My Video Game Library: Candy Crush

    Last year, in a trial of sorts for this series, I described my history with the various Candy Crush games. I don't want to go over everything, just a few months later, so I will just give the highlights for this post and give a few recent updates. Yes, a lot has changed since I first talked about Candy Crush about seven months ago.

    I started playing Candy Crush Saga on Facebook about the same time it debuted as a game show on CBS. It was about the time they started phasing out most of the story elements from the game. When it began, one needed to win each level in a stage to complete a story element, such as repairing a candy factory or refilling a lake. Now, new players have no idea why they have to rescue baby dragons or use a flying saucer as a power-up, because those story elements have gone. Sure, some story beats roll out whenever a special event starts, but it has basically been allowed to fade away. The levels, obstacles, and power-ups have changed, even some before I started playing. Even the layout is different, going from a stylized game board to a scrolling line of repeating backgrounds. Just this week, some artistic elements has been updated, while a glitch with a daily bonus still hasn't been fixed after a month. At one point, I was winning so much, that I was in danger of reaching the end of the game and having to wait for new levels to drop. Now, I'm lucky to beat a few levels each week. I can go for days without a win, only to go on a streak soon after. I'm nowhere near the end any more. Currently, I play once or twice a day, usually at work in the mid-morning or afternoon. Rarely do I play at night any more.

    Candy Crush Soda Saga has the same issues with story elements, possibly to a greater degree. At least you still see the characters sometimes in the original game. The Facebook version barely has a background anymore. I don't even get the chance to play in events. Not a one has ever shown up, while other players get them all the time. I'm still enjoying the random extra bonuses that popped up for a few weeks last year whenever I played. I'm only now starting to get back into the double digits, although I have used up most of my gold.  Way more than I should have. I am facing worse setbacks here than in the original game. I usually play a few rounds first thing in the morning, only occasionally playing at other times.

    Candy Crush Jelly Saga is the only game that still has some of its story elements out in the open, if only because of the competitive challenge levels. Like Soda, I have yet to experience an event for Jelly. I think they are out there, just not for my version. Recently, I accidentally befriended a bunch of strangers, and I now get life requests and gifts.  I hate that, but it somewhat makes up for not beating levels as fast as I could otherwise. I usually play at night, losing a few lives, then stopping. I return and finish later in the evening, after those lives replenish. 

    There are other Candy Crush games, but they are only apps and not available on Facebook. (I'm not counting the recently added brainteaser version on Yahoo. I've solving it since February, but it hasn't updated the game for a few days.) While I probably keep my progress if I switchover to the apps, I don't want to. I've already got enough games on my phone that take up a lot of my time. I don't need any more. Unless forced to, by having Facebook finally dropping the games. Maybe. 

My Video Game Library: Cartoons

    Before I got my first video game system, I got much of my fill for gaming from cartoons. At one time int he 80s, you had Pac-Man and Dragon's Lair on ABC, a compilation that featured Donkey Kong, Q*Bert, Kangaroo, and Pitfall (with later seasons featuring Donkey Kong Jr. and Space Ace) on CBS, and Captain N on NBC with Simon Belmont (from the 'Castlevania' games), Kid Icarus, and a very inaccurate Mega-Man, with appearances by Link and Zelda, on NBC. There was even a Super Mario series mixed in with live-action segments in syndication by the early 90s. I mostly missed that one, since it was on a time when I couldn't watch. 

    The 90s would also bring a fairly accurate Mega-Man cartoon. The season/series finale even brought in time-traveling characters from Mega-Man X. There was also a cartoon based on 'Street Fighter II' on USA, although it featured many elements from the live-action movie. I didn't like the animation style for the last season, although they brought in elements from Street Fighter Alpha for a surprise. Fox had some cartoons from games I didn't actually play, such as Monster Hunter. I think the show had a fairly deep plot, but I'm not sure it really reflected the actual game. There was also Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego? I really liked that one, as Rita Moreno voiced the titular villain, even though the only episode the visited Kentucky had them at a generic coal mine. (I also liked the PBS game show for kids. It was a nearly perfect blend of education and entertainment. The follow-up Where in Time leaned too much into education.) I even seem to remember a cartoon based on Mortal Kombat, but I never watched that one that much.

    Of course, the biggest video game cartoon was Pokémon. I knew about both the game and the cartoon before it debuted in America, mostly from the now banned episode that caused so many kids to have seizures. I watched it from its start in syndication through Kids WB onto Cartoon Network, where it went all the way through Gen VI. The show then went to streaming for the next to generations, before ending with the original human cast. A new cast was created for the current games. Never saw them.

