Messages

1051

Gaming / Re: Shiggy: Super Mario 3DS: Mix of Galaxy & 64, Tanuki Suit Confirmed, 2011!

« on: September 28, 2011, 01:59:29 AM »

Pardon the bump, but I figure this beats talking about Super Mario 3D Land in the general 3DS thread.

Anyways, new stuff that's been going on:
-Game releases Nov. 3 in Japan, Nov. 13 in the U.S.
-Mario can now stuff his head into the propeller blocks from NSMBWii ( )
-Bowser has the tanooki/raccoon tail.
-Gamestop has a Tanooki Mario keychain pre-order bonus.
-The game uses some manner of Spot Pass.
-P-Wings are back.

Some speculate that P-Wings are the new Super Guide, but I haven't known Nintendo to advertise Super Guides in their box art before.

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Gaming / Re: The Mario Kart Thread

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:55:20 AM »

Nintendo should honestly learn the value of expansion packs, and give us more tracks that way other than generational games.

Not a bad idea, but I don't think there's much of a financial incentive for them.  So far they've been content to only release one Mario Kart per generation anyway.

Frankly, if any Nintendo game needs post-production DLC, it's Smash Bros.  I still haven't excused Mewtwo's absence from Brawl.

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Gaming / Re: The Mario Kart Thread

« on: September 27, 2011, 02:43:07 AM »

It was always kind of a dream for me that the final Retro course in a Mario Kart game be a course that warps between all the past Rainbow Roads every lap. 

If it had online, there would be no reason for a new game, unless the new games were new track packs using the same engine/physics at that game.

I dunno, Daisy keeps me coming back to Double Dash.

That and in all honesty I did like Wii's half-pipes.  Even though there is so much that game did wrong.

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News and Announcements / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype version officially announced!

« on: September 26, 2011, 02:14:15 AM »

I understand that such a joyous image would not seem appropriate, but celebratory series art and text regarding making a specific game a reality are two different things.  And as far as misleading text goes:

Both signed by Keiji "InafKing" Inafune!!

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Gaming / Re: The Mario Kart Thread

« on: September 26, 2011, 01:56:42 AM »

Seriously. I need more Royal Raceways, Wario Stadiums, Toad's Turnpikes (medium sized in MK64, but still longer than) and of course the Rainbow Road. I don't mind the quick fix stuff, but longer raceways always made comebacks that much more hype. Also funnily enough, this might sound silly but that game has an atmosphere that I didn't see in any Mario kart after it. DS came closest. Finally, Super Circuit is underrated as all [tornado fang].

Oh, how I miss Royal Raceway and Wario Stadium.  I have no damn clue how neither saw the light of day between the 32 retro tracks of DS and Wii.

And I must whole-heartedly agree on atmosphere.  If there is one thing I miss about oldschool Mario Kart, it's that Super and 64 generally felt more high-energy than their successors.  In either game, when you were hit with a shell, you hear a "BOOM!" as if your tail-pipe just exploded, while your kart careens wildly out of control.  Then in Double Dash, we switch to a sound effect something like a pot breaking, and your kart slow-tumbles like a cement mixer, and that's about where we've been left ever since.  What the heck happened?

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News and Announcements / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype version officially announced!

« on: September 26, 2011, 01:17:25 AM »

...I just noticed, and I have to ask, why is GBD outlasting Trigger on the front page?

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Gaming / Re: Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney announced (Level 5, 3DS)

« on: September 25, 2011, 03:35:42 AM »

While I'll certainly agree that Ace Attorney is at its best in 2D pixel art, I think using character models for the crossover that can move and interact with each other helps to alleviate the style clash.

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 24, 2011, 04:03:08 PM »

It's been pretty quiet with the occasional update.  Yeah, I know, that's not the most confidence-inspiring news given Mega Man's track record this year.  

I don't believe they'll cancel it as they did the others, seeings how it's a joint project with Neowiz.  However, last I heard, they're still iffy with whether or not they even want to release it in Japan.  The game could still very well turn out Korean-exclusive.  Despite a fair amount of publicity (well, how many other Korean games do we hear this much about?), there are no plans to release it elsewhere.

It'll be a damn shame if that doesn't change, 'cuz I'm sure fans of Command Mission will be watching the game like a hawk.  What are the odds of Cinnamon, Ferham, Scarface, etc. seeing the light of day again?

