Topic: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 184

[Jonnyboy117]

A special guest joins us to discuss Super Mario RPG and a multitude of other games.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcastArt.cfm?artid=22596

 Episode 184: In Memory of Geno    

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Jon couldn't make it this week, but luckily, Michael "TYP" Cole was available in his place. TYP spent the previous weekend at Jonny's place, so they have a veritable buffet of games to run through during New Business. James has first thoughts on the Miles Edgeworth game, and Greg catches up on Flower. We only had time for one email this week, but it's a Shout-Out for the forgotten GBA game, Ninja Five-O.    

The majority of this episode is consumed by RetroActive #11, the long-awaited discussion of Super Mario RPG. We dive right into the meat of the game, including a lot of what happens in the second half (so if you're still playing, there may be spoilers). We also read a ton of your comments from the forum thread, with some great observations and conversational boosters.    

As of this posting, you still have a few days to vote in our Game of the Decade poll -- don't wait! And be sure to check out Zach Miller's cool artwork for the feature.    

We're always looking for great Listener Mail to read and discuss on the show, so please send your questions or comments! (We really love seeing your praise and feedback regarding the show itself; however, in the interest of time, we may edit your letter to be read on the podcast.)      Credits:    

This podcast was edited by Greg Leahy.    

Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their newest album, Done with the Devil, directly from the record label, Amazon.com, or iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!    

Additional music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is copyrighted to Nintendo and Square Enix, and is included under fair use protection.  

[NWR_Neal]

I resent the fact that everyone is blind to the fact that the last console Spider-Man game, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, was pretty damn good. I'll admit that almost everything before that was awful, but Web of Shadows was an inspired effort. If Radical is picking up the reins, I'd imagine they might borrow a little bit from that game since it laid a good groundwork.

R.I.P. Shaba Games

Also, there's one part of Edgeworth that takes place in a court room, but I won't say anything else.
And I'm pretty sure that it was a different team on Edgeworth as well. Maybe not a completely different team, but I know it is directed and produced by some other Capcom people who didn't previously work on the series.

[Jonnyboy117]

I honestly never played the console versions of Web of Shadows -- certainly, the reviews were solid at worst. However, I was turned off by the developers' constant discussion of how much effort they put into a new combat system. That's all well and good, but I'm going to play a Spider-Man game for the movement and exploration... elements that were severely lacking in the two or three previous games before Web of Shadows. And I never read or heard anything to indicate that this one did anything interesting with those parts of the game.

[Halbred]

Jonny, I actually got Web of Shadows on DS recently after remembering you talking it up. I like it alright, but the combat is awfully...messy. The bosses are overpowered and have WAY too much health, too. It wouldn't be so much of a problem were there not so many force fight rooms (the doors are closed off). With less fighting, I'd like the game more, but...I have some problems with it.

[Jonnyboy117]

So little Talkback this week... wonder if people are still trying to finish 183, or if their feedback has been consumed by the GotD thread?

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

I only managed to listen to this yesterday. The Super Mario RPG RetroActive got off to a strong start - totally agree with TYP: the animation in the battles is too crude by today's standards. The attacking I do not have a problem with because it is so easy for achieve a double hit, but the defence is really 50/50 for me and usually I don't see how I timed it differently when I successfully pull off a block.

I think the low amount of feedback may be related to not much Listener Mail in this week's episode. It could be just me, but I find the discussions coming out of Listener Mail to be the most interesting as well as the easiest for me to respond to in TalkBack. There was only one letter this time around, a Shout-Out for a game I personally know nothing about. Just a theory.

If it's true that you'll being catching up with the mail on the next show, that would be awesome. The last episode you did a tonne of letters (ep. 160) is one of my favourites from the recent ones.

[Yoshidious]

It's no surprise to me there's been less than feedback for this episode than normal--the majority of it is dedicated to Super Mario RPG, and because of the vibrant participation seen in the RetroActive discussion thread, many people here have already gone into detail sharing their thoughts regarding SMRPG.
 
In any case, I hope we did the forum thread justice with our on-air discussion, and I'm looking forward to going through a lot of Listener Mail messages for the first time in a little while this week.     

[Shaymin]

Will there be a lot of discussion about the Media Summit this week or will the Player One Newscast be handling that?

[TheYoungerPlumber]

I figured I had just chased everyone away....

[NWR_DrewMG]

Will there be a lot of discussion about the Media Summit this week or will the Player One Newscast be handling that?

