Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@JaxonH I think this really sums up Switch's strength more than anything. A strong mix of Nintendo at their (usually) best and whatever cool usually more medium tier game is either the current new thing or has maintained long-term relevance that is now debuting on Switch.

And again, especially this year, where it really feels like AAA games have largely vanished anyway.

The person that made Super Funky Bowling made a promo in Game Builder Garage. He's also one of the groundbreaking creators using GBG helping discover tricks.

@kkslider5552000
Exactly.

And while there are a few AAA games that I'm genuinely interested in from time to time, that either don't come to Switch or don't look/run that great, most of the games I play and love are the types of games that can run on Switch, look good and run well.

And for the few that can't... Steamdeck. It may not be as good as Switch due to low battery life and lack of tabletop, but it does offer gyro and portable play. It's a good fallback to have, like for Alan Wake (I already had it on Deck, but fired it up with gyro aiming and ya, because it's the non remastered version it only pulled 6 watts at 40fps (with screen refresh set to 40 Hz) on high settings. That's 5+ hrs battery. So for older games like that, it's great.

But with so many bangers releasing on Switch at such an intense frequency, I just don't have time for anything else. Sure, there's games I wanna play, but there's always 10+ games I'd rather be playing on Switch. It just makes games so much more appealing.

Played 2 hours of Nier Automata on PS4. When it came to Switch, already beat it once and working on a 2nd playthrough. Played 10 hours of Persona 5 on PS4. Now that it's on Switch, I've already sunk more than 10 hrs into it in the last few days alone. Monster Hunter World- put a good 200 hours in on PS4. But with Rise on Switch, I've clocked over 700 hrs. And am still not finished.

The system is incredibly appealing to play games on. I've found myself gaming way more than I used to in the Wii U/PS4/3DS era.

So glad to see the big 3 make their way over: Persona, Trails and Nier. For many years those were considered the best RPGs on PS, and most said they'd never come to Switch. But we've been getting everything lately, of all genres. All kinds of stuff. Even freaking Portal and Portal 2 which I NEVER thought would happen.

What are the chances we get N64 DD games added to the N64 app? I think those could be an interesting addition to the library and make NSO+EX worth it.

I don't think it's such an obvious decision.

N64 Disk Drive games were few and far between, and all Japan exclusive, meaning no English. Maybe they could get away with the track editor for F-Zero X but I really don't see that working. Could do it just for Japan, but I doubt they'd put the effort for something all regions can't enjoy.

The natural next pick is GameBoy and GBA. But I think that'll come later. I suspect they're gearing up for the next Switch revision launching next year.

Honestly anything 2023 - onwards I'm ready to be surprised.

@Eagly
I don’t see how that would be the obvious decision. Most people haven’t even heard of most of the DD games. Now gameboy and gameboy color is what is obvious.

@JaxonH Personally I get a lot more enjoyment seeing people's personal favourite game lists than seeing who won what at The Game Awards.

It's beyond a joke at this point. It's quite clear that TGA wants to push gaming as an art form that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with cinema - this is a sentiment I can agree with, however the end result is as you describe: a focus on a very specific type of game, with a few "token" titles thrown in here and there for the illusion of diversity.

But simultaneously the whole thing is just one big ad. Honestly, if you're interested in the results of TGA...you're better off not watching it. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that less than 5% of the run time focuses on the awards. 90% is just an underwhelming attempt at a mini-E3.

I do like when they bring the orchestra out though. I still like to go back to the 2017 GOTY medley and the 2020 Mario medley from time to time.

@Eagly The problem with that is that there were very few notable 64DD releases.

Infact I'd go so far as to say the only ones that anyone is likely to vaguely remember or want to play are Doshin the Giant and the F-Zero X expansion pack.

Doshin the Giant was - of course - ported to GameCube though and anyone who's really interested has played that version by now. It wouldn't feel like a "found" classic (especially since it isn't that good anyway).

There was also Sim City 64 and the Mario Artist "games". Those two might have some residual value as pseudo sequels to the SNES Sim City and Mario Paint. There was also a second Doshin the Giant game (seriously!).

Basically when it comes to the 64 DD I'd say that the only attractions would be Sim City 64 (which would never be released due to licensing issues) and the F-Zero X expansion (which would excite a small niche of players)...

...unless they wanted to give us the Mother 3 demo. That would be interesting.

GameBoy and then GameBoy Advance surely make more sense for Nintendo.

I think the year of Mother is nearly upon us... (sorry to keep up the trend of hopes in idea-like questions)

I've barely touched Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope for days now. Not because I don't like the game, but because I made the mistake of going back to Triangle Strategy a few days before it released, and it has hooked me all over again.

