CANOEberry

You’ll need to pass, lob, tackle (a lot), dodge (even more), and take shots at goal in order to win, and it’s nothing short of excellent.

Next Level Games has been faring well for quite a while now. Perhaps the mandarins in Kyoto should let this Vancouver-based studio put a hockey stick in Mario's hands now... since the usual suspects clearly aren't interested in making a proper hockey game for 100 million-plus fans.

a choreographed dance of violence and strained relationships

Yes. Hockey for life.

Let me guess:

Andrew Wilson will be revealed as a soulless robotic killing machine, sent back in time to assassinate Geoff Keighley, who would otherwise eventually grow up to save the gaming industry?

Hopefully they give us something, in the ol’ E3 spirit.

@Teksetter Well-put. There is a certain carnival atmosphere to proper multi-platform events that I feel is worth preserving, even experienced remotely.

I'm beginning to wonder if Nintendo is naturally disinclined to hold events during E3, if they were always doing this out of obligation. They do like to announce things in their own way and time. Of course, one should then ask if they have the same perspective on the Tokyo Game Show.

We'll find out soon, one way or the other. I do imagine, though, that things will grow rather angst-ridden and unpleasant around here if they "snub" our June expectations...

Play as a witch with gun shoes and a suit made out of hair to fight off biblically-accurate angels. It's awesome.

@KateGray Why didn't anyone tell me before now that this was a real Shin Megami Tensei game?!

@VinylCreep This is the reason I highlighted the OLED model in my comment, not the 2019 revision.

@Strictlystyles @KoopaTheGamer Fair observation, but my point still stands. The increased power efficiency wasn't the primary motivation. Lawyer-san didn't even mention it.

Nintendo has had to release a new version of our hardware in response to one of these hacking tools, and this modification entailed countless hours of engineering and adjustments to our global manufacturing and distribution chains and, of course, corresponding resources.

So, just in case anyone thought the latest Switch (or any other hardware product) is released in order to offer better features or additional use cases to us as customers - you can quote a paid agent for Nintendo right here clearly implying otherwise. New OLED screen? That's a sop they're throwing us.

NCL can f*** off. I'll be remembering this when their next hardware is released.

@Teksetter I appreciate your perspective, not to mention your patience and tolerance! I think I'm used to NEStalgia's acerbic/sarcastic comments by now, haha, but the comment irked me because I've actually enjoyed previous visits to Michigan. There's a fair amount of beauty there, and some towns (Ann Arbor and Bay City come to mind) are a world away from the "urban wasteland" image. I've seen a bit of the USA, and I take zero pleasure in seeing or pointing out some of the scary things that are happening. I haven't crossed the border much for years and years now, and it's a loss. But if someone wants to make a display of ignorance like "hurr hurr, Michigan North", I won't be the one to tell them about the surfing in Tofino.

The actual surprise for me here was that this move (more like diktat, let's borrow from German) came from the government, and not the Académie Française. The latter folk have already given their word on this stuff, but the "feds" over there decided to go further with it, for whatever reason. It's not the outrage that so many in the comments here blindly assume, but I'm not going to explain France to people here, haha. I just wish more people understood that inter-cultural comfort and multi-lingual skill are the way to go in this world, or that I could reassure the anxious that cultures survive through openness and not defensiveness... but anyways...

Interesting to me that no one on this British website has yet chimed in to mention that the English language itself wouldn't exist without (Norman) French. Maybe all the people here taking cheap shots and loading the comment section down with ignorant tripe could do some reading about William the Conqueror, 'cause you guys and girls aren't speaking Anglo-Saxon, Latin or anything Celtic right now.

Negative comments from users in countries like Ireland or the Netherlands are particularly noteworthy, given that quite a few people in those countries are making serious efforts to preserve local languages, often spoken by a relatively small number of people (less than 1 million). I am all in favour of people preserving and extending their languages, so I'm not sure what's up with that.

