Topic: A proper intro from one of NL's new writers 😎

@Mr-Fuggles777 "lighthearted yet informative" is what I strive for! I hope you enjoy all my terrible tagline puns. And thank you

@KateGray I do very much enjoy the taglines you put for the articles

(ok, maybe not so much the ACNH makeup one lol)

@Mr-Fuggles777 I agree I remember when the writers use to do that but then for some reason they just stopped. So it's nice to see that happening again.

@KateGray, you have chosen a lovely province and exciting time for Nintendo in which to make your nest. Given your good fortune, residence in Canada, and new position as a Community Leader, I must therefore challenge you to furnish your... Proof of Éliteness (français: dénomination d'élitisme).

Strictly in order to keep filthy casuals and philistines out of our community, you understand.

Tell us of your proudest deeds. Did you complete R-Type 1 in a smoky arcade, armed with nothing but determination and a potato sack filled with quarters? Did you play through the entirety of Famicom Megami Tensei for a night and a day, refusing to sleep? Did you complete Zelda II on the NES before puberty? Did you continue playing NES Battletoads after even breaking the unbreakable, the NES gamepad, in your holy rage?

Did you... see Samus when she was brunette?

Your example will instill pride in us all.

@Mr-Fuggles777, your grumpiness and irritation have been earned. Just like your éliteness.

@COVIDberry oh! Merci beaucoup, mon ami!

It sure is nice to be doing Nintendo journalism at a time like this, because when I started, it was the Wii U era. What a terrible time to be reviewing Nintendo games 😅 no one was reading it!

As for my proudest deeds, hmmm... I'm not particularly GOOD at games, or at least, I wasn't when I was young, so most of my great deeds are things like "I wrote this feature that I'm really proud of" or my ability to beat Tetris as a kid. Not terribly impressive, really.

Although I did get my first job in journalism by writing speculative fiction about a Mario game that used smellovision, where he actually got to do some plumbing. Does that count?

@KateGray Oh, hey! Welcome to the forums! It's nice to see a member of the site's staff floating around besides Ant! I'd argue that this area of the site is (usually) more sane than some of the article comment sections.

Nice list of favorite games! Interesting that you mentioned Ghost Trick. I'd never heard of the game until the site had a "Best Nintendo DS Games" vote awhile back. I picked it up in late 2019 and finally played it over the summer. I absolutely LOVED the game. If I have one complaint, it's that I can't recreate that first playthrough experience again. Now I want to try one of the Ace Attorney titles!

@Tyranexx, @KateGrey, The merits of forums with somewhat tight rules as to what you can and cannot post (like just replying to someone saying "LOL") makes the forums more fun to engage with people than the comments section, because the comments section is designed for shorter posts, and tend to fill up in the minutes right after an article's publishing, meaning there'll be a lot of comments that are written on pure instinct, and can be toxic. I like more intellectual and thought-provoking discussions and debate, because it promotes unity here.

I'm writing a complete history of Nintendo, for the last two years. I sent some to a friend and he said I can become a journalist. I can, maybe... but I need to finish it first, and though it's clocked at 310K words I don't think it's even halfway done. I've managed to write about everything from the start in 1889 all the way to the release of Mario 64 in 1998, after that it becomes really big, so it'll take a lot of planning to get it done once and for all.

And I never got into the whole "Skyward Sword isn't very good" debacle, I was too busy enjoying that game. It's the most cinematic a Zelda game has been yet, the dungeons, while not as tough as Twilight Princess' (looking at you, sliding blocks in Snowpeak Ruins!), are brutal in their own right, and the motion controls bring a whole new level of engagement to the game that's only superseded by fads like Kinect, which was popular for 2 seconds.

You have enthusiasm for the best game there is in Paper Mario: TTYD and we need more allies to defend its greatness vigorously onto death. I also have fond feelings towards Majora's Mask and actually I'm working on a playthrough of it just now. Probably OOT will supercede it in my mind, but they are of course very distinctive experiences so it's not always prudent to compare. Looking forward to seeing what comes down the tracks, no matter what Nintendo produces I can't resist picking up the classics and keeping everything in context.

@Tyranexx heck yeah! I just got my partner into the Ace Attorney trilogy on Switch, which is probably the best place to start. It's a bit tricky to get hold of the older games in their original form, although the art is SO much better in the originals

@theJGG that's nice to know. The comments tend to be quite reactive and defensive, which I don't particularly mind (that's what they're for, I guess) but I do like civilised conversation, too

Also, I love Skyward Sword. It just came out at a weird time with controls that no one really wanted. To their credit, they did a great job integrating the motion controls into the game, it's just annoying! It's still easily one of the prettiest Zelda games ever, with some absolutely stellar environmental storytelling (have you ever seen the theories about the secretly-Buddhist temple??)

