But, yeah, I think despite Reggie's vaguely negative, quasi passive aggressive cynicism, Nintendo has a pretty good shot at exceeding expectations. Even if their Switch 2 would sell 30 million fewer units than Switch 1, I think that would still be a considered a fairly impressive success. I'm pretty excited to see how it all shakes out.
What is Reggies problem anyway? Was his departure perhaps not as friendly as we were led to believe?
What will Nintendo want to do with their next major console upgrade depends on how they want to market it. I see two questions that are before them:
1. Will it be marketed as full fledged next generation console whose leap in power and specs will place it far above what is possible to satisfactorily achieve on the original Switch's hardware? We'll call this a Switch 2.
2. Will it essentially be a Switch Pro - a system with a modest increase of specs, but not so much so that games would require exusivity?
If the answer to the first question is a Yes - that the next Switch will represent a new platform and replacement for the current Switch - then Nintendo will have to go all in on communicating this. While that might seems like a no-brainer, the Wii U was effectively crippled right out of the gate due to confusing marketing and bad naming conventions, as the average customer didn't know for sure if the Wii U was something new or just a Wii revision.
Specs on a Switch 2 would have to represent a pretty big improvement over that which is currently possible on Switch. It doesn't have to compete with the likes of a PS5, but it should def strive for something at least on par with the capabilities of a PS4. If they do this while maintaining full backwards compatibility along with a major expansion of their online services (which should include games from all previous systems), then I think a fully next gen Switch 2 stands a reasonably good chance at repeating the success of the current Switch, give or take a 15 million consoles.
If the answer to question number 2 is a Yes - that the next Switch will be more of a console refresh than a totally separate system with totally separate games- then Nintendo needs to be sure that this is communicated properly. The hardware specs on any such Switch Pro would not have to be a radical departure from Switch 1, but should at least represent a tangible improvement in graphical fidelity, resolution, frame rates, and processing speed.
Nintendo should probably encourage developers to take advantage of these increased specs but not to the point of designing games that can only be played on a Switch Pro. If they want to release a handful of exclusives on it ala Xenoblade on the New 3DS, that should be an option, but I think in most other cases, a game developed with the Switch Pro in mind should still be entirely playable on an original Switch. Such a game might take a hit in fidelity and frame rates on on Switch 1, but it should still be able on run on it.
If Nintendo were to go this route, I really think they should go bold on the pricing: on the day of Switch Pro's launch, it ought to sell for less than what a Switch currently costs, even if only just marginally so, and should really be at just about the same price as Switch 1, so as to incentivize a mid gen upgrade. Keeping the price low would allow it to continue the sales of the Switch going for another couple of years. And if this is how they plan to sell the Switch going forwards - as incremental upgrades which will not require game exclusivity - then they ought to be doing this at least once every other year, ala the Gameboy / DS with their various same gen revisions.
And while they would eventually pretty much have to produce a legitimate Switch 2, going this route would at least give them some kind of pseudo pillar to hold onto in case things would go awry, as they'll not have a GB, DS, or 3DS to bail them out this time.
@moodycat Just wanted to say that your avatar image seemed to perfectly fit the vibe of your comment 🤣 That does suck - especially with the physical delay lining up with some other potential masterpieces! Maybe not the worst problem to have, tho haha.
Wow - continued support so long after a release is always appreciated! I LOVED the game the first time around but for some reason, never finished the last chapter. This def gives me an incentive to dive back in. Heck, I might even start a new game - it was that good - not to mention powerfully moving. (Not gonna lie, it definitely made me tear up a few times... but, the bittersweetness hurt so good).
@jedisquidward - Engaging in a baseless flurry of mind reading assumptions with complete strangers in a comments section - purely on the basis of having an opinion which appears to differs from that of your own - can be fun, but ever since I grew up a bit more, the appeal has sort of worn off. I mean, you literally have no clue as to what my politics and philosophies are. It's as if you're insecurely projecting some kind of inverted reflection of yourself onto me. I mean, come on - Ben Shapiro?! LMAO. Please give me more credit than that. That would be like me stating with delusional certainty that you must LOVE Cenk Uyger. Maybe you do, maybe you don't - I honestly wouldn't care either way.
But with all of that aside, you don't have to like Child Labor Cringe, fear SINISTER LIBERALS with victim complexes (your words, not mine), nor have any sort of fixation on "fake news" in order to more broadly appreciate the full range of possibilities for reasons why a company like NoA might suddenly be coming under fire in the way that it is. Maybe the initial complaints are legit and systemic - maybe not. But I will say this: in the age of cancel culture, blood in the water can very quickly lead to feeding frenzies. All it would take is for a sociopathic activist lawyer or three to come out of the woodwork with documents about how Bowser (or perhaps even Reggie) made asome kind of inappropriate sexual joke to a female employee 12 years ago, or even worse, accidentally mispronouned someone in an email or something, and the next thing you know, you've gotten every angry and easily offended person on the internet virtuously ranting and raving about how horrible Nintendo of America is, while at the same time labeling anyone who would still purchase Nintendo at that point as basically being enablers of their "systemic corporate malevolence", by proxy.
I mean, I imagine that even you must know that all of this is at the very least possible. If you think every disgruntled and angry person or group is telling the truth in instance, then you might be more naïve than I would have imagined.
This sounds like someone was butthurt and expected the regal treatment but when they didn't get it, despite only working on a temporary and contractual basis, they decided to try and cancel NOA. I fully expect some fringe group of disgruntled "offended by every micro aggression" purple haired types to come out and accuse them next of having a culture of "harassment". I'm sorry, I could be wrong, but this whole thing reeks of something being blown way out of proportion by a fragile person trying to rile up the mobs against a former employer.
Although, to be clear, if there ends up being solid, irrefutable evidence of some kind of deeply unusual systemically toxic work environment at NOA, then I'm not too arrogant to say I was wrong, and obviously, I would hope that it is addressed.
