Dufniall

Okay, just watched it! Too bad Nintendo spoilered Splatoon 3 in their mailing to me but for the rest I went in spoiler-free. And it's a good one! Nice to see a Nintendo character enter Smash, although it is another sword user. The Final Fantasy Tactics x Octopath game looks great as well. Fall Guys is a nice get, and The Outer Wilds is supposed to be amazing although I'll probably pick it up on the PC. Plants vs. Zombies makes me wish they would just make a new tower defence game in the series, I loved them. Nice to have a release date on No More Heroes 3, although I still need to play 1 and 2. Mario Golf obviously, looks good enough. And the glorious return of Miis in both Golf and Miitopia (can't believe they are porting Miitopia of all games). Skyward Sword HD: the graphical style doesn't really hold up does it? If you look at these environments like the grassland, there is no detail in there at all. This should have been a HD collection along with Wind Waker and Twilight Princess for €60 (or even €75). Just wait and see them bringing WW and TP over for €50 as well... Happy anniversary! And Splatoon 3, loved how slow that trailer's first half was haha. I can't wait to play it, and showing it now I think is just a way to show Nintendo have things going on on the long run. Only doubt I have if it will have enough new stuff to justify a follow-up. Disappointments: No Galaxy 2, no Nintendo Online upgrade, no news about Mario Kart. No Tony Hawk.

It's tricky to see the interesting aspects of an area you know so well. What kind of photos do you usually take? It may be good to take a different subject. Go for nature, macro, urbex, portraits or anything you normally wouldn't do. Maybe it can also help to change perspective. Go for a place high up or lay on the floor.

I finished Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion. It takes a bit of a different approach compared to other bios I've read. First of all most bios of musician's I read were of individuals like Moby, Johnny Cash, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and Lemmy from Motörhead. This covers the whole band so a lot more different people are involved. It also is less heavy on the touring anecdotes (which is a shame cause I love these), but it goes a bit more into the lyrics, concepts and recording so that is pretty interesting. The only real gripe is that it is sometimes a bit too pretentious. All in all a good read. Now I'm reading Pet Sematary by Stephen King. After finishing a biography, it's always nice to read something easier after, so nothing from a series, or non-fiction. I'm about a quarter in and for now yeah, a classic Stephen King I'd say.

Third Party sizzle reel New Kirby game "Please understand... delay of game X"

I'm enjoying my time with this. I've played it quite a bit over the weekend and I believe I'm approaching the end of the normal playthrough. I can see how this is a favourite for some. The game oozes charm, the soundtrack is great, there is a good variety in the levels and the bitesize level format works great and makes it much more "pick up and play" compared to for example Odyssey. On the other hand it doesn't have the extremely clever ideas you can find in Odyssey or Galaxy (2). The game is pretty easy, especially in the early levels, and it has some of the worst boss fights in a Mario game (the Bowser ones are terrible). For me I think it will end up being a solid 8. Saturday I've spend an hour or so playing online with @BowserBasher and @Nicktendo and it was quite a smooth experience. There was hardly any lag and setting up a lobby is quick and easy. Nicktendo and BowserBasher were on voice chat, but I wasn't and what I'm missing here is any form of in-game communication. Some quick emotes (what we really need is the ironic hand-clap from the (S)NES online!) would be nice. I wonder if the bump in speed is intentional, or an unwanted side effect of porting the game and they just decided to leave it like this as it is not game breaking?

Got Mario 3D World in today, but I also found the 3 3DS games pretty cheap second-hand. I played 3D Land but sold it on after finishing it. But it was so cheap now I wanted it in the collection again. Tennis and NSMB2 I never played before.

Just finished World 1 as well and as a first timer I have to say, loving it! Well, besides maybe the obligatory bad to control racing style level but I guess every 3D Mario needs these (go home Plessie!). It has the same charm 3D Land had. I already knew the cat power up from Mario Maker but it's great to use it in full 3D.

It's here! Can't wait to get started with it. If anyone wants to test the online multiplayer this weekend let me know, I'm definitely up for it.

