#official nintendo player's guide

[n64retro]

[the-book-sharing-space]

The river: You'll see tons of water and grass types amid the lush tropical foliage of this beautiful wandering waterway.

The cave: A branch of the river empties into an underground cavern, and you'll have to adjust your eyes to the dim light if you hope to snap any of the cave-dwelling Pokemon.

The valley: When you emerge into sunlight you'll be pleased to find yourself on another river, but this one runs a lot faster than your earlier cruse and is packed with all sorts of pokemon.

Rainbow cloud: If you can impress the professor with your photography skills, you'll find the way to a magical cloud over the island where you'll go in search of a pokemon so rare that it's believed to be merely a legend.

Pokemon island field guide: For your viewing pleasure, we've included a field guide with everything you could want know about every pokemon in the game. Inside information on the creatures' habits, which items will make them react and the areas they're found in are all included, along with the index information to help you find exactly what page they're on. The field guide also doubles as a photo album where you can place stickers of your best shots of each character

something to shoot for.

[suppermariobroth]

Top: for over two decades, the mysterious pillar room in the Creepy Castle museum in Donkey Kong 64 mystified players. It is clearly designed as through it was intended to contain something important, but does not in the finished game. Inquiries to Rare about this were answered with "the room used to contain something that was removed", spurring further speculation.

Bottom: while absent from all other guides of the game, the German official guide contains this image of a golden Donkey Kong statue placed in the pillar room, though the text does not mention it.

The purpose of the statue is unknown, but is nearly certainly linked with scrapped Stop'n'Swop functionality that was intended to link this game with Banjo-Kazooie, before being scrapped shortly before release due to the intended method not working on newly manufactured Nintendo 64 units.

Main Blog | Twitter | Patreon | Small Findings | Source

[pianokantzart]

I headcanon that despite being a shy person in general, and a little anxious when talking to people he doesn't know, Luigi loves oral storytelling.

At the end of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Luigi is shown talking on the plane ride home, eliciting laughter from everyone around him.

In Super Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Luigi regales his brother with stories about his adventures whenever you talk to him at Rogueport. Even though Mario and his companion will fall asleep while the story is told, Luigi seems to pay no mind and continue unhindered, (and apparently it was interesting enough for a journalist to be drawn in and spin the story into a bestselling book, so there's that.)

On a quiz on the official Play Nintendo Website, Luigi is listed as a good candidate to speak at a graduation because "he'd probably tell great ghost stories."

And in Super Mario RPG, Luigi is the one who guides the player through the manual, and subsequently is the one who recounts the events of the first scene in story format.

I think if he's comfortable enough around you to talk freely, he'll immediately shift into audiobook mode upon request.

[smallmariofindings]

Nintendo Power's official 1996 Super Mario 64 Player's Guide states that the Mad Piano in Big Boo's Haunt can be defeated "with a lot of effort". This is not the case, and the Mad Piano is actually completely indestructible.

Main Blog | Twitter | Patreon | Small Findings | Source

[narratingvoice]

My sincerest apologies for the radio silence from this blog recently. I know, it's very out of character for me. The thing is, I've been in a bit of a pickle over the past few months. The fiscal year for 2023 didn't end nearly as profitably as I projected, not even with the hype and celebration surrounding

THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STANLEY PARABLE (2013)!

Server maintenance isn't free, you know, and neither are infinite holes. And with Unity changing its pricing structure on top of it, well, I really needed to put the old noggin to work finding a way to squeeze every last dime out of my fans provide new and valuable pieces of entertainment that will be worth your money. And that's why I'm thrilled to announce my partnership with the fine folks at I Am 8bit to bring you: The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe: Collector's Edition!

It's true! Yes, I know I did a fake announcement for something similar last year, but this one is for real! A physical product that you can purchase and have delivered to your home, and play on your Nintendo Switch or Playstation 5. And this package involves absolutely no changes to the game itself, which really takes a load off my back. Since I have no presence in the physical world, I have to trust that my collaborators will deliver the finest quality items. And trust them I do. Shall we take a look at all the wonderful bonuses you'll receive?

Stickers!

Just like the ones I slapped onto Stanley's bucket, now you too can slap these stickers on your own bucket. Or anything else that currently lacks stickers on it. You will not receive a bucket to stick them on. We floated that idea, but Mr. 8bit told me he'd rather not have to lug dozens of buckets down to the post office every day. You'd look like a right idiot doing that, I agree. So get your own bucket and enjoy the thrill of sticking!

Oh, and do be aware that whatever object you affix the "Property of Stanley" sticker to, does legally become Stanley's property, and he will demand you send it to him.

More surprises under the cut!

An instructional manual!

"But Narrator," I hear you saying, "didn't you just say you're not giving me a bucket? What do I need this for?" First of all, do not interrupt me when I'm giving a presentation. Second of all, this manual is for the bucket that's in the game. I've noticed many players do not seem to know how to operate the bucket, and treat it like it's a person rather than an inanimate container. With this instructional manual, I will give you a comprehensive guide as to what a bucket can do (such as: prevent water from spilling all over your trousers) and what it cannot do (such as: love you back). I have had some harrowing experiences in the field of instructional manual writing, but I think this one is some of my finest work yet.

A figurine!

Yes, our most requested piece of merchandise is finally here! The OFFICIAL Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe Stanigurine stands 5 inches tall and is made of durable PVC. And as with the virtual Figustans, that's all there is to it. There's no articulation or any type of toy action. You don't get anything but the feeling of deep satisfaction at owning this collectible. The package only comes with one, so why not buy six copies if you really want to recreate the game in your home?

But wait, that's not all!

If you are an absolute Stanley Parable fanatic, you'll want to supplement your Collector's Edition with even more plastic tat commemorating your favourite game. And you definitely want to support me as much as possible, right? So you can also buy:

The button that says the name of the person playing the game!

