Been A While… But Let’s Talk Nintendo

Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve last posted. I have slowed down on releasing posts since I didn’t feel like talking about the same things each week and wanted something to shake things up. Thankfully, there is plenty of news to talk about as a Nintendo fan. I just wish all of it was good news. Okay, I am getting ahead of myself, let’s start out with some good things. Both the Switch and Switch 2 have some exciting games coming up in their lineups. The Switch having new games was actually pretty surprising, I didn’t think they were going to have any more news in their direct but I was quite wrong. Not only did we get to see more about the games we were waiting on more info for, but they even had new features with series that haven’t been touched on for years. Switch 2 upped the ante with sequels and new games we weren’t expecting at all. I was especially excited about that new 3D Donkey Kong game announcement. If that was all, I would wrap things up here, maybe I would talk some more about the games, but I can’t do that. I want to, but I can’t because these prices are asking for a rant.

Bro, I’m so sorry, but ignoring the console prices, the fact that games are jumping up to at least eighty dollars is downright criminal. The gaming industry has been getting more expensive for a while now, but what happened? All of a sudden the affordable family-friendly console is friendly only to the families that can afford it. Listen, no one I know is shelling out that much for the latest Mario Kart game. Especially with your online track record in the past, that price is one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard. Also, what’s this about paying for a demo included in the purchase? You’re telling me I have to pay to play the tutorial? There’s no way that’s happening. Even crazier is that we might have to pay to update our games, that were already paid for, on this new console. I already spent ninety dollars plus tax on Pokémon Violet and it still has trouble running properly. You’re telling me that to get the game to be functional I need to pay another fee? This must be a prank. The console itself is already a decent chunk, but why am I paying maintenance fees on games that I already own? Am I going crazy?

Look I need to invest in a new laptop. The fact that I can still type this much is nothing short of a miracle. This is one of the main reasons I haven’t posted as much lately. That isn’t going to happen though, if I have to put a down payment on an apartment just to play the newest Nintendo console. Switch 2 was already not the highest priority, but it isn’t even on the priority list right now. You know I really thought that Nintendo would be safe from all these price hikes, but I guess not even they could manage it. I think this is honestly becoming a problem with consoles as a whole, but right now I’m mad at Nintendo specifically. Look your games look like a lot of fun, but I just can’t. I still have games of yours I need to catch up on. The new stuff will have to wait.

Can I take a step back for a second here? I am honestly starting to think that consoles are becoming a dying breed. Maybe I’m crazy or maybe it has been obvious to everyone else for a while now, but I feel like a lot has changed about them. Aside from Nintendo, no one really cares about exclusives anymore and most of the games that we care about these days are just getting added to PC. All you really need at this point is a controller and you are good to go. Not to mention that a lot more of the most interesting games are not made by AAA companies. These days I feel like some newer games have more controversy time than actual play time. I’m not saying everyone is doing this or that everything is doomed, but I just feel like gaming is starting to change. I’m just not sure if I am ready for it. Metaphorically speaking of course, because financially I am definitely not ready. Bro at this rate games are going to be triple digits in a few years… what are we doing? Look I came to rant, but I don’t actually feel better. I’m just kind of moody now. Well, I guess next time I should bring up something more exciting. I wanted to be more excited, but I just couldn’t with those prices looming over our heads. Anyway, have a good night and here’s hoping by some miracle those prices drop. I won’t hold my breath though.

Let’s Talk About The Switch 2

Before I start off, I just want to say that I am sorry for disappearing out of nowhere. This year has been off to a rough start for numerous reasons and I will admit I was going through a bout of writer’s block among other things. So, I’m sorry about the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks. However, I feel a lot better now both physically and mentally since some things are taken care of so you should see me regularly for the foreseeable future. Now back to the post.

So the Switch 2 has finally been officially revealed to us all. Honestly, what surprises me the most about it is the number at the end. PlayStation has been doing this since the beginning, but I think this is the first time they have made a sequel console using a numbering system. They would always add an extra word to it like super or advance, but never a 2. This is a sequel to the Nintendo Switch with no room for debate. I guess the question we now have to ask ourselves is what kind of sequel are we going to get? We obviously can’t know at this point in time, since we have only seen a little bit of what it looks like, but we do know it is bigger. That’s cool. We also know it comes out later this year. Alright. There isn’t really a lot to talk about here. So, why did I decide to write this? Great question. It’s because I am worried.

Now the Switch was undoubtedly a successful console and was the start of a great comeback for them after the tragic Wii U era. However, it is worth noting that Nintendo tends to thrive when there is no real competition. Nintendo has not been winning the hardware race for eons and at this point, I doubt anyone expects them to do so. However, they are good at coming up with ideas and doing them before anyone else. When the video game market crashed in 1983, Nintendo came up with the idea to market an entertainment system to trick people into buying video game consoles again. They came out with handheld devices to allow you to play games on the go. They made tiny discs and motion gimmicks required for some of their systems. They made a gamepad that had a seizure if you moved it more than five feet from the console. Note that I didn’t say all of their ideas were good. Anyway, aside from brand recognition, they are kind of known for doing things differently. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but this seems like it is just an upgraded Switch which is strange when you consider things. I guess I am surprised that they seem to how finally found a design they like. However, the field has changed because there are new players up to bat.

