I'm never certain on how I should start out these posts, to be honest. Usually I just wait for some random thing to quote and side-track my post for this kind of stuff, but there's no magical quotes to derail~
Mmm, anyways, Satoru Iwata. When I first heard of his death, while sad, I didn't feel pain. My heart wasn't ripped out of my chest and crushed in a meat grinder (wow, that sounds disgusting). While everybody was talking about how they were mourning over the loss, I was just shocked. That was, until I truly sat down and thought about it.
Thinking about my life, the only reason I was shaped into the person I am today is because of Iwata. Without him, my childhood wouldn't exist. If you're reading this, I want you to take a moment and truly think about what your life would be like without any Nintendo games. When I finally realized this, it truly struck me. This may sound
really stupid, but the biggest and most influential part of my life is most definitely Kirby. Without Kirby, a huge chunk of my life would cease to exist. Honestly, truly describing what Nintendo means to me is impossible (or it'd take my lifetime, iunno). What I can say, however, is that Kirby offered me an escape from reality, even to this day.
Whether I just wanted some time to relax and have fun or needed to escape personal issues, I could always go back to Kirby. I mean, I was so in love with the series growing up that I vandalized my school by drawing Kirby pictures on the school wall behind a bush. I would hide behind that bush with some crayons and start drawing a bunch of characters from Kirby's Adventure.
I remember spending forever trying to beat Nightmare Orb, being crushed by the stage because I played it too safe.
I remember countless hours spent exploring the worlds in Super Star with my brother.
I remember exploring the great labyrinth in Amazing Mirror. The only reason I have any of these memories is because of Iwata. Without him, Sakurai, and all the other amazing people at Nintendo, I wouldn't have any of these amazing memories.
Along with that, Kirby isn't the only thing.
I remember grabbing my first starter in Pokemon Blue from Professor Oak.
I remember the thrill when a challenger approaches in Smash Bros. games.
I remember fluttering around, shooting eggs at everything I see in Yoshi's Island.
I remember filling Petey Piranha up with water then stomping on him. There's just so much memories that Nintendo games leave on you, it's beyond amazing. While some of these memories weren't directly brought into play from Iwata, the only reason they're retained throughout all this time is
because of him. Once I truly realized this, I just... cried.
But now, it's time for me to memoralize Iwata. Two projects have been brought up (and destroyed) several times throughout my time in this thread.
Kirby's Adventure: Extra Mode and
Kirby's Adventure in Dreamland. Now, I'm happy to say
both of these projects will be picked back up and continued. For those who don't know what these are, I'll briefly explain.
Kirby's Adventure: Extra Mode
Kirby's Adventure: Extra Mode focuses on achieving the same thing "Extra Mode" does in modern Kirby games -- making the game harder. While the mode already exists in the current game, it doesn't actually change any of the game's content. It just reduces Kirby's health to three bars. This modification aims to toughen up the game as a whole, possibly making it the hardest Kirby game in the series. While the game will retain it's original level design and feel, enemies, their actions, and their placement will be changed. Along with that, things like Maxim Tomatoes and 1-Ups will be harder to get, and the bosses will be significantly buffed. Development has already gone into this, with both Vegetable Valley and Ice Cream Island having major revisions. I have some videos uploaded from the very beginning of development, too!
Youtube Stuff~ (also has random RtDL mods)
Kirby's Adventure in Dreamland
This is a re-creation of Kirby's Adventure using Return to Dreamland's engine. I can't give much information on this yet, as I'm still in the planning stages! However, I'll be asking you guys several questions over time as I go through things. More information will be released regarding this as time goes on, but I can tell you one thing -- get excited! Quality will be incredibly important with this, so I'd like to keep up Project M-esque standards when working on this. Actually, one other thing. To start this project off, I'll re-create Vegetable Valley 1-1 using Cookie Country's theme. Stay tuned~
Besides that, there's not much else to include in this post. There's one other secret project I'm working on, but that's for another time...