jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

How VHS Changed Film

This might seem like an odd topic for Cheerful Ghost but as we are all lovers of film the discussion seems useful. Cheerful Ghost has a booth at Portland Retro Game Expo each year and as a way to make a few bucks to help cover the booth cost and a stab at doing something a bit unusual we sell VHS tapes. I've been a light collector of VHS for the last couple years and selling tapes at the booth was a natural progression of that. All that said, I recently found a video that takes a second look at the home video format and VHS specifically. It's a great video and I think many of the points are spot on as some films really are better suited to be watched at home rather than in a theater. The video uses the example of Kevin Smith's Mallrats and Clerks and I totally agree.

Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker Demo Looks Pretty Darn Great!

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is an upcoming game for the Switch and 3DS that you can play a demo of right now on both systems. It launches on July 13th but we know quite a bit about it already and from what we know it looks like a great Wii U port. Digital Foundry reviews the new Switch and 3DS demo and compares them to the original Wii U version. Some good news is that the Switch version ups the resolution from 720p => 1080p a really nice improvement. The Digital Foundry video mentioned that the Wii U capped most games as 720p as I figured they'd be 1080p but it seems the Switch is a much more powerful system.

Nintendo keeps brining the amazing Wii U ports and in this instance they also are bringing it to the 3DS. It's cool to see the 3DS keep being supported and Nintendo is talking about a possible successor to it. I'm open to a new DS but as with most things Nintendo, it's a surprising rumor to hear as I figured they'd be focusing on a Switch only future.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/03/2018 at 03:06am

I'm hoping for more ports. At this point I want to eventually buy a Wii U but what I would prefer is not having the need to do so in order to play a handful of games.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 07/03/2018 at 04:12pm

When are you getting a switch, Jon?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/04/2018 at 10:32pm

Right so I think about this from time to time as I don’t have a switch yet but want one. Two scenarios where I’d pick one up. First is if they announce Mario Maker for this year. Second case is this Christmas.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/05/2018 at 03:55am

So most likely this year? Neat!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/05/2018 at 03:39pm

Yep. I think that's a very likely possibility. I'm still super happy with the games I have and the 3DS has turned out to be a great system. In fact I think I could keep going for another year on just 3DS games I have yet to buy and the new stuff Nintendo is brining to it. After I got the Mega Man legacy collection 1 on 3DS it basically made it THE way I play Mega Man 2. I still play it on the NES Classic too but it's a bit easier to pull out the 3DS whenever.

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Modern Mallard Kickstarter Mod Project Brings Duck Hunt To Modern LCD TV's

Back this on Kickstarter!

If you want to play Duck Hunt on a modern LCD TV the Modern Mallard Kickstarter might be the ticket. It requires you to mod your light gun & game cart for it to work and the base pledge is $129. It's a super incredible project but... I got a CRT TV for $10 and it works awesome with Duck Hunt. Still, if you want to HD all the things this is a really compelling option.

"Well, you can't play Duck Hunt anymore with your NES: it doesn't work on modern flat-screen TVs. You need an old, bulky tube (CRT) TV to play. The Zapper can't "see" modern TVs, and modern TVs have enough delay on their inputs to confuse the game. You're out of luck.

Until now.

Do you want to play your copy of Duck Hunt with your NES on a modern TV? Want to relive the fun of the game or share it with your own kids? You can with Modern Mallard!"

Is Pokemon Quest The New Free To Play Mobile Game You Were Looking For?

Pokemon Quest just launched on Android and iOS two days ago and i've been playing it a bit since it dropped. I'm going to say right at the top that Pokemon Quest is a good mobile game and it's free to play elements aren't too annoying. That said, the game is good but not great and it's not quite boring, but it's not that compelling either. You might as well call Pokemon Quest "Pokemon Rival Turf Wars" because the basic gameplay is you have 3 Pokemon in a group they walk around levels automagically and pick fights with other Pokemon until your Poke-gang kicks everyones ass. Your group has an overall power level and it's easy to tell if you have enough power to beat the current stage or not. As you beat levels you are awarded power stones that boost Pokemon attack and health as well as speed up their activated abilities. It's a fairly simple game in concept and execution and I think that's all to it's credit yet even with a fun voxel art style and original Gameboy sound effects the game is ... fine.

That said, I imagine Pokemon fans will enjoy this little jaunt in the Poke-verse and it should make a zillion bucks for Nintendo.

The New Binding of Isaac Four Souls Game Is A 4-Player Card Game On Kickstarter!

Back this on Kickstarter!

Edmund McMillen is one half of the old Team Meat that made Super Meat Boy and he's recently gone off to work with new teams on projects such as The Binding of Isaac Rebirth, The End is Nigh and now with his brand new Kickstarter project The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls. Four Souls is a neat looking group card game where funding it at $25 gets you the base game and upping your pledge gets you more. Not really sure from the video how the game plays but it looks like fun and if it's anything like the base game, it's difficult, dark and features lots of poop and tears. Which, you know, sounds awesome.

What Games Will You Keep Playing Forever?

