I can’t decide if my Cooking Mama review is good, or completely stupid. Part of me feels like I tried a little too hard. Oh well. At least we’ll always have that picture of Chairman Miyamoto.
Yes, I shamelessly cribbed the pikmin joke from the oekaki board. You guys are basically my idea farm, now.
Also probably not up to snuff this week: the latest Retronauts Bonus Stage.
I’m pretty sure tomorrow’s podcast will also uphold my streak of low standards! Woo.
Edit: Sorry, I’ve been informed this stuff is all totally awesome and I’m a jerk for dwelling on its shortcomings, so you should bask in my glory. Go on. Bask.
Doesn’t the whole self-deprecation thing get tiring after a while?
Yeah, c’mon Parish, you’re good, we all know you’re good, you don’t have to act like you’re one of us. And it shows in this weeks bonus stage, certainly one of your best. I liked how there were many people involved in this one, it was interesting seeing Donkey Kong through different experiences. I also loved the opening sequence.
I would say though that the sound was pretty weird this week. I’d rather have the low level background noise be constant than the going to complete silence shortly after someone stops talking. Its a minor quirk though and its not like it made the episode worse. Something I would have liked to see was more stuff about the DK sequels, especially the Donkey Kong Country games that you just seemed to gloss over. This probably would have been a little more interesting that the needless minutiae about DK facts that anyone who has subscribed to a gaming magazine probably knows anyway. I would have liked to know WHY everyone hates the DKC games.
All in all I still look forward to these and they are getting better. I also feel like listening to the podcast which I haven’t done.
Sorry, I’ll pretend I actually think I’m awesome and can see something besides the glaring flaws in my work.
MAN THIS STUFF SURE KICKS BUTT AND ISN’T UNPOLISHED OR POORLY MADE AT ALL AND EVERYONE SHOULD WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH ME TO CELEBRATE MY AWESOMENESS
WHY SO EXTREME??!!
You’re talented, its why you are where you are, so don’t harsh on yourself so much. Continue to improve and continue to write, draw and make videos. No, its not perfect, but its a hell of a lot better than a lot of the stuff out there on the subject matter.
Glad to see the TMBG references continue.
Meh. I hate everything I draw. It’s a healthy part of the creative process. (or the unhealthy part, I get them confused)
The Cooking Mama review was brilliant. The concept was fully realized. I’d like to see you incorporate more cartoons into your reviews. I totally dugg it.
Champion was screwed! Not only is she wearing a funny Chef hat which should be required uniform, but she’s using both hands.
Look at that challenger, with that one handed remote thing she’s got nothing to do with her other hand! She can use her hand for other tasks! What cheating!
The awesome hat was to denote her Iron Chef status, man. If I had the Photoshop skill it would have been all shiny, too, like lamé.
RE: Retronaut Bonus stage
Intro was great. Watching you and your cohorts sitting in that room with a white board brought back many memories of my own horribly twisted group projects. “Ok, intro…intro…” But then having Chris’ comment about DK being the pivot point really launched the discussion. I was half expecting someone to quote Marshall McClullen.
You didn’t like DK Country?! Was I that much of a frothing Nintendo fanboy back then??
“You’re talented, its why you are where you are, so don’t harsh on yourself so much.”
Man, you’re going to upset his groove! Beware the groooooove!
I think it’s a true indication of any passionate artist to be incredibly critical about one’s own work. We’re all glad that you don’t let that criticism prevent you from sharing your work with the rest of us.
By the way, could that be at the beginning of the clip… a barrel of monkeys?
Spam is not appreciated keeps appearing. Why is this so?
While I can’t say that I want to have sex with you, the idea is tempting, if only to ensure that I have a warm place to sleep at least for one night in San Francisco, after I make it my home. I’ll be released from prison, re: Air Force, soon and the west coast is the best coast, as they say.
