IR HELP so we can play games!

Here's the scenario:

Rob V and i are at a hotel in the middle of the desert an hour south of vegas for a kite buggy event. I brought my gamecube, and the tv in our room has AV inputs, but the room remote is a simplied remote that doesn't have a tv/video button, and the hotel doesn't have any remotes that will work, NOR does the TV have a tv/video button.

SO, we have a powerbook, a Treo (palm OS with IR) and a crappy dialup, and no way to play the Gamecube. We know about Omniremote, but we don't have anyway to create a databse for it that will work with our TV. We found ORDesktop which has a huge database of remotes in it that can be saved out for Omnirmote, but the trial version won't allow us to save it out and we don't wanna waste $20 on the off chance it won't work. We even have the actual hex code for the button we need, but no way to transmit it. We have an RCA TV... so if anyone has any ideas... or ORDesktop ... PLEASE HELP! We wanna play zelda!!!

I had that same problem once I just bought a rf modulator and used a needle nose to get around the stupid plastic things they have on the ends of the cable to try and stop you from getting the cable off. Spend 10 bucks and get playing Zelda.

that's the problem... there is no store to buy anything anywhere near here. Just a hotel sundries shop. If there was we'd have bought a modulator or universal remote a long time ago =].

anyone else??? boredom is setting in!

anyone know of a program for mac where you can enter IR codes and it will transmit them from the IR port?

Sorry I just assumed there was a target or something.

I had this same problem once except with a VCR instead of a GameCube.

As I remember, it turned out that I could set the alarm on the TV to come on to the video port, so I set the alarm for one minute from now and, sure enough, it worked.

Hey, On my mom's tv, she can press channel down, and channel 0 is the video input.

Speaking of which.. I just found a stash of CAN$2 (yes, that's about US$1.30 each) IR keyboards. No info, other than that they use IR, and have a built-in mousepad thingie as well.. Mmm..

I'm with Bitt on this one. I happen to own an RCA TV, and not its remote, and that is exactly what I was able to do.

Oh, if our astronauts can assemble a CO2 scrubber out of some spare parts and junk laying/floating around, surely we can somehow send that needed ir signal that may or may not involve taking the tv apart.

we did it. it took a win2k server remote connection and some brainstorming, but it turns out the database files for ORDesktop are already in pdb format, so we just tossed the ones for the RCA tv on Rob's (cruzths) palm and voila! Zelda all night long!

Zelda all night long!

Okay... I'm on the island with the group of kids and the schoolteacher. They have challenged me to a game of hide and seek. One of the kids is at the top of a tall pine tree. Let's ignore the question, just for a moment, of why there is a pine tree on a tiny tropical island and get to the real problem at hand. I can't seem to get to the kid to say "ha, gotcha". I can see him from a distance, from several vantage points, but I can't get close enough to interact with him. Anyone gotten this one yet?

Oh, and Loren, what do you think of the character animation of those "pig guards", the big burly ones who catch you and throw you into prison. I love their walk cycles, the way their lips move, and the flowing movement of the thingamagigs they're carrying. I was very impressed.

You can do the move where you roll into the tree thus shaking it and knocking the kid out. The problem I had with that one was I could get to the top of the tree and stand next to the kid but he wouldn't notice me and start running.

You can do the move where you roll into the tree thus shaking it and knocking the kid out.

AH! Thank you. I tried whacking the tree with my sword, but didn't try the roll attack.

Now to find the other three...

Do you want to know where they are?

You find out a little later one reason why there are any trees at all on these islands.

msaeger, how the heck did you get to the top of that tree? or did you just do that challenge later after getting the leaf?

Don't know if you guys know about this, but Game FAQ's has walkthroughs already.

WARNING: The above link contains major spoilers!!

I knew there were ones available, but most are woefully incomplete. I needed help on one small thing (the only time I've checked the walkthroughs for this game), and it didn't have anything on it. Most of these FAQs are there because people got the Japanese imports of the games, and I think some things are either different, or they were in Japanese

Besides, it's fun to talk about it to "real" people

Yeah I did it after getting the leaf. I think it's great how we can do these things in whatever order we want. Like I got one of the maps to the triforce pieces and I haven't even been told about them in the game yet.

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of that too. I've also got that map. I just got the master sword, but instead of going on, I'm just going around to all the islands and doing as much as I can now.

