Glen-i

Yep, this. The difference between casual play and competitive play is usually who you're playing with. @Aperson you should see some of the shenanigans us N-Europers get up to in Smash Bros. Chances are, we're choosing random characters with items on and choosing stages that are more funny then balanced. Winning is nice, sure, but the aim is more comedy than victory. Final Smashes flying everywhere and a few of us have a habit of taunting if we happen to not get killed by one. (I know I do)

I hope you lot liked my revivial of old-school Battle Mode. I'll be sure to have it show up a few times next year. Only a few though. It takes me around 3 hours to watch everyone throughout! Don't mind though, I learned that @martinist is amazing at using mushrooms to steal balloons! Boy, this year sucked, huh? Luckily, social distancing is normally how you win in N-E League, so at least that went ahead as planned. But it's almost done, the next night will be the last one of the year. Last League Night: 17th December 8pm Room 1: @BowserBasher is host @Glen-i @BowserBasher @Kounan @S.C.G @martinist @viceview51

Perks of being the one who makes the video. (I don't actually mind swapping to Topless if you want it?) Phew! Glad someone is picking Cloud. The video would just feel wrong if he wasn't there.

Nope, brush up on your DK lore, because they're two different gorillas. The arcade DK is now known as Cranky Kong. This was established in Donkey Kong Country. Why do you think the game opens up with Cranky on a girder playing the arcade Donkey Kong title theme? The DK in all games afterwards (Which includes Smash) is the Grandson of the arcade DK.

The 17th of December is when we get that deep-dive Sakurai presentation on Sephiroth. Now, I could be wrong, but something tells me that he'll be available to download shortly after. So I'm suggesting we move the next Smash Session to either Friday or Saturday, depending on when Seph drops. Because new character night is best when they're sparkly fresh and new. So, as usual I do plan on making a highlight video. And I'd like to ask everyone who has FP2 to declare which Sephiroth they want to use for easy identification in the video. You can see each of his costumes here by clicking the render. Pardon the crummy formatting. On my phone, will fix it later. Default Sephiroth - S.C.G Barely Different Purple Tint Sephiroth - Green Coat - Red Coat - White Coat - BowserBasher Blue Coat - Glen-i Topless - Topless (Red Trousers) - Now, for those of you who haven't got the second Fighters Pass, but still want to join in, I ask that you choose only from this selection of characters that have some connection with Sephiroth. Let me know who you're picking for more easy identification. Characters owned by Square Enix Cloud - RedShell Hero (Eleven) - Hero (Erdrick) - Hero (Solo) - Hero (Eight) - Characters who have been a Final Boss Dark Samus - Bowser - Ganondorf - Wario - Pokémon Trainer (Male) - King Dedede - Robin - Ridley - King K. Rool - Turn Based RPG protagonists Ness - Pokémon Trainer (Female) - Lucas - Joker - Characters who are Kirby Kirby - That's a decent enough selection. First come, first serve.

I've been watching Aunty Donna's Big ol' House of Fun. It's incredibly stupid, makes very little sense and it's the kind of thing I just adore. The season starts with a song titled "Everything's a Drum", which pretty much says it all. EDIT: Oh hey, I found a video on their YouTube channel with the exact song.

He's a beast on the Banjo, but the poor guy struggles to move in anything other than a clumsy manner in his games. Kazooie is the one who normally handles the acrobatics, and she's more the type to stand on the sidelines and chuck sarcastic barbs at anyone else dancing. That said, he's a lot more nimble in Smash. Then again, most characters are. Thanks, updated the list.

Right-o, for the sake of clarity. Here are the results of each round. Timing starts at the moment "GO!" appears. Should a player lose all their balloons, then the timer stops when the screen fades to black.

Yep, here we go again! Stupid Useless Tier List Updates!

Oh right, I forgot about my Dancing tier list, I think it's time to update that. You know what, you kinda sold me on Lara Croft a bit. Her being Smash's answer to Indiana Jones is something I can get behind. As long as it acknowledges her low polygon roots in some way through her moveset, I can get behind that. More female characters in Smash can't be a bad thing as well. (I still would rather prefer Sora from Square, mind) I never realised that about Marvel VS Capcom, that's not a good sign. But I can't discount the fact that it has a more significant presence than most game IP's that don't have a playable character. It just feels so bizarre. Smash gets the "Blatant advertising" accusation thrown at it all the time but PS All-Stars is what happens when you make a Smash style game with the focus being to advertise your games as cheaply as you can and that's why it flopped hard. I have no proof of this but I like to think that game was what made Sakurai go after the likes of Cloud, Ryu and Joker. Just to rub it in.

