I don't see the Yoshi/Shoe thing at all, drastically different in every way, other than being a mode of transportation for Mario; maybe the shoe inspired them to later make Yoshi, but not even close to a similar entity. Even more so when you add in each color with different powers, which is baffling that was done only in Super Mario World, as that made each Yoshi really feel special, rather than just different colors of the same species. And as much as SMW is SMB3 but bigger, so is Yoshi's Island SMW but bigger, like turning the 5 Dragon Coins into flowers and tallying them proper at the end of the level, more of a collect-a-thon mechanic than just a bonus for the level. It was the next step in what SMW started (will give it credit for following the experimentation with level design they started with the Star/Bonus roads), just thought all the pieces together meshed more perfectly, the world secrets in SMW especially were as good as they'd ever be, never understood how they could never match that map.

In hindsight, I will give you bosses though, while all but 2 or 3 were just "Shoot eggs until it's dead," still more varied. Though disagree on Baby Bowser, as he was basically just a combination of a SMW boss mixed with "Shoot eggs until it's dead," thought Bowswer in SMW was the more distinct of the two, neither are great as far as boss fights go, but SMW Bowser was kind of its own thing.


[img src="ibb.co/tBj3c2K" alt="" style="max-width:100%;" src="https://ibb.co/tBj3c2K"]

It's been a few years (maybe a decade) since I played through either. World always seemed like the one that was always easier to pick up and go through start to finish. Quicker and easier? Yoshi always felt like more of an epic that I really had to be in the mood for. A little less mindless due to the baby and collectibles. That and it had an ongoing story with Kamek.

Though disagree on Baby Bowser, as he was basically just a combination of a SMW boss mixed

That's under-selling it. It's a two form boss where the second is keep godzilla at bay as he rushes at you with one of the greatest OST songs playing in the background. On the other hand, Bowser is too lazy to get out of his poorly designed helicopter to give Mario a satisfying fight.

While I understand the point on Dragon Coins, they don't inform level design as much as the collectables in Yoshi's Island. The closest thing Mario World has to that level of exploration is exits, but the core game design is still go right. In Yoshi's Island, Nintendo make better use of the space and encourages the player to explore each level and challenge themselves by completing these mini tasks.

My point on the Kuriboh Shoe is that it's a 'ride on' design mechanic made popular by series like Donkey Kong Country and Adventure Island. Yoshi was an expansion of the same idea, but the concept of giving Mario the power to ride something to access areas otherwise impossible had been done.

Each Yoshi having a unique ability was an interesting idea, but I don't think it's absence in Island makes it an inferior game. In truth, only the Blue Yoshi made for a worthwhile change and that's because flying in Super Mario World was OP. Red Yoshi is actually a downgrade since it turns everything into a projectile and Yellow Yoshi's pound technique is relatively superfulous. It rarely comes in handy and usually comes at the expense of his tongue technique which is a far handier tool. The way Yoshi controls in SMW2

And the level experimentation started with Super Mario Bros 3. Remember the level where you've got to get the racoon leaf, fly up and clear a path to get to the exit? (I think it's in World Six?) Or the Kid Icarus like level in World 7? They were already deviating from the standard go right standard gameplay, complete with the Star Road esque problem solving.

It's been a few years (maybe a decade) since I played through either. World always seemed like the one that was always easier to pick up and go through start to finish. Quicker and easier? Yoshi always felt like more of an epic that I really had to be in the mood for. A little less mindless due to the baby and collectibles. That and it had an ongoing story with Kamek.

That's fair. Yoshi's Island is a richer game and is constantly engaging the player. While it gives the player the choice, Super Mario World 3 invites players to skip through most of the game if they wish to (true to form for the Mario series).

Is anyone else getting Modern Warfare when it comes out?


Also played Fortnite for the first time a few days ago after seeing it trending in regards to the black screen, fun game...bit of a hidden gem I wish people hyped it up more.

I'm only renting, figure I'll breeze through the campaign in a day or so, then jump to the Outer Worlds.

Pre-ordered Modern Warfare digitally so it would pre-load and I could play it all morning as i don't work until 5pm.
Went to Midnight launch so sandylea could pick up her physical copy....get home. 13.4gig update that is taking forever to install...