@HenHiro I mean, it technically is an RPG from Japan. Of course, that's only if one would want to get semantical about it. But, debatable as what constitutes a genre may be (I mean, have you ever seen Nintendo Life's top "Switch RPG" games, wherein at least a quarter of the entries are probably not what most people would consider RPGs??), I think @nhSnork 's broader assessment is clear and irrefutable. Def one of the best games on Switch this year, and - imo - probably deserving to be somewhere among the very best, LTD
If they decide to keep the Switch moniker in the successor, I think Super Switch would be fairly decent - it evokes the Super Nintendo, while keeping the Switch branding intact, and - unlike Wii U and 3DS - it's just different enough to imply that that's a new console.
That said, keeping the word "Switch" would probably only be a good idea if the successor is backwards compatible. To suggest that the console is a massive new console in the Switch series while not allowing customers to play its predecessor's games would likely only need to confusion or anger from the more casual market. We on Nintendo Life might be aware of the next consoles level of backwards compatibility, but the average consumer wouldn't.
Basically, Nintendo billing their next gen console as a brand new system in the Switch series (let's say by naming it Switch 2) but at the same time, not allow older Switch 1 games to run on it, would be akin to Apple, at the height of the mid-late 2000s iPod craze, releasing a brand new "next gen" iPod model that would no longer recognize m4a song file format that all previous models used, as the new iPod can only read a brand new proprietary format. Consumers would not have been pleased - especially those who are not into tech and would therefore be out of the loop in hearing about changed like that. Doing this would have caused a great deal confusion and righteous frustration - which is why that never happened. Hopefully Nintendo avoids that trap.
@agrazioli Not really true in this case. Perhaps the NA version won't get very many updates, but there were several during the time it was out in Japan which were baked into the game by the time it was released overseas, with a MAJOR update being that of adding gay marriage. That change alone represented a very large story and gameplay modification, and - while it doesn't exactly effect me, personally, more options are good, and I'm happy for those fans who've been hoping for that kind of option for the entirety of the series.
There were also a number of smaller tweaks. And even though the game still isn't optimized very well, it def runs better than it did when it launched in Japan, at which time the frame rate issues were even worse. And there is datamined code that suggests that there may be a future update that would include two more marriage candidates, as there are files with their marriage outfits and other relationship type text.
As for the performance issue - while some people need huge stable frame rates to enjoy a game, the occasional drops when you first go outside and before entering buildings hasn't at all effected my enjoyment of the game.
Do I wish the game looked and performed better? Sure. But the developer was not given a huge budget, and it was the first game in the series that they've worked on in over a decade. I think the fully 3D environments, the fairly large overworld and the varied dungeons are all a step up from RF4 while the core game play loop from that treasured entry is maintained and in some cases, improved. If RF6 is optimized to run more smoothly, and includes some improved visuals, and a wider array of daily dialog from the townsfolk (that there is less than what there is in RF4, where it feels like they say something different every day was admittedly disappointing), it would be amazing. And hopefully next time around, the strong sales of 5 will afford the devopers a larger budget to work with.
And if it wasn't obvious, I would def recommend the game.
This is really great to hear! I've played through every game in the series and RF5 - despite some graphical shortcomings - is probably my favorite, and I definitely think it represents a big step up from RF4 (which I still loved - I guess I'm more into the console entries). I mean, I've already sunk close 200 hours into it and I'm still playing.
For a series that was dead for 10 full years, 500k sales actually IS kind of impressive. I hope it'll be enough to warrant a RF6 <3
Reggie is like that popular chick you used to date in high school who left you for one of your friends, but despite things being amiable enough, she still comes out and talks about your relationship to everyone who will listen. And she just keeps talking on and on and on and on because for some reason, people just hang on her every word.
@Azuris Did you play XC2? No? If you would ever give the game a chance (which it doesn't sound like you will), I woiuld say that the combat in the second game is - imho - arguably the deepest, most satisfying combat system that I've ever played in any RPG, on any console, period. The number of recurring things that are happening all at once is honestly almost unreal at times and - sadly - the game doesn't do a good job of explaining the intricacies of it. But once you get a grasp on what blades do, the differences there are between blade combos, driver combos, party combos, elemental bursts, and other various concurrent effects, passives and positions, everything begins to open up.
I would also watch some combat videos on youtube, of which there are many (I would recommend Enel's content), as they provide a glimpse into just how deep the combat really is. And once you learn the full scope of what is possible, the possibility of truly mastering it becomes something worth doing - it just feels amazing to be pulling off ridiculous amounts of damage to overpowered enemies that may have otherwise been impossible. Some might be put off by the entire scope and complexity of it, but I think it's amazing.
While I do think the first game has, perhaps, the better story arc and direction compared to two, I would agree that thethe combat is definitely so-so. But the game was built on aging Wii hardware and - even with the remastering it received - the gameplay mechanics themselves are dated to the time of its original release. Not much is going to change that.
I think it's kind of ridiculous to pan the entire series, though, just because the first game's decade old combat mechanics didn't suit you.
I, too, am prescribed to Adderall. In all seriousness, I love the A button, but have a soft spot for Y. I abhor the B button, and any game which uses B as its main action / interaction / select button.
Wait, Konami is still a developer? I laughed at their concern about what to do with the site. How about instead of getting butthurt about obvious jokes, they...I dunno...work on making decent console games?
I mean, the harsh reaction is somewhat justified...but perhaps their strategy is to put out a smaller budget game with broad, casual appeal so as to direct some of the revenue from it into finishing games like Hatch on time.
I mean, if I was in a situation where a very important game began to take a much longer time to finish, but I still needed to put food on the table, I'd probably be more than tempted to put something out there in the meantime. Just because a developer is crowd sourced, that doesn't mean that unforeseen delays won't happen, or that they're somehow immune to unanticipated spikes in development costs.
If such problems arise during development, then - unless you're a AAA company like Nintendo, that can afford to delay games for as long as necessary - for everyone else - and especially for crowdfunded devs - things get super tricky. I mean, aside from scrapping the developmentally challenged game entirely, a small developer basically has maybe one of two realistic options:
1 ) beg for more donations - a seemingly simple option, however repeated drives tend to draw rapidly diminishing returns and worse still, devs who do this can spook their backers who may suddenly demand their money back, or...
