Glen-i

Vague memories. Some crummy PlayStation game that reviewed poorly because it was 2D, ewwwww!

Finally, a top-tier Pokémon soundtrack! Honestly, I think only Black/White clears it as far as the mainline series goes.

You don't need to tell me. It looks amazing! More RPG's should take inspiration from Mario & Luigi's combat system. It's joined Baldur's Gate 3 on my "Games I really hope comes to Switch 2" list.

Retail presence. That's about it.

I always forget this, it's so weird for a Smash Bros character. Kinda like trying to learn that Bayonetta's best way of recovery is to do Up Special first, then double jump, and Up Special again, followed by a Side Special.

I don't think this aspect is that big a deal. These games only use the second screen as a map or stat screen. So nothing is lost by displaying them all on one screen. The three screen option is far better! The only criticism I have is that it would be nice if there was a TATE option to have the vertical layout while not wasting loads of real estate. I do agree with the resistive stylus stuff though. A pity, seeing as two of the bonus character modes utilises the Touch Screen.

Those collections are handled by M2, so you know the emulation is excellent. They let you choose which region to use. (EU, American, or Japanese for both, with Korean for the DS ones) Save states, rewinds, the ability to save replays, button remapping, standard stuff. Each game also has an "encyclopedia" with enemy stats, item lists, and more specific information about whatever "Gimmick" that game has. Music players, and various artwork, including the original instruction booklets. The Advance Collection has these "Gadgets" that add extra HUD elements to the border that differ depending on the game you're playing. For example, in the Harmony of Dissonance screenshots, you can see those squares on the side which show what items and furniture are in the area. The Dominus Collection goes further. It takes a note from how the WiiU did DS screens and gives various layouts, but it also has a very neat option that displays three screens. The DS games originally had an option for displaying either a map or stats on the second screen, but this three screen option displays all of them! It's very cool. Dawn of Sorrow is also notable in that the mandatory touch screen segments have been tweaked so that you can do them with a button sequence instead. As well as that, each collection also has a "Classicvania" game included. Dracula X on the Advance Collection, and Haunted Castle on the Dominus one. Haunted Castle is terrible, though, so M2 also did a full-on remake of that game, and it's pretty damn good, apparently. Those aren't my bag, though, so I didn't play them.

Stamina format tonight. Custom stages from 7:30pm.

So yeah, 10pm rolled around when we finished our 20 turn "Save and quit once Sam joins for Perfect Dark" game, where @BowserBasher got totally robbed by CPU DK being an unexpected massive jerk. (I've never seen a CPU player gun for a person who wasn't in 1st place like that before!) Cue me saying, "Wow, Sam never showed up", only for Simon to say "Hang on, he's in the chat!" We tried to ask you why you never said anything, but silence. My theory was that you butt-dialled us.

Looking back, starting with Circle of the Moon with my first attempt in trying this series was a big mistake. That is not a good starting point, and it wasn't until the Dominus Collection got released until I gave it another shot with Aria of Sorrow, which @Dcubed claimed was much better. He was right, so going with first one that released may not be the best option.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is yet another bloody Metroidvania-style game in the Castlevania series. It originally came out for the GBA in 2002, but I played the version that's part of the Advance Collection that released on more modern consoles in 2021. By the way, this is officially the last game of this style left on my list of these kinds of Castlevania games! Apparently, there's some weird one called "Empathy of the Light", or something, but it can't be very good because it's in neither of these collections. Juste Belmont is the grandson of Simon Belmont. His childhood friend, Maxim Kischine, suddenly comes back from a journey, exclaims that he has lost his memory of recent events, and Lydie Erlanger, another childhood friend, has been kidnapped. Conveniently enough, a mysterious castle has suddenly appeared out of nowhere. That's suspicious, but more importantly... For Christ's sake, Dracula! Why is your castle so blasé? Shell out for some blooming tables once in a while! Don't ask why, but in this game, you can collect furniture and use it decorate this room. Juste's priorities are... odd. Yeah, let's go with odd. Apart from interior design, this game plays very simlarly to all the other Castlevanias I've played. It's a winning formula. Thankfully, the movement is a lot more fluid then Circle of the Moon, but it still uses the subweapon method of old school Castlevania games. That said, the Bible is so insanely good, it didn't matter too much. The defining gimmick (Apart from "Belmont Eye for the Vampire Guy") are the spellbooks. There are a handful of them throughout the castle, and you can combine them with the previously mentioned sub-weapons to provide different combos. Some of these are really effective, which makes this the easiest Castlevania game that I've played, Bolt Book + Bible is wayyyyy too good, and fun! I mean, yeah, I'm a fan of Bravely Default, I kinda like it when experimentation snaps the difficulty curve like a twig. It's satisfying. Guess Juste has played a Castlevania game before I know the plot is not a humongous thing in this series, but the English localisation is very weird compared to other Castlevania games. It doesn't really fit the Castlevania vibes, so it becomes unintentionally comedic. Anyway, I had a lot of fun, it's not the best GBA Castlevania, but it's a lot better then Circle of the Moon. Anyway, seeing as I've played all the Metroidvanias available on Switch now, here's how I rank them. Dawn of Sorrow Order of Ecclesia Aria of Sorrow Portrait of Ruin Harmony of Dissonance Circle of the Moon

