Home › Archive for Show › Page 40

Show

The Disastrous 24 Hour Wii Live Stream

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

We set out to stream Wii games for 24 hours. What unfolded was not how it was planned.

As many of us know, November 19th was the 10th anniversary of the Nintendo Wii. A console beloved by all, Simeon and I hold a particular set of fond memories very near and dear to our hearts. We celebrate Wii day, an annual event that takes place on the date which the console originally premiered, and the festivities include a) waiting in line and b) playing Wii. A lot of Wii.

Simeon and I have done this for the last nine years, but this year being the tenth was meant to be extremely special. We arranged our schedules in a way such that we were cleared of all responsibilities for a 24 hour period, and we could do a Wii-exclusive livestream for 24 hours! We had never done something so ambitious with Two Button Crew or played video games for as long.

We set it all up. We scheduled the games out minute-for-minute. We got extra sleep leading up to the stream We bought energy drinks and frozen pizzas. We designed thumbnail images for 24 different stream segments. We were ready to go!

Well, the event started right on time with Wii Party. Our good friend (and Simeon-clone) Joel came over for a visit and joined us. The next game on the schedule was Just Dance 3 which was only there to please our wives and include them in the fun, but they were otherwise engaged so we just had to put up with the humiliation for 30 minutes.

If you watch the Just Dance footage, you can see a segment where I pick up my cat and dance with her.

We also watched the Metroid Other M movie complete with funny banter and commentary. Joel was still around for 3 hours of Super Smash Bros. Brawl goodness, where we constantly complained about the Wii Remote connection issue.

11:00pm was my cue to hit the sack for a few hours while Simeon tried to beat Skyward Sword. He got pretty close, and had the most viewers of the whole stream! As soon as I came back from my nap to play some Boom Blox and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, the stream viewers went to sleep. I can’t blame them though! It was getting super late at night.

Good buddy brother-in-law Ryan came over and we got a few more games in… Then…

That was when disaster struck.

Simeon and I were getting further than we EVER had in Wii Play Tanks and that’s when our power went out. Everything electronic in our house blinked out in the same moment, then we heard this huge CRASH outside like a gunshot. Our stream abruptly ended (you can see it in the Wii Play video) and our event was unexpectedly shut down. Simeon and I sat there, Wii remotes and nunchucks in hand, blinking at the black TV screen in front of us. What were we supposed to do?

We couldn’t go to sleep because the power could come back on at any time and the stream would have to continue. We were only 12 hours into our 24 hour allotted time. We checked the news to see what was going on.

Here’s WHY the power shut down:

Some drunk (or high) bozo was driving his car, smashed into 3 other vehicles and then careened off the road into an electrical box. His terrible decision to get behind the wheel could have killed someone, but instead it turned the power off for 750 Avista customers in the vicinity. Right in the middle of our stream. The news kept approximating the time for repairs to be done, but the estimate just kept getting pushed out further and further as Simeon and I waited up to see what happened.

Here’s what we ended up doing:

Pokemon. Lots and lots of Pokemon cards.
There were a million things we could have done to work on Two Button Crew with our downtime, but it was all inaccessible on the internet so we resorted to multiple rounds of Pokemon cards and also a few games of Boss Monster.
To be fair, we had a great time. It’s been years since we just got to hang out for half a day with no agenda and just have fun. It’s just completely insane that this whole debacle  happened on the Wii’s 10th anniversary!

We tried our best to communicate with our audience via Twitter and YouTube comments, but surely some of you were left wondering what happened to us. Now you know! We hope you all found your own special ways to celebrate Wii Day!

Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

This podcast occasionally contains too much water…


There are a lot of Nintendo podcasts for fans to listen to, but there is one that rises above the rest and sets itself apart from the competition. That one podcast is Nintendo Voice Chat, a podcast made by IGN and hosted by Jose Otero, Peer Schneider, and Brian Altano. Those three hosts make sure we have a great time every Friday, as well as provide insightful looks into the industry. This podcast is pure Nintendo fan gold, so don’t pass it up. Give it a try! And if you’re just not a podcast listener, they’re really great for taking with you on your commute to work, or for mundane tasks like doing the laundry or the dishes. You’ll be hooked on podcasts and hooked on NVC. Thanks for the great podcast, IGN!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hilarious Nintendo Knock-Offs

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

This is probably the most PG-13 we will ever get. Unless you count Simeon repeatedly using the word “fob” for which you’ll want to check out “NES Mario Games on a DDR Dance Pad”!


They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery… so, Nintendo should be feeling quite flattered at this point! Or at the very least, it’s clear that the Wii had a lot of admirers. Simeon and Scott have compiled pictures of all the worst offenders; companies that took Nintendo’s ideas and completely ripped them off. Yes, patents were stepped over in the effort to make a quick buck off of Nintendo’s recognizable properties. The business behind these decisions might be despicable, but the results sure are hilarious!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Best & Funniest Nintendo Game Commercials

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

All that we need now in life is a Metroid Movie. Nintendo, we know you can do it – you’ve proven it!


Nintendo has had some of the craziest marketing campaigns ever seen on TV! These are a collection of the weirdest, wackiest, craziest commercials created by the Big N itself. You just can’t make this stuff up, but someone evidently did! We take you through the truly weird, the truly scary, and the truly disgusting in this episode of Two Button Crew. Sit back and join us for a trip down memory lane on this Throwback Thursday show.

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Wii 10th Anniversary (Join Our 24hr Stream!)

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

November 19th, 2006. A date that is near and dear to the heart of Two Button Crew. Wii Day, we solute you.


Today is the day! A historic day in history, where gamers across the nation stood in line to receive their Nintendo Wii at midnight. This is the 10th anniversary of Nintendo’s revolutionary console, introducing motion controls, IR pointing, nunchucks, and Miis to the world! This is the console that brought us the likes of Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. There is much to celebrate as we head into November 19th!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

November’s Nintendo Experience

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Recently, we had a blog post from Crew member Matt talking about the timelessness of the classics; some games age to perfection. Good games that can produce the same joy a decade after they are released are more rare than you would think. It seems that certain “good” games lack the timeless quality that make them enjoyable to play years later or are far surpassed by the games that succeeded them. In honor of the NES Classic edition, we’ll be remembering a few of them in this month’s “Nintendo Experience”.

The next “Experience” inductee is Super Mario Bros. It may not be a favorite of mine, but no one can deny its impact on video games since its release. It showed us what a video game could be. The controls were revolutionary (though now dated. Sorry), and changed the way we saw physics in games. It had so many levels with each presenting a unique challenge to the player. Thankfully, though its influence is undeniable, better things came afterward to replace it.

Some backgrounds were different from others to show time of day. Oooooooh! Aaaaaaaah!

 

Next up, I’ll be inducting Super Mario Bros. 3 into the Experience. It’s a game that changed everything about Mario, the platforming genre, and video games in general. For years it was the best-selling non-pack-in video game of all-time. The different worlds, the new power-ups, all of the copious secrets; these are just a few of the elements that work together to make this a classic.

It could also hold the key to the Mario timeline. If you pay attention to the stage play motif (such as the curtain rising/falling and Mario exiting the stage at the end of each… stage), it can be seen that the game is just one big production. This could mean that Mario isn’t a plumber, but a character with differing roles depending on the production. This would be akin to many of the great golden era cinema comics, like Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges, who, while playing the same “character”, would be in vastly different contexts with no fluid storyline. That would explain the sporadic variety of Mario’s activities; he’s just an actor put into different scenarios without an overarching narrative. I digress.

On top of the power-ups and items, Super Mario Bros. 3 has incredible level design. For example, some of Pipe Land’s stages are completely vertical, and when you reach the stage’s sides, they wrap around, as if Mario were circling the inside of the warp pipe. Such a simple idea, yet the possibilities it creates are mind-blowing. Each stage is memorable because it presents a new puzzle and a new challenge. Of course, none of this would matter if the creators had not nailed the most important aspect of game design: control. Whereas the controls of the original, though revolutionary, have not aged very well, Mario 3’s controls are perfectly implemented, and have aged like a nice wheel of brie.

