Awesome Games Done Quick wrapped this year breaking it's all time high for money raised in a single event to 2.2 million dollars for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. GDQ over time has become a twice yearly staple where I try and glue myself to the stream all week to soak in the amazing runs. It's actually something that my partner and I watch together and as a non gamer she actually finds many of the runs fun to watch. I find that the best runs to watch are games i've played before but occasionally there is a particularly amazing run of something i've never heard of.

Since GDQ's speedruns go day and night for an entire week I don't have the ability to watch them all. GDQ dropped all the runs on YouTube and I added the ones I missed to my watch later queue. I have certain runs I want to talk about today and then i'll drop about five or six posts over the upcoming months talking about everything else. There are way too many great runs for one post so piecing them out over a month or so makes the most sense.

The Legend of Zelda by JSR2gamers, BT and RandomEffekt in 37:43 The first run embedded above is the Legend of Zelda race I got up for on Saturday to watch at 5am. If you love Legend of Zelda this is a must watch and honestly one of the coolest runs of GDQ. It might have also been that I had a ton of strong coffee so I definitely had a pretty epic coffee buzz going but it's also just a kick ass run featuring some of the best Zelda runners around.

Diablo by Funkmastermp in 34:17 Stay awhile and watch this Diablo run where Funkmastermp tears up the game in 34 minutes! It's a well done run but I had a hard time understanding what was going on all the time. Since Speed Runners run the game a lot there are many inside jokes and sarcastic one liners I don't always get making it hard to understand what's happening with a run. That said, it's a great run but at times I had to mute the commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xh3Y60DM2E&list=WL&index=91

Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition by KowalLazy in 24:31 I didn't know you could beat a Baldur's in under and hour but KowalLazy does it in less than 30 minutes! The Baldur's series is something I missed the first time around but I really appreciate the games and how they impacted RPG gaming. This run is of the enhanced version of Baldur's 2 and it's very well done in how KowalLazy explains the techniques he uses to run the game in the fastest way possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBcHJPZDicU&list=WL&index=92

Super Dram World 2 by grandPOObear in 49:34 If you're going to only watch one run, check out the Zelda speed race embedded at the top of the post. If you're gonna watch another one you need to watch Grandpoobear play Super Dram World 2. Dram World 2 is the sequel to Dram World which is a Super Mario World community ROM game that is extremely, extremely difficult. Grandpoobear currently holds the world record for speedrunning Dram World 2 and he completes the whole game in an impressive 49 minutes. But enough of reading, seriously just click the link below and treat yourself to the run, it's really that good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOFSMg5UjzM&list=WL&index=72

Batman: The Video Game by dxtr and EndySWE in 10:18 Wrapping things up with this super solid NES Batman race by dxtr and EndySWE. NES Batman was even positively reviewed by the Angry Video Game nerd but rightfully declared "a hard son of a bitch" but EndySWE and dxtr make it look easy. And clocking in at 10 minutes it's a short run well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMWizKtkJ14&list=WL&index=94

https://gamesdonequick.com/

Nintendo announced Nintendo Labo today which looks to be a game that merges hobbyist DiY crafting and the Nintendo Switch. It's a really interesting concept and the trailer shows off some of the fun things you can do with Labo. Many people are jumping into the maker communities creating mini computers that do certain tasks and it seems like Labo is on the edge of that with some of the silly peripherals of the Wii era. Want to make a remote controlled device with your joy-cons that uses the rumble to move? Check. Want to build a cardboard fishing pole to catch something? Check. Want to build a full robot suit to fight other robots? Check.

