Comments 2,388

Re: Poll: Which Are Your Favourite Minigames In Super Mario Party Jamboree?

StephenYap3

Unsure which minigame I would pick for my "favorite" (let alone across each category) since I personally wasn't feeling the minigames here. They just lacked that "punch" that made me adore the minigames the previous Mario Party games had from N64 to Wii U (yes, Mario Party 10 included). I can say the same for the original Super Mario Party as well.

...but if I had to pick, then I guess Domination for Free for All (despite being from Mario Party 4), Snow Brawl for VS., Prize Line for Item, Luigi Rescue Operation for Showdown, Dragoneel Slayers for Boss, Lane Change for Koopathlon, Ski-daddle for Kaboom-Squad, and En Barb! for Rhythm.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Super Mario Party Jamboree?

StephenYap3

I'm going with a 7/10. I'm happy with there being plenty of options to play the game with and being able to play as Toad once more is a bliss in my eyes. A bigger step up over the original Super Mario Party, indeed.

That said, I do feel that the game took some steps back as recoil (slower pacing on boards, Jamboree Buddy system needing more time in the oven, Koopathlon being slower and bare compared to Mario Party: Star Rush's Coinathlon mode, etc.) and motion controls felt so trivial and easily-ignored that it might as well not have been in the game. I wasn't much of a fan of the new boards and mini games either.

Re: Tony Hawk Has Been "Taking To Activision Again" Ahead Of Pro Skater's 25th Anniversary

StephenYap3

I can respect Tony Hawk and his words, but in this current state it's too difficult for me to trust Activision (Blizzard) on anything regarding the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise, especially given the fact that they threw the studio they "trusted" (Vicarious Visions) for their recent efforts into the Call of Duty basement.

I would really love to be wrong and see Activision make things right again, though.

Re: Review: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (GBA) - Robust Roguelike Rescuing

StephenYap3

I played this a while back and though not a bad game, I just couldn't get into it much myself. It leans too much on the repetitive side and I wish there were more Pokémon I could play as (namely Jirachi).

Either way, I always leaned onto Touhou Gensou Wanderer Reloaded and Touhou Gensou Wanderer -Lotus Labyrinth R- for providing me semblances of challenge and gameplay depth here and there (which I rarely felt in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon), as well as being less repetitive for me...but I am glad to see Red Rescue Team on GBA NSO.

Re: Rumour: Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games "Finished"

StephenYap3

Personally, I'm kind of sad to hear this, especially if the rumor ends up being true.

Now, I too admittedly wanted an "Action Platformer" out of this crossover series myself and I played better multiplayer-oriented series on both sides (Mario, especially), but I still enjoyed the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series for what they were and I really liked the numerous callbacks to both series' histories in them; I haven't played all of them, but I can say that both Mario & Sonic at the 2012 London Olympic Games (Wii) and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - Tokyo 2020 are among my highlights of this series.

Either way, hopefully the Mushroom Kingdom and Mobius (or where ever Sonic's crew lives in) can get together again in the future.

Re: Review: Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Switch) - Speed-Focused And Slight, But Addictive

StephenYap3

Pretty much what I thought. Just speed challenges and nothing else.

I'm glad to see games like this being made and I'm also glad to see indieszero being back under Nintendo's umbrella for it, but Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is just too hard of a sell for me. There's nothing that I see that NES Remix hasn't done before and though its deeper emphasis on online and leaderboards is one thing it has over Ultimate NES Remix on 3DS, that still isn't enough to get me to fork over $30 in a blink.

Now, I do hope that the buyers have a blast with this one and I also hope that the SNES will get this same treatment, but Nintendo...hoo boy, you guys should've ported the NES Remix games instead. Just my thought.

Re: Round Up: The Previews Are In For Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition

StephenYap3

Good to hear good things from Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition.

As for me, I'm...not sure if I want it, especially considering how little it offers compared to the NES Remix games (there's leaderboards and plenty of bite-sized challenges, but so did the NES Remix games, not to mention that the latter also offered "Remix" stages and more NES games). I might buy this game next month if there's truly nothing else of my interest then, but for now I'm not wholly convinced on what this upcoming game is offering.

Re: Japanese Charts: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Just About Beats Origami King

StephenYap3

Origami King
...who?

Anyways (sarcasm aside), I'm glad to hear more good news regarding Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake. It's still my second favorite Paper Mario game behind the Nintendo 64 game, but I do hope that this remake sells further beyond to deliver the message to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems that Paper Mario needs to go back to what it does best at (and build on from there).

