After a long while without creating any new levels in Super Mario Maker 2, I was suddenly struck with ideas for more stages. In fact, that creative streak was so considerable I ended up making enough courses to fill up an entire Super World. In this post, I share the codes to some of these levels as well as some comments about each of them.
As it happens in the WordPress universe every once in a while, there is a tag going around and I have been selected by Red Metal from Extra Life Reviews to take part in the fun. I used to let a lot of these tags go by without ever replying to them, not because I do not like or appreciate the whole game, but because I ended up telling myself I would write about them later only to completely forget my mental note until it was already too late. However, given it is fun to write about different topics every once in a while, and also as a way to make my appreciation for the mention be known, I have recently made a point to try to reply to all of them if possible. Therefore, let’s get to it. As usual, Red Metal has created some pretty thoughtful questions and I hope my answers do them justice.
Soul is a movie that, through death, steps in to look for meaning in life. As it turns out, it does not find a big answer; in fact, it has no answer at all to offer. What it shows, instead, is that – as far as our earthly perception goes – human existence is nothing but a sequence of usually small events whose significance and power will be lost on those who are either looking too hard for a purpose or working excessively towards a goal without ever giving themselves a chance to stop and smell the roses. As it happened in Inside Out, it is possible to question whether the message is understandable to kids; additionally, and coming off as pure flaws, it can be pointed out that Soul uses a couple of plot devices that feel too forced in order to make some of its major events unfold and that the conclusion it comes to is kind of cliche. What cannot be denied, however, is that it surprises and succeeds in sending its message in a way that is original, delicate, unexpected, powerful, and beautiful. In other words, it fits right in the Pixar tradition of touching animations that ought to enchant children and, even if for just a few days, make adults contemplate their lives from a different – and better – angle.
Ultimately, that is certainly the greatest gift of Onward: its unbelievable ability to distract one from realizing how conventional it is deep down. And Pixar pulls it all off so well that they are actually bound to make many viewers genuinely and fairly believe in far more than that, as some will conclude the story of Ian and Barley is one of the best they have ever produced. It is part deception, part heart, part creativity, and part experience. And with these tools in hand, the company digs itself out of the artistic dead-end that Onward seemed to be in concept. Deliberately or not, it was a position in which Pixar put itself when they opted to assemble their own twist on the trope-ridden road movie genre. And from that tight starting point, it is hard to argue they could have done it any better. Whether it was a self-imposed test or a twist of fate, they passed it with flying colors.
Thanks to Red Metal, who runs Extra Life Reviews, one of the finest blogs about games and movies you are going to find out there, I have been tagged with a Mystery Blogger Award. In the past, whenever I was given one of those, I bookmarked them while telling myself I would get to replying to them later. Of course, I would then forget all about it for quite a bit, usually remembering I had questions to answer when creating the post did not make much sense anymore due to the elapsed time. In a way, this one was not really different, since the tag happened about a month ago. But I will get to it anyway because answering these is fun. So, without further ado, here are the questions and answers.
It is hard to avoid the feeling that Frozen II could have been better than it is. If stripped to its more basic elements, the movie shows good intentions and solid direction, for when its turns and reveals are paired up with its songs and heart, any viewer can see that the framework for a worthy sequel was right there. The final product, sadly, misses the mark when it strives for a scope that is just too big and when it tries to fill up that space with plot points that fail to come together, falling apart into a convoluted mess instead. In the end, it is impossible not to feel touched, happy, excited, and amused by a good portion of what Frozen II offers. However, when it is all said and done, the movie simply disappoints: not because it is unable to match its prequel, as that possibility was never really on the table; but because its missteps are likely to make audiences wonder if its existence is more corporate than creative. And that is just not an environment in which Disney magic can flourish.
Browsing through my blogging history, I came to notice that it had been a whopping five years – slightly more than that, actually – since I last replied to one of those tags that travel around the WordPress universe every once in a while. Don’t get me wrong, it is not that I never appreciated the recognition or anything of the sort: I love it and I am quite grateful for it. It is just that I always ended up putting those posts on a pile of future pieces that I needed to get to, but then so much time went by without me sitting down to write them that I felt publishing a reply kind of lost its point. However, I guess that it is never too late to overcome a somewhat bad habit, and for that reason I decided to – for the first time in forever – answer the questions proposed by a fellow blogger who was kind enough to give this humble space a nod.
With the arrival of Super Mario Maker 2 and its pretty spectacular level-making component, there also comes the opportunity for us fans to wear our Shigeru Miyamoto hats in order to try our hands at some level-design – an activity that ends up revealing itself to be not only rewarding, but also quite hard. So, like I did the last time around, I decided to gather the stages I have constructed so far in a post to share them with those who visit this space as well as to talk a little bit about what went into their creation.
As such, even if How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World could indeed have been a better film, it plays its role as the final chapter of the franchise very well. The arches that it started to build in its debut are concluded sweetly and in a satisfying manner; the themes and ideas it always relied on evolve alongside its likable cast of characters; and the enchanting universe that served as its home reaches the end of its finely developed cycle. The fact the movie’s brisk pace undermines the impact of some of its conflicts and threats, then, winds up being just a small – yet certainly disappointing – dent on an armor of scales that is still shiny enough to make How to Train Your Dragon be a very rare sight not just in the animation niche, but in the movie industry as a whole; that is, a trilogy that was able to maintain a high level of quality from its glorious beginning until its lovable ending.
The heavy focus on Ralph and Vanellope may cause new characters to become mere accessories to the central plot, and the movie’s dedication to the creation of gags that gravitate around signature elements of the Internet may lead its story to be blatantly inferior to that of the original film. Still, Ralph Breaks the Internet is an enormously enjoyable work that cements the link between its protagonists as one of the greatest partnerships Disney has ever put on a screen, a fact that makes the movie’s emotional highs be remarkably touching. And with that, once more, the studio proves it is perfectly capable of balancing its adherence to contemporary trends with its classic dosage of laughter, tears, and magic.
Nintendobound 