#i’m going to need these luigi renders

[oh-my-gosh-its-j0sh]

@henryplush @multicolour-ink @everythingtoonypart2

i am super late to the party, but i need to know more about this?? is this a new game being released for real, or is this a fan-made concept?? i loved the 2D games growing up and would love to see them released again! if this is a fan-made concept, this is absolutely amazing nonetheless!

and the fact that you can see daisy in the screen though?? this is a whole new game changer! also, i just have to ask: why is mario an elephant??

okay but this looks fucking amazing and im gonna need each individual render asap.... hatless luigi.... new daisy.. and mario and peach are adorable as always im losing my mind

[ryn-loves-cheese]

Hi! ৻(•̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)⊹｡ Welcome to my tumblr page! I’m Ryn I go by they/them! And I’m pansexual/demiromantic

fandoms I draw for:

•demon slayer

•jujutsu Kaisen

•spyxfamily

•sk8 infinity

•Tokyo revengers(haven’t finished the show yet)

•httyd

•the owl house

•mincraft

•the Magnus archives(haven’t finished the podcast yet)

•DND

•hazbin hotel

•sky: children of light

•Ramshackle

•bungo stray dogs

•Sanrio

•Luigi’s mansion

•Pokémon

•Kirby

•Arcane

•splatoon

•doctor who

•the apocathary diaries (haven’t finished the show yet)

•yaeklore

•castle

•house MD

•bones

•gravity falls

•the outsiders

[REQUESTS ARE OPEN, no ocs right now sorry]

☀️I TAKE ART REQUESTS☀️I can’t promise I’ll get to them but if you have any do send bc my ass always has art block- ill be doing two at a time at most

I will draw your ocs or any characters I’m okay with ships but i can say no if I’m uncomfortable with the ship that also goes for any other drawing I can refuse if I’m uncomfortable

Things I’m ok with:

oc x oc

oc x canon character (no minor x adults)

Canon character x canon character (DEPENDING ON THE SHIP)

Chibi characters

Regular animals: parrots, cats, dogs, lizards, snakes, fish, tigers, chickens, anything like that

food

mild gore or candy gore

any of the things on that list I will draw :]

Things I’M NOT OKAY with drawing! You will be blocked if you ask for some of these things! (Also this is a DNI list for some things):

proshipping(minor x adult) -immediate block don’t bother following me

racist or homophobic or transphobic don’t follow me istg

NSFW

heavy and graphic gore

Anthro/furries (i don’t have a issue with them i just don’t know how to draw them)

mechanical or mecha stuff (idk how to draw this)

any depiction of ‘Yandere’ or unhealthy toxic relationships that shits not welcome here

‼️this should also be clarified i will NOT draw ANY nsfw or suggestive material i may make jokes but don’t ask it of me i don’t mind blogs with mildly suggestive material follow me along as its not straight up nsfw. I’ve seen a few blogs like that follow me but general rule of thumb here DNI if you are a blog that has graphic nsfw art or material it’s just weird I’m a minor it’s not hard to understand you’ll be blocked :3 Ty for reading‼️

this is my oc ryn!

my moots/freinds :]

@bin-s0 (lovely artist and very sweet :] and my bf they are literally one of my favourite people 🩷🩷🩷)

@boo-simplified (also a banger artist and a very wonderful friend i know them irl and they are so goddamn nice✨)

@mercurymaceo ( EDIBLE ART. Need I say more! And a very close friend ⭐️✨)

@kimetsu-chan (LITERALLY SO SWEET OMG 💖💖very pretty art and a good writer)

@thesilliersakura (ART IS VERY SILLY AND ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS and very silly freind)

@swisscheeselovers-blog (he is another close irl friend of mine dose some silly doodles once and a while. SO FUNNY ONG very goofy and silly friend 🫶💖)

@shycroissanti (some more edible art has one of the silliest ocs ever and is so nice!)

@clownpalette (ART IS SO SILLY AND CUTE!!!)

@aceofstars0 (so sweet makes some SCRUMPTIOUS ART- I wanna eat it please follow them :] )

@rion-isnot-an-ai (yet another underrated artist who is also very nice! Makes lovely art!)

@silas-png (bro im bouta eat your art if you’re not careful THE RENDERING THEY DO IS JUST 😭💖✨🤌)

@pearlymoonn (OMG they are so nice iv spoke with them before and they’re lovely fncndhshchvu they make very cute art!)

@scrimblyscrorblo (very silly doodles iv spoken with them a couple of times and i absolutely adore they’re art its so goofy and cute and are also very nice 🫶)

@delirious-dan (THE ART <3 so good and they are very silly and cool)

ANYWAY VERY SILLY MOOTS GO FOLLOW EM :D

thanks for reading and welcome to my blog :]

divider creds to:

@cafekitsune

my art tag is #Ryn’s art 💜

[enden-agolor]

BESTIE PLZ- I need you to teach me how to draw better, OANDKSJD. Did you also develop ur artstyle by a school? Videos? Huh-

I’m honored you’d come to me of all people for advise, but I’m afraid I won’t be very helpful. ; v ;

I am entirely self taught, and almost my entire artist upbringing (if you can call it that) resided on the sides of my schools homework growing up. I’ve always wanted to be an illustrator, and my art style has always been kind of cartoony with me gaining a lot of inspiration for my style from the Mario and Luigi RPGs or even some old christmas films. A lot of my time spent as an artist has been me being heavily invested in character design too, and I guess my art style really started to blossom while I was a Kirby gijinka artist.

I also have an original story full of my own characters and world building that I spent a lot of my time drawing and designing so that helped improve my style a lot too.

Even more so as to why I’m not sure I’d be very helpful, is because I kind of never use bases or reference images (unless I’m drawing a character I haven't drawn before.) All of my art starts with the eyes and face, and I just develop the poses as I draw it out.

As for colors… Iiii’m still kind of learning. Almost all my years of drawing I was way too intimidated to color so I never picked up on it until very late in the game. I’m trying to get better, but also with having severe adhd, it makes it extremely difficult to stay focused or even just to find the motivation to finish a fully rendered piece, which is why you never really see that kind of stuff from me. 🥴

I’d like to go to an art school some day, but for life reasons, I really don’t ever see it happening.

I will say though my style has improved SOOO much more after getting into MCSM. I have drawn Jesse so many times I think I may have perfected him at this point. I don’t even know.

[jcmarchi]

Super Mario RPG Review - Toady Nostalgia - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/super-mario-rpg-review-toady-nostalgia-game-informer/

Super Mario RPG Review - Toady Nostalgia - Game Informer

The original Super Mario RPG, released for Super Nintendo in 1996, felt like it was meant to be your first RPG. In an era when Final Fantasy tried its best to tell mature stories within the medium’s limitations and Dragon Quest demanded hours and hours of your time, Mario’s adventure felt much brighter and more manageable. Familiar characters, a lighthearted story, a reasonable length, and timed button-pressing during combat made it stand out against the competition. Revisiting the game more than 25 years later in this new remade shape shows the original formula did not need much tweaking to deliver an engaging and enjoyable journey. Super Mario RPG is not entirely innocent of the sins of video games past, but old fans will relish the chance to see the game in a new light, and I’m confident newcomers will find something to love.

[embedded content]

Beyond the fun combat, visuals, and story, the best part of Super Mario RPG is that it is incredibly bizarre. The Nintendo of 1996 was still figuring out the rules of Mario’s universe, and as a result, developer Square (not yet Square Enix) was able to create characters and put Mario in positions his parent company would likely never agree to today. The remake, thankfully, maintains all of that weirdness. I didn’t find anything salacious or offensive, but there are entire races of characters that we have never seen again in the Mario universe, Shy Guys have full conversations, and some dialogue choices make Mario come off as a jerk. In one scene, a party member has to hold Mario back from punching a child Toad who casually insulted him. I am grateful the game has not been sanitized and is still full of admittedly inconsequential references to other franchises and Nintendo games.

The story is also still quite funny. It never reaches the comedic heights of its spiritual successors like Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi, but I chuckled often. Mario’s primary means of communication is jumping to prove he is actually Mario, and every time I pressed the jump button to move the conversation forward; I appreciated the commitment to the bit. Outside of the comedic moments, the actual plot is perfunctory, with few, if any, emotional moments, but I was still eager to see where I was going and who I was going to meet next. Added in-engine character introduction moments and the occasional pre-rendered cutscene help deliver the story in new ways, but I am disappointed that the whole game doesn’t feature the same visual fidelity.

As it was in the past, combat is a highlight, and the additions for the remake improve the action without detracting from what made it fun to begin with. A new Action Gauge fills as you successfully pull off Action Commands (the timed button-pressing) across battles, and when full, you can pull off powerful and flashy Triple Moves. I went out of my way to try every party combination to see all of them and enjoyed tracking how high I could get my Action Command Chain across battles. One shortcoming, however, is pulling off Action Commands isn’t always clear beyond seeing your chain number ticked up. Subsequent games inspired by Mario RPG’s combat, like 2023’s Sea of Stars, have done a better job at iterating on this system and offering better feedback.

Much of what has changed about Super Mario RPG for the remake beyond the visuals is behind the scenes. The pace is brisker, and my hour count (even after beating the big optional boss) came in lower than the average playtime of the original. The game has been tweaked only slightly to add some new mechanics and make the adventure even more welcoming than it already was. The result is an experience that only shows its age slightly and rewards longtime fans and newcomers alike.

[lavaqueennewkingdom]

CHAPTER 5 - Burn Up The Beat

Sandy was lying in the frigid cold lake of water, her biggest weakness. Tips of her body turned blue as crystals of ice encased her body, rendering her incapacitated. Mario and heroes rushed down.

"W-Water..." she cried. "It's so COLD!"

"Alright, Sandy." Mario sternly ordered. "How and why did you and Blizzy attack us with storms?"

"I..." she got out, before beginning to shiver and coughing up some water. "We...were given powers...from Lava Queen. She granted us them with Spawny's powers."

Mario's eyes widened.

"She's behind this?"

Sandy did her best to nod.

"Yeah."

"B-but, S-Spawny's supposed to be a Toadette's place!" Peach stammered. "How could Lava Queen get a hold of him!?"

Sandy started to freeze up.

"I don't know...Please get me out!"

The heroes looked hesitant on helping her.

"I won't hurt you! I can't even use my powers anymore from the water!"

Mario and Rabbid Mario grabbed her arms and pulled her out which Peach grabbed a blanket. Sandy was frozen from the waist down.

"Wow, frozen solid."

"What should we do with her?"

"She stays here whilst the Rabbid Recon team locate her sister. They'll be both taken for questioning." suggested Peach. "We'll leave a good amount of blankets on her so she doesn't freeze to death. I'll alert the Recon of her presence. Right now, we need to find the other four, Rabbid Peach, Luigi, Rabbid Yoshi and Beep-O.”

"Wait, are we sure they're in Sherbet Desert?" Rabbid Luigi asked. "I remember the cannon didn't fire all of us in the first shot."

"Now that you mention it, the cannon tilted on the east, after I was launched." Mario agreed. "We were all sent to different places."

"I think they could be in Spooky Trails, that place is perpendicular to Sherbet Desert!" suggested Peach.

