Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Figured I'd have a play around with some Wii U emulation just to see the state of that space and also ponder how Wind Waker may translate through to a "Switch 2". So got out my copy of Wind Waker HD, unboxed my Wii U and looked up a guide on how to dump the ISO. Had done it for my Wii games so Wii U is probably similar..... and.... I found a different guide entirely. Which surprised me somewhat

Not going to detail what that method is but, needless to say, I'm now wondering how long Nintendo will keep the Wii U/3DS eShops servers open even to re-download games you've purchased. And it also becomes significantly more clear to me why the eShop closures happened. This is why we can't have nice things I guess

Anyways, on Wind Waker and where things sit in 2024. Frankly the HD Zelda remakes and Nintendo Land, for me, are the only two reasons I can think of why I'd dig out my Wii U at this point. There are certainly some games I still have sitting back there (Yoshi's Woolly World, NES Remix, Affordable Space Adventures) but those are the main ones. And having a play of it I think Wii U emulation has advanced now to the point where the only reason I'd drag it out is for Nintendo Land. From what I can tell it's basically flawless

Do I still want Wind Waker on Switch/Switch 2? Yes. Without question. There are still some things about Wind Waker HD I think could have been better and aren't solved by just running at a higher resolution. The bloom on the HD version for one, I was never a fan of it and it feels even more dated now. IMO. Shadows also have some room to be rendered better. Maybe a use for RT on Switch 2? Also the locked 30fps.... it's ok but, could be better... make it happen Nintendo

@antdickens
I must have missed that reply, my bad. It apparently got filtered through to junk. I had assumed nobody replied, which admittedly kinda irked me as I felt the concern was being ignored. I should have known to check the junk folder before making such assumptions, as you've always been good about responding.

Say no more, I gotchya 😀

@skywake
There's also the fact Wii U makes the perfect emulation hardware for DS games. Well, maybe not "perfect" as a dual screen handheld would be better. But as an all-in-one console that can play NES, SNES, Genesis, TG16, N64, GC, Wii, WiiU, GB/GBC, GBA, DS... that's a nifty little console, no?

Idk if 3DS emulation is possible with it. If so that would be super rad. But even DS with dual screen, that seems something worth keeping around.

There's also Xenoblade X (until the inevitable Switch 2 remaster), and... and...... and.........

Well I was gonna list a few more but it seems I'm at a dead end lol. Star Fox Zero and Guard? Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Yoshi's Wooly World (because HD is better than the 3DS version), Paper Mario Color Splash, and of course Zelda Windwaker HD and Twilight Princess HD (until the inevitable Switch/Switch 2 port). Oh, and you can still play Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate online! And Splinter Cell Blacklist is just a good game that's not available on modern systems. And it has gyro and cool gamepad integration.

But we've forgotten about the system seller. Wow. Shame on us. Only on Wii U can we play

edit
I also forgot about the digital exclusives. Stuff like Dr. Luigi and Mario vs Dk (Minis on the Move? I can't remember, and wasn't there 2 of them?). Plus there was that Pushmo game. So ya, a couple more games worth having. Maybe not worth having the system for in and of themselves, but they're a nice little bonus.

@NintendoByNature
I know I've mentioned this before, but Advance Wars style of srpg doesn't jive with me unfortunately. And I found that out after playing both AW and wargroove.

Honestly I'm with ya. I didn't really gel with Advanced Wars myself. It's not that I disliked it, I just didn't love it like I loved Fire Emblem the first time I played that. Same for War groove.

Shame hearing Unicorn Overlord wasn't for you, but I'm glad you got to try it for yourself to form an opinion. Saved you from either buying a game you came to regret, or not buying a game you forever wondered if you'd enjoy.

It's all good. Plenty of other great games to play. Might I recommend Splatoon 3: Side Order? Brilliant game mode that takes the Splatoon blueprint and reworks it into a roguelite. Some of the abilities you can get and level up are INSANE.

You already beat Prince of Persia, right? If you're maybe in the mood for a stealth shooter in the vein of Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, I highly recommend giving Sniper Elite 4 a chance. This game is criminally overlooked. Like, criminally. It's not just good, it's in that upper echelon, best-of-genre tier good. Yet nobody gives it the time of day.