Re: Review: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch) - Still The King Of Mario RPGs

StephenYap3

I'm still labelling the first Paper Mario as the king of Mario RPGs in my book for being far more consistently-designed on many angles while having my favorite Bowser role in the entirety of the Mario franchise. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GameCube) is still amazing and my second favorite Paper Mario game, but had it not been for its excessive backtracking and battle additions that made things too "chaotic" and too easy, I would've agreed with the crowd.

Either way, can't wait to boot up the Switch remake.

Re: Poll: Are You Bothered By The Frame Rate For Paper Mario: TTYD On Switch?

StephenYap3

Not really. 60 fps is a necessity, but there kind of wasn't much of a reason for the original game to use that, in my opinion.

If I can play through games like Doom 2016, Kirby Star Allies, Luigi's Mansion 3, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons just fine, then I don't see how Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake could be an exception for me.

Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

StephenYap3

I'm going with North America's for the overall vibe of it taking place on a "sheet" of sorts for stickers to be put on. Europe's box art had its own appeal on certain angles, but its background just kind of clashes on the overall sticker theme for me; still liked its box art, though.

Now, it's safe to say that this one probably doesn't top the ranking of 'Best Paper Mario Games' (in fact, we know it doesn't), but it still has its charms.
No, but I still (personally) enjoyed Paper Mario: Sticker Star for what it was and though it wasn't exactly the 3DS entry I expected, I played worse games in other series that "mocked" their predecessors like this game did (Super Neptunia RPG, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, The Legend of Dark Witch Episode 3: Wisdom and Lunacy, etc.).

Re: Inti Creates' Cat Action Platformer 'Umbraclaw' Scores Free eShop Demo

StephenYap3

Tried the demo myself.

While I can appreciate the neat ideas that Inti. Creates is trying out, I'm still kind of lost on the overall gameplay concept of Umbraclaw myself. I'm honestly not a fan of how you have to "die" to gain skills and even with that put aside, the game just doesn't seem to do anything more intriguing that other Metroidvania games done before; it's nice to have numerous upgrades, but it's not something I haven't seen before in my lifetime.

Either way, I still hope that this game helps make Inti. Creates a killing and I do also hope that the buyers have a blast with this one, but as much as I like Inti. Creates and want to support them Umbraclaw is probably going to be a "pass" for me (especially since Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Switch remake releases in the same month).

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give 'Princess Peach: Showtime!'?

StephenYap3

7.5/10 for me.

It doesn't peak to the likes of Good-Feel's other Nintendo-labelled greats like Yoshi's Woolly World and Kirby's Epic Yarn, and it definitely doesn't hold a candle to Super Princess Peach on Nintendo DS...but Princess Peach: Showtime! is still a fun and enjoyable ride for me regardless, and while I'm not usually a fan of these clashing mechanics in my games, this game somehow manages to make those similar mechanics that I somewhat despise fun and consistently enjoyable for me; I even enjoyed the Detective Peach stages for what they were, despite being my least favorite transformation in the game.

Re: Princess Peach: Showtime!

StephenYap3

Just reached the final floor in Princess Peach: Showtime! and I gotta say: I'm liking it so far. The demo did a poor job selling on this game as while the first levels for each transformation felt like glorified tutorials, their later levels amp up their mechanics considerably to the point that they're no walk in the park (but not "challenging" either, like pretty much every other Mario game). And while I'm not too keen on the whole "gameplay diversity" thing in games, this one manages transition each of its transformations well enough for me to the point that neither of them "conflicted" with each other too much nor left me "discombobulated" for one bit, as well as spending enough time to show what they have on their tables (take notes, Paper Mario: The Origami King).

Overall, Princess Peach: Showtime! is definitely not going on my "Top 10 Best Switch games" list of some kind, but Good-Feel definitely redeemed themselves for me after how utterly disappointed I was with their previous Nintendo game Yoshi's Crafted World.

Re: The First Review For Princess Peach: Showtime! Is In

StephenYap3

I still believe that it will be a good game in its own right.

Of course, the demo didn't do a good job selling me on the game's true beauty and it doesn't look to reach the same heights and fun factor of Super Princess Peach, but I don't the game will be anywhere near as bad as the crowd are making it out to be (at least, from the demo).

Re: Poll: Do You Want To See 'Super Mario Bros. Wonder 2'?

