The 300th Blog Spectacularsaurus Rex

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It’s time once again for some self-aggrandizement! Huzah! For I have amassed 300 blogs here at the Wizard Dojo! Huzzah to me!

Mettaton

Part of me didn’t want to do this again, but these self-appreciative centennial blogs give me an excuse to write something silly. A means to ease up a bit and lighten the mood (because a website called Wizard Dojo is surely just too serious). No worrying about reviewing stuff, getting my opinion across properly, or stressing over any rating systems. Just writing some crap and giving myself a pat on the back. Yahoo!

Duke of Weselton

Anyway, I guess I should find some ways to drag this out. It wouldn’t be much of a celebration with so few paragraphs. I must sing more of my praises!

So, ummm… Let’s see. Ooh, I know! How about I write some random fun facts about this site? Yeah! That’s a good way to waste your time.

Fun Fact #1: Wizard Dojo was launched on Christmas Day 2014. Well, technically I bought the domain name and set everything up a few days beforehand. But it was on Christmas that I began publishing content. Made for a good Christmas present to myself, and makes my anniversary easy to remember.

Fun Fact #2: As of this post, Wizard Dojo currently houses 116 video game reviews and 69 reviews for animated films. I really need to start writing animation reviews at a quicker pace to catch them up.

Fun Fact #3: Of those reviews, only four video games have so far been awarded a perfect 10/10 score (Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country 2 and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night). Inside Out is currently the only animated film to boast a perfect 10. I know a few other games and animations that I will give perfect scores, but I’ll wait to reveal them to when they’re reviewed.

Fun Fact #4: This site was originally going to have the word “Power” somewhere in the title, as a means of paying tribute to Nintendo Power magazine. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything catchy using the word that also explained what this site was about (though I guess Wizard Dojo isn’t exactly explanatory either…).

Fun Fact #5: The very first post published on Wizard Dojo was my review of Mario Kart 8.

Fun Fact #6: I have quietly slipped some reoccurring “jokes” into my blogs. Namely, I try to throw the word “aforementioned” into most of my reviews as something of a joke on myself, as I once noticed I had a tendency to overuse the word. Also, the amazing composing abilities of David Wise is frequently brought up, and compliments aimed at actor J.K Simmons are also showing up more and more at the Dojo. On the opposite side of things, a disdain for FFVII’s Cloud, Dark Pit, and Shadow the Hedgehog are reoccurring talking points.

Fun Fact #7: That smug cartoony kid I often use as an avatar is Nester, the original Nintendo Power mascot. As much as I enjoy paying tribute to Nintendo Power, I may have to make an original mascot or something at some point. I don’t want to ride someone else’s coattails forever.

Kirby

Anyway, that’s enough fun facts for now. Let’s see, what else can I do here… How about I shed some light on some stuff to expect in the near future of this site? I’m not going to give any promises as to when you should expect these things, but it shouldn’t be too long of a wait.

You can expect some additional Disney and Studio Ghibli reviews in the near future, as well as a list of top 10 Disney animated films, top 5 video game genres, top 10 Nintendo franchises, top 10 video game composers, a top 10 ranking of the Mario RPGs, and plenty more video game and animation reviews, I’m sure. Not to mention my oft-promised list of favorite video games of all time. I feel I should follow that up with a list of favorite movies, though I’m not sure if I want to make separate lists for animated and live-action films or just a singular list for both…

I can also imagine I’ll be writing more opinion pieces on the recently announced Paper Mario: Color Splash and the Mario RPGs of yesteryear. I mean, Nintendo had such a great thing going with the Mario RPGs. Why the Hell they decided they needed to “fix” them is beyond me. Meanwhile, Pokemon games are all basically the same. Talk about a series that needs fixing.

Paper Mario

Let’s see, anything else I can do here? I guess I could name a couple more regrets I’ve made on this site since my Christmas post (I was tempted to wait until the next Christmas post to write these, but that’s kind of a long wait).

Regret #1: Not playing Bloodborne more before I did my 2015 Game of the Year awards – When I did my Game of the Year awards for 2015, I had only really gotten so far in Bloodborne. The only award I ended up giving it was Best Sound, and it only placed fourth for Game of the Year. In retrospect, I should have waited until I was more absorbed into the game. It definitely should have got an extra award or two, and definitely deserved better than fourth place. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I feel it would have made so much sense as my Game of the Year…

Regret #2: Not listing either Paper Mario or Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as my Game of the Year for their respective years – You may remember I made a list chronicling my Game of the Year for every year of my life. Yet, for some baffling reason, I simply listed the first two Paper Mario titles as runners-up, instead of naming at least one of them as a Game of the Year. I suppose I was trying to aim for more diversity, but screw it. Quality over quantity! Exception for the exceptional! Only winners get trophies!

I guess if any good has come out of Color Splash’s announcement, it’s that it has reminded me how much the first two Paper Marios mean to me. Expect one of the first two Paper Marios to claim a retrospective GotY whenever I decide to revise that list. I hate to say it, but I may revise it sometime later this year…

Perhaps I’m just cursed to be indecisive with my Game of the Years?

