Celebrating My 1st Pandaversary!

One Year Old

It’s official: Mr. Panda’s Video Game Reviews is one year old!

Yay!

I want to extend my sincerest thanks to you all for your readership and support throughout this year. I’ve been incredibly blessed with a wonderful community of kind, intelligent, and fun gamers, both online and offline. I wouldn’t have made it this long without you all. You’ve all been amazing, and I will be sure to give you proper recognition by the end of this post. But before I do, I wanted to share a brief timeline in review for the blog as well as a special announcement tease.

Not included in timeline: Creation of Triforce

Timeline

Era of the Blog’s Creation

I first started this blog during a tough time in my life when I just needed to get away. It was a time when I realized I needed big changes in my life, and I wanted to do something more. I wished to follow my dreams. My incredibly supportive wife walked with me every step of the way in my crazy endeavors. I decided to write video game reviews with hope in my pocket and a passion to discuss my favorite pastime.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

 Final Fantasy Explorers

Yo-kai Watch

I already knew which three games to review first, the above 3DS games. Funny enough, I neither loved nor hated playing them. Rather, I had strong opinions about how average they were. As it turns out, though the games are just decent, I love where they brought me. Discussing them at length helped me develop my initial style and tone.

Era of Opportunity

I was happy to finally do something related to video games. Just having them available for others to see made me ecstatic, even if very few people noticed those early reviews. At least one notable person saw it though. None other than the wonderful Mike_Scorpio of Miketendo64 noticed and eventually gave me a big opportunity for collaboration. I am still very thankful for this partnership, and most importantly, that he cared to share my writing. Thank you very much, Miketendo!

Super Mario World

 Miitomo

Hyrule Warriors Legends

 Star Fox Zero

Fire Emblem Fates

 Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge

Banjo-Kazooie

Era of Adventure

Even though I love writing these reviews, I wanted to try something new. When Nintendo began making big announcements for upcoming games like Pokémon Sun & Moon and Breath of the Wild, I wanted to write about those, too. This led to some of my most exciting posts, previews, and analyses for these upcoming games. Both games have since released, but it was fun to speculate. Plus I guessed some things correctly, right? Maybe?

Pokémon Sun and Moon Preview

 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Preview

Pokémon GO Preview

 Mr. Panda Meets Mario – Charles Martinet

One of the most memorable moments of my life was meeting my childhood hero, the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, whom I also wrote about. He’s such a fun guy, and it was a pleasure to see him.

Era of Experience

I soon found myself with even more prospects to write about games with DarkStation. I am very grateful to the site for giving me this amazing opportunity to review games beyond my usual scope. Although I haven’t posted many of them here yet (one day I will!), I wanted to share some of my favorite non-Nintendo reviews with you.

Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book

Azure Striker Gunvolt (original)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (original)

 Mighty No. 9 (original)

Mutant Mudds Super Challenge (original)

 Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Era of Questions

There are many times when I post and feel like I’ve made a mistake. Truth be told, there were times when I felt like this wasn’t worth it. These are hard devils to avoid, and although I struggle, I’m grateful for those that support me. I do my best with these reviews, but in the end, I know that they don’t define me. And there are those who encourage me unconditionally.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix

 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

Pokémon GO

Era of Community

As I’ve said before, I owe so much of this blog to the fantastic community. It means a lot that you splendid people are willing to read and discuss video games with me. Even more, you’ve continued to encourage me, nominating me for awards. The internet can be a rough place, so I’m incredibly lucky to have met some of the kindest people on the web. I’m always flattered by the amazing things you say, and it is my hope that we can keep talking about this great hobby. And I hope I can share my own kind words with you all!

Liebster Award

 Blogger Recognition/Entertaining Blogger Awards

One Lovely Unique Versatile PANDA

Era of Development

I have since been trying to improve myself and my writing style. With each review, I have felt sufficiently challenged, either attempting something new or changing up the style ever so subtly. I could literally go into the most boring commentary about each individual review, but I’ll just summarize by saying that I am constantly learning. I’m thankful that for every hardship I have come across while doing this, I’ve emerged learning important lessons about life and about writing.

