AJWolfTill

Ok well this significantly boost my interest in the game!
Can't wait to enjoy it on the Nintendo music app in 5 years XD

As a lifelong Zelda fan I'm at least intrigued about this. Exciting that production has started as we will probably start to get more tidbits of information coming through much faster now.

Whilst I love a lot of cinematic story first gaming experiences, no one quite just perfectly constructs 'video games' as well as Nintendo.
The comparison with Hitchcock initially threw me but I get it. They perfectly embody the core language of their respective mediums.

@Bobb @CupidStunt
I think Metroid would be enhanced by the introduction of more NPCs.
The Samus against the world isolation vibes are important, but my ideal would be to lean a bit closer to the way From Software and Hollow Knight handle NPCs. Potentially some sort of shaky truce base camp where you had a couple of distinct bounty hunter NPCs of different races to flesh out the World Building.

Then predominantly solo exploration where you might encounter them but with an added element of not knowing whether they are hostile to you.

Similar to Corruption, the herd would probably thin out as you went through the game either because they turned on you or met grisly fates from other antagonists or monsters.

@Zeebor15
I suspect not. Their working relationship with those studios is already great and they produce almost exclusively for Nintendo anyways. I don't think Nintendo gain anything from buying them unless their board/CEOs are trying to reposition away from their existing relationship.

I've always had faith in this game but this is probably the best trailer so far. Oh man that music is hitting the spot!
I've just realised I have no idea what the scope of this game is. I've been assuming it's probably a ~15 hour adventure but It's certainly possible the long delay is because Retro Studios just kept expanding the scope of the game. Exciting stuff

I've only currently played 2 of the 12 (Silksong/Hades2) but am genuinely interested in every nomination this year which is pretty rare.

A perfect addition for me at exactly the right time. I watched a friend play a little of this decades ago but never played it myself! Time to right that wrong!

Any other European Wii U owners getting Tvii flashbacks?

See I could live without the customisable home screen but being unable to play VLR is definitely a deal breaker for me.
Sorry your haul was a bust, hope it didn't ruin the whole holiday.

Always a treat to get some fresh laughs from Kate the Great!

Seems like Retro has a long history of their games getting canned or pushed back on by Nintendo. I hope whatever they were working on before they handed the reigns on Prime 4 sees the light of day.

Happy to wait for feedback on the narrative/ story so won't be getting this at launch.
I think I burnt out on these Musou games as I never picked up Three Hopes despite having a good time with the previous Nintendo Warriors games.

@TheWokesterGamer @jfp
To be clear, Hazelight are not owned by EA. My understanding is the developers have full Creative Control over their games.

EA does make money from their success but I think they also front the cost of development and handle all the marketing and distribution. I don't like EA much but it does seem like Hazelight have benefitted a lot from the partnership.

Unless they start restricting the studios freedom it doesn't make sense for them to shop for other publishers just because EA in general is maligned.

Some good deals here! Might pick up a couple of bargains although I'm still eating well with Hades 2, hundred line and Silksong.
Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood wasn't on my radar before but I'm intrigued now.

@Quirky I completed the base game a month or so again so can give you gentle hints if you need any guidance. I did get a bit stumped towards the end with the hands off approach to signposting where to go.

Love this game! Surface of SR388 theme needs more representation in the series and it's cross over appearances such as Smash Bros!

You mentioned that there are bosses to defeat but I'm unclear if there is win state beyond just beating a previous score?
I have little experience with pinball games but I did enjoy Metroid Prime Pinball which had bosses and was beatable.

@GoombaJMR
Thanks for the detailed and candid insigjt!
I'm juggling Silksong and Hades 2 right now but I tend to make time for RPGs in the winter months. Rest assured you are now top of my list 😄!

@GoombaJMR
Nice job to you and the team on this game! I kept seeing it near the very top of this year's best reviewed games so excited it's come to the Switch now! As a fan of JRPGs and a Japanese language learner this game seems right up my ally!

Whilst this review does read more like a hands on preview as you pointed out, I would be interested to know if you were looking at optimising the switch versions controls as those criticisms seem valid.

