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The Nintendo Thread of Existential Doom

Bongo

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
It's not uncommon for bad people to have talent.

I never played Earthworm Jim, though, so this truism might be irrelevant.
 
Tato

Tato

Both Earthworm Jim games have very memorable levels. As I've replayed them I find myself saying "Oh yeah, this is the shitty level" on practically every level. It's a testament to the art design and music in the games that I have such positive memories of them given the actual games are pretty terrible.
 
Phantoon

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
Tato said:
Both Earthworm Jim games have very memorable levels. As I've replayed them I find myself saying "Oh yeah, this is the shitty level" on practically every level. It's a testament to the art design and music in the games that I have such positive memories of them given the actual games are pretty terrible.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the level design in the bits I've played is an affront. It's so beautiful that it gets away with it.
 
ArugulaZ

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Earthworm Jim games (and indeed, most Dave Perry games) have this bad habit of introducing long, labyrinthine levels that don't subtly guide you through them. You don't always know how to progress because there's no indication of where you've already been and where you should be going, or even what you should be doing, in rare instances like Lorenzo's Soil. It's a shame, because the comedy of Earthworm Jim 2 is dramatically improved over the first game, but the level designs don't seem to be much better.

One particularly annoying setpiece in EWJ2 is a Game and Watch inspired game of catch, where puppies must be bounced from one side of the playfield to the other, on top of a giant marshmallow. You're relieved when it finally ends, but little do you know that there's two more of these stages waiting for you, both longer and more stressful than the first. I'm sorry, did I give you the impression that I was enjoying this?
 
gogglebob

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
One thing that always stuck out to me, even when I was younger and didn't particularly "analyze" videogames, is that the first level introduces basic EWJ2 gameplay, complete with variable weapons and slime backpack fun. And then you do not see that same gameplay again for... four levels? Dirt digging level 2, previously mentioned puppy perils for level 3, flying around as a blind cave salamander for level 4, and a variation on a shoot 'em up for The Flyin' King. Level 6, Utterly Abducted, finally returns to the same gameplay before another deviation on the following stage (inflation fetish central), and then... we're back to normal until the finale (save some puppy hijinks). Extremely weird.
 
Tato

Tato

Following up on the Peter Puppy bouncing stuff, almost ALL the levels in Earthworm Jim always go that extra bit that make them too long. You learn the mechanics for that level, have to mix them up a bit, and feel satisfied and ready to move on to the next...except there's always some last annoying section. Yes, you've already carried 10 cows and done everything there is to do on this level...but wouldn't you like to carry 4 more?

Definitely Battletoads-esque in how little the first level resembles what you'll be doing the rest of the game.
 
MetManMas

MetManMas

Me and My Bestie
(He, him)
Tato said:
Both Earthworm Jim games have very memorable levels. As I've replayed them I find myself saying "Oh yeah, this is the shitty level" on practically every level. It's a testament to the art design and music in the games that I have such positive memories of them given the actual games are pretty terrible.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I mean
MetManMas said:
d1XQGJh.jpeg
Click to expand...
 
Troa11

Troa11

Didn't Hollow Knight come to Switch LAST? I've been so confused for the last year why everyone thinks the first news about a Silksong release date would happen on a Nintendo Indie Direct. Not only do I not expect to hear it, it's the last place I expect to hear it. Am I missing something other than collective hopes and dreams of the same people who are trying to will a Switch port of WW and TP HD into existence?
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Nope, came out on Switch first, in fact.

Well, after it was on PC, I guess. But IIRC before most of the DLC was released
 
Becksworth

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Soundfall looks interesting but I want to see some reviews of it. Hyped for Gunbrella and Elechead looks promising. Also Opus: Starsong dropped today, but I have that on Steam already...
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
As per myself in another thread;

Octopus Prime said:
I also am terrible at rhythm games but picked it up because the trailer looked that cool.

Luckily, a lack of rhythm doesn’t help, but it’s hardly debilitating; attacking in time to the beat gives you a damage boost and keeps you from needing to reload, but that’s about it; you can play it as regular twin stick shooter.

Great soundtrack too, unsurprisingly.
Click to expand...

I’m liking it so far
 
MetManMas

MetManMas

Me and My Bestie
(He, him)
I'm honestly more excited about Umihara Kawase than the other stuff. Shame it's not on the international SNESflix just for convenience's sake, there's barely any language barrier as far as I can tell.

Congo's Caper is okay and I'm glad Pinball finally happened (in non-Vs. form) but I'm not really feeling Rival Turf. We already have too many no-name brawlers flooding the SNESflix service and this is certainly another one.
 
ArugulaZ

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
I'm not a fan of the Rushing Beat series in general. Rival Turf is especially dire, feeling like Final Fight designed by artists who had no idea how to make compelling characters and programmers who had no idea how to simulate Earth's gravity. Enemies either fall too quickly (while animating too poorly) or float across the screen unnaturally when you hit them. It's really hard to take it seriously when it feels like a lunar puppet show.
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Three more games I’m Sure only exist as Gas Station Rental Section exclusives.

That sounds more dismissive than it should, I love that Nintendo keeps making Weird decisions with this
 
MetManMas

MetManMas

Me and My Bestie
(He, him)
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the Switch Online stuff branches out to more obscure stuff. Nightshade and The Immortal needed more love.

It's just, like, I would love to see some more RPGs on the service, you know? We're not exactly lacking choices when it comes to SNES brawlers not made by Capcom but aside from the Breath of Fires (S'alright) and Earthbounds (Really glad they're there) RPGs have primarily been a "You have to learn a different language if you want to actually enjoy this" thing on the service.

Not that I'm expecting Nintendo to ever bother with localizing the other Fire Emblems or putting that short-lived FE1 localization on NESflix or to throw a pile of Macca at SegAtlus to get the SMT games localized...but it'd be nice even just to see some B or C tier RPGs. Wonder how much trouble it'd be to get Lagoon or Brandish on there. Or some of those US cRPGs that received Japanese console ports/adaptations.
 
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