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dumb-but-happy-trist · 6 months ago

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The Kirby Rant That You All Wanted So Much™

I’m gonna give you all a little plan of what’s gonna happen :

1. The overview of the main games (+1)

1.1. The copy abilities

1.2.1. The bosses

1.2.2. The Soul bosses

1.3. The Star Allies

1.4. The ancients

2. The music

3. The modern era’s themes

4. Anecdotes

Know that once you click on read more,

My one and only Kirby headcanon is that Sectonia is transgender.

So I guess I’m gonna start at the beginning, Kirby’s Dreamland. It’s a simple game with some of the gameplay staples already present, walking, running, inhaling, spitting, swallowing and floating. Recurring bosses also appear for the first time here, with Whispy Woods (a tree), Kracko (where there is a sky, there is a Kracko), and King DeDeDe (technically the only time he’s a final boss) It also has the Extra Mode. There really isn’t much to add, just that it’s a simple game.

Next is Kirby’s Adventure, the first game with copy abilities, making swallow go from almost useless to extremely important. It also adds a new character, Meta Knight, who at that time is neither protagonist nor antagonist.

Now begins the Dark Matter Trilogy, which is something that shaped the rest of the series. Meta Knight does not appear within the trilogy.

The first game of that trilogy is Kirby’s Dreamland 2, which introduces Dark Matter as a whole, specifically Dark Matter Blade (yes that’s its official name). That game also introduces two concepts. The first one is the concept of bad end, which is exclusive to the Dark Matter Trilogy, and happens when you don’t collect every main collectible and locks you out of the true final boss and gives you a teaser of said boss. The second one comes back out of the DMT and it is the concept of final transformation. In this game, the final transformation is the rainbow sword. Also, animal friends first appear here, and those are the most well known, Rick, Kine and Coo.

(Kirby super star came out here, I’ll talk about it when super star ultra though)

The second game of the DMT is Kirby’s Dreamland 3, with other, new and more numerous animal friends, I unfortunately do not know their names (except Chu-Chu) and honestly can’t be bothered to look them up. The final transformation is the Love-Love stick and the true final boss is Dark Matter (singular entity) followed up by Zero (an eyeball). Zero is the boss that makes people say "Kirby isn’t for kids". Also there’s a boss named Ado here.

The third and final game of the trilogy is Kirby’s Crystal Shards, with the first of two occurrences of copy ability combination and also the second appearance of Ado, which now takes the name Adeleine (the name didn’t change in Japanese, this is how we know they’re the same). The eponymous crystal shards are the collectible of the game and allow to unlock Ribbon’s Crystal and the fight against Zero Two.

Now comes what I like to call “The Drought”, it contains either weird games, spin offs or remakes.

And first off, a remake of Kirby’s adventure, Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland. The only difference is that Extra Mode is replaced by Meta Knightmare (you play as Meta Knight).

Alright I’m not going to talk about it but this is when Kirby Air Ride came out.

Now comes Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, which is confusing both in gameplay and in lore; and misleading in its title. The French title is better, it’s “Kirby and the Labyrinth of Mirrors” and that’s what it is, a labyrinth of mirrors. One of the few times King DeDeDe doesn’t appear anywhere in the games. The final copy ability is Master (it’s Galaxia but it didn’t have that name at the time) and the final boss is Dark Mind.

Here comes the weirdest of all, Kirby Squeak Squad, the game that started the joke of “Kirby kills gods over cake”. Forced to tell you the story here, Daroach steals cake from Kirby and puts it in a chest but there’s another chest that contains Dark Nebula and Daroach picks up the wrong chest. Shenanigans happen and Dark Nebula is killed by Kirby using the Triple Star copy ability (Mjolnir that can also do fire and ice). Also, copy ability fusion appears here too, for some reason. I’ll ignore them though, because the requirements are different than usual (I remembered them too late for that).

First, I’ll talk of the things that are common in the two games (except for the sub-games). There are the helpers, which can be summoned if Kirby has a copy ability that isn’t Crash, Paint or Sleep (the first two are screen wipers and therefore single-use and the third is Sleep, which doesn’t do anything) and serve as a player two.

Let’s talk about the Kirby Super Star Ultra sub-games in two parts :

First, Super Star :

The first I’m going to talk about is Spring breeze, a remake of the first game. Nothing to be added here except that it must be completed to unlock the rest.

Next is Dyna Blade, which plays like a normal Kirby game and the final boss is Dyna Blade.

Then, it’s Gourmet Race, one of the three most well known sub-games, where you race against DeDeDe to get the most food and finish first.

Up next is The Great Cave Offensive, where you try to get out of said cave while gathering as much treasure as you can.

After finishing Dyna Blade, you unlock one of the two big sub-games, The Revenge of Meta Knight, where Kirby must destroy the Halberd to prevent the invasion of Dreamland by Meta Knight and his crew. The final boss is Meta Knight (how surprising). Note that this means that the Halberd was destroyed prior to Kirby’s Dreamland 3.

After clearing all previous sub-games, you unlock the second big sub-game, Milky Way Wishes. It has no original bosses on the main planets. On the original bosses however, there is a lot of lore that becomes important later. It’s also half the reason everybody thinks the cute helper in Kirby will betray you (only happened twice). There is a gimmick in this sub-game; it’s that swallowing enemies does not give you a copy ability. Instead, you must find Copy Essences Deluxe; with the notable exceptions of Crash, Sleep and Paint. The penultimate boss is Galactic Nova and it is where the final ability, Starship, is found. The final boss is Marx (Max in Europe for… communist reasons).

After clearing the last sub-game, you gain access to the Arena. Which is a boss rush, not much to add.

There are two mini-games in this game, Samurai Kirby, a test of reflexes, and Megaton Punch, which is where the picture with cracked Popstar comes from.

Now Super Star Ultra (all previous sub-games return), which will be split in two parts :

First, what changed :

Cutscenes are in 3D; Spring Breeze is easier on the first playthrough; there is a dialogue between Meta Knight and his crew towards the end of The Revenge of Meta Knight; and the bosses in Milky Way Wishes have design changes.

Now the brand new sub-games :

There are three new mini-games, Kirby Card Swipe, where you must tap on the correct card first, Kirby on the Draw, where you must tap the target to shoot them, and Snack Tracks, where you must remove obstacles but not the food.

After beating 13 bosses in the Arena, you unlock Helper to Hero, which is a boss rush except that you don’t play as Kirby but as a Helper and the last boss isn’t Marx but Wham Bam Jewel, which is a harder version of Wham Bam Rock.

Next is Revenge of the King, which is the Extra Mode of Spring Breeze and is unlocked by finishing Milky Way Wishes. If you think it sounds like Revenge of Meta Knight, you’d be right; DeDeDe even gives Kirby a hammer at the end, that’s how far the parallels go. You fight harder versions of the bosses (the revenge versions). The final boss is Masked DeDeDe and his now iconic theme.

After finishing Revenge of the King, you unlock Meta Knightmare Ultra. In this game mode, you play as Meta Knight through all the game modes except Revenge of the King. Also, Marx, Meta Knight and Galactic Nova aren’t fought in there however you fight the horror, the Dark Souls boss of Kirby, Galacta Knight.

After clearing everything, you unlock the True Arena, where you fight all the hardest bosses and the true final boss, Marx Soul.

Alright, we’re done with the drought. It might look full, but reminder that the biggest part is a remake. Now begins the Modern Era, which take parts of a cancelled game, Kirby GCN. Each game has a gimmick.

To start off the era, the game that brought back Kirby, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland (and its remake). This game’s gimmick is the Super Abilities, which are transformations that make you feel like god. There are 4 important game modes in the original and 5 important game modes in the remake. The first game mode that you can play is the Main Mode, which is just playing through the game normally, the final copy ability is Landia and make you fight the penultimate boss, Lor and Magolor. The final boss is Magolor, the second half of the fucking joke that only ever happened twice. The second game mode you should play through is the Arena, which is the now usual boss rush. Now here’s the interesting thing, the Extra Mode is the canon mode in this game because the remake has a cinematic that shows us that Magolor Soul is the canon final boss in the Magolor Epilogue (which is unlocked after clearing the Extra Mode). The Extra Mode is also more interesting in terms of lore. The Magolor Epilogue is a mode in which you play as Magolor and try to recover your full power. Finally, you unlock the True Arena, where you fight all the hardest bosses (the epilogue’s bosses are present in the remake) plus Galacta Knight (still the Dark Souls boss of Kirby and the dodge is shit).

Then came out Kirby Triple Deluxe, which I think is a starting point for a lot of people. This game’s gimmick is the Supernova transformation, which makes you feel like god. There are, once again, 4 important game modes. The Main Mode is where you go through the game normally, there is however no final copy ability, instead you fight Sectonia’s final form with Supernova. The second game mode you should play is the Arena (I won’t present it anymore). Then you should play through DeDeDetour! which is like Metaknightmare but with DeDeDe instead. The final boss of this mode (and the reason I even talked of The Amazing Mirror) is Dark Meta Knight’s Revenge (and one of three occurrences of blood in the modern era), but not before having fought Dark DeDeDe. Finally, you unlock the True Arena, with Sectonia Soul as true final boss.

Next came out Kirby Planet Robobot (peak 2D Kirby in my opinion, it is however an opinion). I’m gonna let you guess how many important game modes there are. The first one is the Main Mode, with Star Dream as a final boss (note that it looks like Galactic Nova) with the final copy ability being the Halberd. After that, the usual Arena. Then you should play Meta Knightmare Returns and oh boy is this the reason that the True Arena is so hard in this game. The final boss is a succession of bosses (nothing new) however there are more bosses than ever (see: Bosses section) and the final boss is Galacta Knight Returns. After all that, you get the True Arena, with the final boss being Star Dream Soul OS (the second occurence of blood in the modern era), which is a rare occurence of the final transformation being used in both Arenas.

