Games Done Quick Express is a new charity speedrun from the Games Done Quick community that drops Friday October 26th and runs all weekend during Twitchcon! The charity it benefits is the TwitchCon Charity plaza which supports The Able Gamers Charity, American Center for Suicide Prevention, The Call of Duty Endowment, Direct Relief, Doctors Without Borders, Extra Life, Make a Wish, Save The Children, Saint Judes Hospital & To Write Love on Her Arms. If you are interested in watching some kick ass speedruns for classic games such as Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!, Ocarina of Time 3D, Diablo 2 and some amazing new ones such as Mario Odyssey then tune in to the GDQ Express this weekend on Twitch!

Each year I watch GDQ religiously and am really excited for this event as it looks like a more bite sized dose of Games Done Quick as it's only 3 days instead of a full week. Make sure to check out the stream when it starts on Friday and the schedule and consider making a donation!

https://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick
Schedule: https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule/24
Charity Information: https://twitchcon.tiltify.com/

Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in Japan in 1988 and later came to the United States a year later making it widely regarded as one of the most influential Mario and platform games. Back in the early 90's I played a ton of Super Mario Bros. 3 and loved it so much I constantly read the Nintendo Players Guide to the point of destroying the magazine binding requiring me to fix it with some packing tape. I still have my Nintendo Players Guide and was happy to see it largely recreated in the recent "Playing with Power" NES Classic guide.

A lot has been said about Super Mario Bros. 3 and I think a good way of shining a light on this classic game is through a recent series of interviews Nintendo did with the original developers of the game during the launch of the NES Classic. If you haven't played Super Mario Bros. 3 and have the inclination to i'd recommend picking up a NES Classic as it's one of the best ways to relive it.

"Super Mario Bros. 3 came out in 1988, three years after Super Mario Bros. How did that come about?

Miyamoto: The game before that, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, had been Tezuka-san's directorial debut. That went well, so we decided to make a completely new game.

Tezuka-san, did you feel pressure as the director of Super Mario Bros. 3? After all, the original Super Mario Bros. was an incredible hit.

Tezuka: I didn't feel pressure from the original game so much as I felt like I needed to do a good job. But it wouldn't come together well and dragged on.

Miyamoto: And Nakago-san got angry. (laughs)

Tezuka: Yeah, he definitely got angry. (laughs)

What wouldn't come together?

Tezuka: At first, we were making it with a bird's-eye view rather than a side view.

The view was looking down diagonally from overhead rather than directly from the side as in Super Mario Bros.

Tezuka: Yes. But we couldn't do it well.

Miyamoto: He said he wanted to look from a little above. But in Super Mario Bros. it is important whether Mario's feet hit the ground or not, even barely. With a diagonal view from slightly overhead, you lost your sense of distance to the ground. So I told him that development would be difficult.

Tezuka: Yeah, it was. (laughs wryly) So partway through development, we switched to a side viewpoint, but there are relics of the bird's-eye view in the final product.

Miyamoto: Yeah.

For example, the black-and-white checkered floor.

Tezuka: Yeah.

Tezuka-san, what was your original idea for making Super Mario Bros. 3?

Tezuka: We made Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels by changing the original game's difficulty and stage design, but we couldn't do that again, so I wanted to change everything, including its general appearance."

If you want to read the rest of the interview and I recommend you do, head over to the Nintendo website!

https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/super-mario-bros-and-super-mario-bros-3-developer-interview

Travis let me know about an idle clicker game I haven't heard of before called Egg, Inc. and since I like clicker games I decided to give it a shot. As with many clicker / idle games Egg, Inc. has you amassing a ton of eggs to sell on your egg farm and it starts out fairly simply. You have a modest egg farm making a few thousand to where I am now with a farm making Septillions of dollars. One huge upside to playing Egg, Inc. is that you learn what the names of high number counts are which is kind of a neat thing to know. One other cool aspect of Egg, Inc. is that it will draw you back to play each second of your life away until you are a soulless husk that only wants to see more and more chickens create ever more eggs to sell to finally make it to that next egg stage to only see yourself prestige (start over with bonuses) and do it all over again.

Egg, Inc. is a fun game which is wildly addictive and extremely charming. Which makes it kinda the best part of these kind of phone games but it's already wearing on me a bit making me wonder how much more time I’ll spend playing it?

Only the chicken lords know for sure but until they let me know you can play Egg, Inc. on and Android or iOS device right now for free.

Thank you to everyone that stopped by to visit the Cheerful Ghost Booth or played in one of our game tournaments. The Portland Retro Game Expo is my favorite convention and everyone who comes out makes it awesome. I also want to thank Adam Farnsworth for working the booth with me this weekend!

The Winners of This Years Cheerful Ghost Tournaments!

