PixlBit

This blog isn't political. 

This IS kind of amusing: 

Then again, I suppose it depends what your definition of "is" is. Does anyone remember if Bush showed up in vidya games? I don't remember any and that was when I honestly starting paying attention to politics. I was a precocious 10-year-old and that's when teachers were making us watch debates. 

In other news, 

I watched a React video for that trash dove sticker yesterday, and I still don't understand it.

Also, I thought it was a formless, demonic blob from a Miyazaki movie and its eye looked like the mouth from Edvard Munch's The Scream.

I was thinking about doing a series about some of the obscure games I've played like Rival Schools and Bust-A-Groove after hearing about an obscure Genesis game on NWP, but I've decided I'm too lazy. Also, that I have an actual job which requires me to put effort elsewhere. Something about putting the needs of 127 students above my desire to post things on the Internet. Makes no sense to me either. 

I got further into Rise of the Tomb Raider  and am now something like 57% or in the low 60s % done. I have to say, had I just played the story and not obsessively looked for documents, relics, caches, and challenges, I probably would have completed the story pretty damn fast. There really doesn't seem to be much of it in this game. Relatively little has happened plot-wsie as far as cutscenes. At least it feels that way. Or maybe I just spent so much time dicking around that the story now feels short even though it's not as short as I think it is. 

Wonder if Amelia Earheart got lost because she did too many side quests ... 

Just a quick life lesson, if you're watching calories like I've started to again, Chili's 6oz avacado sirloin is arguably better than anything on the regular menu and only 420 calories:

That's my mini-PR campaign for today. There'll be a case study.

Finally, I listened to most of Nerds Without Pants last night (thanks for sabatoging my get to bed early plan, guys), and their main topic was intros in video games. 

Now most of the ones mentioned are level ones or opening cutscenes or what Julian calls attract videos, which is a term I literally learned a few days ago when Julian posted a blog about his top 3 intros. I do plan to take his advice and take an afternoon to watch some intros if I can find the time. 

My personal favorite video game intros, however, are based on the music. I really can't think off the top of my head what game had a cutscene or first level that's just stuck in my head (there are great ones, and I do remember being floored by Metal Gear Solid) ... ok actually I just thought of one (it's not MGS). But the other two are because of the music. 

So without further ado, my favorite opening theme songs (and one level) in video games:

I know MM2 has an actual cinematic that is probably someone's favorite intro proper, but this is something I could listen to in a way I could listen to Wily 1-1 in MM2 over and over. It's got such great build-up and a dynamic melody that really works for covers as well. 

Street Fighter II:Turbo Hyper Fighting for SNES is probably the game I played most on my older brother's SNES, including Super Mario World. And yes, SMW has a great opening stage, but I'm not sure I'd put it in a top 3. 

So, ok, I realize opening themes could be a whole other discussion, where intros are their own thing, so this one actually is an intro:

Corneria is the level of Star Fox 64 that made me think "holy shit, this is the future." The 3D visuals were mind blowing at the time. Everything looked so crisp and clean and the promise from the awesome-looking-at-the-time SNES Star Fox became realized. It's the game that made me ask for an N64 for Christmas in 1997 (thought it may have been 1998, my memory kinda sucks; I know it wasn't '96 cause I got SF64 with the system and honestly thought it was a launch title with Mario coming later). 

Oh, and I thought of another great intro to a game I really liked at the time (as well as the neighbors), but has been panned to death now. 

My next door neighbors and I played this to death and were constantly trying to get the story finished with no memory card. I still remember when I took a turn because I had been doing well. Jarvis had a feeling it'd be better if someone else played and I ... fucked us, after having done really well for a good bit. They hated me in that moment and I still feel guilty about it to this day. It seemed like we were REALLY close to the end. 

Anyway, you might notice that the graphics don't hold up, but at the time this is what made me say, "holy shit, this is the future of gaming. We will never surpass this graphically." Yes, I said that for both SF64 and this Square Enix beat-em-up (which I honestly want to go back and play to the end, reviews be damned).

Aaaaand to go back to what is really more an opening theme thing, but also has a video:

 

While a lot of us born in the early 90s claim to be "90s kids," we mostly say that because it isn't cool to admit your formative years were actually in the 2000s. That's when Nickelback was started (I still own The Long Road) and Limp Bizkit was popular (I still own Chocolate Starfish). So especially if you talk to someone who knows that Pitchfork is also a magazine, you don't want to say most of the music you grew up with was from that decade. Even a lot of pop songs from that decade have fallen out of favor (don't care, still love "Temperature" by Sean Paul, but I digress). 

Anyway, one reason that music and video work for me is not necessarily because I found them incredible on their own merits, but just listen to how incredibly 2000s that song is. It's the most 2000s f*ing thing I've ever heard. So really it's just a nostalgia trip for a game I never got all that far in and whose opening theme song I really liked. 

To clarify, I do also like music people DON'T hate, like 90s grunge bands, Streetlight Manifesto, Megadeth etc. (well, that rock music snobs don't hate anyway)and I'm pretty sure it's still ok to like Destiny's Child and "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce, but I also liked a lot of what other people considered 2000s trash. This reminds me of that era. 

I'll leave you on this one-hit-wonder 2000s note:

Pop-punk was my favorite genre. Yes, I still like it.