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  What are these games and why LP them? There were 2 Fairly Odd Parents games released on the Gamecube, known as Breakin' Da Rules and Shadow Showdown, by Blitz games. They were released in the early-mid 2000s and while the first is pretty boring, the second game, which takes all the same mechanics, is infinitely better. I'm here to show off why. I will be playing through them in order, pointing out where the plots either come together or fall apart, and discussing why the levels individually don't work or why they don't fit into the narrative well, or why they do as the case may be. There are even a lot of levels that have a direct comparison to one another, like both games have a Crimson Chin level and a Yugopotamian level that draw direct comparisons, both in the wishes found in them and in the plots desribed by the levels. It's a fascinating case study in game design as Breakin' Da Rules flounders badly at the first hurdle, then Shadow Showdown shows up, shoves it out of the way and goes "Nice try junior, let me show you how it's done!" Videos Breakin' Da Rules - Level 1, A Badge Too Far Breakin' Da Rules - Level 2, Chinless Blunder Breakin Da Rules - Level 3, The Vicky Virus Breakin Da Rules - Level 4, Mini Timmy Breakin' Da Rules - Level 5, Crash Landing Breakin' Da Rules - Level 6, Bad Luck 101 Breakin' Da Rules - Level 7, Time Warped Breakin' Da Rules - Level 8, A Dog's Life Breakin' Da Rules - Final Boss, The Ultimate Challenge Shadow Showdown - Tutorial Shadow Showdown - Level 1 - Fairy World *Epilepsy Warning due to severe texture flickering* Shadow Showdown - Level 2 -Dad's Dream *Epilepsy Warning due to severe texture flickering* Shadow Showdown - Level 3 -Take it On The Chin Shadow Showdown - Level 4 -Get A Clue Shadow Showdown - Level 5 -Vicky's Return Shadow Showdown - Level 6 -The Great Esc-Ape Shadow Showdown - Final Boss BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 11:37 on Sep 19, 2019 |
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Apr 19, 2019 18:34
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There is something horribly wrong with the comedic timing and pacing in these cutscenes. The transitions are so fast and the jokes come quicker than I can adequately comprehend them. The elevator music makes the whole situation way more unusual, because it doesn't change during transitions.
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Apr 19, 2019 18:59
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I had both these games as a kid, albeit on PS2, and I can't agree more: Shadow Showdown absolutely blows this game out of the water. Will be interesting to see them through since I don't remember if I ever actually beat either of them.
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Apr 20, 2019 05:34
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I'm definitely going to hang around and see how this shakes out; the first game does look a bit  thus far, certainly.
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Apr 21, 2019 04:40
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It's really hilarious how much of a prototype the first game is compared to the sequel. Timmy's movement even feels more limp and floaty in the first; not to mention that, even though the 'janky ps2 licensed platformer' fell doesn't go away, it gets a lot more finished feeling in Shadow Showdown.
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Apr 23, 2019 15:19
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Jukebox Hero posted:It's really hilarious how much of a prototype the first game is compared to the sequel. Timmy's movement even feels more limp and floaty in the first; not to mention that, even though the 'janky ps2 licensed platformer' fell doesn't go away, it gets a lot more finished feeling in Shadow Showdown. His jump animation in the first game always had a little extra charm to me because it was more jerky.
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Apr 23, 2019 17:24
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Breakin' Da Rules - Level 2, Chinless Blunder We start going through this game's Chincinatti level, based on the in Universe comic book Crimson Chin, and are subjected to uncharacteristically grotesque humour. Also I take umbrage with the idea that Charles Hampton Indigo would become a slob without his powers - he had his strength, speed and charisma stolen, not his sense of justice or work ethic. It would have been much more charming and fun to see Charles at work at the newspaper, maybe lifting a copier when his strength returned to get a pencil that rolled under it, , or working hard on a treadmill at the gym when regaining his speed, trying to get his powers back the hard way.
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Apr 25, 2019 04:32
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BioEnchanted posted:Breakin' Da Rules - Level 2, Chinless Blunder There was an episode where he realized he was fictional and had an identity crisis, so he saw no point in doing anything. This level seems like a much worse version of that concept.
