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Regular Show appeals to me a lot. How every episode goes is fairly predictable. Main characters Mordecai and Rigby are 20-something-year-old slackers who work as groundskeepers at their local park alongside and unexplainably weird selection of characters from a yeti to a anthromorphic gumball machine. And while the problems they encounter during their time seem regular, the process in which the problems magnify and how they're solved are decidedly not regular.
While I enjoy the surreal and quirky situations in the show (I did not see being transported to 1982 as a consequence to annoying the master prank caller), one of my favorite things about the show is that the main characters themselves are quite the gamers.
So if you're really resistant to giving the show a shot, here are five episodes you should watch because they exemplify how big on gaming Mordecai and Rigby are, and probably the creator, J.G. Quintel.
Dig Champs from Death Punchies
The first episode of the series that shows off Mordecai and Rigby's love for gaming also shows quite possibly their only gaming console, which repeatedly appears over the course of the series: something that looks suspiciously like a Sega Master System!
The game seems like a simple platformer to which Rigby praises the game's graphics (“It looks just like the box art!”). Player 1 has a shovel and player 2 has a pick ax and they traverse the world avoiding dangers like snails. What little gameplay that was shown could be a throw back to Super Mario Brothers.
And even though the characters are exactly the same, the basis for the show starts because Rigby doesn't want to play the guy who digs “with the sucky pick ax,” and plays Mordecai punchies for it. A simple argument over who gets to be player 1 spirals out of control with the mysterious Death Kwon Do and molten lava.
Destroyer of Worlds from Just Set Up the Chairs
If there's one running joke throughout the series, it's that Mordecai and Rigby are slackers, much to the chagrin to their boss Benson. During a mundane job of setting up the chairs for a birthday party, they run across a hidden arcade with such memorable titles such as Ball of Yarn, Lemonade Stand, Clap Like This, Hats 4 Sale, and Staring Contest.
Even though Mordecai wants to get back to work in order to prove he's not a slacker, he still handily beats Rigby at all of them due to the fact that Rigby simply mashes buttons. That is until Rigby finds a mysteriously draped machine in the back called Destroyer of Worlds with an ominous sign attached to its circuit board: “In the name of all that is holy, don't connect the red wire to the blue wire!”
Of course, doing exactly what the note said not to do releases an 8-bit demon bent on destroying the world. And the only way to defeat him is to combine the power of all the previous arcade machines to create an avatar strong enough to defeat the Destroyer of Worlds!
The Hammer from Rage Against the TV
My all time favorite example as this episode is, without a doubt, about video games.
Mordecai and Rigby devote an entire day to beating a seemingly impossible Double Dragons clone whose slogan is, “Nobody beats The Hammer!”
When they finally confront The Hammer, they find out just one of his attacks takes off an entire life. Luckily, they discover his secret weakness to furniture. Unfortunately, their television set dies on them at a critical moment. The duo are forced to leave their game on pause as they seek out a replacement TV.
Even with a weird, foreign replacement TV that doesn't work with their system, all their friends chip in to help the pair finish their fight with The Hammer though they all end up fighting the The Hammer in a way nobody expected.
Broken Bones from High Score
When Mordecai and Rigby feel like they don't get enough respect, they get the idea that being the best players at their local arcade game, Broken Bones, will earn them the respect of the community. Sure! Why not?
Broken Bones seems to be a cross between the tricks of Tony Hawk (when it was good) with the graphics and perspective of Excitebike. And for some reason, everyone from school kids to businessmen respected the pair as they worked together on the game to beat everyone.
That is until Garret Bobby Ferguson, owner to the game's universe record, shows up to congratulate them on beating his world record. Of course, to earn everyone's respect, the pair must challenge the giant bearded face's universe record score at Broken Bones!
Guitar Dudes from Over the Top
This game briefly appeared even though the joke is probably two years too late. But despite its age at mocking rhythm games, it's still hilarious as even this Guitar Hero knock off is not immune to Regular Show's penchant for 8-bit retro game stylings.
But the game is probably better than Guitar Hero after seeing in action. While it plays similarly to the classic rhythm game, completely with faux plastic guitars and star power, players who fail at riffing the notes need to dodge bottles being thrown by angry fans. What a great way to let rhythmically challenged players get into the game!
Images courtesy of Desructoid. In fact, check out the awesome read that posted these pictures. It'll probably even do a better job getting you into the show than I can.