Two observations:

1- Lego games on PlayStation. They’re soaking up the “kids” audience on that platform. Less so on Switch where Nintendo’s own franchises are much stronger competition.

2- the power of advertising. Nintendo is actively advertising Mario Galaxy as a game (including alongside the film which you could argue is just an advertisement in and of itself) and it is clearly working. Wonderful. They are all time classics that have aged well (even if I think Odyssey, 3d World and Wonder are better “on ramps”).

@IOI
How was he underutilized? You see him more in Tears than any other Zelda game. I mean you didn't skip the geoglyph cutscenes telling the actual story?

This game desperately needs a Switch 2 Edition with crossplay. It's a real banger but the tiny player pool just kills the enjoyment. I had the same problem with DBFZ and UNI2SC, the only games I've had no trouble finding matches were SF6 (crossplay and rollback should be standard from now on!) and obviously Smash (although with fairly uncomfortable input lag).

BTW I really hope that they'll make it up to Switch Strive players for the very subpar experience so far by making any Switch 2 upgrade free.

@Anti-Matter Why tho? It's just shoveware.

I wonder what they will upgrade? It seems to run at 60fps already on Switch 1. And with boost mode it's 1080p in handheld too.

HDR and 4K when docked? Either way, glad it's getting a full physical release. Great game

@nhSnork Fair point. I may be guilty of over compartmentalizing my ideas about what I consider to be important for single player versus multiplayer games. I dont normally think about fighting games as single player experiences beyond combo practice. Glad you enjoy it.

I play on Steam.

@Wierdo perhaps, but it's also been publicised here and in other gaming media that the cost of electronic components has risen, especially the ones for older technology. Also - this article explains things quite nicely - https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/chips-arent-improving-like-they-used-to-and-its-killing-game-console-price-cuts/

Saying profit margins improve over time feels slightly simplistic, I mean, that's generally what's taught in microeconomics but there are plenty of other factors to consider when it comes to margins.

@Fiskern Indiana Jones is $70, full on cartridge, thay can do it when they actually care.

Couldn't be worse than the cartoon Zelda, right? 😛
I wished John Williams could be the composer or the Boston Pops orchestra.

The game is currently £17 on sale and Im considering a pick up. Have its launch issues been resolved?

I vaguely remember it getting some free content after launch as well.

And of course its good to see the game get a Switch 2 version in some capacity.

For the most part, it seems we prefer the movie versions only when they are higher fidelity (possibly more expressive) versions of the game designs. But when the movie pivots, we prefer the game designs.

@Falien You might personally pay $90 but I can already visualise 1000 articles and YouTube videos criticising the approach, especially if it's published by a 'big corpo' (probably worse if it's from Nintendo)

I dislike most of the character redesigns. They’re already 3D characters so I don’t see the need to rework their faces (especially Mario or Peach). I’m not a big fan of that studio anyway.

Looks beautiful. I will keep my eye on this one.

Unless there's another headturner character in Season 5 "content updates", the patch notes don't sound like something to worry about, let alone prioritize a more home-chained version for. If an upgrade does come by, I may humour it (seeing as tangible new content is typically the only thing I find worth humouring in "NS2 editions"), but otherwise I'll keep targeting the Switch port regardless of ASW's evaluations.

@Notsoavid a community is not a selling point for everyone. I tend to stick to campaigns and, if available, occasional couch multiplayer in fighters; in SSBU, I literally haven't touched online battles in over six years of owning and playing the game, and same goes for the first Guilty Gear's port (where I have my hands full trying to beat Justice in single player as it is). This is the series that sold me on fighting games back in the day, but the cast and the animations are what did the latter trick in the first place.

I don't mind the movies, they're fun and all, but please keep their versions out of the games.

Mouse P.I is already preordered. Vampire Crawlers is a Day 1 since it’s only £10, Dragon is Dead & Outbound is on the wish list, enjoyed the demo of Outbound but I will wait for the review by NintendoLife before purchasing 👍 I was going to get Pragmata, but I will wait for the reviews and maybe even a future sale.

My Switch 2 is practically becoming an indie game machine and honestly, I’m fine with that. Keep those indies coming guys.

Voted game designs for all. I dislike the Illumination filter on the characters. The influence is TOO big. I really don't like it all that much. Luckily it looks a lot better animated than in stills.

If they don't want to update the switch version then why make it?

@Fiskern Maybe not for all games, but I would definitely pay (the equivalent of) $90 for a great game that comes full on the cart.

Game for them all. The movie’s are bold attempts but most just look like off brand Temu esque versions, with the human characters especially being the worst offenders.

Whilst I don’t think Rosalina suffered quite as much as Peach and… shudders …Daisy did, it’s still by and large quite a surprise to me that a lot have voted for the film version over the game.

Game design as always for me. That's a unspoken rule to me anyways. Just my opinion though.

But I will say that Star Fox's movie design is actually pretty good. Doesn't deviate too much from his game design honestly.

Games for all of them. Most of the enemy/NPC character designs (barring Spike wtf happened there) are mostly faithful to the games. But I do agree with @N00BiSH it looks like they all went through a "Nintendo hire this man" filter, and I think all the main characters look especially off.

