https://www.tendocity.net/ Fri, 09 Oct 2026 03:42:44 +0000 MyBB https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7631 Mon, 28 Sep 2026 16:31:02 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7631
Better to make standard time eternal.  The mornings just get brighter.  All it'd mean is that the sun sets an hour earlier in summer, so 8PM instead of 9PM, and in winter nothing changes.  That's not going to hurt anyone's routine.

I sure hope the senate makes that adjustment if they do decide to pass this, or we're in for a repeat of last time.  Oh, and I'm sure that farmers may not particularly like getting rid of the switchover, but better a tiny section need to adjust than everyone else have to do so just to make them happy.]]>
Better to make standard time eternal.  The mornings just get brighter.  All it'd mean is that the sun sets an hour earlier in summer, so 8PM instead of 9PM, and in winter nothing changes.  That's not going to hurt anyone's routine.

I sure hope the senate makes that adjustment if they do decide to pass this, or we're in for a repeat of last time.  Oh, and I'm sure that farmers may not particularly like getting rid of the switchover, but better a tiny section need to adjust than everyone else have to do so just to make them happy.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7630 Fri, 18 Sep 2026 02:09:30 +0000 A Black Falcon]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7630
Before I begin, I got MKW day one, of course, and played it single player first.  Once I started playing the online play though, I quickly got into the online Knockout Tour mode.  And that is what this is: a log of my finishes in online Knockout Tours, with comments as I get frustrated by the usual Mario Kart nonsense.

And on that note, in Mario Kart, one of the key decisions is your vehicle and character combination.  I almost always use a pretty bad one: Rosalina on her snowmobile sled the Stellar Sled, with her Aurora costume.  I chose it because it's the best looking vehicle for her, it's clearly themed for Rosalina and her ice and snow mountain, but here's the issue: it has the lowest acceleration of any vehicle in the game.  Rosalina is a heavyweight character, so she's already on the slow acceleration and high top speed side, and pairing her with the absolute worst acceleration in the game is, well, it's "if I get hit it's often instant Game Over" material.  A better choice would be Rosalina with a vehicle with higher acceleration, to get the high top speed of a heavyweight character that is good in Knockout Tour but to also have some acceleration, because instantly losing every time I get hit within like a hundred yards of a checkpoint is, uh, not fun.  But I like my snowmobile and I've stuck with it for the entire time since I started playing.  And the results are... largely static rating.  I am 7930 rating today, and the first score I mention in this document says 'got over 8000 again'.  So uh yeah, I just play the game and don't really try to get better.  So yeah, the constant frustration below is real, but I also know that it's what is going to happen with this character/kart combo.  I choose to stick with it anyway.

But hey, is that fun?  Yes.  I feel kind of bad that I have never tried to actually get good at the game and still can't do most any of the cool tricks the good players can, but even so I like the game anyway and am still addicted to Mario Kart World.  I know I get frustrated and close the program and go watch Youtube or play some Mario Maker, but, like, I always go back and play some more, and it's almost always online Knockout Tour with Rosalina in the Dread Sled, because it's a beautiful looking game with exceptional gameplay.  It's fun, simple, easy to just chill out and play a few tours of... yeah, I'm still hooked, sadly.

So uh Nintendo, will we ever get DLC with new tracks for this game?  Please?  :(



The below list starts in late April.  Each line or paragraph is the games I played that day.  If I skip a day, well, I just didn't add to the document, so it's unmentioned unless I say something in the comments.

