#first time ever actually playing sonic heroes. WHY ARE THEY ALL 10 MINUTES LONG. WHY DO THEY PUT THE MOST TEDIOUS SECTIONS AT THE END

[girlmetalsonic]

FUCK MYSTIC MANSION

[omegangrins]

Universal took Tremors from its creators after 30 years of work.

TL;DR After 25-30 years making the series, Brent Maddock, Michael Gross, Nancy Roberts, Ron Underwood and S.S. Wilson were kicked out so Universal Studios could make more money off the merchandising before the Tremors copyright expires in 2025.

*****MAJOR SPOILERS**** This will make you sad, angry and frustrated. But there is hope. #StampedeTremors

Soooooo, ever since I blew up and sidetracked a post about David Fincher's Queen Biopic with Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury discussing the Tremors 7 ending, I've done some more research on the whole thing. The Graboid hole for this goes deep.

Michael Gross didn't want it.

“There’s a part of me that feels that Universal Home Entertainment might’ve had enough of Tremors. The suggestions that were made in the course of this [movie] made me think maybe they’ve had enough. They came to me and said, ‘What if we ended it at 7?’ and I said, ‘Whatever you choose to do, I’m good with that.'” “That being said, The door is still open for an eighth Tremors. It may seem unlikely by what people see on the screen, but it is possible. There could be an eighth. And if there were, and if it were an interesting story, I would be up for it because Burt is always a great deal of fun. It would depend on his physicality. How much they want me to do. If it’s in another two years, I’ll be 75 years old. So I will continue to hope and pray that I stay in shape, to do what is asked of me – if it is asked of me.”

AND Universal even killed off any ambiguity that he fought for.

"We shot it both ways, where everybody's mourning Burt, and he climbs up over the cliff and looks at all of them in mourning and goes, 'Jesus, God, I'm not dead. And he's really pissed off at them. It's like, 'How would you possibly think...?' But he's bloodied, just he's a mess. He looks like he's been through an earthquake, crushed by a house, but he's alive. And he says, 'You idiots. Of course, I'm alive.'" "They decided it just had this punch. Frankly, I thought to myself -- I didn't express it to them, but I thought to myself -- 'Maybe Universal's getting a little tired of this franchise.' Because this wasn't my idea." "I said, 'I can live with this. Because they came to me. They said, 'Look, you've been doing this so long. What do you think?' And I said, 'Well, as long as we kind of leave the door open.' I mean, I can kind of see an eighth film where it opens with Burt in a hospital bed, in a full body cast and saying, 'I survived.' He could hardly move a muscle. And maybe eight is...if I had a concept for eight, it would be Burt horribly injured, but in a motorized, weaponized wheelchair that has rocket mounts on the side and can leave an oil slick behind like James Bond's car. So nobody can chase him." "I always said, if Kevin Bacon or Fred [Ward] or Reba [McIntire] or anybody [wanted to return], I'd be there in a minute. Just because one, I love Burt, but I always thought of him as this guy kind of on the fringes, and I just came to the fore because everybody else walked away."

https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3637682/michael-gross-says-door-still-open-potential-eighth-tremors-movie/

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/tremors-shrieker-island-michael-gross-on-burt-gummer-death/

While Universal ignored how Michael Gross was setting up his son Travis Welker to pick up his torch (Which I'm give or take on Jamie Kennedy yet he brought a Grady-like optimism to the shittier of the series.)

"My reaction was disappointment, as I had planned an entire storyline around his participation."

Even Jamie Kennedy tried to but they wouldn't let him.

"Lot of people have been asking me, so I might as well spill it. I will NOT be in the upcoming TREMORS 7. I had a great time making the last two. But no TRAVIS this time around. But hey you neva’ know what can happen in the future.... have a great time boys! Tdawg out!!!"

https://mobile.twitter.com/JamieKennedy/status/1188981479973347329

After 7 movies and a TV show, nothing more than a spit in the face for the man who carried a franchise. Then when they do the montage at the end, we get clips of Hiram Gummer but NOTHING of Burt Gummer from the TV show. It's 13 episodes of Burt in Tremors that's longer than all the movies combined but yet they don't even include it in the ending montage while including his dead grandpa.

Same with the original creators. Did you know Stampede Entertainment (Brent Maddock, Nancy Roberts, Ron Underwood, and S.S. Wilson) were working on Tremors for 25 years and even had the 5th one written, "Thunder/Gummer Down Under".

Then were told to sit on it for 10 years before Universal eventually told them to eat dirt? That's gotta hurt. It hurts me and I'm not even connected to these movies. All that work down the drain just because of someone's say so. And for no reason. Well not exactly....

Universal knows fans want Tremors merch. I mean, look at how they took #BurtGummerDay from @BabyFarkMcGeeZax. And they want ALLLLLL of that merchandising money. With none of it going to Stampede because it would give them leverage. Not to mention they don't want anyone else getting the idea to make cute monster toys before they can roll out their own line.

Don't believe me? See Universal pull some Hollywood Accounting with Tremors already.

http://imgur.com/gallery/mFNIHV3

Half a billion dollars... completely untraceable. I've tried. Emailed the numbers people and they can't tell me anything unless you pay $50 a film to see the numbers. Which makes me ask, who paid for the numbers on 1,5, 6, & 7? And why only what they made? Not their cost. Same for the numbers on 2, 3, & 4. Why numbers on the cost, but nothing on what it made? It seems weirdly targeted to make it look like the Stampede Entertainment ones only cost money but made nothing.

Then when you find out that the copyright to Tremors will revert to its creators after the 35 year mark, which makes that date 2024-2025 since Tremors was filmed in '88-'89 but released in '90.....

Wellllllll some things start to add up. Especially when you consider it's Universal. They already know about owning copyrights for things long out of due. Ask Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman. Or Nintendo when Universal tried to sue them because Donkey Kong was too similar to King Kong.

Ask Stampede (S.S. Wilson) yourself. They have a Question and Answer page right on their site.

Like did you know you can't find ANY official Tremors merch? But you CAN find tons of fan-made creations. Give it a Google. They don't even list Tremors on the Universal website. Go ahead. Ask them. I try weekly. No responses ever.

https://www.universalpictures.com/about

Even with a longer history, more money made, and amount of sequel potential in comparison to their other films?

http://imgur.com/gallery/ZnXEsI3

Fans are clamoring for more but Universal says no?

Hell, you can watch the TV show for free on the NBC site.

But before my investigating, the episodes were so jumbled and missing it would ruin people's enjoyment.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/comments/m0wvwu/tremors_episode_9_graboid_rights_is_back_on_nbc/

What about how they made a Tremors series pilot with Kevin Bacon? The only bad thing about it is that they need to pull a Sonic redo on the Graboid at the end but who knows, I suspect it's like that for plot reasons after reading the unaired script.

https://youtu.be/hWU3GpKmIvw

That Universal/NBC/SyFy has proceeded to hide deeper than a Graboid burrows. https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/tremors-star-kevin-bacon-confused-sequel-series-picked/

Despite no one knowing why. http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ

Read the script for yourself if you don't believe me. They've already hidden it for two years. Andrew Miller worked too hard for it to be hidden. And it plays. It works and plays with what's already there while being new and old. Quite good.

Have you seen the Kevin Bacon/Michael Gross commercial featuring them in Perfection Valley? The whole commercial is a sly way to use Tremors WITHOUT actually saying anything Universal would have claim to call copyright on. "Sandworms" "My old co-star" "Trevors". It's a great big middle finger to Universal.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E_O0K9hmlrw

How about the original script for Tremors 2: Aftershocks. The creators have wanted it seen for 20 years but it took a crazy Larry like me to get it out there. It's got Val, Earl, Burt and Heather in it too. Pretty good too. So good they reused the ending in the TV show episode "Shriek and Destroy".

All these things swirl together and make me wonder more and more. For the plethora of Tremors fandom goes deeper than even me... Like Imgur user @BabyFarkMcGeeZax. They created Burt Gummer Day five years ago through sweat and love alone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/comments/mb2rtz/babyfarkmcgeezax_created_burt_gummer_day_and/

Yet what does Universal do? Take the day, plaster it over the end of their hero's death, and not even give a line credit or thank you to @BabyFarkMcGeeZax or a mention on Twitter as they blurb it everywhere.

Ever seen the gif battles about Tremors at r/HighQualityGifs?

https://www.reddit.com/r/GifTournament/comments/luvt39/giftournament_battle_13_round_3/

https://www.reddit.com/r/HighQualityGifs/comments/dtz11k/battle_178_tremors/

How about The Everything Sequel podcast where they discuss how amazing all of The Tremors Saga is after discovering it for the first time. Even going so far as to pitch their own sequels.

https://share.transistor.fm/s/e24901de https://share.transistor.fm/s/bdea7b5e https://share.transistor.fm/s/cf79bbc1 https://share.transistor.fm/s/fac66438 https://share.transistor.fm/s/a90415cd https://share.transistor.fm/s/c0e8153e https://share.transistor.fm/s/6b6572f9

There's so much fan content and people screaming for more Tremors! Like "Perfection, NV", a fan film.

Or this collection of alt Tremors posters.

http://imgur.com/gallery/MgkhnfE

Including the thousands of pieces of fanart.

http://imgur.com/gallery/6f7Txh0

http://imgur.com/gallery/nXG1ph1

The story behind Tremors comics. http://www.enemyofpeanuts.com/2013/03/09/the-short-story-behind-tremors-comics/

Even the new Tremors game. OR games.

https://youtu.be/G6PX1QY2oIc

https://stefanocagnani90.itch.io/tremors-thegame

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremors:_The_Game

https://www.playfg.com/dirt-dragons-game.html

Look at all this love.

And this isn't even an officially licensed game.

"A fortune", you say? Interesting....

So let's make Tremors 8 Ouroboros with the OG creators back on board.

https://imgur.com/gallery/o2kCFLu

We restart the TV show and end the movies for a while. Just like The Librarians. If Marvel can switch between movies and TV, Tremors can too.

If you think I'm crazy too, just see and know how I've been in this position before. I'm well aware of how this "story" plays out.

I mean, Tremors *does* foreshadows its ending with a sleeping bag. https://imgur.com/gallery/5HexQ

Notice too how you can find little Behind the Scenes for Tremors 5-7 despite a smorgasbord of material for 1-4 and both TV shows.

http://imgur.com/gallery/b4STAkl http://imgur.com/gallery/gSlZ1fC http://imgur.com/gallery/fnFt9MD http://imgur.com/gallery/6mDHTtg http://imgur.com/gallery/4M28quW http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ http://imgur.com/gallery/6l0Dogl

And it's not like Universal isn't known for shady business practices. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Pictures

What about how they own the rights to damn near every monster except for Godzilla. And not just the classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, Mummy and Invisible Man. They have Kong, Hulk, Jaws, Michael Myers, The Thing, all the Jurassic Park dinos, all the Romero zombies, Chucky, Casper, Riddick beasts, Hellboy, and Jaegers/Kaiju. These dudes know merchandising rights and they're looking to score the next Poke'Mon franchise.

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/10/24/how-universal-re-copyrighted-frankensteins-monster/

Take a gander at all these articles gushing with love for Tremors:

Why the 'Tremors' Franchise Is Better Than the 'Alien' Movies https://collider.com/why-the-tremors-franchise-is-better-than-the-alien-movies/

As Kevin Bacon's Tremors returns to TV, we explain the entire franchise ​It's way more complicated than you think. https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a807140/tremors-franchise-series-guide-kevin-bacon/

20 Fun Facts About Tremors https://ew.com/article/1990/07/13/tremors/

Thirty Years After Tremors, Reba McEntire Tells Us Why She's Absolutely Down to Return For a Reboot https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a30457996/tremors-30-anniversary-reba-mcentire-interview/

30 years ago, Tremors became perhaps the most perfect bad movie https://www.thv11.com/mobile/article/entertainment/movies/film-on-11/getting-reel/30-years-ago-tremors-became-perhaps-the-most-perfect-bad-movie/91-8f6854df-9dcc-4870-ab3a-4f91a658ac3f

How Tremors 7 Succeeds Where Other Horror Movie Franchises Failhttps://screenrant.com/tremors-7-movie-succeeds-better-horror-movie-franchises-reason/

A Complete Rundown of the Entire Tremors Saga https://www.dreadcentral.com/editorials/363290/beneath-perfection-thoughts-on-the-entire-tremors-franchise/

Kevin Bacon Wants to Revisit His Only Film He Ever Re-Watched https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/kevin-bacon-tremors-1234956657/

Look at all this #BurtGummerDay love. That adds up to thousands of people watching Tremors for the first or fiftieth time. And this is only the first "official" year. It'll only grow.

http://imgur.com/t/burt_gummer_day

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2215552755347508/permalink/3124638257772282/?ref=m_notif¬if_t=group_comment

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2215552755347508/permalink/3124638397772268/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/about

Can you see the Tremors? Can you feel them? Fans want Tremors and they want it from Stampede. http://imgur.com/gallery/ZaVL7Mc http://imgur.com/gallery/f37bEV7 http://imgur.com/gallery/De6DlqQ

After all this time, and all this love, and all this greed, it's time we break Hollywood tradition and give power back to the people. When people can #RestoreTheSnyderVerse or #SaveTheVentureBros, we can #StampedeTremors for #BurtGummerDay.

Take this hope and fly!

