Hey guys! Hopefully you all are doing well and taking care of yourselves amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With new updates and info coming in every hour of every day, we see how that can affect many of us negatively on a mental level. To help ease a little of the stress of the news on and offline, we’ll be nominating bloggers for our brand new D&A Superstar Blogger Award starting this week! This award is dedicated to bloggers who have supported us and liked our content since January of 2016 when we first launched this website, and as far as the rules go, here’s what you have to do:
Add the D&A Superstar Blogger Award logo to your nomination post
List the name of your blog (add a link) and tell us 4 things about yourself
List your Top 5 anime shows (or characters)
Answer the 10 questions listed in bold below this post
Nominate at least 10 other blogs of your choice
How did you get into Blogging?
What’s one of the best posts you’ve ever written on your blog?
What’s the last anime title (or movie) you’ve watched in 30 days?
If you could go back 10 or 15 years into the past, what would you say to your younger self?
If you had the seven Namekian Dragon Balls, what three wishes would you wish for?
Who is your biggest influence for blogging and why?
If you could visit Japan, what would be the first thing you’d do?
If you could pick one or two anime titles that deserve a second season, what would they be?
What are two of your favorite foods and one you wish you could try from another country?
Who is your favorite blogger and why?
And with that, here are some awesome bloggers we’ve decided to nominate for our special award. We’ll be adding the official logo for the award tomorrow, so nominees will be able to copy and paste it to their nomination post.
So in our last post (after the COVID-19 rant) we mentioned that we’ll be revisiting one of our earlier posts about why Sonic Battle should get a remake. Out of all of the games we’ve played up to now, Sonic Battle in particular was a bit different – unique in its own way. Although it’s full potential was yet to be unleashed on the Game Boy Advance, it pushed the envelope (and GBA’s graphical limits) in terms of what the game’s identity wanted to be. It wasn’t trying to be like Smash Bros. nor could you call it a traditional fighting game, in fact players felt like they could actually feel the ‘impact’ of slamming their opponents into a wall (or vise versa) and following up with a finishing blow.
The story and dialogue was actually pretty decent and humorous, and the finale – wow! (The feels are real once you get there.) Since next year marks the 30th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise as a whole, why don’t they remake this game instead of trying to do a sequel. If you remember games like Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, that game got a remake; graphical designs, music, the whole nine yards! Hopefully if SEGA decides to do this (and we hope they do) there are a few things they could change up for the remake of the game.
Improvement #1: Bigger Roster!
In the original 2003 game there were only 10 playable characters. There are so many new characters out here now, so why not triple the fighter roster to 30; adding new characters like Espio, E-123 Omega, Silver, Blaze, Metal Sonic, Shade the Echidna, The Deadly Six, Classic Sonic, Mighty the Armadillo, Dr. Eggman, Infinite, etc. More characters would really take the game to a whole new level, and even bring in the idea of more than one story arc – which is my next improvement.
Improvement #2: New Story Arc!
With the increase of the character roster, this means that they’ll have to add a new story arc to accommodate the new arrivals. I’d say do two different arcs; the Classic Arc which is basically the retelling of the original story arc of the 2003 game with the original 10 characters. (All battles and story dialogue intact.) The second could be like a Universal Crisis-type arc where Sonic and the rest of the characters (even the new ones) come together to fight an original final boss to save the world. (And we get a Super Sonic battle!) There’s a lot of potential that can be unleashed here, but it will be up to the developers if they want to make this happen.
Improvement #3: More Health (HP)!
I remember fighting as Knuckles during his campaign (which is one of the longest campaigns you’ll ever go through) and I had to fight the three guard robos at the hotel of Night Babylon. After six tries I finally beat them, which is why fighters need to have 2 bars of health instead of 1. They could have it where there’s a big number next to a smaller number; where the big number is your current number of health bars and the smaller number is your maximum. (Every fighter has 2/2 bars of health!) The color of the first bar is yellow while the second is a blood-orange color; meaning if you fall to 1/2 bars of health the second bar is blood-orange. Although it may slightly lengthen the duration of the battle, it’ll give players a little more enjoyment in slamming their foes around.
