Comments 62

Re: Anniversary: The First DS Castlevania Game Turns 20 Today

Birdgas

Absolutely loved this game. Beat it the day it came out because I went to my local GameStop to grab it and play a bit before a college course downtown. After a few hours, I realized I didn’t want to drive all the way across town, so I just moved over to my living room, grabbed a charger, and made a full day of it, start to finish. Absolute banger.

Re: Nintendo Expands Switch 2's GameCube Library Next Week

Birdgas

It must be noted that quality emulation of these titles does require a bit more time than just throwing an ISO in the bin and giving it a thumbs up. Older Nintendo systems should definitely have had more games way more quickly, but Cube stuff is definitely a bigger deal to tackle to do their best to ensure a fuller quality. Even some N64 titles had issues that were fixed over time, so I’m hoping to see these games come out and be as good as possible for release.

Either way, this is a fun one and I’m excited to get maybe some tournaments at my store going on with this. Definitely a great laundry list of titles I’m pumped to try out as they hit (even though I think I own every cube game I need already), but the convenience and fidelity boosts make these just a fantastic bonus as they arrive.

Re: Video: Switch 2's GameCube Emulation Apparently Has Underlying Issues Nintendo "Desperately Needs To Fix"

Birdgas

While one can definitely notice a small amount of lag, it certainly isn’t insurmountable. I just finished beating every cup on Master Class the other day and it was tough, but doable. Now working on Story Mode again, and that’s just rough in general.

That said, I would love it to be optimized to make it easier to concentrate on just playing instead of dedicating a little energy to accounting for the small delay, so we’ll see!

Either way, I’m just happy to have GX available to play at all. Truly heavenly.

Re: Video: Right, We Need To Talk About GameChat On Switch 2

Birdgas

We used it the first day to mess with it a bit. A room full of 6 people, two with camera (one being me!), and just playing Mario Kart together and trying other games separately yielded surprisingly delightful results.

Just playing games together, everyone on the same page, no one needed computers or phones or anything other than their systems was wonderful. In fact, while playing the same game is great, there is an undeniable charm in simply hanging out, playing their own games, but all together.

Just a great way to hang with friends. 💚

Re: Check Out This New YouTube Channel For Negativity-Free Pokémon Chat

Birdgas

I think this is great. It’s already been noted above, but genuinely, this is a great idea. It’s a great opportunity to have a place to just go and enjoy something and have a spot for it that doesn’t have to be muddied by the need to voice negative opinions.

There are plenty of spaces for those, and those should be utilized as an appropriate outlet, just as this is a great idea to remember that it can be nice to just escape into good feelings and nostalgia we can share together.

Finding out about a nice place for people and being upset that you’re not allowed to complain about stuff has weird hairs of sociopathy in it, and I think it’s good to remember that we are simply creating a variety of places appropriate for anybody to have a discussion tailored to their specific voice.

Keep it up. Options like this are wonderful.

Re: Talking Point: How Can The Next Animal Crossing Improve Crafting?

Birdgas

I want more actual activities with people. Like, it's neat to have a carousel horse but you can only kinda like...boing it, right? And most stuff that you have in your village looks neat but doesn't really offer a lot other than decoration you can turn on/off.

I'd love to have more in-game mechanics for real-time world manipulation (hopefully along the lines of that Online test from last year) and less down-time while people came and went, to just offer a seamless world that could be manipulated more easily.

Also, if you're playing online, it means you have NSO - allow players to curate their houses (or other buildings) with arcade games that people can come enjoy and play together.

Re: Talking Point: Why An LCD Screen Isn't The End Of The World For Switch 2

Birdgas

It factors into my interest zero percent. LCD is great, the tech has come a long way, and while OLED looks incredible, of course, like anything - you’ll be playing a game, enveloped in whatever you’re playing, and unless you’re sitting there being picky with something side by side, will likely stop thinking about it because you’re simply having fun.

People adjust, and quickly, and one has to be actively looking for that conflict to avoid enjoying what’s at hand.

I’m not saying preferences are bad, and people are absolutely allowed to have standards and enjoy whatever it is they do, but I think that it is such an infinitesimal group that will get too hung up on that to enjoy it, that an LCD is beyond fine, especially for a more cost effective launch.

