As I mentioned a few PgDns ago, I've been indulging in Mario Party 7 recently. One minigame from which I experienced higher than average enjoyment was a Single Player Bowser Minigame called Slot-A-Whirl. It is a rather simplistic game; stop the three slot reels to line up three Bowser keys, and you get to keep whatever Bowser threatened to confiscate. Faire Square of Mario Party 6 has a very similar board event, and there are several other instances of slot-based game mechanics in the series.
Slot-A-Whirl caught my attention in part due to its difficulty. It is actually somewhat tricky, unlike the board event from Faire Square that is nigh impossible during the night phase. I fancy myself an afficionado of video game slots primarily due to my extended time with Final Fantasy X-2. After enough playtime, ordinary battles became unneccesary. Only boss battles required actually indulging in combat, and in such cases there are plenty of overpowered tactics to exploit, such as the Catnip Gunner or the Mascot dresspheres.
One of the easiest methods to access, even in one's first playthough, is the Lady Luck dressphere and her Slots ability. The three reels can combine to produce a wide range of effects, running the gamut from beneficial, to ineffectual, to disasteriffic. But once one masters the skill of selecting and executing different effects, one can draw great power from this randomness. (Extensive use of the pause function can aid in the quick adaptation to the system, in case you were wondering.)
The greatest of the offensive results is Dark Matter. A nifty little attack that fires off the old "one shy of ten grand" (i.e. 9999), which for much of the game is enough to Overkill anything that dares block the Gullwing's path. Besides through the Lady Luck loophole, Dark Matter is a rather rare item, and an otherwise valuable commodity in X-2 and other iterations of the Final Fantasy multiverse.
This meditation has stirred my interest in (yet another) FFVII play through, this time with a focus on Cait Sith. His Slot Limit Break is something I have left woefully unexplored. A quick look at the definitive FAQ of FFVII by Kao Megura (may he rest in peace) reveals that the effects of this one-armed bandit can include: a random Summon, a total HP/MP restore, the super Moogle, guaranteed criticals for a time, or instant death for your opponents or your party. Beats the hell out of a Dolphin Blow, no?
(to be continued...)
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