Friday, January 19, 2007

Cane of Pacci

So a few days ago I was playing a game called "Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap." It's a good game. You should play it, if you're looking for the kill-things-with-a-pointy-stick Zelda experience without the countless hours of "Augh I can't find the power bracelets" dungeon-puzzle madness. But anyway, it's got this one item in it called "the Cane of Pacci," which is a perfectly respectable name for a video game item. What this item does is turn things upside down. That's all. It's an essential item to have, but still, it sounds pretty useless, doesn't it?
What got me thinking, though, is the "Pacci" bit. Who exactly was Pacci, and what did he do to deserve having a stick that turns stuff upside down named after him? Did he invent it? If so, why?
What was so essential about turning stuff upside down? I mean, if it's just named after him, he had to be some sort of nutcase. Did he randomly turn things upside down, just for fun? Did he walk on his hands consistantly? I know these kinds of questions are extremely pointless, but I still wonder.
Of course, this kind of questioning brings up all sorts of odd questions about that game. Like, why did the mayor build his cabin in the middle of a lake that you have to dig through a series of caves to access? Or if Vaati (the bad guy) had the magical wish-granting hat, why didn't he just use that to take over the world? And of course, what happens when Ezlo eats something? (He's Link's hat, by the way. The physical details of how he got that way both puzzle and disturb me.)
I'll never know the answers to any of this, but it's still fun to think about.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have been playing this recently too, and have just recieved said Cane! Who was Pacci indeed? And more importantly, what is the correct way to pronounce "Pacci"?