Why do they even do different box arts? Like, does NOA actually think games will sell more, if the boxart is less "cutesy"? Like, why does Kirby always have to be "angry"

Qix was always underrated in my opinion. Especially in the arcades. But I was glad to have a port of it on GB.

Crystal dynamics just don't like attractive women now, do they.

and just like that, these scumbags have guaranteed I will not only not buy this game, but NOTHING from that company. Censoring a game through a patch is unacceptable.

Despite not having been in the early days of the console, Konami's "Survival Kids" was a great game, and I could say, a great push in survival games, a fairly complete and interesting game for a Game Boy game; However, despite that "fame", it is still in the corner of the almost forgotten, it is literally not talked about much, it never had a remake, and I don't remember if it had a virtual console version or Konami game collection, only it had continuations that gave rise to the franchise, today known as Lost in Blue.

I also love "Metroidvanias" but have not enjoyed my experiences with the actual Castlevania series.
I do like Metroid, but I wouldn't rate them as my favorite of the genre either other than maybe Fusion.
Maybe I should just say I enjoy "Hollow-likes"?

Good riddance. The show was incompetent garbage.

@GarlicGuzzler Fan service, including those panty shots, was the most significant reason Skullgirls is alive today. To take them out, it doesn't make sense. What's next? They're going to get rid of the unique characters that fill the background?

It's like the new developers are ashamed of the old.

Another series that was ruined by the megalomanism of some narcissistic writers that think they can do a better job writing the Witcher than the person that invented the IP. It has been happening a lot lately particularly in the TV and movie space, and the audience response has been swift and absolute in every single instance. Apathy and abandonment.

@Not_Soos Article doesn't mentioned it, but along with the censorship, the rating was re-rated from M to T coinciding with the update. Look at the listing on Nintendo's own site if you wanna see for yourself.

@LadyCharlie Except if the people that decided to remove these images were able to press a button and also delete them from the face of the internet, they would. That's what revisionists do, they don't stop until every trace is gone.

The thing is, everyone agrees that this change doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's more about the principle behind it. People who say "why do you care", are in fact they should be the ones answering that very same question. Why do they care so much about something so insignificant that they have to change it? I mean, we all know why, but they think we don't.

Did Disney get a hold of this IP?

@WaffleRaptor01 That’s pretty much EXACTLY what I meant. Sorry if I didn’t articulate it correctly. I still like characters like Bayonetta as she both fits the tone and personality of the game itself. Something like the blades in Xeno 2 (I think that’s what they were called) had all these suggestive angles that the only emotion I felt was laughter.

@smithyo Shorty after the removal of digital pin-up posters from a remaster of a 30 year old game, that's when the riots broke out. Civil war among various citizens across various nations.

Governments declared a state of emergency, men in uniform to tame the unrest and end the violence. But alas, it was for naught.

Then the missiles came, leveling entire cities. In a panic, billionaires fled to their underground bunkers. Hiding like frighten children as the world around them crumbled.

These events took place yesterday. Those of us who survived created isolated societies. We bore children in hopes of one day undoing our mistake.

Our mistake of removing Pin-Up posters from a 30 year old game.

@Banks Yes, I have so many I have custom ones, like my avatar!

I’m guessing Avalanche rushed this out the door to start on Hogwarts Legacy

I'm going with North America's for the overall vibe of it taking place on a "sheet" of sorts for stickers to be put on. Europe's box art had its own appeal on certain angles, but its background just kind of clashes on the overall sticker theme for me; still liked its box art, though.

Now, it's safe to say that this one probably doesn't top the ranking of 'Best Paper Mario Games' (in fact, we know it doesn't), but it still has its charms.
No, but I still (personally) enjoyed Paper Mario: Sticker Star for what it was and though it wasn't exactly the 3DS entry I expected, I played worse games in other series that "mocked" their predecessors like this game did (Super Neptunia RPG, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, The Legend of Dark Witch Episode 3: Wisdom and Lunacy, etc.).

@Emmerichcoal

God forbid a game releases in a polished state day 1.

This "release it in a state and maybe patch it later" culture is a disgrace and devs should absolutely be called out for it.

