BulbasaurusRex

@Silly_G No, they aren't! They move so fast that even on 50 CC it's mostly luck as to whether any human player can avoid them. If you try to time them, they'll often either move into your path before you expect them to do or fail to move out of your path until after you expect them to do so at the speeds both of you are traveling.

@Expa0 @Silly_G Then why are you guys complaining about missing the moving cars, one of the more infuriating luck-based elements in MK Wii?

Personally, I prefer the static cars. The cars move so quickly in MK Wii that it's too much of a matter of chance rather than skill as to whether you'll crash into one.

What they really need to bring back is the transparent ramp at the top of the mall.

@Orokosaki You must have some tiny pockets, then. The GBC, GBA SP, DS Lite, and non-XL (2/3)DS also fit in most pockets.

@DanijoEX Keep in mind that at the time Nintendo was attempting their "three pillars" strategy, so the GBA wasn't actually being phased out yet.

Then again, since the original phat DS was backwards compatible, that marketing strategy never made much sense in the first place, nor did the puny size of the GBA Micro when the GBA SP fits just as nicely in most pockets and unlike the Micro actually has its own (legal and built-in) backwards compatibility with GB(C) games.

@LexKitteh It's not that adults in the West wouldn't be able to handle it. It's that it would result in the game just not selling well.

The core demographic of teenagers and younger shouldn't be exposed to such heavy themes, as it would rightfully be rated M by the ESRB and the equivalent rating by PEGI. While many irresponsible parents let their teenagers play M-rated games anyway, there are enough that do take the ratings seriously that wouldn't buy or let their kids buy the game.

Ultimately, this means that what is already a niche game wouldn't sell anywhere near enough to make up for the localization costs.

I still think the reason is that differing cultural values would result in the Western ratings boards giving it mature ratings that would kill the sales potential of an already niche game. While many people don't care about game ratings, there are also many people who do care about them.

They could censor such content, but from what I understand it's interwoven so much into the game's story that censoring it would ruin the sales potential for an entirely different reason.

I have to give a shout-out to "Unchained Blades," a really good $20 dungeon-crawling JRPG.

It's like "Etrian Odyssey" done right, since it has a real story (one that's pretty amusing as long as you don't take it too seriously) and doesn't force you to waste your time drawing the maps yourself, plus it has a few interesting combat mechanics of its own.

Not that it would've saved this game, but the Joy-Cons would naturally lend themselves to precision shooting if the Switch actually had a sensor bar!

So did Naka win the lawsuit or not? He says he can talk about now that it's over, but I can't find the results anywhere.

@malcire Forced backtracking and a single action button aren't necessarily design flaws. Otherwise, Metroidvanias and the classic Sonic trilogy wouldn't be so popular.

@Specter_of-the_OLED Did you read the article? According to him at least, Naka tried to get the game's issues fixed but was fired instead, and he was legally unable to talk about it until now.

@jump I got to try playing the walker and gyrowing as part of the demo, and as far as I can see the only reason they suck is due to the same issues with the controls that aren't an issue for the minority of players who can understand them, so those complaints don't count when saying the game is rubbish even after figuring out the controls.

As such, you only had one reason left as to why the game was rubbish for players who can figure out the control scheme, and that alone isn't enough to make any game rubbish. Now you've added two additional complaints that add to your argument (boring missions, rehashed story), but you should've mentioned them before with your other complaints. Although, the rehashed story isn't a problem when judging the game on its own merits.

@jump I agree that those new vehicles suck, but that's because like with the rest of the game I couldn't wrap my head around the multi-dimensional controls. I'd imagine that those who could adapt to the controls also found those vehicles at least decently fun to play.

As for the level design, you could very well be right, as I've only played the game's demo. Still, poor level design alone isn't enough reason to call a game rubbish.

@russell-marlow We're not comparing "Adventures" to Zelda games. We're comparing it to the other Star Fox games. While it is harder to compare across such different genres, "Adventures" is still a really good game without any major flaws, which is not true of everything below it save for "Starlink."

