DiggleDog

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.

Isn’t it a thing in Japan that voice actors are never truly replaced? I wonder if Charles continuing to represent the Mario brand is a way of honouring that tradition while letting him semi-retire.

Game has all the hallmarks of Nintendo firing on all cylinders, a thankfully common sight during the Switch era. Don’t think we’ve seen so many first party bangers since the GameCube.

@EarthboundBenjy I also replayed Rayman 2 on GOG a few months ago and I was astonished at how well it’s held up. If ever a game deserved to be described as timeless, it’s Dreamcast/PC Rayman 2.

Love how unabashedly British this is. It’s like the Beano in game form.

That’s quite a bombshell for a Monday afternoon. Martinet’s portrayal of Mario in 64 made the character feel as responsive, interactive and alive as the worlds he traversed. For every action taken by the player, Mario had a reaction, be it a wahoo or a mamma mia. Such an understated part of what made that game feel so revolutionary. The games didn’t just have newfound depth, so did the avatars.

@Not_Soos it does seem like the Milan devs have a vested interest in taking on Rayman in a full time capacity. I think Rayman 4 was more on cards initially when Michel Ancel wrapped up Beyond Good and Evil 2 but alas, that’s become a whole thing unto itself.

Cautiously optimistic on this one. Red Dead on Switch is wonderful but the reaction overall seems a bit muted.

What I like about Nintendo as well is that, post Yamaguchi, most of the top brass have backgrounds in game and hardware development. Helps keep the company on point.

I remember playing Ni No Kuni and being convinced Drippy was voiced by Rod Gilbert.

Demographically speaking, Nintendo is not in the same rat race as Xbox and PlayStation. Gamers, yes, but we’re not buying Nintendo hardware for Call of Duty, no matter what Phil says.

Considering that post-Zelda Switch was a bit of an unknown quantity, I’m chuffed to see Nintendo has plenty of plans yet.

As a few people have pointed out, a game starring Mario frequently selling for 20 quid on a system where Nintendo games never go on sale is a huge boon for Kingdom Battle. That’s not against the game, the more people who play it the better.

The Pixel Remaster is excellent. As a newcomer, I love how it’s been zhuzhed up in certain respects but ultimately leaves the core untouched, allowing me to appreciate the game in the context of its time. Much like Earthbound in my opinion, the je ne sais quois of FF6 is wholly intact as a SNES game. You can see the vision, the achievement and the legacy unfolding before your eyes as you play. I don’t think that’s something you can easily recapture, hence why FF7 Remake wisely became a new thing unto itself.

Remakes are nice and all but the abundance of them of late gives the impression that old media by itself is insufficient. Weird for an industry that frequently makes bank on nostalgia but renders so many of the classics unplayable through official means.

Surely the blue Pikmin will be fine if you put it in water though

@Vyacheslav333 I call it the Metroid effect, where a hotly anticipated revival of a neglected series enters development hell so a 2D entry gets announced out of nowhere to keep fans happy.

Grant Kirkhope is truly one of the all time greats. Any game dev who wants some whimsy in their soundtrack needs to have him on speed dial.

Kinda glad they’re drawing attention to this. Claiming to support Nintendo with CoD is such an empty gesture on Microsoft’s part in my opinion. Anyone with eyes could tell you that a hamstrung Switch port of CoD is in no way competitive with Xbox and PC.