Coalescence

If I can muscle memory the Battletoads games with the joycon buttons, it must be manageable. What bothers me more is that Nintendo and everyone else forgot how to make a good dpad. The pro controller dpads are mediocre at best. And don't even get me started on the hot plus garbage on 8bitdo controllers. Just because it looks like a dpad doesn't make it inherently better than the split buttons. It's like the world up and decided that gold standard on the previous controllers just isn't worth shooting for anymore.

They made the right call. Breath of the Wild works because that DNA has been in Zelda from the start. Metroid has been a linear game with a hub and branching paths from the start. Metroid 1 had Brinstar, 2 had the tunnel, 3 had Crateria. This game felt more true to the roots than the last couple of Primes, and even more than Dread.

Great write up. It's pretty awesome how games attach themselves to memories like that. I get red pretty anytime I play SF2 because after all these years I still suck terribly at it, but love the game all the same.

My traditional game has been one that came right before the day, back when my mom finished a late shift at Blockbuster on Christmas Eve Eve and brought home Earthworm Jim on Genesis for me and my siblings. That gesture amid the holiday misery she was enduring, and having a good taste in games imprinted deep on me.

Clearly Nintendo and America are so doooooomed. Gamers always bringing the lol.

It's like the Velvet Underground & Nico of video games, except Super Mario Bros is actually enjoyable.

Almost immediately the dooooooomed comment. Gamers lol. Obviously it was just an extra hook to blunt the new console price a little until enough big titles & Switch 1 upgrades were out to bolster the console. The Switch 2 isn't going to live and die by Mario Kart World sales, because this isn't like the Switch 1 where BOTW had to carry an enormous load to pull people in after the Wii U. Makes no business sense to continue this sku.

Good example of why it's a very bad idea to invoke the ire of Nintendo's legal arm. They have the resources to run as long as it takes, and they'll take an extra pint of blood on top for your troubles. That some people out there intentionally provoke this legal behemoth is astounding.

A good chunk of Fire Emblem is mediocre to trash but it's going to be a decade or two before youtube commentors start making essays about that at which point people might wake up.

Cool as a cucumber with the Wii U version here. NSO is really only good for the older and portable stuff. There's just too much wonkiness beyond the SNES/GBA.

Good guy Sakurai. More games like this and Tears of The Kingdom with no extra content. I'll gladly take a full complete package in a single shot at a slightly higher price than yet another season pass.

Congrats to a pretty good game taking so many awards. Definitely got tired of hearing that same song and seeing those goofy getups though.

The idea of paying $100 for a port of an LJN game in 2025 is wild. Even the $35 regular edition.

Like most of their games there was a nugget of a good idea, some good music, and absolutely horrendous execution. I can't imagine more content and a quicksave is going to make it suddenly a masterpiece.

Then again, LJN and LRG are kind of a match made in heaven.

Couldn't care less honestly. They can all implode for all I care. We have enough good entertainment to last a few more lifetimes already, and most everything else has been getting progressively worse for a decade or so with no end in sight to the slump. Everything is so boring, homogenized, and repurposed these days and all the companies pull on is legacy/nostalgia material because it's the only thing truly good they have. Gaming outside of most Nintendo and some indie stuff is starting the slump in the same way. Time to batten down with all the great stuff that made it out the gate before everything became lukewarm cocoa.

I'd guess a fair number of people pursuing these couldn't care less what is actually printed on those cards. People my age I know with disposable income had the common sense to shrug and walk away once the prospect of recapturing some childhood nostalgia became ridiculous. Which is probably why they have disposable income in the first place and aren't chasing some get rich quick scheme.

It's hugely lousy for any kids into the hobby. At the same time, it's a bit entertaining when something exposes people for the reprehensible creatures they are. There's really no fixing it. So long as there's some money to be had, they'll keep fighting to circumvent any countermeasures. Not that companies should give up because it's like if Nintendo just threw in the towel on chasing emulationbros, it would be open season and an end to the entertaining content these silly cards inadvertently keep creating.

@larausjarod platinum points are free.

@SwitchplayerJohn it's not that easy. there's a world of difference between a brute force computer translation and a properly localized translation, especially when it comes to Japanese video game content.

Mobile infantry roools. I'm interested in the game, though I kind of got my fix for this sort of action over the many years with Starcraft, Armorines, Body Harvest, Gears of War, etc. And the fresh round of our generation's finest minds warbling about satire again should be fun.

I highly recommend a purchase of the squishy amiibo. I've had that on my desk since it first released and that squish never stops being so satisfying.

