Category: Video Games

“The controls are online. The switch — and consequences — are yours.”

From: Mass Effect 2

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: EDI

The story behind the quote: While not particularly remembered by a lot of gamers, this quote comes from the 2nd Mass Effect game. Developed by Bioware, each of the Mass Effect games lets you take command of Commander Shepard, a tough space soldier who is destined to save the entire galaxy. However, each game has you making choices that will impact the other entries of the series. For example, in the first Mass Effect game, Shepard has to decide to sacrifice two of his loyal officers, Kaiden Alenko or Ashley Williams. Now, who you select does die and, if you import your save game to Mass Effect 2, this will impact the story. So, each choice you make becomes important.

The quote comes after you retrieve a krogan (think lizard alien) in a pod. Your ship’s AI, named EDI, informs Shepard that it cannot tell if the alien is hostile or not. However, if Shepard says that he/she (you get to choose Shepard’s gender) wants to release the krogan, EDI tells him/her that the choice is ultimately up to him/her… but he/she will have to live with the consequences.

Geek wisdom: Every decision that we make will always have a consequence and we cannot simply run away from the results of our actions. We have to take responsibility for our choices, whether it be good or bad.

“Stay awhile and listen!”

From: Diablo II

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Deckard Cain

The story behind the quote: This is a really classic quote and became synonymous with Blizzard’s massive hit, Diablo. The one delivering the quote is Deckard Cain, essentially a wise man who’s main role is to guide the hero (that’s you) on how to defeat the Lord of Terror, Diablo.

Although Deckard Cain is an old man, he has a vast knowledge of Diablo and his brothers, Baal and Mephisto. In fact, he is a descendant of one of the people who managed to defeat and imprison Diablo eons ago. In Diablo II, he becomes the guide to gives the players the necessary knowledge (and quests) to gain the skills and items to beat Diablo.

In fact, the quote was so popular that Blizzard made the voice actor, Michael Gough, create a rap song.

Geek wisdom: It’s a good idea to stop and listen to the opinions of others. While we may not follow them, it’s always a good idea to get the inputs of others. The reason is simple: they may see things differently from others. This is why, although the president will ultimately make the hard decisions needed to run a country, he (or she) will always turn to his advisers first.

Ask others to give their opinions regarding a topic or a choice; they may have some information that you don’t have or have another way of looking at a problem to help you make a better (informed) decision.

“I love the Power Glove… it’s so bad.”

From: The Wizard

Genre: Movies, Video Games

Who said it?: Lucas Barton

The story behind the quote: This quote comes from the movie long Nintendo commercial, The Wizard. The story of the film is a “special” kid named Jimmy who wants to travel to California to put pictures of his dead sister in a dinosaur. His half-brother (played by Wonder Years’ star Fred Savage) breaks him out of the institution where he stays to help him get to California. Along the way, they meet a girl named Haley and they find out that Jimmy is a “wizard” in playing video games (get it?) so they enter Jimmy in Video Armageddon, a video game tournament with a prize of $50,000 going to the winner.

The quote comes from one of the “villains” of the film, Lucas Barton. Lucas encounters the trio and exclaims that he is the best NES player ever since he has all of the Nintendo games ever made. To emphasize this even further, he produces the Power Glove and uses it to play Rad Racer. After completing the race in the game, Lucas turns to the audience, delivering the quote and plugging the Power Glove to the young kids who are watching the film.

Geek wisdom: While it may seem like arrogance, it’s actually a good thing to take pride in what you have. Whether it be material things or your personal accomplishments, you have to be proud of it. There’s actually nothing wrong with what Lucas did in scene shown above. He’s just stating that he loves the Power Glove… and he proved why it’s awesome.

“It’s dangerous out there! Take this.”

From: The Legend of Zelda

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Old Man

The story behind the quote: This is a classic quote from the first Legend of Zelda game, a classic game for the NES. It’s also hard to believe that a simple 8-bit game revolutionize gaming as we know it with the ability to save. Before, gamers had to write down a password (which were usually incredibly long) when they had to continue where they left off. The Legend of Zelda changed all of that since the cartridge had a battery which allowed you to save the game. Oh, and it also helps that the game was just plain awesome!

