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iloveabunchofgames · 1 year

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#JakeReviewsItch

Arlo The Rabbit

by Joshimations, Crooked Beaker

Price (US): $2

Included In: Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, Bundle for Ukraine

Genre: Platformer

Pitch: A beginner-friendly platformer inspired by the classics.

My expectations: Mechanically, I'm not sure what to expect, but tonally, Arlo shouts Kirby. The cute protagonist, the visual style of the backgrounds, the HUD; they're all Kirby. It's fairly common for indie games to emulate the monochromatic, low-resolution, dot-matrix Game Boy. Arlo has the Game Boy aspect ratio, with appropriately scaled sprites, but its resolution seems to be arbitrary. It has four-shade graphics in gray, not green, evoking nostalgia for Game Boy Pocket rather than the older model. Am I looking at a deliberately loose riff on Game Boy platformers, or am I just overthinking a sloppy, naïve copycat?

Review:

Arlo the Rabbit combines one half Kirby and one half Super Mario Bros. 2. The result is less than the sum of those parts.

Kirby provides the attitude and aesthetic. It’s an easygoing, nonthreatening platformer for all ages. From the interstitial scenes between levels to the way Arlo gets launched into the background to the dance after defeating a boss, every part of the presentation points back to early ‘90s Kirby…which serves as a constant reminder that you could be playing the real thing instead of this drawn-freehand-with-a-mouse imitation. It’s a shame that the homage hasn’t been seasoned with other references or better yet, some original ideas.

Arlo’s only means of attack is grabbing single-use rocks off the ground and chucking them at enemies,similar to the way turnips and radishes were used in Super Mario Bros. 2. While carrying a rock, however, Arlo’s maximum jump height is cut in half. It’s a neat idea, or it would be if the level design ever took advantage of it.

Stage layouts are uninspired and repetitive. All enemies behave identically, shuffling slowly back and forth across set paths. Bosses offer a nice reprieve, but they’re predictable pushovers.

+ An inoffensive and functional game that can be completed in one sitting. + Walk, jump, throw—just the right level of complexity for anyone who's just learning to play action games. + The chipper soundtrack captures that Kirby feeling. + Pos

– Not much design in these levels. Secrets, dead ends, and bottomless pits all look the same as the critical path. Enemies, rocks, health-replenishing items, and 1UPs are just sorta tossed wherever. – Platforming is only ever tricky because the camera is locked to Arlo's vertical position. Jump, and the camera jumps with you. Here, I have a visual demonstration:

– Boring enemies. Some move on the ground. Some move in the air. Some move up and down. But they're all slow, and they're all completely oblivious to the player's actions. – Crummy hit detection. Or maybe they're just serious about COVID prevention protocols. Get within six feet of an enemy, and watch your health drop.

🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 Bottom Line: So simple that it might actually be more beginner friendly than Kirby. With only a fraction of the charm and attention to detail, however, Arlo the Rabbit isn't likely to inspire a life-long love of platforming in anyone.

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#Arlo The Rabbit #Joshimations #Crooked Beaker #Game Boy #Kirby #Super Mario Bros. 2 #Doki Doki Panic #Neo-Retro #Platformer #Beginner-friendly #Computer Game #PC Game #Video Game #Indie Game #JakeReviewsItch #Itch.io #Game Review #Bundle of Ukraine #Bundle of Racial Justice and Equality

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Best Marvel Comics to Binge Read on Marvel Unlimited

https://ift.tt/2UR4Tzi

With an enormous swath of the world involved in varying degrees of social distancing, many of us suddenly find ourselves with a lot of time on our hands. Never fear! There are more options for streaming comics than ever before, and that means we have access to more of comics history, more hidden gems, and more epochal runs than ever before. But the variety of options to read can be daunting. That’s why we’ve put together a recommendation list of some of our favorite comics binge reads to help you through quarantine. Marvel Unlimited has been around for more than a decade. It runs about six months behind print release of books, so it’s a good way to stay sorta-current with the stories you love. But the real draw is the back catalog: with 25,000 issues in its library, you’ve got access to some of the most important and most entertaining runs of superhero books of all time. From Lee and Kirby creating the modern superhero comic in the pages of Fantastic Four through Chris Claremont and John Byrne revolutionizing the X-Men, and through several Wars (Secret, Infinity, or Civil), everything is here.

You don’t need us to tell you to read some of these stories. You know “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” Kraven’s Last Hunt, “Demon in a Bottle,” or Jonathan Hickman’s behemoth are all important and good. And some of them, Marvel’s even giving you for free. We’re going to skip over some of the obvious ones and point you towards hidden gems, the harder to find stories that fill in the edges of the Marvel Universe and make it such a rich, lush experience. We are also looking for monster runs that will keep you occupied – you can read six issues in one sitting with no danger of nearing the end. Some of these might take you an entire round of social distancing to finish.

A quick note about the reading guides: We’ll list out the issue numbers for most of these. Many of them may have their own separate entry under Marvel Unlimited’s reading lists – those are helpful, but these are definitive. One of them, we’re going to refer you to the events – to find those, you can go to “Browse”, then scroll over to “Comic Events.” And for one of these, we’re linking to the inordinately helpful Comic Book Herald. They’re a great site for comic reading orders in general, and have helped me through several other binge reads before.

Walt Simonson’s Thor

Thor (1966) #337-360, Balder the Brave (1985) #1, Thor #361-362, Balder the Brave #2-4, Thor #363-382

This probably shouldn’t be on the list. It is in the conversation for the greatest runs on any superhero comic ever. But if you’ve never read it, you’re truly missing out.

If you watched Thor: Ragnarok and loved how it looked or any of its story, chances are you are going to adore this, the run that Ragnarok borrowed so much from. Walter Simonson took the Asgard realized by Jack Kirby, the mythological realm pumped full of color and Kirby dots, and turned everything way up to create the most iconic Thor run of all time. Simonson started the run on art before handing off to Sal Buscema, and Simonson and Buscema are two of the artists I could recognize by style the soonest. Everything is HUGE.

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Thor Comics Reading Order: Ragnarok for Beginners

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Thor: Love and Thunder Release Date, Cast, and Story Details

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It’s paced immaculately, with whatever story is in the foreground holding your complete attention, but always with something drip drip dripping in the background that will eventually crescendo. This run made so many characters wonderful, but Loki, Volstagg, and Beta Ray Bill are highlights. And have I mentioned the art? It’s incredible, and doesn’t suffer one bit when Buscema takes over. This is my favorite run on any comic of all time. You absolutely must read it.

X-Men: the Messiah Cycle

Messiah CompleX, Messiah War, and X-Men: Second Coming

The hottest take you’re going to find on the internet today is this: the Messiah Cycle is the best era of X-Men comics. It has everything I want from the X-Men line: books have distinct voices and missions, but contribute to the overarching direction of the line. There IS an overarching direction to the line. New characters are brought to the front, and new ideas are injected into the line.

