#That's the re-arranged version you're seeing above

[desultory-novice]

Artist ask game time :)) How about questions 20 and 23?

More! Yay! Thank you!!

20 / A Piece I'm Proud Of

I remember a while ago bemoaning that nothing I could draw would ever get more popular than my Forgotten Land "moon's haunted" meme or my Kumzaki Trio stained glass piece, even though both of those make me cringe horribly now. (I like the concept behind the stained glass piece but BOY did I not know what I was doing.)

Then, one day, I sketched out this little concept piece of Adeleine telling Dedede about her "missing older brother" based on a silly idea I had about Dark Matter...

"Apologies" (originally titled "...For Your Loss...") is now my most popular post (?) according to some random Tumblr statistic thing I happened to discover! I STILL remember working on it - that every panel I sketched, every line I inked, I was certain I was going to ruin it. "I can't draw hands!" "How do I convey Dedede's thoughts here?! "

But the further along I got, the more I got to thinking "Uh, um... holy cats, I think this looks... good??" It's to the point that I over-stress myself about drawing the rest of the AU because I want it to live up to the impact of that first comic!

...I received a comment on Reddit of all places along the lines of "Hire this person to draw/write an official Kirby comic now!" or something. Obviously, that's never going to happen (despite it being my dream...! ) but it was one of the nicest compliments I'd ever gotten.

And I actually felt like maybe I deserved it! >w<

-

23 / Something I Hope People Notice

Oh gosh, I have so many things I hope people DON'T notice (like how I struggle to draw characters consistently, even in the same piece!)

I suppose... I like to always try something new, if I can. Whether it's a new camera angle, more background elements, more visible actions, better shapes, firmer character details... testing out lighting or cloth or the position of objects in space. I'd be honored as an artist-in-training if people can see my pushing for growth with everything I do!

Another thing though is that I actually work really hard on coming up with effective titles and those little bits of accompanying character dialogue you'll sometimes see at the bottom? To the point that I consider those "the other half" of my art.

So when people read and like those bits, I'm really happy!

[gaylordsmansion]

ive beaten gen 3 games before but this one is different. this is my childhood sapphire version that i lost all the way back in 2005. i was completely devastated when i lost this uniquely "marked" cartridge. to this day i still remember the very last place i saw it before i lost it.

what do i mean by "uniquely marked"?

one afternoon when i was sleeping over at my friend's house, i reached the seafloor cavern for the first time and couldnt figure out this part.

i got so immensely frustrated with it that i tossed the gameboy at my friend's chimney, the cartridge went flying out of the gameboy, and while everything still worked fine, it cracked the cartridge. this made it unmistakably mine if i ever encountered it again, though.

WHICH OF COURSE I DID. that picture up there is a cropped version of a big photo of cartridge games my cousin ended up discovering in his mom's storage. when i told him the story above, he was shocked and arranged for the cart to be sent to me. by this time, i was living in texas, he was in reno, and his mom's storage was in vegas.

in 2016, over ten years after i lost my sapphire version, my dad was vising his sister at a family gathering, and this was our chance. my cousin handed the cart off to my dad so he could bring it back to me. i knew by now there was no way my original data would still be there. that was fine with me. i just wanted my original cart back. in fact, in 2012, i tried to re-buy a different sapphire cart, but ended up sending it back to the seller because it was counterfeit. it was a sign, lol

when i got my sapphire version back, it was pokémon day 2016. pokémon's big 20th. and i had my sapphire version back. to this day it still feels like a fever dream.

of course, with starting gen 3 from the beginning again, this meant i had one important thing to do all over again. see, sapphire is the game where i found my first shiny. my first encounter on route 114 was a shiny swablu, that i ended up naming after the animal crossing character goldie. my first ever shiny.

i wasn't going to just accept that i no longer have my first shiny, so as soon as i reached that route, i prepared my materials: the white flute from the glass workshop. an illuminate starmie at level 17. lots of repels and premier balls. a swalot with yawn. and was prepared to camp on that route for weeks until i encountered my first shiny again.

in under two hours. first premier ball. it actually felt like goldie found me and came back home.

[better pic from box rs]

OH AND GUESS WHAT FUCKING HAPPENED TO ME AGAIN ONLY A COUPLE MINUTES AFTER BEATING THE E4 @kafus HOPE YOU'RE OKAY WITH ME TAGGING U ABOUT THIS LMFAO

[hopeymchope]

Surprises and takeaways from Capcom's "Platinum Titles" list

I never knew that Capcom maintains a list of every title they've ever produced that sold over a million units -- complete with how many units that game sold. But they do, and they just updated it! And it's fascinating!

