Solve Unamusement: 9/20/09 - 9/27/09

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Solve Unamusement has been closed, but that does not mean you can't still find random amusements or keep in touch with the former author of this blog.

Everything shall be on the author's deviantART journal and there is a feed to go with it.

The Dudel Journal

Redirecting (Looking, again, at Cantr)


Those of you that were here from "the beginning" know of, and probably play, Cantr. If you don't then look at this later.

Basically, my view of the subject has not changed. It is still a very fun game that anyone who considers themselves an armature writer with an open mind will enjoy. It also appeals to a few of the more "gamer" aspect but that behavior is generally frowned on within the active community. From my point of view, neither "way to play" is wrong or bad but be warned if you pick the latter you will not be anyone's favorite player.

What I really wish to bring light on from my previous post was the small bit of one small sentence. It was the interjection: "If only a little" and I've come to realize how big that interjection is. After playing for a bit more time this "only a little" seems a lot drastic then it used to. Generally, that is the extent to which you can affect the game or, if you look at it in terms of percentage, you can't affect it at all.

There is a reason why the game offers fifteen character slots for you to participate in the world and that's because if you wish to leave a dent its generally based on the number of characters you have now or have had in the past. This is not particularly bad but it does discourage people from playing beyond the games basic micromanaging points (get food, cook food, eat food, use shield, eat).

What things come down to are character specific marks on other specific characters. Don't try and leave your mark on the Cantr world by being the best, whatever. Instead just try and enhance the characters directly involved with your own. If you're lucky you might change the world via third party but the only real way to change it first hand is to get extremely lucky. Most characters are dead characters forgotten in one real life day by live ones, so enjoy that small moment cause its the only one you'll really get as a player. The sad thing about it is that you'll not get to witness it as events after character death are not privy.



Original Racing (Uniracers)




Uniracers had to be one of the most original racing games for its 18bit era and still runs as, at least in my personal opinion, the best side scrolling racer. Its rather simple, the concept and style. Take a unicycle, some rock music, lots of bright colors and noodle like tracks and you've got yourself gold.

Despite the game tracks being a bit more about memory and time trial then an actual race, the game is pretty freaking awesome. Generally, unless racing an actual 2P player, it feels like a "ghost" or "time" trial unless doing one of the 10 (I think its ten) stunt tracks.

Stunts in the game are your racers turbo, provided you land them correctly. Upon a "wipe out" you lose a lot of speed and any landing that is awkward causes in a slight lose of speed or no speed bonus. The trick, with tricks, is to land "just right" on the tracks. This can be a problem unless you know the track by heart. Even as a "returning player" I found it difficult to remember where all the twists and bends were. (Slight learning curve is what I'm getting at)

However, the best part about the game is its music. This game has some of the best 18bit music I've ever heard. Its just wonderful and catchy! I find myself humming along to the intoxicating tones as my little green unicycle bursts around the track.


Uniracers Title Music


I suggest that when you play the game, assuming not on the SNES itself, you find a controller. Playing this game with the keyboard is next to impossible in my opinion.

Its a Mocking Song


One can appreciate a song that is basically mocking a majority, if not all of, its listeners. Oh how grand our world, or at least the people in it, actually are. Doing so many things that are stupid and/or dumb just for the sake of it. I, for one, am guilty of at least pissing my day's away but I've got plenty of excuses for it.

Anyway, the song I am speaking of is something of an enigma. The more I find out about it, although my original understanding of it was very correct, the more I chuckle. When people, especially groups of people, say they love a song while they "do everything in it" and the song itself is making fun of the behavior. How stupid can people get, exactly?

Very Busy People: Limousines


While I love the song and how annoyingly catchy it is, I like its connotations and sarcasm much better. I do hope we are all on the same wave length on this one. Then again, if we are not, that explains why people are not actually reading this blog. That was a joke, of course. I know people actually view the blog.

Nice Pants & Defective (aniBOOM)


Short and simple animations from aniBOOM, today. Both have their quirks and humor to them while staying original and still using known ideas. One takes the fun of Lego's makes a silly situation and then runs with the inch that was "given". The other has a bit more "that figures" type of feel but keeps a nice humor and originality to it anyway.