"How are going to get there?" asked Yoshi.

"There's a river that does connect the desert to Spooky Trails, if we can find a boat, we could ride the journey there." Mario said.

"Let's find one! I saw some drifting past on the river!" exclaimed Rabbid Mario.

"Be careful not to fall in." warned Yoshi.

Mario's job was done in Sherbet Desert. Now, the heroes needed to move onto Spooky Trails.

⋆

Meanwhile, in Lava Queen's domain, she was looking admirably at Spawny, both terrified and confused on what was going on.

"Progress is booming." she laughed. "Never thought I'd experience this! My kingdom is one step closer!"

Spawny was trapped in a container which was connected to a device along with other containers of lava and metal.

"It's time for Lava Pit, to continue operations!" she announced. "We must bring the Rabbids here!"

"What's the plan, your Highness?" inquired Magma.

"We set up a decieving dance party, no Rabbid can turn down an invite like that. Next, you and the Lava Kids must activate this tape to disorient them." Lava Queen grabbed a cassette and handed it to Magma. "Bwario and Bwaluigi will sort out the Rabbids and bring them to the decommissioned factory where we will recreate the army that Bowser Junior had!"

Magma saluted and ran to order the Lava Kids. As she did, Lava Queen turned to Spawny.

"You know, I had devotion once. I wanted to experience having the dream of ruling an empire, just like Peach. But sadly, not everyone gets that. And to get royalty, you must deal with the royalty."

Spawny rapidly shook his head, he knew he wasn't going along with Lava Queen's plans. And quite frankly, Lava Queen knew he wasn't going to obey easily.

"I see, if you can't follow my plans..." Lava Queen sneered. "I'll make you."

Lava Queen snap her fingers and a large metal hand appeared to grab Spawny, who was helpless to defend himself.

"I think you'll need to become accustomed to me, and what better option is to brainwash you?" she smirked as Spawny was snatched away to which she laid back on her throne.

"This will run smoothly."

Bwario and Bwaluigi were in their quarters, waiting for their given tasks.

"I hope we're getting paid an awful lot for this." Bwario said, eating a whole garlic. "Installin' that cannon wasn't cheap."

"Hold it, I'm getting a task from the boss..." Bwaluigi noted as he looked at the computer screen flashing above them.  "Begin, operations in the foundry?"

"Well then, the Lava Kids are doin' their part, we might as well do ours."

Lava Queen took a look at Peach's diary, it was time to uncover the castle's secrets. She opened the book and began to read. As she did, she had a devillish look on her face.

"This castle ROCKS!" she remarked. "We are so raiding it."

Meanwhile in Toad Town, flyers were set up through the streets. Each of them read;

"Dance Party at the LAVA PIT! Burning Up The Beat!"

The Lava Kids hid in a hedge as the Rabbids and Toads gathered around, taking a flyer each. They looked pretty interested.

"It's working! They're gonna be coming to Lava Pit!" Sizzle cheered.

"SHHH! Don't blow our cover!" hissed Hibachi.

As soon as word spread of the party, a crowd of Toads and Rabbids made their way out of Toad Town and on their journey to the pit. With that, the streets of the Peach's castle were deserted.

"That's done it." remarked Magma. "Let's go, team! We gotta alert the queen!"

The gang raced to the castle. By the time they arrived, the castle was fully alert and there were patrolling Toads and Rabbids everywhere.

"How are we gonna get them out?" asked Sizzle.

"We'll come back. It's too soon for this phase." responded Magma.

The gang went back to the factory and sure enough, the Lava Kids were already hard at work. A large dance hall was set up with many of the decorations in Lava Queen's likeness. A large group of Rabbids were dancing to a very loud beat, while the Lava Kids were standing around watching them with huge grins on their faces.

"Well, they're dancing." remarked Magma.

Through the sea of dancers came Bwaluigi, carrying a box of earmuffs. He made his way through the crowd with ease and gave each Lava Kid a pair of earmuffs.

"Next song is the brainwashing tape. Do not take them off." he ordered. He took a look at his watch.

"It's time."

The next song played, with a distorted and eerie tone, with uneven rhythms and harsh noise. The Rabbids and Toads dancing to the music felt sick and even looked like they were all hypnotized. Bwario walked in with a pair of earmuffs on, he carrying a boom box playing the tape.

"Obey me, Bwario! I am your master!" Bwario shouted. "Follow me to the foundry, it's time for your initiation!"

The Rabbids and Toads followed Bwario like mindless sheep, into the entrance of a factory where they were dumped onto a conveyor belt. Bwaluigi was in another room, through a viewing window, he activated a lever.

"Operations begin now!" he shouted as the lever was pulled and the door shut.

[kissjane]

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Another heatwave had struck Berlin, and even at night, even with all the windows open, the heat still hung over the flat share like a damp and muggy blanket, stifling all movement. The boys all lounged listlessly around, not even in the mood to play a video game. Abdi was lazily fanning himself with a take-out menu, Carlos was aimlessly thumbing his phone, and Jonas sipped from a beer, the condensation gliding over the bottle onto his hand. Nobody paid any attention to David and Matteo, which suited them just fine. The latter sat in between the former’s legs, leaning back against his boyfriends’ chest, his head half on David’s shoulder, pressing kisses into his neck. David’s hands were hidden under Matteo’s shirt, stroking lazily over his skin, dipping inside the waistband of Matteo’s shorts occasionally.

All in all, there was nothing out of the ordinary for a Friday summer night.

Suddenly, Carlos looked up.

“Fuck, you guys, can you stop with the foreplay? It’s way too hot to even be watching you two get it on.”

“And don’t even think about getting off,” Jonas added.

Matteo flipped them off without moving his lips away from David’s collarbone, and David laughed.

“Can you blame me? I’ve got my hot and willing boyfriend right here.”

“Hot and willing,” Carlos snorted, “hot because it’s a million degrees outside, and willing because he’s literally always horny for you.”

“Not like David is any better,” Abdi interjected.

“True,” David shrugged. “So what? We’re two teenage boys, and we are into each other. And on top of that, I’m getting shots, so there is that, too.”

“Shots?”, Abdi asked.

“Testosterone,” David clarified.

Abdi didn’t seem to comprehend, though.

“Testosterone shots? Why?”

The four of them shot Abdi an incredulous look, and Matteo face palmed.

“What?”, Abdi repeated, indignantly. “I don’t understand.”

“Because I’m trans,” David said.

“Oh! Oh, yeah, sorry. I forgot.”

And the others laughed, somebody muttering something about Abdi’s brain cell suffering from the heat, and Abdi replied that at least he still had a functioning brain cell, and the conversation went its usual course from there.

David however was quiet. He mused about what Abdi said, and it felt… strange, but also good, to be seen as just one of the boys, a normal guy.

It stuck with him somehow, so when Matteo noticed him lost in his thoughts and nudged him slightly, asking him with his eyes if everything was okay, he just blurted out, “You really forgot I was trans?”

Abdi looked a bit guilty.

“Yeah, man, I’m sorry, I guess I forgot just for a minute there, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything…”

“No, no,” David interrupted quickly, “you didn’t. Quite the opposite, in fact. It’s just… I always feel like I stand out from you guys so badly… It seems strange that you would forget.”

“What do you mean, stand out?”, Carlos, ever curious, inquired. “Other than your disgusting PDA, you’re not doing anything different than the rest of us, are you?”

David hesitated. Maybe he was making a big deal out of nothing.

“Like, I never take my shirt off. You guys do that all the time when it’s hot outside. And I don’t go swimming in the lake with you all…”

“Could be you just don’t like swimming,” Jonas said.

“And other than Matteo, nobody is keeping track of your level of nakedness, dude,” Carlos chuckled.

David blushed.

“Let’s keep it that way,” Matteo mumbled, his lips still exploring any patch of David’s bare skin they could reach.

“You’re just one of the boys, bro,” Jonas said finally. “Of course, we know you’re trans, but it’s not the first thing we think of.”

David smiled, a feeling of giddiness slowly spreading through him. For years, he’d worried about never belonging anywhere, always being the odd one out, always having to fight for his place. And here he was, sitting with his friends, who accepted him as one of them, just like that, without any fuss. His arms tightened around Matteo, as he remembered how Matteo had told him that everybody had been there for him, back then, during their abitur, when he had been outed. He shuddered to think what would have happened had he not met Matteo - Matteo, who had now stopped kissing him and was looking up at him with his ocean eyes half-lidded.

“And you?”, David asked, “do you forget I’m trans sometimes too?”

“No, I don’t,” Matteo replied, after a few moments of consideration. “It’s part of who you are, so it’s important. Like, I wouldn’t forget other things that are important about you, like that you want to make movies, or like shakshuka, or have brown eyes. But it’s not like it’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think about you, either.”

“It’s not?”, David pressed.

Matteo chuckled.

“No. I don’t think about you like, ‘Oh, David, my boyfriend, he’s trans’. It’s somewhere on the list, sure. Like, ‘Oh, David, my boyfriend, he is home and love and warmth and acceptance and belonging and joy and safety, and he’s gorgeous and hot and we have amazing sex, and I love him, and he’s talented and smart and sweet and confident and he’s mine, and he beats us all in ping pong and Mario Kart and he’s competitive like hell and he can’t handle losing, and he’s trans, and he likes obscure indie movies and Detroit and he can’t cook if his life depended on it, but that’s okay because I like cooking for him and he always likes what I make, and his smile calms me down, but it also turns me on, and did I mention he’s hot and he’s also mine, that part is really important, in fact it probably comes up about ten times more than I said it, like those seagulls in Finding Nemo, you know, mine-mine-mine-mine, and sometimes when he talks to me it just melts my insides, and I love running my hand through his hair and cuddling with him and distracting him with kisses when he works, and he usually lets me, too, and he is really supportive and makes me want to be the best I can be, and his drawings are amazing and so are his movies, and it’s just really beautiful when I’m with him, and everything is easier with him, and I really think I could be happy with him for the rest of my life’, or something along those lines, anyway.”

He stopped talking, out of breath, and when he saw everybody staring at him, his cheeks flushed and he hid his face against David’s neck again.

“Teo,” David said eventually. “I love you.”

He was rendered basically speechless, and his thoughts seemed to be stuck on taking Matteo to the bedroom and show him exactly how much he loved him. At least three times.

Jonas raised his beer, which by now was lukewarm and not very tasty anymore, in salute.

“Luigi, man, that just might have been the most beautiful love declaration I’ve ever heard.”

Carlos nodded thoughtfully.

“Except that part about amazing sex, maybe. You didn’t need to add that bit. We can see that with our own eyes way too often.”

He grinned, showing he was just teasing, but David decided to take the opportunity when it presented itself.

“Well, in that case, you’d better be going, because I’m not sure I can wait until we reach the bedroom,” he said, turning Matteo’s face towards him and kissing him hard.

Vaguely he heard Carlos groan, and then the guys getting up, offering some cheery goodbyes, somebody grabbing the last beers from the fridge. It didn’t matter to David. They could have beer, he had Matteo.

“Okay, guys, it’s safe, we’re out, you can start getting off now!’, Abdi yelled from the hallway, before he closed the door behind him.

“Thank god we have permission,” David mumbled against Matteo’s lips, and they both laughed into their kiss.

