades into the background after the first couple of scenes. Scuttle (Buddy Hackett), the sea-gull, is Ariel’s guide to the world of humans. Unknown to Ariel (and Scuttle himself), Scuttle knows practically nothing about humans but she is more than willing to believe anything he says. Sebastian (Samuel E. Wright), the crab, is the conductor of the royal symphony for King Triton and is also the King’s trusted confident. Triton charges the Rastafarian crab with keeping an eye on Ariel with the intent being that he’ll get her to forget about the human world. Sebastian, possessing a big heart, is soon convinced by Ariel’s actions and behavior to aid her in her quest to become human.

The film is home to several excellent supporting characters, with the sea-gull Scuttle likely being a favorite of many.

The love story is perhaps the film’s weakest aspect. The character of Prince Eric is a young man looking for the right girl, though he appears to be in no hurry. During a thunderstorm at sea, he winds up in the water where Ariel is lurking. She rescues the prince from drowning and sings to him on a beach while he remains unconscious. Waking, she flees, and Eric becomes obsessed with finding Ariel. When Ariel returns as a human, she is without her voice (thanks to a bargain made with Ursula), and the two must fall in love in order for Ariel to remain human. This being a Disney movie, I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say that the two do eventually fall in love, though Ariel declares her love for Eric to her father after their first encounter. It feels rushed, and I suppose it is considering the movie has a run-time of under 90 minutes. I’ve seen worse when it comes to rushed love stories, but there are many cynics who will roll their eyes at first mention of the word love with this story.

The music, the film’s backbone, is quite good. I am not a fan of the broadway format, but if a film is going to be overstuffed with songs then they better be good ones. The Little Mermaid is the beneficiary of three iconic music pieces. While most other Disney movies seem to only have one or two, The Little Mermaid boasts the trifecta of “Part of Your World”, “Under the Sea”, and “Kiss the Girl.” “Part of Your World” is Ariel’s big solo number and it’s melody is used during the score as the main theme of the film. It is returned to many times over, which is good because it’s a simple and very pleasing melody. “Under the Sea,” the Caribbean sounding up-tempo track, is the film’s most fun moment and song and is likely the favorite of many of the film’s viewers. “Kiss the Girl” is the slower track and it too boasts an island sound. Not surprisingly, both are sung by Sebastian. Ursula gets her own song as well, “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” but I find it to be less lively than the others. It also drags on for too long. There are other smaller tracks in the film but they prove to be less memorable, but their bite-sized running time also keeps them from being a distraction.

I probably wouldn’t have much affection for the film if it relied solely on its music. Thankfully, The Little Mermaid is a fantastic picture to look at (made even better now that it’s available on Blu Ray), and it owes much of that to its setting. The undersea setting proves to be a visual delight from the first scene. When the audience isn’t being asked to focus on anything but the visuals, the animators make use of a blur effect to make the film appear as it would if being viewed by the audience if placed underwater. Once the plot begins, the picture quality is clear and pristine. Every movement from the characters is accompanied with bubbles and hair is wild and untamed as it floats about. Most of the locations are depicted with shades of blue giving it a dark, sometimes cold, feeling. When the picture explodes with color, such as during the “Under the Sea” segment, the juxtaposition with the blues make the picture really come alive and creates a warming effect on the audience. The above water scenes pale in comparison as the kingdom Eric inhabits is somewhat lacking in personality. I’m not even sure which part of the world it’s supposed to represent. The climax of the film is a spectacle to behold with all of its lightning and massive whirlpool. Ariel and Eric’s confrontation with a colossal Ursula is perhaps rivaled only by Aladdin’s final showdown with the snake Jafar.

The sea witch, Ursula, proves to be another memorable Disney villain.

Disney pictures, especially in more recent times, are often criticized for their shallow female leads. The classic example being Snow White, who confesses in song she’s just waiting for her prince to come and rescue her from her hum-drum life. Ariel is sometimes criticized in the same way, though perhaps not justifiably. She’s plucky and strong-willed, and when she wants something she’s willing to make sacrifices in order to achieve her goals. She is naive, but that comes with being only sixteen. I do like that it is Ariel, and not Eric, that first takes on the role of rescuer as she saves him from drowning early in the film. And when it comes time to face Ursula, it’s Eric and Ariel together taking her on. If there’s room for criticism it’s in Ariel’s perception that she can only be happy if she’s made human and is able to win Eric’s love. She’s a character with flaws though, which in turn makes her feel more real even if she is part fish. This is in contrast with the Disney princesses of the golden age which were essentially idealized women intended to be presented without flaws. Ariel is even allowed to contort her body into unflattering shapes, something animator Glen Keane was even criticized for doing by the old guard at the company, but something he felt was important to her story. The film also has some scary moments which may frighten the very young, and Ursula is not some harmless screw-ball villain, but the scare-factor is still pretty minimal. Parents ultimately know what is best for their kids and the best advice that can be given from an outsider is just watch the film first before exposing your kids to it, if you have concerns.

The Little Mermaid is a crowning achievement for Disney and is justifiably rated highly amongst the studio’s films. It’s a gorgeous picture with memorable songs and characters that easily stands the test of time. Despite its lead being a young princess, it’s a film that should have no trouble delighting both boys and girls while keeping the adults who watch it with them suitably entertained. The Disney Renaissance unofficially began with The Little Mermaid, and I suppose it ended sometime around Mulan or The Emperor’s New Groove. Amongst the Disney features released in that window, it’s probably second only to Beauty and the Beast. The Lion King certainly has its admirers, as does Aladdin, but it’s combination of sound and visuals make it number two for me and I wouldn’t argue with anyone who felt it should be number one.

1 Comment | tags: alan menken, ariel, disney, disney renaissance, howard ashman, jodi benson | posted in Film

September 28, 2013

Bucky O’Hare – The Video Game

By Joe

Bucky O’Hare – Nintendo Entertainment System (1992)

I’ve been away for awhile, a combination of life events and vacation, but I’m back and ready to talk about some old things. Here is one such old thing and a topic I’ve discussed before: Bucky O’Hare. Bucky O’Hare was a part of that glut from the late 1980s into the 1990s of anthropomorphic cartoon characters riding on the coat tails of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Very few of these properties (Street Sharks, Biker Mice From Mars, Battle Toads) had any staying power and Bucky proved to be no exception. His show lasted one season, and it was a half season at that, before getting cancelled. There are a number of theories why from poor marketing decisions, bad distribution of the toys, too serious, though I personally think a lot of boys just didn’t buy into the idea of a green space bunny saving the galaxy. Despite Bucky’s outward appearance, I liked him and the show quite a bit as did a number of my friends. Bucky probably dominated a good six months of my young life and during that time period he was even able to overtake the TMNT for a brief spell.