I could see Labo going pretty big with kids and parents that want to have some family crafting and gaming time together. I could see myself getting this when my son is older and I think we'd have quite a bit of fun with it. Then again, if many on Twitter are to be believed, this is just another failure of Nintendo recently(which is an odd claim considering Nintendo is doing very well at the moment). As I was reading the fan response to Labo on Twitter I really appreciated what @MikeDrucker had to say

"NINTENDO: Nintendo Labo is for kids and those that like kid stuff!
ADULT GAMER: Okay, but what if I don't want it?
NINTENDO: Totally fine. It's for kids.
ADULT GAMER: Yes, but cardboard? Really? Not in my game room!
NINTENDO: It's for kids.
ADULT GAMER: But how is it for me?"

https://twitter.com/MikeDrucker/status/953755810391384065

Yeah maybe Nintendo Labo isn't for everyone but it still looks like fun and isn't like anything Sony or Microsoft is doing at all.

Nintendo is continuing to support the 3DS by adding 3 games to the Nintendo Selects program. Nintendo Selects is cool system where Nintendo takes the most popular games and re-releases them in a new selects package for $20. The new games coming to selects are Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Ultimate NES Remix. These are all really highly rated games and if you wanted to add a couple games to your 3DS library sticking to the existing selects releases and these new ones isn't a bad way to go.

Nintendo Selects is a program for the 3DS and Wii U and hopefully over time becomes something Nintendo brings to the Switch!

https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/three-classic-nintendo-3ds-games-are-now-only-19-99-each

If you've ever had a dream to make a game that runs on the original Nintendo Entertainment System there is a new project on Kickstarter you need to check out! NESmaker looks to streamline the process of creating new Nintendo games by providing useful software tools to allow you to make NES games easier. NESmaker was born out of a project a couple friends had to make an NES game from scratch and grew into this Kickstarter project. Even if you're not interested in making NES games the Kickstarter video is worth watching featuring a fun 80's premise.

"NESmaker is a software tool for creating brand new, hardware playable, cartridge based games for the Nintendo Entertainment System...without having to write a single line of code.

A few years ago, while developing our NES game engine in the archaic 6502 Assembly language, our team (made up of mostly non-programmers) realized that we needed a much more efficient method for rapid prototyping and testing. Instead of digging into the assembly every time we needed to make changes, we conceptualized wysiwyg tools for common tasks that would output, reorganize, and manipulate the underlying code; developing screens, building animations, altering AI...things like that. We recruited Josh Fallon, tool developer extraordinaire, to help realize these tools."

NESmaker has been fully funded but if you want to try this out at launch $36 will get you the NESmaker software package and $88 gets you the software + NES flash cart you can try your prototype games on.

DF Retro is on the scene with a brand new video that runs benchmarks against PC's before and after the recent Sprectre & Meltdown CPU vulnerability patches. If your not familiar with the recent bugs effecting nearly every computer, I found some great PC World articles that explain the situation pretty well.

"A pair of nasty CPU flaws exposed this week have serious ramifications for home computer users. Meltdown and Spectre let attackers access protected information in your PC’s kernel memory, potentially revealing sensitive details like passwords, cryptographic keys, personal photos and email, or anything else you’ve used on your computer. These are serious flaws. Fortunately, CPU and operating system vendors pushed out patches fast, and you can protect your PC from Meltdown and Spectre to some degree."

Looks like Microsoft & Apple have released patches for computers and phones but you will need to apply firmware updates for your motherboard and CPU. With all of that said, it looks like that many games aren't negatively impacted by the security patches. It seems the biggest performance hits are to virtual machines or cloud computing but since none of that matters for games running on our computers that are single player much of gaming looks to be fine. The hit to cloud computing looks pretty incredible though the end run being that either virtualization needs to be optimized or people might need to run more hardware to cover current workloads.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3245810/security/how-to-protect-your-pc-meltdown-spectre-cpu-flaws.html
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3245606/security/intel-x86-cpu-kernel-bug-faq-how-it-affects-pc-mac.html

Gizmodo is reporting from CES that Hyperkin is showing off prototype for an upcoming Gameboy it will be releasing. From the article:

"The Ultra Game Boy’s housing is made from aluminum, which has a wonderful heft when you pick it up. Your original Game Boy is probably covered in knicks and scratches, but it will take a lot of abuse for Hyperkin’s remake to start showing wear and tear. The Ultra Game Boy carries over the original’s volume and contrast dials, but the final version will include a third dial allowing you to adjust the portable console’s new backlit LCD display through the entire RGB spectrum. That backlight can also be turned off, if you want a truly authentic, squinty, Game Boy experience.

