For a while now, I’ve always wanted to do more art, especially for my favorite video game franchises. While I’ve always done more traditional art — sketches, colored pencils, markers — I’ve wanted to practice more with digital art recently. Figured I may as well start now!
As a kid, drawing was one of my favorite pastimes. I had no problem spending the day sketching out an image and using colored pencils to bring it to life. After a few years, I discovered oil pastels in one of my high school art classes, which just opened up another side of the world of art for me. I have a large container full of art supplies in our closet, from sketchbooks to several packs of colored pencils and pastels to art instruction books.
Unfortunately, my practice with art has waned over the years with my schooling focusing more on computers and math, despite my love of writing and drawing. Yet, art has always been in the back of my mind and I have made (and broken) promises to myself to start practicing again. I need to be more disciplined about it and, one way to keep myself accountable, is to show a picture here or there on the blog.
To go along with October and the theme of spooky stuff, this month features a Gengar using Shadowball, created with my Wacom tablet and Paint Tool SAI. There were about three layers of sketches done to try to get most of the proportions right and to warm up a bit with digitally drawing. I drew the lineart on a separate layer — neglecting to realize that there is a specific layer tool designed for lineart to help keep lines smooth, but I’ll remember that for next time — before adding the colors. I enjoyed trying out the different tools for the shading and was probably a little too enthusiastic with the blur tool on the Shadowball portion of the picture.
Here’s hoping you enjoy my little interpretation of this Pokemon! Any kind and constructive criticism — especially with using Paint Tool SAI, as I’m still new to it — is appreciated.
Do you create fanart? Do you have some favorite artists? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Pokemon Masters is one of the latest mobile games that Nintendo released. They had been hyping it up for a while and when it released at the end of August, it didn’t disappoint.
I’ll admit – I didn’t get what Pokemon Masters was all about until I started playing it. I saw Pokemon’s various social media accounts hyping it up. I saw Brock and Misty, 3-on-3 Pokemon battles, but I never fully comprehended what the game entailed. This is mostly because I watched Instagram stories on mute and never bothered to look up the game.
However, it’s Pokemon. So, of course I’m going to get it. I didn’t get a chance to play it for a few weeks after it came out, but I was sucked into it the moment I did finally get to play.
Pokemon Masters is all about collecting trainers to be part of your team so that you can compete in the Pokemon Masters League (PML). This is held on an island called Pasio where gym leaders, champions, elite four members, and trainers travel from all over the regions to Pasio to compete in this tournament. Teams are formed to participate in 3-on-3 battles, one Pokemon partner per trainer.
In order to officially enter the PML, you and your team need to collect five badges. Each of these badges is held by a PML Leader that you have to track down and defeat in battle, similar to regular gym battles in the main games.
The game is made up of 18 chapters, which was shorter than I thought it would be, especially since the chapters are short themselves. They get a bit longer down the road, but they’re still pretty quick to get through. Each chapter has two elements: story and battle.
The story is, in my opinion, not the greatest. You and your partner Pikachu (no, unfortunately, you can’t choose which Pokemon you get as your partner) explore Pasio and make friends with various familiar characters from the Pokemon world. This includes gym leaders Brock and Misty from the Kanto region, Rosa, the female protagonist from the Unova region, Barry, the main rival from the Sinnoh region, and so many others. Each story part is a matter of the characters speaking with each other and to you with some voice acting here and there. All you have to do is tap the screen and occasionally “answer” which is choosing one of two response options. These scenes can vary from taking a minute to as little as ten seconds. It’s not very involved.
However, the game isn’t really about the story, in my opinion. It’s more about the battles, which I’ll get to in a minute.
As you go through the story elements of the game, you’ll travel to different areas in Pasio running into various trainers, adding familiar faces to your team, and occasionally running into Team Break. Like the core Pokemon games, there is a bad guy team that tries to get in your way. Team Break simply tries to steal everyone’s partner Pokemon. You battle them, defeat them, and they run away. Simple as that, just like the main games.
In between the story bits, there are battles. As you travel, trainers will lock eyes with you and challenge to a battle. At the end of the chapter, you’ll find who you’re looking for, battle them, and they’ll join your team giving you access to play as them and their partner Pokemon for future battles.