There are currently 113 games on the list, although the way they arrange some of this stuff is INCREDIBLY specious. Like: Resident Evil 4 for GameCube and PS2, Resident Evil 4 for Wii, and Resident Evil 4 for download on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series AND Switch? Those are three separate entries despite being ports of the exact same goddamn game! Like, if you're gonna do THAT, why is the PS2 version listed alongside the GC version?!

Whatever, peeps. Here are some highlights of the list:

The top two items on the list are Monster Hunter games: World and Rise. Of course. But Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is listed as its own separate game at #5. Kinda odd.

Resident Evil fans regularly decry Resident Evil 6 as one of the worst in the series. Despite this, it's also in Capcom's top 10 best-selling games EVER. (For some reason, the list piles every single version of RE6 into one entry, unlike so many other games here). It's #7. And it's the third-best-selling Resident Evil game to date, too!

Best-selling RE game? Resident Evil 7. It's #3 on Capcom's list. But Resident Evil 2 remake is RIGHT behind it, and it might surpass it soon. Overall, when you look at the entire list, it's hard to deny that Resident Evil is the most popular franchise that Capcom's got. Damn near every spinoff series is represented herein — as well as some one-off side games.

Only ONE game makes the Top 10 that isn't either a "Monster Hunter" or a "Resident Evil." That would be Street Fighter V, sitting pretty at #9.

In fact, there's ALSO only ONE game in the entire Top 25 that isn't a "Monster Hunter," "Resident Evil," OR a "Street Fighter." It's the one and only Devil May Cry 5 at #11!

Now it's time for "Games that are often called failures that still are on the Platinum Titles list celebrating their sales." We already mentioned Resident Evil 6 above, but how about Remember Me at #85? 1.3 million units sold for a brand-new IP from a largely unknown developer is FUCKING GREAT. And do you remember how negatively Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was received? EVO barely even had a tournament for it. But it's the second-highest seller in its series, with its #52 placement putting it only five spaces behind MvC3. (Ultimate MvC3 is, of course, its own entry on the list. Sigh.) Guess it did QUITE all right for Capcom. Also: Bionic Commando reboot isn't far behind Remember Me at #87 with its own 1.3 million cited sales. But I understand that they probably spent more on that and expected even more because of the name recognition. It wasn't a new IP, sure. Maybe you expected more from the name brand. But what about that widely maligned DmC: Devil May Cry reboot? Well, with 2.9 million sales in its initial release and another 1.3 million for its Definitive Edition, it's the second-highest-selling Devil May Cry game EVER. Only DMC5 topped it. But I guess those sales don't put it very high above DMC4's, which was probably disappointing given that a reboot was meant to reinvigorate the series. Even so, kinda seems REALLY silly to call that number a failure, huh? "Biggest seller in the franchise" is a success by ANYONE's measurements. Maybe Capcom just had stupidly unrealistic expectations, Square Enix-style. :P

We already covered the top-selling games from Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Devil May Cry. So let's cover some other big Capcom franchises to see how their best-selling entries performed... under the below cut, that is.

I guess being a launch title for the XB1 helped Dead Rising 3 be the biggest in the series despite being absent from PlayStation systems, because it's at #27. And if they included "Apocalypse Edition" in that same entry, it'd have another million under its belt!

The original Dino Crisis made #42 counting ONLY its PS1 version, so it would logically be even higher if they counted the Dreamcast release. And Dino Crisis 2 ALSO made the Platinum list at #97! With all that in mind: Where's my fucking remake/new sequel?!?!

Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is at #49 with 2.1 million sold, and the first one not isn't far behind it at #54 — ONLY counting the PS2 release, notably. Would it beat Onimusha 2 if they included the Xbox port "Genma Onimusha" in those sales?

I have a bizarre amount of affection for the Lost Planet series. Alas, my it's my least-favorite entry — Lost Planet 2 — that barely squeezes into the top 50 at #50 with 2.1 million sold. And my fav entry, LP3, isn't even on the list! At least part 1 made it to #67... but that only counts the 360 and PC release. For some reason, PS3 isn't counted in that total.

