AlexSora89

From Affordable Space Adventure on Wii U to this. How far we've come!

Neat to see another indie dev go the Gunman Clive route (albeit, obviously, in scale). This might be awful for indie devs who value their game by different standards, but a gigantic - not to mention, sadly, symbolic - kick in the AAA's groin.

You love to see it!

Furukawa's Nintendo, everybody. The Iwata tenure or the Kimishima years, this ain't. Here's hoping it's a butterfly effect caused by real life issues, because otherwise at this rate the Big N is going full Apple.

Nintendo won by proxy, but I don't mean the award.

I mean, God willing, the butterfly effect this award hopefully has on the whole industry. As the commenters on PushSquare said: "double A sweep", indeed.

Well yes, Sony's always been less about actively putting out games outside of the one yearly AAA and more about making sure less players get games from supposedly multi-platform publishers.

Joke's on you, Sony: Square-Enix snapped free of your leash in May, on my actual birthday no less, and recently Death Stranding got to Xbox. Roll up your sleeves and give your players more Ratchet & Clank, instead.

Geoff Keighley said as much in the announcement for the nomination reveals: "get ready to debate".

All we're gettin' ready for, sir, is watching the show just for the reveals alone. As always.

Man, the AAA industry is always holding out for Nintendo to go third party or something, because the entire show is rigged against us. Off to the "best family game" category we go, I guess.

Also, the best family game will go to Echoes of Wisdom, just to give Nintendo only one award; best action-adventure will go elsewhere. Y'all heard it here first, folks.

So, basically, the average Fortnite player.

Mario's Three-peat, hands down. I just wish the separate minigames were also available, mostly Bumper Balls.

Works well enough for the recap I'm writing today, methinks.

@Tempestryke
Motoi Sakuraba in general is a musical genius. It's a shame people only know him as the Dark Souls music guy.

@Serpenterror
Eeyup, but the game reminded me of that collection.
Which is also why I wanted to bring it up, as Medabots AX made me a platform fighter fan before Smash came along.

Hi-Fi Rush is basically all I want from Microsoft. The game, among the first next-gen-only wave, was the one making the least sense game engine-wise. It could run on an Xbox One perfectly, yet Microsoft pulled a Nintendo and went for artistry as the means to justify XSX/S exclusivity.

Oh well, at least I'm not alone in placing all my bets on HFR.

Now watch as they stay in Japan only like the Medabots collection.

Very bittersweet feeling, seeing both the original and the remake popping up as minor projects so late into the console's lifespan.

Plot-wise, it's still a surprisingly biting satire of consumerism. From Nintendo. (The effect you get is the same when it happened with The LEGO Movie, so to speak.) Sure, the plot is just an excuse to dust off the same game design idea behind Donkey Kong '94, but hey, if it's a good idea, it works.

That aside, gameplay-wise I had some problems adjusting to the B button's function being moved to X and Y, but after that initial phase it's still the same game "I never knew I needed until I got to play it" that I loved all the way back in 2004. Definitely hyped.

Also, the music. I already loved some tracks in particular, but the remake kicks it up several notches. Hearing that flute in Donkey Kong Jungle during a few of the gameplay B-rolls released had me, no joke, weak in the knees. I can't wait to hear Mystic Forest and its hauntingly beautiful tracks.

"Soundtrack is unmemorable"

The Elemental Stars alone renders the entire sentence pure BS.

@HammerGalladeBro
I was wondering what that was! I figured it was just random gibberish.

Donkey Kong being an avid El Chavo De Ocho enjoyer is totally my headcanon now and I refuse to believe otherwise.

(Greetings from Italy, by the way)

As long as Ubisoft heads start feeling comfortable with not owning their luxury homes, I'm in.

I can already savor the 20+ minute-long video from James Stephanie Sterling.

Ever since my former gaming site forced this game's coverage down my throat, I couldn't stand the "please look forward to this game we won't tell you anything about, hee hee" attitude the dev team had in every single interview. Imagine having a 300-word-count at the minimum and filling in the blanks when the director straight up refused to reveal what even the genre was. So yeah, I'm both pleased and not surprised to see it knocked off its pedestal.

It makes a lot of sense, actually. It felt very weird to feel the (short-lived, given the once again limited Pokédex) hype in the middle of everything that was happening. I also thought Pokémon Legends: Arceus would get full-blown DLC with a Hisuian equivalent for the Battle Area, but given what the Battle Area is inspired by... yikes.

@shoeses
Precisely, asking for scientific accuracy in these games is idiotic.

@ManaOwls
Ugh, finally someone who gets it!

@shoeses
Like the Beartic I have in Pokémon Moon and Ultra Sun, to the annoyance of absolutely nobody?

I sorta get the point there, but asking for realistic zoology in this franchise just reeks of making up excuses to justify everything the brand gets away with. And there's no point in playing devil's advocate here.

Unless, of course, you're willing to justify taking characters away only to make them selling points a few generations later, too. And if that's the case... don't. Really, there's nothing in it for you.

Well, there goes all the hype I had. Almost, at least. There are actually two sides that could be torn on this.

One is the obvious group of certain Pokémon species' fans: I doubt that, say, @Anti-Matter would take kindly to not having Sawk in the game.

The other is the very same competitive space Masuda's delusion implies will be happy. Unless someone manages to somehow base his or her team on the usual regulars (show some guts, Game Freak: cut out PIkachu for a change), having to recreate one's own party and level each critter to level 100 looks less like a game and more like a chore. Fortnite's seasonal weapon rotation gets a pass because the game was BORN that way; not so much a franchise that only burned the bridge between gen II and gen III before changing its ways.