And if it’s too much of a dealbreaker…I guess you can hold off until one gets released or just focus interest on gaming elsewhere.

Re: F-Zero 99 Updated To Version 1.5.5, Here Are The Full Patch Notes

Birdgas

I can never get enough of this game. Easily the most played on my Switch since it came out. According to the Nintendo side, I sunk 239 hours into this, and I’m sure this upcoming year I’ll do more.
Extra excited to think that the Switch 2 will hit before too long and I’ll just be using it to cruise my Goose like this over everything else. 😅

Re: Talking Point: What Would Be The Ideal Way To Play DS Games On 'Switch 2'?

Birdgas

I always envisioned the dock having enough power to be able to receive signal from the Switch 2, allowing for full access to Wii U style games, if desired. So the top screen and Switch could be respective screens for DS or 3DS emulation in a ‘home mode’, or standard dual screen design in the handheld mode.

The dock having a beefier brain could also allow for solid asymmetric gameplay as well, such as several switches being able to connect to a single dock, simulating the GBA to GC connectivity concept.

Just a dream, sure, but I feel like it would be a blast to get multiple switches to enjoy a TV as a hub for gameplay together.

Re: Some Fans Aren't Happy About Sonic X Shadow Generations' Changes To The Original

Birdgas

It’s not my duty to tell anyone how to feel about things that are important to them, so I can’t possibly say that anything is objectively right or wrong here.

But I can tell you that the day where a change to a character in a Sonic the Hedgehog game matters, or is even noticed by me, is the day that I stop playing video games.

Super amped to go back to this game again. Had a hell of a time with the original.

Re: Nintendo Announces Switch Online: Playtest Program Related To "New Feature"

Birdgas

Got in this morning with a good refresh the moment the clock struck 9 (MST). So, we’ll see how it pans out and what it means, and I had also read elsewhere that it’s going to be NDA style protection, which they’ll probably have us agree to when the codes get sent out.

Super curious as to what this could mean, but I also like the open secrecy and mystery of it all.

Re: Poll: Are You Bothered By The Frame Rate In Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom?

Birdgas

For me, it’s far from an issue. I noticed it early on, but have nearly completed the game and it’s certainly never hindered any element of gameplay, and I think I stopped thinking about it since the very beginning.

I still play a lot of older games with poor frame rates and grew up used to them, so think it’s something I rarely think about much, especially if gameplay is unaffected by it.

Though, it’s not just about my experience, so I understand why others would be bothered by inconsistency. I’d love to see a patch implemented to iron it out.

Re: Random: There's A Reason Link Can't Speak In Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom

Birdgas

He technically audibly talks in Wind Waker when issuing commands with the dominion rod, which is kind of neat, and he do hear him yell in games, so there’s a type of interjection he does use to not quite make him mute, just…muted.

But I really enjoyed that this game actually handed us an in-game observation for the behavior. Was a fun little acknowledgement.

Re: Get A Closer Look At Yakuza Kiwami On Switch In New 'Play It Together' Trailer

Birdgas

I know this isn't the first time the series is on a Nintendo system if we’re counting the optimistic release of RGG 1/2 HD for the Wii U, but…

It will be good to see this being released for a successful Nintendo system, and hopefully will garner interest for those who missed and the series can hopefully flourish on the Switch (2) and just be the most convenient way to play.

Fingers crossed it does well! I’ll definitely snag to play again.

Re: Shadow Of The Ninja - Reborn Is Getting A Demo On Switch

Birdgas

Did the UK demo come out later? I just saw this update that the demo is out, but I downloaded it a few weeks ago, I thought!

Either way, solid gameplay, and those visuals are heavenly for me! Loved the original, and the music in this is still just as excellent. Can’t wait!

Re: Soapbox: Metroid’s Mother Brain And The Rewind Dilemma

Birdgas

@Lightsiyd yeah! 😅
It was absolutely worthwhile, a total blast, and while I don’t know if I’ll try again for the 100% Dread mode, I did love what it taught me about the game.

I rarely live for difficulty challenges, but something about this one just drew me in.

