Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

It was technically a Wii U port but it was effectively a Switch game. And frankly that it was technically a port means little. There are games that are technically ports in that cross-gen period which never actually release on the original platform

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of early Switch games started on Wii U and were in some sense ported in some state at some stage. Eg Super Mario Odyssey. And also games that probably started out as ports like Mario Maker 2, Splatoon 2

But as you can see, whether or not they were "ports" is immaterial. Means absolutely jack to the end user unless they happened to already own the original release. And in that sense to most people? BotW is a Switch game

What if in Pikmin 4 we can zoom in really close and zoom out really really far to see how tiny we are.

Nier Automata is really good.

I played it on PS4 years ago, but dropped it before it got its hooks in me (by that point Switch had released and suddenly games without hybrid freedom started to lose my interest).

Now that it's on Switch, and is a high quality port at that, I've actually been able to play long enough to get hooked. Wanna say I'm about 5 or 6 hrs in now? Something like that. Still kind of early but far enough to understand the appeal of the game.

It's so good on the OLED. I've been playing it on the OLED TV all day, but was playing in handheld mode at work Thursday and Friday, as I will again starting tomorrow. The game is just so unique. I've never played anything like it. The story is very good, but the skill chips are what really have me addicted. I love allotting as many as you can fit in your storage, and min-maxing skill output, fusing different chips to get stronger effects. I'm using Evade Extend +80% and 2 Seconds Invincibility After Damage, and +40% Item Drop Rate, +8% Movement Speed and a bunch of others.

I like this game. Just not sure I'm gonna finish it by a week from Thursday.

@NeonPizza
That one could be debated as I love World, but I've always contended NSMBU is the best 2D Mario ever made. That's an opinion I've held for many years now. And yes, I'm comparing how they hold up today. I'd rather play NSMBU + NSLU over SMW. It might be recycled compared to the 3 other NSMB games, but I'm not playing all 4 back to back. I just ignore the other 3, in which case NSMBU stands on its own. The art style is pretty generic, but it gets the job done and looks clean. It's much more imaginative and fun than the other NSMB games, though I am ready for a new entry. Something fresh. Maybe a return to SMW style for the modern era.

But ya, Dread is way better than Super Metroid. Good game, don't get me wrong, but it's not as good as Dread. The controls are worse, the visuals are dated, the level design isn't as good... it's just not as good. Others are free to disagree, but as I originally said, an argument could be made for these being the best. And since I know a great many people who share my opinion of them being best, an argument can definitely be made. Because no game in the history of video games will ever have 100% consensus.

For the record, I do appreciate 60 and agree it would be nice. I just don't find it necessary, and since we can't change what's out of our control I see no sense complaining about it. The system is what it is, and we'll get a successor when we get a successor.

Obviously a lot of older SNES games were more impactful for their time, but that's only because video games were newer and we hadn't seen experiences like them before. Current games don't have that advantage to stand on, and that's no fault of their own. I always judge games in nominal terms, not relative. Because to me relative terms mean little. What I care about is, if I want to play a game in a series today, which one is going to provide me the most fun, irrespective of historical context or impact.

@Ralizah
I went ahead and ordered Chaos;Noah double pack, as well as Robotics;Notes double pack and Anonymous;Code preorder.

After researching and discovering they're all part of the same series as Stein's Gate, I had to, if nothing else for the sake of completing the series for the collection. And it seems these games are pretty beloved. Maybe one day I'll given them a genuine shot (because in fairness, I didn't really do that with Stein's Gate- I just tried it out for a bit).

Is there a particular order recommend out of all these to start with?

@JaxonH Steins;Gate has an AMAZING story (legitimately one of the best time travel stories ever), but it takes a good, long while to get going, so that's one you just need to kind of carve out some time for. Maybe when the Switch release schedule loses steam at some point.

In terms of the order, certain Steins;Gate characters pop up in the Robotics;Notes games, so it's probably best to play S;G before R;N. The Chaos games are only lightly referenced in S;G and take place in the same universe, but in a different resulting worldline, so they can probably be played whenever.

