#that i got from nintendo world when i was in japan

[kaicean]

sky full of stars 🌟

[kafus]

over the weekend at the knoxville regional pokemon championships, i met up with a longtime internet friend in person for the first time, and he traded me a very special pokemon - a unique celebi that takes a bit of context to explain the significance of

from november 2001 to january 2005, the building that is now a nintendo world store in new york city was actually an american pokemon center, which hosted the "Gotta Catch ‘Em All!" station, a large machine that you could pop your gold/silver/crystal cartridge into (or later ruby/sapphire/firered/leafgreen, but that's not relevant here) and get a special distribution pokemon unique to the store. often times these were normal pokemon in eggs with special moves they couldn't usually learn, but other times they ran distributions for shiny legendaries, and of course, the mythical celebi.

there's very few pictures of the machine and all of them are pretty low quality, but you can see an iteration of it here during the gen 3 era:

when PCNY (pokemon center new york) shut down, the machine and its contents were presumed lost forever, but due to the preservation efforts and the good luck of a few individuals, some of the distributions have been preserved, as well as parts of the machine and its software. this is extra incredible because almost all gen 2 save files from the time the machine was actually functional are long since wiped due to the battery inside dying, meaning that very very few of the gen 2 event pokemon distributed from this machine at the time still exist. i won't go super in detail on that in this post but you can read an article about all of that here (julie, the person who runs this historical PCNY fansite is incredibly passionate and if you want to know anything about the PCNY store i absolutely recommend reading her writing!)

so, one day when i was rambling to my friend (his name is Venty!) about my fascination with the PCNY machine, and how i wish i had been born early enough to experience that, as well as wishing that i could have traded with anyone in gens 1-3 as a child but never got to due to isolation, venty told me that he's actually friends with a guy (Professor Rex) who knows the guy who owns the remnants of the PCNY machine (Gridelin), and he would love to reach out and ask if there's any way rex could distribute a celebi to himself and trade it to him sometime so that eventually when me and venty met in person one day, he'd be able to trade the celebi to me.

i pretty much burst into tears and very passionately explained how much that would mean to me - not just because owning a celebi actually distributed from the historical PCNY distribution station is just... insanely cool, but because like i said, i had never traded anyone in the old internet-less generations of pokemon, and having that be my first was just... a monumental thought. i am deeply fascinated with old gen event distributions because of the tactile, interpersonal nature of them, in direct contrast with my isolation and loneliness as a child. it might sound silly to be so worked up over a collection of bytes/pixels, but i really couldn't believe venty would offer me something so kind. and not only did he offer to ask - rex said yes!!

so on may 21st last year (2023) rex traveled out and distributed the celebi to his pokemon silver cartridge. specifically, the celebi is from the "Celebi Present Campaign" which ran from the 22nd of november 2002 to the 28th of november 2002. the display on the monitor is the same video that would have appeared on the screen in the PCNY store, but flipped sideways here haha. (the gen 2 distributions were special and had custom animations for the legendaries and stuff, which you can watch here in full quality on gridelin's channel - there's videos of the other distribution animations on his channel, too!)

and then months later, during the weekend of august 11th 2023, rex and venty met up at the pokemon world championship in japan and rex traded the celebi to venty's gold cartridge...

...then, finally, just this past weekend, on sunday (february 4th 2024) venty and i finally met in real life for the first time at the knoxville TN regional pokemon championships, and with link cable in hand the celebi finally made its way to me in my hotel room, after crossing the ocean twice and passing through canada to the US to japan and back to the US...!!

gen 2 pokemon data isn't very complicated, but you can tell that my celebi is unique from the other PCNY celebis dumped online (here and here if you'd like to play with some of these historical pokemon yourself) because it has the trainer ID of 00204 which none of the publicly available celebis have - though of course to me, regardless of what becomes publicly available in the future (and i hope one day the common layperson can simply emulate the PCNY machine, video game preservation >>> unique collections always) this celebi will always be special and unique because of how it got to me, and because it represents my friendship with venty who i care so much about. it was an extremely kind gesture i will never forget and i can't believe how much traveling and how many people were involved with getting this tiny bundle of bytes and pixels to me. i hugged venty after the trade was done haha

oh, and by the way, don't worry, i have the hardware to back up my gen 2 save files so this celebi will never die even after my crystal cartridge battery eventually dies once more!! (also, while i don't think it would be an issue i do want to say please don't bother any of the people mentioned in this post...! gridelin & co are working on making the distribution machine in question available for anyone to use, it'll come out whenever it's out and for now there are dumps of the events that were recovered. i would not want them to receive any annoying requests for pokemon because of me. thank you!)

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Girl blob

Debut: Kirby’s Dream Land 2

This blob is a GIRL! You knew this, because the blob is pink and wears a bow and debuted in 1995. But who is this blob who is a girl? She must be pretty important to get official artwork, right? Not at all! She is not important and I just frankensteined some official art of other characters together to make this because she has none. But to truly talk about Girl blob, we must talk about someone VERY important! A VERY special guest!

Gooey!!! This is Gooey, and you likely already knew that. You love Gooey! Even if you did not already know Gooey, you love him now, because he is so wonderful! If you dislike Gooey, I am honestly a little afraid of you. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion, but... it’s Gooey, you know? Anyway, Gooey also debuts in Dream Land 2! He does not do much here, but if the circumstances are right, he will surprise you by emerging from a burlap sack, and give you a bit of health if you collect him. Mostly, it is just lovely to have him here!

Even more rarely, though, Gooey will be replaced by Girl blob instead! You very well may need to actively seek out Girl blob in order to see her, and this is made wackier by the fact that finding her is a necessary 1% of the total game completion. She is so weirdly important! Who is she?!

Nintendo Power may be the source of her name, but it is really just a title.They don’t even refer to Gooey by his name here! Surely, though, someone must have thought of a name when designing her. Maybe her name could be Ooey. Ooey and Gooey!

Is she Gooey’s girlfriend? There is no way Gooey has a concept of romance. So is she his sister? Just a friend? Gooey would go on to have a major role in Dream Land 3, which heavily featured friendly characters to help in every stage, including female counterparts of established friends. Surely Girl blob would make a reappearance there!

Girl blob, won’t you play the piano for us with those magic fingers of yours, to set the mood?

Girl blob would not return. You see, Girl blob is not actually important. In a sense, Girl blob... is nothing.

This is Chao. And Chao is the REAL Girl blob! Chao is from the Japan-only game Yūyūki, and appeared in the Japanese Dream Land 2 as a cameo! She would rarely replace Gooey, and seeing her was necessary to 100% complete the game. But outside of Japan, players would have no idea who this character is! And if you don’t get the reference, it would be really weird to see a sudden human in a Kirby game, relegated to such a tiny role.

You know what’s easily understandable in nearly any context? A blob! Especially if the game already has a blob in it. And how do you differentiate your new blob? Make it a girl blob! And just like that, (celebrity chef catchphrase)! You got yourself an extremely simple design that fits in with no suspicion, ready for your international audience. Honestly, I think Girl blob is a better choice in the end! A blob fits the Kirby series much more naturally, and I just don’t really like the idea of a cameo character from another game being among the very limited number of allies in a game like this.

A cameo character appearing among DOZENS of friendly characters, including various other cameos, though, that is fine with me! And Chao would indeed return in Dream Land 3, with her friend Goku! I can’t help but imagine a world where the localizers were extremely paranoid about people not getting the reference, and brought Girl blob back for this stage, either establishing that she is friends with a monkey, or going the extra mile and ALSO reskinning Goku, creating yet another localization-exclusive character. After a boy blob and a girl blob, it would be time to represent the third genderl A Baby blob!

As far as the Kirby series as a whole goes, Girl blob basically does not exist, and I honestly wonder how common it is for Japanese fans to even know about her! She has never once been referenced, and is absolutely not canon. Unless...

Here is ChuChu, who officially debuted in Dream Land 3! While technically an octopus, she sure is a pink girl blob wearing a big bow. If you want, you could just interpret Girl blob as being her, making a little early appearance! It may be a headcanon, but it doesn’t contradict anything whatsoever, so why not! You could even interpret Girl Blob as someone who does contradict stuff if you want! I will not tell on you! Even if I did, though, the teacher would not care, unless they know about the 100% requirements of Kirby’s Dream Land 2, and if they do, then they are a Cool Teacher who would not get mad about it.

