Nerrel

N64 Controller Review

In keeping with tradition, this video is four months later than I said it would be, but at least it's here now.  I often mention how much your support improves these videos but this one might be the best example of that so far; in addition to buying the controllers I was also able to buy new lights and camera accessories to get better visuals.  I think the improvement is very clear compared to the SNES controller review.

The video is not likely to ever earn enough ad revenue t...

Expansion Pack review

This video got rebooted when it was nearly complete because an opportunity came along to test the service firsthand and get direct footage and lag tests.  The video had initially just been a collection of the secondhand complaints with commentary about the fiasco, I was able to find much more to talk about after using the service.  Even after seeing all the comments online, I was surprised by how poor it was. 

There's a lot of material that had to be ditched due the the l...

Metroid Dread: The Biased Review of a Casual Scrub

If it's not clear from the video, I was very happy with this game and most of the criticisms are just mild nitpicks (that no one agrees with!  Fight me!).  I look forward to reviewing a Metroid game again in eight years when Prime 4 is finally done.

The next video is a review the Switch N64 controller, which I was lucky enough to snag in the last restocking.  People didn't like that the SNES controller video didn't have any comparisons, so I also bought the brand new braw...

MMHD Project release

That's it for this one- in spite of all my missed deadlines I still somehow managed to finish it.  There will be other texture projects after this but it will be a little longer before I can commit to what the next one is going to be.  And of course the 3D port will still happen alongside that.  

Metroid Dread is going to be the next video, which was probably obvious but since there haven't been many uploads for a while I wanted to confirm that yes, I still make ...

Texture update 2: The Legend of Tingle's Gold

Epilepsy warning- flashing images below

Those of you on Discord will already know this but I finished the texture pack last month and uploaded it as a beta so that volunteers could test for any remaining issues.  That bug hunt is now ending and I'm ready to work on the final release video.   

Since the last progress video in October 2,215 textures have been either newly created or revised- for perspective, the total texture count at the mom...

Skyward Sword HD Review - early access

I've been trying to upload this for 6 hours but my ISP was having major troubles today, so the best I can do for tonight is offer it as a preview for those of you who are still awake.   Thanks again for your support

Expense report: GPU acquired, God defeated

I've joked about how badly my AMD Brick™ sucked a few times but it wasn't much of a laughing matter to me- it was previously a mining GPU that was artifacting more and more and had a blower fan that was clicking loudly as if it were going to shatter at any moment.  If that thing had died I would have been unable to do pretty much any of the things I need to do for my channel, and the pandemic had made it nearly impossible to find a replacement. 

After about 9 months of tryin...

Emulator news

I decided to pause the textures for a few days to do this one after all, mainly because I realized that even if I do get the pack done this month I'll never get the detailed installation tutorial video done as well.  

For next month it's going to be all about finishing the pack and doing a Skyward Sword HD review.  I'm hoping that remaster ends up being more interesting than it appears now, we'll have to wait to see the full extent of the QoL changes.  

I have a lot...

Expense report: tablet upgraded + texture project status

The Huion tablet I've been using started giving me driver trouble with BSOD issues over the past year.  It's no exaggeration to say that I use a tablet all day every day, for both video work and texture art, and thanks to your funding I was able to make the much needed jump to better hardware.

I'm about three days away from finishing the last character in the game and at that point I'll have completed a first pass on nearly everything.  From there I'll have to finish ...

Resident Evil VIII Review

Youtube is taking hours to clear the video for upload and I really wanted it up today, so for now I'll share it here in secret.   If a copyright issue does come up due to the 1 total second of Twilight footage then I'll have to take it down and reupload.  

Hopefully you're interested in this one.  There are some spoilers for settings but not very much for the story itself.  Thanks again for your support

Metroidvania review part 3

It took a while to get back to this series, partly because I was expecting more games to release last year.  I included A Robot Named Fight after all because I thought the internet could use more complaining about things- hopefully that suits you, governor.  

I will do another part in this series as soon as both Silksong and Axiom Verge 2 have finally released (Ori 2 will also be in it).  Thanks again for your support

Schedule for the coming months

Hello all, hopefully you've been vaccinated and if not then I have to ask that only three of you read this post at a time (stay six IP addresses apart).  I'm working on the third Metroidvania video now and I think it will include Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, Gato Roboto, and Blasphemous.  I also tried A Robot Named Fight but hated it so much I didn't even think I could fairly review it (though that hasn't stopped me before), so it may just be 3 games this time.  You can expect ...

Star Fox and the Wii U - Part 2

It's finally here- you can finally find out if Star Fox Zero was good or not.  It's been a rough five years, but now you can have long awaited peace.  

The video only had a few small tweaks compared to last time, so if you want to jump in at the 13:50 mark to start part 2 you won't be missing too much.  

Narration was very hard this time due to some lingering Covid issues so I'm looking forward to doing some texture work and getting a break from it for a short while...

Star Fox Zero and The Wii U - Part 1

EDIT:  The final video is on YT now, so the clip has been removed

Surprise!  I still intend for the public upload to be one piece, but recording narration has been really problematic the past few days and I didn't want to leave you much longer without some kind of content.  This is the first 14 minutes of the video (the Wii U portion).  

If you'd rather watch the complete video all at once then I recommend ign...

Next video update

Those of you on Discord probably know that I've been working on the Star Fox Zero/Wii U review, which is another longer one (30 minutes-ish).  I originally planned to split the video in parts with the first focusing on the Wii U and the second reserved for Star Fox, which would have allowed me to get a new video out more quickly.  

