I am Matthew Taranto of Brawl in the Family & Tadpole Treble. AMA! WAAAA

The original strips' linework is pretty funky-looking to me now. That was a combination of not being experienced with a computer tablet, deliberately drawing the strips in a silly/quick way, and using an old version of PhotoShop that the computer frequently lagged on (leading to some jagged-type circles and stuff).

That said, I do really like a lot of the expressions still, so I'd worry a sort of "HD remake" would lead to me not being able to recreate them exactly right. In fact, this has happened a few times between the initial sketch and putting them on the computer...

Regarding the game length, we're going to try to put as many stages as we can in the game. Since the songs themselves are generally not especially long (between 2 and 3 minutes), it'll probably be possible to beat the stages fairly quickly if you rush through. That's why we're focusing on having a good number of extra challenges for scoring and beyond, and unlockables to go with them to help beef up the game and add replay. We'll be having a number of stages in the double-digits, but the exact number depends on production itself. Good question!

Yes, and I was there when his family received the news about their son.

lights a candle

A Mushroom Kingdom Carol. I remember making up parts of it as I went along and really stressing out for awhile (mid-story) on how certain elements of the story could be handled. Once I came up with the Bowser Jr. twist and the identity of the Ghost of Christmas Future, everything else fell into place, and I'm happy with how it all ended.

WALUIGI WILL RETURN FOR MORE ADVENTURES SOON ENOUGH. WALUIGI IS THE BEST CHARACTER IN THIS TERRIBLE COMIC. WAAAAA

I appreciate it~

Hiya! A little nervous, to be honest. Never done one of these before...

I think around comic 30, I actually made an effort to expand the strip's cast beyond Kirby and co. That's actually when the site itself went online and I'd settled on a name for it, and the name reflected the idea that Nintendo's characters were basically a patchwork "family" (that...well, brawls).

I like the transformation gags, but there was no way I could continue doing two/three of those a week and have the comic continue for very long, so expanding it to the full Smash Bros universe opened it up far more to different jokes and stories.

So it was indeed mostly intentional, although there were a few times where I really wanted to push the boundaries of what I could get away with. Not in terms of adult content or whatever, but the tone itself, which led to slightly more serious arcs like Mushroom Kingdom Carol and Cocoon Academy.

As for when I felt the comic was really taking off...I think both comic 50 (Gooie Kablooie) and 60 (Reflection) were really different and well-received from people, and both kind of gave me the go-ahead to make more experimental and character-driven strips.

Hi lividd3ead!

Growing up on Nintendo no doubt made me a fan from the get-go (my first game was Super Mario Bros), but if I had to pinpoint it...I like that they march to the beat of their own drum. They're resistant to industry shifts (sometimes to a fault), but they generally focus on games that they feel are fun to play. It helps that they have some terrific classics to their name, such as Super Metroid, Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario Galaxy.

Regarding Kirby...honestly, I really like the guy and his games are fun, but he's actually not my favorite; the comic was initially centered around Kirby simply because he and Dedede are so funny-looking to me.

I come from a very musical family and almost majored in music instead of graphic design. I play piano, sax, and sing, and since my dad is a music teacher and composer, I've sort of been around sheet music my whole life! Eventually, it was inevitable that worlds would collide and I'd try to figure out how to merge sheet music with level design in an unholy manifestation...

So in short, my dad!

EXPECTING WALUIGI? TOO B--

Actually, the thing with Waluigi is that the fanbase is sort of split, some people want more of him, some want less! So I like doing Waluigi strips, but I have to make sure I can do new ideas with him at the same time.

Hey, Kirbychu!

1) The idea process can really come from anywhere; ideas usually start when I wonder about the mechanics of certain characters interacting with other characters'. ...That sounds clunky, but basically I love the idea of established "rules" within these game worlds clashing with one another. It's actually pretty similar to Smash Bros itself in that way.

2) It's great! It really has been a lifelong dream of mine to develop for Nintendo systems. Somewhere in my attic are dozens of drawings of Mario and Zelda levels I made up as a kid (yeah, I got beat up a few times).

I grew up loving a lot of cartoons, both the very stylized and outlandish (Rocko's Modern Life, SpongeBob Squarepants, Bump in the Night, Simpsons), and the more subtle character-driven stuff (Hey Arnold, King of the Hill, Simpsons again). I like to think my sense of humor is based off both types, although BitF--being a gag-a-day strip--leans more towards the former in general.

