Burning_Spear

I watched a stream this weekend. The players seemed to be moving and dipsy-doodling deftly, so someone at least has mastered the control scheme. I haven't played it, so I can't rate it, but I will say my wrists tired just from watching it, so I'm hesitant to drop $20 on it.

I saw @JohnnyMind dropping threes in this game this weekend! Looks like fun!

I'm about 175 turns into an amazingly fun Civ VI run as The Netherlands. Teddy Roosevelt inexplicably messed with us in the Medieval Era, and I've smacked him into bankruptcy with relentless military pressure. Meanwhile, my plucky Dutch citizens are happily filling the waterways with polders and dams.

Happy gaming, everyone!

"No download required" = huge patch installed upon first load, followed by multiple updates.

Good job by Nintendo, but for context, the S&P 500 is up about 300 percent in the same period.

I finished a victorious Civ VI run as Frederick Barbarossa last night and am thinking about which civ to guide next. In the meantime, I've been playing a good deal of Dr. Mario on the GameBoy as well as the WiiWare version and Dr. Luigi on the WiiU.

My poor Switch 2 continues to watch longingly from the sideline. "Can I play yet, coach?" "Sorry, son, but these other boys have been here much longer and have earned their playing time."

Happy gaming, everyone!

I preordered UFO 50, which, unfortunately, won't ship until February ... probably right about the time I finally get tired of Civilization.

@somnambulance I thought the same thing. Kind of buried the lede.

I just preordered the physical edition. A game on a cart in a box ... See how it works, Nintendo?

Let's face it: The game-key-card genie is out of the bottle and cannot be contained. I hope I'm wrong, but the survey seems like fake concern, or maybe Nintendo is throwing a Hail Mary, hoping to get enough positive feedback to say it's reasonably well received.

Let it be forever noted that Nintendo put the final nail in the coffin of widespread physical releases.

The Spearess and I are back from vacation, but it's such a beautiful weekend that I may need to get right back outside. With the remaining time, I'm going to unlock the DK theme in Tetris 99 and continue my latest run in Civ VI.

Happy gaming, everyone!

I've been holding off on a PS5, but a price drop will get me there now. This could be the first generation my collection has more games for a non-Nintendo system.

Wow, I might have to pick up that Pac-Man Edition 2600+.

I'll be finishing a Civ VI run as Frederick Barbarossa. I've got a space-race victory in my back pocket ... except two of the AI players are on the cusp of a diplomacy victory (lame way to win), so I'll likely need luck and ingenuity at the next World Congress session to prevail.

Otherwise, the Spearess and I will be taking a vacation next week, so I need to prepare the house for little Spear. But I think as you all can relate, NO WAY I go on vacation with unfinished business in Civ.

Hey, @JohnnyMind, I caught some of your Zelda Japanese tutorial this week. Awesome stuff! Much better than Rosetta Stone!

Happy gaming, everyone!

@sethfranum And when I read this story a couple of days ago, I asked why the option of paying more for a full game on a cart was not included in Nintendo's survey. To be honest, if it comes down to a choice between a game key card or a physical copy on the PS4, I'm going PS4. Until now, that would have been the rare exception.

Why does the Switch 2 version of this have to be on a game key card? There has to a reasonably priced cart that would work. Why is there even a cart port on Switch 2? Nice work, Nintendo.

@Cipher36 Exactly the same here. I probably have about 120 physical Switch games but, like you, expect to cut back drastically this time around.

In the bigger picture though, I'm reconsidering all game purchases after taking a look at my backlog — literally more than a hundred unplayed games — and deciding I'll never play everything I have so why just keep buying things to put them on a shelf? I'm really going to be more prudent this generation, and game-key cards make it easy to do that.

The feedback will be in the sales, which I imagine will be somewhat tepid for a while before inevitably reaching expected levels as the physical community grudgingly accept its fate.

I'm more than halfway through a run of Civ VI as Frederick Barbarossa. I'm also filling in with a little Puzzle Bobble Everybubble.

Happy gaming, everyone!

What are these "physical games" Nintendo speaks of?

I've never played this. Is it as good as Rogue Squadron II on the GameCube?

My eight-game Civ VI win streak ended yesterday, so I began a revenge run as Frederick Barbarossa last night. It felt good to capture a couple of cities with force rather than failing to woo them as Eleanor of Aquitaine.

I'm also playing Puzzle Bobble Everybubble and trying to get the superstar club set for the last two characters on Mario Golf Super Rush.

How's that for a rotation, @JohnnyMind?

Happy gaming, everyone!

The games just may not be complete. After all, we're not talking about a sophisticated developer.

Can someone please explain to me how Switch 1 can't handle the resolution for a 30-year-old arcade game? Or did they just put more effort into the Switch 2 version?

I'm still on Civilization VI. Playing a run as Eleanor of Aquitaine leading England. It's looking like a diplomacy victory or nothing, as Basil II keeps derailing my progress with protracted wars he can't possibly win. I guess option three here is taking a loss but at least wiping him out in the process.

Happy gaming, everyone!

@Sambuc There are two original Bust-a-Move games on the Switch. Everybubble and 4 Friends. If you haven't played it, try the excellent 3D version of Bust-a-Move on the PlayStation 4/5.

