#…which is actually pretty normal for kirby games

[fifty-ten]

it’s so sad when you play a game that’s earlier in a series after playing a later entry & it’s a little worse… like it’s not the game’s fault that later titles built on and improved its mechanics.

[chongoblog]

Brawl Tier List (Based On The Relevance of What They Were Doing When We Meet Them In Subspace Emissary)

I'll explain some of my choices under the cut

So a lot of these choices are pretty obvious, although some are a bit iffy or require explanation of the Subspace story which can be found in trophy descriptions & The Dojo.

The first category was for characters who were engaged in the Subspace plot from the get-go and were the "good guys". In case you didn't know, King Dedede is the hero of Subspace, and if it weren't for him, Tabuu would have won, since he made the "reset badges", and his initial plan was to hold onto some people and give them the reset badges in case Tabuu used his Off Waves. Meta Knight is considered to be a good guy, even though he mostly just wanted to get the Halberd back. Fox I put into this category as well since he's first seen giving chase to the Halberd in his Arwing, so I consider that pretty engaged, even if we don't know the exact reasoning.

The second category is open and shut. They're the Bad Guys. Ganon, Bowser, and everyone's favorite winner, Wario. Technically Wario kinda defected from Tabuu and wanted to just steal all the trophies, but I'm counting him here.

Next was the "Used by Tabuu" tier. According to the lore, the entire Subspace Army is made from the power of Game and Watch (although it says the Game & Watch are unaware of this). Pikachu's electricity was being used to power a lot of the operations (most notably the Subspace Bomb Factory iirc). And it's implied that R.O.B was coerced into helping Tabuu, feeling so ashamed that he put on the Ancient Minister garb to hide himself out of shame.

The "Was Doing What You Expect" Tier is a tricky one, since some characters like Mario & Kirby weren't doing what you'd expect in their normal games, but they were fighting, which is something you'd expect in Smash, but I was kinda lenient. Pit was watching from Skyworld, which is in character. It's shown that Pokemon Trainer was looking for Ivysaur and Charizard, so we can assume he was on that journey when we found him in the Ruined Zoo. ZSS's motivations are kind of unclear about whether she knew about the Subspace Bombs and tried to stop them or if she just knew her Power Suit was there and wanted to get to it. I always figured it was the latter, so I'm putting it in this tier. Marth was defending a castle, which sounds right (I haven't played Fire Emblem). Ice Climbers were climbing ice. Monkeys were getting their bananas. Link was getting Master Sword. Yoshi was sleeping (which only gets him out of "Just Standing There" tier because he is Yoshi).

Next are the ones who just kinda showed up. And it so happens that all five of them make a pretty grand entrance. Sonic is the obvious example here. Ness also counts since there's no implication that either he or Lucas actually live in or even near the Ruined Zoo, but then again in the dialogue-less cutscenes tying together over 30 characters, I don't think that detail was important. Falco makes a grand entrance, although you could argue that he was meant to be Fox's backup. Ike makes a grand entrance with this Great Aether. Captain Falcon literally shows up to jump out of his car, punch a robot and kill approximately 50 aliens in one fell swoop, so either there was an F-Zero track around the Island of the Ancients that we don't see and he quit in the middle of his race to do that, or he just did that. Either way there's something wrong with him.

And then finally we have the characters who were Just Standing There. Luigi obviously was minding his own business when he got got by Dedede. Peach and Zelda I almost put in the "Doing What You Expect Tier" (or at LEAST Peach since she knew Mario at least), but honestly? They were just standing there. No hate, obviously. Sometimes you just gotta Stand There. Olimar was minding his own business letting his Pikmin eat a robot before they were murdered. Lucario was vibing on top of a mountain (as you do). Lucas was just being sad. And Snake? We don't see any sign that he's on a mission. We just see that he's been on the Halberd for an undisclosed period of time before dramatically revealing himself way way later. I like to imagine he accidentally fell asleep.

And then the last tier are for the 3 characters that are unlocked after Subspace, so I don't really count them.

Anyway in case you can't tell I am back on my ADHD meds! Hope you enjoyed this. See you all for the Nuzlocke stream later.

[yumenotambourin]

do all 3 mouses for the character ask or im shaving elfilis 🪒🪒🪒

I'M SORRY I WAS TRAVELING YESTERDAY AM I STILL IN TIME TO SAVE THEM???

🩷First impression🩵

Elfilin

Very cute! I thought he was quite bland before release already, but I was like 100% sure that it was because the twist was gonna be that he was mass produced.

And then after finishing the game I had a little phase in which I hated him because he was super fucking plot important, yet he didn't do anything and this made me angry, lol

Forgo

As soon as my eyes landed on it, I thought it was Elfilin after some horrific experimentations. But then they showed the actual Elfilin lmao. I thought it was really cute and I didn't want to fight it, thank god it transformed before we fought it. Then I was just awestruck.

Also my mom randomly asked me what it was and I didn't know what to say so I just said something like "a mental parasite species"

Elfilis

The first thought that crossed my mind after seeing them was "oh god they have my exact favorite color scheme I'm gonna be obsessed with them, aren't I?". Breathtakingly beautiful, of an angelicity(?) never seen before from Kirby. Throughout April 2022, I occasionally woke up in the morning wondering wether they were just a dream. The fact that something like them existed in the Kirby universe was astonishing to me.

🩷Impression now🩵

Elfilin

I still think he's severely underdeveloped, but I'm more cool with that now. He's cute and silly and fun, he's a nice contrast to Forgo, and generally an adorable sidekick. Tho I wish there was more of him.

Forgo

Baby. It's very cute, strikes pretty well the balance between creepy and goober, and the superior gemini in my opinion. I like putting it in situations :3

Elfilis

A MOUS!!! As magnificent as the first time I saw them. Except they're now my muse, my guardian angel. My view of them has kinda shifted from "stereotypical perfect lifeform" to "the embodiment of life itself", which kinda recontextualizes them, especially given how hard each mous fought to stay alive, and I find that very inspirational.

I love Elfilis.

🩷Favorite moment🩵

They don't have that many moments so uuuuh

Elfilin

Finding the Light! Perfect way to end the mouces' arc, and goes to show how much of a sweetheart he is.

Forgo

The iconic "everything shall be consumed" is iconic

Elfilis

The only thing that they do, their boss fight 😭 it's stunning and I find myself replaying it more often than normal

🩷Idea for a story🩵

Elfilin

Definitely a plotline where they tackle that he can learn something from Elfilis and/or Forgo as well. I don't like how y'all treat him like he's perfect.

Forgo

I'd like to see it getting used to living a normal happy life :3 the baby has suffered enough

Elfilis

ELFILIS PROLOGUE PLEASE!!! About how they attacked earth and stuff and their capture and maybe even Neichel cameo!!!