The battles certainly are the best part of the game. Every Pokemon only has one weakness, which is shown above its health bar so that you don’t need to remember 800+ Pokemon since it’s not like the mainstream games. Each move your Pokemon has uses energy. Some moves take one energy bar, others two, and some three. They slowly recharge so you can spam a 1-energy move over and over again or you can sit and wait for three bars to regenerate so that you can use a more powerful move.
I enjoyed the battle system. It added more strategy than you would think. The battles did have some lag, but there was a lot going on the screen with six different Pokemon trying to make a move – plus the sync moves. Once a Pokemon uses a certain number of attacks, they would unleash their sync move with their trainer which was a totally over-powered attack. However, the lag never bothered me and never made the game unbearable to play.
As mobile games tend to have, there are microtransactions in this game. You do not need to spend any money though. I made it quite far in the game without spending a penny. I just managed my gems well.
Pokemon Masters uses gems to find sync pairs, which is gathering more people for your team. However, you don’t have to do this since you recruit more trainers through the main story anyway. The gems are also used as rewards when you get through a chapter or training. There is a training mode where you can grind a bit in order to level up your team, evolve them, and gain more gems as well as support items that will help you unlock move moves for the Pokemon.
This game as a whole has so much to offer. Yes, the story is a bit lacking, but it’s similar to the main games in which you try to enter a tournament and a team of bad guys tries to stop you, which in turn, you stop them. It’s also a mobile game though so the story isn’t going to be as in-depth as a lengthy core game would be.
Pokemon Masters gets a rating of…
PLAY IT | Download It | Delete It
Overall, Pokemon Masters is a great game. The story lacks depth, but I find it to be just enough for a mobile game. The battles are a lot of fun, even though the difficulty ramps up suddenly. However, that’s what the various training areas are for. Pokemon Masters has gotten a lot of backlash, but I honestly think this is Pokemon’s best mobile game yet. I enjoyed my time with it and will continue to enjoy my time with it. It’s definitely one to play if you’re a huge Pokemon fan.
Have you played Pokemon Rumble Rush yet? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments below! If you like this post, please share it around.
Nintendo has always tried its best to promote a healthy body and mind. With each new console, as technology evolves, they seem to come up with bigger and better ways to get their gamers up and moving or simply thinking outside the box.
I recently talking about Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training, a sequel to Brain Age, that’s coming to Nintendo Switch in January. It’s obviously being released in Japan and it was recently announced that it’ll be coming to Europe in January 2020 as well. As far as I know (at least, I haven’t heard), it’s not announced to come to the US yet. I do hope it will come to where I am because the game looks great. I’m looking forward to giving it a try.
I always enjoyed those kinds of games with the logic puzzles and, even though I hate math, the math games were always fun. Plus, it had Sudoku which is my favorite kind of puzzle.
They also announced Ring Fit Adventure which releases this week. This is another game I want to try. However, it comes out in three days and we haven’t pre-ordered it. While I do want to try the game, I’m not sure if I want to drop $80 bucks at the moment. This might be a game I’d like to give a go a little later.
There are so many games coming out within the next few months that I’m looking forward to trying. I know I’ll get sucked into Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Pokemon Sword & Shield when they come out. There are some other games I’m looking forward to buying and trying as well.
Ring Fit Adventure, while I’m definitely intrigued, I don’t think I’ll be as into it as I will be with Luigi’s Mansion, for example. It’s more expensive and there’s more equipment, if you will, that I’ll have to store somewhere. Brain Training, on the other hand, will be something quick to pick up and play as I go or just for a few minutes each day.
I understand why Nintendo wants people to get up and moving. In Wii games and 3DS games, if you play for a certain amount of time, a pop-up will appear reminding you to go outside and do something other than sitting on your butt playing video games. Which is an interesting thing to add when your company is built on wanting people to play games, however, I guess they want the games to last.
I also understand keeping the mind sharp but, in a way, don’t games already do this?
