Cheerful Ghost Radio

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 21: Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger is a classic RPG originally released in 1995 by Square-Enix back when they were still Squaresoft. It is considered by many as one of the greatest video games of the 16 bit era. Visitors to Cheerful Ghost have probably read Jon’s post about having recently played the game for the first time. This is one of Tim’s favorite games of all time, so the two of them sat down to discuss how they see the game coming at it at very different times in their lives.

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 20: Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong is an arcade platformer created by Shigeru Miyamoto when he was tasked with converting the arcade game Radar Scope, a game that did poorly, into something that was more fun. In Donkey Kong the main character Jumpman, who would later be known as Mario, needs to climb a series of construction themed levels on his way up to rescue his girlfriend Pauline. Donkey Kong started out on the Arcade and has seen ports on the Game & Watch, NES, Atari 2600 and a ton of other systems.

In season two of Cheerful Ghost Radio we are doing bite-sized NES Classic review episodes. We want to make you all part of these episodes, so head over to the events section and join in... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/12/2018 at 06:07pm

Just a funny aside, I was watching a review of Ready Player One the other day on YouTube, and one of the YouTubers referred to her first game she was really into as "Donkey Kong," but after talking more, it was clear she was actually referring to Donkey Kong Country.

Kids these days... lol

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/12/2018 at 07:24pm

You think that’s weird, I know someone whose favorite game when he was a kid was God of War 3. We’re getting old!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/15/2018 at 02:57am

Heh. One fun thing in DKC is that Cranky Kong is actual Donkey from the original game and Donkey is actually his son.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/15/2018 at 02:57am

I mean, i'm sure we all knew that but we didn't mention it in the Podcast so ... oblig factlet everyone knows to get more nerd cred.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/15/2018 at 04:10am

OK I had no idea honestly. That's cool

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 19: Borderlands 2 Retrospective

Travis gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Travis gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Borderlands 2 is a first person shooter RPG that was released by Gearbox Software in 2012. It launched to nearly universal acclaim and won a bunch of awards including the Cheerful Ghost game of the year award for 2012! Borderands 2 got a junk ton of DLC and was one of the first games with a season pass that got even more DLC after that season pass DLC came out. Borderlands 2 dropped on PC, PS3 the XBox 360 and was later brought to Mac, Linux, PS4, XBox One, Vita and the NVidia Shield.

We wanted to head back to this game and talk about it because we think it deserves a second look and a bit more discussion.

Spoiler alert: Perhaps it's no surprise, we love this game and... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 18 : The Cloverfield Paradox

Netflix surprised everyone with the trailer for The Cloverfield Paradox during the Super Bowl, and released it that night! We were excited to see the next Cloverfield installment, and equally excited to talk about it.

Does Paradox live up to previous Cloverfield movies? Do we find out where the monster came from in the original Cloverfield? Did someone spill Slusho on the particle accelerator causing a dystopian reality where the Slusho Corporation controls the Earth? Find out in this episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 03/20/2018 at 07:21pm

This movie sucked. Here is what I didn't like about it:

Bad acting

Pretty much all the characters are under developed/I didn't care for

Things that made no sense

Felt too rushed

It put me to sleep

I am pretty easy going on movies, but this one stunk.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/22/2018 at 11:47pm

For me, there's no movie I *have* to go see in the theater (other than Ready Player One. I think I do need to see that in a theater lol). Seeing Star Wars movies is about seeing the movie with friends, but we could just as easily meet up at someone's house if it first came out streaming somewhere. I love that movies are having more release options, and it doesn't feel like a "lesser" release anymore. It's not like the old days of "straight to video" releases lol.

I've not seen TCP, but I did really enjoy the original Cloverfield. Just never got around to 10 Cloverfield Lane. And after watching and really not liking Bright, when I saw TCP getting a lot of negative reviews, I've already forgotten about the movie (other than being reminded by your podcast). Some day, I might flip to it when scrolling around Netflix, but honestly, I doubt it.

And I really want to watch The Room sometime!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/23/2018 at 12:19am

You’ve gotta see The Room. It’s a sight to behold.

