Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Come Hang Out At Portland Retro Game Expo 2019 with Cheerful Ghost!

October 18th - 20th Cheerful Ghost will be at the Portland Retro Game Expo at booth #611! This year is going to be a fun one as we have quite a few things happening at our booth you will absolutely want to check out!

Our Retro Gaming Tournaments

We are running two retro game tournaments per day over the course of the two expo days starting with Super Mario Bros. 3 and F-Zero on Saturday and finishing up with Super Mario Bros. and Dr. Mario on Sunday. The rules and prizes for the tournaments are on the PRGE website and will be printed in the guide available for all attendees.

https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/tournaments.php

Tale of the White Wyvern Free DLC, In-Game Event... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 67: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening For Nintendo Switch

We've returned to Koholint Island after 26 years for this review of the new Nintendo Switch remake of The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening. This is one of our most anticipated games in a while, and we're stoked to finally have our hands on it. Warning: this one gets surprisingly philosophical for a few minutes, and may be worth a listen just for that.

Watch and Donate to Games Done Quick X 2019!

Games Done Quick is the pinnacle charity speedrun event and is happening this weekend during Twitch Con. This years round of runs will benefit the Able Gamers Charity and I encourage you to watch it and donate!

https://gamesdonequick.com/
https://ablegamers.org/

Get The Batman PC Collection For Free on Epic!

To celebrate Batman week the Epic Games store is giving away the three Batman Arkham Collection games including
Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition, Batman: Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition, Batman Arkham Knight AND Lego Batman the Video Game, Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes and Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham.

This is an incredible amount of free Batman games on PC and if you were interested in playing these games this is a good time to get them.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/collection/batman-free-week

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/24/2019 at 01:15pm

But Epic Games Store is evil! 🤣

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 02:13pm

Hahaha yeah. I’ve never paid for a game on Epic and I’ve got quite a few games now. I know I’m supposed to hate them but I don’t.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/24/2019 at 03:47pm

Trojan horse. Get in for free and then release the kraken. You are doomed.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 03:52pm

> Trojan horse. Get in for free and then release the kraken. You are doomed.

:godmode:

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/24/2019 at 06:00pm

I added these to my EGS library, even though I already own the Arkham games on Steam. My EGS library is full of free games, I haven't paid for one yet. LOL I also don't currently have the EGS launcher installed.

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Get The Original Hype Tale of the White Wyvern DLC Before October 1st!

When Tale of the White Wyvern launched on July 28th we also released the free Original Hype DLC pack. If you share or have shared the game on any social media platform we will send you the Original Hype DLC pack for free that includes the Original Hype in-game title, 500 gold and 2 gems! If you haven't picked this up yet, I encourage you to do so because when October 1st hits the DLC will expire FOREVER!

The Original Hype unlock-able title you earn in Wyvern will transfer to any new game we create so get this now to be the envy of future Wyvern players!

Check the full post below if you are curious how this works and if you share it on social, let us know and we'll get... Read All

The Sega Genesis Mini Review: GENESIS DOES WHAT NINTENDID BUT MAYBE BETTER

The Sega Genesis Mini has been out for a few days, and I've put in some time with it. I'm impressed. This is not a cheap AtGames device that will languish in the bottom of some drawer. This is a solid device with damn fine emulation, and a feature set to compete with the current trend of minis.

Just looking at the Genesis Mini itself tells you a lot about the care that went into the production. The expansion port cover comes off and the headphone volume slider slides, just like on the original. This serves no functional purpose, but it's meticulous little details that show that Sega is taking this seriously, even if they aren't taking themselves serious in the process... Read All The Sega Genesis Mini has been out for a few days, and I've put in some time with it. I'm impressed. This is not a cheap AtGames device that will languish in the bottom of some drawer. This is a solid device with damn fine emulation, and a feature set to compete with the current trend of minis.

Just looking at the Genesis Mini itself tells you a lot about the care that went into the production. The expansion port cover comes off and the headphone volume slider slides, just like on the original. This serves no functional purpose, but it's meticulous little details that show that Sega is taking this seriously, even if they aren't taking themselves serious in the process (they released a "tower of power" package that you can buy to put a sega cd, 32x, and game cartridge on your Genesis Mini, which do nothing functional but poke fun at the old tower of power joke).

