Quarantine Control #207: Epic Donkin’ Troopers
It’s still a good time to have COVID-19 on the mind, with us still being in the fourth anniversary of the virus’ spread being classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). It’s also a good time to reminisce about the lockdowns that started, and the revisionist history around them. You’d think the lockdowns went on for a year or more by the way some people describe them, even though they were only in effect for about a couple of months at most — less in other cases. Guidance notices and recommendations took over afterward, though those didn’t necessarily force people into their homes. It’s another showcase of how we learned nothing from the pandemic.
Geoffrey Barnes
I don’t talk about the video games I’m currently playing or have recently played through in these posts. I’m currently in the middle of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild right now, an extremely good video game, but I’m taking this time to talk about another superlative game I finished recently.
Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
Source: Nintendo Switch
Episodes: 1 video game (with a lot of worlds)
The prospect of finally digging into Super Mario Odyssey was exciting for me, and a tad terrifying. This was the first 3D Mario game I was playing since Super Mario Sunshine on GameCube, as someone who skipped the Super Mario Galaxy games thanks to never owning a Wii or Wii U, and not getting the recent collection that only included the first game. (I’m not quite counting Super Mario 3D Land and 3D World as 3D Mario games, with both representing fusions of the 2D and 3D titles.) I knew it would be a great experience, but getting readjusted to playing 3D Mario was bound to be a learning curve. But that’s okay; it didn’t take quite as long as I expected. I’m also not surprised that it’s a great Mario game, challenging and fair with plenty of content.
The story in Mario games is clearly there to drive the game along, a phenomenon more apparent here than in other video games. The chief purpose here is to introduce Cappy, who takes over Mario’s hat and provides the game’s main gimmick. He gives Mario an extra attack and jumping option, and most importantly gives Mario the power to take over certain enemies for a short time (shorter if Mario and Cappy take over large enemies), opening up plenty of gameplay possibilities. There’s also a story about Bowser kidnapping Princess Peach again, though with the added twist of him wanting to marry her this time. If you wondered where the movie got the inspiration for Peaches, here it is.
The story was fine, and the neat twist at the end was nice (though upsetting for some fans in particular), but it’s of course the gameplay that shines the most. The fully-3D Mario games always have one main collection feature, which happens to be Moons this time around. These are hidden across all the game’s open stages, with some being required for the main story, but several others being unlockable through achieving a bunch of actions and searching around. This game feels like the Super Mario 64 sequel I wanted for years, with the bonus of the game not kicking the player out the stage every time they grab a Star/Moon. Not all the Moons can be grabbed at once, but it’s nice that most of them can. It encourages plenty of exploration, even though that was already easy to do with the tight controls and the beautiful environments anyone would expect from a Mario game with solid production values.
It’s worth emphasizing just how many Moons each stage has. I had a little third-world concern early in the game after guessing that obtaining most of the Moons would be too easy. But each stage has several that range from easy to very difficult to find (without a guide, anyway). It gives players far more to do around the stages than previous 3D Mario games (that I’ve played, to note), with each including little secrets and solid rewards for uncovering them. The secrets even include blatant homages to the old NES Mario games, for anyone who wanted that kind of action in a new game besides the Super Mario Maker titles. They’re great, and I wish there were more of them.
It’s also encouraging to explore the levels because the overall presentation is beautiful, with great environments and music. Special mention goes to the Metro Kingdom (aka New Donk City), which feels perfect to explore and through the look being a nice parody of New York City’s aesthetic and sound. It’s not the main hub like I thought it would be after the game was revealed, but it’s clear the development team put plenty of effort into this.
The only very minor complaint I have is the voicework. The game uses a fictional voice language, outside of occasional quips from Mario and Peach. But man, I guess I’m one of the few that misses the voiceover presentation from Sunshine. I just think it would be nice to have one more Mario game with cutscenes in that style, one of the best elements about the game. That aside, the only aspect that made me want to hit my head against the wall involved the constant reminders that I was very out of practice when it came to playing 3D Mario. This became strongly apparent in the post-game content, which included one nostalgic world that I wish had more to it. But Nintendo wasn’t going to put too much effort into post-game stuff, so it’s understandable.
Super Mario Odyssey is one game that has me looking forward to the future of 3D Mario, now that I’ve received a sufficient-enough confidence boost in my 3D Mario abilities that allowed me to finish the game’s story. The other game is the Bowser’s Fury part of the Super Mario 3D World port on Switch, which apparently teased what Nintendo has in store for a future 3D installment. That future, of course, will be on the next Nintendo system.
Well, unless they go with some other concept for the next 3D Mario. We’ll see soon enough, assuming no further delays to the next system occur.
Angela Moseley
I finally completed my run of Nadeshiko’s path in Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness— which I’ll save for next week. Last weekend I actually managed to watch a movie. Something I should probably try to do a little more often.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Source: YouTube Rental
Episodes: 1 movie
Starship Troopers is a movie I would have never bothered to watch on my own. I like action movies, but I generally need to be in the mood to watch them. Either the trailers or premise grabs me or it doesn’t. Thinking about it, I’m not sure why I absolutely loved Armageddon or Independence Day, but gave a hard pass to Starship Troopers back in the 90s. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for what was effectively an action movie with a sci-fi war theme. I honestly couldn’t tell you. That said, what got me around to finally watching this nearly 30-year-old movie was a relatively new game.
My husband has been on a heavy Helldivers 2 kick, and the game itself is very much inspired by Starship Troopers. Indignant that I didn’t get the movie references he made when playing, he insisted I watched Starship Troopers with him. The only thing I knew about the movie was something about soldiers and giant deadly giant bugs. I wasn’t wrong. However, I am thankful that I saw this movie as an adult rather than a teenager, as the satire would have likely been lost on me at the time.
