#handheld mode is not an option i said this before but one of my joycons is messed up and nothing im doing is fixing it

[sonknuxadow]

not gonna lie it is kinda bugging me not knowing When the sonic frontiers update is going to happen. because i wanna play it as soon as possible. but i dont know when that is

[coldgoldlazarus]

I got a message and I might finally get my Metroid Prime remaster game soon!! I'm curious though and i wanted to ask. What do you think is the best time of the day to play Metroid Prime 1 ?

I remember when i talked about playing Metroid Fusion at night you said that it was the best way to play it and same for Metroid Prime : Echoes. So what about Metroid Prime I ? Is it better to play it at day or night? (also on the big screen or little screen? Probably on the big screen but since I'm on the switch and i don't have access to the tv for my switch this weekend idk if I'll be able to play it on the big screen and i dun wanna wait any longer T__T )

Oh, sweet! :D

Prime 1, hmm. There's an intro section that's definitely best at night, as with a very lategame area. But on the whole, the rest of the time it's pretty good during the day. ^.^

Big screen is definitely recommended if and when available, especially on the remaster, but it's still pretty enjoyable in handheld mode (or tabletop with the kickstand, depending on the control scheme you use) too.

On that note, a couple other things maybe worth knowing going in, though I'll put them under a readmore so you can take or leave them as you wish:

The Remaster version specifically has four different control scheme options you can try out, depending on what you're going for. (And a bunch of adjustable settings within those, not quite full button remapping but still close.) One that's close to the gamecube original, one that uses gyro to emulate the Wii Trilogy release's motion controls, one that uses standard first-person-shooter dual-stick, and one that somehow hybridizes the latter two in some way I'll admit I'm not entirely clear on?

The gamecube option is probably best for an authentic-ish feel for how it played in 2002, but is also kinda limited. I personally swear by the Trilogy controls, and while the gyro is slightly clunkier, (needs frequent manual recentering due to the lack of an IR sensor to do that automatically, and due to the detatched joycons needs a table to set up at) I've still been having a really good time playing through using that. But I know a lot of people are used to the twin-stick setup, so if you don't vibe with motion controls, that might be your best bet?

Similarly, the game has a hint system (sorta like Fusion's waypoint markers where it tells you where to go without saying how to get there, just as a pop-up from the suit instead) but while it is on by default, it is optional in Prime, and can be turned off and on in the menu. It is very handy for if you get lost, but I at least find that it tends to pop up pre-emptively well before that point, so even back during my first-time playthrough on Trilogy I turned it off after a while, and only temporarily turned it back on once or twice for a clue when I was genuinely not sure where to go. Once again up to you either way, but I figured I'd let you know first so you can make an informed decision of whether you want it or not.

Finally, unlike the 2D games this one doesn't have any rewards tied to completion time, so there's no need to rush yourself here. Unless you want to anyway, I guess. XD But it does show an extra after-credits scene if you get 100% item completion, so that's something to keep in mind later, if you want to go for that.

[sage-nebula]

TWEWY: Final Remix - Thoughts

So, I’ve more or less beaten Final Remix now. I’ve beaten the main story, as well as ���A New Day”, and while I still have to play through “Another Day” and get the Secret Reports, I think now is as good a time as any to type up my thoughts.

Since the original story is ten years old and I’ve played it dozens of times, I won’t be discussing the plot of that too much. However, I will discuss “A New Day,” so I’m going to put the rest of this under a cut as well as spoiler tag it just so that no one ends up seeing anything they don’t want to see.

To begin with, Final Remix as a whole.

First, I do think that there are some legitimate criticisms as far as the gameplay goes, and those criticisms stem from the fact that SE clearly ported over the iOS controls instead of building from the ground up to make something that would work with the Switch. While I understand that the Switch doesn’t have dual screen capability, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have implemented the JoyCons in small ways when playing in handheld mode (such as using buttons for the Tin Pin Slammer whammies), or that they couldn’t have found a better way to utilize Neku’s partners rather than treating them as pins. The motion controls when playing in docked mode can be a bit wonky as well, and in particular I personally found Joshua nigh unplayable in that mode. Moreover, there are certain areas where the gameplay is not intuitive at all, where a bit more assistance would have been helpful. Namely, the giant bat boss in Week 1, Day 3 was changed to compensate for the fact that there aren’t two screens, but you are not told what you need to do to launch Shiki to the top screen, so you’re screwed if you don’t figure it out on your own. Likewise, Tigris Cantus was changed to compensate for the lack of two screens, but you’re not told that you have to stand in her shadow to allow your partner to attack her directly during the third phase. These two bosses caused me way more frustration than necessary as a result.

All of that said, though, I do think that a lot of the freaking out I’ve seen about the controls is a bit of an overreaction. The reliance SE had on Solo Remix was a detriment to Final Remix, to be sure, but the controls just take some getting used to. This can be difficult for seasoned TWEWY players such as myself, but with a little bit of practice it’s not that bad (particularly in handheld mode). Even when it comes to Tin Pin---yes, it sucks that you can’t use the buttons for the whammies, but if you know that ahead of time you can train yourself to quickly tap the whammies. Takes some practice, but the original Tin Pin Slammer did as well. You just have to retrain yourself.

