Messages

376

Podcast Discussion / Re: Super Mario World - RFN RetroActive Discussion Thread

« on: August 12, 2009, 07:04:42 PM »

Isn't the spin jump a shorter jump? If it isn't, then I've always made this game harder than it is.

Something that really pisses me off is that some of the secret exits are the real exits, and the straightforward path doesn't do anything.

As I recall, there is no way to beat the game without finding at least two secret exits.

One choice I find interesting is that right from the start, the player is given a choice of what level to try first-Yoshi's Island 1 or 2. Virtually every other Mario game has one starting point, but this one has two.

I do have a problem with the cape, though. In the end, I think it's too good, allowing you to skip over virtually any open level easily. While limitless flight might be fun, it ultimately proves to be too powerful, allowing players to skip large portions of this game. By comparison, I think the carrot and fire flower in Super Mario Land 2 are much better balanced.

Also, scrolling does have a use-in some levels, you can use it to control when the Swoopers and Blarggs are triggered.

377

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #8 Poll - SNES Edition

« on: August 07, 2009, 09:21:29 PM »

So if SMW won, why is SMRPG bolded?

Because that's the one you voted for.

Now I know how James feels.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 156

« on: August 07, 2009, 08:21:19 PM »

Glad you answered my e-mail. Planet Pictobits  sure does have a nice ring, doesn't it?

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #8 Poll - SNES Edition

« on: August 07, 2009, 08:00:14 PM »

So if SMW won, why is SMRPG bolded?

380

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 154

« on: July 20, 2009, 09:07:39 PM »

When the "20th anniversarry" thing came up, I was sure Greg was going to mention The Wizard rather than SMB3 (which, if memory serves, actually came out in 1990 in the US). I expect there'll be mention of the movie in any SMB3 special, but I would like at least a Wizard segment on RFN.

381

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Retro Gaming Challenge?!

« on: July 12, 2009, 09:14:51 PM »

Just picked this up yesterday. Loved the Wizard reference-anyone know if that was in the original? Maybe if there' a third in Japan, there'll be some on DSiWare since they can compartmentalize them in advance.

382

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - Episode 54

« on: July 10, 2009, 11:09:41 PM »

Sonic 2 gave me flashbacks to the old synth keyboard my mom has. Very similar sound.

383

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - Episode 53

« on: July 10, 2009, 11:05:51 PM »

5. Is it just me, or is the music for this game horribly overcompressed? Seems like there's no dynamic range at all. Even so, I must admit it is great music.

I've actually gotten pretty used to hearing myself, since I'm doing it on a daily basis.

384

TalkBack / Re: My Thoughts on the Tracks in Mario Kart

« on: July 08, 2009, 08:50:24 PM »

Unfortunately the blue shell is a necessary evil. With the amount of items flying around it isn't so difficult for someone to escape from the pack and zoom so far ahead as to be uncatchable. The blue shell prevents that from happening.

That is one failing of Diddy Kong Racing. If the CPUs don't do a good job competing, you can be left in an unwinnable position for those Silver Coin Challenges.

The "2-D" Mario Karts never had the greatest track designs, even when translated to 3-D in DS and Wii, though they seemed great backin the day.

385

TalkBack / Re: This Week in Nintendo Downloads

« on: July 06, 2009, 06:43:42 PM »

Yeah, it's the fourth week in a row with 3 WiiWare titles, I'm building up quite a list of things I want to buy. I may end up blowing 5000 points in one sitting like I did last time. Also, I second the call for more or at least better VC games. I really want Yoshi's Island to come, it's the only game in my personal top 10 that can't currently be played on the Wii.

As much as I hate to say it but I think VC is pretty much dead.

It's not dead, it's just slowed its heartbeat down to the point that it appears dead. We still get a good game every once in a while; Smash Bros. is going to come at some point and Super Mario Kart just came out in Japan which means the alleged problems in emulating the Super FX chip have been solved. Next stop: Super FX 2.

Actually, SMK used a different chip, though hopefully some day the orginal Star Fox will come out.

386

TalkBack / Re: AQ Interactive Announces Korg DS-10 Plus

« on: June 29, 2009, 10:05:35 PM »

I've made good use of the original for loops and stock music. I hope the new one comes out here as well.

387

TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: Art Style: PiCTOBiTS

« on: June 21, 2009, 07:50:19 PM »

The music alone is worth 500 points. I've managed to "Star" (no pows) all the regular levels. Still working on the dark levels.

388

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - Episode 52

« on: June 12, 2009, 08:08:52 PM »

2.As I've stated before, I suspect this game isn't on VC for legal reasons related to the real-world buildings in Little States. A shame, really. I thought the gas station was in the southeast (according to Gamefaqs, it is). The soundtrack reminds me of Blast Corps but considerably more laid back. Also, who could forget the Nester-esque Lark?

4.Another Wizard game. I hope you're planning to do a Wizard 20th anniversary special on RFN and/or Radio Trivia later this year. I know way too much about that movie (having helped get it on DVD) and would love to participate in a talkback thread.