@brandonbwii I'm the same way sorta. But for me it's different. I don't care if you want a sexualized female in your game, but I do question does such sexuality help to serve the narrative or is just distraction.

If' it's the latter, then I personally skip it. Not out of prudishness, but because I find it comical more than anything.

It's the same type of feeling I had with Nier games. You're asking me to look for this deep story with a half naked Android who's butt is on display for no real reason whatever.

I laughed during my play though of the game alot.

Same feeling im getting with upcoming Stellar Blade.

Like, I can get behind a philosophy when a game is being ridiculous on purpose. Just not when it's being somewhat serious with ridiculous looking females.

At the end of the day if it's eye candy, fine. Just not for me. I think you can create a interesting sexy female character without oversexualizing them. But that's just my weird view on it.

I preferred Kirby’s Pinball Land to Revenge of the Gator.

Fair few of the obscure games missing screenshots.... Or my browser didn't load the article correctly. Would be cool to get an idea of the game style outside of text. I'm 99% I've played and own mercenary force but a screenshot would have given that last percent.

I’ve almost never seen anyone talk about Revenge of the Gator! My brother and I spent countless hours trying to beat each others scores. It’s totally addictive and while the summary of it mentions its physics, you absolutely can not get its soundtrack out of your head. One of my all time favorites.

It's always a bit a silly, no it does not effect the gameplay but there is also no real reason to remove them.
So why do it?
Well, we all know the answer to that one don't we ?

Quite the quest. The prices hmm. The games I mean they are COMMON/well known not that hard. If more rare/niche games then sure but top they are usually the most obvious titles 1st party, whatever nostalgia, in some cases here good licensed titles, unless someone that goes off the rails to more particular third party titles. Like I would.

Catrap, Nemesis (till checking the GB devs article), Avenging Spirit, Motorcross Maniacs, Operation C and Quarth are the only games I don't know the rest heard of and know their quality.

Probably fair titles though.

I don't know I barely know Gameboy but even if the games are a bit eh or awkward I'd still put technical impressive games like X or Castelian/Nebulus or Faceball on there.

Mole Mania is fun though and yes an underrated... it's still a good title yes I mean would Wave Race GB be most know the other entries in that series, many could eh, either way (I don't want to say underrated people that know it know it but it isn't the most talked about Nintendo title unless into the more one off/left behind but still re-released games for 3DS/Switch, it has been noticed that's for sure and for good reason not just because of who was involved in it it's quality is good yes).

@LadyCharlie Technically, God Medicine had two versions. The fan translation was for the updated 1998 version (no idea what was different besides SGB enhancements). I got a copy of the latter but I need to sit and play it, like so many games.
Mercenary Force got a sequel in Japan, though I can't recall if it was even the same genre (though the first was kind of its own already, was it?)

One game that needs a rerelease is Banishing Racer. A cute sidescroller. I didn't manage to get a cart before learning it's an expensive game.
Though hopefully if City Connection wants to release as much of the Jaleco catalog as they can, maybe there's a chance.

@Krisi I'm with you, while it's not the best game in its series it's still a good game. I liken it to Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hour Glass. To me those are the worst mainline Zelda games but with that said they aren't bad games. I much prefer to replay Sticker Star over either of those 2 Zelda games if that's saying something.

You could also include 2 Metroid games to that list Other M and Federation Force. I will never play Other M ever again but I think FF gets a bad rap because it wasn't Metroid Prime 4. It also wasn't a bad game, just not what people wanted.

I just realized I bought this game and never opened it. Haha

I wonder where it is now. I had best buy rewards dollars and picked it up because I loved the paper mario on Wii. I guess I need to find it and give it try.

@Krisi
The quality of the actual game itself is only one piece of the Sticker Star-hating pie. There's also the matter of Nintendo's hubris and complete disregard for their fans... as well as their disregard to the entire concept of creative freedom in game development.
The environment that creates a game like Sticker Star is a place where overzealous brand-protecting executives interfere with the creative process to such an insane degree, that only the most sterile shell of a game can come out the other end. It is the embodiment of "executive meddling".

