Comments 455

Re: Poll: Rate Your Favourite Game Boy Advance Games

everynowandben

@MarioBrickLayer Get a New Nintendo 3DS XL for 3DS and DS games (plus, you can download a great majority of the GB and GBC essentials), and get a GBA SP (backlit) to play GB, GBC, and GBA carts. With just those 2 systems, you can play literally every physical game from GB, GBC, GBA, DS, and 3DS.

If I were you and had to pick just one, I'd go New 3DS XL without a second thought. The library is gigantic and full to burst with high quality games.

Another option might be an Anbernic RG350M or RG351V if you don't mind emulation. Both of those systems are of excellent quality of build and performance, and can run everything from Atari 2600 to PlayStation 1 absolutely perfectly.

Re: Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings Of Ruin Launches In July, Three amiibo Figures Announced

everynowandben

@Dang69 Try copy/paste. This site has issues with links that end with parathesis. I assure you that the URL I provided is accurate.

Also, since you seem to be misinformed, The Pokemon Company is owned by 3 companies: Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, Inc. Nintendo also partially owns Creatures, Inc. Therefore, while none of these 3 companies are the majority owner, Nintendo does own more of The Pokemon Company than the other 2 companies. All that being said, and still counting by your arbitrary rules, you're still incorrect. I urge you to do the research - this isn't a matter of opinion. You are simply mistaken.

Re: Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings Of Ruin Launches In July, Three amiibo Figures Announced

everynowandben

@Dang69 It appears you're both incorrect and misinformed. Look it up, my friend.

https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_games_by_year_(US)

https://capcom.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Video_games_by_year

The arbitrary rules you made up for what counts and what doesn't count, I disagree with. However, even counting the games that way, your statement is still factually incorrect.

Re: Nintendo Celebrates MAR10 Day 2021 With Themed Switch Sale (North America)

everynowandben

@Giygas_95 I also vote pass. If you saw it used or something for like $20, and you're craving some arcade style tennis action, grab it then. It's a decent game, even single-player, but it's probably not worth the $39 - especially if you won't be playing local multiplayer. I bought it day one at full price and beat it in just a couple sessions. While I don't exactly regret it, I do realize it probably wasn't the best choice.

Re: Some History About ILCA, The Japanese Studio Working On The Pokémon Diamond And Pearl Remakes

everynowandben

(...continuing from above)
4. In some games, such as EarthBound for example, visible enemies will chase you. I like this because while it feels like a non-random encounter, it essentially acts as one if the enemy is impossible (or very difficult) to escape from. Just an example of an encounter type not addressed in your assessment that works "both ways" in a sense.
5.You haven't accounted for players who will fight every enemy they see or are presented with (unless they'd be at a disadvantage to do so i.e. almost dead and no way to heal). For example, you said in one of your examples that a game may be balanced expecting you to have defeated ~10 enemies in a dungeon before fighting the boss to be leveled appropriately. If the dev put 10-12 enemies on the path to the boss, I believe more players than you are accounting for would actually fight them all, or at least most of them, even if technically they could just skate by them. I have no evidence if this, outside of anecdotal comments and such, but I believe it to be true. Gamers expect there to be combat in an RPG, and unless the player is very young, I feel like it's pretty unlikely they would just skip as much combat as possible just because it "feels good." Many modern RPGs are balanced (in my experience) so if you fight 95% of the enemies you see, you will not have to grind on the side.
6. I feel that random encounters often break immersion. The player says to themselves "ummm...okay, why am I fighting right now?" Or "WTF where did that guy come from?" Or "LOL yeah no way my character could've seen THAT coming.. 🙄" On the other hand, random encounters in Pokemon for example, don't work that way and I would not make that same argument there. Part of the fun is the surprise of what Pokemon could possibly be hiding in the tall grass. You might never know that there's actually a 1% chance of finding a Pikachu on Route X or whatever.
7. Visible encounters can sometimes allow for strategic mechanics impossible with random encounters. I'll use EarthBound as an example again: depending on your approach, you can sneak up on the enemy and move first in battle as a reward, and vice-versa. Additionally, being very strong and encountering a weak enemy causes an automatic win, which would not work (or at least would be very awkward) if it was a random encounter.
8. Allowing players to face the same enemy over and over in Pokemon to shiny hunt or increase chances of better stats is yet another example of how visible encounters are a quality of life feature that better respects the player's time.

