My (Son's) 20 Favorite Video Game Characters

This list was written by my 10 year old son Elias

I'm not really into video games that much anymore. Back in the day, I could throw down some Atari 2600 for hours, but modern games, for the most part, just don't do it for me anymore. Now my kids, on the other hand, eat - breathe - sleep video games! I encouraged my older son to do some writing and come up with a video game post for the blog. He worked on this last fall and we're just getting around to posting it...but here is 10 year old Elias' list of his favorite video game characters:

20.Fox  McCloud (Star Fox Series) So far, we don’t  know that much about Fox, but we do know that he is a great pilot and will not stop at anything (no matter how many times he does) to save his planet from devastation, whether it be Anderos (Star Fox 64),or Wolf (Star Fox). However, in the Super Smash Bros. series, we get to figure out more about him, and now we know that he isn’t just a pilot, but a worthy fighter as well.

19. Meta Knight (Kirby Series) Meta Knight may not be a main character, but that doesn’t mean he is any less awesome. Meta Knight is a little more mysterious than your average video game character, being Kirby’s friend in the TV show, “Kirby Right Back at Ya!” and his enemy in many games like Kirby Super Star. In Kirby’s Epic Yarn, he was being controlled by Yin Yarn, an evil sorcerer. One thing about Meta Knight is his name. Whenever I say Meta Knight in front of someone they think I mean Mennonite!” Apparently, a Mennonite is an Amish person. Anyway, Meta Knight definitely has some powerful tricks up his sleeve, and is certainly strong for his size.

18. Samus (Metroid Series) I will say that Samus is definitely the toughest girl around. Her robotic suit makes her a little similar to Mega Man. In terms of power, Samus is full of it. In the first Metroid game, it doesn’t give us a lot of information about why in the heck she’s going through a ship shooting Astro bugs, but we get some knowledge on that later on. Her graphics have been great in certain time periods.

17. Captain Olimar (Pikmin Series) Captain Olimar leads a life of danger, no doubt. But imagine: you’re a refugee from another planet, who will die by poisonous gas within 30 days, and the only way he can get home to your wife is by using tiny little sprouts to get your ship parts back and kill giant monsters. Sound easy? I don’t think so. That’s what I like about him. He is one of the bravest video game characters, and he uses his resources to his advantage.

16. Princess Zelda (Legend of Zelda Series) What makes Zelda so special? Her powers. And the thing is that she can teleport. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of her attacks is teleporting. And I really wonder: why doesn’t she just teleport out of her cage when Gannon decides to capture her. I cannot say that I know why. But that isn’t her only power. She can also shoot fireballs and control where they go. So it is pretty obvious who would win in a battle between Princess Peach and Princess Zelda.

15. Prince Fluff (Kirby’s Epic Yarn) Prince Fluff seems a little weird, being that his name is Fluff yet he was turned INTO yarn. Prince Fluff is a likable character because he and Kirby get along and they also get into mischief. They have little scenes between levels, and it’s really cute. Kirby could summon helpers in previous games, but now he has made his first official friend.

14. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog Series) Sonic is a definite classic, but he used to be a jerk, as the Sega commercials clearly stated: “Sega does what Nintendon’t”. The company was desperate for buyers, but eventually joined Nintendo. Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games were the first published Sega/Nintendo series. Sonic games are now released for Nintendo systems, and Sonic was a special character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl along with Solid Snake. Sonic is a character you will like if you play the original Sonic the Hedgehog games, but you shouldn’t play newer versions until you get used to Sonic.

13. Wolf (Star Fox Series) I’m probably or absolutely the  biggest Wolf fan, because he isn’t very popular, but he is plain AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t resist him and neither will you once you be him in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is the last unlockable character, and is Fox’s enemy. It is honestly not common for someone to take a good look at him and not like him. His appearance is just appealing, and the gear and weaponry makes him heavier than expected. Wolf is definitely the most awesome looking video game character.

12. Maxwell (ScribbleNauts Series) You can’t really know Maxwell that well because he doesn’t talk at all. But he is likable in the fact that whatever you want, he will make it, and Maxwell is the purpose of all of the possibilities in every ScribbleNauts game.

11. Starfy (The Legendary Starfy) Starfy is a lesser known video game character, but is adorable, nonetheless. He had two sequels in Japan, The Legendary Starfy 2 and 3. Starfy is not playable in any of the Super Smash Bros. games, but he is an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

10. Mega Man (Mega Man Series) Overall, Mega Man is a pretty basic character. He is kind of similar to Samus (see:18). He doesn’t have many attacks in previous games, just the Megabuster, a simple gun that shoots out of his robotic hand. However, in the new Super Smash Bros. (to be released in 2014), Mega Man will be a special character, and will have a various weapon system based off all of the bosses in the Mega Man series.

