Grazza

Didn't Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door and F-Zero GX use analogue triggers as well? I thought almost every Nintendo GC game used them (Wind Waker is an exception)? I remember when I got the GameCube controller in my hands, I loved the dual-analogue sticks and was amazed at the analogue triggers. It felt like true evolution, like it would actually let you do more in the game worlds.

I got this on the Cube version of the original. Whilst I don't know the technical details of the Wii release, is there any chance you're playing it at 50Hz and could change it to 60Hz? I seem to recall I did that with the original and didn't get motion sickness again (or with the 60Hz-only sequel).

In this regard they remind me of Square-Enix - everything nowadays has got to be huge-budget, with the expectation of huge returns. I was researching this the other day and was surprised how close the Mega Drive actually was to the System 16 arcade board. According to Wikipedia, System 16 had a Motorola 68000 @ 10 MHz, whereas the Mega Drive was the same CPU, but clocked at 7.6 MHz. That was definitely its core appeal - the first time home console games genuinely felt like coin-ops.

There's not much in the gaming world that makes me sadder than the demise of Sega. The Mega Drive was a phenomenal console. People are still making games for it nowadays - not just downloadable, but ones that actually run on it - and when you see what they're getting out of it now they're not limited to small cartridge sizes, it's clear how much more powerful it was than the SNES. Oh sure, my classmates taunted me about how the SNES could do "more colours", but the Mega Drive was the one with the grunt. A clear contender for Best Console Ever. Exactly. It fills me with regret that they couldn't fully adapt their franchises into the 3D era (or make new ones that captured people's imaginations as much). Of course, Sega did make plenty of new franchises - they're one of the most adventurous developers ever! - but their skills were in arcade style games. For example, M2 has been one of the best developers (if not the best) on the eShop. Their range of Sega 3D Classics are a labour of love. However, I was playing the brilliant Afterburner II the other day and I thought how perfect it was - how you couldn't surpass it just by making a polygon version (I'm aware of Afterburner Climax but must admit I've never played it). What I find most gutting is how Sega never managed to refine and improve all their classic franchises - Wonder Boy, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Shinobi... the list goes on. In my imagination, they could have continued these as 2D series, always improving and improving them. It's crazy - Wonder Boy in particular has potential, I think, yet is only continued through spiritual sequels (the Shantae series) and unofficial projects like this (with the collaboration of Wonder Boy's creator!): http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/01/segas_wonder_boy_lives_on_in_monster_boy_and_he_could_be_coming_to_wii_u Instead, Sega seemed to downsize more and more. First, it was "We can't compete in terms of hardware". Then, they seemed to drop more and more franchises until I believe they were only working on a very few - Sonic, Aliens etc. What bothered me about that was the idea that only a few series could be successful when, in my opinion, they could have made any of their good ideas successful if they hadn't tried to match them to the 3D, polygon, big budget standards of the day. Anyway, it's probably more complicated than that. All I know is that gaming was a heck of a lot more colourful in the '90s when Sega was at the forefront.

So, after New Super Mario Bros U, it's time for Super Mario 3D World. First impressions: I enjoyed Super Mario 3D Land so don't fundamentally have a problem with the idea of this game. I have to say, though, that 3D World simply does not give me the feeling of entering another world that I got from 64 and Sunshine. What surprised me the most, however, is that the stages are considerably harder to view in their entirety than 3D Land's. I keep catching glimpses of ledges that the camera won't let me see properly. To think we've gone from the dual-analogue, twin stick control of Sunshine to this is a bit disheartening. Is that really progress? The Plessie levels are great, and I can see them getting much harder. This was the first moment that made me feel I was playing a genuine 3D Mario. To me, the into-the-screen moments have always been the best parts of 3D Mario game, such as the slides from 64/Galaxy 2, the Blooper racing from Sunshine and the manta ray from Galaxy. The music was instantly recognisable, although it took me few listens to remember it was the Mario 64 slide music! My least favourite levels are the Captain Toad ones as they're all about looking at an isometric level from different angles - you can concentrate on this so much, you forget where Captain Toad is. Also, blowing on the GamePad? I thought we'd left that behind with the DS! I finished my session with the first castle. The Bowser fight is classic EAD Tokyo, in that it sets out how it works, but will get more and more complex throughout the game. Overall, I found Super Mario 3D World very easy to get into and although I do have some reservations about the game, I can't see anything that'll stop me enjoying it.