Zero Time Dilemma

 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice

Monster Hunter Generations

 Yo-kai Watch 2

Pokémon Sun and Moon

 Super Mario Run

Fire Emblem Heroes

Era of Travels

My wife and I took a break a couple of months ago to take a dream trip to Japan. We got to engage in lots of fun shopping, eating, and sightseeing. As huge fans of video games and anime, it was one of the best vacations we had ever taken. We love sharing our adventures here. They’re video game-related, right? I’m still in the process of getting future photo posts up, and I apologize to anyone who’s been waiting for them. I have more planned, so don’t worry!

Tales from Japan – Ikebukuro’s Pokémon Center, J-World, & More

Ikebukuro

Tales from Japan – Akihabara: Land of Video Games, Anime Shops, & Final Fantasy Cafés

Akihabara

Era of Switch

And finally, we’ve come to one of my favorite periods, a new Nintendo console launch! Having such a big system to write about has been a new source of invigoration, and I get giddy thinking about what surprises are in store for the Switch. Though I’m sure the system will have hardships, some of which I have noted in my articles, writing about it fills me with joy. The Switch has been an excellent system for me so far, and I’m happy to be able to write about it, whether hardware, games, or fun stories. This has culminated in one of my new favorite reviews that I’ve written: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Why I’m Excited for Nintendo Switch

 Nintendo’s Switch Presentation Highlights

Top 10 Anticipated Switch Games

 My Nintendo Switch Launch Horror Story

Nintendo Switch First Impressions

 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

From my first review of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam to my latest review of the most epic Zelda experience to arrive on Nintendo’s newest console, I’ve had quite a year. It’s a very special journey, and one that I am glad to share with you. It hasn’t been the easiest, but it’s definitely been one of the greatest!

Special Announcement

To cap off my first year’s timeline, I wanted to tease a special announcement. Very soon, I will be unveiling my newest project, on which I have been hard at work for a few months now. My goal is to finish within the next week or two. I know I’ve been teasing it for a while, but it’s finally coming and I’m happy to share it. Though I won’t say much about it until then, I hope you all will enjoy it! Look forward to it!

Special Thanks

I want to extend a special thanks to the following people who have been amazing friends and supports for this site! You all mean a lot to me!

Thank you to:

• My wonderful wife, to whom I owe this all. She already knows this, but I want you all to know that this wouldn’t be possible without her support, love, encouragement, and editing. She is an amazing woman whom I am very blessed to have in my life. Thank you CrystalDragon, my Mrs. Panda!

• My friends outside WordPress, whom have not only supported me, but even helped me with various projects. Big thanks to gorgoalmighty, christianrob90, Cherry, ShadJV, Auradis, IsaMaLisa, for supporting my site directly with your readership and comments! Your encouragement and friendship never goes unnoticed, and I hope that I can show it outside of the site. Thank you for reading this!

• Mike and Jack of Miketendo64 for allowing me to collaborate and share my writing to a new audience. Thank you for believing in me and for being great partners!

• The awesome people at DarkStation for noticing me and giving me opportunities that I shall never regret. Truly grateful!

• Rachel and Kris of Double Jump, Kuribo of NintendoFigures, Matt of Nintendobound, and TheManCalledScott of the Wizard Dojo for being great supportive partners, consistent commenters, and active sharers of my reviews. Such regular support means a lot to me!

• The Well-Red Mage for being one of my first followers, for nominating me for several awards, and for being a great gaming friend to discuss the hobby with. Also for the Arcane Trophy for being a regular commenter!
  
• The Shameful Narcissist for consistently kind words and great gaming discussion, for nominating me as an Entertaining Blogger, and for a 1st Prize Ribbon for guessing characters correctly in her wonderful Final Fantasy Tarot series!
  
• Pokeninja90, Retr0pia75, benez256, Evil Wizard Esq, vahrkalla, Luvva, Sebby29, and lilsamueljones for your consistent encouragement and for nominating me for awards. I’m truly flattered whenever you think of me for these!

