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Ranking Whomp’s Fortress Stars!
Today we will be ranking the 7 stars of Whomp’s Fortress. Remember, we base this off of fun factor with a mix of iconicness. I tend to value things like exploring the level and fun tricks more so than degree of ease or difficulty. With that in mind, let’s rank em.
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#7 Blast Away the Wall- This was an easy one. Some people may rate this higher for its pivotal role in speed runs, but I don’t care for this star. I should take a minute to add that this is one of the most notorious stars in Mario 64 history. It may seem pretty simple at first. Hop into the cannon and, well, blast away that wall. But Speed runners found a way to clip through the wall, obtaining the star cannonless. This became an early barrier to entry into speed running Super Mario 64. Your run often henged on hitting cannonless first try. As a kid, this star was iconic in my mind for being one I had to google. How was a 6 year old suppose to find this star? As a kid, I thought this was such a cool star. As an adult, it is just kind of boring.
#6 Fall Into the Cage– The first star we’ve come across that I actively don’t like. The owl mechanic seemed so cool on paper. But this star would absolutely drain me sometimes. Especially if I haven’t played in awhile. This star has accounted for so many deaths it is not funny. As it doesn’t take missing by much to fall to your death. Once you get the hang of the owl, this is a pretty neat star. And it can be done fairly quickly for what that’s worth.
#5 100 Coin Star- I typically go to bat for the 100 coin stars. And I do think this one is pretty good. However, this is the first level to introduce insta death. Which means as you are ascending the level and inching closer to that 100th coin, death is always a misclick away. I like it, but for that, I got to drop it a bit.
#4 Shoot into the Wild Blue- This star confused me as a kid. As I thought you literally had to shoot off the map. I also was not good with the cannons. After countless misfires, my brother and I tried so many different ways to get this star including trying to drop from above to it. I don’t remember when we discovered wall jumping, but that is exclusively how I get this star now. As I still don’t trust those cannons.
#3 Chip Off of Whomp’s Block- Just as I go to bat for the 100 coin stars, I tend to not like many of the boss fights in Mario 64. They’re fine for the time, but they are easily one of the least favorite parts about the game. Whomp is no different. He’s just a variation of King Bomb Omb. The phasing glitch makes him one of the easiest bosses, too. So why is this #3. It’s because, which is a common theme with boss fights in this game, it encourages you to explore the whole map. The next two stars have even more to explore and aren’t derailed by a boss fight. So Whomp sits here at 3.
#2 Red Coins on the Floating Isle- There’s two things that bug me about this star. First, the floating isles are not unlocked immediately. This means if you are someone who likes to get 100 coins first, thus getting the 8 red coins, you really can’t. But you can still get like 5 before you learn about the isles and have to do it all over again later. Secondly, I think only 3 of the coins are found on the isles. What kind of false advertising is this? Outside of that, this a fun level to explore and the isles were always a neat section to me. Wish they had just embraced the name and made the section bigger with all 8 coins.
#1 To the Top of the Fortress- If you know me, you probably knew this was number 1. I still cannot explain where the tower came from, but this is one of my favorite stars in the game. Koopa the Quick in Stage 1 took a bit of a hit for ultimately feeling like a rehash of the previous star. TtTotF adds on to its former star by adding a small new obstacle, the tower. It too, is not dragged down by the boss fight, meaning this star is more platforming bliss. I could see either this or the 8 red coins being my favorite. But the Tower always stood out to me. As an adult I wish they would have expanded both the Tower and Isles. Either way, The Tower takes my #1 Star.
Whomp’s Fortress was never my favorite, but the level was fun in the way it moved upward. It never felt like it had the same sandbox energy as Bomb-Omb Batflefield, but it does have some neat sections and fun stars. So how would you have ranked all the stars?
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Daily Blog Challenge: February 5th Top Five Ocarina Songs
It’s Friday, time for a Top Five!
Today’s Theme: Favorite Ocarina Songs!
Music, whether it’s themes or soundtracks or songs, mean a huge part to games. It’s what makes horror games horrifying(Sounds in general). But if there is any one game franchise defined by it’s soundtrack(That isnt a music based game), It’s The Legend of Zelda. I think in hindsight that’s one of the reasons Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask(OoT more so) have been instant classics. I know little of the technicality of music. What I’m basing this off of is the feelings and memories these conjured up when I went back an listened to them again.