Only notable difference to my eyes is the load time.

Winner for me. Glad I'm not the type of person to utter things like sub-720 and instead prefers to just enjoy games.

He's obviously just being coy and is also stuck in a lose-lose because people are going to run with anything he says. Anyway, always a good time for the reality check. Easy to forget, but Chrono left a big old sour taste in the mouths of the execs when Cross failed to be the next FFVII, and the DS port fell far below expectations. The comment back then that if people wanted more Chrono, they needed to buy more copies of the DS port. The steam port of Trigger didn't exactly perform super well either and clearly with that botched launch version they didn't care a whole lot about pulls out the stops for this property.

And people are still delusional to think modern day Squeenix would even entertain the idea of a FFVII-remake caliber Chrono Trigger or the DQ 2DHD. Those games are made because those properties rake in the cash. Chrono has never been a massive product mover and its brand power diminishes further every year as FF and DQ grows. Says a lot that they'll tackle something like the Trials of Mana localization instead of porting Trigger.

Spoken as a lifelong fan of the Chrono games with treasured CIB SNES and DS copies.

Ideally that situation would teach gamers to not be so quick to dogpile and remember there's other sides to a controversy behind the one heard first, but that's never happening.

That clarification just makes it weirder. They're releasing a book celebrating the year Seiken Densetsu was localized with the art of the fourth game of the series, which isn't even part of the numbered mainline games.

Kind of fitting though. They're just weird with this series. I love Legend of Mana and it absolutely deserves an artbook but so do the first three games.

Looks pretty sweet. I tried it out last night with Battletoads and unbelievably nailed the Turbo Tunnel without dying on the first try. Probably some muscle memory but I'm going to go ahead and credit the filter too because that's never happened for me, I almost always lose one at the ! jumps.

Time to take serious advantage of the rewind on Battletoads.

People, don't try to reason with the folk who won't be able to see past the graphics. It's like trying to explain to someone how a shmup with an hour long campaign is worth buying at full price when all they see is 1 hour of gameplay.

Ordered one for my kids for Christmas. They regularly boot up Mario Galaxy just to read the book.

Despite being from America and having nostalgia for the original packaging here with the violet buttons, I imported the European mini SNES when it launched. I've had the North American version and I wanted to try the other side. The whole package is much more gamey to me on the EU. The four color swatch makes me so happy. But I definitely prefer having the concave/convex mix.

@cedarhyped true, it always draws my attention because making a game that works through the limitations of the Game Boy will always be more intriguing to me than wearing the aesthetic like a skin. It takes some creativity and most importantly, serious brevity to make a game on that platform and those elements are usually lacking in the games merely acting like Gameboy titles.

Definitely going to pick this one up to play on the Analogue Pocket.

Yeah if it wasn't for the god awful gaudy design I might consider it.

I'd rather this than all the dicks in bottles I got while playing Wind Waker HD.

Sakurai is the man. Autocorrect changes his name to samurai. He's the ideal video game personality: dry and dull to everyone who isn't in the know, an absolute delight to those who are.

They got me with that Teleroboxer appearance. I never thought I'd see that game getting love and I'm so here for it. I've had the soundtrack downloaded for ages but I'd still jump for joy if they add it to the music app and include the death sound.

They got the casting right. Thankfully weird Internet folk aren't in charge of such things.

It wouldn't be the only games on Switch for people who like to read descriptions of torture and death with school kids, weird to single this release out.

"via the XSEED Games social media account"
We have the game that shall not be named and now the social media platform that shall not be named outside of a buried source notation.

This is a small taste of the unreal expectations people are going to have pent up about this game. It's something to do with Prime. Expectations felt tempered for the long-awaited Dread, but people always get weird about the Prime games for some reason.

Anyway, invest in a new sarcasm detector my brood. Your last one certainly imploded after writing this article. And take a few huffs of reality. Metroid has had unwelcome interruptions ever since Fusion but still manages to cram in the atmosphere and fun.

Yeah I'd never touch a third party dock. If they can find a way to make it miserable to use the knockoffs, they will. Sucks, but I'm definitely not principled enough to deal with that headache just to make a meaningless wallet vote about dock options so I'll pay the premium when the time comes to get a second one.

Probably won't happen but I really want the North Castle altar from Zelda II. That starting point is more iconic to me than the Deku Tree or Hyrule Castle or whatever else they'll probably do.

