Nintendo Switch and Breath of the Wild part 1

 

A portable console? I never really felt I needed one. My early progression was Nintendo consoles (I had one about when Super Mario 3 came out in the early 90's), to Genesis, to PlayStation, to PlayStation 2, and on to being an XBOX guy with the 360 and now to the latest XBOX. . 

In recent years when away from home I was happy to play Poker on my iPhone or iPad when the moments were free. For about 10 years I have loved to play Governor of Poker, a great app. I started with 2, and they are on GOP 3 the last few years. In 2 you just played the computer AI, but 3 introduced playing with people from around the world. It actually seems to encourage trash talking and flirting. Fun for quick 10-minute breaks. 

And hell, I don't find the time to play on my consoles as much as I would like. It was the rare game that had me playing more than a couple hours a week. But there were great loves that had me going 6 hours a week or more. Final Fantasy 7. The Resident Evil games. Fallout 3. 

But in recent times I have been watching a lot of G4 and IGN and other video game related channels, content on Pluto TV streaming. Most of the programs are years old (besides G4 which is on a relaunch year, and just laid off most of their office and on camera people, including the odious FROSK), but I still like to watch. Nobody talks much about the Nintendo Switch lately, but it did come out half a decade ago. But the content on some of these channels is years old. And this year I have seen a lot of talk about Switch, albeit, again, from a few years ago. And some of these older bits included one of my current favorites, Scott the Woz. 

Scott does pretty funny little video game review and history skits, and I became a fan right away. And Every year since the Switch came out, he does a segment on it based on its existence up to that time. And this went a long way to perk my interest enough to nab my own Switch. 

So then came the long road the last several months of getting one. Yeah, I hemmed and hawed with myself. I'm not broke or anything, but with a couple games and a couple years of Best Buy Geek Squad replacement was well or 400 bucks. But I worked hard, at a hospital, during the height of the pandemic when most of my county sat home on their asses collecting fat Biden bonus Unemployment checks, and felt I needed to start rewarding myself.

Regular versions were around. But I wanted the OLED, which has a bigger screen and couple other nice upgrades. Better speakers and such. But the OLED had to be ordered. It is a popular version, there was a shortage due to pandemic demand and chip shortages (thanks again, Sleepy Joe!), and this was something I needed to impulse buy. I'm not going to wait a week and a half. 

This went on forever. But then it got a little better. Just a three- or four-day delay. I can have it by the weekend? Fuck yeah! I hit "buy." 

I was excited when it showed up. I wish I had done an unboxing video or something. But you can still watch one. 

Yeah, easy as pie. In less than a half hour I had a couple games downloaded. One was a scroller I had admired from afar for a couple years. It was Cuphead, a run and shoot side scroller that featured characters straight out of nightmarish old 1930's toons. It was originally a little indy game but got popular fast and you can find it in places like the XBOX game pass. And of course, in the Switch shop.

I got Cuphead to have a basic little game that does not need a big screen TV to enjoy (although it looks awesome on my 60 inch). This is what I would most likely play on a park bench or hotel room. But my epic game to enjoy at home would be the game most people buy the Switch to play. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Because I have a lot to say about this open world solo game, I'm going to do a part 2 about that in particular. But just a few words about the fun of the Switch console itself.

Less than half the size of my iPad, it seems weird to think of it as a console. But that is what it is. Unlike your iPhone or iPad, it is designed purely for gaming. And it seems a powerful little thing. 

The Switch surely gets the name for all the switching up you can do. First and foremost, the big feature is the portability of play, so out in the field you will play with the "joy Con" controller bits attached. 

When you slide the joy Cons in, you get a satisfying electronic "snap" sound. 

And when you want to play on the telly, you stick your console into the docking station where the HDMI cable goes to the TV. 

The dullest color pics I could find

When docked you stick your little joy Cons into the "grip, and viola you have a little controller. You can actually do this when not linked to the TV. The Switch unit has a kickstand so you can set it on a table.  The joy Con grip combo is fairly sturdy and does the job well, although if you desire the usual controller size that you are used to on other consoles you can actually get a variety of separate controllers. 

I may just get a basic controller if for no reason other than I play 90% of the time on my TV so far. I have travelled very little with it. I have used the console on its own usually kicking back on a Sunday to play Cuphead, a game that works well for a small screen. The joy Cons themselves have no battery, but the last a few hours when charged, and when attached to the console they are always charging. The Switch unit itself seems to hold a very good charge. 

