ZZalapski

This is the second most random Switch port I've read about in the last five minutes, after Rose and Camellia:
https://kotaku.com/rose-camellia-jane-austen-switch-port-slap-slapping-1849537962

"Dirty jobs"? Like, you have to hose down a murder scene to wash away the evidence?

I would've picked this up if it also had a farming sim.

Reminds me of Brian David Gilbert's last video for Polygon.
https://youtu.be/EqzghgtJ1Is

I originally thought this article would rate the Pokédexes (Pokices?) by how absolutely bonkers the entries are for the Pokémon.

@Freddyfred I see what you did there.

"Perhaps the treasure... is the friends we made along the way."

<walkedrightintothatone.gif>

"We didn't exactly question Brock's jelly-filled donuts back in the day, did we?"

Uh, yes, we totally questioned those. At least those of us who have been in a pastry shop and know what a friggin' donut looks like.

"I apologize for such a long letter; I didn't have time to write a short one." - Mark Twain

@Max_the_German Your question is more nuanced than I originally thought:
https://medium.com/bein-enby/gender-neutral-actor-90f5ff200f4d

In this case, I don't have a definitive answer because a) I'm not familiar with linguistic tendencies in this context in the UK (assuming Alana is English) and b) I don't know if Makiko Otomo herself has a preference either way.

@SuperDan64 If Mormons can have a sense of humor about "The Book of Mormon" — the Latter-Day Saints bought multiple ads in the playbill for the performance I attended — Christians can lighten up about this.

@KayFiOS Clickbait titles are used because they work. You clicked on it, didn't you?

@KateGray Every Pokémon is someone's favorite, even Weedle.

Raichu is my favorite, probably because of its surfing animation in Pokémon Stadium where it rides its tail. No need to pull a board out of the ether like Pikachu, it brought its own.

Looks like cocaine is back in vogue in Hollywood.

There's an actual lending organization called "Smell My Cash" in the seedier parts of some city, probably.

According to my list at DekuDeals, I have 207 physical games and 27 (unique) digital games on the Switch. 2k sounds like a lot of games.

@Sonos Have you tried underwear that wick moisture, specifically designed to address that issue?

@CharlieGirl That was so bad I almost reported you.

Ah, Buzzwole, the Pokémon most likely to induce involuntary bowel movements were one to be encountered IRL. An 8-foot-tall anthropomorphic 'roided-up mosquito, presumably seeking revenge for its cousins that humans have killed, is truly nightmare fuel. Thanks, James Turner!

I have a surfing Pikachu figurine from the Pokémon store in NY (before it was rebranded as Nintendo World) that I'll likely always hold onto. Likewise with the sealed Super Smash Bros Melee orchestral soundtrack from Nintendo Power magazine.

Points off for "The Fly Lord" rather than "Lord of the Flies", but gained back for the skateboarding spider.

TIL a new word ("zhuzh"), so there's at least one positive from this bad take.

I once came across an unopened Twilight Princess Wolf Link amiibo as a thrift store find. Normally I have my amiibo unboxed, but this one presented somewhat of a conundrum, because of the premium associated with this particular amiibo.
Luckily (again), I found someone who was willing to trade his loose Wolf Link amiibo for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I made the trade, flipped the unopened amiibo on eBay, bought another AC:NH with money from the auction, and still had a decent chunk of change left over.
Not too many times you get to have your cake and eat it too, but it's really, really nice when it happens.

@IronMan30 So what did you do about the "till death do us part" in your vows, or did you just skip that altogether?

@CharlieGirl You're rather expressive for a corpse.

At least soccer fans have decent (if whimsical) alternatives in Mario Strikers and Rocket League. I'm still waiting for a credible hockey game, which is baffling because hockey would seem to transfer to a video game really well.

@Dilly-Mick Thanks for your informed reply.

Wouldn't there be a lot of overlap with the aforementioned Bulbapedia and Serebii.net? Can't they just hire them? Or does TPC figure it'll be cheaper to hire their own people in a full-time capacity?
I think I just answered my own questions.

@BabyYoda71 @KateGray Deku Deals shows its price as $49.99 for US retailers, while Amazon.ca has it as $64.99 CAD.

