I'm David, welcome to my brain. Here I write to not only show that I can but to share my opinions on various topics. Mostly Video Games, Anime, Movies and Tokusatsu. Though I am open to suggestions and never afraid to admit when I'm wrong. Have a good time in here and be sure not to mess with my memory, it's bad enough as it is.
Ah Luigi’s Mansion, when I was a kid this was one of my favorite games especially around Halloween and one of the first two games I got for the GameCube. Now that it’s rereleased on the 3DS and I can take it on the go the memories came right on back and after replaying and completing it it still holds up, though not without some flaws. Now for those who haven’t played this 16 year old game (Christ how time flies) the premise is a simple as a Mario game can be. Luigi wins a mansion in a contest he didn’t enter (cue Admiral Ackbar) and he finds the place is haunted. Now normally he’d have run for the hills by now but Mario got there first to scope it out and was captured by King Boo and his army of Ghosts, most of whom have escaped from the collection of Paranormal researcher Professor E. Gadd. Gadd had captured a giant Boo called Boolossus and in retaliation, King Boo freed him along with all of the other Ghosts in his portrait collection. Now King Boo and all of the Professors Portrait Ghosts are hiding out in their newly constructed Mansion with Mario as their prisoner. So now with the Professor’s Poltergust 3000 Luigi has to venture into the Mansion, capture all of the portrait ghosts, defeat King Boo and save Mario, like I said simple. Since this is a remake of a GameCube game there’s more then a few updates that I both like and dislike. Let’s get the one bad thing I have about this remake out of the way, it has motion control. When you’re sucking in or launching an element you have to aim it using the 3DS’ gyroscopic control which gets really old really fast and can make some Ghosts downright unbearable. Though you can easily resolve this issue in one of three ways, either have the 3DS XL with the C Stick and Z buttons or if you have just a New 3DS then the Circle Pad Pro will the job as well. Either way with those and the C Stick the issues that I have will pretty much go away. However if you use the circle pad pro you’ll have it activate it every time you turn the game back on or close the 3DS, annoying but nothing that’s going to break the deal. Also you can turn off the Motion controls by going into the options menu and setting the sensitivity to 0, though again you’ll need the c stick from either of the previously mentioned solutions otherwise this port will be very difficult.
Other then that one issue this is a fantastic rerelease. As a modern game Luigi’s Mansion 3DS has some achievements to complete such as capture all 50 Boos, get all of the Portrait Ghosts, you get the idea. This also has a new rank for the Ghosts that can only unlock once you get access to the hidden Mansion after you beat the game once, you can actually get them a Platinum Frame if you can suck all 150 of their HP in one shot. A tough order but one that can be done with practice. Though just a heads up, Chauncey, Nana and Sue Pea made my life miserable! Sue Pea in particular caused my control stick to crack slightly from all the pressure I was placing on it to wrangle her in. Though this was ultimately worth it in the end when I was rewarded with the S rank Mansion for getting platinum frames for all of the Ghosts. Though I may have had an easier time if I had assistance from Gooigi, the co-op character introduced for this port from E Gadd in the future during the events of Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon which I haven’t played but will give it a shot if I have the time. As mentioned Gooigi is a protoplasm construct of Luigi that can help you during the game and having his help in the Hidden Mansion and getting platinum frames will be a godsend! After playing Luigi’s Mansion on the GameCube so many times the Hidden Mansion in the 3DS port is the most challenge I’ve ever had from this game since the first time I played it all those years ago. There’s more ghosts in the rooms of the Mansion with more HP, Speedy Spirits are in completely different locations, some keys are in different rooms, Mario’s items for Madam Clarvoya are in different rooms, this mode can really throw veterans off their game. Also the Hidden Mansion changes one of the optional ghosts to mandatory and vice versa. Slim Bankshot is now mandatory while Henry and Orville are optional, other then that the rest are as you remember just with harder pulls, more HP and way more annoying as a result. But seeing that S Mansion was really rewarding after going through all of this BS. So if you have a 3DS make sure you pick up a copy of this remake of a ghoulishly good game, even though Halloween’s over at the time of this article, poop.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support. Luigi's Mansion 3Ds is owned by Nintendo, Nintendo EAD (GameCube) Grezzo (3DS)
Please be sure to read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.
