Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to side Quest. This is our video
game show here at geek Verse. I'm your host, Del Musina.
With me the Joy of CON's Taylor Field. How are
you doing, my friend doing good? Happy to be here,
Happy to be here? Post Nintendo Switch launch, it's yeah. Today,
you know, we have kind of two episodes released in
the same day and thought might maybe better just split
them into separate episodes. You're kind of getting two shorter episodes.
Presumably right now, we're gonna talk about our switch to
first impressions, as we both got our consoles last Thursday,
last Friday, so we've had a few days now to
mess around with this little device here or big device,
spend on your perspective. Also, same day, you're probably gonna
get the Xbox showcase breakdown. We're gonna record that after
this last week was you know, very chaotic. We had
Summer Game Fest episode, we had a State of Play episode.
Before that, we had the Prediction So I don't know,
my Predictions episode might be out of date already, you know,
because all these things have happened at this point. But yeah,
it's in a flurry, just spamming episodes at you and
so thank you everyon for bearing with us. Next week
we'll be back on the regular just once a week.
You don't have to worry too much about your feeds.
But you know, just very very quickly, I'll show our
Patreon producers here and Bradon Aprile of Darkness, Jack Grant,
Sam Superbread, Mic tgg Olm six Nigeriam Renner, Charlie Rendell
and Cocktail Clay because you know, with all these episodes,
that means there's a lot of ads. And if you're
a Patreon producer, isn't this crazy tailor? You can just
parry ads? Isn't that crazy? Just like a soul's game,
you can just parry ads away. So that's the best
place to go to go to patroon to get episodes
early and ad free, especially with all this stuff you
don't want to listen to with lousy ads that I'll
add two hours to your day. So yea, go check
that out. Support us. Always make sure to join the
discord because uh yeah, we're always talking about these showcases
live as they happen, which is fun. And I gotta say,
no one else in our discord server has been talking
about switch to I don't know if any of our
listeners bought this bad boy or we're able to get
their hands on one, So I don't know, we'll see
if anyone is playing there is let us know what
you're thinking of it's over. It's just been I'm surprisingly
quiet for a console launch. But speaking of a console launch, yeah,
the switch to is out. Thank you Taylor so much
for you know, being the the Aprahaine you you you
were able to get me a switch to. I don't
know what I was trying to word it there through
your Amazon account you got one as well. We both
have them. Now just give me like, how are you feeling?
Are you like this is obviously a weird week and
never we've I don't think we've ever had a console
launch during like all the E three you know, fake
E three weekends, So it feels like it's drowned out
a little bit of the noise of a new console launch.
But how are you feeling? Are you hyped? Are you
kind of just made you low? Where are you at
right now in terms of you know, your console new
console excitement?
Speaker 2: I'm pretty hyped.
Speaker 3: I am, and I mean I'm enjoying it and the
excitement is there, the excitement could be a little bit
higher if I had more new games, I guess for it,
and that because I don't. I mean, I'm not a
big Donkey Kong kind of guy myself. I know other
people are, but it's not. And again that's next month too,
So for now it's Mario Kart and that's been that's
been great.
Speaker 2: I've I've been having a blast with it.
Speaker 3: So the excitement's been been there, and especially when you're
in line then midnight launch kind of deal, and you
know that that's got some hype to it too, and
get the console and you get up to the front,
it's like, oh, you see all the other accessories they've
dropped out, like other controllers and all that kind of stuff.
So yeah, there's lots of there's lots of little moments
of nostalgia where it's like, oh, this is what it
was like back ten years ago when I was in
high school going to a console launch or a video
game midnight launch or something like that. So there's lots
of excitement to be had, and so experiencing those were
definitely really really wonderful. And having the console and just
seeing it in all its glory and setting it up
and that in itself is a joy and it's exciting and.
Speaker 1: Just and the music that plays like when you're like
you know, setting up your internet, doing your transfer. You know,
classic Nintendo, like all their stuff, like you know, whether
there's the we like shop channel or like all the
Wei music in general, just their console themes and whatnot.
I feel like that music was really groovy, h when
you're just like doing the most boring stuff ever of
like oh I kinda put in what is my WiFi password? Again?