Even though Bucky didn’t last long as a cartoon hero (he didn’t last long as a comic book hero either), he was still around long enough to have his likeness inserted onto just about every product imaginable. From the obvious items like toys and clothing to the less obvious such as dishes and light-switch covers. Not surprisingly, another item that took advantage of the Bucky O’Hare license was a video game, simply titled Bucky O’Hare. The game was developed by Konami and released in 1992 a short while after the cartoon had finished its run. Right away, it should be noted that Bucky dodged a major bullet in that his game was developed by Konami, and not LJN, whom Konami had a tendency to hand all of its licensed products to. LJN is known as one of the worst game developers from that era; it possessed the opposite of the Midas Touch when it came to game development. The fact that Bucky managed to avoid such a fate is really quite surprising, in hindsight. Even more popular properties like the X-Men were unable to avoid LJN but somehow Bucky snuck through.

Bucky O’Hare on the NES is an action platformer starring Bucky O’Hare himself. Players control the funky fresh rabbit and navigate him through various levels, mostly going left to right but not always, as they run, jump, and gun down the evil toads to save Bucky’s crew. The game starts off giving the player a choice of 4 different stages, represented by different planets, that Bucky can choose from. On each planet, one of Bucky’s crew-mates is being held captive: Blinky is on the green planet, Jenny is on the blue planet, Dead Eye the red, and Willy DuWitt is on the yellow planet. Bucky can choose to rescue his mates in any order, though at least one planet requires the aid of one of Bucky’s comrades, for when Bucky rescues a character that character becomes playable. The player can switch on the fly with a press of the select button. All characters share the same health bar but have their own power bar.

The power bar is where the characters distinguish themselves. Each character had a unique attack and unique ability. Attacks are simply done by pressing the B button. Bucky can shoot horizontally and vertically and his special ability is a super jump. By pressing and holding the B button, Bucky crouches down and charges up a jump. The power meter determines how high he can go and it can be increased in size by collecting certain power-ups. Blinky has a jetpack that allows him to fly for a short duration. His attack is a canon-ball like weapon that fires in an arc. It can also break certain blocks found in the environment. It’s more powerful than Bucky’s attack, but has limited range. Jenny fires a laser that may or may not inflict more damage than Bucky’s gun, though it’s rate of fire doesn’t seem to be as good. Her special ability is some kind of telekinetic ball that the player can control with the d-pad once it’s been fired. It’s useful in certain spots where the player can sit out of danger and attack from cover. Dead Eye has a scatter-shot for his main weapon. Think the spread gun from Konami’s much more popular Contra series. His special ability lets him crawl on walls for a short duration. Not particularly useful. Willy has a fairly normal attack with his special being a charged shot. Unlike, say Mega Man, Willy is stationary when charging making his special ability the least useful.

Mega Man fans, does this look familiar?

Willy’s special ability isn’t the only comparison to Mega Man one will find when playing Bucky O’Hare. In many ways, the game is like a Mega Man clone. The non-linear setup at the start is certainly reminiscient of the blue bomber’s games and the general run, jump, shoot mechanics seem to be clearly inspired by Mega Man as well. There’s also some levels, or parts of levels, that are inspired by some of Mega Man’s more famous levels such as the red planet’s nod to Quick Man and the vanishing blocks from the Toad Mother Ship. A quick google search will reveal that, in some circles, this game is known as the Konami Mega Man. I’ve never heard anyone actually refer to the game as such, but the internet never lies. Bucky owes a lot to Mega Man, but it’s different enough to maintain integrity and similar enough that it’s safe to say most fans of the blue bomber will enjoy the green rabbit.

Bucky O’Hare may not be among the most popular NES games, but most people who are into NES games seem to know about it and associate it with one word: hard. Many games from this era are hard, but Bucky O’Hare is often placed in that upper tier of really difficult games. I’ve never heard anyone outright call it the hardest NES game ever made, but I’ve seen it included in several lists or youtube videos amongst the elite. This is mostly a good thing, as Bucky O’Hare is able to achieve it’s difficulty without being too cheap. There are some areas, when playing for the first time, that will piss a gamer off. The most obvious to me occurs on the yellow planet where the player has to hop on these futuristic mine carts that zip along a track. Jumping from one to another is not difficult, as they slow down long enough to make the timing easy, but before long a wall of spikes will pop up that result in a one-hit death if the player doesn’t react fast enough. These one-hit deaths comprise the majority of player fatalities in Bucky O’Hare. Very rarely can I recall actually having my life depleted slowly during a non-boss encounter. And even the boss fights, as one might imagine, include a number of instant death attacks that can put an end to the fight rather quickly. What keeps Bucky O’Hare from being among the hardest of the hard is its generous continue system. Each level is broken up into several acts which, by themselves, are pretty short. If a player loses all of his or her lives the continue screen is displayed and electing to go on will bring the player to the start of the most recently completed act with a new set of lives. Continues are unlimited, and completing a full level gives the player a password which isn’t overly complex or long. This means anyone of moderate skill can probably complete Bucky O’Hare so long as they’re persistent. And given that much of the game’s difficulty comes from being surprised, practice does indeed make perfect.

Right around the time it seems like the game has thrown everything it can at you, it introduces the flying stages. Prepare to die.

Bucky O’Hare is deceptively long and offers a good amount of gameplay. After completing the first four stages the player is abducted by the toads and (annoyingly) must also re-rescue the trio of Jenny, Dead Eye, and Willy. The setup, beyond the run and gun nature of the game, is pretty straight-forward but there are areas later in the game that are non-linear as Bucky explores the Toad Mother Ship. After the conclusion of each level, a boss encounter occurs. They’re usually fairly challenging, but there are some easy ones, and part of the challenge is knowing which character works best. For the most part, Bucky on his own is enough to take down a boss but I did find some uses for Jenny’s special attack (namely the yellow planet boss) and Blinky has his moments too. Only Willy comes across as feeling useless as I was able to make regular use of the other four characters. Bucky never had another console video game release, but he did have an arcade game released after this one though it wasn’t very popular. This game, along with the cartoon’s catchy theme song, is probably the way most remember Bucky O’Hare. Considering most of those other shows, TMNT included, received mediocre to terrible games, I’d say Bucky came out ahead in one respect. If you like NES games and have never played this one, I whole-heartedly recommend it.

