RedShell

Damn, that was quick @Glen-i! Nicely edited vid. Someone should send the combo sandwich part to Sakurai as feedback for the next patch.

So I see Smash Bros. Ultimate has become pay-to-win. Have to say, it did feel a bit like that for me during those matches last night, much more so than any other newcomer party. Although the fact that I’m not actually very good with Ryu could also be a contributing factor. But yeah, I reckon Kazuya could definitely do with some nerfs. Being on the receiving end of a 10-hit combo is actually incredibly annoying, think I only managed to escape it once the entire time we were playing! Then there’s the range on his final smash, which is simply ridiculous. It basically covers the entire width of the screen! And even if you succeed in dodging the first hit, you’ll get caught up in the main part of the attack anyway. So yeah, it was a bit of a frustrating session. There were some fun moments though, like that never ending combo sandwich. An instant N-E Smash Bros. classic right there! Can’t wait to see it again. The new stage is cool too. The way it breaks apart is spectacular! Speaking of stages, I actually had a new custom stage made up (that was quite fitting for the characters we were using) but didn’t get a chance to test it so didn’t select it yesterday. The reason being that it had the potential to cause an infinite sudden death, and getting stuck in that online would not be fun. Looks like it’s OK though, so next time we do time or stamina battles I’ll chuck it into the mix.

I'll choose Ryu.

I just don't see them ending it on a single character reveal. At this point it doesn't matter who it is, disappointment is basically guaranteed. No, I reckon they'll reveal the "final" fighter, do the moveset showcase, demonstration, Mii costumes etc. as usual and then right at the end, as Sakurai is delivering his closing message... Smash logo transition- Surprise! There's actually 1 more fighter barging in! As for who that could be, well of course, it's Walugi. There has undoubtedly been a lot of ongoing demand for him to be included and it won't have gone unnoticed by Nintendo. Plus, it'd mean I get a point in the roster prediction. Sure, there would still be many people left disappointed, everyone that doesn't care for the final character or Waluigi but I still think Nintendo would get a much better overall reaction by doing something like that, and probably a big increase in DLC purchases too. I like the way you think. But man, some of the stuff in that game would not go down well today.

It would be different if I still had decent reflexes, but unfortunately I don’t. *Grandpa Simpson* It’ll happen to you! Don’t get me wrong, I definitely still enjoy 4 player battles, it’s just that half of the time I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on!

Today I learned that I much prefer Smash Bros. when it’s 1v1. Actually, I already knew that. But yeah, it’s just so much easier for me to keep track of what’s going on... most of the time at least. And yeah, a few of those fights were actually pretty close, which I wasn’t expecting. Anyway, cheers for the games!

