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Messages - Khushrenada

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1
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo
« on: March 26, 2024, 02:40:05 PM »
My wall of text aside, one thing I'd like to know from Dinar87 is what are the games/series from Nintendo that you are a fan of and that you want to see new entries for to get hyped? Are there some series you've never played or tried? Are there some you've tried but just don't care for?

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo
« on: March 26, 2024, 02:38:03 PM »
Meant to reply to this a couple days ago earlier but now is as good a time as any.

I agree somewhat with Dinar87 in that Switch has been an odd system for me and my feelings about Nintendo's efforts on it. It was late 2018 when I finally got the system. For me, I played Breath of the Wild on Wii U and so I have a bit of disconnect when thinking of it and Switch. Frankly, it was clearly supposed to be a Wii U game with Gamepad functionality and I wish it could have been released that way but that ship sailed long ago. I did quite enjoy Mario Odyssey and felt it the strongest Mario title since Super Mario Galaxy 2.

I was less enthused with seeing ports of NSMBU and Super Mario 3D World. 3D World is a bit more galling because they added Bowser's Fury which I'd really love to play but have never felt like paying for another copy of 3D World. Playing 3D World through with 4 person co-op did interest me as possibly making the purchase more worth it and different from my Wii U time with it but I'm not sure how easy it would be to wrangle up three other players from the community to set aside time to do that. We can't even get a co-op playthrough of Kirby and the Amazing Mirror happening. :(  It took near the end to finally get a new Mario platformer in Super Mario Wonder. I felt Super Mario Party was the best Mario Party game since probably Mario Party 8. Mario Party: Superstars wasn't the slam-dunk I thought it would be. It just sort of emphasized why my friends and I have often stuck with the GC games. All the orbs and capsules and variety of maps and strong minigames make them the strongest era of Mario Party games still. The Switch games have been unable to surpass them. Mario Kart 8 was pretty close to the same game that was available on the Wii U so it was kind of disappointing in that regard. It obviously greatly expanded on that version by adding all those extra courses over the last  year. Having not played Mario Kart Tour, it meant there were more fresh courses for me than perhaps others yet I'll admit to not really touching that content much as I had recently finishing playing through it and getting 3 Stars for all the Cups a couple months before the content was announced and had my fill of Mario Kart for awhile. Mario's also brought the sports over with Tennis, Golf, and Soccer. Nothing about those titles seemed to be considered a Must-Play or best of the series from what I have seen in fan reaction but they were solid enough entries once all the extra content was eventually added to them.

The one Mario I was quite excited for yet still have yet to touch was Paper Mario: The Origami King. I still get pumped for the Paper Mario series, however, I've also treated as something special in that I'm trying to space out and savor the series and not burn out on it. It's sort of like me and Professor Layton. I'd let a good three years go between each entry or so. I need to finally get around to Azran Legacy. I finished Miracle Mask back around 2020, maybe 2019. I'm ready for more Layton again. Likewise, I finally played through Paper Mario: Color Splash last year so Origami King is all that's left but still feels kind of soon for a new Paper Mario.

I believe that sums up the state of Mario on Switch releases. As for Zelda, there was another release of Hyrule Warriors which had already seen releases on Wii U and 3DS. There was a sequel to it with Age of Calamity, a game I'll forget exists until I think of the first Hyrule Warriors. Again, from comments I've seen about it, it just seemed like more Hyrule Warriors so if you liked the first then you should like the sequel but it didn't do anything knew to distinguish itself aside from the story setting and bringing in BotW characters to use. Skyward Sword was ported over but I finally played my Wii copy of that either before or around the time of the Switch port. Link's Awakening got the remake treatment. I have meant to play it a few times but keep dragging my feet since I've played the game so it's not exactly a new experience there either. In the end, Tears of the Kingdom will be the first fresh Zelda experience of the Switch for me yet I've held off from playing it since it came out. Partly, I've wanted to get other gaming things done before playing it before I commit to the weeks and months I'd expect to play it and also because seeing a lot of the same world being used has made feel it will be a bit of a let-down to the original BotW in which everything to see was brand new. I know there's been changes to the places seen in BotW and I wonder if it might give the feeling of visiting a town you spent years in and moved away and then came back to visit after sometime. You take in what's new and what's changed. There's still discovery but its not the same type of discovery as a new world. It's one of the things I've always like about Civilization games. Going out and exploring the new world that has been generated for a game. With Age of Calamity and Tears of the Kingdom, it also feels like it has taken over the Zelda brand and Nintendo is milking that for all the can but its also making Zelda feel a bit stale now. Its BotW themed or ports of older games. That just sort of adds to the boredom feeling you are likely talking about.

I'm glad that Metroid Dread got a release. The promise of Metroid Prime 4 made me more motivated to buy a Switch when Nintendo first released the system as it had been so long since MP3. It's been disappointing that after 7 years, there's been absolutely nothing has shown for it yet. Dread helped filled that Metroid craving and I think it's probably the best Metroid game since MP3 but I want to get back to some 3D Metroid again.

I agree that all the Wii U porting of Nintendo games has been disappointing but having 3DS and Wii ports now happening has just further seemed like Nintendo slowing down on new sequels. Even when they've done new sequels, the response has been that the Wii U stuff was better. Yoshi got Yoshi's Crafted World on Switch while Woolly World stayed on Wii U and 3DS but people have ranked the latter game as better than the former. Super Mario Maker 2 did not seem to have as much enthusiasm or love compared to the original on Wii U and 3DS. (At least, not the way this community talks about it on Discord.) Animal Crossing: New Horizon was a phenomenon yet I saw so much outcry from fans about it not being as full of content as New Leaf because Nintendo slowly added events / festivities to it over the course of a year. Now all that has probably been alleviated and it seems to allow for the most customization of things yet. But no one seems to care about it as much as New Leaf. It feels similar to Super Mario Maker 2 at this point. XC2 was not as loved as XCX or the original but XC3 seems to have been the better sequel but it took a long time for that better sequel to show up. Sort of like how Pikmin 3 got an early port to Switch and it was just last year that the sequel of Pikmin 4 was released. Practically 10 years after Pikmin 3 first came out. I haven't really gotten into the Splatoon scene but there, too, it just seems like no one feels 2 or 3 have done anything substantially better than the first game. It's just that Nintendo dropping events for a previous title has caused people to move on to the next. It's really living up to the reputation of possibly being Nintendo's answer to Call of Duty and getting the committed fanbase to move on and buy each new sequel without having to do much to expand the game. Just support the new title with events and let the old one wither away.

Smash Ultimate is an odd beast. Clearly, it lived up to its name of ultimate by having every fighter from all past games on the roster and has the most stages of any game. Yet, that also meant it didn't have a lot of new fighters added at first. Likewise, by bringing back mostly previous stages, it also felt a bit more derivative compared to past entries. It's like the next Mario Kart game having 95% tracks from previous games and 5% new. More new characters and stages did come to help create more uniqueness from past entries and freshen up the experience more but it also came at the cost of having to further pay more for that newness. I did pop in Ultimate one night as I flirted with the idea of playing through it for awhile and collecting spirits. I find that mode ok and perhaps it will win me over more when I get back to the game but gol-darn it! I miss trophies!! I understand Sakurai's reasoning on why it added more work and they saw it as unnecessary but to me the collecting of trophies is a core part of the Smash experience and why I play those games. I hardly do it for the multiplayer. Getting the trophies in Melee and seeing these various characters, items, and places and reading the blurbs about them helped get me curious about other Nintendo properties and seeking out past games and current games for these characters. I enjoyed seeing what new trophies would make it into the next game and the reminders of stuff I'd played in between Smash entries or had missed out on still. It's why I didn't care as much about collecting the stickers in Brawl. It's was just promotional art assets being used with no notes compared to the trophies. That's all the Spirits are for me in Ultimate. Just overused promotional artwork I've seen many times before. And that's my Smash rant for today. Thank you all for ignoring it again.

