LGR has a great video out that showcases Snood, a crazy popular Puzzle Bobble / Bust-A-Move clone that dropped in the 90's and was very popular even in to the 2000's era. It was created at the height of the shareware craze and was brought from it's early Mac version to PC, GBA, DS and most recently iOS. I remember many people at University that played Snood but it wasn't something I wanted to really play. I'd played Puzzle Bobble and other games like it before and I think what initially turned me off to it wasn't really the game itself. It was introduced to me by someone I didn't personally like at University and I think that initial introduction to the game soured me on the idea of playing it. Since Snood is freely available on iOS i've decided that it's finally time to give it a try.
It was around for a long time before Facebook, and especially Facebook games. By then the magic had died and it probably wouldn’t have done well as a Facebook game.
But you’re right that it kinda feels like one
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 03/04/2018 at 11:37pm
If y'all are looking to relive it the iOS version is free AND there is a version on the Snood website called Snood Plus that is free and not really featured gated for anything of the core game.
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After Analogue's Super Nt released a couple weeks back I posted about it along with a review by Metal Jesus. I really enjoy Jesus's reviews but if you are looking for an in depth tear down of the system I recommend Digital Foundry reviews and DF Retro. DF Retro took a look at the Super Nt and from the testing it looks like the system is one of the best ways to play Super Nintendo games on modern TV's.
"This week, DF Retro tackles Analogue's Super Nt - an FPGA based console designed to play Super NES games via HDMI. Analogue boasts perfect accuracy but is that really the case? We put the system to the test using challenging games known to cause problems with most software emulators. How does it stack up? The answers and more in this week's episode of DF Retro."
Into the Breach is finally here and i'm curious what people that picked it up think of it? The Steam reviews seem to be singing it's praises and my hope is that Into the Breach becomes just as important to my Indie library as FTL. You can get Into the Breach on Steam or GOG but right now on GOG if you purchase Into the Breach you get FTL Advanced Edition for free!
Ben Prunty wrote the music for FTL and also Into The Breach and you can listen or buy the soundtrack right now on Bandcamp.
Chrono Trigger unceremoniously launched on Steam today and it seems the initial reviews of it... aren't great. Clipping out a few for your reading pleasure
"All you need to know is that this is a straight port of the mobile version, and includes a horrible font and disgusting sprite filtering."
"This is a port from mobile, It only disappoints. But Steam will refund All my 15 silver points."
It's mostly all bad reviews but a few are positive.
"Chrono Trigger is one of the best RPG's ever made. I had it on SNES, then lost it. I am very glad it is finally on Steam. "
Chrono Trigger is one of the most beloved games of the 16 bit era and it seems like Square is releasing it's mobile ports directly on Steam which doesn't sit well with people because the interface isn't very well optimized for PC. Also it seems that the graphics this version don't upscale well compared to the amazing upscaling of the 16 bit graphics in any emulator. I view these kinds of releases the way I think of the Star Wars Special Editions. I don't care what they do to a modern version of the game as long as we can go back and play the original and in the case of Chrono Trigger we all can. In fact, I recommend the DS version or original SNES cart!
I watched a gameplay video and there are some bizarre choices. Since it's a direct mobile port, there's a constant "menu" button on the screen even though you're playing (probably) with a gamepad and can't click it. Even if you weren't, the Esc key is always there.
And the weird filter they have over it is honestly a little uncomfortable to look at. The original sprites without any scanline emulation would be far preferable.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 03/01/2018 at 05:16am
I agree that the pixel art being chunky would be better than that OR just allow an option for original pixels or the smoothed out thing they are doing. It does that on the DS version but the screen is so low res it's not that noticeable. But you really do notice it when your at 1080p or higher!
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 05/31/2018 at 06:03am
I just got it, so I'm jumping in after they've updated it at least once (there's another update planned). It looks fine to me with the "high resolution" graphics settings. The "original" graphics settings looks more pixelated, like the original lol. That menu button Travis mentioned does appear, but it's in the bottom of the screen to the right. It's not really too noticeable, I think it disappears sometimes, but it's also definitely unnecessary. I'm playing w/ a controller and I just hit that top button (Y on XBox 360 controller) to get into the menu. I really liked the opening cinematic, but I think maybe that was included on the PS version. Otherwise, my only complaint really is that it seems I'm stuck with gray boxes (for text and menu) when I'd rather customize it (to blue). I don't recall being able to do that in this game, but I remember I was able to do so on FFVII.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/01/2018 at 01:08am
Glad you got it. Love to hear your review of the game!
