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Messages - Morningshark

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1
TalkBack / Re: 100 Classic Books Review
« on: July 07, 2023, 11:09:19 PM »
Someday, I hope this gets bumped again and some other "Xander" finds, "Pride and Prejudice".

2
TalkBack / Re: The Best Super Mario Bros. Movie Toys
« on: April 17, 2023, 05:10:52 PM »
Boy, I would have loved these growing up. Very cute. Might pick one or two up from my cousins. Nice feature, Neal! That Bowser is cool haha.

3
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 818: Can a Mario Movie Make You Cry?
« on: April 17, 2023, 01:45:59 AM »
That's been the long game... no need to catch up if you're one step ahead!

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 818: Can a Mario Movie Make You Cry?
« on: April 16, 2023, 05:18:17 PM »
Thanks for having Jonny and I!

5
I ended up getting Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball. Or I suppose I should rather say that I played through Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball and managed to obtain all of the discounts. I’ll tell ya though, there’s a new layer of grimness to the story knowing that you have turned Rusty’s life around thanks to your patronage… mere hours before the eShop closes forever. It was a real “Moon hovering over Clock Town” scenario.

I’m mildly concerned at James’ idea for Mario Party mechanics. I shudder at the thought of him designing a game for the Mario Party Monthly crew to have to endure. That said, it’s still peculiar that neither Ultra-hand, nor Punch-Out ever were tied to the “Arms”.

Glad to hear Greg enjoyed the Bayonetta spin-off. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the demo. I think at some point I will get around to playing this one. But I am in no rush, right now.

6
I skipped the Tears of the Kingdom gameplay video. Admittedly, I am pretty spoiler-sensitive. I figured, I've already pre-ordered the game, and am going to play it pretty soon. So I skipped out on that video and the discussion.

Really enjoyed your early Wind Waker impressions. I value hearing about your experiences around the time that game was coming out. For instance, I tried googling early screenshots and had a hard time finding any with different eyes for Link, as James described. That sort of information would be lost because of how distant it has been. I still feel that while the opening hours of the game are somewhat limiting in what you're able to do and where you can go, it's much more enjoyable compared to the back half. Would love to see this specific art style return in a follow-up someday. James and I were chatting about how adaptions could happen, and I think animated shorts in this art style would be really cute.

Never made it out to E3, and I used to really want to go. But the idea of it has lost its sheen over the years for many reasons. I feel that as it has been described to me, it started to change after the GameCube era... becoming a bit more corporate. Less of a trade show or press conference and more of a trailer festival. They even opened it to the public a few years back. I'm okay with having never made it to one, because it seems less like how it was described by the age group that did follow and make it out way back when. There will always be other exciting, if not better opportunities in life.

7
I played the demo, and was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. My impression of the game so far had been that it looked okay, but probably would be something I wouldn't ever get to. With it releasing right before the Mario movie and next Zelda game, it seemed like something I just wouldn't bother with. But I loved the demo, and am interested enough (especially after reading your review), to want to play even more. Great review, Alex!

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 815: A Change of Hardware
« on: April 03, 2023, 08:54:55 PM »
That was a pretty good stunt with the AI. The voice for Jonny was eerie how similar it sounded. It nailed a lot of the common jargon you each have, but it definitely added some creative liberties. Greg had a much thicker British accent and James’ voice went up as if it was being played on 1.5x speed. All of the gags, and the cherry on top was the abrupt cut to the “ending” music… hilarious!

9
I used to anticipate Directs way more, but have backed off. Now, I am  pleasantly surprised when something is shown that catches my interest. I am pretty sure the biggest reaction I have ever given was intense fist pumps when Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Pikmin 4 were revealed haha. But largely, the hype culture isn’t something I am interested in. I do enjoy talking about the reveals with my friends.