I'm also a fan of FoxTrot, The Far Side, and everyone's favorite comic (for good reason), Calvin & Hobbes. I've paid tribute to all of those in BitF at some point.

As far as movies go, just about anything by Pixar is where it's at for me. I love how they can tell stories and deliver humor that's genuinely amusing for all ages, and still interesting for adults. I think that takes a lot of skill and care not to have it feel censored or "dumbed down."

Thanks for the kind words!

It sounds like a sort of silly fan-dream, but I'd kill for a Smash Bros all-Nintendo universe game that revolves around some sort of adventure.

Also, Mother 4!

Hah! I don't think those were my exact words, but yeah, that comic was sort of a bonus thing I drew to let off steam from losing a bunch of save data. The comic was mostly tongue-in-cheek; I'll always love Nintendo stuff, as evidenced by the other 500+ comics!

Regarding the dolls, we actually emailed Nintendo directly about those prior to selling them.

But yeah, like anyone, I can get angry at the ones I love! And that anger can manifest itself into silly drawing of a giant smiling sun devouring the planet.

Kirby Super Star on the SNES! I love the full movesets in each ability, the addition of Helper partners, and the terrific soundtrack. Also, you kiss to heal.

Hey Xlux! Nice question. I think you're referring to the comic where Dedede is listing Brawl's flaws and Kirby is just happy to have Mario fight Sonic. I don't have anything against the Smash Bros competitive community, but I do think it's important for people to appreciate the simpler joys and whimsy involved in games like this. I feel that when it comes to comparing the meta-game and movesets and such, it can be easy to forget what makes the series (and the joy of gaming) magical in the first place.

I hope that didn't sound too flowery! But yeah, I have played in a few SSB tourneys. Didn't do so hot, but I still had a good time. I do agree that tripping is unnecessary (even if I'm a fan of items)!

Hi! Thanks, guy. I went NUTS when EarthBound was announced. I remember waking up my wife the morning learning about it. What a great day! For me.

The new Kirby game looks solid--reminds me to Return of Dream Land, which is a good thing! I'll probably pick it up.

Eario HAS been in a musical number--the commercial jingle I sent out for the book Kickstarter! It's a pretty secret song, but I'll let you have a listen: http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/kickstarter/EarioJingle.mp3

Hah, I think BitF Me's opinion of it was that it was the greatest thing ever and completely killed his passion for Nintendo. At least, for a day or so.

I've only played a bit of Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale at E3. I was Sly Cooper and didn't do so well. It had some gameplay that felt a bit like Smash Bros, so that was sort of interesting, but I was a little lost at how the super moves and KOs worked...so I'm afraid I don't really have much of an opinion on it due to how little I've played it!

I like and respect a lot of what other webcomic artists are doing out there. That said, I actually feel a little funny with collaborations and guest comics and such because I'm worried I won't live up to their audience's standards. I'd hate to leave some sort of blot on a popular comic's archive!

But it sure would be fun to meet Katie, the Penny-Arcade guys, etc in person at some point.

I think so! It's usually not a case of "not fitting," since Smash Bros is already kind of a conglomeration of different art styles, but there are definitely games that I feel are too obscure and, if they had comics, would have 95% of the audience scratching their heads at. But here are a few of my forgotten favorites:

-Daigasso! Band Bros (DS) -Retro Game Challenge (DS) -StarTropics (gets a nod here and there in the strip) (NES) -Conquest of the Crystal Palace (I did have a cameo of this one in Legion Part 2) (NES) -Little King's Story (okay, I liked this enough to make a comic from it) (Wii) -Rhythm Heaven (not too obscure, just difficult to make a strip out of) (DS/Wii) -Mother 3 (GBA)

I'm a big fan of all of these. I'm still of the (extremely rare) opinion that Band Bros is the best music game series ever.

Hm, it's not a conscious thing, for sure. I really like the Mario RPGs, but I think I tend to gravitate toward ideas and concepts that are more universal to players. I definitely like doing more obscure comics from time to time, but it's a little trickier with the Mario RPGs since they change protagonists so often, so it's less assured that enough people will understand the reference. That's probably why there are more about Mario Kart.

