Late realizations

A place where you can chat about anything that isn't to do with games!
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BIL
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Re: Late realizations

Post by BIL »

FinalBaton wrote:they got pretty long feet too, acting as raquette à neige, hence their name :mrgreen:
So cute Image I'd seen "Snowshoe Hare," but the French's evocation is particularly endearing.

"Variable Hare" is pretty cool too. :cool:
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That bitch Neon Light Illusion tries this all the time Image Or perhaps he's trying to extra-impress the ladies. Cephalapoda houses a truly fascinating range of crazy evolutionary adaptations for being seen/not seen...
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Re: Late realizations

Post by FinalBaton »

What do you think about that manta ray or whatever who ''crossdresses'' to get past the alpha male, and fucks his harem? :lol: that's pretty insane too.

LMAO that exposes the alpha ''hetero'' CHAD, as effectively closeted! : he saw the cross dresser and though ''Oi, you're pretty kyoot. Mind if we have some fun later? ^o-

some sweet schadenfreude right there
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BIL
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Re: Late realizations

Post by BIL »

Heard a zoologist once term that the "sneaky fucker" strategy, AKA kleptogamy. :lol:

EDIT: blimey, the terminology seems pretty widespread - here's Richard Dawkins busting it out, while positing it may be how a theoretical gay gene sticks around. :mrgreen:

I'm not a biologist and have no opinion on why anyone likes anything, but the notion of alpha caveman being all "YEAHHH! My gaydar cannot be beat! Larry you massive homo, you suck one good dick, now watch my bitches while I'm off getting your dinner! Haw haw!" "Yes Wolfy, honey!" *PALEOLITHIC PLOWING SESSION* Morgan Freeman: "WOLFCOCK THUNDERFIST never reproduced, and unknowingly provided for all ten of Larry The Homo's children before being tragically assraped to death by an enraged mastodon" would definitely make a decent short film. Image

Seems Snowshoe Hares' seasonal coat change relies on ipRGCs, or Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells. More/less sunlight = brain regulates fur colour accordingly via hormones. They will indeed stay in winter or spring mode, if their current environment calls for it due to migration/kidnap! Nowhere as inhumanly spectacular as the cephalapods' tricks, or even chameleons', but still pretty neat imo. From a total layman's perspective, I'd have assumed the fur itself simply reacted to the amount of sunlight absorbed, like a suntan, rather than it being a neurological process.

Fascinates me that research on cephalapods and chameleons' exact camouflaging mechanisms is still very much ongoing, must have some crazy evolutionary biotechnology going on.
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Obiwanshinobi
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

So I used to have a beef with the proportions of characters painted by George Kamitani, as well as by the dude who did artwork for Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land, as supposed examples of them artists having skipped their live model drawing lessons at school. Japanese pop-artistry in general stands having a lot to answer for in this regard. Since the time I had those resevations of mine, however, I've learnt a thing or two about Mannerism, so now it seems to me like those two chaps at least continue something of a tradition.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by WelshMegalodon »

- Dora of Dora the Explorer derives her name from the Spanish word for "explorer", which is exploradora.
- Shift + F10 does the same thing as right-click.
- Final Fantasy's White, Black, and Red Mages are a reference to the mages of Dragonlance.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Xer Xian »

Was looking at a webpage showing 26 of the most colorful birds on the planet and was surprised to see the guy at number 7.. yep, it's the ViewSonic bird!

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Gouldian Finch :) nice to meet u
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Sumez »

What the heck.

Only the first one I hope?
Or many fights of my life have been in vain.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

The Chrono Trigger soundtrack is really fucking good.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by FinalBaton »

hell yeah my dude.
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6t8k
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Re: Late realizations

Post by 6t8k »

Something about an (unsolved) video game myth.

As you may or may not have noticed, the hair of Link's sprite in A Link to the Past has a pink, or light purple hue (the exact color value in the palette data is #E860B0), although official and concept artwork don't particularly allow for such an aesthetic interpretation [1] [2] [3] [4]:
Image
For ages, Zelda fans have puzzled their heads over the alleged reasons for this peculiar phenomenon. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23 ff.] [24]


Here's a non-exhaustive list of conjectures, claims and supposedly clear causes that were brought forth (I'll take the liberty to pass on individual references; you should be able to find these and more by studying the abovementioned links. Maybe partly abridged, but still giving the gist of it, I hope:

