#weird mario entities

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Freezie (again)

Debut: Mario Bros.

In the words of Fire Mario from Super Fighter M, today is also a hot day! Is it a hot day where you are? Would it feel better to think about an ice 🧊 chunk? There is only one way to find out. We will see.

I think I may have been taking Freezie for granted all my life. It’s so common in the Mario series, but I guess it’s never felt enough like a “creature” to me. It has a face, but it is so often more of an item, or a decoration! I am changing that. I am appreciating Freezie properly, right now!

Freezie was originally known as Slipice, which is okay. Not as good as Freezie. I am mostly sharing THIS information to prepare you better for...

...this early art of it! What the heck! Whadda hell! This is some kind of a fishm’n. It looks either scaly- like a fishm’n- or drippy. And if I interpret it as drippy, it looks drinkable! I would not drink this man, because this is a living fellow with real flesh eyes, but I could if I really needed to. I just cannot see this as very solid ice. Amorphous, at the very most!

As an early Mario arcade game, Mario Bros. was ported to all sorts of early systems, with all sorts of funny sprite quality. This one from the Atari 5200 is my favorite! It is green! Why is it green? That, along with the closed eyes, makes it look like a sickly mucus blob. I would think this would make Mario sick, not freeze a platform!

I always thought Freezie was just based on a general Chunk, but I never considered that the shape is certainly reminiscent of a bamboo shoot! I am not sure if that was always the intention, or if it was just this artist’s interpretation, but it is neat anyway! I overall prefer the standard design for Freezie, but I think this one would have such a neat texture. I would love to feel it!

Sometimes, they cannot quite settle on what Freezie should look like! Sometimes, like in Mario Kart Live Home Circuit, its eyes and mouth are made white, and I quite like this! I think it looks better for an entity made of ice, like those parts are made of denser ice. I don’t know what the black eyes and mouth would be made of, but the eye shines they have sometimes make them seem Real, and I don’t like that!

Here it is in Super Rush, which came out after Home Circuit, and it uses the older design for whatever reason! I just don’t know. Maybe it is because regular golf sucks so it gets the inferior design. That is probably why! The Cooler Freezie would be an obstacle in a hypothetical Mario Mini Golf.

Finally, look at this Freezie. I think “geez” and “yikes” when I look at it!

[delightfuldevin]

This is all the same material, an element known by multiple names that originated in space. It is not inherently dangerous, but like any element, can be used for harmful purposes.

This element is capable of mimicking living beings it has encountered, allowing it to form a body. The entities that spawn from it are sentient to an extent, but not equivalent to an actual living being, more similar to artificial intelligence.

[biggerchallenge]

There are two different kinds of Mario:

-Middle-aged italian-american plumber from pre-gentrification Brooklyn.

-Weird mascot creature who only makes excited italian-sounding shouts.

My proposal is that these are two separate beings, who I call "Human Mario" and "Creature Mario".

Chris Pratt Mario appears to be a synthesis of the two, retaining the personality of a human being (albeit one from a modern, gentrified, brooklyn) while physically resembling a Creature.

Dr. Mario is, as we all know, a separate entity, but effectively they are a Creature (having a medical degree does not affect this in any way).

[pizzatowerconfessions]

I have a specific dumb, weird, and/or kinda mean thing I want to do to each pizza tower character (affectionately). My brain has given each character has their own personalized hell and it's kinda hilarious:

I want to throw Pizzaface like a frisbee

I want to tickle Peppino like the kitten in the "surprised kitten" video from 2009

I want to aggressively pat Gustavo's head like those gifs were the head pat is extremely fast

I want to shoot Mr. Stick out of a nerf gun.

I want to squeeze Pepperman like a stress ball in my hand

I want to play with the Vigilante like those slime toys

I want to either swing the Noise around by his ankles like Mario did to Bowser in SM64 or poke him aggressively

I want to stretch Fake Peppino like Stretch Armstrong and squish his face at the same time

I want to shake Noisette like a tambourine

I want to chomp off a corner of Pizzahead's pizza head.

Again, this is all affectionate even though more than half of it is downright violence... they're cartoons they can handle it, right?

For those who are wondering about my feelings on Brick and Snick I hold them gentle like burger because I sense they are powerful entities and I need to respect them. Same with Gerome, John Block and Snotty.

.

[inkbats-writing]

Random booigi au were Luigi doesn't end up in the darklands when him and Mario travel through the pipe. Instead he ends up in boo woods. So he wanders around terrified trying to find Mario only to run into boo after boo. And at first they find it fun scaring the shit out of this guy who's just getting more and more scared but eventually they get a little worried (king boo hasn't had to deal with the shame of loosing to these two humans before so him and his ghosts mainly just do their own thing terrifying/pranking people though he does still have his alliance with bowser) so they go to king boo concerned for the guy. King boo comes and terrifies him more but after a bit of enjoying the fear king boo too gets a little worried and does his best to calm luigi down.

