Ask Guru Gobbo #151

Well, you see, amazingly, the characters in the animated series are based largely on the character design of the games. Timeline powers, activate, yo! There, everything is round and cute, for the most part, and lacks most parts of the anatomy. It tried to live up to its origins. Bigt shock there. Many are little more than glorified heads. The fact that so many were stretched out to include a full torso and arms is an atrocity in my opinion, just one of many committed in this heinous error known as the animated series.

In summary, it's not that so many characters have no legs; the problem is that they do have chests and long arms. That's what's standing out of place, not the legs. Dream Land is a leg free zone with few exceptions (Ado, Paint Roller, the Mr. Duo). The inhabitants are meant to be rolypoly and lacking limbs. The absense of knees is the right, not the wrong. Have I ground-pounded this answer enough?

Truthfully, nothing at all. However, if your parental controls are, as is most often the case, very stupid, then it would deem the volunteered email information as a threat to your innocence. Since, you know, a bad man could come and take you away if they knew your email address. Not really; that's a load.

Since, apparently, "new" is how the uneducated say "I'm going to be as vague and unhelpful as possible", it's time to play Guess the Question with Uncle Gobbo!

By uploading pictures, if you mean at the 1) (a) Fan Art Gallery, you click the link that says "Upload a Picture" at the top slew of links there to do just that. Keep in mind that the Passport account is not tied to the Gallery, or the forums or chat. The Passport was custom coded while the rest were commercially popped out of the box so they cannot be integrated. So, this means you'd need a separate sign-up at the Gallery to upload pictures.

1) (b) Or,, by uploading pictures, if you mean to create an icon or user avatar, you cannot and will never be able to do such. The Avatar feature in the control panel will be more like making an avatar at Gaia Online, as much as I loath referencing such a cesspool. You'll get options of how and with what to build a Pop Star appropriate being out of to represent your account. Allowing users to upload their own images is just asking for trouble in a agelessly monitored site.

2) (a) If you mean "make friends" as in designating other users as buddies a la some social networking site, you can't and never will. The Passport System is a content focused and social defocused system. No friending, no private messaging, none of that.

2) (b) Or, if you mean "friends" as in "Animal Friends" for the Make an Animal Friend contest in the Interactive Fandom section, that was held over a year ago, so you'd be a little on the late side.

And this is why I'd prefer questioners specifically address what they are asking about. It's enough of a wild goose chase to find the answers most the time even when I know what you mean. Newness isn't an excuse for inspecificy; only stupidity is.

1) There is absolutely no basis on which to make this comparison since they cannot truly interact with one another (outside of Smash Bros. figurines) since the emporer stands to the dragon's knee. However, where would you even get this from? Bowser is literally fire and brimstone with awesome, destructive powers and evil. King Dedede is just a fat bureaucrat with a hammer who was actually pushed to the first boss in one of his series' titles. There's no comparison.

2) Marx Soul is already a reincarnation. Technically, if he were to come back, he should look exactly the same as its the same original product being remade. Marx was completely annihilated before going to his Soul form, so its not like there'd have to be anything left of him to come back time and again. A goes to B, but then B just repeats.

3) Mental pushover? Since when does Kirby face the tree in a bout of chess or crossword exhibition?

4) First of all, you're missing two prior references to Kirby eating bombs. The same happened in the mini-game Egg Catcher and, actually, in the original Dream Land. now, the real reason for why this happens is already painfully obvious: fans pay more attention to inconsistencies than creaters do. Oh, how they love to nitpick! I mean, of course they didn't care that some bombs go down without a hitch. Who would? Well, you, apparently. And you want an answer to this no matter how bogus. Well, cram this down your throat and smoke it! Or, you know, a pipe. That'd probably work better and scorch your gullet less, if you're in to that. Lack of pain, that is.

Most bombs are just your standard, bulk buy, run of the mill explosive device. They're nothing special and have no real purpose outside of going boom. However, the coordinator of mini-games, which Egg Catcher is handled by the fancy-pantless king himself, springs for the quality items. While most wicks would extinguish either on a wet tongue or in an air tight mouth due to lack of oxygen, these strings are more like those gag birthday candles that don't go out. Whether dipped in liquid oxygen or aided by some other burning agent, they won't go out. So, if Kirby gets a mouth full of these, He gets a face full of soot (as opposed to his face being blown off). That's total bull but still can't be dismissed. Different bombs that fizzle less. Perfectly plausible.

5) I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say "why", "no", or "just no". Shotzo got an upgrade because it already did something -- shot cannonballs. Its rate of fire and reload time could be changed. Gordo, however, didn't do anything. Simply moving faster wouldn't warrant a change to its appearance. Besides, in Extra Game, like all spikes, I think the urchins inflict more damage than previously. And, if you mean upgrade outside of second-go extra modes, then you really don't understand the simplicity of the Kirby franchise. Waddle Dee doesn't do anything but walk. Dizzy just falls. Gordo sits still or moves in a set path. That's plenty.

6) Technically, the same could be said of both characters and Mickey Mouse. It just boils down to Spini being a cartoonish mouse with shades on. They'd pretty much all look alike at first glance. And that's all it is -- a passing familiarity. Once you break down the actual character compositions in each, you see they are completely different. I've always said (not here) that if you get two horses and put them next to one another, everyone will say they are the same. However, you get someone who knows horses and ask them the same question, they'll tell you how their completely different. That's all it is. You're just seeing "horse" and not noticing what sets them apart, only what makes them the same.

