Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@Princess_Lilly
It would be interesting to see, if there is a connection, between your favourite season and the season in which you were born. I love the Christmas season. The vibes and those lights in the evening are so cozy and magical. And I love how fresh the winter air is.

I said this before in the goodbye/vacation thread, but I've returned from my little getaway and I had a lovely time. It was really nice seeing my family - including my little cousin! We even went to an old western park, with a train ride to boot, and it was a lot of fun. I couldn't leave empty-handed, lol... so I got some souvenirs as well.

I also tried out Mario Kart World, and I liked it. It controls a little differently from Mario Kart 8, I did notice that the vehicles have more weight to them now. But I do like the new mechanics you could pull off, I tried out the charge jump and the rail grinding. I love how your items automatically drag behind your vehicle, it's a nice quality of life improvement... no more holding down the item button! I was a little concerned about the intersection tracks, but personally I don't think they're as bad as some people say. The music is awesome, too. I'm not sure if it's better than MK8, but my first impressions are pretty good for sure.

@Pastellioli (Apologies in advance for not writing towards everything from your post, I didn't know what to add to them. But I do read the whole thing.)

Art styles that people hate, huh? People love being negative on the internet, don't they...? I can relate to that experience of yours, I would try to draw something, and oftentimes it would turn out different than I was expecting.

That drum part sounds pretty maddening, looks like I barely scratched the surface of that level, haha. I got burnt out pretty easily on Banjo-Tooie, so I don't think I'll come back to it anytime soon... there's quite a lot that I just don't like about the game. Yeah, I still remember when everybody got into shooter games back in the 2000s. But I was just not into them, since my mom and dad didn't allow M-rated games when me and my bro were young. And I was bad at them anyway. I pretty much just stuck with Nintendo after the 6th generation of consoles, despite people writing off Nintendo as being "kiddy" and "uncool."

Yeah definitely, I think having the original hardware will help me out too, since not every Switch 1 game is compatible with the Switch 2. There's no Switch 1 hardware in the Switch 2 itself, either, whenever a Switch 1 game is being played, its code basically gets interpreted as Switch 2 code. I think that would explain the compatibility issues, or even how some games run better.

Thanks. I didn't get the max amount of stamina, I think the game made it so that you would only have either the max amount of health or stamina. Maybe I'm wrong.

Yeah. A lot of the stuff in Conker just... doesn't sit well with me. To compare, and to see if it will help you to know more about me, I don't like South Park, so I'm probably not gonna like the content in that game. The gameplay doesn't sound too great, that's pretty much why I play games to begin with.

Lol, that sounds pretty hilarious, that's one way to win! I did see that they made it so that you'd keep tumbling when you get hit by a shell. I actually tried out Mario Kart World for a little bit, and it's made good first impressions. I talked about it earlier in this same post, it's the second paragraph.

@Sunsy Yeah, the Switch could stick around for a few years, let's say. I do remember the 3DS has still been around for about three years since the Switch came out. I got Metroid: Samus Returns when it came out... that was such a good game. Yeah, I opted to wait until I got a Switch to play Breath of the Wild, though I did consider playing it early on Wii U at one time. Glad to hear you're enjoying Discounty.

Oh that's neat, a free snack and drink huh? The most recent time I got a digital game was earlier this year actually, I got a pair of game vouchers and I used one of them towards Pokemon Legends: Arceus. I would like to use my last one towards Metroid Prime 4, but if I can't, I'd probably use it towards Xenoblade Chronicles X. I think that new Smurfs movie is out now, how did you like it?

@MarioVillager92 Hello again!

That’s fine! Yeah, I honestly like all art styles, I like a lot of them so much that it makes it hard for me to draw because I’m inspired by a lot of them lol. But, I think I now found a new style, and I even got a drawing done a few days ago! It has a few flaws but I’m feeling more inspired lately, also because I got a ton more materials to use and work with. It can be frustrating when something I try making doesn’t turn out how I want it to, but I just keep trying or change something up about the drawing so it’ll work.

The drum part was annoying, a lot of trial and error. I think the game has way too many difficult and hard objectives that are more frustrating because of the older level design and controls. Though I did play Tooie on the Xbox, and that one controlled well, the game was still difficult for me to play on top of the gigantic worlds, and I just prefer the first game over it because it felt better balanced and was not too hard but not too easy. Yeah shooter games got more popular throughout the 2000s, and it seemed like a lot of games that weren’t like that, especially platformers, kind of got written off as being “childish” or unpopular, but platformers games are still popular today and have done well! I think it’s mainly collectathon platformers that aren’t as popular, mainly because people find collectathons (especially older ones from the 90s) are more outdated and poorly designed, but collectathons can work if they are balanced and executed well. I find it kind of silly how people wrote Nintendo off as being too “kiddy” back then and picking on people who stuck to their stuff. I definitely think it was the rise of shooter games and more darker games in the 2000s that maybe made people feel like that and give more “kiddy” games a negative stigma. Thank goodness it’s not really like that anymore. I really don’t get picking on people’s preferred consoles or genres at all.

