Zodi Plays: Kirby Super Star (Kirb Your Enthusiasm)

[Lord Raziere]

On Hollow Knight:
Not gonna lie, hollow knight is almost a game I would play. I've played Dark Souls 3 and some of Dark Souls, I play Nioh 2, I've played 2d platformers like Shantae, a little bit of Shovel Knight, and as far as bugs go I've played through pretty much all of Bug Fables except the DLC they've added in later. But admittedly I've already seen this whole game by watching kaiserneko play it, and it doesn't seem to have much variance in how you play it whereas something like Dark Souls despite its hardness is all about letting you overcome it your way. while something like Shantae has a lot more personality and color to it that it justifies having a more limited progression to me. it is however a game I enjoy seeing other people play, particularly when they do a challenge or speedrun

I'm not a wolf or snake Zodi! consider me more of fellow cat/fox but can possibly be hyena, whiptail lizard, goat, fae, shadow, steam elemental, or steampunk robot girl

the twisted thing is, that boss is just a regular enemy that is shoved at you early. just like a certain ninja you face in Sekiro.

you beat path of pain? I respect that, Zodi. all it says is that you saw a challenge and overcome it Zodi, which is a good thing in my opinion.

ah Zodi, trying to do the cool thing where you try to skip things over the acid and just keep falling into said acid, instead of just sensibly being careful to get through it. like every streamer before her.

to be fairer, knowledge is more deadly than any blade. the hollow one already has a blade. a book to remind them what a bug's weaknesses are however helps them know where to put it.

SHAW! ADINO! AGALE! intensifies.

Ahem to make it a rhyme:
"The greater mind once dreamed of leaf and cast these caverns as it chose.
In every bush and every vine the mind of Unn, to us all it shows"

finding the greenpath lore tablets on the wiki....and no, they don't seem to form a poem of any kind. and haikus specifically have like certain number of syllables and structure and is often traditionally about nature in some manner and still used to celebrate nature sometimes. (though some modern poets are more freeform about it.) for example:
"hollow knight slashes
cave in decay, life fading
only husk left now"
that is a traditional 5-7-5, 17 syllable haiku, complete with a reference to the environment of the game. this is the first haiku I've ever made. it nicely captures a moment in time with a minimal amount of words.

I'm pretty sure that leftmost room with no additional fly boy to bounce off requires that one upgrade that basically makes you launch yourself horizontally across the screen until you crash into something to go through.

ah yes. Zote, the Hercule of Hollow Knight. always an.....experience.

[Rater202]

I like to think of myself as a dragon, but if I had to choose a mundane animal I guess a cat or a snake.

Or maybe a butterfly?

The idea of going into some kind of shell as a flawed being and hatching later as a vision of perfection and beauty appeals to me.

On the comment about whether or not Hollow Knight is a Visored... Considering that Hollow Knight is taking the souls of things he kills for his own consumption, if we assume that th old nail is a Zanpakuto then he's more likely to be an Arrancar.

[LaZodiac]

I like to think of myself as a dragon, but if I had to choose a mundane animal I guess a cat or a snake.

Or maybe a butterfly?

The idea of going into some kind of shell as a flawed being and hatching later as a vision of perfection and beauty appeals to me.

On the comment about whether or not Hollow Knight is a Visored... Considering that Hollow Knight is taking the souls of things he kills for his own consumption, if we assume that th old nail is a Zanpakuto then he's more likely to be an Arrancar.

I mean he is literally hollow... so that would track.

@Raziere: There's more variance than you'd think. The charm set ups in particular are where the nitty gritty differences are, I feel. Some people are just more adapt at Thing than others, so the way they play the game is slightly different.

[Rater202]

Gotta say, Hollow Knight's got an aesthetic I like.

I like it when the creepy and the cute bleeds together ad I like me some adorable murder machines.

[LaZodiac]

Kiiiirby!

