Hunter Blogs About VG's

Why Metroid Fans Double as Rabbid Feminists

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:07:35 -0400

Metroid: Other M caused a shitstorm. A wave of harsh negativity from critics and the gaming community together. The way that people perceived how a character was portrayed caused them to lash out about it, and this anger resonated so well with people who hadn’t even played the game that they didn’t buy the game to try it for themselves. Well, you can argue that there are other reasons that this blockbuster game was sold for 5 dollars at Best Buy, that’s an assumption I’m choosing to run with. Anyways, in all this over-exaggerated hate, is there something positive it says about the way gamers have been affected by the Metroid series?

Whether it’s Metroid or Metroid Prime 3, the first Metroid game somebody plays through tends to force a lasting change in the way they perceive female characters.

From bombing walls down to killing pterodactyls, the player is more than a witness to Samus’ strength and determination. They live through it with her. Through that experience, how can we not perceive the fictional character above us, or if we’re cocky enough, as an equal. It’s possible you could write her off as fiction and keep viewing women as beneath you, and in that case you could probably go fuck yourself.

What I’m saying is that the reason this is so groundbreaking is because most men are used to only ranking women sexually as out of their league, and haven’t been put in a situation where they viewed a woman as superior when it comes to what used to be perceived as strictly masculine traits. Not only that, but we don’t write her off as a butch. She’s a modestly hot girl. Her muscles are less defined then her woman features. So we sacrifice nothing in this situation, being feminists.

I’m not defending most of the hate Other M gets. The things people are getting riled up about over this are mostly all in their head. The gameplay is pretty damn good. She’s a little bit too subservient to Mr. Malkovich, but both her parents died when she was a kid and she has PSTD, okay? The one part I found truly indefensible is SPOILERS ~~the~~ po~~st-gamemission to retrieve his fucking helmet~~. /ENDSPOILERS.

I empathize, to a degree, both with people defending and hating the game (hating as far as the story goes). I can say this with full confidence; buy the game. Then, like Ali G says, listen up to what has been said. And think about it, fo yourself.

Knuckles' Chaotix & Quality Policing Sonic

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:48:52 -0400

I don’t feel like there’s any game quite like Knuckles’ Chaotix. It uses the basic platforming elements established in Sonic games prior, then does a copious amount of things different.

The rubber-band-buddy-system mechanic immediately sticks out in contrast to anybody’s experience with a Sonic platformer. When you get past that like I did, however, you’ll find the level design sticking out further.

Straightforward is something this game isn’t. As you advance right as most of us are inclined to do when playing 2D platformers, you’ll find yourself confused at a dead end before long. You’ll find yourself getting closer to the end vertically rather than horizontally - and it is the means that defines the end. You’ll have to fly, climb walls Knuckles-style, or throw a partner upwards to advance. In short, this is a game designed around all the things Sonic couldn’t do.

Enemy encounters are few and far between, making it so that most of the action lies in the player making their way through. There are 5 Zones with 5 acts of levels that give an aesthetically identical impression, differing only by routes and the placement of platforms. Even though it feels strange to call it a platformer, it is perhaps more purely a platformer than the baddy stompers we’re so well acquainted with.

It is a curiously unorthodox game that suffered the loss of proven success for its experimental nature. I, for one, am glad it exists. But I have to wonder if I was in the opposite role as a consumer, why I would let this game be. Why, Sega?

Looking back now however, Knuckles’ Chaotix would not be on the list of mistakes we shouldn’t have let happen if I were Sega. That list would include:

Creating an oversexualized female bat (makes me cringe every time I see it)
Adding terrible dialogue read by horrendous voice actors
Changing all the characters’ personalities into brooding anime cliches e.g. Sonic being a lovable trickster to being all parts Goku ripoff that the Super Sonic transformation missed
Changing the art style [almost] permanently into making everything slightly more human/creepy looking
Bringing in non-Robotnik humans that look more realistic than he ever did
Making a human kiss a hedgehog
Too many stupid characters added needlessly after the Genesis era
Frivolous storylines
Sonic Heroes
Werehog
Shadow and Silver

The list goes on. I often wonder how Nintendo would have handled Sonic; similar to the way that they handle Mario. They keep refreshing all the elements of the series fans know and love to keep people from ever complaining about how the series used to be, coupled with Miyamoto’s policy of never forcing too much plot into any main game. Would Sonic have been better off that way? Maybe, but of all the games that would bring into non-existence, I’d mourn the loss of Knuckles’ Chaotix the most.