If you're in the mood for some puzzles, I recommend giving Portal and Portal 2 a go. You've probably already played them but in case you haven't, right that wrong asap. There's also Pikmin 4, a good game with light strategy and extremely fun gameplay loop.

If you're feeling some JRPG goodness atm, I suggest giving Trails series a go. Start with Trails From Zero, the PSP remaster. Or if you prefer a more modern entry, Trails of Cold Steel 3 is sufficient. That's where I jumped in. Story synopsis gets you up to speed real quick.

In a platforming mood? The New Penny's Big Breakway is very good, from what I hear. And if you never got around to Super Mario Bros Wonder, that's still an option. And, if you never played DKC Tropical Freeze, well... drop whatever you're doing and go play that game right now.

@JaxonH shoot, I haven't put any hours into splatoon 3 since launch. Fell off about 20 or so hrs of online. It's great, but more of the same from 2. Haven't played the dlc. I might give it a shot at some point.

PoP was amazing. Very underrated gem and I wish more people bought it. Hope when it's all said and done, they deem it successful enough to make a sequel.

Think my next game to start after FF VI Is going to be trinity trigger. It's in my backlog and it looked solid back at launch. Or, octopath II is on sale at games top. Might even grab that.

Penny's on my WL and in good time I'll grab it. Seems like my cup of tea.

@NintendoByNature
Never heard of Trinity Trigger. What is it?

Btw Splatoon 3 is most definitely more Splatoon, but in the best way possible. Splatoon is a game I could play forever, decade after decade, if I just had new maps to rotate into every few years. And that's pretty much what Splatoon 3 offers. New pack of maps for Turf Wars, new pack of maps for Salmon Run, and some select choice maps returning from prior games. Kinda like an ever evolving best-of map pack.

One of the better improvements is Salmon Run Always being open. That and the lobby is so much improved. Plus, new single player campaign, and it's dang good man. Even just playing that as if it were a single player game, disregarding Turf Wars and Salmon Run, I'd still have bought it for $60. I really do love the campaign. Same for Splatoon 2 though. I loved that campaign also. But ya, it's more Splatoon, but since when has that been a bad thing 😉 I recently started playing again and got sucked in hard. I played at launch and fell off after about 20 hrs kinda like you. But after coming back, it's there now. Issues are fixed, tons of new maps added now, Inkopolis makes it feel like home again, and now Side Order is out... give'r a go, I think you'll like it!

I need to start Penny, but SwitchUp was raving about it and I trust them more than anyone. And btw, Octopath II is pure gold. Definitely check that one out. And Star Ocean 2nd Story R is right there behind it.

@JaxonH
This is Trinity Trigger game.

@Anti-Matter
Thank you for that, Anti

@NintendoByNature
I see Trinity Trigger scored around 70 or so on average. Not to say scores are the end all be all. But I imagine there has to be something special about a game averaging 70 to make you pick it above all else in your gaming regimen. What is it specifically that draws you to this game? I know you're choosy and usually only devote time to top tier games you find worthwhile. So there has to be something about this game that's elevating it for you. Perhaps its style just fits into that peg-shaped nostalgia hole perfectly? I had that happen with Lost Sphear. Idk what it was, but something drew me to that game. It felt like home back in the 90's, coming in after playing football in the field behind the house. Turns out it wasn't all that great. But I still like it. There's a few games like that for me. Maybe Im the only one, Idk.

edit
So, apparently this game called Qomp2 just released, a sequel of sorts to Pong on the Atari. Only 2 buttons are used. One to "bounce" the ball midair to mirror your trajectory as if you hit a wall, and a button to Turbo off the next wall you hit. But it looks really fun in that simplicity. It's amazing what can be done around such basic mechanics.

The Wii U games I’d like to see on Switch are:

• Xenoblade Chronicles X
• Twilight Princess HD
• Wind Waker HD
• Yoshi’s Woolly World
• Sonic Lost World
• NES Remix Pack
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
• Paper Mario Color Splash
• Star Fox Zero + Guard

The first 3 seem likely but outside that, I don’t have much hope. Zelda in Fall/Holiday 2024 as a last big push for the current Switch before Switch 2 launch in 2025 and XCX early on in the Switch 2’s lifespan to take advantage of the extra power, storage, etc.

