We store cookies, you can get more info from our privacy policy.
3DSGCWiiWiiU

Episode 367: Rubbin' is Racin'

by James Jones, Greg Leahy, Jon Lindemann, Jonathan Metts, and Guillaume Veillette - January 26, 2014, 4:45 pm EST
Total comments: 10

Here's the recording of our complete live episode, including RetroActive for F-Zero X and GX.

Download in AAC Format

Subscribe to AAC Feed

Download in MP3 Format

Subscribe to MP3 Feed

Subscribe via iTunes (Please rate and review, too!)

Back in November's telethon, your donations carried us to a stretch goal for a live RetroActive with Greg. We chose F-Zero X (N64) and F-Zero GX (GameCube), and in the end, we decided to just do an entire RFN episode (including Now Playing...) for the live audience. This is the full recording of what went down.

It starts, as usual, with New Business. James immediately gets us into the racing mood with his thoughts on Need for Speed: Most Wanted U. Jon has a follow-up on Link Between Worlds, and it proves an opportunity for Greg to also chip in his thoughts on the new Zelda. Greg's own picks are DuckTales Remastered and, oddly enough, Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest. Guillaume is not really feeling D&D: Chronicles of Mystara on Wii U, while Jonny is ambivalent on StarTropics 2 despite loving the first one.

After a brutal, totally unedited edition of Now Playing (send all correspondence to James), we finally delve into the showcase pair of F-Zero classics. These games are certainly similar but also deeply divergent in several key aspects, making for quite an interesting back-and-forth among our live panel. You'll hear from a few callers, and we brought in chat room comments with the help of TYP, but most of this 90-minute RetroActive consists of fair and often frustrated discussion among the main RFN group. It turns out that yes, indeed you can have a good conversation about racing games!

As always, we welcome your emails on anything from this episode or elsewhere in the world of video games. Also, be sure to check out Jonny's guest appearance on the Back in My Play retro-themed podcast, in which he valiantly defends Milon's Secret Castle for NES! It's a really fun show that will prove an easy listen for any fan of our own RetroActive features.

This podcast was edited by Jonathan Metts.

Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their newest album, Done with the Devil, directly from the record label, Amazon (CD) (MP3), or iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!

Talkback

Stark_NebulaJanuary 27, 2014

I loved this episode! I'm sad I missed the live recording and not having called in myself. F-Zero is the series nearest and dearest to me. I would absolutely love it if we could talk about it sometime. F-Zero has gained a decent amount of popularity after this year's AGDQ run which featured runs of each mainline console game performed by world record holders. I know your time is precious, but it would be a pleasure of mine to talk with you all about the series. I've been a huge advocate of the games, being the one who has dug up much of the unused content in GX, rummaged through ungodly amounts of pre-release materials, making tons of cross-references between regions and documented loads of AX's ROM. If ever you wish to learn more about F-Zero, game mechanic wise or as a series, I implore you to get in touch with me. In any case, I wish for you all happy gaming and to keep on F-Zero-ing. Cheers.  :D

geckog7January 27, 2014

How difficult are these live shows to pull off compared to your regular show? I had fun in the chat! I'm hoping you do more of these in the future.....

It's all relative. Editing is obviously much easier, although quality is deminished. Logistics are more complicated, as we have to arrange a special time and perform marketing tasks.

To me the biggest thing is the when. Recording Thursday night, as we do, it not a major issue. I usually come home, relax for a few minutes, order take-out, and then settle in for the show. Saturday mid-afternoon is more of a burden, although not tremendously so.

I'm very angry that I got blindsided with obligation the day you guys went to do this, because at about the 44 minute mark, I would have gotten into that call and started SCREAMING "SHANTAE!!!" into the microphone. Seriously, you berate wayforward all the time, but these are the kind of games that Shantae and Adventure Time: Hey, Ice King! Why'd you steal our Garbage?!" are!

Seriously, Shantae -IS- the good Simon's Quest.

AVJanuary 27, 2014

I so badly wanted to call but I had a job interview right in the middle of the time of recording.


Didn't the original Classic Controller for Wii have analog L/R buttons they felt that way.



There are similarities, now that you mention it, including a lot of the same problems Greg mentioned in regard to slow character movement and stiff controls in the overworked areas.

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

There are similarities, now that you mention it, including a lot of the same problems Greg mentioned in regard to slow character movement and stiff controls in the overworked areas.

If you're referring to the hair whip having a wind up, yes, that does kind of force you to approach enemies in a more thoughtful manner or to try and learn to evade them more. Shantae's jump is actually pretty comparable to Samus's jump in Super metroid with the snappy shifts in mid-air momentum and I feel she's pretty agile besides the delay in her attacks. there's also the fact that buying the items in the store makes it a lot easier. you'd be surprised how brisk the overworld travel goes when you're properly stocked up on a few pike balls and float muffins if you're going through an area that has lots of bottomless pits.

Even still, Matt Bozon and his team do learn from their mistakes. Risky's Revenge, while being criminally short and somewhat lacking in more of the explorative elements, did do a good job of making sure the hair whip is a lot more viable of a combat option as well as making sure bottomless pits are always visible between the particle effect they give off and there never being bottomless pits in a spot where a blind leap is required.

eggface123January 28, 2014

It was a James Jones laugh RIOT! HA.....HA.....HA! :P:

ResettisCousinJanuary 28, 2014

Totally agree with Metts's opinion on the difference between X and GX. I do not see GX as the natural evolution of X, and I do see GX as too many blind turns and falls… but different strokes for different folks.

tyrian3January 31, 2014

I liked the live podcast format, too bad there weren't enough callers to cover all of new business. Next time there should be a guest caller for now playing, to add to the pain ehm I meant fun  ;D
The fzero discussion was great, I didn't get the chance to say much but I just could not interrupt such a discussion especially by thaat amazing river of knowledge that is Mr. Leahy  :cool;
Too bad the arcade AX version has not been talked about much, I wanted to say how I unlocked it via emulation. Also, to support Jonny's opinion, I tried playing the first cup and found it much less difficult than story mode. I was expecting, as they correctly said in the show, some sort of guide to the game with a learning curve (which was, instead, a learning brick wall) but I changed my mind as soon as the infamous Samurai Goro mission (2). The mechanic to buy missions is also very annoying: exit story mode, go to options, go to the store, go to the misc category, buy the mission, go back to story mode.

Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement