The 10th Hour 04.11.08: Top 10 Things I Don't Miss About Games

Posted by Derek Robbins on 04.11.2008

A lot of things have changed about video games. While some things are missed, a lot of things won't be remembered fondly at all. This week, the 10th Hour breaks down what things won't be missed from the world of gaming.

Hello and welcome to the 10th hour! As always, there are a couple of things that I wish to hit on before I get things rolling.

-I beat Crisis Core last weekend, and my opinion stands. The ending was so strong though, that I've decided to deem it an 8.0. Not bad. I actually re-started FF VII thanks to that ending, a game I thought for sure that I'd never play again, so I really should heap all sorts of praise on it. I really hope they quit jerking the fans around and just announce an FF VII remake since that's what most people want. I personally would be okay with more original games (As long as they don't rape the story like FF VII: Advent Children did), but I'd be lying if I told you I wouldn't buy a remake.

-The Cubs are off to a 5-3 start and it seems like every single game is a close one. It's like, when you think they're going to blow the other team away…the opposition comes back! It's maddening. Well, I'm thankful they're at least above .500 (And Ryan Dempster is pitching like…someone whose name isn't Ryan Dempster). I'd be feeling pretty negative if I was a Tigers fan right about now. Even if the Tigers will end the year as an impressive team.

Well, that's enough of that. Onto the…reader feedback!

Reader feedback
There was a lot of response last week, as to be expected…I ranked OoT at number 5. I'm sorry, but if I had ranked it higher I would have been lying to myself. Ocarina of Time is one of the best games ever in one of the best series ever, I just feel that other games in the Zelda franchise are superior.

This one's from Waqas

TP better than OoT? Whahahaha ROFL !

WW and MM are good games...but OoT is no.1. This is a very stupid and ignorant
list. I dont care if its just an opinion. Your opinion is stupid.


Play Ocarina of Time and play TP and tell me they don't play like the same game. You can make an argument that OoT has the better story, but TP is by far the more polished game. Sorry that my opinion is stupid.

Next is one from Sean McCabe with a list of his own.


First, want to say we're pretty much the opposite on replayability. I don't ever
want to play another Mario Kart of a Pokemon game, I've had more than enough for
both, but on the other hand, I've played every AA game besides Apollo Justice
more than once and will continue to probably play them every once in a while
for the rest of my life. They are that damn well written, more great stories
than great games.

Anyway, your list this week is interesting. I disagree with Wind Waker
fervently, whilst I don't dislike it, it's an 8/10 game. I said it. That's what
I'd rate it. It falls far short of being a masterpiece. Anyway, my top 10 is -

10.Oracle of Ages/Seasons
9.Link's Awakening
8.Four Swords Adventure
7.Wind Waker
6.The Minish Cap
5.Legend of Zelda
4.Majoras Mask
3.Twilight Princess
2.Link to the Past
1.Ocarina of Time

I really disliked Phantom Hourglass also. Very uninspired and below par for the
series.


Well…to each his own. I think your list mirrors what most fans probably think, except for the original being at only number five. I like Four Swords Adventures, it's just…I don't know, I'm not sure that I consider it to be all that great of a game. Most people rank Seasons/Ages together, but I find that I enjoyed Ages far more than Seasons. Maybe I am odd?

Also, I know you're right about the AA games and their writing. It's just I have to take elongated breaks before playing them again. I sometimes like the instant gratification that comes with games like Mario Kart.

DarthCsad wanted to weigh in with the following:


I can't say that I agree with this list. For sheer story telling alone I would
rank OOT at #1. But I feel WindWaker is great amongst all the hate based only
on the graphics. I don't like the order, but that's what opinion is all about.

One glaring ommision in my opinion is the Minish Cap for the GBA. This game was
excellent. Easily better than any of the other portable titles. I would rank it
in the top 5 easily.


I'm not sure I agree with you on the Minish Cap. I've played it and for some reason, it just didn't capture the Zelda experience properly. To me at least. I won't deny that it's a good game though. The only Zelda game that I consider bad would be the CDI ones.

Also, totally agreed on Windwaker. Remember all the fanboys: "ZELDA!? MORE LIKE CELDA AMIRITE?" Ugh.

