DiggleDog

I think Three Houses is a better console game and Engage is a better portable game. Fitting they’d both be on Switch.

Love the minimalist box arts for these series.

Some good points in the comment. I never really considered the angle of protecting the devs from the media circus.

Link’s Awakening is a top 5 Switch game for me. I bemoaned the full priced release at the time but I’ve since cleared every save file because the shorter length is actually rather inviting when considering a replay. Looking forward to this but I probably won’t be getting it straight away.

Better throw the devs in the Call of Duty mines

Nintendo, you’ve done well.

I’d like a Metroid where you start out as Samus without the power armour (maybe an emergency catches her off guard) and you work your way up to getting it. I think that would be a nice narrative explanation for why she’s missing her moves. I don’t really care either way. Getting bonked on the head and losing all her moves works too.

I foresee at least 3 noteworthy Nintendo game announcements but mainly ports or remakes.

The Wii U Zelda remasters seem like a no brainer but aggravatingly, they will be sold separately at full price.

We’ve had successful remakes from 2 Mario RPG sub-series. Maybe Mario and Luigi is on the cards?

Anything truly new and exceptional from Ninty is probably being developed for the next console.

More Professor Layton is all I ask.

I think this will be the next industry trend that Nintendo won’t quite “get” for a bit. That said, Nintendo tends to inherently optimise their games as well as they can for their hardware.

I think Nintendo is extremely utility oriented when it comes to how content is portrayed in their games in a way that makes them seem a bit detached. Like, what function does this serve in a player experience.

For example, people were clamouring for ages for Peach to have more agency and not be a damsel in distress all the time. Now that co-op is more prominent in Mario games, Peach gets promoted to playable character status.

Darker skin tones finally made their way into Animal Crossing: New Horizons because the avatar creator was (marginally) more involved than before.

It’s a bit twisted, but think it speaks to Nintendo viewing their games as toys rather than art capable of resonating with their customers. I genuinely believe they saw same sex relationships in Tomadachi Life as an unintended bug and that patching them out would be a bad idea never occurred to them. They are myopically focused on the game design to the detriment of how their games sit in local and global communities.

All this is to say that trans rights are human rights.

Microsoft hates this one simple trick

Please for the love of god just let it be called Switch 2 and don’t make it so you control it with your tongue.

Anyone who can make a quality Crash Bandicoot has my trust with DK. Those 2 series (in their heyday at least) share a lot in common I think.

Rayman has been fairly prominent in ancillary Ubisoft material lately. They clearly value the brand but not enough to hedge a fiscal year on it. A shame. Probably only going to get worse as Ubisoft continues to torpedo its reputation, harming the prospects of projects that are not obvious franchises.

I’m from Ireland. Game ceased operations here about a decade ago to save the UK mothership, giving GameStop a huge share of the market. GameStop shut down here last year. Sad sign of the times. Brick and mortar retail gives a lot of young people necessary work experience. That said, zero contracts are appalling. I was put on 1 at the start of the pandemic.

That’s actually brilliant.

Luigi clutching the 3DS banner in lieu of a door frame is actually such a fun little touch on the original.

If history repeats itself, then ports of older Luigi’s Mansion games are a sign of the end times for a Nintendo platform.

Nintendo’s commitment to doing literally anything with Mother 3 except localise it is actually impressive.

Watch as this utterly overshadows the Partner Showcase. Nintendo could probably sell quite a few expansion passes on the back of this one game.

Very rarely do you get a gaming publisher directly asking what content fans would like to see and name dropping specific old IP. I love when Nintendo surprises us with the return of a dormant classic but I also value having my voice heard and knowing fan outcry is being acknowledged, however superficially. Kudos Capcom.

The fact that Ubisoft put out their most critically acclaimed game in a decade and then immediately managed to put me right off buying it is actually impressive.

I would say Nintendo has very successfully transitioned a lot of their tent pole IP to a younger generation of developers. There’s definitely a new energy to many of their recent high profile releases but the guiding hand of the old guard who made the company what it is can still be felt.

Considering how rare it is for people who work in games to be “celebrities”, Miyamoto’s value to Nintendo remains incalculable. People give Nintendo flak for not always keeping up with the times, especially as gaming gets more techy, but they’re probably the only old giant of the medium who are still on top without having majorly pivoted from their original vision (with peaks and valleys of course). That’s what you might call the Miyamoto factor. I wish him well.