For just $10, you too can have a button that says your name, presuming your name is Jim. The button will only say the name Jim and will never say any other name, no matter how often you press it. I found that a lot of players really got into the immersive experience of being Jim, so I decided to keep it that way instead of programming it to say a whole lot of names. Sorry, but there are too many different names in the world. You're Jim and you'll like it.

Vinyl albums!

When you buy the Collector's Edition, you'll get a free code to download the Official Soundtrack in MP3 format. But what if you don't like MP3? What if you're a bit more old-fashioned in your audiophile taste? Well, I've got you covered! With this 2-record set, you can listen to all the office ambience on your gramophone or turntable. Why, you could even DJ a set with it! If you do, please send me your mixtape and I'll give it an honest review. My music taste is impeccable.

An instructional audio cassette!

Yes, this is just a cassette telling you how to install and run a copy machine. Listen, I took some odd voiceover jobs here and there to pay the bills. And I figured, you lot are so ravenous to hear my voice that you'd even pay good money to hear me deliver some boring instructions. At least, that's the impression I get from the more saucy side of the fandom. So that's what you get. Do I do anything funny? You'll have to buy it and find out!

Hold on, Stanley is trying to tell me something. What do you mean, nobody has a cassette player any more? Why wouldn't they? It's the perfect compact audio format! It's got two sides, which is more than you can say for a CD, and it's a lot more portable than vinyl. Well I'm not shipping out cassette players. You can take it or leave it. No refunds.

[demifiendrsa]

Tales of Graces f Remastered - Announcement Trailer

Japanese version

General producer message

Tales of Graces f Remastered will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam) on January 17, 2025.

Title logo

Key visual

Screenshots Overview

In Tales of Graces f Remastered, players will follow the adventures of Asbel and his friends as they embark on a world-spanning adventure filled with unforgettable characters, shocking revelations, and unique companions brought together through promises made across time. The title is set in the world of Ephinea, a planet blessed with abundant greenery. The world is ruled by three great nations, each with the power of Eleth. Tales of Graces f Remastered is a remastered version of Tales of Graces f released in 2010 featuring quality of life improvements and additions, downloadable content from the original version and newly localized scenes that will be available in English for the very first time.

Q & A

What is Tales of Graces f Remastered?

This title will be a remastered title of Tales of Graces f (hereinafter referred to as the original version), which was released on PlayStation®3 in 2010 in Japan and Asia and 2013 in the Americas and Europe.

This title follows the original version, with improved graphics and various useful functions, as well as a number of downloadable content from the original version.

Will this work include the ““Lineage and Legacies”?

It is included. The “Lineage and Legacies” is a story that depicts the world six months after the end of Tales of Graces. You can enjoy an after-story that centers around Sophie.

Were any elements added or removed from the original version?

Added Elements

Quality-of-life functions have been added to the game to make the game more convenient and enjoyable for the player.

Includes many downloadable contents from the original version (some licensed downloadable content is not available).

Add overseas languages for some groovy chats.

Adjusted Elements

The online ranking mode was removed and converted into Trials of Graces, an offline mode found on the Title Menu.

Please tell us about the specification information for this work.

The framerate specs and graphics will vary for each platform. Please see the table below for details.

What is included in the “Digital Art Book & Soundtrack” in the Deluxe Edition?

The digital art book is an excerpt from the “Tales of Graces Official Complete Guide” published in 2010 and the “Tales of Graces f Official Complete Guide” published in 2011.

The digital soundtrack includes the background music included in the “Tales of Graces Original Soundtrack” distributed in 2022, as well as 13 BGM tracks newly added in the ” Lineage and Legacies.”

[hopeymchope]

Emio - The Smiling Man is a welcome return for FDC... but a disappointing one

As I mentioned once before, Famicom Detective Club is BACK. Not just the title, but also its central heroes: Assistant detectives Taro Ninten and Ayumi Tachibana have returned for a new first-person menu-driven adventure game with a new mystery.

This is a much bigger deal for Japanese fans, where this is the first new game in the series (and the first real new adventure for these characters) since 1997 — and that '97 game is pretty obscure/hard to come by (I'll get to that), so it's really the first full-fledged NEW release since 1989! But the rest of the world only had a fan translation of the second game's SNES remake since 2004, which meant it was really only experienced by hardcore adventure game enthusiasts. And we only got our first official release of the first two games in the form of the Switch remakes in 2021.

I liked those Switch remakes a lot. I especially liked how many detailed, fluid animations there were in nearly every setting, which really brought the adventures to life. For any newcomers, I still recommend both of those titles — and in fact, I think The Girl Who Stands Behind remains the best in the series even now. The Missing Heir is full of dated design roadblocks that will almost certainly send you rushing to find an online guide, but The GIrl Who Stands Behind is a pretty easy playthrough for anyone.

Time has left the third game in the series behind, rendering it to obscurity. It truly is The Past that Disappeared in the Snow.

Though I should clarify that I only mean that The Girl Who Stands Behind is, IMO, the best out of the three games we English-only fans can experience. Because Emio - The Smiling Man is actually the fourth game in the series... and the third one is extremely obscure. That game was only released via Nintendo's Satellaview service in Japan, which let you use download games over dial-up Internet back in the '90s. That third game, titled The Past that Disappeared in the Snow, was the only one (until now!) where you played as Ayumi Tachibana. When her mom was accused of a murder, Ayumi had to uncover a decades-long family feud between her own family and another... and we don't know much more than that, because although the ROM file certainly is out there, nobody has ever bothered to translate this game into English.

But... I digress. It's time I stopped meandering around the central topic and started talking about the newest release: Emio.

In terms of gameplay, this one skews much closer to The Girl Who Stands Behind than The Missing Heir. There's one late-game moment where you're likely to be stymied about what to do or where to go next, because advancement requires some outside-the-box thinking. But otherwise, most players will be able to step through the narrative without too much trouble.

