masterLEON

Sony and Ubisoft could learn a thing about saturation. If you have to over advertise to make sales, your product already failed at delivering a value proposition.

I’m only here for arcade Berzerk and Frenzy and some more interviews. 2GBs, though, wow!

@Gyromike Todd is stuck on a separate Epyx collection currently. It’s in my wishlist, I just haven’t gotten around to pick it up yet. I don’t think it has the multiplayer support, unfortunately.

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-epyx-collection-handheld-switch/

@NeonMullet Sadly, my Switch OLED rarely gets taken out of the dock as recording is my priority. It is a fantastic screen, though. I stuck with the C1 rather than looking at the C2 that was already out as I learned from Try from My Life in Gaming and his discovery that the C2 adds upwards of 2 frames of latency in Boost mode for any 4:3 content displayed on it, almost 3 frames with BFI turned on. Not good. When I finally get back into my old consoles again, I need that latency to be as low as possible to reduce to total amount of milliseconds lost in the hardware chain from controller to console to scaler and finally to TV. It also should be noted that the C1 offers a 4-way zoom option to stretch content to the edges of the screen but as of the C2, the 4-way zoom option has been removed.

That video analysis is an interesting and eye-opening watch, especially for those of us wanting to use our legacy hardware on modern TVs

https://youtu.be/7K2tSrnxqVk?si=WfuNQcFifYgGTiUG

(or search “mylifeingaming oled”, the first result should be it)

@NeonMullet I used to have my Sony hooked up to a big switchbox. GC, Wii, and PS2 on component, XBox and DC on S-Video and It was great 😀 Right now I have a 48” LGC1 OLED. I got it on clearance in 2022 which has also been great so far. I do have a RetroTink 5x but I want to get my older consoles checked out first before hooking them back up (cleaned, recapped, etc.). No rush, except for my TurboDuo and original XBox.

Before getting my LG I was using a 2006 Panasonic 42” plasma that I bought in 2016 for $98. It was a little scratched, had some light burn-in (I worked it out over time but I’m ok with it never clearing up 100%), but it’s color and contrast was still fantastic for being on for 6000+ hours. I’ve spent my entire Splatoon 2 career with it and I’ve not noticed the input lag. I even fired up Splatoon 2 on my OLED and it felt pretty much the same. I also used it playing Arcade Archives caravans and Samurai Shodown on XBox One. It's not hooked up at the moment but I see myself using it as a streaming content TV. Comparing side by side with the OLED, I still feel the reds and people look more true to life on the plasma.

Last CRT I owned was a flat Sony KV-24FS120 in the mid 2000’s and it was the best with my Wii and my SEGA ‘light gun’ games (House of the Dead 2&3 Returns, mainly). Sadly I had to give it up when I moved. Now, I’d take just about anything in the 20”-27” just to have one, but the pickings are slim to none in my immediate area. I’ll keep my eyes open in the local yard sales.

@Twilite9 Anything with up to S-Video, or even component, input is a decent choice. Early 2000 model Sony (like the series I mentioned), Toshiba, Panasonic, or JVC, all just before they got discontinued should have the necessary inputs to cover up to PS3/360 without HDMI. There are HD CRTs that have HDMI, all very expensive, and may not be as responsive due to extra picture processing, IIRC. That said, I’ve also heard that it may be better to match the CRT with the era of consoles that were available at the same time because various game developers would work with the professional CRTs for the sprite graphics, but they’ll have a regular old round tube TV to check their work on next to them.

Fixed an issue where the songs that play during battles were weighted toward certain songs.

Nooo! Triple Dip is my jam! And it was so rare in my rotation that when the recent updates came around and it started playing extra frequently I started winning like crazy! That really helped during the last week and a half of Sizzle season when I managed to grind over 40 catalog levels to slide into level 100 with the last battle of the season!

I hope they finally adjusted the BGM RNG so Triple Dip gets to play a couple more times but not so rare like before.

Got my trusty Madcatz Street Fighter IV Arcade Fight Stick standard edition and Mayflash Magic-NS adapter ready to go! (with Seimitsu LS-40 lever and Sanwa OBF convex buttons)

Definitely double-dipping here. Getting digital on Friday and keeping it on the built-in storage, and I’ll satisfy my collector urges in November with the Physical.