And now YOU know about the 100% requirements of Kirby’s Dream Land 2! That makes YOU cool! Congratulations! Hash tag girl blob

[lowpolynpixelated]

So, you don't wanna play Nintendo games

As I'm sure a lot of you lovely folks out there have seen, Nintendo recently did its most recent act of evil by suing the dev team behind both the Citra and Yuzu emulators. While I won't get into how I feel about it as a fan of media archival work and a massively passionate fan of video game history, this is despicable to say the least. What I WILL do, is get straight to the point the title says! So, you don't wanna play Nintendo games? Well do I have some games for you! I've seen a few posts like this floating around, and I absolutely adored the concept of talking about niche/lesser known titles that get overshadowed in their genre by bigger names, such as Nintendo. As an avid player of weird and wonderful games throughout my life I think I've got some good ones that I've slotted into some neat categories below. I hope you enjoy this post! And I hope you take a new favourite away as well!

(Note: All of the games listed below are available to play on very easily accessible emulators.)

So, you like 3D platformers do ya?

-My first and foremost suggestion is always the woefully underappreciated game Taz Wanted.

This wacky platformer sees you in the role of the one and only Taz, or the Tazmanian Devil for long, from the Looney Toons property. The game revolves around you entering large colourful levels filled with goofy enemies and a lovely cell shaded art style to mimic that classic cartoon look. Within those levels your job is to find and destroy a certain number of wanted posters which can take the form of just about anything. From standing signs to blimps your goal is to solve various platforming challenges, puzzles, and minigames to destroy these posters and secure an item that will assist you in getting to the next hub world. With 4 worlds to explore and each world with 3 levels and a boss fight game at the end, I'm sure any fan of 3D platforming will have a blast.

-Next up is a package deal, the first of which is a 3D platformer predating Mario64! These games are none other than the Jumping Flash! games.

The two games play identically, and are both a seriously good time. Taking place entirely in first person you take up the mantle of intergalactic space hero robot Robbit tasked with collecting a certain number of items in large playground-like levels made with tons of verticality in mind. Why you may ask? Because much like the name suggests Robbit can JUMP. The game employs a fantastically implemented camera system which forces you to look down at Robbit's feet when you use your double/tripple jump, ensuring you can see where you're landing. On top of this, the game's level design feels like a never ending barrage of jungle gyms and challenging boss fights all set to a cartoonish story with bright poppy visuals, and not to mention a soundtrack of absolute bangers

Okay, but what about the Zelda fans?

-I assure you I haven't forgotten, and my first pick here is an all time favourite of mine ever since I played it when I was like, 8 years old. Sphinx and the cursed mummy is a 3D adventure action game where you play as both the titular Sphinx and the cursed pharaoh to be, Tutankhamen .

The game is heavily inspired by Egyptian mythology and sees you battling and puzzling your way through a world of mysteries and great evils lurking just beneath the surface. Exciting battles, puzzle platforming, monster collecting, and so so much more are all front and center in this game, and I really cannot recommend it enough to anyone who wants a different adventuring experience in their life.

-The second and last one in this category I PROMISE a lot of you have heard of but I really want to drive home just HOW GOOD it is. Okami stands tall as one of the best examples of non-Zelda 3D action adventuring.

Taking place in a GORGEOUSLY rendered fantasy rendition of classical Japan, the adventures of the sun goddess Amaterasu are yours to control. I really cannot stress HOW GOOD this game still looks today, even without the HD remasters its been given. The entire game is rendered in a cell-shaded art style reminiscent of classical Japanese paintings, giving the whole world a vibrant painted aesthetic that never EVER gets old. On top of this the game provides a truly unique combat and interaction system, seeing you use a paintbrush to paint your attacks and spells into reality. There isn't much I can say about this game that hasn't been said already, and it's certainly the least niche game on this list. Go give it a shot! You won't regret it.

So we did 3D platformers, but what about 2D?

-Fear not! I've got some solid suggestions for those too! Our first one here is another bundle of 2, those being the Klonoa games.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and its sequel, Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, are two of the best 2D platformers I've ever played. Releasing on the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 respectively, these games utilize a 2.5D perspective to let you run back and forth through revolving dioramas of platforming goodness. With a cheery, almost circus-like soundtrack and an adorably charming artstyle to match, I have such fond memories of discovering these games for the first time. The 3D nature of the game's assets allow for some truly impressive setpieces and boss battles, along with the aforementioned circular scrolling you partake in. Bubbling and tossing enemies at each other never seems to get old, or using the same bubbled enemies to get just a little more height to reach a secret. Definitely give these ones a shot if you're a fan of fun 2D playgrounds.

-Here's a real weird one to cap this category off (and another two pack to boot!) Loco Roco 1 and 2 are a set of puzzle platformers with a bit of an unorthodox control scheme.

Coming out on the PSP these are some WILD experiences. In the games you control a horde of blobs that sing with childrens voices to some rather catchy tunes, and tilt the entire world around them with the left and right triggers to get them over under and anything in between, and then to the exit. Did I say you play as the blobs? I meant you play as THE PLANET the blobs are on! See what I mean? These games are absolutely a delightful time though. And with such poppy mid 2000s soundtracks I can't help but love them. The tilting gameplay is tough as nails to master, and getting through a level with all your little Rocos AND the collectibles is no easy task. Give these ones a look! Or at least listen to the soundtrack.

And at last we arrive at the one's I couldn't think of more for, or couldn't think of where to place.

The next two games are just rapid fire ones that are personal non-nintendo favourites of mine, covering a variety of genres.

Ribbit King is my favourite wacky sports game ever. You play Frolf instead of Golf, Frolf being Golf but with frogs, get it? Send your frog around the bright colourful stages to gather points and be the first one to sink your frog to get the full 1000 available from the hole. Alternatively go for a FROG-IN-ONE to get 1500,

Wipeout is a series of tough as nails futuristic hover-racing games a la F-Zero. The soundtracks boast an inumerable amount of Drum and Bass/Electronic jams and the gameplay is lightning fast and smooth as all hell. Not to mention the games are just SO stylish. I'd recommend Wipeout Pure on the PSP, but all of the PlayStation consoles before the PS3 have at least one Wipeout game. Highly recommend checking them out.

SO obviously I couldn't put EVERY game I'd recommend in one post. But I really do hope this list gives you something new to play. Gaming history is so monumentally important to me, and what happened to Citra and Yuzu is nothing short of a tragedy. Always remember folks, play new games! Play old games! Hack your old hardware! Pirate new software! EMULATION IS FREE, LEGAL, AND FOR EVERYONE!

[lucawrites11]

Evie hc about when lucy forgot her in the airport <3

2019 world cup, evie's five, it's her third major tournament and she's a pro by now and her favourite toy on travel days is her nintendo switch and her favourite games are mario kart/mario party, splatoon, minecraft and, of course, fifa. she has other games on there when she's bored but she knows what she likes

the whole team is also obsessed with this switch, evie isn't just the most popular person because she's cute, she has travel sized competition in her pocket and they all want a turn so lucy mostly let's it happen. they were in france travelling between group stage games. they had japan next, their toughest opponent so her and steph were having a little chat about mentality and walked away from the team. evie was left with millie, rach, leah and georgia (her first mistake) who were supposedly adults but were, soon after lucy left, bickering over who was winning like children

evie saw jill got into a shop where you can buy sweets and saw her opportunity to target a weak point in the team and get some sweets so snuck off and followed her in. there was a lot of pleading and they eventually decided if they'd break the rules it would be for good sweets so jill had evie read the french map of the airport to find the best sweet shop and off they went

meanwhile, lucy and steph are having to be adults and lucy spots the abandoned nintendo and is like 'where the fuck is my kid?' and EVERYONE freaks out. EVERYONE. the whole team is split out across the airport calling out for evie, the coaches have gone to find staff to make an announcement. lucy is the most stressed anyone's ever seen her. keira's trying to comfort her and that's not going well

jill and evie, meanwhile, are engaged in a very intense debate about whether chocolate or sweets are better, so wrapped up in their debate they aren't listening to the announcements for evie

it takes ten minutes for them to FINALLY pick three bags of haribo you can't get in england: fizzy orangina, fizzy crocodiles and normal crocodiles

meanwhile england coaches are kicking up such a fuss that the airport is contemplating a lockdown. the staff are trying to access the security cameras and get the right time and location

jill and evie are going through their own stress. they are regretting buying three bags and trying to hide them, they both forgot their bags and they have to go for the pocket method. they eat a few from each bag to make the bags smaller in their pockets. time evie's been 'missing': seventeen minutes

jill and evie are now giggling, trying to walk back and inconspicuously as possible. it's a long walk so jill swings evie onto her shoulders and everyone looking for her is now looking at the wrong height and because jill starts running to make evie laugh, no one notices. they walk past four players frantically searching for evie

georgia has hit a new stage of guilt, leah is ready to murder anyone who has taken her, rach and millie are panicking and guilt searching, lucy's close to tears and keira's like 'i don't know what to do'. lucy staniforth and demi stokes have the most control and composure but they've walked off to search

evie and jill walk back into this chaos and jill swings evie down to her feet. evie sneaks in (new plan) and stuffs the sweets in her bag. no one spots her. jill walks over and is like 'what's going on?'

and georgia is like 'evie's missing'

jill stands awkwardly and points at evie now no longer by her bag 'she was with me?'

jill learned that she shouldn't have left her phone in her bag and should listen to announcements, multiple airport workers were apologised to and evie was hugged to within an inch of her life

no one ever knew about the sweets and it's their secret (they ate them all over the next few nights when evie needed a break from the stress and concern for her wellbeing)

[aeolianblues]

a lot of people that were like ‘ohh piracy bad, internet bad, let’s go to the good old days’ don’t realise that a lot of the third world didn’t fucking have access to a lot of the things they take for granted. A lot of people retconning morality into limewire don’t remember that our markets used to get things 5-10 years late.

