samuelvictor

I've no real opinion on BOTW vs TOTK I don't really think either of the games was personally for me, though they are obviously quality games and I'm happy so many people enjoy them. I just much prefer the smaller and more linear Zeldas, Links Awakening being one of my absolute favourite games of any series or genre.

These lists are always highly subjective of course, but seeing Mario 64 as high as #3 makes me smile. Nice mix of modern and classic titles covered, about half of which would be contenders for my own top 100.

The entire list is invalid though because my #1, (Nights!) didn't even make it into the top 100. 😤 Also no ACNH, DK '94, not a single Sonic. What is the world coming to?

@Woderwick Sorry, I thought I responded to this, apparently it got lost. Moviedrome was great! And yeah I really loved Turbo Kid, felt like a love letter to a lot of the things I grew up with.

@Purgatorium Yes, definitely the same as Wales vs England then! We are very similar (as most countries are, when you get down to brass tacks!) but we emphasise and sometime exagerate our differences especially if mislabled. But again, most British media comes out of London, just as most North American media comes out of LA and New York. So yeah, on the world stage, Britain becomes synonymous with London, Canada (and the less famous American States!) become synonymous with NYC+LA, even though it really doesn't make sense to group them like that. No more than describing somebody as "European" or "Asian" etc.

I know it was only after spending a lot of time in various parts of Canada and having long conversations with people that I started to be able to distinguish Canadian accents over American, but nowadays I can usually roughly guess the province.

@Woderwick Ahhh you are speaking my language mate. I still often randmonly quote lines from that Sayle track out of context, repeating them twice of course. "Is there life in Peckham?" "What's that switch over there for?" "I've got a paper lampshade" etc.

I was lucky enough to work with Rick Mayall very briefly on one of his very last projects, really lovely bloke who was happy to stop and take gurning comedy photos or write offensive quote on anything we asked him to sign. Legend.

As for the Comic Strip, do you remember the episode "A Fistful of Travellers Checks" ? (full 4k remaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6y3_svvLSI ) I've long had an urge to make a full length version of something essentially ripping off and expanding the idea to a full length low budget movie, it would be cheap to do and utterly hilarious fun to make with friends. Maybe even make it similar to Anchorman in that you have a rough framework and improvise many different versions of the same scene. I have many friends who are amazing at comedy improv (and know a lot of fairly well known comedians who do panels shows etc) so I'm sure I could pull it together... I don't want to desecrate a classic though. Would be better to get a unique angle on it. Trouble is, I'm not sure how many people nowadays are even familiar with Spaghetti Westerns in order to understand the parody.

@rjejr Cool! I really liked the idea of Labo, definitely something I would have loved as a kid. I stayed away because I knew how much space they would take up and I didn't think they'd take kindly to being repeatedly built then flatpacked. Sounds like your kids had a really great childhood and family 😀

I know many of my favourite long lasting memories (especially as an only child) were when my parents would take time to play wth me or work on projects together, so I tried to do the same with my kids. My parents weren't really into videogames, but I sure as heck played tonnes with my kids, and made sure I caught them up on the classcis as well as the latest titles. 😀

@zitpig WOW those are really good!! Using the snake for Kapp'n's mouth is a stroke of genius lol

@Purgatorium Thank you! 😀

It's my birthday today! 🎂🎉🥳 29 again!

My mum bought me the IDW comic oneshot for Amy's 30th anniversary, and a physical Switch copy of Sonic Origins Plus so I now have the European reversible cover art variant too 😍 I will be reading the comic, then playing through Origins again as Amy to celebrate her birthday, along with mine. 🥰

@dugan Awesome! There's a lot of cool music in Animal Crossing. I enjoyed collecting each of KK's records, and converted the basement of my ouse into an arcade/gameroom, with a retro jukebox for them 😀

@Kiyata Thanks so much! 😀 I'm far from perfect and wasn't saying it for praise, just to demonstrate how important it is for me to help other people navigate this stuff and try to use what little power/influence I have to bring about positive changes. I'm not really comfortable being a role model as pedestals are very easy to fall off from and I actually get very anxious being centre of attention (perhaps I'm in the wrong job! 😅) I'm just a creative person and like feeling part of a group, so big projects like films with hundreds of people working towards a goal appeal to me... but I hate the hierarchys and abuses of power and bullying that can come with them, so I naturally have gravitated to trying to help people into the industry and making it a welcoming, safe and equal environment 😊 But its also very important that the media we put out into the world sets a good example and has a good message - of course whilst also being entertaining and not just preachy / fake "corporate woke" for ESG points.

