B238ben

I would have bought the long rumored Switch Pro, and that is (so far) basically what it has been to me—a new Switch that runs games better than the OLED model I had. Mario Kart World has been forgettable and I haven’t touched it since launch, skipped Donkey Kong Bananza (seemed repetitive so I’ll wait for a sale years down the road). I did pick up Metroid Prime 4, but that’s on the original Switch too. I have greatly enjoyed the improved performance of Switch games and have been going through my old games and having a blast. The biggest negative for me is the poor battery life. Overall, I’d give the Switch 2 a generous 8/10 but I would have been ok waiting to get this system as I could have kept playing on my OLED Switch and no Switch 2 games have really justified the purchase yet (I have hopes those games are coming 2026)

I’ve been saving a voucher for this game and will buy the $10 Switch 2 upgrade, just waiting on the reviews of the game before I pull the trigger. The game looks amazing but a few things (marines who annoyingly detract from the game with excessive dialogue and empty motorcycle driving areas) made me decide to hold off of a pre-order and gauge the quality of the game before I move forward. I’m excited we get to find out soon and I’m hoping the game is another amazing entry in the series.

I would buy this in a heartbeat if you could actually purchase the games, but making the games part of a subscription service means investing in the peripherals now will only guarantee their use for the next few years at best. I still have large libraries of games from the SNES, GameCube, Wii that make me happy just knowing I can go play them anytime. The way this deal is structured means any money you put in now will absolutely be wasted in the future as you won’t be able to use It when the online service is no longer available. Perhaps Nintendo should consider if you are a subscriber to their services for the entire time you own their console (when the console gets first activated from the store) then when the online service to that console is no longer available in the future the online service games switch to games that no longer require online access to run them. The games become digital games that you “own.” This would mean Nintendo gains loyalty to their digital services (don’t want to let the service expire and lose out on games!) and people can play the games for the life of the console. I don’t think Nintendo would honestly even consider this as it would threaten future profits because then some people wouldn’t subscribe to their next online service since they own the games, but it seems like the right thing to do for their customers. As it is, it just doesn’t seem worth the money even though I’d love to try the games out.

There was a lot in this Direct, but unfortunately not a lot appealed to me. If I had stopped watching after the 40th anniversary Mario segment I don’t think I would have missed much, which surprises me because that was 40 minutes long. I do appreciate getting a chance to purchase Mario Galaxy 2, the Mario tennis game looks ok (I have Aces on my Switch 2 already, honestly not sure I need a new one?), and the Metroid Prime 4 game looked mostly good (the motorcycle sections looked bleak and barren, not in an interesting way either). I already knew about Metroid Prime 4 so that wasn’t really anything new. Nothing else piqued my interest. At this point I’m honestly wondering why I bought a Switch 2. Super happy for all the people who enjoyed the Direct, like I said before, unfortunately I just don’t see myself buying much of it (especially at higher prices).

For whatever reason this game has not captured my interest. I’m happy it seems like a great game and maybe if it goes 30% off in a future sale I’ll pick it up.

@The_Nintend_Pedant Definitely! Think of all the accessories that people couldn’t sell with a different screen size like new cases to hold the Switch 2, new screen protectors, etc. Gamers, I doubt they would have cared though! 😂

This looks great. Definitely on my radar to pickup!

I love Nintendo and have had every system (except Virtual Boy) over the years. The price tag, before any extra tariffs, made me think hard over the last few days if this next iteration was really worth it. I still have a significant backlog and while MKW looks great, I have Mario Kart 8 which looks nearly as good and seems to have more playable tracks (that might change, I don’t doubt that there will be more DLC for this game in the future, and the open world looks fun and is a massive “track” itself). I came to the conclusion the system was worth it given the price, but that is a high price. The fact that someone who is a die hard fan had to think that much before buying the next system has me wondering about the widespread adoption of the next console. I think it will sell, but far more modestly than the original Switch. A $500 purchase is not one families and many people on a budget can and will make easily, no matter if the underlying system is worth it. Perhaps that’s why Nintendo is charging more, to make more money on the systems it does sell. And if Nintendo decides to price premium more games at a higher price point I’ve already decided I will be far more judicious in my purchases. I hope Nintendo does well with Switch 2 but I don’t think with this pricing structure it will be a homerun. I’ve never seen a Nintendo presentation where people yelled about the price the entire time until now with their livestreams. Right now I think people are shocked and angry, but soon people that can’t afford it will just move on to something else, and I think it will diminish the larger Nintendo community. Perhaps there was no other way forward from the success of the Switch, but I just don’t see Switch 2 rising to the same heights as its predecessor.

