This game looks so insane. Reminds me of Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (gameplay wise) but weirder. Definitely looks like the 2D Mario shakeup we so desperately needed.
@NintendoByNature According to one of the leaks, it's supposed to be a pun. "Horse" sounds close to "host" in some languages, the joke is that the game has a horse as a host.
Yikes, major red flag here. The game looks good so far, but I'm wary. The Mania devs backing out and Arzest taking over is pretty much the exact opposite of what you'd want to happen.
@JoeyTS Ehh, it's really just quantity over quality. It's simplistic track designs with low-quality unfitting graphics. Feels like you're setting your standards a bit low here TBH, Nintendo could be giving us so much more if we actually asked for more.
The other 6/10 are spread across different genres (you have 1 racing game, 1 life sim game, 1 fighting game, 1 party game, 1 2D platformer, and 1 exercise game). Now granted genres are a bit hard to define and cross over with each other (after all the 4 open world/sandbox games could be considered different genres themselves as 1 is an action/adventure, 1 is a 3D platformer, and 2 are RPGs), but the 6 non-open world/sandbox games all play radically different from each other (at best, you could connect a few of them for being multiplayer games, but even that feels like a bit of a stretch and even then, there aren't more than 4 of those) whereas the open world games have a bit more in common with each other. And again, you're missing the context without digging deeper into the data. BotW is the best selling Zelda game. Mario Odyssey is the best selling 3D Mario. SwSh and SV are some of the best selling Pokemon games. So Mario Kart going open world could make it the best selling Mario Kart game.
Yes, spinoffs of spinoffs have happened before if the spinoff itself is popular enough. Can't think of any video game examples off the top of my head, but in TV, NCIS is a spinoff of JAG and has itself received multiple spinoffs (NCIS:LA and NCIS:NO). Mario Kart is in a similar situation that despite being a spinoff, it's still so immensely popular that it itself would be deserving of a spinoff or subseries.
The problem with one Mario Kart per console is that console generations typically last 5-8 years, but players are going to get bored long before that point. Usually for more popular IPs you'd want something about every 3-5 years. When Nintendo had separate handhelds and consoles, that wasn't an issue because they could stagger handheld and console Mario Karts to fill in the gaps but now that they have one hybrid device, the one Mario Kart per console rule is a drag on the series (doubly so when the most recent entry is a PORT and we've been playing the same entry for 10 years, which is by far the longest drought in series history). They need something to fill in the gaps, and a new style of gameplay is a great way to do that without cannibalizing the main entries. No one's going to question whether having both a 2D Mario and a 3D Mario or a 2D Metroid and a Metroid Prime would cannibalize each other because they're both very different flavors of Mario and Metroid respectively. Mario Kart needs something similar to fill in the gaps.
Big picture you don't really "need" anything, and Nintendo has already done several games they didn't "need" to do (it made sequels to BotW and Splatoon 2, for example). They pay attention to whether or not it's beneficial, and there's definitely an argument to be made that it's beneficial financially and creatively. With as much as Mario Kart sells, having more frequent releases could definitely benefit them financially, having a new flavor of Mario Kart could benefit them creatively, and making said flavor a more open world variety seems primed to benefit them in both ways.
@JoeyTS I'm not saying Tour is better than 8D, I'm saying a 9 with 8D's sales model and Tour's mechanic additions (key word: "additions", they should not replace what 8D has done) would be better than 8D. You're scamming yourself out of an even better experience than MK8 by not looking towards other games, even ones that might be bad overall, and thinking "is there something of value in these ideas that could be done better and improve the experience?". Good example of that is the Melee Counter in 2D Metroid, they tried pushing for more melee combat mechanics in Other M and everyone hates that game, but in Samus Returns they scaled things back, focused more on the traditional Metroid gameplay people loved, and kept the Melee Counter as an Other M-like element better adapted to traditional Metroid gameplay and that was far better received.
You can't really conclude that open world would lower MK8D's sales, you need more data to prove that (most notably, which demographics are buying the games and what games have they bought previously). If anything, it actually appears to be the opposite because many games that have gone more of a sandbox/open world direction have broken sales records for their IPs or at least come close (see: BotW, Mario Odyssey, Pokemon SV). This is why people keep jumping on the open world bandwagon. And while they haven't gone Top 3, 4 out of the Top 10 are open world or at least sandbox experiences, so it's clearly one of the top selling genres.
Mario has never been an adventure game, but racing through and exploring large open areas does not conflict with racing casually and competitively. They can make it a side series if they want like the sandbox Marios or Metroid Prime (and that might be for the best because I'm not sure it really mixes well with traditional Mario Kart gameplay, but it would do well as a different feeling Mario Kart that could run alongside the main series). That's what Forza Horizons is, it's a subseries of Forza. Why shouldn't Nintendo want their own Forza Horizons for Mario Kart, especially when they insist on only having one main entry per console? They'll need something to fill in the gaps when console generations tend to be 5+ years, and DLC is such a tremendous waste of creativity (and possibly sales too, it feels like they're leaving money on the table by not having a big Mario Kart game of some kind midway through the Switch's lifespan).
