Fused King

Sweet. Time for another quick prayer for F-Zero: Resurrection

Who's picking this up? Who's picking this up, he asks ever so casually Let me tell you a tale of friends who have been waiting for a new Advance Wars like experience with proper asynchronous online play for over 10 years. My love for Advance Wars started after I gave it a second chance on an emulator back when I was 14 years old. I didn't have a GBA, but I'd be damned if I was going to miss out on titles such as Advance Wars, and having played it initially I hadn't the foggiest as to what was going on or how I should play it. After having tried it for a second time though, and really committing myself, I soon found myself with a friend hooked in front of the PC planning out strategies and eventually playing against each other as well. This went on for a while, first with the original Advance Wars, and then with Advance Wars: Black Hole Rising (I just burst out laughing realizing just how porn-like this sounds). Then I got I got a DS, and then Advance Wars: Dual Strike came out. This game had some mileage on it, I tell you, and had been played on my DS by several of my friends throughout my secondary school days. I had introduced in to multiple groups of friends, and both at home and at school we could be found with one guy holding the DS finishing his turn, and the rest anxiously discussing the game whilst waiting for our turn. A shift happened, because in my senior years of secondary school I was shifted to another building, and so new friendly contacts had to be established and friendships built. After a year or so, having recruited new potential candidates who were interested in games and did not shy away from strategy, I offered to take my DS with me to school so I could introduce them to the world of Advance Wars: Dual Strike during the lunch break. I wasn't long before they too bought the game so they could practice at home. Many an intense match was held, and we soon discovered the tactical joys of Fog of War which also came with it's fair share of meta-game and psychological warfare. It became obvious, however, that Advance Wars: Dual Strike had a balancing problem. Not only with some of the insane CO powers (I'm looking at you Javier, with you COM-towers, or Colin with his Money buff), but also some of the insane units that were available. Though we attempted to restrict usage of certain COs, and tinkered with the units we could use, it became unnecessary, because on the horizon was the greatest Turn-Based Strategy game that had ever graced our simple souls: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. Yes, the themes, atmosphere, art direction, and music were a 180 from previous Advance Wars titles, but my goodness did it cut back on many of the insane excesses of Dual Strike, opting for a more concise and 'less-is-more' approach, while still innovating when it came to how COs were used and with some of the units. This became our gold standard going forward, and though we did cut Stolos and his daughters from being used during our matches, other than that everything was allowed. Many a laughs were had with the random weather, and since we were now staunch supports of Fog of War (in fact, we couldn't even imagine how you could play the game without it anymore, since it plays almost like real war where you just don't know what your enemy is doing) the mind games took on new levels of insanity. Backstabbing though not knowing who is doing it, forming secret pacts outside of the game since the other player was getting too strong, pretending you saw someone's battleship in the hope they would cave under the pressure, bluffing that you're heading towards an island whilst actually preparing a secret invasion in the other direction; still to this day do we partake in said shenanigans, but my friend's submarine mindfuckery has influenced me so much that during ever game where there is water and naval bases, I am extremely cautious. His expert use of submarines has caused us to sweat profusely whenever we set out to create an armada. He raped our minds in a game many years ago and it still has its effect: THAT is Advance Wars Fog of War Meta-Game Insanity, my fellow Nyurpers! With 800 hours combined on both game cartridges (my friend has one as well) and no end in sight when it came to the willingness of playing this game we knew it would become harder and harder to finish matches within a respectable time, because one friend moved to Germany and we all came to have busier lives as we entered the mad rat race of society. Heck, even before that we took about 2 years to complete one game just because our schedules did not align or I was abroad for many, many months. Every E3 I would tell them that there may be a chance a new Advance Wars title could be announced, though it never got as far as a comment by some man from Intelligent Systems saying that they are still thinking about Advance Wars. This was during the resurgence of Fire Emblem, and it was obvious they were going for that anime-lewd people money, haha. But between Fire Emblem and Paper Mario, I had always hoped that whenever one of those games got finished a new Advance Wars may be on the horizon. Alas, 'twas all for naught. BUT THEN! THE FISH THAT CHUCKLED ANNOUNCED A SPIRITUAL SUCCESSOR. WE HAD CHUCKLES!! We learned about asynchronous online play and we couldn't be more ecstatic, then we learned about cross play (my Red October Strategist friend doesn't own a Switch), and then we saw matches in Fog of War. Some tears were shed, I won't front. This was the game we had been clamouring for for many years now, and you can be damn sure 800 more hours of fun will be had with this gem. Though nothing beats a physical get-together and seeing the live reaction of your friend who tries to keep a stoic poker face, but knows he has just lost his CO unit and has to do a 'strategic retreat', it is a great solution for when we live apart. I thank Chucklefish with all my heart, and the hearts of my friends. In fact, blood sacrifice is not out of the question.

