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Messages - John Rairdin

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1
TalkBack / Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection (Switch) Review
« on: March 21, 2024, 12:40:00 PM »

These people need to be stopped.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/66651/star-wars-battlefront-classic-collection-switch-review

I had every intention of writing a very normal review for Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection. When I first booted it up during the pre-launch period to just play some Galactic Conquest, I was actually pretty positive about it. Performance held up well, image quality was good, all of the nice per-pixel effects from the Xbox version were preserved (something I’ve learned can’t be counted on in Aspyr Star Wars ports), and in general this seemed like a solid version of the game. Then I played online and found it borderline unplayable. I was alerted by another NWR staff member to check out the single player mode in Battlefront 2 where sure enough, half the cutscenes were just randomly missing. In the days that followed we’d find out some of the new features in the game were actually pulled directly from a mod with no credit to their creator. Even the little voice in my head that said “surely they’ll fix it” was shot down by memories of the promised but never delivered Sith Lords Restored update for Knights of the Old Republic 2.

To be blunt, I’ve personally reviewed half of the Star Wars ports Aspyr has released on Switch, and I’ve purchased all of the rest. Their work has ranged from just adequate to well below expectations, but after Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Battlefront Classic Collection, I think it's time for Star Wars and Aspyr to part ways. These games deserve better than this. Today I’d just like to work my way through the Battlefront Classic Collection, highlight the issues, give credit in the few places it is legitimately due, then leave it up to you. I will not be giving the game a score because frankly that would require a fully playable product to review, and I don’t believe Aspyr has delivered that.

Both of these games were originally released at a time where online gaming on home consoles was very young. So whether you consider these games to be predominantly built around online or offline play will just depend on where you were at in terms of online gaming at the time they were released. But it's fair to say that objectively, the expanded online multiplayer is a huge draw for this collection. At launch, it didn’t work. Only a few dedicated servers, supporting 64 players apiece, were available to the thousands of players who logged on. You could also play on user hosted servers but performance took a huge hit while using these servers even if the host's internet was fast and reliable. Since launch some new dedicated servers have come online but the active player base has dropped to under 100 active players last time I checked (on a Friday night). On the bright side, the servers are much more capable of supporting this, and I had some reasonably well performing matches during that time, but at no point did I play with a full lobby. The closest I ever got was about 50 players at which point the game became laggy until enough people left. Good luck finding the 64 player matches the game was sold on.

Now let’s focus on some of the new content. Another major selling point of this release were new heroes and villains to play as, and the ability to play Heroes VS Villains on any map. When this was revealed in the initial Nintendo Direct trailer the fan community noticed that the work of modder iamashaymin appeared to be present in the collection. Aspyr clarified that this had been a mistake and the modded code would not be present in the final version. A little data mining by iamashaymin evidently revealed their mod was very much still in the game.

By far the weirdest issue I’ve seen is the missing cutscenes in Star Wars Battlefront 2. Before and after each level of the single player campaign you’re supposed to be treated to a pre-rendered cutscene narrated by Temuera Morrison who played Jango Fett, Boba Fett, and about 200,000 clone troopers with a million more well on the way. The intro cutscenes are present and accounted for but the cutscenes at the end of each level just aren’t there. As you’d expect this leaves about half the story completely untold and makes for some fun narrative timeskips.

But here’s the thing, beyond that single player bug in Battlefront 2, if you’re playing offline the game is largely fine. I’ve seen some posts online indicating major graphical bugs but I’ve never been able to recreate these, at least in the Switch version running on real hardware. I have noticed some very minor graphical touches like bloom (which were likely tied to resolution in the original release) feel quite weak as a result in this version. But recent patch notes lead me to believe this is already being actively dealt with. The default aim sensitivity is quite high in Battlefront 1, even as someone who plays plenty of competitive shooters. But a quick visit to the options menu can fix that. Meanwhile Battlefront 2’s default sensitivity is far too low. All of the nice bump mapping and effects from the Xbox version are here, and for my money the game generally looks better overall than any previous version, including the PC release. And actual native widescreen support on a console version of these games is always a win.

Unfortunately this does mean that they’ve bloated what should realistically take up about 10GB to over 30GB on Nintendo Switch. Meanwhile the other consoles somehow take up an outrageous 70GB of space. For reference I still have the original two Battlefront games installed on my Xbox Series X and they take up a total of 7GB between the two of them. Even with upscaled textures that is a remarkable amount of bloat that is honestly hard to justify for what you’re getting.

At the end of the day, if you plan to only play offline in Galactic Conquest mode, you’ll probably have a decent time. If you engage with any other part of this release, you will encounter some sort of issue. I wish I could say that I was shocked that these games would be released in this state but I’ve been covering Aspyr’s Star Wars ports for too long to be surprised anymore. A lot of very separate, very bad decisions needed to all happen at once to allow this product to exist. It is ultimately a culmination of everything Aspyr has gotten wrong in their Star Wars ports for the last five years. How they have maintained the rights and how Dark Forces somehow escaped to Nightdive instead (thank the maker) I’ll never know. It is time to put more care into re-releasing these games. These games are iconic, oftentimes genre shifting, and they deserve better than this.


