Bolt_Strike

@DominionGamma I don't think I saw a single person say that Crossworlds would outsell MKW. There's no universe where that would ever happen, Mario Kart is just too huge. What I saw from more people on here was that they thought Crossworlds was a better game, that it was more fun/polished/quality than MKW. That they personally liked it better.

@Member_the_game Tennis and Golf are the niche sports, we haven't seen Baseball and Basketball in years. Soccer is fine, but we haven't gotten it consistently because there's been a long gap between Strikers Charged and Strikers Battle League, further releases with shorter gaps can alleviate that. Tennis and Golf just feel like weird sports to highlight.

Not interested in Tennis. Why does Nintendo go for some of the most boring and niche sports there are?

@Novuscourvous The type of "isolation" fans seem to want is gameplay-oriented. The feeling that Samus is on her own throughout the game and there's hostiles all around. That doesn't necessarily mean eliminating all characters and storyline from the game. But it does mean they don't want things like forced escort missions with NPCs that don't shut up.

I personally would be more amenable to doing things like another "home base" sort of area with friendly NPCs (this is more the kind of role where someone like MacKenzie would shine, being someone you can return to to reload, restock, upgrade, etc. rather than someone constantly interjecting in the normal flow of gameplay) or the random encounters with Tokabi in the desert, but that's about the extent that I think NPCs would be tolerated in a Metroid game. They definitely went too far with it in Prime 4.

@Gaymer90 As for the reason BotW succeeded, it's because they had a deep understanding of what Zelda was, what the fans wanted, and how to translate that appeal to an open world. Zelda fans like exploration, adventure, quests, experimenting with dungeon items, etc., they just took all of that and broadened the ambition, that's why it succeeded. The only thing BotW didn't quite nail was the dungeons, but other than that pretty much everything that fans liked out of Zelda was here. The same can't be said for Metroid. Metroid fans tend to like isolation and mazelike design. Prime 4's design defies practically all of this. That's why it's a failure. If they can come up with a concept that takes that isolation and mazelike design and similarly expand the ambition, then Metroid might see a similar payoff. But until they do that I think Metroid's chances of seeing major growth are slim. Metroid also has a fairly unique challenge because Japanese gamers are largely averse to some of Metroid's core elements, namely the isolation and guns. That's been a large part of the reason Metroid's remained niche and that may be a tricky problem to overcome. But they'll certainly have no shot of doing so if they just throw away everything that Western fans love about Metroid and make it something it's not, then it'll be a game without an audience, an IP this niche can't afford to abandon its core audience to expand, that's way too risky.

@Gaymer90 While it is tricky to innovate and reinvent an IP, there are some qualities that define which ones are successful and which ones aren't. One of those qualities is an understanding of the core appeal of your IP, that helps guide you on which gameplay elements should be kept and which should be changed. That's part of the issue, Tanabe's comments imply that he doesn't really understand the Prime fanbase because his vision for this game was a design philosophy that is almost the polar opposite of what Metroid fans tend to want. He noticed open world was getting popular but said it needed to be balanced because open world doesn't really work with Metroidvanias. I'll give him credit on this one, this was the correct assessment and if this was the only issue I'd give him a pass. But it goes deeper than that and pretty much everything else he said about the design philosophy for Prime 4 is out of touch with the audience.

First he says that in the open world he didn't want players to be overwhelmed with options so he designed the desert in a way that you would focus on one objective at a time. But that's not how people tend to play open world games, they tend to hate empty fields with nothing to do because it feels like fluff and a waste of their time. The correct solution to that should be proper tracking so they know what they missed (something Prime 4 already does to a degree with the Green Crystal radar and Scout Bots).

He also seems to be inspired by film and wanted to push NPC interactions, especially with the Federation. This does not resonate with the fanbase because many Metroid fans specifically say isolation is one of the most important elements to them. Trying to shoehorn in Federation soldiers through most of the game (especially like they did with MacKenzie) is just out of touch.

And then he wanted to make the games linear to try and shoehorn in the story. Fans generally do not like a linear, story based approach to Metroid, they tend to like it when the game is mazelike and puzzling and explore the story in the form of optional lore. So again, doesn't seem to get what the fans want.