Then came out Kirby Star Allies. The gimmicks here are the Star Allies and the Allies Power (such as the Friends Wheel). It’s also the second occurence of copy ability combination. The game doesn’t have the same four important game modes (though there are four important game modes). The first is the Story Mode, where the final boss is Void Termina and the final copy ability is Star Allies Sprinkler. Then comes the Ultimate Choice where the levels 1-5 are unlocked by finishing the Main Mode (note that this is this game’s version of the Arena, it is however very weird and I will only talk of levels 8 and 9). Then you should play Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go, where the true final boss is Galacta- wait what’s that butterfly do- HOLY SHIT OKAY. That was my honest reaction to seeing that happen. Anyways the final boss is Morpho Knight and now Kirby fans are afraid of orange butterflies. Now you can go back to the Ultimate Choice, where levels 6 and 7 are unlocked. After doing either of those two, you unlock level 8, Soul Melter, where you fight all the bosses (including Morpho Knight) and the orb form of Void Termina is replaced by Void Soul. In a later update was unlocked Heroes in Another Dimension, which is just a test of your abilities with various abilities and Star Allies. After that, you unlock level 9 of the Ultimate Choice, Soul Melter EX, where you fight the harder versions of a lot of bosses and Void Termina’s orb form is replaced by Void. This game explained a lot lorewise.

Finally, Kirby and the Forgotten Land and, in my opinion, peak Kirby altogether. The gimmicks of the game are the mouthful mode and the abilities upgrade. There isn’t exactly a mode separation here, meaning that everything is canon. First, you go through the normal worlds until the end of world 3, which is where you unlock the Colosseum and the only place you can fight Meta Knight. The first cup is the Meta Knight Cup, with only the bosses and mini-bosses of worlds 1-3 and Meta Knight, giving us a grand total of 6 battles. Then you go back to the normal worlds until the end of the game, with the first final boss being Fecto Elfilis and the final copy ability being Big Rig Mouthful. There, you unlock the Ultimate Cup in the Colosseum, where you fight every boss and mini-boss of the normal worlds. Then comes Forgo Dreams, where you must collect enough fragments of Leon’s soul to unlock the Forgo Land. Here, the final boss is Soul For- WHAT THE HELL? HOW ARE YOU BACK. So the final boss is actually Morpho Knight again. Except he’s canon now. After beating Morpho Knight, you unlock the third and final cup of the Colosseum, the Ultimate Cup Z, with 12 bosses again. The true final boss (which is very much canon) is Chaos Elfilis.

Well that’s it for the game overview. Now the Copy abilities, sorted by order of appearance, alphabetical order and a little bit on each of them.

Kirby’s Adventure :

- Backdrop, which only ever appeared in that game and its remake. You are now a catcher and have a move called Back Breaker.

- Ball, which only ever appeared in that game and its remake. It transforms Kirby into a ball.

- Beam, our first staple, appearing in a lot of games. Absolutely OP against most of Whispy Woods appearances (especially return to dreamland).

- Burning, a transformation that technically still exists, though it fused with Fire. It transforms Kirby into a horizontal Meteor.

- Crash, another staple, starting in this game, and only missing a few like Crystal Shards. It’s a screen wiper, mini-bosses don’t stand a chance, useless against bosses.

- Cutter, the only copy ability I will call Grand Staple, because it appears in every mainline game except Kirby’s Dreamland. It’s got good range and decent damage.

- Fire, a staple, misses a few games. One of its effect is that it’s super effective against Whispy Woods in Star Allies and it inflicts burning damage overtime in Forgotten Land

- Freeze, a transformation that fused with Ice. Creates a ball of ice around, preventing movement.

- Hammer, the transformation you see the most in (True) Arena runs because its jump attack grants invincibility while still doing decent damage.

- Hi-Jump appeared in a few games. It does what it says, jump high while inflicting damage.

- Ice, a staple, allows to breath ice, create an ice ball that has inertia and one of the few transformations that make you invincible when shielding, with the downside of removing the dodge.

- Laser, it bounces off slopes.

- Light existed for this game and its remake. It doesn’t do damage.

- Mike, a staple, three uses (including one screen wiper).

- Needle, a staple that can transform Kirby in a ball of needles.

- Parasol, a staple that was originally the only ability usable underwater.

- Sleep, a useless staple.

- Spark, a staple. It allows to create a force field in two different ways, including a mobile one.

- Stone, a staple that transforms Kirby into a rock impervious to damage.

- Sword, a staple I won’t present.

- Throw, see Backdrop, except it appeared more often.

- Tornado, an uncontrollable staple which transforms Kirby in a tornado that has trouble changing direction.

- UFO, a rare staple, hard to find. In Planet Robobot, you needed the Kirby Amiibo.

- Wheel, a controllable staple which transforms Kirby into a wheel that can turn very easily, though it can’t fly.

Kirby Super Star :

- Bomb, a staple that gives Kirby bombs, I don’t know what you were expecting.

- Cook, a screen wipe that gives food.

- Copy, allows Kirby to copy the ability of any enemy, useful in Milky Way Wishes. Only ever appeared in that sub game anyway.

- Fighter, a staple that gives Kirby the power of fighting (seriously are you expecting a surprise), by which I mean punch and kick.

- Jet, a transformation that gives damaging flight and missiles.

- Mirror, which allows for mirror powers shenanigans.

- Ninja, a staple that makes Kirby use the coolest moves I’ve ever seen. Also PARRY!

- Paint, appeared in this game and its remake only. It’s a screen wipe.

- Plasma, same thing as spark, but in green instead of blue.

- Suplex, same thing as backdrop.

- Wing, it’s a staple that gives Kirby a damaging flight and… it’s actually similar to Jet, I’m not gonna lie.

- Yo-Yo, it’s a yo-yo and Kirby looks like Ness that way.

Kirby’s Dreamland 3 :

- Cleaning, which had a number of abilities thanks to the animal friends. The enemy that gives it is a staple, not the transformation.

Kirby and The Amazing Mirror :

- Cupid gives Kirby a bow and arrow, later replaced by Archer.

- Magic, Kirby can now do a roulette that is absolutely OP (in squeak squad, he also does magic tricks)

- Mini, Kirby is now smol.

- Missile, Kirby transforms in a missile, what did you expect.

- Smash Bros., Kirby gets his Smash moveset.

Kirby Canvas Curse : Balloon, where Kirby becomes a balloon (only mentioning this because it’s a copy ability apparently)

Kirby Squeak Squad :

- Animal, the one I hoped was making a comeback in Forgotten Land (it didn’t), Kirby gains sharp claws and the ability to dig.

- Bubble, which allows Kirby to transform enemies into bubbles. Like Bubble Mario.

- Ghost allows Kirby to possess enemies.

- Metal, where Kirby becomes invincible but he’s slow and can’t float.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland :

- Leaf, which gives Kirby sharp leaves to attack with, from thrown to tornado, and renders him invincible when shielding.

- Spear. Kirby gets a spear.

- Water, where Kirby finally becomes the Avatar, able to control Earth (Rock), Fire, Air (Tornado) and Water.

- Whip. Guess what? Kirby gets a whip.

Kirby Triple Deluxe :

- Archer. Kirby gets a bow.

- Beetle, where Kirby gets a beetle horn and attacks with it.

- Bell, Kirby gets a bell and is like a child with it.

- Circus, complicated, check this to have it all : https://wikirby.com/wiki/Circus

Kirby Planet Robobot :

- Doctor. Kirby makes potions for elements and attacks using medicine.

- ESP. Okay now that’s definitely Ness.

- Poison, which is rather similar to Water in terms of gameplay, except it can also do a cloud and orient the fountain.

Kirby Star Allies :

- Artist, which allows Kirby to paint things to life (like Adeleine, actually).

- Festival, a screen wipe with a cute dance right before.

- Spider, Kirby can now throw webs.

- Staff, look at Sun Wukong and yep, that’s it.

Kirby Fighters 2 : Wrestler, only mentioning it.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land :

- Drill, Kirby digs with that drill.

- Ranger, Kirby with a GUN, OH YEAH!

Jelly exists, apparently.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe :

- Mecha, check this https://wikirby.com/wiki/Mecha

- Sand, he’s gonna put some dirt in your eyes.

That’s done too now. I guess it’s the bosses now. I won’t do them all, only the important ones. The order is not exactly important.

- Whispy Woods : Usually, he or a cousin of his is the first boss

- Kracko : Where there is a sky, there is a Kracko. And also, he hates Kirby like Reverse Flash hates Flash.

- King DeDeDe : The boss that is only Final Boss once, the first game. I’ll talk more about another version of him though.

- Meta Knight, who has been possessed a lot and I mean a LOT of times. Not as often as DeDeDe. After Star Allies, it can be surmised that he trained against mind control because he wasn’t affected by Fecto Forgo.

- Nightmare, the final boss of Kirby’s Adventure, who sure does exist.

- Dark Matter Swordsman, who is a Dark Matter and (WARNING : THIS IS A THEORY) might be a deviant Dark Matter, because of the fact that the manual says that it is jealous of the friends Kirby has, while Dark Matters shouldn’t be able to feel positive emotions (THEORY END).

- Galactic Nova (Nucleus), which is a device made by the ancients to make wishes come true. I’ll talk more about this later though.

- Marx, the devilish buffoon, who tricks Kirby into summoning Nova in order for Marx to take control of Popstar.

- Masked DeDeDe, the version I will actually talk about. First the music is awesome and every time they remix it, it gets better (Masked DeDeDe, DeDeDe’s Royal Payback, Roar of DeDeDe+Masked and Wild D.D.D). DeDeDe put a fucking rocket inside his hammer for more power.

- Galacta Knight. Very little is known about him, but what little is known is absolutely crazy. Could destroy a planet or two on a whim according to Star Dream. (THEORY) Might be a Hero of Iore (THEORY END). The strongest combatant in the universe.

- Ado, later Adeleine, is a Human, a very rare sight in Kirby games and (THEORY) might be the creator of Drawcia, Paintra and Vividria (THEORY END).

- Dark Matter, (THEORY) a primal entity of the universe hellbent on destroying the Light of Joy (THEORY END).

- Zero, the leader of the Dark Matter, attacks using blood and Dark Matter as projectiles. During its second phase, it sheds its protective white sphere.

- Pix is surprisingly important for later, keep it in mind.

- HR-H -> HR-E, a robot created by humans on Shiver Star (which is the Earth, commonly accepted theory by now) left to defend the abandoned underground city. Important for the ancients.

- Miracle Matter, an important Dark Matter (probably a General). It has control over the elements, that’s important for later.

