Companions in Zelda games

Ever since Ocarina of Time, the Zelda games have consistently introduced a helper or companion to assist the player with their exploits. Whether it be direction or Z targeting, these guys have always helped...or hindered your progress throughout the games

First up, we have Navi. The infamous fairy Navi. If there are any claims against Ocarina of Time's perfect game status, it's that Navi is in it. She flies around your head and spouts useless advice half the time. What's that Navi? I need to get to Death Mountain? Well, seeing as I'm two feet away from it, I really appreciate you helping me. I would have never found it otherwise! Thank you Navi!! 
As well as being useless, she also cries out the ever annoying "HEY!" or "LISTEN!" or "WATCH OUT!" After hearing this a few times, you feel like tearing your ears out. On top of all this, Navi is not an interesting character at all, with no story or likeable qualities. 

Next up, Tatl the fairy from Majora's Mask. This companion was a step up in every way from Navi. Instead of being allied with you at first, Tatl is actually part of the Skull kid's crew, until he abandons her. She works with link to reunite with her brother Tael. Geddit? Tatl Tael? Tattle Tale? Ahem...
This companion was interesting as she would often antagonise Link for his slowness or just because she didn't like him. Eventually, the two warm up to each other and become friends. Her advice wasn't great, but it wasn't completely useless as Navi's was. The most refreshing thing though was the bell sound she made in place of Navi's "HEY!!"



Ezlo from Minish cap was an interesting one. As you can see, he's a hat. This allows for Link to shrink down to reach small places. It also made the normal enemies you fought as Link become giant bosses as mini Link. Ezlo didn't offer as much advice, but his banter was enjoyable seeing as link was talking to...well, a hat.




Midna from Twilight Princess is an imp with many secrets. She reluctant;y joins Link for mysterious reasons which you go along with because you want the same goal, but she still doesn't like you that much and often berates you. So, right from the get go, she makes the game a blast to play. She has the most interesting story out of any companion as she is, in fact, central to the plot. Her backstory is slowly revealed to the player throughout the course of the game and she too warms up to Link and the two form a relationship that conquers most evil. The advice she gives is a little pointless, pointing out things you already know or could figure out within moments, but she's not too bad. Her laugh is a little annoying, but it hardly ever gets on your nerves, because you like Midna and want to find out more about her.

Ciela is the Navi-esque companion in Phantom Hourglass. Like Navi, she too is a fairy that often yells out "HEY!" (with much less frequency) But luckily, to prevent this from being a complete disaster, Nintendo took inspiration from the story they told with Midna and gave a story to Ciela that was interesting and made you want to know more about her. Ciela is also a likeable character and becomes essential to the plot as well. Towards the end, she even provides an extra grunt to your abilities which is always nice.



Zelda from Spirit Tracks was certainly different. Throughout all Zelda games, she was mostly a distant figure, someone who you wanted to save, but never really knew that well. This time, Zelda's Spirit follows you around giving advice and story elements. Actually, her advice is non existant. She barely provides any useful information, but you know what? It's so good to travel with her. She is a well thought out character that once again, is useful to you. When in the Tower of Spirits, you can make her take control of a Phantom, helping you solve puzzles and fight. Her inclusion in the game was great and something I wish more Zelda games would do more often.

The most recent companion in a Zelda game: Fi. Fi is part of the sword you have and is sent by the Goddess to assist you on your quest. She speaks with a strange auto-tuned voice and has no understanding of human emotion, yet loves statistics. She may not be the most interesting companion story-wise, but she has great advice. In fact, you can choose which type of information she gives you from her menu. She is nice to have as a companion and in truth is actually kind of funny with the way she acts around the world.

Really? Every time?

If your unsire what im talking about, allow me to elaborate. at the start of each and every pokemon game, excluding the first and second gen games, there is a pokemon catching tutorial. you know the ones, the really boring UNSKIPPBABLE battles that you arent even taking part in. now while this is helpful to newer players, its almost usless to veteran pokemon masters. skip buttons. get them in the pokemon games gamefreak. think about the veterans and not the newbs. (newbs as in new players, not noobs as in terrible gamers).

