End Game Thoughts: Pokémon Blue!

Game Title: Pokémon Blue
Platform: Nintendo Game Boy
Hours Played: around 75

About The Game

Pokémon Blue (and its counterpart, Pokémon Red) was released on the Nintendo Game Boy in 1998 in North America. Basically, even though you are a small child, your mother thinks it’s cool that you want to travel around stuffing all sorts of weird creatures into balls and fighting against trainers who are in some cases way older and way more experienced. Once you receive your starter Pokémon, your mom kicks you out of the house so you can start your journey to the be the Greatest Pokémon Trainer Ever, and you’re not allowed to come home until you do! I may or may not have made that last statement up…

What I Liked

My favorite part of any Pokémon game is, of course, the Pokémon! I’m most fond of this generation of Pokémon probably because of nostalgia. Anyway, this game is so much fun! The music and graphics are adorable. I love the little cries the individual Pokémon make. I also appreciated how the game was a decent challenge without ever being overly difficult- though I did get tripped up on occasion.

What I Didn’t Like

The dungeons were a bit annoying at times, just because of all the random encounters. Sometimes I couldn’t take more than two steps without having to battle! Yeah, yeah, I used Repel and it didn’t work as well as it should have, so there! The Safari Zone sucked ass- Pokémon broke out of the balls way too easily, and it just annoyed me. Also, Moltres was quite the little bitch- I know he’s a Legendary, but still.

Closing Thoughts

Though I REALLY wanted to “Catch ‘Em All”, it really does take quite a bit of time to actually catch and evolve the Pokémon. I did try to do this at first (hence the inflated play time), but ultimately ended up just trying to build a strong team and move on. I’m also proud of myself for catching all the Legendaries as well as Mewtwo 😉 All in all, this was a really fun game, and I’m glad I’ve finally beaten it!

P.S. You can only play as a boy in this game, hence my name being “Brandon” haha.

My Gaming Month in Review: April 2020!

I didn’t get a whole lot of gaming time in the month of April, mostly because I have been too damn exhausted to do anything, even if it’s something fun! Story of my life these days for some stupid reason! Anywho, here’s what I accomplished in April 2020!

Console

Nintendo Wii

I played a little bit of Animal Crossing: City Folk. I didn’t pay off anymore of my loan, but I sold some stuff and made a little more money. Hopefully I’ll be able to make another mortgage payment soon!

Nintendo Switch

Of course I played some Animal Crossing: New Horizons! I still haven’t made a First Impressions post of this game, but I do plan on it. I did a lot in the month of April: participated in a couple events, had a few more residents move in, expanded my house, etc. If I ever get that First Impressions post done, I’ll write more details on my gameplay 😉

I did manage to finish a game this month, believe it or not! I completed my gameplay of Mario Tennis Aces. I’ll write an End Game Thoughts post about it at some point, so stay tuned for more info 😉

Handheld

Nintendo Game Boy

Still plugging away at Pokémon Blue! I explored the Safari Zone, which was a HUGE pain in the ass! Pokémon tend to break out of the Safari Balls and run WAY too easily. I’m not big on luck-based shit! I managed to nab a few new Pokémon anyway, but it wasn’t really that fun. I tweaked my team a bit, and I ended the month by gathering experience while exploring Route 16!

Mobile

iPhone

Of course I played Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp on my phone! The events in April were cute, but a little too pink for my tastes. Anyway, I ended the month at level 174 with 195/198 villagers invited to my camp! I decorated the upstairs of my cabin around Tom Nook this time, so here’s what I came up with:

It was actually harder than I thought to make a theme around him for some reason! I ended up trying to mimic his store, with completely random items up for sale. And instead of working, he’s sleeping behind the cash register. I almost fall asleep at work every day, so I totally understand. 😉

My Gaming Month in Review: March 2020!

Hmm, April is more than halfway over and I’m just now writing about March’s game play… big slacker here! What else is new! Haha anyway, let’s jump right in and see what I was up to in March!