Re: Soapbox: Metroid’s Mother Brain And The Rewind Dilemma

Birdgas

@Lightsiyd Dread mode is one of the best mode I’ve played in any game, because the game IS very deliberately designed with 1-hit kills in mind, so that means that there are enough tells and openings for every single boss or encounter to make it not gonna say it wasn’t maddening, and I definitely died 200+ times, but the sense of accomplishment was so extreme. If the control wasn’t so tight in that game, I wouldn’t have even bothered, but the Dread difficulty and boss rush were some of the most thrilling things I’ve ever done. I think I still have the run on my YouTube channel - I may just scrub through it instead of trying it again, since I probably just don’t have as much time to try it again.

But worth it. One of my favorite runs in any game.

Re: Soapbox: Metroid’s Mother Brain And The Rewind Dilemma

Birdgas

As many butts as it sucked to learn, Mother Brain can totally be done without taking damage in ZM. That game came out when I was young and had time to dedicate to it, probably just a few years after I had graduated college, and I was going for every single ending in the game.

The hardest one, without question, was a Hard Run, <15% run, which basically meant you had an energy tank and a half, two missiles, and two super missiles, and would die in just a handful of hits. Numbers may have been slightly different, but that’s close enough.

Either way, it means you literally have no choice but to figure out patterns and use a hell of a lot of charge beams, and it took me countless tries, but it was eventually done and I felt that it would be easily the hardest part of the game, but Meta-Ridley easily took me far more attempts to beat, and I only ever beat him once, only to lose out to the ridiculously properly grey pirates during the escape.

Only ending in the game that ever truly eluded me.

Regardless, it’s a blast to figure out if you have time and desire, but don’t ever sweat using emulation tools just to get past something if that’s key to your fun of progression.

Hell, if it means that you enjoy the game enough to replay it for those specific challenges, then you go back and do it.

But cool to feel like maybe cheesing wasn’t what you truly wanted and to contemplate a mulligan - I think just the pondering alone means that the design had more to it than you think.

I just did another replay when it hit NSO, and I was more than satisfied with a standard item percentage and beating the game with a little help. We don’t always have the time to learn, or relearn, and whatever it takes to get us through and satisfy the need for progress or practice.

Re: Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Pre-Orders Are Now Being Cancelled (US)

Birdgas

@SillyG so, while it’s not so much part of the conversation now, but I’m sure can still play a role in shipping. Oftentimes, to avoid sunk cost on middle to low interest items, stores sometimes only order enough copies of a game as there are preorders. It’s just to ensure frugality, which I can get in the case of smaller shops or dedicated shops, but since so many places are general electronics stores now, they tend to order significant quantities.

A perk for some folks is to preorder and slowly pay off the item over time, which can just make spending more palatable, or to try to make sure that a popular item is there for them day one to snag after work or before a hiatus or something. Different reasons for different folks.

Re: Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Pre-Orders Are Now Being Cancelled (US)

Birdgas

@Thomystic absolutely. Those third party fulfillment services have some interesting and useful applications, but I’m afraid a lot of it ends up complicating situations like this and punctual fulfillment of new products. It seems like people who pre-sell CEs of games on eBay and then cancel preorders if they can’t end up fulfilling it, too.

Kind of a mess, and complicates things for the rest of us. :/

Re: Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Pre-Orders Are Now Being Cancelled (US)

Birdgas

I keep wondering if it has something to do with Walmart having an online store that’s massively open to third party sellers as well, and, if to avoid confusion, is scrapping all preorders to alleviate confusion on games that can be shipped soon vs games that may be shipped weeks out.

Obviously no idea, but speculation is all we have in a wasteland of no PR responses.

Re: Switch Online's "Mature" Nintendo 64 App Is Now Available In The West

Birdgas

@rvcolem1 the Goldeneye pro mapping feels pretty great, and I played through the first level of PD before work today and it felt pretty clean! Analogue aiming is fine, even if there wasn’t really much in the way of analogue walking, but it’s a pretty minor gripe. Try that remapping! It made Goldeneye a breeze, and helps PD immensely feel more up to date.

Re: Nintendo Direct June 2024: Time, Where To Watch, What To Expect

Birdgas

I’m excited. For anything. As always, new games are good announcements, and even stuff not for me is something for someone, so how could I not be pumped?

I love rumors and speculation and just seeing what happens, and at this point, I’m just happy to have more stuff in general.

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings at all!

