Watch out y’all, “The Mandalorian” is diving further and further in the Star Wars mythology to pull inspiration from.
On this week’s podcast, we walked you through some of the latest material.
Continue reading WhoDatJedi Podcast: The Mandalorian Season 2, Chapter 12: Deep CutsFor anyone who has played more than a singular Super Mario video game, there is no easy answer to the question of which game might be your favorite or even “best.” The standard of quality is so damn high, that basically any answer is a correct one.*
* Anything other than “The Lost Levels,” anyway.
This should not be news to anyone, of course. Nintendo’s No. 1 mascot achieved his status for a reason, and that reason was absolutely his impecably designed games. I feel reasonably confident in saying that people were NOT clamoring for a fat plumber in overalls with an appetite for magical mushrooms to serve as their own personal hero/savior.
It was the game play that inspired the devotion, and finding holes in that game play in any particular iteration of Mario’s adventures is a pretty silly endeavor.
Yes, none of these games is perfect. But the sum of positives is so much larger than the negatives, it’s fairly pointless to dwell on the latter.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Genre: Side-scrolling platformer
Released: 1988
Platform: NES
Nintendo Power’s Top NES Games: No. 8
When Mario blew the hell up back in the mid-80’s for Nintendo, it sparked a desperate gold rush in the video game development community to establish their own mascot-worthy characters.
Some of these attempts were feebly bad, and we can all point and laugh at them to this day (We’re all looking at you, Alex Kidd.).
Others actually panned out. One of Capcom’s many tries at establishing a “face” for their company, Mega Man, was neither prioritized among their efforts (execs pushed characters like “Captain Commando” instead) nor even deemed worthy of an eventual sequel after his first game met a tepid response from the public. Famously, Mega Man 2 was only allowed into development as a side project for a small group of employees who felt passionate about the potential, and said individuals weren’t paid for their efforts.
What resulted was a labor of love, a game which defied all expectations to become a critical and commercial hit, and a launching of the character of Mega Man into the rarified air of such household names as Mario, Pac-Man, Sonic and the Belmonts.
Mega Man 2
Genre: Side-scrolling platformer
Released: 1989
Platform: NES
GamesRadar’s Top NES Games: No. 2
Whew, that title is a mouthful, but it’s a jam-packed episode of our podcast, so that stands to reason.
The really cool part is that Brittany Williams became our first ever repeat guest, and she told us all about the writing of the newest Star Wars short story anthology, “From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back.” Then we got into ALL the Mando talk.
Yay!
Continue reading WhoDatJedi Podcast: The Mandalorian Season 2, Chapter 11: Short and Sweet … PLUS a special interview with ‘From a Certain Point of View’ author Brittany N. WilliamsEvery now and then, a piece of culture comes along your path that doesn’t necessarily have wide appeal or grand success, but yet it speaks to you on some level. You understand beyond a shadow of a doubt what its creators set out to do, how perfectly they achieved that task, and as a result, that particular slice of art somehow becomes yours as well.
In these cases, you’ve simultaneously taken on the rare honor of relatively exclusive ownership (and all of the smugness that knowledge entails), while also being given the mantel of responsibility of trying to share the good word. You are not merely an observer of greatness; you’re also now a part of it.
I have before, am now, and will in the future be forever a preacher at the alter of Air Zonk.
Air Zonk
Genre: Shooter
Released: 1992
Platform: TurboGrafx-16
Avg. Critic Score: 8/10
We’re here for Chapter 10, the second episode of Season 2, of “The Mandalorian.” Got all that? No? It’s the episode with the Frog Lady.
And we tell you why it’s important and good!
Continue reading WhoDatJedi Podcast: The Mandalorian Season 2, Chapter 10: The Parent Trap“The Mandalorian” is back!
And we’re back to podcasting about it.
Continue reading WhoDatJedi Podcast: The Mandalorian Season 2, Chapter 9: Cowboys and Indians
