BulbasaurusRex

This looks much better than all the lame academy stuff in "Three Houses."

@GamingFan4Lyf Wrong! While XCX can be played with a single screen, it absolutely compromises the gameplay...a lot! So many of the game's systems are made significantly more convenient by having the map continuously available on the second screen that the game just isn't as enjoyable when played on a single screen.

That's why the game hasn't been ported to the Switch and likely never will be. I advise anyone who really wants to play the game to just get a used Wii U and a copy of the game (and "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U), preferably while you can still download the data packs.

Monolith Soft still seems to be the only Nintendo studio to use proper automatic cameras in their 3D 3rd person games.

@DragotheKomodo Well, you're right. People don't get tired of the '80s/'90s version of the TMNT and generally prefer that version in crossover video games.

While it's a secondary concern to the gameplay, this game really needs a graphics upgrade. Aside from the cutscenes, these graphics look like they're straight from a (2/3)DS game! Even retro-style remasters like "Pokémon BD/SP" and the Switch remaster of "Link's Awakening" look much better than this!

@HalBailman You're technically correct, but there's no bigotry involved in the statement. It works just fine as a reference to how most maps are oriented with north pointing up.

Dual analog controls also suck compared to playing the Wii-make with motion controls. It's so much better playing FPS games on the Wii, Wii U, with Playstation Move, or with mouse/keyboard on PC than any other system (including the Switch with its lack of sensor bar)! I don't understand how anyone can enjoy such archaic control schemes after experiencing one of the good ones.

@PKDuckman Agreed. The third NES games is also quite a bit better than the second game. In fact, I consider "Manhattan Project" to be one of the overall best games on the NES.

@Jmjfrank If I recall, it wasn't on the Wii VC for that long. It was removed from the Virtual Console when certain licensing rights changed hands and also prevented any of the sequels from joining the service.

Am I the only one who thinks the first GameCube TMNT game has much better gameplay than either of its sequels?

The first one is actually pretty good, but man the other two are just a slog to play through, while the unlockable arcade games are the only reason to own either one. I sold both of those games once I acquired the actual NES and SNES ports of the arcade games, but I still kept the first GameCube game.

@Bolt_Strike I do agree that cartoons are often better with strong continuity. However, the best episodic cartoons are still much better than the worst continuity cartoons.

As for Team Rocket's motivation, they're an organized crime syndicate out to make money and gain prestige, the same motivations that real life organized crime groups have. What motivation do they need beyond that?! That's at least much better characterization than the somewhat nonsensical fantasy-like motivations in some of the other games. Plus, there's still somewhat of an overarching plot in that you start with foiling Team Rocket's smaller crimes and gradually raise the stakes until you're fighting the boss himself with the fate of a major corporation on the line and then have your final battle at the last gym.

The same goes for Blue's/Gary's motivation, as just becoming the Champion and the absolute best trainer you can be is a fully worthy goal in itself and one that doesn't need any special reason for it. What Pokémon trainer wouldn't want to be the Champion? In Gen 2, Silver then takes that motivation and takes in a different but equally good or even better direction by being outright mean and abusive until he undergoes character development. That's better characterization than some of the other wimpy or weird rival characters in some other Generations.

As for the gym leaders, that's a silly complaint, as aside from Giovanni in Gen 1 itself, Gen 5, and a few other individual exceptions, all the gym leaders in every generation just sit in their gyms and refuse to take an active role in the story. Every generation except Gen 5 has that same problem!

@Bolt_Strike The point is that disconnected Saturday morning cartoon fare is still more entertaining than the lousy stories in Gens 6 and 8.

A narrative with heavy continuity isn't necessarily better than episodic plots, otherwise you'd have to rank many of the most poorly written anime over great episodic cartoons (with only small continuity links between some episodes) like the original DuckTales.

It's ironic that the anime did a very poor job of adapting Gen 3's story but knocked it out of the park with their story adaptations of Gen 4 and Gen 6

@dustinprewitt You don't need a CRT to play a GameCube or Wii as long as the modern TV still has the appropriate component connections. (If you foolishly bought one that dropped those connections and don't have another one that does have them, that's your own fault.) Yeah, you could suffer from some input lag, but most modern TVs have a game mode that will minimize it.

