September 21, 2024

The Moment Super Mario Odyssey Turned from Great to Legendary

It actually happens in a different game. One thing that is under-appreciated about the transformation mechanic in Super Mario Odyssey is how walking a mile in the enemies’ shoes recontextualizes how we see them in other games. For example, I now know why Bullet Bills have a hard time turning around to give chase in Super Mario 64.

I now know why Hammer Bros. like to hopstep and occasionally fall down pits on their own in Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3.

More than that, I now know the burning, windswept sound a Podoboo makes when cruising the lava, how it feels to effortlessly glide through the water as a Cheep-Cheep, and why Goombas fall in love.


Lastly, I now know how powerful it feels to be Bowser and break through hundreds of bricks as if they were paper.

As such, this trap is one anyone playing Bowser would fall for, through, and from.

That is, the final battle in Super Mario Bros. 3 is recontextualized from chortling at Bowser’s stupidity to feeling empathy for his nature because of Super Mario Odyssey. How many other games can do the same?

September 17, 2021

The Moment Super Metroid Turned from Great to Legendary

It was when I was trying to bomb jump, which requires allowing vertically placed bombs to launch you in the air successively while in morph-ball form. An item was located in the wall, and it was clear I had to bomb jump because the hole in the wall was only one block high, too small to enter without being a ball.


It was rough. I tried forever, thinking logically that I should place each bomb at the height of each jump. For the experts, I was attempting the 2BJ without knowing that the IBJ, 3BJ, and HBJ even existed.


Then I thought, "This game is thematically all about clues. There is a clue for everything. So the clue for where to place each bomb must be on the wall I'm trying to scale." I knew I had it then, so I smiled to myself.


I placed bombs along each tile of the wall. No dice. Undeterred, I placed bombs along the lines between the tiles of the wall, thinking that was the clue to the spacing of the bombs. Nothing doing. I tried a spacing of every other tile, I tried every other line, I tried everything until I was sick of trying.


Then I thought, "What if the clue actually wasn't shown?"


As soon as I thought that, I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn't tell you why, and I still can't account for it. Rationally, I should have smiled to myself again, but wider, for figuring out the true answer. But I didn't. All I could think was that this would be legendary if it worked.


I tapped the bomb button to the beat of the music, and I was soaring.




December 5, 2013

Video Game Controller Training






Sonnez Les Jeux Video is proud to present the VeeGeeCeeTee: Video Game Controller Training Beta. 


For the Controller Training Software Download, visit the website at controllertraining.com.


For an inside peek at Controller Training, visit the Pinterest page at pinterest.com/controllert/.


To read and share stories about old gamers and new gamers, visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Controller-Training/548592828523524.


For questions and support, visit the Twitter page at https://twitter.com/ControllerTrain or @ControllerTrain.


Press Links:







July 3, 2013

Video Game Controller Training




SLJV Presents: Video Game Controller Training


































August 30, 2012

Decoding the ESRB

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The ratings used by the ESRB include:

  • Early Childhood - Titles rated EC (Early Childhood) have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate.
  • Everyone - Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.
  • Everyone 10+ - Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.
  • Teen - Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language. 
  • Mature - Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
  • Adults Only - Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.
  • Rating Pending - Titles designated as RP (Rating Pending) have not yet been assigned a final ESRB rating. This icon appears only in advertising, marketing and promotional materials related to a game that is expected to carry an ESRB rating. The RP is replaced by a game's rating once it has been assigned.


The following list of content descriptors is provided by the ESRB. Some descriptors may be prefixed by "mild" or "strong" to indicate the severity of the descriptor if not already prefixed by "strong" such as the strong language descriptor. Additionally, some descriptors in use do not appear on this list such as the edutainment descriptor.

  • Alcohol Reference - Reference to and/or images of alcoholic beverages
  • Animated Blood - Discolored and/or unrealistic depictions of blood
  • Blood - Depictions of blood
  • Blood and Gore - Depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts
  • Cartoon Violence - Violent actions involving cartoon-like situations and characters. May include violence where a character is unharmed after the action has been inflicted
  • Comic Mischief - Depictions or dialogue involving slapstick or suggestive humor
  • Crude Humor - Depictions or dialogue involving vulgar antics, including “bathroom” humor
  • Drug Reference - Reference to and/or images of illegal drugs
  • Fantasy Violence - Violent actions of a fantasy nature, involving human or non-human characters in situations easily distinguishable from real life
  • Intense Violence - Graphic and realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict. May involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, weapons and depictions of human injury and death
  • Language - Mild to moderate use of profanity
  • Lyrics - Mild references to profanity, sexuality, violence, alcohol or drug use in music
  • Mature Humor - Depictions or dialogue involving "adult" humor, including sexual references
  • Nudity - Graphic or prolonged depictions of nudity
  • Partial Nudity - Brief and/or mild depictions of nudity
  • Real Gambling - Player can gamble, including betting or wagering real cash or currency
  • Sexual Content - Non-explicit depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including partial nudity
  • Sexual Themes - References to sex or sexuality
  • Sexual Violence - Depictions of rape or other violent sexual acts
  • Simulated Gambling - Player can gamble without betting or wagering real cash or currency
  • Strong Language - Explicit and/or frequent use of profanity
  • Strong Lyrics - Explicit and/or frequent references to profanity, sex, violence, alcohol or drug use in music
  • Strong Sexual Content - Explicit and/or frequent depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including nudity
  • Suggestive Themes - Mild provocative references or materials
  • Tobacco Reference - Reference to and/or images of tobacco products
  • Use of Alcohol - The consumption of alcoholic beverages
  • Use of Drugs - The consumption or use of illegal drugs
  • Use of Tobacco - The consumption of tobacco products
  • Violence - Scenes involving aggressive conflict. May contain bloodless dismemberment
  • Violent References - References to violent acts

However, the relationships between descriptors and ratings is not explicit, making such relationships ripe for exploration.

