darksnowman Posted March 11, 2023 Posted March 11, 2023 Been on a free trial week of NSO. It got me online for the Splatoon 3 Big Run last weekend but doesn't give access to the Expansion Pack stuff, so Majora's Mask has had to take a back seat. Still needing that Zelda fix, I started a new file in A Link to the Past. First full replay since the 35th Anniversary year—it's still great; one of the best there is. One thing I noticed was, on the first boss, I quickly burned through my arrows and it seemed to take more hits in general to finish off. This went on to become a bit of a theme, as it seemed like some screens had more enemies than normal and all but about three bosses appeared to take longer to put down than I anticipated. I was never far from using a fairy until I reached the back third. I was online a few times to check and recheck if naming your file "Zelda" ups the difficulty. I was 99.9% sure it doesn't but still... For whatever reason, my instincts were off this time around. Couldn't figure out why I was often running low on magic and/or hearts, which lead to just scraping through against bosses I would have otherwise expected to see to in a matter of seconds. Not bigging myself up here, just always saw the bosses as a chance to go to town with your latest items rather than as a test. Maybe I've gone soft. At least with the eyeball boss I could just stand on the spot I entered the room, slash away with the sword, shoot arrows, and win through, only losing about four hearts. Similar thing with the Ice Palace boss except I went in low on magic for that one, so was lucky to melt the ice and get the fight going—tried various items, bombs didn't help, I'd just enough magic to get bombos off. Next option was to use the magic mirror to warp out and restock! (Realised much later I had a green potion.) The evening I loaded up my save between those levels, I noticed on the file select screen I'd no shield! Sloppy. My own negligence aside, going between the Light and Dark Worlds and feeling things click into place still makes for a great time. When you have an idea about what LttP contains, there's something fun about opting to go direct from one level to the next at certain points, or leaving yourself pickups for later that you might have got then or earlier in a previous file. Simple things like stopping to pull out the magic mirror and flip back to Light World in a suspicious spot is always worth the reward. Felt especially satisfying this time to mow down the first three bosses when I re-encountered them in Ganon's Tower. A QoL update to allow quick donation at the Pond of Happiness is needed. And the Master Sword sleeps again... forever! Five deaths. From one of the GOATs, to one of my GOATs. Had a very merry time going through DKC 3 again. There've always been individual aspects of this one that I can take or leave, but the overall package is so much more than the sum of its parts. The Northern Kremisphere, the Brothers Bear, the little trading sequence, the ideas on show in each and every level, the, imo, unparalleled flow, rhythm and instinctive readibility of the DKC trilogy platforming was perfected here (despite not always being hold right + Y to steamroll to victory). I think it's absolutely fantastic—one of my all-time faves. And yes, the music fits perfectly well. There were some levels (from K3 onwards) that I played through several times to sniff out the bonus rooms. Koin on Krevice Kreepers always takes me a while to figure out. I've already forgotten how to do that one for next time. In particular, I had to comb through Barrel Drop Bounce and Floodlit Fish more times than should've been necessary. I appreciate that the majority of times you check a corner you'll uncover invisible bananas or bear coins—curiosity is encouraged, and there's things to spend those bear coins on. Levels where you're finding the first bonus room between the O and N letters always have me questioning how thorough I was. Then there's the lost world. It builds to a tough but fair crescendo in Swoopy Salvo before tapering off with Rocket Rush. Outside of Krematoa, I think Poisonous Pipeline gave me the most trouble from a difficulty standpoint this time. Though the customary bad bonks on Koindozer Klamber ran it close. Between DKC 1-3, DK '94 and the DKL trilogy, I don't think we realised how good we had it! Looking back, I certainly took the DKL games for granted. Won't be surprised if I have a newfound appreciation for them when they're inevitably added to NSO. 105%. Bust a move, gotta groove. --------------------- Having got my value from the free trial, I'll stump up for another year (+ Expansion Pack) now. Need to finish off that MM file! 2
Glen-i Posted March 12, 2023 Posted March 12, 2023 I have no idea how 12 year old me pulled off 100% in less then 2 hours, because I thought I did this pretty snappy.
