ZebZed

@Uncle_Franklin The Yoshi’s Island area is part of the queue for Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, sadly USH can’t get the kinds of attractions USJ or USO get due to spacing issues. Ironically enough Disneyland and California Adventure are in the same boat.

I took part in Friday’s technical rehearsal and it was fun as heck, I can’t wait to go again in a couple of weeks via Pass Preview (I managed to snag a reservation) and later along the line.

I’m gonna have to agree with Greninja being the next 7-star raid ‘mon, especially if you pay attention to some of the reflections on walls of the Tera Raid Den.

The Valentine’s Day raids seem a bit basic if you ask me but that’s kind of expected given the game’s age, I’ve long forgotten when SWSH started to get raid events with “guaranteed” Shinies but I have a feeling it wasn’t within two months of the game’s life cycle.

@Zybrissa If you’re talking about Ash-Greninja then you’ll be happy to hear that it’s no longer in the game, as of Gen 9 Battle Bond only gives Greninja a stat boost while the form change and boost to Water Shuriken were removed.

@Giancarlothomaz It’s in the Universal Orlando Resort area and the delay while disappointing was expected considering that the park was announced back in August 2019.

@26-Emilio-Rodriguez I hope so too, thankfully Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is an indoor ride so any rain in the forecast shouldn’t affect the previews too much.

Well the reservation system got junked up again due to demand but I managed to secure a visit yesterday.

I kind of wish that the video went a deeper dive regarding Toadstool's Cafe menu but after doing some digging I managed to find the menu, it looks interesting (some items made it over from Japan, the most notable being the Super Star Lemon Squash soda) but I'm REALLY gonna have to get used to mushrooms to fully enjoy the cafe.

@Giancarlothomaz From what I've heard it's not opening until 2025, it was delayed due to the pandemic and moving it Universal Studios Florida to Universal's Epic Universe.

Being a stone’s throw away from Universal Studios Hollywood I really can’t wait to see Super Nintendo World in-person (and as an annual passholder, that day may be sooner rather than later), I’m already a fan of some of things the park’s already doing with the Nintendo IP.

That said, I hope the parks find a way to expand Super Nintendo World to feature other IPs outside of Mario. I know that DK was rumored a while back but I can’t see that happening at USH due to spacing issues.

As someone who drinks G Fuel's energy formula mixes every now and then as a coffee substitute I have a feeling this might be their April Fool's Day drop, the theming kind of lines up for their past April Fool' Day releases (a Sanic-themed chili dog flavored mix and a Naruto-themed miso ramen-flavored mix were released previously) and the April 2023 shipping date are a bit of a giveaway.

That said if you're picking this up like I will it should only be as a collector's item or if you're insane enough to actually drink it, I know some people have actually done that for previous April Fool's Day flavors and they described them as being absolutely awful.

Eh, to me it’s more like Pratt’s doing a bad Rocket Raccoon impression than Linda.

I haven't played the game since the Ratchet & Clank event but after hopping into a couple of games I can see it still holds onto some of the magic it had when I first played it back when it was offered for free via PlayStation Plus.

...but that's where the positives for the new F2P model version of Fall Guys ends for me.

My main two complaints are that leveling up the Battle Pass and reaching new tiers is painfully slow (which is probably due to Show-Bucks, in addition to being used for cosmetics, also having a use as a "skip ticket" option for Battle Pass tiers) and that the amount of Kudos you can earn has an apparent cap of 200 Kudos per day.

The ONE thing I'm okay with seeing in the shop is that there's a chance of seeing some exclusive Legacy content (except Valve's costumes because this is Epic we're talking about here) becoming available via the shop, I know that the Big Bad wolf costume currently in the "Wolf of the Night" bundle was given out to players who played the game during the game's first few weeks of release.

