grassmonk.net

This was originally written back in February, but never actually published.  I am going to fall quite short in many categories—it’s been that kind of year, plus I am lazier than usual it seems—but I figured I ought to put it out there, since I’ve been doing these lists since 2011 and I should at least have some sort of consistency going, right?  Right…

Books to Read

• The Ender Quartet (Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind)
• The First Formic War Trilogy (Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, Earth Awakens)
• As many of the Discworld books as I can, particularly Raising Steam and The Shepherd’s Crown

TV Seasons to Watch

Haven’t seen before:

• The Flintstones (seasons 2 – 6)
• Luke Cage (season 1)
• The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (season 1)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (seasons 1 – 2)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (seasons 1 – 4)
• Star Trek: Voyager (seasons 6 – 7)

Have seen before, but haven’t yet watched my BDs/DVDs:

• Justice League: Unlimited (seasons 1 – 2)
• Mad About You (seasons 1 – 7)

Have seen before:

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (seasons 1 – 7)
• Dollhouse (seasons 1 – 2)
• Justice League (seasons 1 – 2)
• Pinky and the Brain (volumes 1 – 3)

Currently airing/will air this year:

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 4)
• The Big Bang Theory (season 10)
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine (season 4)
• The Defenders (season 1)
• Homeland (season 6)
• Iron Fist (season 1)
• Major Crimes (season 5)
• Unbreakble Kimmy Schmidt (season 3)

Movies to Watch

From last year:

• Moana
• Pete’s Dragon

From previous years, already seen or not:

• Captain America: Civil War
• Cars
• Cars 2
• Despicable Me
• Despicable Me 2
• Minions
• Doctor Strange
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• How to Train Your Dragon
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
• Star Wars: Rogue One
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
• Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
• Thor
• Thor: The Dark World
• The Transporter

New this year:

• Cars 3
• Despicable Me 3
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• The LEGO Batman Movie
• Logan
• How to Train Your Dragon 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
• Spider-Man: Homecoming
• Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
• Thor: Ragnarok
• Wonder Woman

BDs/DVDs I [try to] watch at least once a year:

• The Avengers
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Batman Begins
• The Dark Knight
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Bourne Identity
• The Bourne Supremacy
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
• Firefly
• Serenity
• (500) Days of Summer
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• The Matrix
• The Matrix Reloaded
• The Matrix Revolutions
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Spider-Man
• Spider-Man 2
• Spider-Man 3
• Superman Returns
• The Truman Show

BDs/DVDs I [try to] watch at least once every other year:

• Elf
• The Fifth Element
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Home Alone
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
• The Muppet Christmas Carol

BDs/DVDs I haven’t watched since 2013 or before:

• About a Boy
• Alice in Wonderland
• Almost Heroes
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• The Aristocats
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire
• Billy Madison
• The Black Cauldron
• Bolt
• Brother Bear
• Chain Reaction
• Clear and Present Danger
• The Emperor’s New Groove
• Kronk’s New Groove
• Enchanted
• Ernest Goes to Camp
• Ernest Goes to Jail
• Ernest in the Army
• Ernest Riders Again
• Ernest Saves Christmas
• Ernest Scared Stupid
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
• The Fox and the Hound
• From Up on Poppy Hill
• The Fugitive
• Gone in 60 Seconds
• The Great Muppet Caper
• Groundhog Day
• The Hobbit
• Home on the Range
• Howl’s Moving Castle
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Inception
• The Island
• LEGO Batman: The Movie: DC Superheroes Unite
• Liar Liar
• Lilo & Stitch
• The Lion King
• The Little Mermaid
• Live Free or Die Hard
• The Lorax
• The Man Who Knew too Little
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Meet the Robinsons
• Monsters, Inc.
• Monsters University
• Muppet Treasure Island
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• Oliver & Company
• Peter Pan
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
• The Secret World of Arrietty
• Sleeping Beauty
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• The Sword in the Stone
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
• The Three Musketeers
• Throw Momma from the Train
• The Tigger Movie
• Transporter 2
• Treasure Planet
• UHF
• What About Bob?
• Winnie the Pooh
• The Wizard of Oz
• Wreck-It Ralph

Video Games to Play

First-time Plays:

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
• LEGO Avengers

Replays:

• Final Fantasy X

Other

• More poetism commentaries
• More “Greatest Talks, Etc.” entries

Introduction mostly foregone, not included here are movies from my 2016 favorites list.