@JoeyTS Spoken like someone that's never played Tour. Tour actually does a lot of things better than 8 mechanically if you look past the gacha. It has an actual shop instead of random unlocks every X coins (who's bright idea was this?), it has R (reverse, where you play the course backwards), T (trick, where a bunch of trick ramps are added), and R/T (which is a reverse track with trick ramps added) variant courses. It has a scoring system which, while it probably shouldn't be a major focus, would probably make for a good Score Attack side mode. It brings back multiple fan favorite features such as missions and special items. MKT is a good game in spite of the gacha mechanics and mobile controls, and carrying these mechanics (not just the courses and characters) to a full console Mario Kart would result in a game that blows 8D out of the water. But nope, let's just bring the worst non-mobile aspects of MKT over to 8 because we're too cheap/lazy.
Open world/sandbox games are highly popular too. BotW, TotK, Mario Odyssey, Pokemon LA and SV have all sold 10+, several of those even 20+. Heck, TotK has only been on the market for 2 weeks and it's already passed 10 million. Additionally, there's been multiple fans expressing demand for another Diddy Kong Racing game, and that's kind of an early predecessor. An open world Mario Kart game would be a spiritual successor to DKR, and would probably at least partially satisfy that demand. So no, no one you know personally may not want open world Mario Kart, but it's pretty clear there's a huge market for it. The demand is certainly there.
Additionally, this would be a very different type of open world. You don't really see a lot of open world racing games, usually it's action/adventures, platformers, and RPGs that go open world. You would interact with the world different on a kart, so it wouldn't quite feel and play the same as your average open world game.
@johnvboy This is why extending a 5 year old port with mobile content felt like the wrong move, it's such a waste of potential to do nothing more than milk MK8 dry instead of you know... making an actual new game with something unique and original, even if said new game isn't quite a direct successor. Open world Mario Kart would've been the perfect way to tide people over to a legit MK9 and I'm very confused as to why (besides greed and laziness) they wouldn't have SOME kind of open world karting experiment on the Switch instead of simply "LOL mobile ports as DLC". Chaotic_Neutral's claim that Nintendo is "predatory" is an exaggeration but he's not far off with MK8D basically trying to make a killing reselling us the same content. And the fanbase is sadly eating it up far too easily.
@Not_Soos God no, we need Mario Kart 9 yesterday with actual new mechanics. Port Tour stuff to that if they must, not a 10 year old game that's long overstayed its welcome. You want to talk beating a dead horse, that's what Nintendo's been doing to MK8.
I'm also interested in hearing what they're doing with shrines/dungeons, that's the main thing I want to know before buying the game. I need to know what we're actually going to be doing in the overworld besides fighting enemies and messing around with fusions.
First of all, never heard of this event until now, so that's not good.
Second of all, why do they only focus on old multiplayer games at this event? This would be a perfect E3 replacement, particularly for the Treehouse segments which they can't really replicate very well during Directs, we're largely missing the sort of hands-on coverage that Treehouse provided with E3 dying off.
@serouj2000 I was fine with it back then. I wished they had done a big show, but the format itself wasn't really bad. In fact 2014 was one of the best E3s I've seen from Nintendo. As for 2013, I was more disappointed in the content than the format, especially with how Iwata teased what they were revealing which got my hopes up sky high. He teased they would reveal 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Smash, and "a beloved IP by Retro", and I thought "awesome, we're getting a new sandbox Mario and Metroid Prime 4". I was utterly crushed when it was just 3D World, a samey looking sequel to 3D Land, and Tropical Freeze, a samey looking sequel to DKCR. Now I probably still wouldn't have liked that E3 because it didn't quite have the games I was waiting for (in fact I would have to wait until the Switch in 2017 for the games I was waiting for, which was even more crushing and disappointing), but Iwata's tease made it sound like 2013 was going to be what 2017 was and then the actual presentation pulled the rug underneath me and made me feel worse. Not very smart PR there.
@sd7232 No reason to believe this will cause a crash. E3 is an obsolete format now that publishers can livestream news whenever they feel like. Be real, why do we care about Nintendo showing up at E3 when they can air a Nintendo Direct at any time of the year?
@NewAdvent I don't agree, BW2 had a ton of new areas which we could tell going in, we could see some changes to even older areas, and we knew that there were going to be a ton of older Pokemon and new mechanics which changed up the gameplay. I'm not getting the same vibe from TotK. The map looks closer to USUM than BW2.
@MS7000 And that's another great point. Exploration is a central mechanic to Zelda that phoning it in like this with a largely similar map greatly reduces the appeal. So yeah, the heavy reuse of the same map is a big deal and the comparisons brought up in the article aren't very applicable.
@StarPoint @blindsquarel Name another sequel where the map looked about 80% similar to the map from the first game. That's the biggest issue with TotK. We can talk about games like Majora's Mask or Banjo-Tooie being asset flips, but most if not all of the game worlds in those kinds of games were new areas that did not exist in their predecessors. This just looks like it's mostly the same areas we already explored in BotW with little added, I agree with @ButterCashier on their comparison on Pokemon Sun/Moon to Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, that looks to be more accurate to what this is.
