Dimey

I like articles like this. personal. reflective... it also very clearly throws focus on a specific era, and is a function of the age of the author...

Gaming as a medium has evolved so much over the 40 or so years I have been playing... it's something that makes compiling lists of favourite games so difficult, due to both recency bias, and the fact that games have changed so much over the numerous console generations.

I get really strong nostalgia when I replay arcade games from Sega, from the 80's... games that I played at leisure centres, theme parks, pubs on holidays... wonderboy, space harrier, quartet... then arcade games from the early to mid 90's, sega rally, Daytona, and others like Super Pang and Chase HQ that I played in my halls at Uni.

I'd had a spectrum 48k but the first magical memory was my Sega Master System. Yes, the ports of outrun, space harrier, afterburner, quartet, etc, were poor imitations of the arcade games, but they were the first time I'd played games at home. IN COLOUR!!!

Then I think it's the N64 that really holds a lot of emotional memories, Banjo Kazooie, Snowboard Kids, Mario Golf, etc, as it was a period in time myself and a few friends were training for our first jobs, and flat sharing... and then it was the X360, and Gears of War 2. Regular Tuesday nights playing Horde, 4 or more of us, all dialled in after work, bottles of wine open, headsets on, having an absolute blast.

But the best thing is, in my 50th year on this planet, I'm still making gaming memories that I know I'll look back upon in many years to come. My best friend moved to Dubai last year, but we have had weekly Helldivers 2 sessions, and these hours have meant so much, and I just love that gaming is still forming such strong memories for me... long may it continue

The switch 2 was the first of my 22 or 23 odd consoles / handhelds that I've ever pre-ordered, and I love that approaching my 6th decade, that still made me as excited as I was when I first opened that sega master system all those years ago. I bloody love gaming.

Have a great weekend all!

probably won't ever leave the dock!

Couldn't give a ***** TBH. compared to proper open world driving games like Forza Horizon it's a very poor imitation. 10 years behind the competition. But the racing is top tier so I couldn't care less.

All I want is a new game mode for classic GP with 3 laps races (yes, I know Vs exists). Open world is barely an idea, so far from a fully formed concept.

@DownRightSam good man, was staring to think it was just me!

can't wait to start playing it all at 150cc. 4 more GP to go, done all knockouts at 100.

the bigger question is, do you gold / 3 star them all at 50cc first, then again at 100cc before moving onto 150cc? I can't shake the habit of starting at 50cc, as lame as it is. almost done with 100cc so I can really start enjoying the game at 150. it's an illness.

@harrystein absolutely, it's far more fun driving in a straight line on a wide road. jeez.

@MathByThePixel after over 10 hours in the game, this is exactly how I feel. The biggest disappointment by FAR is only getting to drive 1 lap on most of the tracks in GP - no more than a 7 or 8/10 for me until this is patched and the AI / weapons are balanced.

picked one of these up, just the ticket for the occasional overnight hotel stop with work!

For a paid and not free update, have to say not that impressed, as the pop in is seemingly no different. When you glide from a tower, and head towards a fortification with loads of enemies on it, the fortification STILL looks empty until you are practically on top of it, then all the enemies magically appear. Classic Nintendo laziness, surely the Switch 2 could have handed this?

nope, just doesn't look like a fun GAME to me.

@AZYotes5013 overall it's fine, it's just so many people ordered from amazon after I did and they get their new console tomorrow. fully appreciate others have it worse!!

I may try Argos tomorrow morning, and cancel my Amazon pre-order if I'm lucky. but still feeling really peeved at how random amazon have been about all of this.

despite ordering April 4th, it's Saturday for me. thanks Amazon, thanks so much for preferentially delivering early to those who ordered from you days and weeks after me! that seems fair.

wasted a day of annual leave tomorrow for nothing

Pre-ordered April 4th from Amazon UK but they are appalling, and mine not coming til the weekend at the earliest, yet Reddit full of people who ordered a week after me from Amazon and their S2 has shipped. Last time I rely on Amazon. gutted.

playing some loooong PS5 games right now, so have the 2 duck detective games on my switch for palette cleansers haha!

this looks awful, like a PS2 or 3 game.

looking forward to playing new Mario Kart, but that's it, plus seeing how the Zelda games and Mario games run on switch 2. Excited to get the console, but will be 95% PS5 for the rest of the year it seems, unless they announced a new mainline Zelda or Mario later this year...

