Mailbag - D e t s t a r . c o m

Prints

Best viewed with Internet Explorer at 1024 x 768 resolution

Island of
Rejected Toys

Horribly Twisted Gifts... Like Baby's First
Table Saw

Grand Theft OTTO: Springfield

Snake... Wiggum... Homer... They're all here!

Episode 134

Lifeguard Opportunity at Bayview Beach

Rastafarian Homer

Pass the Dutchie on the left side, mon.

Episode 131

Dexter & Marley...
Forever borowing stuff that ain't theirs.

Star Whores

Looks like Han is sleeping solo tonight

Episode 128

Dexter takes a cheap shot at Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

Episode 127

Mary & Dexter discuss the American flag

Episode 126

Dexter & Marley go shopping for female hygiene products

Episode 124

Marley goes Easter shopping

Bill Gates
Goes to Hell

Dexter's rant about
Windows Vista

Mailbag

Welcome to the Mailbag, where your questions get answered... Or at least some of them, anyway. If you've got something that hasn't been posted before, then this is where it can happen. Unanswered questions is the main focus, but I receive practically everything, from facts and findings, to codes and creations.

Mailbag Archives:

Current Mailbag: May 2, 2008
Previous:
April 9, 2007
March 20, 2007
March 14, 2007
March 5, 2007
February 26, 2007
February 5, 2007
November 29, 2006
October 25, 2006
September 25, 2006
July 4, 2006
June 21, 2006
June 5, 2006
May 29, 2006
May 15, 2006 (F-Zero GX Special)
May 13, 2006
>>More...

February 26, 2007

Billy Wonka and the Windows Factory...
I spent over an hour getting screenshots for this Mailbag, and lost every single one after a convenient Windows glitch. (Thanks a lot, Bill Gates. You can go screw yourself.) Being the stubborn individual that I am, I took a break, came back and did it all over again.

Of course, in true Detstar fashion, I made sure that the second round of shots were even better than the first. I even got this sweet midair snapshot of Samus.

BTW, I'm using a new e-mail address to hopefully evade the evil spam bots. (If I could teach my useless helper monkeys to fight the spam bots, I'd rent a cage and hold a death match.)

Fling your non-pharmaceutical Mailbag messages to:

LETTER OF THE WEEK:
Hi Det,
I know this is a long shot but I'll ask anyway because nothing ventured, nothing gained. I would love to be able to visit the dam's island in Goldeneye. However, I own a PAL n64 and I'm not sure if they made a PAL Gameshark, so I'm a bit stuck. Then, the other day, I realized the next best thing would be to see a video of someone else floating across to the island. So, if you have time, is there any chance of you putting a video on youtube, so I can experience the island second hand? Please?

If you have the PAL version, then an N64 Action Replay cheat device will let you activate the "no clipping" code so you can check out the secret island. I doubt that you can find an Action Replay in stores, but you can probably pick one up on e-Bay...

However, a Dam Island video is a pretty great idea... And since I'm on my second coffee by 3:00 in the morning, I was motivated enough to shoot some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuwsMqLnvX4
The clip is about 2 minutes, or 5.54 Megabytes.
Enjoy.

Hey there,

Just thought I'd try this out. Well, I found a few things (in Super Smash Bros Melee) that didn't seem to be on the site, so I'll just post them now:

1. In the Brinstar Depths stage, go to camera mode, and if you zoom in to the very center of the stage, you'll see Mother Brain trapped inside a spiked cage. For whatever twisted plot he had, Kraid must have kidnapped her!

That giant brain takes up a large portion of the landscape... Somehow, I never noticed it wrapped inside all of the other junk.

2. In the Yoshi's Island stage (once again, you'll have to use camera mode), zoom in behind and under the big pipe. A closer look reveals that there's an inch-deep swamp there.

It looks a bit like a stream of liquid, possibly some Mushroom Kingdom sewage overrun... You don't wanna faceplant in that stuff.