What was unique about the switch was its portability. However, that is no longer the case. There are multiple different portable gaming consoles out of the market now. A lot of them are definitely more powerful than the Switch. They probably also don’t have as much drift. The only real solace that Nintendo has is that they do cost a bit more than what they are selling. That and they actually have a good system library for once. However, we don’t know if the Switch 2 is going to be able to do the same in this current market. It has been eight years since the Switch first launched and times have changed. I am not asking for the Switch 2 to have to be the best console of this generation. I don’t care about that. What I want is that I need to see that the Switch 2 is a clear improvement over the Switch. Again, we know so little about it, but I am rooting for it. Just don’t fumble the bag Nintendo. Please. I’m begging you.

Alright, I think my thoughts are very much preliminary here, but I figured I should spend a little time talking about the new reveal. I do enjoy playing games after all. At least, when I have time. Again, I would love for this to be a successful sequel, but it is way too early to call. There is definitely potential though. Hopefully, bigger is better and I am worried for nothing. We’ll see. Anyway, have a good night and I look forward to talking again next time!

TCG Pocket Progress Report

I meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot. My bad. Anyway, I want to talk about some of my progress. Now, I managed to meet the one major requirement I had for the end of the year at least. My main goal was to obtain the Mew immersive card by the end of the year and thanks to this new event I managed to get the last card I was missing. I was just down to the Magneton, but after four attempts at the rare pick, I finally obtained it.

This was the last card I needed for the immersive Mew as well as another challenge so I was able to finally claim those. However, I have a new goal now that that’s out of the way. Truth be told, this was a subset of my main goal and that is to get every card available in Genetic Apex. Honestly, I mainly care about the diamond rarity for this quest so I can at least use every card. Currently, at the time of writing, I am missing eight cards in the base set that aren’t one star or above. I will admit that certain cards are not needed for deck building as I have their full art variants, but it is more for the principle of it. So, that is my goal until the new set comes out next month. I am currently missing eight cards from the set in the diamond tier. They are Lapras, Melmetal, Moltres EX, Pidgeot, Mewtwo EX, Gengar EX, Articuno EX, and Wigglytuff EX. The first three are in Charizard packs, the next four are in Mewtwo packs, and the last one is in Pikachu packs. Hopefully, through Wonder Pick and trading I can get these last cards and finish the base Genetic Apex. It would also be nice to get the immersive arts from those other packs as well. That’s more of a long-term goal, but we at least got one new one.

Wish me luck in my pulls and I’ll wish you luck in yours. Have a good night everyone and see you next time! Hopefully, I’ll remember to post on time. Although these days that’s about as likely as getting heads on a Misty coin flip. On that note… see ya!

Don’t Miss This Event

There is a new Tera event happening in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet which everyone needs to complete. It is a shiny Rayquaza Tera Raid battle based on the one that appears in the current anime. It is a five-star raid of a Dragon Tera Type, but it isn’t that difficult as long as you have prepared a decent counter. I personally just hit it with Annihilape until it blacked out because that Pokémon is busted. Something to note is that it does put its shield up pretty early so work on Terastilizing as soon as possible. Also, be aware of it having both Dragon and Flying-type moves and you should be fine. This raid isn’t too bad if you are prepared. It only took me two tries to get it. In fact, the only reason I lost it the first time is because my teammates online kept dying so we ran out of time So I went offline out of spite for humanity and just soloed it. The moral of the story is sometimes it is better to just do things yourself. Anyway, this is a pretty short post but I needed to get this out there. Do not miss this opportunity! I could spend time talking about strategy, but my strategy was just to use Angry Monkey. There are plenty of other good strategies for this too so what are you waiting for? You have until Jan 10th. Also, if you have one, use a luxury ball for it because it matches so nicely with its color scheme. Just remember you can only catch one per save file but you can face it as many times as you need to catch it. Good luck! That’s all for tonight and I’ll catch you next time. Have a good night!

Preparing for New Packs

As of the time of writing, the newest cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket are coming out tomorrow. By tomorrow there will be a bunch of new cards to open in the game with new art and new moves and it is all very exciting, except for one thing. I am still missing cards from the original set. Now I know what you are thinking right? Just don’t open those packs, but the problem is everyone else in my friends list will be and I am not going to be able to rely on Wonder Picks for cards anymore. Also, there is no way I won’t be opening from the new packs. I can’t get left behind so I have to at least try to get at least one of the new packs per day. Currently, I am only missing two cards for the Mew so hopefully, I won’t need to bother with the older packs for too long. I know that there is the possibility of just crafting them to get it, but I need to explain something to you. I am stubborn in the strangest of ways and my pride is triggered for the dumbest of reasons. Let me tell you a little story so that you can understand why I will not spend any points on those cards.

