Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

Official Dorothy Barbie doll by Mattel from Wicked: For Good.
Surprisingly, we will see the Dorothy face in Wicked: For Good and we will see the part from Wizard of Oz which Dorothy will splash bucket of water (or gallons of water since the first movie shown a lot of water puddle and after burnt floor) to Elphaba and watching Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba screaming in agony while melting... melting.... and the thing happened at the end of movie based on Wicked Broadway version.

Also, who will play as Dorothy in Wicked: For Good?

@MarioVillager92 Yep, some of the punishments in 3 for disconnecting are a bit more severe, but it’s nice they started taking action against a problem that was present ever since the series started.

Yeah, that’s my issue, but it’s also because I’m indecisive with choosing poses, especially ones that fit the character I’m drawing. If I’m drawing fanart of a character, I want to try and get the look or pose of the character close enough to their original design or their personality, or when choosing a pose, I try finding one that would fit how they act.

Oil painting looks fun but the issue for me is how slow drying it is compared to acrylic, the oil paint just seems to smudge a lot when I tried adding colors and shading. Ultimately got no paintings done with oils, but oh well. Yeah, it’s best that you get thick watercolor paper that can handle water well, I think thinner watercolor paper is better suited for minimal watercolor and water if it buckled heavily after I used so much water.

I’m used to finished drawings so I usually don’t do sketches or test pages in my sketchbook, but I think it’s not helping at all…I’ve had that sketchbook since May and I only got three drawings done with it…before ultimately ripping the drawings out because I didn’t like them at all. I usually test things out on a scrap of printer paper, which helps a lot.

I remember when OW2 was announced and how many changes it went through when being developed, but they seem to be bringing back a ton of removed features and aspects from the first game, so it’s looking more like OW1 now, which kind of makes me question if OW1 needed a sequel in the first place. Yep, I lost that many matches that day. Sucked a lot, especially when everyone tried their best to win. I used to win matches back and forth when I first played OW2 in 2023…oh, so Splatoon has some newer stages that are frustrating? I remember hating a few stages in the first and second game, but especially ones that had a ton of water in them. I think it was Mahi-Mahi Resort, and then Saltspray Rig in the first game, because both bases have these long pathways on the side that are close to each other, and it made a great spot for the enemy team to snipe and somewhat puppy guard my team’s base, though I like most stages in the games.

I miss Mario Maker, I only had the first one on the Wii U but it was so fun! Though only when I played other people’s levels, mine sucked lol. Yeah, while I first started with their DKC games, I tried a handful of their other NES and SNES games on Rare Replay, as well as Spectrum ZX games their predecessor Ultimate Play The Game made. But I find most of the older games play terribly and badly explained, especially the Spectrum games, but I thought Jetpac was the best out of the Spectrum games in terms of the controls and the goal, and I did complete a few of those. The worst one in that collection is Underwurlde. Tried it out for a few seconds and immediately quit the moment I felt the janky controls and movement.

It is, I was actually interested in seeing how Rare’s next game was going to turn out in spite of the long development cycle and lack of updates. But the one cancellation that stung the worst for me was them cancelling a reboot of Perfect Dark, especially because it was a revival of an old Rare IP I actually had interest in. When they first showed off the reveal trailer last year, I liked it so much it convinced me to play the original Rare games, and now it looks like it was all for nothing. I wonder what Rare’s going to do nowadays…

Microsoft has a bad history of how they manage studios, which is something I heard of before I got a Series S, but most people said the bad management was especially prevalent with Rare, starting with the 360 era. It’s especially crazy that they have 20+ studios under their helm, but it sometimes feels like they don’t get a lot of games released because of the long development time, lack of updates on already announced titles, and then multiple game cancellations as of late, but also sometimes resorting to shutting down a studio if something doesn’t pan out. There were at least 4 known games that got cancelled, but they said a ton of unannounced games were also canned too! The long development cycle for triple-A games now probably plays a role into that too.

