@Olliemar28 It looks convoluted as a whole at first glance, but it makes a lot of sense if you look at how the timeline evolved game to game as they were released, since that evolution was a lot more natural with the chronological placement of the various games in relation to each other being decently clear to a point. The first 15-20 years of the franchise were pretty straight forward (well, straight forward with minor branching).
@8bit-Man They presumably don't want to lock down where BOTW and TOTK are just yet, since they seem almost in the future and take cues from several timelines (so it could be in a merged future timeline, but they don't want to establish that until a game does so, etc).
Not sure Kirby ever really needed a timeline. It’s not like, say, Zelda, where the timeline was pretty clear for the first 17 years of the franchise before Wind Waker started branching things off. Or Metroid where things were very sequential to begin with.
Even the Mario series gave up on telling somewhat connected storylines after about 10 years- and Kirby is even less story-focused than Mario was back then.
Good to see some common sense- though I'm amazed that the DualShock actually managed to make it's already-absolutely-awful face button labeling scheme worse, lol...
Integrated JoyCons is a terrible idea. Pachter-terrible.
It's not comparable to the 3DS/2DS. 3DS games were able to be played in 2D mode to begin with (if you moved 3D slider to off). Removing the 3D didn't prevent you from playing any existing games (you might have a trickier time with depth-based puzzles, but you could still play them).
But fusing the JoyCons would result in many Switch games (or game modes) being incompatible with this "Switch Mini". And for something aimed presumably at kids to be purchased by parents, you'd want things to be as non-complex as possible when it comes to title compatibility.
Not to mention it drops the "play with a friend on the go" aspect of the console that I cannot see Nintendo abandoning since that's sort of their big thing there.
A more likely solution, IMO? Another clamshell design. Joycons attach to a a central bottom piece and the screen is the top half so it basically becomes a bigger GBA SP.
Now, that might make it too thick (or the screen might be too heavy to be the top half of the unit) so maybe the JoyCons-on-the-bottom could be just for storage, you unclip them then attach them to the screen's sides like normal.
Leave it to Michael Pachter to make the dumbest possible prediction about a Nintendo console. And this one is pretty stupid even for him. Has there ever been another soul on this planet so utterly incapable of understanding Nintendo products than that guy?
Illusion of Gaia is still one of my all time favorites. Still have the t-shirt I got with a special edition (or was it just a preorder bonus? I forget) of the game.
These are always interesting but rarely are they better than the original, IMO. But, I must say, I want a download of that Sim City music. It's always meant to be relaxing background music and, given how long it takes to do some things in that game (loading maps), having the fresher music actually kinda helps, heh.
@BlackenedHalo I may be misremembering the source but I thought it was the manual. If not, there is definitively an original reference somewhere specifying that it’s the same Link/hero “from ALTTP” (if memory serves, it even had the picture of Link with it). It’s come up in Zelda timeline discussions before over the past 15+ years so I made a point of remembering it’s existence. I’ll try to find it (a little harder these days since so many search results talk about Hyrule Historia now).
As far as the Oracles go, the implication is that they are set after ALTTP (as Ganon is defeated/trying to be resurrected) and the ship at the end is the ship from LA’s opening sequence, implying that was where Link was going next.
However, I acknowledge that that connection is less concrete that those that are between the previous games, which is why I specified “6-8 games”in my initial comment (6 if you don’t count the Oracles, 8 if you do).
@blondeandy Zelda II’s story clearly follows up the events of the original game in too many ways to list.
ALTTP was advertised as a prequel with the ancestors of the original Link and Zelda in both Nintendo Power and the back of the game’s box.
LA’s story/manual specifically states that it’s the same hero from ALTTP (and, thus, a sequel).
OOT took the backstory of ALTTP and expanded on it, thus a prequel to ALTTP.
MM was clearly a sequel to OOT.
The Oracle games made a specific connection to LA with the ship.
So, you have the first 6-8 games in the series with clear sequel/prequel relationships to one another and a general story flow. It’s not until the last 14 years or so where things started to get muddied (ironically around the time the games openly embraced the multiple Links theory).
If they can write the story and characters to the emotions of the music (and numerous interpretations of the music), then that could guide them to a good movie. If they ignore that, it will make their job that much more difficult.
Still waiting for "short hair/eye patch" female Robin to get some love, but I suppose that will never happen unless they introduce character customization options.
But still how do you NOT go with the character wih the eye patch?
