5/3/2023 0 Comments Silo synonymThe definitions are sourced from the famous and open-source WordNet database, so a huge thanks to the many contributors for creating such an awesome free resource. In case you didn't notice, you can click on words in the search results and you'll be presented with the definition of that word (if available). For those interested, I also developed Describing Words which helps you find adjectives and interesting descriptors for things (e.g. ![]() So this project, Reverse Dictionary, is meant to go hand-in-hand with Related Words to act as a word-finding and brainstorming toolset. ![]() That project is closer to a thesaurus in the sense that it returns synonyms for a word (or short phrase) query, but it also returns many broadly related words that aren't included in thesauri. I made this tool after working on Related Words which is a very similar tool, except it uses a bunch of algorithms and multiple databases to find similar words to a search query. So in a sense, this tool is a "search engine for words", or a sentence to word converter. It acts a lot like a thesaurus except that it allows you to search with a definition, rather than a single word. The engine has indexed several million definitions so far, and at this stage it's starting to give consistently good results (though it may return weird results sometimes). For example, if you type something like "longing for a time in the past", then the engine will return "nostalgia". It simply looks through tonnes of dictionary definitions and grabs the ones that most closely match your search query. ![]() The way Reverse Dictionary works is pretty simple.
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5/3/2023 0 Comments Hoplite shield material![]() So it seems realistic that even older men tried to remain active hoplites as long as their health allowed it. Remember, being a Hoplite was actually seen as an achievement one could be proud of. There were some Hoplites even under 20 years old and some around 60 years old. The ancient greek writer and Historian Thucydides, living from around 460 to 400 BC in Athens, claimed that in the year 431 BC only a maximum of 13.000 men (of the mentioned athenain 50.000 male citizens) were monetarily and physically fit for fighting as a Hoplite. And the mentioned problems brought the roman republic into serious trouble.Īthens as the city-state with the highest population had approximately 50.000 male citizens. So the men were not only burdened with the costs of the equipment but they were also burdened with a loss of work time that wasn`t balanced by pay for their military service.īy the way, centuries later early Rome (more on how Rome was really founded here in my article) adopted the Hoplites. Especially since Hoplites were expected to provide for themselves during a campaign. But the material profit was extremely limited. Sure, after a battle one might be able to plunder a bit. In Addition, to that, the burden was increased by the fact that Hoplites usually did not get paid. But were there any other requirements for being a Hoplite? Actually no.īeing a citizen of the city-state and the possibility of being able to afford the armor and weapons of a Hoplite (and to provide for himself during a campaign) was the only requirement for becoming a Hoplite in most greek city-states.īut the burden of paying for the own equipment was already tall enough to exclude a large part of the male population. So I just argued that a Hoplite had to pay for his own armor. ![]() The possibility for poor citizens to serve in the navy was a key step in the democratization of Athens since it allowed men without the necassary wealth for service as Hoplites to take part in the wars of their city states. However, the less wealthy men could either join the lighter armored troops or the navy. The financial burden of buying all the equipment obviously limited the number of Holites to the wealthy citizens of the polis. Click here to read my article on how the social structure of Sparta made it possible for the hoplites to also fight during the summer. The reason for that was that the farmers who made up a large amount of the Hoplites had to be home at their farms for sowing in spring and harvesting in late summer/early fall.ĭue to its social structure, Sparta on the other hand did not have these kinds of temporal limitations. They were farmers, craftsmen, and aristocrats who could afford to pay for all of the equipment a Hoplite needed.Īs a direct consequence of Hoplites being militiamen war in ancient Greece was usually limited to the early summer, Sparta once again being the exception. That means the men who would go to war were not professional soldiers. In the city-states apart from Sparta the military, including the hoplites, consisted of Militiamen. More information on that here in my article. Now the military of the ancient greek city-states was quite different from our modern military, Sparta being the exception. In order to be a full citizen of the Greek polis, you had to serve in the military. But all of them had one important similarity. Some were ruled as Democracies, some as Tyrannies, and some as Oligarchies. The origin of the Hoplites is closely linked to the idea of the polis, a Greek city-state that was formed and ruled by its free citizens.