#they would have been everything but instead we got the Disney version of super Mario’s luma

[crazy-fg]

What it could have been like in Wish, if Disney stopped to screw romance like it’s some kind of plague we need to cure😮‍💨

I ✨wish✨ for them to be canon!

Ps. Still working on other fandoms fanarts. But for today I had to make my version of Asha and the star boy!

[cosplayinamerica]

Princess Daisy : pencils_and_pincushions // photo: that_fedora_photographer

I’m a Canadian cosplayer who has been cosplaying since 2007. I’ve had a love for Victorian fashion since I very young age (my little kid brain basically made the connection that Victorian dresses = women dressing like Disney princesses IRL), but the thing that kickstarted my desire to learn sewing was going to a fabric store with my mother when I was in my senior year of high school and seeing a Butterick pattern catalogue that had Victorian-inspired costumes. Almost instantly I had a lightbulb moment that if I learned to sew, I could actually wear those big fancy gowns I loved.   

I entered university and, over the next few years, spent my free time reading and learning everything I could about sewing. In 2007, my best friend invited me to Anime North - she was going as a gothic lolita-inspired version of the Queen of Hearts, so I decided I would make a Mad Hatter to accompany her.

I was so excited that I jumped in completely head-first, and it ended up being my first foray into both sewing and pattern drafting. In hindsight it was wildly ambitious for a first project (and I’m still a little surprised that I actually pulled it off!), but I’m so glad that my enthusiasm made me persevere and psh through the challenges, because I learned a ton from that experience and ended up with a cosplay I was thrilled with.

I remember seeing myself in the mirror the first time and being so happy when I realized I’d been able to bring something to life from my imagination. When my friend and I got to the con, things only got better from there - the atmosphere was so energetic and colourful thanks to all the amazing cosplays, and it was filled with so many fun, enthusiastic, and friendly people. From that day I was officially hooked on cosplay.

I’m part of the Toronto Steampunk Society and, each year at Fan Expo Canada, we hold an Annual Costume Challenge where we pick a theme and encourage people to make a costume based on the theme. A couple of years ago, the theme was ‘steampunk video game characters’ and one of my friends in the TSS, Modern Myths Cosplay, thought it would be cute to do Princess Peach and Princess Daisy.

I loved the idea and, after more discussion, we decided to do a steampunk twist on the Super Smash Bros Brawl version since it was fancier and seemed to lend itself well to a steampunk interpretation. Though Daisy isn’t officially in Brawl, my friend was fortunately able to dig up some fan edits of Peach in Daisy’s colours, so with that we were set.

I usually make my outfits myself, but since my friend and I wanted to ensure our cosplays matched, we decided to work collaboratively and divide things: I would create the bodices and accessories for both gowns, and she would create the skirts and crinolines.

I started off by drafting the base bodice patterns. Since I draft all my costumes, I used my existing bodice block/master patterns for myself and drafted a bodice block from scratch for my friend based on her measurements. One neat thing about working this way was that it basically turned into a girls’ weekend where I was able to teach my friend more about pattern drafting, which ended up making the process unexpectedly fun and memorable.

After I finished fitting my friend’s bodice block, I got to work drafting our bodice patterns based on the reference pics we had collected. Being able to tackle both bodices ended up working well since it enabled me to draft them in a way that made them visually match identical while taking our respective body shapes into account.

A couple of mockups and fittings later, we had an idea of how much fabric we needed, so we went fabric shopping. My friend suggested that we go with richer, more regal-looking tones instead of strictly game-accurate colours, so when we found a place selling gorgeous peau de soie and sparkle organza, I was instantly sold on a gold and burnt orange colour scheme.

We split the fabric based on our respective portions and worked on them separately. I cut and sewed the bodices, which was fairly straight forward but time-consuming! The part that sticks in my mind the most was the center front panel because it had so many pieces and layers - two types of satin, two types of organza (including one that had to be ruched to the base panel in multiple places), five rows of lace, interfacing...and that doesn’t even include the lining!

I also created our jewelry and crowns. The brooches and earrings were made from filigree settings that I painted, glued gems, and attached pin backs and earring hooks to, and the crowns are made from craft foam painted in gold acrylic, with embellishments assembled from painted filigree stampings and gems.

My friend created our cage skirts from 1/4 PEX pipe and brown grosgrain ribbon, which ended up being the perfect hoop skirt material since it was cheap, lightweight, and strong enough to support the huge, heavy skirts. She cut and sewed our skirts (including attaching meters and meters of trim that I’d painted white to better match the game colours) and she also made our bloomers.

The gowns were a huge undertaking and, thanks to work and general real life eating up time, we did end up engaging in the dreaded con crunch, but fortunately in the end we were able to get them to a state where they were pretty and wearable!

The response at the convention was absolutely amazing - I don’t think I’ve ever had a costume elicit the reactions that Princess Daisy did. We figured that, since we were cosplaying the princesses from Mario, there was a good chance we might be recognized, but the thing I wasn’t prepared for was how genuinely happy and excited people were, especially when they saw us together. We literally had kids waving at us from across the street when they spotted us.

Even grown-ups loved it - we were frequently stopped for pictures, and even a couple of the folks in the dealer’s room who were running booths would break into huge smiles and ask for pictures. Plus, people loved the steampunk twist and were delighted when they realized how much our costumes matched.