TTYD

Here are some ID codes for some difficult Super Mario Maker stages I’ve made recently.

Lava-bstacle Course: F21A-0000-0152-5A61

Paratroopa Activity: DF3A-0000-0184-2525

There and Back Again: 5F62-0000-01FC-E761

I’m running out of things to say and ways to waste your time. I guess that means it’s time to wrap this up.

I just want to thank my readership and fandom (whatever that is) for continuously giving me incentive to keep on writing. Here’s to a fruitful future for the Dojo, filled with many more reviews, top 5/10 lists and other such nonsense!

May the good blood guide your way! Praise the sun! All that jazz!

Joy Dance

Author: themancalledscott

Born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining, the man called Scott is an ancient sorcerer from a long-forgotten realm. He’s more machine now than man, twisted and evil. Or, you know, he could just be some guy who loves video games, animations and cinema who just wanted to write about such things.

17 thoughts on “The 300th Blog Spectacularsaurus Rex”

  1. Wow, congrats! You’re way ahead of me; I haven’t even come close to that many reviews. I launched my site on May 20th, 2014; my first review was of The Last of Us. As I’ve said in the past, it’s the game that more or less inspired me to make reviews (though in a decidedly different way than most would expect). That said, I wasn’t really taking it seriously until the very end of the year when I started interacting with other games enthusiasts more. I find that doing so really helps you form opinions, and I’ve found myself incorporating conversations into my reviews on a regular basis (though strangely, my longest review was made before I had any regular commenters).

    Interestingly, two of those games you mentioned are two of my 10/10 games, though it’s partly because I have a rule that states that only one such score will ever appear in any given franchise.

    Now that I think about it, one of the playable characters in Pilotwings 64 (Lark) was modeled after Nester. I heard he was even called Nester in some versions of the game.

    As much as I liked Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, I don’t think it would have been my game of the year if for no other reason than because it had the misfortune of being released in the same year as Half-Life 2. It’s like how Portal 2 would have been a sure winner if it wasn’t for Dark Souls.

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    1. Thanks! I actually don’t know how I managed to get this many reviews out in this amount of time. I must be crazy or something. You may not have as many reviews, but you’re probably the better writer between us. 😛

      I have to say that’s one area in which we’re in disagreement. I don’t think a 10 should be held back simply because a particular series already has one. I’m an exceptionalist to the last.

      I’ve surprisingly never played Pilotwings 64, but I should correct that sometime. I think more Nintendo titles should find a place for Nester in them.

      When I revise my Game of the Years list, I’m not sure which of the first two Paper Marios will take the cake. But one of them definitely should. I just really wish Nintendo could make another game like them again!

      2011 really was an exceptional year. Dark Souls, Arkham City (even with its nonsensical plot), Skyward Sword, Mario Kart and even Uncharted 3 were all great games that could have been a GotY. But for me, it was always Portal 2. To me, it’s just perfect (plus, J.K. Simmons!).

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      1. I thank you for the compliment, though again, I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit. You’re better at writing about non-interactive mediums than I am.

        Fair enough. I have to say that Mario is one of the few (if not, the only) series I would have difficulty not awarding more than one 10/10. After all, there so many different types of Mario games, saying that one is the pinnacle of the series is quite difficult. It’s not like the Uncharted series, which all feature similar gameplay, making it easy to single out one installment as the apex.

        Pilotwings is pretty good. Those games were a bit more impressive back when they were released, but I can see people having some fun with them. It’s one of those weird games where it’s fun to mess up on purpose.

        I would say 2011 is probably the best gaming year of this decade so far. I’m not sure which year I would consider the best from the nineties (possibly 1995 because Chrono Trigger and DKC 2 were released that year). As for the 2000s, it would either have to be 2004 or 2007. For that matter, in a stark contrast to most video game fans, I actually thought the 2000s was a slightly better decade than the nineties.

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    1. Yes I do. It’s just a matter of getting around to them. I don’t currently have a PS1, so I have to rely on PSN for them at the moment. Hopefully PS4 will see more of them added, but there’s still a good few on PS3 available.

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  3. Congratulations on having that many blogs posts. My brother and I have over 300 collectively but that is nothing compared to 300 singularly so Well Done You! Here is to you and to many more blog posts, I shall be sure to congratulate you on your 400th spectaculsaurus 😉

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      1. Why, thank you too! I have added an affiliates page to my website and have listed you as one of them. You have given me quite a lot of support of the past year so I wanted to show my appreciation by

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      6. Why, thank you too! I have added an affiliates page to my website and have listed you as one of them. You have given me quite a lot of support of the past year so I wanted to show my appreciation by giving my followers links to some other great websites (hint, hint 😉

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  4. Congratulations and keep up the awesome work! The perfect ratings you have given so far have been well-deserved. And I had always wondered about who the boy in your avatar was… now I know!

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