Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Cheerful Ghost Game of the Year Awards 2018: Voting Round

2018 is over, so you know what that means: it's time to pick our favorite 2018 games! Your nominations are in (along with some other games that were huge in 2018) and now it's time to vote!

You'll have through January 14 to cast your votes, and we will announce the winners on January 15.

Best AAA Game

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Fallout 76

God of War

Red Dead Redemption 2

Spider-Man

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Vote here: https://www.strawpoll.me/17150345/

Best Indie Game

Celeste

Dead Cells

Graveyard Keeper

Into the Breach

Jurassic World Evolution

Revenge of the Bird King

Subnautica

Vote here: https://www.strawpoll.me/17150357

Best Ongoing Game

Fortnite

Minecraft

No Man's... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 46: Looking to 2019 With Cheerful Ghostradamus!

In this Cheerful Ghostradamus episode we’re going to tap into our future telling abilities and make predictions about everything coming in 2019 in gaming! In addition to your hosts' humble predictions, we share some predictions from Will Ball and Greg Woodruff, two awesome users on Cheerful Ghost, as well as the folks from BrothersForgeGaming and Game Dev's Quest.

Bonus, if you start listening to this episode at 11:17:32 PM, the end credits theme will kick in right at midnight. Ring in the New Year with Cheerful Ghost Radio!

BrothersForgeGaming: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMcrNT6_3HXVSjDcOhrO1yg

Game Dev’s Quest: http://airpodcast.com/ http://gamedevsquest.com/

Auld... Read All

What Consoles Are Currently Hooked Up To Your TV?

Metal Jesus has a new video out where he asks his crew what systems they have hooked up to their TV. The answers were pretty interesting coming from a bunch of avid collectors and at one point John Hancock had 32 systems on 3 TVs! The systems hooked up to my TV are the NES Classic, Wii, Wii U & Switch and I'm planning on removing the Wii at some point. The Switch is the latest system that's attached to my TV and I recently put my SNES Classic back in it's case because I'm not playing it at the moment.

What gaming systems do you have hooked up to your TV?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/31/2018 at 12:53am

Nes Classic, Snes Classic, Super NT, Switch, Xbox One and PS4. I also have a PC that is connected, plus a retropie that is sitting next to the TV.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/31/2018 at 12:54am

All other consoles have been organized in such a way that I can get them out and hooked up in about 5 minutes.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/31/2018 at 01:21am

NES Classic, Wii U, PS3

Timogorgon Member wrote on 12/31/2018 at 04:36am

At the moment I have: Switch, Wii U, PS3, PS4, SNES, SNES Classic, NES classic, and X-Box. The X-Box and SNES are probably going to get rotated out for an N64 and a PS2 soon though. :)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/31/2018 at 06:52am

On my main TV, the ones that are currently actually connected are SNES, SNES Classic, Switch, PS4, Xbox 360, Steam Link, and an Android TV device with some emulators on it.

Though I have the NES, NES Classic, N64, Wii, Sega Genesis, PS2, and PS3 sitting in the entertainment center and their cables are hanging on a hook behind the TV, labeled and ready to connect when I'm interested.

On a second TV I have another NES, a GameCube, a PSX, and another Steam Link connected.

And a third NES in a closet. Just in case. Redundancy!

Guy_Retro wrote on 01/01/2019 at 04:46am

I've got PS3 &4 hooked up to cover all my PlayStation needs, and a SNES classic in the bedroom.

BrothersForgeGaming wrote on 01/01/2019 at 06:20pm

I generally have at least one system (NES) hooked up to my CRT, but have others systems at the ready. I have a backwards compatible PS3 and first gen PS4 set up on my main TV. Ideally I would like to have a Wii setup so that I can play Wii Sports at any given moment, but currently I do not have the extra space. Also I have NES and SNES Classics set up in my bedroom in case I need a late night fix.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/01/2019 at 09:22pm

I wish I'd managed to get a PS3 that was fully backwards compatible. I'd love being able to play PS2 games on it.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/20/2019 at 08:25pm

I just got my Wii U, RetroTink and AVS hooked up too! Another HDMI switch and a different surge protector allowed me to hook up more HDMI and better arrange power supplies.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/20/2019 at 11:30pm

I replaced my Classic NES with a Classic SNES. :) (I still haven't really played it yet though.)