12 12 12 18 4 2 4 21 (or something like that, there may have been a few more mid-placement finishes)
18 1 24
18 13 1 24
I don't remember, there were too many. uh, 22 18 4 (some low ones) 6 (more low ones) 1 22 (quit for a bit here) 18 1 16 12 (quit)
2 6 17 2 5
3 6 (maybe something here?) 8 6
4 3 8 12 (quit for a while here) 11 5 [that 11... argh.  I finished 16, ~14, 12, 11, with the 11 because I was hit like a million times and got useless items.  Thanks Nintendo.]
3 15 (followed by crashout because of how nonsense that second one was)
14 4 11 17 8 (that last one was such infuriating nonsense, I was shot down midair in the flying cutscene going to the beginning of the track at the very end... so insanely unfair!  ruined a game where I only barely avoided getting eliminated at the first checkpoint because of a late shock, I was in 23rd right at the end but managed to draft off of the guy in 22nd and passed 22 and 21 with that boost just in front of the line...)
22 2 4 8 8 (in ranking points, the 2 and 4 left me -3 for the day, after that first one.  then the first 8th was a -14 and the second a ... +26? uh, okay. weird.)
2 15 (quit in frustration here)
9 (six finishes between 12 and 16 in a row here, like none of which felt like they happened because I played badly but because of bad luck or RNG) 1 (quit here down "only" like 90 points. Yes I'm surprised I didn't lose more rank too after so many bad finishes.)
15 7 4 7 1 (pretty good, got over 8000 rating again!)
(something like 12 or something, maybe 16? not sure) 16 4 16 This game is so stupid, I need to stop wasting my life with this RNG trash... but somehow I ended still over 8000.
20 (TWO shocks in the last section of the second segment, one immediately after both of the last two item spots.  Absolutely absurd garbage. They were what like 15 second apart?)
2 4 24 (nothing I can do about getting hit out of the air, dropping from 2nd to 20th instantly, then getting a triple mushroom at the next and last item spot, in 22nd, while everyone else got good items.  Exceptionally unlucky.) (later...) 11 12
14 7 3 8 7 5 (that may seem good but it didn't feel good. That last one, for instance? I was definitely in the top four, but this game, which doesn't seem to know what position you are actually in in online races, said I was in 5th, you lose.  It's just absurd how bad the lag correction is and that the game really doesn't seem to know what positions the players are in online and then just makes something up or something.)
2 20 (The usual story: I do well in a race, then the game targets me and makes sure I do badly in the next one.  This has happened far too many times for it to be a cooincidence.  I honestly think it is more likely intentional design than an accident by this point.)
3 18 4 2 4 15 (yeah, the usual pattern.)
9 18 20 5 5 13 (worst, most frustrating session in a long time.  Why am I addicted to this RNG trash?  For example, in BOTH of those fifth place finishes, I was in first or second entering the final turn, only, of course, to be hit repeatedly and get eliminated at the last possible second.  Could I see them passing me?  In the first of those no, of course not, they were invisible or on another route or something.  Naturally.  And that 13th was basically the same, 'hit right in front of the line, you're out'.  Over and over and over.)
I don't remember, a bunch of games. uh, like, 3, something middling, something, ended with a 1st.  overall I think I gained points, ended at 7994.
9 (had a big lead right near the checkpoint, shock+run over = incredibly frustrating RNG 9th.)
13 7 (somehow, I lost like 18 rating points with a pretty solid 7th place finish.  How they decide the points makes no sense to me.  I'm down to near 7900.) 18 (went off the side on the ice road.  my mistake.  pretty dumb in a race with 8 AIs, though... oh well.) 9 3 6 4 (break here) 6 13 16 20 (or something like that, there may have been another decent one in between the 6 and 16.  On that last 20, there's really nothing I could have done; I got unavoidably hit repeatedly and then the game blocked me from getting any powerups for the last several powerup spots.  The way this game punishes you so harshly for the complete random chance that is 'lol you went through the powerup spot but not nothing' is garbage game design, but that's how this game is.  I'm not upset, it's just incredibly poor design that it can happen.)
3 15 9
2 24 (the usual pattern yet again.)
(several days off here)
1 23
14
6 10 22 12 5 (overall down a bunch, I'm down to like 7800.  It felt like I got hit by one or two shells almost every single time I tried to use a mushroom the entire session, utterly absurd.) (break here) 15 22 18-ish (the game blocked me from getting anything from the last TWO item sets. result was obvious.) 2 2 6 (that last one was so frustrating, I had a huge lead... until I ran into an obstacle for no reason and then failed to go off the track to dodge the blue shell, 6th. bad play by me.)
3 1 2 8 (break) 8 2 (back over 8000! very good so far...) [after this I played the single race mode for a while for the first time in some time.  I'm only 7000 rated there, I haven't played it much and aren't any good.  Yes, after most of a year of playing this game, I still haven't tried to get good.  I can't charge jump up to shortcuts and secret routes and such, for instance.  My lack of skill immediately shows when I try this mode and start struggling immediately.  Still, my rating was so low that despite finishing 12th or lower in all races but one, I gained rating so longas I finished at least, like, 22nd... which I didn't always do.  This mode is kind of fun but requires a lot more skill and concentration than knockout tour.  It just depends on what you want.  I ended for the moment at 7190, dropping to that after a couple of last place finishes.  Given that most people in the room were over 8000 rating though, I think I did fine.] 5 15 8 5 12 [or something like that for those last four, but it must have been high-rated opponents because I stayed over 8000 at the end.]
12
[If I quit this game it will be because of how garbage the lag correction is.] 24 5 20 8 22 14 (and now I'm down a lot of points and well under 7800. just great.  At one point it changed my position from 19 to 21 without me passing anyone or without anyone passing me.  Then I got eliminated because I was below 20.  Do they have any idea what it happening at any given time in this game?) (later...) 3 4 3 15
15 6 3 8 16 24 6
5 2 9 (9? yeah, no.  I was in 6th at worst.  I have no idea where they got 9th from but there is no way that was accurate.)
5 3 (maybe a 5th to 8th here?) 4 (7990 something, several good races, time for it to target me...) 16 (yup! as I said. I got run over so many times in this one it's absurd.  I made some mistakes also that hurt, though, so it was also my fault.  But it was a late shock that doomed me, not much I could do about that.) 21 (another late shock. thanks Nintendo.) [service disconnection here, lose a bunch of points because of Nintendo server issue] 5 12 12 (I am sure I speak for everyone who plays this game regularly when I say that this game is both addictive and infuriatingly unfair and frustrating.  Those last two... I hate this game sometimes.)
6 21 9 16 (down a LOT, to barely over 7700.)
5 5 3 8 (7775) 14 (my own fault here, went off the side.)
9 1 1 (7850, it was satisfying but I wasn't getting many points for these wins) 21 (oh, you just won twice in a row? Nice!  We'll make sure to block you from getting any items this time, blocking you entirely the first few item spots and ending with a shock right after the last item spot.  Have "fun"!) 13 5 16 4
4 (in this one, two people literally fell out of the sky in front of me as I crossed the finish line in second.  "fourth".) 8 13
14 13 10 19 (when you repeatedly get eliminated because of RNG nonsense like shocks and being denied getting any items from multiple item spots at the end of a segment, as happened in one form or another in all four of these rallies, this game feels like one of the worst games ever made.  Getting through the first checkpoint in 20th twice in these four rallies was tense, but who cares when the game's just about to completely destroy me with RNG I can do absolutely nothing about a few minutes later?)
4 3 17 (down to below where I started with that one) 4 3 1 (golden mushroom at the last stretch of far away oasis propelled me to a somewhat undeserved win from behind, fun stuff!) 3 6 (this race was a total mess, there must have been so much lag!  Stuff kept happening that has no explanation, first I hit a shell but no I kept going and the shell broke, then at the 16 checkpoint I was in 18th and it was over, but for some unexplained reason four people stopped just before the line (I don't think they were all hit?) and I somehow was in 14th, I have no clue what happened there, and then I was in a great position to be in the top four nearing the start of the final lap... only to be hit by ice flower shots right near the goal.  Sad end to a previously absurd rally.) 8 (maybe another 5 to 8 here) 2 8 12
2 3 17 3 (back over 8000 at last, whew...)
12 (oh, so I get an ice flower and a single mushroom in like 8th at the last item set before the checkpoint, while everyone behind me gets good items, bullet and goldens, and obviously I finish in last? I hate this game sometimes...) 1 3 (the player list said that there were only five humans in this one, which was very odd if true.  usually lobbies are mostly full.  two of those five were really good though, one was over 9000 rating, in knockout tour! don't see that very often.)
3 7 (should have slowed down and gotten passed so I'd get a better item, with that huge shortcut right at the end before the savana track what was I doing staying in 2nd? I didn't have enough of a lead for that...) 7 11 11 8 (maybe a 6 here) 12 13 (this game is so deeply unfair sometimes that I don't know what to say, how are repeated shocks right near the end of the rally reasonable design?  Being in a better spot should be good, not bad... but no, killed by shocks over and over here.)
(8 or 12 or something) 11 (maybe another 12?) 8 (in this one I got like 18th, 12th, and 8th at knockout checkpoints, but sadly I couldn't get above that.  I had a bullet and was way behind in 8th after being hit, heading towards DK Mountain, and used the bullet.  That got me to 4th. After that I got basically no items and was of course passed back again.  I could have waited for the ending shortcut for the bullet, but with how far behind I was I'm unconvinced that it would have caught me up... not sure though.  Ah well.)  6 (at this point I was about even on the day) 15
16 21 8 23 10 12 8 (I could complain at length about several of these games -- and I should because I lost like 200 rating here, back down to the mid 7800s -- but like, the RNG decided I needed to die, so it killed me, with the perfect selections of incidents, over and over.  Not once did it feel like I had a strong chance of doing any better than I did, it was more like 'it's a miracle that I wasn't eliminated even sooner!' every single time.  Just ludicrous nonsense - getting my items stolen by ghosts over and over at the worst possible times, blue shells combined with ghosts, shocks after the last item set repeatedly, red shells of course, etc, etc.)
2 2 20 (item theft and shock really need to be nerfed.) 11 10 3 17
10 21 (both of these ended because of being run over right in front of the checkpoint.  Nothing more infuriating exists in this game. back to 7770.) 5 3 21 5 (maybe not in that order for these four, but there was a third, another bad finish, and it ended with a 5th.  In both 5ths I should have made the final four but got hit right at the end close to the line.  So yeah that's five 'hit right by the line and thus eliminated' endings in six rallies. "Fun".) (3 finishes in a row between 10th and 12th here) 7 (shock after last item set.) 17
19 4 2 1 (I fell back a bit somewhat on purpose and was in 6th at the final item spot approaching the big curve to Faraway Oasis... and got blue shell + golden.  Used immediately that jumped me up to 1st, which I easily held through the lap.) 9 (there is nothing I could have done to finish higher in this one, I was hit WAY too many times.  Got targeted hard.)
19 8 11 (two eliminations here because the game didn't give me any speed items at the end of a segment. Awful awful RNG.) 4 7 8 21
6 11 11 4 (start: 7850. end: 7820. Inordinate punishment for the decent 11th place finishes, that's for sure.)
14 (shock right before the checkpoint killed me from 6th place.) 19 (I did nothing wrong here, not sure how I was so far back...) 1 5 (very frustrating but a decent finish...)
8 (when you're in 4th nearing the last checkpoint and the guy behind you has red shells... well, only one way that's going to end, sadly.) 18 (oh, I only get ice and fire flowers while everyone else gets good items? why thank you RNG...)
5 14 19 14 8 12 12 8 18
6 6 (somehow gaining almost nothing for these good finishes) 17
15 (after this I was under 7700) 3 4 [8 or something] [something mediocre here]
(start: 7770-ish) 4 19 (break) 4 2 2 (stop while I'm ahead for once...)
17 (and then I quit in disgust to play the new version of Dead or Alive 6, Last Round, and work on my website.)
6 4 4 3 "21" (that last one had like the worst lag I have ever seen in this game.  I was in 21st approaching the first checkpoint, used a golden mushroom and gained zero ground on the pack (even though this is impossible), then finally I passed a couple of them, go through the checkpoint in something like 19th... then several seconds later the game kicks me out and says I wasn't in the top 20.  I have no idea what happened there but it should not happen.)
17 (somehow in about 16th or lower I got a triple shell and single mushroom. Uh yeah that's not going to cut it.) 16 (laaaag!) 4 8 4 3 17
[This is the day they added two new Knockout Tour rallies! Very exciting stuff, 25% more content instantly in the main mode I play!) 12 8 3 4 (maybe another 4) 3 8 (and I think there were a few more, none terrible)
21 6 10 24 (I was in about 20th and got a single shell and a coin shell at the last item spot before the first checkpoint. The result was obvious.  How is such an absurdly bad draw even possible?) 8 
8 17 (break) 4 (I should have won this, but got hit one too many times at the end...) 21 (the new wario shipyard to bowser castle rally is cool, except for the end of the first section. that part is great until you get out of the water, after that it's a narrow canyon with too few item spots.  Basically it seriously punishes heavy characters because of not having enough items to make up for the chaos, I've gotten knocked out here multiple times without doing anything at all wrong.) 13 5 2 7 8
21 (four games where I finished at best 7th and mid at best twice, but yet somehow gained 100 rating points? I have no idea how that happened...) 1 (ended on Wario Shipyard, fun track.  I used a feather well to get to the front late.)
21 21 24 24 12 16 (So what happened here? The RNG decided it hates me, that's what.  I played fine but the game wants me to lose.  Almost every single one of these races had shocks either right at the end of a segment or immediately after I go through the last item set, me getting run over or hit by someone with a star right in front of the line, and more.  I'm not kidding about the shocks, either -- that happened four times in six rallies.  Absolutely insane luck that I have trouble believing was random.  That one 12th place finish was probably one of my best performances ever -- I survived multiple late shocks and getting hit or run over again and again, before finally falling to the second or third late shock of the rally.  There's nothing I could have done about that, or almost any of these.)
12 11 13 4 17 7 8 13 19 (shocks really are ruining this game.  Something needs to be done.) uh I forget... 16 9 22 1 16 10 or something like that. (I'm down 500 points from a couple of days ago.)
2 2 4 3 (then I was in 4th, well into the next rally, past the halfway point, when Nintendo's servers messed up and it Communication Errored us out of the game.  This shouldn't punish me since it was Nintendo's issue, right?  No, of course not.  Minus, like, 75 rating or such, as if I'd gotten 24th, even though either only 8 or 12 players were left in the game by that point and, again, I did not disconnect; the issue was on their end.  This game has very serious problems.)
19 19 20 12 (I don't think I made any significant mistakes here, I just was denied from getting items after going through item spots, shocked right at the end of a segment, and given useless items (coin shell in a near the back spot is inordinately cruel!).)
21 17 24 21 (I am entirely serious when I say that I made no mistakes of note here.  It was all losing because of being denied items at item spots, every time.)
[here I take a week off, had vacation and decided not to take the Switch 2 with me.  Good riddance to this game for a while, I'm down to like 7450.]
14 (lost because I didn't get an item from the item spot, as usual.) 1 1 (break) 1 15 (break) 1 15
1 10 22 4 4 23 (sometimes I truly hate this game.)
4 2 2 7 (7773 rating)
2 19 4 (maybe another 2 here) 15 (the existence of the shock is garbage game design which ruins this game. What determines whether I do okay or not is not skill, it's the luck of the draw of where the shock happens.)
15 11 (on the positive side, at ~7800 as I am, I'm not losing nearly as much for these mediocre finishes as I would at over 8000... but it's still big hits.) 16 (I was in first late but then there was a shock while I was off road, instant first to last.) 1 2 (this was a satisfying one) "21" (I'm not sure if I'd have made it because the game blocked me from getting an item at the last item spot, but then the screen went black and there was a communication error so I'll never know.) (break) 23 9 2 7 3 8 (break) 22 18 1 5
21 17 7 8 15 (two eliminations here from being called out of bounds when I don't think I was.  The arbitrary nature of where the invisible walls are is somewhat broken, in some areas you can be past the fences and be fine while in others it calls you out if you're, like, not even touching the fence yet...)
3 15 1 (did I say 7800? That was nice.  Now it's 'wow, I just got back to 7700!')
1 6 (and I am just over 7800 again.  Good rallies here, that was fun.)
10 (then I quit in irritation)
13 12 (both of these ended because of being blocked from getting an item at the last spot before the checkpoint) 2 (very narrowly avoided that happening again, I was blocked at the second to last item spot...) 13 (shock immediately after last item spot, instant loss.) (break) 7 21 (shock right after the last item spot.) 2 4 (break) 2 21 (say it with me, I went through the last item spot and got nothing, like usual.  In single player this is not an issue because you can see where the other racers are, but in online, the lag correction in this game basically allows things to happen on each persons' screen that don't actually happen, then the server arbitrarily decides which persons' version of reality is the "correct" one.  So, did you run that person over but they didn't slow down?  On their screen you missed them.  Did I go through the item box, clearly going through a box far enough other players that it shuld respawn?  Ooh, sorry, on their screen they were closer to you, you die.  Or maybe you don't; other times I pass through immediately behind another racer, and still get a box.  This game is unacceptably inconsistent online because of its atrociously broken lag correction system, and it ruins the game as often as not -- just look at how often I complain about this!  Offline it happens only a fraction as often because I would be able to actually know where the other racers are.) 7 2 (and I'm over 7900 again.)
1 11 16 20 7 7 (maybe another 20 here) 4 (I was almost at 8000 after that nice first game, but now am basically back where I started the day at barely over 7900.)
(maybe something mid here?) 15 6
20 (too tired to focus. bed. I was in first late but got hit.)
11 12 (maybe a bad one here like 20th or something? I forget) 1 (I have no idea how I won this, should have been second. Absurd ending, I fell off the track and somehow won.) 7 7 (7930-ish so still basically flat over the last few days.) 16 (I was playing badly here but that's not why I lost, a late shock was.) 23 (no clue why I was so far back here... oh well.) 15 1 5 (3?) 7 6
8 16 (was in first late, got run over. it happens.) 1 (finally over 8000 again!)
21 3 8 2 (up like two points. It's kind of depressing that three good finishes are required to make up for one killed-by-RNG one...)
4 15 4 16 (so incredibly frustrating...)
12 10
1 (what happened, somehow both people ahead of me fell behind near the end and I won...) 8
12 15 1 (fun ending here) 5 14 10 9 (these last three were incredibly frustrating!)
10 23 (talking about frustrating, there is nothing I could have done here.  I was blocked from getting an item at the first two item spots, got hit five or six times including being knocked out of the air on the cannon section as you approach the airships, and then, in last place way behind everyone, got form the last item box spot... a golden. Yeah that's useless, only bullet would have had a chance of catching me up.) 10 8 18 18 10 4 (woo, only -250 on the day... erm.)
24 (second to last place at the last item spot, got a useless golden. then I got run over, though the result wouldn't have changed without that. Bullet really should be more common in the last spot.) 22 (but hey at least that time I got AN item! This time I was denied any items for no apparent reason.  That you can not get an item online when you go through the item boxes because of random phantom other players who you can't see in the actual places they are in is by far the worst thing about this game and it needs to change.) 4 (the game decided to charge jump when I pushed the drift button because it thought I wasn't pushing the stick I guess even though I definitely was as it was in a turn, so I went off the side and finished 4th instead of 3rd.  Why in the world are drift and charge jump on the same button?  It's incomprehensibly obnoxious and bad game design!) 5
1 4 16 1 2 5
19 1 16 11 (ugh, sometimes I really hate how RNG-based this game is. Other than the 1st that I won because of RNG (the guy in first in front of me was blue shelled right near the finish), there it was good. :P  But those other three... awful.)
4 4 (+15 only for two pretty good finishes? Annoying... should be more...)
8 24 (late shock. nothing I could do.) 8 14 (and I think another mid one)
8 2 3 (7879)
1 8
7 17 4 1 13 17 2 (7913) (two mid finishes next for a small gain)
11 4 5 ~7-ish 7 10 13 (and let's quit there before I lose lots of points...)
2 7 10 (over 8100, really? that 2nd got me a lot of points somehow?)
3 7 ~13 19 5 5 (break) 14 5 10
11 10 10 ~10 (so so frustrating!)
2 6 2 15 (I should have stopped while I was ahead... I got up to 8250.)
6 11 15 22 6 10 (-200 because I lost like 40 for the 11th and 30 for the 15th while gaining only two points for the second 6th, which yes makes OH so much sense! Great point system you have there!)
10 8 (somehow I gained quite a few points from these and am over 8100.)
15 7 4 (blue shelled right near the end in that last one when I was in first.  Welcome to Mario Kart.) 23 (well there goes that 'about even on points' thing.)
6 (+50 rating. I have no idea how ranking in this game works anymore... like, yes I know that it varies depending on the ratings of the people you are playing against, but the variance here seems a bit extreme?)
~22-ish 24 (then I decided it was finally time to play some Mario Maker for the first time in quite a while.)
4 2 1 (break) 17 17 14 (here I lost because I was definitely holding over but the game decided to go into a charge jump instead of a drift because of the games' bad controls.) 7
(three games here which were pretty much even. I forget, like 12 7 14 or something?)
17 (this is the kind of infuriating garbage that makes me want to quit this game. I was in 15th, with a golden, at the 16 checkpoint.  It wasn't stolen and the shock was earlier.  It should be fine, right?  No, somehow a big mushroom and bullet player both passed me and nobody was hit and everyone had speed items, I lose ground.  This is just garbage design.  What is the point of speed items when everyone has them and nobody loses ground... other than me of course even though I had one also?) ... Oh as for my rating it's about 8030.
3 5 7 2 (somehow, of these, I gained 34 rating points from the first two combined then 33 from the 7th place and about less than that from the 2nd.  Yeah.  I ended up a bit over 8100.)
~19 (break, ughh that one was frustrating) 13 17 10 19 (and now I'm down to 8020 after some incredibly frustrating games loaded with nonsense) 2 (I was one of three Rosalinas in the final four. Amusing stuff, heh.)
12 10 3 12
24 (under 8000 again. Have I learned anything from this game?)
12
(Nintendo Direct today, and... all we get are two more Knockout Tours and adding the ten SNES tracks hidden in the world as sort of selectable courses.  Where is the DLC addon Nintendo???) 3 15 15 8 20 8 10 (and only that final one was on one of the two new rallies.  Seriously, couldn't they have increased their likelihood for the launch?) (break) 24 21 17 8 18 (okay that was the worst session I've had in a long time, down over 200... and very little of it was my fault, it was almost all pure RNG, being denied items at the last item spot over and over because of blind luck, and such.  Mario Kart is kind of a trash game.)
2 17 8 8 (The same rally played at least three times in a row here.  What is the "randomizer" doing?  It wasn't one of the new ones either.)
17 8 7 8 8 9 (I may have gained points here, but losing at just about the same point every time feels very bad.  Also, did they actually add new circuits?  Every one of these was the original 8.)
8 9 (more of the same, ugh.  Also yeah the new tracks continue to not exist.)
17 10 4 23 10 2 20 (on the negative side it's like -200 again but on the positive side the new rallies actually appeared!  Also, the bad finishes here were mostly not my fault, there's nothing I can do about things like a shock immediately after the last item spot or being run over twice in the last 30 seconds of a segment.) [some more bad ones here, I forget, ended up down to ~7650, 500 points down from my peak a week or two ago even though I am playing just as well or better.  RNG game.] 5 5 (break) 16 8 (break) 13
13 20
1 (7700 now) 13 14 4 4 5 16 (I know I say it a lot, but the worst thing in this game, by far, is that you can go through an item spot and not get an item because of lag-related RNG.) 1 6 4 6 8 16 1 (I was almost back at 8000, but lost like 60+ for the 16th and gained only 47 for the 1st after it, so I'm at like 7970 or so. ah well, much better.  Also, a few of the first couple of rallies today were on the new tracks but then everything else was on the original eight.  It's really obnoxious how rare the new ones are!  Improve the randomizer!)

