At Timecode - 00:20, Episode 20 starts off with the trailer for a game that I knew nothing about prior to seeing it on the show: Rule of Rose
. With its beautiful theme song, 'A Love Suicide', in tow, I was introduced to this strange and disturbing little horror game about a young English woman lost to a creepy, isolated orphanage ruled by a class of orphans called The Red Crayon Aristocrats. After she gets kidnapped by the Aristocrats, the young lady, Jennifer (or "Unlucky Girl", as she is known by the oddly threatening narration), must bring an item of tribute to them once a month. The gameplay consists of her exploring many areas to find something giftworthy. Along the way, she finds a friendly and loyal dog named Brown to help her survive in this strange new world, where, yes, monsters have a presence. But that may not be the worst threats that this unlucky duo have to face.
Ultimately, Rule Of Rose was released by Atlus in North America to mediocre reviews that criticized the gameplay but praised the graphics, music, and creepiness.
The story of the game's production is interesting. The premise is similar to Capcom's Haunting Ground, with a girl trying to escape a horrible place with naught but a dog for an ally, but Rule actually started development first. Surprisingly, the game was produced by Punchline for Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, only to be released with absolutely no advertising. Atlus averted this for the NA release with several print ads in more sophisticated gaming magazines.
3:12: A Montage from Shadow Hearts: Covenant, the sequel to the PS 2 RPG Shadow Hearts. It begins with Anti-Hero Yuri asking old puppeteer Gepetto to hand him some spirits ("Lemme see that!"). Then, it shows the sidequest where a Camp Gay fashion designer makes dresses for Gepetto's creepy living mannequin to wear in battle (she actually does the attacking based on Gepetto's movements).
7:34: "At heaven's command, we will kill the unwanted! I hope you are not one of them." Killer7 montage time! Consisting entirely of ingame and animated cutscenes from the highly linear Gamecube/PS 2 action game from Suda51. Hey, it's not like it makes much more sense played in order. At least it looks good doing it.
16:08: Mortal Kombat 2! What value could an older Mortal Kombat game have to Cinematech when they already showed the newer MK games? Well, they... they turned it into a cheeky PSA. After showing Mileena perform the fatality where she eats her opponent, then spits out the bones, they put this under the screen:
- CANNIBALISM.It doesn't make bulimia O.K.
To cap it off, this episode has perhaps the weirdest ending to any Cinematech episode ever. After showing the original broadcast ad for Doki Doki Panic, they abruptly cut away to an off air screen test. A square eye pops up, flanked by a realistic eye on the other side, with a wavelength for a "mouth", making a makeshift face. Then, the "mouth" says this, with a vague Asian accent:
- Cinematech is over.
Then, another voice sternly asks:
- Where is the copyright?
To which the "face" replies, after the copyright pops up underneath it:
- Oh. There it is.
Then the color bar slides up and off the screen, and the "face" says, "Nosebleed." It's hard to catch on the first viewing.
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