And whether it was because of the boys’ permission, or David’s testosterone shots, or Matteo’s speech, or just their ever-present desire for each other, they didn’t know or even care, but they were sure of two things: it was, as always, spectacular, and, as predicted, they didn’t make it to the bedroom.

[Rather read on Ao3? Please, be my guest.]

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Evil New Year’s Resolution

Happy New Year Eve everyone!

~

One would think given how often Peach had been the target of various evil schemes in the past her castle would have better security. To be fair, those schemes had been from people who were alive but there were ways to keep the dead out and E. Gadd, the expert and inventor for many such ways, was an ally of hers so one would think she’d cover all her bases just in case. But whatever, King Boo wasn’t going to question his good fortune.

Finding Peach’s room took almost no time at all; it was extravagant as expected from a princess’ room and very pink. Not the only colour in the room but its presence far outweighed any other to the point of being borderline annoying. At least it was neat and tidy so King Boo wouldn’t have to wait around whilst surrounded by a mess. Waiting at all sucked but he couldn’t risk having his ploy discovered especially so early. So with a sigh, he settled down to wait in the corner.

He was in luck though; it wasn’t even quite half an hour before Peach came into the room. “Yes, good night to you too Toadsworth,” she was saying over her shoulder as she stepped in. There was a reply but it was inaudible from King Boo’s position in the far corner.

After closing the door, Peach turned and flounced further into the room, completely oblivious to King Boo’s presence for now. She went straight to her vanity dresser. Standing before it, she should be able to see his reflection in the mirror as he slid into position behind her. … She let out a gasp. Before she could scream or even start to turn around to face him, he pulled on his magic and the magic he’d stored in his crown to force his soul into her body.

 -

After a few brief moments of mostly nothing he was suddenly quite uncomfortable. The floor was too solid beneath him as gravity pushed him down onto it. Peach’s heart beat in her chest rhythmically as her lungs instinctively worked to pull in air and then expel. He could stop both processes if he wanted to and he kind of did because it was a rather unpleasant sensation after going so long without experiencing it that he’d forgotten it but inhabiting a rotting corpse would render his plan nigh on impossible so he’d just have to deal with it.

Peach was confused, she had no idea what happened; he could feel her emotions and thoughts brush against him, stronger now that he was paying attention to her. A spike of fear ran through her as he sat up and pulled her hands into to look at them as he flexed them. He’d forgotten what having hands was like too – not that he needed them when he could use magic for everything.

Hello princess. He thought at her with a chuckle.

She gasped again as her fear spiked higher immediately followed by righteous anger. ‘King Boo! What do you want? And… what’s happening?’

You’re my meat puppet now and you’re going to help me get some vengeance.

Oh, she was very frightened now and even if she wasn’t his true target it was still quite nice. ‘Mario will save me.’ Some of her fear melted away at her confidence in that statement. That just couldn’t do.

Yeah, sure because he’s done such a good job defeating me before.

‘Luigi then. He’ll beat you up like he always does you dumb giant marshmallow!’

King Boo growled; how dare she call him a marshmallow? Not this time because I have you. Meaning nothing could be done to him without hurting Peach which neither Mario or Luigi would do willingly.

‘Fuck you!’

King Boo ignored her this time. Instead, he stood up. It proved to be harder than it seemed; he had to contend with gravity and legs were far more unstable than just being able to float was. He took one step and… lost his precarious balance, landing on Peach’s face.

‘Ha! You can’t even walk, how pathetic.’

He growled both internally and externally. You can’t fly, that’s far more pathetic. Legs were an inferior way of getting around and he hated them already. But he needed to get used to using them again before the New Year’s Eve party tomorrow night. So, determined to ensure his plan would be perfect, he stood up again. All he needed was a little practice walking and all would be good.

New Year’s Eve

King Boo looked into the mirror, ensuring the hair dye hadn’t been bleached away by his magic yet and that the contacts were still in place. Neither was an exact match for Peach hair and eye colour but it was close enough that the dim lighting of the party should obscure it enough to make it hard to notice. Disguising his crown had proven to be far harder so instead he’d rendered it invisible.

‘Mario’s not going to be fooled by you,” Peach cut in, more angry now than afraid. ‘Neither will…’

He growled at her, drowning out the rest of that thought. It had only been a day and he was already sick and tired of her. He could block out her thoughts and emotions fairly well but whenever she wanted to say something to him it was a lot harder to not hear it.

But at least he looked the part of the princess, mostly anyway. Her one pair of non-heeled shoes didn’t match the fancy gown – which like her normal dresses was too pink for his tastes – but there was no way he was wearing heels of any height. They made the whole balancing thing even more of a chore. So, doing his best to ignore Peach and her angry nagging, he left her room and started for the main hall.

“Everything’s all set and ready to go,” Toadsworth said as she strode in. And truly everything was set and ready to go; snack and drink tables flanked the hall, balloons covered the ceiling, and the big clock with the ‘Happy New Year’ banner had been centered against the wall on one side of the room.

“Thank you,” he said with a forced smile, doing his best to imitate Peach’s speech pattern. “Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year to you too Princess!” he replied seemingly totally fooled. Which frustrated Peach while making King Boo quite proud. Now all he had to do was fool Mario and Luigi, how hard could that be?

 -

As predicted Mario and Luigi were among the first guests to arrive – Gooigi for some reason wasn’t with them, basically sealing King Boo’s victory here because they were the only one who might be able to detect him. They both wore dresses; Mario red and Luigi green. Which was a surprise, he’d never seen them dress that way before, but honestly a pleasant one; it would make them look better once in their portraits.

The look Mario gave him as they exchanged New Year’s greetings and well wishes made him want to gag. But he was a decent actor when he really tried and showed no outward sign of disgust. Nor did he react to Peach’s anger and frantic futile attempts to wrest control back from him.

All he had to do was keep that act up for a handful of hours until midnight. Purely for the drama of it, he was going to make his move at the exact start of the new year.

***

Something had seemed off the moment Luigi had stepped into the main hall of Peach’s castle. What it might be, he couldn’t say to save his life but something wasn’t right. He’d been sure it was his imagination as there wasn’t anything visually off but as midnight crept ever closer he was more and more convinced that that wasn’t the case. But what was it?

If he didn’t know better, he’d say it was ghosts but last he’d checked the castle wasn’t haunted. If only he had Gooigi or Polterpup with him to know for sure though, but Polterpup didn’t do well at parties, especially fancy ones such this, and Gooigi was helping E. Gadd with an experiment; when asked they’d said they preferred to miss the party to continue with that.

“Peach is acting a bit off,” Mario said when Luigi finally broke down and asked him if he sensed anything strange.

“What do you mean?” Luigi asked because he hadn’t noticed that. To be fair, he didn’t know Peach nearly as well as Mario and wasn’t spending as much time with her tonight.

“I don’t know just… not quite right. She seems excited though, I think. Which is probably good, right?”

Hmmm… maybe she was finally thinking of making a move on Mario. It’d be about time if so, the way they danced around their feelings for each other had been going on for quite a while now and thus they needed to just get it over with already and talk about it. But then again maybe it had something to do with whatever Luigi was feeling. What could the correlation be though?

“But uh… why are you asking?” Mario continued. “Is something bothering you?”

“Uh… yeah. I don’t know what though just… something’s not right.” And he hated that he couldn’t articulate what.

“Well, last time you felt this way it was at the Last Resort Hotel and we brushed it off and that ended up being a mistake. So maybe it’s ghosts again?”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

“Or maybe you’re just anxious about the new year?”

“Yeah, maybe. … Probably.” He’d certainly gotten that way about things before.

“Well if anything happens, I got your back. I’m going to go chat with Peach again, see if I can’t figure out what’s up with her. See you later.” He gave Luigi a slight tap on the shoulder with his fist before heading off.

***

As was standard for fancy New Year parties, people paid more and more attention to the clock as midnight approached. What they didn’t know was that more and more boos crept into the hall too, eager to witness the grand finale or to assist King Boo if he needed them. He didn’t think he would though.

At a minute to midnight, he had everyone living facing the clock. He stood behind them on a raised dais, ostensibly ready to lead the verbal countdown to the new year. What he was really doing though was prepping the portrait. It wasn’t a large party but there were still a substantial number of people, sucking that many people up into a portrait all at once would be a bit difficult but it could be done if the portrait was big enough and the pull of his magic into it was strong enough.

The countdown started soon after he’d magically stretched the portrait to the right size. “Ten… nine…” he said in unison with everyone else as he channeled his magic through the portrait, opening it up to suck people in. “…eight… seven… six…” If anyone noticed the soft purple glow coming the portrait and turned around to investigate, his plan might be in trouble. “…five… four…” Intoxicated and engrossed in the clock, no one did though. “… three… two…”

On “one,” Mario, standing a short distance away, glanced back. The fondness in his expression immediately morphed into fear and surprise. All he had time for was a gasp as the clock struck midnight a second later and King Boo snapped the giant portrait down onto everyone, sucking them all up into it.

Maniacal boo laughter filled the hall instead of the cheer that normally would’ve gone up. Trapped in his body, Peach cried and flung anger and despair at King Boo which only made him laugh harder. Ah, victory at last was so, so sweet.

With a chuckle, he levitated the portrait off the floor leaned it against the wall. With loud cheers and laughter, the boos gathered closer to admire it alongside him.

As was the way with such portraits, everyone trapped within it faced outwards, the expression on their face the same as the moment the painting had lowered onto the. It was mostly Toads, though several friends of the Mushroom Kingdom were here too, including a handful of Yoshis. And there was Mario, the only one with a scared expression which was wonderful. … But as King Boo’s eyes continued to rove the canvas, it became more and more obvious that something, no someone was missing.

“Where’s Luigi?” one of the boos pipped up because well, Luigi was nowhere to be seen on the canvas.

***

Cowering behind a pillar, Luigi flinched at the sound of his name. Overwhelmed by the feeling of something being wrong, he’d snuck out to get some fresh air. He’d returned just in time to see the portrait slam down on everyone, trapping them all within it.

“I don’t know.” It was physically Peach’s voice but the anger and hatred in it wasn’t Peach. Luigi had a not so sneaking suspicion as to who might actually be speaking. “Find him.”

Luigi clapped a hand over his mouth to prevent a fearful whimper from escaping. … He had to do something though. Mario had been captured again, alongside everyone else at the party and… poor Peach was possessed. So, before his hiding spot could be discovered, he gathered up the skirts of his dress in one hand so he wouldn’t trip and hurried back to the rear exit. It led out to the castle courtyard so he’d still be trapped but it was better than staying in here with no ghost hunting equipment.

Once outside, he hid behind a bush and pulled out his phone. … E. Gadd picked up on the third ring.

“Happy New Year sonny,” he said, jovial as ever as if he hadn’t let King Boo escape again. Unless he didn’t know but how likely was that?

“King Boo’s here!” Luigi spoke in a frantic whisper in case any boos had ventured into the courtyard.

“Oh! Hold on a sec… good news Gooigi, Luigi found King Boo.” If Gooigi replied, their answer wasn’t audible over the phone. “What’s the situation?” E. Gadd asked, speaking directly into the phone once more.

