BulbasaurusRex

Maybe if it actually had been purple it would've been a little too feminine, but it was an indigo system that I think hit a good sweet spot between the genders color-wise.

@Scollurio Maybe support dropped off later in its life, but the GameCube had quite a bit of 3rd party support overall. It actually got the latest releases in series like "Metal Gear," "Resident Evil," and "SoulCalibur," not to mention a number of decent to excellent Star Wars games like this one. Aside from maybe the Switch, it's the Nintendo console that's had the best 3rd party support since the SNES!

It's one of the best launch games ever made!

After loving the first game on PC and finding out the sequel would be a GameCube exclusive, it was this game and "Super Smash Bros. Melee" that convinced me to ask my parents for a GameCube in the first place (after previously being a Genesis guy and skipping the 32/64-bit generation), and I've been a huge fan of Nintendo ever since.

@Clammy This may be overly simple advice, but have you collected all the hidden E-tanks?

The art style looks fine to me, seeing as they had to maintain the grid-like map from Gen 4, and I play with Exp Share on, anyway. The lack of Platinum content is disappointing (although expected), but since I didn't play Gen 4 the first time around, the lack of HMs are reason enough for me to eventually get one of these games over a used copy of "Platinum." Add to future Wishlist...

I fully understand that these remakes are otherwise disappointing to multiple groups of potential players, though.

See, this is why developers shouldn't be rushing games out the door with the mindset that they can always be patched later. Even if patches do turn the game into the something good, its reputation has already been forever ruined beforehand.

So another remaster with worse controls than is already available, huh?

I mean, it should at least beat out the GameCube version, but the Wii version will still be the definitive version, since the Switch's lack of sensor bar means either they're ditching the motion controls, you'll be forced to use stupid dual analog controls even with the motion controls, or you'll have to re-calibrate the Joycons every half minute or so.

I play video games to have fun, not to work on boring chores! If I'm going to work on some chores, I'll do actual chores that aren't a complete waste of time and effort.

@Kilroy Yes, that is what alternate means in this case, as you can choose the alternate paths of either beating that boss first and going to get the morph bombs later or the other way around, each path being fully designed to be taken in either order by the developers. One path may be more natural to take than the others, but a Metroidvania doesn't actually guide you anywhere, not unless you're at a point where there is only one option available or left to take, in which case there are no alternate paths to use anyway.

On the other hand, by definition, sequence breaking means taking advantage of unintended bugs or mechanical exploits to reach an area of the game before the developers intended you to do so (or even at all for an out of bounds shortcut). As such, some sequence breaking attempts can cause crashes, softlocks, forced deaths, graphical glitches, and/or mechanical errors, as the situation was never supposed to happen in the first place with the official testers never finding it.

As for those early item expansions, they may or may not have been intended to get early. It could really go either way or even some of both, although I bet at least most of them were intended. It certainly doesn't matter to the mechanics of the game if you can get ammunition for some things before the weapon itself, and no bugs or glitches occur because of those early acquisitions. It's also something that can easily be done in many other action games, as well.

Anyway, even with Metroidvanias, you can't just design a game around the concept that players should try to break it however they can, or it will just result in a broken mess that's not even fun to play along the main sequence. Either a gameplay sequence was fully intended by the developers, or it wasn't intended at all. If some legitimate sequence breaks or other mostly harmless glitches wind up making the game better for some players, then that's just a bonus that they could choose to avoid patching out like with the combos in "Street Fighter 2."

@Kilroy If something was designed to be allowed to happen, then that's not a real sequence break, merely an alternate route. If they're going to fix anything like that (which is pretty unlikely, anyway), then they'd only fix the actual sequence breaks that weren't intended to ever be possible.

@BlueOcean That video makes some interesting points. (Although, I don't agree with its argument of the save system, as it can't be that hard to just quickly find a save statue and save the game immediately after resetting time, while just ignoring them for the rest of the time.)