@Bizzyb Is that an issue with this particular game when its very existence is trying to convince most customers to double dip?

@Orokosaki @Nua Yeah, but it would've cost them even more in PR damage than these bugs did had they delayed the game past Sonic's birthday. At a time when patches can be easily made available, they made the right call.

@dustinprewitt If you have a console that can play it, you could buy a used copy of "Sonic Mega Collection (Plus)" from a number of sources for around that price.

You wouldn't get the extras like Mission Mode, the Drop Dash, the Spin Dash in Sonic 1, or Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic 2, but you would get a few extra games and the original Sonic 3 soundtrack.

If you still want "Sonic CD," there's also "Sonic Gems Collection," which also includes "Sonic the Fighters," "Sonic R," and a number of Game Gear games.

@Kochambra So? Nintendo will still be able to restore your account on a different Switch even after the servers are shut down.

♪♫ I found it on e-Bay! ♫♪

@DavidMac You do know that you can play MK Wii with traditional controllers too, don't you? That's how I always play.

@Fizza @BLD No, they became more predictable, which is a good thing, as it was basically blind luck as to whether or not you crash into them in the Wii version. Now you have to try and see if you can just make it to the left side of the road to avoid them, although that's sometimes easier said than done. There is no slow and safe way around in the Wii version, as you could possibly be hit no matter where you try to drive through.

This was an excellent compromise. The cars move again, but they're easier to dodge, or it least dodging them is based much more on skill than dumb luck, than they were before.

@Kochambra The digital version being unavailable is only an issue if you actually wait that long to buy the game. As long as you buy it before then, remember to get the latest updates ASAP, and backup your data, there are no problems with digital purchases beyond needing enough external memory.

Still, once the servers are shut down, it is nice for there to be physical versions of most games still available, although you still won't have access to the latest updates that were made after the physical version went to press.

@sanderev I'm only defending the ones that do it right and blatantly contradict your assessment that they only unlock things slowly when playing for free. It doesn't hurt anything to just try it and see how well or poorly the F2P format is used, and if it's one of the good ones, then I'd rather play it for free and completely ignore the micro-transactions than pay $20 for it.

Yes, most racing games have stats defined by the vehicles and racers, but if they're all balanced well enough so that there's no real advantage in picking something you unlock compared to a beginning set (as is implied by their statement), then it doesn't matter what you've unlocked from a competitive standpoint. The recent Mario Kart games themselves use this setup. So, no, progress does not necessarily mean improvement.

@Mr_Horizon So grind the XP and ignore the nudging, and it doesn't hurt the experience one bit. Some will have excessive grinding requirements, but that's not fault of the F2P format itself, and there are also some where the grinding is tame.

@Mr_Horizon Unless there are pop-up adds during the gameplay itself, I don't see how it hurts the game experience. It's easy to just ignore the micro-transaction menu and any reminders that appear outside of gameplay.

@sanderev The idea is that progressing faster has no bearing in how well you can perform to win multiplayer races. Unless they're lying and actually have some kind of stat upgrades locked away behind the in-game currency, it doesn't really matter which characters and tracks you have unlocked when competitively racing against other players.

@Dr_Lugae "Pokémon Shuffle" and the F2P version of "Team Kirby Clash" allow you to unlock things quickly.

@sethharris1191 No, I haven't, but that just means those games are also held back by their archaic viewpoint and would be significantly better with automatic 3rd person cameras (or at least fixed camera views that are not presented at awkward angles, with the levels designed around them) in full 3D environments.

3D isometric viewpoints were only popularly used in the past as a pseudo-3D effect before full 3D graphics became possible and easy to use. Action games that used it like "Sonic 3D Blast" were never very good but were acceptable back then as the best they could do to make 3D 3rd person games. Nowadays, it's only useful in turn-based strategy games, while its variant that's used on a 2D plane only works for beat-'em-ups and the occasional fighting game.

@BartoxTharglod "Shredder's Revenge" has a ton more replayability with both local and online multiplayer as well as several different playable characters.

@BeautyAndTheBeer You need to find a better theater if you're spending that much on a movie ticket. I can buy a ticket for half the price of this game (while smuggling in a snack bought much cheaper elsewhere).