Pokemon Black/White Review

Pokemon has had many incarnations during it's successful franchise. The main series has been acclaimed for it's array of RPG elements and addictive training/catching system while some of the spin-offs have been liked and disliked. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon was fantastic in my opinion as well as Pokemon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness, but others like Pokemon Dash and Pokemon Channel are obvious cash ins on the franchise. Back in 2011, Pokemon Black and White were released (to the joy of many) and throughout that time, I was itching for a chance to play it. Eventually, in 2012, I was granted with this chance. I played through the game and beat the Pokemon League and began writing a blog post about it. Here are my thoughts: 

To begin, the graphics are easily the best in the series. The new camera angles used and designs are fantastic, but where these improve the game a lot, they also prove to be the biggest downfall. When battling, the camera zooms in on Pokemon, and thanks to the DS' weak processing power, you can clearly see the pixels used to build the Pokemon. This would have been fine if it was on the 3DS, but instead, we are greeted with ugly Pokemon. And these Pokemon are indeed ugly for more reasons than just the camera. The design of some of these Pokemon are absolutely stupid and dumb. I laughed out loud when I saw some of them and how stupid they were. Most of them are really disappointing, but there are some which are very cool such as the starters, the legendaries and Gigalith. I love you Gigalith. The other downside to the presentation is the music. It's nowhere near as memorable from the ones in Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald (which by far had the best music) and pretty much fails to capture.

See what I mean about stupid Pokemon?

The story on the other hand is a lot more interesting thanks to Team Plasma. This time, they're not just some goons waiting in a warehouse for you to beat them up. Same with the gym leaders. Both are involved in the story and add more characterisation and flavour to the whole game. Not as much as Colosseum, but at last I feel as though what I'm doing actually matters in the grand scheme of things.

Gameplay still consists of capturing Pokemon, training them into stronger Pokemon, battling everyone and their mothers as well as beating every gym leader ever. Same old same old. But things have improved. Once again, there are more moves and pokemon, but at the same time, you can now re-use TMs. FINALLY!! Pokemon Centres and PokeMarts are now in the same building and there is a new centre for multiplayer battles as well. The new C-Gear allows for much greater functionality with the internet and wi-fi battles and trading. And you can now trade directly from your PC box and that makes things sooooooooooooo much better and overall more functional. So with all these new features, why doesn't Pokemon Black/ White stack up as well against the other games? Well, gameplay wise, it's actually better than the originals as somebody at Nintendo finally decided to stop forcing us to walk around in caves for hours and the pointless HM's have been removed, so what lets is down are the Pokemon. You really feel cheated when you see the promise of 150 new Pokemon and the majority are so stupid. If you've never played Pokemon before, you will love it and if you have, you will still have a great time, but overall, I personally feel as though it couldn't measure up to any of the others. 

I <3 u Gigalith!!!!!!!!

The truth about Kirby

Originally designed as a weapon by the star warriors, Kirby was intended to be one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. He was meant to be an unstoppable force that would destroy anything in his wake. However, he was awakened on dreamland millions of years before it was intended. He is merely a shadow of the weapon he intended to be. Yet, look at the power he has. The things he's done and the abilities he possesses. Imagine that power, multiplied by thousands, or millions. He has a power unlike anything else, the power to replicate and change DNA. So...still think Kirby is that adorable pink ball?

Check it out Gentlemen.

It has come to our attention that Nintendo has been awful quiet as of late, so if you would kindly visit our other blog so that I don't seem like some idealess person...(At least I'm not" So check it out:
The other games blog

R18+

At long last Australia has the go ahead for an R18+ rating for video games. Without the constant opposition of ONE PARTICULAR POLITICIAN!! us aussie gamers can finally revel in the luxury of having an adult rating. This means the really serious gamers of legal age can enjoy games without having them censored or nerfed or even banned in Australia. This isn't really a problem for Nintendo as they don't really release games that are adult, but for the whole world of gaming as a collective, the leap forward is almost monumental. The rest of the world has had am R18+ rating for ages, so once again Australia has finally caught up.

Odd don't you think?

Most games go for an attempt at realism as we know. Some retain their focus on being crazy fun, but overall most games do this. After all, it's why we want graphics to be good right? That way we feel as though the world we've stepped into could be real. Metroid, Zelda, even Pokemon all maintain some sort of realism that we all imagine to be part of a living breathing universe. In a game, we want to feel as though we are performing the action done on screen to make us feel like we have a footprint in the world. So, as games strive to be realistic with smooth controls, appropriate worlds, believable characters and graphics, one game that consistently breaks this trend is Mario. There is almost nothing realistic about it! The graphics are cartoonish, the story is beyond simple, the level design looks like a game and not like an actual world, so why is it so fun? I have trouble answering this question myself. Mario is one of my favourite game series and yet it is so strange in how it is made. My only answer is that maybe for the Japanease the stuff that goes down in Mario's world is actually Hyper Realism. Maybe...