Curbie

They're definitely not for everyone but I'm so glad Kawazu games exist and are being rereleased. The industry needs people like him to shake up the conventions.

There's no wrong way to play.

Should have picked a less threatening team name. Switches 4 Orphans or something, makes it much harder to sound like they're bad people. Seems to work for a lot of organizations.

Maybe there's an argument for parody, but some podunk smut artist isn't going to have the money to fight a legal battle with Nintendo. If these even was Nintendo. It could just as easily be Patreon not wanting to risk the Big N coming after them.

The thing I liked most about Phantom Hourglass was collecting all the boat parts. There were some really fun designs and bonuses to be found, and since you spend so much time travelling on the boat it really added variety. Other than that, it was alright, if gimmicky. And to me the biggest offense was not the notorious dungeon but the dreadfully dull soundtrack.
https://youtu.be/iFoXxaj1bSU

No one is buying it at that price.
No one is buying it at that price.

Anyone can put any crazy price on a listing. But I clicked, so good for you I guess.

Eh, it's not the first quarter muncher lined with traps to frustrate the unwary player into pumping more money that they've ported. I don't get romanticizing what was basically the equivalent of today's manipulative mobile games, but props to Hamster for their mission in preserving absolutely everything.

Gargoyle's Quest and Final Fantasy Adventure deserve a place but other than that, a very nice list!

As someone who actually plays retro games, this stuff annoys me. I don't care about a sealed Mario, I care that other games I and others want to buy and play are having their values inflated because now everyone is buying up old games in the hopes they'll get in on this. I recommended Bucky O'Hare to a friend, they laughed and said it goes for over a hundred dollars loose now. A bunch of rich trouserstains are using video games as their money making playground the same way they did with comics and it's annoying as hell.

The Bit.trip Flux port was pretty awful, would not recommend even on sale. It crashed on startup 4/5 times I played it, the motion controls never felt right, and the analog controls are horrendous both for the finicky sensitivity settings and random beeps it makes every time you change direction of the paddle - which is a huge problem for a game whose primary mechanic is touching beats to build a melody. It also hiccups on occasion both docked and undocked which is equally annoying in a rhythm game.

@samuraicop The Bandcamp page says the music is used with permission. Hopefully he's not just saying that.

It sounds alright, but it's a bit short and basic in the arrangements. Not really worth the 9 pound price tag.

I'd kill for a new Theatrhythm on Switch, or even a port of Curtain Call with some new dlc. That concept is too great to stay confined to the 3DS, and there's so many more soundtracks they could include.

They did this device a disservice by not leaning hard into the clock function. I have mine plugged into a monitor and sitting on a Switch stand. Glancing at all the different animations (11:11 with the thwomps and rescuing the princess at midnight are my favorites) throughout the work day is a delight. A built-in kickstand and the option to turn off the auto sleep would have made all the difference.

@Dr_Corndog I'll join your fight. I love VI, but outside of the soundtrack IV is the superior experience. The curve balls the game throws with your ever-changing party lineup and the unborkable combat system with more unique character traits makes for a much more challenging and rewarding game. And I vastly prefer Cecil as the leading character over VI's revolving door of semi-lead characters.

They're a business, not your friend. They haven't existed this long and this lucratively by being whatever you think pro-consumer means. I love their games too but I know the only love from Nintendo is their love of my wallet.

Exercises in futility. The Switch is going to continue to sell regardless, at that price, and they have no reason to do anything but act like they care. Even if this wins people in Quebec might see a few bucks back someday, if they go through the trouble to prove they bought a joy con.

@Spanjard enjoy it in ten years or so then.

@Al_Godoy hopefully it works out better than the 30 year old sealed action figures, baseball cards, and comics I have rotting in my basement, which are worth at most what I paid for them back then.

Creator is annoying as hell. "Look what I made!" Jog on, buddy. This isn't that impressive.

Two arrogant companies blowing hot air at each other. Sounds like business as usual in the world.

"Compared to the sleek lines of its biggest rival, the Sony PlayStation, it looks positively bulky" lolwut? The PSX is a grey rectangle with jagged edges, and a little bigger than the N64. Not saying the N64 is aesthetically perfect either but it's sleeker than that bland slab.

