Friday, January 22, 2016

The X-Files 201 Days: The Remaining Episodes

This is more a post for myself than for anyone else, but if anyone has been following me on Twitter I've been taking part in The X-Files 201 Days Challenge since June of last year. The idea was pretty simple: watch every episode of The X-Files once a day for 201 days leading up to the premiere of the new miniseries, which starts this Sunday, January 24th.

I was posting a screen shot of the title of each episode fairly dutifully right up until I decided to take a self-imposed Internet hiatus leading up to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in late-December. As a result, I wasn't posting for each episode.

Here I am now - as I write this - just about one day from the new series premiere and I wanted to post all the images from the remaining episodes. I know no one else will care, but it's for myself as proof that I did this!

One thing I wanted to note is how much I enjoyed watching seasons eight and nine this time around. I've rewatched them in the past, but always found them hard to watch, because (spoilers ahead if you haven't watched them) they feature very little of Mulder and Scully, as David Duchovny is only featured in half of the episodes in season eight and only the series finale in season nine. Instead we are introduced to Agents Doggett and eventually Reyes, who fill the shoes of Mulder and Scully on the FBI's X-Files.

This time around I really appreciated the monster-of-the-week episodes with Doggett and Reyes. They were actually a great pair and Robert Patrick as John Doggett was a great role for him. The mytharc episodes that ran through these season, that actually featured Mulder, were typically the most dragging.

I've actually finished watching the final season and finale episode of The X-Files a while back. I did some binge watching with my wife recently, but tomorrow I plan to watch The X-Files: I Want To Believe film and then I'll be all caught up!

Here are all the remaining images from the episodes that I didn't post on Twitter, right up to the final episode(s), "The Truth", which featured the return (finally) of Mulder and wrapped up his and Scully's search after nine long years.

I'm very much looking forward to the new series, even if it's only six episodes. I'm hoping it could lead to more X-Files, but if nothing else it'll be nice to see these familiar characters again in an all-new storyline.

I still want to believe,
R















































Tuesday, December 22, 2015

My Favourite Games At Christmas II: Game Harder

Much like last year around this time I was doing a little gaming by the Christmas tree - one of my favourite things to do around the holidays - and once again I found myself reminiscing about Christmases past and some of the different memories I have with fresh new games that Santa Claus was nice enough to drop off under the tree.

Let's keep this new little tradition alive and I'll take you on a trip down memory lane, shall we?
Said Christmas tree
I can still remember when I first saw a Super Nintendo Entertainment System in action. It was the summer of 1992 and I had popped up to a friends' place to see if he wanted to come outside and play, but was instead invited in to check something out. He had the SNES hooked up and was playing Super Mario World.

I should stress that I had absolutely no freakin' clue that a new Nintendo had come out and the concept boggled my mind. I can remember being absolutely blown away by it. The graphics, the sounds, a new Mario game; I was floored.

I ran all the way home to my parents' house and began to blather on about this new, unbelievable Nintendo I'd just seen. There were four buttons! And buttons on top of the controller! And Mario spun as he jumped!

Although I don't remember the particulars of my Christmas list to Santa that year, I'd say the SNES was first and foremost on there. Once again, Santa is a badass and hooked me up with a bright and shiny new Super Nintendo packed in with Super Mario World and another game that I'll mention later on.

Over the next four years I played an innumerable number of SNES games. It was the system that introduced me to so many different kinds of video games. My bread and butter, however, was side-scrolling action platformers. As I've mentioned in my previous article, the Donkey Kong Country series became a Christmas staple for me and you'd be hard-pressed to find better platformers on the system. The year before Donkey Kong Country was released, however, I received another colourful, fun platformer for the SNES, but not one you'd expect: Cool Spot.

I can't for the life of me explain why, but I absolutely had to have this game. If you don't know, Cool Spot features the then popular 7-Up mascot of the same name. It wasn't uncommon back in the 90s to see this sort of thing. Yo' Noid, the mascot of Dominos, had a popular NES game and the California Raisins even had a game developed by none other than Capcom. Cool Spot was developed and published by Virgin Games for the SNES and Sega Genesis and was popular enough to get ported to the Sega Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy and Amiga and DOS PCs!