2
TalkBack / Kingdom Come: Deliverance Switch Port Tech Review
« on: March 15, 2024, 04:07:11 AM »

The latest massive open-world RPG to go handheld.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/66598/kingdom-come-deliverance-switch-port-tech-review

Open-world RPG Kingdom Come Deliverance has arrived on Nintendo Switch? Has it made the jump to handheld smoothly? Let's take a look.


3
TalkBack / Highwater (Switch) Review Mini
« on: March 14, 2024, 05:00:00 AM »

An oddly cozy end of the world.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/66595/highwater-switch-review-mini

Highwater is a unique and charming narrative adventure. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic, flooded world. What is left of humanity is relegated to small islands. The rich elites live in a place called Alphaville and until recently, were sending out aid to the rest of the world. But now it appears that the citizens of Alphaville are intending to leave Earth altogether. Outside of their walls, insurgent militia are forming in the wake of food and supply shortages. Our hero, Nikos, has decided that he needs to journey to Alphaville, find a way inside, and escape with them from a world that is clearly on its last legs.

Most of Highwater’s gameplay is what you’d expect from a narrative adventure. You sail your small boat from island to island, talking to people, completing quests, and occasionally branching off the linear story to explore some optional areas. Sprinkled on top of that, however, are some very light tactical RPG elements.

When faced with an enemy, you’ll enter into turn-based, tactical combat. There is no real leveling system or skill trees, so combat isn’t particularly grindy. Rather each encounter feels like a very intentional puzzle. The linear, scripted nature of the game means that each encounter is well thought out and balanced based on the party you have. Your one bit of wiggle room is in optional weapons and buffs you can equip to your characters. These are largely found by exploring side areas. Most of the time, though, it's just about effectively managing your very set resources and making use of environmental hazards to take out foes effectively. Combat is fun, if a little slow to move between turns. That being said, I did notice that the equipment screen is devoid of any sort of control guide. Navigating it and switching between weapons and buffs is vague and often requires some random button pushing. The game does tell you the controls once, the first time you open the menu, so you better be paying attention because they won’t tell you again.

By far Highwater’s greatest strength is in its story. The plot is told through a combination of character interactions, along with regular radio broadcasts that give you a sense of what's going on in the wider world. The whole story has a great, albeit grim, sense of humor. Satire abounds both in the plot and in random bits of newspapers and other things you can find lying around. The world feels inevitably doomed and yet the game itself is not dark or depressing. The visuals are bright and upbeat and the soundtrack is chill. It feels as though there is an unspoken theme of finding good people doing their best in spite of the world falling apart around them.

Highwater's well told story, and surprisingly deep gameplay, made it hard to put down. It's not quite like any other narrative adventure game I’ve ever played. Combat and menu design can be a little clunky, but ultimately every encounter serves as a deliberate and well crafted puzzle. This is a very fresh take on a post apocalyptic story that oozes with satire, dark humor, and some oddly cozy end of the world vibes.


4

Surely it will work this time, right?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/66509/why-pokemon-legends-z-a-might-not-be-a-technical-disaster-like-scarlet-and-violet

2022's trio of Pokémon games had some great ideas but weren't exactly winning any awards for their technical stability and graphical fidelity. So, what's different about Legends Z - A that has us excited and cautiously optimistic?


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TalkBack / Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (Switch) Review
« on: February 28, 2024, 03:00:00 AM »

A classic FPS gets the remaster it deserves.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/66441/star-wars-dark-forces-remaster-switch-review

Star Wars Dark Forces marked the start of one of the most substantial Star Wars video game series in the franchise's history. You may know it better as the Jedi Knight series. It was the first appearance of Kyle Katarn, who is often considered an inspiration for the modern canon’s Cassian Andor. The series has previously appeared on Switch via Aspyr’s ports of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. But now, this remaster of the inaugural title in the series from Nightdive Studios gives us an incredible way to re-experience this iconic first person shooter.

From a gameplay standpoint, Star Wars Dark Forces falls in line with what you’d expect from early ‘90s first person shooters. Levels are labyrinthian and often rely on players finding ways to unlock paths then backtracking to progress further in the level. Dark Forces does a better job than many games of this era of shaking off the colored key system that had held the genre in a stranglehold. There are, of course, still keys here and there, but Dark Forces focuses more on hidden switches and some light puzzle solving than many other similar games of the era. For example, you may need to find various pieces of a code to enter into a computer to open a locked door, or perhaps find out which code of several goes to the door you need to open. Much of the design of Dark Forces would become a staple for later Star Wars games and even served as a huge influence for games that weren’t officially part of the Dark Forces series, such as Shadows of the Empire. In fact, all the grunts you hear Dash Rendar make as he runs and leaps through that Nintendo 64 classic have their roots right here.

Star Wars Dark Forces was originally released in 1995 and made use of the proprietary Jedi engine built by LucasArts. On a technical level, it has quite a lot in common with the Build engine that powered games like Duke Nukem. It could present what was for the time quite complex, overlapping level geometry with a fair amount of detail. The remaster moves to Nightdive’s KEX Engine and gains many of the expected enhancements. Textures are updated, vertical camera movements no longer distort geometry, and optional effects like bloom can have a transformative effect on some of the art. All of these features are individually toggleable. This means you can play the game as it was in 1995, as it is nearly thirty years later, or mix and match to land somewhere in between.

