Choose Your Theme
Warren Shea

Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Bye bye Nintendo Power :'(

Saturday, December 22nd, 2012 at 5:04 pm

Was pretty sad reading the last Nintendo Power. It lasted 24 years. I was there for 2 years of it, between the 2.5 year and the 4.5 year. 90-92ish. Making me around 8-10.
I still have those magazines, even now (with the exception of one of them which I seem to have lost). And I would occasionally get a Nintendo Power just to read so I have some single issues here and there. It was a great magazine, I feel so sad to see it go.

Just wanted to discuss its top 285 games. I’ve put some categories and notes on stuff I found interesting.

Top 10
10: Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2005)
9: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube, 2003)
8: Super Metroid (SNES, 1994)
7: Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990)
6: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
5: Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)
4: Final Fantasy III (VI) (SNES, 1994)
3: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)
2: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1992)
1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)

This is the Zelda Order
194: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS, 2007)
177: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GameCube, 2004)
170: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS, 2009)
110: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GameBoy Color, 2001)
109: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GameBoy Color, 2001)
58: Zelda II: The Adventures of Link (NES, 1988)
36: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA, 2005)
34: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64, 2000)
33: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GameCube, 2006)
25: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (GameBoy Color, 1998)
12: The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1987)
11: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii, 2011)
9: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube, 2003)
2: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1992)
1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)
It pleases me greatly to see Zelda: A Link to the Past as #2. That’s one of my favorite games ever and it’s great to see other people appreciate it too. I wish I could say Ocarina of Time was my fav but I grew up on a Link to the Past, only playing Ocarina of time a few years ago and only beating it two-three times. It makes me want to play Ocarina of Time again though, I think I might do that. Sadly, I’ve forgotten some things already :( It looks like Zelda hit its stride around/after my time. Just missed it.

This is the Mega Man Order
264: Mega Man Zero (GBA, 2002)
234: Mega Man V (NES, 1994)
153: Mega Man Zero 2 (GBA, 2003)
123: Mega Man 9 (WiiWare, 2008)
49: Mega Man (NES, 1987)
47: Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
39: Mega Man X (SNES, 1994)
6: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
I think I need to play Mega Man 2 more. To be honest, I never beat it from scratch, I started playing Mega Man at Mega Man 3. But it’s great to see Mega Man X in spot 39 (though I wish it were higher). That’s also one of my favorite games of all time. Again, it looks like it hit its perfection just before my time. Just missed it.

This is the Mario order
267: New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS, 2012)
261: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GameBoy 1992)
206: New Super Mario Bros. (DS, 2006)
183: Super Paper Mario (Wii, 2007)
182: New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii, 2009)
139: Paper Mario (N64, 2001)
128: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1996)
83: Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube, 2002)
22: Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES, 1988)
20: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GameCube, 2004)
18: Super Mario 3D Land (3DS, 2011)
16: Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1985)
15: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, 2010)
14: Super Mario 64 (N64, 1996)
7: Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990)
5: Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)
3: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)
Again, Super Mario World was the game of my generation. It seems I grew up in the #2 generation of games. I have Super Mario Galaxy, I didn’t know it was that highly rated. I think I’m gonna try playing it, and maybe Galaxy 2 as well.

This is the Mario Kart Order
214: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GameCube, 2003)
193: Mario Kart DS (DS, 2005)
174: Mario Kart Wii (Wii, 2008)
167: Mario Kart 7 (3DS, 2011)
161: Super Mario Kart (SNES, 1992)
32: Mario Kart 64 (N64, 1997)
Again, Super Mario Kart was the game of my generation. I definitely did play Mario Kart 64 during its prime and I can see why it was rated so high. It raised the bar from Super Mario Kart, which was already awesome. But it made 4-player battle mode ridiculously more fun.