2 Comments | tags: blinky, bruiser, bucky, continuity comics, dead eye, konami, larry hama, mega man, michael golden, neal adams, nintendo, steve blum, sunbow, the toad wars, willy duwitt | posted in Video Games

September 2, 2013

The Black Cauldron

By Joe

The Black Cauldron (1985)

The Black Cauldron is one of those movies I wasn’t sure if I had even seen or not. It’s kind of rare to find a Disney animated movie that I haven’t seen from before 1998, but in the case of The Black Cauldron it would seem I found just such a film. My only interaction with it had been via the PC game of the same name produced by Sierra around the time the movie came out. It was a frustrating and terrible game for someone used to Super Mario Bros. and I didn’t like it at all. Upon doing just some basic research on the film it became obvious why I had never seen it. The Black Cauldron just may be the most unloved of the Disney animated films to be released. It was marred by creative differences between those creating the film and Disney Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg who would have cut the film himself if not for intervention from CEO Michael Eisner. The film went on to be Disney’s worst performing film at the box office and the film is known less for its merits and more for being Disney’s “rock bottom.” Because of its failure, it never received a home video release until 1998, more than a decade after its theatrical run. In spite of all the negativity surrounding the film, I was curious enough to spend a small amount of money on a DVD copy to see it for myself. I’ve seen plenty of good Disney movies, and I’ve seen some bad ones too, and I was curious to see what made this one possibly the worst of them all.

The Black Cauldron is an adaptation of a Lloyd Alexander book from his Chronicles of Prydain series. It was directed by Ted Berman and Richard Rich, who together with Art Stevens had previously directed The Fox and the Hound. I consider The Fox and the Hound to be one of Disney’s weaker offerings, a film with a good heart but a sometimes sloppy execution, so right away I’m not impressed by The Black Cauldron. The Black Cauldron also makes use of the xerographic production process that Disney had been using for some time. It leads to a rough, sometimes sketch-like quality, to the edges of the characters and is a far cry from Disney’s classic look. For this picture though, which is tonally quite a bit darker than other Disney films, it does add a certain credibility to the look. Some very early computer-generated effects were utilized as well that surprisingly look pretty fantastic even today. The effects were used sparingly, mostly for smoke effects, and it really makes the picture pop. The backgrounds have a very hand-painted look to them that helps add to the mystique of the picture. The one major drawback I found with the film was with the character animation. The backgrounds are rich with saturated colors, lots of shadowy holes and dingy dungeons, and the characters look flat against them at times. There’s often no shading done to the actual characters and it takes away from the overall feeling the scenes are shooting for. This is a flaw of pretty much all of the Disney animated works from this period, but it’s most obvious here because of the setting where all of the dark areas are lit by torch-fire. Still, overall I found it to be a very rich experience from a visual point of view, which is certainly a good place to start with any animated movie.

That’s Gurgi, whom I kind of hate.

The score for The Black Cauldron has never really been under fire. It’s a quality film score and was composed by Elmer Bernstein, which from what I can tell, makes this the only Disney film Bernstein worked on. The voice acting utilized mostly British talents, and unfortunately, is one of the film’s weak points. The Horned King, played by John Hurt, sounds appropriately menacing and the creature voices are fairly well done. The lead, Grant Bardsley as Taran, leaves no lasting impression and I didn’t care for the woman portraying Princess Eilonwy, Susan Sheridan. I also never really warmed up to the voice of Gurgi, portrayed by John Byner. It’s not that Byner’s performance was lacking, more that I just didn’t care for the voice they chose to go with for that character (his voice reminded me of Frank Welker’s Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters).

The production values on the whole for The Black Cauldron are pretty good, which is to be expected since it was the most expensive animated film ever produced at the time of its release. Where the film seems to lack the most is in the plot and pacing of the film. At a running time of 80 minutes, it’s neither long or short by animation standards. The general plot revolves around Taran, a teen-aged farm hand who dreams of being a knight, who is tasked with shielding his pig, Hen Wen, from The Horned King. Hen Wen possesses a special quality that allows her to show her master the future and The Horned King needs her to deduce the location of the black cauldron, an artifact of terrible magic. Throughout his travels, Taran routinely makes mistakes and overestimates his ability as a warrior landing him in the clutches of The Horned King and his army of goblins and wyverns. Taran acquires followers along the way, the Princess Eilonwy, the minstrel Ffledwwur Fflam, and the irrepressible Gurgi. He’ll also encounter witches, pixie like people known as Fairfolk, and, of course, a magic sword. It’s all rather conventional with The Horned King surrounding himself with an army of incompetent servants who constantly undermine him along the way. I found Taran to be too cliché to really care about. The Princess is actually a strong female character, which I could appreciate, while the character of the Minstrel I found completely unnecessary. Gurgi is intended to be the cute, marketable character who provides some comedic relief. I already mentioned my dislike for his voice, but I also dislike his look as well. He looks like a combination of an old man and a shaggy dog which I found off-putting.

Younger audiences may find this one to be a bit too scary.

The first half hour, aside from the overuse of fantasy trite, is pretty exciting as Taran finds himself in the clutches of The Horned King, one of Disney’s most horrifying villains and a worthy antagonist. Upon Taran’s escape, the film lost me as characters seem to be in limbo for the next half hour before the film’s climax. The climax is actually really well done, with the film’s best animation being saved for these scenes. There’s even a well-executed “sacrifice” and the film found a way to realistically have the heroes face off with The Horned King that audiences could accept. Really, if the film could have found a way to make the middle section more interesting it would have gone a long way towards improving the experience as a whole. There are times for comedic relief along the way, and some of it is contained in the middle parts when the witch characters are introduced. A lot of film critics seemed to dislike the film for its joylessness when compared with other Disney works, but I actually though the film did a decent enough job of balancing the humor and drama. It’s certainly a film meant to be more of a thriller than a laugher, but joyless it is not.

The Black Cauldron may or may not be the worst animated film put out by Disney. I can’t say for sure as I haven’t seen every film the studio produced, but I have a hard time believing it truly is the worst. The 1970s and 80s for Disney really were dark times for the studio as it struggled to recapture the old Disney magic and The Black Cauldron fits in among those works. It really is no better or worse than most of Disney’s films from that time period like Robin Hood or The Rescuers. It has things it does well, and things it does not so well. Because it is a bit more serious and contains some menacing characters, it’s more similar to some of Disney’s older works than even the modern films. The Horned King and his minions are characters intended to frighten young children, much like Monstro and Maleficent. If you’re thinking of buying this for your four-year old, you may want to watch it alone first. If you’re an older animation fan like myself and you’re curious about this picture, I say give it a look if you have the 10 bucks or so to spend on a DVD. You’ll likely find a plot that is lacking, but the visual experience makes the minimal investment worthwhile.