The second luigi (still afraid having no idea where he fucking is) gets a shred of kindness he just breaks down and like cries about everything that happened. That he's separated from his brother this isn't his world he's freaking out and like latches onto King boo. King boo feeling weird about someone not running in fear of him for once offers to let luigi stay with him until word of his brother can be found.

Fast forward and the movie takes place but because he's trying to help luigi (and steadily getting to know the cutie) they both somehow miss the entire nonsense that goes down with the neighboring kingdoms.

Mario returns to the mushroom kingdom a hero but still missing his brother and goes on a search to find him however bowsers escape and following attacks prevent him from ever getting far in it. The boos too try looking for "luigi's mysterious brother" but never get far in their search due to other kingdoms not liking their presence. Meanwhile luigi and King Boo get closer and fall in love.

This all leads up to years later bowser (half way redeemed because he's tired alright) and peach (with mario) are headed to the boo woods to witness the royal fusion (boos combine for weddings and the resulting entity of their relationship is the one that "lives" on from that point) between king boo and his beloved only to get the shock of Mario's life to see luigi is the "beloved" and he's about to lose his brother forever unless he can stop this wedding

[istadris]

I think it’s hilarious that Luigi has so many villains drooling over him whilst he remains completely oblivious. Even evil objects are attracted to him! Like Lucian and the Chaos Heart.

He gets kidnapped, possessed, recruited into evil teams, showered in riches, promised everlasting power, chosen as an ideal vessel multiple times, and still wonders why everybody “hates” him.

He's got a pack of feral simps after him while all he wants is for the average Toad to remember his name when he's buying bread at the bakery ;-;

Joke aside, as a post I reblogged today mentioned, it's fascinating that Luigi has all the makings to be an Evil Twin : the overshadowing, the lack of respect from most honest people, the interest from many evil entities, an older brother adulated by the masses, weird affinities with the occult...

But Luigi doesn't care about being in the shadows, if it's his brother who's in the light. Mario is the one who thrives in the fire, the spotlight, the attention from everyone; Luigi would be overwhelmed if he was always in Mario's place. And as long as his brother loves him, why would he want that place ?

Oh, but if Mario's theme is fire and light, Luigi's theme being lightning and night fit him so well : he thrives in specific circumstances brought on by an accumulation of darkness, danger and stress, can be extremely dangerous, will suddenly strike without any warning of where it will land (even for Luigi himself), and once the "storm" passes, so will the burst of power. And with the storm often comes the rain, soothing and healing once the thunder has passed.

[demonfox38]

Completed - Wild ARMs

Man, it really gives the whole plot away to know that Zepet is supposed to be translated as Geppetto. 😅

I was having another indecisive spat on what to play this June, as I wasn't in the mood to play anything in particular. (Decision fatigue gets real bad when you have literally 281 games left to beat between Steam and physical copies. Shit, that's not even getting into mini consoles…) After tossing up another poll online, the series winner for this month turned out to be "Wild ARMs." Now, I've got one mutual that is pretty sweet on "Wild ARMs 3" in particular, but I didn't want to jump right to that, as I know how it can go when you start a series further down the line, then go back in time. Features get rolled back; content gets rougher. (Well, in a world where things are always improving, that's how it goes, anyway.) So, to get a fresh taste of this series, I started with its primary release.

"Wild ARMs" (not to be confused with "Wild Guns") follows the adventures of three travelers seeking to restore life to their dying world via the help of ancient guardians, magic, and technology—at least, when it isn't trying to actively kill them. Standard RPG plot, right? The major twist here revolves around the use of iconography from the American Old West to create a whole new world and set of combat and exploration systems. Does it work? Well…it's weird to see castles and princesses in a story taking aesthetics from the distinctly anti-monarchical United States, but honestly, we're also responsible for the Disney Princess subculture. So, maybe it's not as weird of a mix as it initially seems.

This game is like every RPG and no RPG at all. Like, if you're long in the tooth with RPGs, you'll get it. Aesthetically, it's on par with contemporary titles like "Tales of Phantasia" and "Xenogears," particularly with the latter's mix of anime cutscenes, 2D sprites, and 3D battle models. ("Golden Sun" also shares a similar pseudo 3D model sprite appearance to this game, if you want some more distant connections.) Dungeon navigation and puzzle manipulation feel very "Sweet Home"/"Tales" RPG/"Paper Mario" adjacent, with each party member acquiring a set of tools to use in their environment to make their way forward. Most surprisingly to me, I kept getting this feeling of nostalgia that I have when I play "Tales of Symphonia." Like, yes, tropes get passed around like hot potatoes in this particular genre of games, but holy shit. When you have:

A boy getting kicked out of the starting village due to violence in which he was involved,

A girl struggling with the veneer and duties of her role,

A man hiding his past struggles with letting an important woman in his life down,

A woman obsessed with the magical technology from ancient ruins,

A collection of supernatural entities fighting alongside humans via summon gauges,

A set of four powerful individuals dictating the fate of the planet,

A subquest involving rebuilding a city through your donations,

A unicorn hidden in a lake that turns out to be a component for healing a serious ailment, and

