Prizm

Suck it, Nintendo 👎
It's a bit of consumer payback for joycon problems, unnecessarily-heavy handed music copyright strikes, and tournament bans. Nintendo's optics have generally been poor since Bowser and ''Iwata's replacement' took over. A bit of tit-for-tat is due to come their way.

@Emperor-Palpsy said "That’s not “restoring”, it’s rebuilding."

I agree. There's two different things here. One is recreating the song by finding the original (or very close) samples on a synthesizer.
The other is finding a pre-compressed version of the actual trimmed-down samples that were used on the cartridge.

Oh and you don't need to be a "dataminer" to get the cartridge sounds, there are programs to rip the samples from SNES roms. You can then research what keyboards were likely used for those samples and make your own reproduction.

On a similar note, there is a VST plugin called Super Audio Cart which compiles a ton of these original (compressed) samples used in SNES games.

I have zero respect for Derren Brown. His past 'documentaries' have tried to make viewers think he has convinced somebody or some people that something has happened or that they need to do something (like a serious candid camera show).

But an astute viewer will realize it's all fakery and that the unwitting 'victims' are actors.

Those screenshots look hardly any better than the N64 game.

I've been looking forward to a new Snap for years, but man they dropped the ball with the graphics. I hope the actual gameplay makes up for it.

Friend: sees Switch ad Umm.. I thought you said Switch was good!?
Me: No, please, just ignore the commercial!
Friend: I have to go, SEEYA
Me: But you came over to play Sw....

Umm.. since the author didn't make it very clear, this is not the first prototype find for DuckTales NES. A slightly newer prototype was found years ago.

Note that there are other music differences in the prototypes: the Transylvania theme is different, and the Moon theme is slower.

Playthrough of the levels in this prototype:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwz2RNb9uKY

Switch Lite: 199.99
Switch: 299.99
Switch (????): 399.99
I'd pay for a big brother in the $399.99 spot....

If you were Nintendo, would you tell customers that a new Switch is around the corner, and lose the momentum of current console sales?
Nope, you'd likely milk it for all its got and spring the news of an upgraded Switch as late as possible.

Off topic, but Reggie and previous execs from Sony and Microsoft did a group chat on Twitch the other day.. I don't recall see any articles about what was said?
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/889356157

Punishment for their obsession with YouTube copyright strikes.

@Ghost_of_Hasashi said "Would be nice if either Sega, Capcom, or Namco bought Konami than Nintendo."

You're probably right, although if that happened it would probably mean Nintendo won't get those games either because they'll be made for the other consoles and they won't bother with the underpowered Switch 😅

Nintendo needs to step in and buy Konami's games dept. It's only a matter of time before Konami sells it to someone (if a deal is not already in the works). If Sony or MS buy it, they'll make future games exclusives and it'll be a huge loss for Nintendo.

It could mean new Metal Gear/Contra/Castlevania games for the Switch, DDR back on a home console again, maybe even DrumMania (with joycons?), and that's just scratching the surface.

While this should be interesting - I have a feeling they'd also have a much juicier conversation among themselves without having to watch what they say for PR purposes.

Well.. he honestly looks more like a Mega Girl, which I guess suits the squealing girl voice they started giving him in the mid-90s 😅

The artwork looks pretty nice and typical anime though.

Have to admit I'm really only a fan of some of the earlier NES games and the original Gameboy games.

I don't play Zelda games, but I take it Nintendo has never implemented a New Game+ mode? 🤔

Here's an idea, every time Nintendo goes on an over-the-top copyright strike spree, fans can respond by launching another class action lawsuit for joycons 😅

@sixrings said "I just want my cartoon games to be optimized thank you. 1080p 60fps for cartoon like games."

Yep exactly. The Switch is so underpowered, that a Pro version is needed just so today's Switch games run properly. Way too many games are being released with poor framerates and I will not pay for them. 60fps is more important for action games than graphic detail.

