Whirlwound

Welcome to the new Switch, same as the old Switch.

Afterthoughts, sawn-off subpar versions, cancellations once everyone else has theirs, or never even involved in the first place.

Nothing ever changes.

Eventually. Probably. I’m still a bit honked off with the amount of downloads.

Not two months deep with it and its 256GB internal storage is already down to just 32GB left! All I’ve really done is get the free upgrades and shift over the virtual game cards that have them! Haven’t picked up any Game Key Cards on principle, and don’t have a μSD-EX card yet either. Maybe once I’m back next January.

They totally knew what they were doing there. Like the word 'koinu' isn't a thing...

FTR the feline equivalent is nyanko/koneko — though the former can also be a minefield if your m- and n- hiragana are a tad rusty... o-manko ja nai yo 😨

Let's see who gets it to GDQ first...

On the cartridge, or is it going to nom ever more storage 🎮🔑🎴❓

@Filthy Yeah, it didn’t go up for years then made up for a lot of lost time.

Looking at the stuff we’re doing in the middle week, it should work out; the second half is a bit fluid depending on when/if we can get tickets for Ghibli Park and the Nintendo Museum.

Not this time. Not just The Trip™ - Kanda hotel is ⅔ paid for, but there's others in Osaka & Nara to cover yet, plus a JR rail pass and eSim - but that Waterfield magnetic case is also giving me the eye, and Critical Role have announced they are doing two live shows here next year: The O₂ and Edinburgh Castle. They won't be cheap, no sir.

Hey look. Nintendo: Not Just For Kids.

Who the hell knew, eh.

Anyone going for this, the next preorder opens up 31 July at 8am PST (4pm BST). I'll head in to work early that day, so I can sort it out over something at the old Caffeine Mermaid there. Given this looks a bit more streamlined than the Goji case I picked up as a stopgap (£10 at Currys, down from £15), it should go in my Alpaka sidebag (which takes the Goji and an iPad Mini at a push), and will definitely fit in the MagGo I kicked for last month.

Hoping PayPal is an option - Pay-In-3 is doing a lot of heavy lifting right now...

@Filthy They do that too, along with a lot of other stuff.

Missed the fifth preorder, I was on a bus at the time and ran into a signal blackspot, but I’m going to have a bash at the next one.

@Tibob Nope, that was Mighty Mouse. Danger Mouse lives under a pillar box in front of 221B Baker St (yes, that one).

Wonder who’s on the other voices these days, given Terry Scott and Willie Rushton are long gone… [imdb] …damn, there was some names in there… Fry as Colonel K, fair, probably going full Melchett (M’BAAAAAH!)… oh, and Jimmy Hibbert is still involved as well, that’s cool.

No slight against Alexander Armstrong, but they probably couldn’t afford Sir David Jason. And it would at least allow for knowing winks to have Richard Osman on board.

Rock on! I can put one of those on my next paycheck! No damage to the payments for my hotels!

Well if Seth Rogen is involved, I’m expecting at least a reference to Almost Unreal from the 1993 movie. I know he’s a Roxette fan - he’s snuck in references in his other movies - so hopefully he’ll be on the blower to Per Gessle to borrow something like Big Black Cadillac or Crush On You…

I'm three Golds deep on Mario Kart World's 150cc class, but the shenanigans are happening again - and wouldn't ya know it, it's &£$%ing LAKITU again!!

Shouldn't be surprised, though, should I. After all, think about it: who's always been at EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TRACK? At the start? At the finish? And always Johnny-on-the-Spot when you fall off or point backwards? Clearly he's abusing his intimate insider knowledge of the ENTIRE DAMN S E R I E S to cheat us right on the last turn...

Going nowhere near it. Not for that bloody much. I did consider the GameCube controller until I saw the cost. Just got my third 8BitDo SN30 Pro for £35 - they’ll get used on the NS2; also got two N30s that’ll go with the OG (no firmware update that lets them hook up to the new one).

Also got a 8BD Pro 2, Ultimate and a PDP Afterglow should I want to use that form factor.

I hope the same goes for using the eShop while on a VPN. Hasn’t happened for a while, but I’ve had multiple 30-day bans for that on my OG.

I’ve listed my ideas before, so taking Follow The Leader and There & Back Again as read…

