Buizel

Damn, that's a real shame.

I'm hoping they at least keep vouchers for a while longer...

The original "awful UI" was fine tbh. Not to knock this guy's hard work, but I really fail to see how a grid or radial menu would improve on the original menu - if anything, these make it more complicated to navigate.

This was always something I loved about Tales of Symphonia on the Gamecube, although in practice it was always difficult to get the people together for it. FF Crystal Chronicles was also a great example - but again, difficult to set up in practice.

I think it's nice when it's given as an option, but I wouldn't expect developers to bend over backwards for it, and tbh I'd want my RPGs to first and foremost be single player experiences.

My first system was the Gameboy Color. I remember launching up the Gameboy Advance for the first time and being blown away by the colours and sound on my screen...and the game hadn't even loaded yet!

I wouldn't mind a similarly iconic startup for the Switch 2, but functionally we're in a much difference place to 20 years ago. When I pick up my Switch the game opens in practically an instant - a jingle risks slowing this process down. But I'm sure Nintendo can still add some character - I personally think the Switch's "click" motif is pretty iconic, even if I have more love for GBA/Gamecube's jingles.

@Ashina A shame to see that they're continuing to have the same issues in their Tales remasters.

I could tolerate the 30 fps in Symphonia but the added load times (when things loaded fine in the 20-year old Gamecube original) ultimately put me off the game.

@Bluerangervegeta Eh, I'm willing to meet you halfway here. I agree that B-K is overrated and doesn't hold up nearly as well as people will have you believe. But similarly I think Y-L isn't any worse than B-K and most of its strengths and flaws are aligned with those of B-K. I think it was unfairly maligned in the sense that I wouldn't have expected much more from a spiritual successor to B-K - I personally think it was very faithful but maybe that was its downfall.

I kinda see his point here. Yooka-Laylee was a pretty faithful spiritual successor and was unfairly maligned IMO.

I think for Banjo-Kazooie to make a real comeback they'd have to do something big and innovative, which I don't quite trust Microsoft to do at this point.

Left: how it started
Right: how it's going

Not a fan of the black and pastel combination tbh. Hoping they offer some joy-con more akin to what we had on the Switch.

Love me a good 3D platformer, but as someone who grew up with the PSone/N64, I must say I have no love for the "low-poly" look and wish fewer indies were going for it these days.

Totally get that budget is an issue with these developers though. And this particular game does look pretty neat.

Not sure why this game gets so much hate, I had a lot of fun with it. Would be great to see this running on the Switch 2.

Releasing a demo for this one was a great idea. (I feel a bit hypocritical in saying that) I've not picked up the game yet, but I really enjoyed the demo and that put it on my radar. Definitely one for 2025.

I don't understand why anyone but a platform holder feels they can get away with this. I love SEGA but they publish maybe 4, 5 worthwhile games a year at most? And I personally don't get around to all of them, nor would I expect anyone but the most diehard of fans to. The subscription would have to be pretty damn cheap for me to forgo just buying the games outright given the option.

Unless the idea is to not have the option...? If this is about their back catalogue and the delisting...yeah this seems rather scummy.

Never played Trials in the Sky, but this looks absolutely gorgeous. Maybe now is the time I'll jump into the series.

Hmmm not sure I buy "mental age" as a reason for choosing a male protagonist...the Persona protagonists are arguably extremely mentally mature for their age, regardless of gender. I think Persona 4, 5 and 3 Reload could've reasonably been adjusted to feature a female protagonist option as well.

The age and high-school setting makes sense though. Add to that - a working adult probably wouldn't have nearly the free time required for these types of games.

Not AI? So the game's just ugly then?

No hope for this game or Ubisoft for that matter. The last trailer was terrible - capturing absolutely none of the magic from the original game - and every update since has just made me more more sure this game either won't release, or will be a disaster.

@JimNorman no problem! Great quiz otherwise.

@larryisaman haha yeah I would've lost the point regardless for the same reason.

1 is incorrect. The answer to "How many versions of Nintendogs launched on the DS?" is 5: 3 at launch, and 2 later on, as noted in the the quiz. 3 would be the answer if the question was "How many versions of Nintendogs were there at the game's launch?"

Got 16/19 myself, which is much better than I tend to do on these quizzes!

@Samalik Fair, I guess this isn't really the standard on Switch - I can't think of a single game that offers it, come to think of it (probably because most third party games are compromising both fidelity and performance on Switch!). I wonder also if the duality of docked and portable mode complicates things at all.

Hoping Switch 2 offers more options of the sort as we see on PS5. I'm usually a Performance Mode guy myself.

@Haruki_NLI Yeah I can't speak for 31.5 in particular and why they would've gone for that, it does seem like an odd choice. My point was moreso on the matter of 30 vs 60 fps.

I will say that I don't notice any of this "choppiness" when playing though, fwiw. Not to say it isn't there...

@Samalik @Haruki_NLI AFAIK the game usually runs at 1080p 30fps...and this is 720p 60fps. So I guess they chose resolution over frame rate. Doesn't strike me as something as simple as changing one line of code suddenly making things better - there was a trade-off here.

Both kinda boring. But I voted the western one as the Japan one looks like they've just placed stock art on a background (reminiscent of SA2, which is a nice callback tbf) and called it a day.

@Ristar24 yeah I'm not seeing any stuttering/juddering at all.

Honestly I didn't expect to be this impressed by the Switch 7 years into it's life, but here we are. The game runs like a dream.

IMO this is tied with Nier Automata as the most technically impressive non-Nintendo game on the system.

I've given it a safe 8/10.

Modern Sonic is fantastic - probably the best 3D Sonic levels in the series.