@YoshiF2 It's not that players are too lazy to understand Zero's control scheme. It's that only a minority of players have their brains wired the right way to ever be able to figure it out at an enjoyable level, basically those who excel at simultaneous multitasking.

As insulting as it is, @Nintendo4Sonic actually kind of has a point about the world being too stupid to play it, although really it's only a certain aspect of minor multitasking intelligence that we're dealing with here.

@jump I think it's because Star Fox fans (myself included) tend to prefer action games, no matter flawed the control scheme, over tower defense and puzzles.

Plus, there are some people who actually could figure out Zero's convoluted control scheme and as such really like the game.

My rankings:
1. 64 3D
2. Adventures
3. 64
4. Starlink
5. Assault
6. Star Fox (the original)
7. Command
8. SF2
9. Zero
10. Guard

@BAN "DK: Tropical Freeze" has the disadvantage of people not wanting to double dip after buying the Wii U version. While the Wii U of course flopped, and many people double dipped anyway, it's still a significant disadvantage for the upgraded version of a game to have its sales partly divided among two consecutive consoles like that (aside from "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" as basically a simultaneous Wii U and Switch release). It also shows just how amazing "Mario Kart 8: Deluxe" is to have sold so well on the Switch despite that disadvantage.

@BLD So "Radiant Dawn" was indeed really that hard, since it didn't actually have an easy difficulty mode at a time in the series when permadeath was still mandatory. I know I wouldn't be able to beat "Awakening" on normal difficulty if I had permadeath turned on, not even with full abuse of the Pair Up function.

@shoeses Aside from the obvious hardware advantages of HD graphics and easier (and up to 8-player) local multiplayer, how was the Wii U version of Smash Bros. so much better than the 3DS version? Smash Run on 3DS is much better than Smash Tour on Wii U, and the games have mostly the same or comparable content otherwise, while they control equally well (unless you're someone who just can't give up right-stick smash attacks). The Wii U version does exclusively have Event Matches and Master and Crazy Orders, but is that enough?

@iLikeUrAttitude Remasters/Remakes don't count. The worst selling Xenoblade is almost certainly "Xenoblade Chronicles X."

@Dualmask Personally, I bought both versions, and the 3DS version is also really good.

Anyway, if you were one of the many people who had a (2/3)DS but not a Wii U, would you pass up the opportunity to get one of the two brand new Super Smash Bros. games since "Brawl" released over 6 years ago while having no idea when we would get the next one, just because it was a handheld game?

If you ignore the Virtual Console and remakes, I don't have any of these best sellers (unless you count "Pokémon Yellow")!

Although, part of that is because I don't yet have a Switch, and partly because my first Nintendo console was the GameCube.

Who cares about formulaic? Things usually become formulaic in the first place simply because they work.

However, it's a shame they had to ruin what otherwise looks like a great game with a stupid twin-stick shooting mechanic.

@sirmrguitardude That's the same problem that many very hard 8 and 16-bit platformers have. You shouldn't need to memorize the levels to a significant degree in order to beat them! That's just not fun!

Besides, that still doesn't stop me from crashing into things and getting hit by enemy fire when the precision view is needed, nor does it make the walker nor drone any easier to control.

@samuelvictor How did you even beat the first level using external view exclusively? There's at least one area designed around such precise targeting that you're basically forced to use the other screen to get past it. Meanwhile, using either view exclusively is basically suicide when playing as the walker on any levels where you're forced to use it.

@Kage_M Some people could adapt to the controls, but the good majority of us are simply biologically incapable of thinking in such a way in a satisfactory manner. Changing to cockpit view at certain times doesn't help, either, as you'll simply be crashing into things and mistiming the barrel roll by not being able to properly pilot the ship itself while using that mode, not to mention that it still does nothing for how awkward it is to maneuver the walker and the drone from two different dimensions simultaneously.

@Wilforce So pick up a used replacement Wii U and contact Nintendo to transfer your account.

I hope you backed up your save data, though, or else you're going to have to completely restart XCX. What a bummer!

