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Retro Corner: Mario's Picross (Game Boy) Review

A new edition of Retro Corner Reviews is up, and we look at another spin-off from the Plumber. This is Mario’s Picross that was released in 1995 for the Game Boy. A familiar studio called Ape Inc (who produced the EarthBound series) and by another company named Jupiter helped developed this spin-off. Normally, games like Tetris or Dr. Mario comes to mind first as we think of puzzlers. There were other alternatives to the familiar two, like Wario’s Woods, Tetris Attack, and Kirby Star Stacker. However, a picross puzzle at the time was easily overlooked even if themed characters were involved. The audience for the style simply wasn’t there yet, so it was odd for Nintendo to want to release this in Western markets in the 90s. It wasn’t until the DS hit the market in 2004 that an audience was found for picross. It is how Nintendo was able to sell to a casual audience, and Brain Age also helped cultivate a following.

Now, I heard about Mario's Picross through Nintendo Power in 2001. When I ordered back issues from 1996 and read through the entire yearly catalog, that is how the name came to me. However, despite hearing about the game through simple summaries, I still overlooked the release as another low-tier spin-off. It wasn’t until Nintendo put the unfamiliar release on the NSO that had me try a picross game for once. While the game doesn’t have the same appeal as a Game and Watch Gallery, the gameplay was still addicting. This is what happens when you judge a book by the cover and assume stupid things at first. But those same instigators would rather complain than play something beyond their comfort zone. The style of puzzle solving involves numbers across the side and top. The player needs to fill in certain spots on the board to align with what is in front of them. Mario’s Picross (Game Boy) Review

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Retro Corner: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy) Review

A new edition of Retro Corner Reviews is up, and we check out a classic Game Boy game. This is Super Mario Land 2 that saw a release in 1992 and showcased improved gameplay and broad visuals. For some reason the Plumber’s series always reminded me of this current season. It’s the same thing for Kirby as the little pink wonder always gives me that vibe. Maybe it’s the music, the visual style, or the atmosphere the Plumber usually finds himself in. Then again Spring is when people start doing sports stuff like golf, tennis, and kart racing. Ironically, Mario and his friends already do that stuff, so these thoughts are where they are probably coming from. Despite the first game was originally available on NSO, this makes sense to put the second game out first. At best the original Mario Land was nothing more than a novelty game with a short length. So, was complaining about a novelty game really worth it now that some of you experienced the original for the first time? Most will simply go back to why Pokemon, Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing is not available still. Don’t forget about them using roll eyes or laughing crying emojis and memes because giving proper criticism isn’t “kewl” enough. While the truth is the game was given a great score here on the site, the first SML being a novelty isn't a software you want to start the service with. Honestly, at the time I would rather have the first Wario Land on NSO than the original SML.

For SML2, this was another textbook definition of an improved sequel that was using the SMB3/World template. That is what sold the Game Boy due in part to the software being different then their console counterparts. It often was the standard for studios to release scaled down versions of the console games as seen by Mortal Kombat. However, Nintendo and a few third parties still developed separate games on the handhelds, so they are exclusive. The theme is where we get introduced to Wario who Mario in the instruction manual claims was a rival of his growing up. As Mario was going through Sarasaland to save Princess Daisy from an alien overlord, Wario seized the castle in his land. He also brainwashed the citizens and removed the six golden coins to keep the castle locked up. Can Mario adventure through his own kingdom, retrieve the six golden coins, and evict Wario to save the land?

Super Mario Land 2 (Game Boy) Review

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Retro Corner: The Elder Scrolls: The Arena (PC) Review

A new edition of Retro Corner Reviews is up and as Winter slowly dies down to make way for Spring, I have a classic WRPG to check out. This is the original Elder Scrolls: The Arena that was released in 1994 for PC. The Arena profoundly changed the game up for WRPGs and at the time was stuck being phased out for JRPGs. There are a couple of reasons this happened and first had to do with JRPGs casualizing the genre beyond the “nerd” stigma. The second reason is thanks to people giving the gritty and underground tone of WRPGs a displeasured attitude. Back in the 80s and 90s people always demonized those who were into D&D and Ultima. If anyone were into the western style of role play would be considered society’s near punching bag. It’s also ironic how someone was called a “nerd” for liking concepts that were often gritty and dark. Then turn around and have no problem with darker themes from Mortal Kombat and Doom. Sometimes this just shows how hypocritical society can act, especially from those people who thought they were being a “kewl” person. My first experience with the series was through Oblivion on Xbox 360 in 2007. I eventually upgraded to a gaming desktop a few years after and picked up a better version on PC.