And The Disaster Artist, the story of how The Room was made, is pretty great too.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/23/2018 at 04:02am

I’m watching The Room right now. Lots to say. Most of it negative and I love bad movies.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/23/2018 at 02:01pm

From what I've heard, it's best watched with a group of people lol

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/23/2018 at 07:15pm

I bet it is.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 17: Black Panther

Black Panther’s claws are tearing it up the box office making this recording setting movie a main event in this review episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio!

T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T'Challa's father's mistake.

Directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 16: Excitebike

Excitebike is a Motocross racing game developed by Nintendo as part of the original NES launch lineup. In Excitebike you can choose to race Solo or against other computer players and you can qualify for the Excitebike championships by coming in at first or third place time. In Excitebike there is also a design mode, allowing you to build and race your own tracks.

In season two of Cheerful Ghost Radio we are doing bite-sized NES Classic review episodes. We want to make you all part of these episodes, so comment below if you have ideas for more of these, and head on over to the Cheerful Ghost Events section to join in on the discussion for our next NES Classic review,... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 15: Ice Climber

Ice Climber was released Jan 30th 1985 by Nintendo R&D1. Nintendo R&D1 made other games such as Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario, Excitebike, Mario Bros., Metroid, Kid Icarus and Tetris. In Ice Climber the characters Popo and Nana head up 32 different ice mountains to get an eggplant from a huge thieving bird vulture thing. In season two of Cheerful Ghost Radio we are starting out doing NES Classic reviews and being things with Ice Climber. We are thinking these reviews can be a more bite-sized episode format and are interested in what you think and if you have any ideas for future episodes!

Episode 14: Cheerful Ghost’s 6 Year Anniversary Celebration!

As we begin season 2 of Cheerful Ghost Radio we pause to reflect on the 6th anniversary of Cheerful Ghost by talking about some of our favorite memories. Since the new year in gaming is here we talk about some of the most exciting games coming out this year.

Show Notes:

Travis interviews Ryan Gordon: https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/771/interview-with-ryan-c-gordon-about-linux-gaming

FarCry 5: https://far-cry.ubisoft.com/game/en-us/home/

Mega Man 11: https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3564/mega-man-11-coming-in-2018

Project Octopath Traveler: https://cheerfulghost.com/Will_Ball/posts/3481/project-octopath-traveler-demo-impressions

Super Meat Boy Forever: ... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 13: The Future of Star Wars

Where is the future of Star Wars going and what do we want to see from it? We talk about everything from the upcoming Han Solo film to the rumored Obi Wan movie. If after our last two hour The Last Jedi special you wanted even more discussion here it is!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/23/2018 at 07:41pm

I would like to see a big tent pole Star Wars movie every few years followed by smaller movies in between.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/23/2018 at 07:56pm

Really great episode! It was a lot of fun to listen to.

I had some random thoughts as I was listening, and I wish I wrote them down as I thought of them, but here are some random thoughts from the episode.

I agree that Han Solo, is the first movie I didn't want. I really enjoy going and seeing Star Wars movies on opening night with friends, but I kind of want to send a message to the studio that this is not what I want, so I'm thinking about not spending my money on it in the theater. It will be hard to wait for it to be available On Demand somewhere (HBO or Netflix, or maybe Disney's streaming service)... so maybe I'll just see it in a second run theater lol. I will wait and see reviews/spoilers/etc before going and seeing this one. But I'm torn because Opening Night has been a fun tradition... so we'll see how resolute I am when it comes time to buy tickets lol.

I'd love to see some sort of Goonies/Stranger Things/Chronicle type story about kids realizing Force powers and not knowing what to do with them. Or finding some ancient Jedi temple. Or something along those lines.

Similarly, to somewhat combine the first 2 points, I'm not interested in back stories of characters or events. I want the universe to expand and continue forward.

(My comment was too long, so it continues in the next comment lol)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/23/2018 at 07:56pm

I am interested in a 3-movie story that Rian Johnson could tell. The more I think back upon The Last Jedi, the more I appreciate it. I hope he would take it in a new direction.

Oh, it was mentioned that it would be cool to see more populated areas in Star Wars movies. I think since the main story lines are focused on The Empire and The Rebels, it's natural to mostly see military bases and rebal hideouts. Neither which would have a huge population. But hopefully that changes. I do love Star Wars, and the rebels vs the Empire has been great for the story, but it really can't be used again. So, as other people are focused on, probably with Force powers, they could live anywhere, and I think likely would be in metropolitan areas.

