Messages

226

TalkBack / Re: Possible Echo Fighters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

« on: September 10, 2018, 12:37:28 PM »

I wished you hadn't mentioned Lolo and Lala! I hadn't thought of them being a fighter and they'd be a great, unusual choice, but I agree that the chances of them being in the roster, even as an echo fighter is vanishingly small. One thing that may up their chances is that Satoru Iwata worked on the series. That might make Sakurai give the characters a bit more consideration than they would get otherwise.

Funky Kong, Hilda, Dr. Luigi, Dixie Kong, Louie/Brittany, Isabelle, Medusa, Ms. Pac-Man, and Ken would be my picks for great Echo Fighters.

227

TalkBack / Re: 10 Years of 'Why This' - The Captain Rainbow Story

« on: September 10, 2018, 12:09:46 PM »

Articles like this are one reason we come to NWR! Great write-up, Neal. It is sad that what make Skip stand out from the crowd got diluted and pushed to the side. That seems to happen so much in various art forms.

228

TalkBack / Re: New Switch Bundle Announced For Pokemon Let's Go

« on: September 10, 2018, 12:04:38 PM »

Justin Berube has been talking about the high price of the Switch leaving out a large portion of the market (particularly kids) that the quick fading 3DS targets. When I see a $400 price tag, I do wonder how many of these will be bought for children. My understanding is that preorders for the game are pretty low so far in Japan (for a Pokemon game). I'm beginning to think that sales for Let's Go won't be nearly as high as many expect due to the Switch's price rather veteran gamers wanting a more traditional Pokemon game.

Are there any stats about the age demographics for Switch users so far? The only stat I've heard is that 70% of Switch owners as of March 2018 had either a PS4 or XB as well.

229

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 585: Crocs and Ponchos

« on: September 06, 2018, 07:19:37 AM »

Jon:"Is something lost if you forget that you have it?" This feels ike a sequel to my old email. Glad to see the concept is gaining acceptance!

"People know that my existence begins at a certain point and it continues on, hopefully, in perpetuity."

Right on, James. Right on! We've previously established that Gui is a vampire. So when are Jon and Greg going to join the Immortality Party Train?

I can imagine the future: "Hello and welcome to Radio Free Nintendo. It is Thursday, August 27th, 3018, episode 58700!" They'll only celebrate anniversaries every 10,000 episodes at that point. Jon will speak, but his lips won't move because he'll have gained the power of giving voice to his very thoughts. In a post-Brexit world where anything is possible, Greg will have a pet Yoshi thanks to ingenious genetic engineering. With Gui, you'll always hear a dull roar in the background. That'll be the air conditioning that can never be turned off, since thanks to global warming, Montreal will be turned into a humid swamp that will make Louisana seem like a cool Rocky Mountain breeze. And James will have just finished his fourth and final term as President of the North American Free Trade Zone after running a successful campaign of a kusoge in every pot and a Zodiac Tapwave in every garage. So much to look forward to!

230

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 587: Lindemann and the Stolen Picnic

« on: September 06, 2018, 05:50:12 AM »

Boxart was important, but as a kid, I think the single screenshot and short description you'd read in the Sears or JCPenney Wishbook catalogs during the Christmas season, had a bigger effect on what games I wanted. Somehow, I managed not to ask for a bad game during that time. Remarkable considering how little info I had to work with.

Maybe RFN should have a RetroActive of Bases Loaded: The Second Season. :p I came to know the behavior of the CPU players so well that it became very hard to lose after awhile.

I think boxart will continue to be important (though diminished compared to the 80s and 90s) as long as games have a retail prescence. Not to mention KDR_11k's point that they are still used for digital storefronts.

231

TalkBack / Re: Celebi Quest Hits Pokemon Go Next Week

« on: August 20, 2018, 02:44:49 AM »

Players who completed the Celebi quests during the Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago

lol. I misread that as complete, as in something yet to happen. :p Good for Niantic!