Classic Sonic - while I used to like it - is definitely the game's weak point gameplay-wise, especially now after we've had the gold standard for 2D Sonic in Mania. Something about it just feels off, but it's serviceable.

Shadow Generations is a mixed bag, but on the whole a step in the right direction, and I'm coming to like it as I replay the levels more. 3D stages are generally well-designed but I do have the odd annoyance and a lot of deaths feel quite cheap. I also prefer Sonic's more barebones moveset over the complexities that the doom powers introduce.

I will say that the story on both sides is rather weak. I kinda miss the days of more ambitious Sonic stories, but it's not a deal-breaker.

Overall great game though. Excited to see where the series is headed.

Seems I'm not enjoying Shadow Generations as much as most - while good, I think the stages pale in comparison to Sonic's stages and I think Shadow's moveset is maybe a bit too complex. Happy to see people are enjoying it though.

Having said that, having Sonic Generations on the go is amazing - and I'm really impressed with how it runs on the Switch.

I was a little concerned about the Switch version, but this does seem promising. 30 fps isn't ideal, but a fine compromise to have this portably. Think I'll almost certainly pick it up for Switch considering Generations is one of my favourite Sonic games, and probably in my top 20 or so games of all time.

Still, seems very odd for them to focus on graphics when Sonic is at a standstill. That almost never happens in this game - you'll be moving at blistering speeds to the point that minor graphical details will be unnoticeable. Overall performance is definitely king here.

It's been a while since I played it, but wasn't a large component of Pokemon Ranger using your Pokemon's unique abilities to get past obstacles? That was pretty cool from what I remember.

It was also done lightly in older games with HMs, as mentioned in the article. I have the unpopular opinion that HMs were a good thing - just executed poorly. Basically I think if you simply decouple them from the Pokemon's moveset then you get rid of 90% of people's issue with them. But if, as opposed to what was done in SuMo and SwSh, you still assign them to your own Pokemon, you still have the added touch of it feeling like your companions are helping you through the story (rather than some random Pokemon/item that was gifted to you).

Nah, I think Echoes of Wisdom got the perfect balance. Predominantly top-down with 2D segments is great.

Great news for those nostalgic for these games (or otherwise wanting to try them) but...eh, I had my fill this year. I think I've had enough classic TR for a lifetime.

Will happily take either of the two more modern trilogies though.

Seems so strange to me that this was even a thing for Squaresoft/FF games in the US 30 years ago. We wouldn't get our first Final Fantasy until FF7 in 1997 in the UK!

Very cool, I would've loved to do this as a kid.

Not surprised in the slightest. Traditional animation in 60 fps is vomit inducing. Although I generally prefer 60 fps - particularly in 3D games with camera control - it isn't the case that higher number = always better.

Although I will add myself to the list of people who can't access the site!

@AngelSlayer There has been a 10% discount before IIRC, but 5% is still better than nothing, right? Plus you can stack discounts in the eShop - vouchers, sales, gold points...

I'd say these are pretty even but I went for Japan on this one - just because the characters' props make a bit more sense with the added context.

Also, it's so weird to see 2D drawings of the Mario cast in this era outside of super-stylised games like Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario.

Hasn't bothered me too much tbh, but I would welcome a "favourites" menu.

I actually think multiple rows/lines in the menu would be actively worse than the current system. A 1-dimensional list is easier to navigate than a 2-dimensional one IMO.

There's a difference between "noticing" and "being bothered by" which I don't think this poll captures.

Do I notice the frame dips? Absolutely,

Am I bothered by them? Eh, not really. It does strike me as a surprising lack of polish in a 1st party Nintendo game. But honestly, in a top-down / 2D-style game it doesn't affect my enjoyment in the slightest.

Having never played Professor Layton, I think these all look pretty bad.

I went with US as I feel it is the most balanced - Europe is way too cluttered, and...what is even going on with Japan?

Good stuff. If only smaller creatives were also afforded this opportunity.

@ArcadianLegend99 Xenosaga? The same series in which they skipped the first game, and only gave us Xenosaga Episode 2 in Europe?

Makes sense.

@XenoShaun Yeah I seem to remember this as well...

@IceClimbers Nice, I'll definitely pick it up then. Let's hope this does well enough to prove their prior reticence wrong.

A shame it's not Yakuza 0 though...

@Ralizah Came to comment the exact same thing.

It's frankly bizarre how they've treated Yakuza on Switch considering how Sega's generally been great with Switch support.

Do people need to be reminded of this? They aren't gonna just drop info on the next console in a Museum Direct or a Partner Direct dedicated to current hardware.

I would imagine we'd have some sort of dedicated communication to announce the console, probably Q1 next year.

Nice, this being trapped on the PS3 has put my off playing this one.

Now please don't botch it like you did Symphonia (which is a terrible port even with all the patches imo! )

Ruby and Sapphire was the right choice. Not only are "Indigo" and "Crimson" a bit too close to "Red" and "Blue", but "Indigo" is just begging to be confused with the Indigo League / Indigo Plateau of Kanto.

Plus Ruby and Sapphire just sounds cooler, and without those names we might not have got those cool translucent cartridges.

Adobe threatening legal action for the logo is even more ridiculous now considering what has come out about them in recent weeks...

Haha, the second I saw the title I knew I could relate.

As someone who never grew up with Metroid, I picked up Zero Mission for the first time in 2021 following my enjoyment of Dread.

Overall I didn't enjoy the game that much, tbh. And this battle was certainly a low point. Even using save states / rewind as I did, I found it a real annoyance. No way in hell would I have got past this in the original GBA release.

Damn, seems everything's getting a revival this generation.