Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

The Gaming Historian Takes A Look At The Mario Land Trilogy

I've only recently discovered The Gaming Historians channel and wanted to share one of his new videos covering the Super Mario Land trilogy on Gameboy. Starting with the offbeat Super Mario Land the Mario Land trilogy is unique and nothing Nintendo has quite replicated recently. I'd love a new take on these old games with the strange mechanics and new characters as Wario was first introduced in Mario Land Six Golden Coins and later featured as the protagonist in his own game.

"The Super Mario Land series was Nintendo's attempt at bringing the Super Mario franchise to the Game Boy. But it was also the first time Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto would not be involved.... Read All

The Nintendo Wii Shop Channel Closes Next Week

https://media.nintendo.com/nintendo/bin/Ukc0nycDCrFmMwZAbz_ZJ3Um6jgORFp-/eCstgHqgT4n3siSK2-6cSoLSuYWcdSHj.jpg

If you still have Wii Shop points, spend 'em while you can. On January 30, it will no longer function.

Along with this any video-on-demand services will stop functioning on the Wii.

This brings up a topic we've discussed a lot on the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable, and now on Cheerful Ghost Radio. When will digital games be preferable to physical? For me, it's when I can have some guarantee that I can come back 20 years later and play these games.

Nintendo has gotten much better about their online services in recent years but they still aren't quite as straight-forward as their competitors were even last generation. But that said, we don't know when Sony, Microsoft, or... Read All

I'm still playing Fallout 76. Should you? Short answer: I have no idea.

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

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

Travis gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

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

I said in one episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio, that Fallout 76 is probably the best game I've ever played that I can't easily recommend people buy. I think that still holds true. Fallout 76 is problematic, but depending on what you're looking for there's a lot of fun there as well.

I'm not playing it nearly as much as I used to but I still pop in a few hours a week. I ran out of fresh content a long time ago. In fact that's my biggest complaint as the game stands now. Once you've launched a nuke there's not much left for you to do that you haven't done before. So you wander nuke zones and fight the scorchbeast queen to get better gear and level up to refine your... Read All I said in one episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio, that Fallout 76 is probably the best game I've ever played that I can't easily recommend people buy. I think that still holds true. Fallout 76 is problematic, but depending on what you're looking for there's a lot of fun there as well.

I'm not playing it nearly as much as I used to but I still pop in a few hours a week. I ran out of fresh content a long time ago. In fact that's my biggest complaint as the game stands now. Once you've launched a nuke there's not much left for you to do that you haven't done before. So you wander nuke zones and fight the scorchbeast queen to get better gear and level up to refine your build. That's basically what I'm doing now, in hopes of having some new content to work toward.

There are many aspects of the game that don't work, but many that do, and they work very effectively. If you're into Bethesda games for their environments, world-building, and exploration, Fallout 76 may be the best title yet for that. And when I see people say that Fallout 76 is just a quick cash grab that they clearly didn't care about making well, I can't help but think that those folks don't care about those aspects. The world is just beautifully done, and so much care has been put into the design of this massive world. The Whitespring resort is the centerpiece for this: a very faithful reproduction of the Greenbrier (you'll be coming to Whitespring a lot, because like its inspiration, The Whitespring also houses a government bunker that plays an important role in the game).

Aside from the design, I think the quests work well until they dry up. I said in my first impressions post on this game that the gameplay loop I fell into was getting quests, getting distracted from those quests by all the neat stuff you come across, make frequent trips to camp because you're carrying too much, and eventually completing quests and getting new ones. It was really satisfying. The quests themselves were essentially just vehicles to get you from point A to point B in a lot of ways; the depth previous games' quests is missing entirely from this entry due to the lack of any interactive dialogue. You'll run into robot NPCs and one friendly super mutant but while they can talk to you, you can't talk to them, so there are no narrative choices here and the quests are a bit shallow. Each quest will play out the same way every time (for the most part).

So no, this is not a typical Fallout game. How does it play as a survival game? Well, I don't know. I don't like hardcore survival games. It seems people who do *loved* Fallout 4's survival mode and dislike Fallout 76's survival aspects. I'm the opposite: Survival-lite is fine with me. Essentially what survival means in Fallout 76 is that you have to eat, drink, and watch out for diseases, and other players can come wreck your stuff. You don't lose anything meaningful when you die, just junk items (though if you've been farming for screws and you lose them all, that hurts).

