MagicLad_Ty
TBD
Can't wait for it to come out!!
2023
This review contains spoilers
Spoiler review so I can dig into why exactly the plot is antisemitic and why you can't "just ignore" it.
The TLDR is that the game's about stopping a goblin rebellion, which we already knew from the trailers. The trailers also included a scene where the main villain goblin and dark wizard talk about kidnapping the player, calling on the antisemitic trope of blood libel.
Well we now have the full context, and it gets so much worse:
The dark wizard Rookwood (no subtleties here as that's the name of one of the Death Eaters in the original series, guess the whole families evil) cursed Anne, the companion characters sister, and framed the goblins for it. This out of context truth is most likely what people will use to say "see the games not antisemitic, the goblins were framed" but this is just backstory for one character and the rest of the game still exist.
While not completely new to the series (offhandedly mentioned like 2 times in the books) this game is the first time anyone learns what exactly "ancient magic" is. Ancient magic is apparently a substance that can be extracted from the body, and apparently extracting it is believed to be a form of "pain relief". Not dissimilar from medieval "therapies" of bloodletting and leeching. The antisemitic blood libel doesn't end with the goblins: In the game's backstory a former Hogwarts professor Isidora Morganach discovered how to tap into "ancient magic" by extracting it from her students. Isidora became addicted to "ancient magic" and made many magic repositories which you can find throughout the game. In the present the player character is someone who has "ancient magic", this is why the goblins and dark wizards want to kidnap you.
The goblins who teamed up with Rookwood are rebelling because the wizards don't give them equal rights, like wand use. As I said in my previous review this along with wizards trying to enslave goblins as "house elves" is already a part of the series' lore for their many rebellions. The game also adds little details like goblin artifacts that are eerily similar to Jewish cultural items, and past rebellions lining up perfectly with real world antisemitic genocides. And of course the final boss of the game is the "evil leader" of the goblin Ronrok who uses all the "ancient magic" to transform into a dragon, as if evil bankers wasn't enough. A better writer would maybe have Rookwood be the final boss after revealing he was just using Ronrok and the goblins plight to his own ends, to marginally make the story better (but not by much). But that wouldn't be in the spirit of the franchise now would it? And like I said in my other review, it's a prequel, they can't actually make any meaningful change to the status of the non-human sapient magical beings without breaking continuity with the original series.
Sure if only one of these were true (and the context of the books and creator didn't exist) it would most likely be an unfortunate (gross) coincidence. But that's not the case.
With Harry Potter you can argue the antisemitism is not a huge part of the books (but still a major issue) but with this game the antisemitism is at the core of its identity. The devs didn't have to quadruple down and add all this, but not surprising that the lead dev was a gamer gater before being booted.
You can't remove this game from its antisemitism and you can't remove this franchise from its creators' bigotry and political views.
Go read "Trans Wizard Harriet Porber And The Bad Boy Parasaurolophus" by Chuck Tingle
The TLDR is that the game's about stopping a goblin rebellion, which we already knew from the trailers. The trailers also included a scene where the main villain goblin and dark wizard talk about kidnapping the player, calling on the antisemitic trope of blood libel.
Well we now have the full context, and it gets so much worse:
The dark wizard Rookwood (no subtleties here as that's the name of one of the Death Eaters in the original series, guess the whole families evil) cursed Anne, the companion characters sister, and framed the goblins for it. This out of context truth is most likely what people will use to say "see the games not antisemitic, the goblins were framed" but this is just backstory for one character and the rest of the game still exist.
While not completely new to the series (offhandedly mentioned like 2 times in the books) this game is the first time anyone learns what exactly "ancient magic" is. Ancient magic is apparently a substance that can be extracted from the body, and apparently extracting it is believed to be a form of "pain relief". Not dissimilar from medieval "therapies" of bloodletting and leeching. The antisemitic blood libel doesn't end with the goblins: In the game's backstory a former Hogwarts professor Isidora Morganach discovered how to tap into "ancient magic" by extracting it from her students. Isidora became addicted to "ancient magic" and made many magic repositories which you can find throughout the game. In the present the player character is someone who has "ancient magic", this is why the goblins and dark wizards want to kidnap you.