Zodi Plays: Kirby Super Star Ultra [6] The True Arena

Video Length: 29:31

In this, our final episode of Super Star and Super Star Ultra... we take on the True Arena. The hardest challenge, featuring all of the new bosses, including Dedede's Revenge, Wham Bam Jewel, Galacta Knight and, in a series first... Marx Soul, a unique boss hidden behind the hardest challenge. I did it the way I did it, and I hope you all enjoyed.

But with that done, Super Star Ultra is now concluded, as is this LP! It was, as said in the Super Star Normal ending... basically just pure fun. Even here, at the hardest, I was having a lot of good times. Kirby is a series that, no matter how hard it gets, never ceases to entertain, I feel, and this was their first real step into doing something Ridiculous difficulty wise. I think it paid off. So yeah, that's it for this. If you wanna continue supporting me, tomorrow at 12:30 we'll be streaming Sly Cooper, for real! And then on Monday... it's time to begin Majora's Mask. Hope to see you there.

Fun note: final recording time was roughly 1 hour 56 minutes.

[Rater202]

On This Time: There are some interesting implications about Marx Soul.

The implication is that unlike most Kirby Bosses, Marx was well and truly dead but was able to come back and steal power from Nova to resurrect himself.

On next time: I've heard a lot of good things about Majora's Mask but never really played it.

I get that it's not quite "Link to the Past" levels of introducing major stuff that gets carried along into the franchise going forward, but that it's still a pretty major thing. Like, MM is the one that people think of when they think of 3D Zelda games... Though I think that one is changing due to breath of the Wild.

[DataNinja]

Ah, yes. The True Arena. It's hard. No getting around it. Galacta Knight is such a run-killer (though Wham Bam Jewel's no slouch either), and then you get one shot at Marx Soul. I spent so long banging my head against this. Deeeefinitely went Rock for my winning run.

"Turn yourself into Paint, that's a good strategy." Ah, yes. The power you never showed off on either Heavy Lobster or Chameleo Arm.

[Lord Raziere]

Kirby Watch Day 21:
So what have we learned from this extensive expedition into Kirby and Popstar?

Nothing honestly. Kirby remains mysterious as ever.

but Wham Bam Rock was probably the proto-Master Hand, and Kirby games seem to be where a lot of Smash bros mechanics came from.

Kirby is probably Nintendo's version of Goku, alternating between defeating threats to the planet/universe and competing in tournaments, and Meta Knight being the Vegeta.

Kirby can also use the power of Determination.

heheh, the ending dance reminds me of a joke I thought up of where kirby does his dance, and it zooms out as he does it to screen showing all the victory dances kirby has ever done happening all the same time in sync to the music....and then when the jingle is up-KABOOM! footage of something big blowing up as if kirby's dance was meant to cause the explosion. I don't know why I find it funny but I wish I could do that joke visually just:
dododo-da-dododo
dododo-da-dododo
dododo-da-dododo
da-de-da-de-da-BOOM!

and yes, Majora's Mask! I'll be looking forward to welcoming you back to that one.

[LaZodiac]

As promised, Sly Cooper stream!

Zodi Streams: Sly Cooper [1] Frogs and Dogs

Video Length: 3:28:31

With some slight adjusted to make it work (special thanks to my good friend Robin) we can now do Sly Cooper properly! Hope you all enjoy!

[Rater202]

As promised, Sly Cooper stream!

Zodi Streams: Sly Cooper [1] Frogs and Dogs

Video Length: 3:28:31

With some slight adjusted to make it work (special thanks to my good friend Robin) we can now do Sly Cooper properly! Hope you all enjoy!

And First view.

I know absolutely nothing about Sly Cooper so I will be withholding comments until I finish the stream.

Edit: Nevermind! Commenting now. Laser beams that trip an alarm if you set them off... and fry the intruder.

That seems a bit excessive don't ya think?

Also, there are 1000 possible combinations for a three digit lock. With it being a manual lock rather than digital, trying to brute force it would take hours.

[LaZodiac]

Time to finish crime rodent adventures.