@Simu001
I'm a University educated native English speaker and that is one of the most incoherent sentences I have read so don't sell yourself short!

@OorWullie
Fun albeit melancholic story, I guess subjecting yourself to that torment in his name is a fun tribute?

Also "December looks a good month for Sunshine"
is comedy gold whether or not it was intended.
(Unless you are Southern Hemisphere of course).

Amazing article, nice to get a deep dive over a specific amazingly executed but underappreciated aspect of the series.

I think all the 2s triumph for me in this situation. I used to let the title screen of Samus Returns loop after a session to help me drift off to sleep.

Thought Remake was fantastic when I played on PS4 years ago. If they can get the whole trilogy running at that level (or better) then we are all in for a treat!
Looking forwards to continuing the series on Switch 2!

Devastating! You are such a genuine, passionate warm presence and have both excellent takes and tastes!
You've come along such a long way since you started and I hope I run into further creations of yours in the future.

@Monkey54
I remember the same thing happened with the Le Chifre update. It did download that much but it didn't double the size of the game afterwards. Might be as fast to just remove local files

@Hank_Scorpio
Same here! Put well over a 100 hours into it already!

Reading this, I've realised I must have turned off rumble on the original Switch in 2017 and that setting has apparently been migrated to the Switch 2...

Let's freaking go!
This month has delivered an embarrassment of riches for me on Switch 2!

I think I'd feel much stronger about sticking with physical releases had Nintendo not allowed us to carry over all* our digital purchases from last gen.
It's somewhat of a risk to make this assumption but I just don't see them walking this back now.
Besides, there are no manuals with cool art and additional material anymore and the boxes themselves are now swamped by legal and copyright jargon so what's the point now. I do completely understand the game preservation aspect but I've got digital Steam games I bought half my lifetime ago I can still access whenever I want and physical media from the same time ago I would need to buy external disk drives to even attempt to boot up, that's if I can even track down the case to begin with...

Delighted to hear! To be fair it would have been insane for Nintendo to not have given Capcom Dev kits early on so glad to see they're making the most of the console.

I've played 2 and 4 and some of 7. Would be interested to pick the newest three up but I'd want to know if this is a partial continuation of 8 beforehand.

It's a great but of hardware. Not sure that award was fiercely contended this year mind.
Nice to see Hundred Line get some prestige and attention!

Hades 2, Metroid Prime Beyond and Fire Emblem will be bought asap.
I don't know if I'll repurchase FF7 remake but I will for sure pick up the rest of the trilogy.

@Not_Soos
I was so convinced Nintendo would add Metroid Fusion to NSO before Dread came out. I ended up plugging in my Wii U and purchasing both that and Zero Mission so I could be fully up to date.

Obviously I have not played Beyond but I would bet against Nintendo bothering and also doubt there is any reason you would need to have played Mp2 and 3 prior to Beyond.
At best we get get Prime 2 on NSO.

@MischiefMaker
I love them both dearly despite having some issues with them. Whilst I imagine VLR works perfectly well as a standalone experience, as you get deeper in it will spoil a lot of 999. I can see someone has already pointed this out though so nevermind! Hope you enjoy it at least half as much as I did!

@MischiefMaker
Ooh VLR!
Is that a first playthrough or a revisit?

Amazing how people seem to have forgotten everything they have already seen of this game and tunnel vision onto one thing that's new and decide the whole game is wrong.
We've seen more linear set piece sections, we've seen jungle environments that looked incredibly loyal to the old games. They showed something new to the series and half of you are outraged.

I'm not sold on the bike stuff yet but I'm open to them expanding the series with new ideas.

That said Nintendo is being really weird about the marketing with this game. This game is a massive deal for a lot of fans but they never seem to want to spend time on it in the directs.
It was one of the only major games that didn't get any VO to talk through or explain anything.

I disarmed the trap before I realised it was there. I had no idea what that switch did until I read this article. I'd just convinced myself I'd imagined the bench was already there beforehand.