Nope. Not in a million years am I paying over £13 for a ROM. Disgusting pricing!

@killercereal yep, the mobile game tracks felt so out of place. a handful of the newer tracks were on a par for me with the originals, but not many. still not bothered to play the final update, after 10+ years playing this game, I am utterly over it. can't wait for S2 launch day!!!

Nintendo are hopeless at online social gaming, and this looks terrible. still decades behind xbox and PS here...

@KoopaTheGamer exactly this, the PS portal and this look infinitely more usable for long sessions handheld (particularly if you have big hands)

makes zero difference. I only buy games when they have been out a year or more, so they are a) discounted, and b) patched and fully working!

@Misima or regular people with good jobs?

genuinely never even heard of it.

Disappointed they have seemingly missed the opportunity for a Diddy Kong Racing style story, all the ingredients are here! But regardless, I've pre-ordered and am looking forward to playing.

absolutely adore this game, clocked around 100 hours, and broke my record for a hand yesterday (unseeded) of 1.324e15

I have no idea how this normally works for consoles, but disappointing to hear that devs are still struggling to get any info on securing dev kits at this time.

@Grandiajet Coronation Street Fighter!! My mate suggested that one to Jim'll Paint It!

Loved my Switch, but spent the last 2-3 years largely playing PS5 / XSX. Looking forward to a year or so of Nintendo gaming come the Switch 2 launch

@Member_the_game damn straight

gotta keep milking Nintendo fans for $$$

I own a PS5 and a Switch, as do lots of my friends. Switch 2 pre-ordered. I don't really see these 2 systems in competition...

Switch 2 may now be marginally cheaper than the PS5, but PS games are so much cheaper, this offsets it.

I want to buy Super Mario 3D World as used to have it on my Wii U 12 YEARS ago, but Nintendo still want to charge £50. Nintendo will always be more expensive once you factor in game prices...

@carlos82 100%

SNES. Almost all of the Switch 2 games you have listed are old ports.

Switch 2 lineup is a Mario kart game and a donkey Kong game. 2 games. ports of games I've had for many years don't even count.

@Jester676 yeah I get it. Just annoyed by it that's all!

Nope - despite buying close to 100 games for my Switch, and owning just about every console they have ever released, I'm not deemed important enough to be allowed to pre-order because I don't subscribe to their awful online. Thanks Nintendo.

Got a pre-order with MKW from Amazon, so I'm all on board, but I'm still a tad hurt by the snub from Nintendo.

he has a support crew, and access to an air BnB and a hotel. so it all sounds like a gimmick, if he leaves the queue (once it forms) he loses his place at the front. idiot YouTubers

@lumothesinner oh thank god, haha!!

ignore me, I didn't read things properly!

@jetsetradion nice one

@Grimley141 couldn't agree with you more.

@Cathalm it should be $20 more expensive physically... or more

as somebody who now buys games physically, at last digital games are cheaper, as they should be. They should be MORE than $10 cheaper too... with the manufacturing and distribution costs of carts, packaging, store markups, etc, and the fact that if you buy physical you are able to resell it, unlike digital.

Digital should be $20 cheaper

Has the UK price been announced yet? Only use my switch in docked and using a pro controller (big hands!), so will most likely pick this up

Not paying for a tech demo! Bad enough having to pay to upgrade my Zelda games, but at least it's not too pricey (would rather it was free and they hadn't wasted time on a flipping mobile app)

I wonder if you still need to pay to unlock the DLC on the S2 physical edition?

I've not played BOTW for a good few years, so can't wait to replay this on my S2 later this year. Less than / no more than £10 I can live with...

@jojobar OK let's see how Cyberpunk looks before you say that games look almost as good. Let's not get silly here.

@johnvboy I'm just comparing a PS5 that has much better performance and games, and cheaper games. It's not that mad a comparison!

@BFahey3 there are lots of ways to pre-order, assuming you aren't American. Lot's of us have pre-orders, as we aren't Americans.