#those were like the two main consoles I played games on as a kid they were a big part of my childhood

[sweetandglovelyart]

Might be showing my age a little bit here, but did any of you guys also play Super Princess Peach on the DS when you were kids? It was one of my favorite DS games when I was younger, and the impending release of Princess Peach Showtime has gotten me thinking about it again. I still have my cartridge for it, and I also still have the original case and instruction booklet that came with it.

Even after all these years it still works too! Can’t believe that this game is almost twenty years old!

[viburnt]

Midoriya I.|| Childhood promises

Type: Headcanons+Snippet

Genre: Fluff

Characters involved: Midoriya Izuku (main)/Uraraka Ochaco (secondary on the reading bite)

Prompt: As kids, Izuku gifted you a plastic ring and told you he'd marry you in the future. Now it's a recurrent joke to call each other fiancé.

• It happened when Izuku was 7; the street fair was nearby and his mom had given him some money to spend with you on treats and games. He was so excited, his hand timidly holding yours as the hanging lights guided your way

• One of the stands had caught his attention: it was a lucky duck pond, one of those games where you need to catch two different rubber duckies with the same number to win. 3 chances, no skills involved.

• “Do you think if we get our lucky charms together, we could win a prize?” The lucky charms in question were an All Might collectible card and a snail shell you found at the park.

• The freckled boy was enthusiastic about it, confidently paying the old man running the game a couple of silver coins to play. His hands gently lowered the small fishnet provided to play. First number: 3.

• Izuku could hear you rooting for him by his side. All he had to do was get another one like that. Sticking his tongue out, praying to his All Might card, he sank the net once more. Second number: 9.

• He felt like crying.

• You patted his hand in a comforting way, threatening the nearby kids who mocked him. “Hey, let me try!”

• The result was the same, sadly. However, the old man was touched by you two that he gave out a consolation prize to lift your spirits. It was a plastic jewelry set: a silver crown, a magic wand and a couple of rings.

• The path back home didn't feel so bad after that.

• “At least the rings are pretty, do you think we could wear them at school?” You said, making Midoriya think. “But aren't matching rings for marriage? My mom says so.”

• After a brief silence, Izuku's green eyes lit up, feeling a slight wave of nervousness as the words rolled out of his mouth. “Then I'll marry you! W-we can wear them until we grow up and then get m-married!”

• Your face felt warm as you heard him speak, feeling his hand eagerly placing the silver ring on your left hand.

• Ever since, neither of you take the plastic piece off, even if it's old and the colors washed out. Not to mention that the whenever you see each other, the word “Fiancé/Fiancée” rolls out of your mouths.

—Hi! If you have a moment, I'm looking for a person. Do you think you can help me?

Ochako heard with attention as you spoke, tilting his head at the style you sported. Compared to the gray uniform and green tie U.A students wore, your clothes were more of an Eastern streetwear.

—Uh, sure thing! Who are you looking for?— The brunette said with a sympathetic smile. —Are they from 1st year or 2nd?

—Izuku Midoriya, 1st year!— The name popped out of your mouth, catching Uraraka's interest.

—Really? He is from my class! I'll take you there.— She offered, making you feel relieved. —Are you from his family or something? I don't think he mentioned any siblings or cousins.

You snorted a little, deciding to play a little with the round-faced girl.

—He is my fiancé! I came to visit him.

The way Ochako's jaw dropped almost had you rolling on the floor laughing, but for the sake of your little joke, you kept a straight face.

—Fiancé?— Her voice stuttered. You nodded, showing off the little plastic ring you always carried. —Since when? How did that happen?

You tapped on your chin as if thinking.

—Since kids, we promised each other. We'll be hitting it off as soon as he graduates.

Uraraka couldn't hide her shock.

—Oh, there you are! I see you've met one of my classmates already.— Izuku's voice popped in, joining the conversation as he walked towards you. —Did you have trouble finding the classroom building?

Ochako's finger pointed at him and then to you. It didn't take much for Midoriya to connect the dots.

—You just had to tell her, didn't you?— He muttered, eyeing you with an embarrassed face. — Uraraka, let me explain…

—Wanna come to the wedding?

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[edgy-ella]

My biggest hopes for Sonic x Shadow Generations

This sounds cliche as hell, but watching the trailer for this game made me feel like a little kid again. Sonic Generations is one of my favorite games of all time and I still vividly remember when it was announced. That being said, I, like many other Sonic fans, thought it was a bit weird that Generations was next up on the remaster train once leaks started to circulate about it. The game has been available on places like Steam for over a decade and still looks and plays fantastically, unlike games like Heroes and Unleashed which remain stuck on their original console gen or the Adventure games which desperately need a visual touch up at the very least.

But if they’re going to remake Generations, I’m glad that this is the route they’re taking with it. I’ve always been a big Shadow fan, so I’m thrilled to see him get his own side story in Generations that explores his past adventures alongside Sonic’s main campaign. Especially since, let’s face it, levels like Westopolis aren’t nearly as fondly remembered as levels like Green Hill or City Escape. This is a good opportunity to go back to old concepts in a better engine and really make them shine. The original Generations did this with Crisis City and the Silver boss fight, so I have faith in Sonic Team’s ability to do the same thing again this time around with the more Shadow-centric content.

(It’s also a great way to reintroduce Shadow to newer fans in preparation for the next Sonic movie)

But, outside of general polish, what do I want out of this game? I’ve 100%’d the original Generations, so I feel like I’m in a better position than most to share my thoughts.

1. Consolidate Time Attack with Story Mode

In Sonic Generations, there are two main gameplay modes: the main story, and a separate time attack mode. The latter of which is notoriously buggy, at least on Steam, prone to crashing when loading a level or otherwise just not tracking your times and high scores at all. There’s a reason why playing all of the levels in time attack mode is the game’s rarest achievement on Steam, even more rare than 100%ing the game or beating the final boss without getting hit.

But even if those issues were fixed, I’d still like to see the separate time attack mode removed altogether. If you have a really good run of a certain level in the main story mode, that time will not transfer over to time attack, effectively making your best time worthless since it won’t be put on the online leaderboards. The times you get in time attack mode also don’t bleed over into the main campaign, so if you S-rank a level in one mode, it won’t carry over to the other.

In my opinion, this is really bad game design, and I think Sonic Team knows this. Games released after Generations like Forces have done away with this issue by simply getting rid of time attack mode and tracking all your best times in one place—the main story campaign—and pulling leaderboard placings from there. That’s what I want to see for Sonic x Shadow Generations.

The one argument I could see against this is that Generations has a surprisingly robust customization system that allows you to buy and equip different skills and power ups for Sonic to use in each level. This includes the Chaos Emeralds after you beat the game, which naturally let you play as Super Sonic to blitz through any level with reckless abandon after you get 50 rings. This level of customization can make it difficult to judge the skill of players in a vacuum, which is why a developer may want to bar them from use in a leaderboard setting, especially Super Sonic.

I don’t agree with this mindset. I’d argue that allowing all the different skills and power ups for time attack serves to create a stronger sense of community, as it enforces players to test out different skill setups and share their results with others. I can picture an active community debating amongst themselves which skills would be the best to use on each level. If Super Sonic/Shadow is too much of a concern, then either ban them from the leaderboards like in Forces or create a separate leaderboard just for them.

2. A Stricter Ranking System

Sonic games really fluctuate on how easy or hard it is to get the highest rank in every level. Games like Adventure 2 and 06 can often feel too demanding of the player, which also isn’t good, but Generations falls firmly on the other end of the spectrum. It’s really, really easy to S-rank everything in this game.

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, and I much rather prefer a lenient ranking system over one that’s extremely strict. But when it’s too easy to get S-rank most of the game’s levels, it kills a lot of the game’s replayability. Generations has surprisingly robust level design that I don’t think a lot of people would expect from a boost game, but the game rarely encourages you to take advantage of it. If the most straightforward route gets you the same results as the one that you need precise jumps and quick reflexes to get on, why bother going off the beaten path at all?

Outside of the ease of S-ranks, the time gaps between each rank is also way too big for a game like this. Let’s use Green Hill Act 2 as an example. To get a C-rank you need to beat the level in 11 minutes. To get a B-rank, you need to beat the level in 7 minutes. To get an A-rank, you need to beat the level in 3 minutes. To get an S-rank, you need to get an A-rank and beat the level without dying.

See what I mean? The time gaps here are way too big. In my opinion, they should all be within a minute or even less of each other. Seriously, who the fuck spends 11 minutes on Green Hill Act 2? I can literally only think of one level in the entire game that I ever spent more than ten minutes on, and…

3. Fix Planet Wisp Act 2 omg

Planet Wisp Act 2 is without a doubt the worst level in Generations. Some of the physics at the end of Crisis City Act 1 are a little weird (imagine that), but PW2 is just unbearable. It’s way too long, feels extremely repetitive, and most of the level forces you into a 2D platforming section during a Modern Sonic level. Its poor quality is especially an issue because, while it make not look it, this is the last level of the original release of Generations before the final boss fights.

I don’t think that there are any easy changes you could make to this level that could fix it. I get why they’d want to make it longer than usual since it’s the last level of the game, but when the level feels like a chore to get through, all that work comes off as padding rather than feeling climactic. I honestly think that it would be better to just start from scratch.

If I’m being honest, I’d even go as far as to use a different world from Colors instead. Generations has way too many big grassy areas as is. That’s something that Shadow will help rectify for this remaster, as he will naturally pull from more urban and sci-fi than Sonic, but the point still stands.

4. Mephiles?

Mephiles is a lot of people’s favorite Sonic villain. I am not one of those people. His plan sucks, his design sucks, his lore sucks, his boss fights are underwhelming. The only good parts about him are his voice acting and music.

Weirdly enough though, I’m…kind of hoping he shows up in Sonic x Shadow Generations?

I mean, if there ever was a time to bring him back, now would be it. There’s a long standing fan theory that the Time Eater, the main antagonistic force in Generations, is what’s leftover of Solaris/Mephiles after the events of Sonic 06. Both characters are shadowy time gods, the Time Eater is capable of pulling the bad future from Sonic 06 (Crisis City) even after the events of that game were erased from history, and the Time Eater really doesn’t have any origin or backstory otherwise. I don’t have a source on this, but I’m pretty sure that Ian Flynn supports this theory too.

While it looks like Shadow’s campaign in Sonic x Shadow Generations will mostly focus on his origin story and the Black Arms (which I think is the right move if part of Sega’s goal here is to reintroduce people to the character before the next movie comes out), it’d be a huge missed opportunity to not include Mephiles in some way, shape, or form. His beef with Shadow feels way more personal than his (almost nonexistent) beef with Sonic, so putting him in the Shadow campaign would be a natural fit. I would also love it if the game confirmed the Time Eater=Solaris theory, but I can also understand why Sega wouldn’t want to go that route. Distracting too much from the Black Doom stuff that they obviously want to focus on will just muddle the game’s narrative, which I’d bet will be much stronger than the one in the original Generations.

And…yeah, that’s all I got for now. What are you guys’ hopes for this game?