Zodi Streams: Sly Cooper [2] Croc, Bear, OWL

Video Length: 4:11:57

In this final dip into Sly Cooper and the Thevius Raccoonus, we beat the game! We get through Mz Ruby's swamp, Panda King's fortress, and we get to say hello to everyone's favorite hate fueled dinosaur, Clockwerk.

All in all, Sly Cooper really is one of my favorite games, and I'm glad y'all enjoyed.

[Rater202]

I know of this game only what I saw last time, so take everything with a grain of salt but...

Considering that the tutorial establishes that Racoon Thieves have at least some supernatural powers, what are the odds that the Thivius Racoonis is a spell book? It'd explain every weird thing like the exploding hats, and also explain why the people who stole its pages don't seem to be using its abilities for themselves: They can't, they're not Raccoon thieves so they don't have the magic.

Also, I saw a lot of comparing Bently favorably to Otacon last time... I'm sorry, but Otacon built a giant mecha that was still fully-functional a decade after being blasted to crap and left to rot for a decade in the Alaskan wilderness and was able to defeat a mecha has specifically designed to kill it becuase he secretly hid some repurposed Street Fighter code into its programming because he thought that was funny.

Otacon wins the Platimum Metal in the "most successful nerd" contest. The same act of nerdiness helped doom the world and then helped save it.

Edit: So I actually did a lot of research about Voodoo as part of a History of the Caribbean class

I'm not gonna go into detail becuase forum rules are quite clear on this matter, but I think I've lost brain cells. Like, I can't even be upset at the casual racism and misapplication of terms from like three different cultures becuase what Bentley said was just that stupid.

Also, that Haitian Jungle looks and sounds an awful lot like a Swamp in Louisiana.

Edit 2: "Johnny Storm is definitely not a role model" Case in point; He recently cheated on his literal Soul Mate, his one and only person in the entire universe who is his perfect romantic in every conceivable way, with Doctor Doom's latest squeeze.

The original Human Torch, Jim Hammond, on the other hand? Much better role model. Fought in World War II for the Allies, friends with Captain America. Took being decapitated for him to give up on Namor when Namor was having one of his episodes. Very humble despite being the first Superhero in the Marvel universe and being effectively immortal.

[Lord Raziere]

On Sly Cooper:
I had to watch the Vod to see Sly do the smooth kiss getaway at the end because the stream for some reason stopped for me at just the right moment to make sure I couldn't react with everyone else to it.

really? are you sure the racoons powers aren't paranormal instead, rater?

Really a lot of fire users aren't role models.

as for most successful nerd......eh.......its Otacon. I'd strongly consider figuring out other candidates before awarding something like that right off the bat. like he didn't realize he was working on a metal gear despite it being incredibly obvious that he was doing so at Shadow Moses, thats minus quite a few points Rater.

[Rater202]

really? are you sure the racoons powers aren't paranormal instead, rater?

"paranormal" and "supernatural" are synonyms.

as for most successful nerd......eh.......its Otacon. I'd strongly consider figuring out other candidates before awarding something like that right off the bat. like he didn't realize he was working on a metal gear despite it being incredibly obvious that he was doing so at Shadow Moses, thats minus quite a few points Rater.

He knew he was working on a Metal Gear, what he didn't know was that it was intended to be used. He thought it was just a deterrent that ideally would never be used beyond basic testing with harmless "dummy" missiles.

I mean, it's kind of impossible for him to not know he was working on a Metal Gear considering that he apparently did most of the work. The Radar Dish weakness was him deliberately designing a handicap to give it "character" and, as noted, a significant amount of the software is repurposed fighting game code that Otacon snuck in for his own amusement. REX's head is also almost identical to that of Sahelanthropus, the Metal Gear that Otacon was almost made to pilot when he was 2, suggesting a subconscious memory of the incident which may have influenced the design of REX.

(Not to mention he was interested in the project in the first place becuase he wanted to make anime-style Mechs real.)

Even ignoring that his nerdiness almost doomed and then helped save the world(more than once, technically)... how many nerds can claim to have made love to a hot Asian woman in the back of a helicopter? Or is the best friend and most trusted confidant of the world's greatest soldier? Or raising a child who, at the age of ten, is in the process of revolutionizing space travel and expects to reach Jupiter in her "Uncle Hal's" lifetime.

