The Console Slayer 6/24/14

   In addition to playing games, I watch a lot of games being played on YouTube and Twitch.tv in part because I don't watch traditional TV any more. Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite gaming/gamer related YouTubers and their channels.

   First there's Pro Jared. Jared is a reviewer and comedian at heart. He obviously reviews games, both short and more detailed reviews, streams games he plays some times, participates in multiplayer game shows, covers gaming events like E3 and makes other gaming related videos. He is one of the funniest and likable YouTubers out there in my opinion.

His YT channel here!
His gameplay/Twitch.tv channel:

   Next is Peanut Butter Gamer. He does lets plays, reviews older games, streams games and does Top 10s. He is a naturally really funny guy without trying to be and often has self-deprecating humor. He's family friendly and also a really likable guy.

His YT channel
His YT gameplay channel
His Twitch.tv channel

   Then there is Pat the NES Punk. Pat became relatively well-known for his quirky sense of humor in his game reviews. Pat reviews older games, does a podcast called the “Completely Unnecessary Podcast” with his friend Ian that operates a game store and has a flea market game collecting series. He does some other videos too. Pat has extensive knowledge about games and collecting and has one of the largest, most complete NES sets (and games in general) you'll come across. His sense of humor can be pretty cheesy but I enjoy his blend of comedy with gaming knowledge. His reviews are often very informative.

His website

His YT channel

   Another YT channel/show I enjoy quite a bit is Ports Center. Ports Center is a series that reviews, well, game ports. Ben and friends produce and host the show. I really appreciate and enjoy Ben's sharp wit/humor and very informative reviews. He never disappoints. I also interviewed Ben for the site. You can read the interview here! 

The YT channel.

       

   One of the funniest and most enjoyable shows I watch is The Game Chasers. The Game Chasers is a show chronicling Billy and Jay, two long-time friends on their quest collecting video games around Texas and at conventions and the like. Billy and Jay are two crass dudes and the show is completely unscripted. The shenanigans these two get into and the things that follow have left me in tears more than a couple of times. FYI, they swear, fart and take off their shirts a lot. The show really comes across like hanging out with your friends but at the same time it is VERY well produced by Billy. If you like games, collecting them and/or humor, check this show out. YT channel.

   I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Nathan Barnatt's channel. Nathan is a super nice, super funny comedian and actor and does a lot stuff about games (not exclusively games though). He does really cool dance videos too. He's family friendly and is one of the funniest people I've come across. He's a character actor and has developed a number of his own characters. The character that helped get him to where he is today most is: Keith Apicary. Keith is an approximately 30 year old man with the mind of a boy and an avid gamer with a love of Sega. Keith gets into all kinds of incidents and accidents by playing dumb and Nathan pulls it off with such mastery. He has another character which he is developing a show for, for Amazon.com and he voices the character Blackstein on Fox's 'High School USA'. Nathan's comedy is very Buster Keaton like, so you don't even have to like games or gaming, if comedy is your thing, check out Nathan's channel. I've had some personal interactions with Nathan and he is a really cool, nice and funny dude. I'm really happy for his success because he deserves it. YT Channel.

   Lastly is a website ran by a small handful of personalities. It's one of my favorite websites, ScrewAttack.com. ScrewAttack is home to tons of original content/shows (such as the famous Death Battle) about gaming/gamers, live shows (i.e. lets plays), reviews and news. The SA community members are referred to as 'g1s'. It's my favorite gaming community and everyone is really nice. Watching SA and participating in the community has made me feel like it's one of my other homes away from home. The people that run it are great, funny people. Their original content is really entertaining to me. 

Site 

YT channel

Those are most my favorite YT channels. What are your favorites?

For the tune today, I leave you with awesome track from an unofficial remake of one of my favorite game series ever, Streets of Rage Remake. The track is called: 'Alien Power'.

The Console Slayer 2/4/14

   Music. We all have our own tastes with music. Today I'm covering a topic I've been meaning to write about since before I even started this column. Music from the classic era, say 16-bit era (SNES/Genesis/Mega Drive) and before.

   During these periods, the audio hardware's capability was limited. For those that cared enough to make a game with a great soundtrack, before game soundtracks were even referred to as such, it was quite the creative challenge. A few companies that immediately come to mind with a lot of games with great music are Capcom and Konami.

   To really understand and appreciate the music from these early eras, one must experience it. (Coincidentally, it's one reason I always include a favorite game tune of mine with every column). As an aside, some of my favorite game music composers to name a few are first and foremost, Yuzo Koshiro, famous for the music from one of my favorite beat-em-up series of all time: Streets of Rage. Another favorite of mine is Michiru Yamane, famous in part for the immortal Castlevania: Symphony of the Night soundtrack. Some others are Manami Matsumae and Yasuaki Fujita both famous for the early, excellent Mega Man trilogy and Kinuyo Yamashita famous for the soundtrack to the original Castlevania.
The work these masters created is indelible. To understand what they were able to achieve with the limited hardware of the time (Castlevania: SotN being an a more modern exception) one must understand the limitations. I don't want to bore anyone with the technical limitations so suffice it to say they were many. To hear some of the music of the composers I mentioned and to realize those limitations to make music more memorable than a lot of modern music, I think does a service to the composers and gives appreciation they deserve. So in order to achieve that appreciation, I'm going to include some playlists from some of my favorite game music ever. I hope their greatness shines through. They are some of my “must hear” soundtracks for game fans.

   Streets of Rage 2 composed by Yuzo Koshiro. I can't recommend this one highly enough. Possibly my favorite game soundtrack of all time. I'm sure I'm a bit more partial to it because the second system I ever got/owned was a Sega Genesis and the first game I got with it was Streets of Rage 2. If you like electronic music or dubstep, I HIGHLY recommend this soundtrack. It's amazing.

   Mega Man 2. I don't think I need to say much about this one. A classic soundtrack.

   Mega Man 3. A lot of people debate over whether MM2 or 3 was better as well as the soundtracks. I'll let you decide.

   One of the series that IMO has the some of the greatest music ever composed for it. This franchise was so blessed to have a lot of really talented composers work on it. Castlevania on NES. I cannot explain the greatness of this soundtrack. It must be experienced.

   Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest. Kind of the black sheep of the Castlevania series but IMO it had a solid soundtrack.

   Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse. Another awesome soundtrack from the 8-bit era.

   (Super) Castlevania: IV. One of the best soundtracks on SNES (16-bit). A masterpiece.

   Super Metroid. A great soundtrack that really enhanced the isolated nature of the game. Many compared the sense of isolation to original Alien film. There are some inspirations from that film in the Metroid series. This game consistently places in the top five SNES games in lists. I think the music is some of the reason why.

   What is some of your favorite game music?