Like I said before, the endgame kinda dries up. Nuke zones were supposed to be the endgame but they're ultimately a little lackluster. It seemed like we were sold on drastic changes to the environment in nuke zones, but the changes are minor. Functionally, the flora that grows in the area changes to nuked flora that you can use to make crafting materials for advanced items, and the enemies are higher level and give more loot, and you get a ton of rads that you have to manage. But aside from that it's just a yellow haze over everything. It's still fun to run in because generally about 3/4 of the 24-player servers show up to participate and wreck a bunch of glowing ghouls. It's mayhem and it's glorious, but even that can get boring if you do it enough.

Before I bought Fallout 76, other players were my biggest concern, but I have yet to meet a jerk in-game. I've read some horror stories, and it seems like as the content dries up, some high-level players get a kick out of destroying camps. The anti-griefing measures aren't up to snuff, really. Thankfully it's nearly impossible to grief with nukes (you get a 3 minute warning when a nuke is launched) and it would be a stupid waste of a nuke anyway. But the other big anti-griefing measure is bounties. If you attack a player enough without them attacking back, or if you break items at another player's camp, you get a bounty. However, all you need is a teammate to kill you. You lose your bounty, they collect some caps, and can give them right back to you. There's a minor cap loss because it isn't 1:1 for caps lost:caps gained, but caps are fairly easy to come by, so essentially there's no penalty for being a dick. There's currently no way to fully turn off PvP. A new unrestricted PvP server option is coming "soon" so hopefully they'll go there instead, but if they enjoy messing with other players it may be more fun for them to stay on the normal servers because they aren't changing how PvP works in normal servers. At least, if they are planning to, they haven't said so.

As it stands now, the game is less buggy than it ever has been but there are still some doozies. Scorchbeasts are supposed to be the big, bad, fun enemy to take down (like dragons in Skyrim) but it seems like their sonic energy wave (or whatever it is) is bugged more often than not, so whenever one sees you, your screen is just filled with blue and nothing else until you blindly run away. When they work properly, they still aren't great fun but they're manageable.

In addition, item duplication is rampant, and the most recent methods used involve doing something that tanks the server stability. Every time one is patched out, it seems like a new method is discovered. They're starting to do ban waves, but to add to the troubles this game is facing, it seems like some legit players are getting caught in that (but it's worth noting that plenty of dupers would claim to be legit, so take that with a grain of salt).

But even after the issues, I'm still going back in for more because the good stuff outweighs the bad for me. It may not do the same for you. It's hard to rate this game. I want to give it a Must Play for the fun I'm having, and Skip It because of the issues, so I think I'm going to average it out to a low Rad, but don't take that as an endorsement.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/11/2019 at 12:07am

https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/10/18219293/fallout-76-vault-63-location-inside-dlc-cut-content

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/11/2019 at 11:17pm

Yeah I think it's a little disingenuous for Polygon to call it content cut before launch, it seems like this stuff is their future content. There are three vaults aside from 76, and people have managed to clip into the others, but I don't think anyone had gotten into 63 yet.

While I'm here I should also comment on the fact that a patch a couple weeks back was a doozy. They managed to not notice a merge failure, so a ton of bugs from older versions cropped up and nobody caught that before the update was released. They patched up a few but I think right now it's buggier than it's been since early December.

This game is a bit of a mess. I just hope they can clean it up because I DO love it, despite its numerous flaws, some glaring.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/12/2019 at 09:01pm

> Yeah I think it's a little disingenuous for Polygon to call it content cut before launch, it seems like this stuff is their future content. There are three vaults aside from 76, and people have managed to clip into the others, but I don't think anyone had gotten into 63 yet.

I didn't read that. I agree, it's not easy to know what was planned, cut, etc. Unless they have some source saying so, it's just a guess. As an Engineer who likes releasing stuff, it's a good thing to cut scope to meet a deadline.

> They patched up a few but I think right now it's buggier than it's been since early December.

Yowza. F76 didn't land in spot where most people thought it was high quality from go so it's hard to hear they are still dealing with that sort of thing. Hopefully they can end that narrative and deliver something everyone enjoys.

> This game is a bit of a mess. I just hope they can clean it up because I DO love it, despite its numerous flaws, some glaring.