Barz is in next with a rather unusual comment:

stupid list. I appreciate its your opinion, but come on, are you retarded or
something? Ocarina of time & twilight princess are both better games than
wind waker, and put links awakening much higher on that list, thats a fucking
classic there bro. Sheesh, yet another 411 hack.

How can you say you appreciate that it's my opinion and then call me retarded or something? Sheesh, yet another commentator hack.

hellboysetsfire has a short attention span


oh reginald......I DISAGREE! i quit reading after ocarina.

So a Family Guy reference followed by a: "Stopped reading after" burn. I think you could have done better.

Brad = AGE OF ORTON …doesn't like OoT?

THANKYOU... Majora's Mask is quite a good game. OoT... no comment...

Bonus points for the Orton pic

In the age of Orton, Majora's Mask will be a more appreciated game amongst the fans. I'm kinda surprised that you don't like OoT – by all means it's a spectacular game – but I'm just so happy that you like MM that it doesn't bother me a bit.

twf's sdc has a rather embarrassing factoid to share with us.


I am so embarrassed to say this, but I have never beaten a Legend of Zelda game.
I have a complex, finishing longer and/or deeper games I start is rare. The
games that are started but never finished are generally my faves though, and
Legend of Zelda is no exception. I've started about half games on the list and
own 7 of them, but the one that isn't there that I have is a shock to me, and
that is Minish Cap. I feel like it can hang with the best the series has to
offer. Other than that, I can't say too much about this week's list except,
thanks for spoiling the end of Phantom Hourglass for me. :P

As soon as I get the search for sweet sweet Fukudome baseball cards outta my
system, I'm going to finish SSE and then focus on beating at least a dozen
games I couldn't see through till the end before, especially including Phantom
Hourglass, A Link to the Past, and if I'm feeling particularly froggy, Twilight
Princess and Ocarina of Time. This is the year.

I'm glad I saw the Cubs get that first win. I think they lost at least the
first 7 games I watched last season. It might've been as many as ten, but I
know it didn't start well for me last spring.


…If you find an extra Fukudome card, send it this way. Kousuke is like my new man crush. I have to tell ya', this year has been so nerve wracking. The Cubs are always in tight games. I just want a blow out every once in a while! Well…at least they're winning.

I'm surprised you haven't beat a Zelda game yet, but I'm kinda like that at times too. If a games really long, I've been known to stop AT THE VERY END (for some stupid reason) and finish it a year later. It's an annoying ass habit, but I'll recover. Someday. Hopefully you can beat those games over the summer. The only game I make it a mission to beat every summer would be Earthbound. I'm a biased freak though and never get tired of it.

Still waiting for that Jigglypuff explanation and our imminent smash battle! Good thing I spoiled Phantom's ending…maybe it'll encourage you to save it for last. That ending STILL pisses me off.

FDuk200k comments:

I never really saw Links Awakening as a dream ending, mostly because when Link
wakes after the final battle he sees the Wind Fish in the clouds and Maron (sp)
turns into a Seagul (sp) and its the song that wakes him up in the first place.

OOT is my favourite Zelda game, and favourite game of all time because no game
has ever been able to touch the sense of scope and epic that the game has. WW,
TLP, are all great games but they fall short on the epic factor where as
Ocarina just did everything right.

MM is the perfect sequel too it in my view because it continues the story and
is ALOT darker, which is something you dont usually get from a Zelda game.


That's an interesting take on Link's Awakening. I actually haven't thought of it like that before.

I respect that OoT is your favorite game of all time. I think WW was every bit as epic as OoT – especially when you first get the Master Sword – but I can't deny that OoT has its share of "OMG" moments. Probably one of the most memorable scenes is Link stepping out of the temple of time to see Hyrule in ruin.

MM…is a wonderful sequel and I'm glad you agree. I have the sudden urge to go play though it again.

James gets in with…just an excellent comment


What Wind Waker Nr.1?

Its awful in comparison to OOT!

Majoras is a lot better than Wind Waker.

For me there is ONLY one Number 1!

Ocarina of Time-Its Timeless!


