Nintendo Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and all that jazz

the screen and box

I’m sorry Nintendo, but nothing would please me more than playing your games on the Playstation 4. I get why that would hurt your pride, but seriously, the Switch is not at all what I want as a consumer. You make amazing, polished games, why not put them on amazing, polished hardware? Imagine how much money Nintendo would make putting games on XboxOne, PS4, and Steam.

I will not pay more for the Switch than I did for my 3DS, just so you know. It looks like a smaller Wii U with detachable buttons. I mean, it is, right? Instead of playing off TV, you can just play anywhere. I doubt anyone will even bother to hook it up to a TV, too. Also, the controllers and extra stuff is priced ridiculously. I’ll wait until Gamestop has them used, thank you very much.

Much like the PS4 Pro is to PS4, the Switch looks like the Wii U Pro to the Wii U, and that’s not a good thing. At least the PS4 Pro is compatible with PS4 games! Sheesh!

the games

I’m a Wii U owner. I highly enjoyed Splatoon, Mario Maker, Smash Bros., and 3D World. I will likely buy a Switch someday, but I will definitely skip the launch, and likely the launch year and maybe even 2-3 years after.

You see, I already own Wii U. I bought Mario Kart 8 and all the DLC packs and played the crap out of them (btw, there’s NO reason the new characters/modes couldn’t be DLC for Wii U except that Nintendo wants us to pay full price to rebuy it on a new system and also buy their online fee) I beat Skyrim already. Minecraft is great but I’ve put hundreds of hours into it on my computer. Splatoon 2 looks like a meagerly upgraded port, too, sorry to say. Maybe it’s not, but yeah… The new boxing game looks good, Arms, right? Also reminds me of Wii Sports. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t buy it, but I can see the appeal.

I’ll be honest, I fear that Nintendo will soon announce Deluxe versions of Smash Bros. and Mario Maker. That’s not okay. I don’t buy new systems to play old games.

online

Nintendo has decided to make players shell out the bucks to play their games online. Fine. I pay for Playstation Plus. What do I get from Sony? I get seamless connections, little to no lag, voice chat support in-game and in-party, the ability to interact with players met online, trophies shared with all my friends to document my accomplishments, games designed for fantastic multiplayer by developers who care about what players want, streaming video whenever I want, and to top it all off free games every single month that I get to keep as long as I have PS+.

Historically, Nintendo games require long “sign in” screens for online, don’t support voice, don’t allow interactions with people who are not my friends, don’t have trophies, don’t have multiplayer focused games, and no streaming.

Nintendo has said we’ll get free games each month, but they’ll all be old games and you can’t keep them after the month is up, even if you still pay for online. I love that Playstation gives me new, fresh games, like Journey. I don’t want old games, Nintendo. I want new.

I should also mention what I mean by, “games designed for fantastic multiplayer by developers who care about what players want.” Let’s look at Smash Bros. for Wii U. First off, you must “log in” to online, which is the stone age of gaming as far as I’m concerned. Games like Watch_Dogs 2, seamlessly integrate online into the games. Players just pop on and off, no big deal. No long loading screens. Once you log in, there are no lobbies, no ranks or leveling, no online unlocks, and no customized fights with random rivals. If I want to stop fighting one stranger and go to the next, the game boots me out to the menus, which I have to aggravatingly navigate all over. I want to do 1 on 1 fights with no items with strangers, but I don’t want to ONLY play on Final Destination. I can’t customize something as basic as that? That’s ridic. Why did they mess that up so bad? Imagine if Rocket League only let you play on 1 pitch online. Then I can’t tell the other player “gg” or anything, certainly not with voice. I’m not allowed to interact with strangers in Nintendo games because they haven’t figured out how to do parental controls, apparently. In Smash, the most communication I get with strangers with taunted or ducking down repeatedly to acknowledge them. Pathetic. Also, 50-60% of the matches I played online in Smash were laggy to the point at which I could not play. Online on Nintendo is regularly (and literally) unplayable. Finally, Nintendo has a very slim playerbase that plays online. I have a hard time finding anyone to play with. Games are empty, devoid of life as it is.