A goddamn giant ass tower serving as the connective tissue between the planet and the heavens…

Like, I didn't do deep research, but I did give a 10 minute flip through MobyGames to see if there was any staff overlap between "Wild ARMs" and "Tales of Symphonia." Finding nobody crossing the lines there was surprising. Some kind of convergent evolution was going on there, I guess! Hell, maybe the only reason I'm fixating on this is because of how integral "Tales of Symphonia" was to my life, and how this felt more "Symphonia"-esque to me than its literal sequel/predecessor "Tales of Phantasia"…

The big unique feature of this game is its focus on ARMs management. No, that is not a typo! In this universe, ARMs stands for Ancient Relic Machines, which are a variety of firearms both realistic and futuristic in nature. Proper management of your ARM inventory can make or break the toughest of battles, so it's worth investing some serious cash (or Gella; weird name, I know) into your main character's weaponry. Upgradable statistics include the firearm's power, accuracy, and ammo capacity. While a handful stand out as particularly useful (given your progress in the story), it doesn’t hurt to upgrade everything.

Oh. By the way. You can make that very easy to do.

The same mutual that first brought this series to my attention also let me know about a super critical game-breaking bug. (Thanks again, @unwontedfemme!) Ya see, games from this era were mostly written up in a combination of pointer languages (C++, most likely) and assembly code. If you are not used to working with pointers, you can make a significant mistake. When fetching the value of a variable, you can accidentally pass the address of where the variable is instead of the value itself. Given that this is usually a large hex value, you can accidentally max out or overflow a variable. I suspect the following bug is a result of that behavior.

In "Wild ARMs"', you can cause an item count max-out to happen by doing the following:

Secure Nx2 Heal Berries (where N is greater than 1), an item you want to duplicate with a stock of 1, and three active teammates.

Get in a battle.

Have Teammate 1 (Rudy) heal themselves.

Have Teammate 2 (Jack) heal themselves.

Have Teammate 3 (Cecilia) swap the inventory position of the Heal Berry and the item you want to duplicate, then back out of the inventory window and attack an enemy.

If you finish the round without exiting the battle, then the second item will duplicate itself to a maximum inventory value of 255, well exceeding the intended stock limit of 99. Chaining this bug can result not only in a shitton of items (and money, if you sell 254 of them off), but this can also aid the player in maxing out character stats and spell slots, as well as helping one character reduce his skills' MP costs all to 1 a piece. Like, damn, right? It's not as easy to do as, let's say, the card swap trick from "Castlevania: Circle of the Moon." But, damned if that doesn't save time grinding! (Although, honestly, I wouldn't recommend stat boosting too much. Don't want to lock yourself out of this method, do you?)

Like, okay. "Final Fantasy VII" had a similar item duplication bug. However, being able to do this from, like, two hours in gives this cheese some extra flavor.

You might be able to make yourself a walking tank in battle, but handling your characters' toolsets may be the metric that culls the wheat from the chaff. I could see a lot of people giving up before the credits hit due to a surprise stealth section with wonky speed boosts. Additional punishing tasks can include finicky positioning with grappling hooks, false item pickups, environmental damage, hidden insta-ejects from the dungeon, and time countdowns to escape certain doom, sometimes even paired with optional (and possibly missable) content. The most excruciating challenges are definitely in optional dungeons, but it's still irksome enough to mention. I probably would have had far less patience with the game had I not been playing it through a locally burned ISO and SwanStation.

Sometimes, I just don't want to drag my PS1/2 out of the basement.

For me, the most troublesome part of handling "Wild ARMs" was getting a grip on Filgaia itself. It definitely doesn't help that the game is bouncing you around from place to place, throwing in random teleporters before you even get a ship. Good luck navigating after that!

Like, look at this in-game map:

Tell me how this is helping you locate anything.

It should probably be noted that several proper nouns and names aren't translated the best here, either. Like, the game's text didn't fall into major grammatical traps until the end of the game. However, some poor translator was having a hell of a time working katakana into English. Several character and demon names were mangled in translation, including a significant chunk of the main cast. Particular offenses were translating Siegfried into Zeikfried, Vambrace (as in, a character's last name and knight title) into Van Burace, demon Belial into Berial, and critical minor character Geppetto into Zepet. Although, to be honest, I kind of like the last one getting name mashed. It makes a particular plot twist regarding his closest main character acquaintance a little more shadowed…

Also, it's kind of fucked up to name Jewish constructs after demons, isn't it? Oops. At least the people and elements based on generalized Native American culture aren't egregiously executed. There are probably a few more war bonnets than is kosher, but that's about the worst that I (an average white girl) can pick up on. Considering they could have easily all been magical space elves or robot demons with this plot's cast, the citizens of Baskar Village are very tame. They're just practicing their own religion, keeping peace on their own island. Alright! Understandable. Definitely better than whatever the hell's going on in "Wild ARMs 2", from what I've heard…

Look. I'm not the person to come to regarding this subject. I want to come by that honestly. I'm just glad when I get something Western flavored out of Japan and don't have to side-eye J. M. Barrie or Walt Disney. Because, ya know…any misunderstanding there are the fault of people like me. The least I can do is try to keep an open eye/mind/heart and let other people know if/when something comes up.