@Duncanballs That's a perfect way to put it, thank you! 😀

@CaleBoi25 Ooh that sounds cute! I love Tom. I'm definitely tempted to go back and play all the old games to learn more about the characters. I think I could cope with not getting too addicted to them if I rationalise that my main island is the "real" versions and speeding through the old games for the story is more like "flashbacks" in TV for them. 😅

@MegaVel91 Nice! 😆

@CaleBoi25 Yeah honestly going in I knew little to nothing about Animal Crossing (other than I had heard you could unlock NES games in the GC game, which I thought was cool) because I'd always ignored the series thinking I wouldn't enjoy it, as I prefer more structure in a game, and an actual "completion" point to give me closure and help my brain move on to the next game, rather than a big sandbox I'll have to just abandon when I eventually get bored or want to play a new game.

However, had I known how much of a story there was, how much world building and progression with the characters etc, I might have given it a try sooner. I actually really like organically discovering these stories as I go along, whilst also creating my own narritve by what I do & build.

I think I'm glad New Horizons was my first as it seems one of if not the most fully featured but also noob friendly, from what I've seen. I still have the problem of not really having an "end" in sight, I've upgraded my house as much as possible, paid off all debts and nearly filled the museum... but with the Happy Home stuff there's always more to do and buy and I can think of many ways I want to tweak and upgrade my island.

Even if I do get it all perfect one day the only real problem I have is feeling genuinely guilty if I leave the villagers too long. By this point they feel real to me, I won't want to fully abandon them! Lol. Maybe once a new game comes out, I can migrate to that one and as the characters arrive I to the story, my head can accept them as moving across. 😅 Sorry for the long rant!

@Ristar24 Yeah you're right! Transformers (and later GoBots) were definitely first shown on both Wide Awake Club on Saturday, and Wacaday, each weekday during the school holidays. Even though in my memory it feels like each Wacaday episode was basically all morning, like a magazine show ala Going Live, in reality it was only 25 minutes, with advert breaks in that! So each Transformers episode was cut into small chunks and make 1 episode last 3 days, iirc!

I know Wide Awake Club on Saturdays was a slightly longer show, so it may be that their Transformers section was longer, I don't remember. However, if it was short as well and the epsidoes were split into 3 parts each, that would make 2 full episodes per week.

Coincidentally being that in these comments we've also been speaking about Canadian comedians, Mike Myers of Wayne's World/Austin Power/Shrek fame got his first job on Wide Awake Club! He still invites Timmy Mallett to his movie premieres 😄

TVAM itself was only on air for 3 and a bit hours each day, before the channel would change to ITV. We didn't really notice as kids though, because ITV would start with more kids shows right aways, so the changeover was pretty seemless. The concept of a "TV channel" that only broadcasts for 3 hours seems kinda crazy on one hand. But I guess in the modern day, you could make a comparison to streaming news/chat channels on Twitch or daily vlogs on YouTube. Kinda.

There was definitely a very "homemade" feel to TVAM, which is quite charming. GMTV was far slicker and more corporate. But it gave us Power Rangers and Mr Motivator! So that's... good...?

@AlanaHagues Kudos for that subheading!

@KingMike Ooooh trust me, 17.5% slower takes a "slow but able to be adjusted to" framerate to a completely unbearable one 😂 At the time though, I loved it and it was fine. I'd love a remake in 60fps with crispy flat shaded polygons, like the Switch Virtua Racing port.

@Ristar24 Haha that's awesome! And I loved the Young Ones too (still do)... as long as you aren't referring to Cliff Richard, then that's another matter. Though I lived on the same street as one of the Shadows, and went to school with his kids.

Don't know if you saw my post above about TVAM (home of Roland!) but it always makes me smile on the rare occasion I see someone who remembers it. Was a shame when GMTV took over. But some of the TVAM lot are still around - Eamon Homes, Lorraine Kelly et al. Roland Rat and Timmy Mallett were clearly the real stars though 😄

@rjejr Thanks for sharing those! Really cool to see your collections! I loved the look of Dimensions but didn't want to get into collecting yet another set of Toys to Life not knowing if there would be an end in sight or just another money sink! We started with Infinity because we are a Disney family (nowadays kids have left home, but my apartment is within 5 minute walk of Disneyland Paris) but from everything I've heard, at least the first few Skylanders games were actually pretty good and full featured games. As a Spyro and Crash fan, they've always intrigued me at the least.

@Kiyata Thank you again! I'm really happy that you are now happy and comfortable with who you are. I'm sorry it took so long for you, as with me, but better late than never, and to be fair to us both, these things were not really talked about, and gender roles were far more rigid and societally enforced when we were of impressionable age.

