What are you playing on your Wii U/Wii right now?

I'm guessing a lot of people will be playing Smash just now. Since I'm getting it for Christmas I'm still on MK8 and SM3DW back and forth along with a bit of Donkey Kong Country on the Virtual Console.

As faras MK8 goes, the DLC has greatly expanded the longevity of the game for me now thanks to the new karts available as well as the tracks. Can't say I'm a fan of that dragon one, though. It's a bit shit to be honest.

Dunno how you can say that, SMM! The dragon track's the best of the bunch in my opinion, with its twisty turny 0G bits and its Oriental aesthetic.

I haven't been playing MK8, though. It kept my interest for as long as it took to gold the cups in 150cc (Link's bike is bloody awful though), and now I'm onto SSBU. I'm sure the former will get rolled out at Christmas time, though.

Surprisingly I didn't find a duffer amongst the bunch of eight courses: even Ice Ice Outpost is good fun, particularly the shortcut at the end.

As for what I've been playing: surprisingly little. I think Captain Toad will be my next, unless some big surprise pops up like at the end of last year's December Direct.

It's been a long time since I've seen that meme! The music is great, but I just don't get that wow factor from it that I do on the other tracks. Although in the same vain I really enjoy the Excitebike track especially with the music.
There's something satisfying about hammering someone half way around the world in the early hours of Sunday morning. Whilst using Rosalina (she's bloody amazing).

In news that will have mas appeal ( ), it's Bayonetta. I've passed the Prologue, at least - Chapter One awaits!

On the side we have Golden Sun. Gosh, that game loves the sound of its own text bleeping, doesn't it?

Interested in what you think of GS: I thought the DS game was horrible, but apparently the earlier games were much better.

That Golden Sun text-bleeping-love-in only got worse in the sequel: enough that I gave up on it after playing the hell out of the first one. Didn't finish the DS game either...either they got worse or I got pickier, since the original was my second GBA game (and wow'ed my socks off with it's visuals at the time) I'm a bit too nostalgic for it to be sure!

I was loving the new Mario Kart 8 DLC tracks with friends for the last 2 weeks or so: I was worried it would feel...cheap? Not in a badly designed way, but there's something a bit tacky about cross-overs sometimes. Not these though, they are lovely, a nice balance of fan-service and fun fully functional mazza kart tracks. My favs from the new bunch are probably dragon track and mute city track (not for the zero-g, I just like the layouts!). My least was Excitebike: I do like it (the music, as with all the new tracks, is just brilliant) but with 3 mates it quickly became a case of the highest top speed rushes off unless weapon-based luck really turns (regardless of how it generates the hills and such).

Otherwise I've been playing the GBA Pokemon Pinball R&S games. I loved the GB original, but never tried the sequel in it's day. Enjoying it so far, shame it's still limited to 2 tables but there enough variety to keep be going in short bursts. First VC GBA game, it upscales to the telly far better than I expected (I was expecting a pixelly disaster). How do the other GBA games, like GS, fair?

So, leave the GS series alone is what you're saying.

The only GBA game I've played on the big screen is Metroid Fusion, but it looked fine to me. A bit less blocky on the Gamepad, but fine either way.

Also, congratulations to Zaphod for making it to the repositioned Capitalist Asshat rank!

Golden Sun does not look great on a TV screen, even with pixel smoothing (or whatever it's called - there has been alcohol in my recent past). Superstar Saga fares much better.

A mixed bag then. Make sense, clean lines always seem to last better than fancy detailed pre-rendered stuff. Forgot about Superstar Saga, that's a talky RPG I could play again...

Balladeer wrote:

Also, congratulations to Zaphod for making it to the repositioned Capitalist Asshat rank!

Shhh, Russell Brand will hear and chase me...OHGODHESOUTSIDE! *runs*

Been playing a bit of Smash with the housemates

Mainly smash bros but I also started new game plus on shovel knight the other day.

It appears to be Thomas Was Alone, following a) Cap's recommendation, and b) Ittle Dew being so short. Partway through the tutorial levels, it barely feels like a game at the minute (on the first level I was convinced that you moved the background around a static Thomas, so little was there there)...

