Summer of Screams: Luigi's Mansion

Luigi's Mansion
Who Ya Gunna Call Action
1 Player
System: Gamecube
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Year of Release: 2001
Beaten: A while back

As a launch title, and the first "real" game starring Luigi (Mario is Missing! preceded it, but I'm not sure if Nintendo really recognizes that game) Luigi's Mansion was honestly a bit of a let down. I wish I could say I saw past the weird premise and was looking forward to the game, but worse than any negative feelings towards the game I was wholly apathetic. Eventually I wound up playing a friend's copy and realized just what a pleasant game awaited. Years later, and out of seemingly nowhere, a sequel came out for the 3DS. While it changed the overall game progression a bit the same ghost vacuuming action was left intact.

Farewell Iwata: Balloon Fight

Balloon Fight
Balloon Arena Fighter
1-2 Players
System: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Year of Release: 1985
Beaten: Years ago on Animal Crossing!

On July 11th, 2015, Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, passed away suddenly. He contributed to several quality games early in his career and rose through the ranks quickly from programmer, to president of HAL Labs, to president of Nintendo. I can't find many games that he was the lead programmer of, as he mostly helped solve complex problems with other games. The earliest game I could find that he was mostly responsible for is Balloon Fight, a quirky game that always stuck out to me for some reason.

Summer of Screams: Through the Woods

Through the Woods
Written and Drawn by Emily Carroll
Published by Independent
Released 2014

Fun fact, I've had a fully written and edited blog entry for a non-WTF comic book finished since March. I haven't posted it for some fairly idiotic reasoning revolving around how I want the picture of the cover to look. Needless to say I am throwing all that concern out the window to write about this comic. I'd never really heard of Emily Carroll before I discovered this delightful little bundle of stories. Apparently she makes creepy comics and posts them all the time on her website. If you're interested, check it out.

Games I Beat: Gun

Gun
Mostly Open World Western
1 Player
System: Playstation 2
Developer: Neversoft
Year of Release: 2005
Beaten: July 5th, 2015

With Red Dead Redemption being one of my favorite games of all time, and Red Dead Revolver not quite living up to it's sequel, it's a damn shame I've waited so long to play Gun. While limited in scope due to the year it came out, the game still manages to feel mostly like an accurate depiction of the Old West. There are many tropes in the genre, and many of them show up here. Vengeance, corrupt lawmen, working alongside "savages" to take them down, storming a fort with cannons, a past that reflects the heroes eventual destiny, it's all here. I understand many don't enjoy the genre, and for those people I highly doubt this will win them over, but for fans, this game is a special treat well worth hunting down.

Summer of Screams: It Follows

It Follows
Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto
Released: 2014 (Cannes)/2015

Like any good horror story, I can't really recall where I heard about this movie from. After looking it up on Rotten Tomatoes my interest was split, while it had high ratings, the description was a little iffy. "After a strange sexual encounter, a teenager finds herself haunted by nightmarish visions and the inescapable sense that something is after her." I'm so glad I decided to give it a go. It seems a little odd to say, but this awkward little movie is a contender among my top favorite horror movies.

Summer of Screams

Hullo all, after a month away I'm ready to get back into this blog. I finished up another term of school, and have just been relaxing since. Unless a job opportunity presents itself I'm looking at a couple of months of free time, and that will hopefully show here. Weirdly, I've been really in the mood for some spooky scary skeleton type of stuff, horror films, comics, games, whatever. Usually I like to wait until October to celebrate Halloween with spooky stuff, but at this point I'm beyond human reason. So through August expect sporadic posts about spooky scary skeletal horror material that sends shivers down your spine.

As per usual I don't have too strict of a plan heading into this, but I'm going to post normal blogs alongside any Summer of Screams entries. Like I said, I could talk about just about anything if it's spooky scary at all, and I have something to say about it. I already have a few really good ideas in mind as I just watched and read some pretty spooky things. If anyone happens to read this and knows of some good horror stuff I'd love to hear about it! If it's really unknown I'm more likely to write about it, but I'm sure there are plenty of more mainstream horror goodness I've managed to avoid somehow.

Thank you so much to anyone who reads and enjoys this blog! I hope you enjoy my romp down horror lane, hopefully we survive the trip!
-Adam