@-wc- The 3DS remake actually makes very few changes to the masks design-wise. If I remember correctly, only one has a different appearance and only one other one has a different name, and that's it.
Best version for me would be the PC port version that came out last year, 2 Ship 2 Harkinian. It has since added many great features that neither the original N64 or the 3DS versions have.
After this Splatfest, at least here in America, Big Man has officially won more Splatfests than Shiver. This was his 10th victory, while Shiver has won 9.
Meanwhile, poor Frye has still only won 3 Splatfests.
Fun fact: You know how the pause screen music has Wario constantly saying "nyah nyah" over and over and over? If you wait a whopping 50 minutes (seriously), he says "sorry" and then stops doing it after that lol.
Since they started making them, I ignored Nintendo's mobile games for the longest time. I just wasn't really interested. But I finally decided to give Super Mario Run a shot a few years ago, knowing that it was only a one-time fee.
I'm glad I did, because I think Super Mario Run is very underrated. Even outside of it being great for a mobile game, I also think it can stand among the mainline console Mario games. Being forced to keep running the entire time so that you have to focus on jumping properly and carefully is a nice change of pace from the other games in the series with more traditional platforming.
@VHSGREMLIN @Mirastrix Super Mario Run doesn't have predatory pricing. You only have to pay one modest fee to unlock everything the game has to offer, and then there are no more monetary transactions at any point after that.
That being their first mobile game, if only they kept that pricing system with all of their following games...
@Twilite9 Those additions would be great, yeah. For me, I'm personally hoping for a Mirror Ace League, just to have consistency with the other three Leagues.
IMO 3D Land and 3D World are both great in their own ways. I do think I prefer 3D World overall, though I'd say 3D Land has a better main theme song than 3D World does.
@Bolt_Strike Yeah, thinking about it more, GBA Treetop Tumble is fine in those other stages, and other than that, that's really the only musical dissonance I remember in the GBA version.
My main problem with the GBA soundtrack is as I said above how many of the tracks have "empty" sections of ambient noise, at least six of them:
Stilt Village
Frosty Frolics
Enchanted Riverbank (Ground)
Rockface Rumble
Cavern Caprice
Jungle Jitter
Ambient noise isn't inherently a bad thing, to be clear. It just happens a little too frequently in the soundtrack for my tastes, especially since you hear these level themes multiple times throughout the game.
But I agree with you that various other songs in the GBA version do sound better, like Mill Fever, Water World and Cascade Capers. Honestly, I'm about half and half on it.
P.S. I hope you don't think you're being attacked here for your opinions, you have every right to them. Just trying to have friendly discourse about it. =)
@Bolt_Strike Well, perhaps "infinitely" was a bit much, but at the very least the GBA Treetop Tumble being cheerful and bouncy does not really fit a stage where you are being chased by a giant tree-cutting saw IMO.
@Bolt_Strike Having listened to both versions, I like some of the GBA tracks better, like Stilt Village, Mill Fever, and Water World. But too many of the other tracks have long sections of nothing but ambient sounds, which the SNES tracks did not have.
Also, Treetop Tumble fits the treetop stages infinitely better in the SNES version compared to the GBA version, especially in the level Ripsaw Rage.
I played the "fake gambling" casino games in Super Mario 64 DS quite a lot when I was younger.
It never gave me the desire to gamble for real.
So I don't think Balatro should be rated 18+ just for featuring a game (poker) that is associated with gambling if the actual game (Balatro) features no monetary transactions of any kind, just like the casino games in Mario.
@CJD87 @Zaphod42 You might already know, but the Ship of Harkinian devs already released a PC port of Majora's Mask earlier this year. It's called 2 Ship 2 Harkinian.
For those interested, there's a fan hack of DK64 out there called Donkey Kong 64: Tag Anywhere, which lets you instantly switch between any character you've unlocked at any time using the D-Pad. It's a really nice way to mitigate the frustration with the character-specific collectibles.
Pretty cool, though my first time playing this game was a really good colorization fan hack, so it would likely be hard for me to go back to the original monochrome version.
Really enjoyed the remake. The aesthetic changes alone, like the new character talking noises and animations, really made the game feel more alive than the original. Very happy with it.
@LadyCharlie I would argue Donkey Kong 64 is relatively better as a collect-a-thon, because once you unlock all of the playable characters in the first few levels of that game, each level afterward can be fully completed in one go, since they are distinct and unconnected from one another, similar to Banjo-Kazooie.
