Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

The Beginning of The Last Guardian Beginning of game spoilers

The Last Guardian has arrived! Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are my favorite games, so I have been anticipating this game for a while. This game is the main reason I got a PS4 (as I already own an Xbox One). The beginning of the game is very enchanting. I thought I would record the beginning if anybody was interested (I also got to test out my new game capture device).

Vote In The 2016 Cheerful Ghost Game Of The Year Awards

Hey everyone. After collecting all the entries for this years Game of the Year, I have them now in poll form for you to vote on. Thanks to everyone that added games to the list.

Triple A Game of the Year:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=58674561e4b0b90e31f33e87

Indie Game of the Year:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=58674645e4b0b90e31f33e8a

Update/DLC Of the Year:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=586746b6e4b0b90e31f33e8d

Mobile Game of the Year:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=58674706e4b0b90e31f33e8e

Please select your top games and the winner will be the highest voted game. I will also list out the others so we all know how it turned out.

Voting will be... Read All

Still Can't Get The NES Classic? Check Out The Retro USB AVS!

"The NES Classic is the hot ticket item of the holiday season and it's currently sold out across the country due to the high demand. Nintendo is working on supplying retail stores with the mini NES, but a full restock isn't expected to take place until after Christmas. Fortunately, there's an alternative for retro gamers seeking an HD 8-bit experience that's more authentic than the popular Nintendo plug & play console. In this Cygnus Destroyer special, we take a look at the RetroUSB AVS."

The Retro USB AVS was all over the Portland Retro Game Expo this year and looks to be one of the best ways to play your NES games on your HD TV. It sports a premium price but... Read All

Some Information About Your New 3DS And What Games To Get With It

Recently I was gifted a NEW 3DS for the holidays and with many people that are new to the system I'm not sure what I should get for it. One of my favorite YouTubers Metal Jesus has a great 3DS buying guide that covers all the systems and some of the games you might be interested in.

One of the reasons I wanted a new 3DS is that it plays the newer 3DS and older DS games. I really think one area Nintendo shines is mobile games and being able to start collecting and playing DS games is something i've been wanting to do after the Gameboy and Advance. As we are approaching the upcoming era of the Switch it's a good time to pickup older DS games cheap while there is a fairly... Read All

Happy Holidays To All!

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Holdays and I hope you spend it with amazing people. Some of us will be opening some presents from Santa so if you get anything particularly noteworthy feel free to share it in the comments.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/25/2016 at 05:29am

I reacted the same way when I got my N64 for christmas, but I was 20.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/25/2016 at 05:32pm

I got the NES Classic! (It's super fun, but I'm just impressed my wife found one!)

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/25/2016 at 09:28pm

Awesome Adam!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 01:12am

Damn lucky Adam.

The main fun stuff I got was the new 3DS and a few movies like The Hateful Eight and Star Trek Beyond. The new Metallica album and the Breakfast Club on Bluray. Can't wait to watch Bender smoke it up in HD!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 02:09am

The new 3DS also doesn't come with a charger. I remember something about that a while ago. I guess it works with the old ones and they don't include it. Not expensive but annoying as it's my first DS.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 02:17am

Yeah the new 3DS no charger is lame.

I got a PS4 slim with uncharted 4.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 04:19am

Lucky guys! Gaming wise I got a $30 Gamestop gift card, which I'm thinking of taking to Gamestop and buying $30 in Steam gift cards. LOL Gaming wise, my son got an ocarina from his mom! He also got a Skylanders thing, but it's for XB1/360 (which we don't have), so it's going to get returned for something else.

Oh and as for the N64, I remember that Christmas when I got mine. I got enough money for Christmas that I went to Wal-Mart and bought one. It was sometime around or after high school (which ended in '98 for me). I still have it!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2016 at 07:14am

That's super lame that the 3DS doesn't come with a charger, since it's a proprietary connector.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 07:21am

@Travis, I agree. I read about that issue and forgot about it. Since I have already paid for a 3DS and 2 3DS XLs, I already have more than one charger for the 3DS family, so that mattered little to me. I seem to remember reading that they did that to reduce the cost of the system (which is currently about $200), although it seems like a charger would be only a slight cost and not including one just seems like a stupid idea.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 04:19pm

I forgot about the charger too! I already had a charger, so I didn't think much of it. I would have rather paid a few more dollars for a bundled in charger than not having one. Think of all the poor kids (and Jon) that get one as a present and then can't use it due to not having a charger. Sometimes I just don't understand Nintendo.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 04:22pm

Did you get any 3DS games Jon?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 05:49pm

Besides immediately going to Amazon for a charger I also bought Ocarina of Time 3D and Yoshis New Island. I already got a few old DS games like New Super Mario Brothers from Goodwill and that's a really fun game.