1 Comment | tags: animation, chronicles of prydain, disney, fantasy, fox and the hound, lloyd alexander | posted in Film

September 1, 2013

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons

By Joe

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (2001)

The Legend of Zelda series tends to be late to the party when it comes to Nintendo’s newest technology. The only exceptions I can recall would be A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess. Twilight Princess should come with an asterisk though considering it was in development as a Gamecube game (and even released on that platform too) before being ported to the Wii to make that system’s launch. Typically gamers have to wait a couple of years for Link to grace their latest console or handheld. That was especially the case when it came to the Gameboy Color. Nintendo, partnered with Capcom, focused on making a set of three games that would take place in the world of Zelda and interact with one another to form one grand adventure. This would take time, and to placate eager gamers to have a Zelda adventure on the go and in color Nintendo re-released Link’s Awakening with some minor color enhancements and a new dungeon (which took full advantage of the new color palette). Development was delayed on the series with Capcom, and eventually the three titles became two. Worse still, they didn’t arrive to market until after the Gameboy Color’s successor hit retail; the Gameboy Advance. Did this stop people from picking up the old tech? Of course not, this is Zelda after all, Nintendo’s most consistent franchise. And for those who upgraded to the Gameboy Advance, the system was backwards compatible so as long as gamers could get passed the fact that they were playing a fairly low tech set of games it was a pretty easy thing to convince them to go out and pick up the latest Zelda titles.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (2001)

There are exceptions though, and for whatever reason I became one of them. I was a day one purchaser of a Gameboy Advance and I was eager to upgrade my portable gaming. I had a Gameboy Color and primarily only used it for Pokemon (I had a copy of Shantae and never got into it, and I ended up trading it in at Gamestop which proved to be a mistake). After over a decade of playing sub-NES quality games on a Gameboy I, and many others, were more than ready for the GBA. Plus I knew the eventual A Link to the Past Advance was on the way and figured I’d get my Zelda fix then, so I completely overlooked the two GBC games, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. It took a long while, but finally Nintendo has released both titles on its e-shop and both are playable on the Nintendo 3DS. A good portion of my summer has been spent on these two titles, and in short, they’re quality Zelda experiences. You don’t want short though, so feel free to read on for more!

If you’re an owner of a 3DS and are thinking of playing these games I would recommend that you play Link’s Awakening DX first, if you have not done so already. While the games are not connected in a narrative sense, the three play pretty much identically to one another with the Oracle games feeling like sequels. I imagine the fact that the groundwork was laid with Link’s Awakening is what allowed Nintendo to feel comfortable about handing the series over to Capcom. These portable Zelda games all feature diminished visuals when compared to most of the series, with the only exception being the original Legend of Zelda. Link can have two items equipped at any one time via the A and B buttons, and they can be any two items the player wants making it theoretically possible for Link to go thru the bulk of the game without a sword. These games also are unique in that they allow Link to jump once a certain item is obtained. Link could jump in the side-scrolling Adventure of Link, but not in his other top-down adventures. The portable games also bring back the side-scrolling screens present in the first game often as a basement of sorts throughout the various dungeons. There are some sequences where Link has to swim and some familiar faces from the mushroom kingdom make appearances. I actually prefer Link’s Awakening to the Oracle games in large part because of all of the Mario references which just give the game this offbeat feel. There’s even a sequence where Link needs to take a chain-chomp for a walk.

Both games feature animal companions for Link to make use of. Here he is just hanging out in a kangaroo pouch.

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons distinguish themselves from the prior games with their special items, the harp of ages of rod of seasons, respectively. In Oracle of Ages, Link is able to use his harp to move thru time. Early versions of the harp only allow him to do so at certain patches of soil but later versions allow him to move thru time at will. Since there are only two versions of Labrynna, where the game takes place, it’s bound to evoke a similar feel to the light and dark worlds from A Link to the Past. As expected, changing things in the past affect the present, which is sort of the nature of the game. It’s not real specific though, and sometimes the past or present is different from each other seemingly just for sake of it (sometimes a wall is bomb-able in the past, but not the present, which doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense). As such, I was actually kind of disappointed with the whole time-traveling aspect of the game and it started to feel like a hassle. In Oracle of Seasons, Link is able to manipulate the seasons with the rod of seasons. This has obvious applications such as lakes becoming frozen in winter or dried up in summer. A weird type of mushroom is only harvestable in the fall, and certain special flowers only bloom in the spring. Having to cycle thru each season one at a time is a bit of a chore, but overall I felt the application of the seasons worked better than the time-travel in Ages and it also offered a fun visual change as well. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that sections of the overworld map are arbitrarily broken out and are assigned a default season. This results in the player changing the season on one screen, and then having it switch to another season by going as few as one screen over. The designers obviously did this to make it easier on them to block off certain sections of the map until Link obtained a certain item, but it feels lazy.

In addition to their gimmick, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are often distinguished by type of gameplay present. Ages is often described as being the more puzzle-centered game with Seasons being more action-oriented. I found this to mostly be the case, but make no mistake, both are tried and true Zelda experiences. There are still plenty of enemies to take down in Ages, and there’s also plenty of dungeon puzzles to solve in Seasons. I expected to enjoy Ages more as I usually like the Zelda puzzles, but I actually ended up preferring Seasons. The problem I have with Ages is just that a lot of the puzzles felt really drawn out and the constant switching between items (since there are only two action buttons on a GBC, everytime you need to re-assign something you have to go into the menu and do it) could get tiresome. There are also plenty of “Zelda Puzzles,” which to me mean puzzles with no logical solution that forces the player into trial and error mode. These types of situations seem to crop in every Zelda title and are often the result of the game just not being consistent. There was one dungeon where I got stuck for a while because I couldn’t figure out how to get a pot onto a floor switch that needed to be pressed in order to open a door. I tried all kinds of different things and just couldn’t get it. Then I just stepped on it with Link and walked off and the door stayed open. Every other switch in the game necessitates an object being placed on it to keep the door open. I was so annoyed. That’s a Zelda puzzle. There were some of these in Seasons too, but they just felt more prevalent in Ages.

One of the optional bosses from a linked game: Twinrova.

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons share many of the same dungeon items. Both also have a trading game which leads to an improved sword for Link and both feature seeds. All around the map are soft patches of soil where Link can plant a seed. After a certain amount of enemies are slain a tree with a nut will sprout and inside the nut will be an item. Usually this item is a ring, which is the only equip-able accessory for Link in both games. They usually add some function or improve another such as Link’s throwing distance or damage output. They’re not all that essential to the experience, and both games seem to have the same rings. There’s also a password system that allows players to transport items back and forth between games. This is the only way to get some traditional Zelda items like the mirror shield and master sword. These items just make the game easier, and to be honest, they’re easy enough as is, so I never did much with them. I did take advantage of the game-link where beating one game provides a password for the other game which alters the story. The story in both games is basically crap, but if you want to face the ultimate boss you have to link the games and it does add a little more fun to the experience.

I’ve been a bit nit-picky with these games, but both are enjoyable and worthwhile entries in the Legend of Zelda series. If you were to play only one, I would recommend Oracle of Seasons as I found it to be the better overall experience. One thing I liked about Seasons over Ages is how it’s a total nostalgia trip for gamers who played the original Legend of Zelda. Oracle of Ages is basically just as good though, and if you can, you really should just play both. These two games, together with Link’s Awakening, are among the best portable games ever created and are still the best portable Zelda games ahead of The Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Hopefully, the upcoming A Link Between Worlds is able to give them a run for their money as these games have reigned supreme for long enough.