Level Design in the Original Kid Icarus

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:11:00 -0400

Just beat Kid Icarus; the 3D Classics version. This game is in many ways unique, despite what your first impressions would be, and despite what mine were before playing it. In it’s own little niche, it is the pinnacle of NES level design. But only in its own little niche, with an assortment of nuances.

Many describe this game as simply hard. It is far too often described this way. You may have to repeat levels a couple times, but since you can save (maybe not in the NES version, not sure) it isn’t much to complain about. This isn’t for casual gamers who want to run into every enemy they see. It’s for those who know what they’re getting into with an NES game.

There are 4 worlds. The first three are rinse and repeat - a climb upwards stage or move rightwards stage, another, another, then a fortress.

The first three are well done platformers that encourage you to show off all at your disposal, and providing a layer of challenge that varies. Here you may notice some repetition - especially when it comes to those grim reapers that scream at you and summon their little friends. Repetition is something people often feel entailed to criticize, but in this case it works in the game’s favor. You develop a pattern in dealing with snakes and grim reapers, so that the more you are faced with them, the more efficient you are in confronting them. The scenery ranges from hellish fires to - the majority of the game - heavenly clouds, looking beautifully in the 3D Classics version. If the visuals is what was holding you back, buy the 3D Classics version.

The fortresses are a different story. Here the levels could be described as like Metroid or 2D Zeldas without unlocking stuff. None of those games truly describe the same experience however. Once you find your way in these fortresses, you could easily screw it up and have to get back on the right track. This usually happens when ladders drop you off in the wrong place, and the ladder is then unaccessible. It can be frustrating, but rewarding on the other side. When you’ve figured out the route by yourself consciously, as the pieces to make a map work are a hassle to find, you feel as if you’ve solved a puzzle. That is why the level design is magnificent on a macro level. On the micro level, its very confusing as rooms look identical - its something you can get used to.

The 4th world is actually one big vertical shooter level, which unfortunately repeats itself twice. Aside from that, it throws patterns at you that you’ll have to comprehend the split second you receive. When you get it, as with the labyrinth levels, there is a large gap between knowing and not knowing.

All this compiled into one old ass game makes it a marvel of level design. So if you’re a hardcore gamer thinking about skipping to that new well received 3D games in the series, think again. If you begin at the roots, you’ll have true appreciation for the series as a whole.

Donkey Kong: Dumb Ape or Open for Business?

Thu, 31 May 2012 05:25:00 -0400

Ever since Donkey Kong: 64, the minimal voice acting they’ve given to DK has bothered me.

If you played Donkey Kong 64, you’ll remember that DK sounded like a deep voiced, smooth & cool dude. The perfect voice for the anthropomorphic gorilla that he is. Recently, however - specifically in the Mario Party/Sports games - he simply sounds like a gorilla. Actually, he sounds like some Japanese man’s goofy impression of a gorilla. Somehow this has only bothered me, and that guy’s still getting paid.

Donkey Kong wears a tie. Do you think some human thought it would be funny to pin the tie on the gorilla, and he never wanted it off? No. This guy lives in a house, and he probably irons that tie each morning. He’s about as civilized as an ape in the jungle can get.

Rare had the perfect vision of the character they made (well.. this incarnation). I wish Nintendo would keep that true.

Also; the current Donkey Kong is Donkey Kong Jr. grown up. That’s what Rare said and it’s the only backstory that makes sense. Here and there, Nintendo has tried to suggest otherwise. If he was Cranky’s grandson, where has Donkey Kong Jr. been this whole time? DK’s adult looking, while Cranky’s elder looking. It only makes sense that Cranky and Wrinkly are his parents.