10
When I think of Wind Waker, my enjoyment usually comes from the opening hours of this game. The "children's cartoon" approach was very appealing to me as a kid. In fact, The Wind Waker was one of the first games I was exposed to when I got my first console. My GameCube came with that Zelda collector's disc which showed off the game. Sadly, I never got the full game, and didn't actually play it until the HD remaster was released on the Wii U. So, I was never there for the backlash around the game's art style. I was a child, who thought that the vibrant colors, simple designs, and humorous animations were really appealing. I played Toon Link the most in Brawl largely because I liked his design so much. Whenever I am interested in replaying the Wind Waker, I typically will only play the opening few hours; till I hit the rock where I feel there is padding. But, we will get there in part 2. I really enjoy the feeling of leaving your home in a game, and this game nails that. A lot of the islands you experience in the beginning are well populated, dense with objectives for you. Other islands in the game, not so much. But here in the first half, you meet the woodland creatures, the Koroks (from Breath of the Wild... just kidding), an entire new city with other children, a magical boat, and you encounter danger from the "outset". It is interesting to go with a heavy focus on sneaking around at the beginning of a game. Perhaps this was to try and truncate the "Young Link" idea, where you start off very weak but get much stronger later; as you do return to the Forsaken Fortress much stronger. Overall, I think the Wind Waker has one of the stronger openings to the world-building of it's game. But in a game that is teasing the expansive sea, it's interesting to lock you to a linear path for the majority of the opening. I recall playing the opening for the first time and being excited by my quest; the scope and mystery of anything on the horizon waiting for me... and then being a little confused why I "had" to go from points A to B to C, etc. Looking forward to hearing what others think so far!

11
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 813: Wario's Iconic Garlic
« on: March 18, 2023, 10:48:06 AM »
I totally hear what Greg is saying about the bright colors of Metroid Fusion not fitting the Metroid series, because they were intended to be seen on a screen without a backlight. I gotta admit though, I think I kind of love it. Not much more to offer on the discussion other than that, I’m afraid. Hoping for some more goods to come soon though. Was really hoping the Fusion Suit would be added to Prime Remastered since Fusion came out on NSO so quickly after the release… but that seems to be a lost opportunity.

I’m loving the new Mario Kart DLC. I play Tour often with Justin, and I believe that the reason the versions of the city tracks in MK8DX have different laps is because there are many variants of the city tracks in tour. The game is designed around a combo system to boost your score, so they took the city track and made a bunch of variations on it. Admittedly though, I think they have continued to go with the more generic versions with the DLC versions, which is a bummer. I wonder if “Mario Kart 9” will adopt a combo mode akin to Tour’s and include these tracks. Really really love Yoshi’s Island though. I love tracks based on other games. I’m hoping Super Mario Odyssey will get some love.

It’s still unclear though about some of the tracks being introduced to Tour first, but not being “from” Tour. Like Ninja Hideaway and Merry Mountain were released on Tour over a year before they came to MK8, but then you have others like Sky High Sundae coming out on both at about the same time, and I believe Yoshi’s Island was allegedly data mined in Tour before it was announced for MK8. There’s another original non-city course from Tour that just came out that I was surprised to not see in this batch, which is Piranha Plant Cove. I wonder if they were hesitant to include that in this round because of how many tracks from Tour came in this wave.

12
I try not let "zeitgeist" be something I care too much about with games. It can be naturally fun if you are there, and with the Internet now, it's cool to see so many people playing the same game at once. But most games for most people will be something they experience later. Whether it be not buying the game till later, different release dates, or even just not being born yet. I know I certainly have felt that way. Smash Bros. was my exposure to a lot of different Intellectual Properties, something that I am sure many people can resonate with.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 807: This Podcast Is Significant
« on: March 05, 2023, 10:41:59 PM »
I concur with others here, this was a significant episode.

Goldeneye was a game I remember playing as a kid, but when I tried going back to it, I found myself having a very hard time enjoying it. Not sure with the online, I am interested in it. But, it’s very cool that it is available for people who are interested in checking it out.