“He’s trapped Mario and everyone else in a big portrait and uh… he’s possessing Peach.”

“Oh! Hmmm… sounds like quite the predicament. Possessing Peach is definitely going to make dealing with him a bit harder, huh?”

“Yes but… why didn’t you tell me he’d escaped again?” Luigi had a right to know that kind of thing, didn’t he? He was King Boo’s primary target after all.

“Because I figured you’d probably be mad at me. Also, I thought with Gooigi’s help I could find and recapture him before he made another move. We’ve been looking all over for him.” Ah, so that was the secret ‘experiment’ they’d been working on. “Oh well, at least we found him. I’ll be over with Gooigi and the portable lab in no time. Oh also, I made some more improvements to the Poltergust, this’ll be the perfect opportunity to test them. Hang tight until I get there.” With that, he hung up, leaving Luigi on his own.

Assuming he was at his lab, it would take him about an hour to drive all the way down here. Meaning Luigi had to survive being hunted by a hoard of boos and King Boo himself for a whole hour before he could fight back. … He should’ve at least brought the Poltergust’s flashlight, huh? Too late now though, he’d just have to do his best and hope E. Gadd and Gooigi arrived before it was too late. … What an awful way to start the New Year. On the bright side, assuming they all got out of this, things could only get better from here, right?

[lizadale]

Oh look, Wiz is back on their bullshit

(warning for descriptions of a panic attack)

Before he could entertain that thought too long, he heard something hit the ground behind him. 

“You can’t fool me with your clones, Dimentio.”

Dimentio whipped around to find Luigi–or rather Mr. L–who was forming some sort of electricity ball in his hand. Something was… off, though. 

… his eyes. Never had Dimentio seen such malice in them, even during their fight at Castle Bleck. 

Before he could dwell on it, however, he found himself trying to dodge the lightning strike from Luigi’s hand. He was too slow, though, and it struck his foot, rendering him unable to stand or use his powers. 

This was most unfortunate. 

Luigi laughed above him as he started to form another lightning ball, but before he could launch it, Dimentio found himself back in his and Luigi’s bedroom (when had he begun thinking of it as such?) next to Luigi, who was sitting up in bed and doing something with his hands near his chest. “Luigi?”

Luigi did not respond, and Polterpup bounded over to start licking his face, which Luigi still did not respond to. The ghost whimpered at Luigi’s distress before climbing over Dimentio to get something off the nightstand that Dimentio was unable to quite see in the dark. Whatever it was, Polterpup brought it over to Luigi, and Luigi shakily took whatever it was before slowly taking a few deep breaths. “Good puppy…” he murmured as he pet Polterpup’s head before turning towards Dimentio and jumping slightly. “Oh… Dimentio…”

“Yes?” Dimentio tried to study Luigi in the darkness, but it was impossible to make out details. “Are… Are you alright?”

“Careful, you sound almost like you care,” Luigi laughed before letting out a few coughs. “I need to get a drink… You can go back to sleep–I’ll probably go down to the workshop.”

Dimentio frowned as Luigi climbed out of the bed. “You need to rest.”

“I’m too keyed up. I need to distract myself.” Polterpup climbed off the bed after Luigi, though the action was more subdued than normal for the pup. “Just go back to sleep.” Luigi left before Dimentio could argue, so Dimentio sighed and snapped his fingers to teleport into Luigi’s workshop. Purely to sate his curiosity about what was going on, of course. 

Luigi simply rolled his eyes at the sight of Dimentio sitting on his work bench when he entered and tossed something that clacked on the table before going to grab his current project.

_______

polterpup is best anti-anxiety pubby, but how dare u anyway :(

[milos-fanfics]

The Evils Within - Chapter 15

“No sign of him?” Peach asked. 

Mario and Luigi shook their heads. Back in the conference room, they sat in the seats across from Peach. Mario sat back in his seat while Luigi rested his cheek on the palm of his hand.

“Hey,” Mario spoke up, turning to Luigi, Luigi returning the gaze. “Didn’t you mention something about seeing Mr. L in a dream?”

His attention now caught, Luigi sat straight up. He knew what his brother was up to.

“I just thought, if you were to go to sleep right now, do you think you'd be able to see what Mr. L is up to?” Mario asked.

“We can’t find out until we try,” Peach commented.

Peach led Mario and Luigi back to the small room where Luigi crawled onto the bed and lied down. Mario and Peach stood on either side of the bed giving him a smile as he quickly drifted off into sleep.

~

Luigi found himself in a room in Bowser's Castle. He couldn't move at his own free will. He could look around, however. Looking around, he could see he was back in his old jumpsuit. If he could, he would have shuddered at the sight of it. This wasn't his body. He was seeing through Mr. L's eyes.

Mr. L paced back and forth in front of a blackboard with bullet points on it, twiddling his fingers and talking to himself. “Alright, one more time. One more time,” he told himself, now facing the board. "Sneak into the house tomorrow afternoon. Green's taking a nap and Red should be at home by then. Pose as that feeble dopplegänger of mine. Let Red's guard drop and…" he giddily read off the board. "Oh, that oblivious blockhead would never see it coming!" He laughed maniacally to himself.

~

Outside the dream world, Mario and Peach watched Luigi attentively. It hadn't been too long since he fell asleep before a, rather peculiar, smile began to form on his face. From the smile, emerged giggles. These were no 'cheerful' giggles, they had a more 'sinister' meaning.

Mario, now confused, reached over and lightly poked Luigi in the side. "Bro..?" He said quietly before jumping back in exclamation as his brother say up with a gasp.

“I saw him!” Luigi suddenly blurted out, “I saw Mr. L!”

Now calm, Mario asked, “You did? Where is he?”

“He's at... Bowser's Castle…” He said with a twinge of uncertainty. He knew for a fact that Mr. L was in Bowser's Castle but had no idea why.

“Bowser's Castle?” Peach spoke up, “What's he doing over there?”

“He's playing attack. An attack on…” Luigi stopped. His attention shifted from Peach to Mario, his face drawing more concern than it was originally. “...On Mario…”He continued, quieter than before.

Mario was discomforted at the thought of his brother, or rather, his brother's look-alike, scheming anything against him. He and Luigi shared a look.

“But, it's nothing to worry about. I might have an idea!” Luigi gave a nervous smile.

~~~~~

Mario walked in the forest that laid just outside of the house, Luigi hiding in the trees next to him. They had only been walking for a few minutes when they heard a rustling in the tree. Luigi hid himself deeper into the forest, Mario getting in a defensive position.

From the trees emerged...Luigi? Mario didn't know what he expected. He knew the person standing before him was not his Luigi, but the resemblance was uncanny.

Mr. L, now back in his overalls, strolled with a smile through the forest. He contemplated his plan but was thrown completely off track seeing the red hero before him. “Oh? Hey, Mario… What are you doing out here?” He asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice. The last thing he needed was to be suspicious.

“Just wanted to get some fresh air. I've been home all day. What are you doing out here? I thought you were taking a nap,” Mario asked in a partially teasing partially suspicious tone.

 “I just wasn't tired. That's all.” A single stream of sweat rolled down Mr. L’s face. “But I'm glad I ran into you,” he said, changing the subject. “There's something I wanted to show you.” He stepped closer to Mario. His hands behind his back began to spark with electricity.

Out of reflex, Mario took a step back. He didn't know it was coming next, but he was ready for it. Luigi slowly inched his way through the trees, watching the two carefully.

“Do you by any chance remember a little thing called... thunderhand? Right as he spoke, Mr. L threw his hand from behind his back towards Mario, who caught it with his own hand before he could process what was going on.

After receiving a little shock through his gloves, Mario realized that Mr. L had Luigi's old powers. Powers that neither he nor his brother have used in years. Powers he wasn't sure he had the ability to control anymore. Surely, this was definitely not going to stop him. He pushed Mr. L back.

Mr. L stumbled backward. Before he could go in for another hit, he was restrained by someone behind him. It was Luigi. “You're not getting away with any more of this!” he shouted.

“Oh yeah? Who's going to stop me?” Mr. L swung arms to the side, throwing Luigi off his back. It was Luigi’s turn to fall back. He wasn’t going to let Mr. L stop him that easily. Mr. L turned around to Luigi who start to charge to him. “Stay out of this, Green. This is our fight, not yours!” he extends his arm out to Luigi, a bolt of lightning shooting from his fingers.

The bolt hit Luigi in the stomach with great force, sending him into the trees around them. His back slammed against a tree trunk before he fell to the ground on to his knees.

Mr. L turned back to Mario, a sharp pain piercing his back. He frantically looked around. No one had hit him. He shook it off and turned all of his attention to Mario, his fists now flaring with electricity.

He and Mario fought. Punches thrown, kicks given. Luigi could feel it every hit Mario landed on his enemy. It hurt him. In more ways than one. He tried to get up to help his brother, but every blow knocked him down farther. Luigi could only watch in distress.

The more Mario fought, the more discomforted he became. This was because Mr. L although technically still being him, looked just like his brother. His attacks only grew weaker. He didn’t want to fight, but he knew he had to.

Mario jumped, Mr. L, doing the same, yet jumping higher the red hero. He smirked, holding his hands together and swinging them over his head before throwing them down over Mario's, sending him crashing into the ground.

Mario, now in a crater, tried to push himself off the ground, Mr. L softly landing behind him.

Luigi yelled out to his brother once he hit the ground, the look of absolute horror in his eyes, as he tried to get up. At this moment, it felt like a dream he had.

Mr. L smiled nefariously to Mario.

“But…” Mario groaned weakly, “...why?” He swore he knew the answer. This felt all too familiar to him.

Mr. L's smile turned to a frown.  “Why? I’m tired of being in your shadow, being seen as the 'lesser' brother. You know, I want some credit from time to time, and I’m going to get it,” his hand began to spark, “It’s my turn to be ‘player one’,” his hand grew brighter as it was pointed to the sky.

Mario was confused, but then it hit him. Not only was this situation similar to a dream he had, but Mr. L was a part of Luigi's mind. The two shared similar opinions. Mario looked past Mr. L to Luigi, who had finally managed to stand back to his feet, with a look that read, ‘I is that what you really think?’ 

Luigi shared a gaze with his brother, before nervously rubbing his arm and looking to the ground.

Angrily, Mr. L redirected his hand from the sky and pointed it to Mario, a ball of lightning forming at his fingers. Luigi remembered this part. He knew what he had to do. But instead of going one direction, he had a different idea to go another.

Just before Mr. L released the ball, Luigi ran towards him, tackling him to the ground. Startled, Mr. L released the ball, but not to Mario. He missed, sending it into the trees just above him.

Mr. L pushed Luigi off of him. Before he could attack, Luigi tightly gripped both of his hands to keep Mr. L from hurting Mario anymore.

“You and I may not be the same, but you're still me and I know, deep inside, you don't want to hurt him. You care about him. You love him. You don't want anything to happen to him,” Luigi cried, struggling to hold Mr. L back. He could see a look of regret flash over his face. However, this only lasted for a second as his face went right back to anger.

Mr. L angrily shook his head, “N-no! I’m not you and you’re not me! I don’t care about him! I want him gone!” With a shout, a wave of electricity shot from his arms to Luigi’s, electrocuting him.

Both Luigi and Mr. L gritted their teeth as they tried to withstand the pain. Neither of them could hold onto the other. They both took a step back, Luigi twitching a bit as he felt the electricity flowing through him.

Mr. L quickly summoned another ball of electricity and pointed it to Mario, who was trying to crawl away from the inevitable blast. Luigi recovered from the shock before pushing with Mr. all away. Again, the ball of lightning released without warning, but this time, it hit. It missed the heart, where Mr. L was aiming, but it did hit Mario in the side of the head, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious. 

An extreme feeling of rage suddenly built up inside of Luigi at the sight. His breathing quickened. Any and all rationality he had was thrown out the window. Nobody hurts Mario on his watch. Now facing Mr. L, Luigi drew back his arm before sending it towards his face.

The proceeding punch hit. Hard. It knocked Mr. L out before he could even hit the ground. However, this also rendered himself unconscious. He could feel the pain in his forehead before falling onto the ground next to his doppelgänger.

