Review: Pentakill: Grasp of the Undying

As a casual fan of League of Legends and a big fan of power metal, I feel pretty confident in saying that Pentakill is the best thing that Riot has ever produced. The character designs and the aesthetic used to market them are some of the most excellently cheesy metal iconography one could ask for. And on top of all of that, they have not one but two albums released. So the real question becomes, does all that Riot money make Grasp of the Undying an epic journey through the Rift? Or is it as rage inducing as Ranked Solo Que?

Though it might not be a surprise for those of you who listened to the first album, Smite and Ignite, the music here is solid. There's some great guitar solos, crazy drum beats, and vocals to stir your inner warrior. Jørn Lande in all his glory returns to lend his voice to Karthus, lead singer for Pentakill. His voice is a perfect fit, just gritty enough to sound like a dead wizard but not so over the top as to make it unbelievable. This second album pairs with the release of Pentakill Kayle, female vocalist for the band, and voiced by Noora Louhimo. And while she's excellent, I feel she is underutilized, only being the focus of two songs. As the centerpiece to the new album, I would loved to have heard more of her. All of the instrumentation is spot on, though the laundry list of contributors is too long to get a real feel for who added what. One thing that I really appreciate is that this album leans more on the vocal side, where the Smite and Ignite had more instrumental tracks.


All the tracks have that heavy feeling that gets your blood pumping. Which is a bit of a misstep for the album. While all the songs are enjoyable, they're very homogeneous. They stay within the same tempo range for the most part and there's not a lot of distinction in how the tracks are built. One riff sounds as good as another as there is little variance between them. There are definitely moments in each song that set it apart but taken as a whole, listening to the whole album all the way through, you'll sometimes not recognize when one song ends and another begins. It's all very safe. Songs are powerful but formulaic, kind of what I would expect from a metal album most likely arranged by a committee. That's not to say that it's grey sludge of an album, I still enjoy listening to it, but in a world with so much new and exciting metal to experience, it doesn't do anything to really impress.


So is Grasp of the Undying worth listening to? If you're a fan of LoL, then absolutely. Submerging myself in the worlds Riot created is half the fun of the game for people like me, and this let's you do just that with plenty of in-jokes and references to pick up on. But you probably don't need me to tell you that. You've probably already played it through while playing with the new skins. So for none LoL players, is it worth it? I would still say yes. Jørn Lande and Noora Louhimo are both amazing and their great vocals are backed by solid, if conventional, music backing. And for the low cost of FREE, giving it a listen coasts you nothing but about 45 minutes. You're bound to find something you like.

Rating: 4/5 (For LoL Fans 5/5)

The Cycle of Apex

Much of storytelling is based off of cycles. The villain arrives, changes up the world, the hero rises, defeats the villain, and the status quo is returned. Super Man beats Lex Luther, Lex gets away, he comes back with a new scheme, and Super Man beats him again. Catalyst, change, response, return, this kind of methodology is a natural part of any story, but Apex, from Unleash the Archers takes this idea and puts a new spin on it. We're going to see how the nature of the album as a piece of consumable media fulfills the cycle that the album's narrative sets forward.

To understand the grand concept, we first need to understand the story that Apex tells. Through the album we follow "The Immortal" a being of unfathomable strength who lives eternally, beholden to the call of whomever summons her, cursed to sleep until then. As the album begins, the Immortal is awakened from slumber and begins her new undertaking, one of many as mentioned in "Shadow Guide." The summoner is a powerful witch known as the Matriarch. The task is to collect her sons for sacrifice so she can live for a thousand years. Now with a goal, the Immortal seeks out the four sons, subdues them, and returns them to the matriarch. Now, task completed, the Immortal returns to the warm embrace of her mountain home to sleep. And thus the album ends with the Immortal entering into a lucid dream until summoned again.

