Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Blizzard Giving Warcraft III Some Amazing New Updates!

When WarCraft III launched back in 2002 I was hooked. I played a ton of WarCraft II and as a fan I was really excited to play the next installment and WarCraft III's focus on heroes, amazing 3D graphics and the story made it one of my most played RTS's of that era. I believe WarCraft III is an important game and since many have been getting the remastered treatment it seems like Blizzard might agree.

"Warcraft III's PTR is back and ready for your scrutiny. Join us in testing widescreen support, hero balance changes, and updates to Map Pools for 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's and Free-for-All. We've also added some experimental modes like 24 player support for custom games. "

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Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 & 2 Switch Trailer!

Capcom is releasing the Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 & 2 as part of a single release on the Switch which seems like a must buy for Switch owning Mega Man fans. That said, it's not all 8-bit perfection as it looks like Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 is the only release physically on the Switch cart as Collection 2 is a redeemable code. It's not a matter of size either, both games could fit on a single Switch cart. But beyond not putting all the games on a single cart the fact that we're getting Mega Man 1-6 and 7-10 in one release is awesome.

Oh and Capcom is adding a rewind feature to both games which looks like it will make getting past those tricky Mega Man areas... Read All

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Review

Story

Mario and Rabbids existing in the same game? How can this be? Ubisoft found a way. Here is how Ubisoft explains it: A girl sitting in her basement has a device that can merge two objects into one. Using AR, she has an AI (named Beep-0) that helps her out. It should also be noted that she is a big fan of all things Mario.

When the girl leaves her basement, a time traveling (and dimension traveling?) washing machine shows up. Inside of this washing machine are the Rabbids. The Rabbids get out of the washing machine and start causing mayhem. One of the Rabbids picks up the girl’s AR device and starts merging objects. This in turn starts off a chain of events. The... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 15: Ice Climber

Ice Climber was released Jan 30th 1985 by Nintendo R&D1. Nintendo R&D1 made other games such as Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario, Excitebike, Mario Bros., Metroid, Kid Icarus and Tetris. In Ice Climber the characters Popo and Nana head up 32 different ice mountains to get an eggplant from a huge thieving bird vulture thing. In season two of Cheerful Ghost Radio we are starting out doing NES Classic reviews and being things with Ice Climber. We are thinking these reviews can be a more bite-sized episode format and are interested in what you think and if you have any ideas for future episodes!

I Finally Know Why The Game Is Called Chrono Trigger!

As I continue on with my playthrough of Chrono Trigger the game keeps getting a bit better each time. Since the game has been out for over twenty years i'm going to talk about some plot spoilers so if you are planning on playing this fresh, you might want to avoid reading more.

Firstly as someone that didn't play much of Chrono Trigger when it was originally launched on the Super Nintendo I don't have any particular nostalgia for this title. That said, the game does borrow some graphical and sound elements from past Square games, such as the wind sound effect from Final Fantasy VI. That said, I do have some pretty minor nits about the game and the biggest one is that... Read All As I continue on with my playthrough of Chrono Trigger the game keeps getting a bit better each time. Since the game has been out for over twenty years i'm going to talk about some plot spoilers so if you are planning on playing this fresh, you might want to avoid reading more.

Firstly as someone that didn't play much of Chrono Trigger when it was originally launched on the Super Nintendo I don't have any particular nostalgia for this title. That said, the game does borrow some graphical and sound elements from past Square games, such as the wind sound effect from Final Fantasy VI. That said, I do have some pretty minor nits about the game and the biggest one is that it throws a lot of new plot level characters at you pretty quickly to the point that I was confused a few times. That said the game does stop adding new plot characters at one point which allowed me to catch up. I imagine if you've played this game a lot it's easy to make sense of all of it but Chrono Trigger is so quickly paced that it's hard to keep your finger on what's going on.

SPOILERS AHEAD. FOR REAL PEOPLE YOU CAN'T UNREAD THIS ONE BELOW

So I just got to the part in the game where Crono sacrifices himself to save the group when they are fighting Lavos. It's a surprising turn, which I didn't see coming and I am now working on bringing him back. It's an interesting choice to kill of the main character and for a bit I wondering if he would just be out of the game entirely? That said, since it's sci-fi the group already has a plan on how to bring him back of sorts which involves a Chrono Trigger, time egg and a replica doll of Crono himself. It's cool that the game is totally going all Search for Spock to bring him back and these kinds of moments are why Chrono Trigger is widely considered to be one of the best games of all time.

I'm not sure how much more I have of the game yet to play before "the end" but it feels like i'm at least half way or more through it. Playing the DS version has been great because I can play it anywhere and if you have the chance to play that version I highly recommend it. In the future if I want to play Chrono Trigger again I'll play the original Super Nintendo version but you can't beat playing it on the go so if you want to give Chrono Trigger a shot you can pick it up on your smartphone or DS.

