I don't typically write list posts but it's the new year and i've been thinking more about some of the better parts of 2017. One awesome part is talking to everyone on Cheerful Ghost and taking part in Cheerful Ghost Radio that launched this year! It's fun to be part of something that people enjoy even if our community is small. So let's wind up and get to my list which I wouldn't consider to be in any kind of actual order.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Return

I was beyond hyped that a new MST3K season was coming and happily Kickstarted it. I've talked about that process here and the results are for everyone to enjoy on Netflix. MST3K is a special show to me and was recently renewed for another season. I saw MST3K live this year for my birthday which was a really fun experience. The new show lives up to the old seasons and I'm excited to see where it goes in season 12.

NES Classic & Mega Man 2

I got a NES Classic this year and as part of that have been focusing on playing games that are new-ish to me that I didn't previous play before. Mega Man 2 was a game i've played a handful of times but really focused on getting good at this year. It's been a fun ride and i'm glad I was able to get a NES Classic because i'm not sure i've had played the game otherwise. I like the curated aspect of the NES Classic and the fact that they sort of have you pick between a handful of amazing games, for me, makes the process of picking what to play next a lot easier.

I got a SNES Classic recently but the clear winner here for 2017 is the NES Classic as I played it a lot. In fact i've played it so much and retro games in general that I realized I haven't really played many PC titles this year. In 2018 I plan to double down here and really just play games I missed or want to come back to. Some are PC but many are older games and find that with a new kid, this seems like a good way to focus on gaming in 2018.

Alien Covenant Score

Alien Covenant is one of those movies that I really enjoyed but didn't really seem to be generally well loved by everyone. It's not perfect but when I saw it in New York on a work trip it was the perfect time for a Ridley Scott horror movie. Whereas I think the movie worked for me the score was a particular highlight. I found Jed Kurzel's score to be so noteworthy that I picked it up on CD and have been listening to it quite a bit since. The homages it plays to James Horner's original are well made and I like that score is very chill and listenable. I usually don't listen to a movie and think about the score but it was so moving it really drew me to pick it up.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

For more of my thoughts check out our recent Cheerful Ghost Radio episode on it but to sum it up, it's a much welcomed edition to the Star Wars saga. I've seen it twice now and it's worked for me both times. Watching it a second time I wasn't quite in the throes of it as I knew where it was going but the first time was one of the most heart pounding cinematic rides i've been on. For someone that goes to the theater very little now because I have a kid when I go it's special and Rian Johnson delivered a very beautiful movie that I still think about now.

NES Metroid

I played the original NES Metroid this year on the NES Classic and completed it. It's a game that holds up over time but you need to be in a certain headspace to play it. If you are looking for a more accessible entry to the franchise I recommend the Super Metroid or Zero Mission but NES Metroid is a classic and I enjoyed completing it.

Get Out

I'd rank Get Out as one of the best films of 2017. It's a horror movie with a unique twist and adds a fresh voice to the genre. Loved it so much that I bought it and gave it out as presents to a couple of my friends. It's a movie I recently re-watched and really enjoyed a second time. After watching it a second time I watched it yet again with the directors commentary. At the end of the commentary track Jordan Peele said that everyone that listened to it was a true fan and I agree with him, i'm a huge fan of Get Out.

Add Violence

It's a special time when a new Nine Inch Nails albums is released and this year was no exception because we got Add Violence. One thing I dig about NiN is that each album is a little bit different and has a new viewpoint on the things it talks about. Add Violence seems to be a commentary about our current world, relationships and choices we make and how those impact everyone. It's a haunting album and the last song "The Background World" asks an interesting question to the listener before it deconstructs the beat into a widening breath of static until you can't tell the beat from the noise. Which is, I think the point of the album and what it says about our modern world.

Stranger Things 2

We have a whole Cheerful Ghost Radio show about this but the TLDR is that this is a good season and I want to be Steve Harrington. You know.. that hair!

Link Between Worlds 3DS

A sequel to one of the greatest games of all time? Yes please. While not perfect it's a great ending to the, what I consider, LttP Trilogy with Link to the Past, Link's Awakening & Link Between Worlds. Someday I might play them all in that order too. Between Worlds is a fun Zelda game that follows many of the tropes setup in Link to the Past and spins it up enough to be interesting but not enough to be Breath of the Wild. It's a safe sequel perhaps but I appreciate it for not being too long.

If we get a a Link's Awakening sequel i'll happily refer to these games as the Link to the Past Quadrilogy! Or maybe Nintendo might just want to give Link's Awakening the HD rerelease treatment? I'd be down with that.

Logan

Logan is a fitting end to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. That said my first time around watching the film was such a bad theater going experience it almost soured me on the whole movie. Apparently sitting behind people that talk loudly and might possibly be drunk isn't a great way to experience Logan. That said I picked it up on Blu-ray on black friday for a couple bucks and watched it in black and white and loved it. I'm not saying B&W is the best way to see it but it worked well for such a bleak film. Sad we won't get more Jackman but the movie being such a great conclusion was the right way for him to hang up the claws.

