Night City's Terminator: Adam Smasher | Cyberpunk Lore

[@everberon]

Hey chooms! Thanks for watching this video today! As always I hope you enjoyed, and got something from the upload. I've been working on compiling a big list of Cyberpunk (and non-Cyberpunk) topics to create videos about. If you have any ideas, then feel free to let me know below what you'd like to see!

[@Mongrelntruder]

i’d love to see a morgan blackhand vid then a vid on the different gangs of NC would be dope as well

[@everberon]

@@Mongrelntruder I've been thinking about doing something like that with the gangs! I think that would be alot of fun. I also think Morgan Blackhand is a great idea! Maybe I'll wait until after Phantom Liberty for him though just in-case we get any new info. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@Hellseemsnie]

Ll. 12:02

[@Hellseemsnie]

​@@Mongrelntruder8ooo Guj, o l jokcno😅 12:02

[@bidensreallysleepy4129]

Hey wheres all the text from ? Is there like a cyberpunk book? Seems very interesting learning about Smasher kinda wish the game went a little deeper on him

[@Moimus]

15 years service contract in return for saving your life is actually pretty decent considering most normal work contracts in NC require a pledge of at least 20 years

[@everberon]

True. Given Smasher enjoys the work too, I reckon he got off pretty well.

[@thunderstruck206]

And when he meets V he's 14 years 363 days from the end of his contract

[@TsukimuraMidori]

​@@thunderstruck206RIP Smasher. He died doing what he loved. Also, he deserved it for killing Rebecca

[@redrick7369]

And it was a job he'd like too, not a bad deal.

[@nicoreuel2092]

@@thunderstruck206😂😂😂 I see what you did there

[@helloigo]

For Johnny's memories, everyone seems to forget that the relic/biochip was lower than 86% integrity when Jackie put it in his head which could attribute to his memory being off.

[@everberon]

That's a fair point!

[@Tanblch]

Wasn't it case integrity and not the chip?

[@everberon]

@@Tanblch It was. Hard to say how that effected the chip, if at all, though I suppose it may have,

[@KikiDiki]

He probably filled in the holes in his memory with wish fulfillment, hence blowing people away left and right with ease

[@Midtierman]

The engram is basically a digital clone. Not a transfer. Just a digital clone of incomplete data. Basically ghost echo of a terrorist with cyberpsycosis

[@christianwhalen9263]

That line by Jackie in the beginning…the first time I played the game I didn’t know lore-wise who any of those people are, so it just seemed like he was listing out famous names out of a Cyberpunk lore book, but once you know who all those people are it becomes a lot more interesting and reveals a lot about Jackie Welles as a character. A lot of the people Jackie talks about when he fan-boys are on opposite sides of conflicts, like bringing up both Blackhand and Smasher, but Jackie doesn’t really care all that much about all that. He’s not really “political” in the way we think about it, he just cares about the fame and glory of the fight, which is both naive and oddly endearing. God I love Jackie

[@everberon]

I had a similar thought after figuring out some of the significance. Definitely does make Jackie even more loveable!

[@freshnesbro3792]

its because he was first planned to be the main villain in the first story drafts. But they changed it.

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

@@freshnesbro3792Jackie was? I’m glad they changed that if so. I wish we could get a prequel to 2077 with the adventures of V and Jackie all game honestly.

[@renegaderaven3777]

I kinda dig the idea of Johnny being an unreliable narrator of his own memory. I do think he died in his first encounter with Smasher in the building instead of on the roof. Johnny just recalls it wrong and fills in the gaps with his own narcissistic version. Johnny thinks Smasher is some age-old rival but in truth Smasher barely cares about him at all.

[@renegaderaven3777]

Rather he didn’t escape up to the roof. You first meet Johnny in a a digitized copy of the room where he first got ambushed by Smasher. I feel you find him there because that’s where he met his end.

[@alecryankevinbryanrjdelila7334]

I’d like to think they did have some kind of rivalry between them, considering Adam seems beyond pissed when he gets beaten by what is basically the second coming of Johnny.

[@MythicRanger2401]

You can actually tell everything after that first encounter doesn't make sense from one detail. On the rooftop scene with Smasher, he shoots Silverhand's arm off. In the interrogation with Saburo, it's not only still attached, but completely unharmed.

[@JB-xl2jc]

It's definitely canonical as per Alt that the memories are Johnny's biased recollections of them, and are heavily flawed- not only was the chip possibly partially compromised, but memories themselves are famously very faulty (eyewitness testimony is extremely unreliable, to startling extents). However specifically regarding him dying on the rooftop or below, a couple of lines in '77 suggest that in that Canon he did die on the rooftop- V can grill Rogue for Johnny's death and their conversation suggests she saw it occur, which wouldn't happen if he'd died below. But far more compelling is in the Sun ending, Johnny nearly slips from the helicopter just like in '23, but this time Rogue SUCCESSFULLY catches him and says "Not this time!". She could just mean leaving him, but I think it's more likely to be a direct reference to her not being able to catch Johnny in time during the original raid.