232

TalkBack / Re: Diablo III Coming To Switch, With Exclusive Content?

« on: August 17, 2018, 04:52:28 AM »

There was a version of it for PS3 and Xbox 360 as well, so I wouldn't be too worried about how it will run on Switch.

Ah, you're right.  I forgot about those ports.  I just took a peek at some PS3 screenshots as well, and it doesn't look considerably worse than what I remember on PS4.  I'd be more concerned about performance than anything else.  If it's a port that's a stable framerate and no stuttering, absolutely worth playing.

Blizzard has stated that the game will be 60fps in both portable (720p) and  docked (960p) modes.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-08-16-diablo-3-confirmed-for-nintendo-switch#comments

233

TalkBack / Re: Atlus Announces Western Release For Etrian Odyssey X: Now Etrian Odyssey Nexus

« on: August 17, 2018, 04:46:54 AM »

So does this make two confirmed games for 2019 (at least as far as the West is concerned)? Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story update being the other.

234

TalkBack / Re: Walmart In North America To Offer Exclusive Switch Bundle With Two Games

« on: August 17, 2018, 04:44:04 AM »

Your article subtitle game has been on point lately, Donald.

I must say the box graphics do look cool.

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TalkBack / Re: Celebi Quest Hits Pokemon Go Next Week

« on: August 17, 2018, 04:39:45 AM »

I hope this year's Chicago GoFest goes better than last year's disaster. I'm sure the CEO of Niantic doesn't want to get booed on stage again.

236

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 584: Symphony of the Night Trap

« on: August 13, 2018, 09:45:20 PM »

Wow. Great write-up Oedo. My hope for wanting to play Octopath Traveler has gone up again after cratering to zero listening to Syrenne's intricate tale of woe. Could she have been playing the game "wrong"? I hate it when I do that, but that's still a fault in game design, if you can go off the gameplay track that badly and not know it.

Also, I hate to be pedantic here, but this is RFN where pedantry reigns! If you can actually read and understand it, then it's not Old English. Old English is a Germanic language. You could read entire paragraphs and be lucky to decipher more than a word or two. Middle English is like Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Basically readable, but you'll be tripped up often unless you know how to read Middle English. Shakespeare is basically the start of Modern English. Even if you read in the original, you'll be slowed down by some weird spellings and some archaic words that are no longer used, but you probably won't be lost reading it.

An interesting podcast about the subject is: http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/feed/podcast/

To Greg: You mentioned getting a second Switch. Did something happen to the first or is this a chance for the Tubtime phenomenon to cross the Atlantic?

237

TalkBack / Re: Second Opinion: Mega Man X Legacy Collection Volume 2 (Switch) Review

« on: August 13, 2018, 03:34:48 AM »

Love the style of this review Zach! Hope you'll do it again sometime. It's too bad the X series lost it's way after such a promising first few games.

I wish Capcom would continue the Mega Man Powered Up and Mega Man: Maverick Hunter series of remakes.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 584: Symphony of the Night Trap

« on: August 13, 2018, 03:28:36 AM »

Considering the ability to load up songs to replace ExciteTruck's soundtrack with mp3, later changed to aac files, isn't every song in Smash Bros. an ExciteTruck track?

Re: Having an ExciteTruck as a Smash fighter. In Justin Berube's The 20 Most Deserving Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Newcomers, I suggested a vehicle from Stunt Race FX as a fighter among other more plausible fighters. :p

RFN offering more bang for the buck? Could you imagine an alternate universe where RFN was included in Smash Bros. Ultimate? Imagine James, Jon, Greg, Gui, Jonny, etc. as fighters or assist trophies! As far as the soundtrack went, besides harmonica music, you could have every episode of RFN and its specials as the music. 1166 hours! You truly would die if you did nothing but listen to Jonny wax eloquent about Magic: The Gathering among other fine topics. That's not even including the telethons and NWR Book interviews. You could unlock those as bonuses by obtaining the Karl and Evan assist trophies.