[nbmudkip]

why that particular edition of Pokemon?

ah ok so!! i have a very very big special interest in game glitches, and that was kickstarted when i was a kid by pokemon. two main glitches were kind of my root of inspiration that got me interested in the first place, and those were the mew glitch from the gen 1 games and the void glitch from the original diamond and pearl. the mew glitch came first but the void glitch is the first one i got to actually play around with in my game on my console and have a ton of fun with, so it’s very near and dear to my heart.

one of the most interesting and useful things you can do with the void glitch in og diamond and pearl is use it to traverse an out of bounds area and manipulate the data of that out of bounds area so that you can take yourself to special event-only areas like Flower Paradise and Newmoon Island and catch mythical pokemon like shaymin and darkrai years and years after their exclusive events have ended. when brilliant diamond and shining pearl were released, it was pretty quickly discovered that they have a glitch called menu storage. when patch 1.1.0 rolled around and shaymin’s event area Flower Paradise was added into the game, it was then shortly discovered that you could use the menu glitch (and some other glitches) to force your character into a surfing state on land, during which you can travel out of bounds up to Flower Paradise and catch shaymin, just like with the void glitch in the original games!! i went absolutely nuts when i discovered this. i know it’s pretty silly to he excited about gamebreaking glitches in new video games, but i was so overcome with nostalgia and excited to take this step back to my roots.

they tried to patch it out, and they ended up making it a bit more difficult but still very possible in the next couple of patches, but unfortunately they ended up fully patching it out with the release of version 1.1.3 of the games. i had been purposely avoiding updating my game so that i could do the glitch and shiny hunt shaymin when i was ready, but unfortunately at one point i had to archive my game data (i have a digital copy), and when i redownloaded the archived game data, it automatically updated to the most recent version (1.3.0). 😭

HOWEVER. i discovered that there’s a type of cartridge called revision cartridges. these are cartridges produced a solid amount of time after the game’s initial release, after certain patches have already been released. instead of selling the base version on the cartridge and forcing the player to download the patches manually, these cartridges were revised to automatically include the most recent patch data from the time of their production within their base data. all cartridges have an alphanumeric string of characters on the back, and the last 3 digits of this string display what production batch the cartridge is from. if the string ends in 000, it’s from the initial batch, before any patches were released, and contains version 1.0.0 of the game. strings ending in 001 indicate the first revision batch, which contain version 1.1.1 of the game. strings ending in 002 automatically have version 1.1.2 of the game, and finally, strings ending in 003 automatically have version 1.1.3.

as i said above, the version 000 cartridges come with game version 1.0.0. all glitches are still viable in this version, but unfortunately at this point neither Flower Paradise nor shaymin itself were even programmed into the game yet, which means trying to go out of bounds to reach Flower Paradise would just take you to an empty patch of ocean water. batch 003 cartridges are locked into version 1.1.3 due to that being the game version present on the cartridge, and the surf on land glitch was already patched by this point, so those are also useless in this endeavor.

HOWEVER, batch 001 and 002 cartridges have their respective patches of the games (v1.1.1 and v1.1.2) as the base versions of the game, which means you can still play these shaymin-glitch-viable versions of the game using these cartridges!! it still asks you to update every time you open the game if you’re connected to wifi, so you have to be very careful to either disconnect from wifi first or say no every time you open the game. but as long as you mind that detail, you have permanent access to an earlier patch of the game with menu storage and the shaymin glitch present and functional so long as you own a batch 001 or batch 002 cartridge!!!!

i was absolutely overjoyed when i found this out. when my game redownloaded on version 1.3.0 i was certain my chance at performing the shaymin glitch and hunting shaymin on my switch with my capture card was a lost opportunity, and then i suddenly had a chance again. i stalked all ebay and mercari listings for both brilliant diamond and shining pearl for a little over 2 weeks with no luck (the vast majority of produced cartridges are unfortunately initial batch) before finally finding someone selling a cartridge with an 002 string. and i won the auction!! it is on its way to me!!!!! WAAAA I AM SO EXCITED

i got all my information on the existence of these revision cartridges and the idea of using them to access the shaymin glitch from this video by Foppa Karp on youtube. this video also includes the shaymin glitch route for version 1.1.2 i’m planning to perform, posted initially by Deadmanbomber on youtube.

TL;DR: i really wanted to perform the bdsp shaymin glitch, not just for the sake of getting shaymin but because the shaymin glitch is closely related to and reminiscent of the void glitch from og diamond and pearl, and i am very emotionally attached to the void glitch as it is in no small part responsible for kickstarting my very very major special interest in glitches, and i needed a revision cartridge from a specific batch to do so

[solradguy]

I’m on lunch break so I’ve got time to tell you guys about my Kirby Smash 64 anime antagonist origin story:

So, my parents were abso-friggin-lutely adamant about sending me to this catholic school even though it was 30-40 minutes away from where I lived. I had to get up at like 5am every day so my mom could drive me all the way out there and have enough time to go to work. This meant that she’d have to drop me off like almost an hour before school actually started, but the school had before and after school daycare programs and it worked out. This was for 3rd and 4th grade. I was like 9 or something idk.

Anyway, the daycare in the musty basement of this ancient school building had toys for the kids. Someone’d donated two Nintendo 64s, which was bitchin because this was, like, 2000 and that was the cool new thing. There weren’t many games and some of them didn’t even work but they had Smash and two controllers. You could only use both controllers if someone wasn’t playing on the second console. 

There was this kid a few grades ahead of me, in 7th or maybe 8th. I can’t even remember his name now. He wasn’t a bad kid, but he mained Fox and he was a real dick about how good he was at Smash. I had to destroy him. His smug aura activated some horrible demon in my heart and I had to be better than him at all costs. I had a 64 at home but not Smash, so I could only play it at my friend’s house or at the daycare. Because I wasn’t very good at the game, I played Kirby since it was easy to recover with him and he had, what I thought, was a good kit. Sometimes I’d play Link or Samus, but Kirby was my boy. 

I was RELENTLESS about playing against this older kid. He didn’t always go to to the daycare and on days he wasn’t there I’d play the story mode in Smash and practice. I had to beat him. I had to make him suffer for all the times he gloated when he beat me. He beat me a lot. I don’t think I got my first win against him the entire first school year we played together, but by 4th grade I’d gotten a copy of Smash at home and I grinded the hell out of it over the summer with my friends. 

Sometime partway through 4th grade I beat him. And then I kept beating him. I beat him so much he stopped rubbing it in when he won. His spirit was being crushed. This little 4th grader was kicking Fox’s teeth in with the chewed bubblegum character. I was hungry for blood though. I kept beating him, until I beat him as often as he used to beat me. Eventually he stopped playing Smash and would say that he’d “rather play Mario Kart or Star Fox instead.”

Victory was never sweeter. 

I didn’t know it then, but 4th grade was the last grade I would go to that school before switching to a public school that was closer to home. I never saw him again and he probably doesn’t remember me either. But I remember him and the awful fire he lit in my heart those two years

[interroughbang]

Video Games and Gender

My first Christmas owning a console—a pink Nintendo DS Lite—I got a couple of game cartridges. Having only been on the sidelines of gaming, playing only at friends’ houses and seeing all sorts of cool games with magic combat, cool graphics, giant motorcycles and guns, I was hyped to say the least.

I got three games that Christmas: Moshi Monsters Moshling Zoo, Moshi Monsters Theme Park, and Chess for Kids. Cue immediate deflation. Why did I get the girl version of a monster collecting game? Moshi Monsters was an often girl-marketed game as far as I understood it. Games were toys, marketed with gender in mind just as often. It didn’t help that I also got one of those game t-shirts from the girls’ section—Pikachu was on it (wahoo!) but only along with a smattering of hearts and sparkles on pink. The “girl” stuff always had to be different. Even while playing the chess game, the UI needed to know whether I was male or female. That wasn’t my parents’ fault—nonetheless, I felt a bit boxed in.

Why was it so important to have a defined gender in these games? Why did the game often get to choose for me? Why did only types of games allow you to play as a girl (or have it as the only option) while some genres were entirely male player-characters (PCs hereafter)?

When I went over to my friend Derek’s house, I could see a world of games entirely different from mine. First off, there was the violence, always coming from male characters. I don’t think I actually ever saw a gender selection screen on any of his games, unless counting the rosters of fighters like Dragon Ball. We had Minecraft and Fossil Fighters in common of our personal game collections, and Fossil Fighters didn’t have a gender selection. Instead, you would choose your favorite dinosaur and get an outfit of its color scheme. You could be pink if you liked the Maiasaurus. Just not a girl. Fossil fighting was for boys, though ironically two other main characters and fighters are young women. (This was fixed in the second game).

There is a strange limitation in effect of many video games. Nowadays, there’s of course more variety—many games, especially role-playing games (RPGs) will offer a character creation bit or a vague gendered selection. Indie games are excellent with this, often taking care to even offer small bits like pronoun preference.

Many games do not have any choice at all, though, except maybe for name. Especially with earlier games in the 80s and 90s, you’d play as a set character or not play at all. And those characters were nearly unanimously men. Exceptions to the rule would usually be games where you could only play as a woman, which included things like Barbie. The content and genre of the games would vary widely based on the gender demographic. PCs were only men in shooter games or things like Grand Theft Auto. Games on average were more focused on adventure, yet had potential to branch out a lot. Boys could play in any sort of story. Except the Barbie games.  Barbie games were Barbie games, and you could only be a blonde woman buying heels and calling her boyfriend. This was dating back to the times of the Commodore 64.

The concepts of video game adventures are generally pretty gender neutral. They end up supporting some stifling roles in limiting their adventures to male PCs when there is no reason to. Individual characters (like Ness of Earthbound, or Lara Croft of Tomb Raider) are a different case, as they place you into a single place rather than you being a random insertion into a universe. After a while, though, when you only hold an assault rifle in the hands of a male character and care for animals in that of a female character, there are implicit lines being drawn. Violence is for men. Caring is for women. Women play one role, men another. Binary, exclusive distinctions in the gender roles of characters are damaging, even if you might not take it to heart too much.

The binary is enforced in ways ranging from unnecessary to borderline nonsensical in video games. In the latest installments of the Pokémon game series, the character creation only asks “What do you look like?” with presentations of male and female character options, but if you choose a female character you will be referred to as “Mistress [Name]” by the school’s principal, and “Master [name]” if you play a male character. It’s the only difference, aside from visual, in the game from the player character’s appearance. I am also of the opinion that it is weird to call a school-aged person ‘Mistress’. Strange.

Another example from Pokémon (I play a lot of Pokémon) is a niche, still odd example found in a hidden sort of mini-dating sim in the White 2 and Black 2 versions of the game from 2012.  Walking onto certain spots of the map after picking up a lost calling device triggers a series of phone call conversations. The gender and dialogue of the caller change depending whether the PC is a boy or girl. The caller is always the opposite sex: Yancy calls you if you’re a boy, and Curtis calls the girl character. Their dialogue not only differs in their personality…only the men get to talk about themselves! I’m not kidding. Though you can’t read any dialogue from the PC during the calls, if you’re a boy, Yancy only responds to what you say, barely (if ever) saying anything from herself. Curtis will talk your ear off.

Here’s examples of the differences between the same conversations, with the different callers:

Yancy:

Curtis:

It is as insufferable to play as it is to read. Though it’s silly looking, it still supports a standard of men always taking the initiative, and women being receptive conversation partners and always going off of or listening more to what the man is saying. There isn’t even a reason to really have this difference, as since the player has no dialogue options to choose, they can’t really talk about themselves. I wanted to hear Yancy’s favorite type of music too, but all she says is “I like music too!”. Horrible.

These kinds of arbitrary limits and differences are all over the place in games, and though they seem unserious sometimes at face value, they quietly (…or less quietly) reinforce “dos” and “donts” for players based on their gender. In Fire Emblem, only males can axe-wield until the fourteenth installment of the games. Men can’t be Pegasus Knights because they are considered too provocative for the skittish creatures…while literally all women are calm enough, apparently.

There are always arguments of gender differences in games being ‘realistic’, contributing to the suspension of disbelief in gameplay by anchoring mechanics to real world truths. The key takeaway I want you to have from reading this is that not a single gender difference is absolute in this world. Not a single one. There are trends—many people raise their children in separate ways, subtly or unsubtly, based on their assigned sex—in cultures, eras, geographical location, the list goes on. Nonetheless there always exist people outside of the standard. The standards of gendered behavior and general constitution are shaky at best, and fictitious at worst. Women are not inherently more receptive or docile, they are raised to be, so some may have more of that sort of personality by virtue of any sort of influence or personal disposition. They can also be literally anything else. Liking pink or blue, guns or glitter, pegasi or dinosaurs or whatever aren’t wired into anyone’s chromosomes, and neither are their personality traits for the most part.  

