This is somehow not actually a joke. I mean, it started as one, but
May 19, 2018 4:25 AM Subscribe
So for clarification, it’s not technically simultaneously. Both games have randomized item locations… in the other game. Occasionally you’ll switch games, and continue to find items for the one you just switched from.
It’s pretty wild.
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:04 AM on May 19, 2018
It’s pretty wild.
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:04 AM on May 19, 2018
So is Samus the princess?
posted by adept256 at 5:23 AM on May 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by adept256 at 5:23 AM on May 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
Samus is the boy
posted by uncleozzy at 5:25 AM on May 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 5:25 AM on May 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
Metrod is a Link???
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:47 AM on May 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:47 AM on May 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
If you beat it in under an hour, you get to see Link in a bikini.
posted by solotoro at 7:48 AM on May 19, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by solotoro at 7:48 AM on May 19, 2018 [13 favorites]
This is the stuff Nintendo should be doing.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:00 AM on May 19, 2018
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:00 AM on May 19, 2018
Very excited to now have weekend plans.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:27 AM on May 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Going To Maine at 10:27 AM on May 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you beat it in under an hour, you get to see Link in a bikini.Agreed.
This is the stuff Nintendo should be doing.
posted by Fizz at 10:49 AM on May 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
I can't decide if this is like when peanut butter (great) meets jelly (also great) to make a great sandwich. Or more like taking a magnificent steak (great of course) and smearing it with a really tasty icing (also great) to make, well, a mess.
That's said, I'm not judging, really. Good on the creator and communinty for keeping two great things alone and fresh, if a bit out in left field.
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:11 PM on May 19, 2018
That's said, I'm not judging, really. Good on the creator and communinty for keeping two great things alone and fresh, if a bit out in left field.
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:11 PM on May 19, 2018
I can't decide if this is like when peanut butter (great) meets jelly (also great) to make a great sandwich. Or more like taking a magnificent steak (great of course) and smearing it with a really tasty icing (also great) to make, well, a mess.
I mean, it’s creating a new, niche puzzle out of two old, existing puzzles. If I wanted to be darker about it, I suppose that I’d say that it shows how we tend to over-fetishisize things that are essentially solved problems. “Oh, speed running LttP and Metroid isn’t fun anymore because it’s essentially a solved problem? Well, what if we fuck with the rules a bunch?” The alternative, of course, would be finding a wholly new puzzle to solve. But this is a new puzzle, just one constructed from a bunch of existing parts.
Honestly, the most insane thing about the whole process is that the websites that generate the scrambled ROMs require you to provide the source ROMs. Because, of course, having a ROM is illegitimate, and distributing a new ROM would be garbage. It’s a weird sort of pantomime that requires everyone to go through like five extra steps.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:22 PM on May 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
I mean, it’s creating a new, niche puzzle out of two old, existing puzzles. If I wanted to be darker about it, I suppose that I’d say that it shows how we tend to over-fetishisize things that are essentially solved problems. “Oh, speed running LttP and Metroid isn’t fun anymore because it’s essentially a solved problem? Well, what if we fuck with the rules a bunch?” The alternative, of course, would be finding a wholly new puzzle to solve. But this is a new puzzle, just one constructed from a bunch of existing parts.
Honestly, the most insane thing about the whole process is that the websites that generate the scrambled ROMs require you to provide the source ROMs. Because, of course, having a ROM is illegitimate, and distributing a new ROM would be garbage. It’s a weird sort of pantomime that requires everyone to go through like five extra steps.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:22 PM on May 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
I mean, it’s creating a new, niche puzzle out of two old, existing puzzles
Fair enough. And some people would dig the modern art splatter paint looking mosiac that resulted from smushing two, let's say, jigsaw puzzle together. I'm truly not denigrating that. It's just... niche of course as you said, and I had to stop myself from clutching my pearls before I could appreciate it for what it is.