So now we understand the structure: awakening, task, challenge, victory, sleep. And even before we dig into the grand cycle of the album, we can see smaller examples of cycles in the lyrics of the album. In "Awakening" one of the lyrics is "Fear not the task ahead there's no escaping it, There's no good nor evil here". The Immortal recognizes the unbreaking cycle she are a part of. Whether summoned for good or for ill, the Immortal has to complete the task ahead of her. Similarly, in "The Matriarch" we find that the people under the Matriarch's rule are similarly trapped, their lives making no difference against the situation they find themselves in, under her oppression. The Matriarch herself knows the power of these unending situations, threatening "eternal servitude" against the Immortal in should she disobey in "Cleanse the Bloodlines".

The sons are also condemnations of real world cycles. The first son is the power of politicians, keeping themselves in power with meaningless words and promises. "The Coward's Way" shows the Immortal beyond the power of petty words and in subduing the eldest son, frees the masses that he was exploiting. The second son is the power of mindless devotion. He controls the lost peoples through his illusions of power and strict doctrine of beliefs. When the Immortal defeats him, she is letting the people free to think for themselves, no longer enclosed by his "False Walls". The third son is the power of leadership.. This son is a general, throwing his men in front of the unstoppable Immortal to protect himself. As it says, "Ten Thousand Against One" is just life thrown away to protect the worthless. The Immortal in this case saves the dishonored soldiers from their foolish leader. Maybe the most interesting is "Earth and Ashes" focusing on the final son, a good man. His story illustrates that everyone has a time to die and more so, shows that the Immortal can be just as oppressive. Unlike the other songs, there is no one that she can save here, in fact, she is the evil here, ending an innocent man.

In the end, despite any promises, the Matriarch sends the Immortal away, having gotten what she wanted, and the Immortal is consigned to the mountain again. The Matriarch will live for another thousand years, ruling over the people and ironically, the people that the Immortal saved. They fall into the cycle of one corrupt ruler into another. Before the Immortal is sent away, during "Call me Immortal"  the point is made that the Matriarch could call her again at anytime. Keep this point in mind.

Finally we reach "Apex" the song detailing the Immortal's final moments of consciousness. This is where things get interesting and the album Apex takes a turn into an almost meta narrative. In the lyrics the Immortal mentions entering into a lucid dream where the laws of relativity do not apply. But more so than that, the Immortal herself calls it "Lucid freedom" as if her life in the dream is more meaningful than her life in the waking world. This specific term makes it interesting and here is where things start getting crazy. It wouldn't be too far of a conclusion to think that the Immortal's dream is her true reality. For all we know, when she is awoken, say by the Matriarch, she is pulled from her world into another. The album is set up to make this a possibility. We begin by both the Immortal and us as the audience waking up in the world and end it by consciousness of that world fading away into a different, better world. The lyrics specify, "Through a meadow running, feel the sun upon my face and the air it intoxicates." Sounds like a pretty good place. And the Immortal says right at the end that she will sleep for a thousand years.

So what does this have to do with cycles and how does me as the listener deciding to play this album affect that cycle. In a way, it's simple. The Immortal does not exist in the world at the end of the album. She sleeps or returns to the world she came from. And it is only through us as listeners deciding to play the album again that the story begins again. When we hit play, a thousand years have passed, the Matriarch summons the Immortal again, she fulfills her duty, and sleeps again as the album ends. We are the force that acts on that world. We are the change that begins the cycle again and it's nature as a preset album, with lyrics and music already set, means that it can only continue on in it's cycle. There's nothing that can change that, barring direct intervention from Unleash the Archer's themselves. What we end up with in Apex is not just an epic story, but an epic story attached to an existential reality that we the listener influence. We are just as much a part of that cycle as the story actors, beginning events and seeing them through with no choice in how they play out. The cycle of Apex affects us all and there is nothing any of us can do but not listen at all.

Which we won't do since the album is fantastic.

Warframe and Failed Moral Choice

Warframe is a pretty awesome game. Being a space ninja flying all over and destroying thousands of enemies feels good. And then they did something weird. They added a moral choice system. Certain story quests offered choices the player could pick from and it would align then toward the Sun (good), the Moon (evil) or stay neutral. And while the stories themselves are still pretty good, the moral choices present are a complete failure.