- Zero Two, which, while never confirmed to be a Dark Matter, probably is a Dark Matter. Oh boy, that one will probably have my head on a pike so (THEORY THAT MIGHT PISS YOU OFF ALERT) It is not a reincarnation of Zero in my opinion. While it does have an angelic theming, I think of it as meaning that while Zero might have been strong, this entity, which uses the same white shell as it, is an angel of death (THEORY END).

- Master Hand and Crazy Hand. They’re here, that’s fun.

- Dark Meta Knight, an amplified reflection of the worst parts of Meta Knight.

- Dark Mind, (THEORY TIME) it might be the reflection of Zero in the amazing mirror, which corrupted said mirror and made it so that anyone who looks into it is either corrupted or gets copied with their worst parts amplified (THEORY END).

- Daroach, Leader of the Squeaks, the mice thieves (their mice that are thieves, not people that steal mice). He is akin to a phantom thief.

- Dark Nebula. (THEORY) Probably an ancient Dark Matter Leader. I say this because it can possess people, has a singular eye, has a colour scheme very Dark Matter and can control the elements. And it has probably been stuck in that chest for hundreds if not thousands of years, so it can’t reach full power right away (THEORY END).

- Drawcia, the creation regretted by its creator.

(For the Return to Dreamland Bosses, I will talk about the EX bosses)

- Grand Doomer EX, leader of the Sphere Doomers, entities with the ability to create portals to travel through space time using Another Dimension. It is mentioned that the Sphere Doomers didn’t always look like that. It’s important for later.

- Metal General EX and HR-D3, the reason people think the Extra Mode isn’t canon, (THEORY) I say it’s just a multiverse thing BECAUSE it was supposed to be a boss for a cancelled Kirby Game and it just traveled from a world it existed to a world it didn’t (THEORY END).

- Landia EX, which is Landia drawing too much power from the Master Crown, and going a little mad. It is the keeper of the Master Crown because (THEORY) it is actually, in my opinion, 4 dragons fused into one, so there are 4 minds to corrupt instead of 1 (THEORY END).

- Lor EX and Magolor. The Lor is a ship that is implied to have a consciousness and is corrupted by Magolor. Important for the ancients.

- Magolor EX is (THEORY TIME) actually taking as much power as during the second part of his normal fight. That would make the fact that he transforms into Magolor Soul make more sense (THEORY END).

- Crowned Doomer, see Grand Doomer.

- Master Crown, an item with “infinite” power, the ability to corrupt those who wear it and open portals. In Magolor’s Epilogue, it possesses a tree and becomes the crown without a ruler, as exposed by its theme : “Mistilteinn, Tree Crown without a Ruler”. There is symbolism to be found here, but I won’t go into it.

- Paintra, sister of Drawcia.

- Queen Sectonia -> Flowered Sectonia. She looked like Taranza at first but then, he brought her a mirror, a beautifully cursed mirror, the amazing mirror. She looked into it. She wanted to look more and more beautiful and so she modified her body until she looked nothing like she did. She fuses with the Dreamstalk as an ultimate move to try to become the most beautiful and destroy Kirby.

- Shadow DeDeDe, while not canon, it’s the Shadow of the King after he looked into the mirror.

- Holo Defense API. Remember Pix? Yeah it’s important now, the design is similar, so it can be surmised Haltmann took the schematics and made it a defense system. It’s probably ancient tech.

- Susie, of her true name Susanna Haltmann, is the daughter of President Haltmann, though he forgot who she was after she was lost in Another Dimension. She was lost in there for years (she was a child when she fell into it and was of age to be hired by Haltmann when she came back out) and when she realised her father didn’t recognise her anymore, she strived to be the best in the company and to take away Star Dream from him. She succeeded and lost her father in the process.

- President Haltmann got obsessed with Star Dream after he lost his daughter. When Susie took away the control device of Star Dream, his Mind fused with the Program.

- Star Dream, the result of Haltmann finding the schematics for Galactic Nova. It can open portals, create a countdown to the Red Screen of Death, summon Galacta Knight and has a secret mode activated if it takes too much damage. Important for the ancients.

- The Three Mage Sisters (a developer said it could be religious sisters), Francisca, Flamberge and Zan Partizanne. They were all on the brink of death when Hyness found them. Their lives weren’t kind to them, since Francisca is implied to have been trying to commit suicide (who goes into a snowstorm like that), Flamberge was facing an inferno and who the fuck does that if they don’t want to die, and Zan Partizanne was climbing a tower in desperation so I’d say she wasn’t doing it for fun. Anyways they’re all extremely loyal to Hyness, even with his poor treatment of them. Also Francisca and Flamberge are implied to be in a romantic relationship.

- Hyness. The one and only character that ever mentioned the ancients, being one himself. He was a good person originally (as exposed by the fact that he saved the Mage Sisters) but he started worshipping Void Termina, and he started going madder and madder. All that until Heroes in another dimension, where his heart is finally saved.

- Void Termina, the closest thing the Kirby Universe has to a god. I’ll talk more about Void though.

- Morpho Knight. I won’t talk about him because too little is known.

- Clawroline, of her true name Carol, is a Leopard, close friend of Leongar. She is a general of the Beast Pack.

- Leongar, of his true name Leon, is the Lion Leader of the Beast Pack. He is possessed by Fecto Forgo.

- Fecto Forgo -> Fecto Elfilis. (BEEN A WHILE THEORY TIME) This might be the true form of the Grand Doomer, I say this because of the wings directly attached to the head and the ability to open portals (END THEORY). I say more with Chaos Elfilis.

Now, onto the Soul forms (take everything said here with a grain of salt)

- Drawcia Soul. No idea who she is, but she was first.

- Marx Soul. He’s the form you see in Star Allies because (THEORY TIME) he can be seen absorbing part of Nova in the True Arena and in MetaKnightmare, Nova reassembles itself and is missing a few pieces, implying Marx absorbed those. Therefore, it can be assumed this happened in the canon timeline (THEORY END).

- Magolor Soul. He’s a fun one, because the epilogue shows us that’s the canon final form, therefore making the extra mode canon. He’s also the only one to appear in both the Extra Mode and the True Arena.

- Soul of Sectonia. She’s taken several Miracle Fruits (drugs) and is back to destroy Kirby (she fails). She’s given all she was to beauty and it is now all she has left.

- Star Dream Soul OS. It is activated because of the damage caused by Galacta Knight. It has a bit of Haltmann’s soul left, which is the reason it loses.

- Void Soul. It’s cool. Void is cooler though.

- Void, Astral Birth. It’s the thing that Hyness was trying to summon, and (YOU’RE GOING TO KILL ME FOR THAT ONE) a chameleon god, who acts how the summoner wants him to act. While Kirby isn’t Void or one of his incarnations, he is probably an existence not unlike Void’s (THEORY END).

- Chaos Elfilis. That thing can control dreams (as proven with Forgo Dreams), space (major plot point), minds (Leongar), souls (major plot point) and light (one of its attacks). It is in constant pain and has forgotten who it truly is after absorbing so many souls.

Okay I’m done with that. Now I gotta do the Star Allies (Dream Friends + Elfilin)

- Bandana Waddle Dee (Bandee). Everyone likes him, he’s a little dude with a spear and is extremely loyal to King DeDeDe.

- King DeDeDe.

- Meta Knight.

- Animal Friends.

- Marx

- Gooey. A deviant Dark Matter that is just a goofball.

- Adeleine and Ribbon. They’re cool, okay, I just think there were better picks for Dream Friends than them.

- Dark Meta Knight. He is only there because he wants to be the most evil there is.

- Daroach.

- Magolor.

- Taranza. Still grieving his love, but wants to help his friend.

- Susie.

- The Three Mage Sisters.

- Elfilin. See Chaos Elfilis.

(THEORY TIME)

The ancients. The most mysterious people we know and yet we have so much on them. We know they were split in half (the Scientists and the Mages) and they made some of the most impressive things we know (Lor, Galactic Nova, Lix, etc). I don’t think all the scientists come from the same place. I think some of them come from Shiver Star and some others come from the Forgotten Land. I don’t know much about them.

(THEORY END)

Now the music, I will talk about two of them specifically.

First, Green Greens, THE Kirby song. It’s the song that plays whenever HAL Laboratory wants to hit the nostalgia button. It’s simple, it’s easily recognisable and everyone loves it. (Planet Robobot, both remixes).

Second, Masked DeDeDe’s Theme. Oh boy, this theme. Ever since it first appeared, it has a remix for each game (except Return to Dreamland (present in the remake) and Planet Robobot). In order, there is :

1. The original

2. DeDeDe’s Royal Payback, Triple Deluxe

3. Against a Sword-King, the Dimension to Win, Star Allies

4. Roar of DeDeDe was disappointing, not gonna lie. So imagine my joy when I heard Masked and Wild : D.D.D.. It’s an absolute Banger. Forgotten Land.

The modern era has some interesting themes, actually.

1. Return to Dreamland. Its theme is that if you chase the ultimate power, the only thing you’ll get is suffering (Magolor).

2. Triple Deluxe. If you are obsessed with how others see you, you’ll end up destroying yourself (Sectonia).

3. Planet Robobot. A classic show of Man versus Machine, sprinkled with the importance of family.

4. Star Allies. The power of friendship is the power to jump your enemies.

5. Forgotten Land. Human creations are worth nothing against Nature.

The anecdotes.

Did you know :

Kirby was always supposed to be pink. It’s just that Miyamoto thought he’d be yellow and was pleasantly surprised by the pink.

Kirby has this name for two reasons. For one, John Kirby, who won the lawsuit against Universal. For two, it’s surprising to have a K sound for a being so round.

The anime follows its own plot because Sakurai basically said redundancy is the killer of a good story.

Kirby has killed a child before (Void).

Kirby has yet to wield an axe.

Tag list

@illusionsignmisdirecti0n @pennyroyald @neoninglitchen @patrik6090 @vivian-the-fae @ridgette58 @vee1021 @mariyoursweetheart @izzythedemigod @differentglittertimemachine @totally-france @your-average-sentient-suit @moistgermany @iron-roses @mine-is-an-angel @angelicassassinations @eldritch-bean @best-kirby-character-tournament @my-mom-named-me-duck @helloareyouheremdfan @shr00mie-rat @kermit-the-fag-uwu

#this is what you wanted #it’s what you get #rant #kirby #kirby spoilers #why did i decide to do this #this is so fucking long

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chernobylcatfish09 · 4 months ago

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Howdy, this is my updated introductory post

(Credits at the very bottom, feel free to to skip to bottom, but I can’t find every creator)

To make this clear, I am not going to respond to asks for donations, I cannot donate, and I am too wary of scammers and won’t respond. I get this can be seen as stingy, but that’s my thing. Also I completely support Palestine, just to make that clear.