I'm not gonna argue that popularity doesn't play a part in third party character choices, because it definitely does, but how important it is feels like it shifts depending on the company. Take Solid Snake, he was put in Brawl through a request from Kojima, a personal friend of Sakurai's. Sonic happened through a similar method. It's pretty obvious Sega ran to Sakurai and said something along the lines "No-one told us you were letting guest characters in! We should make a deal with Sonic". It explains nicely why Sonic was added so late in Brawl's development cycle. Brawl goes on to become the best selling game in the series and third party characters become a staple with Smash 4. I'll forever appreciate Smash Brawl for turning Smash Bros into a gaming history celebration rather than just Nintendo. Anyway, back to my main point. The importance of popularity fluctuates between companies. For big players like Square and Capcom, the big hitters are the obvious choices. Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Dragon Quest, etc. But then you have the likes of Bayonetta, Joker and Banjo. All popular in different ways, but not on the levels of Cloud, Ryu and Sonic. Joker is the breakout star of Atlus' surprisingly popular spin-off series, Persona. Banjo is popular mostly through 90's nostalgia and Bayonetta was popular with the Smash players and clinched her the ballot win. Bayonetta 2 was a cult favourite for the WiiU, so she was popular in a niche sense. (She's more recognisable these days because of Smash, so not quite as niche now) But then there's Terry. He's the obvious SNK rep, but it feels like that choice was less "Terry is popular" and more "SNK is a significant footnote of video game history" Which it is, it deserves a spot because of that. It's always fascinating to think of what happens behind those closed doors. There's nothing quite like Smash Bros these days. I would pay top money for a documentary on how all these companies are bought together for the sake of a silly fighting game where you can have Link and Cloud team up to fight Ganondorf and Sephiroth in Green Hill Zone with Baseball bats.

@Julius It's also worth pointing out that if you do go for the Fighter's Pass, it's cheaper than buying the 6 characters individually. But if you absolutely sure you don't want Min Min or Steve, then go for it. But if you do buy Sephiroth, you'll be locked out of buying the whole Fighter's Pass. So keep that in mind. Was wondering when you'd show up with a nerdy post with reasons for Smashy things. Lara Croft is a strange case. Say she does get in, do you go with the realistic modern Lara or PS1 era triangle breasts Lara? You go with the realistic one and I can't help but feel she'll look a bit bland. I'm not a huge Tomb Raider fan, but what does she bring to the table? Dante is such a weird pick for Capcom. He's popular, sure. But Capcom hasn't even gotten Monster Hunter in there. I can't see any other new series being first in line before that inevitability happens. Seriously, I'm so certain Monster Hunter is happening around the time Mon Hun Rise comes out. Agree with everything you said in the Halo paragraph. It's Microsoft's next obvious franchise at this point. But I think barring a third Fighters Pass (Never say never, but I doubt it), that's it for Microsoft in Smash Ultimate. Do we even need actual Sony characters at this point? Smash is already nicking the most iconic Sony characters anyway.

I'm actually quite intrigued about what you think about Sephiroth. (It's been long enough, I think it's fine to mention who it is now) Seeing as you were hoping for Sora, do you think Sephiroth is a good enough compromise as far as Square Enix goes?

That was thematically appropriate for Halloween. Christmas is about kindness and togetherness and fabulous cash prizes! Someone needs to be the person who distributes the presents.

OK guys, I think it's time for an N-E Christmas PARTAY! Date: Tuesday 22nd December Time: 8pm Venue: Capim Town (That's my place) Dress Code: Christmas Party-Goers: BowserBasher Glen's accidental Halloween Party Crasher Darksnowman Sméagol So yeah, let me know if you want in. And if you do want in, all I ask is that you send me an item for Secret Santa purposes.

Could I have a quick visit then?

@Tales is that real Flowery painting still available? Anyway, my town has another Birthday. Best Eagle Sterling is ??? Years old today. Doing my daily rounds, so give me a shout if you want in.

He's not just a anime swordsman. He's the anime swordsman. There's a good argument for him starting that trend in gaming. EDIT: In response to that GIF @Vileplume2000 posted, I love what happens soon afterwards.

Arguably worse. At least Three Houses actually released before Byleth showed up in Smash.