I love that you give Majora's Mask a ton of credit. I also love your "Ocarina of Time – It's Timeless!" line. That's some good stuff. And I absolutely agree. It is timeless. A wonderful, wonderful game.

My good friend Vitamin D would like a word.

First off, great idea for an article. A franchise so good that it, itself,
deserved a top ten!

Secondly, the first two I can admit to being fighting for number one.

The thing, at least with me, that I didn't like Windwaker at first was not
because of the "kiddie" graphics but because it was not similar to
the footage shown at I BELIEVE was the GDC awhile back. It showcased Link and
Ganondorf (OoT model) battling and had real good graphics. But I did enjoy
Windwaker a whole lot.

The main reason I would consider LtTP the great of all time is because all the
factors you mentioned. You thought the game was over then bam, the dark world.
Using the mirror to tranfer back was just amazing and blew my mind during that
time (I was about 12-13 or so). The music....I dare you to find me a piece of
music in that game that was NOT good!

Anyways, keep up the good work. Always look forward to your articles. Take care
my friend!


I think that's what a lot of our problems with WW were. I have to admit, I was PUMPED for the next gen Zelda and when I saw Toon Link, at first I was a bit…well…let down. But when I actually played the game I fell in love. You're totally right about Link to the Past. It has one of the best soundtracks ever and is arguably one of the most important games of all time. There was always a story to Zelda, but Link to the Past made it so much deeper. This was before the timeline got raped to hell, so…it was really neat back then.

We also need to brawl soon!

I wrap up with otsi

OOT was the first time I was ever able to get truly lost in a video game like
you can reading a book, and even though it may not be the best ever, it was the
first and most memorable. For some of you, maybe LTTP was the one. For others
MM or WW. Either way, we can all agree that these games are special.


There is no better way to end the comment section than with this one. No matter what I think or what you think, the Zelda franchise is one of the best ever and should be remembered as thus.

On that note, there were a lot of comments this week that I wanted to touch on but I just didn't have the room for. There were a lot of good points made and I found myself agreeing with a lot of people who disagreed with me. So, just excellent.



Top-10 things I miss the least about gaming

Well, I'm trying to find a banner for the 10th hour. I'll try this one first, just to see what people think. Anyhow…this week's list is about things in videogames that have gone away that I don't particularly miss. Let's take a step into the past and look at some of the most annoying things that hindered our experiences while growing up.

There are no rules for this list. It just has to be something that I don't deem to be a problem these days.

10-)Lack of Demos - When I was growing up, one of the best treats out there was going to a rental place and renting a game. It was great, because we didn't have a lot of money and couldn't afford to just buy every game that came out. The problem was…we couldn't go out and rent something all the time. It was something that happened every once in a while, and truth is…I rarely rented a game I wanted to buy. I just bought it. What bothered me is that sometimes there would be a game I was super hyped about, like…Mario is Missing. I really wanted that game! I thought there was no way the game would disappoint me, so there was no point in renting it. Boy was I wrong. What's great about today is that almost every big release title has a demo of some sort. Now don't get me wrong, Nintendo STILL doesn't release demos. I could understand that back in the N64 era when making a demo would be far too expensive with cartridges, but…when Nintendo shifted to CDs, I think the excuse for not making demos is a bit lessened. I'm not focusing on the good things people do – On X-Box LIVE and PSN (I believe at least. I don't use much PSN) you have the ability to download demos of even the most hotly anticipated games just to see if it's something you would be interested in buying. It's handy, because I was having doubts about Virtua Fighter 4….so I simply downloaded the demo offered to me on X-Box LIVE and boom! I knew the game would be a great one for me. It was just so frustrating to have no idea what you would be getting into back in the day. I like that now if you buy a crappy game it's probably the fault of the purchaser for not having tried it out before hand. I just hope Nintendo decides to jump on the bandwagon – even if downloadable demos are out of the question – because I would really like to play a game like Mario Kart Wii before it comes out just so I know what I'm getting into. Just remember how inconvenient things were when all you had to go by was what a magazine said…then you'll remember just how nice demos can be.

- What? Didn't know you bought a bad game? Just as planned...