It's not like in Banjo-Tooie where the multitude of interconnections between all the levels can make completing every objective very confusing.
@LXP8 That's a good question. Didn't really think about that.
I think I'll say that, yes, Four Swords Anniversary Edition was a DSi game, but it was not a completely new game in the series, so I wouldn't count it as a DS game in the same way as Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.
Similarly, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury was a Switch game, but not a completely new Mario game like Super Mario Odyssey or Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
@Samalik @obijuankanoobie It was rereleased on DSi and 3DS, but I'd still call Four Swords a GBA game, since it first released as part of the GBA port of A Link to the Past.
Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks would be the official DS Zelda games.
Unfortunately, the issue with the limited-time challenges being off by one week for a while has not been fixed, so I'm stuck without one of the spin colors that I was never given any chance to get, all because one of the limited-time challenges from weeks ago incorrectly lasted for 2 weeks instead of 1 for some reason... 😮💨
Proof that improper translations of a different language can seriously impact the response to it. Not to mention selectively clipping a piece of the dialogue out of context.
I consider this unfortunate. I used this emulator not to play games for free but to play mods for games I already bought, because I didn't want to hack my Switch.
I wish that more people would understand that just because a video game has more inclusive options for players, it does not mean that the developers have gone "woke" or are "pushing an agenda".
People come in many different types. It should only be fair to let everyone be able to have something they can better relate to when playing games.
@JohnnyMind Just curious, do you pre-prepare your weekly "What are you playing" comments? They're always impressively comprehensive for being posted so soon after the article drops lol. 😉
In preparation for the release of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, I've been playing Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the first time, since it's a previous game in the series heavily featuring Zelda. Enjoying it so far! I think it's really underrated. The relationship between Link and Zelda in the game is great. 🙂
Also, to enhance my playing experience, I'm playing the game on my phone using the Android DS emulator DraStic, because the emulator has the option to double the standard resolution of the DS. For DS games that heavily use 3D models like Spirit Tracks, the doubled resolution makes the generally highly-pixelated models much nicer to look at.
Below are before-and-after screenshots of the game on my phone, with the top being the standard resolution and the bottom being the doubled resolution. 👍
@FrowardCoast440 If that's true then that's unfortunate. I guess they wouldn't want to acknowledge that in the patch notes. The fact that the notes label it as improving the gameplay experience is also rather frustrating...
As much as we like to joke about Nintendo and stability concerning their software and hardware updates, it is in all honesty a little irritating how vague their patch notes can be.
Can't they be at least a little more specific about what is actually being fixed/changed? 🤔
Based on what I've seen, the world map layout seems to heavily resemble A Link to the Past in some places, but is completely different or extends further out in others.
Most likely won't be playing this as being a completionist I'd probably go crazy trying to 101% complete it, but cool that it's on Switch now. I've watched videos of people playing it very well and it's mesmerizing.
@abbyhitter I don't know much about it myself but as I understand it there was a very recently released unpopular Sony-published game called "Concord" that was just shut down after like only 2 weeks.
Glad for other people who like it, but I've never been a fan of Hero Modes in the Zelda franchise. Completely removing recovery hearts just doesn't sound like any fun at all to me.
If the cards in a pack are stacked on top of each other, meaning the upper cards are covering the lower cards, how do x-rays help identify which cards are in a pack? Or am I misunderstanding?
Comments 217
Re: Nintendo Music's Latest Update Adds 3DS 'StreetPass Mii Plaza' Soundtrack
Great tracks here. Some of the Streetpass DLC games also had some really great music, like Mii Force or Ultimate Angler.
Re: Can You Name These Zelda: Majora's Mask Masks?
@-wc- I was able to 100% this game as a kid... with the help of the Nintendo Power strategy guide lol. 😅
Re: Can You Name These Zelda: Majora's Mask Masks?
@-wc- The 3DS remake actually makes very few changes to the masks design-wise. If I remember correctly, only one has a different appearance and only one other one has a different name, and that's it.
Re: Can You Name These Zelda: Majora's Mask Masks?
Have played Majora's Mask many times so got 24/24 very quickly.
I sometimes wonder how Link sees out of some of these masks, like the Couple's Mask or Kamaro's Mask lol.