New features for the Ultra Game Boy will include a built-in six-hour battery, a USB-C port for charging, as well as a pair of stereo speakers, and left and right audio-out connections. Why the improvements to the Game Boy’s sound system when all of its classic games only generate mono sound? Aside from appealing to retro gamers, Hyperkin’s Ultra Game Boy is also being customized for chiptune musicians who use the classic console to create modern electronic tunes. Yes, it’s a thing, and a very popular thing."

There is a pretty large market for new hardware for people that love playing on their original game carts. I own a Retron 3 and it's a great way to play NES, SNES & Genesis games on one system. With a price point at under a hundred dollars this might be a must have for Gameboy lovers. Since Hyperkin can get the price under a hundred bucks and make it as nice as it is I wonder if we might be getting a Gameboy classic series from Nintendo at some point? I bet if Nintendo did that they'd be as popular as the other Nintendo Classics if not moreso.

Head over to Gizmodo for the whole article and more pictures of the new Hyperkin Gameboy.

https://gizmodo.com/game-boy-is-coming-back-thanks-to-hyperkin-1821898716

I expect that 2018 will be a great year in gaming but how great will it be? I reached out to people in the Cheerful Ghost community to look into the future to see what awesome stuff might be coming this year. At the end of the year we can come back to this and see how well we did and use creative readings to make us all look way smarter than we actually are!

If you have any other predictions drop them in the comments!

Nintendo Releases Virtual Console for Switch

Will Ball: One person can dream, right? Nintendo will finally release a virtual console for the Switch. It will cover the NES, SNES, all gameboys, N64 and GameCube. This will keep the Switch as the number one console throughout 2018.

Nintendo 64 Classic

jdodson: Nintendo will announce the new Nintendo 64 classic and launch it in September of 2018. It will be $100 and come with two controllers and a solid lineup of Nintendo 64 games. The system won’t be seen as better than the Super Nintendo Classic because the lineup won’t be perceived as quite as strong because of licensing issues(Rare) and some games won’t hold up to people’s memory of them. I’m excited for this and will get it but I think we hit “peak Nintendo classic” with the Super Nintendo Classic and it will be hard to top it.

Final Fantasy VII

Travis: We will finally get some news about that long-awaited Final Fantasy VII remake that was announced a few years back. It may or may not release in 2018 but whenever it does release it will be a solid game, but many fans of the original will be unsatisfied because of the lack of traditional turn-based battles and other changes.

More AAA Games for VR

Will Ball: More AAA Games will be released for VR. Following the footsteps of Skyrim, Doom and Fallout, we will see more ports of AAA games for all the VR headsets. There will also be an MMO game released for at least one of the VR headsets

Games of Three, Let Them Be!

Travis: Valve will learn to count to three and we’ll get news of either Half-Life 3 (unlikely), Portal 3, Team Fortress 3, CounterStrike 3, Left 4 Dead 3, or DotA 3.

Even More VR!

AdamPFarnsworth: VR will continue to become more and more valuable in architecture and engineering design and presentation to clients.

Noodle DLC is The New Horse Armor

Timogorgon: Square-Enix will continue their advertising program with Cup Noodles. They'll eventually move beyond product placement and roll out an entirely Noodle based DLC for one of their games.

JJ’s cut of The Last Jedi is Released

Will Ball: What would a Cheerful Ghost article be without some Star Wars? After the fan backlash of The Last Jedi, and JJ’s carefully laid plans being ripped apart, Lucasfilm will release a JJ Abrams’ cut of The Last Jedi. This will set up Episode 9 so it can be true to JJ’s vision. It will also make The Last Jedi the highest grossing movie ever.

