Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

People complain about $70 games, I remember when Freddos used to be 10p! Some folk don't know how the world works.

@GrailUK
I get it. Nobody likes paying more. I certainly don't. And I'll be the first to say I resent higher game prices, Zelda included.

Having said that, it's a "buy it or don't" situation. Complaining isn't gonna do anything, and it makes for miserable conversation. When PS5 released with $70 for a Demon Souls remakester, Returnal and a $50 Spiderman DLC, I didn't like it one bit.

But... I bought all of them because, well, I wanted games for my new system, ya know? Since then, I decided I would only pay that price for games I am genuinely hyped about and want to play immediately. Everything else can wait for a sale. And that's exactly what I've done since.

Zelda is no different. I ask, is this particular game worth it to me? Unequivocally, yes. That certainly can't be said for every game. If they tried selling Kirby Return to Dreamland for $70, I'd wait for a sale until it's $60. But Zelda? That's day one. Especially since the new vouchers make it just $50- a steal any way you slice it.

Inflation over time means prices inevitably rise across all sectors. Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. Bottom line though, is prices will inevitably increase over the generations. I remember the jump from $50 to $60. I didn't like that either. But once it became standard, ya kinda gotta just roll with it.

The same will happen with $70, though it does seem to be more gradual. Until it's standardized (and even afterward) I treat it the same way as always: if the game is worth it to me, I buy it. If not, I wait for a sale. It's something I evaluate on a case by case basis. Will it affect my purchasing decisions? Absolutely. Not every game is worth $70 to me, just like not every game is worth $60 to me. I don't like it any more than anyone else, but it is what it is. It's just prices and voluntary transactions. I'll buy if I deem a game worth it, I'll wait if I don't.

It's difficult to care too much about the price hike when Nintendo gives you a backend to grab the game for a far cheaper price via vouchers. Which, to me, is the difference between how Nintendo is doing it and how Sony is doing it. Sony gives the customer no alternative, whereas I'll only be paying the equivalent of $45 for TotK at launch.

Speaking of which, discounted $50 eshop cards are live on Newegg atm. Grabbed three of em (they don't allow you buy more than that at the discounted price).

check out the graphical/techinal analysis of Metroid Prime remaster

@Ralizah Nintendo bringing back vouchers for NA to counteract the higher price for TotK makes it seem like the price increase was because of 32GB carts but Nintendo can't have the base eshop price be lower than the retail price so a different approach was used for digital.

In that sense, I do think Prime 4 will be $70. Prime 1 on its own is already 6.7GB so Prime 4 being over 16GB seems likely.

I still don't agree with the price increase of course.

Theatrhythm is scoring really well with the reviewers I trust, like SwitchUp (its scoring well everywhere, I'm just selective of who I trust). Yet another must-play banger for the tribrid handheld. They keep raining down from the heavens above.

@Ralizah
Yup!

I just topped up from NewEgg myself. And this is after purchasing 8 vouchers from the eShop. 5 are spoken for- Kirby, Bayonetta Origins, Advance Wars, Zelda and Pikmin. 3 remain for unannounced games. Will buy more once those 3 are spent, since they expire 1 yr from purchase.

With 10% off via Newegg ($90 for $100 credit), and that $100 credit = 2 vouchers for $120 worth of games, with 5% of MSRP back as gold coins (so another $6 back), its equivalent to $84 for 2 games, or $42/game, including Zelda.

And that's not counting the 2% back buying the eShop credit using a CC with cash back rewards, which is another $1.80 back.

So basically $41/game, even Zelda. Day one digital. So tasty!

@JaxonH Have you played the Theatrhythm games before? I feel like the formula is pretty well-established at this point. Not much to mess up. This is just more content than before, and with far better DLC pricing (a great feature of the Switch era overall; remember when the DLC for FE Echoes cost more than the full game?)

It is pretty wild to me that, with a minimum of imagination, you're practically back at 3DS game pricing for new first-party titles. And these eshop credit deals crop up ALL the time. And even if they didn't, sites like Raise exist.

I mean... it works. I'm motivated to spend more money than I would have otherwise, and any intention I had of spending in other ecosystems has basically evaporated now.

@Ralizah
I only toyed with the 3DS entries years ago, but it also used a stylus, and I wasn't sure how well this game would translate over to a buttons-only control scheme. Apparently it works great though.

Even without the vouchers, consistently grabbing eShop credit for 10% off, then getting 5% back in gold coins with the always reliable 2% back with CC rewards, means games are nearly as cheap as the old Best Buy GCU discount, and for digital at that.

I really hope Advance Wars does well enough that they bring over Dual Strike and Days of Ruin to the Switch.

@JaxonH There's a demo available so you can try it out for yourself.

@Grumblevolcano Days of Ruin killed the series, so they won't remake that. Besides, grimdark post-apocalyptic narratives are a little more old-hat today than in 2008. It sucks, because if it had done well, they might have made more of these games with actual stories.

Dual Strike... I 'unno. I kinda just want a new game developed with the specs of the Switch in mind. Assuming this even does well enough for a new entry to be made, lol.