Like put in all this stuff. But yeah, they it
feels like an experience, which I feel like I got
a lot of tech. Does that you know when I recently,
I guess last year, got like a newer car. Whenever
I turn my car on, it does like a just
makes like a noise. Like I feel like tech they're
just trying to make things feel like experiences, and I
think they definitely tried to make it feel like that
when you're getting this new console, because you know, the
UIs like the exact same as the Switch ones, I
feel like, where can we add other fanfare? And they
did that through like some fun sound effects and things
like that.
Speaker 2: Mm hmmmm hmm.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think for me, I'm like pretty low.
This is probably the least hype I've ever been on
a console launch, and I think it's basically what you
said of just like you know, the games like Mario Kart,
Like I had no issues with Maro craaid, I would
still play that game up up until recently. And so
to get new Mariro Kart is fun, and we'll talk
about that a little bit. And I've only I haven't
played a ton of it, maybe like two or three hours.
I also haven't had anyone to play with over the weekends.
I just been like single player Marocart, which of course
is not going to be the same highs as playing
with friends and whatnot. But yeah, I think, you know,
going into the console, I kind of expected this. This
is almost exactly the hype of like I was expecting,
where this very much feels like a sequel console. Obviously,
it has that name in it, which Nintendo doesn't often
do except for like the three DS or the two DS.
I guess like in some ways as like a number
in it that sequalizes it. But usually it's like a
new experience every time. And this is like the most
or like the least of that that they've ever had.
It's very much just like, here's the same thing, little improvements,
bills and whistles here or there, and then, as you mentioned,
like the games, we're kind of still waiting on the
big hype things. I think Donkey Kong will whin is
when this thing's gonna feel brand new and fun and cool,
and we'll see what that's like. But so far, you know,
it looks pretty much the same. It runs a little better,
it looks bit better, the screen's a bit nicer, the
controllers are a little bit bigger, all that kind of stuff.
Mario Kart's fun. But yeah, I'm not too blown away.
But I kind of knew that I was getting this
for the future and not for now. You know, I
got this because like, at some point I'm gonna get
a Smash Bros. These other big Nintendo games and things
I'm not even like seen coming. Donkey Kong's what I'm
excited for, as well maybe Metroid and other things like this.
But yeah, like one, I don't think I've ever been
less Hypedot've been getting a new console, but once again
kind of expected. So that's that's kind of that's kind
of fine. Walk me through like, you know, obviously you
plug this bad boy in, you drop your innet in there,
you do your data transfer. But like, what is the
first kind of things are or thing you did when
you kind of got this thing unpacked and booted up
and passed that initialization.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, So the first thing I did once it
was up and running was okay, I gotta update my
first switch switch one because I'm trying to do the
transfer stuff.
Speaker 2: So that caught me off.
Speaker 1: I didn't do that in advance either. I was like,
damn it, I should have seen this.
Speaker 2: Uh so yeah I did that, and then uh.
Speaker 3: Screen protector tossed that bad boy on there pretty quick, did.
Speaker 2: A terrible job at it, so i'mn have to like reapply.
Speaker 1: That's like a little bubbles in there, you mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one little like bubble right in the middle. So
just a pain in the ass. But yeah, so that
was that's all taken care of.
Speaker 3: And then I thought, okay, once I installed my express
card as well, because I picked up one of those
because I was talking to the personality be Games, because
I saw everyone in line in front of me was
grabbing one of those, I thought, do I need one
of these?
Speaker 2: I don't I don't know what this really is supposed
to do. So they had a bunch.
Speaker 3: I was like, you know what, Okay, I'm gonna buy it,
and if I don't need it, I'll return it.
Speaker 1: So I bought a much more hard drive hard drive
space what you're talking.
Speaker 2: About, that's exactly it. Yeah, and how how.
Speaker 1: Gigs did you get on there? It was like t
ed something.
Speaker 3: I think the yeah, the it's two and fifty six
in the console internally, and then I think this the
express card is like another two and fifty six or
something like that.
Speaker 2: So I just thought, whatever, I got it.
Speaker 3: And then when I was migrating everything over, it prompted
me to put it in there. So it's like, okay,
well i'll put it in maybe I'm supposed to do
and I just I didn't know what I was doing
half the time. I was just following the instructions.
Speaker 2: So did it?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Got the card in there? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I upgraded my switch membership to the full year with
the GameCube, game Boy all that kind of stuff because
I was paying monthly and just like the very basic plan.
So yeah, now I've got like the top tier one,
which is stellar.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Started installing a few of the games. Everything transferred, but
I was just putting in some of the games too,
or setting them to install. And then still the same
night of that I got the console, I booted up
some of the games just to see how they're running,
and just to see if my saves are still in there,
which they were, and so everything was good.
