Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Tactics Ogre Gets Reborn on November 11th

I just found this piece of news, which I fell in love with once I saw the YouTube video (embedded). I haven’t played any Tactics Ogre game, but I believe they are popular. According to the article, “Tactics Ogre: Reborn is based on 2011's Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together on the PSP, which itself was a port of the original 1995 release for Super Nintendo.” If you know more about these games, please feel free to let me know what you think of them!

The reason I fell in love with the video was because it looks just like the Final Fantasy Tactics games I’ve loved so very much. I got introduced to Final Fantasy in college (I will forever love FF8 the most). FF Tactics was... Read All

Outbreak: Shades of Horror (Plus the entire series)

I wanted to plug an Indie Developer's upcoming kickstarter, plus his whole series.

Evan Wolbach and Dead Drop Studios have been making the Outbreak series since 2017. These are indie games, pretty much developed just by Evan. If you like retro survival horror games, check out the series. Check out links to the whole series here:

https://www.deaddroppublishing.com/games.html

Evan & Team just released a playable teaser for their upcoming kickstarter, Outbreak: Shades of Horror. This teaser actually has a lot going on and is more than just a demo. There are 8 different endings you can get, and Evan has said you can spend several hours replaying the teaser to find new... Read All

The SNES Manual Archive

Historical video game preservation is important and it's nice to see folks taking action to improve things. Retro game collectors and historians do a good job and occasionally someone comes along with a fun project that helps move everything forward for everyone. Recently, Twitch streamer Peebs sunk some time into collecting each Super Nintendo game manual and putting them on a Super Nintendo game manual website as well as Archive.org. If you are interested in reading what came packed in to each Super Nintendo game they are available in PDF and OCR for viewing online or download. Nintendo has also made all the of game manuals available for the games included in the... Read All

Pre-order Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered by Aug 12 for Bonuses

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered is available for pre-order on Steam. Pre-order and get bonuses including, “the Iron Spider Suit, Velocity Suit, Spider-Punk Suit, Spider-Drone Gadget, and 5 additional skill points.”

I don’t know much about this game and one of my purposes for this post is that I hope to get some feedback by people who’ve played it. So, please chime in if you have! I believe it’s popular and am looking forward to it.

I seem to be aware of a Miles Morales DLC or something, which also has me excited. I really like Miles, although all I know about him is from the Spider-Verse animated movie. I’m looking forward to seeing him in the next Spider-Verse movie... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 07/29/2022 at 06:14pm

If you haven’t played this yet, this is the perfect opportunity. It’s one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had in ages.

Insomniac is a Sony owned studio, they did the Ratchet and Clank games and the Resistance series, Rocksteady are the folks who did the Batman games. But don’t let that turn you off from it, the gameplay is better in Spidey than in the Arkham games.

The Miles Morales content is its own game, but it’s a shorter game. It perhaps should have been DLC but it’s also a blast. Miles has a different set of powers that make it a unique experience.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/29/2022 at 06:56pm

Thanks Travis!!!!!!!

Hm, maybe I was confused by the video. I'm pretty sure I've seen another Insomniac game. The video did at least mention that it's like those Batman games, combat at least.

Thanks for clearing up about Miles in the game. According to another article, he's coming in the Fall. https://www.nme.com/guides/gaming-guides/spider-man-pc-release-date-miles-morales-trailer-3242475

I'm gonna go pre-order now. Thanks!

Travis Admin wrote on 07/30/2022 at 04:56pm

Yeah I honestly thought it was the same team for a while because the combat was similar, just more refined.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/12/2022 at 08:11pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKF7eLGCCMg (classic Spider-Man theme song) This is a cool game! I've put in 2 hours ATM. I noticed some FPS issues much closer to the beginning when the city was loading. It was very brief and pretty much only during one time.