@Truegamer79 That's not the problem. It's just too awkward to pay attention to two screens at once while also simultaneously controlling each view in separate ways. In that regard, it doesn't matter which screen is displayed on the TV and which is on the GamePad or even if you can put both screens into a "picture in picture" view on the TV..

Technically, it would be impossible to "port" SFZ to any other console. It would have to be a remake that completely redesigns the levels to work without dual asynchronous screens.

At that point, it would just be yet another remake of the original "Star Fox" with a couple extra but hard to control vehicles, so why bother?

@Dman10 Because the Wii version was actually the superior one! Yes, the graphics and physics took a little hit, but the motion controls are absolutely incredible, it has an exclusive campaign level and multiplayer mode, and the worst part of the PS3/X360 version (pulling down the Star Destroyer) is relegated to a cutscene.

Don't listen to this guy! The combat in this game is amazing (among the finest motion controls ever found in a Wii game), and the camera works just fine! It's certainly better to have a camera that snaps back immediately that the stupid, completely manual cameras that Nintendo uses in most of their 3D games.

Meanwhile, why the heck didn't you do a better job comparing this port to the original Wii version?! Most importantly, how badly do the motion controls suffer from the lack of a sensor bar? (Not that it matters to me, though, since I have no reason to double dip.)

@AndyC_MK111 Many of them are available in modern compilations or at least have somewhat more recent remasters/remakes/compilations that are a lot cheaper on the second-hand market than the original versions.

As for most of the others, if you just kept your Wii and/or Wii U around [and (2/3)DS to a degree], you wouldn't have this subscription problem. It doesn't matter to *smart people like me that I can't play "Final Fantasy IV" on the Switch when I can just boot it up on my Wii U instead, and without a subscription fee, too boot.

*Of course, it's not your fault if the Switch is your first Nintendo console, in which case I agree that subscription services suck when a viable one-time purchase system could be used instead. I only buy subscriptions for stuff when such a model is unavoidable like Internet access, cell phone minutes, periodicals (either print or online), current TV programming (although even that's gotten so ridiculous that I don't mind pirating certain things on more obscure services). Video game online play if necessary, as well, although I'd much prefer an NSO option for $5-10 a year just for online play without the extra games.

@Tandy255 That's why we smart people keep and still play our old systems even after new ones come out, as well as keep our data backed up.

@AndyC_MK111 Exactly which additional NES/SNES could be brought to NSO that aren't:
A) licensed games
B) otherwise unavailable due to rights issues
C) already available in Switch compilations
D) related to C, owned by a 3rd party that is clearly not supporting NSO (and I don't blame them) such as Capcom, Konami, Square-Enix, etc.
E) still hasn't had a Western localization like the early Fire Emblem games
F) have hardware issues like "Duck Hunt" (which would be even more of a pain to fix beyond the Wii U version without a sensor bar) and the games that used R.O.B.

Face it, but most of what's possible on NES/SNES is already there.

Meanwhile, part of the drip feed approach is simply that it takes time to get these games properly emulated and optimized, especially if they only relatively recently managed to negotiate the game's inclusion.

Hmm, this might actually make sense as the way to localize "Mother 3," since they won't have to worry as much about losing money on the game once it gets its expected M rating (and the PEGI equivalent) in the West. Still, it would be a lot of work just for something to add extra value to a subscription service.

So it uses a minimalist art style and still can't hit a steady 60 FPS?! That's just sad. They didn't even think to just drop the resolution, since it's not like these graphics would look any different at a significantly lower resolution, anyway.

@farrgazer You're in the small minority. "Fan service" these days is basically a euphemism for characters who are dressed in skimpy outfits, get their clothes shredded, and/or wind up in other perverted situations.

@BrianJL Star Wars still uses the term "bounty hunter" correctly, as guys like Boba Fett still perform the general duties of a bounty hunter. It's just that most of the ones depicted are of the more black-hearted variety that aren't ethically picky about their jobs, plus the whole bounty hunting system in the Star Wars galaxy doesn't follow any kind of legal organization or channels.

