#including one that sonic killed mario

[sollilua-2]

when i was a kid, i hyperfixated on sonic but since i didnt know english and didnt have much access to The Internet(tm), i just made up the lore and names for the characters 

[sonicjustbecause]

I always saw Sonic as more mature and darker than Mario since 1991

Well, actually Tails was the first realization of this aspect.

I still laugh when I and my friends (two fraternal twin sister, just few months younger than me) were talking about Dr Eggman:

The twins: 'Here comes the mad scientist!' Me: 'Is he evil?' The twins: 'No' Me: 'So, what he wants to do to Sonic?' The twins: 'Kill him' Me: 'then, he IS evil!'

I didn't think much about that back then. many of my favourite cartoons contained dark scenes. In the Smurf there were episodes where they talked about death sencences, animal cruelty (shown), even racism sometimes. And weapons. Those were pretty normal stuffs in kids cartoons.

Although in a kid friendly way, if the animal was hurt, once saved it remained hurt and had to be cared through recovery, it didn't magicallly heal.

Then Tails came

What caught my attention were his twins tails. The obvious representation of diversity through design that wasn't the usual 'guy/gal in weelchair who turns out to be a Mary Sue'. I think a different kind of diversity that is often overlooked.

Tails was a child, he was flawed, he could do things Sonic could not but he also could do not do things Sonic could do, and he was very unexperienced. His twin tails gave him advantages but only to a degree. you could love him or hate him easily because he was made to be relatable, not to be loved or hated by everybody.

Well, since my understanding was low and i also was also a child, i assumed tails got two Tails after Eggman experimented on him, and somehow he escaped from his clutches (helped by Sonic most likely).

I though also Sonic could be an experiment of sort, with his blue fur, his speed and his vaguely feline face despite being a hedgehog. I wonderd how gruesome the experiment were. Especially because Sonic series also showed actual beasts, like Pocky, Flicky etc...

Sonic SatAM also was quite dark, when people were turned into robots by Eggman (who truly was evil, and who also had some accident woth his own inventions that left him scarred forever), the struggle, the fear was shown.

Sonic's tears

Mandates existed. Also in the past. All side materials what were sold - cartoons, comics etc were all SEGA approved after being supervised, including Sonic SatAM, Aosth, Sonic Underground, Archie comics etc...

But Sonic could cry, how?

Well, mandates before Iizuka were way looser and used to leave a great room of freedom to all Sonic authors. Archie comics also had lots of scenes with Sonic crying, all supervised and approved. Latest time Sonic was seen crying was in Sonic Adventure 2, then in Sonic Prime, but it had to be contained (By the time of Adventure 2 it was Maekawa's deliberate choice. Mandates were still loose. With Sonic Prime Sonic had to hold back).

Tears of grief

Here the former limits of mandates about sonic crying, tears are there and the sadness is still convincing.

Today you have to be sneaky for this. Sonic is not being tsundere here but is showing the emotions of another character who linked with Sonic before and that can't cry for obvious reasons. Noticed how casual Sonic's expression is. They even needed to underline that Sonic never cries, doesn't matter what, through dialogues.

So cold...

if it was made in the early 2000s I would have seen more emotion in this scene. This is after Sonic's friends saves Sonic from cyber corruption. If he is sure he can save them, he isn't supposed to cry, but at least look more worried.

In Sonic 2 for Sega Master System, in one of the two endings, Tails dies. and Sonic looks up the sky, remembering him.

Familiar, uh?

Sonic doesn't always have to be dark. He works well with light hearted things. But he is part of a context were death and violence were shown from the start

Sonic didn't look always happy and used to have lots of Shadow vibes and attitudes in certain situations.

Mario

Mario, though seen as Sonic rival game mascotte, was something different. It was never dark. All characters have a pudgy look and are joyful. Even the villains are quite hilarious. they may be treatening but they aren't nearly as seriously evil and cruel as Dr. Eggman

Anything was shown to be light hearted and humorous. Mario's exaggerated Italian accent, parodies of well known fairy tales and movies (King Kong, the various fairy tales with the princess in distress) everything turns happy and sad scenes are never intense.

This is the darkest thing in Mario. And is hilarious.

[rosie-love98]

How About These Ronald McDonald Headcanons?:

Date Of Birth: April 15th, 1945.

Parents: Ronald McDonald I (the 1950's-60's Ronald) and, either Petronelle Folie (The Coca Cola Pierrette)...

Or Pretty Peggy Pepper (Still can't decide which...):

Cousins are Wendy Treacher (The Wendy's Girl) and Felix Griffin Bing (The Marvelous Magical Burger King). All while Bozo The World's Most Famous Clown is their uncle. Another uncle they have is an evil magical clown called, "Bathos".

Together, Wendy, Felix and Ronald are the great-grandchildren of Zombor's Dark Wizard, Savonin:

Savonin had a daughter with a Green Fairy named "Hildagaurd". Hildagaurd would run away to join the circus to meet and marry a clown, Pinto McDonald, and the rest is history.

Is younger than Felix but older than Wendy.

When Ronald was a little clown, he got his dog, Sundae, as a birthday present.

Ronald has known Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Barbie, Felix The Cat and Betty Boop ever since he was an infant. They had even babysat him! Yes, even Barbie (remind her of her age and she'll kill you...Bugs MAY HAVE learned that lesson the hard way...).

Ronald is also friends with The Muppets, Mario, Sonic and even Sportacus.

Married the Starbucks Siren herself, Astraea Kyllini, in 1981. But, after Astraea's mother died, the marriage had to be long-distanced. This was because Astraea, had to perform her duties at Siren's Island.

In 2014, Ronald and Astraea welcomed their first and only child, Cherry.

Biggest Fear: Losing his love ones with nothing he could do.

Favorite songs include but not limited to "Pure Imagination" ("Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory"), "Smile, Smile, Smile" ("My Little Pony"), "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" (Kenny Loggins) and "Circo Circo" (Bonnie Bianco).

Ronald is a powerful magician but if his magic should go for whatever reason, it could be life threatening.

Is an ENFP.

Though friendly, generous and upbeat, Ronald can have a bit of a sarcastic side (makes you wonder where Sundae got it from...).

@mcdonaldlands-blog @gl1tchy-4rt @soggyfryshortbread @fragglesesamemuppetz2 @bunnycakez-xoxo

[gojixyz69]

DEATH BATTLE PREDICTION

So if you don't know Death Battle announced new Death Battle episode and with these three MU'd they also showed teasers for them and today I'm going to predict who would win. But before I start I know that Death Battle returns in fall/late 2024 but I really want to do this since I really like these matchups and yes I know that there are other matchups that Death Battle announced but I'm going to talk about the matchups that I personaly hyped for and also if I try to make a prediction on those other mu's then this post would be long and I just want to talk about who would win, so with out further a do let's go

Omni Man vs Bardock

Now this one is close and I mean extrmely close (with now SSJ) both Omni Man and Bardock are planetary with Omni Man being way faster and having more experince, however Bardock on the other end is at most dwarf star level since he has a power level of 10.000 whitch would scale him to King Vegeta who can destry three planets with a wave and also Bardock would also get stronger threw zenkais or adapting meaning Bardock would be stronger than Omni Man and while Bardock is slower he has long range attacks whitch would help and there's also his Oozaru form whitch increases his power 10× whitch also includes speed. So overall I do think Bardock would win but it is extremely close since again Omni Man is faster and is at planetary range of power, however with Bardock's strenght, powers and range would give him the win.

Bowser vs Eggman

If you saw some of my posts then you would know that... THIS IS MY MOST WANTED MATCHUP seriously when it was announced I was super happy so yeah I'm hyped AF, and as for who wins I talked about that twice

https://www.tumblr.com/gojixyz69/755727447529553920/bowser-vs-eggman-by-death-battles-scaling?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/gojixyz69/754154149216714752/bowser-vs-eggman-the-honest-truth?source=share

But to put it simply Bowser takes it since he's likely steonger due to scaling to Mario and Wario and also having pretty good feats as well as y'know surviving a deep in the sun and a black hole whitch would put him at star levels of durability and if you saw the latest Sonic episodes then you would know that they would put them at most planetary, whitch would mean that Eggman can't really kill Bowser specialy since Dry Bowser exists and finally there's Bowser's magic with it he can summon enemies, transmutate, etc. So yeah Bowser FTW.

Kratos vs Aura

And finally we have the matchup I voted for in ToC and now were getting it whitch js SICK especialy the teaser. Now as for who wins here's a video talking about it https://youtu.be/u1xNnEnQOLw?si=R9RaZlOOXtW2n4hO

But to put it simply Kratos wins he shown more impressive feats and unlike Asura who died stayed that way Kratos died and came back.

So yeah those are my predictions, if you disagree that's fine this is just my opinion so don't take it personale.