And that gets us to yesterday.   I haven't played yet today but I'll probably play a few rallies now.]]>
Before I begin, I got MKW day one, of course, and played it single player first.  Once I started playing the online play though, I quickly got into the online Knockout Tour mode.  And that is what this is: a log of my finishes in online Knockout Tours, with comments as I get frustrated by the usual Mario Kart nonsense.

And on that note, in Mario Kart, one of the key decisions is your vehicle and character combination.  I almost always use a pretty bad one: Rosalina on her snowmobile sled the Stellar Sled, with her Aurora costume.  I chose it because it's the best looking vehicle for her, it's clearly themed for Rosalina and her ice and snow mountain, but here's the issue: it has the lowest acceleration of any vehicle in the game.  Rosalina is a heavyweight character, so she's already on the slow acceleration and high top speed side, and pairing her with the absolute worst acceleration in the game is, well, it's "if I get hit it's often instant Game Over" material.  A better choice would be Rosalina with a vehicle with higher acceleration, to get the high top speed of a heavyweight character that is good in Knockout Tour but to also have some acceleration, because instantly losing every time I get hit within like a hundred yards of a checkpoint is, uh, not fun.  But I like my snowmobile and I've stuck with it for the entire time since I started playing.  And the results are... largely static rating.  I am 7930 rating today, and the first score I mention in this document says 'got over 8000 again'.  So uh yeah, I just play the game and don't really try to get better.  So yeah, the constant frustration below is real, but I also know that it's what is going to happen with this character/kart combo.  I choose to stick with it anyway.

But hey, is that fun?  Yes.  I feel kind of bad that I have never tried to actually get good at the game and still can't do most any of the cool tricks the good players can, but even so I like the game anyway and am still addicted to Mario Kart World.  I know I get frustrated and close the program and go watch Youtube or play some Mario Maker, but, like, I always go back and play some more, and it's almost always online Knockout Tour with Rosalina in the Dread Sled, because it's a beautiful looking game with exceptional gameplay.  It's fun, simple, easy to just chill out and play a few tours of... yeah, I'm still hooked, sadly.

So uh Nintendo, will we ever get DLC with new tracks for this game?  Please?  :(



The below list starts in late April.  Each line or paragraph is the games I played that day.  If I skip a day, well, I just didn't add to the document, so it's unmentioned unless I say something in the comments.

