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We Salute Halloween and the Greatest Mega Man Boss Of All Time

It just so happens the two are connected!

I don't blame Mackey for pussying out on Berserk. We owned that game too and it was kind of pants-dumping scary. You, as Mr Stick Spaceman, had to crawl slowly through electrified caverns. Inch by inch, step by step; touching the wall meant death. It was tension at its most potent.

So you'd almost be clear of some narrow hallway and then your mom would pop in and ask you, "What would you like for lunch?" You'd scream and jolt and Mr Stick Spaceman would fry against the wall with a blinding flash of colours and a sizzling/clacking sound that was offensive to the ear in the worst imaginable way. Berserk did not get much playtime in our house.

It's mandatory for bloggers to give wordy offerings to Halloween on the appointed day and I was thinking about how I might do the same. I don't play survival horror games because honestly I already have a problem with vivid dreams and nightmares and further contributions are just not necessary. Then I thought about "safe" ghouls and vampires--the guys who are just fun to have around. I thought about Shade Man, the vampire-bot from Mega Man 7 and probably my favourite Robot Master of all time.

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.