I think what Prime 4 really shows is that Tanabe is not the right person for the job. His vision doesn't really resonate. So it may be a good thing for the series that he's retiring. Let's see what Tabata has in mind. Maybe she has a better idea of how to take what the fans want, carry that vision further with her own ideas, and make it more appealing to Japanese audiences (which is the main sticking point as to why Metroid doesn't sell, it's one of the most popular Nintendo IPs in the West but it doesn't resonate with Japanese culture). That may be a tall task, but it's a tightrope that needs to be walked to make Metroid successful and Tanabe clearly isn't up for it.

@FullMetalWesker The kind of experience you're describing is something that, to my knowledge, has never been done before. Especially not on the scale that a Metroidvania would require. I'm not entirely sure why, but I've never seen a game like that before, and certainly Nintendo's never done one. If I had to guess, this is too ambitious for them because they seem to have trouble filling open worlds with detailed terrain which is why open world games tend to be big empty fields, but IDK enough about game development to answer why we haven't gotten a game like this. It would certainly be interesting if they could pull it off, but I'm not expecting it. Until they prove otherwise, the best we could really get out of a 3D Metroidvania is probably just typical Prime map design, maybe with a few larger rooms sprinkled in.

@TurdFurgeson Metroid Prime Hunters already exists on the DS, it WAS a multiplayer-focused spinoff (it did have a single player campaign, but it was fairly simplistic). But I'd be down for a Hunters 2, that feels like it'd have a better chance of success now.

@FullMetalWesker No, open world specifically means you can go in any direction. So it'd be more like if the whole game was like Sol Valley. That's the antithesis to Metroid because open world games are generally designed in a way that you can progress in any order, whereas Metroidvanias are designed so you have to explore the world and find new abilities that can open up new areas to explore. The two gameplay styles conflict with each other and have polar opposite design philosophies, it'd be extremely difficult if not totally impossible to make the two of them work together.

@Pillowpants In theory they could create a smaller campaign to fiddle around with ideas they might work with in a future Prime game (either Prime 5 or another spinoff if they want to try multiplayer again). I'd especially love a side story where you play as Sylux.

Now will that happen? Probably not. I think if Prime 4 is getting anything it'll just be QoL features and other small stuff (such as perhaps giving in and offering a way to unlock the radio without the Amiibo or optimizations to the Green Crystal radar to make it more useful, stuff like that). But the chances are nonzero.

@kal_el_07241 Genshin was never officially cancelled, it's just been vaporware. Low specs may be a factor in why, perhaps they tried but couldn't quite get it to run on Switch 1. If so, a Switch 2 version may be feasible.

I'd like to see a General Direct and not a Partner Showcase. But apparently we can't have nice things this gen.

We're overdue for main series Pokemon. If that's not announced on Pokemon Day I officially give up on humanity.

Wonder S2E, Yoshi, and Splatoon Raiders are solid maybes. Nothing on here that actually feels like a must have. Definitely lacking that killer app, a lot of B and C tier fare that appeal to various niche fanbases but nothing that's a big showstopper. We desperately need a big 3D Mario, a Luigi's Mansion 4, a Smash 6, something of that caliber (and no, Switch 2 Editions of Luigi's Mansion 3 or Smash Ultimate do not count).

VR set is sitting on my bedroom shelf collecting dust. Give us a real VR set that is continually supported instead of a cardboard gimmick only used for 3 games and then we'll talk about it getting more usage.

None of them. At best there's a few maybes (Yoshi, Splatoon Raiders, Wonder S2E), but there's no must have game for me on this list. Not a very compelling lineup so far.

@Joeynator3000 @VoidofLight This strikes me as the sort of game that would appeal to a silent majority of fans but the vocal minority that frequents sites like this wouldn't like. It's definitely a more casual experience that doesn't seem very involved or exciting, but it's sold well enough.

@Anti-Matter That would be great if it weren't the generic designing of small towns and such. I'd be on board for a sim game, but something more exotic, something more like an amusement park management sim or a larger city designing sim (something more like Cities Skyline). This is too dull.

