BongoBongo

These games are great value in the sales - £3 for sonic, outrun or virtua racing you can’t complain with that!

Shame Sonic 3 has had legal issues with the soundtrack as that is the best of the original triology

There is also a new hidden world in SMB2. From Nintendo's website (https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2020/November/Six-secrets-to-discover-with-the-Game-Watch-Super-Mario-Bros-system--1875308.html):

"Completing Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels will add a lovely star to its title screen. Get eight stars by completing the game eight times, and you’ll have access to the secret World A – containing four stages – by pressing the B button on the title screen! Heads up, Koopa Troopas move faster than usual…"

Also need a discount on Maj’s Mask - still priced about £40 physical and digital whereas OOT is only £10 currently

@arekdougy I literally just finished FEA on Sunday night! Need to decide which FE to get next but both FEF and FESV are still full priced

What a hero! I will probably have a second play through one day - if and when he ever finishes with it!

Cracking on with my main spirit pal Ori! Stunning game

My plan to use mine as a desk clock probably not the most practical seeing as there is no kick stand and an 8 hour battery life.

Maybe I can just put it on my shelf in its original box, not to preserve it for collectors purposes, but because the box is so snazzy.

@JohnnyC ha ha unfortunately you are referring to the moons you just have to pay for which don’t count in my book - but I would love it if I did randomly find more stuff to do I wasn’t aware of!

Actually just realised I meant 879/880 (proper) moons

Bought it and 10 stars off 100%ing Galaxy after getting the full 120 stars on both 64 and Sunshine. 64 was my favourite but it was the only one I had played back in the day so nostalgia definitely helping there - Sunshine had some fantastic moments but let down a bit by the tedious blue coins. Galaxy is consistently great.

Can hopefully add it to my 100%ing of Super Mario 3d Land and my 889/890 Moons on Odyssey (can you guess which one I am missing?)

Will try for the same on 3d World in Feb so then just missing Galaxy 2.

• Dig 3 would be a day 1 must buy for me
• Heist 2 I'd probs get some day, maybe on a sale
• Quest 2 - no way, this was the weakest Steamworld game by some margin
• New subseries - would have to wait and see before deciding

Need a good discount on Maj’s Mask please! It’s £40 compared to Ocarina and Land which were already £20 and now reduced further

Currently on 280/361 stars in Super Mario 3D All Stars after 100%ing 64 and Sunshine with some decent progress on Galaxy - so hopefully getting to the 300% completion this weekend!

Been a blast so far (had only played 64 before back in the day) but the blue coins in Sunshine were slightly tedious.

It says Control is a free trial above but you only get 5 mins. It is an odd way of doing it as the "launcher" is free to download but then it tries to punt you back to the eshop to spend £35. Not sure how this would work with tracking sales and stuff.

Is it maybe going on the NES app?

That pic is the Royal Crescent in Bath if anyone is interested! My home town! Funny seeing it in a Nintendo Life article

Can def vouch for Downwell - great game to dabble in from time to time and cool soundtrack.

Really what is the point in cheating in this game - what satisfaction does that give someone to win when they have a completely unfair advantage. Some people are weird I guess.

I have managed to get 1st place in 6 of my 60 plays so far which I was reasonably happy with but never seen anything like this! I mostly seem to win when I get lucky that the other 34 players aren't absolute wizards

Paid £45 in the end as Amazon knocked off a fiver post delivery.

So £15 a game. I definitely would have paid £20 or so for individual ports and if those were available I doubt people would have been complaining. Just think of this as a bulk buy of 3 fairly priced ports rather than a collection.

Some of the improvements people have been demanding (remake 64 in Odyssey’s engine - yeah sure) would have resulted in prices of £50 per game - and let’s face it all 3 wouldn’t have got that sort of treatment during this year of COVID. Let’s be realistic here please.

Great show guys. The park, out of the, knocked it.

Intrigued by Hyper Brawl Tournament - looks like a good set up with the entire pitch of action all on one screen. Sort of Windjammers vibes. Would like to find out more.

Ah and how could I forget Link Between Worlds - one of the main reasons I bought the console!

I thought they had already stopped making it a while ago! I wanted to get a new New 3DS XL at the start of lockdown to play some games I hadn’t played before but regular stores had all sold out (some had stock of the 2ds but wanted the real 3D deal).

Out of luck I managed to find the SNES edition being sold with not too much of a mark up. Have enjoyed playing Super Mario 3D Land, Ocarina, Fire Emblem Awakening and some classic gameboy colour games (2x oracle games, Mario golf, 6 golden coins). What to play next?

This looks a cool pack with the N64 commemorative cartridge and all, but seeing as the game is only £3.99 on Switch (and I got it for £1.99 on sale recently) it looks like a collectors item only.

On a side note - this is probably the best game I have ever purchased for under £2.

Agreed with the comments about wanting to just use this as a desk clock - that would be pretty neat but wonder what the battery situation would be

It’s good this wasn’t in a direct as there would have been a lot of people initially hyped, then confused, then pissed.

Dire Dire Docks is potentially the best song from a Nintendo game of all time (only potentially rivaled by Gerudo Valley)

Just spent some money on a couple of pre orders so sorry mediocre list of games - you just can't compete!

Just preordered from Nintendo UK site. Ideally I’d keep this in its box for value purposes but I like playing with things too much! Maybe it can be my next alarm clock

@datamonkey Thanks! I have done the same.

Let me know if anyone finds a UK pre-order for physical - the pre-order from the Nintendo UK website just seems to be for download

@DaCh33f they both definitely reminded me of each other (I loved both) - especially when you try to do the descents with minimal crashes so you end up taking it real slow and don’t worry about time. You can just savour the sounds of the mountain.