Alrighty, I'll go through each of your listed games to see how they compare to Sticker Star, if I must.

Urban Champion: It's definitely not so great, but it's fun for a few minutes. It was probably overpriced on its initial release compared to the few other black-label NES games that were available at the time, but I'd say it's inoffensive.

Wii Music: This game has the amazing honour of giving us that infamous E3 moment, there's no way I can hate a game that has provided the internet with something like that! The game itself is kinda just a nothing casual game, and I have no problem with its existence.

Pokémon Dash: Haven't played it, but IIRC it's a touchscreen-focused racing game? I think it was also a gen 3 game that introduced some gen 4 mons for the first time? I guess it had some value there. I don't see what's so offensive about this game.

Pokémon Rumble: Haven't really played them. But the Wii U one did give the Wii U NFC sensor a purpose before amiibos were introduced, I guess that's something...?

Hey You Pikachu: How can you hate a game where you get to insult Pikachu lol. It might not be great, but it definitely has the potential for creating a lot of silliness.

Pokémon Channel: I actually played this one to completion because I wanted the free Jirachi lol. It's cute, and I enjoy that it includes some emulated Pokémon Mini minigames too. The game preservationist in me gives it some props for that alone. Yes, the gameplay is mostly just watching TV with Pikachu, but it was a chill time.

Warrior's Way: I dunno, StreetPass games were never really supposed to be proper games, they were just fun ways to interact with your StreetPass hits, weren't they? I don't particularly remember this one - maybe I never bought it lol. But its existence is fine with me.

WarioWare Snapped is pretty awful, I agree. I think it should not have marketed itself as if it was a true WarioWare game, that much I definitely agree with. The game itself is tiny and barely functions. Definitely a bad one, but IMO Sticker Star is guilty of much worse.

DK Jr Math is funny. I enjoy the fact that it exists because it's just so absurd lol. It's not fun to play, but that doesn't stop it from being fun to think about.
Not familiar with that Popeye game, but it sounds equally funny.

Never heard of Solar Striker before, I'll have to look into it.

Yoshi's Cookie and Yoshi were fun puzzle games, I thought. Nothing particularly special, but fun timewasters. What's wrong with them?

And Touch & Go... Sure, it's bland. It's an early DS game made before they really figured out what the DS was gonna be like, I guess. I dunno. I'm struggling to think of something to say lol.

So yeah. After considering every one of those games... I still dislike Sticker Star the most.

EDIT: Whoops, didn't notice that you also brought up Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival ... I agree that Amiibo Festival is definitely up there as one of the worst games Nintendo has produced. And it was also a huge disappointment to its fans, much like Sticker Star - that much is true too. However, it didn't completely kill the series like Sticker Star did. So while Amiibo Festival is pretty dismal, I will say that I dislike Sticker Star more. Animal Crossing has since thrived with huge acclaim with its very next mainline entry on the Switch - but Sticker Star was itself supposedly a mainline Paper Mario game, and its awful new style superseded the original style. That's a much bigger problem to me than Amiibo Festival being a terrible game. Amiibo Festival didn't affect the rest of its series.
But yeah, Amiibo Festival really does represent one of the most dire times in Nintendo's history.

X definitely should be in this list 🤷

So glad I grabbed Mole Mania on the 3DS eshop when I had the chance!

My favorites are Side Pocket, Super Scrabble, Wordtris, and Boggle Plus. Also greatly enjoy Spot (7up), Tetris Attack, Tetris Blast, Pac-Man, Yoshi’s Cookie, Kirby Pinball, and so many more that no one likely remembers. Would love to see these on switch but since they probably will never show up, I got an analogue pocket to play them, and yay - no subscription required either!

@EarthboundBenjy Is it worse than amiibo Festival? Or Urban Champion? Or Wii Music? Or if the Pokémon games count, Pokémon Dash, any of the Rumble games, Hey You Pikachu, or Pokémon Channel? How about Warrior's Way for the StreetPass Mii Plaza? Freaking WarioWare Snapped? What about Donkey Kong Jr. Math or Popeye no Eigo Asobi? Solar Striker? I also think Yoshi and Yoshi's Cookie are very bland puzzle games. Or, speaking of Yoshi, Yoshi Touch & Go?

