I have liked Mario Bros. for quite a long time. I don’t remember if I first played it before or after Super Mario Bros. but I’ve always enjoyed it’s charm.

This game is not nearly as accessible as the Super Mario Bros. games, as it is definitely meant for the arcade crowd. There is no ending to the game, and no story. It’s purely a game where the objective is to get the highest score possible.

I don’t usually like games like these, with the exceptions of puzzle games. But this game is a lot of fun. It also is neat to see the Mario universe I know and love really start to form.

The creatures come out of pipes, and Mario has to knock them over to get rid of them. The difference here is that instead of bopping them on their heads, Mario knocks them over from underneath by bopping the blocks the baddies are standing on (something that Mario could also do in Super Mario Bros., although it wasn’t Mario’s main way of getting rid of enemies).

The koopa troopas make their first appearance here, as do the spinies. Even more important, this is the first appearance of Mario’s brother Luigi (hence the Bros. in the title :)). In the first two appearances of Luigi, he’s just like Mario but with different clothing. It isn’t until Super Mario Bros. 2 that he gets an appearance different from his brother. Luigi’s personality was formed here, but not in the game. I remember seeing ads for the home versions of Mario Bros. with Luigi being scared and calling out for his big brother to help him. This is a character trait that is still present in Luigi today, especially in the Mario & Luigi RPG series.

Although I grew up with the arcade and NES versions of Mario Bros., I much prefer the Gameboy Advance remake. The original had no music except a beginning tune at each level, but the remake has music all throughout. It also has improved graphics, and animated backgrounds, giving the game a look very similar to the remakes of the Super Mario Bros. games in Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES.

I’ll still find myself playing Mario Bros. on my Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga cartridge from time to time. Like Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, it’s a great way to spend a few minutes and not have them feel like they’ve been wasted. :)

The Dig is the one LucasArts adventure game that I did not complete when I was younger. In fact, I finally completed this game just last year.

I’m not quite sure why I never took the time to finish it before. I always loved the animation in this game. The cutscenes feel so cinematic, which is perfect since this is a project conceived by Stephen Spielberg. The voice acting is great, and the storyline is intriguing.

If anything, it probably has to do with it’s more serious tone. The other LucasArts adventures, with the exception of Loom, are all comedic adventures. When I was a young girl, I suppose I loved the LucasArts adventures because of their humor rather than their compelling storylines.

Now that I’m an adult, I appreciate story in any medium more, so I have a new found appreciation for The Dig. The storyline in The Dig is very compelling. It has many interesting turns, especially once you’re knee-deep into the search of the alien planet.

The Dig isn’t among my favorite adventure games, but The Dig is definitely worthy of it’s place among the other LucasArts adventure games. The animation in the cutscenes is still beautiful, even today. And the story is quite compelling. It’s well worth experiencing at least once.

This movie suffers from a terrible title and trailer advertisements that show the dumbest parts of the movie. I went to this movie with my mom the other day, and didn’t expect too much out of it. I had a free ticket to see it, so I thought I’d give it a chance.

I’m glad I did. There are some really dumb moments (just about all of them showed up in the commercials), but it does have a really nice story. I liked that they portrayed Paul as a capable man, despite his size and disposition. Too many times in these movies, the heavy comedians are portrayed as blunderers and slackers who come out on top by accident. There’s a bit of that in this movie, but thankfully, most of the time Paul Blart is shown having the skills and knowledge, he just had some real emotional and physical boundaries to overcome.

Often times commercials will show the best parts of the movie, leaving me disappointed when I leave the theater. This time it was the other way around, and I left the theater quite satisfied with the movie.

Burger King used to have these on their menu in 1987 but they didn’t sell very well. They were called Burger Bundles and then Burger Buddies, and now 20 years later they are back under the name Burger Shots. I like the name Burger Buddies better, but to tell you the truth these are so good I don’t care what the name is. :) I just hope they stick around this time.

The burgers come in a six pack (although, unless I misheard they also sell them in packs of two). The six burger buns are all combined together, and you have to break them off to eat them. They all have ketchup and a pickle on each little burger.

You can order them with cheese, like I did. These little mini cheeseburgers are delicious. I like them way better than the mini burgers at White Castle. After I read up on them when I came home, I saw that you can also order them with bacon! I’ll have to try that next time. :D

The Homestar Runner universe is weird. It’s full of pop-culture humor, but it’s mostly references from the seventies, eighties, and early nineties. The characters are portrayed as adults, but they all act like little kids. And, perhaps weirdest of all, four of the main characters don’t talk, and either communicate through silence, squeaks, screaming, or gibberish.

All of this strangeness makes for humor that is funny to a lot of people, but the humor really isn’t really universal. It works in short flash cartoons, since the humor is quick flying, and even to a fan like me some of the humor in the shorts don’t really resonate with my funny bone.