And yes, the rom issue is completely silly but, in this case for sure, oddly poetic.
posted by RolandOfEld at 3:42 PM on May 19, 2018
Fair enough. And some people would dig the modern art splatter paint looking mosiac that resulted from smushing two, let's say, jigsaw puzzle together. I'm truly not denigrating that. It's just... niche of course as you said, and I had to stop myself from clutching my pearls before I could appreciate it for what it is.
And yes, the rom issue is completely silly but, in this case for sure, oddly poetic.
posted by RolandOfEld at 3:42 PM on May 19, 2018
This is the stuff Nintendo should be doing.
Theoretically, this is the sort of direction NES Remix goes, but it's very conservative on the remix.
posted by pwnguin at 5:19 PM on May 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Theoretically, this is the sort of direction NES Remix goes, but it's very conservative on the remix.
posted by pwnguin at 5:19 PM on May 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don’t think Nintendo would go quite so far as this, since it’s kind of intended for the hardest of the hardcore, but I do agree that NES Remix had a lot of promise that wasn’t fully delivered upon in practice.
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:15 PM on May 19, 2018
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:15 PM on May 19, 2018
RolandOfEld: "I can't decide if this is like when peanut butter (great) meets jelly (also great) to make a great sandwich. Or more like taking a magnificent steak (great of course) and smearing it with a really tasty icing (also great) to make, well, a mess.."
As a person who really enjoys this hobby, let me say that this is great and also that what you said is a little patronizing--you just had a whole article in front of you where everyone in the community says how excited they are about it.
posted by TypographicalError at 9:42 AM on May 21, 2018
As a person who really enjoys this hobby, let me say that this is great and also that what you said is a little patronizing--you just had a whole article in front of you where everyone in the community says how excited they are about it.
posted by TypographicalError at 9:42 AM on May 21, 2018
Playing this sounds amazing except that I can’t do any of the Metroid speedrunning tricks, so
Same, but keep an eye on it -- my understanding is that the SM randomizer team are working on implementing settings for casual players (as the LttP randomizer already has), which would hopefully eventually get rolled into the crossover.
posted by rifflesby at 3:05 PM on May 21, 2018
Same, but keep an eye on it -- my understanding is that the SM randomizer team are working on implementing settings for casual players (as the LttP randomizer already has), which would hopefully eventually get rolled into the crossover.
posted by rifflesby at 3:05 PM on May 21, 2018
Or more like taking a magnificent steak (great of course) and smearing it with a really tasty icing (also great) to make, well, a mess.."
The other thing here, I think, is that most video games are essentially not literary. The writing in Metroid and LttP will not win any prizes. As such, I don't really feel kind a coherent narrative is somehow being destroyed here. One is, but it isn't a valuable one exactly, even if it does have emotional resonance because of nostalgia, etc. By contrast, something like Pride and Prejudice With Zombies is rather vexing because it alters something fundamental about the art.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:52 PM on May 21, 2018
The other thing here, I think, is that most video games are essentially not literary. The writing in Metroid and LttP will not win any prizes. As such, I don't really feel kind a coherent narrative is somehow being destroyed here. One is, but it isn't a valuable one exactly, even if it does have emotional resonance because of nostalgia, etc. By contrast, something like Pride and Prejudice With Zombies is rather vexing because it alters something fundamental about the art.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:52 PM on May 21, 2018
Playing this (or either of the base randomizers) demands a high degree of familiarity with the games -- even the LttP one, which offers settings that don't require any sort of glitches or tricks or maze memorization, would be unplayable to a first-time player because all the signposting of where to go next is destroyed. So, by the time you've gotten here, the narrative is just white noise anyway because you've seen it all a dozen times. Heck, if you're a speedrunner, you may well be used to playing LttP in Japanese, because you can skip the text faster in that version. This would be true even if these games were masterpieces of video game narrative.
posted by rifflesby at 4:12 PM on May 21, 2018
posted by rifflesby at 4:12 PM on May 21, 2018
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Playing this sounds amazing except that I can’t do any of the Metroid speedrunning tricks, so
posted by Elementary Penguin at 4:49 AM on May 19, 2018