Pitman Reunion

Well, this has to be an awkward reunion of Pitman protagonists...

Did you know that pitman is a slang term for a coal miner from Scotland or Northern England? In fact, the original Pitman game that Yutaka Isokawa designed for the Sharp MZ-700 was about an archaeological explorer pushing rocks and digging through earth to get all the gold in every level. The Game Boy version, while retaining the earth digging and rock pushing elements, changed the plot to a Catboy and Catgirl punching out bad guys to escape a forbidden haunted house, and was launched in North America as Catrap with one level being altered differently being the biggest regional difference.

The word catrap refers to the frequent number of times the player is trapped and needs to reverse their movements.

While Catrap was proposed to be launched in Europe as Power Paws, the game never had an official launch in that region until the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console re-release under the Catrap title in 2011.

An Overdue Blizzcon Announcement

Not even Doctor Strange would be able to find a single outcome in the Warcraft series where the Void Lords finally get defeated.

If people who wish to quit World of Warcraft have a genuine reason to quit the game (other than cutting costs, boycotting Blizzard for disqualifying Hearthstone tournament winners who are willing to stand up for democracy, Activision's bad management, etc.), it would be the sad realization that not one outcome, not even a single what if scenario, end with the Void Lords being defeated by anybody.

This would mean that if it was confirmed that the Dark Titan Sargeras did actually win when he stabbed Silithus, then his victory would actually be a hollow one, because the Void Lords always win, and not even the what if scenarios where the bad guys win will do anything to prevent the Void Lords from winning at the end. In other words, the Burning Legion's campaign to take over Azeroth was doomed from the start. Even if the Burning Legion won, which they actually did, thanks to Sargeras stabbing Silithus, their victory will be short-lived, because they will have to deal with the Void Lords themselves, and defeat at the hands of the Void Lords will be inevitable.

Imagine if somebody were to make this important revelation at Blizzcon about analyzing millions of outcomes in the Warcraft series, and every one of them ended with the Void Lords winning, how will everybody attending Blizzcon react to this announcement?

In other words, well played, Chris Metzen.

Exeggcuted

Now you know how it feels to be a victim of being inflated, Dr Eggman, given that you have never been inflated before.

Today's comic is a portmanteau of Exeggcute and executed.

Another comic about execution? What kind of people are we appeasing? People who, like Mayor Gene, dislike video game villains?

For more than a decade, Sonic fan art had been plagued by inflation fetish. Between this, the upcoming Sonic film, and some terrible Sonic games, the Sonic series has really fallen on hard times. Even the Puyo Puyo series is in far better shape than the Sonic series right now...

To vent my frustration on the disgraceful state of the Sonic series, I drew Dr Eggman being inflated by Dig Dug's Taizo Hori, just to appease people who, like me, dislike video game villains, to the point that they have to be executed.

Sega Genesis Mini Rejects

Only two more weeks until the launch of the Sega Genesis Mini (a.k.a. the Sega Mega Drive Mini in Japan and PAL regions) in anywhere except Europe and the Middle East.

The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Mini is now available in all regions where this mini console is sold, and Singapore is on the list of countries where the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Mini is available.

The Sega Genesis Mini will have 42 games, with 40 of them being available from the start while the other two titles are bonus titles based on canceled ports of Darius and the Sega arcade version of Tetris. However, some of the best games from the Sega Genesis archives will not be featured in any version of the Sega Genesis Mini, which will be a huge disappointment for some customers.

The seven games featured in this comic that did not get featured in the Sega Genesis Mini's final lineup, regardless of version, will have their disappointing absences and its reasons explained:

1. Sonic Eraser: Sonic Eraser was launched in 1991, shortly after the first Sonic The Hedgehog came out. It tried to build on the success of Columns and Sonic 1 by being the first puzzle game in the Sonic series. Unfortunately, it was only available through Sega Meganet, which never reached worldwide availability. This makes Sonic Eraser one of the lost Sonic titles, and not featuring this game as a bonus title will disappoint Sonic fans everywhere.

2. Twinkle Tale: Twinkle Tale is a forgotten top-down shooter published by Toyo Recording. This game, which was the only game that Toyo Recording published, will not see any re-release whatsoever because Toyo Recording is not interested in selling off the rights to Twinkle Tale to anyone else.

3. Valis 3: The original Valis was available on the Sega Genesis, but Valis 3 was no doubt the best Valis game where Yuko was playable, because she is no longer alone in her fight against evil. The Sega Genesis version, while not as great as the TurboGrafx-16 version due to several levels being cut from the game, featured a new level that was not featured in the TurboGrafx-16 version. However, Sunsoft, who now owns the rights to the Valis series, does not want to re-release any of the Valis games for both the Sega Genesis Mini and the TurboGrafx-16 Mini.*

4. Panorama Cotton: The Cotton series is known for being a side-scrolling shooter, but Panorama Cotton was basically a rail shooter game similar to Space Harrier, but with the titular poster girl instead. It was also the only game in the Cotton series to be on the Sega Genesis. Success Corporation, the owner of the Cotton series, still exists today, but have been hardly focusing on the Cotton series until their recently proposed reboot of the series.

