request a fiver

[voyager0929]

Hey I'm new to the forums but I wanted to request doing a fiver for Voyager or DS9... I tried e-mailing Zeke and some of the other section leaders but the e-mails gets bounced back saying the addresses don't exist? Are we supposed to request fivers through the forums now or how does it work? Thanks

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I've noticed that some email isn't getting to my fiveminute.net account. This happened about the same time the 14 metric tons of daily spam went away, so I assumed it was Gmail's anti-spam measures being a trifle over-enthusiastic.

You can call DS9 fivers here: http://dadean.org/Fivers/login.jsp
, as well as B5 (plug), Doctor Who and Smallville. I have it on good authority that all the Voyager episodes have been called, but I could be wrong.

[Zeke]

Also, I've been exceedingly busy the past few weeks, and this week is no exception. I'll answer as soon as I can, but that doesn't mean right now.

At any rate, Voyager is indeed spoken for, and the authority Sa'ar has it on is me (http://www.fiveminute.net/about/5mv.html).

[e of pi]

I've been thinking about writting a fiver myself, and since I have BSG handy and there's two for the entire subsection, can I do one of those, provided I run it past you in my drafts?

[voyager0929]

Ok a DS9 fiver it is. And hopefully some BSG too. Thanks Zeke and Sa'ar to you both for responding and so quickly.

[e of pi]

First, my question was for Zeke. Second, are you calling a fiver or asking for one to be fived by somebody else?

[Zeke]

He wants to do one of his own. BSG is not available at the present time -- there are immediate plans for that subsite. Suffice to say the person you'll need to ask isn't me.

[e of pi]

Ah. I'll wait. And count to 33. Why? Because.

[Scooter]

Meanwhile, there's 26 years of Doctor Who available ... :)

[Nate the Great]

I'd just like to send out my good wishes to all the new aspiring fivists. I remember what that was like. As I recall, my Inner Light fiver was the first, followed by Ocarina of Time. Then came the glory that is 5MSG and now I'm back with more DS9 fivers than you can shake a Tox Utat at.

You guys will love fiving, if you do it right. If you don't do it right, that is, stepping on toes and other such shenanigans, you won't find it nearly as fun.

PS: If you want the prime example of fiving ineptitude that is present in all beginning fivists, look at Ocarina of Time. Absolute eyesore, isn't it?

PPS: Please remember that we do have exosites that also have very worthy fivers.

[Zeke]

This is where Nate and I disagree -- I think his Ocarina fiver is terrific. It's from the old days when men were men and fivers were short. Nowadays we would cover a lot more of the game, so if that's important to you, the fiver will be disappointing; taken on its own terms, however, it's great.

PS: Uthat, Nate. Uthat. Shame.

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, shame on me. I just bought Captain's Holiday a few weeks ago and thought I'd toss in a reference.

As for the glory days of fiving--
"Spirits were brave. The stakes were high. Men were real men, women were real women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were REAL small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. They all dared to face unknown terrors, to do mighty deeds, to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before, and thus was the Empire forged."

Sorry, random humor there. One of my trademarks.

The old days of short fivers were great, but we all knew there was something better. You remind me of Jim Wright joking that his Season One and Two reviews are too long, when they were barely a couple pages.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Your own worst critic is always yourself. I think we all have one or two fivers from the early days we're less than proud of. *coughTheMusecough*

[Nate the Great]

Onaya: Just scrawl down any old rubbish that comes to mind.
Jake: It's like writing a fiver.

Okay, it's not the best fiver ever, but it's not the worst, either. The quote above is one of my favorites, and any fiver with wit that good can't be rubbish.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Flatterer.

[Derek]

Your own worst critic is always yourself. I think we all have one or two fivers from the early days we're less than proud of. *coughTheMusecough*
Honestly, I'm the inverse. I think all my current fivers are crap and all my old ones are inspired.

[MaverickZer0]

Heh. I was going to call Rockman.exe (Mega Man NT Warrior) on the grounds that Zeke doesn't watch anime, but I realized something: I'm too damn lazy. It'd never even get started.
I was also going to do other stuff, but I forget what it was.
...What was I saying?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Your own worst critic is always yourself. I think we all have one or two fivers from the early days we're less than proud of. *coughTheMusecough*
All my fivers are perfect. I'm perfect. And damn good looking into the bargain.

