Sequence Breaking is fun!

     Ah sequence breaking, for those that aren't familiar with the term it essentially means going through a game out of order.  A classic example of this is Super Metroid where Samus can wall jump on one wall so you can get many power ups and access areas earlier than you should.  Can sequence breaking be done with more modern games?  I have seen it done in Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess but mostly more modern games are programed better so the player can't play outside of the rules.  I want to talk about sequence breaking in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep on the PSP.

     In this game you can sequence break and get abilities that you either can't get on your first play through a world or that you can't get altogether.  The way to do it is very simple, with any character (Ventus, Aqua, Terra) equip Sliding Dash.  Sliding Dash lets you race across the screen in the direction that you're facing.  Equipping two or three of these allows you to do multiple long range air dashes.  This also makes some platforming parts of the game easier.  Like collecting the parts of Cinderella's dress as Ventus.  It also makes navigating the confusing mouse-hole area a bit easier.  It allows you to pick up the Tornado Strike ability easily in Maleficent's castle.  The best ability that it helps you get is Superglide.  Superglide can only be gotten by Terra (I believe) because he gets the glide ability in his storyline.

     To do this you must go to Disney Town and you can do this as soon as you can access Disney Town.  Go through the sewers and you'll see a generator, hit it with a few thunder attacks to activate the platforms.  Make your way up to Pete's Playroom and use the pinball table to put you back in the raceway area.  You'll see a chest way on the other side of the screen, that's your destination.  Defeat the enemies and don't fall.  Jump on the crates and face the chest.  Jump up as high as you can and move forward, use sliding dash twice towards the chest and you'll make it.  In the chest is superglide, have fun!

Kefka Palazzo the Pixelated Psychopath (WARNING: LONG)

In 1994 Final Fantasy VI (commonly abbreviated FFVI) was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was a role playing game (RPG) in which you played as multiple characters to save the world from being enslaved by a self-proclaimed god of magic. Final Fantasy VI was one of the first video games to tell a compelling narrative. Every character has a story arc and overall the game has excellent writing. What is truly intriguing about the game is the main villain, Kefka Palazzo. Kefka is one of the most interesting villains to come out of the medium of video games. He most likely has anti-social personality disorder (APD) which is defined by DSM IV as “failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.” and “lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing.” (DSM IV) Kefka’s actions through the course of the game make him a walking example of APD but not much is actually known about him. He is given next to no backstory giving his psychopathic behavior mysterious origins. Kefka is a fascinating, fearsome villain who is absolutely compelling throughout the game.

Anti-social personality disorder (APD) was once referred to as psychopathic personality disorder. It is a personality disorder that is very scary because people who have it are often unaware that they have it. Martha Stout (PHD) author of The Sociopath Next Door gives an example of Skip, a sociopath who manipulated his way to the top of a big business. The author describes that Skip had these behavioral tendencies from a young age. When he was younger, the only satisfaction he would get in his otherwise boring life was killing frogs. He started stabbing them with scissors and eventually went on to blowing them up with fireworks. He was discovered by his sister Claire who tried to tell their mother whose only response was to “turn the record player up as loud as it would go’ (Stout 39). This shows one of two things as the author doesn’t go into any more detail about the mother’s response. One, the mother sees Skip as a model child who would never do something like blow up frogs. Two, the mother is flat out ignoring her daughter. Either way, her response was not helpful and allowed Skip to become “super Skip” (Stout 39). Skip’s behavior starts out mild and begins to escalate to the point where he can manipulate people to his will. Kefka’s behavior, unlike Skip, starts out extreme and only gets more extreme as the game progresses.

The plot of Final Fantasy VI is relatively complicated. It opens with a young woman named Terra under mind control by the empire, currently lead by Emeror Gestahl. Terra is forced to find what is called an esper so the empire can harness its power rule the world. After finding the esper, she connects with it somehow and it sends her into a cave where she is rescued by the next main character Locke. Locke and Terra travel to the desert castle of Figaro to meet Edgar, king of Figaro. This is where we get our first introduction to Kefka. The first thing that is apparent about Kefka is that he thinks very highly of himself. His position in the empire is that of court mage, in other words, he is a jester, a clown; which explains his appearance for the first half of the game. He is accompanied by a couple of soldiers and he is all too quick to abuse the first bit of power that he has. Kefka utters a very over the top line “there is sand in my boots!” (Final Fantasy VI, Nintendo) showing that from the beginning he is very power-hungry. A better example is when he arrives at Figaro; his mission is to retrieve Terra and bring her back to the empire. When Edgar refuses, Kefka does the only logical thing in his mind, burn the castle down. This is an example of “reckless disregard for safety of self or others” as stated by DSM IV diagnosis criteria. Terra, Edgar, and Locke escape and continue on their way.

The game progresses and we’re introduced to Sabin, brother of Edgar. The group goes back to the hideout of the Returners, a resistance group to fight back against the empire. After the Returners recruit Terra, the characters split into three different scenarios before regrouping at Narshe, where the story began. In one scenario we get a scene that shows Kefka’s lack of mercy and disregard for authority. Sabin, after being pulled by the river after a previous boss battle meets a ninja named Shadow, the two of them sneak into a camp for the empire. There we see Kefka talking with a man named General Leo. Although Leo is a part of the empire, it is very clear that he has morals as he wants to win the war with as few casualties as possible. Kefka’s response is “We needn’t show mercy to those who side with the Returners. …Which is good, because I never seem to have any of the stuff.” (FFVI) It’s interesting that he acknowledges the fact that he has no mercy but he isn’t bothered by it. General Leo leaves Kefka in charge of leading an attack against Doma (a nearby kingdom). He trusts that Kefka will complete the attack without killing many people. As soon as General Leo leaves, he ignores Leo’s instructions and poison’s the kingdom of Doma. After arguing with a soldier he says this: “Idiot! Read my lips—mercy is for wimps! There’s a reason ‘oppose’ rhymes with ‘dispose’… If they get in your way, kill them! March!” (FFVI) Kefka believes that mercy is for wimps and if he shows any sort of mercy it would undermine his power. This also shows that he is irresponsible because as soon as Leo left he turned his back on him. Kefka also derives immense amounts of satisfaction from mass murder as he says this while poisoning the water supply of Doma “Hee-hee… Nothing beats the sweet music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison! Uwee-hee-hee!” (FFVI) What this tells us about Kefka’s character is that the only pleasure he gets in his life is causing others pain.