#StampedeTremors

BTS, gifs, and videos of The Tremors Saga. Tremors: The Lost Tapes from S.S. Wilson's personal collection https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1EA9246EF966DDA2

Monster Makers https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tmm-tremors/ https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tmm-tremors2/

ADI's creation documentaries https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR9WUo3tIVnb4CyMR1SLVsxPyBwz1Met_ BTS gallery of Tremors http://imgur.com/gallery/b4STAkl

The making of Tremors https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m-HUUt21tRA

Inside the Graboid workshop https://youtu.be/YgPuC2tNBpM

Stampede Entertainment's video archive for Tremors https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/category/videos/tremors/

Tremors opening https://youtu.be/gnqPYTOzc38

BTS gallery of Tremors 2: Aftershocks http://imgur.com/gallery/gSlZ1fC

Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 2 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors2/

The making of Tremors 2 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fAlqzM0CyPI

Tremors 2 original script with Val, Earl, Burt and Heather. http://imgur.com/gallery/8QaHPRy

Tremors 2: Aftershocks opening https://youtu.be/pVi24Gc0KdQ)

BTS gallery of Tremors 3: Back to Perfection http://imgur.com/gallery/fnFt9MD Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 3 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors3/

On the set of Tremors 3 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZhrvkB5nKs

Stampede Entertainment's video archive of Tremors 3 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/category/videos/tremors3/

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection opening https://youtu.be/UXjdZitldB4

BTS gallery of Tremors the Series http://imgur.com/gallery/6mDHTtg

Stamede Entertainment's https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors-series/

Behind the scenes of Tremors the Series lost monsters. https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors-series-lost/

Cold opens for Tremors the Series https://youtu.be/srB6rZgv_Po https://youtu.be/v3ZkC08rKtg

BTS gallery of Tremors 4: The Legend Begins http://imgur.com/gallery/4M28quW Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 4 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors4-2/

On the set of Tremors 4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bppXVxldTqU The weapons of Tremors 4 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/weapons-of-tremors-4/

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins opening https://youtu.be/3gDlAEUBesg

BTS gallery of Tremors 5: Bloodlines http://imgur.com/gallery/6l0Dogl

Tremors 5: Bloodlines opening https://youtu.be/t8jrCVI676Y

BTS gallery of the unaired Kevin Bacon Tremors pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ

Script for the unaired Tremors pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/UbtTvyf

Trailer for the unreleased Tremors pilot https://youtu.be/hWU3GpKmIvw

Kevin Bacon talks Tremors. https://youtu.be/TAGOlEIR7mA

Interviews with Alec Gillis, Brent Maddock, Nancy Roberts, and Ron Underwood https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmUAAK3guQ8t6dKzwH9V0RzerkdLr0d1

S.S. Wilson talks his Tremors career. https://youtu.be/ZJhZmty_dKs Making Perfection https://youtu.be/hpCSCQJEmnk

Have a question about Tremors? Find it here and if you can't find it, ask S.S. Wilson yourself! https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/fan-extras/tremors-faq/?include_category=general

And if you love Tremors enough to have made it this far, enjoy a collection of gifs for you to use at your pleasure.

Tremors http://imgur.com/gallery/kPiEe3d http://imgur.com/gallery/5Sb4Vpg http://imgur.com/gallery/1uZxiue http://imgur.com/gallery/NX5r2

Tremors 2 Aftershocks http://imgur.com/gallery/i1IZZf8 http://imgur.com/gallery/krcmrgQ http://imgur.com/gallery/GjTxAg1 http://imgur.com/gallery/DabFZTt http://imgur.com/gallery/QLTStyx http://imgur.com/gallery/P92e1ri http://imgur.com/gallery/IUAvd http://imgur.com/gallery/h8BZ0qN http://imgur.com/gallery/ZQi2KOb http://imgur.com/gallery/WDZdM

Tremors 3 Back to Perfection http://imgur.com/gallery/5ebddmR http://imgur.com/gallery/Rj9fqIy http://imgur.com/gallery/ikzXFbd

Tremors the Series http://imgur.com/gallery/cqSMk40

Tremors 4 The Legend Begins

http://imgur.com/gallery/ufV3of1 http://imgur.com/gallery/zPGBOW3 http://imgur.com/gallery/ri5jLRd http://imgur.com/gallery/y7A3l5D

Tremors 5 Bloodlines

http://imgur.com/gallery/Pmunxjo http://imgur.com/gallery/0yazNVG

Tremors 6 A Cold Day In Hell http://imgur.com/gallery/S4qlPCI http://imgur.com/gallery/Xa2mUsS

Tremors Pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/RXXjbKr http://imgur.com/gallery/kCErQyF

Tremors 7 Shrieker Island

http://imgur.com/gallery/FzpJllb http://imgur.com/gallery/JGweZjH

[zippityzap]

My Top Ten Favourite Moments in Sonic Games

The past 30 years the Sonic series has had a lot of memorable moments, too many to list fully, so in celebration of my recent follower milestone, today I’ll be presenting and explaining my personal top ten favourite moments. I would like to emphasise that this list is very subject and is highly influenced by my personal experiences with the Sonic series. It’s not intended to be objective by any means, and I would love to hear what moments you guys would put on your own lists! Additionally, this list is only for things from the games, in the future I’ll make another list for other Sonic media

Without further ado, let’s get started!

10) City Escape’s GUN truck

Interesting set pieces and small scripted moments in levels have been a staple in the Sonic series since the beginning. Sure, they’re not always challenging from a game-play standpoint, but they’re always an entertaining spectacle. One of the most ionic of these moments (and one of my personal favourites) is being chased by the GUN truck. City Escape is already a highly memorable level from the get-go, but the truck sequence is the cherry on top. An additional shout-out to both of the Generations versions of the level for not only bringing it back but changing it up just enough to surprise you and keep you on your toes!

9) Escaping Null Space

Forces is one of those games that I would describe as a truly mixed bag. Yeah, there are a lot of things about the game that kinda sucked or were disappointing, but when it hit a high, BOY did it hit. While I agree with many people that having the Null Space portion of this level actually have gameplay in it would’ve made this moment impact a little harder, I’m just in love with that transition from the silence of null space to the bombastic chorus of Fist Bump. I thought it was a really exciting moment that hypes you up for the rest of the level.

8) Sonic Heroes’ opening cinematic

Heroes was my first 3D Sonic game, and consequently it was my introduction to a lot of things that are staples for the Sonic series. Vocal themes, an extended cast and their interpersonal relationships, story routes that connect to each other. These are some of my favourite things about the Sonic series, so even if some aspects of the game aren’t that great, I could never ever hate or even dislike Heroes. I feel like the opening cinematic to Heroes (the one with the theme song as the music) is the aspect of Heroes that really encapsulates those feelings best. I must’ve spent hours as a kid letting it play over and over again singing along to it.

7) Shadow the Hedgehog (2004) title screen cinematic

Before you laugh, here is where I must remind you that this list is extremely subjective and highly influenced by my personal experiences and memories. Ok now imagine this: you are a 7-8 year old kid, and your experience with media that isn’t mainstream radio or educational children’s tv shows is fairly limited. You’re getting deep into the Sonic series for the first time thanks to playing Heroes and seeing some of the cartoons and you’re interested to know more about the series. You visit Sonic Central, the official site at the time, and they have a music player with a variety of songs from the games. One of the songs it plays is I Am (All of Me). I won’t lie, I was a little blown away because I’d never really heard anything like it before, so I go to find out more about the game it’s from and I come across that opening cinematic.

I think it’s very, very, easy as an adult to laugh at the Shadow the Hedgehog game and it’s… direction, but adult me was not the target audience of that game, kid me was. Say what you want but the effect that game was going for I think is something that just hits best with sheltered little kids, and I’d be curious if anyone else had a similar experience.

6) The ending of Sonic and the Black Knight

I won’t go into too much detail on this one, since this is very much a fan favourite moment and many others have gone into detail about why it’s so great. Black Knight is certainly one of the games that captures Sonic’s character the best, and his words at the end of the game certainly encapsulate this. Followed by the amazing credits theme of Live Life, the ending of Black Knight is certainly one of the most emotional moments in the series.

5) Sonic Generation’s credits

Anniversary games can be a bit of a controversial subject for the Sonic fandom; 06 was one of the games released for the 15th anniversary while Forces is often considered to be a 25th anniversary game. I think Generations really achieved the feeling and the specialness of a celebratory event though. It’s one of my favourite Sonic games and the whole game is full of brilliant moments but I feel the credits really evoke the celebration vibe: a Sonic 1-esque music melody as the credits song, showing footage from the original games each stage is from, and the cherry on top: a ‘Happy Birthday’ message to Sonic recorded from fans who attended the 2011 Sonic Boom and Summer of Sonic conventions. It genuinely warms my heart every time I finish the game.

4) Metropolis Capital City level

Forces gets another representation on this list! Honestly, I believe the parts of Forces that were exciting, such as this, really demonstrate my opinion that Forces had a lot of potential to be a really good game. But I digress, this was my favourite level from Forces because it shows how fun of a villain Infinite could be. The way that Infinite follows you for most of the stage and uses illusions to fuck around with the stage itself? That’s really fun, and it’s not just stage gimmicks for the sake of having a gimmick, it ties into the powers of the villain and makes the player feel involved in a way because Infinite is messing around with you specifically and is having to make to think on your toes. Granted, part of makes this stage stand out so much in a good way is because it’s so different from the rest of the game and it takes you by surprise, so maybe the impact wouldn’t be as hard hitting if this sort of design was used more in the game, but c’mon when you have a villain who’s powers are illusion-based, the sky’s the limit!

3) Sonic Unleashed’s opening cutscene

Can you believe this game came out over a decade ago and the opening cutscene still looks this stunning?! Depending on who you ask, some might even argue that this cutscene has yet to be topped, and honestly, I’m in that camp. Not only is the rendering beautiful and the choreography of the action exciting, but this scene does a wonderful job of setting up for the viewer regardless of how much prior experience they have with the series who Sonic and Dr. Eggman are, as well as setting up the events of the game. I recall being very happy when I heard the animation team for this cutscene would also be handling the animation for the movie.

2) Beating Sonic Unleashed for the first time

So, this is another pretty personal one. I played Unleashed for the first time a few years ago and it is in my opinion, one of the most difficult Sonic games. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes for completely bullshit reasons. My first ever run of Eggmanland was around 40 minutes long and apparently that’s considered a pretty decent time for your first go, but christ it was a nightmare to finish (looking at you, that one section where you have to platform on pipes without a drop-shadow). The following boss sections weren’t much easier- I don’t rage much with video games, I tend to whisper swears under my breath at most but that part where you’re running on the Gaia Colossus had me screaming in anger every time I lost a life.

BUT when I finally beat the difficult sections? Felt like finally cracking your back after feeling stiff all day. Like taking the first sip of water after a walk on a hot day. The relief and satisfaction I felt was indescribable and slowly winding down while Dear My Friend plays as the credits theme was blissful. I don’t play difficult games that often so Unleashed is one of very few games that I have this sort of memory with.

1) Watching my dad get the good ending of Sonic 1

Here’s a small amount of backstory for this pick. My dad got his first job at 19 and he used his first pay-check to purchase the then newly released Sega Mega Drive. He had a lot of games for the console including Sonic the Hedgehog. He kept the console and games in good condition, and they were still perfectly playable by the time his first child was born (aka me!). Sonic 1 was the first video game I can remember playing at roughly 2-3 years old. I wasn’t good enough to get past Green Hill Act 3 but I loved watching my dad play through the game.

I’ll admit; his playstyle’s a little odd, he avoids speed when he can and instead, he likes to search for as many rings and extra lives as possible, but it was so enjoyable to watch nonetheless. The best bit was whenever he would manage to get all the chaos emeralds in a playthrough and be able to get the good ending. Sure, the only difference between the good and bad endings is just some flowers, but it was nice to see him be happy that he was able to achieve that ending.

And that’s the end of my list! Upon looking over it I realise most of it is either openings or endings to games…oops. I suppose they tend to be parts of games that get special attention during development since they bookend the journey. When I get around to making the second list, I’m sure it’ll have more variety, and as I said before, I’d be very interested in hearing what everyone else’s favourite moments are!

[deafeningnightcollection-things]

Hidden Lives ~ Winn Schott

Chapter 6 - A Truth Among Lies

Boom.

Lily rubbed her eyes sleepily as Hank ordered yet another missile launched at Kara. She glanced over to see Alex also rubbing her eyes, it was no wonder considering Hank had dragged them out of bed at the crack of dawn to test the limits of Kara's powers.

"Is that the fastest that she can go?" Hank complained as Kara dodged the onslaught.

"Are these tests mandatory for everyone?" Kara asked over comms, "or is it just because—"

Hank cut her off, "it's not because you're a woman, Ms. Danvers. The DEO requires months of tests and training before allowing operatives into the field. We've accelerated the process in your case, but we still need to be sure."

"I was going to say 'alien'," Kara muttered, a little deflated from Hank's lecture.

Lily grimaced, Hank had that effect on people. He always managed to make you feel like a scolded child.

"We need to be sure you're in full control of your powers. You're no good to us if destroy half of National City on accident."

There was another boom as Kara flew by even faster this time.

Alex laughed as she spoke, "my sister just broke the sound barrier, Sir."

Hank didn't look impressed in the slightest. "Fire again," he barked the words, motioning rapidly with his hands to speed the process.

Lily sipped her coffee, not awake enough to interfere in the conversation.

After a bit more coffee and a few more earth-shattering booms as Hank launched yet more missiles, Lily finally felt awake enough to talk. She sidled over to Alex, who was making notes on a small clipboard, the glass whiteboard she'd previously been using had been shattered by Kara's sonic boom.

"Anything interesting?" Lily asked peering over Alex's shoulder.

"No." Alex shook her head thoughtfully, "it's all at or below Clark's levels. Which is to be expected since she hasn't used her powers in over a decade." Alex's last comment was more of a mutter to herself as she made another note.

Now that Lily was more awake she could truly appreciate that, while noisy and cumbersome, the missiles may have indeed been the best way to test Kara's powers. Their speed and destructive power could very well be comparable to that of some of the Fort Rozz escapees.

Kara landed lightly next to them, looking sore but exhilarated.

"How many missiles is that?" Kara asked resting a head on Alex's shoulder with a sigh.

Alex shook her head. "I lost count after the first dozen."

"Ugh." Kara stretched dramatically, "can't he just accept that I know what I'm doing?"

Lily and Alex shared a look before laughing sarcastically.

"Hank doesn't do trust very well." Lily spoke up first, "he barely trusts us and we've been here for years." It was a bit of an exaggeration, but true enough in this case.

"Hank always wants to see for himself," Alex added, bending down to pick up a piece of the shattered whiteboard. She quickly copied what is said onto her clipboard.

"Sorry about that." Kara offered awkwardly, motioning to the former whiteboard.

Alex shrugged her off, picking up another piece, and repeating the process.

Lily nudged Alex playfully, "Alex loves jigsaws and you've just given her a thousand-piece puzzle."

Kara laughed as Alex stuck her tongue out.

While Alex's attention was focused on another glass shard, Kara leaned towards Lily and whispered. "I'm really glad Alex had someone like you here."