If you want to read more about this playthrough of Chrono Trigger check out my other post below:

https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3594/chrono-trigger-it-s-about-time

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/18/2018 at 08:06pm

Awesome! I'm glad you're enjoying it. There is actually another Chrono game, called Chrono Cross. I have it for the PS1 and I'm sure Travis remembers me playing it while we were roommates. I wish that game would get an HD makeover and come to Steam. Oh and speaking of which, Secret of Mana is available on Steam now, I think.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/18/2018 at 11:11pm

Yeah, the HD remake of Mana is on steam and it seems to be getting mixed reviews. I disliked the Mana version they brought to iOS and I do plan on playing the new HD PC version at some point even though it’s getting savaged with reviews.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/18/2018 at 11:30pm

It's on my wish list. There was a classic Final Fantasy I didn't buy on Steam. It was the DS version or something, I wasn't too fond of the portable remake, so I understand what you mean.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/19/2018 at 02:20am

I not only remember you playing it, Greg. If you remember, I played it too! It’s a really good game. Very different from Trigger (though I admittedly haven’t played much of Trigger). I don’t think either of us enjoyed it as much as Ed though, that dude loved it.

It took me a long time to convince him that JRPGs weren’t demonic but once he was there, man, he was all in.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/19/2018 at 02:24am

And it looks like the Secret of Mana mixed reviews are due to bugs so hopefully those get hammered out.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/19/2018 at 02:38am

Ah, great memories, Travis. Thanks for the reminders. I tried to play it again years ago, but I couldn't get over how bad it looks now.

And of course I remember you got me into JRPGs, too!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/19/2018 at 04:07am

There are certain games from that generation (especially on PSX, but also things like Goldeneye on N64) that looked incredible at the time but definitely haven't aged well. It was kind of a transitional generation. Most everything before that holds up graphically, most everything after does as well. I guess it makes sense-- it was when they were first trying for more realism.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/20/2018 at 03:04am

Yeah, I don't find most of the early gen Playstation to hold up well at all compared to 8 or 16 bit. PERSONALLY I think the 64 games hold up better but it's because of the limitations of the system and they had less textures to work with making the plain color polygons hold up better when blown up. At least to me eye they look a bit better.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/20/2018 at 03:20am

Especially Nintendo-made games on the N64. They've always made games that use the generation's capabilities while never striving for that kind of realism, so they stand the test of time.

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Civilization VI Rise and Fall Review

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Review

Recommended

New game mechanics

The latest expansion for Civ6, Rise and Fall, has been released. The expansion adds 9 civs and new game mechanics. One of the new features is the ability to use governors. They come with their own unique promotions that provide helpful abilities. They can be established in your own cities, or in a city-state. One of my personal favorite governors is the cardinal, who ultimately can give apostles an extra promotion. There are others focused on other aspects of the game like military, growth, etc.

As time progresses in the game, you will move into different eras, like Ancient, Classical, Modern, etc. The expansion introduces a new... Read All Review

Recommended

New game mechanics

The latest expansion for Civ6, Rise and Fall, has been released. The expansion adds 9 civs and new game mechanics. One of the new features is the ability to use governors. They come with their own unique promotions that provide helpful abilities. They can be established in your own cities, or in a city-state. One of my personal favorite governors is the cardinal, who ultimately can give apostles an extra promotion. There are others focused on other aspects of the game like military, growth, etc.

As time progresses in the game, you will move into different eras, like Ancient, Classical, Modern, etc. The expansion introduces a new bonus system, which calculates an “era score.” You gain points by doing different things, like being the first to fully establish a religion. There are Dark, Normal, Golden, and Heroic ages. Dark ages aren’t necessarily bad and being in one actually makes it easier to enter a Golden age. For a more of a detailed look check out
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-02-11-civilization-6-rise-and-fall-era-score-historic-moments-golden-ages-heroic-ages-dark-ages-dedications-explained-5003

There are a few more new things I haven’t fully explored yet. I know that you can actually lose a city if it’s loyalty drops, it can gain its independence. Loyalty is something I haven’t really observed, perhaps it becomes more of an issue at a higher difficulty. There are also world emergencies, in which multiple civs can team up against another. I’ve seen this in my game as I convert other civs to my religion. I had to defend my religion, which I was able to do and was granted a nice bonus.

If you want to know more about Rise and Fall, I suggest looking at the wiki or checking out one of the many videos the developers have released on YouTube. Be sure to check out the one I embedded to see a bit of what's new.