Re: Poll: 10 Years On, Which Version Of Zelda: Majora's Mask Is Best?
Best version for me would be the PC port version that came out last year, 2 Ship 2 Harkinian. It has since added many great features that neither the original N64 or the 3DS versions have.
Re: Team White Chocolate Grabs The Win In Splatoon 3's Returning Sweet Treat Splatfest
After this Splatfest, at least here in America, Big Man has officially won more Splatfests than Shiver. This was his 10th victory, while Shiver has won 9.
Meanwhile, poor Frye has still only won 3 Splatfests.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Wario World (GameCube)
Fun fact: You know how the pause screen music has Wario constantly saying "nyah nyah" over and over and over? If you wait a whopping 50 minutes (seriously), he says "sorry" and then stops doing it after that lol.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Wario World (GameCube)
Japanese version is nice, but went for the US / EU version as it's framed really well with Wario in the center and his treasure surrounding him.
Also a great game to play.
Re: Nintendo Is Developing New Mobile Game Apps, Unsurprisingly
Since they started making them, I ignored Nintendo's mobile games for the longest time. I just wasn't really interested. But I finally decided to give Super Mario Run a shot a few years ago, knowing that it was only a one-time fee.
I'm glad I did, because I think Super Mario Run is very underrated. Even outside of it being great for a mobile game, I also think it can stand among the mainline console Mario games. Being forced to keep running the entire time so that you have to focus on jumping properly and carefully is a nice change of pace from the other games in the series with more traditional platforming.
Re: Nintendo Is Developing New Mobile Game Apps, Unsurprisingly
@VHSGREMLIN @Mirastrix Super Mario Run doesn't have predatory pricing. You only have to pay one modest fee to unlock everything the game has to offer, and then there are no more monetary transactions at any point after that.
That being their first mobile game, if only they kept that pricing system with all of their following games...
Re: F-Zero 99 Has Been Updated To Version 1.5.6, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@Twilite9 Those additions would be great, yeah. For me, I'm personally hoping for a Mirror Ace League, just to have consistency with the other three Leagues.
Re: Harvest Moon's New "Cozy" Switch Bundle Revives Two 3DS Titles This Summer
@PinderSchloss I haven't played it myself, so you can take my recommendation with a grain of salt, but I've seen a lot of praise about Stardew Valley.
Re: Random: This Super Mario 3D Land Mod Makes Us Long For A Switch Port
IMO 3D Land and 3D World are both great in their own ways. I do think I prefer 3D World overall, though I'd say 3D Land has a better main theme song than 3D World does.
Re: 'Nintendo Music' Adds Another Donkey Kong Soundtrack, Here's Every Song Included
@Bolt_Strike Yeah, thinking about it more, GBA Treetop Tumble is fine in those other stages, and other than that, that's really the only musical dissonance I remember in the GBA version.
My main problem with the GBA soundtrack is as I said above how many of the tracks have "empty" sections of ambient noise, at least six of them:
Ambient noise isn't inherently a bad thing, to be clear. It just happens a little too frequently in the soundtrack for my tastes, especially since you hear these level themes multiple times throughout the game.
But I agree with you that various other songs in the GBA version do sound better, like Mill Fever, Water World and Cascade Capers. Honestly, I'm about half and half on it.
P.S. I hope you don't think you're being attacked here for your opinions, you have every right to them. Just trying to have friendly discourse about it. =)
Re: 'Nintendo Music' Adds Another Donkey Kong Soundtrack, Here's Every Song Included
@Bolt_Strike Well, perhaps "infinitely" was a bit much, but at the very least the GBA Treetop Tumble being cheerful and bouncy does not really fit a stage where you are being chased by a giant tree-cutting saw IMO.
Re: 'Nintendo Music' Adds Another Donkey Kong Soundtrack, Here's Every Song Included
@Bolt_Strike Having listened to both versions, I like some of the GBA tracks better, like Stilt Village, Mill Fever, and Water World. But too many of the other tracks have long sections of nothing but ambient sounds, which the SNES tracks did not have.
Also, Treetop Tumble fits the treetop stages infinitely better in the SNES version compared to the GBA version, especially in the level Ripsaw Rage.
Re: Random: Mario Galaxy Returns Next Year In "The Biggest Super Mario Odyssey Mod Yet"
I love these kind of ambitious fan projects, especially when they are able to come to full fruition. Good luck to the devs.
