Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1853

Magical Mod Combines ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME with SUPER MARIO 64

The Nintendo 64 (N64) mod community has been on fire lately with its remixes of Super Mario 64. That classic title has recently been mashed up with GoldenEye and Banjo-Kazooie, in addition to a hack that turned the game into a first-person experience. Now, there’s an ambitious mod in the pipeline that will bring Mario into the world of another N64 classic: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It’s the creation of Kaze Emanuar, and he recently posted an advance look at his Super Zelda 64: Ocarina of Time with commentary about what to expect when it is finished.



Via Polygon, Super Zelda 64 brings Mario and several of his iconic co-stars into the realm of Hyrule, as Mario is once again called upon to save the day. And while Mario won’t be equipped with Link’s signature weapons, he’ll have his platforming skills to make his way through the various dungeons and locations. Even Mario’s lack of musical acumen won’t get in his way. As explained by Emanuar, Mario doesn’t play the ocarina in this mod so an alternate warp system has been set up through the fairy fountains. Mario is also packing some literal firepower with the return of his fireball abilities from the original Super Mario Bros. game.

While Emanuar notes that the Super Zelda 64 mod is unfinished for now, it looks very promising. What do you think about the Super Mario 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time mash up? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Kaze Emanuar, Nintendo

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DEVILMAN CRYBABY’s Opening Theme Inspires an Infectious Meme

Earlier this year, Netflix premiered Devilman Crybaby, an updated take on Go Nagai’s classic Devilman manga. And while the new anime series has earned high marks from fans and critics alike, Kensuke Ushio and Avu-chan’s opening theme has also become a very amusing meme. It’s a remix of “Devilman no Uta,” the theme for the first Devilman anime, and it also seems to work surprisingly well as dance music for just about anything you can imagine. For example, take a look at this clip from Friends.



We’re not even sure what’s going on here, but we love it.



According to Polygon, the “When the Devilman theme comes on” meme has already taken YouTube by storm with dozens of older videos redubbed with the new music. Even Garfield‘s owner, Jon Arbuckle, isn’t immune to its charms.



People, this transcends genre as we know it. The Walking Dead‘s Rick Grimes apparently can’t get enough of this catchy tune, although we think that Daryl Dixon may have heard it one too many times.



When you’re out for a Night at the Roxbury, it’s just the perfect traveling music.



I don’t even know where to begin with the description for this next clip. It’s almost unfit for human eyes without the Devilman Crybaby music!



Somewhere down in Florida, stormtroopers and Boba Fett are also dancing to this unforgettable theme.



There’s a lot more where this came from on YouTube, and more remixed clips coming everyday. Somehow, we suspect that this is one meme that won’t be going away any time soon.

What do you think about the “When the Devilman theme comes on” meme? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: Science Saru/Netflix

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Tom Cruise Shows How He Broke His Ankle Filming MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 6

Tom Cruise has performed so many ridiculous stunts for the Mission: Impossible franchise, like hanging on to the side of a flying plane, that it was stunning to hear the sixth movie in the series had to temporarily shut down production after he got injured on set. The maneuver they tried to pull off must have been insane if it got their mega star hurt. But it turns out the stunt he broke his ankle doing was far from the most dangerous one he has ever performed; that doesn’t mean the injury was any less gruesome looking to watch.

The cast of the next movie, which Cruise revealed this week will be called Mission: Impossible – Fallout, joined Graham Norton on his show to discuss the film, which despite having started shooting in March 2017 is still six weeks away from wrapping. That’s because Cruise snapped his ankle on set, and if you want to see how it happened he brought along multiple angles of what went wrong when he made the jump from one building to the next.

Warning for the squeamish: this is not pleasant to see.



Oh god. Ankles don’t bend that way. ANKLES DON’T BEND THAT WAY!

Well, that was horrible. But considering he fought through it and completed the shot and has still been filming despite the fact that his ankle is still not completely healed, this is amazing proof of how tough Tom Cruise is. But maybe from now on they should only ask him to do super safe stunts, like hanging outside of a plane.

Do you think you would have been able to keep going if you snapped your ankle? Tell us how tough you are in the comments below.

Images: The Graham Norton Show/Paramount Pictures

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Maisie Williams Reveals Which Month GAME OF THRONES Might Return in 2019

HBO is so worried about spoilers for Game of Thrones‘ final season the network said it will shoot multiple false endings to the series so no one can truly know what to expect. The secrecy surrounding the show is intense enough that they haven’t even said when it will premiere beyond a general announcement that it will air sometime in 2019. Which is why Maisie Williams could be in some trouble for revealing exactly when we should expect the show to return.