Console

Nintendo Wii

I played a bit of Animal Crossing: City Folk this month- still trying to pay off my final mortgage in this game! The grass wear is starting to get to me… uggh! Anyway, I set the time back a bit so that I could participate in Festivale! During Festivale, you play games with your villagers to win candy, which you then trade in to Pavé for some sweet furniture. Even though I really suck at luck-based games, I still managed to win enough to get three pieces of furniture!

Viva Festivale!

I also did a lot of fishing and was able to make a mortgage payment. Only 380,000 bells to go!

Nintendo Switch

So I’m sure a lot of you know that Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released on March 20th! OF COURSE I had to get it on release day (which is something I rarely do for games) and I’ve been playing it ever since! I’m going to do a First Impressions post of this game (with my slow ass track record, expect this post sometime in July or August) so I won’t bog down this post too much. Let’s just say that I made some decent progress 🙂 Oh, and my island name is Spartacus- that’s a nod to my late grandfather, who probably would get a laugh out of the name!

I played a little bit of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild this month as well. Instead of just randomly fucking around, I decided to work on the Locked Mementos quest so I could get my Sheikah Slate repaired! I went to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab to speak to the Director. She wanted me to light her furnace before she could work on it… um, okay? Anywho, I did that weird task for her, then she repaired the Slate- now I can take pictures and complete the Hyrule Compendium! I also activated several side quests, though I didn’t try to complete any of them yet.

For my Switch Sunday playthrough, I continued on with Mario Tennis Aces! I played Adventure Mode a bit more, and I finally beat The Reflection Room, which was a HUGE pain in the ass! I lost so many times, the game took pity on me and gave me unlimited power- only then was I able to beat it. It was stupid and annoying and I never want to play it again!

The next level was called Detour, and this was where I called it quits on Adventure Mode. I attempted to rally with Boo 300 times and for the life of me, I couldn’t do it. Boo is a cheating asshole!

Since I’d seen enough of Adventure Mode, I tried out Tournament Mode. I beat the Mushroom Cup. Hey, that’s progress!

Handheld

Nintendo Game Boy 

I made a bit of progress in Pokémon Blue, go me! I explored Routes 14 and 15 and gained some experience, then entered Fuschia City. I’m playing this game on my Super Game Boy and the color palette makes my eyes bleed! Anyway, I took on the Gym Leader (Koga) and earned my 6th badge!

Mobile

iPhone

I continued to play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp! Something I decided to do is dedicate the top floor of my cabin to a different NPC each month. Hey, I spent Leaf Tickets on them, they should be shown off! I’m just doing it in the order I purchased them, because I’m neurotic. Anyway, this month I set up a little concert setting for K.K. Slider!

At the end of March… I don’t remember what my level was, because I’m a dummy and forgot to make note of it. Ugh! I was probably at like Level 168 with 187/191 animals invited to my campsite… something like that!

So that’s it for my March gaming adventures! See ya! 🙂

My Gaming Month In Review: February 2020!

Wow, two months in a row with this type of post… I’m on a roll! Ha. Anyway, let’s get right down to it… here’s the progress I made with my games in the month of February!

Console

Nintendo Wii

I didn’t make too much progress in Animal Crossing: City Folk this time around. I did play on Groundhog Day and got my Resetti model. I also played on Valentine’s Day and got a letter and some chocolates from Harry, how sweet! Festivale was on the 24th, but I didn’t play… so I might need to rewind time so I can check it out 😉

Nintendo Switch

I’m still having an absolute blast playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild! I ended up wandering into Hateno Village, where I found and completed the Myahm Agana Shrine which… was a challenge. It was some weird tilty piece of shit labyrinth puzzle that wasn’t a lot of fun! Anyway, after some exploration, I decided to finally pay attention to the main quest and “Seek Out Impa.” Cool! Now I have two more main quests: Free the Divine Beasts (that will take me literally forever) and Locked Mementos (that’ll probably take forever too). I also completed the Ta’loh Naeg Shrine, which was a training exercise- the first one I’ve encountered. Because I’m an idiot, I broke a few of my weapons trying to chop the Guardian into pieces before I realized you have to follow the onscreen instructions. Uggh.

