BardicKnowledge

So far, the game is absolutely amazing. I really like the idea of the orbiting comets that slowly allow challenges to be undertaken. I'm about to finish the 2nd dome. Is there still a star for 100 coins, btw? Haven't bothered trying yet.

First of all, thanks for posting these -- they are definitely worth the time it takes to watch them, and others are missing out. In any case, in my opinion the best of them by far is "Every Story Begins with a Name." This is mainly because I feel that it does two things better than the others: first, the cuts in the music fit the cuts in the video better. Especially with "Nomura Limit", there are times where the video doesn't match the music as well as it could (the time starting when Vincent first rolls around on the girder to when the moment Bahamut grabs Cloud's sword with his teeth is especially noticeable). Second, I like it when the videos have a certain amount of closure -- this may be my own personal preference getting in the way of things, but I like a video that tells a complete story. "Full Frontal Assault" ends right before the Sephrioth fight begins, but if you're not going to include it, then it works as a stopping point. Again, I really only took issue with "Nomura Limit" -- the way the song winds down makes things difficult, but the last few seconds of fighting didn't seem like they belonged. Is there enough footage to just watch Bahamut fall? In any case, I think you're definitely on the right track. Keep us updated, and thanks for posting your stuff!

I really enjoyed the Saffron City stage...it'd be nice if some of those classics return.

My ideal room has room for a woman in it. I love games and all, but sheesh.

Best laugh of the day when I pictured a giant bowl of NWG cereal doing this.

Glad to hear it -- Sunshine didn't thrill me.

Awesome. I'll take a look at it sometime.

Is anyone else getting the feeling that they had planned out what things they were willing to release before launch against the original release date, and are screwed now that it's been delayed until February?

Usually I don't whine about my Midwestern release-date delay, but today I hate all of you. Luckily I don't have classes tomorrow so I can play all day.

NES Metroid Brinstar looks pretty well like the N64 stage, actually -- and the "chicken soup" should be yellow to match the Brinstar yellow acid.

seph, would you update the front post to reflect Megaman 8's correct title on the PSX category? Right now it just reads "Megaman Anniversary Collector's Edition" with no '8', making it sound conspicuously like the Anniversary Collection released for PS2 (actually, Rockman Complete Works was released for PSX -- it was MM1-6 and had the remade music you can hear in Navi Mode on the PS2).

^that's slick. Has it been posted to speeddemosarchive yet?

My one complaint so far is that some of the events are tiring, and it's hard to play enough to unlock a lot of stuff in one session (especially once you start running the advanced circuits). Worst on the stamina so far is the 4x100 freestyle -- can potentially suck very bad for your arms.

Wow, that tourney is huge. Keep us updated, and get us vids if there are any.

Many thanks again -- it's very slick. edit: Gotta figure out how to imageshack it and get the full image instead of the thumbnail...done.

It's too bad they can't take used things -- I would happily donate my N64 and Gamecube (which is basically obsolete because of the Wii anyway) to something like this. However, if I'm going to donate money (and spending money to buy said consoles counts), then I would much rather donate to research. I do agree that Child's Play is an excellent cause doing very positive things. It's just one I wish I could donate physical materials instead of money. As a site primarily composed of gamers, Child's Play is also a way for us to demonstrate that we as a larger community (of gamers in general, not OCR) are a bunch of positive people defying the images that mainstream media consistently stamp us with. As far as a banner on the site, I certainly wouldn't mind it -- there's nothing wrong in my mind with encouraging people to donate to any charity doing positive things. I'm really out of thoughts on the subject -- hopefully some of this was helpful.

I'm impressed that they've redone all of Lucas' normal moves as well. Which, by the way, also means that Ness isn't neccessarily (no pun intended) out of the picture just yet.

I haven't had the time to try it, but it appears that it does with the track and swimming events (I can confirm 2-player simultaneous play). Obviously on the field events you'll still have to take turns.

Woohoo, the final round! ***** Final Round: ***** Super Smash Bros. -- YES This game started a phenomenon, folks. Own it. Gradius Gaiden * -- YES Probably the best game in the series, and simultaneous multiplayer to boot. This game is absolutely awesome -- and it's good to fly something other than the Vic Viper every once in a while. Mega Man 8 Anniversary Collector’s Edition -- BORDERLINE YES This game is still good, and it's nice to see a 32-bit traditional Megaman. Playing this you can tell the formula is beginning to get old, but it's much, _much_ better than X5 or X6 (even though X4 remains the cream of the crop for Blue Bomber action on the PSX). Street Fighter Alpha 3 -- NO The new characters are nice, but as a big Street Fighter fan, missing frames = very bad. If you learn all of your timings on this, it won't transfer to other versions of the game (PS2, arcade). Therefore I can't recommend it. The Orange Box -- YES You get the best single-player FPS ever made, the first two sequel packs, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 all as one package? Fuck yes -- buy this now. World of Warcraft -- YES MMORPG's don't really do it for me (I play Ragnarok Online as mostly an extended chatroom, and that's it). With that said, this game has become a huge part of gaming culture, and demands to be played/watched. There's a _truck_ commercial about it...vote yes. Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald -- NO There's no reason to get rid of the awesome time features that Gold/Silver featured, and the other new features didn't do anything to counterbalance it. Skip this and go straight to Diamond/Pearl. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 -- YES This game is arguably the best Mario game ever made (partly due to the fact that it has the best physics engine...there's a thread around on it). There's a whole commercial movie dedicated to the release of this game. If you haven't played it, you're missing out. Mega Man & Bass -- YES If you're feeling the need for a more traditional Megaman game after the Zero series, you'll find it here -- this one's a gem. ***************

^Thanks. Also, what are we supposed to be seeing in the reflection of that milk-bottle?