3. Kongo Jungle and Jungle Japes are the same area in just different places. Kongo Jungle is in front of Cranky's cabin, whereas Jungle Japes portrays the cabin itself.

Those two jungle shacks look pretty similar, but there are slight differences in the doors and windows... The one in Jungle Japes is definitely Crank's Cabin, but I'm not sure what the other one is... I always thought maybe it was DK's treehouse, but I wasn't sure.

I recently got a Nintendo Wii and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (along with 2 other games) and I must say that no other adventure game has pulled me in so much as Twilight Princess.

I know it will by no means happen any time soon at all, but will we see a site for Twilight Princess sometime in the future? I really hate to ask, but I'm just curious. I know another site would be very expensive. I'm not trying to be greedy here.

Anyway, thanks for keeping this site up and running for so long and for updating more frequently as of recent.
Sincerely,
Some big fan of Detstar.com

Twilight Princess is an awesome game, but don't expect to see full Zelda coverage anymore. Zelda games are HUGE, and the Zelda Wind Waker site was a team effort...

On the Wind Waker project, I collaborated with Hutz and Siberian Guard; two other Zelda fanatics with serious writing and coding skills respectively... I can't even imagine tackling a challenge like that alone.

I might put together a few pages for hunting down all the Poe Spirits, or finding the Howling Stones or Golden Bugs... But as for a full-scale Twilight Princess site, the sacred realm will freeze over before that happens. There will be one new gamesite in 2007, but it won't be Twilight Princess.

And I'm probably just as glad to see recent updates as you are... Detstar seemed impossible for a little while, because I was working 6 days a week and my home computer was totally fucked. Things are a bit better now, especially because I trained myself to live on 4 hours of sleep.
Whooo!.. Coffee!

Remember Michelle Merkin, the model who played Joanna Dark in the Perfect Dark (N64) commercial? Here's a picture I found in Maxim.

Very impressive. I had no idea she was a blonde now.
But you know what they say... Blondes are WAY more fun.
[Click for Larger Image]

Unfortunately I don't know how to post pictures from Super Smash Bros Melee, so I'll try and describe as good as I can, where to find these things, so you can check 'em out and take some pictures. :)

1. In the Ness stage "Onett", if you pause it and look at the top of the cliff in the background to the right, you'll see the top of the meteor that crashed into it in "Earthbound".

2. If you zoom in at Ness's yoyo in his 2nd smash-trophy, you'll notice the inscription: "Dolphin Loop" (Another obvious reference to the old codename: "Dolphin" for the Gamecube.) And furthermore it will read: "Hallab Nintendo 2001".

3. This one's a really, really small detail, but interesting nonetheless. It is best seen in Roy's 2nd smash-trophy. If you zoom in at his left buttock, and fixate at the edge of his "blouse", you'll notice that it says "Roy" with very small letters. Again, it's a really tiny detail.

4. This last one is not like the others and many may know it already, I just think it is kinda cool. If you've played a track in the Sound Test, and go to the Trophy-gallery afterwards, it will play the track you played.

That trophy thing is cool. I didn't know you could set some theme music for browsing the gallery.
I checked out Roy's trophies though, and was unable to find the letters "Roy" anywhere on his clothing.
I did find a lion on the sheath of his sword though.

After playing Perfect Dark Zero on the XBox 360 I came across a gun that looks fairy familiar with the KF7 gun from Goldeneye (only it looks much better), don't know what the guns name is in PDZ but i also have a picture of both guns next to each other.

The AK-47 assault rifle has been the inspiration behind many weapons in first person shooter games, including this one from TimeSplitters 2. It also happens to be a favorite weapon of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

On the Super Smash Bros. Melee section of your website, under Powerful attacks, you said that Mr. Game & Watch's Oil Panic attack can do up to 117% damage with Samus's B attack. I tried it with Mewtwo's Shadow Ball on Final Destination and it also does 117%. Then I tried it with Ness's PK Flash and dealt a massive 167% damage! You need to try it, post it, it is really cool!