Still, with the improvements the game also made, it seems to be up to the individual player as to which is the overall better version of the game.

What I find most concerning is that in skimming the reviews on Metacritic, only 3 of them seemed to mention any of these numerous downgrades. As I said, NL's doesn't mention them at all, and most of these reviewers are veterans of the original game. How are they so blind as to not catch these problematic changes that should at least be pointed out (especially in a review for a remaster) even if they don't personally affect them as much as some other players?!

@BlueOcean I'm not a fan of "Majora's Mask" in the first place, but I'm curious as to why you think the gameplay in the 3DS remaster was downgraded.

You're just the first person I've ever heard give that complaint, and looking back at NL's review, the only negative thing they had to say about it compared to the original version was that the touchscreen inventory could've been implemented a little better. They even gave it a rare 10/10!

@BlueOcean That's exactly why I'm not buying the expansion pack of NSO even when I do get a Switch. (I'm also not an Animal Crossing fan.) Why would I pay a continuous subscription fee for Genesis and N64 games when I've already bought all the ones I want from the Wii Virtual Console and can still play them on my Wii U?

So if you bought N64 games on the Wii Virtual Console, transferred them to a Wii U, but then you haven't yet paid the $2 per game upgrade to get the Wii U VC version with the restore point functionality (or it just wasn't released on the Wii U VC), which version of the emulation will the games use on that particular Wii U?

Hmm, I wasn't aware that he had already tried and failed to hand the series off. I wouldn't mind that much if Ultimate were the last SSB game if the alternative was a mediocre mess as the next sequel.

Good luck convincing Dan Castelleneta to hand over vocal duties for Homer Simpson anytime soon.

Sometimes it's unfair when Nintendo takes down harmless non-profit fan games that aren't in direct competition to their own, but I don't blame them one bit for going after this project. I don't think this kind of thing is something they want their company's image associated with, not to mention these guys are actually trying to make money off of it.

If they were sincerely going to replace the art before going live, then it's their own fault for stupidly uploading concept videos with stolen art in the first place. Although, it sounds like only the videos have been targeted so far, so if they can convince Nintendo that they're separating their project from the stolen art quickly enough, maybe they can still make it work.

@LEGEND_MARIOID Personally, I hated the open world in "Lego Batman 2," as it was an absolute pain trying to navigate it. Too many roads were inexplicably blocked off, the map didn't work right half the time, the flying controls (once you actually got through enough of the game that you could use one of them on the over world) were completely messed up, and there were no real over world teleportation options to make up for any of those other issues.

That game would've been better off dropping the fully open world (and most of the over world collectables) and instead provided cutscene transportation to story levels and simple teleportation options for villain unlock battles once you met the right conditions. Meanwhile, the vehicle unlocks could've been done solely with the level canisters like in older games, which would give you an option to change what you drive in the transitional cutscenes.

Other Lego games have of course done the open world concept much better, but having an open world isn't always a good thing nor indication of a superior game.

As a fan of the MCU over the comics, I'll stick with "Lego Marvel's Avengers" on my Wii U.

This is still great for those who prefer this game and don't yet have it, although it may not be worth double dipping on if you already have the Wii U version.

@RadioHedgeFund Yeah, "Halo" is another example of a better launch game.

But no, "Super Mario 64" on DS is not the better version of the game solely due to the heavy downgrade in controls due to being restricted to a D-Pad, something that the (2/3)DS circle pad only improves slightly. All of the improvements and additions that port made don't make up for such a terrible downgrade in basic gameplay.

@Thrallherd No. you expect the writer to judge ports based on modern standards, save only for things like presentation that are due to what was possible on the original system.

Besides, even back then manual cameras in 3D games sucked (aside from my previously stated exception), and surely they could've come up with a better so-called automatic option if they had put enough effort into it.

@BrickRockwell Near perfect camera control?! You must be joking! A completely manual camera was a terrible idea, and even the semi-automatic option was so lousy that the best thing to be said about it is that at least it's better than that purely manual option.