Re: Talking Point: Which Games Were Just The Perfect Length?

Birdgas

Chrono Trigger is impossibly perfect. It’s such a great, concise RPG that tells an insane amount of story in a swift 20 hours.

Conversely, while I loved Remake, Rebirth was tiring a little over halfway through, which was already as long as Remake, and it got to the point where I began to detest the filler, and by the time I finished, I cared SO little for anything that I simply beat it just so I could do anything else and sort of detested the latter half of the game, story and everything.

I loved Geist on the GameCube…for the first ten hours. When it was closing in on doubling in length, I also started to tire of what was a really good game, and that felt bad.

I just went through Animal Well and it was about as perfect an experience I could ask for. Super Mario RPG is also a swift little jaunt, and never outstays its welcome.

Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's N64 Library With Two More Titles

Birdgas

I’m happy to see these. These are someone’s childhood. They came out well into my adolescence, and I remember playing both fondly, but I’m down to see games like this show up.

Nintendo has always had this fascinating dichotomy in their gaming eco system which was people only wanting high quality first party (fair), but then also complaining that there was no third party support, when there was third party hidden gems a plenty, which went overlooked often because of the desire for the first party.

So, when we get stuff like this, I always want to be thankful to take the time to enjoy stuff that got missed by many, and to realize still just how many great first party titles we do have access to by being Switch owners, and just how great and robust third party (and indie!) support has been on this system.

And, as always, I can’t imagine having the energy to be upset at games that will make someone else happy, even if they aren’t for me.

Glad to see these show up.

Re: Cowabunga! A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Roguelike Is Coming To Switch This July

Birdgas

Super pumped. I remember the 3DS turtles game based on the Bay films was met without much fanfare, but it was an absolutely terrific dungeon crawler that suffered from the cardinal sin of being a single player TMNT game (note: doesn’t apply to Last Ronin concept). I’m sure it will have local play, but even if it’s online only, I’ll take it over the option of none. Definitely stoked for this.

Only thing better would be if my green machine made their way into Vampire Survivors…which is shockingly not out of the question.

Re: F-Zero 99's New Update Is Now Live (Version 1.3.0), Here Are The Full Patch Notes

Birdgas

Love that mirror mode actually can go from minor changes to some pretty fundamental large changes. Mute City 1 is a pretty different beast, which I’m enjoying. Even the courses like Death Wind, which should be almost largely the same, have enough fun small differences to make it feel more refreshed than simply mirrored. Orb pylons and extra dash pads absolutely make each track and boost usage into a different strategy.

Digging it a ton so far.

Re: F-Zero 99 Is Getting A New Update (Version 1.3.0), Here's What's Included

Birdgas

This is excellent. Looking forward to expanded content, achievements could be fun to work towards, and now my girlfriend can work towards her progress on the game with a little help!

If anyone thinks that adding assisted steering means they’re going to beat Misa or Mengsk, I guarantee you that there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

It just helps players who struggle to struggle less - this is not going to cause an imbalance in the ranking ecosystem.

Re: Random: Nintendo Has Supposedly Changed The Day Of Switch Game Releases

Birdgas

@Lanmanna
I’m trying to remember when Monday happened, but around 2009 was when they were on Sundays, and you’re right, probably Monday around that era shortly after, too.

I worked at EB in 2002, then GameStop in 2003-5, and I remember Nintendo was doing releases on Tuesdays during that time. 3rd parties were doing Wednesday for a bit, then eventually everything got scooted up to Tuesday, probably around 2005.

It’s fun to see it shift around so often as social expectations also move, and Thursday is going to be an interesting one. Giving people a cushion before the weekend will be cool!

Re: Rumour: New Report From Nikkei Corroborates 'Switch 2' Delay Into 2025

Birdgas

All I know is that if Nintendo has been holding out for a TP/WW release, this holiday towards the end of system’s main life would be the time to release, to capitalize on holiday sales to try to take over the PS2. Keep those cards held super close.

Either way, whatever works, because it’s not like I can control it anyway, so whenever it’s ready it will be out and I’ll snag it when that happens.

In the meantime, if a new piece of hardware never got released again ever, I’d still never have time in this life to play all the games I’ve wanted to, so I’ll ultimately be ok.

