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Messages - Traveller

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1
Podcast Discussion / Episode 243: Slow and Steady Wins the Race
« on: April 17, 2018, 10:43:17 PM »

Nick interviews Derek Andrews from the NES homebrew developer Gradual Games

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/47030/episode-243-slow-and-steady-wins-the-race

Welcome to episode 243 of Connectivity.

On this episode, Nicholas has a chat with Derek Andrews from Gradual Games, who creates original homebrew NES games. We discuss how his company Gradual Games got started, delve into how the games were made and of course talk about the games themselves.

Nomolos: Storming the Catsle and The Legends of Owlia are able to be downloaded from the Gradual Games website and it is also possible to purchase physical copies.

This weeks musical selection is a song from The Legends of Owlia.

Nintendo World Report is now on Patreon, and high rollers can name their topic for Connectivity, so head over to our Patreon page if you want to support us.

Connectivity has joined Twitter, so be sure to follow @ConnectivityNWR to be up to date on any announcements. We are wanting more listener participation, so feel free to ask questions, they may show up in the show!

Send us your listener mail by clicking here.


2
Podcast Discussion / Episode 239: Bat Ship Crazy
« on: December 28, 2017, 10:20:48 AM »

A certain lizard and bat are the main topic this week.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/46122/episode-239-bat-ship-crazy

Episode 239 is finally here and ready for you.

This episode sees newer NWR staffer Xander Morningstar joining both Nick and Matt to discuss a variety of things. The guys chat a bit about Arms, Steamworld Dig 2, Pokemon Crystal and the anime, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the Zelda DLC and Pokemon Ultra Moon and thats just to kick things off. The main topic for this episode is about Yooka-Laylee, now that it is finally out on a Nintendo platform

This weeks musical selection is the GlitterGlaze Glacier from Yooka-Laylee .

Nintendo World Report is now on Patreon, and high rollers can name their topic for Connectivity, so head over to our Patreon page if you want to support us.

Connectivity has joined Twitter, so be sure to follow @ConnectivityNWR to be up to date on any announcements. We are wanting more listener participation, so feel free to ask questions, they may show up in the show!

Send us your listener mail by clicking here.


3
The game seems like its going to be massive, feels like it'll take a long time to finish..

4
Podcast Discussion / Episode 234: Is That a Rabbid On Your Butt?
« on: September 13, 2017, 08:40:57 PM »

Nintendo Direct, plus a little extra.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/45447/episode-234-is-that-a-rabbid-on-your-butt

Nick and Adam record some thoughts and impressions from the latest Nintendo Direct, along with some other tidbits on the side.

The musical selection this week is the song from Super Mario Odyssey, perfomed by Pauline.

Nintendo World Report is now on Patreon, and high rollers can name their topic for Connectivity, so head over to our Patreon page if you want to support us.

Connectivity has joined Twitter, so be sure to follow @ConnectivityNWR to be up to date on any announcements. We are wanting more listener participation, so feel free to ask questions, they may show up in the show!

Send us your listener mail by clicking here.


5
Podcast Discussion / Episode 233: Where's Princess Sally?
« on: September 02, 2017, 02:10:28 PM »

The 90's mania returns.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/45320/episode-233-wheres-princess-sally

Sonic is back! On this episode of Connectivity Matt, Nick and John talk all about Sonic Mania, along with a healthy dose of more general Sonic thoughts and feelings. The guys also delve into a little Switch talk towards the end of the show, musing on the future of the popular system.

The musical selection this week is from the Marble Zone ~Masa's Demo version~ from the Sonic 1 & 2 soundtrack CD.

Nintendo World Report is now on Patreon, and high rollers can name their topic for Connectivity, so head over to our Patreon page if you want to support us.

Connectivity has joined Twitter, so be sure to follow @ConnectivityNWR to be up to date on any announcements. We are wanting more listener participation, so feel free to ask questions, they may show up in the show!

Send us your listener mail by clicking here.


6
TalkBack / Re: Primed for Return
« on: June 26, 2017, 06:30:47 PM »
"The layouts could have rooms/areas that don’t even really have a use, just for extra flourishes and story."

I think in a Metroid game that would really throw me off.  Like in Breath of the Wild I quickly got used to the idea of there being areas that exist largely to help provide atmosphere.  But in Metroid if I got stuff in regards to where to go I'm going to go back to the areas that seemingly had no purpose to figure out what I'm missing so as to continue on.  If there are a bunch of superflous areas that server so real purpose then it's going to be more frustrating for me to figure which areas only appear useless and which are.  Now if you but a scan in the area where there is nothing else that would be fine.


True, I did think of that briefly as well. It would depend on how it is designed though I think and how they set expectations on what sorts of things the game is asking you.