[@stevebachochin2038]

How then do they do soul killer on a dead Johnny? A memory of his was on that carrier

[@kevinr7216]

We aren’t “forced to assume” anything Alt straight up tells us that Johnny’s memories are a fiction. It’s not a plot hole it’s very blatantly explained.

[@soggyeggroll2003]

Yeah didn't she say that Johnny was such a self absorbed prick that he remembers things differently?

[@the_toe_boy]

I honestly believe the 15 year contract only existed theoretically. Arasaka never intended for Smasher to make it that far and maintenance and upgrades on a full-borg would be too expensive without corpo sponsorship. Not to mention a possible Smasher Relic fully owned and controlled by arasaka.

[@everberon]

That's a good point. I imagine he was never expected to survive that long.

[@MrKing-771]

Nah, Smasher was a valuable asset. Militech did the same thing by signing on Morgan Blackhand.

[@behindthen0thing]

What about robert blackbush ?

[@emetanti]

Given Smashers rather evident love for violence the 15 years were probably a formality if anything, not like he was going to retire as long as they let him rampage.

[@narrativeless404]

​@@emetanti He's like Trevor from GTA V but without freedom of doing whatever he wants Adam is much worse of a person in a way - at least Trevor has friends, in a way

[@AlbandAquino]

Adam Smasher is the perfect example of why some sociopaths can overcome cyberpsychosis because they just don't care. His psyche, devoid any kind of empathy or human emotions, is pretty much impervious to the usual form of cyberpsychosis. And with the exclusive access to a Corp clinics (in that case Arasaka's) he was able to get a "replaceable" body, free of the burden of Humanity. All in all, he is nothing more than a "converted" / transposed deficient human psyche into a program, controlling a mechanical body. Edit: This is based on my PAPER source books for Cyberpunk. Dating from 1992 up to 1998.

[@icarue993]

I wonder how much the anime depicts cyberpsychosis "accurately". Like David and Maine were having delusions, mistaking memories for real life (David confusing Rebecca with his mom). Or maybe, David and Maine were too far off, and while Adam was unhinged from the begining, he wasnt as far off as the other two we have seen.

[@theobell2002]

Cyberpsychosis is strongly implied to not be a real thing. Just a catch-all term for abnormal behaviour. Also, Mike Pondsmith described Adam Smasher as a "high-functioning cyberpsycho".

[@ThirdEye-47]

Azov battalion sheep

[@aerosdacillo1227]

​@@icarue993its because there emotions that started cyberpsychosis. too much stress that the machine in the algorithm couldnt keep up thats why smasher couldnt get cyberpsychosis.

[@clownworld4655]

Yup. As a somewhat sociopathic person myself it would make perfect sense that a full blown sociopath has a higher chance of essentially taming cyber psychosis, although he must also uniquely have a resistance to cyber ware considering not every sociopath in the series is immune.

[@heathmorris6100]

Personally I love the idea of both Smasher and V surviving and becoming huge rivals

[@MrTheil]

Morgan Blackhand would be proud of V

[@lordmorklen5166]

@@MrTheil "You beat Smasher to bits with a sex toy? Well Choom, you're a bonafide badass."

[@wagstag89]

He was easy to beat imo. I was ranked like 20 something and only used healths twice against him. Just ran around using the overload quick hack, the widow maker and some random pistol I modded.

[@spenhappenin]

@@wagstag89what difficulty though

[@behindthen0thing]

​@@spenhappeninnightmare

[@cappew22]

Johnny Silverhands memories are flawed/manufactured to a degree, that's already canon in the CP2077 universe as confirmed by the AI version of Alt Cunningham. While his views are quite consistent, the exact stories of how things unfolded are up for debate, honestly such a nice touch to the lore.

[@nataniell6230]

His mind got merged with Blackhand

[@ValerieNight]

I think going over his role in the tabletop game would be useful - as a Code AS basically means everything is fucked since his actual stats are meant as a “get the fuck out or die” moment for any crew.

[@flibbernodgets7018]

From what I heard he was also used as a one-man "rocks fall, everybody dies" button if the players and game got too unruly. If true, that's hilarious.

[@yamil8003]

You can't go cyberpsycho if you're already a Psycho.

[@shelbybayer200]

That's actually not true. It's literally stated that "High Functioning" Cyberpsychos exist. David Marinez too was like that before Smasher Flatlined him

[@Neuralatrophy]

The thought that smasher is potentially an Elvis fan is hilarious. He could be playing Elvis tunes on his personal radioport while unleashing terror and levelling entire city blocks.

[@scribblerstudios9895]

Gotta have some sort of sound track to your Danes Macabre. Elvish wouldn’t be my personal choice but hey I ain’t a High functioning Psycho Cyber borg so what do I know?