While there have been several games (and reboots) during subsequent releases, the general plot remains the same. The hero of each game is an elf boy named Link. The kingdom of Hyrule is under attack by Ganon and Link goes on a quest to defeat the evil wizard and save the kingdom and Princess Zelda.

Anyway, the quote comes from the start of Link’s 1st quest. He enters a cave where he encounters an old man who tells the hero that the world is filled with monsters and he will need a weapon to defeat these evil creatures. Link gladly takes the sword that is offered and (like all other objects he finds along the way) raises it up in celebration.

Geek wisdom: Simply put, no man is an island. A lot of times, we do feel pride and we think that we can take on the world with no problem. However, there are going to be some instances when it’s simply not true. We will need assistance and every little bit helps.

Even if we are confident and sure that we can take on the world, it doesn’t hurt to be ready for unforeseen circumstances that can prevent us for success. That’s why we would need every little advantage to make sure we will do well.

“Leeroy Jenkins!”

From: Youtube (I guess)

Genre: Video Games, Internet

Who said it?: Leeroy Jenkins (I guess)

The story behind the quote: This is going to be a weird one since it doesn’t really come from anything other than Youtube. However, it does bear mentioning that the video is funny if you know the basic idea behind it. So, let’s first explain what the video is about.

The video shows a bunch of friends planning a raid within the World of Warcraft MMORPG. Before then enter the citadel where the raid is to take place, the group huddle up and meticulously plan and strategize how they are going to attack and what each persons role will be to minimize losses.

Unfortunately, one of the players, Leeroy Jenkins, becomes impatient (or just doesn’t care about strategy) and charges into the battlefield, yelling his name like a battlecry. Leeroy’s actions alert all of the monsters in the citadel and they begin attacking. Their plans wrecked because of this impulsive act, the group is decimated very quickly and all they can do is berate Leeroy Jenkins for it.

Geek wisdom: Planning definitely helps, especially if you want to be successful. Rushing into a dangerous situation without any form of strategy is, as the video shows, just plain suicide. Take a step back and predict possible failure points and make countermeasures. This just doesn’t go for video games; planning also helps with every thing in life.

“You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance!”

From: Street Fighter II

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Ryu

The story behind the quote: This is actually the victory quote from Ryu, one of the characters from Street Fighter II. However, it created a lot of questions and confusion, which sadly could have been avoided if Capcom was more serious with their documentation.

The quote will appear when Ryu beats his opponent. However, people who were playing the game started wondering who the heck Sheng Long is and why we won’t be able to beat Ryu unless we go through this Sheng Long guy? A lot of people (myself included) that Sheng Long was Ryu and Ken’s master. We all thought that he was some tough Karate master who trained Ryu in his fighting style and must be one tough sonoabitch.

It was a great mystery and EGM, a popular video game magazine at the time, fueled the rumor that Sheng Long was actually in the game by publishing a method to actually fight him!

The method EGM published turned out to be an April’s Fools joke.

The real story behind the quote actually comes from sloppy translation of the victory quotes. The original Japanese quote reads “You must overcome the Rising Dragon,” which is Ryu’s jumping uppercut move, AKA the Dragon Punch. The Japanese text was translated into Chinese, where “Rising Dragon” can be translated into… yep, “Sheng Long.” When it came time to translate the quote to English, the localization staff misunderstood that it was a special attack and not a person, so he (or she) transliterated the text to read the quote we all know and love.

Still, we can sort of thank this mistranslated text. Because of this error, Capcom actually created Akuma (Gouki in Japan… don’t ask why they keep on screwing up the names), who had the moves of “Sheng Long” as described from EGM’s April’s Fools joke, and Gouken, the “official” master of Ryu and Ken who look strangely like the character art from EGM’s joke.

(Whew! That was another long one!)

