BandeeOfTheStars

So it’s a 9/10, but “excellent” just wasn’t a wonderful enough word, eh?

Anyway, I was going to get it anyway but I’m happy to know it lives up to the hype.

To those of you confused as to why the review here is two points higher than the one on PushSquare:

Remember that any review, whether it be for a movie, series, game or something else entirely, is really just one person’s opinion. What separates critics from the casual audience is their experience in going over the objective facts of the product and sorting them into pros and cons. Ultimately, however, the score is just an arbitrary number, evaluated from the weight of the pros relative to that of the cons. The relative importance of each of these pros and cons is something that varies from player to player, so it’s only natural that different reviewers give different scores.

The purpose of reviews is to help buyers make informed decisions about what they’re buying. The score measures how much an individual reviewer liked the game, but it can’t replace a buyer’s individual evaluation of the pros and cons.

There exists only one review that will be completely accurate to your experience of the game, and that’s your own. Reviews aren’t supposed to answer the question, “Will I enjoy it?”; they only intend to give reasons you might and reasons you might not.

I’m actually surprised that this hadn’t happened already. It seems to occur for every major first-party game well in advance of the release date. It’s a real shame and just ruins the experience for everyone else, but it’s pretty much a fact of life now. Hopefully Switch 2 will implement some security measures against this.

And yes, you absolutely can spoil a Mario game. It’s just that the major spoilers relate to different levels, bosses and secrets rather than story details.

So I started playing Yo-kai Watch 1 last week, and I really liked it. It was shaping up to be among my favorite RPGs out there. The problem? My cartridge was corrupted, so it was chock-full of random glitches. After a while, I couldn’t even progress in the game, so I had to buy a new one. Try after you buy, people. Don’t wait half a year to do it.

I got a pretty great deal on a new copy, but it hasn’t come yet, so…good golly, what should I play instead? Maybe I’ll pick up Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask again; it’s been a little while since I last played it. I’ll probably also play some Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, because brain training never hurts!

…This whole mess really rots, though. Maybe I should have gone digital for this one, like I did with the sequels…

flashbacks to Kirby: Squeak Squad boxart

Peach: Whew! I bet this elephant suit will keep Bowser off my case!

Bowser: So…how many flowers does it take to impress an elephant?

My game collection tends to be a physical-digital hybrid. There are pros and cons to both, but the main advantage to physical games is that they last longer. You can resell them, which is especially important when Nintendo inevitably closes down the digital store.

Owning a digital-only console after an eShop shutdown would be the epitome of buyer’s remorse.

Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. It’s been so long since I last fired up this game, but I had a blast playing it with my parents the other night. I immediately proceeded to practice on all the minigames, and I raised my test grade from B++ to A+. For an edutainment game, it’s surprisingly addictive.

I have the one on Switch, too. It’s good, but Wii Degree is better. The latter is much more challenging when it comes to scoring high on the test.

I also booted up Yo-kai Watch 1 on 3DS, a game I’ve been meaning to try for quite some time. (I actually bought the trilogy plus Blasters in the countdown to eShop Doomsday.) It’s pretty good, so far. The big thing is that my cartridge hasn’t been behaving very well, but after enough restarts, I think I finally got it to work (mostly) normally.

Let us toast to Nintendo and their obsession with throwing their games into the river Styx for no reason at all!

Mr. Miyamoto has a lot of respect in the game development community, and he’s earned every bit. This is the man that invented Mario, Zelda, Pikmin…and his game beat the crash of ‘83. He still oversees a lot of great games, even today.

So can I just express how exhausting it is to hear rabid Paper Mario fans tear this man down at every turn? Look, I get it if you don’t like Sticker Star. But it’s absolutely ridiculous to put all the blame for a game you don’t like on one man (who wasn’t even the director and had a very minor development role), and even then, stop pretending that he destroys every game he touches. He’s a talented developer. Can we please move on to a more constructive topic, already?

Does it need to be backwards compatible to sell well? No, probably not.

But does it need to be backwards compatible? Yes. And there’s no excuse for it not to be.

100 % yes to the Miles Edgeworth duology. We need the sequel in English!

Also, give me the complete Starfy series on Switch in English and a Ghost Trick sequel. Also, I’d like official soundtracks on Apple Music for every Mario game ever, and I’ll take that Kirby car.

