Author Archives: Kappy

Coins in Mario Kart 8

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After 1 month, I’m finally done with summer camp! And while it was an awesome month, I’m glad to be back home, sitting at my computer and typing this blog post up. I was originally going to just do a little update, but I’ve been wanting to write about this since I left for camp: coins in Mario Kart 8.

I’ve enjoyed almost every game in the Mario Kart series since its inception, and Mario Kart 8 is the first one that I don’t really enjoy playing. I’ve only really played it once. There are a number of reasons why I don’t like this game (all gameplay related – the visuals and music are phenomenal, I think the biggest reason is the re-inclusion of coins from Super Mario Kart.

For those of you who don’t know, in Mario Kart 8 you can have up to 10 coins. These coins increase your maximum top speed as well as your boost speed. If you are hit or you fall off the map, you lose 3 coins. This opens up a couple problems right off the bat:

Speedier Karts/Bikes/Characters are better:

I love Toad. He’s one of my favorite Mario characters. However, he’s a light character, so he’s pretty slow. Normally, this is offset by having better acceleration and off road speed. With coins in play, having less coins than a speedier character/kart almost always results in me trailing farther and farther behind. Without coins at least I can try and get some items or do some skillful drifting to catch up, but that’s more difficult when you have 4 coins and they have 7 and are cruising on ahead considerably faster than you.

Rubber Banding (or same place syndrome):

Because of how significant the speed boost is from coins, the rubber banding from items is diminished in its effectiveness. Given two characters of same character and vehicle, one with 10 coins can go about the same speed as one with 0 coins and a Star/Mushroom. That’s absolutely ridiculous, and can sometimes lead to what I call Same Place Syndrome. Let’s say you’re in 2nd place, and you get hit with a red shell and a green shell at 10 coins. You now have 4, and people speed on by you with more coins. If this happens, you may find yourself in 6th/7th/8th place for the rest of the race. This has happened to me and a bunch of people I’ve observed playing a lot, and it’s incredibly frustrating when you feel like the items can’t help propel you forward just because you’ve got less coins.

Conversely, if you’re in first with 10 coins, sometimes you can rocket so far ahead of the pack (assuming they’re not collecting coins like you are) that being hit with two blue shells won’t even come close to putting you in 2nd, especially since one of the items you get commonly in first place are a coin item that gives you two coins.

The first lap becomes a coin collecting contest:

The first lap, I think, is pretty crucial. The players that collect more coins will stay at the top (unless combo’d hard by items), and those that don’t will find themselves struggling until they collect more for the whole race.

It’s disappointing that a game I was really looking forward to has, in my opinion, an awful mechanic for what the series stands for. It looks great, plays great (controls are amazing), and has a memorable soundtrack, but coins really take a lot of fun out of the game for me. I will say that I think coins are an amazing addition to Time Trials, as I think strategic collection of coins leads to increased depth in that area, but otherwise, coins need to go.

Just Sayin’.

My Super Smash Bros Wii U/3DS demo consensus

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E3 has come and gone, the Super Smash Bros. Invitational has passed, and I got to play both the 3DS and Wii U versions of  the new Super Smash Bros. game (which I will be labeling as “Smash 4“). Here’s my take:

NOTE: This game is not in its final stage. It is still in development! Mechanics can (and probably will) change.

What is it like?

It’s like Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Brawl). It felt less floaty and faster, but it definitely retained the Brawl feel. The music and the overall look is great. The move streaks are an awesome touch, and I’m loving some of the new characters. I only got to play as Kirby (my old Brawl main) and Villager, but I had fun playing both!

Also Smash Run is going to be the best mode of all time.

Game Mechanics:

The Good:

– A lot of people were complaining about aerial landing lag, but I didn’t see a lot of it. With both Villager and Kirby, landing on the ground with an aerial felt exactly like it did in Brawl. I was still able to link Kirby’s Back Air -> Forward Tilt, which requires little landing lag on the Back Air. Some characters have a lot of landing lag (See: Marth), but overall the game didn’t look like a total lag fest when landing with aerials. I have no idea why everyone’s complaining when it seems to be only a few characters.

