Pokemon Platinum is a director’s cut version of the 1st Generation 4 games Pokemon Diamond and Pearl with an alternate story, new graphics, and new content.

Pokemon Platinum is the enhanced version of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, the game was released on the Nintendo DS in September 13, 2008 on Japan, March 22, 2009 on North America, and May 2019 on Australia and Europe.

Pokemon Platinum is brings back the Sinnoh region, it features some changes in the plot of the game and a new area called the distortion world where the mascot legendary Pokemon Giratina resides and the returning battle frontier a post game area that is also featured in Pokemon Emerald.

One of the major differences in Pokemon Platinum is the plot of the game focuses more on the new mascot Legendary Pokemon Giratina where as the previous game Pokemon Diamond and Pearl focused on Dialga and Palkia, however in Pokemon Platinum both Palkia and Dialga are available to be caught in the game unlike the past game where you can only catch one. The game also introduced new characters to the plot the scientist Charon of Team Galactic and Looker an international police officer who travels around the world, he is introduced on this game and ever since then he appeared on every future titles.

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Also the game improved on its visuals with many Pokemon receiving new sprites and animations while other Pokemon like Rotom, Giratina, and Shaymin received new forms, also some areas of the map has more snow on it unlike the past game, and the main characters are also dressed for colder environments which makes the Sinnoh region have a more northern feel to it. It also gave some areas like the Pokemon League a make over giving it more identity, also some trainers and gym leaders has a different line up of Pokemon in battle which makes you have a different strategy if you already played Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

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Also some legendary Pokemon from other the regions are available on this game like the bird trio Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno are available as a roaming Pokemon, and the regi trio Registeel, Regirock, Regice.

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Pokemon Platinum is the enhanced version of the past 2 games but even so the game still feels the same as Diamond and Pearl so if you spent many hours playing Diamond and Pearl it’s fine if you skip this game, but if your really a Pokemon addict this game is perfect for you since many Pokemon are available on this game and more post game content is present and the same addicting nature on the game is still there where you can spend many hours trying to catch them all.

My rating for this game is 4.3/5 it’s a Pokemon game for anyone trying to play for the first time and anyone who is a veteran.

Reference Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Platinum

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Platinum_Version

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-DS/Pokemon-Platinum-Version-272321.html

One of the most iconic and best Street Fighter game of all time, and the last entry in the Street Fighter III series is Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

Street Fighter III, 3rd Strike is a 2D fighting game by Capcom, the game was released on the arcades on 1999 and was ported to the Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation 2, and Xbox between 2000 and 2010.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is the definitive and perfected version of Street Fighter III, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike was released 2 years after it’s predecessor Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and brought many changes to the game, the game introduced many gameplay, soundtrack, new characters, new stages, and quality of life changes to the game.

Here is a comparison of the arcade opening of the 2 games.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike brought back a classic character Chun-li on the roster and introduced other characters like Twelve, Remy, Q, and Makoto, making the game have a 20 playable character roster.

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Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike also brought new stages, endings, and new voice actors for certain characters, it also continues where the last game story left off. The game also changed its theme with some jazz, hip-hop, and techno music playing on the opening, character select screen, and on the stages bringing a fresh look and sound on the game.

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On the gameplay side they changed the inputs on how to do a air parry, throw, and leap attacks, while other characters received a gameplay balance changes, also 3rd Strike introduced guard parry or red parry where the player can perform a guard parry during a guard stun if the timing is right, and last but not the least the game introduced a judgment system that gives you rating on your performance after the game it ranges from F to S, it does not have much of an impact but it can really make you feel good when you get a high grade.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is one of the best Street Fighter game in the series because of the parry mechanic (a mechanic where you can negate the damage of an attack by performing a frame perfect input) and multiple super arts available for each characters. Because of this mechanics the gameplay is very complex and creative you can pull off insane combos and comebacks, and each characters playstyle can vary on what super art you chose, but since the game is very technical new players might have a long learning curve but most of the new mechanics are easy to do you just need to practice the right timing to pull it off.

While it can be daunting to new players once you learn the game reading the opponent or reacting to certain attacks can be rewarding because of this mechanics, and when watching high level games you can see this mechanics put in to use, I’ll give an example of how you can use those gameplay mechanics on a high level with one of the most iconic moments in gaming and one of the best comebacks in Street Fighter history.

