LogFAQs > #968233178

Awww thanks, I really appreciate that. I ended up spending a solid 10 days just writing a ton of scripts, and thoroughly burnt myself out on writing ANYTHING else. Finally have my head above water insofar as that goes, though, so in we go to... whatever scraps of Nintendo characters are left, I suppose.

Riki - Xenoblade Chronicles

I havent actually played much of Xenoblade Chronicles. Hit the combat, realized oh no, Im gonna be doing this a LOT, and then decided experiencing it through a Lets Play that I only half remember was the way to go. Im the kind of person who needs to finish EVERYTHING in a zone before I am able to move on, and Xenoblades combat loop and side quests spell disaster for my ability to do anything productively. I did just pick up Xenoblade 3, though, and thats on the docket as soon as I finish this replay of Tropical Freeze - everything Ive seen makes it seems like a lot more my speed insofar as customization in combat goes. In any case, Riki is a character Im like, perfectly youre fine about? Like haha, its funny that the childish-sounding mascot character is a loving father in his 40s or 50s or whatever. Its a cute subversion, and past that, Riki fulfills his role as support well. He pretty much does the same in Smash, think he was a fun pull for Xenoblade in general, definitely the most distinct amongst the cast. I do kinda feel bad that he took Tingles function, I miss Tingle a lot, but Riki fulfills his purpose well enough. Sorry I dont have more to say on it!

Robin - Fire Emblem Awakening

Robin is a great poster child for Awakenings reclassing systems. Strategist/Grandmaster is such a cool unique path, and its actually really nice and clever how base GM falls off drastically by endgame. Having this fantastic base to rebuild Robin from the ground up from and making them HAVE to reclass to stay as excellent as they used to be at the start of the game is really smartly done. I dont praise a lot of Awakenings decisions - they saved the series but also made it focus really hard on aspects I care about less than a great level curve and cruel but not unfair map design - but Robins implementation is definitely a strong point for the game. Their incredible flexibility also makes them the most freeform aspect of the child-raising system, which Im not a fan of turning eugenics into a gameplay system, typically dont like using any of the kids other than Lucina as I prefer the reclassing system be the focus and I like Lucina having inheritance as a unique thing for her rather than being simply the cream of the crop of a BUNCH of bonus units. And I even think Robins place in the story is nice and clever, the eventual role they play is telegraphed pretty obviously, but still executed nicely and explains why their presence is so pivotal and central to Awakenings story. tl;dr, I got a bunch of complains about Awakening, but Robin tends to come out on the better end of most of them.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - I am INCREDIBLY split on how theyve handled Robin in Smash. On one hand, I love that theres a Fire Emblem character that actually represents core elements of the series. Using magic in order to serve different roles with different tomes, utilizing weapon durability in exchange for much stronger weapons, having a slower character who actually has to use strategy as they bait enemies to approach - all of these are really good, and Robin definitely represents the player-customized unit the best out of their contemporaries. They even feel good to use, Arcfire being a solid expansion of PK Fire, Thoron feeling really good to throw out, and the Levin Swords range and strength is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. On the other hand, I do not like that Robin suffers from playing the game at a basic level. In sort of a reverse-Lucario situation, as soon as you start throwing out attacks with Robin, you start losing your ability to feel strong. I could understand this if Robin were a character with absolutely phenomenal options, but Robin just kind of functions like a regular character who sometimes stops being able to play the game? No individual move in Robins kit is particularly oppressive, their only real flourish is Thoron which, while good, isnt SO good that it needs to not only be limited, but also be attached to three other projectiles, one of which is arguably better than it. And while the Levin Sword is good yeah, its a slow character with good disjointed aerials. Thats not special, thats just Ike with breakable weapons. As much as Robin props themselves up as a strategist, strategy is incidental in their moveset. Hero is a better resource management character, Snake is a better strategy character, Diddy is a better opportunist (even if he shouldnt be) - Robin doesnt translate Fire Emblem into Smash Bros. They translate Breath of the Wilds durability. And yet theres still stuff here, the base of the character is solid, the IDEA of the character is there. Robin is everything that they should be, theyre not WRONG. Theyre just highly undertuned. C+

The Sheriff - Toy Story

Its.a good retro pull and I love the idea of making older bits of Nintendos history unrealistically strong. Sheriff is a horribly disruptive Assist Trophy, but Im not as overwhelmed by him compared to others Id describe as almost guaranteed match-changers. He does a simple thing, you can predict it, but its really good and really hard to work around. Plus I like the dumpy little jingle as he walks around.

Anyway Strange Things on the Genesis.

https://youtu.be/Unh2dAEHtZo

Damn the Genesis is trying so, SO hard to pull this song off. It remixes the silly song of haha your life and reality is falling apart around you and turns it into one of the most fun and upbeat starts to an adventure that you can possibly get. Does it sound like the sound chip is gonna explode any second? Oh, constantly. But that just adds to the charm, giving it such a determined GRIT to contrast the upbeat jazz going on all around it. Of all of the music that was Genesisified over the years, I think this and Smooth Criminal definitely came out the best, weirdly enjoyable on their own terms rather than being desperate emulations of what they were following. That extends to Toy Story as a whole, really - the game was WAY too ambitious for its own good, throwing everything at the wall from various camera perspectives to gameplay types to digitized voice lines while forgetting to give The Sheriffs drawstring a good hitbox and making him way too big to be reasonable. But despite the rough edging on The Sheriff I mean I dont think its a great game, but its one that absolutely endears it to me.