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 24, 2011, 05:20:02 AM »

I suppose their baby-step of X7 was enough to discourage them.  Although, frankly, a lot of X7's failings came from the inability to merge 2D and 3D properly.  Had it been exclusively one or the other, it'd have been better, and I think the 3D was further along than the 2D.  The only 2D segment worth a damn in the entire game is Stonekong's stage, and even that's pretty straightforward.

ZX got only a small taste of Metroid-vania and the public seemed to lose interest quickly.  Fighting games, albeit in a very simplistic sense and a long time ago, were done in the arcades (re-released on Anniversary Collection).

As far as MegaMan needing to do something different goes, Legends 3 in and of itself is something that not only hasn't been done in a decade, but is unusually inaccessible for a classic game.  In this age of re-releases and downloadables the Legends series is still nowhere to be found.  That's what pisses me off about the Prototype; the sheer lack of competition on the 3DS would have been an outstanding opportunity to expand the audience.  It is, or rather would have been, for all intents and purposes a new experience to much of the gaming populace.

But seeings how that ship has sailed, I think getting Rockman Online into the english-speaking world would be a good place to start.  How many of us HAVEN'T been dreaming of multiplayer Mega Man since MM3 or so?  A great deal of the fanbase was more excited about some Korean-developed game than they were about Universe, that says something, and if Capcom had any sense, they'd pay attention beyond just what to cancel.

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 23, 2011, 12:06:16 AM »

Right on.  I meant that in more of a "public perception" than a "how the company is handling it" way.

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Gaming / Re: VC / WiiWare / DSiWare / XBLA / PSN (Collection & Updates!)

« on: September 23, 2011, 12:03:46 AM »

Also got Wily's Revenge.  That would be the first copy of the game that I own legitimately (was one of those hoping for MM Mania).

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 22, 2011, 03:51:02 AM »

Thing is, Capcom isn't just a gigantic rage machine that throws away a lucrative thing out of spite. They probably keep it in order to SOME DAY use it again. Problem is, they're in no condition to be using it for quite some time, and aside from that, they could easily make quite some money by selling it to anyone who gives a crap.

Mega Man is in the unfortunate position of being among the lowest regarded by Capcom in terms of new games, but at the same time ranking in among their strongest not only in merchandise, but in back catalog.  Even setting aside the usual Japanese/corporate control pride that would likely forbid the idea anyway, they will not sell him off, even if they can't be assed to do anything with him.

How many other third-party re-releases could dethrone Link's Awakening DX?

Saber's Sonic analogy hit a bit closer to home than I'd like to admit.

The "rights" are not going anywhere, for sure.  What Capcom needs to do, I think, is to collaborate with another developer to dampen the risk to themselves.  If nobody within the company can throw adequate weight behind Mega Man, then a business partner such as CyberConnect2 would be the way to go.

That, and we need to bang Nintendo's door down to get Mega Man into the next Smash Bros.  Smash brought Fire Emblem to the west, and it revived Kid Icarus.  It could go a long ways towards helping Mega Man.

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Gaming / Re: The Mario Kart Thread

« on: September 22, 2011, 03:41:03 AM »

I just noticed something really bizarre.  Rapid-pausing when Mario hits the item box in the beginning, one of the items is a red "7", as in the logo.

So...what in the crap does that do?  Coin jackpot?

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Gaming / Re: The Mario Kart Thread

« on: September 21, 2011, 01:19:43 AM »

-The Blue Shell has no wings. Have they reverted back to the MK64 Spike Shell? Oh man, do I hope so.
-Fire Flower. Fire. Flower. It kinda makes you wonder why this wasn't a weapon long ago.

F*@#! YEAH!!!

-Brown Leaf. I'm guessing this is the glider option, but who knows.

My impression was that the glider was situational, like the propeller underwater.  Note that Daisy uses it while she has Mushrooms in her item box at 0:26.
I dunno, I think a kart with a raccoon tail to spin-attack other racers would be pretty darn awesome.  But we'll see.

I found it funny that having gone with "plumber, reptile, princess" for the video, they shafted Peach in favor of Daisy.  Maybe they're trying to tell Miyamoto something?
Whatever, I'm not complaining.

