January 10, 2013
Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES)

So when Nintendo apparently decided to remove the DKC trilogy from the Wii Shop (WHYWHYWHY, they answered my emails with weaselly non-answers)(at least we got warning in this country, unlike USA), I bought them before they disappeared. Good decision. Especially for 2 and 3, the ones I actually owned on the SNES, my muscles practically remember the moves for every level. I have had very little trouble getting through anything so far. And it’s just so fun doing that, running through again like a boss.

Anyway I don’t know how much I can say about this game. It’s one of my favourites of all time, a common stance for many gamers. I can make lots of comparisons, how it’s so much better than DKC1 in lots of ways, how there is no comparison between it and the comparatively bland Super Mario World, how it and Yoshi’s Island took different branches that are both excellent.

I don’t need to say too much though. This game is so very special to me, and I mean ideally its quality will come through to anyone who picks it up, but my eyes are so heavily tinted towards it. I just don’t feel I can say much meaningful commentary, you know?

So as I played this game, it all came flooding back. I remembered where every secret was. I slightly misremembered the instant 75 Kremkoins cheat so had to look it up (I used it to open the Lost World so I didn’t have to get all the bonuses- hey I know I can do it!). The physics and mechanics just feel so right. My absolute familiarity with this game makes it feel like the epitome of videogames. Since I know it so well, it seems like the best because it feels right.

Some levels of course are still just hard. Bramble Blast, Screech’s Sprint and Animal Antics all spring to mind as ones I died many times on in this playthrough. When I did play this as a child, there were levels I’d avoid as they were hard or less fun (the two haunted forest levels also come to mind). On the other hand, Rattle Battle, Rickety Race, Castle Crush, these are all levels I loved to replay many times, so I know them the best. And yes, I got to Krocodile Kore both as a child and now.

In fact, I managed to beat the secret final boss on my first time, as Diddy, without getting hit! I am so proud of that. :D

So let’s talk about the non-mechanics things about this game that make it great. The atmosphere is utterly wonderful, each new environment is vibrant, iconic, and yet tense and moody. The music is, oh, so good. The character designs are full of personality and charm, and the mostly-consistent pirate theme of the Kremling Krew makes for a cohesive collective identity for your foes. Especially good are the returning enemies with updated costumes.

Also, the bosses are leaps and bounds ahead of the original (both designs and the battles themselves). Speaking of comparisons, I think Rare were brave to turn the tables and put Donkey Kong - THE Donkey Kong, mind you - as the kidnapped victim you need to rescue. This meant he was not playable, and not even seen until the end of the game. This apparently was the source of some controversy, at the time and later from idiots, especially at major gaming publications. I didn’t mind about that in the slightest (still don’t).

Diddy is just so much more relateable for a kid. Dixie too, although obviously she’s a girl and I’m a boy. But I loved both of them. For many years Diddy was my ultimate Video Game Hero (that’s the subplot of this game by the way, him proving himself).

Anyway it’s probably this game that started my love of the DKU, Nintendo, and even videogames in general. Pure platforming gold, with heart. I give it a flablillion bananas out of 10. Emulate it now! It’s less immoral than ever! Oh and the GBA remake is good too, although the overly bright colours, chirpified soundtrack and smaller screen make it a diminshed experience (and the new minigames are not good), but the extra collectibles added that extra element for me to make it worthwhile to play (the map screens are also new, but uglier)(oh and there’s one extra boss).

4:37pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwubPZlXg
Filed under: donkey kong Donkey Kong Country 2 nintendo Rareware SNES vc review 
January 9, 2013
Pokemon White Version 2 (DS)

Well Pokemon X and Y were just announced, so good time I suppose to talk about my latest Pokemon experience. Oh and I hate the acute accent on the “e”, makes things difficult so I will go on record as never planning to use it in this blog. Before I start though, briefly I was a little disappointed with the comparatively cold reception of the DKC2 comic compared to all that Rockman stuff I posted. I guess people like Rockman a lot more than old comics about B-list Nintendo franchises (or Rare). It’s just I put so much more effort into the comic, and I was certainly happier with it than my rushed Rockman posts. Anyway no-one’s to blame or anything just wanted a little grump about “oh everyone hates Donkey Kong muh muh”. Let’s move on, shall we?

Back in my Game Boy Color days (I think the official international name lacked the “u”…) I was a huge fan of Pokemon. The craze had taken off, all my friends at school were into it. It was big. My first ever game system to call my own was my Pikachu Yellow Game Boy Color. Soon afterwards my parents realised I would need some games to play, so I got Yellow version as well. And I was set. I loved my Pikachu, the rest of my team was pretty lacking.