The best, most heartwarming response to my Princess Daisy cosplay happened when I met up with some other friends and one tapped me on the shoulder, pointed behind me and said, “I think she wants a picture with the princess.” I turned around and, standing a few feet away, was this adorable, super shy little black girl who was staring in my direction. My heart instantly melted and I went over to her and had a little chat and took a picture with her.

As a black cosplayer who has run several panels on BIPOC cosplay and spoken about the importance of diversity and representation in cosplay, being able to show that sweet little girl that someone who looks like her can be a princess - and showing kids of other races that Princess Daisy can be black - was a vivid reminder that representation does matter.

Since I got into the hobby, cosplay has been a big part of my life and has positively impacted me in so many ways. It has been an incredible creative outlet that has given me the chance to express myself, and it has allowed me to meet so many wonderful people - many of whom are now among my closest friends. However, I think one of the most rewarding things about cosplay has been how it has allowed me to provide BIPOC cosplay representation and visibility within my local cosplay community. I often do Afro-steampunk cosplay, and one of the most unexpectedly moving things I’ve experienced has been other BIPOC saying to me that seeing my outfits make them feel like they can cosplay.

It has been humbling and has motivated me to get more involved in the cons I attend. For the past several years I’ve run panels on diversity in cosplay/steampunk as well as sewing and cosplay construction, which has enabled me to share the knowledge and skills I’ve learned. I also lead the steampunk section of the Anime North Fashion Show, and I’ve made a point to recruit as diverse a roster of models as possible. I’m happy that we’ve been able to showcase steampunk looks inspired by various cultures including Chinese, Indian, and Morrocan.

Another plus is that the sewing skills I’ve learned from cosplay have come in handy in other areas of my life. It has been fun - and surprisingly empowering - to be at a point where I can use my sewing ability to create one-of-a-kind outfits for formal work events (like office holiday parties) that make me feel pretty and confident.

Something I’ve frequently mentioned during my BIPOC cosplay/steampunk panels is that the simple act of showing up to a con or event in cosplay can have an impact because you never know how much that visibility can inspire other BIPOC to get into the hobby, so my advice to anyone wanting to get into cosplay is to do it! Overall I have found it to be a fun, creative, energizing experience.

While I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had overwhelmingly positive experiences while cosplaying, I recognize that, unfortunately, BIPOC do sometimes face harassment and outright racist comments (especially online) that can make getting into the hobby seem scary. Finding welcoming, supportive spaces in person and online can be a big help (the POC Cosplay group on Facebook is great for this) - plus, thanks to things like #28DaysOfBlackCosplay, there is more visibility and inspiration out there than ever before.

The other thing I’d add is to treat each cosplay as a learning experience. Being able to work so closely with my friend on creating a cosplay was a completely different creation process than I’m used to, and it was really cool to be able to learn from each other’s different working styles and experience. It was great to teach her pattern drafting and see how happy she was to learn skills she could apply to future cosplays, and I was so excited when she showed me her PEX pipe hoop skirt method. Looking back on my Princess Daisy cosplay makes me smile because it’s almost like a physical representation of the fun we have cosplaying together.

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Crossover Fusion-Fall With Angel Dust As Blossom’s Key-Chain     

------------------------------

Credit for Super Mario series goes to Nintendo

Credit for Bendy Series goes to Joey Drew Studios Inc.

Credit for Invader Zim goes to Jhonen Vasquez

Credit for The Powerpuff Girls goes to Craig McCracken

Credit for Hazbin Hotel goes to  Vivienne “Vivziepop” Medrano & Spindlehorse

Credit for Ben 10: Omniverse goes to Man of Action Studios

Credit for Fusion Fall goes to Grigon Entertainment & Cartoon Network

Credit for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy goes to Maxwell Atoms

Credit for The Owl House goes to Dana Terrace

Credit for Monsters Inc Series goes to Pixar & Disney

Credit for Undertale & Deltarune goes to Toby Fox

Credit for Undertale: Don't Forget AU Game goes to RickyG

Credit for Five Nights of Flirting goes to Zombbean

Credit for Five Nights at Freddy's goes to Scott Cawthon

---------------------------

I’m glad I finally got around to posting these two drawings on tumblr.

I had first posted them at the other place I post fan art at.

if you look closely at the drawing below the first one,

you will see that Blossom has a Key-Chain of Angel Dust.

it is basically the same drawing I drew of him in the first drawing,

just made really small and in key-chain form

for the Powerpuff Girl’s Self-proclaim Leader.

I drew these two drawings on June 25, 2021.

I also want to say that I found a trick for using the name “Frisk”

in the Undertale Game.

even if by just using “Frisk”

it might not last long after the fight with Toriel.

but it can, if you write “Friske”

if I came up with that much sooner,

I would call the Headcanon True-Frisk/Evil-Frisk,

by “Friske” and I was lucky to find out that the games I had downloaded before, was surprisingly still on the computer.

I had thought I had lost them after what happen on March.

after finding the Undertale game I had downloaded before

(the one if you get all Geno, and if kill Papyrus, and you go to where Undyne is and you move, and then “Papyrus” will suddenly appear even though you already killed him before heading to where Undyne is.)

anyway the save I had before for the Undertale game I had on the computer was no more, but some of my saves on the other games did stay by some miracle.

anyway since the save I had before on the Undertale game on the computer was not there and made it seem that everything that happen before never happen at all.