Playing video games requires hand-eye coordination. Most games involve some sort of thinking, mostly outside the box. The Legend of Zelda series, for example, is built upon puzzles. The dungeons and shrines are puzzles and logic thinking, just without numbers. It’s portrayed in a different way. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is all about logic as well. Solving mysteries requires you to think outside the box, remember certain evidence, and be observant.
This isn’t to say that games like Brain Age shouldn’t exist. I love those games as much as any other. But video games are a lot more involved than people seem to give them credit for.
Will you get Ring Fit Adventure and/or the Brain Training game if it comes to your area? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
This is a little something I found recently while hanging out on the Internet, as one does. I’m still really excited for Breath of the Wild’s sequel, and I’m eager to hear more about it!
Everyone remember the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer that was showcased at E3 earlier this year? We’re still super excited about it, and love seeing all the fan speculation surrounding the less-than-two-minutes trailer (especially “Hydrated Ganondorf”).
Earlier this month, there was a fanmade trailer for the Breath of the Wild sequel. The YouTuber actually specializes in making low poly models in the style of the N64 era, and seeing their talents in this mock Breath of the Wild sequel trailer is awesome. Quite a few of the comments on the video mention how the N64 graphics and music made the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer much creepier than the real trailer, comparing it even further to Majora’s Mask.
I found the trailer to be pretty impressive, especially since there’s a small gap in the trailer that the YouTuber created themselves so it better fit the timeframe. I hope you enjoy this as well!
What did you think of the fan trailer? Any predictions for the Breath of the Wild sequel? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Alright, we got a doozy for you guys this month! Being October and the month of ghosts, it was logical enough to stick King Boo in the debate, especially since he’s one of Rachel’s favorite characters in the Super Mario universe. The other game ghost we’re pitting against King Boo is King Boom Boo from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. It’s a silly choice, but the game is one of my guilty pleasures, so we’re going with it.
It was a choice made from a joking remark from Kris and I totally went along with it, much to her dismay. Because King Boom Boo was her idea, I’m taking the side of King Boo and she’s on the side of King Boom Boo. Kris, go ahead and start the debate!
King Boom Boo is one of the boss battles from a Knuckles level and he is one of the most random bosses in the game. From a game that is already ridiculous in terms of gameplay and animation, King Boom Boo fit right in. I remember his appearance made me laugh, with the rainbow-colored tongue and speaking only in babble. I couldn’t blame him for trying to kick Knuckles out. Knuckles, after all, was tearing up the pyramid where King Boom Boo made his home while looking for some of Eggman’s keys.
His name itself is kind of ridiculous, to be honest. All in all, I think King Boo from Luigi’s Mansion has a better reason for being mean. He was practically locked away and wanted his freedom… and also to take over everything, but oh well.
…Dude, he was a ghost, couldn’t he just go off and do whatever he wanted? All King Boom Boo wanted was his own place. King Boom Boo was also enough of a, erm, ghost to try to defeat Knuckles on his own. King Boo had to impersonate and spook poor Luigi as Bowser during their fight. King Boom Boo also had a legitimate weakness to sunlight, making you race around the ring to catch up to him and puzzle out the sunroof to make him hide in terror. King Boo gets bested by a vacuum.
King Boo had added protection in the Bowser suit, which is more defense than what King Boom Boo thought he had. Also, King Boo just has a really cool laugh and he has a jeweled crown. Not to mention, he has a lot of Boos backing him up. He has a whole army.
King Boom Boo has his own army as well. There were ghosts all over the place in the pyramid level, as well as one really stupid minion during the boss fight. Actually, if it wasn’t for that minion holding the trigger for the sunroof windows in the fight, King Boom Boo would have bested Knuckles because, you know, he’s an actual threat with pyrotechnic abilities instead of a little ghost acting as a puppeteer. King Boom Boo didn’t need an army to protect his home and little minions.
Okay, well all I really need to say is that King Boo is much better than King Boom Boo. He’s more well known. This is the weirdest debate we’ve ever done, so I’m just going to end it and say I win.
Whose side are you on? Let us know about them in the comments below! If you like this post, please share it around.