The true strength of this remaster is in its understanding of its core assets. While Dark Forces Remastered gives you the ability to use higher resolution environmental textures and enemy sprites, these new assets still fit into the inherently retro aesthetic of the simple level geometry. Yes, textures are higher resolution but they still look somewhat retro. They’re not swapping out these assets for totally modern ones, they're updating the original art without breaking it. It stands in stark contrast to some other recent remasters of a similar era and shows exactly how this sort of thing ought to be done. Dark Forces Remastered also comes with quite a bit of bonus content, including concept art, design documents, reference footage filmed for cutscene animation, and even a fully playable prototype level.

That doesn’t mean the package is flawless, however. Some basic quality of life features such as a mid-level save system are missing. This is consistent with the original release but feels like an obvious functionality to include in a remaster. Some of the later missions get pretty long, and having to make sure to leave the game suspended the entire time can be frustrating. I’d also have liked to see the soundtrack from the PlayStation version of the game included, in addition to the original and modern midi versions. There is nothing wrong with the soundtracks present–I tend to stick with the original version–but it would have been nice to provide a complete version.

From a performance perspective, Dark Forces Remastered is exactly what you should be able to expect: sharp image quality, smooth frame rate, and excellently modernized controls. Speaking of controls, you can even go in and manually set up a hotkey to toggle between the retro and modern engines, allowing you to quickly compare changes on the fly. It really lets you appreciate how every surface has been updated, while never losing the artistic intent of the original art.

Star Wars Dark Forces Remastered is an excellent and faithful remaster that honors the original while touching it up just enough for modern platforms. While there are a couple areas where I feel they could have done just a little more, I can’t deny that this is the best way to play an excellent first person shooter. Whether you’re returning to it after three decades, or playing for the first time, there has never been a better version of Star Wars Dark Forces.


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TalkBack / Epic Mickey: Rebrushed - Intro Cutscene Comparison
« on: February 21, 2024, 11:35:56 AM »

Wii VS Switch

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/66338/epic-mickey-rebrushed-intro-cutscene-comparison

We didn't expect them to re-animate the entire intro.


7
TalkBack / Grounded and Pentiment Switch Tech Preview
« on: February 21, 2024, 10:07:27 AM »

They run at 60fps?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/66337/grounded-and-pentiment-switch-tech-preview

Xbox is bringing two more games to Nintendo Switch. And they might surprise you. Lets tech a quick technical look at the trailers for Pentiment and Grounded.


8
TalkBack / Promenade (Switch) Review Mini
« on: February 20, 2024, 04:25:00 AM »

Like Banjo Kazooie but flat.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/66331/promenade-switch-review-mini

Ever since Super Mario 64, there has been an invisible line between traditional 2D platformers, and collectathon-based 3D platformers. Promenade proudly plants a foot on each side of that line, and what results is a remarkably unique platformer that manages to squish a 3D collectathon into two dimensions–all while looking absolutely beautiful with rich, detailed animation work for players and enemies alike.

You play as Nemo, who is rescued from drowning by a tiny octopus. There is an almost a Boy and His Blob-esque nature to their friendship and it is consistently endearing. Leaving the cave you've been living in, you travel to the great elevator, where some dark entity emerges from Nemo and shatters the gears that power the elevator. So naturally, it's up to you to fix it and unravel the nature of this mysterious figure.

Gameplay centers around working your way up this elevator. At each stop you’ll find entrances to unique worlds full of fractured gears to be reassembled. Each world contains a series of challenges that are never overtly stated to the player. Instead you’ll generally stumble into them naturally through engaging with smart level design. Complete a challenge; get a piece of a gear. Within a stage, it is also possible to find a journal that lists the names of each challenge along with a checklist for completion. This can help you hunt down any missing challenges as each name is also a hint regarding the nature or location of the challenge itself. Unfortunately, world maps feel like a somewhat obvious omission as some of these stages get quite large and some even have their own substages.

Movement throughout these worlds is built heavily upon the use of your little octopus buddy as a sort of grappling hook. At the outset, you’re able to throw him to pick up enemies. Once picked up, enemies can be thrown as weapons, or chucked straight down to propel you upwards. You’ll soon unlock the ability to latch onto specific grapple points as well. Platforming puzzles in Promenade often center around making perfectly timed leaps from grapple points, grabbing enemies out of mid air, and using them to boost to unreachable areas. It's a simple mechanic but one that is used very well. All that being said, platforming can at times be a little awkward, with hitboxes not always lining up with your expectations. Still the unique way in which mechanics are employed largely smooths over these issues.

Promenade’s visual charm and unique take on the genre make it an immediately impactful title that's hard not to be drawn in by. Each world offers new challenges and the experience feels constantly fresh. It’s noticeable how some of the platforming can be a little stiff, making certain precise platforming challenges a little more frustrating than they should be. However, at the end of the day Promenade is an absolute gem that will appeal to any kind of platforming fan. Don’t let this one sneak past you.