I have kids that are now adults, and also many friends and colleagues who are Gen Z and young millenials, and while life is of course still hard at that age, and things like social media add all linds of pressures and stresses that we didnt have, they are so much better informed and equipt to deal with this stuff and feel more comfortable being themselves than we were encouraged to. I learn SO much from the younger generations and unlike.many my age I'm very admiring of them and feel positive that the future is secure in their hands once they are the ones steering the ship.

I don't know if you know the Star Wars film, Rogue One? I actually have a small role in that movie, where my character shouts "Just Let the Girl Speak!". In fact, not only do I say it, it's a line I wrote myself! If you know the events of Episodes 1-9, it's a pretty darn important line because if they didn't listen to the "girl", then everyone and everything in Ep.4-9 wouldn't even exist as they'd have been wiped out! Therefore, accidentally, I saved the galaxy, by giving a young woman a voice. Or, she saved the galaxy... i just ensured people gave her the chance to! 😅

Coincidentalky, the film came out during the start of the MeToo era, and to my infinite surprise my line became a viral trending hashtag, tshirt, placards at womens rights protests... to this day I regularly attend official Star Wars events around the world simply because it meant so much to people, and I always donate all money from anything Star Wars related to giving women and other underrepresented groups a voice in film, by helping them get into writing, producing and directing to try and make the movie business a safer and more equal and representative place for all.

I recently did an AMA on the official Star Wars Reddit and it went crazy viral getting 3.2 million views in 2 days. This lead to me being asked to write a book, which is called "Just Let the Girl Speak" - an enormous part of that book explores exactly what you are describing as to gender roles and societal expectations and pressures for women, and the media's role and responsibilities in this. Of course, being a man, I needed to speak to as many of my female colleagues both infront and behind the camera as possible in order to get them to be a part of it and guide everything in a true and representative direction. Naturally we also cover the same issues as they affect men, all colours of the LGBTQTI+ rainbow, people from different racial and social backgrounds, neurodiversities, its basically about helping people find their voice and ways to allow them to express themselves and be seen.

It's been delayed because of the writers strike and ongoing SAG AFTRA strike, but it should be out soon. You may find it interesting... and of course, all money goes to the good causes, not to me 😀

Oh, wow that is a great price, for a great collection of titles, and physical too? Sold!

Torius Chord approved. 😂
Just Let the Girl Speak! 💫

@Kiyata Oh, what a lovely kind message. Thank you! 🥰

As I said, I'm somewhat ashamed or annoyed that my internalised feeling of societal pressure took me til I was so old before I realised how silly it all was to waste your life worrying about what other people think, or pretending to be something you're not.

And I'm an actor. Pretending to be something I'm not is part of my job... the public may like "me", but they dont know me. They know the media's portrayal of me, or the characters I play. I used to feel a pressure to look and act in ways that would make my fanbase think I was cool. The older I've gotten I look back at myself in my teens and 20s acting like I'm the coolest guy in the room and all I can think is how that's not even remotely me on screen, just a mask that I made to hide the real me that I thought people wouldnt accept. I'm sure many people do the same in their every day lives, and that makes me sad for them. Life is short and precious and you should live it to the fullest in the exact way that you would want to.

Typing stuff like that feels silly. It shouldn't be that controversial for a cis-het man to wear a pink sweatshirt or have a pink Switch. When you step back and think about it, its ridiculous and makes no sense to be upset about that, or even find it unusual. I have friends and relatives from all over the gender and sexuality spectrum, not to mention racial minorities, immigrants, differently abled people, and society is much rougher on all of them for their percieved differences. In truth, I've never understood why any of that is anyone else's business, or why it would be a way to pre-judge their character.

But even more so, the idea of something as benign as a colour or tv show or toy being only for a specific, rigid gender is litwrally nonsensical. And as the other guys pointed out, these standards change throughout history as fashions change anyway. Pink used to be a man's colour. Make up and wigs were a status symbol for men. None of it needs to be taken seriously, just have fun and do what makes you happy, and leave others alone to do the same 😀

@Ristar24 Don't worry, you can save it with a pencil!

I liked Grange Hill, but Byker Grove was where the real party started. The london lot "just said no" (what do you mean look out for Zammo?) But those northern lads and lasses could get away with far more on the Beeb because of their regional accents. Although I despair at what has become of PJ & Duncan. 😂

We are old. Ow my back hurts.