The goblins who teamed up with Rookwood are rebelling because the wizards don't give them equal rights, like wand use. As I said in my previous review this along with wizards trying to enslave goblins as "house elves" is already a part of the series' lore for their many rebellions. The game also adds little details like goblin artifacts that are eerily similar to Jewish cultural items, and past rebellions lining up perfectly with real world antisemitic genocides. And of course the final boss of the game is the "evil leader" of the goblin Ronrok who uses all the "ancient magic" to transform into a dragon, as if evil bankers wasn't enough. A better writer would maybe have Rookwood be the final boss after revealing he was just using Ronrok and the goblins plight to his own ends, to marginally make the story better (but not by much). But that wouldn't be in the spirit of the franchise now would it? And like I said in my other review, it's a prequel, they can't actually make any meaningful change to the status of the non-human sapient magical beings without breaking continuity with the original series.
Sure if only one of these were true (and the context of the books and creator didn't exist) it would most likely be an unfortunate (gross) coincidence. But that's not the case.
With Harry Potter you can argue the antisemitism is not a huge part of the books (but still a major issue) but with this game the antisemitism is at the core of its identity. The devs didn't have to quadruple down and add all this, but not surprising that the lead dev was a gamer gater before being booted.
You can't remove this game from its antisemitism and you can't remove this franchise from its creators' bigotry and political views.
Go read "Trans Wizard Harriet Porber And The Bad Boy Parasaurolophus" by Chuck Tingle
2023
This game is unimaginably horrible and it's baffling it's the hill so many are willing to die on. There is no enemy variety, which is for sure a good idea for a modern open world game. There is no spell variety either (26), which again certainly was a great idea for a modern rpg based solely around it's magic set at a magic school, but hey Harry Potter has always had a terrible magic system so ¯\(ツ)/¯. For reference Final Fantasy (1987 NES) has triple as many spells (60), and Skyrim a more modern open world game for comparison has over 100 AND both those games have multiple combat classes besides magic. The game will let you use the "unforgivable curses" but it has no morality system to give any meaningful consequences to your actions because according to the devs it would be "too judgmental on the game maker's part". The world is empty, which is always a problem with open world games (not remotely a fan of the genre tbh) and every door is a loading screen. The game is also a buggy mess and anyone saying otherwise is just lying, the game literally has Denuvo lmao. But none of this is surprising, ignoring the original author for a moment, every trailer made it look lackluster and it's made by the developers infamous for Disney tie-in shovelware.
And now for the elephant in the room... The game doubles down on all the racism and antisemitism of its source material, anyone saying Terfling had nothing to do with this game is bending the truth. The official Q&A for the game on their site says they worked closely with her team so it perfectly fits her world, and that it does a little too perfectly. The main premise is squashing a goblin rebellion riddled with antisemitism. The goblin rebellions are not new to the franchise, they are a thing mentioned in the books and expanded material as something the students learn in history class. And what were all the rebellions about? The lack or basic rights like using wands, and checks notes wizards attempting to enslave them "as house elves" but we’re supposed to believe they’re still the villains throughout the franchise?
