Ask Guru Gobbo #114

0) For those of you wondering, A.R.M. is referring to the Fan Art Gallery here and a recent belt tightening that's been going on. The squeeze is being felt all over the Resort.

1) In case you hadn't noticed, that image is from the gallery administrator. Besides, that's not blood, it's Smucker's strawberry preserves! The very same that is dripping from 0²'s eye, staining his wings, and- oh, wait, no. That's bloody. Looks like he'll need some peroxide for that boo-boo, Smucker's brand peroxide!

2) The reason is simple: it's an art gallery. Draw stuff, upload it, share it. Text is not art. That's words. It is not a creative endeavor that displays craftsmanship or artistic prowess. It just shows that you are literate. No, rather, make a picture, take a picture, do something with a picture. The words tied to or describing the work should be second to the image itself. If you want to be emo and talk about feelings or describe your fan character for an "RP", do that in the forums. That's what forums are for, after all, written communication. The Gallery is for sharing visual works.

Yeah, this has been noted several times. It's the old watch of Shinichi Shimomura that you're remembering with the Animal Friends and all. Both he and Sakurai ended their relationship with HAL about the same time which left them out in the cold. I have to say that Amazing Mirror, while just an expanded Great Cave Offensive, was still a great game and tricky and challenging at parts, especially where Mini was needed. Sure, it was no, "Take Rick with Spark to get Coo to fly to a mini-boss to get Kine to get the Rainbow Drop" sort of deal, but still had complexities to it.

I'm big enough to admit that a lot of it probably just stems from the nostalgia factor. It doesn't matter what type of scrolling shooter I play, Abadox is still king of them. I'd rather be a squat little guy who makes blocks or breaks them than some fully rendered 3-D model. It doesn't even matter if the name is carried from the past. Old Rygar was a lot more fun than Legendary Journey or whatever subtitle they affixed to the old-new game. I see they have an even newer one coming out now.

Anyways, looking for challenge if an older gamer pretty much is moronic with Kirby. As it was then, it's still engineered for "beginning gamers." It can ramp up some good difficulty very fast, especially in older titles. Extra Game with just three vitality points? Boy, howdy, that's tough. Regardless, they are still designed for younger folks, and games in general now are just made easier. Now that one is not nostalgia linked. Look at Game Genie. You needed that to beat some games, and it could only help in a lot of cases, not guarantee victory.

You don't make a good reputation off of a game that no one can beat. Even if it does spawn a small, cult following, it's still that: small. Video games work like television. You can churn out some predictable garbage sitcom or cop drama that will flounder about for a good few years despite not being great, or you can make some unique and complicated show. It could catch on, like Lost, and be a big hit despite no one understanding it, but it's more likely that it'll get canceled soon, like Pushing Daisies and a dump of other programs this decade alone.

1) I believe Galacta Knight is male. While I'm not too familiar with the precise wording of the character's pause screen flavor text, the presumption goes hand in hand with the "Kirby's a boy?" confusion. Just 'cuz something is pink doesn't make it a female. Bows, ribbons, eye lashes, lips, some other stereotypical marking is needed besides color. Why, look at Ado. That bean pole is regarded as a boy despite wearing a skirt. Ain't a Scott, dag nabbit!

2) That shouldn't even be questioned. Halberd sank into the Orange Ocean. It was underwater, and it stayed there for all those years. Would anyone think that the battleship would have been placed in Davy Jone's locker for other reasons? I gotta say, open air is the better place to store heavily armed war crafts. A throwback is a nod or a hint to something from the past, like the Wii title leak of a giant Dedede robot with a drill and clamp arm mirroring that of the much less sinister end boss from Dream Course. The sunken 'Berd is a direct continuation in the Meta Knight story line. They'll fill in the middle blanks fun, but the ends will always remain a mystery!

3) The Halberd's design in Squeak Squad is similar to its design... in Squeak Squad? I know this is a miswording in some way, but I sure can't tell what was meant to be what.

4) Orders by the King, possession by evil forces, or they are fending for their own safety. To add to that pile, they know that Kirby has a taste for them. Onoz!

1) Thank you! I was waiting for some type of reaction from someone about it. And, yes, it is the holiday icon. For sake of argument, that's, uh, a cow heart... or at least was removed by a butcher... to some extent.

2) It's a fair question but a hard gander and anyone's guess. While the prolific puff was colorless in his first foray, his later immediate appearances in color were just lightly shaded on covers. As for Adventure, it was a Nintendo game, and they had crummy coloring anyway. Still, opposite to the idiom, a book is always judged by its cover, and I may be going out on a limb when I say "probably." Video games are marketed to boys, by and large, and cutesy or not, the addition of pink would weigh heavy on the sheepish masses. Sure, the target is young boys, I know that myself and others pick up games that are out of the age bracket, especially for a rental, to play for the weekend. Ah, the '90s. That was the time. Did I have a point? Right. I'm sure more than one person was turned off by the pink. But, who knows how many people were caught by the charming cuteness of the pink.