2) work on a game that you don't really feel very passionate about but it's one that has a shot at selling well enough despite a very short development and release schedule. The returns on releasing such a cheap but broadly appealing game could theoretically generate enough money to not only put food on the table, but also enough for the dev to finish their long awaited main projects, while at the same time, not outwardly begging for more cash.
The intensely negative drawbacks to option two can be seen here in the comments section haha. The developer may gain a new revenue stream to fuel their main passion project and a cheap game might keep food on the table, but it can have the effects of angering those who have long supported the developer and who might now see them as hacks, frauds, and sellouts, and it makes backers rightfully want to know where the hell their game is and why their money seems to be directed in some way to questionable shovelware games instead of whatever game it is that the backers want.
Perhaps in the developer's mind, the latter option would will appear to be the better solution right now and that the hope is their credibility will be restored once the game everyone is backing actually arrives - late, but in a quality state.
Obviously the best solution is to release the game everyone wants, but as stated earlier, things in life are rarely so simple.
And who knows, maybe they really are scammers and con artists and deserve the extreme backlash that they're getting atm, however... I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if sometimes my optimism ends up looking like naivety. Either way, I do hope that - regardless of what's going on with them - that the developer can achieve its goals and that their backers get the game they've put their faith in.
@RupeeClock As someone who began to purchase SD cards for the Wii and DS Lite, the degree to which the the price and size of SD storage has improved since those days really is incredible. Unless there was a super black Friday sale or something, just getting a 64 or 128 GB card was definitely far outside of my budget at that time.
I do wonder if tech's very long, almost entirely unimpeded decades of trend of increased value of things like memory, TVs, video games, and the like will be able to keep pace with the global rate of inflation. Even if price/value would remain stagnant, the higher cost of living could still diminish a lot of people's ability to indulge in these items (and the ongoing chips shortages across the entire industry probably aren't helping).
I guess all we can do is hope that the long trajectory of constant-innovation-at-lower-costs-to-the-consumer the market isn't too disrupted too, too much.
The game looks about as graphically unimpressive and low budget as it could possibly get, but...when considering the circumstances and the fact that the developer is clawing back from oblivion, I would expect some concessions.
As a longtime fan of the series (I've played and beaten every game), I want this game to be a major success so that the series can continue - and hopefully with a larger budget next time around. For that reason, it is a day one purchase, warts and all.
Pro-Tip: Play the game with Japanese VA and a sub.
Though I'm hardly one those purist snobs who hates every single dub, in this particular case, I found the VA (at least the English one) in this game is so abysmal, I almost had no other choice but to play it with Japanese VA.
I loved the demo so much - glad to see that the entire game is just as good. While I imagine that there are many who won't really enjoy the lengthy segments of dialogue, I found them to be surprisingly well written and - with all of the fleshed out characters and depth of political intrigue - the story was likewise highly engrossing. (In that respect, it kinda reminded me of the intensely political and criminally underrated Ogre Battle 64).
And that's not even touching upon the battles, which - if you're a fan of tactical RPGs such as Ogre Battle, FFTactics, Fire Emblem and the like - is a treat.
My only major gripe (from the demo, anyway) was just finicky the camera and the drunken map controls were. Through practice, both of these problems can be mitigated to some extent (e.g. pressing the d pad will automatically jump to a location, and moving the analogy gently for the camera can mitigate some of these issues, but it's still annoying. I also had, at times, a bit of trouble figuring out which direction an enemy was facing, as many characters stand in a sideways stance that, because of the nature of sprites, can be ambiguous.
Other than those issues, the demo was amazing and I can't wait to dive in to the rest of the game.
@Atariboy Good point. I failed to account for the fact that a majority of Wii owners likely also owned a DS, so - with that in mind - it could be that the Switch has achieved the same number of unique owners as Wii+DS, or possibly even more. I tend to not that think that the latter is likely, seeing as how there were a lot of folks who bought a Wii for Wii Sports and literally nothing else, however it could be pretty close.
It is an extremely impressive number...however, when you consider the fact that, in previous generations, Nintendo was selling consoles and handhelds at the same time, the number 103 million units seems just ever so slightly less so.
The Wii+DS combo ended up with 255 million units sold - a number which absolutely dwarfs the Switch and will likely remain forever out of reach.
That having been said, 103 million units is still impressive, as it already strongly exceeds the Wii U+3DS 90 million combo and it will very soon surpass the GCN+GBA's 104.5 combined units. It could also eventually outsell N64+GB/C (but that one is a toss-up, as the different versions of the GB line make it more difficult to quantify).
That said, the Switch is still selling and while I don't think it'll sniff the total sales of Wii+DS, it'll probably end up coming close to or exceeding PS2 which, of course, would be a hugely impressive feat.
I think Nintendo should maybe take the opposite approach and invest in indie companies who show a great deal of promise - if not purchase them outright, give them the opportunity to become a second party developer with the freedom to still make their own company decisions.
I think "drafting" various up and coming, talented indie companies would be of a huge benefit to Nintendo longterm. There is little financial risk as investing in indie and gaining some degree of exclusivity would cost a great deal less than it would trying to purchase a massive third party company.
@Shambo I honestly agree with pretty much everything you wrote. And that sucks that you jilted in that way by the dentist's office. It is pretty awful that so many companies - from every field and industry - seem to work in at least one or more ways to screw over the customer via some sort of legal jujitsu. It's just become a very common practice and obviously, it's not one that I condone.
Seems pretty clear to me at this point that Metroid Prime 4 is more than likely being developed as a launch title for the as yet unveiled (and with chip shortages, likely delayed) Switch 2.
Although it would remain to be seen if such a game would also be released on the original Switch as it's last hurrah (see also: BOTW and Twilight Princess) - unless Switch 2 end up being a graphical juggernaut or its architecture is radically different from its predecessor, it would seem likely.
Interesting. I always thought Ocarina of Time had some of the most well thought out and - in some cases - the most complex series of dungeons in the series - at least to that point (the infamous Water Temple, anyone?) I mean, I guess the 3D aspect could have made OoT's dungeons seem more complicated than they actually were - but at the same time, I still find it very hard to believe that dungeons weren't really much of a focus in the game.
