Random Gaming Thoughts II ~News Items Beware~

I was just going to say that I would welcome a last-minute 'traditional' Kirby game on the Wii U.

Inazuma Eleven Strikers came out a few weeks before the Wii U - that must be a decent shout for the last Nintendo-published Wii game.

That Super Mario Superstars game would have been very welcome on Wii U last Christmas, or even this Christmas. That and Paper Mario to see us until the NX wouldn't have been all that bad (and definitely no worse than last year's Christmas Shitefest™, with Mario Tennis Ultra Smash, Animal Crossing amiibo Festival, Rodea the Sky Soldier and that Fatal Frame game that they printed about twenty copies of...).

Balladeer wrote:

And they couldn't even be bothered with a proper Kirby for the Wii U (Rainbow was a half-price downloadable if I remember correctly).  Says it all...

Its a retail game but was a budget game like Captain Toad

My random gaming thought is about the games I've been 'maining' recently. I like to have a game that I'm concentrating on, with one or maybe two bubbling under. In recent weeks I've gone from Azzy* to Axi# and now it's Acey+. I can now only play games beginning with 'A'.

*Asdivine Hearts
#Axiom Verge
+Ace Attorney 6

After listening to the IGN UK Podcast talking about Fort-za 3, and relatedly SSX3, and recalling something that Jimbob said in the Wii U vote: I really want an open-world Mario Kart.  It's a world I'd love to drive around and explore. With the ability to jump straight into races for multiplayer fun, natch, wouldn't want to take away the immediacy entirely.  Maybe there could be a rocket warp thing that sends you up to Rainbow Road!

Only if you can get out the kart to transition seamlessly into 3D mario platforming.

And then you can wander onto a golf course and seamlessly be playing Mario Golf. And Tennis.

Grand Mario Auto? I'd be very much up for that.

That's sounding a bit like Go Vacation on the Wii.

Any excuse to mention Go Vacation on the Wii, natch.

After Land, World, Galaxy it would be amusing to step down to Super Mario City.

I'm a bit worried that everyone keeps recalling things I wrote, and I don't remember writing them.

Cappa - should I have bought Go Vacation for the Wii?

I think this was one of yours Jimbob?

Quote :

Mario Kart 8’s World - "But they’re just racetracks right? Ah. But. Have you got the DLC? Look at the map in the subway. It shows you where a lot of the tracks are relatively located around a sprawling city. Now look down at the city lights while on Rainbow Road. It’s the same place! Mario Kart 8 actually has a canon! Exclamation mark!"

Also I just re-watched the BotW trailer. I want that game so bad.

I'm not even watching the trailers I've already seen of BotW any more. I want my memories to be hazy, made only of that feeling in my belly of intense anticipation.

Balladeer wrote:

I think this was one of yours Jimbob?

Quote :

Mario Kart 8’s World - "But they’re just racetracks right? Ah. But. Have you got the DLC? Look at the map in the subway. It shows you where a lot of the tracks are relatively located around a sprawling city. Now look down at the city lights while on Rainbow Road. It’s the same place! Mario Kart 8 actually has a canon! Exclamation mark!"

Yeah, that was me - whoops.

I'm with Drunka, in that I'm not actively watching any bOTw trailers - I know I want to get it, so everything can be a brand new surprise. Unless they announce it's an endless runner.

I'd still play a BotW Endless Runner.

Bolt of the Wild?

I was thinking whilst at EGX we had no Nintendo and really no Xbox as well but Gears of War 4 did have a big booth.

I was wondering why? Could this be a brexit thing but I doubt as I guess these need to be planned months in ahead then Nintendo aren't going to Paris Games Week either and France is one of there biggest markets in Europe the Wii U might even be second behind the PS4 there.

Then a while back talking Sonic, Drunka called the Mega Drive its American Name Genesis, he said he wasn't sure of which name it was here as he was Nintendo kid which I replied but you're a European where SEGA was king.

Anyway I watched a pick up video last night from Top Hat Gaming where he is the Good Ol' US of A on holiday and he talks about he can go to Wal-Mart and they have tons of games and he bought the Galaxy New 3DS, Both Yo-Kai Watch 2's, SEGA collection, guides including the hardback for XCX.

He goes on if you go to ASDA the UK equivalent you won't find any of Nintendo stuff, (we have got better we now have Top 10 3DS & Top 5 Wii U along with some amiibo) and how he went to get Zelda a few years back when it came out and was told they only sell popular chart games on PlayStation & Xbox, not Nintendo.

Zero tweeted a picture once from Sainsbury's which the Nintendo selection was a eShop cards, you go into GAME the Nintendo section is the second smallest and you can't get things like Dragon Quest from what I hear from Zero's tweeter and I remember back with the Cube to get games I had to either preorder to get games or hope the indie store had them, not if it was like this before then with N64 for instance.

Back on the Top Hat video he goes on about how this great to see all this Nintendo stuff in USA as him unlike most Europeans he grew up on Nintendo along stuff you can't here like the New Galaxy 3DS and this has been a thing since the SNES as we didn't get Earthbound, Chrono Trigger for instance (I know we got things like The Last Story, Xenoblade on the Wii).