Moving on from that, I do think that the majority of the remixes were absolutely fantastic. However, there were some . . . bugs? . . . with the music in certain areas. Such as: When you first meet Shiki, “Deja Vu” starts playing, taking over “Despair”, which rather ruins the mood of the moment considering Neku is still panicking about the Noise that were attacking him. That wasn’t the only place where there was some musical dissonance, but it’s one of the first ones I remember off the top of my head, particularly because it was so jarring I looked up a video of the original DS version of that moment to see if I was right in remembering that it was off (and I was). I’m not exactly sure why SE screwed with the music like that, but I wish they hadn’t. The remixes are great, but we didn’t need which track plays where screwed to that degree. (Though that said, for those who don’t like the remixes, you can switch back to the DS OST at any time in the settings menu. I’m not sure if that fixes the musical dissonance that sometimes occurs or not, but that’s an option. So there’s no real excuse to have “I hate the remixes” as a reason for hating the game when . . . you can disable them.)

Overall, while there are a few minor things here or there that could have been better, I don’t think that any of this is a reason to discourage people from buying this game, particularly when it has been said this is our last shot at a sequel. These are all petty, minor inconveniences---they’re not enough to ruin the experience, in my opinion, particularly for a brand new fan who won’t be blinded or have their opinion marred by nostalgia.

All of that said . . . “A New Day”. Oh boy. 

I think the biggest weakness of “A New Day” is that it was too short, and left way too many things unanswered. This is obviously to leave room for the sequel (which we now have a reason for; there was no room for a sequel before, but now there definitely is), but at the same time it’s also a little frustrating, especially considering the very good chance that we won’t get a sequel due to it not selling well enough in Japan (which is Nintendo’s own fault, by the by, because I was actually in Shibuya this past August and I saw no advertising for it anywhere---literally, I passed by Tower Records and I heard Splatoon 2 music playing, but I didn’t hear a single note of TWEWY music, wth), and people in the western fandom telling curious people to buy the DS original or iOS ports instead. The idea that we might not get any answers to any of the questions raised (and that Neku might just stay dead forever, I guess) is really frustrating to me, but I guess in Nomura’s defense he couldn’t have planned for that, so. It is what it is.

Nonetheless, there are a lot of questions raised. Why was Shinjuku erased? Is it erased for good? How is that affecting Shinjuku in the RG? How are Noise appearing in the RG in the first place? (I actually wrote a fic where that happened once, though I only got about two chapters in with it.) I can say that I’m not at all surprised that Coco is actually a Shinjuku Reaper. I always felt that she didn’t really fit with Shibuya at all, ever since the iOS port first came out and I first saw her. She just doesn’t look like a Shibuya Reaper, you know? But she does look very Shinjuku. I can’t really explain it, but the fashion and vibe in Shibuya is just different from Shinjuku, particularly since Shinjuku (contrary to what is said in TWEWY) is actually the high class fashion center of Tokyo. Like, Shibuya is filled with teenagers and all that, but Shinjuku is where you go if you want expensive fashion. So while I’m not saying that Coco’s outfit looks very expensive, I am saying that the fact that her fashion is so different from what we see in Shibuya in TWEWY definitely makes the fact that she originates from Shinjuku make so much more sense. I’m really glad that was clarified in “A New Day”. But that said, that doesn’t explain how she got to Shibuya’s UG to begin with (particularly since I thought that Reapers couldn’t travel between the different UGs), nor does it explain how she can summon a Noise big enough to swallow a city, or create illusions like she did, or use the Taboo Noise refinery to revive Minamimoto . . . there are too many questions here. Way too many questions, and we don’t have answers for any of them.

That said, although I do feel that it was too short, and though I feel that scrambling the map was done less because it made sense for Coco to do that, and more because they wanted to create some artificial length (because if you don’t know how to get to each location, you’re going to spend way more time randomly running around than you otherwise would), I did still enjoy it. The highlights for me were:

Seeing development in Neku’s relationships: Right off the bat, Beat was ready to form a pact with Neku again, and Neku was ready to do the same with Beat. They didn’t even question it, despite how they (understandably) questioned everything else. Not only that, but Beat screamed and reached for Neku when Neku was shot again right in front of him, and I can only imagine how devastated Beat must be right about now. If he didn’t need some therapy after the Game (and he did---they all did), he definitely needs some after seeing his best friend be murdered right in front of him. Then there’s Neku’s relationship with Shiki. One of my favorite parts is when he saw her in Eri’s body again, and his immediate reaction was, “No, that’s not Shiki. That’s not what she really looks like.” I made a post about it before, but one of the best things about Neku’s relationship with Shiki---one of the things that makes it amazing---is the fact that Neku doesn’t truly warm up to her until she drops the Eri act and starts acting like herself. Neku was never impressed by Eri’s looks, and he certainly isn’t impressed by her bubbly attitude; if anything, that annoys him. But Neku cherishes and loves (whether you see it as platonic or romantic) the real Shiki. And so the disappointment he showed when he saw her in Eri’s body---the fact that he doesn’t want this “fake” Shiki, he wants his Shiki, the real Shiki---was extremely heartwarming. I also loved how casually he agreed to go with her to pick up some thread to repair Mr Mew at the end. You know that’s an errand that has nothing at all to do with him, but he just wants to spend some time with her. That’s really cute. ♥ We didn’t get to see very much of it, but I liked what we saw of Neku’s relationship with Joshua as well. I always found it odd (and perhaps a little forced) that Neku said he trusted Joshua at the end of the game. Joshua is someone who repeatedly lied to, used, and murdered Neku. Whatever his reasons for it, Joshua has made it abundantly clear time and again that he will put his own motivations above Neku’s well-being, and he will not feel sorry for it. So while I of course understand Neku not forgiving Josh, I could never understand Neku trusting him despite that lack of forgiveness. If anything, I thought it should be the other way around, that perhaps Neku would forgive him after understanding where he was coming from, but would still not trust him. Either way, I was glad to see in “A New Day” that Neku doesn’t quite trust Joshua as much as he claimed. When he realized that Joshua would likely have some explanation about what was going on, he chased him down. He refused to back down at first, not believing that “Yoshiya” wasn’t playing him. When he had a vision of Joshua potentially shooting him, he thought of that as a very real possibility. All of this points to the fact that it’s less that Neku does trust Joshua, and more that he wants to, and that he’s still feeling pretty conflicted over it. Which, all things considered, is extremely understandable and IC. Finally, Neku’s relationship with Hanekoma has always been one of my favorites, and I was so happy about the little glimpses we witnessed here. I used to write fics where Neku saw Hanekoma as a father-figure (without explicitly saying as much), and where Hanekoma basically adopted him, so I honestly felt like this part of “A New Day” was written for me, haha. The bit where Coco started insisting that Hanekoma was untrustworthy, and Neku turned away from her (as he often does with those who annoy him) and insisted that he trusted Hanekoma more than anyone warmed my heart. Hanekoma, despite Coco’s interference, doing his best to help Neku and get him to WildKat, warmed my heart. And at the very end, where Hanekoma asked “What about Neku?” because he knew Neku’s fate? That, too, warmed my heart. We all know that Hanekoma, at the very least, does hold affection for Neku given the final Secret Report of the original game (“I am glad to have had the chance to meet you”), and I”m glad to see that carried over here as well. Hanekoma is worried about him, and I really want a sequel to see what, exactly, Hanekoma does to help him out of this situation he’s now going to find himself in. (Playing the Game again . . . this time with Pi-Face as his partner . . . RIP, Neku.)

