Messages

251

NWR Forums Discord / Re: Now That's What I Call Safe Words 17! Sign-up Thread!

« on: February 09, 2021, 07:13:50 PM »

Now that's what I call music!
Now that's what I call podracing!
Now that's what I call participating in Safe Words 17!

252

Nintendo Gaming / Re: poll: How many Wii U ports have you double dipped on?

« on: February 06, 2021, 01:38:42 PM »

None of the major ports (yet?), their price point is way too high for games I've already played. But since nobody had a Wii U, their audience is obviously other people, and I'm glad the great games from that system are getting another chance in the limelight. I understand the double dip argument for convenience's sake too.

Gaming on Nintendo systems is rarely the cheapest option, but they've really hiked their prices across the board this cycle: hardware and accessories are premium priced, online is paid now, there's no Player's Choice equivalent (yet?), and most of their software moved to $60.

That said, there are some things I bought previously on virtual console which are now in the NES/SNES apps, such as Metroid, Super Metroid, and a few more. Could see myself getting the Xenoblade 1 Remake one day, and ditching that virtual console copy, since it seems significantly updated and a lot shorter thanks to QOL improvements. I would probably consider Bowser's Fury too, if that was sold separately for $20, but not at 60.

253

NWR Forums Discord / Re: Today is James Jones's birthday.

« on: January 29, 2021, 09:15:41 PM »

Heard he's throwing a Birthday Bash Party!

254

General Gaming / Re: NWR Indie Game Developers Thread

« on: January 23, 2021, 12:09:01 PM »

I've been hard at work on my RPG Maker MV game, Legends of Adrigal. I made a new area, which is about 7-10 hours into the game.

Wow that's a sprawling map Phil, and kudos for waterfall secrets. Always a bummer when games don't do that.
How much of this is original work? Do you use pre-made tiles/textures/sprites? Are the character portraits and dialogue entirely self-made, or is there a database you can use? And the music? Seems like tons of work if you're making a 10 hour game!

I've never used RPG Maker, so hopefully these aren't dumb questions If there's a big library of assets and music to pull from, which you rearrange on maps and supplement with your own dialogue, I can see this being a good entry level into game creation.

255

General Gaming / Re: Atari VCS, Amico, Micro Consoles

« on: January 18, 2021, 05:33:22 PM »

The VCS is finally out. A few youtubers got it. Not entirely Vaporware.

Idk if that's enough proof to go on. Apparently Youtubers also had access to a functional copy of Cyberpunk 2077. 

256

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Best of the Wii U eShop (Round 9: 2017 - Present)

« on: January 17, 2021, 06:56:26 PM »

Oof, we're in the weeds now huh...

Highlights (all of which are on Switch) :
Shovel Knight got 3 expansions between 2017 and 2020:
Specter of Torment is a prequel for that series with great gameplay but the worst story of the lot. It leans heavily anime, which felt like a poor fit. They also removed the world map for a level select feature.
Shovel Knight Showdown was their take on Smash Bros. and it's... rough. I might even go so far as saying it's kinda bad? In fairness I never played it with friends, but I mean, who's gonna suggest to play this bootleg Smash Bros. with characters nobody outside of Gamers(TM) will recognize, when Smash is right there on the console?
King of Cards feels like WarioLand with the cardgame from a PS1 Final Fantasy bolted on top. I don't know if it's the best of them all, but it's amongst the funniest for sure. The world map returns with a vengeance for this one, and it's a suitable send-off for all these characters I think.

Forma.8 is one of the last big games I remember coming out just prior to the Switch launch. It's a Metroidvania game from the Futuridium developers, although not my fave by a long shot. It feels similar to Affordable Space Adventures, in that you move a spaceship through a bunch of interconnected puzzles. Unfortunately the world is a bit too mysterious in this one, so I was often flying around aimlessly hoping to trigger some path of progression. There's a peculiar easter egg where you can move in the directions of the Konami code in a certain area.

Sky Force Anniversary is a vertical scrolling shooter with some steampunk vibes. Really smooth controls, although it forces you through every level on multiple difficulty settings a bunch of times to farm upgrades before you can unlock the later stages. This means you can't really do one run through right away, unlike in Gradius for example. Good game though! Includes local multiplayer, and online leaderboards.

Does the Breath of the Wild DLC count...?

Now let's talk about the games developed by Ultra Dolphin Revolution.[...] Normally when a developer releases this many games with similar assets and titles, I pass them off as shovel ware. On the other hand, their loyalty to the Wii U (these are all Wii U exclusives as far as I can tell), their clear love of Nintendo (just check their social media), and even their name (a combination of the codenames for past Nintendo systems) garners them some decent street-cred and makes me wonder if there is something here .

I also played one of the Assistant games, though I can't remember which of the two. That one's a lot better than the Shadow Archer game. Basically you control a little librarian in a library of magical tomes, and you need to file the correct books to their respective bookcases (red/green/blue). There's enemies in the way (I wanna say they were Bookworms?) you can blast using the spells in the book you're carrying, but you can't do it too often or the book runs out.
Basically comparable to Pac-Man in a way. It wasn't a masterpiece, but it had bespoke levels, rather than one endless field like the Archer game, and looked better too.

A cursory Google search says they're planning to make a holiday themed game which got pushed from last December to early this year. If that indeed ever releases I'll buy it and report back next holiday lol.

257

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch 2020 Statistics!

« on: January 17, 2021, 04:30:00 PM »

What are the 2nd and 12th games Mop? Assuming the 2nd one is Warframe or maybe Paladins?

258

Nintendo Gaming / Re: What games will make your "Year In Review: Most Played" 2021 List?

« on: January 14, 2021, 12:56:35 PM »

Whoops, kinda missed this thread and it looks like others did too.
Wish I was as good at planning for the future to decide on stuff like this lol.

Animal Crossing, Hades and Picross were my most played ones by a country mile last year, but otherwise I tend to play shorter games. Out of those three, I'm only really planning to continue with Hades, but may check in on Animal Crossing if it continues getting updates (at least one is planned). Don't anticipate either of those dominating my year again though.

