S.C.G

Considering that on the homebrew scene for Mario Kart and Smash Bros. there's most tracks, characters, stages etc that you could want with more being added, the next official Mario Kart (or Smash Bros) could go full-on Mario Maker and allow players to add their own tracks. Either that or, just make a brand new game with only brand new tracks, but considering the amount of work which has gone into Maro Kart 8 DX, it would seem silly to not include all those tracks in any future game. At this point though, just turn the '8' on its side, call it Mario Kart Infinite, the last release of the game which just keeps getting new content, then keep making adjustments until the game is as balanced (or unbalanced) as it can be, and leave it at that. If we were to get GameCube games as part of Nintendo Switch Online... either an existing tier, or another 'plus' level or something, then Mario Kart Double Dash!! would be fantastic to play online, plus most of the groundwork has already been done, the game supported the Broadband adapter, you can already technically play it I believe, so Nintendo just needs to make their own official version, by making a GC NSO application which is as good as the N64 one is, as when it works, it really works well.

Yep, also, technically Sonic has made appearances in Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Online 2. Oh, and there's the multiplayer mode in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg... unless that's already been covered. Let me know if you want any information about Sonic in PSO @Cube it was more PSO than the other games, as I believe Sonic would appear as a character in the lobby, but in PSO, there was a whole online quest which featured Sonic. I think it may have even extended to Sonic Team wanting to have Sonic as a playable character at one point, but decided against it, though the data is likely still in the game code. Anyway, these are more cameo, I guess, but there are a fair few Sonic Team made games which feature Sonic unlockables etc, such as Feel the Magic on the DS and it's sequel, the Rub Rabbits, which had unlockable Sonic-themed accessories. (you're probably getting up to these I'd have thought) Great write-ups though, there are a fair few games that I was unaware of, and even a few cameos, I like the Virtua Striker 2002 unlockable literal Sonic "Team" in fact, I recall buying a copy of that on the GC cheap a while back, just to check out that unlockable.

I just watched it, skipped through most of the talking parts at 2X speed, then watched the trailer. For anyone who hasn't seen the Direct yet... The start point for the Direct part is around the 30:00 point, and the direct ends at around the 36:45 point. You can watch the video here. Good trailer, I'll put the 'Roundup' article up either later or tomorrow.

Thanks for the games. Great new tracks, Yoshi's Island is the obvious highlight, some of the turns on the new tracks are... interesting. Good to see Birdo added, though It'll be interesting to see which other characters fill the five remaining slots on the character select screen. Here's a link to this week's stream... - - - - - N-Europe Get Together! (09/03/2023)

And then later, Retro had DK... stuck with DK for a while, before going back to Metroid, and here we are. I can see that, both Perfect Dark and Metroid Prime rated high on my personal level of anticpation at the time as well, and yes, the artifact hunt definitely seems to be the point at which many players tend to shelf the game. That might have been close to where I left it, though it might even have been after that, or at least towards the end of the Phazon Mines... yes, that sounds about right. I don't mind the artifact hunt that much though, it's a lot of back-tracking, but the world is so well-designed, and with the improved loading times in Remastered, I don't expect it to be that much of a bother this time around, either... anyway, I should probably save this for the Metroid Prime Remastered thread. Back to Fusion... everything from ther story set-up at the start, to the SA-X encounters, the well-realised enviroments, and the tight controls (considering the limited number of buttons) made for an excellent Metroid title, which is easily one of the most memorable games in the series to date, though it seemed to be overshadowed when Metroid Zero Mision was released a year and a half later. Here's hoping Metroid Zero Mission is added soon (but not too soon) so that people get a chance to play Fusion, and then may want to try out Zero Mission as well. Yes, more Sega GBA titles for NSO EP, as these were mostly excellent titles, plus many GBA games will become more accessible thanks to the modern features that the service provides.

Just over six weeks later, the NXYI GameCube styled controller / joy-cons has shipped. If it arrives soon, that will be perfect timing to try it out with Metroid Prime Remastered, in addition to Metroid Fusion in portable mode, though I'll likely stick with either the NSO SNES pad or the Hori GC pad for TV play, though this new contoller will surely have a few situations where it will prove to be useful, assuming all the buttons hold up. Anyway, being that the controller is shipping now, it looks like it's now just available to buy, no pre-order necessary, and though I don't recommend the website, as it's not the most user-friendly, there should at least be a discount code to use when signing up, which makes the pad around £50. It's an option, at least... it's always good to have options. (I might even play Smash in portable mode with it, only offline though, it has been a while since I last played the single player mode)

