6th-sage's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[LARRY episode 1.5]

Hey, it's me again

Before I give you some constructive criticism, I'd like to congratulate you on your hard work and this wonderful episode. I enjoyed Larry 1.5 and I'm really looking forward for episode 2, where the series goes back to Larry, the messed up boy wonder.

There are, however, some things that I need to point out, and I'll separate these points into roughly 3 categories:

1. Regarding the Animation itself: The artwork was splendid and it never ceases to amaze me how much effort you put into every detail of each character, object, and environment. The fact that you could picture a whole city and perhaps even world in your head is a wonder to me. However, there are some glitches and small details that nearly always catches my eye ever since Paladin. First, there are probably some layer problems. For example, if you look carefully at the first scene where there's a rolling view of the grassy/woods scenery from left to right, you will notice that the road moves "faster" than the grass, uncovering some flowers beneath it, like the road is moving across the grass. That kinds of seems odd, as roads don't move. And sometimes when people walk, they look like they're moving on conveyor belts, like... the road is trying to stop them from moving. Not sure how to explain it, but they look kind of like doing the Michael Jackson moonwalk. And there are a few other glitches that you can notice if you analyze your animation carefully.

2. Regarding the pulling of cliches: Your making fun of political or other sorts of references are actually pretty fun. They always put a smile on my face, and sometimes laugh. However, I feel like there's less power in the 1.5 than the first Larry. Not that you did bad, but there's probably the audience to think about. I understand how much work you put into making this funny, but the problem is, you're probably a specialist in this area and have done some reference researches. There are, however, many people who don't get the jokes simply because they don't know the reference in which you are trying to make fun of. While some obvious issues had made me laugh like "Go back to your own country"-"that's what we're trying to do", there are also quite a few jokes I didn't get because I didn't know where it came from. There are a few ways to solve this: the first of which is to provide an optional commentary (just subtitles, no need to voice it) that we viewers can turn on or off to explain the references. If not, then you can provide an article on the "making" of 1.5 on your website so we can understand it better. I'm sure if we understand the jokes, we'll laugh more often. Another thing to point out is probably that some jokes are... played out. For example, the "side character seeking to accomplish a goal, go through a variety of obstacles, and in the end fail to accomplish the goal" stunt has been seen in virtually every single anime filler, Cartoon Network shows, etc. Not that it's bad, but we've seen it so many times it fails to make us laugh. Another common joke is the "misunderstanding the side-character's words into something and end up worshipping the side-character" is also been used far too many times.

3. Regarding the plot: To put it simply, this one does not contain as much action as the previous episode. Maybe because you developed both the villain and protagonist so well that there is some tension and anticipation, but I suppose this is the difference between an anime filler and the real anime plot. Fillers are optional episodes used by companies to stall and make money, with no link to the plot. Most people skip the anime filler and go to the episodes where the plot continues. Perhaps because we think this has nothing to do with the story that we are a bit... bored? Or maybe because we can't find any meaning in watching it? If you link the .5 episodes to the actual story, it'll give these characters some meaning than just some filler characters, as there will be anticipation to how these characters will play a role in Larry's life.

Keep up the good work. Looking forward to Larry 2.

Nick

Jazza responds:

wow what a fantastic analysis of... everything! great work.

while i would love to respond to each point individually, the purpose would be void because in each case the answer is mostly the same; i really dont think it out that much. lol.

it's not that i dont put in effort, but when it comes to scripting i tend to improvise. i have a rough idea of the plot and whatever jokes come to my head as i write, end up in the flash. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt so much. i COULD spend more time in it, and i probably should, but i kinda feel like i have a comfortable pattern if you know what i mean lol.

episode 2 will have al ot more attention paid to it though coz i have more story to fit in and the jokes will need to be worth putting in.

thanks for your great review mate i really appreciate it!

[Dawning of Darkness 5 (P1]

Been over a year mate, you still alive there?

I was going to leave a review then back in 2008 when I first saw this, but at that time, I thought you would have submitted part 2 not soon after this one. Didn't know that you'd go into hiding for a year and a half before showing up with some news again.

And now you're back, with hopefully more powerful skills than before. Though I must say, your growth has been quite terrifying, nearly as terrifying as your series. While sprite legends like Alvin or Daniel-sun have high linear growth, your improvement has been explosive that it's unreal - it's exponential and it's only a matter of time before you may surpass even them. Your sprite skills, your story, your imagination and characters have all blown my mind again and again.