ZeroJones wrote:

It appears to be Thomas Was Alone, following a) Cap's recommendation, and b) Ittle Dew being so short. Partway through the tutorial levels, it barely feels like a game at the minute (on the first level I was convinced that you moved the background around a static Thomas, so little was there there)...

Don't forget my review

Also what's happened to Bayo

Balladeer wrote:

So, leave the GS series alone is what you're saying.

The only GBA game I've played on the big screen is Metroid Fusion, but it looked fine to me.  A bit less blocky on the Gamepad, but fine either way.

Also, congratulations to Zaphod for making it to the repositioned Capitalist Asshat rank!

I'd give the second game a shot if you're not in it for the plot. I actually played The Lost Age first, but it's a superior game to the first (and the DS iteration), because it's far more open and flexible than the linear paths carved out in the others. More meaty, too.

Indeed they look rubbish on a TV, I think they'd be handsome on an old CRT TV given the Donkey Kong Country-esque prerendered graphics.

And once again, people make the automatic assumption that non-linearity is a good thing...

Well, sorry for not writing out an essay as to why I believe linearity harmed the first Golden Sun like it did the original Paper Mario...

Don't know about an essay, but I think that some clarification would be nice! Since we're talking about Paper Marios, TTYD asked you to do set things in a set order, and is still one of the best games ever released in my book.

masofdas wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

It appears to be Thomas Was Alone, following a) Cap's recommendation, and b) Ittle Dew being so short. Partway through the tutorial levels, it barely feels like a game at the minute (on the first level I was convinced that you moved the background around a static Thomas, so little was there there)...

Don't forget my review

Also what's happened to Bayo

1) Do not worry on that score, sir!

2) 'nettie? Gently shoved to one side by a red rectangle called Thomas. TWA is supposed to be quite short, so I'm sure I'll be back on Bayo before 2015.

TWA isn't that short really, avg time on HLTB is 3hrs 45mins which might seem short compared to dragon age for instance. But compare it to Bayo 2 that's only 11hrs and is £39.99, so at £7 I think TWA is a decent length in the grand scheme of things.

Yes bayo 2 has replay value etc and is a better game.

Balladeer wrote:

Don't know about an essay, but I think that some clarification would be nice!  Since we're talking about Paper Marios, TTYD asked you to do set things in a set order, and is still one of the best games ever released in my book.

You know what I meant!

But in all seriousness, TTYD is a Paper Mario I wouldn't call linear, and I thought that level of freedom lent more to it than its predecessor which was very linear.

I'm more referring to how TTYD had a lot more diversions and things to do in previous towns and generally across the entire map, compared with the original (it was a bit like Metroid in that sense), and how TTYD gave you the freedom to explore anywhere you'd like. Golden Sun: The Lost Age is a bit like TTYD, whereas its predecessor reminded me of the first Paper Mario: once you reach a particular section of map, there's no going back.

Ah, so you're not complaining about a linear game path, but a linear world?  That makes more sense.

Yes, that'd be the best way to put it. I'm perfectly happy with the "main game" having linear progression, since it makes perfect sense most of the time. Even in "open-ended" games like Pokemon and Rune Factory 4.

I'm working my way through SSB just now, and so far I'm loving it. One thing I'm not loving though is Shulk. He's a perfectly capable character, but it does get on my tits when he keeps shouting 'Back slash'. It has none of the charm of Captain Falcon's catchphrases.

Man alive though, it does play well and the online mode is fairly stable and is a massive improvement over Brawl.

Have you never played Xenoblade, SMM?  Forget "back slash": it's all about "Reyn time"!  Or, if you have Japanese voices on, "Minna yarujanai!"  Or whatever it is Sharla keeps yelling.

I am still, theoretically, on the same game as you.  But I'm trying to complete All-Star on Hard with everyone, and sloppiness near the end can be very very painful.  Trying to do it with Bowser Jr. is one of the most annoying things I've come across in a videogame. So I'm mostly Pokémonning at the moment.