– The hit lag, while more than Brawl, feels really satisfying when you hit. Grabbing someone also feels satisfying.

– Air dodging into the ground produces significant lag. This is great because it used to be an incredibly safe option in Brawl, and now it can be punished. Also they appear to be much shorter, which is great.

– The jab finishers are really cool. I hated all the rapid-jabs, so I’m glad they’re gone.

– Hit Stun can’t be canceled with an air dodge. Combos do exist!

– The new ledge mechanics to prevent sharking are cool. I’m actually on board with the whole “kick-off” mechanic, too.

The Bad: 

– No dash dancing. I think this is something Smash 4 needs so that the primary movement isn’t air-based.

– Throws are really odd. It’s very hard to follow up with them and it doesn’t really put the thrown opponent in a bad spot so it feels like they’re always the less superior choice. A few characters, however (MegaMan and Villager are the two that come to mind) have some follow ups out of throws.

– KO’ing takes a very long time. I saw people live up to 150% from Smash attacks.

– Auto sweet spot ledges with Up B.

And that’s really all I have to say about it. Overall, I’m really hopefully for Smash 4. I was worried I wasn’t going to like it, but after watching the Invitational and playing both versions myself, I can confidently say that I’m very excited for this game!

Just Sayin’

My thoughts on the Super Smash Bros. Invitational

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A few days ago, Nintendo posted a video about the Super Smash Bros. International, a tournament hosted by Nintendo at E3 this year to showcase the next installment of the Super Smash Bros. series. It will feature 16 players that receive an invite from Nintendo, and feature casting by well-known competitive Smash Bros. casters Prog, Scar, and D1. I think this tournament is awesome, and to see them including Prog and D1, my two favorite casters, is really cool. Really, the whole idea that Nintendo is trying to embrace competitive Smash Bros. is a good feeling. Other competitive games are usually supported by their creators; it’s nice to see Smash Bros. is finally getting some of that support.

I’m not going to dive into the players invited, but there are a lot of big names and I’m mostly happy with Nintendo’s choices. A lot of the players not only help with the community but are long-time players of competitive Smash Bros., with a few new names thrown in there that I don’t know at all.

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of the Invitational: the rules.

Draft:

Basically, there are 20 characters and 16 players. Each player picks a number and then picks a character in the order of the number (starting with 1). The player’s aren’t allowed to switch characters – they must use the same character throughout the duration of the tournament.

Here’s a quick list of the characters (in alphabetical order):

– Bowser
– Donkey Kong
– Fox
– Greninja
– Kirby
– Link
– Little Mac
– Mario
– Marth
– Mega Man
– Pikachu
– Pikmin & Olimar
– Pit
– Rosalina & Luma
– Samus
– Sonic
– Villager
– Wii Fit Trainer
– Zelda
– Zero Suit Samus

So that means that 4 characters will be left out. That’s nice because then the last person still has characters to choose from rather than just being stuck with whichever character isn’t picked. I’m predicting that some characters like Mario, Pikachu, Link, Donkey Kong, Fox, and other old names will be less favored than the new characters. At least, I hope they choose the new characters over the old ones.

Gameplay:

– Single-Elimination
– 4 player Free-For-All (FFA), 4 stocks, 5 minute timer (top 2 advance)
– Winner is determined by score?
– A tie-breaker for second involves most KO’s, and if that’s a tie, then by a fan vote.
– Quaterfinals have Items on Medium
– Semifinals and Finals have Items on Low
– Grand Finals have no items.

And taken directly from Nintendo’s E3 website with the rules:

“Grand Finals is a 4-stock, 8-minute, 1-on-1 match on Battlefield as an homage to the competitive Smash Bros. community.”

How cool is that? That’s a really big deal for me as a competitive Smash Bros. player.

