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Finished MediEvil last night. It's ridiculous that this was added to the service when both the PS4 and PSP remakes are already part of it. There are countless other games that could have been added first. I can see why the game got a remake. Playing this version was a pretty rough experience. The controls aren't that great for a platform game and the camera was very ropey, with what little control you do have over it not being much help. Having now played all 3 versions of the game, this is easily the worst. I suppose it makes sense given that it was an early PS1 game and the other two versions were able to build upon what came before them. I'll probably go for the double plat and play through it again over the weekend. It's short enough to knock out in between playing something else.

Looks fun.

It's the first, absolutely one of my favourites I watch it every year or so and it never fails to blow me away. The story and characters and world are great, but that music? It's my favourite Ghibli and favourite animated film (sorry, Prince of Egypt), and is in the eternal showdown up against a couple of others for the position of my favourite film of all-time. One of the greats

The fact that they highlight 100+ playable characters certainly makes me think it'll be the case they're all useable, but honestly I've kept the Kickstarter campaign at arm's length to avoid being spoiled, so I'm not sure if that's going to be a weird wording thing when all is done and dusted. But the way they word it certainly makes it sound like yes, there will be 100+ characters capable of joining your party (though not all at once, because I guess that'd be more of a rave) Begin corrections music pleaseeeeee The Suikoden series did not, in fact, gives you access to 108 "playable" characters to collect and battle with – while those games task you with assembling the 108 Stars of Destiny, not all of these Stars were playable (i.e. able to join your party and go out into the field): some would stay back at your base/castle to serve a purpose as an NPC, whether it be small talk, or as a shop or mini-game facilitator; others would only join the party temporarily; and some were entirely optional recruits that while technically Stars of Destiny, wouldn't be required recruits to meet the quota of 108 Stars for the game's true ending. There are also one or two branching recruits from what I remember meaning choosing to recruit one Star might mean not getting another, and so on. Looking it up, both Suikoden and Suikoden II have ~80 playable characters, and this number tailed off in later games as the series went on. If I'm remembering right there were technically over 120 potentially recruitable Stars in Suikoden II. Alright you can stop the corrections music if it's still playing now Hopefully you and others here leap at the chance to play the first two when that remastered collection releases though their silence on the re-release is a bit deafening OR FACE THE WRATH OF BEING ADDED TO MY IGNORE LIST (I'm kidding) (maybe) Murayama never would've done it because of his good relations with Konami after leaving, but the thought of it saying "108+" instead of just "100+" gives me a good chuckle

Should I take this as "Better than anything else", or "Nothing is worse than this"? I hope it's the first one, because I really like this film (rewatched it not too long ago, too).

Demo impressions: still rough around the edges. It feels good to play, and it mostly hits that fast-paced cartoony feel it's aiming for. But I see three issues already. Levels are way too big. Each level in the demo is roughly twice as long as your average Wario Land 4 level. One of the escape sequences is 5 literal minutes long, and if you die during it, you get sent back to the moment you turned the switch. It really highlights just how long these can get. There are secrets and collectibles scattered throughout the level that you have only one chance to try and get (sometimes it's because they're dependant on breakable, non-respawning blocks, but mostly it's because the levels are filled with points of no return): if you fail to get them for whatever reason, you need to open the menu and select "Restart from Checkpoint". And you better hope that checkpoint wasn't too long ago. The "springy ground-pound" and the "shoulder bash-run" are two distinct moves assigned to the same button. Might seem fine at first, but it becomes obnoxious for many a platform section. The first two seem tied to the game's design philosophy, but the third point can still be fixed before the full release. Overall, this feels like a game that was made for hardcore Wario Land 4 fans, specifically the ones that like to speedrun through levels. Hopefully the final game won't alienate the more casual folk. Demo impressions: This game looks and plays lovely, but I got some major ABZU vibes from it. Seems that the gameplay loop is just exploration, jumping and gliding. I do hope the final game has some puzzles to solve or something, because "exploration-only" gets old somewhat fast for me.

That's the unique selling point of the series, a ridonkulous amount of playable characters. And seeing as this is a spiritual sequel... Actually, the box says "100+", so it may not be a downgrade... I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being 108. Anyway, had a quick peek at that box art, and noticed Hogan was there at the top left. He shows up in Rising, and I'm glad he's playable here. Mainly because he looks like he stepped out of Dillon's Rolling Western! Must be Gallo's long lost cousin, or something...

Here's another genuine arcade port, a rarity for the console. TBH though, this is a port that probably could've been better because it seems to have been ported from the PS1 port of the arcade PCB; and looks/runs more or less identically to the PS1 version. It also runs at a rock solid 60FPS, just like the PS1 version, another rarity for the N64. It lacks the FMV cutscenes of the PS1 version, instead sticking with the same real-time cutscenes as the arcade Zeus Board original. I've never played it myself, but it seems like a solid enough port that could've probably been better. A much more faithful and near perfect arcade conversion would later hit the Dreamcast as a launch title, under the moniker Mortal Kombat Gold.

These guys can't even get a showcase out on time. Such a mess of a company now.

Mortal Kombat 4 NA release: 23rd June 1998 PAL release: 15th September 1998 JP release: N/A Developer: Midway, Eurocom Publisher: Midway (NA), GT (PAL) N64 Magazine Score: 84% The big Mortal Kombat game for this generation of consoles, and this one brings the graphics into full 3D. After experimenting with a few styles of graphics and gameplay with their earlier N64 fighting games, Mortal Kombat 4 settles on polygon models that manage to capture the spirit of the 2D sprites pretty well. The gameplay also feels quite solid to me. It sticks to working from a 2D point of view with some slight 3D movement from dodging. One new feature is the ability to use items like rocks to throw at opponents, and each person can bring out a weapon with a special move (which the opponent can also use if dropped). There’s a few modes such as an endurance mode fighting random opponents, the standard arcade mode and some tournament options for multiplayer. The practice mode also gives you a move list, but this is only on a static screen and you can’t pin one to try. This seems like the N64’s most solid fighter so far, although it doesn’t try to do anything special either. Remake or remaster? A Mortal Kombat collection would be good. Official ways to get the game. The PC version of Mortal Kombat 4 is available on GoG.

Indie World Showcase 17/04/2024 Roundup Fully-formatted press release, and video embed.

Princess Mononoke >>>>>

The goo was just too thick and viscous to fit through the May hole... August 2nd it is.

Zone 3 done with Aria. I'M A GOD AMONGST MEN and definitely didn't need heavy glass armor to tank 2 hits during the boss fight