{"id":9301,"date":"2021-09-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/?p=9301"},"modified":"2021-09-24T09:34:31","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T14:34:31","slug":"ninji-direct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/?p=9301","title":{"rendered":"Ninji Direct"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There was another Nintendo Direct yesterday. It was a big one, but it actually didn’t show too many games that really excited me. There’s a new Yoko Taro card game coming out next month. That’s… I mean, I’m not all that excited about a card game, but it’s Yoko Taro, so I must. The expansion for Monster Hunter Rise<\/strong> and Kirby and the Forgotten Land<\/strong> are things that I am naturally quite “hype” about, but they’re dated for next spring, so I don’t need to think about them for a good, long while. Triangle Strategy<\/strong> still has a dumb name and still looks great, but again: March 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m still excited as heck for Metroid: Dread<\/strong>, but it’s out in exactly two weeks, I really don’t need a new trailer? And the Deltarune: Chapter 2<\/strong> announcement would have driven me wild, if I had not just played Deltarune: Chapter 2 last weekend on my computer. It was excellent!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What really blew my socks off in this Direct was the content update for Mario Golf: Super Rush<\/strong>. Not because I’m excited about a content update for Mario Golf: Super Rush (I have not purchased the game). No, this announcement had my jaw on the floor because of a character design for a golfer that’s being added to the game: the humble Ninji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

If you’ll indulge me, please take a look at the image below. The little, blakc critters featured alongside Princess Toadstool are Ninji. This is what Ninji has looked like from 1988 to 2020, as far as I was aware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ninji, at least to me, has always just been exactly what it looks like here: a black, star-shaped creature with rosy cheeks and a giant Sonic the Hedgehog eyeball. I didn’t ever think about it any further, and was never given any reason to consider that Ninji might be more than what the simple 2D sprite was able to express. Alas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is what Ninji really<\/em> looks like! It’s a Fall Guys<\/strong> potato-person!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But seriously, those aren’t rosy cheeks? They’re actually buttons!? And apparently it’s a white guy in a suit? With two regular-sized eyeballs? My whole world has been flipped upside-down!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, despite me having believed in my interpretation of what a Ninji is for the last 33 years, Nintendo disagrees. Ninji’s little red spots have officially been buttons since Super Mario World<\/strong> (you can vaguely see it in this promotional poster<\/a>), and somehow I did not catch on in all of those years. It’s not 100% my fault though, as the Ninji’s sprites and 3D models haven’t ever been entirely clear about the nature of those buttons. Have a look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking at them now, I can’t really see anything but the “intended” Ninji design, but you can probably understand how I was mistaken for so very long. Even Nintendo’s artists weren’t always totally sure what the character looked like, if the Super Mario All-Stars<\/strong> sprite is any indication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is kind of interesting to see, though, that after Super Mario World, Ninji basically weren’t allowed in anything but Mario RPGs. Though I suppose that is<\/em> the fate of most of the monsters that originated in Subcon. Ghettoed, but not forgotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was another Nintendo Direct yesterday. It was a big one, but it actually didn’t show too many games that really excited me. There’s a new Yoko Taro card game coming out next month. That’s… I mean, I’m not all that excited about a card game, but it’s Yoko Taro, so I must. The expansion … Continue reading Ninji Direct<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mario","category-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9307,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9301\/revisions\/9307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}