Maybe you can tell me something. What the heck are all the platforms for? You know, the look-out type things dotted all over the map. Usually they've got a few enemies on the top of them, and usually some pots or something. I recently got a chart that tells me where all of them are, but what use is this? What do I get for visiting all of them? More rupees? Which brings me into my only complaints about the game:

1) It is so incredibly easy to get rupees. Up until I got the 1000 capacity wallet, I would be at the max (200) level all the time. during that time I must have gotten about 2000 rupees from chests and things, not meaning to, but thinking I'd be getting something else. You rarely have to buy anything in this game, so it's a bit strange to have all these rupees just handed to you at every turn.

2) Not related to the rest of what I've said, but there is one thing about the last 3 Zelda games that annoys me sooo much. Why does everything need to be explained soooo much! There are several ways this annoys me:
-every time I get a joy pendant from a chest, it takes a few seconds to tell me what it is. I think I know what it is by now.
-when there are challenges that take several tries to complete, I don't need a full explanation every time I do it.

That's what I've been most annoyed by. Plus, anything that needs conducting takes forever. Most of the time I sail half-way against the wind to avoid taking the time to change its direction.

Okay, I've vented. Now I can get back to playing

Why does everything need to be explained soooo much!

In case you're forgetful (perhaps you're coming back to the game after a long hiatus), or in case you're taking over the play from someone else's savegame. It doesn't really bother me because most of the time I can click past the explanations in less than a second.

I can click past the explanations in less than a second

But that's the problem, there's no choice. Most of these explanations don't let you press B to skip through it faster. I'll be playing the end of the game and still getting 3 screens of rolling text explaining what a joy pendant is. That's frustrating.

Funny, I've been pressing A...

A is works when whatever is being said to you has been said, so that it moves to the next screen of text. If you press B, it skips the scrolling so it all gets printed at once, but not all the time.

I haven't found any use for the platforms so far other than rupees, bombs and stuff like that.

I have noticed the rupee problem on about all the zelda games like the first one you basically just need them to get the blue ring and then to buy potions. This game makes it even worse because you don't even have to buy potions.

I am guessing they explain stuff so much because they are making the game so someone who has never played a zelda game can play it but your right they do go overboard. I have no idea why they have to do the big production every time you get an item I will agree that is annoying it would be good if they just did it the first time you got that item.

Hm... I'm stuck on Dragon Roost Island. I threw the little girl bird up to the ledge, then heard she was kidnapped, and now can't seem to do anything useful to save her. Can I complete that quest without leaving the island, or should I be setting sail now?

do you have a bottle?

bottle
water
flower

That's very nice. How the heck was I supposed to know that? The only hint I'd been given about the bottle was on the other island, with the guy in the potion shop. I thought I was just saving the bottle for when I got back there.

Oh wait.

The birds all kept telling me things were dried out and that even the bomb flowers were dried up. Argh, obscure puzzle. Okay, okay.

Grrr....

/me goes to try it.

Thanks.

Don't worry, that's one of the few puzzles that is that obscure. Aside from a couple others, the rest is pretty easy. It took me a while to remember that the birds were telling me that.

Don't worry, that's one of the few puzzles that is that obscure.

Yeah, I'm getting that impression. After that one particular puzzle, the rest of the island was very do-able.

In fact, I think I'll go so far as to say: watering that flower marks the beginning of one of the best sequences of puzzles and scenery in any adventure game I've ever played. There was something about that whole section that kept me captivated and on the edge of my seat all the way up through the showdown with the final boss at the end. Each major puzzle, when you solved it, had you patting yourself on the back for your own cleverness. Which is probably the biggest compliment I can give to the game's designers... Since each puzzle is scripted carefully and I'm just along for the ride, the designers must have been doing something very right.

And the eye candy for that whole section... Wow. The naysayers who said the cartoon rendering was bad just haven't gotten that far in the game yet.

And the eye candy for that whole section... Wow. The naysayers who said the cartoon rendering was bad just haven't gotten that far in the game yet.

I don't think they cared about it looking good or not they were complaining that it looks kiddie because it looks like a cartoon and isn't grotesque. I am guessing it was alot of immature 13 year olds whining because I haven't heard anyone I would consider an adult complain about it.

I think the main reason they were complaining, and the reason my roommate was complaining, was because they showed their initial design of a more realistic Link, then went this totally different direction. They felt like they were being teased or something. Honestly, I think it's better this way. I love this game. It's the very type of game that I love. It's not hard, it's entertaining. I think too many games today try to be insanely hard in order to drag the gameplay out longer. Here we have a pretty easy game, but it's absoultely HUGE!