There's still time Sakurai! You'd only need a 64 GB cartridge to contain all the RFN goodness!

With so much of the Miiverse having been archived, it's too bad Nintendo probably won't use some of that to bring back the Miiverse stage.

239

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo News Report: Day Of The Royal Vampire Killers

« on: August 09, 2018, 04:23:04 AM »

Hear, hear on Fire Emblem axe and lance characters! It's so lame to me that so much of the Fire Emblem representation in the game is sword, sword, sword! I realize the characters chosen are usually the lead characters for their respective games, hence they're the most popular and obvious choice. But from a gaming perspective, you'd think Sakurai would want a bit more variety in gameplay that having an axe/lance character could provide.

Edit: Hey, Justin. Found an article you might be interested in.

https://www.destructoid.com/mighty-no-9-s-3ds-and-vita-editions-remain-unreleased-developer-still-silent-515976.phtml

Why can't they just have the dignity to say it's over and the customers are screwed? Is there some statute of limitatons so they can't get sued?

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TalkBack / Re: The 20 Most Deserving Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Newcomers

« on: August 09, 2018, 04:17:14 AM »

So three of the twenty have made it so far. Truly, Justin has a list and he's checking it twice.

241

TalkBack / Re: Smash Ultimate Direct To Air Wednesday

« on: August 07, 2018, 05:33:04 AM »

I wonder how long it will be? We're still far enough away from the game being released that I'm not sure if we should expect much from this Direct. It depends on what does Nintendo or Sakurai consider a big deal that's worth revealing.

242

TalkBack / Re: The 20 Most Deserving Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Newcomers

« on: August 07, 2018, 05:30:30 AM »

Great article, Justin. You mentioned some characters I'd never even heard of before, so it was informative as well as fun.

Just to throw out characters that would be great to see but have no chance of showing up:
Captain Rainbow,
Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2,
one of the cars from Stunt Race FX,
the three boys from Marvelous: Another Treasure Island (they could be used a s a team like Pokemon Trainer of Ice Climbers),
the Gerudo Warrior from Ocarina of Time,
Chibi Robo,
Pokemon TCG player (the damage you deal will depend on what Pokemon card you throw!),
Starfy,
Stanley from Donkey Kong 3.

243

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 583: Scarface's Sedative Summer Sabbatical

« on: August 07, 2018, 05:10:57 AM »

Great episode as usual guys. David was a fantastic guest. Sometimes you forget a guest is even on the show after New Business, because they only speak every 30 minutes or so. But David had some good insight and was fun throughout. He fit right in. I know he's not new to podcasts, but it can be tough going on someone else's podcast. How his visit to Steel Crate Games came about was neat.

When James called Jon's comedy stylings a D-Minus joke, I immediately imagined Jon firing back with "I'm all about the D." I wish he had. James would probably have ended the show 20 minutes early, but the sacrifice would have been worth it.

I sense a persistent pattern in James in that every time a listener writes in to say "good job", "keep up the great work", etc. he deflects and says otherwise. Face the facts, man! You guys are doing good work. I think you've been running on all cylinders the past few months. Sure, you can always improve (Now Playing, anyone? RFN NFL?), but you're in a good place.

Since the 3DS is winding down I wish they would go offbeat with the ports and bring the Japan-only Chibi-Robo DS game (the good one) to the system. Why not Skip's RPG Giftpia. Or Captain Rainbow?

Jon's thoughts on Miyamoto's ape obsession. James and Mega Man X lore. Is Dr. Light thr true villain, etc. The way you guys find gold in the mundane is incredible.

244

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 578: Perfect Substitute

« on: July 02, 2018, 02:04:51 AM »

I like to think of my emails as the manure from which good email segments grow!

I'd hoped that the Steve and Ray intro would get some comment, but I guess it's so obvious that Jon is Steve Hewitt and James is Ray, that it goes without saying. I was also thinking of the radio team, Steve Elliott and Ray Goulding, so it works either way.

