S.C.G

No real expectations for this, but we'll be sure to have the full roundup article posted on the main page, shortly after it finishes airing, all going well.

I played this for an hour or two the other night, got as far as the bit where you end up in one place after the main opening story event happens, I've got past that and have just headed back to the place I was at previously, so I've learned the basics and now I suppose I must be in that tutorial area which others have already mentioned. The visuals are nice, soundtrack seems decent, the humour is still there, the accompanying main helper character isn't bad, I've noted that you start off with 50HP so I guess that won't change now for the rest of the game, I'm not really sure what to say about the battle system and the lack of FP and BP, which I'm assuming you just don't get in this game. It just turns the game into more of a story game, with light RPG elements and a focus on interacting with the enviornment around you; which is fine, there's still plenty to see and do but it makes it seem like a game where you're more there to complete a main quest, which possibly won't have much of a challenge to it, due to the only real 'barriers' to progress are likely to be the boss battles. I like it though, the world feels more alive and vibrant but if I want that old style Paper Mario type game, I'll just go back to Bug Fables... in the meantime, this game is a new Paper Mario title, with an emphasis on exploration, interaction and a good bit of humour.

Day 19 - Melee Combat Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) I think the above video amply demonstrates just how brilliant Ninja Gaiden II still is to this day, the guy who made the video has clearly spent a lot of time playing the game and mastering it, also, this video was made in 2015, the game came out in 2008... it looked great then, apparently it looks even better on an Xbox One X as well, so there's that too. But just the mechanics, settings, bosses, combos, all of the different weapons and difficulties, plus lets not forget the hidden areas as well, they were true tests at the time; other series such as Bayonetta and Devil May Cry are brilliant in their own ways, but to me, nothing matched the feeling of playing Ninja Gaiden II at its time of release. If you've never played the game, then there really is no better time.

That list seems almost too real for it not to be true. Some cool things in there, which would be some nice surprises if they are true, so I'll say no more but I couldn't not look at that list.

Day 18 - Best Mini Game Pokémon Stadium 2 - Delibird's Delivery It seems that @Jonnas and I are similar in our choices once again, except he beat me to it this time, albeit, this is a slightly different choice, being that it's from the sequel. My brothers and I, had a lot of fun with the mini-games on Pokémon Stadium 2, but the one which we have the fondest of memories for is Delibird's Delivery. It's a great mini-game, the rule are simple; grab as much stuff as you can and put it on the converyor belt to net a load of points, but be careful, as the more items you have on you, the harder it is to make it back to the other side and if you should collide with a charging Swinub, then your Delibird will lose all of those items, so there's even risk/reward in there too. Whenever we used to play it, the game would usually devolve into just seeing who could nab the most N64 and GameBoy items, just because. This mini-game probably got played more than either of the main modes in the Pokémon Stadium games combined.

Day 17 - Racing Game F-Zero GX How could it be anything else? This is the last truly monumental F-Zero game which came out on home consoles, it was a triumph for Nintendo, Sega and everyone involved in its development, it pushed the GameCube on a technical level and I'm still amazed by it even today because there is just so much brilliance packed into a single entry in the series. It not only carries on the legacy of previous titles, it expands upon it in all areas, to the extent that there are many racers, all of whom have their own theme tune and bio entry, plus their own ships... if that wasn't enough you can also make your own custom ship, there was cross-connectivity with the Arcade version, multiple difficulties, a brilliant story mode, the mechanics are amazing, piloting the ships feels perfect, it's one of the most enjoyable games I've ever had the pleasure of playing, the visuals are astounding, that solid 60fps framerate and a god-tier soundtrack. I could go on, but instead all I will say is that if you haven't played it yet and can do so easily, then please do, you'll love it I'm sure, you're welcome and if not... there are no words.

Streets of Rage 4 - While it follows the basic template of the earlier titles, the newly introduced combo system - which has also been improved since launch - offers an innovative way to play Streets of Rage, especially as landing large combos will net you a higher score, which in turn will improve your grade at the end of each stage. Weapon juggling is now a thing as well, not only can you pick up a weapon and use it on the enemies, but you can also throw certain weapons, watch the bounce off the enemies as they get knocked back and then catch the weapon to use again, providing you time it right; in areas where there's a pile of weapons and lots of enemies, things can get... interesting.

