Topic: Episode 305: Xmas Eve-Eve

[Pandareus]

Billy drops in to tell us about Paper Mario, Fluidity, and that other, RFN-less Penny Arcade Expo.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/31591

With James on travel this week, we brought in the veteran RFN guest and world-renowned Nintendo guru, Billy Berghammer. It was good timing, because Billy just got back from PAX Prime 2012, where he played a couple of hot upcoming 3DS games in Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Fluidity: Spin Cycle. He also catches up with Nintendo Land and talks about the expo's slate of panels (nothing much for Nintendo fans!) and impressions of the Nintendo booth and other game exhibitions at the show. Gui finally catches up with the fantastic Virtual Console localization of Monster World IV, but he's much less happy with the DS sleeper hit known as Hotel Dusk. Jon rediscovers Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on his PSP, which leads us to preview the upcoming Monster Hunter 4 that will shake up 3DS in Japan at the looming Tokyo Games Show. Jonny completes the cycle with the astonishingly modern Wario Land (1) and a superb action-adventure remake, Ys: The Oath in Felghana.

Listener Mail was so much fun last week, we decided to dip back into the well. This week's letters cover the futility of fan-made game mods, the anti-Nintendo shadow conspiracy, controller options for Wii U backwards-compatibility, and the best/worst kinds of game bosses. Chip in your own ideas and questions for the RFN crew to ponder next time!

Don't forget to vote in the new RetroActive poll for which Kirby game we'll be playing together -- time is running out! And if you'd like to check out those sweet NWR podcast t-shirts, we'd really appreciate that as well. See you next week for a discussion of the hot new Wii U launch details from that September 13 press event!

[Glad0s]

S-s-s-s-saturday? S-s-s-saturday?!?!? *mind blown*

[Pixelated Pixies]

No James makes me a sad Panda...but a new episode of NWR makes me an ecstatically happy Panda.
 
...I'm conflicted.

[Glad0s]

Can't you just be an emotionally middle-of-the-road panda?

[Pixelated Pixies]

Can't you just be an emotionally middle-of-the-road panda?

No, because I'm a Bipolar Panda.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

That you for speaking the truth on Fluidity on Wii, Billy.

I just finished Monster World 4 myself. The controls are a little chunky, and that third dungeon actually annoyed me due to its laberynthine design, but overall it is a very good game.

[broodwars]

I really disagree with the sentiment that Wii games should be given special treatment in reviews due to the Wii's incredibly lacking technical prowess.  If they were to do that, it would be favorable bias towards Nintendo, which I know many on this forum wouldn't mind but still wouldn't be "fair."  Nintendo is the company this generation that chose to release a modified GameCube up against the PS3 and 360.  If it's entirely fair to praise the sales of the Wii against the PS3 and 360 as their competitor, it's equally fair to criticize Wii games for lacking the polish of their HD counterparts (which they are in competition with for sales).  An ugly game is an ugly game, regardless of platform.  There's simply no excuse for how bad most Wii games look, as we know Wii games can look good when designed with a mind to the limitations of the platform.

[jimwood27]

I am one who has written in before about a media bias against Nintendo so I would feel differently than the cast does about it.  Yes, information from Nintendo is hard to come by but it shouldn't result in NWR/RFN completely outperforming the major sites who make a living covering the gaming industry.  I would guess a lot of readers/listeners are here because they can't find the coverage elsewhere (I know I am).  How is that acceptable from the other sites perspective?  It's Nintendo, not some no-name nobody.  They sold nearly 100 million consoles this generation but you would think it did Gamecube numbers (not that this didn't exist then either to some extent)


It's fine to be critical.  It's good to be critical.  But it's not good to be critical only to be dismissive.  That's where I feel the tone is different, Nintendo is more likely to have their stuff be dismissed immediately or can only succeed begrudgingly.  How soon after the SmartGlass announcement did people decree it the end of the Wii U?  Why did some people claim the 3rd party games reel at E3 2011 as looking worse than PS3/360 even though it was actual PS3/360 footage?  Why was the expanded market of the Wii such a bad thing but the expanded market of iOS so great?  It's because people see what they want to see.


Nintendo is rarely treated as part of the gaming industry.  This is partly, of course, Nintendo's desire to go against the grain and do their own thing but the rest of the industry and the media (which are kind of the same thing these days) want to keep pushing Nintendo further out into their own sector so they don't have to be dealt with anymore.  This isn't completely across the board, of course, but it just feels like it's more common than it isn't.