[crusherthedoctor]

How about an update on what's been finalized and semi-finalized so far for Paper Mario: Forget It Jake, It's Eggmanland. No? Well too bad, I'm gonna do it anyway. :D

Some of these have been pondered out loud previously... but most of them haven't.

- Since Mario has full dialogue now, I've had to think about how best to portray him. Ultimately, while he's obviously in-line first and foremost with the Charles Martinet/Kevin Afghani portrayal in the games proper, I'm not averse to taking some minor touches from his recent movie portrayal, mainly regarding his relationship with Luigi, as well as the Captain Lou Albano portrayal from the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. By which I mean, he'll tell the readers that they'll go to hell before they die if they do drugs. He's also occasionally prone to Mario & Luigi-esque gibberish during moments of confusion or frustration, a trait shared by the latter brother. And speaking of him...

- Luigi is one of Mario's partners this time around, because why not. :] And while prone to slapstick moments as always, he won't get treated like an outright punching bag.

- Despite a certain Vivian-shaped elephant in the room, Peach will be portrayed with the same dignity as always, being a supportive ally who helps out the heroes in a similar way to 64 and TTYD. Though this time, I don't see her doing so in captivity, as Eggman doesn't have much of a reason to kidnap her beyond for the lulz, and would probably just try to kill her outright like he would with the other heroes. Or ask her if she plans to jump.

- Bowser will also be treated with respect. It goes without saying that Eggman will inevitably cause problems for the Koopa King as well, but at the same time, I know better than to humiliate Mario's arch-nemesis and undermine him just to elevate my preferred villain, and I also want to avoid the easy route of having Bowser team up with Mario as has happened already in various other RPGs, in favor of a more unique approach (and also because it would probably be hypocritical coming from the guy who keeps bitching about the overuse of Sonic/Eggman team-ups). So with that in mind, Bowser's role will probably be done in a sub-plot format similar to TTYD, and at a suitably climactic point in the story, he'll finally get to clash with Eggman, Bowser's Inside Story-style.

- Like a lot of PM fans, I've always been somewhat doubtful about the validity of Beldam's supposed change of heart, but despite this, I felt it would be too cruel and cynical to turn Vivian giving her sisters another chance into a Shaggy Dog Story ("But you complain when IDW Sonic-" Context and characterization is important, get out the class). So instead, while it initially seems that Beldam and Marilyn have returned to their former evil ways, it soon becomes apparent that Eggman has forced them into it against their will, as an extra way of screwing with the heroes' heads. As such, one of Vivian's motivations is to free her sisters from his influence. (If it isn't obvious by now, the doctor is going out of his way to antagonise the heroes as much as humanly possible. Partly out of a scientific desire to see what makes these people tick... but mostly because he's just an arsehole who finds the misfortune of people other than himself amusing, as befitting his canonical narcissism and manchild tendencies.)

- Grodus, on the other hand, is a much different story, being on Eggman's side completely willingly. More specifically, Eggman's machinations include offering Grodus a new body and the chance for revenge against both Mario and Beldam that he was unable to act on until now, in exchange for some leftover X-Naut tech that Eggman can use as a starting off point to build his newest army of Badniks and other dastardly creations.

- This should go without saying considering who the author is, but there is no "true" final villain, ala Shadow Queen and Dimentio. Like Bowser in 64, Eggman is the leading baddie from start to finish. That isn't to say there won't be any twists and turns in the plot, just that they'll involve other matters instead... like the details surrounding his plan.

- Other characters from 64 and TTYD will show up, though I haven't fully decided on which ones yet. Just like with my Sonic works, I want every character I use to have an actual purpose for being there beyond mere fanservice. So far, Goombella and a slightly older Watt will definitely be in it, as well as a new variation of the infamous Huff N. Puff.

- References to the post-TTYD installments, while not completely non-existent, won't be all that common. Despite my controversial thoughts on those games (well, Super Paper Mario at least), this decision wasn't made to spite them. Rather, it's because it's somewhat tricky to acknowledge them in a way that blends well with the 64/TTYD presentation and tone that I wish to maintain. That said, there will still be some nods for their fans on occasion, like maybe a name drop here and there.

- For similar reasons, Kammy will be used as Bowser's lackey instead of Kamek, and Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings will probably be a no-show since they had no presence in the Paper series until much later. On the other hand, despite them having no Paper appearances period, I have contemplated finding a use for more distinct characters like Wario and Donkey Kong if I can think of something sufficiently meaty for them to do that ties back in some way to the overarching plot.

- There will also be some mild references to the non-Paper RPGs on occasion, such as Eggman's antics and overall demeanour reminding Mario a little too much of Fawful. Of course, as always, I'll try to not overuse them or make them too Flynn-tier hamfisted in their execution.

[shadysubject06]

A while back Instagram decided to make it impossible for US artists to manually opt out of allowing Meta AI to scrap their work. Currently the only way to opt out is to send Meta a *request*, in which you need to include proof that your art has already been scraped....and then I guess they get back to you on that.

Anyways, I was and kinda still am going through a self loathing problem when it comes to my art. This definitely didn't help, but it did give me the motivation to go looking into what's happening with ai and how to fight it. You can read those ramblings under the cut if you so wish.

So! If you have a computer that can run it, I highly recommend downloading Nightshade and Glaze. Glaze will protect your art style from being copied, but Nightshade is a POISON. If shading a single image, you can manually enter a tag for NS to "cloak". If shading in batches, Nightshade will generate a tag for each image after scanning them for recognizable images. It's a bit hit or miss sometimes, but the above images when run through NS would most likely be tagged as something like "cartoon" or "glasses" or "drawing". That way when they are scraped, the ai will be shown something that isn't a cartoon/glasses/drawing but is tagged as such, and that will alter what it generates when prompted with any of those words. Even if you aren't an artist, you can run anything from game screenshots to memes through it. Tags can also be character names like Mario, Sonic, etc.

YOU SHOULD ALSO NEVER EXPLICITLY SAY IF YOUR WORK IS SHADED OR NOT

Currently, AI devs are expecting to have completely run out of unscraped data by 2026, according to this article I found. Which means they have, and continue to, scrape everything you can find just by moseying through the internet. One of the ways that MetaAI came up with to possibly get more material, was to buy a publishing company so they could scrape all the available books under it's name.

AI cannot generate images meant to imitate art unless it has art it can steal. Protect your art, or just poison it for fun. Either we kill it or it starves.

[superthatguy62]

A Reflection on Alex Kidd

Some time ago I played through two platformers that happened to have re-releases on the Switch.

The first was Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil. An excellent game, very good platformer, would definitely recommend even if it gets kinda intense towards the end.

The other was Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX. Alex Kidd was one of those franchises that I knew existed, but didn’t think too much about. Most of my exposure was via Alex Kidd and the Enchanted Castle on the Genesis, which was decidedly kinda janky (and not in a fun way) and punishing. But it still remained a curiosity to me, so when the remake caught my eye, I decided to eventually nab it and experience it for myself.

Cut to now and I’ve not only played Miracle World DX, but the Sega Ages version of the original as well as read up on the other games in the series.

And now I have thoughts regarding this franchise and so must inflict them upon all of you. My apologies. 

(Janken Dance!)

The Origin of Alex Kidd

Alex Kidd is considered Sega’s second mascot, preceded by Opa Opa: A cute sentient spaceship that fights to protect to Fantasy Zone who is also a child soldier and traumatized by the events of the game up to and including killing his own father, the leader of the enemy forces. 

However, when Sega entered the home market and released the Mark III console (the basis for the Master System), they wanted a character that could stand against Mario.

(Sega showing themselves to be the masters of subtlety)

Alex’s creation, funnily enough, mirrors that of his rival: Sega had intended to create a Dragon Ball video game, but were ultimately unable to secure the license. They decided to take what they had and turn it into a new character: Goku’s power pole was replaced by by Alex’s fists and his design eventually shifted to what would become Alex. With this in mind, the series’ chibi artstyle could very well be rooted in OG Dragon Ball and people have pointed out some of the remaining similarities on sites like The Site That Formerly Had The Blue Bird. One particular similarity is vehicles: Various Dragon Ball artworks had an emphasis on vehicles owing to Akira Toriyama’s fondness for them and Kotaro “Ossale” Hayoshida has a similar interest. Thus, the two main console Alex Kidd platformers feature the Peticopter and the Sukopako Motorcycle.

Plot:

The Alex Kidd franchise is emblematic of Sega’s approach to storylines in their games and builds off of what Fantasy Zone did before, as well as setting a standard that the Sonic series would follow later.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World takes on the Planet Aries, which is invaded by a tyrant known as Janken the Great. At the time, Alex was an orphan who trained under a master named Saint Nubia and thus had no idea of Janken’s take over until he came across some citizens. Alex goes back to his master who reveals to him the truth: Alex himself is one of the two princes of the kingdom of Radaxian. The royal family has been in a tizzy as the king disappeared shortly before Janken’s take over with acting king, Prince Igul/Egul, being held captive in Radaxian Castle itself. Alex thus sets off to not only save his kingdom, but his family as well, using the technique of Shellcore; a style of martial arts that allows its users to embiggen their limbs (or at least, their hands).