The only side that remains is the rest of the fandom, liking Pokémon for the sake of it, well, being Pokémon. But there's only so many times your favourite critter doesn't make the cut that will have you say "Yes, please".

Another sign that support for the game, after three amazing (sans Byleth) years and a month, is going to be in the community's hands from now on.

Wow, someone is taking male representation in the Pokemon world's own police force way too seriously. Leave this stuff to Officer Jenny, one Looker is enough.

@CharlieGirl
That's the messed up world we live in.

@sanderev
Aaaaaaaaaaand we already have a winner.

As awful as it sounds, belts instead of badges make way too much sense once you consider what they do in gameplay.

@Leksa
That's one way to look at it, I guess... but would you pay 70 to get 20-something-year-old games at such a slow rate?

What's so damning about this is not the situation per se, but rather the sum of its parts.

Wow, from "don't expect monthly updates" to... one game at a time.

Next autumn's inevitable "pre-renewal showcase" is going to be a hard sell.

If Nintendo gets to axe this too, at least they'll understand the series has some actual demand overseas.

It depends on the context. The lack of DLC in Super Mario Odyssey, given the ambitious take on the 3D formula, is hardly summarized as "lazy". If anything, it cemented in stone how Koizumi is inevitably destined to be Miyamoto's successor.
The following, however? In light of everything that "justified" (quotation marks necessary) the cut Pokédex?


<iframe src='https://gfycat.com/ifr/SmallIncompatibleDuiker' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen width='640' height='404'></iframe><p> <a href="https://gfycat.com/smallincompatibleduiker">via Gfycat</a></p>

... eh.

Hoo boy, Arlo is gonna have a field day with this one.

A flowery field day.

No More... Nintendo exclusivity, I guess.

The song was great, and the follow-up Guidance was even better: think of Viridi's Piranha Plant rant and extend it to Kingdom Hearts lore. It's glorious. Zelda Universe's efforts pretty much show why we need Guidance for DLC fighters too.

Here's hoping this promotion will get to Italy too. I'd love having my own Zacian, it would be a good sendoff to Galar before heading back to Sinnoh.

@CharlieGirl
Unless, of course, they go the "Previous Game: Complete Edition" route (see Hyrule Warriors) on the next system.

I've got both passes and Sora officially redeemed Byleth in my eyes.

Yes, you've read that right. I started smiling upon looking back at the "Byleth Joins Smash House" and "Byleth... recruits Byleth!" screens for the first time. That's how much the keyslinger means to me.

Of course I look forward to this. I've been wanting Sora ever since Brawl. Sora's a dream come true to me, and for the very first time I got to experience all the enthusiasm I've seen in reactions for Joker and the others. Banjo and Hero were the closest we could get, but Sora is the one that I personally felt like being "a character for me", if I can say it in an admittedly selfish way. The one that actually made me happy. I was seriously bracing for disappointment until the keychain got a close-up. Then I cried tears of glorious joy.

Single-use TMs are something I could still get behind as long as the Pokédex and its fauna are complete.

If "extremely safe" means less innovation (not the point of a remake anyway) and more National Pokédex, I'd say go for it.

I know I'm almost alone in thinking this here, but I could trade the Wild Area for more playable Pokémon any day.

@Paraka
I thought Roxas was a dead giveaway as a costume, same for Xion. But then I noticed the focus on KH1 extends to the jumping animation, with the infamous leg-spreading, which explains why Roxas and Xion aren't costumes. In case you're wondering, imagine pulling that off while also dealing with the 3D model for the black coat.

Remember when all first-person shooters were "DOOM Clones"? And when the Battle Royale genre was made of "PUBG Clones"? How about the one time action-adventure games were "Zelda Clones" then? Or the platformer genre, yeah, the "Mario Clone". Good times.

For the first time, saving the best for last, Smash has a fighter I've been waiting for... years. The most Alex-pleasing addition ever (see my username).
Also, I know flexing is rude, but for all the times I've been on the receiving end of this GIF... well, you know the drill.

I'm sad for what we'll see on all social media from whoever isn't among the minor percent of people that actually got who they wanted. Ultimate is the one game they should have done the Ballot for. Byleth still tastes sour.

I hope we can still get Cloud riding his Hardy-Daytona and Squall driving the Tempest. The original PS1 one had 3D World Runner as a secret driver.

@Broosh
The original had that, too.

I hope I can get a Zacian. I can't be bothered to gun for other legendaries, but I'm a sucker for having both cover Pokémon in one generation. I have Shield, in case it wasn't obvious.

They're hyping up the character that will be released the farthest from the date most people actually paid for the Pass. It's either worthy of the non-Direct reveal, or one last hit-and-run kind of deal.
If they want us to be optimistic, we can't also be ready for another Byleth.

Sorry, Nintendo, I find it kinda difficult to "let my imagination run wild" considering Fighters Pass 1 ended with the most "comfort zone" kind of fighter.

@Specter_of-the_OLED
Damn, you beat me to it.

If this collection has actual localized manuals in it, I'm going to cry. Show me any instruction manual like this in-game and I will bawl my eyes out.

As long as it all ends without a "gotcha, most of you already paid anyway" kind of deal (I'm talking about cross-promotional, first-party safe bets), I'd be okay with just about anyone.
My most wanted picks are a Kingdom Hearts rep (Sora or Roxas), Crash Bandicoot or a Microsoft FPS rep (Doom Slayer or Master Chief), but anything that doesn't fit in the first category is fair game to me.
Too bad that ever since we got Joker, way too many first-party Nintendo games came out--I mean, Nintendo game are always good, but not when their leads might end up in Smash. The continued absence of Pokémon Sword and Shield content is making me worry we're ending the second Pass with another Byleth.