I think this is best represented in the Glast Gambit quest. Through the quest, you learn that a society lives among the Infection due to the protection of a child born with the infection but staying human, a hybrid. This allows them to harvest special material and continue their way of life. At the end of the quest, after you rescue the special child, a girl in this case, you care given three choices of what to do. The Sun choice is to cure the girl of the infection so she can live a full life on her own. The Moon choice is to send her home to her people. And the Neutral choice is to let her decide. Maybe you can already see a problem with this.

The game is saying that the "good" choice, the more moral choice is to cure the girl. The "evil" choice is to let her society run as it has been. So the game is telling you that it is better to send the girl away from her family and friends so that she can be cured without necessarily her consent and let the whole way of her people die away. How is that the good option? It is a totalitarian option. It says that you the Tenno know better than the girl, her parents, and her people. That it is better to let a whole way of life die out than let the girl stay infected, which by the way, she considers an honor. It asserts you as the arbiter of what is right and wrong.

And the "evil" choice has such a better ending. The child sends you a letter explicitly telling you that she knows you don't understand their ways, but they value their traditions. The evil choice validates you as respecting that other people can have conceptions about life different than your own and that maybe it's better not to force people to do things your way. The good ending is a letter from the girl only talking about her treatment, it makes no mention of her hone, most likely because she has no idea what happened there. They probably got infected and turned into monsters since their shield was taken from them.

And the worst part? The best ending is probably the Neutral ending. In it, the girl chooses to go home, but her father, as the community leader, decides she will be the last of these special infected and they will change with the times. So by making no choice, you have created the most influence on a society. And you know what you're reward is for this quest line? A warframe with the powers of the infected. It basically tells you that it's okay for you to use the infected for your gain, but not for others to.

These are usually how the moral choices come up, one is obviously what they want you to chose, but the other two often make more sense. Either you take an "aggressive" action and it seems to be to protect someone, or you find the middle road and try to minimize loss. Both of those options typically have a more realistic outcome as far as the story is concerned, while the "good" options always come across as weak or self-righteous. According to the developer's own data, more people chose the evil options than the good. If I would hazard a guess, it was because those options were often more proactive or belayed more power in the answer, not even in-game power (as of yet the moral system has no real consequence) but in the Role-Playing sense.

It seems that the moral choices paint a picture of the players that isn't fair to how a person might reasonably respond. It takes a hard line on right and wrong in such a way that you would only meet those requirements if you thought exactly as the developer. Instead of using it for nuance or for really tough choices, the questions pigeonhole the players into playing the archetype they want.  I wanted to be Moon so I chose mostly Moon answers. If I really wanted to go with my gut, I would mostly choose neutral as they seemed the most sensible. The system currently in place has really no choice at all. Once you've chosen what side you want to be on, that's the only way to stick. And that is the failing, it doesn't challenge the players to think or reason, it takes a "my way or the highway" approach that many players have rebelled against.

Trending Hashtags and The Hate Networks

So recently it was #HeteroSexualPrideDay...apparently. See, I only know this because some people were making fun of it on Twitter. And it got me thinking. Looking into the hashtag, I saw some people using it to push their narratives (the "If gays can have it why can we?), there were those genuinely embracing it (using it as a chance to say that they liked that part of themselves), and, more than anything, people making fun of it, mocking it. Now, before we get any farther into this, I want to say that I am not talking about the politics of this particular hashtag or anything about it's social impact. This is solely about hashtags trending in general. We square? Good.

So the people mocking this hashtag were also using it for their tweets, adding it as an eye-roll to ironic statements, or outright tagging a post with it to throw their criticism into the hashtag's pool. And the hashtag in question was indeed trending, which it seemed, caused more people critical of it to post their jokes and critiques into the same hashtag. While there were those using it for it's intended purpose, the main reason the hashtag was trending at all seemed to be because of the exposure that it's detractors were giving it. So the only reason I, an average millennial Internet Person, knew about the tag was because of people who didn't like that it existed in the first place.

