Glen-i

100% completion is only a matter of time at this point!

Just take the rumours, lower it by one generation, and that's how powerful it will actually be.

EDIT: God damnit! @Helmsly! Well, I got there first, so nyeh!

Reminder that this is on tonight at 8pm. EDIT: Yup, new page.

Shin Megami Tensei V is a soundtrack full of unorthodox and unsettling music. Until it decides it wants to be a rave!

Is the Trevor Mii gonna die suddenly during Sunshine Airport?

Dude, the sheer volume of games in Theatrhythm wasn't enough already!? Because mate, the game has the likes of Mystic Quest, all 14 good soundtracks from mainline FF (No, not you FF 13. 2 songs repeated ad nauseum does not a good soundtrack make), Tactics, Dissidia, all the sequels, and that's just the base game! Get the DLC, and you get some really cool remixes of FF songs, and a ridiculous amount of songs from other Square games. (Chrono Trigger, Nier, about 10 Romancing Saga games, and Octopath Traveler, to name just a few). The game is stupid good value, even with the Deluxe Edition. Anyway, nice to see one of my predictions was spot on. Pity Octopath 2 didn't make the cut. Weirdly, they initially advertised this last pack as containing 8 songs, so I'm OK with 3 songs I didn't sign up for.

Loads of talented actors get treated like utter crap, especially when it comes to gaming, and it's really become apparant with some companies taking the absolute mick and using AI to get around paying them for their services. More power to them!

Gonna try resetting my Switch. Gimme a minute. EDIT: Room's open now.

Speaking as someone who grew up in the 90's with Gen 1, oh my daze, absolutely! There's no argument! You have 4 seperate mainline games and yet Diamond/Pearl are in the running for least good!? (Of course, if you have access to Platinum, then that argument gets really tough) Yeah, that's an outstanding mark of the sheer quality the DS era of Pokémon provides And then there's the spin-offs, it had some clunkers (Looking at you, Pokémon Dash), but the variety on hand was bonkers! Plot heavy Roguelikes, Typing games, a Nobunaga's Ambition crossover (Seriously, who asked for that!?), 3 games about Beyblades and circles, a home console action adventure, puzzle games, and whatever the hell Pokémon Rumble is. Anyway, I'm gonna be somewhat (un)helpful and point out that Rescue Team DX does have a demo on the eShop. Save Progress transfers over.