Nintendo was horribly bullish during the Wii era - well, it still is today, but when you consider the Wii had GameCube controller ports and yet GameCube-port games like Twilight Princess and Metroid Prime Trilogy (and presumably Pikmin etc) didn't give you the option for GameCube controls, the ramifications are now being felt.

Not sure - is it harder? I'm not really up for more levels like Pendulum Castle etc.

This is another reminder that handhelds and consoles used to be completely different - consoles would get the big, 3D masterpieces like Wind Waker, Mario Sunshine etc; handhelds would get more modest, 2D games. In that sense, I completely know what @Sheikah means. When they got OOT running on the 3DS, however, it was clear times had changed. Add to that the fact the 3DS is the first handheld to get Smash Bros, and the strategy Iwata has hinted at makes perfect sense. My personal hope is that the next handheld and console play exactly the same software, with it all being available on handheld if you're prepared to accept it lower res.

And... finished 100%! I thought it was an excellent game in the end - I just had to rediscover my Mario skills. Hardest level for me was 9-8 Pendulum Castle. After that I dreaded what 9-9 would be, but thankfully they went easy on us. I have to admire how easily Nintendo can put out a platformer of this quality. When you think of the controls, jump mechanics etc, quite honestly, it's hard to think of any other 2D/2.5D platformer that quite matches the New Super Mario Bros series. I love how they refine and refine it each time. You must have JavaScript enabled on your device to view Miiverse posts that have been embedded in a website. View post in Miiverse You must have JavaScript enabled on your device to view Miiverse posts that have been embedded in a website. View post in Miiverse Love the way Mario casually jumps down after bashing Bowser.

Not to mention that a £20 Player's Choice range might actually make people think "I want a lot of those, I'll buy the console". Instead, Nintendo seems to prefer titles like Pikmin 3 to go out of print whilst never knowing how many copies they could really have sold.

I'll be honest, I was gutted they didn't make a 3rd film with Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba and Chris Evans. Not forgetting director Tim Story, who is a brilliant storyteller. To me, this cast was just right in terms of looks, voice tone etc. Julian McMahon was perfect too (there's something about the way he says "Lesson for you, Richards"!) I bought both on Blu-ray the other day and I laugh my way all through them. It's not just the comedy though, it's the emotion behind it. Michael Chiklis is a very talented actor and I really feel sorry for Ben wanting his old looks back. Then there's the way Doom tries to take them down one by one.

Was playing the same worlds last night as you, @Rummy. Got all the Star Coins apart from the last three worlds - it's going to be a challenge from now on!

No problem for me as I'm a big fan of (game) remakes and I'm only buying the actual game. I think getting the New 3DS just for this would be too much and I'd end up resenting it (plus I can't be bothered transferring my digital games again ) but as a £30 game I'm all for it. I also don't have any problem with the changes, as I'm not too attached to the original (even though I think it's brilliant). With OOT 3D and WW HD, Nintendo has proven that it's very skilled with remakes and any changes are carefully considered. I don't mind re-buying them again as games like OOT, MM and WW have so much going on in them, they're amongst the best games on any system even as remakes.

And some of the coin-ops - I play Golden Axe with just a Wii remote. Bring back Virtual Console Arcade!

It's classic double entendre - causes no offence to the pure, and is only understandable to those of us with dirty minds! : peace:

So, had my Wii U a while now. Just to clarify, is there any way I can plug the GamePad into the console itself (not the mains), thus blocking off the wireless signal? If not with the GamePad, can you do that with the Pro controller?