One cool touch that I alluded two a couple paragraphs earlier is that you will actually swap between Taro and Ayumi's perspectives in this one. I quite like that angle, though Taro pretty consistently gets the more interesting parts of the story. Perhaps that's because he still dominates 70% of the perspective.

The game will grade your performance in each chapter at the very end of the story, so do your best on the reviews and other multiple-choice segments.

If you're just looking to have a new adventure with some compelling late reveals? Emio - The Smiling Man has you covered. The same general gameplay from The Girl Who Stands Behind is back, including the end-of-chapter reviews of information that will ultimately help determine your graded performance.

Unfortunately I also feel that, in some ways, this is the weakest of the stories we've been able to play in English. And I feel that way primarily for three reasons:

Prepare to spend a lot of time at Planet Coffee, receiving very little information.

The sad truth is that, for much of this game, it feels like you're treading water. You barely ever seem to make advancements in the story until the last few chapters—instead, it's just piecemeal drip-feeding of tiny details that don't actually seem to move the needle. The Missing Heir was dropping new murders and mysteries left and right. In comparison, The Girl Who Stands Behind was more similar to how Emio is structured... but TGWSB had a creepy overlaying atmosphere and sense of dread that helped propel it along. For me at least, Emio is comparatively... well, it's kind of boring. Not much happens for most of the game. The last two main chapters and the Epilogue are all powerfully compelling, but up until that point, it feels more like you experience almost 10 chapters where you learn random facts that don't actually link to one another, and almost no one ever seems to be in any danger?

Worse is that sometimes, some things DO happen that the narrative just kind of... forgets about. One of the most compelling twists in the investigation is never explained in any way! At one point, we follow Ayumi as she follows a mysterious figure and then gets jumped by them... and then this is never discussed or addressed again! It's hard to believe a game with this many staff members involved could see this and shrug these dropped plot points off. Maybe they were all too scared to speak up to producer/writer Yoshio Sakamoto? But it's frustrating.

Ayumi gets jumped early in Chapter 7. When we next see her, she never mentions that this happened, nor is this ever explained or referenced again for the entire game.

You know how I mentioned after playing the previous two games that I was shipping Ayumi and Taro? Well, this game kind of killed that for me. For some reason, this is the only game in the series where Ayumi is treated as this gorgeous, irresistable being that every boy she encounters (while playing as her) simps for. And our playable hero, Taro, is just such a simp, too! Maybe it just felt overwhelming to me because it's every boy (and a couple girls) that she runs into, while in reality she doesn't talk to that many characters. But for me, it felt exhausting and kind of gross to see a couple of the male characters bicker over who knows her better, get possessively jealous when they have no right to, and basically act like total toolbags whenever Ayumi is involved. Taro, for his part, has gone from "implied to maybe kinda like her" to "acting weirdly possessive and overtly pining for her whenever they interact." Which I don't care for. For Ayumi's sake, I'm glad she seems to be somehow blissfully ignorant of her hypnotic effect. :P At least their boss, Utsugi, seems like he's not gunning for her... ?

So yeah, these are the three things that I think held the game back from being as good a story as the first two for me personally. Yet that's not to say the game is bad, either — I'm still quite happy to be unraveling mysteries with the Utsugi Detective Agency. There are still lots of fluid character touches in the animated scenes, the art is consistently great, the soundtrack is good, and things REALLY get gripping by the end.

If you're wondering why this game has an "M" rating while the previous two had "T" ratings, that's entirely due to the game's epilogue. After you beat the main story, many plot threads remain dangling. And as I stated up above, some will sadly stay that way. But most of them are filled in by the epilogue, which walks you through the incredibly dark, tragic, and disturbing tale of the culprit. The epilogue is more like a 20-minute visual novel followed by a 30-minute anime, because you don't actually PLAY it much; you really just read and then watch it. You are warned beforehand that this tale will be "gruesome," and though it's still far less so than most horror-based video games, it's definitely QUITE gruesome by Nintendo standards. But it's one of the most gripping parts of the whole story, honestly.

[demonfox38]

Completed (Early Access Content) - Palworld

Look, man. I know I can't call this an official completion, given that the game is still in early access. But I trashed all available bosses and 10/10'ed each of those little Pal bastards, so that has to be indicative of some level of mastery, right?

Or maybe I've got to explain why I disappeared down this hole for the last few months.

I'm not what you'd call a cutting-edge kind of person when it comes to technology. Considering that most of my game consoles are old enough to purchase cigarettes and alcohol, it's safe to say I'm fairly retro. A throwback. Happiest with something made between 1986 and 2005 (or, at the very least, looks and acts like that.) Getting in on an early access for a game is not my thing at all.

So, "Palworld" is a bit of an anomaly. Maybe, in many ways.

"Palworld" is a hybrid crafting, survival, base management, third person shooter, and creature catching game. It stars your customizable character de jour who is forced to survive on an isolated island full of inhospitable terrain, monsters of various levels of aggression, and asshole humans. What's the secret behind the looming towers and massive Yggdrasil-like tree glowing in the distance? I don't know. The tree part of the content isn't out, yet. But, you can at least explore the island and wail on the asses of those that dare to conquer it for their own varied ends. That's at least 100 hours of content right there!

Since its early access release in January of 2024, "Palworld" has garnered a fair amount of attention. Good. Bad. All over the place. Definitely a case of the old phrase "all publicity is good publicity." While not the first in terms of creation when it comes to edgy monster collecting games (with "Megami Tensei" loudly coughing in some dusty old corner), it is unique in its game style mix. Perhaps not visually unique enough, given how certain "Pokémon" fans were sharpening their Honedges after the very first glance they took at this game. Its publisher having a previous game that openly used AI art generation didn't help its credibility, either! (Although, that game also is about rewarding players for detecting art made by an AI opponent a la an elementary-school art class "Among Us", so judge accordingly.)

