Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika I don't think is an unpopular opinion but I agree 100%

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika Yeah, but I mean, there's always going to be people complaining. I think overall most have been very impressed with this year's output.

@Anti-Matter
I love 2D jump and runs. Thanks for sharing the video, because I did not know about this game. Seems fun.

@Jhena
If you interested with 2D platformer games, I can recommend some of my recommendations.
MAX The Curse of Brotherhood
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams
Meteoheroes (PS4 only)

The switch is a great console with a fantastic library of games

@Anti-Matter
Meteoheroes seems cool, thanks.

Edit: I was surprised to see the dislikes for Yoshi's Story today. Personnely I think it is an atmospheric and relaxing game full of Yoshi magic. Of course I will not argue against their opinions, I was simply surprised that the game is not liked.

Mario Odyssey has way better movement than Super Mario Galaxy and structure (constant dopamine rush of getting moons vs 1-3 stars and wide open spaces vs linear areas). But SMG has a vastly superior aesthetic and is more visually imaginative. I want the next Mario game to be Super Mario Galaxy 3 but with Mario Odssey's movement, structure and map sizes.

@Zilock
Honestly odyssey’s moons got tiring after the first 120 of them. A smaller amount of stars would be better. With each star being fleshed out and unique.

I agree that the over-reliance on moons made collecting them feel like pointless busy work when you actually focused on any beyond the ones behind actual challenges. Almost like if DK 64 took out its worst elements except instead of limiting the collectibles they turned most of them into golden bananas. Or if the hilariously easy jiggies in the first world of Banjo Kazooie were also randomly also inserted in the later levels. Worst part of the game by a massive distance.

Yeah, I enjoyed Galaxy more than Odyssey. But as Dave Bulmer would say, it's earned a place up on the shelf with the good Mario games - which is all of them! Except Sunshine, obviously...

Every time I play Odyssey, I feel empty inside. It's been like this since the day I got it, and I have no clue why. The mechanics are fine, but something about the Kingdoms just makes me not want to play it other than the first time I had it.

I really like the moons in Mario Odyssey. They make everything you do feel worthwhile...every corner of that game feels like it has something worth exploring.

Personally I'm of the opinion that every full-3D** Mario gets better. Odyssey > Galaxy > Sunshine > 64. And I think all have been the pinnacle of their genre at time of release except Sunshine.

** I don't really count 3D Land and 3D World in this assessment...they feel a lot more like 2D Marios with a 3D perspective.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika Some old games suck, and some were still pretty well done. I prefer some older games over a ton of newer games. Hell, I prefer the entire 3DS library over the switch one.

The flip side is that recency bias causes people to have stronger opinions about the newest games (both good and bad). Skyward Sword got rave reviews when it came out, with several declaring it to be the greatest Zelda game or even the greatest video game of all time. The same was true for Twilight Princess. Nowadays they're generally considered, well, not the greatest. With Pokemon, internet people always drag the newest game when it comes out.

If we look at Nintendo Life's list of the best Mario games (based on user score), the top five include two retro games (World and 3), one new game (Odyssey), and two that are neither "retro" nor brand new (Galaxy and Galaxy 2). They edged out classics like Super Mario 64. The list suggests that, while nostalgia bias might be a factor, it can be overcome by newer games that hold up.

https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/best-super-mario-games-of...

With Zelda, Nintendolife inexplicably never published a user-scored list, but we can still see how they're ranked.

https://www.nintendolife.com/games/browse?sort=rating&tit...

Once again the top five consist of one new game (Breath of the Wild), three retro games (Ocarina, A Link to the Past, and the original Link's Awakening), and one that doesn't fit either category (Wind Waker). Notably, the NES games are nowhere near the top tier. In fact, only one NES game overall (Super Mario Bros. 3) has an average user score above 9/10. Thirteen Switch games do.

Also, nostalgia isn't a factor at all for some old games. Hardly anyone has nostalgia for Earthbound, given that only about six people bought it during its original release. But over time it found its way to cult status and eventually recognition as one of the great SNES RPGs (obviously bolstered by Ness being playable in Smash).

I dunno dude, I played Earthbound for the first time 15 years ago, which is still 12 years after it came out. It's old enough that its growing popularity after Smash is becoming nostalgic too.

Sonic 2...is not that great of a game, IMO.

We live in a time where Sonic 1 and CD are (rightfully, IMO) criticised for ageing poorly, having poor level design, etc., but it seems everyone treats Sonic 2 as a masterpiece, and many still consider it to be the best game in the series.

But...every time I play the game, it becomes more and more apparent that I don't really like a huge chunk of it. Emerald Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone are classics, for sure. Aquatic Ruin Zone, Casino Night Zone and Hill Top Zone are also solid stages. But then my interest starts to die off with Mystic Cave Zone and Oil Ocean Zone...these aren't bad zones, but are a mixed bag with some slightly annoying level tropes.

Then...the rest of the game is simply unenjoyable. Metropolis Zone is infamous for its length, tiresome level tropes and, most of all, obnoxious enemy placement. But IMO it doesn't get any better after that. Sky Chase Zone is a chore...an autoscroller in a Sonic game? Wing Fortress Zone just feels hastily thrown together...I don't even know what I'm looking at half the time, and the level design simply isn't enjoyable - it mostly feels counter-intuitive to everything learnt so far within the game. Finally we have Death Egg Zone and...while I appreciate the Silver Sonic encounter, the lack of any rings makes the whole ordeal quite unforgiving, and 9 times out of 10 I'd rather not bother.

Overall I think Sonic 2 is 1/3 a great game, 1/3 a good game, and 1/3 a pretty bad one, to be honest. Far from a masterpiece, but definitely one I have fond memories and will return to every now and then, if only for the first two thirds...

@Buizel After playing it for myself I agree with this pretty much. I was having a blast until Metropolis zone but that zone was just such an immense drag and it was only down from there. Wouldn’t call something a masterpiece if it has such a steep drop in enjoyability. Then again, I think the classic sonic games are in general kind of overpraised, but I really loved mania.

Just because someone didn't play a game during it's initial release doesn't mean they can't develop a nostalgic attachment to it. For example: I have a big nostalgic attachment to Pilotwings even though I only played it for the first time in 2020. Despite that however, the gameplay, aesthetic and charm of Pilotwings has allowed me to develop that kind of childhood bond I would have for more conventional nostalgia games like Pokepark 2, Cooking Mama and Mario Kart Wii as personal examples.

Another big one for me is Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: I played the original trilogy for the first time from August 2021 to October 2021, roughly 20 years after their original releases and 2 and a half years after they released on Switch. And yet despite that, I remember almost every key moment, every revelation and every piece of iconic dialogue like the back of my hand even an entire year later and I'll probably continue to adore it until the end of time, regardless of the flaws that'll naturally pop their head around when giving it a closer inspection.

To me, a nostalgic game isn't just one you played when you were young or when it originally came out: it's a game that, regardless of how good it is or how well it's aged, left such a profound impact on you that even looking at an image of it or listening to a song from it can bring back wonderful memories of when you first played it. That's just my two cents on the matter though.

I have no idea what people like in the Metal Gear series and at this point I am too afraid to ask

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika Just a little of Metal Gear Solid 3. The rest I watched some Let's Plays to get a better picture. It all looks boring to me.