It would be fun to do more Paper Mario ones though. Great series!

Hey Dean! I touch upon this in the Tadpole Treble video, but my passions have always been in art, music, and video games, so when I was doing the Grinch story, I really wanted to make a parody of the famous song in the cartoon. That led to doing a fully original song for some of the milestone strips, and while these have been a ton of work, they're also some of the most well-known and some of the ones I'm most proud of.

As for the next Smash, Mega Man was the guy that HAD to be there, so I'm already happy. But beyond him, I'd love to see Palutena, Ridley, Lucina, King Hippo, and anyone from the Mother series. As far as third-party characters, I'd welcome Simon Belmont and Mog.

Thanks! My favorite comic is probably comic 400 - The History of Nintendo. I was hit pretty hard with Crohn's Disease around that time, so finishing it was a 40+ day process that became sort of a major hurdle I had to overcome. There were several days where I'd simply lie in bed, feeling completely miserable. I seriously considered ending the comic on more than one occasion due to feeling that I wouldn't be able to keep making them because of my health.

Eventually, I got my strength back and got back to work on comic 400. It ended up being a massive dedication to my favorite gaming company through an original song, but it was made much more meaningful to me because I remember the harrowing experience around it. Clearing that obstacle felt like I'd really accomplished something, and that if I could do that, I could definitely continue the strip.

My wife's favorite comic is 187 - Exercise.

Waffles. I much prefer the crispiness and those wonderful pockets that hold the syrup. Pancakes get too spongy for my tastes (or maybe I'm just not eating the right kind)...

WALUIGI IS BIDING HIS TIME AND BITING HIS BOOKS. HE WILL RETURN ONCE AGAIN, WAAAA

Nice questions!

We have been heavily thinking of an Edit Mode in Tadpole Treble, but we want to make sure it's feasible with just the few of us working on the game before officially announcing it. You're right that it would be a great way to customize the game, and it'd add more replay too.

Original BitF tracks, eh? That's a pretty neat idea! I haven't actually considered that, but I'd have to say probably not right now. I'd like Tadpole Treble to be its own beast, so to speak.

I haven't considered an LP playable demo, but that might be a good idea too. Thanks for the suggestion, and we'll mull it over.

Thanks as well for the kind words.

Flops as in the Kickstarter doesn't make it? We'd like to keep working on it, but it would take a LOT more time to come out since it'd be a side thing rather than a main project.

Flops as in sales? Like with any quirky type of project, that's possible, but we're optimistic that Nintendo fans will enjoy it. Either way, it'll still be great to have a playable game to my and Michael's names. It'll give us the courage to try again on the next game.

Hiya, fellow Pokemon fan, thanks for the compliment! My favorite Pokemon is the awesome giant mantis, Scyther. I've always enjoyed his style. I'm currently in the middle of Pokemon X and I really like the revamped visuals and new Pokemon!

Thanks for asking. Once I got diagnosed, I eventually was able to get infusions of Remicade every eight weeks, which really helped out. There've been a couple health "snags" here and there (I had a couple smaller procedures done this year), but for the most part, it's generally under control for now. Thanks for your concern.

The latter, definitely, mainly for the lack of fire involved. I think I'm allergic to fire--if I so much as touch the stuff, I break out in blisters.

Very cool! To be honest, I can't guarantee I'll be able to participate very much. I'd certainly love to drop by from time to time to see the discussion though.

Hey Veggiemudkipz, nice to hear from you! Sorry about the homework. There aren't any current plans to have more Ammy, but you never know! If there's an idea I think of that uses her, I don't see why she wouldn't make another appearance. Glad you enjoy Adeleine--she'd be a cool addition to SSB, but we'd probably see Waddle Dee before her as far as Kirby characters go.

Ness would win, obviously! Now get back to work on Tadpole Treble, Michael!

Good to hear from you, Matt!

I've actually always wanted to make video games. When I did the first Kirby strips, it was just a way to pass time and amuse myself during one of my college classes. I had no idea that people would be so receptive to them, especially since the humor back then was pretty droll and unusual.

It's funny. Now when I see people talk about the early strips, it's often in the vein of "The first batch aren't very good, but they get better after that." If that was the feedback I'd initially gotten on the first comics, I probably wouldn't have not started a site at all.