Kinda new to this, so I'm guessing I can roll up with the file on my phone, and that would be enough?

That's not a bad idea, how would I go about doing that?

Quote from a developer at Limited Run Games. OK, that's quite impressive. Because I definitely remember the one I played feeling incredibly imprecise coming from Mario 64. Kid me couldn't figure out why, but that was probably it. EDIT: I just found out the poster of the Amano artwork above is available to purchase separately from the actual game. That's really tempting! DOUBLE EDIT: 50 DOLLARS!? FOR A POSTER!? OK, that's that problem solved.

I mean, with the whole jumping into TV's thing most of the games are built on, why couldn't he jump into an outdated (According to Square, anyway) turn-based RPG? Crap, I really want this to be a thing now...

Who'd thunk one Red Shell could make such a difference? Anyway, now that we're less then a month away from Mario Kart World, I've got a secret to confess. I've been quietly blocking some red shells without any items for months now. It's not always possible, and I think you can only do this with an inward drifting bike, but the hitbox of a shell is wider then the bike I use, so much so that if I get close enough to a corner without bumping the wall, the red shell will hit the wall before reaching me. Just in time for it to not possibly work in World! Yaaaaayyyyyy!

Fixed that for you. Koraidon is the kind of thing 6 year old me would dream up as the "coolest thing ever" without realising it looks utterly absurd. So naturally, I love it, because I've never grown out of that phase.

It comes out June 16th. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here because they comissioned art from Yoshitaka Amano. Yes, the Final Fantasy guy. I've played the games, they're nothing like this. Be pretty rad if they were, though. I'd play a Gex RPG.