Could there be anything cooler?
The game is incredibly straight-forward, but try not to chuckle as I explain the premise: You play as one of the many Cool Spots and you're out to save other Spots who have been captured throughout each level. You can run, climb, jump, and shoot soda fizz in order to avoid and defeat the many pitfalls and enemies found in each level.

I know it seems ridiculous, but I'm telling you: I loved this game. My little sister and I would play Cool Spot for hours during the Christmas break. And it was no picnic! This was a tough game! It was well-designed with tight controls and some great stages. It took me quite a while to finish the whole game and I loved every minute of it! I probably wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but I always enjoyed getting games at Christmas that I could play with my little sis and, in a way, Cool Spot was the first one to start the tradition that would continue with Donkey Kong Country.

After all those great years with my beloved Super Nintendo in 1996 Nintendo released its successor, the Nintendo 64, and as you might recall from last years post I was right there playing one of my favourite games of all time, Super Mario 64.

In the meantime, however, my Super Nintendo wasn't just relegated to a drawer somewhere. It was still a permanent fixture of my bedroom and I was still using it to play my newest video game obsession, Role Playing Games. And if there was one thing the N64 lacked, it was RPGs.

The following year, 1997, was a big year for the RPG as one of the most anticipated video games ever was released on the Sony PlayStation: Final Fantasy 7. RPGs were on everyone's minds and I can recall pouring over issues of Nintendo Power hoping to see that Nintendo would finally be releasing a big Role Playing game like FF7 for its cardtridge-based powerhouse.

I would wait in vain, however, but a game would be released to the N64 that would curb my appetite, and that game was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

On Christmas 1998 I received a shiny, gold copy of Ocarina and thus began my absolute obession with that game. I played it morning, noon, and night for weeks. I was a teenager in 1998 and I had all the time in the world. It was a big year for me, actually. I also picked up a PSX and played so many incredible games over the next year, but I kicked it all off with Ocarina of Time.

Like I was saying, I slept and ate this game for the rest of my Christmas break and beyond. It was one of those titles that a friend of mine had picked up and we had the unspoken competition of who could complete it first (the same as with Super Mario 64). We would play for a day or two and then call each other up to check in and see how far each of us had gotten. If either of us were in a particularly charitable mood we'd trade secrets and tips to help the other along.

Shiny.
And you know what? Even though I played this game at a feverish pace I did take my time to enjoy it. I can remember whiling away time relaxing and fishing, diving off the waterfall near the home of the Zoras, or just riding around Hyrule Field on Epona, shooting arrows at Stalfos when the night fell. I had never played a game like it. I felt like I was fully immersed in a fantasy world and to this day I don't know that any game has ever sucked me in quite like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Now let's take a step back to the day I first got my Super Nintendo. Like I said, I was a kid in the 90s, so of course I was not only obsessed with video games, but also the Ninja Turtles. I had thrown countless quarters into the various Turtles arcade games between '91 and '92 and when I opened up my presents that fateful Christmas I found a game I never expected to see: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time.

I un-packaged the Super Nintendo as soon as my family was done around the Christmas tree. I had a little Nintendo TV stand set up with an old TV in the basement. I can still recall how excited I was when I realized I could actually hook up the SNES to the TV at the same time as my NES using the RF Connector.

Of course I had to start with Super Mario World, but I had already played that game the summer before. I quickly changed my focus to Turtles in Time. This was a game I'd been playing in the arcade whenever I could and here I was about to play it at home! I had to be torn away from the TV to get ready to visit my grandmother's later that morning and all I could think about was getting back to that new SNES and play some more TMNT IV. When I got home later that evening, that's just what I did.