As it's been said this update is terribly late compared to past compatibility patches but I'm still slightly annoyed with the vague "Players can look forward to the update in the coming weeks" statement, Game Freak and ILCA needs to follow Nintendo's example and give us an actual release date when the game/update is VERY close to going gold.

@CrimsonBlack: No, but the Pokemon Day trailer showed that CAN transfer Hisuian Pokemon to Scarlet/Violet when they come out.

@Silly_G: IIRC part the reason why it took so long to incorporate BDSP and Arceus to Home was largely due to BDSP being a clustercuss in terms of coding (thanks Unity engine!) and TPC not wanting to release Bank compatibility for Arceus without BDSP's.

Hmmm… you know what would be REALLY funny?

If WATA suffered the same fiasco that Logan Paul did to PSA.

I'm seeing three slots for DS tracks and do you know what THAT means?

Three chances for Waluigi Pinball to make the cut.

Eh… I’m still not a fan of the game’s UI and the crafting system. It makes it look like TPCi is trying to follow the drumbeats of other mobile-friendly TCG apps like Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links and MTG: Arena and even those games have problems.

The only pluses I can see is that the video shows off a more traditional game layout for what appears to be the desktop app (and hopefully the tablet app) and that the open beta gives us an idea on what cards will cost under the new dusting system.

@Joeynator3000 “ Either that or people are probably cheating/hacking...I remember my first and only match in this...guy through out 3 Mewtwo EX cards at me at the very beginning, I wasn't able to do a single thing.”

And there it is, the ever-present complaint about Mewtwo Wars and in 2022 of all years…

My friends and I have basically come to the conclusion that if a person is still whinging about Mewtwo Wars, or any other hyper-competitive era in the TCG’s history, then playing PTCGO (and possibly PTCGL) just isn’t for them. People are GOING to build decks that can win games and those will more than likely be tournament-level decks. If you want to play more casual matches or weird formats like Cube Draft or Gym Leader Challenge then you’re better off playing IRL.

@DefHalan The open Pokémon Trading Card Game Live app will more than likely be TCG-code-card-only in the same way that the TCGO is. Remember that TPCi tried to monetize the TCGO in the past with both a paid in-game currency that was exclusive to Canada (Gems, which could be redeemed for tradable packs, promo cards, and sleeves/deckboxes/coins) and giving players the option to buy Tournament Tickets instead of earning them by completing challenges. Not surprisingly the option to buy either was removed in late 2018.

And I second that bit about pointing out that the TCGO/TCGL are TPCi-centric ventures, it really gets on my nerves when I have to explain why a certain Pokémon-related thing isn’t being done and why it’s usually based on the company that’s doing it.

@Jellyghost I just hope there’s a way to turn off the animations that these new avatars use, I’d honestly prefer going back to a live text chat and deal with (AKA laughing at with forum friends and screencapping for moderation purposes) the open toxicity those kinds of environments have than yawning at canned chat responses or cringing at awful dancing and posing.

@Ironcore I believe they’re referring to Julie from the “Pokémon Play It!” PC game that was released back in 1999 in Europe (2000 for the US).

Ah, playing Pokemon GO back in 2017 was a magical pastime. I still have a wild-caught Dragonite I got back in July 2016 and THAT was something else. I distinctly remember about 10-20 players (and possibly more) hiking up the side of a steep hill in a city park just to get a chance at the beast.

Now where was I again? Oh right…

Since this incident happened back in 2017 finding a wild Snorlax was still a big deal in Pokemon GO, if you played the game seriously you’d drop everything just to get it. That said, you’d still let it pass by if you had more important things to do LIKE DOING YOUR JOB.

So in short, good riddance to these guys. They played a stupid game (choosing to play PoGo instead of doing their job) and they won a spectacularly stupid prize (lost their jobs AND lost the appeal) for doing so.

I really don’t like this at all, it’s like he’s learned NOTHING from seeing his Pokemon TCG videos turning both vintage and modern collection scenes into absolute dumpster fires.

