Matthew Taranto

The old Brawl in the Family site is down, but from now on, I'm at matthewtaranto.com! You can buy BitF books, Dededolls, cards, and e-Books of all my past stuff there. You can also see the entirety of BitF plus other projects I'm doing/have done. Check it out!

@mariotwtconfess I don't get the buttons. Weren't they supposed to be little teeth?

"I don't quite like the current design for Ninji in the Mario games. I really wish it was more closely based on Mario 2 with the shortness and all."

Well, well, well, kiddo, looks like you've strayed pretty far from home. 🎶 Join us for our performance of Thunder Creek from Tadpole Treble by @MatthewPTaranto! Available now on our YouTube Channel 🔽 youtu.be/VgPfPS-oZuA?si…

@BoundaryBreak I love Smash Bros Mega Man! I don't really get the "expression" complaint. He looks determined, he winces, he smiles. He's no less expressive than Mario, Link, Samus, Fox, most of the Pokemon, the entire Fire Emblem cast, etc. Not everyone needs Dedede/DK's big ol' eyes...

Making Megaman the way they did for Smash Bros was one of the coolest moves ever. He looked and felt how he looked and felt for 8 out of his 11 games.

@chaos_II_ @BoundaryBreak Not really true, it had Super Arm from 1, Charge Shot from 4 (technically), and Slash Claw from 7. MM5 and 8 got some representation from the custom moves too.

@BoundaryBreak Correction: 2/3 games as it only included moves from 2, 3, and 6. You cannot really like this Santiagoed version of Mega Man

@Kneon When I was a kid my favorite parts were the cartoon segments. As an adult, my favorite parts are Captain Lou and Danny Wells chewing the scenery in their Brooklyn apartment.

Do the Mario! Honest opinions on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show? Anyone?

@AnimeBibleVerse Leave luck to Heaven

@andreslmignucci These are hilarious, great job! Wario and Waluigi's mothers are spot-on and I like the Reggie-inspired father of Pauline. I like that you can trace the designs of the parents to very specific historical fashions etc. Also that classy-looking pipe-smoking monkey is funny.

(2/4) I had a lot of fun designing these magazine spreads for two fake Mario games (for GCN and GBA, respectively) whose stories interlocked. I went a little overboard with the designs for the parents of the Mushroom Kingdom. #Mar10 #Mar10Day #MarioDay #SuperMarioBros

@cpioli64 @Chad_Concelmo Not to be confused with the Koopa Kids, who were a set of mini-Bowsers from Mario Party that may or may not be related to Bowser.

@Chad_Concelmo And then there are the Koopalings, who are *not* Bowser's children, but were depicted AS his children in the American 90's cartoons.

Me walking into the movie with all my non-gaming friends: “You know, Bowser Jr. is Bowser’s son, but there’s another character in the games named Baby Bowser that is actually Bowser as a baby. Can you believe some people get them confused?”

@LuigiXP Me

Everyone talks about how Danny Devito or Pedro Pascal should voice Wario but who should voice Waluigi in a Mario movie

@r1kgames Do Like-Likes really not drop anything?

Is there any game with a cooler item drop method than Zelda 1? It’s complicated enough no one would ever figure it out on their own, but structured enough that once you learn it you can manipulate it to your advantage, and I just think it’s neat.

@jadengis @OliverJia1014 I played it for the first time on the Mana collection and thought it was really good. Great music and a strong emotional core.

@OliverJia1014 I love Final Fantasy Adventure. A big part of that is nostalgia since I had it as a kid, but I think it still holds up for a Game Boy game. Excellent soundtrack.

So after I beat Final Fantasy I and II, is it worth playing The Final Fantasy Legend and Final Fantasy Adventure games? I know those are actually the first SaGa and Mana games on Game Boy, but I never really hear people talk about them.

@OliverJia1014 Legend I never played, but I quite liked Adventure. Awesome music, solid gameplay (that wasn't bad considering it was like 2 years before Link's Awakening) and some major emotional moments. There is one puzzle that is super esoteric that might require a guide though.

@ItemsENABLED @kirbyex420 They still bleep the F-word on N64, they just bleeped a lot more stuff on the Xbox. Really messed with the Great Mighty Poo's song.

@MatthewPTaranto @kirbyex420 Not in the good version (on n64)

Most of the best games of all time do NOT have the F-word in it. We all love Chrono Trigger and Ocarina and Mario 3, but there isn't a single F-word in those three games COMBINED (and they had plenty of opportunity for it, believe me). What's the best game that uses the F-word?

@kirbyex420 It's bleeped there though!

@MatthewPTaranto Conker maybe

@DragonCatalyst :(

Dragon Quest character of the day #9: Michelle the mermaid from DQ11! She saved a fisher named Kainoa from Lonalulu & awaits his return for decades but he never appears due to unfortunate circumstances. Players can tell her the truth or lie to her which greatly changes her fate.

@ajspillz "Hey, Mariooo, fuggedaboutiiiiit..." Danny Wells had such a fun time just riffing in that role. I assume he was mostly just playing himself in live-action more or less.

Something I always found interesting about Luigi in the Super Show is how his live action and animated counterparts are polar opposites In animation, he’s his usual scared and timid self, and super cautious. In live action, he’s laidback, easygoing and kinda snarky.

@theWellRedMage It's a wonderful game that really could use a modern port. I want to be able to attempt the Ancient Cave without leaving my SNES on for hours!

Today in RPG history... Neverland and Taito released Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (Estpolis Denki II) for Super Famicom in JP on Feb 24, 1995. An unsung hero of the SNES RPG canon, this game blew my mind when I played it for the 1st time a few years ago. THE ANCIENT CAVE!!

@heyphilsummers Mine came in a couple days ago and the care that went into this physical package is fantastic. The good news is that the game itself is even better! My favorite game of the last couple years.

There is always lots of talk about how games don't come with manuals anymore but the truth is there are still options out there. But what Fangamer did with UFO 50 is pretty incredible. A full strategy guide, lots of hand-drawn maps and notes, even a fake newsletter. All played as if this stuff really existed in the 80s. This is the most me-coded game I've bought in years. I have yet to even try UFO 50 as I was waiting for the physical version. I'm glad I did because this rules. I'm excited to jump into it soon.

@TigoODonnell RE4 is designed around the choice of fight or flight. It's one of many aspects of the game that make it so fun and replayable.

For how much people dislike not being able to move while shooting in RE4 2005, mechanics in modern 3rd person games such as cover systems, crosshair bloom and aim sway fundamentally encourage the player to stay stationary while aiming anyway.