I suppose it's the dark feel to it, much like Daniel's Power Star series that have drawn me in. While most series keep the heroes as an underdog, but still managing to thrawt the villain, they've always left me cheering for the bad guys, because the good guys seemingly always win, wanting to see the good guys ass get kicked because they always win. Only twice in my life did I ever want to lean a bit towards the good guys: the Power Star series and this. This is proof of how powerful your series is - the fact that you made the good guys struggle towards seemingly an impossible goal, knowing that they may never win made me feel more for them. (Doesn't mean I still like seeing their ass get kicked though).

A few things you need to keep in mind, though, when continuing the series:

1. Start killing off characters, especially the good guys - if you don't start murdering some of the characters, then the dark feel of the series may start to go down. Why? Because we've seen the limit to what you'll do to the good guys - you will injure the, you will crush them, maybe nearly kill them, but you will never kill them and that's when the series will start going downhill and we will be disappointed, because we know you will never do worse and we've seen the limit. I don't want to see it go that way. However, don't kill them off all at once, because that's despair - hopelessness: if that's the case, might as well have killed them off all at once in the beginning.

2. Aim for tragedy - and by definition, tragedy is only tragedy when at the end, there is a spark of hope, when the good guys seemingly almost win, but only for a minute, before hope is taken away from them and darkness descends upon them as sudden as existence and as silently as death. What will keep us watching is the powerful dark drive that makes us feel sorry for the good guys, but at the same time, having a that small corner of hope that something good may happen. That's what you're seeking. You've been doing an excellent job of that so far, allowing the good guys to grow stronger, but always surpassed by their superior antagonists. Darkness to light should at least be 2:1. But remember, keep it up.

3. There are 3 types of villains: Villains who are evil because they have a tragic past and we ultimately pity, villains who are evil because they hate the world enjoy watching the world burn (which is just a different form of the first type), and villains who we will never understand because they have no motives and no drive, villains who are just insane, and they are the lowest to highest level villain respectively. On newgrounds, nearly 95% of the villains are type 1, 5% are type 2. So far I haven't seen type 3 yet, but you can look them up in manga or in movies. The point I'm trying to make is not to always try to let us understand the bad guys. That makes us want to know more about them, but sometimes unexplainable is best - feed us just enough information to be curious, but not enough to be satisfied, because once satisfied, we don't need to watch anymore.

I hope you submit the series soon, because I tire of waiting. There are quite a few artists who start a series, but the drive to finish it dwindle and sometimes they never finish. (See Link's quest for ass). I don't want you to become one of them.

~6th-sage

shadefalcon responds:

Yeah, sorry, problem is my need to have more custom spriters on staff to help me.

And thank you, I'm always trying to improve my skills with each episode. I think you'll see a tremendous amount of "passion" in the next one, I suppose that's the best word. And Yes, I love D-Sun, one of my inspirations.

Also, yes, there will be many deaths to come along, just can't say who, some heroes, and more characters still have yet to be envieled unfortunatly.

Now for your points:

1: Agreed 100% and it's exactly where I'm taking the series. many deaths to come and some when they die, you may not even be sure if they are 100% dead.

2: Thank you very much ^-^

3: Heh heh, you're indeed a smart one. Yes, there are 3 kinds of evil:

Shadow: You pity for his horrid past.

Kiritsu: You know has a slight motive but mainly likes destruction

and the last kind of villain who just likes the world to burn as you said, well, let's just say there will be one to come, and soon ;)

Thank you for your kind words, and don't worry, even if this series takes me a long time, I WILL finish it. That's a promise to the fans, and to myself. I never leave something I started, undone.

God Bless

Shade

[TBA -Heroes vs Villains]

This has some seriously powerful potential -

The artwork, while not god-like some some of the top 50s, is actually pretty amazing. The framing was decently done: the animation flowed smoothly instead of scratchy like in the ones of new flash artists. You definitely have skill.

Artwork aside, however, I think that you may need to work a lot of developing the world, characters, plot, and fights. I'll break it down to you on my views and suggestions for each:

1. The World: Instead of textual descriptions, always employ the "show but don't tell" technique - which means, instead of telling it to us in words, show it to us in pictures, motions, and feelings. Show the world as a ghetto - spray paints, polution, corruption, crime, etc: Show people fighting for food, angry mobs, etc. It leaves a greater impression in us if you show it to us instead of telling it. I would also suggest developing the world into a more complex network and extend the reach to categorize each section of your worlds to show the good and bad.

2. The characters are what I think I need to comment on most: They were the best part of the flash and at the same time, most disappointing. It was like watching an unpolished diamond - the idea so great, yet so underdeveloped and too raw. The central part, the characters and personalities of the characters are extremely attractive. You also remembered to keep the protagonist stronger than common people, but the underdog when compared to the villains instead of making him kick ass from the beginning. The villain was a genius maniac, but you made us feel sorry for him in the end when he dies because of his own tragic past. That was also powerful.