Anyway I also watched the show before school, picked up the trading cards (for collecting, the game wasn’t much fun), and loved to play Stadium or Snap when I got the chance by renting or at friends’ houses. Soon my brothers were into it too, and we all had Game Boy Colors and Gold/Silver each. We were trading and Mystery Gifting all over the place, it was great. I also played the everloving Pokeheck out of the Pinball game with the rumble feature, which made the cartridge amusingly huge. My best score was I think 4 billion, I normally only managed half that.

This fervour cooled off a bit as I discovered other great game series, but we still shared a Ruby version when we upgraded to Advance. That was unfortunately stolen along with all our portable games and we didn’t replace it, instead getting heavily into the Final Fantasy Advance series (better when we only had one system anyway). Since then I’d viewed the whole thing with nostalgia, not really following the subsequent installments or spinoffs. Mind you, I’m not a 151tard- I recognise that the series is advancing, albeit slowly, and I welcome new additions to the Pokeverse, especially the more they tie into older ones.

Therefore when my wife started getting interested in Pokemon, I supported her buying HeartGold. With my fond memories of Gold I enjoyed it through her, even myself playing the more tedious parts she didn’t want to touch such as the Safari Zone. We both came to an appreciation for the new series then, at a time when Black and White were new. When the sequels were announced as paired versions, a first, we decided to get one each to celebrate that together.

Now I’ve talked a lot already and I’m not up to the game itself, but that’s ok. This blog is not just game reviews, it’s remembrance and celebration of games, and my own personal history. But let’s move into the review section, shall we?

I loved White 2. I’ll just get that out of the way. It had been too long and it was great to fully embrace the Pokemon formula again. Formula, of course, being the watchword. I don’t think I’d appreciate this quite as much if I had been following the main series, playing each game and comparing them. That way madness lies. For I found that although everything had a shiny coat of paint and many new mons, it was still essentially Pokemon.

This may not be such a bad thing. I feel that in many ways, the iterations have produced a superior product at the end, not something you can say about every game series. In this case, they know what they want and it’s what sells, I suppose. You could say I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t different enough, but really at this point I liked being reminded of my memories, with so many bells and whistles attached.

Perhaps the bells and whistles were a little overwhelming. The game encourages you to do all this side stuff, the Battle Subway, the World Tournament, the Movies, the Musicals, Join Avenue, the Dream World etc. But truthfully it’s totally ignorable. I just feel a little bad having a lot of content in the game that I know I will never look at it, it feels weird. Plus I probably prefer the Safari Zone anyway, although it was too complicated in HeartGold.

That’s another thing I noticed about this game. It is just so complex. I had to spend a long time before I really got my head around what the C-Gear actually is and what you use it for. Naturally, being a modern game, the manual is complete shite. Yellow’s manual was awesome, it even had a mini-Pokedex in the back with Ken Sugimori’s strange but wonderful Gen 1 artwork. But White 2 has all these systems that present a high learning curve, especially for beginners.

I think the philosphy for this game was to give something to longer-time players and fans, especially those who played Black/White. That would certainly explain the reliance on plot and mechanics from those games to carry this one. But I didn’t play those because they looked boring, so there were times when I felt a little lost. They feel like a package deal, and I’m missing out by just playing this.

Incidentally, the main reason I avoided Black/White was its strange insistence on being a soft reboot. They must recognise that people stay fans of this series and have played previous ones, and therefore want previous Gen mons. They’re all in the game, but you can’t access them til endgame. Introduce new mons, sure, but I don’t think you lose anything by sprinkling in older ones, and integrating them to make it feel like a cohesive world. Black/White 2 did exactly this and it’s great!

Part of me still feels though that I’m not getting all I could out of this (partially due to living in a second-class country with bugger-all events/distributions). That part now looks towards X and Y with regret. But screw that part, that’s no way to live. So I enjoyed what I did have. (Really though, announcing a game 9 months in advance? And only 3 months after shipping the last installment (in the West, anyway)? Is that any way to do business?)

So I’ve got through all the gyms with my super-cool, totally non-optimised team, and beat the Elite 4 (thus seeing the credits and completing the main story). But it seems the good thing about these newer Gens, compared to Gen 1 and 2 anyway, is the huge amount of endgame content. There’s still like 4 or 5 towns I haven’t visited, new Routes, new optional plot events, all the side stuff I mentioned, not to mention catching them all.