(I will not let you forget about Neichel)

🩷Unpopular opinion🩵

Elfilin

As I said before, I hate when people make him out to be this little goody-two-shoes without a single flaw who's juts the embodiment of niceness and kindness and will always do the right thing. Like no??? It's not all black and white! Let him be a proper multilayered character! Let him make mistakes and learn from others! Let him learn from his literal other half!!!

Forgo

Whenever someone says that Forgo is Elfilis an angel loses their wings. Starting from the fact that the game heavily implies if not downright states (I'm on plane I can't check I forgor) that Elfilis = Forgo + Elfilin, why would anyone choose to take two different characters in different situations with likely two different outlooks (ELFILIS WAS SPLIT INTO TWO FOR THE ENTIRE FUCKING PLOT!!! ELFILIS HAS THE HERO OF THE STORY INSIDE THEM!!!) and reduce them to a single, more limited being? Plus, most people with this headcanon are also the "Elfilis/Forgo is pure evil and an irredeemable monster!!!!" people who also really piss me off. Like yeah okay YOU chose to headcanon the traumatized baby and the insane mous as the same character. YOU are the one taking away all the nuance they could possibly have. Also as I said before THATS A TRAUMATIZED BABY!!!

Elfilis

I strongly dislike the headcanon that Elfilis absorbs other creatures into their dna. I feel like it ruins a lot of the charm they have, at least for me, by making their ethereal presentation be stolen from other creatures rather than it just being who they are. Also, while I am a Good Elfilis defender, I love the idea of them destroying planets for fun. It just goes to cement how otherworldy and above it all this creature is. So yeah, I feel like this headcanon takes away a lot of their appeal for me personally.

I also don't like when people make them always angry and grumpy, like do you realize half of them is Elfilin?

🩷Favorite relationship🩵

This is entirely headcanon-based as the mouces don't really interact with anyone besides Elfilin with Kirby

Elfilis and Elfilin and Elfilis and Forgo. More than the three of them together, I prefer each baby mous with Elfilis on their own.

I'm gonna briefly summarize my hc dynamics for them cause I love mice.

Elfilis and Elfilin - Elfilin

As I said before, Elfilin's feelings on his big sibling are very conflicted. On one hand, he feels safe with them, and looks up to them. On the other hand, he fears them. The fact that they just wipe out planets without second thought disturbs him. Although he'd never admit it to himself because he loves them so much. Elfilis, however, is very much aware of Elfilin's feelings. And as much as they're devastated by the guilt of having hurt their little ones so much, they dismss Elfilin's compassion as naivete due to his young age and time spent with the beasts. They're sure he will outgrow it one day and see his superiority, ans in the meantime they remind him that he's their little one and that they'll always love him.

Elfilis and Forgo - Forgo

Forgo sees itself as nothing but a temporary form of Elfilis, unworthy of being seen as anything but. And it's not taking this whole "coexisting with the actual Elfilis" all that well. If the actual Elfilis exists, what purpose does Forgo have? This sends them down an existential crisis. Elfilis doesn't like that. And they're desperate to help it break free from these beliefs. Also, Forgo always saw Elfilis in a very idolized way, as a ruthless monstrous destroyer. But that's not all there is to Elfilis, they can be a little silly sometimes. And Forgo is SEVERELY disappointed. It often calls them an idiot and then feels bad about it because nobody should be reproaching the almighty Fecto Elfilis. Also it exclusively refers to them as "Great One".

🩷Favorite headcanon🩵

Elfilin

Can I be honest? No fucking clue. Maybe that Elfilis teaches him how to fight?

Forgo

I'll make it quick so as not to repeat myself, that it sees itself as nothing more than a temporary form of Elfilis.

Elfilis

The idea that they have no motivation is very important to me. Specifically that they do things purely out of enjoyment. That they're just a force beyond our comprehension who sees everything as insignificant and is just trying to have fun.

ALSO THAT THEY LOVE EACHOTHER VERY MUCH!!!

[sleepyhead-poll]

ROUND 1D, MATCH 5 OUT OF 16!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Kirby:

Kirby looove napping and sleeping and is too cute when he is :3

They the littlest guy ever, all that they like to do is eat, play with their friends, and sleep. There’s a copy ability called sleep that literally just makes them tired, and in forgotten land there’s a more powerful sleep ability that give them a little blanket and bed. An eepy little guy.

kirby starts off a lot of his games napping & in forgotten land you can even take a nap with elfilin to restore health and it's ADORABLE. and of course, he has his sleep ability, which just makes him take a nap right after inhaling certain enemies.

He's a ball who likes to eat, sleep, and play with his friends, and just so happens to be a godslaying entity that may or may not be an incarnation of a deity. Also just look at his nap animations in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

Noddy:

You will almost always see these adorable little guys sleeping! When Kirby inhales them he gets the Sleep Ability! You can find a whole bunch of them near the Dream Fountain! And!! They're incredibly cute! ^-^

All they do is snooze and provide a useless ability... just let them sweep

just look at them

Has the power of sleep. If you absorb their powers, you become sleepy too.

They literally give the sleep copy ability. Ultimate sleeper.

Sleeping is such a defining characteristics for them that it makes Kirby sleep :3

Okay- normally mod would probably ask you all to vote for Kirby, BUT they're gonna ask that you vote for Noddy instead! :3 Noddies are almost always sleeping when you see them! They induce the Sleep Ability, and their name comes from the verb "nod off", meaning "to snooze"! You can find a bunch of them in Rainbow Resort, which happens to be near where the Dream Fountain (which is responsible for giving people good dreams) is! (Also Rainbow Resort's music is so calming and pretty, you should listen to it! /not forcing) In the anime, it's shown that Noddies actually can affect people's dreams! (Episode 14: The Pillow Case) Noddies had been placed in pillows and given to everyone, to give them nightmares about Kirby so they would eventually want to get rid of him! (This isn't necessarily about Noddies being sleepyheads but mod thinks that's really neat :3)

[just-a-carrot]

[Spoilers for pretty much everything up to the finale. Also I'm talking about Arc 3 here just so you understand.]