I decided to start the game a new with the name “Friske”

and go all Geno Route, in Headcanon, the Geno Timeline came first

before the Neutral and Pacifist Routes Timelines.

the Frisk that is in the Fanon and is in the Pacifist Route,

that is the Frisk that we the Player imagine as the True Frisk,

we as the Players are suppose to place our on personality

into Frisk, but what if Friske’s true personality is really emotionless

and the one who was speaking in red letters the whole time

asking “Where are the Knifes” wasn’t Chara

but Friske instead.

well both Frisk and the Players have been using Chara as the scapegoat, and Chara never really killed anyone in the canon of the game and the Canon Timeline.

yes the Players do end up corrupting Chara when they are controlling Frisk in the game and depending how you play, if you go all Geno Mode it will bring out the True-Frisk out,

which I’m gonna Headcanon call Friske.

even though I still haven’t got that far to meet Chara in the game,

and only know this from watching clips of it that was played by others.

but Chara NEVER said you had to kill anyone

when they suggest a different way.

plus I believe that Chara’s Soul can be found in the True Lab.

when you go to the room where you turn on the elevator,

you will see there is a dark red heart shape that is in the machine or console that has that button to turn everything back on.

even when you leave the room, the screens will turn on

and have “eyes and mouth” in a red color.

I believe it is Chara who acts as the True Lab’s A.I.

well that is just my theory. 

I’m just glad that I was able to find those games

that I had downloaded before.

I know that some might not want to agree about how I view Frisk,

but no one has to agree that it might be true.

Kris in Deltarune is a victim of the red soul

that takes away their freedom of choice.

but when we the Player do that with Frisk in Undertale,

it is for their own good as well as for everyone in the Underground,

that is if we decide to go Pacifist.

if we kill too many Monsters and get too much LV,

we are only bringing out more of the True-Frisk “Friske” out.

 when that speak bubble pops up over Frisk’s head

with the “smiling face” in it,

that is True-Frisk smiling, enjoying killing the Monsters in the Underground.

all the Good and Innocent versions of Frisk,

that all live in the Undertale AUs in the Fanon,

those are the versions that were created by the Players.

and it is possible that in other Fanon Timelines made by Fans,

who have come to the same theory and Headcanon as myself.

will start to make the “True-Frisk” appear as the true villain human

in a Undertale AU Timeline,

and where Chara is the innocent scapegoat. 

there will always be a lot of Fans who will view Chara as a heartless killer of both humans and monsters, but this isn’t so.

the Good-Frisk, is the Frisk with a soul that comes from the Player.

without it they become Friske, the Evil-Frisk.

that is just how I see Frisk now...

anyway hope some of you like these crossover drawings.

[kingjasnah]

Is there the full list of brandersons favourite games reposted somewhere?

i dont think so? or not that ive seen. u can literally just sign up for the newsletter on his website but screw it ill just post them for u. it sure was a TRIP scrolling past these to get to the interlude though. undertale is on this list.....im shakign at the thought that adolin was based off ff10 tidus but i cant get it out of my head now

#10: Katamari Damaci

I love things that make me look at the world in a new way. Katamari did this in spades. It is an imaginative, bizarre vision with unique gameplay. It is like nothing else in the world and I love it for all its strangeness and occasional lack of gameplay polish.

I was transfixed the first time I played it, and have looked forward to it being remade and rereleased on multiple different consoles. I love the cute—and somehow creepy at the same time—storyline. It feels like a fever dream more than a game sometimes, and is probably the closest I’ll ever get to understanding what it’s like to do drugs.

#9: Undertale

This is an oddball on this list because I think it’s the only game that is not a franchise from a major studio—but is instead an indie game, which I believe was originally funded on Kickstarter.I loved how this felt like a novel as much as a game. It was one person’s vision; a single story told really well, with a huge amount of personality. The humor was just my kind of wonderful/terrible, and I was instantly enamored with the characters.That probably would have been enough, but it is a nice deconstruction of video games as a medium—and has not one, but multiple innovative gameplay mechanics. Together, the package left me enamored. This is a work of genius that I feel everyone should at least try, even if it ends up not being for them.

#8: Fallout: New Vegas

I have played all of the core Fallout games, and I was one of the (it seems few) who was really excited when it moved from turn-based tactics to first-person shooter. While Fallout 3 was good, it didn’t have the charm of the first two.New Vegas delivered on everything I was hoping to see. The charm was back, the writing sharp, the quests imaginative. The gameplay was engaging and branched in a variety of directions, the gunplay was solid, and the atmosphere immersive. I of course love the first two games in the series—but New Vegas combines everything I like in gaming into one package. (As a note, I own the Outer Worlds, and am looking forward to digging into it. Consider this item on the list a recommendation of other Obsidian games—like Knights of the Old Republic Two—regardless of genre, as I’ve found them universally to be superior to their contemporaries.)