9. Pikachu (Pokémon Series) Pikachu is one of the most iconic video game characters ever. He is Ash Ketchum’s best Pokémon, and has helped him win most Pokémon battles. However, in the Pokémon games, Pikachu isn’t much of a help to anyone’s party. Many Pokémon fans wanted a Pikachu on their team, but they soon realized that there was much more powerful Pokémon, like Alakazam. But Pikachu is surely a classic, and extremely adorable, and he definitely deserves the ninth spot on the list.

8. Sora (Kingdom Hearts Series) Sora is one of the easiest video game characters to get used to. A lot of talking and videos are in the Kingdom Hearts series, which helps gamers get to know him. The Kingdom Hearts series consists of an odd mixture of characters: Final Fantasy and Disney. However, Sora is not a Final Fantasy character, but he is considered a Disney character. Kingdom Hearts plays of Disney a bit more than Final Fantasy, using Disney worlds and characters (and Donald Duck and Goofy at your side) while Final Fantasy adds a different drawing style and minor characters. Sora’s weapon is one of the most memorable weapons in video game history: the Key Blade. When I first played Kingdom Hearts, I loved the Key Blade so much that I looked all over the internet to buy one. The Key Blade changes into different forms for most worlds that you complete. The Key Blade may be what makes Sora such a likable character.

7. Captain Falcon (F-Zero Series) In the F-Zero series, we don’t get to know much about Captain Falcon because he is really just a car driver of the future. We don’t even get to see anywhere lower than his face. However, in Super Smash Bros. Melee/Brawl, Captain Falcon is a playable character and even has a couple of stages based of his game, such as Big Blue (Melee) and Port Town Aero Drive (Brawl) . F-Zero fans used this character a lot in battle and people soon found out how awesome Captain Falcon is.

6. Rayman (Rayman Series) What makes Rayman a likable character is the adventures he takes you on. Rayman Origins was the first Rayman game that I ever played, and it is the best. The Rayman series is very creative, which I think is really missing in newer games like Mass Effect and Call of Duty. Rayman may just save the imaginative games, because it is a well known series that still produces games.

5. Link (Legend of Zelda Series) Link is very popular indeed, made in 1986 along with Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Super Mario Bros. What makes Link so cool is that he will just fight every evil thing that gets in the way of saving Zelda. I liked Link so much, I tried to get a Link costume, and I wanted an exact replica of the shield. Sadly, I couldn’t find any, so I was Dipper Pines from Disney Gravity Falls. The thing with Link is, you don’t even have to play the games to like him. I only played Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and I’m not even close to finishing Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. And he’s on the fifth spot!!!

4. Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid Series) Snake is BY FAR the coolest old guy EVER! He is really brave, uses high-tech weaponry, and was the start of good graphics. In 1998 people were like: “Have you SEEN Crash Bandicoot? It has great graphics!” Well, people ate there words when they saw Solid Snake. Even though he is, like, 63 or something, he can take down a bunch of giant robots with his hands, feet, and pistol. I found out about Snake when I played Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Then I started playing the series, and the games are remarkable. With many games that are a bit realistic, there is just something that makes Metal Gear Solid special.

3. Sly Cooper (Sly Cooper Series) Sly is just undeniable, and he is just too good to miss. He is an Italian raccoon thief who pick-pockets and is in love with a fox who is a cop. He is definitely unique, and what I like about characters sometimes is based off their weapon, and Sly passes all inspections. Memorable weapon, the Cooper Cane, great reflex and climbing skills, and uses smooth talking and Smart Alec language.

2. Mario (Mario Bros. Series) Mario isn’t really one of my favorite characters, but without him, none of these other characters would have ever existed. In the 80’s, video games reduced exercising, and grown-ups weren’t on board with that. But when Mario came around, GROWN-UPS were playing it! So video games went back in business, and eventually produced the games that some of these characters are from.
 

1. Kirby (Kirby Series) He’s cute. He’s powerful. He has the ability to inhale enemies and copy their powers. HE IS BY FAR THE BEST VIDEO GAME CHARACTER EVER! If you play the Kirby series, or even look at the box of “Kirby: Superstar Ultra”, you will find that it is physically impossible not to fall in love with him. His bright, pink, puffy appearance tells you in an instant that Kirby is near. Seriously, go to GameStop and look at the “Kirby: Superstar Ultra” box. You’ll see what I mean.   

Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah

My kids aren't exactly daredevils. They are very cautious children. Even though they are both developing a roller coaster bug, neither of them are really looking for big thrills. So I was pretty surprised last week when they both showed interest in doing a zipline course for kids at Jolly Roger Amusement Park in Ocean City, MD.

Jolly Roger has installed ziplines for adults over their waterpark, but they've also added a nice little zipline obstacle course for children. Once suited up, the kids cross bridges of increasing difficultly until they come to the end of the course where they must zipline back to the starting point. Elias and Tanner both tore up the course. I was really impressed with both of them and also very proud of them for stepping outside their comfort zone. The best part is: they had a blast.

Here's Elias zipping back to home base:



And then Tanner (You can hear him scream with excitement)

Mad Monster Party

May I recommend Monster Puppets from Made By Me Junior? This is a wonderful arts & crafts kit that Santa Claus brought us (although I've also seen it at Wal-Mart for $10.) What I thought would be a one-time craft project turned out to be more than that. The kit comes with five basic hand puppets and then 75 pieces of different body parts likes eyes, mouths and hair. The really cool part is that the pieces are all backed with velcro so the kids can literally make hundreds of different puppets. They had a blast creating all different kinds of monsters. Elias even took to sketching some designs out before he made the puppets. You don't know how rare it is to spend an entire weekend evening at our house with the kids asking once to turn on the TV or the Wii.

I used to LOVE puppets when I was little. Let me just say that if YouTube had been around when I was their age, there would be 5,000 videos of my puppets online for you to enjoy. Here's the next best thing...my kids doing their own puppet video. (I don't like to brag, but I kind of directed it.)

And yes, there is an episode 1 too.

C is for Cookies (and Christmas)

We're not big bakers or chefs here at the WWoB offices, but every Christmas I like to do a little baking. This year we got a little ambitious and made cookies from scratch, something I've never done before. Tanner and I started early in the day (this was December 23) while Elias was still at school and got some of the baking underway. Both the kids really enjoy helping out in the kitchen, Elias is especially fond of cracking eggs and Tanner will do any job you ask him. I have yet to establish any sort of product that has become tradition for me to make for the holidays so most of what we made was all new to us.

Do you have any idea how far back in the cupboard this rolling pin was!? Tanner is rolling out the dough to make Gingerbread Mickeys and Donalds.


We've made these before, with antique cookie cutters I got for a gift one year. They look really neat, but I should try and find a good gingerbread recipe because the dough from the store bought package is kind of tasteless. But they sure look swell, don't they!? Tanner had a blast pressing out all the cookies.

We made these Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies from scratch with a recipe from an (unopened) cookbook I gave my wife for Christmas last year. The recipe mislead me in forming the candy cane shapes so the first batch came out shaped like boomerangs (or something more foul if you wanna go there). The cookies have white chocolate and crushed up candy canes on top. Tanner was in charge of unwrapping the candy and smashing it up with a crab mallet.

These Stop n' Go Cookie Pops turned out really cute and were a big hit with the kids over the holiday. Elias and Tanner both took their job very seriously of sorting out a huge bag of M&M's into the different colors we needed. They also took great care in placing all the candies on the cookies when they came out of the oven. I got this recipe from a Betty Crocker Cookie Cookbook that was sent to the WWoB offices as a promo. Well played, Betty!

Finally, we took some of the packaged sugar cookie dough and made cut-outs with a bag of cartoon cookie cutters that I didn't know we had. There were a lot of treasures buried in the cupboard back with the rolling pin. We also made some of our own shapes like letters, Pac-Man and the Pigeon. They turned out really cool but didn't last long enough to get a picture.

The cooking supplies are all put away now and we'll dig them out again a couple days before Christmas 2011.

Happy New Year, ya'll!

Operation: Sandbox

Five years ago, when we first moved into our house, we bought Elias a sandbox and set it up in a remote corner of our backyard. After a couple of messy afternoons in the sandbox, the new backyard attraction was avoided by Mommy and Daddy and so the investment just sat there...neglected...with the area around it slowly turning into a weed infested swamp. Now with two kids, both much older, I have been meaning to clean up the sandbox and return it to it's former glory. But ya know, with all The Golden Girls marathons that are always on, it's just hard to find the time to get things done.

A few weeks ago while I was cutting the grass, I drove by the sandbox and noticed the amount of murky water and plant life that had been collected on the box's concave lid. I thought to myself, "Gee, I hope nothing is living in that mini-ecosystem I created." Before I could even finish my thought, a huge snake - the length of a small school bus, quickly slithered out of the water and around the box. It was a sign that now was the time to implement Operation: Sandbox.