@OptometristLime I love Papes to the depths of my soul. TTYD was one of the first games that I didn't share with my brother, or anyone else - it was just for me. I will, at some point, write a soapbox about Glitzville, because it's FANTASTIC.

Majora's Mask is my favourite not because it's the "best" Zelda game, but because it was an early example of Nintendo messing around with its own properties. It's so creepy and weird! Why were there aliens? Was that important? What's up with the creepy cloning music? What about the MUMMY-FILLED VALLEY? And whyyyyy does the moon have a face, and no one ever mentions it??

I'll be writing about a few Zelda games soon, so look forward to that

@KateGray The Ancient Cistern had a lot of Buddhist elements, like lotus flowers, the underground section, the colour choice, and the giant statue in the centre. I’ve been to Buddhist monasteries in India (ideally Nepal would be better for a dedicated field trip but Sikkim is a very Buddhist region in its own right) and the aesthetic is really spot on. The music also has the right mood to it, with an almost sacred quality to it, with the choir-like instrumentation and the wooden notes mixed with a metallic marimba like piece.

I did mention this on the Unpopular Gaming thread, so long story short, save anywhere as a mechanic is the best thing to happen to large video games. Majora’s Mask was alright in terms of that but Snowhead Temple was one of the more tedious dungeons that could have used an Ooccoo like mechanic from Twilight Princess. That was a nice thing for people with limited time.

Though it was a game from 2000, and there aren’t many games I can think of within five years that have that so...

Thematically Majora’s Mask is a masterpiece on so many levels. Game Theory on YouTube mentioned the five stages of grief and how they were used in some characters, and if it was a deliberate reference, then whatever wait we have for Nintendo games will be worth it.

@theJGG Very good points. I'd also add that since the forums aren't often a common landing page of choice for may sure users that they likely tend to get overlooked by many. I joined the site during the Wii U era and was routinely visiting before that (I think it has almost been a decade....). There was definitely less traffic and toxicity in articles.

I welcome healthy, thought provoking discussion, which has actually happened on the forums more than once as long as the participants stayed civil and within the rules. Unfortunately, the internet as a whole isn't the best place for...well, just about any serious discussion where there may be emotions on multiple sides.

Skyward Sword gets a lot of flack it doesn't deserve. Not that the game was perfect, but I personally had few issues with the motion controls. Honestly some of Link's poses were just awkward more than anything since I'm a leftie. XD The game is definitely worth playing; there's an awesome cast of characters, some awesome dungeons and concepts, (mostly) decent bosses, and previously home to the Zelda with more personality in my book. Though Breath of the Wild Zelda has fully trumped that now that I'm actually playing through the game. XD

@KateGray I actually do own Ace Attorney Trilogy for the Switch! The Japanese import actually. I just haven't gotten around to playing through the collection yet. I've only owned my Switch for a year and am still catching up on its wonderful game library. Currently 100+ hours into my first BotW playthrough! One Divine Beast left.

@Tyranexx You didn't own a Switch until 2020, you're left handed, and haven't played Breath of the Wild until now?! I envy these things (except with all due respect the aspect of being left handed, is that a hindrance or a blessing?), because tapping into the Switch's library last year would have been amazing. Instead I played Breath of the Wild on Wii U, got the Switch three years ago, and am right handed with zero problems with Skyward Sword's motion controls. I now view it the same way I view my new steering wheel, it makes you more engaged in the game. You're not just on a couch lazily waving the Wiimote, you're being the actual hero!

I didn't beat Skyward Sword until late 2019, so what I'm saying might be rusty, but if Nintendo ported this game to Switch, I'd play it... a lot. It marked the beginning of the end of the traditional Zelda formula, and took some great steps whilst experimenting with things like shield durability, six hearts, motion controls and all. The dungeon themes are awesome, the music is grand, and it's worth listening to any day of the week.

Zelda's voice acting in Breath of the Wild is a mixed bag. Patricia Summersett nailed it in Age of Calamity, and drew out the emotions of the character better than she did in BotW. She sounded like a fussy teenager (which she was, granted), and some of the more emotional scenes were touching and slightly uncomfortable at the same time. Sometimes it'll be great and sometimes it won't. I feel like I'd prefer to see the SS Zelda voice acted, because while her character arc was better in BotW, she was realistic AND likeable, if you understand what I mean.

