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Negative World Podcast 062 - chrisbg99's Hidden Echidna
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(Editor)
May 04, 2014, 04:22
 


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Easily the longest episode in quite a while (or ever?), we've got nearly three hours of Nintendo gaming goodness coming at you literally the day after it was recorded! "Say what!?"

Stephen (DrFinkelstein) and Joe (Ninsage) enjoy the company of newcomer Tim (Shadowlink), from all the way on the other side of the Earth! We're also joined by our friend Hendrik (Jargon) who hasn't been on the Negative World Podcast since 2011... on episode 13! We've literally multiplied our episode-count over four times that since! It's about time he made a return and we're glad for it!

The guys start with a well-rounded 'Now Playing' featuring tons of games. You'll hear about, Advance Wars, NES Remix 2, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Wii Party U, various games in the Tenchu series, the brand-spankin' new Mario Golf: World Tour, and finally Mario & Luigi: Dream Team!

This is followed by a new 'What Do You Fink?' installment per Hendrik's request! They gang tackles three varied and curious questions with ease! This leads us into chatter about the Negative World March Madness Bracket. Hendrik tells us all about the idea and we discuss the results.

Finally with about an hour left we dive kart-first into discussion about the latest Nintendo Direct from last week, which focused heavily on Mario Kart 8!! We break down the whole direct, piece by piece, as we enter these last four weeks before the game releases May 30th.

The break music is pulled right from the Nintendo Direct and provides a delightful look into the new live-recorded music to be featured in the game. Zero's theme music makes an appearance for the billionth time now. ;) Overall the episode is dedicated to the late Bob Hoskins, Hollywood's Mario (amongst many other roles) and despite his lack of appearance in this episode, the title features the winner of last episode's Music Game, chrisbg99. Thanks for your patience on the reveal since we didn't want to spoil it before people could listen to it.

Please comment on the topics, the podcast, the guests, hosts, etc. on Negative World! You can also reach us through Facebook or Twitter. We would really appreciate the feedback. It's the best way for us to know what makes our listeners happy and we'd love to respond to some things on the next episode.

Full list of episodes

Enjoy the show!

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05/04/14, 04:22   Edited:  05/04/14, 04:26
 
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This was a beast of an episode! So much going on. And very cool hearing it so close to recording. As usual, both hosts and guests were great, and troopers at that for lasting through this monster show! So thanks to Stephen and Joe and Tim and Hendrik for several hours of entertainment. You all rule! I'll just throw out a few thoughts I had as I listened.

- World 3 of Tropical Freeze also knocked my socks off. I think I'm only in World 4 now, but boy, like you said Stephen, those cool puppets, and the balloons, and the whole theme was beautiful.
- I need to play more Advance Wars. I only ever spent some time with Dual Strike, but plan on getting the GBA game on Wii U soon. Tim and Andrew loving the game is enough for me.
- Wii Party U definitely now seems like a very worthwhile pickup. I planned on getting it with MK8 regardless, but now I'm looking forward to it after Hendrik's impressions.
- "What do you Fink" is another great segment. I liked bouncing around the different threads. With this and the cool quiz segment last show, it seems there are plenty of options for the podcast.
- I was gone when the cool Brackets started, so I didn't partake, but mostly agreed with how it played out.
- Mario Kart 8 looks great, and that was a great Direct! I really wonder if Nintendo is spoiling their own games in an effort to have the later game material and unlockables shown by them instead of random people streaming the game as soon as it comes out. It allows them to control that info, which they seem to like to do. If so, I don't have a huge problem with it. Also, my love of the Prancer Kart is strong as well!

Koovaps said:
Voted decent. I don't really care, though I'll likely often use Pink Metal Peach with Prancer kart! I love that Prancer kart!

Koovaps said:
DrFinkelstein said:
Watching now. Such a great ND! I Fucking Love Nintendo. They're so weird and wonderful.

Yeah, this sums things up nicely. And holy crap, that Prancer kart is mine!

Again gentlemen, wonderful show!

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 03:27   Edited:  05/06/14, 05:17
@Koovaps

Brandon! Thanks for the detailed thoughts and kind words.

I'm so glad you liked it. Hendrik and Tim were indeed troopers for lasting so long. The recording itself was over 3 hours long, not that I usually edit very much stuff out but between break times and pre roll, and a few random pauses, the overall hang out was at least 3.5 hours, and besides Tim it was late for us all. It was great for me to finally have my buddy Tim show up on the show and Jargon hadn't been on in so long that I was delighted he could be. Plus I didn't have the pleasure of hanging with him on that episode so I feel vindicated.

I'm glad you were as wowed as me on World 3. The whole world was a delight but 3-1 will go down in Stephen-Fink history as one of THE greatest levels in gaming. I was floored by it's magical qualities.

