Whoo, today I made my final exam! I'm pretty sure I passed it, meaning this is when my Summer Break starts! So I have three months to spend as I wish!
Of course, right now it seems I wish to write a blog, so I'll write about a topic that has been on my mind: Medabots! In case you're not familiar with the series, it pretty much started as a series of Pokémon inspired games in which rather than collecting Pokémon, you collect Medabots. But what sets the series apart is that every Medabot is made from four parts, the legs, two seperate arms and a head (torso included!), so you can mix and match parts so you can use a supportive head skill, a shooting arm and a healing arm and a pair of legs that best suits the Medabot and the terrain. It gets pretty deep because there's tons of different strategies, and a lot of tactics counter the other.
Most games follow a rather similar plotline, which is that the main character gets his first medabot, faces off against the evil Rubberrobo gang which are grown adults wearing rubber suits (really) and other assorted characters, but of course you also have rivals, friends and even dating sim elements because most games allow the male hero to follow one of two romantic paths. There's tons of other stuff too, like a hopelessly incompetent and corrupt police force, dramatic masked heroes of justice, aliens, ancient kingdoms and making the main character walk around in a skirt, kimono, dress and fursuit. A lot of it is pretty goofy and it doesn't take itself too seriously, and there was even an anime about it, which was somehow even goofier than the games yet also much darker in the end.
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| Really! |
This is not exactly exciting in and of itself, but I rather liked these battles because they tend to use foreign Medabots, which pretty much boil down to stereotypes like a Sphinx Medabot or Native American Medabot or Cacti with sombreros and AK-47s for hands (really), ones which you basically can't find otherwise, meaning you only get one or two chances at getting their parts when you defeat them. They also each come with unique designs reflecting where they come from, so they are pretty much stereotypes, but it's interesting to me to see how they would visualize them and to compare them between the four different versions of the game. Maybe if you make it to the end, I can even throw in a special reward, oooh~
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| Really! |
Anyway, it's probably easiest if I start with the only game that got an English release, which is the remake of the second game.
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| The boy prince from the Southern Kingdom! |
The first character, Prince Kir, is already rather bizarre. He's actually from a fictional Kingdom called the "Southern Kingdom", which the game never explains where it exactly is geographically. He does use obviously-Matador inspired Medabots, though, creatively called Redmatador. He's also the only character who doesn't seem capable of speaking English/Japanese (We'll be seeing lots of Japanese. No, I can't read any of it. ;-;) and he even comes with his own interpreter, who is a generic Salaryman. I like how he has a little crown on his head, and how the main character can tell he's angry when he just says "!!?!?!?!?! Ge?!" after being beaten.
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| "Well, at least I can figure out that he's mad..." |
Rather than going to the next character already, though, I first want to look at the original design for the prince! The first notable thing is that expression, of course, I love how he looks so perturbed, like he's probably some young prince made to compete in a foreign tournament and he has no idea what is going on and what people are saying. He also has some rather stylish shoes, they rather remind me of clogs. Maybe he's part Dutch?! You might also be able to tell he doesn't actually use three Redmatadors, but actually three different Medabots, though the old GBC only shows what leg type they use (Multi-legged, Tank and Wheels respectively). He still uses a Redmatador as a leader, but he also adds a Frankenstein Medabot and a Clown Medabot. An odd choice of medabots, that.
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| Shandy with her trademark Italian sunglasses! |
Okay, so there is one thing that is very wrong about this image. No, it is not that there is a black person in a game made in Japan, for some bizarre reason, the translators decided to make the Egyptian woman with Sphinx Medabots... Italian. I have no idea why they did that, and the accent they give her could compete with Mario's in accuracy. Despite that, I like her design, the fact that she is the only black person in the whole game does make her stand out, and I like her hairstyle and sunglasses. Plus, her Kingpharaoh Medabots (which for some odd reason have the female symbol engraved on them, why aren't they female Medabots?) are actually really strong too, she's easily the hardest opponent in the tournament. Incidentally, they also changed the main character from Japanese to American, even though the anime based on the game keeps him Japanese and his name, Ikki Tenryou, doesn't sound American at all. Also, apparently Shandy is a Dutch mixed drink, 1/5 beer and 4/5 7Up. Huh.
