Jonnas

Sprigatito's line looks cute and stylish. Good theming with grass too. I like her a lot. I was hoping the evolutions would resemble the Iberian Lynx a bit more, but "Harlequin cat" is a good theme as well. Fuecoco's line looks cute and goofy, in all the best ways. After the very anthropomorphic starters we've had for the last few generations, it's nice to see one that just looks like a very cool animal again. And yeah, it's very Mexican-themed. The Iberian peninsula has hats that resemble sombreros, but the skull-face on Skeledirge is very Dia de los Muertos. I do not like Quaquaval. They had such a good thing going with that handsome Donald duckling, and then he just turns into a peacock? Bah. The tail does turn into a stereotypical Rio Carnaval parade costume, and the dancing... it has the right idea, but he needs some work to improve: (Disclaimer: I am not Brazillian, I have never participated in Rio's Carnival, nor have I grown up with the culture. But even I can see those hips aren't shaking enough) Anyway, the theme here is clearly "festivities". Meowscarada represents European Carnival, Quaquaval represents Brazillian Carnival, Skeledirge represents the Dia de los Muertos. Seems straightforward to me.

Yeah, that game got announced and released on the same day I posted that update! That was some shmupping good timing.

Good guess It is the anniversary month. But I didn't mean a game from the pledge, I meant another April release... ...But before I ever explain whatever that means: A Jonnas NSO Update Watching Sakurai's channel has been a treat, he's got a lot of insight into a myriad of details. One thing I noticed is that he seems to be a big Shmup* fan, having referenced quite a few titles from this genre throughout his videos. I was never really into the genre, so I did feel a tad alienated whenever he made any such reference. With the NSO carrying quite a few titles from this genre, I figured it would be a good idea to delve a bit deeper into it, try to find something to connect with. *(For the record, "Shmup" is short for "Shoot'em Up". I insist on using this abbreviation, because... we western gamers have somehow called two distinct genres the same thing: "Shoot'em Up" refers both to the genre with auto-scrolling ships (like Gradius) AND the genre with run&gun marines (like Contra). Thankfully, they both have alternative, distinct names, so "Shmup" it is!) The 8-bit Shmups I knew I wanted to start with Xevious. It's the oldest one, and often mentioned as a reference in the genre. I didn't actually like it much, though. I did think that the bombing mechanic was interesting, but between the endless level, the boss with a time limit (and also a difficulty spike), and the generally slow pace, I got bored quickly. I will give its due as an impressive game for 1982, but that's it. On the brighter side, I finally know what was that Bacura thing in Tales of Symphonia. Next, it was Star Soldier. Sakurai explicitly mentioned this one as a good title in the genre. It's faster and feels more fun, but... what is up with this level design? There's so much metal all over the place, and it blocks your bullets, but your ship can run through just fine? If it wasn't for these weirdly artificial barriers, I'd like it a lot more, but as it stands, it just feels like my shots disappear no good reason. I moved on to Gradius. This is a particularly famous title, almost synonymous with the genre. A bit slow, but plenty fun. There's an element of strategy, with the player having some control on which power-ups to unlock, pretty creative stuff. Sadly, the game got really dang hard from Stage 3-ish onwards: those Moai heads just fill the screen with bullets, and if you die, your power-ups reset entirely, and now the bullet hell is unbeatable. Shame, the game was doing pretty well up until that point. And then there was Twinbee. All I knew about it is that it's a lighter and softer take on the genre. Hated it. There's a power-up system that doesn't seem to function properly, it has the same bombing mechanic as Xevious (but not the slower pace that makes it work, nor the precision that made it fun in the first place), and the game is just too damn hard for what was supposed to be a "lighter" title. I'd say my ranking of these goes Gradius > Star Soldier > Xevious > Twinbee. Can't say I was hooked on any of them (though Gradius came the closest). Probably because they all feature a ship that dies in one hit. The 16-bit Shmups For some reason, my instinct decided to start with Super Earth Defense Force. Might've been the generic look and title, made it a good base starting point. Right off the bat, I'm actually having a lot of fun with it! Music is good, graphics look impressive, it feels super pleasant to simply move and fire shots, and the selectable weapon system made me try a bunch of playstyles. Then I carried on with the game, and found out that the Homing weapon ought to be the default for 80% of the game, because goddamn, so many tiny enemies surrounding you all of the time! But there's a couple of bosses that render Homing useless, which was cool, forced me to adapt my gameplay. Ended up depending on Photon to deal with the final level. I've seen this game get criticised for being too difficult, and I can see why: even though your ship can take 3 hits before dying, you only get 3 lives/credits total for a whole playthrough (no extra lives whatsoever). Plus, despite a sensible difficulty curve, the game gets pretty hard in the later half. Thankfully, if I use the NSO to create save states only at the weapon selection between levels, I can effectively make this game have infinite lives, while still making the challenge count. This ended up being the first NSO shmup I've beaten. 