But should you expand the series, you should leave room for character development, background history, interactions with other charcters etc. And as for their battles, I made a separate section for comments below (see part 4).

3. Plot: As I said, this flash has some serious potential to develop into a series: Remember: employ the show and don't tell. I would suggest showing earth develop from our age to the next age, to nuclear war, to expansion, and ultimately, to corruption, and one by one, sectors are conquered and earth is abandoned or left as a trashland to send criminals or wastes, etc. Show why earth is as it is right now, but also remember not all at once. Show flashes of them in each episode like layers of an onion: peel away the plot one layer at a time, let us know enough to stay interested, but not enough to destroy our curiosity.

4. Now about the battles: Also one thing I really want to comment on - employ the standard 2-3 rule: Bad guys win 2 out of every 3 battles. The first one, the bad guy dominates and toys with the good guy like he is nothing compared to him, leaving the protagonist feeling humiliated and helpless, spurring him to work hard. The second time, he fights back, and are more evenly matched, but the bad guy still gains the upperhand, but the bad guy finally sees him as a threat. And the third time, the bad guy almost wins, but in his pride, he fails to see that the protagonist has saved one last technique and when he sees through the move, it is too late.

And in the final battle, the standard battle routine is: good guy shows bad guy he has power and injures the bad guy. Bad guy unleashes full power and kicks the good guy around for a good part of the fight, until the bad guy becomes overconfident and the good guy takes control of that. HOWEVER, remember to have the bad guy make a comeback, a short comeback to make the bad guy remember not to underestimate him, a hit out of nowhere that draws blood or sends the good guy reeling. Then in an explosive final trade of blows, the good guy ultimately succeeds, critically injured, but successful.

With this, however, it is only the beginning, and the good guy realizes the need to become stronger, with far strong opponents than the one he faces and grows stronger while remaining the underdog.

You have potenail, kid - I would suggest developint it. Don't let it go to waste. I'm keep an eye on you.

~6th-sage~

Comick responds:

Wow. Thanks for taking the time to write such a nice and detailed review on my cartoon :) I see what you mean on certain parts like building the world up better and I think the characters would have been better to show personality if I had more time to do it for the contest. I imagine a lot more for them. The only part I disagree on is the battle formula you put. I feel Zane had the upper hand for most of the battle and it was better that way. He even blew up most of SAHU's head off lol. If SAHU had any moments of power it would have meant he was "holding back" and in this case he wasn't. He was mad and kept getting blown off on ever try. The last part was really just his final end, (his last weapon) if it didn't work he would have been done for...it wasn't about him getting stronger by some "power boost". This battle was pretty even actually; since they were both SAHU models...they both ended up busted and "broken" either in spirit or physically. The only thing that brought SAHU back was that he realized his efforts were not in vain (some life continued on and he could still make a difference in the world). Anyways thanks again and glad you liked it!

[LARRY episode 1]

Interesting break from the usual serious dramas...

From Paladin to the Composer, I've always thought of you as a dramatic flash artist. And it's quite interesting to see you break away from the seriousness and experiment with something very unique.

So you've decided to trash the "noble" hero tradition and give rise to a tiny, but brutal little monster. Well done. And you've even done the excellent "show, but don't tell." For example, from the first episode you've already demonstrated the stats of the little kid - his offense and defense. The kid is excessively brutal and brave, as he beat the crap out of and maimed the herald so he has superb offensive skills such as power and speed. And he got knocked bloody by a slam of a door (although it may be for comical effects), he has a weak overall defense, health, and stamina (and the fact that he's very small). You need to keep doing "show, but don't tell". That's probably one of the most powerful things you've got going there, mate.

Excellent animation and smooth effects. My personal favorite part was when Larry was marked as he was knighted and blasted with a torrent of arrows. The blur effect and fire of the arrows was awesome. The slow motion was a bit wacky. It did not show the slow motion very clearly. Slow motion would be done in contrast with a large variety of moving things slowing down. We've only seen the king's face and voice slow down, and that's not very clear. What would be clear would be hands clapping and people cheering going from fast clapping to very slow clapping (yes and then show the king's face). And the wizard stopping the arrows, you could make an effect where the arrow slows down and there's a 3D 360 turn view of the wizard slowing the arrows down and blocking them.

The best part is the plot going in a very unique direction, breaking away from the traditional "powerful evil mastermind." Usually it's the mastermind who is confident in his power and underestimates the hero. Now we've got the mastermind who is not confident in his own power and wants to choose a crappy hero. So we've got a tiny, barbaric freak pitched up against a wanna-be villain (As long as he's not like Team Rocket in Pokemo, i'm okay) - that combination would probably make the most powerful comedy ever.