[Zeke]

-- on the grounds that Zeke doesn't watch anime --

Who says? I just don't watch a lot of anime. I like DBZ, for example, but I prefer the manga to the anime because the latter takes so damn long. I recently watched the entire run of Fate/Stay Night and I loved it to pieces. (Have you seen it?)

[MaverickZer0]

No, I haven't. (I've heard of it...but never seen it. There's precious little I can do to get new anime around here.)
...Let me revise that. 'On the grounds that Zeke doesn't watch MegaMan NT Warrior'. Better?

[Nate the Great]

You know, it suddenly occured to me, Trigun is sort of sci-fi, right? Okay, it's a western/steampunk anime, but close enough for government work, right? Would anyone else like fivers of that? My friend loaned me his DVD set, and that would be totally cool. Anyone else think that'd be nice? I think I could do justice to it.

[mark726]

I was always a bit confused by Trigun, to be honest, but I would definitely count it as sci-fi. Then again, is 5M.net really limited to sci fi? I mean, it does have The OC, which is hardly sci fi.

[Nate the Great]

I don't know anything about the OC, but you do raise a good point. How do you define sci fi? I suppose you could claim that there are only a few discrete realms of fiction, such as fantasy, sci fi, historical fiction, etc. If we define sci fi as any fictional world where elements that aren't found in the "real world" are based on science (or at least pseudoscience), then Trigun definitely qualifies. Pure fantasy contains elements that can't possibly exist, at least given our current understanding of nature. We can imagine interstellar travel, cybernetics, infusing photosyntesis into a humanoid form, etc, as being possible so Trigun is sci fi. Pure fantasy contains elements that we don't even TRY to explain. Magic, leprechauns making pots of gold out of nothing, designing guys like Juggernaut that clearly defy the laws of physics, etc are fantasy. Imagine it as the difference between Batman and Superman. We try to explain the "science" of Superman, but we all know that it's blatantly impossible. Batman, however, is supposed to have everything about him be scientifically plausible, if nothing else. Batman is sci fi, Superman is fantasy.

Comments?

[MaverickZer0]

I always thought of Trigun as an action/adventure/sci-fi anime. It'd probably qualify.
Not that I've ever seen it or anything, but from what I've heard.

[Zeke]

...Let me revise that. 'On the grounds that Zeke doesn't watch MegaMan NT Warrior'. Better?

'Fraid not! I watch it when I get the chance. I don't like some of the changes made for the show, especially Cross Fusion, but it's cool just seeing the game characters on TV.

Anyway, I'm not so iron-fisted as to keep for myself any show I might ever consider fiving. If you want to try an NT Warrior fiver, I'm all for it. Just don't do the pilot. (And I will be doing the games, so I'm afraid no one's getting those off me.)

[Nate the Great]

I liked NT Warrior well enough, but to me it had a few problems:

1. They jumped into the N1 Grand Prix WAY too fast. I think the network people were afraid that the first episodes were boring and that they were losing viewers. The reason for that is:
2. The new episodes came too randomly for people to keep up. For myself, once I saw that there were gaps in my knowledge from episodes that I'd missed, I got turned off. Face facts, you can miss twenty episodes of Pokemon and still be on the right page when you come back, but miss three episodes of NT Warrior and you get completely lost.
3. They started to rely on flashier and flashier tricks to keep the viewers hooked. One thing that turned me off about Digimon Season Three is when they chucked the Digimodify stuff (a twist that I particularily liked) to return to "normal" digivolution. What's wrong with filler? It helps to tell us about what all these people are like. I like minor characters, too!
4. They could never maintain a regular broadcast schedule. This is a common complaint of mine for Kids WB, they keep shuffling the shows around as if "New Time!" will draw us back. I tape the whole five-hour block and watch what I like. It doesn't matter when it's on, if I like it I like it and if I don't then I don't.

If anyone wants to five NT Warrior that's okay with me, but I won't be doing it.

[MaverickZer0]

'On the grounds that I have seen the whole series and Zeke hasn't'?

I wasn't even going to try the games. Since I haven't played the first one and all, and I don't want to restart mine, and the only thing I ever took notes on was the ProtoSoul scenario in Blue Moon. (...what?)