Nintendo was the forerunner on console power once, briefly, with the SNES. Yet people continue to speculate how they will "keep up" with the competition in every generation. If you're looking for the bleeding edge in gaming graphics and such, I don't know why the hell you'd ever be looking at Nintendo. They've always been about getting creative mileage out of supposedly outdated tech - both in game design and profit in their pockets by not selling consoles at a loss. An updated Switch might happen but all these dreams about suped up hardware are ridiculous. They have devs working to downscale big games from other consoles and PC for their hardware for god's sake. They don't need to lift a finger in the hardware race.

Could they bump the system date back a few days? I've never messed with time travelling but on New Years I changed the hours ahead so my youngest could enjoy the countdown without having to actually stay up to midnight.

Unfortunate yes, but those special events are very basic and aren't granting any essential items or abilities, and it's not like NYE was the last one. They talk like the events are the biggest point of playing the game.

I'd immediately be skeptical anyone would care enough to go after a relatively obscure game like this, but people were trying to rally against a Deathspell Omega album last year so the hero complex of finding something evil to slay definitely knows no bounds.

Good for him, though this is definitely the big exception when it comes to how many people over the last decades have bought up collectables in the hopes that it would be worth a fortune someday. Not that the lottery-like odds have ever stopped news outlets from implying you too might have a five figure trinket in your basement. Also he might have a harder and harder time finding buyers for those other cards as disposable income dries up with the pandemic and political gridlock pressing further onward.

The most important aspect of these games, the first two at least, that the review totally misses is that these are Kawazu games. They were weird and obtuse back in the day too. Games with his design like Final Fantasy II are made for a very specific sort of RPG player who enjoys an experience that is non-guided to a fault. Simply put, these SaGa games are not for everyone. They can't be beaten by blindly grinding or following the glowing trail, and often failure means starting over from scratch with some new tactics like a primitive roguelike.

@TG16_IS_BAE " All I’m saying is that turning down the graphics settings on a game is nothing amazing. It’s just standard optimization for digital media."
Top 10 ignorant comments of 2020. You probably think translating a game is just sticking the script in Google translate.

I'd want Geno to be added, if only because a proper inclusion of Geno Whirl would result in him being immediately banned and I shamelessly enjoy Smash drama. And maybe so people could shut up about him finally. He was worthless in Super Mario RPG once Bowser joined anyway, with too low of defense and specials that aren't worth the high costs. And unlike Mallow he has zero character development past his introduction.

Always enjoyable to see all these hot takes coming in from every angle. Everyone's an expert, and they base their takes on either anecdotal experiences or data that was imperfect (given there was no prior solid knowledge of this disease), skewed, and politicized from day one. Now we've got an impenetrable mess of policy and public opinion. I couldn't say if this thing was designed to dismantle our humanity but it certainly makes for a perfect mold for such a social weapon.

Weird to yank back something positive like this with them losing some big shows to Peacock and the price hike coming in the new year. And following the Cuties hoopla.

Thanks for the heads up on this. It's one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, and I love the symphonic version too. I've never been able to find a copy of either at a reasonable price.

I know what Nintendo did is all evil while technically legal, but hanging a business on the tragedy of a popular streamer's suicide is a bit more reprehensible. Seems a lot like people who make fan games full well knowing they'll get struck down, but when the dust settles they get a huge signal boost and a sympathetic light.

Always a riot when people want to tell a company like Nintendo what they should do. Nintendo has always been fiercely protective of their property and litigious to a fault (Game Genie comes to mind). They've also outlasted their competition, have a brand recognition of Disney-like magnitude, and sit on massive coffers of cash. They didn't get this far by kowtowing to an emotionally charged tiny fraction of their consumers. The Nintendo is Doomed joke is a joke because of people like this.

@nessisonett honestly though you rushing in here to say that as if you're some internationally recognized authority on the subject is more insufferable than any other take.

the Legal team at Nintendo who handed this down is probably far removed from anyone who has a finger on the pulse of the fan communities. They're a massive company with crazy high brand recognition and a hot product line. The legal team is always going to indiscriminately jump on any whiff of infringement so the big guys up top never have to worry about their brand integrity. The legal hounds surely don't care that it's an old game, a beloved game, or anything about it outside of it being their IP. The comparisons to Sega and Sonic Mania are ridiculous. Sega had nothing to lose, their IP was known for mediocrity and Sega has no modern hardware that their games would be used to sell. Not saying any of this is right, but this is how big corporations operate and this is a pay (hugely) to play legal system.