Well, well! Capcom’s IP lawyers must be like high level Jedi’s to get Norimaro perms. Or is it deep pockets? Either way, welcome to the west crazy dude!

The real FG fans are absolutely feasting this year! We gotta appreciate all the behind-the-scenes rights negotiations and legwork that made this rerelease possible, and the years of bugging Capcom constantly to bring these titles back on modern platforms. The new blood running the fighting game division is definitely listening to the fans this generation.
Is there anything left though? Tech Romancer, Rival Schools United by Fate and Star Gladiator 1 (which both likely needs help from BandaiNamco), and the niche home ports of the 2000’s. But the major titles are now taken care of, which will be great for running tournaments, provided that they really run perfectly, as they’ll be a lower cost alternative to maintaining aging arcade boards and monitors.

Whatever this is, (and honestly I think it’s a 94-XII compilation) we might be looking at a part of the cover art right here!

It all began in ‘94!

The game is low-key 65% why I’m getting this bundle! It may take a while, but I’m gonna try to 1CC this.

In this Marvel thread I was replying to what you said before

“Giving us inferior CPS/CPS-II/CPS-III versions over and over again since PS4 days? Definitely.”

Which is objectively false or at the very least we don’t know 100% how they’ll perform. The Capcom Marvel fighting games have not seen multiple releases since PS4. Only MSH got a digital release together with MvC1 (in MvC Origins) and MvC 2 on PS3/360, and nothing else since then. Let’s wait until the collection actually comes out before passing judgement. We’re already getting a lot of stuff. Probably not the kind of stuff you usually ask for (expanded story mode, voiced lines, etc.)

For the record, I’ve never specifically said console versions suck. You’re the one always bashing arcade versions for just existing when all they are is a baseline. Can’t blame them for being “inferior” when they’re just the first version of a game. We know they’re barebones and basic. We also know that basically any console from Dreamcast and later can run any arcade fighting game that was out at the same time as the system at full speed. (well, not the Switch) And bugs and glitches get fixed when they come home, too. So there’s a plus.

However, I’ve never really cared much about being able to play as bosses in fighting games. There are a couple reasons why. The biggest reason is because we rarely if ever actually get to use the version of the character the CPU uses. (KoF 2002 Rugal is probably the closest) It’s no secret the CPU cheats. The CPU usually gets shorter recovery time, extra throw range, damage scaling, it reads your inputs, and more! When we finally get to play as them, they’re usually nerfed to make them more balanced in vs. play. The other reason is I play the home versions for learning character basics and drill special moves before going outside, and then play against people at the arcade for gaining practical experience. Since the arcade doesn’t have the extra characters, I don’t bother learning them. It’s not saying anything bad about them, but I really have no use for learning them. And for my use case, I can at least enter side tournaments at fighting game events because my skills will be viable. If I only play at home, and not online, I’ll get washed regardless of whatever level I set the CPU that’s just how it is.

@Vyacheslav333 Just pointing out here the only games of this collection that saw a re-release beyond the PS1/Sega Saturn, and overpriced Arcade1Up cabinets, was the Marvel vs. Capcom games. Trust me, all of these games are going to be the “superior versions” because all the animation frames are here (MSH was severely cut on PS1 and even the Saturn Marvel games if you don’t have the RAM carts), next to zero loading times, the museum content (art and music players), online w/rollback netcode (I know, you’re not interested, it’s for others), as well as proper training rooms with visible hitboxes (which SF Alpha 3 got, but I think got skipped on the Marvel games). Like, everything today’s fighting game community and FGC old heads are looking for is coming with this collection, including the games themselves which we had absolutely no guarantees would ever see a re-release, ever, let alone on today’s hardware, until recently unless we paid for the Arcade1Ups or unofficially through “other” means. Also, The Punisher never got a home re-release beyond that one Genesis port, and part of another overpriced Arcade1UP cabinet.