Lily was taken aback by Kara's warm smile, she'd been worried that the Kryptonian would be more hostile about the whole kidnapping ordeal. Lily's cheeks flushed under Kara's kind gaze, still not used to affection from anyone other than Alex.

"It was nothing," Lily responded awkwardly, avoiding Kara's gaze for fear she'd turn even redder.

"Ms. Danvers," Hank barked. "If you're done gossiping we have a test to finish."

Kara groaned, stretching again, before flying off.

Another boom shook the camp and Lily sighed, this was going to be a long day.

———

It was noon when Hank finally let them go back to their location in the city. Kara had been called off to deal with a fire in the port, and there was no point continuing without her. Lily's neck was stiff and sore after staring at the sky for a few hours straight, and she rubbed it as she moved down the hall to her office.

She wanted nothing more than to have a relaxing lunch, but in the chaos of getting up a few hours earlier than usual, she'd forgotten to pack one.

She grabbed her purse, intending to make a coffee shop run when her phone buzzed.

Winn: Are you free for lunch?

Lily smiled to herself as she read the text, she could practically hear the hesitation in his words. Wondering if he was pushing too far too fast. Lily wondered that too occasionally, but something just clicked when she was with him.

Alex's words flashed tauntingly in her head as she stared at her phone. Would they click this well if she told him everything? As her thoughts strayed to her brother, her job, and all the other secrets she was keeping she almost said no.

Her stomach grumbled in protest, reminding her why she was halfway out the door with her purse in hand.

Lily: Have you ever been to Noonan's?

It was about halfway between the DEO and Catco, no more than a 10-minute walk either way.

She played around with the phrasing for a minute before realizing she was overdoing it and just hit send. She poked her Hermione bobblehead anxiously as she waited for a reply.

Winn: A million times. So it's a date?

Lily: See you in 10

Lily headed absently towards the locker room before remembering that she hadn't actually changed into her uniform yet today. Mentally smacking herself, she moved towards the front entrance instead. She paused for a moment as she passed the hub, half of the screens were always devoted to various news channels so they could keep an eye out for alien disasters. One of the headlines jumped out at her, Supergirl: Hero or Ecoterrorist?

She couldn't hear what the newscaster was saying, but Lily had to assume the fire at the port hadn't gone well. Lily quickly pinged off a text to Alex. She'd probably already seen the news already, but Lily wanted to make sure she could be moral support for her sister if she needed to be.

She resumed her path to the door, gratefully turning her thoughts toward lunch.

———

Noonan's was crowded when she arrived after all good food meant a busy lunch rush. Thankfully, Winn had gotten there first and saved her a seat.

"Hi." She greeted as she sat down, still a little awkward. This was the first time she'd seen him since he'd kissed her cheek. "Thanks for getting a table."

He smiled, shrugging. "My friend, Kara, always drags me here so I know the owner." He explained conspiratorily.

Lily laughed, even as a stab of guilt went through her at Kara's name. "Well, since you're the expert, what do you suggest we get?"

Winn adjusted a pair of nonexistent glass and glanced down at the menu. "Wellllll." He drew out the word climactically, "they have very good sandwiches here."

Lily laughed again, it was not the answer she'd been expecting. "Two sandwiches it is."

Their hands lay next to each other on the table as they waited for someone to take their order. Her fingers brushed his lightly, unsure if holding hands was a step too far, but he seemed to get the idea and laced his fingers through hers.

It was a comforting warmth, having his hand pressed against hers as they sat together at the small table.

"How was work today?" She asked gently, trying to keep the calm mood.

He sighed, leaning back a little, but didn't remove his hand from hers. "Stressful."

She squeezed his hand lightly, nodding. "you have no idea." Lily smiled sarcastically, "I was up at the crack on dawn because my boss wanted to get started as soon as possible."

Winn squeezed her hand back in support. "Well, my day beats that—"

The waiter came by then and Winn ordered them two turkey sandwiches.

At the momentary break in the conversation, Lily's gaze wandered around the room, eventually settling on the plasma above the bar. The news-anchor she'd seen earlier was interviewing Maxwell Lord about Supergirl's fumble with the dock fire.

Lily sighed, she knew Maxwell well enough to know that whatever he was saying about Supergirl was for his benefit and no one else's. They'd met on more than one occasion, there'd been a time when he and Lex had been for lack of a better word, close. But when Lex attacked Metropolis, Maxwell had stepped back. Yes, he was self-serving, but not to the point of megalomania.

She shook away the bad memories that threatened to drown her at the sight of his face.

Winn must've noticed where her gaze was because he commented, "they're being too hard on Supergirl. She's new at this."

"Huh," it took a moment for his words to fully register as she shoved the memories back down. "Yeah, she seems like she's really trying."

"Exactly." He clapped his free hand against the table, clearly passionate on his friend's behalf.

Lily giggled, his energy was infectious and it warmed her heart to know how much he cared about his friends.

"Aw. Do you have a crush on Supergirl?" Lily teased lightly even though she knew the real answer.

Winn's cheeks reddened slightly, embarrassed at the insinuation. "No." He mumbled, looking away like a scolded child.

"Good." She squeezed his hand again, "I'd hate to have competition."

Now his cheeks turned really red, and his smile stretched wide, clearly pleased by the statement.

They stayed like that, just smiling and chatting idly until the food arrived.

"Mmm." Lily swallowed her bite before speaking, "that's an exceptional sandwich."

Winn laughed in response, "I told you."

The rest of the meal was spent in satisfied silence as they scarfed their food down.

Tell him, the thought pinged around her head as she finished her food. This really did seem to be going somewhere, and she couldn't build an entire relationship on a lie.

"Winn." Something in her tone must've been graver than she intended because he looked her in concern when she spoke.

"Is everything okay?" His hand found hers again as he spoke.

"Yeah." She squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I just need to tell you something, can we meet up for dinner tonight?"

"Of course." He still looked worried, but less so than a few moments ago.

She was saved the trouble of coming up with a reply when her phone rang. Alex's name flashed across the screen and she answered the phone hastily.

"Hello?"

Lily had barely gotten the words out when Alex barreled into a response, "there's been a firewall breach. Hank wants you to look into it ASAP."

"The firewall?" She echoed, confused. No one had messed with her firewall in a long time. Winn glanced up at her words, an odd expression on his face.

"Yeah, the system was probably glitching, but you know Hank would never take that chance."

"Ok. I'll be there in a minute." She hung the phone up quickly. Honestly, she was glad to leave, the awkward air that had permeated the room at her words was stifling.

Lily turned to Winn apologetically, "I have to go. There's an emergency at work."

He nodded, but that odd expression remained. Unease threatened to grow in the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it away.

"I'll see you tonight." She kissed him on the cheek and was gone.

———

The firewall breach turned out to be much more severe than Alex had said. It took Lily only a few moments to figure out what had been taken, thankfully nothing, but a lot longer to figure out who had gotten in. They'd managed to penetrate the first firewall but had been kicked out by the secondary firewall, meaning that no government secrets had been taken.

It was still alarming that someone had gotten through at all, even if they hadn't been successful in the long run. Someone somewhere had plans that involved the DEO and that couldn't be a good thing...

When Lily was finally able to track the hack she ran the numbers twice just to be sure of what she was seeing.

There had been two hacks. One had piggybacked on the other, so at first glance, it looked like just one. The original hack had a very familiar signature... Suddenly all the pieces clicked together in her head.

Winn...

His reaction at the restaurant when she'd mentioned a firewall suddenly made sense and she wanted to bang her head against the keyboard. It was going so well.

Lily shook the thought away, she had a job to do. After another twenty minutes of staring at the screen and making no progress on the second hack, she knew what she had to do.

It was early afternoon, if she hurried she could still catch Winn at Catco. She didn't really want to do this in a public place, but she knew she couldn't put it off another minute.

She spent the entire walk to Catco mentally playing out the confrontation in her head. Would he deny it? Would he accuse her right back? Why had he done it?

Her thoughts kept running in circles as she walked and it was all she could do to keep her face blank. Whether she wanted to scream or yell or cry, she wasn't sure, but if she stopped clenching her jaw her expression might break.

She'd walked to Catco, but when she arrived she was out of breath as though she'd jogged the whole way.

It was only when she saw the security desk in the lobby that she realized she hadn't thought this through. She rubbed her face with her hand before pulling her phone out.

Kara picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Lily. Does the DEO need me?"

Lily shook her head as she spoke even though Kara couldn't see her. "No. I'm in the lobby, can you let me up?"

"Yeah, of course. Is something wrong?"

"No. Yes. It's complicated, I just need to get up there."

"Ok." Kara sounded like she had a million more questions to ask, but for now, she called down to the desk to buzz Lily up.

Lily leaned against the back wall of the elevator as she wondered, not for the first time if this was really the best course of action. But then the doors were opening and Kara was there, and there was nowhere to run.

"What do you need?" Kara asked in place of a greeting.

"I have to see Winn."

Kara blanched at the name, clearly surprised that Lily knew it at all. "How do you know—"

Lily stopped her. "I promise I'll explain, just right now I have to talk to him."

Kara nodded reluctantly, stepping back and allowing Winn's desk into Lily's line of sight.

Lily marched over. "Winn."

Winn looked up in surprise, multiple expression flashing across his face. "Hi." He tried a poker face, but he looked scared.

"We need to talk."

Winn nodded gravely, "I suppose we do." He stood up, pausing the video game he'd been playing and motioned for her to follow. They ended up in a cramped alcove that Lily suspected was generally used for more intimate things.

"You hacked into a secure government server!" She accused without warning.

"You hacked me first." He shot back just as accusatory.

"I had to see if you were a threat." Winn blanched at the last word, and something in her heart tugged, but she was too mad to listen to it. "You were helping Supergirl and H—my boss wanted to know if we could trust you."

Something clicked behind Winn's eyes and he tossed an accusation at her that she had not been expecting. "When you came to my apartment, that was part of the job too. Was this...?" His voice trailed off as he looked between the two of them and suddenly all her anger was gone.

Lily had been used by too many people not to understand what Winn meant. There was still fire in his eyes but he let her grab his hand as she spoke. "Never. This was all real." His posture relaxed a little, still wary but clearly wanting to believe everything she'd said.

Lily sighed, now was as good a time as any to come clean. "I suppose you want the full story." He nodded once, no less wary. "I work for the DEO. I don't know how much Kara has told you—" his eyebrows shot up, clearly surprised that she knew Kara's identity but he let her continue without comment. "We monitor and police alien activity on earth. I run IT, so it was my firewall you hacked." She couldn't resist being personally offended by that fact. "I was at your apartment that day because I was sent to do a threat assessment of you. It all went out of control from there, I didn't expect to fall for you..." She mumbled the last part quietly.

Winn drew in a long breath before he spoke. "Kara told me about Alex and the DEO," he paused picking his words carefully. "I wasn't going to look into it, but when I saw your trace on my computer I had to do something about it." He rubbed his neck awkwardly, as though it sounded stupid now. "I had no idea it would be you on the other end."

"You're lucky it was," Lily replied, a bit of the fire from earlier returning. "Do you know how much trouble you can get into for hacking an agency that isn't supposed to exist?"

Winn's posture which had relaxed earlier, became standoffish as her words hit the wrong way.

She rubbed her temple gingerly before speaking again. "I'm going to have to explain all this to my boss, but I'll make sure you don't get in trouble."

As the conversation cooled off, Kara appeared nearby and Lily had to resist sighing exasperatedly. "How much of that did you hear?" Kara looked at her and smiled sheepishly. The answer clear on her face, she joined Lily and Winn. Not quite in the alcove because there wasn't room but close enough for a normal conversation.

"How long has this been going on?" Kara asked, trying, and failing, to sound politely curious.

They shared a glance before Winn answered, "a few weeks."

Kara turned to Lily, "and you did a threat assessment of me." Kara didn't sound angry, just disappointed and that was worse because Lily was used to disappointing people.

Lily looked away as she answered, unable to look Kara in the eye. "It was Hank's orders and Alex already punched me for it so maybe don't Kryptonian super punch me—"

Winn turned to Lily, concern on his face. "You said that was a work accident."

"Not exactly, look it's fine I basically invited her to hit me." It was not the first or last time Lily was punched on the job. She tried to get the conversation back on the rails. "I'm sorry I betrayed your trust, both of you." She glanced at Winn and away again, to find him still studying the fading bruise on her cheek. She squeezed the hand she hadn't realized she was still holding.

Kara shook her head. "I trust you and I trust Alex."

Lily smiled at her tentatively.

Winn was studying her like there was more he wanted to say.

Kara seemed to pick up on this as well because she said, "I need to go, Ms. Grant needs another latte."

Winn waited until Kara was out of sight before opening his mouth, he closed it several times before finally mustering the courage to speak. "You did an assessment of me, so that means you know everything about my life and my...my father." His voice trembled on the last word as though it hurt to say.

She nodded, unsure if there was a right thing to say.

"And you still chose to start this?"

So many secrets jumbled around in her brain, demanding to be spoken, to be heard, but she swallowed resolutely before speaking. No one trusts a Luthor.

"Winn." His hand was trembling and she squeezed it gingerly. She placed her other hand on his cheek and his eyes met hers. "You are not your father." His eyes met her, wide and trusting and in pain. She drew him closer to her in the alcove. "Your father left a terrible legacy behind, but you are not a part of it. Look at all the good you've done, you're working with Supergirl."

Winn chuckled wryly at the last part, "my dad would hate that."

Lily smiled, sensing that the mood had changed for the better. She hugged him fiercely, and if she felt a few quiet sobs escape him, neither of them mentioned it.

They stayed that way for what felt like a few minutes but could easily have been half an hour. As they broke apart Lily rested her forehead against Winn's for a moment, savoring each other's comforting warmth.

"I should let you get back to work." She spoke eventually. Slowly untangling herself from him.

He grabbed her wrist as she pulled away, "will I still see you tonight?"

Lily shrugged noncommittally, "if you still want to."

In answer, he pressed his lips against hers gently.

"So that's a maybe for tonight," she commented playfully.

He laughed. "Now shoo, I have work to do."

"I would love to but..." Lily gestured to Winn's hand which was still wrapped firmly around her wrist.

"Right, yeah," he withdrew his hand quickly, looking flustered.

Lily was still smiling to herself as she walked away.

