"LET'S HAVE SOME FUN! 0D"
"WELCOME BACK! HAVE FUN. I SURE WILL. 0)"
—Buggy right before possessing Wario
The Power Star Archives is an ongoing Analog Horror series made by Greenlight, made within Super Mario Bros. X.
The series depicts a sentient and twisted AI known as Buggy, who is quick to take Wario as its host for its own gain. Throughout the series, we follow the struggles of several characters as they fight off the possessed Wario for their own survival, in a game known only as the "Power Star Project".
The series so far can be watched here
.
Episodes so far:
- Welcome Back!
- A Whole New World
- Burned Memories
- Execution
- Wario Apparition
- Congratulations! Player №122
- ULRLDDUR
- Sentence
The series contains the following examples:
- Anachronic Order: The episodes form a cohesive narrative, but not in the order they were uploaded.
- Arc Words:
- "I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY", commonly uttered by Peach after her corruption.
- "UP LEFT RIGHT LEFT DOWN DOWN UP RIGHT", a cheat code for unknown purposes that Buggy absolutely despises players using.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Buggy, the main Big Bad of the series, is one, its digital world being utterly deranged at worst.
- Artifact Title: "Wario Apparition: Corrupted Data", in that the data of the game isn't actually in disarray, and that it's supposed to be a scripted experience. This is subverted later once Peach becomes corrupted, bringing chaos, uncertainty, lots of Sequence Breaking, and overall ruining the intended experience.
- Berserk Button: In Buggy's case, he utterly LOATHES players cheating, and in Episode 7's ending, the AI cites it as the WORST possible offence a player can commit.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Buggy's one eye has a dilated black pupil, emphasizing just how diabolical and terrifying it is.
- Brain Uploading: There are a few times when Buggy does what is dubbed "mental digitalisation" to players, trapping their minds within its game while their bodies die on the outside. Andrew is shown to be a victim of this, as are two players seen in Episodes 4 and 6.
- Cyclops: Buggy is a terrifying AI presenting just one eye.
- The Dreaded: Buggy, by Episode 7, is shown to absolutely dread Peach after she gains more power than it had expected, being forced to take a temporary backseat until Luigi/Andrew lures her into a trap. He deliberately interrupts Andrew's play session to bring a warning to light for him."Hey! I *REALLY* HateToBeInterrupting Your play session, but this is URGENT!"
- Eye Motifs: The single eye often reappears throughout the episodes, whether they're in characters Buggy inhabits or across the map.
- Foreshadowing: During the Checkpoint Quiz of Episode 7, Toadette ends up getting a singular eye during the fourth question, which is revealed to be a mask once the Off the Rails moment comes to an end. This motif returns later in the episode when it's revealed that Buggy was possessing the eyepatch Toad the whole time.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: It's not clear how malicious Buggy was in the past, but as an AI in a video game he was mostly harmless... until someone cheated at the game. It was during his fit of rage that he accidentally discovered how to digitalize players, and it gave the AI its first taste of actual human interaction. He wanted more, and the rest is history.
- Grand Theft Me: Buggy's favored method of wreaking havoc is body-snatching. If he's feeling particularly sadistic, he'll return control to the victim before becoming a Chest Burster.
- Hopeless Boss Fight:
- When fighting "Wario" in Episode 3, Peach's victory falls flat, as she runs out of HP and gets burnt alive. However, her second life proves to be a big misstep Buggy didn't anticipate...
- Andrew's fight against Adult Buggy doesn't fare much better, as he only escapes the titanic AI's form. It's unclear if Adult Buggy is capable of taking damage, but Andrew is too busy frantically dodging to find out.
- Not long after this, Andrew tries to bypass Buggy's Wario form, but just can't. Fortunately, Buggy disappears for a bit once the timer reaches 20 seconds.
- Horrifying the Horror: Peach becoming a monster more powerful than Buggy is shown to actually scare the AI, who is forced to take a temporary backseat, indirectly assisting Luigi/Andrew in stopping her before it can continue its game.
- One-Winged Angel: After Peach is out of the action, Buggy assumes its "Adult" form to battle Andrew with, being able to shake the room with punches and massive leaps, produce a rainbow-like laser from its eye, and even summon power-ups on the fly.
- Painting the Medium: Whenever Buggy or Peach is Addressing the Player, the text assets used are the same as seen in Super Mario World. Usually this is in the form of a typical Message Block message, but in cases where they flex their power less subtly, the text can appear anywhere on the screen.