And just in case anyone reading this doesn't like what I'm saying and wants to reach for that Report button, here's a suggestion:

The proud bashing avant-garde in here should organiser a rendez-vous to build up your dossier of insults, a veritable salade of bon mots. After all, you wouldn't want to put up a weak façade that exposes you to ridicule. That goes double for the blondes and brunettes, the risqué types, the connoisseurs of linguistic technique...

As someone who thinks we should aim towards that everyone speaks the same language

@mariomaster96 And how do you plan to achieve that?

@HotGoomba I'm pretty disappointed in you. I've seen some of your more clever comments. This is just... hmm, what's the word...

@ModdedInkling What do you think - is it xenophobic to say that the first thing to do when visiting a country is that one should leave, as HotGoomba is doing here?

I'm breaking in the 2DS XL I just acquired, while pushing onward in Danmaku Unlimited 3 and Fast RMX. The variety on tap for xDS games seems immense, easily the match of the Switch, and this stylus thing is illuminating! So far, I've been pleasantly surprised by VC purchases (e.g. Mega Man V), and Etrian Odyssey Nexus is pretty fun so far. I am still angry about the eShop partial closure, but otherwise I'm feeling grateful!

I’ll find time to try out Pac-Man Museum +, Cotton Rock & Roll, Hisshou Same! Same! Same! (Sky Shark collection by M2) and some other titles

@Teksetter Have you much experience with Sky Shark? As my slow shoot-'em-up odyssey continues (something I've only come to later in life), I find that those old '80s games mean a lot as I come across them, though so far I spend most of my time playing stuff like Danmaku. Your opinion is welcome as always 😃

My poor lovely bike has been in the basement since last October (thanks, Canadian Winter)

We come here for games, but the people behind are so interesting sometimes... Kate has caught me taking something for granted again. This is exactly why parents here teach their kids to roll around in the deep snow ("snow angels" and all that)... it's a comfort thing! I'm afraid to reply now with my November drysuit stories... may you and yours have a good long weekend!

My inner patriot is tempted to pick this up

@Silly_G I'm jealous. I still haven't played Celeste, which is set in Canada and made by Canadians, due to the lack of a physical edition. In fact, my only hope now for that now is... to paddle south across the border. Sigh

I can understand, though, if you're not sympathetic... Australia isn't exactly driving distance to other markets, is it? I'm actually impressed that you do business with LRG...

In the early stage, we proposed round-shaped characters with no arms or legs, similar to the Mii characters in Wii Sports.

Just roll me down a luge track. Snubbed again...

@KateGray Hahahha... oh dear. I just realized how inappropriate it was to ask the Backlog Club President, "Hey, have you played this one?"... désolé, Kate.

There is at least a visual resemblance here to the Zerg from StarCraft II which I find somewhat off-putting, but I am interested to see more of this game, nonetheless.

@KateGray I'm glad you're "overseeing" this genre on NL, it kinda unifies things. Something about your description here recalled the Banner Saga Trilogy to mind for me. Have you tried that one? I'd be curious to know your opinion about it, if you're game.

@Williamfuchs420 I'm going to buy what I want and complain about what I want... and you can't stop me. Ta-ta!

@Williamfuchs420 Well, duh, I expect companies to sell a complete product before charging a complete price.

This announcement was a smokescreen. He's inviting them to an afternoon in the onsen. That's where the real business is hashed out...

Do you ever wish you had teeth, like mine, say?

EB Games (Canada) should have at least some physical copies left.

despite switching [eyyy - Ed.] to an OLED last year

@ThomasBW84 Excuse me! You're not allowed to like your own comments...

Bokoblin Flight School

@WoomyNNYes Would that scenario be similar to me encouraging them to fly by waving the Deku Leaf at them near a clifftop?

@masterLEON The terms "SNK" and "RPG" immediately recall Crystalis to mind, for me. I take from your words that this title doesn't reach the high plane of that game. This "Faselei" looks interesting, but I guess nobody ever really tried to recapture that early '90s magic...