    The late 90s brought the unusual knock-off Digimon. This cartoon had an overarching plot line that made much more sense. The first block/seasons of episodes feature a bunch of kids transported to a digital world, meeting up their Digimon partners. They managed to get back to earth, and they saved both worlds, only to have their partners return to their world. The second block had a flash forward of a few years, adding many new cast members, as the older ones mostly kept to the background. A similar menace arose, but this time, the two worlds managed to merge, allowing everyone on earth to bond with their own Digimon partner. The third block took place in a different universe with different characters. I couldn't understand much of it. The fourth block moved to a different network, and existed in another universe again. I missed large sections of it, but it was easily the weirdest one of all.

    Since the 2000s, there haven't been many gaming cartoons that I watched. Some, like one based on a Mega-Man spinoff, weren't really interesting. The latest Pac-Man cartoon from Discovery Family was barely watchable. There was also a highly-rated Castlevania cartoon, but it was on a steaming platform I didn't have. Frankly, so much is now streaming and not on cable, that there aren't any cartoons I can watch any more.

My Video Game Side Quest: Social Media

    I have mentioned many times in this blogcast about how I first joined Facebook. I was only trying to get publicity for my store by creating a page for it, only to be forced to form a page for myself first. The rules had changed after I had read an older book, I guess. I didn't even try to get friends for a few months, after a disappointing birthday message from Facebook. One of those friends invited me to join a game he played. Since I wanted to be nice, I tried it out, even though it wasn't the type I usually liked, sports. Specifically, Golf Clash. (I would later realize that he got an in-game bonus whenever he invited someone to join the game, and they accepted.)  After that, I finally started trying out various games. Of course, the first one I chose on my own was Bejeweled. Their version wasn't exactly the same as the one I was familiar with, but I played for a few weeks before I decided to drop it. I would try out a bunch of other games, abandoning them for one reason or another. I quickly got rid of this weird diner-based matching game, once I found out it was from China. I would go on to find other games, most notably the "Candy Crush" games. I even looked into the game Chats that Facebook had with some of the games.  That feature slowly faded. At my height, I had around ten games that a cycled through. Then the shoes began to drop.

    I hit a wall on one matching game. Try as I might, I couldn't get through this one level. I was all but out of special resources, and I saw no way out to push through. So, I deleted the game. I deleted another game after I accidentally reset it back to the beginning. There was no way I was going to start over, so the block breaking game was history. A third game got deleted after it began to freeze up. While I was getting the daily check-in bonuses, I couldn't actually play the word-building game. I was gone too. One game that I really, really loved was SongPop 2 (don't ask about the original). I was taken down when Flash support was ended. I was in the middle of getting ready to say goodbye, when the game was taken down earlier than I expected. At least I managed to get that game back later. (See a future post.) Even Golf Clash was affected for a few weeks by a dispute with Facebook. I was froze out of the game while things were sorted out. The game came back, but left the platform shortly afterwards. (I managed a way to play this game too. Again, later post.) 

    With all of the upgrades that Facebook has gone through, many of the games I left behind aren't even mentioned in my History any more. Only the four games I still play daily are left. I've mentioned the three "Candy Crush" games before, and I will feature them in a separate post soon. The only remaining game left is Cookie Jam. I don't remember how I got attached to this matching game that is quite similar to "Candy Crush." It has similar themes and rules, but the game has always had features unique to themself. In fact, "Candy Crush" has been implementing some of those features, or something close to them. In some ways, Cookie Jam is a better game with their newest features. I find myself playing for longer periods than I do with any "Candy Crush" game. I just seem to rack up longer winning streaks in it. In fact, I sometimes feel that Cookie Jam lets me win. That's how easy it gets at times.

    Facebook isn't the only social media site that has games now. (The games are a big reason why I prefer the site over the mobile app.) LinkedIn added games over a year ago, but I don't really play them. They just feel like digital versions of traditional pencil-and-paper games. In fact, I actually do many similar games in puzzle magazines. Classmates.com is adding games, but the few they have can be found elsewhere. Even Apple News has digital versions of classic newspaper puzzles, as well as few of their own design. These games are usually locked behind a paywall, so I ignore them, but the emoji-based one is similar to puzzles I've made. Small world, I guess.

My Video Game Library: Backstreet Billiards

    I've always been partial to pool. There was something about the colored balls and geometric shots that thrilled me. I was disappointed that I never got a toy pool table like one my cousins got for Christmas. One of my great aunts lived in a house that once was a pool hall. Another relative had a pool table in their attic area. I only got to go up there once, and I never got a chance at the table. Considering how young I was, I couldn't have done much anyway. I started watching 9-ball pool matches on ESPN my junior year of high school. I was just amazed it was on television, but then ESPN didn't have the best variety of sports to choose from back then. The restaurant next to my high school had a table, from what I heard from those who had went there. I only went once, to pick up an order for another student, so I never had a chance to play. I think both colleges I went to had pool table in their rec areas, but I didn't know anyone to help me learn how to play.

