Messages

26

General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2022: Round 3 so we can break our backlogs and be free.

« on: August 30, 2022, 01:18:40 PM »

Things are looking grim.

I'll agree. More and more people have been pulling me aside wanting to know how I'm doing and what it's like going 7 days without seeing a credits reel. Gotta say, it's been hard.

I got your back Khush, here's two more for the pile in my slow bid to start Sega World Report:

Daaaaaytoooooonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa USA


I'm not very good at this, but with only 3 tracks and a few tries it's still pretty easy to land some first place finishes and call it a day. Really good Sega vibes on this one, an iconic soundtrack, great sense of speed, and since there's so many other racers you get to do loads of overtaking.
I didn't realize Nagoshi directed this, but in retrospect the Monkey Ball to F-Zero GX transition makes even more sense now.

Continuing my Sega journey I also tried NiGHTS Into Dreams... but didn't finish it, so probably shouldn't count it for Backlaugust.


I guess I had somehow convinced myself this would be a really good, overlooked game, and the Wii sequel didn't do it justice at all. But nah, NiGHTS on Saturn has aged terribly. You can't see far ahead enough to really chart a path, it has issues with basic depth perception, and the curved design of everything gave me a headache.

Failing to finish a level within the timeframe is amusing since it suddenly reverts from a 2D flight game to a 3D platformer of sorts with absolutely awful controls and a really warped sense of scale. The game also has issues indicating what the various collectables are needed for, or at an even more basic level... just you're supposed to do. It's not a huge problem, but it stinks to head into a boss battle not sure whether your attack is damaging them or hurting you. I hate to say it, but the Wii game is at least a lot easier to grasp. I suppose the air of mystery around the Saturn title does make it more interesting, though.

It's a very creative setting, and stuff like Christmas NiGHTS is very forward-looking for where the industry would eventually head in terms of expansions/DLC. This whole series feels like something I want to like, but almost everything about it (from the gameplay to the graphics and even some of the music) is kind of off-putting. Maybe I just don't like clowns.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe Words XX: #2 Is #1 - The Final Four

« on: August 28, 2022, 06:46:22 PM »

Congrats on the win loss Khush!

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe Words XX: #2 Is #1 - The Final Four

« on: August 27, 2022, 05:55:30 PM »

Requesting Insano to use his mod powers for the Greater Good and change Khush's forum signature to "Signed, an Untrustworthy Liar", so other innocent victims may be spared this indignity in the future.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe Words XX: #2 Is #1 - The Final Four

« on: August 27, 2022, 09:28:25 AM »

Would Khush really do that? Log onto the Internet and publicly tell lies, forever tarnishing his stalwart reputation as a beacon of truth...?

I pick Luigi. Surely Khush wouldn't knowingly deceive another, undermining his position as trusted community leader, for the mere benefit of minor personal glory.

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NWR Mafia Games / Re: Mafia XC: Theme to be determined. Sign-up Thread.

« on: August 25, 2022, 12:51:37 PM »

Joining!

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe Words XX: #2 Is #1 - The Game Begins

« on: August 24, 2022, 06:48:48 AM »

Picking Andy Richter, hopefully that choice won't register on Richter's scale.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2022: Round 3 so we can break our backlogs and be free.

« on: August 20, 2022, 08:31:54 AM »

Congrats on the Platinum completion Broodwars. Sounds like a very frustrating affair to get there though.

33

General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2022: Round 3 so we can break our backlogs and be free.

« on: August 17, 2022, 10:01:05 AM »

Continuing my Dreamcast throwback mood with Rez HD, from the same team who did the Space Channel 5 games. Not sure which of the two came first though.



I like this one a lot better. It's still a rhythm game in some sense, but plays much closer to a rail shooter. Tag targets and watch them blow up in sync to the beat. Every world is 10 stages which get progressively harder, with a boss you need to clear in one go. Unfortunately I didn't unlock the last world, since it looks like it requires a 100% hit rate to unlock.
Still counting it as done, though. It's very easy to see how Rez feeds into Lumines, which eventually becomes Tetris Effect. There's a very obvious lineage between these games, unlike Space Channel 5 which seems more similar to the rigid PlayStation rhythm games (like PaRappa the Rapper and Gitaroo Man) which don't allow for mistakes.

I am also playing this. I am currently at Level 35: Intro to Calc for Art Majors. I am curious how far into the game you were before falling off?

I don't exactly remember, but looking at a walkthrough I think I dropped it somewhere between level 22 and 25. So you're ahead already!

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe Words XX: #2 Is #1 - The Game Begins

« on: August 16, 2022, 09:40:41 AM »

Everything's coming up Milhouse... I hope.