This game was definitely intended for multiplayer and having players divide and conquer its massive levels. I’d say it’s still good in single player, but as you said, AI doesn’t get much worse than this game’s, and the one-way-doors forcing backtracking don’t help.

The bright side? This is the first release since the original GBA version that actually supports multiplayer! Get some people to join you, and I guarantee you’ll have a blast.

They’re already gone, by the way.

Super Mario Party may not be the best in the series, and having only four boards didn’t help it, but it’s not nearly as bad as people say it is. Love it or hate it, there really is nothing like the Mario Party formula.

I haven’t played 1-2-Switch (or its sequel) because I never could justify buying it, so maybe I’m not qualified to say it doesn’t belong, but…I will say it was certainly a surprising choice.

I could care less whether people say “I could care less” or “I couldn’t care less”.

That, of course, means I care a lot and am severely bothered when people use the former to mean the latter.

So…predictable.

I’ve waited so long to play this multiplayer-focused game the way it was intended, and now I finally can. Thank you, Nintendo!

“Luigi’s Mansion 2”? It wasn’t called that here!

…Seriously, though, I’m glad they’re changing it. The North American names were inconsistent, and I was calling this one “Luigi’s Mansion 2” anyway. Besides, in Europe, Kirby’s Fun Pak became Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby’s Adventure Wii became Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe…so we had this coming, anyway.

@Friendly Interesting effort to make a list of games not on Switch yet, but surely a truly exhaustive list would be impossible. Regardless…I feel morally obligated to point out the omissions of Paper Mario: Color Splash and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, two criminally underrated Wii U gems not on Switch yet. Also, Nintendo Land is actually impossible and never happening.

Also, the Kirby game that was ported to Switch was Kirby’s Return to Dream Land / Kirby’s Adventure Wii, a totally different game from the original Kirby’s Dream Land on Game Boy (which is on NSO). The most criminal omission from NSO is definitely Mario Land 1, and I’m still waiting for Mario Party 3. And why is Partners in Time on your list? That one was for DS.

Honestly, unless we’re talking about a fighting game, I really don’t understand why some people are so obsessed with 60FPS. I get the issue with sacrificing gameplay for graphics, but…how many of us would really notice much of a difference if we weren’t told?

The graphics really do look like a massive upgrade, and as long as the 30FPS is consistent, I’ll take the upgrade. I’m just happy that this game gets to see the light of day again.

Though I do believe that the series from Sticker Star onward is actually very good and incredibly underrated…having played every game in the series, I have to agree with the fandom that this one is definitely the best. So many diverse environments, a killer soundtrack, the series’ best battle system, and a pretty good mystery story, too. (SPM’s story was too melodramatic and cliché for my taste, but this one really hits the sweet spot.)

I bought a copy for 80-ish USD a couple years back, but I’m glad this exists to finally curb the scalpers. People deserve to experience this game. I just…feel annoyed that I had to spend so much? Maybe I can get a good deal if I trade in my GameCube copy…

The CEO sold stocks a week in advance, knowing full well that today’s announcement would happen and would not be popular.

Wait…that’s illegal!

Kirby’s (Super) Star Stacker on Switch, of course! It’s such a brilliant puzzle game, and I’m glad the beautifully-enhanced SNES version has finally been released in the West. You don’t need to understand Japanese to enjoy a good puzzle! (But there is a decent screen-by-screen translation out there…)

“Mario - 36 %”

It seems I’m not so weird after all.

Their first home console was called the “Nintendo Entertainment System”, and they did everything they could to disguise the fact that it was a game console, because otherwise it wouldn’t sell. Not to mention, Nintendo existed nearly 100 years before they published their first video game. Also, say what you will about their quality, but Nintendo has been licensing movies and TV series about their games from very early on.

That said, most of us remember Nintendo’s “video game only” approach to keep costs down on the GameCube and Wii, while their competitors have included DVD player functionality in every console since that time. But the toys-to-life craze came not long after, so it could really go either way.

Kirby’s Star Stacker? The Japanese Super Famicom version?

Finally! Only took them 25 years!

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe on Switch, most likely. It’s been a while since I beat the game, I never finished the Luigi mode and I need something to tide me over for Wonder.