Stamina format tonight at 8pm.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is a remake of the GBA/DS title Red Rescue Team/Blue Rescue Team. The only remake of a spin-off game in the entire Pokémon series, It's a roguelike game with a Pokémon flair developed by Spike Chunsoft and came out for the Switch in 2020. I covered the original game as well as the other DS title in a previous post. I go into the origin of the Mystery Dungeon series there if you need a reminder. For that reason, I won't go into too much detail about the base game here. There's a number of notable differences here, one being that the gameplay is based around the mechanics seen in the 3DS entry, Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon (I covered that here). The only thing it doesn't do is retain the way you recruit Pokémon, that's still the same as the original game. This has the side effect of making the game quite a bit harder then the original game, not as hard as Super MD, but still. It can get real brutal, especially if you go for the post-credits plot points. The game features every Pokémon from the first three generations of Pokémon, just like the original game, with a few additions. Pokémon that got evolutions from Gen 4 such as Electivire and Porygon-Z, as well as Sylveon, and despite not being an evolution of an older Pokémon, Riolu and Lucario are here. Yeah, weird at first glance, but it's not just there because Lucario is stupid popular, it's a nice nod to the original Rescue Team games being the first game appearance of Lucario ever. Another key difference is how gummis work. In the original game, gummis are items that raise the IQ of a Pokémon, which will get them to learn various IQ skills, which make the AI smarter or provide some passive buffs. In the Switch version, IQ skills are replaced with Rare Qualities, more potent passive buffs that affect the whole team at once, the downside being that each Pokémon can only have one at a time. Of course, I'm burying the lead a tad here, because the most notable difference here is... Bit of a glow-up, eh? So yeah, I truly believe that Rescue Team DX is the best looking Pokémon game to date. Technically speaking, the likes of Pokken and New Pokémon Snap are more heavy hitters, sure. But much like comparing The Wind Waker to Twilight Princess, the art style absolutely shines here. The game utilises a watercolour painting style for it's environments, making it the closest a Mystery Dungeon game has ever come to looking like the artwork you see on the title menus. The Pokémon models are the kind you see in most Pokémon games, but the textures have been tweaked to make them fit in more. You can even see a hatching technique in the shadows of Pokémon. It does kinda make the likes of Scarlet and Violet look amateurish in comparison, but Mystery Dungeon has been doing that to the mainline series for ages now, so nothing new there. The cutscene direction is another surprising upgrade. As you can see above, the jump to 3D models have allowed the use of more dynamic camera angles. What makes this surprising is that the two other 3D Mystery Dungeon games kinda pale in comparison in that regard. There's a fight scene in the original game that was, well, basic as hell on the GBA, but the Switch version blindsided me with how much better it was. (@Dcubed can back me up on that) Even the little conversation portraits have had their texturing tweaked! Now I know this game came out during the 8th generation, but I think this might be a game that was developed for the 7th one instead. Mega Evolution is still a thing here, the TMs and movesets of Pokémon are based on the Sun/Moon games, and various other things that stand out. I have absolutely no concrete proof of this, but it wouldn't surprise me. Despite that, the regional variants introduced in Alola aren't available here, which is a little disappointing. Just have to settle for boring old Kantonian Marowak, I guess. As of December 2022, this sold 1.99 million copies, which puts it as the 3rd best selling PMD game, only beaten by the original games and the first Explorers games. Thanks, Switch Effect! In a world where Pokémon Snap can get a sequel, I'm certain Pokémon Mystery Dungeon will get another entry. It's a matter of when, not if. The real question is whether it'll be a remake of the Explorers games, or a new entry entirely. I'm fine with either, especially if it looks that good! I'm starting to get a bit impatient, mind. And that wraps up the eighth generation of Pokémon spin-off games. It has some gems, but unfortunately, it is mostly microtransaction mobile tat, and it's getting worse (Pokémon Sleep has them because of course it does) and that's just the sad truth. Oh well, see you in another 4 years, I guess.

I'm writing up the last post for the Pokémon spin-off thread and I booted up the game to get some pics, and am suddenly reminded of the amazing job they did with the soundtrack! The glow up is insane!

Yeah, the new mode is solid. Bloody hard, but maybe when I run out of Level 0 characters to pick from, we'll do better. Maybe... Apart from a weird glitch on @Dcubed's end at one point, it ran great. This certainly can help with the longevity of the game, highly recommended.

Nope, less then 7 quid though.

Opening the room now, @Helmsly If you can't find me, the party code is TQMGF

How's 7pm (London Time) for you? Because that might mean we have a full room at that time with you joining in.

Oh, it will. It's a triple Aaaaaay game on PlayStation that's not a traditional style RPG. Basically, it's not Xenoblade 3, so it's got Soundtrack awards in the bag. Yes, I'm still annoyed Xeno 3 got completely snubbed for soundtrack. In favour of GoW: Ragnarok of all things!

It's a theme night this week, and I'm gonna post this early to give people time to prepare. Next Theme Night: Thursday 7th September 8pm Next week is the closest Thursday to the anniversary of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, so say hello to the new, improved Fresh Prince theme! Featuring actual Los Angeles! It's like it was fate. If you want to go all in on the theme, you'll need to create a Mii version of one of the Banks family members (Or Jazz). @RedShell made some excellent ones, you probably saw some of them tonight. Here they are for all your recreation needs! It's recommended that you rename them in a way that makes it easier to know it's you. (For example, I use a Hilary Mii named "Glenary") Remember that the character and kart setup is entirely optional, but the courses are not. See you next week!

I just moaned at @Mokong for not using "Two Koopas with 1 shell"!

Some blatant Bob-omb favouritism going on there!