#N64 vs 3DS

[link-is-a-dork]

[pixies-and-poets]

In which I dare to rant about Paper Mario

So there's this discourse going around twitter right now about Paper Mario being an AU and Paper Mario not being the "real" Mario and if ANY of the PM games happened in "the real Mario world" or have parallels, do the characters exist outside of the Paper World, etc etc

And all I can think is like, damn, how unfortunate is it that Intelligent Systems deciding to use a charming and timeless art style back on the N64 led to this. The idea to use 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds to create a storybook feel eventually spiraled into the series' ENTIRE IDENTITY. Gameplay does not unite the whole Paper Mario series, depth of story does not, shared characters do not, only the art style and the idea of 2D vs 3D.

And it's a shame because the first PM was a lovely fairy tale that clearly followed in the footsteps of SMRPG as an extrapolation of what the Mushroom Kingdom could be, and how Mario's world works. It was also my first Mario RPG and had tremendous influence on me. Friendly Koopas and Goombas, the Star Spirits, wishes. It was called Mario Story in Japan and the paper aspect mattered nothing to the actual narrative. And then TTYD got a little cheekier with the paper abilities (with them being a fourth-wall-wobbling joke tacked on to what was clearly supposed to still be a Mario Story). And then SPM, much as I love it, bases its entire hook around 2D/3D in a way that's hard to reconcile with Mario's "normal" existence. And by Sticker Star they just said screw it, reboot it, everyone is 100% aware they are made of paper and that's like the series' whole deal now. And it has stayed there ever since.

For the last three games, you can say maybe there's a "real" Bobby out there or a "real" Captain T. Ode but it's impossible for their plots to take place in a world divorced from the craft universe unless we substitute in a lot of body horror and viscera (and even then, what of the Things? Etc). And that's ok for these games, they work within their own context and can be fun for what they are. But it's now got people thinking the first three games fold into this same AU. And you can blame Paper Jam for this but the PM series did it to itself. PJ just clearly spelled out the dual reality that Sticker Star and its follow-ups obviously necessitated. And now the whole series has retroactively been wrapped up into this Paper Universe.

Look, I know "Mario lore" doesn't actually matter, and most RPG characters never show up again even in their own series, and as long as you enjoy each game in a vacuum that's what matters. But it's frustrating that we've reached a point where PM characters have to be the odd ones out who may or may not "actually exist" or have actually met the "real Mario". Mallow is definitely real, Cackletta is definitely real but Chuck Quizmo- WHOA SLAM THE BRAKES, IDK ABOUT THAT ONE CHIEF. Thankfully most people don't give a shit about this drudgery and it won't stop people from drawing Vivian and Geno interacting, because it's just fun and good.

But my point is, I don't think the people working on the first PM (and TTYD) really could have foreseen the series evolving into what it is today, and it's unfair to wipe out their lovely narratives and relegate them to some kind of side universe not worthy of The Real Super Mario(tm) [especially because, taken in sum total of characters and vignettes, TTYD is the greatest Mario narrative there has ever been IMO]. SPM, so strange in both its style and its entire concept, is in some kind of weird limbo where I don't even really care what people think of it anymore, just let me enjoy my game that makes me cry every time in peace lmao

I can't think of another example of a series where an arbitrary stylistic gimmick (not a gameplay or story gimmick but a STYLISTIC gimmick) consumes it and becomes its entire thematic identity. Can you? It's Flanderization on the scale of a franchise, not just a character. Closest is perhaps the Yoshi series, where Yoshi's Island had a childlike crayon look to stand out on the SNES and fit the theme of Baby Mario, which got expanded to Yoshi's Story being a storybook and now we have craft themed Yoshi games. But it's still not entirely the same thing because the gameplay has remained somewhat consistent, if getting rather easier.

Anyway peace and love I just want Johnny Jones and Cortez to hang out

[bryastar]

word salad #4

happy twilight Thursday!

today is a work day and something I'm thinking about right now is, yes just because this may be a daily blog doesn't necessarily mean I need to go into full detail about how every part of my days go. otherwise I'd be ranting about work for a vast majority of these entires.

so instead I wanna talk about... retro 3D platformers

a while back I came across a game called Cavern of Dreams. it claims itself to be inspired by retro 3D platformers. it features low poly graphics and textures with simple lighting effects, reminiscent of late N64 games. the gameplay feels very much like if Conker's Bad fur day was lighthearted and wholesome. what's also neat is camera controls are more reminiscent of later games, Mario sunshine and Zelda wind waker immediately come to mind for me. I've gotten through the first part of the game and really loving it so far, and the controls are probably the best I've seen in a long time.