1. The N1 arc was okay. I preferred that they got the tournament out of the way quicker so that the rest of the series wasn't bogged down with it.

2. I never had that problem. They were aired more consistenly up here when they were on (plus I've downloaded the subbed Japanese series, which IMO is much better).

3. Style Change and Soul Unison (I will NOT call it Double Soul) were from the games, as were Program Advances. Cross Fusion wasn't, but it's cool and the henshin sequences are fun. And there are so many minor characters in the later series it makes my brain hurt. Even I don't know them all.

4. Yeah. Teletoon was pretty regular.


I wouldn't five NT Warrior. After watching the original it would kill my poor brain. I'd five the original Rockman.exe series based on the subtitles, and that way there'd be no splicing or anythng, and I could refrain from the obvious dubbing jokes. I could still use the English names, just bill the other ones as 'lost episodes' or something. ('Cause they cut out like three in Canada, and twelve in the US.) I might take a crack at it sometimes soon, as I have the whole original, but Axess has only been half subbed.

So maybe. Probably.

...yeah.

[Nate the Great]

Hey, I never said that the N1 Grand Prix was bad, I just would've liked another dozen episodes before it. More of Lan getting used to be a hero, a little more Chaud foreshadowing, less of this "Oh, you just got your Navi, so now we want you to be a cyber-superhero!" Oh, and more fish jokes! You can't go wrong with fish jokes.

On a sidenote, anyone else slightly put off by the smoothness of the animation? Everyone looked like they were shrinkwrapped or something. Or maybe that's just me.

[MaverickZer0]

*pokes avatar* Nur. No, not really. Made it easier to change the hair color. *likes this color for various reasons, but mostly because of how it makes him look, especially in that screencap*

Fish jokes are awesome. And I would've loved more Chaud foreshadowing, too. But I think they cut out two or three episodes before the N1. In the original, it wasn't until the tenth episode that it started.

Spoiler warning for post-Axess and anything you haven't seen: Full episode guide here. (http://www.rockman-exe.com/episodes.html)

[Zeke]

Wow, I didn't know we had another EXE fan here at the forum (besides me, Mav, and Chaud/Itachi). And I heard from another one by email after I posted that last Top 10 list. Good to know these references aren't going to waste.

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, I'm a NT Warrior fan, never played a Battle Network game or anything like that. Kinda weird actually. I'm a big Bob and George fan, but the only Megaman game I've actually played is X1, but even then I gave up REALLY fast. My own gaming tastes run more towards Mario and Zelda. I've looked into getting a Battle Network game, but as a poor former college student, I have to be careful where I spend my gaming dollars. I'm still saving up for a Gamecube and Pokemon Emerald.

Of course, what with the Revolution (if I can help it I NEVER say Wii) coming out I might have to jump right to that, even though that remote looks silly. Hilarious, really. "You'll only need the Wii remote!" "Okay, you can put the remote on its side like a normal controller!" "Never mind that, you can attach a joystick dongle to it!" "Oh, wait, just attach this real gamepad to the bottom!" "Hey, please, come back! Don't use your Gamecube controllers, please! We'll give you a real controller, we promise! Oh, and lots and lots of chocolate! Just come back, pretty please?" Can you see the hilarity? The system isn't even out yet and they've already started pandering to us.

But to return to the topic at hand (whatever that is :)) I'm not sure what it'd take to make NT Warrior fivers. After all, I've created DS9 fivers off of transcripts since it's been years since I've seen those particular episodes, but could you find MM: NTW transcripts anyway, much less five off them? I get the feeling that there'd be a lot more visual jokes to be found in cartoon fivers that aren't included in transcripts.

[MaverickZer0]

No, I'd use the subtitles, and I don't get sick of the original episodes.

(Zeke, you did notice the 'Bob and George Forever' in his sig for a while? For shame.)

BN and X aren't even remotely similar, so if you like RPG-type thingies, you'll probably like BN. (I can't call it the Wii either. It just feels wrong.)

There's five of us! Yay! Now we can form our own Cross Fusion team!

*grabs ProtoMan before anyone else can*

[Zeke]

(Zeke, you did notice the 'Bob and George Forever' in his sig for a while? For shame.)

Keep your darn shame. I did notice, but liking B&G doesn't equate to liking Battle Network. It doesn't even equate to liking Mega Man. How many Red vs Blue fans have never played Halo?