2 Comments | tags: 3ds, capcom, eshop, gameboy, ganon, link, miyamoto, nintendo | posted in Video Games

August 25, 2013

Gargoyles: Season 2 Volume 1

By Joe

The cover of the DVD release of Gargoyles Season 2 dubs it as Volume 1 of the second season. At first glance, that may seem like a greedy way to release a show to DVD, but that is not the case. A common practice of children’s animated television was to order 65 episodes as early in the life of the series as possible to make the programming eligible for syndication where more money could be made off of it. I say “was” because I’m not sure if that is still the case with numerous cable outlets now providing a lot of the entertainment these days. Gargoyles was not originally broadcast on cable though, which is why season 2 is 52 episodes long, which following the 13 episode first season, gets the series to 65 total episodes. Sometimes networks are so confident the show will be a hit they go right from the pilot to a 65 episode order. This was the case for the still popular Batman: The Animated Series which featured a pretty bankable star in Batman, but Gargoyles was an all new intellectual property so Disney opted to go for a trial run with the first 13 episodes before going all in.

The process of large season orders seems like a win for fans of the show. After all, a 52 episode season would theoretically allow for a new episode every week for an entire year, though this wasn’t the case for Gargoyles since it was an afternoon program. It does usually mean shorter wait times between new episodes, but things can get a little erratic since the season will usually begin airing while a lot of episodes are still in production. There’s also the other downside to a large season such as this which is these episodes need to get produced quickly, and more people are needed for production and story-writing. The first season of Gargoyles was a tight, neat collection of episodes with high-quality animation for television. Season 2 sometimes has the feel of “too many cooks in the kitchen” and episodes become more stand-alone in nature. The animation is still among the best when Gargoyles is compared with its contemporaries, but there are some drop-offs and it’s apparent that the show had multiple teams for animation. Some episodes feature sharp lines and tight animation while others are more rounded and toon-like with characters often making over-exaggerated gestures (those familiar with X-Men likely have an idea of what I’m talking about). Which one looks best is a matter of taste though (I prefer the harder look for this program) at least, with the overall animation quality usually pretty strong from episode to episode.

There are some pretty interesting plot twists to find in season two.

Inconsistent animation is expected when a show requires a large amount of episodes be produced, but my main concern for Gargoyles was how the writers would respond when tasked with filling so many hours. The first season largely operated in a serial format with each episode tied to one overall plot. Some felt more stand-alone than others, but all plots were referenced at one point or another and the overall quality of the story-telling was quite good. I knew season 2 would have to feature more stand-alone episodes, but thankfully very few feel like throw-away or filler episodes. Many of these one-shots still contain plot devices that have repercussions on the episodes to follow, such is the case with the conclusion of the episode “The Mirror” when Demona gains a new power. Many others choose to introduce new villains or allies that will pop up in later episodes, as is the case with the characters Doctor Sevarius and Jeffrey Robbins. In short, the structure of the show remains rewarding for longtime fans. This does come at the cost of making the show a little harder to jump into at any point for newcomers, but since it’s no longer on television, this is really no longer a concern.

There are many stand-alone episodes, but there’s also no shortage of multi-part arcs. The first half of season two contains the four part “City of Stone” and the three part “Avalon.” Both are heavily reliant on flashbacks as it seems one goal for season 2 was to flesh out the villains even further, specifically Demona and MacBeth. We learn about their history together and how Demona has survived the centuries and remained largely the same in appearance. In season one, we the viewers were basically left to assume that gargoyles are extremely long-lived given that Demona was not affected by the Masgus’ spell like the others, but we learn in season 2 that is not the case. There are lots of other recurring characters in season 2 such as The Pack, Tony Dracon, Derek Maza, Coldstone, and of course Xanatos. Xanatos is still primarily an adversary of the Manhattan Clan, but he’s also an unlikely ally in several episodes. One could even suggest that the writers go to this well a bit too often, but such is the case when 52 episodes have to be written in a short amount of time. Still, I like the role Xanatos plays on this show of the equal opportunist who has his own agenda that isn’t always clear. By the end of the first half of the season viewers, and even Goliath to some degree, have mostly caught on to Xanatos and the game he plays making me wonder what role he’ll play going forward (as I honestly can’t recall from my days of watching this as a kid). Xanatos is also paired this time around with Fox, of The Pack, as his love interest which is a rather interesting dynamic.

Now where have I seen that dress before?

Another part of the plot the writers seemed eager to explore in season 2 was the relationship between Elisa and Goliath. Elisa was Goliath’s main confident, along with Hudson, by season one’s end and he (as well as the other gargoyles) clearly feel a strong sense of protection with her. In season 2 it’s becoming more obvious that they have a stronger bond than just friends. Sometimes the show is pretty obvious about it, but for the most part they let it go unstated and attempt to keep things subtle. It has a nice progression throughout. Disney fans will also particularly enjoy a scene from the episode “Eye of the Beholder.”

Gargoyles was never a series afraid to introduce characters, and many new villains are brought into the fold in season 2. New allies, as well. A pet peeve of mine with X-Men was always how the writers would tease a new character joining the X-Men but would never go through with it. Towards the end of season 2, the writers chose to add a new member to the clan. To better introduce this character, the writers shrink the cast down to just Goliath, Elisa, Bronx, and the new-comer for the unofficially titles World Tour episodes. These episodes spill over into the second part, and series creator Greg Weisman actually bumps up one episode from the second half, “Kingdom,” to serve as the final episode in this collection. This final episode takes place in New York and we get to see what the rest of the clan is up to with Goliath missing. This is probably something Weisman regretted not doing originally, as when these aired we went 10 episodes without seeing the other characters which seems much too long. The World Tour will continue well into the second half though I do not suspect any other episodes were re-arranged as no one affiliated with the show had any say in the release of volume 2, that I know of.

The relationship between Demona and MacBeth is fully revealed in season two.

Gargoyles: Season 2 Volume One largely carries over the quality of the first season and only enhances the show’s reputation as one of the better animated programs from the 1990’s. Season One is probably superior when judged on quality, but the second DVD release for the series obviously boasts more content. The release itself is also much nicer and includes some bonus features in comparison with the bare-bones season one release. Unfortunately, season two did not meet the sales expectations of Disney and volume two was never commercially released until just recently. Volume two is even more sparse than the first season release, and is currently only available to members of Disney’s Movie Club. I’m not a member of that club, but did find out Buena Vista has an ebay account that basically specializes in selling these exclusives and was able to get one from there. I don’t know if they restock or not, but that is definitely the best bet for those who want a copy as the secondary market is a little inflated right now.