~~~~~ 

Chapter 14 - Chapter 16 Cover

[classicdaisycalico]

My boi Luigi plsss

Send me a character

YEET LET’S-A GO

FAVORITE THING ABOUT THEM: Definitely how he has the most character development out of every character in the entire series, especially in the “Luigi’s Mansion” games! From a timid and shy dude who wants to run away from anything from anything he sees, we’ve seen him transform into a kick-ass ghost buster who Hulk-smashes the hell out of any spirit he comes across. He’s more fearless than he believes and I can’t wait to see more of that in future titles!

LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THEM: It’s not an extremely problematic thing, but there are times when Luigi’s a little too cautious about things when he shouldn’t feel the need to be. It really upsets me because it’s essentially Luigi questioning his self-confidence all over again. *sobbing*

FAVORITE LINE: “Wowie Z O W I E” “I did it!” It’s such a great line because he really DID Do The Thing he was afraid to do at first, but mustered up enough bravery to do it anyway even while he was shaking in his boots the whole time.

BROTP: DUH. Him and Mario. It’s got “bro” in the title, after all. Their interactions in the “Mario and Luigi” games, in particular, are what sell it the best, for me. Anyone who says these good brothers hate each other (and better yet, justify it with that one cutscene from “Mario Power Tennis”…you know the one) can get these hands because clearly that is not the case.

OTP: LUIGI AND DAISY!!!!!! I hate how their dynamic isn’t explored as heavily as with Mario and Peach, because I think it would be so cute to see what their interactions with each other would be like. Gee, if only Daisy were in more main titles………maybe we could……….but a girl can dream. *sigh* 

NOTP: Luigi and Bowser. I’m sorry, but I really don’t see how anyone can seriously ship them. Bowser hates anyone associated with Mario that isn’t Peach, and being HIS LITERAL TWIN BROTHER, Luigi is no exception. Besides, Luigi has seen firsthand that Bowser is a humongous jerk, so I could never, EVER see a relationship between them work because of that.

RANDOM HEADCANON: A poltergeist once followed Luigi home and took residence in his and Mario’s basement of their house for a while. Only Luigi knew how to put said poltergeist in its place (that place being in a vacuum for temporary trapping purposes…before releasing him back from whence it came).

UNPOPULAR OPINION: Luigi is not a coward. Like…….at all. Real cowards wouldn’t do half the stuff he’s ever done. If they were in his position, they’d find the first chance to run away, then do exactly that and never look back. Conversely, for all this talk of Luigi being a coward, stays put and GETS SHIT DONE, even while shaking in his boots the entire time. That’s not cowardice. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. And for that reason, I consider Luigi to be one of the bravest characters the “Super Mario” series has ever created.song i associate with them

SONG I ASSOCIATE WITH THEM: “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons. It’s a good song about underdogs who eventually become prominent people, and I also picked the song because it’s a reference to his Thunderhand abilities in “Superstar Saga”. (And also because of that one audio post that SupperMarioBroth made years ago lmao)

FAVORITE PICTURE OF THEM: The character render of Luigi slamming a ghost into the ground from “Luigi’s Mansion 3″. It’s the most badass thing I’ve ever seen. You can tell he’s just throwing his whole body into it and he’s really giving that guy the fight of his life. If anything, he’s probably enjoying the energy rush now that he’s able to do this sort of thing with this new Poltergust model. From a broader standpoint, the overall quality of said render is just plain gorgeous.

Thank you for the ask! I would have finished it earlier, but I was finishing up dinner lol

[freakin-edikan]

More Unpopular Smash Onions

I have a lot of Smash Onions and here are most of them in one post. Be warned it’s long and stupid

Bayonetta Should Not Have Been in Smash Ever

The whole point of Bayonetta is that she whips out these crazy combos and super strong witch tricks to defeat her opponents. The only problem is...barely anyone else can do that because they’re not supposed to because it’s Smash Bros and not Street Fighter. There was no way to nerf Bayonetta without ruining her, and there was no way to keep the Bayonetta feel and style without her dominating the game.

Cloud Should Not Have Been in Smash Ever

He was too fast, he was too strong, he had a projectile. Sakurai specifically said he knew Ike had exactly these stats when Ike was added to Brawl in 2008. He intentionally left them out so as to not let Ike become too strong. But years later, Cloud strutted into Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS with these same attributes anyway. He’s a lot more tame now, but how many Peaches had to die?

The Zelda Characters Got the Short End of the Stick

A game with 30 years of history does not deserve to be represented by three Links, two Zeldas, and one Ganondorf. It’s clear that the development team was banking on the games sticking to its Ocarina formula, which is why they tried so hard to keep all the designs from one game and didn’t introduce anyone who wasn’t a Triforce bearer. By the time they finally stumbled on the idea of giving characters designs from different games, they had run out of space for any newcomers specific to particular games in the series, and the potential for new characters had run out.

I’m aware that Zelda isn’t as popular in Japan as it is in the United States; however, seeing how big Super Smash Bros. and its audience is, I think its representation could be a little better than that.

Zelda Got the Short End of the Stick

You mean to tell me it took 17 years for someone to look at that trainwreck of a moveset and finally do something about it? Y’all ugly.

There Doesn’t Need to be 15,897 Marths

If the devs over at Sora Ltd. played their cards right, our Fire Emblem lineup could have consisted of a balance of characters and assist trophies that could show off the most prominent aspects of the series. My idea is this:

Characters

Marth

Ike

Lyn

Robin

Assist Trophies

A Manakete (from any game)

A Pegasus Knight + Triangle Attack (any game but preferably the ones who made it famous—so Palla, Catria, and Est.)

A main villain (person, any game)

A main villain (monster, any game)

Ephraim?

Micaiah.

...and some cute lil spirits/stickers/trophies with some lore or references or something. If you ask me, we got the characters we got because of poor planning. I might not know the ins and outs of the process, but that’s what it looks like to me.

I Am Singling Out Corrin Specifically

This pick feels like an impulse because of the fact that FE14 was new, but besides that, I (a salty Peach main and Bandana Dee fan) first thought the character was busted. Never before had we a character with such ridiculous range—I thought Shulk’s energy sword Sunday was pushing it. It looks like Corrin set a precedent, though, because tall, adult characters who can reach across the entire stage seem to be the norm nowadays.

The Mario Characters are Out of Character

I think it’s telling when you can’t convey the character of Mario properly. Mario in Smash rather quickly moved away from his friendly everyman balancedness to a very aggressive, very angery Man who apparently just beats the living daylights out of people as the Smash Ultimate music blares in the background. Mario in his games is so much more friendly, eccentric, comical, fun. Smash Mario is way too serious; he doesn’t even smile in his renders anymore. I know, it’s a fighting game; you have to be serious to some extent. I just find this a little odd considering, um...

Peach was pretty similar when she first came to Melee. But when Brawl came around, her headbutt was replaced with hearts, her explosions with hearts, her diplomatic walk with a ditzy skip—it’s all incredibly suspicious. I talked about this before, but I think Smash makes Peach look dumb. I feel like it tries too hard to appeal to the girl who couldn’t pick any of the boy characters because they were icky so she picked the prettiest, girliest girl and that’s Peach. Her character feels like it’s making a mockery of her. (I mean, who remembers the tea time? I remember the tea time.) Nearly all of the nuance in Peach’s character is gone; I like the Toads and it feels like she’s commanding an army, but she herself with the rainbows and the hearts...I don’t know. It makes me. Uncomfortable. Peach has displayed far more competence before; she’s a very intelligent individual, but in Smash it’s not showing.

If I thought Peach was bad, imagine how I feel about Daisy! They barely changed a couple of animations and visuals but no attributes. It feels cheap and lazy and even though she’s an echo fighter, other “clones” had at least a little more thought put into them. And no “Hi, I’m Daisy”??? Preposterous. I think it goes to show that you really can’t make a clone of Peach because her moveset is too unique, and tinkering with it makes it fall apart. I think this was a bad call.

Bowser Jr. seems fine. He’s just a kid with some toys and it shows. Bowser...can at least walk straight, nowadays. But...

Luigi Baby I’m So Sorry That a Ugly Ass Bitch Would Even Do That

So when Smash 64 came out in 1999, Luigi had had his own voice for 3 years. Smash had decided to take Mario’s voice clips and pitch them up instead. This didn’t change until Brawl.

Luigi is Mario’s taller, slippery-er, eccentric younger brother, and Smash played the eccentric up to 11. (I mean, who remembers the Negative Zone? I remember the Negative Zone.) The hip bumps? And the weird dances? And the being able to fall over and be so round that he can just roll back up? I’ve never seen him do that anywhere but Smash. I don’t know who that is with the green hat in Smash. But it’s not Luigi.

The great thing is that he plays like Luigi! But he sure doesn’t act like it. And neither does Mario. And Mario and Luigi don’t play off each other at all, either. They’re so awkward to put together in this game; it’s like an attack on the sibling family unit.

We Don’t Stan Rosalina

We don’t stan her

“We Made Up Lore About EarthBound Hoping No One Would Notice Also We Really Like Pollyanna and the First Eight Melodies and We Exclusively Reference Mother 1 But We Still Won’t Put Ninten in This Game”

Ness is supposed to have defensive and support PSI because he has the highest physical offensive stats—and the lowest IQ—in EarthBound. He can’t use PK Starstorm, or PK Fire, or PK Thunder. He can use PSI Shield and Brainshock and Paralysis and um, PSI Rockin, and though I don’t mind using Ness and Lucas as they are now, I still can’t help but notice how inaccuracy-laden all the EarthBound references were, and that a moveset focused around trapping an opponent to go in for the beat down intrigues me.

Listen, no one else in this game has made-up lore about how their friends taught them certain moves after the end of their game, and how they channeled their big finisher into smaller bursts of energy while taking on the friend’s (much weaker!) signature move as their Final Smash. You could probably explain the magic Zelda uses as they come in crystals anyone could theoretically use, but the framing that they use for Ness and Lucas? It’s pretty silly.

Okay, about Ninten...he doesn’t have to be in Smash. But what’s the point of saying “Mother (Series)” and then making this weird conglomerate of ideas that doesn’t actually get the point across? All three games communicate very different ideas, but hardly any of what’s in Smash portrays any of it very well.