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Now I'm thinking about the logistics of having a Switch in Wonderland. I know it sort of adapts to people's subconscious needs (hence the existence of Cecil), but I was always under the impression that it ended only on the subconscious and would still fit somewhat in the ramifications of your one wish. Is there only one wish you can make? I mean, as kids they could wish for whatever they wanted any time they wanted, but obviously Wonderland was much different back then. And with how much emphasis is placed on the wish, I'd think it was the only you got. But anyways, back to my main point. I'm assuming that either the Switch had to have spawned spontaneously after Orlam and Iggy got together or that Orlam, coming into Wonderland with a newfound affection for Iggy, had it (as well as other Iggy bait) tossed in with his usual castle and guards. But... is it just a normal Switch? Like does it have all the same games normal Switches do? And how do the online capabilities work? I mean, there was a TV in Gidget's mansion in Arc 5, so it's not too farfetched for there to be some kind of Wonderlandian equivalent to the internet as well, but there's no way it could connect to the real world internet, right? Otherwise it would all get fucked up. I guess the most probable answer is that it has all the real life games Iggy could want, and maybe it magically keeps up to date with the current switch games in the real world, which would probably take years to come out considering the time speed difference between Wonderland in real life. But now is the most fun question: Are there Wonderland exclusive games? Tailored specifically to your needs? Perhaps Iggy can't get enough of the Kirby games he already has, and just wishes up a new one. Or a Balthier Bunanza dating sim (Orlam would be so jealous. Well, probably not, actually, but I find it funny.). Honestly, that's what this has all been leading to. I want to know if it's possible for Iggy to just wish for new games to appear on his magical Wonderdo Switch. I wanna do that. This ask has been brought to you by my unyielding curiosity and obsession with this game.

this is getting into so much I've never thought about before FJDJDJFJ

hmmm

I feel like a lot of wonderland just formed and evolved based on their inherent wants and needs in addition to their actual wishes. like the fact that when they were kids, they had ice cream and cookies and snacks being given to them, while as adults there's an inn with alcohol lol. even things like how the forest grew and warped around bucks. how the castle and nobles formed for orlam. how the village changed around gidget. none of these things were directly related to their wishes but kind happened in tandem with them based on their current psyches. (also why in arc 5 everything gets even more twisted because their inner thoughts have become so warped and wonderland responded to this)

so I do think a lot of the things they have in wonderland do just kinda come into being in some way or another. perhaps in ways that seem like serendipitous coincidences to the ppl in question

LOL having said that no I don't think there's Internet down there and definitely nothing that would connect to the outside world 🤣 the idea about the games though is super interesting. my initial thoughts are that the games would be formed from their impressions and memories of the real games. but they wouldn't be exact (there would be strange differences perhaps) especially if it's a game they've never played before (in this case, I think a game would be created that fits what that person thinks the game would be like) but I think that those playing the games wouldn't notice the oddities because they're so entrenched in wonderland that it feels normal

I love the idea of random new games just being created I think that would be hilarious 🤣 FJDJDJD BALTHIER DATING SIM I'M SOBBING Iggy finds this on the shelf and is like omg I never thought they would make a game like this??? but otherwise doesn't find it odd even when the game somehow perfectly caters to his every fantasy fjfjfjdjd I love this idea LOL

[adobe-outdesign]

Could you review the snorlax line?

Munchlax is arguably somewhat unnecessary, but to be fair, it does have a unique angle to it thematically if not visually—Snorlax eats a lot but mostly sleeps, while Munchlax sleeps a lot but mostly eats. Combine that with it being more active and actually having its eyes open and it at least has bit of a different personality to it if nothing else.

Visually, Munchlax sports a smaller cream circle than Snorlax and a half-cream face. I'm not overly fond of the way the colors on the face split perfectly along the mouth (I know they didn't want to risk it being too close to Snorlax, but I feel like there could've been cream on the ears or something instead) and I would've liked a bit more definition to the lower body, but overall, it does what it needs to.

Snorlax has a pretty nice design, and fixes a few of the things that bothered me about Munchlax (or maybe Munchlax just broke the things that I liked about Snorlax, seeing as it came later).

The belly being all cream draws attention to the stomach, and the way the cream continues over the head feels very natural. The little V on the forehead also mimics the shape of the ears, which is a nice touch. Its fatness and simple monster design are also appealing—it's very friend-shaped, and it's easy to imagine lying down on top of this guy for a nice nap.

Snorlax is also arguably the funniest Pokemon conceptually, as the entire design is based on one of the game planners, Kōji Nishino, with the joke being that he's lazy and eats moldy food. It even looks like him:

(Apparently Nishino took the joke in stride, seeing as he uses a Snorlax in B2W2.) It was also designed to be a roadblock for the player, though that's not as important.

If there's anything about Snorlax that bugs me visually, it would just be that the paw pads feel like they should've been teal and it bugs me that the forepaws have more claws than the hind paws. That's it, though; otherwise, it's a simple but enjoyable design.

G-max Snorlax really did not need to exist and I would've rather seen Torterra take its spot given the similar concept, but it's not bad for what it is.

Visually, it's basically just Snorlax with plants, but given the concept that's all but inevitable. I do think the red patches compliment the red outlines nicely though, and the tree provides a central focus point (important, given that you can't normally see its face).

Conceptually however, it is pretty funny that it's effectively been lying there long enough to start growing grass, much like sloths eventually become mossy because they move so slowly. This also makes sense thematically as well (unlike something like g-max Meowth, which is funny but conceptually unrelated to the base Pokemon). And, of course, having the route-blocking Pokemon basically form its own route is also pretty clever. It's not overly necessary, but it's at least a fun form if nothing else.

Overall: Munchlax is a suitable pre-evo, Snorlax is friend-shaped and has a pleasant, simple design, and g-max Snorlax has a pretty fun and straightforward concept. Overall, a nice little line.

Also, side note: Snorlax's name is based off of Kirby (yes, that Kirby) in Japan and I think that's funny.

[keystone8379]

Never steal from women

I've been wanting to make this post since the tourney where it happened. I was going to wait for the person involved to leave the server or something before posting it but I've been DYING to talk about this story, it's so good. So you're getting it now.

So, regarding Kirby Fighters 2, every February 3rd (in reference to the finale of Persona 5 Royal) for the past couple years, I've run a KF2 event if I'm able. Last year it was the first low tiers tourney, but this year I decided to have a normal tourney...

...with the insane marketing gimmick of calling it Jay Eazy's Kirbification

To be honest, February 3rd kinda snuck up on me this year. University's been fucking me up, to be fair. But one day, this rando comes into the server and asks when the next tourney is.

No one had picked up on the Feb. 3rd thing yet, but I dropped a few hints to it here and there, like the intro music for last year and the graphic for this year. But this reminded me to get off my ass and run the Feb. 3rd bracket. Remember FreeStickman, he'll be important in this story.

One day, before the tourney, Stickman comes into general to argue for the legality of Dried Up Sea...using AI. This gave him a reputation of a chatbot that, like Mimikool before him, could not POSSIBLY be shaken off. As you'd expect, his argument was meaningless, weightless, passionless, and a joke.

But it was pretty funny.

So you have Stickman in the tourney, seeded last, in the same bracket as all stars like Schmeedor, AV, Claire, KirbybiM, Justinian, and, to everyone's surprise, Dougsauce! All things considered, it was a pretty good tourney if you played normally. Thanks Jay Eazy.

So my first few sets roll around, I beat Panini then get stomped by AV. Stickman gets destroyed by Claire and that puts me against him in the bracket. Then I get this DM from Kyochan.