The prevalence of these sort of tropes create an uncomfortable environment for many gamers that aren’t men that fit the bill of the expected audience. Men may not care as much that men and women’s stats have opposite strength profiles in Fire Emblem for the most part. A female player would likely not want to play games where she is at a set disadvantage solely for picking the character with eyelashes, or where choices are limited based on that initial character choice. Many people enjoy immersion in games, and when that immersion mimics and reinforces real life sexism, video games become understandably less attractive. If the only women in a game are sex objects, it’s not really as fun anymore to play as a woman, knowing that’s the place of women in the world of the game.

Unfortunately, these strange standards are mirrored onto playerbases quite often. Especially with chronically online gaming folks, the separation of the functions and abilities of men and women gets downright absurd, and can reinforce already prevalent misogynistic stereotypes. And with all that, some come to think: what women would even want to play games then?

Aren’t these just a dude thing?

And so the cycle continues.

People of all genders and backgrounds have infinite potential, on and offscreen. When games refuse to represent that--or worse, refuse its possibility outright by their mechanics--they perpetuate the cycle of restricting peoples lives by arbitrary elements of their identity.

[fayyet]

Super Struggle Bros: Learning B0xx as a Melee Newbie, Pt. 2

This controller is a LOT to learn.

Once I got down how to “move” again but not run off the edge of the stage & die immediately (internalizing the placement of the jump button took time), I then had to learn that using Mod 1/2 (also referred to as mX/mY) allow my character to walk at two speeds while holding them. Turns out, you’ll need to be using those mX/mY buttons for special attacks as well, but only if you’re not in a full dash. Rookie stuff, but complicated thanks to this controller. After climbing over those hurdles, I then needed to internalize the general button layout. Understanding where Shielding (L/R) was was tricky. Not triggering accidental Specials (B) took time. Relearning the timing of short-hops was tough. Learning that I needed to move my fingers from top row to bottom row for wave dashing took getting used too, despite the benefits it has for certain characters. After a week, I felt that I was getting the basics down. Once I got to angles, my head exploded. Press pressing any of the 4 cardinal directions, you get an angle. Add in mX/mY with, say, holding Down and Left, you can change a 45 degree angle to either 30 degrees of 59.5. This is extremely important as it gives you access to new wavedash angles, recovery tools, etc. Now, with this in mind, lemme tell you that you can add any of the C-stick buttons in for extra precision. So, combining two directions + mX/mY + a C-stick button means you’re hitting 4 buttons in nearly a split second to land precise angles

It cannot be said that the mental stack of learning this controller on top of learning Melee, a fast & technical game with a 20+ year meta, complicated the learning curve for me, a beginner with nearly little experience with competitive games. This journey was just simply hard and frustrating at times! There’s a possibility that my overall progress has been slowed thanks to learning how to playing Melee in this unintended way. It didn’t help that I couldn’t really follow the logic of B0xx’s various design nerfs & considerations, as I didn’t have a deep knowledge of Melee to really understand the implications of 4f SDI lockouts, 2IP methods, etc. What’s really funny about all this is that B0xx is regarded as “questionably optimal” for Sheik, my chosen main. While explaining specifics is beyond the scope of this article, the various nerfs & button placements of default B0xx wind up being a detriment in some ways (nerfed Reaction Tech-chasing thanks to B0xx angles), and a blessing in others (easier access to tilts). This is unlike other characters like Fox, Falco, Marth, Puff, or Captain Falcon, who all experience few downsides on B0xx despite the nerfs to wavedashe lengths. In 2021, I had a huge heap of work in front of me, and the only remedy for all of this was a lot of extra work, studying, & time spent playing. Over time, not only has it become much easier to learn about new things B0xx provides (Melee is a deep game & this controller offers alternative ways to access the various tools & techniques found in the game), but this controller frankly is the only way I’ll ever play Smash Bros again. After all, to me, the Gamecube Controller is an input peripheral made for a console that was aimed at kids, not a tool intended to be used for thousands of hours by adults. To be fair, I did later learn all the ways I could be stretching & exercising my hands to be in optimal health, and there are great guides now that can help you learn how to put yourself in good health: This video below is actually pretty good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qtn_uoLQHQ For me, the B0xx was the only way I could have gotten into Melee. Even though learning B0xx was a struggle, at least my hands were not searing with pain throughout the process.

[lpfreakification]

Let's talk about yesterday 😆

After seeing Across the Spider-Verse on Saturday night, I woke up with a stiff neck + remembered a certain book from the library I'd often look at. With further research, I found out there was an updated version of that book on shelf. The library didn't open til 1 so I spent the morning just chilling + playing mobile games :P

I reexplored the 1st floor again. I'll say this again: a lot has changed. The little cafe area used to be on the left side of the entrance. The Maker Studio is so brand new to me. The guest services used to be on the left side instead of straightforward as you entered.

They got ps4 + ps5 console games to check out now? Too bad they didnt have anything older :( I'm glad I took a picture of the map that led me to the graphic novel section.

Oh! I also ran into an old customer too :D that was a pleasant sight to see :)

I explored the graphic novel section. This Manga caught my attention 1st.

An ex-yakuza boss gives up his mafia life to be a house husband. The concept is adorable. The execution... wish they'd tone down his scary aura.

And then I found what I was looking for:

I grabbed a seat nearby + began looking thru page by page X3 The pages were exactly as I remembered! Some I'd constantly stare at longer than others. Knowing me, I didn't read much back then. Only looked at the pictures :P The ones I did read yesterday were about the death of the Stacys (to understand how/why this event is so important to Spider-Man's life), Doc Ock (bcuz of the last shot in Spider-Man 2 that resembles a certain panel), the Prowler (that was eye-opening for me in terms on how it connects to Spider-Verse), the Spider-Women (mostly about Jess Drew), + Spider-Man 2099 (aka one of the main updated contents).

As much as I want to talk about Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099, it could lead to Spider-Verse spoilers 😬 So, nope!

I felt like I spent a good hour reading/looking at that book :) After that fill of childhood nostalgia, I went upstairs to the 2nd floor. I should've taken a picture of the map but didn't bcuz I didn't see one 😕

The 2nd floor is more flipped around. 1st, the children's section was on the right side. I can remember all the pokemon VHS tapes, kids music cds, + computer games X) When I was in high-school, that became the teen + Manga section. I definitely do have some footage on my YouTube channel of me talking to the camera in the library back then. Now, it has become an updated version of the children's section o.o

The teen + Manga section was to the left side of the 2nd floor.

Bask in the glory of my nostalgia!

I used to hang aroubd here after school (which was across the street) all the time! (See 1st + earliest entries @ lpfreakification.tumblr.com/tagged/life/chrono) I felt like there used to be a bit more than this 🤔 No matter, some Manga were still in shelf that I used to read a lot back in the day, like Bleach + Shugo Chara X3 Some, unfortunately, like Fushigi Yugi, weren't there :( However, redemption came in the form of Arata the Legend! It was one of those Manga I was quite invested in + was eager for the next volume to come out 😃 I did make two fanarts from there but cant remember if i uploaded them on my dA or not. That jogged my memory of the story. I did catch up on two of the three that were right there. It just *had* to be the *13th* volume that shook me. Damn, I was fanning myself from the thrills. I looked up how many volumes there were. About 22 or 23? Idk bcuz there's also some remastered version I couldn't wrap my head around in. Also, they have an anime? Eh, from the looks of it, looks low-qual, off, tacky? Yeah, I like how the Manga looks more than the anime :P

The library closes at 5. Lucky for me, I had an hour to spare :) I spend a good 10 minutes of what I wanted to do next. I was craving a mango frozen yogurt from Red Mango but it's still a drive. It's not far but it's an effort XP So I looked up anything similar to nab from Target. I was right :D

A Target run later, I went home, ordered pizza from my old job, + tried this out.

Needless to say, I liked it 😆

It was somewhere past 5 pm. I mostly chilled in the kitchen until the pizza arrived. It was good to see my old coworker doing well. I do tip big bcuz 1. It makes them very happy + 2. It makes up for any other s****y tippers. I liked how he skipped back to his car like the little kid he is (he's 20), happy with his tip + visiting me too.

I keep forgetting to add pepperoni to my pizza online lately. No matter, I ate the majority of it anyway 😋 With 6 square pieces left, I was stuffed. That was a 14-inch.

I went back to my room somewhere around 6 pm. Played mobile games until I fell asleep. Last time I checked it was 6:55 pm.

And now it is 6:53 am + wide awake rn, despite writing this entry for the past 30 minutes. Man, did I sleep or what. I'm glad I didn't wake up in the middle of the night last night. Now... what do I wanna do today? 🤔

[l-1-z-a]

The Sims 2 Dev Twitter Thread Part 2 by Jake Simpson

Sims 2 dev thread part 2.

Starting a new thread so I don’t over burden the old one.

After Sims 2 shipped, I didn’t want to make expansion packs forever - the pace of development on those is intense, and I was burned out - so I went work on a console Sims project that was, unfortunately canceled. It was called Sims Next Gen.

It was going to be like the other Sims console games, only not made by a third party, but by some of the original Sims team. We got proof of concept up and had lots of mini games planned, that were way more console centric. But, we got canceled, during regime change at EA.

During Sims 2 dev, we had a TON of work done by external contractors modeling/texturing the myriad of objects the game required. However all animation was done in house. The sheer amount of content assets generated was massive,and there was a whole bunch of producers handling it.

One other thing I remember was that to balance the game, we actually had a really clever producer model the main decision making code inside of Excel, of all things.

He could start with the initial settings of all the Sims on a lot, and put a bunch of objects with data values, and then emulate the decision making of the Find Best action function that I had written and just loop and play the game.

The excel version could run over an hour and perform thousands of interactions, affecting the 8 motives, exactly as the main game did. That’s how we tuned the response all the objects gave the Sims, to ensure nothing was overpowered.

The idea was that you should be able to run the game, leave it to run by itself and after several thousand turns the sim should still be alive, but in an average state. He shouldn’t be able to maximize without player interaction, but also it should not die.

One of the biggest balancing issues we had with The Sims 2 was the introduction of different age groups, beyond the Kid/Adult of Sims 1. Adding babies, teenagers, and seniors, while it sounds easy, was not.

Part of the problem was, how do they age up? Should they animate? Should the model gradually morph over time? How long should each age actually last?

And that didn't even begin to cover the amount of scripting code we had to build to prevent age inappropriate interactions being available to the wrong age groups. Couldn't have seniors making out with teenagers, for example.

We had two degree of interactions with objects in the Sims. Basic interactions - turn on the TV, use the exercise machine, make dinner - were relatively easy, but still, we had to restrict based on age.

Teenagers shouldn't be able to make drinks, children shouldn't be making dinner or exercising, etc. But far more complicated was Social Interactions. Social Interactions are where one sim interacts with another.

The amount of code we had to limit these interactions, based on age and also relationship status, was huge and was made ten times more complicated because of all these new age groups. I remember the relationship matrix that each sim has was 10x more complex than Sims 1.

Sims 2 also had a few new features that just got cut for time reasons. For example, we actually had jewelry working about 6 weeks before we were due to go gold. It was a Skunk Works thing, that about 4 of us put together in the evenings.

We got it rendering correctly (which is hard - does a necklace go over or under clothing? Should it only be visible on skin?) and we could turn it on and off via script.

However, even though it worked, it got cut by production simply because the infrastructure around it all wasn't viable in time. How would you buy it? How would you select it to wear? The changes to the Sim dress system just wasn't going to get done in time. So, out it went.

Something else I wanted to address about Sims 2 dev was the role of QA. Now QA (ie testing the game) is often relegated to a separate division who really don’t interact with the developers much. In my opinion - born out of Sims 2 dev - QA needs to be a full member of the team.