BN and X aren't even remotely similar, so if you like RPG-type thingies, you'll probably like BN.

For that matter, we know Nate's a Pokemon fan. BN isn't Pokemon, but there are strong similarities that make it likely a fan of one will like the other too.

There's five of us! Yay! Now we can form our own Cross Fusion team!

Cross Fusion? No thank you. I'll stick to operating. None of the risks and all of the credit, baby!

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, big webcomic and anime fan, but there is little overlap there.

Thanks for the help, Maverick. Informal poll, who would be overjoyed to have Nintendo swap the name back to Revolution?

Just a little plug for Dave Anez and all his buddies, if you haven't been to bobandgeorge.com yet, go now, or rather when you have six hours to kill. It'll be well worth your time, I promise you.

[MaverickZer0]

True. *should've remembered RvB. hates Halo, loves the funny* Keep in mind I am frequently up until 4 am and as such have little-to-no sense.

Ooh! Me! *waves hand* Much prefer Revolution.

Yes, true. I like both. *pats Ampharos*

Aw. *prefers Cross Fusion* Then again, that may just be because I like the pretty sequences. And the damage doesn't bother me. Makes the hero look more the part n' such.

[KillerGodMan]

Much prefer Revolution.

Aww! What's wrong with 'wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'?

Anywho, I have NO IDEA what you're talking about, so I'll get to my own, thread-related question;

*ahem*

Hey Zeke? Remember the idea I had awhile back? You know... 5 minute House?

[JVTruman]

I like BN too, as well as the other MM series (though I suppose I can't say about the new ones that haven't been released/translated yet). Zeke, I know you like the original, X, and BN, but what about Legends and Zero?

[Zeke]

I adore the Zero games. In fact, the MMZ fiver will probably come before I'm done the X series, because I have lots of ideas. With Legends I'm handicapped by not having a PSX yet, but the games look pretty good.

Hey Zeke? Remember the idea I had awhile back? You know... 5 minute House?

Never heard of it. Aside from the fiver you sent. I'll get on that when I can; sorry for the wait.

[evay]

Never heard of it. Aside from the fiver you sent. I'll get on that when I can; sorry for the wait.
I second the motion for "Five-Minute House."

[Hejira]

I third that motion, and I remembered that I have a half-done House fiver on my hard drive. BUT -

About RvB. The miniseries Out of Mind seems to be more focused on action than comedy (I counted exactly one joke in Part 2, but I couldn't understand the beginning stuff on the PA system), so I did an experimental fiver of the first part, which in its original form is less than 3 minutes long. Should I release it here and get your opinions and stuff?

*saves it in Notepad lest something crash*

*Notepad crashes*

Day-umn, I love copy/paste! *phew*

[Gatac]

Fourthed!

Gatac

[JVTruman]

I adore the Zero games. In fact, the MMZ fiver will probably come before I'm done the X series, because I have lots of ideas. With Legends I'm handicapped by not having a PSX yet, but the games look pretty good.

The first Mega Man Legends game is also out for the Nintendo 64 (as 'Mega Man 64') and the PC, so you might want to try one of those versions.

[MaverickZer0]

Grah. I can't stand Legends. It was a cool concept, but it's frustrating as hell to play. *has the N64 version* Then again, I'm not so go at FPS games.

*wonder of wonders, may become bored enough over the summer to attempt to five an NT Warrior/Rockman.EXE episode. In fact, has determined to do so. Gasp!*

[Nate the Great]

You go right ahead, Mav. Looking forward to it.

If some of you are still on the fence about Wii/Revolution, consider this: Many games for the N64 had "64" after their names, right? And a lot of GBA games have "Advance" after their names. Ditto for the DS. Now compare these:

Super Mario Revolution
Super Mario Wii (yeah, I know it's Super Mario Galaxy, but go with me here)

Metroid Prime Revolution
Metroid Prime Wii (only if it has zero-suit Samus, right? Zero-suit Samus, weee! :))

Pokemon Revolution
Pokemon Wii (risque connotations, if you have a dirty mind)

Sonic Revolution
Sonic Wii (ditto, no idea if Nintendo would do this anyway, or even if Sega would let them. The new Sonic games are for the Playstations, right?)

I think I've made my point.