Let me just mention a few of the things that made me happy here. I loved naming every Pokemon I caught with silly or ironic names. I loved reuseable TMs. I loved discovering new places, with the unexpected graphical or weather effects, and each town having a distinct personality. I loved finding old friends in the long grass (hello Ampharos!), and being introduced to new ones through the (no longer) free Pokedex 3D. But I think most of all, I just loved playing Pokemon again. It had been so long. It was like… coming home (lol sappy and ok that’s really overstating it, but it was familiar and was good.) I also liked being able to compare notes with my wife, trade with her and just experience the same thing at the same time. They make Pokemon for sharing (hence paired versions), and it is better like that.

I don’t really know what the Internet thinks about BW2, but I know there’s a lot of Gen 5 backlash and also a lot of anti-backlash backlash. I would say from what I’ve played, Gen 5 is fairly safe but the iteration has served it well. I will very tentatively say that Game Freak is able to make every new Pokemon the best yet, at least in terms of mechanics. I still love HeartGold because of the familiar but revamped setting and retold plot (nostalgia). HGSS also had a huge thing over any subsequent or previous game barring Yellow, and that is your leading Poke FOLLOWING YOU EVERYWHERE. Easily the best feature you can point to and say “Why are they not still doing this”.

This feature really helped you bond with your Pokes, and added an element of verisimilitude to your journey. It was just really cool. Personally very disappointed they are still not adding it back with Gen 6 (at this stage). I just, I really think after HGSS had it everything should have it. The Pokes are the stars after all, at the end of the day I don’t really care about the Gym Leaders, Team Plasma, N, Hugh, or even the silent protagonist. I care about my team and finding friends for them. I know some people really are “into” the human characters but frankly they bore me to tears.

Anyway, rant over. After I finished White 2 I put it down for a bit to play other stuff, but I’m looking forward to picking it up again soon to do all the post-game content, and visit new towns. Pokemon still has the power to grab me after all these years, and the first few weeks I had White 2 I played it constantly. Then I played it regularly, and now it’s on hiatus. But I really enjoyed the experience. I give it some Master Balls out of some. (No scores on this blog!)

5:07pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwubKr89Y
Filed under: pokemon game freak ds review pokemon white 2 
January 4, 2013
Donkey Kong Country 2 comic (German Club Nintendo) scanlation

UPDATE: I made a new version of this comic. Announcement here: http://miloscat.tumblr.com/post/50456307633 I also replaced the links in this post to the new ones.

It’s finally done! I’ve been working on this comic for a long time now, on and off. You may recall I previously released some DKC2 gag manga pages, and single pages from Kirby and Star Fox comics. All those mini-projects were practice for this.

This comic has never been translated before, as far as I know. It appeared in a 1995 “Special Edition” of the German Club Nintendo magazine. Some of these were free giveaways, not sure about this one though. It contains humour, action, and some game tips and covers most of the adventure through each world, up to the top of K. Rool’s Keep. It was written by Marcus Menold, John D. Kraft, Thomas Görg, and Markus Pfitzner, and was illustrated by Work House Co. Ltd., Tokyo.

This comic is important to me as it was the last Donkey Kong-related western comic that wasn’t available in English. Although Donkey and Diddy do appear in other regular Club Nintendo comics, those are mostly cameo appearances in ensemble comics and not a retelling (as this is) or unique Kong adventure. Incidentally, many other Club Nintendo comics have been translated online. The other DK ones are on the DKVine forums, and Opentrain are about 1/3rd of the way through the regular print run comics. There’s also 3 on the Bomberman wiki.

But back to this release. This started when Caramelman from the DKVine forums offered to help me translate it, as he is German. Big thanks to him for translating the whole thing, each line, into English. He did a great job and even tried to adapt the idioms, etc. I have handled cleaning the scanned pages (mostly the speech bubbles), editing the script and typesetting. Thanks also to my wife Everbloom for helping out with the final editing stages and for painting the beautiful credits page art. Special thanks to my parents-in-law for some small German clarifications. Scans were sourced from nintendo-power.de, they’re not great scans in terms of fidelity but consistent and level. They have all of the special edition comics there in the original German.

I should also say that my editing philosophy was not strictly literal translations. If something was idiomatic or awkward in the German I changed it. Throughout I emphasised flow in English rather than 100% the same words as the original. I also added a few little lines for the sake of a joke that weren’t there originally. Hopefully I wasn’t too blatant about that. Having said that, several lines in the German rhymed like the characters were singing or chanting (for humour, I guess), I mostly tried to make the line rhyme in English too.