It's always interesting to hear how people get on with the Zelda series, especially as every game has its own unique elements and different styles. I love Zelda as a series, although it's not my favourite IP of all time. It started with A Link To The Past, a game which we had on the SNES. I was quite young still, so I wasn't really trying to finish it but just going around whacking everything with the sword. My brother who is 5 years older played it as well but couldn't finish it, and after not that long a time he traded it in for Super Soccer. I played it later on an emulator, but really played it intensely and finished it on the Game Boy Advance. In general I actually prefer the 2D ones over the 3D ones. The big exception here is Breath of the Wild which is just the best Zelda game. But besides that I prefer Link's Awakening, Phantom Hourglass and A Link Between Worlds over Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and yes, Ocarina of Time. I don't know what it is, I think I enjoy the top-down dungeons a lot more than the 3D counterparts. But I think it also helps I played a lot more handheld Nintendo in general in those days. Out of the main game series (not counting the remakes as separate ones) I never played Majora's Mask and Skyward Sword, so they are definitely on my list for completionist goals. Zelda and Zelda II on the NES I've played on the NES app, but I haven't finished them (yet). As a matter of fact I started Triforce Heroes yesterday, and it is very charming but I can see how it won't be a perfect experience in single player. I posted about getting the game before and I think some people were saying they want to play it again so if you do, let me know! Maybe a question for next week if you guys are diving into the spin-offs: We've seen Link in Soul Calibur, we had Hyrule Legends which is a Warriors-type game, and we got the cross-over with Cadence of Hyrule. Where would you like to see Link or Zelda appear in or cross over with?

I used to use Flickr when I was still posting photos, but haven't used it in years so I'm not sure if that is still a good place. An other option may be setting up a personal website and posting on Instagram and linking to your own site.

Plus wouldn't that lead to people frantically withdrawing cash? I know I wouldn't keep my savings in the bank at negative interest but just shove it in a fireproof safe at home. But yeah, interest now is horrible. I got quite a nice sum saved up and I gained not even 2(!) euros of interest. It's already costing more to keep my account open than I gain from interest. But apparently switching banks can be quite a hassle, and interest is bad almost everywhere. Even longer-term savings (like putting money away for 20 years) only slightly increases interest. It's a shame I know balls about investing, so probably we will just use our savings to quickly improve the house's energy label, that might net the most in the future.

I had some issues with my New Nintendo 3DS last week so I'm just going to post it here in case someone runs into similar problems. I was playing Rhythm Thief (installed on the microSD card) and the game kept crashing at the same point. I then tried to back-up the save data and delete the game from the 3DS menu in the hope that a redownload would fix the crash. However, the 3DS wouldn't let me delete the game, or create the back-up file. I tried deleting something else (an old demo) and that didn't work either; could not delete the demo. So I took out my microSD, copied the contents to another microSD, placed it in and tried deleting Rhythm Thief again. Now it worked! Redownloaded the game and kept the save file, so I could resume my playthrough and not another crash was seen. I took a closer look to the removed microSD card on my PC and I couldn't remove stuff from there, apparently write protection was on. Tried removing it via a couple of ways but I can't get write protection off, so my conclusion is the SD card is busted.

Yep, I agree. All four answers are correct, especially in the way you state the question and answers.