Super Mario Bros. on NES Speed run to Bowser's axe on World 1-4

David Harrison (The Winter Soldier) won this with a blistering time of 2:03.20! Seriously time yourself and stop when you hit Bowsers axe at the end of 1-4. Now do it when people are watching. Good luck!

https://imgur.com/SbpUhjt
https://imgur.com/8C0djTw

Mario Paint for SNES Highest level & Lowest Score in 3 lives

Jacob & Robaire tied this one up and both took home some cereal! One theme we were going for this year was retro peripheral games. We got a lot of comments about your could run a Mario Paint tournament and we were up to the task!

https://imgur.com/pMfmn1X

F-Zero on SNES Fastest time on F-Zero Knight League / Mute City

The Real Samurai Goroh won this with a lightning fast 2 ' 03 " 16. I learned a few things about pathing this track to run it as fast as possible and The Real Samurai Goroh was a great runner to learn from!

https://imgur.com/1kdLpZn
https://imgur.com/8lG1HlZ

Wild Gunman for NES Highest score in Gang Mode with one life

Unfortunately we had technical difficulties and had to cancel this tournament due to the zapper not properly working with a flatscreen CRT. It only registered the shots 80% of the time which isn't great for a tournament. Wanted to thank everyone that came out anyway!

My 2018 Gaming Pickups!

Recently I purchased a used Wii U (expect an upcoming review) and because of that I wanted to pad my Wii U collection with as much great stuff as possible. I also have a fun retro game backlog of titles I want to buy so my list this year was a mashup of a handful of Wii U stuff, Gameboy Advance and NES.

https://imgur.com/LR7oNH9

Wii U Pro Controller, Wii Classic Controller, Mega Man 2 NES, Mario Bros NES, Minish Cap in Box, Super Mario 3D World, Wind Waker HD, Mighty No. 9, Nintendo Power (29, 50, 58, 70, 107), PRGE 2018 Shirt & Poster. I also picked up a classic NES Zapper thinking my zapper was broken but turns out the TV we used wasn't lightgun friendly. Pro tip kids, don't use a flatscreen CRT for old lightgun games!

Our Live Cheerful Ghost Radio Podcast From The Expo Floor!

Adam and I also recorded a special short episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio live from the Cheerful Ghost Booth Sunday before the convention started. It was a fun show and there are some fun bits I didn't recap here you should listen to the episode for. If you like what you hear in this episode you should subscribe to Cheerful Ghost Radio in whatever podcast client you use!

https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/3919/cheerful-ghost-radio-mini-episode-cheerful-ghost-at-the-portland-retro-gaming-expo

If you came out for PRGE 2018 and stopped by the booth or played in one of our tournaments i'd love to hear from you and what your thoughts were of the expo! Also curious what you picked up and anything fun you experienced while you were there!

You can view our entire photo album from PRGE 2018 on Facebook and Imgur.

https://imgur.com/gallery/BZEXvoZ
https://www.facebook.com/pg/cheerfulghost/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1910075419027784

One big piece of news to come out of the Portland Retro Game Expo this year was the announcement of the Intellivision Amico. It looks to revision the classic console for the modern era and a few people I knew went to the panel. So far, it's mostly all specs and artistic renderings and a splashy video but if it delivers 80% of what it sets out to do it should be pretty awesome.

With that I have a few questions about it. Do all the game on the system need to be exclusive? Have yet another place to play Indie games might not be a bad thing, new Intellivision included. How are they going to ship this system at an $180 price point? Seems like a very hard target to hit and be a quality system. Why do the controller need wireless charging? I get that Qi is the new hot wireless charging standard but plugging stuff in isn't a big deal for retro enthusiasts and you can save a couple bucks for everything else you want to pack in to the Amico.

In the end i'm really supportive of this system and I think there is room in the market for a new retro enthusiast console that has a modern online ecosystem.

"Almost 40 years after the release of the original Intellivision® home video game system which helped to redefine the video game industry, Intellivision Entertainment is proud to carry on its “Legacy of Firsts” by announcing the brand new revolutionary family home video game console named Amico to be released on October 10th, 2020 (1010 2020). Amico is the Italian word for “friend” or “buddy” and encapsulates an element of the approach and dynamics for what makes the new console so unique and an exciting addition to everyone’s family.

INTELLIVISION AMICO FEATURES AND INFORMATION:

PRICE RANGE (RETAIL)

• US $149 - $179

NORTH AMERICAN, UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPEAN RELEASE DATE

• October 10, 2020 (1010 2020)

SOFTWARE OVERVIEW

• All games are family friendly and rated “E for Everyone” or “E10+”.


• Every game version on the console is EXCLUSIVE.


• Quality over quantity! All games must past a strict quality control seal of approval.


• Balanced gameplay and design for Equal Opportunity Gaming for all.


• All games are downloadable and between US $2.99 - $7.99.


• No costly DLC (Downloadable Content) add-on’s or “In-App Purchases”.


