The opening of the Pure Pwnage episode “Just the Guys PT 1″, and is a parody of Zero Punctuation
I for one found it hilarious.
Zero Coordination – On the n00b effect
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The opening of the Pure Pwnage episode “Just the Guys PT 1″, and is a parody of Zero Punctuation
I for one found it hilarious.
Funny enough, but I haven’t seen enuogh of the original to get the parody – to me it seemed like an identical concept more than anything else…
The concept is pretty much the same, but the content is very opposite. The Pure Pwnage version covers a topic that is in strong contrast to the original version’s, and counters many of Yahtzee’s own arguments and reviewing, such as his tendency to favor storyline over gameplay, and his habit of focusing on the single player mode when reviewing.
The PP version also makes a point of knocking the game “Portal”, which Yahtzee has described as near-perfection; and mark their endorsement of Super Smash bros Melee; a game Yahtzee butchered in his review.
Yahtzee’s disdain for fighting games and his “button mashing” argument is also referenced.
Reading through my comment, I realize that the video is more satirical than it is parodical.. so my bad there.
No worries, I suspected this was it but hadn’t seen enough of the original to feel in any way certain. Thanks for clarifying.
And for the record, while I agree with parts of the satirical view as well, I’d much favour storyline over gameplay too.
Though I treasure a good storyline, I usually favor gameplay, as no storyline in the world can save a game that’s just not fun to play. And a game with a bad storyline can still be fun to play as long as the gameplay is good.
It depends on the type of game, of course. It’s not much fun playing an RPG with a half arsed story/lore.
Neverwinter Nights is a game I like very much. However, I never warmed to the combat system. It’s probably due to me never having played DnD properly, and that I am more familiar with MMO’s, Turn Based and Action RPG’s. But the story, lore and the role playing aspect makes up for my lack of love for the NwN combat system.
Preferably, games should maintain a balance between the two aspects of story and gameplay. But in my opinion, proper gameplay is the bread and butter of gaming bliss.
I’m the guy striving to figure out how the storylines of Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario Land and one or two others worked together throughout my entire childhood. So I’m definitely a storyline kind of person.
Then again, as the guy in the clip said, maybe I’m really just not a video-gaming-person.
I gave up trying to make sense of the Super Mario lore a long time ago.
But it’s so much fun! Good mushrooms, evil mushrooms, princess mushrooms who for some inexplicable reason look like normal humans, the ever-present threat of killer turtles with shockingly few mutant ninja teenagers among them, and a DRAGON. All encountered, aided and/or challenged by two plumber-brothers of Italian descent who like to between them cover the entire primary colour spectrum in their dressing styles!
How can you NOT have a blast making sense of that?
By not eating said mushrooms?
You don’t need to eat the mushrooms if you find the right flowers, feathers or leaves.
Feathers? Really? That sounds either highly illogical or somewhat logistically challenging if you ask me.
It’s never really clear if you eat them or just stick them in your hat or something. The same problem with the flowers – it’s not clear if you touch them and get magic fire-shooting-power, eat them and get magic fire-shooting-power, or pick them up and shoot magic fire with them.
You CLEARLY eat the leaves, though. If you stick the leaves in your hat and it makes you somehow grow a racoon’s tail then the absurdity would quickly have reached Lewis Carroll-levels.
“How can you NOT have a blast making sense of that?”
I fear I lack the mental capacity.
The Koopas were always my favorite Super Mario enemy. But I’m glad they aren’t ninja turtles, otherwise fear there would be balance issue. The Stomp&Kick tactic only works so far.
“By not eating said mushrooms?”
If eating psychedelic mushrooms is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.
@Loki: I think you eat the mushroom, as they clearly have a biological effect on you once you obtain said mushroom, which suggests that the mushroom is consumed.
The fireflowers are more tricky, as it not only grants you the ability to shoot fire, but also alters the color of your cloths.
I also share your opinion on the leaf. It has to be consumed in order to cause such drastic mutation as growing a raccoon’s tail along with a pair of ears.
I know you eat the mushrooms, as I think the good old NES-manual that game with the original game said so outright. “When Mario eats the mushroom”, etc.
The flower is really odd. The cloth-thing could maybe be that the flower emits some form of hallucinogenic fragrance or dust or something that makes colour look different. Or something. I mean, if it can spit fire then why not a colour-skewing aura?
The feather always confused me, though. It basically gives you a caped version of what the leaf brings you in 3, but you can’t really GROW a cape, so what does he do with that blasted feather, since he clearly doesn’t eat it? Does he magically transmutate it into a cape or something?
I also found if funny, speaking of this stuff, how the leaves you acquired in shops and the like were always fresh and green, but the ones you actually found out in the wild were browned and wrinkly. Seems a little like it should be the other way around.
And what the blazes was up with all the clouds and stars having FACES?
The color change effect of the fire flower adds a certain fairness to the power it grants you. That way, the enemies have a chance to go “Oh, hell! He’s gonna light us up! Run for it!”. Though they never seem to do that, deciding in stead to goe with the “slowly hobble towards you” tactic. But hey. As long as they have the opportunity, that’s all that counts.
The feather effect is rather bizarre. I’m gonna have to go with the transmutation theory.
Not only do the clouds and stars have faces, I seem to remember an angry sun that frequently attacked me as I went along my merry way.
I view the hostile sun as a sociological statement, and I suspect the feeling Mario has when when the sun descends upon him is the same feeling I get when I go outside after spending too much time indoors. Which I often do.
Oh, and speaking of Fire flower, Here and Here.
The first of those two links was hilarious! And this in _spite_ of that scene being horribly over-parodied.
The sun could be an early attempt at making a statement regarding the greenhouse effect, I think.