3 stars Looking at the other titles, I really wanted to go for MUSHA. This one really, truly clicked with me, right off the gate. Game looks hectic, game-feel is super fast, but still smooth as butter, and the aesthetic direction of this game (sci-fi with a lot of traditional Japanese iconography) is impressive. I played for several levels without understanding what the heck was going on, or how the power-up system worked, but I was having a blast. I eventually figured some parts of it out, restarted the game, and went on to beat it in full. The last level/boss was a bullshit difficulty spike, but other than that, it was a fantastic experience. 4 stars. I might play it in Hard Mode in the future. Then I went for Thunder Force II. What a downgrade. You command a ship in overview perspective and you go around shooting other stuff. I had no idea when the level was supposed to end, I just... flew around for a long time, blowing up ships and bases, until I got literally too bored to try to dodge anything. I would later learn that this game has more typical side-scrolling sections, but it's not winning me back. How are you gentlemen !! Someone set up us the bomb. What you say? Get signal, all your base are belong to Zero Wing. I was really happy to see this classic 20+ years old meme show up in the NSO, for great justice Legendary opening aside, the game itself felt pretty rote, and overly slow as well. As soon as you get some fully upgrade homing shots, I just kept my finger on the firing button all the time, while waiting for those interminable slow levels to end (Is this what CATS meant by "Make your time"?). I just stopped at some point, looked up the final level, and... I'm sorry, you don't even fight CATS!? Zero Wing, you have no chance to survive on your way to destruction! After the NES disappointment, I kept delaying this one, but I needed to tackle Pop'n Twinbee. Thankfully, it is considerably more fun than the NES game. The colourful aesthetics work a lot better here, the power-up system works properly now, and it is very fun to control and play. I still dropped it quickly though, as the game is insanely hectic. The bombing mechanic is still here, but it doesn't fit the fast pace of the game, and grounded enemies generate an oppressive bullet hell. Meanwhile, you're juggling colourful bells, while still doing the usual loop of shooting airborne enemies and dodging bullets. I actually breathed a sigh of relief when I reached the first boss (a simple, single enemy to deal with, huzzah!), but then the next level was more of this crazy game, so I stopped. I can see this being a hit with hardcore shmup fans, but not me, clearly. What is it with "cutesy" games that fail at being simple and/or easy? (At this point, I was convinced that MUSHA totally spoiled my expectations for the genre, as I wasn't enjoying any of the other 16-bit titles) Finally, another Sakurai recommendation, and one I've seen from time to time: Super Fantasy Zone. I wanted to finish on this one, because it looked to be the most unique and interesting. And in many ways, it really was. One of the few titles to not be an auto-scroller, you just command the ship in a looping corridor (and you can turn left and right!), your mission being to destroy 10 specific objects while tiny enemies respawn infinitely. After that, you face a boss in a more traditional fashion. There's also a cool upgrade system where you collect coins to buy power-ups and weapons, it's really cool (except for the part where new guns have a time limit to be used, that's silly). Overall, a really creative and fun game. Sadly, it's not one I could finish, because... the ship dies in one hit. The enemy bullets are really tiny in this game, and though you can buy extra lives, they get expensive. At one point, I reached a level that was just too difficult for me, and I dropped it. A shame. My ranking goes MUSHA > Super EDF > Super Fantasy Zone > Pop'n Twinbee > Zero Wing > Thunder Force 2 ------------------- This is not the end of my Shmup journey, but it is a good place to pause. I still don't think the genre is a good fit for me, but there are a few occasional aspects here and there that do end up resonating with me. Like being able to survive more than a single hit

