Dcubed

Well it's a Friday, so it probably means that it's getting a retail release here...

Pretty sad to think that years and years of hard work have gone into this and it's just going to be sent off to die like that

Heh. I was saying just the other day how everything in this reminded me of Blue/Red Rescue team! That Not-Xenoblade-Affinity-Chart looks terrifyingly large... I'd hope that it doesn't involve grinding if it does indeed cover all 720 Pokemon!

Codename S.T.E.A.M was unveiled the day after last year's Digital Event... Also post E3 conference unveils from Nintendo were pretty commonplace back before they started doing E3 Directs...

Yeah... that Tweet does seem to hint at Platinum's new game being for Wii U... I still think that Namco is the developer most likely to be working on Starfox though.

Hmm... Retail release, nice. MM1-6, nice... ... Developed by Digital Eclipse/Other Ocean...

You may have been a bit quick to say that it only has 11 lessons... According to Nintendolife's review there are actually 30 unlockable lessons all in all. The Family Collab feature sounds really neat as well!

Gotta admit, Wii Frame U actually sounds like it would be a lot of fun

If you do get a Wii U you've got MK8, Nintendo Land, Game & Wario, Mario Party 10, Wii Party U, NSMBU/NSLU, Super Mario 3D World, Affordable Space Adventures, Smash Bros 4, Hyrule Warriors, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (you would need 3DS' and copies of the 3DS game for the other 3 players though), Spin The Bottle: Bumpie's Party, Kirby & The Rainbow Curse, DKC Tropical Freeze and Pikmin 3 as exclusive titles with great local multiplayer (Splatoon is primarily an online game; it does have a local 1 VS 1 mode, but it's more of a side attraction really). Plus you've got access to the Virtual Console service which obviously has tons of great local multiplayer classics available (and Wiiware has a few keepers of its own via the Wii menu as well - Bomberman Blitz is particularly awesome!) as well as backwards compatibility with the whole Wii library (some of them are also now available as downloads on the Wii U eShop as well). Speaking good multiplatform home console games, ones that spring to mind in particular include Towerfall (PS4/PC), Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed (360/PS3/Wii U/PC), Speedrunners (PC), Nidhogg (PS4/PC), the various Street Fighter/Soul Calibur/Tekken games if you're into fighters, Dustforce (360/PS3/PC), Virtua Tennis 4 (360/PS4), the various Cave shmups on 360 like Deathsmiles and such if you're into bullet hell shmups, Shatter (PS3), Critter Crunch (PS3/PC) and the Guardian Heroes port on 360

AkibaStrip would be a definate change of pace from everything else you've played recently! About the furthest you can get from Bloodborne really, so maybe that's a good choice? It's lighthearted, colourful and dumb as hell!

That Lucas SSB4 release timing is awfully suspicious... Why right before E3 instead of during E3 as you would expect? It's almost as if they're using his SSB4 release to lead up to something... I can certainly think of one possible announcement that would definately be doable and would classify as a megaton... IT IS TIME!

Or perhaps something a bit more exciting than that...

What a strange time to release this stuff. Why the day before E3 starts? (and why 2 days before Nintendo's own E3 Direct) Why not release it during E3 itself? Surely that's the sensible thing to do... About time we got the Miiverse stage though! Now what about that Tournament Mode?

Heh, depends on what you're looking for in a platformer I suppose. But I loved DKCR for its focus on raw platforming skill and its breakneck pace. DKCTF slows things down too much for my liking and while I can understand that people might appreciate it for that, I felt myself just wanting things to ramp up and speed up. It's a bit closer to the SNES games in that respect, since it encourages you to take your time and look around more, but I don't really think that it benefits from that as it is still closer to DKCR than the SNES ones when it comes to structure so the waiting just feels a bit out of place to me.

