# Foibles of video games **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779 "2004-12-02T22:08:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/1 "2004-12-02T22:08:54Z")
Since the first time I played Pac-Man I wondered about the pair of eyes of a blue thing that the Pac-Man eats; the eyes return to the central box. And in Out-Run, no matter how many times the car tumbles end-over-end on the shoulder, it’s instantly back speeding down the highway, neither the car itself nor its two young occupants (male and female) any the worse for the experience. Please post here your comments on puzzling features of your favorite arcade games. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/2 "2004-12-03T02:28:12Z")
Mario Bros.: The only hope of a princess trapped by a dragon is a plumber? Are her knights away for the weekend at Ye Olde Hooterse? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/3 "2004-12-03T02:35:33Z")
Biggest mystery: why does “Beware! I live!” still scare the crap out of me? ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/4 "2004-12-03T03:17:36Z")
Why is it that every time you turn over a car in GTA, it lights on fire and explodes? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/5 "2004-12-03T05:28:32Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Biggest mystery: why does “Beware! I live!” still scare the crap out of me? Because Sinistar was the single baddest mofo in arcade game history. > [@emekthian](#): > > Why is it that every time you turn over a car in GTA, it lights on fire and explodes? The better question: Why did you die simply by touching water (in pre-San Andreas versions)? Is your character related to the Wicked Witch of the West? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/6 "2004-12-03T05:54:34Z")
Why do princesses keep getting kidnapped again and again and again? After the first time, you’d think they’d invest pretty heavily in some elite guards. How is it that heros can carry a huge amount of stuff, sometimes without any pockets? I’m wearing a hazard suit, but I can carry an RPG, an MP5, a shotgun, several huge energy weapons, hand grenades, tripmines, alien creatures, a crossbow, a magnum and a crowbar, not to mention all the associated ammunition. I have no idea where I’m keeping all this, but somehow I am. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/7 "2004-12-03T06:09:13Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > Mario Bros.: The only hope of a princess trapped by a dragon is a plumber? Are her knights away for the weekend at Ye Olde Hooterse? Really! And his only reward (at least in Mario 64) is a kiss on the nose and a cake? After all that jumping and swimming and flying (and dying over and over), I think Ol’ Peach could do a little better. As my sister once said (speaking for Mario), “HEY! How about a blow job?” ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/8 "2004-12-03T06:32:07Z")
Do you _really_ want a blow job from someone named Princess Toadstool? ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/9 "2004-12-03T06:34:39Z")
**Q.E.D.** : She changed her name to Peach, so all is good. _Pucker up, buttercup!_ ---
**Author:** ![ShockingAlberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/10 "2004-12-03T07:33:26Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > Mario Bros.: The only hope of a princess trapped by a dragon is a plumber? Are her knights away for the weekend at Ye Olde Hooterse? Ah, a comment I sort of have an answer to. To begin with, the Mushroom Kingdom doesn’t really have knights. They have Toads. Yes, Toads and only Toads. And you’ve seen what a big help they’ve been. Secondly, Mario and Bowser’s fates have been intertwined since birth. Rescuing the Princess seems to only be a byproduct of their fated encounters. See, when when Mario and Luigi were babies, Kamek (Baby Bowser’s attendant and local evil magician) predicted that the Mario Bros. will cause Bowser great trouble in the future. He attacked the stork carrying them to their parents, but lost track of Mario. Content to just take Luigi with him, Kamek flew off. Mario fell on to Yoshi’s Island and was later reunited with his brother and united with their parents. The rest, as they say, is history. And that, unlike the Mario cartoon, is actually canon. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/11 "2004-12-03T07:42:20Z")
Why do the bad guys never run out of ammunition? When you kill them they normally only have five or six bullets left. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/12 "2004-12-03T07:42:41Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Since the first time I played Pac-Man I wondered about the pair of eyes of a blue thing that the Pac-Man eats; the eyes return to the central box. Those are the eyes of the ghosts he eats; they return to the box to get another sheet, as it were. Or is that not what you meant? ---
**Author:** ![ShockingAlberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/13 "2004-12-03T07:48:58Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > **Q.E.D.** : She changed her name to Peach, so all is good. _Pucker up, buttercup!_ She’s actually Peach Toadstool. No name-changing involved. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/14 "2004-12-03T07:54:28Z")
Wow. Super Mario Brothers have fans that refer to canon? That’s just surreal. ---
**Author:** ![ShockingAlberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/15 "2004-12-03T08:10:33Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Wow. Super Mario Brothers have fans that refer to canon? That’s just surreal. What can I say? I’m knowledgeable in the things I take interest in. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/16 "2004-12-03T09:06:44Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Those are the eyes of the ghosts he eats; they return to the box to get another sheet, as it were. > > Or is that not what you meant? Close enough, Leaper. 🙂 Donkey Kong–on the blue girder board, no matter how many of those connectors Mario destroys by running, hopping, or whatever, nothing happens until the eighth and last disappears–then _all_ the girders (and the gorilla) come crashing down. Make Trax–the player is a paint brush whom fish chase to eat. Since when do fish eat paint brushes? Frogger–if you tried to jump on the cars or dodge the logs you would lose. There used to be a trivia quiz game, modeled on Trivia Prsuit. The player could be any one of four living markers: Baron von Rightoften (a German World War I pilot), Cleofactra (an ancient Egyptian queen), Smartacus (a Roman soldier), or a tall black girl with an Afro (Billie Genius). Billie walks backward in her trip around the board. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/17 "2004-12-03T11:43:46Z")
The biggest question - and one that nobody has yet addressed - is why it is that death is not final. Buggered if I know anyone who died and came back to life three times in twenty minutes. … I just had an image of Jesus feeding the 5,000th person then spinning around with EXTRA LIFE!! flashing over his head. I’m going to Hell, aren’t I? ---
**Author:** ![velveeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/13edae/32.png) [@velveeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velveeta)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/18 "2004-12-03T12:15:44Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > I’m wearing a hazard suit, but I can carry an RPG, an MP5, a shotgun, several huge energy weapons, hand grenades, tripmines, alien creatures, a crossbow, a magnum and a crowbar, not to mention all the associated ammunition. I have no idea where I’m keeping all this, but somehow I am. I’m going to guess a pocket dimension located in his underwear. In Halo, the Master Chief can flip over a 70 ton tank and survive a point blank spray of bullets - but smack him on the head with a pistol and his shields go out. Smack him again and down he goes. You can literally bitch slap him to death. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/19 "2004-12-03T13:45:51Z")
How does a gunblade work? Ultima Weapon is so much tougher than either Sephiroth or The Sorceress, why isn’t _it_ ruling the world? Why didn’t the American version of FFX include the notorious “gangbang” cut-scene? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779/20 "2004-12-03T14:00:11Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > The biggest question - and one that nobody has yet addressed - is why it is that death is not final. Buggered if I know anyone who died and came back to life three times in twenty minutes. > > … > > I just had an image of Jesus feeding the 5,000th person then spinning around with EXTRA LIFE!! flashing over his head. I’m going to Hell, aren’t I? Jesus Saves … so he can reload the game later. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foibles-of-video-games/277779.md?page=2)