Arix

The way I see it is that the moment to moment gameplay is fun and enjoyable, but there are some large structural choices that...were definitely choices they made.

The over-tutorialisation is a truly baffling choice that I'll never fully understand. Sol Valley isn't nearly as bad as some people make it out to be, but it still isn't great. The story is obviously a mess. First implying and then outright stating that you can go and get the keys in any order you want, only to then immediately turn around and say "Actually no, there's a specific linear order to do things in" was weird. Having to find chips which you then need to bring back to Myles so he can turn them into a weapon as opposed to just finding the weapons. All of these are definitely issues that could have been made a lot better.

But at the same time, the combat is fast and snappy, the controls are smooth and tight, exploration is fun if a bit restrictive - it's still fun to just play through.

I feel like your overall opinion of the game will be decided by whether you focus more on the holistic issues (in which case yes, it'll feel like a disappointing mess) or the fun moment-to-moment gameplay (in which case I think you'll be perfectly satisfied). I think a lot of the noise - on both sides - is just the internet's tendency to extreme-ify things. Everything has to be either perfect or garbage.

@Lizuka This is kind of how I feel, honestly. The Europe/Japan one is in this weird middle ground here it isn't quite minimalist because we have detailed full body character art, but it's not quite detailed because they're just kind of...standing in a white void. I can't say I love the NA art, but I prefer the vibe it's going for than the weird in-between of the other box.

He wasn't a bad character. He filled a bad role. Having a character immediately butt in after five seconds of roaming to tell you where to go - without waiting long enough for you to go there even if you make an immediate beeline towards it - sucks, and it would suck no matter what the character who did it was like.

As an actual character he was...I mean, not great, but not THAT bad. Literally all they needed to do was leave it up to the player to choose to contact him for guidance rather than have him automatically butt in and most of the issues with him vanish. Just have him say "Hey you can radio me from the map screen if you need some help" when you first leave Fury Green, then shut up.

He's not as completely game-ruining as some people make him out to be, but he is annoying and it'd be better if he wasn't there. Or at least had an option to turn his hints off - or, failing that, leaving it up to you to contact him for guidance if you need it, rather than having him automatically butt in after you spend twenty seconds riding around the desert with "HEY SAMUS DID YOU CONSIDER USING YOUR NEW ICE ABILITY IN THE VOLCANO" because who wants to waste time exploring in a Metroid game apparently.

I'll always prefer a more dynamic pose over a character just kind of...standing there.

I mean, they're...basically the same, so I guess I'd pick the one that shows more characters.

I'm definitely a physical collector, always have been, will always get physical games (and other media) whenever they're available. That said, like...I don't get what the big deal is? I mean, yeah, given the choice I would absolutely prefer to have the data on the actual cart, but like...is this really that big a deal?

It was...fine...ish? Nothing that really made me leap out of my seat and go "OH HELL YEAH", but enough to put a bit of a smile on my face at least.

I'd prefer an animated series in the style of that Star Fox Zero short, but either way I would be beyond stoked to see Star Fox adapted to screen.

That said, I'm definitely not getting my hopes up for it.

Never been a big fan of anime art. That said, swords gleaming with beams of light are always cool. But yeah, the western one with the nice background and cool pose are the way to go for me.

I like the group shot in the Japanese version, but everything else is just too cluttered. Going for the Western action shot.

Assault was always my favourite Star Fox. Yeah it has its issues, but I felt like it did a great job in evolving the series and bringing something truly new while still staying true to what the series is. Taking the basic framework of adding on-foot run-and-gun missions to the usual on-rails sections and perfecting it would be the best.

@8bit-Man Because he's an 𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽. And if there's one thing 𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓼 love, it's telling people how they're experiencing their 𝓪𝓻𝓽 wrong. Because as we all know, the great thing about art is how there is one and only one correct way to experience it.

I like the protagonists better in the Japanese one, but everything else better in the Western one. Since the protagonists are the most prominent element, I guess that means I go for the Japanese cover this time.

Not a big fan of the blur on the European version, but the shadow, lightning and shine on the jewel give it a much more dynamic look than the flat Japanese one, so that gets my vote.

No, there is no third option.

Don't love either of them, but I vaguely prefer the more dynamic look of the Western one.

I love the chunkiness of the N64 cart. There's something very satisfying about it.

@TerryTrowbridge My thoughts exactly. The Toriyama art isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but to anyone not in the know, it is just as generic as the NA art. Personally, a treasure trove of magical artefacts ignites my imagination far more than a bunch of random faces looking at me.

Two versions was a fun community-building gimmick back in the day when trading meant you had to actually meet up. But with that aspect of it lost due to online trading, it just feels like there's no purpose any more. If you absolutely need to "force" trading (rather than just having it be an option to help them out if they're having trouble catching certain mons), then having some mutually exclusive choices, like starters or the old Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan situation, does the trick.

And if having two versions is obsolete, having three definitely is.

Although the original has aged...poorly at best, I feel like when you're so iconic that there's literally a genre named after you, and an incredibly popular genre at that, you kind of deserve to be in the HOF by default.

The NA/Europe one is too busy, while the Japanese one is too minimalistic. The Korean one strikes a good balance - enough going on to catch your eye, but not so much that it makes your eyes glaze over.

