ghenry
Ghenry
I'm waiting and fading and floating away
(feel free to ask me anything!)
http://YouTube.com/@Ghenry
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‘Super Smash Bros.’ was released on the Nintendo 64 25 years ago today in the US.
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Rewatched the Avatar TLA series with my partner recently, and fell in love with the world and characters all over again. I especially love the journey Zuko goes through the show as a character.
Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai. He seems pretty by-the-books at first as this angry villain, but something that makes him immediately unique for this kind of setting is his young age. He's barely older than Aang, our child protagonist.
"You're just a child." "Well, you're just a teenager!"
Although early on you start getting the idea that there's more nuance to him than this villain trying to incapacitate our protag, he shows some depth in his character here and there, usually through his uncle Iroh, a wise warrior that's there to aid and comfort his nephew, joining his banished trip on his own accord. While he's on the villain's side, it's worth noting he never hurts or intimidates innocent people, only ever fighting those already attacking or threatening him.
Even so, Zuko made it blatantly clear what his intents were. "I must capture the avatar to regain my honor." And he barely changed his mind about this throughout the entire first season, even when the two helped each-other out of hopeless circumstances, hinting that they're not meant to be sworn enemies.
"If we knew each-other back then, do you think we could've been friends too?"
Knowing the show and how it transpires across all 3 seasons, it's interesting seeing the intent the writers and showrunners had for these characters, and their hidden depth, all the way back in this first season. One of the finest examples would be Iroh sharing Zuko's history with fellow soldiers. A history which helps said soldiers --and in turn, the audience-- empathize with him.
Behind Zuko's scarred face is a story about a boy already feeling lost and unsure of himself, stumbling into a tragedy where his father --in sheer arrogance-- abused his son to a high degree in front of all his subordinates, in a heinous act he would call punishment.
Ever since then, he was banished to travel across the world to search for the avatar, a task his father felt was worthless, but was the same as leaving him out to die. This isn't the origin of a villain, but a downtrodden individual who couldn't find his place in life.
What Zuko called "honor" over and over again wasn't that, but his father's love. He already lost his mother, and instead yearned for his father's approval and affection. This culminated to his ultimate betrayal, siding with his sister and turning his back on his uncle, which lead to his imprisonment. During a crossroad and moment of insecurity, he threw his uncle Iroh to the wolves because he thought he would regain his honor and earn his right to be a part of his family once again.
Zuko would be welcomed back into his family, he retrieved what he thought was his honor --and what he thought was genuine love from his father.
"You have redeemed yourself, my son."
But even then, he still felt lost, alone, and without a sense of direction. Nothing changed, his soul still felt incomplete.
"For so long, I thought that if my dad accepted me, I'd be happy. My dad talks to me, he even thinks I'm a hero! Everything should be perfect, right? I should be happy now, but I'm not! I'm angrier than ever, and I don't know why!"
It took him a long time (about 2 and a half seasons) to realize he didn't need this sense of "honor" and what he was chasing was just a farce. His father only showed Zuko "love" when he seemed useful, an asset that was helping his fascist conquering of multiple nations by killing the Avatar.
All of this drew to an enthralling, terrifying, heart-wrenching moment between him and his father during the day of the eclipse. He used the minutes they could not fire bend as an opportunity to let out the truth and his own epiphany. He admitted that he never killed Aang --didn't even try, for that matter-- and that he's going to help him defeat his father's regime. Ozai immediately despised Zuko for this, proving his 'love' was conditional and hollow. And at that moment, as soon as the eclipse ceased, he attempted to kill his own son right then and there in a moment that never fails to draw tears out of me as soon as it happens.
Zuko survived his father's lethal attack, only by sheer will, and a lighting-redirection technique his uncle happened to teach him a while back, emphasizing how important Iroh is to him. Iroh is the father figure that truly loved Zuko unconditionally. Ozai, his biological father, could only grant him death. His uncle Iroh, at that moment, inadvertently granted him life.