Okami HD first released on PS3. But in a blatant instance of Bullshit Accounting, its entry on the Platinum Titles list only includes the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch ports. And that's not even getting into the fact that it's just an uprezzed port of the PS2 game that already had a Wii port. Neither of those versions are counted here either, but this shitty accounting made #51 anyway. By the way, if you're wondering about that original SD version? Or even its oft-forgotten squel, Okamiden? They're nowhere to be found here.

Ace Attorney finally hits Platinum with #53 — the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy for PS4, Switch, and PC. Yup, for some reason they didn't include the 3DS, Xbox One, or mobile releases of the trilogy in that total, which... is fucking stupid as shit. God, I'm quickly getting SO sick of the idiotic accounting on this list.

It's questionable whether Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen should really be a separate entry from vanilla Dragon's Dogma, but Dark Arisen is the champ of the two at #55 with 2 million sold. Wait... Dragon's Dogma gets a sequel with those sales, but y'all have abandoned Dino Crisis, Onimusha, and Lost Planet?! What the hell, Capcom?

My personal favorite Capcom series, Mega Man, hit a series high in sales with Mega Man 11, which is (sadly) only at #65. Given that Mega Man is such a goddamn icon, that scarcely seems possible. And yet? Here we are. Somehow.

The original NES port of Ghosts 'n Goblins marks the highest showing for the Ghousts/Goblins/Ghouls franchise at #68, boasting 1.64 million in sales. It's surprising to see it's the top-seller from Capcom's NES glory days! The only other entry from this franchise to make the list is the SNES classic Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which is down at #107.

Capcom has a great history of excellent games based on Disney properties. The top-tier DuckTales Remastered is the biggest hit of the lot, though, and it wasn't even developed in-house by Capcom. Regardless, it sold 1.5 million units and rests at #73. Makes you wonder why the NES sequel never got its own "Remastered" incarnation...

The SNES port of Final Fight was famously compromised, but it still sold more than any other part of the series with 1.48 million units getting it to #74. It's a shame they don't include all the OTHER many ports of the arcade original in here... not even "Final Fight Guy." :P But at least Final Fight 2 managed to squeeze onto the list to give FF a second piece of representation. You'll find it at #109.

Whether people count Bionic Commando and Commando as part of the same series tends to vary by region AND by the continuity you're talking about. But the "Bionic" reboot from 2009 reaches #87 here, and the NES port of Commando cracks the list at #104.

The badass Strider Hiryu manages to make the list at #90 courtesy of the 2014 reboot simply titled Strider.

[beevean]

Poll over!

The winner is, unsurprisingly, Illusionary Dance/Dance of Illusions. Ah, the classic. Originally from RoB, it was also re-arranged in SoTN, Legacy of Darkness (forgot about it lol, sorry) CoTM, and DoS, not to mention DX and DXC. This theme is Dracula: elegant and slightly mocking, really conveying the image that Dracula is simply dancing with his opponent. I think my favorite version is CoTM: strangely enough the bloopiness fits, and the whole arrangement sounds heroic.

Tied for second place, Proof of Blood and A Toccata Into Blood Soaked Darkness. I didn't expect PoB to get many votes, but I'm very glad it did! It's my favorite track in the game lol, perfect for this grueling fight. It also feels like a dance (it's actually in 3/4!), but obviously much more hype than Dance of Illusions. As for ATIBSD (what a name), it was nearly my pick, I really couldn't choose between it and Dracula's theme from SCIV. This is absolute peak. Magnificent. I keep associating the organs with Dracula's anger at being betrayed, and the steady modern drums with Hector and his determination to end things once and for all. The overall composition is complex, with intriguing chords (love when it shifts to major <3) and utterly captivating. And way too hype for this risible first form :\

Third place, Dracula's theme from SCIV. This one was my pick, and what a gem it is. Not only it reprises the intro, but as a final boss theme it's nothing like the usual: slow, melancholic, vaguely eerie, with a combination of strings and piano. It doesn't feel like the climatic showdown between Simon and Dracula: it feels like someone is marching to their death, fully accepting their fate.

Tied for fourth place, Black Banquet and Banquet of Madness. The former is an odd one, it's like it's constantly building up but it never reaches an actual explosive climax; it's mostly discordant noise. The latter is actually pretty underrated! It has interesting shifts in tempo, and how frantic it is, you really feel as if you're facing a creature... or creatures :P way above your level.

