Thoughts from a Postmodern Weeaboo
“Ho-ho-ho-ho-hoot! This is a rare sight. You are a fairy child, correct? What business might you have in this poisoned swamp? If you dare not venture further, I shall pass no judgment. It is better that you hurry back to town. This swamp you are in has lost its guardian deity. But it was destined…
To say that Ocarina of Time’s reputation precedes it would be an understatement. When people think of The Legend of Zelda, they probably think of Ocarina of Time. It was the game that really gave the series its reputation and made it a household name. It has near-universal praise and even now, 23 years later,…
There’s really no solid consensus on which is the “best” Zelda game. You could ask five different people and get five different answers as to which their favorite entry in the series is. The one thing that stays the same is that the conversation is usually centered around the home console releases. The handheld Zelda…
After a brief hiatus of *checks notes* uh…five years, I’ve decided to once more return to The Great Zelda Playthrough, in which I play through all the Zelda games in order. Why the delay? Well, because I started to burn out and took a break, and then Breath of the Wild came out and was…
PROLOGUE: I NEVER METAGAME I DIDN’T LIKE One of the hardest aspects of creating a game—and consequently one of the most interesting aspects—is the idea of game balance. Games live or die based on how well balanced they are. Whether it’s through a series of extensive checks and balances or just through introducing random chance,…
Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge.” The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of…
Okay, well, obviously that’s an embellishment. But she’s up there, and easily the best I’ve seen in a while.
“Say ‘cheese!’” Okay, but…why? From the time that we’re children, we experience people telling us to say “cheese” when taking a photo. Many of us never question it until much later in life, if at all. Why say “cheese” when cheese has nothing to do with photography? With a bit of thinking, it’s easy to…
This was my original first chapter for “The ‘Baccano’ of Pulp Fiction,” detailing how both Baccano! and Pulp Fiction are descendants of pulp magazines. I’m pleased with how a lot of it turned out, but I ultimately made the decision to cut it for two reasons. The first is that I’m not an expert on either pulp…