Nerrel

Ocarina of Time 3D Review (and piano mp3s)

I wanted this to be up yesterday to mark the 8th anniversary of the US release, but there were a lot of complications and it got a little delayed.  This is the first time this has ever happened.  Anyway, it's here now and hopefully you find it interesting to go through the details of how the game was changed (spoiler: I love the remake).  

I tried recording some of the music myself this time; the setup and piano I have aren't great but if you're interested in hearing the ...

Video schedule and a dungeon tour

Now that this area is done I have all the footage for the texture drawing demonstration video I mentioned back in April, but I may review Ocarina of Time 3D first.  Next month is the eight year anniversary of its release and it seems like the perfect time to cover it.   The current goal is to get these both out in June, followed by an apology in July for not getting them out in June.  Thanks again for your support!

2019-05-31 18:27:52 +0000 UTC View Post

Why Gamers Hate Motion Control

It took so long to get this uploaded because I kept seeing new comments and arguments I wanted to address, to the point where it ended up being twice as long as the original motion video.  I feel like the two videos together sum up pretty much everything I have to say about motion, hopefully you've found them interesting to watch even if you don't agree (and if you don't agree, be sure to leave a comment about how sticks are better because you don't have to swing your arms around).  ...

Just a little longer...

A lot of things happened with N64 emulation this month and I got a little caught up testing various things out, so the next videos will be a little late.  The good news is that May will have a lot of good stuff to show; the GlideN64 texture glitches I talked about in the last video have been fixed, so now I can create textures for the entire game without issues.  I have to thank Gonetz, the...

Neil Breen Film Review

This wasn't part of the plan.  I don't know how this happened.  

Official Authentic Formal Update Schedule for this Month

I'm working on two videos for April, the first of which is a continuation of the motion control video that I did last year.  This time I'm focusing on the responses that video got, which range from "reasonable rebuttals" to "third grader headbutting his keyboard."  The video will explore all of the wild misconceptions people seem to have about motion as well as the legitimate problems it has as an input type.

2019-04-09 22:04:54 +0000 UTC View Post

The nightmare is over, also MMN64 HD update

This was a very stupid thing I did over the past two videos and by extension it made everyone who watched it a little dumber.  I promise I'll never do anything like this prank ever again, for at least 364 days.  

Patron-Exclusive Art Bundle

Time is flying- it's already NEARLY THE FIRST OF APRIL and I'm already at work on another game.  Here is a bundle of artwork for you to do as you please with- look at it, throw it away,  or start your very own Wand of Gamelon remake video!  Everyone's apparently doing it, god damn it!

Lisa: The Painful RPG Review

If you've never heard of this game then I hope this convinces you to give it a chance.  It left a mark on me when I first played it and it was even better than I remembered when revisiting it to put this video together.  Thanks again for your support

MM Bay Area Textures

This is the first half of Great Bay's update, the second will focus almost entirely on the pirate fortress and skulltula house.  There are a lot of instances where I wish I could edit the models and mappings here, so hopefully I'm able to do that in the near future.  Thanks again for your support and I hope you'll look forward to getting a commentary video that's actually positive in a little bit!  

And yes, that thumbnail is very, very fake.  

Updates for this month

I mentioned in the last post that I would be catching up on MM for a while, and since then I've finished roughly 100 textures and have gotten most areas of the bay done.  Each area grows in size as you go through the game, with the bay and Ikana being much larger than the first two, so I'm going to split this update into two videos.  The first one should be ready within a week and may have a few big-name guest stars in it (it's dumber than you could possibly imagine, do not...

Resident Evil 2 Review

It's been a wild ride waiting for RE2 to get a remake but now it's finally over.  If you watched the fixed camera/over the shoulder comparison video then hopefully you'll be interested in seeing how I thought the remake turned out.  The texture project hasn't gotten much time over the past week so I'll be focusing everything on that for a little while, but there are more commentaries already in the pipeline.  Thanks again for your support!

Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild Comparison

A few years ago I promised to do a review of these games, and now I finally have.  I was able to put the capture card I purchased with donations to good use and ended up with a total of 42GB of footage, which I'm told is a large number.  Thank you for continuing to support and I hope you find this interesting.  

MMN64HD Update

This area of the game had more to research than most and I actually feel like I learned a fair amount while retexturing it.  Hopefully you enjoy looking this over while I build up a mountain of footage for the next commentary videos!  

