RedShell

Only 2 worlds left to go now (I think) I don't want this game to end though!

Peach's frying pan miss: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1956969569?t=1h47m42s Cheers for the games. By the way @Glen-i @BowserBasher @S.C.G @Dcubed, would you lot be ok with going with the original plan of custom stages for 30 mins at 19:30 from now on, instead of at 22:00? I'm finding it really difficult to keep my eyes open (sorry ) for Smash Bros. that late these days.

I wasn't keeping track of how many attempts it took me, although it was certainly a few more than 3. Maybe around 10... Anyway, I blame Joy-Con drift! And yes, I am using the "D-Pad" to play, but sometimes drift kicks in on the left stick randomly (without even touching it) which still messes me up. So what's everyone's opinion on Mario's new voice? Apart from the very first "It's-a-me!" on the character select screen (that sounded a little bit weird to me) I think the new guy has pretty much nailed it. Not that it's a very difficult voice to mimic but yeah, seems like they made a good choice for Martinet's replacement.

My word, Nintendo are known for releasing polished games but it's like they've gone completely crazy with this. So much variety and attention to detail. The animation in particular is just magnificent. Anyway, I've just stumbled into...

This game is glorious! Love the little screenshots it does after each stage (already have some classics ) shame they don't appear to be saved in the Switch's album though (I've been manually taking captures to save them) or is there an option to enable that somewhere? Yeah, I managed to help someone find a hidden block/vine that they were obviously struggling with by just jumping up and down directly underneath it while using the greetings feature. Other players shadows have also helped me out several times too. It's a simple system, but it works very well.

So Starfield was looking all set to be the game for September, and while I did complete a playthrough, it ended up being quite the disappointment and also got massively overshadowed by several surprise games. I just found the pace of it to be way too slow, things took absolutely ages to get going and once they finally did, the story was over! Having to do so much via the menus was also a real chore as they were badly designed, sluggish and needlessly confusing. Didn't think much of the gameplay either, it was all super generic stuff and basically consists of following waypoints to collect items, shoot some enemies (in often very flaky action sequences) rinse and repeat. There were many issues with bugs as well, like NPCs randomly freaking out and clipping through terrain, or casually trying to converse with you during combat, it all felt incredibly unpolished. Perhaps in the future (with lots of patches and mods) it could potentially be a great game, but for now it's nothing that special unfortunately. F-Zero 99: This was the first nail in Starfield's coffin a surprise announcement from a Nintendo Direct that couldn't have been any more tailor-made for me. All of the 99 (oh- and a 35 ) Switch Online titles have been fun, but this one is extra special for being based on a franchise that I love and my favourite entry in the series, but it also just feels a lot more like you're in an actual battle royale than any of the others, what with all players being plonked on a single racetrack. That also makes it ludicrously chaotic, distractingly so at times, but every race is exhilarating as a result. Anyway, It's fantastic to see F-Zero finally making a return in some form, it's probably not in the way most people were expecting or wanting, but I personally think this was a good initial step in bringing it back and hopefully one that will create some brand new fans and helps pave the way for more F-Zero games going forward. Lies of P: OK, this one came out of nowhere and really took me by surprise, a Dark Souls/Bloodborne-esque game, by a Korean developer that I'd never heard of, based on... The Adventures of Pinocchio!? Yep, and you know what? It's phenomenal! While the gameplay is hugely inspired by From Software's established action-RPG style, it is so unbelievably well made that had I played it without knowing the developer beforehand I would've sworn it was done by Fromsoft! Usually these type of blatant imitations have that cheap knockoff vibe going on, but there is absolutely none of that here, Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio really did their homework, and then some. That applies to the look, sound and feel of the game, and also (unsurprisingly) to its difficulty. The presentation is fantastic, I love the dark atmosphere with the whole creepy puppets thing and early 1900s style they've got going on, and having played suffered through several titles of this gameplay style previously I felt at home with the controls and game mechanics very quickly. That didn't make things any easier though, as in this game your only assistance comes in the form of CPU controlled summons and only for boss battles, no online coop at all, which combined with lots of bosses that have a 2nd phase, let's just say it was a very tough journey for me. But I stuck with it, I had no choice, everything about the game was just so amazing that I simply had to "git gud" and see it through to the end! And in a very unusual twist when it comes to these kind of brutally difficult games, I'm even feeling compelled to torture myself some more and check out NG+ on this! That's how good it is. So yeah, to anyone who's a fan of the souls formula I simply cannot recommend Lies of P enough, and honestly at the moment it's all set to be my game of 2023, in the same year as Zelda TotK! Cocoon: Yet another surprise gem, a very short but oh so sweet puzzle-adventure game. Now I'm not the biggest fan of puzzles, mainly because I'm a bit thick at solving them but this game and all of its challenges are so well designed that I think playing it actually made me a little bit smarter! Every aspect of Cocoon is beautifully designed, there's no HUD, no dialogue, no instruction whatsoever, yet you just grab the controller start playing and it all falls into place. I love that. The game's main feature, and what makes it a lot of fun, is how you can pick up and carry the worlds (in the form of a coloured sphere) around with you, even into other spheres/worlds. Where things get really interesting (not to mention mental) is when the actions you perform inside one world will effect another, and the further you progress the more complex these interactions become. The end-game involves such a crazy amount of jumping between spheres and interplanetary mechanics that it's almost too much to get your head around! But it feels incredible once you figure it all out (pretty sure I had to use parts of my brain that are usually dormant in order to do so ) it's definitely the most mind-blowing gaming experience I've ever had! For anyone that hasn't played it (especially if you've become bored or disillusioned with video games) do yourself a favour and play Cocoon.

Yeah, nicely played with Samus on that last match. The fight on Pandemonium had me in stitches once again, especially this: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1945302553?t=2h25m55s That single bash on the head with the toy hammer just before the throw, genius! I've been trying to fix/modify a few more custom stages recently, you might have noticed a couple of additional platforms on the Epic Flail stage, to make it a bit more forgiving. They can actually be permanently removed during the match (individually or both at the same time) which reverts the stage to its original layout, but it didn't happen last night. I can't remember exactly which of the various items or final smashes detonate the stage builder bomb blocks. @Glen-i do you know? I'm pretty sure there was a list online somewhere but I can't seem to find it now. Anyway, cheers for the games everyone!

I did not know that. After 900+ hours of playing this game!

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.