@MARl0 Yeah, that was the worst thing about the game, easily. It could have been fine if the game had been designed differently: the problem was that the game's structure was almost entirely linear, so you had to backtrack way too far to pick up your items (and usually more than once, thanks to the limited item slots).
If it had been more of a looping structure, or a hub-and-spoke layout, or even just had a fast travel system, that would have eliminated the biggest issue.
The elevator shortcut at the end was just what this game needed, but it showed up too late to really be all that helpful.
@hisownsidekick The other two (Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil) actually have surprisingly good music!
Zelda's Adventure is a weird one, as it barely has any music, yet there were MIDIs floating around the internet over 20 years ago, which claimed to be covers of that game's soundtrack, even though they clearly weren't. I'd love to find out what those were based on, but last I heard, no one knew.
@TheSaneInsanity Don't just tease us- what's the story here? Was it something game-related, or did you just call them up and ask for help with a school project?
I was expecting some mental gymnastics, trying to spin this as somehow being a good thing, but he still surprised me: this is just outright nonsense, with a sprinkling of naivete. (Or possibly just lies, lies, and more lies. But I won't make that assumption.)
@G_and_Thomas B was the jump button in the Mario games for SNES, DS, and Wii U. From what people here are saying, that also applies to Switch games like Mario Odyssey.
Most players have gotten used to the attack button being either straight left or diagonally up+left from the jump button. On NES, N64, and GameCube, that means A to jump. On SNES, DS, and Switch, that means B to jump, as B occupies that same place and function on the controller.
Great to hear that there's more DF Retro on the way! That's the main reason I'm subscribed. It seems we'll be seeing the benefits of DF's independence almost immediately!
@Suketoudara I have to roll my eyes at the nitpicking over minor differences in resolution and graphical effects, but I know some people care about even that stuff- particularly if they have a "Pro" console and a fancy 4K TV.
Also have to agree that it's frustrating when people make a fuss over technical things they don't even understand, and usually spout a bunch of misinformation at the same time. (That has gone on for almost as long as games have existed!) But I think they're a small minority, and anyway, that's not DF's fault for simply providing the information.
But performance: that is important to me. Not that I haven't enjoyed games with poor performance, but it can make a great game less great (see: Goldeneye and Perfect Dark). And silky 60fps elevates a game and makes it better. Ocarina of Time is fun at 20fps, but OoT at 60fps looks and feels much better to play!
I'd also like to point out that Nintendo has a history of fairly solid technical performance. They go for 60fps when possible (as they know it looks and feels the best), and if they don't think they can hit it consistently enough, they'll go for a locked 30 (or 20, in the past). Nintendo is sweating the details behind the scenes, even if they don't usually talk about this stuff externally!
@OrtadragoonX I'd have to agree that SMB3 edges out SMW. 3 is more visually striking and unconventional, with World's flat shapes and muted colours not being as interesting. (It probably doesn't help that they used almost the same ROM size!) 3 also has the perfect amount of weight to its controls, whereas World has less momentum, or more air resistance, or something. It's a tiny bit tighter, but less satisfying somehow. 3's soundtrack also uses more unique melodies, and has really beefy percussion: neither World nor All-Stars matched it on the latter.
SMW is obviously still a fantastic game, though, and its secrets and maps fascinated me as a kid!
It's hard to compare Yoshi's Island to either of them, since it's so different. I feel like the running/jumping mechanics aren't as nuanced, but the egg throw mechanic adds depth, and of course, the graphics are some of the most interesting and appealing in the series!
@Filthy Hey, you're still young...ish. (I'm right behind you, so if you're old, then I'm old. And I'm not old!)
I do understand and agree that our childhoods would feel distant- or even finishing high school, for that matter. But I'm just not sure they feel roughly 30 and 20 years distant! I think I have a decent grasp on time, and what happened when. But a part of me insists that we're still in 200X: the '80s were 20 years ago, my childhood was recent, and I wasn't even born 30 years ago (as that was the '70s)!
Ah, well, different perceptions and opinions. It's all good!
@Filthy Yeah, Yoshi's Island is an old 2D SNES game, so it's not all that shocking that it's 30 years old. I can see how you might think it's older. But does that happen even with more modern-feeling games? (And if so, are you young?)