The cutscenes and dialogue completely did the game in for me. I mean, I get it, it's a JRPG, it's gonna be story heavy, but man, those cutscenes were just so numerous, so long, and so incredibly tedious that that brief moments I got to actually play the game between them were just not worth it.

I don't want Pokemon to have a very involved story. I want it to just show me a world and let me journey through it at my own pace, not stop my progress every five minutes to guide me through another insufferable cutscene with a bunch of faces I don't care about. I'm not against games telling involved stories - I grew up on old point-and-click adventures, a genre that lives and dies on the strength of its story - but something about Pokemon in particular just kind of rubs me the wrong way when it comes to story.

@duffmmann I mean, I'm 33 and I base my Pokémon decisions based on who would look the coolest holding a sword.

So I'm clearly an outlier here, but I really just don't like the JP boxart. Maybe it's my preference for environments over characters, but the JP art just looks like an overbusy, crowded mass of faces that just look silly when all pushed together like that.

Can't say I'm super fond of the details in the NA/EU art, but the more dynamic poses, and being more fitting specifically for the game, make it win out over the generic "lifted straight off a random piece of merch" art of the Japanese one.

@LUIGITORNADO I feel exactly the same way. There are other popular series that I don't like but I at least get, but I honestly never understood all the immense hype around Golden Sun.

I mean, like...exclusives and second-party developers have literally always been a thing. What's the big deal here?

I understand all the hate Other M gets, but I also think it doesn't deserve it. It's definitely the worst mainline Metroid, but it's still pretty good in its own right.

Alien Soldier been one of my all-time favourites since I first found it on Wii Virtual Console, it one million percent needs more love.

@Randomname19 Super hard agree on this (although I personally would hope for Spyro over Crash).

@Flashlink99 "However thinking that people should re-examine their life just because they don’t agree with certain themes or characters is a bit anti-“freedom of speech” but whatever."

It's not about "just disagreeing", it's about being needlessly hateful. You can dislike anything at all for any reason, but when you start insulting or attacking people just for liking something, that's when you need to start "re-examining your life". (Note that I'm not accusing you personally of doing that, just clarifying).

Thoroughly second the recommendation for Ghost of a Tale. A very well-told story that doesn't have to sacrifice gameplay to tell it.

Bulbasaur has 48% of the vote, but...but it's...it's literally poison.

I personally enjoy difficulty in my games, but I'm never going to look down on people looking for something else. There are a bunch of reasons people play games, and none of them are wrong. The whole point of gaming is to enjoy yourself. If you're not enjoying yourself for any reason, including difficulty, then you don't play the game. That really shouldn't be controversial.

Dragonheart is different to how I remember it.

@nessisonett I'm the same. Every time I've started Majora's Mask, I get some way into it, and I'm enjoying it well enough, but then my eye always wanders on over to my Big Ol' Shelf o' Games, I see something else that catches my interest, then I just end up dropping Majora. I don't know what it is, but it just never really holds my attention long enough to actually stick with it, and to this day it remains the only mainline Zelda game I haven't beaten.

I don't think the European one is cheating just because it's a later release using the familiar art style. Thing is, even without the familiar art style, it still just looks the best. Even if you were to replace the modern designed Bros on the European box with the older design of the Japanese one, the European one still just looks better.

So many people crying about "nostalgia blindness" - this is literally a popularity contest. It is literally about nothing more than what people like the most. If people happen to like the gen 1 starters most, regardless of the reason, then they deserve to win.

(For the record, my votes were Charmander, Totodile, and Treecko).

Yeah...there's a fine line between "inspired by" and "directly ripped off of", and this looks like it rocketed straight past that line miles ago. Cuphead isn't old enough to have a "spiritual successor" yet.

That said of course, if it turns out to be good, then who cares.

I pronounce NES as "enn eee ess", but then I'm super weird and call the SNES "super enn eee ess".

I...kind of hate all of them. But the Japanese one the least I guess?

Loving the electric Moltres. Those stormcloud wings are just sublime.

Well, I mean, the whole reason competitive Melee is so popular is because of how broken and exploitable it is. Blaming one guy for "exploiting" the system when the whole scene is built around being exploited...seems a bit dumb.

"Now then, excuse us while we head off for a few moments to record our very own Team Nintendo Life Eevee dance - and argue over who has to wear the suit."

Has to...or gets to?

I'm pro-scores. It provides a good thing to check out at a glance if you're squeezed for time and just want a quick "y/n" rather than sitting down to read an entire page or two. Looking at the bottom of the page and seeing "6/10, solid level design hindered by sloppy controls and awkward camera" provides a quick and easily digestible summary when that's all you can go for at the moment. It also helps avoid spoilers when you're not entirely sure about a game but want to go in with as little knowledge about it as possible.

That's the main reason I use scores and summaries - not because I can't be bothered reading the entire review, but because that's all I have time for at the given moment. By cutting scores, you wouldn't be getting me to read the entire thing - you'd be turning me away from the review all together, and I'm sure I'm not the only one (this is a hypothetical "you" of course, I know the article said NL isn't doing this any time soon).