@tabris95 Don't read too much into that statement, I think it's PR speak for "F-Zero doesn't sell enough and we're looking for something that can boost its sales". The fact that they don't seem to think the Switch is enough is a grim omen for that fanbase, it may just be dead at this point.
I think whether or not a game feels "similar" comes down to two things:
1. Does the world look or feel largely similar?
2. Are you performing the same actions as you did for its predecessor?
If you're reusing the same maps, creating new maps that just look or feel similar to old ones, or just performing the same actions that you did in the last game, that can feel repetitive and boring. It just feels like you're making a new game for the sake of having something to sell and it doesn't feel like you actually have new ideas that make the same concept more fun. That's where the "this game is too similar" complaints come from.
Now in TotK's case, it doesn't fail the second point, abilities such as Fusing and the Ultrahand do seem to shake up what you're actually going to be doing in the game and those parts are exciting. But it does fail the first point, the overworld looks largely the same. It doesn't feel like Hyrule is significantly changed from BotW to make exploring it still fun (you have the sky islands, but that looks like maybe 20% of the overworld at best). It's one thing to reuse assets by bringing back some characters or objects. It's another thing entirely to reuse 80% OF THE MAP. Was MM just 80% OoT's Hyrule? Was Galaxy 2 just 80% of Galaxy 1's levels? This is the biggest sticking point with TotK for me, if you're reusing 80% of the map, it's not worth paying $70 and from the consumer standpoint, it's better off as DLC.
It looks slightly better than I expected, but still fairly samey. It's not quite DLC, but it does look more like BotW 1.5 than BotW 2. Guess now we know what took them so long to make, the Fuse mechanic probably took up a ton of dev time.
Has to be 2017. And no, I'm not a Zoomer who started on the Switch, I've been around the block for a while (since late 5th gen/early 6th gen). Sorry, but having BotW, Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, Metroid Samus Returns, and MK8D (which I experienced for the first time because I skipped the Wii U) is just too good a lineup to beat. That's like, a lot of my favorite IPs, many of which carry a similar but modernized spirit of the open 3D game worlds I enjoyed as a child, all in one year. It's going to be hard to top that.
2017 by far. Nothing beats having a new 3D Zelda game, a new 3D Mario game, a new Splatoon game, and an excellent Mario Kart port. That's some of Nintendo's biggest IPs all in one year. Insane that all of this released in the course of a year, I'm not sure Nintendo will ever have a lineup this good again.
Okay, this is actually a great lineup. If I cared about the Booster Course Pack, I'd be stoked with this lineup. Riverside Park and Bangkok Rush are the two courses I'd have most wanted to see make the jump from Tour and their both coming in Tour, Yoshi's Island looked really good in the Direct, and Waluigi's Stadium looks very well improved.
Pretty awful. Felt like time for NSO and/or some console spinoffs but nope, just mobile stuff and DLC (and even in those areas they didn't reveal all that much). Easily the worst one I can remember.
@Anti-Matter It's in a random Raid den all over the region. You'll be able to tell which one by searching for the respective Tera type icon and then looking for the one that has a sort of radar effect on it (on the map it'll be animated with concentric circles pulsing from it).
As for the Pokemon themselves, they're 5 Star raids at Lv. 75. They also seem to be locked into Rash (Walking Wake)/Naughty (Iron Leaves) nature.
@AllanMortom I feel like you have to put cross gen releases like TP and BotW in a different category from ports like MK8D. With ports, the game was already out there for several years so people might be double dipping. But for cross gen? It's a simultaneous release. Fans of both consoles are experiencing the game at exactly the same time. So you can't really discount the newer console for that.
As for Pokemon, the open world means more area to explore and there's also more Pokemon to catch. You simply get much more out of it than a game like Colosseum/XD which is just sort of a gimped Pokemon experience with no routes and no (or in XD's case little) wild Pokemon to catch. Also, I really didn't encounter a lot of bugs unless I specifically went looking for them, I feel like the complaints about bugs and lack of polish is overblown.
@AllanMortom Yeah, not sure your comparison is accurate here. For one, you're missing quite a few IPs here. Where's Smash, Kirby, and Yoshi? Smash had far more characters, stages, and mechanics in Ultimate than Melee. And Kirby and Yoshi were nonexistent on the GC (except for Air Ride which was a spinoff).
Second, I disagree with several of your comparisons here. Colosseum and XD are neat games for their time and good under the circumstances of the GC not having main series Pokemon game, but they don't hold a candle to a main series Pokemon game which has a fully fleshed out region (one of which is full OPEN WORLD), not a series of relatively small self-contained areas, and the main games on the Switch have twice as many Pokemon to catch as Colosseum/XD. The "smiling and jumping around" (whatever that means) is nothing compared to having actual, fully fleshed out content instead of some side project made to compensate for a "No Console Pokemon" rule instituted at the time. I also didn't like WW and TP and BotW are both cross gen, and Zelda is also getting a fully open world sequel in 3 months. A bit early, but I don't think you can give Zelda to the GC. Also Donkey Konga is a spinoff game and the Switch has a TF port, which while a port is at least something main game so you really have to rank that higher than a rhythm spinoff. Put Switch against the SNES, N64, Wii, or Wii U? Fine, those consoles all had original main series DK games so those would outdo the Switch on DK games (at least unless that rumored DK game gets announced, then the conversation will get a lot more interesting). But the GC? The GC didn't have much to get excited for for DK fans.
