RedShell

Finally got the damn KO a rival badge: That was actually more difficult than winning a race. Interesting stuff. As I mentioned before, I had no idea that the F-Zero series had sold so poorly, knowing the reality of the situation now though I'm even more grateful for the existence of F-Zero 99. But yeah, hopefully it will be a success (however the success of a NSO "freebie" is measured) and there will be more to come from this series in the future. I'd say ignoring all other players can be a good strategy (well, unless you're trying to KO a rival ) it's easier said than done, but if you can focus as much as possible on the track/racing and less on the absolute mayhem that's going on, then it should lead to a much better position. At which point it naturally becomes less chaotic and is more a matter of just holding your nerve around the CPU obstacles and a few players. Good timing of the Skyway can help a lot too. Holding on to it until there's a tricky section of a track approaching, or sometimes even until the last couple of turns on the final lap can make a big difference.

Speak for yourselves. Anyway, perhaps we could just do a Mii only setup during the 30 min custom stage finale sometime.

Hmm... you might have a point actually, just took a look at sales figures for the entire series which have supposedly been in decline with every release since the SNES version! I'm especially shocked by how little GX sold, although there appears to be some conflicting info for that particular title. That's worrying then.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Weird. Anyway, how about a Mii theme night at some point?

Wii Music was a notoriously bad game according to many at the time of its release. I thought it was great though, just somewhat lacking in content. Had Nintendo attempted to expand the song list, by either DLC or enabling a way for users to create original melodies to then share with other players for jam sessions, it would've been pretty much perfect I reckon.

Of course, just like everything I do (good or bad) while playing this game.

I've come to the conclusion that random character select hates me. Also, what's the reason again why Miis aren't included when you choose random? Anyway, cheers for the games. Here's a fun moment: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1927348308?t=1h32m8s "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!"

Impressive! I still haven't used anything but Fire Stingray (just like when I'm playing SNES F-Zero ) but only got 1 more unlock left for that now so will be reluctantly switching to the others soon. Not going to happen. F-Zero fans have been starved for way too long, so we'll be savouring this meal.

That’s weird, I get Sand Ocean quite a lot, it’s apparently my most successful track too, according to the records section. Anyone know if there’s any info out there about the schedule for adding the remaining tracks? Also, this is definitely a permanent title for Switch Online, right? (I wasn’t paying much attention to the details during the Direct) None of that Mario Bros. 35 limited availability going on I hope.

Classic. I see you've been playing this quite a lot too, it's great, huh? Anyway, nice to see you again. Join us for Smash Bros. sometime. You could do it on Tetris 99, with a password IIRC. But yeah, shame they haven't implemented something like that with this game.

OK, my thumbs actually have the imprint of Switch Joy-Con buttons... Send help. Yeah, final laps on this are a blast, literally: Love how player names are left at each explosion zone. I did not want to land there: Can't wait for Fire Field to be added, that track is going to be a right shitshow on this game. BTW, has anyone managed to KO a rival yet? Seems impossible. Getting KO's in general (against other players) is pretty tricky.

Best. Direct. Ever. Not really, but F-ZERO 99!!!! I don't remember anything else. Looks like there was extra stuff in the Japanese Direct, including a new RPG from Onion Games! :

Words cannot describe how much I love this!!! As a big fan of the F-Zero series (but especially the SNES version ) this is just a dream come true! The steering doesn't feel completely authentic to the original, but it's definitely close enough. They have absolutely nailed the look and sound though. The use of the comic book artwork, that font, those tunes... man, nostalgia is off the charts for me with this game! And I'm really impressed by how fluid it is, the sight of so many F-Zero racers on screen simultaneously is mind-blowing! I knew there had to be a bigger reason as to why I suddenly felt compelled to resubscribe to Switch Online a while back, my subconscious mind must have predicted that this game was on the way. I'm actually thinking it could even mean that a new F-Zero is already in development and this is a way of getting the series back in the limelight before its reveal, although I'm probably slightly delirious from all the excitement of F-Zero 99.

I am, for anyone that'll now be able to play this masterpiece! Already got my trombone champ fix. Plus I'm sticking to my habit of only buying Nintendo exclusive stuff on Switch, and absolutely everything else on PC. Oh wow, yeah. They really missed a trick there. BTW, here's a little tip for anyone that just started playing:

Yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous. I remember being so perplexed by this rainbow light trend when I got my current PC. I ended up with the most modest one that I could, but it's still pretty stupid looking. And there's no way to turn the damn lights off while it's running either! On the plus side, it made finding a spot to place it in easy... anywhere where I can't see the damn thing!

I'm a fan of the colour, but I agree that it would probably be distracting. I got a new game controller a while back that has hall effect sticks on it, but it also has other "features" that I'm not interested in, one of which is internal LED lighting. Anyway, every time you plug the controller in the whole thing (it has transparent casing) lights up like a bloody Christmas tree! Even when you're not looking directly at it it's distracting as hell. Luckily there's a shortcut to quickly turn the lights off.