• Link doesn't have/never had pink hair (without further qualifying that assertion)
• That's not his hair, that's the rim of his hat
• He had his rebellious phase
• Hardware limits are the reason. Ultimately, with regards to the color palette, the developers could only make it work like this (note: I won't produce formal evidence on the basis of the SNES's hardware specs to counter that here, but suffice it to say that there's a light yellow in Link's palette, as well as multiple brown hues [25]​, furthermore, there are ROM patches that give link a different, applicable hair color: [26] [27] [28])
• Link's sprite shares its palette with Bunny Link from the Dark World, who is pink too, or: a glitch causes both to overlap, or: the developers put up with this as a result of the combination of hardware limits and a glitch (note: both sprites have their own, separate palette, and Bunny Link's palette does not contain the color value of Link's hair [29] [30])
• Probably deliberate, so that the hair contrasts better with the hat and the face / to have the sprite look a little more colorful so that it's better visible on screen


The (partial) thesis, namely that is was deliberate, was subsequently substantiated on various occassions, by means of a scanned page of English 'Super Play 2' magazine (December 1992 issue, p. 71), without making it possible to draw conclusions about the motives. Apart from a brief history lesson, an interview with Miyamoto about Zelda III is depicted, which is interspersed with photos of small Link figurines in a super-deformed style and various poses. All of them sport vibrantly pink hair. Here you can even find the unproven statement that the figurines originated from Nintendo, and were study objects for sprite designers.
Image
But I, for one, don't see this as evidence for the abovementiones thesis: firstly, the article says nothing about who actually made the figurines, and secondly, it would be possible that they were made after the game's release, so it would've been the other way around, meaning the sprite would've been the template. Sprite first, figurines first, ultimately, I was considering the version that the final one of the abovementioned bullet point represents, to be most likely.



...until I saw, completely flabbergasted, that there were officially sanctioned manga volumes in Japan, on which Link is depicted prominently with a pink thatch! The earliest one of these volumes (lower left) gives September 1986 as its release date and saw the light of day in the wake of the one game entry that marked both the beginning of the Zelda series and the release of the Famicom Disk System hardware. [31] [32] [33] [34] [35]
ImageImage

These four manga volumes with the Famicom Disk System label were penned by Ran Maru (乱丸), apparently an apprentice of the late Mitsuteru Yokoyama [36], and were an offshoot of manga magazine "Wanpakku Comics". The latter contained stories that built upon the lore behind various Nintendo games, was released bi-monthly since November 1985 (monthly since May 1986), until January 1989, and was, according to various sources, very popular with elementary school students. Ran Maru was responsible for the Zelda tales contained in these too. [37] [38] [39]
Image

If you compare the front pages across time, it stands out that Link was originally drawn with blond hair and a green tunic. In August '86 issue, he had pink hair for the first time (initially even a bold red), and a blue tunic, which corresponds with the first dedicated Zelda manga volume, released shortly thereafter. Later, the tunic became green again, while Link's hair was changed from red to purple/pink, something which once again coincides with the subsequent Zelda-devoted volumes. [40]

Wouldn't it be possible that Link's hair color in ALttP has something to do with these very mangas? At least it was granted to me the discovery of somebody from Japan, who apparently knew them back in the day and voiced the same hunch, a circumstance, at the sight of which I fail to conceal that I'm exceptionally happy about it! :mrgreen:

Funnily enough, with the NPC 'Faux Hero' from 'The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes' (3DS, 2015), they apparently indulged themselves in a little nod to the purple-haired hero ;o [41] [42] Moreover, what's left to mention is that Takashi Tezuka himself was asked about Link's hair color in ALttP last year as part of an interview by Game Informer. Bottom line: he doesn't remember. :P

The myth lives on.


Edit: Ohooh, news flash: yesterday's "Gigaleak" reveals: Link also had pink/purple hair in the beta version :D
https://twitter.com/GamingAlexandri/sta ... 89/photo/1
Things happen fast.

Edit²: here's another different set of previously unseen, early Link sprites from the same leak: [a], (scroll to bottom)
To briefly get back to the ones shared via Gaming Alexandria's tweet, I'd argue that they can be regarded as once-and-for-all proof, if it wasn't clear already due to other perspectives, that the color choice was planned (the hair even exhibits two shades of purple).
Last edited by 6t8k on Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sumez
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Sumez »

Speaking from personal experience in making some stuff on the SNES, the most likely perspective I can find is that they maybe started out with purple hair based on some of those conventions at the time, as demonstrated by the manga you found, etc.
I think it's very likely Nintendo wanted to demonstrate the vibrant colors of the SNES, and the whole game in general is just a lot more cartoony than what the series had previously been.