All in all Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is one of the best fighting games out there until this day tournaments and matches are still being played till this day, it can teach you the fundamentals of how to play fighting games and its also a good example on how to refine a game without making it too-easy and un-fun to other players, since fighting games rewards players who makes the right decisions and good executions.

I give the game a 4.7/5 rating it’s definitely one of the games that you should try if you like the fighting game genre.

Reference Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_III:_3rd_Strike

https://streetfighter.fandom.com/wiki/Street_Fighter_III:_3rd_Strike

In this game review we are going to take a look at one of the best Castlevania games of all time Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a 2D side scrolling platformer MetriodVania
(a genre popularized by metriod and castlevania where every level is connected and can be revisited) game by Konami the game was released on May 3, 2003 on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance.

Castlevania is set on the year 2035, a time where Dracula was sealed away after the battle of 1999. The game follows the story of a teenager Soma Cruz that has the power to absorb the souls of the monsters in Dracula’s Castle.

This Castlevania is very different from other titles since this game takes place on a future timeline that contrasts the usual medieval setting of the other Castlevania games.

One of the best systems in the game that makes it unique to any other Castlevania games is the Soul System, it’s kinda similar to the weapon system on Mega Man where you get the weapons/abilities of the boss but instead of getting the abilities of the boss you can get the abilities of any monster in the castle although the drop rate of the soul is kinda low, it can make every playthrough unique since you can get different souls per run and you can mix and match on what souls you want to have that can fit your playstyle.

The souls in the game is divided to 3 parts Red Souls, Blue Souls, and Yellow Souls. The red souls are basically a projectile type attack, you can use the abilities of the enemies for example a flame demon soul makes you throw fireballs, the blue soul is the defensive type where you can transform, summon familiars, and gain boosts in stats, and the last one is the yellow souls this soul is a passive type where it also influences your stats in many different ways.

Also the game borrows the RPG mechanics found on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night where the player can freely choose what kind of weapons and equipment you can use, it also has a leveling system that can affect the difficulty of your game the higher your level the more stronger you are which can help you if you’re struggling on a certain part of the game.

This 2 elements makes Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow very different to other Castlevania games since you have the freedom to choose what kind of powers and equipment you can have and what kind of playstyle suits you well, it can lead to many creative ways to play the game.

The soundtrack of the game was also good the 1st level soundtrack made me pumped to make my way through the castle while later areas in the game gave me a feeling of approaching the final battle.

Also the story of the game was suprisingly good everthough it was set on a futuristic timeline, the game manage to connect the dots on why it was set on a future timeline and why does the main character have the ability to absorb the souls of the monsters in the castle, later in the game it was revealed that Soma Cruz the main character was chosen as a potential vessel for Dracula since on the battle of 1999 where Dracula perished the Castle was sealed away and many years later the castle yearns for a new master. The game also has different kinds of ending depending on what you have achieved when finishing the game.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow breaks many norms of what you usually see on a Castlevania game it’s set on the future timeline and has a very good battle system, the soundtrack of the game was also great eventhough it’s kinda limited because of the hardware limitations, overall Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow brings new light to the franchise and I give the game a rating of 4/5.

Reference Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania:_Aria_of_Sorrow

https://castlevania.fandom.com/wiki/Castlevania:_Aria_of_Sorrow

If you’re looking for a shounen anime with fantasy, magic, and an ambitious underdog story, this is the anime you should be watching.

Black Clover is an anime by Studio Pierrot and based on a manga of the same name created by Tabata, Yuuki, the anime is also part of the Weekly Shounen Jump where famous animes like Naruto, One Piece, Dragon Ball, My Hero Acadamia, and many more notable shounen animes came from.

Black Clover is about the story of Asta an orphan born in a world where magic is everything, Asta was born without any magic despite having no magic Asta aspires to be the Wizard King the most powerful person in the Clover Kingdom.

Also sharing his dream to be the Wizard King is his childhood friend and rival Yuno, he is also an orphan and they were both abandoned on the church on the same day, Yuno was blessed with magical abilities unlike Asta who was born without any magical powers.