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Atlas the Most Ambitious and Most Improved Early Access Game of the End of the Year

Atlas:

The pirate life MMO with RPG elements along with taming, crafting, and surviving similar to Ark: Survival Evolved and Minecraft

Horrible delayed start, “mostly negative” reviews on Steam

Huge map spanning server clusters

Atlas is an interesting Early Access MMO pirate game made by some of the devs who created Ark: Survival Evolved. This is readily apparent, you can tell just by playing it how similar to two are.

Atlas has “mostly negative” reviews already and the game hasn’t been out for a week. Part of that, perhaps most of that, is because of the rough start it got. In the beginning it was extremely difficult to play, due to lag and serious rubber banding.... Read All

Mega Man 11 First Look - The Evolution of a Classic Series

I've always been an armchair fan of the Mega Man games but never played any of them regularly until I got an NES Classic. I latched on to Mega Man 2 and haven't let go since (expect an upcoming Cheerful Ghost Radio NES Review episode in the new year). As such, it was fairly natural that I took note of Mega Man 11 and then found it totally awesome that Travis got it for me this year as a gift on the Switch! I wanted to write down some of my early thoughts on the game and will check in regularly as I make progress with it.

This Isn't Mega Man 2 But That's Ok

Beyond the 3D graphics at first blush Mega Man 11 looks and plays like the classic games we love. It's hard because... Read All I've always been an armchair fan of the Mega Man games but never played any of them regularly until I got an NES Classic. I latched on to Mega Man 2 and haven't let go since (expect an upcoming Cheerful Ghost Radio NES Review episode in the new year). As such, it was fairly natural that I took note of Mega Man 11 and then found it totally awesome that Travis got it for me this year as a gift on the Switch! I wanted to write down some of my early thoughts on the game and will check in regularly as I make progress with it.

This Isn't Mega Man 2 But That's Ok

Beyond the 3D graphics at first blush Mega Man 11 looks and plays like the classic games we love. It's hard because the game feels just like the classics but under the covers are a slew of new mechanics. In fact, these new mechanics I found annoying at first but after clocking about 3 hours into the game are finally working for me.

The new stages are much longer than any Mega Man stages I've played so far which is to say, they are much longer than the stages in Mega Man 2. At first this seemed odd to me, how can you have a Mega Man game with super long stages and get through it and then I realized that Mega Man 11 is aimed a much more modern audience. The stages in NES Mega Man were short due to cart limitations and password saves states and replay-ability. Mega Man 11 sticks It's flag firmly in the save state world and expects you to complete a stage one time and move on. Gone are the days where the game expects you to turn it on and replay each robot boss battle on your way to beating Dr Wily. Mega Man 11 expects your gonna pick a difficulty and play each stage until you complete it until the end of the game.

This focus on stage length, difficulty and your game progress is all tied together through a new mechanic i'd not seen in a Mega Man game focusing on an in game currency, screws. Fear not, this isn't tied to any micro-transactions and screws are something you can collect easily in each stage by finding them or killing enemies. Collect enough screws and you can visit Dr Light and buy a ton of items such as E-Tanks and Mega Man enhancements like the ability to get a wider buster shot, lessen your push back when you take damage and increase the amount of energy that drops from enemies. These power ups unlock at certain points in the game and each one is a different amount of screws to unlock. Say you are having a particularly hard time in the Block Man stage? Collect enough screws to max out on E-Tanks and other items to make the stage easier. The screw currency gives the game focus in that you can unlock abilities and power ups making subsequent playthroughs easier. If you want the game to be more difficult you can avoid all this entirely but I'm working my way through it the first time and it's nice to get a bit of help.

Block Man Down, Acid Man to Go

After about three hours I finally defeated Block Man. The Block Man stage is quite punishing and once you complete a section it tosses it back to you in a harder form until you master each section to finally confront Block Man. Turns out Block Man isn't too hard, or isn't if you use the Super Guard power-up and some E-Tanks (which I recommend) and as such is one of the best stages and bosses to take on first. According to some searching, Acid Man goes down smooth with the Block drop weapon so I'm now working on that stage.

