Q&A Semi-Weekly AMA: Xelrog

[Ramen Tengoku]

Xelrog​

This AMA's subject is quite an Xelent fellow (I'm telling you these things get harder and harder lol): give it up for Xelrog!

As always, all site rules are in effect. Please try and limit yourself to one post containing up to three questions until Xelrog has answered, then you may ask more. And when asking questions, please keep it civil. Have fun! If you're curious about if you're on the list of future AMAs, refer to this post over in the Social thread. If you're not and you'd like to be added, please send me a message. We'll try to draw two names for two AMAs each week, so stay tuned! And if you wanna check out some of the older AMAs, please refer to this post in the Social Thread

alrighty, Xelrog , it's all yours

I'll start:

1. What would you say was your most hype Smash reveal?
2. What are your top 3 favorite movies
3. Who do you think is gonna be fighter 5?

 

[Xelrog]

Bit of a blurb for a conversation starter:

I'm a writer, voice actor, and school bus driver; I also stream, abridge anime, and have found an unexpected audience playing hentai games on YouTube. Superheavy main, longtime Smasher, new to but starting to get active in the Smash community at large.

1. What would you say was your most hype Smash reveal?
2. What are your top 3 favorite movies
3. Who do you think is gonna be fighter 5?

1. Hmm... to be honest, it was probably Sonic, way back in Brawl. From the start I saw the potential of Smash as this grand video game crossover--the fact that it was limited to Nintendo characters was just a matter of licenses and copyrights, business barriers, not something the devs would have chosen. I believe Sonic dropping in Brawl came about after the first Olympic Games entry, which was itself pretty crazy at the time, but when he came to Smash, it immediately felt like so many doors were thrust open. Here we are years later and many of the platforming mascots I've wanted this game to revolve around since I was a kid are now present--we've got Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Banjo, legends all in the same game together. Granted, Snake was revealed first, and his reveal had a similar effect. Sonic's was just a bit more personal because I had experience with Sonic and none with Metal Gear at the time.

2. Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, and... hmm... ooh, a third one is hard... it would have to be a Satoshi Kon film but I don't know that I can pick just one. They're all very intricately woven works of art that do things no other film has and have had a lasting effect on cinema worldwide (the bathtub scene in Perfect Blue inspired Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream). On the whole I'm a big fan of animation, Phantom being one of the exceedingly rare pieces of live action media I'm drawn to. Epic, bombastic, sweeping soundtracks that employ leitmotif are a good way to sucker me into something--none of that "soundtracks aren't meant to be noticed" crap that plagues Hollywood. I think the experience of Hunchback is also improved dramatically when one understands the Latin lyrics throughout the film and how they synchronize with the action onscreen.

Also, honorable mention to the second Urusei Yatsura movie. It's a fascinatingly unique case where a goofball comedy manga got placed in the hands of the Ghost in the Shell director, resulting in something exceedingly thought-provoking and off-genre. It's a lot like if a Simpsons movie were made by Lynch or Cronenberg, which sadly has not happened to my knowledge.

3. Sora is the odds-on fan favorite based on the last character poll, bar none. He nearly topped all three polls and was the only one to be in the top ten at all in all three regions. That said, it would make the most business sense to put your best foot forward to get people buying those DLC passes early, rather than saving the most popular for last. I think it's more likely he'll lead off DLC pack 2.

As much as I would personally love Crash or Spyro, Spyro is not popular at ALL in Japan, and Crash doesn't have anything particularly gimmicky about him. As Sakurai tends to gravitate towards characters that bring something completely new in terms of gameplay, and because we still don't have any FPS games represented, my guess goes to Master Chief or Doom Marine. Technically I guess he's the Doom Slayer now, but no way Nintendo gives the okay for that name. A Valve rep would also fill this role as well as being a sort of "PC gaming" face, but that seems unlikely given the seemingly low demand.

 

[Kirby Dragons]

1. Favorite food?
2. Favorite anime character?
3. What rules have you set for the kids on your bus?

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

1. Ever play Quest 64?
2. You see the Smash Presentation earlier today, and if so, what are your thoughts?

 

[Xelrog]

1. Favorite food?
2. Favorite anime character?
3. What rules have you set for the kids on your bus?

1. At the moment I'd say it's sushi, and Japanese food in general. I've enjoyed all sorts of Asian food I've had, though. I didn't like pho, but I only had it once and that could've been the place I had it or my not knowing how the hell to season it.

2. Lots to choose from, but my old standby is Kenpachi from Bleach. Lots of series have those "don't **** with me" unkillable titan characters, but usually they're mindless monsters like The Hulk or Broly. This guy has so much fun with everything he does, while still having time to spout some words of thought and be weirdly fatherly.

3. It was crazier when I drove a big bus and had 50 kids; nowadays I'm on a short bus driving preschoolers and homeless/displaced kids. I have an aide for the preschoolers and the older kids tend to mind themselves. Though there was this one incident with Pokemon cards...

1. Ever play Quest 64?
2. You see the Smash Presentation earlier today, and if so, what are your thoughts?

1. I have not. I remember that being one of the games that there always seemed to be multiple copies of at the used game shops, unsold, along with Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and Glover. There must have been a lot of copies floating around, I guess?

2. I am disappointed but not surprised. The character reveal fits in with my above logic of putting the least hype character last... I guess I just didn't take my expectation far enough. I don't at all like that it's another character from the series, but on the plus side, he does look interesting to play. I love heavies, but as far as swordies go, Ike is molasses--seriously, why are his smashes slower than Ganondorf's?

