Ask Guru Gobbo #89

1) Ack. That's probably true. I mean, I'm certain it is, but I'm not looking at it right now to say for certainly certain. The ability reviews previously were well pointed out. They were shoved in folks' faces with the Project R.A.I.N.B.O.W. banner or normally would be findable in the Quick It box, but the former was put where it belongs, the trash, and the latter got filled with enough other types of updates to brush off the reviews. I thought I had a link to them on that page, but I guess I flaked over putting it or updating it. I'll get on that.

2) It would stand to reason that he could. Kirby can inhale, King Dedede can inhale, even Rick the Hamster could inhale (before Dream Land 3 changed it to gobblin'), so there's no reason why Meta Knight, being of the same make as Kirby, couldn't. I believe it is more that he refuses to inhale.

3) I stopped doin' icon requests a near fifty sessions ago (it's actually at the bottom of the page, but that's the closest I could get to it), and Spunt isn't even an icon. He was made up for the If You Could Make an Animal Friend Contest. But, really? Spunt has fans? I guess it's a good thing I put my bets on that pony and wound up making him Squeaky Bogg's official animal buddy. Maybe I'll wind up making a proper icon of the two. I could use something to denote the occasional Animal Friend related questions, after all. I mean, Meta Knight got one, in a sense.

1) I'm sure you'll agree, being a treasure seeker yourself, but Great Cave Offensive is my favorite sub-game in the title. The thing is, essentially, one giant play through, sort of like the first title ever. There are no breaks where you flop around on a map. No, you run through a crazy maze swarming with about every type of foe and contraption imaginable and try to figure out how to grab treasure as fast as possible or where you missed that empty spot. While it is one of the best, it strangely can't be played in rapid succession. I mean, if I were to play it twice in a row, it almost kills the fun since I know where everything is. However, if I were to play it now, since I haven't delved into that dungeon in oh-so long, it'd be exciting and fun to see what I could remember.

2) I did like Indiana Jones, and even watched Young Indiana, and Eerie, Indiana to an unrelated mention, but I haven't seen the latest the movie yet. I know that's unrelated, but the way I see it is: "I hate snakes. Whip action! Melty-face guy! New movie? I'll wait till when my childhood can die." I got a few years before I'm ready to sacrifice that at the altar.

1) Ah, I love when things work out like this. A question preceded by the answer. Oh, wait, do you mean actual mini-game or sub-game? Well, I'll just flesh it out then. Megaton Punch! Really, it's king of the mini-games. It has the most player participation to it. It's not just hitting the button at a lucky time once but several times! Now that's compounded skillery!

2) I can't rate on all of them, but I would say that Adventure meets the mark for innovation. If nothing else, the shipyard of Orange Ocean and the towers of Butter Building hold this title above the rest. And, it truly is this title, not Nightmare in Dream Land which totally skimped on the grandeur of the yellow citedals. Take about a rip off!

3) For a Klondike Bar, Squeaky Bogg would punch the possesser of the frozen treat in the stomach. Then, during their stunned state, he'd snack the goodie and run away, all while contemplating just how his invisible hands managed to punch anyone?

4) Bingo! About the only thing that positively came from the Prainbow was this very feature. I mean, what else was there? RSS feed? Barely enjoyable. Consistently delivered Mailsacks? They fall off the wagon way too often for a bi-weekly schedule. Try my work week, guys, and then you can ask for forgiveness when there's a slip up. Yep, I'm bein' gutsy.

5) I'm not a real uncle. I'm a fun uncle! Why, I knew an Uncle Steve that everyone called Uncle Steve except for his nephew. He was crazy, drinkin', fun Uncle Steve. And I'd like to think that I'm all of those. ... Maybe not the last one...

