Danondorf

This is a “both-and” sort of thing to me, not an “either-or”.

I love that I can play Ocarina of Time on all modern home consoles relatively cheaply and easily. And I still payed $40 for the 3DS remake for the improved visuals, and QoL improvements like not having to pause the game every 3 seconds in the water temple to change boots.

Ideally we’d have an easy & cheap way to play the originals on modern hardware, AND a regular stream of remasters. But like Kate said, the remasters probably wouldn’t sell as well if we had easy access to the originals. 😩

@Natendo94 One hundred on this.

I was also part of this community (albeit not very good compared to people who really put in time) and Strikers Charged competitively SLAPPED. All of the chip tricks were so fantastic- it felt like the Smash Melee of Mario Strikers where it was easy to pick up, and very tough but rewarding to master. It's not even just the lob chip tricks- each side kick had their own fully-charged trick shot and deke that made the game into a strategic team builder as much as a soccer game.

Charged is so underappreciated online- every time I see an article or podcast that lauds the Gamecube Strikers over the Wii version I do a massive eyeroll.

Anyone else remember WiFi gaming with some of the early DS/Wii games? Those were sooo janky.

Mario Kart DS had rollback net code that wasn’t fast enough to handle snaking so it just looked like people were falling off the track and then teleporting ahead by like 100 meters.

Metroid Prime Hunters and Call of Duty couldn’t keep up with where everyone was- if you were shooting at someone moving, you’d have to aim between a few pixels to 3 whole character models ahead of them… variable based on how much lag there was between your connections.

Smash Bros. Brawl… button inputs could be delayed by well over a second, and the game would freeze dozens of times per match, and the FPS would drop into single digits often. Imagine the laggiest game you’ve ever played online in Ultimate, and that was every match online in Brawl.

Nintendo WiFi gaming was as frustrating as trying to peel a frozen apple with your fingernails, and I had the bloody time of my life playing all of it.

As a primarily action-adventure player, for me, Monster Hunter Rise & Metroid Dread are at the very top: A-tier amazing games that really hooked me.

Bowser's Fury & Monster Hunter stories were excellent too. B-tier, tons of fun, and totally worth the time & money investment.

DBZ Kakarot is pleasantly surprising as well. It's not a game with super deep combat or RPG mechanics, but its gameplay is smooth & intuitive, and it's fun to relive the story/battles, and just float around in that world.

I skipped over some big releases this year, but of the games I played those are definitely the stand-outs.

Wow. The bottom half of the list is almost perfectly in inverse order of the games’ releases. The bottom 3 are all Switch, followed by USUM and SM. The only thing they really breaks this trend is Diamond/Pearl, and Ruby/Sapphire, but I’d imagine that is because their far superior definitive editions (Platinum, Emerald) render these games pretty much obsolete.

Also funny that HGSS and FRLG remakes scored so high, but BDSP are so low, and ORAS are middling. HGSS are arguably the best Pokémon games ever and clearly held in high esteem by the fans- how did the remakes start going so wrong after these masterpieces?

What a cute pug in the background! That face says “what are the humans doing now…” 😁

Gotta think Detective Spooky’s tier list in the article is completely ironic… right?

I enjoyed Other M’s gameplay and the story was a fun, if occasionally melodramatic ride that fleshed out the Metroid universe more. As an older gamer now, I can appreciate the game incorporating things like mental health and PTSD, and appreciate it even if the narrative constantly trips over itself.

Other M’s message could be that Samus isn’t a brave badass warrior because she is a robot and shows no emotion. She’s a brave badass warrior because she visibly struggles with past traumas and inner demons and still tries to move forward for the sake of helping others. That’s a lesson many of us could learn from.

I’m not a blind fanboy of Other M- it’s the most notably flawed game in an otherwise nearly pristine franchise; excluding Other M, and the DS/3DS spin-offs, mainline Metroid entries are synonymous with excellence. Other M’s gameplay is clunky in many ways, as is the plot, and Samus’s dynamic with Adam is downright awful for a multitude of reasons. But what does exist is a fun and different package that gives more to the series than it takes.

This is not as good of a deal as the original online… but we may have been spoiled by that judging by the reactions I’m seeing. $20 a year for almost the whole library of SNES and NES classics plus online play is an insane bargain.