@Woderwick Ah! I am but a spring chicken, born in 81! Practically a fetus! 😂 So yeah, we grew up watching basically the exact same shows, having the same toys etc. Of course I remember Round the Bend! Yes it was very subversive for a kids show - a lot of the same people who made it also worked on Spitting Image and/or Viz magazine so the humour was always going to be quite edgy for a kids show.

I think you're right about that being the intention of the Mackenzies for Canadians watching the show, but they knew it was going to be played to a (much larger and more profitible!) American audience too, so they leaned more into broad stereotypes the Americans already had, rather than very obscure "only a Canadian would understand " references.

Similarly, it's a very acquired taste, but I really like the film Eurotrip. It's a stupid ultra American grossout sex comedy style 2000s movie, along the lines of American Pie, but to me it hits as much funnier because the jokes are more aimed at the stereotypes of all the European countries, including Britain, that a bunch of American teens visit in quick succession. While some (wrongly!) read it as offensive, to me it feels very warm in its teasing of all the different cultures, and if anything, is more poking fun at how Americans might view us as Europeans, and we are seeing all the stereotypical things through the eyes of a bunch of drunk, stoned American teenagers that have never left Ohio before.

@dugan Haha yay I'm not the only one! I felt a little silly trying to talk to her every day, I genuinely didn't think anything would happen, I was more doing it to stop my (autistic) brain from feeling guilty or sad for her. I'm so happy I persisted and was rewarded for it.

As I said it was my first Animal Crossing game (I dont usually like sandbox games but I just tried it on a whim because everyone was talking about it in the lockdowns) and various little minor worldbuilding story touches like that were what made me fall in love with it. Now I class it in my top 5 favourite games!

I bought plushies and amiibo to have around the bedroom and office so that when I'm working I feel still like i'm emotionally attached to my island and haven't abandoned my friends there. I wouldn't feel that emotionally attached were it just a cute farming/interior design game without it using story and character to build the world and make it real to me. Its really well made.

@RadioHedgeFund Ahh! Thank you. In my first post I genuinely asked what it was about the game that made it "too British", and while memes about tea are funny (this has been a wild thread and I'm so invested!) You've made the first actual point I hadn't thought of.

I guess as a Brit person I don't notice when voice actors are British, as it just sounds neutral. But I do know that in my work as a producer, if we are making a film for distribution the worldwide market, regardless of where its filmed, we are encouraged to get as many actors with an American accent as possible. And as an actor, a stipulation for the superhero part I'm playing was that I had to have regular dialect coaching to get a convincing American accent. Apparently us Brits can only play villains in Hollywood action films 😂

@Woderwick Haha I was talking about them with a Canadian friend of mine and he said they were (obviously) originally intended to be an exagerated parody of what Americans thought Canadians were like... but then they got so popular in America that some people genuinely thought they were like that irl, and it made the stereotype get even more exaggerated. I love pretty much anything with Rick Moranis.

@Woderwick Hahaha that's awesome! I've taken part in many Star Wars promotional events at the theme parks and also in big shops like Hamleys, nearly always with Vader and a load of Sotrmtroopers there. It's funny, it seems to.be a literal 50:50 split between little kids who are delighted and want to run up to them, talk to them, climb all over them (quite often start actually attacking them!) and the ones who just brick themselves from pure fear 😂

Not sure your exact age but from the references you drop I feel you might know what I mean when I say that when I was a toddler I met Grotbags from Emu. I was too young to remember but apparently many of the kids were terrified of her, but I loved her and wouldn't leave her alone! 😁

@Purgatorium I definitely do! Yes it seems a big part of Canadian identity is finding pride in and emphasising the ways that Canada is different to America, and minimising the obvious similarities. I hope I haven't described that in a way that sounds offensive, it was just an observation that I already casually had, but then I started watching JJ Mccullough on YT who regularly does deep dives into Canadian culture, politics, media etc, and he talks about it a lot.

I wonder if perhaps it comes from a slight feeling of resentment or inferiority complex worrying that much of the rest of the world either doesn't know Canada exists or confuses it for a State rather than a separate country, just lumping it in with America? I'm Welsh and there is definitely a feeling like that where the rest of the world hasn't heard of Wales, doesn't know that "British" and "English" aren't interchangeable... and that makes us dig our heels.in and emphasise our Welshness and bring it up far more often than we naturally would 😅

And then two worlds collide and the most Canadian of beloved Canadians, Ryan Renolds becomes an honorary Welsh man by randomly financially saving a dying tiny Welsh football club, regularly visiting and actively learning about the culture, and becoming an absolute legend to all Welsh people in the process! Hero.

