Comments 606

Re: Kickstarter DIY Kit Transforms GBA Into Console-Like HDMI System

Shepdawg1

For those who didn’t watch the video:

The kit includes the consolizer kit (uses your motherboard), a GBA controller kit (uses the rest of the GBA parts minus the screen to turn the GBA shell into a controller) and the case for the consolized motherboard.

It requires you taking apart a GBA down to just the motherboard. In a perfect world, you would need to desolder the speaker, but you can just cut it out (but understand that if you ever wanted to revert the mod, you’d need to reinstall a speaker if you did cut it out). After that, you simply slide an included ribbon cable into your system and onto the included board in the kit, which you then place into the shell and close it up. Definitely looks to be a relatively simplistic mod; probably a 3/10 on difficulty. You simply need to know how to disassemble the device without breaking anything. The image quality in the video looks decent, but it is a bit fuzzy, especially compared to high-end consolizer kits like Woozle’s. More crisp than the Gameboy Player, but still fuzzy. And a pretty big downside, in my opinion: the aspect ratio doesn’t match the GBA’s. It’s either 4:3 or 16:9, never the native 3:2. This will cause games to look squashed or stretched. But it IS cheaper than Woozle’s kit, coming in at $135 for a single kit, or $200 pre-assembled (with a discount for buying multiple kits at time of backing). It can pair with Switch Pro, Xbox One, and PS4 controllers via Bluetooth, or it uses a SNES controller port for the repurposed GBA shell or an actual SNES Controller.

So ultimately, the trade-off is picture quality and aspect ratio in exchange for a way to play GBA games on a TV with original hardware for a lower price than most other options.

As for my opinion: it’s a sleek idea for a mod, and making one that’s more accessible in price and assembly is very nice, but the aspect ratio and fuzzy picture kill it for me. It almost feels like the devs of this mod didn’t want to go the extra mile here and settled on “good enough”. I hope this works out for everyone involved (devs and backers), but this is a pass from me.

Re: The Super Mario Movie Has Been Delayed Until April 2023

Shepdawg1

@duffmmann Of course. It’s all the more important in this case to wait and see what they bring rather than immediately dismiss it. And honestly, the source of the script isn’t too important as Nintendo is heavily involved here. They won’t let Illumination so much as adjust a hair of Mario’s mustache without their say-so, I imagine.

My main problems with Illumination are that they excel at making kids movies instead of family movies, and they put a large focus on profit margins and marketing rather than artistic vision for a film. They appeal to kids with low-hanging fruit (fart jokes, butt jokes, fast-moving action and editing, pop song-laden soundtracks), with occasional jokes for older crowds that kids can still understand and laugh at, with the reaction from older crowds being a mild chuckle, on average. Hence, they appeal to kids, but not families.
My biggest problem with them, though, is their movie-making philosophy. Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination, made it the companies goal to keep every movie they produce below a $100 million budget and to always produce a profit (so far, they’ve succeeded, even 12 years after the fact, meaning they’re technically spending less money on their films now than previously due to inflation). To me, their movies feel sterile, corporate, and manufactured for maximum profitability. Thinking back on any Illumination movie release, the thing that stands out most to me is the amount of advertising. I’d see the movie friggin’ everywhere! Food product tie-ins, car commercials, Internet ads, merchandise, soundtracks; it got to the point that it felt like everyone and their dog knew about the movie. To me, that feels manipulative. The impression I get is that they pour millions of dollars into marketing, making sure everyone knows the movie, making sure it looks as appealing as possible, and making sure that their target demographic (kids and “families”) want to line up and see it, leaving their animation team a comparatively shoestring budget to actually produce the film. At that point, they don’t need to care if the movie is good or not. Once they’ve got your box office sale, they’ve won. And yes, it can be argued that every media production company wants your money, so why nitpick here? To that I agree, but audiences can also tell when a product is passionately crafted. In a good product, you can feel the souls of the dozens or hundreds of people who came together to deliver that experience, and it makes a huge difference. I’ve never felt that from any Illumination movie.

