Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

Just wanted to state my thoughts on the Sonic Central livestream, specifically on the three main announcements. Sonic Colors Ultimate looks pretty good, it's good to see that it's on Switch and the other modern platforms, but I wonder what new features it'll have. Right now, it looks like the same game with better visuals.

Sonic Origins looks like a promising compilation, as it seems like all the games are gonna be enhanced in some way. Not to mention that Sonic 3 & Knuckles is coming back after so long! I love the Genesis Sonic games so I could see myself getting it for the Switch.

The trailer for Sonic Team's next game didn't really show much. At least we know when Sonic's next game will be out, I guess. Hopefully it'll be good, though I did hear Sonic Forces wasn't that great.

@Tyranexx Yeah, for older games I have no problem buying them used, if it still works and it's the real deal. Kinda wish I got more into Professor Layton - if only I wouldn't get stumped too easily, lol! Perhaps I'll give it another shot sometime, I still have the copy I got from my local retro game store. That reminds me, I used to get retro games quite often. Many years ago (it was 2004) we got a Sega Genesis from eBay (it was the model 2 and came with games like Sonic 2 and Quackshot). We did have the model 1 as well as a copy of Sonic 1 that I've been saving, but we couldn't hook that up since we didn't have all the necessary cables. But yeah, these days, I don't shop for retro games too often, especially online. Those prices can indeed be scary.

Ouch, sorry to hear about that Groudon. It's been gone for good, then? Another glitch I've known about was in Super Mario Galaxy 2, where you could use Yoshi to do infinite flutter jumps. I never really got it to work though, which is actually fine with me. I like finishing games legitimately anyway. lol

@Eel
how can i play nintendo nes games cartridges?

@ogo79 you need an nes mini man

Juggle with them.

@NintendoByNature
glad i asked.
ive been over here for the last 6 hours trying to figure out where ive gone wrong.

that thing is supposed to do anything and everything.
its catching on fire for some reason.
i hear the fire department down the street but it cant be related cuz blast processing.
factory default maybe?

@WoomyNNYes ..........Ye.....idk if that was all to the joke.

@Tyranexx Yeah, I figured as much. Kinda like watching the proverbial train wreck happening: you know it's coming, and yet you're not looking away. That's pretty much the instinctual basis upon which Funniest Home Videos is built.

@Eel Ah, I see. Of course. Guess that one actually DID fly over my head, then. I'm getting old...

@WoomyNNYes Make it Sonic Bangers and mash, and we're on board...

@ogo70 Hurrr... durrr... me purrrrfect too...

All cave man kidding aside: I just told you I'd spare you and all I get is hubris? Tsssss....

P.S. are those... CARGO pants? If so, then you're DEFINITELY not perfect, because these should either not exist or be burned...

@ogo79 that's your problem man. It's not even hooked up to the switch pro +

I think i'm going to go digital for sonic color's, I really want the physical copy, but you just get more for the digital, plus if you get the deluxe which is actually the same price as the physical copy, You get waaaay more stuff, I don't even care for the keychain, plus with digital you get to play the game on Sep 3 instead of 7.

Does anyone else know where the thread for the Latest/Greatest, Totally Awesome 3DS Purchases went? I realize it's in a half-dead forum, but I wanted to post in it. The thread title comes up when I search for it, but the site throws a 410 - That page is in another castle.

@MarioLover92 I really started digging into the retro handheld market a few years ago, particularly with the GBC and GBA in order to nab any games I was nostalgic for or missed back in the day. That was backburnered for a bit; I was in college at the time, and the eShop became a nice alternative as well. Some of the physical game prices were reasonable, but they started adding up fast! But yeah, I have no problem buying older games used if there's a way I can A. try them out and/or inspect them before buying, and/or B. use a reasonable return policy. Though with DS and 3DS games, up until the last year or two the new copies of some titles were reasonably priced. It depends in part how popular the game is, how long of a print run it had, and an ounce or two of luck.

I'd like to get a hold of a Sega Genesis just for an afternoon and play around with some of the games I enjoyed on it back in the day...even if a lot of them were hard-as-nails platformers lol. The Lion King and Aladdin were no joke.

Yep, the Groudon was lost to cyberspace. I've heard about that infinite flutter jump glitch in Super Mario Galaxy 2, but I didn't know about it when I played it. Not sure if I would've tried it or not. Yoshi wasn't exactly fun to use in that game IMO. In terms of actually finishing games, I also prefer to take the legitimate route. Speedruns are all well and good, but some of the glitching involved in many of them is a bit unsettling.

@ThanosReXXX ...Or some NintendoLife comment sections on articles.

@ogo79 I know what the problem is. You need the cables for both the Virtual Boy AND the ultra-secret Game Genie XXXL add-on!

