Video Games are awesome

[Sparky Prime]

I dunno if there are any other Smash Bros. players here, but in the event there are... Currently they've got a fighter ballot going for people to nominate a new DLC character to be added to the games.

So far announced DLC characters are Mewtwo (coming out later this month) and Lucas (planned for June), as well as several new Mii costumes.

[Sparky Prime]

So I got The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask 3DS for my birthday a couple days ago... I played the original on the N64 years ago and I just have to say what a great update this version is. Ocarina of Time 3DS I don't recall changed very much from the original, but they certainly made some changes to Majora's Mask. I just beat Snowhead Temple and I'm surprised to see how they've changed the first two bosses to make them somewhat more challenging. I'd also forgotten how annoying the stray fairies were. The two temples I've beat so far I've gotten to the boss door and was missing two fairies both times.

Edit: I have to say I don't like how they've changed the Zora form swimming mechanics. Rather than having the Zora swim fast normally by pressing the A button, swimming fast is now part of the magic electrical attack. Also, I was looking for the stone mask to cheese the Pirate Fortress, only to find out they changed the location of the soldier who gives it to you. He's now found inside the Fortress...

Edit Edit: They've changed how the Ice arrows work as well... Instead of being able to shoot the water anywhere to make an ice platform, now you have to shoot sparkly spots in the water to get an ice platform to form. Not a big deal I guess, but I always thought it was fun in the original version to be able to make an ice platform anywhere. Anyway, I did much better in the Great Bay Temple than I expected. I remembered it being more difficult. Only missed one stray fairy by the time I got to the boss, which turned out to be right next to the boss room...

[Sparky Prime]

*blows dust off thread*

Interesting my last post in this thread is about getting Majora's Mask. I got the "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" a couple weeks ago. It's a very addicting game. It's not a exactly a traditional Zelda. Heart pieces and dungeons are gone... More or less. Instead you've got shrines to complete a puzzle in order to collect Spirit Orbs, which once you get 4 you can exchange for a heart container or stamina extension. There are also 4 divine beasts that work a little more like a dungeon. The world of Hyrule is HUGE in this game. Once you've completed what I'll call the tutorial part, the game will point you in a general direction but you're pretty much free to explore however you want. You're even told you can face the final boss if you want, while warning you against it until you are better prepared. Weapons and shields will break after a time forcing you to use a variety of different weapons you pick up throughout the adventure. Overall, I think this is a great game. I've gotten pretty far into it at this point, and I know I've still got a long way to go yet with how much there is to do.

[Shockwave]

I suppose I should have been posting in this thread a lot lately too since I've recently bought a lot of video games. Between getting into the Dark Souls games, I've also played Overwatch, and on the NES Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Star Tropics, Excitebike, Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2, and yesterday I just bought a 2DS, Link Between Worlds, and Spy vs Spy for the NES, and Shadowgate 64. I also got a replacement RF adapter for the 64 since mine was defective.

[Sparky Prime]

I've beaten the four Divine Beasts of Breath of the Wild. Like I said before, they're a little bit more like traditional Zelda dungeons, in that you solve puzzles in order to reach and beat a boss at the end. But they are much shorter and a lot easier if you ask me. The bosses are all especially weak to a certain elemental attack, Ancient weapons or the Master Sword. You also get a power up from the Champion of the Divine Beast once you beat the boss. And they are pretty cool abilities. You only have so many uses of them before they need to recharge for like half an hour, but when you've got them, they are really nice to have.

So story wise, my next stop would be Hyrule Castle to beat the final boss, buuuut.... I've still got a LOT more shrines to find and side quests to do.

[Sparky Prime]

Just got Metroid Samus Returns for the 3DS yesterday for my birthday. I never played the original Gameboy game, and the only Metroid game I've played before is the Prime series and Other M, so this is a new experience playing a more traditional side scrolling Metroid. I'm surprised by how hard it is. I've got two energy tanks at this point and it seems like some enemies can still kill me in just 2 or 3 hits.

[Sparky Prime]

Mario Odyssey came out a couple days ago for the Switch. To my understanding, this game is a lot like the Mario Galaxy games. Unfortunately, I've never played those myself, I've heard they were really good. I think the last Mario game I played was New Super Mario Bros Wii. Anyway, the new gimmick is that Mario has this hat companion that lets him take control of certain enemies and animals to give Mario different abilities, and can also be used as a weapon against enemies Mario can't possess. Rather than power stars, Mario needs Moons (based on the 3up moons from older games) to power the Odyssey air ship to chase after Bowser and his... wedding planner rabbits. Moons are all over the place, with some being right out in the open (at least in the early levels), and others are much more hidden. The game is still broken up into different worlds, but each world is not separated by levels. Instead, the game will give you missions to point out where to go, but mostly has an emphasis on exploration in order to find more moons.

It's different from the 3D Mario games I'm used to, but I've been enjoying it a lot so far.

[Dominic]

Mega Man 11 strategy guide (Celebrating 30 Years of the Blue Bomber) published by Udon:

This hardcover is part strategy guide and part anniversary retrospective of the Mega Man franchise. The nostalgia angle is pushed hard, noting that the costs of controllers and consoles has gone up (when warning players to avoid throwing controllers and consoles out of nearby windows).

The quality of the writing is better than expected, in both the strategy guide and retrospective sections.

The strategy guide is a pretty good reminder of why I gave up video games when 16 bit games became passe'.

Mega Man has traditionally been a simple platformer game. Players would work through 8 selectable stages, defeating a boss and gaining a power. Between the boss abilities and a few other weapons, a player would have ~15 options to choose from. The only resources were health and ammunition refills.

The first several pages of the strategy guide outline a list of possible weapons and items that would make the RPG games of my youth seem bloated. (And, that is not counting the robot master weapons.) And, players are obligated to replay stages to load up their resource inventory. None of this makes "Mega Man 11" a bad game. And, it is hardly the only game to have this level of complexity and required intensity. But, it is a good example of why I stopped playing video games 20+ years ago.

(Aside: I have long thought that platformer games hit their peak with Konami's "Symphony of the Night".)

The retrospective pages focus primarily on the older Mega Man games, and offer progressively more sparse coverage of the later games (through "Legends"). Hard core fans will probably find little enough new information here. But, these pages are a good chance for casual fans (who have not been following Mega Man consistently for 3 decades) to catch up.

(These is an interesting sketch of a Doc Robot from Mega Man 3. The sketch is likely from the earliest design stages, and seems to include elements of Gamma, the last boss of Mega Man 3. I do not recall having seen this piece of art, even in a recent art book.)

Grade: B Very useful as a strategy guide. And, well composed. But, the price tag (~$40) makes this an item for hard core fans, despite the focus being on casual or older fans.

[Sparky Prime]

Have you played Mega Man 11? I own a copy for the Switch, but I have yet to play it for myself. I wanted to play through the Mega Man Collection first. I grew up playing the NES games, but I haven't played any of them past 7, so it's great to see Capcom release the entire series and even a new game last year.

Also got the X Collection, which I'd been playing until Smash Bros and Let's Go Eevee distracted me.

[Dominic]

The last "Mega Man" game I played was......6. 11 seems to have taken everything that I disliked about 5 and 6....and dialed that up. (I firmly believe that the best platformers are simple. Complexity should be reserved for RPG and strategy games.) The strategy guide makes clear that players are essentially obligated to do extra tasks in order to gather enough resources to play the game.

A friend of mine downloaded the legacy collection. I think that consists of 1-6, and several of the "X" games. Many of the exploits from the first and third games do not work.