Yeah, and I got another glimpse at the final boss! I mean I’ll still be excited for it but the spoilers will definitely lessen my excitement now that I’ve been partially spoiled. It’s really hard to avoid spoilers for a game that’s been out and is one a ton of people already completed. I also thought they’d have February, but I guess with the release of a new console, it made them want to change up their calendar for Directs this time. I’m just really wondering if they’ll end up skipping September and possibly have an October Direct, or if that July Partner Showcase was all they had for this year, but that’d be strange…don’t they have a few more first party games that have yet to get updates, like Metroid Prime 4? I swear I haven’t heard anything about that game in months.

OK, guys, I need to know. I want to get into the Xenoblade series, and I really want to try 3, but I don't want to do that until I play 1, 2, and Torna. So, should I start there, or can I safely begin with X? Because that is the other one I really want to try, but I'm not sure if it's a standalone.

@Anti-Matter i do love the outfits for the offical poster

@CaleBoi25, from what I've heard online, the Definitive Edition of X added a new final chapter that connects X to the rest of the series, but I'm not sure in what way since I've never played it myself. As for the other games, all 3 of them have a few small references to the other games, but not super major stuff from what I hear, since every game has a different protagonist, they can basically be played in any order in that regard. However, I have heard that 3's DLC has characters from the first two games so I suggest you play the first two games before playing that if you want to know what is really going on. I actually also want to get into Xenoblade in the future as well if I like the action RPG gameplay of Pokémon Legends Z-A!

@Mariotag Honestly the controls for a lot of the classic Sonic games on the phone are hard for me, and it just seems like using an actual controller would be easier, though I’m proud of myself for completing CD twice on mobile given the later bosses were hard with the touchscreen controls.

Yeah, and it’s so malicious especially when hearing about company layoffs and them using and promoting AI afterward. Microsoft actually laid off employees last month and reports said AI was replacing a majority of the jobs leftover, and then someone working there made an absolutely tone deaf comment saying something like “AI can help you get unstuck faster, calmer, and with more clarity”…in the faces of the 9,000 employees they fired and when AI is what everyone is afraid will eventually render them obsolete. Again, AI can have good uses but in that case it is not, and it can be abused and do jobs poorly. The issue with the verification system they implemented into YouTube is the fact they’ll rely on an AI to do the checking instead of an actual person who’d probably have better judgement and assumptions based on the content, but I think it still would be bad even if there was a real person checking the account information because they still wouldn’t have a real way of actually checking if the person is older or not. The verification system is so dumb and it’s a guessing game for the AI, which apparently already guessed a bunch of user ages incorrectly and intrudes on personal information and privacy.

That’d be good if you could see him there and get the chance to talk, but I’m still sorry about what happened.

I kind of was a bit overconfident and prideful back then, and maybe overstated myself too, but now I lost a lot of that and grown way more negative and less positive. I mean I do think being overly prideful is bad and it led to me always thinking I was in the right, but I think I’m also way too unhappy at this point and always lean towards negativity. I just think that if I have any sort of positive opinion on myself, I’m lying and it’s wrong.

Any sort of slip-up I make makes me feel terrible, even if minor and if it doesn’t upset anyone a lot. I just feel embarrassed, but I also can get paranoid about messing up a ton too, especially if it’s maybe something harder I need to do. Sorry about what happened, paranoia is an awful feeling and really makes you worried about the possibilities.

I see! Are you going to play with a playthrough or no? I used a playthrough as I played to help me. Usually I’m bad at playing and learning a game without a guide.

Be careful out there everyone, hurricane Erin is here and it’s likely not gonna be pretty.

@Pastellioli Yeah, in that respect, it looks like they're figuring it out. Just purely going by my experience.

Oh gotcha, yeah, I'm basically the same way. I want to pick the right poses for whatever character I'm drawing. For the Merry Mountain drawing I mentioned earlier, I had Mario and Peach waving hello. That was me drawing from still life - I have figures for both characters and I'd adjust their arms so it looks like they're waving hi.

Ah I see, I'd have the paints smudge on me as well, lol. Since it was a class I took, I kept chugging along and got my painting projects done. And I did good in them. Sorry you couldn't get yours done though.

Ah OK, that's good the printer paper works for you testing things out. My sketchbook has both finished pieces of mine, and me toying around. I experiment in my sketchbook since I'd deal with the same type of paper, and my sketchbook lasts quite a long time. In other words, I won't have to get another sketchbook anytime soon.