I find it very likely that they probably tried switching to a brownish or maybe even black color after settling on the official artwork for the game, but figured that it made the game appear much less bright, and probably muddled Link's a sprite a bit, assuming that most people would probably play the game via composite or RF video at the time. Keep in mind that consistency between official artwork and ingame appearances just in general wasn't really a high priority at the time.

In terms of "hardware limitations", the sprite palette is easy to rule out as a cause. The main reason to restrict yourself to specific colors if when you're sharing palette with something else.
In general, the SNES has such an abundance of both colors and available palettes that it's very rare you'd choose to limit your main character based on such constraints, and rather take a color off the odd enemy here and there. Even if Bunny Link applied, he wouldn't count as they never appear at the same time, and it's incredibly easy to switch palettes on a frame-to-frame basis on the SNES (which the game also does on multiple occasions).
Conversely, having such a notably off-shoot color in a sprite palette is something you'd normally avoid if you're trying to optimize your palette usage, but on the other hand it's also something you'd strive for if you want your game to appear extra colorful, which was almost impossible on the NES (really, Kirby's Adventure is a work of art).
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Re: Late realizations

Post by 6t8k »

Yeah, as I wrote, I think it's quite plausible that they chose that color to make it more vibrant and colorful – perhaps influenced in some general sense by conventions / pop culture of the time. Then however, once I learned about the existence of these mangas, another reasonable option, at least to me, came to mind: specifically, as a tacit allusion to / appreciation of said Zelda mangas, due to their popularity (and possibly also because of Wanpakku Comics' recent decline around that time). Before Ran Maru drew Link with red hair in August '86, it always had been somewhere on the blond-brown spectrum, and Wanpakku Comics was discontinued in '89, when Zelda III / ALttP was in development (these were two different games/game concepts at some point), so I think that there could be a more direct connection. Maybe they used that color for that reason from the outset during development, leaving the possibility open to change it later, but eventually decided to just keep it, because it looked better, especially with composite video or RF. Somewhere in abovementioned sources 5-24 you can see some people giving the sprite a more natural hair color, but in the majority of cases, it doesn't look as nice. If I'm not mistaken I even saw one or two attempts where this was tested in combination with a subpar analog video signal, and yeah, it looked muddy in comparison.

I think it cannot be ruled out that a different hair color was used for the sprite at some point during development, but if there's some data left of it, I'm pretty sure we'd have seen this by now, especially with regards to yesterday's leak (simply google it if you're interested; not sure currently what the best/most up to date source on that is, as this is still very much in flux currently). People are still sifting through this stuff, and will probably continue doing so for a while, so perhaps an official, ALttP, brown- or blond-haired Link sprite may be found, but recent discoveries seem to suggest otherwise. Note that this beta footage has been known since at least 2008, where the sprite already had pink hair – the sprites behind that former link that were discovered (so far) among the recent leak of development resources are most certainly from an older revision, judging by how they are drawn differently, so all in all I tend to doubt that, but we'll see (if it's true that the abovementioned figurines were a study object for the sprite designers, then that woud be another indication that they used pink from the beginning).

I follow your reasoning about the palette; actually, "hardware limitations" in general are ruled out, indeed have been since years, people have discussed this old (and wrong) word-of-mouth story for ages. If the developers would have wanted to give the sprite a natural-looking hair color that matches official artwork, they could have easily done so. The topic lends itself to casual discussion, so over the years many people brought up what came to mind first, without doing much research on their own, repeating past arguments time and again (I don't judge them). But if we really want to learn more, I'm of the opinion that we can move on from that and pursue more useful discussion/research now. :p Maybe Miyamoto knows more than Tezuka, and could be asked about it too.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by null1024 »

Blender is a weirdly decent video editor if you're feeling very, very lazy and don't have anything else. It's easy, too. Drag files in, set output format, render.
Come check out my website, I guess. Random stuff I've worked on over the last two decades.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by BIL »

There's a David Chase-written Sopranos movie coming out next year, The Many Saints of Newark. Set during the 1967 NJ race riots, centers on Dickie Molitsanti. Had no idea, only learned due to my latest rewatch of the series. Pleasantly surprised, cautiously optimistic. Ridley Scott and James Cameron's once-venerable names mean dick after the untrammelled shite of the last couple Alien/Terminators, but Chase has yet to soil his laurels.

...