    That's why I was very happy once previews started to show up about the first pool games for the PS1. I think there was one on a demo disc, but I didn't like it too much. I was leaning to another game that kept getting previews, Backstreet Billiards. I didn't know which one to get, until I saw a billiards magazine on a shopping trip to Lexington. They were reviewing pool video games, and they rated Backstreet as the slightly better option for the PlayStation. Slightly better graphics and gameplay. That was the one I asked for Christmas.

    The game had two primary options, Story Mode and One-on-One. In Story Mode, you were going after the pool shark who ruined your father's life. You went around town, beating various opponents at pool to get information, while collecting token to increase your stats. (To be honest, I don't think the stats added anything to the game.) As each one was defeated, the bosses, and their pool rooms and background music, would be added to the other mode as playable opponents.  However, after the fourth boss or so, the game stopped. There was a scratch on the disc I didn't notice, and it was causing the game to freeze. My mom returned the game to Walmart.  She got the money back, but they didn't have another game to replace it. I had to wait about a month until my birthday trip to the Huntington Mall to find another copy.

    I played it that evening after the trip, using the saved data on my card to continue. I made it to the next to last boss, when I faced a new problem. I had just picked up a new token to raise one of my stats. However, I had chosen to raise that stat previously using another token that could be used for one of two different one. The new token would push that stat over the max, thereby freezing the game again. I had to start the game over from scratch, making sure to use the tokens correctly so that it wouldn't happen again. I had maxed out all my stats just before the seventh, final boss, and beating Story Mode. 

    My favorite part was One-on-One. There was something about the special tables and music that just hit me the right way. I mostly chose 9-ball, occasionally going with 8-ball if I wanted a change. There was even a snookers table for playing straight billiards. I didn't know enough about the rules at the time, so I barely played that one. I'm thinking there was a two player mode as well, but since I didn't have anyone else to play with, I just used the game's opponents. I couldn't tell much of a difference in gameplay among them, although their stats and styles were supposedly different. I would usually end a gaming session with a few rounds after everything else. I'm fairly sure that I played this game for fun more than any other, as opposed to just grinding away to get every possible challenge in the game.

    After the I lost my games in the flood, my outlets for pool dwindled. I found some online games over time, but done exactly matched the mechanics and graphics of Backstreet. I got a few pool books for my store, but reading is never the same as actual playing. I least I got caught up on the history and rules. As ESPN started to get the rights to more pro and collegiate sports, the need to air pool across their family of networks slowed down. I don't know if they still have the matches anymore. At least at I time I would watch them. Other sports networks have aired pool as well, including a dedicated channel in the upper, upper reaches of my cable box at one time, but it is never at a time I would watch.  I still want to play, but I have yet to get my chance. 

My Video Game Side Quest: Browser Games

    When I got out of playing on consoles, I eventually found my way to computer games via browser home pages. See, I didn't yet have a computer, yet I would need to go online for my store.  I would have to look up books as well as print off various pages This is beyond standard searches and stuff. From the late 2000s to mid 2010s,  I would go to the Floyd County Public Library in Prestonsburg to do this, as they had a better policy on printing at the time. (Since then, the current management has taken up a much stricter policy.) Also, the library was a great place to wait while I was getting car maintenance and my mom's appointments. After I finished what I absolutely needed to do, I would usually wind up with some extra time. At the time, the library's default browser was Yahoo, and I noticed the 'Games' tab. I would sometimes try a few games out, just to wait.  However, there was one game I wanted to try that wasn't there. 

    That game was Bejeweled. I had first read about it in Games Magazine (now known as Games World of Puzzles Magazine), and I wanted to try it out. It was one of the first three-in-a-row games, if not the first to catch the public's attention. Yahoo didn't have it, but MSN did. I would switch out browsers to play it, in the non-combative mode. Just matching until no possible moves were left. I would play a few other games if I got bored. They had an interesting 9-ball pool game. It had tricky mechanics, but it was the only place I had for pool.

    Well, the library got remodeled, and the computers moved to a different room, as well as replaced with newer models. The browser also changed to Google, and I joined Facebook and started playing games there instead. I also finally got a computer, meaning I'd only have to use the library's computer for print jobs or goofing off while waiting. Yahoo had gotten rid of its games tab, and I never really liked Microsoft. I basically stopped playing browser games, even on my own computer.

    But things would change.