#7 Super Mario World

When I was eleven, I flew (alone, which was very exciting to me) from Nebraska to visit my uncle Devon in Salt Lake City. Before I left, my father gave me $200 and told me to pay for my own meals while on the trip—but of course, my uncle didn’t allow this. At the end of the trip, I tried to give him the money, which he wouldn’t take.I mentioned my dad would take the money back when I got home, but that was okay. Well, my uncle would have none of that, and drove me to the local mall and made me spend it on a Nintendo Entertainment System. (This uncle, you might guess, is an awesome human being.)Since that day of first plugging it in and experiencing Mario for the first time, I was hooked. This is the only platformer on the list, as I don’t love those. But one makes an exception for Mario. There’s just so much polish, so much elegance to the control schemes, that even a guy who prefers an FPS or an RPG like me has to admit these are great games. I picked World as my favorite as it’s the one I’ve gone back to and played the most.

#7: The Curse of Monkey Island (Monkey Island 3)

I kind of miss the golden age of adventure gaming, and I don’t know that anyone ever got it as right as they did with this game. It is the pinnacle of the genre, in my opinion—no offense to Grim Fandango fans.This game came out right before gaming’s awkward teenage phase where everything moved to 3-d polygons. For a while after, games looked pretty bad, though they could do more because of the swap. But if you want to go see what life was like before that change, play Monkey Island 3. Composed of beautiful art pieces that look like cells from Disney movies, with streamlined controls (the genre had come a long way from “Get yon torch”) and fantastic voice acting, this game still plays really well.This is one of the few games I’ve been able to get my non-gamer wife to play through with me, and it worked really well as a co-op game with the two of us trying to talk through problems. It’s a lovingly crafted time capsule of a previous era of gaming, and if you missed it, it’s really worth trying all these years later. (The first and second games hold up surprisingly well too, as a note, particularly with the redone art that came out a decade or so ago.)Also, again, this one has my kind of humor.

#6: Breath of the Wild

I never thought a Zelda game would unseat A Link to the Past as my favorite Zelda, but Breath of the Wild managed it. It combined the magic of classic gameplay with modern design aesthetic, and I loved this game.There’s not a lot to say about it that others haven’t said before, but I particularly liked how it took the elements of the previous games in the series (giving you specific tools to beat specific challenges) and let you have them all at once. I like how the dungeons became little mini puzzles to beat, instead of (sometimes seemingly endless) slogs to get through. I liked the exploration, the fluidity of the controls, and the use of a non-linear narrative in flashbacks. It’s worth buying a Switch just to play this one and Mario—but in case you want, you can also play Dark Souls on Switch... (That’s foreshadowing.)

#5: Halo 2

Telling stories about Halo Two on stream is what made me think of writing this list.I’m sometimes surprised that this game isn’t talked about as much as I think it should be. Granted, the franchise is very popular—but people tend to love either Reach or games 1 or 3 more than two. Two, however, is the only one I ever wanted to replay—and I’ve done so three or four times at this point. (It’s also the only one I ever beat on Legendary.)It’s made me think on why I love this one, while so many others seem to just consider it one of many in a strong—but in many ways unexceptional—series of games. I think part of this is because I focus primarily on the single-player aspects of a game (which is why there aren’t any MMOs on this list.) Others prefer Halo games with more balanced/polished multiplayer. But I like to game by myself, and don’t really look for a multiplayer experience. (Though this is changing as I game with my sons more and more.)I really like good writing—which I suppose you’d expect. But in games, I specifically prefer writing that enhances the style of game I’m playing. Just dumping a bunch of story on me isn’t enough; it has to be suited to the gameplay and the feel of the game. In that context, I’ve rarely encountered writing as good as Halo 2. From the opening—with the intercutting and juxtaposition of the two narratives—to the quotes barked out by the marines, the writing in this game is great. It stands out starkly against other Halo games, to the point that I wonder what the difference is.Yes, Halo Two is a bombastic hero fantasy about a super soldier stomping aliens. But it has subtle, yet powerful worldbuilding sprinkled all through it—and the music...it does things with the story that I envy. It’s kind of cheating that games and films get to have powerful scores to help with mood.The guns in Two feel so much better than Halo One, and the vehicles drive far better. The only complaint I have is that it’s only half a story—as in, Halo 2 and 3 seem like they were one game broken in two pieces. And while 3 is good (and Reach does something different, which I approve of in general) neither did it for me the way Two did, and continues to do.

#3: Final Fantasy X

You probably knew Final Fantasy was coming. People often ask if the way these games handle magic was an influence upon me. All I can say is that I’ve played them since the first one, and so they’re bound to have had an influence.On one hand, these games are really strange. I mean, I don’t think we gamers stop quite often enough to note how downright bizarre this series gets. Final Fantasy doesn’t always make the most sense—but the games are always ambitious.Ten is my favorite for a couple of reasons. I felt like the worldbuilding was among the strongest, and I really connected with the characters. That’s strange, because this is one of the FF games without an angst-filled teen as the protagonist. Instead, it has a kind of stable happy-go-lucky jock as the protagonist.But that’s what I needed, right then. A game that didn’t give me the same old protagonist, but instead gave me someone new and showed me I could bond to them just as well. Ten was the first with full voice acting, and that jump added a lot for me. It has my favorite music of the series, and all together is what I consider the perfect final fantasy game. (Though admittedly, I find it more and more difficult to get into turn-based battle mechanics as I grow older.)

