Nicktendo

Best supported Nintendo System since the SNES (excluding Wii and DS because shovelware does not = support). It's the first time in a long time that being a "Nintendo only" gamer has not left me feel like I'm really missing out. More quality content than you can shake a stick at. Shame it's Nintendo that have been slacking, their output has been rather poor in year 2 and 3. We had high hopes of WiiU + 3DS levels of output and it just hasn't come to fruition, unfortunately. Perfect indie machine, but pricing is an issue that needs to be addressed. Other consoles get lower prices and better / more regular sales. However, they have struck gold with the form factor. For the future, I'd like to see them expand on the Switch concept. The lite is a good move - cheap dedicated handheld device. I'd like to see them expand on this and experiment with a more powerful "home only" device, or a beefier Switch that switches. Of course that would need a better account / save cloud set up to support multiple systems in a more streamlined manner, so I'm sceptical. I'm still excited about the "family of systems" they talked about, so with the competition about to upgrade, I think late this year / early next is the time to take this concept to the next level. They need to raise their game in the software department, but MP4 and BOTW 2 both have me very excited. I'd like to see more in terms of new concepts / IPs going forward, along the lines of Labo and Ring Fit, but more "traditional".

My god, that song. Absolutely balls-to-the-wall incredible rendition. I really hope this game comes to PC

I'd really rather not do that

With speed it won't help too much, but it should assist them with tyre wear, which has notoriously been weaker than the Red Bull's. Saying that though, they've had problems with their engines, so they may have a few reliability problems in the early part of the season, even if they're fast. Hopefully someone else will take charge of the championship early on and Mercedes will be forced to claw their way back. Nice one, I'll have to give this a shot if Sky stop letting EU countries have access to Sky Go. It baffles me why I can't get F1TV Pro here because in the Baltic's they don't even have an official F1 broadcaster, I literally have no "legal" way of watching it on TV/Cable/Online. I know the populations are small and insignificant in the grand scheme, but you'd have thought it would be the perfect place to have an online sub Don't see the point in having the race up on access after it finishes when they could just show everything live.

I think Lewis will win the title again but will be pushed harder this year by Max (hopefully Valterri too). All the inter-team battles are quite tasty this year so I don’t mind if Merc walk it, everything else should be fascinating. F1 isn’t even shown where I am, but luckily my brother gave me access to his Sky account and SkyGo works here thanks to EU legislation. I subscribed To F1TV too, but we can only get Access for €26 a year, not Pro. They do show races “after the session”, so if I miss one, I can catch up there almost immediately. How does it work with a VPN then? Everything I’ve read suggests their detection is really good and that for it to work, you need to purchase it with a credit card from the region you plan to watch from. Where are you living now? What did you set your region to?

I can see where you’re coming from about Mercedes domination, but last year, bar a couple of duds, was a fantastic year with some incredible races and sub-stories. Some of the most exciting races in years. It’s a shame Sky have it on lockdown in the U.K., but the YouTube content was really good last year. An eight-minute highlight package isn’t the best was to maintain interest, but I think they do a good job overall. Hopefully F1TV will go global soon! (I think Sky’s deal ends in 2024). If you don’t want to pay for Sky, there are other means of watching races... And you should! I have a feeling this will be a very close season.

Segwaying off from my Bad Stuff thread post, one thing I noticed was that we used to have an active F1 community here. Current Desktop image: Reviving that S-O-B. Join me. Jooooin, me. Prove to me that forums aren't dead! It's 2020, lads and lasses. The field is tighter than ever. Coronavirus is causing calendar chaos. China has already fallen to the wayside. How many more? Only 14 days to go until Melbourne. Give me your horrible predictions. Albon podium first race? Racing Point ahead of Ferrari? How does the Gasly fall to redemption arc forecast look for 2020? Can we please get this going again. Call to action for @Retro_Link who has not visited N-E since Nov 2018. Come baaaaaack. Baby, come back. 1. Merc 2. Red Bulls 3. Ferrari 4. McLaren 5. Racing Point / Renault 7. Alpha 8. Alfa 9. Williams (so bold) 10. Haas Additional: I watched all 10 episodes of DtS back-to-back yesterday. I want your thoughts. NB: I will be keeping this thread alive throughout the season. Whether anyone bothers to respond is a different kettle of kippers.

Can't think of many things worse than the hour I just spent reading my own comments on this forum from 10+ years ago Bad stuff indeed... The Internet truly never forgets.