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TalkBack / Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (Switch) Review
« on: February 13, 2024, 08:26:58 AM »

Love letter or quick cash grab?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/66264/tomb-raider-i-iii-remastered-switch-review

The original Tomb Raider trilogy, especially the first title, is one of those games that has to be viewed in the context of its time. 3D games on home consoles were still relatively young and the first generation of systems built with 3D in mind had only recently been released. One of these was the Sega Saturn, onto which Tomb Raider arrived in 1996 before being released to both the original PlayStation and MS-DOS. That MS-DOS version was the first way I played Tomb Raider as a kid and despite its chunky environments, it felt remarkably immersive at the time. Nearly thirty years later, those first three Tomb Raider games arrive on modern platforms as Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, featuring updated graphics and modernized controls. But do these remasters do enough to shake off the early 3D dust covering these increasingly ancient relics.

In terms of early 3D adventure games, it is important to keep in mind that Tomb Raider serves as a predecessor to later benchmarks such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. As such, it lacks much of the niceties that would become standard in the genre as it went on. The game places a heavy focus on combat and platforming, in addition to puzzle solving. This remastered version largely improves on all of these aspects by offering modern controls in addition to the regular tank controls. These greatly improve the playability of the trilogy in most regards, though they do create a few issues. Namely that Lara’s collision logic is still bound by those original rigid controls, so getting her to line up perfectly with the gridlike geometry when using modern controls can be a bit tricky. I’d often have to make multiple approaches to a ledge before she’d line up with it just right in order to climb up. Other moves, such as the running long jump, are significantly more difficult to trigger while using modern controls. As a result, at times I’d wind up switching back and forth mid stage. All that being said, I found that combat was hugely improved by modern controls; Lara now feels as agile as her foes making combat much more enjoyable.

In my technical preview that I released a few days ago, I broke down how this remaster makes use of much of the same underlying geometry as the original games for its level design. By doing this, the remaster is able to offer seamless swapping between the original version and the remastered version of each game, thanks to collision meshes on the environment being 1:1. The downside is that this low-polygon geometry stands out quite starkly against the much more modern model for Lara and various enemies.

This contrast isn’t helped by the extremely simple, and at times questionable, HD textures used to modernize the geometry. The first game fares the best, with most textures being a flawless match for their low-resolution counterparts. I’m not sure if these were derived from the original source textures that the initial art was sampled from or if they’re recreations, but regardless they convey the original visuals very well at a higher resolution. On the other end of the spectrum are textures that look nothing like those seen in the original games. One rock wall in Tomb Raider II features a picture of real rocks that look totally different from the original texture but the problem runs far deeper than that. To start, the surface photographed is at an angle, rather than head on, so the texture doesn’t like up with the perspective of the surface. Furthermore the photograph is taken under harsh sunlight which is casting hard shadows across the surface of the rock, but this texture is often used in dark caves out of direct sunlight. Textures like these remind me of YouTube videos of Nintendo 64 games remastered in Unreal Engine that simply slap high resolution textures onto the original geometry with no regard for what that geometry was intended to represent. To be blunt, it looks awful. Other textures simply misrepresent what the original game was trying to convey. In one stage, a fast-flowing river texture is replaced with the generic standing water texture completely removing the intended indication to the player that they will be swept up in the current. The first stage of the third game has an animated mud texture that has lost its animation in the remaster. This animation was intended to show the player where they could safely walk, without it the player simply has to guess. All of these textures are simple color textures. None of them feature any modern per-pixel material properties such as bump or normal maps to help them react to the new lighting. I’d have also liked to see parallax or displacement maps to help alleviate the low resolution geometry with some perceived depth without upsetting the original collision mesh. The closest thing I saw were some puddles that featured a basic cube map.

On the bright side all three titles run flawlessly. Check out my technical preview for details but suffice it to say all three hit 1080p docked, 720p handheld, and 60fps pretty much the entire time. And that is worth something, for as much as I can complain about some of the remastering choices, these games all play as well as they possibly could without fundamentally rewriting how they work. That, at the end of the day, is the key factor. I can forgive the occasionally awkward controls, even when using the modern setting. They are that way in order to preserve the option to play these games exactly how they were. I can forgive re-use of the original primitive geometry because it allows you to switch between the remastered version and the original version seamlessly at any time. But the inconsistent, technically lackluster, and artistically questionable way the visuals have been remastered is a huge sticking point for me. Earlier I compared it to an ugly fan remaster of a Nintendo 64 game but in reality, that’s inaccurate as they generally use more complex modern material rendering than Tomb Raider I-III does. But the worst sin of all is that occasionally the remastering literally removes intentional game design choices made for the original game and becomes a worse experience as a result.

Your enjoyment of this collection will depend entirely on why you’re playing it. If you want to play using the original graphics, with optional modernized controls, at a high resolution, and with widescreen support, this is essentially perfect. But if you’re looking for a remastered experience, Tomb Raider I-III is both an artistic mess, and a remarkable misunderstanding of some of the original visual game design. So come for the genre-defining original trilogy, but I wouldn’t recommend staying for their remastered incarnations.


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Podcast Discussion / Episode 395: The Best of Classic Literature on NES
« on: February 02, 2024, 05:01:41 AM »

Revisiting some old favorites.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/66151/episode-395-the-best-of-classic-literature-on-nes

A bit of listener mail sends John and Alex down a winding path of replaying games they've already finished. Alex is drawn in by the siren song of Earthbound. John decides to see if he can beat Star Fox Zero without motion controls (for science). Then the fellas turn their attention to listing off their most replayed games and things get oddly literary.