The funniest short flash cartoons on the site, and not surprisingly, overwhelmingly the most popular, are the cartoons where viewer e-mails are answered. These contain the most universally-appealing humor out of everything on the site, although a lot of the e-mails can be weirder than anything else on the site as well.

So, it’s no surprise that for Telltale Games’ episodic game series based on the Homestar Runner universe, they decided to focus on the character that answers those e-mails, a Mexican luchidore named Strong Bad.

Much like the first season of Sam & Max, Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People finds it’s footing as it goes on. The first game, Homestar Ruiner, is entirely fan service for existing Homestarrunner.com fans. The game throws you entirely into the action without a real introduction to the characters. Strong Bad begins by answering his e-mail on his Lappy 486 laptop computer, which is a standard e-mail addressing Strong Bad’s distaste for quazi-athlete Homestar Runner. The player is then left to go to the track to confront Homestar, without being told who exactly Homestar is.

Upon entering the track, a newcomer to the Homestar Runner universe will learn that Homestar is entering a race, and that the race is being overseen by a coach wearing a green tracksuit with a Z on his chest. To be honest, this is really all the introduction these characters need, since their personalities never were too fleshed out over the years beyond “terrific athlete” and bad coach respectively.

But, the in-jokes come fast, and make up the majority of the humor of the game. There are multiple references to past shorts, and especially past Strong Bad e-mails, along with an appearance by the “hidden guy” Homsar. I was well acquainted with the characters, since I’ve been watching Homestar Runner for years, but I could definitely see where new comers would feel lost.

Unfortunately, although the individual episodes get better as the season goes on, the problem with non-introduction of the characters to newcomers is never really addressed. The rest of the season continues as business as usual, and more existing characters from the Homestar Runner universe are later brought in, similarly without any real introduction for newcomers.

So, in order to enjoy these games, I’d strongly recommend going to homestarrunner.com and watching as much as you can before playing. This way, you can tell if the humor fits your taste, and if it does, you can get the most out of these games.

If you do like it, you’ll find these 5 games a lot of fun. Homestar Ruiner is the least fleshed out of the five, with a plot line that is simply a two hour Strong Bad e-mail, except without exploring Strong Bad’s imagination, which is where humor comes from in the funniest Strong Bad e-mails.

Strong Badia the Free is my third favorite episode of the season, as it has an interesting plotline, and actual character development. The characters at Homestarrunner.com are never really fleshed out, but here Telltale gives one particular character some real depth, and with full support of the homestarrunner.com creators, The Brothers Chaps. The ending also sports a genre-blending experience that must be experienced to be appreciated.

Baddest of the Bands is a step back from the second episode, similar to how the second episode of Sam & Max Season One seemed to be a step back from the previous one. However, also like S&M Episode 3, it was quite enjoyable nonetheless. The storyline isn’t as fleshed out, as it just involves Strong Bad starting and trying to win a battle of the bands competition. The humor is great in this episode, though, and the puzzles are the most entertaining up to this point in the season.

Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective provides the most fan-service out of all the episodes of the season. It also provides the most unique game I think I’ve ever played. Strong Bad’s “movie series” Dangeresque are buddy cop spoofs. The third “movie” Dangeresque 3, has been promised since 2004 and was said to be made in 3D. Telltale now provides that third “movie”, and it is in 3D as promised. The game moves along as scenes from the movie, complete with the bad props, bad acting, and sloppy cuts that the series is known for. The best part though is extended play. When the games are over in every episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, players can continue past the ending and talk to the characters after the game with new lines of dialog and find secrets they missed. Since Dangeresque 3 is supposed to be a movie, the extended play here is presented like special features on a DVD. Here you can find “cast interviews”, “deleted scenes”, and “outtakes”.

8-bit is Enough finishes the series with a spoof of computer and video games from the 1980’s. The Brothers Chaps, creators of Homestar Runner, created a fake company named Videlectrix, which they used to create Homestar Runner related flash games for free on homestarrunner.com. These games spoofed classic arcade, Atari 2600, NES, and Sega Genesis games from the past. These games make an appearance here as the video game world merges with “the real world”, or at least the world which Strong Bad and his acquaintances inhabit. This episode is a spoof-fest, and video game fans will have fun finding all of the references to classic video games. I enjoyed Sam & Max Season One’s video game spoof episode, and I found 8-bit is Enough to be even more enjoyable.

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People is not for everyone. The humor is odd, and is not at all universal. It is also a must to be familiar with the short cartoons on homestarrunner.com before playing. If you do like the humor, you’ll definitely like these games though. They are really faithful to the source material, and even add knew concepts that still feel like they fit into the established universe.