Ridge Racer is 32 years old this month, if I'm not mistaken. That feels a lot weirder to me, as it's in 3D, and doesn't have that boxy, flat-shaded look like most previous 3D games. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the PS2, and the 20th of the Xbox 360. Again, those feel modern to me.
@Repete Or even 2D art, but in HD. That's one way to do 2D games without looking like a Flash cartoon or resorting to pixel art! How come we never see that approach?
@obijuankanoobie Resident Evil was 6 years old when it was remade. Super Mario Bros. 3 was 5 years old, and only 3 years in North America!
But you're right that the graphical leap between generations just isn't what it used to be. And that's fine, IMO, but I'd much rather see remakes/remasters of the games that actually need them, as opposed to the games that are still available- and which run beautifully- on modern platforms!
@ShadowRJ Is the purpose of this survey actually to determine whether or not they should sell proper physical games, or is it to help them with marketing their non-physical games more effectively: knowing how to address the criticisms and supposedly convince people to accept them?
I love how the Japanese releases of The Hobbit and Spyro the Dragon (among others) fittingly do the exact inverse of the American Kirby (or every NES game ever) thing.
Japanese game comes to the west: make everything edgy, realistic, and westernized. Western game goes to Japan: make everything cutesy, colourful, and anime-ish.
@DemonKow I played more Mega Man 3, and while I'm pretty sure the disappearing platform room in that one didn't slow down, I seem to remember those flying nut/bolt enemies causing slowdown almost every time they showed up. (And don't they show up when you're jumping on 8-pixel-wide platforms in Spark Man's stage?) If there's anything worse than trying to do precise platforming at 30fps, it's precise platforming with the game fluctuating between 30 and 60, and changing speed at the same time! There are a few newer Japanese games with slowdown today, but this issue is much, much less common than it was back then, thanks to modern games skipping frames instead!
But nitpicks aside, both MM 2 and 3 are great games overall! Lots of classics in that era, for sure.
@DemonKow What system did you grow up with, N64 or PS3?
For me, it was the NES, Genesis, and SNES. Things could get a bit dicey (briefly dropping to around 30fps) when Sonic dropped all of his rings in a 2P split-screen match, but aside from that, most of what I played back then was silky 60fps goodness!
@Jack_Goetz @Olmectron Different games and engines have different baselines. Metroid Prime 4 was built and optimized for 60fps on Switch 1, so the Switch 2 being 5-10x as powerful in docked mode gives it a ton of headroom to pump up the resolution and fps at the same time.
Borderlands 4, on the other hand, was made for PS5 and Series X, so it's a lot heavier. It may be possible to scale down some settings, but that will only go so far, unless it's hyper-optimized, which is unlikely.
Generally, a fighting game with two characters in an arena is going to be lighter than an FPS with a massive environment and a dozen-plus characters shooting at each other. But even then, the same principles apply: take the Mortal Kombat games on Switch, for instance. Horribly ugly, and they could still barely even run (despite looking worse than some previous games, which ran smoothly on PS2). Just getting such a heavy engine to function and display anything was too much for the original Switch. And of course, Borderlands 1 and 2, despite being relatively large in scope, can run smoothly on very weak hardware, as they were built for 20-year-old consoles.
Hey, scenes from that trailer were filmed in Midland, Ontario. Who cares? Probably no one. But it's kind of neat to see a random Canadian town (that I've actually been to) on the screen, as opposed to the usual places like NYC or wherever.
@Ichiban Assuming you're right about "B" games (no pun intended) like Buck Bumble not being worthwhile, how does a bunch of 40-year-olds blinded by nostalgia goggles equate to "kids these days"?
I missed out on this the first time around, and would definitely be interested to see it remastered! IIRC, it already runs really smoothly via emulation, so the biggest issues they'd have to work through are the control sensitivity and the terrible draw distance (so much fog). Probably room for some other quality-of-life stuff as well, but I've barely tried this one, so I don't know what all it needs.
@Dr_Lugae All the more baffling when you consider that Final Fantasy IV had already been ported to the PlayStation by the time Tactics came out! Square didn't even have to anticipate the future need to port and remaster their games- it was already happening!
Speaking of a "fixed" camera, The Wind Waker uses a fixed (or automatic) camera by default, just like Ocarina of Time. It's not necessary to put it in free mode and move it around with the C stick.
Once you do put it in free mode, you can always switch back to auto by pressing L. This also makes the first-person view available (as it doesn't work in free cam mode).