It’s not the most original plot, nor is it really the first platformer to put such emphasis on plot (Maybe. I’m not sure.). Still, considering that Sega had eyed Alex as a potential rival to Mario, it’s interesting to see some degree of ambition here: The reveal of Alex being the prince of Radaxian is saved for a couple levels in. When Alex needs to get into a nearby kingdom after rescuing his brother, he has to collect a letter inside Radaxian Castle (in turn, rescuing his brother) or he’ll be turned away. Even after beating Janken, Alex still needs to reclaim the Crown of Radaxian that Janken was after. It gives a general context for why you’re going through the stages that’s a smidge more varied than usual. And then there’s something else that I’ll mention later.

Compare this with the Mario games, which generally had little plot: SMB1 had functionally no plot outside of a general premise, Mario 3′s only major plot development is saved for World 8 and while Super Mario World narrates prose after each Koopaling is defeated, it doesn’t really have any more of a significant plot as was seen in Super Mario Bros 3. Overall, Sega’s games would have more ambitious plotlines, with Sonic picking up where Alex left off and taking it to further and higher heights.

Gameplay

Alex Kidd in Miracle World is a simple platformer. Alex’s two primary actions at any given time are jumping and punching something with his enlarged fist. Aside from vehicles and temporarily from a certain powerup, Alex can only over take one hit before dying. Lose all of your lives and it’s game over... although, if you have enough money (and know of a certain code in the original game) you can purchase another continue. Levels in Miracle World tend to be short, so it’s not too bad to die in the game (although you do lose the Telepathy Ball on a game over and certain stages the jungle can be a pain to get through normally).

Stages in Alex Kidd tend to vary: sometimes they’re simple platforming stages. Other times, Alex can use a vehicle: The motorcycle is optional and can be purchased from the shop, the boat appears automatically and the Peticopter (a pedal-based Helicopter) varies. These vehicles can make getting through a stage a breeze, but they only have one hitpoint: In the case of the motorcycle or stages where Alex can purchase the Peticopter, Alex must brave the rest of the stage himself. In the cases where he starts in a vehicle, Alex will fall into a level underneath the play area and have to work from there. Lastly there are castle levels that are significantly more mazelike. There’s only two such levels in the game: Radaxian Castle and Janken’s Castle.

Powerups differ from Super Mario Bros as well. While you’ll occasionally find power ups (usually extra lives) scattered throughout Radaxia in marked boxes, you’ll mostly be getting them from shops that litter the world. These shops cost money, which you can find scattered all over the place. The powerups range from a barrier that makes Alex immune to enemy attacks at the cost of not allowing him to attack, a ball that can shoot mini clones of Alex at enemies and a magic rod that lets Alex hover in the air. One powerup that you can only get from item boxes is Death, who will promptly chase Alex until scrolled offscreen. Another is skull boxes which aren’t necessarily powerups so much as they stun Alex for a moment if he punches them. Lastly is the Telepathy ball, which may or may not be critical to winning at Jankenpon, depending on your knowledge anyway.

 At the end of certain stages, Alex will run into one of Janken’s minions (excepting Janken’s Castle, where he runs into the big man himself) and will have to play Jankenpon (i.e. Rock-Paper-Scissors). It’s pretty much as you’d expect: Music plays, Alex can pick a hand to chose, when the music stops you play the hand. Best 2 out of 3 are the rules and if Alex loses, he dies. There are two general work arounds for Jankenpon. 1st: Getting the Telepathy Ball allows Alex to see his opponent’s thoughts and therefore get an idea of what they’re going to pick. This is less helpful as it sounds as the thoughts occur in real time and are constantly shifting, meaning the opponent can suddenly switch their hand at the last second, giving you only a split second to react. However, the Telepathy Ball does help with the second option: Janken and his minions have set patterns when it comes to Jankenpon. Thus, if you know the pattern, you can easily sweep the two rounds needed to progress. The issue is that the patterns change if Alex loses a round (i.e. if the opponent chose scissors and Alex loses, he won’t choose scissors next time). Still, one could theoretically puzzle out the winning hands and learn to choose them each time.

Boss battles are a very non-graceful affair. In the first encounters with Janken’s generals, they will die immediately after losing. In the second encounters, they will actually fight by means of detaching their heads and/or shooting projectiles. Since mercy invulnerability does not exist for enemies and Alex himself dies in one hit, boss fights usually end quickly. The absolute irony is that the easiest boss in the game is none other than the final one, Janken the Great himself: His primary attack is shooting a projectile, and the nature of how he shoots it means that Alex can stand right next to him and be at no risk. Perhaps it’s for the best that the actual final challenge is a more puzzle-oriented level.

Re-releases and Ports

Alex Kidd in Miracle World was never as widely re-released as it’s Genesis sequel. The original game remained Master System exclusive until it landed on the Wii’s Virtual Console. It eventually made it to the PS3 in 2012 as part of the Sega Vintage Collection (or Sega Ages Online) line. Today, the two options for playing Miracle World legitimately are the Switch-Exclusive Sega Ages release by M2 or the Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX remake.

Miracle World DX generally updates the graphics, adds some new stages and expands on the story somewhat (the major difference being that Alex himself now has dialogue and the first stage now takes the place of the Japanese manual’s storyline to explain how Alex learns about Janken). The game has a few QoL options that make the game easier (better controls, infinite lives and permanently having the telepathy ball) but I believe achievements are disabled if those options are turned on. Also, I’m not sure if it’s a glitch, but progress seems to be tied to the game state (i.e. if you decide to replay Mt. Eternal after finishing the game, the game will reset your progress to as if you started a fresh game at Mt. Eternal). On the other hand, the game has some neat little touches such as collectibles referencing both other Alex Kidd games (even including Enchanted Castle’s interesting boxart) and other Sega games in general, including Sonic or how the food Alex eats can be changed (in the original game the donut riceball was changed to a hamburger. The remake gives you the ability to toggle the change and even adds a few new ones). The game also allows the player to shift the artstyle to one closely matching the original Miracle World at the push of a button. The overall consensus is that if you like the original Miracle World, you’ll probably like the remake, but if you didn’t, then you won’t be won over either. The game is faithful, perhaps to a fault (and even then, there’s almost assuredly some mechanical differences that I do not know about).

The Sega Ages version is more of a remaster. In addition to Original Mode, which is what that name implies, Ages mode adds a new soundtrack based on the FM Sound Unit: An add-on for the Sega Master System which improved the audio capabilities and could lead to some stark differences between it and the more “bleep-bloop”-ish PSG audio (Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars would have support for the FM Sound Unit and is a good example of such differences). Ages mode also adds new illustrations at the start of each level (covering the map, which can still be seen on the pause screen) and adds a rewind function, which can make playing the game easier.

Later Games 

The franchise after Miracle World went in some... odd directions.

(Multiverse theory means that there is a timeline where “with STELLA” became as much of a meme as “& Knuckles”, “Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series” “New Funky Mode”, etc)

The first follow-up was Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (With Stella), an arcade title released the same year as Miracle World, getting a port to the Master System two years later. I’d tell the plot here, but there’s a bit of an issue: While I cannot read Japanese, the little I’ve parsed through DeepL suggests that it varies much differently from the English plot. This was kind of a thing Sega did on occasion (see: Sonic CD). Regardless of which region, the overall plot is that a greedy star known as the Ziggurat (or the Bloom?) is going around absorbing other stars. Alex and his new ??? Stella must go out and find the Miracle Balls to restore the constellations of Planet Aries. In terms of gameplay, it’s a bog-standard run ‘n jump with bizarre visuals. Alex can’t even attack enemies without a specific power up.

(Pictured: Sega of America’s depiction of Alex Kidd, which would remain consistent in terms of western covers until Shinobi World)

The second, more direct follow-up is Alex Kidd and the Enchanted Castle for the Sega Genesis. If Miracle World was a flawed, if somewhat interesting game, then Enchanted Castle says “you are like baby: watch this.”

Gameplaywise: Alex has a new jumping-kick move when he descends, which requires positioning as it’s not a traditional jump attack. The plot-related elements that Miracle World had are non-existent, being a straightforward platformer. Rather than being strictly a boss battle affair, Jankenpon is now necessary to buy anything in the stores (or rather, the one item they have on display) and speaking of, there is only one proper boss fight in the main villain Ashura. Every other “boss” is a bout of Jankenpon. Most damningly, movement is just as slippery as ever and Alex still dies in a single hit.

Then there’s the ending, which...

