Name: Snailspace
Debut: Yo-Kai Watch 3
Wow. A regular, cartoon snail, huh? No frills, nothing? There is no clever concept on display here. I mean, a snail itself is a clever concept! A squishy, vulnerable creature that carries its own armor to retract into? That's awesome! But Yo-Kai Watch 3 did not make this concept. Animals made this concept. This is pretty much nothing but a cartoon snail.
And I love those!!! Yippee!!! You're telling me this monster collecting game lets me befriend a regular cartoon snail and train it to be a STRONG snail? And lets it follow me around town wherever I go? And lets me PLAY as it? Yowza! There must be a catch here... but there isn't!
Perhaps I am just very easy to impress in some regards, but I am very happy that Snailspace is JUST a snail, with no funny business going on. Nothing to detract from it. I can't think of an example of something that would detract. I'm tired. But Snailspace is perfect the way it is, is what I'm saying. ESPECIALLY because it has eyestalks! My favorite feature on a creature!
I would like to talk about a different collectible snail monster for a moment. Hello Magcargo! You are a wonderful snail monster! A snail made of lava with a rock shell is an extremely awesome concept, and executed well! Magcargo even has big drippy mouth drips, reminiscent of a gastropod's tentacles! But it just doesn't have eyestalks, and to me, that is a very big deal. Magcargo's face looks like a frog's, and I love frogs, we all do, but this is a snail monster! I just always think that an animal-based design should take advantage of the unique features of the animal.
In fact, I once did this little edit of Magcargo's original sprite to give it eyestalks, and I instantly love it so much more! Eye positioning does so much for a design's overall personality! Eyestalks are really just one of the coolest anatomical features a creature can have, and I don't know why, so often, they will be completely ignored in fictional snail designs, inevitably making the design LESS striking than it would otherwise be. I know not all snails in real life have eyestalks, of course, but they are really such an iconic feature, absolutely perfect for exaggerating in a design.
Maybe it's not fair to spend so much of Snailspace's post talking about a different, much more known snail monster. There is stuff to love about Snailspace itself! I love its sleepy eyelids, I love its weird tall mouth, I love its color scheme! I guess it's not just ANY cartoon snail. You know... maybe there's not a such thing as just a cartoon snail. Whether intentional or not, any given person drawing a snail will put their own spin on it, however subtle. And isn't that wonderful? No one draws a snail quite like you do!
If you are not familiar with Yo-Kai Watch, I would like to delight you with some Funny Facts. Firstly, Yo-Kai are organized into "tribes" that each tend to excel in certain battle attributes. Snailspace is a member of my favorite tribe, which is Slippery! A whole official category of slimy and/or wiggly creatures! Snailspace is right at home with snakes, fish, frogs, bananas, and even a bungee jumping teapot!
Snailspace is also classified as a 'Merican Yo-Kai. The third game features the protagonist moving from Japan to America, and meeting American Yo-Kai! The localization, however, had previously tried to convince he had been in America the whole time. How did they get around this? Instead of moving overseas to the USA, he moves further south to a different region, called BBQ! It is so stupid. I love it.
'Merican Yo-Kai are a weird category. Sometimes they're based on American stereotypes, but often it feels kind of like a meaningless title. I don't know why a Snail is specifically an American concept. I mean, I have certainly encountered many snails in America! I guess they're not wrong! But not every 'Merican Yo-Kai can be as iconic for the role as, for example, a baseball-playing chicken nugget.
Anyway, Snailspace is an excellent snail! It does not take much for a snail to make me smile! I hope this is true for you, too! Have you looked at a snail lately? Check under your local rocks in the dirt and maybe you just might find a marvelous mollusk to behold!