Twilight Princess is definitely the obvious candidate for a remake. I would also like to see OOT and MM brought up the 1080p, 60fps standard, with detailed character models like in the 3DS remakes. Yep, plus widescreen, but left-handed Link and the overworld the same way round as the GC version.

No, doing that now. Have got all the Star Coins for the first three worlds, now doing the rest. Really enjoyable actually!

A strong contender for best game on the 3DS, in my opinion. I found Sacred Stones to be too frustrating, but the "Newcomer" mode in Awakening makes all the difference for me. Also, I don't think we had Miiverse on 3DS when the game was originally released, so it adds an extra element to it!

Finished it now. Gave me quite a workout just to get to the end! If I could make some additions, it would be an extra checkpoint in each Castle/Fortress (before the boss) and the ability to use a spare power-up whilst in a level. Overall though, I enjoyed it quite a lot, with the final Bowser fight being one of the best.

Yeah, only just got to grips with Miiverse recently myself, but it's brilliant.

Here's something positive - the Wii U GamePad is, in my opinion, extremely useful and a rather underrated innovation. I'm purely talking about Off-TV Play. Several times now I have been playing on my TV, yet wanted to show others something, so I just hit the "minus" button and take the GamePad into a different room! Extremely clever stuff. I've also been playing a game, but then really wanted to watch the TV so, again I just switch to GamePad. I don't even mind the drop in resolution, as the screen quality is good (better than my HDTV in some ways - no blurring/lag, for instance). It really is a clever innovation.

I got severe Game Fatigue last year. It's strange feeling - not just one of boredom, but more like not having the mental energy to actually play the games. In my case, it might have been down to playing too many RPGs. Now I like RPGs, but they tend to have post-games that go on and on and on... It suits me when I'm really hooked on one, but when the game is just average, it feels like a chore and leaves me without a sense of closure if I don't do it. Etrian Odyssey Untold was a good remake, but with a bad post-game. Bravely Default... well, you know. Conception II was a bit "meh" and Fantasy Life was particularly irritating, in my opinion. I've also got Etrian Odyssey III to do - it's a good game, but just a bit too "much". Thankfully I've felt different this year. Loved completing Wind Waker HD, and I blasted through a few other games - Axelay, Streets of Rage and Afterburner II (the latter in particular was extremely enjoyable). I'm also hooked on New Super Mario Bros U now, got Super Mario 3D World to play and the long-awaited Shantae and the Pirate's Curse in February. If I can just stay away from long, mediocre RPGs, I might avoid Game Fatigue!

For me, it's very simple - if you want support, you have to be in the market. When Microsoft and Sony are setting the hardware at a certain level, and every major developer is making games to that level, it's borderline insane to release a console much less powerful and with a very different architecture, and then still expect to get the ports. It's just not rational. It's not about chasing the "dudebro" market either - just the market where everything is available. If, say, you have a Nintendo machine that has the vast majority of multi-format games, then you have a choice of, yes, the FPSes and football games, but also platformers, adventures, RPGs, sims... literally everything else! I also think a lot of gamers are more mature than people give them credit for and are genuinely interested in Nintendo's best games (I emphasise best - they're not going to play just anything). I like the Wii U. It's a huge improvement on the Wii, in my opinion. Call me mad, but I genuinely think Nintendo is beginning to win back dedicated gamers - the GameCube audience, if you like. A couple of my workmates have bought the Wii U for titles like Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World and the upcoming Zelda. I'm having conversations with them that I couldn't really have with anyone when the Wii was out because, rightly or wrongly, most people saw it as a Wii Sports machine. I'm feeling much more positive about Nintendo than I have done for ten years. The Wii U is more enjoyable to me than the Wii, and some of their games show signs of being an improvement too. But they need to go further and make something that people can consider their main games machine, and not just an extra they buy when they have some spare money.