[Hejira]

I think I've made my point.
No, you haven't. Those aren't the actual titles to the games.

I'd say Nintendo was being cautious, but...you know. Wii Sports.

[Zeke]

Metroid Prime Wii (only if it has zero-suit Samus, right? Zero-suit Samus, weee! :))

I dunno. There's one problem with the Zero Mission bodysuit: it's a bodysuit. I think that was a good choice on the designers' part (fanservice should stop somewhere), but still... look at her little blue number in the Fusion endings (http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/gba/b/mf_2.htm). I would pay triple if she wore that in Prime 3. I exaggerate, but only slightly.

Also, while the bodysuit was well modeled in Prime 2's ending, Samus's face wasn't. It looked much more natural in Prime 1.

[Derek]

Geez, you people. Back in my day, we didn't even know she was a woman until we beat it. Bodysuits indeed. :)

[PointyHairedJedi]

I can't say I've ever fancied a video game character. Comics, of course, are completely different.

[Nate the Great]

The zero-suit Samus joke was just that, a joke! I've never played a Metroid game, so I really wouldn't know. My first real experience with Samus is Smash Brothers, and the concept of her being a woman really never entered the equation.

My point was that if Nintendo intends to continue their practice of naming games after the consoles rather than number them into the dozens, Revolution is preferable to Wii.

For that matter, let us consider the main reasons for the name Wii, according to the press release:
1. The two "i"'s are two people playing a game and/or the Wii remote next to the joystick dongle. Silly, as I've seen precious few two-person gaming being done. I've usually played alone or as a group of four. Wiiii, anyone?
2. You don't need region-specific names; everyone can pronounce Wii. Erm, since when is this a major consideration? I'm not loosing any sleep over us calling it Nintendo and them calling it Famicom.
3. Wii connotates "we." Uh, guys, that's only in English. For all we know, the mudmen of South America interpret that sound as "person who has a predilection for feather boas and Zima."

To return to a lighter topic, how many Mega Man games are there? Are there any more series than Classic, X, BattleNetwork, and Zero?

[MaverickZer0]

There's the new two series, ZX and ZN, but they haven't been released yet. There's also DASH/Legends, which in my eyes barely counts but has the name so should be mentioned anyway. It's more of an FPS/Action RPG than the other series' sidescroller/card RPG-type styles.

I've also heard Wii connotates holding up three fingers on one hand and two on the other, but that was just so stupid I couldn't really think of it for long. I'll call it an eye-dee-ten-tee error on Nintendo's part. (For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, write out those letters and numbers together on a piece of paper.)

[Zeke]

To return to a lighter topic, how many Mega Man games are there? Are there any more series than Classic, X, BattleNetwork, and Zero?

To expand on Mav's comments and clarify a bit (as he tends to use the Japanese names a lot), here's a little list. A gaiden is a sidestory, not part of the main series, and often made in a different style. Think Metroid Prime Pinball or Pokemon Snap.

Mega Man (Classic)
Japanese name: Rockman
Primary console: NES
Games: 8 in main series, 5 in Game Boy series, two arcade games, many remakes, a few gaidens

Mega Man X
Japanese name: Rockman X
Primary console: SNES, PSX
Games: 8 in main series, 2 in Game Boy series, one RPG

Mega Man Legends
Japanese name: Rockman DASH
Primary console: PSX
Games: 2 in main series, one gaiden

Mega Man Zero
Japanese name: Rockman Zero
Primary console: GBA
Games: 4 in main series

MegaMan Battle Network
Japanese name: Rockman EXE
Primary console: GBA
Games: 6 in main series, several gaidens, anime, about a zillion other things that are Japan-only

Mega Man ZX
Japanese name: Rockman ZX
Primary console: DS
Games: First one released (arrives here in September), anime in development

Battle Network sequel series (American title not yet announced)
Japanese name: variously "Shinsei Rockman ZN" and "Ryuusei no Rockman"
Primary console: DS
Games: One in development

There have been around 100 games with the Rockman name on them. The ones in the main series tend to be better than the gaidens. Classic, X, Zero, ZX, and Legends take place in the same world (in that order), with centuries separating each series from its successor. These series deal with robots of various kinds. Most of the games are sidescrollers (and damn fine ones). Battle Network and its sequel take place in a different world and deal with computer programs instead. Most of these games are fusion RPGs with a really nifty battle system that's better tried out than explained; suffice to say it's not just "pick an attack off a list."