When you first boot up, you are presented with a region selection screen as you'd expect, but you can come back to this at any time to change your region. And you should. This is the one killer feature in my mind-- the games installed on the Genesis Mini have various regions included. If you change to Japan, for instance, you can get the far superior version of Contra: Hard Corps.

But after that you get to the list of games, presented in a nice grid of box art (which also changes based on your region). You can sort this list alphabetically or by release date. This menu's music is so great, I had to look it up. It's brand new music composed by Yuzo Koshiro, the composer of Streets of Rage, and it even uses the Genesis audio hardware to be more accurate to the time.

When you get into one of the system's 42 games, many of the staple features these mini systems are known for are at your fingertips. You can hold start to get the save state menu, and go back to the game list (thankfully), but one omission here is the rewind feature made popular by Nintendo's offerings.

The same kind of picture options you'd expect are here, 4:3 or 16:9, scanlines, etc. As I did with the NES and SNES Classic, I just left those options at the default so that it looks closest to what I remember.

As for the games? Well, that's up to you. There are plenty to choose from, double the amount on the SNES Classic (exactly double, in fact) and there are some incredible titles in here. One highlight is Mega Man: The Wily Wars, which was an exclusive to Sega's dial-in online service back in the day, but is now available to everyone here. And like top 10 lists, some people will hate what was included, some will love them. There are some strange omissions, but the games included here are generally fantastic, and there's something for everyone who isn't a sports fan at least (NHL 94 dominated the Genesis and isn't included here? For shame!)

My only complaints are...

I love the games on this thing, but there are a few glaring omissions. But I don't envy the people who had to put this together, and I've had this complaint about every mini so far.

The lack of rewind, but with save states that isn't a requirement, though it would have been nice.

The lack of 6-button controllers. At least this is fixable with a separate purchase, but Street Fighter II for instance is a mess with 3-button controllers. Playable, but much less comfortably.

It's $80, which isn't cheap, but if you like the games included this is a no-brainer. Everything from the design of the Mini itself to the software choices and the tight emulation shows a real attention to detail, and wins over Nintendo in some key ways, to a point where I'd say it's the better device. I certainly wouldn't bet on this game list vs the SNES Classic, even if they do win in quantity, but the loving detail to every facet of the presentation is quite nice to see.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/23/2019 at 11:15pm

Do you notice any audio lag? I have read some reports about some lag.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 12:18am

I had some lag issues but they were TV related. I was ready to cast this aside as a waste of money until I remembered I hadn’t set game mode on that HDMI port. But no, after I fixed that I played some fast games and didn’t notice any input lag at least. But I may not have been paying attention to audio lag.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/24/2019 at 01:49am

Cool. I think I have that "cheap AtGames device." I remember buying it at Kroger (local grocery store for those unaware) years ago. I didn't really play it very much though. So, it comes with an HDMI port? That's cool! I have a Sega collection on Steam, but again I haven't really played it very much. I doubt it's included, but Jurassic Park was one of my favorite Sega games.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 02:15am

That's correct, JP isn't on it. I imagine some of those licensed games are tough to get.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 66: Stranger Things 3

In this episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio, we're visiting

uʍoᗡ ǝpısd ǝɥ

As we review Netflix's Stranger Things 3!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/24/2019 at 10:44pm

Oh man, I disagree with this episode.

While I do love each season, I feel each season is slightly inferior to the last.

Season 1 captured magic in a bottle. It was the start of something special and you didn't know where they were going.

Season 2 had some great character development and moments, but some pacing problems.

Season 3 lost the majority of that character development and became more popcorny. It was enjoyable but I felt that it didn't move the characters from point A to B very much. That being said, the way the ended the season gave me a lot of hope for the next season.