• Magical Mystery Tour* - Start at a random course. The race holds to set courses to start with, but when you get to the 4th checkpoint, the map opens up and it’s an any route necessary sprint to the finish line which is marked directionally on the radar, within a 2-checkpoint radius of where #4 is (but not doubling back on the route taken so far).
• Kartball - 2-4 teams. One kart holds a ‘ball’ which causes it to glow. Race as a normal KO Tour, but nobody gets knocked out; whoever hits the racer in possession (with a weapon, not normal trading paint - KO Tour is something of a bullet-bill-hell as it is, so might as well make use of it) takes the ball. Players can ‘pass’ the ball to a nearby teammate by pulling a charged jump stunt in their direction.
  A ‘goal’ is scored each checkpoint by whoever has the ball. Should two teams be tied after six checkpoints, the map opens up and an Overtime Scramble takes place; the game picks at random - P-Switch, Peach Medallion, ?-Block, ?-Tile or a meal from Yoshi’s. First team to take one wins.
• Dip Your Kart (or Mario Auto Salon for those who get it) - I can’t be the only one here who loves the DipYourCar videos on YouTube. (And I don’t even drive.) We’re playing this game in up to 4K60. Let us respray our karts and just coo at how pretty (or, y’know, not) we can get’em.
• Swap item order when you have two, kinda Double Dash style - just once per lap/stage
• Custom lap counts (2-lap sprints to 10-lap marathons)
• Different track features depending on time of day (in-world or nah) and direction. Who says they have to feel the same each way? Getting a coach down to London feels way different to one back to Sunderland…

** Yes, I know I’m making some pop culture references. I’m trying to think of one for Joyride…

@CapnCrunch East Durham checking in - and I mean the original, not North Carolina. I do root for Duke though, the Magic’s done alright off them over the years with the likes of Grant and JJ.

Need to know if it’s a full physical release or just a Game Key Card. Previous releases nommed entire continents of my OG’s μSD card. I was hoping for Paolo Banchero on the cover, this not being Madden and all that, but I guess we’re not getting a 7th-seed knockout up in lights, are we. Orlando just hasn’t been cool enough since Dwight left. Plus, OKC did win the title [cough]fsckthePacers[cough] and SGA got MVP.

Hoping the new look and team upgrades - Desmond Bane, Moe Wagner coming back, the draft picks Richardson & Penda - will have a positive effect on that; Cole Anthony will be a miss, and we coughed up a lot of future picks to snag Bane, so we better not have overreached to win now.

@OorWullie I think the closest you’re gonna get these days is NBA2K Playgrounds 2. The first one’s been deleted now, but the sequel still pops up in offers sub-£10 on occasion. Still nice and arcadey, with a slightly more ‘real’ feel to it. I’d like a modern NBA Jam (or even that mahoosive NBA Superstars coin-op) to head console-wards too, but the licensing would probably be a nightmare.

@milonorth Possibly, if they’ve scrubbed the piece about those , erm, “games” that kicked off the whole asset flip-off argument.

If not, there’s a 1/10 out there somewhere (and I assume it’s only politeness that prevented such bilge getting a Zero).

Trying to be good - the Tokyo hotel is only ⅓ paid for, and I still have to look at one in Osaka yet. And that’s before locking down a JR Rail Pass and tickets for everything we want to do…! 💸💸💸💧

Romancelvania. Given up on it ever materialising on either Switch - looks like the devs have near as dammit ghosted [arf] all comms, including Steam and Dicksword. Still bugged to balls, but it seems this is as close as I'm gonna get to it - unless 2124 is an ETA as well as the publisher...

I’m working through the GPs, with a splash of KO Tours and Free Roam here and there. Just 3-starred Special 100cc earlier this week to complete that tier, including no small amount of shenanigans on the home straight (gods bollock it Lakitu) - spent a bit time farting about on missions after that.

@HammerGalladeBro …which is in this article pourquoi, précisément…

There’s a lot of folk going to read that wrong, y’know.

At least they finally got round to putting some Tron content up. Might have a crack at it now, then.

@IronMan30 Preach it. I just trip-starred the last of 100cc after no small amount of being sniped/passed with the line in sight, by red/blue/both/multiple shells and karts a full bar slower on the speed stat. I'm beginning to think Scott Falco had a point on YouTube.

Weird thing I've noticed, though: it's usually Lakitu. I mean, 'course it's bloody him when you think about it. The little hecker is obviously using his insider knowledge of every single track since the series began as the starter, checkered flag waver, Johnny-on-the-spot rescue service wherever the hell you go out of bounds etc etc etc etc... He's been at it 35 years now, so he's bound to instinctively know every shortcut, every pass point, all the optimum launch points for every item, isn't he... [/s]

I'm expecting to get my ass handed to me on a regular basis in 150cc.

How about getting together with Hamster to add Symphony and Memories to the Arcade Archives?

I’m waiting for PlayVital to do a Switch 2 version of its retro shells. My OG is clad in a SNES-styled one, and it rocks. Feels great, and it’s still dockable. They’ve got some non-retro shells out there (clear, glittery or… berry-coloured?), but they close off the kickstand.

To paraphrase Jonathan Coulton, Code Monkey think maybe CEO wanna write 60th soccer sim himself…

Would a bot use bold, italics and • bullet points? Or even know how to on here?

I want the Switch 2 to do well, make no bones about it. Hell, it’s the first time in 4½ decades I’ve gone over £300 deep on any non-PC/laptop unit, never mind £400, so it bloody better succeed. But I’ve seen this pattern before too many times from certain devs and publishers, going right back even to when the 8-bits started getting overtaken. Coverage in the likes of CVG, The Games Machine & Games-X began to feel token before dropping off completely.