For those who forgot what I thought were my 10th to 6th most favored sequels here's the link. Now sit back, relax and let me tell you what I think are the best sequels I've played so far.
#5 Bioshock 2
NOW, before anyones says anything let me get this off my chest.
This is not the best game in the series. Of the three games my personal favorite is Bioshock. It introduced me to Art Deco art design and the ideas of Objectivism some of which I agree with, It also gave us Andrew Ryan one of the more empathetic villains I've encountered. Bioshock Infinite is my second favorite, despite having what I feel to be the best story in the series the combat is somewhat weak due to the two weapon system and the random and mostly useless Gear system. However Bioshock 2 is in my opinion the most fun to play.
For starters we get the chance to play as a Big Daddy which while it removes some of the horror felt in the first game we get to play as one of the most powerful creatures in Rapture. Now admit it at some point you wish you were on the giving end of that drill or rivet gun instead of the receiving end. The hacking is significantly improved and no longer takes you out of the setting and game by replacing the long pipe puzzles with a simple timing game which improves the gameplay flow and isn't distracting. When you purchase Plasmid upgrades there is a tangible difference in their capability as when you do they actually gain new effects and powers. The research camera is now a film camera instead of a photo camera which again improves the flow of gameplay by keeping the fight going while recording your enemies.
There are more characters with original models, no longer needing to recycle Splicer models for characters like Tennembaum. We have a villain that we can genuinely hate in Sophia Lamb and her organization; the Rapture family from the sympathetic Grace Holloway to the disgusting weasel Stanley Poole to the tragic Gil Alexander. On top of that Minerva's den; its single player DLC is one of the best pieces of DLC I've ever played to the point where it's even better then the main game in certain respects. But there are some things that hold it back. In the original version it fell victim to the craze of tacked on Multiplayer which thankfully was removed in the Hd Collection. Unlike in the first game you can't go back to levels you've bested, once you get on that train that's it you you're required to search the level from tit to toe for Audio Diaries, tonics and Power to the people machines.
The levels can also feel a bit too short, not really giving you a chance to explore and take in the surroundings and atmosphere. There's also no Survivor difficulty in this game which is annoying for me since I can only get a challenge from games like this when I go in hardcore. Also the final level is once again another easy breeze for competent players, even without the last Plasmid you can clean out all the Splicers and Alpha Series in Persephone just by sneezing on them. Also the spear gun is almost useless at least for me; I never upgraded that thing. Yet I can't hate this game, on a technical level Bioshock 2 is a good sequel.
While Bioshock 2 is undoubtedly the weakest game in the franchise in terms of narrative I still consider it the most fun to play. I look at Bioshock and Bioshock 2 like how most people look at Alien and Aliens, the first is a ground breaking genre piece that has a wonderful, frightening atmosphere due to how little we know of what we're facing. While Bioshock 2 we know what it is, we know it can bleed and we know how we can kill it! To me Bioshock 2 is moving from horror to action with horror elements. Still fun for me, not the best but I don't care I'm too busy killing Splicers with my big ass drill and making too many Gurren Lagann references to care, especially when the Yuri Lowenthal Spider Splicers show up. "HEY SIMON FOUND YOUR DRILL!!!"
#4 Devil May Cry 3
Now we move on to sequels that everyone can agree is a marked improvement from what came before. Now for how I can across Devil May Cry. I saw the HD collection for PS3 on PSN for 5 bucks which is a fantastic deal so I got it thanks to my brief encounters with Dante in SMT Nocturne, Project X Zone and Viewtiful Joe Red Hot Rumble ( yes I played it shut up). I played the first game thought it was ok, kind of a gothic Japanese God of War. Then came Devil May Cry 2, I hated it, the gameplay was dumbed down, the lock on was horrible, what little personality Dante had in the first game was sucked out and was replaced with a boring female lead whose name I can't even be bothered to look up on Wikipedia. Who also came with a dull clone backstory and a fake sounding accent that when combined came off to me as less of a demon hunter then someone who should be trying to catch Moose and Squirrel for Fearless Leader.