My dad’s record collection, bought from HMV consists entirely of 80s albums, even thought he didn’t have his own money to buy cassettes and CDs until the 90s. This isn’t because he was a hip retro guy (his knowledge of music according to my probing has returned a result of 0, this man was not going to the counter and asking for specific CDs I promise you). He was picking stuff off the shelves that sounded familiar in name or looked cool or that his brothers handed him.

Our market literally had an embargo on imports that only opened up in 1991 and allowed goods from the rest of the world (in particular non essentials/‘luxury goods’) in for the first time in 1991. The year Blur’s first album came out. The year Oasis formed. Some things I know half of tumblr regards as ‘fairly recent history’. (Why were the markets embargoed? Colonialism fucked our economy to smithereens and the first thing we needed to do after kicking the Brits out was actually to just give local industry the smallest chance at growth. It’ll happen, you know, when you get robbed for like two centuries.)

When things did come, they came half a decade late. I'm not talking about small, indie releases, I'm talking about the biggest popstars and franchises in the world. Most people that got physical stuff from abroad on time had a family member who was on a business trip. The sort of figure you’d build up as a worldly, stately, well-travelled and knowledgeable kind of guy. Everyone else got their stuff in the later half of the decade. Sometimes not at all. Even I remember our CDs from the last decade have all been imports, some from Germany, some from Czechia, some from Poland.

Even in the 00s, hotbed of piracy, an American pirating a My Chem album still had the option of walking into a record shop and 'rectifying their moral wrongs' by picking up a physical copy. How were we to do that. Everything came so late that your teenage years would be over by the time your ethically-sourced, locally purchased copy arrived. Have fun.

When they finally began having official release dates outside of Europe and North America (and Japan, in this specific case) for videogames: arcade games, Nintendo based games, etc., our official release dates would be a few years later. Look it up. For a lot of years, those things simply didn't exist in our markets.

A lot of people, particularly westerners love to dismiss such arguments as whataboutism, strawmanism, or simply don't have enough empathy to imagine a world outside of their neat lil borders, but I'm here. I'm writing. You know me as flesh and blood; as late as 2015 there were albums I was buying that were available 'worldwide' that weren't available at mine. Don't moralise piracy. Simply recognise that it broke down a lot of barriers.

[hopeymchope]

Emio - The Smiling Man is a welcome return for FDC... but a disappointing one

As I mentioned once before, Famicom Detective Club is BACK. Not just the title, but also its central heroes: Assistant detectives Taro Ninten and Ayumi Tachibana have returned for a new first-person menu-driven adventure game with a new mystery.

This is a much bigger deal for Japanese fans, where this is the first new game in the series (and the first real new adventure for these characters) since 1997 — and that '97 game is pretty obscure/hard to come by (I'll get to that), so it's really the first full-fledged NEW release since 1989! But the rest of the world only had a fan translation of the second game's SNES remake since 2004, which meant it was really only experienced by hardcore adventure game enthusiasts. And we only got our first official release of the first two games in the form of the Switch remakes in 2021.

I liked those Switch remakes a lot. I especially liked how many detailed, fluid animations there were in nearly every setting, which really brought the adventures to life. For any newcomers, I still recommend both of those titles — and in fact, I think The Girl Who Stands Behind remains the best in the series even now. The Missing Heir is full of dated design roadblocks that will almost certainly send you rushing to find an online guide, but The GIrl Who Stands Behind is a pretty easy playthrough for anyone.

Time has left the third game in the series behind, rendering it to obscurity. It truly is The Past that Disappeared in the Snow.

Though I should clarify that I only mean that The Girl Who Stands Behind is, IMO, the best out of the three games we English-only fans can experience. Because Emio - The Smiling Man is actually the fourth game in the series... and the third one is extremely obscure. That game was only released via Nintendo's Satellaview service in Japan, which let you use download games over dial-up Internet back in the '90s. That third game, titled The Past that Disappeared in the Snow, was the only one (until now!) where you played as Ayumi Tachibana. When her mom was accused of a murder, Ayumi had to uncover a decades-long family feud between her own family and another... and we don't know much more than that, because although the ROM file certainly is out there, nobody has ever bothered to translate this game into English.

But... I digress. It's time I stopped meandering around the central topic and started talking about the newest release: Emio.

In terms of gameplay, this one skews much closer to The Girl Who Stands Behind than The Missing Heir. There's one late-game moment where you're likely to be stymied about what to do or where to go next, because advancement requires some outside-the-box thinking. But otherwise, most players will be able to step through the narrative without too much trouble.

One cool touch that I alluded two a couple paragraphs earlier is that you will actually swap between Taro and Ayumi's perspectives in this one. I quite like that angle, though Taro pretty consistently gets the more interesting parts of the story. Perhaps that's because he still dominates 70% of the perspective.

The game will grade your performance in each chapter at the very end of the story, so do your best on the reviews and other multiple-choice segments.

If you're just looking to have a new adventure with some compelling late reveals? Emio - The Smiling Man has you covered. The same general gameplay from The Girl Who Stands Behind is back, including the end-of-chapter reviews of information that will ultimately help determine your graded performance.

Unfortunately I also feel that, in some ways, this is the weakest of the stories we've been able to play in English. And I feel that way primarily for three reasons:

Prepare to spend a lot of time at Planet Coffee, receiving very little information.

The sad truth is that, for much of this game, it feels like you're treading water. You barely ever seem to make advancements in the story until the last few chapters—instead, it's just piecemeal drip-feeding of tiny details that don't actually seem to move the needle. The Missing Heir was dropping new murders and mysteries left and right. In comparison, The Girl Who Stands Behind was more similar to how Emio is structured... but TGWSB had a creepy overlaying atmosphere and sense of dread that helped propel it along. For me at least, Emio is comparatively... well, it's kind of boring. Not much happens for most of the game. The last two main chapters and the Epilogue are all powerfully compelling, but up until that point, it feels more like you experience almost 10 chapters where you learn random facts that don't actually link to one another, and almost no one ever seems to be in any danger?

Worse is that sometimes, some things DO happen that the narrative just kind of... forgets about. One of the most compelling twists in the investigation is never explained in any way! At one point, we follow Ayumi as she follows a mysterious figure and then gets jumped by them... and then this is never discussed or addressed again! It's hard to believe a game with this many staff members involved could see this and shrug these dropped plot points off. Maybe they were all too scared to speak up to producer/writer Yoshio Sakamoto? But it's frustrating.

Ayumi gets jumped early in Chapter 7. When we next see her, she never mentions that this happened, nor is this ever explained or referenced again for the entire game.

You know how I mentioned after playing the previous two games that I was shipping Ayumi and Taro? Well, this game kind of killed that for me. For some reason, this is the only game in the series where Ayumi is treated as this gorgeous, irresistable being that every boy she encounters (while playing as her) simps for. And our playable hero, Taro, is just such a simp, too! Maybe it just felt overwhelming to me because it's every boy (and a couple girls) that she runs into, while in reality she doesn't talk to that many characters. But for me, it felt exhausting and kind of gross to see a couple of the male characters bicker over who knows her better, get possessively jealous when they have no right to, and basically act like total toolbags whenever Ayumi is involved. Taro, for his part, has gone from "implied to maybe kinda like her" to "acting weirdly possessive and overtly pining for her whenever they interact." Which I don't care for. For Ayumi's sake, I'm glad she seems to be somehow blissfully ignorant of her hypnotic effect. :P At least their boss, Utsugi, seems like he's not gunning for her... ?