@somebread It was definitely a Kickstarter thing, I remember seeing them on Twitter complaining about having their character removed and their $600 USD pledge refunded.

But as far as the "how?" is concerned it's in large part due to the devs not doing any background checks on people and the whole "Pay-X-Amount-To-Get-Your-Character-Into-The-Game" rewards being a bad idea in general.

Meh, if what a friend of mine said about the writing is true then I’ll more than likely skip it since I couldn’t even finish Steven Universe: Save the Light a while ago.

And forgive me if I’m wrong about the situation, but. didn’t this game suffer some controversy for including a certain unsavory someone’s OC as an NPC?

I vaguely remember hearing in an interview (featuring Masuda) that was published back in 2018 where he said that part of the reason why the games are being made "easier" and "more approachable" was to compete with mobile games, but after doing some research into that he kind of made an oopsy-whoopsie by putting LGPE and SwSh into separate categories (the former being a more "lighter, casual game for those without smartphones" while the latter is considered a "core" game) despite the BOTH of them suffering from the same sort of problems that people have been mentioning since the 3DS era.

Well, that and mentioning that the lack of an Emerald-style Battle Frontier in ORAS was due to the amount of players that would've appreciated and used the area being minuscule and more players getting fed up with it and not being attracted to "demanding challenges.

And for those people saying to "give these games a chance" all I can really say is that The Pokemon Company and GF needs to start putting out demos for their games like they did for XY, ORAS, SM, and ironically enough LGPE.

@BetterThanVegas Well that has an easy answer: make some filler subjects for those pieces of adjacent media. I'm pretty sure we all remember the anime's Orange Island League season.

@RupeeClock From what I’ve heard it’s basically stuck in development hell, I also wouldn’t be surprised if the current crises affecting production and shipping are making it difficult to release the Pokemon Go Plus+ accessory needed to make the app work.

Eh, the longer I have to wait for this Hearthstone/MTG Arena rip-off the better. Even with its flaws I’ll more than likely prefer PTCGO over PTCGL.

@SwitchplayerJohn @Bucky The reason why this isn’t coming to Switch is that it’s being made by The Pokémon Company International venture rather than it being made by The Pokémon Company and/or Creatures Inc., TPCi tends to be on the “cheaper” side of things keep it to devices that it knows EVERYONE has like computers, tablets, and now smartphones.

Eh. I’ll wait until physical copies start popping up, for some unknown reason it’s been a real pain to find one here in the States.

@Gamergirl94 People have been datamining the game since release and they’ve discovered code that supports voice acting (or at least archival footage usage, I know some characters are going to have to resort to it for various reasons) and items, the current theory is that they’ll come later in a patch.

Meh, that still shift my hand towards not buying these extremely consumer-unfriendly cloud-based games. If want to play KH1 or KH2 I can just fire up my PS3 and my PS4/5 for KH3.

@ModdedInkling It's been pointed out earlier in comments section but SE actually LOST the PS2 source data for KH 1 and KH2 and had to make 1.5 and 2.5 from the ground up.

@sikthvash Tim Curry suffered a stroke in 2012 and it affected his speech and mobility, they’s have no choice BUT to use archival footage.

Meh, I deleted the game off of my PS4 and PS5 earlier in the month.

@Ryu_Niiyama Because the cast list basically continues Hollywood's extremely depressing trend of, when making an adaptation of another IP, disregarding that IP's established traits and favoring aspects that puts butts in seats.

Well, I think I'm going to be violently ill thanks to this announcement. It's sad to see that despite Nintendo feeling the burn of 1993's Super Mario Bros. film they still haven't learned that
"All-Star Hollywood" casting is a pox on the industry.

While I won't admit it's a masterpiece of the highest caliber, the Ratchet & Clank film put out in 2016 is MILES ahead of whatever Illumination (whose last three films, one of which was an adaptation of Dr. Seuss' The Grinch, have been mediocre at best) is illicitly crafting in its studios.