Joshua’s characterization was deliciously on-point. I know that so many people disagree with me on this one, and that’s fine. Everyone can have whatever opinions they want. But from what little we saw of Joshua there at the end, I felt that he was 100% IC---and given how much Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance butchered his characterization, this was so, so refreshing. The thing about Joshua, which I noted above, is that he’s not a sentimental person. He’s a pragmatist. He sees the bigger picture and he puts his own motivations and goals above the well-being of others. Joshua is a person who murdered a teenage boy in cold blood twice, a smile on his face in each time, because he wanted to use said teenage boy as a pawn in a game of life or death. Joshua is a person who was willing to erase an entire town because he felt the citizens weren’t living up to their potential. Joshua is a person who isn’t merciless, and he’s not evil or cruel, but he does believe the ends justify the means and he has little patience for those who would whine about it. He originally chose Neku because Neku was the epitome of everything Joshua hated about Shibuya, the absolute worst person that Joshua could find (that also had suitable Imagination), and though Neku’s development and growth as a person changed Joshua’s mind about erasing Shibuya, that doesn’t mean that he grew attached to Neku on a personal level the same way that Hanekoma did. I know that many people took the Secret Ending of the original game to imply that he was emo about not joining Neku and the others, but I just rewatched it and, honestly, nothing gave me that implication. If anything, it’s vague enough so that you can interpret either way (that he’s either upset about not joining them, or that he feels they’re wasting their time---because after all, Hanekoma says, “Hey, it’s their world. They can decide what to do with it”), but I’ve personally always felt that the “Joshua is a lonely sad boy who just wants to be friends” was more wishful thinking on the part of the fandom versus what we actually see in Joshua’s characterization. Moreover, even if part of Joshua does care about Neku to some degree and wants to be friends with him and others (and again, that’s part of him), he’s still going to value the bigger picture over Neku as an individual. If Neku has to die again to get the job done, so be it. If Neku isn’t necessary for what Joshua has to do and ends up dying as collateral damage, so be it. He might not be exactly happy about it, but ultimately Joshua is here to play the long game, and Neku might not factor into that. In fact, judging by his “I don’t need him anymore” comment at the end of “A New Day” (which makes sense, because since Joshua’s Game with Megumi is no longer running, he has no reason to restrict himself to the RG and thus does not need a proxy to play for him), I’d say Neku doesn’t.  Either way, I was really, really glad to see his proper characterization return. As I said, I felt that he was terribly OoC in KH:DDD, which actually led to me returning the game halfway through because it pissed me off so much, haha. Joshua is one of the most complex, fascinating characters I’ve ever seen in a JRPG, particularly with how he wasn’t swayed and won over by The Power of Friendship™ there at the end, and I was delighted to see that return. All in all, if you really want to know how I view Neku and Joshua’s relationship post-Game, here’s a fic I wrote a few years ago of the two of them interacting, featuring Neku’s lingering trust issues, lingering anger over what Joshua did to him, and Joshua’s lack of patience for what he sees as Neku’s pity party and inability to see the bigger picture. (Oh, and also Joshua teasing Neku and needling him to piss him off on purpose. Irritating Neku will never stop being one of Joshua’s favorite pastimes.) 

Neku’s Imagination giving him additional ESP. Because what were those premonitions if not ESP? Of course, all the Players are espers to some degree, but Neku had the highest Imagination of them all, which is part of why Joshua chose him as his proxy. We been knew about this for ages, but seeing Neku have premonitions of the future---even if they were partially given to him by Hype-chan---was still very cool. Considering that Noise are not appearing in the RG as well (RIP to weebers girl), I wonder if his premonitions will continue in the next game, should we ever get it. Oh, and speaking of---Shiki mentioned having a feeling that something awful was going to happen right after (or before?) she noticed the tear in Mr Mew’s seam. While that’s not as strong of a premonition as what Neku experienced, it’s still extrasensory perception, and I like that she got some of that as well, that it wasn’t just Neku being the most special boy as per usual. Because after all, as I said, they’re all espers to some degree.