Asking for $30 more per year to have access to most worthwhile N64 games isn’t all that bad imho. Not as good as the initial deal, but that’s still means that just a few bucks a month gives us access to OOT, Majora’s, Mario 64, Kart 64, Paper Mario, Starfox, and with online play added.

I’m not thrilled about the price hike, but I’m in.

@BloodNinja Which Metroid games can be sequence broken or have branching paths? Aside from the ones you mentioned, the other ones I can think of include Prime 1, and Zero Mission.

Love this hot take. Fusion is the game I use to introduce friends to Metroid for the reason the author lays out in point #1. I find myself agreeing with most points here.

I do wish there was a hard mode, though. The bosses hit hard but are much more telegraphed compared to others in the series. After a couple of playthroughs even the dreaded spider boss was a breeze (just morph ball in the corner when it zig-zags), and the final show-down with the SA-X is as simple as: jump & charge->shoot when you land, repeat.

IMO, Dawn of Sorrow, Aria of Sorrow, and Order of Ecclesia are easily 123, with a big gap between the 4th best game. I do love the deep upgrade systems and pool of options available for approaching combat (versus just some slight variation of whip, axe, holy water, knife in other games), and those 3 games do it best, with really fluid combat as icing on the cake.

I do think future lists like this should really separate the Igavania RPGs from the more classics arcade-style Castlevanias. Comparing Aria of Sorrow with Super Castlevania is like trying to compare an apple with a Philly cheesesteak.

@Expa0 To each their own. I played CR on the DS and found the camping pretty solid, and its online multiplayer was my favorite on the entire platform (and I put hundreds of hours into the Zeldas, Metroid Prime Hunters , and Mario Kart DS).

For people who enjoy building things like legos, strategy/team-building, and 3rd person action games, Custom Robo is flipping amazing because it scratches all of those itches.The game had a small but really dedicated following online- the Nintendo Forums & Gamefaqs, back when those were big things, had a couple dozen users who were chatting builds & strategy pretty much every day on that game, and when you’d jump online for a match, you’d find the same 50 or so people pretty regularly haha.

I definitely wish we would have to opportunity to play these N65 games in English.

@Clarice Regarding your definition of “ghetto,” the actual definition is:

“A quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure.” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Historically, this refers to Nazis forcibly concentrating Jewish people in the lead up to genocide - something I’m sure you’re aware of with that profile pic.

Saying ghetto refers to glorifying criminal behavior reinforces the decades-old racist trope that minority = criminal. I’m sure you mean well in your discussion comments, but please be careful about stereotyping people who live in ghettos.

@sketchturner Totally see the connection.

Bigger-picture wise, it seems really deliberate to leave Other M out of the marketing strategy for this game. Another example I can think of is an email I received from Nintendo recently marketing Dread as “Seamus’s first new 2D adventure in 19 years.” They could just as easily have said, “Samus’s first new adventure in 10 years”, which would have included Other M. Are they trying to do a soft erase of that game by not talking about it officially any more? Technically Other M is part of the main Metroid story line (with the Prime games being a subplot).

Considering how story-heavy Other M is and how much it toes into the other games, it just doesn’t make sense to me that it wouldn’t be included in the marketing for Dread unless Nintendo was, either embarrassed by Other M, or worried it wasn’t representative of the franchise, and that marketing it to new fans might turn them off of Metroid of it was the first game they tried.

Wow! They really put out background art for every mainline non-prime Metroid except Other M.

Any guesses as to why that one was chosen to miss this promotion?

None, because pre-ordering a system in North America has been next to bloody impossible.

Hi! Love the site and articles. Can we PLEASE not spoil returning bosses in the titles of articles?

Anyone trying to stay blacked-out on Dread (such as myself), just learned that a certain cool boss was returning simply by scrolling through the homepage of Nintendo life & glancing at this article title.

In the future, changing the name of the returning boss to “new-look for a key antagonist” in the title or something to that effect would save us from spoilers.

Squidwaaaaaaard!!!

Would love to see some Avatar representation too!

One of the coolest things about past Metroid games was being pleasantly surprised by weird and awesome new upgrades.

Fusion: my missiles now have the radius of a power bomb!?

Super: There’s a visor power-up in a 2D Metroid!?