New News for a New Year

Happy belated New Year!  I try to upload something at least once every two weeks but it may take a little longer this time since I'm working on three things at once.  I'm finishing up another texture pack update (more about that below if you're interested) while working on the Skyward Sword vs Breath of the Wild video and also a "sequel" to the motion control video based on the polarized responses it got.  

I also intend to review Resident Evil 2 when it releases at the e...

Patron-Only Content...

Aside from the last post with the Tingle images, I haven't offered any exclusive content on this page.  I wanted to ask if there's anything that people would like to see more of and to gauge interest in a few ideas.  

Behind the scenes

I could generally post more images showing how the videos (or textures) are put together, but more often than not I don't think there's much mystery to it- the effects I do are kind of purposefully simple and cr...

Behold: The Nerrel Holiday Special

Emulation is obviously very important for the projects I do and I've noticed a lot of people warning me on YouTube that Nintendo is going to "shut my texture pack down."  I've never heard of such a thing happening- I'm not making a fan game, just some PNG files- but at the same time I can't put it past Nintendo to go to any length to stamp out a fan project.  This video is about how Nintendo's inflexible stance can hurt itself and its fans.  

Also, Tingle's badonkadonk.  He...

MMN64HD Temple Update + Holiday Special Plans (Yes)

The second area of MM is now totally done, which is a good feeling but there's a lot more to do!  The next essay was going to be about the two most recent Zelda games (that's still coming), but first I want to do a holiday special.  "What the hell is he talking about?"  It wouldn't be Christmas/ Hanukkah/Kwanzaa without wonderment and mystery, so you'll have to find out later this month.

But no, it's about emulation and Nintendo's efforts to stop it.  Tha...

Capture card goal reached

I needed a card to get Switch footage for my next video, which is a comparison of Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword, and with this month's donation amount I was able to cover most of the cost of one.   This should also let me easily cover future Switch games like Metroid Prime 4 if I want to do an essay on them.  

While I wait for that to arrive I'm working on the textures for Sn...

Get your bodies ready

Here are my thoughts on motion control and why it deserves a shot on every system next gen.  It didn't turn out as long as I expected, but it took longer than usual to get all the footage together.  Hopefully this interests you, and thanks again for your support!

I just Discorded

I've made a Discord server for questions or comments relating to either my videos or the texture project.  If you have questions or comments and want some immediate feedback on them, this seems like the place to do it.  

Also- the MMN64HD poll results (here and on YouTube) make it clear that the N64 version is the preferred one.  I was considering switching over to Dolphin because I thought it may be possible to add material maps to the game, but unless some technical...

MMN64HD mountain update + next video essay topic

Here's another look at the texture project, which has a few improvements thanks to the suggestions I've been getting.  Snowhead temple is the only area left in the mountains and will be the next update.

The next video essay I'm working on is about motion control and its adoption (or lack thereof) by each major platform.  Instead of focusing on one game or series it's a big video spread out across a number of games and systems, so it may take a while but I hope to have it done near th...

Which version of the MM texture pack are you more interested in?

Thanks to everyone who has offered support and happy Halloween!  After seeing people struggle with the tutorial I posted a while ago, I wanted to ask which emulation option people want to use.  Before voting, please consider this brief(ish) summary of the options:

N64 version advantages-

On the surface, this makes the most sense- the N64 is the best version of the original and you're emulating it with a program designed specifically for N64 games. ...

Resident Evil 2 and the Difference a Camera Makes

Fixed camera and over the shoulder Resident Evil are very different things and people can be polarized over which is right for the series.  This video explores what makes each game style work and speculates about how the upcoming remake will have to change.  

Texture Project Overview

Thanks again to those of you who have supported me in this past month.  Most of you are probably here because of my commentaries and may not care about the texture pack I'm also working on, which is fine!  But I have put together a brief look at what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, and how to use it for anyone who is interested.  

Is this thing on?

Thank you to those of you who have chosen to donate.  There are two videos coming this month- one is an overview of and tutorial for the  Majora's Mask texture project I'm doing, which a number of people have requested (1 is a number).  

The other is another video essay focusing on Resident Evil 2, its remake, and the course of the series in general.  This will have such cutting edge, high-tech effects as "green screening" and "no other effects."  I hope you enjoy it!<...