In which "Mario Kart Wii" gives me an excuse to string together some tangentially-related bits about Nintendo's "other princess," under-appreciated Hedgehog love-interests and Squaresoft's ever-more-"emo" hero characters. Also: Fixing some issues from last time, some elaboration on audio-editing and Italian softcore starlets.
Most of the time I have a cohesive, essay-ready plan for these. Other times... not so much. Enjoy!
27 comments:
Yeah, alright overthinker, We cool.
More to the point about the video, I never looked at it that way, but damn, Amy is getting a raw deal on that. Sucks. Then again, given how much the sonic series has died lately, I can't say it's to big a deal.
I miss the real sega.
Oh, Btw, I know you like talking on strange and cool topics that lots of people talk about, but I was wondering, ever think about doing a Game overthinker about the rise of the consoles and how it lead to the death of the arcade as we knew it?
If it makes you feel any better I liked the Race gag from the last episode.
I always thought that when I would pair up Luigi and Daisy in my head it was just because of some obsessive need to pair any unspoken for characters together. Matching up someone who looks awfully close to Mario with someone who looks awfully close to Peach just seemed to be the way to go. Nice to know there's (now) something I can say is behind that line of thought.
Good vid as usual, but I'm noticing some of your information is wrong. For example, Birdo was always a female in the canonical japanese version, the part of her supposed "transvestism" comes from the NOA instruction booklet to the american Super Mario Bros. 2, which wasn't even a Mario game to begin with.
I know, I know. It's just... Birdo is so much more INTERESTING with a gender-identity crisis.
But you risk sounding blatently ignorant when you do. You've got a chance at becoming a voice for the retro-gaming community, I'd hate to see it blown just because your using the american continuity.
http://www.mariowiki.com/Birdo#Gender
Actually, Birdo is a dude in the Japanese versions too. People just assume that s/he isn't because her Japanese name is Catherine.
http://themushroomkingdom.net/mariopedia/name/Birdo A wiki is something run by thirteen year old boys and trolls, don't take them as credible sources. I on the other hand actually have a reliable source proving my point.
We cool.
I'm rather glad this one turned away from Daisy . . . as there isn't much to discuss.
El Singito creeps me out. A little. ;)
i think going with a light-hearted, jovial topic might have been a good idea, considering the sociological/heavy nature of last episode.
on the birdo discussion.... fossilgojira mentioned that SMB2 shouldn't count as it's not a mario game.... well, since that's the first game in which birdo appeared, i can't imagine what counts *more* than it.
I guess she's been absorbed into the mario-verse then, which makes sense seeing that SMB2 was released in Japan as "Super Mario USA" and I guess she was well recived by fans.
http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11045&Itemid=2
Apparently, old people prefer the PS3 to the Wii.
To get REALLY geeky about it, since SMB2 was re-released in Japan as Mario USA I still think it counts in continuity - especially since the whole thing is Mario's dream - or at least his dream wherein he and others 'enter' the "dream world" of Subcon - and thus doesn't need to 'fit' in any other sense. At some point between SMB1, "Lost Levels" (Japanese SMB2) and SMB3 Mario had a dream. Easy as that.
As to Birdo, the SMB2 instructions (an official Nintendo publication, so I dunno what would have MORE authority as to what is and isn't continuity) say that he "dreams that he is a girl and wants to be called Birdetta." Since Subcon is supposed to be a dreamworld, it's plausible that the female Birdo we meet there is the "dream self" of a sleeping MALE creature in the real world.
This would make sense in regards to Birdo being the only one of two Subcon creatures who appear in the other games (the others being Shyguys, possibly explained by their presence as the principal Yoshi's Island bad guys whom Mario would've met as an infant thus causing them to manifest subconciously in the Subcon dreamworld) - which would either make the "real" Birdo met in subsequent games a male in drag living his dream or (less likely) the female version somehow 'escaped' from the dream.
But you don't have a translation of the Japanese manuale. Don't you think it's likely that they would change something so unnessicary and creepy? And nobody pull that "Japan loves thentacles and stuff" card, this is nintendo we're talking about, the most graphic thing they've ever done was the ending to Wind Waker.(And license al those god-aweful movie games, *shudder*)
I take that last part back, EVERYTHING in Majora's Mask was graphic.
More! We need more!
Hurry up and make a freaking new video you lazy overthinker you.
Your stuff really rocks man. Who cares about the audio. You could write your material out on a toilet seat cover and I would still get the point. I really don't have to say what points I agree or disagree with on all your videos because regardless, they are both entertaining, educational and eye opening. I would love to see your videos get more traffic.
Hey, there's a bunch of us over at The Game Heroes who would love to see your videos featured over there. If you have a chance, check it out at www.thegameheroes.com.
Anyways, keep it up, can't wait for the next episode.
Your a legend. plain and simple.
from 7 gammers who just watched all your videos at once. outstanding
Have you thought about doing a vid one the newer retro oddities, like th hopefuly symphonic Rockman/Megaman 9, or Castlevania Judgement, the fighting game?
I don't know about you, but I'd definitely be one of those guys trying for Tifa. I mean, even without the, well, "assets" (which were rather more realistic in Advent Children), everything else you said was right. Cloud, you are a moron.
haha. oh daisy! luigi is def. my fav nintendo character.
Correction:
Daisy first after her long absence appeared on Mario Tennis on the N64.
Just a little FYI.
Oh, and great series of videos. I just love your work.
