The Ocho Highest Divers
By Parabole 1 Comments
Olympic Divers make it graceful and circus performers make it seem courageous. With arms wide open (Damn you Creed!) and facing the ground, a person must be brave or reckless. The characters in these games show great grace and daring from the most stupendous heights. To be more associable to everybody, all the characters are as human to the extent to fiction as possible. So even though Superman can plummet from space to the ground without getting hurt, he's not as brave as the humans who are vulnerable to cement. From numero ocho to uno, the dives will become bolder and a lot higher. Also, the tower fall from Devil May Cry 3 is awesome.
Numero Ocho. Mario from Super Mario 64 - 100 feet by cannon
There's something I realized about Mario making this list. He could've easily been called "The Amazing Mario." It's pretty easy to see his acrobatic background by doing a somersault and ending with a enthusiastic Ta-da. Not just content to amaze the crowds with handstands, back flips, and tightrope walking, in this entry he claims the title of Human Cannonball. Using the stage of Jolly Roger Bay from Super Mario 64 because of its vast amounts of water, Mario is loaded into a cannon, shot straight upwards, and comically wails as he dives harmlessly into the water. To equate Mario's achievement into real world terms, the average height is about 100 feet.
Numero Siete. Link from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Waterfall
It may have to do with the fact that link hangs around a species that are mostly aquatic, but that doesn't explain why Link has a desire to hurl himself off waterfalls. In his most realized game yet, Twilight Princess has a enormous waterfall link can swan dive from. Compared to the Ocarina of Time which had an impressive waterfall link dives off (again) to play a mini-game, this waterfall must be twice as big. Another perk in this version of Link, is the Zora armor link wears that comes equip with flippers and a breathing apparatus.
Numero Seis. Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider Series - Waterfalls
Waterfalls and Lara go together like tombs and desecration. Without even looking through the catalogue of games under her belt, I'm pretty sure she has managed to jump off a waterfall in most of them. I'm not making this a waterfalls list, but I am concentrating on how unique the High Dives of games and characters are. For example, Lara Croft has a stake on the waterfall diving market but only she has made them seem elegant. She's a trained gymnast and mountain climber, so when she spreads her arms when diving, she's presenting grace. Also, I'd rather see Lara coming out of the water than Nathan.
Numero Cinco. Naked Snake from Metal Gear Solid 3
Naked Snake may dive off a waterfall like Link and Lara, but the difference is that Snake was forced to. With the movie quality productions of Kojima and inspirations from The Fugitive(?) Snake is chased by guards, dogs, and Revolver Ocelot. Right as he's at the edge of the cliff, Ocelot holds back the guards and decides to show off killing Snake. As if Snake was selected from heaven to be badass, Ocelot's gun doesn't fire and they both are caught in a slow-mo shot of Snake swan diving backwards over a waterfall. Shirtless, because Rambo and Dutch were more manly that way.
Numero Cuatro. Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassins Creed 2 - Giotto's Campanile 84.7 meters
When you're diving into water, you feel secure that you'll be safe and it's not as hard as hitting the ground. Diving into pool's is also fun and you get to practice for swimming. For stuntmen who jump from buildings and high altitudes, big air mats are life savers. At the bottom of the safety list is cardboard boxes and hay. Now for historical accuracy, I'm sure hay is the safest thing to land on outside of… manure. Ezio on the other hand believes whole hardly that hay is a life saver, that he jumps from the Giotto Campanile to prove this. He lives, but in the real world hay won't save you from a fall of 277 feet.
Numero Tres. Batman from Arkham City - Dive-Bomb
Batman is known for sweeping down and striking fear into the hearts of criminals, but with Arkham City coming closer, Batman has gone from sweeping to Dive-bombing! "Batman dive-bombs off the wire straight into the asphalt streets, and his impact pushes everyone back." (p.56 Game Informer). The building in Arkham City aren't easy to discern their height, but the city is a sectioned off part of Gotham city and Gotham is known for buildings based on Monumental towers which all can be as tall as the
Imagine, if you will a Batman Dive-bombing off an Empire state sized building onto a criminal. Because that's what I'm planning to do.
Numero Dos. Sean Devlin From the Saboteur - Freefall from the Eiffel Tower 324 meters (1,064 feet)
On February 4th, 1912 Franz Reichelt jumped from the Eiffel Tower with a homemade parachute and died. Shocking I know, which makes this the most offensive way to honor a man. Or, by making Sean survive, trying to take away the negativity. Either way, the Eiffel Tower stands at 324 Meters, or 1,063 Feet and to earn the High Diver Trophy/Achievement Sean has to jump from the top. One vertigo inducing climb to the top and a quick view of Paris before shouting expletives all the way down.
Numero Uno. CJ from GTA: San Andreas - More than 2 miles Skydiving
Thanks to High School, physics, and Gravitational Accelaration, this entry has some science behind it. It wasn't hard to choose CJ from San Andreas to fill the number uno spot because this entry in the Grand Theft Auto series has the first time skydiving and parachuting are implemented. Also, with no consequences like that of real life, high jacking planes and throwing CJ off the highest altitudes has never been so fun. To use an acceleration equation of for 9.8 meters per second squared; in the video proceeding CJ falls for over four minutes which equals 2,000,000 feet*. Over 38 miles! (Teachers please comment). To put this into relate this to the real world, the record for highest Sky dive is 102,800 feet. Joseph Kittinger may have the record but he opened his parachute, while CJ landed into a narrow river making him the bravest High Diver.
*32 feet per second squared. 250 seconds squared = 62,500. 32 feet times 62,000 = 2,000,000 feet
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