Where’s Bandana Dee

Where is he

Realistic Guns

Joker is about to enter this game with a literal fucking glock and I’m not okay

Final Smashes is the Same

It’s either a Mega Laser, a Giant Stage Hazard, a I’m Gonna Just Ram Into You Like Nobody’s Business, or a Barage of Attacks With One Final Hit. For all the crap I give Peach’s Final Smash, at least it’s different. Oh, there’s a new kind now: the We Stole Snake’s After We Thought He Was Never Coming Back And Oh God He’s Here. Oh No He’s Back. He’s Angry Oh N-

Kirby and Jigglypuff

They haven’t been great for years! I want them back to being good again.

Okay so Jigglypuff was OD’ing in Melee. But insta-death shield break just doesn’t tell me you care about them!

Speaking of Caring About Kirby

I see y’all only putting Kirby’s Adventure and Kirby Super Star content in your game. Look, whoever made Kirby 64 and friends disappeared the same year Sakurai left HAL Laboratory. The new Kirby games acknowledge all of Kirby’s history, and they take many cues from Smash. Smash is a big game, but the least it could do was reciprocate some of that.

The Music Selection is Underwhelming Me So Far

And it’s not the sheer number; I think that’s incredible. My problem is many of the songs are remixes with multiple versions. There are multiple versions of Light Plane from Pilotwings, multiple versions of Magicant, multiple Ballads of the Goddess, a billion Mario Main Themes. There are so many different musicians arranging for these games; are they all sitting there thinking “I’ll do you one better!!” making the same songs again? Some series have one song being remixed over and over while the rest of the soundtrack is just ripped from the original and chucked into the game. Other songs are just weak, which I expect, but they’re just so...mild.

The original music in Smash Ultimate I think is also pretty weak. It’s the same problem Brawl ran into and the only difference is the Ultimate themes are better orchestrated. The arrangement became stale to me and I think it’s because the game is so big that it couldn’t tie itself together as neatly as Smash 64 could (although only one, maybe two people worked on Smash 64’s music).

Stage Hazards

I don’t remember if it’s possible to turn them off but I am tired of the goddamn Flying Man.

So I think that’s about it. Thanks for reading and on the off chance that someone responds to it, you don’t have to go through the entire thing just to pick it apart bit by bit, I don’t want anyone to have to slog through that unless they want to, I guess. Happy New Year!

[monsters-conquer-the-world]

10 Games

For Jack’s 10th birthday, Will got him a RetroPie.  Pretty cool, especially since it’s so easy to just dump a zillion games in there and let the kid go nuts.  But that’s a one-way ticked to analysis paralysis, so Will had a a super sick idea.  He asked me and Jess and some other friends to put together a list of 10 must-play classic/retro games and write a little bit about why we chose them.  As someone who loves video games and writing and lists, I was ALL ‘BOUT THAT.  

Now that Jack’s birthday has come and gone, I can share all the junk I wrote about these ten games that mean so much to me!  Check it out:

I love this idea.  I know the initial prompt was just "pick your favorites" but I couldn't help but impose a bunch of additional caveats. I know where this list is headed (and I have a pretty good idea of what games will pop up on the other lists)!  I could have easily listed off 10 Super NES games or 10 N64 games, but I wanted to hit a variety of consoles and franchises.  I would have liked to have hit a variety of genres and studios too, but I can't lie: I love platformers, and I love games by Nintendo.  It was challenging but rewarding to shave this list down to ten--a lot of old favorites and recent discoveries couldn't fit on the list, leaving these few.  The ones I've always treasured, the ones that stuck with me, the ones I memorized the music and sound effects to, starring the characters I love, exploring the worlds I wanted to live in.  Maybe you'll dig 'em too.

NES

Super Mario Bros. 3

I had spent some quality time with our Atari 2600 well before we ever had an NES in the house. I have fond memories of playing but not really understanding Pac-Man, Haunted House, and the bleak nuclear apocalypse masterpiece Missile Command.  But the first game I really wrapped my head around was Super Mario Bros. (and Duck Hunt, but that's not as relevant!).  Mario and Luigi's multi-screen adventures under a friendly blue sky expanded my concept of what a video game could even be--plus it was super fun, and Rochelle and I could both play it together! Super Mario Bros. 2 was technically more impressive, but so weird (and flanked by so many similar games) that it didn't rock my world like Mario 1 did (though I of course have a huge soft spot for it anyway).   Then Super Mario Bros. 3 came along and Mario had learned how to fly.  It was bigger, more beautiful, and stuffed to the brim with secrets and surprises! It was so exciting even Mom and Dad would play it with us.  Super Mario World is maybe the bigger, better, beautifuler game (and you can ride a FREAKING DINOSAUR), but I'll never forget the day I woke up to find my dad and sister playing this in the living room because we finally owned it.  It was too good to just keep renting! Kid Icarus

I didn't catch Kid Icarus the first time around.  I didn't even play it until high school, but I was inspired to track it down because of my love for Greek mythology and the Metroid series.  Kid Icarus takes place in a world heavily inspired by (but still distinctly different from) the swords, sandals, and sorcery epics of ancient Greece!  It's considered a "sister game" to the original Metroid, released around the same time by the same team, and the game shares a lot of the core elements that make Metroid so unique and awesome: eerily lonely, dangerous worlds to explore, a challenging beginning, player-empowering character growth, and a focus on exploring vast, often vertically-scrolling worlds with satisfying run'n'gun'n'jump gameplay. Kid Icarus borrows all the best stuff from Metroid, but tempers it with a slate of unique design choices: instead of one sprawling world, KI is split into discrete levels.  The first world is an ascent out of Hades with vertically oriented levels, the second world is a horizontal trek across the surface world, the third is another vertical ascent into the sky, and the finale is a horizontal, forced-scrolling shoot-em-up to reclaim the heavens!  Every fourth level is a sprawling, maze-like, Metroid-ish dungeon, capped off with a frantic boss fight!  Plus, Eggplant Wizards, credit cards, and RPG-style character upgrades!  They don't make 'em like this anymore!! Duck Tales

It's not as groundbreaking as Super Mario Bros. 1 or as innovative as Super Mario Bros. 3, but that doesn't change the fact that Duck Tales could possibly be my favorite NES platformer of all time. You don't need to know anything about or even like the original cartoon (or the comic books that birthed it) to appreciate the challenging charms of this hop'n'bop classic.  Duck Tales only has a handful of levels, but they're huge, full of hidden treasures, packed with alternate paths, swiss cheesed with secret passageways, and just gorgeous translations of Disney's lush cartoon worlds.   Getting to choose your own path through Duck Tales' roster of big beautiful worlds is reminiscent of the Mega Man games (also by Capcom). What really sets Duck Tales apart is controlling Scrooge.  He's spry for a septuagenarian billionaire, but his real talents lie in swinging and pogo-sticking off his cane!  It's delightful cartoon nonsense, but if you get the hang of it, it's also incredibly satisfying, allowing you to make some wild, death-defying maneuvers.  If you dig this and find yourself hungering for more bounce-centric gameplay, Shovel Knight takes Scrooge's cane, turns it into a shovel, and builds a deeply satisfying modern classic around it.  Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze finally gives Cranky a chance to shine as a playable character, and he straight-up jock's Scrooge's style, cane and all.  It rules.

Super NES

Yoshi's Island

The first thing you'll notice about Yoshi's Island is that it looks like it was drawn with crayons, markers, and colored pencils!  The second thing you'll notice is that Mario is a freaking baby!  It's an odd premise, but it all comes together in perhaps the best sidescroller ever made.  With Mario mustache-less and diaper-clad, this game puts you directly in control of Yoshi, and he is a joy to play as.  Hovering to extend his jump power, turning enemies into eggs and chucking them, and butt-stomping are Yoshi's primary tools of the trade, and they mix things up nicely.  This doesn't feel like "just another Mario," but it also feels right at home in the Mario pantheon. Beyond the Yosh-man's most basic maneuvers, there are some wild power-ups that turn Yoshi into a helicopter, a train that zips along in the background, a mole-tank, and more, plus special areas where Baby Mario gets superpowers and runs up walls and stuff!  Yoshi's Island is another magical micro-world, jam-packed with extremely clever and fun level design and very possibly the biggest and best boss fights of all time.   Ya gotta play this one.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong-Quest

I know I just talked about Yoshi's Island maybe being the best platformer of all time, but Donkey Kong Country 2 is right behind it, nipping at its heels.  DKC2 has a wildly different aesthetic, dropping you into beautifully computer-rendered pirate shipwrecks, janky-but-glitzy night time carnival rides, endless bramble patches, a skyscraper-sized beehive, haunted forests, and more!  They're not just beautiful to look at, but beautiful to listen to, because DKC2 features one of the all-time greatest video game soundtracks.  Maybe the greatest.  But this game ain't just another pretty face!

DKC2, like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Duck Tales, is stuffed to the gills with tricky little secrets and hidden areas and surprises.  This game doesn't just have secret levels, it has a secret WORLD.  This game doesn't just have a secret world, it has an entire secret ENDING.  The classically solid platforming is accompanied by a wealth of mine cart challenges, awesome animal buddies, mini-games, and enough level design variety to keep you coming back for every last hidden treasure.  

Super Metroid

Super Metroid doesn't just have secrets, it has mysteries.  This was the first game to ever actually scare me. The first one to ever creep me out.  And that just made me want to play it even more.  It feels lonely and dangerous.  Unlike the games earlier on this list, it is one HUGE and continuous world.  It is a world of incomprehensible alien horrors, ancient moldering ruins, and high-tech space-faring bio-terrorists.  This world, named Zebes, is a world where the sky continuously rains acid and almost every living thing inhabiting it wants to kill you.  Good thing you're Samus Aran, the toughest, smartest bounty hunter to ever clean up Space Pirate scum!

Samus explores this acid-drenched nightmare planet by running, gunning, and jumping... but also by solving puzzles and thinking her way out of traps.  With each power up she gets a little stronger, and can find her way deeper into this gnashing alien hellscape.  It's a game that is sadly beautiful just as often as it is ghoulish.  The story, simple and sketched-in as it is, is also deeper and more moving than you will ever expect. The boss fights are as massive, memorable, and epic as the ones in Yoshi's Island, but about a thousand times more intense and frightening.  The music perfectly sets the dark, burbling mood of each region of Zebes, and by the end of the game you will feel like the most powerful hero in the galaxy.  This mix of sci-fi, horror, and adventure isn't just a must-play, it's a life-changer.

Gameboy Color

Wario Land II

I love the Mario series, but I'm also absolutely crazy about Wario.  He's a fat, greedy, chaotic, prideful, disgusting, bull-headed oaf.  He's the polar opposite of Mario... and that's why I love him!  He's not exactly a villain, but he's a definitely a troublemaker, and it is hilariously fun to walk (or stumble!) a mile or three in his shoes.  The game before this, Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land is a ton of fun (as is Super Mario Land 2 before it!), but Wario Land II is the first one that truly feels like a Wario game.  What makes this game so different?  Wario can't be killed!