Maybe Miyamoto is just trying to be humble or something - or mayhap he's eaten one too many edibles? The mystery deepens.
Imagine being a publisher and being so devoid of scruples that you would shamelessly releasing a game in such a poor state - so poor, in fact, that they felt that it necessary to include a crash warning at boot-up.
I mean, how the hell as a devoper do you make a game that is so clearly broken that you need to do that? Where is their pride?
I get that it's free-to-play, but I don't think that justifies releasing a game that is guaranteed to crash. And if that would be the publisher's defense, then - imo - it's not a very good one. It's embarrassing.
Since they definitely know about the problem, it be true that the game really will run better in time, though their "we're looking into it" part of the warning message doesn't exactly inspire much in the way of confidence.
I honestly think Switch 2 would have already been announced - probably with a 2023 release date - had there not been any chip shortages.
Hopefully the extra time means that Nintendo can add better specs without inflating the console price too, too much...but then again, this is Nintendo we're talking about.
Although this doesn't entirely meet the requirement of having never been on any Nintendo console, it's always bugged me that Etrian Odyssey games never came to Wii U - the gamepad would have been perfect for it. (And I'm furthermore super disappointed that series has never even come back to Switch either).
I'm guessing that the series is dead at this point...which is just incredibly sad to me.
Very awesome list with a lot of older games on it that I'd not expected to see. I'm kinda surprised by the lack of LoZ: ALttP...but the again, it wasn't until after that game that Japan was really into Zelda - if I'm remembering correctly, the series was usually far more popular in the West. Judging by the placement of BotW, it would appear as though that's entirely a thing of the past now.
@Yosher I agree that it's a sucky practice, but at the same time, it's hard for me hard to feel bad for people who just can't be bothered to read the fine print.
The review failed to mwntion the game's excellent soundtrack, which was composed by Matt Uelmen aka the composer for Diablo 1 and 2, and some of the tracks in the World of Warcraft expansions. Some of the tracks give off a strong Diablo 2 vibe which is something that I would describe as being a huge positive.
I really hate the art style in the remasters. Like...I don't usually care all that about that sort of thing...but in this case, the aesthetic is so bad that I literally don't think I'll buy it specifically for that reason.
@Specter_of-the_OLED I'm not sure if I would include PS3 in that category. It had an abysmally slow start, true...but by the end of its lifespan, it ended up selling 87 million units - only about 14 million less than the Wii. I'd say that was pretty dang good, all things considering.
I certainly wouldn't put it in the category of "Most Powerful Systems of That Flopped In Its Generation". I mean, I would have more or less agreed with your assessment had the list given was made up of most powerful consoles that didn't take first place.
As for the rest of what you wrote...
I know the caveat was hardware that attempted to be the most powerful while also innovating, but I wouldn't consider most of those consoles to be hugely innovative. Just my opinion, tho.
Dreamcast doesn't belong on that list, as it was, by far, the weakest console of its generation.
Where is Vita? It is the poster child of immensely powerful consoles that flopped.
GameCube and N64 were arguably the most powerful consoles of their generation and both were eclipsed by their competition (especially the former).
Comments 841
Re: Reggie: Nintendo's Transition From Switch Will Be A "Significant Challenge"
But, yeah, I think despite Reggie's vaguely negative, quasi passive aggressive cynicism, Nintendo has a pretty good shot at exceeding expectations. Even if their Switch 2 would sell 30 million fewer units than Switch 1, I think that would still be a considered a fairly impressive success. I'm pretty excited to see how it all shakes out.
What is Reggies problem anyway? Was his departure perhaps not as friendly as we were led to believe?
Re: Reggie: Nintendo's Transition From Switch Will Be A "Significant Challenge"
What will Nintendo want to do with their next major console upgrade depends on how they want to market it. I see two questions that are before them:
1. Will it be marketed as full fledged next generation console whose leap in power and specs will place it far above what is possible to satisfactorily achieve on the original Switch's hardware? We'll call this a Switch 2.
2. Will it essentially be a Switch Pro - a system with a modest increase of specs, but not so much so that games would require exusivity?
If the answer to the first question is a Yes - that the next Switch will represent a new platform and replacement for the current Switch - then Nintendo will have to go all in on communicating this. While that might seems like a no-brainer, the Wii U was effectively crippled right out of the gate due to confusing marketing and bad naming conventions, as the average customer didn't know for sure if the Wii U was something new or just a Wii revision.
Specs on a Switch 2 would have to represent a pretty big improvement over that which is currently possible on Switch. It doesn't have to compete with the likes of a PS5, but it should def strive for something at least on par with the capabilities of a PS4. If they do this while maintaining full backwards compatibility along with a major expansion of their online services (which should include games from all previous systems), then I think a fully next gen Switch 2 stands a reasonably good chance at repeating the success of the current Switch, give or take a 15 million consoles.
If the answer to question number 2 is a Yes - that the next Switch will be more of a console refresh than a totally separate system with totally separate games- then Nintendo needs to be sure that this is communicated properly. The hardware specs on any such Switch Pro would not have to be a radical departure from Switch 1, but should at least represent a tangible improvement in graphical fidelity, resolution, frame rates, and processing speed.
Nintendo should probably encourage developers to take advantage of these increased specs but not to the point of designing games that can only be played on a Switch Pro. If they want to release a handful of exclusives on it ala Xenoblade on the New 3DS, that should be an option, but I think in most other cases, a game developed with the Switch Pro in mind should still be entirely playable on an original Switch. Such a game might take a hit in fidelity and frame rates on on Switch 1, but it should still be able on run on it.
If Nintendo were to go this route, I really think they should go bold on the pricing: on the day of Switch Pro's launch, it ought to sell for less than what a Switch currently costs, even if only just marginally so, and should really be at just about the same price as Switch 1, so as to incentivize a mid gen upgrade. Keeping the price low would allow it to continue the sales of the Switch going for another couple of years. And if this is how they plan to sell the Switch going forwards - as incremental upgrades which will not require game exclusivity - then they ought to be doing this at least once every other year, ala the Gameboy / DS with their various same gen revisions.
