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Episode 393: Tower of Drillaga

by Michael Cole, James Jones, Jon Lindemann, Jonathan Metts, and Guillaume Veillette - August 3, 2014, 4:21 pm EDT
Total comments: 17

TYP drops in for a five-dude show!

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It's rare that we get to record with someone next to us, but this week marked a special occasion, as Michael "TYP" Cole was traveling for work and joined Jonny at the microphone. He's got great New Business too, including Mario Golf for 3DS (the whole game, not just the demo!) and Mega Man Xtreme 2 from ye olde Game Boy Color. James takes a tour through the eShop and has a few ideas to make it work better (for both Nintendo and us). Jon has been trying Super Mario Land 2 for the first time ever and realizes that it's totally odd. Gui tries the trial for Wii Sports Club, now that all five sections are available. He also follows last week's Mr. Driller 2 debacle with the far superior (and cheaper!) Mr. Driller game for DSiWare/3DS. Jonny wraps up the segment with a return to Wario Land 3, plus first impressions of Rogue Legacy on PS Vita... and the latter definitely holds a lot of appeal for Nintendo fans!

Listener Mail is abbreviated this week (we started recording a bit late), but there's still time for a pair of letters about Mario franchise continuity (seriously... okay, maybe not so seriously) and a look at how Nintendo's controller designs have impacted their platforms, game ideas, and third-party support. We'd love to hear from you as well -- so please do email RFN today! Be sure to also check out TYP's wonderful podcast about video game music, a favorite of us all, Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition, right here on Nintendo World Report.

This podcast was edited by Guillaume Veillette.

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!

Additional music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is copyrighted to Nintendo and is included under fair use protection.

Talkback

The words "DNA soul" remind me of a game I hold great ire form, and was releaed around the same time as Xtreme 2... that game, of course, would be Mega Man X6,  a game that proves more than any other game I have ever played, professionally made or otherwise, that you can take  a great engine, well drawn assets, and something that just works in the way that Mega Man does and RUIN it with really godawful level design and really stupid and unbalanced enemies.

In the Mega Man X game that inafune never wnated to come out, DNA Souls are used as plot Macguffin rather than currency, but I want you people at RFN to know that this 'bad translation' was a PLOT POINT SPREAD OVER MULTIPLE GAMES.

... I was really hoping James would say that Waluigi is not recommended except for Kairon.


Also, James is a emotional terrorist for mentioning Wario: Master of Disguise by name. XD

eggface123August 04, 2014

I thought I heard someone tell James to shut up? Maybe thats just what I was thinking in my head.  MEEEEESTA JOOOOOOOONNES!

KDR_11kAugust 04, 2014

The Dhrystone mode was in the EU version of Mr Driller Drill Spirits but they cut it in the US version for some reason.


I know in Mega Man X 8 you use DNA Souls to transform Axl into different forms. It just shows you how fucked the MMX/MMZ plotlines are.

chilenozoAugust 04, 2014

1.- About the N64 controller save cards...remember that Sony was doing the same...it looks like on that specific period of time, everyone was thinking about transportable saved data.

2.- WiiU Sports: Man, I'm happy with my WiiU, and usually I've defended Nintendo in the past, when they don't put that much effort in online, but now it's getting difficult to defend them. I mean, if you go for online, aim for perfection, as Nintendo usually goes, for gameplay. There have been several Nintendo games that, when offering online, are not polished enough. I can't understand the difficulty to play with friends, and make parties online, and then stick with those friend during the whole game!....so please Nintendo, time to improve your game....if you offer online, offer the best possible option. Anyeays WiiU sports looks terrible and absolutly no effort of a game....very low standards for such a company that supposes to have the "seal of quality".

chilenozoAugust 04, 2014

3.- I agree that the WiiU Gamepad lacks of analog buttons for racing games. I also wanna point out that for games where you need to press buttons and use the d-pad constantly and fast, like some hardcore platform games, I think the weight ends up affecting the gameplay time. My hand feel very tired after 1/2 an hour of playing platform games, like DKC TF, Rayman Legends, etc. Also, if you introduce new controller ideas, you should always care about those consumers that don't necessarily will like the idea. Like what happened with the the wii-remote.

azekeAugust 04, 2014

Quote from: chilenozo

1.- About the N64 controller save cards...remember that Sony was doing the same...it looks like on that specific period of time, everyone was thinking about transportable saved data.

For PS there was no other way of keeping saves because of optical format.

Quote from: chilenozo

I also wanna point out that for games where you need to press buttons and use the d-pad constantly and fast, like some hardcore platform games...

Action games also suffer if you put some functionality on analog triggers.

I still don't understand why dodge in Bayonetta (arguably the most important button in entire game) was put on analog trigger where travel time adds small lag to it. And this is the game that requires milliseconds level of reaction.

chilenozoAugust 04, 2014

Quote from: azeke

Quote from: chilenozo

1.- About the N64 controller save cards...remember that Sony was doing the same...it looks like on that specific period of time, everyone was thinking about transportable saved data.

For PS there was no other way of keeping saves because of optical format.

But both Sony and Nintendo used the excuse of portability as an asset. If Sony didn't want to allow flexibility for the saved data, they would have included a built-in memory card/hdd on the PS, or just one big slot for one big memory card that would store all the data. I still think that around that time, both companies saw the flexibility of having your own memory card with saved data as a cool think to have.

Quote from: azeke

I still don't understand why dodge in Bayonetta (arguably the most important button in entire game) was put on analog trigger where travel time adds small lag to it. And this is the game that requires milliseconds level of reaction.