A trifecta for fifth place: Big Battle, Old Enemy and Dark Night Toccata. I like BB a lot: after the menacing Overture, we kick in gear with this boppy track that was even rearranged in CoTM. Not fond of the way it speeds up for the third phase lol. OE is highly underrated IMO, I'm in absolute love with the bass flying all over the place, and the melody itself feels resigned, somehow: you're facing the same old enemy, indeed. And I'm sad to see DNT so low! Walter delivers with a frantic theme that, like the other Toccata, is way too hype for how easy he is lmao. For this one I associate the organs with Leon's grief and fury, and the drums and brass with Walter's confidence.

In sixth place, Order of the Demon. To be honest, I don't really feel this one, especially compared to other brass-heavy tracks composed by Yamane. I guess it fits a Dracula that is barely taking Shanoa seriously?

And finally, pour one for Black Night, the OG Cookie Monster theme. Nothing much to say, it is what you would expect from a final boss theme of the NES era. It would sound better like this :P

Special shoutouts!

You Goddamned Bathead from Castlevania X68000, mentioned by @chibishortdeath! Not only the name is iconic, the theme itself has that 16-bit grungy feel I simply adore, and the synth screeching like a bat is brilliant.

Satan's theme from Lords of Shadow 2 and Gabriel's theme from Mirror of Fate, mentioned by @monochromatictoad! (I hope the second one is correct) Admittedly I don't vibe with this kind of orchestral themes, not because they're bad, but because they're movie-like and without the visuals I feel something is lacking. But I feel the malicious menace in the former, and something more melancholic and dignified in the latter.

[molagboop]

Long time no model post. Last time I did this, the image limit was 10. Now I am bound by no such constraints. Let's take a look at a statue from Ferenia. Specifically, chozosancstatuebig02mirror.

I'll preface this by saying I haven't done anything to make the textures look more like they may in-game (e.g.: making the gold portions look more metallic).

What we're looking at is a black and gold statue depicting a kneeling Mawkin warrior wearing a red cape. It holds a soldier's spear in its left hand, and its right hand is enclosed in a fist, touching the ground.

This statue appears in Escue's arena alongside two other statues: chozosancstatuebig02 (left) and chozosancstatuebig01 (center). chozosancstatuebig02mirror and chozosancstatuebig02 are identical, except the mirrored version is just that: flipped. sancstatuebig02 is kneeling on the left knee, and sancstatuebig02mirrored has its right knee touching the ground.

The subject of today's post is on the right-hand side of the above screenshot. We take a closer look at it beneath the cut, reaping the full advantage of Tumblr's spankin' new (several months-old now) 30 image limit.

The model is comprised of two meshes: the cape and the statue. It has no bones, as expected of a prop, and the textures are pretty low res because it's a background element that's not intended to be seen up close. This helps the developers save space on the cartridge, and the game doesn't have to render super detailed textures that you're never going to scrutinize in-game (at least not very closely).

I've removed the cape to examine the whole statue. It's modeled in full: unlike some larger props (and some NPCs: see Quiet Robe's chest), there is no vacant hole beneath the cape.

As you might have expected by looking at it during gameplay, its design doesn't deviate terribly from the Chozo Soldier NPCs. It's like someone posed a soldier, removed its bones, changed the colors, and crunchified the textures.

I gotta say, I appreciate the Mawkin's dedication to realism with this one. Some of their statues are styled or have a lot of edges and fancy details, but this is just a guy.

If I may be a nerd for a minute or two, it seems like this one embodies values that a warrior tribe may hold dear: gravity, duty, humility. In the boss room, two kneeling statues flank a standing warrior draped in cloth.

We're not given any context as to who they are or what exactly this represents, but the standing warrior in the center of the arrangement appears to be a figure of some renown: like a decorated officer flanked by a selection of solemn warriors. The Mawkin are warriors: their army seems to be a large part of their culture. Respect for one's betters, the act of honoring someone who stands out for their exceptional martial prowess: that's what I think of when I look at this.

I don't know who this is, but the arrangement gives off military ceremony vibes. According to "Adam", Ferenia is a temple complex, and the site of many ceremonies. Maybe one was held here.

The concept art shown here is from page 103 of the Metroid Mission Logs. The first image is on the top half of the page, the second is near the bottom. I can appreciate that they gave us two versions: the dramatic lighting in the second version is stunning, but I also like being able to see the room under more neutral light.

That's enough out of me. Here are some close-ups of the spearhead.

I tried to capture the detail in the front of the blade, crunchy as the textures may be. There are three pointed grooves in the center of the blade's front.

It doesn't appear any different from the... "living" soldier's spears.

The cape's going back on so I can talk about it.