Eventually, I did check out ES1: the Arena and ES2: Daggerfall once playing through Skyrim out of curiosity. It wasn’t surprising for these games to look similar to Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. The limitations of visuals from the mid-90s often went for the look unless they wanted Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. No wonder Bethesda waited until ES3: Morrowind to go full 3D now that the genre had been tweaked. For its time, the Arena was a massive step from the often overhead 2D style. The game presented a massive open world and gave the player freedom to do what they wanted. You can stay on the path as a champion or become a villainous killer through evil methods. This was years before games like Fable would allow you to take either path. The story takes place forty years before Oblivion where a mage named Jagar Tharn usurped Uriel Septim VII. He was banished to the Oblivion Realm and disguised himself as Septim to trick the Imperial council from picking a new successor. Now, his chosen champion must find a way to gain strength and go on a quest to stop Jagar from completing his true objective of his conquest of Tamriel. The Elder Scrolls: The Arena (PC) Review

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Modern Gaming: Resident Evil 3 Cloud Edition (Nintendo Switch) Review

A new edition of Modern Gaming is up, and we check on the Switch version of Resident Evil 3 Remake just in time for Halloween. There have been many mixed views on the use of cloud gaming regardless of any game platform. All we ever hear are disingenuous comments (mostly due to how snobbish they sound) complaining about the cloud’s limitations. Some do make legit points about Cloud gaming having ways to go while others hide the real intentions for their hate. We will discuss more in the article because whether you like it or not this is the future of the industry. For action oriented genres like Resident Evil relying on an internet connection does work better compared to something akin to an RPG like Eldin Ring. If Plague’s Tale is an indication that an RPG shouldn’t be rendered through a server then perhaps it’s best to save this for games with closed in areas. That is probably the reason Square hasn’t put Final Fantasy VII remake through a server because then the cloud version would’ve been a spectacle mess. ​ As for REmake 3, many of us waited years for Capcom to finally develop them. When the first REmake came out in 2002 on GameCube, we assumed RE2 and RE3 would come later in the Sixth Gen. Instead, Capcom gave us the fourth entry and it was a fantastic change up to the often poor shooting mechanics in prior games. Not only was the series great to progress but RE4 would become a personal favorite for some of us. Despite producing worthy sequels and spins off like Revelations, Capcom for an odd reason stayed clear of the RE2/RE3. Just as we thought they had forgotten after REVII went the FPS route to reinvent, they announced RE2 in 2019 being remade. Of course, the sequel followed a year later in 2020 and continues to build on the current formula. It’s obvious there were no plans to bring this to Switch due to lacking tech that the PS5 and Xbox One had. Then a cloud version was announced two years later to get around the Switch’s limited tech without sacrificing visual standards. Unless you want a downgraded port akin to Mortal Kombat 1 (2023) if Capcom brought this natively over then that is the results waiting. It’s obvious Capcom will bring digital ports over when the Switch 2 gets released years after the launch.   Resident Evil 3 Cloud (Nintendo Switch) Review

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Retro's Blog: Retro’s Top Ten Classic Games to Play During Halloween