I'm willing to bet (a little bit) that everything is already on the cartridge, it's just unaccessible without an update. Will be interesting to see what this situation is once the game drops. Hopefully someone hacks the game files so we can know the truth . It is scummy, but I honestly don't mind. I've personally never really used the "time travel" trick and don't plan on doing it for this game, happy to just go with the flow. I can see why people are upset, and my point stands about leaving people without an internet connection without a paddle. I do think it's <0.001% of the audience though. I don't like deleting stuff! Everything I own is on there for easy access. You never know when you're going to get the urge to stick Flip Wars on at a moment's notice... Yeah I probably could delete a few games. I checked last night and I have 68GB free, so it's not as bad as I thought. I do plan on getting a couple of the Resi games and Okami fairly soon though, so it'll be under 50 before long. I've done the opposite. I wasn't hot on the game until I beat Bowser, unlocked the Mushroom Kingdom and the extra moon challenges. At that point I went from an 8 to a 9. But over the past couple of years (wow, it already has been that long...), I've repeatedly found myself coming back to it, for no other reason than it's just a joy to play. I'm up to 700+ moons on my second save file now and will power through to 999. Yes, there is a lot of padding and messing about, and yes the main run is far too easy, I just think visually, aurally and gameplay wise it is a sublime game. Galaxy was great, but I think this has a lot to do with me loving Sunshine and not really getting a "true" (open) 3D Mario game until Odyssey. I think I'd rank this one just behind 3D World and just ahead of Galaxy 1 at a push. It's all arbitrary anyway, none of it matters. I love all Mario games that don't have "new" in the title. I'd still rather see a 3D World sequel next, however, than Greg's Odyssey 2.

I really enjoyed that level, @Glen-i, great job! Did the smart thing and took the trampoline to the boss fight but never found the 5th coin to avoid it. Fun level with some nice set pieces 👍

Saw the trailer for this on Wednesday. Despite being a bit of a visual rip-off of Cafe favourite Horizon Chase Turbo, this looks great. Will keep an eye on it.

Double post, sorry not sorry. Finished Undertale today and... I honestly don't know what to make of it. I don't even know where to begin. One of the most unique games I've ever played, for sure. I loved some moments, despised others. It's equally wonderful and frustrating in many ways. I kind of want to go through it again (I finished in 5hr 50), just to see if I can understand what the hell is going on I can say confidently though that OST is superb, the humour is on point and it constantly surprises you, just when you think you've seen it all. A game I think everyone should play, but I'm not sure I really understand the universal praise it gets. Will probably play through it again quickly and post more thoughts later or on the Cafe next week because I know Lee's played it too.

New PlatinumGames project announced.

100%'d the story mode in Mario Maker 2. It was fun, really interesting ideas in some of the later levels with frustration kept to a minimum for the most part. Has really made me think about some level ideas for the future. Waiting for the next challenge in the Maker thread. Me, @S.C.G and @Vileplume2000 played through the King of Dragons this evening on the Capcom Beat 'em up Bundle and it was... an experience. I'm mostly glad they left the god-awful translations (including spelling mistakes) in the game as that provided a lot of joy. It was a mostly passive experience as we were chatting and recording a podcast for the YT channel at the same time, but the game is pretty fun. Five characters with different abilities, a levelling system and upgradable weapons. The gameplay is fairly standard, but the backgrounds can be quite interesting and change frequently (within the bounds of a "fantasy world" at least). The last level is tough, we all died numerous times, but it takes place on a Dragon's gold pile and the Dragon himself is an absolute hit-sink. Took a long time to eventually down him. The story was largely incomprehensible. Seems the Dragon wasn't posing much of a threat and our five warriors weren't out to save the world, but to just have a piece of his stash, which seems mightily unfair. There are definitely better games in this collection, but the novelty of playing with others saved this game from being something I would have given up on playing by myself. I have to say as well, with the three of us being spread out across Europe, the online was sublime. Not even a hiccup or hint of slowdown. Playing with the Pokken pad was a joy, as always. I really love this game, you can feel the love Capcom has put into it and there is a wealth of options for those who want them. Difficulty can be tweaked, lives continues, filters and the EN and JP versions for all games are available. Great stuff. I think I'd like to go through some more of these games (I've only done Final Fight solo thus far), so if anyone else is up for a game at some point, let me know!

