MBRedboy31

Can I drop my Kirby lore theory here? It’s likely incorrect but whatever.

Have you ever really thought about Professor Chops (the checkpoint pig in Retro’s DKC duology) as a character? He’s pretty much omnipresent in those two games, but despite that it feels like he’s just kinda there. He didn’t even have an actual name in his debut in Returns (he was just the ”tutorial pig”.)

What is he a professor of? How is he always ahead of DK & co., no matter how treacherous the terrain is? (Unless he’s the Nurse Joy of DKC; there’s a hidden room in Tropical Freeze containing several lookalikes of him, implying there could be a different one at each checkpoint.) Why is he helping DK? He doesn’t seem to be a close friend of the Kongs since they never seem to invite him over to their house, so I’d assume he’s either mainly interested in saving DK Isle as a whole or just really likes maintaining checkpoints and timing time trials.

Anyway I think it’d be interesting if they developed him a little more. He doesn’t need super deep lore or anything, but I wouldn’t mind if he had some optional dialogue somewhere so we can get to know him a bit better.

A cool detail I like in DKC Returns is that the first level of each world (except the first one and the postgame one) starts with a little bit of the previous world’s theming to show how the two areas are adjacent to each other. For example, Beach begins with a bit of Jungle, Ruins begins with a bit of Beach, ect. Obviously not every game can do this (Tropical Freeze doesn’t do it since each world is a completely separate island instead of being adjacent) but it is something I’d like to see more often in games.

If we get Ring Fit Trainee in the next Smash, it’ll be kind of amusing getting representation specifically for one of the few Switch 1 games that’s most likely completely incompatible with the Switch 2.

Assuming the Joycon mouse thing is true, I’m imagining Nintendo and/or third parties selling an accessory that’s pretty much just a flat board that you strap to your arm, so you can use it as a mousepad while standing up. It’s kinda like that thing Yu-gi-oh characters use to play their cards except it’s just a mousepad.
can Nintendo please outright confirm that the Joycons are mice so I don’t have to begin my posts like this?

I’m just thinking about ways the optical sensors could be used beyond just as a mouse.

If you point both Joycons at the TV remote-control style, the optical sensor of each Joycon will be pointing at the distinctively colored underbelly of the other Joycon, which, when combined with the accelerometer, could result in way more accurate motion controls as each Joycon would have a better frame of reference. I don’t know if mouse optical sensors are capable of seeing anything at that range, though.

Also, they could use the optical sensor to bring back the E-Reader. I highly doubt they would in this age of online downloads and amiibo cards, but they could.

Can someone tell me if the joycon mouse thing is actually confirmed or not? You can see what we’ve been assuming are optical sensors in the trailer, and there’s a part where you can see the Joycons being moved around on their sides, but nothing in the trailer outright states what their purpose is.

On a side note, the fact that both Joycons have this possibly-an-optical-sensor-but-we-don’t-actually-know-what-it-is means there’s a possibility of there being games where you dual wield computer mice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a PC game that uses two mice.

I kinda miss when Miis used to frequently show up in third party games, not just Nintendo’s own games. The only 3P game I can think of on the Switch with Mii support (aside from games that use your Switch profile icon and thus technically support Miis) is Go Vacation, and that’s a port of a Wii game that also had Mii support.

Today I found out that Multiversus' Wacky Weekend has a mode that's based on Divekick. You are restricted to doing only down airs, you cannot walk on the ground (so you can only move around by jumping,) and every hit instakills without even launching the enemy, they just explode.

It's the most absurd thing I've ever seen in a platform fighter, but that is the kind of thing keeps things fresh. Smash really ought to lean into this kind of chaotic side-mode design sometime. You might not play it often (let's be real, there's no way it's balanced in the slightest, even by casual standards, and it'd surely become very unfun if people optimize it too much) but it's the type of thing that lets you utilize classic movesets in new ways.

Ever think it’s a bit weird when a game is about traveling to a bunch of different planets and each level is merely called “Planet (name)“ even though the planets are seemingly as large as Earth (since they have similar gravity and curvature) and probably have a large variety of countries and cultures? Imagine being an extraterrestrial landing in any particular city on Earth and just assuming that literally all of the planet is exactly like the spot you landed in. All they have to do to avoid this is call the level “Planet (name): (Location on planet)”. This would also open up other areas of the planet to being visited, either later in the game or in sequels.

Games where the planets are so unnaturally small that you can actually explore the entire thing are an exception, of course. I wonder what it’d be like to live among a bunch of tiny planets instead of one big one.

I have to admit: I haven’t played Smash Ultimate online in a long time. I’m not entirely sure, but I don’t think I’ve played it online since before Joker released. Throughout the DLC release period, I just played new characters in singleplayer and local multiplayer (and watched lots of livestreams of other people playing them,) and I’ve collected every Spirit in the game, including the ones from the most recent Spirit events.