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| "Japanese boys are kinda cute!" |
It's interesting how much gets lost when you change full-body art into just portraits, the old game seems to focus a lot more on the Medafighter and their pose and expression while the new one uses more generic art and focuses more on their Medabots. She looks much more battle-ready, and looks more amused than determined, which suits the little dialogue she has better. Interestingly, besides a Kingpharaoh, she uses two Two-legged Female Medabots, one of which is inspired by a patissier, and the other, called Auroraqueen which we'll see later, is based on a skier! A skier-inspired Medabot seems sort of odd coming from an Egyptian Medafighter, but it does make them just a tad more well-rounded than just using three obviously stereotypical Medabots.
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| His sharp skills trained in the frozen wastelands of Siberia are used to enrage his opponents! |
Skier Medabots certainly make a lot more sense from a Medafighter out of Siberia. Pretty much all of his dialogue is about the heat as well, including his rather bizarre pre-battle dialogue from here. He actually uses a really nasty combination of three Auroraqueens, which are Medabots whose geometrical arms and head can strike enemies and freeze them solid in place, and he likes to chain his attacks so all three Medabots attack the same target in a row, and frozen Medabots are rendered defenseless meaning they take more damage and stay frozen longer when they get attacked repeatedly. He's also one of the few male characters to use female Medabots on his team, three of them nonetheless! Unfortunately for him, they're also very fragile Medabots, so if you don't get shattered during the first assault, it's easy to strike back and take them out quickly. Also, did you know Spumoni is a kind of ice-cream? I wonder if there's a theme here, hm.
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| "Is my next opponent a kid? I don't care if you're a kid, I'm not taking it easy on you." |
He certainly seems much more jovial in this version, rather than grouchy. He kinda looks like a fun old man, though his dialogue probably suggests otherwise. Interestingly, he doesn't use any Auroraqueens in this version, but he uses a more customized team which is based around laying traps, dodging attacks and speeding himself up. I wonder whether the game still calls his skill sharp and enraging? His tactics do require you to work around them, but they don't directly affect you and they're not as sharp as the blades of his Auroraqueens.
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| A swell Native-American working on Medabot research! |
I said there were Native-American Medabots, and here they are! They've creatively been called Wigwamo (that's such a silly name :p) and they can use their acid attacks to Melt the enemy Medabots, which pretty much acts like Poison does in most games. Medabots are kind of violent, they use all sorts of nasty attacks, like rifles, chain guns, swords, hammers, they inflict viruses, burning, melting, they can paralyze you or freeze, they can shoot gravity beams which forcefully compact you or break you apart, they can shoot lasers and beams, and of course missiles and napalm strikes... Good thing they can't hurt humans because they have a Limiter!! As for Joe himself, he's more talkative than the other characters, talking about how he feels honoured to fight with the protagonist and how he works on research together with his father Ja Swihan. He'll pop up again later, just wait. For some odd reason, the Medabot Tournament Hall holds his heart? He also says this line if you fight him over Medalink, which is like the internet. Maybe the place was built on top of a Native-American burial site, oh no!
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| "Another memory in my heart." |
Huh. His design has probably been altered the most. He's the only character from the tournament who actually appears on the show, so maybe they felt they had to redesign him? He rocks much longer, black hair as well as rounded glasses and a different outfit as well, and again, the fact that you see the character posing rather than a portrait also makes him look more distinct. Oddly enough, he uses a Wigwamo as his leader, but also uses a Ninja and Samurai Medabot. The Samurai Medabot uses swords that shoot frigging laser beams. Yeah, Medabots are awesome like that.