but while thinking about this, I sorta made a bit of a realization... growing up, games like this were referred to as adventure games instead of 3d platformers. heck, I don't think I've seen the term "platformer" until around the mid 2000s. even Mario games I think we're more well known as action adventure games, or Zelda games being a puzzle adventure. PC adventure games tend to be point and click games, which is vastly different than what consoles typically offered. I personally think that NSMB for the DS may be in part why we now make this distinction as the 2D Mario games play vastly different than their 3D games, notably being easier to pick up and play.

but while on this thought train, I sorta began to wonder what sort of similarities that 3D platformers from this era had vs a point and click adventure game. what I ended up deciding on was: exploration. point and click games, you topically make progress by exploring the world around you and finding clues and solving puzzles by exploring the environment and talking to npcs. 3d platformers is... actually kinda the same, while typically focusing on item collecting, many similar elements show up such as exploring worlds and finding ways to progress by interacting with the levels and different characters.

while on that thought about collecting items...

a lot of late 90s and early 2000s platformers would feature collecting a long list of items. one prominent example is donkey Kong 64, which tends to be known as the game that killed collectathons. I have some thoughts on but I'll save for another entry, but I guess I will say that calling such games a collectathon very much misses the point of what the game is actually about. is it a game where you are sent out into a level and made to collect all the random items scattered on the ground, or is it a game where you're friends have been captured and your hoard of bananas have been stolen and you must rescue your friends and recover your bananas in order to progress while learning new moves and meeting interesting creatures who either help you or try to intervene. I dunno about most, but I like the latter premise better. (or maybe I out much more weight on a storyline for a game as opposed to the gameplay)

I hope this entry wasn't too hard or confusing to read, I guess I'm mostly rambling and jotting down bits and pieces of what's in my mind when I get a couple minutes of free time.

uhm..

pineapples (I need a better way to end these aa)

[321spongebolt]

With the "Animaniacs" movie, "Wakko's Wish" turning 25 next year, I figured I would discuss an idea that I had for if Warner Bros. gave "Wakko's Wish" more promotion at the time. Like if it was given a soundtrack (as I previously discussed here) or a storybook with screenshots from the film used on each page. In this case, why not a tie-in videogame released on Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast (possibly), and PC. That's not to say I'm the one who has this idea. My friend, @iantheartandtapecollector had a similar idea, and even posted box art for how he would interpret "Wakko's Wish" as a tie-in movie video game. My view is a lot different, as I have two directions for how this would go. On one hand, I would've chosen Infogrames, given the experience they had with "Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time", which was also released in 1999, albeit exclusively for PS1 and PC. On the other hand, I would've chosen Ubisoft, who developed "Tonic Trouble" and "Rayman 2: The Great Escape" as their first 3D platformers. Down below are two options I had in terms of gameplay style. The only similarity between the two is that they would both be 3D platformers, but without a life limit, just health.

ESRB RATING

Obviously rated E for everyone, moving on.

DEVELOPER

(You decide)

PUBLISHER

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

GAMEPLAY OPTION 1

"Wakko's Wish" would be a 3D platformer with its gameplay style based on "Super Mario 64", "Banjo-Kazooie", and even "Donkey Kong 64", where you can freely explore open levels and perform missions to unlock some power star-like collectable needed to progress through the story.

GAMEPLAY OPTION 2

"Wakko's Wish" would be a 3D platformer with its gameplay style based on "Rayman 2: The Great Escape" and "Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time", where you are still free to roam around levels and explore hidden areas, but the levels still have a Point A to Point B setup.

CONCEPT FOR A BOSS BATTLE

Unlike in the movie where Dot faked her death, Dot's death will be real in the game. As Yakko and Wakko, you must fight King Salazar until his health is down. The final level has you play as Wakko alone, who is on a time limit. As Wakko, the goal is to avoid King Salazar's cannonballs until time runs out, with Wakko touching the wishing star. And instead of wishing for two ha'pennies like in movie, Wakko will wish for Dot to be brought back to life, which works, thus ending the game's story mode.

CONCEPT FOR THE MENU SCREEN

After the game's opening logos, you are taken to the Warner Bros. water tower from the show itself. Pressing "Start" causes the door to open, resulting in the camera flying into the interior of the water tower. The setup could even have the camera focus on areas of the tower itself. Like, there could be a desk where the "Wakko's Wish" book lies. When it opens, you can select something like "New Game", "Load Game", or "Multiplayer". There can also be an option to take you into this movie theater room based on projector interstitial from "Animaniacs". On the PS1, Dreamcast, and PC versions, you can view the clips from the movie that play before each level. Due to limitations of Nintendo 64 cartridges not being able to use movie clips, the Nintendo 64 version uses an art gallery where you can view the stills from the movie.