@Lanmanna My Switch copies of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, Hollow Knight, Disco Elysium and more have the complete game, DLC and updates included.

@Teksetter No accusations will be forthcoming from me. If nobody buys the first physical edition, we won't get a complete one later on, will we? Besides, I get to ask you about it or read your opinion before buying 😜

Seriously, though, I'm trying hard to respect people's choices here, as long as they're informed, as yours are.

EDIT: I've gnashed my teeth loudly about the failure of Celeste to appear at retail in this country, and these developers are in my own backyard. So I will discreetly not criticize here, hahahha.

This physical release will not include any of the eventual DLC, as per the industry's rapidly-developing worst practices, I assume.

@OakOtter Be sure to Report eternalcube for that one, seriously.

@agrazioli Thanks! I always wondered if the part surrounding the die was there for protection or thermal considerations, too. If the above mod really does work, though, I'm very impressed.

A simple run down is that I sand away the bottom of the chip till I hit the die and leads, then I cut the chip smaller with a Dremel.

I know relatively little about circuits, PCBs and electrical engineering generally, but this sounds somewhat doubtful to me. Does anyone reading this know if that will actually be viable longer-term?

@Andy_C444 Why this particular game? That's a decent question. I'd be interested to read Ollie Reynolds' answer to that myself.

Having lived through the 1990s, and even just knowing about the late '80s, when so very many moral panics and uninformed judgments were arising from all quarters, I would much rather that we can discuss M-rated games openly, even at the risk of putting trashy ones on display. (The M-rating includes high-value series like SMT, for example.) I'm not trying to silence your opinion here - these games aren't for me either, I find no value in them. I am saying that we need to be careful exactly how we criticize, so that our objections aren't used against us later.

@Tobiaku You're correct about the double standard. Despite what some people claim, though, you can point out said double standard without being deliberately offensive about it. (Not accusing you, just saying that some people don't seem to know this)

Promoting trashy, sexualised games, whether they be catered towards homosexuals, heterosexuals, or anything in between, is (in my opinion) classless.

@Andy_C444 I'm impressed that I had to wade this far into the comment section before I found that one person who has to object to humans showing off skin.

Personally, I don't see why so many humans are eager to shed their generous endowment of fur, but I'm content to live with a few mysteries.

INB4 any louts dare to abuse the term "port begging" here. Making games more available to your fellow gamers is a good thing... as the 3DS and Wii U eShops can attest.

One dataset I would love to see is a breakdown of the time interval between games being published on Steam and then on Switch. I'll wager that genres like shoot-'em-ups have one of the shorter average waits.

Even still, people had TEN. YEARS. to get the Games they wanted. I cleared my list in 2020 and now solely focus the Switch.

@BlueGBAMicro Good for you. What the hell is your point? I guess you had a time machine that let you buy games like Samus Returns and Ever Oasis, what, six years before they came out?

Furthermore, some of us have had things other than gaming to deal with in our lives. I didn't own a single modern game system before 2017. I didn't have time to look into games on systems I didn't yet own. And I certainly didn't expect that the majority of JRPGs would find their home on Nintendo's "outdated" and "underpowered" portable.

You seem to want to punish gamers who aren't plugged into this hobby and the gaming media all the time.

Never played Zelda at all, would BoTW be a good one to dip my toe into with?

@pjzx No intent to argue with anyone here - I consider BOTW to be a fantastic game generally, and perhaps for some people, it would be a good place to start.

To my mind, though, something like Link's Awakening or Link to the Past would tell you more about the "essence" of the series, if you will. BOTW is a game of time, distance and spaces, where you create with tools from anywhere on the map... whereas those two (much earlier) titles I named are the purest expression of the "miniature garden" idea that the creators originally had in mind. For me, the fact that you rarely feel walled off in those early games is a testament to their design.