Developers don't even have to make two versions of the same game, just make one game: It'll run at 30fps for noobs on the OG Switch who can't tell the difference, and 60fps on the Switch Pro for the rest of us.

Even if developers wanted to make Switch Pro enhancements, it doesn't need to be complicated... just add an extra layer of eye candy - eg slightly better rendered light/shadows etc.

@Donnerkebab @link3710 @Vsaxo27 -
As a corporation, it's actually good business sense for Nintendo to maintain a positive rapport with customers.

If your only interaction with fans/customers is negative or indifferent (don't do this, don't do that, C&D here, copyright strike there), you are not building a healthy brand image.
It's not about whether Nintendo is right to do those things, it's about maintaining a much higher ratio of positive vs negative interactions. Otherwise, you're breeding more resentment among customers than you might normally get.

Sometimes all it takes is rephrasing a sentence. The line "Please note that we will not respond to messages or inquiries." is terrible from a PR perspective. It's negatively structured and does not say where enquiries can be directed. Hence it gives off that "don't call us, we'll call you" vibe.

"By the way, don't reply to any of our posts." 🙄

Yet another move that shows Nintendo has dropped the ball when it comes to building rapport with fans. It's all about the sales figures for our big 2020 year. And don't call us, we'll call you.
Why don't you go harvest a few more copyright strikes, Nintendo 🙄

Sure is a stark difference from the Iwata / Reggie years.

Just reading the release notes, there's a couple pretty important points missed in this article:
1. It's currently in beta only for PC, but will later come to consoles.
2. The update was originally a fan mod creation which the developer has officially incorporated into the game.

Anyway, it's neat that he's adding this to the game and I might play the game again with this once it comes out of beta.

Really looking forward to Axiom Verge 2 though 👍

I always thought the transparent ones looked ugly, like cheap junk. The gold one is mostly nice, but the Nintendo logo and controller port colors just don't really match the gold (although the N64 logo is ugly anyway). It's like they did a half-assed job.

Overall I don't think the N64 unit was very attractive to begin with 😅

Oh I remember these shirts - a lot of these designs are really great.

Whenever Sega says they have a special annoucement, it always ends up being a disappointment... they gotta stop doing this 😅

@judaspete @TheFrenchiestFry - These were convenient links and I appreciate the sites may not always be accurate. I initially heard this from a few Youtube channels discussing it who believe it's very plausible.

Seems weird that Nintendo barely mentioned it. They sent out one tweet 🤔
I don't plan to get it, but it'd also be nice to see some real photos, not just mockups. With such bold colors, it may look a bit different in real life.

@TheFrenchiestFry @Brummieendo90
I exaggerate, but probably not by much:

"Lucasfilm Reportedly Wants All Star Wars Projects To Have POC Or Female Main Character"
https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/lucasfilm-reportedly-star-wars-projects-poc-female-main-character/

"'Pirates of the Caribbean' Reboot Moving Forward With A Female Lead"
https://thedisinsider.com/2020/05/05/pirates-of-the-caribbean-reboot-female-lead/

"Marvel Reportedly Wants Most Of The MCU’s Heroes To Be Female Or POC Now"
https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/marvel-reportedly-mcus-heroes-female-poc/

Knowing the way Disney has been recently, the developers will be pressured to reinvent Indiana as a gay female of ethnic origin.

@MS7000 - Just imagine how many desktop backgrounds you'll be able to get with those points! 👍

I'm no fan, but it could've been worse.. they could've put cringy Mario decals all over it.
The Animal Crossing joycons are still my favorite colour combo.

Is that Bowser add-on just a single boss fight? Seems like it to me🤔
I don't care for 3D World, but it does make me want a first person shooter with that Bowser as an enemy that I can shoot rockets at 👍

every game on their ad looks like cringe 😬

Iwata was a programmer for Nintendo games, and Reggie was a genuine Nintendo player and fan. What is Doug Bowser? 🤔

meh.. 🤔 Hollow Knight had its moments and I played it all the way through, but it had some annoying gameplay elements.