And while they would eventually pretty much have to produce a legitimate Switch 2, going this route would at least give them some kind of pseudo pillar to hold onto in case things would go awry, as they'll not have a GB, DS, or 3DS to bail them out this time.
Re: Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - The Best Turtles Beat 'Em Up Ever Made
@moodycat Just wanted to say that your avatar image seemed to perfectly fit the vibe of your comment 🤣 That does suck - especially with the physical delay lining up with some other potential masterpieces! Maybe not the worst problem to have, tho haha.
Re: Unreleased Quake Prototype For Game Boy Advance Discovered
This guy is among the best "impossible porters" the industry has ever known and yet few speak of his name. I will: Randy Lindum is awesome.
Re: Random: Nintendo's Mario Strikers Email Typo Accidentally Creates Rocket League Rival
Sadly, I'm like 95% certain I wouldn't have ever seen the word "Kart" in there had it not been pointed out haha.
Re: Spiritfarer Version 1.14 Is Ready To Download, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Wow - continued support so long after a release is always appreciated! I LOVED the game the first time around but for some reason, never finished the last chapter. This def gives me an incentive to dive back in. Heck, I might even start a new game - it was that good - not to mention powerfully moving. (Not gonna lie, it definitely made me tear up a few times... but, the bittersweetness hurt so good).
Re: Random: Sorry GameCube, LeBron James Likes The Nintendo 64 More
Yay. A celebrity likes something that a lot of people also like. Thrilling.
Re: NoA President Responds To Alleged Working Conditions At Nintendo, Finds Reports "Troubling"
@jedisquidward - Engaging in a baseless flurry of mind reading assumptions with complete strangers in a comments section - purely on the basis of having an opinion which appears to differs from that of your own - can be fun, but ever since I grew up a bit more, the appeal has sort of worn off. I mean, you literally have no clue as to what my politics and philosophies are. It's as if you're insecurely projecting some kind of inverted reflection of yourself onto me. I mean, come on - Ben Shapiro?! LMAO. Please give me more credit than that. That would be like me stating with delusional certainty that you must LOVE Cenk Uyger. Maybe you do, maybe you don't - I honestly wouldn't care either way.
But with all of that aside, you don't have to like Child Labor Cringe, fear SINISTER LIBERALS with victim complexes (your words, not mine), nor have any sort of fixation on "fake news" in order to more broadly appreciate the full range of possibilities for reasons why a company like NoA might suddenly be coming under fire in the way that it is. Maybe the initial complaints are legit and systemic - maybe not. But I will say this: in the age of cancel culture, blood in the water can very quickly lead to feeding frenzies. All it would take is for a sociopathic activist lawyer or three to come out of the woodwork with documents about how Bowser (or perhaps even Reggie) made asome kind of inappropriate sexual joke to a female employee 12 years ago, or even worse, accidentally mispronouned someone in an email or something, and the next thing you know, you've gotten every angry and easily offended person on the internet virtuously ranting and raving about how horrible Nintendo of America is, while at the same time labeling anyone who would still purchase Nintendo at that point as basically being enablers of their "systemic corporate malevolence", by proxy.
I mean, I imagine that even you must know that all of this is at the very least possible. If you think every disgruntled and angry person or group is telling the truth in instance, then you might be more naïve than I would have imagined.
Re: Reggie Doesn't Seem To Think Nintendo Has "Abandoned" F-Zero, Says There's Still Hope
I wonder what Nintendo Life's next daily article about something Reggie says will be about tomorrow? We all wait with bated breath.
Re: April NPD: Switch Has Overtaken PS4 Sales In The US
I don't remember the 360 selling THAT many units or being THAT popular. Must be another one of those Mandela Effects.
Re: NoA President Responds To Alleged Working Conditions At Nintendo, Finds Reports "Troubling"
This sounds like someone was butthurt and expected the regal treatment but when they didn't get it, despite only working on a temporary and contractual basis, they decided to try and cancel NOA. I fully expect some fringe group of disgruntled "offended by every micro aggression" purple haired types to come out and accuse them next of having a culture of "harassment". I'm sorry, I could be wrong, but this whole thing reeks of something being blown way out of proportion by a fragile person trying to rile up the mobs against a former employer.
Although, to be clear, if there ends up being solid, irrefutable evidence of some kind of deeply unusual systemically toxic work environment at NOA, then I'm not too arrogant to say I was wrong, and obviously, I would hope that it is addressed.
Re: Rune Factory 5 Passes 500,000 Global Sales On Switch
@HenHiro I mean, it technically is an RPG from Japan. Of course, that's only if one would want to get semantical about it. But, debatable as what constitutes a genre may be (I mean, have you ever seen Nintendo Life's top "Switch RPG" games, wherein at least a quarter of the entries are probably not what most people would consider RPGs??), I think @nhSnork 's broader assessment is clear and irrefutable. Def one of the best games on Switch this year, and - imo - probably deserving to be somewhere among the very best, LTD
Re: Nintendo Says It Wants To Avoid A Repeat Of Wii U With Switch's Successor
If they decide to keep the Switch moniker in the successor, I think Super Switch would be fairly decent - it evokes the Super Nintendo, while keeping the Switch branding intact, and - unlike Wii U and 3DS - it's just different enough to imply that that's a new console.
That said, keeping the word "Switch" would probably only be a good idea if the successor is backwards compatible. To suggest that the console is a massive new console in the Switch series while not allowing customers to play its predecessor's games would likely only need to confusion or anger from the more casual market. We on Nintendo Life might be aware of the next consoles level of backwards compatibility, but the average consumer wouldn't.
Basically, Nintendo billing their next gen console as a brand new system in the Switch series (let's say by naming it Switch 2) but at the same time, not allow older Switch 1 games to run on it, would be akin to Apple, at the height of the mid-late 2000s iPod craze, releasing a brand new "next gen" iPod model that would no longer recognize m4a song file format that all previous models used, as the new iPod can only read a brand new proprietary format. Consumers would not have been pleased - especially those who are not into tech and would therefore be out of the loop in hearing about changed like that. Doing this would have caused a great deal confusion and righteous frustration - which is why that never happened. Hopefully Nintendo avoids that trap.