Perhaps the most frustrating thing is that Capcom seldom finishes a series before starting a new one. We've been waiting ten years for Mega Man 9.

(By the way, it's "connote," not "connotate.")

[Nate the Great]

Yikes. If there were fivers for all of those, you'd have to split off a separate Five-Minute Mega Man exosite, wouldn't you?

What do you mean by gaiden? My understanding of the word is that it's an alternate or "another" version. For example the two 64DD add-ons to Ocarina of Time are Master Quest and Zelda Gaiden AKA Majora's Mask. What with the plethora (no Three Amigos jokes, please) of parallel Mega Man universes that we already have, the concept of "gaiden" would seem to be implied and an unnecessary addition.

[MaverickZer0]

Yes. There's also the original Mega Show cartoon and possibly Captain N to work with. As well as possibly the various manga/serial comics etc. Though we've never done books before, the comics are a whole different continuity line.

It'd very popular in Japan, hence they make a lot of it. Not all of it gets translated. (And I do use the original names when I can.)

It's summer. I can't spell.

[Hejira]

Think Metroid Prime Pinball or Pokemon Snap.You know, Metroid Prime Pinball is the only way - without being arrested, judged, and/or condemned - to hit a woman with paddles and knock her across a table. A lot.

OTOH, there is no excuse for Pokémon Snap.

[PointyHairedJedi]

Unfortunately, I only learned that after buying it.

[Nate the Great]

I rented Pokemon Snap once, and it was okay. My only real problems are that it's too short for the money they're asking, they really dumbed down the controls (in all realism they should've had an autopilot option for the kiddies and let the older folks drive the thing around), and that it was only the first 150. I think it was at least the Gold/Silver generation, so they really had no excuse not to have 251.

On a totally irrelevant tangent, I recently saw some older Pokemon merchandise, and they're always "150 Pokemon." Putting aside the fact that we knew Ho-oh existed, Mew should've been in the original count. Always 151, not 150.

[Zeke]

Yeah, but if you advertise 150, number 151 becomes a big deal. And so on and so forth. Besides, while Mew was coded into Red/Blue, it was completely inaccessible -- you needed inside information just to know it existed. The only way to get one (outside of cheating or very clever glitch exploitation) was to attend a Nintendo event where they were giving them out.

This is another Pokemon/Battle Network parallel, incidentally. Each game has had BattleChips which could only be obtained at special events in Japan, barring some miracle with the chip traders. The most notorious example is Darkness, the deadly Program Advance from BN2 which does 3000 damage but requires Japan-exclusive chips. (It's a combined attack by Forte/Bass and Gospel/Grave.)

What do you mean by gaiden? My understanding of the word is that it's an alternate or "another" version. For example the two 64DD add-ons to Ocarina of Time are Master Quest and Zelda Gaiden AKA Majora's Mask.

Since gaiden means "side story", I use it for any game which isn't part of the main series. For example, the main series of Mega Man Classic is the sequence of numbered games, Mega Man (1) to Mega Man 8. Games like Mega Man & Bass and Mega Man Soccer aren't in that series, so I call them gaidens. Similarly, Battle Network's main series runs from BN1 to BN6; Network Transmission for GameCube and BattleChip Challenge for GBA are gaidens.

Zelda is an interesting example, because it's unusually hard to draw the line there. Not only is the whole idea of "Zelda canon" murky, but Link is constantly having non-Hyrule adventures that seem kinda like gaidens but are definitely in the main series. Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask are perfect examples.

Hejira... no, I can't add anything to that. Wow.

[Nate the Great]

Oh, right, the battlechips. That brings me back to when I learned about the Battle Network games. I thought that the idea of battlechips was kinda neat and was wondering how they'd pull it off. I assumed that they would be incorporated as e-Reader cards. That made sense to me. If they had, Nintendo would've sold a LOT more merchandise.

As a sidenote, along with Mario Advance 4 I got some e-Reader cards. I looked into it and was surprised to see that you need a second GBA, a link cable, and an e-Reader to use the cards. Why, why, oh WHY didn't they add a cartridge slot to the top of the e-Reader? Why? I assumed that accesories like the e-Reader would've been built like Game Genies. Stick the game into the e-Reader, stick the e-Reader into the GBA. Obvious, logical approach, right?