#2: Bloodborne

Those who follow my streams, or who read other interviews I’ve done, probably expected this series to be at or near the top. The question wasn’t whether Souls would be here, but which one to pick as my favorite.I went with Bloodborne, though it could have been any of them. (Even Dark Souls 2—which I really like, despite its reputation in the fandom.) I’ve been following FromSoftware’s games since the King’s Field games, and Demon’s Souls was a huge triumph—with the director Hidetaka Miyazaki deserving much of the praise for its design, and Dark Souls (which is really just a more polished version of Demon’s Souls).As I am a fan of cosmic horror, Bloodborne is probably my favorite overall. It really hit the mix of cosmic and gothic horror perfectly. It forced me to change up my gameplay from the other Souls games, and I loved the beautiful visuals.I am a fan of hard games—but I like hard games that are what I consider “fair.” (For example, I don’t love those impossible fan-made Mario levels, or many of the super-crazy “bullet hell”-style games.) Dark Souls is a different kind of hard. Difficult like a stern instructor, expecting you to learn—but giving you the tools to do so. It presents a challenge, rather than being hard just to be hard.If I have a problem with Final Fantasy, it’s that the games sometimes feel like the gameplay is an afterthought to telling the story. But in the Souls games, story and gameplay are intermixed in a way I’d never seen done before. You have to construct the story like an archeologist, using dialogue and lore from descriptions of in-game objects. I find this fascinating; the series tells stories in a way a book never could. I’m always glad when a game series can show off the specific strengths of the medium.In fact, this series would be #1 except for the little fact that I have way too much time on Steam logged playing...

#1: Civilization VI

This series had to take #1 by sheer weight of gameplay time. I discovered the first on a friend’s computer in the dorms my freshman year—and I can still remember the feeling of the birds chirping outside, realizing I’d been playing all night and really should get back to my own dorm room.That still happens, and has happened, with every game in the series. I have a lot of thoughts on this series, many of them granular and too specific for this list. (Like, it’s obvious AI technology isn’t up to the task of playing a game this complex—so could we instead get a roguelike set of modifiers, game modes, etc. to liven up the games, rather than just having a difficulty slider that changes a few simple aspects of the game?)I’ll try not to rant, because I really do love this game series. A lot of people consider IV to be the pinnacle of the series, but after V unstacked units—and VI unstacked cities—there was no way I could ever go back. If for some reason, you’ve never played this grand patriarch of the 4X game genre, it’s about starting with a single stone-age settler who can found a city—then playing through eras of a civilization, growing your empire, to try to eventually get offworld with a space program. (Or, if you prefer, conquering the world.)It’s a load of fun in the way I like to have fun, and I feel like the series has only gotten better over the years. My hat is off to the developers, who keep reinventing the series, rather than making the exact same game over and over.Now, about that request for difficulty modes...

there are runner ups but for the sake of anyone whos on mobile and cant get past a read more (first of all omg im SO sorry) ill refrain. anyway he thought WHAT loz game was the best before botw?

[akingdomtheorist]

KH Catch Up: BBSFM Terra

-sees Terra- "Oh, so thats the guy who completely destroyed me."

"Why is Roxas here? That's Roxas!"

"How many times has Xehanort been cockblocked from Kingdom Hearts?"

"Are you talkin' shit about Destiny Island?"

"Person I assume is Xehanort, why are you kidnapping someone?"

"Xehanort, why is he kidnapping Roxas, this is a prequel?!"

"Why is he old as shit?"

"Roxas what are you doing in this game?"

"What do you mean you're a brand new heart? What the fuck is happening?"

"Wait a minute... that's the outfit Xigbar saw Xion in."

"This is starting out a lot happier than most KH games."

"Ooh I holdin' it in reverse grip."

"This has conspicuously avoided giving me a name for this character, I'm starting to think it's not Roxas."

"You're right I love her (Aqua) already."

"Is this Ventus?"

"Is he gonna kick my as- wait I'm playing as Terra-am I gonna kick my ass as hard as I did in KH2?" "No." "Awww..."

"Yeah that's fuckin' Xehanort."

"These three are a lot more wholesome at the start."

"So Terra's the Anakin of this game?"

"Ah, we're Power Rangers."

"Wait, do we- OH MY GOD when can Sora do that? Excuse me? That's fuckin' rad!"

TERRA STORY BEGIN

ENCHANTED DOMINION

"Terra just called the Unversed basic."

"He sure did."

"Good to see Maleficent is a manipulative bitch, even now."

"Why does this feel familiar to stand over a sleeping woman after murdering into her house?"

"So Terra's the Riku of this game."

"Time to turning evil is the lowest in any of the games so far. I think Riku even lasted longer."

-melds his first commands- "Heck yeah we got Leaf Bracer! Now I just need Second Chance and I beat the game."

He then died to the boss and learned his lesson of not having Items in his Command Menu.

"Yeah you kinda fucked up there Terra."

He's gonna say this about eleventeen more times.

DWARF WOODLANDS

"I'm surprised the Queen isn't like- how did you get in here."

We are not even an HOUR into this game yet.

"Terra... -sigh- you make bad decisions. Terra stop, just... stop."

"So is Terra's storyline just accidentally working for the bad guys? IS that his entire storyline?"

He figured it out folks and not even an hour in!