Geek wisdom: We have to know our limits. A lot of people try to overcome great obstacles and that’s still admirable. However, we sometimes have to realize there has to come a time to step back and actually assess if we have the ability to perform the task. I mean, an ordinary guy just can’t come up to Kobe Bryant right now and challenge him to a one-on-one basketball game and hope to dominate! There’s a certain skill level involved to even stand a slight chance of beating him!

Now, I’m not saying it can be done. It can… but there’s a lot of practice and training involved. But, until you become skilled enough, just stay back and admire the man’s skill on the court.

“The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night”

From: Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Narrator?

The story behind the quote: Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest is pretty much known as the black sheep of the series. While the first game focused on platform jumping and a brutal difficulty level, Simon’s Quest took a totally different direction. It was now an RPG, where you need to talk to people and collect items. Because it was such a departure from the original, it wasn’t embraced by fans. It does have some unique tricks, such as using items to overcome obstacles and the day and night transitions (where the enemies become tougher at night).

Anyway, the quote will pop up during the transition to morning from night. A box will appear to the left of the screen, signalling the end of the night, which can be a relief to players when they are just starting out with a low level.

Geek wisdom: Time does heal all wounds. We can be deeply hurt by the actions of other people, especially those close to us. At the start, we can feel that we will never be able to forgive them. Heck, we can even not talk to them for years and years.

However, as time goes by, the intensity of the pain that was inflicted magically starts to fade. We then remember the good times we had with that person and the hurtful action that was done becomes a distant memory. Once this happens, forgiveness become easy.

“A winner is you”

From: CPro Wrestling (NES, Famicom)

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Narrator

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from a classic video game on the NES simply entitled Pro Wrestling. While very limited in the number of moves, Pro Wrestling was actually unique in the sense that each of the different wrestlers had their own specialty moves that only they could use. For example, Fighter Hayabusa had a move called the Back Brain Kick that was unique to him while The Amazon had the Piranha Bite and the Outlaw Choke.

Anyway, the quote will pop up after you (obviously) beat any of your opponents on your road to fight the champion, The Great Puma. It became very popular very early on because of it’s hilariously incorrect grammar. It’s also known to be one of the first known instances of Engrish (named for the fact that Japanese usually substitute the letter R when trying to say the letter L).

Geek wisdom: While it is inadvertently funny, you can still extract some wisdom from it. Basically, you do have to celebrate each of your victories. Even the small ones. While its great to be focused on the task at hand (becoming the champion in the game), make sure that you also be proud of all of the small good things in life that you encounter along the way.

“When life gives you lemons? Don’t make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad!”

From: Portal 2

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Cave Johnson

The story behind the quote: Portal 2 is the sequel to the highly successful first Portal game. This game delves more into the history of Aperture Science, the company that developed the Portal gun and the facility where the game takes place. The interesting thing about this quote is that it actually comes from a recording of a person, Cave Johnson, who was the President and CEO of the company that would eventually become Aperture Science (who does what they must because they can).

As you, controlling Chell, proceeds through that old test chambers, we slowly get to see the facilities slowly become more and more decrepit and even Cave Johnson’s health is in decline. Still, through the voice recordings, we get to know that Cave Johnson is still defiant and believes that he and his company will rise above all of the hardship and return to glory once again.

If you come to think about it, although he did die and probably never saw it happen, Aperture Science appears to have actually returned to their glory days since the testing facilities that GLaDOS (the homicidal computer that you “killed” in the first game) and, to some extent, Wheatley, control are very advanced.

Geek wisdom: Sometimes its best to not just take it. There are times when it would actually be beneficial to get angry and fight back! A lot of great people in history have done so: Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington, and even Ghandi have shown that there is a time to fight back for what you believe in.

Now, I don’t want you to protest and I don’t want you to riot over every little thing. Make sure to pick your battles and, when it’s applicable and right, go to your window and yell out “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Speaking of which…

*That scene was from a movie called Network. Wow, two quotes for the price of one!