Diowine

@Znake great recommendation thanks. I have been looking for a nice 2D platformer Challenge for a while, something in the Celesteish style for example, or similar, and though Mario Wonder looks beautiful, the lack of challenge mentioned by mostly everyone made me look elsewhere.

I'll be honest, I've never played a DK country game. The only DK game that I have ever played was at the same time my first console game ever: DK64, and the nostalgia is huge with that one, I love it no matter what anyone says about it.
But I have been tempted to give Tropical Freeze a try for a long time, and considering how weak this 2024 year in gaming looks right now for all platforms, this may be the year.

@XiaoShao @bluemage1989 @Qwiff As I have stated above, I completely disagree with his position regarding those games. Again, it's not just those "pretentious journalists overhyping" the game, it's the user scores all over the place and the comments online that by a huge majority praise the game.
But this time I disagree with removing his comment, it is related to the game in the article and opened a debate. Does not seem like he is trolling nor insulting anyone. Shouldn't have been removed.

Update: Though, I agree that saying that a game is rubbish when the article mentions related layoffs is a little harsh ofc. Not too nice having that as the first of the comments, but anyways I wouldn't have removed it.

If this is true, then considering the current 2024 Switch lineup, as is that of both PS5 and XBox, this looks like the weakest year in gaming that I can remember.
FFVII Rebirth and Paper Mario TTYD for me maybe, but nothing else at sight, unless there is a shadow drop for either Silksong and/or Hades II by EOY, but seems unlikely.

@bluemage1989 "Disco Elysium was rubbish anyway"
Yeah I won't lie, that take got my attention, not sure if bait.
So I wanted to know what you considered a masterpiece and according to your user scores, a game like Persona 4 Golden is a 1/10, and both BOTW and Hollow Knight are 8/10 but Pokemon Brilliant/DIamond is a 10/10 and Pokemon SV is a 9/10! (wtf)....
It's ok to have a different taste, it's only that yours is definitively against the general consensus.
So yeah... Disco Elysium = Masterpiece as both critics and Audience have constantly stated, not Garbage.
I got really bored with Animal Crossing for example, but I am not saying it is garbage, just not my cup of tea.
You can like it or not but can't say it's garbage because it is objectively wrong.

All I care about here is the "a full-fat February Nintendo Direct is probably off the cards..." piece sadly.
Other than older games (Ori and Metroid Dread) that I had pending and finally found the time to buy and play due to the lack of new games, there has been no Switch game for me since TOTK. Only looking forward to MP TTYD, and nothing else from Nintendo at the moment. Sad

Keep them dual and maybe let the current ones be compatible for multiplayer if possible, not a must, but please please PLEASE let's have new controllers that don't drift again. Joy cons are beautiful and the PS5' Dualsense is amazing but in the end both are drifting garbage.
Fix it for the new gen. Either return to old sticks or implement hall sensor ones. Don't be cheap

@Euler Not a chance that the next Nintendo console launches after 2026, not even after 2025. It has really shown it's age by now as mentioned by @KoopaTheGamer. It will happen this year or the next

@Ryu_Niiyama I honestly expect not only Metroid Prime 4 as a launch year title, but also a new 3d Mario which is long due and hopefully a new Mario Kart too.
Just give me 2/3 of that as a release lineup and count me in.

So, officially no Switch 2 announcement in this week's Nintendo Direct at the current rate, they just want to reach that milestone.
Jokes aside, they will reach that number this year with or without a new console announcement probably. Big numbers

So... we are betting on a Nintendo Direct due for Wednesday Feb. 7h based on recent trends? ...Please?

One of my favorite JRPG games of all time. Played both twice and I liked this one better both times. The random battles may not be the way to go for today's standards but such good games anyways

@dr-gorgo nah they only do that with AAA Nintendo titles. They are less forgiving with third party titles. Also as pointed out by @anothergamer100, it is also doing great at Metacritic, so I think the score seems legit

~10% did not even finish the game, (including myself), on a gaming site poll. Adding kids to that poll who don't get into this page, and who are the main target of mainline Pokemon games nowadays, would just increase that % I believe.
Just shows how bad and boring these games have become

Everyone complaining about humanoid / bipedal Pokemon, yet Mewscarada being voted as the most popular.... Yeah maybe that is the same case as with the recent absolute lack of challenge in those games; maybe that is part of why they sell so well even if I can't understand it.
Seems like it is really time for me to turn the page and leave this franchise behind for good. Definitively not their target anymore (been playing since Crystal version in my GBA)

Baldur's Gate 3 definitively. It is a game that I really want to play but with a portable option (Don't own SteamDeck), not in my PS5. I just want to lay down and play it on the couch in handheld mode.
Other Action (Resident Evil 2) or SoulsBorne (Elden Ring) games are just better on a big screen with the most powerful console available, so not those

My main console has mostly always been from Nintendo, and the portability of the Switch is a huge benefit when deciding where to play some multiplatform games, specially puzzle games (Tetris Connected), JRPGS (Persona 5, DQ11), and/or MetroidVanias or Roguelites (Hades, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, Ori). But when it comes to Shooters/Battle Royales (Fortnite) or Action RPGS (Soulsborne / Witcher 3) I find it awkward playing it on the Switch compared to a PS4/5. So, even though both Elden Ring and RDR2 are easily on my top 5 all time games, I wouldn't replay them on a Switch/2 like console unless it was my only console ofc. Just not the same experience.