Please don’t lump this collection with the Capcom Arcade Stadium, and…I can’t even bring up other recent Capcom collections as they all have similar extra content (art, music, online, etc). To say otherwise is basically misinformation at this point. Unless there’s a specific version or feature, or 1 or 2 characters a particular version of a game has that no other version has, that you’re looking out for and that’s why it will forever be inferior. This collection is good for 99.9% of the people interested in it. I mean, I can accept Norimaro not being in X-Men vs. Street Fighter, we didn’t have him in the NA arcade version anyway. I’ll lose no sleep over that one.

When you need a spreadsheet to tell you which selector switches to turn on to play a console, you might have one too many consoles.

Bought it day 1 at full price, and with all the extra modes in this version it’s worth every penny. Shmups are high on replay value and I’ve said ages ago this one grows with you as you get better in the game, and also in the genre. Which is probably good advice for anyone, go revisit shmups you’ve played before as it’s the one genre you’re rarely ever “done” with.

If you have Steam, it actually sees a deeper discount and it’s still up for the foreseeable future (different publisher, different agreement, I guess).

@johnedwin The PS2 took a number of price cuts just to shift units and remain more desirable at key points in its time on market. There’s the emergence of XBox online gaming popularity and the GC coming to market, the Ps2 slim, and even after the PS3 came out when that was struggling under the weight of its own price tag and the slow adoption of HDTVs at the time (and also Blu-Ray players, even though it was the cheapest option at the time), the PS2 and PSP had to support the gaming division for a little longer. The Switch is doing its numbers with no price cuts other than a cheaper model, which is still the lowest selling model as most of the sales are going to the more expensive OLED. Once the Switch 2 comes out and/or the first price cut drops, it’s pretty much a lock for the Switch to take the (revised) top spot.

@Mirage-5x5 @SillyG Pix’n Love Games will be handling the physical releases. (Page isn’t live yet, it seems)

Gonna have to go with best rertogaming doggo, Korone, on this one.

Splatoon draining my wallet more than any other IP ever at this point, I swear. (NEOGEO carts not included)

I hope Dead Connection makes it off the collection. Otherwise this might be the first one I buy (waiting for a sale to get around the Taito tax)

@mariokirby485 it’d be cool if there would be an auto-reload like HotD 2&3 Returns on the Wii. Though going from handgun with limited shots to machine gun with unlimited shots removes too much tension and urgency that makes HotD 1 and 2 (and 3 & Overkill) exciting. Having a slight break where you’re vulnerable while you’re reloading is a basically a check if you’ve been able to prioritize your targets properly. While the other games you mentioned also have enemy prioritizing, unlimited machine gun fire works better because you’re fighting swarms of enemies (Let’s Go Jungle/Island, TC4, Razing Storm, HotD4 and Scarlet Dawn) and damage sponges (Deadstorm, Transformers, Terminator), which is those games’ way of creating tension.

Admittedly, I never played the remake post-patches, which I should really do before passing final judgement. But even before then, I was able to make the Pro Controller work somewhat by mapping the recalibrate button to a trigger/bumper and tuning the sensitivity until it was bearable. If Forever’s implementation using Unity was better, however, well maybe it would have been better, I dunno. I hope the scoring was fixed at least.

I hope things go better with the 2nd game as hopefully Forever doesn’t have to work from absolute scratch again if any resources from HotD2’s development is still accessible and can be utilized.

I expanded the poll results, thankfully it did not disappoint.

Man, I was at work with my headphones on and all of a sudden I was yelling “LET’S GOOOO!” and started to bang on some shelves. I didn’t care! A lot of people don’t realize the veritable licensing obstacle course hell that’s tied to these games and how it was not even remotely simple to rerelease them. Especially with how all the properties involved have changed ownership over the years. One day I hope we’ll get the detailed lowdown on how we got here. Just like how the guy who did the legal footwork for the Arcade1Up releases found the “toy” classification loophole (IIRC), maybe he was involved again to make this happen? In any case, at long last, the shackles have been released from these caged IPs! And we also got The Punisher, which IMO is the pinnacle of the Final Fight formula of side-scrolling beat-em-ups.

And yes, Fightcade and emulation exists, we know. But when the time finally comes when the original company comes up and gives us official ports plus online play with rollback and training rooms with hitboxes, not to mention production art and jukebox, then that’s the time you gotta show actual support. The next game in the series isn’t gonna get made without sales.

