Whirlwound

I was going to head into work today, make up the time I missed thanks to a whole swathe of buses being late.

But, y'know, since they tried to make out like that was entirely my fault... screw'em. In the eye. With a rocket-propelled chainsaw.

I just landed the two Ouendan DS games again after my original copies got nicked — strangely, they didn't bother with Elite Beat Agents... Just a shade over £31 for the pair unboxed, and they're working perfectly; methinks someone didn't know what they had. They're that good, I have no issues double-dipping - plus, my saves will have gone, I get to go through them from scratch again. And now I have a New 2DS, bigger screen, less hand cramp. Woohoo!

Yes, I know, tiny stylus - I use an automatic pencil, far more comfortable. Novotel Southampton replenishes my stock every MinamiCon without even knowing it 😈

Also, Once Upon A Katamari dropped yesterday, so that's on the menu too. Always a fun time with the Prince.

First three episides of The Mighty Nein to go through first though. OH MY STARS IS IT GOOD.

Then Wicked For Good tomorrow, and Dark Heresy after that.

They can do it when they wanna.

Gonna be my first red card once payday drops. Shocking it’s taken this long to break my duck.

Having thaaaaaaaaaat~~~~~♪

@DennyCrane When I was at college all them moons ago in the late '80s, I could get as far as Level 5 of the original on one credit. So technically, I completed the first PC Engine release

Dobkeratops, the orange Giger-esque alien who is almost R•Type's answer to Ridley (he gets a kicking almost every game in the series) is an iconic boss, but Level 3's dreadnought is still a Hall of Fame stage in my book — and Level 2's boss is severely WTF-esque.

Delta's always been great, but there's still the one everyone forgets - R•Type LEO. Completely changes things up - no Force, no Wave Cannon, just the homing side pods and mostly new powerups.

Nope, I’m good for stuff turning up the rest of the year: Once Upon A Katamari, R-Type Delta Remastered, Hades 2 True Physical when it drops and Prime 4.

Please. Bananza has about as much chance of taking this as I do of being named starting quarterback for Miami. It’s just there to make up the numbers.

Ironic that Elite Beat Agents is the only one of the Ouendan games to make it (at least beyond the header image), despite having the weakest narrative and tracks of all three titles.

I mean sure, it’s the only one most of us will have played, but the hype over the Japanese games was huge back at release. Same went for Jump Super/Ultimate Stars. And the music? Come on. Hotei Tomoyasu. Orange Range. L’arc~en~ciel (classics like Monkey Magic & Ready Steady Go for crying out loud). The Anthem and Sk8er Boi don’t really cut it in comparison.

Y’know, it’s probably just as well if we don’t get an MP4 Direct. The bike was a really big reveal that I don’t think needed to happen; would have been a hell of a laugh to just trip over it and see the reactions.

Not going near the sparkles on the logo, then.

Once is a one-off. Twice, a coincidence. Thrice? At the very least, it’s the emergence of a pattern. Especially given that it’s still happening 20 years on too.

Considering a physical NS1 buy, hoping for an upgrade route.

Look at Sega. They’re doing it right. Mostly.

Doshin on NSO GC when?

[Glares in Chozo]

Quality assurance? Ha.

Ai can’t even answer the basic questions I ask it.

Who was the female singer of Roxette? Per Gessle. [That’s the bloke. It was Marie Fredriksson, who died in 2019.] Who did Don Shula coach before the Miami Dolphins? The Baltimore Ravens. [The Ravens didn’t exist until the 90s, when the Cleveland Browns relocated there - it was the then-still-in-Baltimore Colts.)

Is there a Switch 2-specific demo coming?

Dunno. Doubt it. Dropped off New Leaf ages back; I dread to think what state the isle of Nekomi is in by now - and I probably wouldn’t sink the same hours into New Horizons.

The market rate for the physical NS1 version is probably going to spike now anyway, that’ll cancel it out.

Easy enough to find if you know where to look.

Or you know who could do the looking for you.

@TheDragonDAFan Is that so they can have something that’s physical - ‘cos it ain’t gonna be the game itself?

Nice! Progress!

I hope Dogubomb & Raw Fury are watching…

I was going to go for this, but then I saw a playthrough on Twitch and thought [snrk] NOPE. No way I’m beating THAT.

Still more than three weeks before my physical copy drops.

The fact this book even exists should mean that Echoes & Corruption remasters have to be coming sometime soon. With the new one right around the corner, it makes no sense for them not to be all available on one platform, where the current fanbase can appreciate what they were, are, will be - and can be.

Metroid has always been a little too much in certain other IPs’ shadow. Samus and her games helped define a whole genre. You don’t see people referring to Marioformers. Final Ragers. Fatal Street Kombat…

…but everyone knows Metroidvania. Billing shared with Konami, sure, but the name stands on its own.

Everything else bearing the name Metroid that can be played on the Switch is there - only the DS games couldn’t be because that NSO Classics set hasn’t happened (and even then they’re remakes already). The remaining Primes deserve that self same courtesy. If this was Mario games we were talking about, they would get it.

