Inktober 2019 Highlights Week 1

Good day, dear readers!  I decided to do Inktober this year, which is a little drawing event where you get a topic for every day in October to draw and ink, either digitally or in the traditional way.  You can start the first day of September, which means I have been giving myself two days per picture.  And let me tell you, I am feeling extremely tired from drawing far more than I’m used to….

How Pokemon Made Me a Gamer

I used to be quite the “Pokemon” fan.  I have since, for whatever reason, outgrown my interest in the series, but it used to be such a big thing for me and has gone on to make a rather large, though somewhat indirect, impact on my life, that I needed to write a post about it.  “Pokemon”, if you’re not familiar with it, is a series that manifests itself in many forms, including cartoons, card games, video games, etc., involving Pokemon trainers that catch creatures called Pokemon, which they use to fight in battles and such.  It’s a rather simple concept, really, but addicting (oh, the countless hours I spent collecting Pokemon and leveling them up in “Pokemon Silver”).  I hear that there are now more than 500 kinds of Pokemon, which I find a bit crazy at this point, but okay.  (For me, the original 151 will always be THE Pokemon.)

The series first caught my eye quite a while ago, when I was rather young.  I saw Pikachu, the most famous Pokemon of all, in a store, and I thought it was quite cute, and when I brought it up to a friend at school, he asked me if I was a fan of the series.  Well, to be honest, I had actually not even heard of it yet.  As I said, this Pikachu thing was pretty cute, but I didn’t know what it was.  It was at this time that my friend enlightened me, and I became an instant fan.  I found the anime on TV, and I made it my goal to learn the names of all 151 Pokemon (yes, that’s all there were back then).  I watched the show and found sites on the Internet (my first major expedition into the mysterious terrain of the world wide web), and I made a list of each new Pokemon I found.  In a way, like Pokemon trainer Ash Ketchum, I wanted to collect all the Pokemon…even if only in list form.

Top Songs from Banjo-Tooie

Here’s my top 10 songs for “Banjo-Tooie”, sequel to “Banjo-Kazooie”.  This game has better music and is less, well, cutesy, so I think it’s better than its predecessor.  Once again, I just included my favorite versions of the songs.  And links to youtube.

            10. “Final Battle” is the theme for the final battle against Gruntilda.  Even though she is just a skeleton now, she still puts up quite a fight.  Around 1:07, they start having a few small parts with the Gruntilda’s Lair theme from “Banjo-Kazooie”.  This music fits a tough battle well.  A ridiculously tough battle.

            9. “Isle O’ Hags” is the main area you go through to get to all the worlds.  I always liked this music.  It kind of depresses me, though.  I dunno why, just does.

            8. “Cloud Cuckooland” is the theme for the eighth world.  This place is really odd and includes such things as a castle made of jell-o and a giant wedge of smelly cheese.  Weirdest of all are the flat things that pop out of the ground with cash register ka-ching sounds that attack with sausages and flowers and stuff.  The music is odd, too, which makes it fun.

            7. “Glitter Gulch Mine” is the theme to the second world, complete with enemies that jump out of the ground and say, “Yee haw!”  I can play a good chunk of this on my guitar.  I always thought this was a fun song.  But, where the darn is that donkey?  Why is a donkey down in a mine?  How’d it even climb down the rope?

            6. “Spiral Mountain” has a sadder version of its theme in this game than it did in “Banjo-Kazooie”, and I like it better.  The other version was too happy.

            5. “Hailfire Peaks (Fire)” is the theme for the fire side of the seventh world.  There is an ice side, too.  I like this theme a lot.  I think the music fits this place well, and it even includes the sound of bubbling lava.

            4. “Credits” has a version of the “Banjo-Kazooie” theme.  (A different version of this also ended up in my “Banjo-Kazooie” top 10.  Because it’s that good.)

            3. “Mayahem Temple” is the first world, and I think it has pretty fun music.  I like the beginning with the bird noises and the voice (which sounds strangely like Mumbo…).  I don’t know what the sound at 0:50 is.  Perhaps the squeal of someone getting shot by one of those dart-shooting statues.

            2. “Jolly Roger’s Lagoon” is the theme for the fourth world.  I always liked this music very much.  It’s a very pleasant song.

            1. “Grunty Industries”, the sixth world, has the best music.  I love this.  I spent so much time here just listening to the music.  Factories always seem to have the best music, for some reason.  My favorite part is 1:21-1:55.

Banjo-Duckie