RPGs: I tend to play 1-2 RPGs a year, so maybe EarthBound or Xenoblade finally makes the cut? (Although I've been saying that for years lol.)
Probably won't be Monster Hunter, since I'm just not drawn to that franchise at all. The new one looks impressive though, so maybe I should give the demo a fair shake. Disco Elysium is another RPG slated for this year, hopefully that gets a good port. Wildcard option this year would be Shin Megami Tensei 3 or 5; my only exposure to that series is tangentially through Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Heard they're very difficult though, which is a tad off-putting.

Racing/sports/fighting: One of these can go in the constant rotation bucket. I doubt King of Fighters 15 will be on Switch unfortunately, but maybe MLB The Show will? Also open to suggestions for a good anti-gravity racer, is FAST RMX still the top choice on the eShop in that regard? A new F-Zero, or just a re-release of GX would make my year.

If Breath of the Wild 2 already launches this year I'm dropping everything for that game, although I'm skeptical about it making 2021. It's got near-impossible shoes to fill though, so need to keep my expectations in check.

Last one: if Arika manage to squeeze out another multiplayer thing (Dr. Mario?) I'll definitely try it. Played a lot of Tetris 99, and very little Mario Bros. 35. Don't know how feasible their current annual schedule is though, there were 18 months between those two, which would make June 2022 their next date. But who knows!

With a child on the way later this year, turn based games are sure to dominate the list since I'll more easily be able to pick-up and drop as needed for caretaking.

Exciting! Hope everything goes well!

259

TalkBack / Re: Check Out What Games Are Most Anticipated with the 2021 NWR Hype Meter

« on: January 13, 2021, 12:24:09 PM »

Forgot about MLB The Show potentially going multi-platform! It'd be wild if that comes to Switch but Madden and NHL remain nowhere to be seen. If it does though, I hope it won't impact Super Mega Baseball's sales too much.

Cool to see Disco Elysium in the top three on the indie list. I've also purposefully stayed away from too much information on that game, but it sounds very special.

260

General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: January 11, 2021, 01:20:17 PM »

Thanks for the RE5 info Brood! I tried watching one of those FF15 movies (Kingslaive) and it's pure cringe. And that's coming from someone who owned Spirits Within on VHS. Animations looked incredible, but woof.

As such, I finally played Assassin's Creed 3 via its recent Remastered release, and BOY do I hate that game. I hate its whiny, wooden main character (voiced by an actor who can't act); I hate its shitty pacing; I hate how it takes 5 hours to cross the gigantic maps; I hate how you have to waste hours in a pointless maze minigame in order to unlock fast travel points in the cities; I hate how the ending makes no sense (if the precursors were wiped out by a Solar Flare, why would Juno be able to shield the Earth from one now?); and I hate the really terrible mission design dictated by secondary objectives that are WAY too strict and finicky. And mind you, I played the REMASTERED release, where the developers went out of their way to "fix" the mission and environment design.

But more than anything else, I hate how this game completely half-asses the American Revolution, the thing I'd been wanting to play the game to see. You certainly see snapshots of it, but the game does a really terrible job of telling the story of the revolution.

Yeah Assassin's Creed 3 really is terrible. It all looks great, and there's like 5 different games sandwiched in there, but none of them are polished at all. They can also inadvertently lead to a scenario where you play as a Native American man whose village was massacred, so he takes revenge by.... Establishing a 24/7 on-call murder squad of hitmen who you send all over the east coast to slice up dudes, while simultaneously operating a lumber trade empire, and distributing pamphlets intending to overthrow the British rule to... establish the U.S. government???

It's a plot which really only makes sense because the series needs to wind up adjacent to reality, but from a character perspective it's... puzzling. I guess the Assassin order is just prescient, and pursues the Templars regardless of what governments they erect in the process?

What I also hate is like, why are these games pretending to be open world at all? Half of all missions are location based anyway, and all the tailing missions outright make it impossible to use the open city. It's a bunch of hallways disguised as GTA: 1770ies. Sometimes messing up the stealth has consequences (like in the prison), other times it just seamlessly segues into combat. There's so little consistency despite its no doubt astronomical budget. I've got Black Flag in the backlog still, but just thinking about AC3 makes me not even want to try to get to it.

261

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Best of the Wii U eShop (Round 8: 2016 - Part 2)

« on: January 10, 2021, 03:10:54 PM »

Some standouts, and some of the deepest lows.
Severed isn't for everyone, but that's one of my favourite eShop games on the platform. Moody, dour first person dungeon crawler with touch-based combat allowing you to slice enemies to bits. I suspect it's best on 3DS, since then you have both screens closer together, whereas on Wii U you'll need to look up to the TV to see the blown out map (rather than the mini map on the touchpad).

Jotun was often called an isometric Dark Souls game. I can't really make that comparison, but it's a cool, weighty action game with hand drawn animations and tough bossfights. Same team went on to make Sundered, and more recently Spiritfarer.

PSIBO is a stylish mash-up of Breakout, Space Invaders, with some Pinball thrown in. Looks great and minimalistic, thumping soundtrack too. Unfortunately it's also deviously difficult, so the only way I could see most of the levels is to skip to them.

On to the lesser ones:
3Souls is an admirable project, a 2D platformer which got episodic updates, and uses just about every Gamepad gimmick a lot. Blowing in the mic, uses the camera, invisible lasers shown on one screen while you move on the other, etc. Unfortunately the platforming itself is very rigid, which makes the game a chore to play.

Armikrog rocks a great clay animation style, but is an otherwise wholly forgettable point & click adventure. The puzzles repeat a lot, the plot could charitably be described as meandering at best, you have no inventory so have fun writing on a notepad, and it commits the cardinal sin of adventure games: not being funny. One of my least favourite games on the system, it's aggressively boring.

Shadow Archer is not bad, but just kind of limited. It looks like an early NES game, where you walk around a field shooting spiders and ghosts with a bow & arrow to get a high score. At some point you either get hit too often or run out of arrows and die. That's it. It's perfectly functional and very cheap, but I struggle to imagine the audience for this.

262

TalkBack / Re: I Will Always Love You, DSiWare

« on: January 09, 2021, 12:00:24 PM »

Good write-up for those of us who never got to try any of these!

263

NWR Forums Discord / Re: Random LOL of the day thread

« on: January 08, 2021, 09:36:29 PM »

we can't talk about it, but we can laugh about it.... right?