One of my recent New Year’s traditions is to break out the Shinra memes in response to some new venture of Square’s.

Nintendo is not one to prematurely tease projects in a tweet so I doubt they’re involved in a meaningful way (would love to be wrong though). There will probably be new merch and pop up events around Japan.

@boxyguy I think it’s the mark of a genuine classic that Earthbound doesn’t need new games to stay relevant.

I feel as though video games growing up alongside the Internet has made the industry fixated on hype culture, reacts and the need to consume the next big thing in a way I don’t really see with other entertainment forms. The Game Awards really reflect this to me.

Wow, the visuals are beautiful. They’ve really thoughtfully translated the presentation to console. I always thought the series’ formula was so utterly married to DS and smartphone touch screens that trying to reproduce it elsewhere would come up lesser. It seems the solution was the make richer, denser and more complex environments.

The expanded use of voice over is cool. I wonder if Layton and Luke providing commentary on the puzzles is going to be a feature or just part of this presentation. Either way, I am stoked.

I feel like Ocarina’s importance is only really understood when experienced in the context of its time. It has long been surpassed by Zelda sequels, rendering a remake unnecessary in my opinion. Keeping the N64 version playable should be the priority. The 3DS version was a showcase for the hardware, not really an exercise in modernising a classic.

RE 4 is my GOTY but it’s epic to see a 2D platformer in the running.

Nintendo being involved is everything. I wonder what strand of the Zelda timeline they’ll pull from.

My go to for Nintendo centric news. Happy birthday and keep doing what you do.

Will absolutely be checking out Dave the Diver. 2023 has been an incredible year for gaming. Fallen utterly back in love with the hobby.

Kevin is debuting in the role with Wario speaking full sentences which is uncanny in and of itself. Even Charles had to tweak his voice when he did it in Gold.

Anyway I’d prefer to encourage the new VA to put their own spin on the character than be forced to emulate what their predecessor did. If Charles is staying with Nintendo, no doubt he’ll be mentoring Kevin in some way.

Would have liked to see a few more 3DS tracks. That game is simultaneously very nostalgic but forgettable to me.

No doubt in my mind that the next mainline Mario Kart is going to have every track in the series’ history in it, Smash Ultimate style. They’ve future proofed a hefty chunk of them now by putting them in 8’s engine. Hopefully they’ll touch them up going forward to add more detail and polish to the visuals.

I’ll be lenient. I’d imagine Mario and Luigi are the Mickey Mouse characters where emulating the sound is the top priority. Wario is probably less important in that regard. Charle’s own take on the character changed over the years as well. I agree with a few other commenters that Wario doesn’t sound buffoonish enough here.

You could absolutely make a sequel to this gem by putting some of the touch screen motions on the second joy stick.

I actually cannot wait

No serious regrets with my digital only PS5 so five. It’s neat and tidy having everything inside the box. You’re completely at the mercy of the platform holder for getting game bargains however (hidden plus side, rise in the cost of gaming means I actually have to be sure I want the game).

In hindsight casting Basil Brush as Fox McCloud was an out there choice

@CaleBoi25 Peppa Pig but not horrible

Nintendo would sooner go bankrupt

It may not be a new game in the most literal sense but it’s certainly making good on the sort of innovations one would expect to see in a fully fledged sequel.

Curious what the install base for Mortal Kombat is on Nintendo, considering this is the 2nd port they’ve delivered on Switch (hamstrung as it is).

The damage is done I should think. No sane dev will work with Unity in the future.

But where is HE?

It’s such a good game. I only just picked it up but it’s such a chill experience to boot up after work.

F-Zero and classic Paper Mario returning struck me as Nintendo evidently tuning into some of their loudest fan feedback in recent years. Still, nothing particularly jaw dropping in terms of reveals for me. Mario RPG and Wonder are on my to play list but I get the sense momentum is slowing down for the Switch.

It is honestly hilarious to me that, out of their myriad of classics, this was their prime candidate for a remake. 59.99 for the pleasure, I’ll bet.

Ren and Stimpy was unhinged as all h*ll back in the day

Nintendo has always had multimedia interests but I think the theme parks and the establishment of Nintendo Pictures show an unprecedented degree of investment in ventures beyond their bread and butter.