Huh, that's curious. I distinctly remember arcade cabinets displaying Puzzle Bobble, both in Portugal and Spain. There was that cute opening where the dinos turn a bunch of spheres into the title screen, hence why it's so vivid. Could it be that European arcades kept the JP name, but home console releases went with the US name? Makes sense. Arena fighters, in their early days, depended a lot on projectiles to even function (another such example is Destrega, for the PS1). Melee attacks are virtually useless when you move that fast, and the target is so small. Developers would only figure out lock-on targeting systems (the one way to do melee combat in Arena fighters) during the following generation. (If you count Wrestling games as Arena fighters, then they do Melee combat by having really small arenas, relatively slow movement, and thought-out grapple systems)

I'm surprised to hear that. I know you love grinding, so I thought this game would click with you right away But grinding isn't my style at all, unfortunately. Starting with MM1 is tough! Easily the hardest one. I usually recommend people start with MM2. While some complain about the slipperiness, I personally think that Megaman feels excessively stiff in MM3. To the point that it's hard to turn around. But only in that game, as he feels fine in the ones following that.

Samurott looks a little bit better like this, but I strongly dislike the other two. Those colours do not match those Pokémon. Yeah, that's pretty much it

Remember the pledge? The one that I made a few pages back? It's time to address it. Final Fantasy II It was about darn time that I tackled this one. Ever since I finished FF1 a couple of years back, I wanted to do this one (also on the GBA). It took me quitting FE Heroes to properly start it. I already knew quite a fair bit about the game going in, so I went with the mindset of wanting to accurately judge its strengths and faults, and whether this "black sheep" was worthy of that title. So let's do it from best to worst: Excellent soundtrack! Nobuo Uematsu did a cool soundtrack for FF1, but here? The man was cooking. The normal battle theme sounds like a military march, the regular boss theme sounds like a grueling trek, and the final boss theme sounds like the evil emperor just burst into the room to gloat via Disney song. The overworld theme feels like a sad resolve, while the final dungeon feels triumphant and intimidating at the same time. It's impressive, especially for 1988, how the soundtrack feels like a such a consistent unit, everything about it contributes to a feeling of dourness and near-despair, with a hint of militarism. Cool story! This was also quite ambitious for the time. Most RPGs (and videogaming stories, really) were doing the simple premise of "evil overlord is there, you must defeat him", but FF2 really wanted to build a narrative. It starts with the player experiencing the overwhelming invasion first hand, then attempting to gain the trust of the good guys, then travelling to specific spots for missions (as part of a greater plan), meeting several secondary characters, which also get mini-arcs of their own... This series was attempting to do in-game cutscenes and set-pieces when that was virtually unheard of. The plot basically has the simple premise of fighting an evil empire, but they make a point of being novel (for the time) about how they're telling it. It was effective, as I was invested into characters like Josef or Gordon. Minwu has such a cool design. I know he's just one character, but it's clear that the series keeps referencing him specifically, with stuff like Paladins (FFTA) and Mystic Knights (FFV, Bravely series). I like the keyword system. It's a subtle way to keep the players invested in the plot, and if well done, it can lead to a lot of potential dialogue without ever feeling too artificial. Obviously, the NES was not the place to put large amounts of dialogue, but even in this limited form, it was already enjoyable. ...Dungeons aren't great. They're often labyrinthic, they always feel a bit too long, and they're riddled with a lot of doors that lead to empty rooms with heightened encounter rate. They feel like gauntlets that leave me tired, and rarely accomplished. I can see that they did try to vary the formula here and there, but always in a way that translates to "face even bigger, harder enemies, in a different form". Which leads me to the one thing that tanks the game: the battle system. I'm sure we all heard about this game's weird level up system, where there aren't any level ups, the stats raise according to whatever we choose to do during battle. Characters