Periphial Review# 1: Hori Battle Pad for Wii/Wii-U

Aesthetics: The controller looks and almost feels like a Gamecube Controller. Only difference I can see is that the L/R triggers are digital only.  Otherwise the controller looks and feels like a GCN controller.

Control: I feel this may be the best controller to use on Wii/Wii-U games that support the Classic Controller/Classic Pro. It definitely works well for both Mario Kart 8 and for Super Smash Bros for Wii-U. For Smash Bros I could feel the difference between this controller and the normal Classic Pro. The analog stick is definitely better and I find myself being able to do tilt attacks with ease as opposed with my Classic Pro I'd struggle with tilt attacks . The C-stick also feels smoother in execution than the normal classic pro right analogue. I would highly recommend this controller for anyone that prefers the GCN layout for Smash Bros and Mario Kart.

Buy or Don't Buy: I would say for the $24.99 price tag this is cheaper than the GCN hub and GCN controller (that is if you already don't have GCN controllers. The GCN hub is $19.99 and a new GCN controller is $29.99. So as long as you have a Wii-Remote you will be good to go.

This or the PDP Fight Pad: Besides the Hori Battle Pad there is also a Gamepad by PDP that again mimics the GCN layout however it provides a standard second analogue as opposed to the C-Stick design. I will update with a better comparison after  getting a PDP pad.

Game Review 3: Super Mario World: The Lost Adventure Episode 2

The format for these review will differ from RPG reviews. There are things more important to platformers. I will still try to keep the 35 point scale so will have everything divided into 7 categories.
Also since this is an SMW hack unless the game play differs greatly the category will be combined with level design.

Categories:
Level Design
Bosses
Music
Challenge
Presentation
Story
Re-Playability

Level Design: Well there are highs and there are lows. Some aspects added to teh hack are custom power-ups that are level specific such as the Boomerang suit. Sadly other hacks have done custom power-ups better. Not to mention you usually are given the power-ups in situations you most likely won't keep them. One thing I find a lot in this hack are things that are good on paper but has poor execution.  The Donkey Kong Country Returns Barrel Rocket levels nice in practice, but the execution here was poor. Pretty much they felt like a flappy bird level. Luckily there was only one or two levels with this gimmick. Another gimmick is several stages you can't pause your game in. Most likely so you can't start/select out a Yoshi, but still could have been circumvented by having no Yoshi blocks at a start of a level you didn't want the Dino. Also most levels are pretty flat and outside of the backgrounds being different there's not much variety. early on. Really not too many puzzle based elements in the game. That and some levels should have used multiple check points as they go on and on and on. The game play is pretty much overall the same as SMW although it seemed the spin jump had less height early on. I may have to go back and double check to be sure. 
Most of the levels though are pretty nice and have the right amount execution.
 Rating: 4.25/5

Bosses: Well the first boss is Dark Bowser in Hell which is a great way to start the game out. Bosses are taken from all over the Mario World with Wart making an appearance. Undine even appears from Tales of Phantasia however that particular battle is a luck based battle where you have to pray to the RNG gods that she'll hit her wave to give you a block. Then there's the Giant Beetle which again relies heavily on RNG of having blocks to hit him with. Clawgrip pretty much plays like Mario 2. Bowser Jr is pretty much the same as the New Super Mario Bros fights. The variety in bosses overall gives you a taste of all of the Mario Verse.

Bosses: 4.5/5 Some of the RNG based bosses is all I will say.

Music: We get Sonic Music, Mega Man Music, Final Fantasy music. The music seems to always fit the stages. They create harmony with the gameplay. The hacker did a great job selecting music. I honestly don't recognize some the music but it all is so good.
Rating: 5/5

Challenge: This is a pretty funny game you sometimes reach a difficulty spike where you die in a level over and over, but then you go about 10 levels with no problem. Overall the game does not follow a linear path for difficulty. Although some of the difficulty spikes come from poor execution. I would say this hack for the most part is playable with no save states, although there are points they can be your friends such as the long levels that lack check points.  But it really is pretty much doable.
Rating 3.5/5

Presentation: The game makes great use of multiple palettes. It also uses some custom enemies such as bullet brothers and Ice Bros. Snow levels have Koopa Troopas throw snowballs instead of shells. Some nice aesthetics such as the shadow pallets borrowed from DKC: Returns.Backgrounds borrowed from various gaming series. It all fits nicely and looks nicely. There are occassional graphics glitches but they are very minor.
4.75/5

Story: Well the game continues from The Lost Adventure where at the end Mario ends up in Hell. Mario makes his way back to the real world to find that Bowser JR is starting to wreak havoc across the Mushroom Kingdom. He sets out to save the day.
4/5 Hey it's pretty ambitious trying to have a story span 3 hacks (I don't believe episode 3 has been released yet). So I think I'm feeling generous
Rating 4.5/5

Re-Playability: Typically Super Mario Hacks you will finish and not play again. There are a few exceptions such as Brutal Mario and Super Demo World and Even The Second Reality Project that bring you back for more. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be playing through Lost Adventure 2 again any time soon. The game is just too punishing at times and a lot of it is artificial difficulty that is from bad execution.The good parts of the hack I'd love to play over and over, the bad parts I wish they'd include the cloud item from Mario 3 as an option.
Rating 3.5/5

Overall: 30/35 for those on the percentile kick 85.71%
I would recommend this hack for a play through. It has some great levels and for the most part is fun. For sanity at times you may want to use save states to save some repetition it's entirely possible without them. But you just may want to save your sanity.

