Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

What If Donkey Kong Country 2 Was In HD?

What if scenarios are interesting and more so with a proof of concept. We've had modern Donkey Kong Country releases in HD such as Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on Wii U and Donkey Kong Returns on the Wii. YouTuber BlobVanDam created the video Bramble Blast that is a recreation of Donkey Kong Country 2 in full blown HD. Personally i'd buy a modern revisioning of the original SNES Donkey Kong Trilogy in HD which would have to be essentially a whole new set of games in the same upgrade style as Super Mario All Stars. I bet Switch owners wouldn't mind either.

Thoughts On The Mega Man Legacy Collection 3DS

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.

After I picked up the NES Classic this year I played a lot of Mega Man 2. It’s the one i’ve played the most of as a kid too but never could actually beat it. After putting in the time to complete Mega Man 2 on the NES Classic I continued playing it to keep improving boss battle by boss battle. I still have yet to focus on the entire run but instead make sure certain parts are ironed out instead. For instance, right now, i’m focusing on completing the boss stages in a nearly perfect manner. Later on i’ll focus more on the Wiley stages and then glue them together.
The reason why I like focusing on the game this way is that hopefully micro focusing on aspects of the game... Read All After I picked up the NES Classic this year I played a lot of Mega Man 2. It’s the one i’ve played the most of as a kid too but never could actually beat it. After putting in the time to complete Mega Man 2 on the NES Classic I continued playing it to keep improving boss battle by boss battle. I still have yet to focus on the entire run but instead make sure certain parts are ironed out instead. For instance, right now, i’m focusing on completing the boss stages in a nearly perfect manner. Later on i’ll focus more on the Wiley stages and then glue them together.
The reason why I like focusing on the game this way is that hopefully micro focusing on aspects of the game can come together to allow me to complete the game without dying once. At least, that’s my goal and so far I’m a ways from that but it’s fun to keep playing the game and get better each time I play it.

In 2015 Capcom released the Mega Man Legacy Collection that includes Mega Man through Mega Man 6 making it a must have for Mega Man fans or people that want to get into the franchise. After playing a ton of Mega Man 2 I decided to get the Legacy Collection but I didn’t want to get it on Steam. In the end I decided to get it on 3DS and had to get it used as it seems that Capcom is no longer stocking fresh copies in stores or online, at least not at the time I wanted to buy it. The used copy arrived in great condition and included two mega man stickers and two codes to 3DS Mega Man skins that surprisingly enough, were not redeemed. Mega Man Legacy Collection includes all 6 original Mega Man games that you can play in “Mega Man” or “Rockman” mode. I’m not entirely sure what the di erence is here but it seems you can play the original US Mega Man or the other Japanese or EU version.

If you are interested in looking over the game concept art, manuals and box art that Capcom created for each regions Mega Man release Legacy Collection includes a Museum and Database mode that makes accessing all of that really easy. You can even zoom in to inspect the ne detail on the box art which is a feature I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Like a lot of remastered versions Legacy Collection also includes all of the music in a music player you can listen to as much as you want. Want to DJ a retro party? Hook up your 3DS to the sound system and mix it up over all 6 games. Or not... I really have no idea if people have retro game parties but it’s a thing you could do if you want.

Mega Man Legacy Collection is a nearly perfect release if not for one minor gripe I have. In the US the NES was presented in a 4x3 aspect ratio on all our CRT TV's. Nintendo games were sprite based and each pixel was a perfect square yet the Nintendo slightly stretched the image to use the full width of the TV. It’s one of those lovable aspects of the analog days and not a choice I actually fault Nintendo for as the image t the screen and never looked bad as a result. That said in the Mega Man Legacy Collection the default mode is pixel perfect meaning the 4x3 aspect ration is not preserved. The NES Classic and SNES Classic default to 4x3 mode but also provide a pixel perfect mode for people that want to play the games in that way. That said, not having the choice to play it in 4x3 is a bit of a bummer. Again, it’s not a huge deal but the game doesn’t look quite right to me but once I tuck in to a play session it’s not something I think about much.

I plan on continuing with the Mega Man series as i’ve really only played Mega Man 2 and 3. The original is included but i’ve heard it’s not quite as good as Mega Man 2 yet I plan on playing it and talking about it. I usually play through games at a snails pace so expect to hear from me in regard to the remaining Legacy Collection games over the entirety of 2018.