And Zuko's story (mostly) ends in the middle of the 4-part finale. With the help of his friends, he tracked down Iroh who escaped from prison. The moment he sees his uncle, he breaks down as he's horribly ashamed of his actions, expecting Iroh to shun him as he feels he does not deserve his uncle's love after what he did to him.
"I was never angry with you . . . I was sad, because I was afraid you lost your way."
But Iroh doesn't hesitate to embrace him. Like I said, his love is unconditional. He knew Zuko wasn't evil, he was only being manipulated by the likes of his father and sister. He knew Zuko would find the right path, restore his own honor, and come back to him. It's such a beautiful moment and the soul-piercing conclusion to Zuko's story, a story they were building up since the literal first episode.
Of course, there's also Azula, his sister. She was considered a prodigy with her amazing fire bending abilities, mastering the skill of bending lightning, something only her father and uncle were able to do before her.
She was a spitting image of her father; fierce, manipulative, wrathful, the only thing she shared with her brother Zuko was their sense of determination. But we don't learn what really drives Azula until the finale. It's similar to Zuko. He felt incomplete without his father's love. While this was implied before the finale, Azula felt she was missing her mother's love.
While I think the argument could be made that this was just her own projection, it's important that this shows how --despite her more respected place in their family and nation-- she was just as broken and spiritually lost as Zuko. While Ozai showered his daughter with praise for all of her life, Azula felt her mother didn't love her, which ate away at her, deep inside. Much like Zuko, who felt he was fighting to earn his father's love.
Azula, to me, represents Zuko's future if he let his father manipulate him, just like Azula did to him. Would he have become this tyrannical fire lord if he just listened to his father, abandoned his inhibitions, and ensured his nation's regime? Maybe. But like Azula's interrupted crowning, it would have been shallow, lonely, and without any real sense of self-worth. Nothing to show for it but a broken mind.
Instead, Zuko became the fire lord on his own terms, and with the entire world in support of him, as he helped this quest for peace and balance across the nations. He earned his place in life through his own will, his own actions, and his amazing uncle who only wanted the best for him. He restored his honor himself, with lifelong friends by his side.
That's it, that's all I wanted to write about. This show rules.
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NEW VIDEO! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet Suda51, the man himself, and conduct a 45-ish minute interview. This video is basically the whole interview cut down neatly, the audio cleaned up to my best ability, and showing visual context where I felt appropriate. Please enjoy!
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Man, I've been blazing with these uploads lately, huh? Perhaps part of me just feels charged from getting to meet one of my heroes for the first time. Suda51 means a lot to me as a creator, and I'm still having a hard time believing I received such an opportunity. I was also very happy to meet Grasshopper's PR folks I've been exchanging emails with for a while now.
I have so many more videos I want to make, but I've really slowed down on uploads lately. Of course, part of that has to do with how long some of these videos tend to be. But I feel so insanely motivated to keep going, more than ever, where making this particular one felt almost dream-like the entire way through.
I'll be forever grateful to everyone that supported me throughout the years with their views, likes, dislikes, comments, patronage, everything! It's because of you all I was able to make this happen. You all rock! Thumbnail art by @doctorgrambo!
#Suda51#Grasshopper Manufacture#Shadows of the Damned#Suda51 interview#Goichi Suda#Garcia Hotspur#Kurayami Dance#Youtube
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NEW VIDEO, THE LOST ESSAY HAS BEEN RESTORED! An amphibious analysis for the ages, the long-lost episode of Deadly Individualism, covering the Grasshopper masterpiece known as Frog Minutes! Please check it out and share!
Happy April Fools day, I'm very happy I got to make a fun little joke video on my channel for the first time, while also highlighting this cute game made by the Grasshopper crew. The description also includes a link so anyone watching can get to playing this on their PC within minutes!
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NEW VIDEO! This is part 1 of a retrospective series on 3D Sonic games! This video focuses on Sonic Adventure 1 and 2.
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This video, in some ways, is me reconciling with old feelings and childhood memories about these two games, especially 2 since it was the first Sonic game I ever got as a kid, back on the Gamecube.