Just standard but high quality well designed lego builds please. Like the buildings in the Harry Potter lego, or the "fancy" city buildings they put out for collectors, but for the Town Hall, Shop, Museum, Able Sisters. If that happens, I will buy them all and think about where on earth they are going to be displayed later.

Either that or uber simplified large piece designs to ape the old Fabuland style.

If they do smaller sets that are more like little dioramas, I'd like Brewster's coffee shop, and Kapp'n with his boat. His song makes me weirdly emotional.

If they go with more loose, interactive, "stuff for kids to play with" style like the Mario set, part of me will feel disappointed, but my wallet will breathe a sign of relief. In that case, I'll only want the Mini Figs of my favourite characters.

Either way, I NEED a Lego Tom Nook and Isabelle right now. Can't wait to see what Blathers (a given) and hopefully Celeste look like in Lego form. The Able sisters too.

Minor ACNH Spoiler! When first playing New Horizons (my first AC game!) I felt quite sorry for Sable working away and not being allowed to talk to me... but every day I'd go and try to talk to her, knowing it was pointless, but in my head I wanted her to know I appreciated her hard work. I was surprised and delighted when eventually, after many times, she finally got the nerve to reply to me, and it started a whole chain of events and I found out all about their backstory and that when I'm not there Sable asks about me and says I'm her favourite customer. I was so happy that Sable was allowed to come out of her shell and reassured me that she liked working hard. I wonder how many people actually persist in trying to talk to her, vs how many people just give up after a handful of tries. Learning their backstop about their parents etc and having all the interactions between the sisters made me feel really attached to them, it is really well done, and not at all "needed" for the game but very much appreciated world building and polish.

@HammerGalladeBro That's because Vinnie the Panda took all of Fox's biscuits: https://youtu.be/z5OoEm9Qad4?feature=shared

@Not_Soos @JohnnyMind Yeah following the development of Dinosaur Planet in magazines over the years at the time as a young N64 owner, I was pretty convinced it was gonna be the best game ever! Then it disappeared 🥺 I flipped out when that leak finally came out!

@Woderwick You owe me a new phone, mines now covered in coffee.

In related news, when I was little my mum was a semi famous poet and writer of short stories, and was on TV-AM quite a lot. Seeing someone "normal" like her, from a little town like ours get on TV is what inspired me to believe that I could get into media. As an adult I've worked with Timmy Mallet multiple times (LOVELY man) and because of these 2 things combined I have a worryingly large collection of signed Mallett memorabilia from over the years that will lead whoever does the house clearance when I'm gone to think I had an unhealthy obsession with him 😅 Roland's eludes me though, guess he's too big a superstar.

@BTB20 These exact colours already existed, these look like old stock being cleared by screenprinting the leaves onto them and calling it a new product. And it will work, there are plenty of collectors who buy every variant, even the easy/lazy ones.

@graviton @Duncanballs Love reading this conversation. Just to add, for reference, I'm a cis-het male, usually framed by others as traditionally masculine looking, (currently in training to star in a superhero movie, for example. Have also previously often played gangster, football hooligan, etc).

My favourite colour is pink. Always has been, but I was embarrassed or frightened to admit it as a kid. Took me until I was in my mid 30s to feel OK with wearing a pink t-shirt or sweatshirt, or taking my pink Switch / PSP etc outside. Nowadays I don't care what people think and just buy what i like, but for years those semi sexist or even homophobic public sentiments were deeply ingrained in my psyche.

Similarly, I love cute things like cartoons, videogames and toys, including sometimes what would be considered feminine or girlish properties. Again, I was always drawn to them as a kid, they just looked really fun, cool, colourful and creative to me.

As a young boy I absolutely loved Ninja Turtles, Star Wars, Transformers and HeMan... but I also secretly thought My Little Pony, Barbie and Carebears were cool, but understood that it was for some reason taboo so I should suppress that. I once sneakily bought a my little pony at a yard sale but then made her armour from cardboard and tinfoil and put He-Man riding on her into battle to make it "ok" in my head. I still hid her if friends came over though, for fear of being bullied. Again, it annoys me that it took until I was in my 30s to realise just how ridiculous the notion of a gendered toy or tv show is.

Anyway, tldr. My coral pink Switch Lite is freakin awesome. The beautiful colour makes me happy every time I play it. I also unapologetically love Animal Crossing. My favourite videogame character ever is Amy from Sonic. I am no longer ashamed or conflicted about any of this! 😂 People should just live their lives and let other do the same. Like what you like. Assigning preference in art or style to gender makes as much sense to me as doing it with your taste in food or music.