@Blast16 The single player campaign would be the only thing left, so it’s good for the lore. While the official online servers are down for the first game, there are unofficial servers that people are playing on. I don’t see Nintendo shutting down the servers for Splatoon 2 anytime soon since Nintendo tends to keep their online servers up for a long time.

On the outset it looks like standard Metroid Prime stuff. However, I expect there to be some sort of new gameplay gimmick. Maybe there was a hint shown in the trailer, as Nintendo has hidden things in plain sight before. Also, we’re at the point where we have to expect that all new Nintendo-made games are going to be cross-gen and have built-in enhancements, most of which can not be shown in a Switch(1) targeted trailer, for obvious reasons. Resolution and framerate improvements, of course. But I believe we’ll finally see the addition of separate, more detailed, textures that unlock when played on the new system.

@Yosher It’s worse that it’s literally random which scales you get beyond the first 3 or 4 (EDIT: bronze). The only thing that increases the better your performance is the amount of scales you can get. I’ve once gotten 2 golds out of 5 scales total and we didn’t even finish off the Cohozuna! That said, I hear Profresh 2 and 3 is the sweet spot for comfortable scale farming.

@Geit_de Network issues (also people manually disconnecting) and the Splatoon gameplay complaints you commented are 2 different things. I never played LAN Fast RMX so I didn’t address that. That game is made by Shin’en Multimedia, not Nintendo. So if it’s bad network code then it’s Shin’en’s fault.

@TYRANACLES @Yosher True, scales are probably the worst grind in existence. At least the Triumvirate boss fights that start with this weekend’s BIG Big Run are ongoing from here on out (where we can get triple scale payout). I agree a multiplier scale weekend, maybe even a first boss clear of the day bonus multiplier could help as well.

@Geit_de I’d rather have “trades” happen (double, triple, quad in Splatoon terms refer to how many kills you got in succession as they’re displayed on your screen in that short amount of time) if the other player was a priority that needed to be taken out in order for your team to progress with the objective, like an E-Liter or Hydra, or an equally troublesome Splatana Stamper or Decavitator. Or, I’d rather trade instead of one player “winning” because they had a faster internet connection like in CoD, a hitscan game. Splatoon is a projectile game and it is inherently more fair in that aspect. Which is why balance adjustments to shot range, shot hitbox radius, and falloff damage exist it’s because each shot is an object. Whereas in a hitscan game both client devices “agree” that so-and-so got the kill since so-and-so’s “I got the killing shot” message reached both clients’ devices first. That, and there’s no such thing as ballistics except for things like grenades and thrown knives.

However, if you are fortunate enough to be playing with a LAN setup, and you guys are already communicating, why not just coordinate and focus down targets? That’s your biggest advantage. Double team them with your skirmisher and slayer. Unless you guys are competing with each other individually for some reason, if you want the wins you gotta employ those team tactics. Call out when you have specials ready. Call out when an enemy has a special ready or uses one. Call out if you die but the other player is a one-shot, “I’m down, (weapon) is weak.” If a trade happens, don’t negatively call it and leave it, but add to it like, “Traded (with (weapon)(respawn punished x seconds)), left side clear, push left (or push another direction if you already control that side)”

And yeah, instant special popoff happens. It’s best to anticipate when it’ll happen. If a skirmish drags on too long, and you know what can come out of the weapon you’re fighting, back off and ask for help but definitely warn the others that their special may be coming and split up.

I may be an eternal solo-queuer, but imagine all the stuff I could do if I had a team. Instead, I have to work with what I got, situational awareness. I have to form my own double-teams, create my own openings, mash “this way”, and hope for the best.

The day I finally take a break from my Machine may be coming soon when the Charcoal Decavitator comes out. Granted, I should try to make the most of the challenges in general this season as we don’t know how challenges will be handled in the post-new content era of S3.

@nukatha How about…Shelly and Donny’s picks? I’m eagerly awaiting the Machine with the Killer Wail they keep teasing with the Tableturf card and NSO icon.