35

Nintendo Gaming / Re: What's Next For The N64 Expansion Pack?

« on: August 16, 2022, 05:12:58 AM »

The next addition will be Wave Race 64, fun title for the Summer. Both the Custom Robo games hit the Japanese NSO a month ago, too.

I doubt anyone is surprised by Wave Race getting added. Always felt like the surest bet, even over 1080, Excitebike 64, and DK64.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2022: Round 3 so we can break our backlogs and be free.

« on: August 07, 2022, 01:14:23 PM »

Like Khush, I got my dancing shoes on, but with Space Channel 5 Part 2 instead.



It's a short rhythm game (think PaRappa) from around 2000ish in which TV-reporter Ulala (pictured above) must rescue Space Michael (Jackson) and President Peace from the devious Rhythm Rogues. You do this, of course, via song and dance battles.
The game starts really strong with impeccable Dreamcast ~vibes. Every new situation is surprising to the player, but nobody in-game treats it as strange, so you don't bat an eye when you're saving schoolkids from plants, or racing the police to get a scoop.

However, the back half of the game does kind of drag. It's annoying you don't get a visual indicator to time button presses to like in Rock Band/Guitar Hero. Towards the end I had to retry a lot of sections, so I changed all the inputs to a single button which made it easier.
There's a new game plus style second loop, but I'm not gonna bother with that.

37

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 781: War Gods Is My Religion

« on: August 06, 2022, 08:46:49 PM »

Low-key a really funny episode 

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2022: Round 3 so we can break our backlogs and be free.

« on: August 03, 2022, 05:56:06 PM »

Starting off Backlaugust strong this year by... giving up on Human Resource Machine.

It's a puzzle game with a strong concept: you're a mailroom clerk tasked with moving mail from one conveyor belt to another. However, to sort the mail in the right order you need to create what are essentially programming routines. Some pieces of mail you can stack, others you want to skip until a certain condition is met, etc.

The game's not quite as fleshed out as Little Inferno (from the same team) was in the story/setting department, but gameplay wise a lot more interesting. The only problem in this equation is that I'm an idiot who can't do maths, logic, or independent thought.
As a result I was already googling solutions after a third of the way in, and I had no idea what the solutions I was copying were even doing. So, time to shelve it.

I have a theory that if I moved to some remote location with electricity that I would have enough games to last me the rest of my natural life.  I could crunch the numbers and confirm that but that project would eat up too much time I could be spending on the backlog.

At some point it's probably more about curating a personal collection than finishing everything lol

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe Words XX: #2 Is #1 - Sign Up Thread

« on: July 30, 2022, 04:12:06 AM »

Signing up!

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2022: Round 3 so we can break our backlogs and be free.

« on: July 28, 2022, 03:05:02 AM »

But it's still July! 
(I'll look over the pile this weekend)

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: A bunch of finely written posts here

« on: July 27, 2022, 12:31:48 PM »

There is enough info on this forum to create a really weird artificial intelligence model.

Yes, let's feed the entire contents of the NWR forums to OpenAI and see what it says.

It'd probably generate Insanolord picking the wrong word in a Safe Words finale.

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TalkBack / Re: Kirby's Avalanche Headlines New Additions To Super NES And NES Libraries For Switch Online

« on: July 22, 2022, 05:29:55 AM »

The Japanese app is getting Kirby Star Stacker instead of Kirby Avalanche.

Never heard of the Daiva series, but these are the kinds of deep cuts I like seeing them put on these apps.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: My Video Game Collection/Museum

« on: July 19, 2022, 05:50:35 PM »

Congrats on becoming a home owner!!!

Shelves look great too, particularly the one in the first two pictures. Looks classy, imo nicer than a glass display case which I've seen people do on Youtube.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Sales Thread

« on: July 01, 2022, 09:34:19 PM »

Seems like a good first week for Musou Fire Emblem. Already outsold Mario Strikers in Japan.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe.TV Words+ 19 (Series Finale)

« on: June 11, 2022, 02:36:58 PM »

If it's available, I wouldn't mind hosting the next game. It'd give Khushrenada a chance to go for back-to-back wins, and I'm kind of curious if he can make it. I'm sure he'd kill for the opportunity, which is why I'm offering, it's for everyone's safety!

Do people like little twists on the formula, or would everyone prefer to stick to the basics? I remember when I did one where people chose another player to target with their word choice, but I can't recall the reception it got...

I'm good with either! It's a good moment to introduce twists to the formula though, since this was the season finale of the past 3 games, and all of those were fairly straight-forward in terms of ruleset.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: What's Next For The N64 Expansion Pack?