If it's a million seller, that future is almost assured, but the series has traditionally struggled to sell that well.

@JaxonH It controls fairly similarly to other rhythm games. I have no idea why some people made such a big deal about the stylus option being gone unless they just, like, never play other music rhythm games. There are timed stick movements as well, which are no hassle at all.

Personally, I switched over to buttons almost immediately when I picked up Curtain Call, which first introduced that alternate control option.

tbh, while I get why they do it sometimes, I kinda hate the trend that so many series can only make a comeback by remaking or flat out re-releasing older games. Especially when they're like "well you better buy this game you already own the previous version of if you want a new one".

My favorite being Super Monkey Ball, where they remade a game most people don't care about in order to justify making a remake of the games people care about.

Sparks of Hope is now $27.99 at best buy folks. Please PLEASE grab the game. It's even better than the original.

@kkslider5552000 they do a remake/remaster of a old game, to test the market, if is advisable release a new game of x franchise

Interesting, info about the next Sunbreak update is starting next week:

All this DLC and update info about various Switch games so soon (as in the Direct DLC/update announcements and it turning out that Inkopolis is launching February 28th) makes it feel like everything but Booster Course Pass and Sparks of Hope Season Pass will be done by the time Pikmin 4 releases with most final waves releasing in June.

@Ralizah
Idk who made a big deal of it, but at least for me, I know other games use buttons, but they're designed around it, whereas Theatrhythm was designed around stylus. Specifically, the directional inputs being mapped to analogs and the wavy green notes that go up and down, I wasn't sure how well that would translate to traditional controls. Turns out very well, but I wasn't sure that would be the case beforehand. It looked like it could be very difficult and confusing.

^^^ Hear hear.

@kkslider5552000
Thing is, you say it's a game most don't care about, but I'm pretty sure more people bought Banana Blitz than the remake of 1/2/Deluxe. Sometimes it's easy to forget we're in a bubble, an echo chamber of opinions from a certain type of gamer. And what we want doesn't always align with what everyone wants. The Wii game had a lot of fans because it sold to a lot of people on thar system.

@Grumblevolcano
I fought Velkhana last night and was like no, I can't do this. I have Metroid Prime Remastered, Fire Emblem Engage, and too many other backlog games and upcoming titles to get sucked back in now. I'm glad Title Update 5 is coming in April though. Sunbreak turned Rise from a great game to legendary.

Speaking of tactical games, where's that Metal Slug Tactics at, yo?

Look I really don't care about the actual justifications, its just obnoxious when I'm told to buy a game I already own just so I can get a sequel I want. I hate it. Capcom put out a thing a while ago basically saying that they're NOT doing that anymore, they're just re-releasing games without pressuring people to buy them in order to justify making sequels.

@kkslider5552000 Does that even happen anymore, though?

I... sort of understood the mentality coming off the Hindenburg-esque failure of the Wii U burning basically every company that released games on it, but we're years into the Switch gen, and everyone knows third-party games can and do sell well on the platform, so that generally doesn't fly anymore.

Just buy what you want. If a series can't sustain itself off legitimate interest in the products on offer, then a few hundred sales from fans intending to 'show support' isn't going to make a difference. You're just going to have wasted money on a doomed series anyway.

I mean, that specific type of thing doesn't happen anymore, but companies have been doing that regardless of Wii U or even Nintendo. Just any old series gets revived in some way, and they'd often say "well if you want a new game, you better buy this thing!" which is either an unrelated thing or (more often) a re-release. Darkstalkers, Monkey Ball, Beyond Good and Evil 2 (twice!), No More Heroes 3 are the ones that come to mind , but it's a somewhat common thing to bring up whenever a notable re-release or remaster happens from what I've seen. Which in a way makes sense, but its so obviously a way to make fans buy the same game again out of fear that if they don't, their favorite series will be gone forever.

In between my daily sessions of Metroid Prime Remastered (which I can't get enough of- just got the gravity suit btw), and hunting Velkhana in Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak, and jumping back into Fire Emblem Engage, I threw on a bit of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1/2 and Sniper Elite 4. I finished the mission I was on, and immediately I was reminded how incredible that game is. It's gotta be one of my favorite Switch games. Easily top 20, maybe higher.

I just love the freedom of sneaking around in stealth, silently taking down enemies from behind with a melee takedown, headsshotting with a silenced pistol, then when you goof up and alert enemies, you can Rambo your way out if you're skilled enough, which the impeccable gyro aiming makes all the more easy to do.

I laid down trip wire on a barn door as 6 soldiers were charging toward me, explosion killed 2 of them, then in the confusion I dropped 2 more of them. Ahhh, it's so satisfying. And I generally suck at stealth games. I think the reason I'm better at Sniper Elite (besides gyro) is you really can shoot your way out when needed. A lot of games make that nearly impossible.

A tip of the hat to Sniper Elite 4. One of the greatest stealth games of all time and one of Switch's finest. Top shelf graphics (in the running for best looking Switch port), top shelf gyro aiming, top shelf HD rumble, small file size, quick load times, sharp resolution and rock solid framerate. This game is chef's kiss.