I loved the original and bought the Sparks of Hope game and DLC before it even came out. Count me among the disappointed. The game is way too easy even on the hardest difficulties and eventually I just stopped playing. The graphics, controls, sound are all excellent, but at the core it felt like a strategy game made for people who don’t like strategy games. Too bad, but at least the original is still excellent.

I never owned the Wii version but picked up the 3DS version and loved it. Glad to have a HD graphic upgrade from the 3DS version I own that also works on Switch and Switch 2 in the future. I’m loving every minute of playing this game, but admit that Donkey Kong Country Returns isn’t quite as good as Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. Still, I already own Tropical Freeze and this gives me a lot of great levels to play. Using the game vouchers I got this one for $50 and is completely worth it for me (I really enjoy platform games). 10/10

As a longtime Nintendo fan really looking forward to the Switch 2 I have to say this video did nothing for me. It was only a 2 minute video but felt longer. I guess it didn’t show me a reason to upgrade. It did show the slight differences than the Switch I already have effectively. Ok, I guess, why would I spend a lot of money getting a slightly larger screen and joy cons? I understand the underlying hardware will be more powerful and should make the transition worth it but I doubt any casual fans will see this and think they need it which is a shame. Perhaps the point is to just get the conversation rolling and let people see it, so mission accomplished. Not Nintendo’s best work in my opinion, but not a disaster either. Hopefully this will sell just as well as the original Switch so Nintendo will keep making great games.

I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed playing this game. I still have the originals on GameCube and I like this one just as much which I wasn’t expecting. Glad to see it getting a demo, definitely makes it easy for people to check it out if they are interested.

I wonder if there are performance problems on the current Switch because (if rumors are to be believed that there will be backwards compatibility with current generation Switch games) this game was actually optimized to run better on the Switch 2 (or whatever it ends up being called).

@Lightsiyd That’s great, it’s a good game and I’m having fun with it.

@Lightsiyd If there is a limit I have not hit it yet and I have a lot of things in my inventory.

@Indielink I get that, but more than a few missions require 3 or 4 characters and I have a limit of 5 characters. So you play a level, and then to play another it’s an inconvenient trip to the bar then back to where I was. This just pads the gameplay time because now I have to fight through all the respawned boats on the water. Seems like it just takes time and honestly, if I want to use the same people (perhaps to build out the alternative skill sets) why should the developers care? I like picking the best people for any given mission like I could do in the first game.

So far I’ve had a lot of fun with this game, but I can’t stand being forced to head back to a bar to rest after each mission so I can use a character again for a new mission. It feels like it is a trick to make it take longer to play the game, but it adds nothing in my opinion. I hope they patch this requirement out. A lot of the other tweaks from the first game work well and I really like the open ended upgrade tree. I really enjoyed the first game and have been enjoying this game so far.

@ST3 That’s exactly how I felt. I wanted to see how my time stacked up overall and was shocked to see the “best run.” My big takeaway is that I think I will spend less time with this game and just play single player. I’m not interested in learning how to glitch old games, and unfortunately that takes this game from a small amount of content to begin with to even less. Ultimately, just disappointing.

I bought this earlier today after wondering if it would justify the cost. Never played an Ace Combat game before but I’ve heard of them and it looked both good and interesting. With the great review here at Nintendolife and an understanding the licensed DLC (Top Gun: Maverick, an excellent movie) would eventually become unavailable I decided to take the plunge. I’ve only played the first level but I am beyond impressed. The flight mechanics are easy to pick up, graphics are gorgeous, gameplay is fun, and the music rocks. I was hesitant to purchase but I will be happy to have this gem portable as I have some travel coming up. I would definitely buy again and will consider the other DLC. If you have any interest in flying combat games I’d highly recommend it. Happy flying everyone!

One of my all time favorite games. Easily a day 1 purchase for me, I’m glad someone thought to port it over.

I still play this game once a year, usually around Christmas. Day 1 purchase! Amazing game if you haven’t played it.