I'm not really feeling the "whimsy" either. I can't explain why, I just don't.

@VoidofLight Yeah but you're doing mundane everyday life stuff in the process, that's the boring part. Having one of the Miis be giant or whatever other weird stuff going on doesn't really make up for that.

I don't like the genre. I'm not on board with this cozy social sim trend. It bores me to tears, I play video games to get away from the kinds of activities these games focus on. Maybe if they did a sim game that was focused on something a little more exotic and exciting I'd be willing to play that, but not this.

Nope, I don't like life sim games. Too dull and boring to just do something I could go outside and do, I play video games for more surreal scenarios that DON'T exist IRL.

Still undecided, it depends on how much single player content there is. This being multiplayer focused is not a good sign, I don't have anyone to play with and generally don't enjoy PvP content so this is probably not for me, but I'd like to have a better idea of the full package before making a final decision.

Needs a big game announcement to cap this off, Switch 2 is sorely lacking those kinds of mega hits right now.

He's not completely unbearable, but he does have a nasty habit of showing up when I don't want him to.

Gen 10 games that are actually good and RBY NSO on Pokemon Day please.

@Olliemar28 I notice you didn't put Snow Wolves as missable but I've only found them in that first battle in Ice Belt. Is there somewhere else they can be found permanently or is this an oversight?

Glad to see that the NPCs aren't as annoying as they looked, that was my biggest concern. The open world might still not be great, but I love open world games so I might be willing to overlook this.

Pokemon Red and Blue when?

@Ralek85 Yeah. I did want an open world Mario Kart, but I feel like it would've been best as a subseries of Mario Kart instead of a new direction for the main series because I felt there might be a conflict with people who like traditional karting with carefully designed tracks for competitive players and more casual players that might want to cruise around the city and explore. Going forward that might still be the best option, have 2 Mario Karts per gen and trade off between a traditional linear Mario Kart in the vein of 8 and an open world Mario Kart World entry.

Why does no one involved in this game seem to understand the appeal of Metroid? It just boggles the mind how this game seems to be so aggressively anti-Metroid as possible. This isn't how you expand the audience of a niche IP.

@ShadLink Uhh no? It has a lot of lore with the scan logs, but you don't see much in the way of actual story events or dialogue.

I don't want every single ability spoiled, but they should show more than this. It's basically the same old Power Beam, Missiles, Morph Ball, etc. with a sprinkling of the bike and psychic abilities. That's not quite enough to drive a new game, show something else off and some later game staples (What about Super Missiles, Power Bombs, Boost Ball, Spider Ball, etc.?).

@AlonditeFE The demos have been mainly the tutorial and early game segments. Not the bike which is where the controversy is. Nintendo hasn't convinced the fanbase of the bike mechanics yet, hell look at this comment section and you don't really see positive comments in the vein of "the bike looks awesome and I'm excited to play it", it's more cautious optimism of "the rest of the game is still probably going to be great and the bike won't hurt it as much as we think". And I'm not saying for sure that the game is going to be bad and I hope I'm wrong, but if there's this much confusion and copium about it at this point in the pre-release cycle that's a potential red flag that sales and/or reception are probably not going to be good.

@Kraven And you guarantee this how? Like, it's a reasonable expectation that it should be more Metroidvania with the bike section being a Hyrule Field-esque location but how can you tell me with absolute, 100% certainty that this is more Metroidvania focused? Nintendo, not random fans, are the ones that need to be assuring us of this, and they're not doing a good job of it.

@N00BiSH It... kind of feels like they aren't with how hush-hush they're being on the game and refusing to show anything but small snippets of gameplay.

@ShadLink If this is a story based game Nintendo's truly failed to understand Metroid. Story is generally not the highlight of the game, the highlight is atmosphere, exploration, and the use of cool abilities to navigate the overworld. A Direct is needed to clarify the gameplay loop for this game. We have open world bike sections but we have no idea how they fit into the Metroidvania gameplay (and they could even conflict since both open world and Metroidvania have completely contrary design philosophies). We need a deep dive on the bike and what kind of role it plays in the game to show how it complements and enhances, rather than overwrites and conflicts with, the Metroidvania gameplay. Additionally, revealing whatever new upgrades there are in the game would be great.