TV

Hadn’t seen before:

• Phineas and Ferb (season 4)
• Transporter: The Series (seasons 1-2)

I was so glad when Netflix finally added the last season of Phineas and Ferb.  It’s one of my favorite cartoons ever.  We first started watching it on Netflix in 2011 on the recommendation of my best friend, and not a single episode was a disappointment.

I love the first Transporter movie, like the second one, and watched the third one once and was unimpressed.  My wife and I decided to give the TV series a go.  The first season was pretty fun, and Inspector Tarconi is a character I never tire of.  The second season wasn’t as enjoyable; it seemed there was less actual transporting going on.

Movies

Hadn’t seen before:

• Batman: Bad Blood
• Creed
• Daddy’s Home
• Get Hard
• Gravity
• Hail, Caesar!
• I Love You Phillip Morris
• The Iron Giant
• Justice League: Gods and Monsters
• Justice League vs. Teen Titans
• MacGruber
• The Nice Guys
• Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday
• The Usual Suspects

Had seen before:

• Ant-Man
• Batman vs. Robin
• Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
• Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
• Galaxy Quest
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Inside Out
• Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
• Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
• Justice League: War
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
• Love Actually
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Robin Hood
• The Santa Clause
• Son of Batman
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
• Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
• Thor: The Dark World
• TMNT

There are a couple of movies that I’ve long heard were good and wanted to watch, and I finally got around to them.  The Usual Suspects was, I think, Bryan Singer’s first feature film, and I’d heard it was good and liked his X-Men films and Superman Returns (even if I’m in the minority on Superman).  It was pretty enjoyable, and I enjoyed the twist ending even though I saw it coming.

I Love You Phillip Morris was one I’d seen a trailer for a few years ago, and it looked interesting, but I just never watched it.  After finally seeing it and learning it was based on a true story, and not very exaggerated from the truth, holy cow.  To find out those events actually happened blew my mind, as the kids say.  It is probably not for the PG-13 and under crowd.

Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, well… I liked Pee-Wee’s Playhouse as a kid and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, though I never warmed to Big Top Pee-Wee.  When Netflix produced a new movie after all these years I decided to give it a watch.  It was enjoyable overall, but I think my favorite part was seeing Stephanie Beatriz in a very smiley role after watching her for 3 seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Video Games

First-time plays:

• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• Mini-Mario and Friends: amiibo Challenge

Replays:

• Final Fantasy VII
• Final Fantasy IX
• Metroid
• Metroid: Other M
• Pikmin 2
• Pikmin 3
• Super Metroid
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Final Fantasy VII is my favorite in the series (I’ve played IV through X-2).  It was the reason I bought a Playstation back in 1997, and it may end up being the reason I buy a PS4 when the remake comes out.  A couple of years ago I started replaying it, but after a few sessions I got sidetracked by other things and never made it back.  So a few months ago I decided to try again and it was just fun.  I followed it up with Final Fantasy IX the next month, which is another of my favorites (I don’t really enjoy VIII; I played it through once for the story, which was good, but the gameplay was not my thing).  This year I may replay FFX, another one of my favorites (basically my favorites are all of them except VIII).

Metroid: Other M gets a bad rep for its characterization of Samus, but it never really bothered me, and the gameplay is pretty good.  I also replayed the original for the nostaliga factor.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was released for the Wii U Virtual Console, and since I don’t have a 3DS I downloaded it and gave it a whirl.  The controls were a bit hard to translate to just using the WiiU game pad, but overall was a fun 2D Zelda title.  Spirit Tracks was also released for Wii U VC and I think I’ll try to play that one in 2017.  I also replayed Zelda II on an emulator, because even though I have it on GameCube, that game is ridiculously hard and I need save states and I’m not afraid to admit it.  I had to do some Googling on editing the save file at one point because I missed getting the winged boots before completing the palace they were in, so it was that or start over, and let me tell you, I was not going after the hammer again.