Improvement #4: Special Attack Upgrade System!
Since we can’t figure out how much damage character special attacks (like Shot, Power, and Set) do, why not have a system where once characters win their battles, they receive Ability Points based on their performance in battle. Yo get 10 for winning without getting hit, 5 for not getting KO’d, and 2 for not losing overall. During Story Mode all character’s special attacks are at LVL. 1, then when they ‘Max Out’ they’ll be at LVL. 5! In Battle Mode and other modes players should get to choose what level they want their character’s special attacks to be at, so they can max themselves out and give their foes a beatdown!
These are just some the the improvements that I recommend that the developers make if they want to make the Sonic Battle remake a real best-seller. Hopefully if it ever gets done, I’d make it for the Nintendo 3DS and the Nintendo Switch. (The 3DS version would play like the 2003 original.) Oh yeah, one more improvement I’d make; High Resolution 2D sprites at 60 fps. If they wanna add cinematic cutscenes, be my guest.
That’s all I’ve got for this post, until next time, stay safe and stay nerdy! ๐
Hey guys! I’m hoping all is well and you’re doing well while staying/working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With all the uncertainty on how long we have to ‘Flatten the Curve’, many of us have found creative ways to cope with being inside. The economic impact that corona’s gonna have on our economy is gonna be astronomical, and as scary as that is, this is a critical moment in our lives that we have to band together as human beings and love and support one another. Now is not the time to fight, bicker, or argue about dumb stuff, now’s the time to be there for one another – even if you gotta do it through Skype, text, Discord (like we’re doing) or social media.
I’m 30 years old, and I’ve never seen anything or even lived through anything of this caliber. Hollywood shutting down because of a microscopic terrorist? Unheard of, but it’s happening. Nearly 85% of our quality of life (mostly our social life) has been shut down due to COVID-19, and in the mist of it all – it’s brought out the best/worst in people. Right now the best thing we can do to mitigate the spread of the virus is to socially distance ourselves from one another, however not all of us are taking this seriously. If you don’t believe me, ask the idiots in Florida who are partying at the beach during Spring Break!
With nearly every generation heeding what the CDC strongly recommends, there’s one generation in particular that the rest of the world is counting on; the millennials. As a millennial myself there are so many negative stereotypes about us; from the type of music we listen to, to Avocado toast, to not working a ‘real’ job, to where we stand on politics. In this critical time where COVID-19 cases are climbing day-by-day, I get that most boomers and millennials have never seen eye-to-eye on the content of their character, or even how they live their lives. Still, we all got to come together as one cohesive unit if we plan on sending Coronavirus packing!
That’s all for my rant, now stay tuned for my next post where I revisit why there needs to be a reboot of Sonic Battle for the NEW Nintendo 3DS.
Hey guys! Hopefully you’re all washing your hands and staying safe during this difficult time – which we will all get through (and I can’t stress this enough)! As we said in our previous post, we’re setting up a special unofficial ‘digital alternative’ to everyone’s convention cancellation woes due to COVID-19, and in this post is an invite link to our discord channel so you can check out the unofficial AnimeSnap Con 2020! We’ll be running this special channel for a week (or longer depending on demand), and we’re hoping this will at least take your mind off of the virus. The link’s down below!
With Coronavirus giving 90% of our social lives a ‘Thanos’ snap, it’s pretty evident that we won’t be seeing you guys – physically at conventions – for awhile. Funny thing about this whole pandemic is the fact that if you’re a content creator, blogger, or even a live-streamer, you get real creative in the middle of a crisis. That’s why for any of you guys who’s conventions got cancelled thanks to COVID-19, we’re putting together…scratch that! We’re rallying the nerd troops together for a super special digital alternative anime convention, right on our Discord channel Anime Snap! It will kick off next week during the dates of our cancelled convention, Zenkaikon.