I’m happy to say that I beat Yoshi’s Crafted World this month! Yay! I’ll do a more in-depth End Game Thoughts post a little later. Anyway, the final levels of the game were decently challenging. One level in particular, Be Afraid of the Dark (in Shadowville) featured a creepy clown looking character that chased you with an axe! Definitely did not see that coming! Anyway, I defeated Baby Bowser, recovered the final Dream Gem, and that was that! Such a fun game!

After beating Yoshi, I decided to play Mario Tennis Aces as my next “Switch Sunday” game. There are a few different game play modes, which is interesting. I first played through all the tutorials and played a few of the characters in Free Play mode just to get a feel for the game. I then played a little bit of Adventure Mode. I beat Bask Ruins, so now I’m getting ready to play Piranha Plant Forest!

Handheld

Nintendo Game Boy

I continued playing Pokémon Blue a bit. I explored Route 13, battling trainers and gaining experience. I think I’m starting to form a team that I’m going to keep until the end, but we shall see. I was also SO EXCITED to nab a Ditto!! He was kind of a bitch, but I got him in the end.

Mobile

Kindle Fire

I’ve been playing a bit of Wordscapes here and there on my tablet when I have some downtime, and it’s a lot of fun- and a challenge too! I’m on Level 90, which isn’t too shabby… until I think of my aunt, who has completed over 20,000 (yes, I typed that correctly!) levels. I have a lot of catching up to do!

iPhone

Of course, I’m still playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. I’m now at Level 165 and have 180/183 animals invited to my camp. So close! I just can’t seem to get that last map from Gulliver. Anywho, I played through the events for this month, though I didn’t get the final prize because I didn’t craft everything from the scavenger hunt in time. That’s okay! As sad as I was to see the snow melt, I’m ready for springtime!

That’s about it for February 2020. Thanks for reading!

My Gaming Month in Review: January 2020!

Hey everyone! Hope the new year has been treating you right so far! I’ve been a bit lame on the posting front lately, which isn’t how I planned for things to be. I’ve been struggling for awhile with chronic migraines (I’ve had them for years) and for some reason over the past few months, the intensity has really kicked up a notch, which makes it hard for me to do… well, anything really. I’ve fallen behind on blog postings, video game progress, housework, etc. Some days I can’t even look at the computer and something as simple as scrolling through a post will make me so dizzy I want to puke. I’m hoping my brain will stabilize itself soon because I’m fucking sick of it! 😉

Anyway! In the meantime, I’ll just do what I can do and that’s that! I decided to bring back an ongoing series I used to write awhile back (I tried to look for the last time I posted one, but the aforementioned dizziness reared its ugly head as I scrolled through my blog, so oh well)- My Gaming Month in Review! I love writing posts like this, but my problem was I would spend so much time trying to take screenshots and remember what I did in the game, I wouldn’t enjoy the actual game I was playing as much. Yikes!

So, this is going to be a similar post to my old ones, but I am just going to give a briefer summary, and I probably won’t include my own screenshots. Enjoy!

Console

Nintendo Wii

I’m still working my way through Animal Crossing: City Folk, just trying to get my loan paid off. I try to play though any events during the month, so on New Year’s Day I played and got my fancy new 2020 shirt! It’s got a rat on it since this is the Year of the Rat, so I thought that was pretty cute! I also participated in the Dab Fishing Tourney that was being held, and surprisingly, I won! I still owe 484,000 Bells on my loan, but at least this is my final loan and I’ll be done!

Nintendo Switch

I’ve been playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild here and there over the last couple months, and I LOVE IT! I’m not nearly as far as most people. As a matter of fact, I’m not far in the game at all, because I am having a blast just exploring everything. My main goals right now are to complete as many shrines as I can so I can upgrade my health and stamina, and activate as many towers as I can so my map is complete. During my last session, I searched FOREVER trying to find the Dow Na’eh Shrine (it was behind a waterfall, ugh) and I managed to activate Hateno Tower. My main objective is Seek Out Impa, which is like… the first thing you’re supposed to do after getting off the Great Plateau. Oh well, I play how I want!

