True dat. Also, I take back what I said about “the mountainous areas in some of the polygonal Zeldas have always seemed just way too safe, with too much of a prescribed path”, because the big exception was some of the cool exploration you could do around Dragon Roost Island in Wind Waker thanks to the gliding…

OK, more serious reply: was the Gravelord Nito picture meant to be evocative of Ed Roth hotrod art, or just a happy coincidence?

Neato

Sometimes the 2D games pulled off that sense of scale quite well! I liked the effect that got used in Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening where in the mountainous areas in the north of the map, you were so high that you were above the clouds.

It was great! Though very much an intentional throwback to the style of Link to the Past (Nintendo has probably clued in that the younger generation doesn’t have the same reverence for Zelda, so most current day Zelda fans were probably the same people who played LttP and Ocarina of Time), and I suspect that between…

Yeah, if you’re enjoying them, then good for you, but I agree that they really should’ve been priced like $10 cheaper than normal 3DS games, because they are almost inarguably smaller games than a normal entry in Animal Crossing and Zelda, respectively.

Yeah, recent Zelda concept art seems kinda enslaved by how the characters have appeared in recent Zelda games, instead of being, you know, a new concept for the new look the character might have in an upcoming game.

It’s been a pretty soft year for the 3DS. Codename STEAM ended up as kind of a disappointing baby’s first Valkyria Chronicles with just not much customization and no character progression. We got a “not a full Animal Crossing” Animal Crossing. We got a “not a full Zelda” Zelda.

The 80s and early 90s Legend of Zelda concept art/manual art is sooooo good. Partly, I like it because back then they still had this little dude out on an adventure, whereas all the concept art nowadays is of bishounen Twilight Princess/Skyward Sword Link. Also a serious lack of cool landscapes on newer Zelda concept…

The Wii U technically could handle 2 Gamepads, but it’s already pushing the Wii U hardware to render out one video stream to your TV, and then render out a second (lower resolution) video stream to the Gamepad. From a networking point of view I’m sure a Wii U devkit could be made to connect to 3+ Gamepads, but…

Also the Nax/Morales team was behind by 2 and a half levels, so they were probably just throwing, even the first time, let alone the second time Morales flew over there.

There is really no way they are going to announce and release the NX the same year.

The reign of Dr. Boom will last a thousand years!

Zero. Hearthstone never has sales.
The only deal they’ve ever given is if you preordered The Grand Tournament bundle, you got 50 packs for the price of 40. Or if you buy all of the wings of an adventure as a bundle, it is slightly cheaper than if you buy all the wings individually for some reason.

It’s now super fun to play Flare, though.

Link is either an elvish bishounen, or an adorable toon/anime boy. What’s not to love?

Haha, that Abbie Heppe anecdote. That is fantastic. You need a guy on graphics duty 24/7, because you never know when players will sneak their way into a new area that they need to rapidly graphics together.

Oh man, how did they secure that lucrative Patrick Klepek appearance?

I literally think Casual mode is intended for small children, or someone who REALLY has never played a single RPG or tactics game before. It’s basically an infinite lives cheat that is active all the time.

I mean, Classic still means you eventually found a strategy for how to advance and protect your guys such that no one died.