Super Mario Land: What Does the "Land" Stand For?

Mon, 28 May 2012 22:30:00 -0400

I’ve been collecting all those star coins in Super Mario 3D Land, and after re-fighting Bowser multiple times it got me thinking - these fights are based off of the Super Mario Bros. fights.

There is no story here, which I suppose we can assume of a Mario game. Bowser kidnaps Peach and yada-yada-yada… but wasn’t that what was different about the other two supposed Land games starring Mario?

The first one had you up against Tatanga the space guy, saving Daisy in Sarasaland. Sounds different, right?

The second one signals the first appearance of Wario, as the last boss. He turned everybody against you, so it’s basically a revenge story. Wario makes a good villain, why couldn’t he reprise the role in another platformer?

So why doesn’t Super Mario 3D land use the same formula? There are no memorable callbacks even aside from the boss, the goal and the land. The level select is more linear than Bros. 3, much less Mario Land 2; which featured multiple semi-linear worlds inside a main hub which was yours to explore. The power-ups are none of the new ones introduced into Land 1 and 2, but the new ones introduced in Bros. 3.

Why not bring it back to the Lands roots to bring an innovative story? This was Nintendo’s avenue to try new things.. don’t we get enough of saving Peach from Bowser? You could have had some new land, some new boss, some new motivation. Or you could do big service to those titles by combine the last two and have Wario kidnap Daisy. Hell, even to 3 by having Wario playable with unique moves.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great game as it is. It’s just that the label is misleading, and the setting’s potential is shot down by the same old, thin plot.

My Current Top Ten Characters I Want in Brawl

Thu, 24 May 2012 03:58:36 -0400

Alright, let’s dive right into it. I post in no particular order.

Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS

Little Mac

Little Mac is a fighter from a game 20x more famous than Ice Climber - yet they relegated him to assist trophy in Brawl. This tiny guy from the Bronx worked his way up to beat Mike Tyson. He’s got to be still aching for a greater challenge.

King K. Rool

Since they added Diddy Kong, they have to add the big banana thief! One huge veiny eye, check. Obesity, check. Main villain of a series, check. Crocodile, check. Why isn’t he already in?

Cranky Kong

The original DK is an iconic part of Nintendo’s history. Mario’s first arch-rival, he’s aged much quicker than the human plumber and that weighs him down, but he’s still got some spark left! You could bonk all those youngins on the head with his cane.

Something else from Metroid

Ridley’s too big so I’m not sure, I just know Samus shouldn’t be the lone member of the franchise. A Hunter from Metroid Prime Hunters? A Metroid? Mother Brain? I don’t know.

A Better Ganondorf and/or Demise

Ganondorf is very disappointing in Melee and Brawl. If they add some of his well know moves from past boss fights, such as the OoT energy ball, that would work. MAYBE SPOILERS: I’d also like to see the last boss of Skyward Sword get in with his giant sword -Demise, who has much to do with Ganoindorf. If they’re not willing to fix Ganondorf he’d make a fine substiute, if they are willing he’d make an excellent addition on his own.

Ghirahim

I only like the design of his final form, however that’s not why he’s on my list. Those twin katana-like cavalry swords and sharp projectiles is why he’s on my list.

Another Version of Link

Wolf Link, Great Deity Mask Link, Goron Link - would be great choices. How about a better version of Young Link who can change into all his Majora’s Mask forms? Yeah, that’d be great.

Waluigi

Notoriously rejected from non-Mario party games, this is his time to shine. He’d be a great representative of those games; he could use his Tennis racket like he did as an Assist Trophy, drive on a Mario Kart, drive with his Mario Golf club, and kick soccer balls. Or he could just use dastardly tricks to win.

Birdo

It can spit eggs.

Classic Sonic

Sonic is fine by himself, it’s just that I hate his modern design. Bring him back to his Genesis days like you did in Generations and I’d love him like I used to, and the experience of him being alongside so many Nintendo characters would really pay off.