So I’ve started this thing I call “Switch Sunday” which is exactly what it sounds like… on Sunday, I try to play a Switch game! Yes, I’m already working my way though Zelda, but I wanted to choose another game to play as well, because I’m a glutton for punishment. Anyway, I decided to start playing Yoshi’s Crafted World, and that was an excellent choice! The game is so cute and relaxing, and puts me in a great mood when I play it. I also like how it’s not completely linear- after the first few levels, several branched pathways appear to let you choose which way you want to go. I think that’s pretty neat! I left on on Acorn Forest- Jumping to Victory, and I’ve recovered 3 Dream Gems so far (which means I’m more than halfway through the game at this point).

Handheld

Nintendo Game Boy

Yes, I’m STILL playing Pokémon Blue. Things take me forever, remember?! I’m more than halfway though the game at this point though, so I have definitely made progress! In January, I beat the Saffron City Gym and got my 5th Gym Badge. While wandering Route 12 afterwards, I finally got a better fishing rod and caught Tentacruel (or was it Tentacool? Shit, I don’t remember), Goldeen and Krabby. Now I’m exploring what Route 13 has to offer!

I also want to add that I’m still playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp on my phone. I can’t help it, it’s part of my routine nearly every morning! Right now I’m at Level 162, and I’ve invited 177/183 animals to my campsite. I can’t get the last island containing those animals to pop up as part of Gulliver’s islands, dammit! I keep refreshing but no luck yet. I enjoy participating in the events, and I feel no pressure to complete them.

That’s it for gaming in January! Hopefully February will see me completing a couple of these games, but we’ll see how it goes. See ya!

My Gaming Week in Review (8/28- 9/03)!

Console

Nintendo Wii

Last week, I dusted off my Wii Fit board and started playing Wii Fit Plus! Despite the fact that it had been a LONG time since I’ve played, I jumped right back in. I played for a couple days, trying out all the different activities to just get a feel for them once again.

This week, I played twice. I like to do a Body Test every time I play, just to see what my Wii Fit Age is. On Tuesday, it was 32- only 2 years above my actual age, so not bad!

Despite this fact, the game felt it necessary to antagonize me a bit…

Anyway, I decided to focus on Yoga…

And despite my “poor balance” I managed to snag a high score on one of the exercises!

I played again on Thursday, took another body test, and was happy to see that this time my Wii Fit Age was 29! Suck it, Wii Fit!

I focused on Strength Training this time…

And the game found it necessary to antagonize me again!

Oddly enough, my right ankle was hurting me that day, so maybe there was some truth to that statement. Whatever! Then I did a plank and I cracked up…

Those that know me would definitely not describe me as a body builder! Haha! Anyway, I am enjoying the fact that I have gotten back into this game. It has exercises that are easy enough for me to do without feeling like I am going to die, so hopefully I can stick with it for awhile! 🙂

Nintendo Wii U

I decided to show my Wii U some love this week and play Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival. Despite this being a slower-paced game, I still enjoy it. I’m months behind, so I picked the March 2016 board and started playing!

Goldie was the host of the game, and she looked adorable as usual!

Right off the bat, I lost money on almost every space I landed on. Ugh!

Lots of special characters came to visit, including Katie, Katrina, Phineas, Shrunk and Red.

Shamrock Day was the 17th, but nothing really special happened. 😦

There was a Fishing Tourney on the 19th. I caught a bluegill, which got me 3rd place.

I laughed at one of the computer characters, who had an unfortunate incident:

The 27th was Bunny Day! Zipper T. Bunny showed up and told us to look for eggs. I earned 11 Happy Points for finding 11 eggs.

In the end, I got 3rd place. Oh well, I never seem to win when I play this game!

Handheld

Nintendo Game Boy

I made a little bit of progress in Pokémon Blue this week! First of all, my Butterfree learned Poison Powder, yay!

Finally, I leveled up all of my Pokémon to Level 15, so I was ready to challenge Brock in the Pewter City Gym.

When I arrived at the Gym, some chump dared to challenge me while I was trying to find Brock. I made quick work of his Diglett and Sandshrew. In between fighting his two Pokémon, Squirtle leveled up!

After the battle, my Squirtle evolved into Wartortle! Hell yeah!