Also season 3 had once of the worst scenes I have ever seen that ground the show to a halt. While it was good on its own, it really screwed up the pacing and should have been edited down.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 09/25/2019 at 03:22am

Which scene was that? I assume you didn’t mention it for spoiler purposes but I’m curious, if you can word it in a non-spoilery way.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/25/2019 at 04:11am

It involved singing. Still makes me cringe.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 09/25/2019 at 04:07pm

Ah. I thought it was hilarious. Cringey yeah but also hilarious.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/25/2019 at 04:23pm

On it’s own it was great, but it ground that episode to a halt.

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/26/2019 at 02:23am

I'm gonna watch the whole show again at some point to get more context for this, or an updated point of view.

That said, if memory serves I thought season one suffered from the issue where I felt like many early Netflix shows suffered from in that they were two episodes too long.

Might not be totally how I think now but it was then so when I do a rewatch i'll note that again. I thought Season 2 and 3 nailed the pacing but I like popcorn

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/30/2019 at 04:39pm

Yo: https://twitter.com/Stranger_Things/status/1178701041333886976

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/30/2019 at 05:00pm

Hyped! More upside down please! I would get into what I want to see, but I am avoiding spoilers.

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The First Few Hours of Link's Awakening

When the Link's Awakening remake was recently announced in a Nintendo Direct I was in. Link's Awakening was already one of the best Zelda games in the franchise and remaking it seemed like a great idea. I pre-ordered the Dreamer Edition and it finally released last Friday and I wanted to write up my first thoughts as well as recap a bit of what others are saying about it.

A Worthy Remake of a Classic Game

In a nutshell the Link's Awakening remake is a very worthy remake for one of the best video games of all time. You can tell that a lot of love and attention was poured into this game by Grezzo and Nintendo and a very keen eye was paid to recreate the original game... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 09/23/2019 at 02:29am

I finished it earlier and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to list off all the ways that it’s amazing.

But one thing I will say that you didn’t touch on much is the dungeon maker.

Eeeeehhhhh you know, the rest of the game doesn’t suffer because of its inclusion so I don’t really count this as a ding against it but, wow, this is entirely uninteresting to me. It just doesn’t hit any notes for me, because it’s all stuff you’ve done before, just remixed. There’s not a lot of room to do anything interesting there.

I had thought this was a beta test for a Zelda maker, but I read an interview where apparently the devs were asked to make something like Mario Maker for this and struggled to find a fun way to do it.

That, and the FPS dips (I think it goes well below 30), are the only complaints I have about this. The original Link’s Awakening was a strong contender for my favorite Zelda game, and this remake pushed it just high enough so I can say yes, this is it. This is my favorite. I love the new art style. I don’t think it’s necessarily better or worse than the original blocky pixels, but it’s a great modern yet simple take on it. But really, it’s the QoL updates that let you do things without so much micromanaging.

And the new score, holy cow. Yeah, the original chiptunes are great like you said, but this score feels like what the composers originally intended, even though the Gameboy couldn’t quite pull it off.

I think the score is symbolic to the game as a whole: the original and the remake can coexist well. This feels like the original, so much that I still remembered where some stuff was, and the maps from the old game are still accurate (except for a few minor things). But this could also be brand new. And in this way it excels in a way most remakes don’t: it almost immaculately recreates the original without being beholden to its mechanics that may have aged out.

To put it simply: this is one of my favorite games of all time, recreated to be even better than I ever remembered it.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/23/2019 at 02:49am

Also I’m not seeing a bunch of similarity with Link Between Worlds, honestly. I don’t think people are talking about it much because it’s a very different visual language. I’ll give you the music a bit, but visually it seems more like an attempt to bridge the 2D and N64ish era rather than doing its own thing. It doesn’t seem like just a platform limitation but a whole different set of inspirations.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/23/2019 at 05:13am

It’s somewhat subjective comparing two games but in terms of Zelda games less so maybe. The gameplay differences in Worlds and the Awakening remake are pretty stark in the Worlds is quite a bit faster and in the Awakening remake Link snaps to one of eight directions and in general feels a bit slower.