@UltimateOtaku91 That's a self-fulfilling prophecy, you can't improve sales if you're not willing to market what you have. This is just guaranteeing that Metroid stays in the basement instead of growing it into an IP like the ones they favor.

@AlonditeFE Thing is it's not doing this game and the franchise any favors to make the core fans hesitate to want this. That can hurt sales, hesitating means less preorders and if you wait for the review and it does in fact turn out bad, then it's just less sales in general. And the overarching problem is that this series cannot afford a failure. It's a niche IP and it took 18 years to get this entry, if all that waiting results in a dud like this, what does that say for Metroid Prime 5? Is Metroid Prime going to go right back to the backburner? There's reasons to be concerned here.

@OmnitronVariant I doubt they're simply enjoying it. I think they just don't know they can do better and simply take whatever's front of mind.

There's also been theories proposed that parents are buying these as gifts and the children aren't specifically asking for it. I can definitely see this for the likes of Pokemon and Mario. Parents that aren't into gaming probably don't know what a good or bad game is like and aren't going to be inclined to do the research into whether or not the kid will like it. I suspect this is at least a factor if not the entire truth.

This was a dumb claim anyway. They should be suing Palworld for copyright infringement over the monster designs looking like A.I. generated amalgamations of Pokemon, not for overly-controlling patents over vague mechanics that a lot of other games already do.

@OmnitronVariant No, there's other examples outside of Pokemon of consumers making less than reasonable purchasing decisions. The NSMB games all sold 10+ million copies (except for U because the Wii U sold so poorly) despite being lazy rehashes. Same with CoD games. And then there's the gacha market which makes millions despite being far less bang for far more buck. Unfortunately there does seem to be a segment of the gaming industry, and a fairly significant one at that, that just mindlessly buys based on brand recognition and flashy marketing and doesn't pay attention in the slightest into how good the game actually is.

@somnambulance Ehh, I was around for Gen 4 and there wasn't nearly as much criticism for that game as other generations. There was some criticism about the overabundance of cross-gen evos and the lack of Fire types in DP, but it wasn't as toxic as it's been recently.

Additionally, I have not seen much complaints about Gen 7 shaking things up too much. I saw praise for that in fact (more for Ride Pokemon than Trials really, Ride Pokemon addressed the long held complaint towards needing HMs in your party, Trials didn't really move the needle much in terms of what people were getting sick of with gyms). The criticisms towards Gen 7 were more around the games focusing too much on story and not enough on map design, what people were irritated with was the entire game was basically a long guided tour where you proceed down a linear path and get stopped every few steps for the NPCs to yap at you, which is not really "shaking up the formula" and more a specific design philosophy that people hated (and it wasn't even a new one as BW and XY had similar issues, just to a lesser degree).

@charliecarrot Admittedly I haven't played Z-A, I'm going to buy it used when used copies start popping up because I don't believe this experience is worth a full $60/$70. However there is one main issue inherent to Z-A itself that's worthy of criticism and that's being restricted to Lumiose City. Lumiose City simply doesn't seem comparable in size, scope, or variety to full sized regions in other games and considering that we're paying the same amount of money, it makes Z-A look like a chintzy cash grab for a glorified beta test for real time battling. Like yes, I am very interested in real time battling mechanics, but I would want to use said mechanics in a full-fledged, AAA Pokemon adventure, not a singular city that's closer in size to $30 DLC areas than $60/$70 full regions. That's not an issue of criticisms of other games bleeding into other games, I don't have this criticism of other games because Game Freak has never done this before. It's a symptom of a larger problem of the games not being ambitious enough to justify being the $60-70 AAA console game the Switch Pokemon games are making themselves out to be.

@nukatha People actually liked the C-Gear? I found it a massive step down from the Poketch in DPPt. There was basically nothing to do with it unless you had a friend to play with, whereas the Poketch had multiple QoL apps that were dropped completely in BW and never really returned aside from remakes.