"THERE'S MIMICS? There's mimics..." "Does this upset you?" "Why are there fucking mimics..."

CASTLE OF DREAMS

"My favourite idiosyncrasy is just seeing classic Disney scenes and just the one anime character there in the scene."

He has pressed Triangle instead of X seven times and wasted so many items.

"Why can the shoe turtle? It's not a turtle, it's a shoe!"

"I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the blonde alone."

"What emotion is the boot? Salt? Is it salt? So it can kick other people from the boot?"

"Counter Hammer? B'scuse me?" No that isn't a typo.

"You were right, Terra's yeylash game is on point, Jesus Christ."

"I like the idea that the boss is playing his own boss music."

"I might jinx it, but the bosses in this game feel easy."

"Excuse me? That little brat did what?" "How dare you." "I knew that would get a reaction."

-sees cutscene with you know and not Xigbar- "Who the hell are you?"

MYSTERIOUS TOWER

-opens chest- "That was a very dramatic tap. Terra is a very dramatic person."

-sees totally not the Keyblade Graveyard- "That level, it gives me a mixed vibe of Chernobog and Land Before Time."

"Oh shit. I know this place. I got my ass handed to me here."

"I believe everything he's saying, but I don't believe he's guilty and it was an accident."

RADIANT GARDEN

"So is ten year old Squall here?"

"Well, yeah but you won't see him."

"But he's technically here?"

"Yeah?"

"I bet he's a fuckin' nerd."

"I see you lurkin' back there old man Xehanort."

"Merlin!-gasp- Pooh Bear? Is that Pooh Bear?"

"Your Elderness? God dammit Terra."

"Oh it's dis bitch. ITS DIS BITCH."

"Can we just all get along please?"

"Oh Terra..."

"Who the fuck are you? Wait a second... is that, is that Xigbar?"

"What was his weapon? What did he use? Was it gunman? It was gunman."

"Oh hey look, he has a crossbow."

"I don't believe this isn't an elaborate ruse. This has to be an elaborate ruse."

Well he died to Braig.

"I take back what I said about the bosses being easy."

We then spent some time getting Second Chance and Once More because Braig is a shooty bastard.

"I forgot to save."

"Yeah this is way easier." "Not because you have Cure, Cure and Cura in your Command Deck, noooo."

"Oh no. Oh this is how he loses his eye! We did that! Dammit it Terra."

"Terra is 100% the Anakin Skywalker of this game."

"Called it!"

DISNEY TOWN

"So is this... Mario Kart or Diddy Kong Racing?" "You'll figure it out."

"I'm not a citizen. I'm not even an immigrant, I just wandered over here."

"Wait, that was it?!" "You'll be coming back."

OLYMPUS COLISEUM

"Oh wow it's scrawny Herc."

He tried to open a chest, pressed triangle again.

"Yeaaaah, let's make bad decisions."

Then there was the salty agony of the timed battles in the Coliseum.

"So which Final Fantasy character are we gonna fight now?"

"Which Final Fantasy character are you? Who are you?"

"Is this Squall?" "No."

"Who is this?" "He looks a lot younger than he should." "Oh shit is this Zack?"

DEEP SPACE Terra wants to hit nothing he's aimed at. Apparently his weakness is zero gravity.

"Hey it's mah boy."

"Wait isn't that-" "Sparky!" "Yeah we're beating the hell out of him apparently..."

"Oh that's right we're excaped prisoners. Uh... jail break?"

NEVERLAND

"Oh are we helping Hook?" "Yeah." "God damnit Terra."

"Terra makes so many bad decisions, all the time."

"Never mind that this person might be in danger from pirates, I should leave."

"I like how the game was just go out of the cave, go in the cave."

"I've fought 1000 Heartless once I should be fine." He then hit critical health in twenty seconds.

DESTINY ISLANDS

"It's baby Sora and baby Riku!"

"I mean you're the Riku of this game so... yeah I guess?"

"What is happening?! He's seeing the future!"

"Little did Terra know, he set Riku on the path to super villainy."

"Did Terra just make Riku a Jedi? That seemed really official does he have the power to do that?"

THE LAND OF DEPARTURE

"Alright we've gone full fuckin' Darth Vader now."

"-sarcastically- From my perspective the Keyblade Masters are evil!"

"Are we becoming a Heartless?" "No." "It feels like we're becoming a Heartless."

"Did Xehanort just kill him?"

"It was Xehanort!"

"Oh no, he was evil? I would have never guessed! This is such a surprise to me! /endsarcasm/ Look now our home is fuckin' gone because we trusted the evil man."

We then spent lots of time getting commands so he didn't get his ass kicked. There was cross-referencing a guide and everything.

THE KEYBLADE GRAVEYARD

"Oh god it's a save point, and a shop. I think this is it."

"Oh look it's the in-game in engin version of that one cutscene."

"Aqua looks mad at us. We look mad at Aqua."

"Oh hello asshole."

"Since when are you an earthbender?"

"WHEN DID KINGDOM HEARTS GET HERE? WHAT IS GOING ON?"

"DON'T TAKE OFF YOUR HEAD PROTECTION!"

"Why did we take off our armor?"

"We have hurt him a lot, jesus."

"I'm not looking behind me-OH GOD DAMMIT."

