Top Eleven: Things I Blogged About In 2014

Another year of writing, complaining, and commending down, hopefully many more to go.

Each year I've done this blog (read: last year) I've done a year end "wrap-up" where I scour through my archives and attempt to locate the eleven articles that mean the most to me.  Maybe they're connected to an important memory, maybe they were extremely emotional to write, or maybe I just had fun writing them.

And yes, there will also be a "bottom eleven" coming as well.

But for now, let's look back at the articles I'm the most proud of from the past year.

Review: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

I've talked about why I prefer Luigi over Mario before.  I won't go into all that detail again.  However, I will say this:  There was great potential in Mario and Luigi: Dream Team to truly let Luigi shine, but it feels a bit wasted somehow.  Luigi gets some of the best moments in the game, and yet he still feels like he's just there to "help" Mario.

It's still a ridiculously fun game, but let's get a bit more into it.

Top Eleven: Reasons Why Luigi Is Better Than Mario

There is no bigger video game mascot than Mario.  

Okay, actually, that's not correct.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Pac-Man is actually the most recognizable video game mascot/character of all time, with Mario a very close second.

However, while I've played so many of his video games that any time anybody says "Who is it?" in a movie, my brain automatically fills in "It's-a me, Mario!", he hasn't been my favorite brother.

No, that honor goes to Luigi.

So why is it the world's most standard second banana is my favorite?  Here's a list of eleven reasons why.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star Review

Mario, in of himself, is not that great a character.  He's world-famous, easily recognizable, and stars in some superb video games, but if you asked me to talk about who the character is, I'd falter.

Here's a quick list of things that are really off the top of my head (no really, I'm just now trying to think these up) about Mario:

He goes "yahoo" a lot.
He's very upbeat.
He's always willing to save a princess from dragon turtle things.
He likes to go-cart.
He once had a talking, water-spraying jet pack for a sidekick.
He gets along well with dinosaurs.
Different types of plant life do different things to his body.

That's a pretty bland character, because there just isn't much personality there.  Mario doesn't ever really say anything besides "okie-dokie," "let'sa go," or "it'sa me!"  Luigi, on the other hand, has a lot more depth, since we know he's a bit of a coward, but still willing to walk into danger.  He's fiercely loyal to his brother.  He tends to be a bit clumsy, and acts goofy at strange times.  He can be a little lazy, and doesn't really get into the pomp of ceremonies thrown by the princess ("What, another cake?  Wake me when this kingdom discovers booze.")

Now, there are some small exceptions to this rule, and they tend to come in the RPGs featuring Mario.