I’m not a fan of Iron Chef, but I do appreciate the lengths you go to in making something mundane (i.e. Cooking Mama) and making it more palatable (sorry, that was yours, not mine). Either way, if I may steal even more of your expressions: You are aces!
By the way, does the new Cooking Mama retain the old one’s quirk about refusing to teach you anything relevant to how to actually cook? I’d love the game if only it would put it’s cutesy facade away long enough to teach me to make myself something other than frozen dinners.
No, but that’s not really the point of the game. But I’ve heard Cooking Navi might come to the U.S. Maybe. Or not.
I think maybe pairing these Bonus Stages down to three people would be a good idea. That, or stop inviting Chris, man that guy likes the talk.
– Eddie
p.s. no hate Chris! I love your blog!
The Cooking Mama review was well done. There was a little too much focus on aping iron chef rather than providing information about that game, but the use of iron chef was done so well that it almost doesn’t matter. The review is good. If it had a little more on how fun the cooking mama concept or play itself was, aside from a comparison to the DS game, it would have been perfect.
I like the way the frantic camera movement communicates, “oh crap, Andrew Fitch is saying something!”
“Fukui-san!” pretty much sealed the deal for me.
i proposed to my girlfriend at the restaurant of iron chef italian.
To be fair, if Parish didn’t like the talkin’ he could have edited it out. Also, what you don’t see is him kicking off that discussion by totally ambushing me and forcing me to go into Defense Mode.
For some reason, I’m imagining Parish crawling out from underneath a truck, while Chris is watching. Then a giant exclamation mark appears over his head and the radar switches to Defense Mode.
ACTUALLY, Chris, you kicked off with that “Donkey Kong is the most important thing ever” nonsense. The “ambush” evolved naturally from my incredulity.
Jeremy regarding your edit – I think it seems to most of us like you’re complaining about the brand of motorcycle.
It’s a good review, a fun read, and I actually feel like something of value was said there. Get the others to be more creative like that, this one stands out in a good way.
If there were some way to rate a review on the site, I’d give it top marks.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”
As mentioned in the forums, I loved the DK edition. I thought it was funny and clever from start to finish, and I’m very much looking forward to the next episode. Rock. On.
LBD: The end of every 1up article has a little button that lets you give it a “Thumbs Up!”, which at least lets you rate reviews on a binary scale… They can also be Dugg, if you have a Digg account. Given some of Jeremy’s previous comments about Bonus Stage and the podcast, it seems like the corporate masters at Ziff-Davis pay at least some attention to all that popularity/ranking stuff.
Hey Fun Boys! Get a Room!
If you did nothing but Bonus Stage, we’d think you were awesome. Hell, I’d think you were awesome if you’d done nothing but this one particular episode of Bonus Stage, featuring the single most important video game of my entire life. I think I speak for most everyone here when I say that we salute your efforts, which, while possibly not perfect, are still far better than most. Thanks especially for Retronauts. There’s no better way to remember and reminisce on those brilliant games from a better, vanished time.
You and Chris should totally do a “point-counterpoint” Bonus Stage about this (or anything else)! I can already see the figurative levy straining to hold back a flood of unspoken animosity.
Charming, but your retrospective videography fails to account for the recent Donkey Kong Jungle Beat which, despite being short and rather simple, manages to be rollicking good fun. Tut tut.
As I’ve said before, there’s nothing wrong with this episode. Cute. Pretty informative, and gags/skits were very limited and/or intelligently done…
Reminds me the good ol’ days of Extended Play on TechTV (With Adam Sessler not being some sort of jerk and Kate Botello, the hostess who actually knew her gaming).
WHAT BOOK WAS JENN USING AS HER SOURCE MATERIAL FOR THE DISCUSSION?? Was it “Arcade Fever” by John Sellers? It looks like an interesting read.
BTW – don’t listen to that other guy. Definitely keep Chris Kohler around. I’ve read his book and would recommend it to any video game fan. He definitely knows his way around the subject of gaming.
That’s totally my favorite They Might Be Giants song.