• Hungrygoriya, LightningEllen, defythemajority, YvoCaro, CheapBossAttack, Krystallina, Rich Meister, Athena | AmbiGaming, Shelby “Falcon509” Steiner, The Otaku Judge, Particlebit, iplayedthegame, Andrew Lokken, Jamie Wu, Red Metal, dreager1, retrostatuereviews, cary, Toby Saunders, SpeedySailor, Sam Lilly, Imtiaz Ahmed, Astro Adam, AfterStory, Drakulus, Mr. Gamer, veryverygaming, Geddy, United We Game, Gaming Picks, and Zain Moosa for consistently liking, commenting, and sharing my content! I want to let you all know that I acknowledge you and am very thankful for your support! I appreciate getting to discuss games with you!

• And to all you amazing followers and anyone else reading this! I know I missed some people, so apologies if I did. Please know that it means a lot already to me that you’re here!

Thank you again to everyone! If you’re a first time visitor, please follow me on Twitter @MrPanda2002 and on Facebook at Mr. Panda’s Video Game Reviews. Please feel free to support me by following me on those pages if you haven’t already!

My next post will be about my special project! Please look forward to it! Thanks again for reading!

My Nintendo Switch Launch Horror Story

Launch Day Woes

The Nintendo Switch is finally here! After months of raving about the new console and its upcoming games, I now have a Switch! I’ll have fresh impressions of the system up very shortly. But before I talk about my brand new system, I wanted to share my unique experience picking up the Switch at a little store called Walmart.

What could go wrong?

Twas the Night Before Switchmas

Like many others who now have the Switch, I was lucky and pre-ordered within hours of the January reveal presentation. I had done so online through Walmart and set it to ship to my local store. I soon discovered that the 24-hour brick and mortar store would be having a midnight launch, so I quickly inquired about it. The employee confirmed that they would be selling the system for both pre-orders and walk-ins. I made sure to ask if that applied to online pre-orders as well, and he responded that it didn’t matter how you ordered it as long as it was for that location.

On the night before Switchmas, I was brimming with excitement. I would soon have the Switch, and a day earlier at that! I traveled to Walmart and found a huge line of people hoping to get the new console. An employee asked if I had a pre-order, and once I revealed my slip, they sent me to a special line near the front. There were about ten or so people in that line, so I expected it to be a quick process. Based on previous launch experiences, I usually paid upfront and when midnight hit, I would receive a nicely bagged Switch ready to go.

Soon to be in my hands.

But once the clock struck midnight, nothing happened. As it turned out, the cashiers didn’t know where the Switches were. Several of them weren’t even sure what the Switch was or why we were lining up in the first place. Okay, so there was some miscommunication, but hopefully someone could figure it out. Instead, we waited about 15 minutes, asking what was going on and receiving no solid answer. This continued until the co-manager finally came and wondered why we weren’t receiving our Switches. He went to “the back” to look for them while we waited in silence. Once he returned with the systems, we cheered excitedly, ready to finally pay up and receive our shiny gifts. I was excited to watch the first customer grab his Switch and happily stroll off… but that wasn’t what happened.

For pre-orders, you generally pay a minimum deposit to reserve your purchase. However, the cashiers had no idea whatsoever how to ring up the first customer’s pre-order deposit. They could see that the customer paid a certain amount, but they didn’t know how to register that in their system. He was willing to simply pay in cash and get out of there, but they literally hid the Switch from him. It was only after ten more minutes that they resolved the problem and let him go. Okay, so we’re half an hour into this and the first person received his Switch. Can we ring everyone up now? Apparently not. The next person had the exact same problem, and it took them another five minutes to resolve that, which was odd considering it must have required the same solution to fix. To this day, it confuses me to no end. Were they just pressing random buttons the first time? Was this like one of those randomly generated puzzles that prevent you from using a walkthrough? After slowly getting through three out of ten pre-order customers, they got stuck once again. And this time, they just gave up.

Oh well.

One of the cashiers let out a sigh, exclaiming that they were not trained to do this kind of work as the night shift. I could understand her plight and felt sorry for her, but there has to be something wrong with the training structure at Walmart if this is the case.