Which brings us to the next topic, the house elves... As in the source material Hogwarts is run by slave labor and the franchise doesn't want us to look deeper into what that means, waving it off with "well they like it". But if wizards can attempt to enslave goblins as “house elves” what does that actually mean, what exactly is a “house elf” and why doesn’t the series creator want us to examine it? The head house elf at Hogwarts becomes a companion, so you don't actually get to own a slave but you still get one by proxy. The game also lets you decorate the Room of Requirement with mounted house elf heads, with how controversial this aspect of the books has always been idk who on the dev team didn’t think “maybe we shouldn’t keep the mounted head of a sapient creature decoration item”. Again none of this is surprising given the source material where they decorate houses with elf heads and the kids put little hats on during christmas, oh isn’t it so cute and whimsical? And the fact that one of the lead devs was a gamer gate youtuber (them stepping down was never going to divorce the game from these elements). The game is also a prequel set in the 1800s so it can't actually effectively deconstruct the issues with the source material, the goblins are still the anti-semetic bankers, the house elves are still slaves, and the ("good") wizards are still the good guys that have every right to oppress them. Just like Terflings own politics and the politics of the source material the game's message is about preserving the status quo, nothing meaningful can change and it shouldn’t cause we have a continuity to uphold damnit!
The game also throws in the series "first trans character" who they named "Sirona Ryan", this is a name of a Celtic goddess (as many people will point out in an attempt to ignore criticism, despite the origin not being the issue with the name) but just like "Cho Chang", "Anthony Goldstein" and "Kingsley Shacklebolt" it's certainly a choice out of all the Irish names to deliberately use that one for your first trans women. Sirona was also very obviously thrown in last minute in an attempt to save face and say the game was divorced from Terflings and her raging transphobia, but as you can see the game is quite the opposite.
But you know despite all that 9/10 IGN-ostalgia am I right!
In conclusion this game is truly the “Legacy” of this franchise and I can see why fans say “this is everything I ever wanted in a Harry Potter game” because this is all the franchise really truly is. I certainly hope everyone who bought the deluxe edition for the sole reason to spite a minority the author is actively harming daily love their overpriced shovelware and fuck off. Remember yall were the same people in the 90s who hated and wanted to boycott the books for being “satanic” and "progressive". (spoiler alert they never were)
And for anyone who can’t let go of the franchise because of “childhood” and cause “it’s so magical”, let me recommend “Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin, “Discworld” by Terry Pratchett, and “Percy Jackson” by Rick Riordian. None of those series are perfect and have their fair share of problems, but they were written by authors who actually cared, who actually took criticism and grew from it. You can let go and grow too.
And now for the elephant in the room... The game doubles down on all the racism and antisemitism of its source material, anyone saying Terfling had nothing to do with this game is bending the truth. The official Q&A for the game on their site says they worked closely with her team so it perfectly fits her world, and that it does a little too perfectly. The main premise is squashing a goblin rebellion riddled with antisemitism. The goblin rebellions are not new to the franchise, they are a thing mentioned in the books and expanded material as something the students learn in history class. And what were all the rebellions about? The lack or basic rights like using wands, and checks notes wizards attempting to enslave them "as house elves" but we’re supposed to believe they’re still the villains throughout the franchise?
Which brings us to the next topic, the house elves... As in the source material Hogwarts is run by slave labor and the franchise doesn't want us to look deeper into what that means, waving it off with "well they like it". But if wizards can attempt to enslave goblins as “house elves” what does that actually mean, what exactly is a “house elf” and why doesn’t the series creator want us to examine it? The head house elf at Hogwarts becomes a companion, so you don't actually get to own a slave but you still get one by proxy. The game also lets you decorate the Room of Requirement with mounted house elf heads, with how controversial this aspect of the books has always been idk who on the dev team didn’t think “maybe we shouldn’t keep the mounted head of a sapient creature decoration item”. Again none of this is surprising given the source material where they decorate houses with elf heads and the kids put little hats on during christmas, oh isn’t it so cute and whimsical? And the fact that one of the lead devs was a gamer gate youtuber (them stepping down was never going to divorce the game from these elements). The game is also a prequel set in the 1800s so it can't actually effectively deconstruct the issues with the source material, the goblins are still the anti-semetic bankers, the house elves are still slaves, and the ("good") wizards are still the good guys that have every right to oppress them. Just like Terflings own politics and the politics of the source material the game's message is about preserving the status quo, nothing meaningful can change and it shouldn’t cause we have a continuity to uphold damnit!
