"You’ll not only play through Specter Knight’s own story, but also see new areas, new music, new enemies, new objects, new boss fights, new weapons, new armors, and way, way more than ever before. Even the villainous boss knights have prepared new tricks and tactics!

Does that sound like a new game?! Well, that’s because we’re building Specter of Torment from the ground up so that it can be a completely unique standalone experience.

While Plague of Shadows followed an alternate parallel campaign, Specter Knight travels a new path in this amazing prequel. It’s your mission as Specter Knight to recruit the Order of No Quarter for The Enchantress! Specter Knight’s campaign truly is his own adventure, and we can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it this Spring."

Happy to see the updates they promised in the Shovel Knight Kickstarter get even better than they original intended. Shovel Knight was a very successful game and I imagine this is fueling this extended development. For the Shovel Knight fans that loved the original, did you play through the Plague of Shadows content and if so what did you think of it?

http://yachtclubgames.com/2016/12/specter-of-torment-trailer/

Disney has a new creature featurette video out showing off some of the amazing looking aliens from Rogue One. The more I see from this movie the more I am excited for seeing it, yet I note that the Star Wars hype train doesn't seem as large as last years. Since there was such a long distance between the last prequel film Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens, it makes sense that The Force Awakens nearly overtook last years holiday season to essentially be STAR WARS AND christmas TOO. That said, there doesn't seem to be as much Rogue One hype this year, which I honestly don't mind. Oh and the initial reviews seem to be mostly postive which helps to quiet my mind that this might live up to my expectations.

But don't take my word for it checkout the collider article below.

http://collider.com/rogue-one-reviews/#news

There isn't any story shown in the video above but the gameplay looks amazing and after I watch that trailer I just want to spend time exploring the world. That said one annoyance I have with modern Zelda games is getting bogged down in dungeons. Zelda is known for some great dungeoning but sometimes they seem like a huge stopping point to the story and to the fun parts in the game. Simply making the dungeons longer or make you backtrack in them 5 times isn't something I enjoy. I hope Breath of the Wild can really deliver a very well polished experience that doesn't feel like the fun of the game stops for bad game design and if Nintendo can pull that off this looks like it could well be one of the best Zelda's released.

If you are craving even more Breath of the Wild check out the Nintendo let's play below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na1cIOmfBlU

Oh and if you are into Nintendo's Amiibo check out the article below about some special Zelda 30th anniversary collectables. I bet they will be SO EASY TO FIND AND ABSOLUTELY IN STOCK EVERYWHERE SO DON'T FRET K, NINTENDO IS SWELL AT MAKING THINGS AVAILABLE IF THEY ARE IN DEMAND! (Sorry everyone, i'm still bitter I can't get a Nintendo Classic)

http://nintendo.tumblr.com/post/153959693594/the-legend-of-zelda-30th-anniversary-amiibo-are

I've been saving up gold for the new Hearthstone expansion for a couple months now and after the recent Hearthstone Gadgetzan expansion dropped I was able to finally open them! I've never had better pack opening luck and snagged 7 legendaries! I didn't get a great common and rare distribution but I opened about 1 legendary for each 10 packs, which is incredible. It's a crazy pack opening ride followed up by playing new decks as I take down the Grimy Goons, Jade Lotus and Kabal quests one by one.

Curious to hear about what you opened and any new decks you are trying you've liked playing with?

If you hang out in retro gaming circles of have hit up a video game convention or two you may have seen the Supaboy, Hyperkin's portable Super Nintendo. The Supaboy has a pretty large following of people that play SNES carts on the go and as such Hyperkin has refreshed the hardware with an all new Supaboy S. Sporting a larger screen, better form factor, improved speakers and the ability to play NTSC and PAL games the Supaboy S is an interesting way to play Super Nintendo games anywhere.

"Daily Dot: "Time to crack open your vintage game collection (that is, if you don't have a shrine to it in your living room already)."

Blunty: "This one also handles PAL cartridges - not just the NTSC that the original did. That's pretty exciting!"

The handheld Hyperkin SupaBoy S will play original SNES (NTSC AND PAL) and SFC cartridges on a built-in 4.3 inch LCD screen. It includes a D-pad and face buttons, as well as right and left shoulder buttons. The SupaBoy S also includes two front-loading ports that are compatible with full-size SNES-compatible controllers and an AV out. It allows up to two players to play the SupaBoy S on a regular TV screen. "

If you want another review of the Supaboy S, check out the one by Metal Jesus (may his name be praised) below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-bzYo_wGfk

In my College days I was obsessed with Neverwinter Nights on PC. It's a rich story based RPG that spans two full expansions and a handful of DLC. Neverwinter Nights was originally released as a multi CD game and was recently dusted off by GOG and released digitally as Neverwinter Diamond, containing all the expansions and DLC that wasn't locked behind DRM. If you never played Neverwinter you missed out but can remedy that now as GOG is giving it away for the next 41 hours.