The Librarian is about a man who has dedicated his entire life to learning as much as he can. After a strange interview, the man is quickly thrust into the role of “The Librarian”, the keeper of the world’s treasures.

He is all book smarts and no street smarts, so when he has to retrieve the three parts of the Spear of Destiny, he soon finds himself a reluctant action hero. Luckily, he is helped by a woman who’s sole job as she puts it is to protect the librarian. She doesn’t give time for second thoughts, so The Librarian is often literally pushed from heights to escape their pursuers, who also seek the spear that punctured the side of Jesus Christ.

This leads to several jokes from a woman in the pursuing party about how fearless the new librarian is. This aspect reminded me a lot of how people reacted to Jackie Chan’s clumsy character in the James Bond spoof, “The Tuxedo”. Just like in The Tuxedo though, the joke was funny once, but becomes tiresome with overuse.

“The Librarian” itself does have a bit of a James Bond feel to it, with Bob Newhart playing the library caretaker who sends “The Librarian” out on his missions. After the librarian thinks he has been double crossed, Bob Newhart appears on the television set in his hotel room to give him instructions on what to do next. It was executed a little strangely, and seemed to be a setup for a joke where people watching the TV when Bob Newhart talked to the librarian were not distracted in the slightest. This joke just didn’t work, much like the super librarian jokes throughout the movie.

The archeology aspects were more entertaining, although a lot of the traps seemed to be pulled right from Raiders of the Lost Ark. But, I did enjoy the artifact they were looking for. The Spear of Destiny is actually the reason that George Lucas wrote the plot of Raiders around the Nazis looking for religious artifacts. Adolf Hitler actually did go looking for the Spear of Destiny, and supposedly found it. It now resides in a museum in Germany. There was even going to be a video game by LucasArts that had Indiana Jones searching for the spear. This Indiana Jones story did end up as a comic book by Dark Horse Comics. For “The Librarian”, it is said that there are actually three parts to the spear, and the one in the German museum is only one part of the whole artifact.

The Spear’s powers are revealed late in the movie, have the potential to be quite impressive, and present a real moral dilemma to anyone wanting to wield those powers. I would have loved to see this explored further, but the powers were quickly revealed, only to be set aside for a battle against the librarian over control of the spear. I don’t mind battles in movies like this, but it seemed to come too fast, and then lasted a bit too long.

Overall I found the Librarian to be a fun movie, but a bit flawed. It seems the writers tried too hard to be funny, wanting it to be a spoof, rather than rely on the strength of the quest and the characters. When it is played as a straight movie, “The Librarian” is very enjoyable.

When Full Throttle first came out it didn’t interest me too much. It is a story about brutal biker gangs with a hard rock soundtrack. Neither of those were appealing to me in the least.

However, when I purchased the LucasArts Archive Vol. III, I decided that I might as well give the game a shot and see what it’s like since I liked every LucasArts adventure game that I had played. I’m very glad that I did, since Full Throttle turned out to be one of my all-time favorite adventure games.

I love a strong story, and Full Throttle has a whopper of one. People say that Full Throttle is short, but I was so engrossed in the story that I never even noticed it’s short length. Another reason I never thought that the game ended too soon is that the ending sequence is my favorite finale I have ever played in an adventure game.

The game has a fantastic cartoon style to it, and the animation is so fluid that it still looks great to this day. And of course, as is true with all of the adventure games by LucasArts, the voice acting was fantastic. I’m not the biggest hard rock fan, but the intro animation to the game really made me love The Gone Jackals’ song “Legacy”. Thankfully for me though, the hard rock songs aren’t used too much, and most of the game has calmer music by Peter McConnell.

About the only thing that I didn’t enjoy was the few action sequences where you had to knock bikers off of their motorcycles on the Old Mine Road. It was frustrating, seemed unnecessary, and was more work than fun. Thankfully, this sequence wasn’t too long, as it was really used for only one puzzle.

The rest of the game was great though, and the one quibble I had with it doesn’t stop Full Throttle from being in my personal top 10. It’s one of the few adventure games I’ve played many times after I’ve beaten it. The story is worth experiencing more than once. :)

The creators of The Simpsons decided to make Treehouse of Horror into a yearly event, and with Treehouse of Horror II they stepped up the humor level a bit. The mayhem level is still pretty tame here, but it’s still a lot of fun.

The writers were still trying to fit the stories into the continuity of the show, so like the first Treehouse, there are segments in-between the stories that show that they are just stories thought up by the show’s cast.

Lisa, Bart, and Homer are scarfing down candy, and Marge warns them that if they eat too much candy they will have nightmares. Of course, they do, and in turn the setup for the three Treehouse of Horror stories are made.