Definitely have to get this one, if only for SF2 alone though a proper copy of Yoshi's Island is also welcome.
Plus, I seem to be in the minority with my preference for the look of the North American SNES design. The alternate international design always looked like an answering machine, not a video game system (although i do like the four-color buttons).
Dual screen play really fired my imagination when it came to game design ideas, so it's really sad to see it abandoned. Would be nice if the GamePad was backwards compatible for virtual console and original second screen options.
For all the claims of the SNES being unattractive, I always found the Super Famicom to be far uglier. The SFC felt crushed/smooshed and, I dunno, like a non-gaming piece of hardware- like an answering machine or part of a blender.
That said, I did like the 4 color logo of the SFC better. I used the ASCII SNES controller as my main pad and it uses that scheme.
@patbacknitro18 I don't think the old man at the end of Zelda 2 is giving you the Triforce. I think he's supposed to be the wizard of the backstory and you're taking it back from him. But it was never very clear.
@smashbrolink If the mountains could be thrown in on a whim, surely the Koroks could as well? It seems like Aunouma just liked the species and would include them regardless of timeline concerns since that's usually not their priority.
@smashbrolink Your reasoning is sound but still leaves open the possibility of another event forcing the Koroks to evolve in the Fallen Hero timeline.
Look at it this way- water levels surrounding Hyrule clearly rose between OOT/ALTTP and LOZ/AOL. What was once surrounded. by mountains to the east is now flooded by ocean.
Given that the Kokiri lived in the east originally, it's reasonable to conclude that it is possible that the flooding of that region forced a Korok evolution in the spanning centuries if the Kokiri didn't/couldn't/wouldn't move westward (wanting to stay near the Deku Tree, for instance).
So if everything else indicates a likely post-Z2 setting, there remains a storytelling possibility that explains the Korok incongruity.
My initial theory was that BOTW might be set around/after the original two NES games. Old Hyrule is in an age of decay and ruin (like in Zelda 1) and the kingdom has been vastly expanded beyond the old borders (like in Zelda II).
On top of that, we have the intentional open world design from LOZ that BOTW is taking inspiration of, as well as more direct throwbacks with the old man and LOZ manual art mountains. And we have the introduction of technology to suggest a further progression in time (not to mention the Master Sword in a state of decay as well).
If so, it'd be the first game to advance the Zelda timeline since Zelda II. An appropriate milestone for the anniversary.
"Play it Loud" was my favorite but that could just because it was at the height of the 16-bit wars with Super Metriod, etc.
I'm still surprised they didn't bring back the GCN-era "Who Are You?" slogan for the Wii U, because they could have very easily repurposed that into "Who Are U?", with the "U" stylized as the one in the Wii U logo.
@GoldenGamer88 My guess is this method helps encourage people to consider games they might not have otherwise. Still, so long as they rotate through them often enough within the lifespan of the coins...
The GamePad, due to the asynchronous possibilities and it's mandatory inclusion with the system allowing games to actually be able to count on a player having it (unlike every other optional specialty controller in history), represented the greatest expansion of new game design possibilities resulting from a controller (if not a hardware feature in general) since the introduction of the analog stick.
It really is a shame its potential was not fully exploited as there are very few games out there where you couldn't look at them and instantly come up with several ways of how those games wouldn't be better using a GamePad.
@ZAZX "more expensive than DLC" is relative. A single amiibo for a single game might be more expensive (depending on the amount of content the amiibo provides for that title) but a single amiibo that is compatible with multiple games (like Mario or Link) would actually be much cheaper than the combined total of DLC for each individual title- and that amiibo's DLC cost would continue to go down every time a new game is released that utilizes it- with no known timeframe limitation.
So it actually ends up being more like the equivalent of an infinite season pass of DLC across a (potentially unlimited) number of titles.
I think if SM3DW had put a little more effort into its story, people might have been more excited for Sprixie's inclusion. I mean, the only way to even find out what here name was/where you were was by pausing the game and reading the sign in the background of the menu.
Of COURSE he thinks it's a disaster- he wants Nintendo to fail/become a mobile-only software company and wanted this entry into mobile games to show or suggest ports of core franchises supporting that hope. But his foolishness is proven wrong by this news (if even in a limited capacity) and he can't accept other possibilities.
Block Blockers is a fun maze, I'm really proud of that one. Noki Bay adapts parts of a Sunshine level in a simulated vertical level and Goomba Gauntlet is a hard one with Goombas chasing you.