I get it. I've got some degree of Nintendo brain rot, too. Did you check my avatar and username? But, I also know that Nintendo can and will obliterate anything in its path with Death Star-adjacent precision and power, especially when it comes to any potential IP infringement. Hell, they crumpled two emulators into a black hole mere weeks after this game's early access released. If they had any notion that something was off with this game, they'd have it annihilated—for better or worse.

Like most modern games, my attention was drawn to this title via watching several streamers play. (In particular, PatStaresAt, WoolieVersus, and Vinesauce, if you're wanting names.) Now, I'd like to be coy and pretend that online videos don't influence my interest in games, but I also own a copy of the SNES game "Lagoon" because I loved watching PJDiCesare clown on it. Hell, I only backed "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" after watching Liam Allen-Miller replicate "Castlevania"-Metroidvania physics in a YouTube preview! I see a video, my brain makes judgements, I variably engage in commerce. And, to be honest, I like games like this. "Breath of the Wild." "Pokémon Legends: Arceus." "Minecraft." I wanted a game like this, so hell. I was willing to gamble $30.00 USD on this, bugs and unfinished status and all.

I think I may have gotten my money's worth out of this.

Was the game play that addicting, or was I in a depression spiral triggered by bad working conditions at my job and my maternal grandmother's health issues precipitating more labor on my family's behalf? Yes. To which part of that question? Yes. While the game attempts to guide the player via an early game tutorial and tasks for building up your bases, you're mostly left on your own to build both the world and yourself in whatever image you'd like. Want to build a Babylonian tower to offend whatever god created this world? Okay. Want to drop everything on the floor like an agitated toddler and/or "Resident Evil 0" protagonist? Whatever makes you happy! Want to build a rocket launcher and shoot it at a dragon's face? That can be done! It just might take some time.

Because the game consists of different play styles, I found myself alternating often between game loop sets. Usually, it broke into a stack of tasks like this:

Determine nearest threat (monster fighting.)

Gather materials (crafting.)

Return to/establish a base (base management.)

Build what I can (crafting/base management.)

Loop steps 2-4 until items of desire were created (crafting/base management.)

Gather/raise Pals to attack nearest threat (monster fighting.)

Return to Step 2 for final repairs and/or weapon creation (crafting.)

Attack threat (monster fighting.)

Reset to step 2 on failure and step 1 on success.

While catching and raising monsters tends to garner you the most experience points, your character will more or less remain just a nuisance to a bulk of the major threats in the game. At best, you've got a rocket launcher, an automatic rifle, a sword, and shot-deflecting shields and armor. You put out maybe around 600 damage with a weapon that takes a second to reload. The bosses you fight? They can have anywhere from 30,000 to 200,000 HP. When it comes to survival, it isn't about how much damage you can take or give. It's about what you learn and how you deploy your so-called Pals.

If you are planning on taking a shot every time I write the word "Pokémon" in this review, you might want to switch off the liquor now and move to a soda. Do your liver a favor.

A lot of the game's rules can be reduced to "Pokémon - 1" or "Pokémon / 2". This includes:

How many monsters you can take with you (5 instead of 6)

How many moves they have (3 instead of 4)

Your level cap (50 vs. 100, but that may just be an early access limitation)

How many elements are in game (9 vs. 18. Also, don't expect much in the way of complex monster typing line-ups. You may end up overthinking fights.)

Having said that, the complexity here isn't lost. You're obviously doing a lot more home ec to keep your bases up to snuff. Where "Palworld" really succeeds is in its battle speed, scale, and options. Pals will automatically engage based on whatever aggression level you have them set at, performing moves without your instruction. Several different monster types and human factions can be thrust together to duke it out. It can get quick and chaotic, often forcing you to get your ass out of the line of fire. When you do want to get manual? Well, hell. Some Pals can be a ridable mount, and some can act as living artillery for your use. Is it responsible to give a giant panda a grenade launcher? Well, who's gonna stop you? The cops?

Also, it's awesome that you can teach Pals whatever moves exist via fruits. It's nice not to have to look up some table online for move compatibility. (A shame that the same can't be said about its breeding, but more on that in a bit.)

"Palworld" certainly has a different take on its so-called Pals, especially in compared to "Pokémon" titles. Don't expect the first monster you pick up to go on and become some powerhouse fueled by respect and love for you as a caretaker. There are Pals that are great, and there are Pals that suck. (The game is more than happy to tell you which is which in its Paldeck.) You're rewarded for getting at least 10 of them, but you won't have the space to keep 10 of every species. You can slaughter Pals for parts or mush a bunch of them together a la "Shin Megami Tensei" to make the surviving unit stronger. Basically, you're expected to keep updating and consolidating your inventory of friends so that you can cut down on your work loop time and challenge the other assholes vying for territory on Palpagos Island. (Seriously—that is its name!) You're not really supposed to be getting attached to any of them.

And yet…well, the nature of a person eventually reveals itself, doesn't it?

While the game allows you to take many unscrupulous actions, you're rarely rewarded for acting like an inflamed, gaping asshole. Yeah, you can slaughter your Pals, but you're losing out on making others stronger if you do that. You can capture other humans like you would a Pal, but they won't provide much in the way of help on your bases or in battle. (Apparently, you can sell them off, too? Fucked up all around.) Hell, you can even kill NPCs and end up having to bolt off like a "Grand Theft Auto" protagonist when the cops show up to bust your ass! About the only defiance I got away with routinely was ransacking Wildlife Sanctuaries, and even that required me to sneak around at night and keep a low profile.

