Topic: Episode 417: Anything But Sonic

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Our friend TYP drops in to helps us discuss lots of indie games, Pokemon, the D.I.C.E. awards, Virtual Handheld, and how to choose the right Smash Bros. character.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/39635/episode-417-anything-but-sonic

Jon needed this week off, so we asked our good buddy (and birthday boy) Michael "TYP" Cole to step in, as he often does. Our guest kicked off New Business with impressions of Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition on the Wii U. Guillaume follows with another independently-developed Wii U game, the brand new Blek. Jonny takes the indie attention to 3DS with an update on Moon Chronicles, which is finally complete with all remaining episodes. Then, for something completely different, James checks out the long-running and completely insane (Tecmo's) Deception series on PS3. We had some time to go back around, so TYP catches up to Pokemon Y after a long break from that franchise. Gui tries the Zelda-like, comedy-adventure Ittle Dew for Wii U, and Jonny recounts his star-studded trip to the D.I.C.E. Awards in Las Vegas.

Listener Mail is always a good survey of the topics you want to hear about, and this week's sample covers some familiar topics from new angles. First up is the ever-popular Virtual Console speculation, this time focused on how this feature could manifest on the New Nintendo 3DS (XL). We also consider Nintendo's true level of interest in the eSports tournament scene, and we try to help a Smash Bros. newcomer find a new fighter to call his favorite. Please keep the show varied and interesting by telling us what you'd like to hear about in the next email segment!

The next RetroActive discussion has officially begun! We hope many of you will play along with us and post your questions and comments about Pokemon: The Trading Card Game (GBC/3DS) right here in the NWR Forums. We'll take some of the best posts and use them in the upcoming podcast feature. It's also a great place to seek and offer help in the game, or just see what other people think about this odd little game-of-the-game-of-the-game.

[ClexYoshi]

I lost it at Gui trying to describe his special sound effects.

Also, I'd like to say now that the supposed drawback to having your pokemon be a mega evolution is the loss of their hold item slot to the Mega stone they have to hold. this of course keeps you from being able to use Life Orb or choice specs/scarf/band for their raw stat multipliers.

Mega Garchomp actually gets a speed reduction that he trades out for sheer defensive bulk and offensive prowess.

moreover, I have come to the conclusion that I like and dislike Mega Evolution. on the one hand, it takes pokemon that were TERRIBLE (Charizard, Mawile, Bedrill, Pidgeot) and gives them chances to shine or gives pokemon a completley new strategy to work with.

On the other hand, Mega Evolution is literally the fanservice button. Charizard and Mewtwo are probably the two most popular pokemon outside of like... Pikachu and maybe Eevee? notice that they get TWO mega evolutions? notice that most mega evolutions are of generation 1 Pokemon instead of the newer stuff? (Audino is the only Gen 5 mega to my recollection...)

Also, this mechanic breaks anything that was battle tower ruleset based, such as battle spot, the pokemon national championships, ETC. These things often have better BSTs than most legendary pokemon that are outright banned from these, and in the case of some, they have better abilities and movepools than those 'banned' legendaries.

On top of that, OR/AS outright BREAKS the mechanic altogether by having made Mega Rayquaza, a Pokemon that is so stupidly strong that it can defeat the most powerful defenders in the game with a single hit of life-orb boosted Dragon Ascent (the new exclusive move that is Rayquaza's supposed 'price' for mega evolution... which let me add is the flying type equivalent to Close Combat... y'know, the best fighting type move in the game.)

Still, it's fun hearing TYP catch up on 4 generations of tweaks to the gameplay in one fell swoop all the same...!

[lolmonade]

With the episode name, I was hoping for initial impressions from James after playing Sonic Boom.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

With the episode name, I was hoping for initial impressions from James after playing Sonic Boom.

To be fair, I asked James about that but I guess it was edited out. Or maybe it was prior to when we started recording.

[MASB]

To Jonny: You can find a long two-part podcast interview Al Alcorn did for the Retrogaming Roundup Podcast. Part One is here. Part Two is here.

Look at the timestamps in the Topics Covered section to know where they begin. I suggest downloading the standard version of the podcasts. They're fairly big downloads, but the 16kbps version sounds like they're talking out of a tin can. Occasionally, the standard version sounds like that too, but not consistently. :p

They've also interviewed various other people involved in 70s and 80s gaming, including Ted Dabney, who was with Alcorn soon after Atari was founded.

[Darth Caedus]

Cheers lads. Thanks so much for the Smash character feedback, it was a great listen! I liked TYP's comment about me playing Smash completely differently to him, but that's the beauty of the game - there are so many ways to play it. I have tried playing online, but as I live out in the English countryside the lag is really, really terrible, so my main playtime has been devoted to myself Vs 7 Amiibo (just added Pikachu... it's becoming an obsession...) just trying to beat the little f*****s.
Thanks again for the comments. (Oh, and for the record I've mostly been playing as Charizard and Ganondorf...)

[GameDadGrant]

PSA: The GBA Ambassador games on 3DS can be exited by pressing the HOME button on the 3DS, and then pressing 'A' to return to the 3DS dashboard.

Jonny Metts seems to be under the impression that the 3DS has to be manually turned off in order to boot out of GBA games, but that's not true. He may be confusing the 3DS's DS mode with the GCN mode on the original Wii, which DID require you to manually shut the entire system down in order to get back to the Wii's home menu.

Another fun episode, though. I enjoyed Gii's uh..."mouth noises" (lulz) and TYP's Smash Bros. advice. (lulz again)