@MischiefMaker Urgh, that kinda sucks. Keep an eye on it though - from what I’ve read, any cancellations get sold on an ad-hoc basis. You might get lucky.

If they’re going to futz with intermission tracks, keep them in Knockout Tours, but give us different race types…

• Follow The Leader - first to reach each checkpoint gets to pick where the race goes next.
• There And Back Again - Once the race finishes, go back to where it all started - going down each leg In the opposite direction. No falling off the track on the return trip; the whole map is fair game. Could be combined with Follow The Leader.

See, this is what has me concerned that the Switch 2 era is just going to be more of the same…

• Big games skipping the NS2 (I’ve already noticed this with Konami’s Press Start reveals - and there’s a lot of stuff that is slated to appear on everything except Nintendo gear. Still no sign of indie hits like Blue Prince or Romancelvania either)
• Afterthought releases way down the line (we’re apparently getting Borderlands 4, but still not Tiny Tina - also no sign of Super Woden Rally Edge coming our way… and it isn’t gonna take us another 6½ years to get Pure Pool Pro, is it? …IS it?)
• Not getting the full experience (yes, Madden, but no MVP release or College Football’26)
• Sawn-off content/quality (still waiting for DLC other platforms got - suspect some devs just can’t be arsed with it coming to us)

If Nintendo’s not careful this could wind up being another GameCube/Dreamcast, with devs not supporting it, or only to a point.

Once hotels are booked and JR rail passes are organised, putting in for tickets is next in line for The Trip™.

And this is right up there.

That’s what got folk steamed? Hell with that.

Call a game that and not have any Chris Rea in the soundtrack - nuh-uh. Don’t wanna know.

Even if it’s just God’s Great Banana Skin.

I clearly need more caffeine. For a hot second I thought that was Rosette from Chrono Crusade.

Which would still make for a kickass fighting game.

I'm liking the Rallygator, ride-wise. For a trike with a single rear wheel, its handling is incredible. Very nippy. Does what I want it to and doesn't ask many questions.

Still tinkering with who feels best on it though. I noticed that playing as Pauline futzes with the Fast Start timing quite a bit. Which is a touch annoying, because that Famicom-coloured Aero outfit - rowr there, missy, row-rrr.

Acid test: get Jon on a GameChat. One voice that carries? Let's try TWO.

Ehhhh…. I dunno. That all too brief blast I had on it back in April wasn’t anywhere near enough to judge on. And those pixelating transparencies still grind - ten times more powerful than the OG, was it?

Put up a demo and let me at least taste what’s getting plated up.

@SirLink Yeah, I thought I'd secured that room...

I’ve been lucky, I guess. I seem to have totally dodged any stick drift by - erm, hardly ever using JoyCons because they’re ridiculously tiny and hideously cramp-inducing for my hands.

8BitDo SN30 Pro FTW. Especially the Hall effect version.

If they're going to do this, we should be allowed to create backups on our side. Who knows when servers would eventually get knocked on the nut.

After a hard drive failure, there's some stuff I can no longer play on one of my older consoles because I can't get at it to re-download anymore.

I'm going to apply an automatic -2 modifier to any /10 score I see for something that is only available on digital or Game Key Card.

So just 4/10 then.

If Sega puts out an upgrade for the NS1 edition, I might - might - go to 7.

I’m playing wait-for-delivery-of-more-HD-cables-and-an-auto-switch-box, so I can have both my docks linked up.

Oh, and lots of gawping at how gorgeous everything has run on the NS2 so far.

When I saw this at the London event, I was more stunned at the fact Ryu leaves Ken hanging when his lifelong bud goes for their customary fist bump.

I clearly have some canon to catch up on since Ultra SF IV…

I’ll have a watch once I’ve picked mine up in the morning. Want to get it home first.

Calling it now: it’ll wind up in NSO as a freeb.

@TwinFami Go have a look at their other stuff as well, there’s heading for like five decades’-worth of it. The Swedish stuff is as strong as their English, if not more so.

Gyllene Tider are still A Thing 45+ years on, then there’s all their solo stuff (Per, Marie, Lena, Helena Josefsson), Lonely Boys, Son of a Plumber, Mono Mind…

@TwinFami It’s Roxette. Been a fan since Look Sharp! in 1988, and they’re locked in a fight with The Lightning Seeds for Band I’ve Seen The Most.

Not the first time I’ve seen them without Marie (2009 Islington*, 2018 Hammersmith), but it is the first since she passed away - and it’s also the first with Lena Philipsson picking up the mic. Third time at Wembley though (1991, 2011).

• This was Per’s solo Party Crasher European tour. Roxette sans Marie in all but name, given she was still in her cancer treatment - but she did appear at the Amsterdam gig to a thunderous ovation. Miss her something fierce.

@SillyPlanet92 I’ve got time off around my birthday the weekend after next, didn’t want to look like I was taking the mick too much.

(That’s for the end of the year, when I’ve got a gig at Wembley Arena at the start of December and The Trip™ at the end.)