Breath of the Wild? Well, it's a big, beautiful world in there. And such works best on a big screen. But I've had some moments with it off the big screen. You can get hundreds of games for Switch, but Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the big monkey in the room when it comes to this console. And I'll talk about my experience with it next post. 

Cheers. 

Lupin the Third the RPG?

 

I only this weekend heard that there was an RPG book in the works based on the long running anime Lupin the Third. Since I only recently got into this show (REALLY into it) I wanted to share some thoughts on it. 

I was maybe 15 years old give or take in the mid 80's when I went to a Los Angeles Sci Fi con over a Thanksgiving weekend (Loscon) where I met my first real sweetheart. She was tall, pretty and lithe (much like a certain fem fatale I'm going to discuss a lot in this post), and liked the same pop culture Sci Fi stuff I did. We hung around each other the entire weekend. For a teenager into sci fi, this was the unbelievable weekend to beat them all. She and I would go on to date for almost two years, but at this con we were inseparable. That is my number one memory of that weekend. But the second most memorable was discovering Lupin the Third. 

I didn't know about the character, but it was kind of a hit for both of us. To get away from our friends and spend some sitting close time in the dark we had ducked into a side hall showing Japanimation (what it was called then). The Lupin movie "Castle of Cagliostro" was playing. Now my only experience was with wholesome Japanese shows like Speed Racer, Kimba the White Lion, and Gigantor. But this was something else. With its gunplay, violence, nudity, and sex, it was more like watching something like Heavy Metal, but with all the giggly energy of most Japanese cartoons. It was only a half hour or so that we hung out in there, but we were digging it. Cool, crazy characters and sex. When Lupin reached out and pinched his nude ladies nipple, the castle behind them blowing up as if in reaction to that, we laughed our asses off. 

The uniqueness of it, and my new crush sitting next to me to seal the memory, Lupin was in my mind for the rest of my life though I saw no more of the series. But sometime after that con, a year, maybe two; I was with pals at the local arcade and saw "Cliff Hanger" and lost my shit. I had not seen the show again, but I recognized the characters right away. Lupin was all over the cabinet art of the machine (weirdly with a fat ass). This was the time of Dragons Lair, and apparently a company wanted to do a laserdisc arcade game but didn't have the money. So they licensed a couple of Lupin films to cut up into a laserdisc adventure with horrible English dialogue. I didn't play it much (it seemed very difficult) but I was fascinated. 

Over the years I have no idea why I never watched Lupin video tapes. I'm sure Lupin tapes were at the japaninmation sections of video stores, but there were other things I wanted to rent. I probably would have by the 90's, but I was gaga over anime series like Dragonball and Bubblegum Crisis and spent a lot of times on those. Anyway, with the death of the video store and no regular showing of Lupin anywhere (that I knew) I forgot about him for many years. 

Then I saw recently that Pluto TV, a free multi-channel streaming network had added a Lupin the Third channel! Pluto is known for show-based channels showing up from time to time for a few months (Baywatch channel, James Bond channel, Chef Ramsey channel, etc). So you get used to surprises like this. Long and short? I started watching Lupin. A fucking lot of Lupin. I'd be watching right now if I wasn't typing this. I'm in that zone of having found a new pop culture item I love but have yet to discover everything about it. A hot honeymood period. 

So there have been several mini series since the 70's (its based on a 1960's manga) and movies. And Pluto is showing them all. After even only a couple of episodes you are familiar with Lupin's major cast of characters: 

Arsene Lupin: an internationally infamous master thief. Lupin goes after only the most challenging heists, more often than not giving the athorities clues about when he will strike. Its not about the wealth so much; its about the quest. The game. With a disarming happy-go-lucky personality, Lupin is more hero than villain. His skill sets are vast and astounding. Besides all the abilities required to pull off almost impossible quests (great intellect, technological expertise, physical agility), he is a formidable gunman, hand to hand combatant. Like his allies he seems to be able to operate any form of vehicle, land, sea, or air. A ladies man through and through, Lupin's greatest love is Fujiko Mine (pronounced "meenay"). Fujiko has described him at times as "indestructible" and "immortal," and it seems true. He regular dodges hails of bullets, even from master gunmen. In fact, all the major players of the show seem to be superhuman in their abilities. 

Jigen: Lupins best friend. A former bodyguard and hitman, Jigen is probably the most skilled with firearms on the planet. Usually always carrying a Magnum .44, he has been shown to deflect bullets coming at him with his own well-placed shots. He is an affirmed woman hater, and constantly has to chastise Lupin over his weakness for Fujiko Mine. He is the voice of reason over Lupin's haphazard attitude and actions. 