Yo! Pre-ordered WarGroove my good lads! With asynchronous multiplayer, crossplay, and fog of war,m the long time dream of me and my friends of having an Advance Wars type experience which can also be played whilst living far away from each other has finally been realized. Here's to another 800 hours of strategic shenanigans!

I've also heard murmurs that Metroid Prime Trilogy: Switch Version has been finished for a while and that other Metroid games are in development. I think it was the same guy who tweeted out the info about multiple development teams working on MP4. Maybe that's why they delayed the Trilogy. Maybe they want to release it a little bit closer to when MP4 releases, so maybe next year. Having one type of Metroid experience a year until their big hitter Metroid Prime 4 comes out would be a good move considering the state of the franchise. The Metroid: Samus Returns was a good start! (haven't played it yet though )

I'm nearing 300 hours on this game and I have yet to find the final 3 shrines, hahaha. I know one has to do with the sphere in Kakariko Village, but for the life of me I have no idea how to kickstart the chain of events there. Then there are two more left and I honestly have no clue. I think I'll enjoy roaming around the vast map in areas not close to another shrine with my radar on for now. As for the DLC, I have finished all except the one where you power up the Master Sword. I enjoyed helping out Kaz and seeing the new cutscenes, but I must say that I found the reward a little bit lackluster. And driving around Hyrule with the sound of a monotone motorcycle does not come near riding on my mighty steed.

I have a question to my fellow nyurpers: i bought a Switch in Melbourne, Australia and I will be moving back to The Netherlands next month taking my Switch with me. In terms of account shennanigens is there something I should think about? Luckily Nintendo came to their senses again and made their system region-free. I'm hoping that all I need to do is buy a new electricity cable.

Looks like good ol' clean fun. I used to play Brawl here online with fellow Nyurpers, and I am just wondering if people still experience some miniscule amount of button input delay? During the Brawl days this was sometimes more hindering than other times, and with a game like Smash this really needs to be limited as much as possible. I'm hoping to get Smash when I get back to The Netherlands after a year of Melbourne and get a good set up going to lay the smack down on y'all with my one and only Pink Puff Ball! (Though I will be getting all into many characters I haven't played as yet too!!)

I wonder if they have already decided go the DLC characters will be or if they are going to hold some kind of poll again. Perhaps through the app/game itself! Anyways, that Piranha Plant looks fun but unnecessary given the plethora of other more worthy characters who have more weight under their belt franchise wise. Sakurai is an insomniac who has lost his damn mind!

THEY’RE　DOING　IT! CUT SCENES ARE BACK!!!!

Alright Mah Freaky Nyurper Smash Bitches! Hop on this Hype train with me, for we are about to embark to Crazed-Cray Cray City which should take us about 3 hours from now! Hold your hopes close to you and your fantasies even closer. Don't let go of that special one who you think you might see in ol' Cray Cray City and be sure to inhale the fumes coming from the steam vents for maximum hypage! Geno, Shadow, Skull Kid, Woof Rat, Gruff Doggo, John Paul, Gravy McFlystone, Daft_Little, John Stacy MacAfee Donnel, Stance, GET IN HERE AND LET'S CRACK A COLD ONE!