What I could suggest, however, is that the hero remains the underdog. Character development is very important - do not EVER make him turn powerful within one episode. I could not stress that enough - that's usually how many epic stories destroy themselves. Make him lose some fights to give him room for development. But remember - as the hero turns stronger, you must make the advisor stronger (even if he's only an idiot).

So we've discussed the hero, the villain - now about the trainer and the king. I find it odd that a magician is going to teach him the way of the sword. That's like asking a math teacher to teach english. So far, I enjoy his personality and his relationship with Larry, "Something tells me you'll do just...fine..."

Weapons define a character. I understand you're going for the traditional legend with a legendary sword. But might I suggest something more brutal? Everyone uses sword that it's getting old. Now a War Hammer to smash things for a little kid like that would be interesting, and would probably create some very hilariously brutal effects. *Wink*

And remember, in a plot, don't leave out loose ends. The marksmen failed. I understand the king is stupid, but he should know that something is at least amiss from the sudden burst of hostility and send men out to investigate. You need to clear that up on the next episode. I mean, you can't just let the bowmen just appear and disappearing from the rest of the episodes without a trace and without the king retaliating.

I also understand that you chose to parody the usual "son follows father's footstep" and make fun of it. But ugh... making out with his father's rotting severed head is absolutely disgusting. Don't do that again.

And you need more tits. Bring in some female characters. And a rival for Larry is essential. Possibly a female rival. Hilarious.

Jazza responds:

what a flippin great review! a lot there for me to think about. i liked houw you brought to attention the 'stats' sorta things, which is interesting coz that is exactly how e would function in the upcoming games :) also with slowing down the scene even more, i wasnt trying to have the whole thing appear in slow motion, only the kins speech bit by bit in anticipation. it may not have been clear enough but i dont mind, i tend to have the job of balancing quite a lot of elements :P oh and a 360 turn, knowing how much of a perfectionist i am, would add another week to my animations work and i'm a little lazy deep down :P

dont worry about the main character becoming too powerful. and who ever said it'll only ever be one good guy against one bad guy? :P the hero got a companion, would the villain? who knows? I DO but i'm bloody well not telling! lol.

i have to go with sword simply because the series is pulling on chliches. the cliche is the hero is a knight with a sword, the pull is that the sword originated from a cheese and chicken platter rather then a mighty legend of it being held within a great stone or some crap. plus, i like swords and bludgeoning is nowhere as near as fun as slicing up people :)

oh and every character you see, especially the ones that speak, have permanent roles in the series, you will see the marksmen again, you will probably see the overlords response to their failure, and even some of the characters who have not even spoken i have already planned entire episodes to revolve around.

as for the son making out with the fathers head, it was a one off thing, i just had to for kicks :P it got the response i expected lol. i will bring in women as main charactersm a little hard atm as i wanan keep voice acting local and atm its just me and my brother. i'll figure it out. i'm keeping out sex jokes tho. they dont appeal to me.

thanks for the great review man, must have taken you at least a day right?

:D

[Bunnykill 4]

Hmm... =="

The fight scenes were awesome - as you always amaze me with the martial art moves you come up with. The drawings have improved, especially the background, the setting transfers, and minions.

As always, you employed the level system, from the lowest minions to the better minions, to the elite minions, and one giant minion, then the boss of the place. I'm glad the elite minions (the red bunnies) at least put up a good fight instead of just one or two blocks and then die.

And of course, as always, I'm a fan of your soundtracks. They always make the best bg for whatever theme you chose for your BK series.

There were a few things that left me unsatisfied though:

1. The dragon shrine didn't have a dragon. Here I was, hoping you'd at least allow Flint to summon a dragon and ride/attack it. A summon or two would've been nice. I understood you'd like this to be mainly martial arts, but a few other small additions would be nice. Summons, elementals, transformations, even illusional moves. You had the shadow clones. Even teleports. So I'm sure you at least know Naruto. They have some really cool stuff and you could improvise with a few ideas without copying them completely.

2. When Snowball went supersaiy... I mean... super-ninja, I was hoping that Flint would have at least a super-form as well. The fight dragged on a bit, but it was an amazing drag. Snowball got his ass kicked, then saved by Ruby, then Ruby got her ass kicked, then Snowball got his ass kicked again, then he went super. Flint didn't have any super forms. All he had was that shadow clone, which had already been used. He could turn into a super form, then use shadow clone. And Snowball would awaken his sharingan.... yeah sharingan. I'm sure most super-ninjas don't have red eyes for nothing. He could see time in slow motion, or you could have flint and the ninjas move in slow motion while Snowball moved in normal or fast speed.