I will get the Link Between Worlds and a few others st some point too.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 05:50pm

Also there are a ton of demos for the 3DS which should keep me occupied for awhile. Demos, remember those?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 06:51pm

Yeah! I know Nintendo has demos, because I've downloaded some of them from their online store. I haven't played OoT 3D, but I bet it's pretty sweet (as the original and other ports are). I have Link Between Worlds, or at least I bought the golden Triforce 3DS XL that came with it. Well it was really a code I had to enter to get it downloaded from the store.

Jon, did you get the New 3DS XL or just the New 3DS? Apparently that "New" model you got has better hardware. I was told that the Hyrule Warriors game for the 3DS doesn't play well on the original system, but works fine on the "New" model.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 07:28pm

The New 3DS so not the XL and it was a Black Friday special for $99, so a pretty good deal.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/26/2016 at 07:29pm

Man, "Nintendo hard" is a real thing! These games are fun, but I kinda feel like I'm banging my head against a wall when playing them lol. I am determined to play through Zelda II, but it's really slow going! (Zelda II is a super smooth game though. The controls feel really good)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2016 at 08:01pm

What have you played so far? Zelda 2 is really rough. I've never beat it myself.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2016 at 08:33pm

OMG Zelda 2 is freaking hard. I never was able to figure it out when I played it on the NES. I finally found another way to play it (many years later) with cheats and then looked up what I was supposed to do. I really don't know about that game, it's perhaps one of the most mind boggling games I can think of!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/27/2016 at 05:23pm

So far my favorite games are Zelda 2 and Final Fantasy. I've played (and loved) FF 2, 3 and 7, but never played the first. It appears it's going to be a long grind (I made my 4 person team to be, 1 black magic, 1 white magic and 2 fighters. I really had no idea what I was doing, but it seems to work) as my team is going to need to level up A LOT before even going through the first dungeon/castle. But I love the sounds! It's kind of a "duh" now, but the FF sounds originated in the original! I was pleasantly surprised to find this out :)

I've tried out most of the other games, and my wife laughs at me when I play for 1 minute, the feels impossible, and I press Resart and go to a different game :)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/27/2016 at 05:37pm

Which ones feel impossible Adam? "Nintendo hard" is definitely a thing :D

Travis Admin wrote on 12/27/2016 at 05:47pm

Please note: I'm not asking so I can say HAHA YOU SUCK I'm interested in hearing which ones, as an adult, feel impossible. Our interpretation of difficulty has changed since the 80s. I think we were more willing to grind something really hard when we had all the time in the world and only like 15 games to choose from.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/27/2016 at 06:43pm

Don't worry, my wife already says that to me, all the time...
Looking back at the list, the only game that feels *impossible* is Super C. The controls feel bad for Ice Climber and Kid Icarus. I might not bother playing those again. I get Galaga and Gradius mixed up, but both were too difficult to put much effort in. Ghosts'N Goblins and Megan Man 2 felt really hard, but beatable (I got through a couple Mega man levels before getting interested in trying something else). Both Castlevania games seemed fun, but didn't keep my attention. I'll come back to those at some point. Kirby and Tecmo Bowl were way too easy, I stopped playing them quickly after starting but will probably pick them up at some point when I'm bored. Zelda 2 is super hard, but fun enough to keep trying. Final Fantasy is grinds, but I'm giving it time.

So I guess the only *impossible* game is Super C :)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/28/2016 at 04:40am

Kid Icarus is one of my faves, clunky controls and all. I can see why you might lump it in with that (tangentially)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/28/2016 at 05:08pm

I need a Game Genie Classic now ;)

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Shadow Man - N64 Review

https://willballblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/img_0194.jpg

I recently dusted off my N64 and fired up Shadow Man. After 30+ hours, I have conquered Deadside!