I too should probably play more Advance Wars (or any). Fire Emblem isn't a series I find myself being able to get into, despite knowing it's a solid series... kind of like me and Kirby, lol. But I think maybe where the themes of Fire Emblem lose my interest, a more fun/war-like demeanor of Advanced Wars could benefit. I did love Tactics A2, but I think the themes are what hold my interest in the end. I'm sure I'd eat up some kind of Mario-themed game in that kind of genre, like a whore. Still, that's the power of a theme. Advance Wars could sway me.

I hope to hear your Wii Party U impressions soon (maybe on the show... *wink* *wink*?) I'm pretty psyched for it now. A fun party game, and it's free with another awesome party game? I'm hoping that once I get my own house (hopefully this year) I'll have plenty of fun game night's with friends.

I'm glad you liked the return of What Do You Fink? ! Hendrik mentioned it and I too liked doing it again. I think there's something (particularly when the episode releases in a timely manner like this one did) special about getting LIVE board-member opinions about active threads, even if they posted text into it. That's partially why I'm considering doing this year's E3 coverage similarly to how I did it two years ago with the whole, have 3-4 guests on in a night, with 30 min per person in time-slots, just to go over their specific impressions and unique thoughts on the show. What do you think about that idea? Is there a better idea? Do you like it? Would you be a guest on a segment???

I really hope Hendrik does another bracket next year, or even a few months down the line. The different ways he could go would make it interesting still. Do you think we should omit this year's winner, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, from next year's running or is that giving an un-fair edge to games that should ultimately lose to Ocarina? I can see both sides of the argument.

Mario Kart 8 looks splendid. It's one of those games for me that I don't even quite understand how excited and happy it'll make me until it shows up. Watching clips and listening to that delicious LIVE music just makes me think, "This game can keep me happy for a long time to come." Few games give me that foresight. Next time I'm in Chicago, whether for business or just to freakin' hang out with you guys, we gotta play this game. Local Multiplayer FTW!

Lastly, that Prancer Kart IS cool. I'm psyched to see the other creative directions the creators took the designs. I held off from spoiling it in the podcast but I can spoiler text it here... the other kart I mentioned I loved but didn't get specific was Mario's Yoshi-based kart. it looked like Yoshi, despite he's in the game but it was reminiscent of Super Mario World and for that I just adored the concept wholeheartedly.

Truly lastly, thanks for being an avid and consistent listener. I appreciate every single one of our fans and audience, whether they comment or not. Of course I'd love to see more comments but still, if this podcast entertains just one person, we're doing our job.

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 04:45
Woah, nice job on the quick turnaround. I'll probably give it a listen when it's not so fresh in my mind, but I want to say I had a blast recording, even though it went long.

@Koovaps

Glad I could make you more excited about Wii Party U! Just played yesterday with the fam and had tons of fun.

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 04:58
Damn! That was fast. Will listen to asap. Should be really good with the recent MK8 direct, talk about DKC TF & more!

I must admit, world 3 was awesome, with 3-1, the least imo, 100% comlete videogaming nirvana. That stage was sooo beautiful, the music, graphics, gameplay, ect! I loved it. Plus, I made it all the way through that level on the first try, got all the KONG letters and all puzzle pieces, except for one.

It was like, the whole rhythm of that stage was spot on! The music coupled with stage design was perfect, at least for me. The only other stage that made me feel that way (don't get me wrong, I loved em all!), was in world 6-6, Cliffside Slide (silhouette level). Even though the stage uses same music as 6-1, there was just something about that stage that 'just clicked'. My youngest son was over and he was like, 'How the hell are you going through that stage so easiy?' Again, I can only explain it by having that, it just 'clicked' for me. Got all KONG letters first time through and all puzzle pieces, except two.

edit2: Can't believe I forgot! I have to also give a big loving nod to the music in world 6-2, Seashore War! For some reason that music really touched my heart and just felt so EPIC! That level is among some of my favorites as well, but the damn difficultly near the end, where the platforms are rotating, penguins lobbing bombs at you, & frigging owls floating around, making it all the more difficult, just made me wanna scream, pull my hair out and chuck the controller at the TV. Believe, if I had tons o' money, I probably would have chucked the controller. If I was that rich I'd keep extra TVs around, just for the satisfaction of smashing something, you know, when I get those hulk-like feelings. ha,ha...

Now, who knows if these stages will stand out as some of my top stages, cause there are still secret levels I need to unlock and there are the three levels in world 7. While I don't mind being challenged, I will say, as I have in other threads, Tropical Freeze is one of the toughest games I've played during the past several years. I'm amazed as I watch videos on youtube, jealous that I'm nt half as good as some of those guys.

One can argue that maybe they played the game alot before making/posting the videos, but the majority of those videos were posted within a week or so.I have no problem admitting DKC TF, makes me look like a n00b, when it comes to playing games. I honestly never had such a hard time completing/100'ing any of the original DKC games. I thought DCKR was tough, but I know I didn't put as many hours into that game compared to TF. I have close to 60 hours and I'm at 84% completing (I think that % is correct), evenso, in my opinion that sucks! Seriously, some of these levels esp. those freaking barrel riding levels just kill me. I know I've lost over 100 lives trying to complete/100% the one's that I have so far.

