Doctor-Moo

I married Marian the witch when I played this on 3DS, and she is hilarious.

I would love to see Xenogears and the Xenosaga trilogy made available on Switch – not remakes, but ports with HD enhancements.

I got an NES in 1990. Unfortunately I don't have it anymore, but I still play NES games all the time on the Switch. I just recently discovered an absolute masterpiece that I had never played before: Wario's Woods. Why did no one ever tell me about this game? It's amazing!

I preordered the “best” version from Strictly Limited. But these weird chopped-up releases are so confusing and unnecessary. It seems to me they would have sold more copies if they just released a single, definitive package and made it available to retailers.

@Not_Soos I wouldn't be so sure. We're currently at the longest gap between Nintendo home console generations since the NES>SNES. We're seeing more and more Switch ports that don't measure up to other console versions. Nintendo may be ready to unveil a backward-compatible Switch 2 soon, and with few major Switch releases on the horizon, now may be the time.

My current obsession is Wario’s Woods for NES on Switch Online. I just discovered it and it’s brilliant.

@Deemo37 That’s pretty much in line with the reviews of the previous Paw Patrol games. There’s no reason to think this one will be any better.

This looked terrible from the very beginning. It's surprising to me that they continued to invest in it and actually released it. Maybe they'll make some money because of the LOTR fan base? Seems unlikely.

This is great news. Dishonored and Prey are two of my favorite games ever and I’ve been excited to play this. I hope they do a good job with the Switch port.

@Pupuplatter You are exaggerating. I pre-ordered a game from them last December and it's supposed to ship in July. This one is supposed to ship in Q4 2023. They are slow, but not that slow. Maybe you're thinking of Limited Run? They're known for multi-year wait times.

For anyone playing this for the first time, I recommend looking up the original NES manual. It’s 89 pages! It’s full of useful information about classes, spells, equipment and battle strategies. It’s almost as extensive as a modern strategy guide.

You guys didn't create a poll option for my particular plan:

1. Play Breath of the Wild
2. Play Tears of the Kingdom

@Atariboy I don’t think M2 owns any of the Toaplan properties. They were just hired to develop the new console ports.

@toadfishman Thanks for the info. There was a great article in Eurogamer last week about how tiny text has become a major issue for a lot of gamers.

I'm really looking forward to playing Citizen Sleeper, but I do most of my gaming on a Switch Lite and I'm concerned the text will be too small. Has anyone played it on a Lite, and if so, how was the text size?

I remember the first time I saw a preview of FF in Nintendo Power magazine in 1990. It was a pretty big deal at the time. The only other JRPG I had played at that point was Dragon Warrior. When FF came out, it definitely lived up to the hype.

@Anti-Matter I haven’t played FF4 for DS but it’s supposed to have the best English translation of any version.

Looks really good. Just be aware that a full playthrough takes 20-30 minutes. It's really short.

@gojiguy Whenever ININ is involved in these compilations, there seem to be multiple versions, each with different selections of games. It's ridiculous. There should be one complete version, available physically and digitally. Why would anyone want a version with less games?

The SLG version comes with a physical manual, Rayforce, and a bonus single-stage prototype game that was never released. It’s supposed to ship soon. I have it preordered.

My answer, generated by Google Bard:

I'm not really excited about the upcoming Super Mario movie. I've been a fan of the video games since I was a kid, and I've always been disappointed by the previous attempts to bring Mario to the big screen. I'm not sure why, but I just don't think it's going to be very good.

I'm not a fan of the casting choices. Chris Pratt as Mario? Really? I don't think he has the right voice or personality for the role. And Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach? I don't know, she just doesn't seem right to me.

The trailer didn't really do anything to change my mind. It just looked like a generic, unfunny, live-action comedy. I'm not sure what the filmmakers were going for, but it didn't look like they were trying to make a good Super Mario movie.

I'm sure some people will enjoy the movie, but I'm not one of them. I'm going to pass.

I know I'm not alone in my opinion. There are a lot of other people who are also not excited about the movie. I think it's going to be a major disappointment.

If you're a fan of Super Mario, I would recommend saving your money and not seeing the movie. It's not going to be worth it.

@jbreez00 The Atelier games I’ve played (Ryza and Sophie 2) are absolutely not time sinks. They’re actually fairly tight, story-driven games. If you want to spend hours crafting, you can, but it’s not necessary at all.

