Today, August 5th, marks the 15th anniversary of Yoshi’s Island’s release in Japan!

Yoshi’s Island is a prequel to the Mario series in which a tribe of Yoshis fight their way across several different worlds to reunite baby Mario with his brother Luigi, who has been kidnapped by Kamek the magikoopa, who is the right-hand man to an infant Bowser.

Yoshi’s Island is one of the most unique entries in the primary Mario canon. Not only do you play as Yoshi in favor as Mario, but the little green (and blue, and red, and yellow, ect.) dinosaur(s) play differently too. This is the game where Yoshi first got his flutter jump. And now, when he ate enemies, Yoshi would produce eggs which could be thrown at bad guys and other objects. And in this game, Yoshi could even transform into submarines, helicopters and a mole!

And very few things were actually fatal to Yoshi. Only falling down pits and other such situations would give Yoshi the typical game over. Most the time, taking a hit by an enemy would result in Yoshi losing baby Mario, and you would have to retrieve him before Kamek’s goonies got away.

Though the first difference people noticed was the beautiful, beautiful crayon-like drawing visuals. To this day, Yoshi’s Island boasts some of the greatest visuals in video game history.

And Yoshi’s Island was, and is, fun. Very, very fun. In fact, many hail Yoshi’s Island as the best platformer of all time. Collecting a 100% on every level could be a daunting task, but worth every minute of it. Yoshi’s Island never let up on the fun.

Yoshi’s Island is undisputably one of the best games ever made. It is one of the most charming, fun and inventive games to have ever been created.

And today, this glorious game turns 15 years old.

Happy birthday Yoshi’s Island! You’re in a league of your own!

*Cue Ode to Joy*

It’s the 250th Post on Slogan Yams!

It is a testament to my dedication as well as the amount of free time I have, this Slogan Yams website blog thing has reached 250 different posts! Over two years of this dedication and free time have culminated in this achievement.

The 250th Pokemon, Ho-oh, joins in on the celebration.

May Slogan Yams continue to prosper with more reviews, more comical rantings, more movies, more video games, more esoteric references, and more readership!

Scarecrows are still awesome, even 250 posts later!

That’s right, March 10th is Mario day (Mar.10, Mario, get it?)!

Why not celebrate by playing your favorite Mario games? Or you can try stomping on some Goombas, throwing some Koopa shells at your friends, riding a dinosaur, flying above the clouds, laying some siege on some airships, traversing space, cleaning goo riddled islands, and encasing your skin in some type of indestructible metal!

… Okay… So maybe playing the games is the more reasonable choice…

Happy Mario Day!

It’s the 200th post on Slogan Yams!!

That’s right, this is the 200th post on this website blog thingy known as Slogan Yams. Five more posts and I’ll have caught up with Strong Bad and his emails.

This is indeed a cause for celebratory festivities!

So, as a special gift to you fine dozen people who visit this website, I have finally stopped procrastinating and have finally started writing a proper About Page!

For too long the About Page has just read as follows:

“I’m not really sure how we got started with the name slogan yams, but I’ll have the creator of the name fill this information out.”

That vague little excerpt was written by my brother and has remained on the site for the better part of nearly two years.

But I have finally decided to write a proper About Page that is a little more explanatory (though keep in mind, I will add more to it soon, and it is currently something of a prototype version and is kind of short).

So enjoy the About Page!

I also figured I would let you know a few of the things I have in store for the very near future.

I plan on having my Yammie Awards completed soon. But this year I am separating it into different groups. They will probably read like this:

Yammie Awards: Movies

Yammie Awards: Video Games

Yammie Awards: Dubious Movie Awards (for the very worst of 2009)

And I think I will separate the big “best film” award of mine into a top ten countdown. I would like to do a top ten countdown for video games as well, but admittedly, there were a few games I missed out on in 2009, so I may just do a more traditional “Winner and Runners-Up” kind of thing.

I also plan on having those previously mentioned Pro-wrestling awards done very soon as well. I will call them the Wrestle Man Awards.

And for upcoming reviews, expect to see reviews for Shutter Island, Zombieland and Alice in Wonderland (once I see it) really soon as well as game reviews for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (which I have also procrastinated with), Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing, and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Also, I should have a review for MegaMan 10 just as soon as my Wii’s internet connection starts working again and I can download it…

I will also try to do more Smackdown Vs. RAW created story reviews, and I’ll have a rundown/review for Wrestlemania 26 once I see it.