5. The Lost Vikings: Great companies had to start somewhere, and in Blizzard's case, that would be The Lost Vikings, which first came out in 1992 for the Sega Genesis. And it's a disappointment that it will not be one of the 40 games pre-installed on the Sega Genesis Mini because the Sega Genesis version of The Lost Vikings was the first version of the game to be released, meaning gamers will never have a piece of Blizzard's history.

6. Pulseman: Pulseman was a Sega Genesis title developed by Game Freak. It did not get enough attention from anywhere outside Japan because North America could only obtain the game through the Sega Channel. Being a non-Pokemon title developed by Game Freak before the release of the Pokemon series as a whole, the absence of Pulseman would be a disappointment, given that it was part of Game Freak's history before Pokemon. But then again, the game's titular protagonist did not show up in any Sega Superstars titles because of licensing complications involving Game Freak, and said licensing issues could have prevented Pulseman from being re-released on the Japanese version of the Sega Genesis Mini.

7. Ristar: Perhaps the biggest disappointment would be leaving out Ristar from the Sega Genesis Mini. There are some people who would like Ristar to be re-released on the Sega Genesis Mini, but Ristar will not be among the 40 pre-installed games featured on the Sega Genesis Mini.

Other games that did not make the cut that were not featured in this comic:

Flicky: Before the likes of Sonic and Alex Kidd, Flicky was the unofficial mascot of Sega. Nowadays, he has always been a minor Sonic character. On top of that, 2019 marks the 35th anniversary of Flicky's arcade debut, and the Sega Genesis version of Flicky not being listed on the Sega Genesis Mini's game lineup is not the right way to mark Flicky's 35th anniversary, and that is excluding the Game no Kanzume Otokuyou version included with the Japanese and East Asian versions of the Sega Genesis Mini.

Streets of Rage 1 and 3: All versions of the Sega Genesis Mini will have Streets of Rage 2, but not the first and third installments of the Streets of Rage series? It would make more sense if all three Streets of Rage games are on the list.

Phantasy Star 2 and 3: Like Streets of Rage 2, Phantasy Star 4 will be on all versions of the Sega Genesis Mini, but Phantasy Star 2 and 3 gets left out from all versions? What's the point?

Earthworm Jim 2: Earthworm Jim has a sequel, but it gets left out?

Ecco: The Tides of Time: Ecco the Dolphin also had a sequel, and it is also getting left out?

Rocket Knight Adventures and Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures and its sequel were well acclaimed games from Konami, and the opossum hero from these two games was well-liked. But bad decision making from Konami, and both games being omitted from the Sega Genesis Mini means players will not have a chance to see Sparkster again.

*Note: As of 2020, Edia now owns the rights to Telenet's entire game catalogue after purchasing it from City Connection, who somehow acquired the rights from Sunsoft.

Update: Ristar is now available on the Sega Genesis Mini 2, but not featured in the Japanese version, though.

End of Unlicensed Distribution

In recent months since November 2018, several YouTube music channels had been terminated or had their music uploads blocked in all regions for violating copyright through unlicensed distribution, and some who have not been hit could already be at risk. To make matters worse, such copyright violations could lead to account termination. In other words, digital piracy being classified as a cyber crime is why we cannot have nice things. Perhaps we should have heeded the FBI's anti-piracy warning about the consequences of criminal copyright infringement, whether or not the offence had any intentions for monetary gain.

Should the rhetorical question "Is Nintendo Doomed?" resurface again, Nintendo will only have themselves to blame for making their customers upset, which was nothing new, given that Nintendo betraying Sony created their own worst enemy, and trying to appease casual gamers during the Wii's early years turned out to be a bad idea, since the majority of casual gamers are mostly fickle.

Ground Piercing Shot

Ever since Civilization 5 overhauled combat gameplay mechanics by removing the iconic and familiar "stacks of doom" in favour of combat gameplay mechanics similar to the ones featured in Advance Wars or Daisenryaku, new hilarious situations include a submarine torpedo going through a friendly peninsula city. Whether or not this situation is possible in the Daisenryaku games currently remains unknown as there has been no known footage of such naval battles where a peninsula city stands in the way of two warships engaged in combat.

Now one must wonder how a submarine-fired torpedo would burrow through earth to reach its target...

Credits to Corpse Run Comics for giving the inspiration to create this comic.

Sad Truths about Madoka Magica

If licensing issues regarding manga characters in Super Smash Bros is not the reason for Masahiro Sakurai saying that manga characters in Smash Bros is impossible, then it has to be the lack of sound and music in manga, or the lack of an anime adaption of certain manga, or it could be certain tragic events in manga and anime that makes manga and anime characters in Smash Bros impossible. Said tragic events include Sayaka losing her mind and eventually perishing along with Kyoko.

If Sayaka's infamous words before her terrible fate was anything to go by, then anime and manga is obviously not for dumb and stupid protagonists. Sayaka's quote "I Was Stupid, So Stupid" should never be taken lightly. Not when the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series could possibly be darker than even the Pokemon War backstory theory. Yet another reason to dislike Kyubey for all the wrongs he did.