3. The shrine was intact! WTF? You could've at least blown the ceiling out into the sky so that they could fight in mid-air. No broken walls... no caved in grounds, no broken ceilings. Wow, with their power levels over 9000 each, how could the dragon shrine be so tough to stand their blows? I suppose you'll answer with "The Dragon Shrine is holy." Yeah okay. I'll accept that. FOR NOW.

4. Hmm... Ruby just popped in and disappeared just as quick. There was no background to her - not even a bubble with her village destroyed by Flint and she sought revenge. And you forgot the most important thing...

5. ... which is...You forgot an introduction. Why is Snowball killing the ninjas? In the previous volumes, you at least explained. In BK1, it was between two feuding gangs. In BK2, it was because of a crazy doc trying to destroy earth and Snowball's money. What of BK3? Money again? Or was it something more personal? If you wanted Snowball to challenge villages like a dojo, you could've at least said so.

6. .... The story was a bit predictable. BKI~4 followed the same pattern. I was wondering if you could've thrown in an element of surprise. Like say... Flint was the boss of this place, but after Flint was killed, there was actually another ninja, a stronger ninja controlling Flint and everything goes out of whack.

Well, if there's ninjas, there should be pirates. There's a slim chance, that BK 5 should be regarding pirates. It would be fun to have Snowball battle on the seas. I never saw him use revolvers or cannons. That should be fun.

Well, if you don't already know it, One Piece is the manga with the most awesome pirate themes.

Or if you want to make something else, surprise me. I'm your fan. I'm meant to be pleased and surprised. And If I like a flash artist well enough, I'll support you all the way.

Love your works, and hoping to see more from you. Everyone loves you. But of course you already know that.

Mottis responds:

Thanks for the long review.

1. It would have been a HELL to animate. The bigger the character, the harder it is to animate(I already had some SERIOUS trouble with SumoSamurai). and just thinking about animating a huge ass dragon.... with the long neck an everything.... ehh, it's a bit too much for me to handle at my current skill level, honestly.

2. Haha went a bit too far there, methinks. I mean I already kinda overdid it with the enraged snowball thing, so any more would be too much.

3. I originally planned one of the dragon statues to end up headless, and I also planned the finishing blow as a roof-breaking, sky-high izuna drop on flint. But due to filesize issues, I had to cut the ending short, sadly.

5. I honestly thought that the small patches of text that appeared at the start and end of the earlier movies were a bit pointless and really out of place. They didn't have any sort of impact to the story whatsoever, so I decided to leave them out. I wanted to go back to the roots(original Bunnykill) where there was almost no story, and higher emphasis on action, and the contrast between being cute and horribly violent at the same time.

[The Life-Shroom Sprint]

OMG, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT

Well, I personally enjoy all mushroom chase submissions in which Mario kicks the crap out of that stupid beetle. XD By the way, did you base that "retro world" idea on AlvinEarthworm's Super Mario Bros. Z Episode 7? I'm just assuming that you're a pretty big fan of his.

And I hope you win. This was one of my personal favorites. Be sure to check out JonBro's and Psycosis91's (he's the one who made the Thwomps movies)

secondstamp responds:

Actually no, it's funny because Alvin uploaded the SMBZ episode the exact same day as my movie! So it was really a coincidence. The 8bit music was made by my man Psycosis91. I just loved the idea of having different transitions (also like the black and white and the elevator scene). Thanks for the review!

[Legend of Miyamoto]

Might I be the first to say... you left out...

*insert favorite nintendo character here*

Lol. I understand, you had to match the pace of the music to it, so you didn't have the chance to put every character of nintendo. I was thinking, where's kirby? Where's Star Fox? Where's Ness? Where's pokemon? Where's the other nintendo charactes?

Well, lots to say - I pretty much enjoyed the way you transformed animation to sprite and back. That was great, albeit not the best sprite animation compared to AlvinEarthworm or Daniel Sun, but still decent. I guess the reason I enjoyed it most was because of the originality and how you chose the time to honor the success of Nintendo's creator.

Honestly, I would have liked to give it a 9, because it wasn't perfect and it was way too short. Plus you left out too many important nintendo characters, but then again, you did put in the two most successful games - Super Mario and Zelda, so I added a point for what. But why Donkey Kong? =/ If you included HIM then what happened to yoshi, luigi, wario, waluigi, princess peach, blah blah blah?

However, seeing that I honestly enjoyed this animation to the max, I can't find it in myself to give it anything lower than a 10. (I voted a 5 btw, and I'll continue to vote 5 until the end of time, or until I get bored =P).

