You can absolutely control the direction the mushroom goes. Hit the box on the left-hand side and it will go right, and vice-versa.

I have no idea what issue Jon is experiencing.

For episode 400, I always thought it would be interesting to hear more about you guys. Things like the games you liked growing up, your history with the site, what you guys do for a living (or as much as you can talk about, anyway), etc. I know these things have been brought up before, but i think a more in depth feature focused on this topic would be interesting.

can't believe you guys are so negative about Mario Kart 8. you can have a 12 player tournement both local and over the internet! in theory you could hook up a couple of gamecube's, but nobody did that. this is the first time you can do this on console. last year i played Mario Kart DS with 8 DS'es and it was tons of fun. this is going to be even better! jeez!

I am disappointed with the lack of Bioshock Infinite discussion.

Great episode guys.

On the topic of episode 400, I would gladly contribute to any crowd funding method you guys might decide upon. I also appreciate Jonny's statement about making the episode special and memorable. If there's any way that the listeners can help to make it special, I know that RFN fans will follow though.

Also, the top tier reward should be the studio recorded section of the podcast in vinyl form, encased in a glass case.

Ha!

Episode 400 should be recorded in G.V.'s basement, with the full NWR staff participating in person. Schedule some PTO!

Oops. I meant full RFN staff. Gotta make this doable.

You guys complain about the SMB3 continue system, but don't mention how beating mini-forts unlock alternate paths allowing you to skip over levels after a continue.

Also, Jonny is correct about the mushroom mechanism in SMB Vs SMB3.

I'll be curious to hear more Mario Golf discussion once somebody gets to play the final game.

Yeah, I didn't get that either. Weird.

Loose controls, too short levels, and difficulty that is almost impossible unless you use power-ups... Where did i heard this before?.. You guys should all be banned.

hehehe... it looks like someone sucks at SMB3!!!!

Man I mastered that game back as a kid, I used to play video games through my teens almost 24/7 so I was pretty precise controlling even the toughest platformers, Ninja Gaiden's included!

As with most of things in life, practice makes you better, are you willing to play that much to master it?...after one masters the NES platformers, you feel you can master any platformer of this generation. Maybe getting used to hand holding too much?...well I recommend yo Kirby then!...hehehe, no hand holding needed...

To be honest I have not played the NES games in more almost a decade, but as with swimming and cycling I'm still pretty confident that, if I mastered something back in the day, today I'm still pretty decent at it even if I take long brakes without playing.

Damn John I will probably have to buy one of these games on the VC and see if they are so annoying as you say. I remembered I beat SMB3 in a week without finding all the secret areas etc., but still.

I remember that I was also frustrated with the question box mechanics but trust me there is one way to predict...I think it has to do with be facing the direction you want the item to fly. I think...

I hope Gui didn't excuse himeself from the Episode 400 chat, because he sure went silent at the end of this episode.


My thoughts? Recording in the studio isn't that compelling to me. You already have an OK workflow with local recording in tandem with Skype (though I stand by my early comment that some of the editing leaves the conversation sounding overly dry). I'd sooner you borrow from the community a mixer and multitrack field recorder to use in someone's basement than record in a studio (have a computer taking a stereo downmix recoding too as backup). We should also get a couple activities out of the meetup. The kusoge idea is a good one: have James freak out on something with a couple guys watching. Another idea would be hitting a couple swap meets and Game Shops on the prowl for vintage games that are so in vogue now. What about a visit to a barcade, where you could probably find a couple DK and Mario Vs. cabs to play? All of the above could be captured as video in addition to audio. Less developed ideas: record someone's Mom's first reactions to multiplayer Mario 3D World (I realize that's a slightly sexist and ageist premise, but...); record prank calls to some of the former and irregular RFN crew (let's coax out some more spurned Nintendo hatred from old hosts);  host a Mario Kart 8 tourny at a local Gamestop; DON'T record yourselves rapping.

Ha! It's true I could have chimed in with my experiences meeting up with Negative World people. I think I probably just ran out of steam, since my New Business was pretty long, and then I had the PAX East topic.

