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Here’s how some people are making those wild detailed...

ericisawesome — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 15:10:43 -0400

**Here’s how some people are making those wild detailed Splatoon 2 images ⊟**

I’m used to seeing others create amazing art with in-game tools while my own attempts look like paintings from that Breath of the Wild dude, but people are taking it to a whole new level with Splatoon 2.

Check out this Roll Safe meme tweeted by @SocksyBear last night:

These aren’t all handmade pieces! Creative programmer ShinyQuagsire23 found a way to hook up a USB HID device that the Switch recognizes as Hori’s Wii U Pokken Tournament Pad, and have it print these detailed images pixel-by-pixel – it takes around an hour for their program to spit out a full piece (the GIF posted at the top is sped up quite a bit).

You can find ShinyQuagsire23′s project on GitHub, and read some more info on creating black and white images for Splatoon 2 at Kotaku.

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Cyber Gadget’s SNES Classic case is the best ⊟ The accessory...

jc-fletcher — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 09:04:09 -0400

Cyber Gadget’s SNES Classic case is the best ⊟

The accessory company made one of these for the Famicom Mini, but I think this Super Famicom Classic case is even cuter.

The best thing is that if you happen to import one of these from Amazon.jp or elsewhere, you can get that Super Famicom look even with the Super NES Classic! Or whatever else you can fit in there, since ain’t no way most of us will ever even see the SNES Classic. Via miki800.

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A new Taiko Drum Master game in English (for Asia) ⊟You don’t...

jc-fletcher — Sun, 23 Jul 2017 10:22:53 -0400

A new Taiko Drum Master game in English (for Asia) ⊟

You don’t necessarily need a translation of a Taiko Drum Master game, but you can have one, with the Asian release of Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session, out later this year.

The PS4 game will be available by itself or, of course, bundled with a Taiko controller. It has both the PPAP song and the Japanese version of “Let It Go” on it. This whole situation is incredible.

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Atari’s back! With a speaker hat! For Blade Runner! ⊟Atari...

jc-fletcher — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 09:46:05 -0400

**Atari’s back! With a speaker hat! For Blade Runner! ⊟**

Atari recently showed the first product shots of its Ataribox, a new game console. But its next announcement is a lot more unexpected, and in fact kind of inexplicable.

The Speakerhat is a Bluetooth-connected hat with an Atari logo on it, that allows you to listen to music, make and receive calls, and even synchronize music with other Speakerhat users. This Atari version will be joined later by a Blade Runner 2049 tie-in version.

If you’d like to be one of the first to try this new “Atari Connected Life” thing, you can sign up to be a beta tester. “The intent is to continuously improve on design and engineering, until the technology is completely invisible.“

This is so weird. I really appreciate Atari dropping in with a change of pace. Didn’t expect to be writing about cyberdashery* this morning!

*TM, do not steal

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Tiny Barbarian DX has boxart from Famitsu’s cover artist ⊟ Also...

jc-fletcher — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 09:46:32 -0400

Tiny Barbarian DX has boxart from Famitsu’s cover artist ⊟

Also Maximo, Adventure Island, etc. I feel like I’d be able to pick out Susumu Matsushita’s art without being told, but Nicalis is smart to highlight the pedigree of this cover image – not only with the signature on the box, but also:

“a full-color instruction manual that includes a featurette on the making of the box art. It describes Mr. Matsushita’s creative process, details his preferred art supplies, shows photos of him working at his drawing table and even identifies the 1960s rock instrumental that he listened to while he created the cover!”

I feel comfortable saying that Nicalis is at the absolute pinnacle of Switch game packaging. This is out Q4 for $30. Also, I’m preeetty sure Tiny’s gonna be in it.

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You might need a Splatoon 2 hooded towel ⊟ These fun towels...

jc-fletcher — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 16:49:58 -0400

**You might need a Splatoon 2 hooded towel ⊟**

These fun towels serve two important functions:

They give you an Inkling-style tentacle hairdo
They dry you off or whatever

Play-Asia has them for $17 each. Maybe it’s not as essential as the Nintendo Switch Online app that just launched, but one of these will certainly expand your Splatoon life.

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Boost Beast launches for Switch tomorrow ⊟ And if you don’t know...

ericisawesome — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 09:43:50 -0400

Boost Beast launches for Switch tomorrow ⊟

And if you don’t know what Boost Beast is, it’s a “beat’em up puzzler” from Arzest and Arc System Works, though its gameplay appears to lean more toward the match-three puzzle side.

It caught my interest with its cute animal descriptions and this premise that there is a king of dogs, and he is the only one who can save us:

Boost Beast will release to the North American, European, and Japanese Switch eShops tomorrow for $9.99.

