I HAZ BIRTHDAY STUFF.
.
YEAH! Everything came in yesterday and today. I was actually getting a little leery, as it had been 8 days and NOTHING AT ALL had come in. Usually when we order a bunch of stuff, SOMETHING'S in after the first few days.
But yeah. I got:
-A Nintendo DS Lite in Polar White
-The Phantasy Star Collection for the GBA
And because Phil and his parents gave me $20 for my birthday, besides Pokemon FireRed;
-Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, also for the GBA.
-"Falling Into Infinity," by Dream Theater
My DS is fucking fantastic.
I knew from seeing Phil's black DS Lite that the screen on the newer model DS was brighter and sharper, but DAMN. This thing actually makes my TELEVISION look dim and drab in color. o_O
I went back to messing with the older-style DS Phil's been lending me for a bit, and it feels like the screen is... malfunctioning somehow. It's working fine, but the new one just looks so much better, the old one looks horrible. :P
The one I got was very slightly used, and I noticed no wear on it, other than the occasional light scratch here and there on the outer shell. The end of the stylus tends to slide slightly out of the DS, but it's not as bad as the old one of Phil's. That one loses the stylus if you turn it upside down.
As for the games, Mario 3 is a blast, even now.
It's more or less the same as the old Super Mario All-Stars version of SMB3, but with a few changes such as different backgrounds in some levels, added voices for Mario and Luigi, and added sound effects like the laughter from the ghosts who chase you when you turn away. Having to get used to the different position of the B and A buttons on the DS's pad was a pain at first, but it's no problem now. Mario 3 is seriously still my favorite Mario game, and it's awesome to be able to play it anywhere now. :D
The Phantasy Star Collection is pretty spectacular as well.
I had read a review that said this collection for the GBA was buggy, and that the colors were oversaturated on the games, to name a few flaws. After playing it, I think that reviewer might have been high. :P
The games look great, and Phantasy Star 2 in particular looks GORGEOUS on the Lite's bright, sharp screen. In particular, though, I was impressed with the graphics on Phantasy Star 1. Phil had been mocking them, saying they looked like Atari graphics, but the Atari 2600 could never pull off graphics like that. Hell, the NES couldn't pull off graphics like that. It IS an 8-bit game, but it was ahead of its time, with cutscenes, more complex dialogue than was present in RPG's at the time, and smoothly animated 1st-person dungeon exploration.
There ARE a few issues, though... such as the fact that Phantasy Star 4 isn't present... and there's an issue with the DS Lite's speakers not being as strong as the old DS's, so the intro theme to PhStar 2 is hard to hear without headphones. Also, the sound effects are a tad scratchy during PhStar 2's battle scenes, but it's not hard to get used to.
Honestly, though, the above problems are really minor, so I'm relieved. True, this Collection had the potential to be a lot better, especially if PhStar 4 had been included, but for what it is, it's pretty awesome. Who knows? We might get remakes in the future, perhaps re-done like Square-Enix has been doing with their earlier Final Fantasy titles, and are going to do with Chrono Trigger. I think that'd be pretty kickass. :D
Oh, and one last thing on this collection? It feels WEIRD to choose one of the games, and have the old-style blue 'SEGA' logo appear... on a NINTENDO handheld. o_O
As for Falling Into Infinity...
I haven't had a chance to listen to it all the way through yet, but it sounds pretty good from what I have heard. This album is sort of considered Dream Theater's worst, because the record company they were with at the time pressured them to make a more 'mainstream' alum so they could make more cash. As a result, the album ended up far less progressive and more straight-forward than any of their other work.
The consensus amongst fans seems to be that it isn't BAD... but it's just nowhere near as good as their other stuff.
So yeah. I like what songs I;ve heard from it so far, and I'm going to go into it with an open mind.
As it is, I only have "When Dream And Day Unite" left of Dream Theater's CD's to get. Or I will, when Katie sends me TOT and SDOIT... or IF she's able to send me them? o_O
Blah. So yeah... my birthday stuff ended up having to come slightly later than usual this year, but there you go. :P
.
