_{[Editor's Note: We're not just a (rad) news site -- we also publish opinions/editorials from our community & employees like this one, though be aware it may not jive the opinions of Destructoid as a whole, or how our moms raised us. Want to post your own article in response? Publish it now on our community blogs.]}

It’s really easy to be a complete bastard in games that you have no deep connection to. If you don’t care about the plot, you’re more likely to go off the rails, try to kill important NPC’s and avoid story-specific missions in favor of blowing shit up. You’re not torn up with guilt after sacrificing your fellow brothers-in-arms when they’re irritatingly flat characters with shoddy AI. And in games with dark tones and darker morality, it’s easy to find yourself becoming more like the monsters you fight than the “hero” that you were designated by the narrative. Some games, like Overlord, and Prototype even encourage it, providing you with new and creative ways to be unrepentantly and gleefully evil.

But what about being evil in a game where birds sing as the sun shines through the peaceful trees? How can you choose to spill the blood of those that have proved their loyalty to you time and time again, purely for your own selfish gain? Is it so easy to betray those who see you as a great leader, and have no other hope save for that which they put in your guiding hands? Well, if you’ve ever played Pikmin 2, I bet you’ve done just that countless times without ever feeling a thing. 

[It's time for another Monthly Musing -- the monthly community blog theme that provides readers with a chance to get their articles and discussions printed on the frontpage. -- CTZ]   

The Pokemon games were among the first that I ever played. Back then, I didn’t keep up with very many videogames since it was before the Internet and my parents weren’t willing to pay for a subscription of Nintendo Power. But good Lord, they marketed the hell out of that game. Between ads for the game itself and the anime, my brother and I were already obsessed before the Christmas morning when we opened up that box and saw a green Game Boy Pocket with a copy of Pokemon Blue version inside the cartridge slot, and promptly flipped out.

Despite the marketing however, my brother and I never really watched the show or got into the trading card games that much. We saw the first two movies (and loved them to bits) but beyond that, the majority of my experience with the series comes from the “regular” series of handheld titles: R/B/Y, G/S/C, R/S/E, and P/D/P. My brother played for the pleasure of winning and becoming the new champion, but I played for something else. To explore the strange new world were kids left their home at 10-years-old to traverse around the world, meeting new people, catching new Pokemon and achieve something extraordinary (And maybe save the world while they’re at it, too.)

[Editor's note: SWE3tMadness adds to the music and rhythm game debate with this piece on how the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games have improved her skills on a real instrument. -- CTZ]

This was originally supposed to be a simple comment left in response to naia-the-gamer’s article on Wii Music and how well it functions as a tool for music education. However, after typing a few paragraphs, I figured this would be better suited as a whole blog article, not just to address Wii Music, but music/rhythm games in general.

My experience with music has been largely ordinary. When I was about six or seven, my parents enrolled me in piano lessons because I really wanted to be a famous rock star (what kid doesn’t?) and they figured that’d be the best place to start. After a few weeks, I realized that it was a lot more work than what I thought and especially hated music theory. So my lessons mostly consisted of practicing a few songs over and over again until I could play them reasonably well. Simple enough, and other than learning key signatures and musical notation, that’s what I went through for about eleven years.

More after the jump.

[Editor's note: SWE3tMadness kicks off September's promotions with her hatred for Zant from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Spoiler alert! -- CTZ]

(MAJOR SPOILERAGE ahead! You've been warned!)

There are many things in videogames that I despise. Cheap deaths, framerate slowdown, and ridiculously charted Guitar Hero songs are just a few examples, but while they can elicit frustration and anger, true hatred can only be brought about by emotional attachment. You have to be able to like something at first, then when a major plot point, or twist, or action involving that character goes awry, it all comes crashing down, Like a jilted lover, my bitterness at this deception has mostly been related to one character, the example I use in this post: Zant, the self-proclaimed King of Twilight.

So this may seem a little strange that I pick one of the main villains in what is by and large a very respectable game. I, in fact, know a lot of Zelda fans that love him. So what in his character utterly pissed me off when I played through the game? Hit the jump to find out.

[Editor's note: SWE3tMadness talks about how Guitar Hero has helped her become a better plastic guitar rock star for her Monthly Musing. -- CTZ]

(Author's Note: This post is true for all Guitar Hero games, as well as Rock Band, but since GHIII is the only one of the series that I actually own, I'm using it specifically for my examples.)

I don't have that many games in my library to begin with, thanks to my college-student-sized budget. Before I actually get a game, I have to be almost 100% certain that I'll play it over and over again to justify the price. And boy, have I gotten my money's worth out of Guitar Hero III.

But why do I play it so often? In fact, I just finished up a session on it before coming up to write this. After pondering my borderline-obsession with the game for a while, I've come to the conclusion that it's a combination of two things: GHIII is one of the few games I can do very well in, and it's FUN to practice. Those factors go hand-in-hand: I'm good at it because I've practiced so much, and I practiced so much because it was fun to play when I first started. 

[Editor's note: SWE3tMadness takes a look back at Super Smash Bros. 64 for her Monthly Musing contribution. -- CTZ] 

Like other bloggers have stated in this particular monthly musing, SSB 64 was not the first game I've played, nor was it necessarily the best. So why do I consider it the one game that marked my emergence as a gamer?

To answer that main question, let's fire up the Delorian and turn the clock back all the way to 1999 when I first sat down to play Super Smash Brothers.