Yes, maybe the sprite was a good idea, but why sprite? =/ Why didn't you add scenes from say, N64? It would have been a good idea to have travelled from the basic sprites to the first level ground of gameboy color, to the 3d graphics of n64, and finally to the modern Gamecube or Wii? That would've told a lot more, explaining the development of nintendo from basic sprites to the amazing graphical success it not yields. I understand that maybe you thought it was too graphical and hard to animate, but I saw your drawing skills from real life, and I was impressed. So I thought, why not? Why didn't you do that?

Hmm... Well, another thing you could've added was the antagonists. He went on an adventure, yes, but all he met were simple goons. You could've made the king of bad guys come after them like say: Bowser from Super Mario, Ganondorf, etc. And then they were chasing him all the way towards the end. Finally, he realized he was in danger, and he had to reach that pipe, but Bowser and Ganondorf were chasing him. Then, all the Mario Characters, all the Zelda characters, all the DK characters unite in a clash of a war (LOL, SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL FTW). And then when they're fighting, do the same thing. Donkey kong blasts him through the sky, Link gives him the boost with the wind, and Mario gives him the power star.

The music was great. Gangster Trippin' by Fatboy slim. Ah, he was the king of the 90s. Now he's just normal. =/ But the idea was great and I honestly praise how you for using that music. It was a perfect fit. And the video matched with the flow. I was honestly impressed. I loved it.

Well, more to add, hmm... this one is probably what I'd like to do, but feel free to judge without bias - I would have him trespass the realms of X-box (GAH, I HATE Microsoft trying to rip more money off of us from video games), and playstation (okay, sony at least has some decent games), and then find himself in the dangers of the creators of Xbox and Sony. (LOL, I could imagine an evil, shadowed bill gates looking down at him with flashing white eyes). And then the creators of X-box and Playstation (Nintendo's biggest rivals) capture him, and force him into an arena, filled with video game fans, to fight with the playstation and X-box characters. And then, only armed with a Wii control, he summons characters from all over Nintendo to duke it out with X-box and Playstation. And it could've been an epic battle and he kicks ass, but then too many characters appear, and the characters he summoned holds them off while telling him to flee.

Well I guess what I'm trying to say is, the idea was unique, sweet, but too simple. The world of imagination is huge - there are plenty of ideas.

Well, good luck on your future works.

And congrats on your daily feature award!

Awkward-Squid responds:

Big review! I'll try to answer your questions. The exclusion of Kirby, Starfox, Ness etc. was because the animation was about Shigeru Miyamoto, and I had to only include games he created.

Donkey Kong was the first 'smash-hit' game he made, and I had to include him for being so symbolic. I would've loved to include those other characters and antagonists, but I simply ran out of time.

I chose sprites because 3d graphics would be wayyyy too hard to make, I've only started learning it recently.

I'm glad you like the music, a lot of people didn't.

And reasons why I wouldn't have him cross platforms is pretty obvious :P

Thanks very much for the indepth review dude.

[With My Mind's Madness]

This... let's see... what should I start with?

I'm really sorry you weren't eligible for Madness Day 2008's winner's list, being that you are an official NG staff and all. But Krinkels loved your submission to insanity, and even called it the best damn Madness tribute movie in history. Be proud.

Aight - I'll roughly divide the review into 2 parts - what I enjoyed and what I didn't like. Basically the Pros and Cons. And towards the end I have some questions (and suggestions if I have words left to write)

Pros:

Well, the smooth animation was excellent, but then again you ARE Mindchamber after all. The idea and your version of the ending took the Madness series to an even higher level - beyond the storm. I absolutely loved how you made Light and Dark clash on the brink of destruction of the world. And I thank you so much for remember Jesus's ability to summon zombies and his telekinetic powers.

What I enjoyed most was probably 2 things -

1. The music (I want it so bad, but I don't know where to download it =/). How you managed to make the animation match so well with the flow of the music I'll never know, but knowing your previous works (you veteran flash genius, you XD) I'm not surprised. I went to coldstage's site, but I can't find the song, any suggestions? ^^"

2. The battle of zombies against the Madness "victims" was the climax of the entire animation. I absolutely loved how you made army clash against army rather than just one person killing all (even though that's Krinkel's signature theme, but whatever, it's your work). And when Jesus went into overdrive by self-crucification was absolutely ingenius. But I couldn't read the words in the back, was it "Underestimated Government", "Unenstated government" or something else? It flashed too fast for me to catch the words. T_T"

Cons -

Well no one's perfect, and although you are one of the Gods of flash, even Gods make fatal errors. (Check out Messed Up Bible Stores, LOL). You are welcome to disagree at anything I write, because opinions are relative and may flash differently in your eyes. All I ask is to judge the criticism without bias.

What should I nag about first?