Easy win for Zelda TOTK this year.
Honestly surprised about the amount of love received by Xenoblade Chronicles in the past few years, happy for the fans. Also surprised about Dragon Quest beating FR Three Houses in 2019. All great games

Huge Banjo & Kazooie fan but we are talking about which reveal trailer was the best and I just can't take Sephiroth's out of my mind

Well, I think Nintendo will have a hard time improving both MK and Smash for the next gen, as both last entries were really superb (well... you could actually very easily improve Smash with just good Online support and modes).
My only fear is that this is the peak for both franchises and everything else is just downhill, as happened to Paper Mario after TTYD. But see that hardly happening to 2 of it's best franchises

Anywhere where the Gerudo Valley theme is playing.
And lon lon ranch ofc

@BodkinDQ Yess, not sure If I will go directly into Maddening.
TBH In 3H I went first with Hard difficulty on Crimson Flower route. Then did the others on Maddenning in New Game. So I will test it out first.

@SpoonySpoons Thank you! I think I will

@Indielink @BodkinDQ @SpoonySpoons thank you all for the feedback. From your comments I can reaffirm that the gameplay is superb (if you like FE ofc) but the story and all things outside of battle are a downgrade compared to 3H.
Well, story is always important but based on your comments I think I will give it a chance.
For example I am one of the few that preferred SMTV (Superb Gameplay and Challenge but tedious story and characters) than P5R (Great life sim and story, made too long, but almost no challenge and not as good strategy needed in battles; other than a couple gimmicky bosses)
I would prefer a better story sure, but in battles is where you spend most time in a FE game so it does not sound too bad.
Thanks!

Fire Emblem Engage is tempting to me. I will think about that one.
Loved Three Houses, played all the campaigns on Maddening and loved every second, but heard that this last entry was bad in comparison, hence the hesitation

I love Mario and Jrpgs, but the latter tend to take several hours to finish, therefore I personally require 2 things from them: A good story/world and at least a decent challenge. Seems like although it succeeds in the first department, is a little bland on the difficulty.
I will pass on this one for that reason but happy for the fans

Thank you both @TotalHenshin @Wisps for the honest feedback. Yes that easy difficulty you mention and that the final review puts as a con sadly holds me from buying. Happy for the fans anyways, looks beautiful.

mmm lower than Wonder? I was expecting the same or even better. Well, Wonder ended up receiving GOTY nomination so I shouldn't complain I guess.
Never played the original so I am waiting for this one to drop on Friday, just hoping that it has at least normal JRPG challenge levels and not recent pokemon titles' nonsense kind of non existing difficulty, but being a Mario game I am skeptical (for recency titles, not historical ones which had fun challenge levels)

Who is part of that 4% who voted for Majora's?? Like really, I could agree or understand that it is your favorite Zelda game, but the story happens after the events of Ocarina of Time.
Definitively not the most accessible nor best option to adapt first.
It should either be Ocarina or a Link to the Past. Skyward Sword would be 3rd, but not the best choice either.

Indies that I am waiting for? Hades 2, Silksong and Earthblade.
At this point I believe that only Earthblade will be releasing before Switch 2 launch, where I will probably end up playing the other 2.

@DaniPooo I said "As much as I loved TOTK..". Where did I say that it was a game that I did not want to play or that I regretted buying??
I loved the game, spent ~150h on it and did everything but the koroks and the armor upgrades and enjoyed every minute.
Just saying that I am disappointed that the base Hyrule map is mostly the same. It does not matter if I knew it years before the launch or if I found out about it the day I bought it. It is still a disappointment no matter when I was told about that specific aspect of the game.
The only thing I disagreed with is the "unmatched sense of wonder" that the title of this article mentions, as that wonder was even better for me in BOTW because the map was entirely new then. Nobody said I regret buying the game, just that the sense of wonder in BOTW was a superior for me.

@DaniPooo the fact that we knew it was going to be the same map does not make it better.
Little variety meaning it looked all the same and the variety of enemies bad, the same as on the surface. Don't feel touched.
This is a personal opinion only. The best part of the first game for me was exploring different regions for the first time. And that did not happen for me in the second game.