Me too.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/12/2019 at 09:02pm

My point in sharing that was really a tip that more stuff might be coming later, but it seems you know about this Vault, which makes sense.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/13/2019 at 03:04am

Oh yeah definitely, I got that. I didn't think you came here to trash it, or take any stance at all really :D

But yeah they have a new, more dangerous PVP mode coming out in the spring (if it isn't delayed due to focusing on the bugs at hand... which it should be) and then they're opening the vaults as group raids.

Something *everyone* enjoys won't happen but they have a sizeable group of people who want to love it. They just have to drive it home.

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Wine 4.0 Released!

https://appdb.winehq.org/images/skyrim_specialed.jpg

Wine 4.0 was released today, bringing a ton of enhancements and bug fixes to make playing games on Linux even better. Most notably:

Vulkan support.

Direct3D 12 support.

Game controllers support.

Some of this was already possible using extra utilities to get vulkan going. DXVK would translate DirectX calls to Vulkan. But now it's native to Wine itself.

This is after months of progress in other areas of Linux gaming. Tools like Lutris have matured quite a bit, to help you get the precise Wine setup you need to run specific games, and Steam's Proton (a distribution of Wine) is getting better and better, with more successes than failures in getting Windows games running... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Branded 1UP Cards And The Portland Video Game Swap Meet 2018!

In Oregon we are all lucky to have the Portland Retro Game Expo which is a fun event in the later summer for everything awesome in retro games and trading. Cheerful Ghost has a booth each year, which is something you should check out if you haven't yet. In the new year the Video Game Swap Meet is held at the Portland Double Tree and put on by the Portland Retro Game Expo and The GameFather and I wanted to write a bit about the event and some of my pickups. Spoiler alert, Will got quite a few more games than I did.

The Portland Retro Game Expo is a very large event with a wide reach including a huge free to play arcade, game tournaments, retro game vendors, toy... Read All In Oregon we are all lucky to have the Portland Retro Game Expo which is a fun event in the later summer for everything awesome in retro games and trading. Cheerful Ghost has a booth each year, which is something you should check out if you haven't yet. In the new year the Video Game Swap Meet is held at the Portland Double Tree and put on by the Portland Retro Game Expo and The GameFather and I wanted to write a bit about the event and some of my pickups. Spoiler alert, Will got quite a few more games than I did.

The Portland Retro Game Expo is a very large event with a wide reach including a huge free to play arcade, game tournaments, retro game vendors, toy collectables, geek swag (think Yeti style shirts) and various game creators and game sites and podcasts like Cheerful Ghost. The Video Game Swap Meet is more focused around vendors selling and trading games and it's a really focused one day event. I really enjoy it because it's easy to take in and go through each booth a few times to make sure you've picked up anything you want. The swap meet had a lot of people there but less folks than PRGE which is a nice change of pace.

I wasn't coming to the Swap Meet with anything in mind to get, I really just like hanging out with the Retro community and I also wanted to handout some of our new Cheerful Ghost branded 1UP cards. If you don't know, 1UP cards are a great way to clean your old retro NES, SNES, Genesis, 64, etc carts without blowing into them. Think a simple two sided cleaning card that has no downside of spitting into your carts, which you should never do to clean them. I've seen branded 1UP cards in the wild and have wanted some Cheerful Ghost cards printed so I contacted 1UP and had some made up. If you want to see what they look like hit the image link below.

https://i.imgur.com/qIN8dfv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UGtTWN3.jpg

Will and I were one of the first people in line and as such I was able to hand out the cards, some stickers and a podcast handout to the first 10 or so people easily. People seemed to dig the new 1UP cards so I'm going to do a similar giveaway at Portland Retro Game Expo this year as well as sell them at our booth. I'd like to get some Cheerful Ghost shirts printed this year too, but we'll see how it goes.

As to the stuff I picked up this year I finally was able to round out my collection of Just Dance games on the Wii with the original Just Dance 2009 game. I've got the others and it's a fun series and one reason I still have my Wii hooked up to my TV. I also picked up two DS games in Plants VS Zombies and Zoo Tycoon. Both are PC ports that landed in various forms and I've only played a bit of Plants VS Zombies DS so far. I want to do a more formal review of Plants VS Zombies DS but i'd say if you were a fan of the game and wanted to collect a version of it on DS, get it. I aim to collect all the Zelda games and finally added Oracle of Ages and Seasons on Gameboy Color to my collection after finding them both for a good price. I also saw Link to the Past in box and in great shape but I think i'm going to save that pickup for this years Portland Retro Game Expo.