I've always had interest in Sonic as a franchise but haven't dived deep into it since I was in my teens, so this was a refreshing way to really dig into how I feel about the 3D games. It was also a means to express my newfound admiration for the original Sonic Adventure, one of the best games in the series, in my opinion. And probably the most unique and creative game regarding the 3D entries.
This is only the beginning of the video series, as I plan to cover all the mainline 3D Sonic games (and then some, probably) in depth alongside SonicKick, hope you enjoy the beginnings and look forward to future entries!
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2023 YouTube channel recap!
It is now the end of the year, so now I'm looking back at the videos I managed to release in 2023! There weren't too many, but they were all challenging in unique ways. So let's take a look!
Hi-Fi Rush | As Basic As Things Can Get
So, this video is pretty polarizing. And I knew it would be! Hi-Fi Rush received endless praise when it was released in January 2023. Being fairly dabbled in both action platformers and hack-n-slash games, I had to see how it was for myself. And the water of mediocrity splashing at my face was cold enough to convince me I needed to vent about it in video form. I took this video as a lesson on exercising absolute honesty. I feel like I have been holding myself back with a lot of video projects because I was afraid of coming off too strong. But this time I didn't care. I let out my most raw, uncouth feelings about this game because I want to be more comfortable with my voice and assertiveness. In that sense, I think I succeeded. The split ratio would say otherwise, though.
The point of the video: Hi-Fi Rush took advantage of having this specific art style that not a lot of high-end companies really tackle, and that carried it throughout waves of praise, despite having middling game design and lack of confidence in what it actually succeeds in. It underplays its own strength--the hack-n-slash combat-- and pads the game out to a high degree suing boxy platforming with only character dialogue attempting to make it drag less. Games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta have similar structures where it showcases awkward platforming that isn't very fun to perform, but they both go elbow-deep with their pure combat (which takes up the majority of their campaigns) because the developers were confident in the hack-n-slash gameplay. Tango did not have that confidence, which is why the majority of the gameplay is boxy platforming that lacked any sense of urgency or challenge.
Also, the writing sucks complete ass and Chai is a terrible example of writing an unlikable protagonist. Nothing will ever convince me otherwise. I'm so sick of everyone trying to make their own Spider-Man.
I don't regret this video, even a little bit. I don't care how many people unsubscribed, if they're not here to take in my thoughts and feelings, what are they here for? Because that's all I'm doing and will continue to do with my channel.
Crime is Crime | The Silver Case Analysis
This was something I've wanted to do for years, but prioritized Travis Strikes Again as well as No More Heroes 3. Even so, The Silver Case was a daunting project. I'm not a professional writer, I never took any elective courses for it throughout my school career. I don't consider myself even remotely smart, never-mind 'an intellectual.' I'm not even that familiar with philosophy and such, so part of me was thinking "Do I even have the capacity to analyze this game?" literally every single second I was writing, capturing, and editing the video.
Regardless, in the end, I think I got a good grasp of the story and was able to dissect a lot of it in a satisfying manner.
The point of the video: Crime will always exist, but what's more interesting is the source of it. The motivation of an individual, a society, or even a corporation. The game also showcases a lot of elements and even narrative quirks that would be prevalent in Suda51's future directing gigs. I think he and his crew have some fine critiques on things like capitalism, police justice, and what it means to be a part of a controlled society. It doesn't give any answers in how you can change the worst parts of a society, but it isn't really meant to in any real way, it just isn't that simple.
Analyzing Henry Cooldown | The Devil In the Details
What started out as a little defense piece for Henry in No More Heroes 3 ended up much longer and more in-depth than I initially planned. While looking over his dialogue, appearance, and overall design, I realized there is so much more to this living plot-twist.
The point of the video: I think Henry represents the devil for Travis Touchdown. And this further accentuates what I've pontificated in my full analysis of NMH3, that Travis is stuck in this eternal form of hell. While Suda has never explained --and probably never will-- what he was trying to say with games like NMH, I like to think having Travis be cursed with eternal battle, eternal recognition, and eternal brand potency (like many video game icons) was something he was considering, at least by the time he was making NMH3.