2 Comments | tags: 1990's cartoons, animation, batman, buena vista, disney, goliath, greg weisman, x-men | posted in Television

August 18, 2013

Oliver & Company

By Joe

Oliver & Company (1988)

Memories are a funny thing. What we choose to remember and forget really isn’t up to us. The brain just kind of erases and deletes things as it sees fit without any conscious thought or action. And when it comes to what we see and how we perceive our world, the brain has more say in that than we are often aware. The eyes allow one to see, but it’s the brain that has to decode the feed like a receiver and actually tell the body what is there. As a result, we can often remember things not how we saw them, but how we perceived them. It gets really interesting when trying to recall a first memory. I have a few that could be considered my first memory and they’re all from around age 2. The thing is though, I don’t know if these memories are real or if I’ve created them in just trying to reach back or from hearing a story. It can be kind of wild to really think about it, and perhaps I’m better off just accepting what my brain says are my earliest memories.

One early memory I’m pretty confident in is my first trip to a movie theater. I don’t know what went into it, where it was, or even what we did when there, but I do know that the first movie I ever saw in a theater was Disney’s Oliver & Company. Oliver & Company came out in 1988 so I would have been around 4 years old. Now everyone is used to films coming out on DVD or Blu Ray around six months after a film debuts in theaters. When I was a kid this was not the case at all. Some were released in about a year, but with Disney it was several years or not at all. Disney spent a ton of money on its animated films and many did not turn a profit during the initial theatrical run. Disney banked on theatrical re-releases to stay afloat so the company was very careful in what it released for the home market. This philosophy was in place until The Little Mermaid was released and the home video market was thriving. At that point, Disney had made a bunch of money already off the film and figured to make a whole lot more if it was available for Christmas. The Little Mermaid was the film that followed Oliver & Company. As such, Oliver & Company didn’t see a home video release until 1996, long after I stopped caring about Disney movies.

The film starts off like it might be a buddy flick with Oliver and Dodger before the cast is eventually expanded upon.

Because of Disney’s home video release schedule, when I sat down recently to watch my newly purchased copy of Oliver & Company on Blu Ray it was the first time I had seen the movie since I was four years old and in a theater for the first time. It was kind of a surreal experience as I watched this film. There were things I remembered, like Tito’s “Hey man, check it out,” line, and there were things I forgot I remembered like Dodger’s memorable “Why Should I Worry?” song. There were also many things I had completely forgotten. Before I sat down to watch the film a second time I could not have even begun to speculate on what the villain looked like. I probably would not have remembered the name of the little girl (Jenny) and I certainly would not have been able to recall any of the names of the other dogs in the picture. In many ways I felt like I was seeing the film for the first time, but there was an old familiarity there as well that created a rather warm experience.

Oliver & Company is probably not a film remembered by many. I wasn’t even aware of the Blu Ray release and I’m someone who is pretty plugged into these kinds of things. That’s not to say the film isn’t noteworthy for a few reasons. Most notably, it was the film that basically laid the groundwork for all of the Disney animated features to follow. Films that would prove to be far more successful than Oliver & Company (not that Oliver & Company wasn’t a success, it just wasn’t as big as the films to follow) like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. It was the first to really utilize that Broadway format of interspersing narrative and song in a very MTV like fashion. Sometimes the plot feels almost ancillary, as if it exists simply to move the film to the next music video. I’m not a fan of this approach, and as a result, I tend to prefer Disney’s older films to the modern ones but there are films that are able to succeed with this approach. Oliver & Company does, but on the most basic level. It’s harmless entertainment and it has a good heart but there’s no deep undercurrent to the plot or there really aren’t any big visual moments. The villain of the film is only ever lurking on the periphery. He’s menacing, but not on the level of any of the big villains to follow. This is partially due to the film’s short running time (74 minutes) and due to the fact that the story is a fairly simple one.

Marin’s Tito ends up being the star of the film.

The protagonist of the film is a small orange kitten named Oliver trying to find a place for himself in the world. As indicated by the title, this is an adaptation of Dickens’ Oliver Twist but only loosely so. There are quite a few celebrities on the cast for this one including a young Joey Lawrence as Oliver. Billy Joel plays Dodger, a street-wise dog who is basically the alpha of a pack of thieving canines doing the bidding of the mostly harmless thief Fagin, played by Dom DeLuise. Cheech Marin plays Tito, the wise-cracking chihuahua and Bette Midler is a pampered poodle named Georgette. The cast does a good job with what they are given with Marin probably showing the best. The music is obviously a big part of the picture and the opening number “Once Upon a Time in New York City” is performed well by Huey Lewis. Joel’s number “Why Should I Worry?” is the star of the film. It starts off as a smooth jazz number before the heat gets turned up. It’s infectious. The rest of the musical numbers fall pretty flat though. Midler’s “Perfect Isn’t Easy” is supposed to be another big number that makes use of some early CAD technology but it just isn’t there. The film kind of meanders along for the last half of the picture as a result.

Visually the film resembles a lot of the other Disney works that utilize the Xerox technology that debuted with One-Hundred and One Dalmatians. The edges of the characters are rough and sketch-like. Some of the backgrounds are as well. It works when the film is trying to present some of the grimier locations in New York but it doesn’t work for the glitzy Times Square. Disney’s animation, like its profits, took off after Oliver & Company and the company was willing to invest a bit more into each successive picture. This isn’t a bad looking movie and it has its own visual charms, but it does lag behind Disney’s better works.

Oliver & Company is a really unremarkable movie but one that does hold a lot of nostalgic value for me. If I didn’t have such a unique relationship with it I probably would not own it. That’s not to say that it’s bad or anything. I did enjoy watching the film for what it is, but it is mostly disposable entertainment. For adult animation fans, this is hardly essential viewing, but if you have kids that will consume anything Disney then they will have some fun with Oliver & Company.

1 Comment | tags: beauty and the beast, bette midler, billy joel, disney, huey lewis, joey lawrence, the little mermaid | posted in Film

August 10, 2013

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) Season One Review

By Joe

Back in September of 2012, Nickelodeon unveiled the newest incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a one-hour season premiere. On August 8th, 2013, the first season came to a close with a one-hour season finale. The symmetrical first season had its ups and downs, but no one can deny it was a smashing success from a commercial standpoint as Nickelodeon has already commissioned a second and third season. Once again, the Turtles franchise has proven that it’s harder to squish than a cock roach as it rolls on into its fourth decade of cultural relevance. Such was likely never predicted of the franchise back when it burst onto the scene in the late 1980’s. I would be willing to bet most adults viewed it as the latest flavor of the month they had to endure to keep their kids happy as toys and various other merchandise was consumed by the millions. Perhaps more importantly to fans, the first season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was not only a commercial success, but a creative one as well as it successfully melded the various depictions of the Turtles over the years into an all new show.

