Ask Guru Gobbo #52

1) I don't really see why they wouldn't allow a song from Lolo in the mix. Of course, I have no idea what types of songs are allowed in. Regardless, they do seem to reach out pretty far for some of the stuff they pull, and Lolo is pretty tightly knit with Nintendo, especially in the Super Smash Bros. series. I don't know if they ever will have the Lolo theme in a game, but I certainly don't see any wholly outright reasons to say they can't.

2) The Lolo/Lololo question is a predicament for the ages. The thing is, you are both right. The doubled syllable varieties are the same characters as their tripled counterparts, but, at the same time, they are wholly different characters. It's a strange stunt that only HAL would think of pulling off. They are the same characters in that, a-doy, there is no difference between Lolo & Lala and Lololo & Lalala, physically. Blue dude, ball shape, pointed rump, tiny white, rounded feet and hands. Plop on a bow, paint it red, you got Lala. They are effectively identical, even having the names that are a wink, nod, and elbow nudge. However, a character is not just defined by their appearance and name alone. Well, a poorly constructed character is. To actually have depth, they need more to them, stuff to flesh them out. This is where the duo of duos split.

Lolo is a hero from Eggerland who married into the royal family, being his dame Lala. He thwarts the evil King Egger and has a son, who I believe is named Lulu? Lololo, on the other hand, lives in a castle on Pop Star with his sister, Lalala, where they are constantly trying to clean out their attic but can't seem to get the boxes out to the garage since the doors all seem to lead to the same series of hallway a la a Scooby Doo cartoon. Also, he's chummy with the regal jerk of the land, King Dedede. So, they are different, but they're still the same, just different, but not, yes, no, maybe. That clear?

1) Avalanche, despite me liking it, is not really even a Kirby game. Outside of the charming voices, it really falls flat due to being like so many other block puzzle games. Plus, Star Stacker has its number. Now, Dream Land 3, despite the fact that I like that game, too, it comes down to basically being Super Dream Land 2. Now, what is offered by the last in the triple makes it the winner, Kirby's Dream Course. It's incomparable as a title with no other game coming close to it. Thus, it reigns the ruler due to the originality concept. Odd, too, since just a bit ago I ranked it as the worst Kirby game.

2) It's a bit complicated to tell who would win out of the painters. By artistic skill, Adeleine has the skater's number. Her pictures are large, more correctly drawn, and back a lot more power than the crude scribbles. However, a slide kick can knock her out of commission where as Paint Roller, well, actually has to be battled. So, if they were to square off with canvases in hand, Paint Roller could just draw some lines over Adeleine's white and render it worthless. What could she do to stop him? Nothin'! Then, the match would be over.

1) Ah. See, I was under the impression that you were referencing my mention of a negative Kirby, which I thought was mentioned in an Ask the Gurus session in reference to Meta Knight. Turns out, that was for another unposted piece that is sitting on my hard drive. Still, can't anyone just open up MS Paint and hit Ctrl+I to see what something looks like in reverse colors?

2) It's really just the chain saw and the spiked ball chain. He doesn't wield too much else, and the saw is more of a joke item than anything.

1) It's true. Lack of questions to be answered was what caused the first generation of Kirby Gurus to hang up their hoods. That's what gurus wear, you know, traveller's hoods. Nuts to hats! Anyhoo, I always expected the flow of questions to thin down over time, but I never nearly expected to be getting enough to do this daily and then some for as long as it went. That was a real shocker.

2) T.A.C., really? You don't know T.A.C.? I act surprised as it is quite shocking. T.A.C. was the helper/enemy in Kirby Super Star for the Copy ability. Not a copy ability, but the Copy ability. He's generally regarded as everyone's favorite helper from that game and, since the game is so wide spread adored by Kirby fans, it just strikes me funny that folks could not know him. I guess, however, it is over ten years old which is probably why they are remaking it.

