Messages

351

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - Episode 64

« on: December 25, 2009, 10:25:48 PM »

1. Actually, there were Pokemon TCG e-reader cards (three of which actually came with the e-reader). The cards came with two strips-one the long way which had various features such as coin flippers, minigames, etc., and another strip the short way with Pokedex info. The long strips were on cards in three sets (condensed from five in Japan), Expedition, Aquapolis, and Skyridge. The short strips continued a few sets into the Ruby/Sapphire. E-reader cards were also used in the Ruby/Sappire games, as well as Pokemon Channel. You guys really need a Pokemon fact-checker or something. Let me know if you're interested.

352

TalkBack / Re: This Week in Nintendo Downloads

« on: December 25, 2009, 01:15:46 PM »

Does UNO have "Single Card" download play?

I was very sad to see Bomberman didn't...

As far as I can see, it doesn't. The online play is pretty good though. I never knew Uno had so many modes until now.

353

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 175

« on: December 22, 2009, 07:52:37 PM »

There is one soundtrack you can get on iTunes-Super Mario Compact Disco:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/supermario-compact-disco/id305731827

"Supermarioland" was a top 20 hit in the UK, by the way.

354

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 175

« on: December 21, 2009, 10:56:26 PM »

From the mid 90's to the early 2000's, Nintendo did actually sell their music on CD in America, mostly in game stores and in the Super Power Club catalog. They also gave out the CD of the live SSBM concert CD to Nintendo Power subscribers in late 2002/early 2003 (best subscriber bonus ever).

355

TalkBack / Re: NSMB Wii Recognized at Spike VGAs

« on: December 15, 2009, 06:05:44 PM »

And btw what's with the Monkeys for the awards?  They looked about as legitimate an award as the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.  No, scratch that...they look less legitimate than the Kids' Choice Awards.

Is Spike owned by Viacom as well? That might explain it.

356

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Re-files 'Zii' Trademark

« on: December 15, 2009, 05:56:23 PM »

You know what's mind-blowing? If they used Xii, it would still be pronounced the same.

You mean "Zii" is prononunced "twelve"? (Sorry, couldn't resist)

357

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 173

« on: December 10, 2009, 08:33:22 PM »

Maybe if somebody played RAD Racer music then maybe I would. Maybe.

did TYP play it and I missed it?

Earlier this year. It's so bad.

358

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 173

« on: December 07, 2009, 11:22:39 PM »

People like us buy Pokemon on nostalgia value. In all honesty, I don't think Nintendo cares about us when it comes to Pokemon.

While most of the marketing is aimed at kids (and the majority of sales almost assuredly come from that area), as someone who's been to a large number of Pokemon TCG events (where the oldest age group is almost always the largest), Nintendo (or at least Pokemon Organized Play) does value older players. They may not cater their products in any significant way, but they definitely value older players as ambassadors and role models.

359

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - Episode 62

« on: December 07, 2009, 08:26:25 PM »

You went from Pokemon to insane amounts of swearing, kinda like Mandah/Willa Ford.

360

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 173

« on: December 07, 2009, 08:23:59 PM »

A few notes about the Pokemon section:

-There are 493 Pokemon, not 475.
-Pokemon episodes were being shown on CN in primetime in the fall of 2006 (I believe this was done so the games, TV show, and cards would be in relative sync), though I don't recall it ever being on four stations at once. New movies/specials are often shown in prime time on CN.
-You forgot to "Freudian Slip" HGSS as "HeadGold/SoulSilver".

I'll have to listen again to see if there's anything else.

I think the 5th generation games will co-opt some of the DSi features (extra Wi-Fi protocol support, possibly an optional camera mode).

361

TalkBack / Re: Fils-Aime: HD is Not Enough

« on: November 21, 2009, 01:45:07 PM »

I think he may be referring to the GameCube, which they may have felt (as strange as it sounds), like it wasn't a big enough improvement from the N64 (compared to say, SNES to N64 or GameCube to Wii). I think they're trying to create some sort of new functionality and a killer app to go with it.

362

TalkBack / Re: Super Mario Kart Hitting Virtual Console This Monday

« on: November 21, 2009, 01:27:45 PM »

I still think the problem with Pilotwings 64 is the real-world buildings in the Little States area-there might be some sort of legal issue there.

SMK probably has the best battle mode of any Mario Kart, but for the most part it's been outclassed by later games in the series.

363

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - Episode 61

« on: November 11, 2009, 07:48:25 PM »

5. I suggested this game about a year ago, so I'm glad it finally made it. If it sounds like a Pokemon game, that's because Game Freak developed it for Nintendo in 1992 (the Game Boy version sounds even more like a Pokemon game, for obvious reasons). Actually, when I first started playing Pokemon, I remarked how similar they sounded. You managed to pick sufficiently obscure songs given how few there are in the game. This game, by the way, is on NES VC for 500 points.