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| The passionate boy who brings with him the Latin Fire, Tequonic! |
This is where things get a bit more complicated. Medabots, like Pokémon, tend to be sold in pairs as games, so while one person gets Metabee version, the other gets Rokucho version, just like with Red and Blue. Usually the differences between the versions in Pokémon are a few version exclusives, and Medabots largely follows the same formula, though because you get parts by winning Robattles, they also mix up which Medabots some random battles and most bosses uses. Tequonic, however, is a version-specific character, appearing in the Metabee version, while the Rokucho version gets Ryo, who I'll look at later. Unlike the other characters, Tequonic and Ryo fight the player outside of the tournament and over Medalink, first battling you as you're on a fetch quest, insisting on a battle and attacking you and excusing themselves because Medabots can't hurt people. This gets them arrested, of course. Later on, you fight the during the tournament, but they also fight you if you talk to them in the locker area where you can configure your Medabots before each battle. They're kind of jerks.
I don't know why the game calls Tequonic a boy, the translation is pretty wonky in places, but he's obviously a grown man. A grown man with a poor grasp on English, though at least better than Kir's, I'm pretty sure this is kinda racist, but then it's not like he goes around shouting "¡Amigo!" like the Mexican Medafighters from the anime do, so it's not all bad. Aside from that, Tequonic pretty much insists on fighting everyone because he's hot-blooded like that and he uses his Chain-gun shooting Sabotinas which are the aforementioned cacti with sombreros and AK-47s for arms. I kinda wish Pokémon would go bonkers like that more often, but people seem to hate it when they do. I like Sabotina though. And Tequonic, his bumbling passion and broken English amuse me each time I play through the game, he's so quotable.
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| "I am the winner of today's defeat!" |
Yipes. The old version of Tequonic makes him look much creepier, what is up with that pose? O.o Sadly, I can't recall what Medabots he uses and the video I took the screencap from doesn't actually show the fight because you fight him thrice...
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| The mysterious wandering Medafighter, Ryo! |
Ryo is pretty much an alternate universe version of Tequonic, but while Tequonic is a Mexican who speaks broken English, Ryo is from Parts Unknown and treats Robattles as honourable duels to the death. He actually asks you for your name because he can't put you in the grave if he doesn't know your name. When beaten, he asks you to finish him off, which prompts the hero to say "Why do I have to kill you?!". Yeah, both Tequonic and Ryo seem pretty out there, but while Tequonic just seems too hot-headed and doesn't speak English very well, Ryo seems to live in a world of his own where honour has more value than life or reason, and you nickname your attacks like "Waza Kick", "Drill Attack" and the dreaded "Beauty Kiss", which he even made a battle cry for: "Sparkly twinkly squishy smooch!❤". Yeah, he's weird, and I'm not sure what his deal is, but just like Tequonic, the main character is embarrassed to know him. I think he's rather amusing, though, both he and Tequonic basically show how silly you look when you take your hobby too seriously. His Medabots are rather underwhelming compared to Tequonic's Sabotina, sadly. They are called Spiralle and they are... I'm not sure what they are, really. They use their drills as swords and have high health, but don't do much damage and aren't very accurate.
I couldn't find any art of his old version! So now I'll move on to the next segment! Think we were done already? HA! This is only the half-point! ... Well, not really. The next part shouldn't be as long, but the above parts were of the second game and its remake which was also released in the west. This is where I'll look at the characters from the first game and its remake which wasn't released in the West. Maybe you'll see why. Basically, while the second game doesn't really explain who the people in the tournament are except foreign Medafighters, in the first game you become the Japanese champion and fight against the champions of other continents, like Europe, America, Africa and... America again. Hm.
Doesn't this picture just say it all?! ... What do you mean, no!? Well... I don't know much either! All I know is that this gentleman is the European champion, and he represents... England? Or France? I'm not entirely sure, but I think he represents France. Interestingly enough, his team mostly consists of Rabbit Medabots that instantly charge up an ally's action, I'm not sure what the theme there is supposed to be, I know little of the first game. So, what did he look like in the remake...?
