Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

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

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable S4 E7: Rogue One A Star Wars Story

In this special episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable we talk the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and wax philsophic about ATAT walkers which some question the utility of(not naming names). This episode features Cheerful Ghost community member Adam who is filling in to bring his take on what he's been playing(FTL) and his thoughts on Rogue One.

We break the review in two and start things fresh spoiler free so rest assured that if you watch start to finish we will give you plenty of time to bail during the spoiler section.

Bullets for your pleasure:

Westworld - Apparently people are watching this HBO show?

Super Mario Run - Is Nintendos latest game great or merely... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 12/21/2016 at 03:35am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2ywJQUnBOM

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/21/2016 at 03:54am

I skipped out on this because I didn't bother to ask if it was going to be spoiler-free, I just assumed it wouldn't be. So, I'll ask before watching, was it? I'm interested in the Cheerful Ghost opinion of it. Did you all like it? I mean, I am a rare one that enjoyed the prequels, so I'll probably like it. LOL

Travis Admin wrote on 12/21/2016 at 04:00am

It's spoiler-free for the first 20ish minutes. We all liked it even though there were some missteps. It does a good job of tying the prequels to the original series and it's really well done.

Don't expect a normal Star Wars movie. It's dark for Star Wars.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/21/2016 at 04:00am

Also Katie points out that with Adam on the panel, you really need to up your beard game, Jon.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/21/2016 at 04:08am

Hahahaha. I'll take it under advisement.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/21/2016 at 04:26am

That was a lot of fun!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/21/2016 at 05:25am

Doh! I just saw in the post that this Roundtable is in two parts. I obviously didn't read that when I asked my question.

Thanks for the head's up and opinion, Travis. I'm kind of surprised by the "dark for Star Wars" comment, because I thought Episode III and VII were dark, but I didn't dislike them. But, that's 2 out of 7 movies, so that kind of barely makes the series "gray."

Hahaha if I was on the panel, that would be a +1 to Jon upping his beard game. I have one, too.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/21/2016 at 03:43pm

Hmm you make a good point with episode III being dark. I mean Anakin straight up murders children (spoiler alert). Rogue One just feels more gritty. I guess it's that it's about military operatives performing a military op.

I really didn't think episode VII was dark, though. There were dark things in it but it was handled in a non-dark way I guess.

The don't think this is a spoiler but just in case spoiler alert: Really the "dark" in Rogue One is that the good guys aren't always good.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/21/2016 at 05:27pm

Oh yeah, something I brought up but didn't explain fully (and this isn't a spoiler, it's a thought for Episode 8). I said "What if Vader was working with Snoke the whole time?" but didn't really get into why I thought that. In Episode 7, Kylo Ren says something along the lines of "I will finish what you started" to Vader's helmet. Does this simply mean building a Death Star like weapon and making the universe submit to him, or something more? I wonder if Vader could have had some other plan that wasn't shown in the original trilogy. (It's not likely, but fun to speculate about)

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/21/2016 at 11:41pm

Good show, guys! Awesome to see you in there, Adam. Sorry I couldn't make it. I think you guys covered most of the things turning in my head, but there are a few things that came to mind after watching this and another review. I don't want to post spoilers, so I'm working on a supplemental that I'll try to post soon, or maybe something else entirely... O.o

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/22/2016 at 03:49pm

Leaked photos from the Rogue One sequel (Mainly Speculation - Possible Spoilers)
http://m.imgur.com/gallery/sZQUt

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/22/2016 at 03:56pm

That's awesome. I love the Internet.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/22/2016 at 07:39pm

I enjoyed Rogue One. On my entertained, not entertained movie scale, I was entertained.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/22/2016 at 08:22pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqJFIJ5lLs

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/07/2017 at 06:34am

I finally watched Rogue One and this Roundtable! I agree with you all that it was a good movie. I didn't have high expectations for it, in fact I was quite baffled with it right away (before seeing it) because we pretty much already know the plot and what happens. But, it was good. Travis said it was "dark" and after watching it, I can see that perspective. It certainly is! I was not expecting so much death. I liked that Death Star guy/commander who returned from the original trilogy. I didn't noticed he was CG. I also didn't noticed Leia at the end was CG, too. I did wonder how they got those people in the movie. They both looked fine at first glance, so I'll see how that holds up when I watch it again.

I liked the two characters that worked together, the blind guy, and that one with a huge gun. They were cool. Oh and I'm not very good with remembering Star Wars character names.

Comparing to The Force Awakens, I think I like Awakens more than Rogue One. I also like the Star Wars pre-sequels, probably more than anyone else I know. If I were to watch the Star Wars movies again, I'd probably start out with the pre-sequels, then Rogue One, and then the original trilogy. As for rating each movie, I don't know. They're all good to me.

