12 Random Facts about Myself, All Related to My Experiences with Videogames

I was tagged again by a friend to play the same game that I’ve played before, and at this point I think it’s rather futile to say that I’m not into tags because I do them anyway. So maybe I don’t do them all the time, but it’s nice to do one of these every once in a while to break the monotony.

Like always, this is about ten things I want the world to know about me.

1. I loved writing all the entries about the first four games I bought for my PlayStation. I loved those so much that I wanted to make this week the videogame week, where everything I blog will be videogame-related. I’m doing a bad job so far, since I didn’t post anything new yesterday. But sure, why not skew all the 10 random facts to videogames, noh?

2. First, I shall tell you about the consoles that I own or used to own. I have NES, SNES, Game Gear, PS, PS2, Nintendo DS and Xbox360.

3. Know Mario Paint? It’s a “game” for SNES. I put the game in quotation marks because it’s not so much a game as it is an application similar to what I can find in a computer. Specifically, Mario Paint is pretty much Microsoft Paint, and I draw in it using the SNES mouse. Now that app isn’t good, but also included in the same cartridge is the Mario Paint Composer, and it lets me compose songs using 16-bits bleeps. How does it work? On an empty music sheet, I place icons, each of which has a distinct sound. It’s that simple, but it has a huge following, and I happen to love watching the youtube videos of its enthusiasts playing its renditions of popular songs.

My personal picks:

Take On Me

Thriller

And are you tired of being Rickroll’d? Why not instead get PAINTROLL’D!

Even the Megaman 3 songs are not spared of the Mario Paint treatment! Not that I’m complaining, of course. Renditions of my two favorite MM3 songs:

Spark Man

Snake Man

4. Since we’re talking about music anyway, I shall also reveal that I pay great attention to videogame music - they’re ancillary, sure, but they’re a huge factor of what makes a game memorable to me. I like the songs of select titles so much I’ve bought and downloaded their albums.

5. The first game that I’ve finished is Super Mario Brothers.

6. I’ve only finished Megaman 2 the first time a week ago, and that’s after I’ve finished Megaman and Megaman 3 many years ago. Of the three I regard Megaman 2 to be the best. It also might be the best Megaman game there is. I prefer the music of Megaman 3 though.

7. I’m incredibly pissed about Windows XP not being able to run Grim Fandango properly.

8. I think Final Fantasy VII is the most overrated videogame of all time. Sure, it says something that I’ve played it to the end, and I do like it, but I’ve never understood why it’s regarded so highly. I didn’t care for the characters, felt nothing about the Aeris’ death (besides the pity that I had lost a healer in my party), found the Materia system to be mere rehashes of FFVI’s Espers, did not feel that Sephiroth was a convincing villain, and thought that the story fell short (what were the Ancients and the Promised Land again, exactly?). I find it really annoying how Square-Enix keeps milking this particular game to death. And if Aeris is really dead, why does she keep appearing Final Fantasy 7 spinoffs as she had in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 and in Final Fantasy Tactics?

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’ve said “dead” a bit too often on my 8^th point, because I want Final Fantasy VII to rest already. Move on, people!

9. All of number 8 said, I still like Final Fantasy VII more than Final Fantasy VIII. Squall and Rinoa are the least likable couple I’ve seen in any works of fiction. In fact the only Final Fantasy couple that I’ve rooted for is Tidus and Yuna of Final Fantasy X, bad fashion be damned.

10. Games I’m looking forward to playing: Fallout 3, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Tales of Vesperia, and Dead Space.