11
TalkBack / What Open-World Zelda Can Learn From Open-World Halo
« on: January 23, 2024, 04:58:10 AM »

Because I play my linear games turned open-world adventures for the plot.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/66079/what-open-world-zelda-can-learn-from-open-world-halo

Halo Infinite isn't generally seen as the incredible success that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were. And yet there is one key thing it does much better.


12
Podcast Discussion / Episode 393: Sell Me Your Games as NFTs Ubisoft
« on: January 19, 2024, 05:09:35 AM »

I want to own games, you want money, it's the perfect plan.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/66016/episode-393-sell-me-your-games-as-nfts-ubisoft

Alex joins John for a short episode as we enjoy the calm before the storm. 2024 gets off on the right foot with Prince of Persia. The NSO adds two games we hope we like as much as we remember. And finally Ace Combat is apparently making its way to Switch.


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TalkBack / Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Tech Performance Analysis
« on: January 11, 2024, 08:39:22 AM »

Almost perfect on Switch

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/65973/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-tech-performance-analysis

It pays to have Switch in mind when making games for Switch. Who knew!


14
TalkBack / Nintendo World Report End of Year Awards 2023
« on: December 30, 2023, 08:36:37 AM »

Here are our picks for the best games on Switch this year.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/65896/nintendo-world-report-end-of-year-awards-2023

2023 will likely go down in history as an incredible year for game releases across every platform. At the same time, as profits rise, we've also seen record numbers of layoffs from successful companies. As we celebrate the incredible work of developers from all corners of the industry, let us also remember to continue to push to make this industry we love so much better for the people who make our favorite games.

This year we have split our year-end awards into three categories: DLC, Re-Releases, and New Games. Often, we find that a game's status as a port or remaster of an older title lowers its standing in our final rankings, so by splitting the two we can simultaneously celebrate both old and new. In order for a game to be considered for the Ports and Classic Collections category, the original release of the game(s) had to be prior to 2023. Likewise, to be considered a new game, the initial release had to occur within 2023. The initial release did not have to be on Switch so long as both the original release and the Switch release both occurred in 2023.

Nominations were collected from NWR staff (five in each category) throughout the month of December. The staff then met shortly before Christmas to decide on the final list. The number of nominations a game received was taken into account but did not automatically determine a game's placement. Rather each individual game was argued for based on its own merits.


15
Podcast Discussion / Episode 391: The Fallen Switch Timeline
« on: December 29, 2023, 04:24:17 AM »

The weirdest end of year ranking you'll hear.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/65901/episode-391-the-fallen-switch-timeline

We're back from our December break! Matt and Alex join John to discuss what they've been playing the past few weeks before diving into a ranking of Switch release schedules. Don't forget if you're an NWR Patreon supporter you have a bonus episode of NWR Connectivity available now!


16

Found after 30 years.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/65703/eclipse-the-demo-that-sold-3d-to-nintendo-collaboration-with-vghf

Produced in collaboration with the Video Game History Foundation, John Rairdin is joined by Dylan Cuthbert and the staff of VGHF to tell the story of this incredible demo.

The Video Game History Foundation is currently running their Winter Fundraiser! If you'd like to donate to their cause of preserving the history of Video Games and the stories of their creators, consider donating here.


17
TalkBack / (Fixed) Jet Force Gemini Widescreen Mode is Broken on Switch
« on: December 01, 2023, 10:38:00 AM »

You can only future proof your game so long as the future is paying attention.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/65650/fixed-jet-force-gemini-widescreen-mode-is-broken-on-switch

UPDATEAs of a patch on 2/21/2024 this issue has been resolved on Nintendo Switch.

UPDATEWith Jet Force Gemini now available in other regions, we've produced a more in depth video explaining the issues outlined in this article.

Jet Force Gemini is available on Nintendo Switch right now via the Japanese NSO app (the new 18+ one). However this release does have a very obvious bug that's a huge disappointment, especially in handheld mode. Jet Force Gemini was one of several Rare games of the era to support a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Goldeneye 007 offered this same feature, and the Switch release took advantage of this, making it the default display mode.

In Jet Force Gemini however, turning on widescreen mode does not properly scale the image.

The 4:3 border does disappear, but the image is letterboxed rather than being properly stretched vertically to fill the screen. When playing docked you could conceivably adjust your picture settings to manually scale the image, but when playing handheld there is no way to display the image correctly. Below I've manually rescaled the image to show how it should display on the Switch screen.

Perhaps by the time this game makes it to the North American version of the NSO service, this bug will be resolved. For now I'd stick with 4:3 mode if you're playing the Japanese version.


18
TalkBack / SteamWorld Build (Switch) Review
« on: December 01, 2023, 04:16:10 AM »

The robots yearn for the mines.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65649/steamworld-build-switch-review

SteamWorld Build looks to combine the classic, randomized excavation of SteamWorld Dig with a modern city-builder. Throw in some very light real-time-strategy elements for good measure and you’ve got the recipe for a fascinating and charming game. The question is, can SteamWorld Build effectively leverage the endless replayability of both their own SteamWorld Dig series, and any good city-builder?