I appreciate the compliment, thanks!

Musical inspirations include Frank Sinatra, Weird Al, George Gershwin, and a ridiculous amount of video game music (Koji Kondo's soundtracks, Final Fantasy IV, VI, Super Mario Galaxy 1/2). History of Nintendo's ska feel was heavily inspired by Weird Al's own Horoscope song.

For Tadpole Treble, I'm trying to do a different sound for every level to keep the variety going. So there's a chiptune stage, a western stage, an Incan/Andean stage, and even a song with lyrics.

I definitely want to go into game design as a long-term goal. I love the freedom and creativity that goes into making games, and since I've been inspired by them my whole life, I'd love to try to inspire others in the same way. I wouldn't be averse to doing more comic stuff either, but for me, game design is where it's at.

A little bit, especially for non-Nintendo games I really enjoy (like Persona 4) or 3rd-party type stuff (Resident Evil 4, strangah). However, I do think that there're plenty of webcomics out there already that cover most non-Nintendo stuff; when I started BitF, it was partly because there didn't seem to be many comics that cover Nintendo games, and I thought that was a niche that needed more fillin'.

Whoa, a fan of over 5 years. Thanks for the compliment!

"Matthew" is what I prefer! I have a PS2 and I've played a few PC/Mac games. It's more of a time/money issue than anything--I can barely play all the games I'm interested in with just a Nintendo console and handheld, especially as I get older, so I stick with Nintendo since they cater to my tastes the closest.

I thought Persona 4 was awesome though. I enjoyed God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, and Devil May Cry as well (and the PSX Final Fantasy games).

Baton will probably show up as a cameo, but I don't think she'll have her "own" BitF comic (although maybe when the game comes out)...for the curious, she has already shown up in BitF once before, in comic 175.

The game will be a download code for the system of the backers' choice.

As for the podcast, I'd like to do them more regularly, but this month is unusually packed, so there might be a little more of a delay than usual. Certainly before the end of the year though!

I recently did a series of comics where the veterans of Brawl are voting in new characters for the next game. The comic's never existed when a new Smash Bros was coming out, so it's neat to be able to experience new characters being added in "real time," if that makes sense. For example, Mega Man.

Beyond that, I'm not sure if I'm doing a big comic event for the next game or not yet, but I will certainly add the new characters to the comic itself.

It was just for fun, to be honest, but it became something I really enjoyed doing. If you told me at the start that it would last over 500 strips, I would've never believed it!

My dad would compose music in Finale and I thought it was strangely compelling watching the notes go by and play automatically. It sort of drew you into the music more, to where you'd hear harmonies and things that you wouldn't otherwise notice. That element combined with the fact that it slightly resembled a video game auto-scrolling stage was what led to the basic idea. The tadpole itself came later, when I decided that you should be able to "float" along the entirety of the staff.

Always nice to hear from a fan!

Hey dunkle, thanks for the compliment! I think I answered a similar question earlier, but at this point, I'd most like to see Palutena. I thought Kid Icarus Uprising was terrific, and I loved what they did with the characters in that.

I think they're fine fellows, I don't really have much against 'em. Microsoft's been pretty weird lately though...

Thanks Stapling! It's always nice to hear fans' support--it's really the reason I do this in the first place. That and the money.

Hey phantom, glad you like the strip. I mentioned the game's conception somewhere else in this AMA, but the short version is that I liked seeing my dad's Finale program play back music, and being able to notice the harmonies and stuff while seeing it onscreen. The scrolling nature of the sheet music reminded me of a platformer, and that's where the basic idea came from. I'm also hoping for a Wii U version!

They did kind of start on a forum, or at least, that was when they first hit the web. The original drawings were doodles I made in class, and I later redid a few in Photoshop and posted them on IGN's Wii board. The day after that, I reposted them on GameFAQs, and it just took off from there. My love of Smash Bros is intrinsically linked to my Nintendo fandom; once I heard there was a fighting game where Donkey Kong and Pikachu slap each other around, I had to have it.

Thanks for the kind words!

I love questions like this!