In a flashback at the beginning of the game, it is revealed that Terra was being used as a weapon by the empire to attack the world of espers. Espers are creatures that live in a world separate to the regular world. The empire wants to capture the espers and use their power to take over the world. In this flashback, Terra is wearing the slave-crown from the beginning of the game and Kefka says “my sweet little magic user… Uwee-hee-hee! With this slave crown, you’ll be all mine!” I’m aware that this game was directed at the rated ‘E’ audience (10 and up) but that quote has some unfortunate connotations. In the context of the story, Kefka and the empire was using Terra as a weapon to cause destruction with her magical power. However, saying ‘you’ll be all mine’ adds a different side to it. It isn’t said explicitly but it can be implied that Kefka was sexually abusing her. If not, that quote literally states that Kefka views Terra (a woman) as an object. This shows that he has power over her and can manipulate her to his whim. It also shows that he is misogynistic and has no respect for people, especially women. According to DSM V diagnosis of APD he will try to “…seek power over others and will manipulate, exploit, deceive, con, or otherwise take advantage, in order to inflict harm or to achieve their goals.” (DSM V) What are Kefka's goals? As Martha Stout stated in her book, the goal of any psychopath is “to win” (Stout 45), and Kefka does.

Halfway through the game, Kefka and Gestahl go to a place called the Floating Continent. There, they release a force called the Warring Triad. Up until this point, Kefka and Gestahl had more or less been working together. Kefka had made it perfectly clear that he was going to betray Gestahl when he had the chance. Upon releasing the Warring Triad Gestahl realizes that they've gone one step too far. Kefka, only wanting to win kills Gestahl and the Warring Triad is released on the world. The power is so great that it kills two-thirds of the world's population because it caused the continents to rearrange. Still not satisfied with eliminating a majority of the world, Kefka takes his place at the top of his tower ascending into godhood.

It's at this point that it becomes clear that in addition to exhibiting extreme anti-social tendencies, Kefka has developed a god complex. He has already won but he insists that he can advance further. The god complex is commonly associated with narcissistic personality disorder. According to the A.D.A.M medical encyclopedia, people with narcissistic personality disorder often “pursue mainly selfish goals” (A.D.A.M 2011). Before the lengthy final fight against Kefka, Terra tries to convince him that he is in the wrong. Kefka gives a perfect example of how he has no understanding of humanity. He states his own philosophy behind his madness:

“And time will destroy all of those as well. Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed? Why do people cling to life, knowing that they must someday die? ...Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do?" (FFVI)

This shows that he has no understanding of the joys of life. He has a morbid 'we only live to die' philosophy and in a way it's sad. Despite killing thousands of people, and taking over the world, he is almost a sympathetic character at this point. The highly symbolic battle begins as Kefka's psyche begins to crumble.

The final battle is a tiered fight consisting of fighting multiple forms before reaching Kefka himself the full image of the boss can be found here. The theme entitled Dancing Mad plays during the final fight and also adds some insight to his character. The first part of the tier is an overly muscular thing named Visage. Since Visage means someone's facial expression, the expression on this thing is demonic and angry. If anything it is a visage of madness, it shows all of Kefka's pent up rage. The first part of Dancing Mad is an orchestral piece that reflects presence of this creature, and is almost peaceful in contrast to its menacing appearance.

The second part of the fight is against four different parts named Tiger, Machine, Magic, and Power. In this tier there is a tiger's head (Tiger), a a man on top of the tiger's head (Power or Magic), intertwined with something mechanical (Machine), with a second man in the back (Power or Magic). Two other images on this tier are two crucified people, a man and a woman. With Kefka literally being a God at this point, it could be some sort of religious reference. The imagery is disturbing, and I think that each image offers a deeper look into his psyche. The tiger head is a powerful symbol of Kefka's constant anger, and aggresion throughout the story. It matches another part of the DSM IV diagnosis indicating “irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults.” (DSM IV). The main characters fight Kefka about five times before the final confrontation, Kefka being extremely violent, was often the one to start those fights. In these fights, he would often run away or have someone else fight you. Despite being incredibly violent, he was also a coward.

The third part of the fight is against Lady and Rest. Lady is simply the top half of a woman on what appears to a pinnacle of some sort. Rest is depicted as another man without a shirt in a relaxed position. This shows Kefka's misogynistic side as Lady is depicted without clothes. Her hair covers her breasts but there being only half of her implies that Kefka values women as objects, more specifially only their breasts and heads. Rest is depicted wearing a long robe and being a muscular, more handsome version of Kefka. From a Freudian stand-point, Lady could be Kefka's mother. Having only the top half of lady would indicate that Kefka has an oral fixation. Kefka sees himself as being more handsome than he actually is. Throughout the game, he wears clown makeup because he was the jester for the empire. However, he never takes it off and remains clown-like until his transformation at the end of the game. Freud would describe Kefka's behavior as an “oral aggressive personality” (Changingminds.org) according to his psychosexual stage theory. Kefka often subjects others to extreme verbal abuse, he never bites anyone but he says “Die!!!” (FFVI) with a chilling amount of sadism. The fact that Kefka kept the clown makeup on for a majority of the game is an indication that he has a negative self image. All of the tiers of the final fight depicted Kefka as he would like to be seen. In the game he is a scrawny mage with a copious amount of makeup and everyone around him finds him despicable. All of the tiers show a different version of Kefka, the first showing a muscular, menacing version. The second showing a powerful, confident version, and the third showing a relaxed sexual version. The reality is, this isn't who Kefka is, this is how he'd like himself to be, and how he'd like the world to be.

This is especially clear in the finale of the game where it is chillingly clear that Kefka wants to shape the world in his image. Kefka has literally ascended into godhood at this point and utters a chilling yet sorrowful quote: “Life... Dreams... Hope...Where do they come from? And where do they go...? Such meaningless things... I'll destroy them all!” (FFVI). It is made perfectly clear that Kefka has no understanding of anything that makes people human. He has no understanding of love. His appearance is that of a giant purple muscular angel with multiple wings. The background almost looks like heaven, further showing that Kefka actually is a god. In a way, he has overcome his god complex from earlier. As Martha Stout stated earlier, the goal of all psychopaths is “to win” (45). Now that Kefka has won I think he understands that it is lonely at the top. He wants to be the only being that exists in the whole world. In the course of the battle I think he realizes that he is wrong and misguided. The battle isn't particularly challenging, in fact it's so easy he almost forfits. He dies without a final speech indicating that he possibly understands himself. He acknowledges his own mental unhealthiness but all too late. The world is saved, and after a resolution, Final Fantasy VI closes.