I love the Pikmin games, especially Pikmin 3, so I replayed a couple of those.  A year ago I mentioned that our family had about 30 Pikmin figures.  We’re now up to about 110.  If Pikmin 4 is announced for the Nintendo Switch, I will be helpless not to buy one.

How did I fare with my goals for 2016?

Books to Read

I failed miserably.  Like a big fat 0.  This year I really hope to do better.  Like, for reals.

TV Seasons to Watch

Haven’t seen before:

We’ll call this 2.9/7.  I finished Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, five seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, and 1 season of The Flintstones.  I’m going to finish Voyager this month, and I’d really like to finish The Flintstones this year, since I’ve had the DVDs for so long.  The others, we’ll have to see.

Have seen before, but haven’t yet watched my BDs/DVDs:

Also a 0.  Justice League: Unlimited is definitely on my list for this year though, possibly after a rewatch of Justice League and even more possible after a rewatch of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series (and maybe even Batman Beyond).

Have seen before:

1/3.  I watched Life, and was reminded again how wonderful that show is, and how wonderful Damien Lewis is.  I’d like to revisit Alias again soon, but I think Pinky and the Brain should take higher priority, and that my children should watch it with me.

Currently airing/will air this year:

I watched them all, with the exception of Homeland season 6, which is actually airing this year.

Movies to Watch

From last year [2015]:

Watched them all.

From previous years, already seen or not:

Watched them all.  Holy crap, was Interstellar fantastic.

New this year:

Watched them all.

BDs/DVDs I [try to] watch at least once a year:

Watched them all.

BDs/DVDs I [try to] watch at least once every other year:

Watched them all.

BDs/DVDs I haven’t watched since 2012 or before:

61/63, almost 5% better than last year’s 46/50.  This year maybe I’ll hit 100%.  The two I missed were Castle in the Sky (which I watched a few days ago) and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (which I’ll get to soon).

Video Games to Play

First-time Plays:

100% of 1.  I so can not wait for Breath of the Wild this year.  I may experience a few more first-time plays this year, depending on how the Nintendo Switch does.

Replays:

100% of 4.  I had a fun time revisiting some Metroid titles, along with Skyward Sword.  Did I mention that I so cannot wait for Breath of Wild this year?  (Hint: I did not, because the first time you’re thinking of I said “can not” instead of “cannot.”)

Other

I don’t think there was even a token poetism commentary entry this past year, and only one “Greatest Talks, Etc.” entry.  I think I should get try harder in the upcoming months.  It would certainly be difficult to be less productive.

Books to Read

• The Chronicles of Narnia books 4 – 7 (The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, The Last Battle)
• The Ender Quartet (Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind)
• The First Formic War Trilogy (Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, Earth Awakens)
• The Science of Discworld III: Darwin’s Watch
• The Science of Discworld IV: Judgment Day
• Raising Steam
• The Shepherd’s Crown
• As many of the other Discworld books as I can, for there are many

TV Seasons to Watch

Haven’t seen before:

• The Flintstones (seasons 1 – 6)
• Fraggle Rock (seasons 1 – 4)
• Iron Man: Armored Adventures (seasons 1 – 2)
• The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (season 1)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (the rest of season 7)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (seasons 2 – 7)
• Star Trek: Voyager (seasons 1 – 7)

Have seen before, but haven’t yet watched my BDs/DVDs:

• Justice League: Unlimited (seasons 1 – 2)

Have seen before:

• Alias (seasons 1 – 5)
• Life (seasons 1 – 2)
• Pinky and the Brain (volumes 1 – 3)

Currently airing/will air this year:

• Agent Carter (season 2)
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (the rest of season 3)
• The Big Bang Theory (the rest of season 9)
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine (the rest of season 3)
• Castle (the rest of season 8)
• Daredevil (season 2)
• Homeland (season 6)
• Jessica Jones (season 1)
• Major Crimes (the rest of season 4)
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (season 2)

Movies to Watch

From last year:

• 007: Spectre
• Creed
• Fantastic Four
• The Good Dinosaur
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
• Jupiter Ascending
• The Martian
• The Peanuts Movie

From previous years, already seen or not:

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mid
• Finding Nemo
• Interstellar
• Jurassic Park
• X-Men
• X2: X-Men United
• X-Men: The Last Stand
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• X-Men: First Class
• The Wolverine
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