Now let’s look at Rocket League. I’m online as soon as my game starts. I can play any mode with any player online, trade items with them or do custom matches. I can chat with them through voice, text, or pre-set messages. I can invite strangers to continue playing with me through the Playstation’s “recently met players” section. Lobbies easily get me to the games I want to be in, with very little screens or loading between matches. There is no lag.

Nintendo has historically ignored features that make online great, the number 1 feature being interaction. If you think about it, interacting with people is the entire point of online. And Nintendo has this problem with ALL of their games, even Mario Kart 8, which only supported voice chat with friends (not anyone) and in between matches. Ridic! You might as well play against bots.

And now Nintendo wants me to pay a fee to play online? Hah! Not gonna happen. Unless it’s a dollar a month, nobody but the biggest Nintendo fan will do that. They just don’t offer enough to justify pricing it. Especially since they’re really just putting old games out, anyway. I can’t imagine Nintendo’s already slim online playerbase will be very large once the price barrier is in place. Who will even be around to participate in matches? Not me!

sum up

I’m mad. The Switch is likely going to fail, because it appears to be doubling down on what the Wii U was, and also they’re charging fees to play online when they are crappy online. I want Nintendo to quit making hardware and focus on software for Playstation systems. Also, the new Zelda doesn’t look good, sorry. Looks like a big empty world with nothing to do but cook mushrooms.

2015 Game of the Year

So, this list isn’t a list of my favorite games that released in 2015… this is a list of my favorite games I played this year. Some are old games that I just finally got around to, some are new games.

Want to know who won in other years? Here’s the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2014, and 2013 list.

2015 is THE YEAR OF TOOLS AND TOYS!

This past year in gaming has been about giving players fun tools and toys, both in the physical sense and as in in-game items. Batman got a Batmobile. Mario got a level creator. Fallout got buildable settlements. Nintendo made a million amiibos.

So, without further ado, my 2015 list of favorite plays (in no particular order):

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3 was my first Witcher game (although I attempted to play 2, but it wouldn’t run on my Mac). I got it for PS4 because I had a gut feeling it would be amazing (and it was). I completed EVERY mission in the game (that I could find, I suppose I might have missed one). It was the perfect time suck I needed during some months of hard work I’ve had over this past year at my job. The storytelling was phenomenal and the first DLC expansion was fantastic. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Super Mario Maker

SMM was great. I made so many custom level, it’s not even funny (check some out here!). I even made a Hogwarts recreation. I loved playing my friends levels and getting feedback on Miiverse. Truly, this is a Mario fan’s dream come true. I hope that there is more DLC soon! Check out a showcase of level I've made here!

Batman: Arkham Knight

I have a half-finished Batman review, I plan to release in 2016! I LOVED this game. The Joker has never been better than he is inside Batman’s head. I loved the new tools, the tank, and the story. The moment where you enter the Clocktower to find Oracle is one of the best moments I’ve ever seen in all of gaming. The programmers did something that blew my mind. MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS GAME HERE!

Splatoon

Here’s another game I have a half-finished review of. I loved this quirky little game, although I wish it weren’t so withholding of levels. It drives me a little nuts to only be able to play 2 levels at a time. But the game is fresh, as Nintendo claimed, and it’s a welcome new IP. 

Amiibo

This isn’t a game, per say. Honestly, I’ve barely used the figures I’ve collected in the games. I just love Smash Brothers so much, that these small statues are wonderful to own and set on my desk. Hunting down these things began in November of 2014, but the real hunt began the next year, as these figures became so scarce that people were lining up in front of stores at early times in the morning just to get them. The “game” of hunting amiibos became a hobby of mine, and I’ll admit that going after these was almost as fun as owning them. Check out my Ice Climbers amiibo here!

Honorable mentions: (still just games I played in 2015, not necessarily released)

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature – On my final stretch before Fallout 4’s release, I needed a semi-RPG with building-elements to tide me over, and this game did wonders for me.

Donkey Kong 64 – The people who made Banjo-Kazooie began a crazy kickstarter to fund a spiritual successer. It made me want to play a Rare game, and being that I don’t own an Xbox, I settled for this. I didn’t beat it, but it was fun for what it was worth.