12 12 12 18 4 2 4 21 (or something like that, there may have been a few more mid-placement finishes)
18 1 24
18 13 1 24
I don't remember, there were too many. uh, 22 18 4 (some low ones) 6 (more low ones) 1 22 (quit for a bit here) 18 1 16 12 (quit)
2 6 17 2 5
3 6 (maybe something here?) 8 6
4 3 8 12 (quit for a while here) 11 5 [that 11... argh.  I finished 16, ~14, 12, 11, with the 11 because I was hit like a million times and got useless items.  Thanks Nintendo.]
3 15 (followed by crashout because of how nonsense that second one was)
14 4 11 17 8 (that last one was such infuriating nonsense, I was shot down midair in the flying cutscene going to the beginning of the track at the very end... so insanely unfair!  ruined a game where I only barely avoided getting eliminated at the first checkpoint because of a late shock, I was in 23rd right at the end but managed to draft off of the guy in 22nd and passed 22 and 21 with that boost just in front of the line...)
22 2 4 8 8 (in ranking points, the 2 and 4 left me -3 for the day, after that first one.  then the first 8th was a -14 and the second a ... +26? uh, okay. weird.)
2 15 (quit in frustration here)
9 (six finishes between 12 and 16 in a row here, like none of which felt like they happened because I played badly but because of bad luck or RNG) 1 (quit here down "only" like 90 points. Yes I'm surprised I didn't lose more rank too after so many bad finishes.)
15 7 4 7 1 (pretty good, got over 8000 rating again!)
(something like 12 or something, maybe 16? not sure) 16 4 16 This game is so stupid, I need to stop wasting my life with this RNG trash... but somehow I ended still over 8000.
20 (TWO shocks in the last section of the second segment, one immediately after both of the last two item spots.  Absolutely absurd garbage. They were what like 15 second apart?)
2 4 24 (nothing I can do about getting hit out of the air, dropping from 2nd to 20th instantly, then getting a triple mushroom at the next and last item spot, in 22nd, while everyone else got good items.  Exceptionally unlucky.) (later...) 11 12
14 7 3 8 7 5 (that may seem good but it didn't feel good. That last one, for instance? I was definitely in the top four, but this game, which doesn't seem to know what position you are actually in in online races, said I was in 5th, you lose.  It's just absurd how bad the lag correction is and that the game really doesn't seem to know what positions the players are in online and then just makes something up or something.)
2 20 (The usual story: I do well in a race, then the game targets me and makes sure I do badly in the next one.  This has happened far too many times for it to be a cooincidence.  I honestly think it is more likely intentional design than an accident by this point.)
3 18 4 2 4 15 (yeah, the usual pattern.)
9 18 20 5 5 13 (worst, most frustrating session in a long time.  Why am I addicted to this RNG trash?  For example, in BOTH of those fifth place finishes, I was in first or second entering the final turn, only, of course, to be hit repeatedly and get eliminated at the last possible second.  Could I see them passing me?  In the first of those no, of course not, they were invisible or on another route or something.  Naturally.  And that 13th was basically the same, 'hit right in front of the line, you're out'.  Over and over and over.)
I don't remember, a bunch of games. uh, like, 3, something middling, something, ended with a 1st.  overall I think I gained points, ended at 7994.
9 (had a big lead right near the checkpoint, shock+run over = incredibly frustrating RNG 9th.)
13 7 (somehow, I lost like 18 rating points with a pretty solid 7th place finish.  How they decide the points makes no sense to me.  I'm down to near 7900.) 18 (went off the side on the ice road.  my mistake.  pretty dumb in a race with 8 AIs, though... oh well.) 9 3 6 4 (break here) 6 13 16 20 (or something like that, there may have been another decent one in between the 6 and 16.  On that last 20, there's really nothing I could have done; I got unavoidably hit repeatedly and then the game blocked me from getting any powerups for the last several powerup spots.  The way this game punishes you so harshly for the complete random chance that is 'lol you went through the powerup spot but not nothing' is garbage game design, but that's how this game is.  I'm not upset, it's just incredibly poor design that it can happen.)
3 15 9
2 24 (the usual pattern yet again.)
(several days off here)
1 23
14
6 10 22 12 5 (overall down a bunch, I'm down to like 7800.  It felt like I got hit by one or two shells almost every single time I tried to use a mushroom the entire session, utterly absurd.) (break here) 15 22 18-ish (the game blocked me from getting anything from the last TWO item sets. result was obvious.) 2 2 6 (that last one was so frustrating, I had a huge lead... until I ran into an obstacle for no reason and then failed to go off the track to dodge the blue shell, 6th. bad play by me.)
3 1 2 8 (break) 8 2 (back over 8000! very good so far...) [after this I played the single race mode for a while for the first time in some time.  I'm only 7000 rated there, I haven't played it much and aren't any good.  Yes, after most of a year of playing this game, I still haven't tried to get good.  I can't charge jump up to shortcuts and secret routes and such, for instance.  My lack of skill immediately shows when I try this mode and start struggling immediately.  Still, my rating was so low that despite finishing 12th or lower in all races but one, I gained rating so longas I finished at least, like, 22nd... which I didn't always do.  This mode is kind of fun but requires a lot more skill and concentration than knockout tour.  It just depends on what you want.  I ended for the moment at 7190, dropping to that after a couple of last place finishes.  Given that most people in the room were over 8000 rating though, I think I did fine.] 5 15 8 5 12 [or something like that for those last four, but it must have been high-rated opponents because I stayed over 8000 at the end.]
12
[If I quit this game it will be because of how garbage the lag correction is.] 24 5 20 8 22 14 (and now I'm down a lot of points and well under 7800. just great.  At one point it changed my position from 19 to 21 without me passing anyone or without anyone passing me.  Then I got eliminated because I was below 20.  Do they have any idea what it happening at any given time in this game?) (later...) 3 4 3 15
15 6 3 8 16 24 6
5 2 9 (9? yeah, no.  I was in 6th at worst.  I have no idea where they got 9th from but there is no way that was accurate.)
5 3 (maybe a 5th to 8th here?) 4 (7990 something, several good races, time for it to target me...) 16 (yup! as I said. I got run over so many times in this one it's absurd.  I made some mistakes also that hurt, though, so it was also my fault.  But it was a late shock that doomed me, not much I could do about that.) 21 (another late shock. thanks Nintendo.) [service disconnection here, lose a bunch of points because of Nintendo server issue] 5 12 12 (I am sure I speak for everyone who plays this game regularly when I say that this game is both addictive and infuriatingly unfair and frustrating.  Those last two... I hate this game sometimes.)
6 21 9 16 (down a LOT, to barely over 7700.)
5 5 3 8 (7775) 14 (my own fault here, went off the side.)
9 1 1 (7850, it was satisfying but I wasn't getting many points for these wins) 21 (oh, you just won twice in a row? Nice!  We'll make sure to block you from getting any items this time, blocking you entirely the first few item spots and ending with a shock right after the last item spot.  Have "fun"!) 13 5 16 4
4 (in this one, two people literally fell out of the sky in front of me as I crossed the finish line in second.  "fourth".) 8 13
14 13 10 19 (when you repeatedly get eliminated because of RNG nonsense like shocks and being denied getting any items from multiple item spots at the end of a segment, as happened in one form or another in all four of these rallies, this game feels like one of the worst games ever made.  Getting through the first checkpoint in 20th twice in these four rallies was tense, but who cares when the game's just about to completely destroy me with RNG I can do absolutely nothing about a few minutes later?)
4 3 17 (down to below where I started with that one) 4 3 1 (golden mushroom at the last stretch of far away oasis propelled me to a somewhat undeserved win from behind, fun stuff!) 3 6 (this race was a total mess, there must have been so much lag!  Stuff kept happening that has no explanation, first I hit a shell but no I kept going and the shell broke, then at the 16 checkpoint I was in 18th and it was over, but for some unexplained reason four people stopped just before the line (I don't think they were all hit?) and I somehow was in 14th, I have no clue what happened there, and then I was in a great position to be in the top four nearing the start of the final lap... only to be hit by ice flower shots right near the goal.  Sad end to a previously absurd rally.) 8 (maybe another 5 to 8 here) 2 8 12
2 3 17 3 (back over 8000 at last, whew...)
12 (oh, so I get an ice flower and a single mushroom in like 8th at the last item set before the checkpoint, while everyone behind me gets good items, bullet and goldens, and obviously I finish in last? I hate this game sometimes...) 1 3 (the player list said that there were only five humans in this one, which was very odd if true.  usually lobbies are mostly full.  two of those five were really good though, one was over 9000 rating, in knockout tour! don't see that very often.)
3 7 (should have slowed down and gotten passed so I'd get a better item, with that huge shortcut right at the end before the savana track what was I doing staying in 2nd? I didn't have enough of a lead for that...) 7 11 11 8 (maybe a 6 here) 12 13 (this game is so deeply unfair sometimes that I don't know what to say, how are repeated shocks right near the end of the rally reasonable design?  Being in a better spot should be good, not bad... but no, killed by shocks over and over here.)
(8 or 12 or something) 11 (maybe another 12?) 8 (in this one I got like 18th, 12th, and 8th at knockout checkpoints, but sadly I couldn't get above that.  I had a bullet and was way behind in 8th after being hit, heading towards DK Mountain, and used the bullet.  That got me to 4th. After that I got basically no items and was of course passed back again.  I could have waited for the ending shortcut for the bullet, but with how far behind I was I'm unconvinced that it would have caught me up... not sure though.  Ah well.)  6 (at this point I was about even on the day) 15
16 21 8 23 10 12 8 (I could complain at length about several of these games -- and I should because I lost like 200 rating here, back down to the mid 7800s -- but like, the RNG decided I needed to die, so it killed me, with the perfect selections of incidents, over and over.  Not once did it feel like I had a strong chance of doing any better than I did, it was more like 'it's a miracle that I wasn't eliminated even sooner!' every single time.  Just ludicrous nonsense - getting my items stolen by ghosts over and over at the worst possible times, blue shells combined with ghosts, shocks after the last item set repeatedly, red shells of course, etc, etc.)
2 2 20 (item theft and shock really need to be nerfed.) 11 10 3 17
10 21 (both of these ended because of being run over right in front of the checkpoint.  Nothing more infuriating exists in this game. back to 7770.) 5 3 21 5 (maybe not in that order for these four, but there was a third, another bad finish, and it ended with a 5th.  In both 5ths I should have made the final four but got hit right at the end close to the line.  So yeah that's five 'hit right by the line and thus eliminated' endings in six rallies. "Fun".) (3 finishes in a row between 10th and 12th here) 7 (shock after last item set.) 17
19 4 2 1 (I fell back a bit somewhat on purpose and was in 6th at the final item spot approaching the big curve to Faraway Oasis... and got blue shell + golden.  Used immediately that jumped me up to 1st, which I easily held through the lap.) 9 (there is nothing I could have done to finish higher in this one, I was hit WAY too many times.  Got targeted hard.)
19 8 11 (two eliminations here because the game didn't give me any speed items at the end of a segment. Awful awful RNG.) 4 7 8 21
6 11 11 4 (start: 7850. end: 7820. Inordinate punishment for the decent 11th place finishes, that's for sure.)
14 (shock right before the checkpoint killed me from 6th place.) 19 (I did nothing wrong here, not sure how I was so far back...) 1 5 (very frustrating but a decent finish...)
8 (when you're in 4th nearing the last checkpoint and the guy behind you has red shells... well, only one way that's going to end, sadly.) 18 (oh, I only get ice and fire flowers while everyone else gets good items? why thank you RNG...)
5 14 19 14 8 12 12 8 18
6 6 (somehow gaining almost nothing for these good finishes) 17
15 (after this I was under 7700) 3 4 [8 or something] [something mediocre here]
(start: 7770-ish) 4 19 (break) 4 2 2 (stop while I'm ahead for once...)
17 (and then I quit in disgust to play the new version of Dead or Alive 6, Last Round, and work on my website.)
6 4 4 3 "21" (that last one had like the worst lag I have ever seen in this game.  I was in 21st approaching the first checkpoint, used a golden mushroom and gained zero ground on the pack (even though this is impossible), then finally I passed a couple of them, go through the checkpoint in something like 19th... then several seconds later the game kicks me out and says I wasn't in the top 20.  I have no idea what happened there but it should not happen.)
17 (somehow in about 16th or lower I got a triple shell and single mushroom. Uh yeah that's not going to cut it.) 16 (laaaag!) 4 8 4 3 17
[This is the day they added two new Knockout Tour rallies! Very exciting stuff, 25% more content instantly in the main mode I play!) 12 8 3 4 (maybe another 4) 3 8 (and I think there were a few more, none terrible)
21 6 10 24 (I was in about 20th and got a single shell and a coin shell at the last item spot before the first checkpoint. The result was obvious.  How is such an absurdly bad draw even possible?) 8 
8 17 (break) 4 (I should have won this, but got hit one too many times at the end...) 21 (the new wario shipyard to bowser castle rally is cool, except for the end of the first section. that part is great until you get out of the water, after that it's a narrow canyon with too few item spots.  Basically it seriously punishes heavy characters because of not having enough items to make up for the chaos, I've gotten knocked out here multiple times without doing anything at all wrong.) 13 5 2 7 8
21 (four games where I finished at best 7th and mid at best twice, but yet somehow gained 100 rating points? I have no idea how that happened...) 1 (ended on Wario Shipyard, fun track.  I used a feather well to get to the front late.)
21 21 24 24 12 16 (So what happened here? The RNG decided it hates me, that's what.  I played fine but the game wants me to lose.  Almost every single one of these races had shocks either right at the end of a segment or immediately after I go through the last item set, me getting run over or hit by someone with a star right in front of the line, and more.  I'm not kidding about the shocks, either -- that happened four times in six rallies.  Absolutely insane luck that I have trouble believing was random.  That one 12th place finish was probably one of my best performances ever -- I survived multiple late shocks and getting hit or run over again and again, before finally falling to the second or third late shock of the rally.  There's nothing I could have done about that, or almost any of these.)
12 11 13 4 17 7 8 13 19 (shocks really are ruining this game.  Something needs to be done.) uh I forget... 16 9 22 1 16 10 or something like that. (I'm down 500 points from a couple of days ago.)
2 2 4 3 (then I was in 4th, well into the next rally, past the halfway point, when Nintendo's servers messed up and it Communication Errored us out of the game.  This shouldn't punish me since it was Nintendo's issue, right?  No, of course not.  Minus, like, 75 rating or such, as if I'd gotten 24th, even though either only 8 or 12 players were left in the game by that point and, again, I did not disconnect; the issue was on their end.  This game has very serious problems.)
19 19 20 12 (I don't think I made any significant mistakes here, I just was denied from getting items after going through item spots, shocked right at the end of a segment, and given useless items (coin shell in a near the back spot is inordinately cruel!).)
21 17 24 21 (I am entirely serious when I say that I made no mistakes of note here.  It was all losing because of being denied items at item spots, every time.)
[here I take a week off, had vacation and decided not to take the Switch 2 with me.  Good riddance to this game for a while, I'm down to like 7450.]
14 (lost because I didn't get an item from the item spot, as usual.) 1 1 (break) 1 15 (break) 1 15
1 10 22 4 4 23 (sometimes I truly hate this game.)
4 2 2 7 (7773 rating)
2 19 4 (maybe another 2 here) 15 (the existence of the shock is garbage game design which ruins this game. What determines whether I do okay or not is not skill, it's the luck of the draw of where the shock happens.)
15 11 (on the positive side, at ~7800 as I am, I'm not losing nearly as much for these mediocre finishes as I would at over 8000... but it's still big hits.) 16 (I was in first late but then there was a shock while I was off road, instant first to last.) 1 2 (this was a satisfying one) "21" (I'm not sure if I'd have made it because the game blocked me from getting an item at the last item spot, but then the screen went black and there was a communication error so I'll never know.) (break) 23 9 2 7 3 8 (break) 22 18 1 5
21 17 7 8 15 (two eliminations here from being called out of bounds when I don't think I was.  The arbitrary nature of where the invisible walls are is somewhat broken, in some areas you can be past the fences and be fine while in others it calls you out if you're, like, not even touching the fence yet...)
3 15 1 (did I say 7800? That was nice.  Now it's 'wow, I just got back to 7700!')
1 6 (and I am just over 7800 again.  Good rallies here, that was fun.)
10 (then I quit in irritation)
13 12 (both of these ended because of being blocked from getting an item at the last spot before the checkpoint) 2 (very narrowly avoided that happening again, I was blocked at the second to last item spot...) 13 (shock immediately after last item spot, instant loss.) (break) 7 21 (shock right after the last item spot.) 2 4 (break) 2 21 (say it with me, I went through the last item spot and got nothing, like usual.  In single player this is not an issue because you can see where the other racers are, but in online, the lag correction in this game basically allows things to happen on each persons' screen that don't actually happen, then the server arbitrarily decides which persons' version of reality is the "correct" one.  So, did you run that person over but they didn't slow down?  On their screen you missed them.  Did I go through the item box, clearly going through a box far enough other players that it shuld respawn?  Ooh, sorry, on their screen they were closer to you, you die.  Or maybe you don't; other times I pass through immediately behind another racer, and still get a box.  This game is unacceptably inconsistent online because of its atrociously broken lag correction system, and it ruins the game as often as not -- just look at how often I complain about this!  Offline it happens only a fraction as often because I would be able to actually know where the other racers are.) 7 2 (and I'm over 7900 again.)
1 11 16 20 7 7 (maybe another 20 here) 4 (I was almost at 8000 after that nice first game, but now am basically back where I started the day at barely over 7900.)
(maybe something mid here?) 15 6
20 (too tired to focus. bed. I was in first late but got hit.)
11 12 (maybe a bad one here like 20th or something? I forget) 1 (I have no idea how I won this, should have been second. Absurd ending, I fell off the track and somehow won.) 7 7 (7930-ish so still basically flat over the last few days.) 16 (I was playing badly here but that's not why I lost, a late shock was.) 23 (no clue why I was so far back here... oh well.) 15 1 5 (3?) 7 6
8 16 (was in first late, got run over. it happens.) 1 (finally over 8000 again!)
21 3 8 2 (up like two points. It's kind of depressing that three good finishes are required to make up for one killed-by-RNG one...)
4 15 4 16 (so incredibly frustrating...)
12 10
1 (what happened, somehow both people ahead of me fell behind near the end and I won...) 8
12 15 1 (fun ending here) 5 14 10 9 (these last three were incredibly frustrating!)
10 23 (talking about frustrating, there is nothing I could have done here.  I was blocked from getting an item at the first two item spots, got hit five or six times including being knocked out of the air on the cannon section as you approach the airships, and then, in last place way behind everyone, got form the last item box spot... a golden. Yeah that's useless, only bullet would have had a chance of catching me up.) 10 8 18 18 10 4 (woo, only -250 on the day... erm.)
24 (second to last place at the last item spot, got a useless golden. then I got run over, though the result wouldn't have changed without that. Bullet really should be more common in the last spot.) 22 (but hey at least that time I got AN item! This time I was denied any items for no apparent reason.  That you can not get an item online when you go through the item boxes because of random phantom other players who you can't see in the actual places they are in is by far the worst thing about this game and it needs to change.) 4 (the game decided to charge jump when I pushed the drift button because it thought I wasn't pushing the stick I guess even though I definitely was as it was in a turn, so I went off the side and finished 4th instead of 3rd.  Why in the world are drift and charge jump on the same button?  It's incomprehensibly obnoxious and bad game design!) 5
1 4 16 1 2 5
19 1 16 11 (ugh, sometimes I really hate how RNG-based this game is. Other than the 1st that I won because of RNG (the guy in first in front of me was blue shelled right near the finish), there it was good. :P  But those other three... awful.)
4 4 (+15 only for two pretty good finishes? Annoying... should be more...)
8 24 (late shock. nothing I could do.) 8 14 (and I think another mid one)
8 2 3 (7879)
1 8
7 17 4 1 13 17 2 (7913) (two mid finishes next for a small gain)
11 4 5 ~7-ish 7 10 13 (and let's quit there before I lose lots of points...)
2 7 10 (over 8100, really? that 2nd got me a lot of points somehow?)
3 7 ~13 19 5 5 (break) 14 5 10
11 10 10 ~10 (so so frustrating!)
2 6 2 15 (I should have stopped while I was ahead... I got up to 8250.)
6 11 15 22 6 10 (-200 because I lost like 40 for the 11th and 30 for the 15th while gaining only two points for the second 6th, which yes makes OH so much sense! Great point system you have there!)
10 8 (somehow I gained quite a few points from these and am over 8100.)
15 7 4 (blue shelled right near the end in that last one when I was in first.  Welcome to Mario Kart.) 23 (well there goes that 'about even on points' thing.)
6 (+50 rating. I have no idea how ranking in this game works anymore... like, yes I know that it varies depending on the ratings of the people you are playing against, but the variance here seems a bit extreme?)
~22-ish 24 (then I decided it was finally time to play some Mario Maker for the first time in quite a while.)
4 2 1 (break) 17 17 14 (here I lost because I was definitely holding over but the game decided to go into a charge jump instead of a drift because of the games' bad controls.) 7
(three games here which were pretty much even. I forget, like 12 7 14 or something?)
17 (this is the kind of infuriating garbage that makes me want to quit this game. I was in 15th, with a golden, at the 16 checkpoint.  It wasn't stolen and the shock was earlier.  It should be fine, right?  No, somehow a big mushroom and bullet player both passed me and nobody was hit and everyone had speed items, I lose ground.  This is just garbage design.  What is the point of speed items when everyone has them and nobody loses ground... other than me of course even though I had one also?) ... Oh as for my rating it's about 8030.
3 5 7 2 (somehow, of these, I gained 34 rating points from the first two combined then 33 from the 7th place and about less than that from the 2nd.  Yeah.  I ended up a bit over 8100.)
~19 (break, ughh that one was frustrating) 13 17 10 19 (and now I'm down to 8020 after some incredibly frustrating games loaded with nonsense) 2 (I was one of three Rosalinas in the final four. Amusing stuff, heh.)
12 10 3 12
24 (under 8000 again. Have I learned anything from this game?)
12
(Nintendo Direct today, and... all we get are two more Knockout Tours and adding the ten SNES tracks hidden in the world as sort of selectable courses.  Where is the DLC addon Nintendo???) 3 15 15 8 20 8 10 (and only that final one was on one of the two new rallies.  Seriously, couldn't they have increased their likelihood for the launch?) (break) 24 21 17 8 18 (okay that was the worst session I've had in a long time, down over 200... and very little of it was my fault, it was almost all pure RNG, being denied items at the last item spot over and over because of blind luck, and such.  Mario Kart is kind of a trash game.)
2 17 8 8 (The same rally played at least three times in a row here.  What is the "randomizer" doing?  It wasn't one of the new ones either.)
17 8 7 8 8 9 (I may have gained points here, but losing at just about the same point every time feels very bad.  Also, did they actually add new circuits?  Every one of these was the original 8.)
8 9 (more of the same, ugh.  Also yeah the new tracks continue to not exist.)
17 10 4 23 10 2 20 (on the negative side it's like -200 again but on the positive side the new rallies actually appeared!  Also, the bad finishes here were mostly not my fault, there's nothing I can do about things like a shock immediately after the last item spot or being run over twice in the last 30 seconds of a segment.) [some more bad ones here, I forget, ended up down to ~7650, 500 points down from my peak a week or two ago even though I am playing just as well or better.  RNG game.] 5 5 (break) 16 8 (break) 13
13 20
1 (7700 now) 13 14 4 4 5 16 (I know I say it a lot, but the worst thing in this game, by far, is that you can go through an item spot and not get an item because of lag-related RNG.) 1 6 4 6 8 16 1 (I was almost back at 8000, but lost like 60+ for the 16th and gained only 47 for the 1st after it, so I'm at like 7970 or so. ah well, much better.  Also, a few of the first couple of rallies today were on the new tracks but then everything else was on the original eight.  It's really obnoxious how rare the new ones are!  Improve the randomizer!)