... Well, he looks different. It's not at all obvious at first, but this game is actually a remake of the first game, based on the engine of the second game's remake, but with an entirely different artstyle. This game's artstyle is very bizarre, you could say. I just posted an album of it here, with some old screenshots of the game: http://imgur.com/a/XZg9D And there's a lot of other portrait rips here, some of them truly special: http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t148/Demonlemon/medapeeps-1.png At first I didn't like the style, but as I played on, it kinda grew on me, it just looks so unlike any other game, especially compared to the rather bland anime style of the second game's remake. Still, I can see why it's not for everyone. But as for the image itself, I'm kinda curious what his design is all about. Could you tell he's from France by just the design alone? It's a really weird design, but that makes me like it! As for the Medabots he uses, they have pretty little offense, the first can impair your parts making them unusable, while the second confuses you, which randomizes your Medabots' orders and makes them able to heal enemies and attack allies or themselves. It can cause a reality-breaking animation where they attack themselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoaxEzLzAmI&feature=youtu.be&t=3m2s Overall, it's not a very difficult battle because status effects can't stack.
Oh look, It's Ja Swihan, Joe's dad! And he uses three Wigwamo. ... Uh, yeah. I think he represents America, but it's sorta hard to tell since there's also a Medafighter from New York, is he from South/Middle American?
Hm, yeah, this design definite screams Native-American, doesn't it? Yet for some reason he uses cacti with more obvious AK-47s, but without sombreros! One thing about this game that probably led to it not doing well was that it only had half as many Medabots as its predecessor, the remake of the second game, and most Medabots in this game have the same stats and abilities as Medabots from the other game, but they just got redesigns that most people would probably call uglier, but I'd prefer to call "wackier" and "weirder". There's some kind of charm to it all, but it's hard to deny the game looks a lot more childish, which might not appeal to everyone. Just look at these Medabots: http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t148/Demonlemon/medarips-2.png
The medafighter from New York. Again, not really much to say about this, except that she uses Redmatador. Huh, so far Redmatador has been in the South Kingdom team and the American team. The remake of this game uses Redmatador for regular generic NPCs too, though, but the Cows in particular use three of them, for ironic. And yes, you can robattle cows in Medabots. Medabots is weird. You can robattle your dog in one of the games too. Or stray Medabots. Or men dressed as kappas. Yup.
Here's the remade version of her. She looks a lot more competitive here, she's got the most definable personality from her sprite, just like Tequonic and Ryo, she robattles you in the locker room if you talk to her there, indicating a competitive Robattler. Corelis told me she also says "Mii" and "Yuu" in Japanese, so she's probably speaking English a little bit, I guess it fits with her being from New York. Her Medabots can shoot Lasers which are deadly since they do double damage, and while most Laser-using Medabots are slow, hers are pretty fast. One very dangerous lady.
Hey, look, another Egyptian! They actually used this design over Shandy's when they used an Egyptian Medafighter team in the anime, and her name in the anime was Petra. She again uses three Kingpharaoh in this game, but her design is pretty respectable, even if cliché. So, between Shandy and Petra, what does the remake of this game offer for the African representative in the Medabots World Tournament?!
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| Oh. |
Yeah, I was kinda surprised when I saw they went with this design for the remake, it's certainly something. I dunno if a design like this would fly in an international release, it certainly seems like the most transparently stereotypical and likely to cause offense, considering something like Jynx didn't fly, and that was a Pokémon, not a person, though I couldn't comment on her dialogue since I can't read Japanese, but it sounded pretty standard, typical dialogue from what Corelis told me. Still though, it's a very different direction from Petra and Shandy, who both look way less like a discredited stereotype. I wonder whether it's the yearly controversy over the whole "Zwarte Piet" issue, which I sort of incorporated in Dutch Quest in a way that probably made little sense, but it's pretty uncomfortable anyway.
