my name is PIKO, and my inconsistency is part of my charm! i draw AND i write!! but like. from time to time. send me asks about me or my interests or my ocs and i'll try to answer in a timely fashion!!
i'd love it if you affectionately referred to me using SHE/HER because. those are my pronouns <3
wow! your understanding of this character is so. . . Unique! just wondering by the way but when was the last time you directly interacted with the source media
Writing Special Pages for every pre-RTDL Kirby boss! - #8 - Kirby: Squeak Squad
Hi! I really like Kirby. I especially like Kirby's world and cute Special Page pause screens for the newer games. But the older games don't have them, so I made a bunch for every mainline game pre-RTDL!
So I wrote some for all of them, and I'm posting them here, one game at a time. So here you go, I spent a lot of time on them all so I hope you like them. Transcripts and notes below.
Click here to check out the other games in this project.
Transcripts:
STORO: "'EEK!! This pink guy is so small... and fast... I'm so creeped out...! But the boss trusts me to help! Gotta stay calm... remember my breathing exercises... Alright!! Time to squash that puffball and grab that treasure!"
SPINNI: "'Does this bozo really think he's faster than me? Nobody's faster than me! Put some treasure in front of me and I'll outrun a speeding star! I'm the fas- ...H-Hey, wait up, I was talking! That's cheating! Get back here!'"
DOC: "'Readings indicate that the pink fellow has much more power than my cohorts assumed... provoking him would be quite dangerous. How thrilling! I love this job! Forget the treasure - what's more valuable than battle data!?'"
KING DEDEDE: "It doesn't take a genius to tell that King Dedede stole your shortcake. It wouldn't be the first time he's stolen food. Seems that despite all the times he's helped you, Dedede can't help but revert to his selfish ways... Right?"
MRS. MOLEY: "Mrs. Moley has made her home down here in the Underground World since she was little. Over the years she's gotten sick of explorers making a ruckus. Her husband normally takes care of them, but he's out exploring."
KRACKO...?: "That looks like Kracko, but when did he get so... dark and stormy? And if Kracko lives in the sky, what's he doing down in the Underground World? The confusion is frustrating... and Kirby's hunger isn't helping!"
MECHA-KRACKO: "Of course it'd be Doc! An opportunistic theft has turned into a whole excavation since the Squeaks found the Underground World. Doc wants to test how efficient his airborne battle machine is at low altitude."
YADGAINE: "Yadgaine was built to help find the Underground World before the Squeaks realized the chasm they fell down, called the "Navel of the World," is the front door. Doc is now using it as a battle machine to prove it's still useful."
BOHBOH: "A solitary creature, Bohboh rarely gets visitors in this hostile region of the Underground World. They prefer it that way, so they'll scorch any strangers that travel this far. Rude... but to be fair, you did barge into their home!"
DAROACH: "'How persistent! I can't help but root for an underdog... I like you! Unfortunately, little friend, I like treasure more. I've coveted the Underground World's treasures for many years, and you won't stop me from claiming it all!'"
META KNIGHT: "Meta Knight challenges you once more, in the ruins of the Halberd. But... he didn't offer a sword? And- why is the Halberd flying!? For some reason, he's intent on taking this chest far away from Popstar. Take your dessert back!"
DARK DAROACH: "Malnourished by time and cut off from its source, it possessed the first thing it saw. A survival tactic for its kind. Daroach never cared about matters as dark as this... Now he is controlled by a force he cannot understand. Free him!"
??? (1): "Millennia ago, a terrible cosmic force roamed the galaxy, plunging all it touched into darkness. In the early days of Popstar, this force invaded. When all seemed lost and the world had darkened, one hero stood strong."
??? (2): "Once, the hero had defeated a similar foe with his friends. Now, he was alone and near death. With the last of his power, he sealed the heart of that dark force within a magic chest. Both he and the chest fell silent."
DARK NEBULA: "The Dark Matter Clan was, in time, wiped out... but the primordial Dark Nebula, once their ruler, seeks to restore their dominion. Luckily, it's in a weakened state. Hurry! Stop it before it flees, and the Dark Matter Clan is reborn!"
Finally, the last post! This is my final batch of fanmade pause screen mockups. Here are the links to all the other posts: Kirby's Dream Land / Kirby's AdventureKirby's Dream Land 2 / Kirby Super Star UltraKirby's Dream Land 3 / Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Here's the obligatory recap: I'm making pause screen text mockups for all the mainline pre-RTDL bosses. The project is 103 images in total, and comprises the aforementioned games, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, and Kirby: Squeak Squad. Finally we are at the last two games! These were both tough games to cover. Between Amazing Mirror's staggering vagueness regarding the Dimension Mirror and Dark Mind, and Squeak Squad's lack of in-game info surrounding the Underground World, I had to look at a lot of supplementary stuff and ask questions from people smarter than me. The objectives here (just repeating what you already know):
Write text descriptions that feel accurate to Kirby's tone - with levity, humor, and more serious text for the final act. Screens sometimes reference other games.
Make image mockups that feel authentic to the games themselves. To this effect, I made all these mockups in the resolutions of the games themselves, and tried to use appropriate fonts (some of which work better than others).
Include a healthy amount of for-fun worldbuilding and connections to other titles, with an increased emphasis on info from JP scripts and out-of-game info. Some of this is headcanon stuff, but I tried to make it feel like it could come from the games themselves.
Use the average length of a text screen from Kirby: Triple Deluxe and onward as a baseline for text length.
Squeak Squad gets a bad rap, and to be fair I think it's one of the least notable Kirby games. For this game I wanted to really focus on fleshing out and characterizing the Squeaks. Storo, Spinni, and Doc all get text screens for whenever they've spawned into a level, all of them monologues from their POV - Daroach gets a similar screen, which I researched Mass Attack's Daroach dialogue to pin down.
I also was frustrated that Squeak Squad barely acknowledges its Underground World setting in-game, which I actually like and I think it seems to tie into Great Cave Offensive, so I wanted to mention that a lot.
Dark Nebula gets three screens - two for its small form, which you pursue across two screens of platforming, and one for its actual boss fight. Many tend to see Dark Nebula as a successor to Zero/02, given its JP name "Dark Zero," but I prefer to see it as a primordial remnant of an iteration of the Dark Matter Clan that far precedes the Clan we saw in the Dark Matter trilogy. For its backstory I tried to harken to Star Allies and its lore regarding Void Termina and the four heroes who sealed it away in the past.
In general I wanted the Dark Matter mentions/references here (and the Amazing Mirror screens) not to come off as too much like fanwank. I'm hoping they feel natural and Kirby-like.
The problem with having OCs is that sometimes you wanna read about your little guy being in situations but unfortunately he is YOUR little guy and no one is gonna put him in that situation but you. Tragic.
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