Re: Some History About ILCA, The Japanese Studio Working On The Pokémon Diamond And Pearl Remakes

everynowandben

@LordGeovanni I think you made a lot of good points for your assertion. I see too that you yourself pointed out that your argument here didn't include the positives of visible encounters, or the negatives of random encounters. You seem like a very level-headed individual, so I'm sure you'll understand that I also appreciate debating in order to learn rather than to "prove who's right" or whatever, haha.. That all being said, I'd like to give you some reasons why I prefer visible encounters.

1. Random encounters feel cheap. Nothing more annoying than being forced into a fight I didn't want to get into, especially if I'm low on health and trying to get to a save point or healing area/item, even more especially if the game forces you to randomly fight super strong enemies every so often. The absolute worst is when dying means loss of progress. It can very be frustrating to lose 15-20 minutes of game time - enough even to turn off the game for good.
2. Random encounters feel outdated. They present an old-fashioned mechanic initially implemented based on limitation rather than choice. Whenever I see them in a modern game, I can't help but feel like the dev took the easy way out, or, is stuck in the past.
3. Taking away control from players, even if it's "for their own good," usually doesn't feel as good as giving the player the control to play in their own way. I understand your argument, and I believe in the end, there's pros and cons to both stances in this regard, its a give and take either way. However, in the end, I would rather have the choice than to not be able to make the choice all.
(Continued below...)

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (February 27th)

everynowandben

Poking away at both Hyrule Warriors: AoC and Duke Nukem 3D 20thAWT.

HW is still fun if not repetitive - but that's exactly what I expected. Musou games are relaxing for me, and a great way to unwind.

I'm in the alien invasion levels of DN3D, and I'm actually really impressed with the creativity and diversity of environments - you go from a fast food restaurant, to a theme park, to a courthouse... Its just stupid fun, and I'm excited to see what's next.

Re: Samurai Warriors 5 Officially Revealed, Comes To Switch This Summer

everynowandben

I used to really like these games, but after getting Fire Emblem Warriors and the 2 Hyrule Warriors games, there is no way I can justify going back to Dynasty or Samurai Warriors. The Nintendo themed games, which I prefer due to caring more about those characters compared to historical figures, have more content than I'll probably ever be able to finish.

Re: Guide: How To Spot Bootleg Nintendo Video Games

everynowandben

I also (very much knowingly) bought a Fire Emblem 6 repro/English translation cartridge on eBay a couple years ago. If I played it for more than maybe 45 minutes straight or so, it would reset, which was a little annoying, but you can save/bookmark whenever you want in that game, so it wasn't really a big deal (I also didn't usually play for that long anyway). It was totally worth that minor inconvenience though to be able to play that game on original hardware, and to have the easy freedom to switch from handheld (backlit GBA SP) to the TV (GameCube Game Boy Player), almost like a Switch before Switch now that I think about it.

Re: Guide: How To Spot Bootleg Nintendo Video Games

everynowandben

I bought a fake Pokemon Emerald on Craigslist a few years back. It played perfectly fine, but if you try to transfer any of the 'mons to a DS version, the save file deletes itself. I didn't know about fakes at the time, but in hindsight, it's pretty clearly a fake as the label and color of the cartridge itself are both a bit off. Oh well, I had a great time playing through Emerald back then, and I got it for dirt cheap.

Re: Random: Okay, You Can't Actually Use This Kirby Keycap, But It's Still Very Cute

everynowandben

@KateGray I get it, I was just teasing 😋 Overall I appreciate your work and what ya’ll do for this wonderful website.

I come here (and the sister sites) for the added flavor and the great community, and it wouldn’t be what it is without “fun” articles like these. While occasionally a bit hollow, these articles are often fun talking points and/or conversation starters at the very least.

Re: Gallery: 25 Glorious Screenshots From New Pokémon Snap

everynowandben

@Clyde_Radcliffe The original was not difficult at all.. There were some special shots you could take (basically lining up perfectly to make the environment take the shape of a Pokémon) that were not immediately obvious, but even that wasn’t exactly difficult or as obtuse as it might sound. You could definitely spend some time trying to get better shots by manipulating the Pokémon into performing different poses, or even getting the Pokémon to appear at all. All your photos are graded, so replay comes from getting the “perfect shot” rather than from taking on an actual challenge.

Edit: Additionally, you complete the Pokédex not by catching them all, but by taking a picture of them all. That being said, at least in the original, you could 100% the game in about 5 hours.