Hello, I just wanted to share a discord server for local writers to chat, share works, brainstorm and relay events happening in the region. It’s a semi-off shoot of the Vernon Writers’ Critique group that meets in person twice a month on Saturdays.
Writers of any level and material are welcomed!
So Star Fox 2026 appears to be a success, but now I’m wondering which direction the series goes in now.
Obviously, Nintendo doesn’t care much on continuity, but they also don’t like expecting players to keep with old games and lore, so you can’t just skip to Assault with adding a ton of new stuff to explain Krystal and Dinosaur Planet. At the same time, I don’t see them remaking Adventures, between it being a Rare game, it’s tumultuous reputation and gameplay divergence from 64/2026.
So do they ditch the original timeline entirely and forge a new path, maybe reintroducing Fay and Miyu in place of Krystal?
Blasphemy I know for her many fans, but we all know Nintendo is happy to ignore vocal sections of a fan base (see the Paper Mario series, Waluigi in Smash, or Star Fox fans not wanting another 64 remake).
What do you think?
An example of a crossover interaction from Super Robot Wars 30
Having now finally played through World of Light after playing it for 5 mins many years ago, I actually had some good fun and really enjoyed parts. Like, it's definitely got some bullshit and issues of repetition, but I think the latter could be fixed by cutting several fights and adding in bonus stages like targets, coin shooting, or platform levels to mitigate the repetitive nature. But I know a lot of folks want something like the Subspace Emissary back, and I'm gonna be honest, I don't think it's coming back. Ignoring Sakurai being demotivated by folks uploading them online, the money, time and team behind the CGI cutscenes are likely instead behind the character reveal trailers. From a logical standpoint, yeah, it makes a ton more sense to devote resources to those instead of an Adventure mode most consumers wouldn't beat.
But I don't think it was the Subspace Emissary itself that people want back. There's a lot of nostalgia, and those cutscenes were great, but the gameplay itself was very repetitive, drawn out, filled with annoying generic enemies and bland stages with a few highlights like the bosses or the odd stage where you got to fight classic enemies (DK fighting Bowser's army was great).
There's a lot of similar criticisms levelled at World of Light and good reasons reviewers at the time were kinda mixed on the thing.
And just to be clear, I loved the Subspace Emissary and do think it's still the best Adventure mode we've gotten thus far, but I think the core gameplay of World of Light is better, or at least, more fulfilling the fantasy of a crossover. Whether it's travelling across the map with wrap pipes and the Great Fox, solving riddles and a food race, training with Doc, losing my money to Anna, storming Dracula's castle, hunting Rathalos or seeing all the fun ways they tried to represent characters from across gaming history, it's very cool and clearly a lot of love was put into it.
But it's missing what made Subspace Emissary special, and that's getting to see all these characters interact. I gotta wonder why they didn't just add some fun interactions like the codec calls on Shadow Moses or SSB4's Palutena's Temple. They don't need to be voiced, cause I imagine that'd be costly, and obviously, not every character is gonna have a lot, but I think it'd be really special if the game checked what fighters you've rescued and did a fun dialogue interaction.
I know other mega crossovers have done this in ample spades, like Super Robot Wars. Am I expecting any more than fun fan service? No, not really. But Smash Bros is already pure fan service.
I think adding these would break up the repetitiveness of World of Light and endear folks a lot to it while being relatively cost-effective (at least compared to Subspace Emissary).
TDLR: Since cutscenes are too costly, they should have text interactions in Adventure mode at least.
With the game taking on its final shape and as I try to guide new players into it, there’s stuff that I wish we could have had still. The obvious is Red War and the Forshaken campaigns, but let’s just focus on seasonal/episode stuff to make the conversation more interesting. Just imagine assume the devs had time to bring back some things, not a lot.
Personally, I’ve bemoaning the loss of Episode Hersey, both gameplay and narratively.
For just gameplay content, I still think it’s crazy that Rite of Nine dungeon stuff didn’t stay around, at least the tutorial modes.
I also really wish they had cutscenes from a few critical seasons like Haunted and Witch in game via timeline. I hate telling folks how cool it was to see Eris become the Hive God of Vengeance, only to get ask if it’s in the game.
Of course, I wish we got Wrath of the Machine in the game, but according to the devs, that would have taken a ton of resources equivalent to a whole new raid. At least we got a part of Scourge of the Past back? That would be listed here otherwise.
What about you? You get to chose one whole season/episode, one activity/event, and some story content to be mixed in, like a mission or two via the timeline.
These aren’t hard guidelines mind you, just think realistically. We all obviously wish we got the old campaigns back or the next expansion.
Hi,
I'm someone experienced with modding, emulating and a touch of hacking (Vita), but am new to the retro/emulator handheld scene.
I've been going back and forth between getting a Retroid 5/6 and a Switch 2, the former for price, ability to play old PS games, and stream PC games, and the latter for hardware quality assurance, longevity, ease of use, and a few exclusives. Very different audiences, I know.