Ok, so that’s the comic. I recommend everyone take a look, if only because I spent so much effort on it. I’m very happy with how it turned out. It’s a fine reminder of a time when the world of games could be immersive but still fun and silly. It also has some admittedly very funny faces. I could say a lot about the value of these types of things in helping develop personalities for characters but I’d better just stop prattling and post the links.

Please, enjoy.

Web gallery

CBZ version download

1:45pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuavagzl
(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: donkey kong donkey kong country 2 comics fandom scanlation gaming club nintendo comic 
January 1, 2013

Mallow the Nimbus prince who thinks he’s a tadpole from Super Mario RPG, and Perry the magical talking parasol from Super Princess Peach. It is my sincere belief that the two are the SAME PERSON!

The first thing that tipped me off was their similar colour schemes. Mainly a creamy/yellow colour with a blue edging (blue in Mallow’s pants). Mallow has reddish shoes and curl, and Perry has a reddish handle. Their mouth and eyes also look totally the same.

The second discovery was their similar backstories. Mallow was lost from his true home in the clouds as a baby and found by an adoptive grandfather, similar to Dragon Ball’s Goku. I discovered that Perry’s background is similar, that he had no memory and was found by an old guy who took him in. Ok, so Mallow’s grandfather is a frog and Perry’s is shown to be…something…with a beard. If you squint they could be the same guy!

Both have odd powers: Mallow can use magic to heal and control the weather; Perry also has powers and is transformed into an umbrella. Umbrella, weather, eh? Ok so someone who may or may not be Kamek transformed him against his will but it could well be a wild sort of magic, that’s not unheard of.

The biggest problem is figuring the order of events and timeline. Mallow actually experiences character growth, and goes from grandfather to his original home, becoming a courageous hero in the process. Perry has been separated from his grandfather before the game and has no personal resolution to finding his grandfather. But each are separated from their grandfathers in both games. So how can they be the same?

Well, there’s always the Miyamoto excuse. In an interview he explained that each Mario game is just like a fresh story with no bearing on previous games, all characters are just actors playing out a new scenario. So both Mallow and Perry could be alternate versions of one another; related, but not the same. But that’s a cop out and as fans, we have to explain everything! Or at least a lot of things.

So here’s a wacky theory. Super Princess Peach is a prequel to Super Mario RPG. This does require some small amount of retconning of SMRPG unfortunately, but it’s more interesting than having no inter-game connection or two characters with the same backstory and similar appearance.

Mallow the cloud prince is dropped to earth, falling into Tadpole Pond. He is found by Frogfucius, who raises him as a tadpole. But Mallow is different. He doesn’t feel like a tadpole and he has strange powers that make him feel like an outsider (SMRPG). Kamek and Bowser find the boy, turn him into an umbrella, and take him away. He escapes and, far from home, finds his way into Toadsworth’s hands. He gives the umbrella to Peach (SPP).

Fanon commences here. After the events of SPP, Peach and Mario take Perry to find his grandfather. Unfortunately, Bowser’s clown car is sighted near Toad Town, so Luigi is tasked with helping return Perry while Peach and Mario deal with that (he doesn’t appear much in SMRPG so he can be doing this while other stuff happens). Thus the plot of SMRPG starts with the kidnap of Peach, followed by the arrival of Exor at Bowser’s Castle. Meanwhile in fanon land, Luigi and Perry, now in familiar territory for the little cloud prince, find their way to Tadpole Pond and Frogfucius.

Frogfucius, in his great wisdom, knows a way to reverse the spell on his adopted grandson and Mallow returns to normal. Mario later comes along and Mallow goes with him on his journey (this is the slight retcon as Mallow apparently had never met Mario, although we could say the reason he looked up to him was that he had actually seen him in action previously). Peach also joins the party later, and we have to assume that Mallow also remembers her in a way he didn’t exactly express during SMRPG. They later return to the cloud kingdom and after all is said and done, Mallow accepts his rightful place there as heir.

That actually works a little better than I thought. This also makes Mallow/Perry a pretty important character, as he is semi-playable in two fairly important spinoff adventures (not just spinoff sports games or whatever). I hope I explained that well enough. I’d be happy to indulge in some clarification or speculation, so if anyone has any questions, use the ask thing or disqus comments or something.

10:02am  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaepXIX
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: fandom mario nintendo super mario rpg super princess peach 
December 31, 2012

buendieguito asked: i just want to say that i love the megaman theories and stuff (saludos desde chile)

Saludos guito! Apparently many of my recent posts, the Guardian ones, were based on a largely accepted but never officially supported fanon. You know, I’m ok with that. I believe that a lot of the time fanon, especially if it’s widespread, is more satisfying than official canon because fans like to think things through a lot more than many big developers. Anyway thanks for the follow, I’ll be doing game stuff other than Rockman soon though!