Speaker 2: And then yeah, then I closed it off. I didn't
touch Mario Kart yet.
Speaker 3: I didn't play that until Friday when my friend came
over and I had a few hours to dish it out.
Speaker 1: What were those games that you booted up just to
see how they ran?
Speaker 3: Three D all Stars booted that up and I re
downloaded that, redownload it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Nice. What was the other one I did?
Speaker 3: I was going to do Ultimate Alliance three, but I didn't.
Speaker 1: I heard that's a little bit improved. I like, obviously
I didn't get a sixty frames packed or anything, because
that's going to require more than just the new console.
They don't have to patch that, which they probably won't.
But I've heard it runs a bit better, like doesn't
drop frames as much and has like a little bit
better loading time.
Speaker 3: That's cool, okay, uh? And then yeah, Smash Brothers was
the other one, and then I thought I did one more.
I can't if I did the Luigi's Mansion or not.
I don't think I did. I didn't try Pokemon, although
Reuben was telling me that Pokemon got a bit of
a buff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I heard. That's huge for Scarlett and Violet in particular,
which is great because those games obviously were not not
in a beautiful state when they when they came out.
What other peripheral do you have any other peroher roles
that you got any other little tech hardware things for
it other than the hard drivest.
Speaker 2: What else did I do? No?
Speaker 3: I think I almost bought another one of the like
the the thing Ima jiggers, whatever you call it, the
thing that they.
Speaker 1: Say the controller joy controllers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but then I thought, well, no, if we're playing
Mario Kart, I don't need a second one of those
because I have to just get the joy Cons to
go with it. So yeah, and then that completely changed
my world when we figure out the whole other joy
Con scenario. But if anything, I wanted to get one
of the game Cube Pro controllers. I really want to,
but obviously those are sold out, so for now, my
I still have my Wii U GameCube controllers after that
plugs in with the two USB things. So I plugged
that into my switch, took my GameCube controller up and
it works just fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, beautiful. Yeah. I think when I booted it up,
the first thing I did was, I think immediately played
like a Grand Prix in Mario Kart. And then well,
actually I guess first before that is like one, it
queued like a million downloads, like things that were downloaded
on my switch one, which I and I had like
an external hard driver to all my switch one, so
it's more things than I think it could fit, although
it has more space than the switch one, so I
don't know exactly if that's the case, but I, you know,
stopped a bunch of downloads. I'm like, I don't need this.
Minornet's kind of bad too, so it's gonna take seven
years for that to happen. Redownload a couple of things
that I forgot about, made sure, like you know, the
Smash Bros And the things I need on there are downloaded,
but with a priority on, Like okay, let's put Mario
Kart top of the stack here so I can play
this as soon as this is done, and then yeah,
I think just of course checking out the Shop, which
I heard just runs a lot better, and it does,
which is great, because that was really I don't know,
I don't know how they even considered that acceptable on
the switch one. It was so bad to use that thing, like,
I don't know from the beginning, but just like as
more and more stuff gets added to it, definitely made
trick at the game. The GameCube app downloaded, Lady was
on that tier, so I just had to download it.
And you know, there's only three games on there right now,
Win Waker, F Zero and Soul Caliber, so it's it's
pretty light so far. But I already booted up win
Waker and have played a little bit of that, a
little bit of Soul Caliber as well, which is which
is fun to go check those games out. I'm excited
for the rest of those games to drop. But yeah,
mostly it's just been Mario Kart because I think, you know,
I've just more seen on like Reddit and stuff that
like Smash Bros. You know, there's nothing really changing about it.
That game already ran really well. Maybe the low times
are a little bit better, but otherwise nothing to be
surprising there. Ultimate Lines Threw is definitely what I was
hoping would get, like a nice upgrade, but like I said,
it won't go past thirty frames unless they actually patch
the game, because you know, it was just always built
for thirty frames. So I don't think that'll happen. I
don't know how well that games sold, but I'd love
to be surprise there, but yeah, I don't think I
I oh, yeah, I guess. The other one I did
is download Tiers of the Kingdom and then downloaded that
like switch to patch version for it. And it's funny.
I played like a half an hour hour that I
was excited to get back into Tiers of the Kingdom
because like you know, the game didn't run well and
I was like, Kash should give this game another chance.
