Dcubed

Stream is live now : peace: GET IN FOR DA CRAZY! @S\.C\.G. TAKE YOUR PLACES FOR ROUND 1!!!

Yes I have, I have two seperate archives (one of the Livestream and a clean version for the future highlight video). I'll see about uploading the archive of last night's Livestream onto my own YT Channel when I get the chance! : peace:

And here it is! The Crazy Smash bracket! @Glen\-i, @S\.C\.G, @The Mole Yes, your eyes do not decieve you, there are TWO three player Smash matches this time! After Round 1, there will be a Winners match and a Losers match. The winner of each will go onto the Final Final match! Just in case you've forgotten, Crazy Smash features items on High, all customisations are on, all stages on (including Custom Stages) and a specific set of rules for each match that will be announced on stream only right before the match starts. You must adhere to the announced rules; if this does not happen, the match will be forfeit. All players must SD and we will start the match again until we get everything right. And with that, see you all at 22:00! : peace:

AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!! Amazingly enough, @Glen\-i actually won with skill and NOT BS luck! Legit upsets and shocks in tonight's bracket! Crazy Smash is tomorrow at 22:00 and the bracket goes up tomorrow morning! : peace:

The tourney doesn't start till 22:00, so don't mind the practice matches until then! Stream is back on now after a few technical issues, so come on in! : peace: @The Mole Me and you are up first! Let's go!

And here's tonight's For Fun bracket! @S\.C\.G, @Glen\-i, @Ugh first aid and myself are all taking part. Due to the fact that we have 6 participants, we will have a losers round after Round 1 has finished. This will be a three way match (yes, three players at the same time), where the winner will move onto Round 2 and take the 4th slot at the bottom (coming out of the warp pipe as helpfully shown on the slightly convoluted looking bracket diagram :p ) As this is For Fun, all stages are allowed, all items will be turned on (and set to low) and all customisations are allowed. See you all at 22:00! : peace:

Supposedly it's being held up by Nintendo because they're looking to update the US/EU and JPN versions at the same time (presumably because of cross regional online play). It's likely that there's a longer process involved because of the Japanese version, which probably has its own set of requirements in place as well (not to mention cross region online testing as well).

New gold coin offers are up. Interesting to see them do a pre-release discount for Fire Emblem Fates. Shame it's not very good though (it would probably still be cheaper to buy a download code from GAME instead).

Ok!!! Sorry for the delay! The stream is now live at http://www.twitch.tv/dcubednmuffin. Take your places! : peace: @S\.C\.G! Get on here! @RedShell! Not yet! Stream is live though! AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!! Congratulations go to The Mole for a clean sweep! And for making Glen-i look PROFESSIONAL!!11111!!! in the process! : peace: See you all again at 22:00 tomorrow for For Fun! The bracket for that will go up tomorrow morning!

Yeah, same. Playing PDOrta made me appreciate the Controller S. It's not a bad (not so little) controller really. It's a damn sight better than the 360 controller (has a working D-pad for starters!) and the PS2/PS3 controllers. Shame about the black/white and the start/select button placements though.