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First New Marvel X-Men Crossover Revealed

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X-Men: The Animated Series – The Essential Episodes

By Michael Mammano

You get all of that from the Messiah era. Messiah CompleX picks up with Cerebro identifying the first mutant birth in years; Messiah War has the members of the Mutants with Claws and Swords era X-Force heading to the future to check up on that baby; Second Coming is when she returns to present day. Each one has a different tone; Messiah CompleX and Second Coming bring together every book in the line to tell their stories, but also let each creative team keep telling their stories and end up being the best-handled X-crossovers since Inferno. And Second Coming is the best straight action X-book I think I’ve ever read.

If you like these crossovers, you should absolutely check out other books from this era. Utopia X, a crossover between Uncanny X-Men and Dark Avengers, is amazing, as is Duane Swierczynski and Ariel Olivetti’s Cable and Zeb Wells’ New Mutants.

Mark Gruenwald’s Captain America

Captain America (1968) #307-422, 424-443

Full confession: this is my current binge read. After years of hearing about how wonderful Gruenwald’s Cap was, I finally decided to jump in and within three issues, I was texting people to scream at them for not forcing me to read it sooner. For starters, the goddamn Serpent Society turns into a union. In fact, the Serpent Society’s union meeting is the most fun I’ve had reading a comic scene in a while, and the fact that it is based on a real meeting of comic book creators from 1978 makes it both more accurate sounding and HILARIOUS (I think Constrictor is Gil Kane, when you read it).

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Avengers: Endgame – The History of Captain America’s Climactic Moment

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Captain America Comics Guide and Reading Order

By Mike Cecchini

But the real appeal is how much movie Cap is based on this era. Gruenwald’s Steve Rogers is a really nice guy. Everybody loves him, everyone respects him, and there’s not a lick of condescension or mean spiritedness about anything he does, from sparring with Black Knight to taking on a gang of criminal jugglers with Hawkeye to trying to help joke villains like Rocket Racer. He’s also extremely competent, and Gruenwald and artist Paul Neary do an incredible job of showing this, as Cap breaks into the West Coast Avengers’ headquarters while trying to figure out, through his jet lagged brain, what day it is. It only gets bigger and more traditionally superhero as it goes on, with artistic contributions from the likes of Kieron Dwyer, Ron Lim, and others.

You’ll see even more of this run’s influence in Marvel’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier TV series on Disney+, as it introduces key characters who we’ll see on screen there, so get reading, and pay attention!

Runaways

Runaways (2017) #1-current

Rainbow Rowell’s current run as writer on Runaways captures the Marvel spirit better than just about any comic coming out right now. It’s a masterful mix of superheroics, joyful immersion in Marvel continuity, and soapy teenage drama. A lot of people are doing good work at Marvel right now, but nobody is hitting these notes as consistently well as this crew.

This book is remarkably accessible for something so steeped in its own history. If you’re new to comics, or if you’re here because of the Hulu show, you’ll find plenty to love. But if you liked the original series from Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, you’re going to be shocked at how much this feels like if that same book had never ended. Even though the characters have grown and changed substantially, their voices are distinct and seamless. This is one of my favorite Marvel comics being published right now, and once you’re all caught up, make sure you add it to your pull list at your shop.

Darth Vader

Darth Vader (2015) #1-12, Star Wars: Vader Down #1, Darth Vader #13, Star Wars (2015) #13, Darth Vader #14, Star Wars #14, Darth Vader #14-25

Remember that moment in Rogue One where Vader just kicked the shit out of everyone without looking like he was trying? And how everyone squealed in delight at old, force of nature, badass villain Darth Vader being back? If you were reading the comics at the time, that moment had already happened for you a full 18 months before the movie came out, in Darth Vader #6.

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Star Wars Canon Timeline in Chronological Order

By Megan Crouse and 1 other

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Star Wars: Darth Vader’s Best Moments from the Marvel Comics

By Marc Buxton

This entire series is Vader killing everything he can. It’s like watching a space tornado. What’s especially surprising, though, is how Kieron Gillen manages to sneak some important character development into the book. While Vader slices through Sith intrigue and Rebel scum and the entire royal line of a mining planet and a bunch of others, we’re also learning about why he’s the way he is. This series takes place between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, so some of the lines that get filled in add to the rest of the OT as well. There have been several very good Star Wars comics since Marvel got the license back, but this run on Darth Vader is the best.

Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man saved Marvel Comics. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley didn’t do it with flashy variants or crossovers. They did it by telling good, pure, core Spidey stories.

It’s hard to separate Peter’s origin from Ultimate Spider-Man from Peter’s origin in the 616. The Ultimate origin is so definitive and iconic in how it fills in the spaces between the necessary beats. Bagley’s art especially – even now, thinking about this series that I haven’t read in forever, I can still pull up Peter jumping over Norman’s car, or MJ’s face when she and Peter have “the talk.”

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How Shifting MCU Release Dates Could Impact Spider-Man 3

By Don Kaye

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Spider-Man 3 Story Is “Absolutely Insane” Says Tom Holland

By Kirsten Howard

For the absolute best, and purest this book can be, just read the first 38 issues, ending with the first Venom arc, but the book stays solid for its entire run. Bendis’ work with both Peter Parker and Miles Morales is my favorite work of his career, especially when Miles joins the cape world, but nothing will ever match just how fantastic these first few arcs of Ultimate Spider-Man are.

The Annihilation Era

Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, War of Kings, Realm of Kings, and The Thanos Imperative

You will be hard pressed to find better comic book space opera than the Abnett/Lanning era of Marvel’s cosmic characters. Marvel’s cosmic line was an afterthought when these first started coming out. By the end, it was a widely beloved corner of the Marvel Universe that was popular enough to be mostly transcribed whole by the movies.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Cast, Release Date, Director, Story, and News

By Mike Cecchini and 1 other

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Guardians of the Galaxy Reading Order

By Gavin Jasper

The nice thing about this era of the cosmic line is how neatly the main books move from event to event. Annihilation tells the story of a cataclysm that befalls the universe, and how the remaining heroes – Nova, Star Lord, Silver Surfer, Drax, Gamora, Ronan the Accuser, and Super-Skrull, among others – fight a war to survive. Rich Rider gets his own solo Nova comic from there, and it leads right into Annihilation: Conquest, about the catastrophe that follows in Annihilation’s wake. It also sees the formation of the Guardians of the Galaxy as we know them and launches their book, before tying both comics together in War of Kings where the Shi’ar and Kree empires collide. Realm of Kings is the aftermath of that war (and has one of my favorite Shi’ar Imperial Guard stories of all time), and that leads directly into the conflict that mostly closes out the era, The Thanos Imperative. This is a great introduction and immersion in Marvel’s cosmic universe, and will have you hooked by the halfway point of the first crossover.

Black Panther

Black Panther (1998) #1-22, Deadpool (1997) #44, Black Panther #23-62

There are certainly better parts to this run, but there is a scene where Namor, T’Challa, Doctor Doom, and Magneto stand around an apartment outside of the United Nations shouting at each other about diplomacy, and to this day I still have not found a comic book more specifically designed for my interests than this one.