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 21, 2011, 01:03:03 AM »

Game franchises do not carry the same level of redundancy as movie franchises.  A movie exists solely to tell a story, all other aspects a means to that end.  You finish a story, all is finished unless led to believe otherwise.  Not so with games.  Games are about interaction, and interaction, unlike story-telling, inherently begs the question of what can be done better.  Further, a franchise does not necessarily dictate the type of interaction.  Games like Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Kirby: Mass Attack are sequels, but as games, they are anything but unoriginal.

It's not as if Nintendo doesn't work with new franchises, either.  Between the DS and Wii, they've published Endless Ocean, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Pandora's Tower, Another Code, Hotel Dusk, Nintendogs, Brain Age, The Last Story, Xenoblade, A Kappa's Trail, Wii Sports, and Steel Diver.  But in terms of public perception, all of that is going up against arguably the most powerful and memorable back catalog in the industry.


Back to topic, Protodude's Rockman Corner posted some more recent comments from Inafune about Legends 3.

It's mostly confirming what we could have guessed: That Inafune was literally fighting against Capcom to get the game started, that he knows the development staff was passionate, that he was hoping they could keep fighting without him, but that he's not sure that anyone has the nerve to stand up and be the point-man."

Basically the "father of MegaMan (guy who made the pre-existing NES sprites into character art)" is saying that the franchise needs a new figurehead.  Here's hoping.

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 18, 2011, 05:52:37 PM »

Like it or not, games are now an art form. But we're not taken seriously by other media forms in the least. Games stopped being portrayed as the thing geeks play in their basements, and started being portrayed as the things with explosions and guns that everyone plays in their spare time.

Pretty common knowledge on this side of the world.

There are plenty of reasons that gaming as art is not taken seriously, but I don't think sequels have that much to do with it.  Movies are regarded as art and they suffer the same criticism.  The challenge is that a lot of outsiders just don't see past the technology.  They don't see the lasting value of a 20-25 year old classic game (even though Nintendo cashes in on them on a regular basis) and they believe that all games are destined to be rendered inferior to their follow-ups.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 17, 2011, 04:16:51 PM »

It ironically ended up being close to 300 in most of the world anyway. =P

Perhaps, but I'm speaking of a likely domestic price, not a foreign currency exchange.  250 wasn't considered "close to" 300 back before the 3DS's price was announced.

As xnamkcor said, a regional price is not based on currency exchange rates (funny how few people pointed out that the release price in yen of the Wii and 3DS were identical, instead opting for the $300 exchange rate figure).  That's why Nintendo loved it when the yen was weak, they get more money from their international sales that way.

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 17, 2011, 04:05:58 PM »

I dunno, we're just evil.

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 17, 2011, 03:55:45 PM »

Sidenote/personal musing:  For all the incessant bitchery in both Hollywood and the games industry about sequels, there is nothing inherently wrong with them.  It is a matter of balance, not value.  It would be just as wrong to never revisit an established character as it would to never create a new one.

People who look at a sequel, and devalue it on the full and sole grounds of it being a sequel (IGN did this a lot), need to remember that.

If you consider Ferrarri dropping out of the racecar market and starting to make Volkswagens "original", then sure. Nintendo were really original with Wii Sports. Then made a crapload of sequels with other peripherals, which would ironically be some of the only games to ever use the Wii's controls to their full advantage.

So originality is only original if it's aimed at people who actually want the same old [parasitic bomb]?

Which, BTW, on a Mega Man board, generally isn't considered a bad thing.  Many of us have played the same game 11 times over in the Classic series, 8 of which were in an identical visual format.

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News and Announcements / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype version officially announced!

« on: September 17, 2011, 06:17:49 AM »

Whatever works.  Most non-Capcom-specific news outlets other than Nintendo Power didn't pay any attention to Legends 3 before it was cancelled, so it's "new" to the general public.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 17, 2011, 06:08:25 AM »

IR was pure speculation on my part...

It was 20 bucks in Japan the last time I've seen it. I do like the fact that they're adding in shoulder sticks too. Plus, both clickable ones and triggers! Both kinds allow for way more variation. If they brought me a new Metroid/whatever with this setup, it'd be quite comfortable.

20 bucks by the same logic that said the 3DS would be 300.