Medabots-wise, she's pretty much identical to Petra and Shandy, though, using three altered versions of Kingpharaos, who are actually female in this game, huzzah! Medabots tends to give female Medabots the shaft, they largely get more typecast into being cute and having servant-like qualities, like Medabots based on maids and the like, so it's nice that the first game's remake adds some more variety, largely by turning male Medabots female, like a Plant Medabot, Spider Medabot and even the final boss becomes female Weapon Type Medabot, inspired by Korean Princesses apparently.
Anyway, I just wanted to talk about all this, yes! This blog is probably more fun for me to write than for others to read, since most of these blogs are me wanting to get things off my chest more than anything else, though feedback and comments are of course very appreciated too! I probably spent more time writing this than most people spend time on these tournament parts of the games, but I just kinda like seeing games like this add a sort of international flair, even if it means the enemies are stereotypes and their mons/bots are too, maybe it's even better for it, like how the whole Punch-Out roster is filled with national stereotypes, but plays it for laughs and not seriously. What would an international Pokémon tournament be like? Or a Miasmon tournament on AF? What Miasmon best represent the six petals? What would the archetypal Goblin be and what team does he/she use?!
... Eh, what? I promised something special if you made it to the end...? ... Hm, well, alright. I can cover just one more character, I guess. Perhaps something she says is familiar?
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| Bibbity bobbity milky moo!~ |
Yes, it's the character who's the basis for my entry and exist messages, woo! I should probably give some context as to who she is and why she says this. During the third 'chapter' of the game, the main character and friends go to an amusement park, which is also where the tournament takes place. At one point, you find out children have gone missing in the park, and the Rubberrobos are selling pictures of "cute kids" (They also have Medabots tickle girls during the first part of the game, what's up with that? O.o) and at one point you end up taking a tour through the Witch's Castle of Milky the Witch. Milky basically proclaims you the hero and you fight the evil army of the Dark Master, who are obviously just Rubberrobo Gang members, but when you save one of the children on the tour from the Dark Master, who's just a Medabot actor, the girl actually is never relinquished, and after the tour ends and you're ready to leave the park, a concerned mother says she lost her kid in the Witch's Castle. You basically go back in to take the tour again, but then choose to split up from the tour and snoop around, until you find a stairway mysteriously leading down. As you approach it, Milky basically says it's for staff only and the battle above begins.
She probably just says the line about the spell to stay in-character, and her Medabots are Sunwitch the Witch Medabot and two Wolfeel the... wolfeel Medabots. Wolfeels are animals and they're totally adorable. Apparently they are rather curious and friendly animals, even though they can bite.
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| Aww |
Anyway, yes, Sunwitch shoots banana peels at you, called the "Pushover" ability. The banana peels cause you to slip and fall on your head, damaging the head and making you unable to perform your next action if you are facing towards your target. It's a pretty broken ability and destroying the head destroys a Medabot, and it shuts down slow Medabots, it's an ability no other Medabot has. Wolfeel, meanwhile, is the only male Medabot capable of inflicting Paralysis, making its parts very valuable too. Too bad you can only get three parts total out of 8 you'd want to have... Ah well.
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| Milky has an old design too, where she looks much more child-like. |
After you beat Milky, and she says you are too old for her spell to work, she becomes angry with you and makes you the prize jewel of her collection as she throws you into her dungeon which is where the stairs led to. There's several kids there who explain Milky basically works with the Rubberrobo Gang to supply them with kids who can join their ranks while she can keep the cutest, sweetest purest children to live in a magical castle somewhere else with her. The game never implies she intends to actually do any harm to them and her she thinks she's doing them a favour, but she's obviously still just kidnapping children. You don't meet her until later in the game, where she's up to her old tricks again, and you beat her again and make her realize some dreams are not worth chasing and association with the Rubberrobos is not a good way to live one's life, and she releases the kids and warps away, never to be seen again... Well, except on Medalink, apparently she uses the internet as well, just like every other named NPC, even one from the ancient past... Yeah.
So I based my entry and exit messages on an adult who kidnaps children to take them to a 'magical land' by working together with a group of rubber-clad adults selling pics of cute kids. Yep. :D
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