I'm not responsible for this game ripping off Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold", though!

Jabs aside, this game genuinely does have good music. If you want a place to pick and choose some items, this YouTube playlist should get you on your way. Particular tracks of interest include:

Into the Wilderness (the main theme)

Alone in the World

Town

After the Chaos and Destruction

Kishum Flame (teleporter theme)

Courage (Dungeon)

Critical Hit! (the main battle theme)

Wh-What (Zed's Theme, which sounds a bit like something from a "Ganbare Goemon" game)

Lamenting and a Promes;The Demon Tower that Pierces the Heavens; Return to Ashes (vocal arrangements!)

To the Sea of Stars

Holy Mother of Darkness

Morning of the Journey (orchestra arrangement of the main theme)

Honestly, I'm surprised at how thorough this soundtrack is, plagiarism incident aside. It does a better job than the visuals do at meshing the east-meets-west dynamic "Wild ARMs" has going for it. I can't be as glowing about some of the special effects sounds (especially on some of Jack's skills), but the music is solid.

Also? I found myself stopping to take screenshots of several enemies throughout the game. A lot of the enemies are striking. Like, okay. Sometimes, they're just caterpillars and mushrooms. Other times, they're disembodied heads with jagged fangs, bloated demons, delightful clowns, congealed corpses, decapitated soldiers riding chariots, or even spider-legged centaurs. Weird and gruesome? Sure. But, I always appreciate something weird coming after me, even if it's a unicorn with a dog's jaw and a crow's tail. And hell! They found some way to work in a kitsune into a Yeehaw RPG. That has to be worth something!

"Wild ARMs" is a special kind of game. I knew I was in for something good when the game managed to pull a credit drop in the middle of a goddamn funeral march. It is everything I am familiar with, sure, but the emotional beats worked well for me. Of critical note, I didn't feel the need to rush through the game. I was willing to give this game its time, even if I had 280 other games squirming around in the backlog. I can't say every plot point was executed perfectly, but I was sated by the experience. For 30 hours? That's downright economical, as far as an RPG goes.

I'm a little bit baffled as to why this game doesn't seem to have a lot of online groundswell for it. Like, I'm not completely confused. This poor bastard was a sprite-based RPG released in 1997 on the PlayStation. Guess what other game may have been getting more attention. I wonder if the genre flavor may have been off-putting as well. For a long time, Westerns were very out of style for people my generation. Even now, people are going to gravitate more towards a fast-paced shooter rather than an RPG to treat a cowboy itch. I guess those answers are simple enough. Still, it feels shallow.

Oh, well. At least it got to have five games. And a remake, even! That's at least par to the "Breath of Fire" series. Maybe it’s not the best comparison in the world to make, but I'm assuming people at least remember "Breath of Fire" games. And it ended up on the PlayStation Classic, of all things! I mean, that's about as prestigious as being on a doorstop, but it's some kind of accolade. Not even "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" is on that, and that's one of the most wonderful, beautiful games to ever exist on any console.

If you are a junky for retro RPGs, this game is certainly worth your time! It's efficient and effective with its runtime, managing to meld new ideas and old tropes into its own stew. I'm honestly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It could be some "Tales of Symphonia" wires crossing over in my head, but hell. It's nice to know there are still gems buried out there. 

[funtimespringscare101]

FireStar Peach Headcanons and Facts - General and/or Lore Related

Now you might think she's demonic or from another dimension, possessed by an evil entity or even a dead person possessing the game (AKA the Three EXE tropes I see around the most. Needlemouse my beloved). FireStar is just a version of Princess Peach whose game got messed with and became self-aware and glitched because of it.

She doesn't really hold grudges much.

"OH MY GOD... FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT A VAMPIRE! I JUST HAVE POINTY CANINES! PUT THAT GARLIC AWAY!"

Darrell and FireStar have had this weird friendship ever since FireStar crawled out of the TV in the lore, she doesn't hate him as much anymore but FireStar feels that her attempt to fireball him really stresses him out.

All of the other characters in her copy of Super Mario World behave normally, meaning they're not alive and only say their respective in-game lines and quotes and nothing else. FireStar is the only one able to truly speak and she gets a little lonely. This is why she hangs around M's world, other than to piss M himself off, of course.

The part of her hair which looks like fire was a result of a glitch and moves like actual fire would. It doesn't burn though, thank god.

Because her Mario isn't so "alive" and she's surrounded by Mario fakers or just shitty versions of him, she's not so interested in romance with Marios due to this.

She's a Lesbian.

She loves Pizza sm

Doesn't really like Metal Music

--------------

@chaosverse-mainblog @misterah13

[doodleydoo101]

I admitted to my friend that I wrote Mario Fanfiction the other day and she read some of my stuff. She liked it, but I feel weirdly exposed now. It’s my fanfic self is a completely separate entity from the person I am in real life and having them overlap is weird 😂

[bones-and-whatnot]

Some Name-Related Mario Concepts/Headcanons

It should be noted that, like the majority of my headcanons, I don’t necessarily hold all of these to be true in my head always or all at the same time, they’re just ideas I’ve had.