[@ghastlyanarchy1720]

​@@scribblerstudios9895elvish tunes on the finest flutes and lutes. Lol

[@IceAxe1940]

"Jailhouse Rock"

[@SteveBillyy]

Keep the cyberpunk lore coming, I’m loving the scripts amazing work ^^

[@everberon]

Thank you!

[@hot_soup4319]

As someone who did a fist only play through, on very hard, beating smasher with nothing but your grit, cold blooded, and your bare hands is super satisfying. That's for Johnny and Rebecca you overgrown toaster. Slaughtered 1000s, but in the end couldn't even take a walking corpse with high end gorilla fists and damn berserker augment.

[@duck_entertainment]

Bro I killed him on a practically unmodified V with a machine gun and shotgun.

[@artorhen]

I threw emp grenades at him in my first playthrough. It was very funny when he froze because of them.

[@SedBuildsThings]

Everyone who does this type of playthrough goes so far out of their way to tell people they did it.

[@markhirsch6301]

​@@SedBuildsThings because it's badass and hard af

[@drippyog3935]

​@@markhirsch6301not really

[@maxortiz8795]

“In a way it’s almost frustrating that such a blatantly villainous character responsible for the deaths and disappearances of so many has had such a fruitful career and for so long” haha yeah, good thing that sort of thing never happens in real life right? Right?

[@lopendepaddo]

In one conversation between Johnny and V, I believe after the voodoo boys, Kinney asks V what he supposes the worst thing was about mikoshi. After v takes a guess Johnny tells him that it was that they would change you and you wouldn't even know it. Johnny there and then pretty much states that he doesn't even know for sure he's the johnny that got killed, all his memories are effectively unreliable, the only reliable memories are the ones directly confirmed by Rogue. Not to mention the part where V experiences Johnny's memories with the voodoo boys and for him a lot of time passes but for Brigitte it was only an instant. Johny might have experienced his time in mikoshi as an eternity, he himself states he wasn't aware of how time passed, this together with manipulation and experimentation on his engram could easily explain why his perception of events diverges from what is stated by other narrators.

[@einsleyharriot1294]

cdpr should've added some parts in the story that you need to fight Adam when v was still weak resulting to him barely surviving the encounter just so players would know how huge the difference in power is

[@happycompy]

Agreed!

[@watema3381]

Yes. Missed opportunity

[@ghastlyanarchy1720]

Sure. But why would Smasher let us live after each fight? Would it even be a fight at all? Would it just be V running around, hiding behind covers, avoiding him, and stalling for time each encounter? In theory things seem like missed opportunities, but with a bit more thought and consideration, each encounter, if more than say, two times, will just become annoying and boring if all we do is lose against him or spend it running away. Sorry if it comes off as rude or some other such way, I'm just saying that sometimes things are best left as they are for the players' sake.

[@TheFPSKingsGaming]

Woulda been cool to get chased by smash and have to escape or distract while delamine picks you up

[@fn_047]

Peitty much the best Adam Smasher lore video I've ever seen! Great job!

[@everberon]

Thank you!

[@bixbysnyder-00]

I can't be bothered to read all the shards I find in Cyberpunk, so your channel is greatly appreciated!

[@everberon]

Haha neither do I tbh. I just try and collect them all so and look through them when they pertain to a video. I like em though, always feels like I learn something new with them!

[@qtar1984]

We know that soul killing a dead person can result in a very flawed engram. Jackie, if soul Killed, is clearly extremely limited. Only able to speak in previous quotes. And that was the most recent version of the program. Johnny was copied in mid brain death, by an older version of SK.

[@everberon]

Very true.

[@Edski10]

Chip was damaged too

[@zan821]

Heres an idea, what if you just said every word in the dictionary, then if your corpse got soulkilled you could talk normally

[@watema3381]

@@zan821 Wouldn't work because you'd forget most of the dictionary anyways

[@DurtyDan]

Okay, so he really is as pants-shittingly scary as I thought. I'm really hoping Blackhand is still alive somewhere.

[@bamcki991]

With Pondsmith mentioning Michiko's fling with Smasher was ran to his players it makes me personally wonder if there are any lore heavy NPC's that actually started off as PC's. I can easily imagine a player playing a character that made such a huge impact in the world that it was hard to miss and would be a missed opportunity to not make it canon. Or at the very least was a fun character to add in to the canon.

[@rossnorris2351]

If I'm not mistaken, Morgan Blackhand is a character that Mike Pondsmith himself ran it at least an NPC that worked alongside his PCs.

[@Direwolf13PS3]

I think it's far more likely Smasher wanted to have some fun. So he didn't say anything about V and Jackie behind the screen. So he didn't protect Hanako so he could go out and blow crap up to retrieve her. In the game we find out he's the reason Anthony Gilcrist betrayed Militech in the first place as Smasher was using a hostage as leverage. So without Adam's meddling V and Jackie would've never hit the major leagues, at least not in such a pyrrhic fashion. Smasher enjoyed devastation and its clear he used everything at his disposal to get more of it. If things were peaceful he wasn't having fun.

