Comments 403

Re: ​Rain Games On Teslagrad's Success and World to the West

Kevlar44

Teslagrad is one of my all time favourite games. The story telling, the art, the mechanics, the secrets, and the boss fights were all perfect IMO. I also love metroidvania's. It's only downfall was the length. I can't believe anyone would call this game average or just good, it's a flat out masterpiece.

Re: Review: Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (New 3DS / SNES)

Kevlar44

@bezerker99 That's really odd as the NES G n' G is ridiculously unfair and cheap, i much prefer the arcade version but both are much more difficult than the SNES sequel. My guess is your issues is with the higher respawn rate. However i'd suggest slogging it out, for me way back when getting past the first level is arguably the hardest part in the game and once you do that you've been conditioned to succeed.

Re: Patent Reinforces the Prospect of Nintendo NX Having a Portable Handset

Kevlar44

@cleveland124

The 3DS is successful, it doesn't matter if it isn't as successful as the DS. That's like saying the PS3 was a failure because the PS2 did so much better. It's been out since 2011, it should be losing momentum in terms of hardware sales, 6.6 million isn't that bad at this point as there comes a point of market saturation. We all know that mobile devices shrunk the 3DS' market share but as a console it's sold a very healthy number.

When i say financially secure i'm referring to the debt to profit ratio, Sony as a company has not been doing well for years now and is massively in debt, but i can't deny that the Playstation division is doing very well. For example General Motors is a much larger company than Nintendo or Hyundai but it's certainly much less financially secure. The financial health of Sony as a whole has the potential to be a major drain on the Playstation brand going forward, as of now i'd certainly agree that the size of the company's operating budget and technological diversity is an asset but in terms of pure video game R&D i seriously doubt they invest as much as Nintendo does and they likely can't afford to instead having to leverage other R&D within the company to help the PS division (this is admittedly speculation).

You need to consider that the 2nd pillar of the PS division (PSP, Vita) hasn't ever done all that well. You also need to consider that traditionally the hardware doesn't generate as much profit as Nintendo's as it's produced with a larger overhead and sold at a much smaller profit margin, in fact iirc the PS3 was sold at a loss. And lastly Playstation makes the majority of their profit off royalties as they don't produce nearly as much software as Nintendo does meaning that again the profit margin is far less. Nintendo doesn't want to abandon hardware in part because it would mean they would have to pay royalties and as of now they still sell millions of copies of numerous games per year. Nintendo is also understood to develop software much more cost effectively.

Also in regards to software and IP in general Nintendo has the potential to make much more money than Sony as it's now developing for smart devices and is able to and focusing on leveraging IP in new ways such as merchandising, media, and theme parks. Playstation does not have the IP's to allow for this kind of revenue stream as related to video games.

I agree Nintendo needs to reverse some fortunes here but my point is that as a company they have a much more forgiving business model and the potential to generate far higher profits than their counterparts for the reasons listed above. Eventually the share holders aren't going to tolerate hardware failure after failure but as of now they've had one true failure in the companies lifespan, with even the Gamecube returning modest profits, and they've had the majority of huge success' in terms of consoles to their credit. Nintendo's business model has hardware as an essential component, if they gave hardware up they would be drastically reducing the profit potential of their company and that's not something shareholders are going to want to do so easily. It's not like they are hemorrhaging money nor have they ever, they've posted some relatively modest losses for a company of their size. It happens.

As for Xbox it's widely been speculated that it's long lost Microsoft money and hence theirs been persistnet rumors for years about them getting out of the console buisness. Now i don't think they will leave the market, as Xbox losing some money helps them create a larger and more diverse business as it relates to computing and software but Xbox as a brand is not doing very well and never has. It's merely staying afloat and that's largely due to being backed by one of the largest companies in the world.

None of the big 3 are really doing that poorly but my point stands in terms of the video game divisions of the companies, which Nintendo essentially wholly is, Nintendo has the most financially secure situation. They tend to generate profit and when they lose money in times of bust it's not that much, they have higher profit potential in boom times, and they don't have to be concerned with the financial health of other divisions within the company (PS) nor do the have to be concerned with being a deemed an unnecessary burden on the company as a whole (Xbox).

