winstein

Christmas is so ubiquitous as a holiday that it's very difficult to think of a show or series that does not celebrate it. The famous characters like Mickey Mouse, Snoopy and even NiGHTs have some form of Christmas special that any famous show will inevitably have a Christmas thing going on, even if the characters aren't necessarily Christians. This goes beyond the West from what I have seen, for some Japanese stories celebrate Christmas too, like Doraemon. For bonus points, it involves Santa Claus in some form.

By comparison, if the characters celebrates Hanukkah, you can tell what the characters' background is, because you can tell they are Jewish. Rugrats is one example of the characters being Jewish, but perhaps a series that I didn't know have Jewish characters is Baby Blues, where the main family practise Jewish traditions on that day.

It would be fascination to know a work that doesn't celebrate Christmas even when presented the opportunity, meaning that it either doesn't:
1) Take place before Christmas is made
2) Takes place in a limited time frame outside the Christmas period (example: a story that takes place entirely on Labour Day)

It sounded like I am complaining about something that happens all around the world, but I need to point out that I am merely making an observation on something, because it's very easy to assume that traditions are the norm that we didn't really give much thought about it.

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Pac-Man sure have met a lot of unorthodox characters, huh? I guess that's part of the charm.

Pac-Man Arcade Golf: human golfers


Pac-Man Party: a yeti, a cat and a robot with an eyeball


Pac Land: Fairies


Pac-Man World 3: a strange person with a big head and a small body


Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures: A ghost witch and her gum monster


Pac-Man Pizza Parlor: Pizza parlour owners and their customers


Pac-Man Fever: Four deformed versions human characters from other Namco games


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I've got something to confess: it still amazes me every time somebody told me that I draw well.

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Related to my previous post, specifically, the fine print, one of my worries when I type out my thoughts is the concern that it might be incomprehensible. This is especially the case because at times I struggle to explain things to other people when speaking. This is why writing is my preferred way of communicating, because it allows me to ponder more easily on saying what I think, figuratively speaking. It felt like a failure on my part if somebody still doesn't understand what I wanted to say. (With that said, I think I did pretty well with my previous post.)

I felt the need to have something to explain because I am sure if I have an opinion without explaining, it would be upsetting for the other. Like for example, I am not as fond of Meta Knight as most Kirby fans, but I made sure to explain why I thought that's the case. At least that way, it is understandable on why that's the case. (And also to more or less justify thanking people for reading)

Thank you for reading.

One thing that I am kind of bothered is when somebody claims that a fan game/mod/level editor is superior to the official product. I know that the passion of fans to make something like that is to be admired, but it's also unfair because they have quite a number of advantages over the original. For example, works from fans have plenty of time in the world to realise them, and ironically, the reason they could even have them in the first place is that they have the original game to compare and build upon.

An example of this can be seen in Super Mario Maker. Since fans made level editors existed for quite a long time, any criticism tends to be around how much more robust their work is compared to the original product. Moreover, whenever the official product added some new features, fans could implement it because they are far more flexible to do that. The official product simply has simpler accessibility, has the support of a bigger company, and can be enjoyed by millions, so it's not objectively inferior. I suppose if the servers are down that could be an issue, which is one clear advantage a fan work has over the official product.

Smash Bros is another one. Project M is viewed as superior mainly because it focuses on something that hardcore fans value the most: balance. While balance is a reason that the game is enjoyed by competitive players, it's built upon existing Smash games so it's not superior since they have plenty of time in the world to do balancing and modify the game in the image of Melee (a game that existed first).

I'm not claiming that it's a bad thing that you enjoyed a fan game for having something that the official product doesn't have, just as how it's valid to enjoy a game because a character you prefer to play as is modded in, but that it's unfair if you don't view the whole picture. In other words, there's a reason it's a fan work, so viewing a fan work like as if it's a competitor to the official product is disingenuous.

(Sorry if they sounded like my thoughts were scattered; I struggled to make this one sound cohesive)

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I think this is going to be an unpopular opinion even among Kirby fans, but I always thought that the popularity of Marx is strange. I won't disagree that Marx is popular, but it's odd because his presence in the adventure where you meet him is minimal: only appearing in a beginning cutscene and as a final boss.

In Kirby Star Allies, every Dream Friend that you meet have a significant presence in the game they debuted in. For example, Taranza is the antagonist-turned-ally that Kirby chases throughout the adventure, Magolor is always around since the adventure kickstarted due to his broken ship, and then there's Rick, Kine and Coo, who are the animal friends you rescued and ride on. Even Gooey's basis is Kirby's Dreamland 3, which is NOT his debut game but he did have a significant presence in said game.