I proceeded to Brock, who didn’t seem like that bad of a guy. I kicked his butt anyway! He had a Geodude and an Onyx, and I made quick work of them both.

Wartortle grew to level 17, too! I then received the Boulder Badge for my troubles.

Honestly, I think I may have leveled up a bit TOO much before that battle. My Squirtle/ Wartortle had A LOT of power. Oh well. On to the next Gym!

Nintendo 3DS

I took some time to pay a visit to my little look-alikes in Tomodachi Life, which I haven’t done in forever! It was pretty late when I played, so a lot of them were asleep. My look-alike (not surprisingly) was still awake and was playing with a puppy!

I decided to give her a makeover and change up her interior design. She seemed pretty pleased with it!

Marge seemed pretty… thrilled to see me…

While Frankie was too hungry to think about anything else! I gave him some barbeque, which he loved.

Cheryl complained about her hair…

And I fed Diana something she totally hated! (Can’t remember exactly what it was though, haha!)

Ryu learned to rock & roll…

While Lee and Tové both wondered the same thing!

I discovered that although I had made her awhile ago, I had NEVER stopped in to say hello to Judy! Oops! I felt bad, so I fed her, gave her a new outfit, and changed her interior. Hope we are friends now!

I also realized that I had never spoken to David, but that’s not that big of a deal- I made him the last time I played, and turned the system off before speaking to him.

I then created Jenn, who seems to be quite the happy camper, despite the scowl on her face!

Before I turned the game off, I noticed someone was on top of the tower. I zoomed in and witnessed Carolyn doing something incredibly bizarre. She was leaning backwards, staring at the sky. Occasionally she would wave emphatically! Was she staring at aliens? Is she just nuts? We will probably never find out!

Mobile

iPhone

As I wrote about in my last entry, I tried out- and quickly deleted- the monstrosity known as I Am Bread. Uggh! Moving on…

I had quite a productive week in Pokémon GO! In one trip,  I managed to catch a Krabby, an Eevee, and a Staryu!

 

I then hit Level 5 and caught an Oddish! I really like his little smile 😉

An egg I had been incubating hatched, but it was only a Rattata!

I then caught an Exeggcute!

After all that, it was time to choose my team. I listened as each team told me why I should join them.

In the end, I chose team Valor! I love the phoenix logo.

My next trip, I quickly caught a Bellsprout. I was heading through downtown in my city- there are a shit-ton of Pokéstops around here! Lucky me!

Next, I earned a medal for catching 10 Flying-type Pokémon. I was then thrilled to catch a Raticate! He was a little asshole too, he broke out of like 5 Pokéballs before I nabbed him! After catching him, I earned another medal, this time for catching 30 Pokémon.

Next, an Abra popped up, followed by a Nidoran! After catching those two, I leveled up, then earned yet another medal!

Overall, I would say it was a very successful week for Pokémon GO. I am still only playing it casually, and I am really enjoying it. I haven’t been to any Gyms yet to train, but hopefully I will soon!

So as you can see, I was able to enjoy several games this week, even if I didn’t play any of them for long periods of time. I am super happy when I get to relax and enjoy gaming, so it was a good week for me! 🙂

My Gaming Week in Review (8/22- 8/27)!

I meant to post this entry last night, but I was really tired and didn’t feel like it! 🙂 I didn’t do a whole lot of gaming this past week, but at least I was able to do a little bit here and there!

Console

Nope, no console gaming this week. 😦

Handheld

Nintendo Game Boy

Finally got to get back to my Pokémon Blue game a little bit this week! I pretty much only had time to play a little bit each night, but I still got some good training in.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I want all of my Pokémon to be at level 15 before I head to the first Gym. As you can see, Butterfree, Nidoran, and Pikachu are still a little behind.

While training and leveling them up, Butterfree learned Confusion, while Nidoran learned Poison Sting!

By the end of the week, my little bit of playing here or there had them all leveled up to 14. Almost there!

Mobile

iPhone

I had some time to play Pokémon GO this week as well! I went out for a walk on Monday night (to exercise, not just to play the game!) and I opened the game to see if I could catch anything. And guess what? I didn’t catch jack shit!