[@franlpk9587]

Elvis was so great that even a killer crazy cyborg can be his fan

[@FrancoGazzetta]

I wonder if he's human enough to be called a cyborg

[@toecutter9372]

Very awesome! Thanks for doing the work for this! I absolutely love the lore from this world!

[@andyb1653]

As far as I can tell, Adam Smasher and Ozob Bozo are the only two side characters in 2077 who are actually happy with their lot in life.

[@bamcki991]

And also Viktor. He's literally says that he's satisfied with the life that he has.

[@sorrenblitz805]

​@@bamcki991 you can hear the regret and acceptance in Vik's voice though. It's clear he's only content because he's gotten through his grief. Adam and Ozob seem genuinely happy.

[@snorterboy9165]

​@@sorrenblitz805 I accidentally killed ozob on my second playthrough bit knowing that ground slamming into his shnoz made it activate. Got hus nose as a grenade and continued to use it in his honor

[@dillonthevillon3719]

@@snorterboy9165u get it no matter, u dont have to kill him

[@noahh.7642]

I feel like the proof that Johnny’s memories were figments of his imagination is in the fact that during the memory sequence, when Johnny first encounters Adam inside the office it just cuts to black then the next time we see Johnny he magically escaped to the roof. I feel like everything after that cut to black is a figment of Johnny’s imagination, he was cut down right then and there when he first encountered Adam.

[@mattvancamp764]

YES! way before getting into the lore i always felt that to be weird, yelling at my screen, HOW THE FUCK DID HE GET OUT! getting more context and understanding that he's an egomaniac, his memories have to be made up/manipulated to fit how he views himself.

[@mrnozchalazt7199]

I thought the same when I first played. Smasher jumped down from that balcony like the damn terminator with other guys with him. I knew Johnny was royally F’d. Johnny has a nice sidearm but he’s no Merc, he’s not nice like that 😂

[@JohnSmith-j7n]

It seems like Johnny didn't really put up much of a fight since we don't get a boss fight there. Smasher probably killed him in seconds.

[@memph1ston]

I think it's interesting that Adam refers to the warheads that did the initial damage as RPG-A warheads. As a militaria nerd, Cyberpunk is unique in getting many of the gun-stuff very right... and knowing that Smasher was in the biz of knowing such things, I find it hard to believe that he would have messed up such a designation. Perhaps it is a typo and he was hit with RP *O* -A Shmel warheads instead. Which would not be *any* better. In fact it might even be worse, lol.

[@everberon]

Haha i'm not sure of how reasonable of the terminology is outside of the game most of the time, so this is a pretty interesting comment. I never considered if RPG-A was a real thing or not past the initial search I did that brought nothing up. I assumed it was just a Cyberpunkism! Very interesting.

[@jackglinsky4305]

I don't understand, whats the issue with him getting hit by RPG-A warheads?

[@Patrikmachtsmöglich]

I guess hes talking about anti tank vs he shrapnel warheads

[@memph1ston]

@@jackglinsky4305 RPGs follow a naming convention like RPG-7, RPG-16, etc. They do not include letters. The rockets themselves are similarly PG7-V / OG-7, etc. The sourcebook has stats for an RPG-A w/ militech branding under that name, but it does not do any sort of AP damage whatsoever. like you'd expect a HEAT warhead to do, right?

[@AleksandrKramarenko]

@@memph1ston They do include letters. But back on topic, RPO-A makes sense. However, I don't think it's meant to be a RPO (thermobaric) or there would be nothing left of the body. If RPG-A is an abbreviation, it could also refer to the RPG-26 Aglen (lightweight disposable AT launcher). Still, it's probably none of those. The weapons in this universe are made up. So, the RPG-A is probably just inspired by the real life weapon and it's not meant to be an exact clone of the real thing.

[@Nooctae]

Isn't it possible anyway that Arasaka has Engrams of Smashers to use again ? Or that his consiouness could be extracted from the corpse and used anyway ? I think there's more reasons to believe him to be alive after CP2077 than not.

[@dragb9284]

I think most people double tapped him after edge runners came out

[@gudhaxer41343]

Imagine in the next game they take into account the Arasaka ending and have V's engram as a new "adam smasher" but less cyborg and more human.

[@artorhen]

I mean, all of the engrams were in Mikoshi, including Saburo's. If Alt destroys Mikoshi, they are all gone.

[@salislazy]

HELL YEAH I’ve been waiting for another Cyberpunk lore video ever since the Rache Bartmoss video! Keep on keeping on choom! 🖤

[@everberon]

Haha Awesome! Hope you enjoy! Also, let me know what other topics you wanna hear about. I've been putting together a document of events, characters and concepts to cover and your input would be greatly appreciated!

[@salislazy]

⁠@@everberonhonestly, I personally would be happy with anything you put out because you’re so comprehensive with whatever topic you’re talking about! Really awesome stuff man. Also, I just finished the video and it never occurred to me to question whether Smasher was a cyberpsycho or not and the fact that he is a high-functioning one is insane. Keep it up!