Fox's Zero render is unflattering, I think a better comparison is his Smash Ultimate design.

Pre-ordered it, absolutely looking forward to popping this one into my system.

You guys forgot to add Ruined Dragon, which had a great design in the movie.

Game designs.

@Fighting_Game_Loser Her model was rushed.

Overall the game versions just look better to me, but really, none except Spike look bad.

I feel what got this Ganondorf the edge was Matt Mercer. The design and writing have note too. But this is the first time its all come to life by voice.

Wow, the total LACK of respect they have for their Nintendo players. Screw them. ArcSys, I don't recognize you anymore.

@Oppyz666 Given how poor they did treat the Switch version, I betcha that there is no Switch 2 version planned, they just gave up on Nintendo players, because they prefer the other userbases.

@JR150 And yet, there won't be any Switch 2 version, they care more about their PC and Playstation userbases.

I didn't see the post credits scene with Daisy but omg why does she look like that none of the other girls look this off 😭

@Rainz Echoes of Power.

Game for all of them. I feel like the best word I can use to describe the Illumination-ized designs is "overproduced," if that makes sense. They all have at least one weird/pointless deviation from their original design that makes them read as uncanny to me. Be it R.O.B's green eyes or Wart's flat lips or Fox's less sharpened face or Mario's slightly shrunken proportions, they all manage to look off in some capacity as a result. Like they're the DLSS 5 versions of the characters or something.

It was sloppy and incoherent. I still enjoyed myself but the plot was really as bad as people said it was. Felt like key scenes were straight up missing.

I genuinely enjoy anime-style fighting games, but I, like probably others, skipped out on the switch version because of the lack of crossplay. I hope they don’t interpret that as lack of interest in the series on nintendo consoles, it’s just that fighting games require a large draw pool to maintain a reasonable community.

I hope they at least make a switch 2 edition for free. Because i sold my ps4 edition to have on switch and these ***** do this...

In general, I prefer the game designs by a lot (with a lot of movie designs being massive downright ugly), though there were a few movie designs which I preferred (namely Wart and Fox McCloud).

Also, where was Ninji in Mario Kart World?

@HugoGED there is no chance people would accept $90 physical games.

@PinballBuzzbro Oh, for sure.

Wait... I just realized how old this article is.

I guess SLG failed in their commitments, again.

I guess I'm glad I got to a point I got impatient with waiting and just got Strive on PlayStation. I would be super annoyed if I had waited for the Switch version, got it, and then got left behind for DLC. To be fair I kinda did with Skullgirls for a bit, but that was with DLC that came far after the Switch port and before it was actively supported again, so this just makes it feel more egregious.

Glad I held off on buying this. Trying to consolidate on switch family so if a game doesn’t have parity I just won’t buy it. I have too many fighting games as is.

@HugoGED The physical price is also double their eshop launch price. There's no guarantee that other publishers pricing physical releases with a similar markup won't generate more complaints about 'greedy publishers'.

There's still time for people to claim that Silver Lining is being 'greedy' and 'anti-consumer' with this release and the price markup. It's also been on sale for £18 a couple of times on the eshop. So people who usually complain about port pricing may pounce on the cost of this physical release being over double the cheapest price it's ever been at.

Awesome! I think I will get it when it hits switch2. Feels like the right platform for it.

I have red hoodie with the Switch logo on it. I get lots of compliments on it.

Played the Demo. Very tight and responsive platforming but the overwhelming art sometimes makes you wonder if you are having hallucinoid epilepsy seizure. It really is that much.

Gorgeous though. And plays extremely well.

@flighty @JohnnyMind I feel I should point out that the cost of a mid-level gaming PC is much higher (especially now) compared against a console. It's theoretically possible to get one that's relatively affordable but I feel it requires things like self-assembly, finding a way to get Windows cheaply, etc. I've assembled my own one to maximise my budget but not everyone has the desire to do so.

I also completely acknowledge that PC gaming can be a very cheap exercise (especially factoring free giveaways from various sites) but it's also not always consistent because the pricing approach is dependant on publishers. Some do deep discounts, some don't, and some only do for specific games/franchises. We can pick and choose examples all day long and it won't be very productive.

I love the Koei series but I've never seen any of the Nobunaga's Ambition or Romance of the Three Kingdoms games deeply discounted. So I've never seriously considered buying on PC since it's a sunk cost - I'd happily buy a physical release on console (in my case, the Switch)

My main takeaway from your list to Johnny is that the eshop prices, while slightly higher, are very competitive against PC prices with only a dollar or two difference.

@MoldyPasta they won't cast Jack Black in another Nintendo film whilst he's still doing the voice of Bowser. Plus he's not tall enough for Ganondorf. They need someone tall and imposing.

@Sylamp The great thing about Tomadachi Life is you can play it for like 15-30 minutes at a time and still get enjoyment out of it (Although for me, those 15 minutes have a way of turning into several hours).

That's my hope anyways, since Tomadachi Life and Pragmata have both been games I've been really looking forward to and I want to experience them both as soon as possible.