In an unsurprising move Nintendo seems to be silently discontinuing the 3DS. This makes a lot of sense as the 3DS isn't selling as much as it once was and Nintendo can now focus entirely on Switch and other new hardware production such as the new Game and Watch. Nintendo has historically been at the top of mobile gaming starting with the original Gameboy and continued that dominance with the DS, 3DS and Switch. I picked up the 3DS late in it's life-cycle and was able to get a lot of incredible DS games and 3DS games as Nintendo started focusing more on the Switch. In fact, if you wanted to start collecting for the DS and 3DS now is a great time as many stores will start to mark down stock.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/17/21441096/nintendo-3ds-production-discontinued-total-sales

A week ago I discovered YouTuber MtPain27 who has recently published a new YouTube series of videos that looks back at classic Doom megawads and reviews them on some fun criteria. Most YouTubers focus on Doom or Doom II and the main wads and there hasn't been someone that has gone deep on the community megawads.

MtPain started things out reviewing The Plutonia Experiment and recently TNT Evilution which are the two megawads featured in the Final Doom release by iD Software created by community wad teams. On a fun side note if you want to play these they are available as free downloads in the recent Doom Unity remasters.

So far MtPain has reviewed the original 1993 3 Doom campaigns, Final Doom, Alien Vendetta, Vanguard and Eviternity. I'm quite impressed with the clip that these reviews come out and hope it's a series that lasts quite a long time. I'm currently playing my way through Doom II and am excited to focus on a newer megawad and I have my eye set to play Eviternity soon!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrYr2EMXw976tEpLxHhr1Rg

Right now in Oregon the state wildfires are destroying so much forest the air is hazardous and when you look outside it reminds me of the worse scenes from an apocalypse film where we've lost control of our environment. Needless to say it's pretty bleak here so I wanted to share something a bit more upbeat in a recent Gearbox Digital Showcase from PAX Online. As time marches ever onward Gearbox is positioning itself as more of a top tier video game company and is expanding heavily into game publishing and during this Showcase it's on full display.

Some highlights of the Digital Showcase were a table read by the voice talent from the recent Borderlands 3 DLC Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck. It's a very fun read and a few times I laughed at the jokes. There are some upcoming base updates to Borderlands 3 and one such update is an added skill tree per class. Gearbox has said that they don't plan to add any new classes so theses skill trees seem like a good way to extend you ability to play the base game.

I was wondering what everyone who has played Borderlands 3 thinks of the game now that the major kinks have been worked out? How does it stack compared to the old games?

Recently I completed the original 1993 Doom campaigns Knee Deep in the Dead, The Shoes of Hell & Inferno. My recent dive back into the original Doom and subsequent focus is still going strong and one fun part of that is that I've tried out many of the major Doom source ports. If you want to dive back in to Doom it might not be obvious the best way to play so I hope this post helps that.

I'm going to order the Doom ports top to bottom as a sort of recommendation system where the top most, I recommend most.

The Official Doom Unity Port

iD Software worked with Nerve to create these modern Doom ports built on the Unity Framework. Whereas originally these ports weren't the highest quality Nerve and iD have continued to add features such as 16x9 widescreen, add on support, local multiplayer and more to make one of the best Doom source ports around. If you are looking for an easy way to jump in and try Doom and Doom II the official ports are the most accessible way to play on Switch, PS4, XBox One, Android, iOS and PC.

On PC you can buy these on the Bethesda.net launcher or Steam by way of purchasing "The Ultimate DOOM" or "DOOM II: Hell on Earth."

iD includes all the Final Doom, Ultimate Doom and extra WAD's they've historically sold separately making these versions a great deal with a ton of extra content.

https://doom.fandom.com/wiki/Doom:_Unity_Edition

Crispy Doom

Chocolate Doom is a source port that aims to be the most compatible with the original DOS Doom while running on modern systems. It's a great community effort and many speedrunners and classic Doom players use this version exclusively. With that, it doesn't have a lot of modern features many updated source ports do which is why I play Crispy Doom. Crispy Doom uses the Chocolate Doom base and adds extra features such as increased resolution a full 16x9 native aspect ration and support for increased lighting effects as well as modern Doom wads such as Sigil.

If the new Doom Unity ports aren't for you, Crispy Doom is a great alternative and frankly it feels like iD Software is trying to achieve feature parity with Crispy Doom in it's official Unity Ports.

I recommend you configure Crispy Doom to WASD keyboard movement and select always run. I also bump up mouse sensitivity in game so I can get quicker turns.

http://latest.chocolate-doom.org/

Zandronum Is The Best Way To Play Doom Multiplayer

Doom has an very large and vibrant community and many of them still play online. Zandronum is a GZDoom port that adds in enhanced multiplayer support and rolls in Doomseeker to make a really streamlined multiplayer experience. One awesome benefit of using Doomzeeker is that it automagically downloads all the WAD's you need to play on any server you want. This is nice because before you had to have each WAD and the correct version in place but Doomseeker makes the whole process simple.

Zandronum is built on GZDoom and as such adds a lot of modern features such as player jumping, increased speed and the ability to run incredible Doom mods such as Brutal Doom.