Re: F-Zero 99 Updated To Version 1.5.5, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Awesome! I can get the rewards from last year's Frozen Knight League event that I missed! I'm so thrilled about that! 😀
Re: Balatro Developer Calls Out 'PEGI' For Its "Weirdo" 18+ Rating
I played the "fake gambling" casino games in Super Mario 64 DS quite a lot when I was younger.
It never gave me the desire to gamble for real.
So I don't think Balatro should be rated 18+ just for featuring a game (poker) that is associated with gambling if the actual game (Balatro) features no monetary transactions of any kind, just like the casino games in Mario.
Re: Nintendo Switch Finally Surpasses PlayStation 2's Lifetime Sales In The US
Very cool. Congrats to the Switch!
Re: Zelda: Majora's Mask Decompilation Project Now At 100%
@CJD87 @Zaphod42 You might already know, but the Ship of Harkinian devs already released a PC port of Majora's Mask earlier this year. It's called 2 Ship 2 Harkinian.
Re: Poll: Okay, It's Time To Ask The Obvious - Will We Get Donkey Kong 64 On NSO?
For those interested, there's a fan hack of DK64 out there called Donkey Kong 64: Tag Anywhere, which lets you instantly switch between any character you've unlocked at any time using the D-Pad. It's a really nice way to mitigate the frustration with the character-specific collectibles.
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy Library With Another Classic
Pretty cool, though my first time playing this game was a really good colorization fan hack, so it would likely be hard for me to go back to the original monochrome version.
Re: Anniversary: Donkey Kong Country Is Now 30 Years Old (SNES)
@batmanbud2 Glad to see another person's support of DKC3. It's my favorite of the original trilogy.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Hatris
The US cover is nice and simple in my opinion. The Japan cover is too overly gaudy and colorful by comparison.
Re: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door On Switch Has Already Outsold The GameCube Original
Really enjoyed the remake. The aesthetic changes alone, like the new character talking noises and animations, really made the game feel more alive than the original. Very happy with it.
Re: 'Nintendo Music' Is A New Mobile App Exclusive To Switch Online Members
Removed
Re: Review: Banjo-Tooie (Nintendo 64) - An Enormous Adventure With Charm Up The Kazoo
@LadyCharlie I would argue Donkey Kong 64 is relatively better as a collect-a-thon, because once you unlock all of the playable characters in the first few levels of that game, each level afterward can be fully completed in one go, since they are distinct and unconnected from one another, similar to Banjo-Kazooie.
It's not like in Banjo-Tooie where the multitude of interconnections between all the levels can make completing every objective very confusing.
Re: Random: Creator Of "Mysterious" Zelda: Breath Of The Wild DS Demake Sets The Record Straight
@LXP8 That's a good question. Didn't really think about that.
I think I'll say that, yes, Four Swords Anniversary Edition was a DSi game, but it was not a completely new game in the series, so I wouldn't count it as a DS game in the same way as Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.
Similarly, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury was a Switch game, but not a completely new Mario game like Super Mario Odyssey or Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
That's my take on it.
Re: Random: Creator Of "Mysterious" Zelda: Breath Of The Wild DS Demake Sets The Record Straight
@Samalik @obijuankanoobie It was rereleased on DSi and 3DS, but I'd still call Four Swords a GBA game, since it first released as part of the GBA port of A Link to the Past.
Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks would be the official DS Zelda games.
Re: F-Zero 99 Updated To Version 1.5.1, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Unfortunately, the issue with the limited-time challenges being off by one week for a while has not been fixed, so I'm stuck without one of the spin colors that I was never given any chance to get, all because one of the limited-time challenges from weeks ago incorrectly lasted for 2 weeks instead of 1 for some reason... 😮💨
Re: Review: Crow Country (Switch) - A PS1-Style Horror Homage That Blends Old With New
From what I recently learned in a podcast I listened to, the people who made this also made Snipperclips! (https://interactive.libsyn.com/from-nintendos-snipperclips-to-crow-country-with-adam-tom-vian)
Re: Nintendo Switch System Update 19.0.0 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
I'm legit getting a little tired of these super-generic patch notes. I'd sure like it if Nintendo would be a little more specific.