A new edition of Retro’s blog is up, and we go over my top ten retro games to play during Halloween. I have stated many times that the Autumn season is my favorite, especially Halloween. It’s the shorter days becoming darker and the natural colors of orange, brown, and red come out. Whether it’s the leaves on the trees tuning these colors or decorations presenting the holidays at that time of the year really makes me feel relaxed. It also helps that my favorite fruit and vegetable are the apple and pumpkin based on menu food items. I love pumpkin flavored coffee and sweets to enjoy between breakfast and dessert. Of course, that brings me to the annual Halloween movie marathon whether it’s both comedy and horror on TV. We also can’t forget the video game releases that features these themes in the same way. ​ For my top ten games to play during this season was a little challenge to pick based on the choices. I also had to consider non-survival horror titles that happened to have these sometimes too. Then there is others like Castlevania, Doom and Ghosts N Goblins that weren’t scary at all, however, they still showed a gothic tone. Survival horror didn’t rise in popularity until the Fifth Gen and would often appear on PS1. While a few did get ported to the N64 like RE2, it was mainly the PS1 that caused the genre to really peak. The majority will always look at the Fifth Gen where this was first introduced to them due to coming out at the right time. Content from mature rated releases was on rise and coupled with 3D visuals being pushed in gaming for the first time was the perfect storm. With so many releases between the Fourth and Fifth Gens, which ones are going to make it on my top ten to enjoy during the spooky season?   Retro’s Top Ten Games to Play During Halloween

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Modern Gaming: Resident Evil (GameCube) Review

A new edition of Modern Gaming Reviews is up and to start the Halloween Season off we look at the Resident Evil remake on GameCube. I remember back in 2001 after GameCube was announced that Capcom was remaking the first Resident Evil as an exclusive. Never mind the fact this system already had Smash Bros Melee, Luigi’s Mansion, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II, Pikmin, and Animal Crossing. Now, for it to have two new Resident Evil games (REmake and RE0) truly made this console a must buy. At the time I banked on PS2 and Xbox first at the start of the gen instead of buying the latest Nintendo system. Don’t get the wrong idea having those to start the Sixth Gen was great because few had both available to them. This was also the only Nintendo console purchased last for me instead of being the first to own. It had nothing to do with the ridiculous BS narratives of Nintendo going third party. Till this day I never understood why so many thought Nintendo were in the same financial situation as Sega. The company was quite profitable in the 2000s and that was before the Wii/DS era. ​ For REmake, when we first saw screenshots and trailers of the game the differences between previous entries were staggering. The game looked visually stunning for its time and didn’t look like a souped up N64 title—After playing Code Veronica on Dreamcast and the PS2 port, REmake made it look last gen. Even the GameCube and PS2 launch titles with their low poly visuals looked superior. However, REmake went further that this was a massive step up from the low poly games of Luigi’s Mansion and Smash Bros Melee. While the gameplay didn’t see much changes except for tweaking the original formula passed dated mechanics. Capcom was notorious for using the same formula for years that barely reinvented just take Mega Man for example. At the time Capcom didn’t have to reinvent yet however, after REmake’s release it was clear the company had to move the series forward.   Resident Evil (GameCube) Review

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Modern Gaming: Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (GameCube) Review

A new edition of Modern Gaming Reviews is up and continuing through the Halloween season we check out another Resident Evil port. This is the strange port of Resident Evil 3 for the GameCube— along with RE2 and Code Veronica X that were also brought over — was a familiar thing Capcom did often to bring past games so to have the series on the then current platform. They did the same for the Sega Dreamcast when RE2 and RE3 were ported in 2000 due to the first release of Code Veronica. Nintendo was smart to get an exclusive contract from Capcom to have the latest games from the series at the start of the Sixth Gen. During the early days of the Sixth Gen Nintendo’s lineup was often looked down on due to their marketing style going against the craze for mature content. Even though these thoughts from insecure gamers were downright annoying, the marketing coupled with the lunchbox designed console didn’t help. We all know the GameCube’s early days were amazing thanks to a great launch followed by a fun first year of hit releases. Here is the list that includes Luigi Mansion, Smash Bros Melee, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II, REmake, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime, and Mario Sunshine. That is more than enough for any gamer to gush over knowing the amount of fun that was going to ensure from that lineup. ​ Now, the port of RE3 was strange for many reasons when by the time the GameCube edition came to the system the game didn’t have the same luster from 1999. Bringing this over to Sega’s Dreamcast made sense in 2000 due to being a year old from releasing on PS1. However, when we learned the game came to the GameCube, five years have nearly passed already. It’s obvious Capcom’s corporate board was being greedy, even charging almost fifty dollars for an older game. No wonder none of these came over to the Xbox or PC because then resources would’ve been wasted. Another thing is it wouldn’t have made sense anyway if Capcom was focusing on new exclusives and multiplatform releases. They were trying to have the series available on both the Dreamcast and GameCube due to the then “newer” games being on these consoles. Except for GameCube, REmake, RE0 and RE4 would’ve been enough for that entire gen without replaying the older titles.    

