Bolt_Strike

It's officially sold out at Target, don't bother with that.

@jon128 Yeah, this is the only message I've been getting from Walmart, I've been "in line" for a while and still not getting anywhere.

Yeah I think they're gone now. Walmart kicked me out of line now and I never got a chance to order (and attempting to reorder sends me in an endless loop), and Target lets you get to checkout and says "Something went wrong". Gamestop and Best Buy just said "Coming soon" even a millisecond after refreshing the page. Going to have to try my luck with Gamestop in store tomorrow. If I can't get that, I'm screwed.

Did anyone in the U.S. manage to get a preorder through? They were all gone like, the millisecond after midnight with the exception of Walmart who has me "in line" for an indeterminate amount of time (who knows if there's even any stock left or they're just jerking me around with this). I think scalper bots snapped up all of the online stock, might have to go into my Gamestop tomorrow. Luckily it's in a rural area and I don't think there's a line forming yet, but this has not gone well so far.

Not at all. It's decent but it's not quite the same level as the Switch.

More likely they can't afford to jump to Switch 2.

Is there a Switch 2 Edition upgrade for those that bought the Switch 1 version? That's all I want to know.

@N00BiSH Same. I always thought DK lacked a gameplay identity and felt too close to Mario, the Country games feel like a 2D Mario with heavier physics and a jungle coat of paint, and DK64 is kind of just Mario 64: DK Edition. And I did think leaning into DK's brutish strength was a good way to differentiate himself from Mario. And we're getting that here. I could almost feel like I could drop Mario into other DK games and he wouldn't feel too out of place, but I DEFINITELY cannot say that for this one. Does Mario look like someone that can rip entire chunks out of the level and throw them around? Hell no. Some of these exact mechanics aren't quite what I envisioned in a good way, but a game like this is exactly the kind of game I think DK needs to make a resurgence.

I'd be interested in a Switch 2 Edition of Sonic x Shadow Generations, I assumed it would be a Switch 2 game but the Switch 2 didn't release soon enough for that to happen so I just bought a Switch 1 version.

You don't have the new poll up for this, you just recycled the one from the Switch 1 Direct.

Anyway, solid 9/10. It does just about everything it needed to do and what it didn't do is excusable given the circumstances. My biggest gripe is no 3D Mario (did it get internally delayed AGAIN?), but Mario Kart being open world and open world DK is a good enough substitute for now. The price is a bit more than I'd like, and I think they may be nickel and diming us with Switch 2 Editions, but given the economic conditions I don't really blame them (I blame the orange turd for that one). But there seems to be enough to start off with that it's close to 2017 levels (not quite there, but close enough).

Now this was a surprise. I was fully expecting 3D Mario to be the closer (did it get internally delayed AGAIN?), but 3D DK is fine too. Really has vibes of those mining games on mobile, but as a AAA open world game. Should be interesting.

Treehouse is back! Oh yes! I loved Treehouse, it really gave you a better feel for the games and revealed some tidbits that the trailers didn't quite cover well enough. I missed it so much. Glad to hear they're going all out and making this an E3 throwback of sorts. That's exactly the kind of energy this event needs.

Let's see this infographic again after next week. Not much of interest here for the Switch 1.

Also also, there NEEDS to be a Switch 2 version of this. This HAS to have mouse support, the new psychic abilities feel like they're absolutely designed around the Switch 2's mouse mode.

I mean, the psychic powers are kind of neat, but overall an unexciting showcase here. I hope they have more hidden.

Also y u no release date?

I expected nothing and was still disappointed. Practically a Partner Showcase, that's how bad it was.

If this isn't cross gen we riot. Those psychic abilities look like they were freaking MADE for the mouse mode.

@batmanbud2 Do they? The only one I really like from this bunch is A Trip to Alivel Mall, most of my favorites aren't here. I'm waiting on Through the Tunnel, Faded Dream of a Psychomeddler, and Scattered Souls Across Isolated Isles.

@Bigmanfan Of course he's going to deny it, he's not going to admit to that. You can't take his denial at his word.

As far as the supporting evidence, he showed AI generated monster designs as far back as 2021.

https://x.com/urokuta_ja/status/1470995753627951104

It was a few months after Palworld's announcement, but close enough to be believable that he used the same process for the official designs. His comments on supporting AI, this tweet showing he's done AI-generated Pokemon, and the official designs including elements of Pokemon should be enough evidence for a copyright infringement claim.

@Bigmanfan The CEO blatantly admitted to supporting AI and the designs have distinctive features from Pokemon. Easy to connect the dots here.

No plagiarism on my Nintendo console please. If you're going to ripoff Pokemon, at least use some original freaking monster designs instead of lazy AI amalgamations.

@Eel The Lite is not a hybrid though. I want a hybrid that can fully realize the idea of being a home console and a handheld. No Switch model currently does.