3:28pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuabAAK7
December 30, 2012

model-h:

miloscat:

Apparently when X sealed the Dark Elf (the main Cyber-elf, who had been corrupted by Dr Weil) with his own body, his soul left and split into 5 parts. 4 of them subsequently had new bodies made for them by unknown parties, perhaps Ciel’s mother. For some reason, they didn’t perform this operation on the “main”, X-part. I think he probably asked them not to, as he was tired of fighting and just wanted to be dead for a while.

Just gonna note here that it’s not canon that X split in pieces and it’s mentioned nowhere at all officially. It’s purely fan conjecture and has been going around again and again on the megaman wikia.

The Guardians were all built, and their original purpose was world restoration (except Phantom, who was charged with guarding X).

Oops. Well, that’s what I get for trusting the wiki. I think the Copy Ability synthesis theory is cool though. Hmm well if that’s the case, my original theory of Robot Masters surviving through to become the Guardians is still technically plausible, although their loyalty to X would have to be explained some other way. Thanks for correcting me there, I assumed it was mentioned in an art book or Complete Works or a soundtrack or something.

Well if nothing else the design similarities from series to series have been noted in my posts, which was my original intention. I stitched the fanon on as well to hold it together better.

(via deductionfreak)

4:21pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaW0q3Y
(Notes: 14)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 30, 2012

I suppose another post is warranted for the primary fragment, Cyber-X. The first three images are different official representations of X’s Cyber-elf form, which lives on throughout the Zero series, helping and advising Zero and Ciel against the ambitious Dr Weil and his Neo Arcadian regime. I outlined some of his later history in another post, but suffice to say he also has a Biometal form.

He eventually manages to convince the Guardians to turn against their false master, Copy X (fourth image), as he is the real deal. Copy X mostly looks just like X, but has this alternate form for battle that is reminiscent of some of X’s plain Armors, such as the Armor from X1 (fifth image).

Cyber-X is obviously just like vanilla X, but since the Guardians do not manage to cover all the various Copy Ability types between them, we must attribute some of them to being retained by this primary fragment. There are some Nature/Plant weapons that do not fit on any other Guardian, but are not specifically exhibited by Cyber-X. He does have a concern for protecting Nature though, and all life really, so let’s call it that. The only other major category, and one that fits very well (and is later used to describe him in Biometal form), is Light. How appropriate, the name of his creator! He is also probably the most pure and good character, especially out of the Guardians.

Well that wrapped up pretty well I think, it seems like a very sound theory if I do say so myself. And I think that’s it for my plans for 25th coverage, so I’ll see you next time for something else!

4:11pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVzYt4
(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 30, 2012

Hidden Phantom, stealth expert and commander of the Cutting Shadow Squadron. Later as Model P, he was biomatched to Siarnaq (second image). Third image is his Biometal form. He is characterised by his calm but ruthless demeanour.

Phantom is also unfortunate to be killed in the first Zero game, thus sitting out the second. He returns in Cyber-elf form in the third for an optional battle, though, and joins X in support of Zero by the end.

Phantom, unlike the other Guardians, does not have a Robot Master predecessor in MM9. He does, however, greatly resemble Shadow Man from MM3. This is unusual. Unlike these later RMs, Shadow Man has an ambiguous otherworldly origin, unknown as he was reprogrammed by Dr Wily. It is plausible though that he could have been reactivated by Light later and studied, thus informing some of his later designs. Phantom always seemed mysterious to me as well, possibly as a result of his powers. Regardless, the two definitely share design characteristics, based on Japanese ninja archetypes.

The fifth image shows the Shadow Armor from X6, perhaps the most direct Armor relation with its ninja motif and stealthy powers.

As for the Copy Abilities Phantom embodies, the most fitting are Dark, Cutter (shurikens and whatnot), and Time/Space (what with his teleporting and illusions).

3:52pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVtvTK
(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 30, 2012

Fighting Fefnir, ground combat expert and commander of Neo Arcadia’s Scorched Earth Squadron. Later Model F (combined with Atlas in second image and Biometal in third).

Being the big tough guy, Fefnir is more aggressive than the others. He represents the Copy power categories of Fire, Explosives, and Physical/Earth.