I’m hoping to get to Bayonetta 3 eventually. I really enjoyed the past two games… especially 2. Even with all of it’s over the top flair, the gameplay is really solid in that series!

14
Love love love Superstar Saga. One of my most nostalgic games, and I’m glad so many people have access to it now. I adore its personality. Glad Greg is enjoying it. I enjoyed exploring the GBA games that are available. The only one I disliked was Mario Kart: Super Circuit. I had that one as a kid and didn’t really enjoy it then either. I don’t think I realized how important the game makes the coins until now.

Also, I had never tried Kuru kuru Kurin before, but had a really great time checking it out. It’s kind of challenging, but in a fun way. I’m going to keep playing it, for sure. It’s simplicity makes it a bit addicting. Didn’t spend too much time with those cool E-Reader levels, but I’m sure I’ll get to them. I played a lot of them when they released “the game with a long name” back on the Wii U virtual console. Great to see them returning here. Really hoping James is right with WarioWare Twisted, given the precedent about Kirby: Tilt n’ Tumble being announced. That would be super cool; both games I have never played.

15
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 810: Looking for the Contours of Fun
« on: February 22, 2023, 12:10:44 PM »
I rarely remember the review score I gave a game when I was reviewing regularly for the website. I certainly took it into consideration at the time, but I suppose I felt I put more work into trying to craft an explanation of everything I thought while playing the game, and it’s overall affect on how I felt when walking away from the product. And there is something to be said about comparing reviews for games versus films, and even other items. Great discussion to listen to on that, gents. On the flip side… you’ve given me some ideas for a certain program I currently am a on.

I enjoyed the Metroid Prime Remastered discussion. I have played that game once or twice on the Wii Trilogy, but never got that far. The controls weren’t for me… but oddly I prefer those controls for the Pikmin series. Here though, I played through it all in just a single weekend! And now I’m playing the rest of the games in the series I missed out on… Super, Fusion, and currently… Other M. Really enjoyed it, and have just a few nitpicks that are all really just quality of life updates. Though I did play with the dual stick controls and with gyro, and that alone was a massive upgrade for me. I wish there was fast travel, auto saving, and an indicator to tell you if you’ve found everything in a given area. All of those are purely just to help save wasted time. Other then that though, this was a pretty good play. I ended up getting 100% items, and 99% scans… I did miss one single scan. Not even a boss too. It was the “Ice Shriekbat”… an enemy that appears in a single room, has the sole attack of dive bombing you, and is replaced as soon as you advance to the next area. So silly!

16
TalkBack / Re: Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch) Review
« on: February 21, 2023, 10:07:32 PM »
I've started this game on the Wii Trilogy several times, but and really enjoyed it. But I always got lost or stuck once I hit the Phendrana Drifts. For whatever reason, the shadow drop of this game worked on me. Bought it right away and beat it before the weekend was over. The new dual-stick plus gyro controls were what I desperately wanted when I was frustrated by the Wii controls. Super pretty new coat of paint over a really fun game. Great review, John. I enjoyed reading.

17
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 808: Soft Locked in the Tea House
« on: February 21, 2023, 09:59:55 PM »
I am passing on Fire Emblem Engage. Even if they are tempting me with my love for both tea and weightlifting lol. The strategy portion of the game looks like it delivers well enough, and I’m glad they have cleaned up the “prep-work” you do in-between fights, but James is right about how much of the series has changed. I’m fatigued at these games focusing on summoning legacy characters. Heroes Warriors, TMS, and now this? I think the series has moved in a fan-service-y direction that I am losing interest in. Which is a shame because I enjoyed Three Houses’ world so much, despite its shortcomings. That bedroom thing is too creepy for me.

