7
Sep
Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Lists, Zelda Month. Tagged: 10, bombs, consumable, deku, items, month, ten, top, Zelda. 2 Comments
Post number 150 on Vagrant Rant!
For all the “Top Ten Zelda Items” lists that are floating around the internet these days, the ten inventory fillers you’re about to see tend to get rather ignored (with one possible exception). They literally come and go, getting used up and forgotten without so much as a second thought. Yet I have a soft spot for all of them and believe that each has something memorable to offer the Zelda experience. So here we go: My top ten consumable items in Zelda games.
A quick note: This list does not contain any so-called “power-up” items, because they tend not to show up in your inventory. To qualify for this list, an item needs to both show up on an inventory screen somewhere and have a number in the corner of its icon. Also, ammunition items like slingshot pellets and arrows do not count, because each is forever linked to a non-consumable item.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome.
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10. Bombchus – OoT, MM
Mechanised exploding mice – what’s not to like? Bomchus are what happen when you put a motor on a bomb and set it free. It isn’t guaranteed to hit anything – heck, it isn’t even guaranteed to go in a straight line – but it sure is fun to put down and see what happens. Judging the timing for a successful run that ends in an explosion at just the right time is plenty satisfying, particularly when engaging in the Bomchu Bowling minigame of Ocarina of Time. Bomchus don’t play a large role in the main gameplay thread of either of the N64 games by any means, but they get a chance to shine in the special edition Ocarina of Time: Master Quest dungeons.
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5
Sep
Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Lists, Zelda Month. Tagged: 10, 5, companion, fi, five, link, midna, month, navi, ten, top, Zelda. Leave a Comment
Hey, I told you this list thing would be a comprehensive undertaking. Companions are important!
The various Links that have taken up the fight against evil across the many years of Zelda games are only struggling on their own about half the time. A large percentage of them are paired with what you might call sidekicks or companions, a feature that is especially common in the latter Zelda series entries. Ostensibly they are there to help newcomers with the unique features of each game and occasionally with navigation, but each one also serves a narrative purpose and has a unique personality. This has led to some of them taking on cult status. Here are my favourites.
I’m only counting companions that are with Link all the time, including in dungeons. So Linebeck and the King of Red Lions are out of contention for this one.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. Spoilers may follow.
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5. Ezlo – Minish Cap
Though I haven’t yet finished The Minish Cap, the game’s semi-titular companion, a literal cap who can talk and change Link’s size, is inoffensive and unintrusive enough to leapfrog the only other two companions eligible for this list into fifth place. I’ve seen people praise his wit and charm over the course of the game, but I am unable to comment on that myself. He does have a memorable introduction, though, and he’s the only Zelda series companion that Link actually wears. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when that was suggested during The Minish Cap‘s development. Ezlo is also almost entirely green, which is my favourite colour, so that’s a bonus.
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4
Sep
Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Lists, Zelda Month. Leave a Comment
Here we go.
Welcome, dear reader! If you’re a fan of the Legend of Zelda series, you are in the right place.
Over the next 30 days on Vagrant Rant, leading up to the October 5th Australian physical release of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD on Wii U (it will probably show October 4th on WordPress), you will see fifteen Zelda-themed countdowns. Not all of them are top tens; some are top fives and some top fifteens, but overall there will be 150 listed Zelda, er, things on this site by the release of that gorgeous-looking game.
I’m going to try to make this as comprehensive as possible, so some of these lists might seem a little odd. Honorable mentions are in no particular order. Also, I’m pulling 90% of my images from one excellent site, zeldawiki.org, which sometimes goes down. So if images don’t appear when you view a countdown, that is the most likely explanation as to why.
Before I begin, however, I just want to point out just what Zelda games I have actually played and finished, along with what systems they are available on in non-emulated form, so you know what kind of things won’t be showing up on any of the countdowns:
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4
Sep
Posted by vagrantesque in MUBC. Tagged: 2ds, 7, affleck, bale, batman, ben, blast, cast, episode, mega, MUBC, podcast, seven, ultra. Leave a Comment
In our shortest episode yet of the Mega Ultra Blast Cast (under 1:10), we succumb to the rising temperature of the overeager Australian spring and get a little bit delusional. And by a little bit I mean a lot. There are some weird things said in this podcast. We do discuss things of substance though, such as the internet backlash over Ben Affleck’s casting as Batman, the strange announcement of the 2DS by Nintendo and why you should buy a Playstation Vita now that its price has dropped. We’ve also been playing some pretty fun games, so have a listen!
If you feel so inclined, download the following file (or just click play), go for a run, take a scenic drive or just curl up on the couch and listen to the biased opinions of three delusional Sydneysiders who really need to get an air conditioner.
Soundcloud continues to be the hosting platform:
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https://soundcloud.com/mega-ultra-blast-cast/mubc-07-batman-un-bale-d
(Follow the link and then click the download tab)
We continue to strive to find a way to get onto iTunes but it is a lot more difficult (and expensive) than we ever thought it would be. If you enjoy what you hear please share the cast with your friends and like our Facebook page. Cheers!
3
Sep
Posted by vagrantesque in DS, Games. Tagged: DS, Game, hourglass, phantom, reputation, spirit, tracks, underrated, Zelda. Leave a Comment
I can be such an idiot sometimes.
Kudos to Deviantart artist brumal.
So there’s this series of videogames called The Legend of Zelda– I dunno, maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s only one of the longest-running and highly respected franchises in gaming history. Anyway I consider myself a fan of the series. I haven’t played all sixteen of the games – far from it, actually – but it holds a special place in my heart as well as a number of my all-time favourite games. But, like any series, it has its “black sheep” – the one or two titles that allegedly don’t quite live up to its illustrious name.