We had some full time technical QA guys on the team, available all the time. If you had a bug that was hard to catch, you could drop into their cube and ask them to try catching it, and they’d do it and then call you when they’d done it, so you could go to their cube and see it.

I cannot overstate how MASSIVELY HELPFUL THIS WAS. All of us on the team used and abused these guys, and they kept coming back for me. This forever solidified to me the importance of QA and how they should forever be treated as part of the team going forward.

Source:

https://twitter.com/JustJakeSimpson/status/1376017714695704577

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: June 6th, 2021

I’m back with more ask responses! You can also check our Frequently Asked Question sheet if there’s something you’re wondering that’s not answered here.

FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

Thank you for the patience with these questions  ♡

Hey in very beginning of step 3 in the scene where Mr.Holden had a thought dancing on the tip of his tongue but he kept it to himself after MC and Cove were being cute (idk if it makes a difference but this is when they're dating)... Can we know what he was thinking/ wanted to say? It's been bugging me lol 

He would’ve gone into a “look how much you’ve grown”, “your dad is so proud of you”, “I’m so glad things worked out with the MC”, and etc spiel, haha. But he resisted the urge to fawn on his baby boy, at least for that scene.

If we planned to move away for college/future plans in step 3, is it implied that MC and Cove would have a long distance relationship for sure? Could MC have convinced Cove to come with them? How is the dynamic of their relationship going to be addressed in Step 4, if that makes sense? 

Cove is willing to follow the MC where they went after everything is settled for them there, and if they’re sure they want him to come! You’ll get to decide how things shook out during those transitional years just by making choices about it during the opening prologue of Step 4.

Hi! First off, how does it feel to have created one of the best games when it comes to inclusion for lbtq+ peeps? I've never felt as validated with my identity and sexuality when playing a game and I'm seemingly not alone ♥ Second, and this might be a little too specific, but what kinds of drinks does Cove like as well as dislike? Thank you, you're the best ♥

Thank you for very much! It’s really nice to hear the game felt inclusive. Cove likes regular water and fruit juices/smoothies most! He dislikes coffee and cola, and he’s not super into most teas either.

Hi, may i ask what gb patch stands for? Specifically the gb part lol

It stands for my old, silly username I used in places like Neopets as a kid, aha. The company name wasn’t super thought out since it was originally just me making VNs as a hobby. Luckily, “GB Patch” kind of seems like it could mean something reasonable, so I didn’t have to rebrand when it did become a more serious, commercial group.

If we chose to not propose to cove in the step 3 dlc would he propose or would the mc propose in step 4 or the wedding dlc? 

Yeah, you or Cove can propose in Step 4 if you’re not already engaged! The Wedding DLC takes place after the engagement so the proposal scenes aren’t there.

will you guys announce if the early access for the new game is out on patreon ? 

When beta builds of Step 4 or whatever start coming out on the Patreon we will mention it here on social media too.

Heyy I just had a quick question about Baxter if that’s okay :)?

I saw in an ask+answer that it’s possible to casually date Baxter In step 3, but what leads up to that? I have the step 3 dlc and I’ve tried playing them In a different orders and ways but it doesn’t seem to get anywhere ^^;

The Step 3 DLC is Cove-based because he’s the default guy. There’s a separate Baxter romance DLC that’s not out yet. That’s where you can get him to date you. I’m sorry for the confusion!

Will we ever get any LI's or side characters with physical disabilities or deformities? I think your games would be a great place to have them in since they're always so accepting and safe! 

Yeah, we do hope to have representation for that in future projects ^^. Thank you for the confidence in us.

Is it possible to get Cove to take the bed and MC to sleep on the floor? 

Not in Step 3, I’m afraid.

So, I have played the prologue of Our Life countless times and I haven't gotten the [Your Life] achievement, why is that? 

Steam sometimes isn’t connected properly when an achievement unlocks and so it remains locked on your account. If that happens, unfortunately getting the scene again won’t unlock it. The achievement becomes inaccessible because the game thinks you already have it. Playing with the same Steam account on a different device or fully deleting your game data (more than the only the save files) are the only work arounds we’ve found.

Since when you talk with Jeremy in step 3 it's mentioned he goes on dates with someone (which assume is JB because who else would take this boy on dates) that makes him happy, does that sort of make JB and Jeremy the canon relationship in the first game?

The default for XOXO Droplets is that JB casually goes on dates with each of the jerks! Shiloh would’ve been harsher if Jeremy was the only guy getting her attention, haha. But the player can change that default by dating just one person the whole game for their own story and who she ends up with for real has no default.

Hi, hello! Huge OL fan, thank you so much for the wholesome content, it was very much needed during these times. Managed to get several people to join team Cove, so that's very exciting, I always have people to fawn over him with. I have a little question and I'm sorry if it was asked before, but does it ever come up in the game what Cove has told his mom about us? (who knows, with so many options, one can miss it) Or, alternatively, will it come up in the Step 4 DLC? 

Thank you very much for sharing the game with people <3. It’s really great to hear people are liking it. Right now that doesn’t come up in game. Kyra is willing to keep her mouth shut and Cove isn’t gonna have that conversation either. At least not when he’s younger, but yes, perhaps when he’s a fully grown big boy in Step 4 you can ask him about it.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since it has been confirmed that there would be two love interests for OL2, would there be the possibility of forming a polyamorous relationship with both love interests? I’m sorry if you answered this previously, I’m just curious. 

We are considering it, but it’s not a guarantee yet. It’d be really great to have but it’d add so many extra alterations that’d need to made, aha.

Hello! You mentioned how Cove would be uncomfortable with kids at 23, but how old would he be when he’s comfortable with having/adopting kids? (Same goes for the other LI’s.) btw, love your game!! 

He’d want to be at least 25, but even older would be good. Derek would want to have kids when he and his partner could reasonably support them, the age itself wouldn’t matter. If they were doing good at 22 and wanted kids, he’d be up for it. Or they could wait until their 30s or whatever. Baxter is also more of a “when it feels right” guy rather than having a specific age requirement. Cove is just especially wary of being a young parent because of his own parents. I’m happy you like the game!

does step 4 immediately play after you press "end summer" in step 3? or is there another button/transition (like the story text thingy) before the epilogue begins? what happens after the epilogue? roll credits? 😂 

Step 4 will have transition section always and there will be an extra button, if you own the Derek or Baxter DLC. By default the Cove-based version of Step 4 just plays once Step 3 is over. However, having the other guys’ storylines will mean you get to pick which version of Step 4 plays; Cove Step 4 (the basic one), Derek Step 4, or Baxter Step 4.

Happy pride, thank you for all you do for us🥰

I have a quick question though, I recently got a MacBook after my old windows computer broke, and now steam says I cannot download it, but it has no issues with other games, what can I do to download it?? I’m sorry if my English is bad

Happy pride month! Unfortunately, Our Life isn’t available for Mac on Steam right now. To be an approval application Apple requires having special notarization and we as a small group haven’t gotten that. Itch doesn’t care and lets us release the game for Mac there anyway, Steam does care so we’re locked out of putting the Mac build up on their storefront. Feel free to email us and we can try to help the situation out further!

support@gbpatchgames.com

Hello! I was jus wondering if the Baxter and Derek DLCs are still happening? I haven’t heard anything about them on here or patreon in a while so I just wanted to make sure ^^

They’re still coming and we just released a new sprite sketch on the Patreon for the Derek DLC c:. But right now Step 4 is still much more of a priority. Once that’s closer to being done we’ll focus way more on sharing previews for the other guys.

is it possible to tell cove you love him (platonically) at step 3 fondness/selecting him as basically family? i just love the mc and liz sibling interactions and it got me wondering about it (especially if you've selected that option)

You and Cove can be as close as family, but there’s not a specific scene in Step 3 where you say “I love you” in a family context. But there’s always Step 4~

do you intend on ever adding a collectors mode to Our Life? Like a way to collect achievements and CGs for the gallery without it effecting any save files? 

We weren’t considering it before. But if a lot of players would find that helpful, we could start thinking on that!

Sorry if it's a silly question haha, but (in crush/love) is Cove really aware of how cute and cuddly he seems to MC? If so, what does he think or do about it? Or does he just ignore it? 

He isn’t particular aware. Cove never truly stops being surprised that the MC is interested in/attracted to him, haha.

Would you say that the alone ending of xoxo droplets is worth playing again to get? 

Nope, haha. The goal is to make friends/get a boyfriend and so the alone ending is kind of the bad ending for the game. Though there is a consolation prize if you get it by accident.

Is there any possible situation which would ever prompt Pran to bake for his girlfriend? Like I know it's unlikely I mean even if JB broke her leg somehow I'm pretty sure he'd still be like "I considered baking you a cake and doing the frosting the way I think looks interesting but you don't deserve a cake, no one does." right but also ahhh it would be super nice if some day he just surprised her with baked goods one day out of nowhere. JB would be so shocked it would be cute. So is there any possible situation where that could/would be a thing that he would do? 

He might bake out of spite, like if he felt he had to prove her wrong on something. Or if JB used some good reverse psychology on him. Or he might do it in a relatively nice way if he could make his GF so shocked by the kind gesture that his amusement with that overrode his insistence on not being sweet. Pran is very difficult in high school, aha.

Is the "one route (where) it can be seen that Everett will drop his seemingly eternal waging with Jeremy pretty easily and can start getting along without thinking much on it" the Lucas route? I'm curious! 

Yep! Everett will side with Jeremy if it’s between him and Lucas.

Hi I hope you guys are having a great day :) I just had to ask how Cliff would feel about Cove's partner/fiancé Mc calling them dad whether it be accidental or otherwise and secondly I also wanted to ask how he would feel about being asked to be the one to give the mc away at their wedding. 

He would be very touched and excited! I hope you have a good day too :D

Hello! I saw an ask relating to whether Cliff "moves on" after Cove's grown up and stuff (and he stays single), but what about Kyra? Will she be with anyone else or will she stay single? 

She does start dating again, but she takes it slow.

Hi! I absolutely love the art for characters in OL and I wonder is this fine to draw my MC in same drawing style and upload online later? Is this something artists would be okay with? Thank you! 

Yeah, you can certainly do that C:

Hey there!

I wonder if I'm just being stupid here.. Is Step 4 a DLC? And if so, where can I find it? I can't seem to find it on Steam :< Thank you!

Step 4 is a free epilogue! It’s not done yet, but once it is finished you’ll just update your game file and Step 4 will be there after Step 3 ends.

hi! are step 4 and the wedding dlc two different things?

They are. Step 4 is a free epilogue that’ll be a default part of the game once it’s done, the wedding DLC is an optional paid expansion that takes place after Step 4.

Why did Baxter not receive a step 2 sprite seeing how he shows up later

Sprites are time consuming to draw and take money out of the budget that could’ve gone to other things. His tiny appearance in Step 2 wasn’t worth all the effort to make a sprite, aha.

I just realized, what happens if if you get the patreon exclusive moment but at a later date, when you don't have the membership anymore, it's updated (like a bugs fix update for example)? Would you have to get the membership again? 

You would have to get the membership again to redownload the build. But there’s very little chance there’s going to be an update once it’s been out for over a month. If a build gets released with errors, players catch/report them within the first few days. So by the time the first subscription period ends, any problems that were noticeable would already have been fixed. And we’re certainly not gonna be adding new content to it once it’s been released for a long time. There’s no need to worry about missing out on something worthwhile in the future if you cancel your membership. It’s being made with the idea in mind that many players are gonna be getting it and then going.

Hello! Wanted to ask about gaming choice in step 3? Once upon a playthorugh I got the option to buy Cove a bracelet for his graduation present. I played the same basic character again and that option wasn't there anymore. I'm not sure where I went wrong. My Cove wears a bracelet on each hand and my MC is into fashion and jewelry. Do I need to put an earring on him or? Sorry, love your game so much. 

