Games From Across the Multiverse: PLOK!
While I cannot specify how or why, I have been given the ability to connect with my alternate selves across the multiverse indirectly. This provides me with a window into many of the infinite possibilities by sharing retrospectives written by another self from another reality. This retrospective comes from the Third Strongest Plok of the RetroPlogic Blog of Verse 16121511, a utopia where 1993 SNES release Plok! is regarded as the pinnacle of all human achievement.
As we enter the high holy month of Ploktober, it only seems appropriate to turn our attention to the game that changed the world: Plok. It is hard to believe it all started with a super nintendo game in 1993 that at first glance seems no more special than any other. Indeed, I am often seized with terror at the thought that, if there be other worlds, there may be some where Plok does not exist, or perhaps worse, is not appreciated. Yet to only heap still more praise upon this diamond in the rough, this 16-bit oracle from heaven, where so much has already been said, would not add to the celebration. I hope rather to examine the game’s humble beginnings, and look back on the course it charted in bringing us to the world we inhabit today.
The Game that Started it all
Prior to its release, Plok designers Ste and John Pickford had a crucial choice to make. Having sought the help of Nintendo to publish their game, they could stand to benefit greatly if only they forfeited the intellectual property rights to the character and world of Plok. They knew they had something good, as even nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto claimed that it would be the second greatest platformer game of all time, second only to Mario. Yet in a decision that changed the course of history, the pickfords refused, keeping control of the intellectual property rights themselves. This of course made possible the later decision to release the character to the public domain, which would likely never have happened had Nintendo been given control.
Even without Nintendo as publisher, the game received substantial promotion worldwide, particularly in the United States and Europe. It had modest success, with reviews praising the game for its innovation, but criticizing other aspects like difficulty and the lack of a save system. And that could have been the end of the story. But a small community grew around the game, one that appreciated its every detail, even its so-called flaws. These early Plok afficionados, plophets, and plokonteurs paved the way for the Plokulture of today, with all its portmanteaus and comical insertions of Plok into everyday things. Even I, as one untimely born, can count myself among these aplostles.
Chuck Norris Jokes, long thought done to death, gained new life through Plok Norris.
The public domain access to the character was the key. While several video game developers attempted to seize on the character’s growing popularity in the early 2000’s by releasing Plok sequels, along with 2007’s terrible Plok movie, these were nothing more than cash-ins, and were rejected by the growing plok fanbase. Plok could not be monetized. Plok could not be controlled. Plok belonged to the world.
School of Plok, starring Jack Black, was one of the more successful attempts to cash in on the Plok craze.
The original game, on the other hand, was not forgotten. The movement steadily grew as more found unlikely life lessons in a nearly forgotten SNES game. The game not having saves wasn’t a flaw: life did not have saves. Plok’s literal loss of limbs became a powerful metaphor for the necessary sacrifices made for the greater good. His initially fruitless search for a missing flag became a stand-in for the often frustrated existential struggle to find meaning in the world, and his war against fleas invading his homeland a point of reference for the never-ending struggle against mankind’s inner demons. Plok had gone from a game to a cultural phenomenon.
Then, by a confluence of circumstance and perhaps divine Providence, things hit a fever pitch in 2016 when, to the surprise of the entire world, a frustrated United states population elected Plok as their president through ballot write-ins alone. After weeks of confusion as to what this even meant, Congress accepted the will of the people. Plok would become the nation’s first fictional president.
During Plok’s term as president, the United states saw unprecedented economic revival. Much of this is a result of the technological advances thanks to the discovery of the room-temperature superconductor now known across the world as Plokanium. Of course, it is quite a stretch to say Plok himself was responsible for any of this, being a fictional character that did nothing. Nevertheless, Plok saw a 100% approval rating throughout his first term, largely due to the fact that he was involved in 0 scandals and could not be credited with ever saying anything offensive. Because of this popularity, Plok would soundly defeat his closest rival, Deez Nutz, in a bid for reelection in 2020. Politics had become a meme, but times were good.
It did not stop there, however. Other nations began to follow suit in ceding the highest positions of power to Plok. This culminated in the year 2020, which saw Plok not only reelected president of the USA but of the people’s republic of china and of Russia. When asked about the outcome of the election, former president Vladimir Putin reportedly only said “I’ve been diddled again.” Now that Plok was the leader of several of the world’s most powerful nations, there could be no more reason to fighting. This brings us to the present era of world peace that some have already begun to call “Plox Romana”, and the multi-national mission to send a spaceship to mars to plant a Plok flag there.
Ploktavian, retro-actively declared Emperor of Rome.
So, what is Plok today? A SNES game from 1993? Just a meme to give people a good laugh? Yes. But Plok is a meme based on a SNES game from 1993 that saved the world. All hail his majesty Plok! Long may he reign!
Please for the love of Plok do not take any of this seriously. Happy Ploktober!