I watched and wrote about the season premiere when it first aired and described my reaction as tempered enthusiasm towards the show. That would eventually be replaced with full-on enthusiasm as I set my DVR to record each new episode (which became a challenge to keep track of as the broadcast schedule was all over the place) to watch at my leisure. The show got better as the weeks rolled by and the writers seemed to become more comfortable with the characters. A lot of the humor early on missed the mark but eventually the show found its groove in that department and routinely was able to bring a smile to my face. The show also introduced a major plot thread that was woven through the entire first season revolving around the alien race known as the Kraang which helped make the show feel more significant for regular viewers. I’ve always been a big fan of this approach for television over stand-alone episodes.

The Rat King was one of the better redesigns for the show.

That’s not to say the show didn’t have stand-alone episodes here and there. And quite frankly, that was when the show was its most uninteresting. There was a period in the early part of the season where each episode felt like The Villain of the Week where some poor soul would be mutated into a monster the Turtles had to stop. There was still humor to be found in these episodes and some nice action, but there was little lasting appeal. Some of these monsters were also severely lacking in the personality department, both in a behavioral sense and visually speaking. That is definitely one area where the old cartoon still reigns supreme as the villains often had a pretty interesting and fun look to them. That was probably due to Playmates wanting a fun toy to market, but it worked. The show did get better as the season went along, with one of my favorite looks for a villain popping up towards the end in the form of a newt with a Punisher-like pattern to his spots.

Overall, when compared with the old cartoon, the show was less reliant on guest spots and was content to rely primarily on a core group of characters. The Shredder, obviously, was a big part of the first season even if he was secondary to the Kraang threat. The writers wisely kept him out of action though, which made the episodes where he took up arms against the Turtles extra special. He’s also a total bad ass when in combat, a far cry from the bumbling Shredder of the 80’s or even the original comic book Shredder who is famously decapitated by Leonardo at the end of the series’ first book. This Shredder still retains his old look but with more black and bigger blades. He’s also far more scarred than any other as his face has been badly burned and he appears to be blind in one eye. Like the old Shredder, this one also has two mutant henchmen: Dogpound and Fishface. While these two are not as stupid as Bebop and Rocksteady, they’re not any more successful and are often beaten back by the Turtles. Baxter Stockman also falls in with the Shredder during season one and provides him with some heightened technology. Karai, Shredder’s daughter, is also introduced as a bit of tweener villain in that she has a bit of a friendship with Leonardo which serves as the backbone for a series of episodes during the middle part of the first season. Other characters familiar to longtime fans also show up, such as Leatherhead and the Rat King, sporting new designs and new personalities. I particularly enjoyed the new design for the Rat King and thought he was among the best of the villains shown off. I hope to see more of him in the future.

The Karai/Leo subplot was one of the more interesting parts of season one.

On the Turtle front, the cast basically stayed the same throughout the first season. A lot of old favorites were brought back though such as a new take on the Turtle Van which is now a subway car. The Turtles retain their signature personality traits but they feel more honest this time around. Raphael, for example, doesn’t just get pissed-off because he’s supposed to and Leonardo is far from being an emotionless robot. All of them have strengths and weaknesses, and for the most part, they also feel like teenagers.

Of particular enjoyment for long-time fans were all of the little easter eggs and throwbacks inserted into this series. Metalhead was brought back as a robot constructed by Donatello. He looks fairly similar to the old one, only much smaller. There’s even a spot during the episode were one of the bran-like Kraang latches onto his head, which I have to believe is a nod to the original action figure’s sculpted brain. The leader of the Kraang also inhabits a giant robot body and the antenna on its head evokes images of Krang’s body from the old cartoon. Little things like that go a long way towards pleasing the older fans and trying to spot them is part of the enjoyment in watching the show for me. The Technodrome is also introduced during the season finale, and the long-awaited Splinter vs Shredder confrontation takes place as well. There’s a big reveal in the season finale that I think anyone familiar with the franchise saw from a mile away, but it was still done well and, despite being predictable, is actually a new direction for an old character.

The Donatello/April relationship could have felt forced, but the writers have handled it well and I’m actually curious to see where it goes (expect Casey Jones to eventually butt-in).

From an artistic standpoint, the show animates quite well and is far superior to the DC CG cartoons currently airing on Cartoon Network. The city streets of New York remained pretty barren for the whole of season one with some signs of life in the finale, but otherwise the show looks good. I like the fact that each turtle has his own shape and anatomy instead of basically looking exactly like the others with the exception of the mask.

All in all, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a good show that strikes the perfect balance between action and comedy. The story-telling was also better than could be expected and the writing staff will have a hard time topping season one. Its start reminds me quite a bit of the 2003 cartoon which, for me anyway, fell off quite a bit in the second season and seasons to follow. Hopefully this show doesn’t meet the same fate. Because season one was spread out over so many months, the wait for season two to begin is actually a fairly brief one as its set to kick off in late September. This version of the Turtles may not be violent like the originals, or say “Cowabunga!” like the old toons, but they have a chance to go down as the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles yet!

2 Comments | tags: kevin eastman, mirage studios, new line cinema, nickelodean, peter laird, rob paulsen, shredder | posted in Television

August 4, 2013

Dreaming of Kingdom Hearts 3

By Joe

UPDATE 3/8/2014: Square-Enix has posted a survey for Kingdom Hearts, and if there is something you want to see in Kingdom Hearts 3 (Gargoyles!), this is the best way to make your voice heard!

Watching Gargoyles these past few weeks has got me thinking about the upcoming PS4/Xbox One game Kingdom Hearts 3. So far, little information, aside from confirmation the title has been in development, has been released regarding the next entry in the Kingdom Hearts series. For those unaware, the Kingdom Hearts games were initially conceived as a marriage between Disney and Square’s Final Fantasy. Several games have been released in the series and, for the most part, they all follow a pattern of having the main character visit various different worlds based on classic and current Disney films. Gargoyles has got me thinking about how cool it would be to see that world brought to the series as it would seemingly lend itself well to the video game form. There was a game based on the series created for the Sega Genesis. It was a late arrival on the Genesis and while it boasted some rather slick animation it was bogged down by poor gameplay mechanics and a repetitive design. It is my understanding that the only rules for selecting worlds for Kingdom Hearts are that they be from Disney films, but not Disney owned films. This would eliminate the various Marvel films produced by Disney as well as any future Star Wars ones. It also appears to apply to Pixar films as well as so far no worlds from a Pixar film have shown up. It also excludes any worlds from Disney television, but in the case of Gargoyles, this rule could be circumvented by the existence of Gargoyles The Movie: The Heroes Awaken. It’s kind of cheating as the direct-to-video movie is just the first five episodes edited into a 90 minute film but lets not get too technical.