I thought i'd play campaign while it loaded...no that's online only also.
fml.

Grumble grumble, Outer Worlds shipped but not Modern Warfare, grumble grumble.

I got my copy of A Hat in Time in the mail today, super excited about that. My new plan is to hopefully finish up Luigi's Mansion 3 over the weekend, then jump into A Hat in Time before Pokemon Shield is released next Friday. At this point, I'm kinda hoping there isn't anything I want to get in December, just so I have time to play all the games from October/November that I haven't even touched yet.

Also, I feel like I post more in this section now, on this version of PW, then I ever did the fourteen(ish) years I spent on the old site.

I'm in a similar place, I'm slowly working through both DQXI and FE:TH but they'll have to go on the backburner for Shield. With Black Friday approaching, I'll definitely pick up a few more games there and I have Final Fantasy Tactics A2 coming sometime next week.

...

I think I have a problem.

RMA submitted with like two weeks left on my warranty. Let's see if the mothership can fix this stupid PS4. N64 never EVER failed me like this, for the record. This is the second time in as many generations that Sony's machine has ceapped the bed on me. Maybe time soon to phase over to Google Stadia?

NOT EVEN THE RIGHT FORUM, LET ALONE THREAD!

Nov 9, 2019 22:19:14 GMT @ness said:

NOT EVEN THE RIGHT FORUM, LET ALONE THREAD!

Where am I?

Only took 18 years, but I finally got this in my hands (now just to beat Fallen Order):

SPOILER: Click to show

At the rate I'm going, I'll have to wait 18 years to play it. Can't wait to get your impressions of the game, Mike. Curious to know whether it is just another chapter of Shenmue or if it embraces some modern ideas.

Still going to be a bit, thanks to my 3 weeks away, everything on my DVR is starting to delete, so I need to watch 2 episodes of everything, finish Star Wars...then Shenmue.

Just finished Death Stranding.

Hideo Kojima is the Vince Russo of video games.

I got a PSFOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!

I owned one up till 17 so it's not that big a deal, but I've been on hiatus for a bit. After I had to get rid of mine due to a move I've mostly just been focusing on the Switch library. Outside of Sword and Shield I've caught up so I made the plunge complete with populating the Gamefly queue. Last completed game was the Crash Trilogy, so I've got a few big ticket items to go through. GOW, Spider-Man, Mortal Kombat, Bubsy............

Hopefully it's not from the same factory that manufactured 🤯 's.

Nov 23, 2019 16:39:31 GMT @ness said:

I got a PSFOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!

I owned one up till 17 so it's not that big a deal, but I've been on hiatus for a bit. After I had to get rid of mine due to a move I've mostly just been focusing on the Switch library. Outside of Sword and Shield I've caught up so I made the plunge complete with populating the Gamefly queue. Last completed game was the Crash Trilogy, so I've got a few big ticket items to go through. GOW, Spider-Man, Mortal Kombat, Bubsy............

Hopefully it's not from the same factory that manufactured 🤯 's.

I just got mine back! Hopefully back in business!

Got my Christmas presents early to capitalize on pre-black Friday deals picked up: Bastion, Sekiro, Mega Man X Collection 1+2, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, and Salt and Sanctuary. Love the lot of 'em, so a good pick up.

Throwin in Nier and Ratchet and Clank collection on PS3, plus Psychonauts, Borderlands, Return to Akrham, and the Ezio Collection on Ps4.

Gamestop is in PHASE THREE.

Hope you fucks don't bother reserving anything with these vultures.

^^ Not sure how many people know about this, but apparently Qubic Games, are giving away ten free games (on the Nintendo Switch at least) over a ten day period. To be perfectly honest, I haven't played any of these games, but I can't argue with that non-existent price point. Apparently, you need one of their games already for this to work, coloring book is free, and not part of ten games they are giving away for free, so easy first download, and activates the chain you need for Robonauts (played it a but yesterday, seems like a decent game), and you can always delete them afterwards if you don't enjoy them.