[@finn274]

@@everberonwould honestly love to see you cover more of the human cloning and 😅 well the eating off those clones

[@everberon]

@@finn274 Is that in reference to BioTechnica? If so, I have a whole video on them on schedule for the future haha

[@finn274]

@@everberon ooh looking forward to it than

[@agitatedzone]

One of the best lore videos I've seen

[@everberon]

Thank you! That means alot!

[@Cellmate412162]

What I would really want is a Cyberpunk game in which you play as Adam Smasher over the years. And I do mean including the events in 2023 & Edgerunners.

[@everberon]

That would be a really neat game!

[@everythingsalright1121]

Why do you want to play as such a horrible person

[@Hostefar]

@@everythingsalright1121fun

[@Cellmate412162]

@@everythingsalright1121 because he’s my favorite character. ‘Nuff said!

[@Sorain1]

It would definitely be an opening for a pure action game, given how little Adam cares about anything beyond the fighting itself. The enormous number of different loadouts he used and the major names he fought open up a veritable theme park ride to be played through.

[@mcstotti8691]

Johnnys memorys especially those of Smasher outright contradight each other. We See Smasher Kill Johnny twice once in Zen Garden Square Room in front of the Office and then again on the roof where Johnny seems to take the role of blackhand but instead of Dueling Smasher he gets absolutely bodied by him.

[@rp19888]

Yeah those memories are bs. Johnny didnt fight Smasher on the roof.

[@username12120]

Lovely run down on Adam Smasher, I've got no REAL feedback I can really give that doesn't just amount to "it wuz relly gud :D". Keep up the good work, and I'll look forward to your next video.

[@everberon]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!

[@YoAyDri11]

Great vid man! Loving the Cyberpunk revival!

[@TK-en2hq]

These are great for background videos for when I'm grinding NCPD missions.

[@a_level_70_elite_raccoon]

The notion that Michiko's fling with Adam Smasher is part of a campaign that Pondsmith ran for players is absolutely hilarious because it reminds me that the stories we make up in our weekly DnD games can be epic and great in scope, but they don't get turned into international best selling video games. It just sounds wild and crazy, but I've known DM's to make up wilder and crazier and we just ran with it because it was fun. Also Fuck Smasher. In no iterations of my V's timeline is he alive after the confrontation. This is for my boy David. Also RIP Rebecca, she didn't deserve to be stomped like that.

[@happycompy]

Completely agree with everything here. Smasher Must Die.

[@fightronin3753]

Really well made video!!! Keep it up choomba!!!!

[@JohnRRyder]

"Made of flesh and metal ...mainly metal." This KZbinr right here, Ma! This is the one i wanna sub to!

[@KngMaxwell]

15:19 personally i think it’s C: he spent so long in soul killer than his memories and dreams/desires became one and we get a mix of what happened and what johnny wanted

[@ChikenTendies]

Firstly, great breakdown on Adam. Didn't even know a majority of this information was even a thing. Secondly, I find it suuuper interesting that Johnny made himself out to be the hero of the op when in reality he got killed in the blink of an eye by Smasher, though I wonder, how did they get his body and gun before the building exploded? Unless he survived being cut in half, bleeding out, AND the multi-story fall + initial explosion, someone had to have for some reason been scooping him up.

[@C4CH3CH3]

Bro you make amazing videos. Can’t stop watching.

[@everberon]

Thank you!

[@R3tr0_161]

I wish we could get chrome like smasher in 2077. Just imagine having this overpowered V in a full borg suit gunning down maxtac.

[@ravingtac0896]

I mean, we don’t look like Adam, but we are also mostly chrome, just look more human

[@johnpennington4807]

Love your narration and seamless video ❤ and of course, the lore

[@ExceptionallyUndersizedThanos]

great video, though the very end brings up that smasher is destined to lose, and that's technically untrue. smasher can win in the secret "blaze of glory" ending where failure isn't an option. while it's borderline improbable for that to be the canon ending, it'd certainly fit the narrative fine.

[@your_nans_flipflop3031]

I actually think Jonny survived the first encounter with smasher, this is because in the rouge ending when Jonny was suppose to jump on rouges ship he missed however rouge caught him and said something like ‘not this time Jonny’ I believe this was suppose to mirror the scene from Jonny’s memory were he missed the ship which caused him to die which was from the 2nd encounter with smasher

[@quinlanstrauss9313]

Loving the Cyberpunk lore content! No one else is really doing it on this level. I would include a spoilers tag when you start talking about story points of the game, I knows it's been 3 years but I still haven't beaten it. 😅 Had to stop at the end of the enter V section as I got to the no return point but again never did it. Was waiting for this newest update and just restarted a couple weeks ago.

[@quinlanstrauss9313]

You could even tag when people should skip to if they want to finish the video but not get spoiled on stuff

[@everberon]

A fair point indeed! Thanks for the advice!