The plot of Alex Kidd and the Enchanted Castle is that Alex hears a tip that his father is on another planet... namely, the planet that Janken the Great from the previous game is from. Alex travels there and fights his way to a castle in the sky, where he encounters Ashura, Janken’s son (maybe?). After defeating him, Ashura runs into the next room where King Thor/Thunder is waiting, perfectly fine. As it turns out King Thor had never been taken prisoner; He was visiting Janbarik/Paperock and took Ashura as his servant. The End.

(Alex’s Enchanted Castle design would go on to become the base for his modern design, albeit with some minor changes).

And here’s where the franchise gets weird.

Alex Kidd in Hi-Tech World was released for the Sega Master System the same year as Enchanted Castle. This one is interesting as it never released in Japan. Why? Because I lied: It did, but it wasn’t connected to Alex Kidd at all.

Anmitsu Hime was a Japanese manga/anime about a tomboy princess getting into all sorts of antics. It got a licensed video game in 1987. About 2 years later, Sega of America decided to “SMB2″ it for... reasons I cannot fathom. The main character was replaced by Alex, the characters were changed to be legally distinct versions, and the objective was switched from reaching a cake shop to reaching Hi-Tech World to play some Sega games (meaning the title is technically a lie: Alex is in Hi-Tech World in the ending).

So if you were ever wondering why Radaxian Castle went from a European Castle to a Japanese castle, why Alex’s parents are suddenly overtly Japanese, why Alex is being attacked by ninjas, etc, that’s why.

And speaking of ninjas...

(Alex is by everything as he contemplates the state of his franchise) 

Alex Kidd in Shinobi World was the last Alex Kidd game originally released in 1990, just a year before his speedy blue understudy would enter the scene. The plot is simple: Alex’s girlfriend is kidnapped by the Dark Ninja. The White Ninja, deciding that Alex is a bad enough dude to rescue her, grants him ninja powers. And all of this takes place on Planet Shinobi.

This is a weird one.

Despite being made by Sega’s R&D 2, Shinobi World was never released in Japan. It was called “Shinobi Kid(d)” during development, raising questions of if it was ever intended to be an Alex Kidd-related game. The first boss was originally a parody of Mario. This game, overall, was the note this series ended on.

Apparently, it plays really well by virtue of being based on Shinobi, so a high note. Still pretty sad when you think about it.

There is one last game to talk about regarding the Alex Kidd franchise, but it isn’t a sequel. On the contrary, it predates the series and even afterwards, it’s not immediately clear how it fits.

(Pitter Potter)

Pit Pot is a puzzle game, somewhat like Tower of Druaga. A knight, wielding a magical hammer, must save a princess who is trapped in the titular Castle Pit Pot by a witchsorceress. The knight, Igul, searches the castle for the three treasures he needs and succeeds in rescuing the princess.

But what does that have to do with Alex Kidd? Because Igul, the knight who’s the main character, is in fact the same Igul/Egul who is acting king of Radaxian, and the princess who is rescued after defeating Janken, Princess Lora/Rooney, is indeed the same princess that Igul rescued in Pit Pot. This is furthered by the Alex Kidd Complete Album release, which includes music from Pit Pot.

And Pit Pot, itself, is a sequel to an unreleased game called “Chain Pit”.

In any case, the Miracle World DX remake references this further The collectible for Radaxian Castle is given to Alex by the captain of the royal guard. The collectible in question? Igul’s hammer.

Other Appearances & Legacy

While never reaching the lows of say, Bubsy for example, Sega did have some fun poking at Alex’s failure to truly take off. Altered Beast has tombstones reading “Alex” and “Stella”, a reference to Lost Stars. Alex also featured in Segagaga, including a scene where he speaks with the main protagonist, Taroh, in order to convince him not to give up after he has been fired from Sega. Segagaga is a parody RPG of sorts, being one of the last games Sega made before exiting the console market (with the game itself reflecting the state they were in). With that in mind, the entire game takes on a bittersweet tone and Alex’s speech and reflection on his failure to catch on have a similar feeling, especially one scene that implies that Alex felt envious of Sonic (his replacement).

Alex has also been a mainstay of the Sega Superstars/Sonic & All Stars brand since Superstars Tennis.  While the franchise in general never got a court or track, Alex himself still has a slew of references: His Superstar State in Tennis is based on Jankenpon from the two main console games while All Stars Racing features the Sukopako motorcycle as his standard vehicle and Peticopter as his All-Star move. Sega still finds use for Alex even today as a mascot for their early years, with the Sega Ages line on Nintendo Switch having Alex present the games. Alex also appeared in the back half of the Mega Man/Sonic Archie crossover Worlds Unite (i.e. Sega X Capcom, sadly not as exciting as you’d think).

(But it still gave us stuff like this image)

And of course, the Miracle World remake, which started as a fan project.

Conclusion

So... why did I type up all of that? 

I dunno. I feel like Alex Kidd is a series that had potential, but squandered it. Miracle World is decent, if flawed, but Enchanted Castle doesn’t fix (or even doubles down) on those issues. I haven’t played the other games yet but given what I’ve seen of Lost Stars and the nature of the other two games, I’m not keeping expectations high. I suppose I’m just lamenting what could’ve been with this charming little series after playing both versions of Miracle World.

Of course, we got Sonic from all of that. People can argue over how worth it it was considering the later games and the fanbase and etc, but overall probably the best call...

Alex’s future these days is no better or worse than it has been for years. A proper follow up game is as unlikely as it’s always been. “Ossale” has stated/joked that if he could make a modern day Alex Kidd, it would be a realistic first-person action game with a feeling similar to the movie, Shaolin Soccer.

Miracle World still has a fanbase, especially in regions such as Brazil where the Master System is fondly regarded. The game even has a modest fan-hacking scene: You won’t find anything on the level of, say, Sonic: The Next Level, but it’s still noteworthy. Full on fan-games are rarer, but SAGE 2023 did have someone make an “Alex Kidd CD” to imagine what Alex Kidd would be like on the Sega CD, so there’s that.

Will we ever see a fangame that reinvents Alex Kidd with a detail of quality comparable to the finer Sonic fan games? Probably not, but imagine if we did, and Alex and Stella got an adventure that endeared them to players.

It’d be a Miracle.

[monstrouspegasister]

Fanganronpa ideas

ATTENTION ASPIRING FANGAN MAKERS!!!

Would you like an idea for a future fangan, free of charge? Well, your wish is my command! Here are all the fangan ideas I’ve devised but for one reason or anohter, decided to abandon (mostly cuz I’ve thought of another idea!) Make sure you credit me, first!

(Author’s note: All these character suggestions are just that- suggestions. Feel free to include or exclude any of them. Also, if you think one of the characters isn’t given the right Ultimate Talent, you’re welcome to change it.)

Disney Princess fangan

MC: Snow White, Aurora, Sofia, or Elena

Snow White: [Royal Talent undecided]

Cinderella: Royal Maid

Tinker Bell: Royal Inventor

Aurora: Royal Lucky Student

Ariel: Royal Anthropologist

Belle: Royal Librarian

Jasmine: [Royal Talent undecided]

Pocahontas: Royal Survivalist (Author’s note: If you plan on including Pocahontas, I wouldn’t recommend killing her off. Her real-life counterpart has already been through enough. :[ )

Mulan: Royal Soldier

Tiana: Royal Restraunteur

Rapunzel: Royal Artist

Merida: Royal Archer

Vanellope: Royal Gamer

Moana: Royal Wayfinder

Raya: Royal Explorer

(Author’s note: Feel free to exclude anyone listed here and / or include other Disney heroines (Esmeralda, Kida, Mirabel, Asha, etc.)

Super Ronpa Bros

Super Smash Bros Ultimate fangan

MC: It’s all up to you!

Mario: Ultimate Plumber

Luigi: Ultimate Ghost Hunter

Peach, Daisy, and / or Zelda: Ultimate Princess

Bowser and / or Ganondorf: Ultimate Villain

Wario: Ultimate Microgame Developer

Link: Ultimate Hero

Samus: Ultimate Bounty Hunter

Star Fox, Falco, and / Or Wolf: Ultimate Space Pilot

Mr. Game and Watch: Ultimate Jack-Of-All-Trades

Solid Snake: Ultimate Secret Agent

Meta Knight: Ultimate Knight

Villager: Ultimate Mayor

Isabelle: Ultimate Secretary

Sonic: Ultimate Speedster

Olimar: Ultimate Astronaut

Little Mac: Ultimate Boxer

Steve: Ultimate Miner

Joker: Ultimate Detective

Sora: Ultimate Keyblade Wielder

My Little Danganronpa

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fangan

MC: It’s all up to you!