My random thought is could Nintendo do better in Europe especially with the NX coming up and maybe pay GAME or whoever to actually have a certain amount of space for them.

Continental Europe is usually a big market for Ninty, I agree - but then I've been to Amsterdam and northern France recently and StreetPassed no-one. Having said that, I wouldn't read too much into Nintendo avoiding Paris Games Week and the like - they've got nothing to show us.

Yet.

They are they always sort of been second in Europe and close to the top dog but I was just curious about why it is hard to find Nintendo at least in the UK and possibly on the mainland as well and we rarely it cool things compared to the USA.

I wonder if it's due to the crash and Nintendo saved gaming in the states and that's what people had and it's sort of stayed around.

Random thought I had yesterday. I bought Rayman Legends on the Xbox 360 Xbox Live Marketplace for £2.24 or whatever it is, and it's a game I played for a while on Wii-U. You can completely tell it's a Wii-U game, as the touchscreen bits are replaced by "Press B". It's a really odd and jarring experience when you're running and jumping along. They should have removed or changed these sections tbh.

Also, as great as it is, it's not quite Origins (one of the best games of last-gen).

Mr. Jones, it gives me no pleasure* to keep doing this to you...



I found Origins hard to get into, to the point where I eventually stopped trying. Didn't like the early level design, or aesthetic, or soundtrack - and playing the Origins levels in Legends, which I really enjoyed, only cemented that opinion. Huge improvement.

I don't think you're missing much from the Murphy bits though to be honest, they killed one of the best things about Legends: the pacing. Slowed it right down.

Origins hard to get into? It’s immediacy is one of its strengths. It's art style is beautiful, as is the wacky soundtrack. I found Origins and Legends to be very similar games - Legends felt to Origins what Super Mario Galaxy 2 felt to Super Mario Galaxy. It was more of the same with another character thrown in to the mix (Murphy being nowhere near as fun as Yoshi). I almost 100%-ed Origins on the Wii (which even with the Wii-mote that I used felt like it was the best version) and I’m looking forward to doing the same with Legends, but those touch-screen moments with Murphy are clearly unnecessary without the touch-screen. Even with the touch-screen on Wii-U, it was off-putting and a primary reason why I didn’t stick with the game when I did have a Wii-U.

I think Origins has the better pacing – it knew what it was – a straight-up 2D platformer that rewarded exploration, and was difficult without feeling cheap. It briefly knocked Mario off his 2D perch (pipe?). Saying that, I haven’t played it in five years so will need to revisit to confirm if I do indeed, need to find the door.

Balladeer wrote:

Didn't like the early level design, or aesthetic, or soundtrack

I can't see that picture at work, but we've fought this one out before so I can guess what I'm missing.

gjones wrote:

Origins hard to get into? Its immediacy is one of its strengths.

It wasn't the immediacy that was the problem (for me, all of this is 'in my humble, unsubtle, and often wrong opinion' material). I could control Rayers just fine. It was just that what was immediate wasn't... that... fun.

gjones wrote:

Its art style is beautiful, as is the wacky soundtrack.

All aesthetics are down to personal preference, natch... but any soundtrack that can be satisfied as 'wacky' ain't going to be my bag. Give me proper instrumentation and hummable melodies any day. Meanwhile I adored the Gaelic strains of Legends. The same is also true of the aesthetics: mythical vs... well, 'gloopy' is the best way I can think of describing them.

(Also: "its" for possession, "it's" for "it is"! Sorry, a few of my old pedant-nesses bubbling up again. Jay and others will remember that I used to be much, much worse.)

Ah, the ancient* battle of Roranges vs. Legends. I agree with both of you: Origins is one of the best last-gen games but Legends is better. It felt smarter, faster and, yes, more immediate. Each Legends level felt like a bite-size bundle of fun and the Origins levels in Legends felt bloated in comparison. Murphy I can take or leave, to be honest, and I did miss Origins's mosquito shooter levels (and the music levels were excellent).

Balladeer wrote:

gjones wrote:

Origins hard to get into? Its immediacy is one of its strengths.

It wasn't the immediacy that was the problem (for me, all of this is 'in my humble, unsubtle, and often wrong opinion' material).  I could control Rayers just fine.  It was just that what was immediate wasn't... that... fun.

gjones wrote:

Its art style is beautiful, as is the wacky soundtrack.

All aesthetics are down to personal preference, natch... but any soundtrack that can be satisfied as 'wacky' ain't going to be my bag.  Give me proper instrumentation and hummable melodies any day.  Meanwhile I adored the Gaelic strains of Legends.  The same is also true of the aesthetics: mythical vs... well, 'gloopy' is the best way I can think of describing them.

(Also: "its" for possession, "it's" for "it is"!  Sorry, a few of my old pedant-nesses bubbling up again.  Jay and others will remember that I used to be much, much worse.)

Wow. You must be a right laugh at parties.

Rayman Origins is widely considered to be a great game. Rayman Legends may be slightly better or slightly worse, but it's a little extreme to not like Origins but really like Legends. One is an extension of the other. I'm not sure you've even played Origins, as the soundtrack is orchestrated with "proper instrumentation" and throws in kazoos, banjos and panpipes too. Its (better?) soundtrack is one of the best parts of the game.