As I race around the Internets I see interesting stuff and today I read a headline on Kotaku that I wanted to ask you all here. The article was just a question to the community about what games they'd be playing forever. I was thinking about those games for me and also was wondering what those games are for you? I have a bit of a non-subtle hint with this post. Yeah... i'm pretty sure i'll be playing Terraria off and on forever. I also think i'm going to keep playing retro games like Mario 2, 3, World, Link to the Past, Tetris, etc. But it's not all retro games as some newer games that I plan on revisiting are the Borderlands series, Hearthstone(as long as they keep the servers up and if past Blizzard games are a guide, a long time), StarCraft II & Roller Coaster Tycoon. I imagine there are a ton of other games on that list but that's what was top of mind.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/28/2018 at 03:55am

Terraria tops my list. Also most Mario games, the Fallouts, the Elder Scrollseseses, Actraiser, 90's id games. Hmm... probably Borderlands 2 but I can't say for sure yet.

Honestly, probably Minecraft, depending on how you stretch the definition. I barely even play it but I come back to it semi-often. I never do much with it but I come back to it.

When I first popped in I accidentally stopped the page loading before the header image loaded and my first thought was Terraria, like without even a second of hesitation, and without any prompting. I can't exactly say it's my favorite game but in terms of play-it-foreverness it easily and handily tops all others.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/28/2018 at 07:22am

Ark: Survival Evolved LOL Terraria, Minecraft. I'm not sure, but I'm still on the lookout for that latest one, whatever it is.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 06/28/2018 at 02:31pm

Pretty much anything Nintendo.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/28/2018 at 07:49pm

I may toss No Man’s Sky into my list. Not perfect by a long shot but it’s a great chill game.

And GTA V for the opposite reason, though GTA VI may change that if they ever decide to make it.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 06/30/2018 at 02:49am

I just finished up a play through of Earthbound again. I usually go through it once every other year, if not more often. :)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/05/2018 at 06:40pm

I think I've gotten to a point in life where games aren't very important to me. I think the last game I bought was No Man's Sky. My computer isn't going to be able to handle any new games. I think if I'm in a game mood, I'll probably always go back to FTL and Issac.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/06/2018 at 02:50am

> I think I've gotten to a point in life where games aren't very important to me.

Yeah, I think I understand that. Games are entertainment and there is so much out there to entertain. We're in the new golden age of TV where I'm not sure one person could watch all the good stuff. Drops movies in the mix and it's game over for time. For me games have to hit that sweet spot of just interesting enough but also be accessible. For many phone games hit that but not much else does because the barrier to entry is too high. I think Steam gets this which is why they want to put Steam everywhere but they have a bit of movement to go because the Switch could just come in and do that too. I guess that was a lot of blah, blah to say I hear that strongly. If your life changes to be busy, huge epic 2,000 hour games don't fit well into that. Tether that to a desk and it's less compelling.

> I think if I'm in a game mood, I'll probably always go back to FTL and Issac.

That's why I've limited my purchase of new games this year. So much awesome stuff in my library.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/06/2018 at 03:17am

> I think I've gotten to a point in life where games aren't very important to me.

For me games are very important, they're my primary source for entertainment. However, I do often get stuck on "what to play next" mode, which sucks. There's not much that I know of that I strongly want to play (except for the new Ark DLC, coming in November). I stopped my Amazon Prime membership and Netflix, so games are pretty much vital to my entertainment. Perhaps I should jump back on Netflix. But yeah, it really sucks being bored and not knowing what game to play next, as a serious gamer.

> I think if I'm in a game mood, I'll probably always go back to FTL and Issac.

Whenever I see you playing something on Steam it's FTL. I believe you're probably far better at it than I am. I feel like I suck at it, so I don't play it much, which is probably also why I suck at it.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/06/2018 at 03:21am

I don't think many people would say "No, I don't suck at FTL" :D

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/06/2018 at 03:48am

Lol, seriously, I still stuck at FTL :)

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Cheerful Ghost Memberships Are Live On Patreon!

Today we are very happy to launch Cheerful Ghost on Patreon! Patreon is a site for funding the things you love and we decided to use it to help you become a Member! Right now we have two funding levels on Patreon Supporter and Member. The premium Member level gets you a full Cheerful Ghost Membership (site title, comment colors & bling).

I encourage you to watch our Patreon pitch video, head over to the site and back us today! We consider this an important step in the future of the site and moving forward we plan on lots of new Member features that should be pretty fun. Plus, it's awesome to support the things you love and we really appreciate it!

https://www.patreon.com/cheerfulghost

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/25/2018 at 07:26pm

I'm the first Patreon!

Travis Admin wrote on 06/25/2018 at 08:58pm

You’re awesome Greg, thanks!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/25/2018 at 09:08pm

I just hope I'm not the only one. LOL I kind of don't like Patreon, because I don't really like paying monthly for stuff. But, CheerfulGhost is cheap. I figured I can spare $5 a month. I like this site and want to help support it and keep it going.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/25/2018 at 11:13pm

Thanks Greg. So you'd prefer to pay yearly then?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/25/2018 at 11:51pm

Well I don't really have a problem with $5/month. There have been other things I wanted to do on Patreon, but they get expensive. I felt overwhelmed w/ how many companies want your monthly dollars. But, as I said, I don't have a problem with giving $5/month to Cheerful Ghost. Yearly was cheaper ($50/year vs $60), but it's ok.