Kyo had been gassing up Stickman all day, and for good reason: It was funny. I am not a fan of Stickman, but I like Kyo more than I don't like Stickman, so I go Bandana Dee and pretend to fight back. Stickman ends up "winning" the set 3-2, and they go onto fight Schmeedor.

So why did I throw? There's a few reasons actually. Firstly, I already knew Schmee could beat me. I also found a way to turn it into what I thought would be a good narritive moment...but no one paid attention to that. So Stickman plays Fighter Kirby, but can't do a quarter circle consistently, in the whole set he threw out about 6 input hadokens, which he only started doing after I TOLD HIM that was an option. If you remember the SOFG 2021 +R bracket, the only reason I was able to beat Winters was because of coaching Theo gave me. So I thought it'd be fitting to have that come back around.

So Stickman goes onto fight Schmeedor, and I'm not Schmeedor, so I can't tell you why, but she ALSO agreed to throw to Stickman. Likely in the same way I did, controlling the set to go to game 5. Special mention to Stickman saying he'd flip a coin to decide who gets to ban first and send the video. If you hate competitive integrity this is absolutely the tourney for you.

So Schmee goes on to fight Stickman and loses, and to the surprise of me and Kyo, Justin is sent to losers bracket by Claire. Justin does actually have a bit of honour unlike us 3 goobers so it was much less likely to get him to throw. He later mentioned on his stream about not playing to win and that there was no point in playing if you weren't playing to win. On his stream, he said "what would i be doing? playing to lose? fuck that"

But that didn't stop Kyo from trying.

So Justin stomps the "rawest Fighter he's ever seen" (he didn't use hadoken) in a set that isn't really close and Stickman gets really upset about it. Bro wins 2 rigged sets and let it get to his head. Though I guess he didn't know they were rigged.

Eventually, AV also learns that Stickman is a fraud and is devastated. I'm not sure who else found out. I did also make a pretty good graphic for Jay Eazy's Kirbification, check it out!

So we played to lose, inflated a chatbot's ego, and still had a great time. What happened to Stickman was much more interesting than what would have happened if the tourney just played out normally, much like Happy Chaos's goal of making life as interesting as possible for humanity. Though tbh, looking at this graphic again, I don't really like how there's some character overlap...let me fix that...

[azzie-tangerine]

📓

Sweet more unused Azzie fics to talk about!

This next one is just as old as the previous fic idea, and I even mentioned it in my previous ask here (linking it in case others wanna read that one too!)

Like I said, in 2020 I had a lot of pretty boring Kirfluff aus. Mostly just me throwing Prince Fluff into stories where ship hijinks can ensue. This one was the first of these aus I did. And I also considered making it a fic in the past so the prompt works here.

So time for me to talk about how much I love Smash bros and how I wanted to write a kirfluff focused au on it!

Like a lot of people I assumed, the story of Smash Bros Ultimate didn't make a lot of sense to me? Don't get me wrong, I love Ultimate. I love the Smash franchise as a whole. Forever Kirby main here. But I wanted to perhaps, rewrite the story a bit to make it make a little more sense in my eyes. And to do that? why, add Kirfluff of course!

So in this au, everyone but Kirby still dies to Galeem. Galeem wipes out every single universe while he's at it. After all, all the heroes are gone. Who's gonna stop him? He wants to recreate the entire world that fits his view of perfection. None of these mortals fit that view in his eyes. Including a Yarn planet with a Yarn prince.

Prince Fluff dies to this attack too, and is actually the first spirit Kirby ever comes across. After a typical smash fight, Fluff joins Kirby as an ally, and gives him buffs like a Spirit does in the game (but for this au, Fluff would have a way better buff.)

They gather together every smash fighter like in that game, and I would have it that at least in the cutscenes/basic story mode (if my version of events were a game, you could choose with fighter had which spirit still) every fighter is paired together with a Spirit. Like, for example, Mario and Geno. They could be from the same series or they could be more mixed up to create some interesting and fun dynamics.

The main plot would be how to fix the ruined world and restore the universe- as well as all the spirits- back to normal. After all, the Spirits can't pass on. They're often stuck in monster's bodies and extremely vulnerable.

Kirby in particular becomes very, very scared of losing more people. They're upset they never got to confess to Fluff before he fell in this... state. He's worried if more of his other friends are in worse situations. This makes him kinda clingy to Fluff. And Fluff, in return, mostly wants to help Kirby to be able to be in peace. He would love to be able to return to an actual body of his, but he's more pessimistic than Kirby. so he wants to be there for his friend and help him save the world. If he can't revive, he can pass on knowing Kirby is safe.

But don't worry because the story would end with all the spirits being revived and the worlds being reset, lmao.

I don't know if I'll ever reuse this story for another one, but I'm leaning towards no. Even if I do nothing with this au, I still hold it dear. Like I said, I love smash bros. Idk, maybe I'll give this au a little more attention in the future.

also like the previous au I did have some art for it. I think I may be able to find the art for this au though. I'll look and reblog if I find it.

[patchun]

Touhou 19 Story Viability Tier List

So, I have now 1CC'd with every character except for the D tiers in Normal, and I am here to give my opinions, comments, and suggestions. This is a tier list for Story Mode, not PVP, although save for Chiyari not being SSS tier in Story Mode, there is likely a lot of overlap between the two.

As usual with my tier lists, let's start at the bottom, discuss why these characters DON'T work, and then work our way up to why the S tiers do.

D Tier:

Nazrin: Yeah so Nazrin's Spirit Charge chases after Beast Spirits very, very slowly. .. and so does her Bomb. Her base shot is not weak, and her Charge 1 attack is fine, but I still cannot figure out what her Charge 2 attack even does. Not being able to rely on a Spirit Charge to gain points or a Bomb to damage bosses though makes playing as Nazrin very difficult.

Yachie Kicchou: Ahh, don't you just love scattershot Touhou characters?(that's joke) Scattershot characters such as th16 Cirno are, I feel, consistently the weakest and most difficult to play options. Yachie's default shot is scattered and though not the weakest in the game, it is very weak. Focusing will have her concentrate her shots into a point a little in front of her, but the positioning for this is such that you'll really never be able to take advantage of all four shots unless you're bombing. But speaking of Bombing, one thing that makes Yachie really tough is that her Bomb does not move along with her, meaning that if you're cornered against a wall and bomb to escape the situation, chances are you will miss your opponent entirely. This can, if you're not careful, put you into some tricky checkmate situations, and learning how to not get into those in the first place is kinda how you have to learn Yachie. Regarding Yachie's Spirit Charge attacks, um, they kind of suck. Theoretically they're very cool, Yachie creates some hexagons around herself that destroy bullets in the vicinity. But in execution, other characters have the same ability but 10x better, and the fact that the hexagons don't either a) continuously delete bullets within their radius for a moment to give Yachie some much needed comfort or b) heavily damage enemies who come into contact make these abilities very difficult to utilize. Her Charge 2 Attack IS... good. But, because her Spirit Charge radius is ass, she tends to have a tough time building up to her Charge 2 attack repeatedly.

