Season premiere of Dr. Stone is here, and the series has continued its long stream of video game references by turning to the perfect pick: Minecraft.
Set in a world where everyone was suddenly turned to stone thousands of years ago, bringing technology back to the Stone Age, resource management is a hugely important issue for the characters of the series. Dr. Stone. Part 3 of Dr. Stone sees Senku and his allies both new and old trying to build a sailboat/motor hybrid that they hope to use to cross the ocean. There’s a lot they’ll need to accomplish that—storable food, sturdy wood, and most importantly, oil for their planned engine. How better to explain to younger viewers about resource management than switching to Minecraft?
Dr. Stone uses Minecraft to explain resource management
Minecraft is all about building things, with exactly what to build depending on the player’s imagination. But to build things, players may need different types of materials, certain tools that can only be crafted with other materials, and space to build their plans. Minecraft inventory is dominated by different materials and objects that one can find, easily organize and quantify. It simplifies resource management in an easy to understand way. Dr. Stone uses Minecraft’s visual style to remember those ideas from the game, which can make their complicated plans a little easier to execute. Some characters are also modeled in Minecraft style, including Senku himself.
Minecraft is hardly the first game Dr. Stone has referenced during its run. For example, the “purchase items” box that pops up when the character reaches a goal, is modeled after the text boxes from classic RPGs and especially Dragon Quest that have appeared before. In the past, the series used Monster Hunter as inspiration to envision their resource hunting, as that game often involved gathering materials from fallen monsters for crafting. new equipment. Minecraft is merely the newest means of breaking down the sometimes complex themes of the series into a more understandable form, and it’s a particularly wise choice for it due to its sheer popularity among youth. If a large audience is familiar with Minecraft, that immediately provides a frame of reference.
Dr. StoneMinecraft’s references aren’t just cute jokes; rather, they are key to the program’s advocacy and scientific understanding. It will be interesting to see if this continues to be a factor in Dr. Stoneor if it will be limited to this first episode only.