This is a short animation done using Lego characters as a guide. The animation doesn't involve actual Legos but rendered Lego characters on a simple white background. The animation, as a whole, isn't all that long but its a quick little chuckle for anyone who remembers pant and head "swapping" when trying to create the "prefect Lego dude" (or dudeette).

aniBOOM: Nice Pants!


Defective is a nice animation about two imperfect robots fighting over a hand. It has a nice Pixar feel while at the same time remains very Indy in nature. The general plot and humor of the cartoon isn't really all that "clever" but it sorta is. The first time you see the animation it does indeed make you chuckle, or at least did me, but its not up to repeat viewings even with time stretches between.

aniBOOM: Defective

Teenage Metal Ninja Turtles


Lets start this post by asking a few questions. Who grew up in the late eighties or early nineties? Who, at least, watched Saturday morning cartoons during this time? Who remembers the old school Ninja Turtles? Who knows that theme song and possibly has its lyrics, like they are difficult, remembered? Finally, who likes metal? If you answered yes to enough of these questions then you're in for a treat!

Original Ninja Turtle Song


Metal Ninja Turtle Song
(Synchronized to Original Video)



Ah, my childhood and yours. Its a shame it has come to an end. Saturday morning how I used to wake up to you with excitement and sugar cereal. Now you are just another sleep in like all the rest, cereal still intact.

Link is Antisocial


Princess Pea- Zelda, Link, Ganondorf/Gannon, Tingle along with a bunch of annoying fairies and sprites make up the cast in Nintendo's Zelda universe. Its a world that revolves around one, seemingly infantile, boy and his never ending quest to save some random female for reasons we can only imagine.

To do this the "young boy" must collect artifacts around the world in order to solve giant puzzles and kill giant monsters that only the "chosen one" can complete and kill. Eventually, with all the puzzles solved and all the monsters slain, the young boy heads off to battle whatever evil magic wizard type guy who has kidnapped the princess with thoughts of turning the female into some type of nuclear power plant or dooms day device.

Once the epic evil is slain the boy, well he gets to go home after getting a good pat on his back. Once in awhile he'll get a kiss on the cheek or some type of "respect" but basically the guy gets to go back to whatever he was doing. Depending on what era the game is based in, this includes vagabond, farmer, peaceful island do nothing and my personal favorite "back to being a kid". As if one could return to whatever they were doing, let alone being a kid, after killing thousands of creatures, dying a few hundred times and doing all sorts of other not normal life things.

The game series, as a whole, has not evolved to much sense its eight bit renditions in lines of plot. Things are still the same, which is good, except for where the characters come from, why the "big evil guy" is doing his "big evil things" and the way to get from A to B.

However, one of the main "problems" with Link (the main character) is that he does not speak. The silent protagonist gets talked at by many people and sometimes interjects a grunt or two. Now the real kick is what happens when we take that "feature" and throw some real life scenario in there.

Zelda: Heart For The Hero


It is a wonder how Link ever managed to buy anything in any of the games without his tongue. Then again, usually he just picked things up and showed it to the clerk. "I wan disn' an have dis much monies. I can haz?" Then again, there were a couple of points where Link could steal items, provided you never wished to go back to that shop again for fear of instant death.

"Now Hear This" (Short Film/Cartoon)


The Loony Tune, cartoon "Now Hear This" was the start of many great things down at Warner Brothers but the best part about any short animated film is its amusement quality.

One of the firs things that should be noted/noticed is that Chuck Jones, the director of this and many other cartoons during his time, basically said "Lets have fun with sound while utterly ignoring physics and logic." That is, of course, the best thing about cartoons after all. Also, the cartoon has a well known and good pointed moral. The grass is always greener on the other side but a hallucination will prove it brown.

Now Hear This


Possibly one of the best cartoons to have ever been made that doesn't include the actual "Loony Tunes" within it. One could argue that this was a bit "Do-Do" and could be in his world, somewhere, but that's not any fun, now is it? This is also the first Loony Tune to have the more "modern intro", at last according to what the internet has to say about this cartoon.

 
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