Calling a way out there prediction now, Splatoon 3 is already ready for Switch 2. The underlying tech, all the under-the-hood graphics engine reworks, will upscale the game to whatever the Switch 2 hardware is using. And that’s not all! I’d like to see 4 be a battle of 4 idol groups, or even bands(!). You can pick a home base (Plaza , Square, Splatsville, new location) and basically rep your home base, with each having a unique style and presentation.

@Fizza Splash Wall: exists
Devs: Nerf it!
(my Sloshing Machine is shaking with PTSD, rn)
The nerfs seem to only affect certain shooters. I don’t use those, though. I imagine it might help those lower powered shooters who choose to chip away at the wall’s ink tank.

@Croctopus Manta Maria seems alright to me, but I’d like to see a cargo net go up the sides, in those sections off the sides of the center, if they ever feel like adding another flank. All the slightly altered maps feel like they might be blocks or grates, with an odd change of inkable/non-inkable surfaces, instead of drastic changes like Undertow and Mahi Mahi.

We did it Frye Nation! We’re back on the scoreboard! GGs to Same ‘ol and Save the Day, we got you in our bucket list, too! (That was too wholesome on Frye, btw. Why do they keep denying her wins?)

@abbyhitter Pro was legit pain my first day. I’ve never started off with Splatfest power at 1,100, ouch. The steamrolls in the beginning were so hard that I thought we were gonna lose again. I’m glad things picked up in Tricolor and day 2 Pro, though.

I wonder what Frye and Big Man have to say about this, Lol jk.

I’m not gonna fault them for the MK1 port, or Hogwarts in case there’s any roughness (I think it looks ok but I haven’t played it). I’ll just chalk that up to WB being cheap cash grabbing goobers, pardon my French, and giving out rushed deadlines. But I think Nintendo is bolstering their in-house porting capabilities for the next system, and this may be the first of a handful of studios/teams that will fill out those porting duties.

The M2 ShotTriggers Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli collection shadow dropped yesterday as well! In Engligh! Can we hope for a domestic release of Esp.Ra.De, please? M2, pretty please?

The Switch needed a bigger screen. Coming soon…180 inch wall-size (4,572mm)

Here’s a stream from 5 months ago from early access v 0.2.

https://youtu.be/iNL6jQ0kArA?si=aCLprTo6HrHxao1u

@nhSnork @eltomo @awaltzforvenus Confirmed that the OG graphics can be zoomed up but the new graphics and QoL/UI stuff are also part of the game and cannot be separated. Found out also that they ported the original Pascal code to C++ and that’s what’s running underneath Unreal Engine. Fascinating what the Digital Eclipse team is doing for this game.

@GamerGrandpa @awaltzforvenus @eltomo All the graphics are a frontend running on top of the original game! In the corner of the screen you even see the Apple][ screen updating at the same time! Of course, they've added QoL improvements like auto-mapping, bestairy that updates as you learn more about the enemies you encounter, and other streamlining improvements. But they left the brutal difficulty alone, thank goodness. I don’t know where I saw the original trailer that explains all this, but I’m going to check out some streams of the game to get more info. I think you can also play with the original graphics zoomed up as an overlay, but an option to play with the original graphics exclusively would be nice, though.

Welcome, Squeezer, to the 220p Special club! It’s a very exclusive club, with Sloshing Machine being the only other member, where Specials somehow cost upwards of 30p more than other weapons with the same Special because they think we’re getting them too much!

Really, SRL? A 220p Trizooka?! You know what would be more hilarious? A 220p Tacticooler!

“…stone masked enforcers…”?

(cue Roundabout)

Please buy your storage in person from a reputable retailer whenever possible! SD’s, SSD’s, HDD’s, NVMe’s. Wait for sales if you want to save money. You’re just asking for trouble ordering online from marketplaces full of 3rd party sellers, especially Amazon, Ali, Walmart, etc. SanDisk, Samsung (they make and supply internal flash storage for darn near everybody), Lexar, Kingston, PNY, Toshiba (especially for HDD’s), I’ve used all at some point with no issues.