At the age of 15 people from the kingdom receives a Grimoire a book that manifests their magical abilities, Yuno receives a Grimoire that has a four-leaf clover the same number of clovers as the first Wizard King had while Asta received none.

However soon after Yuno was attacked by a person that wants to steal his Grimoire, Asta tried to attack but he was no match since the enemy had a Grimoire, at the brink of defeat Asta didn’t surrender and after hearing the words of Yuno he let out his emotions in a rage and suddenly Asta was bestowed a five-leaf clover a Black Clover giving him the power to defeat the enemy.

The series does play with common shounen tropes like the protagonist being an underdog and the rival being very skilled, while the first episodes of the anime might not be interesting the next episode arcs are great, since they introduce the characters and the main protagonist and his rival are faced with more challenges, also the world around them is introduced and showing the other long term plots of the show.

While watching the anime one of the good things I liked about the show was the development of each characters while we progress to the story, we get to know more about them like knowing their past and what their abilities are like, likewise our main protagonists are also getting stronger along the way, it does not waste time to have long fillers and backstory and you get more action per episode that leaves you wanting more every week.

Black Clover might not be the anime for everyone since other people don’t like shows that has 50+ episodes and the first part of the anime was slow, but I want to emphasize that it’s not bad to give this anime a try because the time I spent watching it was great, I was really getting in to the story and it’s a show that gradually grows on you the more you get to know about the characters and the world around them. At the time of making this blog the anime is currently airing with 72 episodes.

You can watch Black Clover on Crunchyroll and Funimation.

Reference Link: https://myanimelist.net/anime/34572/Black_Clover

An anime with murder mystery, time travel elements and amazing animation with a banger opening song Erased is the anime that you should watch.

Erased or Boku dake ga Inai is an anime by A-1 Pictures and based on a manga of the same name created by Sanbe, Kei.

Erased is an anime about the main character trying to solve the mystery of the disappearance and murders of people on his hometown 18 years ago, in the first episode the main character is revealed to have the ability to go back in time before tragedy strikes but only for a few minutes to prevent the disaster that’s happening around him.

And one night the main character’s mother was killed and he was blamed for the crime and when he was trying to escape away from the police he blacked out and when he waked up he goes back 18 years ago in his elementary school on his hometown back to his kid body setting the stage for the murder mystery story of the anime.

I only gave vague information about the show since it’s one of those shows I really recommend you should watch blindly mainly because of the mystery part of the anime, since having the sense of unpredictability and thrill is a great way to experience the show more and while progressing near the end you see the story unfolds on a bigger picture.

It’s a great show to watch and probably one of the best anime released on the year 2016, I highly recommend watching this show, it’s a 12 episode anime that is perfect for binge watching since it won’t take much time to finish the whole show, and eventhough the show was made by A-1 Pictures who is known to have shows that’s only good on the first part, Erased isn’t one of them and the momentum of the show didn’t fall off till the end.

You can watch Erased on Netflix and Crunchyroll.

Reference Link: https://myanimelist.net/anime/31043/Boku_dake_ga_Inai_Machi

Last night at 10pm Nintendo did a livestream Pokemon Direct announcing the new mainline Pokemon RPG games, the name of the game was Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield.

Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield will be the 2nd Pokemon game to be released on the Nintendo Switch, and the 1st game in the Generation 8 of Pokemon.

In the video they gave us a look in the new region called Galar region which is a region that’s heavily inspired by the UK, and the game looks good and approaches a different art style unlike the past game Pokemon: Let’s go Pikachu and Let’s go Eevee.

They also revealed the 3 new starters for the region, The Grass Type Grookie, The Fire Type Scorbunny, and The Water Type Sobble.

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More information about the game should be announced soon, and the game is expected to be released on late 2019.

Reference Link: https://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/02-27-2019/

https://www.serebii.net/swordshield/

https://twitter.com/serebiinet

Ever wonder how are people judged on whether they go to heaven or hell? this anime brings that concept to life.

Death Parade is an anime by Studio Madhouse which spawned from a short film called Death Billiards, which was part of Anime Mirai 2013 a young animator training project.

Death Parade begins on a bar called Quindecim where people that recently died are brought, just think of it as a temporary purgatory where people are judged on whether they get reincarnated or sent to the void, the one who gives the judgement are called Arbiters, these Arbiters have never experienced death, feel any emotion, and they are not human which makes their judgement unbiased or is it?

