Glen-i

See, difficulty is whatever to me, my issue with Wonder is that the levels outside of the Wonder Seed sections just don't have anything imaginative or interesting to them. And the Wonder Seed sections are over far too quickly for it to make an impact. I prefer it when they make whole levels designed around an idea and gradually develop it. That barely happens with Wonder.

No character in FP2 has a move that lets them store an item/projectile for later use, but Steve can spawn blocks underneath him with his neutral special in the air. The block isn't something that can be picked up, but it can be walked on, so I have no idea if that will affect the stage or not.

Sonic Superstars is a 2D Platformer by Sega. It released on all platforms 3 days before Super Mario Bros. Wonder, because Sega was under the illusion that it was still the 90's and they could step up to Mario. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Doctor Robotnik is using animals to power death robots, and all sorts of egg-shaped contraptions, and Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Tails (The "Why would I ever use anyone else?" character) have to go sort that out. It's all you need to know, it's a Sonic game. By the way, much like Hi-Fi Rush, the PC version of this game supports stereoscopic 3D, so I don't know, imagine it for screenshots or something? There are two defining features in this game compared to other "Classic Sonic" style games. The first is the option to play 4 player co-op, much like 2D Mario games these days. I didn't actually try this, so I couldn't tell you how well that works. The second feature is the Chaos Emeralds. You still get them through bonus games, but when you do get one, they let you use a special ability. It's kinda nice that the Chaos Emeralds provide an immediate benefit when you get them, instead of having to wait until you get all of them, like usual. I do appreciate the little HUD notification that recommends an Emerald power at a certain spot to find secrets. See? You know this isn't my screenshot, because I'm not an idiot who plays as Sonic. Thankfully, this game takes cues from Sonic Mania, and has the physics and momentum match the way it works in the Mega Drive games, so it controls great! And the levels are really good! Some of the later zones have some really imaginative gimmicks to them, especially the last one! Oh wow, that second act is so damn clever! That said, the bosses aren't as consistent. They seem to be a bit of a sore spot for some people. I don't think they're as bad as some people make them out to be. They're mostly fine, but the last two do stick out as being a right slog. A checkpoint in between phases for them would've gone a long way. I'm thankful I did the Final boss second phase on my first attempt, mostly because I didn't want to chug through that first phase again. It's weird, I know full well that Mario Wonder is the better game of these two, but that game left me quite disappointed, while Sonic Superstars exceeded my expectations. It's a pleasant surprise! I would go as far as to say it's the third best Classic Sonic style game, behind 3 & Knuckles, and Mania. The visuals are servicable. It looks nice enough, but can feel a bit flat... ...Unless you play it in stereoscopic 3D. Then that's a whole different matter. The 3D effect really helps this game to pop. I can't stress this enough, it feels like this game was made for a 3D effect! It looks so good! Glad I waited for the support to be added. The music is also very good, but well, it's a Sonic game. I expect nothing less then high quality music from this series. Because without good music, what would a Sonic game be anyway? I'll tell you what it would be, it would be Sonic Chronicles, and no-one wants that. Trust me, Sonic needs those rings more then Tails does...

Time format tonight at 7:30pm.

I always bring my A game. That probably explains why I didn't do so well this week, actually. Don't bring your A game anymore. Hey, I remembered that next week is a theme night. Here is what it will be. Next Theme Night: Thursday 2nd May The tracks here are the 12 longest tracks in MK8 Deluxe. How did I deterimine that? I looked at all 96 Staff Ghost times, and ordered them myself. You're welcome. In case anyone is interested... See you next week.

OK, so I've been basically refusing to look at anything to do with this game, because I want to be as surprised as possible. But a thought just occurred to me. And don't go confirming if I'm right or not, just spitballing here. Don't actually want confirmation. But what if they remix the music? Say what you will about Sticker Star onwards, but those game's soundtracks absolutely clown all over the older games! I would love to hear what the people who did this can do to improve TYD's music! What if they even do specific versions of the standard battle theme based on the chapter you're on, like Origami King does!? Man, I would flip!

Uhhh... Sooo... Iggy's Reckin' Balls is kinda legit amazing!? It's a very unique take on a racing game, even nowadays. Loads of fun in multiplayer, and seems to be jam packed with levels (Assuming each "world" has 10 levels like the first one we tried, that would be 110 levels!). The grappling hook mechanic is very neat, especially when we discovered we could use it to throw other players around. Loads of ways to screw other people, and naturally, loads of laughs. Don't sleep on this game, guys! It's solid!

20 minute heads up for @S.C.G and @BowserBasher. We might have to have a Gentlemen's Agreement to not use the last two secret cars in Extreme-G. They're kinda OP, and not even remotely balanced. Unless you don't mind everyone being the neon blue one...

Oh wow, then that means you haven't done Special Episode 5! Oh boy! That one is a trip!

It's not quite upping the framerate, it's more that some games don't cap their framerates, which results in uneven dips in games like Goldeneye and Pilotwings. NSO's emulator is far more capable of running these games at a high framerate, so it's able to reach these uncapped framerates, which results in smoother gameplay. Now I'm not certain if Extreme-G has an uncapped framerate or not. (If anyone knows, it'll be @Dcubed) But that would very likely be why.

Don't have a PC, so that's not happening for me. Still proper hyped for it, even if I'll be waiting a long time.

If you're still on the fence, I just finished it recently. Here's my Diary write-up.