Played for like a half hour hour, I'm like, god,
I remember why. I just didn't like this game a
whole lot. I went into like a couple shrines and
they were just so annoying. I'm like, fuck this game,
Like I wish I could love this game as much
as everyone else does, but it's still not my cup
of tea. So I think I just went back to
win Waker at that point. So yeah, it's honestly like,
I think I'll just play some Mario kard if I
have friends over. But until Donkey Kong, I don't know
if I'll be using this much. I don't think there's
any third party stuff I'll be picking up. I still
have like multiple things that go on the go, like
I'm playing on Xbox and things like that. Death Stranding
comes out pretty soon, so I think this thing will
be collecting dust a little bit until Donkey Kong, and
then after I've played don Kong for a couple of weeks,
you know, until we get that next uh Nintendo Direct
and see what the next slate of things are and
if there's anything else coming out later this year. For me, yeah,
I don't think I will be playing it much in
the meantime, which maybe sounds like some people were like,
why'd you buy this console if you're kind of this
low hyped on it, But once again, I kind of
got it for the future, So that's that's what to
expect there. And then yeah, I didn't really get anything else.
I didn't get a storage thing. I have like a
million game controllers here, so I'm like, yeah, they don't
have the left bumper, but like I can get away
without using that. I don't want the freaking camera. I
don't need that. I have discord. Uh yeah, so I
don't think I didn't get anything else. And then thank
you for that tip that the joy cons from the
switch one can connect. I didn't think they would. I
don't think they talked about that pre launch because I
think they wanted people to not to about that so
they would just buy more switch to joycns and make
some money there. But that's a huge hint. I mean,
I'm gonna probably sell my switch one, so I might
get rid of those. But anyway, that is a good
thing to know if I want to play some miro
Kart with some friends this week, I.
Speaker 2: Got my my rechargeable path, so I don't need my
dock anymore.
Speaker 1: Oh nice thing. Wow that looks because it looks like
the controller thing, but it just doesn't have the side pack.
Speaker 3: It doesn't have the sides yeah yeah, but it has
the charging cord that works out there and it works
works great.
Speaker 1: So that's awesome. Yeah, let's talk about the I guess
hardware a little bit. So obviously, like I don't know,
nothing really too surprising, but like the screen isn't that
much bigger, but it's just more economically there's less of
the bars I guess on the edges, so it just
feels a lot better. It feels a lot more slick,
and obviously like this back thing is, you know, not
nearly as yanky as the old one was. What do
you what do you think about the joy Con twos?
Like were you in the same campus with me where
the joy Con ones were just like you just don't
like those are? Were you fine with them in the
first place? Like, how do you feel about the upgrade here?
Speaker 3: The joy cons for the switch one definitely felt not perfect.
They felt like just holding it like, I don't know,
they don't feel I feel like they could break. I
don't feel like they gotta like a toy strength. Yeah,
they do feel like a toy. Even the plastic feels different,
all that mumbo jumba. But when I start holding like
the switch two joy cons, the thumb sticks feel better.
Everything about this feels better. And also I got big
hand Hans Madson's got little hands, so the joy cons,
the one joy cons are easier for her, but the
big joy cons.
Speaker 2: It is perfect.
Speaker 3: And when we're using before we're using the switch one
joy Cons she specifically requested to use. I think it
was the left the joy joy Con because her thumbstick
was closer to the side for her thumb, whereas the
right one her thumb. It was a bit difficult because
it was further over right.
Speaker 2: That was kind of interesting. But for me, I got
I got bigger hands, so either or works for me.
It doesn't really matter.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I just thought that was an interesting scenario
considering they are excessively bigger and better built than the
first joy Cons are, right, so.
Speaker 1: The overall just a huge improvement for you because they
just put your hands with better. Yeah, I haven't used
it enough yet, and maybe because next week we are
planning doing like a fuller episode on Mario Kart and
we'll have Travis Jones there as well, and he'll share
his thoughts on the console. That just he just hasn't
had much time with it as as we have. I
am still a joke on hater. These are maybe a
little bit of improvement, but they honestly don't feel much
different for me. After playing Mario Kart for a bit,
like I did a round of Knockout Tour, which is
like the Battle reality thing, and that's like, you know,
you're playing for a while without a break, Like I
don't know how long it is. It feels like twenty
minutes or something. And like doing that, I had like
a bit of hand pain in my right hand. I
was like, fuck, okay, this is like maybe a little
bit better, but I still have the hand pain that
switch one gives me, And so you know that's part
of me, just like turning thirty soon. I'm just old
as old as dirt over here, and I climb all
the time. My hands are fucked like I'm just done for.