7
TalkBack / Primed for Return
« on: June 26, 2017, 12:42:16 AM »

How can Nintendo step beyond the already great Prime games?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/44910/primed-for-return

During E3 2017, Nintendo announced that Metroid Prime 4 was officially in development, to the excitement of Nintendo fans the world over. Since then, I began pondering what an evolution of the Prime series could entail. What changes or advancements could the developers of the game make to the already great Prime formula? Well, here are some thoughts.

A Natural World

One of the things I’d like to see a Metroid game tackle would be to create a more realistic and natural world to explore. With more power behind developers these days, we should be able to have larger areas that don’t have to hide behind loading doors. This could allow the developers to create a world that doesn’t even have the standard Metroid colour coded doorways. Now, yes, there would be other roadblocks that require new weapons or tools to progress, but having more natural barriers would be great.

The design of this world would ideally be more realistic too. The Prime games were already fairly good at this, but expanding on having logical biology or geology-based solutions and themes for the varying areas is something I think could be expanded on. The layouts could have rooms/areas that don’t even really have a use, just for extra flourishes and story.

Forward Progression

While the progression of typical Metroid games is non-linear exploration, progression is often fairly constrained and rarely do gateway solutions expand beyond a room or two. What I am thinking would be to make whole areas of the game holistic, in the sense that there is a larger puzzle to unpick that spans across the whole area. Looking to games like Myst could be a good fit for Metroid, though hopefully not quite as obtuse as those types of game. Naturally solving puzzles through gameplay could “add up” to solving a much larger puzzle later on—the whole thing could come together like clockwork.

I think it could be interesting to have several areas to the game, but each area quite a bit larger compared to what they were in Metroid Prime. The player focuses on progressing through one large non-linear area then eventually comes out of it and into the next, without as much obvious transitioning as in previous games. Much as Breath of the Wild’s environments blend together, so could the environments on a new Metroid planet. It could feel more like Samus is traversing across a planet from A to B than having it all seemingly take place within a more constrained section of the planet.

Between major areas we could have sections that provide a bit of a break from the deep exploration. Coming out onto a wide plain or desert field with strange alien life could be quite exciting, sections like this could allow us to control some vehicles too. Xenoblade Chronicles X or even Monster Hunter may provide a useful analogy here, with alien life simply existing alongside the player and their specific goals.

On New Gameplay

I wouldn’t mind it if we started the game as Zero Suit Samus. I actually think that could be quite fun and would enhance having to be cautious of the alien environment, along with having that larger gap in abilities when later in the game, which could make the player feel even more empowered than usual after acquiring new abilities.

On the subject of Zero Suit Samus, what if it was possible to leave the suit at will? Samus may need to use her hands to repair things or having the use of two hands may be needed in some instances. She could also have to make manual additions or fixes to her suit that she has to get out of it to do.

The gameplay between Zero Suit and Power Suit could change the gameplay styles too. What if ZSS changes the perspective to third person and then when stepping inside we return to the normal first person Prime gameplay.

Another big aspect of Prime’s gameplay relies on switching to various visors. An idea that could be toyed with in regards to the visors would be to make it possible to activate multiple at once, even just two might be good enough. Say you have the X-Ray visor on, but want to scan something, you can press the scan button to overlay that onto the X-Ray visor. Perhaps scanning could have a dedicated button that functioned regardless of what visor was active at the moment.

The World is Ahead

A variety of different alien environments is a must of course, I’d hope that the team decide on themes and looks that are different to the more general, fire, desert, snow. All the Prime games have had great art and variety, so it shouldn’t be a huge issue. Corruption took a step in this direction, although Bryyo was a typical fire/ice world.

Life-form wise, what if they take a page out of Xenoblade and start including some towering beasts and bosses more often? I think that could be very cool and Samus may be able to use them in various ways to tackle the environment. This could also extend to plant life, where maybe certain plants have energy storing or powering properties. The larger life forms could provide some great moments when in larger more open areas, it could sell the eco-system of this strange world even more.

Pushing the Boundaries

Really, the take away for me from thinking on how to add to the Prime/Metroid series is that I want them to be ambitious, much like how the Zelda team was with Breath of the Wild. While a conventional Prime 4 would very likely be a great game, I do hope whoever is making the game tries to take it several steps further, but whether those changes are small or large I just hope it will be exciting.


8
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 225: Jiggy in the Woods
« on: April 27, 2017, 04:57:22 AM »
Great to hear from CurtDogg again! :) I loved Banjo-Kazooie. Such a great looking and playing game for the time. I remember being less fond of Banjo-Tooie. I never beat it unlike the first game.