And that gets us to yesterday.   I haven't played yet today but I'll probably play a few rallies now.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7629 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:30:27 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7629

This looks pretty much perfect!  Solid build, clicky mechanical switches, an adjustable gate shape (I like the octagonal gate personally), and even a rotating knob and a trackball!

It's announced for the Switch 2, but they've stated it's also compatible with PC.]]>

This looks pretty much perfect!  Solid build, clicky mechanical switches, an adjustable gate shape (I like the octagonal gate personally), and even a rotating knob and a trackball!

It's announced for the Switch 2, but they've stated it's also compatible with PC.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7628 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 08:03:46 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7628
They also added a whole new campaign involving the scarlet crusade going to war up in Northrend against the Lich King, last seen rocking out on an ice guitar.

It's going to be hard to append an extra chapter onto the original story after all these years with a lot of brand new writers, but looks like they're trying.  No, I haven't plunked down the cash for it.  I'm not really sure how interested I am after how badly they botched Reforged.  At least the new attempt at graphical updates seems milder.  I do hope they didn't just AI upscale everything...

There's going to be a Starcraft 3 scheduled for 2030, and a Diablo V scheduled for 2029.  Huh...  They're getting a bit more intense with these new games, but so far just a bunch of new entries in existing franchises.  I'm more interested in seeing some brand new ideas.

Wowld of Wowcraft is getting some kind of retro mode, but completely revamped.  I guess everyone's nostalgic for taking months to level a character and grinding a billion herbs to take on one wiped dungeon encounter and maybe pay for a horse.  They're adding high elves.  No higher elves.  They live in the sky.  C'mon guys, the year of sky stuff was a long time ago, with Skylander and Skyrim and Skyward Sword.  Ya missed the airship!  Everything's void now!  Oh wait, looks like they're doing void stuff too.  They got a dark elf lady floating around.  Anyway, they did a total graphics revamp on the classic stuff so there's that.  Looks decent, but I can't see myself dumping a lot of cash and time on an MMO grind again.

Overwatch got a new character.  Still no story mode.  I guess they dropped the 2?  Too bad they didn't bring back the modes from 1.]]>
They also added a whole new campaign involving the scarlet crusade going to war up in Northrend against the Lich King, last seen rocking out on an ice guitar.

It's going to be hard to append an extra chapter onto the original story after all these years with a lot of brand new writers, but looks like they're trying.  No, I haven't plunked down the cash for it.  I'm not really sure how interested I am after how badly they botched Reforged.  At least the new attempt at graphical updates seems milder.  I do hope they didn't just AI upscale everything...

There's going to be a Starcraft 3 scheduled for 2030, and a Diablo V scheduled for 2029.  Huh...  They're getting a bit more intense with these new games, but so far just a bunch of new entries in existing franchises.  I'm more interested in seeing some brand new ideas.

Wowld of Wowcraft is getting some kind of retro mode, but completely revamped.  I guess everyone's nostalgic for taking months to level a character and grinding a billion herbs to take on one wiped dungeon encounter and maybe pay for a horse.  They're adding high elves.  No higher elves.  They live in the sky.  C'mon guys, the year of sky stuff was a long time ago, with Skylander and Skyrim and Skyward Sword.  Ya missed the airship!  Everything's void now!  Oh wait, looks like they're doing void stuff too.  They got a dark elf lady floating around.  Anyway, they did a total graphics revamp on the classic stuff so there's that.  Looks decent, but I can't see myself dumping a lot of cash and time on an MMO grind again.

Overwatch got a new character.  Still no story mode.  I guess they dropped the 2?  Too bad they didn't bring back the modes from 1.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7627 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 19:01:06 +0000 Darunia]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7627
TAKE NOTE!

BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENY, H.R.M. DARUNIA S. GORON, ROI DES GORONS, LORD OF IBERIA, SCOURGE OF MOLDAVIA, PURGE OF THE PYRENEES, MASTER OF CHIC-FIL-A, etc., etc., ALL RESIDENTS OF THESE PREMISES ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO TAKE NOTE, THAT HENCEFORTH, THIS TERRITORY BELONGS TO THE GORON EMPIRE, AND HAS BEEN DULY ANNEXED.


AND FURTHERMORE,

it was a gloomy September afternoon at Tendo City. Weltall, Etoven, DarkJaguar, A Black Falcon et Geno were all sitting around the TendoCity bar. Silently, they sat at the bar, as they had done nigh daily going back years now... once in a while, one of them let out a belch... a far... or a witty comment about their glorious bygone days, of decades ago -- when Tendo City dazzled with lights, and sleek sophistication. Yes, it had once been something to behold!  Weltall especially remembered those days... remembered Cypherstation and Fortress 64, and the days of glorious warfare. But that was so long ago now. Wearily, he sighed, and took another sip from his frosty mug of Diet Coke.

A knock came at the door. A loud, sturdy knock. All of the bearded, scraggly faces arose at once, and they exchanged glances. "Who can it be now?" asked Geno. The whole population of Tendizens was gathered... and they were located too far off the interstate to get many tourists.

The knock repeated -- louder, forceful -- not so much asking as demanding entry.

"Gadzooks!" exclaimed DarkJaguar, "methinks there be someone outside!"

"Verily, I shall go thither, for that they may enter!" added Geno.

Geno shuffled slowly across the dusty floor... so many tables, their chairs up... soft 80s music played overhead... and he reached the door in his fuzzy slippers, and put his hand to the knob.

::KNOCK-KNOCK!:: thundered the door, so much so that the hinges themselves rattled!

Geno unlocked the door, and turned the knob.