If you notice Zandronum blurs the Doom pixels graphics one way to return you to the chunky pixels is in Display Options you set Texture Filter Mode to None.

https://zandronum.com/

GZDoom The One Port To Rule Them All

"ZDoom is a family of enhanced ports of the Doom engine for running on modern operating systems. It runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X, and adds new features not found in the games as originally published by id Software. "

ZDoom/GZDoom is one of the most important Doom ports as it adds so many new features to Doom. These features enable the Doom mod community to do some amazing work that would not have been possible otherwise such as free look, jumping, crouching, swimming, portals, crosshairs, high resolutions, 8 player multiplayer and a ton more.

If you notice GZDoom blurs the Doom pixels graphics one way to return you to the chunky pixels is in Display Options you set Texture Filter Mode to None.

https://zdoom.org/about

I also want to highligh GregoPeck's Doom Source Port write-up. He focuses on Chocolate Doom & GZDoom as well as some of the WAD's included in Master Levels for Doom.

https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4401/getting-the-doom-complete-collection-to-run-on-windows-10

The Simpsons Arcade Game by LRock617 in 20:33 One thing that makes LRock617 absolutely demolish The Simpsons Arcade game is the Japanese version adds more brooms making it possible to do some very powerful jump attacks. That said, LRock's skill is genuine and it's The Simpsons Arcade game so why not watch it?

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link by EnchantressOfNumbers in 50:59 I've played Zelda II a handful of times but was always stopped by it's difficulty. I enjoy watching Zelda II runs because they make the game seem easy something I know in bones is not true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0H5Pnp7K7Q

TiagoSC on the NES Dev forums brought an early version of Sonic to Super Nintendo. Some have said Sega does what Nintendon't but apparently it's more like NintenDOES! Digital Foundry has a great break down video of it and some of the tradeoffs TiagoSC made. The SNES version is cut down visually a bit but I appreciate the SNES soundchip for Sonic a bit more than the original.

http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=20638

iD Software is continuing to improve the official Doom & Doom II Unity ports with a fresh new patch that brings the game out of the 4x3 aspect ratio and in to a full 16x9 widescreen experience. You can also play the new ports on Steam so if you own The Ultimate Doom or Doom II on Steam you will get the new versions as an automatic update.

These ports don't support mouse aim or jump as some modern source ports do but since the original Doom and Doom II didn't allow that these ports are becoming one of the best ways to play Doom and Doom II in a very authentic way.

https://slayersclub.bethesda.net/en/article/Cfuf9wL5enNxkx90hfJ21/doom-and-doom-ii-update-september-3

Nintendo let loose a new Direct that celebrates the 35th Anniversary of Mario with a whole lot of games to keep us busy for the next 35 years. I'm not going to cover everything but I'll point to the highlights.

New Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch

Nintendo is releasing a new Game & Watch handheld where you can play the original Super Mario Bros. + Lost Levels and a bit more. The Game & Watch will be released November 13th and they haven't mentioned a price yet or provided the ability to pre-order. This is Nintendo really focusing on collector bait and I think i'll take the hook. A handheld that plays two games? Sure, why not.

https://gameandwatch.nintendo.com/

I wonder if this will be a sort of test for a possible Gameboy Classic release?

Super Mario 3D All Stars is Coming For A Little While

"Play three classic games at home or on the go—all in one package on the Nintendo Switch system! Jump into paintings in Super Mario 64, clean up paint-like goop in Super Mario Sunshine, and fly from planet to planet in Super Mario Galaxy."

I'm extremely interested in picking up these three classic games on Switch and as soon as I could pre-order it I did. That said it looks like the ability to buy it will be time limited both physically and digitally. I'm not sure this is a huge deal, but some have noted that this creates a more hyped launch and forced scarcity. Which seems like the point entirely which I'm not entirely sure I mind. What do you think?

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/super-mario-3d-all-stars-switch/

Super Mario 3D World + Bowsers Fury Drops Feb of 2021

This might make one of the most anticipated Wii U ports coming to Switch that will finally launch February of 2021. It would have been great to just get the port on Switch BUT Nintendo decided to add another, what looks like add-on called Bowsers Fury. I'm not sure if this game is after the main campaign or happens as part of it? Regardless I'm going to get this the day it comes out.

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/super-mario-3d-world-plus-bowsers-fury-switch/

Mario All Stars Comes to Super Nintendo Online

I have Mario All Stars on the Super Nintendo and bringing this to the Super Nintendo Online is a huge win for folks that want to play this on Switch. It should have come to the Super Nintendo Classic but this will do.

What interested you in this direct? Are you getting all the Mario things or are you a bit plumbered out for now?

In a recent Nintendo Direct Mini we got word that Square will be releasing the original Gameboy Final Fantasy Legend Saga on Switch this December 15th. The verdict seems mixed on the first Final Fantasy Legend but the series seems to be more loved from the second game to the third. With that, the Final Fantasy Legend series was one I missed originally and this December seems like a great time to jump in to the original Gameboy trilogy on Switch. According to Time to Beat the original Final Fantasy Legend takes about 10 hours, Final Fantasy Legend II is 15 and III is 14 so they aren't very long all told.

It seems to only be getting a digital release at the moment but even so I was wondering who might be picking this up come December?

I know what you are thinking right now. "Hey Jon can you share a 23 minute video about the origin of the sound effects in Doom?" Sure Internet friend I can do that and while you are flexing your finger ready to tap play on the video I encourage you to check all the other Doom content I've posted recently as well.