I was surfing through the channels the other day, and I came across Nickelodeon. I remember Nick. It was one of the few channels I grew up with in my childhood. The quality of the programming wasn't that good, but hey, I was a kid, I had no sense quality at the age I was at, and I'm pretty sure no other kids used to, either, unless the program was EXTREMELY bad. So anyway, I saw Nickelodeon during my channel surfing, and I decided to watch a few programs, just to know how Nickelodeon was holding up today. I had low expectations, but hey, if I used to grow up with crap like Ned's Declassified and Drake & Josh, I would probably expect them to have shows of equal quality, or perhaps slightly better or worse. I would judge the shows with an unbiased opinion, and view the shows like someone in the target demographic would.

And then I realized that even for children, the shows I watched were not very stellar.

I could make a whole list of shows I watched that were mediocre, but those are reviews for another time. Today I'm reviewing one of Nick's more recent shows, Supah Ninjas, a show about three teenagers who use ninja skills and weapons to overcome the forces of evil. Basically, plotwise, think of Power Rangers, but without the giant mechs, animal symbols on the costumes, and bright colored jumpsuits.

Here comes the most obvious flaw of the series: historical inaccuracies. Ninjas were supposed to be trained assassins hired to only search and kill with stealth, agility, and small, but reliable, weapons. In this program, the only traits the "ninjas" have that are remotely similar to real life ninjas are the black clothing and generic weapons.

The three teens that form the Ninjas are Mike Fugunaka, who finds the secret dojo of his dead grandfather UNDER HIS BED(don't ask) and is basically the whole "main character with unknown, undiscovered potential" guy you may see in many action shows aimed at a younger demographic. Owen Reynolds is his friend who jokes around and talks in slang, but is still a competent fighter. Amanda McKay basically joins the team only because she threatens to expose the secret Mike and Owen possess(being ninjas and all), and has only two purposes: Being the only girl on the team and being the crush of Mike so the show has OMG DRAMA!!!!!!1!!111! I don't find the characters enjoyable, but they're not that bad, either.

For an action show, the action isn't very good, mostly because it has to be toned down for younger audiences, so the characters fight Ninja Turtles-style. This makes most of the fights take longer than usual because of the weapons not being used for their original purpose, not because the characters are equally matched at combat skill or just plain dumb. Most of the fights in the series often involve avoiding traps/attacks, exploiting a weakness, or overcoming personal issues. This, yet again, makes the fights drag on more than usual.

Overall, this show isn't the worst show on Nickelodeon, and it isn't the worst action show I've ever seen, but it's overall inferior to the majority of Nickelodeon's better programming, same genre or not.

Ah, good ol' Square Enix. Creator of the most well-known RPG series of all time, Final Fantasy, and some other great but obscure titles such as Act Raiser and Super Mario RPG. Kingdom Hearts, made by Disney Interactive and Square Enix, is not as popular as Final Fantasy but it isn't just known by the Square Enix worshipers. This game has some great tunes, an acceptable storyline, and interesting battles.

Sadly, although this is a Square Enix game, this game's storyline only goes as far as acceptable. The game's story would actually be awesome if the story didn't sound like a twisted DeviantART fanfiction. I'm actually hooked into the story at times, but those times aren't when Donald and Goofy(or any Disney character for that matter) aren't derping around with Sora. Other than this, the story was pretty dark although the Disney characters are in it. It's a really creative take on the Disney world, so I appreciate this game's dark storyline. So you see, I would like the story more if it wasn't made for a fanfiction website.

Getting more on the positive side of the game, the battles are quite interesting if the partner AI or the camera angles get in the way. First thing about the battles is that the battles aren't played solo; Donald Duck and Goofy, along with other characters, come to assist you in your fights. If they don't get in the way, then the battles are all-out action and exciting. The controls worked perfectly in the battles, too. The camera was sort of a minor issue in the battles, though.

The cast of characters were, yes, mostly Disney icons, but there were also original characters such as the game's main protagonist and even Cloud and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII make cameo appearances. The Disney cast was both lovable and memorable, mainly because the cast of characters is mostly older Disney icons such as Ariel and Winnie the Pooh. Sora, the game's protagonist, on the other hand, looks goofy. Seriously, why does he wear oversized shoes anyway?

You'll spend plenty of this game trying to get 100% completion on this game. This game is not too short, but not too long, either, and you can complete a 101 dalmatian scavenger hunting sidequest. The game wasn't very easy, but it wasn't completely impossible, either.

Overall, this isn't Square Enix's best work, but it is a fantastic RPG anyway.

The original Paper Mario was a guaranteed masterpiece. It had a unique graphics style than any other Nintendo 64 game and was one of the last great games on the Nintendo 64. Although the story was its main weak spot, just like most of the Mario games to date, the game was still spectacular, fun, and witty at some points. The sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, is one of the most amazing games the Gamecube had to offer and defined what the console was capable of. The battles were exciting, the paper effects were even more awesome than they were before, and the plot was much more developed than in the first game. If you liked the original Paper Mario, then you'll love this game.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is anything but your ordinary RPG. Are you tired of the long, uninteresting battles where all you do is use the Destructive Magic with the Mage and continuously revive some useless party member with the Medic? In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, you can kill your foes in the most interesting ways, from explosions to headbutting. Also, you use taps of the A button to guard enemy attacks and be potentially unharmed. Even more exciting is the addition of audience and Stylish Commands, where the audience can raise your Star Point meter gradually if the Stylish Command(s) for that attack are performed correctly. Plus, the background falls on Mario, his partner, and/or the enemy/enemies sometimes. Now that's an exciting battle.

Sure, the story may not be up to par with other RPGs, but it sure is an improvement over Peach being kidnapped by Bowser. In this game, it's more than kidnapped princess rescue. Mario and friends have to stop a possible apocalypse caused by a group of elite soldiers called the X-Nauts, led by their leader Grodus. In order to stop Grodus' evil scheme, Mario and company must embark on an epic journey to obtain seven Crystal Stars to break the seal on the Thousand-Year Door and imprison and ancient demon's soul for another thousand years. Massive upgrade, isn't it? Along the way, Mario will encounter tough situations such as retrieving treasure from a giant skeleton, solving mysteries on a train, and literally getting his identity stolen. Seriously, all Mario was after his identity was stolen was a purple... thing.

The music in this game is downright amazing. This is especially noticeable in the boss themes. And I'm talking about ALL of the boss themes. The battle against Cortez was especially my favorite.

Not all of the gameplay is as Mario, mind you. You can also play as Peach and Bowser between chapters. The Peach interludes were greatly improved over the first game; although they're still the slow and dull Peach interludes we know and hate, you get to make an invisibility potion in TTYD, unlike baking a cake in the original Paper Mario. I still liked how you can disguise into Bowser's guards as Peach in the first game, though. Bowser's interludes are hilarious and all-action sometimes. In some interludes, you get to play Super Mario Bros.-style levels as Bowser, who can grow huge and spit fire to destroy nearly anything. In other interludes, Bowser gets in really witty situations such as talking to a Peach poster to nearly committing suicide.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is an outstanding game for the Gamecube. I would recommend this game to Mario fans and RPG fans everywhere.