Sorry but the sense of wonder and discovering new regions belongs to BOTW. As much as I loved TOTK, it was basically a reused map, with both depths and sky islands adding too little in variety. That was my only complain about TOTK and why I enjoyed BOTW better.

I am just wondering if it was just so much easier to port the Tour tracks (Cities) and those plain ones such as Wii Daisy Circuit into MK8 rather than those like Wario Collosseum, Dino DIno Jungle or Airship Fortress, or if it there was another reason for those tracks to take the spot instead. Because they kept being the worst reviewed and received in every wave while leaving out amazing fan favorite tracks out.
Hey all in all I cannot complain, 48 new mostly great tracks for a god knows how old game. Just sad those were left out for boring and plain ones

Not even concerned, not the right word. Just certain it is not going to go well. This is not a franchise for the big screen. Talking Link? Mute Link? Both options sound horrible for a movie somehow

Omg no, God please no. This is not a franchise suitable for the big screen at all. Sorry even if HBO did this there is no way I can see this being good at all.
Well, anything for the money I guess... Some people seem excited about it but don't think anyone seriously thinks this is going to be great

@ToDaisy that is why they kept it short for just one month. As mentioned in the comments, QoL features have been cut to bring back the old experience and it is ok, clearly it is ok when looking at the player numbers. The player base will stay after this season, and if a % of these returning and new players stay too due to the hype then it is a total victory for Epic. We'll return in less than a month to the previous features again.

23/25. The ones who I missed were Lucas instead of Ness and Hero instead of Marth so not so bad I guess

Both from GCN here. Dino Dino Jungle and Wario Collosseum second

All I ever wanted was GCN Dino Dino Jungle . But GCN DK Mountain was the next best option in my wishlist. Happy overall

Oh I was exactly waiting for this post before buying. And exactly as expected, after I searched for the "challenge" word within the comments all of them were negative and complaining about the lack of it. I really find no fun when there is no difficulty at all in games so this is sadly not for me. I was really waiting for it

I read the descriptions under each and basically the article says they can't recommend any game that is not the three on the podium. And even the starting description of the first position starts with a "TRON: Identity won’t wow anyone with its puzzles" XD. So basically there just aren't great Disney games on Switch.

@TheWhoMentality the feeling of accomplishment for example. That adrenaline of finally beating a SoulsBorne boss after many attempts. People like that. Not everyone as you, but many.
On the other hand, the lack of challenge can be totally boring for some, not for you. I just left Pokemon Scarlet halfway through my gameplay, not because of the graphics or frame drops, but because it was just so boring, battles were a joke.
Not saying that I am right and you are wrong. You just wanted to understand why other people are so disappointed with the lack of challenge here.

@sanderev well you got me there. I am a big SoulsBorne fan and Gen 3 is my favorite Pokemon generation by far (Started in Gen2 Crystal). But look at all the comments here, even if it scored a 9 most seem disappointed about the lack of challenge.
I don't buy the kids need accessible games argument. Kids are much better at gaming than adults sometimes. I get destroyed by some in online FPS / Battle Royales more than I would like to confess. Keep a modest challenge and it will keep selling great without compromising the experience for the majority.

@dartmonkey in the past, for games that I've been interested in at least, NL scores usually scores at least 1 point above the average, specially on Nintendo AAA games. If that happens in a Zelda game I will buy it anyways as I am a big fan.
But if that happens in a Mario game, which I like too but no as much, it makes me wonder, specially considering that it is very very rare for NL to give less than a 10 to a Mario game. Search for any 'Super Mario' reviews on this site and most are 10/10 reviews.
So yes, it is very personal for me to be worried about a 9 here, but not for big fans

@sanderev yes, the lack of challenge is a con. Kirby and Pokemon games have become unplayable due to their lack of challenge and hope Mario does not go that way too.
You don't want challenge? Good, they offered Yoshi and Nabbit as their easy difficulty option. Leave the challenge for the rest.
In the end this is subjective, you don't want a challenge and the other people here do. Personally, the lack of it is a letdown.

I was dissapointed after looking at the score honestly. We know that NintendoLife tends to score main Nintendo games higher than other critics (contrary to what sister site PushSquare usually does, ranking their PS games lower than average critics, weird).
But immediately after going to metacritic I was glad to find that average scores as of now are at 93 which is even better than expected.
I think this will be my first day one since TOTK, all platforms included.

For reference I bought the PS5 with the disk slot and the only physical games I bought were the two I bought at the same time as the console. Since then every single game has been digital, including the ones for my Switch.
So, short answer, if both options are available and the digital version is ~$100 cheaper, that is for sure the option I'll go for.

Definitively not for me. Kids game apparently and not much more

At this point I only care about them fixing the drift in their controllers. That's it.
Don't even care about a big power upgrade nor about the games at release, as I know the good ones will come anyways