Actually, the more I play this game the more I feel that this is the way it should be I mean, this game looks and feels directly related to Link to the Past for SNES, and I think that's one of the best games of all time. I regularly go back and play that one.

As for the puzzles, I agree. The Zelda designers have always made the best puzzles, and these are just fun. Most of all, when I find I'm stuck on one, the biggest step to take is remembering what items I have. There has been several times where I've forgotten about a way-cool item (that you'll get on the next island, Tony), and I think "duh!"

Damn this is a great game. I couldn't put it down last night and I played it until 4:30AM What's even worse is the clocks have changed, so I'm even more tired than usual. It's worth it, though

I couldn't put it down last night and I played it until 4:30AM

Luckily I was able to finish the Dragon Roost Island sequence earlier than that. But I will say that it took an incredible amount of willpower to save the game and turn it off before leaving the island. I was so tempted to "just go see what the next island looks like"...

The "island" theme reminds me of the LucasArts Monkey Island games. That's probably part of why I like this game so much...

Regarding the "kiddie" thing: I have to say that so far, two of the islands (the first one and the third one) seemed far too kiddie for my tastes and I was teetering close to just letting my daughter finish the game. I'm glad I hung around long enough to get to the Dragon Roost sequence, it made it all worth it.

If I think about it, the Monkey Island games were kind of kiddie-looking all the way through. What made them so fun for me as an adult, I think, was the flavor of the humor. It was the kind of humor that catered to both adults and kids equally. There were enough "in" jokes and subtle twists that only the grownups would get.

I think that's something that's more or less missing from Windwaker: that subtle adult-sensibility humor. I'm sure that's largely due to the translation from Japanese. I'll bet there's all sorts of pop-culture references and tongue-in-cheek stuff that I'm just not getting because I'm not Japanese. So the eye candy and the quality of the puzzles is what really has to hold me for this game, and fortunately, it succeeds in spades.

I'm curious, Tony, which of the previous Zelda games have you played? So far, I've completed all the major ones since Link to the Past. I didn't have an NES as a kid, so I didn't get to those titles, but all the others have been possibly the greatest games I've ever played. Wind Waker doesn't quite reach that level for me, but it's still a damn good game.

None, I never owned a system that played the Zelda games until now.

You have to play the first one it's the best one.

I didn't have an NES as a kid, so I didn't get to those titles,

Good God, man, get an emulator and play the first two Zelda games! I'll send you the ROMs if you need em!

You have to play the first one it's the best one.

I still like Link to the Past the best, followed by the first N64 one. Haven't played enough of Wind Waker yet to decide where it goes on my list.

The problem is, I don't think I would like it. I know if I had played it when it first came out, I would treasure it like any child of the 80's But having never played it, the graphics and gameplay wouldn't entertain me enough to make it hold up with its later versions.

I tried the same thing with my roommate and Final Fantasy. I said that he just HAD to try FFIV, because it was my favorite game ever. Having started on FFVII, I just know he stopped playing FFIV because the graphics were so dated.

Therefore, I respectfully decline. Link to the Past remains my favorite Zelda game, and the N64 versions following it, just like Drakino.

When I find the issue, I'll post where EGM ranks these games on their latest 100 best games of all time list.

Zelda games on Electronic Gaming Monthly's top "100 Best Games Ever" list:

95- Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link (NES)
55- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GC Color)
40/39- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages (GC Color)
25- The Legend of Zelda (NES)
8- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
3- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

(in case you're interested, 2 and 1 were Tetris and Super Metroid, respectively)

Aside from Mario, Zelda had the most games on their top 100 list, just ahead of Final Fantasy.

*edit* Even more interesting was their "20 Worst Games Ever" list, which was topped by ET: the Extra Terrestrial for the Atari 2600. Is there anyone here who owned that at one point?

Is there anyone here who owned that at one point?

I still do actually. I need a TV and power adaptor for my 2600 to be able to play it though.

I had it, too. It really did suck.

That one is great too I just replayed it on gameboy advance. I need to quit buying all these remakes but I can't stop.

Did you play ages and seasons for game boy they are similar to link to the past.

I have it too and while it does suck I don't why they always pick on that game as the worst of all time. There are many rotten 2600 games picking the worst would be hard.