Twilight Princess doesn't get as much love as it should- I think this is because the first third-to-half of the game feels like a retread of OOT (Forest Tempke, Water Temple, Death Mountain, etc) and this was around the time that the ALTTP/OOT structure of 3-sword-7 was getting stale as well, so it felt more obvious than it would have otherwise.
But the back half of the game was very creative with things like the Spinner rail tracks and such adding really new experiences to the Zelda series. It's just unfortunate that a lot of people may not have bothered to go that far into the game after forming those initial impressions.
Comments 33
Re: The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Has Been Added To The Official Timeline
@Olliemar28 It looks convoluted as a whole at first glance, but it makes a lot of sense if you look at how the timeline evolved game to game as they were released, since that evolution was a lot more natural with the chronological placement of the various games in relation to each other being decently clear to a point. The first 15-20 years of the franchise were pretty straight forward (well, straight forward with minor branching).
Re: The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Has Been Added To The Official Timeline
@8bit-Man They presumably don't want to lock down where BOTW and TOTK are just yet, since they seem almost in the future and take cues from several timelines (so it could be in a merged future timeline, but they don't want to establish that until a game does so, etc).
Re: There's "No Clear Timeline" For Kirby's Game Stories, According To HAL Laboratory's General Director
Not sure Kirby ever really needed a timeline. It’s not like, say, Zelda, where the timeline was pretty clear for the first 17 years of the franchise before Wind Waker started branching things off. Or Metroid where things were very sequential to begin with.
Even the Mario series gave up on telling somewhat connected storylines after about 10 years- and Kirby is even less story-focused than Mario was back then.
Re: Video: First 4 Figures Unboxes Its Stunning Varia Suit Samus Statue
That's amazing. if they did a light-up version of the Gravity Suit from MP2, I might actually be tempted to drop money on that...t
Re: Random: Don't Worry, Nintendo Switch's 'X' Button Is Still Called 'X'
Good to see some common sense- though I'm amazed that the DualShock actually managed to make it's already-absolutely-awful face button labeling scheme worse, lol...
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Want From A Switch Mini?
Integrated JoyCons is a terrible idea. Pachter-terrible.
It's not comparable to the 3DS/2DS. 3DS games were able to be played in 2D mode to begin with (if you moved 3D slider to off). Removing the 3D didn't prevent you from playing any existing games (you might have a trickier time with depth-based puzzles, but you could still play them).
But fusing the JoyCons would result in many Switch games (or game modes) being incompatible with this "Switch Mini". And for something aimed presumably at kids to be purchased by parents, you'd want things to be as non-complex as possible when it comes to title compatibility.
Not to mention it drops the "play with a friend on the go" aspect of the console that I cannot see Nintendo abandoning since that's sort of their big thing there.
A more likely solution, IMO? Another clamshell design. Joycons attach to a a central bottom piece and the screen is the top half so it basically becomes a bigger GBA SP.
Now, that might make it too thick (or the screen might be too heavy to be the top half of the unit) so maybe the JoyCons-on-the-bottom could be just for storage, you unclip them then attach them to the screen's sides like normal.
Re: Gaming Analysts Predict 'Switch Pro' And 'Switch Lite' Revisions For 2019
Leave it to Michael Pachter to make the dumbest possible prediction about a Nintendo console. And this one is pretty stupid even for him. Has there ever been another soul on this planet so utterly incapable of understanding Nintendo products than that guy?
Re: SNES Classics Illusion of Gaia And Mystical Ninja Receive MSU1 Audio Support
Illusion of Gaia is still one of my all time favorites. Still have the t-shirt I got with a special edition (or was it just a preorder bonus? I forget) of the game.
Re: It's Been A Bumper Month For Super Nintendo MSU-1 Audio Enhancement Patches
The joy is discovered, thanks.
Re: Soapbox: Miitomo's Days Are Numbered, But Its Death Was Written In The Stars From The Start
I would have liked for them to maintain the minigames offline- I rather liked the arcade plinko Mii drop-type games you could win costumes in.
Re: It's Been A Bumper Month For Super Nintendo MSU-1 Audio Enhancement Patches
These are always interesting but rarely are they better than the original, IMO. But, I must say, I want a download of that Sim City music. It's always meant to be relaxing background music and, given how long it takes to do some things in that game (loading maps), having the fresher music actually kinda helps, heh.