MULTIPLAYER

One idea I was thinking of is if this game would have a multiplayer mode similar to what "Donkey Kong 64" would do by having 2-4 player split-screen battles. You play as Yakko, Wakko, Dot, or the other characters and throw snowballs at each other until they lose all their health. This can be played in 4-player free-for-all matches, or 2 vs. 2 matches.

Up above are some designs I thought of for what the N64 version's cartridge would look like.

[neitherabaron]

Sharing my love for Starfox 64 (originally titled Lylat Wars here in the UK) today.

I played this game over and over in 1997 and loved it, but it’s only playing it again in 2023 on Switch that I’ve realised just how good it is.

N64 had a lot of great games but not many games from the early days of 3D have aged gracefully. Even Mario 64 and Zelda, two games I’d still consider some of the best ever made, are starting to feel a little clunky if we’re honest.

Starfox 64 feels fresh as a daisy, 26 years later. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it does.

The Switch’s button layout is less than ideal for N64 games, true. But ignoring that, the controls are so tight and so responsive, and so rewarding of skill. You can always make your ship duck and weave through laser crossfire exactly the way you want it to.

And you need to do so to stay alive on the tougher missions. It demands precision but in turn it always gives you full control. In an era where devs were still figuring out how 3D movement even works, it’s staggering that the game *handles* like it was released today, even though it looks dated.

There’s no auto-aim and while I’d normally call that a bad thing on a console shooter, this gels perfectly with the precise movement. You’re picking and placing your shots just like you’re constantly re-evaluating your position on screen. There’s a big risk and reward element as you weigh up the chance to take out a large formation of enemy ships vs putting yourself in the way of harm. And all of it feels intuitive. They still haven’t made a Starfox game that plays this well.

And the game is super replayable! It’s very short, clocking in at less than an hour, but that’s the point. You only play 7 out of 15 planets in any run, and each level can play out in vastly different ways depending on your performance, sending you on different routes of various levels of challenge.

There are 25 possible paths to the final boss - some are simple and let anyone pick up and learn the finer points of the game, while others offer crazy high scores but will test your skills to the limit. So that’s 25 hours to see everything the game has to offer, plus so much more time spent honing your skills for that high score, plus the incredible pick-up-and-play short session appeal of the whole thing…wonderful.

If you’re good you can protect your wingmates (they die easily) and in turn they’ll look out for you, leading you to hidden paths, warning you of ambushes and analysing boss tactics. Or you can let them get shot down and miss out on the extremely memeable dialogue. The story is corny as hell and full of classic sci-fi movie tropes and scenarios that are a delight to play through. You even fight an army of Gundams! At times, you really feel like you’re part of an epic movie space battle. I loved the old Star Wars Rogue Squadron series but even at its best, it never made me feel like that.

In short, I can’t believe in 2023 a game made in 1997 feels this good to play. It’s magic.

[legoobsessionist]

Day 1 of my 2023 Zelda week: Finished Majora's Mask 3D in 13 hours. Longer than I expected, and I regret choosing the remake for a few reasons. Firstly, my hands did not like trying to play a 3DS for that long. Second, there are several changed to the 3DS remake that I did not enjoy. The four area bosses were ENORMOUS downgrades vs. their N64 counterparts. Odolwa was inoffensive and too easy, Goht was fine but aesthetically a downgrade, Gyorg & Twinmold are infuriating and really put a damper on otherwise fantastic dungeons. (I maintain Stone Tower Temple as my favorite dungeon in all of Zelda despite each of it's three bosses killing me multiple times.)

Majora's Mask deserves to be played in full but the atmosphere somehow still comes through if you ignore all of the optional stuff. Impressive.

I am worried that the Oracle games will be a significant roadblock, since they are full of content and I much less familiar with them despite Ages being my favorite 2D Zelda. Luckily I can ply on my TV with a good controller to give my hands a break.

[crusherthedoctor]

❣️, 💥, 👾, 🤖 (and 💙 :P)

❣️ Favourite Game?

Mania is still #1 for me. To make a long story short, this game is top tier for me in most of the ways that count. Gameplay, visuals, music, attention to detail, references that are actually clever, the whole shebang. The story might be mildly disjointed compared to something like S3&K, but it doesn't bother me too much. I love this game to death, and it steams my hams that fans have took to ignoring its success in order to prop up Frontiers.

Likewise, second place still goes to S3&K for similar reasons. The rest of my favourites include (in chronological order) Sonic 1 and 2, CD, SA1, the Advance trilogy, Rush Adventure, console Colours, and console Generations.

💥 Favourite Boss Fight?

