PixlBit

Well there you go, I think you've made up for the lack of puns in not just this article, but the next few as well.

I'm honestly surprised that we didn't get a Super Mario 64 2. From what I've found, Nintendo actually had 32 courses planned for the game, along with a co-op mode that included Luigi. However, they cut it back to 15 to ensure it was ready for the system's launch (and to use a smaller-size cartridge and save some money), and scrapped the co-op due to difficult in getting it to work properly. With all that planned, I'd have thought they could take that and make it into a sequel pretty easily. I wonder if any of the ideas for those 17 extra courses has shown up in other Mario games...

I told Jason to not mention that blog post comment about the hard work that goes into this show! That's like a magician revealing his tricks!

But yeah, no real work involved here. This series is simply the result of what happens when you give a microphone to an extremely opinionated man. All I do is suggest topics, make sure things are factual enough, and try to keep him from rambling too long.

Have you tried out the Circle Pad Pro? It might help make the 3DS more comfy without having to buy new hardware. There's also one for the XL if you still want the larger screens.

I actually like the design of the 2DS, it looks comfy and I like the button placement. The Start and Select buttons are where they should have been on the 3DS and XL. But, I wouldn't want to give up 3D or stereo sound for that.

Submission: After-hours janitor.

For some reason I came into this article expecting to not agree with anything, but found myself nodding along to most of it.

1. is less important to me, but still something nice. I'm not really into character building and usually follow a guide when a game has it, though I do like a decent variety of characters for personality purposes. The Dragon Quest games have a "party chat" feature that allows you to talk to your members about towns, NPCs, story events, and more, which can even give you hints on what to do. This would be something neat to have in FF games, especially ones like IV and VI.

2 is definitely it, there are plenty of (mostly cheesy) sci-fi games these days and the number of fantasy games is dwindling. I much prefer fantasy since it's much farther from reality than sci-fi, especially sci-fi games set in the future of the real world and passed off as a possible future.

3 is not exactly necessary, but can be fun if they don't overdo it. I like the second world in FFVI because the world kind of opens up, and you can go and collect lots of equipment and items, or you can go to the final battle any time you want. If the loot is mostly optional then it's a good addition to an FF game.

4 is the biggest one, for sure. I'm sick of turn-based RPGs being considered archaic and old-fashioned, and that action and real-time RPGs are some sort of evolution which makes them obsolete. This is as ridiculous as if someone claimed that 2D platformers were archaic and obsolete. It's simply a different style of game, and I don't get why any genre would be considered obsolete. Unfortunately, I think it's more a matter that most people simply don't like this kind of game, and are only criticising it to get more of what they want. Which is sad, but, these are the times we live in.

I have no comment on 5, I don't follow who works on games.

As far as I'm concerned, the FF spin-offs have been better than the main series. The Crystal Chronicles series has gotten pretty good, with Echoes of Time being a fun multiplayer game and Crystal Bearers being a unique experience with a decent story. Chocobo's Dungeon was a lot of fun as well.

These articles aren't really reviews, or at least don't try to be. The Tour de 64 are artciles I put out from time to time about my experience playing every N64 game, there's no set structure I follow so the style and point of each one can change wildly, but usually I try to write more about my experiences than anything else. Though when it's a game I hadn't played before then that's a lot harder to do. There are already plenty of reviews out there for people simply curious about a game, so I try to do something a little different. Whether or not I succeed is up to the individual.

As for this game, I actually had a lot more to say about the game itself, including more of my issues with it and more about the good track designs and such. But I decided it wasn't really important to the overall piece, and was kind of losing sight of reminiscing about an old fun game.

Worth noting, but people may disagree with me about the control. For reference purposes, I also think that Mario Kart 64 has extremely awful control as well. So take that as you will.

How tragic! Now no one will get to hear about Halo 4 controvercies!

No Angelo, I've seen other people who don't like the GameCume controller. Some people say it's a terrible controller for certain genres, although the only one I've ever seen mentioned is fighters. I never play fighters, so perhaps I just don't play the types of games that the controller isn't suited for. Even if you don't like it, perhaps you can still appreciate that they tried something different with the controller.

The problem with controllers is that it's pretty much impossible to match comfort with functionality. Take the PlayStation controller as an example, its unassuming layout makes it work with any type of game, but it isn't comfortable to hold. Of course, in addition to being used with thousands of games, a controller is also used by millions of different hands, and so it can't really be form-fitted to one hand type because then it'll be excruciating for another. Making a great controller is a tall order indeed, but at least Nintendo are actually still trying, unlike Sony.

That said, sometimes the industry these days falls into the trap of change for the sake of change; look no further than the 3DS for a terrible design that can come out of this philosophy. I'm actually disappointed in the Wii U because it goes back on one thing I feel the Wii controller got right: a disconnected controller. The Wiimote and Nunchuk is easily the most comfortable controller around, and a large part of that is because both sides are not welded together. This means I don't have to keep my hands tightly together at all times, and lets me rest them wherever I want. Going forward, I'll miss the days of a cramp-free controller.