My name is Norman, Dusty, and/or Gloom; feel free to switch up the names, I use He/they/it/Cloud/storm/Oort and more I haven’t tested pronouns, just anything except she/her I will like, Im Aroace-spec & Uranic , I highly suspect I have autism, maybe adhd (have to do more research), Depersonalization-Derealization disorder, Avpd, def have anxiety and depression. Can’t confirm all of them due to being undiagnosed. I am a minor so don’t be weird, or i will blast you with an internet taser. I’ll also add my art tag is #ya boi draws, do what you want with that

DNI: republicans, conservatives, racists, nsfw accounts, pro ED accs, homo/transphobes, pro contact harmful paras (if you have a harmful para and are seeking help I truly wish the best in that journey), I’ll add more

As long as you’re respectful I don’t care so much about other things, I’d rather not hear about Christianity so much but still fine to talk about in small amounts.

Current fave animals: Manatees, Seals, pangolins, jellyfish (this changes a decent amount)

My special interests are Animals in general, mostly Sea animals, video games, animated shows (cartoons and animes), and drawing.

Currently working on several projects, though mainly focusing on one. I may post art on here but most likely will be in a community.

My fave colors rn are pretty much any shade of blue, Skobeloff, and dark teal.

I have made a list of my ocs so you can ask about them, can’t answer much about my stories as I am still working on them (mainly one, others have not even been started sadly ;~;), speaking of which my art tag is #ya boi draws

Now time for the long shit: listing the many things I enjoy I gather from my Pinterest due to my shit memory. (There are things I mildy enjoy, some I haven’t actually watched, details etc)

📀Movies/shows: Adventure time, Arcane, Bee and Puppycat, Bojack Horseman, Centaurworld, Demon Slayer, Dungeon Meshi, Fiona and Cake, Fox and the hound, Gravity falls, Haikyuu, Hilda, I saw the Tv glow, Lego Batman, Lego Monkie kid, Lego movie, Little witch academia, Madoka magica, Mob Psycho 100, Monster High, Moral Orel, My little pony, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Octonauts, Over the garden wall, Panty and stocking, Pokemon, Puss in boots, Rottmnt, Secrets of kells, Serial Experiments Lain, Song of the sea, Sonic, Steven universe, Tmnt (2012), the dark Crystal, the last unicorn, the owl house, Total drama island, Tuca and Bertie, Wander over yonder, we bare bears, wild kratts, Yokai watch, and more I’m sure

👾Games; Honkai star rail, Pikmin, Little big planet, Cookie Run Kingdom, Undertale, Deltarune, Mouthwashing, Genshin Impact, Night in the Woods, Faith the unholy trinity, Omori, Pokémon by technicality, Sonic the hedgehog, Animal Jam, Fnaf, Kirby, Splatoon, Bendy and the Ink machine, Hades, Monster Prom, Sucker for love, (note that sucker for love and monster prom are for older teens/adults, so they have [implied or straight up] Nsfw), Sally face, Fran bow, Little Misfortune, Katamari Damacy, Hollow Knight, and Sea of Stars (mainly the first half-ish, I won’t spoil), rdr2,

🎧I also like horror fiction podcasts, mainly The Magnus Archives, Camp Here and There, and Welcome to Nightvale

🎵I have a massive music rec, pretty much anything I like in terms of music, https://www.tumblr.com/chernobylcatfish09/776684862687133696/howdy-hey-are-you-looking-for-music

My hobbies are drawing, playing video games, watching YouTube, collecting things like figures, and organize things on Pinterest (it’s not many things Ik.)

My high synpaths (I use kinnie bingos, and high syns for me are above 15): Anya, Napstablook, amethyst, Steven, gangle, fluttershy, Marcy wu, Luz, Hunter, Furina, Pomni, Crona, Aubrey, Sunny, Spaceboy, Basil, Rei, Venti/Barbatos, Mk, Tang, The Collector, Phosphophyllite, Fischl, Sayu, Lapid, Junpei, Giyuu, Muichiro, Lain, Mitsuba, Octavia, Madotsuki, Jinx, Viktor, Allister, Belphie, and Levi

(If your curious to the sources feel free to ask me in my box)

Some aesthetics i like are Dreamcore, Weirdcore, webcore, cryptid core, and star flesh core.

Random things I enjoy are Furbies, Yokai, Walten Files, hoodies and shorts, Ena, and Garfield.

Also give me some malachite I need to consume it.

I have also coined a term, feel free to drop criticism. [updated flag ver]

Credits: all user boxes and ocean fanatic made by @mast3rsw0rd , I survived the bootleg rainbow road box made by @fancyhats-and-fennelsbuds

#queer #trans #ya boy loves to ramble #re-introduction #ya boi draws

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hungrydata · 5 months ago

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Day 42

Oh wow it's late, I had to force myself to finish this, otherwise it'll be outdated soon enough (also sorry for the bad lineart i was rushing a bit, that's why Chopper's nose isn't blue etc.)

(Explanation for every character under the cut!)

Also if I'd be honest, almost all the boxes would be filled with Ribbun, but that'd be boring.

current favorite: Boo (Super Mario)

Since Super Mario Party: Jamboree I started to pick Boo bc my prior main Luigi kept failing me, and ever since then I fell in love with these funny specters. I'm kinda hoping that for MK9 we get a middle class Boo as character and the actual King Boo from LM as heavy bc I'm usually driving with middle or light classes.

comfort character: Ribbun (TADC) and Kirby (Kirby)

I never really had a "comfort character", it was always more a "comfort ship" and often my OTP atm, which rn is Ribbun. But while finishing this drawing, I remembered that when I was little, I always considered Kirby to be my BFF bc I didn't have many friends I could meet outside of kindergarten and such (yes I was really little), so I decided to add him as well.

by design: Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (The Cat Returns)

My favorite Ghibli movie, The Cat Returns. I always liked the Baron, his usual design is beautiful, and when he disguises himself to help Haru escape the King, omg he looks so good. Ngl he was (and probably still is) one of my biggest childhood crushes and I don't feel ashamed of that (call me a furry for liking anthropomorphic characters idc)

by plot: Furina (Genshin Impact)

I mean, if you played the Fontaine story, I probably won't have to explain this. When we first met her, I had a love-hate relationship with her, awaiting what's going on with her. And after the quest was over, I fell in love with her and her character. Pls, i never wanted a character so bad just for their personality like Furina (pls come home I'm begging you-)

guilty favorite: Blitzø (Helluva Boss), Baby Mario & Luigi (Super Mario)

Blitzø i think ion have to explain. Big asshole, half the community hates him yadayada. As for the Baby Bros, it's the same reason. Not the asshole part, but big part of the community isn't a fan of the Babies in MK. While I'm here being biased af not bc I main Baby Mario in MK8D, but bc my GOAT is Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. So yeah, that's the reason.

all-time favorite: Chopper (One Piece), Rock Pikmin (Pikmin) and Luigi (Super Mario)

I literally stopped watching OP after Chopper joined the crew bc that was my most anticipated moment. Still planing on watching more, but Chopper, I love him, he's adorable. Rock Pikmin as well, it's so cute I can't. Whenever they're on screen I can't keep my squeal of cuteness for myself. And Luigi is technically there as well, he was my main for most of my life in any Mario game. Since he's already there as Baby, I added the "Luigi-!" bubble to Chopper as indication

#idk how to tag all this #boo mario #jax tadc #gangle tadc #ribbun #kirby #baron humbert von gikkingen #furina #blitzø #baby mario #baby luigi #luigi #tony tony chopper #rock pikmin #surely this won't go wrong

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nakateleeli · 5 months ago

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2024 retrospective

A retrospective on 2024… I don't actually feel like this was an eventful year, so I didn't think I was going to have a lot to say. It turns out it sure was eventful, just not in the way I was thinking, and somehow this post became this long.

Here on the channel I've been spending a lot of my solo time on the Kirby series. I originally started the All the Kirbys series because I felt like I was in a constant state of having to find something new and didn't have any strong enthusiasm for anything. I wanted something that I could rely on for a while to keep me out of that funk. As the series has gone on I've found that I've already done most of the major Kirby games, so the ones I'm covering for the series are mostly side-games and spin-offs. Games that haven't gone through the refinement process as much as the main games and I've found myself struggling with them. This led to a few breaks this year where I just needed to play something else for a bit. This did allow me to get to some oddball games that have been living in the back of my head for a while. I also finally got to show off R-Type Final 2. This also means there haven't really been any "big" projects on the channel lately. We are very near the end of All the Kirbys and while I do love Kirby games I'm ready for it to be done. There are so many other games, even large ones, that I would love to get to. I feel like I've spent most of the year playing hard or frustrating games so I'm excited to be free and maybe play something I'm more enthusiastic about.

In the co-op sphere I usually let Ogre choose what games we play, but I've found myself choosing a fair number of games last year. This has given me a chance to play some other weird games I've wanted to show off like Ninja Saviors, Psychopomp, Diablo, and I outed myself as a Hololive fan (this was not the first time). Ogre's choices have been more nostalgic, with him taking a look at some of my childhood favorites like Super Metroid and Link to the Past, and him getting me to play through the early Dragon Quest games. I'm really happy with a lot of the game choice on this end and I feel like it's been a bit of a release for me from my solo stuff.

Of course I also stream several times a week and that as well has been a mixed bag. For starters on Thursday I would typically stream as Vivian.exe. Vivian's development has a bit of history that stems from some self-identity issues I've had for a very long time, and my making the Vivian model and later giving her her own voice and persona have been a way for me to explore that. Late 2023 I ran into technical issues and burnout that made me retire her. Though her streams have never been terribly popular a few viewers were sad to see her go, so I made an attempt to refine her model to something I was happier with and solve my technical issues. My hope was resolving these issues would also make me happier to do her streams, and for a time it did. I brought her back in early 2024 with most issues resolved. We came back with Outer Wilds, an amazing game, and it was my first time seeing the expansion. I got to check out a few other games I'd been wanting to play as Vivian but eventually, between House Flipper and Control, I started to burn out again on playing the Vivian character. I was originally wondering of it was the technical issues that made me burn out and was thinking that resolving them may prevent that, but no. The issue is partially the games I chose to play but largely I think, as far as my self-identity issues go, I'm starting to figure myself out and wasn't really getting anything from playing Vivian any more. So as the holiday season ramped up and I got busier I decided once again to retire her.