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Apr 25, 2019 04:36
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BioEnchanted posted:Also I take umbrage with the idea that Charles Hampton Indigo would become a slob without his powers - he had his strength, speed and charisma stolen, not his sense of justice or work ethic. It would have been much more charming and fun to see Charles at work at the newspaper, maybe lifting a copier when his strength returned to get a pencil that rolled under it, , or working hard on a treadmill at the gym when regaining his speed, trying to get his powers back the hard way. Agreed, but at the same time, recall the precise wording of Vicky's wish: "I wish the Crimson Chin was useless." Not powerless, useless. It's entirely possible that his sense of justice, work ethic, and other redeeming qualities got packaged up with his 'charisma', or otherwise removed, and the game just doesn't touch on it because... reasons.
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Apr 25, 2019 22:38
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serefin99 posted:Agreed, but at the same time, recall the precise wording of Vicky's wish: "I wish the Crimson Chin was useless." Not powerless, useless. It's entirely possible that his sense of justice, work ethic, and other redeeming qualities got packaged up with his 'charisma', or otherwise removed, and the game just doesn't touch on it because... reasons. I want a level where you run around to find the villain that stole The Chin's desire to clean under his desk.
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Apr 25, 2019 23:05
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I was thinking that Gilded Arches' voice actor sounded familiar; it's Rob Paulsen, who's been in roughly everything.
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Apr 26, 2019 10:43
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Breakin Da Rules - Level 3, The Vicky Virus I like this level for the most part, but there is a particularly dull part, so I paid a pound to put a little surprise in for all of you. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. It's also got a halfway decent attempt at a boss fight so I appreciate that.
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Apr 26, 2019 16:50
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Oh man, that ice block pushing room might have been the worst thing I've seen in this game so far. No challenge, no threat, repetitive, you move slower than usual, and the most obvious wish ever to get over it would have been just flying or really anything else.
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Apr 26, 2019 19:31
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Alright, The Vicky Virus looks much better than I remember. The platforming seems a step above the rest of the game, and the gimmicks are more meaty... with the obvious exception of that block pushing section. It almost feels like a proper "Blitz Games" game. Special mention for the great visual design and funky boss music, also.
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Apr 27, 2019 07:55
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Figured I'd let you all know that the next episode's footage is recorded, I just haven't got to talking over it because work has been busy and I've been very thoroughly sucked into Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass for the last few weeks. That's mostly done now though, so I can focus on other things again 
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May 6, 2019 18:20
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Breakin Da Rules - Level 4, Mini Timmy First of all - that bridge at the start? IT'S GUM! It's a stick of gum with the serrated part of the wrapper starting to unfurl. I've played this game like three times and never recognised that drat bridge until watching the video back to check the commentary volume. I find this level relatively interesting with a lot of moving parts, but actually playing it is frustrating due to the core mechanics being poor and clunky. It would be fine in a better game, but the platforms are writing checks that the engine just cannot cash.
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May 7, 2019 20:42
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By the way, How has the commentary been in the Fairly Odd Parent's videos? For some reason the sleeping beauty book keeps cutting out and making me rerecord chunks. Did that happen in this audio too, or is that behaving itself?
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May 8, 2019 19:19
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I didn't notice any issue with the audio during this.
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May 9, 2019 02:26
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Breakin' Da Rules - Level 5, Crash Landing This level is quite interesting compared to the others, although I go on a small tangent comparing it unfavourably to Woody Woodpecker: Escape from Buzz Buzzard Park. I'm not jsut doing a bit btw, Woody Woodpecker has really bad core mechanics and an engine that chugs badly for a ps2 game, but the core level design is fairly strong. If the controls were better it would actually be a good game. It even has unique layouts for levels based on which character you play as (Topknot and Splinter each replay the stage n-1 of each world, then the those two get a unique racing level apiece for each world while woody gets stage n-2 and n-3) and each character gets a special jump gimmick and some unique platforms that suit their mechanical differences.
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May 11, 2019 21:28
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After playing Larryboy earlier, this is a breath of fresh air. The "Mini Timmy" level practically looked like platforming and visual design heaven by comparison. I could feel the effort and creativity. I needed that boost.
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May 13, 2019 11:13
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I'm a bit behind on my threads lately because this month has been hectic, I just got back form visiting my brother for his birthday for 3 days. I'm hoping to have the next episode done and up over the next weekend, or if not, during the following week.