Or at least that's what that incredible ad from the 90's said as the kid playing F-Zero was so blown back by the game it literally flattened him and then he walked off looking like Gumby. For real, that actually happened in that ad I linked and these kinds of old ads are one of the reasons why I still love the 90's.

F-Zero was a launch title for the Super Nintendo that showcased the systems mode 7 graphics. Mode 7 was a pretty hyped SNES graphical mode that allowed games like F-Zero, Super Mario Kart, Secret of Mana & Final Fantasy VI to exist. Basically Mode 7 created a 3D like view that works really well for racing games and other titles that feature air travel systems (like SoM and FFVI).

Whenever people talk about F-Zero they remember that it came with multiplayer but in reality it never had it. I think people confuse it with later games in the franchise or Super Mario Kart. I think multiplayer wasn't included because it was a launch title and Nintendo needed to get it ready OR maybe it wasn't widely known how to make split-screen multiplayer work at that time. Either way F-Zero still shines as a fun racer even in a world with much more modern games such as Need For Speed.

One aspect of F-Zero that makes it game that's still fun to play now is that it's really challenging. Each car selection comes with upsides and significant downsides enough to make the choice matter. Choose Dr. Stewarts yellow Golden Fox racer and you will blast ahead of that pack easily because it has the fastest acceleration but if you are bumped around on the track you are going to take damage faster as his car isn't very tough. F-Zero pro's seem to think that Samurai Goroh with his Fire Stingray is the best racer because while it has the absolute slowest acceleration, if you can make your way into the lead and hold it the tough armor coupled with the unmatched top speed is the best choice.

Typically when i've played F-Zero in the past i've played as Captain Falcon or Dr. Stewart but as Stewart I die... a lot. After reading what some F-Zero pro's suggest in going with Samurai Goroh it took some getting used to but for the first time I finally won all 5 races for Night League Easy.

I picked up a Super Nintendo Classic for Christmas and have been spending mostly all of my gaming time playing F-Zero and I plan to continue. The original SNES F-Zero cart came with a battery save so all your high scores on completing the zones is saved. The SNES Classic keeps this feature without the need to save your state and that's kind of a neat thing. If you need to step away you can save you state but I don't find for this game it's something I need to use a lot.

Last year the developers of Diablo celebrated it's big anniversary by adding a mode to the game where you could play it with pixelated graphics and take on a dungeon that felt eerily like the original game. Seems like Blizzard is bringing the even back starting now and ending on January 31st.

"Your journey begins on the trail of a group of mysterious cultists causing trouble in Sanctuary. As you hunt them down in Adventure Mode, you’ll uncover clues leading to a portal into Tristram’s past, and the terrifying darkness that took hold of the town so many years ago. . . .

Follow the clues and you’ll soon find yourself in a realm of glorious RetroVision™, where an all-too-familiar cathedral looms. Explore the depths and you’ll discover familiar enemies and iconic items, all brought to life in the Diablo III engine. Meanwhile, deep beneath the catacombs, the Dark Lord himself awaits any intrepid adventurer who dares to challenge him. . . .

What is a Diablo game without shiny new loot to call your own? Completing activities in the anniversary event yields unique transmogrification effects, achievements, portraits, pets, and more.

While some rewards are easy to find, others may have you scouring every nook or unlocking every achievement before you can get your hands on them. Can you earn them all? There’s only one way to find out!"

I missed this last year so I think I'm going to take a quick peek and see how it the event plays!

https://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/21361560

I found the Digital Foundry YouTube channel this year and have been sharing many of their videos since. They did some end of year wrap up videos and two I wanted to highlight were the best CPU's of the year linked above and the PC Graphics Review below. The CPU video is pretty interesting as AMD and Intel have been locked in bitter competition making for a very wide and interesting selection but the GPU story isn't as compelling with the Nvidia 1080 leading the pack. It's a great card it's just that it's expensive and there aren't many great alternatives. Hopefully AMD or Intel can release something to give Nvidia a run for their chips but outside of that 2018 might be Nvidia's year again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrO7s2IrWSY&list=WL&index=31

If you recently got a new Nintendo Switch for the holidays you might want to pick up a few accessories for it. One of my favorite gaming YouTubers Metal Jesus recently created a video showcasing the gear he has for his Switch where he outlines the good and the bad. Apparently the picking up an official Switch dock costs $99? That's a lot but it seems like that was the best option he found.

If you are a Switch owner what are some of the things you picked up for it?

Wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Presents Day! I hope the mythical Presents Day Elf brought you everyone you wanted and more and that you can bathe yourself in cookies and egg nog. Since it’s Presents Day some of us might have some fresh new video games we are all playing and other cool stuff so if you are interested in sharing what you got drop it in the comments!