Lastly, I think you have to kind of weigh some of these IP comparisons instead of just counting them outright. Getting a cornerstone Nintendo IP like Mario, Zelda, or Pokemon right holds more significance than getting niche IPs like F-Zero or Star Fox right. And the Switch is really winning on many of the cornerstone IPs. The Switch has the better Mario game, the better Zelda games, the better Pokemon games, the better AC game, the better Smash game, and added Splatoon which is another higher selling IP. Whereas most of the IPs you're citing as being better on the GC are more niche, stuff like F-Zero, Pikmin, and (as much as it pains me to say it) Metroid. So quality wise the Switch has higher quality games in the IPs they really needed to get right. GC has some better games in largely niche IPs which is a good bonus but some of the cornerstone IPs were a bit more hit or miss on GC.
@Asaki I mean the Switch has Mario Odyssey, ACNH, multiple Pokemon games, Luigi's Mansion 3, Metroid Dread, and 2 Kirby games including the first ever 3D Kirby game, you don't think those games are enough incentive? I'd much rather play those games than the Wii U's mediocrity.
@HugoGED So then you could say the Wii U is no better when it comes to standing on its own lineup instead of relying on past games.
Also, most of the games I mentioned that the Wii U was lacking are some of Nintendo's biggest and highest selling IPs. 3D Mario, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing are huge, so lacking those kinds of games (or in 3D Mario's case, lacking the sandbox style of 3D Mario) are pretty glaring omissions. Most of the IPs you mentioned are largely not as significant to Nintendo's plans. About the only glaring omission from that list is Mario Kart (also 3D World, but there are also plenty of other linear platformer IPs whereas there were few alternatives to the Odyssey style sandbox on Wii U), the rest of those are relatively niche IPs or spinoffs.
Comments 2,580
Re: Talking Point: Is Super Mario Bros. Wonder Really A Departure From The 'New' Series?
I mean you can still see the roots of NSMB in this game, but it does seem to be something very new and different, so I would say so.
Re: Yoshi And Kirby Developer Good-Feel Reveals New 3D Action Game For Switch
This game NEEDS to release in the West.
Re: Super Mario Bros. Wonder, A Brand New 2D Mario Game, Is Coming To Switch
This game looks so insane. Reminds me of Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (gameplay wise) but weirder. Definitely looks like the 2D Mario shakeup we so desperately needed.
Re: Nintendo's Upcoming Party Game Everybody 1-2-Switch! Showcases "100 Players At Once"
@Anti-Matter That is the one positive about this, and I was actually thinking about the same thing on the next gen improvements thread.
Re: Nintendo's Upcoming Party Game Everybody 1-2-Switch! Showcases "100 Players At Once"
@NintendoByNature It's okay. I don't think it's meant to be that funny, I think it's just dad-joke quality humor.
Re: Nintendo's Upcoming Party Game Everybody 1-2-Switch! Showcases "100 Players At Once"
@Anti-Matter ...
It's a joke, of course there really are 100 people, I was just making fun of how few Nintendo fans are interested in this.
Re: Nintendo's Upcoming Party Game Everybody 1-2-Switch! Showcases "100 Players At Once"
@raygboyd333 Are there even 100 people interested in this game?
Re: Nintendo's Upcoming Party Game Everybody 1-2-Switch! Showcases "100 Players At Once"
@NintendoByNature According to one of the leaks, it's supposed to be a pun. "Horse" sounds close to "host" in some languages, the joke is that the game has a horse as a host.
Re: Splatoon 3 Devs Tease "New And Different" Gameplay In Wave 2 DLC
Great. Now tell me what that gameplay actually is and then maybe I'll get excited.
Re: Sonic Superstars Developed By Original Designer's Studio
Yikes, major red flag here. The game looks good so far, but I'm wary. The Mania devs backing out and Arzest taking over is pretty much the exact opposite of what you'd want to happen.
Re: Best Nintendo Switch Puzzle Games
I really wish Captain Toad Treasure Tracker would get a sequel, it's so fun and charming and unique.
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy Color, SNES & NES Library With Four More Titles
Yawn. Main series Pokemon games when?
Re: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Character Purah Gets Transformed Into A VTuber
Oh this is getting C&D'd HARD, but appreciate the skills.
I wonder if Nintendo is interested in partnering with some family friendly VTubers though? Would be good marketing for them.
Re: Nintendo Announces Everybody 1-2-Switch!
Shadow dropping a title like this? Yeeahhh, there's no Direct this month. This would be a Direct announcement otherwise.
Re: Review: LEGO 2K Drive - A Fun, Colourful Racer But Not Quite Open-World Mario Kart
@JoeyTS Ehh, it's really just quantity over quality. It's simplistic track designs with low-quality unfitting graphics. Feels like you're setting your standards a bit low here TBH, Nintendo could be giving us so much more if we actually asked for more.