I guess I'll start with the quality. All right, I understand - you only had a week. The rough quality of the animation made my eyes hurt a bit, because it was a bit scratchy. Actually, that was what stopped me from getting a 10. Now, I'm not exactly complaining though - because as you said, you only had a week. But that's still no excuse - you should have prepared earlier. That way the quality would have skyrocketed, and your score (number 1 as it is) will rise beyond the heavens into the cosmic realms.

The second con was that it was rather disturbing, even more disturbing than Krinkel's madness series. Okay, the killing the victims part was all right, because it was the Madness Signature theme. But the self-crucification part, however much I enjoyed it at first, gave me nightmares. Seriously. And I'm sure there are probably some religiously serious people who are secretly cursing you at night for using such a religious relation to the real crucification of Jesus. Well I'm not Christian (I'm Buddhist), but I guess maybe some christians out feel a bit insulted.

You left out Hanks and the Clown. That disappointed me. I know Krinkels made it look like Jesus killed them, but Hanks and the Clown don't die. You should know that. If the Hanks can get his head ripped off by the clown and still manage to make a full recover as to commit mass slaugher, a couple of stabs and bullets can't stop them. What you could have done is have Jesus summon them as a zombie. There could've been a high-level battle. But it probably won't be able to match the music.

Also, I have a question - What happened in the end? Who switched heads with whom and how did it happen? And why did it happen? I'm confused. @_@

Meh, it's still one of your best works. Being number one on top fifty proved it. Don't let my review get to you. I'm a harsh critic. Not that may read this of course, you have like 1311 reviews.

Best of luck in the future.

MindChamber responds:

I agree with everyting.. but remember hank and the clown werent in the last madness episode, and this was an epilogue of that one. adding them wouldnt have made any sense.

[Power Star 4]

Hmm... this is going to be a long one...

The score I wanted to give you was 9.5, but I rounded it to a 10.

So we have the main antagonist Mario. And we have the tragic hero Luigi. And basically Mario gets possessed by Boos in Power Star 1. He commits mass slaughter of Toads in an attempt to seize all the power stars. And then Luigi comes in and chases Mario. He fights fiercely from Power Star 2 all the way to 3. But Luigi still had brotherly feelings towards Mario and could not bring it in to kill him; and possessed Mario proved too strong for Luigi to stop. So in the end, strong as Luigi was, he could not defeat Mario and dies by sword point. Mario goes berserk and kills Peach. Mario, upon seeing them dead, commits suicide and kills the host along with the invaders. Everyone dies.

What a happy ending.

What should I nag about first? Hmm, I'll start with the Toads. I wanted the Toads to have an "evolution". As in, kind of like climbing up stairs, the further the story goes, the stronger the Toads. The first toads will be basic soldiers. The 2nd toads to enter will be like knights - the stronger soldiers (armored Toads). The 3rd will be elite combat Toads (FBI-looking Toads). The 4th kind will be Toad assassins (a ninja-looking toad). And finally Giant Toads (Giant Toads, that's clear enough I think). I would have you improvise and strengthen the Toads as the story grows.

And what happened to the yoshis? They disappeared after their debut in Power Star 2! Did you give up on them or something? Or did they just happen to vanish. And you didn't have any of the Yoshis possessed. You should know that Yoshis are stronger than Toads and are people's favorite characters.

About your ending - I predicted a tragic ending from the start. That I already knew from the beginning from the foreshadowing and the dark mood of the entire story. I am grateful for you not making the hero (luigi) overly dominant. The hero was strong, but the bad guys were stronger. However, you made the hero close enough to the bad guys in strength as to have a fierce fight. The balance of power was perfect. And your fight scenes kicked ass. Especially the swords. I would have liked a gun duel, too though =/. No guns =_="

But your ending has a weakness - it was too rushed. I would have ended it the same way BUT added a few scenes. However, opinions are trivial, and my version might not be so good in your eyes. All I ask is that you judge without bias.

I would have done the same thing with Power Star 4 all the way until Mario raises his sword about to kill Luigi. Then, Mario has a struggle in his mind. His head starts to pound and then he drops his sword. The scene flashes to the dark world inside Mario's heart. Mario refuses to listen to his host to kill Luigi and he resists the command. And then war occurs inside Mario's dark world. Finally, the war becomes so fierce that Mario's body separates into 2 - Dark Mario and Light Mario. And Boo takes possession of the Dark Mario. Mario wakes up and finds Luigi unconscious (but not dead) next to him. He dukes it out with Dark Mario, but is overwhelmed. Just as hope is lost, Luigi wakes up and joins Light Mario in the fight against Dark Mario.