Games rated early childhood are not allowed to contain any of the descriptors. As such, the entire descriptor list provided by the ESRB should be avoided for those creators wanting an early childhood rating for their game.

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
Uncut and Uncensored
The descriptors related to substances are somewhat good predictors of rating: games rated everyone may contain the references to alcohol and tobacco descriptors as well as the use of alcohol and tobacco descriptors. Games rated teen may contain the use of alcohol and tobacco descriptors and the drug reference descriptor but not the use of drugs descriptor. Games rated mature may contain the use of drugs descriptor.

The violence descriptors are bad predictors of rating: games rated everyone may contain the comic mischief, cartoon violence, fantasy violence, violent references, and violence descriptors, but are not allowed to contain the intense violence and sexual violence descriptors. There are four ratings above everyone.

The strongest predictors of rating are the sexuality and nudity content descriptors.

Games rated everyone may contian the mild suggestive themes descriptor, but are not allowed to contain the suggestive themes, sexual content, sexual themes, sexual violence, strong sexual content, partial nudity, or nudity descriptor. The suggestive themes descriptor itself contains the word mild, so mild suggestive themes may be indicative of suggestive themes that are milder than mild.

Games rated everyone 10+ may contain the suggestive themes descriptor, but are not allowed to contain the sexual content, sexual themes, sexual violence, strong sexual content, partial nudity, or nudity descriptors.

Games rated teen may contain the partial nudity descriptor, but are not allowed to contain the nudity descriptor, which is reserved for mature and adults only games.

There is no unique descriptor associated with an adults only rating. That is, there are no descriptors associated with an adults only rating that are not allowed to appear in mature-rated games. A possible exception is Riana Rouge, which contains a realistic blood and gore descriptor. Perhaps the prefix realistic was added to the blood and gore descriptor because no intense violence descriptor was available at the time of rating. Another possible exception is the mature sexual themes descriptor given to a non-game: Playboy Screensaver: The Women of Playboy.

Riana Rouge
The ESRB does not make the relationships between content descriptors and ratings explicit. As such, the relationships explored above may or may not endure. However, over the short life of the ESRB, the relationships between ratings and some of the content descriptors, particularly those involving sexuality and nudity, have been predictable.





































July 28, 2012

Let's Play Brass Monkey Games




Irma: April, let's go! New technology, get!

April: Yeah, let's do this funky monkey! Got your phone?

Irma: Check.

April: Got your computer?

Irma: Check.

April: Got your game?

Irma: Checkmate!

Phone Screen 


Phone Screen


Irma: Geez, talk about inflation. Get Ben Bernanke on the case! That reminds me of a cheer I learned in high school. "Let's go quantitative easing! Gimme a Q! Gimmie a U! Gimmie an A! Gimmie an . . . "

April: Are you really going to put me through this entire thing? Gimme a break.



Phone Screen


Phone Screen


Phone Screen

April: Looks like the cool thing for companies to do is forget where the shift key is.

Irma: "Know your audience!"


Phone Screen

Irma: This must be what they mean when they talk about halcyon days.

April: Lol.

Irma: Did you just say "lol" in real life? Don't ever do that again.

April: Don't you mean "irl"?

Irma: Did you just say "lol" irl?

April: Lol.


Phone Screen

April: You're my only friend. Can I--

Irma: Don't even think about it!


Phone Screen

Irma: We've already seen the death of the instruction manual. Are video manuals the future?

April: I can see it now: got to have those hits for that ad money. You can't have hits without making hits.

Irma: So deep I forgot to drown.


Phone Screen


Phone Screen

April: What's your WiFi network name?

Irma: "Bluetooth".

April: Trying to keep the ne'er-do-wells off the scent, I see. What's the password?

Irma: "WiMAX".

April: Shoot me now.

Irma: Not when you get home?


Phone Screen

Phone Screen


Phone Screen


Phone Screen


Phone Screen




Computer Screen

Irma: It feels like . . . the future.

April: Call me when the self-driving cars become popular.

Irma: From my phone or my controller

April: From your self-driving car.


Computer Screen

Computer Screen


April: Is this a metaphor for copulation?

Irma: No, it's a Binary clone with a gravity mechanic added.

April: Did they get rid of the spiders?

Irma: Yes.

April: Good. I hate spiders.

Irma: What's that over there?

April: Where?!

Irma: Never mind.

April: You did that on purpose!


Phone Screen


Computer Screen


Computer Screen


Phone Screen

Irma: You have to hold the phone in landscape, smart girl.

April: You mean sideways?

Irma: You did that on purpose.


Computer Screen
Computer Screen

Computer Screen


April: Time for a new game.



Computer Screen


Computer Screen

Computer Screen


April: What do we have here, Mrs. Datum?

Irma: It appears to be Angry Bots, Sir.

April: Bridge to Engineering, shame status-report!

Irma: Shame is empty, Captain. Repeat: no shame.

April: As I suspected. Mr. Smasher, full warp. We're out of here.


Computer Screen




Computer Screen


Phone Screen


April: I'm going to kick your alien butt . . . tail bone . . . whatever . . . with my anti-Scud P.A.T.R.I.O.T. missiles.

Irma: How Schwarzkopfian.

April: Gesundheit.



Phone Screen






Computer Screen



Computer Screen















Irma: I'm going to cherish this moment: my first win on a new system.

April: I'm going to cherish this moment as well: my first ragequit . . . 





















Phone Screen