"Oh no, oh nonono oh no mm-mmm. This is why you don't take off your protective gear!"

"Oh no this is bad, we're Xehanort now aren't we. So that's why he looks young."

"You get to be the Lingering Will, are you ready to beat yourself up?" "HECK YEAH!"

"So here's the plan: Shotlock, get the shit beat out of us, HEAL, Shotlock, repeat."

"Is he saying yield?" "He's telling you to yield." "NO!"

"Oh hey we got our cape!"

[postgamecontent]

The Legend of Oasis: SEGA Saturn Spotlight #2

Original Release Date: April 26, 1996

Original Hardware: SEGA Saturn

Developer/Publisher: Ancient/SEGA

During SEGA's tenure as a console manufacturer, they often found themselves trying to counter-program the biggest hits on rival consoles, often to mixed results. For every Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog, there was an Eternal Champions and Kid Chameleon. Not that those games were without merit, but they weren't up to the task of convincing people they didn't need Street Fighter 2 and Super Mario World. One game SEGA was constantly trying to find an answer for was The Legend of Zelda. It makes sense, as it has always been one of Nintendo's top brands, a real system-seller any hardware company would dream of having in their line-up. SEGA developed and/or published a bunch of great action-RPGs and action-adventure games, but none of them fared well enough in the market to fit SEGA's needs.

The most successful of the lot was probably Beyond Oasis, a 1994 SEGA Genesis title developed by Ancient. It's a gorgeous top-down action-adventure game with a nice mix of surprisingly deep combat and interesting puzzles. Its Arabian Nights feel capitalized nicely on the wave of popularity for such settings in the wake of Disney's Aladdin, while also helping it feel distinct from the countless games in the genre that adopted more generic Western fantasy stylings. Unlike most of SEGA's other efforts in this respect, Beyond Oasis didn't look like it was desperately chasing Zelda. It had its own style and flair, something I'm sure the audience picked up on.

As usual, let's give a brief overview of the game's developer. Ancient was founded in 1990 by Tomo Koshiro, the mother of famed video game composer Yuzo Koshiro. After working with SEGA on the soundtrack for Revenge of Shinobi, Yuzo Koshiro pitched the idea of developing games to SEGA. The company had big ambitions for their upcoming Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog, and wanted a version of the game for their other active hardware platforms, the Master System and Game Gear. Either SEGA was thin on choices or Koshiro's charm convinced them, as they ended up assigning the job of developing the 8-bit Sonic to a 22-year-old musician. Yuzo Koshiro needed a company to make a contract with SEGA, however, and thus Ancient was born. Mainly a family affair, Ancient not only counts Yuzo Koshiro's mother among its tiny staff, but also his sister, Ayano.

Ancient's name pops up frequently in game credits, but mostly due to Yuzo's work as a composer. Still, they've managed to put out a number of games over the years. Besides the subject of this article and its predecessor, Ancient also worked on games like Streets of Rage 2, Robotrek, Car Battler Joe, and the superb Gotta Protectors. Ancient's small size has helped it survive some very hostile periods in the gaming business and should ensure that we will be seeing their name appear in games for a long time to come. To be honest, I find most of Ancient's games to be a little bland. They're never bad, mind you, but aside from the music, they seem to be missing a certain spark. Nevertheless, they developed one of the greatest beat-em-ups in gaming history, so I'm willing to forgive many of Ancient's shortcomings.

Before I go any further, I'm going to dedicate a paragraph to names. I'm using the American titles for both of these games, but they went by different names in each major region. In Japan, the first game was The Story of Thor: Heir of the Light. In Europe, they went for a straight translation and called it The Story of Thor: A Successor of The Light. I'm not sure why SEGA of America felt the need to rename it Beyond Oasis, but it might have been to avoid confusion with Marvel's version of Thor. At the time he was barely known outside of America, and even in America, best-known for being the superhero the kid from Adventures in Babysitting was imitating. Still, better safe than sorry. Anyway, the second game's title in Japan was Thor: The Legend of the Spirit King. In Europe, it was The Story of Thor 2. In America, SEGA kept the Oasis connection going with the title The Legend of Oasis. And now we're all confused!

After the success of Beyond Oasis, Ancient decided to follow it up for their next project. In the early stages, the game's title was Legend of Thor, and it was planned to release on SEGA's ill-fated 32X add-on for the Genesis. I can't even begin to imagine why. Fortunately, they soon scrapped that idea and got to work on making something for the SEGA Saturn instead. The Saturn was something of a 2D powerhouse, which meant that as good as Beyond Oasis had looked, the follow-up would really be able to turn some heads. Or at least, it might have if the majority of the active gaming population at the time hadn't gone ga-ga for polygons. Timing is everything, I suppose.

In any case, the development of The Legend of Oasis was relatively painless compared to some other Saturn projects, and the game shipped more-or-less on schedule in early 1996 in Japan and late 1996 in the rest of the world. Sadly, like most Saturn games, The Legend of Oasis didn't sell very well worldwide. With much of the success of Beyond Oasis coming from outside of Japan, the Saturn's weak status overseas did no favors to games like this one. Oasis was really swimming against the current, too. As I've mentioned, 2D games were not seen in a very good light during the 32-bit generation of consoles, which is funny because they've certainly aged better than the blocky polygonal graphics of most of that era's 3D games.

