Twitterpated

• 18:15 TMBG shirts take up a disproportionate amount of my T-shirt drawer. #
• 18:19 Why does Victoria's Secret think it's "spoiling yourself" to wear a corset to bed? #
• 19:07 @margaretcho "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten toilet, that those who use it shall not shit on the ground." #
• 19:09 @kattmoff Doesn't it come from the Latin name for Switzerland? #
• 19:13 @eehouls "Galangalangalang"? Is she singing "Sh-Boom" in honor of the occasion? #
• 19:14 @NowIsStrange Yeah, why would spammers join Twitter, anyway? #
• 19:15 @eehouls I'd say to ask first. #
• 19:19 @samuraifrog But do you heart less than three boobs? Except maybe on Eccentrica Gallumbits? #
• 19:36 @samuraifrog What about the sequel to the classic German film, "Das ReBoot"? #
• 19:38 @eehouls Remember when I took that home wine-making course and forgot how to drive? #
• 20:03 This year's American Idol is a real sausage-fest. #
• 20:05 So, does "I'm Every Woman" imply that women don't have individual personalities? Because that's offensive. #
• 20:07 Chaka Khan was my favorite Mongolian warlord. #
• 20:16 Santana is classy? #
• 20:28 So, what IS the difference between Miss America and Miss USA? #
• 21:16 So Ben Folds doesn't live in Australia anymore? #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Mario Teaches Geography

One subject I've been meaning to tackle for a while now is the geography of the Mushroom World. I mean, I like video games and maps, so why not? We know of several significant locations on this world, including:

Mushroom Kingdom - The setting of several games, and a home base in some of the others. The capital is Toad Town, and Mushroom City is probably also located there. According to Paper Mario, Toad Town has a harbor, which means its location on a plateau in Super Mario RPG is kind of unlikely.

Koopa Kingdom - Known as Dark Land in the American translation of Super Mario Bros. 3, although I believe the original Japanese game just called all of World 8 "Castle of Koopa." The manual for the original SMB refers to Bowser's territory as the Turtle Empire. Regardless of what it's called, its location is not entirely clear. This map suggests that Dark Land is to the east of the Mushroom Kingdom, while SMRPG places it in a rocky land to the west of Peach's castle. But then, we know that Bowser has multiple castles, and that at least one of them can fly, so that could explain the different locations. I tend to think it's supposed to be the same castle as long as it has Bowser's face on it (which it definitely does in SMB3, SMRPG, and Superstar Saga), but this is never made explicit.

Subcon - The setting of SMB2. Being known as the Land of Dreams, it's unlikely that it has a physical location.

Dinosaur Land - A group of islands that serve as the setting for Super Mario World. One of them, Yoshi's Island (not to be confused with Yo'ster Isle), is where several other games take place.

Sarasaland - Princess Daisy's kingdom, and the setting of Super Mario Land. It's made up of four different lands, each based on a part of our own world.

Mario Land - In Super Mario Land 2, we learn that Mario is the ruler of a country. How he got that gig (and on top of apparently being a full-time plumber and princess-rescuer, at that) is never entirely clear, but he has his own castle, which he has to take back from Wario.

Beanbean Kingdom - The setting of Superstar Saga shares a border with the Mushroom Kingdom. Its focus on beans and the fact that Mario gets sick from eating food there suggest its relationship to the Mushroom Kingdom is similar to that of Mexico to the United States.

There are also other locations scattered throughout this world, including Pianta Island (Super Mario Sunshine), Kitchen Island (Wario Land), Vibe Island (Super Princess Peach), and the Waffle Kingdom (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door). I think it would also make a certain amount of sense for the locations in the Donkey Kong Country series to be included; I don't think it's ever explicitly stated, but it would explain how Mario and Donkey Kong keep running into each other.

If I were making a map of the Mushroom World (which I've tried before, even though I suck at drawing), I'd probably also want to include the locations from the Super Show cartoons, since they helped to shape my perception of the series. Most of the episodes take place in presumably small areas, although I would imagine the Linguine Empire from "The Great Gladiator Gig" would have to be pretty sizeable. Maybe the Empire contains Pasta Land, the setting of "The Pied Koopa" and "Mario and the Red Baron Koopa." In other words, it would probably contain all of the places listed on this page.

Stuck in the Middle of the Game

As I've mentioned before, I have a bad habit of abandoning video games when they get too difficult. Fortunately, since I mostly play role-playing games with save features, I can always pick them up again later on. Perhaps this won't be interesting to anyone but me, but here's a list of games where I've made it part of the way through:

Chrono Trigger - In the DS version, I've reached Masa and Mune, but I can't defeat them. I wonder if I should swap out Robo for Marle; petie_s says that the Antipode spell that she and Lucca have works well.

Chrono Cross - It was a long time ago that I played this game, but I remember I couldn't make it through Fort Dragonia. Unfortunately, it's one of the few places in an RPG where you can't just retreat and get more supplies when you're ailing.

Dragon Quest IV - I've beaten the NES version, and I've made it up to Psaro the Manslayer in the DS version, but I haven't defeated him yet.

DQ5 - Just started on this one, but it's pretty cool so far. I've reached the fairy kingdom.

DQ7 - The farthest I ever made it was that really obnoxious 3-D maze.

Final Fantasy II - I've actually finished the main game, but I haven't gotten anywhere in the Rebirth of Soul thing in the Game Boy Advance version. I'll probably try it again at some point, but it's not really a high priority, since I already won the game as it originally stood.

FF3 - Just started this one, actually.

FF4 - From what I remember, I made it through the Tower of Bab-il, and am now facing the Cave of Eblan. I'm somewhere around there, anyway.

FF5 - Made it up to Exdeath. Beat Exdeath's first form. Had my ass kicked by Neo Exdeath. Forced to write in sentence fragments.

FF7 - This was my brother's game, and I doubt my save is still on the memory card (if said memory card even exists anymore), so I can't pick up where I left off. From what I can remember, though, I made it up to the space rocket part.

FF9 - Another one of my brother's games, I barely got anywhere in this one, and died in the first cave. It probably wouldn't have too difficult to try again, though, considering that you seemed to increase in level every time you tripped over a rock.

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga - I think I'm fairly close to the end, but I'm unable to beat Roy Koopa. And since this is an action RPG, it takes a little more time to get used to it after not having played it for a while.

Paper Mario - I'm in the forest where Tubba Blubba lives. I don't think that game ever became too difficult; it's just that I don't get too many chances to play the Nintendo 64.

Phantasy Star II - I haven't made it very far, but I'm confused as to what I'm supposed to do next. I think I even tried looking it up in a walkthrough, but it was still confusing.