Here's the epilogue of Action Replay, my big baby that took over a year to finish and I'm both happy that it's reached a good resolution and sad that it's over XD
I'm writing this on the plane ride to Montana where I'll be working for the summer, so this will also be my last update until September or so.
We began with a pretty big change in Litwak's Arcade; let's end with another one.
Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, and you can argue about the Sugar Rush ones
Mr. Litwak's POV
Like most things that happened in Stan Litwak's arcade, this change was a big one.
Every new game was a grand event, every lost one was a funeral. His arcade had taken a big hit in the 80s when TurboTime and Roadblasters went down at the same time, and business had never been better with the addition of the computer and home console rooms.
And now that the characters in a few games seemed to be back in their right places again—he swore that for a week or so, that Honey girl his nephew had added to Sonic the Fighters had been missing—the summer had passed in a glorious haze of fun and profit. Even the gang of boys who hogged Sugar Rush (they were called "bro-wnies" or something odd like that) didn't cause much trouble.
In fact, the only trouble in his arcade at the moment was a good one: his old Sugar Rush was getting replaced with a sequel.
His nephew Toby called him a week before—from that nice girl Katarzyna's cell, no less—to warn him that Tobikomi of America was heading out to his neck of the woods to install their next game, limited addition just for arcade play. Stan didn't know if this was Toby's friends' influence or his old game really was just that valuable, but he had no issue. A new game was a game to be celebrated, after all.
It was a shame it was coming in fall as opposed to summer, but his patrons were faithful, and the lure of Sugar Rush:World Tour ought to be enough to carry on through the holiday season. Stan dressed in his cleanest referee shirt, welcomed his wayward nephew and his entourage, and opened the arcade early for a bunch of enthusiastic suits and a gleaming new console to roll in.
The console was mostly white as opposed to the original Sugar Rush's pink, with a lot more controls and shinier wall art, and Stan swore it smelled minty. A photographer took pictures of Stan's arcade, the old racing game and its replacement, and a bunch of pictures with people shaking hands and Misha posing like Vanellope with the rest of her friends.
Toby explained all the fancy new gimmicks of Sugar Rush WC, how it was similar to that Disney Infinity game where clusters of characters and circuits were purchased separately from the base game. "This version comes will all of the finished circuit packs," Toby pushed up his glasses and grinned, "And if they ever make more, I'll send you some so you won't have to brave the horror of Walmart or GameStop."
Stan snorted and ruffled Toby's hair, "I'm not that old, sonny, I remember my way around a game store." Toby fed Stan some more info about the game, about how apparently it was all that and a side of crackers, but his gaze kept drifting over to Katarzyna who was puttering around Hero's Duty. Stan grinned, "Got her number yet?"
Toby blushed and Stan shoved him over so he could impress his lady friend. Toby was also here to upgrade some of the consoles,and Stan gave him space to work.
Firs that DJ Hero 2 game. Toby's friend Deidre was into that sort of EDM kind of music—Stan had to admit, there was some similarities between EDM and disco that he appreciated—and she had complied a bunch of songs and extra characters and whatever to add. Stan hovered, impressed with the boy he helped raise in the arcade. "Hey, aren't those three those...what's their name, the Q Quadrant?"
"The M Machine," Toby snickered, "Dee-Dee wouldn't let me not add them in, along with everyone else from OWSLA and some female characters she made up to balance out the roster."
"You're adding in Watership Down?"
"Don't worry about it old man," Toby finished up and Stan swore he spotted that long haired DJ avatar character tackle-hug some of the newer additions; his nephew must've programmed in special animations, he was proud of Toby.
Next were a slew of graphical tune-ups. Making sure not to bump into the Tobikomi suits—they were transferring data from the old Sugar Rush into the new one so the "special characteristics" weren't lost, or whatever that meant. Frogger got one, so did Punch-Out and Galaga, and Sonic the Fighters, which made Toby scratch his head. "Honey the Cat? Did I add her in?"
"Yep, and she's a fan favorite." The polygons of the old 90s game were smoothed out and made HD, and Stan nodded as Toby made Knuckles punch Honey in the face, "You fixed how she would turn into Amy, so that's good."
"Yeah..." Toby shook his head, "I've forgotten all the work I put into these old consoles, I don't remember un-dummying Honey."
Stan nodded sagely, "Memory's the first thing to go in old age; your mother is half-Italian though, so you ought to keep your hair."
Toby smirked, "There's nothing wrong with toupees, Uncle Stan."
Stan rubbed his bald spot, "Nope, I like it; it reflects the overhead lights, so whenever kids are being rowdy I just flash my headlight at them."
Toby laughed and Adia came up to squeal, "It's time!"
Everyone grouped around the suits as they gently unplugged Sugar Rush. Stan's electrician had come the night before to rewire everything; his surge protector was still being used for the old 80s-90s games, but the arcade room's wires were now all upgraded with three more surge protectors. He didn't want his brand new top of the line limited edition collector's item Sugar Rush Speedway: World Circuit to short out and cause a fire, after all.
With a soft click the old console was removed, set to be taken to the Tobikomi Museum in Akihabara along with the other 20 or so "special" consoles that were getting upgraded. The new console was plugged in, and a suit turned it on.
The opening cutscene played, fully orchestrated music lilting from the stereo speakers, and Stan shook his head, "You got me; the new game looks great."
More handshaking, more pictures, and Stan got to sit down in the brand new seats that weren't sticky or softened by brownie butts. His eyes widened at the insane amount of characters and race tracks presented,all the bells and whistles firing off like a finely tuned engine, and he grinned as he started up a game, "The kids are gonna love this."
Within the console, Choko opened up chocolate eyes to see the rest of her circuit mates look towards the horizon...and grinned as she flew into the minty fresh air, the sky singing a brand new theme song to match the blue light in her soul.
And deeper within the game, Vanellope opened her own hazel eyes, and marveled.
Once again, the last chapter was the real conclusion to Action Replay, but it was nice to get in some Litwak time.
Changes to the arcade that you should know before Through The Mirror Darkly:
Sugar Rush has been replaced with Sugar Rush: World Circuit. The previous racers are all in the new and improved version, don't worry, along with a BUNCH of new racers. This is the most important change.
DJ Hero 2 has new songs and new characters, such as producers from Skrillex's label OWSLA (which is why he hugged them), other artists that Deidre/I like, and OC female characters since I don't want DK Hero 2 to be a good old boy's club.
Sonic the Fighters now looks like the HD version released on the Xbox 360, and all of Honey's graphical glitches have been ironed out.
There now multiple surge protectors wired into the arcade room because the one we saw in the movie is a hazard to life.
Other games are prettier, but nothing as drastic as the changes to the above three.
And with that...Action Replay is complete. It was a wild ride, everyone, and to everyone still reading: thank you for following me through a year and a half's worth of messes. Every review, favorite and follow means a lot to me, and I beg your indulgence to keep reviewing, favoriting and following all the way up to the sequel.
Through The Mirror Darkly is Vanellope-centric, much like Life in 16 Flavors was. The Codebusters' time in the spotlight is over, but don't worry—Choko, Skrillex and Honey will still be around, and with the things I have planned for TTMD in mind...you're going to be very busy and delighted :)