Hi-Fi Rush is a character action rhythm game that released last year on the XBox Series consoles and PC. It also recently got released on the PS5. It's developed by Tango Gameworks, who are better known for "The Evil Within". A bit of a tone shift here, that's for sure. I played the PC version. Specifically, I played it in stereoscopic 3D, so I'm afraid you're not seeing any of my screenshots here. You'll just have to imagine how jaw-droppingly amazing it looks. The game follows Chai, an absolute loser, who has aspirations to be a "rockstar". Can he play guitar? That's not important, but he signs up for "Project Armstrong", a test program run by Vandelay Technologies that offers people cybernetic limb replacement for his disabled arm. The epitome of cool, people! However, instead of the rockstar he wants to be, he's designated to be a rubbish collector, so his cybernetic arm is designed to pick rubbish up with a built in magnetic rod. Also however, something goes wrong, and Chai's MP3 player gets implanted into his heart. For some reason, this now musical heart somehow makes everything around Chai move to the beat of whatever song is playing. It also gets him branded a defect by Vandelay Industries, so they go about covering up the bad PR this would result in by "recalling" him. That's code for killing him. Luckily, Chai's magnetic rubbish collecting rod uses said rubbish to give Chai a makeshift guitar to club all the robots that are out for his blood. Which will likely help him escape... hopefully. The plot is hilarious! All the characters are great, and the cutscenes are an utter joy of tongue-in-cheek humour. Even the dialogue you hear as you play through the game is great! The game knows it's a ridiculous concept, and plays it up for all it's worth. Chai is an utter doofus who never thinks about the consequences of his actions, which naturally gets him into all sorts of problems. The villains are great too. They're completely over-the top and serve as a constant source of entertainment. The game has the same basic structure of games like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Chai has a diverse moveset that is mostly unlocked through in-game currency, and encourages the player to experiment and find effective ways to fight enemies in a stylish way. Each encounter with enemies is graded based on how many points you get through attacking, how quickly you defeat the enemies, and how precise your timing is. That last bit is weird for a game like this, but that's because Hi-Fi Rush's key defining feature is that everything happens to the beat of what song is playing. The timing the game is referring to is how well you can execute attacks to the beat of a song. Even the results screen managed to make me laugh! 30%? My timing wasn't anywhere close to that, I can assure you! When I said that Chai's musical heart makes everything move to the beat, I meant everything. Chai attacks to the beat, and so do enemies, so if you have a good sense of rhythm, you will be able to dodge or block anything an enemy throws at you. You don't need to actually time your presses, but Chai does more damage if you do, and he always attacks on the beat anyway, so it's in your best interest to perform to the beat. This resulted in me doing way better here then in any other game in this genre. I'm pretty mediocre at these kind of games, mostly because I can't block well. Ask me to do something like Counter in Smash Bros, and you'll see a guy who will disappoint you at every turn. Hi-Fi Rush has a parry, but because everything happens to the beat, I didn't have to purely react to enemy behaviour, because I knew that I just had to block on the beat. So instead of the constant lame ranks on the easiest difficulty I got in Bayonetta games, I was getting consistent "A" and "S" ranks on Normal difficulty. Amazing what adding rhythm game features can do for me! The boss battles are a real highlight, they always manage to introduce an unexpected wrinkle that keeps you on your toes, and they only get more ridiculous as you progress. I was looking forward to every single one after the first boss. The game looks gorgeous. A striking cel-shaded style combined with impeccable animation (Even the environment and HUD move to the beat), and comic book style effects really stand out. And it looks even better in stereoscopic 3D! You'll have to take my word on that, because I can't show that aspect of it here. The music is obviously very important in a rhythm game, and Hi-Fi Rush delivers on that front too. A cool aspect is that the game offers a "Streamer Mode" which replaces licensed songs with songs that are less likely to get streamers in trouble. The game is actually full of loads of little accessibility features like that, but that tends to be a thing Microsoft are quite good at anyway. Back in December, I said Hi-Fi Rush was the fifth best new game of 2023. I was wrong. Now that I've finished it, I'd say it's actually the third best game. It's a really special game, and I urge everyone to try it. Anyway, I'll end this post with the weirdest reference I saw.

Player's Choice tonight at 8pm.

Unfortunately, EA own the rights to that, so I'll be absolutely floored if that gets on NSO. Shame too, I've always wanted to try it.

Tempted to take it back now...

I was not expecting Extreme-G! Wow! My second ever N64 game I owned. Maybe 34 year old me can actually finish it? Never played Iggy, either. Worth a go, I reckon!

I remember that. That's "Garoo's Lunch Box" I imagine he's the chill kind of guy who would want his name plastered all over product without permission, you know?

@bob is right. Note the use of the word "now".

A bit dark? Anyway, I can't actually remember. And I played through the whole thing with the NSO Game Trial, so I can't boot it up to check.

Welcome to the club! That makes five of us here now. Explorers of Sky is my favourite Pokémon title, but I don't need to explain to you why that is.

He did. Purely because of the scope of his comeback. It was truly excellent fighting on your part. That said, I still clinched it in the end, so neener, neener, neener!

I can assure you that Second Story R has both. Hell, you can fast travel to any specific shop, let alone, town.

Fixed that for you. (Also, the way you phrased that, you wouldn't happen to be aware of the traditional song that's sung at AGDQ when this game shows up there?) But anyway, Banjo-Kazooie is easily one of the N64 greats, even if I do prefer Tooie in almost every regard. And it's great that a new generation of Nintendo players have discovered the game thanks to the one-two combo of Smash Ultimate and NSO. It's a very special game.