I did not get involved with Labo. The 1-2 Switch games have not been well received. NintendoLand was better for mini-game fun. WarioWare has two entries but WarioWare Gold or earlier entries like Twisted seem to still outshine those new entries on Switch. ARMS has been forgotten. Fire Emblem got two Fire Emblem Warriors games and those seem to have been forgotten as well. Engage was not as well received as Three Houses which you've brought up. Kirby Star Allies was a disappointment for many after Robobot. Kirby's Dream Buffet is nothing special either. Some people seemed to like Kirby Super Clash but I bounced off that game pretty fast. Forgotten World was pretty good but it straddled a line where sometimes I was asking myself "Do I actually like this game?". Pokemon got another remake of Red/Blue with Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee along with a remake/remaster port of Pearl/Diamond and Sword/Shield did not seem to get well received by the fans. But there seems to have been a rebound there with Legends: Arceus and Scarlet/Violet despite technical issues with the latter. Which seems to be part of a trend on Switch where a series might get two entries with one entry being good and the other lackluster.

In that regard, I'm with you Dinar87. Nintendo's output on Switch has been a very mixed bag for me based on my Nintendo gaming history. I also recognize that my situation is different for a lot of other Switch users. Many users could very well be in their teens and twenties and thus not have the back catalogue of games I do or will have played a bunch of these ports on a previous system already. Heck, the Wii U sales numbers indicate that the vast majority of Switch owners likely never played those ported Wii U games before. So, for them, the Switch experience will be totally different. For me, Nintendo's only had a small number of original games for Switch that were really great. Most others have been sort of average. Surprisingly, it has been the third party stuff that's been more unique to me. Having stuck in the Nintendo ecosphere for decades, having ports of all sorts of things like Katamari Damacy, Lumines, Grim Fandango, and Batman: Arkham Asylum that I've always wanted to try out has been great. It's those games that have been getting me to keep playing my Switch more these days. Indie stuff like Hollow Knight, Untitled Goose Game and even Suika Game have provided me with new engaging experiences to keep me invested in my Switch. And there's still so much more in those scenes I'd like to get to such as the recent Tomb Raider Trilogy (never played any of those games) or Cocoon.

Still, a lot of Indie stuff can be rather short and fleeting and third party stuff can lack that Nintendo polish and magic that keeps you wanting more. Nothing hits quite like the hype for a new entry in a Nintendo series you love that looks like it could be blast to play. A sequel to Endless Ocean is surprising but it doesn't hit the same for me compared to seeing a surprise announcement of a brand new 3D F-Zero with 8 Cups and 55 racers. I'm glad that the success of Switch has caused Nintendo to do some obscure porting like Famicom Detective Club and the Another Code games but that stuff is like the dinner rolls and gravy. Where's the sizzling T-Bone steak and twice-baked potato? Stuck in the oven waiting for Switch 2 to finish and so we have to stick it out with some appetizers and try to get hyped on that for now.

I'm definitely curious what Nintendo's software output will be for Switch 2. There's not a lot of Wii U Porting left. Will we see more GC, Wii and 3DS porting to make up for that or will Nintendo slow down on the porting? If they slow down on porting, does that mean original software for the system or just less output by them?

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That is pretty dumb alright. I'd like to know what they think is offensive about NeoThunder.

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What name? NeoThunder or something else?

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: March 13, 2024, 06:08:22 PM »
2024 feeling dry asf already. If we don't get a general nintendo direct in april like the rumors said then that's going be sooo bad.

I agree. With Paper Mario in May and Luigi's Mansion 2 in July, Nintendo is spacing out their releases more to every other month. Up to this point, their output has usually been releasing a game a month aside from the 2020 Covid year. Are they just going to try and port / remaster a couple more games to ride out the year (or whenever the Switch 2 releases) or leave it to third parties to fill in the year for software? Will they actually release a couple new games like Peach Showtime or hold that stuff back now for Switch 2? It's probably the right call to hold things back and make sure the Switch 2 is constantly getting new games added to its library to keep up launch momentum. I think Nintendo learned the value of that with Wii U and 3DS to an extent.

Personally, I've got so much in the backlog that I don't mind a slower year. I can pretend I'm catching up in that case but, at the same time, I do agree there's a weird paradox of not being excited to play games when it feels like there is nothing to get hyped about on the horizon. I don't know what it is about gaming specifically since I don't have that problem with other hobbies or media. It must be some kind of inadvertent behavior I trained into myself from all these years of playing games while always wanting to know the latest on what's next.

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Movies & TV / Re: Khushrenada's Annual Oscar Thread. 2024 Edition.
« on: March 10, 2024, 11:23:09 PM »
And here's the list in a condensed format with none of my reasonings.

Best Picture - Oppenheimer
Best Director - Christopher Nolan
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Cillian Murphy
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Lily Gladstone Emma Stone
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Robert Downey Jr
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Best Original Screenplay - Anatomy of a Fall
Best Adapted Screenplay - American Fiction
Best International Feature - The Zone of Interest
Best Animated Feature - Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse The Boy and The Heron
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Days in Mariupol
Best Original Score: Oppenheimer
Best Original Song: What Was I Made For? (Barbie)
Best Cinematography: Oppenheimer
Best Costume Design: Barbie Poor Things
Best Editing: Oppenheimer
Best Make-up and Hairstyling: Poor Things
Best Production Design: Poor Things
Best Sound: The Zone of Interest
Best Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One
Best Animated Short: War is Over!
Best Live Action Short: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Best Documentary Short: The Last Repair Shop


In the words of Wario, " Good luck.... to me! Wah hah hah haaa!"

Quick people! How did I do? The answer 20/23. A very acceptable score. I wish now I had gone with the Emma Stone choice in Best Actress. I was talking myself into it so much when doing my write up but chickened out because of some of the other risks I was taking. Still, I wasn't going to get 100% this year because I just didn't see The Boy and The Heron winning in Best Animated Feature. I knew Poor Things and Barbie were a 50/50 thing in Costume but just chose wrong there.

But never fear. With my score, I still beat the experts out there. Deadline was closest with 19/23. Indiewire had 18/23. Vulture, RogerEbert.com and GoldDerby had 17/23, AwardsWatch had 16/23 and Variety had 15/23. But, of course, the best victory was smoking my brother this year who had just 16/23. Now I too am Death, Destroyer of Oscar Pools.

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Movies & TV / Re: Khushrenada's Annual Oscar Thread. 2024 Edition.
« on: March 10, 2024, 06:49:28 PM »
And here's the list in a condensed format with none of my reasonings.

Best Picture - Oppenheimer
Best Director - Christopher Nolan
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Cillian Murphy
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Lily Gladstone
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Robert Downey Jr
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Best Original Screenplay - Anatomy of a Fall
Best Adapted Screenplay - American Fiction
Best International Feature - The Zone of Interest
Best Animated Feature - Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Days in Mariupol
Best Original Score: Oppenheimer
Best Original Song: What Was I Made For? (Barbie)
Best Cinematography: Oppenheimer
Best Costume Design: Barbie
Best Editing: Oppenheimer
Best Make-up and Hairstyling: Poor Things
Best Production Design: Poor Things
Best Sound: The Zone of Interest
Best Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One
Best Animated Short: War is Over!
Best Live Action Short: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Best Documentary Short: The Last Repair Shop


In the words of Wario, " Good luck.... to me! Wah hah hah haaa!"