New this year:

• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
• Bourne 5
• Captain America: Civil War
• Deadpool
• Doctor Strange
• Finding Dory
• Ghostbusters
• Kung Fu Panda 3
• Star Trek Beyond
• Suicide Squad
• X-Men: Apocalypse
• Zoolander 2
• Zootopia

BDs/DVDs I [try to] watch at least once a year:

• The Avengers
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Batman Begins
• The Dark Knight
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Bourne Identity
• The Bourne Supremacy
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
• Firefly
• Serenity
• (500) Days of Summer
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• The Matrix
• The Matrix Reloaded
• The Matrix Revolutions
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Spider-Man
• Spider-Man 2
• Spider-Man 3
• Superman Returns
• The Truman Show

BDs/DVDs I [try to] watch at least once every other year:

• The Amazing Spider-Man
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• The Incredible Hulk
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Star Trek
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Thor

BDs/DVDs I haven’t watched since 2012 or before:

• Across the Universe
• As Good as it Gets
• Bambi
• A Beautiful Mind
• Beverly Hills Ninja
• Big Fish
• Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• Black Sheep
• Brave
• Castle in the Sky
• Chicken Little
• Cinderella
• Daredevil
• Ever After: A Cinderella Story
• Fantastic 4
• Fever Pitch
• Fun With Dick and Jane
• The Great Mouse Detective
• Happy Gilmore
• Hulk
• Jumanji
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park
• Jurassic Park III
• The Karate Kid
• The Kid
• Kung Fu Panda
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Lady and the Tramp
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
• A Lot Like Love
• The Mask of Zorro
• The Legend of Zorro
• Meet the Parents
• Meet the Fockers
• Mr. Deeds
• Muppets from Space
• The Muppets Take Manhattan
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• Newsies
• Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
• A Night at the Roxbury
• Pete’s Dragon
• Pinocchio
• Pocahontas
• The Rescuers
• The Rescuers Down Under
• Rocky
• Rocky Balboa
• The Rundown
• Sherlock Holmes
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
• Signs
• Stardust
• Star Trek: Generations
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek: Nemesis
• Tommy Boy
• Waterworld
• The Wedding Singer
• Whisper of the Heart
• The Whole Nine Yards
• Yes Man

Video Games to Play

First-time Plays:

• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

Replays:

• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Metroid Fusion
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
• Metroid: Zero Mission

Other

• More poetism commentaries
• More “Greatest Talks, Etc.” entries

Sometimes it feels like I did more stuff outside of my goals list than inside, I might copy previous blog entry introductions, there may be commentary, etc. Not included here are movies from my 2015 favorites list.

TV

Hadn’t seen before:

• Agent Carter (season 1)
• Daredevil (season 1)
• Freaks and Geeks (season 1/the complete series)
• Heroes Reborn (most of season 1)
• Parks and Recreation (seasons 1-7)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (season 1)
• Toy Story That Time Forgot
• The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (season 1)
• Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (season 1)

Had seen before

• Heroes (seasons 2-4)
• It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I’m a sucker for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so Agent Carter and Daredevil were no-brain watchers for me.  I really enjoyed both of them, and am looking forward to the second seasons in 2016.  The hallway fight scene from the first or second episode of Daredevil was a standout moment of pure awesomeness.

I had heard good things about Freaks and Geeks, though I don’t recall from where.  My wife and I watched it on Netflix in the fall and it was pretty great.  It was fascinating to see a young James Franco and Seth Green, and especially John Francis Daley.

I decided one day that as I had put off The Office, so had I put off Parks and Recreation, and it was time to watch.  I binge-watched the whole thing in about 3 weeks and it was absolutely fantastic.  It took me some time to warm to some of the characters, but somewhere in season 2 I just began to love it all.  I think it’s a show I could watch again in a couple of years.

It’s been my intention to watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager for a while, it just took some time to get to.  I’m attempting to watch them more or less in continuity order, which means I started DS9 in the middle of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6.  It hasn’t captured me like TNG yet, but I hear it gets pretty good, so here’s hoping.

