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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 26, 2020 16:26:10 GMT -5
It's been reported that former NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter accident, along with his 13 year old daughter and seven other passengers. In regards to Nintendo, Bryant was the featured cover athlete of the NBA Courtside series, which consisted of two games on the Nintendo 64, one on the Game Boy Color, and one on the GameCube. The games were developed by former Nintendo subsidiary Left Field Productions (who also made Excitebike 64), and came fairly early in Bryant's career. I'm not big into sports, but I'm definitely familiar with Kobe Bryant. He was one of those sports figures that I would somtimes joke about being a Nintendo character, along with Mike Tyson and Ken Griffey, Jr. Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016 after 20 years. He was only 41 at the time of his passing. EDIT: Corrected to say that there were seven other passengers, not three, based on more recent reports. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 25, 2020 11:44:23 GMT -5
Or Mai is too sexual for Smash because her clothes are too revealing, while Bayonetta, who a) is canonically wearing nothing but guns, glasses, and Godiva hair and b) in Smash Bros. taunts by dancing around like a horny stripper and making vaguely erotic comments, is somehow not? In this particular instance, it's worth noting that Mai was left out specifically to prevent raising the game's CERO rating. Sakurai actually explained this in the Japanese Direct, but NoA's localization team, instead, replaced it with the infamous "Smash is for good boys and girls" quote. (It's explained in this video.) So any inconsistencies with why Bayonetta (who actually is toned down a little for Smash) is included, and Mai isn't, is more of an issue with the CERO. Also, I thought that Nintendo, not Sakurai, was responsible for the DLC character selection. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 25, 2020 11:00:02 GMT -5
Here's a trailer for the second season of DLC for SamSho from EVO Japan.
Mina we already knew about. Sogetsu was accidentally leaked by SNK, themselves, a while back. Iroha has been one of the most requested characters (for obvious reasons), so her inclusion is not surprising. (This does mark her first "canon" appearance in the series, since her only previous appearance, SamSho VI, is simply a non-canon "dream match" game.) That leaves only one mystery fighter.
Personally, I'm not interested in any of the second season DLC characters so far.
In other EVO Japan news, here's the first gameplay of Haohmaru in Soul Calibur VI.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 23, 2020 12:55:19 GMT -5
Finally, Rune Factory 4 Special is announced for release in North America on February 25, and in Europe on February 28. I was starting to think Rune Factory 5 would be out in Japan before we got RF4S in the West.
Unfortunately, Samurai Shodown on Switch is due out at the same time, so I'll probably hold off on this for a while, anyway.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 22, 2020 12:35:31 GMT -5
Whoooo does an owl choose as his favorite Pokemon? Rowlett, of course! ( Source)
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 22, 2020 11:24:39 GMT -5
I wasn't going to say anything, but remember that at one time, NinDB did have a dedicated third-party feature.  |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 21, 2020 21:15:54 GMT -5
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 21, 2020 19:16:28 GMT -5
Psst. It's a secret to everybody, but I heard that if you like Nintendo music... ...you should check out the NinDB forum news feed every few days. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 16, 2020 14:25:41 GMT -5
I understand it was probably a reaction to the previous characters being leaked, but Sakurai's big buildup about how this was a super secret character that even most Nintendo staff didn't know about probably didn't do the reveal any favors. Even if I owned Smash Ultimate, I wouldn't have strong feelings about it. I think most people are excited for Byleth, especially Fire Emblem fans, but yeah, there's also that toxic, vocal segment, too. Also, there's that gif, now, of Sakurai giving the middle finger from when he was using his fingers to count in binary. I have to admit, even as I was watching it, it seemed so non sequitur that I was wondering if it was just his subtle way of flipping people off. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 16, 2020 11:17:14 GMT -5
Looks cool, but I still don't think I'll be getting it.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 16, 2020 11:15:45 GMT -5
I lol'd.
Wow, there's a lot of dislikes on that YouTube video.
Sakurai: "We couldn't add a Xenoblade Chronicles 2 character because the game was too recent."
Also Sakurai: "Never too early for another Fire Emblem character!"
XD
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 15, 2020 22:25:21 GMT -5
So, I wanted to talk about the original Mario Bros arcade game, because it's kind of the awkward middle child between Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. Being neither as ground breaking nor as influential as either of those games, it tends to get a little overshadowed. However, I've always had a soft spot for it for some reason.
Not that I ever played it a lot in the arcade, but I did pop in a quarter here and there. It has that "simple, yet addictive" nature that so many great arcade games have. It's kind of like a platforming version of Joust, which I was also a fan of. (And I think I may have heard that Miyamoto said Joust was one of the inspirations for it, but don't quote me on that.)
I also find its two-step method of defeating enemies interesting (first bopping them from underneath to flip them over, then kicking them away). It seems just a bit more complicated than what a lot of arcade games presented at the time, but somehow, it gets away with it. (Maybe because of the short tutorials it stuck in between levels.) Or maybe it's interestig because of it, making the game feel more strategic.
Of course, it was also the main introduction of Luigi. Yes, the Game & Watch version came out a few months earlier, but there's a reason that bit of trivia is not well known. This is the game that really gave Luigi his big break.
I eventually bought a used copy of the NES version sometime in the late '90s. As most NES conversions of Nintendo's arcade games, it never gets as difficult or chaotic. At one point, I got good enough at it where I could essentially play it indefinitely because I memorized the most difficult pattern in the game.
Also, the most popular course I made in the original Super Mario Maker was based on Mario Bros.
And despite not quite having the same status as either Donkey Kong or Super Mario Bros, Nintendo has never forgotten it. It popped up as a two-player minigame in Super Mario Bros 3, which even got its own upgraded mode in the All-Stars version. It had basically a proper sequel in the form of Mario Clash on Virtual Boy. A version of it was included in evey Super Mario Advance title on GBA. And of course, there's a Smash Bros stage based on it. Not to mention, it was the first Nintendo arcade game in the Arcade Archives series. (And quite frankly, the original arcade version is still the best.)
Here is Jeremy Parish's retrospective of the NES version from his Video Works series.
And here's the commercial for the Atari version, just because it has such a catchy jingle (plus, what I assume is the first live-action depiction of Luigi).
So, I'm curious, what are you guys' thoughts and feelings about the original Mario Bros?
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 14, 2020 14:56:59 GMT -5
It makes me wonder, are you good at action games in general? The only things I did in Star Fox Zero was clear the main route and see the ending, and opening up the route to Fortuna (but not defeat Monarch Dodora). The control alone wouldn't be a huge obstacle, but the game itself still felt too hard for me, and since I have to restart the whole area after getting a game over and I start at about 5 lives, it wasn't long before I gave up on the game entirely. I don't know if I want to judge my own action game skills, but I'll say I'm decent. I can do well enough, but I'm far from pulling in the most impressive scores. I would say, though, that Zero is probably the most challenging Star Fox game, at least compared to default difficulty of previous games. Controls aside, enemies are constantly coming at you from all directions, they have really good aim, and some of them, particularly members of Star Wolf, are quite smart when it comes to deflecting your shots and getting on your tail. It's hard enough to deal with all that while also trying to line up your own shots, but that's the kind of skill that builds up over time. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 14, 2020 10:45:34 GMT -5
Here's a (rather uninformative) promo video for Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jan 14, 2020 10:31:02 GMT -5
Here's another not-quite Nintendo Direct.
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