This is, I think, one of the greatest irony of the internet's constant Hate Network. The Hate Network is for any and all opinions on politics, video games, sports, fidget spinners, you name it. It's those people who have to use social media to vent about something they don't like and include references, in this case a hashtag, in their tirades to direct their venom at people who they might disagree with. And by doing so, they give those platforms a larger voice and a greater chance to impact others. It makes me think of the recent U.C. Berkeley riots shutting down an event for Milo Yiannopoulos. Instead of taking to maybe a hundred students at the venue, he got on Fox news and talked to millions. Or how #HeteroSexualPrideDay is trending and exposed to innumerable twitter users because people wanted to draw negative attention to it.

The problem seems to be that we can't just let something wither and die. We see a Twitter hashtag we don't like, we can't ignore it. We have to jump into that section of Twitter and try and prove how much more clever or well-informed we are than everyone else. We have to point out how wrong they are. Or on Facebook, when something political happens that you don't agree with, it becomes your duty to write an essay to your friends and family, who either already agree with you or you won't change their minds anyway, about why the choices and outcomes were wrong and how they should do it better. Hell, even this article, while maybe a bit of a step back, is a discussion of recent trend.

We can't let well enough alone and let things with no real momentum reach their destined, uneventful end. Instead, we have to engage, throw ourselves into our social media, and tweet ironically about something we don't even really care about. And the cycle continues with each passing meme.

#Inevitable

The Young Man Who Smokes

Walking

The car wasn't supposed to be there. Not that there was anything unusual about a car in a parking lot, that's what they were there for. The oddity was that it was late. The store was closed, and there were no other cars around it. The officer had investigated the car already, shining his flashlight in the window and finding it empty. except for an odd little dragon statue on the front dash. He was in his car now, watching it as he did some routine work.

Sure enough, the man he thought was owned it was walking up to it now. He was a tall man, dressed in normal street clothes, and smoking a pipe. The officer got out of his car and walked over to the strange vehicle with the strange man next to it.

"That your car?" He asked the man. The man turned to him. He was a young man, not a teenager, probably not a college student either, but still with an air of youth about him, like he hadn't embraced adulthood yet. Despite looking right at him, the officer couldn't get a clear picture in his mind of what the young man looked like.

The young man drew on his pipe and blew a bit of smoke before answering. "Yes it is, sir."

The smoke smelled sweet, it reminded the officer of growing up in the mountains, how the air smelled when the leaves were falling. The young man's voice was calm and confident, with the accent of a stranger to these parts.

"May I see your license, please?" The officer requested. He added the "please" without thinking about it, though he would never usually be so polite when on duty.

"I wish I could, but I forgot it at the house I'm staying at," the young man said. He gestured back up the road. "If you'd like, I can show you the way and get it. It's only about a mile from here."

"Why drive if it was so close?"

"I wanted to go for a walk tonight, and didn't want to walk through the woods to get into town. I thought it safer that way."

The officer found himself nodding. The young man's smoke drifted lazily from the pipe and he caught another small whiff of it. "Understandable. You won't be parked here long, correct?"

"No sir, I'm on my way home now, actually."

"Then I won't need to see your license. But make sure you have it on you."

"Of course, sir. It was an oversight on my part."

The officer nodded. "Good, drive safe." He caught one final smell of the young man's smoke as he turned and walked back to his squad car. Sitting behind the wheel, the officer looked back at the parking lot. And the car was gone. Had it left already...or been there at all?

Dancing

She had met him through a friend. And despite talking with him for over an hour, she couldn't remember his name. Yet she still found herself laughing, telling him about her dreams, and listening to his stories. He looked younger than her, though only a little. They had started walking and were now sitting at a park bench. She didn't like to stay out too late, but right now, the time wasn't important. She would look at her phone occasionally, but forget the time right after.