That said, I’ve played both and just played Worlds to get the feel back and they are more similar than different which is a good thing. Zelda timeline wise Awakening happens right after Link to the Past and Worlds after that so I think it makes sense that they are styled together some if contain differences enough to give them a unique voice.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/23/2019 at 05:15am

Sorry the phone tapping made some of that hard to read. I still think the games feel similar but, it’s not a huge deal that everyone agrees with that.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/23/2019 at 04:03pm

Back in my day games ran at 15 fps and we liked it! :) It is sad to hear about the FPS issue. Do you see the same performance docked and in handheld?

Travis Admin wrote on 09/23/2019 at 05:09pm

I never tried it handheld, only docked. It definitely wasn’t game killing and it seemed like it was mostly around transitions from inside a dungeon to outside, or after fast traveling.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/23/2019 at 05:34pm

Interesting analysis: https://youtu.be/UnckUk830HA

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/23/2019 at 06:00pm

Thanks for that video Will.

PS the Gameboy games could run at 59 hz.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/24/2019 at 01:47am

I had the original game on the original Gameboy (not the Color) and loved it. I forgot all about the claw machine! I'm glad it's among your favorite games. It was definitely one of my most favorite Gameboy games! I haven't seen or read much about the remake, though. I don't have a Switch yet, so it's not exactly on my radar at the moment. It does look good though!

The FPS issue sucks, but thanks to the video shared by Will_Ball, it seems the current solution is to run it from internal memory. I don't know everything about the Switch, but if you get a hard copy of the game that comes on a cartridge or card, can you install it and have it run from internal memory, or does it only run from the card? It seems that the cartridge is an SD card, is that right or is it similar? Or, are you only able to install and run it from internal memory if you purchase the digital version? I think Steam has made me quite used to digital versions of games, which I think are great, because hard copies are easy to lose or damage. But, if the place hosting the game stops operating, then you essentially lose the game, or your ability to re-install it.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/24/2019 at 02:12am

You can't install the cartridge games to internal memory. Which sucks but it makes sense.

However, there are more graphically (and presumably data) intense games on the Switch that run fine, so I'm hoping this is just an optimization issue they can patch.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 02:13am

I have the game cart which does not need an install to play. Some games have a hefty update and they mostly run off the internal SD card but Link's Awakening runs entirely on the game cart. For now anyway.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 02:14am

> I think Steam has made me quite used to digital versions of games, which I think are great, because hard copies are easy to lose or damage. But, if the place hosting the game stops operating, then you essentially lose the game, or your ability to re-install it.

Yep, that's why I buy physical if I can. In the case of the Wii it's now the difference between being able to play a game and not. I bought the physical version of Tetris on Wii and can still play it whereas the download version goes with your system.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 05:37am

https://mobile.twitter.com/GifZelda/status/1176262465526665217

Travis Admin wrote on 09/24/2019 at 06:00pm

Ha, now I wish I still had a save file with Marin.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Now On Spotify!

We want you to be able to listen to Cheerful Ghost Radio on whichever platform you choose, so today we're happy to share that Cheerful Ghost Radio is now on Spotify!

Spotify used to have a more curated podcast section and was a bit exclusive, but they are trying to make Spotify the go-to for podcast listening and have changed things up. We're happy to add Spotify to our growing list of services. It's one more step on our path to WORLD DOMINATI.... I mean one more way to make our listeners happy! Yep, that's what I meant.

Have a listen at the link below, and as always, let us know if your favorite podcast source doesn't have Cheerful Ghost Radio and we will work to get... Read All

Support Cheerful Ghost & Tale of The White Wyvern Today!

Travis and I have been working hard on a bunch of new updates to Cheerful Ghost and Tale of the White Wyvern, and we wanted to talk about one that released today! Cheerful Ghost is an independent game community and this year we struck out and launched our first home baked text game Tale of the White Wyvern. Two important goals we had were to launch the game and find people that love playing it, and also build a sustainable ecosystem around it for the current and future games we create. Which is why we are launching a new way for you to support Cheerful Ghost today in incredibly easy memberships.

Incredibly Easy Memberships For Everyone

One thing we heard from people is... Read All