Advance Wars are some of my favorite games ever. I’m so thankful these games have been remade so a new generation can try them. I still have my original gameboy advance cartridges but I’m picking this up to show support for the series and hope that more games will come out in the future. I would love it if they would make the two DS games available for purchase as well on the Switch.

The game I’m looking forward to the most this year. So happy to see the game being made and fingers crossed for more in the future. If you like strategy games this is a must have!

This is the game I’m most looking forward to this year! I love the originals. The only concern I have is the graphics, as I’m a huge fan of the original pixel graphics, but I hope the style grows on you as you play as the article states above. I have this preordered and can’t wait!

Fully agree with the comments above. This game became boring because of how easy it was to win. I finished the first two worlds and haven’t touched it since because it’s just mind numbing. A true hard difficulty would solve the issue, as the controls are tight, the graphics are great, etc. Unfortunately, I just don’t think Ubisoft will fix the difficulty.

I loved the original but Sparks of Hope wasn’t nearly as good. Not only was there a lot of bloat with dialogue that was poorly written and easy puzzles to solve, but I found the combat to be mind numbingly easy. I had heard the game trended easy so I put the settings at the hardest difficulty and it is still way too easy. I finished the first two worlds and just completely lost interest. I rarely do not finish the games I purchase once I start them, and I especially love strategy games, so this game ranks about a 4/10. The graphics, controls, etc are there, but the design is horrible and that is really sad since they could have just tweaked what they did the first time. I purchased the main game and DLC as a preorder in order to support the series, but I got burned on this one pretty bad. I definitely will wait for sales from Ubisoft in the future. I wish you could return digital games because I doubt they will fix the massive problems in this game to make it worth playing.

I love all the Nintendo consoles over the years, but I think the SNES, GameCube, Wii U (virtual console had all the big hits from the prior generations plus its own games were excellent) and Switch are all top notch. Out of those I don’t really care which one wins. The fact that I get to play them all makes me the winner at the end of the day.

One of my most played games on Switch. If you haven’t played this game and enjoy tactical games this is probably the best one on Switch. I hope they make a sequel sometime. I played FTL on my iPad (made by the same developer) and was hooked on that game for a few months as well. This developer is worth following as their games are a ton of fun.

@Poodlestargenerica Absolutely. I picked it up because I’m a huge Heroes of Might and Magic fan but the game is unique and stands on its own. Definitely a hidden gem on the DS.

I typically play Clash of Heroes on the DS once a year. Great puzzle game that seems to never get old.

I thought Princess Peach’s voice was horrible, it was the worst part of the trailer. As for her role, I always envisioned Peach as more of a stately person, a ruler, than a warrior. I mean, no one seriously expects a US President, or the late British Queen for that matter, to also be a warrior. They have different and important roles and most work together to complete a task, but I guess they are going a different direction with the story. We will see how it turns out I guess. As for what I enjoyed, the animation was amazing, and seeing the Mushroom Kingdom come to life was really cool. I really enjoyed the Toad portions and thought they were great as well.

I loved the original so I bought Sparks of Hope with high expectations. Sparks of Hope is just too easy. I honestly don’t know how you would lose these battles. I’m playing it on the hardest difficulty settings you can set the options. To be fair, I’m only halfway through the main game, but so far the graphics are gorgeous, the controls work well, but the gameplay is mind numbing. I think the only challenge will be to keep going despite the overly easy gameplay, it’s that boring and simple. I’d rather play the original Mario Rabbids, Into the Breach, or Steamworld Heist instead of Sparks of Hope. If I could, I would return my digital copy and just play any of those games again. Very disappointed, this could have been a great game.

Looks fun. I’ll watch for the review and check it out.

This is one of my most played Switch games by time played. Amazing game. If you enjoy strategy games you will love this. I would highly recommend it.

I played this a lot for a few months. It is a really fun game and a great concept. the game also encouraged me to get a new bike and start biking again since I was having so much fun. Highly recommend this if you are on the fence.

I’m surprised they didn’t decide to wait one month and go with May 4th on Star Wars day. I’m excited for this game and hope the delays made the wait worth it.

Mario Rabbids 2 and Advance Wars remake are both day 1 purchases for me. I’m keeping my eye on the others. These are some of the games I’m most looking forward to for the entire year.

