Video games undoubtedly preserve memories in the same way that songs and other works of art do. Often times, a song will randomly pop into your ears and instantly transport you back to a specific time in your life.
when you stumble Touch Detective 3 + Complete Case File On the Nintendo Switch Store, Natalie Imburgia's “Torn” gave me the same jump scares it gives someone at the grocery store checkout. So watching Detective Mackenzie and her sentient pet mushroom grace my screen once again unleashed certain memories of the summer I spent writing and performing unauthorized adaptations of Nintendo DS games. Ta.
Let's start with the game itself. For those of you who aren't familiar, or perhaps aren't as into this game as I am, touch detective ” was a cozy mystery about a child detective named Mackenzie, her eccentric friends, and her eccentric arch-rival, the Cornstalker. It was fun and of its time, giving its name to the touchscreen mechanics of the Nintendo DS. I was already older than Mackenzie when this game debuted in her 2006, and even older when this game was set, but it's hard to explain why this game resonated with me so much. That's not the point. touch detective It was packed with endearing characters and quirky sensibilities. It was one of those properties where you could tell that the creators were having fun making it. So I decided to take advantage of a little of that fun for myself.
Now, I'm not one to avoid embracing my most uncomfortable self, but this film adaptation touch detective wasn't born entirely out of sheer unbridled enthusiasm for the franchise. In fact, “Mack Attack,'' which I named his masterpiece, wasn't performed in my backyard until about four years after his release. touch detective 2 1/2.
As an old housekeeper in a neighborhood that doesn't have many children, a few friends and I decided to host something like a week-long theater camp in the summer of 2011. Our scrappy, makeshift theater camp, run by high school students, was feeling the same itch as the students. Lemonade stand. While many people love to symbolically promote the concept of selling Minute Maid in a back alley as some kind of sacred entry into capitalism, there are many people who have used a lemonade stand as a child. Everyone knows the truth. It was just a fun way to kill time with friends on a hot summer day. Based on that idea, we didn't charge money for camping. We simply asked children who were interested in participating in the play to lend us their time for a week. And what kind of unofficial summer camp would be complete without the unofficialization of a Nintendo DS game that no one has ever heard of?
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Sure, my fellow camp counselors and I could have chosen an existing play for our first theatrical camp experiment, but we'd never discover that Detective Mackenzie had been camping in the back of his mind. did. Like Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown, the concept of the child detective has an inherent wish-fulfillment and whimsy built into it. For kids who love role-playing as spies and veterinarians, there's an element of aspiration in children's shows where the main characters do adult jobs, and adult viewers can find humor in the same premise. In my mind, this has become a story for all ages. touch detective The perfect candidate for our camp.
Although it's not a complete visual novel, touch detective This is a highly narrative game, so it lends itself well to adaptation.fellow touch detective-Head knows its mysteries will play out in episodes, so naturally “Mack Attack” shortened those arcs to streamline the story. The final result met at the intersection of film adaptation and fan fiction, but the cast boasted a large cast of actors. touch detective Characters include the now-eponymous Mackenzie, Cromwell, Chloe, Penelope, Inspector Dahlia, the Cornstalker, and even my father, who made a cameo appearance as Mayor Tom.
Although the play was a byproduct of a very specific type of video game fandom, the theater camp itself operated more conventionally. We spent his week blocking scenes, running lines, learning choreographed dances, building sets and costumes, and just being silly. As the week ended, the next story began. touch detective officially brought to life for the cast's friends and family. I never hid the fact that “Mack Attack” was an adaptation, but most of the adults who brought their own beers and lawn chairs into my backyard that night knew that the unknown Nintendo DS game They didn't realize how much of an impact they had had on the joyful chaos they witnessed. .
Although I named Muck Attack my best work with all my might, I believe this play is a testament to the nasty art of over-obsession. Sure, some people may scoff at that as “disgusting,” but there's something special about being completely obsessed and inspired by something you enjoy. I still love hearing about people's current obsessions and how those interests have inadvertently taken over parts of their lives. Much like the powerful nostalgia imbued in certain melodies, revisiting a game reminds us not just of having played the game itself, but of how loving the game leaves a fun and strange aftershock in our lives. You can call out Taka.
Touch Detective 3 + Complete Case Files is available now.