Well, we've done it. We freed the land of Hyrule from malice and evil incarnate having found about 380 Koroks alongside 112 shrines. Now, at long last, have we put on the shrine radar and having an extra adventure as we scour the land for the remaining 8 shrines. Putting that aside, I want to reflect on this Zelda game and the series as a whole. First of all, I have to get my disappointments out of the way which mainly have to do with the lack of certain things. For example, Tingle was not present nor were there any Zelda-like horror areas (Not a Poe in sights!?). I also was not able to fish nor dive, which also felt a bit strange in relation to the rest of the series. This is a minor list of annoyances and I fully understand things change when building a new Zelda game from the ground up. It is clear that the development team had a long and hard thought about how to redefine The Legend of Zelda whilst also paying homage to its vast legacy. It almost feels like the original Zelda game, but with references to all the other games thrown in there in a 3D open world. And what an open world it is! Though the things you discover in the world might get stale at a certain point, the actual adventuring through the world is worth it to me. The variety in the various areas is enough for me to enjoy sniffing around in looking for treasure and whatnot, but, as stated, once you are at a comfortable level weapon and rupee wise all you can hope to find is a Korok or a shrine, but those things become mere collectibles rather than worthwhile discoveries. The shrines especially are more often than not quite easy, so they end up as more of a formality rather than an interesting dungeon like experience. Those kind of experiences I have found more outside of the shrines than inside. Going through a sandstorm following the signs of statues, getting balls on a plateau during a crazy thunderstorm, getting lost in a maze, etc. The actual journey in this game, breathing in the WILD air, gives this game a special kind of feeling I haven't felt since The Windwaker, and if it had unique dungeons it would have been so much sweeter. The Divine Beasts are pretty cool though, but again a tad easy as well as the bosses who were generic as all fuck. The races along with their beasts and the problems they had felt really genuine and their villages and towns were quite well crafted. I especially liked the Gerudo Town with the mysterious Yiga clan hideout nearby with the latter being very eerie and mysterious. The connections between the races and their shared history was really well conveyed as well. Having sinked in more than 215 hours, it is hard to put into words the journey we made. Thinking about it, it feels like an experience running through the wild for large amounts of time, fighting enemies and finding treasure, with some story and interaction with characters mixed in here and there. In that regard, the game definitely lives up to its subtitle, as the wild was definitely the star of the show. They even went as far as stripping the game from an iconic overworld theme! That's one more thing I need to talk about; the music. Most of it does the job and complements the different areas or the situation you find yourself in, like fighting a guardian, but I must say that overall there is a lack of quintessential Zelda music to me, which isn't unique to Breath of the Wild. I have the same feeling about Skyward Sword. However, I always welcome change and experimentation within the franchise, so I am not complaining. I particularly enjoyed the music in the Korok Forest and, of course, the Rito Village what with it being a remix of Dragon Roost Island. In regards to the Zelda timeline, I have looked at some videos and heard about the official placement, and goshdarnit Nintendo is a genius in how posited this game. They've basically cemented certain aspects of the lore whilst also putting the focus on letting the fans develop their own theories (which of course the community has never shied away from). The land of Hyrule is filled to the brim with ruins and stories open to interpretation, which is what makes it so fun to speculate. All in all, the weapon systems was fun, as was experimenting with the physics system through the different runes. I am a bit disappointed by the variety of enemies, but the slightly improved AI and the challenge the Lynels and Guardians could pose when you're unprepared make up for that. The graphics are absolutely stunning, and taking in the world while standing on a peak or riding on your horse were rewards in and of itself. Alright, I started out cohesively, but now I'm just writing down whatever comes to mind I'll just leave it here with a final message: I am proud they had the guts to go grand with Zelda, and I am happy they have laid a great new foundation for The Legend of Zelda to build forward upon. Fingers crossed for a Majora's Mask-esque bat shit, yet slightly depressing Zelda game!

Never have I heard a man debate himself so much about from where a character enters a space.

No. I lost many hours to New Leaf to what is basically living a second life amongst cute animals gossiping about one another...... I say no.

Seeing all these games makes me happy, but then I return to reality with my 200+ Breath of the Wild playhtrough being the only game I have played on my Switch and barely finding enough time to finish it, hehehe. Anyways, it's good to know that whenever I will have time and money there is a LOT to look forward to!