@Yosher It was a rhetorical question. I don't think anyone knows the answer! 😅
Call of Duty gets a new sequel every year, and there's not much evolution or innovation in each entry. The stories and levels are new, but the gameplay mostly stays the same.
And I mentioned New Super Mario Bros., because it's a Nintendo series that not only got 4 or 5 entries (don't forget Luigi!) in about as many years, but also reused all kinds of assets and elements between the games. It's very strange and inconsistent for Nintendo to release a bunch of Mario sequels that are little more than level packs, and then turn around and say that they can't make a new F-Zero because it needs some revolutionary new idea.
Those of us who enjoy franchises like F-Zero, Star Fox, Shenmue, Kid Icarus, Ape Escape, etc. etc., are starving here, while other games are getting more sequels than we could even keep up with or care about!
But you're right- at least Shin'en releases a new FAST game every few years on average!
@Yosher Why does it have to be the devs of F-Zero and FAST who have this mentality of "we need to reinvent the wheel and deliver something truly new", and not the ones who churn out Call of Duty or New Super Mario Bros. sequels rapid-fire?
It's bizarre and frustrating how some franchises (as well as genres/sub-genres) will get so many sequels and copycats, and others will sit dormant for weird reasons like this.
@JaxonH Yeah, those other games like Wipeout and Quantum Redshift are great and all, but the heavier controls ensure that they're no substitute for F-Zero, and I don't know why no one has tried to take F-Zero's approach until now.
Have you seen Aero GPX and XF Extreme Formula, though? They're both in early access on Steam, but they look very promising so far. Aero GPX, especially, seems to have perfectly nailed the ridiculously high speeds and tight controls of F-Zero.
@N00BiSH @DanijoEX-the-Pierrot It would be great to see those examples eventually, and more! (Definitely looking forward to seeing more recomps for N64 and Xbox 360 alike.)
I agree that some games get a lot of attention when they don't necessarily need it, and others get overlooked, but on the other hand, titles like Ocarina of Time absolutely deserved to be ported. OoT is a fantastic game with just a few issues like horribly chuggy performance and some annoyances around swapping items, so the enhanced PC port basically perfected it!
I think that 60fps games like Yoshi's Story and Symphony of the Night don't need a port nearly as much, since they already run beautifully on both original hardware and emulation, though there's all kinds of potential for mods: Render '97 HD mod for Yoshi's Story, anyone?
@EarthboundBenjy Yeah, it must have been a very intentional plan that Nintendo and co. thought through and put into action, in order to get all those different media brought over at the same time (late 1998 in North America). It would partially explain the severe delay compared to the Japanese debut of the games and cards (early 1996) and anime (early 1997).
I recall seeing an article in Nintendo Power magazine, which previewed the Pokemon franchise's impending arrival in the west, and included a brief interview with Gail Tilden. From memory, there was a bit that went along the lines of: "With the wild success of the games, anime, and trading cards, Japan has been reduced to a state of Pokemon preoccupation. Could it happen here? 'We hope so', replies Gail Tilden."
@Spider-Kev I see it as being different, since a TAS demonstrates techniques that use an unmodded game and could theoretically be done on real hardware- you'd just need to be a robot with superhuman speed and precision to pull them off.
...or would you? Some techniques are first thought to be only viable for a TAS, and then someone either does the impossible, or finds a more human-friendly workaround to achieve the same outcome.
@Toastmaster @SBandy1 A surprising number of N64 games can run at 60fps via emulation, simply by turning up the overclock setting- this includes Beetle Adventure Racing! There are also a bunch that work well with emulators' built-in widescreen hack feature, though it can be hit-or-miss.
Still, a proper remaster is even better than even this, and I'm all for some skilled studios getting more N64 games cleaned up. That was such a great generation for fun, varied, and interesting games, but the technical issues (particularly around performance) really hold things back, making this possibly the era most in need of remasters.
Has anyone gotten to the garbage can area near the end of the game? There was a room with a sort of fog overlay- and I think it was that one- which mysteriously ran unlocked, and could approach 60fps at times, especially when paused. I'm curious as to how it runs on NSO. (IIRC, it was just capped at 30fps for the Xbox remaster.)
@rjejr It's noticeable even on a Nintendo DS (which is what, 3" and 192p?), so I'd personally say yes. Though it is arguably less of an issue than on larger screens, especially with that LCD blur.