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 17, 2011, 05:56:35 AM »

Nintendo banked on originality back then.

They've been every bit as original over the last generation, though.  It's just that we, the "core" audience, no longer take that originality to be aimed at us.

And I honestly think they saw their strategy backfiring with this. The prototype was ready, but I don't think decent demo sales, for that kind of price, would justify putting forward the amount of cash required for the whole game, SPECIALLY with the 3DS sales being so low. Plus, the Prototype being out would make them even bigger assholes if they decided not to launch the main game, since they'd be under much more pressure. It was a lose-lose situation, and they just hoped fans didn't notice it was cancelled. Which didn't work as well. Now, they just have a tiny bit of drama ocurring. If they had released the prototype, they'd have to deal with removing it from the store, telling people it didn't work, having people [sonic slicer] about having the whole thing there and not trying, people using the tech demo to show how Capcom is unwilling to complete a game... it's a whole new box of [parasitic bomb] to deal with, something Capcom wasn't ready to handle. In their way, they did the smart thing. Even if they were the biggest jerks by waving a much-wanted product for over ten years in fans' faces.

The problem with that is that the entire point of the Prototype was to provide a gauge as to whether or not the final game would be greenlit.  So the fans, at least, knew that the Prototype was in no way indicative that the game would finish.

Hyper, what exactly do you mean by stopping the Devroom?

I mean that the Devroom, in theory at least, was supposed to provide a more open atmosphere to game development, and there are those within Capcom who didn't want that.  Which is probably why 90% of the time, getting them to show anything actually relevant to Legends 3 was like pulling teeth.  Gregaman goes on to make note of such people in his farewell post, as well.  If there's one thing businesses value near as much as money, it's control.  The Prototype version would have pushed the Devroom a lot harder, by people who likely wouldn't be satisfied with simply hearing about Kinako's favorite snacks.

See, the cancellation of the Prototype when it was effectively finished is what stands out to me.  You can't say "they only care about money" when they backed out of a chance to make whatever return they could by that point (to say nothing of the complete and STILL CONTINUING absence of any competition on the e-Shop).  And while there are surely Capcom execs pissed at Inafune, I don't think they'd empty their wallets to the point of paying for another 8-9 months of development for absolutely nothing.  Legends isn't Universe; it didn't fall silent upon Inafune leaving.  If it was simply to spite Inafune, Legends 3 would never have been cancelled any later than the February meeting.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 16, 2011, 01:39:38 AM »

To sell at $15 it's obviously a quick-and-dirty solution.

If it were just a second stick I'd fully expect "3DS Lite" to have its own, but I'm wondering how 4 shoulder buttons would maintain a decent profile on a normal handheld.

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 16, 2011, 01:35:23 AM »

Nintendo's been making bad games since the NES; we just forgot about them easier back then.

As for sequels, I see nothing inherently wrong with them, but I've noticed that Nintendo seems a bit worse with the "obscure" sequels than with the expected ones (I'm hoping Sakurai at the head of Kid Icarus will change that).  The likes Punch-Out!! and Pilotwings Resort are games that I call strong, but not quite all that they could have been.

The company knows what fans want. They don't give it to them, because they'd rather invest in giving to the masses than the fans.

I guess in the case of Legends 3 it'd be pretty hard to argue that Capcom doesn't know the demand is there.

Although, the more I think about it, the more I believe the cancellation of the Prototype was more to stop the Devroom than it was to stop Legends 3 itself.  If money was a concern, and they only reconsidered after the Prototype was effectively finished, you'd think they wouldn't be so stupid as to throw away a chance at a quick return.  God knows, pissed off or not, we'd have still eaten it up, nevermind the fact that they gave up a still ongoing monopoly over the e-Shop's audience.

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Gaming / Re: Sonic Generations (360, PS3, 3DS) - Holiday 2011

« on: September 16, 2011, 01:23:15 AM »

Colors was fun, but going back to it after a while, I noticed that the controls feel extremely loose (I've not played Unleashed; my main comparison is Sonic Adventure 2).

That and Super Sonic was a little TOO hard to unlock.  One of those issues where by the time you (legitimately) unlock him, you'll have replayed every level so many times that you're damn sick of the game.  Breakneck speeds and item-hunting just don't mix.