The main recurring Toad that we see in the franchise is the Blue Toad, whose full name is Loyle Toad. (Loyle T.) He is a natural redhead, but prefers the color blue to red, and so wears a blue vest and sometimes dyes his spots to reflect that. He is generally only called Blue Toad when his cousin, Oniss T. (Yellow Toad) is around because they both are the kind of people who prefer to go by their last names and you have to differentiate them somehow.

Toadsworth’s full name is Dew Toadsworth (Dew T.)

Captain Toad’s first name is Gravi.

Wario and Waluigi are not their birth names. Their birth names are Waldemar Wicked and Giorgos Crygor. The man now known as Wario adopted that identity in a long-term effort to scam people who had only a passing familiarity with Mario into thinking HE was the big hero who deserved monetary rewards and could be hired for lucrative jobs like plumbing and medical aid. He later brought on Waluigi for added credibility.

Mario and Luigi’s middle names are Albano and Daniele, respectively.

“Donkey Kong” is the name of a vague spiritual thing that passes hereditarily through generations. It is less of its own full entity as much as a sort of presence that meshes with the pre-existing personality of whoever the current title-bearer is. So, while the modern Donkey Kong is separate from Cranky, a part of him is, in a sense, the same “character” as Mario’s original adversary. (As for how the timeline of Cranky and Modern DK being 1-2 generations apart while Mario is still the same works out, I dunno. It’s a magical world, time is weird.)

Morton Koopa Jr. is named in memory of Bowser’s older (or twin?) brother (the concept of Bowser having a brother is, in fact, not something I’m making up: https://www.mariowiki.com/Bowser%27s_Brother), Morton Koopa. When the two of them were very young (as in, prior to Yoshi’s Island), a magical mishap banished Morton the first to Subcon, where he was warped into a froglike form. He rechristened himself “Wart”, as a corruption of “Mort” (whether he intentionally changed his name or just couldn’t remember his real one, I’m not sure) and grew into adulthood there. Bowser has very little memory of this incident and is not aware that his brother is alive.

Bowser is also not self-aware enough to realize that his interest in doppelgängers and facsimiles of himself, particularly small/child-sized ones- e.g. the enemies enchanted to be Fake Bowsers from various games, Mechakoopas, the Koopa Kids from Mario Party (who I sometimes headcanon as being advanced robots in the shape of small Bowsers or clones of him), Bowser Jr. (who I sometimes headcanon as being a clone of his father, but only if the Koopa Kids are not already clones)- stems from guilt over the above.

Diddy Kong’s full first name is Jedidiah.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Is King Bob-omb a robot?

Is he? Huh?

Recently I have been thinking about the nature of King Bob-omb, because I think it is more interesting than one may think upon first consideration! Yes, he is a big living bomb. But what does this mean for him? Let's discuss!

Bob-ombs

Bob-ombs! They are bombs. Even a dog could look at a Bob-omb and tell you "Rhat's a ralking romb! Hreeheehee!" What do we know about Bob-ombs? Well, they are very clearly artificially created entities. I mean, they're bombs. They're powered by wind-up keys! And they're mass-produced in factories. These are artificial, mechanical creatures. Automatons! The ones in Sunshine are very overtly robotic, and even if those ones are Bowser Junior creations, it may reflect how he views the real ones.

There is a history of sentient, talking Bob-ombs and Bob-omb society, so these are clearly rather advanced automatons. All the more reason for me to confidently declare them to be robots! It's weird to make a living bomb capable of thought and emotion, but as established by Origami King, the ones working for Bowser are intent on making their single blast really make a difference. So I guess making them sapient is ultimately helpful for Evil purposes, if unethical.

King Bob-omb

Now let's consider the King! That guy loves to be considered. He is NOT mass-produced. He does not have a wind-up key. He does not even have a fuse! And of course, he has arms. No Bob-ombs have arms...

...but Chuckyas do! Big, Bob-omb-like, with arms for throwing Marios. King Bob-omb seems like he could be a stronger, more refined model of Chuckya! Chuckyas are absolutely robotic, so this does make a good case for the King being such, as well!

Could a robot have such a magnificent mustache, though? Yes, a robot could. Even standard Bob-ombs are capable of having mustaches, as are creatures made of ice, and also this is a silly cartoon world. So yes, I think a robot could have a mustache.

Mecha King Bob-omb

Now HERE's the thing that got me thinking of this in the first place! Mecha King Bob-omb, from Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. This is a robotic version of King Bob-omb... hm. This IS obviously a robotic replica based on him, and there's no reason a robot based on another robot couldn't exist, but that WOULD make the "Mecha" title pretty weird! Is the original king mechanical or what? I guess the "Mecha" could also be referring to this version being a pilotable mecha, unlike the real version, which is a Guy. This brings up questions, and answers none!