The other 6/10 are spread across different genres (you have 1 racing game, 1 life sim game, 1 fighting game, 1 party game, 1 2D platformer, and 1 exercise game). Now granted genres are a bit hard to define and cross over with each other (after all the 4 open world/sandbox games could be considered different genres themselves as 1 is an action/adventure, 1 is a 3D platformer, and 2 are RPGs), but the 6 non-open world/sandbox games all play radically different from each other (at best, you could connect a few of them for being multiplayer games, but even that feels like a bit of a stretch and even then, there aren't more than 4 of those) whereas the open world games have a bit more in common with each other. And again, you're missing the context without digging deeper into the data. BotW is the best selling Zelda game. Mario Odyssey is the best selling 3D Mario. SwSh and SV are some of the best selling Pokemon games. So Mario Kart going open world could make it the best selling Mario Kart game.
Yes, spinoffs of spinoffs have happened before if the spinoff itself is popular enough. Can't think of any video game examples off the top of my head, but in TV, NCIS is a spinoff of JAG and has itself received multiple spinoffs (NCIS:LA and NCIS:NO). Mario Kart is in a similar situation that despite being a spinoff, it's still so immensely popular that it itself would be deserving of a spinoff or subseries.
The problem with one Mario Kart per console is that console generations typically last 5-8 years, but players are going to get bored long before that point. Usually for more popular IPs you'd want something about every 3-5 years. When Nintendo had separate handhelds and consoles, that wasn't an issue because they could stagger handheld and console Mario Karts to fill in the gaps but now that they have one hybrid device, the one Mario Kart per console rule is a drag on the series (doubly so when the most recent entry is a PORT and we've been playing the same entry for 10 years, which is by far the longest drought in series history). They need something to fill in the gaps, and a new style of gameplay is a great way to do that without cannibalizing the main entries. No one's going to question whether having both a 2D Mario and a 3D Mario or a 2D Metroid and a Metroid Prime would cannibalize each other because they're both very different flavors of Mario and Metroid respectively. Mario Kart needs something similar to fill in the gaps.
Big picture you don't really "need" anything, and Nintendo has already done several games they didn't "need" to do (it made sequels to BotW and Splatoon 2, for example). They pay attention to whether or not it's beneficial, and there's definitely an argument to be made that it's beneficial financially and creatively. With as much as Mario Kart sells, having more frequent releases could definitely benefit them financially, having a new flavor of Mario Kart could benefit them creatively, and making said flavor a more open world variety seems primed to benefit them in both ways.
Re: Review: LEGO 2K Drive - A Fun, Colourful Racer But Not Quite Open-World Mario Kart
@JoeyTS I'm not saying Tour is better than 8D, I'm saying a 9 with 8D's sales model and Tour's mechanic additions (key word: "additions", they should not replace what 8D has done) would be better than 8D. You're scamming yourself out of an even better experience than MK8 by not looking towards other games, even ones that might be bad overall, and thinking "is there something of value in these ideas that could be done better and improve the experience?". Good example of that is the Melee Counter in 2D Metroid, they tried pushing for more melee combat mechanics in Other M and everyone hates that game, but in Samus Returns they scaled things back, focused more on the traditional Metroid gameplay people loved, and kept the Melee Counter as an Other M-like element better adapted to traditional Metroid gameplay and that was far better received.
You can't really conclude that open world would lower MK8D's sales, you need more data to prove that (most notably, which demographics are buying the games and what games have they bought previously). If anything, it actually appears to be the opposite because many games that have gone more of a sandbox/open world direction have broken sales records for their IPs or at least come close (see: BotW, Mario Odyssey, Pokemon SV). This is why people keep jumping on the open world bandwagon. And while they haven't gone Top 3, 4 out of the Top 10 are open world or at least sandbox experiences, so it's clearly one of the top selling genres.
Mario has never been an adventure game, but racing through and exploring large open areas does not conflict with racing casually and competitively. They can make it a side series if they want like the sandbox Marios or Metroid Prime (and that might be for the best because I'm not sure it really mixes well with traditional Mario Kart gameplay, but it would do well as a different feeling Mario Kart that could run alongside the main series). That's what Forza Horizons is, it's a subseries of Forza. Why shouldn't Nintendo want their own Forza Horizons for Mario Kart, especially when they insist on only having one main entry per console? They'll need something to fill in the gaps when console generations tend to be 5+ years, and DLC is such a tremendous waste of creativity (and possibly sales too, it feels like they're leaving money on the table by not having a big Mario Kart game of some kind midway through the Switch's lifespan).
Re: Review: LEGO 2K Drive - A Fun, Colourful Racer But Not Quite Open-World Mario Kart
@JoeyTS Spoken like someone that's never played Tour. Tour actually does a lot of things better than 8 mechanically if you look past the gacha. It has an actual shop instead of random unlocks every X coins (who's bright idea was this?), it has R (reverse, where you play the course backwards), T (trick, where a bunch of trick ramps are added), and R/T (which is a reverse track with trick ramps added) variant courses. It has a scoring system which, while it probably shouldn't be a major focus, would probably make for a good Score Attack side mode. It brings back multiple fan favorite features such as missions and special items. MKT is a good game in spite of the gacha mechanics and mobile controls, and carrying these mechanics (not just the courses and characters) to a full console Mario Kart would result in a game that blows 8D out of the water. But nope, let's just bring the worst non-mobile aspects of MKT over to 8 because we're too cheap/lazy.
