WackerJr

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is one of the latest retro game re-release / update. Over recent years I’ve found that a growing number of titles that I could never complete as a child have been given HD updates or re-releases. This collection in particular contains another of the games that defeated me as a child: the dreaded side-scrolling NES TMNT game. I’ve found it incredibly satisfying to play these games and finally reach the end. To such extent that I’ve delayed playing some of the better modern games in order to finally get some ‘closure’ for the younger me! Does anyone else get that same gratification or ever have the urge to return to a game they could never defeat and finally complete? The introduction of rewind features to many of these has helped and I think that will finally enable me to defeat Shredder and finally justify the countless hours I spent as a child getting my butt kicked by the hordes of respawning enemies, losing heroes to the infamous underwater section, or being squashed by the tanks wandering the overworld. Examples over recent years for me have included Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Flashback, Aladdin & Lion King (Disney Games Classic Collection), and even one of the first games I ever played and used to terrify us in primary school: Granny’s Garden (a BBC game that saw a re-release on mobile). The latter in particular is a very dated game for children, that I probably gained more joy for finally completing as an adult than I really should have! This image alone haunted many schoolchildren in the 80’s! Is it just me? Or do you have any games you’ve been determined to finally beat, even if you’ve had to return to it many years later?

As expected, Goldeneye is seeing a simultaneous release on both NSO and GamePass.

I’d like to think it’ll make those leakers think twice before vying for attention in future, but I doubt it. Think you’ve got a good point there on Prime 4.

There were a few announcements which seemed to be there to appease the market, or to effectively ask people to stop asking about a game, and that it really is being developed! I couldn’t tell if that was joy or sarcasm from Miyamoto when he revealed that t-shirt. Either way, it made me chuckle!

There are enough known games we’re expecting by the end of Winter that could fill the Direct (e.g., Monkey Island, Bayonetta 3, Pokémon S&V, N64 NSO games) so I expect to see plenty of these. I’m hoping they’ll spring some new surprises on us, such as the Zelda ports (not only two of the few WiiU ports left that I’d be excited about, but two of the only WiiU ports left, period!). I don’t think we’ll see anything on Mario Kart or GameBoy for NSO, but I’m cautiously optimistic for a bunch of other surprises….

I’m impressed DYKG were able to sit on this for so long as it sounds as though they’ve been collecting info and trying to find and interview people for a while. A real find to discover this without more details being leaked earlier, and also speaks to the credibility of those who worked on it for not revealing more. The premise and story sounds interstate and different. I agree with others though, the actual gameplay doesn’t sound too good. All very interesting to hear about though!

I agree. I enjoy speculation and discussion about what could be released. It’s the “leaks” for the big surprises that frustrate me. What does it gain the leakers? Just attention really. It spoils things for developers, who are already under enough pressure it seems.

Thanks all for this evening. Was bonkers and fun!

If I get back in time tonight then I’ll try to join in for once. @Glen-i & @BowserBasher if you notice a friend request from “Mike” then that will be me. Thanks.

It certainly seems to be helping that some of the AEW EVPs are gamers and reportedly big fans of No Mercy. It looks and feels like a modern day No Mercy and I actually like the rather bloated AEW roster. I’m not sure how they’ll differentiate the characters, with there being so many, and I wish graphically it was a little stronger, but if the gameplay works then I’m pretty sure that’ll all be forgotten!

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (3DS) ‘Charming’ is the word that springs to mind having now completed this puzzle-platformer. Bereft of the ability to jump, but with the ability to pluck & launch vegetables a la Super Mario 2, you navigate miniature levels with the aim of collecting the power star in each. Paths will often be out of sight, so you’ll use your skill rotating the camera to help figure out routes around obstacles, as well as working out how to find & collect 3x hidden gems along the way. Each level can also be replayed to try and find a hidden toad sprite (taking Super Mario 3D World’s sprite Luigi Easter Eggs and rewarding you now for locating them). The bonus levels based on another Mario title were neat, although I wish there were more of them. It looks impressive on the 3DS, although I had to squint occasionally when the screen zooms out. The 3D effect didn’t really add much to me & while a few compromises were made, it’s essentially the same game as the Switch one (& for me a lot cheaper too!). While playing it, it felt like a snack - a fun game to play as one inbetween larger adventures, although was so enjoyable it turns out I stayed a lot longer at the buffet table than I expected to!

