Dizzard

The European one looks like more thought and design was put into it. Plus it shows off some of the puzzles. So it gets my vote.

The Japan one just looks like they took a picture and slapped it on with no thought towards design or layout.

I get that it's likely going to be a mainstay but at least for me I feel like crafting has long since gone past the point of being interesting to me.

It feels like so many games have to have crafting these days that I don't really see it as much of a selling point anymore.

I'd love to see Fawful, Vivian and E.Gadd.

I feel like they're not interested in putting in Mario RPG characters though, it's a shame because there's so many cool possibilities.

I'm not really in a hurry to pick up the Switch 2. The only games I think that could sway me would be gen 10 of Pokemon and maybe a new Smash Bros game, but we'll see I guess.

Honestly there's so many great games I can play on PC right now I'll probably be more of a PC gamer than ever before now....I was already kind of leaning that way in previous generations but this will definitely tip me over that edge.

@babybilly Is it shocking that when an opinion article gets posted people will share their own opinions on the opinion shared in that artcle? Isn't a discussion of opinions the whole point?

What are people supposed to comment?

"Yes this is an article, goodbye."?

I haven't seen this in Ireland, Smyths have Mario Kart listed at €90 and Bananza at €80.

We'll see I guess, not every storefront has listed Switch 2 games yet so maybe it will be different elsewhere.

To be honest there's something about this that kind of lacks charm for me. It's certainly no Splatoon or Arms.

I think I was maybe more "impressed" by it then I was "excited" if that makes sense. I think it's impressive that they're getting so many AAA games on day one, even if they are ports. The new Nintendo games they announced also seem cool even though I'm not that interested in them. (Donkey Kong, Kirby Air Ride etc)

The whole C button thing was kind of underwhelming, giving us what we've already been able to do with a Discord account for years.....plus that paid for tutorial was a weird misstep.

I'd personally give it a 6/10 in terms of the games shown off but if it put my fairness hat on I guess I'd bump it up to a 7/10 since I can see how it had some impressive games in it, just not so much for me personally.

Yeah I thought that was really odd. As a freebie it seemed like a neat idea but there's no way I'm spending money on this...

I thought it was a really strong direct overall.

Excited for the announcement of a new AI Somnium game along with a release date for Witchbrook, that one has been a long time coming. I also think the Shin Megami Tensei game looks cool.

Also how could I forget we're getting a new Tomodachi Life game too.

I'm not super interested in Metroid Prime 4 or Rhythm Heaven but it's really cool we got gameplay footage of the former and an announcement of a new game for the latter.

I think it's awkward to add roadblocks to trading when trading is such a central part of the....yeah know Pokemon "trading" card game.

Kind of feels like it flies in the face of the initial spirit of the game.

I think this is potentially a great way to alleviate the issue of dexit. Assuming every Pokemon will eventually be available.

I'm leaning towards Chikorita but I'm not 100% sure.

I've used Chikorita twice (Gold, Soul Silver), Tepig once in a replay of Black 2 and I've never used Totodile.

So then I was leaning towards Totodile...but I've picked the water starter a lot recently (both Shield and Violet) so I kind of don't want to pick the water starter again.

Tepig is the least interesting of the three for me.

So yeah I don't know, none of them are fully ideal to me but I'll probably pick Chikorita dependant on how their evolutions pan out.

I think Patrat was one of the few Pokemon that hadn't appeared on a game on the Switch yet. So I'm happy to see it.

My prediction:

• A whole load of mobile game updates
• A trailer for Legends Z-A, maybe an in-depth gameplay trailer if it's releasing soon. Will at the very least reveal the starters but if it's a longer trailer I could see them revealing some regional variants/megas too. (I feel like we've been waiting long enough for a Legends Z-A update at this point that I think something more substantial is likely)
• A trailer/teaser for Pokemon Concierge season 2. (they recently put the first season on Youtube for free for a brief period and it was confirmed to be getting a second season)
• Maybe some other animation trailer announcement besides Concierge, a new movie maybe.
• Maybe MAYBE a mention that they're working on the next iteration of the Pokemon series (ie gen 10) coming in 2026 but if it does happen there won't be any footage. (It would be a Metroid Prime 4 kind of situation I think) I'm not really expecting it but if it does come I feel like it'll be in this form.

I'm not really sure what to predict in terms of a spinoff or a remake, for some reason I think a spinoff of some kind might be more likely than a remake but I'm not sure what the spinoff would look like.

@IronDaughter

If they mention Gen 10 I feel like it'll just be a very general "It's happening 2026" kind of reveal. Like when they first revealed Metroid Prime 4.

If they had released Z/A in January or even February this year I would have been more likely to believe that a gen 10 release could be this year (that's what happened with Legends Arceus) but since we're probably waiting around for a Switch 2 release to get Z/A I'm guessing gen 10 won't be until 2026 now.

12/24 I haven't played much of the game. There are a lot of masks I've never seen before.

Personally the shovelware games of the DS/Wii era never really bothered me that much...but it seems like in recent years there are some games that have reached new lows. Asset flips, lazily ai generated games, blatant rip-offs etc. I have no problem with them getting the heave ho.

I think games that have had clear effort put into them should stay though. Even if we might look at them and deem them "bad".

If they love the mouse functionality that seems like a good sign.

I think it'll make strategy (Civilization, Crusader Kings), life simulation (The Sims, Paralives, Inzoi) and point and click games a more viable and fun option for consoles.

The sigh that escaped my mouth...