Goemon: a modern samurai, when not training and meditating he joins Lupin on capers as part of his gang, and enforcer. With his sword he can block bullets, missiles, and can cut cars, helicopters, and even tanks in half with little effort, often from a distance. He has been shown leaping 50 feet and jumping from great heights, so to call him superhuman would be apropos. He doesn't seem to have the wide range of thief skills his partners possess, but those aren't' his bag. He's there as muscle, and powerful muscle it is. 

Fujiko Mine: originally your basic fem fatale, Fujiko quickly evolved into more than just Bond-girl eye candy. She is an international thief as Lupin is, but also compliments that with feminine wiles that get her out of danger as much as it does getting her INTO danger. Fujiko has always been aware of Lupins obsessive love for her (it's obvious to all), and uses it to her great advantage. Often working as part of his gang (depending on the particular series), she often regularly betrays them in order to get the loot for herself, leaving the gang in deathtrap situations, but knowing that there is nobody who can kill Lupin.

 When faced with danger She will often play the part of a crying damsel in distress, but in reality, Fujiko is fearless in most situations and just knows how to manipulate those around her.  Casual sex is never off the table for Fujiko, In all the series she is regularly nude, or at least topless. Shame is not a word in her world. Anything goes. Fujiko has shown that among the others she lacks the most conscious when it comes to killing. While the Lupin gang generally avoids it, Fujiko does what she has to do to get what she wants. 

Zenigata: A Japanese policeman and agent of INTERPOL, he has dedicated his life to capturing Lupin. Highly skilled himself, he is most often portrayed as an oaf, a buffoon for Lupin to antagonize with his escapades. 

There have been several Lupin series since the 70's, each with a differing style. Most do not reflect the gritty style of the original Manga, But the 2012 mini series The Woman Named Fujiko Mine comes closest. This is a departure from the general merry fun of the other series, being more of a psycho-sexual dark drama. Fujiko is the main character over the others here, and it tells the story of how Fujiko met Lupin and the rest of his eventual gang. 

Zenigata is the most different here. Instead of a comic foil, he is a serious detective oozing toxic masculinity. Having captured Fujiko at some point, he makes her have sex with hem in his office as other policemen peep through the keyhole, and enlists her to help him in return from staying off the hangman's noose. Rather than fall for her charms like most men, he calls her a "cheap ride" and a spitoon. But Lupin upon first meeting her is not so taken by her sexuality as his is by her sheer unique existence. A worthy foil and possible lover who is unlike any woman he has ever known. In this series Fujiko's past is also examined, repressed memories of a childhood of physical torture and abuse are coming to the forefront of her mind. But are they real? Are her compulsions for theft and sex a product of abuse, or is there more to it than that? 

This version of the show is my favorite, and anyone wanting to explore it should watch at least a couple of the sillier versions in order to have a blown mind from watching this one. It reminds me very much, in art style and vibe of the old Aeon Flux series. That surely must be an inspiration. 

OK, so how would all this make a game? Personally, I hate games that have you play as known characters from various properties. But the style and vibe of the series is solid. Big capers, highly skilled characters, odd and deadly rivals and foes. Who knows how the planned rpg will pan out, but I would hope character gen would be alot like a point-based supers game like Champions. With a stereotype as a basis. Cat Burgler (like Lupin), Gunman (like Jigen), melee specialist (Goemon), Seductress (guess who?). Other "classes" could include Wiseguy (mafia dude), Pilot, Mad Scientist, etc. Lots of points in one major skill, then spreading around to various other abilities. 

I think there are some fun games to be had with this genre. With a GM who is willing to do a LOT of prep on capers, and players willing to indulge in role play as well as thinking smart with capable characters, there are some great possibilities here. 

Now to go watch more Lupin. I hope Fujiko takes her top off in this episode. Just joking, she takes it off in most episodes...

Favorite board game obsessions of recent years part 2 - King of Tokyo

 
When I moved into my new town over two years ago, I spent a certain amount of time at the local comic book/game shop. I got some 5th edition experience there (the game play was about what I expected from a game shop, a type of location I hadn't gamed at for decades), but the most fun for me was the browsing the tons of board games on display.