Two hundred years into the future, the military of Earth is at war against giant alien bugs referred to as “Arachnids.” The creatures live in another part of the galaxy known as the Klendathu System, on their home planet also named Klendathu. It’s believed humanity butted up against the Arachnids when humans sought to expand further into the galaxy. The military engages in skirmishes off in the distance galaxy with the giant insects. These actions are glorified as well as military service in general. In fact, full citizenship is only guaranteed with a tour of duty. (Even mundane things like voting or having children requires volunteering with the military.)
High school friends Jonny Rico (Casper Van Dien), Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards), Carl Jenkins (Neil Patrick Harris), and Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer) plan to go into the military right out of high school. Their scores will determine what parts of the military they’ll serve in. Rico is extremely athletic, but not too bright. He ends up serving in the Mobile Infantry, while Carmen lands in Flight School on the path to becoming a pilot, and Carl heads off to Military Intelligence. Rico’s affluent parents don’t agree with his decision to serve and try to persuade him to do something else after high school. He refuses and they disown him a result.
Rico’s abilities allow him to excel in the military, and he’s quickly promoted to squad leader. However, things turn sour during a training session with live ammo. One of the soldiers he’s commanding is killed in an accident. After a bout of corporal punishment, Rico decides to call it quits and go home to his parents, who gladly accept him back. Before he can leave the base, the transmission with them is cut off. Shortly afterward, he learns that the Arachnids have sent a meteor to Earth, destroying several major cities, including his hometown of Buenos Aires. His parents don’t survive.
This causes a full on war against the Arachnids and Earth’s military mobilizes. Rico returns to the fight and he and his squad are sent off to Plant P in the Klendathu system. The invasion is a disaster as the Federation and the military drastically underestimated the intelligence of the bugs, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers die in a single day. Rico and most of his friends survive, and Earth must regroup and figure out how to more effectively fight the war.
The plot of Starship Troopers isn’t exactly deep, nor are any of the characters particularly fleshed out. Rico is the dumb, handsome jock who’s good for fighting and little else. Dizzy is his competent right-hand woman with benefits. Carmen’s smart, but manipulative in her quest to climb the career military ranks. Carl is barely seen for much of the movie (and is also a telepath because that’s a thing), but when he’s seen again it’s clear he’s been ground down by a system that only sees people as pawns. The movie itself even raises the question if war with the bugs was even necessary, or if the humans just wanted to steamroll an entire alien race in their quest for galactic domination.
Considering how much the movie satirizes military propaganda and fascism in general, I’m pretty sure the humans went out of their way to antagonize the Arachnids and were surprised when the creatures fought back. Peace or even avoiding areas the bugs lived was never offered as an option, because why would it be? This is never directly addressed in the movie, but it is deeply implied. The fascist aspects of the Federation government regarding its citizens is about as subtle as someone trying to get your attention by ramming a two-by-four into your gut. Besides compulsory– excuse me, forced voluntary military service there are other aspects of this satire. The aliens are literally dehumanized. The soldiers are little more than war fodder given bad intelligence, terrible weapons, and ineffective armor. The biggest allusion are military intelligence uniforms that are nearly a one-to-one recreation of high-ranking Nazi officer uniforms.
In this movie no one ever stops to realize they’re a cog in a fascist machine ready to grind them into nothingness in service of the government. The closest objection to this system was the families of the main characters, but they’re killed off early. Many of the soldiers understand that when they die, someone else will be ready to replace them. This is how Rico becomes a platoon leader when he replaces his fallen superiors. When Carl reveals to Rico and Carmen that one particular operation depended on the sacrifices of an entire platoon, the pair aren’t that upset. They dutifully head back into the fray without a lick of introspection. The point of the movie isn’t to have the characters realize or even break away from the awful world they’re trapped in. It’s for the audience to realize the absurdity of it all, and to ponder it while enjoying an action movie.
Starship Troopers is a fun ride. On the surface it’s an action flick that glorifies young people facing off against a deadly enemy, and the survivors being rewarded with power and admiration. Just under the surface it makes a statement about the dangers of fascism, and how people can be lured into and trapped by such a system without question. In the nearly 30 years since this movie was made, the message it brings for its audience is more relevant than ever.
Joseph Daniels
An Epic Rap Battle Retrospective Side Quest, Part 2.5
Me, yesterday: There are too many good episodes of Rap Battle to highlilght them all. I’ll just have to do what I can to showcase the very best.
Me, today: Hang on. Why don’t I use Quarantine Control to show off more of these? I helped come up with this column, I can do whatever I want with it, right?
Ten More of Freshly Kanal’s best Rap Battle episodes
Peter Griffin vs. Homer Simpson
Kirby vs. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
*this one is one of my absolute favourites, I especially adore the cute portrayal of Kirby
Sonic vs. The Flash
Doctor Strange vs. The Doctor
Jaws vs. The Loch Ness M… er…
She’s not a monster and I’m getting sick and tired of people calling her one. I refuse to use such a word to refer to her with.
The Kraken vs. Cthulhu
Maleficent vs. Scarlet Witch
Donkey Kong vs. Winston
Dream vs. Nagito Komaeda
The Rock vs. Paperboy vs. Edward Scissorhands
If anyone talks about the burden of lockdowns on anyone, including adults or kids, you have the right to simply roll your eyes. It’s pure nonsense to say that they ruined many people’s lives, outside perhaps a few independent businesses. Let this energy take you into next week’s post. That’s an achievable goal to shoot for.
About The Author
dcstaff
The collective will of the Damage Control staff combined into a single article.