Oh, on a Side Order side note, it looks like I gotta call up Nintendo because I can’t start up the DLC on my newer Switch. I’ve tried literally everything I could think of including backing up my save and redownloading the data and DLC on my newer Switch and my original Switch. It actually starts up fine on my original Switch and I can choose to go to Inkopolis Square or Plaza, which is weird since I bought the expansion on my newer Switch, but it was not set to primary at the time I bought it. But now I even set my newer Switch as my primary system, redownloaded, and it still locks me out of the expansion. I’m hoping there’s a fix, soon. For now I’ll gust grind the catalog until next weekend when I can call.

@skullivan I noticed some descriptions saying Metroidvania, too. But they seem to be from 3rd party and indie titles and not Nintendo themselves. Since such a word makes it through the eShop listing process, then ultimately Nintendo is cool with it (maybe Konami, too?) just as long as the game itself doesn’t present itself as a Metroid or derivative IP, using assets, or directly use Metroid UI without changes, then it’s fine according to copyright law.

The first time I heard of Roguelite was from TotalBiscuit (RIP) around the time Rogue Legacy came out. It was probably even from his review of the game. That’s when the Roguelike/Roguelite semantics debate was going strong. Since there’s more Roguelites out there now than Roguelikes (top-down dungeon RPGs, originally for old computers and drawn in ASCII, where everything only moves when the player does, one step at a time) it’s probably best that we call them all Roguelikes now. I mean really, how many actual Roguelikes are coming out these days other than a new Shiren the Wanderer game or something. Or else someone’s gotta come up with a better descriptor for a randomized action/adventure dungeon that everyone can agree on.

Gonna dive in this weekend while taking breaks from the usual end of season ranked grind.

@UltimateOtaku91 Once we hear terms like randomized levels that change every run, endlessly replayable, and customizable upgrade system, that pretty much screams out it’s a roguelite. As it is, Nintendo can’t actually say “Roguelite” since I believe Rogue is still copyright by someone and while Roguelite is a term adopted by the gaming community at large but casuals aren’t going to know what it is if you just say it. The safe bet was to just show what kind of gameplay you’d be in for and leave it at that.

Oh man, RIP. I remember spending free periods on my college’s OG iMacs playing Suikoden and having a blast (using Connectix Virtual Game station because I couldn’t afford the real thing). I even made sure I bought it again on PSN. It’s always sad hearing a legend leave so soon.

Maybe it’s one of those safe bet games they let a bunch of new Nintendo devs on so they get used to development and production or something? You know, low on investment and resources just to get their feet wet.

They deleted the impaled cars in Mincemeat! And they added yet another pole in the middle of a stage! The wider areas are…interesting? I’ll see how I feel about it after the weekend.

@_Figo_ A hardcore mode could always happen, maybe an unlock after completing the tower once? Me personally, I’m hoping for specialized builds where you can develop a style around different weapons. I’m not a dualie main, so what if I want to go through the tower with a Sloshing Machine or Splatana? And exactly how “endlessly replayable” is the DLC? What’s the benefit of playing over and over even though there’s an almost clear story endpoint? (Or at the very least, a final confrontation)

@_Figo_ I’m thinking the “roguelike” aspect that they’re using is more about the randomization of the floors and their layouts and building up Agent 8 to be able to survive a single run up to the top, probably with a save point on every floor or some other checkpoint, and not in the way where you start off with a new Agent 8 character if you fail. The palette, as it’s shown, seems to lock in upgrade chips as progress. Given that this is Nintendo and the age group that Splatoon starts at, they would probably not go completely roguelike and take away everything upon failure, or else they’d turn off a good chunk of players.

@_Figo_ Not so much explained but some of the answers to your questions have been shown in the previous trailer.

https://youtu.be/3WkvLvhqYoo?si=MvBxIgQhYMwKMpQb

The new character shown in the key art and previous trailer, Dedf1sh, takes Agent 8 up and down the spire’s elevator and introduces you to the expansion’s color chip upgrade system. Presumably the large mechanical alien thing in the key art and end of the trailer is waiting for you at the top of the tower.

@Jimgamer8 I let the attract mode play and I was waiting for it so I could quote it. But there was only silence, disappointment, and BGM.

@GrailUK Everything is so grey, vibrant dark blue, and red. Like who decided the color palette?