Oh, that's right boys and girls. In celebration of a short week, gluttony, and turkey murder, this week we're pulling one of the finer vintages down off the shelves: The Adventures of Super Mario Brothers 3. Snuggle down into your tanooki suit and grab your magic flute, a half hour of Mario 3's starting right below!
Though just a dot on the great gaming timeline today, Battle Arena Toshinden was one of the first 3D fighting games and has the dubious honor of being called “the most overrated game of all time.” But, before the mystique of side stepping opponents and polygon boobs wore out for 90's gamers, the fighter spawned three sequels and even its own animated series. This morning, we've got the first episode from the ill-fated anime Battle Arena Toshinden—a reminder of simpler games, simpler times, and polygon boobs.
From our new friends over at Retro Game Videos comes the newest old entry into the Mario Brothers video library, an anime movie dating back to 1986. While it's only partly subtitled, I have a feeling that the addition of words in a language I can understand would actually do little to make this more understandable. But, as weird as it might be, the show does introduce a few "new" characters to the series: most notably a waifish dreamboat who I can only assume is the Mushroom Prince! So okay Nintendo, where's my game where Mario has to go rescue him!
I remember a time when I was just a little lichlet that I'd spend an hour everyday after school watching PBS, willingly—even eagerly—getting a stealth education cloaked by one of my favorite Apple IIE games, Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? Maybe it was the late, great Lynne Thigpen's commanding, no-nonsense voice; the terribly punned names of the crook of the day; or just that infectious song by "Rockapella." Regardless, this morning we're bringing back one of the best shows 1995 PBS had to offer (mostly to balance out the crap of last week's Video Power). So get ready for this week's criminal chase, "The Cave Art Caper," and next week we'll even get back to some actual cartoons!
This morning it's therapy time. For a lot of us who grew up in the early 90s, there was a show that did terrible things to us—things we probably don't want to remember—and its time to come to terms with that. Even though it's long since passed on, the scars still linger. It was called Video Power, wherein a pair of fakey, fast-talking, Vanilla-Ice-looking hosts talked hip while trying to make a game show out of the best games 1991 had to offer. Drink milk, don't do drugs, and play ninja turtles, that was pretty much the gist. What you might not remember, though, is that the show was painful, like straight brain-poison through the tear duct BAD. But now it's time to face that abuse. We've got an episode of Video Power right here and it wants to talk. Let the healing begin.
Since I'm still on the high that comes with having one of your teenaged gaming wet dreams fulfilled—yes, Sonic in Smash Brothers Brawl is that hot for me—this morning we've got a little blue hedgehog action coming your way. Adding to the strangely convoluted plots and timelines of Sonic canon, this morning we've got Sonic X, wherein Sega's mascot mammal joins up with a host of wacky furries to fight spherical scientists and giant robots. Its also got an animated sugar rush for a theme song. So pretty much everything you ever wanted to wake up to, right?! Just check it out, Sonic X episode 1 starts right here:
Based on the popular Japanese dating sims, Angelique is all about one thing: Space Nookie! And fortunately, the same goes with the anime. Watch as our heroine gets her choice of a bevy of beautiful boys while she learns what it takes to become the next queen of the cosmos. Although a lot of the plot doesn't make sense to me yet, I'm all about finding an English translation of the games now, and you can bet I'd be a lot less of a proper princess than this gal when it comes to nabbing cuties like Arios. Rowr. So check it out, this morning we've got the subtitled anime OVA of Angelique. It's all about the boys.
Charge up your electromagnetic wave transers and sequence your cross fusers, this morning we've got all the techno-gibberish you can handle with Mega Man Star Force! Remember the sweet, simple days when we took giant robodragons and malleable rock bosses in stride without a half-hour of cyber-babble? Or, for that matter, remember Dr. Wily and villains like Top Man, Snake Man, and Hard Man? (Whoa, Is it getting hot in here? Or was Mega Man 3 just really gay?) Well, regardless, check out episodes 1 and 2 of Mega Man Star Force... just don't expect any Mega Man until about a half hour in.
Running, Screaming, Hairless Boys, and Monkeys! No, this isn't the latest report from Fruit Brute and Tiny’s overseas, on-the-scene escapades at the Tokyo Game Show, this time we're talking about our Saturday morning anime adventure: Ape Escape. I'd go into more detail, but the name pretty much says it all for this frenetic, caffeine-overdosed bout of monkey ani-mayhem. There's no subtitles for the second episode after the link, but trust me... it really doesn't matter. Enjoy!
A lot of people have said some pretty nasty things about Blue Dragon in light of its release last week—annoying characters, whinny kids, nonsensical plots, poo. Well, I figured we'd take this morning to give the debacle one more chance. I mean, really, all that couldn't have translated into what I'm sure is going to be the popular, long running anime. Right? So here it is! This morning we’ve got Blue Dragon episode 2 (episode #1 is right over here). Lets see if we can all be friends.
One of the lesser reported highlights of this year's PAX: four of blogdom's best-loved commentators got the band back together for a showroom floor shot at stardom the Rock Band way. Our own Fruit Brute, Mr. Flynn DeMarco, and the world's first splicer, the Weekly Geek's Chris Furniss, jam along to Mr. Destructoid's hard-rocking beat and (also of Destructoid fame) Colette Bennett's dulcit tones. Here's looking forward to the reunion tour at PAX 2008!
[Thanks to the Weekly Geek fro tracking down the vid!]
Even though for me King of Fighters was always just that one fighting game that wasn't Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat(or Soul Caliberor Tekken while we're listing things), with like 50+ choices, it's hard not to find a character to fall in love with. Apparently more than one gamer-animator felt the same way, because this morning we've got the first three “days” ( (short episodes) of the King of Fighters anime. Just click below for your morning's required dose of animated violence!
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