One of the absolute biggest glow-ups Mega Evolution gave a Pokémon was one that elevated it from the absolute lowest tier on Smogon, to a monstrosity that had to be banned to Ubers. If you ask me, I think all those other Pokémon are mad that they suck so much, a toddler could beat them. Mega Kangaskhan is another one of those Mega Evolutions that I think has a really clever design. The Kangaskhan itself doesn't Mega Evolve, but the child in it's pouch does. It still gives the Kangaskhan a stat boost though, somehow... The stats would be good for a normal Pokémon, but they're kind of underwhelming for a Mega. Which, if you've been paying attention, means you can guess what it is that made this Pokémon so OP. Parental Bond: Every move used by the Pokémon will hit twice. The damage inflicted by the second hit is reduced by 50%. If the move used is a damaging move, each hit is capable of afflicting Secondary Effects and Critical Hits. The effective 50% damage boost is nice, but it's that last part that you should pay attention to. Take the move Body Slam, for example. It's an attacking move that has a 30% chance to paralyse the Pokémon it hits. But because Parental Bond makes the move hit twice, that means it checks for this paralysis chance twice. (I think that makes it effectively a 51% chance of paralysis with each use) But it goes further then that, do some research into what moves Kangaskhan can learn, and you can come up with some absolutely killer synergies! Seismic Toss is a move that does fixed damage based on Kangaskhan's level. That fixed damage isn't reduced on the second hit, so in a Level 50 fight, that's a guaranteed 100 HP worth of damage. There aren't many Pokémon that have 201 HP or more. Rock Tomb and Bulldoze both also reduce the target's speed when it hits. Pokémon that rely on speed are pretty much crippled with that. Power-Up Punch, much like the name implies, attacks while also boosting Kangaskhan's Attack stat by one stage. Being able to do this twice means that you effectively attack while also getting the same attack boost as Swords Dance. A lot of Pokémon in the OU tier can't deal with the constant secondary effects Kangaskhan rains down. Not to mention, the sheer power of 125 base Attack multiplied by 2 after one Power-Up Punch (Because it's an attacking move, you can't block it with Taunt), followed by another attack at half that power. That second hit also means that you can't use Substitute or Focus Sash to block it. And don't think you can use a revenge killer, because Kangaskhan can also learn Sucker Punch (70 power Physical Dark Move that always goes first, but fails if the target is not using an attacking move). Fast Fighting Pokémon are your only answer, which severely limits options, and is why Mega Kangaskhan got banned only 2 months after Gen 6 (X/Y) started. Unfortunately, Ubers is not kind to it, it doesn't do well there where 100 in a base stat isn't impressive, and it's attacking options are relatively weak. It's also easily countered by other Uber Megas like Gengar and Sableye. By the way, this is another Pokémon where Game Freak nerfed the ability in the next generation (Sun/Moon). Parental Bond's second hit only does 25% of the damage there. It's still OP, even if more reliant on Seismic Toss. Does that mean it's good in casual play? Hell yeah! It's one of the best Megas to use in X and Y! But that's pretty much the only game where Kangaskhan is any good in a playthrough... Mega Stones don't show up in Sun/Moon until the post game, and it's not much good in Let's Go as well, because abilities in that game don't exist, and Kangaskhan desperately needs that ability to be any good. It'll be interesting to see if Legends: Z-A will let Mega Kangaskhan do what it's meant to do.

What, you don't like Dragon Motorcycles? Where's your sense of childishness? OK, Miraidon kinda sucks. Personally, I'd prefer it if they took more notes from the spin-offs. There are some exceptional box arts there. At least Legends: Arceus went that way, but I guess it's harder to do when you have to make two different versions clear that they are two different versions. And starters brings along the problem of one of those starters being left out. There's a reason Venusaur isn't as popular as the other two. (Shut up, I know about the Japanese versions)

Right, we're on to the Booster Course Pass now, which means one more month until Mario Kart World is out! See you at 8pm.

Yes. But I doubt they'll (Nintendo) do anything with it to the majority of Pokémon-likes out there. It was likely determined that going after gameplay mechanics was more of a winnable case then the much more difficult one of proving their designs were nicked. Because unfortunately, no matter how blatant it is, you can't just say "Look at them, for Christ's sake!" and expect that to hold up by itself. My guess is that they went this route because they wanted to hit Pocket Pair without the risk of losing a copyright infringement case, and opening the floodgates for everyone creating games with their own "Totally-not-Lucario, wink". I wish they were more brave about it, instead of going this crummy roundabout way, but eh, it's Pocket Pair, don't feel any sympathy for them. Anyway, like I said, won't matter to all the actual effort-laden Poké-clones out there. I doubt Nintendo would've put Cassette Beasts on that NSO free trial thingie at around the same time as this lawsuit if they were that concerned over mechanics.

Bleh... Easily the worst generation, despite having the best box legendary. No doubt will continue with that trajectory for Gen 10. Oh well, saves me 70 quid at least.

I only buy a game full price if I know I want to play as soon as I buy it. So, mostly Nintendo stuff really. And only select series these days. Silver lining of everything there going open world is that it's a lot less tempting if I can tell it's gonna be crap. Everything else goes on the wishlist until a sale rolls around. Hell, with Virtual Game Cards, I can just borrow digital games off of DCubed. He's got so many Switch 1 games to play, he probably won't even notice I've nicked something until I'm long done with it! Ironically, it might end up being a cheaper generation for me...

I'm excited! Hooray! The only thing dampening my excitement is that I can't afford the damn thing! But that's fine. I can use other people's Switch 2's to play Mario Kart and GameCube online, and it's not like I've got nothing to play on the Switch 1. That will tide me over until Hyrule Warriors or Metroid Prime, whatever comes first. Bring it on!