Re: Breath of the Wild Developers Discuss the Zelda Timeline
@BlackenedHalo I may be misremembering the source but I thought it was the manual. If not, there is definitively an original reference somewhere specifying that it’s the same Link/hero “from ALTTP” (if memory serves, it even had the picture of Link with it). It’s come up in Zelda timeline discussions before over the past 15+ years so I made a point of remembering it’s existence. I’ll try to find it (a little harder these days since so many search results talk about Hyrule Historia now).
As far as the Oracles go, the implication is that they are set after ALTTP (as Ganon is defeated/trying to be resurrected) and the ship at the end is the ship from LA’s opening sequence, implying that was where Link was going next.
However, I acknowledge that that connection is less concrete that those that are between the previous games, which is why I specified “6-8 games”in my initial comment (6 if you don’t count the Oracles, 8 if you do).
Re: Breath of the Wild Developers Discuss the Zelda Timeline
@blondeandy Zelda II’s story clearly follows up the events of the original game in too many ways to list.
ALTTP was advertised as a prequel with the ancestors of the original Link and Zelda in both Nintendo Power and the back of the game’s box.
LA’s story/manual specifically states that it’s the same hero from ALTTP (and, thus, a sequel).
OOT took the backstory of ALTTP and expanded on it, thus a prequel to ALTTP.
MM was clearly a sequel to OOT.
The Oracle games made a specific connection to LA with the ship.
So, you have the first 6-8 games in the series with clear sequel/prequel relationships to one another and a general story flow. It’s not until the last 14 years or so where things started to get muddied (ironically around the time the games openly embraced the multiple Links theory).
Re: Hardware Review: The SNES Classic Mini Is The Perfect Link To The Past
Any word on if the multitap, when used in conjunction with an original-controller-adapter, will work for Secret of Mana 3-player mode?
Re: The Mega Man Movie Has Begun the Early Stages of Production
If they can write the story and characters to the emotions of the music (and numerous interpretations of the music), then that could guide them to a good movie. If they ignore that, it will make their job that much more difficult.
Re: Cordelia and Female Robin Added to Playable Cast in Fire Emblem Warriors
Still waiting for "short hair/eye patch" female Robin to get some love, but I suppose that will never happen unless they introduce character customization options.
But still how do you NOT go with the character wih the eye patch?
Re: Nintendo Announces Super NES Classic Edition
Definitely have to get this one, if only for SF2 alone though a proper copy of Yoshi's Island is also welcome.
Plus, I seem to be in the minority with my preference for the look of the North American SNES design. The alternate international design always looked like an answering machine, not a video game system (although i do like the four-color buttons).
Re: Soapbox: You Should Probably Avoid Capcom's Mega Man Mobile Ports
Wasn't Mega Man II already available on iOS officially? I bought thata really long time ago back when all i had was an iPod touch...
Re: Poll: Nintendo Switch Delivers Single Screen Gaming - Will You Miss the Dual Screen Concept?
Dual screen play really fired my imagination when it came to game design ideas, so it's really sad to see it abandoned. Would be nice if the GamePad was backwards compatible for virtual console and original second screen options.
Re: Anniversary: The Super Nintendo Is 25 Years Old Today
For all the claims of the SNES being unattractive, I always found the Super Famicom to be far uglier. The SFC felt crushed/smooshed and, I dunno, like a non-gaming piece of hardware- like an answering machine or part of a blender.
That said, I did like the 4 color logo of the SFC better. I used the ASCII SNES controller as my main pad and it uses that scheme.
Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?
@patbacknitro18 I don't think the old man at the end of Zelda 2 is giving you the Triforce. I think he's supposed to be the wizard of the backstory and you're taking it back from him. But it was never very clear.
Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?
@smashbrolink If the mountains could be thrown in on a whim, surely the Koroks could as well? It seems like Aunouma just liked the species and would include them regardless of timeline concerns since that's usually not their priority.
Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?
@smashbrolink Your reasoning is sound but still leaves open the possibility of another event forcing the Koroks to evolve in the Fallen Hero timeline.
Look at it this way- water levels surrounding Hyrule clearly rose between OOT/ALTTP and LOZ/AOL. What was once surrounded. by mountains to the east is now flooded by ocean.
Given that the Kokiri lived in the east originally, it's reasonable to conclude that it is possible that the flooding of that region forced a Korok evolution in the spanning centuries if the Kokiri didn't/couldn't/wouldn't move westward (wanting to stay near the Deku Tree, for instance).