Are seals of quality not a thing anymore? I guess Sony or Xbox (and probably Nintendo as well at this point) don't care as long as it makes them money...

@smeliousum It could also be moreso that it's a big company like Nintendo who did it, so even a small thing feels more notable.

@Tanookduke

My initial thought was mouse functional could be useful for strategy or point and click games.

Feels like it came out without much fanfare in the end...

I gave it a 7, it seems good but nothing about the trailer was particularly astounding. I'm guessing that might be more likely to happen with the direct in April.

Don't really like either of them and don't care much for angry Kirby either but I think having Meta Knight in the background pushes the western one to the front for me.

I preordered it yesterday after reading a number of the reviews.

Personally I'm into the vibe of Concordia and its characters more than the worlds from Bowser's Inside Story and Dream Team so I have a good feeling that I'll find it more engaging.

I also find it kind of funny that IGN Benelux (8.5) and IGN Middle East (9) gave the game positive reviews.

Despite the IGN review, the scores generally do seem to be very positive for the game: https://x.com/Stealth40k/status/1853416532258271271

I know it seems kind of defensive to say it but I'm willing to give Brothership the benefit of the doubt since IGN isn't really that high on my list of reviewers I trust anyway.

I'm not really that interested. Plus I'd rather finish playing Echoes of Wisdom and save my money for Brothership anyway.

I had fun playing the demo, so I'll probably take this review with a pinch of salt. I'll probably pick this up eventually.

They're also the people who made the Tangle Tower games if anyone has played them. They definitely seem like a versatile developer.

I'm not really that into survival horror games but I might pick up this one day on a sale since it still looks really good.

I like the more ornate vibe of the Europe one so that's what I voted for. In fairness I do think the Europe one feels more busy with logos and the like but I still prefer it to the other two.

My gut is telling me that Nintendo will wipe the floor with Pocketpair, at least legally.

The court of public opinion is a different matter though.

I'm kind of in two minds about this. I don't have any love for Palworld or Pocketpair (They seem like a creatively bankrupt company to me), so I don't really care what happens to them. On the other hand I don't love that it's a patent that Nintendo are suing them over....that seems kind of shady to me.

I wonder what kind of precedent a win for Nintendo will set.....though I think people saying this is some attempt by Nintendo to make all Pokemon "clones" illegal are being overdramatic. They've never sued Nexomon, TemTem, Coromon, Cassette Beasts etc.

I like the Europe box the most, I think the background makes the art pop the most and it has the most impact imo.

I feel like this is the natural evolution for the genre.

We've dated birds, then cats, then weapons and now we'll date whatever is lying around.

@Savage_Joe I think I'd sooner place a bet on Silksong 2 coming out before Beyond Good & Evil 2.

First time in a while the limit to just 3 choices for a direct poll really felt limiting.

I gave it a 9.

I can't remember such a solid direct for me in recent memory.

A new Mario & Luigi game, a Zelda game where you play as Zelda, (I don't super love that chibi style but I think the gameplay looks fun) and an Ace Attorney investigations collection including a game never released outside of Japan.

On top of that even though I'm not as excited about it obviously Metroid Prime 4 is huge for the fans.

All around it was a very solid direct throughout.

Next time?

Awfully optimistic bunch aren't they?

Watched a recap of all of the announcements. It was ok I guess...I feel like most of the games I liked where ones I already knew about like Metaphor ReFantazio though.

I hope the survey will encourage them to get more creative with character designs in future....and maybe put more effort into them as well. (I feel like there was a period where they were just putting eyes on inanimate objects and calling them partners...)

Personally I'd like a mixture of new character designs (Like Vivian or Geno) and existing species but with unique looks and personalities. (Like Goombella or most Paper Mario partners really)

I'm just over generic toads everywhere and "partners" that feel more like inanimate objects with googly eyes slapped on them.

I think we'll probably see something related to gen 5 as the big announcement. Probably something similar to Legends.

I know people seem to think that they're going to take more time to develop these games but are those expectations actually realistic? They pretty much said a few months ago that they're thinking about ways to keep up with the schedule they already have, not that they're going to take more time.

Outside of that it'll mostly be about mobile games, the TCG and maybe something anime related or if some other new animated series is coming like the Pokemon Concierge one.

No gen 10 announcement, that's coming next year.

@MirrorFate2 No. I feel the same way with Ace Attorney.

It never sat right with me that we didn't even get a Phoenix Wright spirit at least.

I guess I wouldn't quite expect a terabyte....but I would like to see it being on the larger side, like 500GB.

I can't wait for The Legend of Link where we get to play as Zelda.

I'd say I prefer the North American one.

The Europe cover looks cheaper somehow...

@Not_Soos I think it's mainly because you rarely see a Famitsu score lower than about 35/40. (I'm sure they happen but they're definitely an exception)

At least for me when a publication only ever seems to have positive things to say about everything I don't consider it's opinion that much.

It was ok, there were a few games that looked interesting to me but I wouldn't say there were any major wow moments.

@Poodlestargenerica

Yeah I have this game on PC, usually I have a big aversion to roguelike games but each playthrough of this game is short enough that it never bothers me.

The game is a lot of fun, I also love Junji Ito so the vibe is really up my street.

@Jireland92

Yeah, having Zuko as DLC instead of Azula kind of screams "we know Zuko will make the big bucks" to me.

Not that Azula wouldn't also have sold but people LOVE Zuko.

I'll mention Mega Garchomp, that things looks like it came straight out of a slasher movie.