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Windjammers out August 29 on PS4/Vita ⊟ Y’all ready to get your...

jc-fletcher — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 09:10:41 -0400

Windjammers out August 29 on PS4/Vita ⊟

Y’all ready to get your winds jammed online? Because I’m going to jam them. Actually, I don’t really know if I’ve played enough Windjammers to make nonsensical boasts about my prowess. But it’s fun.

The port of the Neo Geo game will also be accompanied by some cool Fangamer gear:

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Blazblue Cross Tag Battle is the wildest crossover fighter ⊟ And...

jc-fletcher — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 09:05:10 -0400

Blazblue Cross Tag Battle is the wildest crossover fighter ⊟

And that’s saying something now that Geese Howard is going to be able to fight Akuma in Tekken., and Smash Bros. features pretty much everyone in the Rabbidsverse.

Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, out for yet-unspecified consoles next year, is a fighter by Arc System Works that brings together (so far) Blazblue, Persona, Under Night In-Birth, and… RWBY, the anime series created right here in Austin, TX. What a time to be alive.

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Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 is 30% off ⊟Thing’s not even out...

jc-fletcher — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 16:29:30 -0400

Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 is 30% off ⊟

Thing’s not even out yet! Amazon is offering a dang near irresistible price on this PS4/XB1 package, which contains Mega Men 7, 8, 9, and 10. I need Mega Man 9 and 10 without having to find them on my Wii SD card menu…

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My favorite thing about the new Pikmin amiibo ⊟ is this goober...

ericisawesome — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 14:55:22 -0400

My favorite thing about the new Pikmin amiibo ⊟

is this goober hiding behind everyone. You’re cute, Rock Pikmin – so I’m making sure everyone knows how adorable you are.

This figure releases alongside the series’ 3DS side-scroller Hey! Pikmin on July 28. Scanning in the amiibo helps you find secret areas, solve puzzles, and call Pikmin on demand. I’ve played the game for a few hours, and it’s pretty fun!

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Stack’em High gives me some wild anxiety ⊟ Here’s a fun-looking...

ericisawesome — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 12:56:16 -0400

Stack’em High gives me some wild anxiety ⊟

Here’s a fun-looking 3DS eShop game from last week that didn’t get a lot of attention, but it definitely has been on my mind. JC and I talked a bit about Stack’em High right before putting down the most recent TinyCast episode – while it didn’t make the final cut, I made a video of the convo here for you!

Speaking of our podcast, people kept asking us to record a GroceryCast for some reason, so we made one! It’s an exclusive for our Club Tiny members / Patreon subscribers, which you can listen to or download here. Instead of the usual games chatter, you get to hear us talk about Mexican street corn, Ramen-flavored Pringles, and why JC is the Kanye West of grocery dilemmas.

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Having great Medieval Times in River City: Knights of Justice ...

jc-fletcher — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 09:24:03 -0400

**Having great Medieval Times in River City: Knights of Justice ⊟**

River City: Knights of Justice seems like a joke, a digital-only spinoff of the Kunio series that transplants the characters from their Japanese street life setting into a fantasy RPG without changing the brawler gameplay. Like someone at Arc System Works had a funny idea and somehow stretched that exploration into a little game.

But somehow, Arc actually made a whole game of it, and used the nonsensical change of milieu to try some interesting tweaks to the Kunio formula, expanding the series’ gameplay in ways that are appropriate both to the theme and to its series. And it does so while playing it totally straight, with barely any self-aware winks– but lots of self-aware BARFs.

So here’s the setup. Sir Alexander Valford is a wandering knight who may be from another world, and blah blah blah beat up everyone. There’s something about a war between kingdoms, but most of the storytelling is there to point you at the next thing to beat up. This is the most important RPG adaptation: while you still need to grind for money in order to buy upgrades and new combat abilities like the old standby Dragon Feet (what if your kick, was, like three kicks), now the majority of your earnings come from completing quests given to you by NPCs. Some of these quests are story-driven, given by a king or other major character; sometimes a guy outside the castle wants some dried meat, or someone complains about local ghosts making too much noise.

The other major change that comes with the new genre: swords! Swords everywhere! While combat works the same way, and you can kick, punch, and Acro Circus all you want, Knights of Justice has an astounding variety and number of weapons. Regular enemies carry swords of different kinds that you can grab as easily as you’d find a bicycle chain in River City Ransom. Ogres carry clubs. Chances are, if you fight some undead creatures, you’ll get a sword weak against them. And since it’s a fantasy world, of course you can find a magical staff! Suddenly Kunio (or the AI companions who can semi-randomly join his party) can turn invisible or cast fireballs!

Naturally, since Kunio is now a monstrously powerful sword-wizard-hero, the difficulty is scaled up quite a bit compared to, say, Tokyo Rumble. The delinquents of that game may as well be paper compared to the various monsters found in here. And since earning money to boost your character is a lot more contingent on quests than on random battles in this game, grinding is a lot more focused, involving a much greater variety of tasks than just walking back and forth between two screens and beating up randomly spawning enemies.