8
Movies & TV / Re: Khushrenada's Annual Oscar Thread. 2024 Edition.
« on: March 10, 2024, 06:38:40 PM »
And now, for those last three killers of many an Oscar Prediction pool: The Short Films.

Best Animated Short - War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko

My most cursed category. Year after year, I think this is the category I do the worst at and have a very low correct percentage on. I've seen none of the films nominated here. I have no idea what they're like. Just have to go on hearsay. Oddly, there seems to be an actual consensus when it comes to the Animated Shorts this year. Practically everyone is selecting this entry as the likely winner. The feeling being that having Yoko Ono and Lennon referenced in the title may cause more voters to select it. Cynical name dropping for the win. The only other choice I've seen floated is Letter to a Pig and it scares me because it touches on the holocaust and is about an animal. Two things I've said often seem to be catnip to the Academy voters in the Shorts category. Betting against a holocaust movie always seems like a sure way to lose a prediction point but I'm hoping the majority rule is correct here. Perhaps if I saw more of a split between the two I'd change my mind it's late in the day and I can't keep debating this stuff within me.

Best Documentary Short Film - The Last Repair Shop

From what I see, people are divided between this film and The ABCs of Book Banning. I could see Academy voters going with ABCs because of it being a hot topic but I'm trying something new in this category which is looking up reviews that I can find on them and more people seemed to emotionally enjoy The Last Repair Shop. It's a topic on music which does well in Oscar documentary subjects and has to do with the city of Los Angeles so it may appeal somewhat to the home crowd voting as well.

Best Live Action Short Film - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

I've seen almost every nominee here get chosen by someone. No one knows what's happening here. In a rare case, I've actually seen one of these shorts and it is the one I'm selecting to win. I think the fact that Netflix was behind it, it has big names attached to it and Wes Anderson's style works well with Roald Dahl's story (see Fantastic Mr. Fox) will give it an edge in voting. That said, Red, White and Blue has gained also been a popular pick with some pundits due to it dealing on the theme of abortion which may sway voters more as the Academy will sometimes use the Short films to select stuff with a current political message.

And that's my picks!

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Movies & TV / Re: Khushrenada's Annual Oscar Thread. 2024 Edition.
« on: March 10, 2024, 05:44:20 PM »
And now for the really tough stuff. Usually I say there are a dreaded 6 categories. This year, it seems there are a dreaded 9 categories. All the people saying this year's Oscars are going to be boring with Oppenheimer dominating are forgetting these categories.

Best Visual Effects - Godzilla Minus One

Admittedly, I'm partial in choosing this one. Godzilla did get some recognition by the Oscars although it was just for this category. Yet, it may very well win this category and get at least one Oscar. It's biggest competition is The Creator. In a funny twist of fate, Gareth Edwards is the director of The Creator and he's the director of the 2014 Godzilla movie which launched the current USA Monsterverse. But now Godzilla may be coming from Japan to ruin The Creator's chances of winning. Unlike Godzilla, The Creator has a second nomination which is the Sound category. Clearly, there was some technical love for The Creator. I know when I saw the trailer for The Creator, I was impressed with how it looked and it seemed like it could be really neat sci-fi story. The effects seemed pretty impressive. When it released, though, it just seemed to garner a shrug from critics and audiences so I put off seeing. It is on my list of movies to see from 2023 still. On the other hand, Godzilla Minus One got a very positive reaction from critics and audiences and became the highest grossing Japanese film in the USA so people did see it. It also has a bit of narrative with it in that high profile Academy members like Spielberg and Guillermo Del Toro have talked up in the press how impressed they were with the movie and effects and how Toho Studios accomplished that on a small budget of 10 - 15 million. A lot of Academy members listen to their recommendations. Guillermo won Best Animated Feature last year for his Pinocchio movie. I'm hoping Godzilla Minus One can pull off the win here.

Best Sound - The Zone of Interest

Ugh. This will probably be a mistake I'll regret after. After I watched The Zone of Interest, I pretty much thought to myself that this movie should win for Best Sound because the sound effects play such a heavy part in the movie's atmosphere, mood and putting you in that same... zone as the characters on screen. :rolleyes: It reminds me how I instantly felt Little Women should win Best Costume after I saw it which isn't something I'm normally considering in a movie but I was absolutely right on that one. The big issue is that most people seem to think that Oppenheimer will also claim this award as it sweeps along. Oppenheimer made a billion dollars. A lot of people saw it. Maybe a tenth of those people will have seen The Zone of Interest so I don't know how much voters will actually be aware of what a factor the sound is for that movie. There's also a weird stat that film editing and sound usually get rewarded for the same film. Until 2020, there were two Sound categories so sometimes a film that won Best Editing would win one or both of those sound categories. Going back to 2007, (17 years), there are 4 times that the winner for Best Editing didn't also collect an award for Sound. Three of those occasions happened from 2010-2012. The 4th was just last year. Everything Everywhere All At Once won Editing but Top Gun: Maverick won Best Sound. That makes sense as all the wooshing of jet planes stood out more in that movie. Also, it made a billion dollars so more voters were likely aware of its sound making it easy to award it separately. The rule is to usually go with what you think will win not what you think SHOULD win but, in this case, I just feel too strongly that Zone is the clear choice and I'm going with it.

Best Make-Up and Hairstyling - Poor Things

This category can be very easy or very tough. It's easy when a performer has been transformed to look like a real person and will likely win an acting award for their portrayal. Gary Oldman winning for Darkest Hour as Churchill also garnered a win in Best Make-up for Darkest Hour. The Eyes of Tammy Fay won for Jessica Chastain in Best Actress and in Best Make-up for helping her portrayal to look like her. Looking at the acting awards, Oppenheimer would seem like a good pick with two actors likely to win and for portraying real life people. But most people don't really know what those scientists looked like so the transformations may not seem that impressive. (Although I thought Einstein's look was on point!) Then there's Maestro which had a lot of discussion about Bradley Cooper's Make-up / Prosthetic use to look like Leonard Bernstein. The make-up had to help him depict different ages of his life. Yet, he seems unlikely to win in Best Actor plus there was some controversy about the nose being offensive to Jews. And there's Poor Things. Willem Dafoe's mad scientist look is flashy and stands out but is the rest of the cast that impressive? Although, there's a chance that Emma Stone wins Best Actress so perhaps Make-up ties into that possibility. And that's why this category sucks this year. I'm going with Poor Things on the basis that it getting more acclaim during Awards season while Maestro just kind of faded away. If Oppenheimer were to win here then it might be a big, big night for that movie.