To list which ones come to mind:

The entire Death Egg-Doomsday Zone confrontation. One of the strongest endgames to any Sonic game, and one of Eggman's finest moments. S3&K as a whole did a fantastic job in firmly cementing how dedicated and hands-on the doctor can be when he's portrayed at his best, and it's wonderfully capped off with this crazy bonanza of "For fuck sake, he's STILL not done?" The Great Eggman Robo is also an imposing design with how it looms.

Egg Viper and Perfect Chaos in SA1. The former for being a decent challenge and the epic as hell defeat animation ("Watch out, he's up to something!"), the latter for being possibly the only 3D Super Sonic fight that isn't complete shit, even if it is a little janky.

Sonic VS Shadow on the A.R.K. The atmosphere and music really make it work.

Deep Core is pretty underrated. A fun shoot 'em up boss, and the Egg WIzard has some creative and eye-catching attacks thanks to the Jeweled Scepter.

Egg Dragoon for bringing out the aggression from Sonic and Eggman alike, as well as the sheer intensity of the fight itself. You know it has to be good when even a certified Non-Fan of Unleashed like me fully approves of it.

Egg Reverie for neatly avoiding a certain undesirable event by instead settling on a three way deathmatch. The music's great, the background is hypnotic, and I love how the timer is inflicted with N64 cartridge tilting-style glitching.

The Mega Death Egg Robot in Forces may have been just okay as an actual fight, but I really, really love the sound design that went into it, as seemingly minor as that may be to some. And Eggman being mad enough to have a second mech inside the first one ala Doomsday Zone is peak... him.

Oh, look at that, most of them are Eggman! Guess the other villains need to try a bit harder, huh?

👾 Favourite handheld title?

Advance 2 was my first Sonic game, and I also think it's probably the most well-balanced of the trilogy (Special Stage rings and needing to get the Emeralds as all four characters to unlock Amy aside), so I'll go with that one.

Second place is a tie between Advance 1 and Rush Adventure. Can't decide which won edges out. :P

🤖 Favourite robot?

I struggle to pick an Eggman-made example because that would require listing every robot he has ever made that isn't Belle. If I had to pick one - one that counts as an actual character mind you - then the Hard-Boiled Heavies for being my kind of quirky and fun. <3

For a NON-Eggman example... uh... this narrows it down by quite a lot. Emerl was good, wasn't he?

💙 Favourite IDW character?

...I'll go with Simp Era Starline, and maybe Tangle before the flanderization set in.

[giriduck]

I’m not referring to rhe “he don’t cate about the timeline article” I mean the “No Comment” article when he was asked about an OoT remake. It’s on gameinformer and twitter, and I think i might be skeptical bit time

Ah! I have a several thoughts on this!

(Disclaimer: I do not work for Nintendo and this is all speculation.)

Given Aonuma’s high profile in games, “no comment” is really all he could say in that situation. If they were considering an OoT remake, HD re-release, anime series, etc. in the indeterminate future, he couldn’t hint to it in an ad hoc interview question and certainly wouldn’t announce anything outside of a larger, Nintendo-driven marketing reveal. Given the interest in the topic, anything other than a hard “no” could easily be interpreted by the fandom and game media as a “maybe yes” (hence all the speculation around the “no comment” response itself). If they are not planning on making anything OoT related at this time (or even if it’s not on any future long term release roadmap), they also wouldn’t want to commit to a hard “no” there, either.

My guess is that if they were to “remake” OoT, it’d be like all of the other Mario and Zelda HD remakes: “upres it” to significantly higher detail and frame rate, modify the controls to make sense on Switch, and don’t change the content at all (other than adding additional graphical details—like what can be found in the delta between the original N64 OoT release the later 3DS re-release).

The “upres” of an older game is a massive undertaking. The OoT 3D port came out in 2011. For the sake of accuracy and feel, they might be able to rebuild / extend the engine they used on the 3DS to run on Switch, but that would likely be extremely difficult. Or maybe they could recreate the entire game in an already Switch-compatible engine (perhaps the Skyward Sword HD or BotW tech), but then it would be difficult to capture the core gameplay experience. Perhaps they could just start from scratch, but that’s even more expensive. No matter what they run it on, they’ll have to reproduce all the assets. Because OoT is such a beloved game—and there is precedent here with WW HD, etc.—they would likely choose to closely and carefully recreate the style of the original game, vs. drastically changing the art, sound, etc.

Regarding the narrative content, as others have mentioned, the game is 25 years old and from a less inclusive era, so aspects have not aged well. If there were edits made, it would perhaps be to modify those rougher spots, but likely not be a drastic rewrite.