The foreshadowing that Coco was controlling everything was also on point. Aside from the fact that she looked so out of place and her insistence on going along with Neku and Beat was odd, the fact that Fake Shiki and Fake Rhyme changed their behavior just so to match with the feedback that Coco got from Neku and Beat was subtle, but juuuust enough for a perceptive player to catch, and I really enjoyed that. (For instance, after Neku mentioned that “Rhyme” was acting awfully distant toward her brother, Fake Rhyme started calling Beat “big bro.” There’s also the fact that Kariya and Uzuki’s personalities were swapped, and that Coco said “isn’t this how they are?” meaning that her information about them was second-hand . . . and another point to the fact that she was the one behind everything. Oh, and the fact that Coco doesn’t know what Shiki really looks like, and thus Fake Shiki looked like Eri . . . and Coco wouldn’t have known Shiki’s true motivation for her entry fee, hence the “I forgot,” and so on.)

All of that said, aspects that I didn’t enjoy (length and cliffhanger aside) as much were . . .

Fridging both Shiki and Rhyme (or, well, their fake selves) was unnecessary. In all honesty, as much as I love Beat and his friendship with Neku, I think that “A New Day” was a wasted opportunity to not have Neku partner with Rhyme. We never got to know what her play style was in the original game, and she’s the only one of Neku’s new friends that he never got to partner with. She’s just as capable of a Player as any of the rest of them (arguably more so given how clever she’s shown to be despite her age), and we barely got to see her personality or characterization in the original game due to how early on she got erased. Although “A New Day” was short, I would have really liked to partner with Rhyme for it, to see how she and Neku interact on their own, and to see what kind of play style she brings to the table. I’ve always headcanoned that she used psychs outright like Neku (i.e. a variety of pins), but I wonder what Nomura always envisioned for her. I would have liked to see that. Aside from which, not only did we already go through Beat’s despair over having Rhyme erased in the main story (which means that going through it again here was a re-tread of what we literally just got done seeing), but I also felt that both his and Neku’s reactions were . . . extremely underwhelming. Beat cried and attacked the shark, but otherwise he got over Rhyme being erased a second time pretty quickly. As for Neku, he goes from shouting, “Don’t you touch her!” at Beat at the end of the third week in the Game when Beat goes to knock out possessed!Shiki to just sort of . . . accepting that Shiki was erased without really caring in “A New Day”. There wasn’t even really any drama about it at all, despite how she was his primary motivation for fighting during weeks two and three. So not only were they erased for the sake of manpain, but they were erased for the sake of manpain that was barely explored, at that, especially since Neku and Beat thought this was real at the time and thus had no real reason to get over it so quickly. (And I mean, I get that Coco had that happen because she didn’t want Neku and Beat to figure out that Shiki and Rhyme weren’t real, which they were pretty close to doing, but still. Doesn’t change the fact that it felt unnecessary for the most part.) And honestly, I’m really not kidding about the wasted opportunity re: Rhyme. I would have loved to have partnered with her. Why we couldn’t have that instead I’ll never understand. (I mean, in-universe I suppose that Coco might have chosen Beat because he is notoriously stupid, but like . . . come on. Let us partner with Rhyme, SE! We’re not asking for a lot, here!!)

The whole bit with “Yoshiya” wasn’t explained and felt out of place. As much as I loved Joshua’s characterization, Yoshiya is another story. The over-the-top stuttering was bad enough, but there’s also no real explanation for why he behaved this way. At first I thought that perhaps this was a time travel plot and that this was how Joshua was before he died and ended up becoming Composer, but not only was that not the case, we have no explanation for why this did happen at all. Why would Coco believe Joshua acted like that? What reason did she have for thinking that? He was so far out of character that, looking back, it’s really jarring. (Still, I’ll take Yoshiya over KH3D “Joshua”, so that should tell you something about how I feel about KH3D.)

We never got a real name for Hype-chan. It’s been all these years and we still have nothing to call her but “Hype-chan,” smfh. But no, really, what’s her name? What’s her story? I want to know and yet I may never find out. This kills the Scrawlers.

All in all I did enjoy it, missed opportunities and raised questions aside, and I really want the sequel. Here’s hoping we manage to squeak enough sales to get it. It would be nice. (Especially since the fact that the sequel would likely be made especially for Switch should mean that the control issues would be smoothed out. One can only hope.)

[monokuroo]

I know the title’s lame (haha) BUT I got myself a Nintendo Switch!

Earlier this year, I was debating with myself whether I should get a PS4 or a Nintendo Switch. There were nice games on both consoles but I was leaning towards PS4 *coughcheapercough*. Then Otomate announced the “switch” to Switch and that pretty much nailed my decision to get it.

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  I got the Splatoon edition with neon green and pink joycons – which aren’t my first choice honestly. I still cringe whenever I see those super bright colors ww.  The blue/red ones look a lot decent (and cheaper at first glance) but getting the bundle is much cheaper. Besides, I really wanted to get Splatoon 2.  I just thought that in exchange for those glaring colors, I saved $20. Not so bad anymore. Besides, in very poor lighting, the color looks closer to blue and red, don’t you think? www

While otome games helped my decision, I mainly bought a Switch for casual games. I took advantage of Switch’s region-free system to make a Japanese account. Using that and my North American account, I downloaded some demo games from the e-shop.

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VOEZ and Deemo – I first played these games a few years back on my tablet so I’m familiar with their gameplay and initial songs available. Though I never finished these because you have to pay (I was a broke student back then lol). I’m so happy that these games made through the handhelds/consoles. I enjoyed playing these on Switch especially when I took out my joycons from the tablet. My hands have less strain from punching the buttons and holding the console. (the Switch can be pretty big and heavy)

ARMS – I’ve never played this game before and it sure made me look silly but the gameplay is amazeballs! ARMS is a fighting game and you use the Switch’s joycon and motion sensor to deliver deadly punches to your opponent. It is frigging amazing and entertaining. Though I laughed out loud when I played the trial because I looked like a massive idiot punching the air. Thank goodness there’s no one around when I played the demo! www

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Captain Toad – Captain Toad is a cute platformer. It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve played one so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I need to do lol.