And, sure, I've analyzed and described Henry to mean different things, but so what? He can be more than one thing. Nothing is certain, a lot of this will remain open for interpretation. That's art.
Grasshopper's Translator | James Mountain Interview
Earlier this year I got to have a nice, long chat with James Mountain, the main translator/interpreter of Grasshopper Manufacture! I wanted his input since he was the sole individual given the task to translate the entirety of The Silver Case from beginning to end. I ended up learning a lot about him as well as the process of such a dense job that is interpreting a visual novel completely by yourself. I also thought it'd make a good exercise if I ever want to release videos like this again. I had fun learning how to make audio visualizers as well as including visual context during our conversations.
The point of the video: There was a lot of debate (and bickering) in regards to the English interpretation of the game, and I figured who better to clarify their process of the whole thing than the interpreter himself? I had a lot of fun conducting this interview, and there were a lot of bits I didn't use for my analysis video, so I figured it would make a nice bonus for everyone!
That's everything from this year! I'm really proud of how all of these videos came out, and I'm itching to keep going, expressing myself to my best ability! But I think a little break is in order. Thank you so much if you have read up to here! Have a great rest of your holiday, and I'll catch you in 2024!
#no more heroes#no more heroes 3#suda51#grasshopper manufacture#nmh3#the silver case#game analysis#youtube#James mountain#kill the past#hi fi rush
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NEW VIDEO ESSAY! This is a thorough analysis of Henry Cooldown throughout the No More Heroes series. Not only is it a further examination of how he changed in NMH3, but also a dissection of the kind of character he's been throughout the entire series.
Henry Cooldown | The Devil In the Details
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#suda51#grasshopper manufacture#nmh3#no more heroes#no more heroes 3#game analysis#henry cooldown#ghm#video essay#Youtube
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Great writer who's work helped me understand aspects of The Silver Case. I'm excited to sit down and begin reading his essay on Kamui, please try to check it out as well!
I've posted my long-awaited "What Is Uehara Kamui?" This is a 90+ page essay about the role and political nature (is there one?) of Kamui and Ayame in Grasshopper Manufacture video games
You can read it on my website
Or if you prefer, on Medium
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Was recently replaying some of the No More Heroes games on Switch, and remembered the hype leading up to No More Heroes III. Do you remember any speculation or theories about the game leading up to it's release? I remember the big one was a leaked screenshot from one of the visual novel segments showing what seemed to be Young Harman Smith.
WARNING: This post contains spoilers for No More Heroes 3 as well as Flower, Sun, and Rain.
I remember that! I don't blame folks for thinking that.
I recall thinking it might be Aramata from Moonlight Syndrome, not that it would make much sense if it was.
Anyway, I recall a few other theories. A lot of people--including myself--were expecting appearances by the likes of Kusabi or Kuroyanagi. This speculation came from the end of the first NMH3 trailer from E3 2019 when Sylvia was calling out codenames at the end.
"The Tiger has awakened . . . red, green, dark, black, blood."
In The 25th Ward remake, as well as a few other stories Suda has written recently, many characters were given color codenames to represent them. Midori Midorikawa, a boss in NMH3, went by Green. Kuroyanagi goes by Black, etc. Of course, perhaps people--including myself-- just jumped the gun because now this can basically be a way of describing the alien goons and the multi-colored blood they tend to spill out.
A lot of us were also giving credence to Travis Strikes Again and how so many characters appeared in the visual novel segments, thinking everything was going to merge even more-so in NMH3. Although, Suda has said that he originally was going to have more connections, before they got cut.
I like to think is mostly because Suda can't retain rights to NMH so he'd probably rather wait for an IP he actually owns to encompass what he's established before. Either way, not a lot of this world-merging stuff really makes sense, so these days I'll take it or leave it. Suda has also stated he considers TSA a 'commemorative' title to Grasshopper, hence having so many characters invited to make cameos and such.
Here's one possible example of a removed cameo, the fine folks at believeinthe.net data-mined NMH3 and found a lot of unused emails. Here's one of them;
People that played Flower, Sun, and Rain can think of one particular talking alligator!