It's possible that he has the benefit of appearing in the most famous Kirby game, but even then I thought that Dyna Blade is a better representative for Super Star, by virtue of appearing in two of the sub-games. Too bad Dyna Blade is not Kirby-sized. I guess he is the most memorable final boss for being unsettling and difficult, and that Dyna Blade is hardly memorable among Kirby fans. My feeling regarding this matter extends to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where I felt that Marx is an unsuitable boss, and instead, Dark Matter (or Magolor) is far more appropriate. I know Super Star is very well-loved, but there's too much Super Star representation in Smash Bros. already!

Another thought: since no other Kirby game used Milky Way Wishes' system of collecting abilities (rather than using Inhale to copy them), it's pretty ironic that Marx's popularity never rubbed off from anything else in that game (except NOVA I guess).

Thank you for reading.

Ever have one of those times where you wanted to add to the conversation in a chat, but everybody has already moved on? This happens to me quite often, since my time zone is largely incompatible with the majority.

As an example, on one chat, one person mentioned the ages of the fan artists in a Garfield book, where they quipped on how it's considered embarrassing to have their age published next to the images. In the image below, there's one with a mentioned age of 20-something and another 30-something.


I would have mentioned that there's no issue with this, because it shows that Garfield has accumulated a lot of fans since his debut, so it's not unusual that there are adult fans creating fan art for the character. Besides, I recall that Paws Inc. has no age restriction when they wanted fans to submit their fan art. Problem is: the conversation had since moved on for days, so it will not be right to just say it (except for a comment here, that is).

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It's pretty amazing that Pokemon Sword/Shield is sparse on the news, plus how there's the fact that there aren't any reliable leaks besides one or two that appeared before E3. Contrast that to Pokemon Sun/Moon where it seems like news on those games are quite abundant. What I am saying is that Pokemon Sword and Shield are the most tight-lipped games yet, in terms of pre-release information.

This is ironic to me because I wanted to avoid spoilers from Sun/Moon as much as possible, since I planned to get one of the games (although that didn't work out fully). Since I don't plan to get Sword/Shield, I wanted to know as much of the games as I can, but it seems that the Pokemon team has a different plan in mind.

Not that I mind them keeping things closer to their chest. In fact, I prefer this approach. This ensures that the players can delve into the games without as much of an expectation, which I haven't really felt since Generation 3. In that Generation, it was such a nice feeling to find out how Torchic evolved into a Fire/Fighting type, and I miss that sort of feeling.

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Are there any character whose description is scary, but they are in practice, not as scary as their description made them out to be? For me, that description falls to The Delightful Children Down the Lane (Codename: Kids Next Door).



In case you aren't aware of what they are, they are basically five children with varying descriptions, but they have a very cold demanour. Plus, they operate like a single entity like a hive mind. Not to mention: they talk in unison most of the time. Their uniforms (and one kid's helmet) are also somehow embedded to them, as if it's part of their body. In other words, they are different children that transformed into something that operates everything together.

Despite the description, they are somehow funny when depicted in the animated show, although they still have the element of horror regardless (including their sadistic tendencies).

Thank you for reading.

I just realized that your age now says '31'.

Sorry i'm late on this, but Happy Birthday!

If Mario founded a company to counter WarioWare, wouldn't it be "MarioMart"?

Something I have noticed about Pokemon is that there are no Pokemon hacks for Gen 4 onward that insert custom-made Pokemon. As an example of a Pokemon hack that inserted custom-made Pokemon, look no further than Touhoumon, which was a hack of Pokemon FireRed (a Gen 3 game). The Pokemon hacks of later generations are mostly data manipulation such as trainer's Pokemon, encounter pool and item rewards, and to a far lesser extent (if there ever were one) bug fixes.

Instead, it seems that fans who wanted to make their own Pokemon prefers to do it through fan games, because I guess it's simpler to insert their own Pokemon this way, and it doesn't have to conform to drawing in 3D or animating sprites that later games in the series would do. Pokemon Zeta/Omicron is based on Generation 5 with a few Gen 6 stuff thrown in, but it lacked animated sprites or any sort of 3D effects.

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Whenever I have my grievances with a game that I played, and in the case I want to air them, I always imagine if this is something I want to say to the developers. If the answer is yes, then it would certainly be said by me. I might also word it in a more diplomatic or tactful way, as otherwise I might as well not mention it.

A lot of ways people expressed their grievances is certainly something I don't really feel comfortable with, and in a few ways, I felt it's also pretty unreasonable. Sometimes I even wonder if they would want to say what they said to the developers themselves! An example of this is the recent criticisms on the latest Pokemon games.

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If Wario started marketing WarioWear, what do you think are the products that'll be advertised?

Something I appreciate with the Baby Mario characters is how they are logically incorporated in the games, with the appeal of merchandising as a bonus though I don't know if there is heavy merchandising on that front. I mean, in Yoshi's Island you have the excuse of bringing Baby Mario to the safety of the crane while defeating Kamek and Baby Bowser. Whereas most other Baby version of characters are either: 1) merchandising due to the appeal of babies (such as Baby Mickey and Baby Popeye) or 2) a retread of the original concept (Tom & Jerry Kids comes to mind).