Whatever you choose, I hope you have a fantastic time.

actually helped him locate a few old samurai films on VHS

[Rolls face down in humility]

@Teksetter How much do you charge per hour to tutor the unworthy toward this deep knowledge of Japanese culture? I keep hearing so much about their films and other aspects, and I just acquired a decent history text, but it is clear that I've missed more than I know. AAAAAAHHHHH THE EXCITEMENT

The game — like history — is laid out before you, and you can't really change anything — just comprehend it.

This applies to the practice of sciences like geology and astronomy, as well - anything concerned with macro-environments, in fact. There are too few games that tickle the same neurons that science does. Excellent article!

(I am quite excited by that upcoming Sorcery! release. Thanks for the recommendation.)

Disclaimer: Do Not Do This Please

You know the rules, @KateGray. You don't have to feel bad in telling the group, and the group won't shame you in return. We're all friends here...

@icomma Obvious bait is obvious.

Identity politics + soulless corporate policy + software engineering = ...

If we want real "representation" (actually, I don't - I want diversity of perspectives, but I know what they're talking about), we'd enable more people to be creators, rather than bowing to extremists. This is a hilarious send-up of the shallow and formulaic nature of identity politics, though.

this is ridiculous. it's an early build, and with a tiny team, typos are inevitable once you get to a certain word count.

@TheRealMW Respectfully - I disagree with you completely here. Did the community ask these devs for this trailer? Did anyone force these devs to release it?

People in this comment section would have me forgive these people for blatant plagiarism of overall visual style and design, gameplay, mechanics, and overall feel. And now I'm not allowed to highlight the fact that there are even more signs of unprofessionalism? Is there any approved ground for criticism?

I have to note that some very successful and since-famous indie games (Disco Elysium comes to mind) did not put out their wares for display until a much more advanced stage than Mr. Ghiami evidently has. I feel like this sort of thing is an insult to many small, hard-working teams out there...

@Snatcher I felt I had to say "LOZ" because even the original GB Link's Awakening owes much to LttP.

On a purely technical level, the visuals show some real talent, for sure. That isn't enough for me to praise their development skills, though - where's the original gameplay, new mechanics, etc.? I think I'd be less harsh here if the "spirit" of the game felt different. You're 100% correct that people often dismiss stuff as "ripoffs", but I haven't been critical of games like Blossom Tales (just for example) the way I have to be for this one.

On the Metroid-type side, when I look at something AM2R, or even full-fledged games like Blasphemous, I can see an original vision in each. 2D-Zelda itself has inspired stuff as diverse as Hyper Light Drifter and Enter the Gungeon. What is this game adding? I feel like the title itself is trolling us...

EDIT: I'm responding to you, but I'm not annoyed with you. So many of these other responses here, however...

but let’s be honest, people would have called it a rip off no matter what lol.

@Snatcher Deservedly so. What part of this is not lifted from LOZ? The dungeon design in particular is egregious, given the rest of the trailer. These kids haven't "shown their work" in terms of originality whatsoever. Even Genshin Impact adds more to the genre... considerably more... than this.

I am generally not in favour of Nintendo's litigiousness, but I won't shed a tear for these "developers" when the time comes.

Spelling errors like "powerfull" and "stock (in the ground)" are not surprising from such a dedicated plagiarist. I hope that the people defending this here didn't cast any stones at people like Filip Miucin, because what this "indie dev" is doing seems rather worse, in my opinion.

What compared to the amount of shovelware nowadays?

@Bunkerneath That's some of the old Hiroshi Yamauchi arrogance on display there. At that point, some of Nintendo's management had acquired a certain comfort with things as they were (due to their string of successes), although the late '90s would demonstrate the hubris of their approach. That story would repeat itself in the decades to come.

@electrolite77 makes some fair points, but all those factors cannot excuse the mistakes NCL made, or explain away the decline as it affected Nintendo, specifically. 1994-1996 - a time of maturity and astonishing creativity for 16-bit games - produced many good titles that other platform holders would and do envy.