The young man had asked her permission to smoke. She had said yes. And now there was a pipe in his mouth and the smoke reminded her of the cinnamon rolls her mom would make on Christmas morning before they would open presents. When she was speaking, the young man looked at her, his eyes never leaving hers, smoking occasionally obscuring his face, just a little.

He stands up then, and offers her his hand. She looks up at his smile, pipe still in his mouth. She takes his hand. The young man leads her along the path, he says he has a surprise for her. For some reason, she's excited. She can hear music playing and he leads her to a clearing in the park with a pavilion. The pavilion is wrapped in white lights and there are tables and well dressed people all around.

It's a wedding. The couple is on the dance floor.

"Whose wedding is this?" She asks.

"I don't know." He smiles again as he says this. He leads her by the hand onto the dance floor. No one seems to notice them. Whatever the band is playing slows down. She leans against him and follows as he leads. They dance like they've done it a thousand times before. She can smell the smoke on his clothes and she feels happy.

"I don't know how to dance," she says, not even realizing that her feet are still moving.

"Me neither," he says, and chuckles. She laughs as well.

Minutes or hours, she's not sure, but they dance. She doesn't get tired. At some point, they leave the wedding. She's still holding his hand as he walks her back home.

"I don't remember telling you where I live." She says, her voice sleepy.

"You didn't." He replies. She nods. They sit on her front porch steps and talk. His voice is rhythmic, musical, and she finds herself nodding.

She wakes up to sunlight shining through her window and the smell of coffee in her house. She doesn't remember coming inside last night, but she's still dressed in last nights clothes. In her kitchen is a pot of her favorite coffee, a blend she hasn't had in the house for a few weeks. No one else is there. The place looks a little cleaner than she remembers leaving it the night before. The front door is locked.

She changes into more comfortable clothes, pours a cup of coffee and curls up in the corner of her couch. The coffee is perfect and she's not drowsy at all as she drinks. She thinks back on the night. She remembers meeting someone, talking to him, dancing in the park. She can't remember his name though. She can't remember what he looks like. But she remembers a smell; A smell of smoke, sweet like cinnamon.

She would like to smell it again. She'd like to talk to him again.

Calling

If she had wanted to, she could count down the seconds to when the phone would ring. Just when she had expected it to, after she sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, her phone rang. His name was on the ID.

"Hello," she said.

"Hey mom," he replied.

"Where are you now?"

"Maine."

"That's pretty far from where you were last week."

"True."

That was how the conversations always went. She asked questions and he gave a few words as answer. She'd tell him about things at home, how church was going, what his father was up to now in the garage. She always knew he was listening, even if she didn't hear his occasional "Sure" or "right".

Whenever she talked with him, she got the faintest scent of his tobacco, the type he had smoked at home. He never smoked inside the house; he'd go for a walk around the neighborhood and come back with the smell of it on his clothes and in his hair. Now, wherever he was, he always called home.

"You're still staying safe?"

"I am."

"Eating well?"

"Trying to."

"Well remember to drink water. I know you like to eat when you're bored, but drink water instead."

"I will, mom."

"Okay, well that's it from us, anything else you want to say?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Well it's always good to hear your voice, I love you."

"Love you to, mom."

And then he would hang up. Still it was good to talk to him.

She had talked to him, right? Of course, it was listed on her call history. He always called at this time. Of course she had talked with him.

Of course.

Fighting

 He was mad and he didn't care who knew. He was also drunk, and wasn't aware that everyone knew. Things had not been going his way at work that day and he was at the bar to drink it away. Unfortunately the more he drank, the more he thought about it, and the madder he became.

And then there was that kid. Sure he was more of a young man, but when you're this man's age, guys like that are kids. This bar was one of those that still let people smoke in them and what does this kid bring in? A pipe. The men here smoked cigarettes, and this kid lights his pipe inside like some kind of dandy.

"Look at this kid, in my bar," he growled through yellowed teeth.