But I was hoping that these would be better hearing that,
Like the sticks are a bit bigger and the controllers
a little bit bigger, So you know, I need a
few more hours with that to really come down on it.
The only this is a very weird little nitpick. But
with where my hand sits naturally on this controller, Taylor,
specifically the right hand, if I want to like hit
the plus button like the pause, like with where my
hand sits naturally, I have to like fully readjust my
hand and to hit that like it normally would always
be like in reach of like a quick movement, but
I'm like, the way I'm gaming here, I have to
like like let go a bit and shift my hand
up to hit that like comfortably, unless I was just
like stretching. So it's a weird nippick. And I don't
if you've noticed that, because obviously it's not like you're
hitting plus too often when you're playing games. You just
like are pausing or going to a menu or whatnot.
But it's almost like slightly too big in a weird way.
Uh So, once again that is my maybe nitpick of
it all. But I was maybe hoping for a bit
more organomics. But these things are still just like flat,
you know, like they're not These are not built for
a hend. These are I don't know what they're built for.
But uh, obviously it's like form overfunction, I think. And yeah,
so I was maybe home for a little bit more
of a glow up, but uh, I don't know, I
guess I'm I don't hate on them, but they're there.
May be slightly better, but they honestly don't feel like
much of a change for me other than like they
look a lot slicker and the buttons feel a little
bit better. But that's also probably just because they're new
and not crusty like my uh switch one joy CON's
at this point, hopefully they don't get drift. Apparently they're
a lot better for drift prevention, because I definitely have
had a pair of joy Funds that I have had drift,
So hopefully that doesn't happen again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't want that.
Speaker 3: It's funny you mentioned the reaching your right finger and
like kind of removing your hand from the controller, or
at least repositioning it to hit that button. I've naturally,
and I've noticed this. I've naturally just been kind of
angling my controller. So when I'm playing Xbox, I kind
of go I pulled it kind of like like this.
As I'm playing, Oh on an angle?
Speaker 1: Wait, like you actually hold it like this?
Speaker 3: I hold it so if I'm playing straight, I hold
it kind of like this. As I'm playing, I hold
it like on an incline, which is kind of weird. Interesting,
And I noticed that when I'm playing switch on like this,
I'm going like this too, I have it on an incline.
Speaker 1: Right, interesting, So huh, maybe I gotta try that. I'm
at the point now where I have like a nice
pillow and I like rest my wrists and hands on
the pillow because that's helped me a lot alleviate the
hand pain that I it from playing games, because I
do get pain on like Xbox and stuff too if
I'm gaming like a fucking mad man. But the pillow
helps leave it out and everything except for the joy
colns just because they're I don't know, they're too baby
for I don't know if they're too baby for my
hands or it's just because they have dog shit organomics.
I'm not exactly sure, but you know, it's a slight improvement.
But I still got beef with these bad boys. I'm
trying to think about other things, like the screen. It's
good you don't have an O laed switch, right, you
just have the base.
Speaker 2: I got the Base number one switch.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I've seen a lot of people who have
the O LED one. When they get the switch too,
they feel like this feels like a huge downgrade in
terms of screen quality. I actually haven't really used it
much in handheld yet, so I can't compare, but at
least in terms of the size of the screen, it's
much nicer. And then obviously justn't have the downgrade because
I don't have the O lead model either, So yeah,
what else is anything else? Like tech tech wise or
just like about the switch console? We haven't mentioned it.
Speaker 3: Well, I'd say depending on what TV you have, because
I I went in and I set it to one
hundred and twenty ear it's refresh rate, which is nice
because my TV has that hence the courtesy of my
Xbox series X SO did that and set it to
make sure it was on four K and all that
kind of stuff, and I don't think it didn't set
it initially, so I had to go in and like manually.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I did not default a four K for
mine either, which was weird. What to one hundred and
twenty frames? I guess have you experienced a game that
has that? I don't know if anything you have that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Is the menu?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Is the menu? Like? Holy shit, this is one hundred
and twenty Like can you tell? Or the quality of.
Speaker 2: Like the dark mode gray background is phenomenal?