Twilight Sparkle: Ultimate Princess

Applejack: Ultimate Farmer

Bon Bon- Ultimate Spy (Sh: s revealed as Secret Agent Sweetie Drops later on. :3)

Cheerilee:Ultimate Teacher

Coco Pommel: Ultimate Assistant

Coloratura, Sapphire Shores, and / or Songbird Serenade: Ultimate Pop Sensation

Octavia Melody: Ultimate Cellist

Pinkie Pie: Ultimate Party Planner

Photo Finish: Ultimate Photographer

Suri Polomare: Ultimate Fashion Designer

Zecora: Ultimate Alchemist

Fluttershy- Ultimate Veterinarian

Rainbow Dash: Ultimate Daredevil

Lyra Heartstrings: Ultimate Anthropologist

Starlight Glimmer: Ultimate Prodgiy

Trixie Lulamoon: Ultimate Stage Magician

Vinyl Scratch- Ultimate DJ

If I get any more ideas, I’ll let you know!

[butterscotch-brigade]

the Mario Movie Post

ok SO heres a more expansive post listing my Thoughts on the mario movie. HUGE spoiler warning under the cut btw

it was....good! i keep comparing it to the sonic movies in my head bc thats what ive seen a lot of other ppl doing, and i think, compared to those movies, this one is a “safer” adaptation of the source material; and ofc this isnt an inherently good or bad thing, but it may influence ur opinion if u were expecting a more derivative adaptation like the sonic movies, which take more risks and creative liberties. id rank the mario movie below sonic 2 (the greatest movie of all time btw), but idk if id put it above or below sonic 1; ultimately, like i said, it depends on whether u prefer the adaptation thats “safer” or “riskier” in terms of what its trying to accomplish.

anyway, here r some things i rly liked abt the movie!! warning for me gushing abt bowser bc im in love with him btw ASDLJKADS

bowser is the greatest character in the entire thing ofc. not surprising at all ASLKJDSLKJDS my big beautiful monster husband he is SOOOO GOOOODDD like.....hes the most expressive, full of personality, and jack black gives an AMAZING performance as him. his fucking song???? the princess peach love song??? beautiful. lovely. i love bowser so fucking much......like yeah he “kidnaps people” and “tries to kill innocents” or whatever but errmmm he does it in the name of love so its ok uwu my big strong cuddly ferocious teddy bear i love him I LOVE HIIMMMMM KLASJDKLJASDLKJ HES SO PERFECT HES A SWEET LOVEY DOVEY DORK BUT HES ALSO FUCKED UP EVIL AND POWERFUL AND WILLING TO CRUSH ANYONE WHO STANDS IN HIS WAY GOOOODDDDD I WANT HIM SO BAD

animation is gorgeous, including the environments and character models. say what u want abt illumination but u have to admit their actual animation game is pretty damn good and this film is no exception

i rly appreciate all the references and easter eggs! i like how they used music from the games in various ways, and how they incorporated the different worlds/levels.

i LOVE the little additional bits of lore they added!!! ive been a huge Mario Lore Enthusiast pretty much since i first learned how to use the internet so this was very satisfying to my autistic brain ALSKJLKDASJ

as far as specific lore elements go, i loved getting to see mario and luigi’s parents (+ extended family!!!). u dont understand for the longest time the only CANON picture we had of mario and luigis parents were these images from the end of yoshis island ASKLDJSLAKDJ so im very happy we got more detailed designs for them

i love the backstory they gave princess peach!! ive always wondered why she rules the mushroom kingdom despite not being a toad. i hope they expand on her story more if they ever make a second movie bc i think it would be rly interesting to know more abt where she came from!!

i LOOOVE the kongs so so much......ty mario movie for finally ending the debate abt whether or not dk is cranky kongs son or grandson SALKJDALKSJ also i love dk’s characterization in this too, his friendly rivalry w mario was rly funny

i love love LOOOVVE the sibling dynamic between mario and luigi. Bro They Are Bros

i like the incorporation of the power-ups and how they work

king bob-omb is there. i like him :)

and now for some criticisms (note that these r all pretty minor, there wasnt rly anything i Disliked abt the movie which is admittedly more than i can say abt the first sonic movie actually LKSAJLKD):

a lot of the characters just kinda felt flat, especially compared to bowser who has the most personality. luigi is the only one i can think of who has any kind of significant “arc.” peach, toad, and dk dont rly have any kind of significant character growth, while mario’s arc is just kinda....He Learns To Get Better At Fighting And Navigating The Mushroom Kingdom i guess. to be fair mario games in general arent rly known for focusing on character development (w some exceptions like the rpgs, but none of that development is rly focused on mario himself), but that ultimately just made this movie’s writing pale in comparison to the sonic movies (which arent perfect (except for the second one) but still)

luigi didnt rly do much throughout the whole thing.....i liked him a lot in the beginning, but he spends most of the movie being captured. i DID like the fight scene at the end where mario and luigi team up to beat the shit out of bowser tho!! i just wish we got to spend a little more time with luigi so his arc had a more satisfying conclusion

Why didnt they credit grant kirkhope for the dk rap. wtf nintendo/illumination

but yeah those r my Thoughts. overall it was a pretty good movie, id maybe give it like....7/10? 7.5/10? it wasnt Great but it was good. definitely better than the Other mario movie thats for sure LKASJFLKJS

[thatneilj]

Game of the Year 2017

Originally Posted in January 2018

*2024* - I have been writing these game of the year posts since 2017 but for some reason the little intro didn't make it into my archive for this year. Oops!

Honorables

Mario Odyssey

This game is joyful, expansive, and rewards exploration. Unfortunately, I have found that after 400+ moons, I still find the controls to be a bit frustrating. On top of that, while the capturing mechanic is fun, I find I most of the time I would rather some solid Mario platforming. That said, Uproot is the best!

Sonic Mania

The first video game I ever owned was Sonic the Hedgehog 2. While my love for Sonic has never truly gone away, I have skipped the majority of Sonic titles over the last 15 or so years. Sonic Mania is zeroing in on the old stuff I grew up with. Sonic Mania invites me back to my hometown to party with friends i’ve not seen since the 90s, and makes it feel like none of us ever drifted apart.

Wolfenstein: The New Colossus

If you told me 5 years ago that Wolfenstein would be a franchise that rises above killing Nazis to tell a story with some of the most well-realized characters in modern media I would have laughed at you. But here we are. Machine Games gave BJ Blazkowicz a backstory that makes him feel believable despite the insanity that is his world. This game is amazing, except for the part where the level design and difficulty get in the way of seeing the story play out.

5. CUPHEAD

I got to this game a bit later than most. Sure I had seen the fantastic art bringing that 1930s cartoon style to life. I had heard the soundtrack full of big band scores and incredible jazz that broke onto the Billboard charts. I had even heard the developers at Studio MDHR talking about their inspirations, including Megaman X, one of my favorite games of all time. Not until I put my hands on the game did I realize just how perfect it all is together.

The controls are tight and responsive in a way that prevents deaths from feeling like bullshit, despite the difficulty. The music can be frantic, mirroring perfectly the insanity on the screen, which helps draw you in without becoming distracting. And those smooth visuals truly do bring each boss to life. Often weird and creepy life, but that is right in line with those old cartoons. Seriously, some of those old things are the stuff of nightmares.

4. HELLBLADE: SENNUA’S SACRIFICE

 Hellblade was quite hard for me to play. While that sounds negative right from the jump, that is part of why I liked it so much. It wasn’t a hard game, it was a hard experience. It was hard for me to listen to these disembodied voices telling me I’m not good enough as they danced around my head. It was hard for me to watch Sennua break down and cry with such raw emotion. The game is a technical marvel at realizing Melina Juergens’ performance.

(https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/15/16316014/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-mental-illness)

While the game’s depiction of psychosis has come under fire for some legitimate concerns, its depiction of the symptoms is impressive. And watching the Making Of short included in the game was rather fascinating. I cannot think of any other big studio taking the time and doing the research to try and get this stuff right. Hellblade was hard for me to play because it was effective in making those symptoms feel real and tangible in a way I simply don’t have in my normal life.

3. HOLLOW KNIGHT

Here’s what I knew about Hollow Knight when I was going in: “It’s kind of like a Metroid game.” Now, I have loved a lot of action-exploration games, particularly when they make some bigger changes to the tried and true formula. Hollow Knight had me unsure at the start from the art style, the floaty jump, and the mapping system. But as I played more of the game, I found myself getting drawn in deeper and deeper. I realized it is a blend of two series I love; Metroid and Dark Souls.

Once I got the dash, movement started feeling good. Once I reached the City of Tears, the aesthetic had me catching my breath. Once I had all the maps… well, actually that damn map stuff is seriously annoying. I didn’t care anymore though, I was engrossed. The story of this bug-filled world is fascinating, and told at the edges for those who want to look. The action is can be punishing with big bosses, precision platforming, and combat that requires intention. This game had me yelling at some challenges, and yet I wanted more, even after the 35 hours I took to beat it.

