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Simply Ungifted Finale
Raised Eyebrows: The big "no-no" this time 'round was duplication. Not in so much that existing enemies had their feats nearly performed exactly but off of other entries. It was more than obvious that some submissions just looked at an earlier one (or most recent) and said, "I like what this guy does, so I'm going to make something really close to it." I'm sorry, but one completely unique and original idea doesn't manifest itself twice so closely together. The idea was either too unique and thus smacked of plaguerism (I'm looking at you, tethered enemy that could have its rope cut!) or immediately followed the like entry. I'm sorry, but if Entry-X struggled in Kirby's mouth, Entry-Y got spit out whole and not as a star, and Entry-Z did both, it's obvious that Z was just looking at X and Y for ideas. Moving on, I was surprised how unaware some fans were of existing enemies. Now, sometimes folks wouldn't remember an obscure figure like Parasa, who couldn't be inhaled and split into three floating segments when hit, but Blockin? The guy not only was in the two (actually) newest Kirby platformers, a sad fact given their spread in years, but was also included in the first guideline picture for making an enemy, not to mention the number of mentions I gave to it in comments. So, if you're one of the many people (yes, there were multiple) who submitted an enemy that disguised itself as a block, you know why it wasn't excepted. That wasn't the worst, however. That honor goes to making a foe who's gimmick was teleporting. Why is that bad? Go to the index page for Simply Ungifted. In the right-away banter about what non-ability giving enemies do, I list clearly "Kabu teleports". That gimmick wasn't just already taken but used as a primary example. I don't know whether that's just plain lazy, just plain sloppy, or their inbred spawn. Outside of all the copy/similarities, there was an issue with complication. People just kept on thinking that the stakes needed raised and made enemies more and more complicated, involved, and burdonsome. Was the include in the title simply not clue enough? Were the plentify examples not clear? (This guy blows currents. This guy eats blocks.) And here I thought I cut back on the entry sizes enough to eliminate such nonsense. Best Reject: Not everything not given a pass was terrible, however. Some were highly imaginative but, in the end, served no real purpose. The prime example of this was Perogoi & Perogai. It had a lot of creativity put into it and how it attacked and acted. It used a magic staff to transmute a spout of fire into a stone and then launched it. Imaginitive as that is, when you peel away the bells and whistles, it was just a stationary enemy that shot. Not... not really breaking any new ground here. The fact that the entry seemed more concerned about the submission's origin in a fan work than being worthwhile wasn't helping the case. Most Charming: Dream Land is supposed to be about whimsy and charm, not ZOMG damoge an daeth yaaaeh!!!1 Enemies do things like paint Kirby's face or plant a big kiss on him. It's never "Well, you are instantly dead now" or "Say goodbye to half your life!" None captured this "true spirit" better than Greñaldo, the shaggy mop-top who's appearance altered when attacked in different manners. Completely unnessary, yes, but just so inventive. People always complain about America giving Kirby angry eyebrows, so it's good to see someone applied that principle to an enemy. Simply Good: While the contest had it in the name, few entries were really that simple. That's one of the reasons I gave such a strong endorsement to Gravitchilla. While the name was, oh, twice as long as is expected to be seen, the entry went right with the whole reminder that a foe doesn't need to be overly complicated to be good. Few ever are. In fact, the most complication enemies display is in their AI for maneuvering over terrain. Everything else is pretty straight forward. And that's why 'Chilla was liked. As seems to be a trend, one of the first submissions, not bogged down by thoughts or influences of other entries, gets it done right, clean and simple. It jumps when near the player. That's it! By the Fans: Public opinion shouldn't really be counted much, but there's not much else to go on. Votes quickly drop off on entries, starting in the thirties for some and tanking to the tens for the more recent ones. Even at the top vote count, that's still not much opinions to spread out. How is it that entries are received than votes cast? How is that always the case? My repeated questions aside, here they are:
The Runners Up: Even though one pick wins it all, I still feel that a bit more than that one deserve some type of kudos to show that they're better than the rest. Take that, rest! And the Winner is... No one! Deal with it. |
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| Last Updated - February 17th, 2009 | |
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