I wonder what the purpose of trailers that give away all of a game’s secrets are. For me, being surprised by weird and new power ups is one of the core parts of a good Zelda or Metroidvania gameplay loop.

Doing my best to stay blacked-out on Dread (yes, that means I commented without having read the article- sorry for being awful)

@Franklin Oof, that’s quite a hot take on Wind Waker. I don’t agree that unfinished or rushed at times necessarily = bad game (if I’m misrepresenting what you’re saying, let me know). And I seem to remember Wind Waker was delayed once or twice in development.

I would have loved an expanded role for Jabun, and some other dungeons, but the quality of what is in WW still elevates it above most other 3D Zeldas for many fans. WW’s combat is smooth and intuitive, the world is charming and enjoyable to explore, and for me at least, the exposition between dungeons is the perfect length. MM, SS, and TP have longer expositions between dungeons that drag down the pacing a bit, and OOT doesn’t have quite enough story development going in between dungeons for my liking.

Such a fun article and polls. WWHD is definitely my favorite (it was my favorite before the remake even, so having a prettier and less clunky version of that is only good).

As for the most improved, I really feel like it has to be Majora's or Twilight Princess. I was kind of surprised most people disagreed? The increased save points and ability to jump to more specific hours were HUGE for Majora's, and I also like how they swap the fairy upgrades from the first and second temples- you really need that bigger magic meter BEFORE and not after Snow Peak temple. If you play it on a New 3DS there's also free camera control with the right nub. MM3D did have some unfortunate downgrades from the original (boss battles and swimming), but I feel the pros vastly outweigh the cons here.

For Twilight Princess, cutting down the tears of light and mapping a lot of the more complex functions (like transforming) to the gamepad are really appreciated functions. Plus being able to do ultra-hard mode by stacking a Ganondorf amiibo on top of hard mode is pretty cool in a game where combat is generally easy.

With Ocarina 3D, being able to map boots to a button is very nice, but really only matters in 2 of the 8 dungeons. In Skyward Sword, the painful collection quests like the tad tone swim and the guardian realm runs aren't reduced at all like TP's tears of light was, and the fetch quests aren't trimmed down like WW's triforce hunt was. The button controls are arguably worse as well (although they have to be given points for accessibility). Having a quieter Fi is nice, but there was just so much more that not only could have been done to fix the pacing issues that plague SSHD, but were done in TPHD and WWHD remakes.

Comments sections about Nintendo rumor mill stuff sure are a lot more cynical after the OLED.

Never expecting anything is a great way to not get burned, but rumors don’t have to be written off altogether. Mario 3D all stars was rumored for a while and turned out to be a thing.

First party N64/GCN/Wii classics have almost all gotten remakes on DS, 3DS, Wii U or Switch. I’d be shocked if we didn’t see the Prime Trilogy drop on Switch or its successor in the next few years.

Considering there's a steam OS on this thing, I wonder how (or if) emulators like Retroarch, Dolphin, or AM2R will run.

If those things get running smoothly on here, this could basically an on the go, all-in-one for every game except current gen console exclusives.

12:00 and 2 seconds:

Aaaaand it's gone!
https://images.app.goo.gl/tLX2eZ5vp6uLADLq5
(For the South Park Fans)

I understand AM2R can't be on this list, but it's sooo good. Easily the best version of Metroid 2, and I'd argue the best 2D Metroid period. DoctorM64 understood how to Metroid as well as anyone at Nintendo.

If any new Metroid fans are in this chat and looking for a 2D Metroid to play before Dread, that's the one.

Anyone have a master strategy for trying to secure a pre-order? I lost the PS5 and Metroid Dread amiibo battles to bots. 😭

@YoungLink64 Right!? Just waiting for the next OLED commercial where they show Bobsled Run 😁

Bumper balls confirmed form Mario party all stars!!

Optional Fi hints, and less intrusive tutorials does it for me. Happy to revisit this world without having my hand held.

We are truly in the golden age of third party controllers.

Gone are the days of getting stuck with the madcatz because you lost at rock-paper-scissors.

I’m totally part of this crowd! Bought Zero Mission and Fusion on the Wii U, and realized just how awesome the gamepad is for GBA games. Pixel perfect, screen smoothing, and save states are all baked in, and the gamepad feels super comfy in adult hands. I plugged in my old Wii U about 15 feet from my bed and don’t even have it attached to a TV, its only purpose is to feed my new GBA XL.

