How much sense do you think the command “backwards backwards foreward foreward” makes to you when you’re blindfolded?
If Super Monkey Ball 2 on the Nintendo Gamecube isn’t a big enough challenge for you, try to Beat It Blind! That’s the exact challenge that Scott and Simeon have before them today, using only the guidance of each other’s voice to complete the level. It’s no easy task, but they’ve proven in previous installments that teamwork can carry them across the finish line.
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/
Hope some fools lost their jobs for being so terrible at customer service!
As we all know, amiibo weren’t easy to come by when the waves first started hitting your WalMarts and your Best Buys. There was a clear production shortage that turned the plastic Nintendo toys into collector’s items, sending scalpers into a craze. The genuine Nintendo fans were hard-pressed to find the rare figurines that they wanted to play with! We’ve scoped the Internet out for the craziest stories of what people will do to get their amiibo.
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/
We made this because we know how many of you have been Karen about this girl.
Karen is the unexpected Internet sensation born of the Nintendo Switch trailer! She took off in popularity on Reddit and has since expanded her influence across all of social media. We’ve picked the most hilarious Karen memes from around the web to share with 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/
You might just think Scott and Simeon are a couple of parents based on how they’re talking here.
We get into the history of game ratings, our thoughts on the gaps between age restrictions, and we discuss the process of getting your game rated with the ESRB!
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/
Nintendo, especially in recent years, has marketed itself as a family friendly console. This is very apparent when looking at game ratings on their consoles compared to competitors. With the Switch on the way it looks like their could be a slight shift. For the first time in a long time Nintendo is marketing a console to the older generations that grew up with their systems. Could we possibly see more games with mature settings and themes from the big N? Only time will tell.
While I’m very interested to see what Nintendo could do with a mature title, I hope they do it right and add a few simple features to make them more accessible. I recently started Devil’s Third on Wii U because I was interested in checking out a Nintendo published ‘M’ rated game. After booting it up I went directly to the settings to turn on a profanity and gore filter, but much to my surprise no such settings were to be found. This really baffled me. Multiple Xbox games in recent years such as Gears of War and Sunset Overdrive have had these features. I figured if anyone were to have such a feature it would be Nintendo. No such luck. This is something I hope they seriously consider in the future. I don’t play ‘M’ games when my son is around, but now that he gets himself out of bed silently after his nap and comes to find me it’s extremely nice to have the filters on when he sneaks up on me. Not to mention most games these days are a bit over the top when it comes to gore and language.
I also think it’s a bit odd that when it comes to localizing games Nintendo always cuts promiscuous sections or adds clothes to nearly bare characters, but the adult language is still fully intact. Especially when the box art that North America gets an angry or aggressive looking character while then Japanese cover has a cute and cuddly mascot, but I digress…
Why did they decide to change Pit’s facial expression?
They have published a handful of ‘M’ rated games such as Geist, Eternal Darkness, Perfect Dark, and Ninja Gaiden 3, but I think it’s time for them to develop one in house. I honestly just want to see what they can come up with. Most Nintendo games don’t focus on the story, but I would love to see a story based Nintendo game with mature settings and hard-hitting themes. They could easily have a filter available in the settings they can nerf it to a ‘T’ rating. Here’s hoping the Switch will give us something like this that Nintendo hasn’t experimented with before.
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/
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/
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…
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!
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/
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 do you get when you put two competitive bros in a room with a Nintendo console? You get a SHOWDOWN, that’s what you get!
There are the obvious competitive Nintendo game like the fighters and the racing games, but there are also some great ones that you might not have thought of. Scott and Simeon have collected a list of the best games that you can go deep in, develop your skills, and duke it out with your buddies. If you want good, lasting bang for your buck – go with any of these games for Nintendo platforms.
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/
On Thanksgiving day, what could be more appropriate than recounting the generosity of Nintendo for which we are so thankful?
In the USA, today is the wonderful Holiday of Thanksgiving! So in a reflective episode, we take the time to think back on the times that Nintendo has been the most generous. Sure, we understand that they are a business and they have to make money in order to stay afloat and continue to provide us with great experiences… Yet! This video contains some great examples of Nintendo going out of their way to make customers feel valued and important, and for those we are very thankful.
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/
If one round Heads Up wasn’t enough for you, well then sit back, relax, and enjoy. We’ve got more sticky-note Nintendo mania for you right here.
Heads-Up is the hilarious game where one person puts a character on their head and, not knowing what it says, has to ask yes or no questions about the character to guess their identity. Well, we’ve grabbed some sticky notes and a few pens, because that’s all you need to home-grow your own version of the party game and play it with friends. As always, our version of the game is completely Nintendo-focused with only Nintendo characters to guess from. Here we go!
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/
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 3which 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!
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/
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/
After being released in 1993, and re-released in color in 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX is now available on the 3DS Virtual Console. It is developed and published by Nintendo.
Unlike most of the other Legend of Zelda games, Link’s Awakening does not involve you finding or rescuing Princess Zelda. Instead, Link’s ship has crashed on an island after a storm. It’s up to Link to find the eight instruments of the sirens to wake the Wind Fish so he can escape the island. Little does he know, the island holds a secret…
Puzzle solving in the dungeon.
If you’ve played any 2D Legend of Zelda game you know exactly how this plays. If not, it’s pretty basic. You start off in a main overworld and must find your sword. With sword in hand, you make your way to the various dungeons collecting the different instruments. In these dungeons you also collect a large variety of tools to help you along your journey, such as Roc’s Feather which allows you to jump, or the Power Bracelet which helps you move large rocks and pots. The dungeons are filled with puzzles and enemies with each one containing at least one mini-boss and one main boss. There are two main collectibles in Link’s Awakening, Pieces of Heart and Secret Seashells. The pieces of heart increase your overall health for every four you find and every time you collect a Secret Seashell it simply says, “If you find enough of them, something good is bound to happen.”
The DX version of the game includes and extra ‘Color Dungeon’, which if completed instead of rewarding Link with and instrument or Heart Container, gives him a choice between a Blue tunic (Cuts all damage Link takes in half) or a Red Tunic (Doubles all damage Link deals out). These tunics are extremely helpful.
It’s our old pal, Boo!
There are lots of references to other Nintendo games such as Kirby, a Yoshi doll, and a large variety of Mario’s enemies which are seen in wonderfully-done platforming sections.
The graphics are that of almost any Gameboy Color game. I found that this game’s visuals in particular still look simply fantastic and drew me in as much as the newer games.
If you enjoy Zelda games, or even adventure games at all, you owe it to yourself to play this game. The mystery of the story kept me wanting to play more to see everything unfold and captured me more than any other 2D Zelda. I can’t recommend this game enough.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening gets 5 opening chests out of 5.
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/
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