He is less obviously represented in MM9 by Magma Man, a fire-element Robot Master with a volcano on his head. His twin cannons and elemental alignment convinced me that he corresponds to this Guardian, although as indicated other Copy Weapon types also aligned to create Fefnir (a trait common to the other Guardians, as amalgamations).

X’s Armors are not typically elementally aligned, so it is the physical attributes that seem to be contributed to the Guardians, while their elemental powers come from the Copy Abilities of X. In this vein, the closest Armor I identified with Fefnir is the Gaea Armor of X5, as it has the biggest gun.

3:32pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVnuKJ
(Notes: 9)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 30, 2012

Fairy Leviathan, commander of Neo Arcadia’s Deep Sea Squadron and underwater specialist. Later as Model L, biomatched with Thetis (second picture) and in Biometal form (third). She has something of a playful attitude, but can be vicious, especially towards Zero.

Leviathan is tricky to match up to any of X’s physical Armor attributes, because as far as I know (and I may be wrong) there are no particular Armors with specialty aquatic characteristics. There is, however, a manga-only character from the X series who is a mermaid Reploid, which is the closest thing to Leviathan (Marty, in the fifth image). This doesn’t work with the overall Guardian origin though, so we have to assume that there is an aquatic Armor that Light built and X used, but not in any game we’ve played.

There is, however, a close parallel in MM9 in Splash Woman (fourth image), one of the very few female Robot Masters (there’s actually 3 or 4… kinda). She’s a mermaid with a weapon very similar to Leviathan, and her deisgn has some similarites too. So if Tornado Man is Harpuia’s counterpart, Splash Woman is obviously Leviathan’s (being the only female Guardian, and water-aligned). So Light, having built her, must have gone on to create Armors for X with her strengths. He must have found and used them at some point, which has not yet been represented in a game. There. That works.

More importantly, there is a very strong tradition of Copy Abilities with an Ice or Water theme. It is these weapons which went towards the formation of Leviathan when X fragmented.

3:08pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVgxAw
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 30, 2012

Sage Harpuia, aerial fighter, de facto leader of the Guardians and commander Neo Arcadia’s Strong Air Battalion. Later as Model H (seen in the second picture merged with Aeolus, and in Biometal form in picture 3). He is a strong, very cool customer with a noble air.

I originally had the theory that the Guardians were surviving Robot Masters from the Classic era after Inti Creates made some RMs that were obvious references to them in MM9, which was made after the Zero series. I found out though that they were created from fragments of X’s soul, so my current theory is that Light at least built certain armours for X to use based on the designs of those Robot Masters and possibly containing some of their programming to aid X in using them.

For example, Tornado Man from MM9 bears a striking resemblance to Harpuia, and was built by Light himself. Using the principles of the Rush Adaptors, Light made augmentations for X to find and use. In this case, the Falcon Armor (fifth picture) has the most similarities with Harpuia himself. The Armor theory is not very strong, but combined with the Copy Ability synthesis I mentioned in my previous post, I think it could be made to work.

So part of Tornado Man’s programming (and possibly other wind-based RMs) was installed in the Falcon Armor parts, and possibly other parts as well (like other air-dashing parts). It seems like a stretch, but this is the only way I can explain Harpuia looking so much like Tornado Man!

So this whole Rockman series is mainly about the principles of characters’ designs echoing backward and forward in the timeline, so even if the lore doesn’t quite hold the other similarities are evident.

Part of this is the notion of the Copy Ability crystallisation process at X’s death. Throughout the Classic and X series, Rock and X gain many different abilities, but they can all be categorised into several broad groups. These then reflect on the Robot Masters and Mavericks that held them, but that would take way too long. Suffice it to say that the categories of copied weapons that find their ultimate expression in Sage Harpuia are Electric and Air/Wind. He also corresponds to the Falcon Armor, more or less.

2:51pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVbjyr
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 30, 2012

Continuing Rockman’s 25th celebration, this post was the one I originally had in mind before being sidetracked by the “main” characters of the series.

The Four Guardians, or Four Heavenly Kings in Japan (one of the many mythology references in the Zero series) are a team of very high-ranking enforcers for the Neo Arcadian army (the major civilisation in this era). They share a common bond; they were all born from the body of X.

Apparently when X sealed the Dark Elf (the main Cyber-elf, who had been corrupted by Dr Weil) with his own body, his soul left and split into 5 parts. 4 of them subsequently had new bodies made for them by unknown parties, perhaps Ciel’s mother. For some reason, they didn’t perform this operation on the “main”, X-part. I think he probably asked them not to, as he was tired of fighting and just wanted to be dead for a while.

