The_Nintendo_Expat

@smoreon

personally, I love the N64 layout in particular, with the A + B buttons being larger and more prominent, while still being "in line" with the other 4. it's so much easier mentally for me to play a game in this "NES + SNES" layout, vs a more "six identical buttons" or even "3+3" Saturn style 6 button arrangement.

the "stick + dpad on the left, 2 + 4 buttons on the right" setup is the most versatile and best layout for pre-twin stick gaming. I can't imagine a pre-ps2 console that you couldn't comfortably map onto this arrangement (bar Ape Escape et al)👍

""We've Gone Retro" - New Arcade Bucks The Trend In An Otherwise Gloomy Sector"

"Totton Arcade was inspired by the success of other arcades in UK cities such as Leeds and Manchester.

Like those locations, Totton Arcade is filled with classic games rather than new releases."

Q: what's the trend, and how did they "buck" it?

I've never even heard of this game (somewhat rare for me, given the era tbh) but just reading about it and looking at the screenshots is making me feel very nostalgic! so I guess I gotta play it!

thanks for the article! ✌️👍

"At the time, Ice-T was already a fairly well known figure in the world of music and entertainment."

maybe it's "the divide" but IMO the word "fairly" really doesn't belong in this sentence ✌️

I'm not even a professional artist but I could've drawn up a decent James Pond for them in about 5 minutes.

@lordlad

Good observation!

I've sometimes dreamed of playing N64 games with a Saturn 3d Pad. ✌️ I still think it would be sick for some games, like smash or maybe even fzerox.

"As noted in the comments on the original article, the actual Mega Drive / Genesis theming of this device is very subtle. So subtle you could miss it entirely."

IDK when I see 6 face buttons and these colors there is only one games company that comes to mind...

(I seriously wonder what is "subtle" about the MD theme, here... Is the association I pointed out just not strong enough in younger people's minds? What other games company has even attempted a 6 face button pack in controller? What other games company is more associated with black blue and grey? Really curious that numerous people in the comments have echoed the sentiment in the article.)

"This includes a new custom power board which allows for USB-C charging (solving the issue of constantly having to find new double AA batteries"

☝️ I will never understand why, for decades, people have been pretending that rechargable AA batteries don't exist.

PS - they are actually better because
1. They are cheap
2. They are widely available
3. They are non proprietary
4. They are easily user replaceable
5. You can charge a set while playing and swap them out when the batteries drain. 👍

@NewBond

You've outlined the "two sides of the coin" as it were very well, thank you 👍

It seems like whatever the case, many companies handle this balance better than Nintendo does, but what do I know?

✌️ Larry Lessig 4 Pres ✌️

Super Buster Buddies the PSX game should've been available on every platform since.

@no_donatello

Also, being able to just snap a quick pic of the password screen with your phone was a revelation for me. 👍 Agree with you 100%, though I've had remarkable luck with my batteries in my carts, some of which are from my childhood in the 80s/90s 😎

@Tom-Massey

I don't think you are wrong, Tom. It's a personal preference of mine, and I don't expect you to remake your entire approach in my image, by any means.

The "who?" thing is kind of a knee jerk response thing, for me, usually internal. I do believe in my reasoning, obviously, but I also have enjoyed your and Damo's work for years. 💐

So, I've said my piece, I got a satisfactory response, and I appreciate your candor! Thanks for always being chill in the comments, and getting in here and talking to us. Damo, too 😊✌️

@Blerkotron

Thank you! 😎✌️

@Trmn8r

If you think I care this much about whatever you are talking about, well, I don't. 👍

@Trmn8r

Good luck with that, then👍

PS - I thought I got my edit in before you'd respond ✌️ sorry about that.

I don't see where the "shaming" is in my comment, even before the edit, though. How did you feel shamed?

EDIT - I edited it back. 👍 Only fair.

"Isometric adventure games really took off in the '80s thanks to titles such as Batman, Head Over Heels and Knight Lore,"

I haven't played any of these!

But I have enjoyed Shadowrun and Little Big Adventure, do those count?

Also, there was an isometric game in the mid 90s where you play as what looks like a red Boba Fett, does that ring any bells for anyone? I really wanted to play it at the time. I think it was a bit more action oriented than these, though. 👍

@Trmn8r

I've been "pretending it doesn't exist" since long before that **** tricked himself into buying it and turned it into a clown show.

(BTW is it still a free country, or shall we all be shamed into using whatever platforms our oh-so-moneyed lords choose?)

@Tom-Massey

IMO - when you are writing for publication, and you are about to say something like "for some," you should always ask yourself "who?" and then write that answer instead. If you can't answer "who?" then you might be employing a straw man.

I'll just come out and say it: It's very much in the Fox News, alt right playbook to do this ("lotta people are saying,") and it's aesthetically and intellectually dissatisfying in my personal opinion.

But I think you can just own the comment (or in this case "CON,") it's valid. 👍

@WileyDragonfly

Yes, random swipes at Damo's writing ability aside (I'm rather a fan despite having the occasional critique,) I am also on team "use the right word if you know better" 👍

I've been waiting for this controller for a long time. Will we see a review on here?

(Edit- this is also one of the only controllers on the market that I'm aware of that can stand in reasonably for a Saturn 3D pad - and no, I don't count those goofy Saturn knockoff pads with the tiny sticks stuck in the middle.)