"Who goest there?" he timidly inquired --

--just as the door exploded open, in a torrent of splinters -- all at the bar ducked and covered their heads, as Darunia stepped in, wearing the fatigues of a WWII general, a cigar in his broad Goron mouth! Flanking him on both sides, dozens of elite Goron troops stormed through the door, hopping over the mess, and Geno, as they ran in full military regalia, each one armed with a submachine gun. The sound of their boots tapping across the floor as they lined the walls, and sealed off the exits, drowned out the tunes of Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere."

And then -- there was silence... a deep silence... apart from Fleetwood Mac softly humming in the background... and nobody moved.

Slowly, Weltall lifted his hands from his eyes. Looking up, he could scarcely believe his eyes! There stood, towering in his marshall glory, Darunia S. Goron, his old foe -- and adversary -- and also, secretly, hero! One by one, the other denizens of Tendo City followed suit, coming out of hiding like the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz to meet Dorothy... their jaws dropped, and they lay there aghast, astounded!

"It's  YOU--!!!" exclaimed A Black Falcon, pointing in amazement at the rugged, muscular, masculine force that bulkily stood over him.

Darunia laughed!

"Yes... old friends, rejoice for I have returned! Let the occupation begin!"

Weltall got to one knee, and then rose, unsurely. "O Lord, Darunia, conqueror of the Zora! Defeater of the Gerudos! Woe of the Dutch! Humbly, is it really thee?"

"I see no further need to speak in such an archaic dialect," spake Darunia.

"Sorry. What are you doing here?"

Darunia walked across the dusty bar, with a riding crop at his side. He paced once or twice, and then said, "I was bored... conquering all of Hyrule, and then the Azores, is such dull work. What does one do, after he has conquered the world? An anyway---- I wanted to say hi, and see if y'all were still kickin' or not!"

And then Geno lunged for a switchblade, and leapt up to his feet. Foaming at the mouth, he lunched at the great Goronic lord! But ere it got more than a few feet, six Goron troops leapt forward to block him -- forming an impressive and spectacular phalanx of might and brawn, each one leveling a submachine gun directly at Geno... who froze, and reluctantly retreated.

And then...]]>
TAKE NOTE!

BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENY, H.R.M. DARUNIA S. GORON, ROI DES GORONS, LORD OF IBERIA, SCOURGE OF MOLDAVIA, PURGE OF THE PYRENEES, MASTER OF CHIC-FIL-A, etc., etc., ALL RESIDENTS OF THESE PREMISES ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO TAKE NOTE, THAT HENCEFORTH, THIS TERRITORY BELONGS TO THE GORON EMPIRE, AND HAS BEEN DULY ANNEXED.


AND FURTHERMORE,

it was a gloomy September afternoon at Tendo City. Weltall, Etoven, DarkJaguar, A Black Falcon et Geno were all sitting around the TendoCity bar. Silently, they sat at the bar, as they had done nigh daily going back years now... once in a while, one of them let out a belch... a far... or a witty comment about their glorious bygone days, of decades ago -- when Tendo City dazzled with lights, and sleek sophistication. Yes, it had once been something to behold!  Weltall especially remembered those days... remembered Cypherstation and Fortress 64, and the days of glorious warfare. But that was so long ago now. Wearily, he sighed, and took another sip from his frosty mug of Diet Coke.

A knock came at the door. A loud, sturdy knock. All of the bearded, scraggly faces arose at once, and they exchanged glances. "Who can it be now?" asked Geno. The whole population of Tendizens was gathered... and they were located too far off the interstate to get many tourists.

The knock repeated -- louder, forceful -- not so much asking as demanding entry.

"Gadzooks!" exclaimed DarkJaguar, "methinks there be someone outside!"

"Verily, I shall go thither, for that they may enter!" added Geno.

Geno shuffled slowly across the dusty floor... so many tables, their chairs up... soft 80s music played overhead... and he reached the door in his fuzzy slippers, and put his hand to the knob.

::KNOCK-KNOCK!:: thundered the door, so much so that the hinges themselves rattled!

Geno unlocked the door, and turned the knob.

"Who goest there?" he timidly inquired --

--just as the door exploded open, in a torrent of splinters -- all at the bar ducked and covered their heads, as Darunia stepped in, wearing the fatigues of a WWII general, a cigar in his broad Goron mouth! Flanking him on both sides, dozens of elite Goron troops stormed through the door, hopping over the mess, and Geno, as they ran in full military regalia, each one armed with a submachine gun. The sound of their boots tapping across the floor as they lined the walls, and sealed off the exits, drowned out the tunes of Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere."

And then -- there was silence... a deep silence... apart from Fleetwood Mac softly humming in the background... and nobody moved.

Slowly, Weltall lifted his hands from his eyes. Looking up, he could scarcely believe his eyes! There stood, towering in his marshall glory, Darunia S. Goron, his old foe -- and adversary -- and also, secretly, hero! One by one, the other denizens of Tendo City followed suit, coming out of hiding like the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz to meet Dorothy... their jaws dropped, and they lay there aghast, astounded!

"It's  YOU--!!!" exclaimed A Black Falcon, pointing in amazement at the rugged, muscular, masculine force that bulkily stood over him.

Darunia laughed!

"Yes... old friends, rejoice for I have returned! Let the occupation begin!"

Weltall got to one knee, and then rose, unsurely. "O Lord, Darunia, conqueror of the Zora! Defeater of the Gerudos! Woe of the Dutch! Humbly, is it really thee?"

"I see no further need to speak in such an archaic dialect," spake Darunia.

"Sorry. What are you doing here?"

Darunia walked across the dusty bar, with a riding crop at his side. He paced once or twice, and then said, "I was bored... conquering all of Hyrule, and then the Azores, is such dull work. What does one do, after he has conquered the world? An anyway---- I wanted to say hi, and see if y'all were still kickin' or not!"

And then Geno lunged for a switchblade, and leapt up to his feet. Foaming at the mouth, he lunched at the great Goronic lord! But ere it got more than a few feet, six Goron troops leapt forward to block him -- forming an impressive and spectacular phalanx of might and brawn, each one leveling a submachine gun directly at Geno... who froze, and reluctantly retreated.

And then...]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7626 Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:49:05 +0000 N-Man]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7626  
To be precise, I was a huge fan of the early era where Gail Tilden was editor-in-chief and where the magazine design was heavily inspired by Japanese sensibilities. I never really understood this at the time, but learned about it in this interview: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/n...e-magazine
 
At the time, NP was all about the maps. Each 'featured game' (as opposed to the previews or reviews) had full stage maps for at least several levels. This is a classic one from Zelda 2:



What the article above explains is that the maps were a suggestion from Minoru Arakawa, who took inspiration from existing Japanese magazines like Famitsu. They were supplemented by little blurbs about different areas in the game, as well as game art showing the characters, items, enemies, etc. This was so cool as it really gave you a feel for the game without fully spoiling it. In some cases, I think I enjoyed the maps more than the games themselves.
 
The very first issue has some great examples as well. I love that these have illustrations of things happening in the game, in the level that is shown on that very page:

 
        


They continued using this format heavily for several years, across different consoles and different genres. While it was of course excellent for 2D side-scrollers and top-down games, NP used it in many different declinations, including isometric games and racing games. It did get a bit silly in some cases, like for beat-em-ups that were basically completely linear and did not really involve any sort of navigation.
 



  
I always thought the design approach – the maps, the art, the layouts, the little info boxes – was really fantastic. Other parts of the magazine were excellent as well, including reader engagement pieces like polls and contest as well as the previews section, but the game features with their maps always felt like the heart of the magazine. NP moved away from this approach gradually in the mid-90s. Part of this was due to adopting an 'edgier' look to fit with the times, but it's also probably the case that 3D games were trickier to map out effectively (with 2D games, you could just take snapshots of the screen as you moved forward). Articles also generally became more text-heavy. It seems like, around this time, and even more so in the 2000s, video game writing became about opinions, which was never very appealing to me.
 
I have always wondered why this first incarnation of NP had such an impact on me. It's nostalgia, sure, but there are things that create a stronger sense of nostalgia than others. One of my assumptions has always been that, well, there was a change in 'tone' from the 1980s to the 1990s and I preferred the colourful and energetic design from the 80s to the dark, edgy trends of the 90s. I still think that is true, but reading that interview with Gail Tilden made me realize that Japanese aesthetic sensibilities of that era also had a strong impact on NP's early layouts and design.
 
While randomly browsing Ebay for classic board games, I landed on Bandai's range of Joy Family board games from the 80s and it struck me that, while obviously different from a magazine, there was something about their design intent that made them feel similar to (what I think is) NP's golden era. There is a guy called Nathan Altice who has made a career out of studying these games and tracing their history back to a type of ancient Japanese board game called sugoroku. You can read some of his work here: https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/view/1105 and see Altice's collection of Bandai board games here: https://analogjoy.club/
 
It is probably not a surprise that many of these board games are, in fact, based on video game licenses. I'm not entirely sure how to describe the aesthetic connection between Joy Family and Nintendo Power design, but I think it is about using art to breathe life into a map or other structured layout. In retrospect, many of the level maps in NP kind of feel like board games – you can imagine moving a little plastic figure across the screens, rolling dice to pass each challenge. There is also an aspect to them that seems unabashedly hand-made, which is appealing in this era of automatic everything. A few years ago, someone gave me a book called Rakugaki about the "Japanese art of scribbling". One of the taglines is that it is about "creating a large universe with small drawings". I think that is part of it too.
 
One of my favorite Bandai board game designs is Horror House, which was also published in English in the UK by a company called GT Games – unlike most Joy Family games, which were exclusively sold in Japan.



Here is a board game based on the Ghosts & Goblins (Daimakaimura) franchise:



Anyway, I realize that Nintendo Power was a marketing vehicle for Nintendo. But, as that interview also concludes, it was just about as honest as you can get for marketing, because it was made by people who genuinely loved what they were selling. They also had a vision expressed through a visual design philosophy, which I think video games in general have somewhat lost over time. When I see Switch (or other console) cases with repetitive, cluttered, uninspired computer-generated graphics, being sold spine-up on shelves stacked with dozens of other games so you can't really tell what is what without squinting, I do get nostalgic about the visual presentation from bygone times.]]>  
To be precise, I was a huge fan of the early era where Gail Tilden was editor-in-chief and where the magazine design was heavily inspired by Japanese sensibilities. I never really understood this at the time, but learned about it in this interview: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/n...e-magazine
 
At the time, NP was all about the maps. Each 'featured game' (as opposed to the previews or reviews) had full stage maps for at least several levels. This is a classic one from Zelda 2:



What the article above explains is that the maps were a suggestion from Minoru Arakawa, who took inspiration from existing Japanese magazines like Famitsu. They were supplemented by little blurbs about different areas in the game, as well as game art showing the characters, items, enemies, etc. This was so cool as it really gave you a feel for the game without fully spoiling it. In some cases, I think I enjoyed the maps more than the games themselves.
 
The very first issue has some great examples as well. I love that these have illustrations of things happening in the game, in the level that is shown on that very page:

 
        


They continued using this format heavily for several years, across different consoles and different genres. While it was of course excellent for 2D side-scrollers and top-down games, NP used it in many different declinations, including isometric games and racing games. It did get a bit silly in some cases, like for beat-em-ups that were basically completely linear and did not really involve any sort of navigation.
 



  
I always thought the design approach – the maps, the art, the layouts, the little info boxes – was really fantastic. Other parts of the magazine were excellent as well, including reader engagement pieces like polls and contest as well as the previews section, but the game features with their maps always felt like the heart of the magazine. NP moved away from this approach gradually in the mid-90s. Part of this was due to adopting an 'edgier' look to fit with the times, but it's also probably the case that 3D games were trickier to map out effectively (with 2D games, you could just take snapshots of the screen as you moved forward). Articles also generally became more text-heavy. It seems like, around this time, and even more so in the 2000s, video game writing became about opinions, which was never very appealing to me.
 