2022 was a very light year for me in the gaming world. I kept up with several of Nintendo’s mobile games, but outside of them, I think Kirby’s Forgotten Land was my only purchase from Nintendo and was my favorite play of the year. I also enjoyed The Wild at Heart, though I know Guillaume wasn’t a fan. I streamed some retro games I had never played before, like Spyro the Dragon and Captain Rainbow (both also pretty enjoyable). Overall, not a big year for gaming for me. 2023 on the other hand seems like it’s gonna be a different story.

18
Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 809: Skylofty Expectations
« on: February 18, 2023, 02:17:27 AM »
Jon’s comments about stalking that person just a “little bit” reminds me of how there is a certain percentage of cow feces permitted per gallon of milk.

Very stoked for Pikmin 4. One thing I observed is that there is an opportunity for verticality to be explored that the series has seldom tried.  You could kind of go deeper in the water then in past games, but here we see full on climbing. And with the new tilted camera, I have to wonder if there are going to be more vertical based levels; perhaps you can only take Blue Pikmin into a deep underwater chasm? Or maybe you can only take Winged Pikmin into the high treetops?

I didn’t buy Splatoon 3; played the demo and that was it. My impression based on the precedent of Splatoon 2’s Final SplatFest “affecting” the story of Splatoon 3, is that the loser of that SplatFest (Team Order) is what the story of the DLC is about. Because I believe they went with an “anarchy” theme for Splatoon 3’s campaign, to match the fact that Team Chaos won. IMO, I think having a utopian, squeaky-clean, perfect society for Splatoon is a much more interesting back drop because it contrasts the punk style that Splatoon is known for. But who knows what it’ll be. Regardless, I likely won’t be buying it, just for the DLC.

Regarding Advance Wars I thought it was interesting that the commercial didn’t show gameplay, and instead relied on the (really pretty!) hand drawn animations. They even play up the “strategy” jargon, and minimize the “war” focus. Definitely a tough spot to be in.

Looking forward to the new Layton game! I skipped Katrielle… all the bad impressions and reviews were enough to keep me away. Crossing my fingers for this new one to be a hit!

Last thing, my instinct is telling me that the “shrines” in Tears of the Kingdom are the floating islands themselves. If you have a map as big as Hyrule from Breath of the Wild, you’re gonna need a lot to cover in the sky, so to me it makes sense that the places to explore in the sky (probably not all) will be the places where Link is puzzle-solving.

19
TalkBack / Pac-Man Museum + (Switch) Review
« on: June 23, 2022, 05:04:36 AM »

A great collection for when you get the video game munchies

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/60777/pac-man-museum--switch-review

Despite its grandfatherly age in the video game industry, the 1980 arcade classic Pac-Man has stood the test of time in what has grown to be a very big industry. Granted, it has endured in part to being heavily available on nearly every console in some capacity, but its relevance has also been due to its simplistic, addictive design: eat all of the dots, avoid the ghosts until you get the Power Pellet, and chomp on the fruit for extra points. Pac-Man’s massive success led to then-Namco turning the little hungry yellow ball into a full-blown franchise with mixed results, but with enough wins to keep Pac-Man a household name. How interesting it is to now have a catered collection of these arcade games from over the years all put into one collection. A Namco collection comes out every year or so, but it’s not common to get one based solely on Pac-Man. Pac-Man Museum + is a port of the 2014 title, Pac-Man Museum. The “+” indicates the new games in the collection, as well as new features revolving around customization. How does this collection fair against its own company’s saturated market of compilations? Well, it seems that despite how simple a game Pac-Man is, talking about this collection is a little more complicated.