WWE Commentary
https://twitter.com/ChadBlue83/status/1347596407935528961?s=20

Super Mario SFX
https://twitter.com/JJrdnnn/status/1347597984100458496?s=20

Zelda: BotW Stamina
https://twitter.com/TannithArt/status/1347613459584872448?s=20

Saw another funny video game meme entirely about Super Mario and nothing else
https://twitter.com/junii_6/status/1347717860093689857

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General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: January 08, 2021, 05:49:26 PM »

The problem though is once you get to Chapter 3 in RE5 and encounter the Ndipaya Majini. There's supplementary literature within the level in the form of a "Village Youth's Diary" detailing that after being infected, "The men are all dressing like our ancestors and fighting each other." The bolded part isn't racist per se but is, in my mind, definitely racially insensitive. Sure, they were taken advantage of by Tricell, but I can't think of any reason why, based on the game's text, they would need or have the capacity to dress like their ancestors upon ingesting all that plaga. Why would that ever need to happen? From a gameplay perspective, the developers wanted tougher enemies for that part of the game, the Ndipaya Majini essentially functioning as RE4's Los Illuminados (the cult dudes in hooded robes). However, going full tribal was unnecessary and seemed more like Capcom retroactively coming up with an explanation to a problem they created yet didn't need to create. Just have the Plaga Type 2 enemies wear something else instead of the most stereotypical and racially insensitive thing one can put in a game set in Africa. I don't know how that got through QA. Like no one at Capcom was like "Maybe we shouldn't?"

Here's a very obvious solution: just make the Plaga Type 2 enemies Tricell scientists and personnel. Excella was so obsessed with Wesker that she sacrificed her own employees, implying further that Tricell is so corrupt and evil they indiscriminately tested on whoever they could. If Capcom really wanted, it can even include the Ndipaya Majini without putting them in tribal gear. Tricell used them because they were there.

Having never played a Resident Evil game, I have a few (possibly dumb) questions: Does the Plaga mean there's a sort of viral plague which infects people? If yes, do they turn into zombies? And do they then spread that plague further by eating each other?

I ask because a lot of older zombie tropes are often traced back to either Haitian vodou or West-African folklore. (Western) storytellers stripped away the religious/spiritual elements and obvious slavery allegories, and then combined surface level descriptions of zombis with real-world diseases like cannibalistic Kuru from Oceania. That way you get pretty close to typical zombies-as-diseased stories.
From there the leap from disease to viral pandemic spread through biting and such basically gives birth to the zombie apocalypse genre, like the Romero movies, which in turn trace a seemingly straight line to Resident Evil. (I'm vastly oversimplifying and am definitely no expert in any of this subject matter.)

As an outsider reading your description it sounds like they unquestionably adopted the racist stereotypes which underpin zombie fiction's origins: a hodgepodge of mystical exoticism and heaping wildly different cultures on a single pile of "others". An imaginary, homogenous group of others who skew non-white, have cannibal traditions, believe spirits can leave the body and leave slow-walking living husks stripped of their soul, who live in mud huts, dress in tribal gear, and speak in tongues to their ancestors through voodoo magic.
And it feels like they just wholesale regurgitate all those deeply reductive tropes because "it's part of the genre"?

At best that reads as just careless ignorance caused by insular corporate cultures which do not include viewpoints of the places their stories are set in. Careless regurgitation of colorist standards (am I wrong in thinking Sheva is a light-skinned African woman who hunts darker skinned African people/zombies?) and colonialist white savior complexes.
I don't know whether any of this is on purpose, and like you say they likely thought the primary message was against bioweapons and aimed to portray the local population as victims of ruthless weapons manufacturers.
But if the only African setting they could think of (are there more?) was mud huts & spear throwing... I mean, especially if it's set in modern/near-future times (which I'm assuming based on the weaponry and sci-fi plot), that's uh... That sure is a choice.

Hope I haven't said anything dumb or ignorant here, but I'm just kind of over excusing this sort of stuff. They can still inadvertently repeat ingrained racist ideas inherited from upbringing/society, even if they don't intend to. I'm not saying all zombie fiction is inherently racist, or that people should stop liking the games or whatever. By all means we should see more games set in African countries, and see the vast diversity in locales, cultures and people of the continent.
But if they indeed remake this someday, I hope they wield a defter hand and take the opportunity to make some big changes.

265

Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2021? [enter predictions now!]

« on: January 05, 2021, 12:56:55 PM »

Loving these predictions, Doshin for Smash would be crazy. Stratos might win it though, since Nintendo will obviously annoy its fanbase.

Nobody had Nintendo buying Next Level Games on their list though?
There's also some kind of Monster Hunter Rise broadcast happening in a few days.

266

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 254: GOTY Theory

« on: January 04, 2021, 05:39:21 PM »

I enjoyed this episode very much. Thanks and much appreciate all your work. Could you provide  a written list of all the great games you went over in the podcast notes?

Here's rough timestamps chronologically (highlight to reveal):

Neal
06:00 Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Collections
06:40 SEGA AGES: Fantasy Zone
08:10 Star Wars Episode 1: Racer
08:45 Collection of Saga
09:05 Pikmin 3 Deluxe

John
11:45 Darksiders Genesis
12:00 DOOM 64
14:15 Panzer Dragoon Remake
16:25 Ion Fury
16:40 Real Myst

Neal's #25-21
17:10 Voxelgram
17:35 PGA Tour 2k21
19:15 Spiritfarer
19:35 Streets of Rage 4
22:15 What The Golf?!

John
23:10 Journey to the Savage Planet
24:00 Ancestors Legacy

Neal's #20-16
25:45 Sakuna Of Rice And Ruin
28:55 Super Crush KO
30:45 Windbound
36:05 Manifold Garden
36:50 Pixel Puzzle Makeout League

John
39:10 The Last Campfire
41:05 Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Neal's #15-11
50:40 Trials of Mana
51:15 Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
53:15 Mr. Driller: Drill Land
54:15 Moon: Remix RPG Adventure
01:00:40 I Am Dead quote: "frantically zen"

John
01:04:00 Super Punch Patrol
01:07:35 DOOM Eternal

Neal's #10-6
01:12:30 Final Fantasy 7 Remake
01:14:55 Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
01:15:45 Animal Crossing: New Horizons
01:18:40 Kunai
01:20:05 Murder By Numbers

John
01:21:40 Oceanhorn 2

Neal's #4,5,3 (in that order)
01:26:40 Carto
01:27:55 Dicey Dungeons
01:32:10 Paper Mario: The Origami King

Finale
01:41:40 Embracelet (John's #2)
01:44:45 Super Mega Baseball 3 (#2) (Neal's #2)
01:46:55 Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (John's #1)
01:49:20 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (Neal's #1)

267

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Best of the Wii U eShop (Round 7: 2016 - Part 1)

« on: January 03, 2021, 03:25:39 PM »

Couple good ones, Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge is basically a free demo of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, plays similarly to Lemmings. There's about an hour of levels, but if you have the right amiibo you'll open a few more levels (I did not get to try those, though).

