Buizel

Coming from someone with little experience of the series, do people actually like GTA4?

Despite being ranked as one of the best games of all time in metacritic, I don't think I've ever heard a single person say a positive thing about it.

@Fizza Yeah, as much as I thought this looked like an improvement... Green Hill again, really?

Yes, give us Persona please.

Not sure why the disappointment here. Nintendo has a pretty stacked second half of 2022. Plus, they have every opportunity to announce, say, a Zelda WW + TP double-pack through other means / in a later direct.

Samus using the Phantom Cloak: "You can't see me"

As a Brit who largely grew up during the Gamecube era, this is amazing.

Nintendo has historically had a rockier time in the UK compared to other markets - it's still strange to me that their games are topping the charts so frequently, but I guess that's the power of the Switch.

Fire Emblem also had a notoriously rocky start in the West in general.

To see a Fire Emblem spin-off of all things top the charts in the UK is fantastic.

As a consumer, I'm a little disappointed with how this game is packaged. Despite the games being rebuilt from the ground up, it still feels like a bunch of roms wrapped in a shared main menu.

I can totally see Sonic Team having outsourced the development of the individual titles before stitching everything together. There isn't much cohesion here.

In particular the saving system just feels a little archaic. Although a save feature on all games is welcome, why is this limited to a linear "one and done" playthrough of the games? Why no level select? Why different save files for characters, being unable to switch characters at will? Why unable to share emeralds between characters and playthroughs? The Sonic Advance series had a better save system than this game, and it came out 20 years ago!

This looks great. The level of care they seem to be putting in looks promising.

They really didn't have to include the Story Mode / animated cutscenes.

Maybe I'm getting old, but 15 years actually does seem closer to the actual age of the game than 25 years...

Games were 8-bit 25 years ago weren't they?

Almost 5 years after Forces and 6 months before launch, and we're seeing an "early build"? Doesn't seem right.

That said, my issues with the game are more than skin-deep anyway. I couldn't care less about the animations and the draw distance or w/e. I'm just not sold on the concept.

This did catch my eye though: "use portal gears to unlock linear Sonic levels > complete linear Sonic levels to unlock chaos emeralds". Why aren't they showing off the "linear" Sonic levels? Are these more like what we've seen in other 3D Sonic games? By the sounds of it these are making up the minority of the experience.

Could this be another 3D Sonic game where the core Sonic gameplay is diluted by some mediocre gimmick?

It's still far better than the Xbox and Playstation online stores IMO.

The browser version of the latter is abysmal.

This looks amazing as a proof of concept.

I think it would get very tiresome as a full game though.

I would, however, love to see a full colour manga/comic in this style.

Not sure if that's just the poor quality of the 3DS recording, or if that's what music sounds like these days o_o

But why do you need blockchain to "own" and sell digital items within games?

Surely this can be done with current technology (i.e. "ownership" tied to a user account on a server), but game developers/publishers are vehemently against selling "owned" data in this context.

What is the difference?

Thought this already had quite a beefy demo? I feel like I played a few hours of this before taking the plunge in 2019.

For the named series? No way. I've been gaming for ~25 years, but I never would've got into Final Fantasy or Legend of Zelda had I started with their NES games.

For most series with a loose (or non-existent) continuity, usually the latest game is the most accessible way to get into the series. If you like the latest game, then you're free to go back to the beginning to see how things were. But I think it's far too risky to start with the first game - it might put you off a series that has otherwise evolved into something you may enjoy.

I'm happy they changed the colour at least. The fushia speech bubble in the old logo made it look like they were a mobile network rather than a video game company.

Sony really need to show me a convincing library of games to get me on board with £99 a year.

NSO is a no-brainer for me as Switch is my primary console, the only one I play online, and I enjoy having legacy Nintendo content on the go.

Xbox Game Pass offers tremendous value with a wide selection of indies and third party titles, as well as day-one releases of first party titles.

With these two services, why would I go PlayStation?

Amazing performance. I don't believe Kirby has ever had much presence in the UK...could this be the first time the series has topped the charts?

8 (Deluxe) is the best for multiplayer, DS best for single player IMO.

And I'd put Double Dash!! right behind those two. The two drivers mechanic still feels great today, and the game has a great roster and set of tracks. That said, while it excels in quality, I think it's missing out a bit in quantity compared to more recent Mario Kart games.