I decided to watch Kimmy Schmidt based on Tina Fey’s involvement, and wow, what a funny, funny show.  I am eagerly awaiting season 2.

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is a Netflix original show; a prequel to the film from some years ago.  It was spotlighted whenever I would start up Netflix, and the cast of the film sounded good, so I watched it, liked it, and then watched the show.

I watched my DVD set of Heroes season 1 and decided to watch the other seasons on Netflix since Heroes Reborn was to premiere in the fall.  I still think season 1 was by far the best, but the others were still pretty good, and not as bad as I remembered.  Heroes Reborn is great whenever Jack Coleman, Masi Oka, or Zachary Levi is on screen, and generally okay otherwise.  I’m looking forward to the final three episodes.

Movies

Hadn’t seen before:

• Braveheart
• Bridesmaids
• The Cat Returns
• Chasing Amy
• The Interview
• Kill Me Three Times
• Kingsman: The Secret Service
• Maleficent
• Mission: Impossible II
• The Painting
• Paranorman
• Planes: Fire & Rescue
• Pom Poko
• Porco Rosso
• Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
• Shakespeare in Love
• Tales from Earthsea
• Wet Hot American Summer
• Witness
• The Wolf of Wall Street
• The World’s End

Had seen before:

• The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
• Aladdin
• Batman
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
• Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales
• Despicable Me 2
• Dumb and Dumber
• Forrest Gump
• Ghostbusters
• Good Will Hunting
• Hot Fuzz
• Hot Rod
• Jurassic Park
• Justice League: Doom
• Love Actually
• Mulan
• Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
• Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1
• Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 2
• The Princess and the Frog
• Puss in Boots
• Robin Hood
• Spirited Away
• Superman: The Movie
• Superman II
• Superman III
• Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
• Superman: Unbound
• Superman vs. The Elite
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

Video Games

First-time plays:

• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
• Pikmin
• Yoshi’s Woolly World

Replays:

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
• Metroid Prime
• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
• Pikmin 3

We enjoyed the Captain Toad levels in Super Mario 3D World, and so when I found Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for a good price during the summer I bought it and the whole family has enjoyed it.  A few of the levels were quite challenging.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3, I bought the original Pikmin when Nintendo was selling refurbished copies $15.  Pikmin 3 still remains my favorite, but they all have wonderful charm.  I really hope Pikmin 4 sees the light of day in 2016.  Our family has also started collecting action figures from the World of Nintendo line and we’ve been lucky/determined/insane enough to each pick up Olimar action figures for myself and the three kids, plus a combined total of 30 Pikmin of various colors.  We also have various action figures from the Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Donkey Kong lines, and some of the plushes–mostly Pikmin.

We also started collecting amiibo, first just a couple of characters to scan while playing Hyrule Warriors, now a sizeable collection with multiple duplicates because the kids have crossover character interests.  Yoshi’s Woolly World is a game we bought sort of on a whim during one of our “amiibo expeditions,” which included the game and a Green Yarn Yoshi amiibo.  We, of course, bought the other two colors of Yarn Yoshi as well (and eventually one of each color for each child).  YWW turned out to be really fun, and really difficult at times (or it would have been really difficult had we not played on “mellow” mode).

Early in 2015 Nintendo released a couple of Wii titles for the Wii U Virtual Console.  One of the first was the Metroid Prime trilogy for a price of just $10.  I don’t really like the controls introduced in Metroid Prime 3, which were carried over to the trilogy re-release of MP and MP2, but I wanted to experience the widescreen presentation of the original games, and for the price I figured why not.  So I played through the first two games, which remain my favorite Metroid games, and somehow didn’t replay the third.  I guess that’ll be on the 2016 list along with Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission.

Sometimes old school is the best school.  I remember first playing A Link to the Past at around 12 years old.  I replayed it on the Wii U and it’s a lot harder than I remember it being, but still one of the great Zelda games.  The Minish Cap was released some time ago for the Wii U Virtual Console, and I finally bought it and played it a couple of months ago.  I had played it some years back on a Gameboy Advance emulator, but remembered very little about it.  It was fun, and I hope to enjoy more Zelda goodness in 2016, with Skyward Sword, possibly more Hyrule Warriors content, and hopefully the new Wii U Zelda title.