That sounds kind of like how Super Mario Galaxy 2 came to be, where the guys at Nintendo had so much ideas, that they couldn't implement them into a single game. Ouch, sorry to hear on Overwatch. That sounds like my experience with Rocket League, where I'd keep losing. While playing, I'd also get bumped around a lot, I'd keep missing the ball or hitting it at a bad angle, or even get blown up for seemingly no reason. It's cool that people like RL, it just isn't for me. Yeah, I've seen that Splatoon 3 has gotten criticism for its stage design, but surprisingly, the only frustrating stage for me was the previously mentioned Barnacle & Dime.

Yeah, Super Mario Maker is a pretty good game. Some of the user-made levels aren't super great, but I think there are some great ones out there, too. The most recent time I played SMM2 was playing peoples' Super Worlds, but it's been ages since I last played that game. Ah yeah, I did get some decent mileage from SMM1 before the Wii U's online shut down as well. That's cool. I thought Jetpac was a surprisingly good game considering how old it is and it's on a system I've never even heard of before as a kid. I actually have a Retro Gamer magazine that has a whole section on the ZX Spectrum. I did hear it was a popular computer in the UK. (So that's why I've never heard of it as a kid...!)

Oh no... don't you hate when games you're looking forward to get cancelled? Not a Rare game, but I still remember when Mega Man Legends 3 got cancelled... even the prototype demo got cancelled! As somebody who is a Mega Man fan, I was looking forward to playing it... but it just didn't happen. I wonder if Capcom would ever revisit it sometime, but outside of the Legacy Collections and Mega Man 11, they haven't been doing much with Mega Man nowadays.

Yeah... didn't Microsoft shut down the studio that made Hi-Fi Rush? Or am I misremembering? That's a game I want to play sometime. I think I saw there's that Indiana Jones game that was Xbox-exclusive that's making it to Switch 2, so I think there's hope that Hi-Fi Rush will make it as well.

Oh no, that sucks! I'm sorry to hear! Yeah, it is difficult to avoid spoilers for recently-released games, especially on places like YouTube. I'm planning on getting Donkey Kong Bananza this week, but I won't say a word about it when I play it. Because I care. Yeah, I'm also wondering about Metroid Prime 4... I think we'd find out its release date on the next Nintendo Direct, but it's just an educated guess. We now know when Kirby Air Riders is coming out at least, it'll be out on November 20th.

Also, Pastellioli, please don't be too negative. About you saying that any positive thought about yourself being "wrong," it sounds like you've been being hard on yourself - it won't do any good. I've been practicing self-love and it's been helping me a lot mentally... so I'd say it's worth trying to take the time to love yourself. I'm not saying to be overconfident or anything like that, but being overly negative isn't good either. So definitely give yourself time to cheer up. I'm writing this to help you out, because once again, I care. Remember to give yourself the gift of being joyfully you. I hope this advice helps you be on the right track, as well as others who read this and are going through something similar.

It's pretty hard to find conversations now a days.

@Misima, as I'm an introvert who only just decided to stop shutting himself in his room back in May 2024 and is still learning how to talk with people I've just met (Nintendo Life is helping me in that regard), I have to agree.

I really like chatting with y'all on the forums 😃!

Hey all! I just came across this mix and thought I would share--its the first full OST I have found for MKWorld!

@CaleBoi25, just listened to some of it, Mario Kart World really does have great music!

@ShieldHero Agreed. Been hearing the music while playing the game itself, and the soundtrack is so good! The themes for the courses, as well as the remixes from past games (including those from the main Super Mario series) are a joy to listen to.

@CaleBoi25 oh my god thank you for sharing this! i will love this whenever i need something upbeat and chill!

Pour one out for my Dick Tracy lunch box from 1990. Had that thing since I was 4 and I don’t remember packing it and some mishaps with work and movers meant I was scrambling at the end to get out of my old apartment. It sucks because I can’t really tell anyone about it. My parents are not sentimental about stuff the way I am so if I tell my mom she is just gonna be like “?????”. I still have my first teddy bear (would have gone through the trash for it if I had to) so I am not a wreck but I am still sad. I’m gonna be one of those old ladies on hoarders when I get old. I feel bad for whomever has to declutter my house when I die. At least it will be organized…. just a lot of stuff. Just needed to tell someone.