Also, the second segment was supposed to be shorter than it ended up being, and I think I was just staying silent waiting for it to peter out, while thinking about how much editing I'd have to do over the week-end. ;-)

I can beat Ninja Gaiden NES without continues.

Rote memorisation is a sad, sad thing.

:P

Blind nostalgia still reigns supreme though.

Ah, now we're getting somewhere.  I'm going to try this out on SMB and SMB3.  In SMB it doesn't matter which way you're facing; if you hit on the left half of the Question Box it's going left, if you hit on the right half of the Question Box it's going right.  There's some subtle difference that is screwing me up and I bet this is it.

With SMB3 it's a patience thing. I no longer enjoy beating my head against some of the more annoying parts of the game like I did when I was a kid, especially when I think the mechanics are pretty cheap and stack multiple elements against me (water at the bottom of the screen, plus a fish that eats me for one-hit kill, plus all kinds of wacky small platforms).

You guys are on crack or something. In SMB, the mushroom goes to the right. Always. I don't care if you hit it on the left or the right, or which way you are facing. In SMB3, the mushroom direction is dependent on which half of the block you hit. Hit on the left half, it goes right. Hig on the right half, it goes left. Which way you are facing doesn't matter, though whcih directino you approach the block from will have an influence on whether you tend to be left or right of the middle of the block, depending on your play-style.

In light of the Sharks' recent "play" and Jon's tweet before game 7, will Mr. Diamond J be Skyping in from the peak of lovely Brasstown Bald for episode 381?  :( ;)

In contrast to ResettisCousin, I say rap away gentlemen! It would probably just be Jonny joining Mr. Diamond J, but if you could convince James to genuinely join in, this could turn out to be the rap equivalent of the Basement Tapes. With Gui reppin' the Montreal scene, you can't buy entertainment like that (though with Kickstarter we can attempt to)!

I would like to comment on the '$45' Mario Golf (with DLC).  What bothers me so much is not that they might be shorting us in the original package in order to sell us something that they would have otherwise included, but that they are doing that AND the DLC is system-locked.  My 6-year old daughter and I both have 3DS systems.  For a game such as this, I would normally buy a cartridge so that she and I could share the game.  In this case, though, if I want to play the extra courses and she wants to play as the alternate character, I would have to purchase the DLC on both machines.  (Or we could exchange systems once one of us has finished with the DLC, but mine is an XL with loaded games I can't be without and hers is a regular with very little software installed.)  Frustrating!

Yup. I assumed this was common knowled

It is, but it wasn't consistently behaving as I expected, which is why I commented on it. It was probably a byproduct of the game's heavy momentum mechanic. You really can't switch Mario's direction on a dime like you can in other games; he's a little floaty.

I'll be glad when I'm done with SMB3. It's pretty annoying overall and for the most part relies on cheapness and wild difficulty spikes for its challenge (enemies dropping on your head out of nowhere, random enemies at the very end of a level under the item box, bullet-hell scenarios with a dozen enemies on the screen at once while you're being hampered by water, etc.). It's made me want to smash my 3DS into a million pieces on multiple occasions, and I'm using restore points like a madman just because I want to get through it and get it over with.

Oh yeah, and the ship flying away if you fail to beat a castle on the first try? Screw that. Just another reason why I pretty much hate the game at this point.

The criticism of the somewhat floaty "physics" in Mario 3 has always been odd to me, because in my experience, while it's at least somewhat true, it's way worse about that in Super Mario World, which is the primary reason I don't care for that game.

Episode 400: I would like some video footage. Iv'e been listening for over a year and have no idea what you even look like.  Maybe all playing a game or 3 of our choice. Brawl, MK, 4 Swords. Whatever. :)


I will also contribute to get you to play a game of our choice for at least 30 minutes. (preferable an hour). Condensed into a 5 minute RFN segment (hopefully video). So we would just get the highlights of that game play :)


There is no amount of money I will not pay to make you all play TWEWY :)

They did TWEWY as a RetroActive game a while back, so if you want to hear their thoughts on it there's a bunch of stuff already available. Episodes 221 and 224.

You can pay the low, low price of $0: Part 1 and Part 2