I won't speak for the RFN crew, but Zach, Neal and I just recorded Newscast episode 12 tonight, and we spent a good 45 minutes on the Media Summit.  It's a pretty epic, almost two hour episode.   Should be ready for consumption by tomorrow, late.

[Sundoulos]

Well, I, for one, enjoyed the retroactive segment.  It's not unappreciated guys.  I guess I don't have much more to say about Mario RPG, other than I it's always nice to hear people talk about a game I remember fondly.   

I would agree with the assessments that Square succeeded in making many of the non-Nintendo characters in Super Mario RPG memorable.  I can't say that I've ever found of the sidekicks or NPCs from the Paper Mario series as memorable as those in Mario RPG; I found many of the towns and NPCs in Paper Mario to be fairly uninspired in comparison.  James brought up Super Paper Mario...I HATED traversing the twin hub towns in Super Paper Mario; it fit the mechanics of the game, but the NPCs and town itself were visually uninspiring.  (That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the game.)  The Mario and Luigi series has done a much better job of carrying on the torch, specifically by establishing vibrant/wacky characters and settings.

I look forward to hearing Jon's thoughts on the next episode.

@Greg:  I can't imagine how you can keep that editing workload up without going crazy.   Let me just say that I appreciate the amount of polish that RFN has on a regular basis; I don't know of many other gaming related podcasts who put the amount of work into the final product.  It's one of the reasons I listen.

I think there was enough information from the Media Summit for both podcasts to discuss, really.   I'm still curious as to why no one has posted videos for Metroid Other M, yet.  I'm somewhat encouraged by some of the gameplay impressions I've read, but the info I've heard on the voice acting make it sound a little lame.  I'd still really like to see the game in action, but I have an underlying fear that this might prove to be Metroid's last console outing if it doesn't perform well.  I still think I would just prefer to eventually see a Metroid Wiiware sequel.

2010 is apparently a very good year to be a Nintendo Fan.  I had been thinking of spending the money to buy a PS3 this spring, but there's a lot of Wii titles to keep me busy enough.  My gaming resources (both time and money) are pretty limited these days...I have one 2 year-old and our second child will hopefully be coming this summer, if all goes well!

I do wonder now what this means for the latter half of 2010?   I had assumed Metroid and Mario would be 2nd and 3rd quarter releases, respectively.   Zelda does seem like a real possibility now.  I'm still hoping that we'll get a Retro Studios update at E3.

[ejamer]

The show was decent and the discussion about Super Mario RPG very entertaining.  I thought about commenting, but didn't have much of value to add.
 
I suspect there will be quite a bit more activity after the next show is posted since there are some topics coming up that people will surely want to chime in about.

[Jonnyboy117]

We do plan to spend a few minutes on the Media Summit, though nothing like you can expect from the Newscast. We have a ton of great New Business on tap (Jon played both Disaster and Mega Man 10), and we'll have at least four emails to discuss.

[Halbred]

How did he play MM 10?

[vudu]

Jonny, I actually got Web of Shadows on DS recently after remembering you talking it up. I like it alright, but the combat is awfully...messy. The bosses are overpowered and have WAY too much health, too. It wouldn't be so much of a problem were there not so many force fight rooms (the doors are closed off). With less fighting, I'd like the game more, but...I have some problems with it.

Jonny seems to think any game that borrows heavily from Metroid is just about the best thing on Earth and is willing to overlook serious flaws--see Blaster Master Overdrive. 

[Halbred]

Heh. Agreed. ;-)

[KDR_11k]

Jonny, I actually got Web of Shadows on DS recently after remembering you talking it up. I like it alright, but the combat is awfully...messy. The bosses are overpowered and have WAY too much health, too. It wouldn't be so much of a problem were there not so many force fight rooms (the doors are closed off). With less fighting, I'd like the game more, but...I have some problems with it.

Jonny seems to think any game that borrows heavily from Metroid is just about the best thing on Earth and is willing to overlook serious flaws--see Blaster Master Overdrive. 

But Spiderman not only borrows heavily from Metroid, it also has web swinging! Ninja Five-O is still better of course.

[vudu]

I bought Ninja Five-O from eBay several years ago.  As expected it turned out to be a bootleg.  I got a refund.

[Jonnyboy117]

Luckily, I can save myself the effort of typing a real response about Web of Shadows and instead just paste this link:

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=17178

[Halbred]

LOL!