Author Archives: sirluna

My Top Five Favorite Zelda Characters

Posted on by
Reply

Greetings Arcaders!

With the release of Hyrule Warriors upon us, I’d thought I’d share my thoughts on my personal top five favorite Zelda characters.

#5 – Shiek

Sheik_(SSB_3DS_&_Wii_U)

Zelda’s alter-ego and the hylian equivalent of a ninja. As a master of shadow myself, I really appreciate Shiek, in terms of character and design. She may have had one canon appearance in the Zelda series as a whole, but her presence is quite strong. Her way of assisting our green clan hero consists of her teaching him a few teleportation tunes for his ocarina (If you ask me, Bolero of Fire my personal favorite of those tunes). Also notable for being a playable character in Super Smash Bros Melee and Brawl as an alteration to Zelda’s moveset, while in the upcoming Smash Bros 4, she’s her own character with a couple of new attacks. While I’m not the best as Shiek, I’d still play as her. She is quite deadly with her plethora of attacks.

#4 – Zelda

Zelda_(SSB_3DS_&_Wii_U)

Ahhh Zelda, the princess of legends. From childhood best friend, to damsel in distress, and finally a sidekick in some games, she is the important basis for all Zelda games (barring Link’s Awakening and Majora’s Mask) in the series. She is also the wielder of the Wisdom portion of the Triforce. Having that, she is wise well beyond her years and is worthy of her role as the kind and benevolent ruler of Hyrule. Notably, she will defend her kingdom, no matter what the cost is. If I had to pick my personal favorite incarnation of our fair maiden, I’d say Twilight Princess (I mean, it’s used in Smash Bros twice now).

#3 – Tetra

Tetra1

I couldn’t continue this list without bringing in one of my favorite characters, from my most favorite Zelda title in the series, The Wind Waker. I love her to no end, it’s not even funny. She’s the fearless leader of a ragtag group of pirates and doesn’t take crap from anyone. She kind of has that tsundere (Rough exterior, kind on the inside) feel to her. While at first she didn’t really seem to care about bringing Link’s sister, Aryll, into the whole mess of Ganon searching for Princess Zelda among all of the girls of the Great Sea, she does eventually help the elf boy reach his goal.
*SPOILERS* Her true identity, unbeknownst to her, is Princess Zelda. She will always be Tetra to me. She doesn’t like to be called that too for that matter.

#2 Ganondorf

WW_Ganon

Also known as the monarch of the Gerudos, this baddie has really made a name for himself in the countless games of the series. Ask me who my favorite villain is and I’ll gladly point to this guy. Born as the only male in the Gerudo Valley and wielder of the triforce of power, he was destined to be the ruler of the Gerudos. In the first few Zelda games, he was originally depicted as the mad, spear wielding pig beast known as Ganon. That however, is not how I remember him as. To me he is, and will always be, the humanoid and living embodiment of hatred and arrogance. He’s a mad, power hungry warlock that is only satisfied by the goals he wishes to accomplish. Despite all of this, he’s quite the tactician, only pulling the strings from behind the scenes. In Wind Waker, we learn of Ganondorf’s true ambitions as to why he constantly seeked the Triforce. His land constantly suffers under the harsh blistering winds, with the sun up.  And the lands suffer from a sheer cold, with the moon up. Death, pain, and misery were what Gerudo had to go through countless times. All the while, Hyrule Castle doesn’t go through the same issues. This made him develop such hatred in the first place, and for this reason alone, Wind Waker Ganondorf is my favorite incarnation of the warlock. He feels a lot more believable in the game compared to the other games and he dressed more like a warlock here, and he wields two stinkin’ swords for that matter!!! Shoutouts to Koei Tecmo for really making Ganondorf look so awesome. I mean look at him!!

Hyrule-Warriors-Ganon

#1 – Link

Link_Wind_Waker_3Link_(SSB_3DS_&_Wii_U)

The Hero of Time, the Hero of Winds, or just the Hero. Wherever there is evil afoot, our knight in green, Link, will rise to the occasion. Worthy of owning the Triforce of Courage. Sporting the all too familiar green tunic, he saves Hyrule with the help of the people he meets, the items he obtains from the various dungeons he explores, the experiences of the treachery that is in his wake, his various companions, and his trusty Master Sword and shield. He’s the iconic “link”, linking us from the escape of reality, into a world a wonder and exploration.

Level 2

Posted on by
Reply

level-title

Greetings Arcaders!

After a bit of a hiatus, I’m back with another level! The level that I would like to cover is the Sky Sanctuary Zone from the Sonic 3 & Knuckles. The perspective that I would like to cover specifically is Sonic’s version of the popular stage.

320px-SkySanctuaryZone

Before we begin, here are some tunes to set you up for the mood of the area. The original music to the stage is beautiful and fits perfectly with the holy and serene locale. There have been multiple flavors in the later Sonic installments, but they all embrace the classic tune in their own way and stay rightfully true to the original. Go ahead and play each one individually or select your favorite version, either way, you won’t be disappointed!

Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic Generations (Classic)

Sonic Generations (Modern)

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Sky Sanctuary is a set of ruins floating high above the skys of the Angel Island. It’s been said that the holy precinct is forbidden to anyone except Knuckles, until Dr. Eggman’s plans of resurrecting the Death Egg came to fruition.