"These fuckin things come in threes!" I hear Uncle Jun exasperatedly lament in Another Toothpick. Hm. Can't say any of Alan Taylor's Sopranos episodes stand out to me. Plus he directed one of the aforementioned shit Terminators, and Game of Thrones' first real sign of the rot that would soon eat it to the bone: s7's Beyond The Wall. More like beyond the hairy fuckin balls, ie, TOTAL SHITSHOW :evil: OTOH, he also did s1's sublime Baelor. The rot most definitely came from the top with GOT.

Also, James Gandolfini's untested son playing Tony is a little ominous on paper, but whatever. Man/myth one-man gang war/uberjunkie Dickie is a perfect prequel hook for suckers like me. :oops:
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

Solo baritone's part in Ein Deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms is considered hella difficult by professionals. Takes more of a bass-baritone than true baritone. Then again - it generally sucks to be a baritone as "everything's too low-, or too high-pitched for you", as someone put it.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Sumez »

TIL one of the guys behind my latest obsession, Mr. Driller, was also the main guy behind Klonoa.... and fucking Ninja Gaiden.
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BIL
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Re: Late realizations

Post by BIL »

Blood will tell, as they say. :cool:
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Re: Late realizations

Post by copy-paster »

IIRC He also did wrote the script of Chrono Trigger. What a madlad.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Sumez »

That was Masato Kato, I think he was mostly doing artwork stuff on the first NG, but upgraded for the sequels, and credited as director on the (also really brilliant) third game.
I was referring to the director of the first game, Hideo Yoshizawa, who acted as producer on the other two.

Either way, Ninja Gaiden alumns have managed to continually put their mark on video games. :D
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Re: Late realizations

Post by copy-paster »

Image

Damn Konami back in the day knew how to sneak hidden references. Contra vs Metal Slug baby
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BIL
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Re: Late realizations

Post by BIL »

Haha, I'd never thought of that. :mrgreen:
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Mischief Maker »

The cover art for Disco Elysium looks a lot like the teaser pix from icycalm's ubergame:
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Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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Re: Late realizations

Post by drauch »

When's the icy game come out? I need to finally understand Nietzsche and game theory.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by BIL »

Could easily start a Sopranos thread just for all the stuff I never picked up on, but this'll do for now.

Major Spoilers, The Sopranos Season 2 Episode 13 "Funhouse"
Spoiler
The two gunshots heard from the boat as Pussy is executed sync perfectly to the drum hits of S2E13's open/closer song, the Stones' Thru and Thru.

https://youtu.be/HkwokEePMRI?t=1336
The sequence and song alike have always given me chills - got chills typing this, with its juddering bass shaking my floor - but I had to actually go and check, to see if the show overlaid that *BAM BAM* onto the track. They didn't, it's in the original cut.

A thoroughly dark show made with life-affirming craftsmanship.

Incidentally, "Thru and Thru" always makes me think of R-Type Final's genre torch song "Through Thick And Thin." Worlds apart, of course, otaku obsessive hard gayming and rock n' roll bacchanalia, but the sentiments here align perfectly.

Also, Tony's tormented relationship with Billy Bass is basically MFW Darius. Image
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Re: Late realizations

Post by WelshMegalodon »

Mew literally gave birth to Mewtwo.
2月6日:ミュウが子供を産む。産まれたばかりのジュニアをミュウツーと呼ぶことに…
The journal entry in the Pokemon Mansion detailing the event, according to Bulbapedia's Japanese sister site. I believe the verb 産む usually refers to the physical act of childbirth.

Of course, because impregnation is part of the cloning process, this doesn't mean Mewtwo isn't a clone of Mew.
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Mortificator »

That the Cyberpunk in Cyberpunk 2077 is the name of a series, which has been around since the '80s. I thought the video game just took its title from the genre.
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BIL
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Re: Late realizations

Post by BIL »

Hangovertype reveals to me that "worth noting" and "worth nothing" are a mere letter apart :shock: :oops: Image

You can shit in one hand and note in another, see which fills up first! (■`W´■)

Oh. You just went twenty minutes ago. And now you've got a handful of notes. Fuck off then (`ω´メ)
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Mischief Maker »

In G-Darius, the Embryon ending where there's a giant cross-shaped explosion followed by the two pilots floating in space towards each other and attempting to kiss as their bodies dissolve?

It's basically Neon Genesis Evangelion's ending.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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Re: Late realizations

Post by Mischief Maker »

The car from the Spy Hunter arcade cabinet's artwork actually exists.

Image

It's the Mercedes Isdera Imperator:

https://youtu.be/D4IR6Ukv7gk
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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