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (GameCube) Review

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Modern Gaming: Them and Us (PC) Review

A new edition of Modern Gaming Reviews is up and to start the Autumn season we have a survival horror clone called Them and Us for PC. For the last several years we have seen many Indie developers and studios bring back the old concepts of survival horror. From what is out now these developers have produced good results despite their limited budgets. For something like Alisa or Crow Country this isn’t an issue as the visuals do a good job retaining those PS1 visuals. However, for the ones that attempt realism for the visuals like Tormented Souls and Evil from Within would have this harder to perform. While these titles don’t push the visuals or level design boundaries compared to the Silent Hill 2 remake, they still provide for the genre. The worst one I have seen so far is the Outbreak series that has bad tank controls, poor use of fixed camera angles and terrible framerates. When anyone wants to bring back an old concept they also need to do more than redo the same thing. These newer games need to improve on the old design by evolving the level design and gameplay.

For Them and Us it came out a few years ago on Steam and other PC platforms like GOG. It takes elements from both Resident Evil and Silent Hill to produce one of the better releases to emulate the old games. Instead of going the retro route to emulate the PS1 horror titles, Tendo Games went modern instead. They really nailed the ambience of the environments shown based on the visual presentation. The studio even hired a professional musician named Tihomir Hristozov from the film industry to produce a good soundtrack. From what I looked up the man is known to help with big budget movies and TV shows. The unique thing about Them and Us compared to the others is the option to play three different gameplay styles. That is unheard of when each release used solely the fixed angle viewpoints or over the shoulder camera. The theme revolves around a woman named Alicia who was wrongly convicted of murder. After spending time in jail, she was eventually transferred to another prison in 1984. During the ride, the bus gets into an accident and then she wakes up in a mansion on Fog Island in Florida. Alicia must find out why she was taken to this strange place filled with zombies and try to gain back her memories.

​Them and Us (PC) Review

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Retro Corner: Super Game Boy (Super NES) Review

A new edition of Retro Corner Reviews is up and this time we are taking a look at the Super Game Boy for the Super NES. There was once a time when us Golden Age Gamers were stuck using monochrome Nintendo Game Boys. Despite the competition having full color and even a backlit screen like Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx, they didn’t have a diverse library to enjoy. Sega might’ve had Mortal Kombat in color with blood and gore in their versions, but Nintendo had many bangers even in the early years. Aside from the Sonic series, Mortal Kombat and a few gems are all that were offered on Game Gear. While the GB had four double A batteries that lasted longer and there were many genres to choose from. That is the reason the Game Gear after a few years of being on the market, saw it in bargain bins along with the Atari Lynx. It's why Nintendo’s first portable lasted well into the late 90s especially thanks to Pokemon releasing in 1996 to 1998.   This is where the SGB comes in and would see its release in mid-1994 for the Super NES. During the time, Sega and NEC had their CD addons on the market that continued to flop in sales. Thanks to the abundance of shoddy games that paled in comparison to the base systems and the ridiculous price cemented these facts. Nintendo rather than releasing their CD add-on after the fallout with Sony, they would drop these plans all together. Instead, they produce the SGB cartridge to allow black and white GB titles to play on the TV. That is why the House of Sonic continued to struggle for the rest of the decade. It is the reason Nintendo, even after losing to Sony, continued to stay in the black. The adapter did more than give extra color but through the SGB cartridges would offer special features that weren’t possible on the original portable. After three decades, how well does the Super Game boy hold up compared to its successor the Game Boy player?   Super Game Boy (Super NES) Review

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Horror Gaming: Conplus Creepypasta Review