"Just ignore him, he ain't from around here. We'll probably never see him again anyway." His friend, slightly less intoxicated, tried to reason.

"You're damn right we won't." He snorted. His friend seemed relax a bit at this. "Cause I'm gonna make him disappear." He knocked over his stool as he stood up and half strode, half staggered over to where the young man was sitting. The young man was calmly drinking from a glass with nothing but brown liquid and ice in it. A more rational part of him said he could respect that, but the alcohol fueled anger drowned out any understanding he might have felt.

"Hey, boy." He said, looming over the young man.

The young man calmly looked up from his drink and looked the drunk in his eyes. "Yes?"

"The hell you think you're doin' here?" He leaned close, getting his face very near to the kid's. The young man made no move.

"Having a drink." He replied. He puffed twice on his pipe. The smoke curled up and into the big man's nose. For a moment, the smell of cigarette's and alcohol vanished from his mind and it was replaced with the smell of the perfume his wife would wear when they were still young and dating.

It was almost enough to bring him down from his frenzy. Almost. "Not in my bar you ain't. I want you out of here. And either you're getting out, or I'm taking you out."

"That seems like a lot of wasted energy." The young man replied. "Wouldn't you rather sit back down and have another drink? Seems like that's what we're all here for anyway." He blew another trail of smoke and the man remembered how his wife had wanted that perfume when their first son was born. He'd brought it to the hospital for her. He hadn't been spending as much time with his son lately.

He shook his head and glared at the kid. "You're wastin' your breath. I'm dealin' with you now." He reach a meaty hand down to grab the kid's shirt.

One moment the young man was there, the next, the big man had fallen on the floor and the young man was leaning with his drink on the bar behind him. He puffed casually at his pipe. The drunk tried to pick himself up, but he couldn't.

The young man finished the rest of his drink and tapped his pipe out in the cigarette bowl. He turned to the big man's friend and handed him a few dollars. "Get him some coffee, on me. I think he might do well get back to his family." The friend just nodded as the young man strolled out of the bar.

His friend came over and helped pull the big man up. "Come on, let's get you some coffee."

"Yeah...yeah, coffee sounds good." HE started digging in his pocket. "I've got a few bucks here for it."

"No need, I got some extra cash." His friend said. "I got it from...somebody. Just wanted to help I think."

"Nice of him," he mumbled. "Why was I on the ground again?"

Living

I met him while traveling. I was studying in a new country and learning about a history not my own. It was something I loved and wanted to do more of. But there were always times when it was stressful. Life is just that way.

It was on one of these stressful days that he sat down next to me in the park. I was on a bench by myself with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. He sat and asked if he could smoke. I could only shrug. I didn't feel like talking to the people I liked, let alone a stranger.

When he struck his match and blew smoke it seemed like it purposely drifted over to me, around me. The smell, it was new to me. It wasn't just the smell of tobacco, I was used to that, it was a whole new world. I looked over at him. He was a young man, maybe no older than me. But he held himself in a way that I never thought I could.

"You smoke?" He asked.

"No, had some friends who do. Cigarettes mostly. Doesn't smell nearly as nice as yours."

He nodded. "Not surprising. It's a special blend, this. What's it smell like to you?"

"I can't really describe it. It's like nothing else I've smelled."

He looked at me for a while, then slowly nodded. "Is that right." He took a few more puffs, then wiped the mouth piece off with a handkerchief. The cloth went back into his pocket and from another he took a tin of tobacco. He placed the pipe and the tin in my hands. "I think these'll serve you well, my friend. Pack it carefully, and learn to enjoy the taste." With that, he stood and began to walk away.

"Hey wait, where are you going?" I called after.

"There's a girl that wants to see me, and I think I want to see her again." He said. He waved and disappeared around a corner. That was a few years ago now. I still have the pipe and the tin. And for some reason, that meeting is one of the clearest memories I have.