If you are looking for a rich engrossing RPG romp through the sword and sorcery heavy world of D&D, Neverwinter Nights is something you should get. And for the price of free why not?

https://www.gog.com/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=20161201_winter_sale&utm_term=EN&utm_content=logo

Looks like Nintendo is partnering up with Universal Studios to bring a themed Mario experience to park goers. As a Harry Potter fan we made our way to Universal Orlando to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I thought that stuff was incredible. That said, much of the other attractions weren't entirely to my liking and if Universal added Nintendo rides I think that could really make for a more fun park experience. I do wonder how general audiences would do with Nintendo themed rides?

Would you make a trip to Universal Studios to check out a Nintendo themed experience? Does a Mario or Zelda ride interest you?

File this Hearthstone Murloc Yule log video under "things that absolutely needed to happen." We've all seen the fireplace videos on Netflix and YouTube but what if they contained Murloc and the Murlocs sang holiday classic such as "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Away In a Manger" and "Deck The Halls." "But wait" you ask, is that all there is, just Murlocs sining around a fire, perhaps there's more?" Well yes Timmy there is more as the Murloc occasionally leave things in front of the fireplace. I don't want to spoil the entirety of the 53 minute video but they also drop off items in front of the hearth like cookies and swords.

But don't take my word for it Timmy, watch the holiday miracle above.

Cheerful Ghost had a booth at this years Portland Retro Game Expo and as part of that ran several NES Tournaments. It's a fun thing people enjoy and as we were winding down our first tournament and setting up for our second my NES died. Having your Nintendo die at a retro gaming convention isn't the worst timing I suppose but I wasn't sure if I should buy a replacement NES or get it repaired. I wanted to get it repaired but I didn't have time to track down some repair person at the expo so I decided to try something different. That day I had seen Hyperkin's RetroN 3 for sale and I was interested in trying it out in our tournament. The RetroN 3 plays NES, Genesis and Super Nintendo games and you can use the included Hyperkin controllers or use your own. After I bought it from a vendor I plugged it in and it worked like a charm.

After owning it for a month now I can finally say that it is a really great system. It's not a perfect choice for everyone but if you are looking for a good way to play old NES, SNES or Genesis games this is a great option.

What The RetroN 3 Gets Right

The RetroN 3 perfectly recreates the gameplay and feel of the original NES, SNES and Genesis. So far I've been able to play every game i've thrown at it and the games themselves feel great on it. You can plug in one Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Genesis game into the top of the RetroN 3 at one time making it nice to switch around from Mortal Kombat on Genesis back to Dr Mario on the Nintendo.

The RetroN 3 came packed well in the box and I didn't find it hard to unbox and setup. Sometimes packaging and setup can be frustrating, but it was really easy to understand. I had to lookup how to pair the wireless controllers to the system but after that was done everything else was a breeze.

Customer Support through Hyperkin is also amazing. My system shipped not able to recognize my original Super Nintendo controllers so I contacted Hyperkin and they quickly allowed me to return my RetroN 3 and took care of shipping. The whole process was seamless and I got my replacement system back in a week or so. It's often hit or miss when dealing with returning things back to the manufacturer so it's nice Hyperkin was so great to work with.

Things I don't Love About The RetroN 3

The included RetroN 3 controllers seems built for the Sega Genesis. As someone that only has two Genesis games and a ton of Super Nintendo games this was disappointing. The Genesis style controllers work well for Nintendo games but completely fall down on the Super Nintendo. The lack of shoulder buttons make playing SNES games on the included controllers a chore. So much so that I'd recommend using your original Super Nintendo controllers with the system. That all said the included wireless controllers are fine and work well on Nintendo and Genesis games I just seriously wouldn't recommend them for Super Nintendo play, which is too bad.

Things You Should Keep In Mind About The RetroN 3

The RetroN 3 only supports RCA analog video & S-video. If you are looking for a system that will output to HDMI I suggest you check out the RetroN 5. The RetroN 3 is a good system for older CRT TV's but nothing i'd recommend using with your zillion inch HD TV set.

As the holidays continue onward to years end The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable remains steady! Continuing our legacy of talking about what we are watching and what we've been playing we start things off talking about Arrival, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Rocket League, Destiny, MST3K Turkey Day, Stranger Things & Mortal Kombat.

Because main discussion bullet lists are a thing people love:

• Holiday Gaming Recommendations and Pickups. What games do we recommend you check out over the holidays? Only that guy in Zelda knows for sure as well as the people that watched this episode!


• No Man's Sky Foundation Update Does Hello Games latest update meet expectations or is it something else? Spoiler alert, it's pretty darn good.


• Is $10 Too Much For A Mobile Game? Some have said Super Mario Run is too expensive for $10. Is it? We will answer this question for the entire Internet in a couple minutes.


• Star Wars Rouge One: The next episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable will feature discussion and our review of Star Wars Rogue One. We talk about what our expectations are of the film and give it our "pre rating" for how good we think the movie will be.

Let us know in the comments what you picked up over the holidays and what your expectations and pre-rating for Star Wars Rogue One is!

Show Notes

Star Wars The Holiday Special - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3a5j8PgQxg
No Man's Sky Foundation Update - http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/3178/no-man-s-sky-foundation-update-released
Super Mario Run - https://supermariorun.com/
MST3K Turkey Day - http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3177/happy-ghostly-turkey-day