I cannot speak as to what the prices of the games consoles will be, but I don't know how Microsoft can potentially offer what they're seemingly offering for $500 and walk away with a cent of profit. Although I skipped this gen, it's mega interesting watching how things are developing from the sidelines. @Dcubed's theory about a mobile style payment plan is definitely something I can see being implemented. In fact, it makes complete sense. Get a nice down payment, 24 month contract, get people hooked on the idea of "playing anything" and not owning games and you're guaranteed to get a massive number of subs in the long run. Interesting theory. Part of me hopes the go down this road, just to see how it changes the industry.

Rolled the credits on Mario Maker 2. Overall, I enjoyed the story mode. Some of the levels are truly fantastic without ever being painfully difficult, so it’s a nice challenge and offers something different from traditional 2D Mario games. I think I finished the castle in 5-7 hours all together, so it didn’t outstay its welcome. I still have a few levels to go through and do, so will crack on with them for the meantime. The music in this game is great, especially the new tunes and when you’re in the castle grounds. Nice take on the Mario 64 theme. Loved the credits sequence. It’s such a shame that 99% of the levels online (including mine) are trash 😂

I feel an apology is in order for my Super Mario Maker 2 criticism now... I'm halfway through the story mode and starting to really enjoy it. I love the other missions that open up from the Dog and the Eraser Guy. Definitely more of a story than any mainline Mario game. Some really unique and cool ideas in some of the levels, apart from the "carry the stone to the end" ones, which can go to hell. I'm up to 50% of the castle built now and will power through to the end. I think I'm at the end of Super Boat Game (I like my version better ) and I just cannot beat the champ. I've used a restore point and I start the last race with one boost, whereas my opponent has 9. I can manage to pick up a few along the way (it's a 4+ minute race), but it's starting to annoy me how aggressive he is. On the Outrun style sections he keeps pushing me into the buoys, and getting back onto the track is such a pain because when you try to come back in to the track limits, you constantly bounce between the buoys on each side and it takes bloody ages to get back up to speed. Frustrating as hell. I much prefer the Micro Machines style sections. I have a fully upgraded boat now and have gone 19-1 on my run to the champ, but it's proving too difficult. Still one of the best games on the service though. Great graphics for a NES game and the soundtrack is lovely.

You’re not alone... I got these back in 2016 I think. Couldn’t find Chief in CeX [emoji24]

Great question, thanks !

I borrowed it off a friend but didn't get far. I've never been a big RPG guy. It was Skyrim that really pulled me in, and the Switch obviously has more than you can shake a stick at.

I think the main reason I'm having this problem is the plastic screen protector I have on the screen. It makes it much less responsive to the stylus that came with SMM2.

I hope this is one of the games that comes via Sega Ages. I was interested back in the day but never got round to picking it up. Same goes for PSO on the GameCube. I know both a fan favourites on this forum, so I'd like to see what the fuss is about. They kill you though. Annoying little shits, Conker was right. Haha, I'm making an effort now. If you listen to the beginning of the podcast, I paused before saying NES because I was about to say EN-EE-ESS Yep, Japan first, it's the Nintendo way... At least we can still access it though, even if I haven't bothered personally. Should definitely be rolled out worldwide or JP should pay a premium. Annoying, I agree. My brother had Crash on his PS1 and he managed to finish it at 10 years old, so it can't be that hard I like it a lot, it is frustrating, but it's a nice game, a nice spin on the platformer genre (no pun intended). I like the variety of levels on offer - the side-scrollers, the chase level moving up or down the screen, good variety. The music is great too, but the graphics are really a disappointment for a "HD remaster". As I mentioned, I loved Spyro one back in the day, I finished it 100% on my GF's PS1, and yes, it's very N64-esque in it's execution. It feels quite dated now, even with the lick of paint, but the charm is most certainly there. I had one of the GC games (maybe Enter the Dragonfly...?), but it couldn't hold a candle to the original. I've put a bit more time in over the week and the single-player levels have become a bit more interesting. Played a few more levels of the guys on the forum and have had fun. I still think it's disappointing overall, and execution is a little lacking in some places, but I feel I was a bit harsh on the podcast. The championship style levels are there, just hidden away in the menus. They're definitely a highlight, along with the Zelda update. I'm gonna have a go at making a level for the next N-E challenge. Your 5% cashback is your "discount"....

Oh boy, I'm having so much fun on Super Boat Game. I think this is the best NES game on the service. Nintendo hit a home run with this addition.

I am the 98%.

Yeah sure, we can ask everyone to do that from now on. Or PM Lee or myself and we can see if multiple people get it.