Sorry for being late to the party and for the wall of text but i felt a well written opinion such as yours deserved an honest rebuttal. I really do appreciate the well thought out and honest reply, even if we don't agree i respect your right to an opinion and feel it's been developed in good faith and intelligently. Kudos.

Re: Patent Reinforces the Prospect of Nintendo NX Having a Portable Handset

Kevlar44

@TheNomad

I highly doubt that. The 3DS is still a success, they only failed on half of their console generation and the last one of the Wii/DS was the most successful generation for any console manufacturer of all time. They are BY FAR the most financially secure company out of the big 3. What it will most likely mean is they will try another approach and continue to diversify, they've made too much money on hardware and are too financially secure to abandon hardware so easily.

Re: Patent Reinforces the Prospect of Nintendo NX Having a Portable Handset

Kevlar44

If the NX does come with a removable screen on a separate peripheral it seems like a no brainer to have VR functions, a Google Cardboard style add on would work wonders. Add in the Wii remote accelerometer technology and they could have something amazing built right in to the cost of the console. Using the AMD Polaris it could also be cheap and as powerful as the competitors despite the additional hardware costs for a peripheral such as this.

Re: Digger Dan DX Dispute Settled, Will Be Back On Sale "As Soon As Possible"

Kevlar44

I still think it was ridiculous that they had the game pulled. Why couldn't they have contacted you first instead? I hope they don't get any money from this. I still think they are scumbags. Good for you for getting it back up, it was a travesty that it ever got taken down. I do think perhaps the extra publicity was a blessing in disguise.

Re: Nintendo Download: 23rd June (North America)

Kevlar44

@manu0 Why Bandai-Namco? Nintendo published it in Europe and it was developed by Akira and not in house at Bandai-Namco.

I believe it's like Nintendogs but with a Teddy Bear, it's something that would appeal largely to women and kids. My wife for example would rather play this than 95% of the games out there. she's loved games like Happy Home Designer and Style Savvy for example but she doesn't like platformers, shooters, adventure games, or anything like that.

Re: Nintendo Download: 23rd June (North America)

Kevlar44

@Kalmaro People like different games, Nintendo wants to appeal to women and this is a title that will help do that. It doesn't cost them anything of significance to put it on the eShop if they don't feel it can do well enough at retail. It's not selfish at all for her to want them to put out a game that interests her into her territory. It's not like they have to pay to localize it into English even.

Jeez, how can you have the audacity to call her selfish when your so selfish you think your opinion is the end all to be all?

Re: Video: Things Go Bump In The Night During This Series Recap Of Ghosts 'n Goblins

Kevlar44

The second game's first level isn't harder than the original and it's not close, i would also suggest that the second one is the easiest game in the series by a fair amount and not the SNES title. The wonderswan game is neat and has a lot of cool boss fights. I personally found the PSP game disappointing and the graphics ugly but i should give it another chance one day soon. The iOS games had a lot of promise but the controls are just too broken. Cool video.

Re: Video: These Fan-Made Concepts For Splatoon, Animal Crossing And Mario Kart Should Give Nintendo Pause For Thought

Kevlar44

Why do people hate Josh Thomas? Is it really th Lamar Wilson thing? It's really not such a bad thing to criticize public figures, in fact i comes with the territory, you don't have to agree with him but it's his right to say it.

Or is the criticism of Nintendo? I'm a big Nintendo fan and although i don't agree with everything he says it's not bad to get different opinions on things and much of what he does say is true.

Honesty is not a bad thing, cowardice is, you may not like his perspective but i would strongly suggest it's incumbent upon him to share it. The thing in this world that inherently provides us with human value is our perspective, and the courage to share it is a valuable trait. Even if his opinions are ignorant nobody could ever correct them unless he stated them, so why try and dissuade people from voicing their perspectives? It only leads to more closed mindedness and the inability to have perspective improved upon by the value of pertinent and constructive criticism.

I would suggest it's better to be open minded about people and criticize the value of their statements and not person as a whole. It's fair not to value what he does because the content isn't interesting to you, but it's not fair to hate/dislike the person if the content is interesting to you but every/many opinions are unpalatable. It should simply make those opinions, not the person, something you dislike. Of course that doesn't mean you need to watch the content either, there's lot's of media for one to enjoy, but it's simply ridiculous to dislike someone as a person because you dislike their perspective on particular issues (assuming said perspectives aren't paramount to hate).