389

TalkBack / Re: Video Footage Showing the Return a Koopa Kid

« on: June 09, 2009, 08:38:22 AM »

The only thing that could make this better is if they could get the people who did the voices in the cartoons to do the voices in the game (sure, they had different names, but it would be cool).

I think Nintendo wants to pretend the cartoons didn't exist, I doubt they'd want there to be any connection between them and the games.

Perhaps, but I think the release of the cartoon box sets over the last few years may have contributed to the decision to bring them back.

390

TalkBack / Re: Video Footage Showing the Return a Koopa Kid

« on: June 06, 2009, 01:03:27 PM »

The only thing that could make this better is if they could get the people who did the voices in the cartoons to do the voices in the game (sure, they had different names, but it would be cool).

391

General Chat / Re: Google has just been out... Googled?

« on: June 03, 2009, 09:02:04 PM »

At least it knows the truth about a Pokemon singer:

http://www23.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=mandah

Looks like it can handle a wide range of math problems. Guess they'll have to make homework harder now.

392

TalkBack / Re: IMPRESSIONS: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: June 02, 2009, 09:06:08 PM »

I wonder if the Mario cartoon DVD releases had anything to do with bringing back the Koopalings. They did have way more personality there than Bowser Jr.

393

TalkBack / Re: NWR in Akihabara: Part 2 - Shopping in Akihabara

« on: May 26, 2009, 08:48:32 PM »

Pretty cool. Kinda reminded me of those travel documentaries you see on TV (albeit considerably shorter).

394

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #6 Game Discussion: Zelda II - The Adventure of Link

« on: May 26, 2009, 07:46:24 PM »

I'd say that if anything is missing from Zelda 2, it's the active item-use that is so well-integrated in most other Zelda games.  In the original Zelda, you have a nice mixture of items that either passive (for example, those that augment Link's defense) or those that can actively be used as weapons.   Part of the fun of the original Zelda came from experimentation with the items; it was fun playing around with items just to see what effects they would have on certain enemies. 

That experimentation factor is lost in Zelda 2.    Most of the items in Zelda 2 can not be actively used by the player; they simply augment Link's abilities in some way.  Even the items that the player can actively employ are only useful in a handful of places in the game.

That's one of the major improvements of LttP. Because the items themselves use magic there, magic feels a lot more useful and has more interesting behavior. Of course, you still have the three Zelda II-like spells, contained in the medallions.

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TalkBack / Re: NWR in Akihabara: Part 1 - Introduction/Super Potato

« on: May 22, 2009, 08:47:17 PM »

There was a beard?

What is Super Mario Versus? A speed or points race against another person playing Super Mario?

It's a special redesigned SMB with different levels (including some from SMB2J):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.#Vs._Super_Mario_Bros.

By the way, where does the name "Super Potato" come from?

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #6 Game Discussion: Zelda II - The Adventure of Link

« on: May 22, 2009, 07:29:32 PM »

I've actually played this game several times on the GameCube Zelda compilation disk. A year and a half ago, I did a video review which you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RHBNhWIf6A

The basic problem with the leveling mechanic is that after the major gains that come with the first few levels, the later boosts become less than useful. As a result, the hardest parts are the beginning of the game, where you're not very powerful and extremely vulnerable, and the end of the game, where your levels don't improve enough to match the sharply increasing difficulty. It would have been nice if the levels went up to 10 or 12 instead of 8 to bring things back in line (or if enemies would occasionally drop hearts instead of just magic jars and point bags).

There are other problems with the game as well-namely the lack of interesting dungeon items (of the six from temples, three are map items, and two are just visibility items), and the fact that jumping off a cliff usually results in the loss of a life (rather than losing a heart as in later Zelda games) but occasionally is needed to progress in dungeons is inconsistent and frustrating. The game also feels sparse-no money, no shops, just experience points.  Still, the game is fine as an occasional play, so I guess the "black sheep" of the Zelda family is still better than the "sheep dung" on the CD-i.

397

TalkBack / Re: This Week in Nintendo Downloads

« on: May 19, 2009, 08:42:59 AM »

Good to see they haven't completely given up on N64 games for the Virtual Console.  My dream of Pilotwings 64 being released hasn't been completely shattered yet...

There may be legal issues with the real-world buildings in the Little States area, so it may not come out.

398

TalkBack / Re: This Week in Nintendo Downloads

« on: May 18, 2009, 10:40:46 PM »

Just downloaded Pictobits. Pretty cool once you get used to the mechanics, and the retro facet is neat.

399

Nintendo Gaming / Re: DSi owners' thread

« on: May 14, 2009, 08:56:07 PM »

I finally went and put some AAC files on my SD card and into my DSi. I can't believe how incredibly good the DSi speakers are considering how small they are. Crazy.

400

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 145

« on: May 11, 2009, 08:24:29 PM »

One other thing I would suggest if you want to get into game development is to spend a lot of time looking over existing games and try to figure out why they work or don't work. Video games is one of the few computer-related fields where you can really get into the customer's shoes before you even apply.