He also needs to have liked bracelets in Step 2 for that to be considered a good gift option for him. Sorry for the confusion! I’m happy you love the game :)

Is Step 4 being released at the same time as the Wedding DLC or will the first come before the latter? Thank you! 

I’m not sure. Ideally they’ll come out at the same time, but the wedding DLC has a lot of art to get done and we may have to release it after Step 4.

Can mc still get confession from Cove at the end of step 3 even if mc casually dates Baxter in step 3? Such as in crush mode? 

I don’t think so. Maybe that’ll change, but generally there’s differences to the Step 3 ending if you were dating Baxter and those differences likely will conflict with getting the Cove confession.

For the patreon moments/dlcs, will it be available for all tiers? 

It’ll be available for tier 2 (Fans) and up!

[yan-twst]

Hello ! Can I have a scenario with Lilia. The reader is a Fae warrior who fought alongside Lilia a long time ago. There's always been something between them but nothing happened because a relationship between warrior was forbidden. After several years they meet again at NRC when the reader brings something to Malleus. It's been in my mind for a while, so I'm trying! Thanks !

Centuries

pairing: lilia x gn!reader

word count:  2910

warnings: mentions of war, like one mention of blood

------

There really wasn’t time for love during war. There wasn’t even a chance to get comfortable, really- the fae warriors were supposed to be quick, efficient, ruthless: things like romance between warriors weren’t allowed, it was too risky, it could turn them reckless. Lilia, of course, knew this; he’d been well-warned a long time ago, and he’d seen the horrors of war upclose. It always hurt to lose a friend, but it’d hurt more if it was a lover. He didn’t care, really, he was there to fight in the name of the Witch of Thorns and not to build relationships.

Or at least that’s what he’d say when his fellow warriors would ask him if he had his eye on anyone. He was one of the more seasoned fighters, with lifetimes of experience under his belt and strength that betrayed his appearance, along with his powerful magic. It wasn’t unusual for the younger fighters to gather around him for chats or to hear stories, it was one of the few ways to lift the spirits in the barracks in the sparse times of quietness. Dating, or romance in general, was forbidden, sure, but it didn’t stop the younger soldiers from prodding and asking if he wasn’t getting a bit too close to a certain someone.

“You are all certainly nosy, aren’t you?” laughed Lilia as he put down his canteen. His squad had arrived at a small base in the Valley of Thorns’ border a few days ago as prevention, having received intel that some of the enemy army would probably try to get in while the greater part of the Witch of Thorn’s army was fighting off in the main battleground. Of course, the more elite warriors had been sent to safeguard said point in the border; amongst them two of the army’s best, those being Lilia and...

“Aw, c’mon, you can’t say you don’t like them at least a little! You’re always sticking by their side, sir!” one of the youngest fae spoke up, crossing his arms.

Them. Lilia and [name], two of the most skilled warriors in the Witch of Thorn’s army, and also the source of countless rumors. Lilia let out a sigh- it was always the young kids trying to tease him. Did they really think he’d just go and admit he was breaking rules and romancing a fellow warrior just because some rumors said so? Not only was it not allowed, they shouldn’t be concentrating on silly relationship rumors. There was a war going on.

“Now, now, you know very well that’s not allowed, young man.” Lilia gently tapped the boy’s helmet, shaking his head. “If you keep worrying over every rumour you hear in the barracks, you’re not going to be able to keep your head on your body out in the field.”

“But yesterday I saw you two talking, and you almost put your hand on their hip-”

“You’re polishing everyone’s armour today.” Lilia quickly cut off the young warrior, assigning him a task as a punishment. The young fae groaned, knowing full well that if he kept pushing he’d get assigned even more work, as the rest of the fae laughed. The door to the room opened, making Lilia look up; speak of the devil, there they were. Out of armor, they still looked fearsome, their sharp eyes scanning the room.

“You all, what are you doing here?” they asked, tilting their head. “You were supposed to go check our weapons and make sure nothing is damaged from transportation. None of you have done that, have you?”

The warriors quickly scrambled out of the room, not wanting to get assigned any punishment. Lilia chuckled; he liked this squad, sure, but he’d never quite seen so many airheaded fighters. Oh, they had proved themselves on the battlefield before, surely- but in regular tasks, they certainly weren’t the best. His fellow warrior chuckled from the door, then looked straight at Lilia.

“You weren’t distracting the young ones, were you?” they said. There were many things that made Lilia be particularly more friendly to them than to others; shared interests, experience, but perhaps something more was the fact they were one of the few fae warriors nearly as old as him. They shared the wisdom and experience that came with years and years and years of living, something not many could say they shared with Lilia. “I think the enemy will be here in about three days.”

“Three days? Oh my, that’s quicker than expected.” said Lilia, humming. He wasn’t worried- really, if it was just him and them, he knew it’d be enough to hold back the enemy’s whole platoon if necessary.

“Mhm, our informants sent the intel just now.” they replied, taking a seat next to Lilia. “The way things are going, this war might be over soon.”

“Wouldn’t that just be lovely?” said Lilia. ‘Soon’ probably meant a couple of years, of course; and the consequences of the war itself would permeate for longer, but a handful of years really wasn’t much to him or them. He didn’t love wartime, sure, but there was some melancholy in thinking of it ending: after all, the warriors would be once again spread through the kingdom once they weren’t needed in battle. He’d be stationed somewhere, with new people, and... Well, he shouldn’t dwell over it. It’d be good for everyone.

“Well, it’s not like that means much.” the other warrior stretched, and Lilia couldn’t help but stare. They weren’t in armor, not when just hanging out at the base, but they still had an air of strength to them. The glow of the fireplace in the room cast an amber glow on their skin and hair, their sharp fae ears sticking out of their slightly messy hair. If he weren’t also so ancient, he’d have a hard time believing they’d lived for so long: in moments like these, they felt so young, so beautiful. “After this war ends, who knows how much time we’ll have until the next one? Peace just never seems to stick around.”

“Tragically, you’re right.” sighed Lilia. “It seems like conflict just increases every passing decade, doesn’t it? I still remember when these wars were small enough they’d only send one of us to deal with trouble.” said Lilia with a sigh. “Now every kingdom has an army and a motive to attack, it seems.”

“I know it’s impossible, but... Can you imagine if peace really did stick around?” they didn’t say anything else, but Lilia understood what they meant as their hand softly rested upon his. Extended peace- time for them. Away from the army, away from their duties as fae warriors, away from rules that forbade romance. Neither of them ever discussed the topic, always skirting around it, but it was clear they were both waiting. “Hm, as if. There’s always going to be conflict, isn’t there?”

“It sure seems so.” replied Lilia, softly gazing at their face. “It’d be a miracle if the world could ever truly be at peace for just once.”

-------

But then there was peace.

The war ended messily, with more losses to each side than either kingdom had expected. Nothing was truly won, other than some territory and the usual honour of winning battles- the usual spoils of war, mostly worthless to the warriors themselves. Of course, Lilia couldn’t be upset: he knew exactly what being a warrior entailed, and he’d sworn to serve the Witch of Thorns with his life. Perhaps that was why he was appointed to take care of Her grandchild, once he was born- it was a shock, to be suddenly playing the role of a caretaker when he’d spent so long as a fighter, but he was proud to say he’d adapted to it quickly. He heard [name] had been sent to continue working as a warrior under the Queen’s name, guarding the newly captured territory, but he was in no place to inquire. He had a new job, after all- and he knew very well fae warriors weren’t allowed romance.

Memories of the war quickly became something he kept merely in the back of his mind, vague images that would sometimes show up in dreams but never quite bother him. After all, taking care of Malleus was simply much more important. It wasn’t just out of a sense of duty, at least not anymore; he’d grown to genuinely care for the child. He’d never have imagined himself as a father, and yet, as time went on, he played perfectly into the role- going as far as to raise a human child as his own, once Malleus was grown. And then there he was: attending school once again, as if he was a teenager, along with Malleus and Silver- from a warrior, to a father, to a student.

“Lilia, the messenger from home will be arriving today. They should bring the herb with them.” Malleus distracted Lilia from his videogame, causing his character to fall and the game to display the ‘you have died’ screen. The elder fae didn’t seem fazed, instead just nodding.

“Great, that’s wonderful! I’ll be sure to make the paste as soon as they hand the herb over.” said Lilia, putting down his console and walking up to Malleus. The shorter fae patted the prince’s head, making the prince turn his head to the side to hide his embarrassment. “Now, now, there’s no need to get embarrassed, I used to do this all the time when you were a wee little baby!”

Neither Lilia or Malleus were quite sure why, but lately, Malleus’ horns had started to ache. It wasn’t an illness or a curse, but rather something Malleus was familiar with: it was the same dull ache he’d felt in his childhood as his horns grew. They’d long since stopped their growth, but from time to time, the ache would return for seemingly no reason, and the only way to get it to stop was a paste made from an herb native to the Valley of Thorns. Lilia had written to the palace a while ago requesting some of the herbs to be sent over, and it seemed they’d sent a messenger today.

When he was notified to go meet the messenger in the hall of mirrors, Lilia insisted Malleus tag along. It wasn’t often he could get Malleus to interact with others in a casual setting, with most people being so scared of him, but surely, staff from the palace would at least properly greet and hold a conversation with the prince, right? Perhaps it was still his fatherly instincts telling him to help his child grow out of his shell, but Lilia ended up dragging Malleus along to the hall of mirrors.

“Good evening, we’re here for the package-” Lilia froze once he saw who stood by the mirror.

The last time he’d seen them, they’d been in full armor, holding their weapon, covered in the enemy’s blood. That’d been the last battle in the war- so long ago, yet he could remember it perfectly- the last time he’d seen them. He’d been sure that would be the last time he saw them, or that it’d take for another war to brew for him to be reunited with them under the strict rules of the army. And yet there they were, dressed in traditional Valley of Thorns clothes, holding a parcel under their arm, looking as young and beautiful as ever.

“... Lilia?!” they seemed surprised to see him there. Sure, they had probably heard the prince was attending NRC and accompanied by some guards and a caretaker, but they’d probably expected some old soot from the palace, not Lilia, not an ex-warrior. They almost dropped the package, quickly regaining their balance.

“This is-” even Lilia was at a loss for words. Time truly hadn’t done much to damper his feelings; even after centuries of not seeing them, he could feel his heart speed up, much like it had back then when he sat next to them, basking in their presence. They looked at him, then at Malleus, then back at him, and it seemed they quickly realized they were in presence of the prince, because they suddenly kneeled.

“My lord, here is the package of herbs you requested.” they said, addressing Malleus. Despite not being very social, Malleus had enough experience dealing with formalities to not be flustered over this- however, he looked quite confused at Lilia’s reaction. He took the package, then turned to his caretaker. After a few seconds, he set his eyes on the messenger.

“Thank you.” he said, quickly adding, “Are you familiar with Lilia?”

“We fought in the war together.” they replied quickly, but it looked as if though they were picking their words carefully. It made sense- it was weird to explain their relationship with Lilia. It had absolutely been more than just fellow soldiers, something past a regular friendship, and yet it hadn’t quite been a romance, neither daring break the rules and take the first step. There wasn’t a comfortable way to explain such a thing, no way to say we were in love but neither of us dared do anything about it because we weren’t allowed to.

“Oh, seeing you brings back memories I thought I’d forgotten.” Lilia chuckled, although he seemed to be acting off. Nervous, almost? Luckily, the subtle changes in his attitude went right over Malleus’ head, and he just nodded. “Malleus, would you mind returning to the dorm with the herbs? The fresher they are when we begin the better- ask Silver to boil some water so I can start preparing them soon.”

“Are you staying behind, then?” replied Malleus, and Lilia chuckled, then nodded.

“Oh, you must understand it’s not often I get to chat with an old friend like this.” said Lilia. Malleus didn’t seem like he quite understood, but nodded nonetheless, and bid goodbye to the two ancient fae before disappearing, leaving only small wisps of green fire that slowly faded away in the air.

