Hmm, interesting.

In other news, part 29 is now up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=300lxBKmEsM

Not much point in mentioning this, but since you did bring it up in the video, whatever- predictably, the strongest unboosted attack is now Lickilicky Explosion.

Of course, I knew that. Not that it's very helpful, since it's so strong it's overkill. At least Azelf can back it up better.

Oh, look at that, two new videos! Maybe because you shouldn't expect too much out of me in that department for a while.

Part 30: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrKrqqOCRs
Part 31: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cwFFRlYI70

I like Haunter's design a lot, much moreso than Gengar, though it was mostly thanks to Stadium's animations, which had him flipping around and whipping his tongue far out for various attacks.

Piplup got a lot of heat over its name? Hell, remember the uproar over Drifblim?

As far as I remember, Piplup had it far, FAR worse.

At least Piplup wasn't two badly hacked words stuck together (I wasn't crazy about the name myself.) At that point though I stopped looking inside the many name rants that popped up so I guess I just didn't notice who was hated on the most.

Which is exactly why I consider Piplup to be among the best starter names. Treecko? Turtwig? Chimchar? Squirtle? Sheesh. And Piplup was so badly received, Serebii warned us in advance that we would riot even worse over Prinplup's name.

But it just goes to say, obvious portmanteaus have been there since the very beginning, it hasn't gotten worse or better over time.

As a side note, I didn't get Ranger 2 today in the end, as the local Wal-Mart didn't have it yet - and before you e-strangle the life out of me for shopping at Wal-Mart, remember that I don't live in a big city, and it pretty much has a monopoly over the video game market here.

Consider this: it's just a game. Even if Wal-Mart has a penchant for stocking mainly cheap, low quality shit, the games on the other hand are no different than what you'd find at Best Buy or Electronics Boutique. And with that in mind, my belief is that if I want a game, it doesn't matter who sells it, as long as they haven't marked the price way up (for antique games I mean.) Never mind that Wal-Mart in general is just a crummy store that treats its employees no better than any other crappy job.

If a bum smelling like piss is selling a plastic-wrapped CTDS that he stole from a delivery truck to get some money for booze, and I happen upon him, then Mr. Piss Stench is going to enjoy a good buzz that evening. So, yeah. Buy your video games wherever you can manage to find them.

Nah, I'm not talking about my own personal ethics there, I've encountered people on the Internet who will stop just short of hunting you down and killing you for buying nothing more than coin wrappers at Wal-Mart. Seriously. They're sleazy all-around, but some people take the hate way too far, if that's even possible (and it is).

You were still defending your purchase (or choice in this case, or lack thereof, whatever way you want to look at it) so I thought I'd mention that. The people that get their panties in a bunch would do well to remember that also. They're just games. Even if Wal-Mart is the scum of department stores, I doubt they violate anyone or their morals.

Part 32!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO9o_O3j4is

I managed to keep the Ranger talk to an absolute zero on this one. Mostly because I'm way too early in the game to express my opinion.

Your comments about censorship of death makes me wonder if people consider that any child taking a (mandatory) social studies or history class will be more than exposed to stories and descriptions of wars between coutries, assassinations of presidents, beheadings of kings, and so on. No US schoolbook pretends that Lincoln magically stopped being president. Or Japan surrendered after a long and bitter debate (my 6th grade schoolbook actually went so far as to describe the effect the nuke had on the buildings.)

The average sixth grader is between 10 and 12 years old, also prime candidates for watching the shows and playing games where this stuff is taboo. Whereas earlier that day they learned about the Boston Massacre. What's more, consider all the children that were old enough to be very aware of 9/11 and the insurgent beheadings that were highly televised, which certainly made their way into history books.

While I'm on the subject of textbooks (well, US textbooks, but now for something different), a long time ago my dad was telling me about the Chinese being furious that Japanese schools were not teaching their children about Japan's involvement in WWII, namely the despicable things they did while invading China. I got to thinking how Germany handled WWII with their schools.

I'm starting another LP on the side, though this one is going to be much longer than the Game Gear Sonic ones. This one's going to be on Ken's Labyrinth, an old Wolfenstein 3D clone I used to play a lot as a kid.

I haven't started the game yet, but I made a video giving the rundown on what this game was, especially the outrageously ridiculous, yet somehow entertaining, story. No comments on the gameplay, as if you're not familiar with Wolfenstein 3D you'll soon know all you need to know after a video or two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNK7Hs9rP14

Edit: Two new movies up: a rant on old first-gen sprites! Sorry that I had to split it in two, but ten minutes just wasn't enough.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YmwDA_HHMY
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpsuQ4e002c

I thought the edit bug was fixed... probably because it was, but after I made that last post. People found my sprite rant on their own though, which is good.

Anyway, here's two Ken's Labyrinth videos to start the game off! Here I cover the first four levels, to the exception of the last room of level 4.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUI3mRyYcJ8
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7_MqcEkpnI

By the way, there are a few videos among the five that were there before I started this thing that document the history of the game - and by that I mean, what it looked like before it became what you're seeing now.

Walken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cjQJhPtXiE

Recognize those walk-through walls? I do! Also, the second level of this version made it into the final game... it's level 5, which you'll see in part 3.

Version 1.0: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5_pNdanRHA

Very similar to the final version, though there are quite a few differences (walls, enemies). The music that plays here on level 1 appears on level 19 in the final game. Level 2 music plays on both levels 2 and 3 here.

For reference purposes, what I'm playing now is version 2.1, which is the retail version. Rather, it's a port of version 2.1 to modern computers, but otherwise it's completely identical to the game I knew as a child.

Edit: Part 33 of Pokémon Red up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUhKHYVvLac

Nope, the edit bug is most certainly NOT fixed.

Clear Body doesn't block status, only stat drops attempted by the enemy. I assure you Metagross and Registeel are just as vulnerable to paralysis from attacks as much as anyone.

As for Gastly & Co being poison type, when you consider that they were originally (well, Gastly at least) based on- whaddya know- gas, I can kind of follow the logic. Not for Gengar though. It has no reason to be poisonous.

Oh, dammit. For some reason I mixed it up with... well, what did I mix it up with? Such an ability doesn't exist!

It would be nice if Wonderguard did it. Sheddy could use the help. Make it incorporate the properties of Magic Guard too so spikes, sand and Stealth Rock aren't a problem anymore. It'd certainly help it out considering it still has an extremely basic movepool. STAB Bug, STAB Ghost doubling as priority move (though I think it legally gets Shadow Claw), Swords Dance, and Confuse Ray. That's Sheddy.

Part 34: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17VTaMWqekE

And as I say in the video, not just Wonder Guard, but MAGIC Guard as well. Clefable absorbs poison and burn like crazy, now let's see it absorb para and sleep.

Edit: Part 35 is up as well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSCZdUZPUgk

Actually, I don't believe the glitch would be too hard to find. All it requires is a coincidental pause of the game right before the trainer spots you, and a Pokemon that can Fly. Once you're on the pause screen, the idea could occur to anyone to just fly away, and see what happens. Once it was found, it was easy to implement it again, and do tests to see how the glitch effects the game.