@BrazillianCara What would "more ambition" look like?

1. More side content, with similar quantities and types of side content to what we had in games like Platinum, HGSS, and BW2. They had entire side modes like Contests, the Pokeathlon, Pokestar Studios that disappeared in the 3DS games. There were also multiple battle facilities with unique styles of battling whereas nowadays we're lucky to even get a generic Battle Tower-esque facility. The games feel much emptier and more repetitive with that kind of content stripped away.
2. Greater interaction with the world and Pokemon. Make the world feel more alive than just a generic stretch of land with Pokemon wandering around doing almost nothing in it. Let us use our Pokemon to interact with the environment more instead of scripted interactions, a Pokemon game with a physics engine similar to BotW/TotK would be really fun and ambitious.
3. Greater graphical/technical polish. No trees with low-res textures that feel like something out of a GC game. No glitches that break the game or make it feel like a Sonic 06-esque mess.

@N00BiSH Nah, that's not the issue. Pokemon's experimented with new mechanics quite frequently throughout its history. Sun/Moon in fact was one of the more experimental entries in the franchise, it had Trials instead of Gym and replaced HMs with Ride Pokemon. There's been other entries like that as well. BW2, rather than being essentially a director's cut re-release with a handful of new content like the likes of Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum, was a full-fledged sequel that had a different story and tons of new areas and new content. Legends Arceus did a prequel set in the ancient past with more survival and crafting elements. Scarlet/Violet went open world. And now we have Z-A experimenting with real time battling. There's been multiple games' worth of experiments to the point where Switch Pokemon games feel like a COMPLETELY different experience to the original RBY. Lack of experimentation and original mechanics isn't the issue.

Pokemon's actual issue is a lack of ambition and resources. The recent games always feel like they're cutting corners in some way and Game Freak/TPC doesn't seem to want to devote the amount of time, money, and/or manpower needed to make the kind of AAA experience a full priced Switch/Switch 2 game deserves.

Yeah no, XY was the beginning of all of this (I would also argue BW, but not for reasons relevant to this discussion and at least BW2 was an ambitious followup, XY is the true origin of Pokemon's current problems). You could definitely see the cracks start to emerge then, content was starting to get cut, map designs were starting to get simplified, and corners felt like they were getting cut. The Switch generation only accelerated this.

What the issue is I think is that handhelds have dramatically increased in power and Pokemon has not scaled up its ambitions to match it. As recently as 2012 they were still making 2D sprite based games that would feel more at home on the SNES than the Wii and then on the 3DS they went 3D and then on the Switch they developed on console for the first time which was capable of large, open environments. Both leaps in technology that are notorious for causing headaches with developers needing to put more time, money, and manpower into the game to maximize what the hardware is capable of. TPC has largely avoided this and keeps trying to develop a 2025 Switch/Switch 2 game like a 1996 GB game and of course that's just not going to work. They need to get over themselves and put the effort and resources in. I'm not entirely sure which part of TPC is responsible (it's definitely not Nintendo because they do not operate like this. My guess is Creatures because they're far less involved in games than the other two and far more involved in merchandise, so they'd be more likely to want quick, cheap games pushed out the door to sell more merch junk, but it's hard to say), but whoever it is they need to get with the times. If not, I think Nintendo needs to rethink this arrangement because it's hurting the brand.

Yes, that's called monopolization. Where tf is antitrust enforcement?

@Stormkyleis Turned randomly, yes, moved around no. Trainers didn't have actual movement cycles until Gen 3, they just stood in one place and sometimes turned in a different direction (sometimes it was random, sometimes it was a consistent cycle).

New content is what was needed, not new cutscenes.

Yeah, this is not a good one for music, the hardware is way too archaic for the melodies to shine. Way too many screechy beeps and boops that assault my ears.

@Dom_31 I said "competitive" specifically. Online mystery gifts and such are one thing, but competitive is a completely different animal because it's not just FOMO but you're also adding a skill floor to obtain the reward.