Monthly Archives: December 2016
SSR #1: “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”
Introduction:
Every television series has to start somewhere and for The Simpsons, they started with a Christmas special. I know that might seem a little odd, because normally show runners will wait a small bit to get characters introduced and more defined before bringing up all the holiday scenarios, but the Simpsons writers seemed quite confident in their ability to get this series going and considering how well-known this particular Christmas special is, I’d have to say they got off to a pretty nice start.
One thing you will see me point out a lot in these older episodes is the animation. Because this was their first season and because they hadn’t switched to the animators that would go on to do their “golden years” episodes, the animation was pretty low-quality in their first year, at least in comparison with what it would be beyond season three, or even earlier in the following second season. However, I have to say that Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire looks quite a bit better compared to the other episodes of this season. I’m not sure if it’s just because the writing was better, making us overlook some of the visual atrocities, or if the spirit of Christmas has truly touched my heart, making me want to give this episode a pass. Regardless, I do think this is a good episode and a must-see for anyone looking to have an authentic Simpsons experience.
On the subject of this episode’s writing, I also think it’s important to point out that while this episode was the first to air on television, it was not the first episode produced or written for. In fact, of the thirteen episodes in Season 1, it was the eighth to be produced. Obviously this decision was made to air this episode around Christmas time; pushing it ahead in airing order, and also because the first-produced episode “Some Enchanted Evening,” was an animated nightmare and abomination. I’ll be getting to that episode much later in this first season retrospective though, so let’s not get into that now. This episode aired on December 17th, 1989, making it the first and last episode to air in the 1980’s. Simpsons have come a very long way since then, but how does this episode really hold up? Let’s get into it, now that all of the formalities have been taken care of.
“Speaking of life going on, Grandpa’s still with us, feisty as ever. Maggie is walking by herself, Lisa got straight A’s, and Bart– well, we love Bart.”
~Marge Simpson’s Christmas Letter
Plot:
“Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” is a pretty standard Christmas episode, in the sense that it has a pretty typical formula that you could apply to a wide variety of other holiday specials. The main characters get excited about Christmas, something happens that threatens to ruin Christmas, and in the last moments, the true spirit of the season touches everyone and a happy ending is shared by all. We’ve seen this type of story a number of times, but the Simpsons have their own little spin to it.
The Simpson family is preparing for Christmas and during the first half of the episode, we basically get different shots of The Simpsons doing very Christmas-related things. From attending a Christmas pageant, making letters to Santa, writing Christmas cards, setting up light decorations, making plans with relatives…these are all the bells and whistles you’d come to expect with typical holiday traditions. And from examining The Simpsons, you can see that Christmas is a pretty important time for them. They take pride in these holiday traditions because they know they aren’t an incredibly wealthy or high-class family, and it’s just a time they can look forward to every year, maybe spend a little extra money on gifts for each other, and just feel the spirit of the season. Even Homer remarks that around Christmas he feels like a “big kid,” because he loves the holiday so much. And even with the upcoming and unpleasant arrival of his wife’s twin sisters, he doesn’t let anything ruin his drive to make this the best Christmas yet.
However, two big wrenches get thrown into Homer’s holiday plans. His boss, Mr. Burns, announces that all employees will not get a Christmas bonus this year. Meanwhile on a shopping trip, Bart sneaks off to get a tattoo, despite his parents objections, forcing Marge to spend the entire family’s Christmas fund to get the tattoo removed. This leaves the Simpson family with next-to-nothing for Christmas shopping, forcing Homer to shop at a cheap discount store and steal a Christmas tree from private property. The rest of the family is completely unaware of these actions though, as Homer has not told them about the denied Christmas bonus in order to keep their holiday spirit high. At Moe’s Tavern, Homer’s friend Barney gives him the idea to take a part-time job as a mall Santa Claus in order to get some extra cash, which a desperate Homer is willing to try to save Christmas for his family.