• Launch to include several built-in reimagined Intellivision Classics (pre-installed in every console) and over 20 games including both reimagined industry classics and brand new exclusive titles via the Intellivision Online Store.

CONTROLLERS

• 2 wireless Bluetooth controllers (up to 8 player compatible and connectivity).


• 3 ½ inch (2:3 aspect ratio) Color Touchscreen.


• Pioneering tilting positional disc with surrounding interactive LED border.


• 4 arcade-style tactile feedback buttons.


• Gyroscope & Accelerometer.


• Force feedback.


• Controller to be used horizontally or vertically including dominant left or right hand usage.


• Qi (pronounced “CHEE”) wireless onboard charging.


• Speaker


• Microphone


• Free downloadable app enables mobile phones as additional controllers (up to 8 players).

HARDWARE & TECHNOLOGY

• State of the Art 21st Century 2D Image Processing and Graphics Capability


• Intellivision Prism™ Onboard Interactive Lighting Technology.


• WiFi/BT & Ethernet Connectivity.


• HDMI Video Output.


• Multiple USB Ports


• System Expansion Interface.

ONLINE

• Intellivision Online Store for the ability to purchase additional software.


• Multi-player online gaming and structured multi-tiered tournament play.


• Time & Space Leaderboard System™ which includes high scores by locations and calendar.


• Trophy/Achievement rewards system which awards unique accomplishments to each player.

Not only is the new Accounting+ trailer the craziest thing you might watch today but it's also one of the most entertaining. From the folks behind Rick and Morty & The Stanley Parable come Accounting+ a new VR game for PS VS, Occulus and the HTC Vive. From watching a few minutes of actual gameplay it looks like a cross between Office Simulator, The Stanley Parable and Rick and Morty which makes sense given the creative team behind the game. If I had any kind of VR i'd play this thing immediately but since I don't I imagine that want will die on a pile of other dead ambition. Which seems entirely fitting given the games style and content.

Digital Foundry has another incredible comparison review video and apparently I have to share them all so here's one that compares Luigi's Mansion with the original Gamecube and recent 3DS release. Grezzo is the company behind the 3DS port of Luigi's Mansion that has previous worked on the amazing 3DS ports of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Luigi's Mansion seems to be similarly as good but this time Grezze had to make the game run on somewhat limited hardware. The choices they made in some ways were better than the original game and very clever due to the limitations of the 3DS.

"What made Luigi's Mansion so special when it launched with GameCube and how much of the magic persists into the new 3DS version? This video details the history of the game, and has all the graphics comparisons and performance analysis you need. It's a really decent mobile version of a classic Nintendo title."

Mega Man 11 finally hit and the reviews are coming in and so far, it looks like it's one of the best games to come out in quite some time. Cygnus Destroyer, a YouTuber known for his Innocent Until Proven Guilty series has a fun Mega Man 11 review and to put it simply... he finds it "mega magnificent." You can watch his review at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4CZvay5gHU

Digital Foundry has also reviewed Mega Man 11 and finds it similarly as incredible but goes much more in depth and compares each version on PS4, XBox, Switch and PC and all the various versions to the frame rate level. It's the quality you'd expect from Digital Foundry and I appreciate how they take a peek back at the franchise history.

Fallout Shelter is one of the best phone games i've ever played. It's a fun post apocalypse vault dweller simulator reminiscent of SimCity, SimTower, Progress Quest and a bit of FTL. Noclip just released a Fallout Shelter documentary as part of their recent Bethesda series that takes a look at the making of Fallout Shelter from it's early days as a Fallout 3 trailer to the E3 2015 launch. They also mention that Bethesda built an entirely new mobile team after the incredible success of Fallout Shelter (120 million players) and that team is carrying over to their upcoming phone game Elder Scrolls Blades. The video even hints a bit at Elder Scrolls blades at the end and apparently Noclip's final Bethesda documentary will all about Blades.

If Fallout Shelter is an indication, Bethesda will have a long and amazing history of incredible mobile games and being that they are all free to play without a huge requirement to buy in, I can't argue with the results.

We all know Super Mario Bros. 2 wasn't the follow up to Super Mario Bros. in Japan and that it was originally Doki Doki Panic and translated into English for an American audience. That reason being the big factor on why some Mario purists don't consider it a proper Mario game. Super Mario Bros. 2 celebrates it's 30th anniversary this year and as such Arcadeology has a focused retrospective on the game and it's history in the franchise. It's the deepest dive about Mario 2 i've seen to date and it showcases many of the improvements made over Doki Doki Panic. In fact, i'd say Mario 2 is superior to Doki in nearly every way and since Doki started out as a prototype for Mario and then later was translated into a Mario game by a Mario team, it's a proper Mario game. Open to others thoughts here but Mario 2 is one of my favorite in the franchise because it's so unique and I don't think it standing out is any kind of weakness to it.