Toronto Thumbs

I Heart The Transformers But
No, I Don’t Like The Michael Bay Movies

When Michael Bay’s Transformers was released in 2007, I was initially quite excited about seeing my favourite cartoon being brought to life through the magic of modern technology. Big explosions, cool cars, and crazy fights were just about guaranteed to give me my giant robot fix of that summer. But I was immensely disappointed upon seeing it. I remember the experience quite vividly. As the movie started, I was incredibly thrilled. The opening scene was excellent and seemed to set what I was expecting to be the pace for the remainder of the film.

Unfortunately all the special effects in the world can’t compensate for poor acting, a convoluted plot, and stiff, unlikable characters. It couldn’t even justify the creative liberties taken with the characters of The Transformers’ universe. Having Bumblebee, the most humble and gentle of Transformers, urinate on a character was just about the low point of the movie. That, however, is arguable; there was far too much that was far too horrible in that movie for a longtime fan like me to possibly forgive. For instance, why such a huge unnecessary emphasis on the humans who have zero redeeming qualities whatsoever?

This year the world was gifted with Bay’s follow-up to the original crapfest and, in true fashion, the sequel just took everything about the first movie and cranked it all to 11. Sadly this meant out of place comedic sequences were even more out of place, racist jokes and characterizations were even more offensive, the story made even less sense, and the battles were even more confusing. Two years after the first blockbuster raked in millions of dollars, the sequel did the same despite not doing anything differently – or well, for that matter.

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Posted in Blast From the Past, Cartoons, Editorial, Film | 5 Comments »

Holy Guidelines!
Batman: The Animated Series Writer’s Bible

Batman: The Animated Series has been one of my favourite cartoons since first seeing it when I was in the tenth grade. Its darker approach to the characters of Gotham was new to me, as I had typically only watched bright and goofier cartoons. While the series did have a few absurd and funny moments it was, for the most part, a more serious take on the tale of The Dark Knight.

Roughly 10 years ago I came into possession of a Batman: The Animated Series Animator’s style guide. It was a hard copy that had been photocopied from photocopies. I have no idea what generation of copy my Batman: The Animated Series style guide is. However, it still looks great and for the longest time it just felt cool to have since it was ultimately tied to someone who worked on the show; I was somehow connected to it, via friends of friends of friends.

This morning I was sent a link to an online version of the Batman: The Animated Series Writer’s Bible. It’s a 153-page file that has many of the same art assets as my animator’s style guide, but it also includes a lot of written description of the characters, including an episode guide. Check it out if you’re a fan of the show or if you’re interested in putting your own show together at some point.

Posted in Art, Awesome, Blast From the Past, Cartoons | 2 Comments »

Looking Back On Luigi’s Mansion

Luigi’s Mansion was a launch title for Nintendo’s previous home console, the GameCube. It was also one of the first GameCube games I owned. True to form, I had selected my next console based on which one had the coolest-looking Star Wars title. Back when the Nintendo 64 was released, I had purchased Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire weeks before actually being able to get a hold of the system (as an unemployed high school student with no reliable means of transportation, this was harder than you would think).

But of course with the Nintendo 64, there was also the promise of the arcade hits Killer Instinct and Cruisin’ USA making their home debut, and although these titles haven’t aged well, they were pretty freaking groundbreaking at the time. Nintendo 64 served me well through college, where I was much too busy to game. I only had five games for it, and for me it was my Star Wars system (SOTE and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron would take turns being the go-to game).

When the GameCube was released, I initially sought after it as a successor to my Star Wars-playing console. After all, Star Wars: Rogue Leader looked amazing. I actually bought that game before even owning a GameCube. I didn’t know it at the time of its release, but the GameCube would ultimately become the console that brought me back into gaming after a casual absence. To think: it was actually just part of my ever-growing Star Wars collection at the time.

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Posted in Blast From the Past, Editorial, GameCube | 5 Comments »

FLASHBACK
Ghostbusters VS Ghostbusters

We blew our graphics budget on this illustration.

Last January, way back when the site only had a handful of readers (oh how we’ve grown!), I wrote a goofy article comparing the NES and Sega Master System Ghostbusters games. With it being the eve of the release of the wildly anticipated this-gen Ghostbusters game, I thought some of you might enjoy the read.

So go read it! »

Posted in Blast From the Past, Links, Nintendo, Sega Master System | 1 Comment »

HOLIDAY HINTS
These Three Classics Are Light on Your Wallet

This time of year can be bittersweet for gamers. On one hand, there is always a bunch of great titles to choose from. On the other, it’s virtually impossible to get every game you may want. If the troubled economy is troubling you, there’s nothing wrong with stepping back into the gaming closet and pulling out some oldies but goodies. Some of these are titles that you might have missed the first time around. But these deserve a place in the collection of any gamer!