@Ruler-Of-All-Evil That's pretty cool, though I'm a little confused: what does Scott Burns have to do with the FF guest characters appearing in Mario sports, or why would he know anything about that?
PS: "That's my boy. Well put, son! The royal Koopa line is as strong as ever!"
@Ruler-Of-All-Evil Sunshine's cutscenes had so much goofy charm, and I would've liked to see more Mario games with full voice acting- and especially for Scott Burns to stay on as Bowser. The whole pantomime thing from subsequent Mario games (as well as some of the newer Sonics) just seems bland to me.
PS: "Junior, I've got something... difficult to tell you about Princess Peach."
What's with Microids? This is at least the third or fourth project they've been involved with recently, which has released in a disastrous state and had to be reworked.
Based on what I've seen with Joe and Mac (and heard about XIII), they do make things right eventually (with major patches and content additions), but it's not healthy to keep doing this!
@liveswired Yeah, I'm thinking 60fps is pretty much out of the question, especially if the graphics are at all enhanced compared to the 360 release.
There is some precedent for 360-Switch conversions getting an fps boost (RE Revelations), but that has been rare, and flawed in practice. The little handheld just doesn't have enough headroom to run a full 2x faster than the 360 without making sacrifices- and this is a remaster!
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Re: Kirby Air Riders Players Are Creating 'Micro Bikini' Machines, But Nintendo's Having None Of It
@SoIDecidedTo The "starfish"- erm, asterisk replacing the O actually makes it better. Er, worse. Better at being bad, I mean.
Re: Resident Evil 0 Remake Rumours Make The Rounds Again
@MARl0 Yeah, that was the worst thing about the game, easily. It could have been fine if the game had been designed differently: the problem was that the game's structure was almost entirely linear, so you had to backtrack way too far to pick up your items (and usually more than once, thanks to the limited item slots).
If it had been more of a looping structure, or a hub-and-spoke layout, or even just had a fast travel system, that would have eliminated the biggest issue.
The elevator shortcut at the end was just what this game needed, but it showed up too late to really be all that helpful.
Re: Nintendo Of America President Doug Bowser Announces Retirement
@ROMhaiku She also needs to leverage AI for a paradigm shift!
Re: Nintendo Of America President Doug Bowser Announces Retirement
@N00BiSH The royal Koopa line is as strong as ever!
Re: Nintendo Adds One Of The Most Divisive Zelda Entries To 'Nintendo Music'
@hisownsidekick The other two (Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil) actually have surprisingly good music!
Zelda's Adventure is a weird one, as it barely has any music, yet there were MIDIs floating around the internet over 20 years ago, which claimed to be covers of that game's soundtrack, even though they clearly weren't. I'd love to find out what those were based on, but last I heard, no one knew.
Re: Nintendo Of America Reportedly Cuts Loose Customer Service Contractors As It Looks To Outsource
@TheSaneInsanity Don't just tease us- what's the story here?
Was it something game-related, or did you just call them up and ask for help with a school project?
Re: Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac Switch And Switch 2 Performance & Resolution Detailed
@OrtadragoonX Aren't a 2050 and a 10-year-old CPU (e.g., 4770) easily more powerful than a Switch 2, though?
Re: Random: 'Days Of Our Lives' Character Gets Lucky By Name-Dropping Xenoblade
@thenikdavies
She looked inside the game case marked "Xenoblade", obviously!
Re: Nintendo Is "Acting To Protect The Industry" With Switch 2 Game Key Cards, Says Ex-Capcom Composer
I was expecting some mental gymnastics, trying to spin this as somehow being a good thing, but he still surprised me: this is just outright nonsense, with a sprinkling of naivete. (Or possibly just lies, lies, and more lies. But I won't make that assumption.)
Re: Donkey Kong Bananza's Dig Button Placement Is All Thanks To Miyamoto
@G_and_Thomas B was the jump button in the Mario games for SNES, DS, and Wii U. From what people here are saying, that also applies to Switch games like Mario Odyssey.
Most players have gotten used to the attack button being either straight left or diagonally up+left from the jump button. On NES, N64, and GameCube, that means A to jump. On SNES, DS, and Switch, that means B to jump, as B occupies that same place and function on the controller.