You may not know this, but I recently have been spending time as a hobby collecting actual Pokémon cards. When I first started, I opened up Scarlet and Violet base set packs and wanted to try and complete that set. I have not finished because I didn’t go super hard on it. I only have so much disposable income. I gave things a good shot though and I even found a lot of rare cards. My luck has been all over the place with this set, but there was one thing that drove me crazy with this set. Now I know that pulling is totally random and all, but please tell me how it took me over a hundred packs to find this card.

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I don’t know if you can tell, but this is a common card. It is supposed to be easy to pull Yet for the life of me, I could not manage to get it. Now I knew that getting all of the rare illustrations would probably be more difficult, but I figured I could at least get all of the regular stuff easily. NOPE. This one card kept eluding my grasp after so long. It took ages to get, but I finally got it. Now, I have some of the rarest and most sought-after cards in this set. I did not feel nearly as hyped for them as when I finally pulled this card. Don’t get me wrong, I popped off when I got cool cards, but this pull felt like something inside of me was finally complete. I am aware that I could have saved myself a lot of trouble and money by just buying the card for a few cents. But buying the card would not have felt as hype as finally pulling it. Maybe if I hadn’t invested so much time into it things wouldn’t matter, but I did and here I am. If I have put in the effort, I don’t enjoy taking a consolation prize. I know I haven’t posted a lot of shiny Pokémon recently. It isn’t that I am not hunting, I am just not getting lucky. But that is why you do it, to see when your luck finally changes. Do you know how hard I am going to jump when I get my last two Mew cards? Neither do I, but I know it is going to be more than if I just gave up and spent points on them. Personally, I will do it if I have to, but there’s no rush so I might as well test my luck until it runs out.

Don’t get me wrong though, I am stoked for this new mini-pack series. I’m going to have some trouble sleeping tonight. Anyway, this ended up kind of turning into a rant, but all I can do now is start saving up hourglasses for another ten-pull. The last two weren’t as crazy as the first one I did. Can’t win them all, but hopefully, I’ll get some luck soon. Good luck with your new pack openings tomorrow and have a good night!

Pokémon TCG Pocket Slim Pickings

I’m going to be honest and say that Pokémon TCG Pocket is probably my favorite mobile game I ever played. I have been having a blast battling and collecting cards left and right. However, the repeats are starting to come on pretty strong. It is hard getting new cards out here these days. If it weren’t for Wonder Pick, my collection would be rough these days. Most pack pulls haven’t netted me much except dupes. However, despite some lacking luck in the pull department, I would say I have made some pretty decent progress in filling out my list of cards. Now there are a total of 286 cards in this set and each one has a set rarity. The list is as follows: 100 one diamonds, 69, two diamonds, 42 three diamonds, 15 four diamonds, 24 one stars, 29 two stars, 4 three stars, and 3 crowns. Now, that is a lot of information to take in, but my main focus right now is just on the first four. At the very least, my goal before the new set comes out is to get all the diamond rarity cards added to my collection. There are two reasons for this, one is because I think it would be cool, and the other is because I want to be able to build all kinds of decks. So far, I am missing exactly 13 cards from the diamond rarities. I would say that is pretty good. Unfortunately, the problem is all of the ones I am missing are currently at least three diamonds or above, meaning they are harder to come by. If I have the opportunity, I will go for them, but it is up to lady luck in the end.

Also, on a somewhat related note, I have been going for the secret Mew card which requires you to get all 150 Kanto Pokémon in the game. I am currently missing three cards to complete that task and they are Dragonite, Magneton, and Golem. I can almost taste the victory, but it is still far away right now. Hopefully, I will manage to get them soon though, because I would really like another immersive and I doubt I’ll get another anytime soon. That’s the grind for you. Wish me luck and good luck in your pulls. Have a good night.

Opening Another Ten Packs in TCG Pocket

I’ll be honest. This is why I wanted to push the post one more day. Also, my laptop was very angry at me yesterday. I wanted to surprise you with how it went when I opened another ten packs. Unfortunately, this time I don’t really have anything to show for it. In all ten of the pack openings, I did not manage to find even one new card. It’s tragic, I know. I knew it was a possibility, but man was that rough. Mewtwo packs gave me a one-star I already had and the one EX I already had. I have unfortunately been in a rut lately with packs. I haven’t gotten a new card in a couple weeks now after popping off and I was hoping this might turn the tide. Apparently, I was wrong. So this is a shorter post than I was expecting with not much more to say except that I will keep opening Mewtwo packs until I get at least one new card because I can’t take that disrespect lying down.

Here is the Venusaur EX I got At least it was my second one so I can use it in my Venusaur deck. Technically I actually got this from a free pack before the ten packs, but just let me have this one.

And this was the best pull I managed in the ten pulls: The Pidgeot Full Art Card. That Magikarp is me for real. Would have been such a great pull if I hadn’t already pulled it from wonder pick.

So, not a great haul. Hopefully, the next time I do this my luck isn’t as atrocious, but I’ll probably wait until the end of the month to do another one of these. RNG broke my spirit today. And with that, I sign off. The only silver lining is that I didn’t spend a cent on these packs so it could be worse. Have a good night and may you have better luck in your pack openings.