I'm not saying my theory on this is a good one, nessesarily, but maybe it was a design choice to make the player need to pay attention to the eb and flow of combat to dodge earlier instead of using it as a spammable out to bad situations like the dodge in Other M or the parries in Metal Gear Rising where I literally played all of that game tapping forward into enemies to perform parries by 'accident'.

azekeAugust 05, 2014

Dodge is impossible to spam either way because you after four consecutive dodges it runs out (unless you're playing as Jeanne).
You can play the game by constantly holding the right trigger in 25% position and doing instant dodges that way, but it's too physically taxing. And by "instant" i mean really instant. No travel time whatsoever. This gets crucial on harder difficulties.

Can any of the RFN crew provide input on when the next retroactive poll will be?  I think it's been a while since the last one (hasn't it?).

We probably won't attempt one before 400, due to all the other planning that I have to do right now. However, there will be a special version of RetroActive on 400 (if all goes according to plan) and we should try to do. Normal one soon after that.

xcwarriorAugust 10, 2014

Been listening for 200+ episodes, this is the first one I just had to stop listening to because I couldn't take it anymore. You guys need to ease up on all the negativity. I got thru about 80 minutes of it, and I'd say 70 minutes was complaining, 5 minutes positive on Nintendo games, 5 minutes positive on Rogue Legacy.

I get it, you all hate WiiU and are luke warm about 3DS. Online in WiiU is either absent/bad. Let's just not beat a dead horse, shall we?

Even Mario Land 2, which I think you guys liked, no one actually wanted to compliment it. Saying, it's "Weird as f***" and "an acid trip" and "they were crazy making this" aren't exactly complimenting a really fun game. And right before finishing talking about the game saying it's good doesn't count as being positive.

But whatever, this is the way the show has been trending the last year. Even Guilleme got in on the bashing this episode, he's usually the one positive guy.

chilenozoAugust 10, 2014

Quote from: xcwarrior

Been listening for 200+ episodes, this is the first one I just had to stop listening to because I couldn't take it anymore. You guys need to ease up on all the negativity. I got thru about 80 minutes of it, and I'd say 70 minutes was complaining, 5 minutes positive on Nintendo games, 5 minutes positive on Rogue Legacy.

I get it, you all hate WiiU and are luke warm about 3DS. Online in WiiU is either absent/bad. Let's just not beat a dead horse, shall we?

Even Mario Land 2, which I think you guys liked, no one actually wanted to compliment it. Saying, it's "Weird as f***" and "an acid trip" and "they were crazy making this" aren't exactly complimenting a really fun game. And right before finishing talking about the game saying it's good doesn't count as being positive.

But whatever, this is the way the show has been trending the last year. Even Guilleme got in on the bashing this episode, he's usually the one positive guy.

Just for the record, I have been listening for almost 2 years, and to some extend, I agree with you. There are some episodes that one could say there were more positive than negative but it seems inevitable that some of the commentators are always ready to bring negativity, sarcasms, or be ironic towards Nintendo one way or another, is like it's permanently in their subconscious to bring some negativity in order to "spice up" the talk a bit.

My recommendation to some of the commentators: Just leave Nintendo and play something else and be happy. I mean, from my own experience, after the N64, I left Nintendo (never owned a handheld but had all the systems and lots of games till that moment), then I left to college and life kept me busy from gaming (in a good and fun way....specially with the women :) ). Then, after college, when my "body was ready" to play games again, PC-master race was dominating the conversation among my peers with the Battlefields, Call of Dutys, Counter-Strikes, Star Crafts, WoWs, and half-lifes. So I bought a powerful PC and had a blast, mostly with RTSs and FPSs.

It wasn't till the very end of the Wii-life that I happened to give it a try (I was also getting tired of the PC FPS orientated scene, let's call it, war and tear), and I kind of liked the motion controls. So I ended up buying a used Wii, and had a blast (as a PC master race guy, I would never judge a console by its graphics, cause nothing compares to PC). I couldn't believe I miss the master pieces of Metroid Prime and Super Mario Galaxys, I felt so good that when I bought a Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles was launching!...I loved to have access to many of the old games I missed or played a decade or so ago!

I don't care about online that much on consoles, I'm very competitive online, and don't like any kind of assistance from the computer, like many online gamers get on consoles (cod players on the xbox have to admit that, without aim assist, their battles would be very slow and inaccurate....instead ppl who play with the PC-mouse or wii-motes need little or no assistance)...so I will never be on the side of the criticism about online, but I understand it, as new generations have it by default, and ppl get used to things quickly and miss them quickly if they don't have it.

Anyways I'm losing my train of thought here. What I mean is, if you think Nintendo has lost its way, and I bet some ppl have been thinking this for a while now, just move on!....once you are 5, 10 years away, you will probably have a blast with whatever console Nintendo makes later. They are here to stay, they are a resilient and sustainable company. They don't live by the edge of massive sales. They will be here, waiting for you years later, when you are willing to give them a second chance. Don't ruin the conversation for people who genuinely are positive and (mostly) happy with the current Nintendo!

Eh, I'm not gonna leave Nintendo. I love Nintendo!

Anyway, you guys should listen to 394. I don't think you'll find it nearly as negative.

pokepal148Spencer Johnson, Contributing WriterAugust 10, 2014

Quote from: xcwarrior

Even Mario Land 2, which I think you guys liked, no one actually wanted to compliment it. Saying, it's "Weird as f***" and "an acid trip" and "they were crazy making this" aren't exactly complimenting a really fun game. And right before finishing talking about the game saying it's good doesn't count as being positive.

I think those are meant as compliments.

ML2 is weird. But we meant it as a compliment in the best way. And although I voiced criticisms on both of my NB games overall I like both of them.

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