ZebZed

Eh, I can’t say I’m that surprised by the move. Even with a COVID-19 vaccine in place a lot of countries will still have restrictions that make these kinds of a bit of an impossibility.

That said I’m still shocked that it’s being held in the UK, I’ve heard rumors about the 2013 World Championships being a pain for TPCi due to it being hosted outside of the states.

@1ofUs Not really, they can’t host it online due to Japanese and Korean players not having proper access to the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online.

@tadams587 My guess is that it‘ll be locked to Amped Form for both versions, Shining Fates and Shiny Star V, the Japanese set that the former set takes a majority of its cards from, only has the Amped Form available as a Shiny card.

@CosmoXY “ But if you want this event Pokémon, that’s what you have to do because they want the opportunity to upsell you on the cards.”

Yeah... Every Gamestop I’ve been to recently are already capped on release-day preorders for Shining Fates and will only receive enough product to fulfill said preorders, you won’t be able to buy SHF products at ALL come the 19th unless you’re extremely lucky.

Ironically enough I have to pick up some Shining Fates preorders from GameStop that same day so I guess I will, I just don’t see the point in it due to me already owning one from a previous event Max Raid event and the lack of it coming with the Gigantamax Factor.

That said I DO find it odd a (and a bit cruel) that it’s being distributed via Pokémon Pass DURING a pandemic, it really should’ve been a Wi-Fi event.

@GKO900 SwSh and the DLC improved it even more. You don't even have BREED Pokemon to get egg moves on 'em, all you have to do is have the two Pokemon in the Daycare (one with an Egg Move and the target Pokemon with an empty move slot) and walk around for a bit and your target 'mon will come out with the egg move.

And as far as battling goes SWSH made it easier to level up Pokemon thanks to EXP Candies being INCREDIBLY common if you farm Max Raids. Combine that with EXP Candies FINALLY making Hyper Training accessable to everyone, removing the 100 EV cap for Vitamins, SWSH introducing Nature Mints (and making them INCREDIBLY easy to come across in In both the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra areas), Ability Capsules costing half as much as they did in SMUSUM (50 BP compared to 100 BP) and easily farmed via Isle of Armor's Cram-o-Matic, and the Crown Tundra introducing the Ability Patch and it's never been easier to make a tournament-ready Pokemon from.

After considering all of THAT you're really only paying for 3 things when buying PKHex-generated Pokemon: a painfully-specific IV spread that requires an IV other than 31 in one or more stats, Poke Ball type, and Shiny status.

Well that stinks, and judging by the way Sega's tweet is structured I'm guessing the rumor about his departure being contract-related is looking to be more real by the minute

@JayJ Replacing Roger Craig Smith with Ben Schwartz would be a massive downgrade if you ask me, the movies and the games should stay separate entities.

I could see it getting a sequel, it IS used in TPCi-tournaments and was meant to be included in the 2020 World Championship as a third competitive pillar until COVID forced its postponement.

All I can really hope for is that we TRY to avoid the embarrassment and vitriol surrounding Pokken’s EVO 2016 results.

@stinkyx You pretty much hit the nail on the head when it comes to code cards, you’re better off buying ‘em in the resale market than you are buying the packs themselves. It’s also worth noting that various League Battle Decks (Pikachu & Zekrom GX, Reshiram and Charizard, and Zacian V) also come with code cards that net you the cards included in the product.

As for Togekiss V/VMAX those cards aren’t exactly good in the format right now. Marnie and Reset Stamp hurt the 2-card search effect, 120 damage isn’t that good right now, and it’s weak to the Boltund V/Pikachu & Zekrom decks that are topping tournaments right now.

I can’t say much on Pokémon Wonder since I haven’t seen much on it but other sites have reported on the Fusion Arts, they’re basically saying that it’s related to the TCG due to it sounding like a card mechanic and it sounding an awful lot like the Pokémon LEGEND mechanic from the HGSS-era sets.

Also, one thing I’ve been seeing spreading around is that Fusion Art are related to Calyrex, Glastrier, and Spectrier due to those three Pokémon being the set themes for Japan’s April sets but I doubt that’s it. These copyrights tend to pop up a good 5-6 months before they’re officially revealed so this sounds like it’ll be for Japan’s summer or fall sets.

@TheLightSpirit You’re a bit late on that one, while it’s not a wedding ring they already did make a gold ring replica for the Collector’s Edition version of Sonic Mania.