Wahey! I can finally add something new to my list! Now I'm not gonna repeat anything I've said in any of the reviews I've done recently, so I'm just gonna skip those... Right! First on my list is... So, as the 4th game in the series, this game is a bit weird in that it seems to expect you to have played previous games and yet it also acts as if you haven't. It starts you off by throwing you in the deep end and you quickly encounter characters from the previous games, but then it proceeds to mollycoddle you throughout most of the rest of the game... Though to be fair, that's pretty sage advice. Now, all Mario RPG games are keen on tutorials and this game doesn't actually deviate much from that, despite what many people seem to state. It works in much the same way in that regard... However, with this game, there's a problem... and it's a big one. Quite frankly, the game's puzzles are incredibly brain dead simple; all the way up until the end of the game. As this game keeps introducing new mechanics each time you go into the Dream World, it has to continuously teach you how to use them. Not enough time is spent in each Dream World "dungeon" to allow the game to come up with puzzles that allow you to figure things out for yourself. As soon as the game is done teaching you how to use each new Luiginary ability, the dungeon is over; effectively making the first 2 thirds of the game or so feel like an extended tutorial. On top of that, quite frankly, the world of Pillo Island is boring and I mean BOOOORRRRIIIINNNGGGG!!!! You got beef with us? Or do you have beef with mountain? The Mario RPGs are known not only for their memorable characters, not only for their battle systems, but also for the blend of platforming and action elements that the mainline Mario series are known for and the variety of minigames and challenges scattered throughout the world, with nice exploration and hidden things to find and do. Dream Team is a huge letdown in this regard. Ironically enough, despite being in S3D (more on that later on) Pillo Island feels very flat. There's very little in the way of platforming in comparison to previous games and up until the end of the game, there are hardly any minigames either... The world itself is just a bit dull really compared to the BeanBean or Mushroom Kingdoms as there's not much meaningful interaction with the environment outside of the Dream World. So it's not sounding very good so far is it? Perhaps Mario & Luigi should've stayed in bed... Well... that's what I would say, were it not for the AMAZING battle system! Thank goodness I had that damage nullifying badge on! Make no mistake, this is the meat and potatoes of this game. The battles have never been better in a M&L game! They are fantastic, incredibly creative and absolutely ROCK HARD! This game will put manly hairs on your chest (yes, even if you're a woman) and is easily the hardest game in the series, by far. Oh and that's before if you're a true sadomasochist, there's even an unlockable Hard Mode, which ratchets up the difficulty from rock hard, to FU@!ING ridiculous! Dark Souls ain't got nothing on this as this demands nothing short of perfection! Even the tutorial will two shot you to death and the majority of enemies in the game will either two shot or one shot you, no matter how strong you are (oh, did I mention that you're only allowed to carry 10 items MAX as well? Good bloody luck!) But putting difficulty aside for the moment, the battles are brilliant. This is clearly where the game truly shines and it's also another 3DS game that makes fantastic use of the S3D for gameplay purposes. It joins the likes of Super Mario 3D Land, Kirby Triple Deluxe and Zelda ALBW where the S3D is used for the gameplay in fundamental ways... That's what you get for not turning that 3D Slider up It's strange that the game spends so much of its time teaching you these Luiginary abilities and so little time letting you figure things out for yourself using them, considering how ridiculously long it is! It took me more than 40 hours to beat it. That's longer than Mario & Luigi 1, 2 AND 3 combined! And yet, it still manages to fail to teach the player the necessary lessons in a concise manner. It's a shame, as is the lack of interesting minigames and environments until right towards the end of the game, because in many ways it feels like they have all the components in place to make a game that is every bit as good as Bowser's Inside Story, but so much of the game was mishandled that it never quite manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. The music is fantastic, the visuals are amazing, the humour is on point and the characters are lovable, the battles are brilliant and the Luiginary abilities are a great idea that make great use of the touch screen, but it never manages to really come together as it should do. It's strange, but really, it feels like the individual parts of this game are actually better than the sum of them. Thankfully, the battle part of the game is so incredibly good that it manages to carry the game to the end, despite the significant issues I have with it. It's better than Partners in Time, but I can't rate it as high as Superstar Saga or Bowser's Inside Story, despite having parts that are better than both of them. Phew! Right! Onto the next one... As Rodin would say, this game is Beautiful! And it's beautiful in all regards! It's more of what made the original game so brilliant, with a few new tricks thrown in for good measure. So what IS new anyway? Well, not only are you treated to a slew of new weapons (ALL of them being new), but you also are pitted up against an (almost) entirely new cast of baddies. I wont spoil anything in that regard, but there's a good few unexpected surprises that will surely bring a or a to your face when you see them. In regards to the combat though, the biggest change by far is the introduction of the Umbran Climax... See that R button? Yeah! You should press it! You remember the Torture Attacks in the original don't you? Of course you do! Don't you wish you could've used those on multiple enemies though? Didn't it sometimes feel like a bit of a waste to use up all that magic on one enemy? Well it seems that Bayonetta agrees with you because she has a new trick up her... err... hair? You now have a choice about how you'd like to expend your magic when you hit that full meter mark. You can still use them on a Torture Attack if you want to, OOOORRRRR, you can now choose to unleash Umbran Climax, which adds Wicked Weaves to EVERY SINGLE ATTACK! This Is Awesome! It nicely balances out the magic meter, now encouraging you to put