A new edition of Horror Gaming is up, and the Halloween season has begun for us to celebrate the usual ghastly festivities. To start the spooky season off, this edition has us take a look at an original gaming creepypasta called Conplus. During 2014, gaming CPs as explained many times weren’t known for quality storytelling aside from a few gems. It was also a time when a few writers tried breaking away from the constant tropes that often was the scary part of these plots. Godzilla NES and Metroid II: Secret Worlds were the first to raise the bar thanks to good writing. Another thing that made these set the bar higher is the quality depictions of what the characters explained were happening to them. While you don’t need imagery to create a unique horror tale, it does add to the immersion and allows your imagination to go even more wild. In the early 2020s, creepypastas began losing their luster thanks to poor writing, authors who can’t take criticism and obnoxiously long one to two sentence titles. The bar might’ve been raised high but it’s obvious these gaming CP authors have moved to a much better format of Analog Horror. ​ Conplus is an original gaming creepypasta similar to the Theater and Pale Luna that tells a tale of a man recalling playing an odd Super NES title. It was also a multicart in the same vein as Action 52 that is known to have poorly designed games on them. However, unlike Action 52, Conplus's games were developed competently with no broken designs according to the story. There is one odd feature of this cartridge, and it’s how a plastic bubble was placed on the top right. The only cartridge based release to have this feature was the Game Boy Camera. The CP does have that uniqueness to the theme and there was never a Super NES cart to have a camera like function. That really does add to the curiosity of what it could’ve been based on the fact the cover gives no indication of being a multicart release. When we look at the Sega 6-Pak and Super Mario All Stars, usually these carts tell us what’s inside. Conplus features six games each being from rarely used genres in the industry. However, the man remembers some strange things about playing each one after going through their challenges as an adult. Will the man discover the games were as he remembers them or something evil, he finds there as an adult?

Conplus Creepypasta Review

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Retro Corner: Vay (Sega CD) Review

A new edition of Retro Corner Reviews is up, and we finally tackle a Sega CD game called Vay that was a JRPG. Developed by Hertz who are known for putting together the Genesis port of Outrun was tasked to produce a traditional role playing game. When it came to RPGs in general, the Mega Drive was a distant second to the Super NES that had hosted many titles of the genre. That forced Sega to produce their own games like Phantasy Star to make up for the lack of these titles. It is one of the reasons the House of Sonic wanted to release their own CD add-on beyond trying to stay competitive. While Compact Disks as a format was the next thing for gaming, Sega was obviously trying to get the genre on their platform. This was to entice third parties to develop on the Sega CD using the more advanced technology then the base system couldn’t perform. As history tells us, that didn’t work out for the House of Sonic for more than just this genre. Despite getting a string of decent games, the addon’s lineup was nowhere near the quality of the Super NES’s JRPG library.

For Vay it is titled this based on the plot about an advanced alien mech crashing on a planet that was still developing. Over a thousand years ago, a battle was waged far from most civilized planets in space. In the midst of the war, one lone large mech veered off randomly straight into unknown space after its pilot was killed. It eventually crashed on a world that was still primitive in a medieval age and on auto pilot the advanced armor attempts to destroy all life across the planet. Eventually, five of the powerfullest wizards cast a spell to subdue and seal away the advanced mechanized armor. After a millennium had passed a marriage between a prince named Sandor was set to marry his lover Elin to ensure the Lorath Kingdom was secure. However, his kingdom was unaware the Danek Empire was staging an invasion using technology from the legend to attack and kidnap Elin. Now, Sandor must brave an adventure to save his lover and stop the Danek Empire from its conquest across the world. The gameplay follows the traditional format that many studios used regardless of what quality they were. Can the studio of Hertz redeem their previous work? Vay (Sega CD) Review

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Retro Corner: Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy) Review