Telltale’s Game of Thrones – I beat the first season, because I love A Song of Ice and Fire so much. It was fun, but the choices I made didn’t seem to matter and I don’t think I’ll be playing season 2.

Mewtwo DLC in Smash Bros. – Revisiting Smash was fun mostly because Mewtwo returned. As a displaced Ice Climbers player, I just couldn’t find a new main until Mewtwo. Now, whenever I play online 1v1 for glory, I tend to play Mewtwo, ROB, and Ludwig Koopa.
Batman: Arkham Asylum – After beating Arkham Knight, I went back and played this one for the first time. It actually held up really well! Great game!

Fallout Shelter – I played this until it crashed my phone. Haha, my phone just couldn’t handle my Vault when it got too big. I loved what I played though, so maybe I’ll play more if I get a new device.
Gwent – This side-game in Witcher 3 deserves its own recognition. I oftentimes only got on to play Witcher 3 just so I could find people to play Gwent with. This card game is fantastic, and I wish they’d made an online-enabled version of it with new cards.

The Oxyborb Blog Game Of The Year for 2015

Fallout 4 Bethesda Games Studios is the best developer in the world, in my humble opinion. Yes, their games crash, but no other developer even attempts to do what Bethesda does. The Witcher was a close second, but I prefer Fallout's gameplay. Fallout 4 is my favorite game of all-time, just as Skyrim was before it. I can’t explain what great feeling Bethesda RPGs give me. I cannot wait for the newly announced DLC.

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So, I guess that’s it for 2014. Thanks for a great year on my blog! Let me know what you think in the comments, in fact, tell me what your personal GOTY was!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!
UNRAVELSPACE UNRAVELTIME

Hogwarts Recreated in Super Mario Maker!

Minecraft, Terraria, Lego... Anytime there is a creativity tool for nerds, there usually ends up being a Hogwarts recreation. There's a good reason for this: Hogwarts is home to many people who fell in love with Harry Potter's world. 

So, when I got Mario Maker, my mind went there. I decided to play my hand at making Hogwarts within the Mario universe. Above is the Hogwart's crest.

You can play it, too! Here is the course ID: 1C0E-0000-00A4-1A1C

Please leave me a star if you've enjoyed it! More stars means more level slots for me to build with! Also, leave a comment here with your username and I will return the favor with stars on your levels! Thanks ahead!

 

 Here is the astronomy tower. Who is that teacher? Don't kill him!

MORE PICTURES AFTER THE JUMP!

Showcasing My Levels in Super Mario Maker: Issue #1

Mario Maker is awesome, and I've been making a bunch of cool levels. This is just a showcase of those, not the review.

Please STAR my levels and FOLLOW me, so we can play together. Leave a comment here and let me know! I will star and play your levels, gladly! Seriously, I'll star them all so you can get your medals bumped up!




Here are some of the levels I've designed (note, if you go to my in-game profile and follow me, you won't have to imput the codes for each one. Just look at the other levels I've designed in my in-game profile):

 

 

Ice & Fire

One of the best levels I've made! This level has about 10 different branching routes you can take/explore. Also, there are two really awesome boss fights to encounter. Secrets. Bonus areas. Sub-levels.

Course ID: FD13-0000-0070-1B5F

Goombablock Fort

My first level evolved quite a bit as more parts unlocked for me. I've recently remastered this level to make it one of the coolest ones I have. The difficulty is medium, but there are many ways to beat this one. Try and find the Shoe Goomba, while you're at it.

Course ID: 48F7-0000-006D-D294

Otherside Haunted Manner

I wanted to make a haunted house that had legitimately scary moments. I designed this to have a tone that is eerie, with repeating level designs and a broken-building look. Like any good haunt level, mine is a search for a secret exit. Good luck!

Course ID: E255-0000-0072-997A



 THE CHALLENGE!

Beat these levels and leave a comment! Post a picture of your high score and I will post your levels on my blog and declare you the King of that level! Please star my levels and let me know so I can star you back!