The cloth rests just above the base of the neck, draped over the area behind the shoulders and falling over the back. The right foot is clipping through the back of the cape (from the leg with the knee on the ground), but that's a secret between us and the developers: you never see this during play.

I wanted to paint a better picture of where the breastplate ends and the cloth begins, so I took a few more shots.

You thought we were doing one statue today? No! We're also looking at chozosancstatuebig01.

This one also possesses two meshes, and they're the same as the last one: a cape and the rest of the statue.

As previously stated, this one differs from its companions in that it's standing instead of kneeling. The cloth is draped over its front instead of its back, but it doesn't wrap around the whole of the figure. It also appears tattered, like there's supposed to be more cloth covering the other half of the statue. The strands hanging over the left side could just be tassels or decorative drapery hanging off the main bit. Like it's wearing a cloak. Or a half-cape.

If you look at the concept art, that seems to be the case: there are gold stripes at the base of the strips, as well as at the top of the greater drape. If you look really closely at the red drape on the statue in the image above, you'll notice there may be traces of this idea left on the cloth, but they're not quite as golden as they appear in the concept art. The stripes on the tassels are hardly visible in the texture!

I wish the concept was translated with more clarity: I dig the idea of a soft, velvety, ceremonial drape with golden embroidery.

Something I find peculiar is the three circular indentations on the front of the chestplate, in the section between the concave indicators of where those red lights are on normal soldiers. There's one tiny hole on the left-hand side, and two larger holes on the right.

There are also two holes in the right bicep, a dent in the left bicep, and a big chunk taken out of the upper left leg. It stands to reason that these blemishes might be the result of long-term wear and tear: environmental damage, Silent Spear falling backwards into the arrangement like an idiot, that sort of thing. Who knows?

The blade on this one's spear is wider than the other statue's, and their construction is different, as well. The pole isn't visible halfway through the back of the blade on the other statue.

That about does it. Thanks for sticking with me, and expect more statueposting.

[legend-of-zelda-voices]

"Melodies of Life" from Final Fantasy IX

LoZ: Malon (OoT Re-Arranged CD)

LU: Malon

Japanese Version

English Version

Above video with captions here if they don't show up on Tumblr.

Live version with a bit of both languages here.

Different arrangement of the English Version here.

‎

Translated English & English Lyrics:

Japanese Direct Translation:

I was wandering without a destination

I continued to search without any clues

Making the memories you gave to me

Into a song to heal my heart

‎

The days when, without making any promises,

Without exchanging words or consciously deciding,

You embraced me and sought me out;

Those days will never return

‎

The you who touches my hand within my memories

Can still call out my name

‎

Change those flowing tears

Into shining courage

Life goes on,

Continuing beyond the night,

Into a tomorrow which has never been doubted

‎

I wonder how many memories have been left

To the sky beyond the flying birds

While forgetting even fleeting hopes and dreams

In an unreachable place

‎

How can you say that happening upon each other was a coincidence,

Even when the time for us to part will surely come?

‎

Even though I am fated to fade away,

As long as you are alive

Life will go on

For eternity

All the way to the limits of that strength

Even if I were to die,

As long as you are alive,

Life will go on

For eternity

All the way to the limits of that strength

‎

---

‎

English Version:

Alone for a while I've been searching through the dark

For traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart

To weave by picking up the pieces that remain

Melodies of life--love's lost refrain

‎

Our paths they did cross, though I cannot say just why

We met, we laughed, we held on fast, and then we said goodbye

And who'll hear the echoes of stories never told?

Let them ring out loud till they unfold

In my dearest memories, I see you reaching out to me

Though you're gone, I still believe that you can call out my name

‎

A voice from the past, joining yours and mine

Adding up the layers of harmony

And so it goes, on and on

Melodies of life,

To the sky beyond the flying birds--forever and beyond

‎

So far and away, see the bird as it flies by

Gliding through the shadows of the clouds up in the sky

I've laid my memories and dreams upon those wings

Leave them now and see what tomorrow brings

‎

In your dearest memories, do you remember loving me?

Was it fate that brought us close and now leaves me behind?

‎

A voice from the past, joining yours and mine

Adding up the layers of harmony

And so it goes, on and on

Melodies of life,

To the sky beyond the flying birds--forever and beyond

‎

If I should leave this lonely world behind

Your voice will still remember our melody

Now I know we'll carry on

Melodies of life

Come circle round and grow deep in our hearts

As long as we remember

(From the captions in the videos)