Speaker 1: No, I don't can cruise to the shop at one
hundred and twenty frames? Second? Yeah, because yes, Like I
can't even think back to when I because I talked
you know, a bit ago when they announced one hundred
and twenty frames thing that I'm kind of pissed because
of my old TV was one hundred and twenty frames.
I'd get a new TV, and since no games were
really using one hundred and twenty frames, I'm like, fuck it,
I'll just get a sixty frame TV and then this
has one twenty frames, Like damn it, I missed out
on that. But I don't remember when I had that
on Xbox, Like did I notice that in menus or
was it only just like when I was playing Doom
or something that had like one hundred and twenty frames
patch for it. So I'm curious to see what the
first I guess it would be. Metroid is the one
they announced, presumably that's the first one that comes out
that has one hundred and twenty frames, which I don't
even think you're playing on getting that game right, but
if you do, that would maybe be the first one.
But I'm curious to see what other games get the
one hundred and twenty because that'll be a test case.
I forget, does it run one hundred and twenty for
the handheld as well? I think it does, uncertain.
Speaker 2: Feel like it does.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd be surprised, which is pretty crazy, not four
k obviously that would just be ten eighty, but an
improvement from the seven to twenty that the Switch one had. Yeah, yeah,
let's see what else. I guess we could talk about
Mario Kart a little bit. Like I said, well, next
week we'll do a full deep dive on on Mario Kart.
But yeah, how much have you played of Mario Kart
so far?
Speaker 2: I feel like I have sunk in a fair bit
of time.
Speaker 3: Nice so that when my buddy came over on the Friday,
that was around like ten eleven am and we're playing
right up till three, So we sunk in. We completed
all all the Grand Prix, unlocked the extra one that
they've tossed in there, the Rainbow Road, and then we
got most of the characters, which is pretty nice.
Speaker 2: And so at this point I'm just going through. I
think it was just like the.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of costumes to unlock.
Speaker 3: That's right, there's a lot of costumes, and so I've
just been working at getting costumes right now. I'm switching
up every Grand Prix I do, I play a different
characters and just hitting those sandwich bags throughout the course
just to get the new costumes, and then I did
do a bit of a free room.
Speaker 2: That's the way to do it.
Speaker 3: You can also do free roam and get certain sandwich
bags on certain locations, and then you can get costumes
that way, but for this point no, I've just been
hitting the races and Grand Prix and getting the costumes
that way.
Speaker 1: Nice. Yeah, I'm really enjoying the game so far. It's
funny just how much Mark eight I've played at this point.
I'm so into the muscle memory of that, just getting
used to like the new drin where it feels a
little bit i don't know what the word to use,
a little bit squishier. It feels really good, but like
you sink a bit more into your turn rather than
like the tightness that I'm obviously just used to. But
I think it feels really great. I like that they
kind of simplified the you know, characters select well. Obviously
there's a lot more characters in costumes, but in terms
of the cart right, like you're picking, that is a
little bit simpler than it was before. I still have
a ton to unlock, obviously. I think I've played three
or four Grand Prix. I did a round of Knockout Tour.
I've done a little bit, maybe a half an hour
hour of the Yeah, Free Rome. I haven't played battle
Mode yet, and I'm surprised that was even in there,
because I don't think that was in the Markard direct
that they did like a couple months ago. I don't
think they ever announced battle Mode. I think that was
kind of a surprise when I was in there. Have
you tried battle Mode yet? Because I'm curious what the
maps are? I'm guessing they just like take a section
of the world, right, because that's like what the rest
of the courses do.
Speaker 2: I did not try a battle mode yet. I've just
done Knockout and then the Grand Prix that's it, and
Free Rom.
Speaker 1: I guess, Yeah, how did Knockout Tour and go for you?
Speaker 2: Uh? What did I do with that?
Speaker 3: Because we put Madison joined me for that because we
played a bit and I think I said it to
one hundred and fifty CC and when I did, I
did that I had to lean forward, and when I
lean forward, I'm playing games, I'm in game remote. Yeah,
so that was definitely give me a run for my money,
but it was it was a lot of fun and
I feel like this game too in general, like it's
easier for I should say easier. Madison definitely is like
she's she has a good time with Mario Kart, but
this it's been a few times, so she's snuck it
and she's got that like gets that second or first place,
and I'm coming at third. I'm like, what the heck,
because I'd say, at least with one hundred CC when
I'm doing the Grand Prix, I'm usually out of the
four races, three of them, I'm coming first place.