Let's see...I think I expressed a little regret in the book about the "Hurricane Ike" comic. It was sort of the expected joke to go for around that time, but in retrospect, it's probably a little insensitive. Also, the early "Universe" comic I could probably never get away with doing today ("Why is Kirby suddenly so huge?"). I think a lot of the early art makes me cringe a little bit--there are some strips I'm really proud of for the expressions ("Telltale," "Saving Face"), while others look really jagged and wonky to me (the blonde kid in "Runaway Dog" for instance).

I'm generally pretty happy with the way all the arcs came out thought.

Hi Pinkiestar, glad you like the comics! I think I missed the boat on a bunch of the bigger fandoms out there, but I can say that I really love the following bunch of stuff: Nintendo, Pixar, Calvin & Hobbes, classic Simpsons, Futurama, King of the Hill, Monk, The Office, Parks & Rec.

Well, now that Mega Man has been confirmed, I'm pretty much happy. But I'll have to say, outside of anyone in the Mother series, Palutena would be my pick. I loved Kid Icarus Uprising and I think she'd be a great addition to the cast.

I'm actually a professional singer. Well, technically. I get paid to sing (and play piano) at various church services, both on weekends and for funerals and weddings. So it was a natural move to incorporate that into the comic itself.

Don't worry, it's my first time posting on Reddit too. ;)

Every now and then, I like to draw Nintendo characters in really lanky, strange styles, and Waluigi had been a victim of this at some point too. One day, Chris and I were looking at this weird doodle of Waluigi in the sketchbook and thought it was the most ridiculous thing, and kind of joked about the next comic update just being a single image of the weird looking Waluigi.

The blog would say, "Expecting Comic 128? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME." We loved the idea and the sentiment behind it, but we kind of held onto Waluigi until April Fools Day, when he came up again as the perfect way to really go nuts with the site design. The whole "TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME" was pretty much the basis of his entire character--a loud, blunt, weird jerk who makes life difficult for those around him (especially Luigi). I think his face was inspired by Butt-Head (you know, Beavis's friend) too.

I'm sorry about the site issues! I updated all the podcast pages a couple weeks ago and the updates disappeared for some weird reason! We're trying to get everything running back to normal so that people can find stuff intuitively again.

Hey Mike! This is definitely one of the most frequent questions we're asked.

Brawl in the Family does indeed fall under parody, which is why other webcomics that use original art of well-known IPs (such as Penny-Arcade) can sell books, shirts, etc with no problem. What Nintendo (and any IP-holder, really) doesn't like is when the parody can be CONFUSED for their own product...this is why so many fan-games get shut down by them. It's also why magazines like Nintendo Force (shout out) and Pure Nintendo were politely asked to change their names (to NF and PN, respectively).

If I had to guess, the sprite comic books would be an issue since they use art directly from the games themselves. BitF's comics are 100% hand-drawn, and the comic makes it clear that all characters and such are the rights of Nintendo.

Incidentally, we actually contacted Nintendo prior to opening our online store, to make sure they didn't have a problem with the merchandise.

Haha, that's the Map Theme from Tadpole Treble. We'll definitely be putting up SOME music from the game throughout this month's updates, but I'm not sure which ones yet. Glad you liked it though!

That song is in the old one-level demo, on the map screen. It's not linked anywhere but you can still get it at http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/media/tadpoletreblepc.exe ... until Matthew sees this anyway ;)

Hah, I drew that Wario on a bicycle a few weeks before that comic, and I really liked him. I think it might be fun to use him and Waluigi for an April Fools series, but it'd be a little weird since he's shown up in "BitF canon" as his usual self already.

Whoops, I forgot about that request! I'll pull it from the file next time I'm at my parents' (where I record some things). It'll be free though.

I usually consider the musical comics a few weeks before a milestone comes up, or before Christmas...which reminds me, I need to start figuring out what I'm going to do this year! Hmm...so yeah, no specific plans for the next musical comic just yet, but there'll be more of them.

Hey Christian, thanks for dropping by! And thanks as well for droppin' our Tadpole links all over the place. See you around!

Obscure characters I like? Band Bros is a series that's near and dear to my heart, so there's probably some fun stuff that could be done with Barbara Bat and her gang. I also really like Vivian from Paper Mario:TTYD and the general world in StarTropics. Also, the bugs and hand from the flyswatter minigame in Mario Paint!