I also stream on Fridays, just as myself, and I've had a wonderful time there, by comparison. I've played and discovered a number of games that have gone on to be some of my all-time favorite games, like Voices of the Void and Lunacid. I've also played a number of games that were given to me directly by developers that actually looked at the content I make and thought I might enjoy. These games, like Goldenheart and Mars 2120, may not have been to the same quality as some of the other games I streamed but they were still amazing experiences and I'm really happy to have been given the chance to show them. I've also been happy in this slot because of the model I've been using. I really love the chocobo, it feels the most "me" out of everything I've used thus far, which is probably another reason I've been less satisfied with Vivian. I've even had some fun changing the model for the seasons. We changed to pink for most of the year and very recently I changed to blue for winter. I have a tendency to lean more towards feminine representations and I think the pink was part of that, but I feel like the blue actually much more fits my personality.

The Saturday streams have also been a bit of a mixed bag. Saturday is my work night. I stream mostly as a way to hold myself accountable while I get work done on any number of my personal projects. I have spent more than the past year working on replacing all of the standard Doom 2 monsters with enemies from the Jumping Flash series. This is done to accompany my prior mod which replaced the player with Robbit. This was a long, painstaking process that I knew would not pay off in any real way since it was just a monster replacement pack. That said I did an absolute ton of work that I'm unbelievably proud of. I finished the pack and finally released it late last year. I learned a lot, did a ton of work, and it's all work that I really impressed myself with. The only parts of this project I'm not as happy with are that I knew it wouldn't really be worth the trouble from the start, and that it took me so unbelievably long. Time that could have been spent on other projects. But this is now done, released, and I can start planning for the future.

I've been working on other projects as well, though not streaming them. I released Clean Up Hell, a Doom mod that turns the game into a cleaning simulator; and I'm still updating Beyond the Horizon, an idle game available on itch.io. I managed two updates this year and I'm happy to see people attempting (and sometimes failing) the new boss. I've got another update in the works.

My wife has also drug me out to a few anime conventions last year (for work, not play), which were the first I had ever been to. Though I do have a strong interest in anime and the community I still felt very uncomfortable there. Largely I just felt out of place and scared I'd be recognized. I felt like a grumpy father just there because he was drug there, despite that I was actually interested. I'm mostly just socially anxious and worried about how I appear. Similarly, I take my separation of personal and online lives seriously and was worried someone might identify me by proxy of being with my wife. I did, after a short time, find a kind of mask that not only hides my identity but also makes me feel more like I'm supposed to be there, like I'm one of the people there, excited, all walking around in some kind of love-filled cosplay. Once more comfortable I really loved this experience. I loved seeing everybody in costume, seeing everybody so excited, enthusiastic, and yet also so comfortable, often even expressing a wide range of self-representation. This did a lot to improve my own mood and also learn about myself. This also contributed a lot to figuring out myself, what I want to do with myself, and how I want to appear. This certainly contributed to my not feeling Vivian was necessary any more, as well as my want to redesign my chocobo to be something I think better represents how I want to be represented (and not copyrighted). Mostly a lot of personal growth here that I can take advantage of going forward.

Emotionally things were looking up right up until the end of August when I hurt my back. It was a muscle strain, no nerve damage, but it was the worst I had ever hurt my back in my life, and I am not a stranger to back injuries. I was chair-ridden for a week and it was difficult to move for a month after. To this day I still have to be careful and I will probably never be the same. Especially for someone like me, who is known to throw themselves around and push themselves physically, this is really disempowering. I wasn't able to get any physical work done for the rest of the year and started falling into depression as time went on. It hit me hard. Over time my back has felt better and I've even gotten more and more recognition at work which has helped improve my mood. I'm feeling much better now, both physically and emotionally, but I pretty much wrote off the last three months of last year. It was a bad time.

That said, the year is over and next year is looking much better. We're nearly done with Kirby and I'm excited to start something new. Vivian is retired and for the moment that slot is going to be reserved for tying up loose ends. Jumping Flash Doom is done and I can start working on new projects. I'm currently modifying my chocobo model to better appear how I want to be represented (and not copyrighted). It's been a bit of a slump year I feel, but a year is a long time for nothing to go wrong. My channel has also been all over the place in representation until now. I've got Miss Naka as my avatar and on thumbnails, a chocobo on my stream thumbnails and as my stream avatar, and then Vivian making an appearance in effectively her own series.

Going forward I'm excited to turn over a new leaf. We're going to be starting new projects on almost every front and I'd like to soft rebrand under a consistent brand. This may not be quick, as I am just one person who can't do any of this full-time. Thank you all so much for supporting me and the things I do, especially those of you who have been around for years and years that I just can't scare off. I'm going to be counting on your continued support in the coming year, and I very much hope you enjoy what I have in store.

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jojo-schmo · 11 months ago

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hi jojo! im just wondering but ive been wanting to make a comic for a little while but im not too sure where to start 😅. i really love your style of art and your forgotten land roleswap, and i was wondering if you had any tips for beginners?

Hello, hello! Thank you for enjoying my Forgotten Land Roleswap comic, it means a lot! <3

I'm very honored that people have been asking me for tips and advice. All of this is coming from a hobbyist who draws these comics purely for fun outside of my regular day job. Some of my methods would probably deal psychic damage to a professional, LOL. But I'm more than happy to share some things I've personally learned! :)

First of all, the book, "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud ROCKS. It literally gave me a new dimension to understand the medium of comics and how it presents ideas and emotions to readers! And I haven't even had the chance to finish it all the way! I'm very happy I own a copy and I recommend having one of your own if you can, but it's archived here if you want to read it :D

I also like analyzing other comics and thinking about how they get information across to me as a reader. It's helped me learn more effective ways to visually tell a story, like what to include in a frame, how zooming in or out affects the feeling from the panel, maybe building a scene by focusing on other stuff if someone is talking a lot... etc.

ANYWAYS-! Some other tips I've learned through my personal experience-

I had to overcome a lot of negative self-talk in order to tackle a huge comic project like this and stay committed. I was a pretty severe self-deprecator for most of my life so far, and getting help has allowed me to catch myself when I'm slipping back into those habits, look in the mirror, and go, "NO, JOJO! You pour your heart into what you make and that is a wonderful thing! You are appreciated and loved and you deserve to have fun making something you are passionate about!!" Some examples of the negative self-talk I catch myself in....

"I'm a noob at writing and making a story interesting... What's the point of even trying?"

When it comes to starting a project, whether it's 2 pages or 2000 pages, is to just jump in and start! It's okay to be a little insecure or nervous about your technical art skills, writing skills, etc... But writing a "bad" scene is better than no scene- because you can always edit a "bad" scene down the line, but what can you do with nothing? Nothing!! I also put "bad" in quotation marks because I am trying to use that term less, and instead call them "early drafts." or "works in progress."

The first Roleswap scene I fleshed-out was the first Bandee boss fight, in May 2022. I made this drawing on an impulse, getting my ideas down on the page without thinking about the technical stuff like comic panel borders. I consider it like a "pilot episode" almost, haha. The final project is going to be very different from how things play out here. But it got me interested in the concept and excited to see where I could take it, and I made the decision to commit to an entire game plot's worth of AU comics!!

Also, what's the point in trying you ask? The point is to have fun! Making a fan comic in my free time means I don't have restrictions like deadlines, nobody's telling me what I can and can't write, and I can make the story as long or as short as I want! I have full control, which means the world I'm writing is all mine to create! Yes, with a fan comic there is a pre-established world with existing characters. But a universe like Kirby has enough open-ended concepts for people to take basic concepts in the world and take them to whole new levels! I think that's why there are so many amazing fan interpretations of Kirby characters and OCs. The rules are so vague, you can just make up your own a lot of the time!! And it's a wonderful exercise to learn skills for someday building an original world with all original characters from scratch! Magical!!!

"I'm not good enough to make a comic. I don't understand perspective or color and other stuff. Anything I make will look bad.

I once read a two panel comic on here. I can't find it anymore but I remember most of it. First panel showed the artist looking at what they're drawing on their tablet, looking defeated and sad. "Man, I don't even know how to draw this....."The next panel was like them smiling and shrugging, I think rainbows and sparkles were coming out of their tablet, ".....I GUESS I'LL JUST HAVE TO DRAW IT SHITTY!! :D "

IF ANYONE KNOWS THIS COMIC I'M REFERENCING, PLEASE TELL ME AND I'LL LINK IT!!! Because it permanently and positively changed my brain chemistry.

No kidding, making the decision to just do my best even if it's not perfect, helped me a LOT. I was always waiting to "reach a certain level" to tackle a huge project because I felt like I'd never do it justice at my current state. Except I had been telling myself that kind of stuff for years and I still didn't start any projects!!

So the day I said, "Oh well! If I draw backgrounds shitty, then it is what it is! I'll learn from it and draw the next background a little better," Was the day I could commit fully to the project. I'll keep studying how to draw them better for my own benefit, but I won't let my skill issues stop me from even trying!

And for my limited confidence in full-color art, I solved that by making the comic in black and white with no-to-minimal shading lolol. Because I can only address one skill issue at a time before it takes me 25 years to finish this HAHAHA.

It saves a BUNCH of time to work with skill issues rather than against them! Because at least experience is gained in other ways, and who knows, maybe that new knowledge will help address the skill issues someday! So identifying your personal skill issues and deciding which one to try to grow stronger, and which one to work around, could help with big projects!

"Nobody will read this. I'm going to put months or years of my life into a dumb little thing nobody will even care about."

Learning how to draw for my own enjoyment instead of somebody else's was one of the biggest breakthroughs I ever made. Enjoying the feeling of being challenged artistically and just doing my best, even if it's not technically perfect, is the reason why I was even able to start this!

And just because someone doesn't directly like, comment or whatever on a post doesn't mean nobody saw it! I used to get really down on myself for the lack of engagement on my art on other websites.