During a chuckle-emitting montage of Homer being Old Saint Nick, Bart yanks Homer’s Santa beard off, revealing his father and forcing him to tell Bart about his plight. Bart, being impressed of his father’s dedication to their family, decides to help him out and not tell the rest of the family about Homer’s secret. However, when Christmas Eve rolls around, Homer and Bart are both disappointed to find out that Homer’s paycheck is only worth thirteen bucks. Barney, however, fills Homer and Bart in on his master plan of taking the thirteen dollars and betting it down at the dog-racing track on a canine who is on a massive win streak. Homer is at first reluctant to sink to those levels, but is willing to give it a shot when Bart reveals that this could be the Christmas miracle the family needed all along.
At the track, Homer is inspired when he hears the name “Santa’s Little Helper” for one of the racing dogs and decides that betting on the little guy, on Christmas Eve, even with the tremendous odds against him, is a sign that the family will have a Merry Christmas after all. He puts all of his money on Santa’s Little Helper, and as the race comes to a close, he finds out that not only did his dog not win, but he also came in dead last. Distraught over the miracle not happening, both Bart and Homer leave the track in a very sour mood.
Before they can leave the parking lot though, they hear the sounds of Santa Little Helper’s owner yelling at the poor dog and telling him to get away, tired of his losing performance. The dog jumps into Homer’s arms and Bart asks Homer if they can keep him. Homer is against the idea at first, but he quickly changes his mind when he comes to the realization that the dog is not very different from him or his own family; remarking that “he’s a loser, he’s pathetic……he’s a Simpson!” Homer takes the dog home, confesses to the entire family about his Christmas bonus, but the entire family is immediately won over by the dog; saying it was the best Christmas gift he could have ever gotten the family. Then, the entire family closes the episode out by singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” over the credits.
“Um…Dasher, Dancer…Prancer…Nixon…Comet…Cupid…Donna, Dixon?”
~Homer Simpson (his attempt at naming the reindeer)
Personal History:
Funnily enough, I don’t have memory of watching this episode until very late in my life when I got The Simpsons – Season One on DVD when it came out in 2001. I’m sure it was probably on TV at some point in my household and my memory is just very bad at remembering those details, but the first experience I remember of this Simpsons Christmas story was through a book illustration I had, which basically depicted the entire episode in a picture book format. I must have read that book hundreds and hundreds of times and have probably read the story more than I actually watched it. These days, yeah, I would probably watch it instead, now that I have the DVD set and The Internet on my side, but for the longest time, the book was all I had of this holiday classic and that’s a pretty unique memory.
Bart: “Hey Santa, what’s shakin’?”
Homer: “What’s your name Bart…ner…little partner?”
Bart: “I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?”
Favorite Moments:
I’ve been debating this section of this retrospective for a while now, and while a part of me would like to post all of the funny moments and quotes from each episode, it would just be way too time-consuming, and I’m sure there are many websites and webpages dedicated to being archives for all the classic sayings, quotes and continuous gags. So instead of doing that, I’m just going to focus on the highlights of every episode…at least as far as my favorite parts are concerned.
I think one of the things I find very humorous in this episode is how snarky Homer can be at certain moments. Yeah, it can come out as him being a jerk-ass at times, but in this episode, it’s hard to blame him for his short-temper. Whether it’s him constantly asking who’s on the phone when Marge’s sister just says “Marge please,” instead of any actual greeting, or when Ned Flanders easily upstages Homer’s light display by going all-out and over-the-top with Homer remarking, “It’s too bright” in an extremely defeated tone of voice. I think my favorite moment of snarky-ness though is when he bumps into Flanders and his son again after leaving the dollar store and Todd Flanders says, “Mr. Simpson, you dropped your pork chop,” even squeaking the dog toy a few times before Homer just has enough and exclaims “give me that!” taking the toy out of his hand.
The montage of Homer as Santa Claus is also very memorable for me as well. Homer is obviously not the perfect candidate for being Santa Claus, not knowing the names of Santa’s reindeer as he lists, “Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Nixon, Comet, Cupid, Donna and Dixon,” and immediately turning to violence and rage when being insulted by the instructor pretending to be a mouthy kid. But it also shows how non-serious the training is to begin with, giving literally anybody the chance to be Santa and not exactly making the standards too high either. I guess it makes sense for a service that only hands out thirteen dollars by the end of the term. What tops all of this off though is the exchange between Homer and Bart when Bart sits on his lap just before he yanks off his beard. Not only is it funny watching Homer struggle with trying to pretend like he doesn’t know Bart, but then Bart immediately responds with his classic, “I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?” line, causing Homer to just continue losing his cool until the big reveal happens.