3) Pretty much, yeah, powers. Spicy food (nuts to curry!) is just Fire, and actually inspired it. Mint leaves got overturned by things like Jet, Wing, and Angel. Some abilities still do give Kirby more bang for his buck than just an attack; there just isn't many that do. I'm with you, though. Items were great. But, you needed the item around to use it. Powers are inter-spliced with enemies. Sure, some are just put on a pedestal for the player to gobble up, but others are out there and actively trying to cause harm. It really is a nice, efficient system they have rigged up. Still, part of you has to miss the good ol' days. That's why we still have our old Game Paks, isn't it? To get that nostalgia. Even if not, just play through a newer title sans abilities. That can get pretty tricky.

1) I guess that comic isn't linked to anywhere, is it? Well, the Where's Uncle Gobbo? can be found right there. It wasn't really made with any skill, so it was never thought to be wanted to be seen. Kinda stand-in and temporary.

2) Yes, they each are true. Yes, they are out of character. They've even been pointed out on my discussion of Meta Knight's plush. The fact that it's off character is what makes it so funny, like the big, buff guy with a toy dog.

3) Brawl has a plethora, more than I think could be named here. If a ramp is too close to a block, Kirby's Down+B move will get him stuck beneath it and shake the screen. There's a well known error where Jigglypuff, using a Final Smash on a bridge as its coming back, causes it to fall slowly and supersized. At that same bridge, any other Smash used as it comes back causes a permanent zoom in on the character. For more, try digging through Smash Bros. Wiki's Glitches page.

Ultra, on the other hand, has no real glitches that I could find out about, just a lot of spouted garbage, nonsense, and half-truths.

1) Was... was it ever said there were eight? I see seven other worlds to beat, so that should be the magic number. You kinda came at me half-cocked without a real base behind your question. You didn't explain what other number you thought it should be or even why you were expecting anything besides seven. So, all I can do is shrug and commend you on your ability to count.

2) Insulted Mega Man? I'd never do that. All I did was point out the ridiculous pace that new titles are leaked out to use as a comparison when questioned with a "Meta Knight needs his own game" type question. But I love the Blue Bomber. I'd never directly insult him. Now some of the more recent ones, like something fleet something-or-another, yeah, I just stopped caring at that point.

The Mailbag is a section on Rainbow Resort where people on the site can submit questions for a staff personnel or group of members to answers, be they about the site or a bit more off base, usually pertaining to some central theme. Once the original Ask the Kirby Gurus section came about, that took a lot of the informational edge off of the 'Bag, and it turned into more of an entertainment piece, commonly straying outside of Kirby fandom and crossing over into other venues. At this moment, I have my hands in both of these honey pots, and they're stuck fast.

Trying to?!

0) A month is a long time in internet chronology.

1) Very different. They two are separate and distinct histories, timelines, and even characters, truthfully. It's like a live-action movie and the anime based on that movie. Sure, the characters come from the same root and the big bad may have the same name, but they are essentially entirely different. Thing about it like Bat Man. Sure, Bat Man is Bat Man, but there's comic book Bat Man, campy TV show Bat Man, movie Bat Man, and new movie Bat Man. They are all Bat Man, per se, but each has their differences and unique histories. Or, Street Fighter to Street Fighter: the Movie. Entirely different. Kirby is a more extreme case of that, being a single division so far!

2) As nice as that theory wraps things up, that is never how things happen. The fanon "tie it up with a big, well explained bow" is not how things work. I've seen enough comics to movies, games to movies, movies to games, movies to cartoons, and, the best, comic to movie to show to game to know that things change with the medium. Whether slight or large, they make changes as seen fit to further their purposes. Storylines get weighed down, and many hurtles exist if the slate isn't wiped clean. Thus, for a new audience, they tend to want to start from scratch. Kirby was done in such a way. It had the name, it had the abilities, but it was a whole new pink puff.

Um... no, I wouldn't think. W.B. Rock is just the boss at the end of the Cave, and W. B. Jewel is just the boss at the end of Helper to Hero, which has absolutely nothing to do with Great Cave Offensive. Wham Bam was around for years before Master Hand, and that guy is more related to Glover than anyone in Kirby (pre-Amazing Mirror). Wham Bam Rock is a giant monster who stays mostly in the shadows. The Hands are floating the gloves. The two have connects in no way. Super Star Ultra gave just about every boss two forms, or an alternate color scheme if not. The Revenges, Masked Dedede, Marx Soul, even Galacta Knight can be viewed as a suped up Meta Knight. Rock, being an end-of-subgame boss, deserved more than just a new color, so he got an upgrade. That's all he is, an upgrade.

1) And how. Of course, the answer has been updated this year, but it's still come up in probably every session since it's start. The release is set to, deja vu, sometime this year. Way to solidify, jerks!

2) I don't really see why they would. The point of re-releasing a game would seem to be to get some type of benefit from the Wii's control mechanism, but Air Ride had such an easy control system, I don't really get how it'd advantage from it any. You wouldn't be getting anything by playing it that way.