ĭuring the time of the Persian wars, click here to read my article on what started the persian wars, there were somewhere between 7 city-states (Poleis). That large round shield, the so-called hoplon, was highly important for the phalanx, the system the Hoplites fought in.Ĭlick here for further information in my article on how the phalanx actually worked and why it was so effective.Īpart from the Hoplon the Hoplite also carried a variety of other weapons and armor that made him capable of defeating numerically superior hostile armies. The Hoplite was named after the most important part of his equipment, the shield. What is a Hoplite?Ī Hoplite was a heavily armored Infantryman. In most greek city-states outside of Sparta hoplites were (unpaid) militiamen, not professional soldiers. The Hoplites were named after their shield, the Hoplon. But what is a hoplite, which requirements did you have to meet to qualify as a hoplite? And how did Hoplites train for battle?Īll these questions will be explained in the following article.įrom the 7th to the 4th century BC Hoplites were the heavily armored greek infantrymen. During the classical period of Greece the main military power of the greek city-states laid in the Hoplites. 5/3/2023 0 Comments Spdf periodic table![]() ![]() There is presently no need for graphical or other changes, but existing “irregularities” of single atoms or groups of atoms, mainly those of higher values of Z, require dedicated considerations based on the laws of physics which allow to rationalize unexpected deviations from the Aufbau principle and other rules-of-thumb. A graphic representation as introduced in IUPAC's Red Book has served well for education and research in chemistry. The current knowledge of the electronic states of atoms and molecules now calls for a standard form of the periodic table which reflects the large energy gaps between the noble-gas (sp) 8 core shells and the electronic open spdf valence shells, which physically determine the chemical periodicity of rows with lengths increasing in double-steps. ![]() The atomic masses (co-determined by the assorted isotopes of an element) were replaced by the atomic number Z. In their and in later more refined periodic tables the periodicity was initially highlighted for values of G from 0 to 8 but long tables with 18 groups were soon required to account for the growing number of elements and their chemical properties. ISBN 978-1-0.The periodic depictions of the natural system of elements produced by Mendeleyev and his contemporaries were based on atomic mass A and chemical valence G of the elements then already discovered. Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry (6th ed.). Rayner-Canham, Geoff Overton, Tina (2014).Journal of the American Chemical Society. “The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules”. Also, the real electron configuration of an atom may differ from the prediction because of relativistic effects, shielding, etc. Keep in mind, electron configurations are most stable when they are filled or half-filled. Its electron configuration is:ġs 2 2s 2 2p 6 3s 2 3p 6 4s 2 3d 10 4p 6 5s 2 4d 10 5p 6 6s 2 4f 14 5d 10 6p 6 7s 2 5f 14 6d 10 7p 6Īlternatively, write the symbol for the noble gas before an element (radon, in this case), and just add the extra information: Oganesson (element 118) is a good example to show the order of the orbitals. The Madelung rule gives the order:ġs < 2s < 2p < 3s < 3p < 4s < 3d < 4p < 5s < 4d < 5p < 6s < 4f < 5d < 6p < 7s < 5f < 6d < 7p The s orbital holds a maximum of 2 electrons. The period or row numbers 1 through 7 are the energy levels of the elements. Alternatively, remember group 1 (alkali metals) and group 2 (alkaline earth metals) are s-block, groups 2 through 12 are the d-block, 13 to 18 are the p-block, and the two rows at the bottom of the table (the lanthanides and actinides) are f-block. Use the element blocks of the periodic table to find the highest electron orbital. If you don’t have a chart, you can still find the electron configuration. The electron configuration states where electrons are likely to be in an atom. Actual configurations have not been verified. Values denoted by an asterisk are predictions based on periodic table trends. This table is available to download as a PDF to use as a study sheet. Look up the electronic configuration of that noble gas and include that value before the rest of the configuration. This means part of the electron configuration has been replaced with the element symbol of the noble gas symbol. To save room, the configurations are in noble gas shorthand. This list of electron configurations of elements contains all the elements in increasing order of atomic number. The electron configuration shows the distribution of electrons into subshells. This entry was posted on Jby Todd Helmenstine (updated on December 10, 2022) 5/3/2023 0 Comments M.e.a.t. gameCan you please fix this? I really want to play Mr. I had to close out and reopen the game, but the same glitch happened! So i tried all of the other modes, and the same glitch kept happening. Then I fell through the first floor and through the ground into an evergoing abyss of eternal darkness. I tried again multiple times but the floor had glitched so I kept falling through it onto the first floor. But immediately after I finished walking up the stairs, I fell through the floor. So I was looking around for some stuff and went upstairs. So scary at some points! But, the last