Rain on Your Parade: A very silly game (just how I like 'em ) where you take control of a cloud, fly around raining on various people/stuff and causing as much mayhem as possible. Super simple idea but it's well executed and there's lots of variety to keep it entertaining throughout, including many subtle (and not so subtle ) nods to other games. I particularly enjoyed the Metal Gear and Zelda inspired stages. You can customise your cloud by drawing a new face for it (naturally I turned mine into Baby Face ) and also equip various accessories which are unlocked as you clear stages. It doesn't take too long to get through the game and it never gets particularly challenging either, but it was certainly an enjoyable experience which provided many laughs along the way. Game Builder Garage: Once I'd fully completed all of the tutorials, puzzles and additional lessons, I was excited to start messing around with this software and make my own stuff, but truth is the sheer complexity of it all has been somewhat off-putting. Unlike WarioWare D.I.Y or Super Mario Maker, where there is more of an emphasis on the creative/artistic side of things, Game Builder Garage is very much focused on the programming and mathematical aspects of game creation. Of course I was well aware of this fact going into it, but figured that with Nintendo's user-friendly approach it wouldn't be too bad. However, I'm still incredibly confused by many of the Nodon in the software, especially the ones which never actually got any form of explanation throughout the tutorials! As a result I'm not really sure how much I'll end up getting out of this in terms of creating. Hopefully I can get my head around it enough to at least put something together, but chances are I'll mainly end up playing other people's stuff instead. Some of the early examples I've checked out have already been incredibly impressive, so I have no doubt there's going to be some really cool things eventually made with this. Played a perfect recreation of the Karate Man game from Rhythm Tengoku the other day, it mainly used the built-in GBG assets, but the gameplay was absolutely spot-on! Taking a look at the "code" for that one had my jaw on the floor. So yeah, while GBG is an extremely powerful tool, it's definitely nowhere near as accessible as Nintendo's other creation titles, particularly for anyone that is more about art than numbers, or you know, just old. Yep, would've been nice to have this 30 years ago... Oh no, I've turned into the Grumpy old man "N-E logo" Nodon!: Completed: Tetris Effect: Connected (PC) Doom Eternal (PC) Dragon Quest XI (PC) The Medium (PC) Yakuza 3 Remastered (PC) UnderMine (PC) Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) Levelhead (PC) Superhot: Mind Control Delete (PC) Sea of Thieves (PC) Doom (PC) Monster Hunter Rise (Switch) World of Demons (Apple TV) The Wild at Heart (PC) Just Cause 4 (PC) Rain on Your Parade (PC) Game Builder Garage (Switch) Played for a while: Cyber Shadow (PC) Control (PC) Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (PC) Yakuza 4 Remastered (PC) Wreckfest (PC) Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat (Apple TV) Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker (Apple TV/Mobile) Clap Hanz Golf (Apple TV) Dragon Quest Builders 2 (PC) The Swords of Ditto: Mormo's Curse (PC) Older games that I'm still playing regularly: Mario Kart Tour (Mobile) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)

I spent more time on the arcade version of the original Cruis'n USA than I care to admit. Was a teenager back then though, and you got a lot of gameplay for your 20p. In fact, sometimes you wouldn't even need to pay, as getting 1st place was so easy the machine was often just abandoned on a free play!: Also played the sequel (Cruis'n World) a little bit, but nothing else in the series since then. Looks like there have been 4 more games made in that time, with Blast being the latest. But yeah, I certainly don't plan to get this any time soon/ever. It's bad enough my poor ears got subjected to the atrocious music in that trailer. The song just randomly popped into my head again the other day at which point I was like...

The weapon is the fully upgraded Rampage Hunting horn but it’s layered to look/sound like one of the silly weapons. As for the move, yeah it was just the finisher on a Wyvern ride. I couldn’t believe how perfect it ended up being though!

Yep, same here. We need a stability update more than ever!

So this happened during the latest event quest: It’s only low rank, but man, that was super satisfying!

Sorry, I lost track of your theme there for a second, and the image that you posted wasn’t showing up at the time. But why was Zelda not part of the selection again? I hope you got that moment when I reflected the chicken. Not sure if it was on a custom stage actually. But yeah, I never get the timing right on those sort of things so was pretty pleased with that.

So, that was much better than expected! Personal highlight was obviously WarioWare, but I have to say I really did enjoy the reveal of Metroid Dread (despite not being so keen on the 2D games) and I'm super happy for all the fans that have been waiting for such a long time! Advance Wars remake was a fantastic moment too! I have both of the originals so won't be picking up Re-Boot Camp, but this is probably the most tempted I've ever been to get one of these Switch re-releases. Monkey Ball remaster (with the correct game/s this time ) was obviously nice to see. But again, I've played them both to death (I'm serious... I lost a bloody GCN controller to these games! ) so it's not for me. Oh yeah- the latest Smash character reveal. Great stuff! No quibble with that choice at all, and while it won't see me purchasing FP2 I'm looking forward to seeing Kazuya in action in the dedicated vid, and then of course to find myself on the receiving end of some 10 hit combos in the N-E newcomer online session. Hopefully they make good choices when it comes to adding music from Tekken though. Aim to Win definitely needs to be in there. Just remembered something else, Shin Megami Tensei V. No idea why as I have no history with the series and it's blatantly not my type of game, it also looks pretty rough, but for some reason I'm contemplating checking it out. What the hell is going on? As for something that is very much my cup of tea... BotW 2. It looks absolutely brilliant, wish they could've showed a bit more really. Not sure if I truly believe it will make 2022, but I certainly can't wait to play it whenever it does arrive. All great stuff, but there were a few negatives. It's a shame we didn't get anything at all on Bayonetta 3. And "Switch Pro" remains a mystery. Also, as much as I'm hyped for BotW 2, I think ending on it wasn't the best idea. I know there had already been several new projects revealed in that Direct, but if they could've just scraped together a little something from one of the still secret in-development titles, you know, just to end it on a surprise, I think that would've been the icing on the E3 Direct cake. But yeah, overall pretty happy with what we got. And considering the ongoing issues caused by coronavirus I think Nintendo actually did very well indeed.