[lyrazehedgieboiii]

New Year’s Eve

Hey guys! Sorry I was late, there was a power outage in my town, and it just got resolved, so sorry for the inconveniences, and let’s get on with the started!

Anyways, I thought of this picture https://www.pinterest.com/pin/784752303809615363/ when I was given the prompt by @blogkittylove​ and I got really excited by this prompt, so thank you!

Amy and her friends, Rouge the Bat, and Lyra the Hedgehog just left a store called Forever 21. Amy, an 18 year old hedgehog with quills just past her waist, was a bit nervous about her outfit. Rouge and Lyra decided to choose, because Amy would’ve just chose something conservative.

   “Guys, are you sure about this?” Amy asked, wondering if this was a good idea.

   “Hun, trust me, this dress is gonna make Sonic fall head-over-heels for you!” Rouge said, trying to reassure Amy. Amy wasn’t so sure about that. 

   “Don’t worry, Rosy! I had him take a test, seeing what kind of dress he would find attractive on you, and this is exactly what he’d like!” Lyra exclaimed. Lyra was Sonic’s little sister, with long turquoise quills with royal blue tips. She had emerald eyes just like Sonic. 

   “If you say so,” Amy stared at the bag. She had a feeling this might just work. It wasn’t like the dress was...inappropriate. “I’ll do it!” Amy smiled confidently.  Now we just have to make sure the special blue hedgie on her mind would be there. 

~Time Skip to Amy’s house~

Amy put on her dress. It was a light muave color, and a reddish-orange skirt. Amy put on some mascara, along with eye-shadow that matched the top of her dress. She heard a knock at the door, knowing the guests have arrived. She smoothed down her skirt, and adjusted her quills, and answered the door.

   “Hi, Amy!” said Cream, a darling tan rabbit with chocolate tips. She came in, along with her crush, Tails. Knuckles was there too, wearing a party hat with Rouge holding his hand. Lyra came as well, arm-in-arm with Shadow.

   “I convinced him to come.” Lyra then pinched his cheeks, and Shadow shooted a nasty glare towards Lyra. Lyra wasn’t scared the least bit. She ran over to the food, along with Tails and Knuckles, devouring everything in their sight.

  “Hi there, Rascal.” Amy turned to see...

Silver! And with Blaze!

  “Sterling!” Amy yelled, and jumped onto him. Silver was like Amy’s big brother along with Shadow.

Amy gave both of them a hug, being gentle with Blaze. She led them inside, until Silver asked:

“Is that outfit for a specific blue speedster?” Amy turned red, and slowly nodded. “Well, if he ever breaks your heart, we’ll all turn against him.” Amy laughed, finally feeling happy again. The door knocked, and Amy ran over to find her hero.

  “Hi, Sonic!” 

  “Hey Ames, hope I’m not lat-” Sonic stopped what he was about say once he saw Amy. She was wearing quite a revealing dress. “Um...Amy don’t you think that dress is a bit too...showy?” Sonic asked, his protective side getting the best of him.

  “Oh, it’s not that revealing, Big Blue.” Rouge, who saw the lovehogs talking, had to defend Amy. “Besides, it’s about time she finds a man who actually gives her attention.” Rouge exaggerated the word ‘actually’ to reference to all of the times he had run off on her. Sonic just glared at Rouge, thinking of a clever comeback to shut her up.

  “Why don’t we play a party game, huh?” Amy yelled, hoping everyone would here her. She heard some yes’s and some sure’s, so she asked what everyone wants to play. They all decided on charades.

  “Ok, I’ll go first.” she looked at the little strip of paper. She started to act as she were mad, frowning deeply at everyone. She then pretended to throw something, as if throwing a football. She then put her hand out as if she were holding something, and lowered as if she were trying to apparate.

  “Wait, I know this! Uhhh, me?” Silver asked. Amy shook her head. She then acted as if she were crying in front of a gravestone, then acted mad again.

  “Rose, I swear to Chaos, if this is me...” Amy pointed her finger out in excitement, showing that Shadow got it right. Shadow was next, and he took a strip of paper from a bowl. He threw it aside, and acted as if he were holding something that could stand, then he looked down at his dress, and struck a pose that seemed awfully familiar. Everyone started laughing. He then went over and hit Sonic on the head, pointed to both Sonic and Amy. He made a heart with his hands, and made kissing noises. 

  “...Lyra?” Sonic guessed, knowing his sister’s hardcore obsession with getting the two together. Shadow nodded. He proceeded back to his spot, with Lyra giving him a hug.

  “Hey guys, there are only five minutes left till the final countdown!” Tails exclaimed, raising the volume of the t.v.

  “This is it, Amy. In a few minutes, all of your wildest dreams come true.” Rouge whispered in her ear. Amy got up and grabbed a glass of champagne, and walked back. 

  Okay, everyone. It’s almost the New Year, so let’s share our resolutions! Starting with Knuckles.” She gestured to Knuckles, since he was sitting on the end of the couch. They all shared their resolutions, until it got to Amy. With the clock at 50 seconds.

  “Well, for my New Year’s resolution, I want to be stronger than I was this year. I want myself to feel happier. And last of all, I want the man of my dreams to be mine.” she ran over to Sonic, and kissed him as the everyone said ‘Happy New Years! Sonic could feel true love in that kiss, along with compassion, concern, fear, comfort, and lust. He took a few moments to realize what was happening. The girl he fell in love with 10 years ago was finally kissing him. He kissed her back, his arms falling to her waist, while one of her arms went up to his neck.

Well that was a New Year's Eve kiss you won't forget anytime soon.~

That was so EXCITING. Again, I’m very sorry for not posting earlier, the damn WiFi just had to go wrong on such an exciting day. Well, if you liked that, please give me more prompts, and have a fantastic day/night!

[ebachan]

Sonic’s Movie is Good

Okay, I have heard quite a few ridiculous claims Sonic’s Movie will suck despite the redesign. That is quite a claim with nothing to back it up. Or almost nothing.

Not much is known about the plot, but before we move to it, let’s remind ourselves what each Sonic game was about.

Games:

Sonic 1

Sonic 2

Sonic 3

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Sonic A1

Sonic A2

Shadow the Hedgehog

Sonic Colors

Sonic Generations

Sonic Forces

Sonic and Black Knight

Sonic ...

Uuuuf... Let me catch my breath first, I’m not that fast as Sonic ;-)

So, here we have a small sample I cooked up at the spot. So, what is the plot? It can be summarized in four words - Save the world/stop Eggman

Okay, theoretically it’s five... But, my point still stands.

So, people kind of complaint Sonic’s Movie is about him saving the world = simple/primitive even. (Do I get it right?) If “saving the world”-trope/plot is lame, I guess LOTR or Star Wards are lame too. After all, they are “just” about saving the world as well.

Now, please notice the sarcasm. I use it when dealing with close-minded humans. Thank you for understanding. My point is - every story has a theme. Being it save the world, go on an adventure, or solve a mystery. I have somewhere read an article about Seven Main Plot Lines in Books (Maybe it was more of them ^_^;). Each book, no matter how awesome it is, can be categorized in one of those “cliché plots”.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t make them bad or boring. Do you go and read a book to know how it ends? Yes, some books have shocking ends you don’t expect. With some, you know how it will end - hero will beat the baddie and lives happily ever after.

Well, how about the journey in the middle? Isn’t it the most exciting part of the story? It sure is. It can have anything - humor, action, adventure, mystery, romance, angst, twists, character’s growth, world building. The list can go on. The end is just a cherry at the top, it’s the middle part that sucks us in. 

In other worlds - Stop judging Sonic’s Movie based on the premise. It’s stupid.

What do we know for sure:

Sonic is an alien.

Different planet, but in one universe

Or different dimension means two different universes like in games.

Government is after Sonic

You telling me this is stupid? I would be knocking on my forehead if no military was involved when Sonic appears, especially after the shockwave knocked out half of the continent. You can’t ignore him. This part reminds me of Season 1 of Sonic X when Sonic was chased by humans to find out how he ticks.

Also, this has E.T. vibes, and nobody says the premise of a human kid helping a lost alien to escape from the government to return home is stupid ;-)

In other words, Sonic is a too big deal to be ignored by the military. They have to take action.

Pair up Sonic and Tom

No problem here. We often see two unlikely individuals joining forces to beat bigger baddies. It provides nice dynamics and often helps both parties to see the world from a new perspective.

Game inspiration

There seems to be still the confusion about what type of story Sonic’s Movie tells. I think it was even officially stated, that this movie is a prequel to Sonic 1 and partly Sonic 1 too. So kinda like Sonic 0.5.

It tells how Eggman/Robotnik and Sonic became enemies. The game never explained this, nor why Eggman wants to conquer the world. At least that Amusement Park of Death is an original tidbit :-D So, in a way we can get some answers or the alternative way how to look at their frenemies relationship from games.

We can also get more about how the Two Worlds (Mobius, Earth) are connected. For me, I still can’t wrap my head around it. It kinda feels they made it up to cover some plot holes, but whatever. The idea itself is interesting.

It has a lot of Easter Eggs but introduces Sonic to kids

There was a test screening during January/February and here is the comment from that person (found on Reddit).

The movie aims to bring a new origin story for Sonic and Robotnik. Its main goal is to introduce children to Sonic the Hedgehog as a character, but at the same time throw references and pay homages to details from the original game series for the longtime fans. It aims for a PG Rating.

He gave the movie a 7/10 grade. “It’s geared towards new fans with respect for the older peeps. Just go into it knowing that new kids will fall in love like we all did at one point.”

About how the movie was like, he said that “ Id say it is more TMNT with reference to story and action balance. It’s a solid mix between engaging action which continues to develop the bromance between sonic and Tom.”

“Its definitely being targeted towards youth demo. It seems their goal is to intro sonic to the next Gen of fans. More so with access to their parent's wallets for the spin-off merch and happy meal toys. I enjoyed it similar to seeing transformers. Don’t expect the green mile storytelling but turn your brain off and just enjoy for what it is, The cast does a great job” Robotnik is only called by the Robotnik name in the movie, no mention of the Eggman name at all.

It's about 90 minutes long

“ It’s a good balance between giving the old fans something but introducing him to kids. I went in not knowing it was gonna be screened or any expectations. Cheesy but enjoyed it from start to finish. Jim Carrey kills the role.”

“ Action scenes were great in storytelling and execution wise. Effects weren’t complete so a lot of it was still early CGI and the hidden actors playing sonic. At one point he was just a blue doll on the counter lol”

The post contains some “plot” for the movie, so I won’t post more. I actually skipped once I noticed this ;-)

I don't know how you, but I’m going to watch this movie no matter what! 

@movie-sonic-positivity @movie-robotnik-positivity

[eggman-empire]

Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too - Part 1

Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too by Jenifer Irwin **** This is a fanfic based off of my own version of the Sonic the Hedgehog Universe, which is a combination of a lot of stuff that happened in Sonic Adventure 2, and some amusing things that I threw in to flesh the characters out (such as my theory that Robotnik's favorite drink would be Dr Pepper.) Various footnotes are included throughout for those who may not understand things I make references to. See the very last page for details on which characters and things are property of who. Mentioning them all here might ruin surprises. Many thanks goes out to people who answered polls on the GameTalk forums to give me ideas, and also to my good friend Ian (ShadowNinja/Bob) for helping me come up with ideas throughout the series. Thanks also goes out to readers and those who have given me comments of any sort to help me make it better. I warn you now, this story is intentionally corny in many places for humor purposes. Just sit back and enjoy... don’t analyze too much... it is a cartoon, after all! ****