[@cutoffsparty]

Probably the more reasonable thing would be to not watch in-depth lore explanations of things you're spoiler-sensitive about

[@quinlanstrauss9313]

@@cutoffsparty thanks bro, so helpful.

[@atomictacco]

@@cutoffsparty TBF someone that hasn't beaten the game may be interested in Adam after seeing him during The Heist and want to know more about how he became a full cyborg, not expecting him to play a pivotal role in the different endings.

[@ninetaledgundamx]

For the silverhand stuff, I feel like all the material saying Silverhand got cut in half is the "truth" or the "official" story that gets told. but what really happened is johnny was captured instead. or that will be my head canon lol

[@everberon]

That's all fair enough!

[@theobell2002]

I mean, he was captured.. on a chip as an engram.

[@MartMyers]

Keep up the good work bro

[@mattcraven8214]

First time here. Great content, subscribed. This channel is criminally undersubscribed to, choom. You do a great job.

[@dumaland5701]

Meanwhile V kill the guy in less time than it takes to blink. Wonder what regular people think of V if he choose the Don't fear the reaper ending

[@everberon]

Yeah it's pretty nuts how crazy strong V can become!

[@kevind3974]

Remember v can do this un modded except for the most basic. A jack An eye scanner A bullet counter And a ricochet predictor That’s it one military mod and the rest are civilian grade In a sense v kills Adam with a spoon. He uses a spoon to kill a top of the line tank. if we are to compare there tech levels. Also he was two foot in the grave to boot. How

[@distinguishedallureproduct879]

Seeing how Adam apparently has multiple bodies he just jacks into... It wouldn't surprise me if Adam isn't really dead

[@starkillaa2444]

@@distinguishedallureproduct879 Thought V destroys his brain at the end. Then again, it's more than likely that Arasaka has his personality stored somewhere.

[@Midtierman]

The boss fight is definitely not lore friendly. I don't think CD Red could probably make a boss fight that could showcase how much of an op broken monster Smasher was. I'm not sure how they could've coded his a.i. and the whole fight in game given the limitations of their game engine

[@Wuoffan1]

My brain just about imploded trying to imagine Adam Smasher as a borg Elvis impersonator

[@beanpizza48]

I just see adam as arasakas frank horrigan, the guy sent in to clean up after or to get something

[@bradynielson8123]

honestly the fact that hes a high fuctioning cyber psyco makes so much sense and is a super satisfying answer

[@braydenanderinsandoval8060]

Killing smasher was the best feeling of vengeance after Edgerunners.

[@happycompy]

Yup. I did it with Rebecca's shotgun. Felt so fucking good.

[@kropela]

Great content, subbed!

[@anthonym840]

Adam Smasher is basically Frank Horrigen in Cyberpunk.

[@fruitylerlups530]

question is, who'd win?

[@RiTchieKII]

I’ve played the game over 6 times since it came out and not once did I ever notice that smasher was at the apartment raid

[@ashtmerhd9870]

Love the CP lore id love to see more!

[@Khornecussion]

Adam possibly being alive to terrorize Night City more isn't bad. It's great. He's the only BBEG that is compelling in the lore honestly. You don't really care when you kick in a gang hideout and shoot every murderer and r4pist you see. It's dull. Even if they're named with a bounty sheet to show you what they did and a summary of who they were, they're still just window dressing. Afterthoughts. Adam Smasher was and still is an awesome villain that is unapologetically bad and that's what makes him so fun to go up against. I sure hope he's still around in later iterations of Cyberpunk or it'll very likely be a dull game!

[@dustinzhane7329]

Will be waiting for your next update you earned a subscription

[@everberon]

Thank you! A few days to go on the editing, I think, but should have a new upload out within the week!

[@odd-eyes6363]

In regards to Johnny's memories of Arasaka Tower: I think what we see in 2077 is 100% what happened since Smasher gloats to Grayson about how pathetic Johnny's body looked after being soulkilled. My theory is that he was indeed lethally wounded by Adam, but patched up immediately afterwards by Arasaka so he could be secretly held after being declared dead. Johnny had more than a couple of mods internally and even some synthetic organs, so he could survive some heavy bleeding for a while.

[@162Gio]

Replaying Cyberpunk made me rewatch Edgerunners. I enjoyed this video and I’m interested in learning more of the game. Got a sub from me 💯

[@connordalton4553]

I think the reality of the NC holocaust regarding Johnny probably had him surviving getting initial shot (something we didn't see in 2077), and ending up limping to the roof where he collapses. That's my head canon that gets the two roughly meshing together.

[@Kurotaisa]

I just think it is hilarious that Adam Smasher's gemini bosy looks and sounds like Johnny Bravo

[@everberon]

Lmao yeah I never thought of it like that!

[@Avlarrr1988]

10/10 highlighting-text skills

[@jtfbreedlove]

I've heard in places on the net that Smasher could swap between OS's on the fly, that would have been a neat aspect of his boss fight in CBP 2077.