    Google doesn't normally have games on its home page. Normally. Occasionally, the doodle will have a link to a game randomly. Whenever there is a game, it is something unexpected with abstract rules or uncommon themes. The most notable of these was an RPG that was in conjunction with the recent Tokyo Summer Olympics. You played as cat competing in certain sports, while also completing various tasks. I googled hints in solving some of these challenges, while making sure not to delete my search history to keep my progress going. Finding out there was a house I overlooked that kept track of my achievements was great, even if I had already finished almost the entire game. I still check the doodle to see if there is anything to play. Just recently, YouTube has started to have small, casual games available, beyond what there is to download on GooglePlay. I haven't look too much into this yet, but I've seen many of these types of games elsewhere.

    Late last year, I noticed that Yahoo had brought back its games tab. (Yahoo is still my mom's go-to browser.) It doesn't have the large selection it used to, but I still checked some out. At first, after trying out a few games, I settled on a mahjong tile-matching game. Now, I am greatly familiar with mahjong, although I have never played, but I had seen others playing something similar. I had also seen the ads. While I didn't always beat the game, I did win enough that I got bored with it. I then moved on to jigsaw puzzles. I loved jigsaws when I was a kid, but I lost them all to floods. Yes, many of the images are cursed enough to suggest they were generated by AI, but I still like them. The puzzles got easier once I noticed that I could focus on just the edges. The rest of the pieces would vanish, until the border was done. Then, they would come back, with the right third on one side, and the rest on the other. And the pieces would show up in the same places with each puzzle. This allows me to finish a puzzle in about five minutes, or less. I started out at 8 x 6, but I have since moved up to 10 x 8 most days, or 12 x 10 if I've got the extra time. I've also started to do the daily Candy Crush Crushable brainteaser since February. (More on this in a later post.) I either solve it immediately or I need multiple tries and hints to get it done.

    I have even started to check out the games on Bing, Microsoft's update of MSN. For the most part, I have only checked out games that are similar to ones I've seen in ads elsewhere. I've only played a fruit merger game on a regular basis, and that was an over a month ago. Bing still has the same 9-ball game that they had years ago. I tried to play it again, but the mechanics are just not quite to my liking. Still better than other pool games I've seen. 

My Video Game Library: Tonga

    Even by my standards, Tonga was weird

    I would never have ever gotten Tonga if I had never played it on a demo disc. It was just that weird-looking, but it was innovative in ways that were beyond many platformers. You played as a pink-haired guy who ended up on a tropical island being invaded by evil, magic pigs.  Years before Angry Birds. Along the way, you defeat the pigs by learning new skills and unlocking special weapons. The game also had sections rendered in a "3-D" effect, allowing you to go 'into' the background as it were at times. While the game was basically a platformer, it had many RPG elements as well.  Achievement missions and side quests that you had to perform to beat the game. I never did get all of them completed. Some of the side quests were just a little too hard for me. One of the missions was to return a lunch box to a character. Unfortunately, lunch boxes were also power-ups used to restore health that you kept until needed. I accidentally used the wrong box, and I couldn't reset the game back to before I used it. I didn't complete the mission correctly, but I still got the credit when I finally met up with him.

    There is reason why I am being a little vague about Tonga. I started playing the game at a time when my grandmother was in the hospital for rehabilitation. My mom would spend the evenings with her, while I stayed at home. As such, I played a lot of games later a night, so the memories of some of the levels are slightly surreal. It didn't help that some of the levels were already weird. One section involved saving a village from the pigs and restoring their water supply. Once done, the water returned to a fountain being filled by streams of water coming from the mid-sections of male statues. You can guess where exactly on your own. 

    The original game was highly rated, and successful enough to garner a sequel. Tonga had a longer game, but only faces five evil pig bosses, instead of the seven in the original game. There was just enough new material added that the sequel didn't feel like a straight rehash of the original, but not enough to warrant keeping the game line running. Like the first game, while I beat it, I didn't get every achievement. 

    I really liked both games, but it is has been so long  since I played them that I can't remember more details. I don't think I replayed them much. I just had to replay certain levels multiple times just to move on to beat the game, although I feel that I had a slightly easier time with the second game. 

    I just wish that I had played it a bit more.

My Video Game Library: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

    During the mid to late 90s, I got a little goth. Not all the way wearing black all the time, but goth nonetheless. I blame it on my bad emotional state at the time. Anyway, when I played the first demo of Legacy of Kain:  Soul Reaver, I was amazed.  The story was deeper than I imagined.  The gameplay was so interactive. Technically, the game was a sequel to Blood Omen:  Legacy of Kain. I barely knew of the game and never played it, but it didn't look like the type of game I would be interested in. Soul Reaver felt different. Just the two levels that had demos showed a great mix of combat and puzzles, as well as an intriguing backstory. You play as the vampire Raziel, a lieutenant to Kane, the head vampire who has taken over the land in the first game. Before the game starts, you were killed for having developed wings to fly, and have been in the underworld for a long time before being revived by this Elder god. Upon returning, you go out to defeat the remaining vampires, while trying to avoid vampire hunters out to kill you. You have to shift from the physical world back to the spirit world at times, both to regain power as well as to solve some of the puzzles. After gaining new abilities by defeating the vampire bosses, you defeat one last lieutenant to end the game, before setting out on a new quest.