I completed a couple of games in the past week, so instead of saving it up until the end of the month I'll share my thoughts now as the memory is still fresh: Steamworld Dig (Nintendo 3DS) I was in the mood for a shorter game and I still had this on my 3DS unplayed, so it was time to finally start this game. It was originally released in 2013, I didn’t know it was that old! It received quite a bit of praise back in the day, and I think in some parts it still holds up, but it’s also been overtaken by other, newer indie MetroidVanias. I think most here have played the game or know it, so I won’t go into the details. Basically your goal is to dig as deep as you can in a randomly generated world, and on the go you will unlock upgrades that make traversing easier and digging faster. I liked the cycle of digging to acquire upgrades to dig deeper to acquire upgrades etc. Although it’s a bit repetitive, you want to keep going and there is always an upgrade in sight that unlocks new options. The game looks good enough, and the steampunk Western setting is pretty entertaining. It wasn’t a hard game, and it is pretty short as well. I reached the end after only 4 hours, so it’s a game you can easily breeze through. I think the puzzle segments could have been a bit more interesting/harder, and it’s a shame there is only one boss battle. Still, I’ve wishlisted Steamworld Dig 2 on the eShop as 1 was pretty enjoyable and I believe the sequel adds a bit more diversity so that can only be good. Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure (Nintendo 3DS) This is another game that has been on my 3DS forever (I think it was part of the 3DS Humble Bundle) but a game I never finished. I had around 4-5 hours of playtime on the clock, so I decided to end it once and for all. Rhythm Thief can best be described as Professor Layton, where the puzzles are traded in for rhythm games. You take on the role of Phantom R, a thief who ends up in a plot where Napoleon wants to regain power. The game takes place in Paris, and it is fun to see a real existing location in a game like this. Rhythm Thief as said has a lot of similarities with Professor Layton. There are animated cutscenes, locations are presented as static 2D images complete with medals and secrets found by tapping the right spot. The biggest difference is that this is a rhythm game, and not a puzzle game. These rhythm games use the 3DS in a bunch of different ways. There are touch games where you have to slide the stylus to do dance moves or play the violin, games that require button inputs and there was a game that uses the gyro as well. I noticed that with some rhythm games, I actually found it pretty hard to get the beat, and it took me a few tries to complete it. The game can also be quite harsh and a few mistakes already can lead to a failed game. The music is not always very catchy which is not helping. But luckily there are some good minigames as well, and the overall presentation, cast of characters and story is entertaining enough so all in all I enjoyed my time with it. I finished it in around 7 hours and after that I played around a bit to unlock 2 of the 3 extra chapters (the third one involves getting the A rank on all minigames and I wasn’t up for that yet). I’m curious if we ever get a sequel as the story leaves plenty of room for it, but I’m guessing no. Resident Evil 6 - Chris’s campaign (PC) After completing Leon’s and Ada’s campaigns in Resident Evil 6, it was time for Chris to shine. I enjoyed Leon’s and Ada’s story. Leon comes closest to the Resident Evil 4 feeling, especially in the areas around and under the church. Meanwhile Ada has a more stealthy approach which felt fairly fresh. Chris’s campaign was a bit of a mess though. No zombies, only J’avo and BOWs and most of the time you go in all guns blazing. I took down choppers with a grenade launcher, had a ridiculous car chase and experienced some bad QTE sequences with sloppy cameras. I can see how this game received mixed reviews with so much variation between the different campaigns. I can see what Capcom tried to do here and kudos for trying different approaches for different characters, but Chris’s campaign is a miss. Also he’s a pretty moody guy, cheer up Chris! So now I only have Jake’s campaign left, curious to see which way this pans out. Going by the cross-over moments with Jake in the other campaigns, at least I think he will have an interesting story.

It's waterproof so I guess they wanted to show that. So yes, I think they did dip it in the sink!

Does it have anything to do with that Winx Club cartoon that was on Nickelodeon? Finished Alice in Borderland which was a pretty entertaining first season. It's not often I think this, but they could have dragged out the first half of the season in a whole season and made the second part the second season (without going into spoilers there are certain events happening halfway that leads to quite a different dynamic). The season ended with a major cliffhanger/open end so I'm hoping it gets a season 2 and this doesn't get the pull-the-plug treatment. Currently I'm watching The Queen's Gambit with the misses, and I'm enjoying it.

My mouse scroll wheel wasn't registering clicks anymore, so instead of doing the sensible thing and just buy a new mouse I got myself this combination (because you just can't have a non-matching mouse and keyboard!): Steelseries Apex 3 and Rival 3. Yes, RGB, finally! Joke's aside, it's nice to have a fresh keyboard as well as now I notice how stubborn my old one got. The wrist support is a nice extra as well. Didn't want to go mechanical for the keyboard because of the clickity-clack and the price, but so far it feels pretty good.

I think @Jonnas has struck gold with his guess. I googled the song and I didn't realise it was such a classic, covered so many times! About the podcast, good call to cut it in half because 3 hours would have been too much for one sitting I reckon. When listening myself I notice that after an hour I start to drift and loose concentration while listening, so often I cut my personal listening in 2 and listen about half on one day and the rest on another day. Interesting news about Astral Chain, I wonder what it means besides the fact that it won't show up on any other platform soon. How is it now with Bayonetta, is that in full Nintendo license or still split between Platinum and Nintendo? Anyway, it's an incredible game and I really enjoyed my time with it. To be honest I would be a bit hesitant seeing another developer use this IP but we'll see. I've recently played through DKC again and I share @nekunando's sentiment here that the first one is the best one. However, I have big nostalgia for that one as it's the only one I played on the SNES, the other ones I only played on emulators later on. So I'm going open into DKC2 soon and I wonder if my opinion changes if I turn down my nostalgia glasses! I drifted away a bit during the racing game/PS4 part, because I don't have much interest in either. I don't mind hearing about PS stuff though, despite being an Nintendo-themed podcast it's good to hear what "the competition" is doing. But since I don't have the system or the desire for racers I kind of buzzed out here. But all in all a good episode once again, it always brightens up a boring work day haha. Curious to hear the in-depth Zelda talk! I didn't quite get the end, are you planning to release this next week as 63-b or can we expect two episodes next week?