This is the Contra order
263: Super C (NES, 1990)
260: Contra 4 (DS, 2007)
41: Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES, 1992)
40: Contra (NES, 1988)
…Again, Contra III was the game of my generation. Though I played/was good at Contra, I was exceptionally good at Contra 3. I was able to beat the Japanese Hard Mode (which is harder than hard mode on the English version) without using a continue. I can beat Contra as well…but only using the classic Konomi code (which has always been on my site btw ;) )

Honourable mentions that have significance to me
282: Nintendogs (DS, 2005)
213: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game (NES, 1990)
209: Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (3DS, 2011)
204: Pokemon Red/Blue (GameBoy, 1998)
168: Kirby’s Return to Dreamland (Wii, 2011)
144: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii, 2010)
114: Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (SNES, 1994)
111: Super Smash Bros. Brawl ( Wii, 2008)
106: Earthworm Jim (SNES, 1994)
87: Tetris Attack (SNES, 1996)
53: Tetris (GameBoy, 1989)
45: Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube, 2001)
43: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES, 1992)
21: Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (SNES, 1993)
4: Final Fantasy III (VI) (SNES, 1994)
NO KIRBY’S AVALANCHE!? SADFACE. Turtles in Time still holds up well, I think I’m gonna play/beat it this weekend actually. I’ve been meaning to for a week.
I started playing Final Fantasy III but never finished. I think I’m also going to play that…I want to finish it.

So basically, reading the last Nintendo Power made me want to game more.

TO REPLAY GAME LIST:
43: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES, 1992)
41: Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES, 1992)
1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)

TO PLAY GAME LIST:
34: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64, 2000)
33: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GameCube, 2006)
6: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
4: Final Fantasy III (VI) (SNES, 1994)
3: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)

/will keep you updated on my progress!

Steins;Gate

Tuesday, September 11th, 2012 at 1:11 am

I’m at episode 15 of the 24. I’ve watched 8 episodes in the last 2 days…and I hope to finish soon. It’s not the odd, random anime I first thought it to be.

No spoilers but I’m pretty interested to see where it goes.

Love the beginning of the intro:



Things change…Part II

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 at 1:40 am

I’ve been watching this Persona anime and I’m finding it’s been really bad/boring. Actually, I found X-Men Anime bad and boring to. I thought it was because they were simply bad shows but…I think my standards just got higher.

Some of the first animes I ever watched were Initial D, Get Backers, Hikaru no Go, Gate Keepers, S-cry-ed.
Initial D and Hikaru no Go hold up, I could watch any episode now and still love it.
Get Backers and Gate Keepers, I must have watched over and over and over and over again. I loved them so much. But…I don’t really watch them anymore. I still think parts of Get Backers is good (the first 25 eps), but not all of it is great (actually, it starts to get bad as soon as it starts deviating from the manga, so that’s probably why). And Gate Keepers was one of my favourite animes before but I’m finding now that it’s pretty generic.

Actually, I’m realizing that Persona is almost exactly like Gate Keepers in terms of storyline flow. 2-3 characters introduced in the first 3 episodes. A new character joins each episode afterwards, joining the ensemble. The final team is realized. A few episodes of character development and/or filler. The climax / epic battle. Is Persona really awful because I’ve seen it before (as Gate Keepers)? Is it awful because it’s like Gate Keepers but worse? Or is it simply awful because I’m no longer 20 and I simply don’t like the same stuff anymore. What, the highschool anime kids aren’t as relate-able to me anymore? Probably. And that makes me feel sad. And old.

But I’m also not the same person who’s so….crazy anime fan anymore. The person that, if I met now, would probably be like ‘umm, ur weird, i’m gonna go stand over here now’ *walks away*. I sometimes cringe at the eager, ultra enthusiastic person I used to be but I don’t regret it. That was me then and this is me now.

I mean, look at this list of things I bought at FanExpo ONLY TWO YEARS AGO


….actually, that’s a bad example because the only things I bought there, that I wouldn’t buy now are 2 DC Ame-comi figures. I’d probably have purchased everything else.
Damn, I thought I would have been like “I would only buy 10% of this stuff”. Okay, maybe things haven’t changed that much in 2 years.

….but in 10, definitely :)

.
.
.