So, the rules aren’t exactly crystal clear on how the winner is determined. Is it the last player standing, or the player with the most KO’s? I don’t know, but I’m going ahead and assuming it’s whomever is last standing. Also I have no idea whether or not the matches before Quarterfinals have items on or off. I’m pretty sure it’s on, all things considered, but we’ll see. The stages used will be shown off at the event, which I’m okay with.

There’s also this “Fan Favorite Bracket”, which is basically fans wanting their favorite players to play again in a separate bracket where the second place winner is determined by a vote. The Fan Favorite Bracket matches are timed FFA’s instead of stock, so the winner is the person with the highest score. Items are always on Medium.

All in all, the rules are looking good. I didn’t expect any kind of hyper-competitive rules, so the FFA matches are fine with me. I’m just happy they’re paying an homage to the competitive Smash Bros. community.

I’m very excited for this tournament. If you want to check it out, it’ll be streamed on Nintendo’s Twitch channel next Tuesday, June 10th, at 4 PM PT. I’ll be tuning in and probably updating my Twitter as I do, and I’ll (hopefully) be going to the Best Buy Smashfest in my area to write a post about my thoughts on it in the next couple of weeks.

Just Sayin’.

Link to Nintendo’s E3 website: http://e3.nintendo.com/

Link to the Super Smash Bros. Invitational Rules: http://e3.nintendo.com/invitational/info.html

Guest Article: Attitudes in Melee

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Before I forget: I had no time to write anything, so here’s an article about attitudes in Super Smash Bros. Melee. This can be applied to any competitive experience, so keep that in mind!

norcalmelee's avatarMelee It On Me

Today’s article is written by Nicholas M Whittier (NMW) who talks about mindsets and attitudes in gaming.

Introduction

Competitive gamers come from a wide array of backgrounds, each with their own predilections. Given that we are all part of the Melee community, I will assume that we all have the urge to compete–some innate drive to win. This is not a trivial assumption, as there are many out there who don’t have the drive to compete at all. With the newest generation of Smashers, who are largely inspired by Evo and the documentary, the internet has had countless threads about how to convert one’s casual friends into competitive players. Those casual players frequently lack the drive necessary to be a competitive player. The thirst is not something that can be instilled into your friends. Assuming people have knowledge of the competitive scene and know what top level Melee looks like…

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POKEMON TEAM REPORT: 23rd place at Madison, WI

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A couple weeks ago, I attended the Play Pokemon Madison Regional in Wisconsin. Generally, on the competitive Pokémon site I frequent, Nugget Bridge, the players who top cut (generally top 16 or top 8 depending on the regional) will write a report about their team. I got 23rd place at this regional, and while I don’t think this team deserves a spot as an article on Nugget Bridge, I do want to try and write one to help myself write a good report once I do top cut or win an event. So, without further adieu, let’s begin!

Since the beginning of Pokémon XY, I had been fascinated with Mega Ampharos and Gourgeist, and so had been playing a team centered around them. My team did well, but it had some really bad match ups against Azumarill, Mega Gengar, Mega Venusaur, and Malamar. I kept losing, and got so frustrated that I made a team made to beat everything I was losing to that consisted of Gourgeist, Mega Ampharos, Rotom-Heat, Gardevoir, Scrafty, and Scizor. After a couple modifications, my team was complete and ready for regionals!