more thought into how you should use it in each encounter. Should you use Umbran Climax and take down all the smaller enemies, or should you save the magic meter for the larger enemies and use a Torture Attack to take them down more quickly? Otherwise, you have new transformations that I won't spoil and the addition of underwater combat which works very well. In short though, it's more of the same (which also means more of the different, because it's just as varied and filled with interesting level design and unique gameplay gimmicks as the first) and it's every bit as good as the first, if not a bit better (which is a huge accomplishment considering how good the first game was!) About the only thing I was disappointed in was how the map screen doesn't look quite as cool as the original's and I don't feel that the ending is quiiiittteee as satisfying, but it does come damn close! In short, this game is every bit the masterpiece as the original. Finally we have something a bit different... This little gem was the last game in the Panzer Dragoon series and having finally gotten my hands on an original Xbox again recently (and having beaten Star Fox Zero) I felt that it was the right time to finally play through this one. So for those who've never played a Panzer Dragoon game before, it's basically SEGA's answer to Star Fox... and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus (wait, didn't the first three games predate those? Eh, whatever!) Like Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2 (but not Saga), it's a 3D rail shooter from start to finish. No All Range Mode, no on foot sections, nothing other than aerial rail shooting gameplay. Where the Panzer Dragoon series deviates from Star Fox however in terms of gameplay though is in the execution. Unlike in Nintendo's series, you cannot speed up or slow down; in fact the music itself (and here I'd like to point out that, to my knowledge, the first game in the series was the first ever video game to get an original orchestral score and is utterly gorgeous!) is timed to the gameplay itself; also you are given the ability to swivel the camera around 360 degrees, in order to combat enemies that come from starboard, port and aft. Where it also deviates is in the storytelling and world building. The Panzer Dragoon series comes with a sense of grandure in minimalism. Much like Sony's Ico and Shadow of the Colussus, the Panzer Dragoon series takes place in a desolate and mysterious world that has a storied history that is told in the environment itself. Taking on a Show-Don't-Tell approach, little is given away about the overarching story through dialogue and much is conveyed through silence. It certainly has a unique style that no doubt was an influence for Sony's own team when making Ico and SOTC. Right, so why am I banging on about the series as a whole instead of talking about Orta? Well that's because it actually deviates from past games in the series quite a bit! You don't need to tell me that buddy! Unlike past games, this one was not made by the original Team Andromeda, but by the then fairly new SEGA team, Smilebit (which did consist of some of the members from Andromeda, but I digress). As such, it feels a bit different in terms of both presentation and gameplay. There's a lot more dialogue in this game than in the first two games and in a sense, it does sort of betray the minimalistic beauty of the original games as a result, in favour of something that feels a bit more contemporary. The story is pushed towards the forefront moreso than before and its very descriptive, with outright narration being given in-between chapters. It's an interesting tale being woven here, but it does sort of go against the series' foundation; as such I feel a bit conflicted about the approach taken in Orta as a result. What also goes against past games in the series is the introduction of boosting and braking. Yes, like in Star Fox, you are now granted the ability to speed up and slow down, breaking more series tradition; but it is handled in a different manner from Nintendo's own series. The way that Orta does it is more "digital" if you will, with it being mapped to a button press that pushes you forward or backward a step, with no analog precision. This comes into play during the boss battles, which require you to fly around the boss in question by boosting and breaking as appropriate in order to dodge attacks and expose weakpoints. I actually feel that these work pretty well and it calls to mind Panzer Dragoon Saga, which employed a similar system in a turn based RPG setting (for those who've never played it, call to mind Skies of Arcadia's airship battles and you're on the right lines), only here it's done in real time. Does exactly what it says on the tin Speaking of call backs to past games in the series, it also brings back the dragon evolution mechanic from Panzer Dragoon Zwai and combines it with the form changing system from Saga. Like Saga, you can switch between Attack, Base and Agility forms at any time and like Zwai, you can level each one up and make it stronger based on how you use them; and by picking up pick-ups that are dropped by felled foes. This is probably my favourite addition to this game as it encourages you to switch between forms on the fly in order to dodge enemy fire and deal damage at opportune moments; keeping you on your toes that little bit more. The stages themselves however are too long for their own good and though they feature interesting set pieces and varied foes, they can feel like a bit of a slog as they go on and on and on... Some stages can go on for upwards of 15-20 mins which, in a rail shooter, is simply too long. The fact that this game is not easy and completely bereft of checkpoints before a boss is also an issue with stages this long as well as failure means going through the WHOLE STAGE AGAIN! It's a good thing that the game is good fun, because the length and lack of checkpoints would be a big turn off otherwise. Overall it's a great rail shooter, even if it's a bit of a departure from the rest of the series. It was made by a different team and feels a bit like a tribute to the series from a group of fans in many respects, but it's a worthy entry into the series for sure. The music is great, visuals are great, story is well told (even if it's done in a very different way to past games) and it's good fun to play. And with that, that's me up to date! I'm currently playing through Star Fox Guard and I'm also doing a co-op run of Yoshi's Wooly World with @Glen\-i. In short, this game is hilariously chill, illegally cute and surprisingly funky fresh!