I haven’t purchased the game yet, I was waiting to see if the updates made it worth purchasing. I’m on edge—this puts it pretty close to what I was looking for originally but I’m not quite sure it’s there as I was hoping for a few more courses. If I can get it on sale I think there is enough value to make it worth it.

I’m excited to own what seems like another Nintendo classic! Looking forward to playing this myself.

How about Star Fox Guard? Not sure how you make the controls work but I LOVE that game! In fact, I was just playing this morning and it still has more than a few people who play the online portion of the game. Would really enjoy both Zero and Guard on the Switch.

I’m excited to play episodes 1-6, but not any of the sequel trilogy portions.

Lonely Mountains Downhill is a great game that I think fits the wholesome criteria and was rated very highly by this website. Personally, I have enjoyed it quite a bit and find myself picking that game over all the others regularly. Lots of fun paths to explore and just a fun time while playing

Wow, and I picked up a virtual copy of it on my Wii U for $5 this week. I would advise people do some comparison shopping so you don’t make the same mistake and overpay. How embarrassing! 😉

I just purchased about 50 Wii U Virtual console games this past week. There are a few more I’m looking at, but it is clear the Wii U shop is living on borrowed time. I can’t emphasize enough with the skyrocketing price of retro games if you are in a position to take advantage of cheap, legal, retro games please take the necessary steps. I truly think most companies will not offer retro games for sale at an affordable price in the future, as they will sell them as a service. While the monthly/yearly cost will be relatively low the end result is the companies will make more money and it will cost you more to gain access to this content (why else would companies move in this direction?).

There are a few retro games that I would like to play that are prohibitively expensive. My morals prevent me from emulating, as I see emulating as theft and most of what people say about emulating typically is just used as a justification about why they should be able to do it. I understand that other people have a different moral take on that, and we will just have to agree to disagree. In the end, even if there are some games I never get to play that I would like to I just remember I have a huge backlog I can’t even get through right now, I don’t need to play every game that has ever looked interesting if I can’t get through what I already have. I try to focus on what I have been able to get and remind myself I’m blessed to have all of what I have already purchased. I have a clean conscience with this method so it works for me.

I plan on buying as many Virtual Console games as I can afford. I actually re-purchased a Wii U in part for that very reason. It is clear that Nintendo, with products such as Nintendo Switch Online, plans to lock all old content behind a service. In the end, those services will cost more money than just purchasing the games now. Yes, I know the NSO service is cheap now but that is no guarantee that it will be in the future. This is great for Nintendo as it will bring in money to the company throughout the year and not just when they release new titles, so from a business standpoint it is great. As a fan… not so much. So, yes, I am planning to buy more items on my Wii U and use the Wii U e-shop. I really love the Wii U and have enjoyed it quite a bit (just finished playing Sonic All Star Racing Transformed and it is great! Best $5 eBay game I’ve played recently).

@leo13 Absolutely, I completely agree that Fire Emblem Awakening was better than two remakes. After this many years of waiting for a sequel (I have loved all the Advance Wars games) I'll take what I can get. I still have the original Advance Wars games and I don't really love the new art direction, but if people don't support this game the Advance Wars series will be left for dead. Hopefully, they use this game as a platform to bring all the old Advance Wars games from Japan over in DLC map packs or something. I hate spending the money unnecessarily for remakes of games I already have, but if Nintendo doesn't make money from this game they have no reason to continue to develop it. Plus, it will be nice to have the Advance Wars in HD and mobile on my Switch.

I have been commenting that all I wanted was Advance Wars on the Switch and here it is! This and Metroid Dread were the games that made me love this direct. I'm hopeful that they bring all 4 Advance Wars games to the package, as DLC or another separate game. This is a chance to spark the series again, similar to how Fire Emblem took off with its last chance on Fire Emblem Awakening. I hope people will buy it. While I'm not totally crazy about the art style of the units (I really liked the pixel look of the original games, maybe they can sell skins or have an original look to the units that you can flip between) I will definitely support the Advance Wars series here.

Playing Rampart on the Super Nintendo. Just picked it up and never had it as a kid. It’s a great strategy game and I’m enjoying it quite a bit, both single player in the campaign and multiplayer with my daughter.

The last few Nintendo E3s have been disappointing for me. I hope this one will be better but I’m going in with limited expectations this time.