The Big Dud

Finally, the last possibility of King Bob-omb's origins. If you are aware of the Super Mario 64 Iceberg, you are aware of the Big Dud theory! After Big Bob-omb (as he is known in 64) is defeated, an additional metal ball will be rolling around at the base of the mountain, and a Bob-omb Buddy will declare that the Big Bob-omb is nothing but a big dud now. This has led some to believe that the additional cannonball might be Big Bob-omb himself, made inanimate upon his defeat!

And then THIS gets me thinking about Power Stars. They do weird things to Mario creatures! I think it is likely King Bob-omb could have been created BECAUSE of the Power Star he holds. Maybe he was an ordinary Bob-omb enhanced into a new, regal form by the Star, or maybe he even was an ordinary inanimate metal ball, chosen to be extra resilient compared to his subjects! You know, in 64, he doesn't even explode like a Bob-omb. Is he a FRAUD? (No, he explodes in other games)

Final thoughts

So, after all this analysis, is King Bob-omb a robot or what? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. No one knows. This guy is weird! He can fly with no effort if thrown off the mountain. When killed, he congratulates Mario for killing him and invites him to do it again sometime. If I HAD to come to a conclusion... I would say he is technically robotic, but that's not something the designers/developers actually ever have or had in mind, and is just a result of being a Bob-omb.

I don't mind that there is no concrete answer! I was not expecting there to be! This is Super Mario we're talking about. They're not going to expect us to analyze evidence about characters and come to conclusions. But it is so much fun to do! That's why we do it! Call this guy a robot if you want! Or affirm that he is not if you don't! I don't really care as long as you are nice!

[ask-marios-apprentice]

Stars and Knockouts

Space, the final frontier.

That's what people used to think.

On panko. You can get a destination wedding on the moon, a go-kart track on a space station, and a shooting gallery with some Lumas.

After landing on the comet observatory.

Rosalina was surprised on seeing a young lad she has never met before face plant on to the ground.

She was currently trying to figure out why there's been so much chaos in the Stars as of late.

Turns out she was interested in what I had to say when I dropped my clutch.

Oh I don't think I've mentioned this before. But some software was put into my clutch that allowed me to stabilize warps and transport back to Warp org head quarters.

I gave her the rundown on the situation happening.

Let's just say she wasn't thrilled.

She reluctantly decided to help me by giving me access to a piece of equipment and the steering wheel.

The starbit band and a supplementary drone (not pictured)

@lethalhedgehogs drew this.

This weapon was made from broken Wii remotes and joy-cons to create an AR sensor / motion control wristband.

It then connects to a supplementary drone that shoots out star bits and allows me to perform a spin attack.

I then set off to do some platforming challenges. Surprisingly some of the ones Mario actually did in the past.

1.Throwback Galaxy/ Thwomps fortress and bed and breakfast

2. Sweet sweet Galaxy.

3. Marriage counseling crater on the moon.

4. The starship Mario in disrepair.

5. Dry world.

These were basically just small obstacle courses.

After I completed enough warps.

Rosalina actually had a gift for me before I left.

A Power Star ⭐

Though just as soon as I touched it.

I passed out.

...

I saw Ic again.

Garth: Seriously. This is the third time this has happened.

Ic: Garth. I wasn't supposed to see you this early in the week. What are you doing here.

Garth: I could ask you the same thing. All I did was touch a power star and I think I passed out.

IC: Okay I didn't have everything ready yet but I do have this to say. Don't waste that Power Star. You're going to need it soon. something special is going to happen to you and the person you give it to afterwards.

Garth : Wait. what's that supposed to mean?

All of a sudden I woke up.

Garth: Oh my head.

Rosalina: Young one. are you all right?

Garth: Uh. I guess I always feel a bit groggy after I see that tanuki with the white and gold fur.

Rosalina: Wait. What did you say.

Garth: what. I just said I saw a tanuki with a white and gold fur. The guy named Ic.

Rosalina: Be honest. Are you telling me you saw saw the dimensional being of invincibility.

Garth: I think so. Is he a white and gold tanooki in a weird cosmic realm.

So it turns out that Ic is a god-like entity known as a dimensional being. People like Father time, mother nature, Grambi, are in the same league as Ic.

So I've been basically getting Divine visions.

But aside from that shocker.

I had to get back home.

My mom and Mario were getting into an argument with each other.

I'm not sure why. But I had to get going.

Garth signing off.

[starsaver94]

OK!!!

So firstly I aged him down because him being a grown adult man just feels weird when I think about it so the boy's 17 at modern day which works nicely for a timeline of Sonic and Mario games coming out at this time and people's opinion on each respectively and Daniel's experience with both IP's!

He's also pretty internet famous! He makes a bunch of High Quality and well liked Mario ROM hacks that AREN'T possessed or cursed in anyway! He's basically known as one of The Big Mario people on the internet. Kaizo mods, whole fangames, Mario Maker levels, you name it, he's made it!