@Severian The difference here is that Detective Pikachu is a spin-off title that was largely ignored by Pokemon fans until the movie came out and that allowed for some wiggle room. With the Super Mario IP it's pretty much everywhere and you expect anything put out by Nintendo to fit a certain mold, something that was clearly violated when Nintendo announced the cast for the film.

As someone who religiously plays the TCGO due to the lack of IRL tournaments due to COVID seeing TPCi reveal this new app and give a barebones explanation on how the TCGO-TCGL transferral works is just terrible. It reeks of blatant monetization (as if the new MTG: Arena/YGO Duel Links/Hearthstone-styled graphics weren’t warning enough), catering towards a streamer-heavy crowd, and is extremely disrespectful towards older players.

I’d get into the nitty-gritty but it’s just too many words. Long story short, I wholly expect to lose a large amount of my trade-locked cards and my ability to play the game at a competitive level once the shift occurs due to TPCi only looking at their bottom line and NOTHING ELSE.

@AndyRogan I’ve seen people asking for this ever since the Switch came out and it never happened so I highly doubt it’ll be released on the Switch. And why would you want on Switch anyways? It seems superfluous considering that PTCGL is already coming to mobile devices.

@ShadowWeaver421 It depends on the accessories. Avatar items aren’t transferring over at all and card accessories (sleeves, deck boxes, and coins) will be transferred if they’re tied to a TCG product or event. And no, I won’t shed a single tear for those who paid exorbitant amounts of money for those Vivid sleeves and deck boxes. That’s what they get for indirectly (or directly if they were Canadian players due to Gems only being available in Canada) supporting the TCGO’s terrible Gem currency.

@Azuris I REALLY doubt it, it seems that they’re trying to shift the digital game into being more like MTG: Arena or Hearthstone and I’ve heard those games are REALLY unfair when it comes to card crafting.

@thejuice027 Use ‘em while you can, tournament tickets won’t transfer over and you can trade the packs for cards you need or open ‘em to help buffer your potential PTGCL Credit count.

@Heavyarms55 I highly doubt it. The announcement’s coming from the Japanese side of the TCG and they never had an online client for the game and it’s worth remembering that the TCGO is a TPCi-run endeavor. What’s more likely is seeing some VMAX Climax stuff (a Japanese set that’s structured like Shiny Star V is) and possibly a preview of Star Birth (a Japanese set that’s planned to be released in January) and a new mechanic called Pokémon VSTAR.

@Joeynator3000 If the standard gimmick cards became limited then people would just move onto the next “meta” card and the complaining would begin anew, it’s why you never see a “no EXs/GXs/Vs” format pop up in any official capacity. And like I hinted at earlier the decision to put the client onto the Switch is largely in TPCi’s court rather than TPC’s.

@Joeynator3000 If you’re referring to EXs then you ether played an Expanded match (which is an absolute mess of a format due to the lack of rotations and more complex bans) or you haven’t played the game since the 2017-2018 season when EXs were last legal in the Standard format. If you’re only seeing ONE EX card in the entire deck you’re probably facing some form of gimmick deck.

That said, there’s some balance despite the powercreep, people just complain since regular Pokémon often can’t compete with Pokémon EX/GX/V or are not a main feature of some decks.

It’s worth noting that since this is a Japanese broadcast the reveals will more than likely be for Japanese players, the current running theory is that a new mechanic called Pokémon VSTAR will be revealed there.

Oh, and for those wondering why the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online isn’t on the Switch it probably WAS at some point (IIRC Nintendo systems were mentioned in the app’s ToS) but was scrapped for some reason or another.

@FatWormBlowsASparky Said streamer is technically right about something being in the works for the TCGO, when some products images for Fusion Strike were revealed they also showed off a new app icon and name (Pokémon TCG Live) for it.

@Joeynator3000 Yeah… those weren’t hackers, those were probably people playing competitive decks.