I honestly was starting to have buyers remorse. I thought; "why is it that people like Dante again? What was it that I wasn't seeing?" Then along came from the heavens, Devil May Cry 3 and then IT FUCKING CLICKED!! This was the Dante I was expecting, the snarky; ass kicking; pizza eating demon hunter with a badass sword, beautiful twin pistols and seeing the origin of the famous transformation; the Devil Trigger. On top of that the badass boss fights and new weapons were fun, hard to master and so, so rewarding once you've conquered them.
Now in case you haven't guessed I'm a bit of a Power Rangers fan. So imagine my surprise when I found out that Dan Southworth AKA Eric AKA the Quantum Ranger from Power Rangers Time Force was Dante's brother Virgil? To me the relationships of the two sons of Sparta came across as Inuyasha and Sesshomaru only without all of the bullshit and they're both Half Demons. Now I want to see Sesshomaru and Virgil in a Deathbattle if anything to see that Bi-shi furry get his ass kicked by a real half-demon who's with me? WIZ, BOOMSTICK GET ON THAT SHIT!
Though honestly every time Virgil talked I just couldn't separate Virgil from Eric, it was weird. Aside from that this game hooked me on Devil May Cry and I can't wait to get around to Devil May Cry 4 for PS4 and all of you will get to join me on my first ride. Maybe I'll also give DMC Devil May Cry a shot. I know everyone including Capcom hates that game but maybe I'll just rent it or something, it cannot honestly be worse then Devil May Cry 2. I mean we even have RJ from Jungle Fury as Virgil and you all know how much I liked him so what could go wrong?
#3 Banjo Tooie
This is the best game of my childhood. Ok either this or Donkey Kong 64
Banjo Kazooie was one of my favorite games as a kid. The N64 was my jam and the games were so mind blowingly good I still can't believe it (ok not all of them I did play that Lightspeed Rescue and Rugrats board game thing, I got better.) Back on track Banjo-Tooie took one of my favorite games and cranked it up to 11! New moves, bigger locations, bigger challenges, great music and actual boss battles! We even get to play as Mumbo Jumbo and while he's not as maneuverable and versatile as the bear and bird he can do some freaky tiki room shit, like bringing a Giant Golden statue to life, make the ocean breathable and even bring dead Aliens back to life! Since Mumbo's taking a more active role we get to visit the Shaman Humba Wumba who shows up in every level with a brand new transformation, including a secret one for Kazooie which turns her into a dragon!
Now to this day I still haven't gotten all of the Jiggies (cough Canary Mary cough cough) but I still love this game. It's only a shame what happened to this franchise due to Rare and Microsoft (which is one of the reasons I will never own a Xbox console). I'm just hoping that Yooka-Layle which is made by the people behind Banjo Kazooie which I backed during its original Kickstarter so you'd better believe there's going to be a Lets Play of that game as soon as I can get my claws on it! I mean they know that it has to be good or else everyone who's backed it will cry like an anime fan on prom night! Seriously whoever though that was a good idea for Mighty #9's marketing needs to be fired, out of a cannon, into a dumpster made of flaming racism!
#2 Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door
Long Story short second verse same as the last.
But for more effort Paper Mario TTYD was one of my most favorite games for the Gamecube, right up there with Luigi's Mansion, Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Viewtiful Joe and Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness. Paper Mario TTYD gave us distinct locations, fun memorable characters and a main Villain that wasn't Bowser for the 200th time. When I say distinct locations I mean it, from a monochrome forest to a WWE esq fighting arena in the sky to even an homage to Murder on the Orient Express. My personal favorite level is the aforementioned Glitz Pit and my favorite companion is Vivian the former shadow siren turned ally. Unfortunately much like Banjo-Kazooie the Paper Mario series has seen better days.
Super Paper Mario was ok though going back to the older platforming was a bit odd for me. Sticker Star was the straw that broke my back for me what with you having to go all the way back to get the thing stickers over and over again and I haven't even touched Color Splash since from what I've seen it's much of the same as Sticker Star. So here's hoping we get back to it's true RPG routes with EXP, companions and the whole nine yards.
Now before I tell you what I consider to be the best video game sequel I've played so far here's some honorable mentions.