To quote Husband, “There are very low odds they’d go the Final Fantasy VII Remake route” and retcon / change a bunch, especially since Nintendo already has such a strong HD re-release precedent. Because it would essentially be a port at that point, it would likely be given to another company to handle as the first-party TotK team moves on (if they haven’t already) to their next big project.

I have no idea what Aonuma’s role entails at Nintendo, but at the very most he would be part of the greenlight process to have another studio work on a re-release of OoT, and would likely not have any creative nor directorial influence on the game itself (there even are several interviews in which Omega Force described having very little oversight from the BotW team as they worked on AoC). So if folks are worried about him taking the game in a different direction, if he’s even still in a creative position at Nintendo, he will undoubtedly mostly focus on the Next Big New Title. But it sounds like maybe he’s moved to the more corporate / franchise level now, in which case he will not be in the weeds on creative direction much at all.

In the end, if Nintendo did decide to tackle the heavy lift of delivering a new generation of OoT to players (including getting it running on the Switch, redoing the art and audio, and making then localizing specific string changes, etc.), the end result probably won’t be different enough to risk undermining the long-established OoT lore nor impact the game’s place in the hearts of the fandom.

If anything, it could be a great chance for returning and newer players to experience this chapter of the older lore at >20fps.

[psychicmisfortune]

custom mariokart 8 cups me and my friends play a lot because ive been on this kick too long (most include tracks from the DLC!!)

(how to do these cups: go to however many players -> VS race -> pick your character + kart -> any cc/ other rules -> 4 races -> pick the following tracks)

feel free to tag/add your own! i'd love to see ideas and try em out >:)

rainbow cup - rainbow road (special cup), rainbow road (snes), rainbow road (n64), rainbow road (3ds)

spooky cup - twisted mansion, bowser's castle, boo lake, wild woods

chilled cup - sherbet land, merry mountain, ice ice outpost, dk summit

summer cup - water park, daisy cruiser, cheep cheep beach, coconut mall

pinkest pink cup - sky-high sundae, sweet sweet canyon, royal raceway, peach gardens

euro cup - paris promenade, london loop, berlin byways, amsterdam drift

asia cup - tokyo blur, bangkok rush, dragon driftway, ninja hideaway

shroom cup - shroom ridge, mushroom gorge, sky garden, cloudtop cruise

house cup - ribbon road, baby park, squeaky clean sprint, peach gardens

[randomisedgaming]

On March 27th 2023 Nintendo will close, terminate, shutdown the 3DS and Wii U eShop after little more than 10 years. Random Gamer Riven has been researching the games and DLC gamers should try and grab before this shutdown take places including a list of as much of the 3DS DLC we could find. Both free and paid for content is covered in this video.

3DS DLC list is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XEDYGOzT1ZPQQ60NCaCaPkqV5QQwULGy/view

The Final Countdown - Europe: https://youtu.be/NNiTxUEnmKI Already Gone - Eagles: https://youtu.be/vKPPmNGGKrQ

Footage from the following games is shown in this video on 3DS: Fire Emblem Fate, Fire Emblem Echoes and Chicken Wiggle.

On Wii U: Affordable Space Adventures, Amiibo Touch & Play, Bayou Bill (NES), Biker Rider UltraDX, Buddy & Me: Dream Edition, Chasing Aurora, Dr. Luigi, Duck Hunt (NES), Earthbound Beginnings (NES), Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon (DS), Harvest Moon 64 (N64), Harvest Moon (SNES), Hogan's Alley (NES), Klonoa Empire of Dreams (GBA), Lords of Thunder (PCE), Mario vs Donkey Kong Tipping Stars, Metroid Prime Hunters (DS), Mini Mario & Friend, NES Remix, Pokemon Rumble U, Pullblox World, Sin and Pinishment (N64), Sonic Lost World, Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (SNES), Super Mario 64 DS (DS) Super Mario Advance 4 (GBA) Ufouria The Saga (NES) Wild Gunman (NES)

Earthworm Jim HD footage is from the Xbox 360 version to show the fact it was on the DSi

Follow Randomised Gaming on Tumblr, for video game, art, reviews, features, videos and more. You can also find us on YouTube, Twitch & Twitter for even more gaming & video content! Buy us a tea on Ko-fi

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on the recent Nintendo Direct?

Things that jumped out at me:

Splatoon 3 Side Order really feels like, to me, somebody at Nintendo really likes NieR. Keep in mind, I have never played a NieR; I've only seen someone play the Xbox 360 version of the first one. But I definitely have that vibe.

A lot of Nintendo's porting/remaking efforts are starting to feel very strange to me:

Luigi's Mansion 2 on Switch, but not 1. Technically they "just" released Luigi's Mansion 1 on 3DS in 2018, but not only was that five years ago, it was on the jaggedy low-resolution 3DS. If they think LM2 deserves to be seen in HD on a TV, why not LM1? "Starting" at 2 like this is weird.

