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The Top 25 Video Game Villains of Every Subtype Imaginable
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<blockquote data-quote="CC13" data-source="post: 88239" data-attributes="member: 1151"><p>And Sumez gets it in one! How did this terror of the deep use his limited technical capacity to such great effect? Dive below for the answer:</p><p></p><p>22. The Octopus (Octopus)</p><p>Developed & Published By: Nintendo</p><p>Platform: Game & Watch Widescreen (OC-22)</p><p>Year of Release: 1981</p><p></p><p>Few companies made as sharp a transition of core competency in the 20th century as Nintendo. After a number of industries failed to work out for them in the years following WWII, they transitioned into the toy market in the 1960s, followed by an expansion into the arcade game market in the 1970s, with Gunpei Yokoi leading the charge in both instances. Near the end of the decade, these two shifts in strategy would come together in the form of the Game & Watch line of LCD games. From 1980 through 1991, over 43 million units across 59 production numbers & 1 special prize version of Super Mario Bros. would be manufactured, with the honor roll including Ball, Mario's Cement Factory, Zelda and, of course, Octopus (Mysteries of the Sea/Deep to my British readers).</p><p></p><p>As with Climber, the fundamental question is what Octopus represents about what made the Game & Watch series such a success for Nintendo over the years. Essentially, it serves as a counterpart to Climber, demonstrating what made the earlier games so compelling, even as Climber showcases the ways in which the designs of the Game & Watch games grew more ambitious over the years. Like many other great games, Octopus starts from a simple foundation and builds from that into something so much more. The simple task of collecting sunken treasure while avoiding its guardian's tentacles grows into a surprisingly deep game of timing and risk vs. reward, especially in Game B (as you can see in the .GIF that Sumez so kindly provided, there are buttons for Game A and Game B on the right side of the Game & Watch unit, with Game B making the Octopus substantially faster).</p><p></p><p>As I often find myself saying about games of this era, the gameplay is almost radically simple: you control one of a team of three divers, all of whom want to avoid the Octopus' tentacles and collect as much of his treasure as possible. You get 1 point for each piece of treasure, 3 points for returning to the boat with treasure in tow (you cannot return without treasure) and extra men at 200 & 500 points. The foundation of all strategy in Octopus is that the titular guardian will never change the direction of any given tentacle until it has completely extended or retracted, so his movement is somewhat predictable. The situation you want to arrive at is being able to to slip in while the two rightmost tentacles are out of sync, grab a few pieces of treasure, beat feet as soon as the rightmost tentacle is about to grab you and return to the boat for your extra 3 points. Also, be careful on the left side of the screen, as the leftmost tentacle can extend to either the top or bottom of the rope, the better to prevent people from simply turtling. Generally, when attempting to return to the boat, the rule for when the leftmost tentacle is extending is "if it's high, do not fly; if it's low, time to go!" For those so inclined, you can play the original game <a href="http://www.pica-pic.com/#/octopus/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p></p><p>Although Octopus never received a re-release during the original Game & Watch days, the Octopus must have some friends in the deep, as he has actually become something of a Nintendo staple. His first appearance outside of his original Game & Watch title was Game & Watch Gallery (Game Boy Gallery 2 in Australia), a collection of 4 Game & Watch titles–Fire, Manhole, Octopus & Oil Panic–released for the Game Boy in 1998. The Game & Watch Gallery titles also had modernized versions of the featured titles, featuring the Mario characters and adding some new twists to the classic gameplay. In the modern version of Octopus, Mario takes on the role of the treasure-hunting divers, while extra lives come in the shape of hearts thrown onto the playfield by Lakitu and the Octopus gaining the ability to spit ink, which will cost you one of your lives if it hits you and comes out nearly constantly after 800 points, as well as the ability to put his middle tentacles in two locations, much like his leftmost tentacle in the original. To compensate for these new abilities, Mario gains far more points for the treasure he brings back to his boat, with each piece of treasure equaling 2 bonus points, in addition to the point for grabbing it in the first place; however, he also moves more slowly after every 3rd piece of treasure (50 is the maximum he can carry, in case you were wondering), so speed is still key here. Furthermore, Mario can throw his treasure at a tentacle by pressing B, but this will cost him all the treasure he had gathered on that run, so use this ability sparingly. Octopus made a return appearance in Game & Watch Gallery 4 (Game & Watch Gallery Advance to any Australians reading this) for the Game Boy Advance in 2002, but the Octopus' modern re-design is pretty wretched–horrifying monstrosities of the deep shouldn't be that cutesy, dang it! Also, having the suction cups on the outside of the Octopus' tentacles when they are retracted borders on sacrilege, so I won't be playing Modern Octopus any more than I have to if I should be lucky enough to own Game & Watch Gallery 4 at some point in the future.