I was a lurker for pretty much my entire teenage years and never posted my own stuff or commented much. But that didn't take away the fact that I really enjoyed the things I saw online. Those positive feelings were real to me, even when I didn't know how to articulate it in words. Granted, I grew up into a Words of Affirmation main, and I use words to tell people the positive things I think about them as much as I can! But I know not everyone prefers words to express themselves. So I think about the people that I don't know enjoy my work- that just because I don't see it doesn't mean I didn't make a positive impact on someone by sharing my stories.

THIS IS GETTING LONG-- UHHH, STORY TIPS!!

If you work best on technology, start building the story in a Notes app, or a Google Doc! If you work best with pen and paper, start a notebook and rearrange stuff as you need to!

Or if you're chaotic like me, a mix of tech and paper!! I bought a notebook with ring binding so I can remove and rearrange pages of drafts as much as I wanted to! Like here's two very rough concept pages of one Chapter 1 scene made months apart.

I'd say planning out the biggest basic plot points and then filling in between as I went was most helpful! I also have separate notes for character motivations, important story-changing events, etc... So I can have my own reference when I'm writing new scenes!

Okay this was a lot, sorry about the yapping! Hopefully it helps even a tiny bit. If you have any specific questions I'm happy to talk about my experience in the creation process! Or elaborate on anything I said above.

And finally, because I'm not a professional there are probably plenty of other tactics that could work better for some people. My ADHD probably doesn't help with the chaos of my process either, HAHA. But thank you for reading this far and enjoying the peek into the rainbow glitter and soap bubbles that inhabit the right side of my brain, heehee.

#ref #roleswap bonus features #forgotten land roleswap #ask #king dedede #meta knight #elfilis #bandana waddle dee #comics

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johntayjinf · 9 months ago

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i caved in and bought renoise

also sorry tumblr i constantly delete this because i have way too many mixing hiccups to fix... was being too hasty haha

for a tracker with daw features like track mixers, vst support, automation, filters etc., it's pretty impressive what you can do with it. finally i get to do hq music without having to wrap my head around more conventional daws; i like the inconvenience of modern tracker interfaces myself, actually.

the first time i had to arrange for something hq like this, the biggest obstacle and wake-up call i had to face was the fact that uh, my mixing skills weren't up to snuff. fixing it was a nightmare. biggest thing i didn't know at the time of arranging was that sidechaining the bass was really important, otherwise the bass drum (kick) wouldn't be heard and be overpowered by the bass. this was pointed out to me by a server member of ours, lolwe. they've been mixing for about 7-8 years and counting so they understand it pretty well... and actually the final mix was made just this morning to actually fix the entire mix lol.

other more minor mixing issues were ironed out with eq-ing, which i have a bit of experience of, though it was pointed out by dinebon_, yet another (new!) server member, who was primarily a bassist. they also pointed out some unwanted dissonance i had put in for the arrangement.

i understand that mixing is pretty much subjective and everyone does it differently, but it should be worth pointing out that there are some rookie mistakes that someone like me _can_ make. i may be a good arranger but this mix wouldn't have sounded better if it weren't for people giving me advice and pointers on how to fix things. i definitely think that getting input from a variety of artists who have different strengths helps to put a mix together and give listeners a more comfortable listening experience, so from now on, i'll be at the very least, sidechaining my basslines with the kick for better mixing. sorry if this doesn't sound great for everyone lol

the vst i used on the other hand, has _a lot_ of technical problems.

i think we all here love the sound canvas series of midi synthesizers, but i unfortunately do not have the money to buy the physical hardware (yet), so i stuck to the roland cloud sc vst. god, it is a terrible technical mess...

obviously the sc is sampled beautifully, and is iconic in the video game music world, but how the hell do you mess up a vst _this_ badly? it has _inverted stereo_, which is, a fad from waaaaaay back when. i'm happy i got to simply fix this through audacity but good grief, man. i had to export each instrument one by one just so i could identify which instruments were cancelling themselves out on mono and which ones weren't. genuinely horrifying stuff. there are also the in-built low-end and high-end boosters, but what about the mids? i'm going to assume that it's just a feature of the time but god i honestly wish they added middle frequency knobs. not that i can't fix that with eq post-production, but i'd rather not do that (especially for the main melody) unless if the problem really is a big deal. again, i love the sound canvas, but i wish that the vst were better; the technical problems i had to work with ended up souring the experience. i wish people could actually fix it some day and turn it into something greater. i'll likely use the vst again but i also want to mix in other instrument and sample libraries as well!

in the meantime, this arrange gave me a crave for kirby again. i love kdl3 sm, it is my favorite game of the gb - snes era of games. idk how but jun ishikawa writes these intoxicating songs for kirby and i am just left to rot listening to them. they are waaaayy too good.

#super famicom #snes #hoshi no kirby 3 #kirby's dream land 3 #renoise

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sideblog-usernametaken · 3 months ago

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I won't be the first person to say it and I won't be the last:

The Switch 2, its games, and its accessories are all too expensive.

Before today's direct, I figured I'd hold off on buying a Switch 2 because most of the games I want to play are on the regular Switch already. The game announcements made me legitimately consider trying to get a Switch 2 at launch because of the new games and ports that were announced. Once I saw the prices I decided to hold off again.

The Direct was filled with stuff that made me hesitant to get it in the first place too, like needing a Nintendo Online subscription for voice chat, needing to buy an upgrade package to get the Switch 2 version of a Switch 1 game you already own, not being able to use Switch 1 SD cards on the Switch 2, etc. But since none of that really impacts how I play games, I was willing to shrug it off and buy the console without paying for the extra features.

But $80 for digital games and $90 if you want a physical version? Absolutely not.

$450 for the console was already a stretch. I got my Switch 1 + 1 game for $100 less than what the Switch 2 will cost. Of course I wasn't expecting it to stay the same price, $350 (Heck even $400) feels like a reasonable increase over the 8ish years since the Switch 1 release, especially with all the upgrades. But $450 is like the upper limit of what I'd be willing to pay for this console which is why I'm thinking "I might buy it at some point" instead of "I'm never getting this". I'm positive that there are a lot of consumers like me who are postponing when they'll buy it because of the price, and that's going to hurt the launch sales for a lot of Switch 2 exclusive games.

The Direct today had an absolutely stacked roster with a new Mario Kart, new legend of Zelda spin off, new Donkey Kong, bew Kirby, Silksong announcement, Deltarune announcement, Technically Not Bloodborne 2 announcement, Borderlands 4 announcement, Eldin Ring port, etc. and all of it is to build hype to distract you from the prices. The goal is to start generating enough hype that you shrug off the price tag.

I'd also like to add something in response to everyone saying "Parents aren't buying a Switch 2 when their kids already have a Switch." : Nintendo knows. Throughout the Direct I noticed that a lot of the games were directed at older players, no parent is buying Duskbloods for their 9 year old. Most 12 year olds probably aren't going to care too much about the Game Cube ports. Nintendo knows that parents aren't likely to shell out for the new console and games while the Switch still works so they're snapping up highly anticipated games (Deltarune, Silksong, Hades 2, etc) to add for the launch day + launch year to better compete in the adult market.

Nintendo knows they're getting greedy and instead of simply not charging too much for games they're hoping you'll buy it anyway because you've been waiting years to play it.

#nintendo #switch 2

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emerxshiu · 3 months ago

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Kirby And The Forgotten 3rd Anniversary - Part 1

"Eco of my reborn soul"

I know it isnt the 25 yet but still, happy 3rd anniversary to the game that rewired my brain chemistry and rots my mind away (seriously i cant stop thinking about it) as much as i love it, the game makes me sad, it makes me sad i'll never get to experience it again like the first time, that ill never be able to play it completly blind (i already knew lots before i got the game) no matter how many times i replay it it will never be the same, it keeps aging and i do the same alongside it, knowing that ill never be able to go back to what once was, just thinking about the game makes me so happy, so happy it doesnt let me sleep, so happy i have to run around my room and jump, but it also makes me sad, so sad a lump forms in my throat, so sad it makes me so nervous of everything. im absurdly attached to this game and the characters.

And strangely, all of this reminds me of fecto, believe it or not. while i dislike the tought of fecto elfilis and forgo being the same character, i do like, chaos elfilis and forgo being one, its just forgo, sure morpho's soul is in there, and the other beast pack souls, but, that IS fecto forgo want to admit it or not. it should probably look like mix between morpho and forgo, yet it looks almost the same as elfilis, no matter what it went trough, no matter how much time goes by, they still cling to its former glory as fecto elfilis, an angel, a divine being, even tough its long gone.

being set on an abandoned planet with visible signs of aging doesnt help this certain bittersweet feling the game causes in me.

I tend to play forgotten land at least once a month, usually i only collect some coins and then do lab discovera again, lately i had been forgetting that, and today when i played it it felt, so different, i was on the verge of tears half of the time, especially hearing the music for some reason, remembering all the light-hearted memories i have in that little cartridge, how id take pictures of every cutscene frame, how i made two very stupid errors and only survived on a sliver of health the chaos elfilis and never did the ultimate cup z again because i did not want my deaths to extend beyond my already failed treasure roads. Aahh, sorry this game is so very dear to me and i talk lots about it, most of my content is about it, i think daily about it. and i cant help but share this love with everyone. and sorry for the incoherence i dont actually know to express my feelins well so everything ends up being redundant.

I should probably talk about the drawing now, the whole time thing i just talked about? i think no better drawing of mine to accompany that this one, sure, there isnt any symbolism or whatever of that in there, but its the external thing, i started this ‎the 2nd of may of 2024 around ‏‎21:27:39. yet i only recently finished it on the 22 of this month, thats 2 months away from a year! tough i have to be honest in a majority of those months i wasnt making any progress. tough if you follow me and seen some posts of mine, you can see wips of it, back when i was coloring, and when i said id post this when i returned, also yeah im returning fully today even tough technically its tomorrow, the actual anniversary. ejem- continuing, so, this is to me one of my most iconic drawings i have made, not for being popular or anything, but by the history i have with it, funny that i consider my drawing for katfl's 2nd anniversary my most iconic, tough i mostly mean the sai2 version i never finished. and also this was my first try doing lineless art, even tough it could be better i kinda think i did good, and ive started liking doing lineless, so expect it to be a bit more common in my drawings from now on. oh and also what holded me back the most from completion was the background god the background for some reason i tough itd be a good idea to fill it with something (i think its obvious what i wrote there but ill refrain from saying) and have it be written in forgotten land's lenguage.... done by hand, mostly due to me not having the font back then and more recently when i was finishing, i liked the idea of it being handwritten more, and i still do prefer it, but because this idea popped into my mind, but basically, i wanted it to look like its trying its hardest to be organized, clean, perfect. yet it looks off as it slowly degrades and progressively becomes shakier. an organized chaos, sorry i dont know how to explain, but uhhh

that took me 2 days to write, and it barely reaches 4 lines, sure, i could have done it faster if i concentrated and stuff, but hands do start to hurt after hours of redoing and redoing the letters because you cant just get them right. So i ended up using the font

Also, it was made during my trying to redesign my chaos elfilis era so bad thing, i still have to redesign my gijinka and set on one so thats gonna be fun! ...its even more fun how the drawing has a gijinka that is practically only gonna be seen on this one and i still have to change it yippie...