“... The prince is as powerful as they say, isn’t he?” they said, staring at the fading green lights. 

“He certainly is. Oh, but he’s also a sweetheart, don’t believe those who say he’s coldhearted or meanspirited.” said Lilia with a smile. “He’s a little cold right now, but that’s just how teenagers are, you know.”

“... You’ve certainly been busy since last time I saw you. I knew they’d appointed someone to take care of the Queen’s grandson, but I never would have imagined it’d be you.” they said, looking off to the side. “I’ve been working around the palace- you know, I really can’t believe I was wrong, but it seems peace is here to stay for a long time. Not much use for a warrior nowadays.”

There were a few moments of silence as both fae stared at each other. It’d been so long- by now, anyone else would have moved on, gotten to someone else, built new relationships. And yet neither of them had to say it for the other one to know; neither had truly moved on. They weren’t warriors anymore: right now, they were just two adults, two people in love, despite never having said it. And before he could really think about it, Lilia’s arms were around them, his mouth pressed into theirs.

Oh, intimacy. How long had it been since he’d been this close to someone? He’d had his share of throwaway flings in the years after the war, but his full attention had been on raising Malleus. Besides, nothing could quite compare to this: he’d been imagining how it’d feel to hold them close, to have his lips on them, to kiss them deeply, ever since the war. How had he gone so long without this? Truly, he couldn’t understand how he’d had enough self-restraint to never act upon his feelings back then, how both him and them had been obedient enough to not act on their love just because the rules said so. 

“... I missed you.” they murmured once they separated their lips from his. They were staring right into his eyes, their face slightly red and eyes full of love. “Back then, in the war- every time I was alone with you, I... I thought about how badly I wanted to be with you. I thought about how much I loved you, and god, it hurt, it really hurt to have to keep it all locked inside.”

“You’re taking my words right out of my mouth, my love.” said Lilia, pressing his forehead against theirs. His arms wrapped around them, he could feel their heartbeat in their chest- their heart was going fast, but once again, so was his. “I can’t believe I waited so long to do this.”

Wordlessly, they kissed him again. Lilia vaguely thought it’d be rather embarrassing if Crowley were to walk in to lock the hall of mirrors now, but he couldn’t be bothered; he’d been waiting centuries for this moment. It wasn’t often Lilia felt young (truly, he was ancient), but right in that moment, he felt like he was being kissed for the first time. Two fae ancient enough to be recorded in history textbooks holding each other, letting the emotions they’d held onto for hundreds of years finally blossom- it was an odd image, but a charming one.

“I love you.” he murmured, burying his head into their neck. “You don’t know how happy I am I finally get to tell you that.”

[tinycartridge]

Very late impressions: Cotton Reboot ⊟

I keep typing specifics about my life, but I think I can sum it up generally in a way that literally everyone reading this will understand: there have been a lot of things lately. Things that compete for my attention and easily overwhelm any time, energy, or mental bandwidth I would otherwise put into writing about old shmups.

I don't know if the things are really slowing down or if I'm in a rare lull, but in either case I'm here now in the Tumblr window, typing about Cotton Reboot. It's not Cotton Reboot's fault I haven't gotten to it yet.

Cotton Reboot isn't just what happens when my vape rig stops working, nor is it when I patch up a hole in a Doc Martens with t-shirt scraps. It's a remake of the very cute horizontal shmup Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton, originally released in 1991 by Success. Cotton is a witch coerced by a fairy into flying her broom around shooting magic at monsters in order to acquire candy.

None of this matters, of course. It's a setup for cute things to shoot cute things at cute things, interspersed by cute early-90s cutscenes. It's a really nice example of the style I associate most strongly with the PC Engine and Genesis, where some games were beautifully colorful and cartoony in a way I thought was inexplicably different from any other style, and which I (and the rest of America) later learned was called "anime."

Reboot actually contains two games -- technically two versions, but they're different enough to be considered different games in my opinion. The main event is "Arrange" mode, with amazingly colorful HD graphics and, more importantly, the full processing power of modern consoles applied to "putting stuff on the screen." I'm not a shmup expert in any way, merely someone who played a lot of them as a kid because I was a kid when every third game or so was a scrolling shooter. But the overwhelm of Arrange Mode is what I associate with more recent games in the genre.

However, it's kind of the opposite of a bullet hell situation. Most of the projectiles and other detritus filling the screen results from the player character rather than enemies! Enemies drop gems, which change color after being shot (like the bells in a Twinbee). Those are then stored as different types of bomb attacks, as well as experience points that power up Cotton's main shot. But before you pick them up, the gems refract Cotton's bullets into more powerful, multidirectional projectiles.

This means that between all the bullets, gems, bullets flying through gems, bomb icons, experience meters, etc. there is usually a lot going on at any time. But, crucially, a large percentage of it is good, and much less stressful than other games of the genre at which I've failed to git gud. And yes, I turned it down to easy and maxed out my stock of lives. Maybe I'll run the gauntlet at some point, but I think I'm being challenged quite enough at the moment, thank you.

The other mode is not the original arcade game, but rather the Sharp X68000 port of the original arcade game. And compared to the information overload in Arrange Mode, it's downright sedate. There are far fewer enemies, projectiles, items, displays, meters, and other visuals to contend with. I'm glad it's there if only to show how significantly Cotton was reworked for 2021.

Basically, Cotton Reboot is joyous. It's beautiful, colorful, and manages to somehow be nostalgic and inventive at the same time.

JOIN CLUB TINY AND OUR DISCORD Support Tiny Cartridge!

[robinsnest2111]

do you play any games? and if so which :0

currently I only play Animal Crossing 🙈 Trying to check in daily, but even that is hard to accomplish orz

When my laptop still worked properly, I used to play loads of indie/rpg maker games! OFF and Ib were the first two I tried. Eternally Us was nice as well even though very heartbreaking. And ofc I played Undertale (my beloved).

I tried playing Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch once. Sadly I'm not made for these kinds of games, love the characters and lore tho 💕

I used to be suuuuuper into Metal Gear Solid!!! I own most of the games (all releases and special editions for PlayStation 1 and 2) and loved playing them! Also played the PS3/4 releases on friends' consoles to get the full experience. Love the story and characters to this day 🥺💕

Started to get into the Yakuza series but got stuck halfway into Yakuza 2 and kinda abandoned that orz

Friends lent me the first couple Ace Attorney games for the DS a few years ago and I got really into those as well!

Dog's Life, Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise, and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil will always have a special place in my heart, and I still play them on occasion. They're kids' games but I'm pretty bad at "grown up" games and I just like to have fun and to actually find out how the game ends without getting stuck and ending up frustrated lol

That's one of the reasons I'm super into watching Let's Plays of titles that sound interesting! The other being I just can't afford new consoles and most games. (Got a DS Lite and the PS2 as a kid and that's that). Still have a soft spot for Haunting Ground, the main 4 Silent Hill games, Fatal Frame, Tomb Raider Legend, Wolfenstein, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Resident Evil 8, the Deponia series, and probably so many others I can't think of right now lol

...I also have an extra soft spot for random arcade games. They remind me of the times I went on vacation in Denmark with my cousin and we used to play Tekken (I won loads by simply going ham on the buttons without a strategy, my cousin was so mad lol) and silly racing games with loads of explosions, a tank/warfare style game, shooting range/zombie thing were the controller was literally a plastic gun attached via a cable, etc. in some kind of indoor playground type thing

Oh, also dancing games (DDR and Stepmania my beloved) and Singstar/Rockband!!! I was always on microphone duty on Rockband at anime conventions. One time I sang for 5 hours straight until the con closed at 1am lol

...

oof that's a long one, sorry for rambling 🙈

[spoadicdeviance]

When “Anger Always Wins In The End”: The Story of X-Play vs Skyward Sword

Gather around the Barcalounger over by the fireplace friends, family, and those who only come to the Skyward Sword tag to bash the game in question. Old SporadicDeviance is going to tell you a tale that harkens back from the far distant past of 2011. It’s going to be a quite a long story, so you might want to get comfy.

The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword was making its rounds across the mainstream game review circuit, largely earning 9′s and 10′s across the boards. The game also ended becoming one of the very few games to earn perfect scores from both EDGE magazine and Famitsu. Talks of potential Game of the Year awards were already underway. 

Yes it seemed Skyward Sword would experience nothing but smooth sailing when it comes to the gaming media.

Enter X-Play; the TV show focused on game coverage airing on the network dedicated to gaming and technology (in the sense that MTV used to be dedicated to music) G4.

Starting in summer 1998, as GameSpot TV, and ultimately concluding its run by the start of 2013, this show was perhaps the most popular source of game reviews in its heyday. In fact, with the shows propensity to include heavy layers of snark and cynicism in their reviews, as well as having the tendency of preforming comedic skits based on the various games they covered, one could say that X-Play was one of the progenitors of various online independent game reviewers that started from around 2006 and continue to the present day.

“Why bring up the show’s history?” One may ask. Well its important to establish that the programs was very popular with a substantial viewership, even in its final years of broadcast.

Which brings us to the moment that X-Play and Skyward Sword crossed paths.

It all started with the shows review of the game and the program ultimately giving Skyward Sword an overall score of a 4 out of 5. This caused a bit of stir amongst X-Play’s audience.

Now, on the surface, a score like that wouldn’t appear to be anything to really harp on about. Sure, a 4 out of 5 score was on the lower end of the range of scores Skyward Sword was receiving at the time. Nevertheless, a 4 out of 5 was still overall a good score. 

However, as said before, this is all surface level. To get a full understanding of why some gamers were questioning X-Play’s review, you have to look at both how X-Play defines its rating scale as well as the content of the review itself, beyond the final score.

First let’s talk about X-Play’s ratings scale. In 2011 the program updated the meaning behind each of the five different ratings. For a game to earn a 5 out of 5, the game would have to “realize all ambitions of its design” while a 4 out of 5 game would only accomplish most of its goals.

Well Skyward Sword’s goal was to be the proof of concept on what the Wii’s intent was as a console. The game’s ambition was to show the world that motion controls not only be practical as the primary means of control for a AAA game but also in some ways surpass traditional controls in terms of immersion and practicality. Does that mean by giving Skyward Sword a 4 out of 5, X-Play thinks Skyward Sword didn’t fully accomplish its ambition?

No. They didn’t think Skyward Sword failed in that regard. In fact, in their review of the game, X-Play stated that despite initial skepticism on Skyward Sword going all in on motion controls, hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb were pleasantly shocked with how good the controls felt, saying that the Wii-Motion Plus controls were fluid, responsive, seamless, and never frustrating. They also stated that if all Wii games controlled just was well as Skyward Sword then a large majority of complaints lobbied against the system would never have materialized.

So what caused the show to give Skyward Sword a 4 out of 5? According to X-Play’s 2011 rating system and game needs to have “minor flaws” on order to get a 4 out of 5 score. So what did X-Play think were said flaws?

Well X-Play used the trite “revisit certain areas of the game” non-criticism that I’ve already touched on in a prior post. It’s weird since games like Metroid Prime also used backtracking and X-Play still gave those games perfect 5 out of 5 scores.

They also said that there wasn’t much to do in the Sky overworld, which is outright wrong considering all of the goddess treasures and various sky islands that have their own minigames/sub quests to do. Yes its mainly side content but almost every Zelda overworlds are mainly used for side content and linking the various areas in the map. I think I’ll go more in depth on the whole “The Sky is too empty.” criticism in another post.

Then they complained about how your shield can break and you would have to go back to Skyloft in order to purchase a new shield. Seriously? This is like when people complain that in Banjo Kazooie, when you die, you have to recollect all the music notes. That’s the point. The game is punishing you for messing up during the combat. Also the game doesn’t force you to purchase a new shield. You can play the game without a shield if you choose to do so.