A cashier asked us to fetch the co-manager who apparently had run to “the back.” I’m not even going to talk about how ludicrous that request was, considering there were three cashiers doing nothing up front. Nonetheless, a brave soul from our pre-order party had already ventured to the electronics section, saying that he saw the co-manager. Once we realized what was happening, this was the breaking point for most of us. The co-manager was in the back selling Nintendo Switches to the walk-ins. There were people who had just shown up without a pre-order who now had their Switch and were happily leaving the store. Meanwhile, those of us with pre-orders had no clue if we’d even receive one by the end of the night.

After selling the last of the walk-in Switches, the co-manager emerged from “the back” and asked why we were all still there.

…

After the co-manager came to smooth out the issues, it was my turn to hopefully have my pre-order go through, or not as would be the case. I should have assumed early on that if they didn’t know how to handle the in-store pre-orders, they would struggle with my online one. As it turns out, they couldn’t ring it up and said that apparently my Switch hadn’t arrived yet. Wait… what? My own personal Switch order, whatever that means, had not arrived from their Walmart facility. But what about all of those other Switches they sold? And why they did they tell me that I could pick it up with my online pre-order? There was some weird miscommunication going on. How they did handle it? They told me to go to the back of the line while they tried to handle the other customers.

Needless to say, I was frustrated. It wasn’t even about getting a Switch anymore. I just wanted to come out with something after this night. Once I got to the front again (after waiting through more prolonged instances of confusion with the register), I explained my circumstances, but the cashiers refused me the Switch. I sighed and walked away. I would get the Switch in a day anyway, so it would be fine. I was more upset about this whole situation and regretted attending this midnight launch in the first place.

The Switch was dangling beyond my grasp.

Then, the co-manager looked at me and offered me a proposition. He knew that I had a pre-order, that I had been waiting a long time that night, and that they would be getting my Switch in shortly. They currently had around ten extra units that nobody was ready to pick up, so he would let me buy a walk-in system if I just cancelled my previous order. Then he’d let me leave that night with a Switch in hand. I gladly took up the offer and thanked him profusely. Cancelling my pre-order was no issue at all, and the pickup person was very on top of helping me. The store even offered me a $20 gift card to compensate for the delay troubles.

Long story short, I did get my Switch that fateful night. It took a couple more hours than it should have, but I brought it home, set it up, played a little Breath of the Wild, and went to bed. Looking back after writing this, I’m not angry, especially considering any qualms went away once I was playing my lovely new console. I am still critical about what happened, but I understand that there are likely problems higher up the store’s chain of command that did not properly equip their employees to handle this. While I will likely be looking to other stores for pre-orders from now on, I still have to give props to the sympathetic co-manager and the resourceful employee at pick-ups. This felt like a long losing battle, but on the upside, it helped me appreciate my new system more.

Here it is, in all its glory!

Next Time… Switch Impressions!

Thank you for allowing me to indulge you with my launch day horror story. I wasn’t expecting to make this my first post after getting the Switch, but I wanted to share my story with you, both as a cautionary tale and a somewhat humorous retelling of my first Switch experience. Very shortly, I will be sharing actual impressions about the Nintendo Switch, so please look forward to it!

Do you have any launch day horror stories for any product? If you have a Switch, how did your launch experience go? Please share any thoughts and experiences in the comments section below! Thanks for reading!

August 2016 Update: Blogger Recognition Award

New Business

Thank you to everyone reading this. I am constantly moved by your encouragement and readership. It means a lot to me, especially as I pursue my dreams. I wanted to give a quick update before getting to the meat of this post. First of all, I wanted to extend my sincerest gratitude to Miketendo64 and Darkstation for allowing me to write for their sites. I love being able to write video game reviews and share them with others. Miketendo64 remains an excellent source of news, features, reviews, and interviews, and I recommend checking it out for great Nintendo content. I don’t always post the reviews I write for Darkstation here, but I wanted them and everyone to know that I love being an editor for their site. It has been a great opportunity to write professional reviews for a wide range of games. Anyone interested in seeing the reviews I’ve written for games like Downwell, Drawful 2, and God Eater Resurrection can find them here.