The game also throws in the series "first trans character" who they named "Sirona Ryan", this is a name of a Celtic goddess (as many people will point out in an attempt to ignore criticism, despite the origin not being the issue with the name) but just like "Cho Chang", "Anthony Goldstein" and "Kingsley Shacklebolt" it's certainly a choice out of all the Irish names to deliberately use that one for your first trans women. Sirona was also very obviously thrown in last minute in an attempt to save face and say the game was divorced from Terflings and her raging transphobia, but as you can see the game is quite the opposite.
But you know despite all that 9/10 IGN-ostalgia am I right!
In conclusion this game is truly the “Legacy” of this franchise and I can see why fans say “this is everything I ever wanted in a Harry Potter game” because this is all the franchise really truly is. I certainly hope everyone who bought the deluxe edition for the sole reason to spite a minority the author is actively harming daily love their overpriced shovelware and fuck off. Remember yall were the same people in the 90s who hated and wanted to boycott the books for being “satanic” and "progressive". (spoiler alert they never were)
And for anyone who can’t let go of the franchise because of “childhood” and cause “it’s so magical”, let me recommend “Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin, “Discworld” by Terry Pratchett, and “Percy Jackson” by Rick Riordian. None of those series are perfect and have their fair share of problems, but they were written by authors who actually cared, who actually took criticism and grew from it. You can let go and grow too.
1980
Not a good story :(
1995
The game begins with mom waking you up. This is appropriate since many kids need moms to get themselves out of bed in the morning. In fact, some of use still do...
1997
More eco-terrorism! Poison Ivy would approve!
1988
Super Mario Bros. 2 is a game that gets more flack than it deserves. It has an incredibly interesting story of starting as this very bare bones potential Mario 2, only for Fuji TV to ask Nintendo to help promote their "Dream Factory" festival thing in the 80's, where Nintendo used their base Mario game but now with the mascots given by Fuji for the festival.
The festival was focused around children of the future, as the children of the 80's would be adults when the new millennium came, and hence, our future. Fuji decided it would be best to represent this all with a multi-cultural dream factory theme thing (I don't know either, guess you had to be there to really get it). The mascots to best represent this worldly theme was settled with an "Arabian Nights" inspired family. This festival was apparently a really big deal as Fuji was advertising this EVERY WHERE !!! (Can't really blame them... I mean they do own a massive TV station.)
But! After all this, they still needed a Mario 2 in Japan. I mean, he's the most popular game character since... well, since Mario! So Nintendo did the good honest thing and slapped together something more similar to the original game with some extra challenge and sent it out. That should keep 'em busy.
Though for Western fans this wasn't a problem. What the hell is Dream Factory? No one in the West could give less of a shit about some festival they can't participate in. But you know what the West loved? You won't believe it, but it's that same guy in Japan. All the kids will not shut. up. about Mario. So what did Nintendo do? They just finished their base game, with now added elements inspired by the Dream Factory, as hey, why not? The levels are already finished, aren't they? Mario is already in this crazy world fighting with turtles and saving princesses. Putting him in a dream environment with some desert themes and elements shouldn't be THAT out of place. Anyways, that other Mario game we made too hardcore for Western audiences.
And now we have the beautiful creature that is Super Mario Bros. 2 - or as they call it in Japan: Super Mario USA. Cause believe it or not, people in Japan were upset they didn't get the Mario version of Doki Doki Panic. Friends in Japan told me that most people (or maybe my friend circle is a little funny, wouldn't be the first time) actually prefer Super Mario USA to what they got as Super Mario Bros. 2. I mean, it's not too hard to envision. There must have been a big enough rumble within the Japanese fanbase for Nintendo to put an effort into having the Western game on the Famicom.
And now this is where I argue my main thesis to you. What is that? My thesis? Yes, this whole time my argument I want to make to you is how Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of the best Mario games EVER made and why it deserves that title. Yes, the so called "re-skin" of Doki Doki Panic that people in the West received. Oh, woe is us. We're so dumb that instead of getting the insane not-fun Mario 1 on crack sequel to Mario Bros. we got a game much closer to Miyamoto's original vision of Mario Bros. 2, with crazy fun bosses, new action techniques, and beautiful graphics, boo hoo.
