Glen-i

Oh, I wasn't literal with Pikachu being the only one, more of a general consensus that Pokémon names rarely match the Japanese ones. Like you said, it's for the better. That one is very amusing, it's in the same generation, did no-one think to ask if it was too similar?

You're American, right? Do you think that might be it? Different regions getting different rollouts?

Ugh, man. I am proper beefing it lately with not getting jokes.

OK, as you already know, I'm moving the next theme night forward to tonight. Secret Smash Santa No images here, as you each have personalised ones I sent to you via PM. ( @BowserBasher and @RedShell need to just choose their free spaces, then I'll send their pictures) As you probably realised, Ugh First Aid would like to join in tonight. So, as a reminder, and for the benefit of RedShell, a reminder. Because she's partially sighted, a fast paced game like Smash can be a bit hard for her to follow, so to level the playing field, I'm turning on handicaps when she joins in. Some stages with bright or fast moving backgrounds will also be removed. I'd like everyone else to set their handicap to 60%. You can do this on the character select screen. I will also set the Damage Ratio to 0.7, this way, she'll be harder to KO, but everyone else should be able to take the expected amount of punishment. Custom stages from 7:30. EDIT: Oh right, yeah, format. Format: 3 Stock, 10 Minutes FS Meter: On

Huh, that's very weird. Oh well, Scarlet/Violet has a decent soundtrack, not as amazing as Sword/Shield, but it doesn't fall into the BotW trap of going minimalist like Legends: Arceus did, at least.

Bugger! I was flip-flopping on whether you were joking. I very much flopped. As a side note, Umbreon's Japanese name is very... unfortunate. It's Bracky.

Yeah, there are some N64 games where you can get away with using a Pro Controller. Perfect Dark ain't one of them. Kinda threw you in the deep end there, thanks for taking it in stride, at least.

That's deffo been there since day 1.

OK, we're going to have to try it without DCubed, sometimes the internet connection doesn't like multiple people at once here.

We're gonna swap to the Mature app for Perect Dark

That sounds like a whistle stop tour on N64 then. Maybe going on to GBA if we have time before 10.

I would have carried on, but I have stuff to do before 8:30.

Relatively smooth there, considering I was defo making a point with my Pokémon choice. UFA got very jammy with the freezing! Cheers for the help! EDIT: Oh, err. Yeah, you can only get one per file, so you wouldn't be able to catch it anyway.

Found it!

When you're ready, (Don't forget to actually connect to the internet before you start Union Circle) the Link Code is VKP4VD

Dean has politely told me to inform you to, ahem, "Buy it now, you idiot"

Bayonetta 2 is another character focused action hack and slash game developed by PlatinumGames, as well as a concept pitch for StarFox Zero (Yes, really). It was originally released for the WiiU in 2014 and then ported to the Switch in 2018. I played the Switch version. Somewhat controversially, despite being an IP that Sega owns, it's only been released on Nintendo consoles. This is because Nintendo funded it's development. Without Nintendo, there wouldn't be a Bayonetta 2 (Or 3, for that matter). It's also the best Christmas game! It's Christmas Eve! Bayonetta is going last-minute Christmas shopping! But then, oh no! Shenanigans! Angels attack! Devastation for the city! Average Tuesday for Bayonetta. However, a typical demon summon goes wrong and it gets out of control. This gets Bayo's best friend Jeanne's a big ouchie in the form of her soul getting knocked out of her body. Umbran Witches get dragged to Hell when they die, but there's still time. Bayonetta travels to the very wet town of Noatun, as the Gates to Hell are rumoured to be there. She has less then a day to save Jeanne, or she'll miss Christmas! Bayonetta 2, apparently For all intents and purposes, this game plays similarly to the first game. Just a whole bunch of refinements. The big new mechanic is "Umbran Climax". Playing well enough will get you enough magic to use it, and it drastically increases the range and power of her attacks. It's lots of fun, but it does make most other uses of magic a bit redundant. Add to that other great changes, like Witch Time working on everything (Although it doesn't last as long in this game to compensate), and no awful QTE's, just button mashing ones that get you extra points. This makes it easily my favourite Bayonetta game. It also helps that the Nintendo bonuses are even more ridiculous in this game. The Switch version has added amiibo support, which means I didn't have to beat the game on Hard difficulty to get one of the best unlockables in all of gaming history! That Chain Chomp cracks me up! Helps that it's really good as well. Also, Arwing pistols! The game is a lot more vibrant compared to the first game, it just pops beautifully. That Nintendo influence, I'm guessing. The game still looks great today! Bayonetta 2, apparently So yeah, people bemoaning the lower skill ceiling be damned, Bayonetta 2 is a riot! And it has a decent multiplayer mode too!

Theme's up now. Nice to be actually able to hear the full Swordfighter form song, instead of 5 seconds of it at most. This theme has a very satisfying noise for when blocks fall down after a line clear.

Right, so BowserBasher can't make it for our weekly NSO session, so there's a free spot available tonight if any of you want to join in. 8:30 tonight. And if you want to play a specific N64/GBA game, let us know.

Yeah, that's better. I should be able to get UFA to join then. Might also be able to get markderoos as well.

Give me 10 minutes, and I can join in. EDIT: Or if you prefer, we can squeeze in a session tonight.

When it comes to Pokémon, generally speaking, names in other countries tend to not resemble the Japanese names at all. The names in non-Japan countries are purely up to whatever the localisers think make a good name. Pikachu is the exception, not the rule. Best example is Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. In Japan, they're just called Freezer, Thunder, and Fire.

How the hell does one person get Boo'd 5 times in one race!?

It's not too bad at first, but then there's a second dungeon which is absolutely insane. There's an arbitrary restriction on what weapons you can use, and it's chock full of incredibly tanky enemies that not even Hero can put a dent in, but they'll happily crit you 70% of the time. And don't get me started on enemies having access to FullHeal and 4 digit HP! And the encounter rate is ratcheted up for some reason. Capped off with an infuriating set of minibosses that I would never have beaten if I didn't accidentally find out that they're susceptible to Blasto. That section makes this probably one of the least fun post-games in all the DQ games I've played. A shame too, I tend to like them.

I do wonder if anyone here besides me has ever heard of this game? OFF is a niche little french (or maybe Belgian?) RPG that was originally made by Mortis Ghost in RPG Maker in 2008. It's also massively influential in quite a lot of future indie RPG's. Undertale and OMORI are two notable examples which have this game to thank. The game follows "The Batter", some guy in a baseball uniform, whose mission is to purify the world. This game is unhinged, to put it mildly. I've always wanted to try it, but never bothered to ask Dcubed to download it. Well, don't need to now. Hooray for procrastination! This won't be the same as the free version. PR says it'll have a reworked battle system, new areas, and new hidden bosses. Switch version is getting a physical version, with some mad thing called an "Instruction Booklet".