Best Of

Now for @jhive 's character, Varlo Canta, a monk.

The Tale of Varlo Canta

Geraldt lifted the floppy hat from his head and shooed away the crowding sweat. Fate had taken much from him, but at least he had his hat.

He cringed as he heard the shouts erupt, dropping the empty beggar’s can that was the source of his scarce meals. Just another day in the roughs, he thought, watching the unkempt fella spring from the corner, quickly weaving his way through the market. A nearby guard observing the commotion moved in to intercept the shaggy man.

Scanning the market, the beggar shifted the hat on his head, cursing the lousy fool for scaring away his potential patrons. His attention snapped back to the spectacle when three rapid cracks shocked the air. Geraldt was rewarded with the spectacle of a flying guard with blood arcing from his nose. The man tucked a pair of dueling canes behind his back and slid into the nearby alley, ejecting an elderly man in his place. The pursuing mob filed into alley, parting around the ancient man who leaned on his cane, shaking his fist.

Varlo Canta shuffled his way towards one of the market stalls and feigned interest in the wares. He glanced back through the alley and smirked as his tails chased a ghost. He stretched out the muscles in his face, and straightened his posture. Tucking his dueling cane behind his back, he retrieved a rag and wiped the dust from his face. Back to my handsome old self, he thought, shrugging off the remainder of his disguise.

He turned away from the merchant's table and stopped. A beggar sat, staring at Varlo with his mouth hanging open in shock. Not every day you see a man get back forty years I bet, Varlo chuckled. Varlo walked over to the man. “Nice hat. trade you.” He said. “It’s my lucky hat, my favorite”, the beggar replied. Varlo reveled in the beggar's accent: a wonderful sample what the roughs have to offer. He took the hat from the man’s head, and dropped the golden trinket in the tin cup by the beggar’s feet. “It’s my lucky hat, my favorite”, Varlo said, perfectly replicating the characteristic accent, and sauntered off.

This is worth watching, really shows the wonderful character of Satoru Iwata.

He showed up on a Japanese gaming show called "Game Center CX", where the host would play old NES games and do challenges, and he's just generally bad at them but gives hilarious commentary as he struggles along. A lot like modern YouTube "Let's Play", just without the terrible, annoying commentary, rage yelling, and rape jokes. Iwata showed up as a surprise guest, and the conversation they have together is just wonderful.

It's especially great, because Iwata explains why old NES games are so difficult - it's because the playtesters were the developers themselves, who had mastered the game and had no perspective to what reasonable difficulty was for a new person playing a game.

"Iwata is probably best known for being a "genius" programmer, a trait which helped him climb the ranks quickly at Nintendo. Among other programming achievements, he famously saved the development of Earthbound by writing an entire scripting language for the game's dialogue boxes and cutscenes, and also helped to pack Pokemon Gold and Silver down to such an efficient size that they could add Kanto, the entire continent from the previous games.

Apparently he also enabled Smash Bros Melee to ship within the Gamecube's launch period, and played an integral role in developing early games such as Kirby."