We’re gonna need you guys’ help as well (including all of the anibloggers who follow us)! We’ve reached out to a few voice actors to see if they were interested in this little test project of ours during COVID-19’s 2-Week House-Arrest Program. We know by the numbers it looks bad, but if you think about it – it’s not as bad as it COULD be. At least the very air we breathe is NOT contaminated by Coronavirus, cuz’ that would be VERY bad!
We do have some good news; more than half of the people infected (about 145,000) are fully recovering. Remember, there is a line between cautious and crazy, you just have to remember what side of the line you’re on. Until next post, stay safe and WASH YOUR HANDS! [Also, stay nerdy! ;)]
Hey guys n’ gals! I know it’s been a week since there’s been any anime series or episodic posts about the latest titles, but don’t fret, there’s gonna be some reviews coming up soon. As for what’s going on around the world, Corona Hysteria is at an all-time high. Hand sanitizer is becoming harder to find, and even if you do find it, it’s being sold at high prices. I’m not sure if we know this, but I feel that the Coronavirus has ‘been’ here before. Why would I say that? Well, I was 13 when the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak happened – as only 8,000 total cases were conformed worldwide before the threat of that Coronavirus was diminished. Taking care of yourself as well as keeping up basic hygiene should be a number one priority, but if it took COVID-19 to get us to ‘wake up’ and actually do what we should’ve been doing, then something is wrong with us.
Although we’re still learning more about Corona (not the beer or the Soul Eater villain), I will tell you this; like every viral outbreak before it, this too shall pass. We need to be smart, not stupid! There’s honestly no need to cry ‘Gloom and Doom’, because this virus is not AIDS or HIV. Yes, you probably won’t be able to travel outside the U.S. for about two weeks, and many major events like conventions may get postponed or cancelled (which really, really sucks), but you kinda gotta pick your battles at this point. Sorry if it feels like I’m ranting a bit, but I’ve been hearing about Coronavirus for three weeks, and I’m sick of it – no pun intended. Out of the 100,000+ cases worldwide, 50,000+ people have recovered from it in just two weeks. We’ll get through this, I just know it.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, time for some good news! My EP “Minddgames” will be dropping in all online music stores and streaming services this Friday! Plus the convention that we’ll be going to in Lancaster, PA (Zenkaikon) is still on – in spite of Corona. They’ve taken all precautions and got multiple sanitation stations everywhere, and some EMT’s on site. Not everyone is buying into Corona Hysteria (which is smart), in fact, a lot of the smaller and mid-sized cons are still happening, and it looks like a couple of the major ones may get (potentially) cancelled or postponed – but we’re crossing our fingers and praying to God it doesn’t happen! (Or even reach that point.) Upon meeting me and my partner A. Goldman at any conventions, you’ll have to either fist bump or side-knuckle us until about April. Anyway, that’s all the thoughts on my mind for now, and as for any anime fans or fans of ours who live in Nashville after those deadly tornadoes came through, our thoughts and our prayers go out to you all.