Hisami Yomotsu: Hisami, like the other D tiers, is one of the trickiest clears for sure. What makes her so absurdly difficult to play, and honestly counter-productive, is that two of Hisami's four basic shot's will always home in on the nearest beast spirits. In the early stages, this is fine, the bosses aren't that threatening and there aren't that many enemies on the screen. But in the later fights, dealing with threats such as Suika and Zanmu, this makes it nearly impossible to deal damage to boss spells, because your shots will never be aimed towards them! Your Spirit Charge attack is a small-duration buff of your basic shots, which is normally decent, but in this case it rarely ever works out because most of those empowered shots will be hitting enemies rather than bosses. What this means is that as Hisami, you'll have to focus almost entirely on just SURVIVING, rather than trying to take out the boss, because it's impossible. I'm going to assume for this tier list that Bombs also have different power levels, and with that assumption, I felt that Hisami's Bomb was pretty weak, as well.

Sanae Kochiya: Sanae. My sweet girl. Why did ZUN do you like this? I actually know the answer. Remember how Kirby was really strong in the first Smash game, but has not been good since? Well, I think ZUN must have recognized the wrath he released upon this world with th18 Sanae, and nerfed her in order to prevent a catastrophe. Sanae actually has a very similar problem to Hisami - her homing shots are just not strong enough to actually take care of enemies, meaning that a lot of the time you won't really be able to hit bosses. Not only that, but Sanae has probably the worst Spirit Charge radius in the game, and her Charge 1 attack is so bad that using it puts you at a DISadvantage. How to play Sanae is basically to try to use your Charge 2 attack as soon as a Boss Spell starts, before it begins attacking, to try to get a LITTLE bit of damage in. Her Charge 2 attack is decently strong, but you basically have to be in the middle of the screen to take maximum advantage of it, and being in the middle of the screen gives you a lot less time to react to incoming threats.

C Tier:

Aunn Komano: Aunn's base shot definitely feels a little on the weak side - enemies just take too long to kill with her. You'll want to use your Spirit Charge attacks to help with this, but unfortunately, despite looking strong, and despite being the type of attacks that necessitate being strong to be worth using,,, they are not strong. Aunn's spirit attacks are pretty weak actually and not good at killing bosses, so you're mostly just going to want to survive while using your base shot, and it's going to take a minute, which is pretty much the case for all of these C tiers. Oh also her Spirit Charge radius is whack, which is also the case for Tsukasa.

Tsukasa Kudamaki: Tsukasa would actually be decent if the shots that went behind her were either like, more powerful, or were able to be redirected in some way, because most of the time her base shots that are shooting BEHIND HER are completely useless. Her Spirit Charge radius covers only her sides and, once again, I cannot figure out what her Charge 2 move does. That all said, her base shot isn't the weakest, and Tsukasa can also *survive* through most boss spells.

B Tier:

This is a big section so I'm just going to focus on short and sweet notes for these characters:

Mamizou: Her Charge 2 attack is basically useless with how Bombs work in this game. But her shots are stronger than they look and her Spirit Charge radius is good.

Ran: Unlike other empowered-shot type characters, Ran's Charge 2 provides additional bullets that actually last for a while. Using Charge 1 while your Charge 2 is still in effect allows Ran to actually be pretty powerful. Her Bomb isn't bad and her Charge radius, while weird, is... fine.

Orin: Her Charge 2 attack clears the screen, her Charge 1 is like, above-average, and her Spirit Charge radius makes it fairly easy to build up points. She may actually deserve to be higher, so her placement here in B tier is tentative.

Biten: I had her placed in C tier, but then I remembered that Biten's Charge 2 attack is actually pretty good, usually clearing Bosses in two uses. Unfortunately, her Charge radius is really whack, and often can lead you to missing beast spirits or getting killed, and her base shot feels pretty weak. You basically need the base shot perks.

Saki: Saki is cool, and I love her story so much in this game, but gameplay-wise she's kind of just worse Marisa.

Yuuma: OKAY OKAY, now for Yuuma I have things to say. Yuuma's base shot... is weak, and if it wasn't, she would absolutely be higher than B tier. But I forgive it, because Yuuma's playstyle is so fucking funny. As soon as an enemy uses a Boss spell, Yuuma can just start her Spirit Charge attack, or as I like to call it, the SUCC, eat the entire damn screen, and then get basically infinite points. Yuuma is unfortunately not able to really kill NPCs like this, but I imagine in specific netplay matchups, she will be a nightmare to face. Rather than focusing on capturing Boss spells, why not just use them? Just absorb their power and hit them with your Boss spell and then a Special and then another Special and then another Special and then anothe... Yeah. I just love how much this playstyle feels like Yuuma. For her Charge 1 attack, she basically has an Impossible Spell Card thing going on, where she clears some bullets in front of her, also instantly killing any enemies. It's also possible that this does heavy damage to bosses, but I found it difficult to safely get close enough to ever really use this. If you want to, try hitting them before their attack begins. Her Charge 2 attack, on the other hand, is like a WBAWC Youmu charge attack - but unfortunately, without the power. You'd expect to be able to capture Boss spells pretty easily with this attack, but it seems to do a lot less damage than you'd think - which is another reason why I can't justify putting Yuuma any higher. She may not struggle to survive Boss spells thanks to her insane Spirit Charge, but she DOES struggle to actually capture them. Also, her worst matchups are ironically against the other two matriarchs, as Yachie's hexagons and Saki's lasers are not slowed by her Absorb.

Zanmu: Zanmu is definitely an interesting one. Her base shot is strong, her Charge 1 is a fairly good scattershot - but her Charge 2 is what's interesting, as she's able to turn every enemy and beast spirit on the screen into yellow spirits - then attacking these spirits makes them chain explode. This can deal heavy damage to Boss spells, so it's a very useful ability. The only unfortunate thing about Zanmu, and the reason she's not higher, is that the final boss of her route is none other than Reimu motherfucking Hakurei. This makes her route a bit trickier.

A Tier:

Seiran: You may be wondering if I'm biased, putting Seiran of all characters in A-tier. And yes, I am. But really, Seiran is strong! Her base shot is one of the strongest in the game, up there with the S tiers, and her Charge 1 can usually take down Boss spells in 1-3 uses. Her Spirit Charge radius is also just really well-placed and it feels both common-sensical and good to use. The only reason Seiran doesn't really stand a chance in making it to S-tier is that her Charge 2 is disadvantageous to use - it's just a bad move.

Marisa Kirisame: Marisa's base shot is powerful, but what really makes her stand out is actually the same as Seiran - her Charge 1 attack is really strong, and can take out both enemies and Bosses very quickly. You can just spam this move over and over. Her Spirit Charge radius is the entire line in front of her, which is incredible and can let you build up points very easily for basically perma Charge 2 spam - but unfortunately, unlike another character we'll get to, NPCs don't seem to struggle to dodge the lasers Marisa sends over to their screen with this move. In PVP I imagine Marisa will be pretty good and reliable.

