Category Archives: Angry Rant

amiibo Training, Angry Rant, Essay, Informational, Super Smash Bros. Series, Switch

The struggles of hosting a Battle Arena amiibo tournament

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It goes without saying that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s amiibo metagame is one of the most unique competitive scenes of all time. On the surface, the idea of raising a fighter and sending it away to do battle is highly accessible — and indeed, for tournaments that allow file submission, you don’t even need to attend the actual tour to see your Figure Player’s results! Unfortunately, hosting and entering file submission competitions requires the use of amiibo Powersaves, and while they aren’t all that expensive, it’s an additional barrier to entry nonetheless. For the longest time, we had no choice but to host file submission tournaments — that is, until Nintendo added amiibo compatibility to online Battle Arenas. You would think the struggles of hosting amiibo tours would end there, but that isn’t the case: Battle Arenas are actually quite difficult to work with, and for a variety of reasons.

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3DS, amiibo Training, Angry Rant, Essay, Informational, Switch, Wii U

A complete history of retailer-exclusive amiibo figures

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Store exclusives. If you’ve been in the amiibo hunting business for a long time, all it takes is those two words to bring back painful memories. After the release of Super Smash Bros. 4’s first wave of amiibo figures, it became incredibly clear to collectors that certain fighters would be tough to get. At first, it was Villager, Marth, and Wii Fit Trainer – referred to as a “holy trinity” of sorts due to their rarity – and then it was Captain Falcon, Pit, and Little Mac from Wave 2. Though each these of trinkets was rather difficult to find, none were store exclusives — the real nightmare would begin on February 1, 2015 with the release of the gigantic Wave 3.

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Angry Rant, Animal Crossing Series, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Essay, Opinion, Switch

How Nintendo could improve multiplayer in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

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If you have a Nintendo Switch, you’ve probably played Animal Crossing: New Horizons this year. The cultural impact New Horizons has had on the gaming community – not to mention people in general – is both astounding and undeniable. I’m sure many of you have had friends over (or have visited friends’ islands) this year, so perhaps you’d agree with me when I say that this game’s multiplayer is not very good.

As I wrote in my review a few months back, New Horizons suffers from a wide variety of puzzling multiplayer restrictions. There’s just so much you can’t do when your island’s gates are open, and today we’re going to elaborate on my point a bit. Here’s how Nintendo could potentially improve multiplayer sessions in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

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Angry Rant, Essay, Opinion, Paper Mario Series, Super Mario Series, Wii U

The problem with Black Paint in Paper Mario: Color Splash

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Paper Mario: Color Splash is a game that nobody talks about (except for me on Twitter, and it usually doesn’t end well). And honestly, I can see why. It was released just four years after Paper Mario: Sticker Star, a game that essentially killed the Paper Mario franchise in the eyes of former fans of the series. At first glance, it didn’t fix very many of Sticker Star’s main problems. Mario’s attacks are still disposable, Thing cards are still required for boss battles, and almost every NPC is a Toad. All of these issues added up to one of the worst-selling Mario games in recent history.

If you’ve read my review on Paper Mario: Color Splash, then you know that I really like this game for some reason. But it’s got a ton of problems, and the one I’m going to discuss today is its storyline. It’s better than Sticker Star’s, sure, but it’s still pretty bad on its own. Specifically, I take issue with the concept of black paint that the game introduces about six hours in. There will be full Color Splash spoilers here, so if you’re trying to avoid those – first, what? – and second, steer clear until you’ve beaten the game. Continue reading The problem with Black Paint in Paper Mario: Color Splash →

amiibo Training, Angry Rant, Super Smash Bros. Series, Switch

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate LIED?!

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Clickbait titles aside, we’re here today for a rather short post — that is, at least by our standards. When Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was first announced in March 2018, we weren’t sure if it was going to include amiibo support. By that point, most of us trainers had raised quite a few characters in Super Smash Bros. 4. Eventually – and fortunately for us – Ultimate was revealed to include amiibo training support after all! And you could “transfer” your Smash 4 amiibo to Ultimate, supposedly retaining its training data in the process.

Well, as it turns out, this isn’t true at all! When you transfer a Smash 4 amiibo to Ultimate, all of its prior training data is completely removed. What you wind up with is a blank Level 12 amiibo (assuming the FP you transferred was Level 50 in Smash 4). Transferring between games isn’t a reversible process, so in other words, you’re pretty much erasing your Smash 4 training for nothing in return. If you’ve got well-trained Smash 4 amiibo, leave them as-is! Transferring them to Ultimate is almost exactly the same as resetting them. It doesn’t even attempt to keep their stats and bonuses!

In short, try your best to leave your Smash 4 amiibo in Smash 4. You’re better off just resetting the FP if anything, because that’ll give you a few more levels to train it (even though they still learn after Level 50). I figured this was an interesting note, because Ultimate clearly states that it will “transfer the FP’s memories”. If there’s something I’m not quite seeing regarding the transfer process, I’ll be sure to update this post!