Shadow Man deals with a world of voodoo and the land of the dead. They call this land "Deadside". As Shadow Man you are protector of Deadside. You are sent to collect the dark souls and stop Legion and Jack the Ripper (plus their minions) from collecting them. This is a game of dark subject matter, which is a nice change of pace for a game on a Nintendo platform.

I enjoyed my time in Deadside. The world is well built and the mechanics are fairly solid. There is some good platforming here and the dual wield system for the weapons was a nice touch. As for weapons, you have... Read All I recently dusted off my N64 and fired up Shadow Man. After 30+ hours, I have conquered Deadside!

Shadow Man deals with a world of voodoo and the land of the dead. They call this land "Deadside". As Shadow Man you are protector of Deadside. You are sent to collect the dark souls and stop Legion and Jack the Ripper (plus their minions) from collecting them. This is a game of dark subject matter, which is a nice change of pace for a game on a Nintendo platform.

I enjoyed my time in Deadside. The world is well built and the mechanics are fairly solid. There is some good platforming here and the dual wield system for the weapons was a nice touch. As for weapons, you have both real world guns and voodoo weapons. Most of the weapons also have some use in solving puzzles, which makes them more useful than for just killing the bad guys.

All that being said, I did have some problems. The N64 version had some bugs. I had the game freeze once, monsters would disappear through walls and walk through doors, and at one point the camera pointed at the ground for a transition scene. The camera got in the way at points too. There was no real easy way to control it on the N64, which in turn made some of the platforming elements difficult. Also the strafe targeting did not always work so well. It often would lose its lock and either target nothing or switch to another enemy.

I also felt that this game needs a map. It is a very drab world, which is appropriate given that Deadside is essentially Hell. This drab world makes it easy to get lost. A lot of it looks the same, and sometime the textures would blend together and you would not notice a path. There is also a lot of backtracking, so a map would make things a little bit easier and more enjoyable.

You can currently get this game on Steam and GOG for a few dollars. So if you want to check it out, it is still available on the PC and Mac, and I would say worth the few dollars. You could also dig up used copies for the PlayStation and Dreamcast.

Don't Wait For The SNES Mini, Build It Now With The Raspberry Pi 3!

A few days ago I posted about a Kickstarter project to make a handheld system that can play retro games built on the Raspberry Pi. If you are interested in building the ultimate retro emulator to hook up to your TV pparently building a Raspberry Pi console isn't too hard and Gizmodo made an awesome video about it. You can even buy a kit that includes all the parts you need right now on Amazon for $70 while we are all waiting for that NES Classic to be back in stock. I don't recommend you pirate all these games but if you want a one stop shop to play all the games you do own, this is a great option.

... Read All

All Of The Classic Mega Man Games Are Coming To Mobile In January

Mega Man I-VI are coming to Android and iOS this January. Don't misunderstand me, I really have fond memories of Mega Man 2 and 3 but I'm not sure how well these games will play on a phone? I suppose the controls are fairly simple but Mega Man has a fairly tight control scheme so i'm a bit concerned the translation will be worthwhile. Still, accessing these classics in a new way is a good thing and I hope they will be great ports.

Prison Architect Gets a Surprise Update For The Holidays

Introversion said that Prison Architect was complete and wouldn't be getting more features and a couple months later... more features! It's a prison miracle and what new things did Santa Warden bring us? Prison staff needs!! Just what we always wanted! Well, maybe not for me but it's a really neat feature and also optional which means if you don't want to worry about it in your current or upcoming prisons you won't need to.

"This frosty December, we give you guard needs: no longer can you treat your hard working prison officers as robot gaolers. They're going to need their own toilet and canteen and your staff room is about to get a whole lot busier....

Failure to look... Read All

If You Need More Retro In Your Life The Raspi Boy is For You

Back this on Kickstarter!

If you've been looking to get more into retro gaming on the go and Raspberry Pi you might want to check out funding the Raspi Boy Kickstarter project.

"The idea came when I saw on internet projects of "GameBoyZero", awesome raspberry pi based consoles. I was amazed, but it looked pretty difficult to build one, it was a 3 months work and over 100 for all components! And last, you need an old gameboy to rip open.

RaspiBoy is conceived such that everything fits together perfectly and the build is a 5 minutes task without soldering!

The RaspiBoy comes as a kit, with easy mounting tutorial PDF and video. Don't worry ! It's super easy and we will guide you step by step. It's... Read All