I know there are people who enjoy Illumination movies just fine, and far be it from me to tell people what to like and dislike. I greatly respect people who still have their own opinions and don’t listen to the loudest voice in the room. I’m just passionate about animation. Animation deserves so much better than what Hollywood typically relegates it to, and Illumination, to me, is more than happy to fill that Hollywood mold because that’s where the money lies. Anyways, this comment has gone on for too long. Kudos to anyone who actually read it.

Btw, I’m a blast at parties. Can’t you tell?

Re: The Super Mario Movie Has Been Delayed Until April 2023

Shepdawg1

Delay or no, I still don’t expect anything good out of this film. Illumination’s movies are extremely mid. Also, bless Miyamoto’s heart, I don’t think he has what it takes to make a good movie. His game design skills are second to none and he has all of my respect, but his storytelling is iffy, at best.

Re: Review: Pokémon Legends: Arceus - One Of The Greatest Pokémon Games Ever Made

Shepdawg1

Just a technicality, but this isn’t a spin-off. It’s considered a mainline entry. But that’s splitting hairs at this point, and people will continue to refer to this game as a spin-off, so I won’t continue that losing fight.

Regardless, this review is about what I was hoping the game would be. I’ve never been one to throw a tizzy when graphics are bad (and they kind of are in this game), so ultimately, I think I’m really going to enjoy this game. Roll on Friday!

Re: This Unofficial Zelda PC Port Is About '90% Complete', Say Devs

Shepdawg1

@Piyo In the Reverse Engineering section of the Atari v. Nintendo case, the Supreme Court disagreed with the district court that reverse-engineering was not considered fair use. I quote:

“Section 107 [of the Copyright Act] also requires examination of the nature of the work when determining if a reproduction is a fair use. 17 U.S.C. § 107(2). When the nature of a work requires intermediate copying to understand the ideas and processes in a copyrighted work, that nature supports a fair use for intermediate copying. Thus, reverse engineering object code to discern the unprotectable ideas in a computer program is a fair use.”

From what I can tell as well, the original repository is still up. I may be wrong in that regard, but Nintendo so far hasn’t taken it down.

And yeah, you are right that most people are simply going to download pre-compiled versions of this port once it has been finished. That is illegal, no doubt, and Nintendo will likely actively target places hosting this versions.

Re: This Unofficial Zelda PC Port Is About '90% Complete', Say Devs

Shepdawg1

The ignorance is strong in these comments.

The code in this project is reverse-engineered from the original, meaning none of it uses what Nintendo created. Therefore, Nintendo has no legal ground to C&D this project. And that’s all this project is providing: the code. It’s up to the players to provide assets for the code to use, which the project creators can’t legally provide since Nintendo owns those assets, but once you have the assets yourself, you can recompile the game into a native PC version of Ocarina of Time.

Re: Soapbox: In Defence Of Balan Wonderworld, 'The Worst Game Of 2021'

Shepdawg1

The game’s presentation, character designs, and theming are top-notch. However, it cannot distract from the fact that the game is mindless, has awful controls and physics, is terrible at world-building and delivering its plot and characters, and has some very questionable design choices (why isn’t there a dedicated jump button?).

More power to you if you like it, but I will never be convinced that it’s good.

Re: Video: DreamWorks Animation Artist Releases Pokémon Halloween Short

Shepdawg1

@HotGoomba If I were a creator, I’d rather people were honest with me and criticize my work when there are flaws rather than heap undeserved praise on me out of fear of hurting my feelings. Growth doesn’t come when you’re comfortable. In the same vein, I’d rather have my opinion and be honest with it than lie to this creator and say that I enjoyed their work when I didn’t.

Re: Nintendo Switch Cheat Device Speeds Up Pokémon Shiny Hunting, And It's Proving To Be Controversial

Shepdawg1

I personally don't care if people use this. It's their prerogative to decide if they care how they got their shinies. I don't have any interest in using it myself because for me, the satisfaction of shiny hunting comes from the work I put in to get the Shiny, not the actual Shiny itself. And that's why I don't care even if people cheat to get shinies. They don't devalue my own because I know I worked for them, and that's satisfaction enough.