Re: Rune Factory 5 Passes 500,000 Global Sales On Switch
@agrazioli Not really true in this case. Perhaps the NA version won't get very many updates, but there were several during the time it was out in Japan which were baked into the game by the time it was released overseas, with a MAJOR update being that of adding gay marriage. That change alone represented a very large story and gameplay modification, and - while it doesn't exactly effect me, personally, more options are good, and I'm happy for those fans who've been hoping for that kind of option for the entirety of the series.
There were also a number of smaller tweaks. And even though the game still isn't optimized very well, it def runs better than it did when it launched in Japan, at which time the frame rate issues were even worse. And there is datamined code that suggests that there may be a future update that would include two more marriage candidates, as there are files with their marriage outfits and other relationship type text.
As for the performance issue - while some people need huge stable frame rates to enjoy a game, the occasional drops when you first go outside and before entering buildings hasn't at all effected my enjoyment of the game.
Do I wish the game looked and performed better? Sure. But the developer was not given a huge budget, and it was the first game in the series that they've worked on in over a decade. I think the fully 3D environments, the fairly large overworld and the varied dungeons are all a step up from RF4 while the core game play loop from that treasured entry is maintained and in some cases, improved. If RF6 is optimized to run more smoothly, and includes some improved visuals, and a wider array of daily dialog from the townsfolk (that there is less than what there is in RF4, where it feels like they say something different every day was admittedly disappointing), it would be amazing. And hopefully next time around, the strong sales of 5 will afford the devopers a larger budget to work with.
And if it wasn't obvious, I would def recommend the game.
Re: Rune Factory 5 Passes 500,000 Global Sales On Switch
This is really great to hear! I've played through every game in the series and RF5 - despite some graphical shortcomings - is probably my favorite, and I definitely think it represents a big step up from RF4 (which I still loved - I guess I'm more into the console entries). I mean, I've already sunk close 200 hours into it and I'm still playing.
For a series that was dead for 10 full years, 500k sales actually IS kind of impressive. I hope it'll be enough to warrant a RF6 <3
Re: Reggie "Hated" Donkey Konga And Was Worried It Would Hurt The DK Brand
Reggie is like that popular chick you used to date in high school who left you for one of your friends, but despite things being amiable enough, she still comes out and talks about your relationship to everyone who will listen. And she just keeps talking on and on and on and on because for some reason, people just hang on her every word.
Re: Video: Nintendo Shares New Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Footage
@Azuris Did you play XC2? No? If you would ever give the game a chance (which it doesn't sound like you will), I woiuld say that the combat in the second game is - imho - arguably the deepest, most satisfying combat system that I've ever played in any RPG, on any console, period. The number of recurring things that are happening all at once is honestly almost unreal at times and - sadly - the game doesn't do a good job of explaining the intricacies of it. But once you get a grasp on what blades do, the differences there are between blade combos, driver combos, party combos, elemental bursts, and other various concurrent effects, passives and positions, everything begins to open up.
I would also watch some combat videos on youtube, of which there are many (I would recommend Enel's content), as they provide a glimpse into just how deep the combat really is. And once you learn the full scope of what is possible, the possibility of truly mastering it becomes something worth doing - it just feels amazing to be pulling off ridiculous amounts of damage to overpowered enemies that may have otherwise been impossible. Some might be put off by the entire scope and complexity of it, but I think it's amazing.
While I do think the first game has, perhaps, the better story arc and direction compared to two, I would agree that thethe combat is definitely so-so. But the game was built on aging Wii hardware and - even with the remastering it received - the gameplay mechanics themselves are dated to the time of its original release. Not much is going to change that.
I think it's kind of ridiculous to pan the entire series, though, just because the first game's decade old combat mechanics didn't suit you.
Re: Back Page: Which Is The Best Controller Button, And What Does Your Pick Say About You?
I, too, am prescribed to Adderall. In all seriousness, I love the A button, but have a soft spot for Y. I abhor the B button, and any game which uses B as its main action / interaction / select button.
Re: Random: Metal Gear 35th Anniversary Site Confirmed As A Fan Joke, Now 'Konami Memorial NFT'
Wait, Konami is still a developer? I laughed at their concern about what to do with the site. How about instead of getting butthurt about obvious jokes, they...I dunno...work on making decent console games?
Re: Square Enix Shows Off Chrono Cross Remaster Comparison Screenshots
I radically dream of the day when Square bothers with a legit, full 3D remake of Chrono Trigger and/or Final Fantasy 6.
Re: Mutant Mudds Dev Announces New "Casual Online Party Game" For Switch, Supports Up To 13 Players
@Krambo42 Wow. That really sucks. Thanks for the insight, depressing / anger inducing though it is.
Re: Mutant Mudds Dev Announces New "Casual Online Party Game" For Switch, Supports Up To 13 Players
I mean, the harsh reaction is somewhat justified...but perhaps their strategy is to put out a smaller budget game with broad, casual appeal so as to direct some of the revenue from it into finishing games like Hatch on time.
I mean, if I was in a situation where a very important game began to take a much longer time to finish, but I still needed to put food on the table, I'd probably be more than tempted to put something out there in the meantime. Just because a developer is crowd sourced, that doesn't mean that unforeseen delays won't happen, or that they're somehow immune to unanticipated spikes in development costs.
If such problems arise during development, then - unless you're a AAA company like Nintendo, that can afford to delay games for as long as necessary - for everyone else - and especially for crowdfunded devs - things get super tricky. I mean, aside from scrapping the developmentally challenged game entirely, a small developer basically has maybe one of two realistic options:
1 ) beg for more donations - a seemingly simple option, however repeated drives tend to draw rapidly diminishing returns and worse still, devs who do this can spook their backers who may suddenly demand their money back, or...