So I lied and didn't play through Half Minute Hero again, but rather I ended up playing through and instead! Impressions of DKCTF: Here and Shantae & TPC: Here

So I'm hilariously late to the party here... It's great! But I do think that Returns is still the better game of the two. Compared to DKCR, I felt that DKCTF's levels felt a lot slower and leave the player waiting around much more for stuff to catch up/passages to open up etc. The levels are also longer than Returns for the most part and that also makes it feel like a bit of a drag in comparison (especially the boss fights! They take a ridiculous amount of hits now! - shame really, cause they're generally well designed otherwise, if a bit lacking in grandure) It also doesn't bring as many new ideas to the table as its predecessor and lacks in per-level gimmicks in comparison to DKCR (I mean, the wooshy swooshy 3D camera stuff was great, but they only used it in about 3 levels or so...). There's simply too much that feels like a modified take on stuff we saw in Returns and I also feel like plucking was a weak replacement for blowing - the latter at least saw some clever uses for beating certain enemies and environmental interaction, while the former is basically used for just two things throughout the whole game. The enemies themselves are also fewer in number and generally less creative than what we saw in Returns (even though I prefer the Viking motif over the Tikis). The swimming is a fantastic addition mind you though and feels great! Definitely the biggest addition over DKCR for sure! : peace: and the slower pace works well underwater; you don't mind those moments where you're waiting around so much because the pacing for the underwater levels/sections is slowed down a notch anyway - so you don't get those moments where you're flying through a level and you're forced to stop and wait. The addition of Cranky and Dixie was also handled very well. Both kongs bring something different to the table (one is good for speed running most levels, while the other allows you to cheese certain parts of levels and acts as a brilliant air-assist) - of course, they make Diddy completely useless and obsolete in the process though I do find myself pining for more animal buddies though... such a missed opportunity that could've brought much more variety to the table... And while this is neither a positive or a negative really, I do feel that TF is a fair bit easier than Returns. With the exception of the very last level (which is a complete and utter bastard that even gives the Golden Temple level a run for its Banana Coins ), the overall difficulty does seem to have been toned down along with the overall pacing speed of the levels. Personally, I put that down to the lack of Super Guide myself; since there's no safety net for players who struggle here outside of the assist items. The extra health on the Rocket Barrel and Minecart levels also makes them hugely easier... (well, until you get to Hard Mode - which I'm probably not gonna tackle for a long time to come, but seems totally nutso!) Music is a total upgrade over Returns though! While I wouldn't really put it on the same level as the original SNES trilogy, the music is far more memorable than what you got in DKCR and covers a much wider range of styles and moods too. So while the game is still very good, it doesn't really match up to Returns for me. It's not as creative, slower paced, less polished (lots of things feel incomplete - like the lack of death animations & cutscenes for bosses, the really abrupt ending where you suddenly think "wait, that was the final boss!?", the rough looking menus that lack animation, loading hitches, weirdly handled Gamepad/controller settings) and it doesn't quite give you that same rush that Returns did. But there's no shame in that! DKCR is a ridiculously high bar to live up to and even though it falls short for me, it's still a great game nonetheless! It's only really disappointing compared to its predecessor

That was the worst night I've ever had. Crazy Gamepad interference (dragging my Wii U elsewhere was infeasible due to my setup and Glen-I was using my LAN adapter as host, so we had to play in the same room with two Wii Us) coupled with zero ways to catch up made for a worst case scenario for me.

I picked a bad night to play Off TV... Glen-i's Gamepad is driving my Gamepad signal crazy!!

Finally got round to playing through it over the last couple of days (I know, I'm really late to getting round to playing it, been putting it off for ages). It's brilliant! : peace: Feels more or less like the Shantae game that Wayforward always wanted to make but were never able to for various reasons (be it hardware limitations or time constraints) While it still has its fair share of problems (generally flat level design, fairly simple dungeons and puzzles - ironically despite having the best onscreen map of the series, it's the game that needed it the least ), it definitely makes up for it with the variety of gameplay sequences it offers, some great pacing, colourful characters and writing and rock solid action gameplay. The bosses are a particular highlight, even if they generally go down pretty easily (well, except for the last one - man that one is pure HYPE! Really great stuff! Really channels the feeling of Yoshi's Island's final boss and acts as such a fantastic finale! ). The fetch questing is also well done; keeping things fairly interesting without becoming too overbearing. The music is a real treat as well. How on earth Virt managed to pump out two amazing soundtracks (this and Shovel Knight) at the same time is just beyond me! It also has a real range as well, moreso than the past games. From more laid back tunes... to adventures on the high seas... to destitute wastelands... to that hypetastic boss battle tune that still manages to feel fresh after all this time! The whole game feels like an adventure and the music is a big part of what makes it all work. While at it's core it's pretty simple in its design, it's more of a Zelda lite than a Metroidvania really, those simple elements end up complimenting each other well to feel like a good action adventure should. I can also see it being really fun to speedrun (beat it 100%, but haven't tried Pirate Mode yet), it has a good flow to it that makes it satisfying to plough through. So yeah, it's great! Why don't you have it yet!?