Will update review if any opinions change after finishing the last 4 levels. Also just an Easter egg there is at least one yellow level with 2 exits. If I find more yellow levels have more than one exit I may adjust the level design score.

Video Game Review 2: Equestriabound: This Game Stinks

Character Overview:
Dinky: Daughter of Derpy Hooves and the main character of the game she replaces Ness and is pretty much exactly the same as Ness. Really just there to be fan service for Derpy Fans.

Sweetie Bell: Rarity's Little sister and a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. For this game she is the replacement for Paula. Plays just like Paula. Pray was changed to Sing since Sweetie Bell wanted to sing. She's your magic user for most of the game with PK Freeze and Fire being your bread and butter early on.

Apple Bloom: Apple Bloom replaces Jeff and also just to mention if you die in the section where Apple Bloom is alone Jeff's sprite is in the death scene. She pretty much will be using bottle rockets and items most of the game. She receives some pretty good items that do loads of damage and are reusable. Repairs broken items found just like Jeff.  Can not use PSI/Magic

Scootaloo: Hey if it isn't Poo, well his replacement anyway she's the final member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She has low PP growth but some of the best PSI in the game. She gets the all powerful SonicRainboom. She also has some of the better support spells. Much like Poo she doesn't equip much. Does get her all powerful Scooter if you win an almost impossible optional battle.

Rating: 2.75/5 The sprites are nice, but could have been nicer if the characters were hacked further to differentiate more from the original game. That and they could have used Apple Bloom's cousin Bab Seed as the 4th character instead of Dinky.

Bosses: The bosses pretty much are all the villains and main characters from MLP. Well in the case of  the Mane 6 and Two Princesses you fight Changelings disguised as the characters. Battle sprites are nice and the bosses mostly provide a great challenge. Really the only battles that aren't winnable at normal levels are the optional battles. I personally only finished the  Luna and Macintosh optional battles as the other two seemed too tedious. Sapphire Shores pretty much was the status ailment boss that used status ailments on the whole party. Rainbow Dash spammed the Sonicrainboom attacks. Luna and Big Mac as optional bosses weren't too bad and normal strategies worked well. Outsdie of the optional bosses the h\challenge honestly weans near the end.The earlier sections to be honest probably produced the biggest challenge.  The sprite work for the bosses were very nicely done. Sadly some of the music missed the mark for bosses.
4/5

Story: Well the game Ponifies Earthbound including the story. The script had some gramatical errors at times. But overall I would say the choices for episodes were nicely done. I can't quite explain it but the references pulled in made me chuckle at times. Much like Earthbound  this is a lighthearted adventure.  Though it is quite funny DJ Pon replaces the whole Runaway 5. Much with the Final Fantasy review I will go easy on the story for being Earthbound.
4.75/5

Challenge: I personally found this harder than Earthbound most of the way through. However towards the end outside of optional bosses the difficulty seems to fall flat. Pretty much if you can finish the 8 Elements the rest is a breeze. Until that point there's plenty of challenge.  Then if you want to take on optional bosses there's a super challenge.
Rating 5/5

Music: I personally only liked one remix and that was the MLP Theme for Ponyville. Outside of that a lot of the music is screeching. It is overall bearable but just barely. Original Earthbound had great music, Equestriabound however had screeching ear bleeding music at times.
Rating 1.5/5 Saved by the excellent MLP theme the rest especially battle music was pretty bad.


Gameplay: The tried and true Dragon Quest display. Simple but very effective. I like the KISS method which is why DQ/EB's battle style is one of my favorites. So hey of course I'll give this a good score.
Rating: 5/5

Presentation: The graphics are excellent, the boss portraits are great. I know where the time was spent. Definitely in the graphics department.
Rating 5/5

Overall: This is fun hack overall, but you may want to play your own music or pull out that collection of Earthbound SPC's as it definitely had superior music. If the music wouldn't have been touched the game would have scored higher. Music is very important in an RPG. The presentation and beautiful sprites can't completely make up for the music, but they did a nice job. I did enjoy this hack and felt it had a very good challenge. I will say if you're an MLP fan you would probably enjoy this fan service. If you're an Earthbound fan you may wonder what happened to your beloved gem.


Overall score: 28/35 or for those who like the percentages 80%