So yeah, these are the three things that I think held the game back from being as good a story as the first two for me personally. Yet that's not to say the game is bad, either — I'm still quite happy to be unraveling mysteries with the Utsugi Detective Agency. There are still lots of fluid character touches in the animated scenes, the art is consistently great, the soundtrack is good, and things REALLY get gripping by the end.

If you're wondering why this game has an "M" rating while the previous two had "T" ratings, that's entirely due to the game's epilogue. After you beat the main story, many plot threads remain dangling. And as I stated up above, some will sadly stay that way. But most of them are filled in by the epilogue, which walks you through the incredibly dark, tragic, and disturbing tale of the culprit. The epilogue is more like a 20-minute visual novel followed by a 30-minute anime, because you don't actually PLAY it much; you really just read and then watch it. You are warned beforehand that this tale will be "gruesome," and though it's still far less so than most horror-based video games, it's definitely QUITE gruesome by Nintendo standards. But it's one of the most gripping parts of the whole story, honestly.

[fantasyinvader]

I've been thinking about the problematic elements to Almyra and... I think I got an answer that isn't complete crap.

Almyra was, even in Houses, not meant to be this ideal country. In his supports with Byleth, Claude reveals he came to Fodlan not to tear down boarders and shit, but to learn from Fodlan in order to make Almyra more accepting of outsiders. The unification stuff came about when he arrived, found out that wasn't the case, and then began blaming the Church (with TWSITD slipping him information to turn him against Rhea likely not being an isolated incident).

Claude is meant to be an outsider, someone not from Fodlan just like the player is. His initial suspicion of the Church is meant to reflect that of the player's, and with him learning to see Fodlan for what it is being his own path to enlightenment. I mean, he talks about going to confirm something with his own eyes in his paralogue, and he's the one to point out the diversity at Garreg Mach as well as how the Church doesn't actually teach isolationism.

In short, Claude was always meant to be something of a gullible idiot. Whereas the player may fall into the trap of supporting Edelgard despite the reveals, Claude taking his initial impressions as irrefutable facts are not the way to enlightenment. Hell, going with the Buddhist themes acting as if something is that concrete and being unwilling to budge in the face of more information is not how to do things. As you learn more, you're views are meant to change. Claude's whole thing of being an outsider is actually a hindrance to him, because it reveals how little he actually knows about his new environment.

If Claude is going around being unsubtle about not being from Fodlan, acting based on his initial assumptions when he came to Fodlan and not confirming things with his own eyes... we have a problem. If he's not going to recognize the problems with his own society and insist that he has the solutions for another one, there's also a problem there.

This isn't just Claude, this is also a message to the players. I've talked before how some of what Edelgard says lands differently in Japan. Japan is a meritocratic society, one where people are less inclined to help those in need because they haven't “earned it.” This kind of outlook has led to various issues within Japanese society, yet Edelgard wants to implement them herself. At the same time, the game hints that the society Edelgard wants to create isn't too far different from Almyra, the society Claude wants to fix, especially with Caspar's Japanese endings.

The game is telling you to see Fodlan, a land it's own creators said they wanted us to immerse ourselves in, for what it truly is. To not just believe the words of Edelgard and TWSITD, but to see things with our own eyes and realize the truth. To simply listen to what the game is actually trying to say, to look at what it is saying is right for Fodlan rather than assert our own beliefs on Fodlan much like Edelgard and the translators do. Because... we're outsiders intruding on Fodlan too, yet we have the power to derail the story in the BE route.

I think that's the point. Claude is supposed to be a parallel for us, the players. Almyra being presented as it is serves as a reminder that our world, our cultures, aren't perfect themselves. We are outsiders to the story, and as such we should look at what the story is saying is the answer rather than forcing our own views onto the game. Fodlan is telling us Edelgard isn't the answer, so that is what we should be acting on. Just like Claude eventually realizes that keeping Fodlan and Almyra separate is the way to go rather than forcing them together and instead learns from Fodlan, we the players should do the same. Keep Fodlan and IRL separate, but take the lessons from Houses back with us to the real world. Because, once more I must remind people, this is a game for middle-schoolers. CERO rating B, ages 12+.

You really think Nintendo is going to tell kids the stuff Edelgard does is good? Even NoA had to change stuff to make her appear more “heroic.” And isn't that really what storytelling is about? passing on messages and morals to the audience? Kinda hard to do that when the audience (or translators) is trying to twist things to suit their own beliefs.

[weaselandfriends]

I'm interested in your Fire emblem essay and what you said about the story being a reflection of the SRPG gameplay

Looking over the essay I have saved in my drafts, what I actually talked about was the answer to the question "Why did Fire Emblem get popular?" Fire Emblem has been around since 1990 and has been localized since 2003, but the series never took off to truly mainstream popularity in either Japan or the rest of the world until 2013, when Fire Emblem: Awakening was released, at which point it meteorically rose to become one of the best-selling Nintendo franchises.

In my essay, I posited that there were two "obvious" reasons for Awakening's popularization of the franchise, but a third less-obvious reason that was even more important. The first "obvious" reason was the introduction of Casual Mode, which removed the franchise's signature permadeath feature and made it far easier and more accessible to a broader audience. As someone who was in the trenches of the Fire Emblem fandom from 2004 to 2012, I can tell you that the series heavily attracted difficulty junkies during this time. The demographic heavily skewed male, and the most popular topics of discussion were tier lists and debates on the usefulness of various characters in certain challenge run settings (such as Low Turn Count, or LTC, runs). Casual Mode opened the doors for, well, casuals to join in on the fun.

The second "obvious" reason was that Awakening was anime. While every Fire Emblem game has had anime character designs, past titles were often fairly reserved with these designs, featuring knights in full armor whose only distinctly "anime" characteristic was green- or blue-colored hair. Awakening, however, leaned into the significantly more absurd, flashy, and/or sexualized designs that are what people far more commonly associate with "anime." It wasn't just the designs, though. Awakening also took an "anime" approach to character personalities, often giving each character one or two traits that are amplified to extreme degrees. This change is easy to spot if you compare Awakening characters to similar ones from past titles. In Genealogy of the Holy War, Arden is an armor knight who is teased by his comrades for being dull, boring, and generally stuck on sentry duty. In Awakening, Kellam is an armor knight who is so dull and boring that characters cannot even see him when he stands right in front of them. Recurring jokes involve characters thinking they're being haunted by a ghost when he talks to them, or forgetting he exists entirely, because he is so unassuming and banal. It reminds me of KonoSuba, in which characters have a singular trait that is pushed to its utmost extremities for the sake of humor; this is a style of humor commonplace in anime, especially anime that targets a young teen demographic.

My argument, however, was that these "obvious" reasons fail to adequately explain why Fire Emblem got so popular so quickly. They may have been sufficient in 2013, but the popularity of subsequent titles has called into question how much these reasons matter at all. To be clear, Fire Emblem probably doesn't become popular without Casual Mode; the accessibility is just too important. However, simply being accessible doesn't mean people will access it. There are plenty of SRPGs out there, like Shining Force, that never had permadeath, that were even localized during the 16-bit golden age of JRPGs, yet never gained major popularity. So while Casual Mode was necessary, it wasn't the change that took the franchise from the edge of Underperforming Nintendo Franchise Hell (F-Zero, Star Fox, Metroid, too many others to name) to 17 representatives in Smash Bros.

And frankly, I think the anime argument isn't a factor at all. It was a tempting argument to make in 2013, when the anime elements of Awakening were the most obvious deviation from the franchise's past, but 2019 a little game called Fire Emblem: Three Houses came out that utterly decimated the thesis. Three Houses is, of course, by far the most popular Fire Emblem title, with double Awakening's sales (1.9 million vs 3.82 million worldwide, according to Wikipedia). Notably for this argument, however, is how un-anime Three Houses is both in character designs and tone. In fact, Three Houses narratively hearkens back to much older Fire Emblem titles, with a major focus on politics and serious worldbuilding, significantly less comic relief, and relatively "realistic" character designs that avoid absurdity and fanservice. In its tone and story, it is far closer to Path of Radiance than Awakening. So if we take "more anime" to be the root cause of the revitalization of the franchise, how do we explain Three Houses?

There needs to be another explanation. Something both Awakening and Three Houses did that previous entries did not.