Taiko no Tatsujin – When I first saw the gameplay for the Switch version of Taiko no Tatsujin, I was ecstatic! You can finally play as if you are playing drums. So of course, I tried it and boy, that was a lot of fun! Granted, I had a lot of misses either due to moving too much or the console not detecting my hits. Either way, this is still so enjoyable. Can’t wait to play the full game.

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Splatoon 2 – I absolutely adore this game right now! It is cute, cool, and funky in every sense of the word. The game needs a separate post for my rave www.

What I love about the Nintendo Switch is that it combines Wii’s interactive gameplay with a lot of possible ways to play it. Like, you can play it on your TV, play it on tabletop mode, or my favorite, play it like a handheld. But each way of playing comes with a con. For instance, there are some reports that docking your Switch for a long time causes it to bend. Reddit says otherwise, though. As for the tabletop mode, the Switch has a flimsy stand on the back. Besides, you can’t play on the tabletop while charging since the port is on the lower side of the tablet. I guess you can just buy a stand (adding to a gazillion of accessories for your console lol). For the handheld, the Switch is pretty big compared to my PS Vita and N3DS XL so my hands get tired after playing for so long.

Another bit of downside is when you copy your screenshots from your Switch to your PC. There are only 3 available option at the moment – posting on Facebook, posting on Twitter, and transferring through memory cards. That’s quite a hassle especially for me who uses screenshots a lot but doesn’t want to post everything on social media. Twitter has no privacy option and I don’t use my Facebook that much. Hopefully, the transfer will be available via USB in the future.

But in spite of everything that I’ve said above, I’m still loving Switch. How about you, internet? Do you have dos and don’ts in handling the console that you want to share? What is your favorite game so far?

[Scribbles] I Switched! I know the title's lame (haha) BUT I got myself a Nintendo Switch! Earlier this year, I was debating with myself whether I should get a PS4 or a Nintendo Switch.

[fnlrndcllctv]

REVIEW: SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium (1999)

When it comes to 2D fighting games during the early/mid 90’s, there’s two names that absolutely dominated the scene with their releases and became household names;

SNK and Capcom.

To this day they remain some of the most well respected and most loved games companies in the fighting game genre, so the prospect of a crossover between the two companies back then was certainly a tantalising thought.

In November of 1999, we got just that in the form of SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium for the Neo Geo Pocket Color system.

While this wasn’t the first time we’d see the brands clash in a single game (that award goes to SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash, released earlier that year), it was the first time they would meet in the setting of a tradition versus fighting game.

The game was a critical success, and was followed up with entries in the genre that many consider to be the best fighting games ever made.

So, with the bar set so high with this historic title, it finally sees a re-release on the Nintendo Switch almost 22 years later as part of Nintendo’s Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection series, alongside games such as SNK Gals’ Fighters, The King Of Fighters R-2 and Fatal Fury: First Contact.

So, does it still hold up all these years later?

Let’s find out…

Gameplay

First of all, there’s a number of different ways in which players can play through the tournament mode (and regular versus mode); you can either go 1-on-1, fight a 2-on-2 battle as a tag team, or as a team of three in an elimination match. This variety of battle styles appeals to players who may be used to fighting in different forms.

Want to play this like a King Of Fighters game? Go ahead!

How about like the Marvel Vs Capcom titles? Play as a tag-team to your heart’s content, my friend!

For a game that utilises just two attack buttons, there’s a surprising amount of depth to how special moves are executed as well. Instead of relying on the four-button approach that SNK based their games on or the usual six-button layout in many of the Capcom fighting games, SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium’s control scheme actually focuses on how long the A and B buttons are pressed.

The longer a button is pressed, the higher the amount of damage it causes (but takes a hit to how quick it is), mimicking the LP/MP/HP and LK/MK/HK button functions in games such as Street Fighter II and Darkstalkers.

It’s a simple system that works wonders, and makes the amalgamation of each games franchise’s special moves work together seamlessly.

The game also boasts three different “power gauge” command styles to choose from too;

AVERAGE - This is similar to the traditional super gauge in the Street Fighter games, where once the gauge is filled up, more powerful versions of normal attacks can be pulled off.

COUNTER - This is a more defensive approach that allows counterblows while evading enemy attacks. It also has an exclusive function in the form of “critical hits”, which do greater damage if they successfully hit an opponent.

RUSH - This one only fills up when chain combos are successfully executed, and although this gauge nerfs your normal attack damage, super moves can be done at any time (as long as there’s enough juice in the tank, so to speak).

So no matter which side of the fighting game coin you land on, there’s definitely a playstyle in SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium that will suit you perfectly.

In the original release, if players wanted to play against each other, a link cable and another console were required, making it something of a inconvenience. Thankfully this new Switch port has 2-player versus available straight away by using the two joycons.

Story

The game’s main storyline centres around a not-so-subtly named fighting tournament known as the “Battle Tournament of Evil”, which promises the victor the title of “World’s Mightiest” and a ridiculously high amount of prize money.

The benefactors and organisers of said tournament? None other than Fatal Fury’s Geese Howard and Street Fighter II’s M. Bison!

This newly formed alliance of nefarious (and powerful) psychopaths has an ulterior motive with the tournament, and intend to create an “immortal military” whose first wave of elite soldiers are to be the captured contestants.

The character stories vary slightly depending on whether an SNK fighter or a Capcom fighter is chosen, and the game’s ending depends on the outcome of a specific match during the tournament where a player faces off against their rival.