Best Actress - Lily Gladstone

This is another one I've been ping-ponging back and forth on my opinion. It reminds me a bit of last year's Best Actress race. A possible historical first winner for the Academy in a highly praised role versus a previous winner putting in what's considered career best work. One difference, though, is that Cate Blanchett actually encouraged voters to vote for Michelle Yeoh and gave a less concerned attitude about winning a second Best Actress Award. I've seen nothing from Emma Stone along those lines so I think she's in it and hoping to win. Poor Things struck a note with the Academy to be the second most nominated film although Killers of the Flower Moon is right behind with one less nomination. Personally, I don't get the high praise for Gladstone. I didn't think there was anything that special or memorable about the role. On the other hand, Emma Stone's character is hard to forget. Likewise, Emma Stone was also highly praised for her work on a recent show called The Curse. It's not quite a one-two punch like Matthew McConaughey when he had Dallas Buyers Club and True Detective happening at the same time which created a lot of buzz on his acting ability. There's been a viewpoint that Gladstone is belongs more in the Supporting Actress category while Emma is clearly full main character in her film. Gladstone is a first time nominee. Sometimes the Academy is ok with that and sometimes they don't want to award someone on a first nominee. They may if the person has had a good body of work or well regarded resume but, looking at Gladstone's past work, I'm not sure that argument would work here. Gladstone did win the SAG award which indicates there could be a lot of support in the Academy for her to win but its no guarentee. Glenn Close won SAG and lost to Olivia Coleman who starred in The Favorite, Yorgos Lanthimos last film before Poor Things. Might he have directed another Best Actress win? Yet, the Academy may want to make history by giving Gladstone the win and sort of putting to bed it's 50 year old embarrassment with Sacheen Littlefeather although even that is debated on how much of a controversary it was not to mention it's fifty years old and many Academy members have probably forgotten it, know about it or care that much about it now.

By all accounts, it sounds like I should be picking Emma Stone based on the reasoning so far but I can't think of a time the Academy awarded someone an acting award for a role as sexual as Stone's. I've certainly seen a lot of comments from people thinking it was too much or made them uncomfortable. There's still a lot of older and traditional members in the Academy. Look at Green Book winning a bunch of Awards just six years ago. Gladstone's role is a bit safer in that regard. It's the possible divisive reception to Stone's role that I think may give Gladstone the edge which is why I'm choosing her to win. Obviously, I expect someone with the word stone in their to win tonight although that doesn't even touch on Sandra Huller who starred in two of the movies nominated for Best Picture this year and is a nominee in this category. Eye-yi-yi!

Costume Design - Barbie

The next two categories are considered coin flips between Barbie and Poor Things. No one seems confident in their choice for this category. I'm going along with the Critics Choice Award for Costume Design. In the past 15 years they've begun awarding this category, they've only missed twice with the Academy. It's a pretty good record and the designer of Barbie has won a couple times already so she may have some connections in the industry to drum up votes. The main argument seems to be whether the Academy will award the recreations of a lot of iconic outfits from Barbie's past or the uniqueness and originality of Poor Things costumes. Personally, I feel the outfits in Barbie registered with movie goers more with a lot of people wanting to recreate some of the looks in real life. To me, that strong reaction may also have occurred in the Academy so that might give Barbie the edge in voting.

Production Design - Poor Things

I've read some people say that this is the most wide open category where anyone could win but I still think it will come down between Barbie and Poor Things but maybe Oppenheimer plays spoiler. In a way, I'm hedging my bets by splitting Costume and Production between Barbie and Poor Things. Perhaps one will win both or perhaps I picked the wrong split. Barbie Land was a memorable world and set. A point in Barbie's favor is that it caused an international paint shortage for the color pink because so much was used on the set. That anecdote could seal the deal here. My problem is that Barbie Land was more an enlargement of various Barbie toys so it lacks a bit in originality although recreations can win in this category. The other negative is that aside from Barbie Land, the rest of film and it feels like half of it is spent away from Barbie Land in the real world where nothing seems that impressive about the set design. Poor Things on the other hand has a unique look and twisted fantasy setting that is prevalent throughout the whole movie. I think creating a complete fantasy like world from beginning to end might help Poor Things push it over the edge in voting for a win here.

I read someone arguing a stat that the winning film of Best Production usually gets a nom for Sound. I checked to see if that was true. Going back the past 14 years, there are three times in which a Best Production winner didn't have a sound nomination and a couple in which they only had one sound nomination between the two categories when there were two sound categories just narrowly keeping that stat a bit more relevant. It's definitely a stronger stat for the past 10 years. If it were to stay true now then Oppenheimer is the only Production nominee that also has a Sound nominee. Again, that could be a sign Oppenheimer will have an even bigger night than people are currently predicting but I'm going assume it doesn't quite put a complete chokehold on the proceedings. In one last tidbit, the Art Director's Guild does three Production Design awards so it makes it hard to assess who the Guild may favor. Yet for the category of Production Design for a Fantasy Film, it actually had Barbie face off against Poor Things in that same category and Poor Things came out on top as the winner. BAFTA also give it Best Production and though there record is spotty between their winners and Oscar winners, it could be a sign that international members of the Academy will favor Poor Things over Barbie in voting.

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Movies & TV / Re: Khushrenada's Annual Oscar Thread. 2024 Edition.
« on: March 10, 2024, 04:15:07 PM »
Next up, categories that seem pretty certain but there's a chance for an upset.

Best Supporting Actor - Robert Downey Jr (Oppenheimer)

Based on other Award shows leading up to the Oscars, Downey has been consistently winning this award and seems to have a lot of industry love. That said, Ryan Gosling has had a few Oscar noms in the past and has yet to win an Oscar. The part of Ken was a big hit and kind of stole the show from the title character. Of course, after the discourse of the Ken role getting a nomination but the Barbie role didn't thereby illustrating the struggle of women that the Barbie movie was highlighting, the Academy may not want to add more fuel to the fire by then having the Ken role win. Also, as I've seen pointed out, the Academy usually favors drama over comedy. Plus Downey recently won the SAG award for Best Supporting Actor. Going back the past 10 years, the SAG awards overlap with the Oscar winners in acting very frequently. In the Best Supporting Actor category, there were two times SAG differed. One was 11 years ago with Tommy Lee Jones getting the SAG award for Lincoln while the Oscar went to Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained. SAG didn't have Waltz as one of their nominees. The other difference was in 2016 when SAG awarded Idris Elba Best Supporting Actor for Beasts of No Nation while the Oscars gave the award to Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies. Idris Elba was not nominated by the Academy for a Supporting Oscar. Aside from cases of single nominees causing a split like that, the SAG choice has lined up with the Oscar choice the rest of the time so I'll stick with SAG here.

Best Actor - Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Again, Murphy seems the likely winner and like Downey has been winning the category in other Award shows. That said, he's a first time nominee and there's been chatter of Paul Giamatti winning in this category as both recognition of his work in The Holdovers and for his long career. It's possible but the role didn't really seem all that different from Giamatti's usual work of playing a curmudgeon that does care about others. When looking back at SAG vs Oscars over the past ten years, SAG has missed twice. SAG went with Denzel Washington for Fences over Casey Affleck for Manchester By the Sea and recently for Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom over Anthony Hopkins in The Father. The Boseman win was likely influenced by shock of his sudden death and probably led to the decision to save Best Actor for the end of the 2021 ceremony only for it to end awkwardly with Hopkins winning and not even being there to accept the award. I was kicking myself last year when debating between Brendan Fraser and Austin Butler on who might win and realized after the Awards started to check SAG. Saw they awarded Fraser and realized I'd likely got it wrong as I chose Butler thinking Elvis would do better than it did. Sticking with SAG this year.