@ARPK Eh, I play on competitive level and that's something you quickly get used to. One of the things I've learned is that it's best to sell and cards that you won't be able to use in an upcoming rotation JUST before it's announced or before Worlds.

@Heavyarms55 TPCi's been getting better at making it cheaper to play competitively in recent times. They released a League Battle Deck based on Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia-GX/Zacian V, one of the most common deck archetypes in the current Standard format (and possibly Expanded, I don't keep up with that one), less than a month ago. Crobat V and Dedenne-GX, two of the most common draw support Pokemon in Standard, are also available (or will be in the case of Crobat V) in value products.

Also, $50-$100 USD for a complete deck is a FAR better price compared to past years where it easily could've cost double or even triple that amount. I still remember when Rayquaza DRX/DRV was $100+ due to its rarity and it being an amazing non-EX Basic attacker for Rayquaza/Eelektrik decks at the time.

@Brydontk Not really, it's basically a new subclass of cards like Ultra Beasts and Team Plasma cards.

I’m actually fine with Sephiroth’s inclusion despite him being a third SE character and a character I wouldn't have placed my bets on, it follows the same villain trend that Ridley and King K. Rool (and Incineroar to some extent) started and whose IP always felt a bit underrepresented in Smash due to SE’s stinginess.

Oh, and given the reactions that the reveal got Nintendo had its Joker reveal repeat.

@A_standard_idiot The best answer I can give is look at WHO makes up their voting jury and make a best guess based on that.

@N8tiveT3ch And that really shouldn’t be surprising, people hate Nintendo for following the beat of their own drum (or making their own spin on certain trends) and obtaining success from doing so.

Meh, considering how winners were decided (10% public votes and 90% from a voting jury consisting of gaming websites) TLOU2 not winning GOTY would’ve been a serious curveball.

All anybody can hope for is that, like past GOTY winners, it has little impact on the industry due to the length of time it takes to develop games and how long these ultimately-hollow awards ceremonies remain in the public and corporate eye.

Out of the three “fiascos” that Nintendo has started this is one that I do feel is bad for the company considering that it was a charitable venture. That said @CptnAlex should’ve been more careful with shell designs and logo/wording usage after receiving the copyright infringement issues brought by his Tweets that @DCorp mentioned, just because you’ve dealt with one That doesn’t mean the company’s going to forget about you.

It’s also worth noting that both Patreon and Indiegogo DO keep track of campaigns that involve corporate IPs, especially when it involves IPs owned by highly litigious companies like Nintendo.

@TwinFami The sad thing is that he’s repeatedly tried to get a license from Nintendo to do what he’s doing.

Meh, I’ve always viewed Melee competitors as elitist to some extent but them saying that losing a tournament because they couldn’t play it in a way they want to will end up killing the game’s competitive scene is just exponentially stupid.

The way I see it is that the Smash competitive scene is in the same situation as the competitive Pokémon TCG scene is. TPCi can’t run IRL events (the preferred method) because of the pandemic but TPCi is running officially sanctioned tournaments on their Pokémon Trading Card Game Online app (A method that has its own bugs and issues that some competitors aren’t fans of). In other words, IRL TCG events = Melee whilst TCGO tournaments = Nintendo’s newest Smash Bros. offering.

So what are IRL TCG event aficionados doing right now? Most are just hunkering down and waiting for everything to boil over and then compete as usual. Will these IRL events be smaller due to the lack of them being held during these trying times? Yes they will and that’s expected, but they’ll continue to grow as the world keeps on spinning.

@TG16_IS_BAE He’s referring to the ongoing Epic Games/Apple lawsuit and how Tim Sweeney’s been behaving on Twitter in relation to it.

Samus, or any other Nintendo character, in Fortnite as a skin?

As a wise Furon warrior once said: “I’m going to be violently ill!”

Feelings aside, as other people pointed out it’s not like due to hoe protective Nintendo can be towards their IPs and how they’re vehemently against having their characters appearing on other consoles. IIRC NBA Street V3 ran into an issue where models for Mario, Luigi, and Peach were present in the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game’s code (they’re playable characters in the Gamecube version) despite not being playable in those versions without hacking/modding.

The announcement solely coming from TPCi is a bit iffy, you’d think that a milestone anniversary would at least have at least one official Japanese Twitter account also celebrate the event as well.