Weapons

There is fire and poison behind my teeth
It shreds and blazes and corrupts
My mouth is a gateway
It spreads destruction uncontrollably
The wince, the grimace, the turn away
They fuel the fire
They spread the poison
They are my curse

My hands, my pen, are bloodletters
They pierce and rend and sunder
Death by a thousands cuts
Precise
Painful
Purposeful
With them there is a choice
The power behind them can be restrained
Or it can be unleashed
Like a surgeon's blade

In my face there is death
Looks can kill
These eyes are the proof
Behind the smile there is hatred
Anger boils beneath laughter
Pride echoes within teaching words
Give me the chance
And I chose destruction
Even against my better judgement
Because its more fun
To watch things burn

10 N64 Games That Deserve A Reboot

The N64 was an interesting machine in an interesting time. Through it and the Playstation, we began to see the world of gaming change from 2D to 3D. Games were made to test these new limits. Some were colossal failures while others became much loved classics. The N64’s library of titles holds some of gaming's benchmarks, like Mario 64 and Legends of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Still, with so many well known titles, there are a few that haven’t been so well known. These titles faded away from the public eye. For me, I think it’s time to bring some of them back.

10 Superman 64

Now hear me out. Superman 64 is legendarily awful. On top worst games list this one always makes an appearance. So why does it deserve a reboot? Because we can do it better now. Much like Superman, Batman never had a really solid game until Rocksteady got their hands on it and we were given Arkham Asylum. It’s time to take that same kind of mentality and apply it to the Man of Steel. Imagine an open world where you can fly as high and as far as you want, with appearances by some of Superman’s greatest allies and battles with his most harrowing villains. Who doesn’t want to play the life threatening clash with Doomsday or make their stand against Darkseid and his armies? Superman is known for being incredibly powerful, and getting a chance to play those powers for ourselves would be amazing.

9 Hey You Pikachu

Much like Superman 64, Hey You Pikachu was pretty bad. The voice commands were wonky at best and the game had little in ways of actual gameplay. But the concept was excellent. Who doesn’t want their own pokemon to pal around with, take on adventures, and talk to. Now is the time to return to that dream. With the 3DS, Nintendo is in a perfect spot to bring back a Hey You Pikachu type of game. If it let us import pokemon from our previous games like X and Y or Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, than we could have a portable way to interact with our favorite pokemon whenever we want. The 3DS already has a built in microphone. Pair that with the touch screen and we’re ready for full on pokemon friendship immersion. Add in some more actually involved minigames, and we’re set for a fun pokemon life sim.

8 Blast Corps.

There’s always something cathartic about using big tools to build and destroy. Blast Corps grabbed on to this catharsis and while it met limited success in it’s day, it has become a kind of cult classic. It might seem like a one off kind of game,  but there’s a lot of potential still in the series. Blast Corps is basically a fast paced puzzle game built around clearing routes for the transportation truck. It offers different ways to play with the different vehicles as well as bonus challenges and unlocks. By expanding the concept, the developers could find a lot of new and unique ways to use destruction in their puzzle solving. Add in a level editor and user created content, and a game like that could have a very long life. It would work well as a mobile or downloadable title. Most of the missions in the N64 game can be finished quickly, a great model for gaming on the go.

7 Buck Bumble

Here’s on a lot of people might not know about. Buck Bumble was a third person shooter about a bee defending London’s gardens. It played like both a dogfighting game, with most of the enemies and Buck himself, flying through the level shooting and dodging. A combination of Star Fox and Unreal Tournament, this game’s open arena levels would make for unique gameplay opportunities and exciting combat. While the controls could be a bit dodgy at time, with a modern twist, Buck Bumble would be an excellent new experience.  Pair it with a multiplayer mode, split-screen and online, and a rebooted Buzz Bumble has all the pieces to be a charming and exciting shooter for a younger audience.