Mii costumes are cool. It is... very strange that Gunner has gotten two major costumes before Brawler or Swordfighter have gotten one. Between Sans, new guy, and MegaMan.exe, I now have three contenders for my preferred Gunner costume. Hmm... much as I love Battle Network, I probably won't go with MM.exe just because it's one of those outfits that doesn't hide the Mii's face. Definitely far from the worst mii costume, but nothing can compete with the few that make it look like you're actually playing the character, full head included.

Oh, and the stage. Super disappointed that it's another cycling stage. I'm more disappointed in that than I am the character, because at least he looks fun to play.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

1. I have not. I remember that being one of the games that there always seemed to be multiple copies of at the used game shops, unsold, along with Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and Glover. There must have been a lot of copies floating around, I guess?

Worth noting that it's actually an uncommon game to find these days and has moved up in price to 10 to 12 dollars. It's only cheaper on E-Bay/Amazon these days. In fact, I've seen more copies of Glover, Rayman, and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing in my local store these days.

Oh, to make it another question; favorite N64 game?

2. I am disappointed but not surprised. The character reveal fits in with my above logic of putting the least hype character last... I guess I just didn't take my expectation far enough. I don't at all like that it's another character from the series, but on the plus side, he does look interesting to play. I love heavies, but as far as swordies go, Ike is molasses--seriously, why are his smashes slower than Ganondorf's?

Mii costumes are cool. It is... very strange that Gunner has gotten two major costumes before Brawler or Swordfighter have gotten one. Between Sans, new guy, and MegaMan.exe, I now have three contenders for my preferred Gunner costume. Hmm... much as I love Battle Network, I probably won't go with MM.exe just because it's one of those outfits that doesn't hide the Mii's face. Definitely far from the worst mii costume, but nothing can compete with the few that make it look like you're actually playing the character, full head included.

Oh, and the stage. Super disappointed that it's another cycling stage. I'm more disappointed in that than I am the character, because at least he looks fun to play.

Ike is probably meant to be intentionally slower, since he's a heavy muscle swordsman. Ganondorf isn't always slow in his own games, sometimes being super fast, especially in WW. So it matches his own style a bit more. He's also focused on martial arts in Smash too. Well, till Ultimate. It's probably also to make him a bit more usable than Brawl/4. Ike is still pretty good.

Anyway, glad to see you liked some of it. The only major note of the new stage is that it's a proper FE location like Arena Ferox. I'm not a fan of rotating stages either. It can often be problematic.

--------------

...Speaking of, thoughts on the Paper Mario stage?

 

[Xelrog]

Oh, to make it another question; favorite N64 game?

--------------

...Speaking of, thoughts on the Paper Mario stage?

Majora's Mask, easy. I would go so far as to call it the best video game ever made. It's exceedingly rare that a game manages to achieve fun, engaging, varied gameplay as well as deep and immersive worldbuilding. Devs almost always focus on one over the other. The Portal series also does a fantastic job of telling a story and creating a world while also having engaging gameplay, but the freedom you have in Majora is what makes it. The fact that you can walk around at will and see the daily lives of all these citizens, all with their own characters arcs playing out in such an elaborate web... and on the N64, of all things. It really brings the whole world to life. All that combined with the creepy atmosphere and thought-provoking, very adult themes make it a game that felt like a big, off-genre risk for Nintendo, and I really respect that. I wish they would take more of those sometimes.

The Paper Mario stage has always been a massive disappointment. But that's pretty in line with the series of late, so I guess that fits. I guess I was kind of glad there was something from PM in Smash at all, but... what is it, TWO Sticker Star locations and a third one that mashes TTYD and 64? It feels like an advertisement because the stage was introduced on the same console as Sticker Star, and I hope they didn't realize how poorly SS was going to be received when they made it. It's hard for me to even be happy about the music track because only a third of it is from the good Paper Mario games. Honestly I hated Super Paper Mario, but I'd even be happier with that, because at least then a body of people would enjoy it, even if not me personally. There was a time I really wanted Paper Mario himself to be in Smash, but I've since doubled back on that because I realize they would get him completely wrong. Nintendo is completely and utterly oblivious to what the PM fanbase wants.

...sorry, that was a rant. Man, I'm sad about what's happened to the series, though. Paper Mario and F-Zero, both.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

1) A thief comes in the night to steal away your most precious item. What is this precious item and what lengths would you go to to retrieve it back?

2) A game developer wishes to make a game about your life with a few creative liberties. Which game developers would you prefer to take up this task and, if you were to offer any changes, what would they be?

3) Does life make sense? If no, please explain why. If yes, please explain why. If you don’t know, please explain why. If no comment, please explain why. If for memes, please explain why and what memes exactly.

 

[Xelrog]

1) A thief comes in the night to steal away your most precious item. What is this precious item and what lengths would you go to to retrieve it back?

2) A game developer wishes to make a game about your life with a few creative liberties. Which game developers would you prefer to take up this task and, if you were to offer any changes, what would they be?

3) Does life make sense? If no, please explain why. If yes, please explain why. If you don’t know, please explain why. If no comment, please explain why. If for memes, please explain why and what memes exactly.

1. Hmm... I suppose that's my laptop. It's not that valuable but has irreplaceable files on it. That said I'm good about backing things up, so most of what I'd lose would be a couple chapters of audiobook I'd have to re-record... if I hadn't just finished the last one tonight and backed it up, too. In your face, thief!

2. I'd much rather they made a game out of my ideas than one out of my life. But wouldn't everyone? I don't know that I have a favorite current game dev, I mostly play older games. I suppose I could get one of the Nintendo teams to tackle it. Make a game about breaking into voice-over, or something. Can we migrate the Choicest Voice minigame to my game? Mario Party isn't using it anymore. A whole game about how closely you can match character voices sounds like wonderful YouTube-bait, actually.

3. You want existential memes? You got it.

"Only a Klingon deals in absolutes."
- Commander Adama