Open world/sandbox games are highly popular too. BotW, TotK, Mario Odyssey, Pokemon LA and SV have all sold 10+, several of those even 20+. Heck, TotK has only been on the market for 2 weeks and it's already passed 10 million. Additionally, there's been multiple fans expressing demand for another Diddy Kong Racing game, and that's kind of an early predecessor. An open world Mario Kart game would be a spiritual successor to DKR, and would probably at least partially satisfy that demand. So no, no one you know personally may not want open world Mario Kart, but it's pretty clear there's a huge market for it. The demand is certainly there.
Additionally, this would be a very different type of open world. You don't really see a lot of open world racing games, usually it's action/adventures, platformers, and RPGs that go open world. You would interact with the world different on a kart, so it wouldn't quite feel and play the same as your average open world game.
Re: Review: LEGO 2K Drive - A Fun, Colourful Racer But Not Quite Open-World Mario Kart
@johnvboy This is why extending a 5 year old port with mobile content felt like the wrong move, it's such a waste of potential to do nothing more than milk MK8 dry instead of you know... making an actual new game with something unique and original, even if said new game isn't quite a direct successor. Open world Mario Kart would've been the perfect way to tide people over to a legit MK9 and I'm very confused as to why (besides greed and laziness) they wouldn't have SOME kind of open world karting experiment on the Switch instead of simply "LOL mobile ports as DLC". Chaotic_Neutral's claim that Nintendo is "predatory" is an exaggeration but he's not far off with MK8D basically trying to make a killing reselling us the same content. And the fanbase is sadly eating it up far too easily.
Re: Mario Kart Tour Puts Peach And Daisy In The Spotlight With Upcoming Princess Tour
@Not_Soos God no, we need Mario Kart 9 yesterday with actual new mechanics. Port Tour stuff to that if they must, not a 10 year old game that's long overstayed its welcome. You want to talk beating a dead horse, that's what Nintendo's been doing to MK8.
Re: Mario Kart Tour Puts Peach And Daisy In The Spotlight With Upcoming Princess Tour
FINALLY WEDDING PEACH RETURNS! Been waiting ages for a rerun.
Re: Random: Square Enix's New Turf War Shooter Has 'Splatoon' Trending Online
Sony is copying Nintendo's homework again!
Re: Is Genshin Impact On Nintendo Switch?
Why was this article updated? It doesn't look like there's any new information on the Switch port.
Re: Watch Out, Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Leaks Are Out In The Wild
I'm also interested in hearing what they're doing with shrines/dungeons, that's the main thing I want to know before buying the game. I need to know what we're actually going to be doing in the overworld besides fighting enemies and messing around with fusions.
Re: Nintendo Live 2023: Dates, Everything You Need To Know
@Bret Obviously not based on the description, but the question remains why isn't it? What purpose does it serve as is?
Re: Switch Online Adds Pokémon Stadium To The Nintendo 64 Library Today, Out Now
Yeah no, playing it without the GB games on NSO is nearly pointless, those rental Pokemon are garbage. Wake me up when it's time for RBY.
Re: Nintendo Live 2023: Dates, Everything You Need To Know
First of all, never heard of this event until now, so that's not good.
Second of all, why do they only focus on old multiplayer games at this event? This would be a perfect E3 replacement, particularly for the Treehouse segments which they can't really replicate very well during Directs, we're largely missing the sort of hands-on coverage that Treehouse provided with E3 dying off.
Re: Miyamoto On New Mario Game: "Please Stay Tuned For Future Nintendo Directs"
It does feel like we're overdue for a new Mario game now, we typically don't wait 6 years for one. Wonder what's the holdup?
Re: It's Official, E3 2023 Has Been Cancelled
@serouj2000 I was fine with it back then. I wished they had done a big show, but the format itself wasn't really bad. In fact 2014 was one of the best E3s I've seen from Nintendo. As for 2013, I was more disappointed in the content than the format, especially with how Iwata teased what they were revealing which got my hopes up sky high. He teased they would reveal 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Smash, and "a beloved IP by Retro", and I thought "awesome, we're getting a new sandbox Mario and Metroid Prime 4". I was utterly crushed when it was just 3D World, a samey looking sequel to 3D Land, and Tropical Freeze, a samey looking sequel to DKCR. Now I probably still wouldn't have liked that E3 because it didn't quite have the games I was waiting for (in fact I would have to wait until the Switch in 2017 for the games I was waiting for, which was even more crushing and disappointing), but Iwata's tease made it sound like 2013 was going to be what 2017 was and then the actual presentation pulled the rug underneath me and made me feel worse. Not very smart PR there.
Re: It's Official, E3 2023 Has Been Cancelled
@sd7232 No reason to believe this will cause a crash. E3 is an obsolete format now that publishers can livestream news whenever they feel like. Be real, why do we care about Nintendo showing up at E3 when they can air a Nintendo Direct at any time of the year?