So if everything else indicates a likely post-Z2 setting, there remains a storytelling possibility that explains the Korok incongruity.
Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fit Into the Zelda Timeline?
My initial theory was that BOTW might be set around/after the original two NES games. Old Hyrule is in an age of decay and ruin (like in Zelda 1) and the kingdom has been vastly expanded beyond the old borders (like in Zelda II).
On top of that, we have the intentional open world design from LOZ that BOTW is taking inspiration of, as well as more direct throwbacks with the old man and LOZ manual art mountains. And we have the introduction of technology to suggest a further progression in time (not to mention the Master Sword in a state of decay as well).
If so, it'd be the first game to advance the Zelda timeline since Zelda II. An appropriate milestone for the anniversary.
Re: Nintendo of America Has a Snazzy New Slogan - "There's No Play Like It"
"Play it Loud" was my favorite but that could just because it was at the height of the 16-bit wars with Super Metriod, etc.
I'm still surprised they didn't bring back the GCN-era "Who Are You?" slogan for the Wii U, because they could have very easily repurposed that into "Who Are U?", with the "U" stylized as the one in the Wii U logo.
Re: Reminder: This is the Final Day for a Number of My Nintendo Rewards
@GoldenGamer88 My guess is this method helps encourage people to consider games they might not have otherwise. Still, so long as they rotate through them often enough within the lifespan of the coins...
Re: Poll: The Wii U GamePad - Where Do You Stand on Nintendo's Hefty Controller?
The GamePad, due to the asynchronous possibilities and it's mandatory inclusion with the system allowing games to actually be able to count on a player having it (unlike every other optional specialty controller in history), represented the greatest expansion of new game design possibilities resulting from a controller (if not a hardware feature in general) since the introduction of the analog stick.
It really is a shame its potential was not fully exploited as there are very few games out there where you couldn't look at them and instantly come up with several ways of how those games wouldn't be better using a GamePad.
Re: Nintendo Profits Dip as amiibo Hits Over 40 Million Sales in Nine Months
@ZAZX "more expensive than DLC" is relative. A single amiibo for a single game might be more expensive (depending on the amount of content the amiibo provides for that title) but a single amiibo that is compatible with multiple games (like Mario or Link) would actually be much cheaper than the combined total of DLC for each individual title- and that amiibo's DLC cost would continue to go down every time a new game is released that utilizes it- with no known timeframe limitation.
So it actually ends up being more like the equivalent of an infinite season pass of DLC across a (potentially unlimited) number of titles.
Re: Sprixie Joins the Ranks in Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
I think if SM3DW had put a little more effort into its story, people might have been more excited for Sprixie's inclusion. I mean, the only way to even find out what here name was/where you were was by pausing the game and reading the sign in the background of the menu.
Re: Michael Pachter Thinks Miitomo Will Have Trouble Tempting People Away From Facebook
@Rockmin but that's not why he thinks it's a disaster. And we know there are actual games coming.
Re: Michael Pachter Thinks Miitomo Will Have Trouble Tempting People Away From Facebook
Of COURSE he thinks it's a disaster- he wants Nintendo to fail/become a mobile-only software company and wanted this entry into mobile games to show or suggest ports of core franchises supporting that hope. But his foolishness is proven wrong by this news (if even in a limited capacity) and he can't accept other possibilities.
Re: Video: We Want Your Super Mario Maker Levels for Our New YouTube Series
Added my three levels (why only three? I make long levels do it takes some time to finish them)
Block Blockers: 3477-0000-0043-6A54
Noki Bay 1.1: C178-0000-00A1-D216
Goomba Gauntlet 1.0: A97F-0000-001C-9B3D
Block Blockers is a fun maze, I'm really proud of that one. Noki Bay adapts parts of a Sunshine level in a simulated vertical level and Goomba Gauntlet is a hard one with Goombas chasing you.
Re: Video: Did You Know Gaming? Explores The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess doesn't get as much love as it should- I think this is because the first third-to-half of the game feels like a retread of OOT (Forest Tempke, Water Temple, Death Mountain, etc) and this was around the time that the ALTTP/OOT structure of 3-sword-7 was getting stale as well, so it felt more obvious than it would have otherwise.
But the back half of the game was very creative with things like the Spinner rail tracks and such adding really new experiences to the Zelda series. It's just unfortunate that a lot of people may not have bothered to go that far into the game after forming those initial impressions.