There's also his character to take into account: Otacon is humble, owns up to his mistakes, and accepts full responsibility for the consequences of his actions. A lot of fictional nerds are, well... Arrogant, or at least not nice.

Then there's his life's work: Other than REX, which again, he didn't know was intended to ever be used, his entire life's work was trying to preserve whatever peace he could in the world and prevent evil or selfish people from using Metal Gear or similar technology for nefarious purposes...

This is appropriate: While Strangelove was married to and had a child by Huey Emmerich, she was only ever in love with The Boss and Strangelove considered Hal to be the product of her own genes and The Boss's memes. the Boss's "end" that she was loyal to and died to try and see out was world Peace: Despite having never met The Boss, who died well before he was born, Otacon is the most worthy of her successors—Zero, Big Boss, and Gene all misunderstood her intentions and desires and their actions in attempting to bring what they thought was her dream to fruition led to nothing but suffering and death for people all over the world.

Edit:

Regarding the Nunchuck swinging monkey trainees...

I'm not sure it would be done while balancing on a pole, but no, that's actual legitimate training.

the purpose of the nunchaku, in fact, is to build up speed and dexterity in the hands and wrists by doing exactly that.

In fact, I don't think using them as an actual weapon instead of a "training" weapon was common until Bruce Lee made a habit of using them in his films.

...It is, however, odd to see it in a Chinese temple. The Nunchaku originated in Okinawa and is mostly used in Karate and Kobudo.

(Bruce Lee did not give a crap where the martial arts came from as long as they worked.)

Edit 2: Never mind, double checking the Nunchaku did eventually get adopted by Chinese martial artists.

[DataNinja]

how many nerds can claim to have made love to a hot Asian woman in the back of a helicopter?

...no offense, but this part definitely sounds both incredibly "treating a woman as a goal or an object" and demeaning to those who fall into the categories of nerd. People are people, and reducing one to an achievement based on attractiveness (and race, for some reason), really rubs me the wrong way. Like, it seems really unnecessary to have either qualifier. Or even woman. "Making love in the back of a helicopter" carries across the out-of-the-ordinary bits just fine.

[LaZodiac]

Another thing worth noting is that Otacon slept with said woman because she was manipulating him so she could steal something from him, and Otacon ends the series alone and unloved with every woman and man he loves dead or going to die sooner rather than later, with no friends and no respect, and having to raise a daughter as a single parent. So yeah, not the best example of a "win", by any stretch (and I agree with DataNinja on the sketchy point of even bringing that up). Literally everyone in Otacon's life is dead or going to die well before him aside from Sunny.

Bentley meanwhile ends the series, without spoiling things too much, with a beloved girlfriend and the respect of all his friends and with indisputable proof that he's the smartest person on the planet.

Not to drag Otacon TOO hard, but Bentley's got him beat.

[Rater202]

...no offense, but this part definitely sounds both incredibly "treating a woman as a goal or an object" and demeaning to those who fall into the categories of nerd. People are people, and reducing one to an achievement based on attractiveness (and race, for some reason), really rubs me the wrong way. Like, it seems really unnecessary to have either qualifier. Or even woman. "Making love in the back of a helicopter" carries across the out-of-the-ordinary bits just fine.

That was not my intent and I apologize.

My intent was... Well, the game definitely frames Otacon as a very specific kind of nerd and frames his relationships with various women in a rather specific way, that...

Yeah, there's no salvaging that. All I can do is apologize and try to be better in the future.

Can I say that the Metal Gear Solid series has a weird relationship with women? Most of the women in the series are very powerful and competent in some way or other... But there's no argument that they tend to be objectified to some degree and, with the exception of Meryl(and even then there's a non-canon ending in Solid) they all tend to die unless you never meet them in person.