Right, I'm announcing the brackets later on today at around 13:00. This is your last chance to get in on it, so as Wario would say... HUHUHUHUHUHURRY UP! Just to remind everyone, the For Glory bracket starts tonight at 22:00. The For Fun bracket is tomorrow at 22:00 and Crazy Smash is on Monday at 22:00 Right! @Glen\-i, @S\.C\.G! So here is the bracket for tonight's For Glory match... Sadly, Ugh First Aid has had to drop out at the last minute and thus, I have had to drop out as well, since it's impossible to make a 5 man bracket work in any decent way... Super Flashy Graphics are currently in production (since we have a dodgy number of players, we've had to get... creative... and this may perhaps feed into the setup for For Fun and Crazy Smash ) and you will see brackets for For Fun and Crazy Smash very shortly... Reminder: Tonight's For Glory match is at 22:00! The matches will be livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/dcubednmuffin The stream will probably start at around 21:30, while we get everything ready, so feel free to tune in then if you want to hear us running around like headless chickens and crying about why everything is broken and not working :p

Nope, you need at least one Amiibo to play. The Mario series (+ DK/Diddy Kong/Bowser Jr/Rosalina ones) let you play as specific characters, while any non-Mario one let's you play as a generic robot with no special abilities.

I guess that joke of yours was just trousers

I'm not a big fan of the newer Mario VS DK games (never bothered with anything past MvsDK2 - which hugely disappointed me with its change in direction), but this isn't bad actually! Having the two screens showing zoomed in and zoomed out views makes a big difference. It doesn't feel so convoluted and difficult to navigate like the previous games did. The Amiibos each having their own abilities is nice as well, giving the gameplay a bit of variety (also opening up stages to being tackled in different ways) and preventing it from getting stale so quickly, though it does suffer from some hilarious DK64 syndrome (seeing two Amiibo cards for different characters and an Amiibo specific door for someone completely different in the same stage is always funny and really annoying). It's a nice little freebie that actually tackles some of the issues I have with the post MvsDK1 games quite nicely . Music is not bad either, they're almost all remixes, but they're good ones and they've picked some good tunes as well (picking the SMB2 music for Mario made me smile anyway). Visuals are nice too. Impressively polished, considering that it's a Nintendo Web Framework game in HTML5 on Wii U (3DS one is a native C++ port and predictably runs just fine - do wonder how the New3DS would handle a Nintendo Web Framework game in pure HTML5 though...).

It does indeed. You just redeem your code and your Wii U will download and install it automatically for you

Well! That was a cataclysmic night for me! :p

Sorry Tara!! You didn't deserve that from me right at the last moment on Big Blue. Not gonna lie, that was a total jerk move from me and I didn't even mean to Edit: Nice moment of me getting screwed over at the end of Moo Moo Meadows as well!

I have been considering saving a bunch of these for something... Problem is that everyone here probably already has them by now, so they'd kinda be a bit wasted for that Still, poster of the month seems like a neat idea, not entierly sure how it would work, but I'll keep it in mind. I'm of course, open to any and all suggestions though! : peace:

Sorry guys, not a bump for an EU announcement for the retail compilation, but there IS a new interview with M2 regarding said retail compliation that I'm sure some of you will be interested in reading... http://blogs.sega.com/2016/04/25/sega-3d-classics-collection-interview/ Some choice quotes... Do hope we get the compilation. Would love to play Power Drift and Puyo Puyo 2 in S3D!

Yeah, it's pretty crazy in-depth for a Solitare game. It even has mechanics for in-breeding! (Yes, really. It actually is treated differently from normal breeding). Never thought I'd ever see that in a Nintendo published game :p

Yup. After it becomes 4 years old, you send it off to the stables to breed as a stud. Skills and such get passed onto the horse's offspring. You're quite right in saying that it's actually better to lose some races and hoard that experience when your horse is due for retirement as it means that more stats get passed onto its offspring. The instruction manual even recommends this, as crazy as it sounds!

Personally I'm just disappointed that we never got a proper Battle Mode. Now there's a part of the game that could've done with some proper DLC! Ahh well, gives 'em something to focus on with MK9. Here's hoping we finally get a good Battle Mode there. We haven't had one since MKDS! With 8 Player Smash being a thing now, can I dream for 8+ players local with the next one as well?

I know I've said this already, but do bear in mind that the Wii U is suffering from manufacturing issues, which greatly limits the amount of consoles they could put out anyway. The March 2018 timeframe is far more interesting and telling I reckon (I don't doubt that the New3DS will outlive that though, even after it gets replaced). The crazy thing is that the Smash and MK8 DLC did even more than that! Surprised at X&Y's legs as well. At this rate, it might end up catching up with Black & White after all (ORAS is now roughly on par with Fire Red/Leaf Green as well and will undoubtedly surpass it very shortly - hell, HG/SS aren't out of reach either. It may yet go on to be the best selling Pokemon remake of all time; and in typical fashion it's the worst one :p) Fire Emblem Awakening sold almost 1 million in the US alone! Amazing! (and Fates is outdoing it comfortably! What a turn of fortunes for that series! - Most crazy of all is that the sales do not count the purchase of the other versions as DLC; so the total sales are actually a lot higher than these figures are suggesting! ) Nice to see that Wii U software is outperforming 2015 so far (it has actually been steadily increasing each year, unlike the 3DS' software sales, which have continuously declined YoY since 2013), though when we get to the point where Splatoon came out last year, we'll see how that comparison fares...

Didn't they do basically just that with Banjo Tooie, Animal Crossing (Japan only), Mario Party 3 and Conker's BFD?