I know I'm I'm the minority, but I love the Switch Lite. While the Switch is my favourite game library and favourite system for playing indies on, I'm really not that fond of the look or feel of playing the "real" Switch handheld. It's so obviously just a basic tablet with the joycons unconvincingly attached, and I don't find them comfortable to play with.

On the other hand, the Switch Lite is the nicest handheld I've ever owned... and I think I've owned almost all of them (yes including whatever obscure 90s import or budget system just popped into your head! 😉 ). My "real" Switch is permanently docked and I use the Pro Controller exclusively. If the Lite had a TV out, it would be the best system evarrr but it's still the best handheld imo, so that's more than good enough for me to give a hearty recommendation.

That said, it's very common to find a mint Aqua or Coral Switch Lite for £100, so that leaf pattern and ACNH are doing some heavy lifting here.

@Snatcher In addition to your other replies, these two exact color Switch Lites already existed, and these are clearly just unsold stock of those, but with the leaf print screenprinted on the back. Those Switch lites were often bundled with an official case with the leaf print, and a copy of ACNH. So, that might be what you were remembering.

@Purgatorium As a Brit who has worked in both British and American media a lot for 2+ decades, I've more recently pivotted to often working in Canada. Mostly Toronto & Vancouver but also around Alberta and all over the place. Huge, beautiful, highly varied country.

Many of my closest friends and colleagues and business partners are Canadian, or British people who've moved to Canada. The more time I spend working in or visiting different parts of the country, you're right in that it's very distinctly not American, nor British, but somewhere in between... of course with its own unique aspects too. I've taken to watching a lot of Canadian media and especially YouTubers from Canada, and there is something very compelling to me about them, I think perhaps precisely because of this unique mishmash of so many otherwise disperate cultures that I'm familiar with but usually are separate in my mindspace.

Plus Canadians are just nice. I know it's a stereotype, but it's a far more welcoming country for strangers than many I've experienced. Not that I want to start a xenophobic flame war, I love everyone and everywhere!!

@JohnnyMind Great Post. You just succinctly summarised all the issues I have with the game. Despite that, it's very technically impressive, and there's lots about it that I enjoyed.

As a launch day N64 owner who obsessively read all the magazines in the lead up to launch, and for a good while after, and also as a kid (and now adult!) that love both dinosaurs and anthropomorphic animal heroes, I was very excited for Dinosaur Planet. I was quite sad when it never released, it was right up there on my wishlist for the system. Its cool we now can check it out all these years later through that leak a year or so ago 😀

@Uncle_Franklin They also get them hooked on opium if they won't voluntarily hand over the tea. But "big videogame" doesn't want you to know that.

Not my genre of game but the sprite art is really nice, some great creative ideas and further to our recent discussions on this site, I LOVE the fact they went with quality 2d art for the cover/key image. It looks brilliant.

Star Wing (as it was called here) was one of the 3 games that tipped over this rabid Sega fanatic into asking for a SNES for Christmas 94. (Sf2T and DKC were the others). It's still a brilliant game to play to this day, although nowadays I'm 100% playing the 60hz NTSC version to make the low framerate slightly more bareable. But it's certainly stood the test of time and deserves its reputation.

I had the honour and pleasure of Dylan Cuthbert reaching out to me a couple of times replying to and then discussing my various coverage of Star Fox and Argonaut over the years and he is just such a lovely, humble guy, super intelligent and a big inspirational figure to me as well.

As a Brit who now mostly lives and works abroad in various countries, and is trying to learn the languages and cultures of each area that I frequent, I find subtle cultural differences in sensibilities and how this translates to their media really interesting.

Whenever I produce a movie with a bigger budget (especially my current set of projects which are big studio style affairs for a worldwide audience) you're constantly being warned of changes and tweaks to make because something that seems innocuous to me would mean certain huge foreign markets would dislike or even refuse to release it. You end up feeling like there's a choice between making super low budget art or super high budget sterile blandness. Trying to find a healthy medium is a challenge, I'm not sure I'm quite there yet.

Rare games do have somewhat of a British feel to the humour and aesthetic, though obviously some of them (presumably under strict guidance from Nintendo) still got a huge worldwide following. I wonder specifically which aspects of SF Adventures he thinks limited the worldwide appeal. (Genuine interest. Im not trying to say he is wrong!) I'll be interested to read people's responses to this article.

@rjejr Haha nice! I don't have any Skylanders but slowly amassed a full set of Disney Infinity 1-3 figures. For now they are just wrapped in bubble wrap then stored in a couple of big flight case so they won't get damaged. I really like the consustent art style through all the properties and the quality of the builds, so while actively collecting them I always planned to sort out some kind of display for them.