Lastly for this month, Kirby’s Adventure makes the cut.

The intro showed you how to draw Kirby!... If you ever got confused...
The intro showed you how to draw Kirby!… If you ever got confused…

 

If there was one word to describe this game (and also Kirby’s appetite) it would have to be “massive”. There were so many worlds and levels to explore, copious secrets scattered everywhere, boss battles that all required a different strategy, and of course, tons of special abilities. In contrast to his first quest, just about any baddie you inhale will give you an ability that had its own strength and weakness. These powers ranged from the silliness of Hi-Jump and Splash, to the super cool Sword and Back-Drop, to the devastation of the Tornado and UFO, and you wanted to try out each one to see where it would be useful (or just because it looked cool).

Kirby showing off his edgy punk rock Needle hairstyle!

 

Obviously, the developers have expanded his powers over the years, but this is where Kirby as we now know him got his trademark copy ability.

If you’re a Nintendo fan and haven’t enjoyed these (at least recently), what are you doing?!? Pick them up and play them now!

nintendo-experience

Best Game Logos

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Pop-quiz: Do you know what Scott and Simeon do for an actual living? The answer to one of their occupations is included in this episode!


Scott may be on the Two Button Crew show every weekday, but he also has a dayjob as a graphic designer. As such, there’s a lot he could say about graphic design and effective logos that accomplish a purpose and communicate a message. Today, Scott AND Simeon turn their artistic opinions to the logos of games past, and have collected the very best ones for us to see all in one place!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Gaming Ignorance Confessions!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Every gamer has things he’s not proud of. Today we confess our sins of ignorance.


For every video game you’ve played, there are probably ten that you haven’t. The same is true for our hosts Simeon and Scott, who possess some alarming gaps in their Nintendo gaming careers. Big important games are completely missing from their experience! Well, it’s time that we had a chat with them and got to know exactly what they’ve never played.

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

What We Want: Animal Crossing Mobile

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Well Simeon certainly isn’t in the #AC4LIFE club, now is he?!


Animal Crossing is heading to iPhone and Android before March of 2017, so we better hurry up and get our last minute requests into Nintendo so they can direct the shape of the game! Hah, just kidding. But it would be really nice to see the features that we discuss make it into the final DeNA game. Also, will there be a new Animal Crossing Switch game to accompany the launch of Nintendo’s new hardware? Time will tell!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Which Metroid Prime Game is Best?

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

The winner is… Metroid Prime HUNTERS! For the best Metroid Prime game on the original DS.


The Metroid Prime trilogy of games that started on Gamecube and ended up Wii are just a phenomenal set of games. It’s hard to pick which one is the best, but that’s exactly what we set out to do in this episode. Whether you remember one particularly fondly or you have a hard time making up your mind, Simeon and Scott introduce some strong arguments for each game and any of them are viable to win! Watch first and then let us know if you agree or disagree in the comments – we want to hear from YOU!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

NES Mario Games on a DDR Dance Pad

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Next thing you know we’ll be stomping on actual Gamecube controllers.


There’s really nothing too weird for Simeon and Scott to attempt, so long as it pertains to Nintendo gaming. The Crew is taking it to a new level by attempting to beat classic Super Mario Bros stages using only a Gamecube Dance Dance Revolution dance pad. This challenge was suggested by viewer Glen – thanks for the idea! It’s a blast.

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Gamer Gift Guide: ThinkGeek 2016

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Opening up a P.O. box before this episode would have been a great little piece of foresight.


Christmas 2016 is nigh upon us and many gamers are scrambling to fill out their wish lists with the right goods. Simultaneously, parents are scratching their heads wondering what to get their gamer children for the Holidays. We’ve got you covered and you can take care of this shopping trip completely online! Thanks to ThinkGeek, it can be your one-stop shop for some of the best Nintendo merch out there.