One of the things I wanted a change from in my move from Los Angeles was my high cable bills. So I just got Spectrum's "Pick 10 option" was getting 10 of your favorite basic cable channels (and also a bunch of the free channels usually available using a TV antenna) available without a cable box; it was all streaming. So I ended up getting my first streaming device, a Roku express. It was on Roku I discovered Pluto TV, a grouping of streaming channels that the next couple of years would be my most watched format. Pluto has channels dedicated to particular TV fare of various vintage. One channel might be all Baywatch episodes. One might be James Bond movies. Another showing endless episodes of Dark Shadows. But Pluto also had channels dedicated to internet shows of recent years, such as a Minecraft gameplay channel, several IGN channels, and Geek and Sundry. It was on Geek and Sundry that I discovered Will Wheaton's board game show Tabletop.

Will and Felicia (rumor has it Nathan Fillion knocked her up at a convention).

I was never much of a Will fan, but in all honesty I think I just bought into what seemed like a geek conspiracy to hate him (for being on Star Trek while they were not, maybe?). Getting to know him on the show I got to like him and his sense of humor. Will's guests would include a long list of geek media personalities from the fringes of movies, tv, and gaming. A virtual "who's that?" of pop culture. Non-household names like Grant Imahara from Mythbusters, porn gal turned D&D convention maven Satine Phoenix, and even the queen bee of Geek and Sundrey (at the time) Felicia Day (one of my secret pleasures was her and her bullying brother Ryan's video game play show Co-Optitude). BTW good news; Zak Smith never appeared on an episode from what I can tell. 

 I eventually would discover several games I love to play, and one I would love to but never did. That first one was Eldritch Horror, a game that looked amazing but once I got it on my table I had a hard time figuring the ins and outs. As usual in a Lovecraft game it was full of rules mechanics that seemed unnecessarily dense and high maintenance. That game has sat unopened on my shelf for over two years. 

But my great board game loves of recent times I actually get to play where on the show, most of which I will talk about in upcoming posts. Games like zombie crisis colony game Dead of Winter, the dream-like Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert, Epic Spell Wars (think of it as Beavis and Butthead if they invented a board game), and what I am talking about today; King of Tokyo.

Yes, there is a Mr. Freeze penguin from outer space in this

King was created in 2014 by Richard Garfield, mastermind behind Magic: The Gathering. The basic "plot" is that you play one of several Kaiju. Some are clearly based on existing Toho Studios monsters, like Gigazaur (Godzilla), The King (King Kong), Mecha Dragon (Mecha Godzilla). Some are just plain fanciful, like CyberKitty, a giant...cyber...kitty...

I almost always run Gigazaur (similar to but legally distinct from Godzilla)

Different editions will change up the monsters, and you can even buy separate monster packs with a new monster and associated cards. My favorite of these is Pandakai, a Kaiju panda. 

"Hi keeba!"

The monster you choose doesn't really have any special affect on the game. It all mostly happens in the dice. So, you start with a health total (hit points represented by hearts), zero victory points, and a deck of power/event type cards that flips out three starting cards. These cards can be bought using energy (we like to call them "Energon Cubes" like from Transformers) you can collect based on dice rolls. There are two ways to win; either defeat all other monsters (bring them to zero hearts), or get 20 victory points. Victory points are collected either through dice rolls or card affects. I won't go into detail about the dice, but it is a very cool part of the game. I'm told it works a lot like games such as Yahtzee, where you can roll multiple times to try and get certain outcomes. You might be rolling to collect hearts to heal, or you may try for victory points (gained by rolling multiples of the same number). You can also collect attack symbols to clobber your foes. 

There isn't really a game board to move around on per se. Its just a small board representing Tokyo. When a combatant is in Tokyo all his attacks hit all other monsters. But all other monsters attacks hit him! Plus you cannot normally heal in Tokyo, so your time there will be short. But you can collect victory points by getting there and staying there. 

You can collect energy from die rolls to save up and buy cards. One card might let you have an extra head so you can roll an extra die. Another might depict a dedicated news team who follows you around and gives you victory points due to the press exposure (things like this add great flavor). 

Turns are action packed and the game goes fast. Too fast, I think sometimes. Many sessions will see few power cards get brought into play. Sometimes you are just too busy collecting heals and punches to spend time building up energy cubes. But some cards can be game changing for you, and they add a great flavor, especially seeing as cards can be the only thing that truly distinguishes a character. Sometime we play with slightly higher hit points and a need for more victory to win to have a better chance at bringing multiple cards into play. 

Sessions tend to be short, averaging probably 25 minutes. But the game is so engaging and full of Kaiju goodness you can do several games in a couple hours. Its perfect for if your longer favorite game goes short. And its easy enough to learn for kids too. You can get it for less than 30 bucks, and the price point is amazing for what you get out of it.