That said we already know what one of the components of this anniversary is: another premium TCG set (the assumption is that it’ll be our equivalent of Japan’s Shiny Star V set) being released in January/February.

These look neat, I hope the non-limited stuff finds its way into the US (IIRC Zavvi has a US store) in some fashion.

That said I’m not pleased with shoes being super-limited, especially when it’s only 300 pairs. That kind of nonsense only enforces bot usage.

@Cinaclov I honestly don’t know, I regularly take out my SD card to copy screenshots taken with the Switch’s capture button but even then I’d rather have the cheaper design-less one.

@BoyfriendOfDeath Because this is a new product as far as retailers are concerned.

@wazlon From what I understand it’s depends on what if the device the SD card is inserted into uses a binary or decimal system.

@kupocake Probably the former, the latter’s pretty easy to figure out if you look at who’s selling ‘em and for what price.

@masterLEON Unfortunately that one’s on backorder, you wouldn’t get it until after Christmas.

Yecch! I’ve seen regular MicroSD cards of similar go for cheaper than that even without factoring in sales! You’re essentially paying extra cash for the licensing here.

Hmm... I'd have to see how the text is written in Japanese and other languages before drawing a conclusion, Nintendo's English localizers/translators are known to be "in" on the whole meme reference thing.

@TheBigK One of the things that often fly over players’ heads is that when you buy a video game, physical or digital, you’re only buying a LICENSE to play the game that could theoretically be revoked at any time rather than buying (and thus owning) the game itself. Heck, it’s why you see the usual ownership rights bit at the end of the game’s credits.

That said, there ARE some things like rentals, buying and selling used games, and the like that muddle the waters a little so the confusion is justified to a certain degree.

Not exactly, my order from Amazon UK was shipped out yesterday but it won’t get here until the 24th due to international shipping.

@theiRiS The general assumption is that stores in the US didn’t open up preorders in an attempt to combat bots.

Hmm, that's pretty interesting list. You basically have almost all of the field and battle themes for a majority of the titles that SE considers "core" titles (KH1, KH2, and BBS) and a sizable chunk of the side titles' soundtracks when you ignore variations of said tracks introduced later or, in the case of The Encounter, earlier on. The only worlds from 1 and 2 that are missing are Deep Jungle's and Port Royal's but those are understandable given the rights involved (although this IS something of a guess due to "Having a Wild Time" being present in KINGDOM HEARTS Orchestra -World Tour- Album's Threats of the Land medley track).

I'm also mildly annoyed with how almost ALL of the various tracks used for cutscenes weren't included. @PoorGeno brings up a good point with Showdown at Hollow Bastion's exclusion, some of 'em would've been wonderful to see here.

And I really hated to see it in the initial track release put out by SE earlier in the year but Let It Go's presence in the KH3 section (and this game in general) just feels like those one-off unnecessary licensed pop/rock/hip-hop song you'd find in some movie soundtracks.

That "other titles" section is just screams "we're just testing the waters for a Disney-centric Theathrhythm title" if you ask me. Only ONE of those tracks (Beauty and the Beast) is present in a KH title and it's present in a cutscene for less than a minute, having The Lion King's Circle of Life and Aladdin's A Whole New World here in here is making me VERY suspicious.

So basically I feel like the tracklist is good overall. It has some missteps and some questionable inclusions but that's just me.

I can’t say I’m that surprised by this, my old high school had a rule where you could listen to instrumental music during study hall periods.

@StefanN Not outside of Japan, but Nintendo seems to be “fixing” this for international audiences by adding a music player option to some of their games.

Eh, I have both a Switch AND a Switch Lite so I find myself using the former as a home console and the latter as a handheld.

That said, I DO find myself using my regular Switch in Tabletop mode when I’m playing a game that’s not on (or lacks a cloud-compatible save file) my Lite...

I'm liking it so far but I'm slightly biased on giving it a plus since Fossil Pokemon like Tyrunt and Archen are FINALLY obtainable in something other than a regular Poke Ball.

That said I'm iffy on Dynamax Adventures, Some Legendaries can be handled solo (with CPU support) whilst others feel like they need more human players in the match to succeed. I'm also not a big fan of the Legendaries' Shiny status only being visible after being caught but I have a feeling that was done to prevent people from going AFK once the Legendary popped up.

Oh, and I'm finding Peony's antics to be REALLY grating so far. He's basically an older Hau/Hop, two characters I LOATHED when playing through Gen 7 and SwSh.