Final Fantasy VI is one of very few early video games with a truly engrossing plot. It is made better because of the excellent, fascinating villain of Kefka. His story arc is almost like a cycle of mental health treatment. Most people with APD will not acknowledge that they have it. That makes them difficult to treat. Kefka begins the story as a lowly mage with a small amount of power but steadily gains more power and only abuses it. He kills thousands of people, develops a god complex, and tries shaping the world in his image. It isn't until the very end that he recognizes the error of his ways acknowledging that he is truly sick. Earlier in the game, he acknowledged that he had no mercy but did not seem to be bothered by it. It isn't until he goes through his entire story arc that he would want to seek treatment. Kefka is one of the greatest villains to grace the medium of video games. He is a perfect example of how a well written character can be deep, scary, and twisted.

References

1. Final Fantasy VI [Computer Software]. (1994). Nintendo USA.
2. Stout, Martha (2005). The Sociopath Next Door. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.
3. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
4. American Psychiatric Association. (2011, June). General Diagnosis for Personality Disorder. Retreived from http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Diagnostic%20Criteria%20for%20Personality%20Disorder%20(Comparison%20of%20DSM-IV%20DSM-5%20old%20DSM-5%20new.pdf
5. (2010, April) A.D.A.M Medical Encyclopedia. Retreived from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001930/
6. Freud's Psychosexual Stage Theory. Retreived from: http://changingminds.org/explanations/learning/freud_stage.htm
7. Final Fantasy VI Final Boss Image. Retreived from: http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/d/de/FFVI-lastboss_us.gif

Bibliography

(2010, April) A.D.A.M Medical Encyclopedia. Retreived from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001930/

American Psychiatric Association. (2011, June). General Diagnosis for Personality Disorder. Retreived from http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Diagnostic%20Criteria %20for%20Personality%20Disorder%20(Comparison%20of%20DSM-IV%20DSM- 5%20old%20DSM-5%20new.pdf

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Final Fantasy VI [Computer Software]. (1994). Nintendo USA.

Final Fantasy VI Final Boss Image. Retreived from: http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/d/de/FFVI-lastboss_us.gif

Freud's Psychosexual Stage Theory. Retreived from: http://changingminds.org/explanations/learning/freud_stage.htm

Freud, Sigmund (1961). Beyond the Pleasure Principle. New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company

Stout, Martha (2005). The Sociopath Next Door. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.

Megaman Battle Network 3

     The third game of the series is definitely it's peak.  I'll be honest, almost everything is perfect!  It isn't my favorite because some of the things introduced in this game make it hard to collect everything.  These are just some minor complaints.  Returning is Dr. Wily who wants to take over the world [OF COURSE!], nothing special there.  I like the second game better because you could take the villains seriously, in this game the things the villains do is kind of downplayed.  I'll admit some of the scenarios are a bit more frightening but they don't actually kill anyone.  I'm not here to talk about the plot of a GBA game a lot of people have forgotten about!  This is also the first game to come out in two versions, white and blue.  There is really no difference between them aside from some palette swaps, some chips, and bosses.  In that regard Blue is the better version, it has more bosses (1 more), and better version exclusive chips.

     This game decides to completely revamp the formula of the previous games.  Intact is the basic combat system, you select chips to attack, match up the same codes, make program advances, kill things!  If it isn't broken, don't fix it.  New to this game is chip classification, there's standard, mega, and giga.  Mega chips were in the last game but were only navi chips that you got from bosses.  This time mega chips are bosses and attacks/support chips that are better than average you can only have 5 of them in your folder (usually).  Giga chips are the most powerful chips in the game and you can only have 1 in your folder, there are 5 of them in the entire game.  Brand new to this game is the Navi Customizer.  This allows you to well customize Megaman!  This puts a brand new emphasis on the RPG element of the series which was downplayed up until this point.  The way the customizer works is there is a grid and on the grid you place programs, there are some rules to it but there is a tutorial.  The customizer can do a lot of things like give Megaman more HP, increase the stats of the megabuster, allow you to use more mega chips, and more!  This is a welcomed addition to the series but in this game it can be a bit obnoxious (more on that later).

     In the game there are several instances where you need to install a program into your customizer to advance in the game.  Only problem is you likely don't want them there so every few minutes you're putting them in and taking them out.  I don't mind one program like this, but three is a little overkill.  Granted you need the second and third one for very short spurts but it's still annoying.

     Returning to this game is the style change and it also got a massive revamp.  In the second game this was present and it made some very minor changes and there wasn't much emphasis on it.  In this game, there are many more styles to choose from!  There is custom, team, shield, shadow, and bug.  What is unique is how you get the styles.  By meeting certain requirements in battle influences the style you get.  I won't go into great detail but team style allows you to use more mega chips, custom style allows you to choose more chips in the battle menu, shield gives you various defense upgrades, shadow allows you to essentially be a ninja, and bug causes in-battle glitches (good and bad).  The style change is awesome because it levels up depending on how many battles you fight.  Each time it levels up you get a new program for your navi customizer.  The style change is a double edged sword, I will explain.  In the game if you want to get everything (and you do to access the post-game) you need custom style to get secret chips from viruses.  Fair enough.  BUT in order to get version 4 chips from bosses by killing them in 20 seconds or less, you need team style.  No problem, you can keep two styles right?  WRONG.  This is the one fatal flaw of the whole system.  If you want to collect everything, this shoots you in the foot.  You might be thinking, how long does it take to get a style change?  You get one once every 125 battles.  That is a royal pain if you need to switch between them.  This is perhaps the game's only real negative point.

     Once again the highlight is the bosses.  This time around there are too many bosses to list!  This game has a ton of bosses!  That makes it all the more awesome.  The bosses do a fantastic job of matching the difficulty curve.  Fair warning, this game does have a rather steep difficulty curve.  All the bosses are relatively difficult and frustrating in their own right.  Once again they are redesigns of the classic Megman bosses and they look pretty cool.  Even Bubbleman is in this game and he is hilarious and incredibly difficult the first time you fight him...

     My favorite part once again is the post-game.  You know how I said the second game had a huge post-game?  This one is exponentially larger!  I'll just list a few things, the secret area, the job board, version 3 bosses, secret bosses, virus breeding, time trials, and BASS.  HOLY CRAP THAT IS A LOT.  So much that in my most recent playthrough I am hellbent on doing all of this and I am still busy!  I won't spoil anything about the post-game but of all of the games in the series, this one has the best post-game by far.  I highly recommend this game as a starting point because it has everything that is great about the series in one game.  Purely on opinion, this is my second favorite in the series because the villains are really toned down.  Also the chip classification system makes it near-impossible to form game-breaking combos.  Overall this game is fantastic, give it a shot.