Similarly, it's weird they're doing Mario vs. DK and not starting with DK94. Both are great games, but again, they're kind of starting with the sequel.

Doing both Thousand Year Door and Super Mario RPG at the same time is also weird, especially given they're skipping the original Paper Mario. I guess that game is available through the NSO app, but it's kind of a jumble they'd remake an SNES game, skip the N64 game, and then remake a Gamecube game. They could have also put Super Mario RPG on the NSO SNES app, too. Again: Weird.

Another Code never entered my orbit in any way shape or form, so I feel nothing about that remake.

Princess Peach Showtime looks sort of interesting but somebody said "it looks like Wario: Master of Disguise but for Peach" and that thought alone left such a bad taste in my mouth I am keeping my distance from it for now.

Have no connection to SaGa or Detective Pikachu, so those do nothing for me. Actually, I think I played the Detective Pikachu demo on 3DS and that was in one ear and out the other for me.

The Tomb Raider remasters look bad. I've been curious about those games for some time now, because I think I understand more of what they want out of me mechanically now, but those look like $10 Xbox Live Arcade remasters and I bet the trilogy will sell for $40-$50.

Can't decide if Wayforward's Contra remake looks terrible or passable. It looks early as heck, so maybe it'll get more polish, but Wayforward's output can have some pretty wild swings in quality, so that's a hard "wait and see" at best. At least it looks better than Rogue Corps.

People were going wild for Vanillaware's new game (Unicorn Overlord) but I am not a strategy game person and I have no experience with Vanillaware games in any capacity.

It's weird for an American Nintendo Direct to talk about a small museum opening in Tokyo. I've never flown anywhere before, but a quick glance puts a plane ticket to Tokyo at nearly $2000. It's nice they brought it up, I guess, but the amount of Americans who saw that Direct and will actually be there during the time the Museum is open will probably be very, very small.

Good to see they're still making Amiibo, though they definitely aren't celebrating them like they used to. There's a weird part of me that wants to get Sora. I probably won't.

I have played F-Zero 99 now and it's kind of crazy how polished and nice it feels. A lot of these previous 99 games have felt expectedly low budget, but F-Zero 99 has a multi-phase tutorial and vehicle customization and a map voting system. It looks and feels really, really nice. I'm impressed.

It's funny how quickly they threw 1-2 Everybody Switch under the bus and are now talking up the WarioWare remaster that is a lot of very similar concepts.

Everyone I've seen talk about Dave the Diver seems to refuse to say why it's so cool, "it just is" and they never say anything else about it. The Direct here was the most I've seen of it in motion beyond just the first few basic dives and it actually does look pretty neat.

[link-is-a-dork]

[jakethesequel]

I love emulators very cool. I love FPGA/hardware emulators too very cooler. However my favorite thing is when some enterprising little bastards decide to re-create a whole console physically. That's badass. That's peak emulation to me right there. It can take original cartridges and disks? Mwah! It uses the original controllers? Hell yes! It interfaces with obscure original console accessories? Now you're just showing off! That's the dream, anyway.

Don't get me wrong PC emulation is great and I love you but even as a kid there were still games and consoles (mostly Nintendo tbh) that I knew I could emulate but still wanted to buy a real copy. The physical copies provided a felt, tactile difference in the play experience. Real buttons on a GBA vs a phone, the DS's screens and stylus, the 3DS's 3D; plus all of them had local multiplayer stuff that was hard to emulate. The Wii and Wii U had unique designs that are still hard to emulate properly, although we're much closer now; even the N64 isn't the same without its freakish Zaphod Beeblebrox controller, and Smash nerds are married to the Gamecube controller. Even MGS3 on the PS2 has some controls that rely on pressure-sensitive buttons (this is because Kojima is a genius). Of course some of that was just me having a collector's spirit and wanting to own physical copies, but I think there's definitely something to it that makes emulating the physical aspect of games just as worthwhile as the software.