As far as other moments are concerned, another low-key visual gag that I enjoy is when Homer tells Marge in the bedroom that he wants to do all the Christmas shopping this year, causing Marge to react positively, turn off the bedroom lights, showing only Homer’s glowing eyes and fake smile in the darkness. I also like the exchange between Homer and Marge’s sisters after obtaining the stolen tree, one of them asking why there is a birdhouse in the tree (“It’s an ornament!” exclaims Homer) and the other asking “Do I smell gunpowder?” (In relation to the property owner firing a weapon at Homer as he zooms away with the tree). And finally, when Homer and Bart are at the lowest point possible in the episode, after it was pretty much guaranteed Santa’s Little Helper would finish in last place, Homer remarks that they’ll leave once their dog finishes the race; immediately changing his mind a few silent seconds later when the dog still hadn’t crossed yet, really pushing the point home that their dog had no chance in Hell to win.
As far as absolute favorite moment goes, I think I’m going to stick with the beard-yanking scene between Homer and Bart. It’s just very iconic, features a first-time quote that will be used multiple times in the future, and is just really, really funny. If I was judging not based on humor though, I’d have to also give a vote to the sweet moment at the end of the episode when Homer realizes that Santa’s Little Helper and him have a lot in common with the “He’s a Simpson” line. I think it’s perfect for not just the episode, but also for the show moving forward as it gives us insight to how the Simpson family stacks up with the rest of the world. They’re far from perfect, but they are still a family.
“But he’s a loser, he’s pathetic, he’s…a Simpson”
~Homer Simpson
My Review:
So as I said earlier, this is a pretty standard formula when it comes to Christmas stories, Christmas specials, Christmas movies…you name it. It starts with high energy and excitement, introduces some conflict that threatens that excitement, and wraps everything up on a good note with some kind of message or moral woven in between. It can be pretty cliché, but I also quite enjoy the unique effort they put into this particular story as well. The one thing I really liked about this story watching it back this time was the fact that no matter how many times Homer failed in his efforts to give his family an amazing Christmas, he still kept trying. I feel like no matter what he would have done, he would have been unable to give his family the Christmas they wanted, and heck, even if he did bet on the right dog and won the $130 dollars, I think it would have been a very cheap victory for Homer and one he would have regretted anyway. In other words, he had to fail in order to realize the true spirit of Christmas.
You could also say Homer was wrong for keeping the secret from his family, stealing private property, putting too much importance on money, betting his paycheck in the first place, and being extremely greedy with playing on unwinnable odds for a huge payout, but I do think his heart was in the right place. He didn’t do it to be rich or wealthy…he did it for his family and I think he made that very clear throughout the episode. Heck, he didn’t even want to go to the dog track at first, but because Bart was positive and confident, he figured it was at least worth a shot, and I don’t blame him for feeling that way. The point is, he didn’t give up until the very end and I can respect that. I also think it was sweet that the dog, which ended up costing the family nothing (at least when you ignore on-going food and care costs), ended up being the perfect present for the family anyway. And considering how important the dog will be for the family moving forward, I think it was a pretty solid gift for not only them, but also for watchers of the show as well, with this being the first episode and all.
It’s not the funniest episode of The Simpsons, but it’s very sweet and iconic episode of the show as well. I find myself watching this episode at least once every holiday season, mainly due to the fact that finding a holiday special on TV during the month of December is like finding a hammer at a hardware store. Despite that though, I still think it holds up very well and is still very much watchable, even with the older, cringing animation and the creation of many other Simpson holiday specials as well, some of which I do find myself enjoying a little more than this one. As far as Season 1 episodes are concerned, it is probably one of the better ones, as there isn’t really much wrong with it or much I find myself in opposition of. It’s something I can turn on and watch every Christmas with the family and never feel like it gets old or dated, even if it is the first episode of the television series.