    I replayed this game quite a few times to get the most out of it, which was a little strange for me. There was just something about going back to solve the puzzles faster and defeating all of the bosses while exploring the many locations in the game. I don't think I even had to use many tips, or cheat codes which were available. (Okay, I did use one once for one of the replays, but only because I messed up something and I wasn't able to defeat one of the bosses. I wouldn't have been able to complete that run without it.) I really got the most out of that game.

    There was a Soul Reaver 2 released soon after. The first game was so large, some portions had to be saved for the second game.  I never got it.  I think I may have skipped it because I was so busy opening my store that I just forgot about it or something.The was also a sequel of Blood Omen starring the original Kane as well, but that was another game I didn't want. I can't even remember if I knew about the game at the time. (I did some research to make sure I remembered everything correctly for this post, as well as many of the others in this series.)

    In 2003, Legacy of Kain:  Defiance came out.  It was the first PS2 game I got after the flood destroyed my entire Playstation collection. Although it was supposed to be a Christmas present from my mom, I was the one who had to buy it from Walmart. It was also the only time in my life I had to be carded for anything, as it was rated Mature. (Note:  I was over thirty at the time, with a touch of gray on my goatee if the cashier had noticed. Still, I find it kind of great that I looked almost ten years longer. I still think I could pass about five years younger, or more, in certain situations. I have yet to be in any other situation that required ID for age limits.) The game combined the two protagonists into one game. Levels shifted from Kain to Raziel.  Each character maintained most of the powers from their previous games, gaining and improving them as the game progressed. Finally, through some sort of time travel, the two met in a final battle.

    And that's where the game lost it for me. At the start of the fight, you were one character. Then just before winning, you shifted back to the other one to finish the game. No spoilers here, but the winner was not the one I preferred. You then went to battle the final boss. The fight was just button pushing. Literally. After knocking out a few tentacles, that would grow back, you had to hit buttons on the wall behind the tentacles in a certain order to win. No real strategy involved.  You didn't even need your special powers to win. The game ends with an uncertain, but somewhat hopeful, future. Maybe. I would go on to buy a guide for this game, because I was sure I had missed something while playing, because I finished it in less than one weekend. I hadn't. I tried replaying the game, using some of the bonus codes for new modes, but I didn't feel it was interesting enough to even finish the first level with any of them.

    I still like the series, but the way it ended was just anticlimactic. There were talks about new games in the series, but nothing came about for them beyond updated versions with some tweaks. I'm not even sure if I would go back to the games if new ones were out. 

My Video Game Side Quest: Demos

    If you weren't sure about whether or not to buy a game or system, there was really only one option back in the 80s--demos. Many places had systems set up so that one could try out a game or two for certain systems. The first one I ever tried was in the early 80s. I went with my mom on Saturday morning to South Mayo Tire to either get the tires rotated or the oil changed. Instead of waiting downstairs, we went upstairs to the electronics department where they had some video game system demo. Of course, I went to play with it. I was having troubles with it though, probably because I was holding the controller upside down, (I have always been a little ambidextrous, doing things offhandedly, so I had the directional buttons on the right and the action buttons on the left, which was backwards.) After a few minutes, my mom forced me off, even though we were basically the only people up there. I spent the rest of the time watching a Smurfs cartoon I don't think I had seen yet. She never took me back, going elsewhere for maintenance when I was there. South Mayo Tire may have gotten rid of its electronics section a long time ago, but it is otherwise still in business. 

    Other stores had demos too.  The ones I remember most were the original location of Lowe's in Pikeville and the Sears at the Huntington Mall. The latter one may have had a Phillips CD-i with the cursed Zelda game port on display. I don't remember ever playing any of them. Video game stores also had some demos up, but I never played them either, as they were usually at distant malls where I didn't have all that extra time to play games.

    In the mid/late 90s, when I was unemployed, I would make trips to Prestonsburg just to break the monotony. One thing I did was go to Walmart and play Super Mario 64 on the GC demo for a few minutes, usually after I lost a few lives. I thought it was fun combining my takes with others to beat the game. There were other system demos up, but I never tried those. I would wind up playing other games at GC demos in Paintsville and Norton. (Walmart has since opened larger, Superstore locations nearby at both spots.). Today, you can't find demos at Walmart, at least locally. Some gaming stores might have playable demos up, but I so rarely go into them and I rarely have enough time to play when I do go.