Made another batch of Fresh Prince character Miis if anyone's interested: Oh, and here's some AI generated nightmare fuel to commemorate the event: ...AI has still got a way to go yet.

Good Falcon Punch teamwork: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1915518710?t=1h25m10s Is it just me, or have shield breaks become way more frequent?

Been a loooong time since I posted in one of the gaming diary threads on here, so long in fact that I doubt I'll even be able to remember everything I've played! But yeah, time for a catch-up post where I'll just mention whatever I can remember, in no particular order. Exoprimal: Not something I probably would've played normally, but seeing as it also launched on Game Pass I decided to check it out. Wasn't too sure about it at first, but it did grow on me quite a bit. It's just a fun (and very silly) arcadey game that's easy to pick up and play without having to think too much. You team up with/compete against other players and go around shooting a ridiculous amount of different types of dinosaurs for some reason. It's stupid, but also pretty damn entertaining. Think Capcom missed a trick by not releasing it as a F2P title though, especially as there's already a battle pass and other purchasable content in it, but at least including it on Game Pass was a smart move. Sea of Thieves - Monkey Island update: I always love an excuse to return to Sea of Thieves so this was a nice surprise, and even though I'm not super familiar with Monkey Island I really liked this crossover. It's a lot shorter than the Pirates of the Caribbean stuff they added previously (for now at least) but I still enjoyed this update a lot more and am looking forward to the next instalment. I just hope that one day Rare will do a SoT crossover with something that I'm familiar with but also a fan of... Mysterious Cities of Gold would be particularly awesome! Trombone Champ: No other video game has ever made me laugh as much as this has. I think I've been close to passing out at some points from laughing so much. It is an absolutely hilarious game. Also, this simply would not exist if it weren't for Wii Music. The devs were obviously very influenced by that, and it's glorious. The game is still being updated frequently with new features and tracks and then there's the mod scene, which I haven't experimented with yet, but it looks bonkers!: Noita: This game is amazing. But it's brutally difficult!! I still haven't managed to complete a single run after months of play, and you know what? I don't think I ever will. That doesn't change my opinion of Noita though, I love it. And I'll keep coming back to it, more than anything for the spectacle of its particle system, which is simply incredible! I never tire of watching how the various elements interact, it's all so unpredictable and dynamic. I also can't help but think back to my early gaming days (on the NES and C64 etc.) while playing this game and just being completely blown away by what I'm now seeing. It's like playing something from an alternate timeline where technology and processing power improved but the transition to 3D graphics never happened. Hi-Fi Rush: An action packed brawler/platformer that's also a rhythm game? Sounds good to me! Yep, I jumped into this one the second it launched back in January. Really interesting mash up of genres, but they managed to work in the rhythm component without really impacting traditional gameplay, so it can mostly be played just as a standard action game, but everything is synced up to the soundtrack and you get rewarded for keeping the beat so it's generally much more satisfying to play it with the rhythm in mind. Presentation is amazing too, easily the best use of cel shading I have ever seen in a video game, combined with stellar animation work this thing is basically a playable cartoon! Funny characters and voice acting as well. Only thing I didn't particularly care for with this one was some of the pacing, there were times when stages seemed to go on forever, would've been better to break some of them up into smaller chunks I reckon. An enjoyable experience overall though, and it's very nice to see a dev team taking a risk with something so unexpected and unique. Ghostwire Tokyo: Another Tango Gameworks title now, had been wanting to play this for ages so was glad to see it pop up on Game Pass. I wasn't all that sure about it initially, but eventually it picked up and I ended up digging it. The game's setting is awesome, but it's not scary at all though, which I was quite surprised by and disappointed about, given the way it comes across in its advertising, and of course Shinji Mikami's involvement. Also, they added way too much in the way of side missions/collectables, there were times when I couldn't even see the map properly due to the thousands of icons all over it! But yeah, once I saw the absurd amount of superfluous content that was in this I just stuck mainly to the story stuff, which was actually really good. And it was certainly interesting to play what is essentially an FPS where you don't actually use any guns. Jet Dragon: Decided to see what was going on with Apple Arcade recently as well. Mainly planning to revisit Pocket Card Jockey, which I did play for a bit, but having already played it so much on 3DS it wasn't long before I was checking out new stuff. That was when Jet Dragon caught my eye, actually, it was more the developer, Grezzo. That's right, the same devs that have done various projects for Nintendo, including the 3DS version of OoT, StreetPass Garden, Link's Awakening remake on Switch, etc. As far as I can see, this is their very first original and self-published title. Anyway, the game is pretty weird. You get the impression that it's just a racing game, but it's kind of more like a management sim. You do race (a lot) but it's always an on rails type of setup where all you're in direct control of is boosting and (if you choose to) attacking/defending. Outside of races you have to train riders, recruit and allocate staff to oversee various areas of your base, breed and level up dragons, and set the price of products to sell in order to finance all of the previous activities. Then it's simply a case of progressing through multiple seasons of races while keeping an eye on dragon/rider stamina and condition with the goal of rising a dragon up to master rank. It's nothing remarkably interesting and the gameplay loop is super repetitive, but I somehow found it compelling enough to play through to the credits (reaching master rank). I think the foundations are definitely there for something pretty cool, but it probably needs a few more ideas and some extra polish. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: The only new Switch game I've played this year, but what a game! It's basically BotW on steroids, but that's absolutely fine by me. How they managed to get something as ambitious as this running so well on Switch is a complete mystery, but the tech wizards at Nintendo really outdid themselves this time. The way you could solve puzzles and tackle combat in such unexpected and creative ways was always one of my favourite things about BotW, and TotK takes that aspect to an entirely new level with the addition of Ultrahand. Being able to combine objects so intuitively in order to make all sorts of creations is pretty much a game all by itself! There were just so many surprising moments while playing this game, countless occasions when I'd think to myself "surely that won't work" but most of the time, it did! It's a game that massively rewards experimentation, creativity and exploration. An exemplary showcase of adventure game design, which I'm sure will continue being a blueprint for many years to come. That's not to say it was all roses in the garden of Hyrule though... Yeah, I really wasn't a fan of the underground area. Not being able to see where you're going half the time, while simultaneously getting attacked by enemies and the terrain itself was not so fun. Also, there were a couple of occasions where I kind of struggled to make progress and consequently even lost the motivation to return to the game for a while. It's weird, but with there being so much going on in such a massive world, it makes it difficult to decide what to do/where to go next. The sheer amount of content and freedom you're presented with can become a hindrance. A strange thing to criticise a game for, I guess, but from what I can gather I was not alone in being overwhelmed by TotK at times. Don't recall that being an issue for me with BotW either, I think they just may have packed a little bit too much into TotK. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen: Brilliant action RPG! It feels like a 6th gen Elden Ring mixed with Monster Hunter. It's also got a really cool asynchronous multiplayer mechanic whereby you create an additional character at the start of the game (a pawn) to accompany you on your adventure, which other players can also hire to aid them in their own playthrough, further leveling up your pawn and earning you rewards based on their performance. Despite Dark Arisen being a slightly revamped version of Dragon's Dogma (which originally released in 2012) it continues to have an old-school vibe in both its presentation and gameplay, but as is the case with other stuff I've played (the older Yakuza and Monster Hunter titles spring to mind) that simply adds to the charm for me. If there's anyone reading this that has never played it I highly recommend checking it out! It's also frequently available at a very reduced price (got my copy for around 3 quid! ) but there is a lot of content in it, so yeah, that was definitely bargain of the year (perhaps even decade) for me. One thing is for sure, while the original may have slipped under my radar for a long time, I sure as hell won't be sleeping on the sequel. Resident Evil Village: The most recent game I've played through, and in doing so I'm all caught up with my Resident Evil marathon on PC. Well, apart from RE4 remake, but I'm not in any hurry to start that having played the original version so many times on multiple platforms! Anyway, Village was yet another fantastic RE experience. I like how they managed to keep the style of RE7 but made the gameplay much more engaging, it's pretty much a perfect balance between the slower paced horror/puzzle aspects of old and the newer action based stuff. Yep, you definitely get the best of both worlds with this Resi, OTT action and some super creepy horror. Actually, I'd go as far as to say that this game might just have the best horror segment of any other entry in the entire series! Won't mention the specifics here in case anyone is yet to experience it, but those that already have will know exactly what I'm talking about. The only real issue I have with Village is there being quite a lot of unskippable walking/dialogue parts (especially at the beginning of the game) which have hampered my enjoyment on subsequent playthroughs. I wish developers would stop adding sections like that, or at the very least make them optional after the first instance. It really messes with replayability and speed running. But aside from that, a truly excellent game. Capcom are still very much delivering the goods with the Resident Evil series, and it's now only a couple of games away from entering into my top 3 most played games by franchise! Which currently looks like this: 1. The Legend of Zelda 2. Super Mario 3. Pokémon Game Freak, get your shit together if you want to hang on to the 3rd spot! OK, that's all for now.

Cool. I get to use this again:

My character swapping shenanigans may have given me an idea for a theme night. Has there ever been a swap character in-between every single race theme? 2 birds with 1 shell!

This was hilarious: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1909399137?t=2h12m38s

Not too long to go for this now! Will definitely be checking it out via Game Pass. The ship creation aspect looks so cool, that's like an entire game for me already with that feature alone. Anyway, hopefully Starfield as a whole lives up to the hype and is fun to play. I just love the look and vibe of it all, but then again the same was true of No Man's Sky... which I couldn't seem to get into.

Oh, I see. Yeah, don't think Nintendo would be particularly aware of or bothered by any of that, at least not in Japan. NoA/E might get their knickers in a twist over it though.