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 47: Mega Man 2

In this episode, we review the best Mega Man game on the NES Classic, Mega Man 2! In Mega Man 2, the Blue Bomber learned most of the tricks that would carry him through TONS more games spanning multiple series.

In the next few NES Classic reviews, we're playing the Super Mario games and we want you to play it too, and let us know what you think. We'll share your thoughts in the episode. Come on it's time to go do the Mario!

https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/events/168/cheerful-ghost-games-club-super-mario-bros

Spider-Man: Far From Home Trailer Hits Spoiling Avengers Endgame

The official teaser for Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped today spoiling Avengers Endgame... a bit. But then again did anyone think all of the snap was permanent? Looks like Spider-Man is back and this time IN EUROPE! Originally I thought Far From Home would be a story where Spider-Man was out there in space somewhere trying to get home. You know, a cosmic "road trip" movie but apparently it's Spider-Man in Europe. Which is... kind of neat but if you consider where he goes in Infinity War, Europe isn't really that far from his home. More like Spider-Man: At Least We're On Earth This Time So It's Cool.

All that said, trailer looks fun, same tone as Homecoming which is a... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 01/16/2019 at 11:11pm

I will be glad to get away from saving the galaxy and back to saving a city, or a person, or something smaller scale.

And as evidenced by my face, my personal rule of thumb is that if you can grow a proper beard, you should probably never shave that beard.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/17/2019 at 04:08am

The snap could be permanent. Could be a totally different universe.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/17/2019 at 04:14am

Damn that would be a hell of a twist. I like it.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/18/2019 at 01:37am

Yeah, there's got to be some sort of twist to this. at least I hope. A current major theory is that Cap or Iron Man die (and the other retired or something) in Endgame, and in the end of this trailer, one of the students compares Mysterio to Thor and Iron Man, but no one seems sad that Iron Man and Cap are gone. (Maybe I'm reading too much into that though. I suppose Cap was a fugitive between Civil War and Infinity War, so maybe the kids dont miss him)

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/19/2019 at 12:27am

Is Endgame going to be Back To The Future 2, where the avengers time travel and we get to see infinity war all over again?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/19/2019 at 12:48am

I hope so!

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Cheerful Ghost Game of the Year Awards 2018: The Winners!

Your votes have been cast, and now it's time to reveal the winners!

Best AAA Game: TIE between Red Dead Redemption 2 and Spider-Man
2018 saw many great games, and many of our nominees were worthy of this award, but these two inched out past the competition.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a masterpiece, an experience that anyone who's into cinematic, character driven games should not miss. The follow-up to the original Red Dead Redemption (2010) improves upon its predecessor in basically every way imaginable.

Spider-Man is an open-world game with a much tighter focus than RDR2, but adds another dimension (literally). Insomniac took the superhero game formula that Rocksteady... Read All

Dragon's Lair Trilogy Coming to Switch eShop

The classic Don Bluth animated video game Dragon's Lair Trilogy is coming to the Switch eShop January 17th! I had a love hate relationship with Dragon's Lair as I really enjoyed playing it but found it was of the more punishing arcade games I've played. Playing on the Switch without having to pump in quarters sounds like the best way to play it and I hope the Dragon's Lair Trilogy does well and gets a physical cart release (it got a Wii physical release).

"In Dragon's Lair, you play the heroic Dirk the Daring, a valiant knight on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon!

Space Ace will have you take control of Ace - Defender of justice,... Read All

New Super Mario Bros Wii U Deluxe Is Out - The Blue Toad Controversy

New Super Mario Bros Wii U Deluxe is out on Switch and the reviews are coming in that seem to indicate its another great Wii U release. I love the New Super Mario Bros games and plan on picking this up as soon as it makes sense (not at the moment as I'm playing a few other Switch games). New Super Mario Bros Wii U Deluxe comes with the original game PLUS New Super Luigi U and allows you to play as Toadette and Nabbit in both games. There has been some controversy that Nintendo wouldn't include blue Toad but it seems Nintendo did include him. The problem is that Blue toad is a color option and you HAVE to select one of the easy characters (Toadette and Nabbit) if you... Read All