[@LFC4LIFEJEDI]

I always assumed it was given that Johnny's engram was firstly not fully intacted due to him being dead when Spider applied Soul killer on him and it then altered by Arasaka..

[@samueledissette8019]

GREAT VIDEO! HOPE MORE PEOPLE SEE THIS!

[@everberon]

Thank you!

[@CianaCorto]

I really doubt that Arasaka stays prominent after 2077. Only the Devil ending will ensure Arasaka's continued legacy. Any other ending makes sure that Yorinobu (intentionally) runs Arasaka into the ground. This is confirmed in the Phantom Libety ending where after a 2 year time skip Arasaka is completely gone from NC.

[@sorrenblitz805]

Gone from NC, not gone. Night City isn't the only city on Earth. Arasaka can rebuild, sinking back on their other headquarters. Like Team Rocket.

[@93ChristopherC]

Adam Smasher is probably the most awesome antagonist ever! Like when you're about to kill him and V is going off about how this is for Johnny Yada Yada he's just like "wtf are you talking about???" LOL same when david was about kill Faraday and he tell smasher to kill david, smasher is just "wtf are you???" Lmao loved that

[@cosmictreason2242]

I watched this to research for an online argument about whether Adam Smasher or Master Chief would win in a fight

[@everberon]

Of the nearly 300k ppl who have watched, your reason for doing so is my favorite.

[@sukhi5452]

So high quality, TOO underrated.

[@everberon]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!

[@AetherNoble]

In retrospect, when Jackie lists a dead man and a cyborg zombie as Night City legends and his idols, it’s pretty ironic how his story ends.

[@errolglenn4548]

Who's to say Arasaka doesn't have a construct of Adam ready for another body

[@everberon]

They very well may...

[@davidponder1654]

They definitely do, he’s too useful for them not to

[@Ramotttholl]

yes Silverhands Memories are a mess. in the game 1st Adam Smasher Shoots off Silverhands mechanical arm.. yet in his final moment when they activate Soulkiller its back on. and i dont think the meds would do that in this case.

[@seanmcclure]

You can actually see his real death when the voodoo boys scroll through his memories trying to find alt.

[@VirgilSonofSparda]

Imagine smasher walking up to Johnny before shooting him and saying in his Elvis accent “ahoo ha hoo, you been dealt a baaaaaaaaaad hand joahnney boah”

[@everberon]

This made me laugh a lot! Thanks for this 💯

[@VirgilSonofSparda]

@@everberon you aren’t welcome

[@jaykerzp3643]

Adam is a monster, but Night City deserves him.

[@denton713]

Good content great tone I would of liked to of heard of more of smashers cyberware

[@everberon]

Fair enough! Thanks for the feedback.

[@GriffinatorOriginal]

I bought Cyberpunk 2077 back in December 2022 on sale. Played a little bit then saw the anime on Netflix. And after Rebecca’s “meeting” with Adam Smasher I gotta say… his names a little on the nose.

[@phillower8806]

Wait that was Adam Smasher that said I looked like good meat??? I thought that was a security robot😂

[@7DudesInEmily]

Glad ive stumbled over your channel I love the 2077 game and enjoy your commentary over the events they allow me to have a more digestible way to learn the lore of the game without shuffling thru different tabs in game so thanks for the vids man I love em ❤

[@everberon]

Thank you! I'm glad it's made it a bit easier to enjoy the story and the lore!

[@acer-e9f]

for the night city holocaust johnny inconstancy, i like to imagine that because V’s mind and Johnny’s mind are conflicting, it somehow showed some true parts of johnny’s memory and the rest was changed bc of that fact the the two minds were fighting

[@Flight_of_Icarus]

Something I read in from a comment in a different video, is that it's actually really narratively satisfying if V spares Adam after beating him. Adam Smasher is a ruthless killer, convinced might is the only thing that makes right, and sees mercy as nothing but stupid human weakness. From his point of view, his own ruthlessness is the only way he's managed to rise to his current position. It's what makes him a legend, and what makes him who he is. Not only this, but Adam is convinced it's the only thing that gets anyone ahead in life. If he's spared by V, he owes his life and continued existence to V's mercy and that's a crack in his psyche he will never recover from. It would be the first time in his whole life that someone had him dead to rights, and just turned around and walked away without manipulating him or demanding anything from him. He owes V a debt he can't even comprehend repaying. That's a fundamental break in his worldview that is irreconcilable with what he's done. It's a worse punishment than killing him. I'd fully expect Smasher to try and kill himself, but Arasaka wouldn't let that happen- let such a valuable asset go to waste. He gets to stick around as the menace he always was, but he's fundamentally changed; a broken man. If I were the lead writer, I would make this the canon path. I would make even mentioning V's name in his presence a death sentence for anyone dumb enough to try. V lives in his head rent free now, if Adam still lives.