Part One *WHACK!* "You piece of junk! Why aren't you working right?!" the doctor growled, pounding angrily on the control panel. "Because you installed Windows on me, you cruel beast," the computer responded, drives whirring and clicking frantically. "AGH! ANOTHER ONE! A fatal exception 0E has--*zrrmmm*" It made a small whining noise as Robotnik pulled the plug. "You're obsolete anyway. I built you a whole month ago. You'll be good metal for the next Egg Walker I build," Robotnik said, pulling the entire machine apart and tossing the pieces into the 'Spare Parts' container nearby--one of about 50 similar containers in his home base. Wandering arrogantly through the halls as he did on a regular basis, Robotnik basked in the personal glory gained from having built the entire 200-room base with nothing but his hands, several tons of spare parts and a broken screwdriver. It was the greatest of his personal achievements, and an extension of that achievement was the fact that nobody had ever broken into it to this day. Floating above a secluded mountain range, it was the perfect place to build and scheme. He grabbed a Snickers bar out of one of the several candy dispensers he had installed throughout the base as he headed to the chao room. He'd never admit it to anyone, but he loved the little creatures he'd raised. As long as they were fit, anyway. Chao that weren't up to par in terms of ability potential were promptly sent away. Those that were fit enough, however, were quite literally doted on by their owner. He always pet them when they ran up to him, and he installed lots of neat high-tech stuff in the chamber for them to play with. It was probably the only time he ever showed that a softer side (other than that giant stomach of his) even existed in him, because Evil Scheming Overlords most certainly can't let their archenemies know that. As the chamber opened up, 4 little chao looked up with eyes wide in anticipation. The familiar figure stepped into the room and was swarmed by the creatures, all of them begging to be pet. He bent down, chuckling, and pet each of them in turn, then headed around the room to check on all of the equipment. A broken screen here, a frayed wire there, all were fixed or replaced in minutes. The oldest and most powerful chao, Devlin the Devil Chao, hopped in the mini-Egg Walker and started moving around, clapping his little fiery hands in glee. He was 20 years old, going on about 1. Balor, one of the chao in 'Project SSSSS,' Robotnik's project to develop an ultra-elite chao, skipped about kicking a ball around, and Cade sat down at a small computer to program something. Darken got a crayon and started drawing on the wall. Robotnik grinned at the antics of the chao and threw a few packs of candy to them from a dispenser. Arashi was speechless as she watched all this through a very small hole in the wall, drilled there the night before when she exploited an easily overlooked but very critical flaw in the security system of the base. Nobody else, even one of her primary employers, Tails, could spot the flaw. Of course, he and Robotnik were also more into mechanical things--Arashi was a dedicated master of computer programming, debugging... and hacking. Particularly security systems. Tails had met her at her job in a bank and offered her a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity--in exchange for regular transportation back and forth from the base and the ability to speak with one of the greatest geniuses of all time, she would keep an eye on him and make sure that any plans he had for world takeover were somehow thwarted before he could even try to enact them. The way she could find out just how to do this would be to be on the inside of his plots, then either distract him to another project or alert any who would be affected so that they could change their position or what they were doing in order to make him change his plans. Of course... she didn't plan on following this at all. With all her expertise, she was able to quietly hack the base and disable the alarms. They appeared to be still working, but if something actually happened, the alarm simply wouldn't produce any sound. And now she was within the heart of the stronghold of the only person she respected as much as she did herself, the only person she figured she could ever carry on an interesting conversation with. Nobody else knew as much about computers and other technology, except Tails, but he wasn't evil and nasty, so he wasn't interesting. Robotnik, however, was. ...and he was playing gleefully with his pet chao. Something had to be seriously wrong with the multiverse. This was just not right. The Evil Overlord Robotnik... playing with tiny pet creatures? Nooo, noo, wait a second here. She closed her eyes, then opened them again. He was still there, grinning down at the chao in the mini-egg-walker. Wasn't there at least a hint of evilness in that look? She had to look hard... to find nothing evil about it. The cute devil chao looked more evil than Robotnik did at this moment! Arashi's eyes glazed over at the sight, and she went into a minor state of shock. What was this... thing, that was her evil genius hero? He liked cute creatures! He kept them as pets! He gave them candy and toys! This wasn't evil! It didn't make sense at all! She fainted. Thud. ** The sensation of a hand shaking her shoulder woke Arashi up and she found herself strapped to a chair. The first thing she saw was Robotnik glaring down at her. Yes. Just like he should look. That was him. Not the smiling jolly man she saw in the chao chamber earlier. "You have no idea how relieved I am to see this," Arashi said dramatically, causing Robotnik to get a totally confused look on his face. Usually his prisoners screamed or at least whined upon seeing him. "Um... ok. Well, anyway, first of all. I'm impressed. You hacked my alarms," he said, holding up her laptop. "Now, if you tell me how you did it... I won't kill you," he threatened, his favorite laser gun in hand. Arashi smiled calmly. "Top compartment on the front of my backpack," she said simply, a little smugly. Robotnik tilted his head slightly in curiosity, then picked up the small pack that he'd taken from her before she woke, and dug around in the aforementioned compartment. The only thing he managed to produce other than some coins and a drink or two was a sheet of paper with some code printed on it. He read over it for a moment, recognizing his own security code, and his mouth opened slightly as he came to the section where she had written in the few missing lines that would have prevented the hack had they been there. Raising a brow as he peered at Arashi, Robotnik asked, "Who are you?" Nobody gets into his base. Surely, this pale-skinned woman with light blue, slightly spiked-up hair wouldn't be any different... She couldn't be any older than 23. No way she could have done this. Could she? "Arashi Codiv," the young woman replied, managing to squeeze a hand through the straps enough to offer him a handshake. He accepted it, though it was obvious he was deep in thought, seeming to look through her instead of at her. He turned abruptly, leaving her in the chair as he walked up to a computer that was installed in the wall, and logged into his coding program. A little searching for the particular section and about 10 seconds of typing later, he put a special key into a lock that turned the alarm system off. The computer quickly recompiled the program and he implemented it, then pressed a button to turn on the alarm system (much easier than the process for turning it off), and several floodlights in the room instantly trained themselves on the woman in the chair as alarms screamed all over the base and the location of the intruder flashed up on the screen. Robotnik hit a few keys and the blaring stopped, the system having accepted her presence at his command. "You're good. Really good," he said, glancing over at her oddly. She grinned smugly, responding with, "I know." A slight, wry smirk appeared on Robotnik's face as he thought to himself, "She reminds me of me..." ** "So... I know you must be here for more than just to offer a helpful correction in my code," the doctor said, gesturing as he ambled down a corridor with Arashi, his laser gun drawn, but held casually down at his side, just in case she tried anything funny. "I've always wanted to meet you. And build things. Maybe even rule the world. You're the only person who I think I could ever identify with," she said truthfully, adjusting her backpack so it sat better on her shoulders. "Nobody else understands me," she said with a slight sigh. Robotnik glanced over at the girl with a look that said he knew exactly what she meant, and put the laser gun back in its holster. "Yes. I could never figure out what's so hard to understand about the physics required to reverse gravity. The last time I tried to explain it to someone, his head exploded. Come to think, maybe I should do that the next time I see Sonic..." He thought about it for a moment, a hint of irritation entering his eyes. "Not that it would work. I wish Sega would let me win for once... I'm hungry," he said mostly to himself, opening a door and walking in, straight to a very advanced refrigerator. His mind was certainly one-track at times, Arashi could tell that already. He proceeded to pull an entire turkey out of the refrigerator, instant-cook it in a high-tech oven, and sit down at the table with the whole thing on his plate. Ripping a drumstick off, he started eating like a total pig, much to Arashi's amusement. "So... D'you think I could program and build things around here?" she asked hopefully. "Ah thin' we cou' arrangh shm'fn, yah," Robotnik managed to say around a mouthful of food. "Whu' y'shtar'n at?" "Oh, nothing," Arashi said, snickering. She took a seat at the table and brought out one of her drinks, thinking to herself, "This is funny. I thought for some reason he had more class than this... Well, I guess when you're alone all the time, manners aren't exactly top priority." She thoughtfully took a few drinks and looked around the kitchen, which was devoid of any decoration whatsoever, but it was a nice kitchen nonetheless. The entire base seemed quite well-kept, and she knew there had to be cleaning robots all over the place, because Robotnik was a slob and nobody would be able to keep such a large base clean by themselves anyway. Before long, all that was left of the turkey were bones. The large man picked contentedly at his teeth with a toothpick for a while, then said, "I suppose it's too late to ask you if you want any," with a snicker. Arashi laughed and shook her head. This guy really was much different in private and when his immediate goal in mind wasn't to take over the world. Pressing a button that was on the underside of the table, Robotnik watched as a hidden alcove opened up and a robot walked out, cleaning the bones off the plate and table, then quickly washing the plate and setting it back in the dish rack. Arashi smiled slightly as she said to herself, "I knew it." "Well then, shall we get to work? I've got something particularly nice I've been working on," he said, standing up from the table as he wiped his hands off on the towel that the robot held out. Arashi grinned and stood up, following him. "This isn't the ultimate of all my creations, simply because if I said that, it'd be so cliché. Let's just say I really like it and it rocks," Robotnik said arrogantly as he pushed a button and tapped something into a small terminal on the wall, causing a heavily reinforced door to open up. He and Arashi stepped into a dim and -very- large room, where a huge coil of some sort of strong metal lay, taking up most of the room. The coil was at least 10 feet in diameter, and it was a strange silvery color with odd scales all over it... it looked just like... Arashi took a step back, alarmed as a giant robotic snake's head rose up from behind some of the coil, staring down at the two humans with cold, metallic eyes and flicking a flexible steel tongue. "I'm testing a new type of forging for the metals I use... and it seems to be working. I've managed to make steel that's as flexible as rubber," Robotnik said as he grinned evilly. Arashi stared at him in awe. He glanced at her and said in a lower voice, "And that's not even the best part." Robotnik turned his gaze back to the giant snake and closed his eyes, folding his arms over his chest and saying, "Take something out of your backpack." The girl looked at him confusedly, but took off her backpack and drew out some random item. The snake tilted its head slightly, and the doctor said a bit amusedly, "A portable hard drive. Women keep anything in their purses and packs..." Arashi looked at him. He was still facing away from her, and had never turned around. The surface of the snake wasn't reflective, and there were no mirrors anywhere, and he wasn't holding anything to look at... She looked up at the snake. It grinned at her. "...uh... holy crap," were the only words she could find for a stunned moment. "You can control that thing with your MIND? And see through its eyes!?" Opening his own eyes again, Robotnik said in a quiet but triumphant tone, "It was one of the most difficult things I've ever managed. I mean, I had the chip all nice and ready pretty quickly, but drilling into my skull to put it there was hard. It broke most of my best drill bits." Arashi started laughing uncontrollably. ** After some fun with the robotic snake and a few random transformations of harmless objects into Death Machines, the two decided to turn in for the night, Arashi allowed to sleep in the best guest bedroom in the base. She got out her radio and quietly started talking. "Sonic... You there?" "Yeah. Didja get any info? Is he working on anything big?" "No," she lied through her teeth. "He actually suffered a few setbacks lately. See, I just got into that job at the bank lately and they used my security code for all the other banks in the world. He can't hack for money anymore, so he has had to resort to older machines. Getting him is going to be a breeze." "Awesome! When should we attack?" "I'll let you know tomorrow." "Alright. Keep watching him!" the hedgehog replied. "You bet," Arashi said, grinning. The radio beeped, and an evil little giggle of, "...gullible..." came from in the room. Robotnik took the sound-amplifying device away from the surface of the door, grinning evilly. "So... she exploited my enemy to get in here and help me out... I love it!" He turned and headed toward his room, laughing quietly. ** Arashi woke up and yawned, sitting up to find Robotnik standing right beside her bed, arms folded over his chest. "I heard you talking to Sonic last night," he said in a solemn tone. Thinking he only heard part of the conversation, she paled and stuttered, "Wait, let me explain, I--" "And it's going to be a pleasure luring him into a trap like you've planned," he said, grinning suddenly. She blinked and stopped for a moment before the both of them burst into diabolical laughter. "C'mon, let's go make some more intricate battle plans," he said, turning and walking from the room. Arashi stood up and followed, grabbing her backpack and putting it on as she went. When they got to the battle room, Robotnik got out a pile of maps and rifled through them until he found a particular one that he put on the table. It was uncooperative at first and kept trying to roll back up until he dropped an old hard drive, a video card and two floppy drives, grabbed randomly from some shelves, at the corners. The map depicted his mountain range and the city 100 miles away where Sonic and Tails lived. He pointed to a spot that was roughly between the two points. "Right here is an area with a bunker that would be perfect to hide the Steel Snake in. What I want you to do is to tell Sonic to meet you there for some creative reason. That is where we will launch the attack--he'll never see it coming!" Arashi nodded. "That's an excellent plan. And it's pretty simple. When do we do it?" "After breakfast." ** 5 gallons of 'Death by Chocolate' ice cream later, the two stood up and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the cleaning robot to its job. They walked quietly through the corridors until they came to the door that concealed the Steel Snake's room. The large door opened up after the password was entered, revealing the snake in its eerie, motionless slumber. Suddenly, it rose up, wide awake, blinking silently as it flicked its tongue. "We've got a hedgehog to catch," it hissed menacingly in a metallic voice, grinning. Its back opened up, and a large pod with two comfortable seats rose out of the opening, the heavily armored clear top flipping open. Robotnik jumped up in one of the seats, grinning evilly as he asked, "Care for a ride?" Arashi climbed up into the pod, marveling at the nice interior, the bucket seats, and the really big rocket launchers protruding out of it, triggers at the two mad scientists' hands. This, to her, was like taking a ride in a brand new Corvette convertible to anyone else. The top flipped down and snapped into place and the snake stretched slightly. "I've wanted to give this a test ride for the longest time," Robotnik said, and the machine darted out of the room at a speed unbelievable for such a large thing. Slithering along the ground at a rate of at least 100 miles an hour, the snake very quickly made its way toward the bunker. "Wow! This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Arashi exclaimed, giggling as the snake slipped up a hill and quickly down the other side, doing the same odd thing to her stomach that an unexpected, sudden downward hill in a car does. "You think this is neat... I can do better," Robotnik said, snickering, and a great deal of energy could be felt in the air. The sides of the snake opened up and a few clanking noises were heard. Arashi looked into the conveniently placed rear-view mirror and saw several huge jets extend from the openings, blasting fire as the snake rose off the ground thanks to gravity reversal. Without ground to push from, however, it wouldn't be able to go very far without the jets, which began to push it along, steering it effortlessly. Robotnik let loose a brief, evil laugh from deep in his chest. "Excellent..." This really was the ultimate of his creations. Never before had he made rubber-flexible steel, and he also hadn't made something able to be controlled with his mind alone. Its unusual shape made it hard to detect on radar, and its top speed in the air was about 1000 miles an hour. It had bomb compartments and guns. Simply, it rocked. Keeping the snake low to the ground to avoid being seen in the air by anyone, Robotnik sent it blazing over the plains and eventually twisting through hills and valleys. Both geniuses were in a continual state of euphoria as they watched the landscape hurtle past them at high speed. They got to the bunker a little faster than they really wanted to, and the giant snake stopped outside, peering down at the small control panel that was installed next to the door. A plated scale slid back on the snake's side and out extended a robotic arm, tapping some things onto the panel, and the bunker door slid open. The inside of the bunker was huge. It appeared to be a weapons storage facility in the case of desperate emergency. It doubled as a testing lab, and was big enough to house 5 Steel Snakes comfortably. The ceiling was 100 feet above, with spare parts and weapons stacked all the way up on every wall. The majority of the bunker, the center, was completely devoid of anything. Perfect testing grounds... or an ambush point. The two began to organize their attack plan. ** Robotnik looked over at Arashi and nodded expectantly, watching as she pulled out her radio and motioned for him to be silent. "Sonic?" "Yeah, Arashi? Got battle plans?" "Yes, I do. Robotnik's sleeping. But he found a way to fix his security system--the only way we're going to get past it is to get a few special computer chips from a bunker that's about 50 miles southwest of his base. Just come on over, the door is open. It's in the Silent Hills." Turning the radio off, Arashi looked over at Robotnik. "How was that?" "Perfect." They exchanged diabolical grins, and waited. ** 15 minutes later, Sonic and Tails stood outside the open door. Sonic yelled, "Arashi?" No answer. "Guess she didn't hear us," he said, unconcerned, and headed into the doorway, Tails close behind. "Nice place," he said, admiring the stacks and stacks of weapons... until they heard a loud slam of the door behind them and felt something very large above them moving toward them at very high speed. Tails barely had time to gasp and scream. *SNAP!* The robotic snake swallowed loudly and spit out a single, severed tail. Sonic stared down at it in horror for a moment, then looked back up at the snake slowly. "You're going to PAY FOR THAT!" the hedgehog screamed angrily, and promptly turned around and started running. The snake remained motionless. Around the bunker Sonic went, looking frantically along the walls for something... but he couldn't find it... "Looking for these, Sonic?" an all too familiar voice asked as a shadow fell over him during a brief, motionless second of thought. He turned around and looked up at Robotnik, who stood about 10 feet away gripping a handful of rings and grinning. "What have you done with Arashi!? How did you find out!?" Sonic asked, unable to mask his terror. Never before had Robotnik been smart enough to strike so quickly... or to kill Tails... or to collect all the rings prior to battle... "What have I done with her? Oh, no, it's not 'what have I done with her.' More like... 'what has she done with me.'" The doctor grinned evilly as Sonic looked at him in confused terror. "I know you're a strong believer in the motto, 'Live and Learn.' But apparently, Sonic, you haven't lived enough to learn that I'm not the only person in the world who can't be trusted..." Robotnik glanced back over his shoulder as Arashi stepped out from behind one of the large shelves, walking up to his side with an evil grin. Sonic nearly went into shock as he watched his trusted spy put a hand on Robotnik's shoulder and give it an encouraging... almost... affectionate... squeeze... Managing to regain his presence of mind, the hedgehog screamed, raging over the loss of Tails, "Prepare to DIE, BOTH OF YOU!" and started charging up a spin-dash, ignoring the fact that he had no rings. The snake darted across the bunker instantly and whipped its tail around at Sonic, smacking him into a shelf suddenly and causing about 200 pounds of spare parts to fall on him, pinning him. Robotnik chuckled evilly and wandered over towards Sonic, who struggled hard to get out from underneath the pile of metal and plastic. The doctor waited amusedly, taunting Sonic as he squirmed his way out and crawled to the floor, glaring up at his enemy before he stood up into a crouched position. The camera panned out and revolved around the two as they slowly, instinctively, moved out to the middle of the floor. "So, Sonic... it's come to this. A final showdown. More final than any other. I have rings... you don't. Sega has never put you in a position quite like this before, have they? I like whoever wrote this plot," Robotnik said, grinning evilly as he tucked the handful of rings in his pocket. Sonic decided there was enough talk. The battle was now. It was the battle of all battles... one that only real men could win at. Childish Insults! "You're a big poo-head!" he yelled viciously. Robotnik fell down from the force of the insult, rings bouncing out of his pocket. He managed to grab a few, but Sonic swiped some himself, too. "Oh, yeah? You're ugly!" Robotnik growled, pointing at Sonic, who twitched as the rings fell out of his hand. He managed to get all but one before the doctor did. "You smell!" the hedgehog yelled in a classic kindergarten-whiny-kid tone. Robotnik stumbled backwards, dropping a few rings. Again, both picked up a couple. "You're dumb!" "Your mom's fat!" "At least my mom didn't have a retard for a kid!" "Come here, I want to check out my reflection on your head!" "At least my head isn't bigger than the whole rest of my body!" Over and over, they slung insults back and forth. Sonic got knocked back so far by some of them that Robotnik was able to get most of the rings before he did. The insults didn't send the gluttonous doctor flying very far due to his weight. Eventually, Robotnik had all the rings and he flung his insult. "Your shoes suck!" That was it. Sonic had no rings left. Rings were his lifeblood... his confidence... He sat down and started crying. Robotnik laughed and walked towards Sonic. "Hah! Weakling fool! You thought you could defeat -me- in a battle of wits!? I have an IQ of 300, you idiot!" Sonic twitched violently from the further insults. "Why are you kicking me while I'm down!? Have you no honor?" "Honor is what makes Evil Overlords -lose.- I'll have none of that!" Robotnik grinned evilly as he drew his laser gun. "It's the end of the road for you, Sonic! You've taken your last step! Eaten your last chilidog! Charged your last spin dash! Jumped your last jump!" He got louder and louder with each statement, waving the gun around. "Run your last mile! Smashed your last badnik! Pulled your last loop--" Arashi walked up and shook his shoulder gently. "Ivo, shut up and shoot him." "She called me by my first name... nobody ever does that," Robotnik thought to himself, blinking at her. She gave him a look, still urging him to shoot, and he nodded. "Right." He turned towards Sonic again and raised the laser gun, grinning at the weakened hedgehog who pleaded for mercy with his eyes, raising a hand defensively. As he watched the horror on his archenemy's face grow, he very slowly began to pull the trigger. "Farewell... Sonic the Hedgehog!" ...*click* Robotnik looked at the gun incredulously. "Oh, bother, I had the blasted safety on." He flipped a small switch, held up the gun again and pulled the trigger unceremoniously, sending a high-powered laser beam burning through Sonic's head, killing him instantly. As the blue hedgehog slumped to the floor, lifeless, Robotnik stood motionless for a moment, in shock. He had really done it. Finally, he had destroyed his enemy, and it was no longer in the way. There was nothing standing between him and world domination. He turned and traded grins with Arashi. And she hugged him gleefully. He staggered back, flailing his arms madly in confusion, stuttering, "That--that was uncalled for! Whatever it was! It made me feel all... warm and fuzzy inside! What did you do!? And how can your arms be long enough to get around me!?" He blinked at Arashi, who was laughing by now. She knew good and well that he knew what a hug was, he just didn't want to admit he liked it. He'd never turned a deeper shade of red even in his worst moment of anger. "Come on. Let's go home and take over the world," she said, giggling slightly. "After lunch!" ** Arashi hacked the mainframes of the world, sending everything linked the internet into total chaos. Communications systems were obliterated by viruses and the world was thrown into a panic. From there on out, it was simply a joyride around the world in the Steel Snake destroying everyone that resisted takeover. Under a week later, the last bit of resistance was vanquished. All others bowed to the will of the usurpers. Dr. Ivo Robotnik and Arashi Codiv were now the rulers of the world. So, the day had finally come. The bad guys won. And the two lived happily ever after... for the next few days or so. ** Robotnik tore off a drumstick from the turkey and bit into it, chewing glumly. After swallowing, he asked for the 300th time, "So... what are we going to do now?" "I dunno," Arashi said, picking at a piece of food. "We've already done it all... Killed Sonic... Conquered the world... amassed all the money there is... got all 180 emblems..." "Hey, let's brainwash the entire population!" "We did that yesterday, remember?" "Oh, yeah..." Robotnik sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the table. He took out his laser gun and started toying with it, dismantling and reconstructing it several times, but it just didn't seem as fun anymore. "Blast... mum, you were right," he mumbled to himself. "Yeah, mine was too," Arashi said absently. "'Why do you want to take over the world so much?' she'd say. 'Once you have it all, there's nothing else to do...'" A small computer terminal in the kitchen brought up a screen, with a special news report starting. The same reporter that spoke of Shadow the Hedgehog robbing the bank during the last failed campaign to take over the world began to report, "Up-to-the-minute sources claim that several unidentified flying objects are attacking all of the major cities in the world. Research groups have received word from whoever is controlling these objects that Earth is to be taken over for its resources--and there is nothing we can do unless Emperor Robotnik decides to take action." The two rulers traded slight, calm smiles and Robotnik pushed his goggles down over his eyes. "A mad scientist's work is never done," he proclaimed, and they both stood up and headed for the Steel Snake's lair.

