#hi fi rush firmware update

[azurajae]

I'm excited to finally post this after so long, but here is the first chapter to my Hi-Rush fancomic: Firmware Update! Thanks so much for the support leading up to this!

You can read the full chapter on AO3!

While I'll share chapter updates here on tumblr, I will be posting both updates and sneak peeks on my twitter! @azurajae

Note: Please do not print, redistribute, and/or sell this comic! Thank you!

[watercolorsam-arts]

Something I genuinely love about Hi-Fi Rush is how characters can be funny, but also have GENUINE moments with each other.

Spoilers below break

The scene in the museum, the moment Chai and Peppermint have is heartfelt and it doesn’t make fun of itself, they do the joke at the end, but it doesn’t take away from or ruin the moment.

“Wanna go crash a party?” “I’ve actually been waiting this whole time to use that line, but I’ll let you have it”

Even the whole reflection and surfacing section, it’s fun, and goofy at times. But it takes the heart of it all so seriously! They get their jokes in “I for one like your pants Mr. Chai” but it’s again, something that never takes away how you feel in that moment. You can just feel how much the characters have helped each other grow in the short time they’ve been together.

I feel like so many other games in a similar style would have not handled those moments well at all, they would fumble it, and I’m so happy that Tango and the writers knew that you can have a deep conversation, while also having some lighthearted jokes. Other studios would have made too big of a joke out of them. I think it would mostly be them making Chai’s character arc worse or non existent, because early game Chai would not have had that conversation with Peppermint without ruining it.

Hi-Fi Rush is silly, heartfelt, and GENUINE in everything it does, it doesn’t matter if they’re making the joke about the decaf firmware update (which is so funny that a background detail has that much influence on the writing) or making the majority of the cast groan over a bad pun, or having a deep conversation about family and trust, and believing in yourself and who you want to be.

Walking through the dev room and listening to “Making Things is Hard” still makes me tear up “We did our best, and here it is. A piece of our heart, the hard work from all of us”. This was a team who really seemed to love what they were doing. And it’s extremely funny trying to read an arrow to the knee joke through tears.

I still think it’s kinda funny Microsoft chose to kill off Tango, after they made a game almost entirely about corporate greed and why that’s bad. I can’t wait for them to make reference to it and make fun of Microsoft in the sequel.

[ejthenobody]

Random Thing I Feel Like Talking About: The Vandelay Soft Drinks in Hi-Fi Rush!

Warning: Hi-Fi Rush spoilers.

Forgive me if I format this a bit weirdly, I just feel like sharing about this very minor and random thing in my current absolute #1 favorite game, Hi-Fi Rush.

Anyway, in this game, you can find these various vending machines throughout pretty much every regular level, aside from the first as they're introduced in Track 2. The whole point of them is that you can smack the heck outta them to get a bunch of gears and batteries to recharge your Reverb gauge (your beeg special attack gauge if you don't know). Very helpful for the first playthrough when you need all the gears you can get in order to get all of your moves sooner rather than later, plus you can do some casual combo practice with 'em.

In the process of destroying these vending machines though, they spit out a ton of cans of the six drinks shown on them. All six drinks are branded and based on the six department heads at Vandelay, these being Korsi-Cola, Rekka Pure Energy (Get apple Juiced), Mimosa Sparkling Water, Carte Blanche, Kale-Ale Executive (I think?), and Roquefort Espresso.

Here's close ups of the vending machine's screen:

However, while messing around in Photo Mode today in Track 4, I realized something really, really cool: the drinks all actually have nutritional information on them!

But it's not just some basic scanned image grabbed from some random canned soft drink and slapped onto the textures, instead it's all stuff based on the personalities of the department head the drink is based on! Here are some pictures of each label:

I don't really know why but I just love each and every single one of these, not just for being funny and interesting, but also because they exist at all! It's such a minor detail that I feel like most people never notice, but it's just so charming to me that it's there!

Some details I wanna point out in specific about these cans are: 1) All of these labels say "Please Recycle!" at the bottom, except for Kale Ale which commandingly says "Recycle!"

2) Korsi-Cola is a caffeine-free cola which I both like the idea of as someone who loves soda but prefers non-caffeinated ones, but also I can't help but interpret this as the VAGUEST and MOST SUBTLE form of foreshadowing for at least the very end of the Decaf Firmware Update joke. And aside from just that running gag I like that it's caffeine-free and has a little label on it that says something along the lines of "a calm mind makes the right choice." It makes a lot of sense for Korsica's drink to be branded like that, namely due to what happens with her in the story and how she interacts with Chai directly before, during, and after her boss battle.

3) All of the info written on these labels and on the rest of the cans alludes to something about each character, some in more obvious ways than others. Roquefort Espresso says "Unleash Your Inner Beast" or something like that on it (along with Silver Extract as the other ingredient). Mimosa Sparkling Water has "Mimosa Flavor" as the second ingredient which is just the most vain way to put it. Carte Blanche (Zanzo's drink if you didn't put that together) as a noun literally means, "complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best."