Last week was about Ghost-type Pokemon, and this week I figured I would give one of my favorite types a little more attention. This does not include any of the revealed Galar Pokemon just yet, although I’m looking forward to seeing them in action when Sword and Shield are released!
Umbreon
One of the first Dark-type Pokemon that I ever trained, Umbreon was always one of my favorite Eevee evolutions. True, it’s not the strongest of the evolutions, but the design was on point and I love the glowing rings, both with its normal coloring and its shiny state.
Mightyena
When I first saw Poochyena in Ruby and Sapphire, it reminded me of a scrappy little mutt, and its evolution became a staple in my Hoenn teams. It’s always been a powerhouse amid my other Pokemon with its sturdiness, and it always reminded me of a wolf, one of my favorite animals.
Scrafty
Seeing this guy classified as the “hoodlum” Pokemon always made me laugh. With strong attacks from both its dark and fighting typing, Scrafty was one of my favorites in the Unova region. The loyalty that many of its dex entries describe was always endearing, as well.
Houndoom
Despite their prowess, Fire type Pokemon were usually passed over on my teams for other favorites, like Ground, Flying, and Grass. Rachel was enough of a pyro for the both of us, I figured, but Houndour and Houndoom, especially, were great in my Johto teams. Their designs were always a favorite!
What are some of your favorite Dark type Pokemon? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
On Monday, Kris talked about the possibility of Galarian Ponyta being confirmed for Pokemon Sword & Shield. Well, Galarian Ponyta is officially here.
I didn’t pay attention to that 24-hour live stream at all. Normally, I’d be all over that but, for some reason, it didn’t tickle my fancy. Also, having that on for 24 hours straight waiting for something to happen is a bit much for me. Normally, I’d have it on in the background as I worked, but I would have felt obligated to keep my eyes on that screen at all times.
Long story short, so many people were speculating Ponyta to have a Galar form and they were right. What they weren’t right about, however, is its type.
Galarian Ponyta is a majestic Pokemon at its finest. Yes, it’s a baby and that’s why I can’t wait to see what Rapidash looks like. Kris hopes Rapidash will be Psychic-Flying and sprout wings to be a pegasus. It’s not far off base – I mean, Ponyta is a literal unicorn here. There’s the horn on its forehead and cotton candy colors. (However, it’s classified as the “Unique Horn Pokemon.”)
And yeah, you read that right. Galarian Ponyta is not Fairy, despite its looks, but is Psychic. It reminds me of Espeon color-wise, so if it wasn’t going to be Fairy, then I’ll take Psychic instead. Although, again, Rapidash could have an added type as some evolutions do. It could end up being Psychic-Fairy. You never know.
According to the Pokedex, there is only a handful of Psychic-Flying Pokemon (the includes evolutions) and there’s only one Psychic-Fairy type. Though, that doesn’t mean anything for Galarian Ponyta. If there’s anything to be said about Pokemon types, it’s that they are never even.
I appreciate Galarian Ponyta’s design though. It’s adorable and magical looking. To be honest, my first thought was that they took a character from My Little Pony and gave it an upgrade. Or, Galarian Ponyta would be the all-magical being in the next My Little Pony movie or something.
I don’t raise Psychic Pokemon often on my team, but I would love to have Galarian Ponyta travel with me. I want to see its movement on the battlefield and also play with it in the Pokemon Camp.
I believe Galarian Ponyta is exclusive to Pokemon Shield like how Sirfetch’d is exclusive to Pokemon Sword. I can’t find where I saw that information though, so don’t quote me. I’m getting both versions anyway, so it doesn’t matter to me.
With the game releasing in about a month, including Galarian forms and evolutions, about 25 Pokemon have been officially been revealed. 20 of those are new to the Galar region. There’s no national dex and, without counting any of the Galar region Pokemon, there is 809 Pokemon total. Will they make it to 1,000 in the Galar region?
I’m not sure, but I hope so. I think they will because they tend to release more legendary Pokemon here and there even after the games come out. If not, I’ll look forward to generation nine after completing Sword and Shield.