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May 21, 2019 16:30
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Breakin' Da Rules - Level 6, Bad Luck 101 In which we do one of the more frustrating levels, and discuss the frustratingly shallow characterisation of a few of Butch Hartman's characters. Although I misremembered Ember's lyrics in the video while recording the commentary, Ember is likely to have died in September after her boyfriend ghosted her in a freak housefire of some kind, as the lyric was "Nothing but ashes remain" - the part about cold december was referring to her death in general in a simile. Both her and Crocker do share the trait of being children who were subject to very bad circumstances that permanently hosed them up, Crocker being permanently damaged by Jorgen wiping all the memories of the most formative year of his life, killing his self confidence, and, due to his own quick thinking, leaving him with only a half-formed idea of the worst day of his life, and Ember by dying horribly at 17 and being seemingly forgotten by the whole town, given none of the adults even recognise her before she starts hypnotising them.
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May 27, 2019 20:11
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The major issue with giving any characters that sort of depth in a Hartman series is what you went into later in the episode. They're not written to be really be humanized. Everything is designed to be simple, shallow, and cynical in a way that makes it fast and easy to deliver a snappy punchline. That's basically why life is cruel, adults are idiots, the Da Rules are so crushing. Subverting this is the exception, not the rule, which is why Cosmo gets to be occasionally clairvoyant, because it's a sudden slap to expectations rather than anything insightful. I can't say I watched much of Danny Phantom but I suspect the world is largely the same, where everything is just kind of crap because it is and the protagonist only gets out of his problems largely by just being a smidge more clever than everyone else.
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May 27, 2019 21:32
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Breakin' Da Rules - Level 7, Time Warped This level is fairly interesting, even if the stealth/combat aspects are fairly wonky. It also has one of the more interesting Crimson Chin cards. I do however have a mild quibble with Arthur's portrayal due to it being mildly inconsistent with the show.
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Jun 1, 2019 11:05
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Breakin' Da Rules - Level 8, A Dog's Life We play through the final level of the game, which is fairly dull despite how weird it is.largely due to the constant elevator music. Fitting for a mall to be fair, but still dull to listen to. Now we only have the final boss to go, then we will be onto the second game, and the comparison can begin in earnest, so I hope you're all looking forward to that.
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Jun 8, 2019 11:56
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Breakin' Da Rules - Final Boss, The Ultimate Challenge In which we fight a fairly repetitive final boss and suffer through a lifeless ending. Next time we finally reach the second game. At this point, the comparisons can begin in earnest, so that will be fun. We will soon see just how much better Shadow Showdown is.
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Jun 16, 2019 17:26
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Yeah, 'lifeless' is a good way to describe this game in general. I do hope the next game really does show the promised improvement.
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Jun 17, 2019 11:12
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Annoyingly, I thought it was just recording, but even just running the game gives weird cutscene artefacts like the first game had, although worse in some ways which is a shame. i've tried different recording settings and they all gently caress up in the same way so it seems we'll just need to deal with that, as the actual game online is really expensive to buy. Otherwise I'd go that route and record direct from my wii. Just thought I'd let you know. The choreography and cinematography are still much better despite that though. Basically the game is still better in every way, it's presentation just suffers when emulated.
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Jun 18, 2019 06:45
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Shadow Showdown - Tutorial We finally begin the sequel to Breakin Da Rules and see just how much better it is. The cutscenes going as weird as they do is due to the emulator going a bit weird, but a physical copy of this game is really expensive (£60, plus I'd need a GC controller) and it's probably gonna be a lot better after this opening.
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Jun 26, 2019 06:34
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Shadow Showdown - Level 1 - Fairy World *Epilepsy Warning due to severe texture flickering* We explore the first real level and the game fucks up the cutscenes enough I feel the need to give an epilepsy warning due to the severely flickering textures. Something I want to draw attention to is the story direction at this point - not only are the characters more likable, with vicky's cruelty being more directed and less confused and his parents being more thoughtless/wrapped up in themselves than deliberately cruel. Also Jorgen, somewhat rarely for him, is actually on Timmy's side, rendering him less of an antagonist and more of a foil. I like the idea that while Jorgen is off saving the day as the leader of the investigation he needs Timmy working behind the scenes on a back up plan, it means Jorgen is not just delegating - he has his own work he does, we just don't see it. Also the plot itself makes sense with the rest of the series, the TV show has long established that the Fairyversary muffin is the most powerful fairy artifact known to fairy world, so of course the mcguffin is only the second most powerful. We have also had foreshadowing of the true nature of the threat in the opening cutscene before the TV broke, and misdirection in Quince to build intrigue at the end of this video. The plot has a real structure and the way it plays out overall has a strong logical current to it storytelling wise. It segments and pairs it's levels the way it does for a reason and we will see that in action as the game goes on.