@Stocksy Maybe for Bowser, but Peach was definitely drinking alcohol.

While the kids might not care, the ratings boards would care, and "Mario Kart 64" wouldn't have sold as well if it had been rated T or possibly even M.

It may not be worth the extra development time to include such an unpopular mode, but from the aspect of a game's quality, it's almost never a bad thing to include extra options.

@zap-switch I think they'd have gotten even more flak had they delayed the game past Sonic's birthday, since the issues can be addressed via patches.

"No, you can't ruin Sonic's birthday for me! Just patch it later!"

Ugh, isometric viewpoints do not work in action/adventure games!

@Buizel Unless you're really a fan of the Drop Dash, Hidden Palace Zone in "Sonic 2," being able to retry Special Stages, and a few added cut scenes; the first two games are significantly better on the 3DS, at least as long as you don't mind sticking to a single player in "Sonic 2."

And this is just another reason why central air conditioning should be standard in most houses worldwide like it is here in the U.S.

Why'd he leave out Fairy?!

@thinkhector Irregardless of any missing characters or stages, no beat 'em up with a missing co-op mode can be considered good! Even back then, nobody really liked either SNES version of "Final Fight."

Overall, I do agree that the Sega CD needed better games (even the 32X's meager library arguably trumped it in quality), but just making slightly improved ports of Genesis games wouldn't have solved that problem. (Although, I do like your idea of a complete "Sonic 3"). It needed more good exclusive games or at least the best console versions (at the time) of arcade ports like the 32X did with games like "Space Harrier," "Star Wars Arcade," and "Virtua Racing Deluxe" (which in the latter case to this day is still the port with the most content).

@mereel My best guess is Capcom was willing to give up "Wily Wars" as a freebie on NSO due to not technically including it in their Mega Man compilations, plus it serves as advertising for players to buy the "Legacy Collection" to continue with the next three games in the series (and the relatively easier original versions of the first three games).

I already have a version of each game (BN5 physically, the others on Wii U VC, plus Network Transmission AKA Battle Network 1.5 on the GameCube), and the extras are lame, so I have no reason to double dip. It's great for those who are new to the "Battle Network" sub-series, though.

It's a shame they didn't include "Network Transmission," though, as it actually has the best gameplay (and naturally, the best graphics) in the entire sub-series.

Oh, look, a WayForward original game where one of the main characters is actually male!

Now I'm all for more female characters in games, but it is a little odd that WayForward uses almost nothing but women for their major original characters, so it's interesting to point out where they actually break the pattern for once (while also including a woman as his partner, naturally).

The new Launch Base music is pretty good, but the other two tracks suck. No wonder they were originally replaced!

While the 2nd and 3rd games for GameCube for this iteration of the franchise are lousy, the 1st game actually plays pretty well. I've never understood why everyone lumps the GameCube trilogy together as equally bad.

It's an interesting idea, but it's much simpler to just include a handicap mechanic for local multiplayer like some fighters do.

Although, I do wish more fighters would include such a handicap mechanic.

@croz Someone's picky. There have been some good to great Sonic games since S&K including the Adventure duology, the Advance trilogy, the Rush duology, (the PS3/X360 version of) Generations, and Mania; while a number of others are decent including Sonic the Fighters, Heroes, Shadow, Unleashed, and Lost World.

Yes, Sonic has had a very uneven library since the classic games, but they are still uneven, not consistently bad.

@AvianBlue @SteamEngenius Miltank are raised for their Moo Moo Milk. If you want a burger or steak, eat a Tauros.

Well, Pokémon's version of PETA disbanded after the man behind the scenes was caught using the organization as a front for world domination. You can the former leader, N, for more details.

@victordamazio The Best Animated Feature Oscar wasn't created until the 2002 awards (for movies from 2001), so I highly doubt it was in reaction to "Beauty and the Beast" getting that Best Picture nomination for the 1992 awards.

Although, I wish it had been created back then, as there were so many great Disney and Pixar animated movies in the '90s that should've won that award.

Hmm, Weird Al could've racked up some more Grammies in his illustrious career had that songwriter category existed in the past.

@Axelay71 Like I said, I agree with you on the 3rd game, but the 2nd one is merely decent at best.