Super Meat Boy is really good, and a noteworthy release since it took so long to come to Nintendo systems. Believe there were plans for it to release as WiiWare back in the day, but the 40mb size limit threw a wrench in those plans. It got an auto-runner sequel recently on Switch.

Inside My Radio is also a platformer, but mixed with a rhythm game, so you can only jump in sync with the beat. Decent little game and goes on sale often.

Star Fox Guard also released around this time, on disc and the eShop, which is a great tower defense title using both screens effectively. Should've been a launch game or included with Nintendo Land, I think. Feels like this got totally forgotten.

Avoid: Joe's Diner is one of those PS4 games which can't run on PS5, which is its only notable quality. Midnight 2 is hot trash, a 2D platformer with golf mechanics. Tachyon Project is a twin stick shooter like Geometry Wars, but slows down a lot whenever too many enemies are on screen. Infinity Runner is a first-person autorunner where you turn into a werewolf, and it's a very shoddy version on Wii U. Audio glitches, music cuts out, cut-scenes occur in the wrong order so it spoils the "story" for you, and there's several game breaking glitches which prevent you from completing it. All right game on other systems maybe, but avoid it here.

Lastly, did anyone ever play those Kemco RPGs, like Asidive Hearts here? Are they any good?

268

Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2020?

« on: January 02, 2021, 11:12:31 AM »

Yeah, not going through that again next time, so for the new thread I'd prefer if folks submitted their new predictions in list/bullet point format. I'm also not gonna track all predictions throughout the year, just the first month or so. So far that's working well, hope more people send in honkable visions of the future.

269

Nintendo Gaming / DA ROOLZ

« on: January 01, 2021, 12:23:19 PM »

Welcome to the 2021 predictions thread, where you can win points and eternal glory!
How it works: please post one or more Nintendo related things you think will occur this year.

I will try to update this thread with all the major Nintendo releases of the year, just like last year.
Barring unforeseen catastrophe we can then once again tally everyone’s points by the end so we can discover who the true Soothsayer of our board is.

You can predict anything you want in this thread (please don’t manifest another plague though), but if you wanna COMPETE for those highly desirable POINTS, please humor me and follow these Rules/suggestions:

• You may submit between 1 and 10 predictions for the year.
• If you can write your predictions in bullet point format that’d be helpful, but it's not required.
• You get 1 point for being right, half a point for being half-right.
• No points for guessing stuff we already know! See what we already know… below the line!
• You have until the first Direct of the year to submit predictions. Last time that was January 9th! Obviously we can continue speculation afterwards, but I don’t wanna go through every post again to assign meaningless VERY VALUABLE points.

SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED FOR NEW PREDICTIONS
Feel free to speculate, but I'm not gonna count 'em in December.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's my bold predictions for the year!

• The three new Smash Bros. fighters will all release this year. They are: Dr. Robotnik, Crash Bandicoot, and a Konami character. A smaller, third season pass is announced, to Sakurai's chagrin.
• Zelda Twilight Princess HD is ported to Switch this year, but not Wind Waker HD.
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury scores lower in reviews than the original and is once again unjustly  snubbed during GOTY season.
• Another Game & Watch is released, this time containing all the Game & Watch Gallery releases. No other retro/mini consoles.
• Boyfriend Dungeon becomes the surprise indie critical darling of the year.
• The Zelda BOTW sequel will not release this year, but Age of Calamity gets a big DLC expansion.
• E3 is cancelled once again.
• A new Fire Emblem game is announced, again working with Koei-Tecmo.
• NSO adds SNES Vegas Stakes and either Mario RPG or EarthBound, but not both.
• Sonic & Mario Tokyo Olympics is re-released with bonus content to tie into the event (which will happen, but without any audience).

Can y'all do better? Let's hear it!

270

Nintendo Gaming / What will Nintendo release in 2021?

« on: January 01, 2021, 11:49:47 AM »

In this thread: all the major Nintendo releases of the year.
2020 Thread here.
Below: our January predictions. In December we can see if anyone had some good predictions!

2021 New Software Published
- Buddy Mission BOND January 29th. JP only.
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury February 12th.
- Bravely Default 2 February 26th.
- New Pokémon Snap April 30th.
- Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir May 14th.
- Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind May 14th.
- Miitopia May 21st.
- DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power June 4th.
- Game Builder Garage / Gamestudio June 11th.
- Mario Golf: Super Rush June 25th.
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD July 16th.
- Pokémon Unite July 21st (Switch), September (Mobile).
- No More Heroes III August 27th.
- WarioWare: Get It Together! September 10th.
- Cruis'n Blast September 14th.
- Metroid Dread October 8th.
- Pikmin Bloom October 27th.
- Fatal Frame: Maiden of Blackwater / Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water October 28th.
- Pokémon Café ReMix October 28th.
- Mario Party Superstars October 29th.
- Shin Megami Tensei V November 12th. PAL publishing.
- Pokémon Brilliant Diamond November 19th.
- Pokémon Shining Pearl November 19th.
- Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain December 3rd.