I like challenges, but this game, almost reminds me of the 'Runner' games, those are the only platformers, that I can think of,off the top my head that have been sooo difficult for me. Ok, I'll shut up, sorry so long.

edit: Thanks for editing/posting the podcast so quickly. I'm glad its a long one, will make work go by all the faster on Tuesday!

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 08:14   Edited:  05/06/14, 08:34
I keep my echidna in a little box.

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 10:19
I havenlt listened yet, but the comments, that magic you got when playing that level is the same magic I got when I first heard Stickerbrush Symphony in DKC2. Glad it still has that magic (for some people)

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 14:54
@gamewizard65

I can't comment too much on the later levels since I'm only just now in World 5, but you're getting my hyped to keep going... especially with more silhouette level(s) coming.

You're welcome on the quick edit. It's counter-intuitive from the norm since it was probably our longest podcast and I edited/posted it the quickest but we recorded on Friday night and I just so happened to have nothing to do saturday but workout and edit this show (while playing some Mario Golf mind you). My girlfriend was busy all day so I had a lot more free time to myself and I was delighted to release it then too. It's also a factor of Joe and I deciding to streamline the show, cutting the m4a version (as nice as it was), and aiming to have simpler edits on the show. Plus the fact that Firefox still allows me to get a key link I need to finalize the show posting, where Safari and my phone now fail me, there was nothing at all stopping me saturday.

We're aiming to be more regular on the 2-week schedule. I keep delivering earlier than 2 weeks so either we're going to just keep shifting or we'll have slightly longer than 2 weeks to compensate. Plus it's very dependent on our own schedules, mine in particular since after the recording there's the whole edit. I'm taking a work-trip into Canada probably next week and in June I'm flying down to Atlanta for work as well for the whole week, so..... holy crap... I just realized that'll be during E3.... DAMN! Unfortunately I just realized our E3 coverage will be delayed a bit, but I will aim to work hard to record when I get back and edit those shows quickly. Well shoot... I need to talk to Joe about this. lol

@chrisbg99

It's a cute place to store your echidna away from the world.

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 15:19
Also does anyone wonder how Sega got this:



From This?



I mean I know about artistic license and all but Knuckles doesn't even come anywhere close.

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 19:35
@chrisbg99

Chris - I have often wondered that about Knuckles' design. I looked into it years ago, but I forget, do echidnas even have particularly powerful claws or "knuckles" or digging skills? Also, where does the ability to glide come in? =P

Posted by 
 on: 05/06/14, 20:00
It would seem (according to the Wikipedia article) that echidnas do indeed have strong claws for digging. Where they got the gliding is anybody's guess. Also they have long snouts and four headed penises. We know for sure Knuckles has no snout and, once again, it is anybody's guess on his genitals.

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 11:12
@NinSage
Knuckles must be ascended from Drop Bears.

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 12:24
Tim did an alright job praising Advance Wars but I think he compared it to Fire Emblem too much. They're really only similar on a very, very surface level. I've talked a bunch about why I prefer Advance Wars so I won't get into that here again but...

EVERYONE SHOULD GO BUY ADVANCE WARS. YOU CAN GET IT ON THE WII U NOW!

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 12:39
@Zero

Heh, I felt I wasn't really prepared for that segment. I had the game all picked out to talk about but didn't really plan out ahead of exactly time specifically *what* I would talk about with regards to the game. It probably comes across in the opening part of that where I was clearly trying to marshal my thoughts and ended up being a bit vague. And the others talked for way longer on their games too. (Actually I should listen to this later, maybe Fink's edit makes me sound a lot better than I felt at the time )

I suppose I did the Fire Emblem comparison because that's probably the easiest point of reference for someone familiar with FE but not AW. They are superficially similar in terms of the general battle mechanics/controls, but the focus is wildly different.

But yeah, everyone go get Advance Wars. And join the club.

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 13:36   Edited:  05/07/14, 13:37
@Zero

I wouldn't mind a brief list/overview though why you prefer Advance Wars over Fire Emblem. It might help make a sale.

@Shadowlink

I didn't edit too much really this episode.. but I also didn't think you were bad or anything of the sort.

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 13:54
@DrFinkelstein

I heard playing Advance Wars reduces your chance of being banned from NW

Just a rumour mind you. Zero Rule 47 or something.

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 14:25   Edited:  05/07/14, 14:32
@Shadowlink

Zero Rule #0?

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 15:13
@DrFinkelstein I already did that in the Advance Wars RGC thread!

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 19:09
I heard Advance Wars is the favorite game of your least favorite politician. I dunno, that's just what I heard.



Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 20:45
I'm not sure there is much of a gap between my favorite and least favorite politicians.

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 20:55
hmm, well, in lighter and possibly related news I also heard all cool people are named Andy!! ... no idea where I picked that up though.

Posted by 
 on: 05/07/14, 21:09
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