WackerJr

I can completely empathise with Greg about sending time with your family & little one, and then only really being able to settle down to a game late at night when you’re absolutely exhausted! It certainly does make gaming tricky at times. Wow I thought my backlog was large, but I do feel a bit better knowing it’s nothing compared to the N-E Cafe team and many of the forum users! The digital vs physical discussion was interesting and I like hearing what others currently do. The proportion of digital games has certainly increased over the years. I still enjoy physical copies mind, especially the joy of peel the plastic Nintendo seal off a case! 😃 I do like to sell & buy older second hand games too, so I won’t be sticking to a digital-only solution yet given the choice.

That’s seriously impressive @Glen-i! I’m still attempting to get my first, ha! I’ve managed 9.8 on a couple (Pit & Incineroar spring to mind). Any tips or any character you’d recommend so I can get that challenge ticked off?

I agree. Although with their record profits last year (albeit for one game) I can’t see that happening anytime soon 🙁. I don’t believe Nintendo will be releasing a Switch Pro either anymore. Not with both Microsoft & Sony releasing their latest powerhouses shortly. They could get away with previous handheld revisions due to the lack of competition.

I’ve seen the list of games on the various Mega Drive mini-esque consoles & it wouldn’t surprise me if this was the method they used! The GameBoy segment was a really enjoyable listen, and the game element was a neat touch over just simply discussing great handheld games. I personally didn’t disagree with many of the games and forgot that there were so many worthy contenders. Great to see some love for some of the games I didn’t know if they’d be included (Pokemon TCG for instance). Here’s the obligatory ‘what about this game’ opinion... shame there was no love for Stranded Kids, one of my favourites, and one I managed to get a mini-review into N64 / NGamer magazine with 😃. Good choices from everyone & another enjoyable listen, thanks.

These days, knowing the gaming community, managing expectations is pretty important. But yeah, very funny how matter of factly it was stated lol I still expect, like myself, that many were wondering if they would still announce the next fighter at the same time, so I’m glad they’ve set expectations now. To be fair, it makes sense on their part not to dilute interest & draw attention away from the new Arms character(s) when it’s already fairly niche among the wider gaming audience.

Yes! I’m excited by this, even if one of my overriding thoughts is “it’s about time!” So it’s early in development and it’ll be interesting to see if they can flesh it out more than the original, which was fun but a fairly short experience.

Agreed. The fact that we had so many of those in common and for the same reasons too! ”And another tip is the ‘No Clipping’ code...” Whhhhaattt!!!! 😂😂😂 I can’t believe I didn’t realise this all those years ago! Invincibility, sure. But knowing that other code would have saved me so much nor time... well, now I feel even more of a tool! Haha!

Like so many Sega spin-offs, what appears to be such a neat concept is completely messed up in execution. Potentially too small, too expensive, choice of games could’ve been better, and while I’ve read other sites praising the improvement in battery life compared to the original it’s still pretty poor. All of these criticisms aside, the idea is so ridiculous and niche that I’m interested in knowing more! I used to own a Master System & I still enjoy the first Sonic game. I don’t know how well Gunstar Heroes translated to the smaller screen. Beyond these I don’t have much excitement for the rest of the line-up.

• 6744-3219-6987 • Mike • No • None at the mo, but stay tuned for the future!

A quite thrilling achievement. Reading up, the ability for private companies such as SpaceX to fund flights such as this provide more opportunity for NASA to fund other projects too. Hopefully the docking will go well too, and so relieved that everything else up to now has gone well.

So a couple of games I’ve completed recently, both on 3DS: Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate While I enjoyed the voice acting & the comic book-style cutscenes, I felt the controls were just not responsive enough. This real spoiled the combat, which borrowed heavily from the console games where it was one of the more enjoyable parts. Sadly not so here & ultimately this was just a forgettable Metroidvania game. Metroid II Better than I was lead to believe. Thank goodness for save states as the save points in the game are far apart. Very much a mini-Metroid & all the games in the series after this just did everything so much better. The lack of one reminded me just how much I value in-game maps! Glad I finally played it & beat it, but won’t be going back.

Only a couple of weeks. I’m impressed it wasn’t affected and delayed longer to be honest.