I mean, just compare this with the patch notes for F-Zero 99: (https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/10/f-zero-99-update-version-1-5-0-adds-five-new-tracks-satellaview-content-and-much-more)
Re: Dragon Quest's Creator Criticises 'Mistranslation' Of DQ3 Remake Costume Comments
Proof that improper translations of a different language can seriously impact the response to it. Not to mention selectively clipping a piece of the dialogue out of context.
Re: Dragon Quest Creator Chimes In On Characters Showing Less Skin In Upcoming HD-2D Remake
@Gamepro500 My pronouns are "he/him", in fact. 😐
Re: F-Zero 99 Update (Version 1.5.0) Adds Five New Tracks, Anniversary Event & More
F-Zero 99 continues to be my favorite of all of the Battle Royale games on the Switch. It's grown so much since it first premiered a year ago.
Very exciting to see them acknowledge the long-lost BS F-Zero tracks!
Re: Nintendo Slays Switch Emulator Ryujinx
Not everyone who engages in emulation just wants to play games for free.
Re: Nintendo Slays Switch Emulator Ryujinx
I consider this unfortunate. I used this emulator not to play games for free but to play mods for games I already bought, because I didn't want to hack my Switch.
Re: Dragon Quest Creator Chimes In On Characters Showing Less Skin In Upcoming HD-2D Remake
I wish that more people would understand that just because a video game has more inclusive options for players, it does not mean that the developers have gone "woke" or are "pushing an agenda".
People come in many different types. It should only be fair to let everyone be able to have something they can better relate to when playing games.
Re: Miyamoto: Nintendo Won't Be Opening Museums In Other Locations
Unfortunate, considering the costs of air travel. It seems pretty cool.
As a U.S. resident, I guess the closest I could get would be to visit Super Nintendo World in California some time.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (14th September)
@JohnnyMind Just curious, do you pre-prepare your weekly "What are you playing" comments? They're always impressively comprehensive for being posted so soon after the article drops lol. 😉
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (14th September)
In preparation for the release of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, I've been playing Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the first time, since it's a previous game in the series heavily featuring Zelda. Enjoying it so far! I think it's really underrated. The relationship between Link and Zelda in the game is great. 🙂
Also, to enhance my playing experience, I'm playing the game on my phone using the Android DS emulator DraStic, because the emulator has the option to double the standard resolution of the DS. For DS games that heavily use 3D models like Spirit Tracks, the doubled resolution makes the generally highly-pixelated models much nicer to look at.
Below are before-and-after screenshots of the game on my phone, with the top being the standard resolution and the bottom being the doubled resolution. 👍
Re: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Has Been Updated To Version 3.0.3, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@FrowardCoast440 If that's true then that's unfortunate. I guess they wouldn't want to acknowledge that in the patch notes. The fact that the notes label it as improving the gameplay experience is also rather frustrating...
Re: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Has Been Updated To Version 3.0.3, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
As much as we like to joke about Nintendo and stability concerning their software and hardware updates, it is in all honesty a little irritating how vague their patch notes can be.
Can't they be at least a little more specific about what is actually being fixed/changed? 🤔
Re: Here's Another Look At The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom World Map
Based on what I've seen, the world map layout seems to heavily resemble A Link to the Past in some places, but is completely different or extends further out in others.
Re: Back Page: Dark World, Lorule, Termina - A Voyage Home To Hyrule Via Zelda's 'Other' Worlds
What about New Hyrule from Spirit Tracks?
Re: Review: Pizza Tower (Switch) - An Ingenious Platformer That Beats Wario At His Own Game
Most likely won't be playing this as being a completionist I'd probably go crazy trying to 101% complete it, but cool that it's on Switch now. I've watched videos of people playing it very well and it's mesmerizing.
Re: Mario & Luigi: Brothership Trailer Welcomes You To Concordia
@abbyhitter I don't know much about it myself but as I understand it there was a very recently released unpopular Sony-published game called "Concord" that was just shut down after like only 2 weeks.
Re: Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Reportedly Offers 'Normal' and 'Hero' Difficulty From The Get-Go
Glad for other people who like it, but I've never been a fan of Hero Modes in the Zelda franchise. Completely removing recovery hearts just doesn't sound like any fun at all to me.
Re: Feature: The Company You Can Pay To X-Ray Unopened Pokémon Card Packs Speaks Out
If the cards in a pack are stacked on top of each other, meaning the upper cards are covering the lower cards, how do x-rays help identify which cards are in a pack? Or am I misunderstanding?