*Update 6/4/19*
Oh my, Civ6 how I love thee! I wanted to come back to this post to add some more thoughts and feelings. Gathering Storm was released as a new expansion to the game this year and since then I've been playing Civ6 again non-stop. I really love this game and it may have taken me this long to realize just how much I really love this game. However, this post is about R&F. I don't really have much to add, but I do have a little bit. One thing I recently realized was that I was neglecting governors and not building a Government Plaza. This was a mistake! I now look to build this ASAP. The reason being is that I want to upgrade it to the Ancestral Hall, which grants a free builder for every city you settle after building the Ancestral Hall. This, to me, is quite valuable, in fact it's pretty much a must have for every city I settle now. There's also a governor (Magnus) who (with a promotion) can make it so that producing a settler does not reduce your city's population. This, again, is a pretty must have thing for me. I always get this governor for my original city and get him promoted before I begin to settle any more cities. It took me a while to realize the value of this and has definitely changed my Civ6 gameplay. I think Rise and Fall is a good expansion, although it may have taken me a little while to realize how good it really is.

Lizard Is a Brand New Game Out On The NES!

Lizard is a brand new game made for the original Nintendo Entertainment System that was successfully Kickstarted and has now officially launched. You can check out the trailer above and download a demo of the game on Itch.io. The game demo is a NES ROM, Mac or PC downloadable and the game is available for purchase digitally on all those platforms + Linux. The Lizard developers will make an NES cart release and if you are interested in getting that when it releases you can sign up for an email list on the Lizard website.

The NES fan community is pretty strong these days and it's awesome seeing new games continue to come out for these older systems.

... Read All

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 02/15/2018 at 05:27pm

That video doesn't tell me anything.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/16/2018 at 08:57pm

The video asked more questions than it answered. Which means it was written by JJ Abrams.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 02/16/2018 at 09:04pm

No. JJ knows how to market. The Lizard crew does not.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2018 at 01:37am

I mean... it seems like it’s one dude doing literally everything so I can’t blame him for not being great at marketing.

But I dunno, it had some brief gameplay to show what kind of game it is. And it’s a teaser, which if he’s going by the rules of movie trailers vs teasers is meant to just hint at what’s to come. I didn’t really have an issue with it.

Honestly I think if he just released a video with half of those gameplay clips and the voiceover said “look I know my market and if you want to play a brand new NES game you’re going to play this” it would be enough :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/17/2018 at 04:08am

I thought the trailer was cool but not a ton of detail. Plus they have a demo available so if you're not sure what it is you can try it out.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 02/17/2018 at 04:10am

I expect something more from something that was kickstarted and has been released. I doubt people kickstarted it based on this video. There must be more.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/17/2018 at 05:19am

Yeah, his Kickstarter video did explain it pretty well.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1101008925/lizard

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 02/17/2018 at 05:56am

Yes! His Kickstarter video is 1000% greater. I got a sense of the game.

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EA Is Giving Away Dead Space Free On Origin

If you are looking for a new game to play, EA is giving away Dead Space which is the first entry in the franchise that dropped back in 2008. Dead Space received great reviews and is already considered a horror classic by some people in gaming.

"You are Isaac Clarke, an engineer on the spacecraft USG Ishimura. You're not a warrior. You're not a soldier. You are, however, the last line of defense between the remaining living crew and deadly reanimated corpses. The undead have become Necromorphs; horrific zombie-alien hybrids that won't succumb to traditional means. Fortunately, your offense is equally unique, as the high-powered mining tools at your disposal provide the... Read All

Speedrunner SethBling Explains His Sub 1 Minute Super Mario World Speedrun

Speedrunner SethBling recently figured out the first sub 1 minute credits warp for Super Mario World and made a pretty detailed video explaining how it works. Seth uses 4 controllers and by doing that it puts certain values in RAM pushing the game into the right state to get the credits.

Seth provided a detailed Google Doc below that details how you can route this run yourself and all things you need to achieve it such as the Japanese version of SMW.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cgr0jFw4AU8hF00JcQlOTRb8I1qPd-tF73LtTF4lzZE/edit
https://pastebin.com/V3EtvyGT

The Super Nt Is A Modern FPGA Super Nintendo That Faithfully Adapts The Super Nintendo Without Emulation

Analogue are the creators of the new Super Nt a moderinization of the Super Nintendo that looks to recreate it entirely in hardware. Thing is, most retro remake systems that allow you to play original NES, SNES or Genesis games often use emulation to achieve this which essentially does a ROM dump of the game to play it. The Analogue hardware developers have worked to create a FPGA Super Nintendo that reduces the emulation educed game lag to zero and allows the games to run at a crisp 1080p with authentic audio. At about $200 the system costs as much as the launch Super Nintendo back in the 90's and even includes a built in game Super Turrican. If you are wondering how... Read All