2. A HAT IN TIME

3D platformers were back this year, back in a way I couldn’t even keep up with. First, we had Yooka-Laylee coming from a bunch of ex-Rare developers making a new Banjo. I missed this one, but heard mostly not-great things. At the end of the year we had Mario Odyssey, where the mission based worlds were done away with for free-form exploration and excitement. But right in the middle of those was A Hat in Time, a game that felt more like Mario 64 in structure, but with so much more.

I knew next to nothing about A Hat in Time when a friend gave it to me to check out. And I soon learned that Jon ‘JonTron’ Jafari had a cameo voice role in it. With that stink on the project I still found myself falling in love. From the very beginning you get a wonderful cartoon style that lends itself so well to the cuteness of Hat Girl. You go down to the first world and find personality dripping throughout the whole island of Mafia men. You meet mustache girl, become friends, and learn how crazy she is. And then, after all this, you get to go to a new world where two birds are competing to make you a movie star.

This game just made me happy the whole damn time I played it. And yet, it is full of choices that seem insane and shouldn’t work. Why not put a silly Metal Gear Solid stealth mechanic into this level? Why not give people an MSpaint mini-game just for fun? Why not pretend we’re a horror game for one mission? Apparently there is no reason not to do these things, if you do them right. Fact is, they did it all right while still giving us wonderful world design, fantastic platforming, genuinely funny writing, and the cutest character ever! If you dash and don’t jump out of it, Hat Girl will just lie on her belly and wiggle her feet in the air while she daydreams!

1. NIER: AUTOMATA

Nier: Automata is a very flawed game. The world you run through feels pulled out of a game from 2004 with all the invisible walls. The Platinum Games influence is clear in the combat, but in many ways feels stripped down and shallow in comparison to some of their past works. The most damning thing, though, is how long it takes to get through Route A. But if you push through all of this, if it gets its hooks in, it is a game that does something special.

Nier has, at its core, an ethos about the world. Not just through some story telling beats about the nature of androids. It goes so much farther. Where many sci-fi stories in more modern media look at how robots can be human, Nier ask what it is to even be human. Yet it does this in a story about androids who should be devoid of emotion. Entities with a task to fight a war that is never ending, on a world that refuses to forget people. A world that really doesn’t need people anymore anyway.

The game is thick with this pervading sense of despair. It isn’t just the crumbled buildings and rusted robots. It is every character you meet, each side story that seems to inevitably end in a place worse than before. It is in the loving couple that want to desert the war, it is in the thinking robots looking out over vistas, and it is in Father Servo who wants to be the best fighter. It is in the main story, when it takes you back through Route A from a different perspective. And it only becomes more intense in the later parts of the game.

This game is my game of the year because it is going to stick with me. Because I watched someone go against everything they stand for to save what they care about, only to lose it all from their own choices. Because I had to put down my controller for over 30 minutes, staring at my avatar idling in a dark and depressing room, trying to decide which choice I could live with. Because as each belief about the nature of the world was pulled away, showing me just how wrong I was, and how pointless trying to change it was. Their all robots right? They are programed for this.

This game is going to stick with me because, despite all of this and so much more, it managed to pull away the magic circle. It gave me an ending full of loss, full of satisfaction, and somehow full of hope.

[sanatik-aga]

My three favorite animated things:

Im a guys that loves animation for its styles, story that they tell and emotions they gave to me.

And today I wanna share with you my three favorite animation projects.

1. Oshi No Ko - it’s an anime about two teenagers whose mother a popular idol, one day their mother was killed by obsessive fan that find out she had kids. Many years past by and our main characters are now high schoolers and their entering the world of entertainment just like their mother. And yet they want to find who ordered to kill their mother.

My favorite things about this show:

It has great story to tell. This anime tells us many aspects of show business where some types of storytelling are maybe good for writing manga but not for theater adaptation.

Good animation, thirst season of the show had some cool animation showcases, but second season did a lot better and improved animation by a milestone.

Characters in this anime are interesting with many of them being entertainers like an actors or idols. These characters have their own flaws that they encounter during their live and they have to conquer those flaws.

2. Arcane - animation show from Netflix. This story tells us about two sisters, Vi and Powder. Two sisters that live in an underground city called Zaun where all poor people have to steal, drink or even kill in order to survive. Vi and Powder are under protection of Vander a bar owner. One day because of what Vi and Powder did they took away Vander. And while Vi was rescuing him with some friends, Powder who was told to sit home didn’t listen to her and went to help, she blow up place in order to help her friends, but tree of them died including Vander. Now only Vi and Powder left, but Vi left her sister in anger. That part was prologue 👍

My favorite things about this show:

Great fighting sequences, this show knows how to make great fight scene. The way they use 2D and 3D is similar how Spider-Man 2018 uses it.

Diverse world of this show feels real, the place where main characters live in this fictional world doesn’t feel like it’s fictional, the problems people suffer there fells real.

It’s a great video game adaptation, just like Mario movie or Sonic movie. Netflix nailed with this adaptation of League of Legends divers cast and deep lore.

3. Call of Duty: Modern-warfare - it’s a game genre shooter about fictional war in Russia and Urzikstan. Our main group has a mission to stop nuclear war that is about to start.

Things I love about this game:

Gameplay of this game is really simple and yet so interesting, diverse maps, a wide selection of weapons and iconic characters.

Watermelon physics in the game, when I was a little kid, one thing that I loved in this game is to slice and shoot watermelons that would appear in a random places.

Nostalgia, I played this game even before I went to a middle school, I remember waking up in 5 AM and first thing I will do, I will turn on my PS3 to play this game before school.

[ma2dplatformer]

Research and introduction of sidescrollers

A side scroller is a video game where it is played from a side on view where the camera follows the player as they move around the map.

I think 3 things that make a game a sidescroller are,

1.A side on camera that moves with the player

2.The map has to be 2D and on a fixed plane with the screen that scrolls.

3.The player can only move left and right or up and down, they cannot move forward or back.

Celeste:

The player character has a wide range of mechanics that include running, jumping, climbing, double jump/dash, wall grapple/jump, swimming and power ups.

The levels for celeste are designed hugely around the mechanics. For example one level I have seen was based around swimming in a cave. Another level I have seen was including where the character has to jump from ice wall to ice wall while grappling to each one, she must then dodge or dash around incoming spikes.

The art style in celeste is a complete pixel art game and while not hugely graphics it contains lots of details and character to each item and building. It also gives a cozy appearance and that the world has been meticulously designed.

A thing I like about celeste is every new part is a new puzzle and every level is like a quickfire brainteaser. The movement also feels very smooth and responsive too.

Super Mario bros:

Mario shares similar mechanics as celeste with them both using run jump swim but Mario also has some extra features that mostly base around combat. These mechanics are jumping from below a breakable item breaks it and power ups play a huge roll because they allow the character to fight the level enemy's using a range of randomized ability's. Mario also has features including travel through pipes and a point system determined on enemy kills and finish.

The levels in Mario include enemy's to jump on and things to break.

It also includes tube travel to allow the player to get to a new area. This means new areas can be unlocked.

While this Mario game was released in 1985 its graphics still hold up to a degree and it also feels and looks retro, because it is. Mario's art is classic and recognizable.

Personally I do not like how similar the Mario levels are and I feel like it gets very repetitive.

Sonic the hedgehog:

Sonics mechanics are lots less than the other two games but sonic is a different type of game in terms of objectives. In sonic you can run, jump, bounce, slide and climb

Each level to sonic is based of his speed and running so each level is like a Corse for him to complete in as little time as possible. In most levels he has to jump over objects and kill enemy's by jumping on them.

The sonic art style is a classic featuring the checkerboard pattern on the starting island, sonic is meant to go fast so by adding the blur when he runs improves the feel of him being speedy. The art design in almost every background feature a sky of some kind that relates to the feel of the level.

In sonic I really like the feel of speed for every level and how it is like a time trial but I dislike how all levels feel very similar and new mechanics are rarely added throughout the game.

[glapplebloom]

The Final G4 IDW Comics (I’m counting the Reimagined Stuff as G5)...

It begins with Twilight experimenting on Minty (the G3 Pony) and Lickety-Split. It shows us how the Smooze affects them, how long it takes hold, and how to cure it. And since the combined might would kill them, Twilight figured how to fracture the Rainbow Power into more handable objects like a Mirror for Rarity and Rope for Applejack. So the plan is to unleash it at the Party to cure everyone at once.

Meanwhile our Witches are in Ponyville and enjoying the sights to see. But also seeing the negatives of their actions. A store for candies and cakes, where the patrons attack them. A place where there seemed to be fun games to play, that the building got demolished and the Arcades unusable. Rarity’s Boutique that is being confused for a different store that is for setting up Halloween Costumes, to be overrun by Snakes. 

As Belle and Shadow show their creators around, Violet Shiver is confronted by Pinkie Pie who loved the work she did with the decorations. This causes Violet to question her actions since she wants to do her job but doesn’t want to hurt them. This causes the Smooze to possess her, making her stronger. This leads to everyone heading towards the Party, including the Witches disguised as a single horse.