What did we read this week about PlayStation not considering Nintendo a competitor? I laughed at the time, but it's true: There is no competition when one company can wipe out the other's sales after giving it a four-year head start.

Lots of Civilization VI. I started a new run last night as Eleanor of Aquitaine leading England. I had won with her leading France a day or two ago but wasn't pleased with my work. She's one of the few leaders you can play with multiple civs, so it's a do-over that will continue progress toward completing the Hall of Fame.

Happy gaming, everyone!

@The_Nintend_Pedant Do you have Luca Brasi's number handy?

Can someone please point me toward the filter that blocks Kit and Krysta content?

@JohnnyMind I hear you. I've played a little Mario Kart World but otherwise am still heavy in Switch 1, mostly with Civilization VI. It will probably be a while before Switch 2 is my main console.

I haven't done the Virtual Card thing to swap my games over, but I'm thinking about it for a few. For some reason, Civ has been crashing a lot lately in late-game scenarios unless I save frequently. Switch 2 may help with that.

@JohnnyMind Yah mon, JohnnyMind got the Switch 2! Congrats, my brother! Now all you need is 15 Switch 2 games to play simultaneously! =>)

With the restock, I hope everyone whose box and console were blemished by staple punctures were given a replacement on GameStop. The moral: The lobotomized should not work in public service.

Does anyone else feel the tilt controls are sluggish? They don't seem anywhere near as responsive as the Wii, Wii U or Switch controls for MK. And yes, I have steering assist turned off.

On past iterations I've taken it to OCD extremes by trying to finish with the max coin total in each race. On World, doing that four consecutive times is like a one-in-a-hundred shot, thanks to inevitable blue shells and lightning.

Late to the party here because I was awake until 3:45 a.m. starting a new run on Civ VI. Just one more turn!

The rest of the weekend will likely be more Civ, a little Mario Kart World and continuing to reconfigure my game setup. I got a great new power block that clamps to my desk to get my desktop setup in order, and I got a new HDMI splitter to accommodate the Switch 2. So my flat screen now hosts the two Switches, the Wii, the Wii U, and the PS3 and PS4. After I get this all sorted out, I'll move on to the CRT setup.

Happy gaming, everyone!

@its_luke_c I think MK8 easily had the best track collection of any entry in the series, even before they gave it the Deluxe treatment. What I've played so far in World seems dull.

I didn't rate it, as I haven't played much yet, but for me it's about the tracks, and there hasn't been a single one yet I've liked. And the tilt steering seems sluggish to me — not close to being as responsive as in MK8 or Wii. But plenty of time for my opinion to change,

I thought the unlocks ended too quickly in MK8, so I'm content to avoid this shortcut. I don't mind not having everything unlocked, as long as I get there eventually.

@The_Nintend_Pedant If you're talking about Natsume, indeed.

@AllBLK I agree with @BenAV. What they did was not cool, and though I don't need a case or any other accessories other than a screen protector, I won't buy from Genki either after this. And not only did they leak it, but they trolled Nintendo along the way.

Genki has to pay its lawyers!!!

@MrGawain The story mode in Puyo Puyo 1 was a ton of fun, though the dialogue was tedious at times. (Often.) (OK, almost always.) Nevertheless, I look forward to story mode whenever I try the sequel ... which won't be on Switch 2.

Avoiding this on principle. Nintendo has gone too corporate this generation, and I'll make my statements in opposition where I can. And I think it actually started last generation, with the half-baked launches of certain games with promises to support (translation: complete) them after launch. Disappointed in a company I've supported since the NES.

@MischiefMaker Isn't the classic grand prix mode enabled by pressing +?

@Qwiff One of the top five Wii U games, in my opinion, and still my favorite of the Yoshi series. I'm also in world four or five on the 3DS version. I pick it up every now and then.

I'm in the late stages of a run as Pachacuti of the Inca empire on Civ VI. I'm in the third stage of the Mars Habitation project, so things are looking good.

The rest of the weekend will be spent watching my Switch 1 redownload a couple hundred games so I don't have to deal with this Virtual Game Card nonsense anymore.

Meanwhile, Switch 2 will eagerly watch from the sidelines unless Pachacuti gets some lasers to hurry that Mars project so I can knock around a bit more in Mario Kart World.

I also need to reconfigure my setup. I have to sub in a new power strip and find a better place for the Switch 2 dock, since the docked console blocks a small portion of my TV screen.

I just played one Grand Prix on the first cup available last night, and my impression is that the tracks were kind of dull and mostly looked alike, save for the last leg of the last track. Of course, they were designed to fit the same regional theme, but still. And the tilt steering felt sluggish at times. We'll see as I get deeper into the game.

@KociolekDoSyta Indeed, I'm trying to figure out why this is more or less twice the price of the other Arcade Archives releases. It really feels like we're getting bullied this generation. I was in BestBuy last night picking up MKW, and I took a quick look at the game rack and it was $79.99 and $69.99 almost across the board. And some of these were game-key card enhanced editions. If the developer is saving the supposedly exorbitant cost of the full game card, shouldn't the game be cheaper? Or at least no more expensive than last generation? What a scam.