Press Start

Anyone else remember wondering why the pause button was called Start? I mean, you used the pause button all the time. And what the hell was Select anyway? Well, it is a long celebrated tradition to press the Start button to go into the main menu of a game. Creepy enough, I cannot find any information on it. I will keep looking, but I got nothing. However, the Start button just happens to be the button to start the game. Live with it. Logic assumes: in the interest that the Start button actually be worth making in the first place was to let it be the pause button too. Now, Ninteno seems to be trying to break that by making the 1+2 or Plus+Minus button combo count as the start button for many games. Select is a strange one though. In the early NES, the only way to navigate the main menu was to press the Select button.

Today, I want to talk about Scott Pilgrim: The Game. It is a download title that happens to be a throwback game in 16-bit. Hell, it is even an old genre from the SNES days: the beat-em-up. Complete with the obnoxious elevator gauntlet (that I mentioned earlier), endless enemies that just will not die, and the highly repetitive but irritating bosses. It basically plays like the old Turtles in Time. They even spiced it up with a slight RPG system. You can buy stat upgrades, but they are expensive and time consuming to grind for. So, of course I grinded for them. The killer funny part is the 8-bit chiptune music. I do not mind hipsters getting into retrogaming if it means more games like Scott Pilgrim. I said it when Mega Man 9 was announced: this is going to mean more old-school games. Even if Sonic the Hedgehog 4 failed ro live up to the boasts of Sonic Team, I am OK with the attempt. I played what they released so far and I would not mind seeing more of it. Playing games that have existed for 15-20 years is great, but I need a new spice to my old-school games. Honestly, if you have  not seen Scott Pilgrim: The Game or Mega Man 9 and you remember old-school gaming, get into the retro thing for a little bit. You will thank me to dust off those old consoles.

GAMING MUSIC:

I do not know if you guys knew this, but I listen to the Song of the post while writing it. It sets the mood for what I want to say. This choice I am presenting to y'all is the Brawl version of King Dedede's theme. I have this one play every time I play the Halberd stage, because dammit, it gets the group focused. King Dedede is my favorite Kirby character, because he is edgy, he the is villain, he is the nemesis, and he is the anti-hero. Rolled into a platformer obviously suited for new gamers and younger gamers, I can still celebrate Kirby games. I am so happy that Nintendo obviously celebrated Kirby games as well. The franchise gets to sit among the king, the hardcore, and the obscure, and beat the hell out of them. Kirby gets to be redeemed as a status in gaming thanks to Super Smash Bros. and I would like it if you also recognized that.