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Black Panther 2 Cast, Release Date, Villain, Story, and News

By Mike Cecchini

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Best Black Panther Comics: An Essential Reading Guide

By Jim Dandy

Priest is one of the sharpest minds ever to write comics. He’s so good at misdirection and storytelling – he will overwhelm you with style and flash, and you won’t even notice the subtle clues he’s dropping, or the way themes and characters weave together to show key parts of the story. This run on Black Panther is probably the definitive one for the character, and contributed a ton to the movie version, but there’s so much more depth (and humor!) that Priest puts into the Marvel Universe that it’s very worth reading.

Incredible Hercules

Hulk (1999) #106-112, Incredible Hercules (2008) #113-115, Hulk Vs. Hercules: When Titans Collide, Incredible Hercules #116-137, Assault on New Olympus Prologue, Incredible Hercules #138-141, Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #1-2, Heroic Age: Prince of Power #1-4, Chaos War #1-5

Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente are two of the best people writing comics right now. Each individually writes really good comics, but the two of them working together almost always put something special out. Incredible Hercules spun out of World War Hulk and came out better than it had any business being.

Movies

Hulk Movies Marvel Should Make

By Marc Buxton

Who is She-Hulk? A Guide to Marvel’s Next TV Star

By Gavin Jasper

Hercules exists in a unique place. Pak and Van Lente used him as a gateway to the mythology of the Marvel Universe – the Greek pantheon, but also the Norse pantheon, Japanese gods, Inuit gods, even Skrull deities. And several of these aren’t exclusive to Marvel, so you get a very clear and obvious statement about some of the differences between the Big 2 universes, some clever in-jokes, and the requisite moving story about godhood. This all comes with wonderful characterization, clever plotting and a great sense of humor.

Nextwave: Agents of H.a.T.E.

Read Nextwave after you’ve read everything else, not because it’s a good capstone to your Marvel experience, but because it’s aggressively anti-continuity, and (lovingly) EXTREMELY disrespectful of the rest of the Marvel Universe. It’s also one of the funniest comics Marvel’s ever put out.

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This whole story is Warren Ellis brutalizing superheroes. Boom Boom from X-Force, Monica Rambeau (sometimes Captain Marvel, sometimes Photon), Machine Man, monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone, and Captain &#($$&*#!@ (or The Captain) are brought together by the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort (H.A.T.E.) to fight Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction. It’s aggressive nonsense, less anti-continuity than acontinuitous which isn’t a word but also fits the spirit of the book – characters make no sense even from issue to issue, and only serve the plot, but that nonsense later serves the plot. And it is an absolute tour de force from Stuart Immonen, who draws every type of comedy you can imagine – slapstick, absurdity, somehow sarcasm, puns – with incredible layouts and storytelling. This is not a good Marvel comic, but it is an incredible comic book that you’re going to love.

The post Best Marvel Comics to Binge Read on Marvel Unlimited appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Comics – Den of Geek

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journalistpeterparker · 5 years

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“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is a love letter to comic book fans

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is everything a comic book fan could want. It breathes new life into the superhero movie genre with its stunning visuals, heartfelt story and does what no live action film has done so far: brought the feeling of reading one’s favorite comic to the big screen.

The movie follows Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a black/puerto rican teenager living in Brooklyn, as he goes from ordinary guy dealing with school and girl problems to a budding superhero who has to stop the entire multiverse from collapsing. Along the way he meets Peter Parker (Chris Pine), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), Spider-Noir (Nicholas Cage) and Peter Porker (John Mulaney).

The art style was praised as soon as the first trailer dropped back on Dec 9, 2017. The art gives the middle finger towards the unimaginative animation seen in movies like “the Secret Life of Pets” and “Boss Baby” and lives up to its full potential with bright colors, lots of movement and and incredible level of attention to every detail. The reflection of the city in Miles’s mask, the texture of his Spider-Suit, the way his irises aren’t perfectly round and look hand-drawn. The animation in this movie has more personality than some people I know. Combined with the use of Kirby Dots, comic book panels, text boxes and speech bubbles, this flick is a feast for the senses.

Watching Miles’s journey was the most satisfying thing to happen in 2018. In an increasingly hostile world, it’s comforting to see a young biracial boy find his place and learn to believe in himself. Miles is without a doubt the heart of the Spider-Team, bringing emotional nuance and realism to the film (being terrified of his new powers, struggling to figure out how they work, wanting to prove himself) while also providing some of the more lighthearted and sweet moments. Miles truly is the Spider-Man, not just of today, but of tomorrow. He represents, both in the movie and in real life, hope for the future.

The supporting cast are all standouts in their own right as well. Peter Parker, while only appearing for a short while, makes a good impression on viewers, showing off all the traits that have made Spider-Man a fan favorite at Marvel for decades and shares a touching scene with Miles. Also this Peter Parker is blond but that’s okay.

Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Spider-Gwen to fans, as not to get her mixed up with Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman). Gwen serves as an excellent foil to Miles: both are young heroes but unlike Miles, Gwen has had two years to come into her own and it shows in how she talks and fights.

Spider-Noir punches nazis. Nuff said. Kidding there’s a lot to say about this guy. Aside from being a proud nazi puncher, Spider-Noir serves as a playful critique/homage of old school noir film tropes. In what little time he has in the spotlight, he shines.

Peni Parker provides a unique twist on the Spider-Mythos. While she was also bitten by a radioactive spider, she did not gain any spider powers herself, rather, Peni was psychically bonded with a spider that lives inside a spider themed robot. She��s also from the future. Unfortunately, it is hard to fully appreciate her character when she’s draw to look like an anime character instead of a real person. Can Japanese people not exist outside of vaguely fetishistic “kawaii school girl” tropes? Do asian people only exist as cutesy oversexualized cartoon characters to the rest of the world? (Peni herself is not sexualized, but the vast majority of anime girls are)

Spider-Ham, by far the most outlandish spider character in the film and is easily the weakest link on the Spider-Team. Despite being voiced by the wildly popular John Mulaney, Spider-Ham just isn’t funny. He contributes nothing to the overall plot and doesn’t provide an interesting twist on the classic Spider-Man story. He’s just there, not contributing.

And last but not least: Peter B. Parker himself. While the Peter Parker from Miles’s universe gets minimal screen time and largely resembles the Spider-Man that longtime fans know, Peter B. Parker is something else.

Frankly, Peter B. Parker is a washed-up fat old man who doesn’t want to save the world or be a hero anymore, he just wants to get back to eating his pizza. Thankfully his relationship with Miles helps bring back his old spark (and sort out his marriage problems). This version of Peter is sure to strike a chord with fans who grew up with the character either in the cartoons or comics. And while his life has certainly gone downhill and it shows in his attitude, he retains his familiar sense of humor.

And as with any superhero movie, there are plenty of easter eggs for fans to find. Some notable ones include a Stan Lee cameo, Steve Ditko's name appearing in Miles’s phone and his dad’s phone (Ditko co-created Spider-Man with Lee), B Bendis and Sara Pichelli (Miles’s creators) and the name Romita appears both on a truck and as the name of a ramen restaurant (both John Romita Sr. and Jr. were Spider-Man comic artists). In Peter Parker’s bunker several different version of the Spider-Suit from the comics, video games and live action movies are visible. The post-credits scenes also contain references to a popular Spider-Man meme.

