Thalzon

I've put so much time and effort in HW... And I'm still not done the first adventure map. I've barely even started the master quest map. And now we're getting a THIRD... oy. I basically need to double down on it to catch up.

Well, the Smash Direct was full of goodies. Here's the big stuff: - 8-player multiplayer. Can use pretty much any controller, 3DS included. Not all stages are playable with more than 4 players; only big stages are selectable. - Ridley is a stage boss, but comes as close as possible to being playable without actually being playable. - Stage Builder returns. Much more customizable. - Smash Tour is a board game kind of thing where you compete to collect fighters and powers. - Classic plays a little differently. All-Star is the reverse of the 3DS version. - Ness, Ganondorf, Jigglypuff, and Bowser Jr are all available from the start. - Mewtwo DLC is on the way.

Generally, long dungeons feel pretty tedious. When I think long dungeons, I think Terra Tower from Chrono Cross or anything from Xenosaga. They went on for a long time, and despite the lack of random encounters and not much backtracking, really tried my patience. The worst by far was the Song of Nephilim, which DID have loads and loads of backtracking. It ultimately depends on the location, though. A lot of the dungeons in Xenosaga had the justification because their locations were enormous. Compare to, say, the sewer in Shadow Hearts 1, which is a single cross-shaped room with one puzzle to solve, but will take a decent 15 minutes to finish because you're running back and forth and have a hundred random encounters. Also, once you're done the game treats it as though you went at least several hundred meters, which makes no sense. Basically, I think dungeons can be most any length as long as they don't rely on tedious things to make them longer.

I need to go back to Tropical Freeze at some point... I beat it, but didn't find all the secret levels. I did unlock the first two island temples, though. The first was a challenge enough but the second is such a killer ball-buster I'm not sure if I even want to try again.

There's over 600 trophies. Also I'm on the third panel now and it's hell. It's got tons of the grindiest achievements, like finishing classic, all-star, and smash run with every character (and you must place 1st for it to count towards that character for smash run). Also 10-man and 100-man smash. 200 kills in endless smash, and so on. Basically, by the third panel, you should not actively go towards unlocking stuff anymore. Let it come naturally or it will burn you out as you go through every mode 50+ times.

Be sure to download the patch from the eshop (which is available right now) before getting the game, else you get stuck it purgatory waiting for the patch on release day. You can't smash online without it.

Man, I didn't know grab was on L. In Melee and Brawl I always rolled with R and grabbed with Z... If I bothered grabbing at all (generally only with Ness or Zelda, who have strong throws). Grab can also be done with R + A, which is how I use it now.

My friend got codes and gave me one. Hot dang that 60 fps is so good. Sooooo goood.

I try to support devs whose games I like/am excited for, but we can't deny that game budgets have become ludicrously bloated, leaving no room for failure. If developers want higher margins, then they need to step back a little from the "bleeding edge" as it were. On the other hand, there is clear and present pressure for consoles to perform... Something they, uh, aren't doing lately. Modern consoles by and large are gimped PCs with the most minor of graphical leaps over the previous generation, and what's worse is most games for them are also coming to PC anyway, so consoles are even more marginalized. The result is consoles are an unhappy medium between the cheap, low-cost production of mobile devices and the raw power available through PCs. So what this means is, in the context of the thread topic, that Miyamoto and Nintendo in general saw the writing on the wall back in 2005 or so. There was no way for them to compete on power -- they tried with the GameCube -- so they swung the other way in an attempt to expand their market. But that's not all -- they were also attempting to lure in this big casual market, in the hopes they'd buy their more traditional offerings. NSMB was and always has been an attempt to rope in the casual market for stuff like Mario Galaxy. By making the controls dependent on motion rather than arbitrary buttons, they hoped people would push a little further and seek out something more challenging. That didn't happen. Casuals bought the Wii, played Wii Sports, played Wii Fit, and then left it at that. Obviously this frustrated Miyamoto because he spent a lot of time and effort trying to bridge this gap. Now, for all his attempts, he's pretty much given up. He doesn't want to bother trying to please such a fickle market. It means (hopefully) good things for us, but still, I can't help but feel bad for them. They put up a lot of effort and now don't have much to show for it.

Since there hasn't been a new Metroid for a handheld in a while it makes sense there would not be a new stage. There's 24 new stages and 10 returning ones. Star Fox and Donkey Kong also don't get new stages, but Pokemon gets two. I personally think it's neater that a lot of 3DS games got stages even without character representation. That said, it looks like Earthbound possibly got itself a new stage. People think it's Magicant.

The leak is confirmed, yes, but hot dang, Shulk looks super fun to play. And Metal Face shows up on the stage? Sweeeet. Speaking of cameos, Riki and Dunban in Shulk's final smash is a real nice touch. I guess they won an internal popularity poll or something.

