Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout loosely translates the experience of game shows like Wipeout and Takeshi’s Castle into the realm of video games. Up to 60 players compete for the top spot by partaking in a series of mini games that will have you running, jumping, working as a team, and more. Are you ready to wear a silly costume and race for the goal?
Steff and I team up for a Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout stream! Can we get our first win? Also, we discuss 90s movies and share our Lego NES build!
Super Mario Maker proved to be a revelation. Providing players with intuitive tools to create their own levels in the Mushroom Kingdom, they broke the boundaries of Nintendo’s own level design ethos while pushing the limits – and oftentimes breaking the limits – of what was possible within the game’s toolset. Long after the Wii U died, the Super Mario Maker community seemingly held onto Nintendo’s ill-fated console longer than anyone else.
As mind-expanding as that first game proved to be, it wasn’t without fault. Limitations within the tools made it impossible to recreate every facet of the 2D Super Mario experience, such as sloped hills among others. Finding good levels proved to be a chore due to the game’s poor filtering options. For players who simply wanted more Nintendo-created levels, they were gated behind a clunky 10 Mario Challenge mode that essentially made it impossible to experience them all without having to play repeats. Super Mario Maker 2 aims to not only address the issues of the first, but expand the scope of what players can create within the Mushroom Kingdom.
Over the past few days, I’ve been obsessed with 20XX. Clearly inspired by the Mega Man series of games, 20XX puts its own twist on the run-and-gun gameplay by housing the game in a Roguelike framework. While I gave heavy praise for the ways it stands out, it’s similarities with the most recent Mega Man game run even deeper than I thought.
20XX by Batterystaple Games isn’t afraid to show where its inspiration came from. From the design of its main characters, to the feel of the game’s controls, right down to aping one of the most iconic intro screens in gaming, this is an unapologetic riff on the Mega Man franchise, particularly the X series of games. However, some fundamental changes to the core formula flip the standard bot-battling formula on its head.
After creating the masterpiece that is Yoshi’s Island, Nintendo decided to take the Yoshi platforming games in a different direction. Starting with Yoshi’s Story and continuing with Yoshi’s Wooly World, the difficulty of these titles were seemingly toned down to reach a younger or more casual audience. While I don’t think there’s anything fundamentally wrong with that approach, Nintendo’s execution of the concept has left a lot of room for improvement.
Yoshi’s Story is a snooze for level designs that are completely devoid of anything interesting to do. Yoshi’s Wooly World makes some improvements thanks to its charming art style and a solid back half, but the first half of that game also equates accessibility with pedestrian level design. Did Nintendo finally bridge the gap between fun and accessibility with Yoshi’s Crafted World?
Gris was a game that was not on my radar. Due to my past negative experiences with games cut from a similar cloth such as Journey, I wasn’t planning on picking up Gris. However, the game received some strong buzz close to home. Kris and Rachel from Double Jump loved it, with Rachel going so far as naming it her game of the year. As a nod to my friends while also taking the opportunity to expand my horizons, I found myself falling into the world of Gris.
With the year winding down, Randy share’s his pick for Game of the Year 2018!
There is a magic to Celeste that you won’t see at first glance. Having seen it in Nintendo’s Direct Mini, I brushed it off as just another Super Meat Boy clone. Hasn’t the world been subject to enough challenging 2D platformers with retro graphics? After playing this game, the answer is a resounding, “No.”