There is no legal way to, that I know of, that isn't wholly opposed by anyone with a conscious. Allegedly, as with the Wii's Virtual Console, the DSi is supposed to get a library of downloadable games akin to that. While I don't believe anything has been stated yet, I can't see why the ol' Game Boy classics wouldn't eventually come out on there. Of course, three of his "old games" are already on the Virtual Console and ready for play: Adventure, Dream Land 3, and Crystal Shards.

But, now, how exactly do you expect to get and play a video game without paying for it legally? It's not like I, this site, or anyone should promote illegal ROM usage. Yes, I know that next to everyone uses "bit torrents" or other download-fests to get junk for free. That doesn't make it right; it just means that next to everyone is a criminal.

The vital and failing point to your ponderment: "... and that such things would actually matter, ..." It doesn't. Does fighting Marx Soul have any impact on the games released between the two Super Stars? Does the challenge of Galacta Knight merit anything in the long run? No, it doesn't. About the only thing that barely piques interest is the placement of Meta Knightmare Ultra, but, much like the non-Ultra variety, I only consider that pseudo-canon. Really, why wouldn't Meta Knight just wish to conquer Dream Land? He was just trying to!

Just like I said with locations reappearing, forget remakes. They technically aren't supposed to be a trip down memory lane (as with the VC releases) but more as a "this just happened, really!" type of feel. But, whether then or now, nothing changes. As stated previously, this isn't Zelda or Metroid. There's no specific order given because the order isn't important. As long as Dream Land is the first and the Dark Matter Trilogy occurs in order, you can hodge-podge the arrangement anyway you want for it has no bearing on the big picture. A game like Super Star is already disconnected enough with all its little sub-games because they were meant to be more of isolated events with no real ties. Did Marx Soul need fifteen years to piece himself back together? Sure, why not, or not. Nothing is changed. Franchise impact is zero.

1) He manifests a hat and sometimes wand from no where. What, you don't think a change of kicks can't come with it?

2) Rather than simultaneously hairy and slimy whatzit I found in my couch cushion, like the first animated series, yes. Yes, I'd say I'd prefer they actually make it more like the games next time. Only have said that enough times in the past.

3) I ... don't ... even ... get ... why? Is there some meaning behind this? Keeby at least has the blending of Japanese for yellow behind his naming. Am I just not getting what "Mido-" has to do with green, or is this just an unfounded suggestion? The current popular fan name for the green variation is Kusamochi, named for a rice ball. That's mostly in Japan, however, where there's more love for the pink puff in general. Frankly, I'm in support of any name that doesn't have "-rby" at the end. Secondly, Keeby actually has a name since it is a separate, distinct entity. Typically, the "four Kirbies" are just that -- actually Kirby. The yellow one, and not even in all cases, is a separate individual. That deserves a name.

This answer is expanded upon in Session #152.

4) Isn't this like saying "Who wants candy?" Really, tho', I'd actually prefer not. I'd much rather get imported merch rather than tainted and horrendous American products that'd marker thick, angry eyebrows over the cuddly creampuff.

1) I prefer they didn't just make it all the same word. Have you ever played a game in which everything had the same descriptor? I think one of the Prince of Persia games was horrible for making everything "of Time". The land, the weapon, the princess, the power, a castle -- it just never ended. Anyhoo, they're not all the same to give us a break. Of course, if they were, then someone would just be here complaining that they were all identical and why they couldn't each be different. It's a lose-lose situation, folks.

2) The game calls him "Mirror-world Kirby", as I recall it. This isn't even a name; it's just a description. Dark Meta Knight could technically be called "Mirror-world Meta Knight" much the same. His stated name is Shadow Kirby, but much like countless characters before him, it's never directly stated in America in any form of media. Meta Knight took until Avalanche, a game that isn't even really a true Kirby game, to have his name finally revealed over seas. You coulda found it out by other means, but there certainly weren't any names in Adventure.

There's a lot of things on this site that are brushed aside, particularly in the Fun Stuff area. The reasons for this should be obvious and clear: the "fun" section is loaded with careless, no talent garbage.

Why should anyone care about a Super Mario repeat that features Meta Knight? It doesn't even do Meta Knighty things and still has the player shoot things and stomp on foes. All the loser did was get an already made game available as a template and plug in Kirby sprites over the Mario ones. They did a piss poor job of it, too, as none of the sizes match up to the actual location.

No. This is an atrocity. The fact that anyone would even ask why or if it was forgotten garbage is an insult to the actually cared for and meaningful fan games made. These were actually coded and crafted by sincere individuals, or at least those with good intentions in the end. That rancid filth that you speak of wasn't even put into the Fan Games section for a reason. If someone wanted to play Mario game on-line, they'd go and play one. If they want a Kirby game, they'd play a real Kirby game.

Yes, it's only in the Japanese version. In the American version, it got replaced with just Kirby having his two halves put together. The reason is quite simple: that's a Japanese symbol.

That is the Shoshinsha or Wakaba mark, a green and yellow V-shaped badge typically hung in windows of vehicles. It's required for the first year of new drivers to be hung in the front and rear windows. This tells other drivers, "Hey, I suck. Watch out!" It's sorta like the big sign that says "Student Driver" to warn others on the road. It's similar to the "Baby on Board" sign. There's also one for elderly drivers, which although reversed for experience, still gives the "I'm not good" message.

So, the game uses this symbol of inexperience to say, "Are you new to this game?" which I'm assuming is pseudo-common practice in the land o' rising sun. However, a Westerner's quick search on the matter was barely able to even find this much. Of course, outside of Japan, it has no meaning whatsoever and was left out of the game. Again, in Canvas Curse along with other various shapes, this one doesn't appear to be strange within the country of origin. Otherwise, it's wacky. I, for example, originally thought it was something with wheat or corn.