But the most interesting one is Peter B. Parker’s wedding flashback. He is shown crushing a glass underfoot-a distinctly Jewish tradition. Many a comic fan will point out that Peter has been shown to be protestant in the comics. However that's not the whole story and that the directors included that scene is a testament to how well they understand Spider-Man.

Peter Parker was never meant to be christian in any way shape or form. He was always meant to be, and always will be, a Jew.

Peter Parker was created by Stan Lee, a young Jewish man living in New York. Peter Parker hails from Forest Hills, Queens which is a traditionally Jewish neighborhood and his struggles are more influenced by Jewish thought than one would believe at first glance. The whole idea of power and responsibility being vs God’s Plan (see: “Daredevil” season three).

Going in even deeper: that Peter Parker’s guilt always stems from not being able to save someone (Uncle Ben is most every case but there are probably some exceptions out there in the multiverse) is almost identical to Jewish guilt which holds people accountable for what they do. In Judaism there is no such thing as “the Devil made me do it.” It’s all on the decision maker. His entire ethical code has been rooted in Jewish thought since “Amazing Fantasy #15” first hit the stands. Hats off to the creative team for paying attention to detail and giving fans what they deserve.

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse” is not without its flaws, but it offers a superhero flick made with love and stands out amongst the crowd. It is well worth the cost of the ticket so do a mitzvah and see this movie.

#spider-man: into the spider-verse #My writing

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nightcoremoon · 5 years

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I discovered the sonic fandom in a weird way. and no, not that way.

when I was younger I had a gamecube at my dad's and a playstation 2 at my mom's. I played the shit out of that ps2. jak and daxter, final fantasy 12, bully, sly cooper, yugioh capsule monster coliseum, ghost recon jungle storm, I sunk thousands of hours into that console before it eventually stopped reading discs. rip buddy.

anyway one of the games I had on there was the sonic mega collection plus. it had sonic 1, sonic 2, sonic 3, sonic & knuckles, sonic 2 & knuckles, sonic 3d, sonic pinball, and sonic... tetris? I played a lot of sonic in my day. not as much as everything else tho because final fantasy xii and jak 2 were THE SHIT (and they still are, i'm actually gonna go buy the zodiac age for xbox one when it gets cheaper), but I knew my way around sonic. and also shadow but WE DONT TALK ABOUT SHADOW. *crush40's I am all of me intensifies*

I watched the sonic cartoon. sonic, kirby, yugioh gx, code lyoko, those were definitive for me back then. but nobody else I knew really cared (except for one kid who also like yugioh, I had no friends). even though only the fuzziest memories of chaos emeralds remain, it was still a remnant of a simpler time, and I felt like it was my own little secret, lost to the anals of history.

...and then I discovered fanfiction.

inb4 cringey but 100% true story.

I had previously mentioned final fantasy 12. I was also like 12. and uh. ashe and fran are really pretty. so I googled ff12 rule 34 before I even knew what rule 34 was and so had to use key words to find what I was looking for. my search for ashe and fran without their armor (or clothes) lead me to a website called fanfiction dot net.

it was around that time that my little sister and I started watching avatar the last airbender. every single day after school, homework, and chores, we'd park in front of the tv for an hour and watch two episodes before it was time for dinner. I would then watch naruto and various hbo series I should not have been watching (true blood and boardwalk empire) but avatar was the biggest thing in my life at the time. and eragon because brisingr came out around then. so, curious, I looked in the avatar section. (and harry potter, invader zim, tales of symphonia, jak and daxter, a bunch of stuff). I took the plunge and took part in the community and wrote some stuff that a lot of people really enjoyed, weirdly enough.

my friends in the community also did stuff for death note, sly cooper, red vs blue, my little pony friendship is magic, and I got more involved in those fandoms too, but regardless eventually I found out that, well. sonic the hedgehog had a healthy fandom too.

the golden gates of heaven opened before me and their choir rang true.

...for about five seconds before I saw that oh my god it's all cringe. "find me on deviantart" "this is my original sonic oc please don't steal" it was the worst thing ever. it was a bunch of ten-year-olds with terrible art. but you know what, they fucking loved sonic the hedgehog, and I closed the door and let them enjoy their shit while I turned around and plunged into the brony fandom.

it was only a year later when I accidentally stumbled across rule 34 because oh my god there's no way that rainbow dash is the most popular character on the internet for porn to be drawn AND YET SHE WAS. and I was like. oh wow there's a website devoted to the exact thing that got me started on the path through fandom hell. weird. and then I saw that some of the most popular fandoms were mlp, pokemon, and... sonic the hedgehog.

only then, over a decade after falling in love with the game series, I finally realized holy shit. sonic porn is a thing. a very... big... thing.

so yeah the way I discovered the sonic fandom was pretty normal for a fandom, rather than the porn. weird, right?

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years

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Swamp Thing

HOUSE OF SECRETS #92 JULY 1971 BY LEN WEIN, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, JACK KIRBY, MARK EVANIER, MARY SKRENES, DICK DILLIN, TONY DEZUNIGA, BILL DRAUT AND ALAN WEISS

SYNOPSIS

Four stories in this issue. The first one is the “first appearance” of the Swamp Thing (Alex Olsen). Alex was murdered in a faked accident by his lab partner, because he was jealous of his marriage with the woman he loved. Now that this man (Damian) feels the woman is starting to suspect Alex was murdered, he tries to kill her, but she is saved by a “Thing” from the Swamps. Since he cannot talk, he has no option but to leave his love behind.

The second story is about a man whose wife dies, but in her final moment she seems to see something. Intrigued by this, he tries to see other people in their dying moments to figure out what they see. He ends up trying to kill his brother in law, but it is him who ends up being shot instead. In his last moments, he tells his brother in law what he sees, and this is enough for that poor man to be put in an asylum for life.

The third story is about a homeless man who gives a dime to a little boy who lost his balloon. Miraculously, a fountain of dimes appears in front of him and he starts taking care of himself (while still giving some dimes to people that helped him before). A criminal sees him getting better and follows him to the fountain and kills him. The kid with the balloon sees this and takes revenge, as he was a boy warlock.

The last story is just two pages long about a man who connects all the dots in some picture and is later attacked by the creature in it.

CONTEXT

Len Wein came up with the idea for the character while riding a subway in Queens. He later recalled, "I didn't have a title for it, so I kept referring to it as 'that swamp thing I'm working on.' And that's how it got its name!" Bernie Wrightson designed the character's visual image, using a rough sketch by Wein as a guideline.

The character of the Swamp Thing is inspired by an old Hillman Comics character known as the Heap. The Heap became a recurring supporting character when Eclipse Comics optioned the rights to continue the Airboy series of comics originally published by Hillman in 1945.

While creating the cover for this issue, Bernie Wrightson used Louise Simonson and Mike Kaluta as models for the woman and Swamp Thing, respectively. (This is how Louise Simonson looked back then).