NES Backpack

Hylian Shield Mug

8 Bit Tie

Retro Fighters 2-in-1 Gamepad

Zelda Journal

Super Mario Adventures Graphic Novel

Zelda Watch

Block Lamp

Mario Monopoly

Hylian Crest Infinity Scarf

Super Famicom

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

What’s Better: Digital or Physical Games?

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Yep, if anything is a first-world problem, it’s this one. But at least we have the freedom and the blessing to have to debate such a topic!


Full shelves, or full hard drives? Physical boxes, or digital convenience? We gamers are forced to make this tough decision with just about every new game we purchase. There are pros and cons to buying your games at retail as well as through Nintendo’s eShop, so we’re here to cover the entire topic and make sense of the decision for you. A lot of it will still come down to preference, but at least we can examine the whole issue!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Is Ridley Too Big For Smash?

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

He might have been too big for Brawl but HE’S NOT TOO BIG ANYMORE!


Since before Brawl was out, there has been a fierce war raging between the proponents and the critics of Ridley’s addition to the Super Smash Bros. series. Sakurai has tipped his hat to the Metroid fans in a few different ways, including him as a boss opponent. But we’re not satisfied. We want to play Ridley as a part of the roster, and we won’t be told that he is too big!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Game Theme Hum-Down #3

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

This is probably our last time trying this game. We did way better our past two attempts!


We thought we were better at this game. It’s where you hum the tune to a Nintendo or 3rd-party game and try to get your buddy to guess the game. Well, we didn’t do so hot this time around but it might be even more entertaining to our viewers this way!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Latest Switch Rumors (Dock Power!)

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

You just never know what to believe these days, but we might as well get excited about every little rumor while we can!


As the release of the Switch draws ever nearer, leaks and rumors are picking up more speed (and credibility). We’ve been learning a lot about Nintendo’s new console, what kind of ports the system has, as well as how the dock itself helps enhance gameplay while using the system at home. Certain developers are also starting to pipe up and say what games they may or may not have running on Switch development kits. Everything is just rumors at this point as we lead up to the January 12th full unveil of the Nintendo Switch, but these are some tasty pieces of gossip to tide us over!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

What?!? Most Surprising Nintendo Plot Twists

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

This might be the first episode for which Scott just didn’t even try to prepare content.


Simeon has really knocked it out of the park and collected a list of the best surprising story turns in Nintendo history. These are the moments that made you stop and say ‘wow’ as you watched it unfold in front of you on the screen. Nintendo doesn’t often focus on story, but when they do, they write some exciting moments.

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

NES Classic – Super C (Contra Gameplay)

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

When your BFF gets the machine gun, the bullet spreader, AND then dies right away.


In an effort to live up to his brothers’ reputation, Scott takes the NES controller, plugs its short cord into the NES Classic Edition console, and tried to make some headway in the Contra sequel, Super C. Of course, as always, Simeon joined him for the effort and ironically performed far better than his cohost counterpart. The few attempts are amusing, and hopefully you enjoy the retro nostalgia goodness!

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

3 Word Game Descriptions?!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

A score of 11 makes us certified Nintendo geniuses!


Are there any video games that you know SO well that you could name them when only a single word is uttered about them? Maybe you could pull it off with a pair or trio of descriptive words about the game? That’s the exact challenge that Simeon and Scott have attempted in this episode. It’s not quite as hard as it sounds, but no proper nouns are allowed. It would make the game all too easy. So, how did they do? You can also play along as you watch – keep track of your score, and post it in the comments section below.

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Super Mario Run Impressions

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

It’s all about them special coins, yo.


Super Mario Run landed on the Apple iPhone and iPad App Store, and hopefully will make its way to Android before too long. It’s not quite the “endless runner” that some people have incorrectly labeled it, but instead is quite the interesting PUZZLE-platformer. This little mobile gem has given us more of a challenge and more enjoyment than we expected, so we’ll break down the whole experience for you in the video to help you decide if the $10 purchase price is worth it.

Shot by Alex Campbell

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/