The thing that's kinda killing my desire to get a retro/emulator handheld is that some people have said that to play any game, even after 10 hours of setup and installing ROMs, will require further tinkering. I'm fine with some games, despite fitting hardware requirements, not running, and most games require one to play around a little in the settings, but I don't wanna have to go into files, modify code, and troubleshoot for more than an hour just to play most games.
For reference, I want to play mostly Gamecube, PS2, and indie PC games, stream anything higher end PC wise.
Yes, I'm aware that a higher-end handheld like the Odin 3 or the Steam Deck may be more what I'm seeking, but they're out of my price range, once one factors in currency exchange, shipping, etc.
What's your experience? Do most games run fine, only requiring a little bit of tweaking, or is each game a project to get running?
Edit: wow, thanks everyone for the reassurance. Now I just have to decide if I go for Pocket 5, 6 or 6 with 12GB of ram. If only the 6 came in GC colours.
Hey y’all,
I’m one of those folks who was wanting to get Steam Deck before prices skyrocketed. I was looking at Switch 2 for a while, but I noticed handheld emulators have come a long way, both in performance and pricing.
Now, I’m wanting a handled to replace my Switch 1 (which I had to sell) and my Vita (which bricked itself), while helping me get through a massive backlog (largely on Steam), and the ones thatve caught my eye are the Retroid Pocket 5, 6 and Odin 2 Portal.
Researching, the Odin 2 Portal seems to be the favourite between cost, larger screen, bigger battery, and better performance compared to the two Retroids.
But here’s the thing, the better performance comparison is usually only against Retroid 5 or Retroid 6 8GB ram, and I noticed last night that 12GB ram of Retroid seems to be back in stock for $279 USD. So my question is, would the Retroid 6 12GB out perform the Odin 2 Portal?
To get into what Im like/dislike/ am wanting (feel free to skip), I prefer Retroid smaller size and aesthetic (I really wish they offered GC colours for the Retroid 6) compared to black and glass look of Odin 2 Portal. It ain’t my style, but at the same time, I’m not gonna let aesthetics get in the way of playing more games. So I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw 12 GB ram version of Retroid 6 back in stock. I may be unwilling to get a worse product at same value for aesthetics, but I’m willing to pay a little extra for aesthetics (yes, I am stupid).
Largely I’m wanting to play older games (Gamecube, PS2, PC) and Switch games, but it’d be really cool to be able to play stuff like Dark Souls or PC remasters like Kingdom Hearts for example, although I imagine DS3 and Witcher 3 is beyond all of these capabilities save by something like Remote play (which is fine, I’d probably be playing mostly in my home anyway).
Stuff above $300 USD is more than I’m willing to spend on emulator device (at least as a first time buyer), what with Canadian dollar being bad atm, shipping, tariffs, and nervousness about longevity of the device and emulating (like I said, my hacked Vita bricked itself). I may go with Retroid 5 either way, with its sale price, it covering most of what I want, the aesthetics, and later justify a Switch 2 down the line (yes, I know the price is going up in Sept).
TLDR: Does 12GB ram version of Retroid 6 out perform/underperform against the Odin 2 Portal 8 GB ram version?
Ok, so this is something that’s been discussed a lot and is even brought up in the official The Final Dossier as the conclusion of agent Tamara Preston on Agent Cooper.
For reference, white knight syndrome is “a term used to describe someone who feels compelled to “rescue” people in intimate relationships, often at the expense of their own needs.” Often it’s discussed as misogynistic, at least with Cooper.
But I don’t buy it, it feels like it’s an assessment that only works by ignoring a lot of counter evidence and only potentially works after season 3 was released.
Why? Well, let’s look at the examples given:
Caroline, Windom Earle’s wife: this one fits.
Annie Blackburn: like, kinda? Yeah, she has a super rough past, but like, it’s easier to count the number of female characters in this show in terrible situation and a rough past, and Cooper never any interest in any of them. And Cooper is like immediately interested in her, from first sight, before he even notices her wrist scars. And even then, yeah, she’s dealt with a rough past, but she’s clearly recovering on her own, and not in need of “rescue”. Especially compared to others.
Laura Palmer: ok, so this is clearly just because he goes back in time to rescue her in season 3, cause before that, like you go back to episode 1, he’s super uninterested, almost lacking empathy, about Laura Palmer being dead. Cooper is the type to be concerned about living people, but if they’re dead, they’re dead cause he’s so causal her death, only showing respect when it’s upsetting others (ending Albert’s autopsy for the funeral sake). When it comes to saving her via time travel, well, to be fair, other people/entities are asking him to do so (the Giant/Fireman, Leyland’s spirit(?)) and repeatedly suggest that the universe seemingly may unravel (or something) without Laura being rescued (“Laura is the key”).
And before any one else says, “What about Audrey?”, what about her? Cooper shows no romantic interest in her and any trouble she gets in, she gets herself in. Yes, Cooper obviously tries to rescue her, but I think that’s comes with the territory of just being a good person.
So, yeah, I don’t buy the theory. Maybe I’m blind by my love of Cooper, but I do see him as a flawed character.
Do you agree or disagree?
I love to hear why, cause I could just be wrong.
Little concrete in Twin Peaks, as intended by Frost and Lynch.