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/01/2018 at 02:42am
So far I'm not disappointed, just wish I could change the color of the menu/text box. I didn't play the game until 2000 or so, after I was Travis's roommate and before 9/11.
I am honored to be part of how you remember when things happened! :D
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/01/2018 at 03:03am
Well I was Jake's roommate at the time, so yeah you fit in there. Plus, I've been listening to Cowboy Mouth a bit recently. Hell, I still dream I'm at RU for some reason. LOL
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Culturally Star Wars is a big deal and maybe the biggest deal in all of cinema. Mikey Neumann, a former writer at Gearbox that wrote Borderlands, recently went full time with his YouTube channel Movies with Mikey. It's a great YouTube movie review channel and well worth a subscription and his latest two episodes are about How We See Star Wars. Mikey breaks down each Star Wars movie starting with the original trilogy and how they were reviewed when they came out. Spoiler Alert, people didn't seem to like the Empire Strikes Back at first but later went on to think it was the best movie of the series. If you are looking to tear into some fun Star Wars commentary hit up part one above and then watch part two linked below. My only minor nit with both videos is that I wanted Mikey to go a bit deeper and take a bit more time but that's not really his style and it's good to keep things short and sweet.
I hope Mikey comes around to do a full episode on The Last Jedi because he only briefly talks about it and I think there is more for him to say.
I watched these last night and I loved how he presented the reactions to each of the films. I wish Rogue One has been included but I also get why it wasn’t. It’s Star Wars but not the core of it.
I have warmed up to the prequels over the years. I, like the people he talked about in the video, was obsessed with episode 1 when it came out. I think I watched it three times in a week, and on that last one the illusion was broken. But time and age has made me appreciate things more and while it’s nowhere near as good as I thought it was opening week, it’s nowhere near as bad as I thought it was the week after.
Episode 2 though. That movie does a lot of great things but... a lot of not great things too.
Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member
wrote on 03/02/2018 at 05:00pm
I couldn't finish this. The video was too overproduced imho.
Wow, we had very different reactions. My wife and I liked it so much that we are going through this entire series and adding any movies we haven't seen to a watch list, so that we can watch the Movies with Mikey reviews of them.
Yeah I like how much production value he puts into his videos. I've watched all his videos that were for movies I've seen and enjoyed all of them. And it's not just because he loves Edgar Wright movies as much as I do. :P
I want him to do one for Baby Driver. Mikey's editing with cuts on the first beat of a musical phrase in his background music... he'd have a field day with Baby Driver.
And I STILL need to see The World's End.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 03/03/2018 at 03:34pm
The Cornetto Trilogy is incredible and The Worlds End is my favorite one.
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I liked Star Wars: The Last Jedi a lot and will be heading to the store when it gets a physical Blu-ray release to pick it up on release day. If you were wondering when all that was coming out and wanted to plan your move to own it, i'm going to break it all down in this post to help make your choice a bit easier. And if you hated the movie, and apparently some people did, then doing nothing is even easier than that.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be available on Digital & Movies Anywhere March 13th and on 4K & Blu-ray March 27th. With that, if you want to own it digitally i'm not sure why you just wouldn't buy it on Blu-ray and redeem the digital code for the digital copy and own an actual thing. Like the digital code you get with the Blu-ray is the same and the price is about the same to so ... you know... why not? That said if you plan on buying an actual physical copy there are a couple of versions you might want to be aware of.
Target film-maker edition + Book + Porg exclusive Looks like Target is getting a Blu-ray exclusive edition with a special Porg behind the scenes thing. It also contains a pretty sweet art book that looks like Star Wars collector bait. It's not 4K but, to me, this looks like the premire edition of the film that i'll be getting on launch day. It seems like the Porg exclusive is digital only.
Best Buy 4K Steelbook Looks like Disney is working with retailers to get exclusive versions and Best Buy is selling the 4K steelbook. It contains the same special features as everything else.
Best Buy Blu-ray Steelbook I don't know, it's just the Blu-ray release with a special steelbook cover. I guess if this is what you crave you should get it.
The Last Jedi is getting loaded up with a bunch of behind the scenes features including 13 deleted scenes! Rian Johnson seems to really understand what I like from these releases and has loaded it up to the hilt with the goods. Read all about it and the special releases at starwars.com below
If you plan on picking up The Last Jedi let me know which version and where you plan on picking it up from!
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 02/27/2018 at 04:41am
I just put an event on my calendar to remind me to pick this up from the store on launch day. I did it for The Force Awakens and Rogue One. Each release the packaging got better, and this Target edition looks to be even better.