9-) Game market disregards or insults girl gamers - Don't get me wrong, this still isn't handled great today. There is still progress being made though, as at least it's just not down right insulting anymore. There will always be games that both genders can enjoy. A matter of fact, I would say a wide majority of games are of those that gender doesn't matter. That said…there were always "girly" games released that were just so insultingly girly that it bordered on offensive. "Boys" games were almost always cool and marketed in a neat way. Either gender could play them because they were just AWESOME. Girl games on the other hand…they were not marketed so that each gender could enjoy the game. They were marketed at a very specific market, which would be fine. If they were any good. I noticed that as time progressed, most of the games out there that were super girly were marketed towards children. I realize that a lot of us were growing up with the NES and these kiddy games weren't really a huge deal, but you have to remember…that's all we had at the time. If you were an older female gamer and the stuff marketed at you was just so…bad…would you have been okay with that? Probably not. Now today, while certain games do objectify women…at least they don't plain up insult them by pretending that the only things they play have tons of pink in them. I'm glad the game industry generally treats them as equals to their male counterparts.

- Shockingly, not every girl of every age enjoys games about Barbie.

8-) exclucivity everywhere! - Yes, I know there are still exclusives today. If you compare the number of games that appear just on one console and not the others today with the past…you'd be pretty over-whelmed. With the exception of big first party releases, most everything finds its way over to the other consoles. This is great, because not everyone can afford a 400 dollar gaming console. Now there will always be exclusive titles, I mean…how else could a company convince you to buy their system and not the companies? That said, it's good to know that even if you chose the "wrong" console, you won't have a lack of games to play. Companies port their titles to other consoles for the profit, and that's generally a good thing for gamers. Nobody is left out! Another thing you could lump into this is mass version differences. There would be times when a game is released cross platform and the versions would be radically different. I remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters. At the time, I made a choice to purchase it on the Genesis. I didn't have a ton of Genesis games and it was a pretty nice addition to my library. It went along great with Hyperstone Heist. So, one day I try out the SNES version and it's totally different! The fighting mechanics are better, the character selection is better, and in general…the game was better. This baffled me! I even rented the NES version and THAT was different as well. It seemed more story based! I was lucky in that I owned multiple consoles and could play multiple games, but most people probably didn't so they were stuck with their version of the game whether they liked it or not. I would have HATED to have been stuck with the SNES version of Aladdin when the Genesis version was just…superior. I'm so glad I don't have to worry about that anymore .I know if I buy Assassin's Creed on the 360 I'll have practically the same experience I would if I bought it on the PS3. Now…I realize GTA IV looks to change things as far as this goes. Microsoft paid the big bucks for that though, so whatever. The core gameplay and the actual game won't be much different though.

- Some games will always be on just one console.

7-) On-line Play? What's that? - One of the most satisfactory experiences in gaming is playing with a friend. It's good to play solo every so often, but it just feels nice when you sit down with a comrade and take down the hassles of the virtual world. That said…it's not always easy to round up someone to play with and sometimes a game is only good for their multiplayer aspect. So what would you do back in the day if you really wanted to play a multiplayer game and nobody was available? Nothing. You'd have to just play something else. Well now…if there's a really neat multiplayer game out you can play it whenever you want. For a while, online gaming was restricted to the PC…which is fine. I believe that was the only thing keeping PC gaming in the hunt with console gaming, but…it became necessary for consoles. There were a lot of console-only titles that would be great to play online. The very first time we saw it implemented was last generation, and the only company that did it right was Microsoft. The X-Box LIVE service was fantastic, while Sony's service was average at best and Nintendo's service was…non-existent. Things have gotten better in this generation, which is wonderful, and by the next one…perhaps online play can be perfected? Whatever the case, I'm glad that it's no longer necessary to hunt down your friends to play with you. If I want to play a shooter, all I need to do is plug into the internet and get going. Now…this does NOT mean that you should cut down on local multiplayer options – you should still be able to get friends together to have a blast – but…a balance between the two is just great.

- Online play helped liven up the latest pokemon games.