6) Now with Bogg, since I made him, they are, in fact, shoes. In fact, their coloring was actually a talking point in the original, first written piece that featured Squeaky Bogg, Rumbl-o-Rama in Dream Land. It doesn't exactly say what color they were before they got dyed Grape, and it turns out it was just colored with a scented marker since he couldn't afford the spray paint. He goes on to assure that it was scent only and retches to display his tongue with a purple squiggle across it. Oh, hilarity. Uh, yeah, it is really a purple. The color is, precisely, one part red to two parts blue. So, it's a very blue violet, and I know the color on my monitor is really wonky, so it's probably more of an indigo.

When there was just Dream Land I, Kirby was not a unique being. He was just one of many Dream Landers -- round, jolly gluttons. They were seen celebrating his victory over King Dedede at the end, but as the series progressed these fellow puffs were changed to be Waddle Dees. Having Kirby's kind be commonplace lessened his significance and really dwarfed Meta Knight's role, so they sorta brushed this under the rug.

1) The contests do not have a standard, predefined date. The current contest is set to have submissions end near Thanksgiving and will probably roll out the outcome sometime in early December. The span of the contests is determined on a case by case basis taking into consideration the rate of submissions. ie: I wing it.

2) Sonic is an iconic video game character. Since Sega and Nintendo are no longer warring forces and actually work to make games together now, allowing players to finally have Sonic battle Mario was an opportunity that couldn't be passed. After all, the two had a showdown in the 2008 Olympics, so it was a good segue to that game. It's all about cross promotion.

3) Kirby would be in for some serious stomach aches, from acrid flavor and the internal beating.

Interpretation? It's rather simple. Gooey reverts to his evil ways, and, after defeating Moogong, destroys the imprisoned Kirby to go unopposed in his conquest of Pop Star. Huzzah!

Of course Bio Spark could be a Star Warrior. Anyone can be a Star Warrior. After all, Kirby is, and he was made by the evil eNeMe. It's just a destiny bestowed upon an individual. It doesn't really require anything to be one but fate's intervention.

It's probably a bit of both, really. I've speculated before that Whispy Woods may be a colonal tree, like the Aspen tree. Connected by a root system, it can cover a huge area with several thousand genetically identical trees. Of course, it's easier just to pull out the stuff we know for certain in this case rather than delving into wacky biology.

Whispy has been shown out of his forest before, twice actually. Dream Land 2 and 3 both have the solid oak by his lonesome. In the third, they even show how such could be possible as Whispy Woods uproots himself and chases after Kirby. So there's the easy answer. He just walks where he needs to go, and that's how he was in the field.

However, with the ghostly way his face appears on the bark, it's almost like he is more of a transient presence that jumps from tree to tree. That's all speculation and contemplation, however. We know for a fact that he simply can pull up and scuttle on his little roots. That explains it quite nicely.

I'm very familiar with this phenomenon, actually. It all has to do with common usage. Back in the day, when the second generation of Pokémon was coming out, all the pre-release buzz swarmed the internet. At this point, people learned the names of all the new monsters they'd be collecting soon. At this point, however, there were only Japanese names. These were the names that people came to accept and know. When the American names came out, they weren't taken as well. It'd be like if you named a puppy Bowser and then, a few months later, started calling it Skippy. It'd confuse the dog.

People get use to old names. I've seen this happen even in the newer generations, although not as much since I staggered away from the community more since then. Regardless, the constant interaction and use of the new English names eventually wore on the people as they would constantly hold on-line battles and fight people who used the local dubbing. In this way, an eventual shift came. But, I know I still think of Umbreon as Blackie. Then again, I don't think of Umbreon that much...

The problem with the Squeak Squad is that this constantly bearing force is absent. People first heard the original Japanese names, thanks to the internet, and that's when they cared. When the English names were announced, people were not all too concerned with them. They still tossed around the first batch of names. Nothing really throws the new names at you. You don't even really stare at such text even in the game. Something like Pokémon, however, crams it in your face constantly. This leads, I believe, to the discrepancy.

Plus, like, the Japanese names are just a lot better looking. Normally, the Japanese to English names are more slimmed down and spelled in a more recognizable fashion, but I'm not even familiar with the Japanese ones all too much, and I still handle them better than the American names. Of course, I don't have the title, so what can I really say on the matter?