The Search for Metroid Prime Trilogy

Tue, 15 May 2012 03:02:00 -0400

I’ll keep this one short. I’ve played through Super Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission both late (in the past 2 years) and loved them. I want more, but am confused about where to go next. I’ve got the Fusion GBA Rom sitting on my computer - if I could get it easily legally I would - though I think since it’s the last in the series I should play through them chronologically.

Thing is, I never owned a Gamecube. I have a Wii remote and no Gamecube controllers. They mostly don’t sell Gamecube games in non-sketchy stores. Metroid Prime Trilogy would be perfect for me, but guess what? Nintendo discontinued it in North America.

I’m hoping I can find it laying around at a Walmart, or whenever it’s convenient to check out the stock at places that sell video games. Nintendo’s not making this easy on me. I hold a lot of respect and trust for Nintendo, but they need to calm down on their stern business decisions.

what you wrote about kraid, was amazing. i could never agree anymore with a human being than i do with you.

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:49:18 -0400

Haha, good to know!

Generic Enemies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Sun, 13 May 2012 14:12:00 -0400

So I just finished playing Boss Battles in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which got me thinking - what’s with all the filler? Fighting Ridley is awesome, fighting Porky is awesome, fighting that giant Pokemon is cool. Then there’s those bosses who are only memorable in how forgettable they are.

Case in point.

Duon is his name, and boy is he lame. He looks like he was designed by an 8 year old - which is what he has in common with almost all other Brawl exclusive enemies.

And ugh, Galleom. Purple skin, horn, metal armor. His attacks are basically jumping on you and ramming into you. This one screams more than the others - I was conceived without any actual thought.

Last that I’ll get into, uncertainly not least:

Tabuu! That’s right, the last boss is the ugly guy from the Black Eyed Peas!

Honestly, these characters are pathetic and leave a terrible taste in my mouth. The only thing I can’t forgive in SSBB. The reason I find this so disappointing is because Master Hand was actually a memorable enemy unique to the franchise, and they’re sandwiched in between him and good other Nintendo bosses. Master Hand looks mysteriously like Mario’s glove, fits in the theme of them being trophies (such and such), and you can really delve into a lot of imagination thinking of his backstory.

I wish they would have just picked random bosses from other Nintendo games in their place. As for Tabuu, who is supposedly in control of the Master Hand; a much more fitting boss would simply be a larger figure puppeting him and his left counterpart Crazy Hand simultaneously. Maybe their body, or their head. Or like a giant evil Mario. Or Liquid. Or Robotnik. They’d be so much better.

Two Relatively Obscure Characters That Don't Get Enough Attention

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:26:00 -0400

I’ve always been geared towards things that aren’t in the spotlight. I guess it’s because the more creative something is, the more unsure people get about whether that something is a hit or miss. Any time I have a choice to play Luigi instead of Mario, I have a compulsive need to choose Luigi. I only go back to Streets of Rage 3 to play as the boxing kangaroo; who you also need to enter a code or unlock every time you boot it up. There are countless other examples of that, but I’m going to talk today about some non-playable characters who seem to have a bigger place in my heart than in the makers of the series they belong to.

Gobi

If you’re a fan of the Banjo-Kazooie series, you have no excuse not to know who Gobi is. Many things make him memorable: he’s a camel, his design is awesome, the noises he makes are awesome, he has his own valley, he always seems to be down on his luck, and he’s constantly making you feel guilty.

In the game first off, you free him from a random island in his (Gobi’s) Valley on which he was chained (by Grunty I think?). He gives you a Jiggy as a reward and he gets saved obviously, which gives a pretty good impression on both sides of the relationship. Then he runs to the area in the valley with the best shade, happening to be under the only tree who can speak in the game - a decent fellow named trunker - with a gut full of water. Is that a sin? No, but by bad luck alone, he is punished for no crime when you slam all that water in to that tree for another Jiggy. By this point you feel bad - it gets worse.

He moves to another piece of shade rightfully within his own world, and you pound his hump again. He’s had enough of your shit.

“Bah… that’s it! I’m leavin this island to find some peace and quiet!”

Gobi, , Gobi’s Valley, Banjo-Kazooie

He leaves for the last world in the game, Click Clock Wood, where there are 4 seasons.