Edit: Though, back to Otacon, if we want to go by how they end up at the end of the series... The canonical end of the timeline is Revengence and optional conversations in Revengence establish that he could settle down with someone romantically if he wanted to(he's afraid to commit) and he's very well respected in the scientific community.

[LaZodiac]

That was not my intent and I apologize.

My intent was... Well, the game definitely frames Otacon as a very specific kind of nerd and frames his relationships with various women in a rather specific way, that...

Yeah, there's no salvaging that. All I can do is apologize and try to be better in the future.

Can I say that the Metal Gear Solid series has a weird relationship with women? Most of the women in the series are very powerful and competent in some way or other... But there's no argument that they tend to be objectified to some degree and, with the exception of Meryl(and even then there's a non-canon ending in Solid) they all tend to die unless you never meet them in person.

Edit: Though, back to Otacon, if we want to go by how they end up at the end of the series... The canonical end of the timeline is Revengence and optional conversations in Revengence establish that he could settle down with someone romantically if he wanted to(he's afraid to commit) and he's very well respected in the scientific community.

You meant well, MGS is just really **** sometimes.

Fair but would any of them be Snake? Truth be told I actually like Otacon a lot, and hope he has a happy life... it just looks like he's on track to not have one. Meanwhile Bentley's life is golden AND he wasn't tricked into making a super weapon. Dude's got it made.

[Lord Raziere]

I personally just can't find Otacon cool or admirable for some reason. like he is one of those characters where technically he has done little wrong, but he is portrayed so lamely and pathetically that I can't take him seriously. but then I'm not a fan of bumbling X's in general. also it doesn't really matter if the guy is a better successor to the dream because Metal Gear is such a deep dive into philosophy and how war works, then it should remember that no amount of conspiracy planning or singular figures of this or that will ever truly solve war because that is something humanity in general has to solve together.

also been watching Lupin the Third part 1, so y'know, the real old stuff. first six episodes from 1971. this is ancient anime records here. and just judging form what I've seen so far, I'd love to see a Lupin/Batman crossover someday. this guy might actually be able to give Bruce a run for his money- in both the planning department and falling in love with dangerous women department. like they both get into a competition only to find out that Catwoman and Fujiko had teamed up to run a con on both of them....and they up competing over getting out of it because they're on opposite sides of the law. it would be so smart yet fun at the same time.

[Rater202]

Fair but would any of them be Snake?

I mean, Raiden does have a wooden sword that can be used to Channel Snake's soul, and he doesn't seem to be at all upset with having his rest interupted(he gives Riaden advice and words of encouragement.)

While the sword only appears in the Japanese release of Revengence and could easily be dismissed as a joke, it's telling that Raiden talks about Snake in the present tense when everyone else refers to him in the past tense.

Could probably work something out.

[LaZodiac]

Tick-tock Hylian.

Time is running out.

[Squire Doodad]

On This Time: There are some interesting implications about Marx Soul.

The implication is that unlike most Kirby Bosses, Marx was well and truly dead but was able to come back and steal power from Nova to resurrect himself

From what I understood of that scene, while in the SNES version you're led to believe that Marx becoming his demonic form is the result of the Nova's wish, that's not the case in the DS version.
Instead, Marx shifts to his true form, you fight him, and then the ruined Nova finishes granting his wish. Even though he's dead, his body reanimates and creates the black hole blob, which consumes the Nova remnants and turns his corpse into Marx Soul.

Alternatively, the wish was granted to his body instead of "just" Marx. As in, it was granted, Marx gained the demon form, and then even after he died his body was still filled with Nova wish juice. So then it reacted with the remains of the Nova, reanimated his body, and made it into a soulless, unthinking fiend of unimaginable power.
You know, usually E rated stuff.

I've been under the impression that it was the former for a while, but the latter makes sense too...


**Star Allies and basically the entire canon appears to operate under the assumption that Marx survives the events of Milky Way Wishes, and then the peak of his power fades a bit and he goes help Kirby stop Hyness. No Marx Soul, all of the Arenas appear to take place in an alternate canon, which makes sense since they're all just boss rushes devoid of story.