My argument is that what the Fire Emblem franchise did to turn itself around was change from a focus on plot to a focus on character, with innovations to the gameplay that emphasized this change. This sounds a bit more esoteric than the other explanations so let me clarify. Awakening introduced a mechanic called pair-up, which allowed two units to join together to gain large statistical and combat bonuses. On top of that, Awakening emphasized the game's support system, which had been present in older titles but much more difficult to access and inconsequential to gameplay, not only making supports easier to achieve, but central to character building and recruitment in the form of child characters. This gameplay emphasis is mirrored in the story, with Robin's character arc being rooted in the "bonds" he forges with his allies, and the child characters also having a significant role in the plot. On top of that, the more "anime" characters have livelier support conversations, as opposed to past games where many supports often boiled down to very generic "You are my friend. I will have your back on the battlefield" sorts of conversations.

With this character-and-relationship-driven gameplay/story in mind, look again at Three Houses. While lacking the pair-up mechanic or child characters, Three Houses adds a Persona-esque social link system that is extremely extensive and probably takes up about half the total gameplay. Strategic battles are deemphasized in favor of running around the monastery, talking to your allies, going to teatime or doing activities with them, finding them gifts, and so forth. The central narrative gimmick of the game is the three Hogwarts houses, which give certain groups of characters innate bonds that the gameplay then allows you to explore thoroughly. Even the aforementioned political nature of the plot feeds into these relationships; many characters are defined by the political placement of their birth, and their attempts to balance their personal goals with the goals of their station leads to intense interpersonal drama. And the plot itself boils this drama deliciously when it comes time for the three houses to go to war with each other.

This thesis of mine also extends to the less-popular installments of the franchise in the post-Awakening era. Though all these games sold decently well (likely due to install base), they don't match the success of the other two, and are a lot less well-regarded by the fans. Fates nerfed Awakening's pair-up system and lazily tacked on child characters via an absurd "baby dimension" that was poorly implemented in both gameplay and story; Shadows of Valentia was a remake of an NES game that, despite heavily revamping the story and adding some support conversations, did not change the core gameplay of the original; and Engage put in a more shallow monastery-like hub world, with much more simplistic characters, and a core gameplay gimmick that involves making one character a God instead of combining your units together.

Indeed, Fates and Engage are probably far more "anime" than Awakening and Three Houses, which most fans consider to their detriment rather than benefit. Most damning of all, however, is that the story of these games heavily revolves around a singular self-insert protagonist, with other characters having a much less important role. This narrative focus deemphasizes character-bond-based gameplay, rather than emphasizing it like the other games do.

(I'll mention that I personally think Engage is an excellent game, though this is because I am one of those spreadsheet and tier-list loving oldheads and I appreciate the excellent map design, core gameplay, and higher difficulty mode that actually seems like it was playtested. In fact, it was my love of Engage and the relatively lukewarm response from the fandom that led to me asking why Fire Emblem was popular in the first place. I had thought the fans loved all the goofy anime stuff, so why were they pissed about it now? What was Engage missing that Awakening wasn't?)

You can see how this shift from plot-based story and gameplay to character-based story and gameplay has affected not simply the raw number of fans, but the demographic makeup. In 2011, the fandom was nerdy dudes who liked to compare stat growth rates. In 2023, the fandom is far more evenly split between male and female players, and the fandom is a far more robust space for fan fiction, fan art, and other creative endeavors. It's characters who drove that change, not a more anime tone, not even a reduced difficulty. And after the relative reception of Three Houses and Engage, I'm extremely interested to see whether Intelligent Systems realizes this point, and what the next Fire Emblem looks like.

[sacredechoes]

Fire Emblem: Battle of Revolution Translation

For April Fools' 2017, Nintendo of Japan put up a joke page announcing a Fire Emblem game starring Valbar, Leon, and Kamui set in the Meiji era. The page is archived and some in the English fandom have heard of it, but I don't know if the page ever got a full translation.

Below the cut is my attempt at localizing the text of this page.

Fire Emblem: 維新大乱 ~Battle of Revolution~

(see note 1)

A return to where it all started…

"For 15 years since taking on the role of Fire Emblem series producer, I have been thinking about how to make the game more accessible to a wider audience. I have been thinking of new challenges to attract more customers, such as creating TMS#FE based on the idea of what would happen if we tried to make it a modern drama, or creating Fire Emblem Fates based on the idea of allowing people to enjoy multiple stories in parallel. In that sense, you could say that 'I want to increase the number of customers' is the starting point of my approach to Fire Emblem. And now, the theme I have decided on for further leaps forward for the Fire Emblem series is 'Jidai-geki' (historical drama). I have been working with Intelligent Systems to create a Fire Emblem game that takes place in the late Edo period and vividly depicts the activities of talented local warriors as they work to create a new world. Experience a passionate story of men in the late Edo period while maintaining the fun of playing with swords, bows, and sickles, bow effectiveness against flying ninjas, and other interesting aspects of the Fire Emblem series. Please look forward to Fire Emblem: Battle of Revolution!" - Hitoshi Yamakami, Nintendo Co.

STORY

Some things are more precious than life itself...

In a time called "Bakumatsu", the sun has begun to set on Edo and the Tokugawa Shogunate. A great famine stretches on, and many communities near their breaking points. The world of Edo is burdened by a state of terrible unrest. Though the land of Hi-no-moto has observed a long period of isolationism, the waves of distant nations have begun to break on its shores regardless.

In a distant corner in the countryside of the fiefdom of Barenshia lives a man named Barubou. Our tale begins when he is unexpectedly appointed to the Sofia Security Corps, the bodyguards to the fiefdom's daimyo Seirika.

To bend the knee to the shogunate, or to advocate its overthrow? For either path this land might take, men clash fiercely with their beliefs held high and proud as banners.

Meeting a sworn ally, and then, farewell. With the nefarious conspiracies of the shogunate's underbelly unfolding before his eyes, Barubou is shaken to his very core.

When all is said and done, which belief will he commit his faith to? The stage is set for this decisive battle in the port town of Toba...

GAME SYSTEM

Command your comrades to win the battle!

Playing the role of Barubou, you will work with your comrades to achieve each map's victory condition.

A profound and moving tale

Catch a glimpse into each major character's rich past through Imperial Orders ("sub-episodes"), as well as through Public Service ("sub-quests") packed throughout the region.

The permadeath feature that defines the Fire Emblem series persists in this instalment, and a unique new system using elements of hanafuda cards debuts in Battle of Revolution. Powerful animations breathe life into battles.

SPECIAL EDITION: Barenshia Emaki (Picture Scroll)

Scroll One: One Hundred Flowers Blooming (see note 2)

Scroll Two: A Friendship like Fish and Water

Scroll 1, which depicts the everyday lives, traditions, and culture of the people of Barenshia, and Scroll 2, which details the specifics of Barubou, Ren'o and Kamucho's lives not told in the main story, will be distributed as a set.

DLC

Running Marusu - Cost: Free

This epic quest follows Marusu, a young courier from Akaneia Fiefdom, which neighbors Barenshia Fiefdom. The boy's star-crossed fate compels Marusu to single-mindedly run around to every corner of Akaneia Fiefdom, and how all of his travels weave together to earn him the title of Daimyo of Akaneia Fiefdom.

※Delivery date yet to be announced.

CAST

馬流暴 Barubou (Valbar) (see note 3)

Despite his humble origins in a farming family, his natural talent together with his compassionate, sincere, and heroic personality led him to be selected as the head of the Sofia Security Corps. His hearty laugh is so powerful that it can even be heard at a distance of 1 ri away. Since entering his thirties, his few worries are mostly consumed these days by the size of his belly.

恋男 Ren'o (Leon) (see note 4)

A runaway ninja of the Iga school. His intense admiration for Barubou drove him to join the Sofia Security Corps to stay close to the object of his affections. Every day, he applies rouge to his eyelids a little differently in relentless pursuit of being the most fashionable man in the Security Corps. He is incredibly precise with his makeup brush, among other fine motor skills, and is often asked for help by the village girls.

暇武猪 Kamucho (Kamui) (see note 5)

Formerly a ronin. He once crossed blades with Barubou in the past, but was touched by the man's personality and joined the Sofia Security Corps. While he hates feeling constrained and lives an idle and carefree life, he has considerable skill with a sword. Although the pretty girl who advertises for the general store has caught his attention, he's never bothered to actually speak to her.