attack, they eventually raise their strength, if they get hit, they eventually raise their defence, and so on. I suppose the intention was to be able to raise your party members how you want, define your playstyle. But it doesn't work, it's a godawful system, or at least an awful implementation. The way it's set up, and considering how you might deal with random encounters, your characters will raise strength, defence, and HP often... and rarely agility. You want to raise magic/spirit, you need to use magic, specifically in battle. If you want to raise the level for specific spells, you also need to use them often... which means that utility spells like Esuna, Protect, Shell, etc. will either miss or be ineffective if their level is too low. For crying out loud, for a spell to work properly, I need to use it incessantly and inanely during random encounters until it levels up? This is all exacerbated by the fact that enemies get tough. I usually like that, but it's infuriating to get all of my party blinded or poisoned by a spell, and casting Esuna like 3 times until it works! Or running into enemies that are so sturdy, I need to cast Berserk - once again, a couple of times until it works - to damage them (bosses especially have such inflated defence stats). And it's not like I can just run away from those battles, what with my incredibly low, low agility. That's the main issue with this game, it rewards targeted grinding, but it shits all over people actually trying to play casually (and also, where's the sense with having such a grindy system in a game where characters just rotate in and out of the party?) At one point, I ran into an incredibly tough optional Hillgigas at the end of a dungeon (lucky me, I saved near him), managed to beat him after multiple tries... and then literally the following dungeon just has two fucking Hillgigas as a normal random encounter, well above the average power level for the dungeon they're in. I can't run away from them either. I decided I had enough, the good parts of the game aren't worth that nonsense. I dropped the game. It's a shame, because I was enjoying the story and ambience otherwise. And from what I know about the story, Emperor Palamecia sounds like a fantastic villain. Considering the good parts, and the number in the title, it is fitting that I rate this with 2 stars. If any mainline FF should ever be remade with an entirely new battle/gameplay system, it should be this one. A shame that the first game to be cleared from my pledge is one I dropped, but... I did have something else going on. Phantasy Star So, I previously mentioned that I had this on Steam... Imagine my surprise to find that it was not there! For whatever reason, I registered all four Phantasy Star games as being part of my backlog, but the first one just wasn't there. I felt wronged, and since the eShop sales were still happening at the time, I decided to go for it and purchase the Sega AGES version. In other words, thank you very much, @Hero-of-Time and @Glen-i, for recommending this version. There were a few reasons I wanted to play this: I always wanted to check out this SEGA series; I did want to play the first three before tackling the fourth on NSO; I was really itching for old-school traditional RPGs; and the most recent reason, that my girlfriend cited this one as a childhood favourite (she's from Brazil, Master System was massive there). In fact, I was hoping this release would have the Brazilian Portuguese translation, but alas, it did not have it. I decided to play with the classic Exp&Gold rates, and after listening to both soundtracks for a bit, decided to go with the 8-bit tunes (they just fit better). This version also helps a lot with QoL features. Namely, you don't need to do any guesswork to figure out who can equip what, or which weapon or armour is better than which, as the AGES version comes with a handy guide of what's what. Oh, and the dungeon maps were definitely kept on! As for the game itself... It's lovely, actually, I had amazing fun with it. It's actually very conventional for the most part, with a few unusual aspects here and there (the Talk command, for example). It definitely scratched that itch for a comfortable traditional RPG. It only demands a bit of grinding at the very beginning (likely to teach players the value of level ups and equipment), and then it's smooth sailing. The only snags I found were on how to use the Ice Digger (I did not think I had to randomly test it on every wall) and how to open the path to the final dungeon (I thought for sure I needed that Miracle Key...) Aesthetically, this game is just Star Wars. Not