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Jun 30, 2019 20:22
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Shadow Showdown - Level 2 -Dad's Dream *Epilepsy Warning due to severe texture flickering* In which I thoroughly deconstruct the character of Timmy's Dad and the level itself by applying Freudian theory and dream analysis to a children's cartoon. I had a lot of fun commenting on this one. Also this level is the first of what I dub the "TV levels", which have an interesting progression that I will elaborate on in time.
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Jul 14, 2019 20:03
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What is this Psychonauts bullshit? Kidding, though it is interesting that this feels like a Psychonauts level when Psychonauts itself feels like a Nicktoon in its aesthetic and concept. Is there a reason you're playing the Gamecube version specifically? Have you tried playing any other versions to see if they work any better?
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Jul 15, 2019 04:36
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Chimera-gui posted:What is this Psychonauts bullshit? I actually didn't realise it was on other platforms, I'll probably have better luck with the PS2 version, so i'll download that one and play up to where I am so far, and we'll proceed with the emulator that records properly. Thanks for the tip.
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Jul 15, 2019 04:42
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You're welcome. As a rule of thumb, I find it's always a good idea to check what platforms the game you're trying to LP is available on ahead of time and see what your best options are before doing any actual recording. Like I do understand using a specific version if you have an attachment to it like Nidoking's LP the PS2 version of Psychonauts or GamesareSupernice's LP of LEGO Batman on Wii but it's always good to at least make sure you can record that format without the issues the first three vids of Shadow Showdown has. Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Jul 15, 2019 |
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Jul 15, 2019 05:32
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Shadow Showdown - Level 3 -Take it On The Chin PS2 version this time, so no more flickering! Now it looks perfect! This is a neat level, although hard to find all the collectibles in if you miss any. It also has a lot more charm than the equivalent level in Breakin' Da Rules. I like the idea that the Chin is still strong, it's just without the supernatural aspects of his strength he feels useless.
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Aug 3, 2019 16:10
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Until I saw the freeze ray icon, I thought the hippos were some kind of slime since the eyes are hidden behind the nose and Cosmo's remark about the being made of water. I also laughed at H2Olga quietly shaking her head in response to Chin being an idiot like "Oh Chin, you doofus". Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Aug 4, 2019 |
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Aug 4, 2019 02:05
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Shadow Showdown - Level 4 -Get A Clue This is my favourite level, although the boss is really frustrating. I love how the wishes are all interesting and all fit the theme of detective work, either through practicality or visual puns. The scooby-doo-like resolution is pretty funny too. BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 09:32 on Aug 11, 2019 |
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Aug 11, 2019 09:24
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Oh wow I was not expecting this, I thought we were just going to collect muffin ingredients. Like I can fully believe the Jorgan would draft us into looking for the jewel but I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. It is nice that we do get something to help with our main objective for our trouble at least. Also armor can just be straight up possessed since this mansion is haunted, it doesn't have to have animated by magic. And we've gone from Psychonauts to the Stone Tower Temple from Majora's Mask and fittingly that had nice music and took place in a haunted canyon. And tangentially related what you talking about while Timmy was turning the house upside down, remember when the Cryptkeeper had a game show? Also it's kinda funny that Timmy'd wish to be a ghost since Danny Phantom started in April of the same year this game was released. And Cosmo is in full dad joke mode and no one is having it. Just his sheer terror when Wanda threatened to light his head on fire.
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Aug 11, 2019 19:42
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Chimera-gui posted:Oh wow I was not expecting this, I thought we were just going to collect muffin ingredients. I'll die on Cosmo's hill thankyouverymuch 
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Aug 11, 2019 19:44
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BTW I've recorded the next level, but my god there is so much wasted time looking for tiny amounts of missed collectibles. It's gonna be a pain in the rear end to edit, so thought I'd update to let you know it was coming.
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Aug 25, 2019 16:17
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