The twist of Death Parade comes from how they judge humans who recently died, they get brought to the Quindecim but they all forget memories of how they died. People who died comes mostly in pairs and they play any kind of game you can think of, while playing those games their memories before their death starts appearing revealing their true nature if they are evil or good, this show especially episode 1 can demonstrate how those games affects their judgement and there are also twist and turns along the way that can leave you mindblown after realizing what happened behind the scenes.

What makes Death Parade even better to me is even your constantly watching an episodic story of different characters on every episode, there is an ongoing story about a human who remembers how she died, and because of that she was asked to aid judgment of the Arbiter, imagine what happens if an Arbiter that does not feel any human emotions got human feedback, will it make their judgment more better or will those human emotions just get in the way on how they do their judgement?

Death Parade is an anime you should watch, it tackles questions like what makes us human and how precious life is, it’s an anime with a dark and psychological setting that shows effective story telling and shows the true nature of humans on the show, it’s an anime that anyone can learn a thing or two.

You can watch Death Parade on Crunchyroll or on Netflix.

Reference Link: https://myanimelist.net/anime/28223/Death_Parade

One of my favorite fighting games is Street Fighter and on this Game Review we are going to talk about Ultra Street Fighter IV.

Ultra Street Fighter IV is a 2.5D fighting game by Capcom released on June 3, 2014 for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC and May 26, 2015 on the Playstation 4.

Ultra Street Fighter IV is the definitive edition of Street Fighter IV, it introduces 5 new characters (Poison, Hugo, Decapre, Elena, Rolento) and boasts a 44 fighter roster making it the largest roster in the series.

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Ultra Street Fighter 4 introduces a new mechanic called red focus where you execute it by pressing light kick, medium kick, and medium punch that costs 2 super bars and has infinite super armor and can absorb many attacks as long as it’s not an armor break and throw move.

Ultra Street Fighter 4 also introduced the function to pick 2 Ultra Combo, this function is called Ultra Combo Double where you can perform either of the 2 Ultra Combo but it has reduced damaged.

It also features gameplay balance to other characters and USF4 also gives the player the ability to switch editions of Street Fighter 4, you can play the older version of each character in the SF4 series, it’s like a throwback to the Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting where you can also switch editions of characters in the game.

It also has a fun edition called Omega Mode where all of the characters receive new moves that are weird but fun for example ken can fire a hadoken using his kicks on omega mode.

All in all playing USF4 is a very fun you have many characters to use that can fit your playstyle and you can mix and match your fights using edition select and you can play competitive online with other players or challenge your friends on local multiplayer, it still keeps what makes street fighter fun from zoning with hadouken to rushing down your opponent using a shoryuken you name it, the types of playstyle and combos you can do are endless and it’s a fighting game that you would want in your game library.

My final verdict for Ultra Street Fighter IV is a 4.2/5 rating.

You can buy USF4 for PC on Steam.

Reference Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_IV

https://streetfighter.fandom.com/wiki/Ultra_Street_Fighter_IV

One of my favorite Pokemon generation was given a remake, and Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is the remake of the GBA classic Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is the 2nd pair of games on the Generation 6 of Pokemon, and was released globally on November 21, 2014 on the Nintendo 3DS and reintroduces the Hoenn region.

Hoenn is back better than ever!

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire features revamped look of Hoenn being a full 3D game and uses the graphics engine of Pokemon X and Y made Hoenn look even more gorgeous than before.

The game features the 2 returning Legendary Pokemon Kyogre and Groudon with new Primal Revision forms, they’re back stronger than ever before, and depending on what game you got you can either fight Team Magma on Omega Ruby or Team Aqua on Alpha Sapphire where you will need to defeat them and save the world.

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It also includes more Mega Evolution for more Pokemon like Mega Sceptile, Mega Steelix, Mega Rayquaza, and many more.

One of the new feature of Pokemon ORAS is the PokeNav Plus which features PlayNav where you can find Player Search System, Pokemon Amie, and Super Training from Pokemon X and Y.