A new edition of Retro Corner Reviews is up, and we tackle another NSO Game Boy game called Kirby’s Dream Land. It isn’t a surprise to see Kirby be added as one of the first titles on GB NSO. He, among Mario, Wario and Link, is quite recognizable even when certain gamers haven’t touched any games from this series. It is a perfect way to have them try Kirby for the first time especially when having his earlier titles from the 90s available on this service. The first entry can also show where he began his adventure rather than through the modern releases. There is no doubt Star Stacker for GB as well as Nightmare in Dream Land for the GBA will eventually get added. However, having the Pink Wonder’s debut title available for these gamers to try is always a good thing. It is also a good thing to experience where some of the familiar mechanics originate from. Now, his debut title along with Kirby’s Adventure on the NES is considered sleeper hits. Meaning, Nintendo did advertise the Game Boy release with a short animated commercial showing you don’t have to look like an action hero to take the role. While the second entry on NES came out during the system Twilight Years in 1993 when people were too busy with the 16-bit consoles. The mechanics here are often considered simplistic akin to Super Mario Land. However, when has anyone heard of a character that uses his mouth to suck enemies up and spit them out as if he was a vacuum? In a sea of copycat mascots — Aero the Acrobat and Bubsy to name some — Kirby was able to set himself apart from even the successful ones. Sometimes having a character with an outlandish appearance and ability from the usual is what’s needed. The theme of the original game is about Kirby trying to stop King DeDeDe from hoarding all the food of Dream Land for himself. So how good does the Star Warrior’s first outing stand the test of time? Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy) Review

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Retro Corner: Game & Watch Gallery 3 (GBC) Review

A new edition of Retro Corner Reviews is up and as we enter the Spring season, I have an NSO Game Boy game to cover. It is called Game & Watch Gallery 3 that was released on the GBC in December 1998 months after the handheld was upgraded to a color edition. G&W3 along with the original game on GB were two titles I spent hours playing through in the late 90s. I don’t remember when they came into my collection back then (probably as stocking stuffers during Christmas) but the gameplay was addicting. The series might not be as good as the Mario Parties or the Mario Karts however, Game & Watch Gallery does serve it purpose as a time waster. Even RPGs are classified under such a term regardless if grinding to a higher level or proper progression is there. The third entry continues the same format from its predecessors that features five games remade using the GBC hardware. Nintendo usually does a fantastic job remaking previous games when Super Mario All Stars set the gold standard. It is clear they were attempting those same standards for the G&Ws because this has proven to work. It is no SMAS by any means considering the NES titles have aged well enough to play today. Compared to those old portables, none of them have the same luxury unless recreated in a modernized form as seen here. That is why remaking these classics is a good thing because it gives us those quality of life features missing previously. Nintendo has an outstanding track record of producing the best remakes. Now, this completion includes Egg, Greenhouse, Mario Bros (not the same Arcade title), Turtle Bridge and a variant of Donkey Kong Jr. Can a fresh coat of paint bring these oldies to life? Game & Watch Gallery 3 (GBC) Review

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Sacred Reviews: The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds Remodel Review

A new edition of Sacred Reviews is up, and we check out an infamous Zelda: A Link to the Past hack called Parallel Worlds to close the winter. Originally, a user named SePH developed an ALTTP hack called Tower of the Triforce in 2003. He/she eventually scrapped it due to the game being glitchy and nearly unplayable. That is when he/she reworked the concept and then teamed with another user named Euclid to produce Parallel Worlds in 2006. The hack has seen a few revisions not only from the original team but from other modders in the community. The Remodel Edition (version 1.1) was edited by two users called PuzzleDude and qwertymodo in 2012. It was an attempt to address the many issues that plagued the design of PW. The Original and version 1.0 were notorious for their unfair difficulty where the environments and enemy/trap placements were the issue. Now, the first time I heard of PW is when a YouTube user named Mutahar from SomeOrdinaryGamers narrated the legend of Zelda Bootleg Creepypasta. In that edition of Haunted Gaming, he was playing the first version of Parallel Worlds while narrating the story. That is where I learned about these hacks and was blown away by the differences some of them had from the Vanilla game. PW is also the perfect seasonal game to play as the theme involves an Icy World akin to the Dark World. While this alternate Hyrule might be in a spring season, the hack mostly revolves around the harsh winter conditions of the opposite realm. The plot is about Link (who’s a treasure hunter) gets contacted by Zelda to release her from a prison in Hyrule’s Guardhouse. Upon rescuing her, he learns she along with six maidens come from a different world who each have knowledge of a place called the Parallel Tower. The Hylian King named Draegor has already captured six maidens and has a plan to solve the tower’s puzzle for his evil intentions. The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds Remodel Review

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Sacred Guides: Hyrule’s Christmas DX Part 2