Nope, just stating the similarities between the original NTSC release of both games, which was in the same month, this seems to have been mirrored here, at least going by the date of the physical release, and the upcoming release of Metroid Fusion. I'm aware that in European game release territories, Metroid Fusion was released on November 22nd, 2002, while Metroid Prime was released on March 21st, 2003. I can still remember buying Metroid Fusion from Game months before, and then playing Metroid Prime on a demo GameCube in a "Big W" store (Woolworths) before purchasing it that same day. I've never forgotten the game since, though I did take my time when originally completing it, as I used to play PSO a lot on the original servers, (not a lot has changed these days, as I still play PSO) but I made sure to go back to the game when the time was right, and it was worth the wait. As for Metroid Fusion, it wasn't until later on that I properly finished the game, and playing it on NSO EP will only be the second time? Maybe third... playing through it properly, though I've started a save file on the original cartridge a few times, I'm sure... Metroid Zero Mission definitely got played through a few times... Super Metroid had lots of playthroughs, but only one complete playthrough for whatever reason. Metroid Prime is the only game I remember playing through many times over, my best 100% Hard mode run took around 12 hours, which was in a couple of sittings, when I felt that I could dedicate that much time to a playthrough within 24 hours... As for Metroid Prime Remastered? I'm hoping to start a playthrough soon, I may stream it and just play it a couple of hours at a time, the same for Metroid Fusion, though that could be done in a single sitting if it's not a 100% run, maybe a few tries for 100% as it has been a while, but it is the most linear Metroid game. It's good to see Metroid back in the spotlight again though, Samus is a great character, and always fun to play as in Smash as well.

Nintendo eShop new releases (week 09) The ninth week of releases. A selection of new titles are now available on the Nintendo Switch eShop. Check the article for the full roundup.

Metroid Fusion arrives this Thursday on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Now up on the main page. Writeup, tweet embed, and trailer. It's great to see Nintendo recalling the original release dates of Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion. March 2023, is the new November 2002. (referring to the original NTSC release dates, at least)

Thanks for the games. There was a quadruple Isabelle match, it was glorious. Samus didn't win?!? Dark Samus did win?!? Sonic did his best not to drown in the waters of the Great Bay. Here's a link to this week's stream... - - - - - N-Europe Saturday Smash! (04/03/2023)

Thanks for the games. Well... that happened. Roll on Mario Party 3 for next week, I know we've already had Metroid Fusion, but due to it being 'MAR10' next week, there's surely a chance for an "early" Mario Party 3 release? Or we really are only getting one N64 game every second full moon, in a month ending in either "y" or "er" or... no idea, who knows? Here's a link to this week's stream... Mario Party 2 on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack - N-Europe Multiplayer (03/03/2023)

Nintendo announces MAR10 Day 2023 activities Now up on the main page. It's mostly US-based stuff, but some of the sales etc could relate to European regions. The Switch bundle with a free digital Mario title seems reasonable for what it is.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Wave 4 Release Date Now up on the main site. Full N-E *Guess Release and a trailer. Check out the article for more details. *It's like a press release, with added ambiguity

Thanks for the games. Plenty of close races, Red Shells, Lightning Strikes, Red Shells, some Suddenly Bananas, Blue Shells... and what's that? Oh, another Red Shell. Next week should be good with the new tracks, plenty of potential "where am I going again?" moments as the new track layouts are discerned, lap by lap. Here's a link to this week's stream... - - - - - N-Europe Get Together! (02/03/2023)

Pokémon Presents 27.02.2023 Roundup Now up on the main page...

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Direct to be broadcast on 09/03/2023 Now up on the main page. Times for all regions, embedded YouTube video, link to the website, and the Plumbing commercial from earlier this month. The direct is still a week and a half away, at time of writing. - - - - -

Oh wow... I naturally thought a game like this would be a perfect fit. Oh well, maybe we'll play some of the minigames as an after-game then. So soon, we'll have Kibry: Nightmare in Dreamland on the GBA NSO EP service, which will presumably have online multiplayer for the whole (originally local multiplayer) game, yet no online multiplayer for this latest remake... I mean, the game seemed perfect for drop-in, drop-out multiplayer, then if anyone disconnects, the game just goes back to Single Player with CPU for whoever disconnects, and the CPU would take over from whoever gets disconnected, with the potential for anyone else to just drop in and claim their place again. That's how I thought it would work... oh well, I'm still looking forward to the game, and I'm sure it's great in local multiplayer, but a missed opportunity for a game like this. Yeah... I just checked, it looks like any 'online multiplayer' functionality isn't real-time, it just takes stats from others on your friends list, and other similar functionality.

Octopath Traveler II Launch Trailer Now up on the main page. - - - - -

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe Launch Trailer Now up on the main page. - - - - - I bought the physical version of this, I'm not sure how many other people will be buying this remake, though being that it seems to be doing rather well in the reviews, I'd imagine quite a few, and it would seem to be a title which is well-suited to online multiplayer, so perhaps another potential game for an N-E game night? I know @Dcubed , @Glen-i and @Ugh first aid will quite possibly be buying and playing it, but you already have three players locally, and I'd have thought you'd get a lot of mileage out of the same copy of the game in that case. But anyway, if there's enough of us with copies of the game, and enough interest, then perhaps this could be another online game to try out.