I wonder if the digital release date also includes cable on demand purchases? That's the only way I could understand someone buying it digitally, for the convenience of watching it on my tv with no effort at all; it would be just like watching something off my DVR. I've never bought a movie through Xfinity (my cable provider), but I do rent movies occasionally through it. They're more expensive than say going to Redbox, but I'll occasionally pay for the convenience (they're unusually $4 or $5 for a 24 hour rental).
Of course, buying a digital copy through Xfinity would be the ultimate DRM. I have no idea what happens to your purchases if you were to cancel your cable, but my guess is you'd never see them again lol
The digital release is through Movies Anywhere (formerly Disney Movies Anywhere, but they have more partners now).
It ties into your iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, and a couple others. So when you activate it on Movies Anywhere, it unlocks on all the platforms you've connected to it.
Basically, if you have an internet connected device connected to your TV, it's a couple clicks away. A while back they had a promo that gave you some free movies, and I've activated a few on it, and the process is seamless and painless.
I feel like a Movies Anywhere commercial but it's really that good. Still DRM, but about as "open" as a DRM-encumbered file can be.
When WarCraft III launched back in 2002 I was hooked. I played a ton of WarCraft II and as a fan I was really excited to play the next installment and WarCraft III's focus on heroes, amazing 3D graphics and the story made it one of my most played RTS's of that era. I believe WarCraft III is an important game and since many have been getting the remastered treatment it seems like Blizzard might agree.
"Warcraft III's PTR is back and ready for your scrutiny. Join us in testing widescreen support, hero balance changes, and updates to Map Pools for 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's and Free-for-All. We've also added some experimental modes like 24 player support for custom games. "
Getting widescreen support in WarCraft III is a great addition as the it natively only supports 4x3. Many people seem to think that these new rounds of updates coupled with the special WarCraft III invitational tournament next month mean that Blizzard is revving up to give it the StarCraft Remastered treatment. This certainly might suggest it and if that's the case them i'm in because this game is well deserving of one and it might give gamers that didn't play it originally another chance to do so.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 02/23/2018 at 07:37am
I've had and played the first two Warcraft games, but somehow missed the third. I still have a demo of it on my PC. Giving the game the remastered treatment certainly captures my interest.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 02/24/2018 at 04:13pm
Agreed. The cool part about the demo is that it’s a intro to the WarCraft III game full voice acted that wasn’t originally in the game. In a later update they brought it to the game but w/o the voice acting. Hopefully with some updates they fix that because it was a cool way to do a demo.
Capcom is releasing the Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 & 2 as part of a single release on the Switch which seems like a must buy for Switch owning Mega Man fans. That said, it's not all 8-bit perfection as it looks like Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 is the only release physically on the Switch cart as Collection 2 is a redeemable code. It's not a matter of size either, both games could fit on a single Switch cart. But beyond not putting all the games on a single cart the fact that we're getting Mega Man 1-6 and 7-10 in one release is awesome.
Oh and Capcom is adding a rewind feature to both games which looks like it will make getting past those tricky Mega Man areas much easier.
Let me know if you own a Switch and plan on picking this up on May 22nd.
I've reviewed the Mega Man Legacy Collection on the 3DS and it looks like most of that applies to the Switch version too beyond some new features.
Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member
wrote on 02/20/2018 at 03:18am
I am getting it. It comes out May 22nd btw. It is strange that they aren’t putting it all on one cart. Maybe the second collection won’t be ready in time for cart production? Or maybe they are keeping the cost down by getting the smallest cart possible?
As I continue on with my playthrough of Chrono Trigger the game keeps getting a bit better each time. Since the game has been out for over twenty years i'm going to talk about some plot spoilers so if you are planning on playing this fresh, you might want to avoid reading more.
Firstly as someone that didn't play much of Chrono Trigger when it was originally launched on the Super Nintendo I don't have any particular nostalgia for this title. That said, the game does borrow some graphical and sound elements from past Square games, such as the wind sound effect from Final Fantasy VI. That said, I do have some pretty minor nits about the game and the biggest one is that it throws a lot of new plot level characters at you pretty quickly to the point that I was confused a few times. That said the game does stop adding new plot characters at one point which allowed me to catch up. I imagine if you've played this game a lot it's easy to make sense of all of it but Chrono Trigger is so quickly paced that it's hard to keep your finger on what's going on.