NOW THEN! WE GET TO THE REAL ONES!

S Tier:

Suika Ibuki: Can I firstly just say how fucking cool Suika is in this game? Wow! Anyways. Suika doesn't actually FEEL that strong at first, her shot type, I guess, just doesn't visually look like it has that much impact. But as you play you realize that in fact, she is very very strong. Her Charge 1 and 2 both empower her base shot, giving Suika the strongest empowered base shot in the game for sure. In specific, Suika's Charge 2 will destroy most Boss spells before they're even able to fire a single bullet - making a lot of the game a breeze. This is the difference between an S and a D - the D tiers have to worry about surviving through Boss spells, capturing them if they're lucky, while the S tiers will just immediately fuck up anything that dares to get in front of them.*

*with one exception

Chiyari Tenkajin: Speaking of that exception, here she is. Chiyari's base shot is strong, but slow, and her Charge 1 attack is a decent scattershot, probably second-best to Zanmu's. But Chiyari can do something that literally no one else can - Chiyari can INCREDIBLY consistently just. Kill the NPCs. In my Chiyari playthrough, though I defeated the first two bosses normally, the other bosses did not even get to their last Boss spell - before they had a chance, they were already dead. This is because Chiyari's Special and Charge 2 can be used over and over again to create homing flames on the enemy screen - you're likely familiar with them because when playing against Chiyari, they are insanely frustrating to deal with. Well, the NPCs must feel the same way, because I have seen Lunatic NPCs fucking going at it, Seiran VS Zanmu, watching as both of them dodge through impossible waves of bullet after bullet, Boss spells and Specials one after the other, the whole screen covered - and the NPCs remained untouched. But Chiyari is built different, Chiyari is a god killer. She is not playing the same game - she is not surviving at all - she is hunting.

So why is she not at the top of S tier? Well, because to build up Special and Charge 2 with Chiyari does actually take skill. It's not just a completely free win every time, you do actually have to play the game, you have to dodge and graze and beat enemies. And Chiyari, unlike these other S tiers, does not have a way of immediately destroying enemy boss spells, so surviving through them and using them to build points in order to get your own kill is in my opinion the way to go.

Hakurei Reimu: Reimu in S tier, you genuinely love to see it. ZUN made Reimu strong as fuck in this game, I assume to assert dominance over Sanae fans. She has two base shot types, Focused and Unfocused, and both are very strong, possibly the strongest base shot in the game. She takes down enemies really quickly. Her Charge 1 attack clears bullets in front of her while also dealing heavy damage in front of her. And her Charge 2 attack, like Suika's, actually just insta-kills most Boss spells if you manage to get close to them. She has a small hitbox, she's quick, she's fucking peak Reimu. I don't have much else to say, other than, definitely give going right up to a Boss as they appear and using Reimu's Charge 2 a try! You'll understand what I mean!

Enoko Mitsugashira: Finally we have Enoko, who is in my current opinion (subject to change) the strongest character in the game for Story Mode. Enoko's base shot type IS a scattershot, but Christ, it does not feel like one. Just one of her four base shot reticles can take down enemies easily, not to mention how satisfying it is to see the "blood" as enemies get hit. Her Spirit Charge radius is massive in front of her, like Seiran's but better, but best of all, her Charge 1 and 2 attacks are just. Unbelievably powerful. Her Charge 1 fires three traps that do damage in three lines in front of her, then close to deal massive fucking damage - nothing survives, and you can spam this move SO easily, while also building up points thanks to her fantastic radius. And then, when bosses appear? Fear not! Enoko's Charge 2 was the first that I discovered could just immediately eviscerate Boss spells! Use it once, and the Boss is gone, then your base shots will take care of any enemies, your massive Charge radius combined with the following traps will easily deal with any spirits, I mean, Enoko just has literally everything going for her to make her the best Story mode candidate.

One last note that I forgot to mention, I believe Suika and Enoko have the most powerful bombs in the game, both moving with them, allowing them to fire during the bomb itself with their insanely powerful base shots, and having three total circles that, as far as I can tell, deal even more damage when the enemy is concentrated in all three.

[firubii]

ok you know what fuck it 2 am kirby research dump time: kirby fighters 2 story mode/buddy tower stones since thats what ive been researching recently while mapping out the game's exefs (main executable) in ghidra

first off, every level for each stone is its own item. while this seems like a weird decision at first, it does make checking for the cursed stones for the debuffs a lot easer since the game only needs to check if you have any amount of the level 5 stone

each stone has a specific function for calculating that specific buff. first, the game gets the amount of each level stone you have, then multiplies each count by the corresponding stone's bonus, and finally adds the products of all of them together.

(L1_count * L1_bonus) + (L2_count * L2_bonus) + (L3_count * L3_bonus) + (L4_count * L4_bonus) + (L5_count * L5_bonus)

because you will never have more than one of each level, this works very nicely!! if you don't have a specific level, that will result in 0 due to multiplying by 0, and if you do have one, itll produce the bonus due to multiplying by 1. this also has the side effect of being able to stack multiple of one level stone, though this wont happen in normal gameplay, but it would be fun to mess around with!

there are two stones that are actually completely unused!! they're unobtainable in normal gameplay since the item table has them disabled for every single chapter, but they are fully implemented in both the native code and hal's scripting bytecode, mint!!

BlowAway the "BlowAway" stone causes opponents launched by your throws to be in hitstun for a longer period of time, and as such more susceptible to buddy tosses. the base amount of frames is 40, so the hitstun for each level is:

45 frames (+5)

53 frames (+8)

64 frames (+11)

78 frames (+14)

96 frames (+18)

98 frames is a lot of time for a video game, especially a fighting game!! specifically, its 1.6 seconds of hitstun!!! this stone was probably way too strong and was cut because of that. interestingly, the maximum this stat can go is 200 frames, which is 3 and 1/3 seconds. that is WAY too much hitstun for any game, even if its just what you deal to opponents in a situation that isnt super common unless you're one of the two grapplers in the game.