I am happy to announce that I’ve also been writing for an anime news site for some time now and will be for a while. I won’t say much more, but anime fans may be familiar with the site. Regardless, I am very excited about this special opportunity, especially with regards to my passions and dreams. Although this takes up quite a bit of the time I previously allotted to blogging, I will keep writing here. During the busier time, I will probably be writing with a little less frequency than my previous weekly schedule (most likely biweekly). This actually works out better since I prefer quality than quantity, and putting in the time to make great articles for you to read. That said, when I am less busy and can devote more time to gaming reviews, I will do my best to post them with more frequency. Also, I know that there are a number of you who have made specific review requests. I apologize but it will likely take more time than I originally intended because of these new developments. When I do return to requests, I will get to yours first!

The last few months have been nothing short of fantastic! I was able to cover the brand new The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for E3, meet one of childhood heroes Charles Martinet (voice of Super Mario), and write about one of my most unique and special gaming experiences, Pokémon GO. I am far from done and am excited to share more video game reviews starting next week!

Thank you for reading my update! If you would like to further support me, please “like” my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MrPanda2002/ and follow me on Twitter at @MrPanda2002. Any and all support is always appreciated!

Blogger Recognition Award

I’d like to give a huge thank you to The Well-Red Mage, Retr0pia75, Luvva, and TheManCalledScott for nominating me for the Blogger Recognition Award. The Well-Red Mage (and the rest of the mage team) runs an excellent site full of quality gaming news and reviews. Most recently, the team took on the 31-Day Mage Challenge, in which the mages answered questions about video games, generating entertaining discussion. They’re great sources of knowledge, and The Well-Red Mage has been very supportive of me since I started, which means a lot and has gone a long way.

Retr0pia75 runs an excellent site featuring some of the best reviews of obscure games. It’s impressive to see so many forgotten games make a comeback through this site. Some great regular features include Retr0spectives, offering informative timelines of video game companies’ histories, and System Smack-Downs, in which Retr0pia75 compares a game or license among different console iterations. They’re quite entertaining reads!

Luvva of mrluvvaluvva has been an excellent support, promoting and helping me out when I was just starting. His video game-related musings are all honest and entertaining. He also supports those he believes, whether sharing videos of speedrunners or highlighting blog posts in his weekly MrLuvva’s Luv-In posts. Overall, he’s a great guy!

Finally, TheManCalledScott of The Wizard Dojo is an excellent reviewer, covering both the good and the bad of gaming history. It’s admirable how he seeks out some of these bad games, and the reviews always turn out great. Most recently, he has been covering Pixar movies for Pixar Month, including a review of Finding Dory!

Without further ado, here is how the Blogger Recognition Award works.

• Thank the blogger that nominated you.
• Attach the award to the post.
• Give a brief story of how your blog started.
• Give a piece of advice or two to new bloggers.
• Select 5 other bloggers you want to give the award to.

Blog Beginnings

I actually shared this in my June 2016 Update, but I’d love to share a brief version of it again here. As people who know me very well (and probably anyone who reads this) can attest, I am a huge fan of video games, especially Nintendo titles. The one thing I almost love more than video games is talking about them. I decided that I wanted to write about video games and set up a page to keep a collection of my writing that I could also share to others. Writing video game reviews has been a great way for me to compose my thoughts and inform others about the merits and demerits of games that I’ve been playing. Being able to share information about a game fills me with joy, and engaging in related discussion with you in the comments has been just as rewarding. I have dreams related to the games industry, and everyone’s support and encouragement have consistently made me feel like I am making meaningful steps towards achieving my dreams.

Advice for Bloggers

Remember that the blogosphere is a huge place. As you write up your own wonderful blog posts, don’t forget to check out others’, especially those who are writing about similar topics! You can make new acquaintances, find good gaming buddies, and gain more followers. Reach out to other bloggers, whether old or new. You’d be surprised how many people just want to know that someone has read their posts. Support, encourage, and promote each other because we all go through tough times. We’re all in this together!