And yeah, that's the implied meaning of the punchline...although it could be seen as Sakurai deliberately picking favorites!

Hey Flippy! Glad to hear that BitF made such an impact in you and your boyfriend's lives! I met my own wife through a shared interest online (a Phoenix Wright board in our case), so I know firsthand how exciting that can be. Thanks for writing!

I guess "you are what you eat" has always been kind of a subtext of Kirby; it's pretty much implied in all of them!

I think the lowest tier for that is the Plush Tier at $27! We tried to mix and match a number of different rewards without making it become too complex. If that's a little too much for you, we'll probably be selling the plushes and game separately eventually (assuming we hit our goal, of course).

We've definitely considered TT for the 3DS--in fact, it was a bit of a tough decision to decide on the Wii U first. The reason we picked the console was because of size and dimension issues; we're a little worried TT might be kind of small on the 3DS, and the visual style would have to be redone in a way. Even so, I certainly wouldn't rule it out completely, because I'm a big fan of the handheld and it'd be great to have it on the go.

My favorite Eeveelution is Espeon, one of my favorite Psychics.

Hey, a relatively new reader, hello! My favorite non-milestone? Hmm...I'm really happy with Telltale, Secret Santa, A Metroid Adventure, Animals, and...what the heck, Mr. Game & Watch Meets Paper Mario.

Hi TwistTurtle. Hopefully I can clarify a few things.

In Tadpole Treble, the background music for each stage plays normally, and while this happens, the notes of the actual music scroll forward automatically (as Baton swims). The player must dodge these notes while moving up and down, and as they pass Baton, they essentially "play" as the background music. The effect is akin to "swimming" through actual sheet music, and it's highlighted by context-sensitive actions on the beat (for instance, hitting bamboo with your tail in a percussive manner).

It is score-based; the more you dodge the notes, the higher your score, and you can multiply it by hitting the occasional cymbal on the beat. The bubbles are part of a small currency system, while other pickups are good for points. I'll be explaining the score system in-depth in an upcoming update.

I'd say it's a little similar to HarmoKnight in some ways (in that you're running through a stage to its background music), but different in that the actual notes of the song are your obstacles.

My favorite music/rhythm game is the Daigasso Band Bros series for the DS--my brother and I love jamming on this one! Theatrhythm is great though, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

I think the tadpole may have been subconsciously inspired by Mario RPG...? There's something inherently musical-feeling about tadpoles, and I thought it was a neat type of protagonist since there weren't really any well-known tadpole characters already. We've got the tadpole market cornered (well, except for Mario RPG)!

For the tablet, you may want to play around with the settings for a little bit first. It can save you a lot of trouble in the long run. Also, make sure your computer can run whatever program you're using smoothly. I used an old version of PhotoShop for a few years and it made smooth curves quite impossible. Best of luck!

It had to have been early on, when I drew six at a time for the first dozen or so...and it took me about 10 minutes. Things sure were a lot simpler back then...

I've been thinking of putting a couple of BitF nods & easter eggs in the game, but I haven't quite decided what the nature of those will be just yet. It'd be fun to throw some things like that in for fans.

As far as systems beyond the Wii U goal go, we're mainly trying to hear what's most requested and taking it from there (if we have the funds and time for ports). We do want as many people to enjoy Tadpole Treble as possible, but so far, the Linux and 3DS fans seem to have been the most vocal as far as other potential systems to put it on.

1. I've only played a little of it at E3 2012 (I was Sly Cooper)! I didn't do so hot, but I can't really give a strong opinion of it either way since it was such a short experience, heh. I do hear that a lot of Smash fans enjoy it, so that's cool.

2. BitF: Volume Two has been a little tricky to plan. A lot of people loved Volume One, and I'm really proud of how it turned out, but that was mainly because I was able to fund it really well from Kickstarter. For Volume Two (and any subsequent Volume) to match it in quality, I'd probably need another Kickstarter...so this year, I had to decide whether to Kickstart Vol Two or Tadpole Treble. Since I'd been working on TT for awhile, I thought it was the game's time to shine, but I'd still love to do a Vol Two at some point. I really want to have the whole strip in book form.