"But then if that's the case, then why didn't Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment also receive a Game-Key Card release?"
Good lord, the acting like Nintendo signed contracts bound in blood specifying extremely specific terms which can never ever change. It's an option for release that any company can take at any time and clearly the option wasn't exercised for that particular game. And Nintendo very well could release a Nintendo-developed game as a key card, and Miyamoto probably won't go to jail for it. Believe it or not, a company may say they'll do things or not do things and even promise, and they could go back on that word.

I can dig it. I spread my first playthrough out over the course of a full year and loved every bit of that. I've been doing a slow replay of BOTW for years now and when that finishes I'll go back to TOTK. They're outstanding slow burn games.

Looks like Yoshi, which is a huge letdown because this was their opportunity to present a deconstruction of the Yoshi character, to deep dive and analyze the often one-sided partnership with Mario, and explore the dynamic of the blue collars and so-called Dinosaurs of our world. There are so many obvious societal & systemic parallels to Mario & Yoshi that were woven into Super Mario World and to a lesser yet more poignant extent Yoshi's Island which could apply not only to the past but current state of things but sure, let's not be brave for once and see the world for what it is. Let's just have our happy dumb green smiling dinosaur eating things on command.

The mobile port of the first game on Switch is a travesty and should be played by noone. I assume the others are just as awful. It looks, sounds, and most of all plays terrible with every step feeling like the game is choking on its crappy visuals. One would be better off with a dodgy embedded emulator site playing the NES rom than dropping even a buck on the mobile port.

Anyone who thinks this was made for Switch 1 obviously didn't play the last one. This is a big step up from Calamity.

Not going to pretend to speak for the dead as most will, but I'll just say I wish he was still around to give some hot takes. We need more of that blunt harshness, and his position as someone who didn't play games but understood their appeal very well gave a unique perspective.

Sure, two of the most playable, stood the test of time old games which are still an absolute blast today and have incredibly few warts to show for their age.

What they really mean is those could be milked for money with unnecessary full priced remakes which couldn't bring much of anything to the table new except extraneous visual flourishes, unwelcome voice acting, and worthless bolt-on content.

Also “its dungeon and world design can be considered outdated, and the narrative is relatively linear by today’s standards”. Holy garbage take. It can be considered outdated by someone who obviously can't recognize concise design when it is smacking them in the face. LTTP surely needs ten miles of sidequests between The Tower of Hera and retrieving the Master Sword and that world needs ubisoft towers obviously.

WHO IS IN AUTHORITY HERE??

Given they don't have the usual line of corpses in the wake of their acquisitions, this is probably a good thing as smaller studios have become much more vulnerable in recent years. Nintendo is also shown they are pretty good at selecting talent to augment their portfolio well rather than mindlessly gobbling it up. MercurySteam seems likely. Either way I hope they're given a chance to bring Samus Returns to the Switch.

Now we just need the Nintendo hub app which conveniently creates a virtual folder so you can launch each app from one helpful location.

I do love how Nintendo they're being about all these apps. There's no company quite as awkward and wildly successful.

I both respect and hate the freaking brilliant tentacled design of NSO. There's so many ways it wraps around a consumer and keeps them hooked in. They started it free for a good while to get the existing install base hooked. They assimilated the virtual console into it to snag nostalgic retro players. It nets free access to dlc on Mario Kart and Animal Crossing, two games that tons of people will never fully take out of rotation. Now it has the music app, a huge thing for a company that has fiercely kept their music from appearing elsewhere. Not to mention the access to S2 upgrades and store items. And that's all before getting to the online functionality, which is what their competition primarily uses to sell the subscription. It's some of the smartest consumer warfare I've ever seen in gaming. They surround and entrench adding more & more tentacles and there's no escape. I'm definitely stuck.

Certainly going to see a normalized Nintendo and tightly sectioned off product segments moving forward. The Switch ecosystem is fully entrenched now and could never starve to death (the first months of that drab Switch store seems unbelievably quaint). The NSO apps have proven to remove the need to manage virtual console purchases and console migrations. The steam deck and others will always try to compete on power and customization, but the simple plug & play appeal will never dull. It was what made consoles succeed in the first place. That, multiplied by their brand power writes the whole lineage. They need only to iterate like Sony now, whose section of the market becomes similarly rock solid with the Xbox on the way out.

People can and will analyze it to death on price points and game key cards, but the fact of the matter is people now more than ever want things that are just fun. And here's a toy company who gets that and definitely knows how to work the customer. That MK price point pushing people to the bundle is some genius evil business stuff. Easy to both hate them and love their irresistable product.

Of all the times Nintendo has been doomed this is definitely the doomiest.