I mean I think Sticker Star is better than some better games, but at least it's pretty hard to argue that Sticker Star is not better than any of these.

The extended lore or her advertising days are over and have been removed how sad. She just wanted a reminder of what she did at those times. Some people may if they model I guess and look back over old magazine issues probably.

Lara has to be a legendary tomb raider. I mean.... procurer of treasures to a museum? Whatever the board game or other nonsense was about. She is just a great person then whatever she goes on holiday for then who knows.

We just care about games why do things have to go so far, might as well REMAKE NOTHING because no one will be happy.

We want fun gameplay and great characters, sometimes some silliness. Not hot coffee mod level news because some people care too much, devs or outside of gaming type people's complaints.

I get it was THAT era but even still not surprised. Some devs have some cool things in their levels. Never seen these before but pretty cool I guess.

The world is a different place, there was differences, marketing differences, different people involved, different expectations. We all know that. Most buying it are fans or adults. Sure people did play it as kids/teens.

If it is concept art and other things than that makes it even more disappointing. Goodbye behind the scenes.

Fans are probably just happy the games are on modern platforms and if they were handled well like many people would and not altering too much or not too much lost or whatever until they discover what the games ended up as of course and what was lost didn't matter/have that much meaning or did in whatever story or something else way.

These yeah not surprised some people wouldn't care. Others maybe. Each person is different.

If it was a purely fan service game then that's a different story but Tomb Raider fans priorities are sensible of course.

At least Dr Muto's weren't taken then again they are low res. Oh wait they still would even if like WB would remaster/remake that Midway forgotten gem. Which they wouldn't.

@smithyo There are plenty of times I don’t mind, though. Society has been so obsessed with women’s bodies over the years that it’s almost distracting and has nothing to do with story. I only take issue with this due to preservation’s sake.

Doesn’t change the gameplay, but still kinda lame.

I don't really get the hate for Sticker Star. I mean sure, it has tons of faults and is easily the weakest one of the series, but I still thought it was a pretty fun game.

@smithyo Agreed. It always starts small. Eventually they’ll take and change everything till it’s unrecognisable, usually going for the worse.

@SuperRetroArt

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deep%20cut

@Ristar24 these renders were created by CORE. the one on the left was a store purchasable poster made by CORE and distributed by EIDOS. they are not owned by some 'lads mag'

@Munchlax SML is the correct answer. It's astounding it's not on the service yet.

@RevrsblSedgewick You may be right.

These higher resolution assets were added in the remaster before their removal. Almost all 'pictures' in the game are altered or replaced in this way, and the original graphics mode in remastered version of The Lost Artifact still maintain the original 'pin ups' which are so low resolution you can barely make them out.

Fantastic interview thank you!! I for one really appreciate the direction Atari is taking and hope it goes well for them.

Is there a game that has so collectively disappointed Nintendo fans?

Definitely the biggest disappointment I've experienced from the company.

@LadyCharlie
That's a big difference though, looking at something as part of the background versus looking it up online. It's a very odd considering the promise of preservation. It even makes a good talking point as to how games were marketed then vs. how they are now and what the industry has learned.

@BANJO It’s not worth it. Get a Game Boy Advance SP instead if you want to play old Game Boy cartridges.

I modded them back on PC and i stop updating the Game now.

@RareFan I'm a fan of Tomb Raider, I did play this game, and Im not upset at all.

Please don't lump us all together. I'm not part of the bandwagon freaking out over this.

If you want an honest take, I find both sides of this silly. I find it silly to remove it, and I find it silly people raising pitchforks over it.

However, im not going to lose sleep over it. Nor die on a hill for it either. I just wish those of who are neutral on alot of these things, and just want to enjoy a medium, stop being recruiting into these tribal disputes.

I can't tell you the many times, I just wanted to talk about something I enjoy, only to have the topic try. and be derailed by someone getting upset im not as outraged as they are.

Ive been in many damned if you do, damned if you don't situations and frankly it's headache inducing trying to deal with extreme groups that have a mindset of "You're either with us, or against us".