Hot on the trail of the evil doctor, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles teleport into the holy ruins. Upon landing, the Death Star, I mean, Death Egg is seen emerging out of the sea of clouds, slowly gaining altitude and with multiple Egg Robos flying out of the ship, invading the level.

Knuckles, while still heavily exhausted from his shock treatment back in the Hidden Palace Zone, mustered all of his remaining strength and extended a bridge for Sonic. From there, it is all up to the blue blur as he goes on a desperate chase to reach the floating pod before it exits the Earth’s atmosphere and into the dark reaches of space. Along the way, Sonic is stopped three times by another robotic clone of Sonic, known as Mecha Sonic. While not as great as Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic is still cool in his own merits.

The first encounter has Mecha piloting Eggman’s Mobile, with a familiar ball and chain, from Sonic 1. The same strategy still applies.

Once defeated, Mecha retreats for now, leaving Sonic to continue on with the chase.

The second encounter this time has Mecha surrounded by swirling orbs, much like in the Metropolis Zone from Sonic 2, only made easier, thanks to Sonic’s ability to create a shield which makes him invincible and extends his hitbox for a mere split second. 

In the final encounter, it’s a one on one no holds barred battle on foot.

The battle takes place in a wide arena, with a tall tower looming in the background. While the robotic clone proved to be a worthy opponent, he is no match for the original. Sonic’s victory is cut short, as the arena begins to crumble. Without wasting any time, Sonic jumps up to the tower and the greatest level transition commences. The video below speaks for itself.

As a child, that transition blew my mind out of proportions. It was awesome to see Sonic run for dear life, as the tower crumbled beneath him.

While not as critically acclaimed as Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is my favorite Sonic game of all time. To this day, I still go back to playing it from time to time, to remind myself that my childhood was great because of a blue hedgehog.

This is sirluna, SIGNING OUT!

Level (1.5)

Posted on by
Reply

 level-title

Greeting Archivers. I’m back again to bring you more coverage on another level. This time, due to the fact that the level I want to cover goes hand in hand with the stage before it, it’s going to be a two part highlight.

First off we have the Hidden Palace Zone from Sonic 3 & Knuckles for the Sega Genesis, my favorite Sonic game of all time. It’s the shortest stage with the sole purpose of plot progression. Though it’s the eleventh zone, players can visit the stage beforehand with the use of the Super rings scattered throughout the second-half of the game, to collect the Super Emeralds.

And a little something to play while you read along. The music in Sonic games really sets the tone for the stages and this is no different.

There isn’t much to the stage aside from a few spike traps and hidden springs to give access to some rings. In one area, there is a teleporter on a pedestal where if it gets stepped on, it will teleport your character onto a different locations. It is there where either Sonic and/or Tails will be in fisticuffs with Knuckles. What’s important to note, is the mural in the background as it foreshadows Sonic’s final battle.

The battle against Knux gets interrupted, as Dr Eggman proceeds to make way and steal the Master Emerald from it’s altar.

Knuckles, having been misled by the mad scientist into thinking that Sonic was the enemy, comes to his senses and attempts to stop Eggman, only to be electrocuted rigorously. The floor crumbles and the heroes fall to the bottom of the cavern. Once Knuckles wakes up, he leads Sonic and Tails into the same teleporter that was used before and make their way onto the Sky Sanctuary Zone…
TO BE CONTINUED!

Note: There are no text dialogue boxes (a la Final Fantasy) to convey story, however the story can still be interpreted with the  the help of cutscenes and the player’s imagination. As a kid at the time, I was amazed by the presentation of the game. It still does to this day.
Look forward to Sky Sanctuary zone coverage soon!

Level (One)

Posted on by
Reply

level-title

Welcome Arcade Archivers! Sirluna here with a little segment I like to call “Level”. One level, and why it’s so significant in my opinion, will be covered on a bi-weekly basis.

Have the music for the stage play while you enjoy reading. The track brings forth an ambiance to the stage. It almost reminds me of Adventure Time.

For the first level that I would like to highlight is the Slimy Spring Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Nintendo Wii. Quite possibly my favorite water stage to date. If you played a 3D Mario game before, you know the name of the game, collect Power Stars and move on. So upon looking at the level in the level select, what came to mind was that it’s just another water level in a cave.

Upon entering the galaxy, a slide is there to take you to main section of the game, consisting of tunnels filled to the brim with water. The green koopa shells laying around will help propel either Mario or Luigi faster, for access to air is very limited in the long tunnels. The final incline may prove to be quite frantic, that is, if you lose the shell to the urchins that roll down the hill and happen to be short of air at that point. The music comes to a complete halt the higher you go. Once you’ve finally reached the surface, you’re welcomed to the main reason why I’m highlighting this level in the first place.

The tension created by the potential of drowning had been lifted. The first thing you see when you make it to the surface is the sun shining out in the outset. The grass and flowers appear lush and vibrant. The music that played previously is replaced by the sounds of birds chirping. A lone treasure chest stands between you and the Power Star. With one quick toss of a green shell, the chest opens and out comes the lonely leader of the Toad Brigade, rewarding you with a star, given as thanks for rescuing him.

It’s the simple things in games that get to me and this level is no different.
Stay awesome and I hoped you enjoyed the read.