2) work on a game that you don't really feel very passionate about but it's one that has a shot at selling well enough despite a very short development and release schedule. The returns on releasing such a cheap but broadly appealing game could theoretically generate enough money to not only put food on the table, but also enough for the dev to finish their long awaited main projects, while at the same time, not outwardly begging for more cash.
The intensely negative drawbacks to option two can be seen here in the comments section haha. The developer may gain a new revenue stream to fuel their main passion project and a cheap game might keep food on the table, but it can have the effects of angering those who have long supported the developer and who might now see them as hacks, frauds, and sellouts, and it makes backers rightfully want to know where the hell their game is and why their money seems to be directed in some way to questionable shovelware games instead of whatever game it is that the backers want.
Perhaps in the developer's mind, the latter option would will appear to be the better solution right now and that the hope is their credibility will be restored once the game everyone is backing actually arrives - late, but in a quality state.
Obviously the best solution is to release the game everyone wants, but as stated earlier, things in life are rarely so simple.
And who knows, maybe they really are scammers and con artists and deserve the extreme backlash that they're getting atm, however... I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if sometimes my optimism ends up looking like naivety. Either way, I do hope that - regardless of what's going on with them - that the developer can achieve its goals and that their backers get the game they've put their faith in.
Re: Deals: Amazon's MicroSD Card Sale Is The Perfect Opportunity To Get More Storage For Your Switch (US)
@RupeeClock As someone who began to purchase SD cards for the Wii and DS Lite, the degree to which the the price and size of SD storage has improved since those days really is incredible. Unless there was a super black Friday sale or something, just getting a 64 or 128 GB card was definitely far outside of my budget at that time.
I do wonder if tech's very long, almost entirely unimpeded decades of trend of increased value of things like memory, TVs, video games, and the like will be able to keep pace with the global rate of inflation. Even if price/value would remain stagnant, the higher cost of living could still diminish a lot of people's ability to indulge in these items (and the ongoing chips shortages across the entire industry probably aren't helping).
I guess all we can do is hope that the long trajectory of constant-innovation-at-lower-costs-to-the-consumer the market isn't too disrupted too, too much.
Re: Rune Factory 5 Lets You Cook, Fish, Smith, And Ride Cows With The Love Of Your Life
The game looks about as graphically unimpressive and low budget as it could possibly get, but...when considering the circumstances and the fact that the developer is clawing back from oblivion, I would expect some concessions.
As a longtime fan of the series (I've played and beaten every game), I want this game to be a major success so that the series can continue - and hopefully with a larger budget next time around. For that reason, it is a day one purchase, warts and all.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Triangle Strategy
The game is a gem. I might even go so far as to that Triangle Strategy is quite possibly my favorite Square game since the 90s.
Re: Review: Triangle Strategy - Square Enix Plots A Total Tactical Triumph
Pro-Tip: Play the game with Japanese VA and a sub.
Though I'm hardly one those purist snobs who hates every single dub, in this particular case, I found the VA (at least the English one) in this game is so abysmal, I almost had no other choice but to play it with Japanese VA.
Re: Review: Triangle Strategy - Square Enix Plots A Total Tactical Triumph
I loved the demo so much - glad to see that the entire game is just as good. While I imagine that there are many who won't really enjoy the lengthy segments of dialogue, I found them to be surprisingly well written and - with all of the fleshed out characters and depth of political intrigue - the story was likewise highly engrossing. (In that respect, it kinda reminded me of the intensely political and criminally underrated Ogre Battle 64).
And that's not even touching upon the battles, which - if you're a fan of tactical RPGs such as Ogre Battle, FFTactics, Fire Emblem and the like - is a treat.
My only major gripe (from the demo, anyway) was just finicky the camera and the drunken map controls were. Through practice, both of these problems can be mitigated to some extent (e.g. pressing the d pad will automatically jump to a location, and moving the analogy gently for the camera can mitigate some of these issues, but it's still annoying. I also had, at times, a bit of trouble figuring out which direction an enemy was facing, as many characters stand in a sideways stance that, because of the nature of sprites, can be ambiguous.
Other than those issues, the demo was amazing and I can't wait to dive in to the rest of the game.
Re: Every Nintendo Switch Online SNES Game Ranked
That Earthbound isn't in the top 5 makes me seriously question the tastes of NintendoLife's readers. (J/k) (though maybe also slightly serious)
Re: It's Official, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Is Launching On Nintendo Switch This September
I'm not gonna lie, when this dropped, I busted a nut. The game looks SO good.
Re: Switch Outsells Wii And PlayStation, Passes 100 Million Faster Than Any Other Home Console
@Atariboy Good point. I failed to account for the fact that a majority of Wii owners likely also owned a DS, so - with that in mind - it could be that the Switch has achieved the same number of unique owners as Wii+DS, or possibly even more. I tend to not that think that the latter is likely, seeing as how there were a lot of folks who bought a Wii for Wii Sports and literally nothing else, however it could be pretty close.
Re: Switch Outsells Wii And PlayStation, Passes 100 Million Faster Than Any Other Home Console
It is an extremely impressive number...however, when you consider the fact that, in previous generations, Nintendo was selling consoles and handhelds at the same time, the number 103 million units seems just ever so slightly less so.
The Wii+DS combo ended up with 255 million units sold - a number which absolutely dwarfs the Switch and will likely remain forever out of reach.
That having been said, 103 million units is still impressive, as it already strongly exceeds the Wii U+3DS 90 million combo and it will very soon surpass the GCN+GBA's 104.5 combined units. It could also eventually outsell N64+GB/C (but that one is a toss-up, as the different versions of the GB line make it more difficult to quantify).
That said, the Switch is still selling and while I don't think it'll sniff the total sales of Wii+DS, it'll probably end up coming close to or exceeding PS2 which, of course, would be a hugely impressive feat.
Re: Nintendo Says It Won't Compete With Microsoft And Sony In An Acquisitions Arms Race
I think Nintendo should maybe take the opposite approach and invest in indie companies who show a great deal of promise - if not purchase them outright, give them the opportunity to become a second party developer with the freedom to still make their own company decisions.