just because it's fantasy sci-fi, the evil guards are literally just Stormtroopers, for example. The plot is... there's a local evil King who killed the protagonist's brother, and she's out to avenge him. Classic stuff. There are also small details here and there that bring flavour to the world (like the lying Dezorians, or the beggars asking for a drink before talking), and I did like the detail about how that one key item ended up in the hands of the mad scientist. Music is fantastic. Really catchy tunes all over the place (Palma is an instant classic, but even the dungeon theme is great). Oh, and 3 distinct overworld themes. Way ahead of its time. I will admit, I did not love the dungeons (I generally hate first-person dungeon crawlers), so the map was a lifesaver. Another issue is that the game doesn't have repels or anything like it, would've been really helpful to have a breather when figuring out where to go next. I was even more impressed when put into the context of the era: this game came out almost at the same time as Final Fantasy 1, but it feels so much more advanced than that. There are cutscenes, named party members who talk, enemies have animations (!), dungeons are 3D crawlers, there's more than one world map in the game... even a set piece like an unwinnable boss battle was unheard of at the time. Also, the developer team was basically 40% women? And Yuji Naka programmed the game so well, the M2 team literally could not find where he stored the data for one of the enemies? The story behind this game feels unreal. I also had fun discussing parts of the game with my girlfriend. She mentioned that getting through the game back in the day was practically a social event, with a bunch of kids trading impressions, playing together, and trying to figure out how to beat the game as a group. I imagine at least one of those kids may have been drawing maps of the dungeons himself. Kinda wild to think that PS may have been to Brazil what DQ was to Japan. Despite the confusing dungeons, the truth is that I loved this game. It's truly one of the best 8-bit RPGs I've ever played (second only to Dragon Quest III), and... it's a shame that it doesn't get the respect it deserves nearly as often. It's 5 stars from me. Kid Icarus I did play a few NES classics during my last update, and I wasn't planning on skipping this one. So, the main reason I wanted to properly beat this title in particular, is the fact that I never gave it a chance. Every time I tried to play it, I found it too confusing to understand, and would drop it. No more, I want to know what was it about this game that made it such a cult classic, even before Brawl came out. It... really is a confusing game. Not a bad or unfun one, it just has very specific rules that are hard to parse. At its core, it's a level-based platformer where you can shoot enemies... except every 4th level is an elaborate labyrinth, Metroidvania-style (with maps so shitty, it's better to have no map at all) Shooting enemies gives you hearts, which is currency, basically. There are shops to spend them, and you can interact with them in highly specific ways... There are rooms with games of chance with confusing rules... There are rooms where you can get your weapon upgraded (but only if you fulfill an invisible "skill" counter), rooms where you face a barrage of enemies in order to gain a reward (either a buff, or a lot of hearts).... And the Metroidvania levels have this specific move where you can free petrified centurions (using mallets) so they can help you against that level's boss (I did not expect Pit's Brawl Final Smash to actually be a thing here, but there we go). That's a lot of unexplained mechanics! Once you finally understand what's going on, it's an enjoyable game that grows a lot as your progress, but that initial knowledge barrier is surprisingly steep. A weird quirk of the game is that the first 4 levels are pretty challenging, but the rest of the game is much easier to get through. Pit gains new skills as the game progresses, sure, but I think the main reason is that they just didn't put any healing rooms in those first few levels. Not sure why they designed the game like that. I eventually reached the end and got the second-best ending. Felt really nice. It's a fun game with a lot of charm, it just has some complicated mechanics, and a handful of questionable design decisions. 3 stars feels like the fairest rating. ---------------------- And just like that, I crossed a few titles off my pledge. One of which is an RPG I beat (that's another 2024 resolution fulfilled, too). April is upon us, and I know exactly what to play next.