There is a bit of a conflict going on between the game's tone and appearance. It very much wants to be the edgy "Pokémon" game any average teenager would dream up (again, with certain Atlus RPGs coughing and wheezing for attention in the background.) Supplementary journals and Paldeck texts describe a world full of violence, blood, animal trafficking, suffering, death, and birds with cocaine addictions. (I'm not kidding—it's literally the bastard cop's monster of choice.) But, the monsters look like an average social media artist's attempts at combining Pokémon species together, and the humans all have some degree of generic anime cuteness to them. It's hard to take the leader of a bunch of martyrous pyromaniacs seriously when he looks like the protagonist to some Sega Dreamcast rhythm game. (Also, why he has an electric/dragon type as his Pal of choice when he leads a bunch of fire freaks is beyond me.) 

At this point, I wouldn't say the music is much to write home about, either. It tries to kick up for encounters, letting you know how much danger you are in (from piddly little twinkling music for typical cannon fodder to bombastic choral arrangements for tough sons of bitches.) A lot of times, it can be rather quiet. This didn't bother me with "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," but it does bother me here, especially when I have to take 15-20 minutes to work in my base. I think what the game needs is something like "Minecraft"'s Mice on Venus track. Just a few pieces of music to interrupt the quiet when it's gone on for five or ten minutes.

I'm also not super thrilled with the breeding system in "Palworld." With "Pokémon" games, you generally know what you're getting based on who the mother in the coupling is. (Well, barring the use of specialty items, I suppose. Speaking of things that annoy me…) Here? About the only guarantee you get is if both parents are of the same species. The resulting couplings for other species isn't random, but it is a weird mess. Generally, you can assume the resulting offspring to be of a poorer quality than at least one of the parents, if species of different rarity are mixed. Through on top of that several structural, item, and time-based requirements, and you've got a very expensive and irritating system to work around. Honestly, this was the thing that finally broke me into looking up help guides online. It's just that off-putting.

If you are looking for a breeding calculator: palword.gg has you covered. Mostly. I think I did run into some issues there as well, but I don't know if I read something wrong or was just stupid tired when I set something up.

"How about bugs?", you might be asking.

"There's no Bug type in this game," I would reply.

Maybe you'd start hitting me with a shoe after that.

But, in terms of glitches I encountered? I played from versions 0.1.3.0 to 0.1.5.0, so I saw my fair share of issues that came and went. The biggest problem as of 0.1.5.0 involves terrain clipping and occasionally being shoved beneath the map. (Big Pal bodies + me going all Goemon Ishikawa XIII on them resulted in some unfortunate subterranean exploration.) Generally, I got myself back into the map without too much struggle, but there were times where I did have to respawn myself. I also lost several boss captures to a combination of freezing status + a rocket launcher round blasting them into the horizons beyond, so that was unfortunate. There was also a bug where you could get the game's dungeons to respawn bosses to another Pal type if you didn't like what you got, but I started having issues with the dungeon's barriers failing to drop on the boss's death when I screwed around with that, so maybe just stick with what you get. I also had the occasional text goof-up where my instructions would be in Japanese instead of English. Given the Goemon commentary above, you may surmise that this was not a huge deal for me. Still goofy, though.

If you'd like, the game offers you quite the list of customizable settings to alter your experience. I'd highly recommend playing around with them, particularly when you are vulnerable to taking a one-way trip to the Backrooms via a bad clip. It's one thing to lose your inventory to a fight you lost; it's another to lose your inventory to an issue with collision detection. Do yourself a favor and remove that penalty. I also eventually grew tired of the exponential experience curve and jacked up the multipliers for experience as high as they could go. I put several hundred hours into this game, man. And that was on top of working in a half-staffed job while babysitting my mom's dog for weeks while she got my grandma into an assistant living facility. All of these bitches needed a break.

Also—for the love of your hands, please flip the "Hold to Toggle Interaction" setting to On in your control style of choice. You can recap a shredded controller stick, but you can't recap your fingertips.

While I spent a lot of time on this game, I also spent a lot of time on this game with good reason. Even in its unfinished state, I had a good time. In the midst of building up my first character—a punished tribute to an Abrahamic icon forced to repeat his edict from God once more—I kept thinking about making the next character. Doing it all over again. Honeymooning it. There is a risk that this game doesn't get any further than where it's at now, but I can't say that where it's at is a bad place.

So, you can't get to a giant, sparkly tree. Boo hoo. There's a lot of other good stuff to see. Maybe even conquer, if you're up to it.

[obscure-earthbound-facts-media]

Insane Cultist Model

The EarthBound Player's Guide edits the photo of the Insane Cultist's paper model to hide the HH on the cap in order to make it more in-line with the localization. But instead of using blue they used white, which makes it obvious that the picture was edited to hide something.

Original model photo scanned by @ ComfortFoodVG on Twitter

[professorathena-pokemonexpert]

The Convoluted Mess of Revavroom's Anatomy

"If we were going to make a Pokémon based on the motif of a car, for example, what would it eat? Would you make it able to suck up gasoline? How would it use the energy it got from that—how would it use that source of power? Even if the design is based on a car, a Pokémon is a living creature, so we would work over and over how to express its "car-ness" and what its source of energy should be."

Does this sound familiar? Probably not. This is a quote by Ken Sugimori, illustrator for Pokémon. In an interview for Pokémon Ultra Sun & Pokémon Ultra Moon Edition: The Official National Pokédex (yes, that is a mouthful), Ken was discussing the process of designing a Pokémon. Nearly 5 years after the guide was published, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet for the Nintendo Switch were released, and among the 102 new Pokémon first spotted in the vast Paldea region, we got two Pokémon that live up to Ken's point.

Varoom, the Single-Cyl Pokémon, and Revavroom, the Multi-Cyl Pokémon.

As you can tell by their designs, Varoom and Revavroom... certainly are genetic anomalies. A lot of people may be confused as to their digestive biology, but no fear, trainers! After having to rewrite this entire post after accidentally deleting it, I, Professor Athena, am here to tell you all about these mechanical marvels.

