Chomping at the Bit
Apr. 1st, 2009 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatAh, April Fool's Day. I thought it was amusing as a kid, but now I find it pretty irritating. Who knew that disagreements in sixteenth century France over when the new year occurred would result in people thinking it hilarious to put salt in the sugar bowl 400 years later? The first of April is also the Assyrian New Year, or Kha b-Nisan. Today's entry isn't on either of these occasions, however, but rather on Chain Chomps. If you think that's foolish, well, it's no more so than many of my other posts.
Chain Chomps first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3, and are said to have been inspired by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto's childhood experience with a chained dog snapping at him. Despite essentially being just live balls attached to chains, the Chomps are quite dog-like. In Link's Awakening (yes, there are Chain Chomps in the Zelda series as well), Link has to rescue a pet Chain Chomp named Bow-Wow, and can temporarily lead him along to help fight monsters. In Super Mario RPG, Bowser finds a female Chain Chomp that he can use as a weapon, but he treats it like a pet. The Japanese name for the creature is actually "Wanwan," the rough equivalent of "woof woof."
By the way, did you know that Chain Chomps in SMB3 could break loose when the timer reached a certain time (160, according to the Mario Wiki). I think I might have watched that on purpose at one point, but it would have to be pretty scary if you came across it by accident without knowing about it beforehand. Sort of the opposite of that treasure ship, I suppose.
SMB3 also has Fire Chomps, which (not surprisingly) have fiery tails instead of chains. They can spit the fireballs from their tails, but they explode after running out. This could be why they appear in so few other games. And in addition to this self-destructive tendency, they can also be taken out by stomping, unlike the well-nigh-invincible Chain Chomps.
Chain Chomps first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3, and are said to have been inspired by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto's childhood experience with a chained dog snapping at him. Despite essentially being just live balls attached to chains, the Chomps are quite dog-like. In Link's Awakening (yes, there are Chain Chomps in the Zelda series as well), Link has to rescue a pet Chain Chomp named Bow-Wow, and can temporarily lead him along to help fight monsters. In Super Mario RPG, Bowser finds a female Chain Chomp that he can use as a weapon, but he treats it like a pet. The Japanese name for the creature is actually "Wanwan," the rough equivalent of "woof woof."
By the way, did you know that Chain Chomps in SMB3 could break loose when the timer reached a certain time (160, according to the Mario Wiki). I think I might have watched that on purpose at one point, but it would have to be pretty scary if you came across it by accident without knowing about it beforehand. Sort of the opposite of that treasure ship, I suppose.
SMB3 also has Fire Chomps, which (not surprisingly) have fiery tails instead of chains. They can spit the fireballs from their tails, but they explode after running out. This could be why they appear in so few other games. And in addition to this self-destructive tendency, they can also be taken out by stomping, unlike the well-nigh-invincible Chain Chomps.
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-01 11:35 pm (UTC)I think I probably knew they came loose in SMB3 in the back of my mind, but I must have completely forgotten. Now I want to go play and wait for it to happen so I can try and avoid them.
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Date: 2009-04-01 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-01 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-02 02:36 am (UTC)By the way, did you know that Whomp is based on a Japanese legendary creature known as the Nurikabe? The Nuribake, at least in the manga/anime "Ge Ge Ge No Kitarou" and in Shigeru Mizuki's youkai encyclopedias, is an invisible wall that you sometimes meet in the forest or on the street that keeps you from walking any further. You have to kick it and yell "Please go away Nurikabe!" to make it disappear.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-03 11:57 pm (UTC)Invincibility will do it, and I think a turtle shell as well.
You have to kick it and yell "Please go away Nurikabe!" to make it disappear.
Too bad Mario can't just do that when he encounters Whomps.
So are Whomps related to Thwomps? I figure they must be, right?
no subject
Date: 2009-04-04 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-04 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-02 03:17 am (UTC)P.S. - I WANT that hat!!!
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Date: 2009-04-03 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-02 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-03 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-11 08:25 pm (UTC)