Anyone who was on the fence about getting this game, buy it. The track stuff is decent, but the swimming and field exercises are absolutely great. I haven't unlocked any diving events yet, but I'm hoping that it will also be good. Also, the line-up of playable characters for the game is outright impressive, as is having multiple referees from the two series (Charmy Bee and Espio were especially surprising to see).

If anyone finds themselves some time, I would like a signature with these two images combined somehow (feel free to be creative): The ghido image is probably too large for a signature, so it may need to be altered somehow. Unfortunately, I know absolutely nothing about how to do that -- if it is too difficult let me know. Also, if anyone has other ideas for a signature related to my handle, feel free to surprise me...I just want a custom sig at the end of this (even though my Wingless quote makes me laugh). Edit: Took the time to host files myself -- I was being lazy yesterday.

No one seems to be complaining about Samus being accentuated....

***** Round Thirty-Five: ***** Mario Kart 64 -- YES While this hasn't held up as well as the other multiplayer N64 titles, it's still an essential, and the only video game I've see whole families get together and play. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -- YES If you hate this game, then I hate you. That's all that needs to be said. Team Fortress 2 -- NO It's good, but mostly due to a complete lack of map variety, it's not good enough to make the must have list. If you want great team gameplay, play UT2004's Assault mode instead (or it's excellent set of CTF maps). Duke Nukem 3D -- NO Giving the stripper money is only funny so many times. After that, it's basically behind it's time. Cool guns though... Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time -- YES There's a good reason why The Escapist featured an article about how this game should have changed the face of adventure gaming forever. This game has charm -- and it has a lot of it. Unfortunately, the two sequels aren't nearly as good (although The Two Thrones is certainly worth checking out). ***** Round Thirty-Six: ***** Bushido Blade 2 -- YES Every fighting game fan should have this game on the shelf somewhere -- not only is the game fun at first-play (one-hit kills, yay!) but it's deeper than a lot of people give it credit for. Go realism! Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy -- NO This should have been an expansion pack to JK2 -- it doesn't feel like a fully fledged game to me, and it addition they gimped one of the better moves in the game (the yellow DFA). Quake III Arena -- YES If Unreal is fast, then this is the Sonic the Hedgehog of FPS gaming. You'll never spawn and die so quickly...or enjoying doing it as much. Extra awesomeness for the sweet melee weapon. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance -- YES Worst one in the trilogy, but it definitely belongs there, which makes it one of the top 10 games to own on the GBA period. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past -- YES This vote is only a YES provided that you don't already own the SNES original, which is far superior. With that said, LttP is one of the greatest games ever. Own a copy! ***** Round Thirty-Seven: ***** Yoshi’s Story -- NO Too much cute and not enough gameplay -- check out one of the Yoshi's Island games instead. Final Fantasy VI Advance -- YES This could be the pinnacle of the FF series. Which, incidentally, means that everyone here should play it. The extras are decent but not great, but the retranslated script is supreme (it's better than Woosley's because the old Nintendo censors don't hold it back this time around). Doesn't benefit from the re-release quite as much as V did, though (the extras are much better in V also). Metroid: Zero Mission -- YES I was skeptical of this one, but found myself having a great time. They even designed a specific ending around sequence breaking! Of course, it's made a little easier in this game as a result, but it's still awesome. Finding a plot-relevant way to include the Super Metroid items was also sweet.

Compared to people at other places (GameFAQs), I think OCR benefits from having a mod staff that actually communicates with everyone. I could ask Larry a question and he'd get back to me within a couple days max (presumably even less now that he is at the bottom of the queue as far as judging goes ) -- I couldn't even tell you who the GameFAQs moderators are. I also feel like I know _something_ about some people here (don't get me wrong -- I realize that I know next to nothing about everyone's personal lives) in the sense that I'm not afraid I'm actually speaking to an angsty 12 year-old. As a musician graduating this coming spring in composition, I also try to make an effort to support the other musicians here. I'm on most of the mailing lists for the artists here that have made a point of offering them, and will be buying their CD's as presents for people this Christmas. Similarly, I pirate most of my DS games, but will be buying Contra 4 because I want to support virt with his first commercial game release (he's actually the only reason I bought Press Start, and I absolutely loved it). Oh, and the list of instruments I can play is in my profile, but that's a little more complete than it should be -- I'm primarily a vocalist, a capable pianist, and I play tenor recorder for the ISU orchestra whenever a part is called for. Anything else on there I've either taken enough lessons to play for myself / friends, but not to record on (except the songbird ocarina, on which I'm a complete badass). Edit: Oh, completely forgot to mention the music! Not enough good stuff can be said about it, really -- hopefully someone with more words than me can articulate it.