3) I would funnily enough believe that all of your questions came up smilin'. It'd be an odd coincidence, but I guess your questions are, for the most part, straight up and solid, not invoking any type of emotional response. Now, however, you have caused shock and awe. Rejoice.

1) Yep, that was the dealing blow. Well, that, and you had it spaced across several lines. I deleted this white space, now, since the whole thing was taking up enough vertical space.

2) Outside of the general near-meaningless happy/holy evil motif that partied down with Zero, I do not believe there is. Even with all that stuff, it's just meant to be fun and innocent. Like I commonly say, the series isn't that deep and engrained. It is more, "Wee! Eat and spit stuff!" There does seem to be an odd vibe, however, for killing nature, but I do not think this was meant directly. Still, you run through the wilderness, kill the local wildlife, beat up trees, and slash down flowers. Why, Kirby even goes as far as to beat up the sun and moon themselves, despite saving them later on. As the series has progressed, they've added more in the lines of mechanization with things such as Mecheye and replacing Whispy Woods with King Golem. This probably was one of their reasons for including Shiver Star to off set the amoral balance. Unless, that is, they are showing what is believed as perfection -- a cold, greenless world. That's sick, makers of Kirby!

1) Damage is caused when you hit an enemy, common ones for the most part, largely to remove them from play. Sometimes, there's little choice when going through a level than through a foe. They shouldn't be allowed to stay behind to inflict more damage.

2) I've probably said it before and don't feel like find it. It's all the same sub-games from the first plus two new ones, being, in semi-order: Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, Gourmet Race, Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, Milky Way Wishes, Megaton Punch, Samurai Kirby, The Arena, Revenge of the King, and Meta Knight Ultra. Plus, whatever those multiplayer minigames are. Something like a shooting gallery and something with conveyer belts.

The original names had significant meanings, and that was the main point. Covering the realms of sky, land, and sea related the pets to their specialty. The rest, not really being as specialized, just kinda got the raw deal, I'd say. I mean, you could say it's a play on cat, I suppose, but the most real change done to the names before was simply adding on a letter, an N to kai. Going from neko to Nago changes both characters fully. Significance? None, really. Just felt like mentioning it out. They do have the same flow to them. It is not as solid a connection as the original triad, but, then again, I only learned of that relation by accident after seeing the cover to a translated manga. This stuff is more intuitive to native speakers of the Rising Sun tongue.

1) I'm pretty sure Kirby can roll, or at least slide (like slip down, not slide kick), down steep slopes in Adventure, but this isn't a slide equivalent. Hitting the enemy kills them since it is making contact. He still takes damage as well.

2) I'm pretty sure Glom was the one. It's big, reptilian, and tries to eat stuff. Sounds like the one you meant. Depending on how much I feel like it, I'll made slight corrections and edits to a submitted piece to have it be more appropriate, particularly if it references an enemy. Give us hits, Google!

If another company would have done it, I'm sure we'd all be going through these same paces just to a different tune. "Why does Meta Knight sound so British and heroic? I know he's a knight, but jeez! What's with Escargoon's voice? He's so sniveling and wheezy. He's not suppose to be Igor. C'mon! Why did they make Blade a female. Huh? Is Sword Russian? I don't even get that one at all." Granted, there'd probably be less wrong about it, but I'm sure we'd all be singing the tune, "I bet 4Kids could have done a better job dubbing it." It's all relative. Right now, the bar is set at the original, Japanese version. That's were everything is compared to. Of course, that is going to fall short.

A lot of the stuff would be indifferent, like cutting out crude/non-children friendly references. They never allow death unless it is referenced in the past. For example, in Digimon, when Wizardmon was killed by Myotismon (aka: Vamdemon), he was "sent to the dungeon" or something like that. But, later, when speaking to the ghost of Wizardmon, they just plain admitted, "Yep, he died that night." It's just one of those weird censoring issues where no one will really accept that it doesn't make sense, but they have to enforce it anyways. Mostly, it's just to keep jerk wads off their case. Those people have too much spare time and will gripe about anything.