Best International Feature Film - The Zone of Interest

Perhaps I should have put this among the locks I went through in my previous post. It definitely could have been a more interesting race if Anatomy of a Fall had also been nominated in this category. As it stands, The Zone of Interest is the only foreign film is this category to also garner a Best Picture nomination and usually that means it will be the film to win this category. Plus, a movie dealing about the holocaust usually wins at the Oscars. And yet... I feel like an upset could happen as I just don't think the movie was as strong as it thought it was. I do want to see Perfect Days which has been nominated in this category. Based on its trailer, I have hope that maybe it could be a hidden gem for 2023. Yet, it also doesn't have the "serious subject matter" that the Zone of Interest has and Glazer did get a Best Director nod so with Director and Best Picture nomination, yeah, this is most likely a lock.

Best Original Screenplay - Anatomy of a Fall

Fall has some drama related to it. You can read a bit about it by clicking here. The big gist of it is that the film won at the Cannes film festival and the director Triet made a speech a lot of the French considered rude which may have influenced France in submitting a different entry for the Best International Film instead of Anatomy of a Fall. Yet, Anatomy has still been so highly liked that The Academy ended up giving it a Best Picture nomination along with a Best Director and Best Original Screenplay nominations anyways. With Best Picture and Best Director likely going to Oppenheimer, this would be the one place left for the Academy to give Anatomy of a Fall a win and the director Triet was also a writer on the script. Of course, there are other deserving nominees here as well. Celine Song's script for Past Lives is in this category which is also a Best Picture nominee although Song did not make the Best Director shortlist. I know I enjoyed the movie a lot but I'll admit that, when reflecting on the movie, there's a mood and vibe to it that I just don't think a script alone would have. There's also the script for The Holdovers which, again, is another movie that had some acclaim with the Academy this year. But the fact that Triet was nominated for Best Director suggests the Academy likes Anatomy quite a bit and based on other Award shows, it seems likely that it will win here.

Best Adapted Screenplay - American Fiction

This is a surprise to me. I'm always wary of not selecting the screenplay for what is likely the Best Picture winner as the BP winner usually will also win for its screenplay. In the past 18 years, there have only been three times when the Best Picture winner did not also win the Screenplay Award that it was nominated for. (Those three times are for The Artist, The Shape of Water and Nomadland). With all the awards that Oppenheimer is already poised to win, screenplay makes sense to be one of them. Especially as there was a lot of talk about how Nolan was able to take and condense American Prometheus into this film. Nolan's first Academy nomination came for the screenplay of Memento and he also got an Original Screenplay nom for Inception. The Academy has nominated his screenplays before. And yet, with all that in his favor, a majority of pundits are going with American Fiction because that's been winning over Oppenheimer when it comes to screenplay.

Perhaps a factor is because Nolan wrote the Oppenheimer screenplay in first person which is a very unusual choice. Maybe it's because he's already likely to win awards in Best Picture and Director. In 2021, Chloe Zhao wrote the screenplay for Nomadland but lost that category while still winning Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. It maybe that history repeats and the Academy decides to award someone else rather than have Nolan take all three categories. At the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, Nolan won Best Picture and Director but lost screenplay at all three. The BAFTAs was considered a bit more telling since that's for British entertainment and Nolan's home turf and yet the BAFTA went to American Fiction. This category also ended up having Barbie put into it by the Academy which a lot of people disagreed with. It's also been seen as a way for Gerwig to win something after not getting a Best Director nom but I don't think it will upset here. I kind of feel that Poor Things has stolen some of Barbie's thunder at this point and, oh look, Poor Things is also nominated in this category. I think they'll cancel each other out and American Fiction will be the beneficiary as cerebrally, I liked the story, ideas, and topic discussion that movie had over Barbie and Poor Things and I felt it stuck the landing better than those films.

Animated Feature - Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

This category has also been seen as two film race between Spider-Man vs The Boy and The Heron. Some talk has been made of how members of the Academy may want to give Miyazaki another Oscar since Spirited Away when this category was first created and because it could be his last film. Yet, I have my doubts as to how much actual Academy voters care in that regard. There have been a couple other times that he could have won like The Wind Rises but it never happened. I think that's partly due to nothing he's done since Spirited Away has equaled it. Howl's Moving Castle may be the closest (and I still have yet to see Ponyo) but in my opinion everything that he's done since Spirited Away has been lesser quality. And to be quite frank, I found The Boy and The Heron a big disappointment. I don't understand the critical love it has received or this push by some for it to win in this category. Again, if it were my decision, I'd have given The Boy and The Heron's spot to Suzume. Some have wondered if Spider-Man can win for being half a movie or story. While it is usually odd for any film to win an award by not telling a complete story or being the beginning of a story (sometimes the ending film will get awards), it didn't stop Spider-Man from being one of the most positively reviewed films of the year and having won more recently with Into the Spiderverse, I think Across The Spiderverse will be able to repeat another Oscar win with a movie that outdoes the first one. (And add further irony with Sony winning Oscars for Spider-Man while Disney/Marvel continue to struggle to get noms and wins for their Marvel movies).

11
Movies & TV / Re: Khushrenada's Annual Oscar Thread. 2024 Edition.
« on: March 10, 2024, 07:55:44 AM »
Let's start with what are considered the "locks" of the night. Much like a prescription drug ad, allow me to quickly whisper that all choices considered locks are not guaranteed and could lead to upsets in Oscar Predictions. Here's what I'm going with:

Best Picture - Oppenheimer

In the 2010s, there were a lot of tight races and some Best Picture upsets. It was a hard category for me to get right. Not so the 2020s. Lately, it has become pretty predictable with one movie dominating. The 2022 race (94th Academy Awards) was the only one so far this decade to be considered a close race with The Power of the Dog as the presumed front-runner only to fade to eventual winner CODA. This year, Oppenheimer has been dominating everything and it is expected to win out here as well.

Best Director - Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Likewise, Nolan will get his first win for the film. Some have wondered if the Academy might give Scorsese a win here and make him a two-time winner in the category but I just don't see that happening. Personally, Oppenheimer was the first movie Nolan has done since Batman trilogy that I've actually wanted to see again right away. Aside from the Batman movies, I never rewatched any of his other films up to this point. Oppenheimer was finally a better blend of his mixed time style with an engaging main character and side characters and villain.

Best Supporting Actress - Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

I'm not sure why this role has wowed voters but Da'Vine has been winning constantly in this category since Awards season started and is expected to end that winning streak with an Oscar. To me, there was nothing about the part or her performance that really stood out. Haven't seen Nyad or The Color Purple to know if anything was more deserving but I'd probably have voted for Emily Blunt and let the Oppenheimer sweep continue if I was voting.

Best Cinematography - Oppenheimer

I haven't seen El Conde which was a surprise nomination in this category. That said, I just don't see anything stopping Oppenheimer from this category. The Cinematography was another part of what added to my enjoyment of the movie and it should be claiming this award also.

Best Score - Oppenheimer

Another part of the expected sweep for Oppenheimer. I should look up the soundtrack and listen to it again. I can't really remember anything specific about it now that I reflect on the movie but my memory feels I was positive enough about it. That said, I wish Godzilla Minus One had been nominated in this category as that is the film I think should win it. The score was part of what made that movie so enjoyable for me and added extra depth to the whole thing.

Best Song - What Was I Made For? (Barbie)

I wish the Academy was more open to more lighthearted songs winning in this category. My vote would be for I'm Just Ken which came across as more what the Academy is looking for when it comes to Best Song. An original popular song in a movie that actually has an impact on the viewer and is used before the end credits. The I'm Just Ken musical number got a lot of buzz and was a highlight of the Barbie movie. Instead, it appears it will be going to this bland, forgettable snoozefest of a song because it seems more serious in its sadder vocals and ponderous lyrics. Would love to see an upset here.