[another-sonic-blog]

ShadAmy Week 2018: Behind The Scenes

Life behind the scenes was different for Shadow.

   Sure he enjoyed acting for SEGA’s game and he could relate a lot to his character. The Shadow he was interpreting had a tragic past, he was cool and ‘edgy’. However, the Shadow in real life was a bit different. He tried to keep at all times in order to keep in secret how socially awkward he was. When he played the part of Shadow The Hedgehog in the video games for the first time, it gave him so much confidence that he thought it will be better to keep this facade. That way everyone around him will keep his distance, he wanted it that one but there was a certain pink hedgehog who saw through right away.

. . .

“Will you cut the act? I want to have a serious conversation with Shadow”

“What do you mean? I am Shadow”

“I mean...the REAL Shadow”

. . .

   That was after they finish recording their scene together in Sonic Adventure 2. So many things have happened, they don’t really have any more scenes together after that besides some small shorts on his own video game. And it was the same with their last game “Sonic Forces”. Whether he wanted it or not, Amy was the only one who actually saw through him. That fact alone made him more and more curious towards the pink hedgehog. Shadow wasn’t a naive one, he knew that from the start he had a small interest on the Amy. However, through time, what was a small interest became a huge crush and maybe even love.    Sometimes he wished there was a scene or something where his character showed some interest in Amy’s character, maybe, that way he would have enough courage to express his feelings to her.

“Everyone but her knows that you like her”

   Shadow jumped one step forward but regretted it as soon as he recognized his friend’s voice.

“Don’t ever do that again weedhead”

“I can be a weedhead but at least I am not creeping out on the girl I like”

   Yes, that was Silver. Besides Amy, Silver was one of the only hedgehogs he could trust, he was soon to discovered that he liked Amy and after he confronted him about it, there was really no other choice but to confess.

“You used to do that with Blaze before you began dating her, you have no right to tell me I am a creep”, Shadow completely faced Silver now, forgetting for a moment the pink hedgehog on the set.

“You should just go for it, that worked for me”- Silver said teasing his friend, he really admired Shadow but sometimes he could be as stupid as a rock. He knew about the fake facade that Shadow had to put up in order to feel more confident about himself. You would never really think that Shadow would be the type to get scared easily or that he has a thing for fashion and Instagram accounts.

“Well, everyone knew that Blaze had a thing for idiots and you are one so it worked out for you but for me? I have never been in the same room alone with Amy, she knows that I am pretending to be someone else but she has never really seen me do well...my things”

“By things, do you mean reading romance novels and watching Netflix all day?”, Silver didn’t like the direction this was going. He hated to think that his friend didn’t like the soft side of himself.

“Yes, and well...Amy is into dating well you know, ‘macho guys”- Shadow said with a serious face. In all honesty, he exactly didn’t know what was Amy’s type for a boy, but last time he remembers she was dating someone who was very unlike him.

“And besides she’s dating Sonic”- Shadow quickly added.

“They broke up a month ago”

“What?”, Shadow couldn’t believe it, who would let go of Amy Rose?

“Yeah, they broke up a month ago, she told me but wanted it to keep it on the low...that’s why I am telling you, you should go for it”, Silver had something in plan ad he decided to go for it.

“What do you what me to do? I can’t just say ‘Hey Amy, would you want to go to a cafe tonight with me?”

“Sure, I’ll go. I am done with my scene anyway”

   Shadow jumped one more time, scared to find out who the voice belonged to, only to find Amy Rose standing behind him.

“Uh, Oh, what?”- Shadow could barely process what was happening, and Silver on the back was content to know that his plan had worked.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to go now”- Silver added as he gave a small pat to Shadow on his shoulder.

“Aren’t you coming?”- Amy asked him curiously.

“No sorry, I got a date with Blaze, but hey maybe soon all of us four can have lunch together...maybe like a double date...Right?, Shadow~”, By this time Shadow knew that Silver was teasing him and in all honesty, he was ready to knock him down right there.

“Haha, we’ll see about that”- Amy smiled and waved Silver goodbye as he left the pink and black hedgehog alone.

“Well, Shadow, to what cafe are you taking me?”    Shadow felt his breath go away, could he actually be dreaming right now/

“Its a surprise...just follow me!”, Shadow just began to walk out of SEGA’s building with no direction whatsoever. In all honesty, he didn’t know where he was going. He thought that maybe if he walked fast enough, he would wake up from the dream he was having or Amy would just get tired and stopped following him.

   Its already been 10 minutes and Shadow could still hear Amy walking behind him. He now knew that he needed to find a place fast...and there it was...his salvation.

. . .

“McDonald's? You took me to McDonald's?”- Amy questioned, and Shadow was quick to respond.

“They got great coffee here too you know!”, Shadow realized that what he said sounded a bit rude but at the moment he really couldn’t think about it.

“I know but, it is just that when you said to a cafe...I thought you meant something different”

           ‘Different’

   ‘That’s it!’, Shadow thought. The solution to his problems. He didn’t knee to be himself, he could just pretend to be Shadow, his character. The cool, edgy character that has made him have many fangirls. Maybe faking was bad, but if faking who he was made his life behind the scenes change just one bit for the better, then it was all worth it.

“I apologize Rose...It is just that I been off my latest”    Amy noticed a sudden change in Shadow’s personality and this took her interest even more,

“It's alright, I feel like eating ice cream anyway...why don’t order and sit down to talk for a bit?”

   Shadow only nodded and went up to the counter, Amy expected at least a ‘yes’, but nothing came out of his mouth, she only followed him up close.

“I want a cup of coffee, dark, no sugar”, Shadow hated dark coffee, he only liked them with a bunch of milk and sugar. He had a really sweet tooth, but of course, if he wanted to stay in character, he couldn’t just ask for a normal cup of milk cafe. No, it had to be something that matched his character.

“Alright, sir and for you miss?”- The employer asks Amy.

“Can I have a cone of ice cream?”

“Sorry man, the machine is broken”

“What?”- Shadow stood up in front of Amy and facade the cashier.

“I am sorry sir, but the machine is broken”

“Well the lady wants her ice cream so you must give it to her”- Shadow in a million years would ever do this. His real self-was always mad that the ice cream machine was broken and at this point, he honestly thought that it was just incompetence coming from the employees. He would never demand anything on his life before, but the character hi was interpretation wasn’t him, but Shadow the Hedgehog, a hero who wasn’t afraid to say what he wanted to say.

“Oh, look at that, they just told me that the machine began to work again!”- The cashier was quick to go back and bring Shadow’s coffee and Amy’s ice cream really fast. Even Shadow had to admit that he felt bad for intimidating the cashier like that.

“Here’s your coffee and ice cream for your girlfriend sir, thank you for shopping for us”

   Shadow’s act was about to drop as soon as he heard the cashier say ‘girlfriend’ he felt his muzzle go red and the fact that Amy didn’t deny it was making his heart run even faster. He had never walked so fast to a seat before.

“You didn’t have to that but thank you Shadow”- Amy said as she took a sit in front of him.  Amy was already a bit tired of the situation and wanted some answers but she still really hoped that Shadow could give them to her without pressuring him.

“No problem”- Shadow was quick to take back his ‘cool’ posture and took a sip of his coffee which tasted horrible for him but pretend to be normal about it.