Megaman Battle Network 2

     Starting with the second game, the series got miles better.  The second game being my personal favorite.  The gameplay introduced in the first game is mostly intact.  Move around your 3 by 3 area, use battlechips, kill the enemy.  This takes that and improves it threefold.  First, the combat is faster and much more stylish.  There is an emphasis on what are called Program Advances.  Meaning you take 3, sometimes 4 or more battlechips in a certain order, and they make a combo attack.  For instance, combining sword, widesword, and longsword makes the program advance called Lifesword.  It's a sword with an extended range that does 400 damage.  Next they introduced the * code.  The * code means that that battle chip can be used with anything.  You can pick out some J coded chips and a * coded chip and use them all at once.  The game even improved on the plot (which I will get into) and my favorite aspect of the series, the postgame.

     The plot this time around is really dark and kind of grim.  It focuses on a criminal organization called Gospel and their plan to create a 'suprnavi' (*spoiler* that would be Bass).  To do this they need certain programs located throughout world.  Here's the thing that makes the plot dark, they are legitimately evil!  They kill people, a lot of people, and when they're not doing that they're putting people in serious risk.  Here's a brief rundown of what they do, blow up a subway station, try to crash a plane, infiltrate a secret Net-Police meeting and kill half of them, attempt to gas an 8 year-old, overthrow a country's net-government, the list goes on!  Gospel is legitimately intimidating but the payoff at the end of the game where you learn about the leader is meh.

     The villains this time around are Airman (Megaman 2), Quickman (MM2), Cutman (MM1), Shadowman (MM3), Knightman (MM6), Magnetman (MM3), and Freezeman (MM7).  As for optional encounters (secret bosses included) there is Gutsman (MM1), Toadman (MM4), Gateman (original), Thunderman (also original), Snakeman (MM3), Heatman (MM2), Protoman (various), Pharohman (MM4), Napalman (MM5), and Planetman (original but stupid).  Once again the bosses are the highlight because there are some unique gimmicks.  When you fight Toadman, he stands on lily pads that travel across his end of the battlefield.  Against Cutman, there is a gigantic boulder in the middle of your battlefield forcing you to go around in a circle.  Lastly, Knightman is invincible unless he changes color.  The bosses are really fun if a bit easy (if you know what you're doing).

     The difficulty for this game is definitely there, Airman (first boss) is piss easy but after him it gets more and more challenging.  Quickman is incredibly difficult the first time you fight him, as is Shadowman.  The game has kind of a difficulty spike part way through but it's relatively easy all the way through, even the final boss is easy.  It's a lot harder than the first one because this time the bosses have a lot of hp and they do a lot of damage!  This is a good thing.

     What this game has over all of the others (except maybe the third one), is an expansive postgame.  The first game had a postgame but there wasn't much to it.  This game has a gigantic postgame.  In the course of the story you get licenses that admit you to different parts of the game to progress the plot.  You only get two of them and there are 6 in total.  You can go after the rest of them and doing so allows you to access some of the harder areas in the game.  In this game there is an area called the Undernet, for plot purposes you only need to 3 or 4 areas of it, there are 8 areas of this place.  After beating the game you can get access to Undernet 7 and 8 and even the secret WWW area.  That is where the secret bosses Napalman, Pharohman, and Planetman lie.  The game definitely keeps you busy with the postgame because there is a lot to do.  I highly recommend this game, it's not the best in the series but it is my favorite.

Megaman Battle Network

     This series did not start out well.  The first is arguably the worst of the 6 games (yeah there are 6!).  It at least introduces the aspects that made the series good (although it isn't the first one I played).  You play as Lan (bad pun, I know) with his net navi (navigator), Megaman.  The first thing that I like about the series is the setting.  It's set in the near(ish) future, keeping with Megaman fashion, it never pins down a year (ie 20XX).  In this future the internet is accessed with net navigators, or navis and the internet is a place that you physically explore and you can fight viruses and other enemies.  Lan lives in ACDC town (another bad pun) with his mother, father, and his friends; Dex, Mayl, and Yai.  The objective of the game is to follow the plot and stop the evil Dr. Wily from launching the Life Virus which would shut down the entire internet (somehow).  So the plot is pretty half assed.

     What is interesting to note about this game in particular is that there was a manga (Megaman NT Warrior) that accompanied it.  The manga is actually really good, I only own the first two issues and they cover the events of the first game and start into the second game.  My only guess is it got discontinued because I've never been able to find it again.  There was also a TV show that went alongside with the games but wasn't really in canon with them.

     The gameplay is where it truly excels, it's a mix between action, strategy, and rpg (the latter will become apparent in later installments).  The game opens with you in your house and your parents call you to fight off a virus that's in the fridge (I think).  One other thing to note is that in this future EVERYTHING is run by computers and that relates to exploration which I'll get into later.  You jack into the fridge, meaning you send Megaman in there) to fight the virus.  There you meet the most basic enemies in the game, Metools/Mettaurs!  Yep a classic Megaman enemy is in this game and there are many more to come.  In the fight you're introduced to the controls.  Every fight in the game takes place on a 3 by 6 grid.  It is broken in half, a 3 by 3 area is yours (indicated by blue) and the other 3 by 3 area is the enemies (indicated by red).  You get a menu with your selection of battlechips (weapons).  You can select any chip of the same code for instance you can get a widesword C and a timebomb C.  Or you can select two or more of the same chip.  In battle you can move around your 3 by 3 area and use selected chips with the A button.  You use your megabuster with the B button, it does crap damage but it is upgradable to do decent damage.  Your objective in each battle you get in is to delete the enemy as fast as possible.

     It's the 'as fast as possible' part where the fun comes in.  There's something really satisfying about destroying enemies in less than a second.  Depending on how fast you kill an enemy you get a ranking from 1 to S.  Based on your ranking you might get a new battle chip.  This is what I really like about the series.  The basic premise of the Megaman series was beat the bad guy, take his power.  This is the same thing taken to the nth degree.  You can get battle chips from EVERY SINGLE ENEMY IN THE GAME, INCLUDING BOSSES (you can actually get 3 different ones from bosses).

