{"id":13682,"date":"2015-07-17T00:01:14","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T00:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=13682"},"modified":"2015-07-10T02:58:07","modified_gmt":"2015-07-10T02:58:07","slug":"carys-top-five-favorite-video-game-squids-and-octopi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/17\/carys-top-five-favorite-video-game-squids-and-octopi\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary’s Top Five Favorite Video Game Squids and Octopi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SQUID\"<\/a>We\u2019ll conclude Squid Week (it\u2019s like Shark Week, but with squids) with a look at some of my favorite tentacled creatures in video games.\u00a0 This includes both squids and octopi (octopuses is actually an acceptable plural form of octopus, too, I looked it up).\u00a0 So hide the calamari and let\u2019s begin!<\/p>\n

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  1. Blooper<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This swimming squid has been pestering Mario since the original Super Mario Bros.\u00a0 Not 100 percent sure if it\u2019s \u201cBlooper\u201d or \u201cBloober\u201d but I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s the former.\u00a0 They\u2019re one of the tougher Mario underwater enemies because of their quick, erratic movements.\u00a0 Things get even worse in later games when they fly in the air in Mario 2 (Japan), or send their offspring to attack (Mario 3).\u00a0 Later on, giant Bloopers served as bosses in a few Mario games, too!\u00a0 They\u2019re even a slightly useless power-up in some Mario Kart games where they squirt ink on your screen.\u00a0 No matter what, you gotta watch out for them!<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Octodad<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I don\u2019t really know much about this character, as I\u2019ve never played the game, but what I\u2019ve seen, I really want to play it!\u00a0 It started out as an indie PC game, but now it\u2019s a downloadable title for consoles under the name: Octodad: Dadliest Catch.\u00a0 In the game, you play as an octopus who is trying to be a head of a household with a human wife and kids.\u00a0 I think you have to prevent people from noticing you\u2019re not really one of them, and the only one who suspects anything is an evil French chef!\u00a0 It reminds me of those really creative games that you\u2019d see back in the GameCube and PS2 days.\u00a0 I think you have to move his tentacles around like arms and legs to do everyday tasks, but it can get awkward since he\u2019s not geared to do things like mow the lawn, pick up groceries, or make dinner!\u00a0 I know it\u2019s out already on the Vita, but I hear it\u2019s also coming to the Wii U.\u00a0 Since I don\u2019t have a Vita, I hope it comes out on the Wii U soon.\u00a0 I really want to play it!<\/p>\n

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      1. Game & Watch Octopus<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        I never had any of the Game & Watch games as a kid.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t remember seeing them in stores.\u00a0 So most of my knowledge comes after when they made collections of them on the Game Boy consoles.\u00a0 Octopus was one of them.\u00a0 In this game, you were a diver and had to get treasure from the bottom of the sea and sneak past the tentacles of an octopus as they would go up and down.\u00a0 If you got caught, you lost a life!\u00a0 Octopus also had an updated version on a couple of the Game & Watch Galleries for GBC and GBA.\u00a0 In this one, Mario was the diver and Peach manned the boat on the top of the screen.\u00a0 The octopus was still just an octopus, but he did change color from time to time.\u00a0 You\u2019d think they\u2019d use a giant Blooper, but that\u2019s clearly a squid and that wouldn\u2019t make sense since the title of the game IS Octopus.\u00a0 The Octopus remake also had some pretty catchy music.\u00a0 In Smash Bros., Mr. Game & Watch has a few attacks based on this game.\u00a0 He can bash people with his head as the diver, and his Smash move turns him into the octopus!\u00a0 And in Nintendo Land, there is an Octopus dancing music game, strangely enough.\u00a0 I guess you could say this was the first octopus in video games.<\/p>\n

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        1. Splatoon Squid Kids<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Am I a squid?\u00a0 Or am I a kid?\u00a0 These are legitimate questions.\u00a0 I have to say that these characters, squids that turn into people, are pretty creative.\u00a0 As kids, their hair acts as tentacles and they shoot ink through guns.\u00a0 And when they turn into squids, they can swim quickly through their own ink.\u00a0 I also think it\u2019s pretty cool that they are a new IP from Nintendo and not based on anything prior.\u00a0 And the squid kids can wear clothes and hats that you buy and dress them up in, so it kind of reminds me of Animal Crossing, too.\u00a0 They are certainly creative and fun, and will probably hold up well with the rest of Nintendo\u2019s crew.\u00a0 Stay fresh!<\/p>\n

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          1. Ultros<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            We saved the best for last.\u00a0 Ultros comes from one of my top five favorite games of all time: Final Fantasy 6.\u00a0 He\u2019s a purple octopus and a reoccurring gag villain who shows up to fight you at the most inopportune times during the first half of the story.\u00a0 In the second half, they seemed to not really know what to do with him as he\u2019s just a desk clerk at the coliseum.\u00a0 Which is a shame, because he\u2019s a pretty funny bad guy.\u00a0 I guess real life and work just catches up to you sometimes.\u00a0 He has some great lines, too.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t tease the octopus, kids!\u201d\u00a0 I know he shows up as an enemy in the Theatrhythm games, and he\u2019s a summon in the Dissidia titles.\u00a0 But is Ultros in any other Final Fantasy game?\u00a0 If you know, tell me, as I\u2019m not quite as knowledgeable about the newer FF titles.<\/p>\n

            Honorable Mentions<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Of course, there are tons of other squids and octopuseses in games, so I\u2019ll go over a few other critters that didn\u2019t make the list.\u00a0 Of course the most famous is probably the Octorok from Zelda.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been a minor enemy since the first game, and a giant Octorok was even a boss in Minish Cap (although it was really just a regular sized Octorok and you were just really small).\u00a0 It was a pretty tough boss, too.\u00a0 Octopuses that walk around on land shooting rocks is a pretty creative idea, I suppose.<\/p>\n

            There were walking tentacles in Maniac Mansion and its sequel: Day of the Tentacle, where the purple tentacle was the villain.\u00a0 Of course, these were just tentacles, not octopuses or squids, so they don\u2019t make the list.\u00a0 Plus, I didn\u2019t get into Maniac Mansion as much as I did Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders anyway.\u00a0 Anyone remember the awful Maniac Mansion TV show?\u00a0 Yeah that did exist.<\/p>\n

            And finally there\u2019s Launch Octopus from Mega Man X.\u00a0 He\u2019s a pretty tricky boss, as he can suck your life meter, make whirlpools, and shoot missiles at the same time.\u00a0 He\u2019s weak against Armored Armadillo\u2019s weapon, though.\u00a0 I think there was an electric squid boss in one of the later Mega Man titles, and I think he even made mention of Launch Octopus.<\/p>\n

            And no, Squidward is not on this list at all.\u00a0 Although there are so many Squidward Miiverse posts on Splatoon that you\u2019d think it was a Spongebob game.\u00a0 Well, anyway, that\u2019s it for Squid Week.\u00a0 In the comments section, let me know what you think of my list, and tell me your favorite squids and octopi in games.\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            We\u2019ll conclude Squid Week (it\u2019s like Shark Week, but with squids) with a look at some of my favorite tentacled creatures in video games.\u00a0 This includes both squids and octopi (octopuses is actually an acceptable plural form of octopus, too, I looked it up).\u00a0 So hide the calamari and let\u2019s begin! Blooper This swimming squid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13684,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13682\/revisions\/13684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}