#0965 - Varoom

Before we can properly dissect what Varoom's diet consists of, we must first ask an important question regarding it...

..what is it exactly?

Well, in terms of origins, Varoom seems to be based on an internal combustion engine, a heat engine used in gasoline and diesel vehicles to convert gasoline into fuel for the car to run.

This actually ties into a small tidbit that we know about Varoom from Pokémon. According to Varoom's Pokédex entry in Pokémon Violet, the metallic part of Varoom is its actual body, the part that controls Varoom's movement and thought patterns. Meanwhile, the deep purple rocks that it carries around are supposedly its source of energy, converting the minerals of said rocks into energy.

While it may seem preposterous for a biotic creature such as Varoom to feed off of abiotic materials, this is an actual behavior present in numerous species of microorganisms. These microorganisms, often referred to as lithotrophs, use the energy of inorganic substrates to feed. Varoom does the same thing, but generalized to the rocks it will carry around with it

Although, while this does answer one question, it raises another all the same:

If Varoom feeds solely off the rocks that lay on its underbelly, then why does it have a "mouth" (which is truthfully a crankshaft)? It can't speak, and it's easy to assume that Varoom as a species doesn't rely too heavily on emotions for communication.

Well, there is a simple explanation for this: It does. The way that lithotrophs turn inorganic materials into energy isn't an evolutionary choice based on effectiveness, but rather necessity. What I mean is, lipotrophic means of consumption are much less practical than the things you and I are able to consume. While this low energy intake works for the sessile microorganisms, there are much better methods of intaking energy, rendering lipotrophy useless for more complex organisms, let alone Varoom. Despite what its in-game mechanics may suggest, Varoom is capable of long-term levitation and floats around the player at impeccable speeds. In order for a 35-kilogram-heavy being to be able to levitate at such speeds, it would require much more than occasional lithotrophy to rely on.

That begs the question of what Varoom actually eats with its "mouth". Since Varoom is devoid of teeth (thank Arceus for that decision), there are one of two reasonable conclusions that we can draw.

Varoom feeds exclusively off liquids and the energy it absorbs from rocks. Seeing as it's a car engine, while animalian in biology, it's still likely that it possesses some traits of IC engines. Given its Poison-typing, it's likely that poisonous/energetic liquids (slime, mucus, gasoline, fuel, etc.) are its main source of energy, leaving it motile for hours on end if it consumes enough.

It has an organ inside of its body that helps properly digest the food it eats once it swallows it. Avians (birds) have an organ for this purpose, being the gizzard. Once the avian swallows its food, the gizzard breaks the food down until it's safe enough for full consumption. A similar thing could be present within Varoom's anatomy, and there's a likely chance that this organ is Varoom's equivalent of a piston. In an IC engine, the pistons move up and down along the crankshaft, generating torque. This could be Varoom's "gizzard", breaking down the food it eats with its up-and-down movement. As for what it would digest if this was the answer, I suspect that its diet would consist of some of the many rock-like monsters that make up the vast world of Pokémon.

There is one more problem, with a plausible solution that could help to decipher the entire anatomical structure of Varoom as a whole, but we will focus on that as we talk briefly about Revavroom.

#0966 - Revaroom

Now, our discussion of Revavroom is going to be very brief, seeing as much of what we said with Varoom doubles for its evolution. However, there is one part of Revavroom that concerns me but will make the whole evolutionary family make a lot more sense.

Do you see anything off?

If you were pointing to the very ominous and out-of-place tongue that Revavroom has on its air filter mouth, you would be correct! This singular detail raises heaps of odd questions, all of which make the anatomy of this Pokémon an absolute mess.

Why is there a tongue in its air filter mouth?

Why does its actual "mouth" not have a tongue?

Why does it still consume energy from the rocks that are magnetically connected to it?

Does this mean that Revavroom could hypothetically eat three meals at once? And if so, why?

I almost gave up trying to decipher this, but then, in the throes of confusion, a paranormal answer spawned. I mentioned Varoom's Pokédex entry in Pokémon Violet but had completely neglected to look over its entry in Pokémon Scarlet; an entry that would explain everything.

Varoom's Pokédex entry in Pokémon Scarlet states that Varoom is said to be an inspirited car engine, with Varoom actually being an unnamed poisonous Pokémon controlling and powering the host, which is what we see.

This... explains it all! Sure, the wording does make it seem like nothing but conspiracy hokum that trainers use to gossip around the campfire with, but this could actually make perfect sense.

All Varoom are born from a parasitized mother, and many from a parasitized father as well. The parasite transfers to the offspring through their genetics (similar to some real-world examples). From there, Varoom is now fully controlled by the spirit possessing it, explaining the levitation and the ability to display lithotrophic traits despite being a complex organism (the spirit is sucking out the energy of the minerals).

Over time, the parasite grew stronger, thus growing a second, actual mouth. The spirit tries to grow past the confines of what we see with Revavroom. Revavroom, now having two mouths to feed, has to get as much energy as possible to sustain the energy it's consuming. Furthermore, tongues and ghosts in Pokémon are symbolic of each other, with the move Lick being one of the first Ghost-type Pokémon moves ever created.

This... was a lot. And yes, I did have to write most of this twice. But, trainers, I'm glad you enjoyed another lesson from Professor Athena! Tune in next time when they go over more burning scientific Pokémon questions! Ta ta!

[n64retro]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Official Nintendo Player's Guide Nintendo Power 1998

[the-book-sharing-space]

Welcome to Pokemon Island!

Official Nintendo player's guide.

Pokemon snap.

Welcome to pokemon Island!