Re: Soapbox: Nobody Does 'More Of The Same' Better Than Nintendo
@NewAdvent I don't agree, BW2 had a ton of new areas which we could tell going in, we could see some changes to even older areas, and we knew that there were going to be a ton of older Pokemon and new mechanics which changed up the gameplay. I'm not getting the same vibe from TotK. The map looks closer to USUM than BW2.
Re: Soapbox: Nobody Does 'More Of The Same' Better Than Nintendo
@MS7000 And that's another great point. Exploration is a central mechanic to Zelda that phoning it in like this with a largely similar map greatly reduces the appeal. So yeah, the heavy reuse of the same map is a big deal and the comparisons brought up in the article aren't very applicable.
Re: Soapbox: Nobody Does 'More Of The Same' Better Than Nintendo
@StarPoint @blindsquarel Name another sequel where the map looked about 80% similar to the map from the first game. That's the biggest issue with TotK. We can talk about games like Majora's Mask or Banjo-Tooie being asset flips, but most if not all of the game worlds in those kinds of games were new areas that did not exist in their predecessors. This just looks like it's mostly the same areas we already explored in BotW with little added, I agree with @ButterCashier on their comparison on Pokemon Sun/Moon to Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, that looks to be more accurate to what this is.
Re: Soapbox: Nobody Does 'More Of The Same' Better Than Nintendo
@tabris95 Don't read too much into that statement, I think it's PR speak for "F-Zero doesn't sell enough and we're looking for something that can boost its sales". The fact that they don't seem to think the Switch is enough is a grim omen for that fanbase, it may just be dead at this point.
Re: Soapbox: Nobody Does 'More Of The Same' Better Than Nintendo
I think whether or not a game feels "similar" comes down to two things:
1. Does the world look or feel largely similar?
2. Are you performing the same actions as you did for its predecessor?
If you're reusing the same maps, creating new maps that just look or feel similar to old ones, or just performing the same actions that you did in the last game, that can feel repetitive and boring. It just feels like you're making a new game for the sake of having something to sell and it doesn't feel like you actually have new ideas that make the same concept more fun. That's where the "this game is too similar" complaints come from.
Now in TotK's case, it doesn't fail the second point, abilities such as Fusing and the Ultrahand do seem to shake up what you're actually going to be doing in the game and those parts are exciting. But it does fail the first point, the overworld looks largely the same. It doesn't feel like Hyrule is significantly changed from BotW to make exploring it still fun (you have the sky islands, but that looks like maybe 20% of the overworld at best). It's one thing to reuse assets by bringing back some characters or objects. It's another thing entirely to reuse 80% OF THE MAP. Was MM just 80% OoT's Hyrule? Was Galaxy 2 just 80% of Galaxy 1's levels? This is the biggest sticking point with TotK for me, if you're reusing 80% of the map, it's not worth paying $70 and from the consumer standpoint, it's better off as DLC.
Re: Poll: What Did You Think Of The New Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Trailer?
It looks slightly better than I expected, but still fairly samey. It's not quite DLC, but it does look more like BotW 1.5 than BotW 2. Guess now we know what took them so long to make, the Fuse mechanic probably took up a ton of dev time.
Re: Talking Point: What's The Best Year In Gaming?
Has to be 2017. And no, I'm not a Zoomer who started on the Switch, I've been around the block for a while (since late 5th gen/early 6th gen). Sorry, but having BotW, Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, Metroid Samus Returns, and MK8D (which I experienced for the first time because I skipped the Wii U) is just too good a lineup to beat. That's like, a lot of my favorite IPs, many of which carry a similar but modernized spirit of the open 3D game worlds I enjoyed as a child, all in one year. It's going to be hard to top that.
Re: Back Page: Forget Pokémon Sleep, Here's 7 More Pokémon Lifestyle Apps We Definitely Need
Actually a Pokemon exercise app isn't a bad idea. We've seen how popular Ring Fit Adventure is.
Re: Poll: Six Years On, Which Was Nintendo Switch's Best Year So Far?
2017 by far. Nothing beats having a new 3D Zelda game, a new 3D Mario game, a new Splatoon game, and an excellent Mario Kart port. That's some of Nintendo's biggest IPs all in one year. Insane that all of this released in the course of a year, I'm not sure Nintendo will ever have a lineup this good again.
Re: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 4 Launches Next Week
Okay, this is actually a great lineup. If I cared about the Booster Course Pack, I'd be stoked with this lineup. Riverside Park and Bangkok Rush are the two courses I'd have most wanted to see make the jump from Tour and their both coming in Tour, Yoshi's Island looked really good in the Direct, and Waluigi's Stadium looks very well improved.
Re: Poll: What Did You Think Of The February 2023 Pokémon Presents, Then?
@FawfulDX We didn't get either really. The rumors about this being a light year seem to be spot on.
Re: Poll: What Did You Think Of The February 2023 Pokémon Presents, Then?
Pretty awful. Felt like time for NSO and/or some console spinoffs but nope, just mobile stuff and DLC (and even in those areas they didn't reveal all that much). Easily the worst one I can remember.
Re: Round Up: Everything Announced At The February 2023 Pokémon Presents Showcase
Re: Latest Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Tera Raid Event Starts Today, Features New Paradox Pokémon
@BrazillianCara Really? Then maybe I just got extremely lucky because mine both had beneficial natures. I thought that was intentional.