Geki Yaba Runner, #RaceDieRun, REKT, and Mana Spark seem like they could be fun as well.

Actually, watch the video, it explains things a hell of a lot better then I did.

Had one of those shower thoughts about the passage of time and how that usually gets lost in console retrospectives. It's one thing to say a system had a six year life cycle, it's another to say the N64 had a 2249 day life cycle.

I've been playing around with dates and if I was to strictly play N64 games based on the amount of time gamers back then had to wait for each release from January 1st, I wouldn't be able to play Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 until the 27th of February 2026. I wouldn't be able to play Ocarina of Time until June 8th 2022. I would have to wait until April of 2020 until I could play something other than Mario 64, Pilotwings or Shogi.

I think it would be an interesting experiment and would be keen to see how it would contextualise certain titles. Especially as a PAL gamer since release dates were all over the place.

I was bored so I decided to do my Nintendo year in review. My top five Switch games, most played in 2019, are as followed...

#1. Pokemon Shield
#2. Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu
#3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
#4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
#5. Yoshi's Crafted World

Honestly, I find it surprising, to see Yoshi's Crafted World on there, as I didn't think I played it that much. The other four on the other hand, not so surprising at all. Actually considering I play Smash and Mario Kart online, as well as them being the games, my nephew plays when he visits, I figured they'd be higher.

@ness, Big Pete, System, Raven, how about you guys? What were your most played Switch games for last year?

Americans and Canadians only.

Well then.

I'd imagine mine would look like...

1. Pokemon Shield
2. Astral Chain
3. Splatoon 2
4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
5. Fire Emblem Three Houses

So oddly enough my entire Switch career took place (more or less) in 2019 since it says Nov 9th 18 was my start date. LMAO I only got 4 games in my top played, so there's that.

Fractured But Whole
Ocean Horn
Lego DC Villains
Yoshi's Crafted World

Only played 108 hrs in the whole year. Weird because guys like Rags do that in like a week.

First game was Odyssey. We need more of your guy's stats!

Jan 12, 2020 5:12:17 GMT Lony said:

I was bored so I decided to do my Nintendo year in review. My top five Switch games, most played in 2019, are as followed...

#1. Pokemon Shield
#2. Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu
#3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
#4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
#5. Yoshi's Crafted World

Honestly, I find it surprising, to see Yoshi's Crafted World on there, as I didn't think I played it that much. The other four on the other hand, not so surprising at all. Actually considering I play Smash and Mario Kart online, as well as them being the games, my nephew plays when he visits, I figured they'd be higher.

@ness, Big Pete, System, Raven, how about you guys? What were your most played Switch games for last year?

Not North American but I’d guess

1. No Thing
2. Splatoon 2
3. GRIS
4. Travis Strikes Back
5. Super Mario Oddysey

Oh well that sucks, didn't know it was just North America.

@ness, more stats?

Total time played: 187 hours (2019)
Most active days: March 30th, November 23rd, December 1st (with June being my most active month overall)
First Game Played: Pokkén Tournament DX (June 7th, 2018)

Let's see...

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - 135 Hours
Splatoon 2 - 135 Hours
Pokemon Shield - 60 Hours
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 35 Hours
Astral Chain - 25 Hours
NES - 20 Hours
Super Mario Odyssey - 15 Hours
Fire Emblem Three Houses - 10 Hours
Mario Tennis Aces - 5 Hours
Super Nintendo - 5 Hours
Wargroove - 5 Hours
Dragon Quest XI S - 4 Hours

Hollow Knight - 1 Hour

I bought the Switch around September 2017, with Splatoon 2 serving as my first game.

Fire Emblem, Wargroove, Dragon Quest XI and Hollow Knight are all on my backlog. I also want to play through the DLC of Xenoblade 2, Splatoon 2, SSB: U and Pokemon.

1. Pokemon Shield (69 hours)
2. Octopath Traveler (60 hours)
3. Hollow Knight (52 hours)
4. Stardew Valley (46 hours)
5. Into the Breach (34 hours)

Rest of my games were filled with indie games for the Switch. There's plenty of exclusives I need to check out like Fire Emblem and Astral Chain.