I personally find Scorbunny's line to be the best of this bunch. It's fun, it's cute, it's cool, and consistent all the way through. Then comes Grookey's line. The concept is nice and original, and it kinda has the best Gigantamax form. Sobble's line doesn't do much for me. I'm not that big a fan of 007-style secret agents, and he doesn't do much for me as a Sniper, either. They're an incredibly solid set, at any rate. It... is a little silly Intelleon can already fire water instantly from his fingers, and his eyelids already take care of zooming in his eyesight (which means he doesn't even need a scope). What does he need to build a water rifle for, exactly?

It's always fascinating to see what a messy (or non-existent) direction does to a game. Usually leads to really polarizing titles, or reviews that insist on trying to separate the "good" from the "bad". In this case, I wonder if this game would've acquired a highly-specific fanbase, if Tony Hawk hadn't eventually shown up.

Incinerorar is my main in SSBU, there's no way he isn't my favourite of this bunch. Plus, I like wrestling. Plus plus, wrestlers with feline themes specifically tend to be my jam ('sup, Tekken King?). This one would've made sense as a fire/fighting-type, but Game Freak soured their own fanbase on the combo, I guess. Decidueye's line is pretty nifty, and I do feel like he got shafted in the long run. Good on Pokkén for including him. Primarina does nothing for me. Not a bad design, I'm just very neutral on her. And if you hadn't cleared me up on her being an opera singer, I'd think for sure her theme was ballet. A really good set overall. Look, I don't care what his Neutral B is called: Incineroar's side B (the well-executed one) is an actual, proper Lariat. The only reason his Neutral B looks like that, and is called a Lariat, is because his fighting style is very clearly modeled after Zangief from Street Fighter. I think "performative arts" is the most probable theme. Pro Wrestling and Opera speak for themselves, and as for Archery... I'd argue that ancient fighting styles are generally "performed", rather than "practised": swordplay, muskets, and archery are more used for spectacle these days than anything else.

Finally! At last, Nintendo has brought us all of the titles they had originally promised. ... Lots of omissions still (Wario Land 4's absence is bizarre), but at least there aren't any specific titles left hanging anymore.

I'm sure there's a lot to say about that shitty fighting game, but... I can't get over "Nextream". Why the fuck did they not spell it properly? "Nextreme" already works as a pun! I was looking at that boxart, dumbfounded, wondering if they meant to make a pun with "stream" for some reason, and then it's just a misspell of the stupidest possible wordplay they could come up with. I can't get over that. I think "Nextream" might be the worst pun I've seen in my life. ... Incidentally, if a game with this cover had come out on the SNES, I'm sure it would already be on the NSO by now.

So, this might be a good time to mention that I don't really like videogames about team sports. Don't like footie games, no Rugby, even Basketball I find "meh". I know this, because a friend of mine likes playing these sort of games (mostly on the PS1 & PS2), and I sadly never shared the appeal. Hockey is one of the few exceptions. Don't know why, there's something about the intended jank of the puck's behaviour that makes me enjoy the gameplay. Not enough to buy a game for myself, mind you, just enough to have an enjoyable afternoon with a good friend. Why do I bring this up? Because the fact that you didn't call it a "puck" unlocked some memories of that same friend getting angry at me for calling it a ball as well To think that now, I am the one to notice such things.

Thank you for the replies Decided to go ahead and buy it. Oh, just like Dragon Quest III. That's really neat. Cheers! I have no idea when I'll play this, but it sounds like it can be done on the 3DS as well Incidentally, if it were just a few quests and equipment pieces, I wouldn't care too much, but I see that there's also a series of extra optional bosses, and that sounds very appealing, especially for this series. Does a mobile hotspot using phone data also work?

There are two recent fighting game music tracks that are living rent-free in my brain right now: Azucena is both the best newcomer, and also brings the best music to Tekken 8. Gotta love it. Meanwhile, never expected to hear German rap in Street Fighter, but it's probably the best track in SF6.