—————————————————————-
Hey guys! I think that will do it for my first episode retrospective. I do apologize that this is going up a little late (I wanted to release this on Christmas), but as expected, since this is a new series, I ran into some conflicts with deciding how I wanted this to go. I think moving forward, I shouldn’t have as much difficulty with this, but please be patient with me as I’m still trying to figure everything out and get into a routine with this. As for the next episode, don’t expect any new ones until the year 2017. I would like to get Episode #2 up before I leave on a trip that starts on January 4th, but we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens leading up to those dates. As I said before, the scope of this project is pretty much undefined at this point, but no matter the scope, it’s going to be a big undertaking regardless. I am looking forward and dreading this project at the same time because of that. Despite that though, I’m going to try and have fun with it anyway, as it’s not very often that I get to talk about The Simpsons to this degree.
If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to go to Contact page and submit some fanmail with your remarks. You can also tweet at my SlimKirby Twitter account as well, but since this is a website project, let’s try to keep messages at the former, if at all possible. Thank you everyone and have a good day!
Question Corner #12 – 12/24/16
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another edition of the Question Corner!
I decided to release this as a Christmas Eve gift for you guys. Why in particular? No reason really….I was just checking how many questions I had in my backlog and noticed that I had over 20, so instead of waiting for the next day I picked to answer questions, I figured why not just upload what I had very quickly. That’s really all there is to it I guess.
As usual, if you would like to send your own questions, you can do so at my Contact page. Just make sure the questions are questions I have not answered before, are appropriate questions that don’t get too deep into my personal life, and are at least somewhat discussion-length and not just simple “Yes or No” questions.
Q: What would you like to see in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild?
A: I think the game looks pretty promising so far, but as far as what I would want most from it; I just want the game to keep giving me a reason to come back. The idea of an open-world Zelda is pretty awesome, but if they make the world too big and too empty with not a lot of reason to come back, nor have some kind of continuous goal for me to achieve, I don’t think that would be a great move for the game. What captivated me about other Zelda games was the gameplay (in terms of adventuring, puzzle solving and combat), the cool items I could use and play around with, and the story, which was usually good enough for me to come back to and do multiple playthroughs of those games. At this point, it’s really hard to say if this Zelda will feature those elements, or at least in the same way that the other games have, so there is a little concern, admittedly. I’m still very much looking forward to it though.
Q: What are your favorite Donkey Kong 64 levels?
A: Favorite level is hands down, Frantic Factory. It has the best music, the switching between kongs wasn’t super monotonous like it is in other levels, and it had a lot of diverse areas for a freaking factory. It’s also, love it or hate it, the home of one of the greatest arcade games of all time. And considering this is the level where you unlock the final kong, I like it because it starts to feel like the game is in full swing and you’re ready to experience everything that each world has to offer (since some areas are restricted in the first two levels). I also like Creepy Castle and Angry Aztec as well.
Q: What are your opinions on Amiibos, now that they have been out for awhile and the initial craze has died out a little?
A: From the get-go, I was never super into the Amiibo functionality for games. I was more interested in having them for my collection because they are essentially figurines of my favorite video game characters, and I figured that would be the main draw anyway. I’m glad they aren’t introducing too many at once anymore and they seem to be coming out in small series waves. That way, if it’s not a series you are into, you can ignore it and wait for something else you might be interested in and save your money. I recently bought Waluigi, Daisy and Boo and it was nice being able to walk in Gamestop a few days after they came out and pick them up with no availability issue, so it’s good that they seem to be stocked better. So yeah, not much to say beyond that. I still think they are cool, but I’m not at all surprised that the craze died down.
Q: What future game do you feel nervous about LPing?
A: The Dynasty Warriors series. I love the series so much, but I’m not sure how I want to do the series yet because there is a lot I want to cover with each game, but trying to keep the videos enjoyable without being too repetitive is going to be a huge challenge. A challenge I’m not sure how to approach yet.
Q: Do you prefer to grow a moustache or beard?
A: Beard. I don’t think I look good with just a moustache. Apparently though, according to most of my subscribers, my beard is “legendary,” so another reason to have one I guess.
Q: What is your main motivation for doing Let’s Plays?
A: I do it because people enjoy my videos and I want to provide more content for them. Not to mention it’s also kind of my job now too. Aside from that though, I also do it for myself. I get bored really easily and when I get bored, I waste time doing stuff that doesn’t really serve any sort of purpose. Doing Let’s Plays and Youtube stuff is great because it puts my mind to something I can focus on and it involves video games, my favorite past time and my greatest passion.