ShieldTime this stone is interesting due to the fact that everything related to guarding isn't handled in mint, but rather the native game code itself in exefs!! what the "ShieldTime" stone does is reduce how much your guard meter depletes while holding the button.

the base is a multiplier of 1.0, and has a minimum of 0.25. this stone's formula subtracts the bonus from the maximum value instead of adding to the minimum. so, for each level, this multiplier is:

0.7x

0.25x (result is 0.2, which goes under the minimum)

0.25x (result is -0.45, which would cause the guard gauge to increase rather than decrease)

0.25x (result is -1.25)

0.25x (result is -2.25)

looking at how this starts to scale negatively, this stone was probably scrapped pretty early before the values could be actually fine-tuned.

interestingly, the level 5 stone items are referred to as "PieceDevil__Ex", while the level 4 stones are called "PieceDevil__". these probably were going to have a negative health drawback like the level 5 stones. in fact, the yaml file that dictates which items can appear inbetween floors actually tells us this!! there's a "name" property that is named uniquely for only the two unused stones i just talked about, and at the end of that for both of those there is a short description of the stone's effects not present in the other stones's name properties. this actually includes the health debuff!!

it seems like the level 4 stones used to take away a quarter (25%) of your health, and the level 5 stones were actually buffed in the final game!! originally, it looks like they were going to take away 40% of your health instead of half of it (50%)!!

thats about it for now, this has been very fun to document and i will probably make more big posts like this when i can!!!

[aurynne]

✨, 🌸, and 🎁 for the ask game !

HI MOON!!!!! i just want you to know that you started smtn terrible by asking the first one. ask game here!

✨ ~ which fictional character (book, show, or movie) do you relate to most?

oh my gosh so back when i was active on tumblr before the porn ban (i must’ve been like 15) i found out what kinning was after being on this terrible website for too long. and i made a kin list and STILL UPDATE IT but most of this is how it was when i was 15 like i haven’t edited the titles of different parts of it or whatever and it’s just a messy piece of shit. i love it tho 🫶 i was actually in the process of making a section for it in my abt page way back then!!! idk if i still have it saved but i’ll have to get back on that teehee

i don’t take kinning seriously it’s literally just characters i rly relate to and if anyone is seeing this that kins then please kiss me if you’re a double <3 here you go moon you asked for it:

Mii when I’m mii:

- Star Butterfly

- Yui (Angel Beats)

- Sayori (Doki Doki Literature Club)

- Natsuki (Doki Doki Literature Club)

- Uraraka Ochako

- Luluco

- Gou Matsuoka

- Pearl (Splatoon)

- Pink Choco Cookie (Cookie Run)

- Top Speed (Magical Girl Raising Project)

- Elaine Benes (Seinfeld)

- R. Mika

- Felicia (Darkstalkers)

- Lola Bunny

- Cerebella (Skullgirls)

- Squigly (Skullgirls)

- Usagi Tsukino

- Emiri Kisaki

- Haru (Beastars)

- Ann Takamaki

- Princess Cookie (Cookie Run)

- Mary Saotome

- Sophie Jang (Collapse & Rewind)

- Sophie Lim (Death of a Pop Star)

- Shinoa Hiragi

- Princess Devilotte

- Pops (Regular Show)

- Judy Hopps

- Spinel (Steven Universe)

- Subaru Natsuki

- Elle Woods

- Kagome Higurashi

- Alberto Scorfano

- Emilia (Re:Zero)

- Tomoe Koga

- Chika Fujiwara

- Suma (Demon Slayer)

- Kelly Kapoor

- Mabel Pines

Mii when I’m a n g e r y e m o j i:

- Taiga Aisaka [without the violence hh]

- Sayaka Miki

- Kirby plushie with a knife

- Lizbeth (Sword Art Online)

Mii when I’m baby:

- Kofuku (Noragami)

- Asia Argento (from High School DXD not the fucking celebrity)

- Madoka Kaname

- Yui Yamada

- Tama (Magical Girl Raising Project)

- Cream Puff Cookie (Cookie Run)

- Silica (Sword Art Online)

- Bubbles (Powerpuff Girls)

- Birthday Cake Cookie (Cookie Run)

- Cotton Candy Cookie (Cookie Run)

- Pancake Cookie (Cookie Run)

Mii when I’m trying to seem tough at skool 😤😎:

- Kyoko Sakura

- Rio Nakamura

Mii when I get sleepy bitch disease:

- Nemurin (Magical Girl Raising Project)

Mii when I’m depresso espresso:

- Lapis Lazuli (SU)

Mii when I‘m horny on main:

- Fukawa Toko [her normal self]

- Stocking Anarchy

- Panty Anarchy

i should’ve been put down before making this list. you can actually tell a 15 year old made it. i can’t believe i have a fucking seinfeld and regular show kin….AND I HAVE A KIN FROM A PORN COMIC??????? i should be shot dead right now. i hope you enjoy this sick shit. follow me guys!!! 🥺

🌸 ~ what is your favorite flower?

hmm i actually don’t have any faves but pretty much any pretty pink flowers!! :)

🎁 ~ when is your birthday?

march 26!!! i turned 20 recently :D i know it’s hard to believe considering this blog looks like it’s ran by a preschooler but here we are. sad but true

[cosmo-production]

is Kirby okay? mentally speaking?

in kirby planet robobot kirby fought susie controlling a "mechanized." meta knight which is very clearly not your typical mind control plot, and last time i checked, becoming a cyborg is a pretty permanent thing. kirby had all the right to just tear susie to shreds but he doesn't i know if the rating of kirby games were a little bit higher susie would probably be on life support right now. actually now that think about Kirby's dealing with lot of stuff that normally trumatzies someone yet comes out fine...

does he deal with the fact that he could hurt his friends if he uses his powers wrong

"hes just overly postive hes fine" Just because some one is optimistic doesn't mean they're immune to emotional damage.

[renapomissing]

Comic Sonic Study 4

Issue 12 hits, and

The buckle is gone again. However, it seems like the artists are now consistently drawing Sonic's quills correctly.

As someone who mostly just played the games for most of my life, one thing I do like about the Freedom Fighters is that they're allowed to get things done on their own more often than the non-Sonic characters in the games.

Admittedly, this was mostly off-camera, but it's an early instance of exactly what I'm talking about. It also happens in the girl power issue, but I can't remember which one that was, and it didn't occur to me to screencap it.

It's worth noting that there was a time in the games when this wasn't a problem. Then, people complained about characters who weren't Sonic, and we're only just now getting out of that era where Sonic was the only one allowed to be competent.

And now, for important note

There is a Jack Kirby dedication in the opening credits for Sonic 13. And that's just nice.

Imagine being a Sonic fan who only reads the comics, and you've never played the games, and that shield comes up. Tht's gonna make no sense. Especially since they didn't actually show Sonic getting it in the first pl--

Wait, did Tails just make an alcohol reference?

The problem with the first story of this issue is that aside from Snively and the SWAT bots, every character is from the games. Again, I mostly played the games for years, but when it comes to the comics, I'm also here to see those characters. Now, if this only happens every once in a while, I'll be fine with it, but I've been informed that by the time of the post-Super Genesis Wave era, I should get ready for a lot of that.

By contrast, in the second story, the Freedom Fighters are back, and they steal Robotnik's space ship that he's going to use to roboticize the planet from a distance, and they end up in a space chase with him. At the end of it, they fight him on one of the hundred moons that orbits planet Mobius.

...