It seemed to be going alright, until Violet Shiver began the attack. Or should I say Smooze. It is attacking everyone and those capable of fighting it off try. Even Black Belle and Shadow Storm are helping keep the doors open to let others escape. Shadow Storm saves his masters while Black Belle saves her students. So what does Grackle, the one that is showing off magic, think about all this?

She doesn’t like it. She’s finally seeing what her actions have done and it made her question her mother. They want revenge for their defeat, so they forced their daughters to continue seeking that goal. Meanwhile, they berated them, kept them locked up in a Volcano while they tried to find their own magic, all the while not realizing they had a home to live in, daughters they should be proud of, and presumably somebody who loves them considering what usually is required to have kids.

So Grackle uses her magic, combined with the Friendship Magic, to defeat the Smooze out of the S'monies. They begin to fade, but their kindness shown (minus Shadow Storm) allows them to stay as legit ponies. And the series ends with the Witches saying they’re gonna travel and the G1 ponies staying to look around. Overall, this is a terrible crossover. 

The main selling point doesn’t show up till the final two issues, and they barely do anything to make themselves memorable or stand out. Imagine if there’s a Mario and Sonic Crossover and you only play as one of them in the final 2/5 of the game. Or a Marvel/DC Crossover where you don’t see the other side being referenced until near the final end. That only worked once.

But what about as a story of itself? It's quite similar to the G4 Movie: Ponies doing stuff, then villains interfere. Our heroes need to travel to find a way to stop it and everyone comes together at the end to stop it, including reforming the majority of the villains. The problem is imagine building the set up for 3/5 of the movie and then rushing to meet everyone and solve the problem in the final 2/5.

If it was streamlined more, it could have worked. Shorter build up. Fewer characters to focus on. Have more time with the crossover aspect. The idea of a Generation moving on is a good story. But while Grackle got most of the story bits as well as the display of power, Dyre doesn’t get as much. While Violet Shiver got a LOT of build up and Black Belle got a few bits, Shadow Storm didn’t have much until near the end for a convincing face turn. 

This had the same problems as their Season 10 Comics: they were more interested with their own concepts than working with what was established. So they focused on new characters so much that by the time it was made to wrap it up not all of them got fleshed out. Even with my lack of knowledge on pre-Generation 4, my rewrite used one issue to establish the past of the G1, set up the situation and have them go to other universes to team up, So that’s 4 issues of the Crossover Aspect. 

(SOURCE)

It's written in a way so vague, you can have any pony from any Generation be part of the story at any time, with only Twilight and Sunny being necessary. Yes, I included other generations beyond G1 and G4, including the Pony Tales Variant and G2, which didn’t have anything other than a PC Game. If IDW gets to do a G4/G5 Crossover, hopefully they’ll learn from their first attempt and focus on the things people want to see: the two Generations actually interacting with each other.

And with that, IDW is complete until I get to G5. But I got plenty of shorts, books, and Equestria Girls to go through before I Revisit that Generation. 

[jacklesraised]

for the ask game 12 (the best one), 3 - but with your favourite horror final girls, and 10 with Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, and Pacman

Basic FMK but it has to be with the last 3 characters you reblogged pictures or gifs of.

idk who the pedro char is so the last three i know are battinson, nbc hannibal and nbc will--

fook; will. ppl who bone him seem to have a better chance at not dying than the ppl who actually persue a rel w him. marry: broose, gimme a taste of the capitalism, rich boi. i'll accept the danger in your case. i'm psure he's taller than will, he can reach things. also he has money. moider: sry han, if it makes u feel better its a 50/50 on if will wil try to kill me for it, but i mean, i got broose, so

Best Friends With Them, Roommates With Them, or 'Friends With Benefits' With Them

im including thrillers in this bc i watch them more than horror films--

best friends; ik she took over her sisters body, but layla delussey (another me). she seems chill. ish. roommates: grace le domas, bc even tho i keep fucking up on the last name bc dys, i kno she can moider and we'll be chill. fwb w: its hard to say bc like w laurie, i know her dang brother would be trying to stab me. w sidney-- actually, sidney. then i get matthew lillard and his boyfriend trying to murder me. i dont think i can count mike schmidt, bc if the movies follow the games, he's gonna be an undead final by the end of it.

Rate the characters on a scale of who would be most annoying haunting your house.

Most: Pacman. I can handle the ghosts, i don't need a circle trying to eat them. middle road: Sonic, we'll commit mischief. least: mario. maybe bowser will decide im his new princess if he spots me w the other italian. if not tho, luigi's also tall enough to reach things. and my plumbing wont die anymore, it'll just now double as portals.

[crusherthedoctor]

I wish Tails would interact with other characters more: namely Shadow, Cream, Knuckles, and Amy, but anyone other than Sonic or Eggman is welcome. (I'd personally prefer more interactions with Amy, as I don't think we've ever had a conversation between the two that didn't involve Sonic in some fashion.) Tails has a lot to offer in the way of friendship to other characters, so it would be nice to give those relationships the spotlight they deserve!

Agreed. It's why the original BtS included "& Tails" in the title, and why the story continues to bill him as an equal in true Mario and Luigi style even after the reworking into Stellar: to not only let him do things that actually matter instead of being narratively lesser compared to the likes of Shadow or Silver (because it can't be stressed enough how much I loathe the DBZ tunnel vision with the fandom, and to an extent the franchise itself), but also to let him interact with more characters. Shadow in particular was one that I wanted to take up the opportunity with...

It's just another thing I had to take the challenge up for myself in order to see an example of it in the land of fic. Like Eggman being treated like a proper villain (who doesn't get killed off by Better Villain), or locations that aren't just "the city" or "the base".

[davidmariottecomics]

I'm 100 Hours in and I Still Don't Know if I Like Baldur's Gate

Hello there and welcome back! 

As the title suggests, I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 a lot recently. I picked it up slightly before starting my new job when I had a lot of free time and have continued to put in a few hours on some weeknights and weekends. I've been playing for around 100 hours, or right around 4 full days of my human life, and I still don't entirely know if I like this game. This week, I wanna talk a bit about why I both continue to have complicated feelings about this game and why I continue to play it, some games that I have grouped together as similar play experiences and why I have different reactions to them, and more generally, why all of this makes for making comics based off of games such a challenge that feels so rewarding if you manage to do it right. 

Baldin' the Gate First and foremost, let's talk about Baldur's Gate 3. It came out last year and has since won a number of notable game awards, received nearly universal good reviews from critics, received lots of praise from players, and has all the good indicators that it's a good game. I also have no idea what sort of presence it has in the public consciousness because while it's sold millions of copies and I see lots of fan art and my friends talking about playing and whatever, I also know that I particularly inhabit spaces for people who like games like this and in part because of it being new and in part because of it being an adaptation of a sort, I don't think it has entered the overall cultural osmosis in the same way as Mario or Sonic or Halo or Call of Duty or Overwatch or whatever.

How it plays is it's essentially single-player (or multiplayer if you have friends you want to connect with), Dungeons & Dragons. Literally D&D, it's a licensed game set in the official Wizards of the Coast D&D world. Like, they talk about Drizzt a couple times. Minsc, a character who was featured in some of the D&D comics I worked on, is playable later in the game. There're all your core mechanics digitized, including many of the things you do being determined by a "die roll." You can journey with a party of 4 companions--a number of whom are major pre-built characters and you can build your own guy and choose their specs in traditional D&D fashion and solve puzzles and charm your way around town and fight enemies and pickpocket people and all the D&D stuff you'd like to do. Kinda. We'll get to that in a moment. 

The last bit of table setting with this is you're on an epic journey with a couple possible end goals. Within limits, because there have to be limits to your options, you can self-determine how the game goes in a lot of ways. Technically, you don't have to play with any of the pre-build, story-involved companions. You can be evil. You can be good. You can choose to usually kill or choose to try to just knock people out. You can do what I do, misunderstand a prompt that was going to unlock a character to your party, and accidentally have them get killed in the fight because they weren't one of your guys (whoops). Again, one of the things that is really rightfully praised in this game is that you can experience it for so long and whatever way makes sense to you. 

But that's also the rub, at least for me, and why I'm still struggling to decide whether or not I really like BG3. I personally often feel the two competing forces at the core of the game: To be D&D like, it needs to give you options for how to play it and tries really hard to cast a wide net to do so, but simultaneously, for you to actually progress the story, you do need to play by the rules of the programming and stay relatively "on rails".