StephenYap3

Here are a few things I like to see in "Super Mario Bros Wonder 2":

Streamline the Wonder Effects and levels so that they're more "focused" without tampering the series' gameplay for one bit. I'm not against gameplay shake ups here and there, but Super Mario Bros Wonder got too happy with it to near-absurd proportions, in my opinion. Take more notes from the Prankster Comets from the Super Mario Galaxy games.

More and (actually) good boss fights. This should go without saying, but my goodness did Super Mario Bros Wonder went lazy with this, especially since a couple of worlds don't even have boss fights at all.

Better-expanded Badge System. The whole system is neat and can be fun to use, but the inability to equip more than one of them (in single player) and being able to freely swap between them in levels without dying made them half-baked at times, not to mention that many of these badges were only "fun" in their Badge Challenge levels; outside of those, they trivialized too much of the game.

And finally, more (and actually fun) power ups.

Re: Metroid For NES Could Be Inducted Into The Video Game Hall Of Fame

StephenYap3

I'll admit that Metroid NES definitely inspired a smorgasbord of other games of the same caliber and I can wholeheartedly commend it for those merits. It deserved the spot.

...but outside of that, the game hasn't aged well for me and many of the things it brought to the table were fully surpassed by its later (mainline) entries; heck, its GBA remake Metroid: Zero Mission fully replaced it by many angles that it isn't even funny.

Re: Feature: Is Any Mario Game Genuinely 'Underrated'? - 10 Super Mario Games To Reconsider

StephenYap3

I'll be the "bad uncle" and say that Paper Mario: Sticker Star gets my vote for the most underrated Mario game.

Look, I'll still take the first two Paper Mario games (and to a degree, Super Paper Mario) any day and I'll admit that this game wasn't the "Paper Mario 3DS" I expected...but I still had a bit of a blast with this game for whatever else it had on the table and I felt that its wide variety of stickers and puzzles (despite a few of them being a little too "vague" for me) did enough to excuse the removal of the many gameplay amenities that built the series from the start. I've even done nine playthroughs of this game, with some of those playthroughs entailing me in taking different paths (before fighting the World 1 boss).

That said, as much as I enjoyed this game (and its Wii U sequel, Paper Mario: Color Splash), I do hope Intelligent Systems does put Paper Mario back on the right road and even then, I do hope some of the recent three games' QoL features make their way into the formula of the first two games.

Re: Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Has Passed Away

StephenYap3

Dang. I'm a Dragon Ball and (just recently) Dragon Quest fan myself, the former since the early 90's, and I'm definitely disappointed and saddened by this news. In fact, I probably wouldn't have been into Japanese media had it not been for him

Either way, hopefully his current (working) projects and such can prevail just as much without him. Rest in peace, Toriyama-san.

Re: Princess Peach: Showtime! Developer Seemingly Revealed In Demo's Code

StephenYap3

Good-Feel, huh? Good to know. On a related note, I had a decent time with the demo. I would've liked a bit more out of it, but at least I got a good idea of what the game would be like.

I do hope Princess Peach: Showtime! ends up being good in the end at the least, though. As much as I worshipped Good-Feel for their performance on Nintendo games with Wario Land: Shake It!, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and Yoshi's Woolly World...Yoshi's Crafted World became the first time I was actually disappointed in them. Princess Peach: Showtime! isn't looking to be the next "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", but at the very least its demo gave me some confidence in the final product.

Re: Talking Point: What DS & 3DS Games Would You Still Like To See On Switch?

StephenYap3

Unsure how DS and 3DS games can be brought over to the Switch unless if some tweaks were to be made. Anyways...

DS

New Super Mario Bros
WarioWare: D.I.Y. (Game Builder Garage is too complicated for me)
Super Princess Peach

3DS

New Super Mario Bros 2
Paper Mario: Sticker Star (I don't care what the people say, I actually liked this game albeit not on the same league as its three predecessors)
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
Mario Party: Star Rush
Mario Golf: World Tour
Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure
Ultimate NES Remix
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Metroid: Samus Returns
Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Kirby: Planet Robobot
Kirby's Blowout Blast
Pokémon Sun/Moon
The Legend of Dark Witch Episode 2: The Price of Desire
The Legend of Dark Witch Episode 3: Wisdom and Lunacy (though fully develop it so that it's actually good instead of being the worst mainline entry in the series)
Drancia Saga