Each map will start with you building up a settlement around a broken down train station. Your first goal will be to build up enough resources and workers to repair the train station. Once this is done, trains will start arriving with purchasable upgrades and can also be used to trade for more resources. In addition to resources needed for traditional construction (wood, metal, etc), you’ll also need to provide for the needs of your population with stores, repair shops, restaurants, and more. These service buildings will need to be in range of the population that needs them, so properly zoning your city is crucial.

At the start you’ll only be able to recruit basic workers, who will fill out simple jobs and provide some limited technology. As your population grows you’ll be able to upgrade your worker housing to engineer housing, opening up new technologies and jobs. Keep expanding and you’ll unlock more and more population types. The only problem is, because making new types of units is based on upgrading old ones, you’ll need to constantly make housing in an area that fulfills the needs of a worker, before upgrading it and moving the entire house to a different area that fits the engineer’s needs. No matter how many units you unlock, you’ll always need to upgrade them to every step along the way, making city layout management needlessly complicated. Being able to simply produce units from scratch or skip the incremental upgrades would significantly enhance the city-building element of SteamWorld Build.

Of course city-building is only half of the gameplay loop. Once you’ve built up a decent number of engineers, you’ll be able to repair your first mineshaft. Here you’ll be able to transition underground, where you’ll begin setting up homes for your mining staff and exploring the randomly generated depths. You can assign miners to dig through individual grids of the underground to find additional resources that can in turn be used to further develop your city. Conversely, as your city develops, you’ll gain access to more unit types underground. Unlike your above-ground city, your underground units do not require upgrading; rather, you can simply place homes for miners, prospectors, mechanics, etc. This makes the mining segment much more interesting and smooth to play while highlighting the problem above ground.

Your ultimate goal is to collect spaceship parts that will allow you to leave the planet behind. These are exclusively found underground and will require you to delve deeper and deeper, repairing new mineshafts to access more levels. Each level will prove gradually more dangerous requiring you to recruit guards and set up defenses against monsters. It isn’t a full real-time-strategy game by any means, but it adds a nice twist to the gameplay.

As I spent time with SteamWorld Build, I found myself hugely enjoying my time underground, while growing frustrated with the limits of the city-building. Ultimately the linear upgrade-based progression of the city-building removes most of your freedom in that segment of the game. Your city will always develop exactly the same way. You can’t focus more on one unit, or choose one strategy over another. You simply spawn workers, until you can spawn the next unit, and then the next, and then the next. And with each one of these you’ll be picking up buildings and moving them from one part of the city to another to meet that unit's specific needs. Once you make it underground, SteamWorld Build is a delight, but any time spent on the surface is filled with mild frustrations that slowly add up and leave me yearning for the mines. It should come as no surprise, I suppose, that SteamWorld is at its best when you’re digging.


19
TalkBack / Roundup: Indie World Showcase 11/14/2023
« on: November 14, 2023, 09:30:20 AM »

It's like reading the showcase but faster.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/65492/roundup-indie-world-showcase-11142023

If you missed today's Indie World Showcase, here is everything that was revealed in a quick roundup.

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution- 2024 - Long lost follow up to the original Shantae releasing after twenty years. Completed by its original developers

Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition - December 7, 2023 - Open-world, time looping, space adventure.

On Your Tail - 2024 (timed exclusive) - You're a crime solving cat person.

A Highland Song - December 5, 2023 - Narrative platformer based on the landscapes of Scottland.

Backpack Hero - Available Today - Deckbuilding roguelike with backpack management.

Howl - Available Today - Turn-based, tactical folktale about a plague that spreads via sound.

Blade Chimera - Spring 2024 (timed exclusive) - 2D, pixel art, action-platformer.

Death Trick: Double Blind - 2024 - Non-linear, detective, visual novel.

The Star Named EOS - Spring 2024 - First person puzzle adventure with lots of photography.

Moonstone Island - Spring 2024 (timed exclusive) - Procedural crafting, collecting, and deck-building game.

Core Keeper - Summer 2024 - Cooperative dungeon crawling life sim.

Planet of Lana - Spring 2024 - Cinematic puzzle platformer.

Enjoy the Diner - Available Today - Point and click, narrative adventure.

The Gecko Gods - Spring 2024 - Gecko based platformer.

Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist - Available Today - Painting based adventure game.

Braid: Anniversary Edition - April 30, 2024 - It's Braid.

Urban Myth Dissolution Center - 2024 - Mystery game about investigating urban myths.

Heavenly Bodies - February 2024 - Physics based puzzle game in space.


20
TalkBack / Outer Wilds Gets Switch Release Date
« on: November 14, 2023, 07:35:00 AM »

A long overdue arrival.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/65491/outer-wilds-gets-switch-release-date

Having been announced way back in February 2021, the Switch port of Outer Wilds finally has a release date on Switch. The critically acclaimed indie title will launch on Switch on December 7, 2024. The Switch release will also include the Echoes of the Eye expansion. A physical version was also announced 2024. No specific date was given on the physical version.