@MrGawain Not really. The problem they're trying to solve with foldable screens is having a larger screen that can also fit in your pocket. A Switch can't fit in your pocket, and that limits its appeal as a handheld, a foldable screen like this one would solve that. The design they chose for this is hot garbage, but the concept of foldable screens is most certainly not a solution looking for a problem.

Let's see the full hardware and the games first before we get too ahead of ourselves.

@Munchlax No, Patrat was in the Kalos Dex. Although you couldn't catch it directly, it was only obtainable by breeding in XY, so that might be why you don't remember it. You could catch Watchog on Rt. 15 (the autumny route in between Laverre and Dendemille). The starters are actually the only Pokemon we've seen so far that weren't in the original Kalos Dex.

@TheBigK The Galar starters are about as old as the Alola starters were when LA came out, and we got Rowlet as a starter in that game. So Galar starters would've been fair game I think. I also don't think Alola is off the table for a Mega, they're fairly old too. I would've subbed one of the Johto starters for something else. Snivy, Litten, and Totodile would've made a far better trio than what we've gotten. Chikorita and Tepig are so bad (I might like them better if they get neat variants, but as is IMO they're some of the worst starters in the series).

Meh, aside from the starters, no real surprises here. All of the non-starter Pokemon shown were previously in the Kalos Dex in XY, so not much to be excited for with this selection. Yet. They do love doing new forms, variants, and evolutions now, I suspect we'll see some in a later trailer. Really I'm surprised that none were shown in this trailer, but since it's a holiday title they're probably holding those kinds of reveals until later.

Also Patrat actually is kind of a big deal since this is the first time since Dexit it'll be available. It hasn't been in a single Switch title at all (Furfrou is also making its Switch debut here, leaving the only yet unaccounted for Pokemon being the monkey trio from Unova).

Not surprising because of the difficulties in developing 3D models, but why does this game exist if that's the case? You can already battle in the main games, what exactly is this adding that would make me want to play this as opposed to a game like SwSh and SV? This is why we haven't had a game in this style for a while.

Meh, fairly unimpressed with what I saw. This is like the bare minimum they could've shown. Two Johto starters is certainly a choice, and I don't really like any of the three that much (maybe some good variants will change that). I guess I'll choose Totodile. No new Pokemon or Megas shown whatsoever. Only remotely interesting announcement is the real time battling system, that is something Pokemon needs to experiment with. And WTF did they do to AZ?

Pretty much showed the bare minimum they could've and the game feels like it might be bare minimum effort. We had a gap year for this? There should still be some cool stuff in the usual June/August trailer but right now there's not much hype about this reveal.

@Clark2k So that is an average. That makes the claim a tad misleading, since without specifying it's an average it leads one to believe that there would be one all 96 months. An average is still nothing to sneeze at, especially compared to Xbox and Playstation, but not specifying an average does raise expectations even further.

Um what? No, there's definitely been some gaps in first party content with this schedule, some of the slower years like 2020 and 2024 did not keep this schedule. At best maybe it was an average, but they definitely did not have a first party game all 96 months that the Switch was on the market from March 2017 to the present day (hell we don't even have something for this month).

Even if they did, I doubt they can with the Switch 2. The Switch 2 is expected to be stronger, so dev times will probably be closer to Xbox and Playstation. And that's probably going to be enough to make one per month unrealistic. It may be more like one every 2-3 months on Switch 2.

@Dazman The lack of Platinum DLC wasn't due to sales, they were probably never planning to make any in the first place with LA and SV both coming within the next year. Unfortunately both LGPE and BDSP are the two best selling Pokemon remakes, both sitting at 15.07 million and 15.06 million respectively. The reality is that Pokemon fans gobbled these games up regardless of their lower quality, and in fact they likely sold better because of the Switch effect.

@ScalenePowers Let's Go is hampered by much more than the naming convention. The entire design philosophy of those games are extremely controversial. Making it a glorified copy/paste of Yellow with Go catching mechanics replacing actual wild battles was the exact wrong direction for a Switch game and honestly I'd play BDSP 10 times over before I even think of touching the likes of LGPE. At least BDSP has wild battles, more than the same 151 Pokemon we've seen 17 times, map design that doesn't feel like it was made by a 5 year old, an actual story, actual side content, and actual QoL features.

Legends is a far better version of what LGPE is trying to be, in a sense LA is a spiritual successor of LGPE. That game actually has a sense of modern game design and fresh, constructive formula improvements to make a game of that style worth playing. And we're actually getting a second Legends entry, as it deserves.

I'd rather Pokemon get NSO ports and Legends entries than remakes, remakes don't serve much of a purpose anymore.

Bold of you to talk about 3DS NSO when we don't even have DS. Let's get DS NSO games first.

And I don't think Nintendo wants to start porting them to NSO when they can do remakes/remasters right now. They don't have Wii U remakes/remasters to rely on at this point so 3DS is probably going to have to help fill that void. I can definitely see some popular 3DS games like 3D Land, ALBW, the Kirby games, and Kid Icarus getting Switch 2 remakes/remasters.

