Rant: Downfall of Sonic

Yay, I graduated from TJ about ten days ago. Now I'm no longer a high schooler,  but a bum doing his gap year. I'll be talking about that more on my future posts. But for now, I'm gonna talk about Sonic, one of the most iconic video game characters of our time.

Seriously, who doesn't know who Sonic is? At one point, he stood shoulder to shoulder with other famous video game characters like Pikachu, Mario, and DK. But Sonic, SEGA, and Team Sonic has been going down for a long long time now. Sure, they still produce Sonic games, but they tend to suck. They mostly get horrible ratings by video game reviewers and many gamer alike.  At best, Sonic games will do ok, like Sonic generations, and at worst, Team Sonic will cook up some bullshit like Sonc the Hedgehog 2006, which involved Venice and rescuing a Human Princess named Elise for some reason. Seriously, WHAT HAPPENED? WHY VENICE? WHEN DID SONIC TURN INTO BLOODY MARIO?

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Let's look at Sonic back in his glory days shall we? Back when he was in 2D and the plot didn't involve Venice. Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 was one of the most successful games of the 1990's. It was a fairly simple 2D platformer that simply worked. Despite the 16-bit limitations, the graphics of the game wer amazing for its time, and the Sonic team back then put a lot of effort into this one. It was also a game with great 16-bit music and the blue hedgehog captured the children's hearts. Sonic 1991 remains the best selling Sonic game to this day. The story in this game was pretty much non-existent, but it's still a fine game in my book. With good enough game play, most shortfalls in a game can be overcome. And no story at all is better than a crappy story by my book. (Barring the exception where a game's story is so bad it's good)  Some later Sonic games have story so bad is breaks the 'so bad it's good' barrier by a mile and enters the 'so bad its bad' zone.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?? WHY IS HE HOLDING A SWORD?

WHAT DOES SONIC HAVE IN COMMON WITH KING ARTHUR???? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS??? YOU CAN'T JUST PLACE SONIC EVERYWHERE YOU WANT!! HE'S NOT A KETCHUP!

I actually couldn't find a good picture of Tetsu Kanato, but I assume this is what he looks like. 

The success of 1991 Sonic caused SEGA and the Sonic Team to develop a sequel, creatively named Sonic 2 in 1992. This was another 16-bit game and followed much the same formula as Sonic 1991, but many people still loved the ol' formula and Sonic 2 remains the 2nd best selling Sonic game by SEGA. This game also had some kick ass tunes like the 'Mystic Cave Zone' theme and had creative level designs. Sure, the 2nd player option introduced in this game were much hated by everyone, and this game still lacked a good story, but IT WAS STILL A GOOD GAME.  The release of Sonic 2 was one of the main reasons that Sega caught up to Nintendo in the "console wars". It brought their market share up to 50% within six months of its release. This is the game that made SEGA shoulder to shoulder with the other big cheeses.

HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO SHADOW?? WHYYYYY??

Success of Sonic 2 caused the Sonic Team to make a new game, Sonic 3, in 1994. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, the expasion to Sonic 3, were my personal favorites. It introduced Knuckles the Echidna, and it was the first sonic in which i thought I saw a plot. It still followed much the same formula in terms of gameplay and graphics. But it still had the great level designs and musics as well. The classic fomula in Sonic 1,2 and 3 simply worked. These first 3 games brought Sonic and SEGA to great heights in terms of fame and glory. And Sonic became a hero for many a children. IGN praised the Virtual Console release, giving it a 9 out of 10, and claimed it was the best of the original trilogy of Sonic games for the Sega Genesis, stating "Sonic 1 we called impressive. Sonic 2 we labeled great. Sonic 3, though, is the best of them all – and deservingly earns the highest score of the trilogy." And as much as I hate IGN for whoring themselves out these days, I pretty much agree with what they had to say here.

SCREW YOU, THIS ISN'T A VIDEO! HAHA! But seriously, they really whored themselves here. Was Mass Effect 3  a horrible game, no. But it wasn't a bloody masterpiece either. 

