Open world, voice acting, and the Flash! This game has now been promoted to must-buy.

@Mahe Even if you don't care for Pikmin and Super Mario Sunshine, the GameCube still has a lot of great games including Super Smash Bros. Melee; Rogue Squadron 2 & 3; Metroid Prime 1 & 2; Zelda: Windwaker; Pokémon Colosseum & XD: Gale of Darkness; Mario Kart: Double Dash; Paper Mario: TTYD; Mario Baseball, Tennis, Golf, and Strikers; Sonic Adventure 2: Battle; the latest F-Zero and 1080 Snowboarding games; and the Link version of Soul Calibur 2.

Personally, I had never owned a Nintendo console before (having a Sega Genesis as my last console), but Rogue Squadron 2, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle are what sold me on the GameCube.

@SpaceKappa Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, Rogue Squadron 2, and Zelda: Twilight Princess would like to argue that they should also be considered for Best Launch Game Ever.

I agree. The only interesting upcoming games I see are Pokémon Conquest, Lego Batman 2, and Retro City Rampage.

@Jon Maybe they wouldn't win against expert players, but they would have a significant advantage against average players and especially weak players who are trying to learn the game properly, and you do have such an advantage with the touchscreen shortcuts in SSF4:3D. The difference in Street Fighter is that they give you the option to filter out the players who use the touchscreen shortcuts.

Are you saying you can only use Simple Shots with the automatic movement, or did you just use only those shots in your test? IGN implies that you can still use any shot (with the recommended ones lighting up for you). If you can use any shots, try testing it with automatic movement and the recommended shots.

By the way, IGN's issue with the stats was that you can't compare how good customized Miis are to the stock characters. Therefore, you can't know if you're better off using your customized Mii or just picking Mario, for example. Also, I think they took issue with the limited customization more over not being able to change how the stock characters look than the stat changes.

Other than the removal of the wacky elements and the online gyro players, yes, the other complaints are minor, but a lot of minor problems do add up to make a game feel sloppy and unfinished.

Interestingly, the IGN review agrees that it's pretty good yet disappointing but for different reasons. They marked it down for removing the character-specific power shots and other wackiness usually found in these Mario sports spinoffs, limiting customization to Miis and with no way to tell how the stats compare to the other characters, and unfair online play brought on by being unable to filter out opponents who use the cheap accessability features (which were barely referred to at all in this review).

Not only does it light up recommended shot types on the touch screen, but you can move around automatically in gyroscope mode leaving only the shot timing up to you if you so desire. (IGN refers to this style of play as a "digital version of 'Simon Says.'") Just imagine how annoying it would be to play those kinds of opponents online, plus you won't actually know if you're up against a cheap gyroscope player or just an expert player.

I'll make this my first Monster World game.

Just don't make it where the plastic eventually rubs offs through heavy use like on the official GameCube controllers.

According to Serebii.net, the Dream Radar is more like Black & White 2's version of the Dream World, where you can play minigames to aquire Pokémon not available on the actual cartridge.

I'll buy this if it's good.

I had the first game on my Wishlist, but now I'm just going to get this one instead.

3rd Question What does "believing" in the lot-checks, etc. have to do with anything, and why weren't the weekly meetings working?
5th Question Reading it through a 2nd time, I finally got that he was saying that he's not familiar with the overseas rules and that it's difficult for the Japanese to become familiar with them. That was stated horribly and very difficult to pick up.
10th Question If it weren't for the extra words that were edited in, that answer would've also been very hard to understand.

In the first half of the interview, I couldn't understand much of his babbling Engrish. If you don't know the language well enough to reasonably get your meaning across, get a translator.

Instead of shooting lasers at her head, how about a game where we fight Medusa the way Perseus did?

The MLB: The Show games have always been good, but they're unfortunately Sony exclusives, while there hasn't been a good hardcore baseball sim on a Nintendo platform since 2K Sports bought the exclusive license. They just do not know how to program the Wii and never even bother with MotionPlus, and even their HD console versions suck. I'm still sticking with MVP Baseball 2005 for GameCube.

Ahhh, no Retro City Rampage this week.

What's the point of making a Sudoku game for 3DSWare, especially when there's only 50 puzzles? Wouldn't it work just as well as a DSiWare game?

Wow, great week, Europe. I don't see how anyone can legitimately complain about this update.

The only two times I've gotten a system within the launch window, I've been disappointed with the launch lineup. The Wii only had Wii Sports, DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, and Super Mario Bros. (on the VC) that I found interesting. Of course, the 3DS was even worse with just SSF4:3D as the only game I cared about. At least they both had backwards compatability to help out.

This sounds like it could be a free Internet Flash game. I'm not paying money for something this simple.

I wonder if the people who made that Solar Fox commercial would've thought back then that video games would eventually reach the point of that animated 3D representation.

Please let us finally be able to beat these stupid trolls to a pulp. (TMNT Smash-Up doesn't count.)

So it's like a Game Boy Kirby version of Sonic Spinball?

@Remonx That's just an even worse version of stupid dual analog controls. Using the stand is worth it to be able to use the much superior default control scheme.

@MichttheGamer It's not just the wrist pain. It's also really hard trying to hold the system steady with just one hand, which is very important for such a fast paced game that relies so much on stylus control.

I personally love the default control scheme. I've always hated dual analog controls, anyway.

I am restricted to only being able to play with the stand, as the 3DS is just too heavy to keep lifting from one side with my non-dominant left hand, and there's no reasonable way to use my right hand for both stylus aiming and getting a reasonable grip on the other side of the system at the same time. However, playing with the stand works very well, and it's not that hard to find places to set it down. The only problem is when the table/desk/whatever is too low and hurts my back after a while.