Pretty much. Sometimes I get a little help from my dad--as a band teacher, he can play most instruments with some degree of skill, so that's him playing the french horn in Ode to Minions, for instance. And he also sing's Onox's part in ASR. My wife Sarah usually does the female vocals, such as Veran. But otherwise, I'll do all the arranging and recording and most of the parts.

That old demo is pretty outdated at this point--I actually took it off the site because I feel it's not a very accurate representation of the final feel of the game. So just keep that in mind!

The "clickiness" of Baton was definitely one of the biggest issues people had. We've taken care in smoothing out the feel of her movement while maintaining the accuracy of her placement. In other words, she still will "snap" to each individual line and space, but there are animations in place to make it feel far smoother and more intuitive now. IMO, it's kind of the best of both worlds between form and functionality now.

I'm not really crazy about the idea of DLC, but it's not out of the question. We do want to put everything we can into the game when it comes out, time and money permitting, but I wouldn't rule out DLC (or a sequel!) entirely. I really love the idea of a level editor and it's one of the features I most hope can make it into the game, but I don't want to promise it yet. It may be a little tricky to implement.

Eternal Darkness was a great one for sure, I loved the monk's chapter in particular. I could certainly see me giving a nod to the game at some point in BitF, although a full strip devoted to it is a little less likely due to its age at this point, and slightly smallish audience.

Baton's character design is definitely simple, but I think it works and she can get pretty expressive from time to time. I've considering adding more elements to her design to make her a little more distinctive, but I don't want to over-complicate it.

Thanks!

The idea came from wanting to do a story arc with a wider focus on the cast. I noticed since Nintendo's characters generally have open-ended or unconfirmed childhood/adolescent years, a universal academy that most of them attended could technically fit into their lives.

I liked the idea of Dedede and other characters being heavily influenced by their teachers, and some of the gray areas of heroism and ambition that Oak and Ganondorf bring up. I had decided on the twist with "Pinky" pretty early (well before the first part of the arc went up). It was a lot of fun to make it, and I'm very happy with it overall, but I do think to really give the story and characters time to breathe, it would've been nice if it was even longer. But considering the different reveals and character stories I was able to squeeze in there (plus enough gags to keep the regular BitF crowd amused), I think it worked out nicely, and I always like hearing from people who enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, I've never played it!

1) Basically most milestone comics, especially History of Nintendo. 2) I do have an upcoming story arc in mind, but it's more of a modern-day, lighter story. I like the idea of past lore for sure, but I don't think I have another big arc planned for the moment. The most recent thing that comes to mind in that sense is the one-off strip about Zebes actually being the ruins of the Mushroom Kingdom. 3) Probably not, unfortunately. The Dededoll has done well, but it's a pretty big risk making a plush like that--you have to order a pretty huge number of them as a minimum, which means a lot of money is tied up for awhile.

Thanks for writing!

Hi, Jbeast! I'm glad BitF got you into the fun world of webcomics. I like TVTropes, too, I regularly check them to see the new tropes I've accidentally put into the strip!

As for favorite non-Nintendo, non-Smash stuff...I kind of want to say Final Fantasy, but I haven't been into the later games for awhile. I still adore FF6, though--my #2 game of all time, in fact. FF4, 7, and 9 are all really solid too. Skies of Arcadia is excellent. I really liked Warcraft 2 back in the day, too.

I think when the comic was in its early phases, I thought it was pretty light on the female characters, and Adeleine was the first one that came to mind from the Kirby series. I've always liked her in the game, I thought she had kind of a neat gimmick (being able to make her paintings come to life) and personality-wise, having a character that was on friendly terms with the main three helped bring a little balance to the animosity between the Kirby/Dedede/Meta Knight trio. Her personality is very earnest like Kirby's, but she's not quite as oblivious/blissfully naive, so she kind of works in the "peacemaker" mode as a slightly more normal character.

I'm not sure why Ribbon never really showed up in that case; I guess I preferred Adeleine's ability and thought there could be more done with it. As for Chuchu, I hadn't played KDL3 at the time so I barely knew anything about her, and regarding the others, I wanted to stick with in-game characters (which is why you rarely see Tiff/Tuff/Escargoon and the Pokemon anime's characters).

Haha, that's probably the only time you'll see a tadpole in BitF that's not a Baton reference--that's actually a baby Wart.