Screenshot from AdrianVG's dual-playthrough of FSR
I recall another theory, while not directly related to games outside of NMH, that Travis was going to essentially make amends with past villains like Destroyman and Kimmy in order to form his own team to take on Fu and his cronies. And not only that, but every new friend he'd make would utilize the NMH motel as their home base. This came from early previews showing Bad Girl and Shinobu had their own rooms there as well.
We thought this because one of the taglines from an earlier trailer;
From the first NMH3 Nintendo Direct Trailer, October 2020
"The Hood" as in people from Santa Destroy. Travis' hood. Didn't really happen, as Travis primarily fought everyone by himself. There was no real team-up until the near-end of the game.
I just remembered one last theory, that Tokio Morishima was in the game. This came from the very first piece of gameplay we saw all the way back in 2019.
From the NMH3 trailer first shown at The Game Awards 2019
I understand why people thought this, the spiky hair did remind me of Tokio.
Of course, what people didn't know at the time was that it was Henry, who was redesigned by Takashi Miyamoto, lead artist for The Silver Case and The 25th Ward.
At the very least, we did get to see previously established characters appear in NMH3, such as Midori Midorikawa, who Suda first wrote about back in 2018. Although the first time she was visually depicted was in the manga adapting that original story he wrote about 3 years later, but several months before No More Heroes 3 released.
And Kamui! At least a version of him, that whole thing is kind of finnicky. Also Notorious, from the Fire Pro Wrestling World DLC on PS4/PC.
These were the only theories I could recall myself. There could be more, but these were the ones I was most privy to. Thanks for your question!
#suda51#grasshopper manufacture#nmh3#no more heroes#no more heroes 3#kill the past#The Silver Case#flower sun and rain#the 25th ward#Red Blue Green
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Hey was wondering, now that you've done a silver case video, what's next? Moonlight syndrome or flower sun and rain?
As I teased at the end of my analysis on The Silver Case, I will do a similar video for Flower, Sun, and Rain. It's not my next project, though. I't's something I'll tackle with a proper analysis sometime in 2024. Writing is very far from done, but I'm also not waiting on the supposed remaster/remake/whatever, and instead basing it on the NA and EU release of the DS version. Although, if a re-whatever of FSR releases sooner than later, it might change up my plans a bit.
(art by @doctorgrambo)
As for Moonlight Syndrome, there is still no proper translated ISO, therefore I have no way to play it myself. I did play the first 6 chapters with a relative that can read Japanese, but it was a pretty cumbersome process and I don't want to put him through playing the entirety of the game and exhaustively translate everything via discord or whatever for my sake.
There is a project to translate MS to both English and Spanish. As far as I know, it's still an active project. You can check out the team here;
I believe there's been breakthroughs of modifying the ISO in order to replace the text from Japanese to English, as well as placing subtitles during spoken, text-less dialogue. I've considered making a video after fully playing the game, and providing the text myself via video editing, but I also want to be able to play the game myself, not just watch a playthrough on Youtube. I'm an avid believer that playing a game--instead of just watching an LP--drastically changes one's experience. Even for something as simple and linear as Moonlight Syndrome.
There's also the matter of playing Twilight Syndrome. I haven't looked lately, but I don't believe there is a way to play the original PS1 TS games in English.
If I ever discover a way to play these games in English, then I'll be more than happy to properly go over them on my channel. Thanks for asking!
#twilight syndrome#moonlight syndrome#flower sun and rain#grasshopper manufacture#suda51#kill the past
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What do you think of GHMs more "Mainstream" titles such as LC, SoTD and NMH3 compared against their more underground works like Killer7, Silver Case and NMH1. I find the latter has a sense of mystique and weirdness that's missing from the former when the studio seemed pigeon-holed in a brand of "Sex, Violence and quirky"
I've been meaning to write about this here, so good question! I gave it a lot of thought after finding a JPN copy of Killer Is Dead and seeing this within the box;
Here's a quote of Suda reflecting on the production of said game;
Suda was not interested in eroticism when it came to his company's games. However, the more mainstream games GHM made (without his direction) were full of instances that were little more than eye candy. Sex appeal for the sake of it. And much of that was against Suda's will;
Paula running around in a thong (and even tits out a couple times if you played the NA version) throughout Shadows of the Damned also reminds me of Tim Rogers recalling his time working at Grasshopper as a designer in the late 2000s. He sat in a lot of meetings with Suda talking to EA and mentioned a time Suda talked about a save function idea he thought of while reflecting on Travis always using a toilet to save in the NMH games.