The absolute nadir of the collectathon for me was Donkey Kong 64. Alas, I tend to be a completionist and I remember getting everything except for one minigame. It was one where you chase the beavers into a hole. I must have spent an hour or more trying to beat that mini-game and then gave up, thinking it's not worth it. While I had fun with DK 64, throughout the game, I always had the impression it should be better than what it was. I never had that feeling with Banjo-Kazooie.


Yeah, DK64 definitely could have been made into a better game, I enjoyed my time with it mostly though.

Some of those beaver games where you had to heard them around had a bit of a trick to them I think. If you mashed the button fast it made it harder I seem to recall.

Banjo games were definitely less tedious though.

9
TalkBack / Re: Options For Yooka-Laylee Wii U Backers Announced
« on: January 31, 2017, 02:57:37 AM »
The reason why they probably don't have a window for when the game is coming out for Switch probably has something to do with Unity implementation. When you work on game engines you sort of have to do what you can. You're not in full control.

Like with the case with Axiom Verge. The game was obviously something Metroid fans or classic game fans would love. That isn't mainly the ps4 audience. The game was on other systems before Wii U because of issues with getting it ported. They had the same problem with Vita, but had to wait on the engine guys.

because Switch is not going to be easy to find, i'm probably going to buy a ps4. I had planned on buying one because a few titles are enticing. I might transfer it to my brother, but he might not appreciate it.

Yeah, something like this could be the reason.

I think they should give a bit of information though, a rough outline of what they are aiming for with the release date would be something, or where they currently are in terms of getting the Switch version going.

10
Podcast Discussion / Episode 210: Bowser Wrote the Letter
« on: October 03, 2016, 05:18:31 PM »

The Connectivity train is hopefully back on track.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/43508/episode-210-bowser-wrote-the-letter

Welcome to Connectivity 210. This week marks the return of Nick after his struggles to gain computer and internet capabilities.

Nick is joined by Adam and Perry, the gang kick things off with what they have been up to. The discussions include such things as Pokémon Go, Mole Mania and the newly released RetroUSB AVS NES clone system.

After a break they delve into a listener mail question, which asks if the NX has handheld like capabilities how does the 3DS fit into the picture still, can they co-exist and sell to the consumer?

The main topic this week is an informal chat about Super Mario 64, the discussion touches on a bit about the past but also looking at the game from today, 20 years after the game released.

Nintendo World Report is now on Patreon, and high rollers can name their topic for Connectivity, so head over to our Patreon page if you want to support us.

Connectivity has joined Twitter, so be sure to follow @ConnectivityNWR to be up to date on any announcements. We are wanting more listener participation, so feel free to ask questions, they may show up in the show!

Send us your listener mail by clicking here.


13
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 205: It's All About the Music
« on: June 10, 2016, 11:29:51 AM »
I blame Johnny Metts for starting the rumour that the first Breath of Fire was developed by Square to show Capcom how it was done, and then Capcom continued the series on their own. This is simply not true, it was just published by Square in the US.

I had thought later that it was untrue, I guess I had heard it on RFN at some point and it was still kicking around in my memory. Lol.

14
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 204: Dual Shielding
« on: June 04, 2016, 10:11:25 PM »
I liked Skyward Sword's loot system and I felt that I always had to save up my money to buy things in Beedle's shop. But in Wind Waker the currency is meaningless and the overwhelming majority of chests out in the ocean have rupees in them.

Listening to the orchestral music I really hope Zelda Wii U has a great over world theme, something you can really hum along to.

Also that exact same listener mail was on RFN this week, oh well though it was nice seeing the different perspectives. The person must have sent it to one podcast, assumed it wasn't going to get read then sent it to another.

Yeah, I hope the music is really good in the new Zelda too.

As for the same question being read out, thats kinda funny how that lined up really. We only got that email the week before or so I think, so maybe they did indeed wait awhile and assumed RFN wasn't going to read it.

15
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 201: #MaxAttack
« on: April 27, 2016, 05:44:25 AM »
We spoke a little more Snowboard Kids after and Josh remembered he had played it too lol.

The game is alright in single player, it can be frustrating however and seems unfair sometimes. Its very charming and looks great though, especially through the UltraHDMI mod. I haven't played it in multi recently, but I think thats the best way to play it from memory.

Without cheap CPU its quite a fun little game. The music also is very nice.

16
Podcast Discussion / Episode 201: #MaxAttack
« on: April 07, 2016, 12:51:41 PM »

Connectivity returns with an attack from the max.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/42516/episode-201-maxattack

Welcome to a brand new episode of Connectivity.