Re: Double Dragon Gaiden Scores Another Free DLC Character Pack In New Update
@ShingoTamaiX Including an option to play all of the full-length stages seems like a no-brainer. I don't know why they haven't done that!
Re: "We Answer To Nobody But You, The Audience" - Digital Foundry Is Now Fully Independent
Great to hear that there's more DF Retro on the way! That's the main reason I'm subscribed. It seems we'll be seeing the benefits of DF's independence almost immediately!
Re: "We Answer To Nobody But You, The Audience" - Digital Foundry Is Now Fully Independent
@Suketoudara I have to roll my eyes at the nitpicking over minor differences in resolution and graphical effects, but I know some people care about even that stuff- particularly if they have a "Pro" console and a fancy 4K TV.
Also have to agree that it's frustrating when people make a fuss over technical things they don't even understand, and usually spout a bunch of misinformation at the same time. (That has gone on for almost as long as games have existed!) But I think they're a small minority, and anyway, that's not DF's fault for simply providing the information.
But performance: that is important to me. Not that I haven't enjoyed games with poor performance, but it can make a great game less great (see: Goldeneye and Perfect Dark). And silky 60fps elevates a game and makes it better. Ocarina of Time is fun at 20fps, but OoT at 60fps looks and feels much better to play!
I'd also like to point out that Nintendo has a history of fairly solid technical performance. They go for 60fps when possible (as they know it looks and feels the best), and if they don't think they can hit it consistently enough, they'll go for a locked 30 (or 20, in the past). Nintendo is sweating the details behind the scenes, even if they don't usually talk about this stuff externally!
Re: Anniversary: No Way Is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island 30 Years Old Already
@OrtadragoonX I'd have to agree that SMB3 edges out SMW. 3 is more visually striking and unconventional, with World's flat shapes and muted colours not being as interesting. (It probably doesn't help that they used almost the same ROM size!)
3 also has the perfect amount of weight to its controls, whereas World has less momentum, or more air resistance, or something. It's a tiny bit tighter, but less satisfying somehow.
3's soundtrack also uses more unique melodies, and has really beefy percussion: neither World nor All-Stars matched it on the latter.
SMW is obviously still a fantastic game, though, and its secrets and maps fascinated me as a kid!
It's hard to compare Yoshi's Island to either of them, since it's so different. I feel like the running/jumping mechanics aren't as nuanced, but the egg throw mechanic adds depth, and of course, the graphics are some of the most interesting and appealing in the series!
Re: Anniversary: No Way Is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island 30 Years Old Already
@Filthy Hey, you're still young...ish. (I'm right behind you, so if you're old, then I'm old. And I'm not old!)
I do understand and agree that our childhoods would feel distant- or even finishing high school, for that matter. But I'm just not sure they feel roughly 30 and 20 years distant! I think I have a decent grasp on time, and what happened when. But a part of me insists that we're still in 200X: the '80s were 20 years ago, my childhood was recent, and I wasn't even born 30 years ago (as that was the '70s)!
Ah, well, different perceptions and opinions. It's all good!
Re: Anniversary: No Way Is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island 30 Years Old Already
@Filthy Yeah, Yoshi's Island is an old 2D SNES game, so it's not all that shocking that it's 30 years old. I can see how you might think it's older.
But does that happen even with more modern-feeling games?
(And if so, are you young?)
Ridge Racer is 32 years old this month, if I'm not mistaken. That feels a lot weirder to me, as it's in 3D, and doesn't have that boxy, flat-shaded look like most previous 3D games.
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the PS2, and the 20th of the Xbox 360. Again, those feel modern to me.
Re: Anniversary: No Way Is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island 30 Years Old Already
@Repete Or even 2D art, but in HD. That's one way to do 2D games without looking like a Flash cartoon or resorting to pixel art! How come we never see that approach?
Re: Yooka-Replaylee Is Now "Content Complete"
@obijuankanoobie Resident Evil was 6 years old when it was remade. Super Mario Bros. 3 was 5 years old, and only 3 years in North America!
But you're right that the graphical leap between generations just isn't what it used to be. And that's fine, IMO, but I'd much rather see remakes/remasters of the games that actually need them, as opposed to the games that are still available- and which run beautifully- on modern platforms!
Re: Yooka-Replaylee Is Now "Content Complete"
Seeing as this is a remaster, wasn't it "content complete" before development even began?