Finally, love what you’re doing. Life gets stressful, but if you find that blogging doesn’t help or is actually something you dread, take a break. Use that time to unwind, focus on your life duties, and remember why you write. Hopefully, you will be refreshed upon returning and have the will to keep blogging. Don’t worry. We’ll be here when you return!

Nominations

The following are people who have previously nominated me for the Liebster Award. I responded to their questions but never got a chance to properly thank them on my site. Here is my opportunity to finally do that!

• Cary of Recollections of Play – Great blogger with an excellent Play or Pass series for evaluating video games.
• Chris Hodges of The Chi-Scroller – Excellent video game site with thought-provoking articles, well-crafted quizzes, and fun interactive polls.
• Benez256 of I ❤ Old Games! – Wonderful blogger who not only chronicles old games, but does so in a non-native tongue. Truly admirable!
• Matthew Stuber of Masters of the Fist – Filled with awesome video game news, insights, and articles!
• hungrygoriya of hungrygoriya – Impressive blog with numerous posts about an underrated hobby, retro game hunting. Fun reads for any gaming fan!

Thank you five for your Liebster Award Nominations! I appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy your newest award nomination!

The Entertaining Blogger Award

I also wanted to offer a huge thank you to The Shameful Narcissist for nominating me for The Entertaining Blogger Award (I know it’s called The Entertainer Blogger Award, but that confuses me!). She is a terrific writer who recently penned an extensive Final Fantasy VII story entitled Northern Lights. She’s a wonderful person, so check out her writing!

I’ll try to keep the rest of this short, but here are the rules of this award:

The Rules of The Entertainer Blogger Award:

• Write a post including the award picture.
• Nominate 12 other bloggers who are funny, inspiring, and most importantly ENTERTAINING!
• Add these rules to the post.
• Thank the person who nominated you and leave a link to their blog!
• Also, answer the questions down below.

1. Why did you start to blog in the first place?

I answered this earlier, but please feel free to check out my June 2016 Update for a longer explanation.

2. What is your favorite book?

I enjoy the Harry Potter series.

3. What do you dislike the most?

There are things I dislike, and trying to pick something I most dislike would be difficult. At the moment, it makes me sad to see when things are not accessible to people for whatever reason. I won’t go into much detail, but I think that we should be aware of others’ needs.

4. What’s your favorite food item from the mall?

I like cinnamon foods, like Cinnabon or cinnamon pretzels!

5. What is your favorite past time activity?

This one is easy for me: video games and anime! It’s not a coincidence that those are the two subjects I write about!

Nominations

I’ve nominated a bunch of people in this post already, so I’ll try to keep it brief to some bloggers I follow who I don’t think have gotten this award yet. Please feel free to do what you wish with the award nomination and know that I think you’re doing a great job!

• pokeninja90 of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero  – Representing more of my anime fan’s side, pokeninja90 does an excellent job covering visual novel/otome games, as well as providing quality anime-related posts, including tackling the 30-Day Anime Challenge!
• Kuribo of NintendoFigures – It should be no surprise that I love amiibo. Kuribo does a fantastic job providing regular reviews of amiibo, World of Nintendo figurines, and other fun Nintendo collectibles!
• Matt of Nintendobound –  An excellent video game reviewer with a great rating system! He also writes great pieces on his favorite music albums from each month!
• Kris P and Rachel of Double Jump – These sisters are spectacular writers who also regularly update their site with video game features including favorites lists, gaming conversations, and interesting game stories! They’re very entertaining!
• Yvonne/YvoCaro of A Lady and Gaming Plus – I enjoy reading her take on a variety of games, some of which go missed by many gamers. She has quality reviews, features, and a great outlook on life!
• The Gaming Bear of The Gaming Bear – He is not an actual bear, but he plays and writes about video games. He articles are on a wide range of game-related topics, and they’re all entertaining and well-informed! Check out his weekly bites!

Thank You!

Congratulations again to everyone, and a big thanks to everyone who has ever supported me! It means a lot to me, and I’m grateful for people like you!