AWW YEAH! Group 1! Watch my average plummet! I'm sure that @Glen\-i would be happy to host. He should have everyone here on his friends list (saves me the effort ) and if I end up going round my friend's later, I might be able to play from there too instead of having to rush back home

Looks bonkers! Love it!

Not at all. I've never lost my love for them; if anything, I feel that the industry needs at the top of their game them now more than ever. I have found myself largely losing faith in the industry as a whole over the last few years though, outside of independent developers; what with the rise of mobile, F2P/race-to-the-bottom pricing and the fall of Japanese developers and mid-tier games in general. Outside of independent games, there's very little for me to get excited about anymore as it's all flash and no substance - you do still get the occasional AAA game to look out for (in particular I'm looking forward to seeing how Scalebound turns out, but I'm sceptical because Microsoft have a long history of corporate meddling that Kamiya has already alluded to be happening here... and there are some lower profile releases like DMC4 Special Edition that I'm sure will be great), but I can't really see myself ever buying a non-Nintendo console again as I've transitioned completely over to PC now for everything non-Nintendo. The sad part is that it feels like the larger developers who are actually trying to create real gameplay focused games are constantly getting punished for doing so (and Nintendo are no exception to that rule either, as they're taking a real battering right now ). Seems like it's a rare exception these days when an honest to goodness gameplay focused game is actually a success anymore. Thankfully the independently developed scene is on the up and up! And hey! Most of the noteworthy titles are coming to Wii U too! We live in a world where Banjo Kazooie is dead and Yooka Laylee is given a chance to live, so while it's sad, it's not all bad Just hope that Nintendo manage to weather the storm, cause we really really need them to keep pushing new forms of gameplay in this industry that has largely forgotten what it was about to begin with.

A New Beginning on 3DS was the last game titled "Harvest Moon:______" that was an actual Bokujō Monogatari game from the original developer. Supposedly it's really good too! (I've not played it myself, but a lot of people seem to consider it the best one since Friends of Mineral Town on GBA) But yeah, from there on, the real Bokujō Monogatari series now goes by the name Story of Seasons in the west (just came out on 3DS in the U.S a few months ago; hasn't hit EU shores yet though)

Sounds really cool! What might be a cool idea is if you recreate the 2015 Nintendo World Championships contest there! See how it is organised in the U.S. during E3, what games are involved and maybe recreate it as a UK version of sorts? (I know I'd love to do that anyway! ) Maybe have a weird and wonderful collection of odd Japanese games as well. Stuff like Taiko Drum Master, Wario Ware, Trauma Center, Muscle March, you know, the more obscure and quirky stuff - give people a chance to discover something a bit lesser known! If it's just the one day, then you're only gonna have time for so many tournies, but Goldeneye/PD, Mario Kart and Smash are obvious must haves. The SMB speed run tourney is a good idea; I remember that they did one at a Japan Expo in London a few years back and it went down pretty well (though organisation is a bit of a challenge as you need to get people to sign up to a timetable and get them coming back at set times as they're probably not gonna want to stand around waiting). Wii Sports/Resort is a good choice since it's something that visually stands out from other games there. If you can wrangle up a setup for one of the Bomberman games (maybe the Wiiware one if you're keeping it Nintendo only), that would be another fun one (though you'd need a lot of players if you make it 8 players per match!). Mario Tennis N64 or GCN would make for another good choice that is a bit off the beaten path too! Or you could also have a Pokemon Card tourney as well! Something that's a bit different for an event like this (not sure about how you might go about organising that though, considering that TPC have their own official tourneys, but I'm sure that would go down well!)

Bear in mind that this isn't really Harvest Moon... The real Harvest Moon games (AKA Bokujō Monogatari in Japan) are currently titled Story of Seasons in the west. Natsumi (the publisher who owns the Harvest Moon name in the west) and Marvelous AQL (the original developer) had a falling out; with Natsumi now making their own farming sim games that they're using the Harvest Moon name for, while the original developer is carrying on making Bokujō Monogatari games under a new brand for the west since Natsumi have hijacked the Harvest Moon name. Interesting choice of platforms here, but I can't condone Natsumi's scummy practices here with them trying to cash in on someone else's brand behind their back.