2021 New Hardware & Major Merch
- amiibo: Cat Mario & Cat Peach. February 12th.
- amiibo: Palamute, Palico & Magnamalo. March 26th.
- amiibo: Gold Palamute, Gold Palico & Gold Magnamalo. January 25th-April 11th.
- amiibo: Banjo & Kazooie, Terry Bogard, Byleth (Male). March 26th.
- amiibo: Ena, Tsuniko, Razewing Rathalos. July 9th.
- amiibo: Zelda & Loftwing. July 16th.
- amiibo: Samus & E.M.M.I. October 8th.
- amiibo cards: Animal Crossing x Sanrio Collection. Localized, March 26th.
- amiibo cards: Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel Saikyou Battle Royale!! August 12th, JP only.
- amiibo cards: Animal Crossing Series 5. November 5th.
- Hardware: Switch variant - Mario 3D World. February 12th.
- Hardware: Switch variant - Monster Hunter Rise. March 26th.
- Hardware: Switch Lite variant - Blue. May 7th/21st.
- Hardware: Joy-Con variant - Fortnite. June 4th.
- Hardware: Joy-Con variant - Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. July 16th.
- Hardware: Switch OLED model - White edition. October 8th.
- Hardware: Switch OLED model - Neon Red/Blue edition. October 8th.
- Hardware: Switch Lite variant - Dialga & Palkia edition. November 5th.
- Hardware: Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda. November 12th.
- Book: Ask Iwata. April 13th, Viz publishing.
- LEGO Mario 8+ new sets. 2021.

2021 DLC (paid)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Fighters Pass 2: DLC 4 March 4th. Pyra/Mythra.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Mii Fighters: Round 9 March 4th. Monster Hunter, Ghosts n Goblins.
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - Expansion Pass May 28th.
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - Expansion Pass: Wave 1: Pulse of the Ancients June 18th.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Fighters Pass 2: DLC 5 June 29th. Kazuya.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Mii Fighters: Round 10 June 29th. Lloyd, Dragonborn, Dante, Shantae.
- Sky: Children of the Light - Zelda cosmetics June 29th.
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - Expansion Pass: Wave 2 October 29th.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Mii Fighters: Round 11 October 19th? Octoling, Judd, DOOM Slayer.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Fighters Pass 2: DLC 6 October 19th. Sora.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise November 5th.

2021 Free DLC/Demo releases
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Festivale update January 28th.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Mario items February 25th.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Anniversary update March 18th.
- Super Mario Party - Online play added April 27th.
- Miitopia - Demo April 27th.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Season events update April 28th.
- Game Builder Garage / Gamestudio - Demo June 11th.
- Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit - Yoshi + New GP July 1st.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Summer update July 29th.
- New Pokémon Snap - 3 new areas August 3rd.
- Mario Golf: Super Rush - Toadette, New Donk City, etc. August 5th.
- WarioWare: Get It Together! - Demo August 20th.
- Mario Golf: Super Rush - Ninji, Koopa Troopa, 2 new courses September 24th.
- Metroid Dread - demo October 28th.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Version 2.0 November 5th.
- Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit - Luigi Cup & split-screen November 17th.
- Mario Golf: Super Rush - Wiggler, Shy Guy, 2 new courses November 23rd.

2021 Nintendo Switch Online / Services / Mobile
- Pac-Man 99 April 7th.
- Free trial: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled December 30th - January 5th.
- Free trial: Dead Cells January 26th - February 1st.
- Free trial: Descenders April 21st - April 27th.
- Free trial: Fuser June 29th - July 5th.
- Free trial: Among Us July 21st - July 27th.
- Free trial: Two Point Hospital July 28th - August 3rd. PAL only.
- Free trial: Daemon X Machina September 13th - September 19th. PAL only.
- Free trial: Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town September 22nd - September 28th. NA only.
- Free trial: Prison Architect October 20th - October 26th. PAL only.
- Free trial: Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town November 10th - November 16th. PAL only.
- Free trial: Don't Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition December 14th - 21st. NA Only.
- Free trial: Art of Balance December 14th - 20th. PAL only.
- Discontinued: Nintendo Switch Online - Splatoon 2 Lounge July 28th.
- Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack - N64 October 25th.
- Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack - Genesis October 25th.
- Discontinued: Dr. Mario World October 31st.
- Games added to NSO NES/SNES/N64/Genesis apps:

• Fire 'n' Ice / Solomon's Key 2 NES. February 17th.
• Doomsday Warrior SNES. February 17th NA/May 26th JP.
• Prehistorik Man SNES. February 17th.
• Psycho Dream SNES. February 17th.
• Shin Megami Tensei II Super Famicom. February 17th. JP only.
• Joe & Mac / Caveman Ninja SNES. May 26th.
• Magical Drop II SNES. May 26th.
• Spanky's Quest SNES. May 26th.
• Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 SNES. May 26th.
• Ninja JaJaMaru-kun Famicom. May 26th.
• Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War Super Famicom. May 26th. JP only.
• Super Mario Kart SP May 26th.
• Claymates SNES. July 28th.
• Jelly Boy SNES. July 28th.
• Kablooey / Bombuzal SNES. July 28th.
• Shin Megami Tensei If... Super Famicom. July 28th. JP only.
• Dead Dance / Tuff E Nuff Super Famicom. July 28th. Belated JP release.
• Super Mario 64 N64. October 25th.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64. October 25th.
• Mario Kart 64 N64. October 25th.
• Star Fox 64 / Lylat Wars N64. October 25th.
• Sin & Punishment N64. October 25th.
• Dr. Mario 64 N64. October 25th. NA/PAL only.
• Mario Tennis N64. October 25th.
• WinBack / WinBac: Covert Operations / Operation: WinBack N64. October 25th.
• Yoshi's Story N64. October 25th.
• Custom Robo N64. October 25th? JP only.
• Custom Robo V2 N64. October 25th? JP only.
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Streets of Rage 2 Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Ecco the Dolphin Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Castlevania: Bloodlines Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Contra: Hard Corps Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Golden Axe Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Gunstar Heroes Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• M.U.S.H.A. Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Ristar Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Shining Force Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Strider Genesis / Mega Drive. October 25th.
• Paper Mario N64. December 10th.
• Dynamite Headdy Genesis / Mega Drive. December 17th.
• Toejam & Earl Genesis / Mega Drive. December 17th.
• Altered Beast Genesis / Mega Drive. December 17th.
• Sword of Vermillion Genesis / Mega Drive. December 17th.
• Thunder Force II Genesis / Mega Drive. December 17th.