Another part of Mega Man 11 worth a series of accolades is the level design. So far the Block Man and Acid Man stages are quite different and contain very clever puzzles that are hard but fair. I've taken a peek at a few other stages such as Bounce Man which feels like a level designed by people that love crazy bouncy castles.

So far Mega Man 11 takes the best elements of the series and solidly moves the game forward for a new audience. If you like Mega Man games and don't mind coming back to the same levels and slowly getting better a bit at a time, Mega Man 11 is for you. You can download a demo of the Block Man stage on PC, Switch, PS4 and XBone to give it a shot if you're not entirely sure if this is something you might be into. I've heard Mega Man 11 looks better on the PS4 and XBox One and all I can say is the game looks great on the Switch. It's a bit jaggy in handheld mode but once it pops to the TV it looks fantastic.

Happy Holidays To All Ghosts!

Wanted to send everyone a special Holiday greeting and hope that today is a fun and restful day. As we open our IRL loot boxes please drop what you got from the Holiday Loot Elf in the comments to share!

Pictures get you a bonus accolade!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/25/2018 at 09:07pm

I got some really cool stuff starting with a Nintendo Switch + Mario Kart 8 bundle. Couple Switch games, Annihilation on Blu-ray a coffee grinder, Mario Land on 3DS, Mario Checkers and a Velvet Revover CD(remember those).

http://i.imgur.com/4G8gzKS.jpg

jaelte wrote on 12/25/2018 at 10:31pm

I think they're excited.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2018 at 01:19am

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2018 at 04:15am

Velvet Revolver, damn, that's a name I'd forgotten long ago.

I got some sweet Vault-Tec socks, a Vault-Tec shirt, and a TLJ Poe Dameron jacket (which is both near-screen accurate, and comfy/functional) from my wife, the full Mission: Impossible movie series on Blu-Ray from a friend, a pretty awesome seat cushion, some albums on vinyl (including a first-run pressing of The White Album) and other odds and ends from family, Tabletop Simulator from Tim, and a mystery game (I think on Switch?) from Jon when it gets here later in the week!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2018 at 04:45am

I got some clothes and a $20 Gamestop Gift card, which means I'm going to turn that into $20 Steam wallet money probably. I have bought myself a few games w/ the Steam sale including Atlas (I'll have to write about that one), Wolfenstein 2, and Command & Conquer 3 & 4 including C&C3 DLC that I did not have.

@Jon I'm jealous, although not the Switch bundle I would choose (I want the Smash Bros. one). It's funny, I thought if I'd save some $ I'd get one, but now that I've saved some I don't know if I want one. LOL BTW Could you please tell me if it uses discs or cartridges? I'm curious to know what physical format Nintendo chose for the Switch. (I've also been having dreams where there's a Nintendo or someone stole mine lol.)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2018 at 05:08am

Greg, it's a tiny cartridge.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2018 at 05:10am

The horsepower it has (though nowhere near the other current gen outings) combined with a disc to spin up would make the battery life abysmal, which is already something I wish was a bit better on the Switch.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2018 at 05:25am

Awesome, good to know. That means the media can't really be scratched or badly dirtied and thus unreadable. However, a tiny cartridge means it could be lost easily. And that is what I'm thinking about when thinking about buying a Switch (that and which game(s) to get first).

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2018 at 03:10pm

Here's a good look at the size: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zYQvTSD6HCCw7suXf4ZtkFZMeRY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8023253/20170221_162415.jpg

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2018 at 03:12pm

Actually here, this article has a number of comparison shots and, while the one I added above was probably more than enough to let you know how big it is, some of the comparison photo captions are pretty funny

https://www.polygon.com/2017/2/21/14691596/nintendo-switch-cartridge-size-comparison

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2018 at 03:37pm

The Switch game carts are really tiny. I’d say the size of a quarter.

Travis, glad to hear you got the Mission Impossible series. It’s univerally great(except 2 but even 2 is fine I’d you like bad movies).

I also got two Steam gifts in Darkest Dungeon and The Duck Talea remake.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2018 at 04:25pm

I thought MI:2 was better than 1, but then 1 was also better than 2.

