Tom Archive

In a recent conversation with the other members of the Pack, I wondered why no other company has ever tried to produce as successful a mash-up of characters and properties as the Super Smash Brothers series.  (Astute readers are sure to identify the Japan-only PS2 game Dream Mix Fighters TV Megamix, which featured the likes of Optimus Prime, Master Higgins from Adventure Island and Solid Snake, all packed into a technicolor nightmare…to which I respond: it’s only a game if someone actually plays it.)

Sure you can point your finger at the many fighting games that follow this formula and declare me wrong – Capcom vs. SNK, Marvel vs. Capcom, even Namco X Capcom, etc.  But these are games where the characters clearly have something that unites them in the terms of game logic: Ryu vs. Wolverine seems a much likelier fight than Pac-Man vs. Dig-Dug, especially since the former pairing already has character sprites and moves for the purpose.  The adaptation of characters who have nothing to do with fighting games to the genre is one of the most exciting and creative aspects of Smash Bros

Mostly for the benefit of poking fun at the shitty companies and terrible games I fondly remember from my youth, I’ve compiled this thought experiment of a game.  Gentlemen, I present Sunsoft vs. Data East.

Mmm, what a gorgeous title screen!  Let’s see which characters from each beloved company made the cut.

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The type of snow falling now is the kind you see rarely in life but often in movies – large round flakes falling slowly in uniform patterns and sticking perfectly to the grass and pavement alike, perfect for leaving footprints in or making snowmen with. At this time of the night the shops are all closed, darkened storefronts displaying careful arrangements of aesthetically pleasing items. It’s a few days before Christmas, and the night is given a dream-like glow by the reflections of multicolored lights hanging from the roofs of houses in the snow. The only sound comes from the snow crunching under my feet and the occasional acoustic guitar strum in the background…there isn’t much to do at this hour, but there’s a certain romance I feel wandering this sleeping town on a winter night.

Back in the real world, it’s hopelessly green outside for December 24th. Some stubborn, dirty snow piles cling to the corners of parking lots, and it’s entirely too windy and cold to lure me outside for any reason. It certainly doesn’t feel much like the type of atmosphere promised by all of the seasonal films they’re showing on TV this week.

Perhaps this is what prompted my return to the digital town of Brahms, a place I used to come to at least once a day for a good amount of time roughly a year ago. Returning to it now after so long yields a strange feeling of familiarity and foreignness – I’ve been here before, but it’s not quite the same as it used to be. Everything is where it used to be, but the occupants of the houses are all different. My own home is filled with cockroaches and weeds and clover patches punctuate the snow-covered ground over every square inch of the town… doesn’t anyone know how to pull weeds in this place? (Clearly this is not the same pastiche of cleanly modern living seen in Nintendogs: your home and surroundings grow dirty and unkempt with neglect in this universe.) Yet there’s something about the music that takes me back…

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