Super Mario Bros. 2 is an amazing follow-up to the first Mario Bros, a game that often came packaged with your new Nintendo Entertainment System. Three years later, we get its sequel, and Holy. Crap.
This shit rocks.
First thing you probably notice is ~graphics~, because holy shit that screen gives ya some color now. Not only are the environments insanely more varied and fun to figure out, but they were challenging. Like honest to God challenging. Something you want in an NES game. Something that frustrates you at first, but once learning its patterns, is easily now wrapped around your finger. Just compare these two maps. Partial to just me, I also enjoy the art style change they go with in SMB2 and how it's a bit more chibi, with a dark indigo color to outline the characters now too (oh my, how Osomatsu ).
I guess you can say there's controversy on the change from jumping on enemies to throwing them, which at the time I can imagine wasn't the biggest deal. Sequels to old video games experimented with the formula all the time. Just look at Zelda II and hell, even the original Super Mario Bros. and how much it differs from its original arcade game. I personally liked the change, but in the end, I guess most people didn't as moving forward it became secured as a staple for Mario to stomp. Don't get me wrong though, the game was definitely still influential with us continuing to see Birdo, Shy Guys, and Luigi's famous high jump in future Mario series games.
If you're still on the edge of what to think about Super Mario Bros. 2, I like to note that Miyamoto states it is his favorite Mario game. Not his favorite Nintendo game, but his favorite Mario game, further settling on if we should even see Super Mario Bros. 2 as a true Mario game, when it's "just a re-skin". Clearly, you can see the love that was put into it. Mario or not. 真実は、嘘偽りのないこと、本当のことを意味する。
Nighty night, Mario
The festival was focused around children of the future, as the children of the 80's would be adults when the new millennium came, and hence, our future. Fuji decided it would be best to represent this all with a multi-cultural dream factory theme thing (I don't know either, guess you had to be there to really get it). The mascots to best represent this worldly theme was settled with an "Arabian Nights" inspired family. This festival was apparently a really big deal as Fuji was advertising this EVERY WHERE !!! (Can't really blame them... I mean they do own a massive TV station.)
But! After all this, they still needed a Mario 2 in Japan. I mean, he's the most popular game character since... well, since Mario! So Nintendo did the good honest thing and slapped together something more similar to the original game with some extra challenge and sent it out. That should keep 'em busy.
Though for Western fans this wasn't a problem. What the hell is Dream Factory? No one in the West could give less of a shit about some festival they can't participate in. But you know what the West loved? You won't believe it, but it's that same guy in Japan. All the kids will not shut. up. about Mario. So what did Nintendo do? They just finished their base game, with now added elements inspired by the Dream Factory, as hey, why not? The levels are already finished, aren't they? Mario is already in this crazy world fighting with turtles and saving princesses. Putting him in a dream environment with some desert themes and elements shouldn't be THAT out of place. Anyways, that other Mario game we made too hardcore for Western audiences.
And now we have the beautiful creature that is Super Mario Bros. 2 - or as they call it in Japan: Super Mario USA. Cause believe it or not, people in Japan were upset they didn't get the Mario version of Doki Doki Panic. Friends in Japan told me that most people (or maybe my friend circle is a little funny, wouldn't be the first time) actually prefer Super Mario USA to what they got as Super Mario Bros. 2. I mean, it's not too hard to envision. There must have been a big enough rumble within the Japanese fanbase for Nintendo to put an effort into having the Western game on the Famicom.
And now this is where I argue my main thesis to you. What is that? My thesis? Yes, this whole time my argument I want to make to you is how Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of the best Mario games EVER made and why it deserves that title. Yes, the so called "re-skin" of Doki Doki Panic that people in the West received. Oh, woe is us. We're so dumb that instead of getting the insane not-fun Mario 1 on crack sequel to Mario Bros. we got a game much closer to Miyamoto's original vision of Mario Bros. 2, with crazy fun bosses, new action techniques, and beautiful graphics, boo hoo.