Re: Latest Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Tera Raid Event Starts Today, Features New Paradox Pokémon
@Anti-Matter It's in a random Raid den all over the region. You'll be able to tell which one by searching for the respective Tera type icon and then looking for the one that has a sort of radar effect on it (on the map it'll be animated with concentric circles pulsing from it).
As for the Pokemon themselves, they're 5 Star raids at Lv. 75. They also seem to be locked into Rash (Walking Wake)/Naughty (Iron Leaves) nature.
Re: Pokémon Presents Showcase Announced For Next Week
As expected. Biggest news is probably going to be the DLC, but a lot of this is probably in the cards.
Re: Miyamoto: "Other IPs" Like Splatoon Were Considered For Super Nintendo World
It's sad that they only went for Mario, a Splatoon paintball attraction would be fantastic.
Re: Talking Point: Which Nintendo Console Has The Best First-Party Games Lineup?
@AllanMortom I feel like you have to put cross gen releases like TP and BotW in a different category from ports like MK8D. With ports, the game was already out there for several years so people might be double dipping. But for cross gen? It's a simultaneous release. Fans of both consoles are experiencing the game at exactly the same time. So you can't really discount the newer console for that.
As for Pokemon, the open world means more area to explore and there's also more Pokemon to catch. You simply get much more out of it than a game like Colosseum/XD which is just sort of a gimped Pokemon experience with no routes and no (or in XD's case little) wild Pokemon to catch. Also, I really didn't encounter a lot of bugs unless I specifically went looking for them, I feel like the complaints about bugs and lack of polish is overblown.
Re: Talking Point: Which Nintendo Console Has The Best First-Party Games Lineup?
@AllanMortom Yeah, not sure your comparison is accurate here. For one, you're missing quite a few IPs here. Where's Smash, Kirby, and Yoshi? Smash had far more characters, stages, and mechanics in Ultimate than Melee. And Kirby and Yoshi were nonexistent on the GC (except for Air Ride which was a spinoff).
Second, I disagree with several of your comparisons here. Colosseum and XD are neat games for their time and good under the circumstances of the GC not having main series Pokemon game, but they don't hold a candle to a main series Pokemon game which has a fully fleshed out region (one of which is full OPEN WORLD), not a series of relatively small self-contained areas, and the main games on the Switch have twice as many Pokemon to catch as Colosseum/XD. The "smiling and jumping around" (whatever that means) is nothing compared to having actual, fully fleshed out content instead of some side project made to compensate for a "No Console Pokemon" rule instituted at the time. I also didn't like WW and TP and BotW are both cross gen, and Zelda is also getting a fully open world sequel in 3 months. A bit early, but I don't think you can give Zelda to the GC. Also Donkey Konga is a spinoff game and the Switch has a TF port, which while a port is at least something main game so you really have to rank that higher than a rhythm spinoff. Put Switch against the SNES, N64, Wii, or Wii U? Fine, those consoles all had original main series DK games so those would outdo the Switch on DK games (at least unless that rumored DK game gets announced, then the conversation will get a lot more interesting). But the GC? The GC didn't have much to get excited for for DK fans.
Lastly, I think you have to kind of weigh some of these IP comparisons instead of just counting them outright. Getting a cornerstone Nintendo IP like Mario, Zelda, or Pokemon right holds more significance than getting niche IPs like F-Zero or Star Fox right. And the Switch is really winning on many of the cornerstone IPs. The Switch has the better Mario game, the better Zelda games, the better Pokemon games, the better AC game, the better Smash game, and added Splatoon which is another higher selling IP. Whereas most of the IPs you're citing as being better on the GC are more niche, stuff like F-Zero, Pikmin, and (as much as it pains me to say it) Metroid. So quality wise the Switch has higher quality games in the IPs they really needed to get right. GC has some better games in largely niche IPs which is a good bonus but some of the cornerstone IPs were a bit more hit or miss on GC.
Re: Talking Point: Which Nintendo Console Has The Best First-Party Games Lineup?
@Asaki I mean the Switch has Mario Odyssey, ACNH, multiple Pokemon games, Luigi's Mansion 3, Metroid Dread, and 2 Kirby games including the first ever 3D Kirby game, you don't think those games are enough incentive? I'd much rather play those games than the Wii U's mediocrity.
Re: Talking Point: Which Nintendo Console Has The Best First-Party Games Lineup?
@HugoGED So then you could say the Wii U is no better when it comes to standing on its own lineup instead of relying on past games.
Also, most of the games I mentioned that the Wii U was lacking are some of Nintendo's biggest and highest selling IPs. 3D Mario, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing are huge, so lacking those kinds of games (or in 3D Mario's case, lacking the sandbox style of 3D Mario) are pretty glaring omissions. Most of the IPs you mentioned are largely not as significant to Nintendo's plans. About the only glaring omission from that list is Mario Kart (also 3D World, but there are also plenty of other linear platformer IPs whereas there were few alternatives to the Odyssey style sandbox on Wii U), the rest of those are relatively niche IPs or spinoffs.