How was there not ONE Pokémon near me?!

Oh well, no big deal! A couple days later, I randomly caught a Jigglypuff…

and a couple days after that, a cute little Weedle was sitting on my knee, so I caught it too! 🙂

I also caught a couple repeats, which I don’t mind at all- the more goodies I get for catching them, the better! At one point, a bunch of Pidgeys kept popping up!

I also earned a medal for catching 10 Normal-type Pokémon.

That’s it for my gaming experiences this past week. See ya!

Time For A Quick Update!

I haven’t written a blog entry in a couple weeks… bad me! Unfortunately for me, I came down with a really shitty cold and didn’t feel like doing ANYTHING- not even playing games! I pretty much just laid on the couch and watched tv, read some books, and dragged my ass to work.

I’m feeling better for the most part now, which is good! I’ve been doing some sporadic gaming here and there, though not as much as I would like! I am on vacation this week, though, so I may get some more gaming in! So far, I’ve been back to playing Pokémon Blue for the Game Boy. It’s slow going because I’m focusing on leveling up all of my Pokémon, but I’m really enjoying it. One of these days I’ll be all caught up with the Pokémon series!

My team is getting pretty strong. Just a couple more Pokémon to level up, then I’m off to the first Gym to see if I can whoop Brock’s ass! 😉

I’ve also been getting back into Neko Atsume for the iPhone. I had abandoned my little kitty friends for awhile, but I decided to redecorate my yard and see who showed up. Look at all the kitties who came to play!

I love the personalities of all the cats too. What kind of personality type is “sore loser”? Haha!

I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to update this week, since my husband and I will probably be out and about quite a bit as we enjoy our time off from work. Bye for now! 🙂

Starting Over in Pokemon Blue!

As I said a few posts back, one of the games I was going to be working on was Pokemon Blue for the Game Boy. Yes, I’ve had this game for a long time, but never completed it. Last week, I finally picked it up and began my game anew. Oh, the nostalgia!

I should be playing on my original Game Boy… but my Game Boy Advance SP is pretty sweet 😉

I spent a few moments admiring the title screen as several Pokemon scrolled by. Then, I started a new file, forever losing my previously saved data. Oh well! My first task was to head to Professor Oak’s lab. He’s a Pokemon expert, all right, but seems kind of spacey otherwise. He asked me for my name, even though he supposedly knew me already.

Well, my name’s not REALLY Brandon, but it’ll do!

Since I have to be a boy, I chose the name Brandon. Close enough to my actual name (Brandi)! Then that dense mother fucker asked me what his grandson’s name was, because his grandson happens to be my rival! Dude, how do you not remember your grandson’s name?!

How can you forget your grandson’s name? Get with it, man!

Anyway, after all that was out of the way, I got to pick a starter Pokemon. There was a choice between Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur.

I have always chosen Squirtle in the past (probably because I am partial to turtles), so I chose him once again. My rival, Gary, chose Bulbasaur, and he immediately wanted to fight me! I put that little bitch in his place.

After all that jazz, (and after delivering a parcel to Professor Oak) I started wandering around to a couple nearby areas to catch Pokemon and start leveling them up. That’s always my strategy early on, so I can have several strong Pokemon in my party! My first encounter was with Rattata, who I easily caught. Soon after, I caught Pidgey.

Soon I headed to the Viridian Forest to catch more Pokemon and gather more experience. I caught Nidoran, Spearow, Weedle, and Caterpie fairly quickly.

I also encountered Metapod, who was a little jerk to capture! He doesn’t attack you, but instead uses a defensive move called “Harden” that can make him a little tricky to get. He got away from me once, but the second Poke Ball I threw held him.

The last Pokemon I caught in Viridian Forest was Pikachu! He’s so cute.

At this point, I’m still taking the time to level up the Pokemon I’ve caught. That way I’ll be prepared for the battles ahead of me! I’ll probably hang around the Forest awhile longer until all of my Pokemon are around level 13 or so. I also want to mention that Weedle already evolved into Kakuna, but I wasn’t able to get a picture of the evolution!

See you next time! Good night!