What's w/ the comment colors bonus? I don't know how to do that.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 06/26/2018 at 01:14am

Shut up and take my money!

Travis Admin wrote on 06/26/2018 at 01:54am

Greg, you already have the comment color bonus. Look at the badge and the yellowish bar on the left

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/26/2018 at 02:06am

oic

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/26/2018 at 02:43am

> There have been other things I wanted to do on Patreon, but they get expensive. I felt overwhelmed w/ how many companies want your monthly dollars.

Totally, I think you should make sure you have that balance right. Now that it's easy to self fund, lots of companies do it so you have to select the most important stuff.

> Yearly was cheaper ($50/year vs $60), but it's ok.

It was and I think I might bring that back. Patreon is the more popular support option right now so we decided to move to that for our first phase. The reason why we're not using the old system is because the amount of work it took to support Amazon Payments with all the changes they made over time just didn't seem worth it to me. So for people that like the monthly support option, Patreon is a great choice and i'm thinking about how to do a yearly Membership for people that want that. Since it would be all at once it should be cheaper too.

I'd also like to get a one time donation option too so people can just choose to give us $5 if they want.

Again, all stuff we had before Amazon changed it's whole payments system.

We're still trying to get everything right so drop any other comments you had our way!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/26/2018 at 02:46am

> Shut up and take my money!

SUCCESS!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/30/2018 at 04:21am

Looks like a couple of peeps in this post need to join up (Jon & Travis)! LOL I'm sure Will_Ball would join me in convincing you this is a good deal. :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/30/2018 at 04:45am

> Looks like a couple of peeps in this post need to join up (Jon & Travis)!

Heh. I pay the site hosting + everything else and Travis covers the Podcast hosting bill. The Patreon is trying to defray that a bit, so if I funded it i'd basically just be redirecting my money back to CG with some fees deducted.

As I said earlier, I didn't expect to get a flood of people but it's setting the ground work for funding so I can focus on the next set of things we are doing. Which is pretty cool and a bit secret... for now

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/30/2018 at 05:39am

Nice, yeah I didn't really think of all of the costs and who pays for what.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/30/2018 at 02:30pm

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/02/2018 at 08:56pm

Secret = Terraria server LOL

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/02/2018 at 11:45pm

Mmmmmm. No but it's sort of in that spirit.

Sort of.

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Summer Games Done Quick Is Here!

Summer Games Done Quick 2018 is starting up today @ 9.30am with a 30 minute pre-show and rolling right into Banjo-Tootie. Sunday is a great first day with WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, Majora's Mask 3D & Doom 2016! I urge you to check out the schedule linked below, watch a few streams and donate to Doctors without Borders!

https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule
https://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick

E3 2018 Metal Jesus Edition

We covered quite a lot of E3 2018 discussion this year and with all of it I wasn't sure there was much more to learn. Metal Jesus was at this years E3 and he recorded a lot of it showcasing another side of E3 we didn't hear much about. Jesus and Kinsey first hit up a retro Japanese import store then head over to E3 to spend time with vendors selling retro gear such as RetreoN. I didn't know RetreoN was selling a new Atari remake and Jesus got a review unit so when he posts his review i'll share it. Jesus also hits up the Sony booth and it seems like he really likes the new Spider-Man game(not too surprising).

If you are finding more wrap up E3 videos or posts that you think are worth sharing, drop them in the comments.

Skyward Sword Came Out 7 Years Ago? Check Out This New Retrospective.

The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword is an artistically beautiful Wii game with an interesting history. Wii owners were lucky enough to get two Zelda titles on the system with Twilight Princess and the follow up, Skyward Sword. One could argue that there wouldn't have been a Breath of the Wild if Skyward Sword hadn't received certain negative attention but sometimes you need to experience a low before you can get to better place. Or at least, the perception of it not being a great game exists in gaming paradoxically along side the Metacritic scores for Skyward Sword being really high. Still it's not a Zelda game i've played before and I do plan on picking it up to play at some point and found this recent AwesomeFaceProd YouTube retrospective on Skyward Sword to be really interesting.

If you've played Skyward Sword i'd love for your opinion of it.

jdodson1

2755 Posts

How VHS Changed Film

Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker Demo Looks Pretty Darn Great!

Modern Mallard Kickstarter Mod Project Brings Duck Hunt To Modern LCD TV's

Is Pokemon Quest The New Free To Play Mobile Game You Were Looking For?

The New Binding of Isaac Four Souls Game Is A 4-Player Card Game On Kickstarter!

What Games Will You Keep Playing Forever?

Cheerful Ghost Memberships Are Live On Patreon!

Summer Games Done Quick Is Here!

E3 2018 Metal Jesus Edition

Skyward Sword Came Out 7 Years Ago? Check Out This New Retrospective.