The Team:

 

rotom-heat
 

 

Rotom-Swag (Rotom-Heat) @ Safety Goggles

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 180 SAtk / 16 SDef / 44 Spd

Modest Nature

– Overheat

– Thunderbolt

– Protect

– Will-O-Wisp

Almost every team has a Rotom. Whether you chose Heat or Wash was up to your team, but I’m not a huge fan of Wash and I think with the rising usage of Mega Venusaur it’s becoming harder to use the washing machine, so I chose Rotom-Heat. Rotom-Heat was my primary answer to Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, Venusaur, Bisharp, and Mawile. With Safety Goggles, Rotom is unaffected by spore and powder moves, the most notable being Spore, Sleep Powder, and Rage Powder. Being able to bypass Amoonguss’ Rage Powder was super clutch in practice, although in the actual tournament I only played one Amoonguss. The spread had two goals: One Hit KO (OHKO) Ray Rizzo’s Mega Mawile 100 percent of the time, and outspeed Rotom that were speed creeping standard bulky Rotom by 1 point. I dumped 252 into HP to complement Rotom’s natural bulk, and then split the remaining 32 EV’s in both defenses just because. Rotom was really clutch, able to live a good chunk of hits even with no Sitrus Berry or Leftovers, and was a great switch-in on Fairiy-types.

 

ampharos

——>        ampharos-mega

Swagaros (Ampharos) (F) @ Ampharosite

Ability: Static

EVs: 188 HP / 136 Def / 28 SAtk / 156 SDef

Quiet Nature

IVs: 0 Spd

– Dragon Pulse

– Power Gem

– Thunderbolt

– Protect

My main Pokémon. Mega Ampharos, in my opinion, is a sleeper mega. He has a monstrous 165 base Special Attack with a good offensive typing in Electric and Dragon.  Many brush him off as bad, but I think it’s because everyone’s using him the wrong way. Everyone seems to go to speed control or Cotton Guard, but I think that’s the wrong way to go. Mega Ampharos excels at something no other Pokémon in the current meta can excel at: beating some very common Pokemon 1-on-1: Aegislash, Mega Charizard Y, Rotom Heat and Wash, Talonflame, Amoonguss without Sludge Bomb, Mega Charizard X, Mega Manectric, Azumarill, Timid Salamence, and Garchomp. On top of taking a hit (or more) from every single one of these Pokemon and OHKO’ing or 2HKO’ing them back, he’s one of the slowest Pokémon in the format, so he also functions as a Trick Room counter like Amoonguss. I brought Mega Ampharos to nearly every single game because he always had a purpose. It’s not a Pokémon you should be building a team around, because it takes too much set up. Just rely on its bulk and strong power to sweep once its checks and counters are gone.

This specific spread was made to live a Timid Choice Scarf Salamence Draco Meteor 100 percent of the time, and to live Adamant Azumarill’s Play Rough 15/16 times. 28 Special Attack EV’s ensures the OHKO on 252 HP Azumarill, all dragons. Power Gem, while some might think is a “bad” move on Mega Ampharos, is the only way to 2HKO bulky Rotom-Heat and to ensure the OHKO on bulky Mega Charizard Y.

 

scrafty

 

 

 

Swagty (Scrafty) (M) @ Assault Vest

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 36 Def

Brave Nature

IVs: 0 Spd

– Crunch

– Drain Punch

– Fake Out

– Stone Edge

At this point, I knew I wanted a physical attacker that had Intimidate and Fake Out. Hitmontop isn’t legal in VGC 2014, so Scrafty was the natural choice. I decided that Scrafty was bulky enough that it didn’t need Detect, and I wasn’t too afraid of Talonflame or Liepard and Meowstic-M for Quick Guard, so I knew I would be running three attacks and Fake Out. I had heard that Matt Sybeldon (bearsfan092) had run Assault Vest on it and I wanted to give it a try. With that 1.5x boost to his special attack, Scrafty was able to take Draco Meteors like a champ, and was a fantastic switch-in to Special Tyranitar, able to sponge any attacks from it and recovering the damage with Drain Punch. Scrafty is the slowest possible for a couple reasons: 1) Trick Room, and 2) to beat Aegislash who thought they were safe. Almost every Aegislash I faced fell to my Scrafty because my opponent thought my Scrafty would be faster, and I ended up OHKO’ing their Blade Forme Aegislash with Crunch.