Until next post guys; stay safe, be smart, and stay nerdy! ๐
Hey guys n’ gals! We’re only a couple of weeks away from the first day of Spring, and with that comes warmer weather and more anime conventions for you to check out if you haven’t already. The March list may be a tad short as we’re trying not to replicate any conventions that we’ve already listed, and as a reminder if you plan on attending any of the conventions we list on this post, wash and sanitize your hands and any surfaces that you may touch, and if you feel ill before the con, it’s best not to attend. (Coronavirus sucks, but we want you all to be safe.) Now here’s all of the March cons we found online for you guys, and until our next post, stay safe and stay nerdy! ๐
March is finally here, so that means the warm temps that we’ve been waiting several weeks for, are surely on the horizon – if they haven’t already arrived. With two-and-a-half weeks remaining until our next convention outing, we’ve been think about having another segment where we do full episodic reviews on anime titles that are well-known, and lesser-known called Anime REvisited. We don’t have an exact date of when we’ll be doing this segment, but if you guys have any suggestions on what titles you want us to revisit, just let us know in the comment section below, or hit us up on our discord channel. Also, with the upcoming release of Avidd Minddset’s Minddgames EP, we have a special remix of Sonic Adventure 2’s Meteor Herd level produced by Avidd Minddset. Be sure to like and subscribe to our youtube channel if you like the track, and Minddgames will be released on all major (and minor) music streaming services on March 13th. That’s all we have for now, but until next post, stay nerdy my friends! ๐
We’re finally into the third month of the new year, and just three weeks away from the first day of Spring. This month is going to be quite an exciting month because we’ve got some things planned as well as some releases (in terms of music) coming into the forefront. With all that being said here are just a few things that will be happening in March for the good ol’ boys of D&A Anime Blog:
Blogging Award Nominations
This month we’ll be nominating a few of our fellow blogging friends with some blogger awards; one of which is a special blogging award that we’ve created called the D&A Superstar Blogger Award! This award is for those bloggers who have liked and supported us since our 2016 inception, and have some of the most captivating posts that we’ve ever read. With our five-year anniversary (January 11, 2021) on the horizon, this blogger award is a special ‘Thank You’ to all of you awesome bloggers out there who are following your blogging passion. We’ll keep you posted throughout the month on when we’ll be nominating blogs for the award.
New Music
This month also marks the first time our own Donte’ J. Lewis of D&A Anime Blog releases music under his artist/producer name; Avidd Minddset. His first EP “Minddgames” will be available on music streaming platforms such as iTunes, SoundCloud, Spotify, Pandora, and more on March 13th. There’s also a collaboration track with music artist KING SHABAZZ called “Checkmate” coming soon to music streaming platforms everywhere, so we’ll keep you updated when it drops. Also, Lewis will be creating social media pages and eventually a website (as Avidd Minddset) exclusively for his music in the near-future.
New York! New York!
So it’s official; we’ll be going to our first New York anime convention known as Anime NYC! D&A heads to The Big Apple this November, and if you live in New York or in one of the five Burroughs and you want to see us live and in person, head on over to Anime NYC in the NYC this year.
That’s all we’ve got going on in terms of updates and what we’ll be doing in March, but we’re not done yet! There’s more posts to come during the week, but as always until our next post, stay nerdy my friends! ๐
Hey guys, what’s going on? It’s Yours Truly here representing one-half of D&A Anime Blog. With only a week left before the month of March, I wanted to reflect on one of my favorite posts that I’ve written about the relationship between anime, and hip-hop. With February being Black History Month it’s really cool to see that there’s more diversity in anime than ever before, so if you want to see what I’ve posted about the connection that hip-hop has with anime check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the post.
Lately I’ve been feeling a little mundane as of late, so I’ve been watching some anime titles to help take my mind off of boredom – as well as work on other music production projects. I’ve also noticed that I don’t go on social media as often as I used to, but of course I always want to talk to you guys if you have any fresh ideas for the blog, or even if you just wanna chat about anything. Other than waiting anxiously to drop my first ever EP on all of the top music streaming services, there’s not a whole lot happening on my side of the tracks. Although we’re closing in on having two months of the new year making its way into the history books, A. Goldman and I are working on making some big moves for the blog’s future throughout 2020. Next year will be the blog’s 5th anniversary, and for that we have a special surprise that we want to give to our fans as a ‘thank you’ for all the love and support that you’ve given us over the years. (However, we can’t tell you what it is just yet ;).)
Before I end this post I just want to say that despite all the negativity that we deal with in reality, see on social media, and hear about on the news on almost a regular basis, take a little time to brighten someone’s day – however you can. Leave a like on one of their posts that speaks to you, or even lift someone’s spirits with a funny joke. For us, 2020 will be our year of kindness, and our year of making the lives of others a little bit better.
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