The physicality and tactile design of games is underrated when it comes to talking about game design in general. Everyone will complain if a controller is uncomfortable or breaks down, but the solutions are treated as obvious and expected, when I doubt most people could actually tell you what design a controller needs to last hundreds on hundreds of game-hours without degradation to itself or its players' variably-sized hands. Add on "while equally supporting suitable control schemes for developers of wildly different game genres but without straying too far from the gamers' expectations" and "that can be mass-produced at a reasonable enough price to include a couple with the console and not bankrupt your customers if they need another." I think that's part of why I've always been primarily a PC-and-Nintendo gamer (besides my old PS2). Nintendo was always adding hard-to-emulate tactile differences to their consoles, while Sony and Xbox (despite having better generic controller designs) rarely ever made me think "this PS/XB game would be better enjoyed on the original console rather than the PC port/emulation." From early on they had Gunpei Yokoi replacing the joystick with the D-pad & buttons (becoming the default layout for future controllers, especially after the SNES upgrade) and sucessfully introducing portable consoles with the Game Boy; later the N64 introduced 3d gameplay and tried to handle that with its triclops controller, the DS and Wii both had unique designs that distinguished from the competition, the 3DS and Wii U added even more distinctive features on top of the DS/Wii framework, and the Switch broke free of the trap of consoles competing with PC through being the first real home/portable hybrid console. There were a lot of reasons to say "this GBA/DS/3DS/Wii/WiiU/Switch game would be better on the original console rather than PC."

By now though, people are catching up! Software emulation is getting better at managing the unique designs of consoles like the DS and Wii families, and 3rd-party physical peripherals are filling in the tactile elements. I hope to see that trend continue, especially as the originals -- like the DS and Wii families -- are breaking down over time. I did worry that the physical elements of those games could have gotten lost to time! It's great to see! I wish the software+hardware emulator devs and designers the best of luck; and I wish all Nintendo's C&Ds against them explode, setting the Nintendo legal department on fire. Fuck off, these games are a decade old and you don't even sell physical modern-console ports of them. Let the fans preserve, they do it better!

[strawberrycircuits]

11 for uhhhh . i dont play the zelda games . link in majoras mask

i technically answered it here, but ill answer it in relation to mm specifically bc i will Never shut up about link ocarina </3

character ask game!

11.) What’s the first thing you think about when thinking about the character?

honestly? the difference in how young link is portrayed in oot's promo art vs. mm's promo art. oots art feels like "this is what the main character looks like before the game starts" versus "this is the main character." it also very much feels like you can feel the change in their character following the events of ocarina of time just w how shes drawn ,,,,, idk how else to explain it !!! they portray her differently but they dont. but they do. but also they dont but like yeah they do

also unrelated but oots promo art style is so. ? .its very interesting in that its, like, detailed but not. like they were trying to flesh out the n64 graphics while still keeping in mind that the game had, yk. n64 graphics. as opposed to the mm promo image which was made for the 3d remake. its neat, in a way!!

[xolta]

part 4

Xolta's Big old recommended games list Part 4 Gen 5

Gameboy Color: Bomberman Max (bomberman/adventure) Bomberman Quest(action advenutre) Dragon Quest Monsters 2(monster rasining rpg) Pokemon Gold and sliver(monster rasining rpg) Game & Watch Gallery 2&3(mixed bag) Konami GB Collection Vol. 1-4(mixed bag) Pocket Bomberman(Adventure/bomberman) Pokémon Pinball(pinball) Shantae (metroidvania) Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (platfromer) Wario land 2&3(Greedy bastard em up) X-Treme Sports (anime sports) X-Men: Mutant Academy(jank ass fighting game)

N64: Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 (Tps) Banjo-Kazooie (3d platformer) Banjo-Tooie(3d platformer) BattleTanx 1&2(tank combat) Blast Corps (blow shit em up) Bomberman 64 (bomberman) Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!(bomberman) Buck Bumble(shooter) Mario kart 64(kart racing) Chameleon Twist 1&2(platformer) Conker's Bad Fur Day (platformer) Custom Robo1&2(tiny mecha fighting) Diddy Kong Racing (kart racer) Mario 64(3d platformer) Resident evil 2(Miracle port/ survival horror) Extreme-G 1&2(SUPER FAST RACING F zero X(SUPER FAST RACING) mystical ninja starring goemon(adventure) Hybrid Heaven (action rpg/wacky) Mace the Dark age(fighting) Killer Instinct Gold (fighting) Kirby 64(platformer) Mario party 1-3(party/ firend ship destoryer) Mischief Makers (raceing) Super Smash bros(platfrom fighter) Paper mario(rpg) Turok 1&2(fps/bullshit in latter levls) doom 64(fps) Starcarft 64(rts) pilot wings 64(flight sim)

Sega Saturn: Astal (platformer) Burning Rangers( tps) Castlevania Symphony of the night(metroidvania) Daytona USA: Circuit Edition(raceing)

3D0: Super Street Fighter II Turbo (fighting)

Neo Geo Pocket/color: Bust A Move! Pocket (puzzle) Gals Fighters(fighting) King of Fighters R-2 (fighting) Metal Slug: 1st Mission&2 mission(run and gun) Sonic the Hedgehog: Pocket Adventure (platforming/pits every were) SNK VS. CAPCOM: CARD FIGHTERS' CLASH(tgc)