    I had another way to demo games in the 90s. The Official US Playstation Magazine used to have a demo disc in every issue.  Similar to the disc I got with my PS1, the discs had previews and playable levels to a number of games each issue. These discs were the main reason why I bought one almost every month. The mag even had a mini-guide for many of the playable demos, so you could complete them. Some of the levels could be replayed as many times as you wanted.  Others ended as soon as you lost all your lives, and you couldn't replay it until you reloaded the CD. A few were on a timer, ending after ten minutes or so. I replayed one game multiple times to see as far it went, always losing my lives or hitting the time limit, before I finally finished it, only to get an ending saying you needed the full version of the game to see more.

    While I didn't play every game, or watch every preview reel, I played most of them. In fact, some of them were more enjoyable than some of my full games. For a few months after the 2003 flood, those demos were all I had to play until I could buy more new games. Yes, strangely enough, I had saved most of the demo discs, as well as getting newer ones. 

    Ultimately, the magazine was cancelled, so I had no more new demos. A few other free discs had been available at places, but I never tried them as I was afraid of their dubious nature. Nowadays, with most games being digital, such demos would be hard to come by anyway, even if I had a newer system. I think I remember seeing something packaged with some of the few gaming mags that are still left, but I don't know if any of them were demos. 

    The next few posts will be about the games I only bought because I loved the demos so much. None of them were typical of what I would have normally bought, and I might not even considered them unless I had had them as part of a demo.

My Video Game Library: Q*Bert?!

    When scheduling posts for my latest series, I tried to plan it so that any of the side-quest posts on Mondays would coordinate with the following regular on Wednesdays somehow.  For instance, when I had the side-quest post about gaming magazines, the following regular post was about a game I picked up due to reading about it in a magazine.  Last week, I talked about guides, and the next post was about the game I needed guides that most for. My next side-quest with tie very closely with the next few games.  However, since I want the side-quest posts to precede regular post immediately, and since I don't to have regular posts on Mondays, I am left with a quandary.  I either have to cover games I didn't want to or come up with some other tangential topics to cover.  These posts were supposed to occur nearer the end of the series, but because some of the side-quest posts had to be split up into two parts, I am forced to put one of these 'filler' posts up today.

    Technically, my first ever 'video' game was Q*Bert. The board game. One Christmas, some relative got me this. Probably a second cousin or great aunt or something.  The game board was a tray in the bottom of the box.  On it was the pyramid from the first level of Q*Bert.  Each block of the pyramid had a hole in it to place a peg before the start. One player was Q*Bert, hopping from block-to-block grabbing the pegs.  The other player controlled the bad guys trying to stop Q*Bert, moving in their own ways. (The actual rules may have included more players controlling the bad guys, but since I only had my mom to play against, this is the only way we could play.) The goal for Q*Bert was to get all the pegs, and staying away from the enemies. He even had the flying saucers on the sides for a one-time escape. The other player won by preventing Q*Bert from getting the pegs. I can't remember anything beyond this.

    I lost almost all of my board games in the 1986 flood, save Trivial Pursuit which I had taken with me. I got many of them back. For obvious reasons, Q*Bert was not one of the games still available. (I would end up losing them almost all again in the 2003 flood, save for most of a small portable chess set.  As of yet, I still haven't gotten any of them back.)

My Video Game Library: Pokémon

    That's right.  I tried to catch them all, and I failed miserably about it.

    I had known about Pokémon for some time before it debuted in America. The big thing was when an episode of the anime caused viewers to have seizures. That is what led me to want to get a Gameboy and play the game. Of course, I got the Blue version.  I didn't have that much history with RPGs, so I had an even steeper learning curve with the game than usual. While I started out okay, I quickly began to flail. After a few tries, I took a break. I bought a guide.  Or two.  Ultimately three, I believe. The first guide was the official one from Nintendo, with the stickers of all of the Gen I Pokémon. I bough the others to get slightly different views on strategy. It took some time, but I finally beat the game, although I didn't catch them all, as I had no one to trade with.  Sigh.

    I still liked the game, mostly the cartoon once it started in the US. I got the Gen II game when it game out, again for Christmas. I wanted the Silver version, which was a mistake. Although I might have known, I failed to comprehend that Silver had the same mix of Gen I Pokémon as Blue. This meant that I couldn't even catch the ones I missed in the first game, even if I had a way to trade them.  Still, I continued playing, and made it not just to beating the first endgame boss, but also to the final boss. Yes, I had more guides.  Even more so than for Gen I, as I also got the remix game, Crystal, when it came out later. (I am of the same opinion as a few others that the remix should have been Platinum, and the Gen IV remix should have been Crystal. Whatever.) I think I liked Crystal more than Silver. Still couldn't catch them all.