-----

Translation notes

(Ishin Tairan - lit. Revolution Uprising - "Ishin" often refers to "Meiji-Ishin" or Meiji Restoration). The game is set in Mie prefecture in historic Japan, in the Bakumatsu era. (between 1853-1867)

(T/N: simultaneous emergence of many talents and achievements; lit. hundred flowers blooming in profusion)

(T/N: written with kanji meaning lit. "Force of a Rushing Horse". The kanji on-reading give "Barubou", but could be kun-read as the name "Managashi Sueo")

(T/N: written with kanji for "love" and "man". Kanji on-reading give "Ren'o".)

(T/N: written with kanji for "leisure", "martial arts" and "boar". Kanji on-reading give "Kamucho".)

Kanji names are given for all characters and locations. As such I have romanized them very loosely rather than using official names (usually given in kana). As noted with the main cast's names, these kanji names are some degree of pun and not chosen solely for the sound. Celica's, for example, includes the kanji 聖 which means "holy" and 里 which can mean "place of origin", fitting as she grew up in a priory.

-----

Barenshia = 刃蓮死亜 = Valentia

Sofia = 素風亜 = Zofia

Seirika = 聖里香 = Celica

Marusu = 真瑠澄 = Marth

Akaneia = 茜亥亜 = Archanea

[sgtsmilies]

Cave Story Is Not a Metroidvania

I've hit my breaking point. After years of bumping into references to Cave Story, the 2006 indie darling classic as a Metroidvania, I feel the need to set the record straight, if only for my own mental well-being. Please, when I play an indie platformer on Steam with the Metroidvania tag I need to know whether it's lying to me or not. I'm Smilies, and today I will be talking about this stupid subgenre that I love.

In August 6, 1986, the world was changed forever. Metroid was released for the Famicon Disk System in Japan. A charming little game, you control an android(?) named Samus Aran in a 2d-platformer environment, flipping around and shooting little monsters, and the titular Metroids.

In a space that would become filled with 2d platformers, including Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Shatterhand (look it up), and Castlevania, which had come out just prior, Metroid would define itself by its interesting exploration mechanics, in contrast to the level-based structures held by most other games at the time.

In Metroid, you explore an open-ended world with road blocks, while obtaining major upgrades such as the Morph Ball to explore small crawlspaces, bombs to destroy tiles, and so on. Essentially, as you grow in power, the world opens up and provides more to explore. Each player has a unique experience finding items and exploring areas in an order unique to them. I'm weaving a narrative here and those of you with more history knowledge than me will probably be able to find reasonable earlier examples that could be described as a Metroidvania. But, hey, Metroid is literally in the name, so I'm gonna start there.

The name itself, [Metroid][Vania] is commonly believed to have come from a portmanteau of Metroid's sequel, Super Metroid for the Super Famicom/Nintendo, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, for the Playstation. Both maintain this structure: collecting power ups grants access to new areas, which you find via exploration. In general, in my opinion, you'll find games that follow the Castlevania mold more than the Metroid one: while Metroid's progression blockers can be somewhat contrived (for example: green doors only opening for Power Bombs, or blocks that only break if you destroy them with particular power-ups) Castlevania's are generally diagetic (for example: the Mist Form power up granting you the ability to move through steel grates). Castlevania-inspired Metroidvanias include indie games such as Timespinner and Hollow Knight, while the most notable Metroid-inspired Metroidvania I can think of would be Axiom Verge. Obviously, this is a generalization, but it is the general trend I observed.

Now that we've gone over all that, let's talk about Cave Story. Cave Story follows the, uh… story of a little android guy who wakes up in a cave, collects weapons, power-ups and upgrades (including health upgrades which look remarkably like Samus', and even play a similar jingle!), and explores seemingly open-ended areas which are occasionally connected to one another. It's also got a map viewer for areas you're in to help with exploration.

"Smilies, you dumb cretin!" you might be saying, "That sounds a lot like a Metroidvania!" but let me finish!! The important thing here is Cave Story's level structure. You start the game in the First Cave, a small linear section to acquaint you with the controls and acquire a weapon. You then take a teleporter to the Egg Corridor, then the Bushlands, then the Sand Zone. At the end of the Sand Zone, you are sent against your will to the Labyrinth, which leads directly to the Core. After destroying the core, you get access to the Living Waterway. After returning to Mimiga Village through the Waterway, you head through Egg Corridor again, which has been devastated, before reaching the Outer Wall, then the Plantation, then the Last Cave, then the Balcony, then (should you have unlocked it) the Sacred Grounds where you can defeat the final boss and beat the game.

That's right, Cave Story is completely linear. It's a game in which the areas you explore are winding and fit together to form a mostly-contiguous structure of a sort, but the order in which you explore them is set in stone and experienced the same by every player barring different endings ending the game earlier than others. You even frequently warp directly to levels without having to navigate to them first.

At the same time, Cave Story can feel like a Metroidvania. As previously mentioned, the health upgrades are deliberately evocative of Metroid's. It even has a missile weapon that you can upgrade the capacity for! But it's not a Metroidvania, it can't be. The missiles are optional, they don't blow anything up other than enemies, they don't break walls, etc. Honestly, there's only really two actual upgrade to your capabilities beyond getting more devastating ways to kill your foes. The Air Tank lets you breathe under water, and the Booster provides air mobility. That being said, neither really unlock any new areas, beyond completely optional upgrades. The air mechanic is rarely utilized before the Living Waterway, and you obtain the Air Tank immediately prior to that area. And the Last Cave is designed to be impossible without the Booster 2.0 (and has an easier version if you did not obtain it).

I call these games, ones that invoke Metroidvania aesthetics but don't really commit to their mechanics, Metroidvania-lites, in reference to the oft maligned Roguelite genre(?) but I'm not entering that minefield (yet).

To me, the mechanics that define a Metroidvania more than anything else is the collection of items and the exploration of areas in a non-defined order. While some may inherently be required to be explored before the others, there is no set order. It's also defined by how the game is not fully explorable at the start. You gain abilities, the abilities unlock areas, those areas unlock new abilities, and so on. I'm actually pretty ambivalent to the games being 2d platformers. I think that Metroid Prime (the first one, at least, I dunno about the rest) is a Metroidvania despite being a first-person shooter. I also think that you could easily make the argument for both of the NES Zelda games, which might be a controversial take! Either way, it doesn't really matter where you stretch it to as long as it hits the right notes, and Cave Story most certainly does not.

Disclaimer: I love both Cave Story AND Metroidvanias. Cave Story not being a Metroidvania is not a problem with it per se. I just think they're both different things that I like separately.

[lunarsilkscreen]

The Hero's Shade is Will (Zelda x Illusion of Gaia x Final Fantasy)

Or is it Freedan? It's certainly not freeman... After replaying IoG, I've made some concerning observations. The first of which is that this game is the original appearance of the "Moon Children" on Nintendo hardware.

If you're not aware; IoG is incredibly similar to Zelda, the hero is some dirty blonde hair kid that has a flute, is harassed by a princess; has weird tree friends... And most importantly; Stops the moon from destroying the world.

I'll get to the FF references in a moment.

This is possible because of a rumor I heard about the Gaming Industry (especially that in Japan, especially early on) Where companies would just employee swap all the time. Likely due to shuffling finances.

I'm not aware of the full story; forgive my ignorance.

Now, Illusion of Gaia is actually one in a long line of Enix games (before the SquareEnix merger) that may or may not be tangentially or directly linked together.

It was probably left open ended on purpose.

Act Raiser, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma are all *mostly* directly linked.

They tend to feature a Hero (whether Human or Divine) guided by a diety, and ultimately facing off against monsters that are about to destroy the world, have destroyed the world, or are on their way to destroy the world via Meteor or from the Moon.

And when you hear "Meteor" you already know where this is headed when it comes to Final Fantasy. And that's not the only Link, IoG features a deity named Gaia (a large talking head statue) and a Dark Gaia Statue (on the moon) who opposed the light.

These Statues are the first, that I know of, in video game history that resemble the Fal'cie from FFXIII. They are incredibly similar in appearance.

And that there are at least two that are diametrically opposed, just like ones in FFXIII; probably isn't a coincidence.

That's not all; Will gets help from two other entities turned to stone. Freedan and Shadow. Former Hero's turned into stone by Gaia, just like what happens to the L'Cie. If they do not (or even if they do) complete the bidding of the Fal'Cie.

Will also gets the help of a village of "Flower Fairy People" who take the form of humans, but live in an illusory village. Saria feeling like a direct callback Lilly. Considering they're both known for the songs that are passed through their Tribe. Lily once saying "The only way your Grandmother could have learned that song is from us." Grandma Lola having originally taught young will the Melody.