Looking past the visuals, it's perhaps less surprising that The Legend of Oasis didn't hit as big as its predecessor. On a fundamental level, it's just too similar to the first game. The majority of the powers you earn are the same and tend to be applied in similar ways. There's one new weapon, but it's not a very exciting one. Playing the game feels like you're going through the same motions from Beyond Oasis, but without any of the shiny novelty that helped that game stand out. It's not bad, and it's just loose enough with its physics and level designs that you can cobble together some really interesting solutions to problems. But there is a genuine been-there, done-that feeling to the game that never quite goes away.

A prequel to the first game, it has the main character doing basically the same things that the character in the original did. This time around, our hero is given the Gold Armlet rather than just finding it, but you'll need to go around and collect each of the spirits one-by-one just the same. Each spirit has an assortment of abilities you can use to solve puzzles or to help in more general situations. While there are some new abilities and applications for the returning spirits, you'll find yourself using them in familiar ways. The Zelda games have shown that returning items can work, but you really have to be clever about making the puzzles feel unique and interesting if you take that route. The Legend of Oasis also adds a couple of totally new spirits, but they're mainly used to solve specific puzzles. They're weird-looking keys, in other words.

The steady balance between action and puzzles has been disturbed somewhat, too. The Legend of Oasis tilts more in the direction of the puzzle-solving and platforming at the expense of combat. For all of the moves that hero Leon has at his disposal, you can get through most battles with his basic jump kick. It even works well on many of the bosses. The command-based, Street Fighter-style special moves make a return, but they're not all that useful beyond using them to knock down specific obstacles and such.

Like the first game, The Legend of Oasis is pretty easy once you know how to solve the puzzles, and even those aren't too tough. I'm of two minds when it comes to the platforming. While it's not as rough as Dark Savior, the camera perspective makes some of the jumps a real pain. Worse still, if you fall down, you usually land in another location. You then need to make your way back to wherever you were, which is a tremendous waste of time for misjudging the depth of a platform. On the other hand, I like that you can cheat a lot of the platforming with your various moves and the objects in the environment. It's very organic, especially for a game of this era.

Another balance disturbed is that between the dungeons and the overworld. You spend very little time outside of dungeons in The Legend of Oasis, and there's not a lot to discover in those rare moments. I can't put my finger on why, exactly, but it makes the game feel more artificial and claustrophobic compared to its Genesis fore bearer. Some changes are for the better, however. In Beyond Oasis, every weapon you could get had a limited number of uses before it would break. Weapon-breaking systems are always controversial, and it's an especially big gamble if the game isn't transparent about how close the item in question is to being broken. You don't have to worry about that in this game, as your weapons will survive any number of uses. It could be argued that The Legend of Oasis doesn't need anything to make it easier than it already is, but there are right ways and wrong ways of adding challenge to a game. Kudos to Ancient for realizing that their previous weapon system was one of the wrong ones.

Storywise, the game is fine. Nothing great, and Leon is as blank a slate as you're ever going to see in a game. But it does have some twists and turns, and being a prequel, there are certain things it needs to explain to set up the state that the world is in during the events of Beyond Oasis. It handles those aspects fairly well, even if you'll probably see them coming from a mile away. So yes, it's alright. Unlike Dark Savior, the narrative here isn't good enough to excuse the game's flaws, but then again, it has fewer of those to wallpaper over. Rather than being a complex beast of mixed qualities, The Legend of Oasis is just flat, solid, and largely unexciting. It rarely embarrasses itself, but in pursuit of that inoffensiveness, it never really tries for anything interesting, either.

If there's one place where it does rise above expectations, it's in the presentation. The art and character design by Ayano Koshiro is excellent, and the game does a fantastic job of presenting her work. Things sometimes get a little pixelated when scaling occurs, but that's reasonable, I think. Yuzo Koshiro's soundtrack is quite unusual, however. His music often steals the show in games, but here it's almost understated. The soundtrack is frequently quiet, even going to silence at times. The classic Kojiro riffs are nowhere to be found. Yet it's oddly compelling, this mysterious soundtrack that sounds very little like Koshiro's other work.

I guess what it comes down to is this: the Oasis series was too young to be coasting along like this game does. Had the brand been well-established, no one would blink an eye at a lore-expanding retread like The Legend of Oasis, but Ancient really needed to do something more exciting to properly take advantage of the momentum built by the first game. The Legend of Oasis is a decent enough game, and if you like action-RPGs or Zelda-style games, I'd certainly encourage you to give it a go. But I think even if the Saturn were in a better place, even if 2D graphics weren't at their lowest period in terms of public perception, The Legend of Oasis probably wouldn't have made much of a splash. It's just too safe. That's not something you can say about a lot of Saturn RPGs, but here we are.

The Oasis series would never be seen again after this, though Beyond Oasis has enjoyed a healthy retirement via re-releases on various Genesis collections and through Nintendo's Virtual Console service. Unfortunately, The Legend of Oasis seems relegated to the bins of history, like almost every Saturn exclusive. Maybe one day SEGA will give the system some love in their frequent trips to the retro re-release well, and if they do, I could see The Legend of Oasis being a welcome part of that.

Previous: Dark Savior

Next: Shining the Holy Ark

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