The Metroid franchise is as much of a pillar, a flagship of what Nintendo is today as them plumber chaps. They would do well to remember that.

Oh. They don’t want my money anymore then.

@Pj1 I'm up in Durham, with not much time off left to burn - I want to keep hold of that should I be able to make it to MinamiCon 31 next March after all. Meanwhile I'll definitely be in Tokyo & Kyoto in the new year.

If this is getting a second Direct, Prime 4 needs at least one and a Prime 2-3 shadow drop. Especially after waiting this long.

Closes two weeks before I’ll be in London.

Guess I’ll have to settle for Tokyo & Kyoto in January.

15/21. Not terrible considering I never even had an NES. I had a GB from 1991, but didn’t shift fully to Nintendo until I sold my C64 to get a SNES in ’93.

Wonder if there’s a version with the directionals on the right. I emulate a hell of a lot, and I got really good using the cursor keys - never got used to WASD.

Even back in the day on coin-ops I played cross-handed, going righty with the stick and lefty with the buttons. Just felt more natural to me, and I’m right handed.

Something I’ll actually own… versus a game key card.

Hmm. Tough one. 🙄

@andyg1412 I’ve preordered the R•Type Delta remake and Once Upon A Katamari as well. NS1, granted, but still. Holding off on Crossworlds to see how it rolls on the New Shiny.

@AstroTheGamosian Maybe have Steve craft a Sax-a-Boom? That was the last schtick of Black's I found funny, end even then Kyle saw and raised it.

Still waiting for the Goku whose hair turns octarine...

@AstroTheGamosian Hope not, for the cinema staffers' sake...

Nudge nudge?

Say no more.

[sigh]

Look, Jack. Dude. Just bury the hatchet with Kyle.

You got away with the Mario movie because nobody could wreck that money printer, but Borderlands and Minecraft were pish.

It wasn't until the character select screen on Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha that I realised that's how his name is actually pronounced. Not 'Zangeef' as it was always laid out for the previous 8 years or so, but 'Zang-E-F'.

Well it would have been Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 - but Jeff the Tax Dodger decided to nobble my order yesterday, and conveniently hiked the price up when I tried again. AND back down afterwards.

He’s never that strapped for three quid, is he…?

@StewdaMegaManNerd Wait ‘til he hears how Apple’s stuff jumped from 15 to 26.

You’ve been part of the second great triumvirate of gaming voices that I’ve had the honour to follow - the first being that nutty bunch of Rignall, Penn & Liddon in ZZAP!64 a whole - Christ on fire, 40 years ago now.

Whatever you get up to next, Zion, I wish you every success.

We need Rhythm Tengoku in there soon. Seriously. I’ve got the GBA cartridge and a translated version on my Miyoo Mini, and it still plays like a dream all these years later.

@BrewsterTea Let me know when there is a physical version to purchase.

Key card. So, no. I'm sure. Want to play it, no doubt. But I know what I don't want as well.

I mean it’s not like they could cram the main content into a true physical to take the edge off a download. Even if just the audio was downloaded if streaming it from a card is that much of a chew-on.

With a 1TB micro SD EX costing, let's not forget this, half as much again on the console itself (and just so you know, Autocorrect just tried to change ‘console’ to ‘cocaine’), a full download will be turning whatever storage we’ve got into a digital Midgar, its lump of stodge talking up nearly ⅓ of the internal.

Immediate vibes I’m getting here: Free to start? Ooo, that felt like a new egregious twist of the release type dagger. Roll 1d8+2 monetary damage right there. Straight off the bat, ≠ Free To Play, at least after a few go-rounds.

“He gives the kids free samples / because he knows full well / that today’s innocent faces / will be tomorrow’s clientele…” - - Tom Lehrer [1928-2025]

Season passes, intrusive banners, unskippable ads, microtransactions, pay-to-win content… yeah, how about Nope. They can take their digital powdered ha-a-pi-ness and shove it.

That strategy being what, exactly? “To be fair we’re not really all that fussed about selling as well as we could…”?

I hope Hades 2 and Crossworlds both kick RE9 up in the air. They’re both getting it right.

For a hot minute I thought you meant the CD-i editions.

@Ooyah Five.

Though recent output hasn't half been disappointing. When they said 2025 was going to be "full of surprises", I'm not sure that [checks notes] Steel Worker, Video Hustler and Scrambled Egg were what we had in mind...

@Dom_31 it’s not a selection of games, Dom, 14 is literally all there is. The other eight were Japanese exclusives that never made it west.

Ha! Crap, no.

Putting this in the Expansion half of NSO, so we’re already paying extra, and then more on top of that for the viewing accessory? And a pitiful roster of just 14 titles - not even the full 22 (!) - that’s just going to get in the way of other NSO systems getting new stuff?

Whatever you’re drinking, Nintendo, for crying out loud take more water with it.

Bold of you to assume we'll have the space to spare 👾🗝️🎴