Eario was sort of a parody of the Mario/Wario/etc lineup. I think the idea of another Mario brother came along first (with the M sideways to make an E, of course). Then when deciding what the character would be like, I thought about how when Mario shows up, there's always a bunch of fresh bricks and ? blocks ready to go. I thought someone had to clean up the mess he made, so that became Eario.

Sometimes when I draw Mario in the comic, I give him little dot eyes--other times, you can see his sclera. Chris told me that the sclera were more expressive, but I stick with the dots whenever it's meant to look like the games (side-scrolling view). So for whatever reason, I was thinking of this discussion when designing Eario, and that's why he ended up with a single dot eye and one wide one. It's a really unusual look that makes one wonder exactly what they're seeing when looking at both types of eyes on the same face.

Thanks for getting the cards, glad you like them. My favorite Pokemon is Scyther.

Right now, the members of the project are putting together a CD of the remaining songs. That might be as far as it goes, though...but it was fun!

We haven't started development for the Wii U just yet, but I hear it takes a couple weeks for a seasoned programmer to get the hang of the way it works. I'm hoping we can get enough funding to purchase a dev kit!

Thanks! I'm glad some of our readers are enjoying the podcasts too, because I really like doing them. The only problem is that they're slightly lower on my priority list, but I'll keep making them for sure.

I fixed the podcast page before but it arbitrarily broke itself again. I'm not sure what the problem is.

Probably Bruce Lee, unless we're talking about Punch-Out Tyson...

That sounds like my mom! Or dad. They like to mention BitF in their class sometimes. Good luck pursuing that almighty diploma! Kirby 64 is a good one (gotta love those mixed powers), but my all-time favorite is Kirby Super Star on the SNES.

We love the GamePad and think it'd be great to incorporate it into TT's gameplay. One idea we had involved a sort of counter-op asymmetrical multiplayer, where one guy plays as Baton on the TV, while the other places notes in real time on the GamePad, which the Baton player must dodge and survive through. That's one of the "maybe" features if we can fit it in our budget, of course, but at the very least, you can certainly expect off-TV play.

Not much, actually! I've contacted them a couple times, but I think they see BitF like they see most parody/fan Nintendo stuff online--they like it as long as it's not hurting their brand or claiming to be them. But I have talked to Dan Adelman a few times--he's the guy that approved our Wii U stretch goal.

The History of Nintendo! I always feel really happy when I finish a major milestone strip.

I like that SSB is a series that's deep enough for people to play competitively! That said, I'm still an item man, myself...

Every now and then I do one, but they've become scarce since it's harder to do gags that haven't been done yet. A lot of the time, I'll try to think of one, and the punchline ends up too similar to a previous eating gag, so I'll move onto something else. But this year's first comic was all about it, as was the Cheep-Cheep strip.

Your desire for Linux TT is duly noted! You're not the first one to ask for it, actually. We'd like to put it on as many platforms as possible, but due to money/time constrictions, there are only so many we can do. If it exceeds the Wii U benchmark, we'll certainly consider it.

Oh, I remember that! Thanks for the good turnip prices, mate. I ended up not being as lazy on that one, but I vegged out later to make up for it.

David Wise is the man! Donkey Kong Country 2 in particular is one of my favorite game OSTs of all time. It'd be great to have him compose a song for Tadpole Treble, but I feel super nervous contacting him about it...I dunno, maybe!

Ahh, Kirby Air Ride. I specifically remember delving deep into that game when recovering from knee surgery in 2004. City Trial is magnificent--there's something really addictive about making the best Air Ride Machine possible, and then taking it for a spin afterwards. I wish I could set the limit higher than 7 minutes, or have a way to save my custom craft for free play mode...that'd be neat.

The BitF Trail was actually a forum event. I didn't participate in it myself (besides making some art for it), but the forumers had a good time with it.

Thanks for the feedback! Always good to hear from a fan.

That's a great idea that I'd love to have, but it'd be something we'd have to have permission to do. Nintendo's no stranger to letting third-party games have some Nintendo-y touches though (such as the Mario stuff in Scribblenauts Unlimited), so it's not impossible!

The base cost of the Kickstarter ($30,000) is for the PC/Mac. The Wii U version can only exist if the stretch goal ($50,000) is hit, due to licensing fees, programming fees, and the cost of the dev kit.