Best Documentary Feature - 20 Days in Mariupol

Like usual, I've seen none of the Documentary Features. Partly because they rarely get released in theatres as the focus is usually more on fiction and partly because I just don't follow the Documentary scene that closely or care for Documentaries much. 20 Days is about the Ukraine War and was filmed during part of a real battle there. It seems to be an easy win here for the film as the Academy keeps doing their part to support Ukraine with gestures like that.

Best Film Editing - Oppenheimer

For awhile, this was an easier award to predict but then it got tricky in the past ten years. Before that, from 1981 - 2013 every Best Picture winner was at least nominated in this category with about two thirds of the Best Picture winners also winning this award. Now the pendulum seems to be swinging back to making it an easy pick but also because the Best Picture frontrunners clearly required good editing to succeed. Last year's winner of Everything Everywhere All At Once depending on editing for its multiverse hopping and plate-spinning of different stories at once while Oppenheimer is telling its story through different time periods and needs good editing to allow viewers to keep track of what's happening as it jumps in time through the story.

And that is 8 categories which feel like locks at this point. 15 more categories to go with. A lot of the others also feel pretty certain but with a bit of a chance of an upset. There's just very few anything is possible categories at this point but I'll get more into this after I get me some sleep.

12
Movies & TV / Khushrenada's Annual Oscar Thread. 2024 Edition.
« on: March 10, 2024, 06:32:26 AM »
Oh no! It's that time again! Unlike last year's mad dash, I wanted to make sure to get this done a bit earlier instead of the constant last moment wild typing to get my predictions in before showtime. Despite having it on my to-do list all week, here I am still typing it the day of. And with Daylight Saving Time kicking in, time just keeps on further slipping ahead. Oh well, anytime ahead of the event is still a win so early Sunday morning can work out just fine.

Since I don't have to throw up my predictions and skedaddle, I can take a moment to talk about the Oscars, this year's nominees and my movie history. The Oscars have now passed the 600 mark when it comes to movies nominated for Best Picture. With this year's 10 nominees, the total number of films that have been nominated for Best Picture in its 96 year history is 601 or 604. Why two numbers? It depends how you want to count movies in the first Academy Awards ceremony. In the first Oscars event, three movies were nominated for the category Outstanding Picture and three movies were nominated for a category called Best Unique and Artistic Picture. Yet, that's kind of confusing to have two separate categories like that and the organizers seemed to realize it and did away with the latter category and just kept the Outstanding Picture category which has since been simplified to just Best Picture. The Academy has said they consider the Best Unique and Artistic Picture nominees from that first Awards night as not being part of the Best Picture category and past nominees but some people (like myself) still like to include those films as honorary Best Picture nominees. Thus, its either 601 or 604 films nominated depending on how you want to count them.

Of those 604 films that I count, I am currently at 541 for total number of nominees that I have watched leaving 63 to go. Who knows how low that number of films left to watch will be by the time I do next year's post. The 1930s still currently has the most movies I've yet to see in it at 17 nominees still to be seen in that decade. Every other decade is in single digits. The 1970s is the next highest with 8 nominees still for me to get around to watching. Last year, it was this current decade of the 2020s that was my second highest and it was in double digits of possibly around 14 or 15 that I still had to see. I've been making some progress in catching up on those past nominees after Covid disrupted theatres and my viewing habits. After the 2021 ceremony which awarded Best Picture to films released in 2020 and early 2021, I had seen none of the films nominated and that snapped my record of having seen every Best Picture winner, a list that will soon expand to 96 films by the end of Sunday. I believe it was around 2013 when I had finally seen every winner and kept that list complete during the rest of the 2010s. While I've been catching up the past nominees for the 2020s, I still have yet to watch CODA which win Best Picture at the 2022 ceremony (94th Academy Awards). Likely I've seen this year's winner already so I should get around to seeing that film and, once again, have the claim for having at least seen ever winner.

As for this year's nominees, I have seen all but one of the movies nominated for Best Picture so there is a chance that another movie is added to the Winner's List that I'll haven't seen yet but I think that chance is pretty low. I had hoped to see all of the movies nominated this year before the Awards show. It's been quite awhile since I was last able to accomplish that. Looking at my history, the last time I seem to have done that was for the 2017 ceremony which honored the films of 2016 so 8 years ago. I suppose I could always do a little downloading to quickly accomplish that but I'm ok with waiting a little bit to see the final nominee. The one picture I wasn't able to see in time was Anatomy of a Fall. I was hoping maybe a theatre in my area would bring it back for a week like some of the other nominees seemed to have happen for them in the past 2 - 3 months but it never happened for Anatomy. I was able to watch Past Lives a couple weeks ago while staying with my parents for a few days and I see that Amazon has Anatomy of a Fall available to rent but at this point I'll just wait for it to be made available to stream for free or wait for my library to get a copy and see it.

Past Lives and likely Anatomy of a Fall will be the two movies nominated that I didn't see in a theatre. The rest I all saw on the big screen and that's the way I like it. There was talk during Covid that movie theatres might be a thing of the past and they're likely still a business that will see some struggles with last year's writer and actor strike messing up the production pipeline. However, I still think it is the best way to see a movie. I'm a person that likes sitting closer to the front of a theatre as I want the screen to really fill up my eyesight and just have my full attention. Never understood the rush to sit in the back. As well, the sound mixing in the theatres always seems to work. The balance of dialogue, music and sound effects seems to always work out unlike home where I can be quickly turning down the volume because the music is too loud and then quickly turning it back up because the dialogue is now too low. It's pretty rare for me to feel I couldn't understand parts of dialogue in a theatre viewing. Perhaps one line from time to time whereas I feel I'm have to rewind a lot when watching at home. Glad theatres have been able to keep surviving to this point in time.

As for this year's nominees, here's a quick ranking of where I would place them from worst to best:

Unranked: Anatomy of a Fall

9 - Killers of the Flower Moon
8 - The Zone of Interest
7 - The Holdovers
6 - Maestro
5 - Barbie
4 - Poor Things
3 - American Fiction
2 - Past Lives
1 - Oppenheimer

In all honesty, I really think only Oppenheimer and Past Lives were favorites of mine from 2023. American Fiction and Poor Things were just lacking for me in a couple spots. And everything Barbie and below is kind of interchangeable and left me more shrugging my shoulders and feeling a bit meh on. I feel this will be looked back on as a weaker year for nominated pictures. Talking to a friend of mine who is also a big movie buff, he was commenting to me that he felt 2023 had been a weak year for movies. Looking back at it now, I can't disagree that much. There's a lot of stuff I watched that was pretty so-so. There's been much talk about Disney's struggles at the box office this year after dominating for much of the 2010s but, in general, I think most studios struggled to put out much that was great. In some ways, I feel The Super Mario Bros. Movie sort of sums up this year's output and it would have been pretty fitting if it had stayed as the highest grossing movie of the year. Familiar stuff that is doing the bare minimum to entertain and seems to exist more to keep the gears of the economy turning. As Mr. Burns once asked, "Where's the heart?"