Yeah, I think whenever someone gets a new console, it would be a good decision to keep the old hardware and the games with it, unless the person doesn’t want to keep the old console and games anymore. But I think keeping both the old and new Switch is a good idea since you’d definitely need it for data transfers and incompatible games. And that thing about the code is interesting, so the Switch 1 games are kind of viewed as being Switch 2 games by the code?

Must have taken a while to get all the heart containers!

Yeah, and the developers said the game was intentionally supposed to be crude; almost every character in the game is stupid, rude, and a-holey, the game is supposed to have a strange and nonsensical plot, and the humor is rude and full black humor with a side of innuendos and potty humor, the director himself said it was a key element of the game after it went from a kids game to a game aimed exclusively toward older gamers, but I’ll admit that parts of it can be outdated. There’s a moment with this double personality cog they put in there that really, and I mean REALLY didn’t age well, and then the gameplay is very hit or miss. What I really liked about the game was the hilariously weird plot, the writing, the film references were both cool and goofy, the materialism theme at the end of the game, and the context sensitive aspect to the gameplay was interesting, but it’s definitely the gameplay that’s probably the worst part of it. I think the issue was Conker focused too much on humor, the characters and writing after being retooled, causing it to forget about the gameplay during specific parts, leading to terrible objectives and occasional janky gameplay, which isn’t helped by the old N64 controls, the terrible camera, and the fact some shooting segments lack aiming reticles. Banjo I felt did better in equally balancing the characters and gameplay, but the gameplay here suffered from the developers focusing too much on the writing. The remake did try to make the gameplay more bearable, but it’s still not entirely perfect.

It was really funny, I see all sorts of hilariously bizarre ways people get first place in World, and seeing all sorts of videos for it on Instagram makes it looks really fun! I hope I can eventually play it at some point. Oh, if the person keeps tumbling after getting hit by a shell, that would explain how the Luigi player won, on top of bouncing off the player in 1st. It definitely seems like they made a lot of changes in World. I read the paragraph, and it’s good to hear your having a good time with it!

@Jhena @Princess_Lilly
Hmm, if season determine your preferences, I was born at the wrong time. I'm a February baby but I love Spring! Personally I am always cold, but Summer is far too warm for me. Spring is perfect, with nice colors, and lovely temps all around. Fall is similar, but while Spring feels warm after Winter, Fall feels chilly because of its placement after Summer! But honestly? All seasons are good--life is good!

@CaleBoi25
Thanks, nice to know. And I agree, all seasons are good, because it is nice to have variety, with different vibes and temperatures. Still summer is my favourite. It is my favourite season for little journeys.

Hello everyone! I'm a new account, and I don't guarantee that I'll add to the chit-chat thread every day, but I'll at least poke in my head here and there!

@Jhena, seasons, huh... spring and fall are my favorites. Not too hot, and not too cold. 😄

@ShieldHero
Now that you mention it, I think I hear that preferance quite often.

I think my brother once told me, that he loves an anime about a shield hero. Is your name from that anime?

@Jhena, heck yeah! He's from an isekai light novel/manga/anime called The Rising of the Shield Hero, and it's one of my top favorites! Does your brother still like Shield Hero? If he has Crunchyroll, season 4 of the Shield Hero anime is starting on July 9th, with new episodes landing there weekly! I'm incredibly hyped for it!

@ShieldHero
I will ask him, but I had the impression that he was quite hyped about the series too.

@ShieldHero Hey, welcome! I am Caleb/Kale (either works) and I am the local Splatoon, Zelda, Palia, and Portal fan (games-wise, at least. I have a ton of other interests too, but I won't drop a whole paragraph lol)

@CaleBoi25, what do you know! I play a butt ton of Zelda (one of my favorite franchises, as a matter of fact), and have played, like, two hours of my sister's copy of Splatoon 2, as well as watching more gameplay of it and it's sequel. Splatoon is fun, but I haven't gotten into it yet because I'm busy with other games, plus I was having trouble with the gyro aiming. Palia and Portal seem like pretty fun games from what I've heard, though I've never seen or played those. My absolute FAVORITE franchise? It's Pokémon. Perhaps I'll see you around on the site! Speaking of Zelda, which one is your favorite?