I blame the Baby Sonic keyring, that thing is cursed to Heck and back.

Huh, well this is interesting. I can only hope it’ll be easier to get Spiritomb in BDSP than it was in DPP.

As for the Pokémon that appear in the Grand Underground I have a mix of Pokémon native to Platinum’s Pokédex, hard-to-get Pokémon (Munchlax, the HARDEST Pokemon to get via the Honey Tree mechanic, is present in the trailer), and Pokémon found using DPP’s dual-slot method (In Diamond and Pearl, Magby can only be found in the wild using this method and can only be obtained in Platinum via breeding).

But then again, I have a feeling the Pokémon selection could altered via online functions like Raid Dens are in SWSH.

@CabbageHunter64 A friend of mine and I chatted about this and we realized that Niantic more than likely gets some sort of “secondary” income that comes from selling information collected from players spinning PokeStops and Gyms, it’s really the only way we could Niantic go through with these changes despite the inevitable backlash.

@Boldfoxrd IIRC the problem with Kecleon isn’t its invisibility, it’s that it has a gimmick (in this case it’s the Color Change Ability) that’s difficult to apply to the game. Remember that similar problems happened to Ditto (Transform) and Smeargle (Sketch).

"I expect and I'm still let down"

Whenever I hear a game company saying that they've built a "team" to work on possible issues that the players bring up I basically assume nothing of value will happen. The Pokemon Trading Game Online is in the same boat: you bring up an issue on their official forums and the most you'll get is a mod saying "It has been passed along to the development team." or a similar phrase saying that they're listening and nothing happens after months of waiting.

@Kislevi03one IIRC Japan isn’t that much better as far as LGBT+ rights are concerned and xenophobia (unless you’re a tourist or an English teacher living on a work visa) is still commonplace, I’d recommend moving to Canada instead.

@Radbot42 If they’re referring to the Hatterene line (and possibly Sylveon) as the “trap” Pokémon it’s in large part due to the line’s coloration, it’s the same colors (or close to) as the ones used in the trans pride flag.

Meh. As others have said this feels like empty praise, Nintendo can only do so much in terms of adding things to Pokémon since that largely falls on developers (and localizers to a lesser extent). The better corporate entity to send that letter to would’ve been The Pokémon Company International but even I have my doubts on ever getting a response from ‘em.

@Dogorilla IIRC recent Pokémon games have a similar system, you get a choice between two genders and a selection of skin tones but the game never explicitly asks if you’re a boy or a girl.

One issue I DO remember being brought up back in Gen 6 was that clothing, hairstyles, and other cosmetics were still locked to either gender (with girls having the lion’s share of the options). I have no idea if the same is true for Gen 7 and 8 but getting rid of that system and adding motor gender-neutral options could help.

I voted “I don't want ports of mobile games in general” solely based on the quality of the games. If they can match up to “proper” console games then I have no issues with ‘em.

But please, DON’T give me a massive letdown like Steven Universe: Unleash the Light again.

@Heavyarms55 Technically the problem started due to COVID forcing printing plants to shut down for most of last year and THEN scalping reared it's ugly head after YouTubers started to make videos thanks to their nostalgia rushing into their brains. Also, it's worth noting that TPCi used its Play! Pokemon Twitter account to acknowledge (but never actually fix) the stock issues that Champion's Path and Shining Fates suffered so the blame is kind of justified.

Oof, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this...

On the pet care side of this I'm glad to see that the little pupper managed to survive parvo after noticing that his lack of energy. The disease's symptoms (lethargy, vomiting, loss of appetite, fever, and diarrhea) make going though it especially painful and, since it's one of those viral diseases you "cure" by alleviating the symptoms of infection and let the body's immune system fight off, it's no wonder why it's so deadly in younger dogs. It's also worth noting that parvo is INCREDIBLY contagious, dogs undergoing treatment are often quarantined because of it.