Unfortunately, Sonic 3 was pretty much the peak for Sonic Team in my opinion. Sure, they have had both ups and downs since Sonic 3, but never again would they consistently do well. After Sonic 3, SEGA released titles such as Triple Trouble, Chaotix, and Sonic Blast. These had pretty much the same graphics as the first 3 sonics, but just didn't have much of their magic. They all got mixed reviews and didn't sell very well. SEGA thought that the solution to making a new Sonic blockbuster lay in 3D. And for sometime, they did do well. Sonic Adventures in the SEGA dreamcast were well received by the community. But the steam in the Sonic Team only continued to run out. And ultimately, SEGA tried to solved this problem in the worst way possible, by being hip.

Is this FF7?

It was a game with guns and motorcycles and Shadow, the cool character in Sonic. you gotta understand, people don't play Sonic cause its cool. By taking the 'hip' route, this game dissapointed lot of the old fans.  Sonic is supposed to be a lighthearted game, not grimdark and motorcycle! Copying from wikipedia here,  Critics of 'Shadow the Hedgehog" derided the game's unwelcome sense of maturity for a Sonic series game, especially the addition of guns and other weapons. Game Informer staff writer Matt Helgeson said, "not only is this new 'adult' interpretation of Sonic painfully dumb, it’s also ill-advised and almost feels like a betrayal to longtime fans." Eurogamer staff writer Tom Bramwell felt that "the game's other selling point – its darker edge – [is] not really meant for us." Sonic Team heeded the critics and I don't think they ever tried to make something like Shadow the Hedgehog ever again.

This reminds me of a certain scene in "Dark Knight' for some reason.

However, Team Sonic still sucks. Now, they only stick to 3D platformers, which are supposedly 'hip'. They take the Venice route and... and...GIVE SONIC BLOODY EXCALIBUR INSTEAD OF GUNSSSSS. ARRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH. SEGA makes Sonic olympics and cheap cash-ins to sustain their dying company. Sonic hasn't reached the height it did back in the good old dreamcast era for awhile now, and it is unlikely to ever reach the height it did with the first 3 sonics games ever again.

This is the state that Sonic is pretty much at.

But Sonic isn't dead yet in my opinion, it is something that is still salvageable. The fanbase, while dying, is still alive. Many people like me have mourned the sad fate of Sonic, but long for its revival.  They refuse to make a classic Sonic game. All the Sonic games now have to be hip-cool, and dramatic. It's annoying, because it would be so easy to make a traditional Sonic game, and it wouldn't need a blockbuster budget. However, I think Sonic Generations, released in 2011 could signal a new era for Sonic. One without Venice and Excalibur.

Sonic Generations was a game that celebrated the 20th year anniversary of the release of Sonic 1. It was a game without much story line. It involved the ol' formula of collecting the chaos emeralds and defeating Dr. Eggman. It gave up on being hip with 3d and concentrated on 2d, which i think was the first step in the right direction the Team Sonic has taken in a while. This game combined the old levels that fans loved from the original Sonic trilogy and placed the 'classic' sonic next to the 'new' sonic. This game got great reviews by both fans and critics. Copying from wikipedia again here: PlayStation Official Magazine gave it an 8/10, calling it "a masterpiece of platform game design." GameTrailers gave the game a score of 8.1, calling it "the best Sonic game in over a decade." GamesRadar gave the console version 8/10, calling it "the best Sonic game since Sonic 2" So, if Team Sega can keep the new attention they gained from this game, and continue to please the fans by sticking to what they are good at and try to avoid being 'hip', I think Sonic and SEGA may still rise to the heights they did in the past, and a new generations of kids will love Sonic.

So, here's to a revival of Sonic and SEGA.

Music in Sonic remains the one thing that's consistently great :)

Stay cool during summer

-JC

Rant: The Starvation Games

This has got angry right now. So angry. Angry enough for me to write a post for this blog again. So, prepare yourselves for bad grammar and lots of capitalization.

THIS SHIT IS FRIGGIN' %Q#^(Y#$^TU$#!!!!!