@Tyranexx I can't even find the title for latest greatest awesome 3ds purchase. Maybe it sat idle for a long time? I would have thought it's still getting occassional use. Maybe not? Weird. Or the our overlords are secret h8terz of the 3ds, in the never ending console wars. @joeynator3000 @Eel

@WoomyNNYes I just posted in it ~2-3 months ago, so I doubt it sat idle for too terribly long. I also couldn't locate the "What Games are YOU currently playing?" thread in this forum/General awhile back. I let that one slide since what I post in the weekly What Are You Playing This Weekend? articles on the main site more or less serve the same function in my case. I don't jump between games too often unless they're short or I dislike what I'm playing lol.

ill look into it, i was in the middle of trying to hook up a vcr somewhere in this puppy, thanks in advance

and see this is why i joined here 11 years ago, for all the helpful people aboard this fantastic site.

oh i dont doubt it one bit

An update on my work situation: so today was a meeting for the managers and they discussed promoting me to a department manager. Nothings been finalized but they let me know they’re thinking on a promotion soon.

Also, I’m considering putting a big chunk of my pay into a savings account and maybe planning a trip to Japan for myself during a summer on of the next couple years. Maybe I could even get my cousin to go with me(she knows some Japanese and has gone there before). That’s definitely a long term plan tho! What do y’all think?

@Blooper987 Perfect idea. Bring your cousin, it’ll allow for some solid bonding too, and the more the merrier after all. But be prepared to wait in terms of Coronavirus and savings, make sure you leave enough to... y’know... actually live. But I like that, and I can’t wait to see where this goes. Congrats on your promo!

@Blooper987 Glade to know its looking up for you man.

@Tyranexx @WoomyNNYes I’m not sure, I don’t think threads just disappear completely based on inactivity alone here. Maybe the creator of the thread deleted their account?

My weekend was so unbelievably boring. I left the house once, to go for a small walk. Other than that I stayed at home and… you guessed it, played video games. Had a right crack at Dragon Quest XI too. But for the second time in two years I saw someone outside of my “working life”. That was very fun, I introduced them to my virtual reality headset, and the performance they put in for $100 Bill on Hard Mode was so good it made me feel like a bit of an idiot! Doesn’t matter, I’ll have time to practice.

@Tyranexx Yeah, I was scrolling through some of the old posts @ThanosReXXX linked us to, and you mentioned your state, meaning I could guess your time zone too. Some of the posts you’ve… ehm… posted, were at well past midnight! I’m honoured to received them, while I am sorry it comes at the expense of about thirty minutes. I was both surprised and unfazed when no gameplay for Dragon Quest XII was revealed. Hilariously the Sonic reveal did the exact same thing a little over twelve hours later. A fancy graphic, but instead of a name, just “2022”.

Some of the footage from Horizon: Forbidden West looks amazing, but it’s no doubt been held back by the fact that it’s a cross-gen release, on both PS4 and PS5. I don’t know what I’ll do considering I can play games from both consoles, but I bought DiRT 5 in January for PS5 and the improvements were insane. I got my racing chair and wheel as well at the same time, so I didn’t use the DualSense for it, but the rare times I did use it, it felt so good. Especially the adaptive triggers. I imagine for more games it’ll have similarly good applications, like in shooters, to simulate recoil, or in… I dunno, Horizon: Forbidden West, with bow and arrow! (I realise I haven’t even felt the adaptive triggers in months because all the games I’m playing are PS4 titles…)

This collection can be the best chance for me to explore the Sonic franchise. While the Sonic Origins package is on paper more valuable than Super Mario 3D All-Stars, it’s not. Five games, yes, but five 2D games at that. I imagine it’ll be cheaper than SM3DAS, I’d guess either $19.99 or $29.99, because Sega did say that there’ll be extra content à la Crash N’Sane Trilogy. And I’ve also heard good things about Sonic Colours, so I too will wait for reviews and a discount to get me buying and playing that game.

I haven’t bookmarked it yet but things like avatars, virtual booths and so on are interesting enough. They do have forums too but we’ll see what it’s like there. E3 hype tends to make people go crazy, and the average gamer at E3 time rages like a man possessed.

A friend of mine faints when getting injections… it was quite shocking when hearing about it but when it was described to me I couldn’t say I was fully surprised. I still don’t have a good reading on how I recover from blood tests and vaccines, but usually I get a bit tired and nothing else happens. I don’t know why but I want to get side effects from my second Coronavirus vaccine dose, just so I can feel sick, in a controlled capacity. Call me crazy and yes, my reasoning is not that good…

Staying hydrated is very difficult. I usually forget to drink water all day. During my lunch break sometimes I’d take out my lunch and then realise; “oh no, I haven’t drank anything!” and then I’d down half the bottle in five seconds. I was very thirsty after my vaccine though, and it made me feel like my throat dried every half hour. If I didn’t re-use cups the dishwasher that day would be full of one-time used glass cups. And feeling dizzy while DRIVING?! That’s absolutely awful luck. At least you’re here… to tell the tale. I’d hope your state manages to get a majority vaccinated, I doubt IL is the one with all the antivaxxers…? The southern states seem more sus to me when it comes to thinking of the greater good. I imagine a good amount of people will seriously consider staying at home to work after this pandemic subsides.