@JaxonH ya know, I think read on this site that a couple of the guys who worked on chrono trigger and xenoblade worked on this game. So naturally I expected a decent game. I so know it got some middling reviews but it looked solid enough. I have alot I can start up here in the near future and I'm not sure which route to take..

• bug fables
• hollow knight( I never came close to finishing it after trying a while ago. I'm considering starting over from scratch).
• MGS 2
• No More Heroes III
• SMT V
• lastly, trinity trigger

These are the handful I own that I can start up any any moment. Of course, there's always sales happening that can change this. I just finished arkham asylum so I don't want to jump right back into arkham city just yet.

@NintendoByNature
Dang you're a machine! I finished Prince of Persia but am only 2 hrs into Arkham Asylum.

Side Order and Unicorn Overlord are sucking my time.

And now I'm on a Vanillaware kick. Looked up their games. I didn't know Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire were their first 2 console games back on PS2. Then Dragon's Crown on Vita, Muramasa on Wii, 13 Sentinels, Unicorn Overlord... there was a JP exclusive DS title that was similar to Nintendogs, lol? But also a JP exclusive PSP title, a strategy game, called Dragon Knights History, and as luck would have it, there's an English translation patched into the ISO that exists out in the ether somewhere. Runs on PPSSPP which also happens to be on this nifty handheld I got. It's not 100% fully translated (some JP image text remains as its not a dialog font) but enough to be playable. That's so cool. Now I wonder if Dragon's Crown could be playable. How's the Vita emulation scene these days? I never really looked into it before. Just never had a reason to. Muramasa ain't happening, unless it got a Vita port... which actually, I think it did? And Odin Sphere is PS2, that should be doable.

If so, all Vanillaware games on one system would be dope. It's crazy to me games like Dragon's Knight History used to regularly remain JP-exclusive 20 years ago, and celebrate launching with 5,000 unit sales. Nowadays a game like that would sell 500k copies worldwide. There's still JP-exclusives today, but most of it is pretty niche stuff. The core JRPGs and SRPGs all seem to get localized now.

@JaxonH I've had my eye on 13 sentinels. I've always heard good things about that one and it's regularly on sale.

@NintendoByNature
It's 🔥 for real

I wasn't sure what to expect but everyone kept hee-ing and haw-ing about how it's this incredible experience, so of course I had to satiate my curiosity. Turns out, it's actually really good. What I like most is how it's different. It doesn't conform to the same cookie cutter genre blueprint you see recycled over and over again. Not that those games aren't great too, but when you get one that boldly and unapologetically deviates, and actually nails it, it's just all the more impressive.

That's really the game that kinda got me paying attention to Vanillaware. Before then they were just another studio I'd heard of in passing, played a couple of their games with Muramasa and and smidge of Dragon's Crown. But 13 Sentinals was a defining moment where it's like ok, anything these guys release is an automatic purchase. I'm sure some games will land better than others, but I enjoy the refreshment of playing something different and experimental. And at worst, I don't think they make bad games, maybe just decent (knock on wood- with my luck I'll be proven dead wrong on that in short order).

Check it out. It's got a good story. All these different characters across different times in history, from the past to the present to the distant future, all intertwined. It's crazy interesting. And gorgeous on Switch OLED in handheld mode.

@JaxonH for sure. Next time it hits a sale ill grab it. It gets as low as $17.99 at times. Just added it to my dekudeals WL

@NintendoByNature
Dekudeals is so clutch. It's like IsThereAnyDeal but for Switch gamers.

@JaxonH exactly. Just waiting on Amazon to price match octopath II and I'll grab it there. Of course, no gamestop stock anywhere local.

@JaxonH Muramasa is on Wii and vita.

@NintendoByNature I restarted Hollow Knight twice and still never finished. 😝 I always get hopelessly lost and don't want to use a online guide and then stop playing eventually.

@FishyS I think I eventually gave up due to a boss fight I couldn't get past. I still want to give it it's due as I know I'll be playing silksong on day 1 whether it's through GP or on switch.

I nearly bought Hollow Knight the other day but it wasn't in the sale, saw on Deku Deals it's been half price before so I left it.

@FishyS @NintendoByNature It seems somewhat unrelated to y'all's sticking point in the game but for me personally what got me out of the various stoppages in playing was watching some mossbag lore videos. The story can be learned by itself but everything having meaning all of the sudden did make the game a lot more exciting.