Thanks for clearing up the audio stuff Nick, you've explained it a lot better than I could have. I think you all do a fantastic job with the podcast, personally I've never had a problem listening to the podcast during any week, I think that's down to good editing and this week was no exception but I'm definitely more critical when it comes to the audio on my side because I could tell that it was coming through a lot quieter, I can sort it out now via the mic settings but I'm willing to learn more about how those settings interact, as it sounds like a nightmare, but it would be a good thing if I could improve the audio on my side for the possibility of standing in again, if required. It sounds like you've had a heck of a lot to do, I was unaware that you've been editing other podcasts as well, but that's excellent, I'm glad to hear that the skills you've built up are coming in useful, the same goes for Lee and Greg as well, as I know you have your own channels which you work on which is great. Maybe we can start highlighting videos from all of your channels and maybe some other independent channels given to us through recommendations on the forums? So long as they are videogame related and link back to Nintendo or retro games in general, just a thought, it might be good to get a bit of cross-promotion going.

It could be a combination of factors, I can't imagine what the Podcast is like to listen to volume wise on a phone, it sounds fine on a PC but I know Podcasts are typically more something which is probably better/easier to listen to on the go. I will note that on my end, it had been a while since I last helped out on any episodes of the Podcast, I noticed at the time that Skype had messed about with the volume levels on what is a good quality mic, ever since then I've had to manually adjust it in the main settings just so it's usable, so there's that. Also, I know @Londragon put together the Podcast this week and I know that @Nicktendo usually puts it together but we're all standing in this week. Besides, I don't even know how much of a difference that makes, so I wouldn't like to say, I'm just listing the variables, things which were different this time, Lee, Nick and Greg know a lot more about editing than I do. I'm inclined to think that it may well be Skype causing the initial low volume on my mic, which might have had a knock on effect on everything else, I think I know how to fix that now, so it shouldn't be a problem if I'm required for any future episodes of the Podcast. TL;DR - technology I'm really glad that everyone is still enjoying the Podcast though and it was great fun to be a part of it this week listening back to my parts though, there are a few areas which I could improve upon, I'll work on that for another time as I think I could do with speaking in a clear and concise tone, I'm aware that I try to read out certain words a bit too quickly, also I become aware of any pauses or repetition, try to recover then carry on, I think that takes its toll a bit as well. There was some great conversation in there though, especially from Greg and Lee, plus I did like how the Sea of Thieves bit went as I think that's a game which I have enjoyed, so it was great to get to talk about a recent rare game on a Nintendo podcast, especially as it's not on a Nintendo system. (I would love a Switch port though of it or Rare Replay)

I picked up a few of those only last night, on the GameCube version, online thanks to the private server. Good shout though, the red box is iconic, I'll be nominating that certain game for sure, but I'm saving it for another category... ...I wonder which one it could be?

Thanks for the games everyone. I think my brother played better than me tonight, he enjoyed playing a few rounds with us and it was great fun as always.

Day 16: Most interesting collectibles Banjo-Kazooie - Stop 'n' Swop Banjo-Kazooie - "OK, I finally got all of the six coloured eggs AND the Ice Key... and now, we wait..." *almost three years pass* Banjo-Tooie - "Oh right, so I didn't need to collect them in the first place, well at least they'll surely unlock something amazi... oh, a new move, multiplayer character and... you can what?!? turn Kazooie into a dragon?!? OK, that is pretty neat.

Day 15: Best Story Tales of Symphonia A really fantastic RPG with a great story for its time, well worth playing for anyone who hasn't played it before, I can remember playing it on the GameCube when it first came out and although there are probably RPG's with better stories, I think it all just resonated with me at the time, in particular there is part of the storyline which shows Colette's journey to become an 'Angel' and it's as the story unfolds that you start to realise what this actually means. You have Lloyd and Genis at each step trying to say to her... 'erm, maybe this isn't such a good idea' and at almost each and every point Colette essentially replies with 'this is fine...' a bit like that meme in a way. There are other elements to the story though, I don't want to spoil too much but it is a two disc game and let's just say that when you think you're maybe coming up towards the end of the game, you're only really halfway through as the true scope of the game unfolds across a larger world than you'd have thought exists in the game, there are some good lessons in the story and some interesting themes at times as well, plus some well written characters with decent voice acting for the time, even if some of it comes across as a little bit off now perhaps, the story is generally good, especially when you get some extra details during certain parts through the skits which unveil more about the characters.

