PixlBit

Where the heck is Superstep? 

I don't know... he hasn't been on the blogs lately either... he had Covid earlier this year, hopefully everything is ok. 

Oh, it was the mildest of cases ... although my fatigue is worse than usual. I still think that's more likely the restrictive diet and lack of sleep though. 

He's out there, I see him on Facebook. School is back in session and he has classes to teach.

Nailed it. 

My 8-week class is ending, so I should be able to get my picks in this week. 

Not on Twitter! That's for damn sure. 

But seriously, I am pretty sure my deactivated account just got deleted ... I *might* make a new one and follow exclusively gaming stuff, but we'll see. 

And that makes all three comments about me I've replied to now. I missed being obnoxious. 

I'm on Twitter more, but I mostly follow 1up people and writers I respect. I definitely don't post or reply to political stuff, though I do sometimes reply to book posts that I feel I can say something noncontroversial to. 

Stage Select:

1. Big Boo's Haunt in Super Mario 64. That's still the first thing I think of when I think of haunted houses in video games. 

2. Owzer's House in Final Fantasy VI. You have ghosts, paintings randomly attacking you, and a boss battle against a painting of an Esper possessed by a demon, complete with a slow-motion morphing effect that was pretty cool in 1994.

3. Old Kasuto Village in Zelda II is a deserted town haunted by invisible fireball-tossing ghosts which looked pretty creepy on the NES.  Not a bad piece of storytelling by gameplay for a NES game.

Cage Match:

Left 4 Dead 2 is the winner by default here as it's the only one of these two games I've actually played.

STAGE SELECT:

My two favorite haunted houses in video games are Luigi's Mansion, because it's charming and not spooky at all and the one in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem because it gave me the most uneasy shit-my-pants feeling I think I've ever had in a video game. Just walking around in there made me uneasy. 

CAGE MATCH:

I'm pretty sure I played Left 4 Dead with a friend once, so that. 

STAGE SELECT: Gotta be a Super Mario World ghost house.  It just throws you for a loop and introduces special enemies and mechanics that you'll never even see again.  The eerie music, the throwing out of the rules, the schoolyard-esque secrets that they are filled with?  Great stuff.

Also, have some Castlevania lore: Block 4A in Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse is called "The Haunted Ship of Fools", which would take first place in names if Block 4 wasn't called the "Murky Marsh of Morbid Morons".  It's canon!

CAGE MATCH: Let me see what my computer says since that's totally fixed now, yeah.  Hmmm... wow!  Seemed to actually work!  It says odds are 7.5 for Left 4 Dead to State of Decay's 30!  Wait, that doesn't make sense... oh, crud, that's just the install size.  Well, I hate a large install size so give it to Left 4 Dead.  That's just science.

Stage Select:

3. Vault 92 (Fallout 3)- I consider Fallout Vaults close enough to haunted since most of them are filled with corpses of their inhabitants and just enough looming threats to put you in danger. Any my favorite is 92 where creative people were lured in told they were to preserve art when in reality they were subject to a white noise that would make them violent, obedient soldiers. They did not become obedient. Chaos ensued.

2. Peragus (Kotor 2)- Not a traditional haunted house, but this mining field is filled with murderous droids, tapes of people killing each other and droids killing them, and has a Sith Lord who died in a war only to be resurrected with the goal of hunting your character down. If that doesn't meet a haunted house's requirements, I don't know what does.

1. Castlevania- What else could it be? Literally every monster and mythical creature in public domain resides in the castle with Dracula and Death waiting for you at the end of it. No other haunted house can compete with this.

Hope I'm not too late. 

Stage Select: 

Cainhurst Castle (Bloodborne): Not necessarily scary but it sure as hell looks haunted and has dangerous creatures roaming around. This level has been described as 3D Castlevania done right and I agree. 

Silent Hill: It's more than a house but there's bound to be some crazy ass scary house there. I love going to Silent Hill.

Himuro Mansion (Fatal Frame): This is my favorite haunted house in gaming. Granted I haven't tried the two other sequels but I own them all. I played this one and it was really freaky. Running around with a Camera and having to stare those ghosts in the face is terrifying. 

Cage Match: I have to go State of Decay 2. Left 4 Dead only has like 4 people alive so State of Decay has more humans so more brain power. Although brains are what makes zombies stronger probably so maybe Left 4 Dead. Screw this I'm just using basic math. 4 is great than 2 so Left 4 Dead wins.