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment
Now I seriously wanted to put a Persona game on the list but since one of my criteria is that it has to be a direct sequel that isn't part of an anthology so the only direct sequel to a Persona game Eternal Punishment gets the mention.
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
One of the first Gamecube games I got along with Luigi's Mansion; Sonic Adventure 2 gave me my first look at Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow and their high speed gameplay. Along with Tales and Eggman's shooter mech levels and Knuckles and Rouge's treasure hunting segments gave the game great variety.
Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag
After enduring the dullness of Conner Kenway in Assassins Creed 3 we were rewarded with the swashbuckling tale of his Grandfather Edward in Black Flag. They wisely expanded the sailing mechanic that was stared in 3 and also did us all the favor of confirming the death Desmond in the modern day segments.
Megaman X8
X7 was my first Megaman X game (I know I'm surprised I became a Megaman X fan after that too) SO yes the improvements between 7 and 8 are undeniable. From the voice acting actually being good to the improved controls and well holy crap AXL can shoot rapid fire copy bullets instead of one at a time which would take 3 minutes to kill an enemy. This along with the great rock music that the X series is known for makes for a decent game in the X series. (Though we're still waiting for X9 Capcom!)
Batman Arkham Knight
Honestly I would have put this on the list proper for the creative way of including the Joker and finally giving us the Batmobile. But the horrible way the PC version was shat out by Warner Bros cannot be forgiven or forgotten. Though if you want to see this game on a proper list well, next time kiddies.
Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker
My personal favorite Zelda game of all even when it first came out and everybody hated it because it looked "too cartoony" and other such crap. I loved the sailing and breadth of atmosphere granted to me by sailing on the King of Red Lions. The designs of the characters were colorful, vibrant and they all popped. Though this did eventually introduce the Zelda Multiverse due to the different results of Ocarina of Time since this takes place in the universe that Adult Link left behind after sealing Gannondorf. So since it's technically not a direct sequel it doesn't make the list.
BioShock Infinite
Infinite does have a superior story to BioShock 2 and a completely different and intriguing setting in the city of Columbia. We also have one of the best dynamics between Booker and Elizabeth and get a pretty brilliant way of explaining the concept of the Multiverse to people (at least better then Mr Nobody but pretty much on par with Rick and Morty) However the two gun system is stupid and limiting and when we first saw Songbird most of us thought "OH god I can't WAIT to fight that thing" but we don't.
But despite that the ending is still one of the best part of this game and nobody can deny that.
Sly 2 Band of Thieves
This was the game that set the Sly Cooper formula in stone. We got to play as Bentley and Murray as they demonstrated that they're on par with their best pal Sly as the three set out to steal back Clockwerk's body parts. (EW) Though it did tend to overstay its welcome at points such as the multiple levels with Rajan, The Contessa and Jean Bison. What Sly 2 introduced Sly 3 perfected.
God of War 3
YOU LIKE EPIC BOSS BATTLES? You're not getting out of that chair/couch/whatever until you deal with ALL of these boss battles, you slimy little Carbuncle! But before you do check out what I consider to be the best video game sequel ever.
#1 Assassins Creed 2
The first Assassins Creed was fine, the tasks you had to do were repetitive, the assassinations were nothing to write home about but it was perfectly serviceable. The ending did entice me to be hopeful for a sequel. But what I got was not what I expected, its in a word, beautiful. The wonderful setting of Renaissance Italy, the actually recognizable historical figures such as our main man Leonardo and the big bad Rodrigo Borgia. But the best of all is the properly Iconic protagonist Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. Going from the prideful snobbish dickhead Altaïr to the likable charismatic ladies man Ezio helps make this game for me.
I mean which story would you be invested in? A guy fucked up too much and now we have to do Grandpa's dirty-work to get back in his good graces. Or a boy sees his father and brothers killed by a supposed family friend and becomes a man dedicated to not only avenge his family but also save the world from a power mad despot from getting his hands on an ancient artifact by attaining the highest power in the land? Yeah I thought so too. Not only that but we also get much more variety in gameplay, different and better weapons, costume customization, different and exciting missions, meaningful collectables and best of all, TWO HIDDEN BLADES! Do I need to tell you all why that's so cool?
