Are there any spoilers in the podcast for 999? I have finished both the coffin and safe endings.

There are no 999 spoilers to worry about. James discusses how the endings differ from one another while also fitting together, but without going into specifics.

I must say, the catch line for this episode is so true. I thought I would switch off once the Ogre Battle talk began, but against my expectations, a lot of the things James mentioned piqued my interest. Now I'd kind of like to play it. At the same time, though, I'm not convinced that I would get the most from the game, if all of these cool gameplay twists are as confounding and ill-explained as they sound. Who was it who said that they liked the game better in theory than in practice? That's largely what concerns me. Maybe I ought to check out the RetroActive thread and figure out if it's really worth me risking £7 on something I may or may not enjoy.

Anyway, cheers for the affirmation of Sonic Colours' quality. Just a few episodes ago, there was a Listener Mail response regarding the Sonic franchise that was, in all honesty, quite scathing, so to credit this latest game is saying a lot. My copy is sitting in my room, still sealed because I just haven't had time - I'll open it up soon enough.

LINDYMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANN!

Follow up, why is nobody asking about the picture in the article?

Look me in the eyes and tell me you've never left a game sitting for a while after buying it. You put on your little show, Mr Jones, but I don't believe for one second that you haven't been guilty, at some point in time, of Lindemann syndrome.

And if it really matters, I'll humour you... so, James, what's with the picture?

Awesome stinger. :D  Jonathan Metts, True Prophet?

Glad to hear three straight weeks of 999 talk; the game's great, but it's gotten so little press that it makes me wish it had a bigger publisher than Aksys, whose entire marketing scheme seems to be making an official thread over at NeoGAF and then hoping for the best.  I'm curious James, what endings have you unlocked?  Did you go through Door 3?  Or did you get the axe ending?  I ask because you spoke about thinking that you had a pretty firm grasp on a few of the characters, but I'm pretty sure that you're off on at least one of those.  I know I was.  The real ending is quite a trip, although it does a great job of tying all the conversations, characters, and plotlines together.  One thing though: the game does suggest a different course for you to take after you get an ending, by flashing a series of numbers for you to follow, but it's subtle and quick.

"Sweater Guy" was the host of a late 80s, early 90s infomercial series called "Amazing Discoveries". It was quite clever in that several different products were marketed under the show's umbrella, so to idiots and impressionable youngsters (like me), it could be mistaken for some kind of legitimate consumer science show. I recommend looking up some clips on YouTube if you're curious; Sweater Guy was a forerunner of Billy Mays and other well-known pitch men.


A choice example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnmLuOEDbkQ


With the late, great Jack Lalanne:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6D9nAY65lc&feature=related

I had just assumed that it was a picture of Greg.  :-\

What does Greg look like?

Like Greg.

That can't possibly be right.

I always pictured Greg to be very fat, like Jim Sterling, or very skinny. For all I know he's probably the sex god of the show.

I've always pictured him in a wheelchair, with an eye patch, stroking a white cat, but all British people sound that way to me.

I think I may have said this before, but I always picture Lt. Malcolm Reed (from Star Trek: Enterprise) because their voices are almost exactly the same. At the very least I bet they are from the same part of England.

It's funny, I really want to know how he looks like.

My guess: Dark hair, tan, boyish good looks, six pack, possibly a Mod or a hipster; I'm leaning towards the former. And finally, he most likely wears a fedora....oh yeah, he loves to wear tight pants to show off his assets accompanying by some very exquisite pair of Chelsea boots! In other words, Greg looks like a God.

I didn't know happyastoria was Greg's alt account.

Also, he'd better not wear a fedora, that's my thing.

I have to agree, I found the Retroactive discussion very interesting. I always planned to download the game someday and would have played along, but it landed right in the middle of my move.

I'm looking forward to part two (far more than I was for TWEWY).

oh, by the way, to help increase anyone's enjoyment of Sonic Colors.

the "broken" swingy things Johnny mentions? yea, they are pretty damn broken.

HOWEVER, that's because logic dictates you would try to jump off at the height of your swing.

oh no.

for some reason, you want to jump off about 3/4 through your swing.  I think it might even make a little sound effect at that time.

if you jump at 3/4 through the swing, you will be launched gracefully in that direction.

... and not plummet to your spikey death.

hope this helps everyone (including Johnny)!!

I thought that might be the case, but it's so hard to judge your timing within the arc of the pendulum. It's just a mess. A few other things are like that too -- for instance, I wish double-jump was a separate button from homing attack. There are times when I'd like to get to a distant platform without being sucked away by an errant enemy.

yea, took me about 10 minutes of failed jumping to figure that out.

the double-jump/homing attack does also get in the way.  I think I died 2 or 3 times because of that.

though, I'm really not sure what the alternative should be.  do I want it on a separate button just because of that 3% of awkward jumps? I'm honestly not sure.  but if Sonic Team could figure out an elegant solution that'd be stellar ^_^

Press for double-jump, hold for homing attack?

Oh man, I had already typed out what an awesome idea that was but then I realized that when it comes to jumping, doesn't longer holding equal longer/higher jumping?  If it were made a less customizable jump it might screw things up, no?

But hey, real great idea! Keep 'em coming, I have faith in you ^_^

I don't know what, if any, influence Sonic Team had on Sonic Colors. Primary development was by Dimps.

Actually, the Wii version of Sonic Colours was developed entirely by Sonic Team. Dimps handled the DS version, them being the go-to developer for handheld Sonic games at this point.

I'm kinda interested in Ogre Battle now but I don't really play such lengthy games much outside of portables.

About FMV game, I just played through the Harvey Birdman game. Wich is a FMV game even though it's animated. It made me realize that the problem with those were just the video quality. They were super compressed with long loading times. A game with decent production and acting would work fine for me.

999 is awesome. Rpgfan's podcast has been praising it since it came out, that's where i heard from it.

Okay, I had a spare 1000 point card that I was considering spending on Ogre Battle but then Shantae happened.

Finally listened to the Monster Tale section of this episode after posting my review. Jonny and I largely agree on the level design issues--I make several of the same points in my review--although I found Chomp's abilities consistently useful from the start, since I preferred the long-range attacks I happened to unlock over Ellie's gun.

I also revisited Sonic Colors a few days ago. Initially it didn't really grab me, but after hearing Jonny's praise I went back to it and had a lot of fun! So thanks for inspiring me to give it another go, Jonny!

You are very welcome! But I'll be interested to hear whether you finish Sonic Colors. As you'll hear on RFN 231, my enthusiasm diminished as I ran into some frustrating levels later in the game.