Some people look for the clouds on a sunny day. This is awesome news, and I hope going forward that Nintendo does this kind of thing with more of its major releases. It keeps them fresh and fun for months.

Sigh. Farewell, Ice Climbers....

Falco's portrait is taken from a Brawl cutscene, too. And Bowser Jr's portrait is a photo of a toy.

Zero Suit Samus has her Super Metroid and Zero Mission shorts, too. Looks great, though it's a small shame she doesn't let her hair down in the Super costume.

I was gonna ask where his cape was, but looking at the site screenshots I saw it! In one shot, where he's facing to the side the most. I think they shrunk his cape a little.

I say bring on the clones. Bring on Dr Mario, Daisy, Bowser Jr, Toon Zelda, Impa, Anthony, Galacta Knight, Pichu, Mewtwo, Chrom, Black Shadow, Ms Pac-Man, Alph, and whoever else is tertiary at best but easily implemented.

I've been playing a number of indie/download titles lately that I'd like to talk about a little. Ittle Dew - This game was released on Steam last year sometime, and this is pretty much a straight port with the button graphics switched to match. At first glance, it looks like a basic Zelda clone, with dungeons, special items, and bosses. But as you get more into it, you see the real draw: it's a game that tracks your time, and so the goal becomes to finish the game as quickly as possible. Huge chunks of the game can be skipped and there are multiple routes all over the place. Plus the puzzles are devilish in design, with harder ones blocking significant shortcuts. If speed-running isn't your thing then the game is short, but sweet. Guacamelee! STCE - This game released, again, last year on other consoles, but this is definitely the definitive version. It includes the costume DLC, adds more areas, scenes, and an extra boss! The game has you play a luchador trying to stop an undead Mariachi from escaping the land of the dead. You learn various wrestling moves and special abilities as you go, and there's even co-op. The main story is fairly easy but there are a number of side areas that will put your reflexes to the test, and there's enough changes that it's worth checking out if you already played it before. Armillo - A clunky little game that proves to be charming and surprisingly robust. You play as a little space-faring Armadillo who returns home, only to see his planet being ravaged by an army of machines called Darkbots. What follows is an adventure through space to stop their leader, Roto. The game itself primarily takes place on spherical stages, where you platform around, hunt for keys, save little blue blobby things, and so on. There are also secret levels which are side-scrolling stages. The game has some lag issues, and the platforming can be seen as basic, but it's weird and charming all the same. Worth looking at if you want something a bit weird. Stick it to the Man! - Very Psychonauts-esque adventure-puzzle game. Definitely weird, and definitely funny, but also lacking in more robust gameplay. Most puzzles are basically sticking objects in the right spot with your psychic brain-hand. Still, it's about 3-6 hours long, depending on how long it takes for you to figure out some of the game's more obtuse logic.

So Lucina is confirmed a Marth clone, but appears to be a more newbie-friendly version (lighter, faster, no sweet spot on the sword, etc). Kind of like how Lucas was a less-technical version of Ness. It's an interesting design philosophy. Also gonna call it now: Chrom IS a fighter, but an unlockable one, with a moveset similar to Ike, and his final smash is the same as Robin's but in reverse (ie he summons Robin).

Aw Yiss. Robin looks crazy fun with all the spells, and I like the idea that the books and swords break and need to be replaced. Lucina, however, is definitely just female Marth. The few moves we see look exactly like Marth's moves, and if she was a "new" fighter she would have more focus in the video. She probably either plays the exact same, or is a bit faster/lighter/subtle statistical differences. Falcon looks pretty rad too. The lack of Lucas/Ice Climbers/Meta-knight/Wario so close to release leaves me a wee bit antsy though.

No, it'll be a newcomer because they'll have a video. Also the middle paragraph of your post makes no sense to me.

New character to be revealed Monday, 7 am pacific time. Predictions are the usual suspects of the Gematsu Leak: Shulk of Xenoblade, Chrom of Fire Emblem Awakening, and Marshal (or Chorus Man) of Rhythm Heaven. As cool as any of those would be, I'm hoping for something not in the leak because I want to be surprised. I'm hoping for Mallo of Pushmo, Takamaru of Castle Muramasa, Ridley of Metroid (or any Metroid character, really) or Dr. Lobe (of Big Brain Academy).

Roy is not well-liked because he's the worst Lord ever, stat-wise.

Anyone downloaded Armillo? I ask because, last night, I unlocked a secret level in that game which has Shovel Knight as a cameo. You even need him to launch you to other parts of the stage.

Michael Jackson helped work on some of Sonic's music back in the genesis days. And man, Mac is really getting the costume treatment, eh? The green grid look, the pink hoodie... Also, I hope you all make Nikki (of Swapnote) a Mii Fighter. It's just good sense.