Somehow, Nintendo (aside from their 2nd party studio Monolith Soft) still hasn't figured out that manual cameras in 3D worlds completely suck, save only for when the game is designed around fixed camera angles like in "Super Mario 3D World" and "Metroid: Other M"! Otherwise, always use either a first person view or an automatic behind-the-back camera that only needs to be manually adjusted on rare occasions. We shouldn't have to adjust the camera on the fly when engaging in the gameplay unless it can easily be done via mouse or motion controls!

No, the best launch games ever made are "Super Mario World" on SNES and "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader" on GameCube.

"Super Mario 64" has aged poorly in comparison, especially the camera which can only be described as a piece of c***. It's still a very good game, just not one that deserves a perfect score or even a 9/10.

Better writing than the MCU GotG?! That's practically impossible! Maybe someone else could match them, but actually surpass them? I don't think so.

I still don't get why anyone would consider the fog removal a bad thing.

This doesn't look like any kind of kickball I've ever played. For one thing, where are the bases? This looks much more like Kung Fu 2D soccer/football to me.

For the button mapping issue, can't you fix most of that through the button remapping option in the Switch menu? Sure, it's not an ideal solution, but it's there.

As for the input lag issues, it seems to only be due to playing the games on modern TVs in the first place. There's nothing Nintendo can do about that, so either put up with it, upgrade your TV to one that causes minimal input lag for video games in general, or figure out how to hook your Switch up to a CRT set and settle for relatively low resolution no matter which way you play.

The lack of fog makes the graphics look better to me. Wasn't it only used due to technical limitations in the first place?

@NinjaGuy69 I agree that EXP Share should merely be an option for players like you, but many of us (myself included) don't stick mostly to the same team for most of the main story but prefer to constantly switch around and use, evolve, and get better moves for most of our Pokémon (and also don't care about EVs). This is especially true for gym challenges, where we temporarily load up our teams with type advantages for that specific gym. As such, we like the EXP Share function, especially since we no longer have to deal with it being a hold item that has to be switched around all the time.

Besides, there are still conflicting reports on whether the EXP Share is indeed optional or not.

@Munchlax I was thinking the same thing but about the female characters' chests.

@alasdair91 You do realize that the game is still several months away from release, don't you? Of course the graphics aren't yet in a finished state.

The barren aspect is likely just the nature of these releases, though. They're in a mostly wild land area before much of the Sinnoh region was developed, after all.

@Balladeer No, you're supposed to learn about the new Pokémon before you play the games so that you can learn how they evolve and get a head start on planning out your desired movesets. Discovering them for yourself in-game isn't that exciting compared to other facets of the games, anyway.

Even Game Freak has been leaning in this direction in more recent generations, otherwise how are you supposed to figure out the more complicated evolutionary methods on your own, most notable Inkay to Malamar?

@mariomaster96 Dartrix and many female Snorunt also die when they evolve.

@Thaliard Yes, but the problem is that a good story is one of those most essential bits for an RPG that was not included here.

The game mechanics themselves sound fine (although nothing exceptional from what was described here), and the minimalist approach is interesting, but leaving out a real story in an RPG is going too far! The lack of certain quality of life features like a real map and a legitimate save system is also appalling. It's like the tried to trim the fat of the genre but would up cutting out too much of the lean as well, or like they took the worst features of the mediocre "Etrian Odyssey" series and made them even worse. I'll pass.

@MsMaestroon To be fair, the Genesis port of "Golden Axe" is said to be a significant downgrade from the arcade version. Personally, I've never tried the Genesis version, since I just bought the arcade version from the Wii Virtual Console instead.

@PokemonDMG Sure, but that's illegal piracy.

@PokemonDMG Unless, like me, you just grabbed "Pulseman" from the Wii Virtual Console when you had the chance.

Still waiting for the latest "Soul Calibur" and "Dead or Alive" games...