     The basic flow of the game is to run around following the plot.  You can use the R button to jack into different places.  This is the exploration part of the game, you never know what you can jack into.  Sometimes it might be a TV, or in some instances a tree!   The areas inside TV's and such are just large squares where you can encounter viruses (sometimes unique ones) and you can often find items.  You can use the L button to talk to Megaman when in the real world so you never really get lost.  Another high point of the game is the bosses.  What this series does well is it takes bosses from the original series and reimagines them.  In this game we have Fireman (Megaman 1), Iceman (Megaman 1), Colorman (original for this game I think), Stoneman (???), Elecman (Megman 1), Bombman (Megaman 1), Magicman (don't know), and Bass (various installments) for the villains.  As far as people you can challenge to net battles (that's what they call it) we have Gutsman (Megaman 1), Skullman (Megaman 4), Woodman (Megman 2), Sharkman (original for this game I think), and Protoman/Blues (Megaman 3 and on).  There are two secret bosses, Pharohman (Megaman 4) and Shadowman (Megman 3).  A boss battle consists of dodging attacks, landing your own and depleting their hp before they kill you.  Straightforward really.

     I want to talk about the negative aspects of the game first, it's piss easy.  Bosses barely have any hp and if you have strong enough attacks you can kill them before they have a chance to attack.  Second, the area design is awful, absolutely horrendous.  It's designed in such a way that there are no definitive areas, it all looks the same.  There's no indication that you are going where you need to go, in other games if you pause it, it tells you that you're in Den Area 2 or whatever.  Not this one.  When I played through this game, I had to pull up a map online to figure out where I was going, you shouldn't have to do that!  One other thing, when ever you get into a boss 'scenario', the part of the game where the boss shows up, you have to go into some computer and stop them or whatever, is awful.  Fireman's scenario is okay and Stoneman is tolerable but once you get to Iceman, that's when it becomes unbearable.  In other games when you get to the boss area, you go through 3 or 4, on rare occasions, 5 areas to get to the boss, following whatever the gimmick is.  In this game, starting with Iceman, each boss area is 5-7 areas long.  5-7 long areas.  Sometimes you have to go through more than once!  The gimmicks usually consist of puzzles, for Fireman you have to put out fires with an ice program that has limited uses.  For Iceman you have to slide on ice, melt it, and figure out where the hell you're supposed to go.  For Colorman (I like this one) you go through various short areas flipping switches to turn on paths to get to the switch at the end.  For Elecman (holds back rage) you explore vast areas trying to collect batteries to put in a certain order to light the path forward.  Sound fun?  It isn't.  Of course that's the puzzle they reuse in the final area of the game.  What really makes this game unenjoyable is how slow it feels.  Especially if you use a navi chip (an attack you get from a boss) it takes a full 10-15 seconds to do the animation.  This game is the worst installment in the series but it gets better, boy does it get better.

Megaman Battle Network Series Retrospective

     Since I can't seem to focus on one thing for more than five minutes I want to talk about a series that got me through middle school.  The Megaman Battle Network series, Megman spinoffs are notoriously bad.  From the decent but at times unfairly difficult Zero series to the Starforce series on the DS.  The Starforce series, while having a more involved plot but simplistic gameplay makes the games piss easy. It is essentially the Battle Network series in 3D but it doesn't work.  That's not what I'm going to talk about, I want to talk about the Battle Network series, all 6 of them.  It's a series that I enjoy greatly and most of the games are worth checking out.  MOST of them.  Stay tuned (I'm continuing to assume that someone out there somewhere actually reads this) for overviews of all 6 games.

Everfree NW Day 3, The CMC'S!

     Day 3 was rather simple because we only did a couple of things.  We got some things autographed, I got my Fluttershy autographed by Andrea Libman!  After that, we saw the CMC panel which was great and of course Liam asked another great question (slipped my mind what he asked).  Since Sunday was a short day (I went home after the CMC panel) I don't have a lot to say.  In the 24 hr. gaming area we played some super smash bros and a bunch of people were playing MLP karaoke (that's a thing now) and it was really entertaining.  All in all this was the single greatest con I've ever been to (ignore the fact that it was my second con :/).  Great job to all the staff, thank you all who attended and all who made it what it is.  I look forward to more Everfree and to all bronies reading this, we're awesome!  To those that didn't know, there was an auction held at Everfree to raise money for children's hospital, the auction raised over 13000 dollars!  Bronies, give yourselves a round of applause!  If you donated, give yourselves two rounds of applause!  Till next time everypony, I'll go back to writing random crap about video games.

Everfree NW Day 2, Panels!

     After passing out at 2am from ponying it up all night, we woke up at 6am and got breakfast.  I was so exhausted I drank 3 cups of coffee to keep me going.  One thing I forgot to mention in the last post was the single greatest musical moment I've seen in my life.  Mic the Microphone doing an impromptu performance of Don't Stop Believing by Journey.  Yes, that happened and it was amazing!  Back on topic, this was the day we saw the VA panel.  We got up to the 12th floor at about 9:00 to see if we could get in but we were asked to leave so we don't recreate Pony Hell.  However, we got our names on a list, yeah a list.

     When we came back roughly 30 minutes before the panel began we were asked to leave.  The following conversation went like this:
Wesley: uh we were put on a list of some sort.
Staff: you know about the list?
Wesley: Yeah, we know about the list.
Staff: *looks around* go on in and sit in the second row.
That's the power of the list!  We got so lucky  because the people that were up there when we first got on the list were there since 3am!  O_O  Needless to say the VA panel was incredible.  Now I want to talk about the brohoof seen around the world.  I think among all of us Isaac and Wesley's little brother (Liam) had the best time of all of us.  See the panel was being streamed to the streaming room in the Mariott and in different parts of the world, mostly the UK (Everfree Radio rocks!).  Halfway through the panel there was a Q&A panel and Liam got in line to ask a question.  When his turn comes he asks one of the greatest questions to ever come out of a child's mouth.  "What was your reaction when you first found out about bronies?"  The question got a standing ovation from the audience, the VA's stood there for a moment kind of stunned and proceeded to answer the question.  Then, before Liam sat down, the VA's called him up there and brohoofed him.  This was the brohoof seen by thousands.

     We spent the rest of the day hanging out in the 24 hr. gaming room, I bought a Vinyl Scratch hat, and we saw a stream of Ponies the Anthology II.  After that we got in line for Ponystock.  Day 2 of Ponystock was incredible but I missed Alex S. and Eurobeat Brony (damn my need for sleep).  However I did see the Beatle Bronies, Mando Pony, and Acoustic Brony.  It was all incredible!  Unfortunately I missed the dance party after midnight when Alex S. and Eurobeat Brony played ;_;
That marked the end of day 2, it winded down considerably after Friday.

