LOVE•to•LICK
What is something that Mario and Spider-Man have in common other than being heroes who wear red and blue?
Please read on to find out...
...or you can watch my video version of this article
here.
In 1997, one of my favorite games, Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, was released for the Sony Playstation.
The game development company that created Moon, LOVE•de•LIC, was composed of several ex-Squaresoft employees who had previously worked on games such as 1996's Super Mario RPG. At one time they were also trying to develop a Super Mario RPG 2.
Concept art for a sequel to Super Mario RPG
This connection is evident when you compare the Pinocchio-esque wooden puppet character of Noge from 1997's Moon and Geno from 1996's Super Mario RPG.
In Japanese, the name Noge (ノージ / Nōji) is written as Geno (ジーノ / Jīno) backwards.
In this official Moon artwork drawn by Kazuyuki Kurashima, who did artwork for both Moon and Super Mario RPG, you will also notice another reference to Super Mario RPG in Moon - a doll of Belome (ベロ～ム / Bero~mu , ベローム / Berōmu), the long-tongued dog-like monster from Super Mario RPG.
bero/tongue
But 1996's Belome would not be the only long-tongued dog-like monster to appear in a game from the staff of LOVE•de•LIC and drawn by Kazuyuki Kurashima.
1997's Moon would contain the monster Perogon (ペロゴン), whose name was probably taken from the Dragon Quest monster Berogon (ベロゴン).
pero/lick
Dragon Quest is one of the inspirations for Moon.
Perogon is a monster who is treated like a pet dog by the American family in Moon...
...but Perogon also has a connection to another character, one who originated in the world of American comic books: Venom, the enemy of Spider-Man from Marvel Comics.
In case the resemblance is not noticeable enough, the likeness is made even more explicit in the comics drawn by the American father in Moon.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg - or the tip of tongue for this story as it were - as in fact it stretches to over 20 years later, when Kazuyuki Kurashima would post this particular artwork here to his Twitter account in 2018...
...showing Marvel's Venom with Super Mario RPG's Belome.
So, the tongues that tie Mario and Spider-Man together belong to their enemies, Belome and Venom.
Later, Kazuyuki Kurashima would design some more dog monsters for 2022's Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet:
So, Kurashima's long-tongue dog monsters are still alive and licking (or "dead and licking" since they are Ghost type Pokemon).
If you would like to read more Video Game Inspirations and Oddities, please check out my other articles on this website:
Video Game Inspirations and Oddities: The Case of Cammy and the Blonde Brainwashed Assassins
Video Game Inspirations and Oddities: The Name of the Tonberry
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