Regarding multiple Star Wars movies per year, I think that's too much personally. I don't think Star Wars needs to try to replicate Marvel. But if Star Wars did something like this, I wonder if they'd have to drop "Star Wars" from the name. Imagine how wordy Marvel movies would get if they had to use Marvel in the title. "Thor Ragnarok: A Marvel Story" would be a terrible name. Sure, Marvel has the benefit of people already associated the characters with Marvel, since they're all based on the comic books, but still, Star Wars needs to make good movies, and not rely on just slapping it's name on something. I think they could actually expand their audience if they didn't super promote Star Wars, as every Star Wars fan is going to know a Star Wars movie when it comes out, but perhaps there are some people who aren't into Star Wars, but would be interested in a creepy monster thriller that I could tell someone "sure, it's set in the Star Wars universe, but it's it's own thing."

I feel like I'm rambling on now, so I'll stop, but more thoughts might come to me later lol

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/23/2018 at 10:51pm

Yeah, I don't want to see multiple Star Wars movies a year. I think the break in between all the movies has kept people hungry for more. I feel each year might be too much.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/23/2018 at 10:51pm

If Solo sticks to its May 2018 date, we will have more than a year between it and Episode 9, which will be nice.

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/24/2018 at 04:17am

> I agree that Han Solo, is the first movie I didn't want. I really enjoy going and seeing Star Wars movies on opening night with friends, but I kind of want to send a message to the studio that this is not what I want, so I'm thinking about not spending my money on it in the theater.

We recorded this episode back in December and my attitudes have shifted somewhat as i've heard more rumors about how difficult Solo has been to make. Is it gonna be good? I don't know but i'm not expecting it to be BUT I want to see it now more than ever simply because i'm curious how it's gonna turn out. Even if Lucasfilm is making a movie I don't really want to see I'm interested in it now primarily to see how it turns out from Lucasfilm firing the original directors to Ron Howard taking over. I'm sort of interested in it now in terms of how well the Lucasfilm, Ron and the rest can work some force magic to make this a great movie. The had some reshoots on Rogue One and that turned out great so i'm hoping for something good here.

Also, like, you have to come see it with me. It's like tradition.

> Regarding multiple Star Wars movies per year, I think that's too much personally. I don't think Star Wars needs to try to replicate Marvel.

I agree and it's good to go some time between them to build the anticipation because from Rogue One to The Last Jedi that felt like the right amount of time and it payed off.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 01/24/2018 at 03:31pm

I had somehow forgotten a lot of the details around Solo, that Kasdan wrote it and that the reason Lucasfilm switched directors was because Kasdan felt that the original ones weren’t being true to the story.

So the struggle they went through makes me want to see it more because it shows Lucasfilm is dedicated to doing these things right.

Since they’ve targeted May for every release, but every one of those has slid to December except Solo, I kinda wish they’d just kept he December timeline for all of them. I like the Christmas break tradition and the time between TLJ and Solo seems way too short.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/02/2018 at 07:45pm

I just saw that in China, Disney is dropping "Star Wars" from the Solo movie because The Last Jedi did poorly there. I hope Disney does the same here for future Star Wars movies.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 02/03/2018 at 12:53am

It will now be called Solo: A Cup Story

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/03/2018 at 01:15am

Ha!

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/04/2018 at 07:54pm

Hahahaha. Aren’t they calling it Ranger Solo in China?

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/05/2018 at 12:29am

Yeah lol

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 12 - Star Wars: The Last Jedi Holiday Special

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out and as per Cheerful Ghost tradition we dedicate an entire episode to it. We talk about what worked and what didn’t and take a long look at the fan criticism of this movie.

Currently The Last Jedi holds a 93% Critic rating and a 56% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans have many conflicting opinions and are having fierce debates over the film’s merit, so we have lots to talk about. Get ready because this conversation contains some intense debate and nothing is off the table for discussion.

WARNING: This episode is full of spoilers, and as such you should also expect the comments on this post to contain them as well.

Do not expand the... Read All