He also writes super friendly and sweet

Like this!!! ^w^ Haaaiii, I'm super duper glad to meet you! :D

And he has spent whole Days doing nothing but sitting at a computer working on projects, he is very much prone to passing out or suddenly sleeping for hours if he is currently making something.

Then, there's De-De! Which is what he affectionately calls the demon he has stuck in a Sonic ROM-

De-De is kinda what you'd expect from a demon. Super cold, serious, talks in very short and to the point sentences, that whole thing. Daniel talks to him while he develops the Sonic ROM for input and just for fun, and shows him concept art and the such.

And, as for the rom, it's a bit hard to explain. It is, on the surface, a horror mod that has you playing a "cursed" Sonic the Hedgehog rom, while the rom itself is ACTUALLY cursed. It plays out like a very unique and high quality exe game, sticking to the formula at first, but having multiple unique levels and quickly becoming it's own thing, with levels being very heavy on platforming and difficult for sonic veterans to navigate.

Ugh, sorry if this doesn't make any sense and is super disorganized, my mind is just, overflowing with things. This isn't even everything, heh. But, yeah! What do you think?

It sounds really interesting! I may be totally off, but De-De sounds like he would be a more neutral entity compared to other EXE's.

And the concept of a developer creating normal games, but also creating and sending out cursed games sound creative and interesting as well!

[killscreencinema]

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Switch)

When the first Mario + Rabbids game was announced, gamers everywhere rolled their eyes at the prospect of Nintendo's most iconic characters meeting up with Ubisoft's equivalent of the Minions. What could this possibly be other than an abominable attempt at cross licensing not unlike the mediocre Mario & Sonic Olympic game?

Imagine everyone's surprise when Kingdom Battle turned out to be a fantastic turned-based tactics RPG! Oh sure, it sucked that you were forced to use Rabbids characters in your team and it was weird to see Mario using a gun (albeit a sci-fi zapper that looked like a futuristic price gun), but the gameplay was solid, decently challenging despite also being "baby's first tactical game", and often times fun! So a sequel was a no brainer.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, developed and published by Ubisoft, was released last year for the Switch and picks up a little later after the events of the first game. The Rabbids are getting settled living in the Mushroom Kingdom when suddenly everyone is attacked by a hostile intergalactic entity named Cursa, who is hunting powerful beings known as Sparks. Fearing what may result should Cursa get what they want, Mario and company blast off on a galactic adventure to save the Sparks and stop Cursa's evil designs.

While the core gameplays remains the same, there have been some changes, with the biggest one being the addition of the aforementioned Sparks. Whenever you save one, you can equip them to a character to grant them an extra ability to use in battle. Equipping the appropriate Sparks for every battle can mean the difference between victory and defeat, as most enemies are vulnerable to certain elemental attacks that Sparks can provide. Sparks can also provide certain defensive or healing boosts that can make all the difference.

Other improvements include a better overworld system that isn't as much of a pain in the ass to traverse as the first game and the elimination of gridbased movement in favor of every character having a certain range of movement. While all of this improves the quality of life for the game, don't think for a minute it makes the game easier. Sparks of Hope still has enough of a difficult edge to give the battles a satisfying challenge, especially the optional "Golden Pipe" bosses, which you can unlock on each world after collecting a certain amount of Sparks. There are also plenty of side quests, which involve battles that have different conditions for victory that aren't always necessarily defeating all of the enemies. There are some battles like the "Survival" fights (my least favorite) where you have to survive endless waves of enemies for a certain amount of rounds.

I will say that it took awhile for the game's charm to hook me, as I struggled at first to get into it. To be fair, I was completely consumed with playing Persona 5 Royal at the same time as I started this, but nevertheless it still took me a little while to get into it. I was also shocked by how buggy the game is. There were a couple of instances where the game locked up midbattle, causing me to have to restart, which is infuriating when you're this close to sewing up a particularly difficult fight. It didn't happen often, but it happened enough to surprise me considering Nintendo is usually known for nothing if not the polish of their games (although I am aware that Ubisoft made the game, but still, you'd think Nintendo would have insisted on rigorous quality control).

Overall, if you liked the first game, you'll probably enjoy this one as well!

.

[theherosreturn]

Bradley: I think us finding some others was actually a coincidence, given how even Rubicante wouldn’t know of who our missing allies are. Whatever the case, we’d best rest and see what happens next. I have a feeling these demons are going to get more daring in time.

(Glitchy Mario would continue to get into weird shenanigans…and eventually do something involving a pair of teleporters, a sub sandwich, Solider, and shed feather from Emir. The result would end up taking out a few invaders in another city somehow)

Jackrow, with the image of The Texas Wendigo still engraved within his mind: Yeah...It's probably for the best that we at least try to rest...

Helen: It's still heartbreaking to see such an kind soul like Tex get turned into an entity that goes against everything he once stood for...

Diana, wanting to cheer them up at least a little bit: That just gives us more of a reason to fight back...For once this is all finally over, they'll all be free from this corrupt tyrant at last!

Jackrow:...Thanks Diana...That really means a lot...