</p><p></p><p>The Octopus also appeared in two other re-releases: a Nintendo Mini Classics port in 1998 and an appearance as the star of Game & Watch Collection 2, which was released for Nintendo DS as a prize for Club Nintendo members on April 1, 2010 and cost 800 Coins (the title is currently not listed as an available prize on the Club Nintendo website). The game contains Octopus, Parachute and Parachute x Octopus, a mash-up of the two titles with some interesting wrinkles of its own. You start off on the top screen of your DS, playing Parachute, where you must rescue skydivers by positioning your boat under them such that they land in it. After rescuing enough skydivers, an arrow will point down on the left side of the screen, indicating that the Octopus portion of the game will begin soon. Once you head down, the Octopus portion of the game begins on the bottom screen of the DS, where it plays much like the original, but with two twists–first off, grabbing at least 5 pieces of treasure during the Octopus round makes skydivers worth 2 points each for the next Parachute round; secondly, the Parachute round starts up again in fairly short order, with the helicopter flashing and beeping to let you know that more skydivers are on their way. Furthermore, your misses are NOT tracked separately for the two portions of the game, so it can get pretty miserable if you're bad at one of the two component titles (I always did struggle with Parachute...).</p><p></p><p>Outside of Game & Watch re-releases, the Octopus has only two other appearances to his name, but both of them are fairly high-profile. The first is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where Mr. Game & Watch turns into the Octopus for his Final Smash, becoming invulnerable for the duration of the move and extending & contracting his tentacles with the A button; this is actually the second Octopus reference in Mr. Game & Watch's moveset, as he temporarily dons the helmet worn by the divers for his Forward Smash. The Octopus' second appearance is in Nintendo Land, the pack-in title that comes with the Wii U Deluxe/Premium bundles, where he is featured in Octopus Dance, a rhythm game in which you must imitate the dance moves of the diver. The Octopus can be seen in the background and Nintendo did a fantastic job of translating his classic look into the papier-mache design style of Nintendo Land. Octopus Dance is usually considered one of Nintendo Land's weaker attractions, but it's the thought that counts, right?</p><p></p><p>As I have said before, few companies are less shy about playing up their past than Nintendo. We can easily forget, in this age of plentiful retro compilations, what a video game company staying true to its roots <em>really</em> looks like. How many other companies would give a character from their relatively hardscrabble early days as a video game developer as much exposure as Nintendo have given the Octopus if they had previously enjoyed successes on the scale of the NES, Super NES and Game Boy? For all its missteps, Nintendo is the only company whose dedication to preserving the best of their roots cannot be gainsaid.</p><p></p><p><strong>Next Time on The Top 25 Nintendo Villains</strong>: Darkness rises when the stone breaks...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CC13, post: 88239, member: 1151"] And Sumez gets it in one! How did this terror of the deep use his limited technical capacity to such great effect? Dive below for the answer: 22. The Octopus (Octopus) Developed & Published By: Nintendo Platform: Game & Watch Widescreen (OC-22) Year of Release: 1981 Few companies made as sharp a transition of core competency in the 20th century as Nintendo. After a number of industries failed to work out for them in the years following WWII, they transitioned into the toy market in the 1960s, followed by an expansion into the arcade game market in the 1970s, with Gunpei Yokoi leading the charge in both instances. Near the end of the decade, these two shifts in strategy would come together in the form of the Game & Watch line of LCD games. From 1980 through 1991, over 43 million units across 59 production numbers & 1 special prize version of Super Mario Bros. would be manufactured, with the honor roll including Ball, Mario's Cement Factory, Zelda and, of course, Octopus (Mysteries of the Sea/Deep to my British readers). As with Climber, the fundamental question is what Octopus represents about what made the Game & Watch series such a success for Nintendo over the years. Essentially, it serves as a counterpart to Climber, demonstrating what made the earlier games so compelling, even as Climber showcases the ways in which the designs of the Game & Watch games grew more ambitious over the years. Like many other great games, Octopus starts from a simple foundation and builds from that into something so much more. The simple task of collecting sunken treasure while avoiding its guardian's tentacles grows into a surprisingly deep game of timing and risk vs. reward, especially in Game B (as you can see in the .GIF that Sumez so kindly provided, there are buttons for Game A and Game B on the right side of the Game & Watch unit, with Game B making the Octopus substantially faster). As I often find myself saying about games of this era, the gameplay is almost radically simple: you control one of a team of three divers, all of whom want to avoid the Octopus' tentacles and collect as much of his treasure as possible. You get 1 point for each piece of treasure, 3 points for returning to the boat with treasure in tow (you cannot return without treasure) and extra men at 200 & 500 points. The foundation of all strategy in Octopus is that the titular guardian will never change the direction of any given tentacle until it has completely extended or retracted, so his movement is somewhat predictable. The situation you want to arrive at is being able to to slip in while the two rightmost tentacles are out of sync, grab a few pieces of treasure, beat feet as soon as the rightmost tentacle is about