The commentary on Cloud and Tifa only really fits if you factor in all that godawful latter-day stuff like Advent Children. In FF7 itself, Cloud DOES get over himself and start a relantionship with Tifa (if you're nice to her, it's implied they have sex).
Also, Tifa isn't as tough as you say. She's got Cloud to herself for a while before the game begins, and all she does is wait around hoping for him to make a move. When Cloud recounts another man's memories as his own, she knows he isn't telling a straight story, but keeps quiet about it and doesn't do anything. Tifa is insecure and passive until the shit really hits the fan, later in the game.
Yeah I'm with Allen on this one, if you just go by the game, you can GET with any of the party characters (I think, never used Vincent much but I know you could get with Barret) and considering that Tifa was pretty much asking for a relationship when you first met her (well that's how I took it, so I just gave on my first playthrough) so forget Advent Children and all that crap (seriously FFVII and related stuff is one of the reasons why I hate jRPGs now, and Squaresoft/Square Enix) going back to the original game, if you liked Tifa and you pursued her from the get-go, then you got her and there was no moaning about Aerith (well maybe a bit in the sense that you spent like half the game building her up and then she's permanently killed >:(
On another note, I don't think your "Peter Parker syndrome" really works here because dammit poor Pete gets thrown through soooo many emotional rings of fire that you gotta give the man a lot of credit for not turning into a whiney, emo, androgenous shithead (I'm talking comic Spider-Man, not Spider-Man 3 here :P) like in oh so many games and stories today. Not to mention that he actually loved Gwen, he was going to marry her dude, and people still debate on whether or not he was the reason why she died in the first place. You can't compare emotions that complex with the shit in FFVII, they're 2 different things entirely.
Other than that little clarification, good stuff :)
I always thought that Daisy was Mario's girlfriend and Peach was just some chick he rescues. Unlike Bowser who just wanted to have Peach, or Wart who just wanted to rule Dreamland, Wario's actual plan was to antagonize Mario; and it's established in SML2 that SML1 was a ruse by Wario to distract Mario. So why did he go after the princess of a different kingdom, when up to this point Mario had shown no signs of caring what happens in any kingdom but his own? (It never even crossed his mind to liberate the Koopas from a fearsome tyrant.) And why was it necessary for Tatanga to threaten to marry her? And why is the ending of Super Mario Land so more romantic than in any other Mario game? Plus I'm almost certain I actually read it in something official, I can't remember what though. In any case, I'm calling the Luigi-Daisy thing a retcon (although in fairness I also consider the concept of multiple Lakitus to be a retcon, when initially there was only one onscreen at a time, who never visibly died).
Hey Bob,
Sorry for commenting so long after the initial post; in my defense I only recently discovered this blog. I (generally) am loving your videos so far but this one...well, it's giving me pause. See, when you say Birdo "the tranny dinosaur" doesn't count as a female character, I find myself calling BS on you. I really don't mean to be a transgender/feminist killjoy, but calling someone--even a fictional character--a "tranny" is, from a trans person's point of view, just a bad as calling a gay person, "faggot." The term "tranny" is so weighed down with misogyny and transphobia that, while many in the trans community have reclaimed it, it's really not something I would think you would want to go around using--especially given your other, fairly pro-women videos.
Second, just because someone--again, fictional or not--is transgender does not mean their presented gender is somehow false. For instance, Birdo dream of being a girl and presents as a girl--this makes her a girl regardless of however she was born.
On the one hand it alomst seems laughable to get on my soap box and defend fictional characters; however, the things you said in this video, while clearly meant to be humorous, were transphobic. Given the amount of homophobia and transphobia that are so common in the gaming community, things like this are often overlooked, and that's a shame. We should be more conscious of the way we marginalize and alienate members of our own community (hell, I'm gay, transgender, and a woman. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about when I say it sucks to feel like you have no place in the gaming culture). I guess the reason I'm harping on about this and calling you out on it specifically is because, hey, I like you and I like your videos. Again, it's probably unfair to get this in depth on such an old post--you are possibly more aware of LGBT issues by now, and if this is the case I'm sorry for the verbose comment. On the other hand if you are not aware of how comments like yours re: Birdo are hurtfull and alienate trans gamers, well, I hope I've been able to give you a little something to think about.
Keep up the good work, though. Seriously, I rarely agree with you 100%, but I do really like your videos...err, most of them, anyway :)
Hey Bob,
So funny story. I found you rather recently doing "The Big Picture" which I enjoy greatly. That led me to "Escapist at the movies" which I also enjoy and agree with. Since you say all the things I want to say, but say it much better (With a much better vocabulary) then I could ever say it i searched around to see if you had any other videos laying around...which led me here. I decided to start watching "The Game Overthinker" on here, and again, i find myself blowing through them as fast as I could so I can move on to the next. You do DAMN good work. Anyway. As i'm watching this video I had to stop and do a double take. At the 6:30ish mark you have a picture of a group of people dressed in Sonic the Hedgehog costumes. That picture is of a group I was in. Not my proudest moment, but I had to laugh at the sight of my early cosplaying days (I was Knuckles). I'd also like to put on the record (Not that it matters, nor will you care about a random picture you put in a podcast years ago) But our group did, in fact, have an Amy. I guess when that picture was taken he (Yes, it was a guy in the costume...we did the whole group for a laugh) hadn't shown up yet. There really is no point to this post, I just found it funny how the internet can go full circle like that.
Keep doing what you're doing and i'll be sure to loyally watch.
--Paul
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