Retro Blog: Supaplex

 

A very nostalgic title, this is the game that occupied me during lunch times on primary school for a long time, and upon moving on into high school, I simply had forgotten about it, but not before wishing that I could get a full version at home personally.

Around a decade later, the memories returned, and online is where I finally found Supaplex back! Or rather more accurately called Megaplex...but anyhow, I was bursting with joy to return to this adventurous and oh so challenging puzzle game.

Supaplex is actually a clone of Builder Dash, of which the NES version also holds childhood memories for me. You play as Murphy, a red smily ball which navigates through grid levels where he must collect shiny objects while avoiding the stone like obstacles.

Not only that, the relentless scissors also have the tendency to chase Murphy around in latter levels, and the challenge only gets more complex and difficult as you progress in the total amount of 111 levels.

Other objects to be found include exploding floppydisks, maneuverable tubes, lightning and aggressive sparkles. Although not much content is offered, the levels are cleverly designed with variety.

It's now also possible to create your own levels through a floating editor somewhere, and there is even a new graphical boost available somewhere else, also floating around. In fact, Supaplex has such an active cult community, that there exist several versions other than Megaplex around the net.

Simply put, Supaplex is simple to pick up, hard to beat, and it's a very responsive and smooth joyful experience.

Rating: 8.1

Shizmoo

Once upon a time, there was a website called Shizmoo, which offered some of the most addictive free games around in that era, although I am unable to say when this time happened, maybe around a decade ago?

Kung-Fu Chess is the real time variant of playing chess, instead of playing turn-based, here you could move all of your units in relative time, where cooldowns where included. Not only would you have 1 opponent, but instead 4 players at once could wreck the chessboard into pieces until only 1 king remained.

Sumo Volleyball was arguably the most addictive and competitive game provided by Shizmoo, and it was such a simple concept of mechanics. Simply put, two sumo wrestlers would play volleyball on a beach, and the bizarre mechanic of jumping on the pole in the middle and crashing into your opponent with your weight would sometimes mean a point for the other player. There was a time where I would worship and play this in the weekends.

Mini Golf was less original unlike these two, and I could not even find relevant sources back anymore on the internet. Simply put, you would guide the ball from a top down perspective on various wacky courses.

Nowadays, clones apparently exist for all three games, and I'm about to find and try them out and perhaps update this article later on with them included. But for now, I wanted to remember these very entertaining games in an era where life was a bit more simple for me.

One Piece: The New World

You know, up until now I didn't notice it, but I think that One Piece contributed heavily towards my passion and excitement for traveling the world. Seeing all those different locations, cultures, and people. Both in this story and in reality, it's just amazing to see the amount of differences.

It has been more or less 10 years since I started watching this enormous story unfold, and I figured it was about time to pay another tribute, like I did already 5 years ago. Except this time, I'm going all out.

I will talk about everything and anything I love about One Piece, and it's gonna be more detailed than before. Since Episode 700 of the anime recently got released(Haven't had the time to read the manga yet), let's talk all things regarding One Piece.

Let's start with the huge cast of characters. From pirates to marines, and from scientists to assassins, One Piece is nothing short of interesting fellows with many of them having a distinctive personal laugh, or a quirky merit, or a Devil Fruit, which are the special powers divided into 3 categories.

Just thinking of a top 10 character list is difficult because so many of them are likable. Some of my favorites include Aokiji, Bon Clay, Brooke and Luffy, either because of their personalities, or because of their actions.

Recurring and new characters are regularly happening, and each of the story arcs are surely to have lasting appeal for at least several of them for any fan. Another highlight of the series are the battles and the creativity that is behind them, which isn't always present, but I have been pleasantly surprised with many in the past.

Repetition is not really the case with One Piece either, other than a standard formula being present of "Straw Hats discover new island, there is a problem. they solve it, repeat", but the series's constant jokes, plot twists and emotional baggage's just retaliate that thought of ever coming back for me.

The world, including the 4 normal seas as well as the Grand Line and it's New World, still hasn't been completely put onto an actual world map yet. Nor have we seen all of the big questions appearing with the truth yet, including the Will of D, the Void Century, the World Government's ambition, the Revolutionary Army's ambition, if One Piece is an actual treasure or a metaphorical one, and so on.

Indeed, theories towards these large questions, as well as continuous amounts of trivia which are added towards the overall lore make sure that One Piece isn't bland by any means, but rather a large fish with many depths of sea levels to be found, if you know what I mean.

There's also endless amounts of merchandise available around the world, which I personally witnessed at China 2 years ago. This also includes video games, and my favorites have been the 3D Grand Battle titles. The last one appeared in 2005 I believe, and since then, I have been craving for a new one ever since, just thinking of all the characters that could be added now towards that makes my excitement go haywire.

To think that Eichiro Oda, the creater of One Piece, personally said I think a year ago that it's story would continue for at least 10 more years is insanely ambitious. I wonder if we will really see the end, whether that happens at the final island Raftel or not, consider me included alongside this huge ride.