I like the fact that is had a goal instead of just mindless shooting trying to get a higher score.

That one is great too I just replayed it on gameboy advance. I need to quit buying all these remakes but I can't stop.

I justified my GameBoy Advance (and SP) buys based on the fact that I really enjoyed many SNES and Genesis games, and I knew some were being remade. I still need to play the Four Swords part of the game, seemed like an interesting idea when I played the demo at E3.

Did you play ages and seasons for game boy they are similar to link to the past.

I own both, and still need to finish them. The SP should help me do this one day, but for now Metroid Fusion has my gametime.

holy crap... i missed this whole thread!

I got pissed last night because my GC crashed soon after i got to the dragon island and i hadn't saved in a while... that's the second time that's happened to me. GRRR. it happened to me on Metroid too now that i think about it... what's up with that.?!

Wow, that shouldn't happen! How hard are you on that little box?

Electronic Gaming Monthly's top "100 Best Games Ever" list:

I'm probably just an old, atavistic curmudgeon... but I've always thought "DOOM" and "DOOM II" to be the best games ever. At least in terms of breaking new ground and (at the time) setting the level to which all competing products had to aspire.

So just from curiosity, where did DOOM rank in that top 100 list?

tanstaafl.

This was purely console gaming, and I guess that aside from Tetris, they didn't consider any ports of computer games (and you could argue that the most popular version of Tetris was the Gameboy version). They also didn't consider any game within the past year or so of the creation of the list. Looking at the date, it is older than I thought it was. It was printed in Jan 2002, so they considered all games up until the start of 2001. Basically every system before the GC/PS2/XBox era.

*edit*
Electronic Gaming Monthly is primarily a console gaming magazine, with very little on PC gaming. I consider it to be the best in its field. I hardly buy or play games anymore, but I still subscribe to keep up with the industry.

Metroid fusion was great I hope they make more. And is that SP the best thing ever or what. I bought it mostly because they were sold out everywhere and I found a store that had some but I couldn't go back to the other one now.

I finished ages or seasons can't remember which then played alot of the other and got wrapped up in exchanging the passwords between the two games.

I have never had my cube lock up maybe you have a bad cube.

My dreamcast would do that sometimes if the disk got something on it and I didn't notice. My xbox does that alot when loading I think it's dying. (maybe it's time to make it a mp3 player that xbox media player looks pretty good)

Don't worry, that's one of the few puzzles that is that obscure.

I think I may have hit one of the other obscure puzzles. I'd go find a walkthrough, but I don't want spoilers, so does anyone have a hint for this one?

I'm in the "courage tower", the fortress that rose out of the sea after I placed the three pearls on the three triangle islands. Most of the puzzles here have been pretty easy so far.

I've gotten the first statue to follow me back to the central room (you press R and shout "come on!" and the statue follows you). I've conducted the "Command" music and opened the second door.

The second statue is the hard one. I've used the grappling hook to reach it. I had to cross two bottomless chasms in two rooms with the grappling hook to get there. But now I don't see a way to get back across with the statue. There is a trigger pad that will allow me to place a heavy object onto it and make a magic bridge appear, but I can't see how to get either of the heavy objects across the first chasm.

There is a trigger pad that will open a door near the first chasm, but... same problem. No way to get heavy objects across that first chasm to reach the trigger pad.

There is a big eye on the wall next to the first chasm, but I can't seem to interact with it with any of my items. There's a little blue notch in the wall beneath the eye indicating that maybe a bridge or ledge will appear there, but I can't make anything happen in that room.

Earlier, I had battled two flaming flying skulls in that room (homage to Doom, anyone?), but nothing seemed to happen after they were both gone.

Help?

Argh. I couldn't wait any longer so I found a walkthrough:

Grapple across, walk up to the statue and hit R. Pick it up and put it down to get it to stop following you. Walk to the switch and stand on it to make a path appear. While doing that, play the Command Melody. You are now the statue.

I call "LAAAAAAME" right now. No hint was given that I had to do the command melody to this statue. Only prior hint was that I used it to open a door. What does remote-controlling a statue have to do with opening a door?

LAAAAAAAME.

/me deletes the walkthrough until I get stuck again...

Hehe, yeah, those were tough to figure. Another hint that I'd give you is to look for those walls you can blast open. I think there's one in one of those statues paths, by the platforms that go up and down when you jump on them.

My other hint would be sometimes there's this little blue thing that you can stand on and play something