Everfree NW Day 1, Standing in line to party all night

     I'm well aware that Everfree is a first year con.  And having 1600 people for a first con is unheard of (should be some sort of world record).  Naturally there are complications, namely with the registration process.  I don't know all the details of what transpired but frankly the registration process was a trainwreck.  Luckily, bronies are forgiving folk and being a first year con, this can totally be forgiven.  Plus, you can stall bronies by making them sing!  So much singing!!!  We got into the Mariott (the hotel where some of the con was happening) at 6:30 to register.  There was a lengthy (and entertaining) orientation which included bursting into song, Dustykat (the manliest brony in the world) and other things.  Once registration really got rolling, it was deemed a badge free day, although in a situation like that, it's best to get your badge so you don't have to do it later.

     The merch, I was not disappointed with the merch.  I got so much stuff, I got brushables of Rarity and Applejack, a Derpy hat, a plush filly Vinyl Scratch (so cuuute!), 4 posters, two necklaces, a bookmark, and tomorrow I intend to get a Vinyl hat, a print for my friend, and lots of pins.  The merch is expensive but I've saved up money for over 8 months for this and it has been worth my every penny.

     I also fear that the Derpy hat has turned me into Derpy herself.  I found myself in two instances where wanting to do something beneficial ended up backfiring entirely.  The first being the Friendship is Witchcraft panel (I was only able to stay for half of it for this reason).  We got there early and sat up front but it wasn't until it was about to start that they told us the front row was for sponsors and VIP's, we had to move.  No place to move.  Wesley was able to get a seat but I had to leave because it was deemed a fire hazard.  The hotel workers really pull the strings here and it's important to respect that, they can pull the plug on this event at any time.

     Second Derpy instance being when we were waiting to get into Ponystock (almost worthy of its own entry).  Due to some technical difficulties, Ponystock was supposed to be set up on Thursday but due to said issues, they had to finish setting up right before it.  This is where we get our entrance into pony Hell.  A hallway about 8 feet wide stuffed with bronies.  There is a decided lack of air, it is claustrophobic, and all around uncomfortable.  My friends and I were getting really thirsty and hot so I volunteered to go buy water.  I go down to the 5th floor and grab 4 waters come back up, they don't let me in...  I just don't know what went wrong!  Oh no!  That means I couldn't get into Ponystock!

     Wrong, the staff really got their act together and relocated the entire line (which was on the 12th floor) to the first floor.  We created a neat and orderly(ish) line and got people up to Ponystock without any further problems.  Ponystock, oh my god where do I even start?  At this point it's about 9:00 and there was a Hotdiggetydemon (the .mov people) panel at 10:30 but we really wanted to do ponystock and boy was it worth it!  First of all Ponystock has a hell of a lineup I'll just list a few, Beatle Bronies, Alex S, Mic the Microphone, Eurobeat Brony (!!!), Michael Paine (I think that's his name).  Tonight was mostly the electronic music and it involved a lot of dancing and jumping around and all around insanity.  I'll point out a slight logical fallacy, when we were outside waiting in line we were told to be quiet.  We were told to be quiet so we could go inside just to be loud as hell.  Okay...
Anyway, I got a picture with Mic the Microphone and a bunch of other musicians and one with the World's manliest brony (pics to come if my camera cooperates).

     This being day 1 of a first year con, I want to say that it has been fantastic!  To any and all worrying about it, I love it.  I think many other people agree with me.  Now that day 1 is over and the staff has all the bugs worked out, I assume that the next couple of days will only be better and better.  God I'm still awake (it's 2am).  I'll be signing off now and I'll continue my Everfree NW report later.

Everfree NW Day 0

     Thursday was when we were scheduled to head up to the hotel as Isaac was staffing.  Isaac and I woke up bright and early (on 4 hours of sleep no less) and had some amazing waffles (courtesy of my epic waffle making skills).  That's when we got our huge scare for the day.  Isaac couldn't find his wallet.  This is under the worst possible thing category as it has his debit card which was to pay for the hotel.  After nearly tearing my house apart and pestering Wesley over Skype, Wesley found it and the crisis was averted but it was terrifying O_o.

     We did a crap ton of running around, carrying a gigantic Welovefine bag filled with bedding everywhere along with personal affects.  We kept a 'weird look' counter, we got to about 30.  Haters gonna hate!  We got ourselves to the hotel, got oriented, and prepared to sink into a world of pony!

Everfree NW Day -1

     Wednesday, 8/15 was what I considered day -1 of Everfree.  Although Everfree wasn't going to start until Friday, the antics and shenanigans started that day.  Isaac, Wesley, and I decided to go on a pre con pony raid, we weren't terribly successful and we went to almost every Target in the city.  It was fun, we had a derpy moment where we were relaxing in the shade only for the bus we were going to catch to zoom right past us (derp).  It took a lot of planning and running around and I had to go to the last day of my Public Speaking class (rolls eyes).  Who cares about that when there's ponies to be had?  Isaac and I went back to my house afterwards, I helped him finish his Jeapordy panel and we ate some pizza and watched Pulp Fiction.  Lots of fun.

I'm going to review Castlevania games!

     I'm a die hard Castlevania fan, it's like my third favorite series.  I'd only played the newer games and didn't dare to touch the older ones for their legendary difficulty.  Last night, I decided to beat Castlevania on an NES emulator with save states...  Okay not the authentic experience but I beat it and now I want to share my thoughts because even with save states, that game was ridiculous.

     People complain about the old Castlevania's having really crappy control.  The biggest complaints being the jumping and the knockback.  When you jump, if you don't hold a directional button, you're locked vertically.  When you do hold a directional button, you're locked in that direction.  When you get hit by ANYTHING you fly backwards and if you're near a pit that's instant death.  I'm going to agree with Egoraptor by saying the game is built around the clunky control.  You can't charge through it like Megaman or Super Mario Brothers, this is different.  In 1986 when the game came out there was the first Megaman and Super Mario Brothers, those were two games you could plow through (maybe not Megaman, it's hard).  Castlevania was different, there are certain sections where enemies remain stationary until you reach a particular pixel.  This was intended for you to plan your attack.  It wasn't going to come any closer until you did (I'm thinking about the Fleamen in the third level).  This is a great game and I found it incredibly difficult.

     I love the bosses in this game, it's an all star cast of horror icons, giant bats, mummies, Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, and Death himself.  There is also the Medusa relating to Greek mythology but that's only there because of the fu**ing Medusa Heads.  Each of these bosses is really fun to fight and require their own strategy.  That's what this game is about strategy.  Study each boss, and figure out how to adapt to the situation.  That's what makes this game deep.  The final showdown with Dracula is very satisfying but I won't spoil it.  What are my thoughts on the corridor before Death?  That was the single most maddening thing I've ever endured.  It isn't the knights that take 9 hits that are the problem, it's Medusa Heads coming from two different directions!  There is a pattern there, but it takes a lot of trial and error, that's all I'll say.  All in all, this is an NES classic and is well worth playing.