Another enjoyable listen this week. I really enjoyed the N64 quiz and the level of questions (I got around 75% right, mainly thanks to being a reader of N64 Magazine back in the day). Glad to hear someone else couldn’t get into Okami. Admittedly I haven’t tried the HD version, but I tried a couple of times with the Wii version thinking, as a Zelda fan, that I would love it, but after a couple of hours found I just wasn’t enjoying it as much as I thought so put it down. I don’t know the transition tune, but worth guessing anyway as it doesn’t appear to have guessed yet:

Gaming sins? Great question! I guess they could come in all guises so here’s a couple. Maybe not really juicy enough but hope they help anyway: Skipping lessons to get a copy of Ocarina of Time on launch day. I used to be a big fan of getting games on launch day, but to this day remains the only game where a friend & I both got the game & missed school lessons to get it from town before heading home to play it. What a game though, and that decision didn’t cost me an exam grade or a place at Uni, so was definitely an afternoon well spent! I owned an Action Replay (remember those!) for the N64. I much prefer working hard in a game to get the reward, but earning that Invincibility cheat in Goldeneye was just a bridge too far for me. I resorted to using the Action Replay to make myself invulnerable for the level (no the irony isn’t lost on me!). Even then I spent hours failing to complete the blasted level in under 2mins to earn the in-game cheat. Finally I managed to achieve what I feared may be impossible for me. While I had just a twinge of guilt from my actions, karma occurred when the full set of push-button codes were released making all those hours kind of pointless! I virtually completed Majora’s Mask before discovering that I could slow down time! I guess it made one boss battle especially exciting as time ticked down to the last couple of seconds, although the number of times I had to repeat activities because I just didn’t have the time to complete things before the 3 days reset...

Just awful news. I don’t know much about swimming in the ocean although it sounds as though they were a long way off shore. Listening to some of the current and former wrestlers talk about him and he really sounded like a good guy. Really tragic.

I’ve encountered what appears to be a bug where images of Spirits I’ve collected have been replaced with the Smash Bros logo.... This looks to have happened with all the additional spirits added (I.e., from Link’s Awakening onwards). Has anyone else encounters the same problem or know how to fix it? I’ve only found one other reported online and they cleared their system cache. I tried this and it didn’t solve the problem.

Wow where did this come from? Lovely surprise and looks to be back to the RPG format. I loved Paper Mario 64 & Thousand Year Door. The writing is usually very good too & wittier than you’d expect. I really hope it follows the quality of these than the more recent outings. I am excited by this!

Thanks all for your help everyone, the advice, while not exactly hyping up any of the choices, has been incredibly helpful & appreciated. Earthbound it is! I’m just getting started with the whimsical adventure. I know I’m not playing it now, but I’m pleased that the hours I put into the original GBA Golden Sun games will at least help me understand Dark Dawn more when I get around to playing it. Thanks for your help!

Ok, I may need some advice... I’m going through my 3DS backlog and I fancy ploughing through a RPG. I’m deciding between three I have but haven’t started yet: Earthbound, Xenoblade Chronicles or Golden Sun Dark Dawn... I’m thinking Earthbound (can’t believe I downloaded it but haven’t played it yet), but Nick’s positive talk on Xenoblade 2 in the latest N-E Cafe podcast has made me think twice (coupled with the latest rumour of more Mother news before the end of the year, so should I wait?) What do you fine folk recommend? 😃

I do agree, although for me it depends on how else the reviewer critiques the game. I do like to know how enhanced versions compare to the original games, however your view about the reviewer also needing to critique the gameplay as a new game are valid for me too. I like to read the overall score / review as a new game, but referencing the original & mentioning how it compares and even whether it is worth getting if you own the original.

Haha, you’re right there! I’m almost relieved I didn’t know that one! Midway through the latest one & TT guess:

Another good one this week. I have no idea of the transition tunes, and the change in tone of the last one threw me even more! Random guess:

Yep, thirded! It was definitely better than the recent TV tapings and I guess the company & talents are trying to find the best way to present the matches when there’s no audience or atmosphere. I like it when they can convey their character throughout the match & constantly talking. The likes of Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Charlotte, Ziggler, Asuka & Alexa Bliss I thought all did this especially well. WrestleMania for me is big on the ‘pomp & circumstance’ which sadly due to the situation, this was sorely lacking. Still, at least we got to experience that Boneyard match!

How is everyone doing with keeping fit & healthy at the moment? No gyms available but an opportunity to go out for a run/ride each day and things you can try at home.

So tonight and tomorrow is WrestleMania. What a bizarre time & it still feels strange and wrong to me that this is even happening. I understand the desire to give people at home respite for a few hours from the challenges of the world right now, but the product has suffered lately as a result, and I don’t feel it’s worth risking the wrestlers and staff there to do so. Saying all that, since it has all been recorded and can’t be changed now, I wonder what they’ll do technically to make this event seem big and not just remind people that there’s no crowd.