I played tons of online Smash 4 (both 3DS and Wii U,) my favorite mode in those being For Fun 2v2. The fact that Ultimate has no equivalent mode is probably the biggest reason I just don’t bother. I know you can join arenas, or set up quickplay with casual rules, but, nah. For quickplay in particular, why would I want to play ranked casual Smash? Doesn’t making it ranked ruin the entire point, plus it’d risk accidentally sucking in players who just want to play comp style? No wonder the platform fighter mode I play most nowadays is Multiversus unranked 2v2s.

You may have seen Akedo toys at Target or whatever. They’re small figures that sit on a base that lets you rapidly spin them back and forth to fight another figure on another base. The goal is to hit the other figure’s head, causing a “Splitstrike,” which causes their torso to split in half, which is about the closest they can get to an E-rated Fatality.

There are also licensed Sonic figures in the line. Since Sega obviously didn’t want their characters murdering each other, their torsos merely lean back when their heads are struck.

The funny part is when you make a Sonic character fight a “regular” character. Tails has killed a man…

On another character name-based topic relating to Hello Kitty Island Adventure, my brain keeps shortening Badtz-Maru’s name to just “The Badtz.”

Clearly, this means my brain thinks he’s somehow simultaneously Zubaz and Larry Butz.

I’m currently playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure using a free Apple Arcade trial and it’s driving me crazy that this character’s name is “Wish me mell”.

It’s not that her name is a play on “wish me well,” nor that her name has not-name-like words in it (given I’m used to being around characters like “Hello Kitty” and “My Melody“.) It’s specifically that her name is ”Wish me mell” and not “Wish me Mell.” Is “mell” not a proper noun? I get it being capitalized like that for her franchise‘s name, but, seemingly unlike in her own franchise, the game always uses the full name “Wish me mell” and never just “Mell.” She has a bunch of friends in the game too that have similar character design stylization to her but they all have normal names. It’s like going to the toy store and if they they sold a “Tickle me elmo“ as though the character’s name is just “elmo” in lowercase.

I counted down the new year listening to this:

(And then, as always, I got to be terrified by the neighbors setting off fireworks and/or firing off their guns, as they always do every year, even though both of those things are very illegal here. No amount of heavy metal being blasted into my ears will protect me from that…)

You know what’d be a cool ”surprise pick” for Smash that I rarely see people discuss here? Promoting Master Hand to a playable character. He has a long-standing legacy with perfect attendance within Smash, he has ongoing relevance, he has a super unique silhouette, and he has moveset potential that nobody else would have. Everyone who’s played any amount of singleplayer in any Smash game knows who Master Hand is, so he definitely wouldn‘t be a nobody. Don’t tell me it wouldn’t be fun punching people with a giant fist, blasting them with fingerguns, and more.

I know a lot of people look down upon Smash’s original characters, but Master Hand has clearly been around long enough to be a bit more than just some thing they threw in to be a boss.

On a side note, having him as a boss feels kinda stale to me since he’s been the boss for so long, and adding some new moves each game doesn’t change that. Having him be a regular character would be really refreshing.

Crazy Hand could logically be a semiclone or Echo, but I‘m not sure if they’d want do that since it might get confusing if a match has both Master Hand and Crazy Hand in their default skins.

What currently interests me more than Switch 2 speculation is what Nintendo has planned for the rest of the Switch 1’s lifespan. I wonder if they’ll have a Switch 1 direct that’s well before the Switch 2 reveal so that those games get a little bit of attention before being overshadowed.

I think my most wanted Smash stage is still a Tetris Effect stage. I greatly desire the beautiful particle spam and the beautiful reactive music (plus I also want the Giant Particle Effect Space Whale to bless my Smash matches.)

I was thinking it’d have a few different backgrounds based on the music selection, kind of like Mementos but more drastic. Tetris Effect does have a secret unlockable GB Tetris level that could be the background for classic Tetris songs (including both of the existing Brawl remixes,) for people who want retro Tetris representation.

Each of the backgrounds in Tetris Effect’s Journey Mode goes through 3 variations as you progress through the level, so in Smash the backgrounds would change as time runs out in time matches, or as stocks decrease in stock matches. The GB Tetris background also has 3 variations, if you were wondering.

Since the visuals of this stage would be more prevalent than the mechanics, I think the Tetris blocks would be a bit behind the stage, and a small percentage of them would have soft platforms attached. So, you get a dynamically changing map without it being incredibly intrusive.