A new edition of Sacred Guides is up, and we finish the Holiday season off with part 2 of Hyrule’s Christmas DX. I hope everyone had a great Christmas this year as we now reflect on things with New Year’s approaching. As a new year ends, we start getting back to our usual routine of non-holiday events. Sure we have Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day, but these are holidays one can skip over if they want. Even Easter is another example anyone that has no beliefs can pay no mind to. However, the Wintery Holidays has something that can either be celebrated as a religious or national events depending on the individual. Some of us still have our childhood memories of receiving video games as gifts. There are even moments where most would look for that familiar square box design that the Golden Age Era came packaged in. For the Guide it is something I kept putting off for four years when Sacred Realm Tower was a separate site. It was the constant switching between the main website and the sister one that kept me away. For once I actually finished the second part to this Quest because switching between sites in the editor wasn’t a pain anymore. It was the same thing for some of the other quests I covered as a part 2 to Ballad of a Bloodline was never published. Fortunately, I saved all my notes to write part 2 and even have the captures ready to use. Eventually, the other parts will get written once there is enough time for me to do them. The guide that is being covered has the player continue exploring the village as we tackle the last two dungeons to save Christmas. Hyrule’s Christmas DX Part 2

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Sacred Guides: Hyrule’s Christmas DX Part 1

I have an old edition of Sacred Guilds to show, and it is when I posted a walkthrough of Hyrule’s Christmas DX in December 2018. There was a reason I started Sacred Guides back then and it was a chore to watch let’s plays of these quests. We the Zelda Classic users were either stuck with that or had to search PureZC forums to find out any detail about cryptic level design. I even posted a comment on a video of a Let’s Play in the Origin quest about how to progress in the second dungeon. It always made me wonder why no one created a walkthrough database for ZC because sites like PureZC could use something like that here. While these cryptic designs mostly come from NES style adventures, sometimes it is good to have something to find and progress. Unless you want to bomb every wall and burn bushes one could find that has no indication is the only way to know anything. Now, the guide itself continues our holiday countdown because this is a short quest to cover. However, the cryptic design from Ballad of a Bloodline is still used here to find the things needed in Myra's adventure. That is where this walkthrough is here, so you don’t stress on missing something. It’s the reason one could miss the slash ability if they don’t know there is a hidden tree in BOAB. The purpose of these NES designed secrets is to keep the concept of figuring progress out for yourself—There is a place for difficult games to exist otherwise we wouldn’t have the Dark Souls series. However, a hint in the form of discoloration or a slight difference in a tree and rock is placed would still be nice to have. Let’s continue the holiday countdown with the first part to Hyrule’s Christmas DX. Hyrule's Christmas DX Part 1

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Sacred Reviews: Hyrule’s Christmas DX Review

There is an old edition of Sacred Reviews reuploaded, and it is when I reviewed Hyrule’s Christmas DX in 2018. If you are familiar with Ballad of a Bloodline from CastChaos and Twilight Knight, then they also made a prequel called Hyrule’s Christmas. However, unlike the main game, HC is an actual short quest starring Knil’s (Link of the story) girlfriend Myra. The thing about Zelda Classic is there are not that many that use Christmas as its theme. Aside from the one covered here and Link’s Quest for Christmas — an 8-bit NES style adventure — often a warmer season or just the traditional Eurasian medieval style from the official series is used. It is surprising to find such themed quests even though there are so little of them. The fact a real wintery festival and its traditional music appearing in a variant of the Zelda verse are hilarious. Now, according to the backstory, HC is actually a prequel to Ballad of a Bloodline since it involves the same characters. The plot centers around Myra where one morning a being known as the spirit of Christmas tasks her with stopping a dark entity. The spirit explains that because of this dark being is the reason joy isn’t being spread across the kingdom. As Knil sleeps in Myra sets out around the town to find and put an end to this evil entity to spread holiday joy. The concept for Zelda is truly hilarious that Hylians celebrating the famous wintery holiday is next level parody. I find this similar to Doom’s Christmas mods that was designed in a parody manner. The Doomer Board’s Christmas Carol and DBK Holiday Special (a Doom version of Jingle All the Way) did something similar to this concept. Can CastChaos and Twilight Knight replicate what the Doom Mod community did? Hyrule's Christmas DX Review