I have always wondered why this first incarnation of NP had such an impact on me. It's nostalgia, sure, but there are things that create a stronger sense of nostalgia than others. One of my assumptions has always been that, well, there was a change in 'tone' from the 1980s to the 1990s and I preferred the colourful and energetic design from the 80s to the dark, edgy trends of the 90s. I still think that is true, but reading that interview with Gail Tilden made me realize that Japanese aesthetic sensibilities of that era also had a strong impact on NP's early layouts and design.
 
While randomly browsing Ebay for classic board games, I landed on Bandai's range of Joy Family board games from the 80s and it struck me that, while obviously different from a magazine, there was something about their design intent that made them feel similar to (what I think is) NP's golden era. There is a guy called Nathan Altice who has made a career out of studying these games and tracing their history back to a type of ancient Japanese board game called sugoroku. You can read some of his work here: https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/view/1105 and see Altice's collection of Bandai board games here: https://analogjoy.club/
 
It is probably not a surprise that many of these board games are, in fact, based on video game licenses. I'm not entirely sure how to describe the aesthetic connection between Joy Family and Nintendo Power design, but I think it is about using art to breathe life into a map or other structured layout. In retrospect, many of the level maps in NP kind of feel like board games – you can imagine moving a little plastic figure across the screens, rolling dice to pass each challenge. There is also an aspect to them that seems unabashedly hand-made, which is appealing in this era of automatic everything. A few years ago, someone gave me a book called Rakugaki about the "Japanese art of scribbling". One of the taglines is that it is about "creating a large universe with small drawings". I think that is part of it too.
 
One of my favorite Bandai board game designs is Horror House, which was also published in English in the UK by a company called GT Games – unlike most Joy Family games, which were exclusively sold in Japan.



Here is a board game based on the Ghosts & Goblins (Daimakaimura) franchise:



Anyway, I realize that Nintendo Power was a marketing vehicle for Nintendo. But, as that interview also concludes, it was just about as honest as you can get for marketing, because it was made by people who genuinely loved what they were selling. They also had a vision expressed through a visual design philosophy, which I think video games in general have somewhat lost over time. When I see Switch (or other console) cases with repetitive, cluttered, uninspired computer-generated graphics, being sold spine-up on shelves stacked with dozens of other games so you can't really tell what is what without squinting, I do get nostalgic about the visual presentation from bygone times.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7625 Tue, 08 Sep 2026 20:41:28 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7625
The game's overall design hasn't changed too significantly.  Near as I can tell from the preview, there's not a billion new minigames slathered on like too much sauce.  What they did do is smooth out the gameplay in some dramatic ways.  The frame rate looks fairly solid (though I haven't seen any analysis of it, so it may not quite hit fixed 60, but it looks smooth to my eyes).  The character reacts in a timely way too.  They replaced Link's autojumping mechanic with manual jumping you can do whenever.  I'm not yet sure what I prefer, but we'll see.  His swimming certainly looks a lot smoother on top of that.  The game still has transition scenes into the different major regions, but within that there's fewer individual transitions.  The prerendered sections like Castle Town are now rendered in real time, and look far better on top of that.  There's also expanded dialog and facial expressions, and if that's any indication, the cut scenes may be longer too.  I'm not sure how to feel about that last part, but the Star Fox 64 remake's longer cut scenes didn't hurt that game so- I suppose it could be fine.  Navi seems to remain the same, with her hints being optional.  They're "recommended" but can still be ignored.  Good!  They aren't making the mistake of later Zelda games and just forcing you to listen to her explain the entire puzzle in advance every room you go in... like a certain sword.

There's an additional quest log, which seemed to be modeled after the one in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.  There's no harm in a reminder of where you've been and what quest you're on, and it certainly helped in Majora's Mask, so I'd say it's a good addition.  It's tied to this tapestry you slowly weave throughout the adventure, so that's a fun visual indicator.  If side quests are part of the weave, it'll also help to indicate if you've reached 100% completion.  As for the controls, they seem snappier and it's easier to switch items.  The ocarina has a new function which I think is a rare good use of a gimmick mechanic.  You can hum a few bars, and a speech recognition algorithm (tuned for music) will play the song your humming matches.  It's like a modern expansion of an idea first seen in the Famicom Zelda with it's microphone screaming mechanic.  Finally, it can dragon dictate a specific melody from your noises.  In fact, I might just prefer that for inputting songs if it's as accurate as the video claims.  (I've been around the block a few times...  There's a very good chance it's not accurate at all, so it remains to be seen.)  Considering we're working with a 4 face button layout instead of the N64's 6 button layout, inputting notes for the Ocarina isn't going to feel quite as natural, but "humming a few bars" could be as natural as it gets.  Also, they're once again selling an actual ocarina to play and it'll recognize that too.  I do hope it works with the little ditty I put together way back in 1998 for the Scarecrow song.  I never bothered composing a new one and just reuse that one on every rerelease of this game.

I appreciate the full conducted score this time around as well.  It just fits.  Along those lines, the visuals?  Well, while I think the colors might be a bit TOO muted, I otherwise love the visual design.  They say they went for a mix of modern and nostalgic, and I can tell.  Link (the Hero of Time version) looks exactly like I'd have expected him to look with modern visuals, as do pretty much all the other characters, and the bosses besides!  Princess Ruto has a much needed wardrobe upgrade, in that she HAS one, but otherwise they've just enhanced the details that were already there for character looks.  I also noticed a small detail when they demonstrated the first dungeon.  In the original, when you solved a puzzle, things just sort of moved into place on their own, like a ladder falling down.  This time, there's actual mechanisms moving and shifting so you can actually see how these old devices functioned.  That ladder falls because pressing in the eye switch rotates two stone um... "pinball paddles" out of the way.  I just adore that additional attention to detail!  It really makes the world feel more more alive and immersive.

There's now voice acting.  I REALLY hope that's optional.  For my taste, I think I prefer playing this game without the voice acting.  It gives a different vibe when I can imagine the tone of their voice myself instead of a tone being picked for me.  That said, the voice acting doesn't seem bad at least?  From what little I've seen, it's a step up from what they did in Breath of the Wild, and more on par with the Star Fox remake's voice acting.  (I do have to admit that Star Fox remake's voice acting is... too good.  I like the campy delivery of the original just SO much.)

The key segment of this video is about halfway or so.  Turn off volume stabilization and the autogenerated subtitles and/or voice acting if THAT accidentally got triggered, and whatever other complete nonsense Youtube is touting as a "feature" these days.


Oh, and there's a phone app.  It does stuff.  You can transfer rupees into your game.  The rest is app stuff done for the app's sake.  Eh.  I never touched it for Breath of the Wild, I doubt I'll bother here.  There's also a couple amiibos that unlock new masks. Link can wear a Link disguise.  That'll fool 'em!  They'll think you're Link!  Anyway, use your amiibo NFC emulator of choice I suppose.]]>
The game's overall design hasn't changed too significantly.  Near as I can tell from the preview, there's not a billion new minigames slathered on like too much sauce.  What they did do is smooth out the gameplay in some dramatic ways.  The frame rate looks fairly solid (though I haven't seen any analysis of it, so it may not quite hit fixed 60, but it looks smooth to my eyes).  The character reacts in a timely way too.  They replaced Link's autojumping mechanic with manual jumping you can do whenever.  I'm not yet sure what I prefer, but we'll see.  His swimming certainly looks a lot smoother on top of that.  The game still has transition scenes into the different major regions, but within that there's fewer individual transitions.  The prerendered sections like Castle Town are now rendered in real time, and look far better on top of that.  There's also expanded dialog and facial expressions, and if that's any indication, the cut scenes may be longer too.  I'm not sure how to feel about that last part, but the Star Fox 64 remake's longer cut scenes didn't hurt that game so- I suppose it could be fine.  Navi seems to remain the same, with her hints being optional.  They're "recommended" but can still be ignored.  Good!  They aren't making the mistake of later Zelda games and just forcing you to listen to her explain the entire puzzle in advance every room you go in... like a certain sword.

There's an additional quest log, which seemed to be modeled after the one in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.  There's no harm in a reminder of where you've been and what quest you're on, and it certainly helped in Majora's Mask, so I'd say it's a good addition.  It's tied to this tapestry you slowly weave throughout the adventure, so that's a fun visual indicator.  If side quests are part of the weave, it'll also help to indicate if you've reached 100% completion.  As for the controls, they seem snappier and it's easier to switch items.  The ocarina has a new function which I think is a rare good use of a gimmick mechanic.  You can hum a few bars, and a speech recognition algorithm (tuned for music) will play the song your humming matches.  It's like a modern expansion of an idea first seen in the Famicom Zelda with it's microphone screaming mechanic.  Finally, it can dragon dictate a specific melody from your noises.  In fact, I might just prefer that for inputting songs if it's as accurate as the video claims.  (I've been around the block a few times...  There's a very good chance it's not accurate at all, so it remains to be seen.)  Considering we're working with a 4 face button layout instead of the N64's 6 button layout, inputting notes for the Ocarina isn't going to feel quite as natural, but "humming a few bars" could be as natural as it gets.  Also, they're once again selling an actual ocarina to play and it'll recognize that too.  I do hope it works with the little ditty I put together way back in 1998 for the Scarecrow song.  I never bothered composing a new one and just reuse that one on every rerelease of this game.

I appreciate the full conducted score this time around as well.  It just fits.  Along those lines, the visuals?  Well, while I think the colors might be a bit TOO muted, I otherwise love the visual design.  They say they went for a mix of modern and nostalgic, and I can tell.  Link (the Hero of Time version) looks exactly like I'd have expected him to look with modern visuals, as do pretty much all the other characters, and the bosses besides!  Princess Ruto has a much needed wardrobe upgrade, in that she HAS one, but otherwise they've just enhanced the details that were already there for character looks.  I also noticed a small detail when they demonstrated the first dungeon.  In the original, when you solved a puzzle, things just sort of moved into place on their own, like a ladder falling down.  This time, there's actual mechanisms moving and shifting so you can actually see how these old devices functioned.  That ladder falls because pressing in the eye switch rotates two stone um... "pinball paddles" out of the way.  I just adore that additional attention to detail!  It really makes the world feel more more alive and immersive.

There's now voice acting.  I REALLY hope that's optional.  For my taste, I think I prefer playing this game without the voice acting.  It gives a different vibe when I can imagine the tone of their voice myself instead of a tone being picked for me.  That said, the voice acting doesn't seem bad at least?  From what little I've seen, it's a step up from what they did in Breath of the Wild, and more on par with the Star Fox remake's voice acting.  (I do have to admit that Star Fox remake's voice acting is... too good.  I like the campy delivery of the original just SO much.)

The key segment of this video is about halfway or so.  Turn off volume stabilization and the autogenerated subtitles and/or voice acting if THAT accidentally got triggered, and whatever other complete nonsense Youtube is touting as a "feature" these days.


Oh, and there's a phone app.  It does stuff.  You can transfer rupees into your game.  The rest is app stuff done for the app's sake.  Eh.  I never touched it for Breath of the Wild, I doubt I'll bother here.  There's also a couple amiibos that unlock new masks. Link can wear a Link disguise.  That'll fool 'em!  They'll think you're Link!  Anyway, use your amiibo NFC emulator of choice I suppose.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7624 Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:22:10 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7624 https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7623 Thu, 23 Jul 2026 15:53:07 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7623
Basically, the premise is a single man with a son gets a robot girl delivered to his house, puts her together and oooh the sitcom hijinks ensue.  Stuff like her completely misunderstanding human concepts, or how they have to hide that she's a robot because the company that built her for... WHATEVER purpose a company would build realistic child robots for, would take her back and erase her identity.

Anyway, there's an actual human little neighbor girl who's a nosy brat suspicious of the robot girl, and also jealous of her because she's got this crush on the human child of that father and she's always pulling outlandish sitcom stunts to win his affection and get the sister, that for some reason she thinks is a love rival, out of the way.

All in all, typical 80's sitcom trash, but I can't believe I finally stumbled across the actual NAME of the show!