An early idea was Garcia going to bed with a woman every time he had to save. This was likely when the game was still going to be open world-ish and Garcia was single. From how Tim Rogers talked about this, it was pretty much the only idea Suda had that EA actually showed interest in. Obviously this idea never panned out, instead saving being delegated to a little demon that poops to signify a saved game. Funny that it connects to NMH's toilet save function in that way.
Something else worth bringing up would be the "gigolo missions" from Killer Is Dead. This also derived from a concept Suda had for Shadows of the Damned where Garcia was gonna take girls out on dates, bring flowers, and it'd actually be cute and romantic. At least, from how he described it.
(These screenshots are from Feel the Magic, a DS game where you played mini-games as you tried to win the heart of a girl throughout the story)
This idea was repurposed for Killer Is Dead, but, according to Suda, the sexual aspects of it were conjured up by Hideyuki Shin, the game's director. Therefore, it devolved into x-ray glasses, staring at boobs, and giving gifts to a robot that repeated animations. A cannibalization of the original concept.
Suda seemed afraid of Grasshopper's reputation being mutated into an identity he didn't consent to. Sex appeal is not something he really thinks about when it comes to making games. It's not his style;
The only times Suda has shown sexuality in the games he directed is when it's discomforting or deeply disturbing, almost never for eye candy.
I still appreciate games like Shadows of the Damned, Killer Is Dead, and Lollipop Chainsaw. As much as this era of GHM was railroaded to chasing some mainstream trends and trying too hard to be quirky, they still had unique aspects that help them stand out above other games of the same subgenre. But I can't help but notice a fissure between these games and the ones he actually directed. The nuance, mystery, and thought-provoking stories are most prominent when he's the one directing.
I'm not going to fault people for liking eroticism and such in video games. I've played plenty of horny games too, and there's obviously an appeal there. But anyone still expecting that from Suda is barking up the wrong tree. Looking at how he's been handling everything since 2018 makes it even sadder when you reflect how these publishers tried cramming Grasshopper Manufacture into this box they didn't want to be in.
One last thing I have to retort, though. I don't lump No More Heroes 3 with the quirky "mainstream" games the way you did in the question. Sure, NMH3 definitely went for a more mainstream marketing plan and the game got super silly at times, but it still has an interesting narrative with a ton of nuance. Way more than any GHM game between 2010-2016. Hence my 4+ hour long analysis of the game;
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Many people even rejected this game outright because the eroticism and scantily-clad female cast was mostly absent. This was likely expectations they built after experiencing games like NMH2, SotD, LC, etc.
Speaking a bit more on the sense of eroticism, it's funny to think how that was admittedly present in NMH1, obnoxiously expanded upon in NMH2, and then mostly done away with in NMH3. Going as far as turning Naomi--and her balloon tits--into a goddamn tree!
However, I don't believe Suda turned Naomi into a tree for the sole purpose of removing her sex appeal. I believe this just further accentuates how that aspect is not something he's interested in or finds important for the game itself. He likely didn't even think of it that way, but instead "Hey, she should be a tree now."
And then there's Kimmy, whose death was not only a very harrowing moment in the game, it was also depicted in a sexual manner. Similar to Bad Girl's death in the original NMH. Note the motions and angles in her death scene.
Like I said, this rather disturbing sense of sexuality is more Suda's vibe. And I'm happy to see he hasn't lost that edge, so many years later. Anyway, thanks for the question! I had a lot of fun writing out this answer.
#suda51#grasshopper manufacture#killer7#nmh3#no more heroes#no more heroes 3#lollipop chainsaw#shadows of the damned#killer is dead#the silver case
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