But then Infinity was cut short (shame as i thought it was pretty good, especially V3 with the expansions, and some of the v1 playsets), and now it feels annoying to have a "complete set" with so many obvious major characters not included... and an over abundance of comparatively minor Star Wars and Marvel alsorans... maybe I'll just chose a few of my favourites to keep and display, and sell the rest 🤔

@rjejr Nice collection! And those shelves are a great way to display them!

@Woderwick Thank you!

You know, I've not seen Avengement but I'm very aware of it, as about half the cast and some of teh crew are either friends of mine or people I've worked with before! At the time it was being made I was in the process of moving country for a big project so I couldn't have been involved but a lot of great and talented people I know were. I remember when it was originally pitched it was to be somewhat based on Kobayashi's Harakiri. I know it got good reviews, I should definitely check it out!

I've always had a soft spot for Johnny Mnemonic, its a shame what the studio did to it, I've always been interested in what Longo's version would have been if Speed hadn't been the success it was and lead the studios to try and turn it into a blockbuster halfway through production, when originally it was planned as a lower budget and more of an ironic piece than a straight up action film.

One of my favourite films of recent years (though its highly weird and an acquired taste, for sure!) is Brigsby Bear. Its one of those films where its better to go in knowing as little as possible (and the trailers really don't give away much because of this) but the various things that happen eventually lead to a very socially awkward man with an obsession with an 80s TV show from his youth that was cancelled, wanting to make his own fanmade movie to get closure on the series and therefore his childhood so he can move on.

Its a really nice, touching film, but also pretty funny and super creative. Not seen much else like it, and I'd recomend it, both as a nice film, but also as its literally about an amateur rallying his friends to help him create a passion project just for the love of it, so it fits the theme of what we've been talking about. It really struck a chord with me, as a pretty autistic dude who obsessively throws himself into wild crazy passion projects myself, and loves to help others do the same, its cool to see that celebrated and people supporting his dreams, even when they don't really understand them.

@Woderwick Yes I don't have much interest in AAA games, and am a LOT more forgiving of small indie passion projects that I see potential in. Of course, when a small indie passion project ends up being damn near flawless like Shovel Knight, Shantae or Star Dew Valley, thats even better! Its that kind of quality level I aspire to. (not saying I'll reach it, but good to have goals & inspiration).

I feel a similar way with movies - I like some big popcorn A-lister titles, but in general I'm not that interested in most huge blockbuster films, and when I do watch one, it theres stuff about it that I don't like, I'm super critical. Especially when I see something that I literally know that I could have done better myself, in a movie 20 times more expensive than anything I've ever made. Whereas low budget indie movies, or B-movies, or "clearly a bunch of mates trying their best and having a blast doing it" really appeal to me, and if I find a project thats nowhere near perfect but actually has potential or some element about it thats really good, I'll go to bat for it. Often seek out the individuals involved and try and help them.

I'm quite fond of picking up obscure unloved titles I've found at festivals or randomly on the internet and helping them get distribution, to earn some money for the creators, maybe fund their next film - but again I always warn them, bare in mind some people will be expecting your project to be comparable to a $30-100 million title with world class actors, and you WILL get mostly bad reviews... but your project will be on Netflix/Amazon/DVD or whatever and will pick up a small cult following that wouldn't have found it otherwise. If I'm being charitable to Sodesco, maybe that's what they've done here. But the timing is suspicious to say the least.

@Woderwick Oh, this is absolutely not a $25 game. Its a $2.99 or free to play with ads mobile title. And that's what it originally was. Its literally available for free on the App store right now. Looks like its got quite a lot of semi decent reviews and people having fun with it because their expectations were low. The problem we're having here is that Sodesco are trying to market this as something its not.

As someone developing my own games, and hoping to get a physical release for them, I need to be careful not to throw stones in a glass house. But I think by making realistically simple pixel art 16bit style games, I can nail the basics then concentrate on polishing everything as much as possible to make them worthy of a physical release, similar to a Shovel Knight or Shantae. Its hard, but realistic for a dedicated solo dev to make something that can be considered as good as a AAA release from the 16bit days. Maybe even 32bit. Thats kinda where I'm aiming.

Though I'm pretty proficient in Unreal Engine 4/5, 3d modelling, shader programming, and use them for VFX for pretty big budget movies, I'd never, ever try to make a solo game project that could be passed off as a AAA 3d current gen release - you're asking to be compared with $300-700 million budget game that had literally hundreds of people working on them.