Small correction: Lucina and Dark Pit were the first Echo Fighters. Daisy was just the first that they announced for Ultimate.

I’m glad that Daisy’s playable, and more generally I’m glad there are so many characters to choose from here. I’ll still probably stick with Mario (…what? I’m a traditionalist!), but I know a lot of people will be eager to play a solo adventure as Daisy or Yoshi.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury on Switch. I never finished Bowser's Fury, so I played a good bit yesterday and racked up 70 Cat Shines. It's a really good game concept and I think it would be cool if the next full-fledged 3D Mario went this direction. On the other hand, Giant Black Bowser appears way too frequently, especially postgame. It's as if I don't have time to deal with anything else!

Also, Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) on Switch. I'm in World 4 now, so about halfway. I'll be honest, 4-1 seems like a pretty awful course. World 3 was already a nightmare to get through, and I don't know how many Game Overs I got. I still plan to beat the game, of course. I've never played beyond World 3, so this is totally new territory.

@WaveBoy I'm pretty sure the Mario RPG box art is tentative. You know, just something for stores to show for preorder. I'd expect the final version to look more like it did on SNES.

As a Bandana Waddle Dee fan...no, a third wave wouldn't have been too much. Or a fourth. Or a...yeah, you probably get what I'm saying. And I imagine many others probably feel the same way about different characters. I'm absolutely really grateful for what we got, but seeing my dream fighter enter Smash is something I've yet to see, and it just never felt complete without that. But I'm still happy some other fans got their (much more impossible) dream fighters like Banjo and Sora.

But...Geno? Really?

Super Mario Bros. 2 (16-bit version on Switch) is the main one. This is a game I've always sort of dismissed as "too different" and "not a real Mario", and as a result I never really felt inclined to beat it. But I decided I'd give it another chance, especially now that it's the only SMB game I have yet to beat. The physics can be janky sometimes and the actual gameplay is indeed very different from classic Mario, but it's actually an interesting experiment and some of the "Mario-ization" was actually executed very well. (And though it's no Lost Levels, it's pretty challenging, too! Especially the 8-bit version with limited continues...)

And maybe afterwards, I'll finally beat Yoshi's Island. I've always liked that one, so I couldn't tell you why I've been putting it off...

I'll mostly be playing Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask on 3DS. I'm only on Chapter 3, but I can already tell I'm going to enjoy this one. This is my third Layton game after Curious Village and Last Specter (fourth including the Ace Attorney crossover), though eventually I do plan to play them all. Who knows, maybe I'll actually improve at this puzzle thing.

When I'm not wracking my brain with Hershel Layton, I'll probably be playing Sonic the Hedgehog 1 on Switch. It seems strange, but the GameCube version had no save feature...so this will be my first time beating it. Thank goodness for Anniversary Mode.

A welcome addition, for sure.

@Anti-Matter Basically, Nintendo Life now shows for each game a box with a list of features that help people with various disabilities play a game. So now, you can see on this site if a game includes captions in its voiced cutscenes, or allows you to match shapes instead of colors (like the "match wires" in Among Us). More people being able to play a game is always good, and now this site shows which ones have options like this.

The Legendary Starfy. Such an underrated DS gem. One of my greatest pipe dreams in gaming is that the first four games are released in the West one day (five games were made across GBA and DS, but only the last was localized).

I've never played Metroid: Other M but I know firsthand that the Internet can get surprisingly heated over nothing at all. Try being a Paper Mario fan, where suddenly you're the villain if you don't like the same entries that everyone else does. (It's totally fine if you enjoy SPM, just let me enjoy Sticker Star in peace...)

Also, I love the NL staff for throwing the Ghost Trick recommendation in. There's a demo, people. You have no excuse not to try it.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter (or Spectre's Call) on DS. I've nearly completed the game now, and all that's left is the bonus Layton's Challenges. I've got Miracle Mask sitting in my backlog and will probably play that afterward.

I may also continue Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective on Switch, a game I love so much that I'm replaying it mere days after I beat it the first time.

NES Mario is iconic and I often will go back to those versions (especially Mario 1 and Lost Levels) just because of that, but in general, I prefer to play the SNES ones. After all, the SNES versions can save natively. (And in the case of Lost Levels, you no longer have to beat the game eight times to see the bonus worlds...)