time when I was playing in ghost mode, there was a glitch. ![]() Okay, I must say, this is an awesome game! I love the concept of a missing girl held hostage and the player having to rescue her, but this crazy guy with a weird diet is lingering around the map looking for you, so you have to be really careful. I will definitely be waiting for an update! You can decrease and increase your joystick size, and that’s a really nice touch to the game! One last thing, I also love how the pig chases after you and I love the animations (don’t come after me if that’s not what they’re called) whenever you lose all of your lives. I like how there’s no ads in the game (except when you’re watching ads for the bullets, obviously) besides in ghost mode, which is not that big of a deal. If people have problems with watching videos for the shotgun bullets, there’s always some extra bullets in the shed. I don’t mind having to watch a video to get another bullet for the shotgun, it’s only one video and it doesn’t take that much of your time up. There’s not that many ads (like there is with a lot of games now), so it is possible to actually play the game. It’d be awesome if you could fix these problems Im having. Sometimes I go through the walls and I get stuck. And also I don’t have a problem with the ads but sometimes it doesn’t let me click out of them. ![]() When I was going up to the front door I fell through the porch and through the entire world, then when I was going into where the pig was I fell through the floor through the laboratory and I couldn’t get out because I hadn’t unlocked that yet. It’s not too easy and not too hard, and I can tell you put a lot of effort into the game! I only have a few problems. Just how you can use the shot gun in the older update where you shoot the little wire in extra locks, whenever you lose a night he would trap one of your tools and you would need to risk your shotgun ammo for it if you need it or not, it can really mess with the player and make them really think! Thanks for listening and hoping some of these are in Version 1.8 :) It would be sneaky since it can go off anytime! Another great trap would be like setting up tools with wires around them you can barely see. First off when you reach the roof maybe there could be a haywire electric tower and it will Shock you randomly, if you get shocked you won’t die but will fall and will be heard from me meat. The second thing would be more enemies or traps to kill you. Or how you need pliers to get to the roof of the shed and dive in! Just like the secret place on the roof, maybe you can find a shovel and dig underground to certain places where only you can go, but if Mr Meat finds you then he will take hide away the shovel and dig up the hole, minimum shovel digs would be only 2 my opinion. ![]() ![]() Playing this game is awesome and super happy that it’s not even completed yet! I’m here to give my review and possible changes that can put a real twist into your great game! First off, I think you should add more locked areas around the map kinda like how you need a key to u lock the next area into the barn. 5/3/2023 0 Comments Bismarck nd cbs meteorologistMore information on the luncheon can be found here.Ĭopyright 2023 KFYR. They will be hosting their annual luncheon on Thursday where they’ll recognize volunteers and donors, as well as detail volunteer opportunities. Lawrence says the active weather on the west coast and in the south usually will mean we also will experience active weather patterns, and he doesn’t rule out another Colorado Low moving through North Dakota in April.Īs below normal temperatures are predicted to continue, the United Way will continue to need volunteers and donations to protect the homeless population. A lot of snow here, the Northern Plains, and in Canada, and until that melts I think our temps remain below normal,” said Lawrence. It takes really deep snow in order for us to have very cold temperatures - they usually go hand in hand. “You know what the real problem is, our deep snowpack, that’s one reason why it has been so cold. Her role models have always been: Maya Angelou, Meteorologist Greg Fishel and the late journalist, Marie Colvin.Our Chief Meteorologist Kevin Lawrence says the large amounts of snow we received late last year are part of the reason why we’re cold now, and why it will stay that way for a while. She once obtained permission to travel into North Korea with her sister. Amber has a cat, Frank and a dog, Tina. To this day, she continues to campaign for women in poverty.Īmber loves being outdoors, trying new foods, reading and travel. Amber was a YWCA board member in Minot, a women and children’s homeless shelter. She taught kids the art of film making at the Boys and Girls Club, helped build homes in Minot with Habitat for Humanity after the 2011 flood. Here’s a list of what has changed so far as of April 24: School closings: Follow this link. This list is a rapidly growing and changing one, so check back often for the latest information. Her work in the community is where she prides herself the most. ( KX N ET) Organizations are canceling and rescheduling events planned due to the blizzard. That love of science and communication led her to study Geoscience and Broadcast Meteorology at Mississippi State University. She became fascinated by certain local meteorologists and news reporters and their ability to