Using my own memory, and with help from Wikipedia, I’ve come up with the below list of Disney films to appear as worlds in the Kingdom Hearts series:

Sleeping Beauty
The Little Mermaid
Aladdin
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Winnie the Pooh
Peter Pan
Hercules
Tarzan
Pinocchio
The Lion King
Steamboat Willie
Pirates of the Caribbean
Alice in Wonderland
Cinderella
Snow White
Beauty and the Beast
Mulan
Tron
Lilo & Stitch
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Three Musketeers
Fantasia

This list may not be exhaustive, and does contain some unusual selections. “Steamboat Willie” stands out as it’s not a feature-length film, but as Mickey’s most recognizable short, it’s not surprising to see it included. It also, like pretty much all of Disney’s classic shorts, was originally released to theaters. The Three Musketeers also stands out as it was a direct-to-video release so it appears their self-inflicted rule does not mean the film needed to be theatrically released. Square has done a good job of hitting most of Disney’s biggest properties. There is also a good balance of old and new, but there’s still plenty of room for more. Below are some thoughts of mine regarding where the franchise could go for its next outing:

Bambi – Bambi the character has already appeared as a summon in the KH series but he’s never had his own world. As one of the few classic pictures to not have a world, it makes sense for Bambi to step into a larger role. His world is not particularly unique considering it’s just a forest, but a world created around the forest fire scene from the film’s climax could have some interesting gameplay mechanics. For one, it would make the world visually interesting and the fire could be the result of one of the film’s antagonists. Bambi could be an assist character and, together with Sora, they would be tasked with extinguishing the blaze. The world could either be full of peril due to the fire, or there could be a time limit in place. Considering Bambi is one of Walt’s greatest achievements, it just makes too much sense to include it eventually.

And to think, some at Disney felt The Horned King would be too scary for kids…

The Black Cauldron – The Black Cauldron is, unofficially of course, Disney’s black sheep. It differs quite a bit in tone from the works that preceded it in that there’s a distinct absence of humor throughout. A lot of critics disliked the film, and while it appears to have spawned a cult following, it’s still one of the lesser films put out by Disney. It’s inclusion here is not a defense of the film, I haven’t it seen it in so long that I really can’t offer much of an opinion on it, but it’s world would actually appear to fit in quite well with the KH universe. The Horned King would make a natural complement for Maleficent and the Fairfolk could be incorporated as well. The film almost makes too much sense for inclusion, leading me to believe the only reason it has not been is because the film is so obscure. It’s also possible that Disney doesn’t own any of the characters outright and legal issues may not make it worthwhile to include.

Toy Tinkers – I am an unabashed Donald Duck fan so I wanted to include one of his shorts on this list. I initially thought “Trick or Treat” would work well because of the Witch Hazel and her special potion that brings inanimate objects to life, but such a world would have a lot in common with Fantasia and Halloweentown. I settled on “Toy Tinkers” because it would allow the inclusion of a Christmas themed world and a unique gameplay opportunity. I conceive it as a world in which Sora has been shrunk somehow and is caught in between the fire-fight between Donald and Chip and Dale. There would be debris raining down and perhaps Sora would help Chip and Dale thwart Donald somehow. It would be a bit of comedic relief and a fun bit of level design.

This would seem to be a natural conflict for a video game.

The Brave Little Tailor – My thought process for this level is similar to the above for “Toy Tinkers,” so I consider this an either/or arrangement. In the short, “The Brave Little Tailor,” Mickey is tasked with defeating a giant. For KH, the scenario seems obvious and Sora would either replace Mickey or assist him in taking down a giant. It would feel similar to my “Toy Tinkers” scenario because Sora would be taking on a foe much larger than he, so the two would perhaps feel too alike if they both appeared in the same game. Nonetheless, it would be fun to challenge the giant and a tailor themed Mickey could be an interesting assist character. This could also easily be swapped out in favor of a Mickey and the Beanstalk themed level.

Duck Tales – Duck Tales would appear to not be eligible due to the fact that it was a television property, but it sneaks in because it did have a feature-length release, Treasure of the Lost Lamp. If the level had to be based on that film, then no matter, it could be a pseudo Indiana Jones type of deal with cave exploring with Uncle Scrooge, the nephews, and maybe even Launch Pad. Classic Duck Tales villains could still be included as well. Ultimately, I just want to see Scrooge’s giant vault of gold coins included complete with diving board.

Toy Story – Yes, I know and covered it already, it would appear that Pixar films are a no-go when it comes to KH. However, Pixar’s films have become as much a part of the Disney brand as Mickey and Snow White and their presence is felt throughout Walt Disney World and Disney Land. And if there is to be one exception made for Pixar, why it has to be Toy Story, no? It makes too much sense for inclusion as Sora could be transformed into a toy of some kind and have to team-up with Woody and the gang to foil Sid. The level basically designs itself and there are so many action sequences from the three films that the designers could look to for inspiration. Come on Square/Disney, it’s time to invite Pixar to the party. Do it!

I’d be delighted to see any of the films/shorts from this list incorporated into KH3, but mostly I just want to kick some ass with Goliath by my side.

Gargoyles – We’ll end this with what started it in the first place, Gargoyles! Gargoyles, as primarily an action-adventure cartoon, makes a lot of sense for a video game. Goliath would be a pretty bad-ass support character and Demona seems like a perfect villain for KH (though MacBeth and Xanatos would work as well). There would be some fun music to source, and most of the voice cast has maintained a relationship with Disney to this day including Keith David (voice of Goliath) who recently voiced the villain for Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. Gargoyles would also allow Square to set a level in New York, specifically the skies above New York. The castle would make for both a great visual and fun setting for an all out battle with Demona or the Steel Clan. Someone send the developers of Kingdom Hearts 3 a copy of the first season (or the movie, but they would need a VCR on hand to watch it) and then try to stop them from making use of it!

There’s actually plenty of other films Square could source for Kingdom Hearts 3 that I didn’t even bring up. The Sword in the Stone or Robin Hood seem like natural fits, or perhaps because they’re too conventional they’ve been ignored. 101 Dalmatians also seems like an easy film to incorporate and Cruella De Vil would be a natural as a villain for the series. And considering it drew inspiration from video games, I feel like I have to mention Wreck-It Ralph. I actually fully expect a Wreck-It Ralph scenario of some kind to appear in KH3, either as the game world Fix-It Felix Jr. or maybe a Sugar Rush style mini game. I consider all of my selections as long shots and I’d be surprised to see most of them. It actually wouldn’t shock me if Disney lifted the embargo on Pixar films and allowed a Toy Story level, just because the property is so popular, and the giant sequence I described (most likely to occur in the form of Mickey and the Beanstalk) also strikes me as a legit possibility for a KH world. The others are merely dreams or wishes, and as much as it would delight me to see Goliath and crew in Kingdom Hearts 3, I also acknowledge it’s mostly a pipe dream. Perhaps if I wish upon a star…

1 Comment | tags: bambi, disney, donald duck, duck tales, final fantasy, gargoyles, goliath, mickey mouse, pixar, sora, square-enix, the black cauldron | posted in Video Games

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