6-) Shoddy Arcade Ports - There was one game growing up that was just…just the bee's knees. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade game. My gosh, this was the best thing ever. The game was fun, the turtles were cool to play as, and…it was just one of the best beat ‘em ups of all time. I actually considered buying a below average ninja turtles game on the gamecube just so I could experience this on a console. Well that's great and all, but what if you wanted to replicate that experience at home? There were two options: buy an arcade cabinet, or…get the home version of the game. Sadly, the home version of the game never really measured up to the arcade version. The graphics always seemed off and they could never pack the right amount of content in. I understand there were limitations, but you could never take the true experience home with you. That's just frustrating, I don't care who you are. Well, with the advent of better graphics, consoles and computers have begun out-pacing arcades and finally…we can get arcade-quality ports. What's sad about this is that in North America the arcade is just about dead – a damn shame – but for what few games that are out there and in the arcades, you can be rest assured that a reliable port will be released for a console. The playstation era really helped usher this in. Tekken was a great game to play in the arcade and certainly was better looking there…but the home console version just offered so much more. It came to be that the console version was preferred to the arcade version. I couldn't even imagine that back in the day…as I tried desperately to rent a Simpsons title that captured the magic of the arcade version. I hope the arcade scene continues to live on, even if it is a bit bleak. Thankfully for technology any arcade game can be reciprocated perfectly onto our consoles.

- Wanted to play this at home? Too bad!

5-) Stuck? TOO BAD! - Man, do you remember playing a game and then getting stuck? Well of course you do! It happens to everyone at some point in time, and from then you must turn to something else to help. Sadly…at the time, what did you have? Players guides and magazines. Both cost money, and in the latter's case there was no guarantee that the game you were stuck in would be covered in that particular issue. Hunting for codes was much different back then. Scanning the back of magazines was like…a way of life back then. I remember on the school bus one time this kid was looking at codes for Mortal Kombat. I tried peering at him over the seat. I wanted to see those codes, dammit! What does he do? Cover ‘em up! He paid good money for that magazine, and if I wanted those glorious cheats…I would have to find them myself. Luckily…as the internet became more popular, sites like gameFAQS popped up. Even though they have a notoriously bad community, the ability to find help for any game at any time is amazingly helpful. The very first time we had the internet was when I was in fifth grade. Strategy guides, magazines, everything…they meant nothing anymore. I just used the internet and I was able to find out everything I needed. That was so nice. In a way it's kind of sad to see the strategy guide bite the dust, but to be honest…I still find a use for them. If there's a game you really like, I say buy the guide for the art that's inside. It's a neat little extra at the very least. Other than art work, there doesn't seem much of a reason to own a strategy guide anymore…and that's a bit of a blessing. Less time being stuck in a videogame, less money spent…more fun had. How wonderful! The internet has been beneficial to gaming in just about every way.

- Remember when Nintendo Power had a purpose?

4-) Blowing on the cartridge - Alright. One of the worst things ever was renting a game and taking it home, only to see that it worked like shit. What was the solution to this? Blowing the cartridge and rubbing it! You'd put the game back into the console and you would find out…IT STILL DOESN'T WORK! Time after time you'd need to blow on your cartridge until magically…it works! By then you've expounded so much energy, it's like you don't even care. The sad thing is, the older my NES got…the more I had to blow on my own games. This was sad, because sometimes I'd really want to go back and play Tecmo Super Bowl only to be met with a flashing red screen. As cartridges got better, the problem wasn't as apparent, though it still existed. Do ya' want proof? I was feeling particularly nostalgic one day and felt like playing Star Fox 64. After getting everything hooked up I try out the game and…IT DOESN'T WORK. Argh! After minutes and minutes of blowing that would make Kim Kardashian proud I finally got the damn thing to work. Now don't get me wrong, CDs can fuck up too if they're dirty…but it seems that as long as you take good care of your games that won't be a problem. My copy of Final Fantasy VII runs smooth as can be and I've had that longer than I've had Star Fox 64. It seems that as they age, the more unreliable cartridges get. They were just such a pain in the ass, I'm happy to see them gone. I take pretty good care of my games, and now…with the exception of some poorly produced games – like Smackdown versus Raw 2008 which has been freezing on me since the very first day I bought it. What the fuck? – I can play any game I want to. Cartridges are great for nostalgia sake, as far as the home console is concerned…good riddance. Long live the CD/DVD format!