First, on the GameCube (also playable on the Wii) is StarFox Adventures. This game got unfairly panned a bit because it wasn’t the StarFox game everyone was wanting (there are some shooting sequences but they are few and far between). This title was originally going to be called “Dinosaur Planet” or something related to that when Rare first started working on it. But they then decided to go with the StarFox branding. No matter what it’s called, this game is fun, intriguing, and a decent length. You can be nestled up near the fireplace with the chestnuts roasting for a good part of your winter holidays and find yourself lost in this title. Get over the fact that it’s not a shooter and the main protagonist has more fur than Shaun’s Aunt Elma. This game has action, adventure, puzzle-solving, interesting environments, and wonderful music. Can you imagine the scene pictured here with Link? Hold off, I’m not saying it’s as good as a Zelda title but it will remind you of one and still give you that warm and fuzzy feeling.

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Posted in Blast From the Past, Holiday Hints | No Comments »

REVIEW
Mega Man 9

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Mega Man 9 is now available for the three mighty consoles via digital distribution. If you haven’t played a Mega Man game but consider yourself a gamer – well, I’m sorry, but you’re missing out on an entire set of feelings and sensations. It’s like thinking you’re a candy lover while you’ve never had dark chocolate. It may not be for you, but it’s something you just have to try.

My first memory of Mega Man was running over to my friend Steve’s house (he lived down the street) to play his NES and Mega Man 2. It was immediately different from other games I’d played because of the stage select feature. Rather than having a stage 1, stage 2, and so forth, players could actually choose which stages they wanted to go to and in which order.

When the series made the jump to the Game Boy, I made sure it was on my Christmas wish list. Since the first time I took my turn at Crash Man’s stage, I knew I was playing something special. After the X series of games on the Super Nintendo, however, I fell out of touch with the series and was content to play the newest games of the time – but I’d still pick up Mega Man 2 on my Game Boy every now and then for old time’s sake.

Mega Man showed up on my radar again when the Anniversary Collection was released for the GameCube. A whole disc of 2D Mega Man games for $20? Can’t go wrong with that.

Now, Mega Man 9 has hit and I’ll admit, at first I was skeptical. Was this just a cheap attempt to pull at retro gamers’ wallet strings by stirring up their desire for new nostalgia? The unveiling of the downloadable extra content didn’t help this feeling. To get the full game, with all the extras, would cost gamers around $18. Not bad for a new game – but Mega Man 9 is kind of an old game, isn’t it?

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Posted in Blast From the Past, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Wii, Xbox 360 | 5 Comments »

Event
The Evolution of Computer Games - in Toronto

Microsoft likes to win. They’re doing a pretty good job on the console front these days, but if you think they forgot about PC gaming, think again. We’ve seen the “Games for Windows” brand show up to help PC owners not only identify games intended for that platform, but also in determining if said game will run on a given setup.

Stepping back into a time where in some ways it was easier to play a computer (and in other ways, harder) Microsoft has commissioned the Personal Computer Museum in Brantford to help create a display in Toronto entitled “Evolution: 30 Years of Computer Games.”

The exhibit is open to the public Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28 2008 from 12pm-5pm at Interaccess, 9 Ossington Street (near Queen) in Toronto, Ontario. Admission is free.

Come out and get a taste of over 20 classic computers playing your favorites like Space Invaders!, GORF, Choplifter!, Half-Life, Sam & Max Hit the Road, and more. There’s even a secret hidden game within the venue with no information on it. While you are there, soak up the culture and browse the museum brochure. It might be enough for you to make the trip to the bigger display in Brantford.

Posted in Blast From the Past, Events | 1 Comment »

A Great Flea Market Find

Many years ago (I am thinking around 1997 or 1998) I decided to make a trek to London, Ontario to visit the Gibraltar Weekend Market on Dundas Street. I really wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but video games are always on the radar so I thought I might find something cheap. I’m always looking for that hidden gem in the pile of junk in the corner and my hopes were on that for this visit.

After going through the usual ‘treasure piles’ (some would say junk piles) I made my way back to a vendor that looked like a video store. It had all kinds of movies (mostly VHS at this point, of course). I often find that these are the places that have video games too if they had anything to do with a rental business.

Interestingly enough, just a week or two prior I had printed out a Nintendo NES game list (complete with rarities) and had gone through my collection and ticked off every game I owned. I paid particular attention to the rare ones and knew enough to keep an eye out for the ones marked “ER” (extremely rare).

When I walked around one corner, something that looked like a cartoon character out of a video game caught my eye. I walked up to find Linus Spacehead. It looked like a video game, but I didn’t know what an ‘Aladdin’ was.

Something clicked as I looked closer at the box and realized that I was looking at the Aladdin Deck Enhancer (for the NES) version of the game. Something told me it was extremely rare, so I consulted my game list. Sure enough, ER+!

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Posted in Blast From the Past, Flea Market Finds, Nintendo, Odd Prods | 1 Comment »