Speaker 2: I like my odds.
Speaker 3: I'm pretty consistent, and I hope that this appears again
in the Gauntlet or whatever in the future, then we
can I can.
Speaker 1: Yes, that would be I feel like I needed to
learn these maps because there's so much more in in
terms of like shortcuts and stuff, just because of the
addition of wall riding and grinding and obviously a lot
of that you can kind of figure out if you
do some of these like piece switch things whatever in
the free rom mode and whatnot. But yeah, I feel
like there's a lot more like these. There's less maps
than obviously Mark or eight has because that game has
ton of DLC at this point. But yeah, the maps
feel like they have a lot more depth to them
in terms of like shortcuts and things. So I feel
like that's going to take a long time to really
master this game, which is kind of exciting, and I'm
sure by the time we do, they'll have some more
DLC maps to chuck at us, which will be exciting.
Speaker 3: The idea of doing the wall riding that blows my
mind because I was doing the free roam and I
was sitting those piece switches and just doing a bunch
of different challenges and then the lo and behold, here
comes my first one for wall driving and thought, okay,
I had to watch a YouTube video how they were
doing it, and so it was like you go along
the left wall and then you have to go along
the right wall, and it's a time trial, so you
have limited amount of time to do this because you
have to go along the left wall, go through a
time extender, then jump to the right wall, hit that
time extender, and then hit the last one on the
ground straight ahead. And so I could do the left wall,
I couldn't get over and do it on the right wall.
It was just too it was too tricky. I and
the essence of time too, is a factor as well,
trying to figure that out because you're going you can't
be turning. You get to be going straight, charge up
your jump, jump off onto the side of the wall,
and then jump off. But my brain and my fingers
want to go into like a drift after I jump.
Speaker 2: Off that first wall.
Speaker 3: But this is one of those things where I feel like, Okay,
it's just because I'm an old man now and you
get like a six or seven year old in here,
they're gonna do it in like ten seconds maybe, yeah,
some crazy shit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like these are new mechanics, like just
being able to jump, you know, whatever it is. I
forget what the button conboys, if you hold the button
then it hit the right trigger or something like that.
You that's right, right, It's like that's that's new. But
for like if you're kid, it's your first marrow kart,
Like that's just a mechanic. But for us, it's like
we got to rewire the brain's a bit to figure
it out.
Speaker 3: And it applies not just to the wall jumps, but
to like incoming projectiles. Right, I'm prety sure you can
jump over shells doing it, and you can do other things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, probably. Yeah, I don't. I've not I've definitely
not mastered the jump at this point, so it's gonna
take me a bit to get used to that.
Speaker 3: It's it's similar to the I guess the oh my gosh,
the feather. The feather is like feather that jumps you.
Speaker 1: A huge jump, yeah, which I'm sure a lot of
shortcuts will be tied to that, which is a cool item,
and I like that. That's another because I feel like
there's such a rare or a small pool of items
that you can get if you're in like a high
position like one, two, three, four. I think feather you
can get. I don't know if you can get it
if you're in first, but you can get it when
you're in like a lot of those high positions. So
it's fun to have like a new item there rather
than just only getting coins or like the odd banana
or the odd green shell. Now you get I can
get something that you know you can use for a
shortcut or just you know, I don't even know the
bounds of all of the I'm sure you can dodge
a lot of it shells with it and things too,
So it's fun to have a new item for those
those tiers. Yeah, I think I need to do a
bit more of the open world to see how I
feel about that, because like, some of the challenges, as
you mentioned, are challenging, and some of them are quite fun,
but it does feel a little basic, I guess, but
you know, it is like and I guess. The other
last thing I wanted to say about this is like,
you know, one of the things that the Grand Prix
they added is like you're traveling between the maps, and
I wondered how that would work, but it turns out
that like the map still ends, you know, everyone finishes,
you see the scoreboard, and then you go back into
the race, and then you drive from that map to
the next map. But that's like included in the lap count.