The part 1 you say? (if you noticed) well well well...as much as said i think this drawings as iconic to me, and how much i spent on it and everything, i find it quite underwhelming, and also i did not want to post a year old drawing for the anniversary, so i did another one, but i wanted to return with this one as promised, but i also wanted a more recent drawing for katfl and being the ever work obsessed katlf addicted i am, basically, uh, im gonna be celebrating katfl's anniversary whole week, maybe even more days than that the lenghts i go for this game man...id even get my memory wiped just to experience it again. i wanna bake a cake in its honor, i want to learn to sew and make plushies to those left forgotten in the game. i want to do those figures. i want to eat the game. dare i say it will be the cause of my death? /ref

You shouln't keep Chaos Elfilis waiting soon tough,

Let's go play with them!

edittt: forgot to mention this silly thing but while drawing and writing for the entire time i was listening to the dream discoveries tour and eternal echo of the thrilling tour-our-our on loop for a completly and truly sane and inmersive experience and i did not want to make it shut up at all

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fridgefanatic · 2 months ago

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Okay, but what if in KH4, we get a Wreck-it Ralph world and it’s not Game Central Station.

Litwak’s Arcade. Sora goes to Litwak’s Arcade and his friends are inside the games looking for him, trying to reach him.

You play as Sora, who himself is playing as the Guardians of Light in various pixel art styles, in parodies of games. They’re trying to communicate to him, they can see him, but at the same time he doesn’t recognize them.

They’re trying to send little signals the best way they can. But if they don’t follow the arcade machine input, the Wreck-it Ralph characters will see our Guardians of Light as doing the equivalent of going turbo.

There could be parts that follow either group’s perspective, too. Maybe they try playing by the game’s rules at first. Then when it doesn’t work, we could follow the characters going turbo, exploring inside the machines themselves.

Here are some ideas for what games I would put the characters in below the cut:

Nooot sure Riku would be there if he’s also in Quadratum, but my gut tells me some variation of platformer like Donkey Kong or Mario for him— It’s also the genre for Wreck it Ralph itself, which, worldception makes sense if Riku is here. (This would also reference his running-up-building gymnastics in Another Side, the damsel in distress nature of Sora rn, and the urban setting of Donkey Kong).

I wouldn’t be opposed to Riku in a first-person shooter or stealth game either, depending on how his relation to Yozora turns out, he could parry Xemnas’ lasers like crazy in KH2

We already know MelMem is a rhythm game, so Kairi would probably be in a game like DDR or Guitar Hero if she were there. But I’d also dig seeing her in a collect-a-thon where we can finally level her up as a Princess of Heart

Donald and Goofy in either Duck Hunt or a gummi ship version of Galaga (low hanging fruit)

I can see the sea salt family playing as the Ghosts in Pac-Man!

I’m also imagining Roxas in Pong (“It’s just like struggle bat!”)

And I want Axel in Street Fighter because he’s always talking smack. Rematch between Lea and Ventus imminent

Xion could haunt the Photo Booth, alternatively— Sora snaps a picture of himself and we get a reversal of their relationship in Days.

I am also going to suggest Rampage using keyblade armored forms, either hers (since she’s huge wtf) or the Wayfinder trio’s

I could see Naminé being in Q-Bert, except completing the field with your colors could be somehow connected to memory reparation and data mechanics. I can also see her in a Kirby world, since the Kirby worlds tend to be arts and crafts themed, and she’s also technically a replica now

Ventus, Aqua, and Terra in Sugar Rush, except their cars are based on their gliders— it just makes more sense for them than anyone else, I think

Going to Hero’s Duty would probably trigger Aqua’s Land of Darkness PTSD, but this time she’s not alone and Terra (and/or King Mickey or Ventus) comes with her. This would be a really good game for both of them, actually, because Cybugs could be an analogy for darkness stealing your form

Joust, but it’s Cloud Strife riding a chocobo

Last suggestion? Dream Eater claw machine. I want to see Sora with Meow Wow plushies

#kingdom hearts #wreck it ralph #kh4 #kh4 speculation #litwak’s arcade #fridgefanatic

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neomedievalist · 5 months ago

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its jan 20th but that doesnt mean i cant still do a games i beat overview for 2024 still. here we go, games I beat sorted by date I beat them last year

1/17: Umineko Answers Arcs

yeah so i was stalling on episode 8 for a long time and i had finally finished it in january last year. i dont think this even needs me to say anything. fucking incredible visual novel

2/29: ULTRAKILL

not technically a "beat" but i finished all of the content thats out then (aside from. the second secret boss i havent beat yet). looooooove ultrakill love this i think everyone should play it even if they dont like shooters you just have to have a requisite level of adhd that not everyone has. it has brought me so much joy. cannot wait for more content to come out

4/27: Celeste

this shit has been on my backlog for so long. it was so satisfying to finally finish it. really solid 2d platformer really enjoyed it and liked the story. im not usually a 2d platformer person i prefer 3d but it is rly tight and satisfying. admittedly i dont understand why people think it was like, life changingly good, but i can see how itwould emotionally resonate w someone and its overall a very good game

4/29: Shin megami tensei V

My eternal agony. I fuuucking hate this gaaaaame oh my goddddd the ending was so bad. i already made a seperate post complaining about it so i wont bother you but seriously the fact that the end is unchanged in vengeance is so crazy. I have 0 desire to play vengeance. The foundations have some potential but its just like. holy fuck the story is so nothing. Gameplay was fun though! although i enjoyed the tsukuyomi fight more than lucifer.

6/8: Peggle Dinners

this counts. Everyone get dinnerspilled. Its peak.

8/15: Kirby Triple Deluxe

Lowkey one of those games i just picked up on my 3ds every once in a while and then it was like wait i beat it? huh? okay then. Its a good kirby game i dont really care abt the kirby formula or anything again not rly a 2d platfrmer person but its probably good. I liked gambling for keychains

8/22: Devil May Cry 4

another one of those games that has been on the backlog for fucking ever. I do not like the missions in this game very much there was a lot of screaming in agony. but i like dante and i like nero. it had some great moments. honestly the most important thing this game did was allow me to finally start 5. I also like the catholic beast mode theme that was really fun.

9/1: Super Mario 64

Finished a 120 star run on coop so i'm counting it. had never actually beat the game before so honestly really momentous occasion. Still holds up especially if you play the pc port LMFAO. We've moved on to star road now which now that I think about I should have put on my 2025 bingo

10/13: Heaven Will Be Mine

Good ass game. I finished we know the devil late in 2023 but it took me a long time to get thru hwbm bc i wanted to give it the full attention it deserved. Really confusing as shit but really rewarding once you start learning what all the terms mean, i really love theorizing and thinking abt the implications of the worldbuilding. pluto was a real sleeper hit character for me i think at this point she might be my favourite which is crazy considering how i didnt care abt her at first. realllyyy good game.

12/27: Balatro

Yeah i got it for my birthday. cleared my first run a few days after. its a good video game just like i knew it would be. never stop gambling.

12/31: Hypnospace Outlaw

the new year's special! i'm so glad i finally finished it. it definitely is a game that people probably spend a few hours in to gawk at and then never play again. it was so rewarding to really give it my time and full focus even if it took me a long time to finish it. still thinking abt it. its real good folks. its real good.

heres to more videogames this year<3

#data

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shoppncart · 6 months ago

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Shopping Cart's Best Games of 2024

as in games i played during 2024 not just games that came out in 2024. Given that I've started logging a lot more of my media experiences this year, games primarily, I thought it'd be fun to rank those which I enjoyed the most and give a little more thoughts and recommendations on them. I prioritized games I first played this year, or ones I played for the first time in a while. I skipped over some great games because of this, like Portal 2 and Kirby Super Star Ultra, but those still are really good too! So, if you want some gaming rec's based on what I played this year, give a read.

10 - Little Nightmares

Little Nightmares was easily able to wriggle its way into my favorites thanks to its style alone, with solid, simple 3D Platformer-feeling mechanics to support it to boot. Though the game is extremely linear and quite short, each part of it is very well designed and fleshed out with various props and hidden details. It was fun getting to use each part of the limited moveset together, as well as comb little side areas for secrets. In all honesty it could probably be ranked higher but I played it so late and haven't even gotten to the side story yet so that doesn't feel quite fair.

9 - Kirby's Adventure

Kirby is always one to provide a very solid, enjoyable experience, but special credit has to be given to his NES outing, which is so good that it’s likely the best game on the console. Kirby’s Adventure is such a colorful, varied and well-composed treat, featuring quite of a bit of content between its long level list, plethora of Copy Abilities to play with, and numerous level secrets. It’s really impressive comparing it to its nearest relative, Super Mario Bros. 3, which in my opinion it blows out of the water. It’s rife with charm and personality too, with all of its little animations and bonuses, special example going to the iconic Drawing Song seen every time on boot-up.

Kirby’s Adventure ain’t perfect granted, it’s doing so much on the NES that it is prone to slowdown quite a bit, and has a tendency to drop inputs, and has the older Kirby quirk of knocking your Ability out of Kirby every time he gets hit, especially irritating in levels where you need to carry an ability to solve a puzzle late in the stage. The 3DS Classics revision fixes a lot of the technical issues at least, so that’s one of the preferred ways to play it. Not sure if the SP version on Switch Online does that too but, I know it exists.