humbly talk you through catastrophic weather events. She hopped into the TV industry just three days after graduating from. There was no guessing I wanted a career that involved meteorology. Top notch forecasting and radar skills must be matched by great communication. Summer Schnellbach is a North Dakota born and raised weather forecaster and broadcaster. My earliest thoughts in life were centered on weather. ![]() It’s that day along with her memories from Hurricane Fran in 1996 that Amber realized the power of Mother Nature. KXMB TV in Bismarck, ND, is looking for a talented Meteorologist who is ready to take on these challenges and more. ![]() One of her earliest memories was from when her father rushed herself and her sister into their church to escape the path of a tornado. She started her television career in 2006 as a Multi-Media Journalist and Newscast Director at WFMY News 2 in Greensboro, NC. Bilo, a native of Phoenixville, returned to the Delaware Valley from AccuWeather in. She grew up wanting to be a meteorologist and. Meteorologist Kate Bilo joined the Eyewitness News weather team on CBS 3 and The CW Philly in October 2010. While at Rutgers, Heidi participated in WeatherWatchers and gave weekly forecasts that were shown all across the campus. ![]() She joined the KX family in March of 2012 and has been waking up North Dakota each weekday morning since October of 2012.Ī proud North Carolina native, Amber graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a News and Documentary degree. Heidi Werosta was born and raised in New Jersey and is a graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in meteorology and a minor in geography. Amber Wheeler is an AP award winning Meteorologist for Good Day Dakota. 5/3/2023 0 Comments Song of style(Getty/WireImage) Make out to Dope, Legend captioned an Instagram video of Ratajkowski and Styles kissing. The reason I started my blog was to keep in touch with my friends and family and showcase my outfits, so I think of my audience as my sister or my friend. John Legend, Harry Styles and Emily Ratajkowski. That actually makes getting dressed easier. Right before the show, sometimes we do Instagram Live and I ask my followers which shoes I should wear. Over the weekend, the Watermelon Sugar singer and the model were seen making. Miley Cyrus just treated fans to not only another epic style moment, but also a live rendition of her new song, Jaded for her beloved Backyard Sessions series.For her latest outdoor performance, the Flowers hitmaker, 30, belted her heart out in a sultry white minidress with skimpy straps. Then I take photos of it and send it to my sister or friends and ask which one should I wear. John Legend has shared his amusing reaction to Harry Styles and Emily Ratajkowski kissing to one of his songs. I usually plan out my outfit the night before. I have that, coffee, and my makeup done, and then I get dressed. Song of Style, thanks to Aimee's knack for creating bold but laid-back real-life outfits, has amassed almost 4 million monthly views and garnered collaborations with the likes of Piperlime and 7. ![]() ![]() They’re really generous with their avocados, and that’s very important the avocado-to-toast ratio has to be three to one. ![]() When I’m staying at 11 Howard, I get it from there, but sometimes I get it from Aunt Jake’s, which is my other favorite avocado toast place a couple blocks away. You have a right to know how the products you buy affect the issues you care about.Song of Style is rated Not good enough overall. Right before makeup, I have my avocado toast every single morning. If it’s an important show or day like today, then I have Benjamin from Laura Mercier do my makeup-he flies all the way from Texas. “Depending on what time my first show is, I wake up two, three hours before. (And with Stor圜raft, you’ll also have exceptional guidance in creating characters - heroes, antagonists, shape shifters, and so on - specifically adapted to the classic patterns of the Hero’s Journey.) The Character Tools Menu gives quick access to all the tools for creating each character of your story. □ WriteItNow writer’s software has a thoroughly useful and easy-to-use Characters Section. (And if you have purchased Stor圜raft writer’s software along with WriteItNow, you’ll have the entire array of storylines patterned after the ubiquitous Hero’s Journey approach to story creation. □ There are multiple means for developing your story’s storyline, including WriteItNow’s Storyboard Editor, which provides virtual index cards that depict each major story development and that are easily movable and deletable. (And if you have purchased Stor圜raft writer’s software along with WriteItNow, you’ll have additional powerful scene-writing ideas for your story based on time-honored Hero’s Journey patterns of story creation.)