For that matter, I think that that was why e-Reader failed. They never considered what was obviously possible. Have Pokemon e-Reader cards that will transfer a Pokemon into your Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/LeafGreen/FireRed (based on probability distributions, of course. Oddish would be a common, find one every five packs or so, one in a hundred chance at Moltres, one in a thousand for Mewtwo, etc). Sell e-Reader cards with five random Potions, Rare Candies, etc. Create Yu-gi-oh e-Reader cards for the more powerful cards in the game and do the same probability distribution. Make a game based on Digimon Tamers similar to Battle Network.

Don't you think that e-Reader would've sold a hundred more copies if they'd done it right.

[Nate the Great]

A hundred TIMES more copies, duh. Sorry about the slip. A hundred copies wouldn't have kept it on the market for long.

[MaverickZer0]

You're missing the half-dozen Japan only arcade games and of course, 4.5.

I have an official Mew as well as an official Darkness PA. I used to know someone who used to play video games and went in for all those events, but got bored of them eventually and gave the stuff to me because I still played. And yes, Darkness PA is awesome. Mew is good, but kind of overrated.

...I like Pokémon Snap. It's rather nifty.

Personally, I would've been happy if some of the stuff they cut out of BN6 made it to e-Reader. Very happy. BN5 as well. And 4.5, and the BattleChip Gate to go with it. And a whole load more Pokémon stuff. But they don't usually do things the fans want.

[Nate the Great]

"They don't usually do things the fans want."

Yeah, seconded. Don't get me started on the big voice actor controversy. To me that is the single stupidest decision in the history of dubbing.

[MaverickZer0]

...Which voice actor controversy? NT Warrior has had so many.

To me, the horrible mess called Cardcaptors is the worst mistake.

[Nate the Great]

Sorry, I meant the Pokemon voice actor controversy. Enter "save our voice actors" into google or something to find their website.

What's a mess in Cardcaptors? I enjoy that show a lot. Most major complaints seem to spread from a few factors:
1. They skip fifteen episodes to get to Li faster. I can understand this, as something similar happened with Sailor Moon. There are like thirty episodes before all five Scouts are assembled, and the first eight or so was only two Scouts. I enjoyed seeing Serena get into and out of her own messes, and I miss Moon Tiara Magic and the Luna Pen.
2. They try to make Li into a full-fledged Cardcaptor. I find this one really amusing, inasmuch as he NEVER captures a card! Sure, a few cards choose him to be their master, but he can't capture any.
3. Some complain about the whitewashing of child/adult relationships and homosexuality. My response is "duh, of course they did. It'd never get onto American TV without it." Besides, do we really want small children to be learning about this stuff from TV? Let them have their innocence as long as possible, I say.

[MaverickZer0]

Ah yes. I stopped watching Pokemon ages ago, so I wouldn't know.

It was more the fact that they hacked it to pieces than anything. I've seen the original, subbed. Much better.

On 3: That actually is one of my complaints, because small children wouldn't get that anyways, as there was never anything overt. And they didn't really take it all out. Li still blushes around (....ah hell. It's been a while. Yue's mortal form...), though that was explained properly in the original, the explanation never made it to the dub.

[Nate the Great]

If you can just stop watching Pokemon, you have a LOT of self control. Long story short, 4Kids used to do the dubbing, but Pokemon USA bought out the rights. They claim that they couldn't keep the old cast because they're employed by 4Kids. You may have noticed their work on other 4Kids shows. My response is "why buy out the rights? there are only two seasons left. If you were going to do a big change, do it at the start of Pokemon Advance, two years ago. In Japan that's treated as a brand new show anyway."

Li's blushing is hardly unique. I'm still surprised at all of the engaged cousins there are in these shows.

As an additional plug for the "missing" episodes at the start of Sailor Moon, I miss the Molly and Melvin plotlines. That was great.

[MaverickZer0]

I've never thought of myself as having self control, but yes, I did 'just stop' watching.

I know. It just strikes me as odd that they try and cut anything of that manner out when it doesn't work anyway. Half the time it makes fans more inclined to believe in relationships.

Ah, Sailor Moon. I used to watch that too, but again, I just stopped. The pull of MegaMan yanked me out of it, I think.