@Cathalm I doubt the third parties are using new features in the Switch 2 that heavily. Third parties seem to want fairly standardized features to make it easier to port them to all platforms. My guess is that Nintendo wants to control the messaging for the Switch 2 lineup and they want the spotlight on the first party games first and foremost. I don't think they want third party announcements overshadowing their own games and they want the first party games and whatever they're doing to improve on the Switch 1 games to be the primary reason people want a Switch 2.

@nhSnork Serebii typically doesn't link to official sources. As for NL, they're usually pretty good about that, but Serebii also seems to be a partner for the site and has written some Pokemon articles here so maybe that's why. But yeah, it's still bad journalism regardless.

@Cathalm I know you're joking, but the real reason this isn't confirmed for Switch 2 yet (and it's totally obvious that this is coming to Switch 2) seems to be that Nintendo has probably told developers not to confirm Switch 2 titles until the April 2nd Direct. No one's confirmed anything for Switch 2 yet except for the teased Mario Kart game, and that seems intentional so Nintendo may have said something. Hence we get the awkward "Nintendo" platform for Yooka-Replaylee even though it's a surprise to no one that the only Nintendo console this game is likely coming to is Switch 2.

This is so much better than the dumb minigames in the original, quality addition to this game.

@Dizzard It kinda seems like even though the Switch 2 has been officially confirmed, Nintendo is telling developers not to confirm Switch 2 games yet. I think Nintendo is making them wait until the April 2nd Direct. I suspect that if we get a Gen 10 teaser, it'll be then.

Furthermore, they probably won't confirm it'll be Gen 10 (they don't even refer to numbered generations, that's a fan term) or that it'll be coming in 2026. It'll probably be like the SwSh teaser at E3 2017 and all they'll say is "a new core Pokemon game is coming to Switch 2".

@nhSnork IDK why they're using Serebii, but there are official sources for this news. You can find it on pokemon.com

https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/a-new-pokemon-presents-for-pokemon-day-on-february-27-2025

@Whirlwound Oh no! All 5 people that care about this series will get it for free!

They're definitely feeling padded out and repetitive, but I can't see a good alternative unfortunately. As long as they have big news to share, particularly with their console games, I can tolerate them but everything else they try and tack on to the beginning of the presentation completely goes in one ear and out the other.

So this is a pseudo-Sonic Riders sequel? Count me in, I love Riders. I just hope they're not biting off more than they can chew here. The game looks very ambitious, I hope they've given the game the proper time it needs to be great.

We need more systems and games badly. GC should be a must. The mouse controls might make DS and 3DS more feasible. And where tf are the main series Pokemon games?

@Lizuka I do think there is an audience for an open world space game in the style of Starlink or No Man's Sky. Starlink itself didn't do too well, but the Switch version did slightly better, so that implies that they didn't like Starlink itself but were intrigued by the possibility of a Star Fox game in this style. I say they try a full Star Fox game in this style and see what happens. Nintendo will probably come up with a polished, fun take on this style, and open world games tend to sell, so they should put this out there and see if it'll spark more interest in Star Fox. If that fails then I think you could say there's no audience for Star Fox.

@Williamfuchs420 Wait, so this game WASN'T a real game when Butters referenced it in that episode? Huh, I always assumed it was and this is just a remake/re-release of a 15-20 year old game or something.

Sanrio says it has nothing to do with the joke, and yet they joined in the memes that spawned from said joke. Sure Sanrio, sure. They absolutely wanted to make it a real game, they just don't want to admit it and get into a copyright dispute with Paramount.

Meh, 3D World was fine for the 3DS, but it'd be a bit dull and simplistic on the Switch 2. It really needs its Bowser's Fury moment to reinvigorate the gameplay if they're going to bring it back. A straight port for $60 is going to feel like another ripoff. It was well worth $40 on the 3DS, but $60 on the Switch 2? Yeah no.

I do want to see an open world Mario Kart and think there's a market for it, but not as a flagship entry. I think that's better as a subseries that exists alongside traditional entries (think something like what the sandbox 3D Mario games are to the 2D games, or what Metroid Prime is to the 2D Metroids), perhaps something they could release as a second Mario Kart game later in the Switch 2's lifespan.

For now, I would like a track maker, but in general they're probably going to need to surprise me. I have a feeling that the gimmick here is going to be something not listed here, something we're all not expecting.

@JohnnyMind @Max_the_German The price is what Nintendo is asking for to play the game. So yeah it matters. They're asking you to pay the same price as a new game to re-experience a game that you already experienced with no new additions (which means that the entertainment value is going to go down, since you know what to expect) and performance that is questionable at best. Hard to justify the value proposition there.

And the argument of "oh just wait for the price to go down" doesn't really hold much water either, since Switch games in general haven't gone down in price. Hell, even 2017 Switch games are still being sold for a full $60. The only way you're saving money by waiting is by buying used, and used games are lower price for more reasons than just people being done with the game, they carry higher risk that the game stops working due to wear and tear.