In news we first came across at EW, Williams was asked by the Metro in the UK about filming the last season, and she had two pieces of information we hadn’t heard anyone involved with the show say before.

“We wrap in December and we air our first episode in April (of 2019). That’s a four-month turnaround for these huge episodes. There’s a lot that goes into the final edit. You would not want to rush this season at all. We owe it to our audience and our fans to really do this final season to the best of our abilities.”

All previous reports have said filming will conclude at the end of this summer, but a December wrap means they will have filmed the six-episode season for over a calendar year. Unless of course they simply need to take a few months off to wait until the dead of winter to get some final scenes shot. That would sound like good news if you are rooting for the Night King to win.

And while we aren’t shocked that show will return when Williams says it will (until season seven’s summer premiere, the series always debuted in late March or April), we are really surprised she said it. It’s like she gave up a state secret. Hopefully she’s not in trouble though, and we mean that more for them than her. It’s never good to cross Arya Stark.

When did you expect the show to come back? Tell us what you make of this news in the comments below.

Images: HBO

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This Robot Will Destroy You…in SCRABBLE

When it comes to nightmarish visions of the robot uprising that will eventually wipe out mankind as we know it, I’m not worried about Skynet or Cylons posing as Tricia Helfer or even Elon Musk-taunting A.I. like Sophia. No, the robot that has me most concerned is the one that kicked my ass at Scrabble. Better known as the Intelligent Vision System (IVS), this hyperintelligent robot is here to straight up murder you. Linguistically.

Created by Taiwanese research company Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the Scrabble bot uses a series of complex systems to strategically analyze and dominate the popular board game. With a combination of artificial intelligence, a front-facing camera that examines the board, and spindly appendages that place custom-made oversized versions of the game tiles on the board, IVS is devilishly good at Scrabble.

The robot is not without its limitations, though. As it stands now, it can only build off of the previously played word, which I learned the hard way when I tried to play what would have been a killer triple word score. Not only did this rude robot call the game when it scored 69 points–nice–but it gave me a pencil sharpener as a gift. You know, “to keep my mind sharp.” This is my own personal episode of Black Mirror and let me tell you, it’s a nightmare.

Here’s the kicker: IVS just plays Scrabble for fun. It is intended to help improve automation in the manufacturing sector, and the idea to have it play a board game arose as a means of making ITRI’s booth stand out on the crowded CES show floor. So not only is it way better at manufacturing that I’ll ever be, but it bested me in a duel of wits, too. Oh man, I have to go take a long walk and think about my life…

What do you think of this Scrabble-playing robot? Let us know in the comments below!

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Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@DanCasey).

John Williams Conducting THE LAST JEDI’s Theme is Stellar

John Williams is a cinematic treasure. Even if he hadn’t created the iconic music for Star Wars, Williams’ contribution to the last fifty-plus years of movie scores is immeasurable. This year, Williams is up for his 51st Oscar nomination, which is a record that’s unlikely to be broken anytime soon. Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson certainly appreciates everything that Williams has done for this franchise, and he recently shared a behind-the-scenes clip of Williams conducting his orchestra as they played the opening theme for the film.



John Williams! from rcjohnso on Vimeo.

Williams may have written that piece of music over forty years ago, but it hasn’t lost any of its power. Simply hearing Williams’ Star Wars theme is enough for most fans to instantly picture a galaxy far, far away. It was recently confirmed that Williams will return for Star Wars: Episode IX and close out the latest trilogy for director J.J. Abrams. Williams is also writing the main theme for Solo: A Star Wars Story, although the remainder of that score will be composed by John Powell. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess about whether Williams will continue to create new Star Wars music.

Ideally, we’d love to see Johnson invite Williams to score his brand new Star Wars trilogy. Those films may or may not feature any of the characters from the main saga, but it would mean a lot for everyone involved if Williams was on board for that. It’s something that we are very hopeful about.

What did you think about the clip of Williams conducting The Last Jedi‘s opening theme? Compose your  thoughts in the comment section below!

Images: Rian Johnson/Lucasfilm

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What Should We Expect From Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY Remake?

It looks like Steven Spielberg will follow up Indiana Jones 5 by directing a West Side Story remake. Wait….seriously? We discussed his big potential (dance) move on today’s Nerdist News Talks Back, along with the newest look at Annihilation, and where Breaking Bad ranks in TV history ten years after its premiere.