I’m actually kind of dreading playing Samus returns on my 3DS now because that smaller system gives me hand cramps. 😅

To anyone assuming that parents are just using this to advance their political agenda or flaunt their ideals... please consider the daily life of kids who are nonbinary. Consider the trauma they face when their school and state leaders pass laws that bar them from sports or restrooms- that this clearly sends a message that they aren't welcome in their community. It's so easy for cisgender(cisgender = people who identify as their birth sex) people to take for granted that we can jump onto any sports team we want, walk into any restroom we want, hold hands with our partner in public all without worrying about snarky comments, judgement, and often violence. I work with young people in my profession, and nonbinary youth are definitely conscious of these bigotries. At the very minimum they are capable of expressing themselves in the letter such as the one shown in the article.

Side note, nonbinary =/= genderless. Seems like quite a few posters have conflated these terms.

@Clyde_Radcliffe I understand that's a sarcastic comment, but I'd love to see that. Let's have an episode where 2 Nidokings fall in love. It would send such a powerful message of inclusion to kids.

Anyone had success reporting price gouging through ebay? When I try, the drop-down menus don't include "price gouging" as a reporting option.

The author left Other M off this list. If you're going to play 1 Metroid game, it should be that one... baby.

Okay but seriously, I think Zero Mission is the place to start. Not only chronologically is it the first, but it has more modern conveniences for navigating that were absent in Super, and the gameplay physics are a lot snappier. Super Metroid is a masterpiece and I personally prefer it to ZM, but it is annoyingly floaty at times, and the map design is more obtuse than ZM. I don't know that I would have finished it if it was my first Metroid.

@moodycat 100. That game is magical. I couldn't put it down, whereas I felt like I was forcing myself to play Samus Returns.

Who.
Is.
This.
FOR?!?!

Love all the SW games! They’re so full of charm and dad humor, and the gameplay loops are always so good.

Selfishly hoping for a sequel to Heist. That game is so unique and such an underrated gem. IMHO it’s up there as one of the best modern indies and turn-based strategy games.

Is spamming PK Fire online with Ness cheesing?

As someone who played the Trails 3 demo and watched a ton of youtube gameplay videos trying to get into it... how much of the game is cutscene vs actually playing?

The world and combat look fascinating, but every impression I got of Trails 3 just makes it seem like a meandering anime where you press the "a" button sometimes.

Best Pokémon update since they added online functionality.

This is pretty, and my computer is chugging more than me on mile day in 7th grade gym class.

Article Title: The brilliance of the oracle games

Article Contents: the lukewarmness of the oracle games

As a lover of the Capcom Zeldas, it’s exciting to see any attention given to these games from a media outlet. It was fun being reminded of the strange history of how these games were developed. Thanks Gavin for the change of pace from people writing consensus and safe pieces on how great ALTTP is.

@mr_somewhere I knoww, it hurts. DX

@ModdedInkling He needed them (in my humble opinion). Byleth usually comes in on the lower half of tier lists, and his mobility is on par with Ganondorf and Incineroar, who are both generally considered to be pretty bad.

The Pichu stuff looks neat! Maybe this makes him a little more playable?

Great soapbox! I experienced this with Smash Bros. Brawl back on the Wii.

Anyone else remember Smash dojo? The hype for that game was through the roof, and now it’s revoked as the worst in the series by competitive players.

@KillerBOB Those are Buddhist symbols in Asia. The meaning changes with the context.

@Rika_Yoshitake Capcom is a Japanese company, so they should be free to choose how they represent their culture to the world in their own game. If Guile's base was draped in Confederate flags, that would definitely be seen as a real issue in the US.

Good read, thank you!

Skyward Sword has the best story of a Zelda game by a considerable margin. The compelling narrative and intense, emotional cut scenes helped me push through some of the jankier mechanics and abysmal pacing of the game.

I just couldn’t do a second playthrough though. I really tried, but put it down about halfway through. After experiencing the story once, I just couldn’t be compelled to do all of the tedious skyloft chores, fetch quests, and lightning cloud block rotation puzzles again.

Here’s hoping the remake cuts down on the Fi talk and repetitive sequences so the game’s engaging combat and story can take center stage in the minds of new players.

Do the modified controls let us map a button to “turn off Fi”?