Re: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap Reboot Confirmed For Consoles, Looks Gorgeous

Kevlar44

Looks like a dream come true. Interesting that they choose the Master System green dragon but the Lion/Tiger man looks more like the TurboGrafx version but as a Lion not a Tiger. I think it's cool they gave the Pirahna man a more distinct look, turning him blue and less dragon like. Looks very impressive, my guess is it's coming to the NX and not the Wii U.

Re: Review: 8Bit Hero (Wii U eShop)

Kevlar44

Not much of a review, very little breakdown on actual gameplay. Was really interested in this one and was hoping the review could shine some light on it. I'm not sure if this is going to be fair to go off of, or if it's another Witch & Hero/Chronicles of Teddy debacle. I'll have to wait for another review i guess.

Re: Turns Out The History Of The Virtual Boy Is More Interesting Than The Console Itself

Kevlar44

Virtual Boy from what i recall was marketed pretty well, most department stores had demo kiosks and it certainly was well known to of existed. A lack of compelling IP hurt it, even more so did concerns over it's practicality and potential to cause sickness/eye strain, but most of all the red and black scheme didn't feel as impressive as most expected virtual reality to be. As 3D graphics were becoming a thing the virtual boy actually felt like a step back to most people. I certainly wasn't impressed and recall "not getting it" in terms of what made it impressive or compelling.

Re: ​Capcom Could Be Planning to Bring Back Old IP

Kevlar44

@Nomad I like the cut of your jib, i even have the same profile pic on other sites.

Ghosts n' Goblins, Mega Man X, Final Fight, and Demon's Crest would be my picks. I just hope they do them in pixels, i'd love a return to SNES like graphics. I really wasn't enamored by the PSP's Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins in 3D art nor was i crazy about the PSone Megaman X games. Why do big dev's hate pixels so much? They did do the Mega Man 9/10 games in the NES style so here's to hoping.

Re: ​Shigeru Miyamoto and Yugo Hayashi Discuss Star Fox Zero's Development

Kevlar44

It took a bit to adjust but i got it down eventually. I was really good at the previous games and now i'm only so-so but i've only played through it once and then did few of the unlocked/alternate missions and training. I prefer the 64 controls i think but i don't get the major issue with them. I don't find i really need to use the TV all that much, the biggest issue for me was actually committing to the gamepad. I see people cry about the wggle on a Wii Mote way too much to really think it's as big a deal as some think, i honestly think some people just suck at games or are very close minded.

The game IMO although good fails to be as good as SF 64 (3D) because there isn't enough on rails sections, no online multiplayer, the secret paths aren't as fun to unlock, and i'm not really crazy about the walker. I do like the Gyrowing mission with Katt. It's good but it could be so much better, i'd give it a 7.5 but that might even be a bit harsh because i love Star Fox so much and this wasn't as good as i was hoping for so my disappointment is probably reflected in the score. At the end of the day it's a fun well made game.

Re: Video: Re-Live your School Years with these Five Nintendo Lies We All Believed

Kevlar44

@NewAdvent Came here to write that one and see if anyone else heard of it. A Temple of Light in the 3DS remake would have been amazing, i really wish they would have added a dungeon or a little something in all the Zelda remakes they've done like they had with Link's Awakening. I'm certain they lost sales by making them nearly exactly the same, since i avoided buying the remakes for that reason myself.

Re: Review: Pocket Card Jockey (3DS eShop)

Kevlar44

Thus far my experience with the game has been good but i think the criticisms in this review pretty much nail it, especially in terms of gameplay and the bogus stuff that can happen. I'm a little dismayed to hear that the prices in the shop get absurd but at least they thus far haven't felt all that necessary to winning.

Re: Super Meat Boy Arrives on the Wii U eShop on 12th May

Kevlar44

They want 14 US for a game this old at launch, and 17.50 after? I'd love to pick it up but with the exchange rate it'll be probably 16 then 20 dollars here in Canada, not worth it. I have it for PC but it glitched like crazy on my old laptop, i'll set it up on my new one and be good. A game this old should be under 10 dollars, that's just stupid pricing.