“So tell me Shadow, what do you like to do in  your free time?”- Amy smiled at him.

“I like working on my bike and exercise”- That wasn’t really a lie, well kind of. He hated working out but still he needed in order to keep shape for his character and he enjoys taking rides on his bike but in reality, he didn’t know how to maintain one.

“Sounds very...like you.....I also enjoy exercising and practice gun shooting...you like guns too don’t you Shadow?���- Amy took a quick lick on her ice cream after asking.

“Of course, I have a collection”

“Really? Maybe you should show them to me one day... my favorite type of gun is a semiautomatic pistol...what about you?”    Shoot Amy had him. He couldn’t lie, he didn’t have a clue about guns. His mind was blank and for a moment he was so embarrassed that he didn’t dare to look up from his cup of coffee.

“You know Shadow...I actually hate coffee”

“Then why did you come when I asked you to come with me?”

“Because I wanted to know you, I thought it will be nice to get to know the real you. We have been working together for a long time now, but I barely know the things you like”

“How did you find out? I mean the first time we met...you saw that I was faking”- Shadow was now brave enough to look at Amy’s eyes just for a bit.

“I could tell, its the small things you do that uncovers you, like getting scared easily, looking at your gloves to see if they are clean, or how quickly turn around to give a small look to the books stores we passed by...before wasn’t any different, I guess I just got a good eye for that kind of things”

“I am sorry”

“But you also did this to...inpress me as well, am I right?

   Shadow felt like he could explode any second now, was she saying that she was aware of his feelings towards her. “You don’t have to say anything...I noticed how you look at me...also that Silver let it slip once that you like me”

   “Well that explains a lot”, Shadow was at this point really thinking of different ways of how to take revenge.

“but I broke up with Sonic not too long ago and well, I don’t want a relationship right now and also that I would like to know more about you”

“But this is me”, at the moment Shadow wasn’t really thinking about what he was saying, at the moment he really couldn’t think of anything else but at the fact that Amy was actually saying that she may want to date him in the future.

“I mean the REAL you”

   Shadow was quiet for a second finally realizing his mistake.

“I know it must be hard, opening up after faking for so long but,”- Amy said as she stood up from the seat, “maybe I can help you if you take me out for coffee more often”

   And with that Amy left, leaving a speechless Shadow behind, ready to throw away his black coffee and order a new one witch bunch of milk and a ton of sugar; of course after apologizing to the cashier for his attitude before. He wanted to go after the pink hedgehog, and tell her who really was, not Shadow the Hedgehog of SEGA who liked guns and motorcycles; but Shadow who loved sugar and teenage dramas.

He wanted to tell her how different his life was behind the scenes.

[love-hrts]

Well finally beat Sonic Mania

Well, the bad ending anyways... When we first started the game (I was Tails, my brother was Sonic) I called it as best game of the year cuz it just had so much effort put into it... tho by flying battery my joy from the interesting bosses and twists on levels faded.

The game just really went downhill from there, I mean they take the worst zones from Sonic: Green Hill, Oil ocean, Stardust Speedway, Metallic fucking Madness, and they take one of the best zones, Hydrocity and turn it into fucking Labyrinth zone.

The biggest kick in the pants was not even unlocking Amy after you beat the game. So it has less characters than Sonic Advance.

After around Oil Ocean we started getting sick of how long the zones were, part of it was stopping for every special stage there was, but I’ve never seen so many time overs in my life.

Oh yeah, and crushing. Like Sonic Advance 3 has NOTHING on Mania.

Part of it was using the switch’s dinky little controllers, but I dunno how much a D pad would fix things.

I dunno, like I’d let’s play it... but damn I just don’t know if I’d ever want to play it for fun.

I could see doing Competition, but an actual full playthrough? No thanks!

The thing is the levels are so long it upsets me because they could have been working on something else like extra characters, special bosses when you’re super sonic... ANYTHING

Like I really hope there’s a Sonic Mania 2, but if it’s anywhere as long as Mania, or LORD forbid LONGER... fuck.

The thing is, this has been Sonic’s problem since Sonic Heroes, the length of games. The reason why none of the classics had 3 acts until Advance 3 was because you get sick of the levels and passing them faster makes it feel like you’re making rapid progress.

EVERY Sonic game since Heroes has either had 10-30 minute levels or 5 acts and yeah Mania has only two acts, but damn they are SO LONG.

Like jeesh I would have been happy if they cut some of it for Amy... Like all she has is a cameo like fuck you.

They should be proud for making the best bosses in any Sonic game tho. Like hot damn they’re all so good.

[theareya]

even numbers for the gaming asks!

Okay, its been 1000 years since I posted this gaming ask. But here are the answers!!!! I put most under the read more…

2. First game you played?The first game I ever played ever, in thehistory of forever, was Super Mario Bros. at my babysitter’s house, if mymemory serves me correctly

4. Longest consecutive hours you’ve played agame?Ohkay, let’s see. Without eating or bathing,but I did get up briefly to bathroom and drink water, I finished uncharted 1,2, and 3 consecutively in 120 hrs. Needless to say, I never did that again, asthe blood vessels in my eyes popped, I ate two bigmacs after, and my parentsyelled at me. Otherwise, without moving or tending to most of my basic bodilyneeds, 10 hours max as of late.

6. An underrated game from within the last fewyears?I don’t know, I’m probably biased and neverreally look online to see how the game was rated/how it’s doing. Oh! But! Ireally liked Battleborn, which was basically a game that came out like a littlebefore Overwatch? Or near the same time, actually. You also fight in teamsagainst one another with unique character abilities to obtain certainobjectives. Honestly, it is extremely well done and detailed, but very muchfalls in Overwatch’s shadow possibly due to similarity and budget D:  8. The game with the best atmosphere/scenery?I’m biased. I love Bioshock. But I also am ahuge fan of those apocalyptic, dystopia aesthetics. So, essentially, anythingalong the lines of bioshock, Fallout, and Last of us.

10. Prefer PC or console?I’ve always played on console. And I’m so bad atPC. You would think it’s a bit easier to aim a cursor to shoot at something,but I’m particularly bad at that.

12. Most bizarre game you’ve ever played?Most games are pretty… bizarre. Most of theactual weird ones I’ve only seen online on those “top ten weirdest video games”but maybe Katamari? There are definitely weirder ones… The Nightmare Within wasalso… strange. I don’t actually know what counts as bizarre anymore in thegaming world. Shrek party…

14. Do you watch playthroughs online?Sometimes, yes! If I know I am never going toget the game. For example, an xbox exclusive (I do not have an xbox) or if Ialready played the game and want to see others suffer, lmao. Or if I like thestreamer.

16. The best year in gaming you’ve experienced?… I don’t remember. I’m going to say 2011.

18. Worst game you’ve played?There are probably worse games, but I’ll go withthe most recent one I’ve played, which was Bound by Flame. It was kind of thisunfortunate mix of—attempt at—Dark Souls, Dragon Age, and other medieval games.Some parts of the gameplay were unnecessarily hard for kicks, with no way toovercome the boss aside from chipping away at the health by throwing a rock atit, while your single dead companion lay sprawled in the middle of the fieldten seconds into the fight. And of the one and a half romance options pergender you were allowed, none of them were very enticing. Spoiler** I overcamethe end fight by purchasing 10,000 potions to fight the dragon. I made itthrough just fine, only after using 600 potions. Strategy was little help, butheyo I made it through. 20. Favorite publisher and/or developer?…Sony? I don’t know… I’m terrible at thesequestions.

22. If you could turn one game into movie, whichwould it be?You know I don’t know, since any game thatturns into a movie makes me want to cry bitter tears of hate. I’m looking atresident evil specifically. But if I could turn Bioshock into a really goodmovie with the proper actors/actresses, storyline, extras, atmosphere, then …yeah.

24. Ever cried because of a video game? Whichone(s)?…Too many. Nothing gets me more invested andemotional than a videogame. I guess the only one that has made me actually cryvisible tears is Journey. The ending overwhelmed me in an inexplicable way.

26. How often do you play online? Co-op?Relatively often now, especially withOverwatch, and the fact that a lot of my friends have Overwatch as well. So,like, every other day, if not daily. Otherwise, I love co-oping with a friend mostlybecause the AI that they give to work with you tends to … suck butts. Lookingat Resident Evil… again.

28. Who got YOU into gaming?My babysitter. Haahaa. I used to hang out ather house all the time and I’d watch her play all sorts of games. She’s alsothe one who gifted me my purple game boy color :’D30. On average, how long does it take you in thecharacter creation screen?Could be up to an hour. But at least 30minutes. It depends on if I know what I want.

32. Do you cosplay?I do! But I’ve actually only cosplayed animethings. Most of the video game stuff I would like to cosplay is too hard and/orI wouldn’t do it justice. Also I’ve been parts of group cosplays generally, sowe gotta find a good match.

34. Favorite male npc?For some unknown reason, the only personpopping into my head right now is erandur, the dark elf companion, from skyrim.Like… he’s not my favorite npc, but…my mind is drawing a complete blank. And isjust repeating that name over and over in my head. Oh boy

36. Best antagonist?Albert Wesker. …Spoiler??** Look… if you gottathrow him in a volcano to get rid of him after 200 tries of “just survive longenough” fights, he’s pretty good to me. Please let him die.  

38. Have you tried a game, hated it, then triedagain, and loved it?N….no? There are some games where I getfrustrated, then invite a friend to play, who is extremely over-leveled, andthen they help me… live. Does that count?40. Favorite voice actor?Okay, I love Troy Baker. How can one person beso gosh darn versatile?? For anyone who doesn’t know (I doubt that) He voicesJoel from TLOU, Booker from Bioshock, Sam Drake from Uncharted, to name theones that pop into my head. And he does like a million other voices, and sings,and is just very excellent overall. 

42. A game you will never forget (in a bad ORgood way)?Resident Evil 5 in the respect that I justplayed it during a very happy time in my life with one of my friends. And itwas also when I learned that I really love co-op, as well it was a supertreasured bonding time with that friend. We legit screamed so obnoxiouslythroughout the whole thing, apologized profusely, yelled for help. Like thatgame brought out our full range of emotion while playing.

44. Do graphics matter?Not necessarily. They add a nice kick, butthere are quite a few games I can think of where the gameplay and story aremore prominent. Storyline is generally always the main thing I look for first.Storyline and characters. 46. Always, sometimes, or never use subtitles?ALWAYS. Even for NPCs. Like the setting thatsays “ALL SUBTITLES” one of the reasons is because it alerts me to enemiessometimes too as they whisper in the distance. Which is the closest thing to awarning from jump scares that I’m going to get.

48. A game you’ve always wanted to play but havenever gotten to it?Um. I’ve actually been pretty aggressive ingetting my grubby hands on the games that I want. EXCEPT. Nearly everythingthat came out after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of memories?? Like 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 5 ½,365/3 days  idk there were too many?? AndI basically had almost every console except the PSP so I just kind of gave up??

50. How many games do you own?…uh… too many?? At least 200 if you total allof them from the dawn of my first game boy color.52. A game you will always stand behind, andsupport no matter what?..Fable. OKAY So, even though the game, alongwith the game company crashed and burned, I really loved that first game??Along with The Lost Chapters. I essentially based the experiences I had withFable 2, 3, Journey on how good the first game was. If I were to make someoneplay it now, they would probably think it’s pretty dumb, but I thought it was acleverly made game…54. A sequel you really want?… lmao Fable. AND/OR The Wolf Among us, becausethat’s been sitting there for far too long.56. Do you tell people irl that you play videogames?Yeah. If it comes up in the conversation. Or if…they have merchandise that I want.

58. Ever have someone walk in on a sex scenebetween you and you LI?N…o…60. The game you are best at?I know Bioshock inside and out… I don’t knowwhy I’ve played it so much, it’s a very linear game, but wuh. Also weirdly, I’mvery good at Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. And the only reason I’m obnoxiously goodat that game is because of the Chaos. I love those ridiculous little things andwould do anything to make sure they’re happy and healthy. And in order to dothat I had to play each stage multiple times to get the right power-ups andanimals to feed the Chaos…. There was a whole garden. And god.

62. Would you want to work with video games whenyou are older?I feel like if I start working with it I’llstart disliking it very much, unless I literally work as a tester… that getspaid a decent amount. Like seriously, walk in, sit down, play for… hours uponhours. Otherwise, I do not have the creativity or skill. lmao.

64. Describe your favorite video game using onlythree words?Underwater death city.

66. Game with the yummiest looking food?Final Fantasy XV. Okay, so I haven’t finishedthe game. I’m really not even that far into it, like… at all. I just saw thefood and got hungry. It’s so realistic and pretty.  

68. An older game that you’ve just recentlygotten into?I guess… Fallout New Vegas was pretty old, butthen my friend bought it for me on sale, and I tried it out and it was supergood??? And now I’m really into the Fallout series.

70. Do you play any mobile games?I.. play Fire Emblem Heroes, and a variety ofother mobile games like.. Notice me Senpai, Zen Koi, Mystic Messenger, uhhh…whatever is recommended sometimes. .

72. Have any guilty pleasure games?Not really. I’m pretty prideful in every game Iplay, including my otome games.74. Which game has the best lore?…Once…. Again, BIOSHOCK. Idk there are just somany little things in the city that you can find that point to the history ofthe residents, and what happened to them. There are those audio messages and littlesecrets that everybody has in the city, leading to its fall. I just love it somuch. Skyrim is a close second, to be fair. It’s more immersive and I canroleplay more on there.

[tininsteelian]

My Game Of The Year Top 10 List Thing, I Guess

Is this what you’re supposed to use Tumblr for? I have no idea. Anyways, here’s My Game Of The Year Top 10 List Thing, I Guess!