I also have more best/worst lists planned. Among them will be some Disney themed lists like a Top 10 Disney Villains list and a Countdown of the Disney Renaissance films.

And hopefully in not too long, I will have some Best of the Decade lists as well. Most people have already done such things by now, but I figured I would wait until I can confidently decide on my choices. If all goes as planned, I should have Best of the Decade lists for video games, live-action films and animated films (I do not separate the two because I think any less of one of them, but rather just so more films can be acknowledged.

So to anyone out there who actually visits this website, thank you!

That’s 200 posts and counting!

The cake is a lie!

Yep, Scarecrows are still awesome!

TROGDOR!!

Today, January 13th, marks the 7th anniversary of Trogdor The Burninator!

Trogdor is a big, beefy-armed, wing-a-ling dragon consisting of consummate Vs and majesty!

Trogdor originated on the Homestarrunner website in the Strong Bad Email called Dragon back in 2003 and has since become almost as big on the internet as Strong Bad himself!

Trogdor’s theme music was even included in Guitar Hero!

So why not celebrate this Trogday by watching the origins of Trogdor.

Happy Trogday, Troggy!

Widely regarded as one of, if not the greatest animator ever, Hayao Miyazaki has brought us some the the world’s most genuinely beloved films, such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away and the recent Ponyo, to name a few.

Miyazaki is often credited as the man who breathed new life into the art of animation after the times of Walt Disney. The geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios all credit Miyazaki as their biggest inspiration in animated films. And that wonderful Disney renaissance of the late 80s and 90s, that too was inspired by the films of Miyazaki. Ever wonder why Ariel or Belle have a slightly more Japanese animation-esque look to them than Snow White or Cinderella? That would be due to the influence Miyazaki had (and still has) on western animators. Not only did films like Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and My Neighbor Totoro inspire animation filmmakers to craft stronger story and characters, but also to push the boundaries of animation.

Pixar head honcho John Lasseter (who is a good friend of Miyazaki’s) has said that whenever the Pixar bunch hit a creative roadblock, they just pop in a Miyazaki movie and it always helps them get the inspiration they need. John Lasseter has also stated that Toy Story owes a lot to the films of Miyazaki, and doesn’t that just say it all?

Miyazaki’s most recent film, Ponyo, will be released on special edition DVD and Blu-ray on March second, along side new special edition DVD versions of My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky. I highly recommend you check them all out upon release. The Ponyo DVD/Blue-ray even comes with an adorable Ponyo plush toy!

Hopefully a Spirited Away Blu-ray is in the works.

So without any further ramblings, Happy Birthday Hayao Miyazaki!

Trick or treat?!

Have a Happy Halloween everybody!

May you all have a spooktacular Halloween! That pun never gets old!

Happy Halloween!

Boys and girls of every age, wouldn’t you like to see something strange? Come with us and you will see, this our town of Halloween!

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show may not have had the same quality as its video game counterparts, there were noticeable flaws in the animation in nearly every episode (why is the princess’ voice coming out of Luigi’s mouth?), they always seemed to manage to squeeze in some made-for-this-episode-character-that-doesn’t-really-fit-into-the-Mario-universe almost all the time (though the Fat Boys were admittedly awesome), and why King Koopa looked more like Wart then Bowser still baffles me! Yet, there’s still something endearing about the series. One may say it’s nostalgia and that is more then likely a part of it, but I think there’s more to it then that.

Could it be Pro-wrestling icon Captain Lou Albano’s portrayal of Mario? Those comical live action segments? The now underappreciated Toad? The Legend of Zelda Fridays? Or maybe just the fact that it was a cartoon based on Mario? It’s probably all of the above.

Whilst not the perfect Mario to animation transition (that has yet to happen), it still provides some good entertainment even to this day. And it paved the way for other video game based television series like Pokemon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong Country and many others, including two other Mario cartoon series (based on Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World). Unfortunately this trend has seemed to die down with the rest of Saturday morning cartoons…

The entire Super Mario Bros. Super Show is available on DVD, so why not pick up a copy (if you don’t already have it) and relive some memories from the gaming world’s better days…and that delightful Mario Rap!

Do the Mario!