This weekend I've been playing Ninja Gaiden (NES), Contra OG (PS5), Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse (SMS) and Super Mario Bros 2 Allstars (SNES).

I nearly finished Castle of Illusion last night, but ran out of lives. The game gives you a generous 9 continues, but I want to beat it without using them. It's been over 30 years since I last played all the way through it, and I still remember a lot of it. The timing on the spinning tree boss gives me the most trouble so far.

SupremeAC said:

That predictive technology sounds a lot like how the Quest2 senses where your fingers are rested. Basically it meassures the weight of your fingers and thumbs on each button, even if you're not pressing down on it. Quest 2 uses this to accurately show your hands on the controller.

Works okay most of the time, but not good enough to improve button presses, I'd say.

SupremeAC said:

Sony patented something similar with the use of a camera.  The only way this could improve response time is if the game actually starts doing some calculations in parallel to anticipate wether or not you will press the button.  Overall I don't see this resulting in big gains.  Lets be realistic: how long does it take for the electric puls to register?  I don't think there's any method to really spead that up, save for shorter travel time on pressing down the button.  Anything else will be software anticipating your actions.  On the other hand, guestimates seems to be where the big gains will be from now on, as that's exactly what AI brings to the table.

Agreed, but given the usefulness of predictive text, I'm sceptical.

I wonder if its tech that could be used to aid people with disabilities.

I completed Doom, the final boss glitched when her life was at zero. The trigger animation for a stylish kill never appeared. So it laid there like a fish with a gaping mouth. I did everything to progress but nothing worked. Bizarrely the boss would shimmy around to face me, yet remain face planted.

I beat her again when I loaded from the checkpoint. Now I'm replaying levels to get all the weapon mods.

On the weapons, I think this is the first shooter where I will regularly use all the weapons (excluding bfg) they all have their uses or mod functions that make them worthwhile.

What about Jaden Smith's castle hat?

Katamari must've rolled over Censori's clothes as well.

I recived my 8Bitdo Pro 2 Bluetooth Controller last night. The Hall Effect joysticks feel like they slightly higher resistance, which is nice and precise. The only thing I don't like about the controller are the back buttons; it has two of them right above each handle and they can be very easily pressed by accident, so I haven't mapped anything to them. I kinda want to glue them down flush witht the handle, so I don't feel them anymore.

Ravenprose said:

I woke up this morning, took care of my dog, made an iced coffee, and began playing SMB2. WTH? I haven't played games in the early morning (5:30am) in years. I usually read the news in a fog until I wake up, even on my days off. I'm playing games like I did in the 90s. A proper return to form.  

Well look at you, you young whipper snapper.