« on: June 11, 2022, 01:49:50 PM »

So just running down the list of stuff mentioned so far...

From the Wii / Wii U vc:

• 1080 Snowboarding Seems like a likely addition in winter.
• Bomberman 64 Requires Konami to wake up, so 50/50 I'd say.
• Bomberman Hero This never hit Wii U vc, but was on Wii. Lower odds than Bomberman 64 I'd say.
• Cruis'n USA Was on Wii. Nintendo recently remembered they own this, so barring rights for the car, sure?
• Donkey Kong 64 Very likely imo.
• Excitebike 64 Only wrinkle I could think of might be branded bikes/billboards.
• Harvest Moon 64 The Story of Seasons split could be an issue, but that was in 2012 and Harvest Moon 64 hit Wii U after that.
• Mario Party 2 The safest bet out of the 3.
• Pokémon Puzzle League Added in July.
• Pokémon Snap Added in June.
• Ogre Battle 64 Person of Lordly Caliber Square seems determined to forget about Ogre Battle/Tactics Ogre.
• Super Smash Bros. Was on Wii, not Wii U. Toss up. I lean "no" since Smash Ultimate starts with the 64 roster.
• Wave Race 64 Added in August.

Others Nintendo owns:

• Custom Robo Added in July (Japan only).
• Custom Robo v2 Added in July (Japan only).
• Dr. Mario 64 Already on the app.
• Hey You! Pikachu Would need a mic, so probably not. Creatures Inc. owns it now I think.
• Mario Party Probably not what with the glove + Superstars.
• Mario Party 3 Not sure why this one has been kept in the vault, anyone know?
• Pilotwings 64 has never been re-released, might be an issue with Paradigm?
• Pokémon Stadium Don't think so, but HAL made it so it'd be a choice, not a legal issue.
• Pokémon Stadium 2 Don't think so, but HAL made it so it'd be a choice, not a legal issue.

Some baseless speculation on my part:

• Castlevania 64 if Konami wakes up.
• Castlevania Legacy of Darkness if Konami wakes up.
• Hybrid Heaven if Konami wakes up.
• Knife Edge: Nose Gunner this is made & owned by Kemco, who are still around.
• Mahjong 64 Was a Japan-only Koei game. Since Winback is here, why not at least in Japan?
• Mystical Ninja Goemon if Konami wakes up.
• Mystical Ninja Goemon 2 if Konami wakes up.
• Rakugakids if Konami wakes up.
• Rayman 2: Great Escape Ubisoft has re-released this like 10 times, what's an 11th?
• Tonic Trouble Seems less likely than Rayman 2, but maybe Ubi won't turn down a cheque.

Edit: Dr. Mario 64 is already on there lol, didn't pay attention. Thanks Khush!

47

Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2022?

« on: June 11, 2022, 12:48:40 PM »

So is there no E3 direct this year? Obviously there is no E3, but you know, a summer direct in that same time frame. Is there one scheduled that I don't know about?

There have been some rumblings about a possible Direct on June 15th, but nothing announced so far. May have been mostly wishful thinking. I still expect them to roll out some announcements soon, but with Mario Strikers and Fire Emblem Warriors 2 they have 2 big releases already this month, so it might behoove them to hold back announcements a little longer?

That said if they have no new announcements for this year, but can maybe manage to space the current ones out, it's still quite a solid slate. Really only August, October, and December have nothing planned yet. Bayo 3 seems like a natural fit for Halloween imo, Xenoblade 3 is very late in July so basically covers August, and maybe Mario + Rabbids 2 could be their holiday title.

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TalkBack / Re: UNCONFIRMED: 1-2 Switch Sequel Developed, Received Markedly Unfavourable Product Reviews

« on: June 10, 2022, 05:19:05 AM »

Who the heck is Fanbyte? It always does bug me when I see sites quote random sites or Twitter accounts. Same thing happens with wrestling news, stuff like "this Twitter account reports...".

Fanbyte have been around for a while now. Their EiC used to be at Vice's gaming site.
I don't follow Fanbyte very closely, because they specialize in coverage of live service games (FF14, Destiny 2, Apex, etc.) which I don't play. But seems like a reputable source imo.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe.TV Words+ 19 (Series Finale)

« on: June 02, 2022, 05:16:23 AM »

Congrats Khush, and Insanolord for another top 2 finish!

Great job hosting Bungle, you really went above and beyond with highly entertaining stories.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Safe.TV Words+ 19 (Season 6)

« on: May 23, 2022, 03:38:35 AM »

Shoulda known the Crunchy-Funimation merger wouldn't benefit us, the poor ol' multi-media consumers!