That said, I'm really surprised that the puppy got infected in the first place. Canine parvovirus is one the many viral diseases that puppies and dogs are often vaccinated against and not making sure your pets's shots are up-to-date is a recipe for disaster.

On the Pokemon TCG side of this I can definitely understand the reasoning behind selling his cards to pay the vet bills but unless he had some sleeved high-demand Ultra-Rares in that Snorlax binder I doubt he'd get anywhere near $800.

And I apologize for this but I find the whole "TPCi sent this kid RARE cards to replace the ones he may have sold" bit to be hilarious, the company can do stunts like this but they can't even release a press statement about Targets and Walmarts removing their products from store shelves because of a combination of stock issues and insane scalpers? And the products shown (six theme decks and a Battle Academy set) aren't exactly "rare" by gaming standards.

@Menardi Agreed, especially considering that TPCi has yet to acknowledge that big box stores like Target are no longer stocking Pokemon TCG cards due to rampant scalping and the horrors scalpers bring.

Well this is depressing regardless of how you look at it. TCG supply is still at an all-time low due to scalpers & hypebeasts and TPCi STILL thinks this is an okay thing to do? It’s becoming more and more clear that those Tweets that were published by Play! Pokemon were empty promises.

Also, it’s worth noting that TPCi more than likely supplied the players in this video with said cards. They occasionally do this for various PTCG YouTubers in order to promote the game.

Yecch... It’s already hard enough to find product in stores because of scalpers and braindead hypebeasts buying up stock without consequence. The LAST thing we need is journalists publicizing services like this or, worse yet, painting them in a positive light (something that this article thankfully DOESN’T do to some extent).

And all of this horror started due to a nasty mix of Logan Paul being Logan Paul, COVID-19 slamming TCG production, and Pokemon’s 25th Anniversary.

@Branovices Well put, I was just about to mention the same thing with different but less-recent examples (I would’ve either cited an incident involving TPCi and Seattle, WA bar running a yearly Pokémon-themed party or one involving a NSFW artist publishing a raunchy Pokémon comic with an actual ISBN).

Sigh...

As an ex-eBay seller (ditched ‘em after they forced everyone onto their in-house payment processor) these people are basically testing the waters and, as @Quantaur mentioned, there’s a sucker born every minute.

That said, ALWAYS check the sold listings before buying anything for something that feels like an exorbitant price.

Sigh...

Anybody remember Google Glass and where that went?

US buyer here. I originally ordered Banjo at Target, cancelled said order after they screwed up with AC x Sanrio cards, and then ordered and picked up from Best Buy.

Man, Target’s REALLY dropping the ball when it comes to high-demand items these days...

It’s certainly a step in the right direction, I distinctly remember people complaining about Deino being impossible to hatch when it was made available alongside its Shiny form in eggs during an event a while back.

I think people on The Silph Road (and other PoGo data collecting sites like it) will use this new feature to help calculate the Pokemon ratios for each type of egg and update ‘em whenever the hatch pool changes.

Eh... my guess is it's just going to be a Professor’s Research reprint with Willow on it, we already have two different versions of the card already (one features Magnolia and the other features Juniper). The only thing I could see TPCi doing that’s technically out-of-the-ordinary is giving it the Full-Art card treatment.

Yeah... you’re still playing Fortnite, sonny boy. Come back when you start playing retro games professionally and THEN I’ll start taking you seriously!

...Meh. The same was said about Champion’s Path stock issues back in October and the only thing that was brought back was the ETB, everything else was a one-and-done product.

The only “saving” grace Shining Fates has is that it’ll probably follow the same style as Hidden Fates, that means more tins and 1-2 extra runs of the ETB.

@1ofUs The Pokemon World Championship has players from across the globe competing, hosting it on an iffy client that can only run 8-person single elimination tournaments and really only usable to Western audiences is a disaster waiting to happen.