Let's Think About Loot Boxes

Travis: While we certainly haven’t seen the end of loot boxes, the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 outcry will make EA rethink their purpose a bit and others will hopefully follow suit, making pay-to-win hard to find in a game you have to pay for up front.

When the Super Nintendo Classic released last year one game people thought was missing was Square's classic RPG Chrono Trigger. I agree with that thought but the SNES Classic's inclusion of Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI, Earthbound and Super Mario RPG really give the SNES Classic the best of breed RPG's of that generation. All that said, Chrono Trigger is one of those games I missed playing as it came out later in the Super Nintendo's lifecycle. I put it on my list of games to play in 2018 and recently started it and I'm going to write about how that's going from time to time until I beat it.

"A chance encounter amid the festivities of Guardia's Millennial Fair in Leene Square introduces our young hero, Crono, to a girl by the name of Marle.

Deciding to explore the fair together, the two soon find themselves at an exhibition of the Telepod, the latest invention by Crono's longtime friend Lucca."

After only a couple hours playing Chrono Trigger I understand why this game is one of the most beloved RPG games of the Super Nintendo Era. Released after Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger is a game made at the height of "Square in peak RPG creation mode." The game feels like it's a mashup of the best parts of Secret of Mana and the Final Fantasy series that goes an entirely new direction with a fresh world and characters. Chrono Trigger keeps the top down overworld of Final Fantasy VI but goes a bit of a different direction graphically as it's not in the Super Nintendo's mode 7. Chrono Trigger borrows some fighting elements from Secret of Mana but pulls it together in the same turn based battle system from Final Fantasy.

The music from Chrono Trigger was co-written by Nobuo Uematsu who worked on the music for Final Fantasy VI. Just like most other aspects of Chrono Trigger the music feels like a best of breed 16-bit square game but also goes it's own direction as to not be mimicry. In fact i'd say the music really tips the game into something very special and I can see why fans find it so compelling.

So far i've been taking my time moving through the game and talking to people in the world while exploring as much of it I can before moving on. I'm also spending a bit more time level and gold grinding for fun and to be prepared for boss and dungeon encounters. So far it feels like i'm in the intro to the game so nothing is terribly difficult but i'm feeling out the game systems, learning what tech combos to use and the general flow of the battle system.

One cool part about playing Chrono Trigger for the first time in 2018 is that i've never played it before so I am playing it entirely fresh, something I wish I could do with other games like Secret of Mana or Link to the Past. The game holds up very well and at no point during my playthrough so far did the game feel antiquated or boring. In fact, I really understand why people rank this game so high and i'm glad I decided to pick this up when I did. Since Super Nintendo carts of Chrono Trigger sell upwards of $150 I decided to pickup the DS version and i'm playing that on my 3DS. It's a good version that pulls in a newer translation than the SNES version with some extra content but keeps the graphics and music of the original SNES version.

Games Done Quick is a twice yearly charity speedrun that started today and is running 24/7 all week raising money for The Prevent Cancer Foundation. You can watch the event stream linked above all day and night until January 14th!

I watch this event every year and donate because it's so much fun to watch and the charities are well worth supporting. I think we've all known someone with cancer and chipping in a couple bucks can help.

"The Prevent Cancer Foundation is one of the nation’s leading voluntary health organizations and the only U.S. nonprofit focused solely on cancer prevention and early detection. Founded in 1985, it has catapulted cancer prevention to prominence and fulfills its mission through research, education, outreach and advocacy across the country."

https://gamesdonequick.com/tracker/donate/22

The illustrious Metal Jesus has a new video out where he shows off his Nintendo 64 hardware mod that adds HDMI. It's a pretty extensive mod that hacks into the graphic chip of the system and gives it a very clean HD output to modern televisions. Jesus does some side by sides with the composite video and the graphics output looks incredible. Much like many old system HDMI mods this seems to really crisp up those games but with a price tag of $400 I wonder if it's worth it the cost? If you love the Nintendo 64 and play yours a lot it's well worth considering but this price eclipses the cost of a modern console.