Joining host Jessica Chobot on this Friday extravaganza were Nerdist editors Alicia Lutes, Dan Casey, and Kyle Anderson, as well as Bizarre States’ Andrew Bowser. They started with reports Steven Spielberg will follow The Post and Ready Player One with another Indy film, but that he has also begun casting his next project after that, a remake of West Side Story. What do we make of this? What do we think a musical would look like from him? Who do we want to see in it? Do we even care if we ever get another Indiana Jones movie? And what’s our favorite—and least favorite—Spielberg movie?

Paramount also released a new featurette for Annihilation exploring the mysterious “Shimmer,” where creatures are mutating at a frightening speed with deadly results. How hyped are we for this movie? Did we follow up last month’s Alpha Book Club reading of the novel by diving into the next two books in the trilogy? And do we think the movie will be hurt at the box office by debuting a week after Black Panther?

Finally, this month marked the ten year anniversary of Breaking Bad‘s premiere. The show is considered one of the best series during this amazing era of television, but does it deserve the lofty accolades it gets? What are the greatest TV shows of all time?

Just like it does every weekday, Nerdist News Talks Back airs live at 1:00 p.m. PT on our YouTube and Alpha channels. So tune in and get in on the conversation with us, especially because you never know when Steven Spielberg might announce he’s remaking West Side Story and we have to figure out if all the Sharks will include the mechanical one from Jaws.

They couldn’t even get that thing to swim, what are the chances it can dance?

We still want to hear from you though, so talk back to us about today’s topics in the comments below.

Images: United Artists, AMC

DC Comics’ NO JUSTICE Heralds Big Changes for the JUSTICE LEAGUE

The Justice League line-up of books have been pretty stable for the past several years over at DC Comics, with the core title focusing on the “Big 7” heroes, occasionally trading out Green Lanterns here and there. But now the team is going to be getting their biggest roster shake up in a very long time, and it’s coming courtesy of Scott Snyder, the man whose Batman run with artist Greg Capullo is one of the most legendary in the Dark Knight’s entire career.

Now we’ve learned that the fallout from the currently running Dark Nights Metal mini-series from Synder and Capullo will see the formation of a new League. Metal, which saw Batman and the other DC heroes take on the residents of the Dark Multiverse, will end on March 14 with issue #6. This will be followed by a new four-issue weekly miniseries that kicks off on May 9 called Justice League: No Justice, which will be co-written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Joshua Williamson with art by Francis Manapul.

When this weekly event is over, it will change the status-quo of the Justice League books, resulting in a new family on League titles, starting in June. The current Rebirth-era League books will end this spring, with Justice League #43 wrapping up the current iteration of the series, and Steve Orlando’s Justice League of America ending with issue #29. The new flagship Justice League book will be written by Scott Snyder, with Tynion and Joshua Williamson handling the other books in the line.

In a statement from Scott Snyder, the esteemed writer said “we thought we knew the entire map of the DC cosmos. We thought we had explored all there was to explore. But now we know that all this time the Multiverse was nothing but a fishbowl, and now we’ve been dumped into the ocean, unleashing terrifying new threats, and wondrous new possibilities. Metal opened up channels of storytelling that Francis, James, Joshua and I are excited to explore in a big way. When we’re finished, fans will never look at the Justice League in the same way again.”

In this four-issue miniseries, the super-villain Brainiac arrives on Earth with a dire warning for the Justice League: there’s a threat coming to destroy Earth, one that the heroes are ill-equipped to handle.  Brainiac thinks he holds the key to victory, but it means combining members of the League with some of the most dangerous villains in the DC Universe and sending them into battle against this extinction-level menace. The stakes are at their absolute highest; if one of these teams fail. It’s game over.

For the mini-series at least, the League will be split into four teams, each with very interesting rosters. “Team Mystery” will feature Superman, the Martian Manhunter (making his long awaited return to the League), Starfire, Sinestro, and Starro. Yes, that Starro, the giant starfish that fought the Justice League of America in their very first appearance in 1960.

“Team Entropy” seems to be led by Batman, and will feature Deathstroke, Lobo, Lex Luthor, and Beast Boy. All aside from Beast Boy are former villains. That should prove fun for Batman.

“Team Wonder” is led by — you guessed it — Wonder Woman. This magic based crew has Raven, Dr. Fate, Zatanna, and Etrigan the Demon in its line-up.

And finally, “Team Wisdom” features the Flash, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, the Atom, and Robin (Damian Wayne). Not sure how Harley fits in with wisdom, but there it is.

So what’s our takeaway from these teams? For starters, for the first time in a long time, no Aquaman on the team, and no Green Lanterns to speak of. Five members of the Titans/Teen Titans are part of the team, including all the members who are associated with the Teen Titans Go! animated series. Does this mean Titans or Teen Titans are getting cancelled? Too soon to say. It would also seem Black Canary, the Ray, Killer Frost, and Vixen didn’t make the cut either for this new League. According to Manapul’s preliminary art, it looks like each team will be color-coded as well.