I also watched Arrival, which was better than I expected. It was deep and quite different from other ET movies.

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The Making of Full Throttle - Looking Back At a LucasArts Classic

If you like behind the scenes videos featuring Tim Schafer this is something you need to watch as this video is both! Yay!

#allaboardthehypechopper

My Review of The First Level of Super Mario Run

https://s.aolcdn.com/dims5/amp:5f65771cd0296d459c776b1a57480ab3f7690509/q:100/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fo.aolcdn.com%2Fhss%2Fstorage%2Fmidas%2F3db5f3a48488accac1d993d05a5f2669%2F204297987%2Fmarior4un3.jpg

Nintendo dropped it's second mobile offering on iOS last week and it's great. Super Mario Run is just the right amount of Nintendo polish and classic Mario game play feel to make it a near home run. It suffers from a few things I don't love though like it's always on DRM and in game store. I don't mind DLC or buying things in game for the most part, but it seems the Toad Rally being ticket gated and the only way to unlock tickets is limited in game to completing levels seems a bit strange. That said, if you focus on the core game, it's fantastic and so far I've only played the first level.

Super Mario Run is a free to download game that comes with the first three... Read All

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/19/2016 at 07:05pm

One of the biggest problems I have with Super Mario Run is the perpetual downloading of game data. The game size listed on it's App Store page is 173mb. I've played through the entire demo, and have since run into two instances where game data was being downloaded, increasing the games size (so far) to just over 345mb. That's just the demo levels. It's not the size, but the multiple instances of waiting for the game to... I don't even know what it's doing. Updating? I've already played through all the levels, so it can't be downloading any new textures or sounds. Whatever it is, it's weird and annoying. Nintendo is really good at weird and annoying. But they're also good at cute and nostalgic. It's Mario, for better or worse. Once you pass the first couple levels, play the Rally, and see the loop that their driving toward, then it all just feels like a really lazy way for Nintendo to make another small fortune. A mobile experience worthy of a $10 price tag, this is not. At least not by what's on show in the demo (I didn't fork out the money, so I'm only speaking relative to the demo). It's not boring, but I also found it to be uninteresting. Or at least, not as interesting as I was hoping it would be, for a Mario game.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/19/2016 at 08:49pm

I'm in agreement with scrypt. I don't have an iphone myself, but I went into an Apple store and tried out the demo. It was fun, but I can't see it being $10 worth of fun.

I wonder if the extra downloads were simply more levels to play, to have ready if you did buy the game?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/19/2016 at 09:26pm

I bought the whole game and have already gotten $10 of enjoyment out of it.

I have only had to do the extra data download once, when the game started. I have not seen it since, and I have played all 24 levels.

Jon, there are multiple ways to get more tickets. There are a few bonus games that unlock every 8 hours that can get you more tickets. Also, you get tickets when you finish a level (like you said) and collect all 5 of the special color coins for a level. Right now I am sitting at 51 tickets and have already done 66 Rallies.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/19/2016 at 10:09pm

Value is an interesting proposition. Someone may buy a game bundle for $10 and spend no time playing the games and think it was a good purchase, whereas someone else may not. Based on what I've played of the game so far(1 level) I think the $10 would be worth it but I've dropped a couple hours on that one level.

Bonus games that unlock every 8 hours for more tickets? Huh, well that's something but I still think the ticket thing is strange.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/19/2016 at 10:51pm

I really dislike how building your kingdom is dependent on the rallies, which are competitive, REpetetive, and can result in losing resources if you lose the rally. Toads from your kingdom come to cheer you on, but if you lose they'll leave. It's the kind of thing that you'd expect to see in a free-to-play game to encourage you to spend money on microtransactions, but there are no microtransactions here. I wish the rallies weren't required to get access to extra levels. You can build pipes and rainbow roads to take you to other levels but that requires a lot of grinding.

Plus on a few occasions I've been unable to play at all because of the online requirement, and I've even lost progress a couple of times. The rallies obviously need a connection, but there's no reason to lock out the main game. There are some cases when I'd normally play mobile games that I'm unable to, because the reception is hit-or-miss in those areas.

But the "Journey" mode where you play through six worlds of four levels is really fun. For an endless runner it's solid, probably the best I've played. I don't love re-grinding the levels to collect different colors of coins, but it does add replay. But more levels would also provide replay value and be far more interesting.

I'm not sure it was worth the $10, but at the same time I don't have any regrets for spending that money. I will say that the first three levels in the demo are not representative. A better representation would have been 1-1, 2-1, and 3-1. Things get more complex and interesting after the demo.