Although your mission appears basic, it's Anything but-tracking down and photographing each of the pokemon island will require ingenuity and great reflexes. Luckily, you'll have all the help you need as you aspire to be a master photographer. Let Nintendo power be your safari guide as we take you through every area, show you every secret and root out even the most elusive pokemon. With all the maps, tips, and feels reports a photographer could want, you'll have no trouble cataloguing every last one of islands wild creatures!

[jet-bradley]

The reason I'm so upset about losing competitive scenes for Nintendo games isn't 100% just because I like watching competitive play. It's because it's genuinely hard to measure exactly how much knowledge we're at risk of losing if that's the side of the playerbase that gets pushed away.

A LOT of tools and knowledge used by casuals and competitive players alike for Splatoon were developed for the competitive community (and crafted by a mixture of comp players & hackers).

If you, as a Splatoon player, have ever done research, used online tools such as webpages and Discord bots, or even just watched videos, to determine any of the following:

how to pick a kit for a weapon you haven't played before

how to improve a kit for a weapon you're comfortable with

minmaxing a kit for a specific weapon

understanding abilities and how they're applied in a general sense (is adding tons of sub ink saver/special charge/main power up helpful?)

how to play a weapon you've never played before

game strategy (even entry-level questions, such as "Do I paint base first or push first in turf war?")

what gear brands are more likely to drop different ability chunks

ANYTHING involving the RNG/gacha mechanics of Splatoon 3, from gear abilities to gacha items

ANYTHING involving specific numbers regarding weapon range or damage output

Understanding how any game mode works beyond information you can find in official game manuals, physical or in the game (ESPECIALLY clam blitz)

There is a good chance the resource you used for that was made either by or for the competitive scene. Not just "the Splatoon community". You owe that information to the competitive Splatoon community, no matter how much you hate fighting sweaty comp players during Splatfests or whatever.

Like if you aren't a Splatoon fan it's hard to get that like, Nintendo didn't publish official guides about the inner workings of ranked battles; they expected players to wander into ranked and get their asses kicked and slowly figure out the rules. You really have to learn how those modes work from the community, and the comp community are the ones who benefit the most from understanding the inner workings of like. What triggers an overtime? How much of a point penalty do players get when the objective gets taken from them?

And in a game that gets updated many times a year (at least 8 plus bug fix patches), this information needs to be actively researched and maintained. If sendou and his team walk away from sendou.ink that resource will only be active for the current version of the game.

So fucking over competitive Splatoon isn't just unfair to people active in the tournament scene. It's unfair to a huge upper fraction of the community skill-wise and anyone who wants to get better at the game at all.

[seandwalsh]

If it’s not too much to ask, could you provide a rundown of Mario and Peach’s relationship throughout the history of the games — any developer insights and supporting material included if applicable? Their interactions have never failed to make me smile; I feel like every moment between them, no matter how simple, elevate my enjoyment of the games.

Do you have a favorite moment? For me, I think the ending of the first Paper Mario is my definitive Mario and Peach moment. Everything from the music to the scenery to how innocent it plays out perfectly encapsulates their relationship.

While other series, like Splatoon or The Legend of Zelda tend to have a greater focus on their worldbuilding and backstory, I think Mario’s greatest strength when it comes to its lore is its rich characters and how their relationships come together. You don’t follow the same main cast in The Legend of Zelda for more than a game or two at a time. With Mario, well - he’s always the same Mario. He’s familiar, and his personality is so strong that he continues to be the Mario we know, no matter the medium. It seems that Mario’s current primary developers, Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kenta Motokura, feel the same way:

"No matter what worlds he takes on, Mario remains Mario. Maybe this is strange but I find that fact very comforting,"

[Source: Yoshiaki Koizumi, Director and Producer of the Super Mario series, CNN Business, September 2020]

“…you can take Mario, or a Mario franchise character, and put them in pretty much any situation and it makes it okay. […] Mario carries it off.”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Designer and Director of the Super Mario series, GameInformer, June 2017]

“Mario himself is a very strong character, so wherever he is he is strong enough to stand alone and be a good character. And even if he's next to a dinosaur, he's Mario!”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Designer and Director of the Super Mario series, Metro, June 2017]

That’s not to say that Mario doesn’t have quite in-depth worldbuilding and backstory as well, but I think these characters are greatly understood by the people who work with them while largely being overlooked, misunderstood or written off by fans.

This is why relationships, like the one shared between Mario and Peach, can be such a highlight for players.

Mario and Peach, while not explicitly dating, are absolutely smitten with each other.

In fact, it seems that Mario instantly fell in love with Peach the moment he saw her, when she kissed him in Super Mario Bros.. Mario was so in love with Princess Peach that, according to the team behind Donkey Kong (Game Boy), it’s what caused Mario to break up with Pauline:

“Apparently the land of mushrooms is somehow in the vicinity of Donkey Kong's stomping ground that appears at the end [of Donkey Kong (Game Boy)]. Around that point, he meets Peach, and probably starts to have a change of heart [about Pauline] (laughs).”

[Source: Shigeru Miyamoto, Producer of Donkey Kong (Game Boy), Game Boy Donkey Kong Wonder Life Special - APE Inc. Official Nintendo Guide, June 1994]

“After that, Mario became famous, so Pauline must have gotten dumped (laughs).”

[Source: Masayuki Kameyama, Director of Donkey Kong (Game Boy), Game Boy Donkey Kong Wonder Life Special - APE Inc. Official Nintendo Guide, June 1994]

Paper Mario in its entirety is certainly a great example of Mario and Peach’s relationship. While the ending where they watch the fireworks is a highlight, the intro also showcases her attempts to spend time with Mario, eagerly awaiting him in the upper parts of the castle and wanting him to accompany her to the balcony.

“Oh! By the way, Princess Peach has been waiting for you.”

[Source: A Green Toad Girl, Staff of Princess Peach’s Castle, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

“I think Princess Peach has been looking forward to seeing you since this morning, Mario. She's been restless... hee hee hee... How cute...”