I loved this game and have completed the base challenges of each of the four mountains. Haven’t played for a while due to other games but I will definitely go back and complete the rest. Will probably get this DLC depending on the price.

Oracle of Seasons - for the first time!

Only £5.66 for A Short Hike! Pulling the trigger now

Been looking forward to A Short Hike so the shadow drop was a nice surprise.

Also liked the look of Raji which was shadow dropped as well but will wait time see a review as I hadn’t heard of that before.

@ACNHislit
“ I would rather have another Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, even though I had like no interest in any of the games (except for CoH, possibly)”

CoH was originally announced through an Indie World direct. So you would prefer a partners showcase even though the only part you joined was dlc for a game that was in the supposedly weaker presentation.

Phantom Shadow Beast Review of the Week: Prehistoric Dude

This features the strong storyline of "Dude", a friendly caveman who loves ham.

I explored 3 different scenarios while looking for Dude’s delicious lunch. I faced enemies, mastered obstacles, learnt new skills and I made Dude even stronger. I went on an adventure to help him to take back his lunch, which was stolen by a giant dinosaur. Dude needed to face many dangerous enemies while travelling through caves and forests but I got him some tools and power-ups to assist him during this journey. 3 stars.

The Phantom Shadow Beast Game of the Week is:

Frontline Zed

My review:

I collected weapons where I could and managed my time well. I decided to spend precious daylight hours repairing my defense instead of searching for other survivors to help me fight. The promise of rescue beckoned me - I had to survive long enough to make it. I proceeded to manage my time by day - searching for weapons and survivors at the expense of keeping my defenses repaired. But oh no - hordes of zombies were waiting for my flesh! And it turns out a wood wall wouldn't stop them! As a result, I had to defend my position against the horde by night with maximum attention (and I mean maximum). 3 stars.

I really enjoyed Firewatch (didn’t experience any technical issues like someone mentioned above).

I played through the whole of Edith Finch but I can’t say I enjoyed it the same way. Some compelling set pieces but there is no real story there to immerse yourself in - rather it’s a series of tales about each of her relatives told in different ways (unlike say Firewatch which is one mystery you play through over the course of a summer).

The discounts on OOT and SM3DL are pretty good seeing as that’s a discount on a game already reduced to £15.99.

Majoras Mask on the other hand is still £39.99 so I’d love a discount on that!

(Brought a 3DS second hand during lockdown and loving it!)

2013 was a great year for the 3DS!

@Stocksy have you played any of the other games in the series? I’ve played a few rugby video games in the past and normally had fun - but not heard of this before. £50 is too spicy as well

@BAN Are you saying that I am “gate-keeping” here? If so then that makes no sense (I’m not controlling anyone’s access to things - I don’t have that power) so you should really learn what Internet cliches mean before you use them.

If instead you mean the developers are gate keeping, then isn’t that their prerogative? Not that I believe they are but it depends on your definition. They have created something and can define the parameters of accessibility if they want. What right does the audience have to demand what is included? If I write a book and decide to write it in say Old English and then someone comes along and says the plot sounds really intriguing to them so I should publish it in modern language too then do I have to?

On your final point - my post above explains that my argument isn’t about diminishing my accomplishment of completing a harder game, it’s that I wouldn’t have the accomplishment of completing a harder game at all as I wouldn’t have had the motivation.

I really don’t feel that strongly either way - as I say I think it should be up to the developers. I merely wanted to make the argument against people saying that implementing easy mode in all games takes nothing away from gamers who like a challenge. Purely anecdotal and small sample, but it would have taken something away from me in respect of Cuphead.

I don't want to insert myself into the debate so not responding to anyone in particular - but I can definitely see arguments for games like this not implementing accessibility.

I am not the best gamer in the world but somehow I managed to beat Cuphead last year. It was very tough and I had to persevere through so many failures (always being able to see what I would need to do to win - just a matter of execution) so when I finally beat the final boss it is probably the most satisfying feeling I have ever gotten from gaming (mostly pride but a little bit of thankfulness that it was over!).

There is no way in hell that I would have persevered and gotten that immense satisfaction if there was a way of dialing down the difficulty - I would have caved into the frustration and seen it through to the end on an easier setting.

So the argument that including easier settings in games doesn't take anything away from people doesn't actually hold much water for me. Celeste for example I enjoyed but I did not complete any of the harder settings because I didn't have to. While that means more people can play it - it means you also miss out on something else.

Ultimately I think developers have to right to choose what they implement in their games without demands from an audience they might not even be targeting. The Celeste developers probably made the right decision for their game because it got a huge audience, but the Cuphead developers also made the right decision from their perspective as they allowed people like me to have one of their best ever experiences from video games.

Genuinely interested on how many units some of the more obscure games sale. There are just so many games that can't sell very well.

I mean what are the economics behind something like "Need A Packet?" (to pick on one random example). On sale for £5 - do they hope to sell say 100 units? It sounds pretty mediocre and there will be almost no marketing (including reviews) for it. So maybe make £500 - what were the development costs of that and required return on capital? Only really makes sense if making it was just some guy's hobby.

Almost like a Nindies direct - one that I wasn't even aware was happening.

Unto The End looks like it could be good - sort of like an Inside type game with some combat and set in prehistoric times. Mundaun also looks intriguing.

How do they get away with just calling a game “Golf”? Surely that name is already taken?

@KoopaTheQuick at least that sounds like a game (albeit a silly one). Ultra Hat Dimension just
makes no sense as a title and the blurb is ridiculous: “The catch is that the player can't punch anyone; instead, they must use the power of hats to convince others to do the punching for them.”

Same with ring fit on Amazon - I paid £10 over RRP from official amazon seller just because there was a small window when it was finally available again

C51WG for me! Favourites so far are Mancala, Yacht Dice, President, 9 Man Morris and Carom