As previously stated, the first half of ReBoot season two definitely saw episodes that had far less stakes in the world, but still would refer to events that would follow in later episodes. This is another one of those episodes. One of the last real filler episodes of the series. But does it hold up as well as “High Code”? Let’s find out with “When Games Collide”.
We open inside a game, which is some weird alien robot shooter game. Definitely seems more of a throw together game than most of what we’ve seen in the series. The user is some giant space shit, that kind of look’s like Samus’ ship from Super Metroid, only sentient. Our heroes shoot at the ship, with little success. While that happens, Hack and Slash are above the game cube with a device called the leech command. Megabyte informs the two to activate it on the cube, sucking the energy out of it. The results of the leech command causes the game to suffer massive slowdown, giving the heroes an easy advantage. Enzo bats an blast from the user back at it to win the game.
Dot learns that the Mainframe archives are under attack as the three of them head to the archives. Enzo asks about games in the supercomputer. Bob tells Enzo that games are much tougher, and are also network, meaning that they can enter other Mainframes and other systems. This little tidbit will be a major factor to the whole series, but that’s still a while away.
This is the first time that we see the archives, where the old information of the system is stored. It’s a large area with thousands of files inside. The reason our heroes have been summoned is that during the game, the security field on the archives suffered a huge blow, as if someone was trying to access something inside. Of course, we soon find out that it was Megabyte, who used the energy leeched from the game to try and break in, but it wasn’t enough. He also tells Hack and Slash to set the leech command to maximum for the next game drop. It seems that once again Megabyte is trying to get to the supercomputer.
Bob goes to meet with Megabyte, and orders Enzo to keep watch. Frisket shows up to help out as the two find an entrance to the sewer. And of course, a game cube just happens to drop on Silicon Tor. The game is a basic combat game complete with tanks and fighter planes. Bob reboots and begins to battle, just as Hack and Slash set the leech to maximum drain, once again slowing the game down. However, due to the game crashing, the user downloads another game onto Mainframe. It drops directly on the original game cube, causing it to act strangely. as well as giving the leech a massive burst of energy, which helps the virals to get into the archives
However, inside the game, it causes the two games to merge. One being the war combat game, and the other a prehistoric game complete with dinosaurs. This means things like a pterodactyl plane, and a t-rex with a tank turret for a head. Now Bob is trapped, but he’s not alone as Megabyte is also trapped in the game cube. He curses Hack and Slash for draining too much energy, despite, you know, telling them to.
Bob and Megabyte try to outrun the tank-rex, even using Megabyte’s strength to push a giant tree over. Of course, Megabyte also has no intention to help Bob out, sending Bob to fall to his doom. Bob’s saved by the ptera-plane, controlled by a binome. As that happens, Megabyte still deals with the tank-rex, and ends up stuck in a tar pit. Bob could easily let Megabyte perish, but since Bob is in some ways a pacifist when it comes to viruses, plus that “mend and defend” credo, he comes back to save Megabyte’s life.
Enzo and Frisket see the viruses who have taken what they need from the archives, but before they can warn anyone, the two get captured. Inside the game, Bob manages to defeat the tank-rex by hitting the icon on its neck, winning the game, and rescuing Megabyte. After the game, Dot tells Bob about the game energy leech, and that Megabyte’s goons stole a gateway command, which will power his portal.
In the Tor, Megabyte has the gateway command set up, activiating the portal to the supercomputer. But to ensure his own safety, he sends Enzo inside the portal first. Bob and Dot arrive just as they shove Enzo into the portal. Enzo is of course eager to enter, as he gets his chance to be inside the supercomputer. Bob fights off the viral goons, just as Megabyte snaps the cable, stranding Enzo. Hack and Slash try to help, but by being the idiots they are, they grab and break the portal, just as Bob enters it to save Enzo.
But before Bob and Enzo can talk about the supercomputer, the virals capture Dot. Bob reminds Megabyte that he owes him one, to which the virus tells his goons to let them escape, making them even. I don’t know if this was entirely an act of honor by the virus, or the fact that his plans were ruined already, so he just wants to get them out of his way for another day. Either way, the episode ends once again with the heroes victorious, and Megabyte’s plans foiled.
When Games Collide is another really strong episode of the series. It shows more of how games work, and if corrupted, how they can mess up. Though, I don’t recall ever playing Pac-Man, and then suddenly having it turn into a hybrid with Contra. Though that would be pretty cool. Either way, it makes for quite the interesting combo with the two games used in the episode.
The episode is definitely a filler in that nothing much really affects the series in this episode, despite the mention of games being able to connect to other systems, which will play a role later in the series like I previously mentioned. It’s simple building blocks like this that shows that the world of ReBoot going forward was already well thought out in advance. A major plus for that.
In the end, for another filler, it still really works, and still holds up as a great episode of the series. And speaking of fillers, we get to one of the last major fillers of this season, and another obvious homage to a classic movie.