This episode sees the return of Kim Keller and Josh Max, along with Becky Hollada and Nicholas Bray. Josh, Kim and Becky mostly talk about their experiences and thoughts on the latest Fire Emblem games for the Nintendo 3DS, while Nick ends up talking about Goldeneye 007 and Snowboard Kids for the Nintendo 64.

For the discussion topics this week we feature some general thoughts on E3, NX and various other bits and pieces, including a smaller discussion on our favourite console launch memories.

The musical selections on this episode include Rookie Mt from Snowboard Kids, Throwback Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy 2 and a performance of the Fire Emblem theme from the Tokyo Philharmonic.

Connectivity is on twitter, so be sure to follow @ConnectivityNWR to be up to date on any announcements. We are wanting more listener participation, so feel free to ask us any questions, they may show up in the show!

Send us your listener mail by clicking here.

Thanks for listening.


17
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 470: Identifying Your Daddy
« on: April 05, 2016, 05:41:29 AM »
Actually the Donkey Konga track lists also differ between EU/NA :)

18
Glad you enjoyed!

Probably will reveal the Pokemon selections on the next ep.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 198: I Wanna Be the Very Best
« on: March 06, 2016, 04:23:43 AM »
I don't get too wrapped up in the smaller mechanical problems or annoyances with the games. After recording though, I did feel we didn't spend enough time on the games themselves in a deeper way. I probably should have pulled back a little from the overall era.

Actually, my enjoyment isn't hampered at all from how the games play. I guess I'm just a dirty casual lol.

20
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 199: Ash is His Mom
« on: March 05, 2016, 06:06:59 PM »
It really is. I have the albums covering all the OST music up until Diamond/Pearl. I didn't know what the track names were though.

There's some great music from the earlier seasons, some of which was probably cut from the 4Kids dub, or was just less notiable. There's a lot of great versions of songs from the games.

21
There have been many replacement sticks available from several places for years now, so I'm unclear how this is supposed to be different. I imagine that if they found a way to make these parts out of some sort of metal, they would no longer get worn down or at least it would take a whole lot longer. But if they're just doing plastic again? I'm not so sure about that...

If anyone already has some sticks in good condition, using ceramic grease on them will keep them that way.

Apparently they are looking into using a more sturdy plastic or something. The sticks don't wear down super fast under normal use anyway, my original controllers still have great sticks.

I also think it wouldn't matter too much anyway, if its cheap enough to buy a pack of them, you'll always have replacements for a long time.

I'm interested in seeing the final product. If the mould and the sticks are made well, this will be the best way to fix the N64 controllers.

22
Like I said, there's nothing on the market offering a perfect replacment. All the complete sticks you can buy aren't very accurate.

23
I think this project will probably come through with something good in the end, it seems the guy behind it really wants to make them perfect. It'd be good if the gears are made too though. I actually spoke to the person behind it the other day, the small informal interview will be on the next Connectivity. The goal also is to eventually be able to sell a bunch of these fairly cheaply.

As for other options, there is not really anything anyway. The GameCube styled sticks you can buy aren't very good, they don't replicate the proper movement of a real stick, they are far too sensitive. The best workaround I've found is to install a PCB and 60 degree potentiometer from a guy named Micro, then it's almost perfect. Although he doesn't sell them all the time, he does do runs of them every so often.

24

This could be the first 100% accurate replacement for the original control stick design.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/42033/nintendo-64-control-stick-replacement-parts-being-kickstarted

For a long time now, enthusiasts of the Nintendo 64 have been searching for ways to replace worn out control sticks in their controllers. Finally it seems, someone has undertaken the challenge of completely recreating the original parts.

The Nintendo 64 control stick mechanism was of a mechanical design, it utilised a few plastic gears along with the stick itself moving around inside. These physical movements and positioning of the gears and stick were then translated into the digital input information for the controller.

This poses a problem however; with mechanical parts moving and grinding against each other they slowly wear down and cause the control stick to lose its firmness and full functionality. Aside from the gears that wear, the control stick part itself also rests on a small plastic bowl that is also subject to wear, causing the all too familiar white dust to leak out of the controller.

Enkko is going to be reproducing the stick and bowl so that N64 fans can fairly easily restore their controllers. For now, they are not going to be producing the gears, but seeing as how the Kickstarter has already been funded, a stretch goal for the gears is apparently under consideration and if produced will be provided to backers at no extra cost. The gears will be delayed in shipping as construction and testing will take longer for those.


25
TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Sun and Moon Announced For 3DS
« on: February 26, 2016, 10:42:21 PM »
Hoping the engine is smooth in these new games, I wouldn't mind the camera becoming even lower too. I want to eventually get to that behind the back sorta view in a mainline game.


I also don't know why anyone would want a third version in place of a brand new adventure.

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