A Green Mushroom

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild In this episode: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is finally out, and Beej and Void are playing (and loving) it. Void has it on the Switch, and Beej grabbed it on Wii U. We discuss the differences in the versions and how each piece of hardware handles the game (hint: they’re pretty much the same). We discuss how Breath of the Wild treats armor and weapons differently than other games in the series, making it much more like a traditional RPG, but still feeling totally like Zelda. The setting is a unique version of Hyrule, and it’s a welcome change. You can see the other Hyrules there, but this one feels more alive...even though it has technically been destroyed. Nintendo did what Nintendo does: makes a game full of fun little details. In a way, they did what Blizzard did with World of Warcraft--took an existing genre and perfected it. The game assumes you’re not stupid and doesn’t have a real “tutorial.” You have an intro, get ...

Nintendo Switch Launch Spectacular! In this episode: Nintendo Switch is here! It’s launched! Void got one! Beej didn’t! He can’t find one at all! There were however...hiccups. Don’t buy day-1 console hardware from Amazon. Impressions of Hardware Why is Nintendo marketing it as a console that you can take with you instead of a handheld that docks? It plays better when it’s   not   docked. Suspend any time and anywhere, like a handheld.  Faster suspend and more integrated than PS4. Definitely leans toward the handheld side and not the console side. Kickstand sound is disconcerting. Controllers: Joycons are great, and they feel awesome when clicked into handheld mode. Also as separate controllers, and the clip thingies make them bigger and more comfortable. The dog-head controller is terrible. But the Nintendo Switch pro controller is the best, and it connects to the PC, too, a bonus. I do not like the dog head controller at all (the grip) Docking and undo...

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the first game in my "Zelda lite" playthrough of the series that I dug in deep with.  I had forgotten just how good this game is. I fired it up on Wii U Virtual Console and after getting past the intro for the first time in years and years... I was just amazed.  This game is still really good.  Even by modern standards.  Yeah, some modern conveniences are missing but nothing that truly hurts the enjoyment of the game (especially with built in save states on Virtual Console). This is the first Zelda game that feels fully formed.  It's the core of the series realized fully.  Exploring the overworld, uncovering secrets, slowly figuring out what to do in dungeons, getting more skillful at combat, finding new items to get around the world... it's all here. Not to mention the structure.  It's almost identical to the structure of Ocarina of Time.  A Link to the Past finds you needing to collec...

This is where the series starts and where my sampling of the series begins.  The Legend of Zelda is a game I played and loved as a kid.  I've beaten it many time, but none of them recently.  But hey, when you're a kid and don't have many games on hand you beat all the ones you own multiple times.  A few years ago, my brother and I took a day on Virtual Console to see how far we could actually get in the game.  We made it through five-ish dungeons before giving up.  This game is really hard. I can't believe how much I must have mastered it as a kid to be able to beat it on more than one occasion.  Sitting down and playing it yesterday was an exercise in frustration.  Yes, the core of the series we love is here... but it's still gameplay from the 80s.  It's difficult to make progress and even using the save states on Virtual Console it's still full of frustratingly tough section. I played through the first few dungeons last night just...