Also yeah, I've played the whole thing and I only got the extra download the first time I launched it. Scrypt I imagine you might have some other issue there.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/19/2016 at 11:18pm

Couple corrections:

1. It's called "Tour" not "Journey."

2. I was wrong about the pipes-- those don't require rallies, just pink/purple/black coins. The rainbow roads do require rallies.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/19/2016 at 11:37pm

Strange that I've experienced two distinct "data downloading" sequences. Maybe it was my connection?

I do like the Tour mode. That's enjoyable enough. All the other stuff reminds me too much of the Miitomo experience of playing mini-games to unlock cosmetics (which, for me, got boring after a while).

One of the reviewers in the App Store mentioned disappointment in the Rally mode, and said that it would have been cool if it was instead a challenge mode where you play other players created maps (similar to Super Mario Maker), and I totally agree. I'd pay $10 for that.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/20/2016 at 04:04am

Damn: http://www.wsj.com/articles/nintendo-shares-fall-after-super-mario-run-disappoints-1482142448

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/20/2016 at 05:03am

Huh. I didn't really look at the app store reviews but it's sitting at a 2 1/2 stars. That does seem quite low for a Nintendo game. Mobile is a tough crowd.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/22/2016 at 07:40pm

I have been playing a shit ton of rally. It is probably my favorite part of the game at this time.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/22/2016 at 08:25pm

The problem I have with rally is that your progress can be entirely halted by how well other people have played the levels in what amounts to single player. You're competing against the "ghost" of runs past. So I'll play and do really well and get 50 or so new toads then do less well or get outplayed by the ghosts of other players and lose nearly all of them. It's just frustrating. Halting progress is commonplace in video games, but *losing* progress, in a world building segment of a game, because you did poorly in a faux-multiplayer segment, just seems weird.

So since the game stops showing you players who are less than a few toads lower than you, we'll play up to a point where we can't progress, because everyone above us is better than we are.

I wanted to see what the princess cake unlockable was all about so I watched a youtube video. A guy with almost perfect runs was having a little trouble gaining the toads he needed because everyone with more toads was so damn good.

But I keep playing it because I have so many tickets. Your max is 99 and I've hit that a couple times. And with those bonus games that are easy to unlock you basically have infinite tickets. So why have tickets at all?

And plus I'd like to unlock the remaining two characters.

I guess the one thing I don't dislike about the rally is the actual gameplay-- the randomized chunks of levels makes for good replay, but the fact that you're playing against someone is a frustration for the above reasons.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/22/2016 at 09:11pm

Funny. I was just reading about a similar situation, in a completely different game. Certain elements of the game are trapped behind a skill-wall. Some players are obviously better than others, or become so over time, but to the point that those rewards are all but unattainable to the average player. The average player will eventually stop playing, because the only alternative is constant defeat and frustration. Half the people say that this is ultimately a design flaw, while the other half simply say "Get good." I'm in the "design-flaw" category, especially if the mechanic is in anything other than an e-sports game. Achievements/Trophies are the exception, because the accumulation (or futility) of these types of rewards has no bearing on the in-game experience.

Racing against someones ghost in Super Mario Run can be fun, but with in-game currency on the line, it becomes more like gambling, except that you have no say in the stakes. What would be a better solution for this problem? Maybe allowing you to wage a certain number of Toads before the race?

Travis Admin wrote on 12/22/2016 at 09:15pm

I'd say something even as simple as only losing half as many from a loss would give you the opportunity to progress a little further but the problems still persist.

Combine that with total random opponents instead of those ranked higher with you, and your chances of advancing go up while your losses are minimized.

You still have risk, you still have reward.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/22/2016 at 09:22pm

I love racing against the ghost. I also don't mind losing toads. It knocks you back so you can win again! It all works for me. :)

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The Mean Streets of Gadgezan Shows How Well Cartoony Crime Pays

jdodson gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

jdodson gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

The latest Hearthstone expansion The Mean Streets of Gadgetzan has been out a little under two weeks now and I've played enough now to finally be able to talk about it. If you are curious how my first experience with the expansion went, I recommend you check out my pack opening and crime boss quests video. It was a fun time and, to date, it was the most packs i've ever opened in one sitting. I also opened far more legendaries than I've seen so if anything, watch it to see my incredible luck!

Now that Hearthstone has been out for a few years and received quite a few expansions and adventures how do you keep it fresh? It's an interesting question for one of the most... Read All The latest Hearthstone expansion The Mean Streets of Gadgetzan has been out a little under two weeks now and I've played enough now to finally be able to talk about it. If you are curious how my first experience with the expansion went, I recommend you check out my pack opening and crime boss quests video. It was a fun time and, to date, it was the most packs i've ever opened in one sitting. I also opened far more legendaries than I've seen so if anything, watch it to see my incredible luck!