I would say the shield bit is the worst criticism in the review if it wasn’t for the frankly dumb, and hilarious in hindsight, critique of Skyward Sword’s crafting system. Adam called the system “grindy” and said that crafting doesn’t fit in a Zelda game. Considering how Breath of the Wild not only has a crafting system, but also, by X-Play’s standards, made it more grindy than it was in Skyward Sword, I think even Skyward Sword’s biggest detractors can call this assessment of Skyward Sword crafting system half-baked at best.

And those were the flaws X-Play found in Skyward Sword. Even if those critiques were legitimate, and let’s face it they’re not, it doesn’t seem like these flaws are enough to justify docking Skyward Sword an entire point in a 5 point rating system, does it?

Well according to a lot of fans of the show, it wasn’t. Fans were speculating that X-Play wasn’t really sincere in their giving Skyward Sword a 4 out of 5. Some thinking that they set out to not give the game a perfect score and were grasping at straws trying to find any justification for their score, rather than have their final score come naturally as they played/reviewed the game.

By all accounts, Skyward Sword seemed to have been more deserving of a 5 out of 5 score rather than a 4 out of 5, according to a lot of X-Play’s viewership. 

Viewer response to Skyward Sword’s 4 out of 5 score might have been the primary reason X-Play revamped their ratings scale the following year, using “half-stars” in its ratings (ultimately making the rating system a 10 point scale) as well as reworking the conditions for a 5 out of 5 score. Now for a game to achieve a 5 out of 5 a game doesn’t have to achieve all of its design ambitions and merely not have any “issues” which would result in a 4 out of 5.

My suspicion that the viewer response to the Skyward Sword review was the catalyst for the change is only strengthened by the fact that X-Play used Skyward Sword as their example of a 4 out of 5 game in their new ratings system. 

But despite all that, the backlash to X-Play’s review was relatively minor, especially compared to the backlash a certain other professional reviewer got for giving Skyward Sword a lower score compared to X-Play, but that’s a tale for another time.

This isn’t the main part of the the story. X-Play’s review of Skyward Sword and the viewer response to said review were all the primer for the centerpiece of this tale.

It’s now time for the awards season. All the various gaming publications were nominating and awarding the best games of 2011. Skyward Sword managed to get itself plenty of nominations, including Overall Game of the Year from publications like EDGE.

But what about X-Play? What awards did they nominate Skyward Sword for?

Did X-Play nominate Skyward Sword for Game of the Year? 

No.

Did X-Play nominate Skyward Sword for Best Action/Adventure Game? 

No

Did X-Play nominate Skyward Sword for Most Innovative Game? 

No. .

Did X-Play nominate Skyward Sword for Best Story? 

No.

Did X-Play nominate Skyward Sword for Best Art Direction? 

No.

All Skyward Sword was nominated for were Best Soundtrack and Best Motion Controls.

And you want to know the really messed up part; Skyward Sword only won for Best Soundtrack and lost the Best Motion Controls award to Dance Central 2. Let that sink for a beat. DDR Kinect 2 Dance Central 2 apparently had better motion controls than Skyward Sword according to X-Play. This despite of all the praise the show gave Skyward Sword’s controls in its review. This is like when the Queen bio-pic, Bohemian Rhapsody, won the Oscar for “Best Editing”. Are you kidding me?! But I digress.

Needless to say, if viewers were just a little peeved with X-Play’s review of Skyward Sword, they were outright mad with how the show basically snubbed Skyward Sword from its award show. 

The vast majority of gamers felt that, even if the game would ultimately not win many awards, Skyward Sword should have at least had more than two (relatively minor) award nominations and should have been nominated for Game of the Year. X-Play was being called out, rightfully so, for not giving Skyward Sword its fair dues.

But all was not lost for Skyward Sword, for while X-Play would have full control on which games were nominated and which game would win the majority the awards, the fans would have their own say for one certain award.

G4 decided to do what they called a “Videogame Deathmatch”. This was basically a tournament consisting of 32 games released in 2011. 

Each round would have multiple games paired off to face off against each other. The general public would go online and vote for one of the two games in each match to go on to the next round. The first round had people vote between 16 pairs of games. The next round would have 8. Etc. Etc. This would culminate in a final round where the two winners of each side of the bracket would face off and the people would vote between these last two games to decide which game would win the tournament and would receive the Viewer’s Choice Award at  X-Play’s Best of 2011 Award Show.

Skyward Sword was one of the 32 games selected for the tournament, whether it was because G4 honestly thought the game deserved a chance to win or they were simply trying to placate fans of the game.

I would say the latter because the side of the bracket Skyward Sword was on was definitely the more competitive side of the two. How more competitive? Well while the side of the bracket Skyward Sword was on had games like Portal 2, Minecraft, Uncharted 3, Batman Arkham City and The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim, the game that would become the finalist for the other side of the bracket was Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. Does that answer your question?

So Skyward Sword faced some stiff competition. It really seemed like G4 and X-Play did not want Skyward Sword to win this tournament so they made sure it would go head to head against some of the most popular games of 2011. It was going to be a miracle if Skyward Sword made it to the final round.

Well let me tell you something; a miracle did occur that year.

In round 1, Skyward Sword went up against Uncharted 3, the flagship PS3 title of 2011, and the fans voted for Skyward Sword over Uncharted 3.

In round 2, Skyward sword went head to head against Fifa 12, the latest entry of the videogame series based off of the most popular sport in the world, and the majority chose Skyward Sword over Fifa 12. 

In round 3, Skyward Sword faced off against Batman Arkham City, the game that is considered to be one of the greatest superhero games ever made (if not the greatest), and Skyward Sword got more votes than Batman Arkham City.

In the semi-finals, Skyward Sword went one on one against The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, one of the best selling games of all time, and the gamers chose The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword over Skyrim.

Needless to say when Skyward Sword went up against Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, a game that even fans of the Assassin’s Creed franchise don’t hold in the highest regards (at least it’s not Unity?) in the final round, the vote went overwhelmingly in Skyward Sword’s favor.

The end result was that Skyward Sword won G4TV’s Videogame Deathmatch: Best of 2011 Tournament and was awarded the Viewer’s Choice Award for 2011.

Now when it came time to officially announce the winner of the winner of the Viewer’s Choice Award during the televised award ceremony, how do you think the hosts handled the situation?

Well take a look for yourself with this Youtube video archiving X-Play’s award show that year. (Timestamp 34:04-35:25)

They start out by saying how close the matchup between Skyward Sword and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations was, despite the fact that by accounts of those who participated in the voting process, Assassin’s Creed never got more than 40% of the votes in the final round, but that can be chalked up as theatrics for the audience.

When they reveal to the audience that Skyward Sword won the final round and in turn won the Viewer’s Choice Award, you can juts tell that Adam Sessler is not happy with the results. The way he’s moving his body. His tense face and pursed lips. The sarcastic tone in his voice as he calls Skyward Sword “Nintendo’s love letter to motion controls”.

Adam is not happy that the game he and the rest of the staff at X-Play snubbed from their award ceremony not only won the Viewer’s Choice Award but also beat two of their nominees for Game of the Year, including their choice for overall Game of the Year, in the process.

At this point, most people think it would be best for Adam to just accept the results for what they are, give Skyward Sword a proper congratulations, and move on with the next award of the night, in spite of Adam’s personal feelings towards the situation. Just be professional. That’s all Adam needed to do.

Most would think that, but Adam Sessler is not most people.

As the hosts were talking about Skyward Sword’s win, Blair Herter made a passing comment saying that the Nintendo fanbase being “enraged” over Skyward Sword not being nominated for Game of the Year helped Skyward Sword win the Viewer’s Choice Award.

Adam immediately jumped on that by adding with and I quote;

“Enraged? That’s a-th-th-that’s a nice term. It was close race, but ANGER always wins in the end.”

Wow. I mean wow. Not even the Red Sea is as salty as Adam Sessler was with that comment.

He couldn’t just take the L like an adult and move on. He felt like he had to get the final word on the matter. 

It’s like Adam wants to say the Viewer’s Choice Award doesn’t really count because the vote didn’t go the way he wanted. This is, ironically, the kind of immature fanboy behavior Adam is trying to make fun of. It makes it seem like Adam thinks he’s above the “unwashed masses” that participated in the Videogame Deathmatch voting process. 

Regardless on if you think Skyward Sword deserved to win the tournament, you must admit that this was bad look on Adam’s part.

Now I don’t want to end this post on a bittersweet note so I want you to think about what actually happened. 

Skyward Sword is so beloved by the majority of gamers that when a review show as big as X-Play tried to downplay the game’s quality as well snub the game from its best of the year award show, the gamers respond by making sure Skyward Sword won the title of the Viewer’s Choice awards.

And this is one of several time where when major reviewer publications/programs reached out to their audience, the gamers, to get their take on what game they felt was the best game of 2011, and The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword was chosen by said gamers as the the best game of that year.

It’s funny because whenever I bring up that point, the minority of Skyward Sword detractors try to make up some excuse to delegitimize Skyward Sword winning the viewer’s choice award.

When I mention Skyward Sword winning IGN’s viewer’s choice award, or when Skyward Sword was voted the number one, best game of 2011 by the fans of ScrewAttack, they say “Oh that’s because fans of Skyrim, Batman Arkham City, Portal 2, and so on were divided amongst themselves while Nintendo fans were united in their support for Skyward Sword. If the poll wasn’t a free for all, Skyward Sword wouldn’t win.”

Well here’s another instance of Skyward Sword winning a viewer’s choice award; Skyward Sword had to go one-on-one against multiple games in order to win the viewer’s choice award. Skyward Sword got more votes than some of the most popular, well reviewed, and highest selling games of that year. More gamers preferred Skyward Sword over Uncharted 3, Arkham City, and Skyrim.

I think all of that, along with how Skyward Sword was considered the best game of 2011 by ScrewAttack and IGN users, and how people are hyped for the HD rerelease, it’s safe to say that despite what some vocal people may try to say otherwise, The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword is a game that is far more beloved by gamers than it  is “divisive”. 

[incorrectlumityquotes]

FULL REVIEWS: “Hooty’s Moving Hassle”

I’ve only seen Howl’s Moving Castle once and I thought it was just okay. The animation was amazing. The story and characters were just...okay. But we’re not here to talk about that today.

A Hooty centric episode? Count me in, hoot hoot. The hype train just keeps on going and I was so glad that I found my new favorite show. AND my niece loved it too, so that’s a huge plus. The only thing that I was sure about this episode going in way back when was that Gus and Willow were going to be in it. Let’s check it out and see if it’s still as good as I remember it, hoot hoot.

“Cards! The paper rectangles that old people think are fun.”

Hot damn, Luz. The episode just started and she’s already out firing shots. But to be fair, she did grow up with smartphones and game consoles being a thing so I doubt she sees the appeal. Do kids even still play with toys anymore? Or do they all just play on tablets now? Probably why Toys R’ Us closed. 

Speaking of things that can only happen in this generation, callbacks and continuity! Eda’s curse is rearing its feathery head and like the irresponsible adult that she is, she’s out of elixir, hoot hoot.

It’s not our full introduction to Owlbert, but at least he gets some screen time where he actually moves and stuff. I totally get where Luz and King are coming from. When a friend discovers they’re really good at a game and they want to play it all they time because they like winning but it’s super annoying and you always lose because it’s not a game you would ever play on your own, hoot hoot. Yeah. Eda is that friend. 

People watching in a fantasy world would actually be a fun little way to do some worldbuilding, but I’m afraid some people would call it lazy. We get a bunch of set-up for the third act and then the spice of life returns, hoot hoot.

“Who hurt my babies?”

Hyper fangirl Luz spots her babies wearing frowny faces thanks to Amity and her little group. Apparently Amity’s forced friend brigade is going to have a moonlight conjuring which is basically just a slumber party. It’s literally exactly like a slumber party. I have proof. Just check out this video and see that slumber parties are just modern witch gatherings. 