Re: Nintendo Sends Out Second Game-Key Card & Physical Game Survey
@ShadowRJ Is the purpose of this survey actually to determine whether or not they should sell proper physical games, or is it to help them with marketing their non-physical games more effectively: knowing how to address the criticisms and supposedly convince people to accept them?
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: The Hobbit (GBA)
I love how the Japanese releases of The Hobbit and Spyro the Dragon (among others) fittingly do the exact inverse of the American Kirby (or every NES game ever) thing.
Japanese game comes to the west: make everything edgy, realistic, and westernized.
Western game goes to Japan: make everything cutesy, colourful, and anime-ish.
Re: Switch Is Now Within Touching Distance Of The DS' Lifetime Sales
@The_Nintend_Pedant It also has to match DS+Wii's total library!
(Or GCN+GBA, or SNES+GB...)
Re: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Will "Average" 30fps On Switch
@DemonKow I played more Mega Man 3, and while I'm pretty sure the disappearing platform room in that one didn't slow down, I seem to remember those flying nut/bolt enemies causing slowdown almost every time they showed up. (And don't they show up when you're jumping on 8-pixel-wide platforms in Spark Man's stage?)
If there's anything worse than trying to do precise platforming at 30fps, it's precise platforming with the game fluctuating between 30 and 60, and changing speed at the same time! There are a few newer Japanese games with slowdown today, but this issue is much, much less common than it was back then, thanks to modern games skipping frames instead!
But nitpicks aside, both MM 2 and 3 are great games overall! Lots of classics in that era, for sure.
Re: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Will "Average" 30fps On Switch
@DemonKow What system did you grow up with, N64 or PS3?
For me, it was the NES, Genesis, and SNES. Things could get a bit dicey (briefly dropping to around 30fps) when Sonic dropped all of his rings in a 2P split-screen match, but aside from that, most of what I played back then was silky 60fps goodness!
Re: Borderlands 4 On Switch 2 Will "Mostly" Run At 30fps
@Jack_Goetz @Olmectron
Different games and engines have different baselines.
Metroid Prime 4 was built and optimized for 60fps on Switch 1, so the Switch 2 being 5-10x as powerful in docked mode gives it a ton of headroom to pump up the resolution and fps at the same time.
Borderlands 4, on the other hand, was made for PS5 and Series X, so it's a lot heavier. It may be possible to scale down some settings, but that will only go so far, unless it's hyper-optimized, which is unlikely.
Generally, a fighting game with two characters in an arena is going to be lighter than an FPS with a massive environment and a dozen-plus characters shooting at each other. But even then, the same principles apply: take the Mortal Kombat games on Switch, for instance. Horribly ugly, and they could still barely even run (despite looking worse than some previous games, which ran smoothly on PS2). Just getting such a heavy engine to function and display anything was too much for the original Switch.
And of course, Borderlands 1 and 2, despite being relatively large in scope, can run smoothly on very weak hardware, as they were built for 20-year-old consoles.
Re: Prefer Your Pokémon Sweary With "Pixelated Booty"? 'The Edge Of Allegoria' Might Just Be For You
Hey, scenes from that trailer were filmed in Midland, Ontario.
Who cares? Probably no one. But it's kind of neat to see a random Canadian town (that I've actually been to) on the screen, as opposed to the usual places like NYC or wherever.
Re: After Croc, Argonaut Games Wants To Remaster This N64 Cult Classic
@Ichiban Assuming you're right about "B" games (no pun intended) like Buck Bumble not being worthwhile, how does a bunch of 40-year-olds blinded by nostalgia goggles equate to "kids these days"?
Re: After Croc, Argonaut Games Wants To Remaster This N64 Cult Classic
I missed out on this the first time around, and would definitely be interested to see it remastered!
IIRC, it already runs really smoothly via emulation, so the biggest issues they'd have to work through are the control sensitivity and the terrible draw distance (so much fog). Probably room for some other quality-of-life stuff as well, but I've barely tried this one, so I don't know what all it needs.
Re: After Croc, Argonaut Games Wants To Remaster This N64 Cult Classic
@MikeP Buck Bumble is more of a free-roaming deal, like Star Fox's All Range levels.
Re: Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster Controversially Cuts War Of The Lions Content
@Dr_Lugae All the more baffling when you consider that Final Fantasy IV had already been ported to the PlayStation by the time Tactics came out!