Q: How are you when it comes to meeting new people?
A: I try to be as nice, or at least as neutral as possible, when it comes to meeting new faces. I’m not really much of a socialite and I admit I can be a little awkward at times, but I try. Truth be told, I’m actually a very shy person at heart, so whenever I’m trying to start a conversation or initiating a discussion, it takes a lot out of me and inside I’m sweating bullets. This is why I prefer people to take lead sometimes, because it allows me to contribute as much as possible to make up for any silence that I can’t really fill in myself. So really, never be afraid to approach me or talk to me, as I will do anything and everything to be kind and make a good impression, but don’t be surprised or offended if it gets a little quiet.
Q: Does fear of copyright issues stop you from doing any games on your channel?
A: Sometimes, but since I managed to do Simpsons: Hit and Run, Road Rage, and The Simpsons Game without really any issues from Fox, I don’t think there is really anything holding me back. If I had to pick one game that I’m still kind of nervous about, it would probably be Kingdom Hearts, just because of how scary Disney can be sometimes, but I think I’m still going to try and get around to it at some point.
Q: If you had children, what would you like to name them?
A: Since I am technically the third “Robert” in my family, I would like to continue that name because it does feel somewhat special to be the “3rd” in a family line. So for my son, I would probably go for that and maybe use his middle name as the more common name, just to avoid typical same-name issues. For a daughter, I’m very partial to the name “Laura” for some reason.
Q: How tall are you?
A: I haven’t measured my height in a while, but a little under 6 feet. 5’8 or 5’9; or something like that.
Q: Will you do a draw my life or play my life video?
A: Not to the former because I can’t draw to save my life, but I have thought of doing a Play My Life video at some point. Couldn’t tell you when that is going to be though.
Q: Do you want a large family or small family?
A: I’d be more partial to a small family. Having a wife and one or two kids would be just perfect for me. I didn’t grow up with the brother/sister dynamic, so I’d like to see that in action, even if I wouldn’t be the one having the sibling.
Q: Are there any games that are very popular with gamers that you don’t really care for that much?
A: When it comes to first-person shooter games like Halo and Call of Duty, I’ve never really been able to get into them, and it’s not really because of the genre either because I love Goldeneye 007. I also had a really hard time getting into Splatoon as well. I thought it was a cool concept and it was nice seeing Nintendo do something new and very different, but I just couldn’t really get into it that much.
Q: Did you ever want to follow in your parents footsteps in terms of working in the field of Education?
A: That was actually my first major when I started attending college, but I quickly dropped that major after my first year because I really wasn’t too keen about being a teacher for the rest of my life. I have nothing against kids or teenagers, as I’m sure most of my fans are in that age group, but I’d rather provide them with entertainment as opposed to knowledge. It’s a lot less stressful for me, for sure.
Q: What’s the coolest thing you have made as a gift?
A: It was not so much a gift, but more of a gesture. I was talking to a friend of mine once, and she was talking about how she didn’t like to make snowmen because they are eternally stuck in one place before they just melt anyway. So one day, after it had snowed, and since she only lived down the street from me, I made a small snowman, put it on the top of my car, and drove down to her house, calling her and telling her to go outside because “we” are going to wave as we drive by. I later told her that it was so the snowman could finally experience the thrill of not staying in one place. She thought it was a sweet thing to do for her and the snowman.
Q: If you had a genie, what would you wish for?
A: An extra hour every single day. You’d be surprised all that you could accomplish if you had one more hour to work with, and over time, that one extra hour will start to add up. I feel like every hour, minute and second is precious, so you should always make sure you are doing something you enjoy with it.
Q: Do the results of your “Project of the Year” videos impact what you do the following year?
A: It’s a small impact, but it is definitely there. That’s pretty much why I did Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and even Super Paper Mario as early as I did, just because people seemed to really enjoy my Paper Mario RPG. I also got around to Pokemon Gen 2 a lot earlier than planned as well with how popular Pokemon Blue was.
Q: What stores do you like to shop at?
A: Insert the typical gamer answer here; Best Buy and Gamestop. I’ve recently gained an appreciation for retro game stores like Game X-Change.