And subsequently, Will learns the Melody of the Wind from that same village. The wind motifs being heavily implied whenever we're near a forest temple.

However, in IoG, the Forest is all but cut down. But a temple still stands, and so does the guardian Diety of the woods.

That's not all. Will sports the same Blonde hair seen in Link from Wind Waker, and they're the only two in gaming history where their Grandmother's are directly involved in the plot of the game.

Ok, that one is a little bit of Stretch.

But the biggest thing to note is the end of Will in IoG. Like in Lightning Returns, the world *isn't* saved. Instead, Will is reincarnated hundreds of years in the future after having lost his life to defeat the final boss. (Like his father)

Both Will and Freedan never got to be the hero, despite saving the world.

Just like the Hero's Shade.

But... That's just a Theory....

[apple-pecan]

Sin and Punishment (2000)

once upon a time, a small company called Treasure existed. they made a bunch of awesome games but none of them sold particularly well, but that didn't stop them. until the early 2010's in which case they actually did stop. oops. either way they had a bunch of cult classics under their belt and had the idea to partner up with nintendo themselves to work on their first fully 3D game.

thus Sin and Punishment was made and it sold twelve billion copies and solved world hunger and world peace was finally achieved. just kidding, no one bought it because it was a japan exclusive N64 game, a country the N64 did awful in. a north amercian release was in mind from the very beginning (to the extent that all the voice acting is in english and not japanese) but it was cancelled because nintendo are cowards. thankfully they rectified this mistake in 2007 when it got released on the virtual console and it's been playable on all their main home consoles ever since. about time.

so what's the deal? why's this game so good? think star fox 64 with the plot of end of evangelion. it's a rail shooter where you have a rapid fire gun, the ability to melee enemies if they get too close, and a player character bound to the laws of gravity that can walk from left to right, jump, and dodge roll. there is also a worthless lock on mode that you should never use.

what follows is a non-stop barrage of action, explosions and vast amounts of awesome boss fights. so, like the best kinda games treasure made. BUT IN 3D!!!!!!! it's always a rush of energy and fun and there's never a dull moment. but it comes at a price: this game is horrifically short. you can easily beat the entire game in around 40 minutes, and aside from unlocking harder difficulties there's not that much of a reason to play again. except yes there is because the game is fun as balls and you can replay it to get a high score. i guess what im trying to say is think of this more as an arcade game rather than a full fledged AAA adventure, and you'll be good.

if you bought this game back when it first came out (somehow) the steep price would've been an issue. but if you have the nintendo switch online expansion pass, this is included in the nintendo 64 catalog for the low low price of 0 dollars. i mean, besides paying for the expansion pass but. you know what i mean. or you could pirate it that's fine too. either way, play this game however you can, it's the very definition of short but sweet. definitely treasure's best game on the N64, just narrowly beating mischief makers, and honestly one of the best games on the N64 in general. play it, you won't be disappointed.

9/10

NOTE: my favorite part was when saki turned into EVA-01 and said "AWW YEAH IT'S SIN AND PUNISHMENT TIME" and he sinned and punished the evil twin clone of the planet earth so hard it exploded. this joke is still funny right.

[heloflor]

After getting into Mario with a more “fandom” kind of mindset, and more specifically getting a bigger interest in the RPG games, something that amuses me a lot are the people in youtube comments trying to argue that the Koopalings aren’t Bowser’s children.

Like, don’t get me wrong, I know Miyamoto retconned their link to Bowser. But the funny thing is, even to this day, Nintendo themselves are still writing those kids as if they were related to Bowser !

Seriously :

- In New Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii U, the Koopalings are attacking the castle along with Junior/Bowser, thus putting them on the same level of importance as Bowser and his son. The ending cutscenes do the same thing, especially the one in Wii U that just screams “they’re a family”. Plus, all the Koopalings serve as world bosses, which was kinda Junior’s role in DS, yet again putting them on the same level.

- In New Bros U, they all have their own ship. The only character to have a ship with their face on it before had always been Bowser.

- As I’ve seen someone point out in a comment section, the Koopalings are different skins of Junior in Smash Ultimate, again putting them on the same level as Bowser’s son. They might also be skins of Junior in Mario Maker 2 but I’m not sure on this one.

- In New Bros 2, they’re using a giant clown car, which is implied to belong to Bowser as Bowser and Junior are the only ones with a recurring clown car and Junior’s is too small. I doubt Bowser would let just about anybody use his car.

- On top of that, each has their own clown car in Smash.

- You know that icon/logo of his head thing that Bowser has (the one we see in games like 64 when we die) ? Bowser Junior had had one for a while now and more recently each Koopaling were given one (I think you can see them at Nintendo World in Bowser’s castle ?).

- Since they were originally created as Bowser’s children, they’re the same type of Koopa as him, and that fact hadn’t been changed in recent years. Hell, outside of Ludwig in Mario World and the fights in Superstar Saga, the Koopalings are never shown to breath fire, yet in the remake of Superstar Saga, they chose to keep the fire breath (except for Ludwig ironically enough). They could’ve easily removed the fire breath to make them more similar to Boom Boom, especially since Boom Boom has recently been shown with spikes on his shell, but they chose to keep this ability. Granted their shell plastron is different from Boom Boom, but that’s another design change Nintendo could make to set them apart from Bowser (giving them the same shell as Boom Boom to make it seem like they’re the same species, instead of keeping them as “Royal Koopas”).

In short, the Koopalings’ design wasn’t changed after the retcon, making them, Bowser and Junior the only members of that specific type of Koopa, thus implying they might be related. It’s also not helped by them having magic (which only Magikoopas and Bowser have) + being high-ranked members of the army. They might also be the only minors in the army, which raises a few eyebrows as to how they got the job (why would Bowser hire a bunch of children/teenagers to put in charge of his army ? Granted some like Ludwig, Roy and Wendy might be adults by now but I can’t bring myself to see Lemmy and Larry as anything other than teenagers).

- Saw a video of the bosses in Paper Mario Color Splash, and the minions (paratroopas) address Ludwig as “your evilness”, which is pretty reminiscent to how Bowser is called by his army, most notably by Kamek (“you grouchiness”, stuff like this)

- Baby Bowser and Bowser Jr are referred to as “young master” by Kamek. In the RPGs, the Koopalings are sometimes called “master [name]” (and “mistress Wendy”) when talked to individually. Note that both this point and the previous one are for the English version tho, not the Japanese one (no idea how they’re called in Japan).

- There’s that one Super Mario Adventures comic made in the 90s that was apparently re-released a few years ago (something like 2017-2018 ?), aka well after Nintendo retconned the kids’ relationship with Bowser (around 2012). Yet, in this comic, at least in the English version, the Koopalings are explicitly said to be Bowser’s children, with him saying he wants to marry Peach so they can have a mom + the kids calling him dad. And I don’t think they changed this dialogue in the re-release ?

- Bowser Jr’s Journey. Just, Bowser Jr’s Journey. After seeing all the cutscenes of this game, it is a crime that those kids aren’t related ! Hell there’s literally a moment where Junior pulls out the “I’ll tell dad !” card on Roy ! And let’s not forget stuff like the interactions between Junior and most notably Ludwig/Morton/Roy, Junior saying “us Koopalings” at some point thus including himself amongst that group, or stuff like him singing “I’m the one who wears the crown” making it sound like he’s saying “I’m the one chosen amongst the eight of us”. Then there’s the “family drama” vibe in the first half, the cute moments etc (Also unpopular opinion but after seeing that game, Ludwig should still be the heir of the throne. He has what it takes to be a fantastic king ! Granted Junior is still extremely young and could learn and mature.)

- Also about Jr’s Journey, the main conflict actually works a lot better if you imagine the kids to be siblings, with the Koopalings talking down to Junior because he’s the baby of the family + they resent him for taking the throne from them, while Junior is tired of his siblings babying him + he’s that kind of kid who orders the older siblings around because he thinks he has the power to do so. Them being siblings also justifies why Junior changes his mind so easily during the beach scene and then is quickly shown to be strongly attached to the others (getting happy when Iggy gets his memories back, ordering Ludwig to stay with him from now on, that whole adorable scene with Morton etc).

Meanwhile, if you see the Koopalings as nothing more than high-ranked underlings, it’s weird why they would have such an issue with Junior, the son of their king who is also their boss, and likewise it’s weird why Junior would take such issue with them only to have such a quick change of heart. Idk, I feel like if they weren’t siblings they probably wouldn’t spend that much time together, making both their whole conflict and strong bond a bit weird. And in general their interactions in this game read more as people who are widely different and wouldn’t usually be friends yet still love each other, which is the kind of dynamic many siblings tend to have (isn’t there a poll going around about whether you’d be friends with your siblings if they weren’t your siblings, and the option winning is “we wouldn’t be friends” ?)