SPOILERS AHEAD. FOR REAL PEOPLE YOU CAN'T UNREAD THIS ONE BELOW
So I just got to the part in the game where Crono sacrifices himself to save the group when they are fighting Lavos. It's a surprising turn, which I didn't see coming and I am now working on bringing him back. It's an interesting choice to kill of the main character and for a bit I wondering if he would just be out of the game entirely? That said, since it's sci-fi the group already has a plan on how to bring him back of sorts which involves a Chrono Trigger, time egg and a replica doll of Crono himself. It's cool that the game is totally going all Search for Spock to bring him back and these kinds of moments are why Chrono Trigger is widely considered to be one of the best games of all time.
I'm not sure how much more I have of the game yet to play before "the end" but it feels like i'm at least half way or more through it. Playing the DS version has been great because I can play it anywhere and if you have the chance to play that version I highly recommend it. In the future if I want to play Chrono Trigger again I'll play the original Super Nintendo version but you can't beat playing it on the go so if you want to give Chrono Trigger a shot you can pick it up on your smartphone or DS.
If you want to read more about this playthrough of Chrono Trigger check out my other post below:
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 02/18/2018 at 08:06pm
Awesome! I'm glad you're enjoying it. There is actually another Chrono game, called Chrono Cross. I have it for the PS1 and I'm sure Travis remembers me playing it while we were roommates. I wish that game would get an HD makeover and come to Steam. Oh and speaking of which, Secret of Mana is available on Steam now, I think.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 02/18/2018 at 11:11pm
Yeah, the HD remake of Mana is on steam and it seems to be getting mixed reviews. I disliked the Mana version they brought to iOS and I do plan on playing the new HD PC version at some point even though it’s getting savaged with reviews.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 02/18/2018 at 11:30pm
It's on my wish list. There was a classic Final Fantasy I didn't buy on Steam. It was the DS version or something, I wasn't too fond of the portable remake, so I understand what you mean.
I not only remember you playing it, Greg. If you remember, I played it too! It’s a really good game. Very different from Trigger (though I admittedly haven’t played much of Trigger). I don’t think either of us enjoyed it as much as Ed though, that dude loved it.
It took me a long time to convince him that JRPGs weren’t demonic but once he was there, man, he was all in.
There are certain games from that generation (especially on PSX, but also things like Goldeneye on N64) that looked incredible at the time but definitely haven't aged well. It was kind of a transitional generation. Most everything before that holds up graphically, most everything after does as well. I guess it makes sense-- it was when they were first trying for more realism.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 02/20/2018 at 03:04am
Yeah, I don't find most of the early gen Playstation to hold up well at all compared to 8 or 16 bit. PERSONALLY I think the 64 games hold up better but it's because of the limitations of the system and they had less textures to work with making the plain color polygons hold up better when blown up. At least to me eye they look a bit better.
Especially Nintendo-made games on the N64. They've always made games that use the generation's capabilities while never striving for that kind of realism, so they stand the test of time.
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Lizard is a brand new game made for the original Nintendo Entertainment System that was successfully Kickstarted and has now officially launched. You can check out the trailer above and download a demo of the game on Itch.io. The game demo is a NES ROM, Mac or PC downloadable and the game is available for purchase digitally on all those platforms + Linux. The Lizard developers will make an NES cart release and if you are interested in getting that when it releases you can sign up for an email list on the Lizard website.
The NES fan community is pretty strong these days and it's awesome seeing new games continue to come out for these older systems.
I mean... it seems like it’s one dude doing literally everything so I can’t blame him for not being great at marketing.
But I dunno, it had some brief gameplay to show what kind of game it is. And it’s a teaser, which if he’s going by the rules of movie trailers vs teasers is meant to just hint at what’s to come. I didn’t really have an issue with it.
Honestly I think if he just released a video with half of those gameplay clips and the voiceover said “look I know my market and if you want to play a brand new NES game you’re going to play this” it would be enough :D
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 02/17/2018 at 04:08am
I thought the trailer was cool but not a ton of detail. Plus they have a demo available so if you're not sure what it is you can try it out.
Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member
wrote on 02/17/2018 at 04:10am
I expect something more from something that was kickstarted and has been released. I doubt people kickstarted it based on this video. There must be more.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 02/17/2018 at 05:19am
Yeah, his Kickstarter video did explain it pretty well.
Snood was life for a while. I loved it but I had mostly forgotten about it until now.
I forgot about the creepy face game. I kinda want to forget again. I pray the nightmares don't return.
I've heard of this game, but after watching some of the video, I have to wonder how this didn't end up as a Facebook game.
It was around for a long time before Facebook, and especially Facebook games. By then the magic had died and it probably wouldn’t have done well as a Facebook game.
But you’re right that it kinda feels like one
If y'all are looking to relive it the iOS version is free AND there is a version on the Snood website called Snood Plus that is free and not really featured gated for anything of the core game.