Q: If the Nintendo Switch fails, do you think Nintendo will pull a Sega and only work on software, not hardware?
A: While I think Nintendo is not exactly on stable ground right now, I still think it has quite a bit of life left in it. I do see this as a big possibility, bigger than I ever thought it would be, but I wouldn’t count them out just yet. The Switch will definitely determine a lot though, for sure.
Q: If you and your future wife ended up having twins, what would be your reaction?
A: It would be very shocking, for sure, going from having not just one kid, but two kids in an instant. It would also be a huge step up in responsibility and work, but I would find a way to make it work.
That’s all for today! Thanks for reading guys and thanks to all the question submissions as well! Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays in general!
Kirby Super Star Ultra
Game: Kirby Super Star Ultra
Start Date: December 18th, 2016
End Date: February 16th, 2017
Videos: 18
A common trend you will see with handheld games for Nintendo is releasing a ported version of an older game. For this game in particular, Nintendo and HAL Laboratories decided to bring back the SNES classic known as Kirby Super Star and put it on the Nintendo DS in the form of Kirby Super Star Ultra. It’s the same classic game we know and love with some additional content as well. What’s not to like?
This was a game I definitely wanted to get around to at some point once I had my permanent DS capturing device. I don’t remember what my plans initially were for this game back when I did the vanilla version of Kirby Super Star for the channel, whether I planned to just show off the new content or heck, not even show the game at all because DS capturing seemed like such an impossibility back then, but I decided to go for it anyway because it is such an amazing game as it is.
I have also included stream clips at the end of this project featuring my additional Helper to Hero runs to unlock the final movie!
SlimKirby’s Holiday Name That VideoGame Tune – 12/23/16 @ 4:00 PM EST
Introduction: Hey guys! I’m hosting a Video Game “Name That Tune” competition on Friday, December 23rd 2016 at 4:00 PM EST at my SlimKirby stream channel! This competition is heavily based and inspired by Odinspack33’s competition that he hosts on his Twitch co-op channel, Ami_Bros. I did another competition like this in October and due to its success, I’m bringing it back for a special holiday edition, this time with more notice beforehand and more songs, which means more competition!
Concept: The concept is quite simple. I play a song, and you guys try to guess what game it is from. The fastest (and correct) users will get points for answering correctly and at the end, I will crown a winner. Don’t expect any rewards though, as this is merely for fun. I just want to test you guys and see how well you will do.
Games: Any video game console, handheld and PC game is eligible to have songs in this contest, and some series will no-doubt be covered multiple times. However, no single game will be used twice. Also, these are all games that I have played at some point in my life. There will be songs from games I have Let’s Played, but there are also a lot of songs from games I have NOT Let’s Played. I also tried to pick only a small number of songs that appear in my stream grinding playlist, and the ones I picked should be very recognizable tracks anyway, so there shouldn’t be too much of an advantage for anybody.
Songs: When I am getting ready to play a song, I will mute my microphone and let people know in chat when I’m about to start playing the song. I’ll let the song play for about 30 seconds (maybe longer to account for twitch delay), so during that time, please post in chat what you think the song is from. After I stop the song, I will mute the audio again, write down who got the question correct, and then move on to the next song. After every 5 songs, I will recap the answers and who got points. This will continue for 64 songs. The last round will only be 4 songs, but may be 5 songs if needed…
Answers: There are a couple rules you need to keep in mind when answering.
a)Only the first 3 correct answers will be accepted and will get points. The first correct answer will get 2 points, while the following 2 correct answers will get one point. There will be a cut-off though for how long I accept additional correct answers, just to prevent copy/pasting and cheating.
b)You only get one answer, so only your first answer will be accepted if you answer multiple times.
c) If you don’t know the answer, GUESS! Sometimes you would be surprised how often your guess would be right, just by knowing certain styles and sound fonts of music.
d) You are answering with the game where that music track FIRST appeared in. Songs that are featured in subsequent games (unless they are remixed) will not count. Super Smash Bros is a big example here. Make sure you know the difference between original songs and remixes. If it’s a Smash Bros. remix, answer with the Smash Bros game, but if it’s the original, unchanged song, answer with where it’s from.