Putting together the two “Big Bads” that are synonymous with their respective franchises is a great move and the fact that players can get a “bad ending” through poor performance in just a single match ups the ante somewhat as well.

Roster

SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium’s roster is comprised of 26 different fighters (18 of which are immediately playable, with a further 8 that are unlockable) from across the various SNK and Capcom franchises;

From the King Of Fighters, Fatal Fury and Art Of Fighting games, we get Kyo, Terry Bogard, Iori, Ryo Sakazaki, Mai and Leona.

From Psycho Soldier, we get Athena.

From the Samurai Shodown series, we get Haohmaru and Nakoruru

From Street Fighter II, we get Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile and Zangief.

From the Street Fighter Alpha series, we get Sakura and Dan

From Darkstalkers, we get Morrigan and Felicia.

The unlockable fighters in the game are from a good mix of the various games series, and there are 4 to unlock for each side.

It’s an impressive roster for a game that was released on a platform like this, and does a great job of bringing together the more familiar faces of Capcom’s games with some perhaps lesser known fighters from the SNK side.

Graphics

SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium’s stylised graphics are one of the most immediate things players will notice about the game.

The character sprites are more cartoonish versions of each fighter’s normal likeness and all strictly adhere to a 3-colour palette. Considering the history of alternate looks for 2D fighting game characters being simple colour swaps, this simplistic look works really well for the most part (well, Zangief might be the only exception here…).

Seeing the fighters in motion is also a joyous thing too, as the movement during fights is fluid and animated to a brilliant degree. Even the animations when characters are idle feel charming in this game!

A large problem with fighting games on handheld systems during this era was that they all too often felt like an attempt at creating a scaled down version of the bigger, more technically advanced games to fit the lower specs of the systems, ultimately resulting in a crappy version of the game.

Games such as this, along with many other titles in the Neo Geo Pocket Color library, always felt like they were made from the ground up to fit the system, so they not only played well, but they also looked very unique in a really positive way.

SNK Vs Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium is arguably the best of the bunch, and it deserves praise for it.

As is par for the course with retro fighting game re-releases on modern hardware, there’s also some extra display options to help things feel like the real deal, but with this (and the other NGPC releases on the Switch), there’s the option to view the game in a mocked up fashion on a number of different Neo Geo Pocket Color models. It’s a nice touch that effectively shows the amount of care being put into this port.

Stages

The stages in the game are essentially a megamix of different locations from several SNK and Capcom games, ranging from the helicopter wreckage in The King Of Fighters ‘94’s Brazilian jungle, the Great Wall Of China from Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors’ Dreams and the crashing rocky waves of Japan from Samurai Shodown to the cloudy Japanese castle of Ryu’s Street Fighter II stage, Morrigan’s spooky Scottish Darkstalkers cave/lair combo and the moving train carriages that pass by Mount Rushmore (over and over again) from Fatal Fury 2.

There’s plenty of references for longtime fans of these games to spot, and they have been recreated perfectly to fit in with the game’s visual style.

I mean, sure, some of the characters in the backgrounds do look a little murky and lack detail in places, but when you consider that the screen on a Neo Geo Pocket Color was a smaller, low resolution affair, it can be ignored for the most part!

Replayability

SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium’s gameplay experience is essentially split into two halves.

One one side, you have the regular versus game modes and a story mode to fight through, as one would expect from pretty much every fighting game. On the other side is the unlocking all of the hidden characters and beating a plethora of minigames to earn new special moves.

This is where the game’s replay value truly shines through, and its nice to see that it’s all present in its original form on the Switch port.

These extra games are known as “Olympic Mode”, and is divided up into separate SNK and Capcom sections. While both sections do share some of the same minigames, such as the 100-round survival match, Time Attack and the “whoever gets connects with the first hit, wins!” mode, there are also a couple of games that are unique to each brand.

On the SNK side, managed by Samurai Shodown’s Rimiruru, we get “Targets” - a shooting game that sees players assume the role of Marcus from the Metal Slug franchise as he shoots down as many aliens as possible. We also get “Blade Arts” - where players take on the role of Samurai Shodown’s Jubei as he slices through as many straw dummies as possible before a timer expires.

On the Capcom side, managed by Street Fighter Alpha 3’s Karin, we get “Ghost Trick”; which sees Ghosts ‘n Goblins’ Arthur having to jump across platforms to collect treasures on each side of the screen while avoiding a pesky Firebrand that pops up between them. The other challenge - “Cat Walk” - is a Dance Dance Revolution-style minigame that sees players have to quickly input buttons as they are announced so that Felicia can dance along.

These extra modes are pretty challenging, and undeniably make the game feel so much more complete, while also showing some much deserved appreciation for other iconic games in both companies’ back catalogs.

Final thoughts & overall score

SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium is fondly remembered by many as one of the best handheld fighting games ever released, and the Switch port further cements that notion, bringing the series into the modern era.

The visual style of the game still oozes charm, the gameplay system still feels immensely satisfying and the wealth of extra playable content that is packed into it puts many of the more well known titles of the era to shame.

With the features of the Nintendo Switch implemented, the small handful of nagging issues that came with the game’s original release are now completely fixed, making this not only a cool item of interest for fans of either SNK or Capcom, but an absolute essential for any fighting game fan.

For the purposes of this review, a review copy was provided by Renaissance PR on behalf of SNK.

Do you agree with our review of the SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium?

Let us know in the comments section below!

[aurimeanswind]

Quick Thoughts: Switch & Breath of the Wild

Editor’s Note: the first half of this was written early in the evening with just hands on time setting up and playing around with the Switch. The second half was written later after time with Zelda.