After getting it together I didn't think the first half made for a compelling video when all of the conclusions were lumped in the second, so I opt...

Behind the Nerrel - an elite video for sophisticated fans

This has been asked for a few times and when watching you'll probably understand why I hadn't shown this before- there's only so much timeline footage you can look at before you get bored.  But if you want to know more about how these are put together then it might be interesting to see and hopefully doesn't come off as the self indulgent work of a raging narcissist.  That is what it is, I'm saying I hope you somehow don't realize that.  

You can either download ...

Rise of Skywalker review

So here it is, the most massive and by far hardest to make video I've done yet.  Was it worth it to mostly just dunk on this movie?  You decide.  All I know is that I got another excuse to do an Adam Driver impression.  

Also- I'm using a new custom software method of entering your names in the credits (made by Rosalie, the author of the MMHD auto-installer).  Believe it or not, Patreon doesn't really give you an easy way to copy a list...

Preferred video delivery method for exclusive content

Because this video was so massive I wanted to provide something extra and will be giving a patron-only behind the scenes look at how I make commentaries.  Some people have asked for something like this before and I figured this would be the best time to show how they're put together, why they take so long, and what ends up being cut out of them and why.

I'd like to know how you'd prefer to receive this; I can link to a download from Drive, which would give you a higher quality vide...

Skywalker: not risen yet, but soon (+year end recap)

I was surprised when Rise of Skywalker topped the suggestion poll a few months ago as I thought people were probably over it.  I was also surprised by how much I had to say about it, with my current estimate pointing to a 40 minute video (I tend to cut things in the final stage, though).  I need some more time to finish it, but in the meantime enjoy this "banger" that I made with dark magic and secrets only the sith knew.  

This has been a hard- or at the very least, weir...

Mother 3 spoiler-free(ish) review

I once again underestimated how long this one would take... there's a lot to cover for this game, but it's here now so that you have something to stay home and watch rather than going out and getting COVID-19, so in a way I'm kind of a hero

Thanks again for your support

Behold: My worst thumbnail ever

Somehow a farting Wario ad didn't quite cover everything there was to say about 3D All-Stars, so this is the complete thought.  Hopefully you're interested and hopefully Nintendo won't turn me into a smoldering crater.  Thank you again for your support!

The Moon

I've had a lot of fun working on both these textures and the video, hopefully it's fun to watch.  The comparisons may get a little choppy since I'm using new patches that turn the game into a completely separate entry, so no savestates can be used between them.  Tomorrow I'll resume all the editing work that got backed up this month.  Thanks again for your support

"Where the hell is my content and also how dare you," you may ask

My plans have shuffled over the past month and this is where things have settled: October 26th is the 20th anniversary of Majora's Mask in the US and I figured there would never be a better time for the final video showing the moon.  I want the video to do justice to all the time I've spent on the project, so the Mother 3 video had to be pushed back.  I did, however, buy Mario 3D All-Stars to get a quicker review out (no, those are not my hands): 

2020-10-25 02:38:10 +0000 UTC View Post

Control Review

I've been wanting to give this one a run for a long time and I think the best thing about the game is that it led to this thumbnail.  You may notice the audio is a bit patched together from different recordings in different rooms, next time that should be sorted out.  Thanks again for your support...  

I'm getting concerned this song won't be relevant by the time the Mother 3 video goes up. 

2020-09-20 17:29:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Expense report: proper-ish camera purchased, cat photographed

A few of the videos (the Steam and SNES controller reviews especially) have called for camera footage and I've mostly relied on weak cell phone recordings to get by.  

I've used the funds from last month to get a modestly competent 4k camera and some acoustic treatment foam and will also be getting actual lighting of some sort.  The Wii U/Star Fox Zero video will probably be the first to fully use this and will hopefully no longer look like a hobo shot it inside of a tin can u...

This isn't really a thing, but here

I think I'm about in the clear when it comes to the virus, I was able to record the lines Nintendo sent me without much trouble.  I still don't really understand the product.  Some of the coughing in the video is my very own, recorded for the sake of history.  

There will be a "real" video soon, unless you like this, in which case I'll drop everything to do these from now on.  Thank you again for your support

Video delayed due to objection from God

Hey, August- go fuck yourself.  I tested positive for covid-19 today and while my symptoms are mild it's going to be impossible to narrate for bit- I'm basically a puddle that coughs, and dislikes Hollow Knight.  The good news is that I can still capture footage and edit.  I should be able to get two videos ready and finish them relatively fast once I recover.

I want to take the opportunity to stress that this virus is real and that you should be taking e...

Vote for your most desired video topic

Every now and then I like to keep you abreast of the longer term video plans and to gauge what you're interested in.  These are some of the most requested topics I've gotten over the past few months, as well as a few things I've just been wanting to do anyway:

Silent Hill 2 - The video God didn't want you to see

I was mostly new to this game and was very glad to play it for the first time in this form, the mod is great.  

I'll be going back to the final stages of the texture pack, but I will make sure to keep videos going at least somewhat near the usual pace, unless a volcano goes off this time.  Thank you again for your support and patience

Video delayed due to objection from God

A major storm ravaged the Midwest and left most of my area without power for the past several days in addition to dumping a bunch of trees where trees don't go.  After bartering with Craig, the beast-lord who emerged victorious from the dark chaos, electricity has finally been restored just this morning.   

It's been a very disappointing week so far since the Silent Hill 2 video was supposed to be up by now, and because I had to cook my pets, but work should now resume as...