You read that right, there's (almost) no way to actually "die" in this game!  No way to lose lives.  That might sound too easy, or boring, or both, but it's not!  Wario might be unkillable, but all KINDS of bad stuff can and WILL still happen to him.  A LOT.  He'll get flattened, set on fire, trapped in bubbles, fattened up, frozen, drunk, zombified, and more!  And here's the kicker: those wacky conditions are required to solve the puzzles and challenges of each level!  On top of that ingenious and perfectly wacky set of game mechanics, the story branches off in wildly different directions: you'll blow up the annoying alarm clock in your castle, play street basketball against a giant bunny, be nice to a chicken, visit Atlantis, race through a weird world of mouths, noses, and eyes, and more!  There are multiple endings, multiple hidden exits, and multiple secret treasures and minigames to find and conquer.  Almost all of the Wario Land and Wario Ware games are oddball masterpieces, but WLII is the perfect balance of weird, smart, funny, and challenging.

Nintendo 64

Super Mario 64

This is it.  This is the game.  In 1996, when I was in sixth grade, Super Mario 64 was the only thing I cared about.  I begged and wished and hoped for a Nintendo 64 that Christmas, but it didn't come.  I was crushed.  Occasionally I was able to rent an N64 and Super Mario 64, and I'd lose whole days to this magical, miraculous game.  When I couldn't rent it, I'd bug my classmates about it endlessly.  "What level are you on?  What's that level like?  What stars can you get?  What secrets have you found?"  They'd answer a few of my ravenous, bug-eyed questions before getting uncomfortable and leaving to do something else.  What was the big deal? Why was I (and still am) so obsessed?

The leap from Super Nintendo to Nintendo 64 was like the leap from console and computer games to virtual reality.  But instead of short, funny minigames, it is a huge, sprawling world where anything seems possible.  A magical, secret garden full of surprises, wonder, challenges, and secrets.  Where the sun always shines in a cloudless sky... except when you plunge into the death-defying Bowser levels or the inappropriately terrifying Big Boo's Haunt.  Oh Mario can definitely fly in this one like he did in Super Mario Bros. 3, but just the simple act of running around in circles and jumping through 3D space felt like a joyous miracle... one that puts 2-dimensional flight to shame.  Each world (accessed by jumping INTO paintings in Princess Peach's sprawling but empty castle) is colorful, full of possibility, and chock full of distinct personality.  Adventuring through 3D space for the first time ever was incredible on its own, but doing it in such richly detailed, lovingly crafted worlds made me want to play there forever.  I still do. 

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Take everything I just said about Super Mario 64 and multiply it by ten!  Well, sort of.  Ocarina of Time took the lessons learned from Super Mario 64 and applied them to the dungeon-crawling, puzzle-solving Legend of Zelda series.  The result was an incredibly groundbreaking game that I cherished almost as zealously as Super Mario 64.  I don't think it's aged as well, but I don't care.  Ocarina of Time is a grand story, spanning seven years (!!!) and the entire fantastical country of Hyrule.  As Link, you jump forward and back through time, meet strange and wonderful new friends, discover hidden kingdoms, face the blood-soaked evil of Hyrule's past, save its future, outwit cunning puzzles and traps, steal and ride a magnificent horse, challenge towering, Super Metroid-style end bosses, wield magical weapons, break hearts, play beautiful music, and go fishing.  It's an entire, epic fantasy life in one little cartridge. 

This was the first Zelda game I ever spent SERIOUS time with, and the fact that it plays like a fantasy-fueled hybrid of Super Mario 64 and Super Metroid means I've lost entire days to it.  I've played it start to finish at least 8 or 9 times.  It never gets boring. Like Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time invented how we make and play 3D games.  This was the first 3D game where you could lock onto enemies and points of interest, plus a bevy of other camera controls that come standard in 3D games now (or at least they did for about a decade after Ocarina's release). The story is surprisingly cinematic and even gripping at times.  You'll want to live in this world.  You'll be sad when you see the end credits.  Not because of the ending itself, but because there's no more game for you to play... until you start it all over again on the next save file.  

Star Fox 64

Star Fox 64 was a life-changing event for me, just like Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.  So is Star Fox 64 a slow-paced, exploration heavy adventure into beautiful and fantastical solitude like those other two games?  N O P E.  It's a guns-blazin', fast action, dogfightin', barrel rollin', rock'em sock'em intergalactic action epic in supersonic spaceships!  Piloted by talking animals!  That actually talk!  YES!

Instead of the wide-open freedom of Super Mario 64 and  Ocarina of TIme, Star Fox 64 either puts you on (invisible) rails in a forced-scrolling attack run or in a contained 3D arena.  Here's the kicker though, the levels are all so perfectly designed and the action is so expertly paced that you never feel restricted.  You're too busy racking up kill combos, saving your wingmen, and navigating through flying, burning space debris and buildings and asteroids and terrain to think about what you can't do.  And even on rails, Star Fox 64 gives you ways to explore!  Most levels have multiple exits and there are a whole mess of different, branching paths through the entire, war-torn Lylat system.  The game is designed to be played start to finish in a single sitting, but experimenting with repeat playthroughs is the only way to experience everything this laser-blazing action classic has to offer.  On top of all that, it's got a great story, iconic, meme-worthy dialogue, and an absolutely banging soundtrack.  It might not have changed the face of interactive entertainment like Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, but it delivered the ultimate shoot'em up space adventure.  

[aion-rsa]

Nintendo Switch 4K: 10 Games That Will Benefit Most From an OLED Display

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

A Bloomberg article reveals that Nintendo is reportedly ordering OLED screens from Samsung in preparation for the 2021 release of the long-awaited “Nintendo Switch Pro.” Details are thin at this time, but the new Switch hardware will likely support 720p resolution in handheld mode, 4K output to a television, and enhanced overall performance via unspecified improved “computing power.”

While we’ve heard rumors of an upgraded Nintendo Switch before, this latest report is far more substantial than any we’ve seen in recent years. Besides, few people doubt that Nintendo will eventually release improved Switch hardware. Not only have they previously released upgraded versions of most of their handheld devices, but next-gen hardware from Sony and Microsoft are escalating expectations in a way that the base version of the Switch is going to struggle to keep up with.

So which Nintendo Switch games will be the biggest beneficiaries of the new hardware? Ideally, the answer is “all of them,” but these are the 10 titles you’ll want to play first on the new Nintendo Switch (whenever it is released) if you’re looking to truly put it through its paces.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

You probably already guessed it, but the biggest “winner” of a Switch hardware upgrade is undoubtedly one of the most beloved Switch games of all-time, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Even as a launch game, Breath of the Wild pushed the limits of the Nintendo Switch’s handheld and TV functionality. It’s a truly beautiful experience, though, so any hardware improvements that let us enjoy the game’s wonderful art direction and best set pieces a little more are good enough to arguably justify the upgrade.

Luigi’s Mansion 3

I’m not entirely sure why Luigi’s Mansion 3 doesn’t get more love than it does, but if you’re talking about the best-looking Nintendo Switch games, you’ve got to include this gem.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 is one of the rare Switch games that impress with raw visuals and art direction. While it actually runs surprisingly well on the console, that’s all the more reason why games such as this will benefit from improved hardware even if those improvements largely target the console’s screen resolution and output.

Doom/Doom Eternal

As two of the most technically demanding Nintendo Switch ports ever made, it should go without saying that 2016’s Doom and its follow-up, Doom Eternal, are going to immediately benefit from any improvements to the Nintendo Switch’s hardware.

What I’m really waiting to see though, is whether or not the (much-needed) potential increase in the Switch’s resolution output will significantly impact the frame rate of either of these ports. Any loss in frame rate would impact these games in ways that likely wouldn’t be worth the clearer visuals. Still, there’s a good chance these games are going to be even more impressive than they already are.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Super Mario Odyssey

To be honest, I feel like Super Mario Odyssey‘s art direction and technical design are strong enough to ensure that you don’t really feel like you’re “missing out” when you’re playing it in either handheld mode or on the TV. As such, it works pretty well on existing Switch hardware.

Still, this is one of those cases of the rich getting richer in terms of potential hardware upgrades. Any game that runs well on the current Switch is going to be the most obvious beneficiary of any hardware improvements, and Super Mario Odyssey is one of the top entries in that particular category.

Octopath Traveler

No, Octopath Traveler isn’t the “best-looking” game on the Nintendo Switch in terms of the game’s raw visuals. It’s clearly designed to be an upgraded throwback to a golden age of old-school RPG graphics.

However, if the new Nintendo Switch’s biggest upgrade proves to be the quality of the console’s resolution, then games like Octopath Traveler may actually be the kind of experiences you turn to in order to really test at least the improved handheld capabilities. The next Switch’s potential 4K output may get more of the love, but a more handheld-like game such as this is really going to drop jaws on an OLED screen.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

What’s interesting about Link’s Awakening in terms of its visual design is that it both stands out in “TV mode” due to its character models and bright colors and in handheld mode by virtue of its overall design sensibilities that mimick previous Zelda handheld experiences.

Because of those qualities, this is going to be one of the rare games that you can turn to for a kind of “all-in-one” test of any new Switch hardware. It’s not exactly the best-looking Switch game across the board, but it’s a quick way to see how noticeable any improvements really are.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Yes, Mario Kart 8‘s stunning colors and beautiful effects will stand out on the new Switch’s screen, but what’s really going to be interesting to see is whether or not any hypothetical hardware improvements noticeably impact the overall performance of a game like this.

If so, then the best-selling Switch game to-date could be one of those titles that practically benefit from hardware improvements even more so than other titles. I don’t know if those hardware improvements are going to offer any kind of significant competitive advantage, but there is some kind of advantage to be found in any version of this game that runs noticeably smoother than ever.

Warframe

This port of one of the most underrated free-to-play games on the market today is also one of Switch’s best-looking titles overall. Still, the biggest problem with this game comes when you go from the console or PC versions of Warframe to the Switch port. The performance difference is, to say the least, noticeable.

If the new Switch can bridge that gap even just a bit more, then the console’s handheld functionality could actually make it the best place to experience one of the best live-service experiences on the market. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the conversation around Warframe grows a little louder simply by virtue of the fact that more people will discover this title on improved Nintendo Switch hardware.

Gris

Yes, Gris is essentially a very good-looking mobile game, but if you view the Switch’s handheld functionality as a separate concept equivalent to standalone handheld hardware, then Gris is one of the best-looking games available for the device.

It’s also a game that’s sheer artistic beauty is certain to shine even brighter on an improved Nintendo Switch screen. For a legion of Switch users out there who primarily rely on the console’s handheld functionality, this already must-play game is about to get a second life as a potentially somewhat underrated showcase of the Switch’s hardware upgrades.

Astral Chain

Astral Chain wisely utilizes a cel-shaded art style that helps compensate for the fact that the Nintendo Switch isn’t exactly the most powerful piece of gaming hardware on the market.

Well, that already impressive art style is, at the very least, going to look even cleaner on upgraded Switch hardware. Yet, it’s once again a potential improvement in this title’s frame rate along with the rumored resolution bump that makes me so excited to dive back into this stunning action game and gawk at an already beautiful game that looks (and hopefully plays) better than ever.

The post Nintendo Switch 4K: 10 Games That Will Benefit Most From an OLED Display appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2MN40GH

[patchun]

Smash time

Alright, so I’ve been thinking about this a lot and now I’m going to try to compile all this into some posts. I’ll also tag this as long post, and “smashlongpost” in case you get tired of seeing it somehow.