The problem with getting older is a lack of time. You have a full time job now. You come home and many days, you’re exhausted. You have family and friends to be with. And you have your own projects. You simply don’t have the time to waste on bad shows. You have to use your time effectively. So maybe the reason these shows bother me so much is that I know there’s better stuff out there. I’m just not watching it….and I’m too OCD to leave it unfinished.

Honestly, I want kids. I’ve always wanted kids. But right now, I don’t want kids. Because kids eat up your time. You’re no longer just you. You have a priority that takes far more precedence than yourself. You learn to be more selfless. Less selfish. And that scares the personal side of me. Because I love things as they are now. I want kids. Eventually. I just want to still live the loving couple life. Not the loving family life. Not yet at least.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi – Review + Profession Introspection

Friday, June 8th, 2012 at 10:01 pm


Jiro Dreams of Sushi trailer

Went to watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi last night. It wasn’t what I had expected. While it’s about sushi, it’s so much more than that. It’s about legacy, dedication and hard work, and improving yourself. It takes you into the mind of an unlikely genius and you get to hear his unique thoughts. It was way deeper than I thought it’d be, leaving me with many things to think about.

To try to equally compare myself to someone of Jiro’s character would be arrogant but I can’t deny there are some similarities in our personality.

He discusses 5 things that you need to become a great chef. I found, as he was listing these, how similar his thoughts were compared to my reliability and passion thoughts in the workplace.

His 5 things where:
1. Take your work seriously.
2. Aspire to improve.
3. Maintain cleanliness.
4. Be a better leader than a collaborator.
5. Be passionate about your work.

This is to be a chef. Mine 2 items re: reliability and passion are for how to excel at your job.

Looking at his points, I think they all apply to becoming an artisan of your craft (in Japanese, they have a term for that – Shokunin: mastery of a profession)

While watching this movie, it definitely inspired me. I’m at the point in my career where I think I understand what I want and where I’m going. And I think that’s critically important. I’m surrounded by people who don’t know what they want to do in life. Some who aren’t good at their jobs. And that’s all fine if that’s what they’ve chosen and they accept it. But not everyone is happy with where they are. And the first rule about being happy in life is that if you’re unhappy, change something.

I want to be an artisan of my craft: web development. It’s limited to front-end expertise and back-end familiarity and I want to be an expert in both. I still have much to do.

As I watch Hell’s Kitchen, and listen to some people at work, all they can talk about is money. They want to be rich. There are contestants in HK that want the prize money. And there are contestants that say that “this (cooking) is all they have in their life. What they’re born to do. They’re in Hell’s Kitchen for the experience to work with Chef Ramsey”. And that’s how I feel. While I don’t want to be poor, I think I live by the experiences. That I would take a job that doesn’t pay well if it will help me learn and grow in my path to becoming a professional.

I think Jiro’s 5 rules are something I need to live by to become a Shokunin. I believe I’m partially there:

1. Take your work seriously. – I only half do this. At work, I take my work pretty seriously. But I’m not learning as fast as I should, I don’t dedicate enough time to my craft outside of work
2. Aspire to improve. – I believe I have this aspiration, I’ve always had it.
3. Maintain cleanliness. – I believe I have this and it shows in my clean and organized code.
4. Be a better leader than a collaborator. – Unfortunately, I must be a collaborator…but the points in the movie are valid: leaders move faster and pull others along. Collaborators waste time going in different directions. As a leader, I have to do what I believe is best, despite everyone else. This is not always the case for me…but sometimes it is. That’s why I can be such a jerk.
5. Be passionate about your work. – I believe I have this as well.

So I’m kind of there. But I’m not as studious as I could be. Unfortunately, that’s always been my problem. That, and arrogance :P

Anyways. You can see that Jiro Dreams of Sushi left quite an impact on me. I’d like to rewatch it and take notes or something next time. I feel there’s much I can learn from Jiro.

worldofwarren.com rates – Jiro Dreams of Sushi – 10/10!