The true meaning of ponies

This post is directed towards anyone who is a brony.  I am a new up and coming brony and I'm proud of it.  What is a brony?  A brony is someone who likes the TV show My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.  As absurd as it sounds, My Little Pony has a higher male fan-base than female, hence the term brony.  The show started in 2010 on a TV channel called The Hub.  The fandom however started on 4chan and made its way across the internet from there.  What is it about this TV show that makes guys (and girls) gush over it?

My Little Pony is a breath of fresh air compared to other TV shows nowadays.  Most shows directed towards children treat their audience with little to no intelligence, a perfect example is Dora the Explorer.  Bear in mind this is my opinion but Dora the Explorer is an obnoxious insipid TV show with terrible pacing even for a kids show.  A good kids show should appeal to kids and adults alike, examples would be Sesame Street, and Spongebob.  The way I look at it, these two shows have layers.  The first layer is what the kids understand and the second layer are the subtle lines of dialogue that adults understand.  My Little Pony takes everything great about kids shows and puts it into one amazing package.

In order for a TV show to accomplish the aforementioned 'layer' metaphor, it needs good writing.  Lauren Faust is the writer for many of the episodes.  The writing is very creative, humorous, and imaginative.  It doesn't stoop do the most basic elements of humor like farting or sex jokes (I'm looking at you Two and a Half Men).  Good writing combined with likeable characters makes for a strong TV show.  The only other modern show that I can think of that has great writing and great characters is The Big Bang Theory. 

Many people say that the characters make the show.  I agree sort of.  Likeable characters are created by good writing.  In a sense, it's the writing that makes the show.  Characters should have diverse and unique characteristics.  My Little Pony is no exception.  The main characters are Twilight Sparkle, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike.  Each character is well written, comedic, and well designed.
Being a kids show, it undoubtedly contains the one thing that turned me off of kids shows when I was younger.  The moral.  All kids shows have some sort of moral to them, that's good.  However, it brings the episode to a screeching halt in pacing.  My Little Pony has the forced moral about friendship but it is well done.  The last minute or so of each episode ends with a letter to Princess Celestia.  The lesson in the letter is always quick, simple, and not shoved down your throat.

I've gushed about the show for awhile but where am I ultimately going with this?  I want to give a message to non-bronies.  Watch one episode, just ONE before you make a judgement about bronies.  Bronies tend to sometimes face ridicule and judgement from parents or other friends.  I feel that it almost portrays a stereotype, if a guy likes a show that is intended for girls that makes them gay.  This doesn't stop my dad from dropping gay joked periodically :/  Ultimately there is only one way to close this off.

Dear Princess Celestia,
This is moonlitumbreon saying that I hope other people learn to not judge a book by its cover.
A TV show, or movie may have a misleading or strange appearance on the outside (box art to Megaman 1-10 come to mind) but on the inside there can be something wonderful.  What is on the inside of a community is what counts, not what's on the outside (CLICHE!).
Your faithful brony,
Moonlitumbreon

Top ten Sonic the Hedgehog Stages

Growing up, I played Mario games on the Game Boy but when I was about 10 years old, I discovered a wonderful series of games.  Sonic.  Sonic the Hedgehog was/is Mario's rival from the late 80's through the mid 90's.  What Sonic had over Mario was speed.  While Mario was the original platforming game in 8-bit paradise.  Shortly after, Sonic made his debut on the Sega Genesis in all of his 16-bit glory.  While Mario was still in 8 bit (mario 2 & mario 3), Sonic was running around in full color landscapes with glorious music to boot.  I want to share my top ten favorite sonic levels (2d and 3d).  Keep in mind, I've only played Sonic 1 to Sonic Adventure 2 (not Sonic CD though), in other words the GOOD sonic games (though I haven't played Generations yet).  Let's get started!

10: Green Hill Zone

On the very few lists of top ten Sonic levels, Green Hill is always at number 1.  You know what?  It's not that great of a level!  There I said it.  It's simple but it makes for such a great stage because of it.  What makes it stay on this list, is the freaking music!  The music is so good, it's an absolute classic.

9:  Chemical Plant Zone

Sonic 2 brought more levels that make Sonic, Sonic.  Speed.  The perfect example of speed, is Chemical Plant Zone.  That level has a lot of loops and ramps and at some points you can actually almost outrun the screen!  Granted, that's kind of a glitch but that's how fast Sonic moves in the level.  Do I need to mention the music?  The music is also a classic.

8: Hydrocity Zone

What?!  A water level?!  Here me out, if you get and keep the bubble, it's not so bad.  Even if you don't, there are lots of shortcuts too.  Oddly enough, I think this is the level that defined speed in Sonic 3 (second perhaps to Ice Cap).  The above water parts of the level are like roller coasters.  Sonic goes upside down, underwater, and all different directions.  A level that definitely makes your head spin.  The music is meh.

7: Pumpkin Hill

In general, I detest Knuckles' levels in Sonic Adventure 2.  Pumpkin Hill is an exception, the level itself is frustrating oh yeah!  I hate looking for emerald pieces.  What this level has above all is atmosphere.  Pumpkin Hill is a surreal, vast, empty landscape with giant mountains with pumpkin faces.  Given the context of the game, how did Knuckles get from his starting point to there?  How does he get in a mine afterwards?  We may never know, Pumpkin Hill is a level that is surreal and creepy, and has one of those Knuckles raps!

6: Speed Highway

This is another level that takes a page out of the surreal book.  Almost all of the levels in Sonic Adventure make sense.  You go on the beach, you end up in Emerald Coast.  Go up a mountain, you're on Red Mountain.  Go in an ice cave, you're in Ice Cap.  Speed Highway is out of place for that reason.  You go in an office building and end up in...
A city at night with killer robots, upside down streets, and helicopters!  What?!  That's why I love this level!  It has the most speed in Sonic Adventure, it's great to play through and it has a freaking rock song!

5: Marble Garden Zone

Sonic 3 brought longer levels, more speed, and the ability to play as Tails.  Marble Garden Zone is on here mostly for the boss fight.  The boss of Marble Garden Zone Act 2 is very creative (and challenging).  Eggman appears in his robot that you've seen throughout the level (very similar to the one from Mystic Cave in Sonic 2) and drops down.  You hit him a couple of times and something different happens.  The floor's gone!  If you're playing as Sonic, Tails swoops in and picks him up, making this an aerial battle.  Eggman flies into the background, giving a hint to which direction he'll appear from and you can attack him.  The level itself is also fun because it's very hilly, you can outrun the screen a couple of times but because of all the spikes and enemies, it isn't advised.  I'm not terribly fond of the music, I think the music from Hill Top Zone would be more appropriate...