What do you think of Galarian Ponyta? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Title:Â Super Kirby Clash Developer:Â Nintendo Publisher:Â Nintendo
Platform:Â Nintendo Switch
Category:Â Action
Release Date:Â September 4, 2019
How we got the game: We downloaded it on the Nintendo Switch
Super Kirby Clash looked cute when it was showcased on one of Nintendo’s latest Directs. As a free-to-play game — with microtransactions, of course — we figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.
Usually, when Nintendo comes out with “free-to-start” games, I’m all over them. Plus, you can’t really go wrong with Kirby.
Super Kirby Clash is a boss-rush type of game. With a team of four Kirby characters, all as different typical RPG classes, players fight bosses in different stages to earn the world’s money and power fragments to craft new gear to grow strong enough to defeat even stronger bosses.
Even though I saw it in the direct, the game was much different than I thought it would be. You can be a Sword Hero, Hammer Lord, Dr. Healmore, or a Beam Mage. As you can probably guess, the Beam Mage is a sorcerer with magic, Dr. Healmore is like a cleric, and the Sword Hero and Hammer Lord wield a sword and hammer respectfully and can be a tank when it comes to physical damage.
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The Kirby classes, if you will, were standard with the cute Kirby twist you would expect from games starring an adorable pink puffball. There are a few stats, like attack and defense, that can be modified with the help of weapons and armor, and the character classes themselves seemed to have different speeds to correspond with all of the other factors. The Hammer Lord, for example, dealt a good deal of damage but was slower to move than the rest of them.
Exactly, they all had their own pros and cons. I’ll admit, I enjoyed playing as the mage so I didn’t try out any of the other classes. The mage can stop time – well, freeze the enemy for some time – after using a certain amount of charge attacks, which was fun to use. There are a handful of areas where you can battle bosses such as Seaside, Dunes, and Volcano, and a few more. Defeating the bosses will give you EXP which will allow you to level up your characters as well as Gem Apples, which is the game’s currency.
It was with the Gem Apples that allowed you to purchase upgrades at the shop. There was a little tree in the main area of the game where a handful of Gem Apples grew after time for some free money — the money could literally grow on a tree, in this game. Of course, you are also able to spend real money to get more Gem Apples, if you’d like. There was also an option to search for fellow Kirby warriors from online, giving your team a small advantage if you find a decently-leveled Kirby to help you out for the next battle. This game can also be played with friends online rather than just local co-op as well.
While we didn’t get too far in the game, Gem Apples were also rewarded after defeating bosses. If you balance your Gem Apples just right, there should be no need for you to spend money in real life. This game also makes you wait a certain amount of time in between bosses. Similar to a mobile game, there’s a meter that acts like your “stamina,” if you will, and if it runs out, you can’t play anymore until real-time passes and it fills up again. However, it automatically fills up when you level up and the EXP was fairly generous, so our meter never ran out when we played.
The graphics of the game are typical for a Nintendo Switch. Kirby looks great, even if there was some slight lag with the fights during co-op, and the picture was crisp. There wasn’t anything special or particularly new with the graphics, but it was still pleasing to the eye.
I’ve always loved Kirby games because they’re vivid and colorful. This one was no different.
The music was fun! The tunes were a touch familiar, feeling distinctly Kirby-like, and the high-beat music for the boss fights really kept you pumped for the fight.
The music was good, yes, though I’ll admit I didn’t pay too much attention to it. I was focused on fighting or talking to Kris while we played.
The story for this game isn’t very substantial. Supposedly, large enemies are terrorizing the land, and it’s up to the team of Kirbys to vanquish them. With the help of each Kirbys’ unique abilities from their roles, along with updated gear and armor, the team will fight to protect the land.
That’s pretty much all there is to it. For a co-op boss rush game that’s free to start, there’s not much to expect from a “story.”
There’s not as much substance for this game, but it was fun to collect the gear, even if there was a cool-down period for fights (unless you spent real money, of course). It’s a game that’s best played with others, as that’s where the fun lies. Considering the game is free, it’s not too bad to return to once in a while.
I can see myself going back to this game once in a while. I think it was an interesting idea and honestly, it’ll be fun to play with the younger members of the family as it’s simple enough.
Super Kirby Clash gets… 3 out of 5 lives.