Square didn't even have to anticipate the future need to port and remaster their games- it was already happening!
Re: PSA: Remember, You Can 'Fix' The Camera In Zelda: The Wind Waker On Switch 2
Speaking of a "fixed" camera, The Wind Waker uses a fixed (or automatic) camera by default, just like Ocarina of Time. It's not necessary to put it in free mode and move it around with the C stick.
Once you do put it in free mode, you can always switch back to auto by pressing L. This also makes the first-person view available (as it doesn't work in free cam mode).
Re: Exclusive: Shin'en Talks 'Fast Fusion' On Switch 2, Reveals First-Look Trailer
@Yosher It was a rhetorical question. I don't think anyone knows the answer! 😅
Call of Duty gets a new sequel every year, and there's not much evolution or innovation in each entry. The stories and levels are new, but the gameplay mostly stays the same.
And I mentioned New Super Mario Bros., because it's a Nintendo series that not only got 4 or 5 entries (don't forget Luigi!) in about as many years, but also reused all kinds of assets and elements between the games. It's very strange and inconsistent for Nintendo to release a bunch of Mario sequels that are little more than level packs, and then turn around and say that they can't make a new F-Zero because it needs some revolutionary new idea.
Those of us who enjoy franchises like F-Zero, Star Fox, Shenmue, Kid Icarus, Ape Escape, etc. etc., are starving here, while other games are getting more sequels than we could even keep up with or care about!
But you're right- at least Shin'en releases a new FAST game every few years on average!
Re: Exclusive: Shin'en Talks 'Fast Fusion' On Switch 2, Reveals First-Look Trailer
@Yosher Why does it have to be the devs of F-Zero and FAST who have this mentality of "we need to reinvent the wheel and deliver something truly new", and not the ones who churn out Call of Duty or New Super Mario Bros. sequels rapid-fire?
It's bizarre and frustrating how some franchises (as well as genres/sub-genres) will get so many sequels and copycats, and others will sit dormant for weird reasons like this.
Re: Exclusive: Shin'en Talks 'Fast Fusion' On Switch 2, Reveals First-Look Trailer
@JaxonH Yeah, those other games like Wipeout and Quantum Redshift are great and all, but the heavier controls ensure that they're no substitute for F-Zero, and I don't know why no one has tried to take F-Zero's approach until now.
Have you seen Aero GPX and XF Extreme Formula, though? They're both in early access on Steam, but they look very promising so far. Aero GPX, especially, seems to have perfectly nailed the ridiculously high speeds and tight controls of F-Zero.
Re: Is The Switch 2 A Steam Deck Killer? Digital Foundry Dives Deep
@FatWormBlowsASparky Did you put on a Kiwi accent while saying that?
Re: Feature: "We Really Want To Future-Proof" - The Nintendo Switch 2 Interview
@Kyloctopus His non-answers in this interview were kind of a "splooosh".
Re: Random: Fantasy Life's Animal Crossing Parody Starring 'Tim Crook' Is A Good Laugh
When I saw "Tim Crook", I thought of the guy from Apple first.
Re: N64 Recompiled Is Planning Its Best Year Yet In 2025
@N00BiSH @DanijoEX-the-Pierrot It would be great to see those examples eventually, and more! (Definitely looking forward to seeing more recomps for N64 and Xbox 360 alike.)
I agree that some games get a lot of attention when they don't necessarily need it, and others get overlooked, but on the other hand, titles like Ocarina of Time absolutely deserved to be ported. OoT is a fantastic game with just a few issues like horribly chuggy performance and some annoyances around swapping items, so the enhanced PC port basically perfected it!
I think that 60fps games like Yoshi's Story and Symphony of the Night don't need a port nearly as much, since they already run beautifully on both original hardware and emulation, though there's all kinds of potential for mods: Render '97 HD mod for Yoshi's Story, anyone?
Re: Pokémon Almost Became A "Gritty" Baseball-Themed RPG In The West
@EarthboundBenjy Yeah, it must have been a very intentional plan that Nintendo and co. thought through and put into action, in order to get all those different media brought over at the same time (late 1998 in North America). It would partially explain the severe delay compared to the Japanese debut of the games and cards (early 1996) and anime (early 1997).