Lisa, being a fan of reading, dreams that Homer buys a monkey’s paw like in W.W. Jacobs’s short story The Monkey’s Paw. Like the story it is based on, the paw grants wishes, but the wishes come with a price. One wish seemingly brings the Simpsons fame and glory, and gives the writers the chance to poke fun of the huge Simpsons merchandise mania that was happening at the time. It’s this self-depreciating humor that makes me love The Simpsons so much.

Bart, being a fan of television, has a nightmare based on the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life”. He dreams that he has the power to read people’s minds as well as alter reality in any way he sees fit. People everywhere are scared of Bart’s powers, and will let him get away with anything for fear of what he might do to them. Of course, this is a dream come true for Bart, not a nightmare. The nightmare comes with the dream’s conclusion, and is really a funny, and true-to-character twist.

Homer’s nightmare is last, and has Homer fired from the Nuclear Plant for sleeping on the job. After getting a job as a grave digger and falling asleep on that job, Mr. Burns mistakes Homer for a corpse, and has Smithers drag his body to Burns’ laboratory. Homer’s brain is transplanted into a robot in an attempt to make the perfect employee. Of course, with Homer’s brain, all the robot wants to do is laze about and eat donuts. Like Bart’s dream, Homer as a robot would not be a nightmare for Homer, but the true nightmare comes at the end.

This Treehouse of Horror episode is funnier than the last, but it’s still pretty tame. The next Treehouse of Horror episode is where things start getting really good. Even so, Treehouse of Horror II is still worth the watch. :)

Primetime animation is commonplace today, but in the 1980’s that wasn’t the case. The Flintstones aired in primetime, but it wasn’t until the breakthrough success of The Simpsons that primetime animation became the American television staple that it is today. True, the Simpsons no longer seem fresh or innovative, but it’s amazing that a show that is beginning it’s 20th year on television can still elicit laughs.

The 20th season premiere, Sex Pies and Idiot Scrapes, finds Homer once again trying a new profession on for size. This time, after being arrested for taking part in a St. Patrick’s Day brawl, Homer visits a bail bondsman to post his bail. After getting a taste of the life of a bounty hunter, Homer decides to become one himself. On his first hunt, Homer is accidentally saved by Ned Flanders, and the two decide to become a bounty hunting duo.

The unlikely pair unsurprisingly get themselves into some very funny situations while they attempt to catch crooks. Longtime fans of the series will be pleased to see a plethora of character cameos in this episode.

The side story has Marge also trying out a new profession. She meets an Irish baker and agrees to bake cakes for him at his bakery. I’m not going to ruin the twist, as this is only a 22 minute episode and I don’t want to give it all away in a review. But, Marge’s job turns out to be quite different from what she was expecting. I was very pleased to see that the side story actually worked well in this episode. It was also nice to see that the writers managed to mesh both stories together in a believable and in-character fashion at the end of the story.

This episode wasn’t perfect, but it was a good start to the new season. Some of the jokes fell flat, especially in the beginning of the episode, but I actually found myself laughing out loud at some points. There wasn’t any character development, but everyone stayed in character throughout the episode. It’s not a series classic by any means, but Sex Pies and Idiot Scrapes is an enjoyable, if somewhat average, episode.

Treehouse of Horror is the annual Halloween-themed episode of The Simpsons. It has become a place for the Simpsons’ creators to do wonderfully bizarre things to their characters without having to worry about series continuity. But, here, in the second season’s Treehouse of Horror, things started off much more innocently.

This episode takes place in Bart’s treehouse (hence the name :) ). The Simpsons kids (Bart, Lisa, and Maggie) are up in the treehouse telling scary stories while Homer eavesdrops on them. The episode is really a series of three short cartoons, interspersed with scenes showing that the kids are the ones telling the stories.

The first story, Bad Dream House, has the Simpsons family moving out of their familiar home on Evergreen Terrace in Springfield. Their new house turns out to be alive, and decides to get the Simpsons family out by possessing the family members, turning them into psychopaths who want to try to kill each other.

The second story, Hungry are the Damned, parodies the episode of the Twilight Zone TV show called “To Serve Man”. The Simpsons are abducted by two aliens known as Kang and Kodos. They give the Simpsons huge amounts of food, and take pleasure in watching the family stuff themselves. This makes Lisa suspicious, so she searches the ship to find out the aliens’ true intentions.

The last story is a retelling of the short story “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe. This is easily the most memorable segment of the whole episode. Here Bart is the raven that drives the main character, Homer, crazy while he thinks of his lost love Lenore (who is shown in a portrait as Marge). The story is spoken from the text directly from Edgar Allen Poe’s story, and is narrated by James Earl Jones.

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror has become a Halloween tradition in many American households (mine included), and this is the one that started it all. Everyone should see this at least once.