What If: Prince of Tennis: Nationals

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 at 3:29 pm

I’m re-watching Prince of Tennis: Nationals OVAs right now. As I was falling asleep last night, I let my mind wander…what if the other Nationals teams played each other? Now, it’s complicated to switch the orders around so to be fair, I left all the orders the same. Also, for Shitenhouji, I put Oshitari back in over Chitose cuz Chitose is a single’s player so having Chitose and Zaizen as a double group would be weird. Anyways, this is how it all went down (in my head).

Hyotei VS Shitenhouji

S3 – Oshitari VS Shiraishi
Winner: Shiraishi
Shiraishi’s good enough to beat Fuji Shusuke. He’s more than good enough to beat Oshitari.

D2 – Hiyoshi & Mukahi VS Koharu & Yuuji
Winner: Hiyoshi & Mukahi
Hiyoshi & Mukahi are far too serious to fall/be caught up in Koharu & Yuuji’s pace.

S2 – Kabaji VS Ishida
Winner: Ishida
Kabaji would try to copy Ishida’s hadokyu…which is basically one move, with strength variations. But Ishida’s stronger than Kabaji. This would be like Ishida VS Kawamura but without Kawamura’s drama and miracle ball.

D1 – Shishido & Ohtori VS Zaizen & Oshitari
Winner: Zaizen & Oshitari
Is Shishido & Ohtori that good? Shishido has no real skill/moves. Ohtori has a fast serve…which I bet the genius Zaizen and the Speed star Oshitari could handle that no problem.

S2 – Atobe VS Toyama
Winner: Atobe
Toyama can return any ball that Echizen can hit. But even Echizen…Sanada, or anyone can’t hit Atobe’s World of Ice. But Toyama can’t do the Tezuka Zone. Basically, I’m saying that Toyama isn’t smart enough to beat Atobe’s World of Ice.

Overall Winner: Shitenhouji


Rikkaidai VS Shitenhouji

S3 – Sanada VS Shiraishi
Winner: Sanada
I won’t lie. Sanada’s pretty damn strong. Regardless of how Shiraishi’s bible plays, I don’t think he can defends against the FuuRinKaInZanRai.

D2 – Kirihara & Yanagi VS Koharu & Yuuji
Winner: Kirihara & Yanagi
Yanagi and Kirihara are…pretty damn strong. Each of them is individually strong. I don’t think Koharu & Yuuji have a chance.

S2 – Niou VS Ishida
Winner: Niou
This one’s tricky because Ishida is SO powerful. But Niou’s an ingenious trickster. He’s also the best copy person in Prince of Tennis (beating Kabaji, and Wakato). I’m sure Niou would find a way to win.

D1 – Marui & Kuwahara VS Zaizen & Oshitari
Winner: Marui & Kuwahara
This is the trickiest of all matches because I don’t know either side too well. Simply based on who Rikkaidai and the rest of their team is, I’ll give this to Rikkaidai. Even if Marui & Kuwahara lost, it doesn’t change the rest of the outcome.

S1 – Yukimura VS Toyama
Winner: Yukimura
Not even close. Yukimura.

Overall Winner: Rikkaidai


Hyotei VS Rikkaidai

S3 – Oshitari VS Sanada
Winner: Sanada
Sanada’s on a whole other level.

D2 – Hiyoshi & Mukahi VS Kirihara & Yanagi
Winner: Kirihara & Yanagi
Kirihara & Yanagi are on a whole other level

S2 – Kabaji VS Niou
Winner: Niou
Copy Genius matchup. Except Niou is WAY better in terms of technique. Also, he can copy anyone whereas Kabaji can only copy the guy he’s playing, generally.

D1 – Shishido & Ohtori VS Marui & Kuwahara
Winner: Marui & Kuwahara
Marui & Kuwahara are on a whole other level.

S1 – Atobe VS Yukimura
Winner: Yukimura
Yukimura is on a whole other level.

Notice the trend? Overall Winner: Rikkaidai


So basically it stands that Rikkaidai is #1. Shitenhouji comes in #2. And Hyotei comes in #3.
Just like the real anime!

It was nice spending 3 hours making a blog post whose conclusion was that predictable.