@AlexanderDaniels The US versions of FF X/X-2 and FF XII are published by Square Enix, as is the Asian (non-Japan) FF VII/FF VIII twin pack. Square Enix also published the US versions of Collection of Mana and Trials of Mana.
Although publishing rights could be something that's negotiated on an individual basis, the trend suggests that Nintendo gets to publish the Square Enix games that it feels would sell better than others (e.g., Dragon Quest XI, Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, Live A Live) for a bigger cut of the profits, with Square Enix retaining unilateral rights on the rest.
I don't have any special knowledge of the process; that's what seems to make sense to me.

I went with the Saturn version, as that seemed to have the best balance of multiple characters and dynamism.
Also, given how Chun-Li's character has developed, don't her legs in the original SNES and GB box art seem pixieish in hindsight?

@CazSonOfCaz You guess wrong. I'm for the usage of the Oxford comma, although I know it's grammatically optional like double-spacing after a period.
The takeaway here is that particular substitution of homophones is less offensive to my sensibilities than double-spacing after a period. YMMV

@calbeau Like a multiverse?
Come to think of it, a multiverse of the Legend of Zelda would explain a lot of things, even if people would think that they're ripping off Marvel.

@CazSonOfCaz Chill, it's a common enough error, especially since spellcheck isn't going to catch it. It's not as egregious as, say, putting two spaces after a period.

@CharlieGirl DekuDeals shows it being available from three physical retailers, so I don't think you have to worry in this case.

Thanks for the tip!

@Piyo Here in the States, reputable employers have the following info for their employees:

• name
• address
• phone number
• social security number (which is like the Individual Number in Japan, or the National Insurance Number in the U.K.)
• bank account information, if direct deposit of paychecks is an option

Contrary to your assertion, this data is very important. Especially to identity thieves.

Can't imagine it'd be much different in Japan.

I prefer the NA version. You know how sometimes in design, less is more? In this case, more is more.

Thanks for this article. Speedrunning is not something I see myself getting into, but I can appreciate the effort involved in becoming among the world's best at it. It's fascinating to read about their approaches.
And of course it speaks to how good the game is. I doubt people would practice to this extent on a crappy game.

@Anachronism Oh, I myself don't have an issue with their business model. (They perhaps charge a bit too much for shipping, though they're hardly unique in that regard.) But it seems like half the comments to any article about LRG is how much they suck.

@Anachronism Isn't that Limited Run Games' business model? People get mad at that too.

The world still sucks, but it sucks less with this game in it.

I'm gonna use "delivered your enthusiasm directly to management" in conversations at work now.

Two more things:

• The first "aha" moment for me was the diorama that showed the numbered tags on the hammocks. I figured there's an important reason why a seemingly-innocuous detail like that would be present.
• It'd be funny if one of the deaths was inspired by this:
  https://tabletopwanderers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Exploding-Kittens_shuffle_01_web.jpg

(Spoilers, obviously.)

• Which character was the one that had you stumped for the longest time?
  The bosun, Alfred Klestil. The degraded graphics made it hard to detect that he died because his friggin' arm was torn off.
• Which character was your secret favourite?
  Being from Taiwan (fka Formosa), I liked It-Beng Sia after seeing his badass exploits.
• What was your best nickname for a character?
  I didn't come up with any, but there's a funny comment on the Obra Dinn wiki that calls the cook, Thomas Sefton, an Alpha Chad based on headcanon.
• Did you take physical notes to solve the fates of the crew?
  No, I just backtracked a lot. That's why it took me 13+ hours.
• Who do you think was to blame for the Obra Dinn's fate?
  The second mate, Edward Nichols. Yeah, Robert Witterel had the ultimate authority as captain of the ship, but all but four of the human deaths stem directly from Nichols' actions. He's a real piece of sh*t.
• Did you get all 60 fates correct?
  Eventually.
• Are there other games that use narrative devices in interesting ways that you recommend?
  None come to mind, but I wonder if there are games that uses different POV of the same event like Kurosawa's "Rashomon".

Besides the gameplay and narrative structure, the soundtrack is also noteworthy. The music sets the mood of the dioramas very well, especially when the bells are used.

This is a truly fantastic game. Thanks for suggesting it, Kate!

There's a doctor-patient barrier? That would explain why I can't get repeat appointments with the same doctor.

Idea: Nintendo Life runs a contest for people to write a 2,000-word review of an established game that's not regarded by consensus as the best in its genre (i.e., no BotW). Maybe more people would understand the difficulty of writing a compelling review after such an exercise.

@CharlieGirl Take your Like and get out.

Sounds like Merlin is only mostly dead.