For Mario 3, though? It's the GBA version with all those bonus levels...makes me glad that the Switch gives us all three. (Well, okay, we still don't have SMB Deluxe, but we don't have SML1 on Switch yet either.)

@RPGreg2600 Will Nintendo bring their games to PC? As you say, it's not likely. I'm just saying that it might be a good idea, at least for some of their older systems. PC emulation is undoubtedly the easiest and most common way to play pirated games, so I feel like offering an official option for PC emulation could do a lot to curb piracy. Also, an official PC emulation option would pretty much remove the issue of lacking processing power, so we could have a VC catalog that stretches far beyond N64 and GBA.

But yes...before that ever happens, Nintendo need to get VC right. Add back the ability to purchase games individually (as opposed to NSO), make the game catalog more complete, go beyond N64 and GBA (because the Switch can do GCN), allow purchases to carry to newer platforms, bring back backward compatibility and stop closing the digital stores.

Emulation. Riddled by illegal piracy? You know, Nintendo, I can think of one easy way to kick it to the curb: make your own emulator on PC, and sell your old games that way. It may not be ideal for some platforms (especially from DS/Wii onward), but I think there's real potential in an official, legal emulation market.

You know, just like BlueStacks already does. Pay for Android games on PC, and play them there.

Still the best Mario & Luigi game. I loved all of the M&L games, but Dream Team was my first and I was immediately blown away by its sheer creativity. The graphics and soundtrack are also some of the most beautiful on the system.

Even if we don't get a new game, I'd happily support a Mario & Luigi collection on Switch. These games are some of the best RPGs out there.

Well, this week I beat Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, a true masterpiece. I also finished my second playthrough of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Only Shu Takumi can think of a game about a lawyer and a game about a ghost and have them both be some of the best games I've ever played.

So...what now? I'll probably press on in my playthrough of Professor Layton and the Last Specter on DS...or Spectre's Call to some of you, I suppose. I'm still fairly early in the game and have progressed rather slowly so far, so it might be time to pick up the pace. After all, I still have two more Layton games from eShop Doomsday...

I was hoping for better Ghost Trick sales, but the fact that it placed here at all definitely counts for something.

Play Ghost Trick. It isn't a terribly long game, but its story will stick with you for a long, long time.

I'm definitely seconding Ghost Trick here. Yes, it came out 12 years ago, but it hasn't aged a day. I wholeheartedly agree with its 10/10 score on this site and humbly request that you take heed and download the demo immediately. I kid you not: it's among the greatest games of all time.

And hey, if you have the original DS version lying around, why not experience it all over again? Now would be as good a time as any...

I've been playing Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective on Switch, and it's truly amazing. The story is bizzare yet fantastic, and the gameplay is full of tricky puzzles to solve. I'm very glad that this forgotten DS gem has been given a second chance. (It got a 10/10 on this site. That means you shouldn't think twice about getting it.)

I was also replaying Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney on 3DS before Ghost Trick consumed my time, and I'm now on the last case. I might go ahead and finish that playthrough, as well.

I have Ghost Trick pre-loaded already!

But...doesn't that defeat the entire purpose of having multiple console options in the first place? That's like saying that Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO and Peacock should all have the exact same streaming library... (which would be nice, but would also probably lead to an unhealthy monopoly...)

Big Ace Attorney fan here. Played the demo and immediately preordered it. Considering I've never preordered a game on the eShop before, that's saying something. Looking forward to Friday!

"It's quite comfortably one of the weakest Sonic games in existence"

Rating: 10/10

EDIT: ...Well, seeing Tails' Skypatrol at #1 was funny while it lasted...

I'm just going to say that we're at a point where Mario and Sonic have appeared in multiple games together and a good chunk of their games can now be played on the same platform. The Mario vs. Sonic debate is no longer necessary, because now Nintendo gamers have easy access to both. I have both Mario and Sonic games on my Switch, and I'm proud of it.

Anyway, I bought Sonic Origins Plus digitally. I wanted to buy it a few weeks ago but held out until the price dropped. Sonic 1 and 3 should really be on Switch Online by now (like Sonic 2 has been for quite some time), but I do appreciate the improvements here. (Previously, I only had the GCN Mega Collection and the mobile ports, so it feels good to play these games on a modern system.)