#5- Song of Healing- What a tone setter for Majora’s Mask. Meant to personify the tormented souls Link aids in his journey, it does quite the job. This song, coupled with the cut scenes of the souls finding their bodies, is totally a chilling experience to watch. It put’s you in their shoes. It’s the perfect song for a game like this. It’s even so good it makes faces fall off!
#4- Song of Storms- Maybe one of the more iconic songs to me in the whole franchise(Like just simply a song in general). It’s very fast and very chaotic. Not only does it capture the essences of a storm, it also captures the feel of the game at time. You were just a small village boy from the woods when destiny threw a deku curve nut. Now you posses this Triforce and your the hero of legend. Whoa! Also the old man lossing his absolute mind when he hear’s it is still one of my favorite scenes in all of Zelda.
#3- Song of Time- Probably the song you’ll use the most in your quest. You’re going to hear it several times and it will grow on you. One of the two iconic songs to come from OoT. You can’t forget it. If you’re playing Majora’s Mask, you already have the sucker memorized. Right A Down, *three days pass* Right A Down, *Three Days Past* Right A Down. It’s almost like it never ends…
#2- Zelda’s Lullaby- From the general fan, die hards and noobies a like, this is probably the song. I mean THE SONG. Learning this song on the castle grounds makes that whole experience magical. It’s calming, mysterious, and special. It’s every element of that that makes Legend of Zelda timeless rolled into a song. It perfectly explains Link and Zelda’s relationship. To hear Link play Zelda’s lullaby to advance in his quest shows how no matter how far apart they are, they always are truly thinking of each other and helping each other.
#1- Epona’s Song- I suppose this is where the list gets controversial. No, this is not one of my signature wacky picks. This is honestly my favorite song. And maybe the reason why I fell in love with the game. Yes, I struggled and went back and forth on making Zelda’s Lullaby one and Song of Time 2 and Epona’s song somewhere down the list. But, I just could not. If you read my first post on the Legend of Zelda, you know I stumbled upon the game when my uncle was showing my cousin how to play. The part they were at was Lon Lon ranch. They were learning this song. I walked in from the kitchen to the living room and this was the first thing. I heard Malon’s soothing voice coming in strong, followed by Link reciting the same sounds, and finally the song playing beautifully. In that moment a bond was born between Link and his horse. In the same moment, a bond was born between me and that little game. I had no idea the magnitude it would have on me though. And for that reason, I have to leave Epona’s song as number one.
So what’s you favorite Ocarina song?
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Top five N64 games!
N64 was the first console I ever played
and for that reason some of my favorite games are on this system. Here is my list of my favorite N64 games:
#5- Mario Kart- Mario Kart 64 was the first game that brought my entire family together. From my grandma to my two uncles, to my mom and dad, to me and my brother. We would all gather around and have a tournament. It was amazing. Everyone had their favorite character. I was Yoshi, my mom was Luigi, my brother was Mario, My mawmaw was toad, my uncle was Wario. It was a great time in my life. It brought us a lot of joy.
#4- Super Mario 64- This game was incredible to me and means a whole lot to me. I tried to get 120 stars and years later im still at 118 and that bugs me to the moon and back. The last two stars I need are for collecting 100 coins on the clockwork level and the magic carpet level(The last two levels). I will get them one day! Anyway, this game captivated me. I spent hours finding all the secrets, discovering every inch of every map. It was a wonderful experience.
#3- Super Smash Brothers- This game was an incredible idea. Blending the world of Nintendo into one game. This is probably the first game I unlocked things in. I remember rushing through the main campaign to unlock Captain Falcon. Now a days, I am obsessed with unlocking everything a game has to offer and this is probably where my obsession started.
#2- Donkey Kong 64- This game has probably stole the most time of mine more than any other N64 game. I absolutely am in love with this game. From getting the DK crew, to spending HOURS collecting all the bananas, to my favorite part, the DK rap! The best part is this game recently was added to the Wii U virtual library. YES!
Before we get to number 1, here’s some honorable mentions everyone should check out: Mario Party 2, Paper Mario, Star Fox 64, Pokemon stadiums, Kirby and the crystal shards, and 007 golden eye.
#1- Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- Probably no surprise here. But there is a reason for it being number 1 other than it being one of the best games Ive played, even to this day. This was the first game I really learned to play. Now, almost twenty years letter, it is still amazing! Ive beat, I collected everything, Ive done everything. The memories are still strong and if I played it today I could probably still do most of the stuff in the game. Its great, if I havent mentioned it already. It started my love for Zelda and I’ve played every one except Skyward Sword. This game is kind of a big deal. If you’ve never played it, do yourself a favorite, play it!
Da_Hubbz 