A really cool journal

Game: Metroid
Genre: Side Scroller / Adventure

Hello there I am Phoenix, and today I will be reviewing a game I have recently started playing. I have never opened up to the series at all, or known that much about it as well, but I must say for the original game it sure is good. The game I will be reviewing today is Metroid, for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Now, probably most of the my video game reviews will be short and onto the point. It will just include the story, the graphics for its time, and other elements as well. But first just to clarify, I am not going to review any of the other Metroid games. I have only played Metroid and Metroid 3 (Super Metroid), so I would obviously give some bias if I didn't play Metroid Prime, Metroid Zero Mission, and the other Metroid games, right? Another thing that I have learned while trying to get information about the game is that Metroid and Kid Icarus are brother-and-sister games, so I might review Kid Icarus later.

Let's start out with the story of the game. In the year 2003 in the Cosmic Calendar, the Federal Police was made to combat the Space Pirates. However, even with their technology, they recruited a group of people called Space Hunters which had the best weapons avaliable, along with huge money if they actually get the pirates. In the year 20X5 C.C, there was reports of a unidentified life form from the planet SR388, which got seized by the Space Pirates. The unknown life force was believed to have wiped out the entire planet of SR388, and if they (the pirates) got the life form and multiplied it, you would know it could be quite bad. Their base is on the planet Zebes, but it was tightly secured that the Federal Police couldn't go through it. Desperate, they sent out their most dominating Space Hunter, Samus Aran. Samus, who was a mystery to the Federal Police, was given her (yes, her) suit by the Chazo. She was essentially the first video game character to not have the "damsel in distress" role, and she had a pretty cool game to go with this too.

Now for the graphics of the video game. Now, I naturally believe that graphics does not matter for a video game at all. However, for it's time, these were very good graphics. Along with that, Metroid has a REALLY HUGE map.



It didn't have any slowdown at all either, so this was a pretty good game when it came to graphical compatibilities. Short and simple, and I personally love 8-bit games as well. The controls in this game were very good. If you press select, you can switch between missiles and your regular assault beam. If you press down, you can turn into a morph ball.

The gameplay in this game is really good and actually gives it an "adventure" title. However, the whole game was a maze! The map was so big, you would usually get lost whenever you are exploring Norfair, Brinstar, or the depths! If you wanted to be the best at this game, you would have to know where each upgrade of the game is by heart, and where to go from everywhere. Since I mentioned upgrades, I might as well talk about them. You need to find upgrades for your suit in order to get passed most of Planet Zebes. You would find the Morph Ball, the Morph Ball bombs, Missiles, Ice Beam, High Jump Boots, and the Varia Suit. Most people look at Samus with the Varia suit on, and she even has the suit on in Super Smash Bros. The enemies are quite easy to kill, but without the Varia Suit, you could be taking alot of heavy damage from enemies. I am pretty sure there are enemies that can deal 30 damage to you, and with Lava you would take some damage without the suit.

My final thoughts, these are one of the games you should play in your lifetime. If you manage to beat it, play Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Game Boy, and then play Metroid III, or known as Super Metroid. Better yet, play the Metroid Prime series, even though they are way different than the original Metroid games, they can be pretty exciting for you first-person-shooter guys. I give this game a 4 out of 5.


If you want me to review a anime, game, or cartoon that you like, reach me from the DeviantART "Phoenix--Fox" or try to email me at "thephoenixfox@hotmail.com".

Hello there, I'm Phoenix and today I will be reviewing almost the GREATEST, but not the best, ANIME I HAVE EVER SEEN. This movie almost changed my whole behavior today, and I have way more better self-confidence than I used to have. This anime greatly moved me, and taught me to be a man. The anime I am talking about, is Tengen Toppa Gurren - fucking - Lagann. Now, before I review this, I might want to let you know that this is a robot anime. Yeah, an anime from Japan, which is full of robots. Doesn't seem strange, huh? Also another note, the creators of the anime had AWESOME animes made already. The guys who made Neon Genesis, and the creators of Fooly Cooly made this great anime. So if I was you, I would definitely watch these animes before watching Gurren Lagann. They are actually pretty good animes and I would refer them to you.