When it comes to specific series, playing games in chronological order is best. So, Steins;Gate before Steins;Gate 0. Robotics;Notes before Robotics;Notes DaSH, and so on.

Steins;Gate Elite is probably going to be the easiest one to get into initially, given the modern, anime-esque presentation and, honestly, it having the most gripping narrative in the franchise.

@NeonPizza Honestly, I've never understood the love for SMW. It was a downgrade even from the NES games. Especially SMB3, which was shockingly good for an NES title.

NSMBU's aesthetics might not be compelling, but, design-wise, it's one of the best games in the 2D Mario series.

I know this is the Switch thread and not the PC thread but, a bit to unpack here I think. I mean for one thing building your own PC isn't that much of a hassle although I understand I'm saying this as someone who is SUPER comfortable with the idea. I mean the building itself is basically just lego, the tricky bit is working out what spec you actually need

Which brings us to the other thing to point out. If you're ok with the Switch you probably don't need something that high end. I mean if all you're doing is gaming at sub-4k/60 and you're not into games on the bleeding edge? You can prob get away with a modern-ish i3 and a XX50 tier GPU. I mean I have a few PCs for different uses but my "gaming PC", which is hooked upto my TV, is an 11th Gen i3 with 16GB of DDR4 and a 1660Ti. Which gives a good enough image & framerate at either 1440p or 4K for me

.... to be fair, it does depend on what you're going to use your PC for. The spec above? Literally just for games. Nothing else. If you want to compile, render, encode, stream or anything like that? You prob want more cores. If you are super into VR and in a "more than Beat Sabre + Super Hot" kind of way? You prob want a beefier GPU. And if 1440p/60 is "too basic" and you want 4k/120? .... yeah, more GPU again. But I think for most people a gaming PC with a modern i3 tier CPU, 16GB RAM and a 3050? Probably does the trick

@NeonPizza I must of misremembered then, I thought you already had a PC suitable for the resolution and framerate targets you wanted.

Look at the facelift Fatal Frame 4 is getting on Switch! This seems like a really extensive remaster.

interestingly enough, the necklace in the thumbnail of that video seems to have lost its physics in the remaster

@Ralizah
It looks just as good as Fatal Frame 5. That's awesome.

And Mario Rabbids is lookin hot, too

@Eel It still moves around in the footage, but the physics were definitely changed. It looks a little different as well, like the weight and materials were altered.

What gets me is how different the color scheme of the game is. Much more stylized in the remaster.

@JaxonH Heavily prefer other trailers that lean more on actual gameplay footage, but yeah, it's looking good. The AAA Mario RPG people have been wanting for a long time.

This year is reminding me why I love this period, late in a console's life, when developers have learned how to fully optimize their games to get the most out of the hardware. Sparks of Hope looks so good that people thought it was running on more powerful hardware. NieR Automata was thought an impossible port until now. Same with No Man's Sky. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is such a gigantic step up technically over MS' previous games, and mostly without noticeable reduction to image quality when undocked. MHR: Sunbreak could be mistaken for an Xbox One/PS4 game. And so on.

The Switch reminds me of the GBA, who knew it could run The Simpsons: Hit & Run and Driver 3.

I still haven't played the first Mario + Rabbids, so I won't be there on day one for the sequel.

This will be one of those games I'll be waiting for a deep discount on at retail.

Matter of fact there are several tactical rpgs I own that I haven't gotten around to yet.

@Ralizah it’s definitely a lot less brown.

Looking at it in motion, I get the feeling they maybe reused long hair physics for the necklace in the original, and then decided to tone it down in the remaster.

@Magician
If it’s anything like the first game, sparks of hope should be on sale 75% of the time.

@Choops I like potao bread, fried potatoes, also we had the potato famine in ireland, did you know sir Walter Raleigh intoduced the potatoes from South America 100s of years ago.

@NeonPizza I always adored 2 growing up, I don't really get the hate. Like, the only argument I see against it not being the best 2D Mario is it's relatively short length.

World > NSMBU, because you don’t hear the annoying “Bah’ song.

@Eagly
Well, to be fair every platformer is inferior to DKC Returns and Tropical Freeze.

Those two are the undisputed GOATs.