    When the GBA came out, it meant that I could finally trade with myself, maybe. I know I bought a special connector cable, but I can't remember if the GBA was backwards-compatible. Anyway, I got the Gen III game. Yes, I picked Sapphire. For some reason, I felt this game was harder than it should have been. There were just too many secrets to find. I did beat the game, though.  Barely.  I don't think I was able to collect everything though. I also picked up the remix, Emerald. I picked up a lot more guides for that one.

    Although I lost my Gameboy and GBA in the flood, I didn't lose the Pokémon games. I lost about half the guides though, making getting everything harder. What was fun was getting the updated Gen I game. This time I got Fire Red for Christmas, assuring that I would finally be able to catch as many different Pokémon as possible. I played through the game multiple times just so I could get every single unique Pokémon, and then trade them to Emerald so that I could finally say I caught all the Gen I group that I could. I think I played it through at least five times, including one where I messed up so horribly that I had to play through with the same starter just to collect the special one that I missed. 

    I guess that I had gamer fatigue, but I just stopped wanting to play. I reached a point in Emerald that I couldn't play through, so I took a break.  I never went back.

    When the Nintendo Dual Screen (DS) game out with the Gen IV games, I never picked one up.  Sure, as I mentioned in another post, I picked up the guide, but I never got the DS and the games. I didn't really have the money for the system, but I had also lost some of the will to play after going through the previous games so much. I continued getting guides for each generation up to Gen VIII. (I also watched the cartoon until it moved over to streaming, just before it got to Gen VII.) With Gen IX, official guides were no longer being published.  Sure, I followed along online as much as I could, but I mostly lost interest. 

    Gen X was recently announced, and it is due out later this year on the current version of the Nintendo Switch portable. As of today, only the starters have been announced, and not their evolutions. Part of me almost wants to finally go back to system gaming, but only a small part. The idea of having to pay more just to make sure I had a physical copy of a game doesn't sit right with me. Also, the Switch is more of a partnership system, made for having multiple people playing.  That's something I just don't have. 

    I still want to connect with the series. I'm just not sure how any more.

My Video Game Side Quest: Guides

    I had trouble with a lot of games, so I used every possible avenue to find a way to beat them. Hence, guides. I didn't have them for every game, but I did use them when and where I could. When I first started gaming, guides were frequently actual books. By the late 90s, bookazines became the standard format, as they were quicker to produce. The guides would be out almost as soon as the games. They could also focus on just one game, as opposed to books which frequently featured multiple games.  I regret that I tore out large sections of these books that featured games I would never play, and I threw them away. That was wrong of me. For magazines, that would be okay, but not books.

    Following are a list of places where I bought guides. Places that are closed are in black, while those still open are in blue. I'll mention some other facts with each entry.

• Readmore, Prestonsburg:  I got one of my NES guides that included Super Mario here after signing up for classes at PCC, before going on to Pikeville to get two of my wisdom teeth removed. (The two on the left. The right ones came in fine. However, I still have jaw problems due to the imbalance to this day.) I may have gotten a Pokémon guide here later as well.
• Walmart, Prestonsburg:  I may have gotten another Pokémon guide here. I know I looked at some. Maybe at the closed Winn Dixie as well, but I don't think I bought any there. All I know is that Walmart's magazine area is less than half of what it was at its peak.
• Booknotes, Pikeville:  Of course, I bought books for myself through my own store.  Technically, they all belong to me until sold, but I digress. Almost entirely official Pokémon guides, but one or two others.
• Economy Drug, Pikevile:  They used to get a few guides along with their magazines. I would close my store early the day new mags came in to look at them. I kept looking at a Gen IV Pokémon guide. I think I bought it there, but it could have been elsewhere. The stopped getting mags over a decade ago.
• Food City, Town & Country, Pikeville: I think I saw a few unofficial early Gen Pokémon guides here, but it was the advance guide to the GBA that I ultimately bought here. It was what made me want to buy one, even though I didn't like the majority of the games featured in it. I don't think the current location ever had any guides.
• Walmart, Pikeville:  I got one or two guides from the Gen II/III eras here. At least one was unofficial.
• Readmore, Coal Run:  I'm pretty sure I got my first NES guide here, just after the Christmas I got it. I might have had a Pokémon guide as well.
• Borders, Huntingon Mall:  I remember getting at least one Pokémon guide here, or at least looking at a few. I believe I got a Street Fighter Alpha art book as well. (It featured move lists as well, so I'm calling it a guide.) However, it may be from somewhere else.
• Game Stop, Huntington Mall: Here. They had guides, but I'm not sure if they do any more.  They were still open the last time I went to the Mall.
• BAM, Huntington Mall:  The timeline is a little off, but I may have looked at some guides here, before deciding to get them through my store, if I didn't actually buy them here.
• Joseph-Beth Bookselleres, Lexington:  At least one Pokémon guide from here, most likely unofficial.
• Unknown video game store, Fayette Mall, Lexington: On a birthday trip, soon after I got my SNES for Christmas, I picked up the official guides to both Super Mario World and the competition cartridge with the original three games plus the bonus unreleased one. And this was a few days before I got the second cartridge through mail giveaway. Only time I can remember buying anything here before the store closed, since I can't remember where I got the PS1 controller