Since EVGA is having a Back-to-School sale and I can get 1/3 off, I've ordered a RTX 2070 XC 12G. It dipped in to affordability for me. I've had a GTX 1660 Ti XC Gaming 6GB for 3 years now. I got it then for just over $300 on Amazon and watched it's price double over the years. It's not on sale now, but is still about as much as I paid for it 3 years ago. The RTX is slightly cheaper on sale. I've seen some numbers, but I'm not sure how much better my performance is going to be. At least I'll finally have access to those neat RTX features. I definitely expect a performance increase and I'm hoping for more stability in Ark, but I don't expect a big world of difference (it isn't a 3080 TI after all).

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Coming November 11

We'll get to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in November, making it the next MCU movie. I've seen this trailer three times now and I think it's pretty emotional, keeping the loss of Chadwick Boseman in mind. It appears Wakanda is in mourning, too, but there's also a war brewing with Namor. He's butted heads with Wakanda before, although he's considered more of an "anti-hero."

Let me know what you think about this! Are you going to go see it, too?

I Am Groot on Disney+ Aug 10

Comic-con is going on this weekend, so you can probably expect to see many more announcements like this one.

I Am Groot is another MCU show coming to Disney+ on Aug. 10th. It's just 5 shorts and all will be released at the same time. It looks funny, but that's just how the character of Groot is (IMO and along w/ the other GotG). James Gunn said that's it's kind of in it's own canon, or when it comes to canon, don't worry about it.

What do you think? Is this something you're interested in?

4D Gaming

CodeParade, the creator of the non-Euclidean geometry game Hyperbolica (I *highly* recommend checking out his videos on that game) is now experimenting with building a game in 4D.

This video is a fun breakdown on what a 4D game could look like and talks about some of the attempts at building 4D games already.

I love thinking about higher dimensions, so this was right up my alley. Hopefully you find it interesting too!

House of the Dragon Premieres Aug 21 on HBO Max

There's an awesome trailer for House of the Dragon and I wanted to share it with you. The show premieres on HBO Max on Aug. 21st and I'm very much looking forward to it. It's a Game of Thrones prequel, set 200 years before. It has Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen and a few others I seem to recognize. There are dragons, too!

I read the Song of and Ice saga books that are out now, but it's been a while. I really enjoyed the GoT show we got years ago, although I think like many, I was disappointed by the end. I still very much enjoyed the show.

Are you interested in this? Let me know!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/22/2022 at 04:18pm

I'll definitely be checking the show out! I too have read the Song of Ice and Fire books (and am annoyed that they're not finished lol), and highly enjoyed the original GoT series, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this new show.

These days I'm trying to avoid trailers and breakdowns, as I've found going into shows and movies blind(ish) increases my enjoyment. I used to love New Rockstars-type speculation videos, but those always seemed to set my expectations too high, or guess the general storyline of shows/movies. I watched the very first trailer for the show, but now I'm ignoring them lol.

I appriciate you posting this, so I at least know when the show will start!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/22/2022 at 06:25pm

Awesome! I really loved reading the books, although it was so long ago I can't remember them well enough. I was always impressed by their 1,000 pages! My cousin was the one who introduced me to it. He gave me the books as a gift. I let someone borrow the first and never got it back, though.

I loved the New Rockstars trailer breakdown for this! I feel like NR is a companion. I see it as fun and awesome, a way to expand my knowledge about the shows and movies I really love. It really feeds my Marvel/Star Was obsession, which just grows. But, I also understand your perspective. I have gotten disappointed by the fact that some trailers pretty much just show the entire movie.

I'm glad you appreciate that I posted this. I just figured this was something our community would probably be into.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/29/2022 at 04:30am

I’ve been reading the first Game of Thrones and it’s incredible. I’m nearly done and am wondering how I’ll watch the show? Thinking of reading the book first then see the season of the show afterward.