@Ryu_Niiyama oh no im sorry about that, since youve had it since four it must be a special connection to childhood. i have a bunch of stuff from when i was younger that i cant part with too 😭 i hope time heals the wound. good luck with the move!

@MarioVillager92 Poses are why I’m in such an art block, so it’s something I need to practice! I sometimes want a plain pose, but then I’m stuck between wanting something simple or dynamic. I do try using references when drawing, but I need to pick easier to understand references…

That’s good! Nice you mastered paints in that class you took. It’s fine, I don’t really care that I didn’t finish them in retrospect. The paintings looked pretty terrible in retrospect and no matter how much I tried changing up the coloring and rendering it never worked. I think I’d do better with acrylic paint markers, at least I’d have more control and less mess that way, also since I’m used to using markers a lot.

Yeah, I feel a certain way when I try testing items on drawing paper lol so I just use junk paper instead to test and experiment since it’s thin. With sketchbooks I prefer to have finished drawings, but I think that’s something I need to get out of, though I get very unsatisfied with small and uncolored drawings I make. I’m not the best at filling in sketchbooks. My perfectionism strikes and I sometimes rip pages I don’t like out or skip pages with sketches I dislike…I unfortunately did that with a mixed media sketchbook I still have yet to fully fill.

It’s fine, it did stink but I guess you can’t win them all, though it did stink a lot since I liked OW a lot and found OW2 still retained the fun gameplay from the original, plus I felt like I was less of a help to my team no matter how hard I tried from how strong the enemy team was. I think previous Splatoon games for me have only a select few stages that are slightly infuriating, but I was fine with the ones in 3. Basically, I hate any stage in Splatoon that has too much water or any spaces where the enemy can easily attack and puppy guard me and my team’s base.

A lot of the stages in Mario Maker are (or were) pretty fun, I myself just sucked at making fun stages haha. One of my favorite types of stages were the ones with the music note blocks and objects that are arranged in a way so that it plays a certain song/theme while you run across the stage, but I don’t know if I’m describing it well. Jetpac is one of the better designed of Rare’s old ZX Spectrum games; it has simple controls and a straightforward goal, but others like Knight Lore and especially Underwurlde are the worst because of them having bad controls, jank, and a hard to follow and confusing goal. Some of the 3D perspective in those games are cool, especially for the time they were released in, but that’s all I can say in terms of good stuff. The Spectrum games in Rare Replay are the ones that aged the most poorly compared to their later games. Yeah, the first time I ever heard of the ZX Spectrum was back in 2022-2023 when I got my Xbox and was going to play Rare Replay. I’d assume the Spectrum had more of an impact in the UK than the US of course!

Sucks a ton this time, but I think any game getting cancelled sucks because some of them genuinely sound like they have potential and have interesting ideas and concepts, so seeing a ton of games under Microsoft getting canned lately sucked, but I feel like that the writing was unfortunately on the wall when the games never got updates. It seemed like in Rare’s case, the game was cancelled because the developers kind of had nothing to show in the past 11 years and they found it was taking too long, but it still stinks anyway…but im also curious about the other games that said got cancelled, because Microsoft said unannounced games were canned alongside announced games while also saying more than 40 games are currently being worked on.

That’s right, they did close Tango down but another company came in and purchased the studio, so they’re good now I still haven’t tried Hi-Fi Rush but them deciding to shut them down even after they released a really well-received exclusive (at the time) was bizarre, plus Microsoft said they want to try and appeal to Japan, and Tango was the first (and only) Japanese studio they owned, so they could’ve helped with Xbox gaining a Japanese audience by making games that appeal to them.

Funnily, I’m actually getting spoiled on Instagram and not YouTube, which is where people usually get spoilers for films, shows and games. It still sucks I got spoiled though, but at least it’s only a bit. When you play Bananza, I hope you enjoy it, I can’t imagine how much fun it’ll be! It looks super fun. Well, I see headlines here that it’s apparently been rated, so maybe something soon I guess…I wonder if it’ll be in a Direct or just a small announcement.