3-) All movie games are bad - There were exceptions to this rule. Most Disney games back then were really, really good. The Genesis version of Aladdin is still one of my favorite games of all time, and there were several good Genesis games starring Mickey Mouse, in particularly Mickey Mania…but outside of those games, movie based games were almost always horrible. Don't get me wrong, a vast majority of movie based games are pure shit. Still though, a "vast majority" is better than every single non-Disney one. Think about it – when the lord of the rings movies were running in theatres, that franchise released some damn fine games. The Star Wars universe has led to amazing titles (including the SNES games, I should say). Spider man 2 was actually a REALLY good game. The deal was…back then if there was a movie coming out that was geared toward children (or even…some that weren't geared towards children like Friday the Thirteenth or Halloween) you knew that a game was going to come out for it that was total shit. Well now…you know that there is a slight chance the game could be good. That's at least better than a straight shot at being garbage. While none of my favorite games are based on movies, at least I can play those games without feeling bad about it. Without feeling like I wasted a ton of money. I like that. If only videogame movies would improve in the same way. We always have the Metal Gear Solid movie, right? …Wait, doesn't the game already act as a movie? Hm.

- Hey SNES owners, something wrong with this picture? OH YEAH, YOU DIDN'T GET TO USE A SWORD. AHAHAHAHAH.

2-) Big Power Sources - When I say this, I'm not complaining about the big power supplies that come with the 360 or PS3. Those are okay. Why are they alright you ask? It's simple. They come with a NORMAL sized plug. You just put it into the wall and you're good to go. The power supply is big, but it doesn't really get in the way of anything. The plug-ins aren't extra big and take up space on your wall. What really pissed me off about old systems was how big their plug-ins were. Instead of having normal sized plug-ins that don't really interfere with anything…they have these BIG clunky plug-ins that prevent other things from being plugged in. You want to know how much of a pain that is? Say you're trying to hook up your TV and the power source into the same socket. Most sockets, as you know, contain two different power outlets. So you'd put your TV plug in and then…wait…what? THE POWER SOURCE IS TOO FUCKING BIG. So you'd either have to unplug your TV and try to fit both of them on there or…get an extension cable. It's not terrible, since most people actually have extension cables, but it is kind of inconvenient. This rings especially true when you're rocking multiple systems. Before I bought my PS1, here's what systems I had readily available to me: NES, SNES, Genesis, N64. What is the common tying factor between these systems? THEY ALL HAVE THAT STUPID POWER SOURCE. So I'd have to arrange my plug-ins extra carefully to make sure everything could fit, and most of the time…they couldn't. So something would always have to remain unplugged. This can be extra annoying when you set up a system to play, turn it on and…nothing happens. Panic sets in, could something be wrong with the system? Why isn't it turning on? Oh crap, there goes my child hood! No more NES for me! …Then you find out it's un-plugged, your palm meets your face, and it's time to game. I am so glad that every console of the last two generations got rid of that garbage. Things are so much more convenient now. Every system in my room goes easily into my six-slotted surge protector. What a God send. I can switch between Persona 3 and Super Smash Brothers Brawl at my leisure without panicking about whether my console is okay. It's convenient and I like it better. Whoever invented big power sources needs to be shot.

- There's only one thing wrong with this picture.