Dark Moon added a lot to Luigi's character making him a lot more Mr. Bean-ish for better or for worse. I quite liked what they did with him there, but I do agree that the more arcadey style of having multiple mansions to expore in a bit of a linear fashion go a bit stale eventually. This game looks like it is returning to one building though, so I'm looking forward to it. I bet they will have interesting online modes as well. Also, if Next Level Games is working on this it looks like we might have to wait a bit longer for that Mario Strikers game!

Got a bit of a Little King's Story vibe from this one.

An unwelcome change. I agree, it was pretty a pretty mysterious place, and playing around with fire equipment made it pretty cool! I haven't located this island yet even though I believe I have the entire coastal line mapped out. But if it's in the North West then it's still waiting for me. As we are nearing the 200 hour mark we have finally mapped out 3/4 of the map and now only have the North West to liberate. We went to the castle just for fun now that we have the necessary equipment boosting our confidence in taking down guardians fairly easily, but of course once you enter the castle it feels like you're entering the final stretch of the game so we opted out of that one. Still, there are some quests which have you retrieve royal recipes and weapons so in order to complete them surely we must head in there and come out alive, no?

So after having wrapped up the Desert region and explored the Gerudo Highlands, freed the Divine Beast with the help of mah sand blubber we are now left with only the Rito tribe and their Divine Beast running amok. We'll be tying up some loose ends here and there, doing some quests and getting materials for upgrades primarily, as well as filling in one more square South-East of the map which we have neglected for far too long (Mind you, the Rito area still has three unmapped areas). The Gerudo Desert was a more interesting area than I imagined, both quest and music wise, and both Gerudo Town and the Oasis feel very connected. The towns have thus far still not hit those highs as seen in for example Windfall Island, but they are still enjoyable. Gerudo Town definitely comes closest to feeling a bit like Termina or Windfall. We went looking for the statue of the Eighth Hero in the Gerudo Highlands, but man o man did that stop the game dead in its tracks, haha. Treasure upon treasure with weapons we already found, but after putting the game down and getting back to it it really felt like we were exploring a mysterious mountain. I'm a bit disappointed by the lack of variety in terms of dungeons and boss-like enemies. Sure you get your mid-boss like enemies in the wild now, but previous Zelda games always had great dungeons with fitting enemies and bosses which made each of them feel unique and gave you a different experience. Here the dungeons are just based on Sheikah technology...The more I think about it the more I feel I am not a fan of that. They basically split dungeon rooms of what could have been a bigger dungeon with a specific theme and made them into the self-contained Sheikah shrines. It's part of the story, so that's all cool, but I'm more of a fan of thematic dungeons like the Ancient Cistern or Snowpeak Mansion in Twi-Pri. Also, and you guys can spoil me on this one, are there any re-deads in the game? I've been waiting and waiting for some spooky ass dark area where the Gibdo's hide and the Re-Deads eyes light up when you look at them before they shriek loudly and feast on your head. Where's my hand in the toilet seat!?!? Where's my horror!

The discount got me to buy it.

Wow, I totally forgot that that is what's 'official'. So with that idea in mind, did Link just partake in Skull Kid's delusions of grandeur? How is that even supposed to work, hahaha. They can easily retcon that nonsense in some way and have Termina come back in some form. It may be unlikely, but I'm guessing Aonuma is aware of its cult status and he seems to have a thing for trying to outdo himself with every Zelda game. Funny that you should say that, because the Great Sea had the same spiritual affect on me as the vast landscapes of BotW has on you. Mind you, I also feel this way about BotW. Letting your horse run along the various roads automatically whilst you sit back and enjoy the changing scenery is magical. It's very different from the Great Sea obviously, but the background music and the changes in colours throughout the hours makes sailing with the King of Red Lions a magical experience for me that hasn't been topped yet. I think that if they wanted to make another ambitious Zelda game exclusively for the Switch they'd surely reuse assets from Breath of the Wild, but there is also the possibility that Aonuma might want to try his hand at some form of Multiplayer/Co-op experience given the Switch's 'Play with anyone, anywhere' hook. I remember him wanting to rethink conventions of Zelda games such as linearity and solo-play. One could say he has achieved both already with BotW and Triforce Heroes though. Who knows, the next Zelda game might be one of the swan songs for the 3DS, but I wouldn't mind a li'l sum'n sum'n like a co-op 4-swords adventure style Zelda that you can play with two joy cons. I'm just so hard for this series. SO HARD! Like a Goron overlooking the Death Mountain with its delicious ores.

