Stinkoman 20X6 Real-World References

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 04:42, 2 December 2005

There are dozens of video game references in Stinkoman 20X6.

General

• Stlunko, 404 is a reference to the 404 error that browsers give when a webpage cannot be found.
• The Piedmont region of the United States is the area between the Atlantic coastal plain and the Appalachian mountains. Atlanta, home of the Brothers Chaps, lies in this region. Piedmont is also a region in Northern Italy.
• Lundsford is a reference to the symbol and/or mascot of Georgia Natural Gas. Billboards featuring this symbol and character can be seen in many places in the Atlanta area where The Brothers Chaps live.
• Negatory is Citizens' Band Radio (CB) slang for no or negative.
• Protek is a Tempe, AZ based company specializing in Transient Voltage Suppression products. This may explain why the Protek enemy is an electric outlet.
• Stratosfear is an album by The Unisex, and is a pun relating to the stratosphere.

Nintendo Entertainment System

• The game controller Stinkoman is holding in the cutscene for level 5.1, bears a striking resemblance to the redesigned NES controller (AKA the dogbone controller).
• The square areas around Stinkoman's face as it fades in on the intro screen are a reference to the method many NES games used to fade large images and backgrounds. Some games exhibited similar color artifacts and glitches primarily due to the NES's small color palette.

Mega Man series

Graphics

• The sprites for Stinkoman and the enemies Poorbt and Astromund are patterned after sprites in the Mega Man games for the NES.
  • Additionally, the sprites for the Videlectrix Mascot are taken directly from Mega Man.
• When shooting at enemies, you are limited to three projectiles on screen at a time. This is a direct reference to the original Mega Man series, where the Mega Buster could only fire up to three shots at a time. Older video games often limited the number of sprites on the screen to keep the game from slowing down or flickering.
• The bulky, muscular Stinkoman in the game's box art is likely a reference to the first two Mega Man games. The box art for the American versions of those games featured a similarly muscular Mega Man that looked nothing like the character in the game.
  • This practice of creating conflicting box art for American video games was a common practice until around the time the SNES was released.

Sounds and Music

• The sound effects for text appearing in the cinematics are taken from Mega Man for the NES.
• The chime sound in the intro screen and main menu is taken from Mega Man X for the SNES.
• Most of the music in Stinkoman 20X6 is patterned after the music from the entire Mega Man series.
  • Technically, the music is most like the music from the SNES line of Mega Man games, as it is more complex and synthetic than the music that the 8-bit NES is capable of producing.

Characters

• In the attract screen, Stinkoman, 1-Up and Pan Pan flash onto the screen in a similar fashion to the character introduction in the arcade game Mega Man: The Power Battle (featuring Mega Man, Proto Man and Bass).
  • A similar character introduction is featured in the Sonic Advance series for the Game Boy Advance.
• The intro to Level 3 is a parody of Mega Man's limited jumping ability.
• Stinkoman taking the large gray fist as a "new powerup" in Level 3 is a reference to Mega Man's ability to take on the powers of defeated bosses.
  • Internally, Stinkoman with the fist is called "Fistman", a reference to the naming scheme of most bosses in Mega Man.
• Stinkoman fights like Mega Man X by shooting at enemies while 1-Up fights like Zero with acrobatic melee attacks.

Enemies and Hazards

• Stobat (first seen in Level 2) is similar to a chicken robot in Mega Man V.
• Old Sage is similar to the instant-death spikes that are usually placed under moving platforms in various Mega Man levels.
• The trap-door platforms refer to the first Mega Man game, in which similar platforms are found in Guts Man's stage.
• Greggo is similar to Metall (also known as Mettaur, Metool, Met, or Hard Hat), which was also invincible while ducking.
• The Bendini Sisters in Level 5 are similar to the meteorites that fall in Star Man's stage in Mega Man 5.
• The "Evil Fortress" seen at the beginning and end of Level 9 is a parody of the Skull Castle/Fortress in Mega Man.

The Legend of Zelda

• My Benj is similar to the Bit enemies in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for the NES.
• Stlunko is similar to many video game bosses that consist of a mostly inactive head defended by two enormous disembodied hands. Such bosses are popular in the Zelda series — for example, Bongo-Bongo from Ocarina of Time, Gohdan from The Wind Waker and Mazaal from The Minish Cap.
• Saargtsson is very similar in appearance and style to Moldorm from the Zelda series.

Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country

• Tampo moves in a similar way to that of Krow, the first boss in Donkey Kong Country 2 for the SNES.
• Firey-Hot bears a strong resemblance to the fire cannons in the airship levels of Super Mario Bros. 3.
• Old Sage looks similar to the spikes found in the moon level in Super Mario Land 2.
• The Liekand is very similar in appearance to Fryguy, also from Super Mario Land 2. Fryguy, the Level 4 boss, is a flame that wears sunglasses.
• The Stinkomanual mentions that this game has no "weepy princess crap", a reference to the Super Mario series (among others) in which the primary plot is to rescue a helpless princess.
  • Similarly, Pan Pan's disappearance references many games in which a random character is kidnapped — for example, Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3.
• The phrase "Hold B" refers primarily to numerous Nintendo games in which you gain a boost of some sort by holding down the 'B' button. For example, in the Super Mario series, holding 'B' makes you run faster, and in Mega Man, holding 'B' charges up your shot for a more powerful hit.
  • In Stinkoman 20X6, holding down the 'S' key allows you to rapid-fire.
• Many NES games featured the letter 'P' (presumably for "Power") in various forms, such as the P-switches, P-Wings and P-Gauges in Super Mario Bros. 3. This may explain the collectible Ps in Level 3.
• The name for Level -0 (Negatory) is a reference to the Minus World level in Super Mario Bros. — a glitch that could be found by walking through a wall in Level 1-2.

Other Games

• In one portion of level 5.2, if you jump off of the top of a platform, you will see a planet that has a C-shaped portion on its left side. This portion bears a striking similarity to the stylized C in the title of "Chrono Trigger".
• Stinkoman's becoming bored when idle is an old gag first found in the old PC game Boulder Dash, later emulated in Sonic the Hedgehog and countless other titles.
• In the cutscene after 6.3, Liekand is defeated and shows that it was a rat after all. This may be another reference to the Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog, where defeated enemies revealed that they were once an animal.
• Right after Tampo blows up in the cinematic, you can hear the same sound that is played in Metroid when Samus phases in.
• The first boss, Tampo, is similiar to the final boss of Star Fox 64, which was the giant, floating brain of Andross, which had the same weak point (medulla).
• The pose with the large fist is a direct reference to the old NES game Battletoads.
• Jaro's explosion appears to be modeled after many of the character explosions in Rad Gravity for the NES.
• 1-Up's spin kick bears a resemblance to the Street Fighter move "Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku" (otherwise known as the Hurricane Kick), which Homestar uses in dangeresque 3.
• The "pink cloud zone" in level 6 could be a reference to countless video games with cloud zones, but is most likely to Earthbound, where the sixth Your Sanctuary location (in Dalaam) is called Pink Cloud.
• Level four is a reference to many such levels in classic period games, (now often called "protect-the-idiot levels"), in which a character would keep walking with no A.I. at all—right towards all sorts of enemies and such traps! Many gamers became annoyed with this, as it would be hard to protect this weakling, and if it died, they died. This design is still used frequently today.
• Fullbide's drawing in the "manuel" resembles the shield attacker enemy from various Mega Man games.
• The mysterious character in the cutscene before level 7.1 is a reference to the evil boss Ashtar from the Nintendo game Ninja Gaiden II, who appears in a silhouette from behind in the cutscene at the beginning of the game, laughs maniacally, and is surrounded by lightning.
• Stinkoman blasting the wall away in level -0 is a reference to Dragon Ball where a similar attack called the "Kamehameha Wave" is used. It even looks the same when Stinkoman charges it up.
• The text "PI...PI...PI..." in the cutscene at the end of level 9.3 refers to messages spoken by robots in the NES game Bionic Commando.
• The cutscene before level 9.1, where Stinkoman is gazing upon the Evil Fortress from atop a rock, is a direct reference to a scene in the NES game Ninja Gaiden, in which Ryu gazes upon a similar fortress from atop a mountain. However, in Ninja Gaiden, Ryu is on the left half of the screen, looking at a fortress on the right half of the screen, while in Stinkoman 20X6, this image is flipped, with Stinkoman on the right half of the screen looking at a fortress on the left half of the screen.