So far I've watched the Xbox and a bit of the Capcom event (really couldn't handle the "enthusiasm" of the presenter on that one though so stopped it immediately after the MH segment), gave everything else a miss. By the looks of things, I haven't missed much as a result. Here's hoping Nintendo have a decent (yeah, let's go with decent ) showing later on, although I'm probably the least excited I've ever been for an E3 Direct.

No objections here. You probably won’t get much of a kick out of its awesome 1980s vibe (unlike us old farts ) but hopefully you enjoy the game regardless.

Great news for those that haven’t played it yet. @Glen-i, I believe you were waiting for it to come out on Game Pass, right?

Best part of the entire trailer!

Yeah, the localisation seems top-notch in this. And the fact the ”N-E logo” Nodon is portrayed as a miserable old fart is bloody hilarious.

Cheers. Unfortunately we didn’t really see much of the one way ceiling’s shenanigans yesterday (the item that attaches to characters and then carries them up is particularly hilarious/useless on that stage! ) but yeah, it can definitely produce some fun moments. As for regular KO’s, it’s actually not too bad (I think ) as that was one of the objectives I had in mind when creating it. Wanted it to be enclosed (similar to my infinity and Mario Paint data bot stages) but not so much that it then becomes impossible to get launched off screen. It’s obviously impossible to be launched upwards on it, but both sides are actually open (just got to get past that strong wind first ) and it’s technically also possible to KO via the 2 pits, as at a high enough damage % characters will be travelling so fast they bypass the warp zones!

That moment almost killed me! Cheers for the games!

I take it you’re referring to this?: It’s actually a stage that I’d been making for a while but could never seem to complete. I also wanted to make something related to Game Builder Garage though, so decided to just modify this existing stage rather than make a new one from scratch, and to my surprise it worked out pretty well. Not been able to test it much but it should be perfect for stamina battles. It also has an unusual mechanic that will almost certainly break certain items, assist trophies and final smash moves, so err… yeah, look forward to that.

Apparently not, no. Evade Window/Extender is indeed an awesome skill combo though, have used it myself in the past but wasn’t able to get in on my latest armour set unfortunately. Extender is especially great if you use a Palico as your buddy though, because it massively enhances Wirebug movement too! Nothing more fun than outrunning hunters on Palamutes by basically flying everywhere.

So, not long to go for this now. Who here at N-E is planning some game building?

Shame to hear you guys aren't enjoying Rise so much. It's the complete opposite for me, over 300 hours played now and I'm still loving it! Currently working my way through the monster list, unlocking their titles and trying to get all the large/small crowns. I also keep changing weapons and switch skills regularly, which is definitely helping to keep the game fresh. Not had any desire to return to MH World myself, which funnily enough is now my least played MH game of the lot, at dead-on 100 hours. Don't tell me you never even got caught out by its... Took me a while to figure out how the hell you avoid that thing, and even now it can still be tricky. Also, the amount of people that continue to cart to that attack when playing online is quite remarkable.

Do you often use it? The only times I’ve ever used the kick stand since owning a Switch, has been during the building of Labo kits. So probably around 10 to 20 hours in total. Oh, and one other time to insert a microSD card. But yeah, even though I’m not particularly fussed, I do agree that it’s super flimsy and could definitely do with a redesign.