I could keep talking for at least two more paragraphs but I think I'll stop here. Just wanted to share this because it's pretty funny and cool to me, and is just one of many, MANY things that shows much effort and polish went into Hi-Fi Rush.

[azurajae]

Almsot forgot to post this on tumblr, but Chapter 3 of Firmware Update is now avaliable on Ao3!

This is my favorite chapter so far! I'm so excited to share with y'all :D Thanks for all the support!

[azurajae]

Chapter 2 of Firmware Update is now avaliable on AO3!

I hope you guys enjoy! This one's a doozy ^^

[azurajae]

I perpetually forget to update my tumblr whenever I upload chapters OTL

But I finally uploaded Chapter 6 of Firmware Update! You can find the full chapter on AO3!

This is by far my favorite chapter >:) Please enjoy!

[jackthelightningripper]

Friend of mine made a cute Hi-Fi Rush Drawing!

Also literally why does the coffee machine need a firmware update.

i drew korsica for this month's postcard print! she'll be up for pre-order soon!!! i'm really really happy with how she turned out and i hope you guys like her too!!

[azurajae]

What in the name of god inspired you to make Hi Fi rush firmware update? Also why is most fan comics want to take hi fi rush to such dark tone? (Side note love the comic especially the chapter where Chai has a nightmare)

Ooo, thank you for the ask >< I wasn't expecting one, and it means a lot that you sent one! Thank you for taking the time to read the chapters ^^ I'm happy to hear you are enjoying it!

Firmware Update was originally a fanfic that I had partially written in the style of a DLC. Without revealing too much of what I have planned, it's kind of just my take of tying up loose ends in the main story. Never mentioned this before yet, but I was really inspired by 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish', which had come out at the time I wrote most of the story, and I think it influenced the vibe a lot too.

Firmware Update was never supposed to be a thing. I had wanted to make it into a fancomic, but I was sort of wishywashy about it. However, I shared my ideas with my friend, @rinto190, and they encouraged me to try to make it. And thus, the fancomic was born! So thanks to Angel for the encouragement and for beta-ing the chapters :D

Also, that's an interesting point you brought up. I think it's just a side effect of a lighthearted story. I've noticed that serious, heavy stories often have fluffy fanfics while lighthearted stories tend to have angsty fanfics. The grass is greener type of thing? It's not always the case, but it's a pattern I've noticed sometimes. It is pretty fun to put characters through new experiences!

Fun fact: the original idea for Firmware Update was actually a lot more lighthearted than the current version and matched the tone of the game. But I'm an angst-lover at heart, so I think the story naturally become a little more angsty because it's what I'm more experienced writing, though I still try to add funny moments because that's what made me love Hi-Fi Rush :D

[azurajae]

Bro my apologies not asking this in the 1st question i made to you but what does it say on the poster of HFR: Firmware update product defective and then says other things in somesort of weird letters also how many chapters are you planning for Firmware update

No worries! I actually like getting asks a lot :D (I totally forgot that tumblr had this feature)

By weird symbols, do you mean these?

To be honest, this is supposed to just be seen as complete gibberish, but they actually do say something. It's written with the Inkling font by Eli, which is found here. It's a little distorted, but I think you could try to decrypt it if you want (though I actually don't remember what it exactly says). I was originally going to use Wingdings, but I couldn't get it to look right. I actually had the Inkling font installed for a Splatoon project that never took off, so I just used that instead xD

As for how many chapters Firmware Update is going to have... to be honest I'm not really sure. I think somewhere around the 12-15 chapter range, depending on how things turn out. But I'm willing to extend it or cut it down if I feel the story needs it.

Now i just realize that this was a big project, but I intended this to keep me busy until the Hi-Fi Rush DLC or the sequel and well... I still intend to finish this out though, no matter how long it might take.

[azurajae]

I'm happy to announce that Ch1 of my Hi-Fi Rush fancomic 'Firmware Update' will be posted on Jan 10th on AO3!

🔖Synopsis: When Chai is threatened with losing everything, he's put at odds with his friends. Instead of accepting his horrid fate, he decides to take his own path… or is it?

Big thanks to @rinto190 for being the beta and proofing of this story ! This story was originally an unfinished fic that I felt unsatified in written form. Thanks to them I got motivated to make this! The story couldn't be what it is without their help, so thanks a lot ♥️

I don't know how frequently I'll be posting, but I will be posting this story by chapter. I'm aiming for at least an update once a month if I can. Chapter legnth will vary depending on what I feel is best for the story. Chapter 1 is currently the shortest and can be seen as an 'intro' to this story.

I hope you all will enjoy this story, I've been working on it for months!

[azurajae]

Thank you so much @TangoGameworks, words cannot say how much happiness Hi-Fi Rush brought me. I hope with all my heart that everyone there can find a new place to call home soon ♥️

I'm still tangoing with my grief, this mini-comic is now canon to the Firmware Update timeline (taking place before the first chapter). Tango-chan might be making an appearance sometime in the future.

I just can't let Tango and Hi-Fi Rush die like this. I won't.

[Twitter]