While they do act more like unscrupulous mercenaries in Star Wars than in many other works (although ethical mercenaries do exist sometimes in fictional stories, too), the difference is that mercs are hired to fight in wars, act as extra security forces, and fight in other more general conflicts; while bounty hunters are hired for hunting individual targets or performing very specific missions.

Motives aside, yeah, she's more of a government contractor/mercenary than a true bounty hunter, although she also has some traits of the latter.

Still, doesn't she get paid by the Galactic Federation for most of her missions? Otherwise, how does she pay the bills, maintain her gunship, and so on?

There's nothing wrong with pixels themselves, but they have to have a good enough resolution so that they blend together to the naked eye. That kind of optical illusion is how digital graphics work in the first place! "Metal Slug" and most other Neo Geo games accomplish that, so their pixels graphics do look good and several times better than this mess (at least if not played on a tiny TV screen or the Neo Geo Mini). This game does not come even close to accomplishing such an effect, and therefore the graphics suck simply because they were too lazy to draw their pixel art at a decent resolution.

So of course I hate counting them one by one! Everyone does! That automatically makes them bad graphics by modern standards if you can make pixels out individually or even just notice how blocky all the lines are! Once we hit the current millennium, game screenshots should never look like we've zoomed in too far on a JPEG file in "Paint"!

@Whitestrider ...which means it's a whole lot better than at least this pixel art, since it's not actually pixelated to the naked eye! When you can make out individual pixels like in this mess, the graphics are clearly lousy by modern standards.

All they needed to do to make these graphics good was to increase the resolution (by a lot) and (manually) fill in the newly available pixels in each sprite accordingly, but they didn't do that, so these graphics are ugly and lazy with their terrible resolution. The game might look decent in handheld mode, but it certainly doesn't on a modern TV.

@Whitestrider Only if it were in a 90s PC game. Otherwise, the resolution sucks compared to modern pixel art.

Most of the alternate gameplay styles in "Earthworm Jim 2" suck, and even a couple of the more standard levels were more annoying than they should've been. The first "Earthworm Jim" is a significantly better game.

@boxyguy They were unexpected retro picks, yes, but they weren't "joke characters," as they're just about as powerful in-game as the rest of the cast. The only true joke character in the franchise was Pichu in "Melee," and even he was re-balanced to the norm in his return in "Ultimate."

@egervari I certainly agree with this in general, as you can see with my argument for Ultra Sun/Moon over regular Sun/Moon.

However, Sword/Shield does not do almost everything better than everything that came before it. The freedom is no better. The story is no better. The quality of life and general gameplay are little to no better than Gen 7. (Dynamax is worse than both Mega Evolution and Z-Moves.) The post-game is only good (and no better than games like Gold/Silver/Crystal/HeartGold/SoulSilver, Emerald, Platinum, and Gen 5) due to charging $40 extra for it, otherwise it sucks. The EXP Share item is worse (not that I care, but many players do).

Meanwhile, the graphics and animation are significantly worse compared to what can be done on the Switch, compared to any of the other Pokémon mainline games on their respective systems except Gen 1.

If someone has both a Switch and (2/3)DS and is asking for a Pokémon game recommendation, I would indeed recommend Ultra Sun/Moon and even X/Y over Sword/Shield; and the only reason I wouldn't also recommend Black/White. Black/White 2, HeartGold/SoulSilver, and Platinum over them as well is due to the DS online servers no longer being active.

@Funneefox Why is that? I've only played the original version myself. Is there something wrong with the GBA remake?

@CelS Maybe not, but the mech suit is still a lot of fun, and I don't feel that it's overused.

Personally, I only gave "Robobot" a 7 due to the plane-switching gameplay mechanic I've always hated. At least it's toned down in "Robobot," but I refuse to play "Triple Deluxe" for that reason.

I love how I was able to kill Whispy in just a few seconds in "Kirby's Adventure" just by standing next to it and using Needle.