CRITICAL RECEPTION

REVIEW

It is strange that the first appearance of the character is not even the first appearance of the character we know. As you may already know, the story was set in modern times in Swamp Thing #1, so they had to create a new “host” for the thing. So technically, while this is the first appearance of the Swamp Thing, it isn’t the first appearance of Alec Holland.

I get emotional sometimes with comics, but not like those readers described. This story wasn’t much of a story, it was more of a small snippet of a story. So many things are left aside that it feels incomplete.

My favorite story in this book is perhaps the third one. Doesn’t make much sense, but there is something interesting in it.

The second story is also good but in the end it asks too much of the readers.

Bernie Wrightson is a great artist, but of course, this is a swamp thing that is not yet refined. So in comparison it doesn’t look so good. But if you avoid Swampy, the rest looks eerie and fits the story.

I give this issue a score of 8

#bernie wrightson #jack adler #swamp thing #house of secrets #1971 #dc comics #comics #review #horror #bronze age

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gregellner · 6 years

Photo

Cover by Jenny Frison.

Today I’ll be reviewing the complete four-issue limited series “Year One” style story for Cassandra “Cassie” Hack, the protagonist of “Hack/Slash,” titled “Hack/Slash: My First Maniac.” It is written by Tim Seeley, with artwork by Daniel Leister, colors by Mark Englert, and letters by Crank!, all published by Image Comics (@imagecomics) as the first of the “Hack/Slash” properties to be published there before they took up the second ongoing series.

As a warning, this review is also an analysis, and so will include spoilers regarding this arc and major developments therein.

Throughout “My First Maniac,” Tim Seeley’s word choice rules the day, showcasing changing scenarios through repetition of common lines that have small, significant variations. Particularly in the first issue, there are intense parallels during the last two days that Cassie spent in her Wisconsin hometown, with her survivor’s guilt and vulnerability contrasting against her utter viciousness on her last day, figuring out how to use her “otherness” to make others afraid of her. On a similar note, the repeated use of certain phrases such as “come home” and similar words helps to add on to how alone Ms. Hack really feels and how she does, deep down, wish she could be at home again, but can’t seem to allow that for herself, a recurring struggle for her throughout her slasher slayer career.

Repetition also continues through events, such as the aforementioned last two days and her feelings about firearms. While Hack was at first upset and in shock over shooting her mother after she had become a slasher, noting that the gun felt heavy in her hands, her almost casual execution of the slasher she set out to hunt in this arc and intentional use of the gun she had actually demanded from someone else gives a look at how far she has delved into her killer lifestyle.

Religion, in particular Christianity, gets some mention, and acts as a contrast to the slashers themselves. Seeing as Cassie doesn’t know much about them (and won’t know much at all beyond the basics for years), she equates their ability to rise from the dead by sheer hatred as a kind of opposite number to Jesus of Nazareth, albeit not an actual antichrist. “The Bible says Jesus Christ died for our sins and returned to show his love. What about those who died for their own sins and returned to show their hate?” While this connection isn’t really all that important, it helps to tie readers in to the story, given a common perspective that many are at least familiar with on a cursory level.

Tim Seeley has long proposed that all of the famous slasher film franchises (and a few horror comic series) take place within the same world and share that world with “Hack/Slash,” with crossovers including “Hack/Slash vs. Chucky” (Child’s Play after Seed of Chucky), “Cassie and Vlad meet the Re-Animator” (Re-Animator), and “Hatchet/Slash” (Hatchet) alongside other more subdued connections or offhand references. In this limited series, Cassie’s original research into slashers includes direct mentions of the actions of Freddy Kreuger of A Nightmare on Elm Street (“a man who kills in dreams in Ohio”), Michael Myers of Halloween (“a masked maniac who terrorizes a small town on Halloween”), and Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th (“a camp plagued for thirty years by a psycho who won’t die”) who, though already mentioned to exist within the world by Charles Lee “Chucky” Ray in his one-shot story, are still a nice treat for readers.

As a fun little note, Delilah Hack’s year of death is mentioned on her tombstone as 2004, the same year that the original “Hack/Slash” story, “Euthanized,” was published, and therefore probably the same year that this story takes place.

“My First Maniac” is, at its core, a tragedy. Cassie Hack wants a normal life, and by right, probably would have had one, albeit one filled with bullying, in most other circumstances. But with her life’s path and her survivor’s guilt, any hope for a happy life is mercilessly, repeatedly dashed, and she isn’t the only one to whom this genre applies.

First, let’s look to the case of Cassie herself. From the outset, re-killing her undead mother has irrevocably changed her life, leading her down a dark path that results in running away from the loving foster care of Shannon and Karen Moore. As she starts to develop a new, real life for herself in Buffalo Center, Iowa, over the course of her first intentional slasher hunt, she actually seems to be happy, or at least give the idea of possibly becoming happier with time. She develops friends, and seems on the road to becoming better again after her violent turn in Wisconsin. Then, of course, things go horribly wrong, as becomes a pattern for her life from then on.

On the other hand, we have the supporting cast and even the villains. The Moores just wanted to help Cassie, but her self-given mission had consumed her to such a degree that any happiness would be impossible. Sarah Bunn and her boyfriend Kelsey each have a tragic tale, each a victim of the slasher of the story in their own way. Cassie even identifies them as a “free-spirited girl with a dark secret” and a “genuine good guy” respectively, acknowledging that they also were suffering from tragedy much as she was in their own ways. Even the slasher was in his own way a victim, though not as sympathetic. He was murdered in a rage, but his actions in life were not kind either, so there is less sympathy afforded to him.

A major part of “My First Maniac” is not just the case itself, but how Cassie Hack evolves from a relatively innocent girl into… well, kind of a sociopathic girl with intense post-traumatic stress disorder. By the end of the arc, she even claims that “Cassie Hack, teenage girl” is dead.

The majority of the symptoms of her disorder do not come into play during the limited series (having apparently been developed gradually in the months since), but her increased aggression is definitely important. Over the course of a single day, perhaps two, Cassie Hack goes from reluctantly shooting her mother to death in order to save someone’s life, to experiencing such severe survivor’s guilt that she feels she deserves the beating that a trio of bullies led by group alpha Rhianna Stegman are giving her, to beating Stegman to within an inch of her life with her bare hands the next day and threatening to murder her if she ever tried again. Even more, that very night she threatened her foster father’s life with a knife in his bed to keep him from following her as she ran away, further showing that she is seriously unwell. The speed with which she shifts from a shy, bullied girl to making death threats and physical assault demonstrate a thoroughly fractured mind, one that will only get worse as years of hunting take their toll.

On another note, it is important to be aware that while Cassie is a huntress of monsters, she is not a good person on her own. When she witnesses Jay and Ludo beating up a homosexual student outside of Club Fuzz after work, she almost doesn’t help at all on account of them not being her prey and her not being a hero, only actually getting involved when the odds are obviously in her favor once Kelsey and Sarah jumped in. Part of this relates to how she feels she can’t have anyone to care about, seeing any attachments as collateral in her hunt that she cannot afford (something that takes years for her to grasp is not necessarily the case, and never really leaves her mindset altogether), but another is the fact that she is so obsessed with her mission that she has faith in nothing else at all and makes attempts to refuse any other ways to help.