I've gone from thinking that I would buy it on day one to maybe a little bit later down the line, I still think it looks good but now I'm wondering if it will just turn into another game similar to Sekiro for me, as I played that for a good day or so, then... never again, which is a shame because I'm sure both games have their plus points.

Day 14 - 2D platformer Sonic 3 & Knuckles Because it wasn't really going to be anything else now, was it?

I'm going to vote for The Messenger because I've heard it's great, I've got the physical version and I'd really like to play it.

I'm not sure what options you get when highlighting images on a phone, I only really post from a PC. Aren't there options on the image when you perform the equivalent of a right-click? (I've no idea when it comes to modern phones) Maybe there's a way of just dragging and dropping the image? That would make more sense on a phone probably.

Was it this image you wanted to post? Ah OK, it was, hmm this will probably need further troubleshooting.

Hey soag, welcome back. If you want to share pictures on the forum, right click on the image you want to share, go to 'copy image location' and then paste it directly into the post... New games are coming to the NES and SNES apps next week (text will also keep its properties if you copy and paste it, but you do have the option to paste it as plain text as well) It should then be automatically embedded, if you also want to add a link to the image hold Ctrl, right-click, go to 'edit image' and you can link to stuff. (you can also use that to edit the image slightly, though I haven't made much use of that beyond adding in links for articles. I hope this helps, if you have any other questions about posting on the forum, or the site or anything, let me know.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate spirits event titled 'Octopath Traveller' is now live But you already knew that... anyway, it's up on the main site. The main thing this event highlights for me, is that, well... its been two years since I've purchased and not played Octopath Traveller. I should probably fix that... but I probably won't. It's a great spirits theme for Smash though.

Day 13 - Best Open World City Game InFamous Just something about that first game, the series in general as well and while I might not be as fond of it as I once was, I still very much enjoyed my time with it. Everything from the exploration, world design, story... it just all adds up to a great game where you'll always find yourself doing something in rather than just moving around.

Nope, I think it's just the limitations, try this one... I've resized it so that it's 275 X 150 Pixels, which is a bit bigger than your current signature but within the limitations. I kept the alpha channel in the background and adjusted the colour slightly so that it should appear either the same or close to your signature and kept the .png format. Also, there it is without the colour correction, as just looking at the uploaded signature, the original looked better, it just appeared darker in the editor, anyway, take your pick, hopefully one of them will work.

Hmm, let's try something... I've just uploaded your signature (or I should have, first time I've tried this) try copying the image location and paste that into your signature. It could well be as @Ashley says though, upload and embed having different limits, but it probably wouldn't hurt to try it from this reuploaded signature, in case it makes a difference.

We used to be able to change that part of the profile on the old forums (or some of us used to be able to maybe?) but this isn't currently possible, as far as I know, hence a lot of them are as they were when they were last changed on the old forum, I think? As for your signature, doesn't it depend on the size of the image you used for your signature? If you wanted it to be bigger, wouldn't you just make the actual signature bigger to start with? Unless I'm missing something... I might be not understanding what you're asking. Edit - ah nevermind, I see what you mean, it's bigger where you initially uploaded it... hmm, I'm not sure.

Day 12 - Favourite Awful Game World Racing for the Nintendo GameCube There aren't that many videos which have footage of the GC version, but here's a brief clip... Though, I remember the game for a certain, long and winding road track which allowed you to go of course at one point, into the water surrounding part of the track and... just keep on driving I've no idea where the game came from, I just know that it used to be a game in my brothers collection, we both played it, thought it was hilariously broken but somehow playable at the time, it was probably sold a long time ago but I always think of buying it back just to play it again for some odd reason. If I do, I might try and capture some footage of it myself, being that there's so little of it out there, although there is footage of it running on an emulator but not so much when it comes to original hardware... I'm really thinking of rebuying it you know, I'm sure my brother would love to play it again as well.