4: Flying Battery Zone

Sonic and Knuckles is such a great game.  When I was younger I could never get past Flying Battery Zone.  Why?  It's hard!  But it's soooo good!  You're running around on (and in) a giant airship.  There's loops, killer robots, and magnets!  The music is catchy, and what else do you need from a Sonic level?

3: Twinkle Park

What can you say about Twinkle Park?  It has damn near everything a 3D Sonic game should have.  Speed?  Check!  Awesome background and environment?  Check!  Fun things to homing attack?  Check!  That's about it, it also has a cart racing part, and bowling!  What else do you need?  The music is jamming as well!

2: Final Rush

The hardest level in the game takes number 2???  Yes, I love Final Rush.  Challenging?  Yes.  Frustrating?  Yes?  Aggravating?  Good Arceus yes!  Why do I love it?  SHORTCUTS!  Sonic games have always been linear, that's fine.  Sometimes the linear path takes too damn long.  That is the case in Final Rush.  At the beginning, you can see another part of the grinding rail that you're on, you can actually jump and free fall all the way down there.  There are a few other shortcuts like this in the level.  I love Final Rush because I like to challenge myself to see how fast I can clear it.  My personal record is 3:34.

1: Sky Rail

Did I say I loved Pumpkin Hill?  I love Pumpkin Hill, but I hate Knuckles.  Remove Knuckles, add Shadow, add epic music, add grinding rails, enemies, and epic speed!  BAM!  You have Sky Rail!  Sadly, it's the shortest level in the game but you're Shadow running around the Pumpkin Hill area at ridiculous speeds.  This level is short, sweet, and challenging, definitely my favorite.  I cleared this level in 1:45.

Till Next Time

A tribute to Egoraptor

To those who don't know who Egoraptor is, I'll give a brief explanation.  He does primarily comedy videos on youtube relating to video games.  He's released two videos called Sequelitis comparing and contrasting video game sequels, he did Castlevania vs Castlevania II and Megaman vs Megaman X.  Now I would like to do a compare and contrast of Kingdom Hearts 1 and Kingdom Hearts 2.

What is Kingdom Hearts?  If I had to explain it, I'd say that Kingdom Hearts is Final Fantasy and Disney having a baby.  That's right, Kingdom Hearts is Final Fantasy and Disney.  Together.  I have no idea how this idea came to be but can such a farfetched idea succeed as a video game?  Let's see.

Pros

1. Challenge.  Kingdom Hearts 1 is very challenging which is a good thing.  You can't exactly plow through it, you have to observe your enemy's movements, dodge and counterattack.

2. Combat system.  I love the combat system of this game.  As silly as it sounds whacking enemies with a giant key (yes that really is your weapon), you equip abilities to pull strings of combos and other devastating attacks.  There's also a shortcut system to provide ease of use for magic but not items (more on that later).

3. Plot.  The plot to this game is amazingly solid.  You really want to know what happens to the characters (I won't give anything away) and it makes sense that you're traveling to different Disney worlds.

4. Enemy variety.  Every world has a few enemies (called Heartless) exclusive to that world alone (usually).  When you travel to a new world, you don't encounter the same enemies you have before, you encounter new ones! Usually the new ones offer some more challenge particularly in the late game.

5. Cameos!  Oh my goodness, the number of Disney/Final Fantasy cameos in this game are almost countless.  It's one aspect of the game that makes it so quirky but so good!  Your main character (Sora) travels with Donald Duck and Goofy (I couldn't make that up if I tried).  The three of them are traveling to find Riku and Kairi (Sora's best friends) and King Mickey.  Along the way they stop into different Disney worlds from movies such as: Alice in Wonderland, Tarzan, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin.

6. Optional bosses: This game has a whole slough of optional bosses that are more difficult than the final boss.  This just adds another level of challenge to the game (you need to beat all the secret bosses to get the secret ending).

7. OLYMPUS COLISEUM!  My very favorite part of this game is the coliseum.  It is the most challenging part of the game (it is optional) and it's the best way to level up.  Only the first game does the Hercules world right!

Cons

Those were an awful lot of pros am I right?  This game isn't pure gold.

1. Difficulty.  You know how I said difficulty was a good thing?  It's also a bad thing!  This game is filled with normal enemies that are very difficult/annoying to defeat (and you usually face 5-6 at a time).  There are many hard bosses.  The only thing that makes the difficulty a bad thing is the next problem.

2. In battle menus.  If you want to use an item in battle, good luck, you'll probably die.  If you want to use an item, you have to basically stop what you're doing, scroll to the "item" box (this means you can no longer attack), scroll until you find the item you want, select who you want to give it to... Oh wait I'm dead already.  Sadly the shortcut system only works for spells (thank God for cure).

3. Camera. This is a minor issue but sometimes the camera can be against you.  In the middle of a boss fight, the camera will sometimes glitch out and the boss will kill you because you don't know what's going on.

4. Tricky platforming.  I know it's an action rpg game and there's supposed to be platforming but some places in the game are ridiculous.  The biggest culprits are Halloween Town and Hollow Bastion.  There are a couple of areas where you need to get on a platform, or jump precisely to an area and there's tons of enemies in the way.  Just kill the enemies right?  Not really, in these situations you're bombarded by enemies that fly, you have to jump up to attack them.  Attacking in the air makes you travel in the air, and the enemies like to float over the area you don't want to fall down to.  This usually results in you revisiting the same area several times because the freaking enemies make you backtrack!

5. Atlantica.  Underwater... Ugh.

Kingdom Hearts was a big success and it begged for a sequel.  We got Kingdom Hearts II a few years later.  It built on everything that made it good and added a few more things.

1. It was easier.  It had a difficulty selection at the very beginning, Normal mode was significantly easier than normal mode in the first game.

2. Reaction Commands.  A brand new aspect to the gameplay, in battle if you see triangle on the screen and you push it a the right time, you can do all kinds of fancy things depending on who or what you're fighting.

3. Plot.  Just, so good.

The second game had one big flaw to it...

IT'S TOO EASY!  I replayed this game recently and it was just too easy.  Granted, I was on normal mode but still it was nowhere near as hard as the first one.  It's also a lot shorter.  I cleared that game in 13 hours, I'm replaying the first one and I think I'm at the 40 hour mark and I just got to the final boss.  Which one is better?  The first one for originality and difficulty.