But yes, this is totally cheating.

Re: Talking Point: Which Game Stage Have You Replayed More Than Any Other?

Shepdawg1

Other than SMB 1-1:

Celeste Chapter 9 - Farewell. I want the Golden Strawberry on that stage so badly. I've gotten it in every other stage, but Farewell continues to elude me. My lowest death count in that stage is 6, and the farthest I've carried it is to the strong wind room a little more than midway. I just can't break through, though. If I could get past sections 4 and 5 without dying, I could make it.

Re: Soapbox: Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Release Date Worries Me, But Hopefully I'm Wrong

Shepdawg1

Personally, I think people are getting way too concerned. I believe folks are getting hung up on the trailer based solely on when it was aired. However, one thing we need to consider is that the airing date is not indicative of the recording date. Even short videos like a Pokémon Presents can take several months to fully edit, and post-production usually only occurs when all filming for a video has completed. Heck, Sakurai himself has even stated that he has filmed some Smash presentations several months before they air. Plus, given how the pandemic affected timetables last year, I wouldn't be surprised if the build of the game we saw was one from late 2020.

Granted, the concerns mentioned in this post are worth noting, but we got a look at a game that was still very much in development. We should give the benefit of the doubt and actually see more of the game (or get it in our hands, preferably) before we pass it off as beyond saving or as "rushed".

On top of that, this game doesn't seem to meet the same deadline criteria that a new generation game would have to fill. I doubt this game is going to tie as heavily into other Pokémon products like a new generation does. It feels like this game actually has the development window it needs, so I think they'd be much more comfortable delaying this game if they felt it really needed improvement.

Lastly, in my opinion, a good majority of people wouldn't have given a piss about the graphics of Sword and Shield if the Dex didn't get cut and a certain distant someone didn't make a slander video all about a stupid effing tree.

Re: Memory Pak: My Very First Shiny Pokémon

Shepdawg1

@BloodNinja It doesn't harm anyone for it to be a mechanic. The thing to remember is that, except in Gen II, Shiny Pokémon aren't statistically stronger than any other Pokémon. So it's all about aestethic and the challenge of hunting them. If players want to hunt them, they can, but they're not required to do so, and they're really not missing much if they don't.

Re: Memory Pak: My Very First Shiny Pokémon

Shepdawg1

To anyone reading:

Do chain fishing in XY or ORAS for an easy shiny. Get yourself anything with Suction Cups or Sticky Hold, give it a Smoke Ball to automatically run if it isn't shiny, stand in one spot, and fish up Pokémon consecutively without moving or failing to catch. You'll have a shiny within an hour and a half tops.

Or

Do Ultra Wormholes in USUM. Either go as far as you can and go into Wormholes that have two rings, or just go into the first Wormhole with two rings that you see (as long as it isn't white). If the encounter in the Wormhole isn't a Legendary, it has a high chance of being shiny.

Re: Talking Point: amiibo Have Always Been Physical DLC, Skyward Sword HD Is No Different

Shepdawg1

Honestly, there are far more egregious examples of amiibo locking out content from non-buyers. And as far as the whole return-to-the-sky-whenever thing, no one would've batted an eye or noticed if the feature hadn't been included in the first place.

And if people buy the amiibo solely for that feature, they're wasting their money, imo. Amiibo have almost never been good for their in-game functionality. They should be viewed primarily as collector's items with the in-game perks as a bonus.

Re: Rumour: We're Getting A 'Pokémon Presents' Broadcast Next Month

Shepdawg1

@Trikeboy The Pokémon brand is co-owned by Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and Game Freak, with The Pokémon Company serving as a licensing and brand management firm also co-owned by Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and Game Freak, so those three companies are above The Pokémon Company. Also, New Pokémon Snap was developed by Bandai Namco.

Not saying this to be confrontational, though. Just correcting the facts.