Nintendo eShop new releases (week 08) The eighth week of releases. A selection of new titles are now available on the Nintendo Switch eShop. Check the article for the full roundup. - - - - - Magical Drop VI comes to the Nintendo Switch eShop in April Now up on the main page. Release date, overview, and trailer. - - - - - The Magical Drop titles have been around for a while, there's even a decent GBC port of the original game. I hadn't even heard of the series until the original Neo Geo versions of the games were released on the Wii Shop Channel... a while ago. This tradition of the games getting released on Nintendo (and other platforms) seemed to continue with the Switch, as the excellent ACA Neo Geo versions of the earlier games have been available for a while including Magical Drop I - IV... I believe. There is even the SNES version of the second game, available on Nintendo Switch Online, so it's easy to get into at this point, even if you play the game for just five minutes (yeah right...) to see if it's a Puzzle game series that you can get into. Over a decade ago, Magical Drop V was made... it got released on Steam... it is no longer on Steam, though it's probably for the best. Now, over a decade later, Magical Drop VI is coming out on the Switch and Steam this April, and this time... it would seem that the series is making a hopefully welcome return. The game is being handled by Forever Entertainment (yes... of Panzer Dragoon remake "fame") but in conjuntion with other studios, plus... it's a puzzle game, so there doesn't seem to be much which can go wrong with this game, especially as lessons seem to have been learned since the last attempt, and this time the game should shine as another excellent entry in the simple but addictive Puzzle game series. It will seemingly be a full-priced (for a puzzle game) title, at around just under £20, but with all the extra modes etc featured in the trailer, it should prove to be worthwhile. And if not... oh well, maybe they'll try again in another decade?

Thanks for the games. Only one or two same double characters this evening, no triple or quadruples. Some good matches, some not so good ones, and some really close ones. Here's a link to this week's stream... - - - - - N-Europe Saturday Smash! (25/02/2023)

What this will likely mean, is that the "Glass-breaking" effect will be reinstated to the battle loading screens, the pause menu shouldn't fade the background to black, the framerate might be improved from what it is at the moment, but I wouldn't expect anything above what the Xbox and PS versions run at, so the 30fps cap will still be there, as it's limited from the original source material it was ported from the first time around, when the PS3 version was released, which was based on the technically inferior PS2 version, which had more content. I'm not sure if it's even realistically possible for the original cutscenes angles etc, dialogue syncing etc to be reinstated, due to the game seemingly becoming inferior in some way with each port, I don't know if these things were intorduced with the PS2 port, but I believe they were there in the PS3 port. Some of these things may have been fixed by fans in the PC port, but that's still an inferior version. At this point, unless you really want to play this game on a Switch or other modern platforms, your best best is probably to just play the GC original with some decent video cables, or play it via Dolphin (using a copy of the GC game, assuming you own it) as it seems to run better in some ways, or play it on GC, but use a modded console, a copy of the GC game that you own, and play it from an SD card serial port adapter, which may well give better loading times, at the very least. I may look into this, if it's of interest to anyone, comparing the game running from disc and from console, as I still own my original copy of Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube, and I recently bought a HDMI modded console, it could make for an interesting comparison... at this point, I have no intention of buying the remaster, unless I ever see it very cheap, and even then, I'm unsure if it would be worth it. If you've played the GC original, I don't think any other version of this game will ever compare to it at this point, and I say that from enjoying the game very much back in the days of its original release, but I acknowledge that the game has its issues in other areas as well, even in its original form, but it's still fun. However, if you haven't played the game on the GC before, I could see how you could enjoy the game on the Switch or other modern platforms, but I wouldn't say it's worth picking up if you still have access to a GC and the game. For anyone who has played the game before, and is just enjoying the game for what it is, on your modern console of choice, that's great as well.

Thanks for the games. Yep... standard Mario Party 2. It was good to see Wario win for a change, especially as it fitted well with the ending. I reckon we should have Mario Party 3 available soon, before this month is out, it might as well be released to complete the set, even if the rest of the planned N64 NSO EP games aren't out for a while. Here's a link to this week's stream... Mario Party 2 on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack - N-Europe Multiplayer (24/02/2023)

No worries.

For anyone looking to purchase the physical version of Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe.. On eBay, voucher code JOY15 which you can enter at the checkout for 15% off, Videogames are included, select sellers only, one of which is thegamecollectionoutlet, they have the game for sale at £46.95 but with the code it makes the price £39.91 which seems to be a good price for the physical version, it's even cheaper than digital. 18 copies currently sold, seemingly 32 copies left, the usual fifty copies of the game allocated to the outlet specifically for this offer. Voucher code expires 28/02/2023 at just before midnight.