A niche thing that I want from Switch 2 is the Joycons being able to tell which way is down, like Wii Remotes can (I think?) I’m tired of needing to recalibrate the controller’s orientation constantly in every Switch game that uses motion controls.

What If™ Marvel Rivals had a guest character from The Incredibles since Disney owns both?

It’s interesting to think about since an Incredibles character would need to be very, very heavily redesigned to not look super weird next to the other characters; their outfit would need to be much more maximalistic and their overall stylization (how their face and proportions look) would also need to be way different.

I’m personally looking more outside the titular family for this; I’m thinking Frozone mainly, although Bomb Voyage or even The Underminer sound cool too.

I don’t actually think this is a good idea (I assume the playerbase obviously wants to see more Marvel characters over guests) but yeah, it’s mainly a thought exercise in character design.

I always thought it was a bit weird back in the day when some supporters were surprised or disappointed when they turned out to be a zoner. The Banjo platformers are very slow and methodical, focused far more on exploration and on puzzling out which of your abilities will work for any given situation than on fast-paced platforming skill (with some exceptions such as in-game minigames and stuff.) As such, a zoner play style feels very well suited for them in a kind of abstract gameplay feel sense.

My favorite niche obscure feature of the Wii U GamePad is that it has a tiny Wii Sensor Bar built into it (within the area that also includes its camera.) As such, if you want to play Wii games off-TV you can point the remote at the GamePad to use the pointer. Since the Wii’s main menu can only be navigated using the pointer, playing Wii games off-tv wouldn’t work at all without it!

The track selection in Super Indie Karts is kinda funny since there’s:

Cups with simple flat Mode 7 style tracks (albeit sometimes with fairly unique hazards)

Cups with fully 3D tracks with insanely twisty antigravity roads that are some of the most over-the-top track designs I’ve ever seen

And nothing in between.

Recently I’ve been thinking about Sportsmate’s moveset potential and it actually sounds pretty fun. I should probably make the Sportsmate thread whenever the next Smash is revealed so I can post a full moveset on it even though I’d probably be the only supporter. Here’s the most notable ideas I have:

Neutral Special is Serve, where Sportsmates lightly tosses a ball up in the air, and, like when you cancel Wii Fit Trainer’s side special, you can hit the ball away with any other attack. The ball Sportsmate uses is from a fairly long list and the move cycles through them, and each ball has different properties.
One of the balls Sportsmate can use is the soccer ball. You know, the absolutely ginormous soccer ball. It would deal less damage, but good luck to your opponents avoiding that!

Up Special is Spike, where they jump up and then you can spike enemies downward by pressing special again. But, if you start the move while near the ball spawned by Serve, the move becomes Dunk, where they jump holding the ball and dunk it downward on enemies’ heads when you press the button again. We’ll get goofy stuff like dunking on the enemy with a golf ball or a tennis ball or whatever, or even dunking on them with the aforementioned ludicrously enormous soccer ball (although it’s probably most powerful when you actually use a basketball for it.)

Side Special is Header. If you weren’t aware of what Soccer headers in Switch Sports look like, Sportsmate launches themself forward like a missile, Luigi-style. You can’t charge it, though.

Down Special is Bowl, which is what it sounds like. You have to press the B button again to make Sportsmate release the bowling ball, and depending on when you release it, you can alter its trajectory. Pressing the button really late makes the ball go up in the air, pressing it in the middle maximizes forward speed, and pressing it incredibly early makes it awkwardly drop behind Sportsmate (a great way to “WOW!” your friends!)

Sportsmate has a minor gimmick where parrying an attack is used with the Charge Sword from Chambara, and successfully doing so buffs their next attack that uses a Chambara sword to have slightly more power and better frame data.

You know those shoes they make only for little kids that have flashing lights that activate whenever the shoe impacts the ground? Why don’t they have those as cosmetics in videogames more often? Yes, it looks ridiculous when you give those to characters who aren’t little kids, but looking ridiculous is often part of the fun of videogame cosmetics.

A very minor gripe I have about Balatro is that the Vouchers you can buy have all have a perforation line on the top, like you’re supposed to tear off the top of the voucher to activate its effect for the rest of the run, yet that never happens. You just shove the voucher in your pocket and never tear off the line. It’d be a fairly satisfying animation each time you buy a voucher, right? Maybe it wouldn‘t actually look that nice with the game’s animation style, but IDK.
I haven’t actually played Balatro, but I’ve watched a whole lot of gameplay of it.

The idea of self-destructs in platform fighters is kinda weird when you think about it from the perspective of other fighting games (or at least ones that don’t have any kind of ring-out mechanic,) isn’t it?

Imagine if you were playing Street Fighter or Tekken or whatever and there were a mechanic where you can accidentally punch yourself in the face, KO’ing yourself instantly regardless of how much health you have.