There was some differences with the arcade game, of course, but I expected that. It still looked amazing! I took my turns as different Turtles, but in the end settled on Donatello, who was my favourite of the brothers to play the video games as, even though I was always a Raphael guy. I went from present day New York City, into pre-history, the Wild West, and even the future!

Yeah, in hindsight, that is way cooler than Cool Spot!
I'm not certain if everyone just forgot about me being down in the basement or not, but there in the dimly lit room, basking in the glow of that old colour TV, I blasted my way through all the different eras of Turtles in Time.

I don't know how long I was down there, but I know that it was definitely very late when my mother finally yelled down to me that I had to go to bed. The "Just Five More Minutes Mom" Rule had to be invoked, though, because I was at the end boss, the Super Shredder! And then, just like that, it was done. I had defeated the Shredder and saved the world, yet again. I completed Turtles in Time the same day I received it, December 25th, and it is one of my fondest video game memories of all time.

Merry Christmas,
R

Friday, October 30, 2015

Resident Evil (1996) - Sony PlayStation

The original "long box" art
I first played Resident Evil not long after it had been released even though I had no idea what the game was about. My friend Cole (now contributor here on Retro-Def!) and I rented it back when he first got his PlayStation and I cannot recall for the life of me why we picked that game. If you have seen the cover art for it, it is infamously bad - something Capcom is known for - but we did and I'm so glad, because Resident Evil has become one of my favourite games and gaming franchises of all time.

It was developed by Capcom in Japan as Biohazard and directed by Shinji Mikami, who to this point had only done a handful of licensed titles, such as Goof Troop, Aladdin, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Mikami has said that in making Resident Evil he was attempting to make a game like Sweet Home, which was a Japanese only title released for the Famicom. As a horror movie buff, Mikami has also stated that he was dissatisfied with 1979's Zombie, directed by Lucio Fulci, and wanted to make a game with none of the failings of that film. Couple that with being heavily influenced by George A. Romero and his films, it is not shocking that he delivered a horror game featuring... the undead!

Resident Evil follows an elite specialized police force known as STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) who are investigating some weird murders that have taken place in the small community of Raccoon City. When communication with the STARS Bravo Team is lost, the Alpha Team is sent into the Raccoon City countryside, where the ground team is chased into an old mansion by a pack of monstrous dogs, ultimately losing contact with their helicopter.

That is how the player finds them self in The Mansion, the main location for the rest of the game. You can play as two characters, Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, each of which has their own storyline and some minor changes in gameplay.

Barry and Jill taking on the undead!
The character models are all in isometric 3D and the player traverses The Mansion in what have become known as "tank controls". It can take a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it it is pretty easy to use. Essentially you aim the character in the direction you want them to go using the left and right directional buttons and then move them forward or backward by using up and down. At the time Sony had not yet released the DualShock controller, which featured analog controls, but after that controller became available the game was re-released as Resident Evil: Director's Cut, which featured and Arrange Mode and DualShock controls. Honestly, though, they change nothing and I find it easier to use the d-pad.

The main crux of the gameplay is surviving, which is why these games have become known as Survival Horror, along with Mikami being dubbed as the Godfather of the subgenre. You have very few items at your disposal and you can only carry a handful with you at any time. You slowly work your way around The Mansion, unlocking different rooms, searching for useful items, and fighting your way through zombies, giant spiders, and all sorts of crazy monsters. You can store items in special lock boxes that you will find strewn about The Mansion and you can save your progress on typewriters, as long as you've got some ink ribbons tucked away. You will find several different weapons, but remember that ammo is scarce and must be used sparingly!

It is this scarcity of ammo and healing items that drives the tension and scares of Resident Evil. You never know what you will face around the next bend, nor what items you should have on you. The game features beats not unlike the ones you would experience in a horror movie. The music will sometimes drop in a room to keep you off guard for the next scare or you will be clicking away in a room looking for an item and a zombie will jump out of nowhere and attack.