Nothing gets the kids hyped up like luggage tags. “Hey Bro, you see those sick Zelda tags?” “Yeah, I’m a cover my Samsonite in that sh*t.”

Excellent. I really want to play this, but I'm concerned that everything will be too tiny on a Switch Lite. Now I can test it out.

A lot of complaints of "blurriness" on Switch. I assume this means it runs at a low resolution. Can anyone confirm whether it runs at sub-native res (below 720p) in handheld mode?

Every one of these articles just makes me sad. This eshop closure is a huge loss for gaming, and shows how much of a challenge video game preservation is going to be in the future.

@Wexter "Sometimes producers just don't care no matter how much QA is done they have to fill their release calendar."

This is one of the major problems with the games industry right now. Release dates are announced too early, and devs are afraid to delay because it's bad press, so they push games out in unfinished states and plan to fix everything with patches.

This means that in 15-20 years, when online support for these games disappears, the cartridges/discs will be nearly useless because they'll contain unfinished versions of the games.

@Yosher Every developer hires QA testers to test their games extensively before release, so yeah, they were aware. Devs are always aware of most of the major problems, particularly relating to performance, before they release their games. They just cross their fingers and hope no one makes a big deal about it.

Shovelware with a marketing hook.

I liked the first one, but the voice acting was awful and the dialogue was stiff and awkward. I’m hoping there’s some improvement there.

I’m still not OK with any of this. March 27 will be a very dark day in video game history.

Anyone who thinks FFT needs a "remaster" should check out videos of the iOS/Android port. It looks really good. If they release the game for Switch, I hope they stick closely to that version.

I absolutely loved Eastward. The visual design and music were the highlights, but I was really drawn into the story too. I thought the dialogue was fantastic (especially compared to the game I'm currently making my way through, Octopath Traveler).

I can see why some people thought the dialogue was too long-winded. There are certainly points where it could have been more concise. But to me, that was one minor negative of an otherwise stellar game. It's a 9/10 for me.

@Diogmites If you liked Ryza you need to play Atelier Sophie 2. It’s just as good. You don’t need to play Sophie 1 first.

Great review. It's always helpful to give readers some context – in this case, the fact that there are multiple, confusing variations of the same compilation. I would have been interested in a physical release of this more "complete" version, but when factoring in shipping, the SLG release was too much for me. Currently the only version available to order from SLG is $110 USD plus shipping.

@ParadoxFawkes What did you not like about Eastward? I thought it was a masterpiece. One of the best games I played last year.

@Dev9417 I’m also happy to wait a year or two for new hardware. My backlog of games is so huge, I need time to play them all. I haven’t even started Breath of the Wild!

@Max_the_German With solid sales expected for another year, they have absolutely no incentive to cut the price.

I’m really hoping for a Switch 2 with 100% backward compatibility so I can keep enjoying my games for years to come.

Puyo Puyo Tetris!

Also a little something called Elden Ring.

15/24. I thought I would ace this, but no.

I can't believe The Witness isn't on Switch. I played it on PS4. Such an amazing game, and perfect for Switch.

All of this makes me think we need an archival collection, with all the GBA, GC, and Wii games put together.

@ottoecamn I’ve seen this narrative, but I haven’t seen any evidence that it’s actually true. Of course, you’re free to boycott LRG, but you might want to be clear on the facts first.

Looking forward to the Mega Man BN and Ray’Z Arcade collections next year. I’m going to skip FF Pixel Remasters because it doesn’t include the original, un-remastered versions, and thus it fails as a retro compilation in my view.

Am I the only one who doesn’t think these games needed “remastering”? I would shell out for a compilation of ports of the originals on a cartridge (a la Collection of Mana).

@MeloMan Agreed. It’s also a problem for long-term game preservation because the cartridges/discs contain incomplete versions of the games.

My kids played My Friend Peppa Pig and weren’t too impressed. The gameplay is very repetitive. I also noticed technical issues like inconsistent sound levels. Not a thumbs up from our family.

I deserve another chance to play Wind Waker, since I never owned a Gamecube or Wii U! Where's our HD port for Switch???

@Sinton Same. I'm probably in the minority here, but what I really want is an "archival" compilation of all 6 games in their original forms, perfectly emulated and with CRT filter options, all on a cartridge. I'm not a fan of the pixel remasters, and I think the originals hold up really well.

I would definitely add the Atelier games. Ryza 1& 2 and Sophie 2 are just about the coziest JRPGs around.