Thank you, I just have been feeling negative at times and slightly down sometimes. I sometimes feel like I’m too biased and in favor of myself, but I think I just need to stop being so negative and going straight to negativity all the time. It’s also because I enjoy being self-deprecating too…I have a ton of habits to break, and negativity is one of them.

I almost never talk about my Let's Play videos because I don't want to be self-advertisement-y too much, but I do wish I had any motivation this year to work on a new one. I have videos I could get ready if I wanted to but between my knowledge that they're unlikely to get more than maybe a couple dozen views ever, and the everything else this year, its hard to be motivated about them.

Also even if it will cost money, I've needed to get better audio forever on my end.

Sorry I haven't been on as much, I've been anxious lately. The whole YouTube AI age verification has me worried. Mostly because of how it works, let's say I want to watch the YouTube Trolls shorts, the AI can determine I'm under 18 based on the fact I like Trolls, even though I'm an adult.

I like YouTube, mostly because of gaming content, gaming retrospectives, plane spotting (I have this on as I type), but I also watch cartoons on YouTube, which universally get marked as "made for kids." Not to mention, I was taught a long time ago to never share personal information online.

Yeah, been worried. The only workaround is watching cartoons logged out of YouTube, I shouldn't have to tip toe around an AI just to enjoy cartoons that I've always enjoyed. I don't have cable TV, so I usually use streaming services and watch stuff on YouTube.

On a brighter side of things, I saw Trolls Scrapbook Stories on YouTube, a series of Trolls shorts I haven't seen in years. So that was fun. Yeah this is one of those things I can only watch on YouTube since DreamWorks uploads them to the Peacock Kids YouTube channel (it was formerly DreamWorks TV).

Also, have done some gaming lately, played Trolls: Remix Rescue recently, and did some turn-based battles in Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games. Still playing games, even if I haven't done much on Switch lately.

Firstly sorry for the late response. I would say the game feels more like a $50 game too. Wasn't a bad game at all, just don't see it being worth the asking price of $80. Agreed, and I'm not against having digital games either. I like to save space for the games I want to have digitally, and have the game on the cart to have the game there and not on system memory. Plus you have to have the key card inserted into the system to play it. So it's a game you download, but you still need the cart inserted. It's the worst of both worlds, at least with digital, it just starts up. Glad you're happy with it.

Yup I have, I usually get pizza dough from my local supermarket, some sauce, cheese, and pepperoni and bake it in my oven. Comes out delicious too, plus it's fun to make. Sounds like a plan to me, at least that one sounds like it's new DLC rather than just being an "enhanced" version of the game.

It's been cooler than usual lately. Yeah, I love playing classic PC games Saturday evening and drinking chocolate milk with it, did it last night while playing Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games. Nothing like sipping chocolate milk while playing a turn-based strategy game. Cool, I remember renting F-Zero GX back in the day. That game was hard, but fun.

Edit: love the new profile pic!

Hope you're all doing well. Still enjoying my Switch 2, and a few days ago I even got to have a nice walk in the park. They even have a merry-go-round there, which I did ride, and it was so much fun!

@Pastellioli Yeah, photo references definitely come in handy for when you're drawing. It's worth picking the best ones for whatever piece you're making as well. I do want to try to draw characters at different angles too... particularly at a diagonal angle.

Thanks, I'm glad I took that painting class, even though it's not exactly my favorite way to make art, lol. I remember the walnut oil I'd use would get sticky as well. I prefer drawing over painting since it's not as messy, haha. Markers are easier to use for sure, I used to love using them as a kid.

Ah, that's understandable... I can relate to that. Similarly, I've made attempts that didn't exactly go my way. It's weird, I'd have a good vision for what I'd make in my head, but when I make it, it can sometimes turn out a little different. I can always try again if I'm not satisfied with how it turns out.