These 4 have separate elemental alignments: Sage Harpuia is the wind/electric type, Fairy Leviathan the ice/water type, Fighting Fefnir the fire/explosive type, and Hidden Phantom the dark/cutting type. Their original intention was to help repopulate and rejuvenate the world, but they were recalled to fight the Rebellion when Neo Arcadia began becoming more oppressive and militarised. They then led armies of Reploids and Mechaniloids, who were loosely aligned to their elements or style.

But why did X’s DNA soul split into 5 elves? Here’s my theory. The many years of using Light’s Copy Chip to take on enemy powers also had an effect on X in some way. Especially since the Copy Abilities often conformed to one or two of a number of elements/types, X developed permanent inclinations along these types, but at cross-purposes. This resulted in internal conflict, which finally expressed itself when he sacrificed himself at the end of the Elf Wars. The many disparate powers stored within his robot soul crystallised along complementary categories, resulting in four distinct personages, in addition to the original X fragment.

The X elf, or Cyber-X, retained all of X’s personality and memories. I believe the Guardians did not, and developed their own personalities without remembering their past. Nevertheless they feel a tremendous loyalty to each other and to X. This is why they work for the Copy-X, who was built by Ciel using a similar technique to their own creation, but without incorporating the X elf. The result was an imperfect replica who was easily manipulated by Weil.

The Guardians aren’t stupid though and come to realise they’re working for the bad guy. They still hate Zero though, but agree to help him at the urging of Cyber-X. Sources differ on whether they die at the end of Zero 3 or later on, but a piece of art in one of the soundtracks is too cool to not be true, depicting the four and X in elf forms watching the climax of Zero 4. These may be their dead elf selves or the true manifestations for which their previous bodies were but replicas in the manner of Copy X. I believe the former.

Either through their proximity to the crashed Ragnarok-Weil hybrid (the original Biometal, model W) or through Ciel’s science, the four (along with X and Zero) were made into Biometals later. These forms are able to combine with human or Reploid hosts to share their abilities, but also are sentient and seem to retain their personalities (when not being controlled by model W).

This ties into another aspect of their existence. The four also have some affinity to certain armours that Light made for X. After inventing a combination technique for Rock and Rush, Light decided to incorporate a similar functionality in X’s design. He therefore has various armours with different abilities, which I think may have informed the formation of the distinctive Guardian shapes. More on that in individual posts, I think.

2:32pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVV_g2
(Notes: 14)
  
Filed under: rockman 25th fandom megaman 
December 25, 2012

The Ghost of Christmas Past.

I don’t mean to be maudlin, but the time of most of these characters and series is over. This post though is celebrating the great stuff Rare used to make. We always have the games, the art, the music of the past to go back to when the present gaming landscape is disappointing. So Merry Christmas. God bless us, everyone.

7:59am  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwua58ARN
(Notes: 17)
  
Filed under: christmas Rareware 
December 18, 2012

The bad doctor, Albert W. Wily. According to some sources, he was a close collaborator with Light until a lab accident damaged his mind. Possibly he always harboured ill feelings and one day gave in to them. Either way, once his ambitions had flared up there was no stopping them. He had to be recognised as the world’s greatest roboticist at any cost, his madness increasing as he went on. But always he had to contend with Light’s creations, especially Rock, and he always came up short.

Among Wily’s creations are the Robot Masters from Mega Man 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8. He is also responsible for reprogramming most of the Masters from other Mega Man games for evil. Other robots not of the particular “Robot Master” variety include the Mega Man Killers Punk, Enker, and Ballade; Reggae the Crow, King, the Doc Robots, various imperfect copies of Mega Man, and Bass (who serves as an antihero) and his partner Treble.

However, he considers his greatest creation to be Zero, who contained the double whammy of unstoppable killing machine and insidious computer virus to corrupt any robot. He must really resent that Zero turned against his destructive programming and began fighting the Mavericks he helped create.

While Light managed to live on in a limited fashion, Wily had his own means to survive through the following era. It is implied that the robots Serges from X2 (second image) and Isoc from X6 (third image) are partially Wily himself or at least closely linked. It’s not unheard of in fiction for someone’s personality to be converted into digital form and housed in a robotic body, and if anyone could figure out the means, Wily could. He would also have the inclination, being irredeemably sociopathic. Having said that, there have been moments of sympathetic portrayal for Wily, especially in the Classic days.

Undeniably a genius, Wily is nevertheless crippled by his jealousy of Dr Light and delusions of grandeur. He is arrogant and a natural manipulator, having mastered the art of deception. His narcissism extends to his creations, leading to a desire to prove his robots are better than Light’s, specifically hoping for Bass to outclass Rock and later Zero to X.

