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3DSSwitchWiiU

Episode 516: Texas Brisket Challenge

by James Jones, Greg Leahy, Jon Lindemann, and Guillaume Veillette - April 2, 2017, 3:45 pm EDT
Total comments: 5

The killer app for Switch!

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Last week's all-new New Business gives way this week to a collection of older titles, along with more Zelda chatter. The sole exception to this trend is Splatoon 2, as we kick off the segment with talk of the the Global Testfire. Both Greg and James got time with the ink-splattering server test, and offer their thoughts based on an hour of gameplay. Guillaume did some reverse-fridge cleaning, getting his DSiWare safely to his 3DS, just before the DSiWare Shop closes forever. Much like any other experience in a Nintendo digital store, it was nightmarish. He also has some fairly early thoughts on Pokémon Moon. Jon kicks off another round of Zelda chatter, this time with a bit less restraint on spoilers; but not full-blown spoilercast territory, as Gui still is working though the game. James wraps up with a brief mention of his convenience-fueled impulse purchase Stella Glow. Succinctly, it's an anime strategy game on 3DS that's not doing anything special for him.

Listener Mail is limited to two questions this week, but both spur some lengthy discussions. First up, RFN is asked to summon our strangest cross-overs and spin-offs in gaming. Our second email asks our opinion of Nintendo's revised 16 million Switch forecast. We start on that topic, but somehow keep returning to the delicious topic of brisket. You can cut your own slice of chest meat by sending us an email.

This episode was edited by Guillaume Veillette. The "Men of Leisure" theme song was produced exclusively for Radio Free Nintendo by Perry Burkum. Hear more at Bluffs Custom Music's SoundCloud. The Radio Free Nintendo logo was produced by Connor Strickland. See more of his work at his website.

This episode's ending music is Mysterious Invaders from Kid Icarus: Uprising. It was composed by Yuzo Koshiro and selected by Greg in honor of the 3DS title's Fifth Anniversary. All rights reserved by Nintendo Co., Ltd..

Talkback

The reason the Ink Jet doesn't put you down where you run out of it is that it prevents you from using it to get to an area where you could in theory then let your team super jump to and then proceed to camp the enemy team. something added to all splatoon 2 maps is a fairly sizable chunk of map that is in accessable to the enemy team, and while the Ink jet lets the enemy team more easily ink that area, it doesn't let them stick around to camp it and make it hell for the opposing team to make any progress.

EnnerApril 03, 2017

Ah, I nearly forgot that Little Mac was in Fight Night Round 2.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aoyisT01MI

LemonadeApril 03, 2017

Splatoon 2 Test Fire was great, I had no real problems, only one connection error that I can remember. Splatoon is my favourite game of all time, so Im really looking forward to 2, even if it is really only 1.5.

I bought a DSi soon after it launched and loved it, but I was disappointed with DSi Ware. Looking at it now, the only things I ever downloaded were PiCOPiCT, KuBos, Flipnote Studio and Zelda Four Swords, much later. The first two were with the free credit it gave you to start with and the other two were free.
I wasnt very impressed with PiCOPiCT or KuBos, so I never went back to buy anything else. Its kind of disappointing because I heard a few months ago the shop was shutting dowm so I went on there planning to drop some cash on it, but the payment system had been taken down already.

It makes me wonder about the Wii Shop. Now that the Wii U is done, I imagine Nintendo will want to shut the old Shop down any time now. Unlike the DSi, I did actually buy probably 10+ VC and Wii Ware games, all of which are on my Wii U.

As for nice looking 3DS faceplates, the ones you need are made of wood
http://i.imgur.com/vfJdmxN.jpg
That photo was taken the day I bought it in November 2014 (remember Australia got it early) and it still looks just as good. I think that combination of New 3DS and faceplate is the nicest bit of hardware Nintendo has ever made.

OedoApril 03, 2017

I don't think there was any way they could have done matchmaking in the Splatoon 2 GT. There were no levels, rankings, or way to keep track of points in general, and with such a small sample size any attempt at it would have been meaningless anyway.

For the 16 million units shipped discussion, I think James is overlooking the fact that the power of a mainline Pokemon game on the Switch this year isn't just limited to the draw of playing a Sun and Moon port on the system. It also signals that this will be the home of mainline Pokemon games going forward and puts an end to any doubts on that front, which in itself would be a huge boon for the system. If the Eurogamer rumor ends up being true and the Switch version moves to HD, adds new Pokemon, and adds new features (like the ability to have Pokemon walk with you in the overworld, which dataminers found evidence of in Sun and Moon), I think you're underselling the draw of this third version on its own as well.

Still, I agree that it's hard to wrap your head around a company as conservative as Nintendo saying "16 million units in year one!" James is right; that's more than even the 3DS sold in any one fiscal year, which topped out at just under 14 million for FY2013. I think it takes another big release like a mainline Pokemon game this year and some big announcements at E3 to approach that number, and even then it still seems ambitious. It's hard to think of the last time a Nintendo console had such a stacked first-party lineup for a single fiscal year though (especially if you add Pokemon to the mix).

I also feel I have one other comment here in me, I just wanted the splatoon thing out there right away.

The DSiWare I most covet were things like the Wayforward stuff (Mighty Flip Champs, Mighty Milky Way), and the downsized puzzle games like Puzzle League and Dr. Mario Express. I also got Cave Story and a bomberman game through the service... but I agree, PictoBits is love if only for the soundtrack.


That being said, Gui finds the most arbitrary reasons to not get into a game. I'm on the opposite end of him on this one where I find Pokemon to be fun and engaging and a game of shockingly deep metagame and strategy with such a large community to share innovations and ideas with, while Dragon Quest is a trite and basic storytelling vehicle that's become so rusty that it audibly squeaks in the most annoying way possible when played.

I would sooner play Earthbound, Mother 3, or undertale than I would play another Dragon Quest game again. those at least make a cursory attempt to TRY and superficially subvert the genre and have so much as a gameplay wrinkle. Sure, they're also vehicles for pretentious "it's about the experience maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan" stories, but that's at least... something. I can't remember a darned thing from the 10 hours I spent with Dragon Quest 9 when I bought it 2 years back other than the fact that I made Uub from Dragon Ball Z as my fist fighter character and... something about a headless knight? I don't know.


My point is, much like the churches they insist in keeping in Dragon Quest games to revive your party members, the series is the equivalent of a communion wafer and wine. Maybe it can be a spiritual experience for some to religiously worship the granddaddy of the JRPG genre, but to me, it's bland bread and wine from a bag.

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