I first heard about Hunger Games last year in my school bus.  I overheard a certain teenager who happened to be female talking about the greatest shit ever, the Hunger Games. My interest was piqued by her exaltation of this work of literature and I asked her about the book and its general plot. Surprisingly enough, this work had been written by Suzanne Collins, who also wrote the Gregor the Overlander series. Now, I bloody loved Gregor the Overlander series. It's no masterpiece by any means, but I had a fun time reading it and loved the characters in the series. It's about this guy who goes to this subterranean world beneath NYC and fulfilling prophecy and shit. Fairly generic, but read it. It is middleschool level book and may be a bit immature, but I swear you'll have a fun time reading it.

Super COORU!!!

So, realizing the book was about children killing each other and finding out that it had been written by a author that I liked, I decided I would give The Hunger Games a try. Here's the story of the book as far as I can tell.

1. Post Apocalyptic U.S. ruled by a brutal regime! --> 2. Rebellion by the 13 districts thats part of the new U.S. --> 3. Rebellion shut down! --> 4. The brutal regime decides to make a show only slight more depressing than Jersey Shore by selecting random kids to kill each other! --> 5. Our protagonist, Fatness is selected with along with some kid named Pita Bread to fight for their right to party in the reality TV show! --> 6. Generic Action and killing --> 7. Some dogs that look like human out of nowhere and a botched up romance between Peta Bread and Fatness that serves no purpose. --> 8. Fatniss and Peta Bread wins! Yay! Tacos for everyone! --> 9. Peta bread loves Fatniss, but Fatniss loves some other kind of baked goods. --> The End.

How does this become a main character?

OK, so this book WASN'T TERRIBLE, but it wasn't good by any means. It scores about average in my book. So I decided that the sequels were not worth reading and just trashed the book. I never expected it to come up ever again in my life. Imagine my shock couple weeks later after watching Zombieland.

It's a good movie.

After watching and loving Zombieland, I decided to hit the wiki page of Woody Harrelson, the guy above, out of curiosity. Under his filmography, I saw Hunger Games under in production. 'No, No, No' I thought, 'there's no way a pile of average crap like that is getting a movie!' I thought. Hunger Games would pop up again when I was taking the SAT.

I wonder how much money they made off of this. At least 100 million bucks

I was in Chantilly High School when I was taking my SAT last september. AND ALL AROUND THE SCHOOL THE SIGNS WERE TELLING ME TO READ HUNGER GAMES!!!! Apparently, its the book of choice for those CHS kids who can't read jackshit. FOR GOODNESS SAKES, EVEN NARTUO HAS A BETTER PLOT THAN HUNGER GAMES AND NARUTO IS ABOUT A ORANGE NINJA!!! I was pissed at the fact that a book like hunger games got so much recognized and fame while other better works get stuck in the dust. I lost all respect for CHS that day.

Screw them.

And now, there's a movie out and it's earning shit ton of money. Now, I have watched bits of that movie and heard reviews. They all agree that its is just about average. I don't care about the fact that Hunger Games kinda ripped of Battle Royale (which is a better move btw). But I really hate the fact that something so average got a movie deal while better works get stuck in the dust. Whatevs I guess. I just hope they don't make the sequel to this book into a movie as well, but they probably will. To chill off after raging, I think I'm gonna listen to this music piece.

It's the best game franchise ever. Better than Mass Effect.

So, I guess I'm just tired tonight and just can't rage as much as I used to. But no worries, I'll continue this blog from now on. You can expect better and more poor grammar and capitalizations in the future. Adios amigos.

-JC

I haven't updated this place in like forever.

Heck. I'm busy.
I'll start updating next week when the midterms are done.
For now, listen to this awesome song.

'Tis Awesome.

An announcement of sorts

I'm bored.

If someone requests me to write some sort of a story and tells me the basic premise. I will JC-fy it, write couple chapters, and post it on the blog.

Rant: Alone

GODDANG IT. SOMEONE INVITE ME TO A LAN.

Rant: On Solitude (An idiotic free verse poem)

I have been abandoned.

I am all alone.

I am all alone and there's no one in sight.