Ealdst Posted March 24, 2023 Posted March 24, 2023 For anyone still looking N64 controllers are currently in stock on my Nintendo store UK 2
EEVILMURRAY Posted March 24, 2023 Posted March 24, 2023 I got the notification email, ordered 3. Probably 1 more than I really should have... so I'll probably be a dirty scalper 1
Julius Posted April 4, 2023 Author Posted April 4, 2023 (edited) Pokémon Stadium arrives on the Expansion Pack next Wednesday – 12th April! Quote Witness thrilling 3D battles between Pokémon! This battle arena game, released for the Nintendo 64"™ console in 2000, features all 151 Pokémon from the Pokémon Red Version, Pokémon Blue Version, and Pokémon Yellow Version games. In Kids Club, you and three other players can enjoy nine different minigames, like Clefairy Says and Sushi-Go-Round! (Please note you cannot transfer Pokémon from Game Boy titles in this version.) Edited April 4, 2023 by Julius NoA video went private for...some reason?
Dcubed Posted April 4, 2023 Posted April 4, 2023 (edited) No Transfer Pak support means that the single player cup battle mode is literally unbeatable. You literally cannot beat Round 2 with the rental Pokemon. You're playing this for the minigames (which ARE really good mind you). But that's still massively disappointing. Edited April 4, 2023 by Dcubed 1
EEVILMURRAY Posted April 4, 2023 Posted April 4, 2023 Playing Lylat Wars with the N64 controller is such a nostalgic blast. Even though it may not "handle" better than it might with a Switch controller, it just *feels* right. Although when going to try a bit of Banjo I was all over the place, couldn't walk in a straight line to save my life.
darksnowman Posted April 4, 2023 Posted April 4, 2023 Nintendo UK vid (not private). 8 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said: Playing Lylat Wars with the N64 controller is such a nostalgic blast. Even though it may not "handle" better than it might with a Switch controller, it just *feels* right. Although when going to try a bit of Banjo I was all over the place, couldn't walk in a straight line to save my life. Haha, yes I had that with Majora's Mask at the start. I can do okay with things like Mario Tennis but overall the N64 controller is better than the pro controller imo because of the stick. F-Zero X with the pro controller is too responsive.
bob Posted April 4, 2023 Posted April 4, 2023 1 hour ago, Dcubed said: No Transfer Pak support means that the single player cup battle mode is literally unbeatable. You literally cannot beat Round 2 with the rental Pokemon. You're playing this for the minigames (which ARE really good mind you). But that's still massively disappointing. Is this hyperbole or true?
Dcubed Posted April 4, 2023 Posted April 4, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, bob said: Is this hyperbole or true? If you cheese the RNG and get stupidly lucky with things like paralysis, crits, OHKO moves, Thunder etc; it might just about be possible? It’s literally like a 1 in 50,000 chance or something stupid like that. Normal gameplay though? Absolutely no way. Round 2 trainers literally use hacked ‘mons with illegal movesets and stat spreads. You simply aren’t equipped to beat them, you aren’t supposed to be able to use Rental Pokémon to win. The entire point is to force the player to use their own ‘mons from the GB games. Edited April 4, 2023 by Dcubed 1
S.C.G Posted April 4, 2023 Posted April 4, 2023 Pokémon Stadium Arrives on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack April 12th Now up on the main page, thanks to @Josh64 for the article. (It seems to be that the Nintendo Switch Online news tends to be released at around 2am, I did see it but it was rather late/early) Ah well, good to see the mini-games, those should be fun to play online at least. A stop-gap until Mario Party 3, perhaps? 1 1
Jonnas Posted April 4, 2023 Posted April 4, 2023 12 hours ago, Dcubed said: If you cheese the RNG and get stupidly lucky with things like paralysis, crits, OHKO moves, Thunder etc; it might just about be possible? It’s literally like a 1 in 50,000 chance or something stupid like that. Normal gameplay though? Absolutely no way. Round 2 trainers literally use hacked ‘mons with illegal movesets and stat spreads. You simply aren’t equipped to beat them, you aren’t supposed to be able to use Rental Pokémon to win. The entire point is to force the player to use their own ‘mons from the GB games. I recall managing to beat Little Cup and Premium Cup with rentals only, but the regular Cup (the Lv.50 one) definitely sucked with how hard it was. If this is true, then all the rage I felt at that mode, at that difficulty... may be somewhat vindicated. 1