2021 Directs
- Nintendo Direct February 17th.
- Pokémon Presents February 26th.
- Mr. Sakurai Presents: Pyra/Mythra March 4th.
- Indie World April 14th.
- Nintendo E3 Direct June 15th.
- Mr. Sakurai Presents: Kazuya June 28th.
- Indie World August 11th.
- Pokémon Presents August 18th.
- Nintendo Direct September 24th.
- Mr. Sakurai Presents: Sora October 5th.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct October 15th.
- Indie World December 15th.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Announced projects beyond 2021
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus January 28th 2022.
- Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp April 8th 2022?
- amiibo: Min-Min. 2022.
- amiibo: Minecraft Steve. Spring 2022.
- amiibo: Minecraft Alex. Spring 2022?
- amiibo: Malzeno, Palamute Canye X, Palico Canye X. Summer 2022.
- Bayonetta 3 2022.
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land Spring 2022.
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel 2022.
- Mario Movie December 21st, 2022.
- Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope 2022.
- Splatoon 3 2022.   
Announced projects without dates
- amiibo: Sephiroth.
- amiibo: Pyra.
- amiibo: Mythra.
- amiibo: Kazuya.
- Detective Pikachu TBA. Previous date: 2020. 
- Metroid Prime 4 TBA. Announced June 2017/January 2019.
- Pokémon Sleep TBA. Previous date: 2020.
- Pokémon Trading Card Game Live TBA. Announced September 2021.

271

Nintendo Gaming / The 2020 NWR Soothsayer Awards!

« on: January 01, 2021, 11:02:48 AM »

All right dweebs, as if 2020 wasn’t bad enough, it turns out we all made some guesses throughout the year. I’ll just zoom past everyone and give 1 point for correct predictions, and let’s say ½ point for kinda-sorta-maybe if you squint correct ones? BOLD means I’m giving you points!
Who’s first up?

INSANOLORD

There have been some rumors about a new 2D Metroid game from MercurySteam, either another remake or something original. That seems pretty reasonable. I also think we'll see either the Breath of the Wild followup or a new 3D Mario this year. It's been three years since BotW and Odyssey, and that's more time than it's usually taken EAD Tokyo between Mario games. Also, please, please let this finally be time for Pikmin 4.

[...]

I'm not sure it would be a direct sequel to Odyssey, but that's certainly plausible. Hell, it might not even be a Mario game, EAD Tokyo may have ended up doing something else altogether this time, but I expect to see whatever they're working on this year.

[...]
The Switch is by all accounts very easy to develop for, and MercurySteam made those Castlevania games for 360 and PS3, so it's not like they don't have experience making games for more powerful hardware than the 3DS.

Insanolord made three posts which I've collapsed into one:
- A new 3D Mario was indeed released, in the form of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, but it wasn't a new-new game. ½ point
- Ditto for Pikmin. No sequel, but an expanded re-release here too. ½ point
- We did indeed see what EAD Tokyo were up to, as the expansion to 3D World is due out early next year. 1 point
Total: 2 points! Insanolord turns out to have fairly sane, lordly ideas.
Soothsayer ranking: B tier.

NICKMITCH

I buy the 2D Metroid from Mercury Steam rumor.  Wasn't their original pitch to Nintendo an original 2D Metroid game?  I vaguely remember Nintendo turning that down and having them do the remake.  Since that was a success, it makes sense they would go back and do an original title.  Now, whether or not it comes out this year is the iffy part. I was thinking Nintendo might do a "year of Metroid" with the Prime Trilogy, Metroid V, and Prime 4 all with a year, but with Prime 4 pushed back, I don't think that will pan out. However, because Prime 4 got delayed, they may not want to sit on the other two for too long.

I think we'll see a new Kirby game.  It'll have been two years since Star Allies, and Super Kirby Clash is more like a side-game.

No Prime 4 news this year.

I'll go bold and say Breath of the Wild 2: Smell My Hand releases this year.  It'll have been about 3 years, not counting DLC development.  They're using the same engine and ideas from the original development.  I'm thinking the development time won't take as long as normal for those reasons.

Three out of the six fighters from the new pass will drop this year.  They will be Travis Touchdown, Dante, and a Pokemon.

Splatoon sequel/spin-off is announced/teased for 2021.

Switch Pro releases alongside BotW2, has more battery power than current model, and less framerate drops when docked.

Star Fox game announced for 2021.

[…]

Also going to predict that Rhythm Heaven comes to Switch this year.  Switch launched with a party game (1, 2, Switch) then had another the following year (Super Mario Party), then followed up with Mario & Sonic this past year.  So, for the 2020 Switch party game, I'm thinking they bring that back.

Nickmitch came in hot!
- We don't really know if a year of Metroid was planned, but it certainly didn't occur! ½ point
- Depending on your definition of "news", we also didn't get Prime 4 news this year. Sure some job listings were posted by Retro Studios, but I'll give Nick full marks here. 1 point
- A new Kirby game was indeed released, Kirby Fighters 2 came out in September. A spin-off, sure, but not a free-to-play one. 1 point
- Another technicality: four new Smash Bros. fighters were released instead of three, BUT three of them were indeed from the new season pass. 1 point
- Travis Touchdown is playable in Smash Bros., but only through a Mii costume. ½ point
- There was a 2020 party game, but not Rhythm Heaven. ½ point
Total: 4½ points! Nickmitch is a venerable Casssandra, read my tea leaves!
Soothsayer ranking: A tier

LUIGI DUDE

Seems more like tradition at this point.  We got Galaxy then Galaxy 2 which expanded on it.  Then we got 3D Land with a sequel 3D World after that.  Odyssey felt a lot like Galaxy 1 and 3D Land where the game was overall easier and the devs intentionally holding back as to not overwhelm the players with what they were trying to do with this type of Mario game.

So I'd be very surprised if we didn't get an Odyssey 2 that expands the gameplay the way Galaxy 2 and 3D World did. I doubt Toyko EAD used up all their good idea's, especially when so much of the game hardly even uses the game mechanics to their fullest.

[...]

Covid really messed up Nintendo's release schedule.  The fact they're giving a port of a rather niche franchise a pretty important end of year slot, doesn't bode well for the holiday season.  I wouldn't be surprised if the rumored Mario 3D World Deluxe is going to be their big November game this year, along with the remasters of the other 3D Mario games.

[…]

If they feel they can release 3D World in February of next year, then they got to be pretty confident in what is planned for November/December and I can't think of anything that's been in development that would be bigger then a Mario platformer then Zelda.