I think "drafting" various up and coming, talented indie companies would be of a huge benefit to Nintendo longterm. There is little financial risk as investing in indie and gaining some degree of exclusivity would cost a great deal less than it would trying to purchase a massive third party company.
Re: Video: Nintendo Fixed* The Water Emulation In Ocarina Of Time On Switch
@Jayesbe Hahaha. It's okay. You got your post count up +1, tho. So at least there's that.
Re: Free Switch Online Trials Are Available To My Nintendo Members (North America)
@Shambo I honestly agree with pretty much everything you wrote. And that sucks that you jilted in that way by the dentist's office. It is pretty awful that so many companies - from every field and industry - seem to work in at least one or more ways to screw over the customer via some sort of legal jujitsu. It's just become a very common practice and obviously, it's not one that I condone.
Re: Metroid Prime 4 Developer Retro Studios Is Seeking New Team Members
Seems pretty clear to me at this point that Metroid Prime 4 is more than likely being developed as a launch title for the as yet unveiled (and with chip shortages, likely delayed) Switch 2.
Although it would remain to be seen if such a game would also be released on the original Switch as it's last hurrah (see also: BOTW and Twilight Princess) - unless Switch 2 end up being a graphical juggernaut or its architecture is radically different from its predecessor, it would seem likely.
Those are my thoughts on it anyway.
Re: The First Zelda Was Almost 100% Dungeons, According To Miyamoto
Interesting. I always thought Ocarina of Time had some of the most well thought out and - in some cases - the most complex series of dungeons in the series - at least to that point (the infamous Water Temple, anyone?) I mean, I guess the 3D aspect could have made OoT's dungeons seem more complicated than they actually were - but at the same time, I still find it very hard to believe that dungeons weren't really much of a focus in the game.
Maybe Miyamoto is just trying to be humble or something - or mayhap he's eaten one too many edibles? The mystery deepens.
Re: Review: Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel - A F2P Card-Battler With Potential, But Noobs Beware
Imagine being a publisher and being so devoid of scruples that you would shamelessly releasing a game in such a poor state - so poor, in fact, that they felt that it necessary to include a crash warning at boot-up.
I mean, how the hell as a devoper do you make a game that is so clearly broken that you need to do that? Where is their pride?
I get that it's free-to-play, but I don't think that justifies releasing a game that is guaranteed to crash. And if that would be the publisher's defense, then - imo - it's not a very good one. It's embarrassing.
Since they definitely know about the problem, it be true that the game really will run better in time, though their "we're looking into it" part of the warning message doesn't exactly inspire much in the way of confidence.
Re: Video: Nintendo Fixed* The Water Emulation In Ocarina Of Time On Switch
@Jayesbe You know, it's never too late to press edit and add some paragraphs 😉
Re: Analyst Predicts 2024 Release Date For Next-Gen Nintendo Switch Successor
I honestly think Switch 2 would have already been announced - probably with a 2023 release date - had there not been any chip shortages.
Hopefully the extra time means that Nintendo can add better specs without inflating the console price too, too much...but then again, this is Nintendo we're talking about.
Re: Best Of 2021: 8 Games That Missed Nintendo Hardware
Although this doesn't entirely meet the requirement of having never been on any Nintendo console, it's always bugged me that Etrian Odyssey games never came to Wii U - the gamepad would have been perfect for it. (And I'm furthermore super disappointed that series has never even come back to Switch either).
I'm guessing that the series is dead at this point...which is just incredibly sad to me.
Re: Best Of 2021: The Dark Secrets Of Brewster's 'Pigeon Milk' In Animal Crossing
Since the first time it happened on AC: Wild World, I always took it to mean...something else entirely 🤣
Re: Nintendo's Boss Shuntaro Furukawa Warns Of Switch Supply Issues In 2022
Removed
Re: Japan's Top 100 Console Games Of All Time Revealed, According To A Nationwide TV Network Poll
Very awesome list with a lot of older games on it that I'd not expected to see. I'm kinda surprised by the lack of LoZ: ALttP...but the again, it wasn't until after that game that Japan was really into Zelda - if I'm remembering correctly, the series was usually far more popular in the West. Judging by the placement of BotW, it would appear as though that's entirely a thing of the past now.
Re: Free Switch Online Trials Are Available To My Nintendo Members (North America)
@Yosher I agree that it's a sucky practice, but at the same time, it's hard for me hard to feel bad for people who just can't be bothered to read the fine print.
Re: Review: Torchlight II - A Brilliant Dungeon-Crawler Expertly Ported By Panic Button
The review failed to mwntion the game's excellent soundtrack, which was composed by Matt Uelmen aka the composer for Diablo 1 and 2, and some of the tracks in the World of Warcraft expansions. Some of the tracks give off a strong Diablo 2 vibe which is something that I would describe as being a huge positive.
Otherwise, the review is boss.
Re: Nintendo Minute's Kit And Krysta Say Goodbye In Their "Final Episode"
Nintendo Week (with Gary and Alison, on Wii) >>>>>>>>>>> Nintendo Minute - and it's not even close.
Re: Poll: Paper Mario Is Out Now On Nintendo Switch Online, Will You Be Playing It?
I'm playing it now for the first time and I'm absolutely loving it. It's aged remarkably well - maybe better than any N64 game I've played.
Re: Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp Rated In Australia (Again)
I really hate the art style in the remasters. Like...I don't usually care all that about that sort of thing...but in this case, the aesthetic is so bad that I literally don't think I'll buy it specifically for that reason.
Re: Nintendo Switch System Update 13.2.0 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Chi-com Stability Confirmed.
Re: Former Metroid Prime Engineer Admits He Was "Disappointed" With The Wii's Specs
@Specter_of-the_OLED I'm not sure if I would include PS3 in that category. It had an abysmally slow start, true...but by the end of its lifespan, it ended up selling 87 million units - only about 14 million less than the Wii. I'd say that was pretty dang good, all things considering.
I certainly wouldn't put it in the category of "Most Powerful Systems of That Flopped In Its Generation". I mean, I would have more or less agreed with your assessment had the list given was made up of most powerful consoles that didn't take first place.
As for the rest of what you wrote...