Looking at movies that were released in 2023, I have seen 28 movies of that output. I've also made a list of 47 other movies I'd be willing to check out which were released this past year. There's a couple that could possibly help make the year look better but I don't have high expectations for the majority of them. If I had to make a top ten list, it would be a struggle. The only films I really feel are worth a watch, based on my opinion and sensibilities, are Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Godzilla Minus One, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Suzume and even that last movie I'm a bit mixed on. I'd throw in Poor Things and American Fiction at this point to try and get to ten and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was pretty decent. I did like the Wes Anderson short of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar so I guess that can be added but I'm not going to worry about a tenth at this point. I didn't expect a Godzilla movie to win me over so much like Minus One did but I so thoroughly enjoyed that I actually went and saw it a second time while it was playing at the theatre which is a rare thing for me to do. I almost did it for Oppenheimer but never did in the end. Spider-Man was a surprise for me because I actually disliked the first Spider-Verse and did not have high expectations for this sequel. I didn't see it in theatres but now I wish I had. It was way better than the first and felt like one of the few ambitious movies released this year. If I was responsible for the Best Picture nominees, Godzilla and Spider-Man would have both made it this year.

That's enough commenting for now on my movie opinions. Let's get to predicting some nominees!

13
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Sales Thread
« on: March 05, 2024, 04:31:40 PM »
Will the administration set up a new poll please  :D

I've thought about it but I can't really think of any new sales question right now. Do you have an idea? I suppose there's the question of if you think Switch could surpass PS2 total hardware sales by the end of the year but that's about all I can come up with.

14
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 22, 2024, 12:38:34 AM »
EDIT: Further embarrassed by the Xbox press release that deconfirms Hi Fi Rush on Switch. DAMN! I’m stupid.

What?! Where's the source on this?

15
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2023?
« on: February 21, 2024, 01:52:41 PM »
  • No new console announcement.
  • Advanced Wars ReBootCamp is slotted into the release calendar at the last minute to fill a gap.
  • Zelda:TotK-specific Direct shows off the game and previews DLC.
  • Two rounds of Pokemon SV DLC.
  • Detective Pikachu 2 is finally talked about again.
  • Metroid happens in trailer form only.
  • Rhythm Heaven comes to Switch as this year's party game.
  • I'm thinking there's a non-Mario, Mushroom Kingdom resident starring game coming out soon, but announced this year.
  • Two HD GameCube ports are announced this year.
  • Pikmin 4 does not come out.
  • No Switch 2 indeed. 1 point.
  • Advance Wars didn't seem super last-minute, but it was short notice. ½ point
  • 3 in a row on Zelda, Pokémon S/V DLC & Detective Chu. 3 points
  • Depending on whether we count Metroid Prime Remastered as a HD port or not, Nintendo dropped either 2 or 3 GameCube titles in HD (the other two being Pikmin 1 & 2). Let's be lenient and say 1 point.
Total score: 5½ points! Rocketing into the lead through a controversial decision by the ref! I'm sure audiences will not complain at all!

Normally, I like highlighting all the ways Order.RSS is trying to rig the game to hold me back but there wasn't much he had to do last year with the poor performance of Safe Khushrenada. However, it seems he still likes trying to manufacture drama and make this competition seem close by pretending there were two winners  ;) when we can all see there was only one. Welcome to the club of trying to screw over the best player, nickmitch!  ;D I think he needs to change his name from Order.RSS to Law.RSS because he doesn't play by the rules and just sets whatever standard he wants. ;) You should have a full point for your number 8 prediction. Princess Peach: Showtime definitely meets the criteria of that prediction and it should be recognized for the bold and smart glimpse of the future it is... or was... er, you know what I mean! Even if you remove the generous half point, you would still have a whopping 6 point score from everything else when adding in that number 8 prediction.

16
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 21, 2024, 01:35:13 PM »
Rumor has it that Madness Khushrenada heard the scuttlebutt and decided to go with it because it did seem kind of crazy. Also realize that I forgot to make a prediction that Silksong would release on the Switch / Switch 2 within a year. Even 30 some predictions isn't enough! Last year, Madness Khushrenada was going to predict Professor Layton returned when no one had even rumored that and then changed the prediction to something else. Endless Ocean makes up for that error.

When Microsoft didn't give full details about what games they would be porting in their damage control podcast, it was speculated that perhaps those announcement like Hi-Fi Rush were because they would be revealed as coming out around the launch of the Switch 2 and that's why Microsoft kept the details hushed. Obviously, this partner direct had a couple ports announced but no Hi-Fi Rush which was the most expected. Maybe it will still be saved for the launch of the Switch 2.

17
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 21, 2024, 05:14:44 AM »
Yes!!! He has returned once more. The lunatic legend. The man who makes Howard Beale look sane. The mad prophet of the gaming world. It's...

Madness Khushrenada!

1. Nintendo finally finds Star Fox under the couch cushions and decide to put a Star Fox game on the Switch this year.

2. A Mario sports game is released this year. (Not really that mad of a prediction. Just realized I forgot to make it earlier with the other Khushrenadas. It's trickle down predictions here!)

3. SNES Remix (a sequel to the NES Remix games) is announced and released within 18 months.

4. Endless Ocean returns from the grave and comes to the Switch this year.

5. Square ports over more Dragon Quest games (such as 4, 5, 6) to the Switch and announces Dragon Quest 12 will release on a Nintendo system.

6. Even more Square madness. Square brings Terranigma to the Switch.

7. Square-sanity! Fortune Street also returns to Switch this year.

8. Pushmo ain't dead either! A Pushmo collection is announced for Switch.

9. Spike Chunsoft delivers! AI: Somnium Files 3 is announced. The Zero Escape series is also ported to Switch.

10. Mother 3 actually releases in North America on the Switch GBA app.

11. Everyone else’s predictions go to 10. Not Madness Khushrenada. His picks go to 11. He's just so eXtreme! Chibi-Robo fire is real! The little robot who could stuns the world by coming to Switch in a Chibi-Robo collection of his first three games. It causes the Switch to not only surpass the PS2's total sales but also double them!! You heard it here first!

18
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 21, 2024, 04:37:12 AM »
Forget those plain old vanilla predictions from Safe Khushrenada. Here's the zesty nacho cheese flavored predictions you really want to snack on. It's...

Bold Khushrenada

1. Nintendo's Switch successor does not release in 2024.

2. A new MonolithSoft title is announced and revealed.

3. Donkey Kong 64 comes to the Switch either on the N64 App or remade/remastered for Switch.

4. Another Game Console’s (i.e. Master System, Game Gear, Neo Geo, etc) games are added to the Expansion + subscription.

5. Yoshi’s Woolly World gets a Switch port. Previous Yarn Amiibos get restocked for it.

6. Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! is brought to the Switch eShop.

And I'm done with Nintendo. We know they'll keep pumping out all sorts of Mario, Zelda, Pokemon game continuously. So let’s bold it and talk third party particularly since it's these louse partners which are forcing me to predict things now!

7. Shin Megami Tensei V returns. Either as a Complete Edition (or Director's Cut) game with DLC in one package or as a spinoff game. Atlus has to keep propping up Sega.

8. More Third Party talk. The Mass Effect Trilogy gets ported to the Switch. EA needs some cash!

9. Sega puts another Monkey Ball game on Switch. Sega really needs some extra income!

10. Pentiment also makes the jump from XBox to Switch. Microsoft desperately needs any kind of gaming revenue they can get!!! They almost quit making consoles earlier this month!

19
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 21, 2024, 04:03:53 AM »
Look out! He's back to make the same boring predictions again. Only this time he's slightly angry that he has to repeat himself.

