Japanese DVD Player Game Box Art

Let's be honest. There are interactive games for the DVD Player, and a large number of Japanese DVD Player games exist, but most of them contain "Not Safe For Work" content, especially the box art, and are unsuitable for anyone under 18. However, not all interactive games for the DVD Player that are unsuitable for people under 18 come from Japan. Tender Loving Care was believed to be the only DVD Player game that is unsuitable for people under 18 that did not come from Japan.

Despite Sony's policies that forbid "Not Safe For Work" content from any game programmed for the PlayStation 2, the DVD Player included in the PlayStation 2 and the Original XBox consoles were compatible with some DVD games, and some of these games with "Not Safe For Work" content are also on the list, which poses a problem for regulations governing console gaming.

If censorship has a legitimate reason to exist, it has to be due to the existence of "Not Safe For Work" content, including video game box art.

The (Possible) Truth About Dharkon

There have been many conspiracy theories about the rivalry between Galeem and Dharkon, including potential plot twists. But one plot twist could connect Ralph Breaks The Internet's insecurity virus with Dharkon. Given that the insecurity virus in Ralph Breaks The Internet looks like Dharkon, it's possible that the insecurity virus that copied Ralph's insecurities is a cousin of Dharkon, which could only mean one thing: Dharkon is the Dark Net.

Galeem's version of the bad ending is basically the campaign mode's opening cinematic but worse. For all we know, the true death toll from Galeem's massacre could amount to billions. Even non-video game properties and elements such as Yu-Gi-Oh, which happens to have Konami cameos and elements due to being partly owned by Konami, and the Pokemon anime, which was based on the Pokemon games, were possibly not spared from Galeem's massacre. And the less said about the Archie Comics and IDW Sonic The Hedgehog comics, the better.

According to Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario does not kill people, which explains why Bowser survived all of his defeats, including those that should have killed him off for good. So it makes sense that Mario drops dead in despair, darkness and complete silence just by seeing Galeem getting crucified by Dharkon. Even the most sinister characters such as Ganondorf, Ridley and the Team Galactic criminal syndicate would have all died in darkness as a result of Dharkon's version of the bad ending, and if Professor Oak's grandson Gary/Blue saw Dharkon kill Galeem, he would be finally joining his parents in the grave just by seeing Galeem getting crucified by Dharkon. That's right. Even the characters that made us unduly upset in the past dying in a very terrible way will make you regret hating them.

If you think Waluigi died in darkness because he did not get promoted to a playable character, that is not true. The real reason Waluigi dies in darkness would be due to him seeing Dharkon impale Galeem. To show everybody dropping dead as a result of Dharkon's victory over Galeem would not only require a lot of work put into cinematic editing, but it would turn Super Smash Bros Ultimate into Nintendo's first M-rated title just by having many characters drop dead in despair, including the ones that we totally dislike.

As for the Dark Net, do not visit that forbidden place at all. It's full of viruses, and many of them are written by cyber-criminals who are more vile than the official villains. If Dharkon is really the Dark Net, then it makes sense for Mario to die in despair and complete silence, as the Dark Net is the most forbidden place in cyberspace.

Sad as it is, both Galeem's and Dharkon's versions of the bad ending are required for 100% completion of the campaign. Talk about being sadistic...

Super Smash Bros Ultimate © Nintendo.

Farewell to old friends

Author's Note: This comic was conceived in response to Sony announcing the PlayStation 4 on the 20th of February, 2013. Time constraints mean that by the time this comic was completed, the PlayStation 4 was already available on retail for several years, while the PlayStation 3 is no longer in production. Now that Sony announced the PlayStation 5, this comic will be for commemorating Sony's PlayStation 5 announcement as well as the 25th anniversary of the original Sony PlayStation in all regions outside Japan.

For those wondering why Klonoa is the character saying his farewells to the PlayStation consoles in this comic, that's because the Klonoa series began on the PlayStation, and Klonoa was a prominent Namco character during the PlayStation 2 era. The dates in the first two panels are references to the discontinuation of the production of the PS1 in 2006 and the PS2 on the 4th of January, 2013. As for Klonoa frowning on the PS3 in the last two panels, it's not because the PS3 has no Klonoa titles, but the PS4 is not backwards compatible with its predecessors. Note that Klonoa is holding a PS3 Slim in the last two panels, and the date on the third panel is a reference to the day the PS4 was announced.

The PlayStation 5 will be backward compatible with most PS4 titles, but it will not be backward compatible with any game from the PS1, PS2 or PS3. Therefore, expect Klonoa to shun the PS5 for being backward compatible with the PS4 only, and totally leaving out the PS3, PS2 and PS1.