Dark Mario is overwhelmed and attempts to flee. He commands his invaders (which did nothing in power star 4 except march) to attack them. Luigi and Mario slash their way through the possessed Toads and finally catches Dark Mario. They have a fierce fight against Dark Mario and blasts the castle apart.

Dark Mario is overwhelmed and finally killed. Hope is won and a happy ending ensues... or it should've. Just as they prepare to celebrate, Dark Mario's eyes light up. The Host escapes Dark Mario and takes possession of Light Mario. Light Mario goes berserk and stabs Luigi in the back. Luigi dies. Then do the same thing you did for your ending. Mario kills Peach. And the "Is there anything more painful than watching those you love... die..." thing. And Mario suicides. Blah blah blah.

But nice job man. You are the king of sprite flashes. I loved it all the way.

Damn, I'm out of words

D-SuN responds:

Wow thats quite a review... I love it!
Your ending to Power Star 4 is actualy very good and would work! Infact, Its rathe similar to one of the endings I had planed. The battle inside Marios Soul. I actualy animated some of that. I might try to digg it up.
Anyway, I'm glad that you enjoyed Power Star so much that you wrote this. I'll be wiping out some awesome stuff in the future so stay tuned :)
Peace

[Dawn of the Madness]

WTF is with that "To be continued" shit? =D

Damn! Looked like you performed a DBZ fusion with the Resident Evil and Madness Combat series. Now, I absolutely loved how you based the art and concept on Madness while having a bit of your own stuff. This is my favorite Madness 2008 submission by far along with Xionic Madness 2 (Check that out if you haven't already. now THAT's what I call unique).

You know what would make the series even more pwnage? Check out the "Castle III" series. I want to see not just a few people against many, but rather I want to see army against army. That would be badass. Don't make the soldiers just cannon fodder. If you kill off any soldiers, then at least let the soldiers take down a few zombies.

Cuz Madness it's just one person (okay, 3 if you include Jesus and the clown) killing many. What I would like to see would be not slaughter, but war. I want to see human army against zombie army. That would be sweet and it would include something Krinkels doesn't do. So basically I want to see mass slaughter against mass slaughter instead of just a few people killing thousands. I know that's what Madness is all about, but you could incorporate a few of your own ideas.

Thank goodness you had a plot. Krinkels also has a plot, but it's a more abstract kinda plot. Yours is a bit more solid and understandable. Thank goodness (albeit a bit unoriginal of an idea, but still great). I enjoyed how you killed off some of the main characters, otherwise the protagonists would be overly dominant and that's how I hate it.

Grenades and explosives would be a nice addition. You could do some aerial battles from the chopper. If I were to write the story (don't mind me, I'm just writing fan fiction) - I would find that the Pennsylvania Island infested by the zerg, I mean, ZOMBIE LOL. And group of 3 find that the base is already blasted into oblivion. And just as they were about to lose all hope, they find a small band of surviving soldiers in uniforms (maybe about 20 or 30). And together they try to find a way to contact the outside source. They find a radio tower, which is their only source of communication on the island. But it's already invaded by the zombies. So the soldiers and the gang rush in to contact anyone outside.

It took a while, with a mechanic trying to fix the equipment with the survivors trying to fend off the zombie invaders. Finally, they made contact with the Central Military Headquarters. The headquarters tell them that they are planning to seal off the eastern coast of America and in 3 days, they will use nuclear bombardment to cleanse the entire area of zombies. They tell them that they can spare 3 choppers to the base. But it will take 2 days to arrive.

And they have to survive for a 48 hrs - (use your imagination - how they survive the 2 days). And they are being slaughtered and cornered. The army of zombies are endless. Just as they are about to lose hope, 3 choppers land. The next part is based on the "Castle III" series.

They slash their way through the endless zombie hordes to try to get to the choppers. But there are too many zombies. The pilots urge the surivors to hurry up. And soon the zombies attack the helicopters. But the survivors are still too far away. And soon, the zombies laid waste to the first helicopter and it explodes. Only 2 choppers left.

The other two decide to take off and throw rope ladders down to avoid zombies. And the survivors grab hold of the ropes while shooting and trying to fend off the zombies. But one ladder was overtaken by zombies and the zombies mass onto the chopper's tail. The chopper loses balance and falls to the ground.

The last chopper remains and the pilot yells that the chopper could only support 10 people at most. But there are 15 survivors left. And so, one of the main heroes jumps off to stay behind. 5 other soldiers head off after him.

And they fight a heroic suicidal battle while the other choppers take off. And then in the distance, the nuke arrives and BOOM. The survivors see the mushroom cloud as they fly towards the sunset.

I'm out of words.Damn

LittleLuckyLink responds:

Woah this was long
Nice story there bud, that's actually the sort of direction I am headed for with Day of the Madness.