Yeah, that was a great battle sequence! Recently I have been watching retrospectives on the 3D Zeldas and it's ironic how for me everytime a new 3D Zelda pops up, I start to appreciate the previous one more. I would've never considered it posibble with Skyward Sword, which I thought was fun at the time but extremely linear, but after having seen it's retrospective I am reminded of its fun battle system and very unique dungeons. I was however also reminded by the coma-inducing AI who has been established to reside in the master sword in pretty much all of the games. If there's ever a voice talking probabilities Link might hear in a future Zelda game when he's near the Master Sword I will gladly sprint the other way and try to take out the main baddies with an empty bottle. Actually, I am kind of saddened by the lack of a cool sidekick character in BotW, but I guess the champions kind of make up for that. I still hope the development team will have the balls to take a departure from Hyrule once again, and I get the feeling they might just seeing as Breath of the Wild kind of feels like a love letter in its grandest form to the land of recognisable Zelda lore. Another dream Zelda game for me would be a revival of Toon Link in a game set between Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass where you get into all kinds of shennanigens with Tetra and her crew. And yes, Ol' Fusedy is a playing a Zelda game so all my build up love for the franchise over the years will finds its way to the forum in multiple forms. Stay tuned, haha

Wow, that remix is crazy fun to Smash to I imagine.

We are now about 40 Shrines in having mainly focused on the Eastern half of the map. Saved the Zora's from some terrible weather, killed ourselves trying to pull out the Sword That Seals Evil, and are now trying to integrate in Goron "City" (hardly a city). Getting up that mountain was quite something with multiple guardians and a limited amount of anti-heat potions. We finally were able to slay a Guardian, but without the proper preparation and healing items it's still near impossible. Watching it sink into the lava felt good though. I gotto say Iam loving the interconnectedness between the different races who seem to be traveling throughout the land. However, I am still not too sure how I feel about every reward in the wild being either a weapon, rupee or Korok, but I am struggling to think at what else they could offer. Perhaps some interesting clothing or whatnot, but I suppose those are locked behind more substantial quests or difficult to reach places. It's fun to experiment with the cooking, but I also would have liked to have a recipe book instead of only being able to see the recipes when you click on the dish. Having played roughly 100 hours now, I am already developing my wishlisy for the next installment where I hope they maybe cut down the map in size somewhat, but really focus on more on-goings amongst the world's inhabitants as we saw in the OoT to MM transition. It would be really great to discover more cities and bigger settlements after having gotten a sense of the Big Wild in this game. Perhaps a theme could be of rebuilding Hyrule. Anyways, at the pace we are playing now this looks to be a 200+ hour game not including the DLC.

I love the crazy speculation that goes on after each Direct. Subspace Emissary sequel incoming because Meta Knight fights Lucario in a throw-away half a second scene mixed in somewhere in the gameplay footage? Skull Kid is the next newcomer because of the colour of thr chairs and cushion behind Sakurai? Specific poses reveal Isaac and Karate Joe!?! One of Sakurai's eyes looks a bit red and irritated so King K. Rool confirmed! Some I can follow easier than others, but if Isaac and Karate Joe turn out to be true then Sakurai is truly a master at subte hints.

If one could only buy one game to get to know about games and its history Smash Bros Ultimate would be it. Good lord Sakurai and his team are putting in the work like mad men. If there will be some type of story mode in here with cutscenes than HO-LY FUCK will this game be perfect. The mash-ups in the trailers have been great so far. Putting Luigi in Dracula's castle is a stroke of genuis. The green plumber trying to flash a mummy into shock, HA! Would've been hilarious if he tried that on Dracula himself. FOOLISH PLUMBER! The potential crossover cutscenes are already too much to think about. King K. Rool is such a fucking beast who needs some eye drops.