So I got my Switch a day early today. The graceful lords over at Amazon Were kind enough to bestow it upon me just a full day ahead of schedule. I got to get some hands on with it, just pretty much set it up before work but of course I had to run off to work and will be seeing Logan, so by the time this posts I will probably have already done a stream and played around with it. I thought it'd be fun to just give my first raw impressions of it, and then add on a bit after I've played some stuff on it.

First thoughts: wow, this is some good hardware. It was like the first time I felt the Dualshock 4 or had the PS4 added to my set up. Right out of the gate, it just felt like some excellently made first generation hardware. The only thing that surprised me or threw me off were how small the analogous sticks were on the Joycon. Aside from that, it was all excellent.

One of the first things I needed to know for myself was: how is the Joycon Grip. I am not lucky enough to have gotten a pro controller, so I needed to know if my primary means of play was going to be good enough. It was actually a lot better than I thought. I have medium-to-large sized hands, so it was a comfortable middle ground for me. Not too narrow. Not too odd either. I haven't played any games with it yet, but I'm excited to, which is more than I could have said before.

I also love the interface. As a console, navigation is slick and easy to understand, with really great visuals to go with it. I wasn't surprised; this stuff has been online for weeks, but the tactile response of it all was just great. It's the first time I think I have ever felt “great” about a Nintendo interface.

Some time later...

Okay, so I’ve spent a little under four hours playing on my Switch, primarily in TV mode, with The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. When I was playing I thought of essentially the perfect way I would want to start my eventual review of Breath of the Wild, talking about all the importance of the series, the fanboyism, etc, etc. I don’t want to give that away here, since I think it’s pretty good, but I’ll just establish this out of the gate: I am a massive fan of Zelda. A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds are some of my favorites, with Majora’s Mask representing probably my favorite 3D Zelda game. It’s the Dark Horse answer, I know, but it was the first 3D Zelda, having gone back and played through all of them again recently, that really broke the format. (note: to be fair, it was the second 3D Zelda just in general)

Suffice to say, Breath of the Wild has completely changed everything.

There are the two halves of me; the one that loves Zelda and the kinds of innovations it brings to video games, and has brought to games in the past, mixing with the critic in me that doesn’t want to get too carried away too quickly. There isn’t a Zelda game that I dislike, even Zelda II, but I try and approach everything from a critical standpoint. I am going to discuss Zelda in some pretty blanket terms, as I’ve read quite a few reviews from some of my favored writers, and I want to actually talk about the game. I will keep this as spoiler free as I can, of course, but bear in mind everything I have seen has been from absolutely only the first area, and I know a great many things about the format beyond that that I won’t even discuss here.

So I just wrapped on The Great Plateau, which for those who don’t know is the starting area. Link awakens from some resurrection chamber, is sprung into the world, and that’s it. You meet a mysterious old man who starts giving you tips, and complete a few things on the plateau, and then it’s off to the open world.

Some things about this that I didn’t expect: it can really be as guided or not as you want. I spent a lot of time talking to the Old Man, and he serves as a sort of optional tutorial, but not on trivial things like how to Z-Target, shit we’ve known for almost two decades of video games thanks to Zelda, but system stuff, like lighting fires, cutting down trees to make bridges or gather materials (things that have never been in Zelda games before) and most importantly, COOKING. I could imagine totally missing this, but I poked around in the Old Man’s house, which didn’t occur, mind you, until I had been running around the Plateau for over an hour fucking up Bokoblin camps, and discovered his diary. In his diary he wrote about cooking up some meal that made him warmer, so he wouldn’t need some old clothing he used to have that kept him warm in the colder areas of the plateau. He ends up forgetting the last ingredient, only remembering two of the three parts to it, and upon inspection, the Old Man can give you a full cooking instruction. But only because I probed around a bit!

Past this, you can find the Old Man getting up to a ton of shenanigans through the world. He was hunting boar, cutting down trees, gazing from a mountain top, and by talking to him in these instances, he’d give me different contextual hints. I knew going into this cooking and heat-control were important mechanics, so I spent the next hour or so trying to find this damn missing ingredient. Mind you, it was very obvious, I just forgot one important clue, but upon experimenting and recreating his recipe, I was joyous! I did it! And I got the warm doublet as a reward, meaning I could venture into the cold peak of the plateau without the need for warming food. Awesome!

This wasn’t some formal sidequest added to a questlog (though there is a quest log for the first time[?] in a Zelda game), it was just something I decided to make my goal. And I dicked around a ton in this one area alone. Fighting monsters. Dying a handful of times. Just experimenting, finding treasure. It was genuinely adventurous and fun. It may be preemptive to say, but it’s the most wonderous feeling a game has gotten out of me in a while.

Horizon, the other game I’ve been primarily playing this week, is very different. I’ve been enjoying the combat in that game the most. Fighting stuff and learning their weaknesses has been massively rewarding. This? This feels like an adventure. It feels lighthearted but challenging in a way that that game doesn’t bring out of me. Two different things that I am enjoying a great deal, but this just immediately has me much more. Part of that may be the Zelda name, but really it’s the quiet, wide wonderment. I don’t want to make some uncouth comparison of the two too early, since they are soooo different, but I’m already thinking in my head what one is doing and the other isn’t. But enough about that.

The goal of this starting area that the Old Man gives you is to find the treasure in the four shrines on the plateau. Each has an item that it gives you, totally to four, which represents, from what I understand, your complete arsenal for the whole game. That’s kind of nuts. They’re cool tools though, kind of a reimagining of items from past Zelda games (both 2D and 3D) with wholly new concepts thrown on top.