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 12 - Star Wars: The Last Jedi Holiday Special

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out and as per Cheerful Ghost tradition we dedicate an entire episode to it. We talk about what worked and what didn’t and take a long look at the fan criticism of this movie.

Currently The Last Jedi holds a 93% Critic rating and a 56% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans have many conflicting opinions and are having fierce debates over the film’s merit, so we have lots to talk about. Get ready because this conversation contains some intense debate and nothing is off the table for discussion.

WARNING: This episode is full of spoilers, and as such you should also expect the comments on this post to contain them as well.

Do not expand the... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Game of the Year Nominations

It's the most wonderful time of the year! We got a new Star Wars movie (stay tuned for more from us about that) AND Cheerful Ghost Game of the Year award season is starting! And as always, we need your help to make it awesome.

This is the nomination thread, so drop your nominations in the comments. We will keep nominations open through Christmas. The categories are the same as last year:

Best AAA Game: This category is for the Call of Duties and the Fallouts, the big games with big publisher backing.

Best Indie Game: The games that go their own way, sometimes self-published.

Best DLC/Expansion/Update: Any addition to a game that had a very positive effect, from... Read All

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/19/2017 at 02:44pm

My nominations:

Best AAA Game:

Super Mario Odyssey: Perhaps my game of the decade, this game is just a masterpiece from beginning to end. It brings together Mario's history and new, wild mechanics to create something simultaneously nostalgic and fresh.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: Expanding on the previous games with better and weightier plot, new mechanics, and a fresh coat of paint.

Horizon Zero Dawn: I'm ashamed to admit I haven't finished this because other games kept distracting me, but what I played was a beautiful and very unique game blending adventure, RPG, and stealth mechanics into a perfect stew.

Best Indie Game:

Cuphead: Beautiful art and insane difficulty combine for a very memorable game. Like Super Meat Boy, you can always see what you were supposed to do, so you never feel like the game is punishing you. There are no "THE GAME CHEATS!" moments.

Superflight: A small game developed by grad students as part of their curriculum, but the polish would suggest otherwise. Beautiful flight mechanics, crazy tricks, and a chill and relaxing experience. This one is a great game for decompressing at the end of the day.

Best DLC/Expansion/Update:

Diablo III's Necromancer pack: There's not much here aside from a new class to play, but wow, that class is fun. I felt that it perfectly achieved the game's goals of making you feel like a magical badass while also keeping the sense of a threat from the enemies.

No Man's Sky's Atlas Rises update: This is the biggest update yet, and wow, does it ever shine. One of the games biggest complaints was that it was as wide as the ocean and deep as a puddle. This update added significant depth, weight to your actions, new activities, new ship types, and even the first hints of multiplayer.

Best Mobile Game:

HQ Trivia: This is less of a video game than you'd expect on this list. It's a live game show, and you are a contestant, along with half a million others. Twelve questions and you're out after your first wrong answer. Whoever survives after round 12 splits the pot o' cash. My wife and I have had a ton of fun with this one.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/19/2017 at 06:44pm

Best AAA Game: Zelda Breath Of The Wild (that came out this year, right?)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/19/2017 at 06:47pm

It did, yup!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/19/2017 at 07:15pm

+1 for Zelda BotW for Best AAA Game.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/19/2017 at 07:58pm

+1 BotW AAA
I agree with Travis's DLC picks, too.

I'd like to put Ark for Indie game, because it just released. I'd also like to nominate the new DLC, Aberration.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/19/2017 at 08:35pm

Oh and I think Civ6 goes in there somewhere, too.

vdogmr25 wrote on 12/21/2017 at 08:59pm

Best AAA Game: Resident Evil 7. It's been a long time since Resident Evil actually scared me. Good times.

Best Indie Game: Pyre. Supergiant was once again able to make a game where all aspects of the game come together and support each other in the wonderful story of redemption, political intrigue, and fantasy sportsball. As with other indie darlings of this year, the art, music, and gameplay are spot on.

Best DLC/Expansion/Update: StarCraft 2 going free to play. SC2 has had a good boost in players with the addition before co-op mode, and between that and going free to play, I've been able to pull more friends into the game who were hesitant to pay for a game as daunting as StarCraft.