Re: Poll: What Switch Online Rare Game Are You Playing This Weekend?

Birdgas

Finished KI yesterday. Fun and quick little nostalgic romp. Gonna do some SR&R soon, used to love that as a kid, and I played a few levels of Blast Corps and was reminded of how much I love that game. That would be a great one to go back and complete again. Definitely some excellent nostalgia in these. 🥰

Re: Contra: Operation Galuga Gets Release Date, Free Demo Out Now

Birdgas

While I didn’t have any control issues in the demo (finished it twice so far), the frame rate is pretty bizarre. The inconsistency is pretty noticeable and there were huge skips at strange times (though not when I was doing amounting super important), so I’m hoping those get ironed out at release or with a patch. But it plays quite well and gives me exactly what I wanted from a gameplay perspective, so I’m totally in.

Like that they have selectable HP and one hit kill modes. Wayforward is a good team to trust, so I’m confident it will end up great, but for the demo to showcase such a jumbled frame rate was the weirdest part for me.

Re: Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 Updated, Here Are The Patch Notes

Birdgas

Not to ignore other potential issues, but the framerate one seems to be the weirdest one to bring up. If I’m not mistaken, all the original releases were 30, yeah? So for a collection, 60 would only be a ‘bonus’ for some? I think for cinematic games, 30 is much more comfortable for my eyes, and these are slow paced stealth games, not fighting games or high speed FPS, so I’d think that 30 wouldn’t even be a bullet point, but I guess since the other systems did it, it gets brought up.

I’ve sampled em all a bit and they all seemed fine to me, only about an hour into each and all seemed well, but that was right at launch, so hopefully some of these patches can do their best to quell some of the other issues folks are having.

Re: Braid: Anniversary Edition Coming To Nintendo Switch Next Year

Birdgas

Glad to see it officially announced! Knee-jerk reactions to things that are non-confirmations are fascinating as this has been happening in the biz for SO long, it’s almost astonishing that everyone wrote it off as being a lost cause so quickly. Granted, there are times when omission is confirmed cancellation, but I think it’s the exception. This is weird PR on the original article, but this is so common an occurrence, you know? Like, years ago, we all knew Persona 5 was gonna eventually hit the switch, because why wouldn’t it - it just took forever to announce. But of course it was going to happen.

The weird one is that we have had the years of rumors about TP/WW, and the fact that that hasn’t happened is actually the most astonishing ‘news’ in the seven years of the Switch’s life.

Re: Reaction: What's Your Gut Feeling On The Zelda Movie News?

Birdgas

I’m pumped. Just excited that they’re going to try. It will affect my life zero percent in any actual way if it’s not good, so if it ends up being excellent, then I have another movie to enjoy. Now, the fan made Majora short film is my ideal style and design, but that’s also sort of an easy, safe bet. I’d rather them try this live action thing, for better or worse, simply to try.

I’m just excited that this kind of thing is even happening. Worse comes to worse, I leave the theater and it’s not great, and I just go home and enjoy the games like I’ve always done.

Re: Wario's New Voice Actor Confirms Role On Social Media

Birdgas

I read a ton of comments about it and expected him to sound like Groucho Marx. I then checked out the game, and he sounds like…Wario.

The original VA for MK64 Wario had a feel, and I was playing the important Japanese copy when it came out. Then came Martinet’s. And despite being him, there is a weird timbre to the Wario Ware GBA Wario (reverb and other distinct nonsense) that felt unique.

So this just feels like another Wario that is closely resembling of the original, but is like, doing just fine?

I mean, no - not everyone has to like it, and I certainly don’t want to tell someone what to do and to get over it, but it’s like basically everything in the industry: something has changed and we just acclimate. The majority of our favorite versions of things are actually modified takes on originals that we just got used to.

Re: Random: People Actually Love The Talking Flowers In Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Birdgas

I enjoy the idea, and did try English for a bit - wasn’t for me. I used to import tons of games in Japanese , so I was always used to Japanese VO for things like Starfox 64 and MGS and so it felt a little more comfortable just setting it to that language and leaving it be. I know Mario games still had English VO but it was still fairly limited, so this felt like a good mixture of written English and Japanese acting for my preferences.

But best of all, the amount of options we get to set that preference is super nice.

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