Zombie (Castlevania)

I must confess, I never played Castlevania until a few years ago. It just wasn't one of those games that any of my friends had that I could I borrow.  I'm not a horror fan, so Ghosts 'n Goblins more than satisfied my need to fight classic monsters.  I did play Castlevania 2 a few times, but that also was hard to get into because it was more of an RPG/adventure type game.

So, I gave Castlevania a try.  Boy, I feel silly for missing out.  This game is classic, and I don't care how sluggish the main character is in the first game.  Once you get used to the mechanics, it's quite easy to adjust.  Not that this game is easy; I still haven't gotten past the Grim Reaper.  I'm playing it on my 3DS and trying really hard not to cheat and use save states, but in my older years I may just have to use them instead of pushing through it like in my childhood, when I had hours and hours to practice.

The zombie is barely in the game.  It's actually the first enemy you encounter, and is terribly weak.  He's just there to get you comfortable with using your whip.  Now, when I made this version, I wasn't too enamored with the end result.  It didn't look like much, and if you couldn't figure out what it was on a quick glance, then I probably shouldn't use it as an entry.  But it's grown on me, and I still wanted a reasonable Halloween character before I return to Ghosts 'n Goblins characters.  Give it a chance; when you take a step back and look at it from farther away, it looks better.  I still give the edge to the zombie I made a few years ago, but this one is here more for comparison's sake.  Plus, you don't see too many zombies skating around with pink shrouds....

1 Up (SMB3)

Well, I guess I missed a St. Patrick's Day post last year, but I'm not going to let that happen again this year...  

It's a little odd that I haven't gotten to this one sooner. Maybe because I was usually thinking of the common red mushroom, and not thinking about all those green mushrooms that help me get through every world on my way to fighting Bowser in the third installment.  These have eyes now.  

In honour of a previous post years ago, I am wearing my Kuribo's Shoe shirt for the occasion.  There really isn't much more to say about this one, as it's pretty self-explanatory.  Enjoy!

Red Devil (Ghosts 'n Goblins - NES)

Yes, it's been a long time.  Over a year and a half.  I guess life has just gotten so busy to be doing these things.  But I've always wanted to come back eventually, just on my terms.  So if it wasn't going to be St. Patrick's Day, then it was going to be my other must-post holiday, Halloween.  And so you get Red Devil.

Red Devil torments you in the this game due to his erratic movements and his ability to take multiple hits.  You will almost always lose your armor to him at some point, because he is a sadistic devil.  Not THE Devil, mind you, nor Satan; those are two other characters.  I almost forgot the Petite Devils...no wonder this game is so brutal.

So Level 3 is chock full of these guys, and you have to be careful you don't let more than one on the screen at any one time, otherwise you might as well just throw your controller away.  I'm sure I did that on more than one occasion playing this game.  I'd do it right now if it wasn't for the fact that the Big Men are thwarting my ability to even reach that level.  I guess I could use the warp code, but one does not play Ghosts 'n Goblins without expecting some sort of sadistic pleasure from it....

So this character somehow got his own Gameboy game, strangely titled Gargoyle's Quest.  Yeah, I never played it, but I heard it's pretty good.  Although I like the Japanese name way better: Red Arremer: Hell Village Side-Story.  And yet he's green on the cover art.  Oh, who am I kidding? Like Capcom ever knew how to match their cover art with the content inside....

Bionic Commando

Ah, Bionic Commando. One of the best games for the NES, and one of the few that is superior to its arcade machine counterpart. It seems kind of weird to show you without your actual bionic arm, but that's just a long row of grey pixels, and therefore boring.

So I don't actually know this character's name. Your mission is to save the world and rescue Super Joe, who I always thought was the hero (and guy you controlled) in the original Commando. I looked all through the instruction manual, and this guy isn't given a name. I don't trust Wikipedia and its entry naming the protagonist "Ladd Spencer." That's a really silly name.

This guy couldn't jump; everything was dependent on that bionic arm. It sure was fun though, except when there were lots of spikes beneath you and you had to pull a Tarzan to survive.

Oh, and here's your green entry for March, of course. Because nothing reminds me of the Irish more than a guy with spiky red hair and a green jumpsuit....

Pokey ("Clyde")

Alright, time to put you out of your misery. Of course you know there are only four ghosts, so you won't have to deal with any more Pac Man sprites until I start making the bonus fruits. Although I'd probably start with a key or the Galaxian guy. Wait, I already did that....

So Clyde here is the only ghost to undergo an identity crisis when we get to Ms. Pac Man. Everyone else retains their original names, but Clyde takes a different path. Perhaps feeling confused that Pac Man might be pulling a fast one and just wearing lipstick and a bow, Clyde decides he wants to be called Sue from now on. The other ghosts oblige, and secretely are disappointed Sue doesn't do anything to differentiate her/himself from her/his previous persona. At least wear a skirt or something....

Bashful ("Inky")

Ah, the one that stopped me cold. You see that colour right there? It's sort of an aqua? That colour is super hard to come by. Oh sure, I could have settled for a light blue, or even turquoise, but this is the one that looks closest to the video game. And it wasn't cheap to get those pieces, I'll have you know. But anything for the sake of my art.

Fortunately, this colour can be used for other game characters in the future that I didn't think I'd ever want to get to. I even used this in the Tron one from December already. So at least it's versatile.

A few months back I was going to talk about MY original version of Pac Man. It certainly wasn't that awful Atari 2600 version. No, my first home version was played on the Atari 400. Doesn't look too bad, does it? But did you notice the weird ghost colours? Bashful here is green! If only I had thought of doing those versions years ago, I wouldn't have had to wait so long....

Speedy ("Pinky")

It looks the same, and yet it's not...

Sure, I could have just taken the design and replaced all the red with pink, but instead I wanted to have a whole set. So I patiently waited for a source of pink bricks, and that's when I discovered the pink brick box with a whole bunch of girly colours. But this pink was more of a dark pink or magenta. I actually made this ghost originally with that colour until I discovered this light pink was also available. This is far more accurate to the game, so here you go.

You'll notice the bottom is different, if ever so slightly. That's because the ghosts have two frames of animation to make it look like they're gliding, or hovering, or whatever....