I may come off very hypocritical but I really hope we get a Zelda collection. The base games are already good, and it would be significantly easier to port over the Wii U versions of said games. The reason the base Mario games were put in was because those were the only versions available so… damn this is enticing. I could get everything I want with this package, or it could let me down.. or it doesn’t exist.

I’m always looking for inspiration, so playing FF games gave me strong incentive to start covering music there. In terms of RPGs I haven’t played a single game with bad or even just good music. Probably just the eye I have for RPGs, I tend to have a very clean experience with them, no bad ones. And you’re only playing two games right now, I can juggle seven quite well! Mental capacity and all

As I’ve said many times before I’m way too fast with games. Even I’m getting tired of seeing how fast I plough through them. I’ve played FF15 for seventeen hours and I could go to the final boss right now if I wanted. My entire party’s probably well levelled (40) and I’ve done a good number of quests. I didn’t skip any cutscenes or anything… I just win first try…? I doubt that’s it. But it’s a recent thing, I remember taking 60 hours to beat Xenoblade Chronicles X, and about the same for Breath of the Wild.

Xenoblade deserves being completed in its entirety. It’s so good… and funnily I didn’t even know what it was until 2016. Dad just had the game lying around and I thought to myself; “I’ll give this a go, see what it’s all about,” and I beat the game in six months. Rewrite that a bit and you have yourself a love story. Such a chance meeting but man it was so good playing it.

I finally went through the photos from my day trip last Friday and uploaded some of them to PostImage for everyone's viewing pleasure. I hit three areas in the southern confines in my state; I was originally planning to hit a fourth, but it was a little more out of my way than I realized. Knocked that one out of my plans early lol. It was a very good day, but there was a lot of driving involved. That plus some hiking I did served to more than wear me out. XD I'll embed a picture for each stop apiece, but I'll stick to mostly thumbnails after that to keep the post from becoming too bloated. @ThanosReXXX might be interested in some of these images.

Stop 1 was at a small state park known as Ferne Clyffe. A coworker of mine suggested it to me some time ago; one of his hobbies is amateur photography, so he likes traveling around and getting pictures of scenes, animals, and abandoned or unique structures. It's a very beautiful area with a lot of bluffs. I hiked a couple of trails that were a mile apiece. I almost did a third, but...time. XD The first trail ended at a scenic area where there's a waterfall. Unfortunately, a lack of rain meant there wasn't more than a trickle. Still a neat area all told:

Waterfall trail images:

Besides the waterfall trail, I also went on a trail that went past a small cave. The bluffs were really tall here, so much so that you had to look almost straight up in some spots to view the top! (Or try to). Thumbnails below.

Stop 2 was brief - there wasn't a ton there as it's understandably remote and in an area prone to flooding from the Ohio River - but I stopped by Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site (Link to Wikipedia), a site where a chiefdom of the Native American Mississippian culture once stood. I'm more familiar with the larger Cahokia Mounds site near St. Louis from school trips as a child. There's a viewing platform and some plaques that explain what the visitor is looking at, but there are signs that clearly state not to walk onto the site itself. It's still an active archaeological site, so they understandably don't want people tromping around. It's fun to just imagine how the site had once looked centuries ago. Nobody knows why this site was abandoned in 1400-1450 CE, but it's suspected natural resources in the area were depleted.

This is a shot of an area where a plaza once stood, along with some of the mounds:

Additional thumbnails include more shots of the mounds and the plaques (they've dealt with some weathering; two of them face the sun for much of the day):
(This last one was taken along the road)

Stop 3 involved the town of Metropolis, a smaller, RL version of where this guy supposedly saves people from falling buildings and the villain of the week ( ):

Besides the statue, there's also a museum and gift shop of everything Superman. The collection is valued at roughly $2 million USD. I took many more photos than these, but these are the highlights. There were a lot of old toys, games, and other merchandise. Plus, one photo has the wigs from all four Superman movies in the 70s(?) as well as a Superman costume used in one of the productions. There were also dedicated sections for some of the shows, some Batman (<3) + other DC character memorabilia, Supergirl, and the Smallville TV series. The LEGO set (this was in the gift shop) is a pretty faithful recreation, minus the tiny figures in front, of how the building looks on the outside.

(Pardon some of the odd angles; I was trying not to catch reflections of my secret identity. )

@Tyranexx I tried doing that glitch for the fun of it, only for me to fail in the end, lol. But that's fine with me. I don't do speedruns personally, I prefer playing games at my own pace. They are there for a reason and they're impressive to watch for sure, but yep, I ain't doing them anytime soon.

That'd be cool. I never played those two (I know there's a Disney-themed compilation on Switch that has both) but yes, I've played a lot of Genesis games that are tough to finish. I did beat a fair amount of Genesis games like Sonic 1-3 and Gunstar Heroes, but stuff like Revenge of Shinobi is quite difficult to the point where I can't beat the first boss, lol. It has awesome music though.