YEAH! Everything came in yesterday and today. I was actually getting a little leery, as it had been 8 days and NOTHING AT ALL had come in. Usually when we order a bunch of stuff, SOMETHING'S in after the first few days.
But yeah. I got:
-A Nintendo DS Lite in Polar White
-The Phantasy Star Collection for the GBA
And because Phil and his parents gave me $20 for my birthday, besides Pokemon FireRed;
-Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, also for the GBA.
-"Falling Into Infinity," by Dream Theater
My DS is fucking fantastic.
I knew from seeing Phil's black DS Lite that the screen on the newer model DS was brighter and sharper, but DAMN. This thing actually makes my TELEVISION look dim and drab in color. o_O
I went back to messing with the older-style DS Phil's been lending me for a bit, and it feels like the screen is... malfunctioning somehow. It's working fine, but the new one just looks so much better, the old one looks horrible. :P
The one I got was very slightly used, and I noticed no wear on it, other than the occasional light scratch here and there on the outer shell. The end of the stylus tends to slide slightly out of the DS, but it's not as bad as the old one of Phil's. That one loses the stylus if you turn it upside down.
As for the games, Mario 3 is a blast, even now.
It's more or less the same as the old Super Mario All-Stars version of SMB3, but with a few changes such as different backgrounds in some levels, added voices for Mario and Luigi, and added sound effects like the laughter from the ghosts who chase you when you turn away. Having to get used to the different position of the B and A buttons on the DS's pad was a pain at first, but it's no problem now. Mario 3 is seriously still my favorite Mario game, and it's awesome to be able to play it anywhere now. :D
The Phantasy Star Collection is pretty spectacular as well.
I had read a review that said this collection for the GBA was buggy, and that the colors were oversaturated on the games, to name a few flaws. After playing it, I think that reviewer might have been high. :P
The games look great, and Phantasy Star 2 in particular looks GORGEOUS on the Lite's bright, sharp screen. In particular, though, I was impressed with the graphics on Phantasy Star 1. Phil had been mocking them, saying they looked like Atari graphics, but the Atari 2600 could never pull off graphics like that. Hell, the NES couldn't pull off graphics like that. It IS an 8-bit game, but it was ahead of its time, with cutscenes, more complex dialogue than was present in RPG's at the time, and smoothly animated 1st-person dungeon exploration.
There ARE a few issues, though... such as the fact that Phantasy Star 4 isn't present... and there's an issue with the DS Lite's speakers not being as strong as the old DS's, so the intro theme to PhStar 2 is hard to hear without headphones. Also, the sound effects are a tad scratchy during PhStar 2's battle scenes, but it's not hard to get used to.
Honestly, though, the above problems are really minor, so I'm relieved. True, this Collection had the potential to be a lot better, especially if PhStar 4 had been included, but for what it is, it's pretty awesome. Who knows? We might get remakes in the future, perhaps re-done like Square-Enix has been doing with their earlier Final Fantasy titles, and are going to do with Chrono Trigger. I think that'd be pretty kickass. :D
Oh, and one last thing on this collection? It feels WEIRD to choose one of the games, and have the old-style blue 'SEGA' logo appear... on a NINTENDO handheld. o_O
As for Falling Into Infinity...
I haven't had a chance to listen to it all the way through yet, but it sounds pretty good from what I have heard. This album is sort of considered Dream Theater's worst, because the record company they were with at the time pressured them to make a more 'mainstream' alum so they could make more cash. As a result, the album ended up far less progressive and more straight-forward than any of their other work.
The consensus amongst fans seems to be that it isn't BAD... but it's just nowhere near as good as their other stuff.
So yeah. I like what songs I;ve heard from it so far, and I'm going to go into it with an open mind.
As it is, I only have "When Dream And Day Unite" left of Dream Theater's CD's to get. Or I will, when Katie sends me TOT and SDOIT... or IF she's able to send me them? o_O
Blah. So yeah... my birthday stuff ended up having to come slightly later than usual this year, but there you go. :P
.