@moodycat came here to say this. With the exception of a few games that explicitly link (haha) to others (e.g. Majora's Mask following OoT, Skyward Sword being the "first" legend), it's generally felt to me that the games were conceptualised first and only retroactively placed into a shambles of a timeline.

Sure, there are references between games - but that's not quite the same as a thought-out continuity (and small references may contradict each other in this sense).

Post-game was so tedious that I don't really want to touch the game for a long time.

It's a shame because I otherwise really enjoyed it.

Maybe it's just the art style, but this is the first Pokemon clone to grab my interest. I played a bit of the Steam demo and had some fun, so I'll definitely pick it up on the Switch once it launches.

But Metroid isn't Resident Evil - it's all about Samus' repertoire of skills and getting around in neat ways.

That's precisely why the EMMIs work IMO. Your use of Samus' abilities are put to the test when confronted with an undefeatable pursuer. It's a nice change of pace to the series' core gameplay and - IMO - every EMMI was killed off before they had time to become stale.

As fun as the catching was in Legends Arceus...maybe it's best kept in a Legends sub-series.

I'm not the biggest fan of this "catching first" approach used in Go, Let's Go and Legends Arceus for the main series. In these games, you are rewarded for catching as many Pokemon as possible, which IMO makes every Pokemon feel disposable. I'm happy for the main games to focus on traditional catching mechanics if it means that they're more focused on battling and team-building rather than catching multiple of everything.

Quite sad, but we all knew this day was coming.

Personally? These eShops have been pretty dead to me since they stopped doing discounts. I've got most of the VC games I want and - for retail releases - I've resigned myself to the idea that, if I've not bought it yet, I'll probably never find time for it anyway.

Damn, voted wrong on this one. I assumed the question in the poll was framed in the same way as the title so I clicked "no" as in "no I'm not bothered" rather than "Yes, I'm really feeling it".

I love the accents in the Xenoblade series. Gaming needs more Brits.

I've not played the game...but I think it looks fine?

Very much what I'd expect from a remaster of a PS1 game.

Surprised just how many answered "I think I'll like Legends: Arceus more than past games".

I've had my doubts, but I've become more hyped as time goes on. I think I'll enjoy this one as I've enjoyed almost all main-series Pokemon games, but it remains to be seen whether I'll enjoy it more than the typical formula.

This actually looks kinda interesting just for the novelty xD

So many of these creatures are blatant rip-offs of existing Pokemon though. I'd be surprised if The Pokemon Company didn't try to shut this down.

@Nanaki valid criticism of Yooka Laylee but personally one that didn't bother me much. I quite enjoyed Y-L for what it is.

Personally I feel the genre has evolved a lot since the N64 days. I appreciate SM64 and Banjo for what they did over 20 years ago (and I do think that Banjo is the best platformer on the system), but in this day and age I'd usually opt for Odyssey.

I'd take the 10 score with a pinch of salt. N64 games are clearly held to a different standard to modern titles. If a game like this were released today it would get a much less favourable score (see: Yooka-Laylee).

Personally I find the game enjoyable enough...but the controls are kinda clunky and there are just a few too many levels that I dread playing.

Still, looking forward to giving this a go for at least a few hours this weekend.

Eh, pricing could've been worse.

That said, I'm going to be overtly malicious here and hope that this bombs. The Switch shouldn't be getting cloud versions of 20-year-old games.

I was lucky enough to get an invitation to the UK event in Hammersmith 5 years ago.

The January presentation left me excited but I had my reservations, especially about the price and the emphasis on more casual/gimmicky titles like 1, 2, Switch and Arms.

However I was immediately sold on the system when I got my hands on it in Hammersmith. Just playing Mario Kart 8 in handheld mode was enough to sell me on this thing.

This is honestly surprising considering that PS5 and Xbox seemed to be much more widely available in the UK this holiday season than they previously had been (I even managed to grab a Series X myself) - that said there are still shortages for those consoles. Good to hear though!

If you can't make fun of conspiracy nuts the only alternative is for them to be taken seriously - and you don't want that.

Personally I don't find this very funny (I personally don't really find any humour in the pandemic), but I'm also personally not offended by it. Does seem it should be age-restricted though.

I've not really noticed any major performance issues during my time with the game. Sure, it's not the smoothest or sharpest experience...but perfectly serviceable for a game in its genre, and a good-looking game all-around IMO.