Thanks to Luz though, Willow has enough friends to have a moonlight conjuring of her own. Wow, typing out that sentences actually made me feel really sad. Willow is a sweeties and she deserves the world. Okay I feel better, hoot hoot.

Also Penstagram? Really? Like freaking really? I hate Instagram. The feed is never in chronological order, I don’t know what “link in the bio” means and I never have enough pictures to just be on there. I mean, who freaking takes pictures for everything all the time? It’s a madhouse, I tell you. A madhouse, hoot hoot.

Like Owlbert, this is our kinda introduction to Boscha and her crew. It’s not a full introduction, but it’s not like we’re not going to see more of her later. There’s Skara again and Cat. Thank you, Owl House wikia.

Eda’s dealer suggests going to the Night Market to pick up what she needs and shoots down Luz’s moonlight conjuring idea. But Luz isn’t going to let something small like a parent’s permission stop her from helping her friends, hoot hoot. So Luz pulls the laziest plot device in all of fiction and lies. 

Sleeping King in a baby sling and Willow saying “I’m a sneaky sneakster” hoot hoot? This episode is all kinds of cute.

Eda heads to the night market and Luz has her little slumber party. A sad thought just occurred. What if this is also Luz’s first slumber party too? Her mom did say that she didn’t have any friends. I made myself sad again, hoot hoot. 

Luz, ever the good host, tries to accommodate her friends and they get to work on the moonlight conjuring. Luz chanting that she doesn’t know the words made me laugh. Especially because I’d do the same thing. 

Side note, but Gus insisting that Beefy Bob is a figurine is just kinda funny. All I kept thinking about was the difference between action figures, dolls, and figurines. Dolls don’t move but you play with them. Action figures do stuff and you play with them. Figurines don’t move and you don’t play with them, hoot hoot. “A real man never takes accountability” is hilarious and unfortunately true. 

“Light as a feather; stiff as a board. Light as a feather; stiff as a board.”

“Something ridiculous this way comes, hoot hoot.”

And just like that, our heroes conjure the whole house. How? Why? Never mind that shit, here comes Bosha! And the set up from early in the episode, hoot hoot. 

Meanwhile at the night market, Eda meets the recurring villain of the series. I like to call these guys jobber villains.

For those who don’t know, a “jobber” is a pro wrestling term. It’s a guy who is hired to just lose to the big name guys. I use the term “jobber villain” to describe any antagonist who isn’t the main villain who is used frequently to lose to the heroes. Think Team Rocket in Pokémon, Dr Light in Teen Titans, Ludo in Star vs the Forces of Evil, etc, you get the idea.

Tibbles hustles Eda over the Hexes Hold ‘em game and we get a bunch of funny ass jokes that I dare not ruin for you. The two plots cross for just long enough for Luz and co to get busted. 

I have concerns, hoot hoot.

Meanwhile, back in the other failed moonlight conjuring, the moonlight conjuring has failed. The girls do what every young girl would do in that situation and complain on social media. Amity gets a really cool shot that I don’t have and the episode ends with a hint that someone on our main trio is more powerful then they are letting on.

FINAL SCORE: 5 - Loved it.

This episode is funny as hell. That’s the main highlight for me here. There are so many good jokes especially since it’s my type of dialogue humor. 

Lots of character work. The reveal that Willow and Amity used to be friends adds depth to both characters, making the relationship a bit more complex than just bully-victim scenario.

I love it whenever Luz speaks Spanish. As a Hispanic guy myself, I’m really happy about this kind of representation. This plus Marco Diaz. 

We kinda get introductions to several characters who play bigger parts in later episodes. Bosch and Owlbert get soft intros while Tibbles takes the center stage as the episode’s main villain.

I’ve never been to a slumber party but I doubt they’re as fun as this.

.

.

.

I forgot what the next episode is so I don’t have a lead up line for it...hoot.

[lunnanunna]

Pummel Friends

STRAY KIDS Extra Member AU

Summary: It’s game night and Ollie really sucks at Pummel Party. (Feat. friends from Ateez, Dreamcather, Day6, and Seventeen.)

Warnings: swearing

Taglist: @hyunmijung @galacticstxrdust @boss-baby-jongho @kimonmars @mythicalamphitrite @poutypoutybin @sunflower-0180​

Let me know if you’d like to be added or removed from a taglist.

A/N: Thank you guys for patiently waiting for me to write again! Hope you enjoy!

Requests are open! Please let me know what you think.

Ollie sat back in her chair, munching on some chips while she waited for everyone to get online. Felix sat next to her, with his computer on and Discord open, just like hers was.

It was their online gaming night that they had with a few other idols. Parker had started it up, but didn’t know many people to invite, so Ollie took it upon herself to recruit people. 

Their main lineup consisted of her and Felix, Parker of Day6, Yoori, San, and Yunho of Ateez, Yoohyeon of Dreamcather, and Wonwoo of Seventeen. (Ollie wasn’t called Kpop’s Social Butterfly for nothing.) The group even had a group chat going called Pummel Friends, seeing as Pummel Party was their main game.

“Ooh, Noona! They’re logging in,” Felix grinned, sitting up in his seat.

Ollie sat up too, already smiling. She wondered who’d be the first to show up. When Yoori’s face appeared, Ollie squealed.

“Hiya, Unnie!” Yoori waved through the camera, “‘Sup Felix!”

“Yoori, my baby!” Ollie waved and Felix did too.

San and Yunho were the next ones to join. (Apparently Yoori had taken the faster computer, and the other two had to wait for theirs to boot up.)

Next came Yoohyeon and Wonwoo who came mere seconds from each other. They laughed when they realized that that was their fourth time that month.

“So now we’re just waiting for Parker,” Ollie nodded, eyes traveling to the time on the corner of her screen. It was half past eight, and normally Parker was the first one on, already playing some games as she waited for the others.

“Can’t we start without her for now? I’m itching to play,” Yoori said, bouncing in her seat.

“Soojin’s the one who set up the codes for each game,” Wonwoo said as he looked down at his phone. “She should be coming in soon. Apparently Sungjin-hyung had her on kitchen duty and she put it off for too long,” the rapper chuckled as he shook his head at his phone.

“Typical,” Ollie sighed, but smiled nonetheless. Putting chores off until the last possible minute was such a Parker thing to do.

“I did that last week. Hwa-oppa had me on bathroom duty,” Yoori grimaced.

“Poor baby,” Yoohyeon pouted. Yoori nodded and patted her own head, to console herself.

“You’re so dramatic,” San said rolling his eyes. Yunho laughed at the screen, but also turned to look at Yoori who was next to him and laughed. (Ollie always found it funny that those three and Felix and herself included, joined these game nights while sitting next to each other on their own computers.)

Ollie turned to look at Felix and smirked. He smiled back then reached over to grab her bag of chips.

“Yah!” Ollie shouted as the bag was plucked out of her hands. She watched as the Aussie evilly smiled at her as he ate.

“Yah, behave yourselves,” Wonwoo chided, but even coming from him it sounded weird and everyone laughed.

“What are we laughing about?”

Everyone looked at the screen and saw that Parker had finally joined them. She was aggressively lathering her hands in lotion.

“Look who finally decided to show up,” Yoohyeon folded her arms over her chest and tilted her head.

“Forget about that, I want to play! Unnie send us the code!” Yoori demanded, once again bouncing in her seat. Ollie could see an arm reaching over to settle her. Judging by the way San was leaning in his seat, Ollie guessed it was him who was trying to calm Yoori.

“Uwah, Yoori’s feisty today,” Ollie said snickering as the rapper swatted San’s hand away and even threatened to bite him.

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting, Yoori. There I sent the code over for Pummel Party,” Parker said as she finished typing something.

Ollie’s computer dinged and soon everyone was ready to play.

~

“Yah, Soojin-ah. Don’t make any rash decisions,” Wonwoo warned. It was Parker’s turn and she had gotten the rocket that would move her ahead. It would also take out anyone in it’s way. Wonwoo was in it’s way.

“Too late,” Parker said as she let the rocket fly.

“So mean,” Wonwoo whined, and Ollie could hear the pout.

“Yah!” Ollie cried out as she too was caught in the line of fire. “Why’d you take me out?!” As much as Ollie loved playing this game, she sucked at it and was always the target.

“Oops,” Parker said, though Ollie knew she was far from sorry.

“My turn!” Yoori cheered.

Ollie watched as Yoori’s avatar rolled the dice. Yoori cheered when she was able to advance to a chest. When she opened it she squealed.

“As long as she doesn’t unleash her bunny I’m fine,” Yunho said.

Yoori was notorious for getting a bunny that killed players. No one else had been able to get it except for her. San and Felix both came to the conclusion that she had rigged the game.

“What was that Yunnie? You want me to unleash my bunny?” Yoori asked in her most innocent voice.

“I just got chills from that,” Felix said.

“Same,” Wonwoo agreed.

“Yoori’s a little monster when it comes to gaming,” Parker chuckled.

“I don’t know why you guys are always so surprised,” Ollie added just as the screen loaded their next mini game.

Ollie’s jaw dropped at the cute yet maniacal laugh that only came when Yoori was winning or was about to attack.

“San-ah control her!” Wonwoo said.

“I would if I could!” San protested.

Ollie and Felix side eyed each other and laughed. Game nights were always the best. They were crazy, but so so fun.

“We need to stream our games. I’m sure our fans would love to see this side of us,” Ollie smiled.

“Yeah! Unnie, didn’t you say you wanted to open a Twitch account?” Yoori directed the question to Parker.

“Eh, streaming is more of Jae’s thing. I don’t wanna look like I’m copying him,” Parker said as she finished the maze in first. Ollie frowned as she fell off the cliff again.

“I think you should still do it. I don’t think anyone would think of it as copying. Many idols have Twitch accounts,” Wonwoo said as he came in second.

“I hate it here,” Ollie mumbled to herself as she made it a bit closer, but then fell right after.

“I mean, I guess,” Parker said.

“And you can have special streams where we join. Pummel Party with Kpop Idols,” Felix said. Ollie looked at him as he bounced slightly in his seat at the idea. When she looked back at the screen, she fell again.

“GAH! I’m done,” Ollie threw her head back and groaned.

“Seriously, Soojin. Go for it. Imagine people’s reaction when they see how evil Yoori is and how competitive yet bad Unnie is,” Yoohyeon said, laughing.

“Why?!” Ollie whined and Yoori just giggled. The American slid off her seat and landed on the floor, pouting.

“Noona’s slipped into Ollie Emo Mode,” Felix announced, side eyeing the older.

“Is she on the ground pouting?” San giggled.

“Shut up, Choi!” Ollie scowled.

“Okay, Unnie. We finished the mini game. It’s your turn to roll,” Parker said.

Ollie sighed dramatically and Felix watched with a smirk as she climbed back onto her chair. She rolled the dice then sat back as her avatar moved ahead.

“Bunny time!” Yoori cheered.

Everyone groaned and Ollie laughed as Wonwoo was the victim.

“Why is it always me?!”

“Suck it up, Oppa,” Parker giggled.

“Unnie, I’m sorry,” Yoohyeon stated.

Ollie’s eyes widened when she realized that it was meant for her. She didn’t even get time to process as the rocket took off and scooped her up, dragging her across the board.

“Why do I even play this game?” Ollie dropped her head onto her arms that were folded on her desk.

“Wah, Noona. Either you’re completely out of luck or you just suck,” Felix said.

Ollie peaked at him and watched as he smirked at her.

“I raised you! Respect me!” Ollie shouted. Before she could say anything else, another rocket came towards her, with Wonwoo perched on it.

“Oh come on!” Ollie threw her hands in the air and everyone laughed at her outburst.

Even though she was coming in dead last and it seemed like everyone was targeting her, Ollie still had fun. She always did when she gamed with them. She just needed to find a game that she was good at so she could win at least once.

Ollie’s Masterlist