I’m happy to see the Kunio series expanded in this unexpected direction. I’m happier that the expansion actually works, creating a unique Kunio experience in a series that already encompasses both street fighting and a variety of sports. I’m happiest of all, though, that we can have enough Kunio games in 2017 to facilitate these kinds of experiments.

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Please allow Zangief to hold your pen ⊟ I cannot believe I have...

jc-fletcher — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 09:03:54 -0400

Please allow Zangief to hold your pen ⊟

I cannot believe I have lived 36 long years on this planet without a crew of tiny Zangiefs to hold all my desktop items.

Until these come out in October, I’m just going to have to piledrive my own pencils.

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Good news: Yakuza Kiwami’s “Majima Everywhere” sounds awesome...

jc-fletcher — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 16:39:12 -0400

**Good news: Yakuza Kiwami’s “Majima Everywhere” sounds awesome ⊟**

One of the new features in the new PS4 Yakuza remake is Majima Everywhere, in which the wild rival character Goro Majima shows up in disguise out of nowhere to challenge you to a fight. Today, Sega offered a little more information about the feature, and it sounds fantastic.

He’s unpredictable. That’s right, he has all his battle styles previously featured in Yakuza 0, except they’re just as powerful as they were then, so do expect to get beat down with bats, break-danced into the ground, and of course, stabbed, shanked, and cut when he comes at you in Mad Dog style. Did I mention he has Heat Actions too?

And defeating him is the only way to level up a new fighting style for Kiryu!

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Layton’s Mystery Journey trailer has me hype for Puzzle England...

jc-fletcher — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 10:12:41 -0400

Layton’s Mystery Journey trailer has me hype for Puzzle England ⊟

Here’s the first English-language trailer for Layton’s Mystery Journey, and it’s got everything I want from a Layton game: gorgeous Old World cities, haughty clients, mysterious supernatural elements (on top of the mysterious, but later proven fake, supernatural elements), dramatic pointing, dog butts, and hats. I’m so into this.

It’s out on smartphones July 20 (next week)! That’s so soon! It’s out less soon on Nintendo 3DS, as well.

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An album of classic game music covers, performed backwards...

jc-fletcher — Sun, 09 Jul 2017 13:29:14 -0400

An album of classic game music covers, performed backwards ⊟

Well, this is at the very least a novel concept, executed by someone with the chops for it. Retrogression Vol. 1 by Stemage features covers of music from Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Punch-Out!! and Ghosts ‘n Goblins, arranged for two guitars, bass, and drums (imitating the NES’s four sound channels) and played in reverse.

The album also features the recordings digitally reversed, so you can hear the songs the right way… although at that point they’re digitally reversed versions of manually reversed songs, so, uh… “right” is relative.

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It’s a USB keyboard with Joy-Con rails (plus more Cyber Gadgets)...

jc-fletcher — Sun, 09 Jul 2017 12:29:06 -0400

It’s a USB keyboard with Joy-Con rails (plus more Cyber Gadgets) ⊟

Cyber Gadget, you did it. This is the USB keyboard I want, and absolutely don’t need, for my Switch. It doesn’t do any special Switch specific stuff, but it’s got connectors on the side for the Joy-Cons, so I can live that GameCube lifestyle.

This brilliant device will be released in Japan this September (for Dragon Quest X, pretty much).

Now for a few other recent Cyber Gadget innovations: here is a Switch case with Doraemon on it. Important features include:

-Doraemon

And here’s an itabag for Vita and 3DS! You can display all your whatnots!

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NISA has more new Vita and Switch games ⊟ Along with...

jc-fletcher — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 10:25:20 -0400

NISA has more new Vita and Switch games ⊟

Along with Penny-Punching Princess, NIS America announced a couple other localizations, including this Switch/PS Vita/PC release of the weird time-dilated RPG The Longest Five Minutes, coming next year.

The publisher is also selling a collector’s edition through its online shop:

And Demon Gaze II, out on PS4 and Vita this fall:

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TinyCast 94! We almost recorded a GroceryCast here, but instead...

ericisawesome — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 09:30:12 -0400

TinyCast 94! We almost recorded a GroceryCast here, but instead we talked about Splatoon 2 news, what to steal from Spencer Gifts, River City: Knights of Justice impressions, and low-sugar strats. We shouted out Classico pasta sauce a bunch, but the low-sugar brand I highly recommend is actually Cucina Antica! (Episode photo via Mike Kalasnik).

Direct download (MP3, 45.9 MB) / RSS
Follow us on iTunes! Leave a nice review! :o)
Music (”ES”) by Crying – buy their albums!!

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