Dr Weil (fourth image) continues in the vein of Wily’s machinations in the Zero series, taking command of copy X and Zero’s original body as his tools. He has similar megalomaniacal tendencies and skills of deceit, managing to take command of the largest civilised settlement in the new world after the destruction he had wrought. His goals are to use Reploids as slaves and rule the world, not wholly unlike Wily, although Wily was shown to have some respect for his creations. Weil shares this respect only with Omega Zero, continuing the thread of Wily and Zero. There is no concrete link between the two aside from name and personality, especially as both are human.

Wily reappears in a way, as part of the Sage Trinity in the Biometal era. As Master Albert (fifth image) he rules the country of Legion with the other Masters, although it is unclear how directly this version is based on Wily. He has very strong links to Model W though, which implies more connection between Weil and Wily through the Biometal Weil is the progenitor of. Master Albert takes Wily’s ambitions to the extreme, wishing destruction and recreation of all the world with himself as its god. Meanwhile, he maintains a facade of cool calmness. He claims to be the master of the Model W Weil created, but it is unknown whether it is actually using him.

There is a minor character named Wily in Legends who shares a resemblance, but he is merely a friendly boatman.

Wily’s Network counterpart is Lord Wily (sixth image), a schemer in a similar vein with a jealousy of Dr Hikari’s work. In this case however, Wily is also a robotics expert, changing the dynamic as he is resentful over his technology being superseded by Hikari’s Network technology. He is not the primary villain in all the games, and even is redeemed in the end and resolves to help improve the world.

9:57pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuZc3Xw1
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 18, 2012

The good doctor, Thomas Light (or Right). Idealistic yet brilliant, he is the father of modern robotics. His greatest creation, arguably, is X, although he would be nothing without the years spent with Rock, which were beneficial for both of them. Between games, Dr Light was responsible for upgrading Rock’s capabilities and building new helpers for him, including Rush the dog, Eddy the walking container, Tango the cat, and Auto the robot guy. He also previously built Blues as part of a military contract that resulted in the mass-produced Sniper Joe model. Also Roll.

Wily and Light used to be friends, even partners, before things took a deadly turn. Light has dedicated years of his life to combatting the schemes of Wily through his surrogate son, Rock. Years that could have been better spent improving the world. Still, all that fighting has simply increased his determination to help create a world where humans and robots can peacefully coexist.

Light’s other creations include the 6 (or 8) Robot Masters from the first Rockman game, and the 8 from Rockman 9.

Light’s next step, of course, was the creation of X, the first robot to have sophisticated feelings and free will. He sealed him in a special stasis capsule for over 30 years to test these complex systems, so as to bring X to maturity before releasing him into the world. He knew he would pass away before X could change the way the world views robots, so he hid capsules in many locations containing upgrades for him, knowing that one day X would find him. He also left hologram messages (second image) in these capsules to instruct X, his final messages to his creation. His influence was felt throughout this era, long after his death.

Light isn’t seen for a very long time after X (presumably) finds all the capsules. Unless you want to go with the endlessly recurring archetype theory, in which Weil is an incarnation or descendant of Wily and Ciel (and her mother) of Light.

The next concrete appearance of Light is hundreds of years later, in the Biometal era, when a council known as the Sage Trinity of Legion arises to rule a portion of the known world. They contain recreations or analogues of the three major roboticists from the Classic series, Light, Wily, and Dr Cossack, another good guy. Master Thomas (third image) is a strong, imposing figure, with a rigid moral code. It was he, along with Master Albert (the Wily analogue), who instituted a policy to bring humans and Reploids closer together in capabilities. Humans received cybernetic implants and Reploids had lifespans imposed, among other enforced alterations.

His hope was that this would create further cooperation and fellowship between the races, although it is revealed that this was but the first part of a more extreme plan that would involve more radical changes to society and its lifeforms. The exact nature of these plans is as yet unknown, but hints that there is a dark side to letting Light’s idealism reach to extremes.

There is a Network universe parallel to Light, known as Tadashi Hikari (being the Jaqpanese words for Right and Light, fourth image). He created the technology for projecting the NetNavis, although it was his son who actually created Mega Man and his grandson who would partner with him. He isn’t seen much, having passed away before the events of the first game. This version also wished for peace through the technology he helped create, although unlike Dr Light he left much work unfinished, to be continued by the next generation.

8:07pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuZbwTWY
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
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