[Source: A Pink Toad Girl, Staff of Princess Peach’s Castle, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

“Oh, Mario! You came to the party to see me! You're so sweet! Thank you!♥ I was just resting a bit. It gets tiring, greeting all those guests out there! Nobody will bother us here. Shall we relax and chat, just the two of us? It was a lovely day today, so I'm sure it's comfortable out on the balcony right now. Would you accompany me, Mario?”

[Source: Princess Peach, Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

She gets worried about him while she’s kidnapped:

“I wonder what Mario is doing right now... I wonder if he's hurt... I'm so worried about him!”

[Source: Princess Peach, Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

Later on, we even learn that Princess Peach keeps a photo of Mario beside her bed, which she reacts to with a heart emoticon:

“A photo of Mario.♥”

She even gets embarrassed about it when Twink points it out.

Generally, the game makes an effort to highlight Mario and Peach’s love for each other beyond most other games in the series:

“Do you know of a place called Shooting Star Summit? It's near this castle. It's such a romantic place... It's definitely the best place for a date. Trust me. Maybe you ought to, you know, ask the princess to go there...”

[Source: A Toad, Resident of the Mushroom Kingdom, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

“Does Princess Peach have a special man in her life? She's such a lovely lady... Whoever she loves must be very special indeed...”

[Source: A Green Toad, Resident of the Mushroom Kingdom, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

Princess Peach has a very specific view of love, which she has actually expressed before in-game:

“Love... How do I explain? Love tells you when you want to be with a person forever. It makes you feel happy just to see that person happy, smiling...having fun. When you love someone, you will do anything to help when he or she is in trouble.”

[Source: Princess Peach, Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, Playable Character in Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door, October 2004]

It’s pretty clear that when she says this, she’s thinking about Mario, between his obvious outwardly happy nature or his willingness to do anything to help her when she’s in trouble. This is reflected in Peach’s own actions in Super Princess Peach, when she saves Mario from Bowser’s clutches. It’s clear from her actions across various games that Peach would do anything to help Mario, and she’s comforted by him even in times of peril.

From taking Mario on a romantic vacation in Super Mario Sunshine, to talking about how caring he is with her paper counterpart, to her team name with him being “Cutest Couple” in Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6, it’s clear that these two have a strong, devoted and loving relationship with one-another.

But when it comes to my personal favorite moment between them, I feel that my answer is quite a controversial one.

My favourite moment between Mario and Peach is the ending of Super Mario Odyssey.

Now, now. Put your pitchforks away. The main issue with this is that people tend to completely misinterpret the meaning behind this ending, and while I’m not going to go into too much detail here, I think it’s important to understand the intended themes of Super Mario Odyssey.

“[Super Mario Odyssey] is a journey following Mario to save Princess Peach, one of his most [beloved], so we wanted to make this an epic journey.”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Director of Super Mario Odyssey, Vice, June 2017]

“Mario and Peach's relationship has been a big part of the games for a long [time], and in this game we're getting deeper into it!”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Director of Super Mario Odyssey, GQ, October 2017]

“I've always thought that Mario carries a bit of a torch for Peach. I think that's true even back in the 2D Mario games. If not, he wouldn't be wasting his time rescuing her over and over again. [As for if Peach feels the same way,] The heart of a woman is a mystery.”

[Source: Yoshiaki Koizumi, Producer of Super Mario Odyssey, GameInformer, June 2017]

It’s clear that Super Mario Odyssey’s story exists to highlight the intricacies of the relationship between Peach and Mario in ways that hadn’t been explored previously. This is why the ending of Super Mario Odyssey is so excellent to me.

“The ending of Super Mario Odyssey is the culmination of an adventure both magnificent and personal. An upbeat song plays in the background while the scene unfolds: the joy of being reunited with someone you've missed, the slight embarrassment that comes with thinking of the one you love, Mario and Bowser's open honesty, and Peach's independence. Through the theme of marriage - which had never been addressed in the series before we see another side of Mario, Peach, and Bowser. The relationship between the three looks like it'll continue for years to come. The odyssey they've embarked on is far from over!”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Director of Super Mario Odyssey, The Art of Super Mario Odyssey, September 2018]

Mario finally makes his feelings known to Peach, through a proposal, but he does so in the worst possible way. Peach refuses to marry Mario because he was acting immaturely. Mario cannot handle losing control of a bad situation and often makes rash decisions. While the latter is sometimes a positive trait for him, in this instance it’s a flaw which caused him to fight Bowser for Peach’s hand. You can hear Mario grunting while attempting to push Bowser out of the way and get Peach to accept him.

This is not the Mario that Peach knows. It is not the Mario that she loves. Peach had just been kidnapped from her home, dragged around the world and almost forcefully married to a man she’s romantically repulsed by. She was rescued by the man she loves in the nick of time who was finally about to make his move and propose to her, before Bowser barged back in and ruined the moment, and Mario started acting irrationally. She was fed up, and rightfully so.

So she turns down Mario’s proposal, and leaves. Peach does not turn down Mario’s proposal because she doesn’t love him - it’s abundantly clear that she loves him very much - she turns him down because it was the wrong place, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons.

However, her love for the Mario she knows still rings true. Their relationship is so strong that even after all of that, they quickly recover, as is illuminated through Peach’s forgiveness. She takes a breath and calls out to Mario, inviting him to come home with her. It’s a showcase of the love they share for one-another, one more potent than we’ve seen before anywhere else. A truly well-crafted study of these characters and the intricacies of their interwoven lives.

[smallmariofindings]

Top: in the 1987 Official Nintendo Player's Guide, a game called "Return of Donkey Kong" was teased to be "coming soon". Nothing was stated about the game except that Donkey Kong would be controllable. The game was never released.

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