@chardrich AFAIK you've only been able to get one of each Legendary per save file (barring glitches and oversights like HGSS's Shinjoh Ruins event) since RBY. Why would SwSh's Legendary handouts be any different?

@IPrino From what I've heard there won't be preorders for it in the States.

@Dethmunk The country thing is the main issue, Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch preorders are more than likely not going to be a thing here.

@OstianOwl From what' I've been hearing pre-orders won't be offered for the US market for some unknown reason.

Well that partially explains why I as able to find an ACNH Edition Switch at GameStop after I couldn’t find one at the Walmart, Target, AND Best Buy located at one of the shopping centers I frequent. Glad to see that Reggie can still pull some magic for his new employers.

That said I hope this later extends to copies of first-party Nintendo games and preorder bonuses for said games.

Hmm... I have a feeling, as others have pointed out, that this is mostly just a cameo of sorts. Remember that both Mario and Pikmin are handled by Miyamoto.

That said there are/were plans for other Nintendo-themed rides and attractions at the SNWs planned for other Universal theme parks (especially Orlando’s), I know a Donkey Kong Country-themed coaster was in the planning stages and I vaguely remember that both Zelda and Pokémon were teased at.

Yes but only if NoA follows through with it by bringing back single Joy Cons to North America.

That said it’s only a temporary fix, those Joy Cons will eventually get drift as well. Unless you replace the faulty Joy Con’s joystick entirely then it’s just kicking the can down the road.

@Thoughts To be fair we still don't know if Dynamax Adventures have a 1-per-player cap on Legendaries or if they can be farmed like current Max Raids.

Don't forget that certain Event-only Pokemon like Darkrai have been made as 5-star Raids in the past.

I have a feeling Niantic is doing this due to GO-to-Home Pokemon transfers happening before the end of the year and TPC wanting to keep the main game as sane as possible, the amount of Legendaries people might transfer from Go could be a possible problem.

That said I'm more inclined to believe that this is about money if anything.

@Pip_Pipston And you’re correct. It’s also worth noting that TPCi has a tendency of giving certain products a second printing or overprinting them, the most noticeable examples being the Hidden Fates GX tins, Walmart-exclusive box variants of those tins, and the recently-released Trainer’s Toolkit.

I picked up a set of these, a Dubwool V box, and two Elite Trainer Boxes already. The cards are okay but EVERYONE (including myself) is hunting for the two secret-rare Charizards that are available in the set.

But good luck finding these in the wild now, most stores are sold out and there’s no hint of the first three pin collections being restocked in the future. That said, you should be able to find the pins on the aftermarket for a fairly cheap price like other recent Pokemon TCG pins.

@orshorelinepnw I have a feeling that the size of the pins and logistical issues (just look at how many copies of SM3DAS are still available at bog box stores in the US) may have been deciding factors in Nintendo’s reason to not pursue that option.

@KingBowser As much as I hate scalpers reselling consumer products isn’t going to be illegal anytime soon, it’s small potatoes compared to other sketchy business practices out there.

That said, I do wish businesses and/or governments would do something to combat script bots at the consumer level.

@Bodhicat Did you click the order number in your confirmation email and, if you did, end up on the shop’s front page? If you did then that seems to be normal. You either have to click the red “Order Status” button in the same email or you have to click the “Orders & Lists” option on the main page, select the “My Orders” option, and punch in your info to see if it still active.

Failing that, there’s always customer support.

@ALinkttPresent People seem to be confused about the amount that was actually required to qualify for the pin set. The page clearly says...

“Five missions, including the “Purchase Super Mario 3D All-Stars” mission, must be completed before being eligible to receive the pins.”

That means 5 missions need to be completed AND that one of those five completed missions needs to be the purchase requirement mission. I do agree with people saying that Nintendo could’ve worded it better to make it more obvious though.

@NathanTheAsian I managed to order a pin set after a good two hours of being bombarded with errors.

Thankfully, as others have pointed out earlier, you should still be able to order the pins if you got a code and that there’s a strict limit of 1 pin set per code.

@Ghostchip Which is why most websites that specialize in this sort of thing have warnings on their front page saying that the site isn't meant to be viewed by minors (which is more for the kid's sake than the site's, once a minor passes that page they may be violating their local laws by viewing the contents of the site) and programs like Net Nanny exist. You also have Twitter artists that will block underage users if they focus on NSFW art.