22
Podcast Discussion / Episode 387: Average Tuesday Night Zelda Announcement
« on: November 10, 2023, 09:55:59 AM »

How'd you like to make a quick morbillion?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/65433/episode-387-average-tuesday-night-zelda-announcement

Neal is lost in the desert and chaos has broken loose. Matt's talking about Fortnite, John is playing JRPGs, Link is a real boy, and Alex... well Alex played Shadow of the Colossus which is honestly pretty great.


23
TalkBack / Legend of Zelda Movie Discussion
« on: November 09, 2023, 03:56:51 AM »

Can Live Action Zelda Work?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/65431/legend-of-zelda-movie-discussion

In this segment from the NWR Connectivity podcast, John Rairdin, Matt Zawodniak, and Alex De Freitas sit down to discuss the recent news of a live action Legend of Zelda movie. Is live action the right choice for Zelda? When lessons can Nintendo learn from the MCU. Will it make a morbillion dollars?


24
TalkBack / Air Twister (Switch) Review Mini
« on: November 06, 2023, 04:16:29 AM »

It's a prog-rock rail shooter from the Shenmue guy? Sure okay.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/65422/air-twister-switch-review-mini

I went into Air Twister fairly blind. Despite its release last year on Apple Arcade, all I knew was that it was a rail shooter from game designer Yu Suzuki. That alone was enough to garner some interest. Suzuki’s Space Harrier is generally regarded as one of the early progenitors of the third person rail shooter genre. Once I actually booted up Air Twister, I was hit with surprise after surprise. While it stumbles plenty along the way, I couldn’t help but enjoy the bizarre insanity it presents at every turn.

At its core, Air Twister very much feels like a spiritual sequel to Space Harrier. You play as an inexplicably floating woman with a laser blasting crossbow. Holding down the A button allows you to lock onto multiple enemies before firing a series of homing shots with ZR, while a quick press of the ZR button will fire a single unguided shot straight ahead. If you’ve played classic Sega sprite-scaling rail shooters you’ll feel right at home here. The flying and shooting both feel good, if extremely basic. That’s probably the greatest knock against Air Twister. From a purely gameplay focused perspective, it doesn’t evolve much beyond its inspirations.

This doesn’t mean Air Twister is completely devoid of any depth, it is just found outside of the primary gameplay experience. After your first game over you’ll be kicked back to a menu jam packed with content. The most crucial thing on this menu is the Adventure Map which acts as a sort of skill tree. Here you’ll spend points earned from downing enemies to increase your maximum hit points, unlock special perks, and fill out your wardrobe for customizing the protagonist. To be clear, you don’t need to upgrade your character to finish the game. This is a true arcade rail shooter at its core, not an RPG, so skill is king. That being said, exploring this truly massive upgrade tree does make even a failed run feel like progress. Beyond the upgrades are also a variety of other bonus modes, detailed lore entries, and more. What you won't find is a level select or continue option should you fall in battle. A game over means starting over from stage one, granted you’ll have any new upgrades you’ve bought in the interim. By modern standards I suppose you could call it a roguelite.

Oh and I suppose I should mention that Air Twister has the soundtrack of a prog-rock-opera. It caught me a little off guard as I started the first level only to be met with an original soundtrack by Dutch prog-rock artist Valensia. It takes some getting used to but Air Twister just commits to this strange vibe that feels very old school Sega. The only downside is that several of the songs get used multiple times, which lessens the impact of the otherwise constantly changing stage variety, and gives the game a somewhat deceptive feeling of repetition.

At the end of the day, Air Twister is not a particularly long or difficult rail shooter. It took me three runs to reach the end of its 12 stages. The upgrade system does make replaying through old stages easier and easier with each attempt. Still I felt as though I ran out of game long before I’d unlocked even half of the upgrades. It is almost as if Air Twister has a lot of secondary depth in its systems that isn’t really supported by its short simple campaign. That being said, even while being highly aware of these flaws I still had a really good time playing through it. Everything about Air Twister is bizarre and often flawed, but I can’t say it isn’t fun.


25
TalkBack / Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch) Review
« on: November 02, 2023, 05:28:32 AM »

Let the past die, kill it if you have to.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65369/super-mario-bros-wonder-switch-review

Super Mario Bros. Wonder represents a major shift in Nintendo’s approach to 2D Mario. For nearly two decades, 2D Mario has been developed with a goal of living up to what came before. The entirety of the New Super Mario Bros. series which spanned from 2006 to 2012 (barring a Switch port of the final game in 2019) spent its entire run desperately clawing its way to the level of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. While that branch of 2D Mario certainly improved over its four games, I’d argue that it never really did hit that goal. Throughout all of this, each game struggled to find its own identity. The New Super Mario Bros. series existed entirely as an echo of what had come before, rarely branching out with new ideas. So why does all this matter? Because what Super Mario Bros. Wonder does that makes it so much better than anything in the last twenty years of 2D Mario, isn’t to be more like Super Mario World, but rather to stop trying.