@Damo

If it's you, then my gentle suggestion is to simply say

"CON - I would have preferred the game to just remember my progress without having to input a code"

I consider it a bit more honest, and the reader can decide for themselves if they agree.

Additionally you avoid the vague passivity that journalists bad faith actors use on certain platforms ("some people are saying...")

👍✌️

BTW I've been following your coverage of this game for a long time, and I'm super pumped that it finally is out and got a good score! Thanks for the review and everything else 😊👍

"Password system might be too 'old school' for some"

who?

"We had run tests on this hinge by robotic machine daily, 50,000 times."

Sounds like the problem is with your methodology, then.

A better "test" might be to hand out a few units for normal usage and take feedback.

@sdelfin

I think it's appropriate in a sense to call something what it's "like." I suspect that a lot of things are named that way.

OTOH what you end up with is "AI as a metaphor" being applied to more than one thing, and this NYT writer apparently mixing them up catastrophically. (I mean what an embarrassment. 🙄)

Using "Commodore Industries" and simply "Commodore" interchangably to refer to the same entity in the same article, particularly when you've also mentioned that there was litigation over the name, is a little confusing IMO.

EDIT - Wait, so we ARE talking about two entities in this article? 😵‍💫 I'll just wander back over to NintendoLife now.

@sdelfin

when I was 10 y.o. reading about the "advanced AI" of enemies in Turok, I knew "yeah, but this isn't A.I. like HAL in 2001."

To be fair, "AI" referring to large language models et al is still a bit of a colloquialism AFAIK 👍 But nevertheless one that refers to a different thing entirely, to your point.

@PZT

I heard it was for Micro...

something.

Can he really call this thing the "M64?"

Isn't that a bit like calling it a "Super Nintend0" or GameKube?

@BausRifle

I had the same thought but you beat me to it. 😅✌️

@AvatarNeo

I hope you are right! 🥹✌️

Is this not 99% likely to be targeted for litigation sometime just before release?

I really want to play this 🥲

"1995's now-largely-forgotten Michael Crichton-inspired Congo" ☹️

It's like if the PSX and PS2 were faces in Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' video, and you paused it in the middle.

@jamess

Haha 😂 I chuckled a bit to myself writing it ✌️ cheers

@hste

Yeah I will admit that the aiming was more Generation X than Time Crisis 😂✌️

Still, 20 years later, maybe it could be better? Like, a lot better?

Can anyone shed some light on what happened with IR pointer tech, a la Wii?

Considering it was almost perfect? Like, basically perfect if they could just get the speed/lag a little bit better?

Couldn't it be better by now, 20 years later?

Isn't something like the sensor bar both low tech, low cost, and also MUCH preferable to the pervasive girthy cyan border solution seen here?

This comment section did not disappoint me. 👍

I won't buy this product because I won't give my money to P.L.

plus my N64 works great.

@Deuteros
Yes, the "non portable handheld" is definitely it's own category!

Personally, I use my switch exactly like I did with my Wii u/gamepad. Long past are the days I even had a reasonable context for playing games outside the house. 👍

Another vicious criminal off the streets.

@Jamesarson

You may be correct, but everyone has their own use case, right? I have handhelds but they rarely if ever leave the house. some of them are pocketable, some aren't. Hell, my Nomad isn't even close to pocketable, is barely "portable" in the broadest sense of the word, and must be plugged into the wall to operate 😂 but it's still a handheld. ✌️

@Jamesarson

"The entire point of handhelds is to be mobile."

You are confusing the word "handheld" with "portable," "pocket," and/or "mobile." ✌️

"The 'αSNES' Could Be The Final Form Of Nintendo's Legendary 16-Bit Console"

It should be called 'ωSNES' then ✌️

EDIT - because "alpha" means "first" and "omega" means "last" (or in this case "final.") 👍

@Hexapus

The Dude abides. 😎

Hang on... y'all actually prosecute these kinds of crimes?! 😲

The 1980's tech dream that just won't die.

My Gpa had a GMC conversion van in the late 80s/early 90s that had a little CRT in the middle of the ceiling pointed towards the back, with an Audiovox VCR on one side and an NES on the other 😎

We called it grandpa's pimp van, he hated it 😂

@jamess

I don't believe in black or white thinking, but I have no problem saying that Palmer Luckey is a bad person and I'll have no part in supporting him or hesitation speaking the truth about him 👍 and, I do not consider this a political position, but a moral one. Yes, as in right and wrong.

Welcome to TE 😅✌️

(Just a quick thought, "only shades of grey" is no better than "black and white." in fact, it's worse because you don't really stand for anything, nor do you draw the line anywhere. making firm, informed decisions does not itself make you a "black and white thinker," in my opinion.)

@jamess

Whoops I edited sorry. 😖

(I re-edited my post to include the words you were actually responding to. I hate it when people switch it out on me and I did not intend to do that to you ✌️✌️)

My point is that you clearly DO want to engage, or else you wouldn't have clicked, read, commented. ✌️

Which is fine, I totally want to engage in this conversation, so long as it is happening. It's OK to be up front about that.

@jamess

"I just don’t want to engage with it."

you politicized this conversation from your very first comment, before anyone had said a thing.

OG comment before edit:

it's abundantly clear that this is not the case. Pure posturing, from the very first post.