It had to come at some point, but I’m still very pleased to see this added. Another decent addition to the NSO catalogue.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered (PS4) I was, and still am, a huge fan of the old-school point & click games by the likes of LucasArts and Revolution Software. I remembered loving 'Day of the Tentacle' back in the day and so while I expected to enjoy it, I wondered how well it would hold up. Thankfully it's still one of the best graphic adventure games I've played. The HD remaster cleans up the visuals so it looks how I remember it, with the option to toggle the pixelated visuals it actually was! The writing is still good, although you really need to appreciate quippy and slapstick humour to enjoy the jokes and comedy of it. Then again, when the premise is to prevent a mutated purple tentacle from taking over the world in a cartoon adventure I don't imagine players would expect a serious or mature tale! The premise of three characters traversing the same compact mansion over three different time periods is clever, as it means thankfully each character doesn't have a huge area to explore, and while it allows for puzzles where items in one time period can affect another it doesn't overdo these (if anything it doesn't do enough with this). I may have rose-tinted glassed, but I thoroughly enjoyed my few hours revisiting the mansion.

You both must be being so strong for him! That child is going to grow to be so resilient! Congratulations to you both, and while tough, I hope the road to recovery keeps on the positive path it’s on.

I love this. The first ones that sprung to mind have already been mentioned, so here are a couple of others: Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat A new Donkey Kong platform game, but can only be controlled by a pair of bongo drums! Super Smash Bros (N64) The thought of pitting popular Nintendo characters against each other sounds a great idea, especially when there were some popular fighting games around. Just a standard battler with energy bars on a flat ground would’ve been a hit, so I can only imagine the planning meeting when it was suggested that characters battle over various platforms. Plus now you don’t whittle their energy down, you instead increase it and try and knock them off screen, or until they fall off platforms… Of course new players are also likely to fall off lots of times and lose lives until they get used to it. Thankfully they decided their idea was the best! Wario Ware Inc Dropping players into mini-games that only last 3 seconds sounds quite fun to me. What ideas did the developers have for players to do in those 3 seconds? Stick fingers up your nose, snot up dripping mucus, leaping over a car that’s actually a sausage, eat a banana, shake hands with a dog, bounce a watermelon off a man’s stomach… 🤣

I’ve just seen a tweet from Nintendo UK about the track. 😃 Ok, I’m more optimistic about this now!

Getting a new track, and one that uses the anti-gravity mechanic (something I thought we may lose completely with the booster courses) is a really nice surprise. Not a bad selection of courses, as I remember liking Waluigi Pinball and Mushroom Gorge. Kalimari Desert was iconic on MK64 although I remember replaying it in MK7 and sadly realising that it’s actually quite basic with long stretches and few corners. Overall, looking forward to next week and trying these out.

If you enjoy the series then the DLC episode (the longer episode one you mentioned) is worth it in my opinion. It’s a fully-fledged case and I wouldn’t want to spoil anything further about it!

I can’t believe that it’s only today I’ve discovered that Kirby’s Avalanche is Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean machine! (Just with a very different looking protagonist… well unless Kirby ever decided to suck up Robotnik to take on his appearance of course…)

That’s actually a good consideration on Nintendo’s part since it will seem unfair to anyone purchasing Fire Emblem Fates to not give them any opportunity to finish the story. Plus it probably doesn’t hurt Nintendo to advertise this and mop up any last purchases of the game! 🥸

Super Arcade Football (Switch): A simplified football game with an overhead view that initially gives Sensible Soccer and Super Kick Off vibes. I’ve seen some people recommended this, but honestly for me this was not a patch on Sensible Soccer. In single-player you take over a fictional team from an old fashioned guy who’s not afraid to bombard you with insults. You then essentially have to win every game to advance to the next, although there’s no penalty for losing and you simply replay games. There is a star system for achieving specific feats, such as putting together x passes in a row, or winning by a certain margin. I never worked out what these actually did though, and my motivation for doing them quickly dissolved. I did enjoy the selection of different pitch types and random hazards (meteorites anyone!?), which did add variety to the matches. Sadly it wasn’t enough and, after the initial excitement and discovery of the different pitch types, it really did feel like a grind to play through the games. I wanted to like it, but sadly it wasn’t to be.

Wow, best of luck to the 3 of you! It’s terrifying being a baby into the world, never mind with all of the extra to deal with. Relieved to hear you have a good team helping and they are very reassuring to you both. Is this your first? Really hoping everything goes well for these next few weeks (& beyond of course!).

They say they’ll continue to great multi format games, although I wonder how long that’ll last. Another big-name developer though, and I’d be pretty pleased if I were Sony right now with this deal.

Sorry if this is a daft question, but is the NE Discord available to all or is it simply for NE staff?

No notification for me either. I just lucked out on seeing the thread here and on another site during the 2-3 hour window they happened to be available. I’d assumed, like you, that the ‘notify me’ option would essentially give those people a heads-up of some kind.