Now, let's start with the first episode, but first: LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE INTRO.


It is kickass, and it definitely gets me pumped for the episode. We don't know who the characters are yet, but you'll eventually find out. Continuing, the story begins in an underground village called Giha Village. We start out with the main character of the series, Simon, who is a fourteen year old digger like most people in the village, but is occasionally looked down by women in the village. He finds a mysterious drill-like object while digging, which is a key item in the series. He bumps into Kamina, the other main character. Kamina is probably the best character in the whole series, not only because he is the leader of the Gurren Brigade, but he has the BEST glasses ever. I mean seriously, would you get those? I would definitely buy those, or hell, make my own! Anyway, Kamina wants to get to the surface, so he makes Simon go along with him. However, a machine called a Gunmen comes in and fucks the village up, and then comes Yoko, a female with a very nice body (litterly) comes in with a huge gun, fighting the gunmen. Whenever Yoko tries to fight however, Kamina tries to fight the beast alone. Now, you're wondering, why would he do this? Why? Because he is a man. That's right, a MAN. A true man never shows fear and fights to the death! Afterwards, Simon leads Kamina and Yoko to a machine with a face he had found during his diggings. Being connected with the drill, he activates the machine with his "fighting spirit". This robot would later become Laggan, which Kamina named himself. After defeating the Gunman with a drill, Simon, Kamina, and Yoko go up into the surface, where the plot further advances. Now, this is just me summarizing the first episode, but the story has more into it. The first half of the story is rebelling against Lord Genome, and the second half is seven years into the future where they have to save the Earth. The plot seems pretty good. I like it.

Let's move on the quality now. By quality, I usually mean the content of the anime, which means humor, sounds, and what is happening. The plot moves on smoothly, there are no distractions, everything counts. They do not try to distract you from the show at all, they don't put any fillers, everything is plot related and memorable. The anime has it's funny moments, for example whenever Kamina tries to use a gun. There are also a lot of perverse action going on in the anime as well. And there is also the point whenever you are like "Holy. Shit." This anime would make you cry as well. If you watch episode 7, you would understand why. After those events, whenever Simon is abandoned by Laggan and most of the team consider him 'dead', a hearttouching moment appears whenever he tries to dig his way out of the jail. This scene almost made me shed a tear, and after that scene, the best scene of all scenes happens.



This made me roar with applause and excitement, because it made Simon turned into a man. No, he became more than a man, he became GAR. Another thing I would like to note is the excellent fight scenes in this anime. They are packed of action, and they would honestly make you laugh and "ooooo" at it.
Any other things I would like to talk about? Yea, there is only one thing I would like to say; This anime will make you change your life. Whenever you listen to every word in the anime, you would raise your spirits. Whenever Simon fused with Gurren to make Gurren Laggan since episode 7, you would be "Damn, I am totally going to drill a hole through the heavens." Trust me, whenever you see this anime, you will definitely raise your finger, and make a speech. It will happen. So to end this review, I would definitely say to see this anime. You can see a subbed version at Anime Seed, and there will probably be a dubbed version in English soon. However, I will always say that the Japanese Version will be better than the English Version, no matter what. I give Gurren Lagann a perfect five out of five. Definitely see this anime, but remember, there are better animes I have not seen.

If you want me to review a anime, game, or cartoon that you like, reach me from the DeviantART "Phoenix--Fox" or try to email me at "thephoenixfox@hotmail.com".

Hello there, and welcome to my Live Journal. This journal is mostly so I can post reviews of Cartoons, Animes, Games, you name it! They will probably get in some sort of video form sooner or later, but I'll get on to that eventually.

Requests for anything can be on my <a href="http://phoenix--fox.deviantart.com>DeviantART</a href>.