I personally think it's pretty creepy when the main objective of a video game is to do your best to be a notorious felon (or at least an extremely dirty business(wo)man in this case), although I give Retro City Rampage a pass for subverting it into more of an '80s/'90s nerdy paradise adventure.

@TheSolarKnight I don't think the mandatory attachment is that big of a deal. It was bundled with Wii Sports Resort, which is one of the highest selling Wii games there is, and the Zelda fanbase is such that most Zelda fans who didn't already own one would be willing to get one just for the latest Zelda game.

@nba4life Perhaps in general racing, but when comparing their Battle Modes, S&SASR>>>>>>>>>>MKWii.

They should make Super Sonic an unlockable character; who races, hovers, and flies without the need of a vehicle.

Oh, and give me Blaze in a police interceptor (with a running siren) that transforms into a police motorboat and a police helicopter.

Aqua Blue is still my favorite of the 3DS colors, but this one easily moves into 2nd place.

Technically, the GameCube and GBA were indigo, not a sweet deep purple like this.

@Jamouse Because Nintendo's quality control only cares about bugs and glitches. If the game works as intended, they don't care how good or bad the game itself is.

I agree with most people that the motion controls in Skyward Sword really improve the gameplay, but I also like how it excels in two other areas where my opinion is not so widely shared.

While Wind Waker looks too cartoony to me, I think the more realistic form of bright cel-shaded graphics used in Skyward Sword looks more attractive than the dark, gritty, ultra-realistic look of Twilight Princess.

C-3PO-esque Fi is a lot more fun to have for an annoying sidekick than Link's previous annoying sidekicks. If you're going to have an annoying sidekick, that's the way to go (outside of using Yoda's verbal patterns).

@dizzy_boy I was just continuing the joke. I thought the idea of the U.S. government censoring video games in such a silly and expensive way was ridiculous enough that it didn't need the [/sarcasm] tag.

@FluttershyGuy Interesting theory, but of course the idea of running right began with Japanese games like Super Mario Bros. Although, western releases at the time were already so heavily censored that a liberal president might have ordered the games to be flipped a la the Wii version of Twilight Princess. Thank goodness that conservative Ronald Reagan was in charge back then.

@sinalefa Because we're really looking for new IPs here. Groose is merely a new character in the Zelda franchise.

Good, Smash Bros. could use some new blood.

Thank you!!! Other than Kid Icarus: Uprising, Tekken: Prime Edition (both of which I already have), and Project X Zone, I've yet to see anything in which I have interest on 3DS's retail release schedule for the year.

@iPancakez
Mario Tennis - The number of different shots available are too confusing. I'll stick with Wii Sports Tennis and Mario Tennis 64.
Rayman Origins - If I'm ever going to get it, I'll get the Wii version.
Heroes of Ruin, Kingdom Hearts - I'm not a big fan of RPGs, and I've already got all I can handle between Xenoblade, Fire Emblem: TSS, and Pokémon White
Rhythm Thief, Theatrythm, Prof. Layton - I hate rhythm games and most puzzle games.
New Super Mario Bros 2 - I'd rather get NSMB Wii and see no reason to get both.
Animal Crossing - Boring simulator series
Paper Mario - Don't care for this series
Luigi's Mansion 2 - Watching my brother play the first game is so boring.
Lego Batman 2 - I'll get the Wii version instead.
Epic Mickey 2 3DS - I hate morality systems. Just tell me what I'm supposed to do and let me enjoy a single story and the full content of the game without making me replay the game a million times.

At least I still have Super Mario 3D Land and Ace Combat in my purchase queue from last year.

Wow, he had just about everything in there. Bonus points for including Commander Keen.

In addition to the memory issue, this will also hurt the second hand market. You can't sell or buy used digital copies of games.

Personally, I prefer having the option to wait a while and buy a game used, or being able to get at least some money (or store credit) back if I buy a game I don't like.

So you've got one of the weaker entries of the Mario Kart series, a bunch of educational minigames, a decent but mediocre tech demo, and a glorified interactive exercise app.

The British have some quality gaming tastes there.[/sarcasm] Then again, I'm afraid the top U.S. selections are just as pitiful, so maybe I shouldn't throw stones across the pond from my glass borders.

I've already bought everything I like from North America's crummy catalog, so why would I waste my crummy coins to be surprised with stuff I already have or have never wanted?

Finally! I was afraid all developers had forgotten that GameCube controllers are compatable with the Wii. I'll pick this up eventually after it hits North America.

@Mickeymac It's not necessarily the touch controls. Where Mass Attack is concerned, I don't like controlling multiple characters at once or controlling characters indirectly.

@Cloud-San-VII They're already a few episodes into the second season. It's just that they moved it (and Young Justice) to Saturday mornings.

@Mickeymac Unfortunately, most of those are RPGs, and I've already got all I can handle there between Pokémon White, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, and Xenoblade Chronicles. I don't know how you have the time to play so many RPGs, the lengthiest genre known to man (outside of the MMO subgenre).

Outside of Pokemon, I find the DS library to be extremely dull, although those Advance Wars games sound good. Does anyone know of any other good hardcore genre DS games without a Wii counterpart or overly weird/complicated control schemes (Kirby Mass Attack, Starfox Command)?

Hmm, now that I have the Kid Icarus stand, I should look into finding a decently priced copy of Metroid Prime Hunters.

I do get cramps when trying to play the game unsupported, but the plastic stand works magnificently, and it's usually not very hard to find a flat surface on which to place it.

@Shadx If the sidekick is funny, having him/her/it spell out what I need to do sounds just fine to me.

My apologies to the open world sadists, but I personally find a marked map to be absolutely essential to get much enjoyment out of this game. In my opinion, the poorly translated hints and the required randomly hidden entrances later in the game do make this game unfair without some kind of outside reference.