Even with her increasingly hardened exterior, there is still a sheltered, hidden part of Cassie Hack that is still that flustered, shy, teenage girl who ran away from home. Being the center of attention and attracting compliments leaves her very shy, with her new goth wardrobe breaking her out of her intense focus when people bring up how good she looks. Furthermore, when someone actually tells her she is a cool girl, she is overjoyed, actually writing it down in her diary with her feet up and crossed like a guy she likes noticed her.

Daniel Leister’s artwork is amazingly done, and in two different, but similar styles. On the one hand, we have the present day storyline, with realistic, well-detailed faces and scenes, the emotion clear on everyone’s faces (especially important for this particular slasher). Blood and guts are in horrific, terrifying detail through which Leister considers the amount of time that has passed since the blood has spilled, ranging from a general stain to caked on gore or bruises to a smear to a bloody, oozing wound. Water is shown in detail as well, with sweat and splashes helping to showcase effort in a way that many other artists might overlook.

On the other hand, the tellings of the tale of the slasher threat are somewhat more simplistic in nature, with flatter artwork that somehow works very well regardless, playing off in a way that is not unlike the works of Jack Kirby. In fact, the artwork even utilizes his famous “Kirby dot” technique!

On the whole, it is very well put together in some of the best art on “Hack/Slash” in general (not to put down any of the other phenomenal artists either).

The issue would be incomplete without Mark Englert’s coloring. Darkness and light, across different times of day, different ages of bruising, or even different styles of artwork help to make the entire story feel like a classic slasher movie, even as it is clearly something different.

The coloring of blood and gore is particularly well handled, as each of these elements has a weight to them, with light and shadow playing across them to showcase the amount of blood spilled or the fact that a blood stain may just be a single layer, whether a minor smear on clothing or skin. By using that kind of detail, readers are made aware of how fresh, how wet, a wound really is at any particular moment.

Together, this four-issue series is put together wonderfully, with the masterful writing, excellent illustrations, and disturbingly realistic coloring working together to make yet another piece of the amazing “Hack/Slash” epic.

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kirbydevpostarchive · 6 years

Text

HAL Laboratory イシダHAL_Laboratory 12/02/2016 4:16 AM Good to see everyone again! The time has finally come to reveal the winners of the drawing category of the "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge"! We'll get to revealing the artwork soon, but first, the director of the game, Mr Kumazaki, would like to say something!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:19 AM Hello everyone, Shinya Kumazaki here. I just want to say that it was a really enjoyable experience to look through all of your wonderful entries. It was obvious how much effort and enthusiasm went into each one. Thank you for sending in your work!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:21 AM Then let's begin from the Platinum Prize. Take it away, Mr Kumazaki!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:24 AM Our Platinum Prize goes to… Kowal! Meta Knight plays a big part in this game, so we received a lot of entries featuring him, but Kowal's work really showcases his speed. It's also very well executed at a difficult angle. That white mask with the black cross cut into it looks particularly cool. Speaking of Galacta Knight, we came up with him back when we were working on Kirby Super Star Ultra because we wanted to create an ultimate enemy for Meta Knight. We gave him an angelic, godlike look to contrast with Meta Knight's bat-like wings. That was a while ago! Congratulations, Kowal!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:26 AM Wow, what an intense image. It really makes you want to see how that showdown went! Next up is our Gold Prize.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:29 AM I'm happy to say that kirby！ has earned our Gold Prize! All of the submissions kirby！ made showed a high level of quality with their use of clean lines. And they all featured Labotories having fun, so I could see kirby！ has a lot of affection for this character! Incidentally, Labotories are in charge of researching and developing weapons and such in the Haltmann Works Co.'s laboratory towers. They're the hardworking citizens of another planet, hired by the Haltmann Works Co. and every morning they sing the company song from the bottom of their hearts. Congratulations, kirby！

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:31 AM Wow, I didn't know they had that much backstory! They always seem so happily busy, don't they? Oh, Kirby's in there too! I hope they all get along. Well, now it's time for the Silver Prize winners - and there are two of these.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:34 AM The first Silver Prize goes to ななし! This drawing features some incredible background work - even though it's all in black and white, you can really feel the blue sky and white clouds. The sunlight on the Robobot Armour in Jet Mode is fantastic, too.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:36 AM Silver Prize number 2 goes to アンテラ! アンテラ's work gives us a unique perspective. Lots of entries focused on the final boss and iconic scenes, so to see Circus Kirby reflected in one of the giant balls of Resolution Road was a really nice idea.

Congratulations, ななし and アンテラ!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:38 AM Both of those entries were drawn so nicely - I especially like Kirby's expressions in them! Next we have the Bronze Prize, with five winners.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:40 AM The first Bronze Prize winner is yucky♪! At a glance, this looks like a fairly ordinary picture of Kirby, but look closer and you'll see it seems to be from the perspective of the Robobot Armour. Could this be one of the last pieces of data left in the Robobot Armour's fading memory banks as it floats in space after everything is over? If you think about it like that, it brings a tear to your eye... Just heartbreaking!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:42 AM Our second Bronze Prize goes to てるや! This is a particularly dynamic Robobot Armour, and what puts it over the top is the screen-shattering punch! It also sparked my imagination - is the Robobot Armour punching the camera itself, or maybe the monitor of an enemy robot?

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:45 AM Our third Bronze Prize goes to key! This might look like a normal picture of Mirror Kirby, but it's actually showing off the old and new hat designs, which I thought was a unique touch. About that hat design - in older titles, due to issues with things like storage capacity, we often had to use the same hat design for multiple Copy Abilities, only changing the colour. So the original Mirror hat was a colour variation of the Beam hat. But when we brought it back for this game after a long absence, we gave it a big makeover to make it more unique and easier to differentiate.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:47 AM The fourth Bronze Prize goes to rH! This is Dark Matter's true form, that you only get to glimpse for an instant in this game. This was a submission from outside Japan but the artist's use of Japanese characters really draws the eye. You can tell that rH is a real fan of the character.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:48 AM Our fifth Bronze Prize goes to Shira! These Dedede Clones have such rich expressions. Their faces really give you a sense that they were formed from pure innocent destructiveness extracted from King Dedede's heart.

Congratulations, yucky♪, てるや, key, rH and Shira!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:50 AM Right, last up in the drawing category is a set of special awards we're calling the Secret Kumazaki Faves! We have three to give out. Mr Kumazaki, if you'll do the honours?

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:52 AM I chose these entries based on ideas that made me go "Wow!" The first Secret Kumazaki Fave goes to Lady!

Lady's picture really captures the goings-on "behind the scenes" of the game! After the Haltmann Works Co. destroys King Dedede's castle, the repair works get underway in this refreshing picture. And King Dedede has even taken off his crown! I never expected someone to try depicting that... Together with his clothes, it all makes for a very original image. As for his true hairstyle, maybe you'll get to see that one day...

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:54 AM Secret Kumazaki Fave number 2 goes to クリームロール!