Now I decided to pop this bad boy out of the dock and play one of the shrines in handheld mode and whooooooa boy. That was magical. I legit, out loud, to no one said, ‘holy shit this is amazing,’ just at the marvel of holding this massive game I had on my TV in my hand. I have toted that I will probably not play the Switch very much in handheld mode, and this is true, I have a lot of trouble getting comfortable playing handheld games. It’s just my whole life. I love my Vita to death, and I play it way more on planes than my 3DS, even if it is half-broken, but I just get super uncomfortable with it. This feels sturdy and hefty in a way that I want to lug it into my bed and curl up with it like I did with my Vita and the very first Danganronpa. The mere idea of Breath of the Wild anywhere I go, and past that other major Nintendo games (Mario Odyssey, Fire Emblem in a glorious console form) has me stoked. Again, I probably won’t use it that much, but the magic of taking it out and putting it right back on my TV again was genuinely impressive.

Okay, this is longer than I’d hoped it would be, but the only other thing I wanted to mention is minorly story related. I won’t spoil it, but I understand if you want to avert your eyes. After finishing the Plateau, a task that could easily take an hour and a half, which I turned into almost four (thanks to dicking around), you’re treated with the first fully-voiced cutscene of the game, which was great, but like... They laid out a whole lot more right away than I was expecting. You need the paraglider you get after the scene to get off the plateau, so it is a mandatory scene, unlike just about everything else in the game, but I was taken aback by how the world, who you were, and what happened was generally explained. I mean, there are still a ton of lingering questions in my head, don’t get me wrong, but now I’m filled with all of this story info that I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT just a few short hours into the game. You know a pretty good deal right off the bat, so I’m impressed this stuff hasn’t crept out there. It was more of a what happened, but not a how it happened, if that makes sense? I’m very curious to see the arc of this game.

Well anyway, I have today (Friday) off, so I’m just gonna forgo sleep and lose myself to Hyrule. I am really, really enjoying my time with this game. Playing it in TV mode, I will say there have been a great deal of framerate drops. Nothing major, no full stops, but it happens. It’s noticeable. Doesn’t really bother me, because it hasn’t ruined anything for me, but I wanted to throw that out there too. Anyway, back to Hyrule I go.

[ergohacks]

When Nintendo announced the Switch last year everyone was intrigued. The form factor was new and interesting and the general agreement was that the first few months games would make or break it. It turned out that Nintendo had a huge win with Zelda and has managed to maintain and even increase their momentum – it’s a hit even before Mario is brought into the equation. That said with the Christmas season on the way it’s a chance for Nintendo to get even further ahead and boost their winner even further.

Confession time. Super Mario Odyssey isn’t my first Mario game but it almost might be. The last Mario game I played was Super Mario Land on the original Game Boy and I played it when it came out in 1989. I’ve had a Wii and still have a Wii U but somehow never quite got around the respective Mario game on those platforms. Whether you’ve even played it we’re all familiar with Mario – so whats different in Super Mario Odyssey?

The storyline isn’t anything particularly original and borrows from every previous Mario game with a particular emphasis on the N64. Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach and you as Mario need to explore the world and mini-worlds to collect Moons. These can be used to power up your airship to get to Bowser to rescue Peach. In this, you’ve got assistance from Cappy the cap. Cappy can be used as a ranged projectile to kill enemies to help make Mario more agile by providing a step or landing on enemies heads and take them over. Once you get used to Mario having a ranged ability it’s well designed and works well. You occasionally find yourself being sucked into a monster that you intended to kill but it’s usually for the best.

Let’s talk controls. Nintendo is very definite about wanting to push the for the joycons to be motion controllers and nearly every ability in the game can be made better if you’re willing to shake, tilt or otherwise move your hands around. This works well if you’re happy to have played with the joycons in separate hands and acceptably if attach them to the controller. It’s not ideal if you’re playing in tablet mode as it’s very easy to lose track shaking the screen around. I’m hoping as I get more experienced at this it’ll feel more natural but for now, it’s better as a big screen experience.

Perhaps most importantly Nintendo have got the feel of Odyssey right. It feels big and bold, cartoony and family friendly all at the same time. Mario manages to be cute and relatable at the same time and the game is pitched at a family audience with enough difficult optional extras thrown in to please the experienced player. I’ve got a long way to go but if you’ve got a Switch I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it on the basis of what I’ve seen so far. Highly recommended.

  Buy it from Amazon  + 

Price: ± £45

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Specification

For games Platforms: Switch Genre: 3d Platformer with open world elements. Number of players: single player and two player Difficulty settings: Standard and assisted Release date: October 27, 2017 Audience Rating: 7 and older [showhide type=”SUPERMARIO” more_text=”Trigger Warnings (potential spoilers)” less_text=”Hide”]Non-combatant violence, taking of hostages, vandalism. Note game has not yet been played through and this may be updated[/showhide]

  Requirements

Nintendo Switch only. If you choose to download the game rather than use a cartridge you’ll need around 5.7 gig of space which is around a quarter of the Switch’s onboard capacity.

About Nintendo

Nintendo needs very little introduction. They started life making playing cards and went from market to market, settling on toys in the 1960s, then moved on to electronic games in the 1970s. They rose to dominance in the 1980s and 90s and are one of the major gaming companies worldwide. The last home console generation was a bad one for Nintendo with very poor Wii U sales, but they’ve remained dominant in the handheld market with the 3DS.

 We based our Ergohacks First Look on one week of tinkering, testing and playing Super Mario Odyssey kindly provided by Nintendo during October 2017.  This article was first published on  1 November 2017

Super Mario Odyssey – a first look When Nintendo announced the Switch last year everyone was intrigued. The form factor was new and interesting and the general agreement was that the first few months games would make or break it.