But it's not just Ezio who's likable and memorable in this game. There's the aforementioned Leonardo but we also get the modern day assassins Shawn (who can be a bit of a prick) and Rebecca the tech guru who whips up a much cooler looking and more comfortable looking Animus. Back in the Renaissance we have the mysterious La Volpe, the brazen Bartolomeo, the badass Valkyrie bitch Caterina Sforza and Ezio's mentor Uncle Mario. On that note yes I did laugh at the "IT'S A ME MARIO!" line. Though probably not because I thought it was funny but maybe because it was so stupid I couldn't help but laugh.
Now I know this game isn't flawless. The climbing could be a bit wonky when it came to grabbing on to buildings. Two of the games sequences were held to DLC which I waited until I purchased both of before I finished the game the first time I played it. The money I got ultimately became worthless when I purchased everything in the game. But the biggest flaw was that to get every single weapon in the game you had to slog through Assassins Creed Bloodlines. But despite all of that Assassins Creed 2 to me personifies exactly what a good sequel should be. And if you want to find out for yourself The Ezio Trilogy is remastered for PS4 and Xbox 1 with all their long, pointless micro transaction laden Multiplayer parts all gone.
Bioshock 2 is owned by Take2 interactive, 2K Marin, and 2K Australia. Devil May Cry is owned by Capcom and Hideki Kamiya. Banjo-Tooie is owned by Rareware, Nintendo and Microsoft. Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is owned by Nintendo and Intelligence Systems. Assassins Creed 2 is owned by Ubisoft, Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond and Corey May.
Please be sure to read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.
1996 that's where it all started. Though of course since I'm talking about Pokémon Yellow it's a little bit later than that but that's getting off topic, point is Pokémon; big thing back then big thing now. I've been going through this game on the virtual console in preparation for Pokémon Sun and Moon. FYI planning on getting Sun since my little bro is most likely getting Moon and planning on getting Litten as my starter because I like me some fire kitties and I think my preferred starters need more fire types. So far my preferred starters are Bulbasaur, Cyndaquill, Treeko, Piplup (also haven't beaten a Gen 4 game since they sucked and aside from Ponyta Chimchar was the only other fire type Pokémon until they updated in Platinum, hoping that if they do release an updated version of Diamond and Pearl like they've done with Ruby and Sapphire they keep the Platinum roster) Snivy and Froakie so yeah only one fire type, gonna need to fix that. Anyway in honor of Pokémon's 20th anniversary here's the list of my final Pokémon teams since my resurgence in Pokémon with the release of X and Y. April 30, 2014 was when I beat Pokemon X, my team consisted of a level 70 Greninja, a level 63 Aegislash, a level 64 Snorlax, a level 64 Lapras, a level 66 Xerneas, and a level 68 Charizard not a bad way to start. July 3. 2014 I got into the hall of fame in Pokemon Black 2 Normal mode, my team had a level 62 Emboar, a level 56 Stoutland, a level 56 Magnezone, a level 56 Golduck, a level 56 Zoroark and finally my level 52 Metagross. December 13, 2014 I finally beat Steven in Alpha Sapphire with my team, my roster was a level 55 Warren, my level 51 Latias, my level 55 Kyogre, my level 54 Metagross, my level 55 Dusclops and the Pokémon I've been with since day one, my level 58 Sceptile. Then came January 29th 2016 when I beat Pokemon Black ( at least beat N and Ghetsis) with my Level 52 Reshiram, level 46 Tornados, Level 47 Vaniluxe, Level 44 Scolipede, Level 45 Bouffant, and last but not least my level 52 Samurott. Which leads to my replay of Pokémon Yellow, and let me tell you going back to Gen 1 after all the innovations made in the latest generations made this journey quite the arduous one. My legendary team was my Lv 50 Pikachu, Lv 44 Venusaur, Lv 45 Charizard, Lv 43 Blastoise, Lv 42 Hitmonchan, and Lv 45 Kabutops. Can't wait to get my golden team in Pokémon Sun, now I have some unfinished business in HeartGold where I'll finish what I started years ago. Pokémon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, Ken Sugumori, and Satoshi Tajiri.