Best Mobile Game: Jackbox Party Pack 4. A stretch of the term "mobile," but this game is available for everything (even roku and apple tv), and each person plays using a mobile device. I take it with me to nearly every social gathering as there's a game for everyone in this, and is incredibly accessible. (Monster Seeking Monster is the best one)

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/21/2017 at 11:29pm

Triple A: Metroid: Samus Returns & StarFox II(i'm open to recategorizing this but where else would it go? ).

Indie Games: Thimbleweed Park & The End is Nigh.

Best DLC/Expansion/Update: Full Throttle Remastered, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, StarCraft Remastered & Hearthstone: Kobolds and Catacombs.

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/21/2017 at 11:34pm

Actually drop Samus Returns from Triple A.

Best Mobile: Metroid: Samus Return & Stranger Things(I still need to write up my thoughts about this). I might have more games later too.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/22/2017 at 04:02am

Wait there's a Stranger Things game?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/22/2017 at 05:23am

What Travis said^^^

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/22/2017 at 07:48pm

Yep.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/22/2017 at 08:50pm

Ok, I downloaded the ST game.

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DF Retro Looks Back At Donkey Kong Country

As the holiday seasons is upon us we all get closer to the reality that some of us may open a SNES Classic on Presents Day! If you want a SNES Classic and need the mythical Gift Elf to bring you one for Presents Day I recently watched a recent DF Retro video that you need to watch. DF Retro takes a pretty long look back at Donkey Kong Country and interviews quite a few developers that worked for Rare during the games development. Watching this video helped me shovel more coal into the SNES Classic Presents Day hype train and I hope you like it too!

The Last Jedi Releases Tomorrow - Be Careful Out There!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi releases tomorrow night and i'll be there in line with the rest of the nerds to take in director Rian Johnson's visual space fiesta. And because Star Wars is a big deal the trolls are out in force on social media spoiling things so I want to recommend that you take a break from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and even some online games if you want to keep your first experience spoiler free.

As Cheerful Ghost tradition we will be doing a Star Wars Special episode where we talk about the Last Jedi and will make part of that spoiler free and then let everyone know when we switch to talking spoilers. We're recording the show this Sunday and hope to have... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 12/14/2017 at 04:14am

I’m a victim. It seems like Twitter has been ok and you’d hope people on Facebook wouldn’t troll their own friends but stay clear of Reddit. There have been people sending private messages to massive amounts of people with spoilers.

I play HQ Trivia and just kinda tune out the chat on it, but tonight I glanced down at just the wrong time and saw a big juicy spoiler.

It wasn’t a bad one. I don’t think it’ll take away from my enjoyment of it. But still come on people, have some decency.

I’m going Saturday night. Reserved seats so we can roll in right at 7:30 and be fine. My wife and I are going with a friend who hasn’t seen any trailers or any advertisement at all except for a still of Rey with a lightsaber so it should be an interesting perspective.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/14/2017 at 04:15am

(But pleas don’t take my experience with Twitter to be an endorsement. There are still trolls about.)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/14/2017 at 06:33pm

Can't wait to see it tonight!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/15/2017 at 01:18am

One of Katie’s friends got a spoiler on LinkedIn. Nothing is safe.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/17/2017 at 02:59am

Just got back from the movie with Vinny.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/17/2017 at 03:12am

Awesome! We're going to record our review Sunday night and hopefully will have it out early next week!

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Grim Fandango Remastered Free On GOG For The Next 2 Days!

Grim Fandango Remastered is available for free on GOG right now for the next couple days and if you haven't played this LucasArts classic remastered by Double Fine, now is the best chance you will have DRM free!

"Something's rotten in the land of the dead, and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation.

One of the most acclaimed adventure games of all time is now back, better than ever. Grim Fandango's epic story of four years in... Read All

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Coming May 2018!

Street Fighter, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III, Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact & Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike are coming to Switch, PC, PS4 & XBox One May of 2018 making the 30th Anniversary Collection the best Street Fighter collection release ever. If you love Street Fighter and want to jump in to playing these classic games I can't think of a better way to do it unless you have them all in your collection already.

One awesome bonus of the new collection... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 12/13/2017 at 03:30am

Holy cow, that's a lot of games. The lack of SF4 is very slightly surprising since that game has a bit of age on it and the player base has probably mostly moved on. It could get some new and old players revisiting it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/13/2017 at 04:43am

Yeah but SFIV is still new-ish and if it was included would give people nearly zero reason to get a new version.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/13/2017 at 03:46pm

Yeah that’s why I said “slightly” surprising. I don’t personally think it would slow sales of SFV but Capcom might think so. SFIV is nearly ten years old now and SFV is where all the action is these days. I doubt many who were going to buy SFV would have their mind changed by getting SFIV in a pack of games.