8 - Pokemon Crystal Legacy

I’ve always had a soft spot for the second generation of Pokemon, I think it’s got a really charming style and has a ton of impressive features for a dinky little Gameboy RPG, but always had a hard time coming back to it due to how limited or poorly planned out some things in it felt. I mean, half the new Pokemon either aren’t available for a majority of the game or are just plain unusable, and that makes the whole appeal of Pokemon (at least in my opinion), using a varied team and trying out new ‘mons on repeat playthroughs, a real struggle.

Crystal Legacy, meanwhile, is an excellent Quality of Life romhack that does a whole laundry list of things to improve the experience. It overhauls a bunch of encounter tables, adding Pokemon where they previously didn’t appear or adjusting percentages so rare encounters weren’t hair-pullingly uncommon. It adjusts a bunch of Base Stat Totals and movepools, making underpowered Pokemon more evenly capable. It even readjusted several of the enemy trainers to provide more of a steady challenge and throw a curveball for veterans like myself, surprising me and making me face roadblocks with a little more thought than before.

I was really impressed by everything Crystal Legacy changed with the base game, and would highly recommend it as the definitive way to replay Gen 2 Pokemon if you’re ever interested in going back to it.

7 - Half-Life

Clear to see why this one's a classic and a big landmark for First-Person Shooters, the first half of the game leaves an extremely strong impression and even today all of its little events and cinematics are entertaining and impressive to see. As someone not super savvy with FPS games it probably had even more of an impact, and felt pretty welcoming with how the difficulty and scale of enemies gently rose throughout the game. Stuff like the introduction of the soldiers with their squad tactics was quite the challenge early one while also being a big surprise compared to the usual alien mooks of the super-early game.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy myself as much as the game progressed, with the later game levels (Surface Tension being a prime example in my mind) lacking that sort of entertaining factor the early segments had and primarily focusing on empty areas with little NPC interaction and frequent sources of damage. Being followed and barraged by a helicopter was not the best experience in this game. Surprisingly I didn't hate Xen as much as its reputation would imply, I kinda liked getting to use the Long Jump ability in low-grav environments. The Nihilanth was a dreadful final boss though I'll agree on that.

Overall it was pretty solid though and I can easily see why it's as highly regarded as it is. Eager to get to Half-Life 2 one day.

6 - Pizza Tower: The Noise Update

Pizza Tower was already a phenomenal game with incredibly creative gameplay, visuals, and music, and the Noise Update just goes ahead and adds a whole extra layer of wacky goodness on top of it. The Noise’s controls and mechanics are just similar enough to Peppino to not feel unwelcome while still offering a bunch of new ideas and possibilities to make things feel fresh, it’s really absurd what you can end up doing with the Noise sometimes and the speed you can accrue in parts where Peppino had to take it slower.

Not even to mention all the various little aesthetic differences where the Noise differs from Peppino, such as the various transformations (many of which have slightly different properties with the Noise compared to the base game), the new escape and handful of level music, and even a couple changes to some boss fights. It overall might not be as comprehensive of a new character campaign as something like Shovel Knight had, but it’s still a plethora of welcome changes that make the best game of 2023 even better.

5 - Team Fortress 2

I’ve always been a big fan of TF2, but haven’t really played it that frequently in recent years, not helped by the rampant bot crisis that had been afflicting the game in years prior. However, this year, Valve finally stepped up, wiped away almost all of the bots, and allowed TF2 to finally flourish as a chaotic and fun team shooter once again. It’s definitely my most played game of the year, and ate up a lot of my time in October during its annual Scream Fortress event. Valve didn’t even push a major content update or anything, but getting to experience the game without cheaters and with friends again really helped breathe life into it, and now I can’t help myself from coming back every couple days and continuing to fight in its many maps, and trying out new tricks and ideas I keep coming up with.

Solider and Engineer are my classic go-to’s, but I found myself having a lot of fun with Demoman and Scout this year, and really feeling my aim starting to improve, if still in small increments. I’m finally getting a concept of how to airblast and hit flare guns properly with Pyro, have found out that Heavy’s pretty fun to fall back on if the team’s got other roles filled, and pick up the role of team Medic quite a bit. There’s just so much to the game that it still hasn’t felt like it’s gotten stale, even after about six straight months of consistent playing this year.

4 - Psychopomp GOLD

This one came out of nowhere but I was really happy to get to experience it. Psychopomp GOLD reminds me of various other PS1-styled horror games like Lost in Vivo, and comes with a thick layer of character too. Some environments may be the typical dark, grungy hallways you’d expect, but others are colorfully lit and intricately designed in really appealing ways, not to mention the various weird creatures and monsters you meet that just have pleasant rambling conversations with you. It helps to paint a better picture of the main character when you realize this is the type of thing she’s dealing with and still treats without much surprise.

Exploring each of these environments and the weird things in them makes up most of the game’s charm, as well as making it further into this broken, twisted world and putting together the clues of what other horrible things might happen. It’s even got a few effective actual scares at points, despite mostly focusing its horror on tension throughout.

The game’s pretty light on story on the surface though, and its authentically-classic PS1 movement (ie. grid-based tank controls), both of which are sure to turn some people off. I’d say it’s still worth giving a shot, and the free original version of the game is still available, featuring the game’s first three, more grounded and realistically-styled levels. GOLD is quite the treat and comes with a bunch more bonus content to really flesh out the setting, so I do recommend it.

3 - Anthology of the Killer

Anthology of the Killer was a game I didn’t expect to like nearly as much as I did, but I was had a really good time with it and enjoyed nearly everything it put me through. For what’s effectively just a walking simulator-visual novel sort of combo, Anthology of the Killer provides a large handful of entertaining comedic-horror stories with a very charming style, referring to both its writing and visuals. The writing leans pretty heavily on the comedy half most of the time, but never quite loses its horror half, with its absurd aesthetics, low-lit environments, and strange sound design never letting the unease fully dissipate.

It really felt like going through some weird funhouse attraction and I enjoyed seeing every character go through their little plots and escapades. It was a very fun ride and I’d highly recommend at least trying out some of the individual episodes, available for free on GameJolt. The Anthology has its own pluses and it’s great experiencing them all back-to-back, I think.

2 - The Big Catch: Tacklebox

An incredibly impressive experience for what is basically a free demo for an upcoming project. There’s so much to do, and its open-ended format is really cool and helps add to the length by not funneling you through linear levels. Everything presentation-wise is superb, with fantastic sixth console generation visuals and excellent music. The basic controls and gameplay are especially tight and fluid too. I gotta give special mention to the propeller flowers that you can grapple onto and launch yourself in their direction, then immediately grapple back onto and rubber band yourself in the opposite direction with even more force. Several of the game’s challenges focusing on these more slick element were where the game shone its strongest.

There are some moments where the game wants you to be more precise that don’t work quite as well as it feels like it should (the massive temple area that you spend a long time climbing to the top of felt pretty unforgiving at times, though had frequent shortcuts to make up for it at least). The controls were a little strange to get used to as well, such as the specific ways to use the fishing rod or mechanics like wall running-to-jump combo, but most of the game was forgiving enough that it never got too irritating.

If you’re a 3D Platformer fan or nut for slick movement-focused platformers I highly recommend at least trying it out for a couple hours, and keeping and eye out for the full game’s release sometime in 2025.

1 - Corn Kidz 64

This one was such a pleasant surprise to me. I had heard a few scattered words of praise for Corn Kidz, but once I finally got to playing it myself I found a game that combined so many elements that appealed to me personally that I didn’t even think someone else would ever make a game like this. If only it had a grungy aquatic level then it would be truly perfect…

Corn Kidz 64 is a 3D Platformer taking clear cues from fifth gen consoles in both visual and gameplay styles, with its major inspirations seeming to draw from Banjo-Kazooie and Spyro the Dragon. It also has a delightful late 90s-early 2000s gothic-Hot Topic aesthetic that warms my heart even more. I didn’t even know I wanted a Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor to look like Invader Zim fanart but Corn Kidz delivered alright. The music is super on-point too, not sounding like Kirkhope’s stuff but other synthy and grungy tunes of the era. The character animations are pretty fluid and appealing as well, using what looks like a lot of vertex-based stuff you'd see in Spyro or Crash Bandicoot.

The gameplay itself follows the usual collectathon form, with a couple densely packed levels to explore for goodies and secrets, with an agile moveset focused on climbing and wall-jumping to really boost that feeling to scouring over every surface to find collectibles. Granted, the actual gameplay is where I’ve seen Corn Kidz fall apart for some people, and I can see why, there’s no double-jump or mid-air recovery tool, which is pretty unheard of for 3D platformers (the air dash you are provided is very situational and sometimes required for platforming challenges, so isn’t usable as a recovery tool). There’s no Totals page to keep track of all your collectibles, irritating for potential completionists, and there are a few moments in the level design that can lead to repeated backtracking (the church and graveyard segments of Wolloh’s Hollow is a large example that even caught me up in my first playthrough).

While these flaws can be pretty irksome, I was able to look past them by how appealing the game was in every other aspect, and was able to find a comfortable understanding of the gameplay not long after starting. The final challenges of the game are pretty brutal, especially the long and checkpoint-free bonus level, but using everything the game had taught me in a tightly packed back-to-back gauntlet had its charms. Even better, Corn Kidz 64 emulated the weird and mysterious vibes of Banjo-Kazooie’s most hidden secrets with its Void Screw collectibles. These are bonus collectibles hidden in extremely obscure spots used to unlock totally hidden rewards tucked away in what feels like an unused area of the game, complete with access to (what is presumably) the game's Dev Test Room. It so well captures the feeling that chasing Stop n Swop secrets had back and in the day and I was so happy to see a developer accurately recapture that feeling, with the bonus that there were secrets even beyond that that took months for anybody online to even find.

Corn Kidz 64 is the best game I played this year, almost entirely for biased, nostalgia-pandering reasons. I’m fully aware of the flaws it’s got (which can really turn off some people, I understand), and am always going to be just a smidgen disappointed with it (it’s only got TWO major areas…), but goddamn. It sure as hell does what it’s aiming to do really well. It’s a grungy gothic late 90s 3D platformer successor and that’s a really easy way to get into my heart.

#goty 2024 #video games 2024 #media diary #best of year #kirby's adventure #pokemon crystal legacy #half-life #pizza tower #tf2 #team fortress 2 #psychopomp #psychopomp gold #aotk #of the killer #the big catch #corn kidz 64 #little nightmares

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