This is interesting to consider, for two main reasons:

1. Would Pokemon have been as much of a success if published by SEGA?

2. Would the success of Pokemon have saved SEGA's position as a console manufacturer?

I'd say the answer to #1 is undoubtedly "no" --- Nintendo was just in a far better position than SEGA in the late 1990s, and the Gameboy had already absolutely crushed the Game Gear before Pokemon had come around. That said, it's unclear to what extent Pokemon would still have made a splash - there are too many variables to account for (would they have adapted their handheld/console strategy around it? how would they have marketed it outside of Japan? is Pokemon enough to get people to buy a SEGA system in the late 1990s?). It's also worth keeping in mind that SEGA of America was notoriously badly managed at this point so something like Pokemon might not have even made it to the West.

As for #2...it really depends on #1. Assuming that Pokemon was as successful with SEGA as it was with Nintendo...my suspicion is that we would've had the Dreamcast (or equivalent) a bit longer before SEGA ultimately went third party at the end of the 6th gen anyway. Too much damage was already done, and SEGA very much lack the innovation that has kept Nintendo afloat through the competition with Playstation and Xbox. That said, an absence of Xbox may have allowed SEGA to carve in niche in the console market well into the 2000s.

Very interesting to think about. Honestly, I'm happy that Nintendo ended up with the property as it feels very much at home on Nintendo systems.

Looks like they've dropped Sonic in your average open world game. Nothing about this screams "Sonic" to me.

I'm quite skeptical considering (i) I don't think every game needs to be "open world", and (ii) Sonic Team haven't really made a good Sonic game in 10 years. But I'll try to reserve my judgement until we see some actual gameplay.

Top trolling from Atlus here.

Still, happy to see more Persona on Switch in any form.

I quite enjoyed the first one (definitely moreso than The Impossible Lair) - not sure why it had such a poor reception personally.

I'll most likely pick up a sequel.

While I understand the criticism of BDSP, having Platinum in second and BDSP in dead last (when, at their core, they're the same game) is a dead giveaway that maybe this list shouldn't be taken too seriously.

While it's not the "Pro" that many were asking for, I'm certainly not disappointed with my OLED. The blacks and colours just pop so much that it's hard to go back to anything else - I even sometimes play on handheld over my TV for the visuals.

@saanaito My thoughts exactly. Animal Crossing of all things managed to implement this with different people having different fruit in their towns. Why not Pokemon?

An alternative idea would be for player choice to have an impact on the region they play through. Maybe seasonal variants of the region which are determined by the player at the start? (e.g. you could choose to play through a winter version of the region while your friend chooses summer)

From a programming perspective it sorta makes sense...but from a consumer perspective it's really not a good look, especially to those buying two different versions of the game.

The two version approach should really be done away with at this point. I understand that it promotes trading and sharing of experiences, but there must be better ways to do this within a single product in the modern day.

They'd be stupid to.

Luckily precedent tells us that Nintendo will stick with what works. Pretty much every time they've struck gold they've maintained backwards compatibility in the successive generation:
Gameboy (+ Color) --> Gameboy Advance
DS --> 3DS
Wii --> Wii U

No idea how an "open world" Sonic game is meant to work. Especially considering that Sonic Team could barely make levels lasting 2 minutes in their most recent game.

I think 10/10 is massively overselling this game for someone playing it the first time in 2021.

Sure, the game was incredibly impactful 25 years ago. But many aspects of it haven't aged particularly well (including, IMO, the controls, which are given as a positive). I think if a mechanically similar game were released today it'd probably score no more than 7/10.

Probably Mario Kart 64. Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Starfox 64 all have superior versions elsewhere and, although I'd like to try the likes of Mario Tennis and Sin and Punishment, I don't think I'm ready for anything new at this time.

If Paper Mario was amongst the launch titles I'd jump straight into that.

Yeah I'll second the idea that Sephiroth was probably planned as the final fighter. Ending Smash with another fighting game character would've been underwhelming.

This does make me wonder how many of the third party characters were due to either chance encounters or pre-existing relationships between individuals at these companies. We like to talk about characters that make sense from a consumer perspective, but perhaps small-scale interactions behind the scenes are a lot more influential than most tend to think.

(That said, the sheet variety of Mii costumes shows that Nintendo isn't shy about reaching out to other companies about their IP, and vice versa).

£35 a year is really a drop in the bucket for a hobby like gaming IMO.

Sure, it's a little more money than I expected. But I don't think it's outrageous.