The HP and Defense Evs were to survive a Choice Banded Adamant Talonflame Brave Bird after an Intimidate and OHKO back with Stone Edge. Stone Edge also gave me another option against Mega Charizard Y, which cannot OHKO Scrafty with an Assault Vest. The 220 Atk is to ensure a OHKO on 4HP Mega Gengar, which gave my team problems otherwise.

 

gardevoir

 

 

 

 

Swagevoir (Gardevoir) (M) @ Choice Specs

Ability: Trace

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 164 SAtk / 4 SDef / 88 Spd

Modest Nature

– Dazzling Gleam

– Moonblast

– Psychic

– Shadow Ball

Gardevoir was my primary answer to Mega Venusaur and dragons. 164 Special Attack with Choice Specs survives all but the bulkiest Mega Venusaur, and it survived a Modest 252 SAtk Mega Venusaur Sludge Bomb. It also outsped standard bulky Rotom by 1 point. Having Dazzling Gleam and Moonblast was a simple matter: sometimes the situation called for Dazzling Gleam, and sometimes it called for Moonblast’s extra power. Trace was an amazing ability, often winning me games simply because I Trace’d Lightning Rod, Levitate, Intimidate, or Parental Bond (which is ridiculously powerful with Moonblast). I brought Gardevoir to nearly every game and it was never dead weight, despite being really frail.

 

mawile——–> mawile-mega

Mawswag (Mawile) (M) @ Mawilite

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 24 Def / 180 SDef

Careful Nature

– Iron Head

– Play Rough

– Sucker Punch

– Protect

My second Mega. Scizor used to be in this slot until my good friend Greyson Garren (GreySong) suggested I try Mega Mawile, and after testing it I knew I was going to use it. Mega Mawile was my second Intimidator and my 3rd way to deal with Dragons, as well as a way to deal with Gardevoir. I basically copied Ray Rizzo’s spread because I got him really late and didn’t have time to make a different spread, but it worked out for me splendidly. I only brought Mega Mawile once, but when I did, he did a ton of work.

Choosing between Ampahros and Mawile was actually really easy. I used Ampharos for more common teams, while Mawile was able to rip through Pokemon I didn’t really know enough about, or when there was a Kangaskhan and not a lot of Pokemon that could stop Mawile. All in all, they performed the same role for me – eliminate a threat for the rest of my team. And to that end, they both worked out because they cover a lot of the same Pokemon, yet offer different utility when it came to speed control and maintaining a lead.

 

meowstic

Meowswag (Meowstic) (M) @ Sitrus Berry

Ability: Prankster

EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 44 SAtk / 116 SDef / 4 Spd

Bold Nature

– Fake Out

– Psychic

– Safeguard

– Trick Room

I added Meowstic the morning of the tournament. This was a Gourgeist with Safeguard, but I was, for some reason, really afraid of Khan Artist (Mega Kangaskhan + Smeargle lead). So, I took an old Meowstic from my box, gave it Fake Out, and presto, I had some kind of way to deal with Khan Artist. The idea was to send out Meowstic + Scrafty and double Fake Out Turn 1, then Safeguard Turn 2. Psychic was because I had EV’s in Special Attack and didn’t have time to change it, otherwise it would’ve been Charm or Light Screen, and Trick Room was just in case I felt I needed it. I only used Trick Room once, and it only helped me to solidify a win. Still, it was nice to have. This particular Meowstic spread and nature survives a Mega Kangaskhan Return + a turn of sand, and is 3HKO’d by Modest Rotom Thunderbolt. The rest was dumped into Special Attack because I forgot why. I made that spread a long time ago.

Meowstic was more dead weight than anything because I didn’t face a single Smeargle. It set up Safeguard or Trick Room and then died when I actually brought it.

Lead Combinations:

I generally had my leads tailored to the team I was facing, but I had a few favorite and dedicated lead combinations. I didn’t use all of these, but these were the ones I came up with.

Ampharos + Gardevoir:

I would lead this if I felt that nothing could outright threaten the two, or if I wanted to bait my opponent into thinking I was running a Trick Room Gardevoir. This was my primary high-offense team, despite both being special attackers.