/fanboy rant

[TheXenocide]

So what was the Recent Nintendo release that turned into a fighting game?

[Retro Deckades]

" So what was the Recent Nintendo release that turned into a fighting game?"
[/size]
[/size]I'm wondering the same thing.

[broodwars]

So what was the Recent Nintendo release that turned into a fighting game?

Based on the clues dropped ("major tent-pole title released this year") and Jonny's familiarity with it (as he had just finished the game before he lost his 3DS), I'm guessing that it's Kid Icarus Uprising.  I haven't finished that game, though, so I could definitely be wrong.

[Pixelated Pixies]

So what was the Recent Nintendo release that turned into a fighting game?

Based on the clues dropped ("major tent-pole title released this year") and Jonny's familiarity with it (as he had just finished the game before he lost his 3DS), I'm guessing that it's Kid Icarus Uprising.  I haven't finished that game, though, so I could definitely be wrong.

I've finished it, but I don't believe that's the game they were referencing. I don't recall Uprising at any point resembling a fighting game. I'm super curious which game they were talking about though.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I really disagree with the sentiment that Wii games should be given special treatment in reviews due to the Wii's incredibly lacking technical prowess.

Completely agree. Although, I don't believe Jon was arguing that Wii games be given special treatment, but rather that they be reviewed for what they are and not for what they aren't. In order words, criticising a Wii game for being graphically inferior to a PC game would be like criticising a PC game for not supporting motion controls. They're going for different things, and the reviews of games released on the various platforms should take into account that fact.
 
Overall though, I agree with you that where there is commonality and as long as the comparison is constructive, it is right and fair to compare games released on different platforms.

[geo]

Glad to see jon loves some Monster hunter.  I'm glad one more person has 'cracked the code.'  Seriously people, give the game a try, play it!  Once it clicks for you, it'll become one of your top franchises.  It's so satisfying.

[Jonnyboy117]

I'm not sure why this was clear to me at the time and seems to be confusing people now, but the game Billy meant (and I was thinking the same) is MGS4. If we implied or stated that it was actually a Nintendo game, that was simply misspoken.

[TJ Spyke]

I don't think there was any mention of Metal Gear, so that is why no one knew what game you were talking about.

[TheXenocide]

I got the impression it was RECENT recent. MGS came out in February.

[TJ Spyke]

I got the impression it was RECENT recent. MGS came out in February.

MGS4 came out over 4 years ago, you are thinking about MGS:SE3D.

[KDR_11k]

I still haven't played much of Dynastic Hero (the TGCD version of Monster World 3) so I'd rather pick that back up than go for MW4.


I'm not sure how much system power really warrants as far as review differences go. There are plenty of games that don't get even remotely close to using their platform's power (never mind the theoretical power of another platform) and yet are great games. If someone downgraded scores for e.g. Fluidity for its graphics he's a total idiot regardless of the platform the game's on.


And if we're going to complain about graphics, how about faulting all the games that use a smaller framebuffer than the output image would require (e.g. running at something like 1024x640 or whatever when the system is outputting an image sized 1280x720 or 1920x1080) or failing to reach the display device's framerate (60Hz or more).

[Pandareus]

Perhaps I made a mistake in editing, but I don't think so, I barely took out anything in that segment and I remember wondering what recent Nintendo game became a fighting game while Billy was talking.

[mjafyx]

Monster World 4 is awesome.
It was clearly the inspiration for Shantea and Monster Tale for the DS.

[marty]

Great episode, I was only a little aware of the Ys series but would like to try it out now since like Zelda, minus puzzles, sounds like the Zelda games I love.

[noname2200]

Great episode, I was only a little aware of the Ys series but would like to try it out now since like Zelda, minus puzzles, sounds like the Zelda games I love.

The Ys games are almost universally great (albeit never top-tier...outside of the music!), and Felghana's one of the better ones. You're in for a treat.

[Lithium]

for the longest time i never made the connection that "ease" was Ys because i only ever heard about that game series on podcasts XD

[Halbred]

The "old dudes fighting" scene in MGS4 isn't particularly enjoyable to play, but it's so over-the-top that it kind of makes up for itself.