You have to enter from a hub to unlock the seasons in order from: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. You plant an egg which functions apparently as a seed in Fall, and you can probably guess that the seed grows when you visit it the next season. In Summer the lakes dried up - you begin to panic when you remember that you’re probably supposed to water that plant. You search frantically, racking your brain and when you arrive at the plant, there the solution waits for you. Gobi, positioned facing your plant, with another gut full of water. You slam, water pours from his mouth like a can, he gets pissed and runs to the next season. In fall, poor Gobi falls for the exact same thing.

Right, that’s it! I’m off to the Lava World, you’ll never find me there!

Gobi, the Fall section of Click Clock Wood, Banjo-Kazooie

2 years go by. Apparently a long ass time in Camel years, telling by the giant white beard Gobi has grown in Banjo-Tooie.

In the Museum of Horrors, or something close if my vague memory doesn’t serve me right, in “Witchyworld” you find this old fart. He seems to have been soothed with age, as he refers to himself as “an old friend” of the duo, after which how could you not want to hug him? You blast open his cell with a grenade egg, to see him run with joy, and feel your guilt resolve.

He ends up finally at Hailfire Peaks/aka the Lava World. Guess what?

So as you can see, Gobi makes many appearances throughout Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie. He’s important and likable; I’d even go so far as to say lovable. Ever since however, he’s been pushed to the side. Banjo-Pilot comes, the mediocre plane racing game tackily slapped full of Banjo-Kazooie characters omits him as a playable racer. Instead, you see can see him in a track. This would be at least understandable if it were only important characters involved, HOWEVER: they included Jolly Roger the flamer frog. A next to irrelevant bartender debuting in Banjo-Tooie. Fuck that.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - haven’t played it yet. I will soon because I’m dedicated to this series all the way. Playing the demo, much of it bothers me already - the cubed look ruins the character designs, the sound effects and text dialogue is annoying and gimmicky knowing the capabilities of current-gen systems and how text-heavy this game is, and fuck building vehicles let me jump and peck shit. Worst of all, with a bunch of forced feeling fan service (shallow impressions based on the demo) Gobi’s not in the game. This is the closest to Gobi being in the game:

It’s a vehicle. Had they put him in the game properly in homage to his past appearances, I easily would have already purchased the game. I can deal with all that other bullshit, but wow Rare. This is inexcusable.

Kraid

Now admittedly, I am not as much smitten with Kraid the character as I am with Gobi, and his section won’t be as substantive. But I really like the Metroid series. Just a year ago it was one of the big name classic platformers that I stayed away from. Two things expanded my curiosity enough to pop and I played through the series; enjoying the gameplay in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and getting the music piece “Kraid’s Lair” from Super Smash Bros. Melee/Brawl stuck in my head.

(Couldn’t figure out how to put in embed youtube vids)

I’m now drawn to many elements of Metroid, but all the ones that stick out for me the most are the ones that build around, and relate very closely to Kraid. Grotesque organisms in an environment that looks about as nightmarish to me as shrinking and exploring somebody’s nose, great atmospheric melodies, and the color green. All those are embodied in Kraid and his lair, especially the music. I love the boss fight, which I’ll get to in a moment, but I really wish the music for it was like an exploding version of the music prior. It feels like it’s really his theme, and it’s constantly building up. It also sounds great in remixes with harder sounding instruments. A heavily orchestrated version as his boss fight music would make it a million times more memorable. Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll ever see the day, if we even get Kraid in a new Metroid game.

The boss fight however is quite memorable as a gameplay experience alone. He flings his nails at you like throwing knives, that you have to dodge and shoot his eye. That makes him let out a distinctive roar to which you have to exploit and shoot his open mouth. Halfway, he becomes so aggressive that you cannot rely on the platform you’ve been standing on to bring you up to the level of his head, so you face this giant tower of a creature from the beginning of his own standing. The weird sharp points that have been protuding from his stomach fly at you like spears, which provide both a damaging obstacle and platforms after they stick in the wall. The battle ends when he lets out a final cry and collapses into the ground. This is pretty much the case for his appearances in Metroid: Zero Mission and Super Metroid - I think he took on a much smaller appearance in the original Metroid and so his fight was pretty drastically different as a result, though due to it’s lack of save points I haven’t played through Metroid for the NES in it’s entirety to say for certain.