“I’m laying out the biggest action of my life,” said Manapul in a statement. “The Justice League realizes that they need to expand their reach to become something bigger than they have ever been before. If you thought my work for Justice League: Darkseid War was huge, I’m taking the League to the edge of the cosmos with NO JUSTICE. Anyone who has asked for Harley Quinn, Martian Manhunter, Starfire, Zatanna, the Atom, Raven, or Doctor Fate to be in their personal Justice League will stand up and cheer.”

The Rebirth era has heralded some of the best DC stories in years, as their writers now seem to understand just what makes the DCU so endearing, in a way most writers didn’t understand during the New 52 era. Scott Snyder has been the most consistent voice at DC through both the New 52 and Rebirth eras, so his given the keys to the company’s biggest franchise seems like a no-brainer. Dark Nights Metal has been the kind of mind bendy, multiversal fun that DC has excelled at for decades. Here’s hoping that the artist paired with Snyder on the Justice League flagship title is none other than Greg Capullo. Because as the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke…”

For more concept art for No Justice, as well as images from issue #1,  check out our gallery down below.

What do you think of the big changes in store for DC’s premiere team? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: DC Comics

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Someone Built a Portable Wii to Play SUPER SMASH BROS MELEE on the Go

Seventeen years after its release, Super Smash Bros. Melee is still one of the most popular fighting games that Nintendo has ever created. To this day, there are even competitive tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Melee—which may be one of the reasons that it’s so hard to find the original Gamecube controllers. While we definitely want to see Nintendo bring this game to the Switch, one fan didn’t feel like waiting. The end result is a portable Wii that can actually play Super Smash Bros. Melee anywhere you go, as seen in this video.



Via Mashable, Jeff Longo (its creator) actually used a Wii to make his travel console because the earliest versions of that system were backwards compatible with the Gamecube. It may have the Wii hardware, but this homebrew system has all of the comforts of a Gamecube—from the oddly sized buttons and the control pad to ports for up to four original Gamecube controllers on the side. As an added bonus, this system can actually be hooked up to classic CRT TV, which will give its users a chance to play on a bigger screen.

Longo was also kind enough to share the steps of this customized portable at Bitbuild, which may prove to be useful for anyone who has the knowledge and skills to recreate this. Until Nintendo actually remasters Melee or re-releases it for the Switch, this may be the only option available!

What do you think about this portable Super Smash Bros. Melee machine? Execute a supermove in the comment section below!

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Image: Jeff Longo

Captain America’s Post-CIVIL WAR Fate Has Been Revealed

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the Avengers: Infinity War Prelude comic. If you don’t want to know anything, turn back now!

Somewhere between Captain America: Civil War and the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, Steve Rogers grew out a magnificent lumberjack beard and got a new costume. But the man formerly known as Cap hasn’t just been chillin’ in Wakanda while waiting for the next crisis to strike! This week, Marvel released the Avengers: Infinity War Prelude comic, which serves as an in-canon story about the gap between the two movies. Today’s Nerdist News is declassifying those events and getting you up-to-date intel on some of your favorite Avengers.

Join host and America’s favorite substitute Avenger, Jessica Chobot, as she runs down the biggest revelations from the Infinity War Prelude. Starting with Steve, it appears that his renegade Avengers have become a three-person anti-terrorist strike team. Steve, Falcon, and Black Widow have united to take on Earthbound threats who have armed themselves with Chitauri tech from the Battle of New York while Hawkeye and Ant-Man have left the team to reunite with their families.

The Scarlet Witch and Vision have also left their respective sides and apparently reconciled on the way towards a real relationship. Vision’s even using his human disguise that was glimpsed in the Infinity War trailer. As for Bucky, the former Winter Soldier may be in for some very good news. Despite going back in suspended animation at the end of Civil War, Bucky’s mind is being rebooted by Black Panther‘s sister (and possibly the smartest woman in the world), Shuri.

But where’s Tony Stark in all of this? It’s not clear if Tony knows that Thanos is coming, but he is constructing the new Iron Man armor from the trailer. It’s also apparent that Tony feels abandoned by the rest of the team, and he’s contemplating facing the next threat alone. All of this was just from the first issue. Next month, Avengers: Infinity War Prelude #2 will catch up with Marvel’s cosmic characters and possibly shed some light on where the Guardians of the Galaxy have been in the four-year time gap between Vol. 2 and Infinity War.

What do you think about the revelations from the Infinity War Prelude comic? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel

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