Īnd a Scenes Summary provides a broad overview of what’s happening in your story and a quick way to make general changes. ![]() □ For each chapter, you write the Scenes of your story with the Scene Editor. ![]() □ The Chapters section is where you write each chapter, composed of as many scenes as you need. The Tree is the heart of navigation in the WriteItNow5 writer’s software program. The entire program is designed with the Instant-Access-to-Everywhere-You-Work Principle, which means that you have uninterrupted access to every element of your story, writing, notes, ideas, illustrations, front matter, and so on…at every second! □ Navigation is a breeze with multiple ways of getting to every part of work on your story. –––––––– If you don’t know where you are going, you will never get there.WriteItNow5 writer’s software has… storyboard and storyline development, quick access to every part, thorough scene and character development notes management, chapter and scene management, idea generator, name generator, character generator, book formatting, writing targets and page-number goals, submission management, readability scores, thesaurus, global search & replace, customizable step-by-step prompts & guidance throughout, and more - as well as export to Doc, PDF, ePub and HTML. The great majority start with the OUTLINE.Īn outline is a summary of what your story will be about. Even the most successful and experienced novelists can’t do that. Unfortunately for most writers, that’s not the way it works. Many of us who have always wanted to write a novel have the impression that once you have an idea you can just write Chapter 1 on the top of the page and then away you go. Getting started means different things to different people. Many have ideas and dreams but never progress beyond that-mostly because actually starting is for many, the hardest part. Although this book and the series are slanted towards writing a novel, the methods used and the assistance given in the series can be used equally well for any form of book you may wish to write. The idea of this book is to get you started on your novel or any book you may have been wanting to write for that matter. Step 3 - Identify your CharactersĬhapter 4. ![]() Step 2 - Turn that Sentence into a ParagraphĬhapter 3. She is divorced, has one lovely daughter, and three exciting grand children. Robbie lives in Australia, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. ![]() It is a family saga of suspense, crime, and romance. The Maddison Family Series contains four books. Her qualifications provide an excellent background for story writing.Īt present Robbie teaches a writing class called "Let's Write a Book" with the University of the Third Age (U3A) and is happy to have finally completed her first series of novels. She now has many degrees including a Masters in Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism and a Post Graduate Diploma in Writing. At the same time Robbie decided to study for the Bachelor of Arts degree she had always wanted. When Robbie McCauley retired early from a varied working life, which included the duties of Secretary to Members of Parliament, Researcher, Primary School Teacher, and Bank Manager, she began to take writing classes and discovered the joy of writing short stories. 5/3/2023 0 Comments Bitnow pro![]() The fee is included in the price you see in the Lease to own dialog. Long term service fee is a fee percentage added when you pick a period longer than 1 year. You won’t receive the ownership of the domain and the domain will be returned to the original seller. When you opt to cancel a transaction, the received installments will be kept by the seller. Sellers can’t cancel the contract, as long as you do not miss any final monthly payment deadline(s). You can cancel an installment transaction whenever you want. When the final installment is paid for, we will assist you with transferring the domain to a registrar of your choice and changing the ownership records of the domain. There are no other projects in the npm registry using bitnow-cli. Start using bitnow-cli in your project by running npm i bitnow-cli. Latest version: 1.0.6, last published: 5 years ago. ) Domain transfer after the final installment is paid A simple CLI for scaffolding BIN projects.Once the transfer is done (this can vary per domain since some registrars approve transfers only after 5 days) you can manage the DNS of the domain via your Buyer Control Panel. bitnow.pro links to network IP address 104.31.80.197. bitnow.pro uses Microsoft ASP.NET, Nginx, Sitefinity web technologies. Colleen Harkins, who works for Pro PR of Annapolis, Md. Their seasoned team of industry experts h. , Stanojev said, will try to target three areas: consumer sales, business-to-business. After the first payment, our system automatically transfers the domain to our own holding registrar to keep it safe and available for you. bitnow.pro receives about 4,092 unique visitors per day, and it is ranked 512,178 in the world. WinnowPro is one of the leading names when looking for paid advertising solutions in theworld of Digital Marketing. Jefferson was quite unhappy about some of the edits made to his original draft of the Declaration of Independence. When writing the first draft of the Declaration, Jefferson primarily drew upon two sources: his own draft of a preamble to the Virginia Constitution and George Mason’s draft of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights. It wasn’t signed until August 2, 1776.