First majorly important thing is this: since the release of Smash Wii U, how many new titles has Nintendo made? That’s right - unless I’m completely missing something, that answer is... 2. If not 2, then still pretty low. Splatoon (which may have come out before Smash Wii? I don’t remember, not important, I’m gonna count it.) and Arms.

So, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that, along with Inklings, we’re going to get Springman/Ribbongirl, either as two different characters or as one character, HOPEFULLY one character. Unfortunately, Rex is also a likely addition here. I can’t really emphasize my dislike of Rex enough, but in case any of you here like him... I’m sorry. I hate him. So much. But I also fear he’s inevitable, like the Arms characters.

Another safe bet is a new Pokemon rep. After a lot of thought, I think the top candidates for this are either Decidueye because of his immense popularity, or Mimikyu. However, considering Mimikyu’s similarities to Pikachu appearance/size-wise, it seems more likely they’d choose Decidueye. Another option on the Pokemon side of things, though, is an unknown Gen 8 Pokemon, since Pokemon Switch is currently in development. Since Greninja was being developed for Smash Wii U before Sun and Moon were released, the same thing could easily happen with this new game, I think.

But, with only two new titles, that only gives us two new characters excluding some switched out ones, right? Kind of, and this is kind of bad news - but at the same time it is great news.

Why is it great news? Because! Because Nintendo doesn’t have many new titles, that means there’s a bigger chance of them looking to 3rd parties! And this is very exciting news. Which brings me to a list of possible candidates, and desired candidates. First of all, there are three newcomers that seem somewhat unlikely, but that I’d love to have. They are:

Marx (Kirby) - This is so unlikely. But man, I love Marx, and his announcement for Star Allies really refueled a fire in my heart. Being playable in Star Allies will be enough for me, but oh boy, if he was playable in Smash that would be something.

Sans///or Frisk - People are joking about this, and also treating it as if it’s a bad thing. Listen. Undertale wasn’t immediately acknowledged by the big gaming companies, I don’t think, because they’re busy making games, not following what’s hip on the Indie market. But Undertale made a HUGE impact, and also, Japan loved it. Since it was announced as coming to the Switch in the same trailer as Smash, I wouldn’t even say that Sans or Frisk coming to Smash would be unlikely, and unlike those treating Undertale as a bad thing for some reason, I think that could be really cool. I’m not going to say it’s extremely likely, but is it possible, and probably more likely than Marx? Yes.

Reimu - Of course, my most desired would have to be none other than Reimu. The chances of this are so slim, probably more slim than even Sans, but the impact on Touhou as a whole that Reimu in Smash would have would be unspeakable. Let me make my case. First of all, the basis of all of this hope is that Touhou is on the Switch now. Copyright things may have already been dealt with in order for a fangame to make it to the Switch, meaning ZUN may not need to worry about that, though I don’t know exactly how the copyright stuff works. So, with that in mind, consider this: Nintendo likes money. Nintendo, with Smash, wants to appeal to as many target audiences as possible. And, according to what I’ve heard, Touhou in Japan has been pretty big lately, particularly for young girls (you know, because ZUN actually treats girls as people unlike almost every other thing Japan makes!!!!). So... Reimu in Smash would be perfect to appeal to that audience. In the west, Reimu in Smash would have such a huge effect. You know how you probably didn’t know who Ness or Lucas were until you saw them in Smash, got curious, google them, then played Earthbound and now you love them? Think about how much exposure this could give Touhou and ZUN. This could create an entire wave of Touhou fans in the west, and I really hope ZUN can see this. Unfortunately, I don’t see this as likely. The best case scenario is that someone on the Smash staff has a daughter who really likes Touhou, and so basically what ends up happening is that Nintendo WANTS Touhou. Since I can’t see ZUN taking any initiative to put Reimu in Smash himself, the way I see it having to happen is for Nintendo to be the one who initiates. That way, I can at least see ZUN possibly agreeing. I know the chances are slim, but I really, really hope this happens - and I can’t stop fanboying over the idea of a 3d rendered Reimu in ZUN style.

Waluigi - Waluigi is interesting because, like a Touhou character, it seems that the fanbase basically... made him. I don’t know exactly what his moveset would be or how it could be made unique, but I know so many people who love Waluigi who would be happy to see him playable, including myself.

That ends the list of characters I really want. Otherwise, I’ve thought of some characters that have a pretty good chance of getting in, in no particular order.

Crash Bandicoot (convenient timing for a Switch release, a gaming icon similar to Pacman and Sonic)

Jibanyan from Youkai Watch

A Rabbid (Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle, I didn’t like this at first, but that game was actually pretty fun! I wouldn’t be opposed to playing as Rabbid Luigi)

Yooka-Laylee (I’d personally rather not a character slot be taken up by this, better to put Banjo-Kazooie or Hat Kid)

Bomberman

Shovel Knight

Shantae

Phoenix Wright (maybe... doubtful but maybe, I’d like this)

Sora - THERE’S NO WAY SORA IS GETTING IN. I like Sora, but the Disney copyright barrier is too strong. It’s like, Cloud getting in was a miracle enough - but imagine Nintendo not only having to go through the Square Enix barrier but also the Disney one.

Bandana Waddle Dee - I wouldn’t mind this! I’d like it... but I’d prefer Marx.

Then we have other Nintendo characters, like K. Rool, Ridley, Wolf, etc. But... honestly, I’d prefer 3rd party characters to these. That’s just personal preferences.

Finally though, depressing reality kicked in when I realized that, sure, I *hope* that Nintendo will be looking at and considering relevant and modern characters... but, there’s also a chance that Nintendo is just going to bring us another Mr. Game and Watch, or a ROB, or a Little Mac. An old property that they bring back. Some people may like this, and I wouldn’t really be opposed to it so long as a few relevant and not-previously-in-Smash get to shine too.

In the end, I just really hope Nintendo is given the opportunity to consider Reimu. She’d be such a great addition.

Please respond with your opinions, I’d really like to interact with you guys.

[flygonpoweramiibocards]

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Amiibo Cards!

I’ve been loving this game. 20 odd hours in, still haven’t beaten it, but I enjoy every moment. Ubisoft did a great job and shout out to Nintendo to let them do it. The gameplay is great, all the little extra details are amazing, the art style is beautiful, and I love the music especially the Peach’s Castle theme. The one mistake Ubisoft did was making figurines that weren’t amiibo. I would’ve probably bought them if they had NFC chips in them but they were sadly traditional figurines. Therefore I made these cards. 

These are blank picture Amiibo card pictures in case you want to just throw something on them, but check out my rendered ones and my paint.net templates.

Mario | Luigi | Peach | Yoshi

Front Template | Back Template

I made the back very similar to my Splatoon cards, replacing the squids with Beep-O since he is such a critical part of the game and I like him. I also added the Ubisoft logo since it is their game. I actually had to make the front this time, and while it wasn’t my initial idea I’m happy with it. Most recent official amiibo art has a nice gold separator, the character up top, and a black and white subtle picture on bottom. I would have liked to use the gold piece seen in the wedding Mario figures, but I used the blue character movement from the game since I couldn’t find it and this was easier to make. Plus, it’s a central part of the game so that’s cool. I then put a colored Peach’s Castle up top because I like its visuals almost as much as I like the theme song. The bottom has a collage of world one baddies plus Spawny, because they are also a huge part of the game and needed recognition. Didn’t go past world one for spoiler reasons. The bottom isn’t as subtle as official ones but I think I put a lot of the games aspect in one little picture. I hope you enjoy.

Also for the back, I put Smash amiibo and Mario amiibo so you could use the one you code in. I of course could’ve put all the Mario’s and even wedding Peach but wasn’t gonna put all of them. Put the Rabbid figures there too cuz they’re cool.

[fafwn]

Nintendo direct

Luigi’s mansion 3 - idk haven’t played any yet but I’m sure will be as great as the rest

Kirby’s extra epic yarn -thought the original on the wii was good enough, I don’t know why it needed a remake

Bowser jr’s story - super cool idea on one of my favourite games. If it’s similar to the original bowsers inside story, I think it’ll be great

Luigi mansion multiplayer - uhh what, I don’t know what to say about this one

Yo-kai watch blasters - haven’t got a clue on this series, I’ll let it be

Splatoon 2 update - version 4 update again?

Mega man 11 - really nice aesthetic, linking back to older games but with a new render, looks great

Mario tennis aces update - new characters it seems,

Cap com beat em up bundle - cool throw back to the original games since virtual console has been removed now

New super mario brothers deluxe - one of my favourite mario brothers games but again, I’m not sure a remake is necessary. But again, it’s one of my favourite so I’ll let it pass

Katamori damarci - new title it seems, looks super random so I’m not sure how I feel about that

Switch online - uhh, online? Sort of in the name. You can play classic games which is a cheap way to sell switch online I think but cool since virtual console is gone. Data cloud is a good idea in some respect but I don’t think I’ll use it very much. Random smartphone app? Idk, super random. Members will receive special offers but they aren’t going to tell us what because suspense. Begins September 18th and 12 month subscription is like $9.

New controllers - sounds sick af, cool throwback

Let’s go eevee - I already know I’m not too keen on this one but I don’t know, I think I’ll skip

Diablo 3 - sounds like something I would like, I think I’ll try it

Mario party 10 - of course, sounds brilliant and all mario party games are amazing so this one is bound to be perfect

Town - sounds like a super peaceful and calm game, music sounds cool and battle combat seems quite cool

Cities skylines - toe would be happy

Daemon x mechena - seems like a generic game, I don’t think it’ll be anything special although it looks really sharp

Yoshi’s woolly world - kirby’s epic yarn yoshi version, seems super wholesome and all that

Tabletop gaming - uhh what the heck is this, I couldn’t tell from the trailer what it actually is so I’ll let it go

Civilisation VI - funky ass music lmao but otherwise looks like a city skylines remake

Starlink: battle for atlas - I do like me a star fox game so should be good

The world ends with you: remix - I haven’t got a clue about anything in this game so idk

Xenoblade chronicals: torna - I wasn’t too keen on the original game, it was repetitive and boring so I think this’ll be the same thing, so I’ll skip

Just dance - just dancing ain’t it

Fifa - ball

Team sonic racing - how old is this god damn game lmao

NBA -basket

NBA playgrounds - advanced basket

Lego dc supervillans - Lego games are cool so I approve

Final fantasy: crystal fantasies - online multiplayer sounds cool, I don’t know if it’ll be any good since all final fantasy games seem to be good or bad

World of final fantasy - like RWBY chibi but final fantasy

Chocobo’s mystery dungeon - uhh idk

Final fantasy 7,9,10 - cool that there’s virtual consoles for this console

Super smash brothers hardware shit? -uhh wtf

Isabel in smash - got to have hot ol furry wifu in smash amirite

New animal crossing game? - not sure, I think it’ll be cool though, super updated and rendered crisply

Overall, ashamed they didn’t do more with this, I would have liked more characters or fire emblem announcements but it seems it’s just a bunch of remakes and updates. But nonetheless, still pretty cool to see more games I’ll never have the money to play lmao