Have you played this game? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!Â
Even though I’m not very good at puzzles, I do enjoy them a lot. There are a few puzzle games I play here and there and have a good time with them. In no particular order, here are just a few.
Professor Layton
I think this one is kind of a given. I enjoy games with rich storytelling and the added puzzles add more fun to the game. Professor Layton is a well-rounded great game with intriguing puzzles, good storytelling, and awesome characters. While there are similar puzzles here and there, they’re all unique from each other so that you never get the answer right away – unless you’re super smart. (Maybe I’m just bad at puzzles.) With many games in the series, you can’t go wrong with everyone’s favorite puzzle-solving professor.
Tetris
I’ll admit I didn’t really start to play Tetris until Tetris 99 came out. I had known of the game and wanted to play it, but the original game came out in 1984 and I wasn’t going to be born for quite sometime after that. Therefore, it was in the back of my mind for some time, but never really on my radar. When Tetris 99 came out, and it was free to play, I hopped on that train. I’m terrible at the game, of course, but it’s a lot of fun.
Brain Age
I haven’t thought about this game in a while, but since Japan is getting a new Brain Age game for the Switch, it reminded me the game exists. I had Brain Age and Brain Age 2 for the Nintendo DS and enjoyed them both. I have fun with the brain teasers and even the quick math facts even though I dislike math. What I really enjoyed most about the game though was that it had Sudoku. I beat those puzzles pretty quick.
Bejeweled
I haven’t played this one in such a long time, but Bejeweled was always a favorite of mine. It was simple three-in-a-row gameplay with pretty gems. You can’t go wrong with that. I think I played it mostly through Facebook and as mobile apps. I never had it for any consoles.
Picross
This is a game I got into fairly recently. By recently, I mean within the last year or so. It reminded me of Sudoku in some ways and even though you have to think, it’s kind of a mindless puzzle game… if that makes any sense at all. You make a picture in a grid coloring in certain squares and leaving others blank depending on how many the grid tells you are supposed to be colored in within that row and column. I have an app on my iPad that I’ve just about played every single puzzle. Now I need to pace myself before I run out of them.
What are some of your favorite puzzle games? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Did anyone watch that 24-hour livestream of the Galar Region to try to spot new Pokemon or information for the Sword and Shield Pokemon games? I did not.
So, recently there was that livestream of, I don’t know, a forest scene of the Galar Region that was set up to tease everyone regarding new Pokemon for the eighth generation. I didn’t watch any of it, admittedly, but I did see enough people on Twitter mentioning the few things of interest and then a lot of disinterest in supposedly the dead air that the livestream offered at times.
By the sounds of it, the best thing to come out of that livestream was the reveal of the Galarian Ponyta. With a mane looking as if it was made out of clouds and some of the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen on a Pokemon, it looks adorable!
Was it confirmed as a Galar form of Ponyta yet by Nintendo? Could this actually be an entirely new line of Pokemon?
(Seriously, do you all remember Bouffalant from Gen. V? How we were all sure it was part of a Taurus evolution line but they’re both stand-alone Pokemon? Yeah.)
There’s been plenty of speculation about the Pokemon’s typing as well. I’ve seen Fairy as a good contender, and due to the forest location, some are speculating Grass as well. The Pokemon’s eyes and fluffy mane first reminded me of the Vulpix line, admittedly, particularly their Alolan forms. It makes me think that this Pokemon may be Fairy and Ice type.
Flying may be a good contender, though, especially for an evolution. Imagine Galarian Rapidash sprouting wings to go with its cloud-like mane and tail, becoming a Pegasus Pokemon!
What did you think of Galarian Ponyta? Any predictions for this Pokemon? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Happy Friday!
Happy Thursday!
Galarian Ponyta is a majestic Pokemon at its finest. Yes, it’s a baby and that’s why I can’t wait to see what Rapidash looks like. Kris hopes Rapidash will be Psychic-Flying and sprout wings to be a pegasus. It’s not far off base – I mean, Ponyta is a literal unicorn here. There’s the horn on its forehead and cotton candy colors. (However, it’s classified as the “Unique Horn Pokemon.”)
