#skapon

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Based on this screenshot from a video

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old art

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gijinkas of the best fighting game! the skapon design (left) is by ollie from the jmf server, i designed the skapokon (right) and drew both of these

also merry christmas!

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peep the horror

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2 more wobble paint art

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Sukapon (JMF) Headcanon: They sometimes describe/talk about their actions. Their creators and siblings wonder if it's a programming error, but they don't see it as something that bad and it doesn't obstruct their life (more or less).

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Headcanon de Sukapon (JMF): El a veces describen/hablan sus acciones. Sus creadores y hermanos se preguntan si es un error de programación, pero no lo ven algo tan malo y que no obstruye en su vida (mas o menos).

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Turning Japanese, I Think I'm Turning Japanese...

部分一: Super Fighting Robot

'Hoy folks, it's Wander again! One of my favourite things to explore in gaming are hidden gems: titles too obscure to be at the forefront of discussion, but still strong experiences that are long remembered by those who play them. My love of games like Shantae and Custom Robo, which I've expressed several times in the past, should attest to this. I also love Japanese culture and art; I've often found that it heavily influences my own work as a musician, and there's just something about it that speaks to me in a special way.

With that in mind, I'd like to talk in depth about the main characters from two obscure games that only ever released on the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES). I touched on both of them briefly in an article on the system little while back, which you can find here. But now, I'd like to take a more detailed look at two (three, rather) of my favourite characters from the red and off-white system.

Friends, say "Kon'nichiwa" to Sukapon, Donbe, and Hikari.

Sukapon (Joy Mech Fight, 1993)

Donbe & Hikari (Famicom Fairytales: Shin Onigashima, 1987)

For the first part of this article, we'll start with the star of Joy Mech Fight: Sukapon. A good friend of the blog, Tokiro07, submitted an excellent "Show Us Yo' Moves!" post on both Sukapon and fellow JMF character Houou a little while back; check it out here. And as Tokiro points out, there are quite a few similarities between the plot of the Famicom fighter and the original Mega Man games; two scientists create a bunch of robots to use for good, one of the scientists goes rogue and uses said robots to take over the world (of course). Other scientist re-purposes a seemingly harmless robot (in this case, one designed for entertainment) into a fighter to stop the evil scientist from succeeding.

But while its plot may be derivative, its difficult to say the same about its presentation. What Joy Mech Fight was able to do on the Famicom's hardware was downright astounding, making it one of the most impressive 8-bit games ever made. As a fighter, it used the limited buttons of the system's controller to create a surprisingly deep battle system, with numerous combos and special moves for each character. Its animation was also astounding for an 8-bit game; look up some gameplay videos to see what I mean. It utilized limbless character design long before Rayman made it cool, which allows for smooth and fast-paced animation.

The game was actually released after the Super Famicom came out, and was heavily inspired by the gameplay of Street Fighter II. It's odd to think that a Famicom game of this caliber was released as late as 1993; it may not have been the system's final game (that honor goes to Adventure Island IV, while the last game Nintendo produced for it was Wario's Woods a few months earlier), it brought the platform to its limit and helped send the 8-bit console era out with a bang. But what about Sukapon himself?

Before being modified into a battlebot, Sukapon's occupation was in owarai: stand-up comedy. This background shines through in his fighting style; his movements are silly and wild, and makes him a fun character overall.

His special moves and fighting style were discussed in Tokiro07's article, mentioned above, so check that out. I'd also have a tough time describing his movement in text, so I'd recommend looking up gameplay to truly understand this guy. The animation in Joy Mech Fight is pretty wild, and seeing it translated into a modern setting would be something else.

Sukapon, being from a fighting game himself, would fit pretty easily in Smash. He's also the sort of character in the back of a lot of Japanese gamers' minds, so including him as retro throwback would be a fun (if surprising) decision. That said, game as obscure as this might not warrant much; so far, Sukapon has only appeared in Smash as a sticker in Brawl. With all of this in mind, we've decided to name Sukapon our #3 Region-Specific character for Super Smash Bros. We hope to see Joy Mech Fight represented more in the future!

Join us later, when we'll jump into another fascinating Famicom title, Shin Onigashima, and meet its heroes Donbe & Hikari. Until then: Ja mata!

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It's kind of weird being so excited for the inevitable Smash announcements at E3 tomorrow but at the same time I know that nobody I want has any chance of being included.

Here, have some terrible art. I can only draw one single hairstyle!