For example, one of the items you can acquire in game is rope. And, while at some point it might've had more reason to be in the game, in the final product, you can't actually do anything with it other than sell it, I guess. But I didn't realize that, so I spent a good amount of time in my early game acquiring rope, sure I'd need it at some point. Finally, say 8-10 hours in or so, I forget what exactly it was, but there was some issue where I figured rope was the way to go! Like, it'd let me climb up and down from somewhere without being hurt or I'd be able to use it as a lasso for a far off lever or something. But, I couldn't use it for anything and had to look it up and discover, nope, you just can't use rope apparently. And while I figured it out otherwise, it became very apparent in that moment the limitations of the game for the ways in which I would usually engage with this type of gameplay and storytelling in a different medium.

When you apply that to the actual story decisions though, it can be really frustrating. There're a number of places where I've gotten into a conversation and none of the options even come close to how I'd otherwise approach the situtation. Again, I get why they have to be limited in that way, it's a programmed game and not my friend who can roll with my unique character decisions, but there are times when it just feels so limiting. Keeping it vague, but SPOILERS for this game: There's a companion in the game who I think is really compelling. And to my understanding, there are like 4 ways their story can resolve and none of them is particularly good, which feels bad because I want this person to have a happy ending. For as much as I can recognize the why, it doesn't change my emotional reaction to that being the case. 

So, I like a lot of the storytelling. I like a lot of the decisions available to me. I largely find the actual play mechanics fun, even if there're things I'd like to tackle a different way. I like just how big the game is and I find it appealing that by the nature of the game and the branching decision paths, you can find different ways to play it. But I don't know that once I finish this playthrough, I will come back.

Persona 5tar Rail

I like video games. Cool. Great. I am not personally someone who tends to put 100+ hours into a game--certainly not a single playthrough. I tend to like shorter games and games where I can dip in and out. If a game's working for me, I'll put a good chunk of time in. But--and recognizing that there are probably some games that've lost time in not syncing properly or the account being on multiple computers over a number of years or whatever--I just went through my Steam library and of those 270 games, BG3 is the only one I've put in over 2 days on. Most of the games that I've played, I haven't cracked 20 hours on. Most of the games, generally, I haven't cracked 20 minutes on. Getting me to invest so much time on a game is really rare. 

But two games that instant came to mind when I was thinking about BG3 and it's replayability and how that affects my experience playing it are games I've also put a stupid amount of time into: Persona 5 and Honkai Star Rail. While P5 and HSR are closer to each other than BG3, they do all have a fair amount of overlap. They're all modern roleplaying games where you've got a party of four characters that you take through fantastical worlds and solve puzzles with and battle with and have interesting stories. As I think I've talked about before on this blog, Persona 5 might--despite some flaws--be my favorite video game. If I'm pretty hesitant to put 20 hours into a game, it must speak strongly to how much I like P5 that I've put in almost 200 hours across two playthroughs (one of P5 and one of P5 Royal). 

One of the things that really works for me with Persona 5 is that I know each playthrough will be different, but not radically so. While there's a decent amount of flexibility in decision making in Persona 5, most of it is about choosing how you spend your time. There are certain things you want to do to progress the game to it's "true ending", but in terms of building your stats and your relationships and determining what to do when and how, it's wide open specificially because the actual ticking clock mechanic has such clear goal posts that you know you are on rails toward an endgame and can dig into how you want to play it in the meantime. It's a weird sensation, but because the limitations are clearer for what you can do and when, it removes a lot of the burden of "is this choice going to propel me forward in the way that I want with the game" and becomes "this choice matters only in so much as it reflects what I wanted to do and will ultimately fall into place for how I played the game this time." To me, that's more freeing, I guess. More compelling. Because I know how I like to play the game, and because that's how the game kinda wants you to play it, it feels like we're working in unison and each time I revisit is to see what I had missed before and how I can track different experiences to the same conclusion. 

Honkai Star Rail, meanwhile, is this middleground between the two. Similar to P5, to play the story of the game, everyone's going to have a pretty similar experience. The differences come in what characters are available to you and because it's a live-service game (that is to say, a game that is constantly updating), what limited time events you choose to partake in. It doesn't have the same social webbing structure as BG3 or P5--there isn't the same ability to chose to be good or bad or to ignore certain relationships in the same way. And I think that is a big part of why I haven't kept up and I find games like this so hard to come back to. I was an early adopter and I played a lot and I got caught up and now there've been a number of updates since my last real play session, and I feel like because there's now so much more that I could do, I'm overwhelmed with the options of trying to catch up, while also knowing that even if I do, I'll only hit the end of the current update, and not the end of the game. HSR has no replayability from the beginning, really, because you want to continue what you've started because the game's continuing in your absence. 

Okay, so Comics!

The parallel I can draw to comics is so while they're all pretty different, the similarities of BG3, P5, and HSR have created a grouping in my mind. I am taken on all three with the worlds that're created, I enjoy fan art of them, I get the same sort of satisfaction from how they control because that style of gaming is something that I like. But 100+ hours into each, I have a very different emotional response that changes how I want to interact with it going forward. I just want to finish BG3 and if this is my one playthrough, that's probably fine. I spent less than $1/hour of game. I know at some point in the probably not-too-distant future I'll revisit P5 (maybe I'll use it for some Japanese practice...). And I'll continue to check in with HSR because I feel like I've put a lot into it and I want to like it as much as I did at the start, but I really don't know that I can recapture the magic until it's done. And if that doesn't sound like the comics reading experience, I don't know what does! 

BG3 is a series that I'm invested in, and keep picking up, even though there's part of me that just wants to bail because it isn't bad, but it isn't quite what I want it to be. P5 is... I dunno. Young Justice. Crisis on Infinite Earths. Secret Wars II. The sort of dumb thing that I want to revisit over and over and over again, because each time I do, between me and the game/book, I find something different and new in a familiar comfort. And HSR is a book that I dug and missed an issue and it isn't easy to track down, so now I have to decide whether I dedicate that time to going back or if I wait for the trade and maybe to deal with a bit of redundancy or if I just let it go because I liked it, but maybe not enough. 

All of which is part of why I think it can be so difficult to translate video games into comics. I'm spending all this time deliberating over how to experience the story--what decisions I want to make and what decisions I have the ability to make, ultimately do I as an individual think I can revisit and make different decisions or am I just going to play basically the same because that's how I interact with the medium--which is something that comics storytelling doesn't really afford you. Not to say there aren't comics where you do have more input, but for the most part, you experience the story as presented to you because that's how the team wanted it.

I asked the question a lot working on Sonic, why would you want to read Sonic, when you can play a Sonic game? And if the characters are compelling and you feel like you're adding to the world and you truly want to engage in the sort of storytelling that only comics can to, that makes it a unique medium from something like games, you can probably find something. But you have to overcome that gap for a player who might be interested, because while both comics and games have plotted content, the difference of how the reader/player is engaged makes a world of difference. 

I hope that all makes sense. And if not... hey, I'll revisit this sometime! See ya next week! 

New Releases this week (2/7/24): Godzilla Valentine's Day Special (Editor - IDW)

New Releases next week (2/14/24):  None

Announcements: Happy Black History Month! This week, I want to spotlight N.K. Jemisin! I finally started The City We Became this week and I'm already really liking it. She also wrote the first story in Out There Screaming, the horror anthology from last year that I've talked about here before and that I really loved. She wrote Far Sector, a DC Green Lantern book that's quickly becoming one of my big recommendations for"a standalone Big 2 superhero book that shows you why superhero comics are actually pretty fun! She is becoming a favorite writer of mine and is one of the modern names in science fiction, fantasy, and horror that I think you should know! 

Usually, this is where I plug my Patreon! And I still will because you can *usually* read this blog there, get cool bonus stuff including some free comics and, at higher levels, stuff like podcasts, sneak peeks at things I'm working on, and more! BUT, Patreon's also not working right for me at the moment. I'm troubleshooting it now, but there's a slight delay in things going up, sorry! 

You can also check out my webstore where I'm sold out of Transformers vs. the Terminator (wow!) and have a very limited stock on everything else, my Kofi (I updated the Anti-AI Zine--Pay what you want for a brief, printable explainer on why AI sucks!), and Becca's site (still pending a new update, sorry)!

Bluesky is now publicly open! You no longer need an invite to join. You can find my account here. You can find a bunch of other cool people through my follow list! And there's a really good skeet going around with a bunch of helpful block lists for not dealing with dummies on the site! 

I mentioned last week that we're finally firming up plans for our wedding after a lot of back and forth and exploration on what makes the most sense. We've landed on some stuff we're happy with and will be sharing our registry soon (maybe later today???), if you'd like to contribute! 

What I enjoyed this week: Nancy (Comic), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Baldur's Gate III (Video Game), Blank Check (Podcast), Solve This Murder (Podcast), The City We Became (Book), The Sopranos (TV show), The Afterparty (TV show), Rent (Movie), getting some wedding planning done, Becca and I did an early Valentine's Day yesterday and I'm glad we had the chance to do that for ourselves. 

Pic of the Week: Here's a very cute picture of Becca from our date yesterday at SUR, the restaurant from Vanderpump Rules.