Video Game Haiku Contest

[DOSGuy]

Okay folks, you know how this works. In English, a haiku consists of three lines which are five, seven, and five syllables. Your goal is to summarize the essence of a game in the form of a haiku. For example, this is a haiku about Boppin'.

A triangle head
Throws a block at other blocks
Releasing evil

You can write a haiku about any game on the site. Depending on the quality and number of entries, I will pick up to five winners, who will win something cool.

To enter the contest, posts your haiku(s) in this thread, or email or private message them to me. You may submit as many entries as you want. By submitting an entry, you grant Classic DOS Games the right to use it on the website, or any other media, for any purpose.

The contest ends at midnight on June 30, 2008. Winners will be announced on July 1, 2008.

[muffins.exe]

Duke Nukem 3D

one bad dude with guns
thirteen-hundred aliens
there's no survivors

[DOSGuy]

That certainly captures the essence of the game, but choose your words carefully. When writing a haiku, it's easiest to rely on words that are only one syllable. Using monosyllabic words exclusively ensures that you can always get the number of syllables that you want, but it doesn't look as nice.

[muffins.exe]

hey, i never said i was a poet :)

[Flaose]

It's really disappointing how low the response has been to this contest, it seems like fun. Anyways...

Commander Keen

Young genius Billy
Saves the entire galaxy
Ruining Mort's grand plans

[DOSGuy]

I hope no one is disappointed by this decision, since the two entrants are pretty much the winners by default, but I haven't given up on this contest yet. I'd like to let it run another month. I'll try to do a better job of advertising it this time. The contest now closes at midnight on July 31, 2008.

[Legalmumbojumbo]

Sorry, I didn't see this except in the newsletter.

One Must Fall

One Must Fall = Shadow
Raven flames out with Pyro, I win
New World Champion

[DOSGuy]

I'm counting 5 (if = isn't counted), 9, 5. The "I win" puts the second line over the limit.

[Legalmumbojumbo]

Gah, I was never ever very good at counting syllables.


One Must Fall

One Must Fall = Shadow
Raven flames out with Pyro.
New World Champion

[DOSGuy]

I would call that an ode to One Must Fall because it describes a specific character winning the tournament. I'd like it to be more descriptive of what the game is about. Something like:

Brave men in robots
Sparks fly off twisted metal
One must stand, one fall

[DOSGuy]

I'm going to be the Simon Cowell of the haiku world here, but I have to do this!

Duke Nukem 3D

one bad dude with guns
thirteen-hundred aliens
there's no survivors

I like this one, but it's grammatically incorrect. In order to keep the final line to five syllables, you wrote "there's", which is the contraction of "there is". But "there is no survivors" is incorrect. The correct form is "there are no survivors".

Actually, the last line implies that even Duke himself dies, so I would simply change it to:

One bad dude with guns,
Thirteen hundred aliens,
Only one survives

Commander Keen

Young genius Billy
Saves the entire galaxy
Ruining Mort's grand plans

Different pronunciations make counting the syllables in this one a bit difficult, but I think you're over the limit. I'll compare each line phonetically. In place of accents to differentiate between soft and hard vowels, hard vowels will be doubled.

Yung jeen-yus Bil-ee (5) vs.
Yung jeen-ee-us Bil-ee (6)

That one is passable. I probably pronounce it "jeen-yus" more often than "jeen-ee-us", and I think both are acceptable.

Saavz thee en-tiir gal-ak-see (7) vs.
Saavz thee en-tii-er gal-ak-see (8)

"En-tiir" is too difficult to say. It's definitely "en-tii-er", so that line is too long.

Ruun-ing Mortz grand planz (5) vs.
Ruu-en-ing Mortz grand planz (6)

I don't think anyone pronounces it "ruu-ning". Ruin has two syllables and ruining has three, so I assume this line was just an oversight.

I can let you go on the first line, but the last two are too long.

[Flaose]

Wow, it seems that I do speak some sloppy westernized English (I really do pronounce ruining as 'roo-ning'). Let me try again:

Commander Keen

Talented Billy
Defends the whole galaxy
Ruining Mort's Plans

------------
I do prefer "Young genius Billy" for the first line, but I think your phonetic breakdown is correct and 'genius' should be pronounced with three syllables. As it stands though, the new version should be correct, and it's a slightly nicer shape to boot.

[Legalmumbojumbo]

Here is my new one


Brave men in robots
Sparks fly off twisted metal
One must stand, one fall

[Legalmumbojumbo]

^Just kidding
^Just kidding
Sorry for the double post, but I still havent figured out how to edit my post.

One Must Fall

Robots May Fall
Pilots will always prevail
To stand is to win

or

One Must Fall

One Must Fall = Robots
Raven flames out with Pyro.
New World Champion

[SpellSword]

I'll take a shot at this.

---Raptor: Call of the Shadows---
(Background music for reading this haiku: Hanger Theme 'Between Missions')

Stalking through the sky
A rain of blazing metal
The shadows calling



---Moraff's World---

Four-way perspective
Eight races, seven classes
Endless fun for all



---Alien Carnage (AKA) Halloween Harry---

Flamethrowing hero
Combat the alien menace
Fell the zombie swarm



---Lemmings---

They climb and they fall
They explode and they tunnel
You must guide their fate



---Stargunner---

Customize your ship
Obliterate their strongholds
Win against all odds



---Highway Hunter---
(Note: MASTER was the name of the vehicle you took possession of, if I'm not mistaken.)

Challenge the highways
Claim the Master as your own
Free our stolen world



---DOOM---

Welcome to Phobos
Where devil spawn run rampant
Your mission is clear



---Descent--

Blast through mad machines
Rescue the stranded workers
Punch the core, and run!

(AND)

A.I. gone berserk?
Material Defender
Neutralize the threat!



---Chopper Commando---

Carve through the terrain
Protect your base from danger
Then eject for fun

(AND)

Where have I gone to?
This is not the base I left...
The Mark Currie Zone!

(AND)

My ammo failing
I fall on my last restort
Fairwell, my chopper!



---Scorched Earth---

Deploy the leapfrog!
Angle to twenty degrees!
Pray it does not miss

(AND)

Talking tanks snicker
Napalm drifts upon the wind
I miss yet again...

(AND)

Death's Head in the sky
Rain of nuclear destruction
We all curse our fate


---SkiFree--

Speed down the mountain
Free style for extra points
More than one Yeti?!


---Moraff's Stones---

Held out for a set
Did not quite make it in time
Will you take a check?



---The Adventures of Captain Comic---

Blastola Cola
Captain Comic's favorite
Fuels his treasure quest