6 Star Wars Episode 1: Racer

All right, I think we all know that Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was a bit...disappointing. That said, that movie opened the door for one of the coolest Star Wars experiences, pod racing. Screaming through high cliffs and desert wastes while dodging gunfire, slamming into other racers, and scraping along hairpin turns, pod racing was awesome. Despite its tie-in to the movie and painful voice-overs, the sense of speed and danger you got from racing was infectious. With Star Wars again in the limelight, it would be great to see some of the other aspects of the Star Wars universe highlighted. With a new game engine and some of Star Wars’ excellent art design, a new pod racing game would be amazing.

5 Chameleon Twist

When we think of N64 platformers, we think of Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. These are the famous ones, but some excellent platformers were came out that had less acclaim. Chameleon Twist is one of those. As a chameleon, the platforming made excellent use of the long tongue. It worked as a grappling hook, a pole vault, a pendulum, and more. It gave unique challenges that embrace the nature of the main character. Despite the short length, the levels were tightly designed. Chameleon Twist had a great art style and character that would look great with modern HD design. It would be a platformer offering something new from what we’ve come to expect out of a Mario game or indie title.

4  Vigilante 8

Car combat games are basically a dead genre at this point. There was a new Twisted Metal a few years back, but beyond that, nothing. That’s why I want to see Vigilante 8 make a return. Vigilante 8 was a lot more light-hearted than others at the time. The story involved wacky time travel, aliens, and cyborgs. Levels took you all over the United States and famous landmarks. With the crazy cast like the robot cowboy, disco cop, and space monkey, Vigilante 8 had a tongue in cheek humor that is still entertaining. Combined with the excellent driving and level design, and a return of the series could breath some life into the genre. With updated cars, shiny worlds, and a similarly awesome sounds, a return to Vigilante 8 would be a lot of fun.

3 Pokemon Snap

I don’t know how they managed to do it, but when the first game about taking pictures of pokemon while riding on rails came out, Nintendo made something awesome. It was our first chance to interact with pokemon in what seemed like such a realistic way. As a kid, I always wanted to be in the pokemon world, and this was a small chance for me. Now, with pokemon as the mega franchise that it is, a new generation, as well as the old, is looking to connect with pokemon again. Nintendo is in the perfect position for this one. The 3DS has a built in camera that could allow players to take pictures of pokemon anywhere in the world. And the Wii U’s gamepad allows much the same freedom at home, backed by the HD power in the system. Even if you kept the on-rails system, it is a game beggin for motion control. All this, and the fact that pokemon has well over 700 pokemon now means the game would have hours of content and near endless replay value. To be able to investigate the pokemon world on your own terms, that is the dream.

2 Mischief Makers

In its time, it was easy to overlook Mischief Makers. The N64 was new and powerful, and the fans wanted three dimensions now, not two. So Mischief Makers was lost during the change, never really getting its share of the spotlight. But those who did find it, found a gem. It was a quirky, off-the-wall game about a robot girl trying to save a professor, and her main ability was shaking things to change them into other things. Flowers, weapons, people, she shook them all. The game offered numerous challenges from platforming to racing to puzzle solving boss battles. Mischief Makers was incredibly interesting and still one of the more unique games I’ve played. It crammed personality into levels and characters. Two dimensional side scrollers are still popular and the odd charm of the game would make it a success today.

1 Snowboard Kids

During a time when wacky kart racers were common and Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing were vying for dominance, one game slipped in under the radar as one of the most unique racers on the N64. Snowboard Kids was a racing game set on mountain slopes. You controlled one of a number of kids with different styles and boards to change how you race. One of the most interesting additions was the ski lift. To get to the next lap you nad to slide into the little entrance of the lift and ride it back to the top. The small entrance to the lift and the timing of the gate created tense moments at the end of each lap that shaped how the next would start. Fun characters and levels, with  amazing music made Snowboard Kids was one of the best racing games on the N64. Now with whimsical racers a rare breed, with Mario Kart still the only leader in the genre, bringing Snowboard Kids back would be great. The unique levels and gameplay, crazy items and characters, and infectious music combined with modern graphics would let this game shred into many gamers favorites list.