[cloverchats]

In Defense of Mascot Horror

"Break and mend, I built the breath. They hunt now, drawn to life. Not Real, still keen. And Frit and Fraught with thought and zest and gest no blunt woes. Dodge, duck, flash, shoot, crawl, run, crush the vile band. Cry not, try not, do not hold out, hope no. Your life, your aim will save those with soul."

Hiya it’s Clover, I’m back from hiatus to try talking about horror, but not your standard slasher flick, I want to talk about a sub genre in the indie gaming scene that has gained significant traction over the years, the Mascot Horror.

With the success of indie games like the Five nights at Freddy’s Franchise, Bendy and the Ink Machine, and the recent but incredibly divisive title Poppy Playtime, many different people are trying their spin on the newfangled formula, not just in games, but Hollywood too! Warner Bros even going as far as to use their older IP the banana splits in a recent eyebrow raising flick. 

Yeah, that's a film that really says “I'm just here to cash in, go unnoticed by the general public, and get forgotten by anyone who even knew I existed.”

But what about those viral indie sensations that actually succeeded? What does the public think of them?

Well in all honesty, outside of people with regular internet usage, the public really doesn't know these games exist. 

Like if you walked up to a random person on the street and asked them about Mario, they probably would have some form of name recognition, but if you decide to do the same about Freddy Fazbear they would probably ask you to leave them and their children alone before they call the police. 

So instead of the general safe opinion of mainstream media and society, you’ll have to listen to this dork with little to no connection with the outside world, well i mean you don't really have to listen to me, you could always click off the video I mean nothings stopping you i mean uh-

Though in recent times with new arrivals like poppy playtime, people are starting to not only think the genre has lost its artistic value but are asking if the genre of Mascot Horror was ever good to begin with! 

I disagree and in this video I will go over why the idea was, is, and will continue to be a great twist on one of the most important genres in fiction.

 Genre/Medium incorporation. 

Mascots can come from different places, from the grocery store snack aisle to the giant corporate entities that will practically buy the planet at this point, and depending on which kind you choose, your story and to that extent your horror will have a lot of different material to work with, wherever it be thematic, historic, or different ways to torment the audience.

 Think FNAF, it takes the concept of an animatronic Chuck E Cheese Style Pizzeria, and it leans into the surreal and uncanny with the horror. Animatronics are characters we as children (or parents that really just want to finish the birthday cake and leave) pretend are alive but know aren't (because it’s a robot puppet in a fursuit programmed to sell you pizza, honestly santa claus is easier to believe in then those things) so when all of a sudden they are alive at night, and are out to get you, that is scary! It takes advantage of the weird niche gray area our brains categorize them in and uses it against us. 

 The Character Design. 

Getting a Character to be scary or even creepy is a hard process to get right, you can either have it be too much (Excessive details, gore, and sharp teeth) or too little (Pale skinny girl with long dark hair) to get you even remotely captivated by the on screen terror, but a huge purpose of a Horror Character's Design is to stick with the audience, just like a mascot character.

 Think of Bendy, just like a lot of cartoon mascots, he is simple, yet instantly identifiable, even down to a basic silhouette of his head. A Big old circle that looks like a small cookie bite out of it to emulate horns. But there are other traits that make up lots of other classic cartoon characters of that era, a bow tie, a wide smile, pie eyes, etc!

But in the atmosphere of a abandoned old cartoon studio, a possibly cute design on the various cardboard cutouts, posters, and other items starts to feel a bit off, how he is always smiling, his eyes constantly facing forward, like he's constantly observing your every move, but mocking it too, making sure that even if the real demon isn't chasing you, you never feel truly alone.

So in turn that means his design will stick with the player and yet still be tied to the horror game he originates from.

 Style.

 If you haven't noticed with these different mascot horror hits is that you can stick them right by each other and their style does stand out. Five Nights at Freddy’s and Bendy and the ink machine might both use 3D Models but there is no mistake that they are different  projects with different visions. They are visually unique due to them playing off of their kind of mascot, wherever it be a cramped, dimly lit, security office with faded colors and robotic characters to match, or a large but worn down cartoon studio that looks like you are walking through the very sketches the long gone animators might have drawn in their time working there.

Visual identity can be something a horror story might struggle on, but with the use of different kinds of mascots, these are able to separate themselves from the rest.

 Twisting expectations

While this might be a more standard point, it is an underrated one, especially given naysayers of these titles saying they are all generic because of this shared focus, but I deem it a great strength to these stories.

 Something we as humans inherently fear is the unknown, and at the same time we also fear change, so when a concept you think you understand to be something harmless like a cartoon character or animatronic animal flips itself on its head, it not only becomes a sudden and scary change in logic, but you dont know whats going to happen next, or even if what you previously knew about the subject holds any validity.

 It takes advantage of two of the most major fears we as people hold,  and combines it with all the major points made thus far, Uncanny thoughts and feelings, Memorable and unsettling designs, and surroundings styled to feel like the niche it is twisting. 

 And those are the reasons the Mascot Horror Genre is not only special, but the titles within it will have a lasting impact on the players who experience them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp7v19qSgMI&t=13s