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Episode 556: Give the Gift of Protein This Holiday Season!

by James Jones, Greg Leahy, Jon Lindemann, and Guillaume Veillette - January 28, 2018, 12:13 pm EST
Total comments: 10

We're breaking new ground in irrelevant episode titles. It's not even the holidays anymore...

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It's finally time for us to announce our plans for the Non-rigged WiiWare RetroActive, and like any good entertainment product you're going to have to wait! That was a tease.

Instead, we start the show off by taking Nintendo to task. Since our last recording Nintendo silenced The Voice of a Nation with the release of v.1.2.0 of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The removal of the Ardanian battlecry "Don't forget me!" should not be ignored. For those who want to keep it alive in their hearts, James has captured their call, for the future (warning, some spoilers). They also killed Miitomo but...they could have done worse things.

After a through tongue-lashing, we move on to New Business. James somehow ended up reviewing games again. Of Mice and Sand Revisited is a pretty good exploration/building game (think FTL) starring mice in the desert. Oh... Sir! The Hollywood Roast is trash. Shameful trash. Guillaume just can't get away from LEGO Star Wars, this time looking at The Force Awakens. It spends a surprising amount of time covering movies that aren't The Force Awakens, which is probably more about the movie than the game design. He also got a crack at four-player Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. He'd previously played it in two-player mode, but finds this configuration significantly more chaotic. Jon and James talk about their time with Rare's Sea Of Thieves beta. They're both pretty confused as to what this game really is. Maybe it's because of features not available in the beta, or maybe it's because they're both idiots. But still, they care, because it's Rare. Greg doesn't know it yet, but he's about to become "The Musou Guy", with a look at Fire Emblem Warriors. This one has some weird quirks that make it more Fire Emblem-like.

After the break, it's time for Listener Mail.

This week we set new records in inefficiency, managing only two topics! First we name some games that took time to "click" with us, only to become among our favorites, then we debate the merits of Nintendo's decision to not bundle 1-2-Switch and to wait on the Virtual Console. It's not a huge debate, to be honest. You can send us questions that I'll grossly mischaracterize as debates by sending us an email.

We've finally decided our plan for the WiiWare RetroActive. We decided that most of the WiiWare's library isn't suited to a RetroActive, but that's never stopped us before! Instead we'll be doing a series of small "RetroActive Very Minis" to cover multiple games, starting in Episode 558. Our first two games are You, Me, and the Cubes and Bonsai Barber. That's right, TWO games! We plan to give each game about 30 minutes. With our quick turn-around you should start playing now! The talkback for You, Me and the Cubes and Bonsai Barber are now open.

This episode was edited by Guillaume Veillette. The "Men of Leisure" theme song was produced exclusively for Radio Free Nintendo by Perry Burkum. Hear more at Perry's SoundCloud. The Radio Free Nintendo logo was produced by Connor Strickland. See more of his work at his website.

This episode's ending music is requested by vudu: Banson's Aria, from Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. Composition by ‎Gene Rozenberg. All rights reserved by Electronic Arts Inc.

Talkback

pokepal148Spencer Johnson, Contributing WriterJanuary 28, 2018

So predictions. Are those still a thing? Don't think we've forgotten.

Likely next week

I will say personally, I have not yet missed the exclusion of a virtual console.  Partly due to how many different platforms I own the legacy games I know I want already.  Partially because the joycon's D-Pad solution is less than ideal. 


Partially because if they're going to do it, I want it to have the kind of volume that the Wii's virtual console has so I can take a chance on a 3rd party game or two that piques my interest or have heard good things about, but would never seek out if it wasn't readily available to try.  I think these days are long gone, and if so, i'd much rather have Nintendo continue to court premiere indie developers to bring the stand-out titles to the switch, especially the fun local co-op or multiplayer ones.



ejamerJanuary 30, 2018

I agree with a lot of what lolmonade says regarding Virtual Console.


Some thoughts:


Virtual Console was incredibly on Wii for a handful of reasons:
* it started early, when there weren't many competing games getting released
* it reached a sort of "critical mass" with a ton of great old games re-released over the life of the console
* the quality of emulation was pretty good
* save states were very basic (only created when using home button to exit game; no reload feature) but welcome additions


Virtual Console on Wii U was poor for a handful of reasons:
* exposed the problems with how Nintendo runs Virtual Console licensing - your purchases don't carry over between consoles
* emulation quality was a huge step down from Wii
* way too slow releasing games, and the overall selection was lacking (although a few nice games were released here)


Switch?
* doesn't really need to have more games getting released; very few holes in the release schedule for this console
* improvements in emulation quality with recent Classic mini-consoles makes it appealing
* unless licensing has improved going forward (think PSN Classics) I'm still not interested in re-buying games again


Although I still love Virtual Console, it seems better to let things be and pursue new indie games until Nintendo finds a way to make the service more consumer-friendly.

I kinda wish emaciated DJ Jazzy Jeff in a sports coat was in Oh... Sir! The Hollywood Roast. Because I'm pretty sure James would have taken his balls and gone home at that point.

MASBFebruary 01, 2018

What's the story behind the episode title? Gui mentions The Breakfast Club in the first segment also named "Give the Gift of Protein This Holiday Season!" But I haven't seen the movie in so long, I don't know if the title is a reference to it.

2:06:54. Jons mentions buying S.C.A.T. and no one hears it. Perfect.

Towards the end, when Greg announces the ending music, the topic of Muscle March is brought up. I believe Jon cracked that joke.

Finally getting around to listening to the rest of this...

I hate to beat the dead retroactive horse, but uh... I actually do think I dropped La Mulana the first time I played it, and by the time I was ready to come back, I had severe PC problems and had to get a new PC, unto which I came back and in the beginning when I was breezing through puzzles, it clicked exactly what La Mulana IS to me, and now it's one of my all-time favorite games.

vuduFebruary 02, 2018

Quote from: Pandareus

Towards the end, when Greg announces the ending music, the topic of Muscle March is brought up. I believe Jon cracked that joke.

Muscle March is the gift that keeps on giving

MASBFebruary 03, 2018

I also notice that James keeps mistakingly saying "Now Playing." You know why, James? Because your subconscious doesn't like you. It misses the subtle writing and nuanced takes that was J&J's Now Playing. Maybe if you did it once every month or so, that would be enough to calm your subconscious's primordial Jungian desires!

Thanks for the clarification, Gui! :)

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