@theJGG The Switch was my Christmas 2019 present to myself. XD Walmart here in the States was running a decent deal involving the V2 Switch and a choice between 2-3 lesser-name games the week before Black Friday. I went with Spyro Reignited Trilogy for my pick. As for Breath of the Wild, as nuts as this sounds...I've owned the Switch game since launch. I couldn't pass up the special edition bundle due to all the awesome goodies (Didn't go with the Master Edition; I wasn't paying $30 more just for an admittedly awesome-looking plastic sword that would collect dust lol), but it was Switch-only. I very nearly picked up the Wii U version around launch since it was for a platform I did own at the time, but I decided to wait it out. I don't double-dip on games often. While I'd deem BotW worthy of more than one purchase, it's also a MAJOR timesink. XD

Being a leftie isn't bad most of the time. There are a few odd adaptations I've had to get used to over the years: having difficulty with some pairs of scissors, some door handles/openings/orientations of objects you pull, ink/graphite/marker/etc. smudges on my pinkie, automatically using my right hand for handshakes, etc., etc. At least I can write with my left hand while simultaneously using a mouse with my right. It's definitely a far cry from the stigmas associated with the "dirty" or "weak" hand back in the day. XD

I'd definitely play a Skyward Sword rerelease on Switch. How did I forget to mention the music up there? That's another positive aspect of the game. Again, I didn't really mind the motion controls. While I slightly prefer Twilight Princess overall, it was refreshing to actually feel like one was part of the action in SS vs. just mashing the usual buttons. I had a decent Wiimote+, so I wonder if some had issues with their own or the standard Wiimote motion control add-on....

Overall I haven't minded the voice acting in BotW so far. There has been a time or two where Zelda's voice did seem slightly off for the scene, but others have been really powerful. I have 10/12 memories so far, and by far the most powerful was near the Bottomless Swamp area where Zelda felt the weight of the world on her shoulders after Calamity Ganon's return and thought she'd failed everyone. I'm not normally the emotional sort, but that scene really touched me. I can't comment on Age of Calamity yet, but I do intend to pick it up!

@KateGray I still remember reading your review for fantasy life in onm. It ended being one of my favourite games of all time.

@Tyranexx I actually double-dipped on Breath of the Wild, and got the DLC on both occasions. I put in about 250 hours in total on Wii U, and I'd estimate about 550 hours on Switch. I put a few hundred hours in, then my original Switch broke in a moment of highly uncharacteristic tech negligence, by accidentally crushing it in a reclining airline seat. It makes me cringe to this day, and keeps up my record of always breaking something on Christmas Day for the last two years (this year my PS5 just... fried my external hard drive and rendered it unusable). I then landed in Dubai and purchased a V2 Switch, unfortunately with FIFA 20, which is still wrapped and unused. So in a way I also got a Switch for Christmas in 2019.

Hopefully you don't fall victim to the class case of injuring oneself with right-handed scissors. One thing you might struggle with (obviously hopefully not) is playing Skyward Sword with Joy-Cons, except if Nintendo make it so that you can use your left hand for swordplay, in which case I'll be surprised.

Glad you're enjoying Breath of the Wild! After playing it a ton, beating it at least five times, and almost 100%-ing the game (except Korok seeds, screw those), I can safely say that it's one of the greatest games of all time, yet it's not one of my favourite Zelda games out of the upper echelon of Zelda games (Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask). I love the experimentation Nintendo did, and the new stuff they put in to enhance the overall experience but (I'm sure I'm not the first to say this but...) for the sequel, bringing back core Zelda elements, especially the kind of dungeons you'd find in a proper 3D Zelda, would make it unforgettable.

I never played a hack and slash game before Hyrule Warriors and it was a very fresh take on the Zelda franchise as a whole. The gameplay was really meaty, although yes it did get a little repetitive. The Adventure Mode, especially in Definitive Edition, was really fun, because that added tons of side content, in the form of new weapons, new costumes, sometimes new playable characters, and all. Age of Calamity I feel is in the same vein of new Koei Tecmo hack and slash games, as Persona 5 Strikers, which in itself looks like a perfect sequel to the original game. The fact that they worked closely with the Zelda team for lore, story and graphics blows my mind, and for me at least, I consider this a proper Zelda game with a place in the timeline.

It feels a bit lacking in side content but overall it was a great experience. For one the music was just awesome. It isn't hardcore rock like in the original Hyrule Warriors. The sound team went for something along the lines of BotW's original soundtrack, and made a really fast, frantic, orchestral soundtrack that really clicks. They remix some songs (like the Talus, Hinox themes, champion themes) as battle background music, so if you really like the world of BotW, Age of Calamity is right there!

@Commandervide0 Awww, that's great! I remember begging my editor for more pages, because I think it was originally a 2 or 4 page review, and I wanted 6 pages to gush about it. Luckily, it was an era where there were.... not too many games, so I got my 6 pages! It's such a gem.

@KateGray I'm late to the party, but I just wanted to say welcome to NLife For future reference, if I'm sassy or cheeky in the comments, it's just sass and cheek. Already enjoy your articles. Huzzah!

@theJGG
It's a plus being left handed as we are the only ones in our right minds.

@k8sMum Excellent pun! That was out of left field for sure.