I am all alone and the darkness surrounds me.

I am all alone and the light has been forgotten.

I am all alone and the abyss is gazing onto me.

I am all alone and I hear the voice in the darkness.

I am all alone and madness whispers into my ears.

I am all alone and I am afraid.

I am all alone.

And there's no one left.

And then I begin to get pissed off.

How dare they think that they can do this to me,

The one above them all, the superior one.

My arrogance and rage triumph over fear and sorrow.

And I drive myself out of the darkness,

By flames of hatred.

Sure, it ain't the right way.

But its a way all the same.

In a very Poetic mood today, but lacks the skill to write. Frig me...
~JC

Rant: Spending a lazy night.

Well, I'm tired of watching animes right now, and I can't play games due to the fact that I don't know when my parents will barge into my room and start shouting at me about how dumb I am. So, I decided that I will add another post to my epic blog. BE HUMBLED MY SUBJECTS!

KNEEL BEFORE JC!

So, why am I writing this blog? I could study or do some homework if I wanted to, but I am here bullshiting another article and being lazy. Actually, I think procrastinating is one of my biggest faults. I know that if I do study, then I will get better grades and be happier by far in the long run. But seriously, the deferred gratification has never really appealed to me. Everyone says that delayed gratification is better than immediate gratification, but why? Why is living in the present such a bad thing? I'm fairly certain the Henry Thoreau once said in The Walden to "Question the shit out of everything because I am a hipster.", and who am I to argue with Thoreau?

Huh... He's not as impressive as I thought he would be. WAIT! HIS HAIRSTYLE!

It looks SOMEWHAT like Adrien Brody! Actually it doesn't, but I just love this guy so much.

My dad, and my friends who take psychology, told me that there was this experiment by some hipsters at Stanford. Apparently, they got bunch of kids into one room, gave each of them a candy. Now, when the hipsters were giving out candy, they told the kids that if they waited 1 hour without eating the candy, that they would all get another piece of candy. Now, after one hour, almost no kids had prevented themselves from eating their candy. AND APPARENTLY, the kids who didn't eat their candy became great chiropractors or something. So, my dad tells me the kids who enjoy delayed gratifications are better than idiots like me.

I'm offensive and I find this Asian.

The first thing that amazes me is that the kids trapped in a single room were able to stay alive without adult supervision for an hour. The second thing that amazes me is the concept that kids who enjoy delayed gratification become more successful than kids who don't. Now, I wanna ask here WHY. Of course, my dad would say that's because the kids who are insane studied instead of playing League of Legends, thereby getting the deferred gratification of going to MIT or some other great school near the Boston area. So let's say that I play League of Legends and watch anime for 4 years and go to VT or something, and kids who studied all those years get to go to MIT or something. Now, I would prefer to go to MIT or something over VT, and kids who did sacrifice their time get to enjoy a much greater pleasure than I do. But, during the 4 years of high school, did I not get to enjoy a free and pleasurable life while the kids who studied straight was basically torturing themselves? Does not my pleasure for 4 years balance out the deferred gratification? Now, I would have to say that it doesn't balance out. The kids who get the deferred gratification do get much more benefit than I did from bullshitting around for 4 years. Heck, some kids even enjoy studying (Dam masochists...), and going to MIT will net you higher pay, better job, and the ability to brag about your alma mater.

It's almost scary to see those kind of people.

So, why do I do it? I know that going to better college is the better option, so why do I still laze around every day? The truth is, I don't bloody know. All I know is that right now, reading manga or playing games is much more enjoyable than a potential prospect of something good. Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, I constantly struggle over instant and assured gratification and delayed and unassured gratification. Jesus, I wish that I could choose to study and delay my gratification. I truly do, but I almost always end up bullshiting until the last moment. And sometimes, that last minute productivity isn't enough, and I end up embarrassed and ashamed.

I lost both my kidneys, my children hate me, and worst of all, I lost a ranked match in League of  Legends.

Sigh, I should be doing work right now I suppose.

Wow, this post took a sad turn at the end...

Stay productive...

JC