Pac-Man Museum + comes packaged with 14 games from across the pellet-muncher’s history. These include the original 1980 Pac-Man, its 1982 sequel Super Pac-Man, 1983’s Pac & Pal, 1984’s Pac-Land, 1987’s Pac-Mania, the Super Nintendo version of Pac-Attack from 1993, the Super Famicom version of Pac-in-Time from 1995, 1996’s Pac-Man Arrangement as well as the PSP version from 2005, 2007’s Pac-Man Championship Edition, Pac-Moto’s, and Pac n’ Roll Remix. 2011’s Pac-Man Battle Royale and 2016’s Pac-Man 256 round out the collection. Needless to say, there is a lot of arcade Pac-Man content here, most being variations of Pac-Man’s history through his maze-based games, with a handful of other offerings in the puzzle and platformer genres. While there is a lot here, I couldn’t help but notice a few omissions. Ms. Pac-Man is the obvious missing title. However, if you’re unaware like I was going in, Ms. Pac-Man has been battling some ownership issues and thus wasn’t included. The character was actually struck completely from games that had included her, even as a cameo, and replaced with the character, “Pac-Mom.” While it is a shame that Ms. Pac-Man is not included, there are several other games that try to make up for her exclusion, many of which have had far fewer re-releases. To ask for a collection to cover the entirety of Pac-Man’s history is unreasonable, sure, but there was a small nagging feeling of wanting just a little bit more from Pac-Man’s history that has rarely been revisited, such as the Pac-Man World games, Jr. Pac-Man, or even the hilariously ill-fated Baby Pac-Man. That said, for the price of admission, what is available here is a great offering, even if it’s likely not every game will be played as much as some others.

Admittedly, I didn’t realize how many Pac-Man games existed that I had not played, especially from his earlier ventures. I blame part of this on the fact that many have not been re-released or included in the various Namco Museum collections. That said, after having trekked through maze after maze, I have a better understanding as to why many of these games were not made widely available again: they ain’t great. Sure, the fundamental design of Pac-Man is just as timeless as it was decades ago. And it was interesting to see the journey that Namco underwent to keep the magic of the series alive in each sequel. But that didn’t necessarily translate to enjoying the actual gameplay.

For instance, Super Pac-Man, the sequel to the original arcade game, added locked doors to the mazes that had to be opened with various keys. Pac-Man could use a power-up that made him much larger, invincible, and capable of busting down these doors. At best, it’s a novelty. But it starts to stray away from the appeal of the simple game. The follow-up, Pac & Pal, does away with the mechanic of chomping the ghosts altogether, instead focusing on having Pac-Man chase down a character that is nabbing all of the fruit. Then you have the experimental games that shake up the genre instead of trying to evolve the original concept. These are fairly middling, too. It’s fun to check out Pac-Man as some sort of tilt n’ tumble game or a Tetris-style puzzle game; I also enjoyed seeing where the Super Smash Bros. stage comes from (which was better than I was expecting!). But a lot of these games are a few steps past being novelty items. I found myself only wanting to play a handful of the games for long periods of time: both variations of Pac-Man Arrangement and Pac-Man Championship Edition. Thankfully, even though I didn’t stick to every game available, the inclusion of an achievement system made it somewhat interesting to return to other titles. It’s certainly not a perfect system, but it was a helpful addition to keep me coming back, and also to tie in the Pac-Man Museum +’s newest feature: a customizable arcade.

While I wasn’t majorly impressed by the arcade hub menu given its small size and limitations, I was enjoying the constant unlocking of new skins for cabinets, new figurines, and even characters to come hang out at my arcade. The process for decorating is fairly straightforward: play the games, unlock achievements, earn rewards to decorate. You can also earn tokens that you can use to either play the arcade games, or spend on a gatcha machine for more figurines. It’s rudimentary, but charming. There isn’t a lot to complain about, as it’s all very serviceable, but I did have a few netpicks. Why were there a bazillion different wallpapers, but only two types of flooring? Why did arcade cabinets that were multiplayer get put into a single player arcade cabinet? What’s up with the 30 fps? Again, it’s not a huge deal. It’s a neat addition to this enhanced port that I think would be welcome in any collection celebrating an iconic video game character’s important history.