364

TalkBack / Re: Iwata Stresses Need to Differentiate from iPhone

« on: November 11, 2009, 07:41:59 PM »

A few days ago, I realized there is one major advantage to the DS over the iPhone-startup time. My iPhone takes about a minute to become usable, while my DS takes a few seconds-a major differentiator on planes.

365

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 167

« on: October 28, 2009, 08:48:06 PM »

I had the interesting idea today of adapting the NSMBW feature to other games (great idea for a YouTube video if you've got the time!). The best idea I had was Mario Paint-Compose 8 horrible songs, get help making good one!

Also, apply it to real life (another great YouTube video idea!).

366

TalkBack / Re: Why Nintendo Doesn't Get It (Regarding New DS Rumor)

« on: October 28, 2009, 08:25:36 PM »

One important feature of the current DS resolution is that each screen (individually) nearly matches the physical resolution of the NES/SNES games (the screens have slightly fewer vertical pixels since they adhere to a more strict 4:3 ratio than the original consoles). If they did increase the screen size, I would expect them to become slightly taller to fully match this size, or wider (much like GBC->GBA), maybe both.

For 3-D games, they could also render the graphics at a higher resolution (say 640:480), then shrink them down to achieve interobject antialiasing (I've theorized HD consoles may end up doing this if TV resolutions don't increase). This would make the graphics look better by reducing the harsh edges at the edge of polygons.

367

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - Episode 60

« on: October 26, 2009, 08:02:13 PM »

1.The developers certainly did a good job with the music on this one-I honestly thought this could be a GameCube game.

368

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 167

« on: October 26, 2009, 07:48:22 PM »

I must admit, I'm kinda disappointed-all this talk about difficulty and not a peep about Mystery Dungeon from James (playing through Explorers of Sky as I write this), and the word "retire(d)" was used several times without a mention of a certain NFL quarterback. Are you guys slacking off?

Seriously, however, I was hoping you would delve more into the area of fake difficulty, rubber band AI, and outright cheating by computer characters (Mario Kart, anyone?).

On the topic of the game adjusting to your skill level: In PictoBits, if you start doing very well in a level, the game actually does send different, more complicated blocks your way, providing more challenge, but also often allowing you to get a higher score or faster time.

369

TalkBack / Re: This Week in Nintendo Downloads

« on: October 12, 2009, 09:27:32 PM »

The pinball game is really great for 500 points. Feels like a real pinball machine (at least as far as the DS goes), and it looks really nice too.

370

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 164

« on: October 05, 2009, 09:50:53 PM »

I've had dreams about a variety of games, usually puzzlers (Panel de Pon, Tetrisphere-to name a few). I've also had quite a few Super Metroid/Fusion dreams. One of the weirdest ones I had was about Blast Corps. I had this dream where I thought they could redo the game by replacing the missile truck with a cargo truck carrying Wiis. As long as it was free to move at 1 mph, it was okay, but it if it hit a buildng and stopped, people would ransack it and steal the Wiis from it (it made sense in the dream).

It's better than my other recurring dream, where I'm stuck in a car and the brakes don't work.

371

TalkBack / Re: NWR Round-Table 1: The Future of Gaming Retail

« on: September 30, 2009, 09:07:38 PM »

One thing that occured to me is that the device could have a series of burners that work even when the system is not in use (i.e., at night) on the most popular games so those are ready right away. Then, people would only have to wait for more obscure titles or during high-demand times.

I would have liked to have seen more of a comparison between portable vs. console. Each platform type has its advantages and disadvangages.

372

TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver Sell 1.5 Million in Two Days

« on: September 14, 2009, 07:08:20 PM »

They want to keep the video games in relative lock-step with th TCG and TV show for promontional reasons. Not sure which is the limiting factor of the three.

373

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Trivia: Podcast Edition - Episode 58

« on: September 12, 2009, 12:28:51 PM »

3. Dude, seriously, what was wrong with the Inspector Gadget movie? I saw that in theatres four times! It was awesome! How could you not like that?

374

TalkBack / Re: Updated Internet Channel Now Available

« on: September 01, 2009, 08:21:46 PM »

h.264 is such a power-hungry codec.  I fear that the Wii would explode trying to process the Youtube search request.  Has Nintendo finally unlocked and overclocked the hidden HD GPU OR SOMETHING?

I thoughtabout that as well. As long as you don't try and navigate around the page too much while the video is playing, it seems okay. Quality seems about the same on YouTube.

375

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 160

« on: August 31, 2009, 09:42:55 PM »

Always good to hear from "Bearrorism Expert" James. What was that sound effect you played over his comment regarding Mario & Sonic? Sounded metallic. Speaking of sound effects, you should use the Duck Hunt "duck caught" sound effect as a stinger transition sometime.

Interesting to hear that Fossil Fighters isn't a complete Pokemon clone. I played the demo on the Nintendo Channel, which only included the cleaning portion. It seemed okay.