Gardevoir/Ampharos + Scrafty:

This was my “bait Aegislash to KO him” lead combo. Gardevoir is such a well-known threat that Aegislash try and KO it, thinking they’ll live the Crunch from Scrafty, only to have my Scrafty move last and get the OHKO. Conversely, I could Fake Out Aegislash’s partner and KO Aegislash with Ampharos if it decided to attack.

Scrafty + Meowstic:

I never used this lead, but in theory this lead was for Khan Artist. Double Fake Out and Fake Out + Safeguard if I predicted a Mega Kangaskhan Power-up Punch.

Scrafty + Rotom-Heat:

My anti-Aegislash, anti-Mega Kangaskhan leads. These two dealt with both Pokémon relatively well, Rotom-Heat having the Will-o-Wisp and Scrafty with Intimidate + Fake Out Support.

Scrafty + Mawile:

Double Intimidate lead. Also my way of drawing out Gardevoir/Dragons and punishing my opponent for leading with them.

That’s the team! Thanks for reading, and hopefully I’ll be writing a real report for a top cut or win I have in a future event. I’ll be doing what’s known as a war story, which is where I’ll write about the trip and every battle during the event if that happens!

Just Sayin’

My take on the HIMYM series finale

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It’s hard to put into words the disappointment and confusion I felt Monday night after the How I Met Your Mother series finale aired. I didn’t really think about what I didn’t like, I just jumped to the “I don’t like Ted and Robin together” argument and stuck to it. But now that I’ve had some time to think and read tons of blogs and (unfortunately) comments on blogs about the series finale, I think I can actually articulate just what I didn’t like and why I think the finale was – simply put – awful.

This finale had a message to send. A message about life’s twists and turns, about how you can move on from tragedies and good can come from them. It’s a good message and I respect the finale for that. Unfortunately, this message is ripped apart by the execution of the episode and the way the show grew in the past couple seasons and is replaced with a message about if you wait long enough, the girl you’ve been wanting for years will finally give in and you’ll live happily ever after.

This ending is not a bad ending. It could be a feasible ending, but the way the show grew, it wasn’t. Had, say, Ted never pined over Robin for so long and figured it was worth a shot years down the road, had you seen Barney and Robin struggle through their divorce (or had them not marry at all), had you seen Ted and his kids mourn over Tracy’s loss – these things, I think, needed to be included in either extra episodes or the finale. As it stands, the show jumps through time too much, too fast, while the entirety of Season 9 is one weekend. Season 9 could have easily been the wedding early on and then what happens as life progressed for them – how they split up and came back together.

Instead, we have the current series finale.

This show ultimately hit its lowest point when the kids told Ted that his story was about how he loves Robin. The same Robin that the show told you wasn’t a good fit for Ted. The same Robin that Ted finally gets over in the last few episodes of Season 9. The same Robin that has always been the superior choice according to the show. It makes sense why the finale progressed the way it did when you look at it as a story about Ted’s obsession with Robin. The show needed a way to get to this ending from where it was, and it needed to do that through Barney and Robin’s divorce, Ted having kids, and Tracy’s death, and that’s exactly what the show did to achieve it.

For a show that’s always been about a personal journey of moving on and dealing with life’s struggles, Ted certainly has life go his way at the end. He gets the kids, and gets the girl the show has told you, the audience, that he’s been in love with the whole time after telling you, the audience, the she would never love him and he would never love her that way again a few episodes back.

And I hate that.

Just Sayin’.

P.S: The kids scene was horribly acted and they look like they’ve completely gotten over their own mother dying. That’s awful.

P.S: While Barney and Robin regress believably in real life based on the time leaps, it is way too fast when it comes to storytelling, which is why I think so many people are mad they grew them so much in seasons 8 and 9 and then threw it all away in 15 minutes. A show can’t be all realism.