Thank you for keeping us safe from bearerist attacks for over 10 years!

245

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo News Report: Emergency Pokemon Edition

« on: May 29, 2018, 10:06:01 PM »

I can picture the scene now. Justin's playing his Punch-Out arcade game. Neal finalizing baby names with Amanda. Alex being awesome. Donald recovering from his back injury. Suddenly, an alarm goes off from New Jersey to New Brunswick, similiar to the alarm in the opening cinema scene in the original Star Fox. Our four heroes answer the call!

246

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 573: The Eighth Wonder of the World

« on: May 27, 2018, 11:28:22 PM »

Genre Franchise Mix & Match:

Kirby x Adventures of Lolo RPG

Captain Rainbow x Tingle, a puzzle action game where you rescue lost Nintendo characters.

A Harvest Moon-style simulation game starring Malon and Saria of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

A Road Rash-style game featuring Urban Champion and Mach Rider.

Lastly, not really a genre mashup, but a good idea nonetheless!:

Famicom Detective Club x Hotel Dusk: Who Killed Spike?

Who among the Mario Universe characters are guilty of offing adorable, little Spike? It's up to the team of Amachi and Kyle to find out!

247

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 573: The Eighth Wonder of the World

« on: May 27, 2018, 09:15:11 PM »

Only listened to the first half hour so far, but James mentions not liking to talk about games he's already published the review for. James, don't worry. It's not like RFN listeners actually read NWR. After you and Jon stopped doing Now Playing, we've been completely in the dark on what the Koopster and NWR Site Director Neal Ronaghan have been up to.

As for explaining Jon's absences with classic literature, let's pretend instead of being stuck at work, he was entranced by his backlog. I'm sure Jon is a big fan of Moby Dick, so we can explain it thusly:


It's a mild, mild day and a mild looking backlog and the air of the Wing of Shame smells as if it blew from the shadow of the Velothi Mountains where the village-strippers laid down with their bones.

I looked at my backlog and lo, I saw all the greynesses of all the cartridges of all time. The NES greynesses. The Super NES greynesses. The greynesses of all the panicked games which rise from the deeps, where they have lain so far down in the Tomb for so long they have no backup batteries and rise blank to the surface.

The great jets of tub time, the fountains of The Great Fairy somehow put in the throne room and sprinkling the deeps of cartridges with the gigantic founts of sparkling 360 and Wii U games.

Call me Lindemann.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 572: Nintendo Franchise Executioner

« on: May 24, 2018, 05:39:21 PM »

If we don't want to get stuck with just the original 151, let's expand on my game idea with a more professional-sounding name:

Pokemon  x Odama: Let's Do This! 151 + 100

That way players can enjoy all that Kanto and Johto have to offer!

Will Episode 574 feature listener's E3 predictions, both plausible and impossible? I'll have to prepare. I promise I'll propose nothing as soul-crushing as Mega Man Games As A Service. Only goodness and light and crazy from me.

As far as Star Fox Grand Prix goes, assuming it's true, the more I think about it, the better it sounds. It feels like a game that could use the Star Fox characters in an interesting way that actually results in a good game.

249

TalkBack / Re: Japanese My Nintendo Store Offering

« on: May 23, 2018, 11:46:52 PM »

This still sounds a little expensive. What is the individual cost in yen of the dock kit and the grip when they're sold separately?

The Joy-Con Grip goes for 2480 yen, AC Adaptor for 2980 yen and a set that contains the Dock, AC Adaptor and a HDMI cable for 8980 yen.

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TalkBack / Re: Resident Evil 7 To Come To Switch Via Cloud Play

« on: May 23, 2018, 01:31:22 PM »

Unless you have a fiber optic connection, USB 2 should be more than enough for any DSL or cable internet connection. If you have fiber, then you'd need USB 3 to make full use of your bandwidth potential.