Playsation 1: Air Combat 1&2(air combat) Ape Escape (platformer) Croc(platformer/werid controls) BattleTanx: Global Assault (tank combat) Bomberman Party Edition (bomber man) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (metroidvania) Castlevania Chronicles (platformer) Crash Bandicoot 1-3(platformer) Crash Team Racing (kart racer) Dino Crisis (survival horror) Doom(fps) Final Fantasy VII(jrpg) Final Fantasy Tactics (Srpg) Future Cop L.A.P.D. (Tps) Ghost in the Shell (action/jank) Rapid Reload (run and gun) Heart of Darkness (platformer) Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (fighting) Klonoa: Door to Phantomile(platformer) Lomax(platformer) LUNAR: The Silver Star Story Complete (rpg/bad transaltion) Marvel vs. Capcom (fighting) MediEvil 1&2(plafromer) Mega Man Legends (action adventure) Mega Man X3-5(Platformer) Metal Slug X(run and gun) Mortal Kombat Trilogy (fighting) Oddworld 1&2(platformer) Parappa the Rapper (rhythm) Point Blank (light gun) Quake II(fps) Resident Evil 1-3(surivival horror) Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman (character action) Silent Bomber(BOMBS!) Spider-Man (action) Spyro 1-3(platformer) Time Crisis(light gun) Twisted Metal 1&2( combat racing) Vigilante 8 1-2(combat racing) Wipeout (future racing)

Jaguar: Alien vs Peradtor(fps)

Vitural boy: Wario land(greed/play with 3d moded out)

[cc-plays-mario]

Mario Game list

I'm playing my way through all the Mario games I can get my hands on. As there are so many, I'm not listing party and sport games as I'm not interested in playing them. Games that cross multiple consoles will only be listed once. If it's green I've completed it. List under the cut

Switch

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (2017)

Super Mario Odyssey (2017)

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (2018)

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (2019)

Yoshi's Crafted World (2019)

Luigi's Mansion 3 (2019)

Paper Mario: The Origami King (2020) - 100%

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (2021)

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (2022)

Super Mario Bros. Wonder(2023)

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (2024)

Princess Peach: Showtime! (2024)

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (2024)

Wii/Wii U (I'm waiting for the online emulator)

Super Mario 3D World (2013)

Dr. Luigi (2013)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (2015)

Yoshi's Woolly World (2015)

Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016)

Super Paper Mario (2007)

Super Mario Galaxy (2007)

Dr. Mario Online Rx (2008)

Mario Kart Wii (2008)

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009)

New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009)

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)

3DS, DSI, DS

Super Mario 3D Land (2011)

Mario Kart 7 (2011)

New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2012)

Paper Mario: Sticker Star (2012)

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (2013)

Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (2013)

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013)

Yoshi's New Island (2014)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (2015)

Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure (2015)

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015)

Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World (2017)

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (2017)

Luigi's Mansion (2018)

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (2019)

Super Mario 64 DS (2004)

Yoshi Touch & Go (2005)

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005)

Mario Kart DS (2005)

Super Princess Peach (2005)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (2006)

New Super Mario Bros. (2006)

Yoshi's Island DS (2006)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem (2010)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (2009)

Dr. Mario Express (2009)

Wario: Master of Disguise

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

GameCube

Super Mario Sunshine (2002)

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003)

Wario World

Game Boy Advance

Super Mario Advance (2001)

Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)

Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World (2001)

Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (2002)

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (2003)

Dr. Mario & Puzzle League (2005)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2004)

Mario Pinball Land (2004)

Yoshi Topsy-Turvy (2004)

Yoshi's Universal Gravitation (2004)

Wario Land 4

N64

Super Mario 64 (1996)

Mario Kart 64 (1996)

Yoshi's Story (1997)

Paper Mario (2000)

Dr. Mario 64 (2001)

SNES

Super Mario World (1990, SFC; 1991, SNES)

Super Mario Kart (1992, SNES)

Mario Paint (1992, SNES)

Mario & Wario (1993, SNES)

Mario is Missing! (1993, SNES)

Mario's Time Machine (1993, SNES)

Super Mario All-Stars (1993, SNES)

Yoshi's Cookie (1993, SNES)

Yoshi's Safari (1993, SNES)

Tetris & Dr. Mario (1994, SNES)

Wario's Woods (1994, SNES)

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995, SNES)

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996, SNES)

Game Boy

Wario Land II

Wario Land 3

Wario Land 4

Super Mario Land (1989, GB)

Dr. Mario (1990, GB)

Yoshi (1991, GB)

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992, GB)

Donkey Kong (1994, GB)

Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (1999, GBC)