I can relate to that feeling for team-based games. I generally do my best in online games, but if I lose too much, I would sometimes think I'm not doing too great. I'd play worse if I get too frustrated as well, if that happens, I would just stop playing. I didn't play too much in the last Splatfest because of that. Oh, speaking of water, I would sometimes drop into the little water holes by accident in Mahi-Mahi Resort. In general, I'd sometimes get one-shotted by charger players too!

That's cool, I think I remember those music levels too. I do understand what you've described, no worries. Gotcha, not sure if I'd be super into Rare/Ultimate's ZX Spectrum games, but I'd at least try them out for curiosity's sake. I think I've first heard of that system back in 2011 when I got that aforementioned Retro Gamer magazine. That magazine was also from the UK, so being in the US myself, I don't know how I managed to have it.

Agreed. Seeing games get cancelled is sad for sure... plus the developers would essentially have all their hard work be for nothing. Sonic Xtreme is another example I can think of. It was going to be a 3D Sonic game for the Sega Saturn, but the dev team making it (I think it was Sonic Team?) had a brutally difficult time making it. It's a shame it got canned too, since the Saturn never had a mainline Sonic game... and I think it was a big reason why that console did not sell too well outside of Japan. Going back to Microsoft, it makes me wonder what the heck is going on there, lol. I wonder if people are losing interest in Xbox now, besides the Game Pass service.

Oh that's lovely that Tango is around again. Yeah, that decision of Microsoft's makes no sense at all. It's like they tried to shut them down because it wasn't a triple-A game, or something like that. I could be wrong, but it's just a wild guess on my end.

Ah gotcha, that is a bit weird for sure. People love showing spoilers on YouTube when a game comes out, lol. Thanks, I'm playing Bananza now and I'm having a great time with it.

You're welcome. It takes practice to break free from negativity, but I know you can do it. I used to be hard on myself, too... I was an unfortunate victim of being bullied in school years ago and my self-esteem took quite a few hits. But it's gotten better now that I'm doing self-love, by just being myself, enjoying my hobbies, and the like. Self-love is a wonderful thing, and I encourage it to everybody simply by writing about it. Remember that the more positive you are, the more positive things you get back.

@Sunsy Ouch, sorry to hear you've been feeling anxious. I did see that other post of yours about that YouTube AI thing... really don't like that they're doing that. The way it can guess how old you are if you watch family-friendly stuff, and then be like "you can't watch this, you're not old enough," I just don't like that feeling at all. And you have to show your picture or ID when it's wrong? Are these guys for real? No thank you! There's no way I'm doing that! As somebody who also likes family-friendly things, that really upsets me too... it's just really, really bad. I'm gonna have to stop right there... back to positivity.

That's nice you got to see Trolls Scrapbook Stories, as well as playing those two games you've mentioned. I've never played Jagged Alliance, but I did play a few other games like it, like Advance Wars and Shining Force. Though, whenever I play turn-based strategy games, I tend to overthink a ton. Still enjoying my Switch 2 over at my end. Not related to games, but I did take a nice walk in the park recently, and I even got to ride the merry-go-round that they had. It was so much fun!

You're good on the late response, don't worry about it. Yeah, hopefully we'll see it on sale later down the road, or give it a big content update of sorts. Kind of like they did with New Horizons, it had a pretty big free update back in 2021. Yeah, I did see you have to have the game key card inserted to play it after it lets you download the game... that's just silly. May as well just buy the game from the eShop instead.

Oh that's cool you've made that pizza on your own, and that sounds delicious for sure. Yeah, it's essentially DLC. Mario Party Jamboree's Switch 2 edition is sort of like that too, since you'd get a couple new modes and the mouse-controlled minigames. That one does look all right, the team mode for the main game looks fun, and Carnival Coaster does look like a fun side mode (despite my crippling fear of roller coasters...) but I'd rather get that on sale.

It's been getting a bit hot again here recently, but I'm doing all right. You're making me want chocolate milk now, haha. Yeah, F-Zero GX is really hard, but I loved playing it as a kid. Still have my copy of it after all these years and it's cool it's now on the Switch 2's GameCube catalog.

Thank you! I wanted to have Peach as my profile picture for a change. Been playing as her a lot in Mario Kart World and this was actually from when I got 1st in an online race. Me and Peach won that race for you.