Stu’s Web Wednesday: Fistful of Rupees

Y'all had to have known this was coming. No, I don't get told by Lisa to promote this stuff. I promise. Nor am I Lisa in disguise, though there are some who have accused me of being so. If I was, that's a damn good disguise because that would make her male...and probably at a minimum 100 pounds heavier... No, I promote this because one, well, she's my friend and two, I really really like the concept.

Fistful of Rupees is the first in hopefully many mash-up concepts from The Game Station which they blend a video game francise with a drasticly different film genre. In the inogrial idea, they took  The Legend of Zelda mythos and made it a spaghetti western. For those who have no idea what the latter half of that term means, a "spaghetti western" is a sub-genre of western film-making named as such because they were primarily produced and directed by Italian filmmakers, the most famous of which being Sergio Leone. In fact, it seems Leone's "Dollars trilogy" (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) seem to be a primary influence to this mini-series, if anything an influence to the name. And believe it or not, it works. It works remarkably well. Link, as a character, very easily translates into "The Man With No Name" from the Dollars trilogy (that's the one played by Clint Eastwood for those who are still lost), with his completely cool and silent temperament. Ganon is that rough and tumble bad guy who will do anything to get what he wants and Miss Zelda, the local schoolmarm, just wants a better life for the town and bring piece and order in a lawless world. Still fits, doesn't it? It even goes so far as to having that little schoolgirl who knows everything and keeps the story moving forward. Gee, I wonder what Legend of Zelda (Hey!) character could (Listen!) fit that (Watch out!) bill? As awesome as Fistful of Rupees is, and it's pretty darn wonderful, it breaks ground not only for the Zelda mythos but for so many other concepts in this world. I commented on the final part with more mash-up ideas, but those concepts got buried under the comment flood so, seeing I have your attention here, I'll post them here too. I mean, this could bring about:

• Super Smash Bros. x Battle Royale
• Saint's Row The Third x The Warriors or Escape from New York
• Luigi's Mansion x J-Horror (The Grudge, The Ring, etc.)
• Night Trap x Saw
• Metroid x French Revolution/period action piece  (Metroid x The Scarlet Pimpernel)
• Devil May Cry x film noir
• The Secret of Monkey Island x modern day action comedy
• Shadows of the Colossus x found footage film (Cloverfield/Paranormal Activity)
• Portal x psychological thriller
• Odin Sphere x Lord of the Rings style western fantasy
• Katamari Damacy x a Wes Anderson style indie film

So many ideas. So many. Get inspired yourself. First, watch all three parts of Fistful of Rupees: "The Wisdom", "The Power", and "The Courage", followed by liking/faving/subscribing (if you haven't already) then come on back here and post your own mash-up concepts. Fistful of Rupees is produced by The Game Station, which you can find on their YouTube channel. They also have an official Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, and Google+ account if you use any or all of those dodads. Oh, and as it seems from the comments, the overwhelming demand is for everything to be Steampunk ever. All of the things. ALL OF THE STEAMING THINGS!