What I am saying is playing as baby version of main characters is far more appealing than just showing baby versions of main characters doing baby things.

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With the Olympics drawing near, it's time to express my unpopular opinion: I am fond of Wenlock and Mandeville as Olympic mascots, yet I find Misha the Bear to be creepy.

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Mario: Aw, everybody cheating!
Luigi: Oh no! Hurry up!
Peach: Have a rotten day (*raspberries*)!
Daisy: Wa-ha-ha-waaaaa!
Wario: Multiply!
Waluigi: Open salami!
Toad: Bingo! Oh ho ho ho!
Toadette: You're lousy!
Rosalina: Nana nana, nanana. Sorry.

How do you read these lines?

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Namco's offerings tend to have this sort of thing where their games have references from other games throughout the history, and the feeling I get is that their properties all take place in the same universe when those little references are pretty common and freely done.

Like for example, Pac-man has a Galaxian bonus, Klonoa has the Pac-man logo on the titular character's cap, and then there's Mr. Driller who is basically the successor of Dig Dug given the main character is the son of the main character of both Dig Dug and Baraduke.

Namco may not be as big as Nintendo or SEGA, but I admire the sense of coherence and camaraderie in their properties.

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Wouldn't it be great if Mario characters actually directly interacted with each other more often? I did talk about how characters should be able to make unique reactions for each character. The most we've got was characters groaning about Wario farting in Mario Strikers Charged and Fortune Street where we got a wealth of character interactions like "Boo! That's a bad Kong!! A very bad Kong!" and "You owe me one, Luigi! Take good care of all my gold, ya big galoot!"

Do you miss the days where Mario was sometimes prominently an announcer for things? Well, I can think of only three games where Mario is an announcer: Mario Kart 64, Mario Tennis 64, and that one Pac-Man game. But in all three, it's always very fun to listen to, and I think it adds quite a bit of charm, a wacky Mario flavor to the game. "Charm" is often poorly defined, but I can say it just brightens the mood a lot. Certainly, it's something, and the announcers in the later Mario Tennis games just lacked that weirdness and bias Mario showed (like when he fondly says "Luigi" in Mario Tennis).

Sometimes viewing things from another perspective could really help. For example, there are a lot of people who derive pleasure in the cynical distortion of Garfield and how it seems like the default (seems like a strong case of irony poisoning), and that makes me sad, but I reminded myself that there are also people who actually (as in, not ironically) like Garfield, to keep my mind off the "half-empty portion of the glass".

Actually, this applies to many things I like because I often feel that I am fond of the less popular side of things, so in a sense I felt isolated. Even when the topic is about Mario this is the case.

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Do you ever think the Year of Luigi was a pretty sub-par marketing tool to promote only one character? It appeared to be a good opportunity to elevate Daisy and Waluigi, two characters that appear to interact with Luigi quite a bit! But it didn't happen. We could've seen Daisy platforming with Luigi (I mean we got Daisy in Super Mario Run), Waluigi trying to sabotage the movement. Even Baby Luigi had an opportunity to get a bigger role in Yoshi's New Island, which came out around that time. But ultimately, I always thought it fizzled.

There are some music in games that would be like "This is the one that everybody will remember!", especially when you hear it at first glance. In my case, the one that comes to mind are Gourmet Race from Kirby Super Star, You're Not Alone from Final Fantasy IX and Splattack! from Splatoon 1.

However, some of the themes didn't catch my attention as something to remember by, so it seems a bit strange when it was the theme that people remember best. In my case, Forest Maze of Super Mario RPG comes to mind. Stickerbrush Symphony is another example only because I first heard it in isolation from the game that played it.

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Something that I immediately took notice when watching Kirby 64's cutscenes is not only how there's no spoken word in the cutscenes, but also how it showed Kirby's comedic side, such as how he hallucinated his friends as food, and how he took out a mobile phone out of nowhere.

In fact, this is what I really love about those Kirby games that does this, which includes not only from Kirby 64, but Kirby 3 also did this. The most recent game that I can think of that has this sort of presentation is Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, which is as close in tone to the numbered Kirby games as we could get.

In terms of the modern standard platformers, I think Triple Deluxe is the closest to that tone (but still far from what Rainbow Curse achieved) because I don't remember there being dialogue in that game, and the game has a much simpler superpower (Hypernova).

(Also, Kirby's animal friends and Adelaine should return more often)

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Sometimes I wonder if reclusive artists made the right choice in being secretive and outside of the public eye. The issue I noticed with more sociable artists is that they are more easily judged by their character compared to the reclusive artists, so much so that other people's enjoyment of their work are affected by them.

The inverse (artist with praiseworthy character raising others' opinion on their work) so far doesn't seem to be a famous case as far as I know. I mean, I personally have an example that I could name but I imagine the detractors would feel otherwise.

Makes me think that artists are better off private because there are seemingly better benefits with that decision.

Thank you for reading.