Was going to do three playthroughs, but I think I'll just do the golden route with this second playthrough and go back to earlier save at some point to see the other two endings I never get (the ones for Roland and Frederica).

Still, I'll be at 80+ hours of playtime when I've completed it a second time. Admittedly, a lot of that was sunk into optional post-game maps, since I skipped through most of the early portions of the story, before the big splits leading to new maps and story paths started occurring.

Between all of the new characters, the new story routes, the new mock battles, new story battles, and new side stories, this practically feels like a new game all over again.

I had said XC3 was my GOTY, and I'm still sticking with that at the moment, but TS would be a darn close second placer.

John Linermann of Digital Foundry state Bayonetta 3 have serious techinal/graphical isseus in the game

Triangle Strategy is 🔥 🔥 🔥 Easily the best HD2D game to date.

@Giancarlothomaz
He said nothing of "issues". He said "that tech". Not to say it doesn't have any issues, but that's simply not what he said.

Either way, at the end of the day, if the majority of reviewers didn't have issues, then it's not really an issue worth discussing unless you're a technical guru who obsesses over rendering techniques and all that other jazz.

This is what I mean when I say I appreciate the value DF brings to the table but despise the culture it creates. Where a game can look good, run great, most ppl love it and have no problems with it, but as soon as technical analysis is done to dig up all the imperfections, a certain segment of ppl let that taint the lense through which they view the game.

Won't be me, that's for sure.

@Buizel
TGA wants to push gaming as an art form that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with cinema - this is a sentiment I can agree with

I also agree with that sentiment; however, I disagree that games need to imitate movies to achieve that status (not saying I disagree with you as you never took that position, just saying I disagree with the broader sentiment). Games should be proud of what they are- games. So tired of seeing them chase Hollywood, as if they're too ashamed to have an affection for "gamey" video games. They're so quick to put ppl like Kojima on a pedestal just because he chases Hollywood. As if that makes those games a cut above the gameplay focused games that aren't all about glitz, glamor and mocap.

@Link-Hero There actually was a playable demo for Spaceworld in 1997 - it does/did exist in a playable form albeit clearly not one that was anywhere near actual release. It would of course be a huge stretch to imagine it will ever see the light of day again.

@Link-Hero I think that 30% is probably accurate. Shigeru Miyomoto did say in one interview something like it was 60-70% but the consensus is that this clearly didn't equate to 60-70% of the game being ready or playable. Still - the existence of the public demo and the in-engine cut-scenes suggests that there's something that could in theory be "played". It's clearly no "Star Fox 2" though or anything close.

We do know that the script for Mother 3 on the GBA seems to have come almost word for word from the 64DD version. I'd guess that this part of the game was fairly complete.

I'd actually be fairly convinced that the demo still exists. It was made for Spaceworld so there were plenty of copies, 64 DD discs were (by design) easy to duplicate. Nintendo has also always been pretty good at keeping records. I remember many years ago when I was a regular visitor to Starmen.net that someone claimed to have come into a shady copy and was willing to sell it to the community. I don't believe that anything ever came from that though.

Speaking of HD2D, I wonder how far along Dragon Quest III is?

I assume we'll hear something early next year.

While I don't need another game in this universe, I really want more tactical RPGs that focus on actual tactics! Triangle Strategy is nearly Advance Wars-tier in that respect.

I know people are accustomed to TRPGs where you extensively customize your characters in order to build unstoppable killing machines, but I really like TS's focus on having every character essentially be their own class, giving them an invaluable role on the battlefield while also balancing gameplay.

The map design is just fantastic, too. On par with the best maps in Fire Emblem games. You really have to think about how you're going to move and position your units.

@Magician I have to imagine. I really thought it was going to be one of the next major showcases of the art style.

Since then, they've released Triangle Strategy and Live-A-Live, and Octopath 2 is coming in a little less than four months.

Just a veritable flood of HD-2D games.

How about Advance Wars 1+2? I was totally wrong in thinking it wouldn't be delayed, and here we are months later. Not to be insensitive to the severity of real-world conflict, but if thats really the only reason it's being held up then we may be in for an indefinite delay.

@Losermagnet Heck COD continues to get new games and that's more "controversial" than Advance Wars 1+2.

@JaxonH @Giancarlothomaz I'd guess it's a situation like Three Hopes where certain tech things don't make sense unless you assume new hardware is coming in the near future but for the general Switch owner that just wants to play a fun action game, it's not a big deal.