Luigi Dude was close but not quite there:
- we did indeed hear of a Mario expansion, but it was for 3D World, rather than Odyssey. ½ point
- Mario 3D All-Stars came out in September, rather than November, and 3D World is next year. ½ point
- The big holiday release turned out to be Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which is basically a Zelda game. ½ point
Total: 1½ point
Soothsayer ranking: Madame Clairvoya.

BROODWARS

Well, the port train continues full steam ahead but it's gotta start slowing down now... right? How much more can still be ported/remastered at this point?

Wind Waker HD, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Wind Waker HD, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wind Waker HD, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Skyward Sword (today’s Mario announcements make me want to revisit the other thread).

Also: Yoshi's Woolly World & Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water.

Also Also: The Wii & Wii U Virtual Consoles.

Broodwars jinxed it and now Nintendo are releasing Fire Emblem 1 separately from their NES app for 6 dollars instead of zero. ½ point
Soothsayer ranking: Doug Bowser.

MR BUNGLE

Here are my predictions for Nintendo's first party line up in 2020

• Either BOTW 2 or Bayonetta 3 (but not both)
• A mini-game collection (Super Mario Party 2, Wario Ware, etc.
• A Mario RPG (Paper Mario or Mario and Luigi)
• A Mario Platformer (2D or 3D)
• A sports game (probably Mario)
• A Wii U port (could be one of the above, my guess is Super Mario 3D World)
• A 3DS port (could be one of the above, my guess is Kid Icarus: Uprising
• Something from a new IP
• Something from an IP we have not seen in a while
• A Kirby game
• A Donkey Kong game of some sort

-I'm counting Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics as a mini-game collection. 1 point
- Paper Mario: The Origami King came out 1 point
- Not one, but two Mario platformers: Super Mario Bros. 35 and 3D All-Stars Collection. 1 point
- Fitness Boxing 2 and Jump Rope Challenge are both new sports games. 1 point
- Multiple Wii U ports happened, 3D World is coming next year. 1 point
- No 3DS ports unless you convince me Xenoblade Chronicles is a port of the New 3DS version.
- Kirby Fighters 2 is your new Kirby game 1 point
- Jump Rope Challenge is technically a new I.P. 1 point
- Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics was a dormant I.P. since the DS days. I'm not counting Brain Training, since that had a 3DS game in Japan and PAL regions. 1 point
Total: 8 points!!!
Soothsayer ranking: S tier! Mr. Bungle, what's gonna be the winning lottery ticket?

KHUSHRENADA

It seems no one called "unannounced shadow drop Mini Directs". No one in this thread knows anything!   

[…]

With the way the Paper Mario trailer seemed to end on the odd note of Mario with the Samus helmet, it makes me wonder if this was meant for their E3 Direct and would then lead into a Metroid game announcement. Highly doubt it would be anything Prime 4 but people talked about a possible 2D Metroid game from Mercury Steam. Maybe that is what it could have been leading to.

[…]

So, I'd say it is now official that we won't be seeing a Direct this year unless something happens late December for next year releases. Nintendo is just shadow-dropping new games and sudden release dates individually instead. Not sure a new Hyrule Warriors game trying to ride the BotW coattails is really something that could compete against new consoles possibly dropping at that time over 3D World but that's what Nintendo is going with.

Khush was right about how we wouldn't see a general Direct this year. 1 point
He was also correct about none of us knowing anything, but we already knew that fact so it’s not really a prediction.
Soothsayer ranking: Captain Obvious.

OEDO

This reveal lends more credence to the 3D Mario collection rumour, since this was also part of it, and Venture Beat also casually dropped "Pikmin 3 Deluxe" as something that's supposed to be part of Nintendo's 2020 plans today as well. If those two rumours pan out, then their second half of the year lineup is starting to take shape.

Granted Oedo's were based on someone else's rumors, but hey, Lindsay Lohan built a music career on Rumors. 2 points!
Soothsayer ranking: Herbie Fully Loaded.

STRATOS

I wonder if this was the case, but it was being made for the 3DS since allegedly there were several 3DS projects that got tabled when Bowser's Inside Story bombed. So presumable it would be ported to Switch, but that change could delay the game, especially if MercurySteam has little-to-no experience working with Switch.

[...]

Also, this doesn't rule out a base SKU upgrade like the one last year that gave the Switch extra battery power.

[...]

I've seen some theories that with Zelda's 35th coming up in the Spring we may see a similar blowout for that franchise once the Mario anniversary winds down in March.

Things we could see in a Zelda anniversary:

• Wind Waker HD / Twilight Princess HD
• Re-release of 4-Swords Anniversary title (the GBA remake on DS that was released for previous anniversaries)
• Zelda 3D collection (OOT, MM, Master Quest) or a rerelease of the Gamecube Zelda collection bonus disc (though most of those are released on S/NES Online)
• 2D Zelda online battle royale (4-Swords like title?)
• Zelda Dungeon Maker announcement
• 3DS Zelda Collection (OOT, MM, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks)

I think the first three are more likely than not, the others are just me throwing ideas at the wall.

[...]

I was about to go into a breakdown of these challenges they created for themselves, but this isn't the thread for that. My point is BOTW2 and Odyssey 2 could have been planned and pushed back, so the ports could be forced to hold up the holiday lineup. I hope I'm wrong, but it is a possibility.

Stratos didn't make a lot of 2020 predictions, so the best I can do is give ½ point for the Zelda Dungeon Maker. But maybe that was already announced for Link's Awakening by that time?
Soothsayer ranking: Madame Fanadi

SURE I'LL GRADE MY OWN TEST

- Nintendo finally launches their sleep sensor for Pokémon Sleep. It's a Bluetooth device that counts snores.
- Ring Fit Adventure will get a big expansion pass. Maybe it's a sequel with a different exercise device.
- Super Mario Party 2 comes out. The last one sold close to EIGHT MILLION copies.
- Super Mario Maker 2 gets another big content update centered around a Nintendo character. (DK? Wario? WALUIGI AT LAST?)
- A new Nintendo project by Ubisoft Milan & Paris is announced, but won't release until 2021.
- Splatoon: Paint Bucket (spin-off). It's a drawing tool made by the Art Academy studio, to tap into Splatoon's artsy fanbase.
- Captain Toad 2 comes out. They've had a team porting this game twice in 2018, and added DLC to it in February last year. I think those people have been building levels ever since and a sequel releases this year.[/list]

[…]

I was pretty close with my June/July release window for the Xenoblade Chronicles remake. Will this be the year I play my virtual console copy? Will pigs fly at last?

