Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Spent the evening with Team Sonic Racing and...I'm pretty disappointed, to be honest. And I think this is the last time I'm getting a Sonic game on day 1 (after this and the mediocrity of Sonic Forces).

It just seems to add nothing new and compelling to the table. If anything, it's worse in many ways than the previous Sonic racer - it somehow looks and feels worse, and so far they don't seem to be making the most of the Sonic-only theme (it feels like it's suffered by not including other SEGA IP - this is coming from a Sonic fan of 20 years who knows that they have a lot of base material to work from).

I'm still willing to give it a try, but a lot of me still wishes they just ported All-Stars Transformed.

I don’t think Team Sonic Racing quite reaches the highs of Transformed, at least from initial impressions, but we’re talking about barely reaching the height of the Eiffel Tower here. Transformed was so good that simply “not being quite as good as Transformed” isn’t really saying much. Transformed was the finest kart racing game of all time, save perhaps Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. So being the second-best is still a phenomenal game.

And I’m not entirely convinced it’s not as good as Transformed just yet, tbh. It’s dang good, I just don’t like the lack of dynamic tracks as much and the fact you don’t transform. But the team racing aspect kind of makes up for it because it’s an incredibly fun mechanic- something that doesn’t sound that good on paper but in practice it works beautifully. And the game definitely runs better than Transformed did. This baby is flawless, at least on Switch (saw the 20fps swings on other platforms, yet somehow is rocksolid on Switch).

And I would argue that the team mechanic is definitely something new and compelling. It changes the rules of the game and the objectives not to mention new gameplay mechanics with the slingshot behind their tire tracks. You can swap items and send things to your teammates who are losing and you can request items from your teammates to get exclusive wisps you couldn’t otherwise get from an item box... that’s all new and compelling stuff.

I’ll never bash Transformed. I would certainly love a port of that game. I love ports of great games. Bring it on- the more the merrier. But I wouldn’t rather have it than this, not only because of the fact I already played that game on two different platforms and I haven’t yet played this game, but I think this one’s in the ballpark of being just as good and in the final analysis may end up better.

So far I'd rank them: Transformed > Team Sonic Racing > Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing

Transformed gets in the lead because of the multiple SEGA IPs being used rather than just Sonic and the transforming mechanic. Team Sonic Racing's story mode is fantastic and the team mechanic is fun but runs into the same problem as the first Sumo Digital game regarding proportion of tracks based on Sonic Heroes vs. the rest of the Sonic franchise. That said, as they brought over 8/10 tracks from that first game, it would've nice to have had the other 2 as well (Ocean Ruin, Egg Hangar).

Nintendo can have all of my money when they resurrect diddy kong racing. That was always my personal racer aside from need for speed underground on gc

The Nintendo Switch was the highest selling console in NA in April
https://nintendoeverything.com/april-2019-npd-switch-was-agai...
Top 10 Best Selling Switch Releases in April 2019
1. Mortal Kombat 11
2.Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
3. Yoshi's Crafted World
4. Mario Kart 8 DX
5. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
7. Super Mario Party
8. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remastered
9. Super Mario Odyssey
10. Labo Toy-Con 04 VR Kit
https://nintendoeverything.com/april-2019-npd-best-selling-ga...

Forgot how annoying it is to use ink ribbons to save in the older re games. Oh and the load screens every 10 seconds when you walk thru a door

Assassin’s Creed 3 looks fabulous in handheld mode. You guys know how good 7th gen games look on the handheld screen. This one is a real looker on the handheld. Seems to run better in handheld mode, although it’s not too bad docked either. It’s probably just the fact it’s a smaller screen and you can’t notice things as much. Just feels more butter than docked.

Also check out Oninaki. This game looks fire. It took them three games but it seems they finally nailed it

This is coming to Switch soon. Looks like an interesting modernization of the classic GTA gameplay style.

Somehow I missed the news that Nintendo will be opening a store in Israel that will open before the other new Nintendo store in Japan. I wonder if soon Nintendo will make Nintendo stores a much more vital part of their business.

Newegg has eShop cards for 10% off with code: EMCTAVV36

One of those Sword Art Online RPGs has appeared in the coming soon section of the US eShop. It's dropping before the end of the month, so that's yet another pretty notable game dropping this month.

I liked the anime well enough. Anyone know if the games are decent?

Looking at the metacritic for the PS4 release they're average action/rpg affairs. It looks like Ys VIII, Dragon's Dogma, Diablo III, MHGU, and Dark Souls are a cut above the SAO games.
https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/sword-art-onlin...

@Magician, looks about a 7 critically (and 7.5 from players), so still pretty good then.

While they are RPGs, games like Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, & Diablo are completely different beasts in terms of vibe & style, so I'd expect it to get more competition from the likes of the Xenoblades, Final Fantasies, Shining Resonance Refrain, and (as you said) YS VIII, which is still quite a hill to climb.

Anyone else get access to the closed beta for Mario Kart Tour? It's actually pretty good. Not as good as the actual thing on Switch naturally, but good. Will definitely be one of their better mobile releases so long as the IAPs in the full version aren't too invasive.

https://www.siliconera.com/2019/05/22/yu-no-nintendo-switch-p...

Retail release for YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World in October. It's kinda funny that the PS4 version is the one that gets the saucy poster, but an extra downloadable game is a better bonus anyway.

Apparently one of the CGs is censored in both the Switch and PS4 versions.

@Ralizah unrelated but i played a few stages of bloodlines and im loving it so far. Have you fired it up yet?

@NintendoByNature I haven't actually purchased the collection yet (still trying to work through my existing library completely before adding to it). But I am quite familiar with Bloodlines, being a huge fan of the Genesis and its library. Glad you're enjoying it!

I'll probably end up getting the collection anyway for Kid Dracula, but I'm still mulling over getting a Genesis Mini, which will include Bloodlines as one of its epic 40 games selection.

@Ralizah ah gotcha. I think it's worth 20. And yea I'm kinda mulling over the genesis mini too. Problem is I'm running out of space. Got the nes and snes classic, a Wii a Wii u a switch and a gamecube all hooked up to two tvs.. and an n64 in another room. So yea lol well see how I feel when it launches

@NintendoByNature Man, those are some busy TVs. For me, the concern is about the hardware and emulation quality. While it seems obvious that Sega is being more careful with this retro console, they don't have a fantastic record on that front, and I want confirmation that the emulation is high-quality before buying. I also hope they don't have short cords like the controllers for the Nintendo retro systems.

One of my SDTVs has a PS2 and GameCube at the ready. The HDTV has a Wii U, Switch, PS4, and Xbox 360 connected to it. And, of course, I have a PC that's more capable than my PS4 (although will definitely be less capable than the eventual next-gen consoles). It's a comfy set-up, and if you include my handhelds, I have access to pretty much everything I want in terms of gaming.

@Ralizah yep I feel the pain lol. Got rid of my ps4 recently which was hooked up to one of the tv's too so it was even more chaotic. As for the genesis mini I think it's a safe bet this go round. I got that AT games one a while back and what hot garbage that was. Hopefully a lesson was learned