1 was just ... unsure of what it wanted to be. Campy while trying to be serious, or serious while trying to be campy. And it felt like a lot of important stuff was cut, the plot worked but felt unearned in a way. It just didn't really hold my interest much aside from the campy parts, when they really doubled down on the spy feel.

2 knew what it was all about but at the same time what it was all about wasn't great. It was a consistent tone but a messy plot (and some real misogyny that hasn't aged well). Apparently John Woo's original cut of that movie (as in, the cut that he took to the studio and said "I'm done, here you go") was 3 and a half hours.

So I think I prefer 1 overall, but 2 didn't have the lulls where I kinda checked out like 1 did.

3 was great though. JJ is a natural for that kind of plot. So natural, in fact, that he did the show Alias which is basically Mission Impossible without the masks. I kinda wonder if the studio saw Alias and said, yep, this is what we want for MI:3!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2018 at 08:25pm

I don't think I can look at Mission Impossible 1 objectively. I saw it in the theaters in the 90's, my friends and I were nuts for it and watched it on VHS a lot. We quoted it, not quite as much as other films, but it was a favorite. So I love MI:1. That said, Brian De Palma made a great film but you are right it's a couple styles. I think he wanted to make a dark noir spy movie but by the end it's more actiony and by the time John Wu makes MI:2 it's all 90's crazy motocycle gun fights with Limp Bizkit in the soundtrack. JJ grounds the franchise as a solid action series and I think from there it really picks up a lot. MI:3 is a pretty simple movie compared to the first two, which I think the series needed. Plus it features Philip Seymour Hoffman as the bad guy and I think, to date, he's the best villain in the series.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2018 at 08:26pm

If you watch the MI:3 special features JJ gave Tom Cruise Alias on DVD and he watched them all then asked him to do MI:3 which was, I think JJ's first film as a director.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2018 at 09:52pm

OK that makes a ton of sense. Awesome bit of trivia!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/27/2018 at 12:52am

Thanks for the pics, Travis! That is small! I thought they'd be bigger, but you know how technology is.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 45: The 2018 Holiday Special!

Pour yourself some eggnog, cozy up by the fire, and join us for the Cheerful Ghost Radio 2018 Holiday Special! We talk about some recent news that Blizzard is scaling back Heroes of the Storm, chat about what we've been playing over the past month, and discuss some of our favorite games to play and films to watch around the holidays.

Links and notes about topics we discuss this episode:

Unforeseen Consequences: A Half-Life Documentary: https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3960/unforeseen-consequences-a-half-life-documentary-is-a-must-watch

The Future of Diablo: https://kotaku.com/the-past-present-and-future-of-diablo-1830593195

Heroes of the Storm: ... Read All

Sony Just Released A New Lemmings Game on Mobile

Sony just released a brand new Lemmings free to play game on iOS and Android which is a interesting turn as just yesterday I pined for a new mobile release. It's a classic franchise that deserved an updated version and after I heard the news this morning I downloaded it and gave the first few levels a try. So far, the game is fine, it uses energy that slowly refills over time or you can purchase an instant refill for money. That energy is what you use to activate your Lemmings abilities to float to the ground, build up and dig. It lacks some of the polish of the DOS original but as I've said, so far it's a fine port. I'll do a more formal review later but I wanted to... Read All

LGR Looks Back At Holiday Lemmings

Lazy Game Reviews is a YouTube channel about game reviews, retro reviews as well as retro PC hardware reviews. It's one of my favorite channels and I wanted to share one of his latest videos that was seasonally appropriate. Holiday Lemmings started out as a few level demo and got a full fledged release later on. I had all the Lemmings demos I could get my hands on but never was able to buy the full versions. It's not a hard game to find now but I wish Sony would do more with it and release a new Lemmings game on all platforms including mobile.

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 44: Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame Trailer Special

Marvel dropped trailers for Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame in the same week, and our heads exploded in anticipation. RIP Jon, Tim, and Travis. But we were prepared for this: our hosts have been replaced by Life Model Decoys.

Captain Marvel Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1BCujX3pw8

Infinity War Endgame Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee1172yeqyE