All of クリームロール's entries were very technically accomplished, but this was the one where I felt the concept really shone through. The pixel art in the centre seems to evoke a simpler time when Meta Knight was still himself. And the lines and dots at the bottom of the image are actually a message in Morse code! It says S, O... Ah, but I shouldn't spoil the fun. I'm sure you can work it out for yourselves! There are plenty of fun little things like this hidden in Planet Robobot as well, so if you want, you can go back and try to find them all.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:57 AM The final Secret Kumazaki Fave goes to ラリアット!

ラリアット's entry shows Meta Knight, ready for battle, reflected in Dark Matter's sword, and it's a really fantastic image. The heavy use of black gives it a chic look, and the portrayal of the characters is very nicely done. Incidentally, you may have noticed that in this game, Dark Matter's sword shines with a rainbow light. This light is materialised from Dark Matter's memories of the Rainbow Sword that he faced in Kirby's Dream Land 2. Those memories must have been included in the original data used to create the clone. Just like how in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, King Dedede faced Dark Meta Knight for the first time ever, in this game Meta Knight faces off against a version of Dark Matter for the first time. So Dark Matter must have sensed that Meta Knight's powers were truly formidable, and materialised the power of the Rainbow Sword to counter him. Seeing two expert swordsmen face off against each other is always a thrilling experience!

Congratulations, Lady, クリームロール and ラリアット!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:59 AM And that's the end of the drawing category of our "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge". We'd like to thank everyone who entered! Don't forget, though, we still have the screenshot category of the contest to go! We received a lot of entries worldwide for this contest, so it'll take us some time to select our favourites. We know a lot of people are excited, but please wait a little longer for the results!

#robobo #eu en #eu en robobo

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theclarkystuff-blog · 7 years

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Yoshi's Wooly World

In 2011 when courting with my wife, we enjoyed a summer of various games with co-op options, which for most part ended on the Wii, one of those games which brought us the most joy was Kirby’s Epic Yarn. I found this to be a beautiful game with its quilt and patch art style and combined with the usual high quality found within Kirby games. While I had a great time with this game alongside my wife, the game was met with its critics, feeling the game was either too short or easy, despite these views Kirby’s Epic Yarn would go on to be one of the Wii’s highlights during its lifetime and Good-Feel was already talking about making another game but with Mario taking the starring role this time. Fast forward to 2013 and during a Nintendo Direct we are given an unveiling of Yarn Yoshi, a new Yoshi adventure coming out on Wii U, this game would remain on the quiet side for the best part of 2 years before re-emerging as Yoshi’s Woolly World, employing a different look based on woolly toys and art & crafts the game bore a similar appearance to Sony’s own Little Big Planet. Yoshi in his own respective of games has gone through highs and lows, ranging from Yoshi’s Island, released during the Snes twilight years powered on the SuperFX2 chip which made this game look like it could have been an early PS1 or Saturn game. The series has had several successors on N64, DS and 3DS, I always felt that the series had not managed to capture the charm nor challenge of the original until now.

In 2015 Nintendo would finally release Yoshi’s Wooly World with a 3DS port released later in 2017, renamed now as Poochy and Yoshi’s Wooly World. With the new port released I decided it was about time to finally finish the game after picking it up and dropping it various times. Booting into the game we are told that Baby Bowser has sent henchman Kamek to turn Yoshi and his friends into bundles of yarn and hidden them around neighboring islands, leaving it up to you and Yoshi's abilities to conquer obstacles and foes in which to take the battle to Baby Bowser personally. Getting control of the game you are thrown into a hub world, connecting all the islands you will explore and displaying various highlighted posts from the Miiverse, a feature also used in the loading screens to showcase art made by its players and provide hints like what to look out for. There are various tents found in this hub world which allow us to change the look of our Yoshi to another design which can be unlocked in game or the ability to scan certain Amiibo’s which will unlock various Yoshi’s based upon a look of whichever one you scanned, so if a Sonic or Pac-Man coloured Yoshi ever appealed to you, this would be your moment. While a lot of people have found Amiibo to be a new form of DLC locked behind a toy I was comfortable with the Amiibo support in this game as it was more merely a cosmetic bonus rather than a paywall holding back any game play based content like levels, the only other use they seem to have in game is making a second Yoshi appear during story mode to assist.

In game has support for various controllers ranging from the Wii U Pro Controller, Wiimote and Classic Controller, I ended up mainly playing with a Wiimote Motion Plus controller due to the extra control option found in it to aim eggs using the gyro for quick and accurate aiming. Before loading out for a level you can decide if you would like the assistance of a badge power, these badges can grant you temporary stats to help you either complete or find secrets in levels, while I can imagine these skills could maybe enhance a second play through or help younger or inexperienced players, I never really saw the appeal of them for my play through. In game we play through various islands containing levels which will require you to explore, defeat enemies and make your way to a goal post, dotted throughout the levels are jewels, flowers, wool and stars which will increase your health, finding all of these in a level will unlock features such as new Yoshi’s or a bonus game. The bonus games found in this tend to be based around small timed events which see you trying to collect fruits or jewels or overcome obstacles, while I found bonus rooms in the middle of the levels to be more fun, due to them mainly being vehicle based levels or new forms like becoming a mermaid, I found the bonus game at the end of each level to be a bit boring, as the bonus jewels feel somewhat redundant. The worlds vary on theme traditionally seen in platform games such as forests to tropical islands, lava worlds and ice domains, all of which contain there expected obstacles such as slippery surfaces, underwater caverns and wide pits. With previous Yoshi games I have found the difficulty to never quite be right, either being too easy or for some entries having certain levels which were either designed bad or just with weird difficulty spikes. Woolly World however manages to capture a balanced difficulty, very similar to the original Yoshi’s Island, from the every start the game is easy and forgiving while it allow you to become comfortable with your skills but the end you will need to master the flutter jump and various other skills to complete levels and defeat boss battles later on.

The co-op mode in this one I found to be better implemented than the likes of New Super Mario Bros Wii which I have found a bit too chaotic with the game moving usually at a fast pace and having 4 players on screen at once was just a bit too much for me, but with this game encouraging players to take things a little bit slower and to explore your surroundings to find collectibles or hidden areas, I just felt this game benefited more from that however there is no online play, while this may have been a great option for many I honestly think this game would be better played with someone beside you. Being able to work with a friend to unlock get to hidden areas which may normally require more skill is always great fun and can cause silly moments where you may eat your partner but this can provide an easy way to carry an ally over a tricky platform section which may give your partner problems. If the game proves to be too challenging for maybe younger or inexperienced players a Mellow Mode option exists which makes Yoshi invincible and gives him unlimited flight, a similar feature seen recently in New Super Mario Bros series and Donkey Kong Country Returns, while these options are maybe controversial to certain “gamers” I found no problem with these options being in the game, if these help players enjoy the game and be able to see all the levels, fair play, I never needed the option so I can’t really pass any comment on it.