The first thing you’ll notice about Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an increased focus on narrative. This isn’t to say that Wonder is full of long cutscenes, but rather that it is constantly providing the player with motivation beyond the initial call to action of Bowser causing a problem. Each world you explore will generally feature a somewhat self contained narrative arc. For example when you arrive in a desert area, it isn’t simply a question of playing through all the levels on the way to a castle, rather an inhabitant of this area explains that Bowser Jr. has stolen their water supply and they need you to defeat him and get it back. Then after traveling the desert and arriving at Bowser Jr's castle, you find him swimming in a giant pool of water, the only water you’ll encounter in any of these levels. Other worlds may not even have a final boss in any traditional sense. Rather levels will simply play out in a way that satisfies the narrative hook of that area. While I don’t expect most of us are playing 2D Mario for the plot, this is a change that alters the player perspective of the gauntlet of levels presented to them. Entering a world isn’t just a question of playing levels with a new theme, it's a new story that will play out across the next series of stages. It makes the entire game feel like a consistently evolving adventure. It is a concept that calls to mind the more NPC filled worlds of the 3D Mario series that have been absent from the 2D franchise all along.

When starting a game you’ll be able to choose from twelve characters. Of these twelve, the four Yoshis and Nabbit are all invulnerable to damage but cannot pick up powerups. It is a great option, especially for younger or inexperienced players to have, but much like its implementation in New Super Mario Bros U, or Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze I’m disappointed that this feature remains locked to specific characters rather than simply being a toggle. Watching my nephews disappointedly switch back to Yoshi because a level is too hard for them to play as the character they actually want is disheartening. The worst part is other games like Yoshi’s Crafted World had already solved this with their Mellow Mode option. On the bright side, players no longer have collisions with each other when in multiplayer. That means you can spend more time focusing on playing the level, and less time accidentally bouncing off each other. The camera only following one player without offering propper split-screen is still a problem, especially for those playing with younger children, but it is overall still an improved experience over the New Super Mario Bros. games. The game does also offer an online mode in which you can see ghost images of other players, but in my opinion this added little to the game other than visual clutter, and ultimately took away from the experience of exploring a level. Still the option is there for those who want a more social experience.

As you play you will encounter a few new power-ups in addition to the new badge system. The elephant power-up turns Mario (or whichever playable character you’re using) into an elephant twice Mario’s usual size. While in this form Mario can use his trunk to smash blocks and enemies horizontally, a bit like the cape spin from Super Mario World but with a lot more power. This form can also take in water which can be used to feed dying plants, or cool flaming objects. Drill Mario evolves on an idea first seen in the Super Mario Galaxy series allowing Mario to drill down into the floor or ceiling. This allows him to circumvent certain obstacles and defeat otherwise armored enemies. Finally, Bubble Mario is largely useless in most situations. The real meat and potatoes of Mario’s new powers however, come in the form of badges. Badges grant Mario a permanent ability, regardless of his form. Only one badge can be worn at a time, so you’ll have to choose your preferred ability carefully. For myself, an early favorite was a badge that allowed for an extra vertical wall jump. Another that I picked up in one of the later worlds replaced this, but I won’t spoil that for those who haven’t found it yet.

The biggest weak point in what is largely an excellent game, is its boss battles. There are only three bosses throughout the entire game, and you’ll fight two of them over and over again. Each fight includes only minor variations to the environment and no changes to enemy attack patterns. It is a step back from New Super Mario Bros. U which featured thirteen unique boss fights, or even Super Mario World which featured six plus some variants. The last Mario game to have this few boss types was actually Super Mario 3D Land.

However, speaking of Super Mario 3D Land, while I think Wonder may have inherited its worst element in its boss variety, it also inherited its creativity. That expands beyond 3D Land as well and into 3D Mario in general. The entire time I was playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder I couldn’t help but feel less reminded of any 2D Mario and more reminded of Super Mario 3D Land, or 3D World. The non-linear approach to level order, the progression based on collectibles, even just the visual design of the overworld, all of these call to mind Mario’s 3D adventures. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the first 2D Mario game to feel like it is looking forward from 1990 rather than back. A quick look at the credits reveals that Koichi Hayashida, who was the director of Super Mario 3D World and worked on every 3D Mario game since Mario Sunshine, just so happened to serve as a game designer on Wonder. The influence of the lessons learned from decades of 3D Mario are felt everywhere in Wonder, and are a huge part of why this feels like the first truly new 2D Mario experience since the early 90’s.

It is hard not to be absolutely blown away by Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It is easily the best 2D Mario in over thirty years. It does this by not trying so hard to match the past, and instead focus on new ideas and learn from how Mario has evolved in other dimensions since then. That being said, it does make the areas where Wonder gets tripped up feel all the more egregious. Not because there are issues to be solved, but because none of them are inherent to any of the new ideas. Gating difficulty options behind certain characters, the locked-in multiplayer camera, and the extreme lack of boss variety are all issues that have been with Mario for years. It is one thing when bold new design brings up new challenges, but these are just old complaints that don’t really have an excuse for not being fixed by now. Of course that doesn’t take away from the excellence of this title, but they do stand out. However, even with these blemishes, at the end of the day Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an incredible breath of fresh air overall. It has reaffirmed that 2D Mario has the potential to be more than just good, it can be incredible. It sweeps away any concerns I had that my love of the best games in the series isn’t just nostalgia and that a truly original 2D Mario absolutely has the potential to stand alongside Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. While Super Mario Bros. Wonder isn’t quite perfect, it is a gleaming star we can hopefully follow into a new era for 2D Mario.


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