darksnowman Posted April 10, 2023 Posted April 10, 2023 It's a new dawn, it's a new day. Managed to get all the masks then finished it off with 18 hearts. Spent a while on the couple's mask, getting down where to be and when, though I kept nipping off and missing appointments so I ended up having to put blinkers on and exclusively stake out the main players until I got it done. Totally worth it as the Fierce Deity mask reduced playtime with the final boss to a triviality. More games should have rewards like that for people who want to put in the effort. Nothing really to say about the final stretch. Took my breath away the first time I got there on the N64. The unexpectedness, the stillness. When you think you've seen everything MM has to offer, it has one last surreal place to take you. Bit harsh after it all that Tatl or Tael was like "well the carnival'll be starting now so you can be on your way." I should have been the guest of honour! If only the inhabitants of Termina knew how long those three days leading up to it had really been. Top game. This playthrough has further cemented it among the very best of what Zelda has to offer. I've played it on N64, Wii VC and now NSO. Next time I meet with this terrible fate will be on 3DS thanks to some wheelin and dealin with @EEVILMURRAY... and it should be just the tonic after TotK. 3 1
Glen-i Posted April 10, 2023 Posted April 10, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, darksnowman said: Bit harsh after it all that Tatl or Tael was like "well the carnival'll be starting now so you can be on your way." I should have been the guest of honour! If only the inhabitants of Termina knew how long those three days leading up to it had really been. I was always under the impression that specific point of the ending was Link being more interested in getting back to Hyrule and continuing his search for Navi. That, or the time-tested notion of "Don't risk revealing to people that you futzed around with time travel" Of course, that's just my interpretation. Edited April 10, 2023 by Glen-i
darksnowman Posted April 11, 2023 Posted April 11, 2023 20 hours ago, Glen-i said: I was always under the impression that specific point of the ending was Link being more interested in getting back to Hyrule and continuing his search for Navi. That, or the time-tested notion of "Don't risk revealing to people that you futzed around with time travel" Of course, that's just my interpretation. Oh, yeah, of course. I expect young Link already had his mind made up about skipping the carnival and moving on, it just seemed a bit cold the way they ushered him off with no invite or suggestion he stick around.
Ashley Posted April 12, 2023 Posted April 12, 2023 2 hours ago, Helmsly said: Pokémon stadium was just added I'm kind of surprised they've not done a new box art removing the transfer pack reference
Glen-i Posted April 12, 2023 Posted April 12, 2023 1 hour ago, Ashley said: I'm kind of surprised they've not done a new box art removing the transfer pack reference I'm more surprised that tweet encourages people to try the Gym Leader Castle. Because, ahem, that's a massive "lol, no". Your average Pokémon player ain't doing that here.
Ashley Posted April 12, 2023 Posted April 12, 2023 Well that's because you're a giant nerd who notices/knows stuff like that while I'm very much about the cosmetics 😋 Has it been tested following the release to see if they've addressed the difficulty when using rentals?
S.C.G Posted April 15, 2023 Posted April 15, 2023 Thanks for the games. Playing the mini-games from Pokémon Stadium on Nintendo Switch Online proved to be an interesting experience... The input lag is very noticeable, especially on the timing-based mini-games, the games are still fun though, but the selection in Pokémon Stadium 2 is better, from what I remember. Some bonus races on Mario Kart 64 as well... clearly none of us have played it in a while, it's interesting adjusting to the game from playing Mario Kart 8 DX every week. It should make for interesting viewing anyway... Also, thanks to @Ugh first aid for joining us in the chat, it's good to hear that your sight is improving, and that you should be joining in with N-E multiplayer sessions again. Here's a link to this week's stream... - - - - - Pokémon Stadium on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack (+ Mario Kart 64) - N-Europe Multiplayer (14/04/2023) 1 2
BowserBasher Posted April 15, 2023 Posted April 15, 2023 9 hours ago, S.C.G said: Some bonus races on Mario Kart 64 as well... clearly none of us have played it in a while, it's interesting adjusting to the game from playing Mario Kart 8 DX every week. But oh what fun did we have. No one attempted to do the short cut on Wario course by agreement but I would so have done the Rainbow Road one if we played that. 1 2
Julius Posted April 19, 2023 Author Posted April 19, 2023 (edited) Next batch of Mega Drive games are available now! Quote Ready for the next challenge? Then...fight! Today, four more action-packed, hero-filled games have joined the SEGA Genesis™ Nintendo Switch Online library: STREET FIGHTER II' : SPECIAL CHAMPION EDITION, Pulseman, Kid Chameleon and Flicky. You can play them all right now on the Nintendo Switch™ system with a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. Edited April 19, 2023 by Julius 2
Dcubed Posted April 19, 2023 Posted April 19, 2023 Oh snap! Pulseman is a HUGE get!! First time it has been re-released since the Wii VC! One of the best action platformers on the console, well worth playing!
EEVILMURRAY Posted April 19, 2023 Posted April 19, 2023 1 hour ago, Dcubed said: Oh snap! Pulseman is a HUGE get!! First time it has been re-released since the Wii VC! One of the best action platformers on the console, well worth playing! Looks very Sonic-y, how does it compare?
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