Top 10 Final Fantasy Girls

There's really no end to the amount of Final Fantasy top ten lists I can make, is there? This time, I'll be honoring the women of Final Fantasy and counting down the best female characters of all time. Now, before we start, I've got to make one thing clear: this is not a list based on appearances. I'm not making a ridiculous "sexiest girls in gaming" list.

Character design does factor into the placements, but the main thing I'll be looking into is their actual character. Are they well-written female personas? Are they appealing and likable in terms of personality? These are the questions I'll be asking as we run down the list. And of course, this is a list of my top 10 Final Fantasy girls, so if you have a different opinion, just share it in the comments below!

Now then, number ten...

The End of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

**Spoilers Ahead**

I finally got around to concluding the Unicorn OVA with a viewing of Vol. 7 - "Over the Rainbow". It was almost surreal to me that the years went by so fast, considering how long we had to wait between 7 different episodes. The final episode wasn't exactly how I pictured it, but I believe it was a fitting end to one of the best animated Gundam productions ever.

I was getting intense flashes of nostalgia throughout the episode because of its numerous references to the history of UC Gundam. The most notable moment, in particular, was the appearance of Lala and Char (and Amuro as well?). It was honestly gut-wrenching, seeing the heroes of decades past in spirit form. It was like seeing old friends again, but it came with a touch of sadness since it confirmed to me that Amuro and Char had indeed passed on to another existence.

Long time, no see

The entire episode felt like a wrapping up of the decades worth of Universal Century lore. It had the look of an anniversary or a celebration, with the franchise culminating in one of the most impressive and well-produced animations in recent memory. Seriously, those flashbacks of Chars Counterattack and the One Year War? And Banagher's epic conclusion with Full Frontal's Zeong-esque mobile weapon? Gundam gold, my friends.

I don't know what the general fan consensus is, but I sincerely do not care. I had a blast watching this OVA, and I think it will go down as one of the best in the series. Now, if we could just get a full length series like it...

Sony Trinitron KV-27FV310

A Link to the Past, muthafackas

When I first started my gaming collection a few months back, I had to hook up my SNES to an HDTV. Needless to say, I had a bad time. It looked plain awful. So I went on the web and did some searching, and found out that the best way to play retro games is through a CRT TV. But not just any CRT will cut it. Apparently, the best CRT's were made by Sony and Mitsubishi, with Sony's "Trinitron" product line being much more common. Thus, I made it my mission to find the perfect Sony Trinitron TV.

Yoshiyuki Tomino Directing New Anime 'Gundam: G no Reconguista'

Boom! Big announcement! Yoshiyuki Tomino, the man who created the Gundam franchise, is directing a new Gundam series! It's called Gundam: G no Reconguista, and it's set to air in the fall of 2014. Man, I'm always in for a surprise when I visit Gundam Guy every couple of months. Speaking of which, go to GG for the original article.

Now, here's the kicker though. At the 'Mobile Suit Gundam 35th Anniversary' event where Tomino announced this, he apparently stated that this new anime won't be the nectar that UC fans have been thirsty for. In fact, it'll be aimed towards children. I'm feelin' that deja vu...

I've made a fuss of this before because the last two Gundam series were also aimed at children. Looks like we'll be getting more of the same. I guess I'm kind of tired of caring anymore. Gundam Unicorn has been more than enough for me, and I'm honestly kind of excited for this since Tomino is directing it. I'm predicting that it'll be one of his light-hearted shows as opposed to his "kill em all" shows (I'd much prefer the latter).

As usual, we'll see how it goes. I skipped AGE and Build Fighters, but that's mainly because I hardly ever watch anime these days. Maybe this one will different. I dunno, what do you think?

Top 10 SNES Games of All Time

The Super Nintendo, or SNES, is my favorite video game console of all time. It's home to such an expansive library of incredible, timeless games that I wouldn't even hesitate to call it the greatest video game console. I think part of what makes it so great is its place in time. It was the pinnacle of sprite-based, 2D gaming. While the following generation had sprite-based games as well, they were too busy experimenting with primitive 3D graphics to give the kind of sophisticated polish the SNES gave to all its games.

This is going to be difficult, as there are so many great games, but I'm going to try my best to list the top ten SNES games of all time. The games I chose were at the top of their genres when they came out, and are still worthy of picking up and playing to this very day. As usual, note that these are just my opinions, so if you want to share your own top ten list, go ahead and let me know in the comments!

Super Nintendo [Game Collection]

So, what have I been doing these past few months? Well, my interest in Gundam has been waning for awhile now, but my interest in video game collecting has been growing exponentially. I'm out of college with a disposable income, so I've been dedicating a whole lot of my money to building a respectable collection of games, from retro to new.

You see, I don't just play games for fun. I look at them and appreciate them as one would appreciate novels as literature. I play each and every one of them for the unique experiences they provide. Consequently, I'm not just collecting games because I can or because I'm bored. I want to have and experience every game there is in order to absorb all of gaming history. That way, I can truly say that I'm passionate about this silly little hobby of mine.

I started my collecting journey with the first console I ever owned: the Super Nintendo (or SNES). This is the console that introduced me to video games. I pretty much consider it the best video game console of all time because of its amazing 16-bit game library that holds up amazingly well to this day. The number of classic games that are still considered great; there's just no end to them.

My original console died on me during my childhood, so I've been separated from a physical SNES for over a decade. Imagine my excitement when I finally got a hold of a new one. It's in pretty great condition, and the price wasn't too bad. I immediately bought some of my favorite games as well, including a few new ones I never got to play as a child.

Final Fantasy III (which is actually VI) is the crown jewel of my current collection. I've stated a long time ago that it's the best Final Fantasy in the series, but I'm still in awe at how they managed to produce such a masterpiece with such primitive hardware. It was pretty great getting to replay the game on a real SNES.

I managed to get a few other 16-bit masterpieces, like Diddy's Kong Quest, Yoshi's Island, and Super Mario World. It'll probably take a lot more time (and money) to get the rest of the Super Nintendo library, but the day will definitely come when I'll be forced to clear more space on my bookcase.

It's a tiny collection (for now). I just love how these things feel in my hand