Again, I don't think thats what this dev was doing. He was making an ambitious mobile game as a hobby in a genre he enjoys, not expecting it to sell for more than a few $, never expecting it to compete with AAA titles. The fact its been picked up by a publisher for a current console release, at that price? Good for him to get his bag, but its asking for bad reviews, because its being somewhat missold simpley by being on a console, having that price point, and getting a physical release.

I'm glad to see several people here have good memories of Gun. It was a game I'd never heard of and just randomly stumbled accross, and enjoyed a lot, problematic stereotypes that are tropes of the genre aside. Very impressively cinematic for the time. I must admit to not rememberign the last boss... perhaps I never got that far. I haven't played it since the PSP was a current system.

@JoeyTS Exactly this. This game isn't an asset flip, its an over ambitious game by a solo dev that perhaps bit of more than he could chew... but in order to both create all the assets and program it from scratch, he's done impressive work and put in a lot of effort... even though it still doesn't look good at all, because in our heads we are comparing it to RDR.

Thing is, the dev himself didn't make this to market it as a RDR alternative when the games is current... because he made it 2 years ago (its free on the app store!) And its a sequel to an even older game. If anything, Sodesco deciding to release it right now while RDR is trending is exploitative to an extent, but this wasn't the intention of the dev.

I had a look through the dev's previous work - some of it is over ambitious and impressive for a single person, but can't possibly live up to what its trying to do - like his pretty full featured, but obviously non-AAA GTA clone.

But some of his less ambitious more retro style games that are aping the style of N64 platformers actually look good, because you are comparing them to something more realistic for a single person to make, and the basic graphics are part of the style.

Like, the Toree games are really good. But if the same dev tried to make a Call of Duty game by himself with no budget, it would probably be very impressive for a single person, but would have no chance competing with Activision and would be laughed at, no matter how "close" he got.

This is why I got out of games programing in the late 90s/early 2000s when games started being all about the most impressive 3d graphics and requiring large budgets and teams. I've only recently come back now there is a market for retro-style games again. As a solo dev, you are better sticking with retro-style projects that are realistic and will be compared to old games, not current AAA titles.

A functioning GTA or BOTW clone will be a far more impressive technical achivement for a solo dev, but there's no chance you will pull off something that will compare, so people will laugh at it. Make a pixel art RPG or Metroidvania, and people will be kinder.

@Farts_Ahoy I hadn't but looked it up. It was IOS and Android only. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NTmkpHmUl0

Neither look particularly good... but it looks like these games are made by a single dev, a Greek dude called Sakis. According to his blog he makes all the 3d assets and 2d art for his games - those aren't just quick asset store purchases for a cynical asset flip, looking at the trailer of the new game, he's got some modelling and texturing chops and getting better over time.

The second game like a vast improvement on the first. I know how hard making games is and I encourage him to continue working on his passion and honing his skills, maybe its not quite there yet but the progress from first to second is impressive and its not easy for a single person to make a game like this.

I think comparissons to a $300 million budget Rockstar game is hardly fair. I don't see the dev making these kinds of comparissons, and I don't think he's trying to prentend this is anything its not (unlike that game recently that was clearly cynically trying to look exactly like Last of Us in the marketing)

edit: Ha looks like @CazSonOfCaz beat me to it. But I think the intention is different here.

@nhSnork Absolutely, the Switch is 100% up to the job. I never played the PC version, not sure I was aware it existed! lol. I picked it up on a whim for OG Xbox when I saw it in a shop and was very impressed with how cinematic the presentation and cutscenes were. I later bought that PSP port and it was pretty close to the "full fat" version! Even had some extra content IIRC.

@HammerKirby I'd like a Metroid farming simulator please. And an F-Zero themed match 3 puzzler.

"the games look very similar in terms of their overall aesthetic" 🤔

On a semi related note: I would like a Switch version of "Gun", please. Where's Kate when you need her?

@dkxcalibur Yes it is, but more about how playing the game affected her view on life and how she intuits lessons from the it to level up and progress IRL by imagining she's part of the game. If it was just a standard soap opera style drama where she keeps stopping to play Gameboy that would be pretty boring! lol

@Vivianeat Haha yeah exactly. Thouh I love Pokemon, for myself I've always seen it more like a traditional RPG where I'm levelling up myself to improve my life - all my stats like health, strength, money, love, kindness etc. Not sure where the actual Pokemon would come into it... though I do have a habit of buying plushies that I don't need but totally do.

@jobvd Of course! Makes me like them even more 😀