@Polvasti
I think it is a matter of taste. I completely get your argument. It can definitely be frustrating/stressful when you have made a bunch of uncheckpointed pointed progress and you don't quite have enough rosaries to unlock the next bench or station and no nearby way of getting more.
However, I personally think this approach by and large works really well when you have a currency/resource that you driven to gather but always at risk of loosing. Because you keep having to use it in this way it stops you from hoarding loads of it and feeling devastated if/when you don't retrieve it on death. Where I am so far I've occasionally had enough to travel back to a merchant and splash out on something expensive but am usually having to make little judgement calls as to which facilities I can afford to skip/bypass until later.

@Polvasti
"And early on in the game there's a house with a shop and a bench inside, and you have to pay 30 rosaries every time you want to even enter the house. These kind of barriers don't add any interesting challenge to the game, they just increase the pointless busywork you need to perform in order to gather the required money."

Okay I think this is a really bad example.
I feel like this was an artistic choice to highlight how much the pilgrims were being exploited for their faith. It's unfair because it's supposed to be unfair on everyone in that world.
There is also a guy offering shelter for free just down the road from there so you don't really need to go there other than the shop.
I'm not far enough in the game to have found much use for the shards other than secondary weapons but I might get annoyed with that later.

Sorry Cronos, I'm interested but occupied right now... Hope they get some extra traction in spooky season.

Haven't played anything like this for awhile. The Polish setting, time traversal mechanics and cat rescuing make it very appealing so I'll likely get it down the line.

"Forsaaaakeeeeeen,
I have come for you tonight"🎶
Apologies, although obviously not really because it is Silksong day

@KingMike
Yeah tragically absent on N64.
Metroid Blast from Nintendo Land is a really fun time but obviously not a true Metroid Game.
I don't think Hunters on DS has held up well but I wouldn't personally regard it as a spin off.

Game looks incredible! I have put 120 hours into hitman on Switch 2 and am so glad they are treating the Bond licence with so much love.
I personally am happy with how the Switch 2 handles hitman( a largely slow and methodical game) but given this game is going to need to handle car chases and explosive shoot outs I'm hoping the extra time with the hardware is going to pay off and this is a custom version of the game.

@Max_the_German @EarthboundBenjy
If you have NSO and the internet then almost every save file you made on Switch 1 will be available on Switch 2 and vice versa. I've seen this for myself.
The saves should transfer automatic ( you might need to do a one time set up if you never have). You might need to do the virtual game card transfer every time (which takes about 5 seconds).

One of the all time best Nintendo soundtracks IMO. I thought we'd have to wait forever for them to add this one so I'm over the moon!!

Looks striking, but no idea what they are thinking releasing this so close to hundred line which I still have loads left to do in.

Happy to be proven wrong but I think September is going to be a near shadow drop Mario Collection of some sorts for the anniversary.
I feel it's October, there is normally enough spooky stuff in these games for it to fit in with Halloween vibes (they certainly did that with Dread) the target audience is going to be pretty different to Pokémons and Pokémon company and Nintendo generally have distinct marketing and release cycles anyway.

@CaleBoi25
Good luck! I think that boss fight marks the turning point of when the game opens up from a good game to something truly special.

If you are struggling I would prioritise learning where to position yourself during the boomerang blade attack so that you can heal.

I think there is one of those attacks that is really hard to dodge unless you just stand in the middle of the arena (second phase).

@Smithicus
Not challenging you per se but I would love to hear which modern Metroidvanias you think surpass it?
I loved Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Metroid Dread and would put them on the podium with Hollow Knight.
I've also enjoyed the Ori games, Axiom verge 2 and Yoko's Island Adventure but they aren't on par for me.

Delighted to see these fixes roles out although sad it has taken so long as I have already put about 80 hours into this!
This game (trilogy) is amazing and is such a perfect fit for the hybrid console. I'll do another run of the Maldives mission to celebrate the update as that map was really crash prone before.

Be pretty problematic for them to not have a September direct as they have a new console with only a handful of known release dates from 1st parties. Currently nothing is scheduled for September!?
Honestly though, gimme Metroid Prime 4 and Hades release dates and I'll be set for the year.