This list only includes games I’ve actually played that came out in 2017. I haven’t played all of the big-name games that came out this year, so here’s a list of every new game I played this year that isn’t objectively shovelware:

Android: Fire Emblem Heroes, OK Golf, Monogolf, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

Nintendo Switch: Fast RMX, Infinite Minigolf, Kamiko, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Namco Museum, Picross S, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Snipperclips, Sonic Mania, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Ping Pong Trick Shot, Vroom in the Night Sky

PC: 100ft Robot Golf, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, Golf It!, Guts and Glory, Jackbox Party Pack 4, Pictopix, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, Project Cars 2, Tacopocalypse

Xbox One: Forza Motorsport 7

I bought a few more decent games that came out this year, but I haven’t gotten around to playing them yet, so they’re not included in the above list. I also bought a lot of old games and shovelware this year; you can check out my Backloggery here for proof. Anyway, here’s the list:

#10: 100ft Robot Golf

One of the best concepts for a game ever made. The game itself is pretty good, too. I might personally prefer the live-action cutscenes from No Goblin’s previous game Roundabout, but the anime cutscenes are also cool. My favorite mode is the one where you control four robots at the same time, trying to hit four golf balls into the same hole in a given time limit. I also really like the mech that’s controlled by five dogs, they’re good dogs.

Technically this game first came out last year, but it didn’t come to the PC until February of this year, which is when I was first able to play it.

#9: Sonic Mania

I have a couple of controversial opinions related to the Sonic series. I think that Sonic Adventure 1 is the best 3D Sonic game ever made, and I also think that Sonic Generations isn’t any better than Sonic 06. But I don’t think it’s controversial to say that Sonic Mania is a great game. The first playthrough is kind of annoying because you can’t go back and do old zones again until you beat the game. Also, you go back to the beginning of the zone, not the level, when you get a game over. And most of the deaths I had felt cheap in one way or another. But it was fun! Unlike almost every other Sonic game ever made, all of the stages are designed with going fast in mind, even the final few stages. There are definitely slow-paced platforming segments, but there aren’t very many instances where trying to go fast will hurt or kill you, so you can hold right and enjoy the great graphics and scenery flying by. I also really enjoyed the new-to-Mania zones, more than the old zones, in fact. The music in these zones in particular is fantastic, although it’s great in pretty much every level in the game.

#8: Picross S

It’s Picross, on the Switch! What more could you want? Well, a few more puzzles would be nice. There are 150 puzzles, but none of them are larger than 20x15 pixels, so I got through all of them fairly quickly. There’s also a Mega Picross mode, which is the same 150 puzzles, but sometimes the numbers of two adjacent rows or columns are combined. It’s kind of dumb. I also wish you could draw pixels on the touch screen, but the pixels do get pretty small in the bigger puzzles. Hopefully we’ll see a Picross S2, Picross S3, Picross S4, Picross S5, Picross S6, etc. in the coming months and years.

#7: Forza Motorsport 7

I have a LOT of complaints about this game.

The single player campaign sucks. I haven’t played a mainline Forza Motorsport game since 4, as I didn’t get an Xbox One until recently. Therefore, I don’t know what the campaigns were like in 5 and 6, but apparently 7 was supposed to make the campaign races feel like an actual racing series, with more realistic points distributions and all that. Great in theory, but the execution is terrible. In real racing, even the best drivers lose more than half of their races. In order to beat a series in Forza 7, you have to win every race in the series. Forza Horizon 3 did it right by not requiring you to win every race; you could finish last in every race in a championship, and you’d still beat the championship. Credits rewards are tied to the difficulty of the AI, so you want to turn it up to get more money, but then you’re more likely to lose races, which makes you want to turn the difficulty down or compensate by using a bunch of assists, like the stupid one that makes you drive as fast on the grass as on the road. There’s also no qualifying, so everybody starts in the same position every race, and the AI tends to finish in the same position every race as well. You also have to finish every race in a series before moving to the next series, which is annoying. So basically, every mechanic in single player is designed against having fun. Great!

Then there’s the progression. It’s slow, to say the least. There was controversy surrounding the VIP credits bonus, as it initially only gave you a few temporary cards that doubled your credits. However, it was updated to double your credits after every race, so that’s good. It still feels like you don’t gain credits fast enough to be able to buy and upgrade as many cars as you want, and that’s after I abused a glitch that allowed you to get infinite rewards (which has since been patched).

The game is also crash-prone, to the point of being almost unplayable on PC. The PC version has a memory leak which crashes the game after a few minutes if you look at your garage or upgrade your car. The Xbox version is more stable, but it’s still crashed a couple of times for me.

You’d think all of these criticisms would push the game off the top ten, right? But here’s the thing: multiplayer is super fun. Sure, it takes about ten minutes to get into your first race, because you always end up in a lobby where the race has just started. And sure, half the races end up in disaster because the guy behind you crashed into you at full speed at the first corner, but when you get near the front of the pack and have a good race with some other drivers, it’s a blast. I tried ghost racing for the first time the other day, and it led to surprisingly close and fun racing.

So yeah, Forza 7 is a pretty fun game, as long as you only play multiplayer.

#6: Monogolf

Decent mobile games are hard to come by these days. For a while, my go-to phone game was True Skate, but then it stopped working on my phone. Thanks, Huawei! Before that, I played Desert Golfing, but it got a bit boring after 3,000 holes. I saw Monogolf in the Google Play Store recently, thought it looked cool, and downloaded it. Now it’s my new go-to game.

Like many phone-based golf games (believe me, I’ve played a lot), you simply drag on the screen to point where you want the ball to go, and how fast it should go. The catch is that you have to get a hole-in-one on each hole. If you don’t, you lose a life. Beat as many holes as possible until you run out of lives. It’s super fun to try and beat your record, and you often do, as you’re constantly unlocking new lives. You also unlock extra level packs for reaching certain milestones.

The game’s art style is also really cool. A lot of mobile games go for the modern look, but it ends up looking cheap. Monogolf’s graphics don’t, helped by the variety of vivid colors and textures on the holes.

As far as in-app purchases are concerned, you can pay about $4.50 to unlock everything, including all of the pieces for course creation and the maximum number of lives, but everything can also be unlocked through normal playing.

I said a lot about Monogolf. The top five games are all Switch games, that wasn’t intentional, sorry.

#5: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Tin, why is this game not number one?

Because I liked the four games above this one better. That’s not to say Breath of the Wild isn’t a great game, because it is. And it deserves the overwhelming praise it’s gotten, too. I’ve just never been a huge fan of RPG or adventure games. Having never played more than a few hours of a Zelda game before, I expected to only play the game for a few hours just because using the Switch was a novelty at the time. However, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. Running around the vast open world is fun, as are the shrines. Somehow, I managed to defeat a Divine Beast before finding a single korok seed, so now there’s a korok seed permanently in the middle of my Divine Beast orbs in my inventory. I really need to go back and beat the two Divine Beasts I didn’t get so I can try out the DLC, because that skeleton bike looks super cool.

#4: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

So this is just an updated version of Mario Kart 8, which came out three years ago. Some might say that makes it ineligible for 2017 awards, but I don’t care.

Deluxe adds several new gameplay mechanics, new characters and karts, and an updated Battle Mode. The addition of a second item box makes for an even more hectic experience than Not_Deluxe, and also adds a bit of an extra layer of strategy. Should you go for the double item box, or will someone else snatch it up, leaving you with no items? The triple boost is also nice. Deluxe adds the Inklings from Splatoon as playable characters, which automatically makes the game twice as good (this is a scientifically provable fact). The Battle Mode is also really good, although I haven’t played it that much, because regular racing is so great. Given how all of this was added on to an already-great game, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is probably the best game in the series, and arguably the best racing game this generation (the other major contender being Forza Horizon 3).

#3: Puyo Puyo Tetris

Yes, I know this came out years ago. I imported a Vita copy back in 2015 for my PSTV that I never use. However, I’m including it in this list because it didn’t receive an English release until this year, which means that I can actually read the menus and story.

It turns out that combining two of the best puzzle games ever made creates another great puzzle game. Who would have thought? The story mode is great fun, and the story itself is surprisingly enjoyable, particularly the part where Schezo makes a bunch of innuendos. As far as the main modes go, Swap mode is objectively the best mode, as both players play both Puyo Puyo and Tetris, and do so on an even playing field. Versus mode is the next best, particularly when both players are playing the same game. Puyo vs. Tetris matches can be a bit lopsided, due to the two games having different garbage rules. Big Bang mode is alright too, particularly the Puyo version. You should avoid the Party and Fusion modes though, they’re bad.

Playing online is super fun, although most people play Tetris, unsurprisingly. Playing against someone at a similar skill level results in super tense and exciting matches, often with both players scrambling to clear enough garbage to be able to make a decent combo again. Lopsided matches do happen pretty often, though. Fortunately, you can disable matches in modes you don’t like, even in ranked mode. I usually just play Swap and Versus, although I’ll sometimes play Big Bang as well.

#2: Super Mario Odyssey

While a lot of games recently have focused on huge, expansive worlds, with various places to do things, Odyssey instead has relatively small levels with things to do EVERYWHERE. There are essentially as many moons in this game as there are korok seeds in Breath of the Wild, which means that moons are probably 50 feet apart from each other on average. There’s always something new to do that won’t take more than a couple of minutes when you go back to a particular level (unless you’ve gotten all the moons on that level, of course, but even then you might have to go back for a thing or two…). Some people have said that it feels like busy work to get all of the moons, and it is to some extent, but I found it wasn’t that difficult to get most of, if not all the moons in a level in a few-hour session or two.

New Donk City is one of my favorite levels in any video game, ever. The music, atmosphere, and level design are all so fantastic that I had fun for hours just messing around, jumping through the city and up to the top of buildings. It’s definitely the standout level of the game IMO.

Mario has probably the best movement I’ve ever felt in any video game. There are so many different things he can do that I feel like I still haven’t learned all of his abilities, even though I’ve 100%ed the game. The jump -> throw cap -> dive to cap -> jump off cap -> throw cap again -> dive to cap again mechanic is super fun to perform, and not as complicated as it sounds. It takes a couple of tries to get used to, but it’s very intuitive once you get used to it.

The capture ability is also amazing. It surprisingly doesn’t feel gimmicky at all, as each of the objects you can capture let you do the things you’d want to do in a given level. Cheep-Cheeps can let you swim more quickly, Goombas let you walk on ice without slipping around, posts let you spring up the sides of buildings, and so on. My favorite object to capture is probably the pokey thing in Bowser’s Castle that I don’t remember the name of that lets you snap to and spring up walls, although it’s also one of the more finnicky objects to use.

Overall, SMO is probably the best platformer I’ve ever played, and I thoroughly enjoyed 100 percenting it. It would be my game of the year, except I happened to like one game even more. Can you guess what it is?

#1: Splatoon 2

You probably guessed what it was.

Splatoon 2 is the only game from this year that I played for more than 100 hours. For comparison, I played one game for more than 100 hours in 2016, Forza Horizon 3, and three games for more than 100 hours in 2015: Super Mario Maker, Rocket League, and Splatoon. Super Mario Maker and Rocket League are probably two of my top ten games of all time, and Forza Horizon 3 isn’t far behind. Splatoon would also be one of my top ten favorite games, if it wasn’t for the fact that Splatoon 2 is objectively so much better.

If you’ve never played Splatoon, the goal is basically to paint the floor with more ink than the other team (also you should play it right now). It sounds silly, but it’s super fun. The ranked modes are also great, and your rank is now broken up per mode, instead of all the modes contributing to the same rank. That’s great, because now you don’t have to only play one ranked mode if you’re better at that mode than the others.

There are a bunch of new gear items, some of which are really cool. I really like the tye-dye shirt, and also the jungle hat that everyone hates. You can also wear a plant if you really want to. I need to make it as clear as possible that the visual aesthetic of this game just oozes with coolness. It’s probably the coolest game I’ve ever played.

There are several new weapon types, too. The Splat Dualies are neat because you can dash twice while firing, making yourself a difficult target. The Splat Brella gives you a shield, but it isn’t very useful in practice IMO.

The new stages feel a lot more open than the stages in Splatoon 1. Humpback Pump Track has an incredible name and is a great smaller level, while Mako Mart has a more open feel, and the supermarket design is fantastic. It’s definitely my favorite level in the series. Most of my favorite stages from Splatoon 1 have made also their way to the sequel, including Port Mackerel, Kelp Dome, Walleye Warehouse, and Moray Towers (yes, I like that map).

Splatoon 2’s single player campaign is similar to the first game’s, with the added twist that you have to use various different weapons throughout the missions, instead of just the Splattershot. This adds a lot of replay value, as you now have to beat each level with each different weapon to 100 percent (or 1000 percent) the campaign. I’m about halfway through doing this, and I intend on finishing it eventually.

Salmon Run is new to Splatoon 2, and it’s a great new mode. You have waves of hordes of enemies that want to murder you, and you have to murder them first. There are probably much better explanations of the mode available. It also makes you try out new weapons, as the weapon you use is randomly assigned at the start of each wave from a set of four weapons. My main complaint with this mode is that I wish there were more rotations with completely random weapons, as a lot of the rotations with preset weapons tend to have a lot of weapons with low firing rates, which makes the mode more difficult and arguably less fun. Also, you can only play the mode on certain days, which is kind of silly.

Splatoon 2 is one of those games that’s greater than the sum of its parts. On paper, it sounds cool, but not as amazing as it really is. I almost didn’t buy the first Splatoon, which is something I have a hard time believing now (the same thing is true for Rocket League). It’s hard to put into words why, but the finished product, with all the great gameplay mechanics and super cool style blended together, is simply amazing. It’s more fun and cool than any other game I’ve played this year, so it’s an easy choice for my Game of the Year.

Hooray!

Honorable Mentions

These are games that would probably be on the list if I had a PS4 so I could play them:

Everybody’s Golf: I like golf games, as you might have noticed by the number of golf games I’ve played this year. This is a golf game, therefore I should like it.

Gran Turismo Sport: Gran Turismo is one of my favorite series of all time. A lot of people haven’t liked the more serious mode of racing that Sport offers, but I think it’ll be right up my alley. The livery editor also looks super cool.

Wipeout Omega Collection: I really liked Wipeout HD, and this is basically that, but with an even higher definition! Also, it has the tracks from Wipeout 2048 which I haven’t seen before.

These games almost made the Top Ten, but didn’t:

Jackbox Party Pack 4: It’s fun, but JPP3 is better IMO. Don’t worry, I’ll still be streaming more Jackbox in the future.

PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS: I haven’t played this game much because it gives me anxiety when I play it. I really don’t like loud noises, so hearing a random gunshot after 20 minutes of silence startles me a lot. It’s also kind of slow-paced. I do like the concept more, so I’ll probably play it again soon, maybe with some music in the background.

Come back next year for my 2018 list, which will probably be the post after this one, given how little I use Tumblr!