The books are huge but so good!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/29/2022 at 06:20am

Geez it's been ages since I've read those! I've forgotten a lot of it like how House of the Dragon fits in. It's sad how the show didn't quite reflect the books, but that's not uncommon.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/27/2022 at 04:24am

Renewed for a second season already w/ only one episode available! Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/house-of-the-dragon-renewed-for-season-2/1100-6506945/

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/27/2022 at 07:12pm

Seems like everyone is loving it so far. I couldn't make it through the first episode myself, and have many criticisms if it, but I'm glad others are enjoying it. I'll probably check it out again after the season is over, depending on how people react to the entire season :)

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/27/2022 at 07:55pm

Yeah, I had to cover my eyes for too long during a particularly gruesome scene (happens during the tournament, but it isn't the tournament itself). Otherwise I loved it!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/29/2022 at 01:05pm

So much better! Yeah the intro was bloody and there was some crabby gruesomeness, but this one was AWESOME! I loved it!

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The Portal Companion Collection Might be the Best Console Version of Portal

Wanted to share a recent Digital Foundry comparison of all the Portal console versions. According to the review, the Switch version may be the best console version of both games. Too bad Valve doesn’t support the console versions of its games more but then again they are fairly old games too.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is Radical!

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge does a great job of capturing the essence of the TMNT arcade game from 1990, which later came to the NES. At the time there was already a TMNT game on the NES, so this was given the title of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game.” It allowed up to four players to take on the Foot Clan as each of the TMNT. You can check out the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(arcade_game) It also very much reminds me of the Simpsons arcade game, which was popular.

This version allows up to six players online and offline. If you’re playing on Steam, you’ll have the chance to link to... Read All Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge does a great job of capturing the essence of the TMNT arcade game from 1990, which later came to the NES. At the time there was already a TMNT game on the NES, so this was given the title of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game.” It allowed up to four players to take on the Foot Clan as each of the TMNT. You can check out the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(arcade_game) It also very much reminds me of the Simpsons arcade game, which was popular.

This version allows up to six players online and offline. If you’re playing on Steam, you’ll have the chance to link to your Epic Games account. I haven’t played multiplayer yet, but it seems like a great game to play with both family and friends.

I think those of us who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s as TMNT fans will get the most out of this. I don’t know how someone who grew up outside of that time will see the game. I’ve enjoyed it although I wish it was longer. The game only has 16 levels and my average time of completing each one seems to be about 6 minutes.

One of my favorite things in many of these similar classic video games is breakable environments. This game has them. There are many boxes and parts of the environment you can break which will sometimes hide things like pizza that restores your health or a variety of other helpful items. Sometimes you’ll also uncover a “cameo.” These are characters such as Irma, Vernon, and others. They’ll have a quest which is that they’re looking for certain items hidden throughout the levels in these breakable things. Irma, for instance, is looking for pieces of her diary. Completing one of these quests will give the power points

Power points are like experience points used to increase your power level. Doing so increases your health and Ninja Power Gauge. As for the latter, it will increase as you attack enemies. Once it reaches a certain point, you can use it for a special move ("Y" by default for XBox One controller). With this special move, you can attack many enemies all around you at once. You can also use it in other forms.

There are levels to the Ninja Power Gauge. You reach a new level of this by not using it when it fills up. So, once you fill up one, the next starts filling up. Once you reach three, you can activate Radical Mode. Once activated, it gives you a damage boost, but it drains the Ninja Power Gauge. It’s great to use against bosses.

There are some achievements, which you can see and keep track of in-game. Some of them have to do with seeing every story ending and finding all cameos. I’ve only played through the game with Leo and Don. Pro tip: If you don’t skip the very end cut scene, you can see what your character is up to after the story is over.

The world map reminds me a lot of the first TMNT NES game. It’s been so long since I’ve played it. It’s the same kind of map you see in Mario games.

I’ve seen that there may be more content coming.

If you were a TMNT fan growing up like me, you’ll probably love and appreciate this as much as I do or more. If you have kids, this is a great game to play with them and introduce them to your era of gaming.

Let me know what you think about this! Did you enjoy the original TMNT arcade game?