Super Mario Bros. 2 is an amazing follow-up to the first Mario Bros, a game that often came packaged with your new Nintendo Entertainment System. Three years later, we get its sequel, and Holy. Crap.
This shit rocks.
First thing you probably notice is ~graphics~, because holy shit that screen gives ya some color now. Not only are the environments insanely more varied and fun to figure out, but they were challenging. Like honest to God challenging. Something you want in an NES game. Something that frustrates you at first, but once learning its patterns, is easily now wrapped around your finger. Just compare these two maps. Partial to just me, I also enjoy the art style change they go with in SMB2 and how it's a bit more chibi, with a dark indigo color to outline the characters now too (oh my, how Osomatsu ).
I guess you can say there's controversy on the change from jumping on enemies to throwing them, which at the time I can imagine wasn't the biggest deal. Sequels to old video games experimented with the formula all the time. Just look at Zelda II and hell, even the original Super Mario Bros. and how much it differs from its original arcade game. I personally liked the change, but in the end, I guess most people didn't as moving forward it became secured as a staple for Mario to stomp. Don't get me wrong though, the game was definitely still influential with us continuing to see Birdo, Shy Guys, and Luigi's famous high jump in future Mario series games.
If you're still on the edge of what to think about Super Mario Bros. 2, I like to note that Miyamoto states it is his favorite Mario game. Not his favorite Nintendo game, but his favorite Mario game, further settling on if we should even see Super Mario Bros. 2 as a true Mario game, when it's "just a re-skin". Clearly, you can see the love that was put into it. Mario or not. 真実は、嘘偽りのないこと、本当のことを意味する。
Nighty night, Mario
2009
Why? Play FES.
But seriously this is the worse version to play of this game. The game was gutted and the visuals don't allow for the same emotion the original scenes do, some scenes just don't work without context of the original. And it's not the visual novel format that does this, there's a ton of amazing visual novels that hold so much emotion and weight. It needed more CGs and descriptor text to effectively illustrate scenes. But Atlus weren't trying to make this a good visual novel, they were trying to cut out whatever they could (including the very important epilogue that wraps the story up) so they could fit the game on a PSP.
But seriously this is the worse version to play of this game. The game was gutted and the visuals don't allow for the same emotion the original scenes do, some scenes just don't work without context of the original. And it's not the visual novel format that does this, there's a ton of amazing visual novels that hold so much emotion and weight. It needed more CGs and descriptor text to effectively illustrate scenes. But Atlus weren't trying to make this a good visual novel, they were trying to cut out whatever they could (including the very important epilogue that wraps the story up) so they could fit the game on a PSP.
PQ had flaws but overall a nice game that actually played with some deep lore things. PQ2 just like 5 takes all the flaws the previous game had an made them worse. Adding yet another full cast (and a terrible one at that) was never going to work when one of the issues with the first game was juggling 2 casts of characters (which the writer of PQ has admit she struggled with when she was writing the game)
Should have been Jack Frost or Jack Bros duo fighter, something that actually represents the history of the franchise.
This review contains spoilers
Should have been advertised as a sequel, because that's literally what it is, I don't care if that would have spoiled the major twist. They re-released the original multiple times leading up to this but failed to mention "you'll need to know this before the 'remake'".
The only good thing I could say is they did an amazing job making the Honeybee Inn section into a queer celebration compared to how infamous the original scene was.
The only good thing I could say is they did an amazing job making the Honeybee Inn section into a queer celebration compared to how infamous the original scene was.
Twitter died before this game released... XD
2015
I wouldn't say this is the best in the franchise but it does hold a special place to me being my first game in the series.
2017
Sad but great just like the first game!
2014
Cute prequel to Finding Paradise!