HCF K
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I remember reading this book! And being extremely confused because the closest I’d ever come to blaster master was reading about it in a strategy guide I got from the library because I was excited about video games but didn’t have any consoles
I recall that there were game tips interspersed all throughout, too. You’d read some horror of war and then some nice advice about how to beat a boss
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The Worlds of Power books were fucking insane
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We talked about them pretty extensively on a selectbutton podcast episode!
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I had the Mega Man 2 one
I think about this bizarre mechanic in DOS Prince of Persia 2 a lot. It sounds like some kind of playground rumor but it’s really in the game. It results in permanent max health loss if you complete the level after doing it
I played a pirate copy of this game without the manual and it made my head explode to discover by accident that mashing left and right would do this
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I must have been 9 or 10 years old when I first laid eyes on PoP 2 and I think the graphics caused me to get sexually aroused. Before I even knew what that really meant. Not the characters, just the whole look of everything, this hella good looking dream world
I’m not even kidding! Must have been the imagined possibilities of videogames that turned me on or I don’t know what
I once read that looking at a beautiful car activates similar brain regions as looking at a beautiful woman. That might well be bullshit! It still reminds me of my relationship with videogame graphics, though, and especially PoP 2. I never knew about this Shadow Man business! Seems like as big of a mindfuck as the mirror jumping scene in the original
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Right, so the subtitle of the game is The Shadow and the Flame, so it’s not totally unexpected, but there’s nothing in the game explaining it.
The really confusing thing though is that aside from the wiggly shadow coma, there is another way to become the shadow, which is to get slain by the guard on the screen with the flame:
This one is tricky because if you reflexively press a key after dying, the level will restart as usual instead of becoming the shadow. There is a hint earlier that you are supposed to commit suicide here, but as a kid I made that mistake (or killed the guard) over and over here and could never figure it out. Once the death shadow appears, it’s basically a cutscene instead of you controlling it. It picks up the flame and comes back to your body:
and then all the eagle guards bow before you from now on, and the staircase door to the final level is open.
OK, so what was happening in the gif I posted in the previous post, then? I think that one involves a glitch. As player-controlled shadow, there’s no way to pick up the flame, but simply standing next to the flame is the trigger to open the staircase. If you wiggle in the next level, then you become flamey shadow, as the game blindly assumes you must’ve picked it up properly.
So there are two similar but distinct shadow mechanics plus glitches on top of it. And you have exactly 75 minutes per playthrough to figure out what’s going on. What a game
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Huh. Was this the inspiration for The Two Thrones?
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i think about this game description seen on itchio a lot, wondering how it makes “ignore them and their wishes” sound so appealing
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people get far too fixated on identifying frustration in games as a negative and euphoria as a positive, and neglect to observe that the delicate interplay between those feelings is the only thing that gives either of them meaning
this isn’t prompted by anything specific i just wanted to put it somewhere
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this is a good thought. i suspect this mindset might be enhanced in people who are playing specifically to escape real world frustrations
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true, yeah. tim’s video on musou games comes to mind
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Something ive specifically tried to remind myself this year when im playing a game and getting frustrated at a difficult thing in the game is “this is supposed to produce some feeling of satisfaction, not be exhausting; if it’s just making me mad i should put it down” and i often do!
Sometimes though, if im frustrated at a game but i know trying a little harder will pay off, i tell myself “if you’re so bothered by [this enemy or obstacle or whatever] then go over there and kick its ass.” I just repeat that to myself as i focus up and deal with the thing: “go over there and kick its ass!!” and i often do! and i get to have that satisfaction because i was apparently ready to achieve it
Ive been trying to extrapolate the feelings i get from games more since i often play them compulsively for that sweet sweet dopamine release. I find myself running into similar frustrations trying to get things accomplished in other parts of my life (work goals, learning new skills, cleaning my apartment) and going through the same process: is it better for me to take a break from this thing because it’s just wearing me out right now? or is it time to go over there and kick its ass??
it’s helped a little bit, though it was more helpful to realize this all means i need therapy and probably medication lol. But i still endorse a little ass-kicking as a personal mantra
(NB: best treated as a metaphor especially if what’s bothering you is a living creature with a living ass)
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IIRC the PS1 Blaster Master and Blaster Master Zero pilfered some things from the novelization for their new, highly syncretic canons. It’s weird to think about stuff like this influencing developers back in Japan.
The reminds me of how I never got around to making a thread about the sheer number Sunsoft nods and references that were mixed into Blaster Master Zero 2. There were so many deep cuts I didn’t know where to start.
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“Give the terrorists exactly what they deserve: a good, healthy zap.”
Reggie, the torture advocate.
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either japan got a smaller version of the lynx i’ve never heard about, or that lady is a giant
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