So the reason when I was the most recent when
I did ended or ended up at some point at
Warrior's Shipyard, which is such a cool map. But by
the time I got to Warrio's Shipyard and it was
already like a lap and a half into the race
just driving there, and then I did like one lap
of warriors Shipyard and then it was over, and I
was like, I feel like I wanted to play on
that map, but I spent instead spend half the time
just like actually getting there on like which is still
a decent little path, but it's not as exciting as
the map itself. I've heard that if you go in
like not Grand Prix but and just like verse mode
I guess, and you pick maps that way, then you
don't do the transition between them, You just do like
three laps or whatever on the actual course. So that's
something to try out too, because maybe this is fun
for now to do the Grand Prix, but once you
get the unlocks from it, maybe I would just go
to Verse mode and like pick individual maps. So I'll
try that out before next week's episode and report back
on how that works in there. But yeah, like I said,
next week, we will dive deeper tomorrow carp. But any
other like top level thoughts on it you wanted to
share or the console as a whole.
Speaker 2: That's pretty much. It's pretty much shit. The other one
of the other kickers is why I want to upgrade
my online subscription. I will, I will shut up because
I really wanted to play fire Emblem on the Game
Boy Advance.
Speaker 1: Ooh that excites me to hear? Hell yeah, which one?
Which one? You playing or I'm which there were two
on there, right, there's Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones.
Speaker 3: And Sacred Stones. Okay, then I'm pretty sure the one
I popped on and is Sacred Stones. And I'm doing
that because when when I was young, my cousin I
go to his place and he has Game Boy Advance
and he had Sacred Stones on there, and I he
let me try it, and I loved it, loved it,
loved it.
Speaker 2: And that's why years later.
Speaker 3: When the DS came out or three DS, maybe I
picked up Shadow Dragon, which of course was fun, but
it didn't satisfy that itch.
Speaker 1: So Shadow Dragon is crap. It's probably the worst fun
in the series. I mean, it's a remake of the
first game, so it's very basic and simple. Uh yeah,
Sacred Stones is still the goat Fire Bloom game in
my opinion, as someone who's played like twelve entries in
the series, I'm so happy're playing that one because I've
played that game probably through to credits at least four times.
Maybe doesn't sound like a lot. That's a long ass game,
and then started it like another twenty times in my life.
It's just so good.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, like it's it's going back and playing it
after all these years because I never was able to
find it on game Boy Advance. So it's just it's
an absolute delight. I'm having such a blast with it.
I'm a few few missions in so far, and I
love it. It's just it's bringing me back and it's
it's such.
Speaker 1: Those battle animations. Oh, the most gorgeous picks alert in
the world. Hey, it's fucking beautiful. Oh, I'm so happy
you're playing that game. I'm gonna bug you every side
quest now of like where you where it's.
Speaker 2: Please do it's easy to just hop on and pick up.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I think that's like those games have always been,
especially now that you can like make save states mid
level because of the switch like functionality of it. That's
even or you can rewind if you know, you make
a like you know, because that's a feature in the
new Fireingblum games but not those old ones. So it's
really nice, like through this roundabout way and the switch
emulation to be able to do that stuff. That's really great.
You did you ever play Path of Radiance, the one
on GameCube? No, and that one hits When that one
hits the catalog, you should definitely check that one out too,
because that game is also I think it's still my
second favorite in the series. Like there was something about
that early mid two thousand spot where fire Emblem that
was like absolutely perfect, and that game's gorgeous, has some
beautiful like CG cut scenes and really colorful, great mechanics
and all that, and I think you'll really like that
one as well. So that's that's gonna be dropping on
the announced that it's coming. Yeah, it was in that'll drop,
So I don't know when. It's probably this year, I
would assume at some point, which is cool because that
game is super hard to find and like super expensive
at game stores and things, so it's really nice that
it'll be easily accessible. And I hope, well, I guess
Kirkland doesn't have a switch too, but someday when he
gets a switch to, I'm sure he'll jump into Path
of Ratings as well. But dude, that's sweet. I'm so
so glad you're playing Sacred Stones.
Speaker 2: It's good time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, any other closing thoughts here for today?
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, I've top my head. I can't I
can't think of anything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, yeah, no problem. This is kind of our
first impressions, of course as it's titled, and next week
we'll do but if a deeper diving to Mario Kart,
we'll talk about, you know, just more switch to discoveries
and things that we've been doing with this new console.
So that'll be a fun update to one week from now.
Thank you everyone for listening. Go check out our Xbox
Show coverage and all the other showcases we did, and yeah,
let us know what you're thinking of the console. If
you have any questions about it, also send those our way,
either on the Patreon or Discord or YouTube or whatever
the heck. I'll see them and put them in next
week's episode. And yeah, thank you for joining me, Taylor,
and we'll see you all next week. Bye bye