Good-Feel has managed to take what made Yoshi’s Island into a great game and stitch it together in a game which I feel is good enough to stand up alongside the original, with its varied and challenging level design, well placed secrets and easy accessibility while leaving out various elements which may have dragged it down like character gimmicks or crying babies tied to a health system. This game was never going to save the Wii U but it did become one of the few shiniest gems the system offered, while it is now one of the many gems of the 3DS it is a game I was very happy to experience due to its wonderful art-style and fantastic level design, I enjoyed it enough that I would be happy to try the 3DS port one day just to experience the game again in 3D and that I am curious to see how the 3DS handles Wii U ports, as I felt a little disappointing in the ambitious port of Hyrule Warriors to 3DS. This comes highly recommended by me if you need a break from mainstream gaming or if you want to just have simple fun with a friend.

#nintendo #wii u #yoshi #yarn yoshi #nintendo 3ds #3ds #nintendo 3dsxl #n3ds #new 3ds #nintendo 2ds #2ds xl #new 2ds #wii u games #kirbys epic yarn #good-feel #wii

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kirbydevpostarchive · 7 years

Text

HAL Laboratory

イシダ HAL_Laboratory

12/02/2016 12:10 PM

Good to see everyone again! The time has finally come to reveal the winners of the drawing category of the "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge"! We'll get to revealing the artwork soon, but first, the director of the game, Mr Kumazaki, would like to say something!

クマザキ

12/02/2016 12:12 PM

Hello everyone, Shinya Kumazaki here. I just want to say that it was a really enjoyable experience to look through all of your wonderful entries. It was obvious how much effort and enthusiasm went into each one. Thank you for sending in your work!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:13 PM

Then let's begin from the Platinum Choice. Take it away, Mr Kumazaki!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:16 PM

Our Platinum Choice goes to… Kowal! Meta Knight plays a big part in this game, so we received a lot of entries featuring him, but Kowal's work really showcases his speed. It's also very well executed at a difficult angle. That white mask with the black cross cut into it looks particularly cool. Speaking of Galacta Knight, we came up with him back when we were working on the Kirby Super Star Ultra game because we wanted to create an ultimate enemy for Meta Knight. We gave him an angelic, godlike look to contrast with Meta Knight's bat-like wings. That was a while ago! Congratulations, Kowal!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:17 PM Wow, what an intense image. It really makes you want to see how that showdown went! Next up is our Gold Choice.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:19 PM I'm happy to say that kirby！ has earned our Gold Choice! All of the submissions kirby！ made showed a high level of quality with their use of clean lines. And they all featured Labotories having fun, so I could see kirby！ has a lot of affection for this character! Incidentally, Labotories are in charge of researching and developing weapons and such in the Haltmann Works Co.'s laboratory towers. They're the hardworking citizens of another planet, hired by the Haltmann Works Co. and every morning they sing the company song from the bottom of their hearts. Congratulations, kirby！

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:21 PM Wow, I didn't know they had that much backstory! They always seem so happily busy, don't they? Oh, Kirby's in there too! I hope they all get along. Well, now it's time for the Silver Choice winners - and there are two of these.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:23 PM The first Silver Choice goes to ななし! This drawing features some incredible background work - even though it's all in black and white, you can really feel the blue sky and white clouds. The sunlight on the Robobot Armour in Jet Mode is fantastic, too.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:26 PM Silver Choice number 2 goes to アンテラ! アンテラ's work gives us a unique perspective. Lots of entries focused on the final boss and iconic scenes, so to see Circus Kirby reflected in one of the giant balls of Resolution Road was a really nice idea.

Congratulations, ななし and アンテラ!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:28 PM Both of those entries were drawn so nicely - I especially like Kirby's expressions in them! Next we have the Bronze Choice, with five artists.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:30 PM The first Bronze Choice winner is yucky♪! At a glance, this looks like a fairly ordinary picture of Kirby, but look closer and you'll see it seems to be from the perspective of the Robobot Armour. Could this be one of the last pieces of data left in the Robobot Armour's fading memory banks as it floats in space after everything is over? If you think about it like that, it brings a tear to your eye... Just heartbreaking!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:32 PM Our second Bronze Choice goes to てるや! This is a particularly dynamic Robobot Armour, and what puts it over the top is the screen-shattering punch! It also sparked my imagination - is the Robobot Armour punching the camera itself, or maybe the monitor of an enemy robot?

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:34 PM Our third Bronze Choice goes to key! This might look like a normal picture of Mirror Kirby, but it's actually showing off the old and new hat designs, which I thought was a unique touch. About that hat design - in older titles, due to issues with things like storage capacity, we often had to use the same hat design for multiple Copy Abilities, only changing the color. So the original Mirror hat was a color variation of the Beam hat. But when we brought it back for this game after a long absence, we gave it a big makeover to make it more unique and easier to differentiate.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:37 PM The fourth Bronze Prize goes to rH! This is Dark Matter's true form, that you only get to glimpse for an instant in this game. This was a submission from outside Japan but the artist's use of Japanese characters really draws the eye. You can tell that rH is a real fan of the character.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:38 PM Our fifth Bronze Choice goes to Shira! These Dedede Clones have such rich expressions. Their faces really give you a sense that they were formed from pure innocent destructiveness extracted from King Dedede's heart.

Congratulations, yucky♪, てるや, key, rH and Shira!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:40 PM Right, last up in the drawing category is a set of special awards we're calling the Secret Kumazaki Faves! We have three to give out. Mr Kumazaki, if you'll do the honors?

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:42 PM I chose these entries based on ideas that made me go "Wow!" The first Secret Kumazaki Fave goes to Lady!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:44 PM Secret Kumazaki Fave number 2 goes to クリームロール!

All of クリームロール's entries were very technically accomplished, but this was the one where I felt the concept really shone through. The pixel art in the center seems to evoke a simpler time when Meta Knight was still himself. And the lines and dots at the bottom of the image are actually a message in Morse code! It says S, O... Ah, but I shouldn't spoil the fun. I'm sure you can work it out for yourselves! There are plenty of fun little things like this hidden in Planet Robobot as well, so if you want, you can go back and try to find them all.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:47 PM The final Secret Kumazaki Fave goes to ラリアット!

ラリアット's entry shows Meta Knight, ready for battle, reflected in Dark Matter's sword, and it's a really fantastic image. The heavy use of black gives it a chic look, and the portrayal of the characters is very nicely done. Incidentally, you may have noticed that in this game, Dark Matter's sword shines with a rainbow light. This light is materialized from Dark Matter's memories of the Rainbow Sword that he faced in the Kirby's Dream Land 2 game. Those memories must have been included in the original data used to create the clone. Just like how in the Kirby: Triple Deluxe game, King Dedede faced Dark Meta Knight for the first time ever, in this game Meta Knight faces off against a version of Dark Matter for the first time. So Dark Matter must have sensed that F21Meta Knight's powers were truly formidable, and materialized the power of the Rainbow Sword to counter him. Seeing two expert swordsmen face off against each other is always a thrilling experience!

Congratulations, Lady, クリームロール and ラリアット!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:49 PM And that's the end of the drawing category of our "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge". We'd like to thank everyone who entered! Don't forget, though, we still have the screenshot category of the contest to go! We received a lot of entries worldwide for this contest, so it'll take us some time to select our favorites. We know a lot of people are excited, but please wait a little longer for the results!

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