e)A correct answer must have correct spelling. If you spell something wrong, or make an accidental typo, sorry, your answer will not count. However, you don’t need to have exact punctuation. So don’t worry about colons or hyphens if you don’t include them. I’m also flexible when it comes to spacing as well.
f)Give full titles! Name abbreviations and acronyms are not correct answers. Example: Don’t shorten “Super Mario Bros. 3” to “SMB3” or “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” to “Zelda: OoT.” You need to spell out full game answers, only exception being the following subtitle rule.
g)Subtitles are unnecessary unless they differentiate the game in question. Example: All “The Legend of Zelda” games NEED their subtitle because if you just say “The Legend of Zelda,” that could mean the original game or any of the other games that have subtitles. However, “Zelda II: The Adventure Link” doesn’t need the subtitle, because there is only one “Zelda II” so “Zelda II” would be an acceptable answer. For another example, “Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest,” an answer of “Donkey Kong Country 2” is acceptable. You can still type out the full names, but you won’t get bonus points, and are potentially missing out on points by typing out more than necessary.
h) Roman numerals and numbers can be interchangeable, so “Final Fantasy 8” and “Final Fantasy VIII” are both acceptable answers. The only time this would matter otherwise is if the game needs the roman numerals to differentiate from another version. For example, “Mega Man 3” is an NES game while “Mega Man III” is a Game Boy game.
i) If a game is on multiple gaming machines and has a slighty different soundtrack or is a different game entirely, like the console and 3DS versions of Sonic Generations for example, you don’t need to differentiate between the two versions if they are named the same. Both games are called “Sonic Generations.”
j)Stick with North American names only. If you live in a different region and are used to calling a game by a certain name, I may make an exception in that case, but only if it would give you a point otherwise. The answer is whatever it is on the box or game disc.
Cheating: If you are caught cheating, you will be timed out. Any further cheating will result in a disqualification or a ban on my stream channel. No exceptions. This is for fun and there are no prizes involved, so don’t cheat. Unfortunately, since this contest will rely a lot on the honor system, cheating can’t be policed very easily, but in my experience, cheaters usually slip up eventually, so just don’t do it.
Lag and Stream Buffering: If you are experiencing lag or stream buffer during the event, my only advice would be to refresh the stream or reset your router/connection. In between rounds, pause the stream and play again to get caught up for optimal performance. If you continue to have problems, there is not much I can do because unfortunately with streaming, there are a lot of factors that affect performance, like twitch servers, my internet, your internet, or sometimes just random luck. WHATEVER YOU DO THOUGH, DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT LAG OR TWITCH DELAY IN CHAT. We know it’s frustrating, but it can be ridiculously annoying watching someone complain about it over and over again. If you make a habit of complaining, you are risking a timeout or potential ban.
My Screen is Law: Sometimes, it may show you answering before someone else on your screen, but sometimes, due to people answering at the same time, on my screen it may show a different result. Whatever it shows on my screen is what is correct, even if it shows you first on your screen. That’s the only fair way to do this.
Common Courtesy and Respect: During the event, treat all individuals; streamer, moderators and fellow competitors with respect and kindness. Do not insult anyone and if you think someone is cheating, let the moderators take care of it and not yourself. If you have a problem with the contest and think something was done unjustly, address it in between rounds and we’ll discuss it before moving on to the next one.
I think that’s all I need to address. The only other thing I can think of is just to have fun and a good time listening to video game music with other like-minded gamers! See you then!
~SlimKirby
Super Paper Mario
Game: Super Paper Mario
Start Date: December 5th, 2016
End Date: April 14th, 2017
Videos: 51
The Mushroom Kingdom is once again greeted by a new foe, and this one hopes to destroy the very fabric of all worlds and dimensions. Mario must once again save the day in an all-new adventure that will literally take him to places where he has never been before. But first, what has happened to Peach, Bowser and his brother Luigi?
“The mighty has fallen,” is a phrase you hear a lot when referring to the Paper Mario series. While most consider that falling point to be Sticker Star, there are some who believe this game’s departure from the traditional Paper Mario experience to be the beginning of the end. I for one do not agree with this logic as this game definitely features some charm and intriguing gameplay to boot, so I was looking forward to seeing this game in action again.