What? I'm not sure when we got from fighting for the environment to this, but there's something I really love about this kind of balls-to-the-wall bizarre storytelling. The type of stuff where when you say it out loud, it sounds ridiculous, but in the story itself, it seemed normal, until you took the time to analyze it.

Issue 14 establishes that Sonic is the leader of the Freedom Fighters.

This is odd, considering that the Freedom Fighters were already established as existing before Sonic joined. Pretty sure this gets ignored later on, from what I saw while I was preparing to read all of this.

While reading issue 15, it occurs to me that nobody has made a weight joke to Robotnik for a while, so I guess that's gone.

After this, we'll be moving into the era where things are a bit more solidified, so I'll have fewer things to mention, until we get to the point of ongoing narratives besides Freedom Fighters vs. Robotnik/Eggman. I have vague memories of how the switch from Robotnik to Eggman played out, and man, I didn't expect that, but I guess they had to do SOMETHING. Still on the lookout for when Tails becomes smart, cuz that's gotta happen at some point.

[wullfric]

For a guy who likes Kirby I have seen very limited Kirby

It is in part because the only things I see in the Kirby tag (and also the blogs I follow) these days are OCs and ginkas, which are pretty neat and all, but I am not really into them which causes me to barely reblog anything.

But it is mostly because I have been getting more into other games that have more going on. I like Kirby a lot but very few characters have any actual character to talk about (unless you go into headcanon territory) and, eventhough I love Kirby lore to bits, there is not much theorising nor specullation to do about the lore right now.

There is also the fact that the most recent Kirby content has been a remake (which admitedly has a new cool story mode) and some mangas that have everyone being out of character (and Japan exclusive merch, but I suppose that is normal at this point).

But you are absolutely correct! I should do more Kirby posting.

[button-mash]

What I played last week #8

Klona 2 [Playstation 2]

This was such an absolute treat to play. I had heard of the series before, but I'd genuinely never played any of them at all - in fact they'd just totally passed me by really. I think they got remade fairly recently and it suddenly felt like everyone but me had some proper beloved history with the series, so not sure how I totally missed it - especially as I love platformers. Managed to snipe an eBay auction for this for £12 which I was buzzing about considering it rarely goes for less than £30 and often sells in the £50-60 range. 

Playing this it feels like it's the insane centrepoint between SO many games that have come before and since, I'd love to learn more about it and any games that were actively influenced by it, because it felt like it could somehow have come out in any area of platformers and fit in perfectly. At different points it reminded me of Nights, Kirby 64, Crash Brandicoot, Rayman, Mario Galaxy and more, yet somehow always still felt like completely it's own thing too. It's a pretty simple game at it's core - it's a 2.5D platformer where you can jump and hover, but can also grab enemies if you're close enough, either throwing them across the screen as a weapon, or using them to jump off and essentially serve as a double jump. The game actually starts off pretty slowly and at first I thought it was going to be another Kirby - something with loads of personality and character, but ultimately so easy it undermines the whole thing. However, the games levels quickly become more and more complex and constantly alternate between platforming and puzzles sections - by the end it becomes difficult enough where you have to have mastered every technique in the arsenal to progress through the levels, some of which are surprisingly long and complex.

The most amazing thing is how good the game looks, it's just absolutely beautiful - I genuinely couldn't believe it was a PS2 game at times. The occasional blurry texture or jagged edge gave it away, but there is just so much vibrant colour, detail, movement and animation on every level, it just gave the game an insane amount of character and life to each stage, and all of them have such a strong, memorable visual identity. There is even an amazing sense of scale to some of the levels where you'll get shot high into the air and you'll see these massively complex stages just fully modelled out and it just shows how much imagination and craft have gone into each one. There is one level set in a theme park and it just looks incredible. It's seemingly impossible to find any good quality gifs of this that aren't from the remake or haven't been upscaled in PCSX2, but hopefully you get the picture from an art direction perspective

The game isn't without it's flaws - there are some difficulty spikes that come out of nowhere and very strict animation windows sometimes make you feel like you missed grabs or jumps that you made, but it's rare and the platforming usually feels great. It never becomes a real chore of a challenge, but the levels become difficult enough where you feel genuinely accomplished getting through them, especially the last few levels. The bosses are also great mechanically, although they start to feel a little similar by the end. 

Normally if you play a retro game without the nostalgia, there is always this element of wishing you could have played it at the time, simply because it's almost always aged in some way that diminishes the experience at least a tiny bit. Here this just feels like that rare experience where it could have come out yesterday and I think I'd still be banging on about how much I loved it - if I'd unknowlingly played the remakes without knowing they were remakes, I don't know if Id have been able to tell from a design point of view. Im glad I played the original though, honestly one of the best looking, most colourful and lively games I think Ive played on the PS2, all at a crisp 60fps. Looked absolutely phenomenal on the PVM, I wish I could somehow show off how great it looked.

[nightmaresorceress]

140. Sonic Frontiers (Switch, PS4, PS5, Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X)

sonic has always been a series I’ve had a weird relationship with. I’ve actually played quite a few of the games, but for the most part I’ve tended to just find them “ok” or “decent”, with a few in particular sticking out to me, like generations, sonic 2, and the adventure games. I’ve never really disliked any of the sonic games I’ve played though, and I was looking forward to checking out frontiers after hearing so many positive things about it. and after getting to play it, it really is the best sonic game I’ve ever played, and likely one of my picks as my favorite game from this year, along with kirby and the forgotten land.

the gameplay in frontiers feels extremely good, and running around exploring the map and solving puzzles to fill the whole thing out is actually pretty fun! there’s a lot more to do in the overworld than you’d expect, the cyberspace stages tend to feel more like a distraction from the rest of the game than anything to do with the actual main game. sonic and an open world game also go together fairly well, I didn’t really mind collecting gears to open cyberspace stages and fighting minibosses along the way. collecting enough tokens to do all of the side story content could be a bit tedious, but it never really took so long as to become aggravating.

the writing and characterization of all of the characters in this game also honestly surprised me too, it’s very well done. amy rose actually gets a chance to act like a person for once instead of being overly obsessed with sonic, and sonic seems much more considerate of his friends and has more of a normal reaction upon ending up on the first island. less “oh boy a new world to explore” and more of a “where the hell am I” feeling, which was a nice touch. i also love sage, she’s adorable and i really hope she shows up in future sonic games.

the music is also fantastic, even when just wandering around the islands or fighting minibosses, and the cyberspace stages using remixed versions of old sonic songs was a nice touch. the boss themes are absolutely the best part though, they have the same type of feeling something like metal gear rising does, they just pump you up to take on the boss of the island and make you really feel like super sonic, you know?

overall I’d totally recommend this game, it’s such a clear step up from the past sonic games that have come out and I really hope sonic team keeps expanding off of what’s been introduced here. I do have minor complaints in some of the cyberspace stage design and the third island being a bit awkward to navigate, but the good very much outweighs the bad.