Now that Hearthstone has been out for a few years and received quite a few expansions and adventures how do you keep it fresh? It's an interesting question for one of the most popular multiplayer games around and the developers answered it in a couple ways. First, in the last expansion Whispers of the Old Gods they dropped a new game concept of Standard Mode and Wild Mode. Standard ensures that the game constantly rotates in and out sets in a yearly cycle keeping the game meta fresh. If you want to keep playing with your old cards, Wild Mode allows this and thus Hearthstone took a page out of the Magic the Gathering model of keeping the competative game fresh while allowing you to keep playing the cards you love. Mean Streets of Gadgetzan builds off that but takes it one step further by adding factions. There are nine classes in Hearthstone and in Gadgetzan they fall into one of three factions called the Kabal, the Goons and the Jade Lotus. Each faction has special cards and mechanics that can only be used by the factions themselves creating a interesting way to share neutral cards. Each faction has a theme that carries over to their card design such as the Goons buffing cards in your hand, the Kabal providing magical potions and upgrades and the Jade Lotus stealth and Jade Golem cards. The factions bring an interesting play element to the game and really spice up the classes and have thrown WAY more competitive and varied decks into the game meta.

After I opened Gadgetzan packs I held out on crafting new cards until the meta stabilized. Whereas people are still refining decks and trying out different play styles I think things have settled enough for me to craft a bunch of cards for decks I find really interesting. I really enjoy Reno decks and so far have had a blast playing Reno Priest and my favorite deck of all time, Reno Warlock. Both require you to scrap in the early game for a win but if things snowball in your favor the games can be very rewarding.

So far the cards i've crafted are a Dirty Rat, Kazakus, Aya Blackpaw, Bloodmage Thalnos, Jade Lightning, 2 Mortal Strikes, another Doomsayer, Buckaneer and 2 Jinu Waterspeakers. I'm really happy with those crafts and was lucky enough to open cards such that I had enough dust to craft them.

If you are looking to head back in to Hearthstone or have yet to make the plunge now might be a good time to play it. I am completely free to play and have found the grind VS fun to be a very balanced element. Early on things were rough but I think the game is worth plunking some time into and for people that only have a handful of minutes per day, Hearthstone really fits well.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3189/i-had-the-craziest-luck-opening-my-hearthstone-gadgetzan-packs

Age Of Empires II Gets Another Great Looking Expansion Called Rise of the Rajas!

1999 was a good year in gaming that gave us one of the best strategy game sequels Age of Empires II. So many elements were improved making Age of Empires II one of the most beloved strategy games of all time and one I still play with my friends. When Age of Empires II HD came to Steam I was very excited and was thrilled when Microsoft let us try it out before launch on Steam. Age of Empires II HD is the base game you know and love updated for modern Windows and hooked in with Steam multiplayer to make it simple and fun to play epic matches with friends or total Internet strangers. I'd have thought that porting the game to modern systems would have been the end of... Read All

Continue The Star Wars Rogue One Hype Train On The Red Carpet

Someday i'd really love to go to a Star Wars red carpet premiere. You know, just a small wish and if Santa reads this, if you can get me Episode VII red carpet tickets you can keep the new 3DS. Since we can't be on the red carpet and watch the new Rogue One film early, the video of it is the next best thing. I watched quite a bit of it and found the interviews interesting but I want to warn you that they show off some exclusive movie footage that spoils some jokes and some great scenes. It's nothing plot specific but I started skipping past the movie clips because I want to watch the film as fresh as I can and I think they showed a bit too much. That said, if you want... Read All

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/13/2016 at 07:43pm

80% fresh on the rotten tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rogue_one_a_star_wars_story

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/13/2016 at 08:44pm

Here's a spoiler-free review of the reviews of the movie :)
https://youtu.be/X2HH7mCWHgM

Travis Admin wrote on 12/13/2016 at 10:53pm

So far, over all, it seems to be about 10 points lower on RT and Metacritic. Still not in a bad spot by any means, and honestly kinda where you'd expect a Star Wars spinoff to show up.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/13/2016 at 10:54pm

Also whoa! I had no idea Michael Giacchino was the composer for this! He has some big shoes to fill but I love his work in everything else.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/14/2016 at 04:14am

Jeff Cannata from The SlashFilm Cast has a video out about Rogue One and it's spoiler free.

Spoiler alert, he loved it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVp34M72xCI

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