The character itself is intriguing when you think about it. Kraid is a Space Pirate along with Ridley; and while it’s baffling to think about the large scale operations that Ridley the pterodactyl is able to partake in as a commander at his size and presumed intellect, it’s doubly as puzzling for Kraid. This huge reptilian guy flies from planet to planet in a space ship organizing and executing raids? The other part of his life is a huge question mark, but is a magnificently fascinating thing to ponder. If they made any type of media centered around Kraid that attempted to approach the subject with integrity, would I be the only one shaking with anticipation for it? Well I was interested in exploring Samus’ personality until she was revealed as just another subservient woman, so I’d put this on hold until I know I can pass it on to the right hands. Unless Nintendo lets me be Project Director of the next Metroid platformer (likely).

Kraid was apparently almost in Metroid Prime:

He’s not though. So I’m not interested in the Prime series.

Metroid: Other M is a game apparently made for fans of the platformer Metroid games eg: me. There are two reasons that I have not yet bought it and nor is it likely that I will buy it in the future. Well, there’s a chance. It’s on my list but following many a deal of expensive games, for which I have no money in the first place.

1. What did they do with Samus? (Forgive this for being a side-rant about Metroid that doesn’t pertain to Kraid.) Let’s pretend it was the 80’s, that I existed, and I was old enough to fully comprehend the traits that comprise a character. Metroid comes out and I play it. I assume the protagonist that I’m controlling is a cool robot thing. I’m good enough to beat the game in under two hours or whatever. My mind is blown when the cool robot thing is revealed as a woman in a one piece bikini. To my awareness there weren’t dramatic cutscenes prior to that which indicated that Samus was experiencing anything but the stone cold focus/determination resulting from every input into that square controller. The character’s still open to some interpretations accepting the limited means the NES had of conveying her personality.

The SNES and Super Metroid comes. Despite more storytelling - even that which reveals the beginning of Samus maternal endeavours concerning a baby alien brain thing – she’s still not settling down in some guy’s house making sandwiches with bread she did not obtain by her own effort. She’s still bending her body into a ball and shooting giant aliens in the face with missiles. GBA, millennium passed, improved storytelling, two incredibly well done games; Fusion & Zero Mission. I get the sense of her being nothing less than a tough ass chick. Metroid Prime, a full 3D FPS with detailed cutscenes I’m guessing. To my awareness, still tough ass chick. Last year – Metroid: Other M. She cries, she takes some guy’s shit who decides she can’t use all the powerups she’s already collected from the last game, she talks a lot, she develops PTSD by seeing the pterodactyl she’s killed over and over. Maybe this bugging me makes me a weird closet feminist, I’ll go on record to say it annoys me nonetheless.

2. Kraid isn’t in this game. I understand why they may have had difficulties implementing Kraid into a FPS, even though it shouldn’t have stopped them. Yet here’s a game where you can almost copy and paste the same crap from before and be 100% loved for it, where chronologically he has to still be alive and active, yet he’s not in the game. Again, like Gobi being in Nuts & Bolts, Kraid being in Other M would set me off fully willing to look past it’s other flaws to get another chance to see a character I love.

So bottom line, Team Ninja is fucking stupid for this, Nintendo dropped the ball a couple times on this, and Kraidless Metroids are shells of former games. Another one and that’s when they’ve really fucked up.

Ironically, Rare and Nintendo fucked up two of their respective series after they parted ways. Perhaps the solution is being together again. Even though in the series and problems I’m talking about the finger can only be pointed at internally, maybe there was some crazy osmosis going on which lead them to satisfy my obscure continuity desires. Bill Gates, if you have a heart you’ll give Rare back to Nintendo. For free. Or pay them to take Rare back even. I know you can afford it you rich prick.

Hey there!

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 11:23:57 -0400

I like video games!