- According to their page on the Mario wiki, during an interview revealing them in Mario Kart 8, Miyamoto used a word that means either “underlings” or “adopted children” when mentioning their relationship to Bowser (btw I know it’s the most popular headcanon anyways but them being adoptive children is just perfect. It would explain why 1. Some might be young adults while Bowser is younger than 40 depending on how old you see him, 2. Why they look so widely different from Bowser and each other, 3. Why Junior is the rightful heir).

- Also according to the wiki, the Italian and German versions of Mario and Luigi Paper Jam has mentions of them being Bowser’s kids, which I find hilarious. The translation teams didn’t give a fuck !

So yeah, when it comes to the Koopalings not being Bowser’s kids : who’s gonna tell Nintendo ?

(Side note about the whole idea of “Bowser clearly likes Junior more and neglects his older kids” : what if instead it was just that the Koopalings are teenagers/young adults now so Bowser is giving them their space + have them busy with royal duties, hence why he doesn’t spend that much time with them ? Plus, in all the examples that put the Koopalings on the same level as Junior, it’s pretty evident that they have the same privileges)

[lore-of-the-mushroom-kingdom]

Is Pauline Lady?

So there is debate on whether or not Pauline is the same person from the Donkey Kong arcade game, or if they are a completely different character. So what is it?

So people people mention the Japanese manual for Donkey Kong 94, and they claim it says she's a separate character. However, I don't know how I would go about confirming this. In addition in an interview for DK94 Miyamoto implies the game was originally planned to be the original game expanded upon. Some people claim the Perfect Edition of the Great Mario Character Encyclopedia says Pauline is a separate character from the Lady from the original arcade game. However, I am unsure how useful the Encyclopedia can be towards the canon of the games. In the previously mentioned interview found in Donkey Kong 1994 Wonder Life Special - APE Inc. Official Nintendo Guide, people have claimed Miyamoto has said in this that Pauline is Lady. He never said this from what I can tell, though he does heavily imply they are the same person, "Donkey Kong, decided to annoy Mario by kidnapping the girl Pauline and running away with her." So while that may seem to be it, there is something else.... In the Toy Room of WarioWare Gold in the Nintendo Collection there is an Donkey Kong Arcade Cabinet. There is a description that goes with it that says, "this game debuted in arcades and introduced the world to Mario and Donkey Kong, who kidnapped Pauline. It was Mario to the rescue -- for the first time!" This seems to confirm Pauline and Lady are one in the same. This actually makes sense because Mario used to be called Jumpman but got the his named updated, and is still meant to be the same character. Also, while Pauline was a name given to her by the localization team, this is not the first time Mario characters have been given their names by the localization team. Case in point, the Koopalings and their names. Something the The Art Of Super Mario Odyssey on page 358 calls attention too as well and further confirms they are the same person. "At the time, the heroine was simply named 'Lady.' She appeared in several titles and, in Japan, was officially known as Pauline in the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong. In North America, her name was always Pauline."

Now someone might try to counter this with the fact her Smash Ultimate spirit labels her Lady and not Pauline. However, this doesn't mean they are not Pauline. But also, as I established in a previous post. Smash Bros. is not canon and thus information in it cannot be used for the Mario Lore.

But there is more... In Super Mario Odyssey you retrieve a present for Pauline's birthday which is a handbag. When you get this handbag the sound from the arcade game when you get the handbag in it plays. After giving Pauline the handbag she mentions it reminds her of the one she lost on "that terrible day." Now while Pauline has been kidnapped by DK Snr. a few times and DK III it implies it would have been a specific time. This would more than likely be in reference to the events of the arcade game. This would be furthered evident by the hat and umbrella that resemble Pauline's original one from said game. In addition to New Donk City having a lot of it's history surround the events of that game. The Art Book again on Page 358 confirms this. "These items are also dropped around New Donk City, and they make the same sound effect when you pick them up."

The Art Book also further confirms this connection on the same page by mentioning her dance in the festival is based on her movements in the og game. "Pauline’s festival choreography includes movements where her arms and legs swing from side to side, resembling her movements in the original game."

Now, how would somebody interpret the previously mentioned Lady and Pauline being separate characters. It was either a mistake and not the original intent, or it was the original intent at one point but has been retconned since then. In the end Pauline does seem to be Lady from the original, Donkey Kong game.

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

hey I like your ideas about metafiction n such! how do you think anime would exist in toontown? for me I feel like maybe its a chinatown typa deal where they have a section of the town to themselves and some of them live in toontown itself! also my friend morse from amino suggested a really funny idea related to it: Underground. Magical Girl. Fighting ring.

I glad you do!

Actually no they live over in Japan like you said having their own sect of People it's a lot like the American Studios

So Studio Ghibli characters stay with Studio Ghibli, Mario and them stay with Nintendo etc etc

Unfortunately, Toontown hasn't existed since the 1980s, Judges plan finally worked with gentrification the humans were able to finally basically chase the Toons out for that Highway,

The only thing that can be counted as Toontown in the modern day is Disney World and Mickey's city of Epcot. If you look at the original plans for Disney World Walt was planning on a literal functional City for people to live in,

This is what Mickey completed it started out as a little town, but a lot of Disney Toons moved in and slowly he built onto it and continues to build on to it, as of 2024 there as well over 2 million residents of the City of Disney as it is called,

This is also where you will find some of the more adult Disney Tunes as a result of the fox merger, they do have a South Park land however you have to sign a literal contract stating we are not responsible for your death if you step in here and yes they have a record of three people they've killed. Matt and Trey literally just run around with cameras to capture the insanity of this group,

The Muppets same exact thing except for they've never actually hurt and or killed people however the insanity that is the Muppets, they also have a contract Statler and Waldorf are the worst when it comes to people trying to lawsuit because they Heckle From A Balcony and they do not have a filter

" I thought that was a beached whale for a moment"

" you idiot the beached whale found out how to operate a scooter so they aren't beached anymore!"

But the thing is these two don't even care when Mickey shows up he gets heckled too,

" is that a mouse or a rat I think its confused!"

"I think he's got an identity crisis either way he's ugly" and they start cackling

But as for California a lot of the Toons are just scattered throughout LA and Burbank in various housing made for Toons,

Except for the Disney Toons, Disneyland does have a whole area that is housing for Disney Toons that work at the Parks,

But again for the Anime Toons yeah they typically stay over in Japan and hilariously Japan is actually the most forward when it comes to taking care of their Toons because over in their country they are considered either Shinto Deities like Mario or Yokai,

Toons in Japan are seen as Good Luck it's like whenever Mickey comes to visit for Tokyo Disney, the Imperial family literally lets him stay at their palace to protect him and his Family, actually calling him offically the King of Disney and referring to his family with official titles.

But I will confirm that just like American toons, Anime toon's get up to trouble.

Mario is one that's known to literally talk in Japanese if he doesn't want to talk to you Mickey will also do this by the way he's omnilinguist,

Godzilla does exist and yes his home is the Bay of Tokyo but they have a decoy City that he can play around with and he's basically treated like local wildlife, he has a whole care team that keeps an eye out on him he also gets to help destroy buildings in Tokyo that need destroyed, like his own wrecking service it's a tourist spectacle haha. But people can go visit him in the bay he's pretty much like a giant golden retriever all his caretakers need to do is call out for him and he'll pop his head up after a few moments for treats and pets hilariously,

The Studio Ghibli Toons are known to be some of the most down-to-earth Toons, Mickey is actually great friends with Miyazaki, they both have that nonchalant I wish I didn't have to do this attitude in the modern day. In their world Hayazao actually had Mickey help him a bit on his Museum and a couple of characters and he returned the favor.

The Ghibli Museum is basically a giant terrarium of different worlds for the tunes to live in comfortably, this is what Mickey helped with

Because fun fact Mickey can literally warp the fabric of reality

But like Kyo Ani a lot of those Toons perished with their creators in the fire, because they didn't want to leave them. However the survivors were taken in by fellow studios and found new homes and helped as best as possible

Japanese Anime Toons are some of the most loyal as well to their creators who love them dearly, because seriously the Shinto Gods help the stupid idiot that abuses their Toons over in Japan you will get into big legal trouble and be a social pariah they are that protective.