@BloodNinja @sixrings @Bret You do recall that you can customize controls in the Switch menu, don't you? It won't allow you to play with the D-Pad (although, there is a reason for that with the free aim mechanic), but at least you can fix the issues you have with the shoulder buttons and the like.

@SalvorHardin The EMMI counter is only a last ditch move so that you don't die every single time you get caught. It's supposed to be extremely difficult to pull off (and with variable timing, to boot). You're supposed to focus on not getting caught in the first place, and that stealth gameplay would become mostly pointless if you could just use the counter reliably. You should be glad that they provided a counter opportunity at all.

As for the normal counter attack, if it's similar to how it works in "Samus Returns," then it should be just fine. It makes no sense to be able to counter projectiles in the first place, and when you do get the opportunity to counter, the timing window is perfectly adequate. Dealing with multiple enemy types simultaneously is just part of a normal difficulty curve as the game goes on. Just dodge and shoot properly while keeping an eye on a good time to occasionally counter, and the combat should still be significantly easier than a standard Mega Man game. Once again, be glad you have the counter ability at all, as it's even harder to play through the basic combat (other than the EMMI zones) in the original game / "Zero Mission," "Super," and "Fusion" without such a move in your arsenal.

Now the whole idea of the EMMIs overall, that's where I'll agree that the game is too difficult and frustrating. Really, why would I ever want stupid stealth sections with mostly unbeatable enemies in a "Metroid" game in the first place?! It sucked in "Fusion," and it's several times worse in "Dread."

@RetroOutcast That's very questionable given the significant downgrade to a D-Pad in that DS remake, which even the circle pad on a (2/3)DS doesn't fully correct.

@EarthboundBenjy It's still available on the Wii U eShop, as well.

@Anti-Matter What does it matter to you if it can be turned off? Just always keep it on like I do, and it will play exactly the same for you as it always has (at least since they made it a key item that affects the entire party). Whether the option is there or not, it's still a permanent EXP Share for players like you either way! It doesn't hurt you to exclude the option, but it's also not a benefit for you at all! If the option was there in Sword/Shield, you would've just kept it on all the time anyway and may not have noticed that the toggle even existed. Therefore, there's no reason to be happy about something that doesn't affect you at all but does affect others. To be happy about forcing it on everyone despite making no difference to you makes you seem like an arrogant a**hole who takes pride in the game promoting your play style at the expense of others.

There's absolutely no reason to remove an option for players who do want to turn it off, if that is indeed what these remakes are doing.

Now the single use TMs are something that bothers me, but at least they're giving us more opportunities to get extra TMs this time.

@TyroKith I believe I've seen elsewhere that the autosaving can be turned off.

Actually, there are conflicting reports about the EXP Share. GameXPlain for one claims it can be turned off.

Personally, I don't care about it and always play with it turned on (although unlike Anti-Matter I empathize with those who would like the option to turn it off if the games are indeed excluding that option). I think the bigger hit to the difficulty level is being able to access your PC from almost anywhere. Sure, it's a lot more convenient that way, but it removes any sense of difficulty from traveling through new areas beyond the first few routes (especially Team Plasma events) if you can just swap in fresh troops after every battle.

A good compromise would be to only allow the option in areas you've already previously traveled/beaten, similar to how flying always works (at least for your Pokémon storage; item storage probably doesn't need to be restricted like this). Once you've reached the next Pokémon Center for the first time or otherwise completed the area's story event, only then should you be able to access your Pokémon PC from the menu while in that area.

Those are some really bad cons compared to the joys! This review reads like a 4/10 to me and only gets that high due to the charm factor.

@WiiHawk I get the problem with the English audio. I'm just saying that it doesn't matter for most people if the Japanese audio is any better in that regard, since they won't be listening that closely to it anyway. It could have the exact same problem, and it wouldn't matter one bit for most non-Japanese players, since the pace of conversation would be determined solely by how they read the subtitles.

When an RPG fumbles the story this badly, it needs top notch gameplay to make up for it, but I'm not seeing that here. I'll pass.