to grab you and return to the boat for your extra 3 points. Also, be careful on the left side of the screen, as the leftmost tentacle can extend to either the top or bottom of the rope, the better to prevent people from simply turtling. Generally, when attempting to return to the boat, the rule for when the leftmost tentacle is extending is "if it's high, do not fly; if it's low, time to go!" For those so inclined, you can play the original game [URL="http://www.pica-pic.com/#/octopus/"]here[/URL]. Although Octopus never received a re-release during the original Game & Watch days, the Octopus must have some friends in the deep, as he has actually become something of a Nintendo staple. His first appearance outside of his original Game & Watch title was Game & Watch Gallery (Game Boy Gallery 2 in Australia), a collection of 4 Game & Watch titles–Fire, Manhole, Octopus & Oil Panic–released for the Game Boy in 1998. The Game & Watch Gallery titles also had modernized versions of the featured titles, featuring the Mario characters and adding some new twists to the classic gameplay. In the modern version of Octopus, Mario takes on the role of the treasure-hunting divers, while extra lives come in the shape of hearts thrown onto the playfield by Lakitu and the Octopus gaining the ability to spit ink, which will cost you one of your lives if it hits you and comes out nearly constantly after 800 points, as well as the ability to put his middle tentacles in two locations, much like his leftmost tentacle in the original. To compensate for these new abilities, Mario gains far more points for the treasure he brings back to his boat, with each piece of treasure equaling 2 bonus points, in addition to the point for grabbing it in the first place; however, he also moves more slowly after every 3rd piece of treasure (50 is the maximum he can carry, in case you were wondering), so speed is still key here. Furthermore, Mario can throw his treasure at a tentacle by pressing B, but this will cost him all the treasure he had gathered on that run, so use this ability sparingly. Octopus made a return appearance in Game & Watch Gallery 4 (Game & Watch Gallery Advance to any Australians reading this) for the Game Boy Advance in 2002, but the Octopus' modern re-design is pretty wretched–horrifying monstrosities of the deep shouldn't be that cutesy, dang it! Also, having the suction cups on the outside of the Octopus' tentacles when they are retracted borders on sacrilege, so I won't be playing Modern Octopus any more than I have to if I should be lucky enough to own Game & Watch Gallery 4 at some point in the future. The Octopus also appeared in two other re-releases: a Nintendo Mini Classics port in 1998 and an appearance as the star of Game & Watch Collection 2, which was released for Nintendo DS as a prize for Club Nintendo members on April 1, 2010 and cost 800 Coins (the title is currently not listed as an available prize on the Club Nintendo website). The game contains Octopus, Parachute and Parachute x Octopus, a mash-up of the two titles with some interesting wrinkles of its own. You start off on the top screen of your DS, playing Parachute, where you must rescue skydivers by positioning your boat under them such that they land in it. After rescuing enough skydivers, an arrow will point down on the left side of the screen, indicating that the Octopus portion of the game will begin soon. Once you head down, the Octopus portion of the game begins on the bottom screen of the DS, where it plays much like the original, but with two twists–first off, grabbing at least 5 pieces of treasure during the Octopus round makes skydivers worth 2 points each for the next Parachute round; secondly, the Parachute round starts up again in fairly short order, with the helicopter flashing and beeping to let you know that more skydivers are on their way. Furthermore, your misses are NOT tracked separately for the two portions of the game, so it can get pretty miserable if you're bad at one of the two component titles (I always did struggle with Parachute...). Outside of Game & Watch re-releases, the Octopus has only two other appearances to his name, but both of them are fairly high-profile. The first is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where Mr. Game & Watch turns into the Octopus for his Final Smash, becoming invulnerable for the duration of the move and extending & contracting his tentacles with the A button; this is actually the second Octopus reference in Mr. Game & Watch's moveset, as he temporarily dons the helmet worn by the divers for his Forward Smash. The Octopus' second appearance is in Nintendo Land, the pack-in title that comes with the Wii U Deluxe/Premium bundles, where he is featured in Octopus Dance, a rhythm game in which you must imitate the dance moves of the diver. The Octopus can be seen in the background and Nintendo did a fantastic job of translating his classic look into the papier-mache design style of Nintendo Land. Octopus Dance is usually considered one of Nintendo Land's weaker attractions, but it's the thought that counts, right? As I have said before, few companies are less shy about playing up their past than Nintendo. We can easily forget, in this age of plentiful retro compilations, what a video game company staying true to its roots [I]really[/I] looks like. How many other companies would give a character from their relatively hardscrabble early days as a video game developer as much exposure as Nintendo have given the Octopus if they had previously enjoyed successes on the scale of the NES, Super NES and Game Boy? For all its missteps, Nintendo is the only company whose dedication to preserving the best of their roots cannot be gainsaid. [B]Next Time on The Top 25 Nintendo Villains[/B]: Darkness rises when the stone breaks... [/QUOTE]
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