Barry and Jill in the Resident Evil REmake
Resident Evil is the very definition of a slow burn. You will find yourself running circles around The Mansion and additional areas trying to find that one door you didn't unlock yet or that item you forgot to grab. It is not an action title, like the series has become. To truly enjoy it you have to let yourself get immersed in the setting and the story and take your time. When you do hit an action sequence, it is less about how many bullets you can pump into your opponent as it is just trying to make it out alive.

The writing can be a little hokey and that is one thing that has always intrigued me about the game. The actual story itself is fantastic. It has grown to be something much, much larger than I'm sure Mikami and his team ever anticipated. The only person I know that can actually really wrap his head around the story in its entirety is Cole. That said, the writing and dialogue in this game is infamously silly at times. There are incredible lines like, "You were almost a Jill sandwich!" and "... you, the master of unlocking..."

I used to think this was just due to translation, but when you think about the influences of the game - campy horror films from the 60s and 70s - one starts to wonder if Mikami didn't do this on purpose to pay homage to directors like Fulci and Romero. The game even opens with a B-movie introduction that certainly hearkens back to horror films of that era.

The Resident Evil series has gone on to be one of the most influential video game franchises of all time and is closing in on its 20th anniversary next year. The original game was actually remade for the GameCube in 2002, which was itself re-released and remastered on a number of modern consoles. There has even been a successful film franchise based on the property which is seeing its sixth title in 2017.

Mikami's newest title, The Evil Within
I am not a huge fan of how the series has found itself in the action genre, but there are still compelling titles coming out under the Resident Evil umbrella (see what I did there?) and I am certain that there will still be great games to play in the future.

Shinji Mikami no longer has anything to do with the series. He has gone on to make new Survival Horror games, his most recent title being The Evil Within, which has garnered pretty high marks both critically and commercially. He is still out there trying to scare anyone that dares to boot up one of his titles.

It all started with this campy little horror title on Sony's newest little fledgling system back in 1996 and although there have been many remakes and sequels I still think the original Resident Evil is relevant and anyone who likes to play video games should give it at least one play through.

Happy Halloween!
R

Friday, October 23, 2015

Extra-Life 2015: Donator-Voted Playthrough

We just wanted to take a quick moment and explain our Donator-Voted Playthrough.

It's pretty self-explanatory: If you donate to The Electric Wesleys Extra-Life campaign you will receive an email to fill out a survey. This survey includes four games of our choosing and whichever one receives the most votes will have a complete playthrough LIVE beginning at 5PM EST tomorrow night during the livestream.

The four games to choose from are:

  • Resident Evil
  • Mega Man X
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

So, if you'd like to vote for a game just send us a donation! There is no amount too small! All of the proceeds go to the IWK Health Centre and sick kids.

We hope to see you this Saturday, Oct 24th, at the livestream starting at 7AM EST.

Cheers,
R

Friday, October 9, 2015

Extra-Life 2015

Hi everyone,

Back in 2013 a friend of mine asked me to join him in an event called Extra-Life, which is a charity program that raises money for Children's Hospitals. It was a 25-hour (thanks, Daylight Savings) gaming marathon, which we streamed live on Twitch for our family and friends.

It was a great - albeit exhausting - time for a great cause... and we're doing it again!


This year our team, The Electric Wesleys, will be streaming our 24-hour gaming marathon LIVE on Twitch for everyone to enjoy and this is your invitation to watch along!

The official day for Extra-Life is November 7th, but due to other obligations we'll be doing our marathon on October 24th, 2015.

Any donations are appreciated and all proceeds go the Children's Hospital of our choice, which is The IWK Health Centre. No amount is too small, but there's no obligation to donate. We'd still love to see a big turn out on the livestream!

You can donate on my Extra-Life profile: http://www.extra-life.org/participant/ryho
And check out our Team's Page for the Tentative Schedule: http://www.extra-life.org/team/TheElectricWesleys

Also, make sure to follow us on Social Media for updates leading up to the event, some possible preview livestreams, and any and all updates throughout the day on October 24th.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ElectricWesleys
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheElectricWesleys
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/TheElectricWesleys

We hope to see you there!
R