Fallout Shelter has had specially themed holiday quests for sometime but this week I decided to get in on the special season update during this Christmas. It seems the game adds a couple quests to sate your dystopian wasteland cheer in "The Spirit of Taking" and "Santa's Helpers." Besides these new quests there is also a decorated tree outside your vault with twinkle lights that help set a more cheery mood. The quests are set just like the others but the quest dialog boxes are set in green and the dialog is set to a very Fallout Christmas vibe. For instance with Santa's Helpers at one point my people went into a raider area claiming to be Santa's Helpers where I could try and spread Christmas cheer using nice words and singing songs or by fighting. Since I try to be nice around the holidays we sang songs and that got us a good ending where we earned a special Science outfit. During the beginning of a couple quests you can win a Santa costume and an in game character that I took a screenshot of. Besides the cool Santa outfit you can also get some elf costumers and I decided to send Santa and his elves out to the wasteland on the infinite explore mode. Santa does well exploring the wasteland and as you can see I need to bring him in soon to cash in on his loot and give him new stimpacks for his next loot run.

https://bethesda.net/en/article/2yVJy2lIhKCmCekO6QOIE4/fallout-shelter-update-1-7-new-quests-features-and-bottle-and-cappy

What if scenarios are interesting and more so with a proof of concept. We've had modern Donkey Kong Country releases in HD such as Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on Wii U and Donkey Kong Returns on the Wii. YouTuber BlobVanDam created the video Bramble Blast that is a recreation of Donkey Kong Country 2 in full blown HD. Personally i'd buy a modern revisioning of the original SNES Donkey Kong Trilogy in HD which would have to be essentially a whole new set of games in the same upgrade style as Super Mario All Stars. I bet Switch owners wouldn't mind either.

After I picked up the NES Classic this year I played a lot of Mega Man 2. It’s the one i’ve played the most of as a kid too but never could actually beat it. After putting in the time to complete Mega Man 2 on the NES Classic I continued playing it to keep improving boss battle by boss battle. I still have yet to focus on the entire run but instead make sure certain parts are ironed out instead. For instance, right now, i’m focusing on completing the boss stages in a nearly perfect manner. Later on i’ll focus more on the Wiley stages and then glue them together.
The reason why I like focusing on the game this way is that hopefully micro focusing on aspects of the game can come together to allow me to complete the game without dying once. At least, that’s my goal and so far I’m a ways from that but it’s fun to keep playing the game and get better each time I play it.

In 2015 Capcom released the Mega Man Legacy Collection that includes Mega Man through Mega Man 6 making it a must have for Mega Man fans or people that want to get into the franchise. After playing a ton of Mega Man 2 I decided to get the Legacy Collection but I didn’t want to get it on Steam. In the end I decided to get it on 3DS and had to get it used as it seems that Capcom is no longer stocking fresh copies in stores or online, at least not at the time I wanted to buy it. The used copy arrived in great condition and included two mega man stickers and two codes to 3DS Mega Man skins that surprisingly enough, were not redeemed. Mega Man Legacy Collection includes all 6 original Mega Man games that you can play in “Mega Man” or “Rockman” mode. I’m not entirely sure what the di erence is here but it seems you can play the original US Mega Man or the other Japanese or EU version.

If you are interested in looking over the game concept art, manuals and box art that Capcom created for each regions Mega Man release Legacy Collection includes a Museum and Database mode that makes accessing all of that really easy. You can even zoom in to inspect the ne detail on the box art which is a feature I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Like a lot of remastered versions Legacy Collection also includes all of the music in a music player you can listen to as much as you want. Want to DJ a retro party? Hook up your 3DS to the sound system and mix it up over all 6 games. Or not... I really have no idea if people have retro game parties but it’s a thing you could do if you want.

Mega Man Legacy Collection is a nearly perfect release if not for one minor gripe I have. In the US the NES was presented in a 4x3 aspect ratio on all our CRT TV's. Nintendo games were sprite based and each pixel was a perfect square yet the Nintendo slightly stretched the image to use the full width of the TV. It’s one of those lovable aspects of the analog days and not a choice I actually fault Nintendo for as the image t the screen and never looked bad as a result. That said in the Mega Man Legacy Collection the default mode is pixel perfect meaning the 4x3 aspect ration is not preserved. The NES Classic and SNES Classic default to 4x3 mode but also provide a pixel perfect mode for people that want to play the games in that way. That said, not having the choice to play it in 4x3 is a bit of a bummer. Again, it’s not a huge deal but the game doesn’t look quite right to me but once I tuck in to a play session it’s not something I think about much.

I plan on continuing with the Mega Man series as i’ve really only played Mega Man 2 and 3. The original is included but i’ve heard it’s not quite as good as Mega Man 2 yet I plan on playing it and talking about it. I usually play through games at a snails pace so expect to hear from me in regard to the remaining Legacy Collection games over the entirety of 2018.

As the holiday seasons is upon us we all get closer to the reality that some of us may open a SNES Classic on Presents Day! If you want a SNES Classic and need the mythical Gift Elf to bring you one for Presents Day I recently watched a recent DF Retro video that you need to watch. DF Retro takes a pretty long look back at Donkey Kong Country and interviews quite a few developers that worked for Rare during the games development. Watching this video helped me shovel more coal into the SNES Classic Presents Day hype train and I hope you like it too!