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Episode 418: By the Throat

by James Jones, Jonathan Metts, and Guillaume Veillette - February 22, 2015, 7:08 pm EST
Total comments: 6

Our friend Josh Hillyer helps induct the New 3DS XL into the RFN tradition of Things-We-Really-Like-But-Still-Complain-About.

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The streak is still dead, as Jon had to miss this week (and we missed him too), but we were very fortunate to get Josh Hillyer back on the show. You know, it's not everyday that we get to talk about a brand new Nintendo system, and the new New 3DS XL is the newest New system of all. Three of us got a new New one at launch, and we have plenty to say about the bizarre and awful New setup process, new Super Stable 3D, and that weird little New C-stick. Jonny also reports on the excellent 3D remake of Majora's Mask with a new New camera, and he provides an update on Moon Chronicles with true new twin-stick New controls. Next up, Josh revisits those paid StreetPass mini-games, now super-charged on a fast new New processor. James follows with a new game that works just fine on old 3DS systems, except you should definitely never play it on any system, because it's Pokemon Shuffle and is of the devil. Guillaume finally puts this segment to bed with the Floridian group-napping documentary game, Siesta Fiesta, and he tacks on Kirby Star Stacker because why not.

There's still one big Listener Mail topic that has to wait for Jon's return, but we have plenty more where that came from. (It came from the email address that we say every week.) We start with a question about the best period of gaming in our lives, and this bit of background on the "Golden Age Theory" might be helpful. We also investigate what kind of company would release DSiWare games in 2015, and why the hell. And then, whaddya know, what goes around comes around as we take a deep look into Nintendo's recent system names and other crimes against human communication perpetrated by branding consultants. Light up the inbox with your own question or topic for the show, especially if it's going to piss off James!

We may do RetroActive as soon as next week, so hurry up and post your comments for Pokemon: The Trading Card Game in our official forum thread, where you'll also find loads of helpful tips and detailed techniques that will make you realize that you have no idea what's going on in this game. Oh, and while you're entrenched in the link-clicking business, check out the game Josh Hillyer is working on for Wii U! It's called Neon the Ninja, and you can play it and meet Josh at PAX East in Boston.

This episode was edited by Jonathan Metts and James Jones. The "Men of Leisure" theme song was produced exclusively for Radio Free Nintendo by Perry Burkum. Hear more at Bluffs Custom Music.

Talkback

PlugabugzFebruary 23, 2015

If you ever want to know what happens when James is like when extremely hyper, after drinking 5 bottles of coke and 10 packs of gummy bears, listen to the first 5 minutes.

Rick The Hamster, Coo The Owl, Kine the Fish, Nago the Cat, Pitch the hummingbird, and Chuchu the jelly are all classified as Kirby's Animal Friends. Rick was even voiced as having a generic Australian accent in the dub of Kirby: Right Back At Ya!

Gooey, the mysterious blue blob with the tongue and the ability to copy and spit out stars like Kirby, is not an animal helper, but made out of Dark Matter, much like the reoccurring antagonist from KDL2, KDL3, and K64.

Also, Coo the Owl has one of the most bitchin' theme songs in a Kirby game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYukMPdmhIA (use the Playback speed option on the video and turn it up to x 1.25 to get the song at the tempo it plays at in KDL2.)

leahsdadFebruary 24, 2015

You know, revisiting the issue of viewing 3D and how you become acclimated to it made me think of what people experienced when Taco 3DS first launched. 

I know the guys mentioned the phenomenon of how when you first look at the stereoscopic 3D, and then you look at a screen with non-3D (like text on a computer screen), the text seemed to "pop" off the monitor as if it were 3D.  Anyone else remember that, or experience that?  I sure did.

I'd love to hear an explanation of why that happened and why it goes away--  obviously, now I can play Monster Hunter for a good 3 hours on my XL, and walk over to my computer to do something and my eyes don't play the 3D text trick on me.

Quote from: leahsdad

You know, revisiting the issue of viewing 3D and how you become acclimated to it made me think of what people experienced when Taco 3DS first launched. 

I know the guys mentioned the phenomenon of how when you first look at the stereoscopic 3D, and then you look at a screen with non-3D (like text on a computer screen), the text seemed to "pop" off the monitor as if it were 3D.  Anyone else remember that, or experience that?  I sure did.

I'd love to hear an explanation of why that happened and why it goes away--  obviously, now I can play Monster Hunter for a good 3 hours on my XL, and walk over to my computer to do something and my eyes don't play the 3D text trick on me.

I miss when this would happen to me. :C

It has been 24 days since the podcast that aired where James got a mystery package including Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.  I demand James subject himself to that awfulness & record his lamentations/rage via podcast.

As dumb as the name Wii might sound, I'm not sure you can really criticize it from a marketing standpoint. It's arguably the greatest marketing job in the history of the industry; they managed to sell 100 million overclocked GameCubes with that strategy.

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