[@Frakenstien20]

I guess going full borg does put you at a disadvantage when going up against a netrunner with System Collapse and smart Assault Rifles and Submachine guns who also recovers RAM with crit hits

[@jakeegarris]

Wait so can someone explain something from the timeline for me? In the game, we see Smasher in Johnny's memory and at that time he seemed to have more original body parts, wearing clothes and boots, his entire face. Was he blown up and turned cyborg after that time? But why was he working for Arasaka pre-accident? Was he in some sort of human looking cyborg suit? Or are there just conflicting timelines between the game and original source material?

[@everberon]

That actually occurred after the accident. The accident occurred prior to 2020, but the AHQ Disaster was in 2023. The reason Adam looks a bit different is likely to simply switch cyberbodies over the years, as we know he wasn't rocking the same frame all the time at that point, even though by 2077 the does generally just use the one body. Hope that helps!

[@jakeegarris]

@@everberon awesome thank you for the insight. I guess I didn't realize before this video that human looking cyber bodies were a thing, I'm just used to all the mechanical looking upgrades

[@retiresatisfied]

Great video.

[@sparkyplayz9510]

Smasher being a Elvis Presley fan was not in my 2024 bingo, yet here we are.

[@NikolaiVolkovski]

This is the story of evil robocop

[@permeus2nd]

15:00 so it’s my theory that what we are actually seeing her is Morgan blackhands memories now a really good question is how the Software that thinks it’s Johnny came to have them, if I have to guess ied say somehow blackhand survived the nuke going off under him 🤯 and the soulkilled Johnny was used as part of Morgan’s interrogation/torture and there was bleedover, this examples away stuff we know Morgan did that Johnny thinks and remembers doing, johnnys mind had holes been dead and cut in half with a Machine gun will do that to you so it reached out for stuff that looked familiar to fill in the blanks.

[@everberon]

I like that theroy alot! The more I think about it, the more sense I think it makes too... thanks for sharing!

[@Jackstalkerfear]

Cool video! And as for the Night city holocaust, option C is also on the table. Johnny's time spent as an engram has made him embellish memories he had. That is to say Johnny is just an unreliable narrator Alt even hinted at that when you speak with her. As she proclaims the memories of Johnny losing Alt are just what he has repeated over and over in his mind before coming to this conclusion of events. I still found it very unfortunate how it was showcased though, especially for poor Shaitan. In the game he goes out in such an undeserving manner, dude's a full combat borg! He's no Adam Smasher but he was one of the most deadly pro merc's in terms of cyberware as well! Hell he even held off Adam Smasher for a while because he's a full combat borg! I really hope this or the other theories are the cause we see things unfold so differently. But it still sucks ... especially because it meant we still didn't get to see Morgan Blackhand which I found very very unfortunate.

[@jonathanbell8887]

Adam Smasher is really cool.

[@sonatine3266]

Adam Smasher uses a modified version of the full body conversion named "Dragoon" by the German megacorp IEC in 2077. He used the Samson and the Gemini only in the years before. The Dragoon is by far the most advanced and most powerful body conversion that exists in all of the Cyberpunk lore and all attempts of Arasaka to copy it, failed. In the end Adam Smasher was still able to get a IEC Dragoon and heavily modified it - so it's a bit less powerful than the original one, but fits his needs better. I made btw. a mod for the game, you can find it on Nexus - it's called "Dragoon-SA" and works for all Male Vs.

[@drahunter213]

19:07 Yeah I mean corps use cyber psychos when they can with maxtac…when they do find a rare situation where a cyber psycho isn’t full on crazy and has moments of clarity still they can just pluck them and recondition them maybe program them abit and outfit them with maxtac specs lol

[@isengarde9490]

Not sure if somebody's already pointed this out, but here goes: If you don't do the heist right away, grind out Regina's gigs for money, or just mod it in, and get a threat detector, you'll see from the moment Adam Smasher enters the penthouse with Yorinobu, he is red on the scanner. He knows you're there the entire time.

[@everberon]

Yeah, it's an interesting touch, though it may be that Cyberpunk 2077 implements a but of code where bosses always know where players are when they are loaded in, and the logic was simply never removed from this scene.

[@isengarde9490]

@@everberon Apparently, this makes sense lorewise. There's a short explaining this whole thing, and also takes note of the fact that he does *not* stop staring into your soul until he leaves the penthouse. Now it *might* be just code they never pulled, but according to the comments there, this makes sense from a lore perspective, because his optics have some Super-man X-Ray vision mode.

[@N4g4r1d3r]

I'm kind of late to the party but in regards to Jhonnies memories: 1. Chip was damaged 2. Vs and Jhonnies memories started to blend and nobody really knows at what point it all started 3. The likelyhood that Jhonnies construct was tempered with is close to 100% since Arasaka wanted information out of him aaaaand possibly some sort of revenge

[@2810Mad]

Amazing

[@ddogh26]

Dude is like the Arasaka Darth Vader