I recall seeing an article in Nintendo Power magazine, which previewed the Pokemon franchise's impending arrival in the west, and included a brief interview with Gail Tilden. From memory, there was a bit that went along the lines of:
"With the wild success of the games, anime, and trading cards, Japan has been reduced to a state of Pokemon preoccupation. Could it happen here? 'We hope so', replies Gail Tilden."
Re: Random: Speedrunner Takes Donkey Kong Run To New Heights By Beating The Kill Screen
@Antraxx777
Shake it once, that's fine.
Shake it twice, that's okay.
Shake it 24 times per second...
Re: Random: Speedrunner Takes Donkey Kong Run To New Heights By Beating The Kill Screen
@Spider-Kev I see it as being different, since a TAS demonstrates techniques that use an unmodded game and could theoretically be done on real hardware- you'd just need to be a robot with superhuman speed and precision to pull them off.
...or would you? Some techniques are first thought to be only viable for a TAS, and then someone either does the impossible, or finds a more human-friendly workaround to achieve the same outcome.
Re: Feature: Biggest Nintendo Gaming Anniversaries Of 2025
@GravyThief It gets better: those aren't even the early Wii U games!
In just two years, the Wii U will be 15 years old, and the Switch will be 10!
Re: Star Fox 64 Finally Barrel Rolls Onto PC Thanks To An Unofficial Port
@Toastmaster @SBandy1 A surprising number of N64 games can run at 60fps via emulation, simply by turning up the overclock setting- this includes Beetle Adventure Racing! There are also a bunch that work well with emulators' built-in widescreen hack feature, though it can be hit-or-miss.
Still, a proper remaster is even better than even this, and I'm all for some skilled studios getting more N64 games cleaned up. That was such a great generation for fun, varied, and interesting games, but the technical issues (particularly around performance) really hold things back, making this possibly the era most in need of remasters.
Re: Random: Oops! It Looks Like Banjo-Tooie's Idle Demo Is Sped Up On NSO
Has anyone gotten to the garbage can area near the end of the game? There was a room with a sort of fog overlay- and I think it was that one- which mysteriously ran unlocked, and could approach 60fps at times, especially when paused. I'm curious as to how it runs on NSO.
(IIRC, it was just capped at 30fps for the Xbox remaster.)
Re: Devolver Digital Confirms The Plucky Squire Won't Run At 60 FPS On Switch
@rjejr It's noticeable even on a Nintendo DS (which is what, 3" and 192p?), so I'd personally say yes. Though it is arguably less of an issue than on larger screens, especially with that LCD blur.
Re: Onward And Upward! This Upcoming Mario Wonder Plushie Actually Talks
@Ruler-Of-All-Evil Oh, nice, I didn't know that Burns had stayed on past ~2005 or so (as Nintendo got another guy to play Bowser from then on, IIRC).
Re: Onward And Upward! This Upcoming Mario Wonder Plushie Actually Talks
@Ruler-Of-All-Evil That's pretty cool, though I'm a little confused: what does Scott Burns have to do with the FF guest characters appearing in Mario sports, or why would he know anything about that?
PS: "That's my boy. Well put, son! The royal Koopa line is as strong as ever!"
Re: Onward And Upward! This Upcoming Mario Wonder Plushie Actually Talks
@Ruler-Of-All-Evil
Sunshine's cutscenes had so much goofy charm, and I would've liked to see more Mario games with full voice acting- and especially for Scott Burns to stay on as Bowser.
The whole pantomime thing from subsequent Mario games (as well as some of the newer Sonics) just seems bland to me.
PS: "Junior, I've got something... difficult to tell you about Princess Peach."
Re: 'Tintin Reporter: Cigars Of The Pharaoh' Finally Adventures Onto Switch This October
What's with Microids? This is at least the third or fourth project they've been involved with recently, which has released in a disastrous state and had to be reworked.
Based on what I've seen with Joe and Mac (and heard about XIII), they do make things right eventually (with major patches and content additions), but it's not healthy to keep doing this!
Re: Sonic X Shadow Generations Gets A Limited Edition With A Gorgeous Dreamcast Statue
@liveswired Yeah, I'm thinking 60fps is pretty much out of the question, especially if the graphics are at all enhanced compared to the 360 release.
There is some precedent for 360-Switch conversions getting an fps boost (RE Revelations), but that has been rare, and flawed in practice. The little handheld just doesn't have enough headroom to run a full 2x faster than the 360 without making sacrifices- and this is a remaster!