Wow... Ness gets really flies across the screen when he gets hit with that retaliation attack...
Mr. Game & Watch can definitely build up more power against Ness than Samus. I managed to score over 150% damage with the attack.

I'm guessing that it would be almost impossible to pull this off in an actual match though...

Det, though it is not an official fact yet, I am for the most part confident that Sonic (Tails perhaps) will be included in the next Smash Bros. sequel.

First off, let's look at a couple points: A Smash Bros. game is created every 3+ years. The first and second game had a 3 year difference in release, and the second and current one has had a 6 year difference in terms of debut. New generation gamers are born while the old generation of gamers move on and away from gaming.

The new generation of gamers will not be as aroused by a Sonic vs. Mario rivalry, in fact they'll be too young to remember the Nintendo and Sega rivalries, which respectfully placed each console's main attraction (Sonic and Mario) competitively against one another. And of course, as years go by old generation of gamers will move on and grow out of video games naturally.

Point I'm trying to get across is that, hypothetically, if Sonic does not appear in this particular game, then it is safe to assume that curious viewers who have an interest in seeing these two in the same scenario (SSBB) will diminish greatly by the time the next Smash Bros. game comes out.

It would be a dumb move on Nintendo's part to exclude Sonic, especially since Nintendo has the rights to Sonic. From SSBM to SSBB, it is safe to state that the interest in seeing these two go head-to-head has decreased in popularity. Overall, the best opportunity to bring this dream match up between Sonic, Mario and even the rest of the Nintendo character line-up is in this upcoming sequel of Smash Brothers. So I'm confident that Nintendo will make the smart move and include Sonic.

Does

I'm sure that Nintendo will decide to include Sonic, but it's strange that they haven't officially announced it yet.

You make a good point about the newer generation of gamers won't remember the SEGA and Nintendo rivalry... Even though the youngster's dominate the playing field, there are still a large number of "older" gamers, and I'm probably in that group. The veterans are the ones who would most like to see nostalgic elements like the Sonic & Mario matchup, while the newcomers want mind-blowing graphics.

The big question is will Nintendo cater to fan requests, or decide not to be influenced? I have a feeling we'll know soon enough.

(In Super Smash Bros Melee) whenever Pikachu or Pichu uses thunder, there's always a cloud formed quite a distance above their heads.

In Hyrule, have either Pikachu or Pichu to use thunder. The cloud will form at ground level at the top of the map! Anyone who's unlucky enough to get into it might even get hit multiple times instead of one. :D

You can even jump and use thunder to heighten the distant of the cloud from the ground.

What a dirty little trick... I like it. The great Ganondorf never knew what hit him.

For Marth (in Melee), you can use his side B attack on any horizontal position to recover easily from the side. It works pretty well.

It's one of the most useful (and lesser known) strategies for Marth and Roy. Playing as Roy and constantly being knocked off an edge, this little trick has saved my ass many times. I don't believe the developers intended his special B combo attack to be used this way, but a few separate yet single stabs is often enough to recover some distance.

Yo! Detstar is a cool website! Especially the SSBM section! But there are a few things I'd like to point out...

1) Remember that thing in Waluigi's Stadium audience (in Mario Kart Double Dash) that you thought was Big Bird? I don't know if you saw it or not, but there's another guy that looks just like him in the back... And I seriously doubt that there are 2 Big Birds...

2) Just a little thing... What weapon do you like best in Goldeneye and PD?

DETSTAR RULZ!!1! Keep up the good work!

That MKDD audience member has been debated for years, and i don't think anyone has solved it yet. Every character in the audience is duplicated and re-used throughout the stadium, so there are probably dozens of these "Big Bird" lookalikes.

As for my favorite gun, it really depends on what kind of killing mood I'm in... Today, I'd opt for the RC-P90. It has wicked sound, plenty of ammo, and it cuts through opposition like a tank through a traffic jam.