1-) Passwords - Oh lord. Passwords. The save system was, without a doubt, the single best innovation in video game history. I thank my lucky stars every time a game asks me to save because I remember a time that it wasn't so easy. Don't get me wrong, not every password system was terrible. SOME did it right. Like the original Ninja Turtles (this is the third time I brought up the turtles in this column) for the gameboy. All it had was numbers. There was no chance for confusion. When you wrote down your password you know exactly what you were writing down. That was acceptable. It was when companies starting throwing in letters that things started to get annoying. Zeroes looked like the letter O, Upper-case and lower-case c's, k's, z's, w's, j's, p's, etc were hard to discern from each other, and don't even get me started on lower-case L's. IS IT a 1? Is it an l? Is it an upper-case i!? The only good thing the letter L has ever done…was be the name of the best character in Death Note. Other than that, I recommend it gets expelled from the alphabet for this bullshit. As if confusing letters weren't hard enough, you also had REALLY LONG passwords. So if you messed up, which I often did because not only do I have horrible penmanship but sometimes it was really hard to see what the combinations were, you had to start over and it was hard to see where you made the mistake. It was often case after case of trial and error. I understand that saving systems didn't come around yet, but would it really have been that hard to make a simplistic password system? That would have been nice. I haven't even TOUCHED on the worst offended yet. Megaman. Ugh…it had that stupid "PLACE THE DOTS HERE" password system. That was so annoying because if you even placed one dot in the wrong place you were fucked. I had lost so much progress thanks to that. If I remember correctly they were grid like with the wholeA-1, B-1, etc deal, but when I was young I didn't notice that. I would draw the WHOLE box and copy the dots there. I would then input the code later and be…screwed. Gah. If that's not bad enough, Mega man 7 for the SNES STILL used a password system, as did megaman soccer. I think that system was a bit advanced for that garbage. Thank God for the save system. No longer do I have to worry about writing something wrong. I can simply pick up and play where I last left off.



Well, that's it for the 10th hour this week. I'm not sure what's on tap for next week (I never am), but I'll be back with a vengeance, I'm sure.

As always, if you want to send me feedback send an e-mail to [e-mail] I welcome all positive or negative statements. Or you can simply use the commenting system below.

Before I go, let's look at some of the great stuff going around on the 411 games section.

Mark Salmela writes B3yond the report (I called it by the right name this week!) last week he said the following Well we do both get the most comments every week for 411 games so I guess we
probably couldn't handle it. And you knew the second you put Zelda OoT at
number 5 you were gonna get 1329214832 comments, bastard....
. Ya' got me! Check out his column, would ya? He puts a lot of work into it. Here it is

Tommy Coloma does the negative edge news report which is a pretty great read. I don't care what you say about SNK milking stuff though, I'm really excited about Fatal Fury Battle Archives number two. BUSTA' WOLF. here ya' go!

Chris Scott is a new columnist at 411. He writes the Red Snifit (What a good name!) Man, do I remember when I was a newbie, writing football columns…dah. Anyways, he's doing a much better job in his rookie effort than I did. He touches on Bad News Baseball. I mean, FUCK YEAH BAD NEWS BASEBALL. show him your support here! Good job Chris, keep it up!

John Curry started a new column, the checkpoint. It's actually a really well thought out discussion about cut-scenes. I just hope he doesn't mind if I refer to him as Curry Man

James McGee does The Game Plan. This week he mentioned Dante as one of the best anti-heroes ever. This is last week's column. He'll have one coming up at the same time this column goes up. I am linking to this one though because I think it deserves some recognition. Hey James! Sean had a point! Gene from God Hand needs to be in. Lookie here

Rod Oracheski writes Achievement Unlocked. He interviewed some people this week, namely Chris Rubyor from Universe at War, and David Speyrer and Kerry Davis from the Orange Box. It's a good read all around. 2000 point achievement right here. Holy shit. This also updates the same day that I do, so make sure to check it out tonight!

Chris Evans pens the PC-centric extravaganza. This week he talks about Dawn of War 2 and racing games. If you like PC games you'd be remiss if you didn't check this out. PC gaming ahoy!

Vincent Chiucchi is behind the select and start news report AND the hall of shame. Last week I highlighted the hall, but this week I'm all over the news report. He fired the first bullet of war against Mark Salmela. IT'S ON NOW. Start+Select+L1+L2+R1+R2

AJ and Mike Minoti do the exploding barrel podcast. Mike commented on me this week saying: Wind Waker at #1 = insta-win.. He's right. It does. They do a really good job with the podcast and you should listen. I really liked at the end of the podcast when they waxed nostalgically on Sonic the Hedgehog. I love that guy. They also discuss Disney games this week. I TOLD YOU THEY USED TO BE GOOD. Check it out here!

Well, that's enough for this week. I think I'll continue along the negativity train next week.

Til' the crossroads