So I don't forget again, now that I know the name I have a video of the opening.  For some reason, the first couple seasons had this very 50's or 60's style song, but they "modernized" it to feel more 80's a few seasons in.



Never mind my dumb nostalgia, just thought I'd throw this one out there as a weird bit of memory.]]>
Basically, the premise is a single man with a son gets a robot girl delivered to his house, puts her together and oooh the sitcom hijinks ensue.  Stuff like her completely misunderstanding human concepts, or how they have to hide that she's a robot because the company that built her for... WHATEVER purpose a company would build realistic child robots for, would take her back and erase her identity.

Anyway, there's an actual human little neighbor girl who's a nosy brat suspicious of the robot girl, and also jealous of her because she's got this crush on the human child of that father and she's always pulling outlandish sitcom stunts to win his affection and get the sister, that for some reason she thinks is a love rival, out of the way.

All in all, typical 80's sitcom trash, but I can't believe I finally stumbled across the actual NAME of the show!

So I don't forget again, now that I know the name I have a video of the opening.  For some reason, the first couple seasons had this very 50's or 60's style song, but they "modernized" it to feel more 80's a few seasons in.



Never mind my dumb nostalgia, just thought I'd throw this one out there as a weird bit of memory.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7622 Fri, 03 Jul 2026 19:30:54 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7622
One... vote...

Don't consider this a victory.  That it was so close is a sign that the old status quo really is dead.  The three branches realize they can just IGNORE the written laws as it suits them, so long as they all work together to ignore them.]]>
One... vote...

Don't consider this a victory.  That it was so close is a sign that the old status quo really is dead.  The three branches realize they can just IGNORE the written laws as it suits them, so long as they all work together to ignore them.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7621 Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:45:34 +0000 A Black Falcon]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7621
So, this is an opening for Sony, right?  Well... no.  First, they fired a lot of people at Bungie, a studio they bought recently, because of the same reasons as Microsoft.  Also, Sony just announced that they are ending all disc production for Playstation consoles in January 2028, and are shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita online stores in mid 2027.  Sony has also significantly increased the cost of the PS5 console, just like Microsoft, due to the same AI price problems.

What about PC gaming?  Well, that's suffering the worst from the RAM and mass storage price increases.  PC gaming was in good shape and getting even better last year, but now things are looking dire as people significantly delay upgrades and go with less RAM and storage than they would have a year ago or more.  I sure wish I'd built a new computer early last year, it was so dumb that I didn't...   I did upgrade my RAM to 64GB a year ago, but my computer is over 9 years old, it's definitely not DDR5 RAM.  Even so the cost of the RAM I got has gone up but not by as much as DDR5 has.

So yeah, very bad news from all of the other candidates.  But what about Nintendo?  Their RAM and storage costs have gone up significantly as well, but so far they haven't increased prices.  They definitely will have to do so eventually, though, no way will Nintendo eat the whole cost of their surely massive RAM and SSD price increase.

Meanwhile, console adoption numbers have been stalled for years, PC gaming is on the rocks due to AI, where does gaming go from here?  Some are making dire predictions of home computing dying in favor of streaming only, which isn't impossible but I sure hope we all do everything possible to keep that from happening...]]>
So, this is an opening for Sony, right?  Well... no.  First, they fired a lot of people at Bungie, a studio they bought recently, because of the same reasons as Microsoft.  Also, Sony just announced that they are ending all disc production for Playstation consoles in January 2028, and are shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita online stores in mid 2027.  Sony has also significantly increased the cost of the PS5 console, just like Microsoft, due to the same AI price problems.

What about PC gaming?  Well, that's suffering the worst from the RAM and mass storage price increases.  PC gaming was in good shape and getting even better last year, but now things are looking dire as people significantly delay upgrades and go with less RAM and storage than they would have a year ago or more.  I sure wish I'd built a new computer early last year, it was so dumb that I didn't...   I did upgrade my RAM to 64GB a year ago, but my computer is over 9 years old, it's definitely not DDR5 RAM.  Even so the cost of the RAM I got has gone up but not by as much as DDR5 has.

So yeah, very bad news from all of the other candidates.  But what about Nintendo?  Their RAM and storage costs have gone up significantly as well, but so far they haven't increased prices.  They definitely will have to do so eventually, though, no way will Nintendo eat the whole cost of their surely massive RAM and SSD price increase.

Meanwhile, console adoption numbers have been stalled for years, PC gaming is on the rocks due to AI, where does gaming go from here?  Some are making dire predictions of home computing dying in favor of streaming only, which isn't impossible but I sure hope we all do everything possible to keep that from happening...]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7620 Tue, 26 May 2026 02:03:56 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7620 https://plaionreplai.us/

Alright, this is some kind of amazing, but it appears we're getting a modern take on the Neo Geo of all things.  I'd intended to make the Neo Geo the next console I got, and my original plan was to get an arcade board and put it in an enclosure kit.  It was cheap, reliable, and one quirk that set the Neo Geo apart was that the arcade and home versions were ALMOST identical.

Well, they're recreating it.  Not via an emulator on a Raspberri pi, or cycle accurate emulation via a FPGA, but actually recreating all the ASIC chips themselves, in a full recreation of the home console.  Real cartridges, real accessories, and all of that.  It has both analog and HDMI output, depending on preference, and the controller this thing comes with, if you get the anniversary version, is wireless using a dongle in the controller port.  The anniversary version also recreates Metal Slug for a starter game.

Now, I said the arcade and home consoles were ALMOST identical before.  First, the pinouts were altered so arcade carts won't just plug right in without an adapter.  This seems to remain true for the new version.  The other difference are DIP switches, which only the arcade version had before, but they're added to this + edition.  They're also recreating the memory cards, or you can get alternative after market options that store FAR more data.

In any event, this seems like the most straightforward way to have it all, for anyone interested.  I say "seems" a lot in this, so that's the one thing to watch out for.  I have no idea how the build quality is going to be on this thing, and it won't be known until it's out in November and in the hands of reviewers to stress test this thing.  So, it may be wise not to preorder it off the bat.

Ugh, a rather unfortunate wrinkle in this whole thing is that Muhammad bin Salman, ruler of Saudia Arabia, more or less owns SNK now.  That makes every purchase of one of these things a direct funding of his government.  I'm not saying how you should spend your money, but at least now you're informed.]]> https://plaionreplai.us/

Alright, this is some kind of amazing, but it appears we're getting a modern take on the Neo Geo of all things.  I'd intended to make the Neo Geo the next console I got, and my original plan was to get an arcade board and put it in an enclosure kit.  It was cheap, reliable, and one quirk that set the Neo Geo apart was that the arcade and home versions were ALMOST identical.

Well, they're recreating it.  Not via an emulator on a Raspberri pi, or cycle accurate emulation via a FPGA, but actually recreating all the ASIC chips themselves, in a full recreation of the home console.  Real cartridges, real accessories, and all of that.  It has both analog and HDMI output, depending on preference, and the controller this thing comes with, if you get the anniversary version, is wireless using a dongle in the controller port.  The anniversary version also recreates Metal Slug for a starter game.

Now, I said the arcade and home consoles were ALMOST identical before.  First, the pinouts were altered so arcade carts won't just plug right in without an adapter.  This seems to remain true for the new version.  The other difference are DIP switches, which only the arcade version had before, but they're added to this + edition.  They're also recreating the memory cards, or you can get alternative after market options that store FAR more data.

In any event, this seems like the most straightforward way to have it all, for anyone interested.  I say "seems" a lot in this, so that's the one thing to watch out for.  I have no idea how the build quality is going to be on this thing, and it won't be known until it's out in November and in the hands of reviewers to stress test this thing.  So, it may be wise not to preorder it off the bat.

Ugh, a rather unfortunate wrinkle in this whole thing is that Muhammad bin Salman, ruler of Saudia Arabia, more or less owns SNK now.  That makes every purchase of one of these things a direct funding of his government.  I'm not saying how you should spend your money, but at least now you're informed.]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7619 Fri, 08 May 2026 03:08:03 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7619
Yes again again.  Again again again, again.

We've got the SNES game, Starfox 64 which was a reimagining of that story.  Star fox 64 3D which was a graphical update of 64.  Star Fox Zero, which is another reimagining of the original story.

Now this!  It appears to once again dip into Star Fox 64 for it's core design, but this time, it's going full cinematic.  I'm not really sure what's going on with Miyamoto, but the story telling bug must have bit him, because he's leaning HARD into the cut scenes this time around.  Frankly, that alone might justify retelling the same story yet another time.  As to those visuals, they're going more "realistic".  Not ALL the way, but definitely more so than in the past.  Honestly?  It reminds me of the design on those old figures they made for the promotional art for the SNES game, and also of the designs in the Star Fox comic in Nintendo Power.  It feels like a blend of those two styles.  There's a fair share of anger over it it seems.  It's funny.  Back when Wind Waker came out, everyone was upset that Zelda had gotten LESS realistic, and now they're upset Star Fox went MORE realistic.

But, as I said, it isn't going for total realism, mercifully.  The visuals still are bright and colorful like a cartoon.  Further, the designs help to give them ironically more "human" attributes.  It's a lot easier to tell that Peppy is much older than the rest of the team, for example.  They've also got more expressive faces, with a lot of nuance coming through.  This even shows in the radio chatter, where they are moving around and emoting, much better than the cockpit views in Zero.

They're adding Great Fox moments between missions.  That's a good chance to really show some things, and it gives me "Wing Commander" vibes.

Maybe I'm just being contrary, but frankly I want to give this one a chance.  I'm a LOT more open to doing so based purely on them pricing it REASONABLY for a change.  Maybe they learned their lesson after that Advance Wars 1+2 remake and the port of DKC Returns sold so poorly when released at "new game" price?  Or, maybe it's just the typical Nintendo move, randomly testing the waters pretty much all the time.

]]>
Yes again again.  Again again again, again.

We've got the SNES game, Starfox 64 which was a reimagining of that story.  Star fox 64 3D which was a graphical update of 64.  Star Fox Zero, which is another reimagining of the original story.

Now this!  It appears to once again dip into Star Fox 64 for it's core design, but this time, it's going full cinematic.  I'm not really sure what's going on with Miyamoto, but the story telling bug must have bit him, because he's leaning HARD into the cut scenes this time around.  Frankly, that alone might justify retelling the same story yet another time.  As to those visuals, they're going more "realistic".  Not ALL the way, but definitely more so than in the past.  Honestly?  It reminds me of the design on those old figures they made for the promotional art for the SNES game, and also of the designs in the Star Fox comic in Nintendo Power.  It feels like a blend of those two styles.  There's a fair share of anger over it it seems.  It's funny.  Back when Wind Waker came out, everyone was upset that Zelda had gotten LESS realistic, and now they're upset Star Fox went MORE realistic.

But, as I said, it isn't going for total realism, mercifully.  The visuals still are bright and colorful like a cartoon.  Further, the designs help to give them ironically more "human" attributes.  It's a lot easier to tell that Peppy is much older than the rest of the team, for example.  They've also got more expressive faces, with a lot of nuance coming through.  This even shows in the radio chatter, where they are moving around and emoting, much better than the cockpit views in Zero.

They're adding Great Fox moments between missions.  That's a good chance to really show some things, and it gives me "Wing Commander" vibes.

Maybe I'm just being contrary, but frankly I want to give this one a chance.  I'm a LOT more open to doing so based purely on them pricing it REASONABLY for a change.  Maybe they learned their lesson after that Advance Wars 1+2 remake and the port of DKC Returns sold so poorly when released at "new game" price?  Or, maybe it's just the typical Nintendo move, randomly testing the waters pretty much all the time.

]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7618 Wed, 06 May 2026 15:46:16 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7618 ]]> ]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7617 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:25:45 +0000 Dark Jaguar]]> https://www.tendocity.net/showthread.php?tid=7617

He got this custom birthday bullying and only posted it four years later, and I found it a year after that.]]>

He got this custom birthday bullying and only posted it four years later, and I found it a year after that.]]>