I borrowed a neighbor's wheel barrow and the kids and I shoved out the five to six hundred pounds of sand in the box. We then cleaned the inside and out of the box and lid very thoroughly and let it dry. It only took less than an hour before the sandbox was ready to be placed in it's new home and ready again for business. I relocated our Little Tykes Endless Adventures Hidden Treasure sandbox to a position closer to the house and our swing set.

Later on, we bought an addition 100 lbs. of sand to give the sandbox that fresh "new sand" look. Elias tried to help carry one of the 50 lbs. bags of sand from the car to the box...

I love when the kids can forget about video games and movies and just have a good old fashioned kid-time playing outside with something simple like a box full of sand:

Oh...and the snake has not been seen since.

Letters to Santa

There's not many nice things I can say about the goshforsaken little town that we live in, but one nice thing that they do every year is have a little cabin in the town square where Santa visits with children every night of the holiday season. Sure, you could drive three more blocks up the road and visit Santa in the warm mall but there's something nice and cozy about seeing St. Nick in his own little Christmas cottage. Also, at the mall they don't let you take your own pictures of your own children with Santa (which should be a crime!) and at the cabin, even though you can buy a photo package with them...you can snap as many pictures as you like.

Anywho, the kids get a much bigger kick out of seeing Santa in his cabin than at the mall. This year I was very proud of my boys as they both wrote their own letters to Santa Claus.

Three months ago you couldn't even get Elias to write his name without wanting to put the pencil down immediately. Nowadays he spends half his free time writing words anywhere he can find the space. His favorite thing to do is grab a DVD or Wii game case and copy down the title or description. He did a good job on his letter to Santa...the scanner chopped off the right hand side of his letter.

Tanner is not even learning handwriting in school yet, but he's learned quite a bit from watching his big brother. He doesn't understand any of the structure or formatting of writing but he's got all his letters down pretty nicely. He didn't write out a list for Santa, instead he just wrote the big guy a nice greeting. He was very proud to read it to Santa. Tanner also thought it was funny to spell "We" as "Wii" instead...thanks Nintendo!

Nursery Rhymes With Elias and Tanner

This one's been sitting around the WWoB office in draft mode since July so today we're dumping it on ya. It's just some pictures of my kids with various nursery rhymes at the Enchanted Forest. Enjoy!

Elias falling down the hill with Jack and Jill. (He didn't break his crown!)

Hey Diddle-Diddle, they don't have a cat or a fiddle just a dish who standing with a spoon.



It's surprising the tortoise won considering he had two kids on his back!

Jack by nimble

Jack by quick

where the heck

is the candlestick?


Three Ugly Ducklings

A Special Message

We just wanted to take a moment at WWoB today and wish my mother a very Happy Birthday! She's been an awesome mom to me for so many years, always encouraging my creative spirit and always supportive in whatever it is I do. She's also an outstanding Grandmother to my children, who love her dearly and are always so excited when they see her!

Happy Birthday Mom!

and Thank You for everything you do!!!

Easter Parade

Here's some this and thats that you can stuff in your basket...

*At Tanner's preschool they have a little Easter parade every year where the kids make Easter bonnets or Easter Ties and then they march around the building visiting other classes. Of course it's tradition that the boys make ties and the girls make the bonnets but Tanner has to go against the flow of traffic and he insisted on making an Easter bonnet. Not just any Easter bonnet, but one with pink chicks and bright yellow ribbons on it. Then he got mad if anyone called it a bonnet, it was just an Easter Hat he insisted!


*Batman has taken the top spot in our house this week as favorite Super Hero/thing to play all the time. Elias has been especially enamored with The Riddler's cane, so we made a crude version of our own using a paper towel roll, a cut up pizza box and some construction paper. It got the job done for the time being, but Elias wanted to make a more realistic cane. I took him up on the challenge, and we're currently in the process of making a Riddler cane out of wood with a plastic question mark on top and then painting the whole thing yellow. We'll get some pics up when it's all done!

*I've been holding on to two links forever, thinking I was going to do one of those Weekend/Friday Fun Links post...but I've only collected two over the last 9 months so now is as good a time as any to dump them on ya: My friend Amy sent me a link to instructions on how to build your own Flintstones car! (If anyone wants to build me one, I'd appreciate it!) And I wanted to show you all this awesome shopping cart that another friend posted about a while ago. I would shop anywhere that had these carts!

*The other night while climbing into bed Tanner said, "I hope the man that makes the thunder storms and rain doesn't come tonight!" And I asked, "Who is that man, Tanner?" And his response...."John McCain"

*In my travels I pass a homemade sign on the side of the road that says "Mini Donkey For Sale" The sign has been sitting there for at least three years which makes me wonder...Is the donkey still mini-sized!?