I got Psychonauts 1 and 2 during the Steam Sale (they were very on sale) and I beat 1 and I just started 2!

The jump in graphical quality (due to how far apart the two games released) sure is giving me whiplash, ahaha.

I‘m not sure if I want to try to 100% either of these games or not.

Have you ever thought about your interests in terms of the six MySims interests?
Tasty, Fun, Cute, Geeky, Studious, and Spooky

Each MySim has a main interest, a secondary interest, and an anti-interest.

Geeky is definitely my main interest, Studious or Cute is my secondary, and Spooky is probably my anti-interest. What are yours?

I beat Pseudoregalia last night. I didn’t find the upgrade that unlocks the map until after I had found pretty much every other important item (not 100% though) and I was on my way to the final boss. I wonder how different my playthrough would’ve been if I had found the map earlier…

Is it weird that I’ve never been interested in trying Overwatch but I might try Marvel Rivals sometime? I got some games from the Steam sale that I want to play first, but yeah.

From watching gameplay, Marvel Rivals’ third person camera seems far less disorienting (I can’t really tell what’s going on in Overwatch gameplay I’ve seen.) And/or maybe, possibly, probably it’s also that I’ve thought something about Overwatch and its sequel have been cringe the entire time and I didn’t and still don’t want to interact with that?

I’m pretty sure(?) I had a dream where Peppa Pig was a skin for Multiversus Jake, evidently because the proportions were closest, even though that makes, like, no sense. I think Jake also had another “crossover” skin in my dream but I forgot who it was.

I was thinking about a hypothetical custom combo mode mechanic for Smash or another platform fighter. You’d activate it or pick up an item for it or something, and, if you hit an enemy with it active, you become briefly linked to them, and every attack you do during this time teleports you in front of them so it automatically hits.

So, like, as Mario, you could launch an enemy way offstage then input forward air and he’d instantly zip offstage to land the dunk. Or after the launch you could nair or up air first then press forward air, and no matter what you choose, it’d work. Maybe you could dunk the enemy onstage then input a smash attack and you’d warp down to the ground to intercept them and get the KO.

I think this’d be unpleasant in competitive play, but it’d be super hype for casual players and lots of fun to mess around with in general.

I’m watching a livestream of the 20 new extra hard “Ultimate EX” levels they just added to Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. They’re all modified versions of existing levels, and like… wow. It feels like some kind of sadistic kaizo romhack, but actual SMB kaizo romhacks aren’t designed like this (they’re usually fully custom modeled stages,) so it feels like its own thing.

Have you ever thought about how crazy it is that the Donkey Kong Land games exist?

Like… we have these SNES games with super detailed prerendered 3D sprites and animations and backgrounds, utilizing the full power of the SNES, and then somehow they ported them to the Game Boy. Not even the GBC. Just 4 colors in their color palette. And they didn’t completely reimagine them in an art style that’d more obviously fit the GB’s specs, they made them look as close to the SNES as possible.

And somehow it kinda works. Maybe in a kinda awkward way, especially due to how zoomed in the camera is, but it works.

The next two Super Monkey Ball characters have been revealed!


There will also be a free update featuring new singleplayer and multiplayer modes. The only one revealed so far is a singleplayer mode where you try to beat as many levels as you can in a row without dying even once. So… have fun trying to do 200 levels deathless!

All I want from the Game Awards is another free Fall Guys skin. I have no reason to expect it since they didn't do it for the last couple years, but I can hope.

In the alternate universe where the LX-III and UFO50 existed, I wonder if there are any Planet Zoldath purists who, even after all these years, are still like, “What happened to Pilot?! Why did they make him so cutesy? He’s supposed to be a tough space hero! In Pilot’s only appearance in aaaaages in Spelunky 2 they still used the weird chibi design! We want the real Pilot back!!”

Anyone remember way back in the day when Dan Fornace was posting updates regarding Rivals 1 directly on SmashBoards? I was only lurking that thread (and I didn’t actually made a SmashBoards account until sometime after the thread went inactive) but it was fun to see the game progress and see people talking about it.

I just beat Fractal Block World! The game manages to be super-low-budget-looking and also feel galaxy brained at the same time. I think I beat the game relatively fast for a not-quite-blind casual playthrough as I did it in 8 hours (I didn’t explore many of the side areas yet, of which there are a lot. Some people play it for over 80 hours!) It’s pretty handy that the game has places where you can find out where to find structures and stuff, I’d be super lost without that.

Also, I must appreciate the fact that the game somehow occasionally manages to make textured floating spheres scary and/or unnerving. I might have 45 nuclear bombs in my pockets, but what is that going to do against The Eternal Plague or against the inner-universe’s most lethal and unkillable giant billiard balls?