Īfter Jefferson wrote his first draft of the Declaration, the other members of the Declaration committee and the Continental Congress made 86 changes to Jefferson’s draft, including shortening the overall length by more than a fourth. In fact, independence was formally declared on July 2, 1776, a date that John Adams believed would be “the most memorable epocha in the history of America.” On July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration. One of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration of Independence is that it was signed on July 4, 1776. He believed that it was too soon to declare independence and therefore refused to sign. Robert Livingston, one of the members of the committee who wrote the Declaration of Independence, never signed it. The committee included Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Jefferson was a member of a five-person committee appointed by the Continental Congress to write the Declaration. There are only 26 known surviving Dunlap Broadsides today.Īlthough Thomas Jefferson is often called the “author” of the Declaration of Independence, he wasn’t the only person who contributed important ideas. In 1989, someone discovered a previously unknown Dunlap Broadside. Today, the “Dunlap Broadsides” are extremely rare and valuable. Once the Declaration of Independence had been written and signed, printer John Dunlap was asked to make about 200 copies to be distributed throughout the colonies. No one knows who wrote this, but it was probably added as a label when the document was rolled up for storage many years ago. ![]() Instead, there are a few handwritten words that say, "Original Declaration of Independence/ dated 4th July 1776". ![]() There is something written on the back of the Declaration of Independence, but it isn't a secret map or code. Which Founding Father Would You Vote For?įascinating Facts about the Declaration of Independence OVERVIEW READ THE DECLARATION Drafting the Declaration ABOUT THE SIGNERS Women Behind the Signers FASCINATING FACTS DATES TO REMEMBER Sons of Liberty The Case for Revolution The Five Riders Two Great Thinkers Famous Loyalists The Shot Heard Round the World THE FOURTH OF JULY Treaty of Paris True Copy of Declaration DECLARATION QUIZ True Copy of Declaration of Independence. 5/3/2023 0 Comments Pocky and rocky 2 and famicom![]() ![]() ![]() On the other hand, there’s more stages here. That’s a bit disappointing, because the levels feel a bit less imaginative than before. In Pocky & Rocky 2, however, if it starts in a volcano, it’s guaranteed to end in a volcano. Pocky & Rocky were largely situational sprints to the end, where a level could start out on a mountain pass and end on an airship. The levels themselves have changed quite a bit in terms of composition. Rather than two paths to weapon upgrades, there’s only one, which at least alleviates those moments where you pick up the wrong upgrade and completely downgrade your firepower. Health is now tracked by the clothes you wear, going from armor to your skivvies. You can spend these in shops to buy upgrades. However, there has been some changes to the overall flow of the game.Ĭurrency has been added in the form of gold coins, or koban. You still spend most of your time tearing through various yokai and obake by rapidly hurling ofuda cards at them. Pocky & Rocky 2 retains the series’ trademark run-and-gun sensibilities. ![]() If you don’t even have a friend, you still get a CPU controlled buddy, which just goes to show how little the game thinks of your human companion. This kills the player, putting them in time out until they recharge, so, yeah, player 2 is a complete tool. Each one also has a different special attack, which is performed by having Pocky hurl the secondary character at her target. As you explore the levels, more become available, so your friends aren’t left completely cold. On the other hand, player 2 has a wide variety of characters to choose from, each with a different set of skills and weaponry. It’s not as bad as forcing someone to play Tails in a Sonic game, but some people may feel insulted in that role. They can’t pick up upgrades or other items, nor do they have the ability to sweep away projectiles and enemies like Pocky can. They are, most notably, unable to fully die. This time around, however, player 2 takes the role of more of an accessory. They took damage, grabbed upgrades, and rationed their super-powers just like player 1. Formerly, player 2 was restricted to working as Rocky and was placed on an even playing field. This marks the game’s most substantial deviation form the previous title. This time around, she’s assisted by more than just the other titular character, Rocky, but also a growing cast of side characters including a ninja, a mole, and a scarecrow. Series’ hero and Shinto shrine maiden, Pocky, jumps into action. Princess Luna, the moon princess, has been captured by the evil Dynagon, who is attempting to force her to marry him. Names have been changed to appeal better to a western audience, but the story is largely the same. Once again, Pocky & Rocky 2 is an extremely Japanese game that draws on the culture’s sounds, folklore, and imagery. There are still some pretty solid boss battles here. What’s offered is a bit of a mix, and the game’s value will shift greatly based on player preferences. Again developed by Natsume (though a mostly different team), the sequel actually makes a lot of substantial changes to Pocky & Rocky’s run-and-gun formula. Pocky & Rocky 2 was released roughly two years after the first. That’s when I learned there was a sequel that I completely missed out on. It stuck in my mind for years until I was old enough to drive and buy insurance, so I looked it up to reconnect with it. I probably would have been 6 or 7 during the time I rented it and played it with my mom. |