I did appreciate some of the flavor text that was written about the various games, each providing enough context to its relevance in the history of Pac-Man. In terms of other cosmetics, there’s a CRT filter that has varying levels of quality depending on the game. It appears to be a single filter overlay that doesn’t adjust depending on the game. In some games, such as Pac-Land, the lines that break up the pixels don’t line up with the in-game pixels, and I found this to be distracting. Speaking of, if you aren’t a fan of colorful arcade cabinet borders around your game, I regret to inform you that they are in full swing here with no option to turn them off. Personally, I was enjoying seeing all of the different artwork, but an option to customize the experience seems like a no-brainer that was missed. In some games, resizing the game screen actually will conceal part of the artwork, which often included instructional material. It’s not a game breaker, but it’s another element in this quality control tug-of-war the whole collection struggles with.

What is definitely a game breaker is the lag. I can’t really pinpoint if it’s the horrible drifting that occurs on Switch controllers, if it’s the input lag, or even the emulation itself, but more often than not I was frequently running into instances where I didn’t make a turn while fleeing a ghost, which jeopardized my fleeting strategies in the moment. I noticed this recurring issue across multiple maze games, while experimenting with different controllers and Switch play styles. For fun, I even booted up Pac-Man 99 and didn’t experience nearly the same level of frustration. So while I was having a grand ol’ time re-experiencing my childhood favorite, Pac-Man Arrangement, the experience was soured just a little with some control issues. Thankfully, most of the games are forgiving with the lives / credit system (again you use in-game tokens). But in a high-score chasing experience, it can be frustrating to not be able to claim what you rightfully feel you earned. There are online leaderboards too, which stack you up against both your friends and the best of the best. I like to think I gave each game a fair shake, but with some of those older titles, it was grating having to deal with moments of unfairness in already questionable games. Save states aren’t really necessary in these arcade-based games, but they would have been appreciated in some of the platformers like Pac-Land or Pac-in-Time, as occasionally the games would present you with a very punishing obstacle that did not promote experimentation.

Pac-Man Museum + is a lot to chew on, as there are many upsides to this package. The selection is good, there’s plenty of replayability, the leaderboards are nice, and a few stand-out titles can be found within. Plus, you really can’t beat the entry price being so low. But sadly, it’s a package that is bogged down with a handful of control issues and a lack of options. In a collection celebrating a character via a customizable arcade, it’s unfortunate there isn’t as much care put into the customization of the player experience. Will I still be playing it often? Absolutely. A handful of these titles both promote Pac-Man’s historic legacy, while standing on their own. Others, however, get lost in a game that is ironically all about mazes.


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TalkBack / Re: Dream Dropped: Playing Kingdom Hearts on the Cloud
« on: April 24, 2022, 12:40:10 PM »
Awesome job on this, Joe. I respect the lengths you went to test all the versions in different environments. It's such a shame how it has panned out.

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TalkBack / Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Release Date Tagged For July 29
« on: April 24, 2022, 12:39:12 PM »
It reads like Splatoon 3 and Xenoblade 3 might be doing the ol' switch-a-roo. Interesting

22
Seriously? You decide to give to out business credits now? Where were you when I was finishing up college in 2020? It's okay, I doubt RFN is accredited.

Fun show; bummed to hear Guillaume didn't care for The Wild at Heart. I haven't started Triangle Strategy yet, but it is [effectively] in my shopping cart.

My biggest takeaway has to be... "Only an Amico deals in absolutes".

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TalkBack / Re: New Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Trailer Released
« on: April 13, 2022, 11:33:21 PM »
Crossing my fingers that Gatekeeper is playable!

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oh no

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Wow, I was not expecting such a moving speech.

Mario enemies definitely have the advantage of being consistent over the years. Goomba's have always looked like Goomba's, Koopa's walk on their hind legs now, and Thwomp did get a few redesigns, but by and large they do stick to the same style guide; for better and for worse.

I think Wii Sports might be a fun game for a first game, assuming they don't throw the Wiimote into the TV.

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