Re: Nintendo Download: 28th April (North America)

Kevlar44

@dekuthered Can't you get it on the Wii Virtual Console. Go into Wii mode, access the shop channel and get it there. The only real difference will be it's perhaps not quite as nice resolution wise and you'll need to go into Wii mode first to play it but those are very minor issues i'd have to think. BTW if you can find the 3DS version for a reasonable price i'd highly recommend it, it's an awesome remake.

Re: Koei Tecmo Confirms That It Has Nintendo NX Software In Development

Kevlar44

A sequel to Other M with the necessairy improvements would be cool, i think there's a lot of potential in that. I'd also like to see another Hyrule Warriors (might be too soon), or maybe even something crazy like Mushroom Kingdom Warriors or as Benson said Fire Emblem Warriors (but they just did release a FE spinoff and a massive game). Ninja Gaiden, Dynasty Warriors, and Fatal Frame are certainly possibilities too.

Re: The Legend of Zelda Wii U Has Been Pushed Back to 2017, Will Release On NX As Well

Kevlar44

Nintendo's pushing the reset button i guess, and trying for a fresh start in 2017 with the 3DS and mobile carrying them thru till the new year. I'm guessing Zelda was ready on Wii U but the NX won't be ready to launch until 2017 so they're holding it back so it can be a launch title and drive NX sales. I don't mind the delay really as for me it's an extra 4 months. I'm sure this is why we got Twilight Princess. I'm also sure the NX being held back till March, and oddly not being shown off at E3, is why Zelda will be the only playable game at E3. I'm thinking this lends credence to the rumors of a massive launch lineup but i am a little concerned that the quality of the games may suffer and we're going to end up with stuff like Ultra Smash.

Re: Review: Witch & Hero 2 (3DS eShop)

Kevlar44

Just beat this game today and like the first one it's awesome. It's a bit easier with less grinding, especially the final boss, but it does have a couple arcade modes to play after beating it.

What blows my mind is that this game is a really quality little experience. It's cheap because it's simple, but simple doesn't mean bad just look at Whoa Dave for an example of that. According to this site's scoring policy the first game is "miserable specimen of a game" with "game breaking faults", and that's just ridiculous especially considering how many people really like it. Now this game is apparently "Broken gameplay, bugs, bad control schemes, inflexible options, and repetitiveness", the only thing on that list it's guilty of is repetitiveness but considering the game is frantic paced and progressively harder i don't get the issue. Again Woah Dave is repetitive, a twin stick shooter is repetitive, but the mechanics in these games like Witch and Hero are fun and the games are intentionally simple. It's not boring when you need to be strategic and have legit skill to get through levels without dying.

I've seen far far worse games get far better scores, like numerous RCMADIAX garbage titles and i can't understand what the reviewers on this site have against these titles. The comments section in here is entirely made up of people disagreeing with the review, and the same disagreement eventually happened with the review of the first game.

I'm all for subjectivity and the value of different opinions but this is the 3rd review i've seen on this site that has me shaking my head in recent days. Chronicles of Teddy getting a 6, for reasons other than the bugs (which i would have accepted leading to a low score, but not the actual gameplay). Olympia Rising, which to be fair i haven't played due to a lack of NA release, looks like a really solid game for it's price point from what i've seen and heard and yet it also gets a mediocre review while something terrible like Blok Drop Twisted Fusion gets a 7. Like c'mon that's ridiculous. These reviewers need to consider sometimes that perhaps these kind of games aren't for them and they really shouldn't be reviewing them. As much as a review is a subjective piece of work it should also try and represent what the likely sentiments the game is going to garner from those who play it. These Witch and Hero reviews, along with the others mentioned, really need to be revised or attempted by somebody else, it's clear they fly in the face of the common sentiment.

Re: Review: Star Fox Zero (Wii U)

Kevlar44

This game could hve been more than it is but i'm still really excited. It needs a bit more content in terms of branching paths and an online multiplayer dogfighting mode to be all it can be but the graphics being only OK doesn't bother me and from what i've heard the controls are excellent once you get them down. I'm excited and glad i got it on preorder, Guard looks cool too and as a free throw in for early adopters i think it helps mitigate the content issue a bit. Yay, Star Fox.