But something I hadn’t thought of— you can already get SFIV on all those platforms. You can’t get the older ones yet. That may be the main consideration. If people want to get it after they play 1-3 and all their various forms, it’s there waiting for them.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/13/2017 at 05:04pm

Yeah that's a good point and hardcore SF fans will always get the new version. But I mean more casual Street Fighter fans if the 30th anniversary came with SF IV like i'd never buy another version again and I might not even with this one!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/13/2017 at 07:35pm

I played a lot of SFIV and it was fun but I just greatly prefer the old ones. I’m excited for this just because of getting them all in one go.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/14/2017 at 03:57am

Me too. Like the NES and SNES classic this is a great way to get all the older games fairly inexpensively compared to buying them all individually.

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Episode 11: Stranger Things 2 Special

The power of Netflix shows keeps rolling and Stranger Things 2 is a fun testament to how great steaming shows can be. We talk about the new season, compare it to the first one and talk about where we’d like the show to go next.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/15/2017 at 08:27pm

No talk of Billy? What did you all think of him?

For me stranger things 2 is stranger things' aliens. You got more monsters, seemed more heavy on the action, plus Paul Reiser.

ST2 was on par with the 1st season for me. I definitely like the demogorgon better than smoke monster, but ST2 had some better character dynamics. I really liked Dustin & Steve in season 2, they were my favorite.

I also liked that they are expanding the show outside of Hawkins. 11 having her yoda like moment with 8 was a lot of fun. I can't wait to see if they introduce other numbered kids with powers. What powers should they have, if they do?

Speaking of numbered kids, was 11's mom, the first one with powers? Did she get them naturally, or were they from some sort of experiment?

If you all haven't watched Beyond Stranger Things, I would suggest you do so. There is a lot of good talk about the show in that show.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/16/2017 at 06:55am

Minor spoilers in this comment...

I didn't think much at all about Billy. I had to look him up to remember that there was even a character named Billy :D

With the exception of one or two scenes he was just character development for Max, which is fine. He clearly has issues that they may tackle in season 3. In fact I hope they do. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Max smack him down toward the end though.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/16/2017 at 05:22pm

I thought Billy was kind of one note until the end. He could have used a little bit more character development.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/18/2017 at 10:02pm

Billy was basically "what if Steve was a maniac." I liked him as a character. He definitely upped the ante as a wildcard human threat, especially the way he specifically targetted certain members of the party. I appreciate that they showed some of his motivation, why he was so aggressive, giving us moments to sympathize with him. I'm glad they didn't overuse him.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 12/20/2017 at 04:43am

Billy was just ok. Although his scene with Karen was gold.

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Hearthstone Kobolds & Catacombs Expansion Is Out + Dungeon Run Mode!

The new Hearthstone Kobolds & Catacombs expansion is out today and for just logging in you will get 3 K&C card packs. If you kill a Dungeon Run boss you get another card pack and then another if you kill 5 and then another if you kill 10. Kobolds and Catacombs is a normal 150+ card expansion that adds Legendary weapons to each class and as an added bonus you get a free weapon for just logging in. It seems like Blizzard is setting the pace with expansions with a free random set Legendary and about 6 packs of cards.

I've played quite a few dungeon runs tonight and I think it's a really amazing single player expansion mode. You don't need any cards in your... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/08/2017 at 08:17pm

I love this video so much, I'm redownloading the game now!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/08/2017 at 09:56pm

Thanks for the head's up. I checked it out, made it to the 4th battle I think. I also noticed other expansions had some single player mode battles I could do for free. I hadn't looked in that area for a while and I wrongly assumed you had to pay to access them. Maybe you have to purchase or spend gold to unlock more of them, that's how the first expansion was, I think.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/08/2017 at 10:11pm

Oh and I had 9 unopened packs just now. I haven't modified my decks in a very long time.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/09/2017 at 03:26pm

So you had to buy Adventures with gold or money before but now when a new expansion comes out they put free Adventure-like single player stuff in it. This expansion has the Dungeon run and the last one has the ice crown citadel single player stuff.

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