@ShieldHero
I asked my brother about the shield hero anime. He is not interested anymore. Even so, I hope you will love the new season.

Happy Independence Day for USA folks over there.

@Jhena, thanks, I'm really looking forward to it, even though it covers stuff I've already read in the light novel series!

@Anti-Matter, when I was lurking on this website for over two years, it was interesting reading your comments. I also used to be obsessed with kid's shows and games as well, until over a year ago when I finally started broadening my media horizons. You remind me of my older self a little bit for that reason. Also, nice picture! My town's fairgrounds set up a fireworks display last night to celebrate 4th of July! I watched it with my family, and it was pretty awesome!

Edit: does anyone else live in the States? Has anyone else watched any fireworks? I'm curious.

Happy 4th, my fellow Americans! What all does everyone have planned? I am having some good friends over for food and fireworks!

@ShieldHero It’s random but I can relate with the lurking thing…I actually used to read the articles on NL and their sister sites (though mostly the comment sections) for maybe four years as a guest account and it wasn’t till last year I decided to make an account because it seemed fun and I wanted to get in the conversations because a lot of the gaming topics seemed fun haha. Though I find myself using the threads/forums more than the comment sections since I usually spout a lot of paragraphs.

@Pastellioli, I can spout paragraphs about what I like as well, so I can see myself becoming a recurring character in the Chit-Chat thread! Haven't checked out the sister sites that much since Nintendo is my main interest when it comes to gaming.

@CaleBoi25, sounds like a good time! My city had a fireworks display at the fairgrounds last night, just like every year. My family has a tradition of watching it while sitting on our driveway in camp chairs. As usual, my mom brought out the radio and played a music station that was playing patriotic music like "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood... on max volume. It doesn't sound that loud though, since the radio is on the porch and our camp chairs are on the front of the driveway. It was cool this year because normally, only one or two other people in the area launch a few of their own fireworks, but this year, several more joined in, including my Grandpa, who launched a few of his own fireworks. I got a jumpscare when a firework exploded 20-ish feet above my head! 😮 Next year is probably gonna be insane, considering July 4, 2026 is the big 250th anniversary of the USA!

@ShieldHero Yeah, threads are the best when it comes to wanting to write a lot of paragraphs. I like this specific thread a lot!

I read more on NL than a lot of the other sites, but I first made my Hookshot account on Pure Xbox since I was using an Xbox around the time, but now I just mostly use NL instead, also because it’s the one that has the most users and discussion. Unfortunately I find discussion is mostly dead and nonexistent on PX, mainly coming from how it gets less traffic and has less users than NL. I originally thought I had to make separate accounts, but I found out you use one account across all of Hookshot’s four sites.

@Pastellioli, that's quite the interesting story. I'll share mine now. I first happened upon this website in late 2022, having not really used the internet much before, shortly before Pokémon Sword and Shield stopped getting new Mystery Gift codes. I found that this site gave information on the codes. Ironically, I missed several of the last ones by just a few weeks 🤣😞. I was getting Pokémon Violet that Christmas and promised myself that I wouldn't miss any more that I wanted in the new game. I bookmarked this website's Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Mystery Gift codes guide page for future reference. For several months, that was the only page I checked out on NL. One day, in March 2023 (I forget the exact date), my curiosity got the better of me and I tapped the news button. I suddenly found myself in a world I had never experienced before: a world full of news about my favorite thing in the world (at the time, anyway. Lately, it's anime): Nintendo. For over two years, I've checked the news several times a day religiously, even reading comments as they came along. I memorized the names of some of the accounts here. A few months later, I started checking out and reading the forums daily. Then, on the evening of July 2, 2025, I finally took my next step: finally creating my account here and actually talking to some of you for the first time. As a matter of fact, until a little over a year ago, I was a mostly bitter and introverted person who disliked just about every person on the planet and shut himself in his room, writing fanfiction stories about Pokémon and playing on the Nintendo Switch. Now, I get along with other people better. If anything, it was probably this site, and seeing all of you people getting along so well, that convinced me to do that. Also, I'm writing my own fantasy stories now instead of Pokémon fanfiction (most of them are heavily anime-inspired enough that the general American population probably won't care for them, but I hope to get them published someday. Maybe, when they are published, I will share about them on this very site if anyone is interested!). My next step will be to continue checking NL several times daily and maybe finally figure out how to select a profile picture for my account (that hasn't worked for me so far). And here I am, ready to a post a wall of text. 😂