The platforming controls didn't feel as sharp and tight as Axiom Verge. I remember often blaming the controls and slightly laggy response time, and it was very frustrating. This was not the case with Axiom Verge: if I screwed up in Verge, I knew it was my fault.

The other main issue was that the atmosphere was incessantly depressing. It never let up. While parts of the game are really fun, there was always this depressing undercurrent that tainted my enjoyment.
The ambient music tracks drone in the background, and while they are somewhat nice, most tracks are very non-descript and tend to all blur together... and they're all melancholy.

For a split second, I thought this was DLC for MK8 🙁
Sorry not sorry Nintendo, I'm not even going to bother watching your MK Tour video.

The numbers for Mario Kart 8 are potentially BS since the game often comes with the console anyway. If Nintendo had integrity, they would be counting sales of the individual game only.

I agree that it's looking like MK9 will be released sometime after the inevitable Switch 'Pro'. I doubt it'll be a launch title though.

Unless it's 60fps, I wouldn't play it even if they gave it away for free 👎

This is not new for Nintendo, I remember seeing articles about them doing this during the SNES days. Good to see they're still involved with hospitals.

Great article.

The story of getting two discs of SNES roms is actually very relatable for me 😅We never had a console because my parents are in a Christian cult that bans TV. I used my own money to buy a Gameboy around 1991, which was a dream come true after watching and playing NES at my friends houses.

Then in 1997, I discovered emulators which were just starting to gain traction. I couldn't believe this was possible. I hooked up a gamepad to my Pentium 133MHz and played Mega Man 2 in my own house. It absolutely blew me away and I was so excited.

SNES ROMs soon followed, though the SNES emulators were still in full development and it took some time before the majority of games were fully playable. Such a great time though.

Every time you upload a Nintendo song, daddy gives you a spanking.

Nintendo brought stability back to the household

Raytracing isn't a gimmick, AFAIK it's the most accurate way to get realistic 3D reflections/refractions. The problem is it's extremely CPU/GPU intensive so it's only previously been used for prerendered graphics / CGI.

Back in 1994 on a 386 PC I used POVRay to render a scene containing a few coloured cylinders and spheres. It took 3.5 hours to render one image with a resolution of 320x200. I could see it rendering one pixel at a time.

This is getting ridiculous 🙄

New DLC characters coming to Smash in 2021:
Larry Koopa from Mario 3 (seven versions of Larry, all palette swapped), The Old Man that lives in Zelda caves, the guy in the crowd on NES ExciteBike (he is the bleachers, 124th pixel from the left), and that vertical gate from the end of every level in Megaman.

@TheLightSpirit @sanderev @Rhaoulos @Kimyonaakuma - Are you aware how YouTube copyright claims work? 🤔

Nintendo has the option to claim the copyright AND leave the video up. That way Nintendo will get the money for those views, and the fanbase will be happy because the video won't be taken down. This is how the majority of music companies handle their content on YouTube. They don't strike you, they just claim the money for it.

But Nintendo just has to continue being a douchebag. So get off your high horse 🙄

They fix major bugs where some games don't work and TV mode sometimes won't activate, and it's only worthy of a 0.1 update? 🤔
Meanwhile ridiculously mundane updates are worthy of jumping an entire version? 😅

@AtlanteanMan said "Actors are there for the same reason they endorse politicians"

It was a rhetorical question.

@Savino said "Most consumers do so get used to it"
Most consumers like to see actors in the game awards?

I do enjoy hearing what Reggie has to say, but wtf are actors doing there? They gonna talk about how much they love playing the Nintendo Xbox?

Who Wants to be a Millionaire is launching? Talk about beating a dead horse 😬

I remember wondering what Mario Kart 9 would be like 🤔

cough

damnnnn, I was looking forward to this. Oh well, it'll be a game to look forward to in the new year 👍

Hollow Knight was highly polished but....depressing. It's not really a game I would play again for fun like Axiom Verge.

I foresee a lot of Switches being thrown out the window by parents