Too Skimpy?

Skimpy costumes featured from left to right starting with the top row:

Row 1: The Justin Bailey leotard that happens to be what Samus wears in the second-best ending of Metroid (Metroid, 1986, Famicom Disk System, NES), Tyris Flare's bikini (without vambraces) (Golden Axe, 1989, Arcade, Sega Genesis), Hiromi's leotard (without armour) (Burning Force, 1989, Arcade), Silk's bikini (Cotton Series, 1991, various platforms starting with the Arcade), the green leotard worn by Celes (without belt and cape) (Final Fantasy VI, 1994, various platforms starting with the SNES).

Row 2: The swimsuit worn by Arle in the Puyo Puyo CD system version error screen (Puyo Puyo CD, 1994, TurboGrafx CD), Twinkle's leotard (Puzzle Bobble 3/Bust-A-Move 3, 1996, various platforms starting with the Arcade), Arle's PuyoLympics attire (PuyoLympics, 1998, PC), Arle's two-piece swimsuit in PuyoLympics (PuyoLympics, 1998, PC), Metroid Fusion ending outfit (Metroid Fusion, 2002, Game Boy Advance).

Row 3: Rikku's yellow bikini (Final Fantasy X-2, 2003, PlayStation 2), Metroid: Zero Mission ending outfit (Metroid: Zero Mission, 2004, Game Boy Advance), Peach's soccer attire (Super Mario Strikers, 2005, GameCube), Daisy's soccer attire (without armour) (Mario Strikers Charged, 2007, Wii).

Having female characters wear skimpy costumes sounds ridiculous, if the last panel was anything. However, the skimpy costumes are not the problem. It's the scenarios that the attires worn by the characters that make the video game players question the appropriateness of such costumes.

Note: Although this comic covers the topic on skimpy female costumes featured in video games from 1986 to 2007, not all skimpy female costumes found in video games from that time period are featured in this comic, with the biggest omission being Super Metroid's ending outfit, which was featured in a comic posted earlier on this blog.

The Truth About Pikmin Series Treasures

The Pikmin series is more than just a video game series about an astronaut (or cosmonaut for Russian readers) named Olimar meeting the titular leaf/bud/flower-headed sprites. The treasures that Olimar and the Pikmin encounter are based on objects found in real life, indicating that whichever planet Olimar crashed on once had human life on them. Another clue that supports the theory that PNF-404 was Earth in a life after humans was that Olimar had a Geiger Counter, which is used to measure radiation. Given that the Geiger Counter was going wild and letting out a lot of noise, this could be proof that PNF-404 could be Earth in a life after humans perished from high radiation levels.

Speaking of real life objects, some of these treasures found in the Pikmin games are video game-related items including game cartridges, a game disk, controller parts, parts that used to be R.O.B. the Robotic Operating Buddy (The head and the gyro blocks) and a Game and Watch handheld (The game in particular being Ball). There are references to other Nintendo franchises, mostly from the Mario series, with the most notable one being Mario Paint. While batteries and an SD card, which are featured as treasures, are not video game items, some of the batteries featured as treasures were the power source for some models of the Game Boy handhelds (excluding the Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Micro), and the SD card was a storage device for the DSi, DSi XL, 3DS, 3DS XL and 2DS handhelds. A few of the treasures in Pikmin 2 reappeared in Pikmin 3 as fruits, with all of them being from the fruit-themed Succulent Series. This could be a hint that whichever planet inhabited by Pikmin (excluding Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour) once had human life on them.

Thanks A Hundred!

Author's Note: Finally, one hundred comics at last. To all readers, thank you for helping Neo Retro Union reach this milestone in these tough times. Although this is Neo Retro Union's 100th comic, it is, however, not the 100th blog post, as the one hundred comics do not count the "Submit your entry comics" blog posts.

If you want to know why there is almost nobody in this comic celebrating this milestone, it's because of social distancing measures due to the pandemic that forced many people into lockdowns.

In need of a redesign

It's official. The Tokyo Olympic Games, along with the Euro Cup and Copa America, will be postponed to 2021 as a result of a devastating pandemic that not only killed tens of thousands, but forced many events to be either postponed or cancelled.

Speaking of the Olympic Games, the video games based on the greatest amateur sports event will need to be renamed, redesigned and relabeled in response to the postponement. So please, change the name and redesign the box art for the two video games, Sega.

Update: The delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo has gone ahead as planned, and it was concluded as scheduled. But the cover art for the video game adaptations of the Tokyo Olympic Games did not get a redesign.