Safe Khushrenada

1. Nintendo will finally talk about the Switch successor, their next gaming system, and when it will launch.

2. One of the games shown for the Switch successor will be a game with Mario in it.

3. Nintendo will release a special edition Switch Oled this year.

4. Nintendo will announce (at least) two new Amiibo figures for the year.

5. More DLC will be available for free to those with the Online Expansion + subscription.

6. A Kirby game will be announced and released within 18 months of that announcement.

7. A previous Pokemon game will be revealed as getting remastered or remade new for Switch and released within a year of its announcement.

8. Metroid Prime 4 footage will finally be shown.

9. Hi-Fi Rush is announced and ported to Nintendo this year.

10. Another GameCube game will be released on Switch either as a port or remaster/remake.

20
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 21, 2024, 03:45:18 AM »
What? Safe Khushrenada did not dominate crush the prediction thread last year? Madness Khushrenada actually got some points?! I blame Nintendo! It's time balance was restored to the Force Visions, er, prediction game. I didn't think I'd have to do this again but, if there's one thing I know about Steefosaurus (which obviously isn't knowing the actual username he's currently had for a couple years), Steef-a-roni loves it when someone submits 30 predictions disguised as three people. Or maybe just consider this the forum equivalent of a Dr. Goomba Tower. It's a Prognosticating Khushrenada Tower. Surely this time, everything the Khushrenada Coven says will come to pass...

21
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 19, 2024, 11:25:37 PM »
FINAL CALL FOR PREDICTIONS!

Dinar87 proves themselves a TRUE and CONFIRMED leaker, a Partner Direct will indeed air on February 21st, 6am PT.

Get your predictions in or suffer FOMO for the coming 10 months.

What? Booo partners! Ruining it for everyone!

22
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 14, 2024, 03:50:44 AM »
1. I predict that Nintendo will release some new software we haven't seen before this year.
2. I predict that Nintendo will port a game from a previous console as a new release this year.
3. I predict that at least one of the games Nintendo releases this year will sell 1,000,000 copies.
4. I predict that Nintendo will release some new DLC this year.
5. I predict that Nintendo will add some titles to their Online Apps.
6. I predict that third parties will port some of their games to the Switch this year.
7. I predict that Nintendo will release some new Amiibo this year.
8. I predict that Nintendo will release a previously unseen console.
9. I predict that Nintendo will release some new controllers this year.
10. I predict that Nintendo will air some Directs this year.

Please send me my winnings in cash, not cheque. I'd also like them to be in $1.00 bills so that I can really make it look like I've got stacks and stacks of cash. Thank you in advance.

23
NWR Forums Discord / Re: THERE ARE NO WORDS!
« on: February 13, 2024, 05:23:15 PM »
So many memories.

24
Nintendo Gaming / Re: The OFFICIAL Big N rumor thread *bring your own salt*
« on: February 13, 2024, 05:12:02 PM »
This says that Switch 2 will have physical and digital backwards compatibility
and that Devs can "enhance" Switch 1 games on the Switch 2
https://universonintendo.com/rumor-proximo-hardware-da-nintendo-tera-retrocompatibilidade-fisica-e-digital-com-jogos-do-switch/

I'm assuming that will be higher frame rates, cleaner textures, higher rez output?

I've been wondering myself if there might be something like that with the Super Switch. When the PS5 released, the big thing that many early adopters talked about was just enjoying the improvement to PS4 games they were playing on it. It enabled them to run better and the impression was that was a big selling point since it had pretty unremarkable software during that first year. With recent games on the Switch like Batman: Arkham Knight or Mortal Kombat 1 which had videos highlighting the drops in framerate or downgrade in graphics. Thus, it has made me ponder if some of those game might get updates that allow them to run a bit better on the next Switch or if the Switch 2 would just run them better on its own.

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NWR Forums Discord / No surprise. Sony is kicking Nintendo's butt again!
« on: February 13, 2024, 05:01:51 PM »
Is Nintendo ever going to get their act together? It's just embarrassing the incredible amount of unforced errors they commit.  :-[

Here's an article talking about Another PS5 Sales Record. This time, it's happening in Japan which was supposed to be Nintendo's "stronghold". According to the article, "the PS5 sold better than any PlayStation console has ever sold since the PS2 in 2004." The bestselling platform of all time and the PS5 is doing better than it!

Just look at the sales being posted in our own Official Sales Thread in the Nintendo Gaming forum. The most recent sales chart in Japan shows the following:

Famitsu Sales: Week 5, 2024 (Jan 29 - Feb 04)

01./00. [PS5] Persona 3 Reload # <RPG> (Atlus) {2024.02.02} (¥8.800) - 76.368 / NEW <60-80%>
02./00. [PS5] Granblue Fantasy Relink # <RPG> (Cygames) {2024.02.01} (¥7.980) - 48.754 / NEW <80-100%>
03./00. [PS4] Persona 3 Reload # <RPG> (Atlus) {2024.02.02} (¥8.800) - 40.024 / NEW <60-80%>
04./00. [NSW] Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash # <FTG> (Bandai Namco Entertainment) {2024.02.01} (¥7.700) - 25.242 / NEW <80-100%>
05./00. [PS4] Granblue Fantasy Relink # <RPG> (Cygames) {2024.02.01} (¥7.980) - 22.083 / NEW <80-100%>
06./02. [NSW] Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island <RPG> (Spike Chunsoft) {2024.01.25} (¥6.350) - 18.103 / 103.527 <80-100%> (-79%)
07./03. [PS4] Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth <RPG> (Sega) {2024.01.26} (¥8.800) - 16.503 / 93.637 <60-80%> (-79%)
08./01. [PS5] Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth <RPG> (Sega) {2024.01.26} (¥8.800) - 15.388 / 118.328 <60-80%> (-85%)
09./06. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.10.20} (¥5.980) - 14.140 / 1.715.110 <80-100%> (+4%)
10./07. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru! <TBL> (Konami) {2023.11.16} (¥6.300) - 11.464 / 960.282 <80-100%> (-4%)
11./04. [PS5] Marvel's Spider-Man 2 # <ACT> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2023.10.20}

Yep, you've read that correct. 7 of the top 11 selling games are on Sony platforms. The PS4 games are still selling well over a decade after that console released. You know what you won't find? Any Wii U or 3DS games on the charts. Nintendo just cannot generate support or sales for its games and consoles.  :( :'(

And it should come as no surprise. Look at their software strategy. Last year, the released Everybody 1-2 Switch! They made it so that 100 people could play using just one copy of the game and use their phones if they wanted. Clearly, this is a company that doesn't care about how many consoles or games they sell to the public. It was bad enough they were already letting 4 - 8 people play a game using a single cartridge and console but 100 people now? No wonder Nintendo has often trailed Sony when it comes to selling consoles.

Sony's got an amazing strategy. Take a single game like FF7 and divide it into three parts. Release Part 1 on the PS4, Part 2 on the PS5 and Part 3 on the PS6. Now players have to buy three consoles and three software titles to play 1 whole game. That's an incredible console and game selling strategy. No wonder PS4 games are still charting. That's how you support a console! Meanwhile, Nintendo's like, "Take this one console we have made anywhere and give a second controller to other people so that they can play our games for free using your console". Like, WHAT?! Yeah, that's going to help generate sales.  >:( >:(

And people somehow think that the Switch could be not only Nintendo's best selling console ever but also the best selling console of all time and surpass the PS2?! Just shaking my head at that idea. How, people? How? The evidence is clearly painting a different picture and Nintendo's own actions show they don't think of future sales with their console and software strategy. Until they finally wake up and realize they have to focus on that single player AAA gaming like Sony does then this is a company that is always going to be chasing trends instead of setting them.  :-\

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