And it also has DexNav where you can see the Pokemon you’ve caught on your current location and you can also check if you caught all Pokemon in the area, also included in the DexNav is a scanner where when you see Pokemon shaking the grass or popping its tail you can sneak closer to it to know its level and abilities, you can also scan existing Pokemon in the area to find even more stronger Pokemon, it also has a chance to have a hidden ability or even a shiny Pokemon.

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The other one is the the AreaNav where you can see the map of the region and also see the area where you can have rematch with other trainers and also locate areas where you planted berries.

And the last function of the PokeNav is the BuzzNav, it utilizes the Nintendo 3DS StreetPass funtion where it gives you updates on your adventure and also updates the adventures of people around you in the StreetPass and your friends on the 3DS.

Secret Base also returns on Pokemon ORAS where you can find many areas on different locations on the region to make a base where you can decorate it freely and show it to your friends, you can also make it to your own personal gym where you can battle your friends if you want to.

And after you beat the game you gain access to the Delta Episode where you try to save the world again from a meteorite that is headed on the earth and introduces a new character named Zinia.

After the Delta Episode you gain access to the Battle Resort where you can train and it also has the Battle Maison from Pokemon X and Y where you can fight many trainers with Pokemon from other regions.

The abundance of Pokemon from other regions is present on Pokemon ORAS, you can soar through the Hoenn region and find Mirage Spots where Pokemon on other regions are found and also there are Secret Areas and Legendary Pokemon you can catch while also soaring.

One thing I did not like about the game was the overload of HMs where you teach a Pokemon a move to progress on areas but those moves are not so effective on battle and I had to waste move slots on my Pokemon because of it.

Still I had a blast playing the game it filled me with nostalgia because I played the original games before and I can say its even better, I spent many many hours trying to catch all the Legendary Pokemon, finding all Mega Stones, Battling and Trading with other trainers.

It still has that addictive gameplay of Pokemon and fans of the original or people that will experience Hoenn for the first time will surely enjoy this game, I give this game a 4.4/5 rating.

Reference Link: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Omega_Ruby_and_Alpha_Sapphire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Omega_Ruby_and_Alpha_Sapphire

If you’re looking for a show with mysteries and a deep dive into the unknown, Made in Abyss is the anime for you.

Made in Abyss is an anime by Kinema Citrus based on the manga of the same name created by Tsukushi, Akihito.

The story of the anime revolves around the giant chasm that stretches down to the depths of the earth that is known as the abyss, the abyss is a place filled with creatures and treasures that came from a time long past, the creation of the Abyss and what lies at the bottom of it is still a mystery, and a group of people called as Divers have sought after to find answers to these questions, they descend to the Abyss to face the different kinds of dangers that lies ahead and very few divers are known to go back alive on the surface once they got very deep into the Abyss.

Rika one of the protagonists is the daughter of the missing White Whistle Lyza the Annihilator, White Whistles are Divers that have gone very deep into the abyss and hailed as legends by the people on the surface. Rika aspires to be like her mother exploring the depths of the abyss. One day Rika gets a letter from her mother that says “Meet me at the bottom.” this gives Rika determination to find out the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

The second Protagonist Reg the robot boy that Rika discovered while exploring the upper layer of the abyss. Reg has no recollection of the events that happen before he was discovered by Rika, Certain that the technology that created Reg came from the abyss, Rika and Reg ventured to the Abyss to recover Reg’s memories and to find out what happened to Rika’s mother. However the two don’t know the dangers and harsh reality that awaits them on the Abyss.

The anime is very good at making you wonder what lies beyond and what happens to the main characters throughout the anime, the characters are frequently pushed to make hard decisions and constant reminder that they can die on their journey.

Since the art style and the presentation of the characters are easy to be attached to, you will sympathized on their struggles on the depths of the Abyss.

It’s an anime that once you finished watching you’ll be asking yourself when is season 2 or just starts reading the manga right after you’ve finished watching the 1st season since it really did a good job of telling the story of the unknown and making the young protagonists adapt to the harshness of the environment and the feeling of always discovering something new along the way, and I also feel like I’m part of the journey, It’s really one of the shows that surely you have to watch it at some point in time, The story is great, the characters is great and I think anyone can have a blast watching this.

You can watch Made in Abyss on Netflix.

Reference Link: https://myanimelist.net/anime/34599/Made_in_Abyss