- Ring Fit indeed got a big update (endless jogging mode, a rhythm game, and new languages support). However, it was a free update rather than a paid one, and no new accessories were produced. ½ point
- Super Mario Maker 2 did indeed get a big content update, but it was not centered around a character. Rather it added the ability to create entire worlds. ½ point
- Once again, pigs did not fly this year.
Total: 1 point I could not see mist in a crystal ball.
Soothsayer ranking: stop the count I won by a lot!!! Wow what an honor I want to thank the Academy and...

FAWFUL

Hopefully the rumor of a traditional Paper Mario comes true, and it's actually a full return with the story depth and original cast of characters like the first 3, not some "it's an RPG again but still all toads and shallow story"

Well, YMMV I suppose Fawful, but the new Paper Mario has unique characters, and a new story! Hope you weren’t disappointed.1 point
Soothsayer ranking: Merlon.

SHAYMIN

It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo dropped a questionable Zelda game on the same day as a new PlayStation console.

Some markets didn't get PS5 until November 19th, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a questionable Zelda game which released... November 20th. ½ point for Shaymin.
Soothsayer ranking: Xatu used Foresight.

MOP IT UP

I'm still hoping for Super Mario Odyssey 2.

Also what's going on with Pikmin 4? It's been years now, are we sure it wasn't in fact Hey! Pikmin? Does it really exist? And if it does exist, why does this keep happening to Pikmin?!

Why indeed, Mop It Up, for now there's Pikmin 3 Deluxe. ½ point
Soothsayer ranking: Magic 8-Birdo.

KAIRON

God I hope Pokémon Snap releases sooner rather than later. It's not that big a scope of a game, you're basically on rails so a lot of it is level design and polish and making a world look pretty without having to account for players actually navigating it freely. Could that make Fall 2020? That'd be so much fun. Or barring that at least an early 2021 release to catch the post Xmas buyers, like in February or March.

We don't really know yet Kairon! But here's ½ point for taking part!
Soothsayer ranking: participation amiibo.

ADROCK

Well, the port train continues full steam ahead but it's gotta start slowing down now... right? How much more can still be ported/remastered at this point?

Wind Waker HD, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Wind Waker HD, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wind Waker HD, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Skyward Sword (today’s Mario announcements make me want to revisit the other thread).

No real predictions here, but I'm feeling generous, ½ point for Adrock.
Soothsayer ranking: Fortune Street for Nintendo Wii.

Leaderboard:
Mr Bungle: 8 points
Nickmitch: 4½ points
Insanolord: 2 points
Oedo: 2 points
Luigi Dude: 1½ point
Discord.RSS: 1 point
Fawful: 1 point
Khushrenada: 1 point
Adrock: ½ point
Broodwars: ½ point
Kairon: ½ point
Mop It Up: ½ point
Shaymin: ½ point
Stratos: ½ point

Congrats to all the winners, please join us in the next thread which can be found here!

272

General Gaming / Re: Indie-Cember is here! Play your favorite indies all month long!

« on: December 27, 2020, 07:18:46 PM »

Finished Manifold Garden!
Took me five sessions, for a total of a bit over 5 hours. I did cheat by looking up a few puzzle solutions I got stuck on though. Very good game, although I think it could've been a little less vague. You're restoring natural elements to a world of infinitely looping architecture, but I'm not even sure if you're supposed to be playing a human (it's first person so you can't tell, and you never hear footsteps while moving). Birds and trees do exist, but that's about it for organic lifeforms.

The unexplainable nature of the world shouldn't be lost, but the game could use a more concrete reason to keep progressing beyond "I'd like to get out of this dreamlike environment". Good game though, quite hypnotizing and I found myself thinking on puzzle solutions while doing dishes and such, so it was often top-of-mind for me this week.

273

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Best of the Wii U eShop (Round 5: 2015 - Part 1)

« on: December 23, 2020, 08:05:35 PM »

Lots of decent games in this batch, but only one clear winner: Affordable Space Adventures. Easily a top 10 game on the platform, and probably the single most interesting exclusive on the system?

I played Blek, which is a clever puzzle game about creating a repeating pattern. Works well on the Gamepad, but also made me feel very dumb and rather than working on my own intellectual shortcomings I will instead blame the game for being too hard. (And inadvertedly prove myself a fool in the process.)


OlliOlli I played recently and again found too difficult. It's an autorunner dressed up like a skateboarding game with a rad as hell soundtrack. I played this for hours but dropped it in the last world because I was eating so much gravel you could call me an excavator.


Cautionary tale: Midnight I have not played, but I did complete its sequel (Midnight 2) and strongly disliked it. Both look near-identical, so I'm baffled this got a 7/10 from NWR. It's basically a platforming game, but you can't move, so you propel your character kind of like you move the ball in golf games. Aim, swing, and hope you don't land in the rough.
Stay away from this bogey.

274

Movies & TV / Re: Actor Casting Sudoku Game

« on: December 23, 2020, 07:39:48 PM »

With your hints in the 2nd post and the time of release I'm pretty sure the answer is the first Ghostbusters movie, right? My initial guess was like, Avengers, since there's so many actors. But once the rows click it's probably the only real option?

Did you make this grid yourself? Is there an easy way to do more of these?

275

General Gaming / Re: Indie-Cember is here! Play your favorite indies all month long!

« on: December 23, 2020, 01:56:20 PM »

This thread is making want to buy Hollow Knight and Shantae 7.

Currently around an hour into Manifold Garden, and a bit lost on where to go. The game is really cool though, you can adjust gravity to flip the world around and walk on walls/ceilings until you lose track of what was up and what was down.
Secondly, the outside spaces are functionally endless, so instead of taking the stairs like a boring schmuck you can just jump into the void and land where you want. Very cool. Getting some mild Portal vibes from the spatial reasoning. I do think it could be disorienting for people who are prone to motion sickness, though.