    Like mags, guides have gone the way of the internet.  I tried to look for a Gen IX Pokémon guide a few years ago, only to find unofficial, third-party, independently published books of unknown quality. Sure, I could order something, but I'm not sure how good it would be. Places likes Joseph-Beth and BAM would have art books based on games, but they mostly aren't play throughs for guides

My Video Game Library: Castlevania

    I, of course, knew of the Castlevania series well before I got any of the games. There was a 'Belmont' character on one of the old Saturday morning cartoons (more of that in a later post). The games were always being mentioned in the gaming mags. However, it wasn't until the news for the first Castlevania game for the PS1, Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night or SotN, that I became truly invested in the series. Those first preview pictures held a huge secret that would earn the game the "Best Middle" award from EMG (IYKYK).  The game ventured away from the linear path of the previous games to a more explorable situation, with sections locked away until certain upgrades were found. (In fact, this led to the creation of the term 'metroidvania' style of game that had such branching paths that had to be unlocked after this game and the Metroid series, which I never followed.) I started playing the afternoon I got it, after picking it up at the Game Stop at the Huntington Mall.  I think I even opened it and started reading the manual to get a head start. I was surprised at the opening, where my character flew across the screen past the first rooms, only to wind up into basically the first boss battle, pretty much unprepared. Somehow, I managed to work my way through the game, managing to get over 190% of the game explored (again, IYKYK). I worked my way to the final boss, Dracula, as Alucard, his half-vampire son. Yeah, silly, but the name was around before the series was started, I think. Yet, I could never beat him, even with the tips I found.  Still, I loved the game.  It is still the highest ranked game of the series. 

    Later on, a previously unreleased game for the US came out, Chronicles, and I got that for Christmas.  My mom had a cousin pick it up in Lexington somewhere. It was in the standard linear-style, so the change in play was tricky to adjust to. I made it about halfway through the game before I had to take a break. I was never able to get back to either of the games before I lost them in the flood.

    When the GBA first came out, a Castlevania game was one of the highlights. Circle of the Moon featured the same type of explorable gameplay from SotN, but with a different magic system. This time, I was able to complete almost all of the game, even beating the main boss and most of the unlocked challenges. I just couldn't figure out the one empty room with the soundbite of a skeleton.  The graphics could have been a little cleaner, though. The next GBA game was Harmony of Dissonance.  This one brought back the "Sorry, but our undead overlord is in another castle" schtick from SotN (once again, IYKYK). This game was a little underwhelming.  One of its side quests was finding objects to decorating a spare room in the castle. Yes, a challenge involving interior decorating. You couldn't even adjust the objects.  Just find them and, poof, they were arranged for you. Too easy.

    The third GBA game was Aria of Sorrow.  Of the GBA games, this one was the most like SotN. Set in a near-future Japan (?!), you play a college student who gets sucked into the castle where you get the ability to suck (?!) the spirits from enemies you defeat to gain powers from them that you get to decide which ones to use. I must say, this was my favorite of all of the games. While I had almost beaten the game in full before the flood, I had to wait until I got a new GBA to finally finish it.  In the interim, I had found great tips in a gaming mag. I had found every ability, beaten the real last boss, and defeated the unlocked boss challenge mode, getting the best weapon in the game.  Excalibur.  However, since my character wasn't the future king of England, it stayed in the stone. It was more of a hammer than a sword.

    There were follow up games to AoS on the Nintendo Dual Screen (DS), but since I never got the system, I missed out on them. I really hated that. There would be other Castlevania games afterwards, by the game company decided to go a different route, and get out of the console gaming market. There have been other signs of Castlevania in various media, such as a highly rated cartoon, but no new games in some time. I almost even opened my free Apple Arcade trial just to try out a Castlevania game, but I didn't since I don't think it was in the same style. I also didn't want to get stuck paying the monthly fee once the trial was over. Still, I think I would like to play the series again one day.