Now depending on who you talk to, the identity of those black sheep can vary. It’s pretty universally acknowledged that The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the biggest outlier in the series’ history, because it takes on much more of an RPG flavour than the other fifteen games and is presented with a side-on viewpoint. That’s more of a style thing, however, and beyond that personal opinions on quality dominate the discussion of so-called “unworthy” Zelda games.
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31
Aug
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2, ass, Film, girl, hit, kick, kickass, moretz, Movie, Review, wadlow. Leave a Comment
Now here’s a movie that’s fun to review. It came out last week.
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Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Director: Jeff Wadlow (Cry_Wolf, Never Back Down)
Rating: MA15+
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In 2010, when the first Kick-Ass movie came out in cinemas, it was a pretty novel idea to see a movie so earnestly reflect the real life explosion of social media (liberal use of MySpace notwithstanding) to ground a truly bizarre, highly stylish, blood-spattered and frequently pitch-dark concept in a kind of hyper-reality. The whole thing was unfathomably fresh to the point of controversy and, while certainly not for everyone, became an instant favourite among plenty of comic book movie fans who didn’t know they wanted something so different. In 2013, however, it’s understandably quite a bit harder to recapture that kind of freshness. Acknowledging social media is hardly a unique gimmick anymore and the shock of seeing an 11 year-old girl (Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit Girl) swearing and dismembering left and right is dampened both by repetition and by the fact that she is no longer 11. With that important caveat out of the way, it’s worth saying that Kick-Ass 2 is a very entertaining movie. The series is still funny, still stylish and if you enjoyed the first one, your money will be well spent on the sequel.
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30
Aug
Posted by vagrantesque in Games, K-Pop, Music. Tagged: Big 3, companies, Console, Gaming, kpop, trio, versus, vs. Leave a Comment
I realise this kind of article probably has a pretty narrow audience, but on the plus side there probably aren’t too many like it on the interwebs.
Entertainment media is big business these days. Like, BIG business. Big business breeds big companies who survive because they happen to be the best at what they do. Each of these companies may emphasise its own supposed competitive advantages, but when push comes to shove the entertainment media juggernauts are still around because deep down they are really similar, whether they sell movies, TV shows, videogames or music. This hit home for me recently when I happened to notice that the apparently different worlds of console gaming and Korean pop music shared the phenomenon of a dominant “Big 3” who control market share. And public (read: internet) perception of these companies within their own contexts is kind of unnervingly similar.
So for the hell of it, I paired them up and tried to find as many similarities between the most obviously corresponding members of each trio as I could. Of course they tout many differences as well, but the amount of similarities I did end up finding is perhaps a little scary. For the sake of uniformity I’ve referred to videogame franchises and Korean idols/groups alike as “brands” here, cause that’s what they are, really.
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27
Aug
Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Wii U. Tagged: 3, nintendo, olimar, pikmin, Review, three, Wii U, WiiU. Leave a Comment
As of today I’ve had this game for a month, so I think it’s about time I posted this review. To be honest, I wish I could spend some more time with it, but hey, there are actually more Wii U games to play now! I finished the story mode this morning.
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Platform: Wii U
Developer: Nintendo
Rating: G
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What adorable little murderers.
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Finally!
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Here, dear readers, is the first brand new, single player Wii U game that might actually have a case to justify a purchase of Nintendo’s newest home console by itself. It’s taken almost nine months to appear, but Pikmin 3 is a reminder of why Nintendo fans love the quirky Japanese company so much. It’s beautiful, it’s charming, it’s an absolute blast to play and, over a decade after the first game in the series debuted on the GameCube, there is still nothing else quite like it.
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22
Aug
Posted by vagrantesque in MUBC. Tagged: 6, blast, cast, episode, evolution, mega, MUBC, podcast, Pokemon, six, ultra, x, y. Leave a Comment
Episode 6 of the Mega Ultra Blast Cast (MUBC) takes place in a new podcast room that hopefully offers some more consistent sound quality. Delaney returns and tries to derail everything as we attempt to discuss the new Mega Evolutions in Pokemon X and Y, all the Disney D23 Expo news, the cinematic adventures Elysium and Now You See Me as well as a host of co-op gaming goodness and bets gone awry. There’s also a lot of confusion involving Kristen Bell.
So if you feel so inclined, download the following file (or just click play), go for a run, take a scenic drive, play some videogames or just curl up on the couch and listen to the opinions of three deranged Sydneysiders.
Coming at you straight from Soundcloud:
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https://soundcloud.com/mega-ultra-blast-cast/mubc-06-mega-ultra-evolution
(Follow the link and then click the download tab)
If you enjoy what you hear please share the cast with your friends and like our Facebook page. Cheers!
20
Aug
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: blomkamp, copley, damon, elysium, Film, matt, Movie, neill, Review, sharlto. Leave a Comment
This is my 25th movie review on Vagrant Rant! Thanks for reading, people.
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Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley
Director: Neill Blomkamp (District 9)
Rating: MA15+
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Being a South African by birth and an Australian by environment, I have a natural bias towards underdog success stories from the Republic. South African directors making their mark on Hollywood have provided quite a few of these stories lately (seriously, watch Gavin Hood‘s Rendition if you haven’t already) and none have done so more loudly than Neill Blomkamp. In 2009 the relatively unknown talent teamed up with famous producer Peter Jackson to bring the world the truly excellent District 9, a heart-pounding sci-fi flick that was not only a pertinent allegory for apartheid-era South Africa but an entertaining adventure all on its own. The Blomkamp–Jackson team was earmarked as the overwhelming favourite to do a Halo movie, but after that potential project got shot down (for the umpteenth time, I might add), Blomkamp went back to the drawing board and came up with Elysium, another politically charged sci fi romp.
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